Battery

Battery is a member of the Brockton Bay Protectorate.

Personality
Battery describes herself to Doctor Mother as serious and willing to work hard. She feels guilty about the deal she made with Cauldron. This guilt carries over to her career as a hero, where she goes above and beyond the call of duty. Taylor considered her a role model prior to the story.

Assault
Battery's teammate and husband.

Legend
Battery worked under Legend during her time in the Wards. She entrusted him with her darkest secrets [citation needed]

Appearance
Battery is first described as standing approximately two inches taller than Taylor and Shadow Stalker. Wildbow later said that Battery is 5'3 or 5'4, shorter than Taylor. She wears a skintight white and dark grey costume with circuit-like cobalt blue lines on it, which glow as she charges her power, in an electric blue-white color.

Prior to joining the Wards, Battery wore a low-budget costume consisting of a black bodysuit and domino mask.

When her usual costume is damaged after Shatterbird attacks Brockton Bay, she replaces it with a plain black costume and goggles.

Powers and Abilities
Battery has the ability to charge up her power and then release it to give herself a large boost to her speed, a smaller boost to her strength and some electromagnetic powers. Each second she spent charging gave her several seconds of power usage. She was also almost invincible while charged. While charged, she was faster and stronger than Assault, although he was faster over a long distance because she needed to stop to recharge.

According to interviews and article Taylor had read, it was probably a physiological change, enhancing her biology and then altering it back before the strain becomes too much. She needed to be able to concentrate in order to charge, and she needed to stay still or stick to simple actions while charging. She reached a limit after charging for 7-12 seconds.

Battery was considered a speedster. When charged up, she could run so fast that she was a blur. Time seemed to slow around her, and she was able to dodge streams of containment foam so quickly she was difficult for Taylor to follow with her eyes. Her reactions were good enough that she had no fear of accidentally injuring someone with her strength, although she did accidentally shatter a chair in the moments after receiving her power. Taylor believed that her speed was just a function of her enhanced strength.

When charged, she was strong enough to pick up a table and throw it like a frisbee. She could easily shove a sturdy, cushioned chair so hard it went flying and shattered against the wall. She could tear the bumper off a car and use it like a baseball bat. She could run straight through solid walls.

She could spend her remaining charge in a burst of electromagnetic energy, letting her move metal objects or pour energy into an item. On one occasion, she used this power to deflect a blade fired by Mannequin. Her power wasn't conventionally Manton-limited. Armsmaster created his EMP attachment by studying her power, which also functioned as a bug-zapper.

Background
Battery is the daughter of a detective who was tired of seeing the work put into apprehending villains put into waste by Madcap. She was contacted by Cauldron while she was shopping for tinker-made equipment and agreed to a meeting to discuss buying powers from them. She then worked out a deal for superpowers she couldn't afford in exchange for a doing a total of three favors.

During her first encounter with Madcap, her powers failed and she was defeated in one attack. Upon returning to Cauldron, she was told that she couldn't afford them helping her learn how to use her powers. Doctor Mother said that they would like her to join the Wards and graduate to the Protectorate as soon as possible as one of the favors she owed. Battery accepted.

With assistance from Legend, Battery was successful in capturing Madcap on her eighth encounter with the supervillain. Madcap convinced them that he would be more valuable as a member of the Protectorate instead of being sent to the Birdcage. In exchange for his service and agreement to having countermeasures put into place, he was allowed two concessions; a new identity and that he would always be on the same team as Battery. Her reluctant agreement began her partnership with Assault.

Battery became the subject of media speculation due to her mysterious partnership with Assault. At some point, Battery transferred to Brockton Bay. She led the Brockton Bay Wards for a brief period before she graduated to the Protectorate in 2007. Over two years before Plague, Cauldron called in their second favor during a storybook reading Battery had convinced Assault to attend in exchange for the possibility of a date. A client wanted a known cape to deliver their product, which she accomplished with no regrets.

Eventually, she and Assault married.

Story Start
While the ABB were engaged in their insurgency. Battery was paired with Shadow Stalker, helping watch over a mall where Taylor, Danny, Emma, and Alan were shopping. She sent Shadow to break up the civilians when they got into an altercation.

She participated in the Battle at the Gallery but was trapped in stolen containment foam by Skitter.

Post-Leviathan
She met Skitter when the villain was proclaiming her hold over her territory and handing out supplies but elected not to arrest her.

Slaughterhouse Nine
She visited the hospital while Sierra was trying to warn them about the imminent Shatterbird attack, and confirmed for them that the Nine were indeed in town, giving them a few minutes to prepare. She tried to corner Sierra and ask how she knew the attack was coming, but Sierra escaped in the confusion. At some point, her costume was damaged, forcing her to switch to a simpler version created from generic PRT supplies.

Her third favor was called in during the Slaughterhouse Nine's visit to Brockton Bay. Cauldron ordered her to ensure Shatterbird and the Siberian left the city alive due to their status as Cauldron Capes with useful abilities. She decided to betray Cauldron and try and kill one of them instead, but never got the opportunity.

She was among the heroes sent to help contain the Nine so that they could be bombed. She was ordered to lend Tattletale her phone so she could communicate with Director Piggot.

After Bonesaw's agnosia miasma was deployed Battery found herself separated from her group and began tracking three individuals - unknown to her, Skitter, Bonesaw and Jack Slash. Skitter refused to kill her, but one of Bonesaw's spiders poisoned her anyway after they left her. She made a full confession of her life and actions to her mentor Legend while she was painfully dying. Legend was, unknown to her, part of the Cauldron conspiracy and told no one.

Trivia

 * Her name references an electrical battery because of the way she stores and then uses her power.
 * Ethan threatened to call her "Puppy" unless she agreed to let him use the name Assault. She was upset because it subverted her name by connecting it to the crime of Battery.
 * Battery is sometimes erroneously given the name "Jamie". This was an alias she used when interacting with Cauldron . Specifically, "Jamie" is "the name her parents had been planning to give her baby sister".