Scorned
Scorned is a villain in the City of Heroes MMO.
Character History
Family Business
Tammy Lynn Voss is a third-generation beauty queen.
Her grandmother was Miss Long Island Swimsuit Queen in the 1950's. Her mother's long beauty career led her to become Miss North America in the late 1970's. Tammy Lynn's own pageant career started early, winning her first pageant at the age of two. She competed in and won several pageants as a child and teenage years, all with the hopes of overtaking her mother's title and eventually become Miss Earth.
Accidental Upset
Unfortunately Tammy Lynn's budding adult pageant career ended early through no fault of her own.
While competing in the Ms. Rhode Island 2008 pageant, Tammy Lynn's victory was overshadowed by the presence of celebrity guest Galatea Powers, then a new hero to Paragon City. Even though she did not intend to take the attention away from the contestants, the media spent a lot of time fawning over her presence there.
Tammy's quest for the Ms. United States crown stopped at the semi-finals stage. The woman that won that year wore a white one-piece swimsuit and had her blond hair done in the "Powers Cut" to resemble Galatea's look.
Not long afterward, the Miss Earth Pageant and subsequent lesser pageants went into bankruptcy. Tammy Lynn blamed it on Galatea even though the company was suffering from financial problems for a long time. Her scholarships dried up, and she was forced to drop out of college.
Depths of Despair
For two years afterward, Tammy Lynn worked as an office manager at Ascension Labs in Steel Canyon to help pay the bills. She tried modeling agencies, but the agencies at the time were also fixated on models that looked like Galatea Powers. Since Tammy Lynn refused to dye her hair or wear a wig, she was turned down by the agencies. And, again, she blamed that on Galatea Powers.
Worse yet, every day when she made her daily walk to and from work, she would see her flying by, with bystanders gawking in awe. They would take pictures to post on the Internet, recount times on social media when they would see her in action, as if she was some sort of goddess bestowing blessings on the masses.
It made Tammy Lynn sick to her stomach.
That was when she decided to fight fire with fire. She was going to upstage Galatea Powers as a hero.
Working at Ascension Labs gave her knowledge of various mutagenic drugs that could give normal people powers. It was simply a matter of knowing which ones would help her and then finding the means to be given the drugs.
Unfortunately for her, the "friends" she had refused to give her the drug she wanted. They deemed it to be too risky. Then she found a "friend" in Crey Industries that was willing to expedite the drug for her... in return for a sexual favor. She reluctantly gave in.
The Transformation
At Crey Labs, Tammy Lynn was given the drug Nixall, not knowing that she really agreed to being a test subject for the experimental Nixall-17 instead of version 15. The test version had a toxic side effect on her, forcing bony protrusions from her body, as well as secreting green chemicals. Enraged, she began attacking every lab worker there with her new spines, threatening to kill everyone there unless the process was reversed. As she attacked, her hair started to fall out and she began to grow reptilian wings.
To make things worse, a general call went out for help, and the one person that responded... was Galatea Powers herself.
In an absolutely berserk rage, she attacked Galatea, who responded in kind. During the battle, a gas main was cut opened. A nearby spark caused an explosion that destroyed the research facility. Even though Galatea was able to get the remaining medical people to safety, Tammy Lynn was gone.
Continuing to change into the monster she had become, she decided that "Tammy Lynn Voss" was dead. Taking her cue from the saying "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," she declared that she was now "Scorned", and she vowed to make Galatea Powers pay for ruining her life.
Failed Attempts
Scorned has tried several times to fight Galatea, each time failing and resulting in her incarceration. Every time, she would find a way to escape and try again.
At one point, her attempt to call out Galatea resulted in her battling Galatea's adopted sister, Furia Powers. The result was still the same. Furia defeated Scorned, and Tammy Lynn was again sent to prison.
Powers and Abilities
Scorned's primary ability is spines. Her weird mutation allows her body to spew weird spiny protrusions, which she can then use as weapons. These spines also contain toxic chemicals which can break down one's defenses.
Her secondary ability is regeneration. She can heal from any injuries fast.
She also possesses the power of flight thanks to her dragon-like wings.
Personality
Tammy Lynn was vain and egotistical. She believed that she was the dominant woman that would prevail in every situation. Her "losing" to Galatea made her malicious and destructive.
As Scorned, she is obsessed with killing Galatea Powers. Not just defeating or even maiming, but killing the "fraud" that she believes destroyed her life. She believes all the sacrifices that she has made, including deforming her beauty, were worth being able to kill Galatea.
Related Information
Scorned first appeared in "The Guardian Powers" #10. Her origin story was told in the "Guardians of the Dawn 2012 Special".
According to creator David 2, Scorned's look was based on an alternate outfit for Galatea Powers.