Starbright

History
By day (and, truth be told, most nights) Lara Forrester is a young, talented graduate student working toward her doctorate in astronomy. Her specialty is in astrobiology, and her dissertation involves the creation of prebiotic molecules in extraplanetary environments. And while her work doesn't involve much telescope time, Lara still likes to look at the stars. One night, about a year ago, she was doing some stargazing outside of the city when she spotted a particularly brilliant meteor streak across the sky. A few moments later, the sound of its passage reached her, and she realized that the meteor was much lower and closer than she thought. A bright flash from just over the horizon told her that it had either hit the Earth or detonated in the atmosphere, and curiosity got the better of her.

She hopped on her bike and headed in the direction of the impact, expecting to find nothing at all. But after an hour or so of riding she came across a fresh impact crater. At the center was a chunk of rock, seemingly perfectly spherical, and glowing with a dull blue light. It was foolish of her, but after verifying that the impact site wasn't hot she hopped into the crater and picked up the stone. As soon as she did, there was a flash as the stone flowed over her and into her, and she found herself glowing with brilliant blue-white light. The sudden power surged through her, and before she knew it she found herself rising into the air, leaving a brilliant trail of light behind her.

That night, Lara became one of the first people to go into space unassisted.

She was gone for two days, causing some concern among her friends and family. When she returned, she'd managed to get her newfound powers more-or-less under control; she convinced her well-wishers that everything was fine and returned to her life. A month of experimentation let her probe the limits of her abilities. Normally, it would be hard for a grad student to spend a month on some other project, but since touching the meteorite she found that she no longer needed to sleep or eat (though she still could do both, and still did just for the pleasure of it). Her powers were vast; the energy contained within the object she encountered was apparently almost limitless.

'Lara learned to project some of that cosmic power as destructive bolts, in virtually any form she chose. By focusing, she could do other things as well - transmute on element to another, for example, or create constructs of obdurate force. She could also fly - if she concentrated, she could reach escape velocity, and in the vaccuum of space she could go much, much faster. She could survive in space unaided, and she no longer needed food, drink, or sleep'.

Once she felt she was ready, she donned a costume and took to the skies as Starbright, hero to Tomorrow City and the world.

Appearance
Normally, Lara is a woman of average height. She bikes and swims regularly and has a fit build. She has black hair and eyes. Typically, she dresses much like any other graduate student - jeans or a skirt and a t-shirt or top suitable for teaching and other professional functions. When she uses her powers, though, Lara becomes Starbright. Her eyes glow with a brilliant blue-white light, and her hair likewise changes color and becomes pure white. On a whim, she can use her powers to change her clothes into her heroic costume - a skintight blue and black bodysuit, with the black regions showing a star field, and white accessories (a belt, boots, and gloves).

Capabilities
Lara is a living conduit of energy. Many question if she can even be considered human since she no longer requires basic needs (sleep, drink, food, breath). Some who know her full story even suspect the 'Starburst entity' to be an energy-based copy of miss Forrester, and that the original Lara was disintegrated and replaced by it on that fateful night. Regardless, Starburst believes she is Lara, and her powers are vast.

In addition to her improved physiology, Starburst is

'Lara learned to project some of that cosmic power as destructive bolts, in virtually any form she chose. By focusing, she could do other things as well - transmute on element to another, for example, or create constructs of obdurate force. She could also fly - if she concentrated, she could reach escape velocity, and in the vaccuum of space she could go much, much faster. She could survive in space unaided, and she no longer needed food, drink, or sleep'.

Powers

Cosmic Energy Control:  Cosmic Battery: 
 * Cosmic Constructs: Create 15 [32K cu ft (32 x 32 x 32 or 20 ft radius sphere); Movable (3.2 KT), Stationary; Increased Mass 2, Tether]
 * ...Alt: Disintegrate: Weaken 13 [Toughness; Affects Objects, Ranged; Distracting; Accurate 1, Homing 1], Blast 13 [Distracting; Linked to Weaken]
 * ...Alt: Cosmic Energy Blast: Blast 15 [Homing 1, Variable Descriptor 2 (Any Energy)]
 * ...Alt: Eye Beams: Blast 12 [Perception Range; Variable Descriptor 2
 * ...Alt: Cosmic Wave: Damage 12 [Cone Area 2; Variable Descriptor 2 (Any Energy)]
 * ...Alt: Cosmic Healing: Healing 11 [Affects Objects, Ranged; Accurate 2, Persistent, Stabilize]
 * ...Alt: Cosmic Bindings: Snare 15 [Homing 1]
 * ...Alt: Transmutation: Transform 8 [Nonliving into Nonliving; 400 lbs; Continuous, Range; Distracting; Accurate 3]
 * ...Alt: Cosmic Communication: Communication 5 [Subspace audio-visual projection, any distance; Subtle 1 (detectable with cosmic awareness)]
 * Flight 13 [30 mi/rd; 16000 mph]
 * ...Alt: Rapid Flight: Flight 26 [250K mi/rd; 128M mph; Distracting]
 * ...Alt: FTL Flight: Movement 4 [Environmental Adaptation: Space, Space Travel 3]

Standard Equipment
 * Enhanced Advantages 1 [Favored Environment (Space)]
 * Unearthly: Immunity 32 [Cosmic Descriptor, Fortitude effects]
 * Cosmic Senses: Senses 1 [Cosmic Awareness]
 * Force Field: Protection 15 [Sustained]
 * Quick Change: Feature 1 (change into costume and back as free action)

Commlink (1 ep), Laptop computer (1 ep), Multi-tool (1 ep), Smartphone (2 ep)

Advantages Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Equipment 1, Favored Environment [Space], Move-by Action, Power Attack

Skills Athletics 0 (+0), Deception 0 (+0), Expertise: Astronomy 6 (+10), Expertise: Science 4 (+8), Expertise: Pop Culture 1 (+5), Insight 4 (+4), Intimidation 0 (+0), Investigation 1 (+5), Perception 4 (+4), Persuasion 5 (+5), Ranged Combat: Cosmic Control 9 (+9), Stealth 0 (+0), Technology 1 (+5), Treatment 1 (+5)

Offense Initiative +0 Cosmic Blast +9, Damage 15, Homing Cosmic Wave +9, Damage 12, Cone Area 2 Cosmic Bindings +9, Damage 15, Homing Snare Disintegrate +11, Damage 13, Homing Damage and Weaken Transmutation +15, Damage 8, Transform (nonliving into nonliving) Eye Beams +9, Damage 12, Perception Range

Power Points Abilities -2 + Powers 132 + Advantages 6 + Skills 18 + Defenses 26 = Total 180

Complications

Motivation: Thrills. Lara revels in using her powers and does so at every opportunity.

Secret ID. While Lara has nothing in particular to hide, she'd rather not have it known that she is Starbright, if for no other reason than in might derail her graduate studies.

Responsibility: Graduate Student

Secret: Uses Powers for Money. Graduate students don't traditionally have much money. Lara's not above using her phenomenal cosmic powers to transmute ordinary objects into cold hard cash. Thus far she hasn't been found out, but there would be a bit of a scandal if it were discovered.

Enemy: Aliens. The cosmic power she wields came from a fragment the Cosmic Keystone, an object of infinite potency. Its protectors aren't happy about the fact that a fragment has gone missing.

Rival: Competitive Grad Student. Thanks in part to her powers, Lara has become astonishingly productive. Why bother looking at the stars through a telescope when you can fly there in a few hours and look up close? One of her colleagues, David Paulson, has become suspicious of her recent good fortune and productivity, and seeks to discover just how she's managing to accomplish so much.