Origin
Lynn Richards was thirteen when she was pulled into a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. operation being conducted by Martin Flumm, the man who would someday become the criminal known as Mentallo. She and others were the subjects of his experiments, and by the time S.H.I.E.L.D. shut the operation down when Flumm had clearly gone bad, she was the only success of the project, having developed the ability to dampen the superhuman powers of others.
Despite wanting to be of use, Lynn was dismissed by S.H.I.E.L.D. to go live her own life after what Flumm had put her through. However, she met secretly with Nick Fury before doing so, and he told her that someday he would put her to use. She spent the years since then training and preparing for that day.
Creation
Lynn Richards was created by Jonathan Hickman and first illustrated by David Marquez in the pages of Secret Warriors. She was listed in Nick Fury’s Caterpillar list that was included in the back of the first issue, but she did not actually debut until one of the final issues of the series along with the rest of Team Gray, one of the three Secret Warriors teams.
Major Story Arcs
Wheels Within Wheels
Lynn Richards’ day finally came when Mikel Fury and Carlos Ayala showed up in her Manhattan apartment, saying they were sent by Nick Fury. His name was all she needed to hear, and she was ready to leave her life. She became a member of Mikel’s Team Gray, one of the three teams of Secret Warriors Fury was using in his secret war against HYDRA and Leviathan. Investigating Leviathan was Team Gray’s original mandate, which was a quiet assignment as the organization was in very deep cover at first.
Nearly a year passed with Lynn as a member of Team Gray, and Fury’s secret war was quickly coming to its endgame. Her team was sent to take out a HYDRA stronghold hidden within the Indian Ocean. This mission apparently went bad with Lynn and the rest of Team Gray all dying in the course of destroying the base.
Powers and Abilities
As a product of the Mentallo Program, Lynn Richards has the ability to leech away the superhuman powers of others. Due to the nature of the experiments that gave her this power, it can be assumed this is some kind of psychic ability that prevents others from using their power rather than actually doing anything to their physiology to take the power away.
Lynn is a trained martial artist, having apparently sought out the training on her own. This training was likely expanded on when she joined the Secret Warriors, along with other training in espionage.
Weapons and Equipment
Lynn carries a collapsible, double-ended sword staff as her weapon of choice.