Life can be confusing sometimes...or if you're Marla Jones pretty much all the time. She's always been a little...slow on the uptake. And a wise person wouldn't count on her eventually figuring things out even given quite a bit of time, strong hints, or a map. Alright, there's no use beating around the bush; the girl is just flat out dumb and always has been. The kind of person you wonder how they manage to get out of the house in the morning without hurting themselves. The kind of person that when you tell other people about how dumb she is and the things she's done or failed to comprehend, they think you must be stretching the truth to make a a good story. Until they actually meet her that is, and then they too usually have a "Dumb Marla" story to tell someone else over party cocktails and drinks for a good laugh sometime.
Unlike some unintelligent people Marla eventually caught wise to the idea of her own lack of mental brightness somewhere around third grade when she was given standard intelligence tests after she fell way behind her other classmates in academics. Though she was rated as having a sub-60 IQ the true depth of how much dumber she is than others, fortunately for her own sake, was completely lost upon her. She hated the special needs classes she was thereafter relegated to; most of the other kids in them had some form of retardation while Marla was physically normal...in fact she was fairly attractive in a girl next door dishwater blonde sort of way.
As the years went by Marla nursed a deep insecurity regarding her awareness of her own lack of intelligence, her inability to follow what was going on around her, participate in coversations without saying something wrong, to be able to watch a movie and keep track of all the characters, the plot, and what happened a few minutes previous, things like that. In high school she was easy prey for predatory young men who wanted what most young men want from young girls, and Marla quickly developed a certain reputation as a dumb bimbo resulting in even more ostracizing by other girls. But she really believed the boys when they said they loved her, every time, and had her heart broken each time she was used and discarded.
However, in her junior year she finally got a boyfriend that treated her nice; Andy, a huge slab of a lad and the center on the football team. But, for reasons she never understood, he never got physical with her. He protected her from being passed around from one jock to the next, took the time to explain things to her no matter how long it took, liked to go on long walks at the beach or around town with her, and to just talk about whatever. Andy's main hobby was honing his young body, spending many hours in the school gym and working out in a makeshift gym in his garage at home. Marla would go to spend time with him, but soon got hooked as well and Andy gamely served as her trainer.
After high school Andy moved to Venice Beach to broke into the world of professional body building; Marla followed him and they settled down in a small beach apartment and gave every appearance of being an item but privately were still not intimate. Finally, it dawned on even Marla that this was odd, and she confronted Andy about it. After a tense and unhappy scene, he finally revealed that he was really gay, but was afraid to come out of the closet; he considered Marla his only true friend, but the idea of them being a couple was just a cover.
Marla was heartbroken; in her mind they were soon to be married and had a happy life ahead of them. But not seeing a way out of it with her limited intellect, she stayed in that fake relationship for a couple more years. However she found solace in her own weightlifting and soon went pro as well. Andy continued to be her trainer and guide her physical development, and for her part Marla found that suprisingly she could really wrap her head around the many and varied nutrition supplements weightlifters use to help acheive and maintain their exaggerated physiques, and became the defacto nutritionist for her and Andy and a circle of associates they hung out with.
Eventually she came into contact with the shady procurer of "under the counter" supplements called Trainer Dan and started getting some stuff from him that would have started a scandal and even resulted in some disqualifications if it were detectable, that really kicked up her development. However, Andy refused to take any kind of unapproved supplement; he took great pride in developing his physique the "hard way" and being "real". As Marla's development made great bounds thanks to the supplements she was taking, and Andy got deeper into a relationship with another man and increasingly veered closer to outing himself, the two began to have real and serious arguments. Finally Andy took the plunge with his new guy, Frank, and not only was Marla suddenly alone, she also felt deeply shamed and embarassed among their shared social set and all her old insecurities returned.
Taking refuge even more deeply in the only thing she was ever good at, Marla dipped more heavily into Trainer Dan's bag of tricks without any restraint, pushing herself hard for several months to prepare for the Ms Olympis contest. Her definition increased quite a bit, but as promised her bulk remained under control and she remained "feminine" by judging standards. She also noticed her strength was also up a good deal too, but that's basically a non concern for competition so she didn't bother to pursue it. Curiosity was never her strong suit.
Finally the date for the competition arrived. Marla was in her best form ever, sweeping the prelim rounds, and looked fixed for the title going in to the final poses. Then the unimaginable happened. Throughout her routine Marla felt something building up inside of her...a kind of exhilerating enery that seemed to fill her with an endless burn. This must be what success feels like, she thought, and rolled with it, letting it get bigger and bigger inside of her. Finally, going in to a classic "goal post" stance and flexing out for maximum dispay of cut, she felt almost like something burst inside of her, like a bubble, and a massive kinetic explosion expanded outwards from her in all directions.
The stage was completely wrecked by the blast, some people in the wings were knocked back and injured, as were the judges and people in the front rows of the audience. Marla herself was knocked to her knees by the release, and passed out from the horror of it all. What had happened? She was so close to victory!
In the end the sports commission managed to supress the incident as much as possible via bullying, payoffs, and even pleading with trade magazines, fans of the sport, and local media. The authorities and insurance companies had to get involved too of course, but mercifully the event didn't draw national attention. Marla was disqualified, of course, and barred from ever competing again. Her reputation was ruined. She was a laughing stock. The strange blast may as well have destroyed her whole life or killed her; her life as such was ruined...she even contemplated suicide.
But her old friend Andy stepped in once again despite their current estrangement and helped her get a handle on herself once more. Building her back up one day at a time, he helped her focus on the positive. She had real powers now, and could compete on a much larger stage than that of a bodybuilding contest. Bodybuilders tried to look like gods, but she actually WAS one now. He helped her get a gauge on her new abilities, discover what he called the "powderkeg effect" that allows Marla to release kinetic energies from within her body, and to convince her that she could become a real superhero and do some good in the world.
She took his guidance and tried to join The Shore Watch, The Beach Patrol, and even to team up with some solos and duos, but they all rejected her. Nevertheless she pressed on, and drove all the way down to San Diego to answer the open call for heroes to join the new Aegis supergroup. However, she was turned away during the first screening, and left disheartened. However a couple of weeks later she got a call back...they were interested in her after all. As an auxillary member, but nonetheless if given a chance she knew she could prove her worth. Packing up her few belongings she moved from Venice down to San Diego and took up residence in the team base.
Perhaps most interestingly she met the team's plucky but difficult to get along with genius inventor known as Prefab there, and improbably the two total opposites hit it off immediately and seem to be developing a real relationship. Maybe Powderkeg will get her happy ending someday after all. |
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