"Go home? You say it's 'too late' for all this business? It is night. And all the animals come out at night. You, for instance..."
-Rachel Enns, to a wounded Harlem Citizens' Watch gangster
Introduction[]
Rachel Enns is a field agent within the Imperial Intelligence Agency, and one of the first recruited into the Agency after Jane Smyth assumed control of it in 2150. A former Army special forces soldier (a great accomplishment, considering her young age at the time), she participated in the final years of the Ten Years' War, where she was exposed to the brutality of violence in Southeast Asia. Upon her return home after being wounded in action, she moved to World City and witnessed once again the cruelty of life in the undercity; this time perpetrated by the many street gangs and human trafficking rings settled into the corrupt underground. She became responsible for a string of murders and shootouts within the undercity, drawing the eye of Jane Smyth in 2148.
Background[]
Rachel Enns was born in 2123 in Ronto. Growing up, she was often noted for distancing herself from her peers, instead preferring to play and study alone. Her YDOs noted her obsessions regarding "injustice", and how she would often plan to "end" these injustices, often with force. Despite counseling, she decided to end her academic career on her 17th birthday (17 being the youngest age one can join the Imperial Military) in 2140, joining the Army Corps to partly acquire the "necessary skills and resources" to fuel what her counselors called a "superhero complex" and partly to begin her "hunt" after seeing what the UDAP armies had done in Japan, Taiwan, and the supercity of Northwatch.
Upon her enlistment, she soon proved to be an extremely capable soldier, scoring perfect or near-perfect scores in everything from marksmanship training to physical endurance to battlefield mentality. Her drill instructors recommended that she give the Special Forces' training a go, which she did. Despite the training's harsh nature, she succeeded with flying colors, and became one of the few "rookies" to become part of the Black Caps (and one of the youngest at that, at only 18). Being a part of something bigger, her dreams of single-handedly ridding the world of it's cruelties soon vanished
Seeing combat in Indochina, Korea, and the Gobi Desert, she was exposed to the hellish nature of war. Despite performing well in battle, she began to show signs of PTSD, and her childhood fears soon resurfaced. In 2143, after witnessing the UDAP troops execute a group of "Frenkish sympathizing" civilians, she disobeyed the orders of her NCO and charged in, saving another group. However, after a mortar strike peppered her left side with shrapnel, she was critically wounded. After being rushed behind friendly lines, she was presented with the Silver Star for valor against enemy forces and protection of innocent lives. However, with her wounds too serious to allow continued operation in the Special Forces, she was sent back home with a Purple Heart.
Once again, she was alone, and, with the horrors of war fresh on her mind, she was a mental trainwreck. She moved to World City in 2145, hoping the hustle and bustle of the urban behemoth would make her see life a new. Using her technical skill from the army, she found work servicing police Securabots in the undercity; the notorious Lower Harlem district. It was during this time that she had noted the corruption of her surroundings in the form of totalitarian street gangs and the human traffickers and pimps they shielded. After leaving work one night, she was approached by a ten-year-old prostitute, who begged her for help. However, before she could even respond, her pimp caught back up with her and dragged her off, throwing Rachel a hundred-credit piece as an "apology" for the trouble.
Haunted by the events of that night, she began physical training to overcome the weakness that her wartime injuries left her with. Using her (mostly underutilized) income and veteran's pension, she got into contact with an illegal arms trafficker and acquired an arsenal, including military-grade weaponry such as an Auto-9 Pistol, M26 Assault Rifle, several hand grenades, and even an IX-MR sniper rifle. Shortly after this, she encountered a couple of of gangsters robbing a young man on the street. Rachel intervened, killing them both with one of her concealed pistols. After returning the wallet to the man, she apologized for the violence she just committed in front of him, not knowing what came over her. The man said that "more people like her" were needed down here before taking the pistol from her, assuring her that he had a permit and would take full blame for the killings.
After that night, she began a one-woman campaign of bloodshed against the scum of the undercity, partaking in several sniper attacks in Lower Harlem. Eventually, the gangs caught up to her, warning her that they knew who she was and that they'd be retaliating before long. Seeing no other option, she armed herself with her heaviest weapons and proceeded to the housing complex they were operating out of, planning to invade it and free all of the enslaved prostitutes within. Using her military skill, she neutralized almost all of the gangsters protecting the complex, engaging in brutal CQC within the halls. When reaching the top floor, she executed the pimp she first encountered in full view of the imprisoned and frightened prostitutes. When police responded to the disturbance, she peacefully surrendered to them.
