Emma Campbell

Emma Campbell: 1993 - 2008
Born and raised in Gotham City, Emma is the oldest of sororal twin girls born to Colin Campbell (a GCPD police officer) and his wife Marissa (an accountant). Apparently, Emma’s mother often begged her husband to quit and move their family someplace safer, but Emma’s father said he wanted to stay and do everything eh could to make the city safer. The arguments must have been prolific as on more the one occasion, Emma was found traumatized atop the stairs, in a state of catatonic shock, having been eavesdropping on her parents.

At a young age, Emma showed a fascination with computers, using the digital medium to escape her reality. As she grew older, Emma wanted to learn everything she possibly could form computers; building one from the ground up, learning to read and write intricate lines of code, and damaging them for the sole purpose of seeing if she could repair them. In an attempt to keep the twins safe and out of trouble, Emma’s father enrolled Emma and her sister in various after school activities and self-defense classes with Emma enrolling in gymnastics and taking up Aikido and Shotokan Karate in self defense. Everything would stay idyllic, by Gotham standards, until Emma turned sixteen.

While the city was in the process of recovering from the Cataclysm, Emma’s father was arrested on corruption charges. Days after his arrest, Emma’s father was found hanging in his jail cell. The news devastated his family. Emma took it worst of all, becoming withdrawn and questioning the validity of such a “broken” system. Before the Campbells could get out of Gotham, tragedy would strike again. Emma’s twin, Sophia was in the wrong place at the wrong time, catching a bullet in a shootout between criminals and the GCPD, with forensics later suggesting she was killed by a ricocheted bullet fire by a cop.

After the funerals, Marissa finally managed to get out of Gotham, taking what was left of her emotionally shattered daughter with her to a suburb of San Antonio, Texas.

Wildfire: 2008 - Present
A change of scenery was not the improvement that Emma and her mother hoped it would be. Unfortunately, the loss of Emma’s father and twin sister weighted heavily on Emma turning her into a darker, more withdrawn individual. She intensified her training in computers, and continued her training in computers, and continued her outside activities only to stay competitive and keep her mother from asking too many questions. Emma graduated from high school as her class’ salutatorian, and decided to attend college in the Pacific Northwest majoring in computer engineering.

In college, away from her mother, Emma let her rage go unchecked until it managed to get away from her. Emma’s burning need for justice and revenge (or “karmic balance” as she called it) consumed her. A chance encounter with Rina Nishida and Monique Forcier at the gym got her an invitation to pledge a sorority and though Emma had no interest in joining such a group, the other girls convince her it was what she was looking for. As it turns out, the sisters of Lamda Psi were actually a covert cell for recruiting female assassins.By the time she was done with college, Emma had a degree in computer engineering and a few lives on her conscience. A fully-trained member of the League of Assassins, Emma was given the name Hariq Hayil (Wild Fire) as a reference to her untamed mane of red hair (a nickname that echoed one her late sister had given her).

Under the guise of a post-college trip across Europe, Emma, Rina, and Monique were dispatched on a blood-soaked campaign across Europe, taking out dignitaries and persons of interest of the League. The trio proved to be quite an effective team and as a result was tasked to Talia’s personal guard whenever their mistress was in or around Gotham, also carrying out missions on Talia’s command.

In 2017, during Talia’s well orchestrated attack on Arkham Asylum during what has since been called “the Judas Contract”. Wildfire and her savage sorority sister were sent into the Asylum with an alternative mission. I have not been able to discern what that mission entailed but they have been appearing up across the globe. A huge change from their patern.

Powers

 * Artifact: Emma has been chosen to join the ranks of a secret team hand-picked by the mysterious Monitor based on some metaphysical element in her that will be of some considerable use in some confrontation in the future.

Abilities

 * Kunoichi: Due in large to her League training, Emma is a trained kunoichi with a variety of assassination techniques. Emma is able to use her skills as a martial artist, acrobat, and spy to enhance her assassination skills.


 * Athletics: Emma is an Olympic class athlete, gymnast, acrobat, and aerialist capable of numerous complex maneuvers and feats as she’s been training since she was a child. One of her favorite moves is called a split jump where if the wall is as wide as she is tall, Emma can hold herself up with her legs, and drop down on her unaware foe. I have to tell everyone to be cautious when dealing with her.


