Born Therese Madison, November 2027, in Chicago. Raised in the suburbs. Her parents (Charlie Madison and Patrice Philipson) got divorced when she was six after her mother ran off with some rich corp guy who definitely didn't want any kids hanging around. Her father got sole custody in the divorce settlement but never saw any child support. He later remarried a teacher named Judy Kensington but Tessa had 'parental issues' with her step mother and didn't get on with her much at all. Charlie and Judy had a son when Tessa was ten. Samuel was a cute baby but grew up to be a spoilt brat (in other words, his parents adore him). She left home soon as she could, moving to the city and soon lost touch. They heard nothing from her until they received her dog tags and insurance policy ten years later...
She worked as a waitress for a year until she was seventeen and joined the training programme for the Chicago Fire Department. For three years she studied architecture, civil and structural engineering, emergency medicine, rescue operations, pyroforensics, and self defense before joining a firefighting unit. She was with the 23rd unit for six years. After her first fire the whole unit ended up in a tattoo parlour where they all got flaming psi tattoos. The last two years of that time she was seriously involved with another member of the unit - Andrew Carnegie. He had an old copy of the Kama Sutra and it became something of an interest to them both. They finally got engaged and were about to finalise a date. Life was good. Quite a cool unit they had. One of the best - but then all units think that of themselves. Anyway, they got involved in a few fires that turned out to be serial arson and ended up providing the evidence to convict the bad guys -probably some group of Runners. Obviously enough, no corporation was about to claim them as doing their work. About a year after the court case they were called into another fire. It seemed manageable when they arrived on scene but no sooner were they inside but the whole building went BOOM!
News reports said it was a terrorist bomb and all the unit were lost. Including Andy. Tessa had separated from the group just before the explosion -she had gone behind a sheet metal structure into the control room to check for the sprinkler control system. When the bomb blew it tossed her clear across the street. The building was soon coming down around them so no one ever noticed her and the other Emergency Services teams had to pull away to a safer location. She wasn't actually killed but very badly hurt with spine and leg injuries. She was pulled out by a Runner named Frank Bruce, aka "The Chemist" who just happened to be nearby. He was hired by someone who knew that the bomb would be planted but didn't want it to go off because they were 'the competition'. He didn't quite make it on time. He was kinda guilty about that so would always try to avoid the topic - which suited her fine too.
He brought her back to his hideout and took care of her injuries himself. Never did explain why he didn't get her to the paramedics. Probably because he suspected someone was trying to kill the unit and if they found out she escaped - he thought she was cute and didn't want to see that happen. She never told him about Andy, wanting to push all that as far from her mind as possible. With nothing to stay for in Chicago, she let him talk her into going back with him to Seattle. It was obvious to her that Frank was quite smitten with her and he had saved her life (and created the identity of Lois Dubray for her) so she shacked up with him for three years. She would never love him the way she did Andy of course, but it meant the nights were less lonely and he was quite a nice guy. She had a minor dalliance with drugs a few months in but he caught her taking stims/anti-deps one day and forced her to stop. She started to work out quite heavily becoming a little obsessed with getting back the strength she once had as a fire fighter before those long months of recovery from her injuries. He played guitar badly but taught her a few things anyway. Not just about guitars. About Running too. He preferred to go on jobs alone but would occasionally work with a select group of others. None of them were thrilled that he had taken her in but it was his neck afterall. In their last year together she started to go out on Runs with him - though never if he was with the others. They still weren't quite ready to accept she was actually good at this and it wasn't just Frank wanting to bring his girlfriend with him. His own knack for chemistry made him an expert in explosives. This caught her interest and she made him teach her.
One night he went out on a Run with the group and never came back. A couple of days later one of his associates came by to tell her he was killed and she has to leave before anyone comes looking for his things. It was the first time she realised that she actually did have strong feelings for him. Now kinda mad, she became Zara Hamilton, or Phoenix, and found his Fixer demanding to take his place. He was reluctant at first but with a little persuasion she pushed him and he pointed her in the direction of another fixer. Ben Murphy set her up with a group of Runners under the guise of a rock band. Their bass guitarist had recently died so he sent Zara to meet them. That was a year ago.
Her plan is simple. Find and destroy the bastards that killed Frank, then return to Chicago and avenge the deaths of her unit - including her own and Andy's. In the meantime she plays a mean funky bass as "Flame" with Dumuzi and the Harbingers of Doom. Has a Fender Jazzmaster with after market Les Paul gold pickups, precision elite medium gauge strings, triple wound interwoven with copper cores, and high turn grover machine heads. And a Harley Davidson. Still a bit obsessed with body building and has quite a body to show for it which she has no qualms about flaunting. Usually wears combats and halter tops on stage or in training. Always has her legs covered. Not one for either dresses or shorts. All the fires and the bomb did leave their marks.
After losing one fiance and one lover, she's been converted to the 'just going out for pizza, be right back sweetie' method of getting laid. If someone even looks like they're starting to take it in any way seriously, she'll drop them like a hot potato. Pure sexual gratification without strings, thank you. She'll never even bring someone to her place - always goes back to theirs. It's easier that way when no one knows where you live. So ain't going there again and definitely never going to explain why. A much preferable way of releasing repressed anger, she reckons. That and constantly working out. And maybe beating up a few people who annoy her. And blowing things up. Never laughs, never cries, but a very twisted sense of humour. Not interested in 'talking things out'. Get in her way, you'll get pushed out of it. She's in this for the buzz. Hey, it's this or drugs and she did kinda promise Frank...
Loyal to the rest of the team in a "watch my back and I'll watch yours" kinda way but no emotional ties. They're all replaceable and she can function quite well on her own if she needs to.
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