However, after her arrest, she was subjected to harsh treatment from the Lower Harlem Enforcers, many of whom being corrupt and had been taking bribes from the gangs and traffickers. During one interrogation, however, a lone Zealot blasted his way through the precinct, liberating Rachel from her captors and telling her that a "special someone has eyes for you".
"Prisoner #338"[]
After the shootout at Lower Harlem's Enforcer station, Rachel was taken to a nearby Culture Office safehouse, where Jane Smyth was waiting. After explaining her predicament, Smyth expressed that she saw "promise" in Rachel, and offered her a new career as one of her "eyes". Seeing no other choice, Rachel accepted the offer. Smyth informed her that she would be taking the blame for Gyles' massacre of the Lower Harlem police force, surely landing her in the Empire's most notorious prison for such a wide massacre; Madagascar Island Detainee Compound. She assured her that most of the wardens were under her payroll, and she wouldn't be subjected to the harsh conditions of the prison too much. Here, she would serve as a spy for Smyth, keeping an eye on the prison's most infamous prisoner; Eshele "Big Esh" Mutambo, an African warlord and slaver who was purportedly protected by the IIA.
Enns as "Prisoner #338"
Rachel was shipped to Madagascar by Smyth's contacts in 2147, being handed off to her minions there. After surgically enhancing her body with various optical enhancements (including giving Smyth the ability to view through Rachel's eyes), she was released into the general population, watched over by the Army Corps garrison and armed with a pocket pistol in-case any of the other inmates got any "bright ideas".
For the better part of a year, Rachel kept a close watch on Mutambo, shielded by the guards and given superior accommodations for continued support on Smyth's mission to uncover corruption within the IIA. She learned many interesting tidbits about the warlord, including that his quarters' were almost as good as any of the wardens', and he had a friendship with a number of the guards (who were outside of Smyth's control). She eventually eavesdropped on a conversation, where an IIA investigator gave Mutambo the assurance that he would be released if he promised to execute all of the Mecharussian populists that now haunted his former turf. After agreeing to this, Smyth gave Rachel the task of assassinating Mutambo when the IIA dispatch had vacated.
Taking pleasure in eradicating more "filth", Rachel cornered Mutambo and squeezed off three bullets into the slaver's stomach, leaving him to die a painful death before the guards could discover him. After that night, the Justiciar supercomputer responsible for the legalities within the prison ordered Rachel (who was hailed as a hero for her eradication of the gangs and corrupt police back home) free.
Smyth transported her back home in 2149, where she enjoyed a heroes welcome from the locals of her former neighborhood, which had undergone drastic reforms to target the gangs and police corruption. For a while, she seemed happy, and embraced civilian life as a hero and (at least, somewhat) achieving her childhood dreams. Smyth informed her that she would be "keeping in contact".
Overkill MC (Main Canon only)[]
In April of 2152, several years after Rachel returned from prison, she returned to a quiet life in Lower Harlem, keeping out of the limelight to distance herself from her vigilante antics. While she seemed content with herself, she often noted that she was never "cured", still disgusted by the sights and sounds around her and pained at her inability to do anything about it. However, during this time, a new gang would begin setting up shop in Lower Harlem; the bigoted, chem-peddling Overkill Motorcycle Club. Suspicious of these new arrivals, Rachel would often find herself keeping tabs on them, but never acting against them, for fear that the violent rage within her would resurface. Meanwhile, the newest private investigator the Empty ghoul habitation could offer received a case after one of the ghetto's businesses was found burned down and it's owner murdered; some suspecting a hate crime. It was here that Rachel met notorious former IIA operative and renown private detective, Jonathon Rollins, who had journeyed to Lower Harlem to study the gang further.
Recalling Rachel from the news reports, Jon sought her out for any possible help she could give, stating on his limited knowledge of vigilantes that they "never truly locked their guns away". After finding her at her home, Rachel at first snubbed the ghoul, assuming that he just wanted to question her over her past and pester her to do something about the "biker trash" that now littered the streets. However, using his charm and perfected sense of people skills, Jon managed to win over the introverted Enns, and successfully recruited her help in investigating the gang, sharing her observations and providing a little bit of extra muscle in case it "came to that".
