Microstory 115: Wilma Vann

This is an experimental Bellevue Profile microstory. The introduction can be found in Microstory 101. More to follow.

Wilma Vann was born in Germany as one member of a set of quadruplets. Her brothers were identical to each other while she was identical to her sister. Their story is an interesting case because, though each set of twins shared the same DNA, they presented different abilities. An unknown number of mutations occurred some time after their splits that caused them to come out dramatically more different than one might expect. Their family belonged to a rare but insidious sect of the evil religious order of Amadesis. Generations are charged to adhere to a “rule of three”. Each couple is supposed to ultimately have three children; no more, no less. It was the parents’ intention to kill one of their four children so that they could abide by the rules. Fortunately, an organization that specialized in the protection and deprogramming of Amadesins stepped in and kidnapped one of the Vann children. She was taken to a family in Ireland and grew up having no idea where she came from. The remaining children, known from them on as The Triplets, were raised under the dark laws. They were taught important lessons on murder, rape, and the concept of soul-squeezing. Soul-squeezing was a form of physical and psychological torture wherein the victim is ridiculed and manipulated to the point that they take on the characteristics of their torturers. They become so twisted and damaged that they ultimately choose to enact this evil on other victims. The majority of people who go through this do not survive, but the ones that do usually increase the danger of the world. Wilma went through this along with her brothers when she was a child, but she was both stronger and smarter than them. She not only stayed out of trouble, but also managed to pretend to continue the tradition of torture, convincing her family that she was just like them. Her soul was twisted enough to turn her into a killer, but not a psychopathic one. She used her skills and urges to kill violent and deadly criminals. Then she used them as proof that she was carrying out her family’s responsibilities, right up until the point that The Triplets were captured by an associate of a Bellevue member. Like her brothers, she almost never used her ability, seeing it as irrelevant to her goals. She could control water to an incredibly low degree. The three of them were probably the least powerful anomalies of all, which informed the age-old question of nature versus nurture, because their estranged sister turned out to be one of the most powerful anomalies. She was captured by the same man, and was locked in the same facility, but it was a while before anyone learned of their connection.