Penelope Bryce is a legacy heroine. Her father was the Steel Guardian, a powered armor hero of the 80's and 90's who retired to to focus on running his businesses at the start of the New Millennium. He passed his secrets and legacy on to his daughter, hoping that she would carry on his name. At first she resisted; Penelope wasn't the genius her father was, she was also spoiled, headstrong, and more than a little elitist. The idea of being famous appealed to her, but not in a stuffy suit of armor where no one could see her. Dismayed by his daughter's reluctance to carry on the family tradition, Donald Bryce instead entrusted his friend and business partner Jake Stone with the secret and legacy. Stone became the second Steel Guardian, wearing an updated suit. Things seemed fine for the first few months, but then Jake began displaying undesirable tendancies. Steel Guardian was becoming more violent and less concerned with the public. He grandstanded other heroes and often used the Steel Guardian identity to make a quick buck. Feeling concerned for his legacy, Donald began creating a new suit; this one for his daughter. He felt if he didn't design it for himself, Jake wouldn't become suspicious. He was wrong. Jake was beside himself with fury when he discovered a new battlesuit was being built. He accused Donald of betraying their trust. Donald countered that Penelope had decided to become a heroine after all and he simply wanted to help her. Jake stormed out of the workshop after telling Donald he had make a "big mistake". Steel Guardian dropped out of sight for a while and Donald completed his daughter's armor, it was (in his mind) more in line with what she would want, streamlined, feminine, and a bit more colorful. Penelope was impressed with the suit, but still didn't want to give up partying and being a socialite to fight crime and risk her life against evil like her father had. Then Jake returned, the Steel Guardian attacked Donald's workshop and thrashed the place looking for the new armor. Donald refused to tell him where it was. Jake struck his former friend and repeated his demands. Donald told him to go to hell. Jake then told Donald that he'd paid a 'visit' to Donald's house before coming and if he didn't show him where the armor was, he'd never see his wife again. In a rage, Donald Bryce pulled a blaster from his jacket and shot Jake. The blast was meant to fry the armor's circuitry, but Jake merely laughed it off, explaining that ARGENT had found that weakness when he'd turned the suit over to them. He turned the armor's particle cannon on Donald, vaporizing him just as Penelope had returned from her "test flight". In a rage, Penelope attacked her father's murderer. Her armor's weapons systems not yet having been activated, she was at a clear disadvantage. She barely escaped, using her suit's superior maneuverability to avoid the Steel Guardian's weapon fire. Instinctively heading home she found it destroyed and her mother missing. Using her suit's communications gear to alert the local superteam to Steel Guardian's crimes, she lead him on a mouse chase until they arrived. With their help she freed her mother from his clutches and turned him over to the police. Penelope felt horrible, her father had only turned to Jake after she had spurned his request. In this regard she was responsible for Jake getting the armor and thus her father's death. Vowing to honor her father's legacy at long last, she began taking electronics and mechanics courses at the local university. With the help of a DVD of instructions her father had left her, she unlocked the weapons of her battle suit. Taking the name Steelheart (Jake has sullied the Steel Guardian name) she began her long road to (in her eyes) redemption. Although she was once a frivolous, spoiled and conceited little brat, Penelope has forced herself to become a heroine. Steelheart is noble, honest, and brave. In her private life, Penelope has given up her partying ways and now donates time and money to charities and helping her mother overcome the scars of her abduction and the loss of Donald. "Don't you dare say 'Who's yer daddy'!" Steelheart has a cutting edge battle suit. A suit of weapons and a series of sensors and communications devices. Her father was truely looking out for her safety and the suit is designed to be highly manueverable and well protected. Though she has improved with training, Steelheart is still green and far from the genius her father was. A dime store powered armor heroine. If you want her to be less powerful drop her DEX and SPD and her DEF to the mid range for the campaign, if she's not tough enough increase her weapons multipower to 75+ pts. Steelheart's armor is "girlie". Her father, not a brilliant designer, never the less managed to make a distinctly feminine suit of powered armor. It is lighter, sleeker, and metallic hot pink. The torso is white with a heart shaped variable beam blaster in the chest, the arms, legs, and midrift are metallic hot pink, the shoulders, boots, and guantlets are white. The helmet apears to be a sculpted female face in white with with a golden helm and pink "hair". Penelope her self takes after her mother with red hair, green eyes, and an easy smile. She looks alot more serious these days and doesn't dress as trampy as she used to, but her clothes still have style and still show off her hard won figure.