Anansi (Villain)
Code-name: Anansi
Full name: Edina Todd
Faction: none
Suspended one hundred feet above the city streets swinging slowly in the ocean breeze, she finally felt at ease. The sounds of gun fire and explosions were carried clear to her position where she hung, and she could see the chaos of combat raging in the street below. Anansi reflected inwardly that this was the most at peace she had ever felt.
Growing up in the poorest parts of Jamaica had accustomed Edina Todd to the unfairness of life. She had learned to survive however she could, and was gifted with unusual grace, balance and quickness. These talents made her the most skilled pickpocket on the island. She was careful though, clever and resourceful. She saved her stolen pennies knowing she would need them later. But her dreams haunted her. Driving her ever on, never letting her rest. Those dreams pushed her.
When she was fourteen, she had saved enough to smuggle herself to America. The dreams told her she belonged there and she had no choice but to listen. She worked the fields for a while but that wasn’t a job fit for her. She soon found the carnival though, or maybe it found her. By this time she was beginning to trust her dreams more. Fighting them never worked, and life was easier if she just listened. In many of her dreams there was an old kindly-looking man with the laughing eyes, and she was sure that he cared for her.
In the carnival her quick wits and nimble fingers saw Edina working the games of chance and skill. But she found little joy in the work. When she was dared to try her luck on the high wire everything changed. She was a natural, the trapeze and the wire felt like home, no, better than home. Soon she was the star of the show. She did things in the air no one could dream. But still there was something missing
By sixteen Edina knew she had to move on. The carnival owner was taking advantage of her and she knew it. Attendance had doubled thanks to her talents, but still the owner would barely pay her. Enough was enough, and the kindly man in her dreams urged her forward. So in full view of a packed audience she fell from the wire. The fall did not hurt, she knew it would not, but in the crowd’s panic she escaped with the carnival strongbox as her severance package.
After that she dropped off the grid and took to cat burglary for a few years. Edina wandered the great cities of America and sought for something more. Her dreams pushed her ever forward. Finally she got the call. A man with an impossibly silky voice offered her a job in Pulp City, and she knew she had to go. The Mysterious Man explained that he had followed her progress for years. He was willing to put her in the big leagues. She would need a new name though. Her choice was clear; Anansi would be her name. In her dream the kindly-looking man nodded and said she was ready, she could take his name, and his mantle.
With the help of Mysterious Man she created her suit and his science gave her the ability to weave webs to complete her new persona, her new power granted from specially grafted gland implants. The Mysterious Man knew exactly what to offer her to win her allegiance. For his gifts she would always be grateful. But even the Mysterious Man would need to be put in his place eventually.
For now the Supremes of Pulp City would know that a new player was in town. So with a merry laugh she dropped from her perch. The battle was on, and the webs Anansi spun would forever change the world. The trick she realized as she fell, was to make it look easy.