"Eternal life and beauty at the expense of everything else?  That sounds to me like a pretty crummy bargain." --Screech

Type of character: ???

Name: Unknown - alias "Screech"
Age: Approx. 30
Gender: F
Race/species: Nocturnal bat (anthro) (exact species uncertain)
Occupation: Search-and-rescue agent / superhero

Appearance:
Screech is primarily a dark brown color.  She's not extremely sexy, but she's not unattractive, either.  She's semi-buxom, with brown eyes, and isn't obviously muscular.  Her feet are taloned and capable of grasping, and she has a short tail.  Her ears are large and pointed, and her chest has a bit of light-brown fur on it, as does her head (this second tuft serves as hair).  She has small fangs.

Her wings are not separate from her hands and arms.  She does, however, have fingers separate from her wings; the best way to describe it would be to say she has two sets of fingers, the back set framing her wings and the front set behaving as normal, albeit clawed, fingers.  The webbing of her wings is a slightly lighter shade of brown than the rest of her body.

She usually wears a black latex bodysuit that covers everything but her wings, facial features, tail, and feet; she leaves all of those bare.  The headpiece of the suit comes off by itself, and a hidden zipper on the front allows the rest to be taken off.  Optional is a black leather pouch in which to carry her equipment.  Her logo is one wavelength of a sine wave, silver in color.

Personality:
Screech is a tomboy with a strong sense of justice.  She's serious about helping those in need, and won't hesitate to assist an innocent person who needs it.  In her spare time, she either trains her abilities or browses security camera feeds.  She almost never socializes, and usually prefers to keep to herself.

She places a high value on personal freedom; in her eyes, giving it up permanently in exchange for anything else is a fool's bargain.  She won't demand payment for her services, but she won't reject it if offered, either; being a hero is a low-paying job, and the fortune she made as a thief is finite.

She is something of a fangirl, idolizing any superhero with more fame than herself (of which there are many, since she's relatively unknown).  She has no secret identity; she simply stays out of the public when not on the job, remaining in her secret base: an abandoned oil platform in the middle of the ocean.

She is a pacifist, and prefers to resolve problems non-violently when possible, but will resort to violence if she has to.  She follows a number of bat mannerisms, such as sleeping upside-down on the ceiling.  She is prone to making the occasional groan-worthy pun, particularly when she can use it as a one-liner.

Abilities:
Screech's natural abilities are heavily enhanced compared to the average bat's.  She can fly across oceans without tiring, navigate with minimal trouble in total darkness, and hear sound at just about any frequency.  Her most potent and versatile skill, however, are the sonar screeches she gets her alias from.

She is capable of matching just about any audio frequency with her voice, with masterful precision.  She most commonly uses this technique to exploit resonance frequencies of various materials, making them vibrate and often break.  She has memorized the resonance frequencies of several materials, including several forms of hardened glue and glass-like materials, and can determine most others with a bit of experimentation.  You don't think it sounds useful in a fight?  Remember you thought that when she resonates your skull and you pass out with a humongous migraine.

Of course, her strengths work both ways.  She can't stand bright light-- even ordinary sunlight in the middle of an average day is too much for her-- and can quickly be stunned by an unexpected blast of high-pitched noise.

Natural abilities aside, she still has her skills as a thief.  She is proficient in all categories of stealth, as well as forgery, safe-cracking, lock-picking, and hacking.  She only ever uses these skills when necessary for the greater good, though.

History:
For most of her life, Screech was a cat burglar.  (I will not say "bat burglar" because I refuse on principle to stoop to making lame puns like that.)  She perpetrated many successful thefts, but her career came to an abrupt end when she attempted to steal from a particular museum that employed magic as part of its security system.  She set off a magical booby-trap which encased her in enchanted crystal, and was placed on display as a beautiful crystal statue.

She was trapped for years, the magical properties of her crystal prison keeping her alive and immortal.  During that time, she figured out how to channel its magic through herself and use it to enhance and develop her own natural abilities.  Finally, she was able to shatter the crystal with a properly tuned sonar screech, and fled.

Vividly remembering her days of unbearable isolation and dreading to think what would have happened to someone less resourceful-- their imprisonment could have been permanent!-- Screech vowed to change her ways and see to it that this fate would not be a common one.  Thus ended her career as a burglar, and thus began her career as the "Liberator of the Confined".

Misc. info:
I switched Screech's gender back and forth a lot when designing her.  I'm still not sure why I settled on making her female.

For those wondering why Screech doesn't go around freeing all the convicts in prison: there's a certain threshold that has to be met.  Inmates at least still have the ability to walk around, they were imprisoned for just reasons (usually), and even if they're in for life it'll be over when they die.

I originally invented Screech so I could use her in a sequel to one of another artist's many stories with bitter endings, extending the story and ending it more happily.  This fell through when said artist refused permission (at least I think he did; he never gave me a direct answer, but seemed opposed to the idea, and blocked me shortly after the conversation).  I won't discuss the details publicly; send me a note if you want them.  I wrote this bio anyways because I figured the concept was recyclable.