Marella Cowper

Marella Cowper © Juke Box Productions AstroFacts Status: Active Real Name: Marella Cowper Base of Operations: Honor Guard Emergency Contact Center (mobile) Personal Data Relationships: We have met her sister (Jessie), her mom, and given the red hair, we assume her brother Occupation: Call center operator for HumanoGlobal (cover job), call center operator/data gatherer for the Honor Guard Emergency Contact Center (actual job) Civil Status: single Height: 5’9” (estimate) Weight: 120 ibs (estimate) Eyes: green - but in certain lighting environments, they shift to blue Hair: red InfoDump Appearances (in Publication Order): Astro City #2, 3 Event Timeline Marella Cowper Marella Cowper is a phone operator for the Honor Guard emergency contact line. When there's an alien invasion, supervillainy, or robot imposter afoot, that's the number you dial. It might not be the job she pictured herself doing growing up, but it's without a doubt where she wants to be. History Looking for temporary work, Marella answered an ad in the paper for a call center job. After a suspiciously extensive battery of tests, she was accepted and only then learned she would be working for Honor Guard's emergency contact line. Before that, she had hoped to one day be a software programmer, but she quickly came to enjoy her new job and the opportunity to help others. Marella was a dedicated employee, but she and the rest of her "pod" (small units the operators are divided into) were too eager to come up with a big save, to be the one to spot an imminent crisis-level threat. This led them to vet calls too leniently, seeing and flagging potential threats where none existed. As reprimand, their supervisor, Mrs. Bannerjee, assigned them to non-emergency arrangements for two weeks. It was during this fortnight that her pod organized an Honor Guard charity appearance in Australia. ("Welcome to HumanoGlobal") Marella once answered a call from a young girl in the small town of Quevachi, in Ecuador, about her mother's abusive boyfriend. Not thinking this was a job for Honor Guard, Marella sent social workers to investigate. Unfortunately, it turned out that the boyfriend was a member of the criminal Skullcrushers, and the investigation escalated into prolonged all-out battle between the Skullcrushers, E.A.G.L.E., and Honor Guard. Many innocent lives were lost. Guilt-ridden that she had not taken the call more seriously, she secretly used the teleportation network available to employees to carry emergency supplies into Quevachi and aid relief efforts there. She also searched Quevachi for the little girl, Esme, eventually finding her and her mother as unwilling guests at the Skullcrushers' base. The Skullcrushers captured Marella as well, but, unbeknownst to her, the presence of her ID badge within the base allowed Honor Guard to teleport into the facility, and the team's intervention allowed all three captive to escape. She assumed she'd be fired for mishandling Esme's call, but Cleopatra informed her that individuals who feel regret over their mistakes, who want to do better next time, are exactly the kind Honor Guard needs. ("Mistakes") Equipment A souped up and very sophisticated work station, loaded with special software, communication gear, search engines, information databases, extremely high level contact lists, complex artificial intelligence data sniffers, super sensitive voice-analysis-assist-sensors, translation programs, and more. It's all built-in, all cutting edge, all maintained by a crew of high calibre software engineers. Observations Each employee's ID badge uses two letters 'H' and 'G' to define the name of the company. For Marella it is HumanoGlobal.