 * Multilingual: With her League training, Emma is an experienced backpacker/world traveler. As a result, Emma is multilingual and is fluent in Irish, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese


 * Martial Arts: Like myself and Dinah, Emma is a Gotham City cop’s daughter who knows how to handle herself in a fight (sigh, GRRR!). Some of the styles she’s shown proficiency in include Boxing, Aikido, Taekwondo, Shotokan Karate, Ninjutsu, and Muay Thai. Her personal fighting style is to keep her opponent at arm’s length and to punish them in close-quarters with elbows, knees, joint manipulation, and throws.


 * Hacking: Emma is an expert computer programmer and hacker due to a nearly lifelong love for computers and her degree in computer engineering and is capable of breaching many high-security systems without leaving a trace of her presence. She’s no me, but I’m sure Emma would give Felicity fits.


 * Eidetic Memory: Emma can remember large amounts of information and data and easily recall it from memory without the use of mnemonic devices or tricks.

Paraphernalia

 * Gauntlets: Stolen and reverse engineered weaponry. Each of the girls’ gauntlets has the same basic functions: minicomputer and communications system, holo-map, electric shock capabilities, and push button flashlight. In Emma’s case, her gauntlet computer is more powerful as well as being equipped with a laser strong enough to cut through thick blocks of glass or ice.


 * Utility Belt: Features include built-in GPS transmitter and secret clasp to unlock. Contents include shuriken (standard and explosive), garrote wire, first aide, restraints, lock pics (standard and digital), tracking devices, mini grenades/capsules, digital recorders and listening devices.


 * Zahrat Hamra: The name of Emma’s katana means 'red rose' in League Arabic. Seriously, what nerd names a sword?!

Weaknesses

 * Loved Ones: The two women are the closest to sisters that Emma has since her twin sister, Sophia’s, death. Emma would do anything to ensure their safety, even if it means walking into an obvious trap or directly disobeying an order from Talia.


 * Vindictive Streak: With Emma’s eidetic memory, and her belief in “karmic balance” she can be a harpie once you cross her. This leads her to make mistakes she wouldn’t normally make when level-headed.

Trivia

 * It has been retconned that Emma went to college in Gotham City, where she met Rina and Monique.
 * Hard to believe by looking at her, but Emma has African heritage.
 * Orientation: While she identifies as straight, Emma is “lesby-like” under certain conditions. Since she’s a sorority girl, I assume one condition is her getting tipsy drunk. Also, as an assassin, Emma is known to have done whatever it takes to complete a mission, up to and including seduction of women or multiple partners. This, however, is not something Emma enjoys doing... at all.
 * On the rare occasions, she’s not with her savage sisters, Emma enjoys sewing, watching romantic comedies, as well as reading espionage and romance novels.
 * Emma’s glasses are only for fashion. She has 20/20 vision, and only began to wear them when a guy she had a crush on mentioned that he likes girls who wore glasses.
 * Emma is the oldest twin by 40 minutes.
 * Emma isn’t always a redhead. During July, and going into August, Emma dyes her hair brown in honor of her sister.
 * According to chatter, Emma frequently walks around wearing fishnets and even has them on under her costume. Seriously!? I don’t get the appeal, I need to ask Dinah and Zee why they do it.
 * Monique and Rina can tell what mood Emma is in based on the music she’s listening to. She plays pop music when she’s annoyed or wanting to annoy, smooth Jazz and R&B when she wants to relax, and plays rap to get focused or prepared for something important. Monique knows to wait for on Jazz or R&B to tell Emma it’s her turn on a honey trap.
 * Rina used to tease Emma about choosing a pair of bladed fans for a backup weapon until during a sparring session, Emma disarmed Rina using her fans and sent her to the ground with a trip afterward.
 * Emma’s go to drinks are wine coolers, freezing cold alkaline water, and cold peach and lemonade tea. Monique and Rina tease that she puts “at least 2 pounds of sugar” in her cup before she drinks it.
 * Whenever Emma talks to Sophia, she talks to her using their middle names: Faith and Kaylin.

Links and References

 * Appearances of Emma Campbell
 * Character Gallery: Emma Campbell