The Fatales are a group of female heroes assembled by Golden Girl to fight crime in southern California. The membership consists of Golden Girl, Greased Lightning, and Yellowjacket. Aside from being all female, the members of the Fatales have one other thing in common: their respective decisions to become heroes were influenced by Midnight Express.
Gina grew up in San Diego. Although she was blond and blue eyed, she wasn't very outgoing and became mousy and withdrawn. As she grew up, she became less interested in the beach and party scene and more interested in her studies and computers. She had the marks to enter college anywhere she wanted but was uncomfortable with going away. All she ever wanted was to have adventure and some excitement added to her life. That's when HE showed up.
She used superheroes as her method of escape. She would watch TV and listen to the radio for hours to reports on the exploits of the Avengers or Defenders. Just her luck, she wasn't even on the right coast to see all the action and she wasn't about to move to New York. Sure the West Coast Avengers were here but they were never in California very often. They were always off saving the world. Then the Dark Force came and with them a young, brash, headstrong blond who captured her heart. The new team was dark and grim. They weren't all that popular but their speedster, Midnight Express, was different from the rest. He was funny, charming and always had great sound bites for the press. Gina knew that if not for him, that group would fall apart. Their leader, the grim crazoid archer wasn't going to keep them together. Midnight Express acted like some of the idiot guys on campus that wouldn't give her the time of day but there was something noble to him that made him different. There was something else great about him as well: he decided to move to San Diego. She was now able to see him all the time. He was downtown, on campus, at the beach. It was dream come true.
One day a girl, Mindy, was kidnapped from the dorm. Midnight Express came to investigate and asked Gina questions. She tried to be calm and standoffish but she knew he could tell she liked him. Things were going well. During that case, they worked closely together and her skills in electronics, computers, and Martial Arts (Hey, even shy girls have to protect themselves) proved invaluable. She was positive he would ask her out but instead... HE OFFERED HER A JOB! Midnight Express thought her skills were just what he needed to run a small electronics shop he had opened (been given) in downtown San Diego. Talk about a blow-off! It's safe to say the relationship was strained after that although Midnight Express still doesn't know why, despite his teammate Flare's attempts to explain it to him.
About a month before the Onslaught, the Cavaliers were feared dead or worse. At the same time, Julie Madison disappeared. Gina knew they were connected so she went out to Julie's private house and discovered Tech-Rat and the Cava-Lair. She convinced him San Diego still needed heroes and together they built a suit of armor for her to live out a life-long dream. She has since formed her own team of women heroes, mainly because of Gina being uncomfortable talking to men. She is still located in San Diego.
Kate Larousa was born to an Italian family in LA. Her father and mother owned a small restaurant in the North end of the city. Her parents were honest hard working people and were successful enough to carve out a small living for themselves. Her parents never were involved with the Italian Mafia and stayed away from them as much as possible. As a result, both the triad and the mob harassed them since they didn't have "protection" from either. Kate resented her parents for being so honest and blamed them for the family not having a better lifestyle. She knew that the Mafia took care of their own and the Larousa family would be rich off of the business they would send their way.
By High School, Kate had resorted to stealing to get the finer things in life. She left home at sixteen for a chance at a better life and went straight to the mob her parents tried to shelter her from. Her naturally high dexterity aided her in a lot of B&E work that quickly won favor with the Dons. They in turn used her for higher profile and profitable thefts. These premium jobs showed Kate just how good she was. Being on the west coast, she never had any run-ins with Super Heroes. After all there weren't nearly as many as in New York and she wasn't a threat that deserved the West Coast Avengers' attention. However, Kate started to crave more solo work and more freedom. After one too many private jobs, the Mob decided she had outlived her usefulness and ordered her disappearance. After being subdued, she was taken to a toxic dumpsite and thrown in. This dumpsite, apart from housing several deadly chemicals, was the last resting-place for the Kree Starstealth wreckage that was scrapped after operation Galactic Storm. Kate smashed some chemical vials from the wreckage when she fell in. The chemicals were the same type used to create the Inhumans. The mixture instantly altered her DNA and she found herself running out of the pit and pummeling her attackers at supersonic speed.
Apart from her speed powers, Kate also possessed astonishing control over electrical energy. She saw an enormous advantage for profit and became the fastest burglar in America. She was eventually offered money to join the Raiders headed up by Bloodstorm. This was her first foray into the supervillain realm. Shortly after, she realized being that kind of bad girl wasn't her thing. People got hurt and some of her "allies" were hardened killers. The Raiders had several clashes with the Cavaliers where Greased Lightning often squared off against Midnight Express, which Express seemed to treat merely as opportunities to flirt with Lightning. Kate eventually realized that being a villain was not what she wanted, and besides, it looked like the good guys were much cooler. During one of the Raiders' battles with the Cavaliers she turned against them and saved Midnight Express' life when he was nearly killed stopping a weapon created by Viper.
Soon after she was contacted by Golden Girl, who asked her to join the Fatales and attempt to make up for some of her mistakes. She is still with the group at present.
Little is known of Rita DeMara's early life except that she has had extensive training and experience with technology. At some point, she was working with Joshua Masters (Midnight Express) before the two of them embarked on their current careers. Eventually she became a small-time crook and stole Henry Pym's Yellowjacket costume from Avengers mansion. As the new Yellowjacket she was recruited by Baron Zemo into his Masters of Evil. She was part of the group of villains that attacked Avengers Mansion and nearly killed Hercules. Along with the other Masters of Evil she was defeated by the Avengers and sent to prison. Escaping prison along fellow Master of Evil, the Fixer, Rita began to turn away from crime. First she sided with the Black Knight against the Fixer and later helped the Avengers defeat the High Evolutionary.
Eventually, Rita came to possess a suit capable of time travel. She enjoyed several adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy 1,000 years in the future before returning to the present, where she was killed trying to warn the Avengers of an impending attack. But this wasn't the end of the story.
Shortly after learning of Rita's death from the Avengers, Midnight Express met her. She had wanted to show her old friend (now super-hero) the new time travel suit she had. In typical Cavalier fashion, Midnight Express threw caution to the wind and warned her about what would happen, and the space-time continuum could be damned for all he cared. He told her that if she left for the future, she would eventually be killed. Rita decided right then and there to destroy the time travel suit (this decision has apparently not yet resulted in the destruction of all reality).
Rita turned her efforts to designing a new Yellowjacket costume and was invited to join the Fatales.
