PROFILE - ASPEN TIERNAM
"Give me a weapon and a target, and I'll hit it
dead center every time."
Nickname: Asp
Status: Prodigy
Skill: Enhanced Markmanship
Age: 20
Birthplace: London Core
Raised in: Waverly Division
Accent: British, informal with American slang
Physical Characteristics: lean, athletic, 6-foot-1, streaked blond hair, blue eyes
Personality: fun, easygoing, confident, great sense of humor, a tease, loves action
ESCORT
For Aspen Tiernam, life in the Core is an ongoing adventure. His enhanced marksmanship skill makes him the best shot in the city, garnering invites to escort its most elite citizens to galas, concerts, and events. He loves it. And because his cousin Thess is heir to the Tiernam industry, he doesn't have to worry about running a company. Driving recklessly through the streets in his sleek black sports car, he relies on his sophisticated TRON navigation system to avoid crashes—and his own instincts to alert him to danger.
And danger lurks everywhere in the Outlying Lands, which is where he's surprised to find himself in Gambit. Sent by the Core to help retrieve the new heiress, Asp gallops through the desert scrub with only the gruff-natured Hart and a couple of horses as travel companions. He's not as concerned about the scrub's native predators as he is about meeting Willow. His cousin wasn't exactly thrilled at discovering the switch, and Asp knows better than most how crucial the Roanoke-Tiernam merger is to maintaining peace in the city.
Turns out, she's really not all that bad. A little fiesty, maybe, but she's easy on the eyes, and it's obvious she's got an amazing skillset. If Commander Reece can keep his hands off her, Asp thinks she'll make Thess a good match. He fights tooth and nail to get her safely to the Core, only to run into her again on the way to Chesapeake. It seems like just another escort job, until he spies a rebel scout hiding in the nearby pasture.
A group of Mercer's people quickly engages. Teaming up with Reece, Duncan, Rush, and a ferocious Ritter quartet, Asp whips out his Mach-1 lasers and goes to work, taking out rebels with ease. But when a sonic grenade is removed from his car and activated, Asp ends up flying across the stable yard. Knocked unconscious, his fate becomes the same as that of the rebel who shot Reece in the back with a stolen Mach-1.
Unknown.
ALLY
Badly injured, Asp enters Mimic as a Level Five patient, lying heavily sedated in one of Callayo Medical Center's top critical care stations. But not so sedated that he can't feel his mum's presence beside him. Or Willow's, when she boldly forces her way in to see him. Currently between med doses, he can feel the touch of her hand and hear her tearful plea for forgiveness. She seems to think they'll be kept apart now, and after Tiernam security bursts in and tries to arrest her, he groggily wonders if she's right.
But Aspen Tiernam is his own man. He's survived worse injuries than this, and once he's up and around, he'll continue to do exactly as he pleases. Besides, he's taken a liking to this hot-headed little heiress. It's in his nature to protect people, and something tells him that his job of keeping Willow safe has only just begun.
TARGET
Gambit portrays Asp as a reckless, carefree individual who laughs in the face of danger. Diving headfirst into battle with a wink and a grin (and all the high-tech protective gear currency can buy), he's not overly worried about Willow's enemies. In Mimic, however, he ends up facing an enemy of his own—a particularly nasty one he's been after for years and who's always somehow managed to evade him.
For once in his life, he's feeling vulnerable. Still recovering from his injuries, he's low on weight and missing one of his prized weapons. But his aim is spot-on. He already has another Mach-1 on order, because he knows he'll need it. With Mercer's bounty on his head and the rebels after Willow, he intends to be prepared. It's not the first time he's dealt with an enemy.
And it won't be the last.
Image Credit: Blue Sky Design
