Tap

Tap is a child of the streets and hero in Harrisburg. She is known as Sheba Marsh only officially; Tap is the only name she uses.

Description
Tap stands barely five foot tall, and looks like she must be thin as a rake under her clothes. She is typically dressed scruffily in well-worn jeans and a dark grey hoody, too large for her: its hood is easily big enough to hide her face in its shadows. Of her self, normally only her small and slender hands show.

She generally seems quiet, alert and skittish, as if always ready to run. But when she does stand her ground she betrays no hint of fear.

Origin
Tap doesnt know where her powers came from. She might be a mutant, or maybe it has something to do with the glowing goop in that wrecked building where she used to play, perhaps some toxic waste or the leftovers of some meta battle.

Her powers manifested gradually. Even before her brothers death, she had what seemed to be a knack of making machines work or malfunction by hitting them just right, whence her moniker. She has been surprisingly strong for her size for a few years, but only in the last few months has she been obviously superhumanly tough and strong.

Powers
Tap is effectively a brick, but through psychokinesis rather than direct physical strength – this, however, isnt obvious, even to her. Nevertheless, it enables her two signature moves. First, she can put more of the force of her blows into acceleration instead of into direct damage. Secondly, she can reliably jiggle the insides of devices to cause or repair malfunctions (percussive maintenance) or to put the device into a different operational state (e.g. causing a vending machine to dispense its wares without money).

Because of their psionic nature, her defences are higher when she is aware of the attack.

Personality
Since she was small, certainly since her parents death, Tap would have told you she wanted to get out of Harrisburg. She hated the gangs, the crime, the violence, the killing, the rich and powerful trampling on the poor and helpless - not surprisingly, since she was among the poor and helpless. The deaths of her parents and brother, and her experience social services, has led to a deep mistrust of those in authority, de jure or de facto, and and intensified her hatred of the gangs.

But now she has enough going for her that she could get out, she finds she cant leave. Harrisburg is part of her as she is part of Harrisburg, and she cant desert it. She has taken it upon herself to protect Harrisburg from all the ills that afflict it.

Tap isnt exactly a loner, but nor does she have close friends, having felt the pain of loss too many times. Shes known on the Harrisburg streets, and sometimes even hangs out with normal kids in other parts of town, with a suitable change of clothing: an expression of the part of her that wants to get away.

Relations
Tap is by and large a loner; the people she trusted most in the world are dead. Though in the Harrisburg Watch, she's a bit uncomfortable there: to her mind being in any organisation is a bit like being in a gang.

Her best friend is perhaps Maximilian Cheesesnatcher; it may help that rats, like her, are rather on the fringes of society.

History
Tap is a child of Harrisburg. She was born Sheba Marsh (named after a soap opera character of the time), though she has not used the name in a long time.

Her parents were killed when she was small when their house burnt down. Shes not sure quite why – she's heard stories both of meta fights and of gang wars round that time - and has researching this has never been as pressing as survival. She and her elder brother Royce were placed in a foster home, the less said about which the better. Before long they ran away and were fending for themselves in the streets, forgotten by the system.

They scavenged, begged and stole to survive, barely. Royce decided to join the Harrisburg Hellions, the better to take care of her, despite their misgivings about gangs. One day, he didn't come back.

Tap then lived by herself, hiding in shadows. During this time she became aware that a lot of her fellow scavengers among the rats were more intelligent than they were letting on. Once she found a party of such rats trapped by cats, and rescued them. The rat leader, Maximilian Cheesesnatcher, who has since risen to chief rat of Harrisburg, has been a friend since that day.

As her powers grew Tap became less of a scavenger and more of a thief. And lately her powers have grown so much she has stepped out of the shadows (somewhat) to challenge the gangs. Very recently, realising she has been reckless in antagonising the gangs alone, she has joined the Harrisburg Watch.