After Rachel informed him that several low-ranking bikers hung around a certain nightclub every night, Jon cornered a lone member outside the club, intent on finding a few answers. After warning the ghoul to "go back to your graveyard", Jon punched the gangster in the mouth, warning that the girl he kept in tow would "end your little tricycle club if I let her off her leash!" Utilizing Rachel's fierce reputation, Jon managed to coerce lower-ranking members into confirming that the Overkill MC was indeed responsible for the murder, and that they were planning a "rally" in The Empty to spread terror to it's denizens that night, packing as many of them as they could away for a proposed slave trade with their Outland contacts. Out of options and with no way to warn the ghetto, Jon called Rachel up, informing her that it did indeed "came to that".
Jon attempted to use his training in covert operations to subdue a guard outside the Overkill MC's clubhouse, allowing him to slash the tires of their precious motorcycles while Rachel provided overwatch. However, while he was doing this, he was caught by the gang, who had been informed of the "zombie" asking questions. The pair engaged in a frantic gun battle with the gang, with Jon and Rachel's military backgrounds proving superior to the biker's numbers. However, as the other gangsters were either dead, wounded, or fleeing, the chapter's leader approached the pair and begged for mercy. Rachel pushed Jon away, and was fully-prepared to execute the slaver in cold blood until Jon spoke up, warning her that she was following a dark path that he only recently managed to stray from.
With her finger slowly inching towards the trigger, she suddenly dropped the gun, seeing truth in Jon's words. However, a different bullet impacted the leader's skull from a different direction. Seeing Jane Smyth as the culprit, she chastised Jon for believing that she would really let such acts go on in her city. She also criticized him for letting the deceased Hadrian Kelly get to him and hindering her "new favorite protege" in her absolutist methods. Nonetheless, she was satisfied that it ended like it did, noting she didn't have to step in until the very last moment "like always". Jon and Rachel said their farewells, the former reminding her to "be good".
Recruitment into the IIA[]
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Flight of the Polunochnaya (Alt Canon only)[]
With the failed Sixteen July Plot seeing Elena Trotskaya's children abducted by the rogue Judicator Alain, Smyth intended to play into the paranoia of the moment by aligning with all sides. She gathered three of her best (Jonathon Rollins, Hadrian Kelly, and Darcy Lawrence), who were already familiar with the Sidhae due to their involvement in the plot, and created a specialized task force to join Trotskaya aboard her command ship and provide her with much-needed manpower and personnel with experience in intelligence gathering. For a bit of extra muscle, Smyth assigned her best "lone wolf" (Rachel) to Rollins' team. They would be joined last minute by a Commonwealth psyker; Harper Brooks.
On-board the ship, Rachel rarely left the quarters assigned to the Frenkish dispatch, only doing so when her presence was requested or needed. Harper, who could "sense" Rachel's scarred psyche, would eventually approach her with the intent of befriending her. Rachel took to Harper's friendliness exceptionally well, with Rollins noting that Harper was the only person Rachel smiled in the presence of. While enjoying a drink with Rollins, Rachel revealed in her drunkenness that she was developing "strange...but not bad feelings" for Harper. Jon revealed that she's probably the "one in a million" among Frenks to feel romance. Reacting with a bit of disgust (as she was always taught that "romance" led to the extinct, ineffective family system), Rachel assured him that Harper didn't feel the same anyway and it didn't matter how she herself felt. Rollins approached Harper the next day, and eventually discovered that Harper did indeed reciprocate her feelings. Encouraging the Ardavian to make the first move, the two would eventually begin a relationship.
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Operation Fobos[]
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Personality[]
Rachel is an extremely introverted individual, snubbing most human contact in favor of being alone and distant, failing (and refusing) to see any differently. She rarely talks if not spoken to first, and has difficulty picking up on subtle social cues. As such, Rachel is fiercely independent, and prefers to do things her own way instead of pandering to anyone. She often takes this to extremes, preferring to stay in her dormitories when not on mission, spending her free time indulging in 20th century crime films and keeping her physical fitness in check. When she does leave, it's often only at night, and often only to visit prostitutes (whom she views in high regard for their service-based approach to sex, rather than the usual social-based approach) or bask in the night sky.
