Eva Patrick was born into a family of assassins. Her parents, both highly paid contract killers trained their daughter to kill, just like them. While Eva proved to to be ruthlessly efficient at the job, not to mention a crack shot with all kinds of ranged weapons, her heart was never in it.
Her parents were predators who took a sick glee in killing but Eva was different. She actually cared about the people her parents killed and forced her to kill. She never let a target suffer needlessly and always put them down quickly. Her parents were full of bravado and arrogance while Eva was humble and quiet. She never uttered a word in fact. Never made a sound. It wasn’t until she was older that Eva’s parents realised she literally wasn’t capable of speaking louder than a barely audible whisper. This was the reason for the pet name they gave their quiet little killer.
Whisper.
As Whisper grew into her teenage years, she only grew in skill but grew more and more resentful of her malicious parents and did everything in her power to rebel against them without incurring their wrath.
When Eva met and befriended a young boy named Leon, the son of a wealthy industrialist, she began to picture herself having a normal life, free of all the killing. This fantasy was shattered only a few months later when her parents were hired by a competitor of Leon’s father and paid to kill him. A punishment for refusing to sell them a property they would seemingly go to any lengths to acquire.
In a sick and cruel test of loyalty, Whisper’s father ordered her to kill Leon herself. For the first time, Eva point blank refused her parents orders and even tried to protect her friend. It ultimately proved pointless though as Leon was quickly shot by Eva’s father himself.
He was so distracted by his own disappointment, not to mention his evil monologuing, that he failed to notice the rage building in his daughter.
The first real sound Whisper made in her life was a blood curdling shriek so loud and with such force that it literally ripped her father’s flesh from the bone.
Horrified and confused by this, Eva fled, with her mother screaming in anguish and vowing to kill the girl.
For months, Eva wandered alone, stealing food and seeking shelter wherever she could. She tried nor to interact with other people for fear of hurting them but she eventually came to the attention of the original Paladin, who was well known for his work in helping youths. Paladin ran an academy for young British superhumans to help them learn to control their powers but was also involved in a program to help get homeless children off the streets and into good homes. Paladin tried repeatedly to get this mysterious young mute girl to let him find her a home. She ignored him for some time but eventually explained to him, with sign language, that she was afraid to go anywhere near a “normal” family for fear of literally ripping them to shreds. Not to mention how much she was afraid of her mother taking revenge by killing any family she may become a part of. Eva wanted nothing more than to be left alone.
After learning of Eva’s strange vocal power, not to mention her uncanny accuracy, Paladin offered her a place at his academy. Eva initially refused but Paladin nothing if not relentless in his determination to help everyone who needed it and eventually she relented.
At the academy, Eva initially proved shy and tried to stay out of everyone’s way but slowly came out of her shell, thanks in no small part to the relentlessly happy young man by the name of Jackson, who would eventually become know as Invictus.
Eva bonded with Paladin, becoming like the daughter that he never had, but it was with Jack and his friend Max (who later became Pulse) that she bonded with the most. The three became practically inseparable. Whisper, Invictus, Pulse, Paladin and his son Jensen (who refused to take a codename) had many adventures as Paladin taught them how to use their skills to help others.
Eva thrived in this new environment and loved that she was helping people rather than hurting them. She even began a tentative relationship with Jensen and though his negative attitude often aggravated her, she was nevertheless happy.
Things took a downward turn when a a young politician who Invictus was guarding was killed. Questions were raised about his involvement and while he was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, their was still a political furor and Paladin found himself under increasing pressure to remove the young hero from the academy. Rather than abandon him entirely, Paladin elected to send Invictus to America to train with an old colleague instead.
With her best friend all but exiled from the country, Whisper’s relationship with Paladin became strained. It was because of this that she wasn’t around to protect her surrogate father when he needed her the most.
It was Jensen, sick of his father showering strays and orphans with more attention and praise than his own son, who stuck the blade in Paladin’s gut.
When Eva found Paladin, bleeding on the floor of his office, he only had enough breath left to warn her about Jensen’s plan to kill Invictus.
Jensen planned to use his power stealing abilities on Invictus and everyone else and gain ultimate power through a magical ritual taught to him by one of Paladin’s oldest enemies, a warlock named Davos.
Grief and anger consumed Eva again. Even more so than when her father killed Leon. Her scream almost brought down an entire wing of the academy. It was then that Eva decided to fall back on her training as an assassin. She would kill Jensen. Make him pay for what he had done. She would make him suffer.
Whisper tracked Jensen to America. A dog on his heals who would not let go. She hunted him relentlessly but couldn’t get close enough to him to strike. Eventually she met up with Invictus who tried to talk her out of killing Jensen. If she did, she would be throwing away everything Paladin taught her.
When Whisper, Invictus and his new American companions finally caught up to Jensen, he was holding an entire military base hostage and Invictus learned that Jensen had killed his boyfriend, the hero American Eagle.
At the end of a climactic battle, it was Invictus who killed Jensen, thrusting a sword through his chest. An uncharacteristically cold and brutal move. In the explosive aftermath of Jensen’s death, Invictus too was thought to have died but secretly went into hiding.
Whisper was broken, physically, mentally and emotionally. She had lost her mentor, her boyfriend and her best friend. The academy was in shambles, its students lost and confused, but having nowhere else to turn, Whisper returned home to help the faculty rebuild. She and Max mourned the loss of their loved ones and tried their best to move forward.
Almost a year later, Whisper and Pulse had both graduated but stuck around to help out wherever they could. Without Paladin’s leadership, the school was failing. Several faculty members and a number of students had left and the future looked bleak. But a face from the past would lead them back towards the light.
After some soul searching and an adventure through time, Invictus emerged like a phoenix from the ashes of the past and made it his mission to honour Paladin’s memory. That involved helping the academy get back on track and helping the people he loved move on.
Now, with Jack back by her side, Eva can feel the darkness lifting. A new dawn breaking. Whisper, Pulse and Invictus were reunited at last and they would make their mentor proud.
They would bring the light back to a dark world.
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Okay so that story became a lot longer than I had intended it to be but Whisper, Invictus and co are some of my all time favourites and I don’t think I really explained Invictus story when I posted him so Whisper’s story kind of bled into his as well.
Oh well, it’s done now. 🙂
Whisper
