From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

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The concept of a girl who's powers involved commanding fire and spontaneously combusting came to me before I'd heard of City of Heroes. She was going to be a character to be used in a Heroes Unlimited campaign, which fell through before it could even get started. I got the urge to pick the concept up again after the Cyborg Booster Pack came out.

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To put it rather simply...Cadence has some issues. She has very little self-esteem. She has abandonment issues, and is constantly worried how others will perceive her. She has a hard time with very strong personalities, especially those that are borderline bullying.

Cadence is able to set her self on fire basically. In fact, in order to use her powers, she basically has to engulf herself in flames (for visual, think Human Torch). Using this, she can fly. She also has the ability to combust...to explode (in game terms, she uses self-destruct when this happens). She's only done in a couple of times. It's really rather painful and it leaves her feeling very wiped out afterward. The bigger the explosion, the more painful/wiped out she'll feel.

As far as weaknesses, thus far all that's known is ice and cold. Not much to be explained, just those tend to bother her.

Cadence Calloway was born and raised in Paragon City, near Independence Port. She had a normal childhood...a mother, a father, no siblings to speak of but they did have a dog. 2 years ago, however, Cadence discovered that she was different. She was being picked on during gym class...when she suddenly errupted into flames. Form that time on things...seemed to change. Her parents increasingly grew distant, barely even acknowledging she existed unless she burned something. Eventually, her parents had enough. They left one day, leaving Cadence with $50 and a note saying they were leaving.

She wasn't given much time to process what happened...because not long after she'd gotten home from school and had found the note, a couple Crey agents entered the home. She used her powers, setting herself ablaze...and then quite by accident, she found herself rocketing into the sky. It allowed her to escape her pursuers, but she had no idea how to control her flight. Luckily, Chill Blazer from Teen Phalanx came across her, kept her from nose diving into the concrete and sent her on to TP's dormitories. Shiv and the others took her in, gave her a home. She made friends...and for the first time since getting her powers, she felt as if she was being accepted. With the help of Maxwell Barerra (Mac Sidhe), she learned to keep her emotions from affecting her powers so much, allowing her to use her powers in a much more stable manner.

During her time with Teen Phalanx, she was kidnapped by Crey, only to be rescued by several of their members. She made friends, and was hit on by some female members of the group with uh...very strong personalities. Perhaps the closest friend she'd made, aside from Max, was actually someone outside of the group: Kyle, better known as PsiFire. The two became very close. It was this, and other events going on within Teen Phalanx, that made Cadence considering leaving to join Evolution-X.

What Cadence doesn't know is that the only true memories she has are of the past 2 years. Prior to that, she was a Crey test subject, known as Subject 13. Project Pinnacle was created to push the limitations of a metahumans body, thus making them stronger than they normally could be. Mutants, it was found, had a better chance of surviving the testing. Young mutants were pulled out of orphanages, foster homes, and off the streets and brought into laboratories. They were subjected to painful treatments, and what was called 'limits testing'. Basically...they would subject the mutant to various types of damage (ie toxic, fire, cold, electrical) to see how much the subject could withstand.

It was this limits testing that would doom the project. Cadence was a different person then...not so shy...not so much of a door mat...and she had grown tired of being hurt all the time. In her anger, she let loose an explosion that killed some of the other test subjects and the majority of the staff in the building, and the laboratory was leveled. While the damage was devastating, it completely wiped Cadence out. Crey was able to clean up the mess, pay off the necessary authorities and cover up the mess. The surviving subjects were moved to another facility.

With heroes sticking their nose in and investigating the incident, it became necessary to put the project on hold indefinitely. Cadence and the other mutants were given 'flash memory' programming. Basically, the procedure overwrited whatever memories the mutants had and placed new ones there. Individuals were paid off to act as these kids' parents, documents forged...all an elaborate attempt to keep Crey from being caught.

Thus far, they've been successful. Someone in management wants Project Pinnacle reinstated though hence the kidnapping attempts on Cadence recently.

• Teen Phalanx: Formerly a member

• Evolution-X: Formerly a member

• Paragon Elite: Currently a member

• The Grey Osprey
• PsiFire
• Gym Class Hero

1. "Nobody's Home" by Avril Lavigne

2. "Duel" by Bond