Kiko Hamada - Alter

"Sure. No problem."

Kiko

art by Lucy Lin

DMA File Information

Name: Kiko Hamada

Hero Identity: Alter

Metahuman Type: Nova

Known Powers: Mechanical forms, enhanced strength, impact resistance, self-repair

Special Items: NA

Combat Roles: Melee (android), ranged (machinegun), support (vehicle)

Strong against: High speed attacks, cold, suffocation, toxins, mental attacks

Weak against: Exceptionally strong, skilled, or mobile opponents, technology control

Race: Japanese-American

Age: 21

Education: UCLA graduate - Biomedical Engineering with pre-med

Background

Kiko's father is a well known LA businessman who owns several car dealerships and is a board member for JANM, the Japanese American National Museum. While her parents pushed her to excel in school, she actually spent most of her free time in the service departments of her father's dealerships. In college she compromised with her parents, agreeing to take a pre-med track, but on her own terms - majoring in Biomedical Engineering and participating in the robotics club as long as her grades stayed good. Everything went according to plan, with Kiko graduating with honors and getting accepted to Med school. The trip to a family celebration dinner is where things went off the rails. A freak car accident lead to her nova, granting her a power unlike anything else in the DMA database.

Personality and hobbies

Kiko is a driven self-starter. She plans out what she wants to accomplish and then works hard to make it happen. She's willing to compromise with others and adjust her plans based on new situations, but Kiko isn't one to let small matters take her off task. She's competitive when it comes to grades. But what that doesn't capture is just how much she really does like helping others. A big reason that Kiko went with her parents push to be a doctor, was because the career really did appeal to her. She was willing to work to do it her own way, but Kiko was never really against the basic idea. This desire to help has translated into her current drive to become a hero. She feels a big responsibility to use her new power the right ways.

While she does enjoy tinkering with mechanical things and doing design work, that's not her only creative outlet. Kiko, her mother, and her best friend are all theater buffs and Kiko loves seeing live performances. She's a big social media person too, and has jumped at the opportunity to be an influencer.

Powers

Mechanical Forms

Kiko is unusual in that her primary power allows her transform into any kind of machine that she understands within certain size and weight limits. Most transformation powers are limited to a single form or two at most. Kiko is constantly researching new technology and developing new forms for various uses. Some of her known forms include: ATV, motorcycle, car, forklift, helicopter, small propeller plane, small jet fighter, machinegun turret, and a humanoid android form. Her transformation power allows her to absorb materials she is touching, either using them for her current form change or somehow storing them 'in reserve' for use later. Both her mechanical bodies and ammunition draw from this reserve, and Kiko has burned through it in extended fire tests with her machinegun form. Kiko must end any existing transformation, rendering her vulnerable in her human body, before changing into something else. All of Kiko's other powers are only present when she has changed into a mechanical form.

Enhanced Strength

When transformed Kiko's technological forms are incredibly strong. It is estimated that, in her android body, she is one of the strongest beings on the planet. When not transformed she is not particularly strong or athletic.

Impact Resistance

Kiko's mechanical bodies all respond to force in an unusual way: the faster something impacts her, the more she resists it. As a result, she is immune to most conventional firearms, but still highly vulnerable to other metahumans with enhanced strength. DMA researches are unsure if this is a result of her unique metallurgy or if it is related to her ability to absorb mass into her reserve.

Self-Repair

All mechanical forms can cannibalize available material or draw from her reserve over time to repair any damage she might have suffered. This ability appears to happen automatically if she has mass in her reserve, but must be manually triggered to use ambient solid material. It cannot 'repair' damage she might have taken in her human form.