Despite her antisocial behavior, she does feel comfortable with a fair number of people, including her surviving former comrades in the Army, Jane Smyth, Jonathon Rollins, Hadrian Kelly (altcanon only), and Azad "Smalls" Cikoles. These people are typically close enough to her in their occupations and eventually "grew" on her (in Smalls' case) and good enough with people that they "overcame" her innate shyness (Rollins). Otherwise, she seems to have no problems around children, the elderly, animals, and even robots, as she often recalls missing her work as an automaton technician, as she felt that the Securabots, with their simplistic programming and personalities, were among the few "people" she could legitimately talk with.
However, partly because of her past experiences with PTSD, she carries a distinct lack of empathy or regard for human life, is entirely fearless in the face of adversity (going so far as to not even flinch when the fearsome Fred Harrigan grabbed her by her collar and threatened her), and sees no problems with violence as a first-step solution, and often goes at it excessively (often preferring to make certain "filthy people" suffer before ending them). Some, such as Jane Smyth, encourage this behavior, claiming that Rachel is a "no-nonsense" type of person. However, others, such as Hadrian Kelly and Jon Rollins, worry about her behavior.
Physical Characteristics and Traits[]
Rachel is tall, lean, and physically strong, sporting well-toned (though not overbearing) muscle. Though after the war she had become a bit more "flabby", she soon reverted back to her Army conditioning soon after. She is described as having a "pretty" (if seemingly perpetually "pouty") face, even accounting for the noticeable, "J"-shaped mark under her right eye; a scar she received during the war. Her hair (often kept in a messy ponytail) is a natural shade of bright red. All in all, she is considered an attractive woman, even if she doesn't (or doesn't care to) see it.
She has many tattoos, including visible sleeves down her arms and a single work on her neck; all of which were received during her time in the Army, and almost all depict her experiences during her tour of duty (as is tradition within the Black Caps special forces unit). Her right arm sports a stylized depiction of Imperial troops fighting in the UDAP, while her left represents the infamous "flower fields" of Indochina, where she lost many comrades. Her neck shows an eye, representing her watchful nature as one of her squad's NCOs. She also has more on her body, including an Imperial eagle above her left breast, and a swooping Goshawk on her stomach (this one, the final tattoo she received, represents the F/A-74 fighter that saved her life in Korea by performing CAS on the advancing Asian forces that wounded her).
Trivia[]
- In-part, Rachel Enns personality and early life events are based on Travis Bickle, the main character from the 1976 neo-noir film Taxi Driver. Like Bickle, Enns is a disturbed, antisocial war veteran who lives in a corrupted environment and, after seeing the bad deeds of the criminals around him/her, begins physical conditioning and acquires illegal weapons. Like Bickle, Enns also wages a one-man "war" against a cell of criminals at one point. However, unlike Bickle, Enns is generally benevolent in personality (committing acts of violence for heroic means), not suffering from a severe psychosis that would lead to more malevolent action (such as Bickle's attempted assassination of Senator Palantine).
- Many of Rachel's traits (heavily introverted, dislike of normal social interaction, lack of empathy, disregard for human life, extreme obsessions, etc) could allude to a mild form of autism, suggesting that Frenkish Eugenics (which had supposedly wiped out all naturally-occurring disorders within the main populace, including autism) isn't 100% without fail.
- Almost the entire basis of Rachel's character is based off of humorous banter regarding the multiplayer segment of the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V between the author and his circle of friends whom he plays the game with. For example, it was once claimed that all the GTA Online characters were autistic, due to their quiet, antisocial (and somewhat sociopathic) nature (and it is subtly implied through the traits that she displays that Rachel might be a bit on the spectrum). Another example is an observation that female characters are "exclusively lesbian" in the game, considering the fact that the only sexually-involved activities (Strip Clubs, Prostitution, etc) that a female character can partake involve other women (again, Rachel is an example of this put into action). The Travis Bickle elements involving "cleaning the streets" was invoked after the author "upset the inner-city youth" (fired a gun in an area controlled by the Ballas street gang, turning nearly all of the residents hostile) in-game, and remarked that he felt like Bickle's dream come true when he returned fire, eventually killing them all. Rachel's appearance is, of course, based off of the author's GTA Online character, and her penchant for using shotgun-type weaponry mirrors the author's own favorite weapon in the game; the Assault Shotgun. These elements combined together gave the author the idea of "cleaning and organizing" the character up a bit and introducing her to the Frencoverse in some way.