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History

The winged Shen Li-Men is Swift, a member of StormWatch and the Authority.

Origin[]

When a comet passed by Earth, it activated a genetic quirk in some people that would manifest into superpowers either naturally or through special Seedlings called Activators. Swift was one such Seedling. Swift was brought into Stormwatch as a rookie, with her powers only partially activated. Weatherman Henry Bendix later reconfigured the Stormwatch teams, assigning her to Stormwatch Black, Stormwatch's black-ops team, alongside Jenny Sparks (with whom she had a brief romance) and Jack Hawksmoor. It was then that Christine Trelane offered to fully activate Swift's powers, bringing out their full potential, and she accepted.

The Authority[]

After Stormwatch disbanded, Swift joined former teammates in The Authority. Formerly a pacifist, she has put aside those beliefs to fight for a better world regardless of the cost. She has fought all over the world, from Moscow to Mexico to Gamorra Island. Following the Authority's replacement by the G-7 Authority, Swift was replaced by Rush from Canada after being taken out of a fight by radioactive feces. Swift was brainwashed into becoming the obedient trophy wife of a television mogul who had been part of the conspiracy to replace her and her team. She was insulted at every opportunity, from having her cooking ignored to the implications she could not remember large words. Eventually she overheard the "off-button" code of the monster Three-Willied Seth and proceeded to free herself. She literally took the heads of the television mogul and his software billionaire co-conspirator. She also saved her friend Angela Spica, the Engineer, and killed the man who had been abusing Angela by drowning him.

World's End[]

After the events of the Number of the Beast, Swift acts as a transmitter for the Authority in post-Apocalyptic London, called 'UnLondon', as she is the only way people can communicate across vast areas, seeing as all communications are obsolete. For some unknown reason birds follow her wherever she goes. Swift assumes its because of their social structures, breeding patterns and migratory instincts broke down and that they must feel she knows where she's going.

Swift was one of the few heroes, along with the Authority, to leave Earth on the Carrier after its sudden departure for an unknown destination in the universe. Eventually, their destination was a lure for the shift-ship to have it's passengers being taken as biological resources by the malevolent alien race known as the Karibna. Prior to the Carrier's capture, Swift was knocked into a coma after combating a mind-controlled Aegean and was kept at the medical ward. Unlike the other human passengers who were captured by the Karibna, Swift's comatose body remained hidden due from an unknown power that was keeping her invisible.

When the Authority defeated the Karibna and returned to Earth, which was at the time about to destroy itself through the insane Century Baby Gaia Rothstein, it was revealed that Swift was chosen as Earth's new Doctor as she possessed a connection to the planet's ecosystem. Her timely return to Earth allowed her to enter Gaia's mind and tell her that she was forgiven for all that she did and that she needed time to heal. Jeroen Thornedike then took Gaia to the newly restored Garden of Ancestral Memory.[1] Once Earth's structure was restored, Swift worked alongside with Tumbleweed of the Paladins in healing Earth's ecosystem.[2]

Attributes

Powers

  • Unique Physiology: When her powers were only partially activated, Swift had a line of feathers that ran along the underside of her arms. This allowed for only limited flight. After being fully activated by Christine Trelane, she has the ability to grow wings from her back at will as well as claws and talons. She can also retract her claws and talons and shed her wings, which eventually decompose into liquid, although she no longer does this since joining the Authority.
    • Flight
      • Superhuman Speed: Consequently she is called the "fastest winged mammal on the planet." She has flown fast enough to catch superspeedsters.
    • Claws
    • Enhanced Strength:Enhanced strength and durability are shown, including an incident where Swift flew straight through a person, causing them to explode in all directions.
    • Enhanced Durability
    • Enhanced Senses: She has some birdlike enhanced senses; apart from superior hearing and eyesight, she is able to feel or "read" the air to locate moving things.

Abilities

  • Aviation: Swift is the navigator for The Carrier, the mobile sentient spaceship that is headquarters for the Authority.
  • Singing: She has demonstrated excellent singing skills.
  • Cooking: She has also demonstrated excellent cooking skills.

Notes

In East Asia the surname precedes the given name. Shen is a common Chinese surname, and Li-Men is a given name. However many comic book writers do not seem to realize this, as Swift's teammates refer to her familiarly as "Shen," and she has been addressed in the second volume of The Authority as "Ms. Li-Men."

See Also

Links and References

External links[]

References

  1. The Authority (Volume 4) #29
  2. Wildcats: World's End #30
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