PSIREN

PERSONAL DATA

• Alter Ego: Melanie Chase; "Melody"
• Occupation: Singer-songwriter
• Group Affiliation: None
• Known Relatives: None
• Base of Operations: US West Coast

HISTORY

Two years ago, a woman woke up on a bus bound for Kansas City. She had no baggage, no ticket, no ID, and no memory of the last three years of her life. She knew her name, but little else, so she began making some inquiries, and was plunged into a nightmare. When she tried to contact her family and old friends she had no luck, no one seemed to know who she was. As far as almost everyone was concerned she didn't exist. Someone took notice of the questions Melanie was asking, though, and came looking. She barely escaped her mysterious pursuers and headed west. The day she arrived in Pacific City, California she adopted a new name and identity and Melanie Chase was born.

With no money, and fearful of trusting anyone, Melanie struggled to survive on the streets of the city. She quickly discovered that while she had lost her identity during those missing three years, she had gained something else. Whatever happened to her during the missing years had given her psychic powers. Melanie found she could read people's minds, communicate telepathically and move objects with telekinesis.

To earn some money, Melanie began singing in smaller venues. After one evening's performance she came across a group of tourists being attacked by a gang. Using a scarf as a makeshift mask and a hooded sweatshirt as a costume, Melanie was able to stop the attack and save the tourists. Melanie felt good about being able to use her powers to help others, so she decided to keep doing it. She refined her costume so she could continue to use her powers without tipping off her mysterious pursuers. Early in her heroic career, Melanie would sing to maintain her concentration when using her powers and because of this the media dubbed the new heroine "The Psiren".

These days Melanie makes a living singing in small clubs, using the stage name Melody. Moving from city to city, she never stays in one place long enough to attract too much attention, always mindful that her pursuers, whoever they are, are still out there. She has become very skilled using her powers, she has even discovered a few new ones she didn't know she had. The only thing she has discovered so far about her missing past came from a chance encounter with the hero Nightmare in Superior City. He claimed to be one of a group of people who had escaped from a lab where they were being experimented on to produce psionic abilities. Nightmare believed that Psiren was also one of these escapees. He has since learned that he was right, that both he and Psiren were the products of an experiment conducted by Dr. Sebastian Poe of the Parapsychological Studies Institute (PSI). Nightmare has not yet revealed this information to Psiren as he does not want to take the chance that PSI may learn about her through him.

POWERS & WEAPONS

The experiments that PSI performed on Melanie gave her psionic powers, mostly on the telepathic side though she does have some telekinetic abilities as well. When she first started using these abilities Psiren would sing aloud to help maintain her concentration, but her control has increased over time and she no longer does this. Psiren's telepathic abilities allow her to read minds as well as communicate telepathically. She can also use a form of mind control that lets her plant powerful suggestions in the minds of others. Her telekinetic powers include lifting objects with her mind and the ability to surround herself with a protective force field. She has recently developed several extra-sensory powers as well, including clairsentience (the ability to see and hear things over vast distances), object reading (the ability to see into the past by reading the psychic impressions left on an object or in an area), and a sixth sense that warns her if she is in danger.