Nina

Name: Nina Mazursky Alias: Star City Sea Creature, File Number 45452215D Species: Human (formerly), Metahuman Nationality: American Gender: Female Date of Birth: Late 1993 Affiliation: Task Force M

Nina Mazursky was a good-natured amphibious scientist and the daughter of Edward and Lily Mazursky, who was born with a severe lung problem, which forced her to spend her childhood with an oxygen machine, until her father conducted an experiment that turned her into a metahuman amphibian. During her teenage years, Mazursky was bullied for her appearance, which convinced her to run away from home; however, she was mistaken for a monster, and when her father attempted to intervene, he was killed while she was wrongfully imprisoned in the Belle Reve Correctional Center. Eventually, Mazursky was forced by Amanda Waller to become a member of Creature Commandos and protect Princess Ilana Rostovic from sorceress Circe in Pokolistan, forming close bonds with G.I. Robot and the Bride of Frankenstein. Under Waller's orders, the Commandos had to turn on Rostovic, however, when Mazursky tried to kill her underwater, Rostovic stabbed her, nearly killing her.

Biography: Early Life Nina Mazursky was born to Edward and Lily Mazursky in Star City. She had a problem with both her lungs being mostly outside of her body. While her condition was considered terminal, her father, a well regarded scientist, sought to preserve her life by creating a mechanical device to officially pump her lungs. One day, Mazursky was at her residence playing with her father, showing him her toy that she believed to be a donkey, and was helped up by her father when she fell, however, Mazursky's mother, deeming this too cruel, left while Mazursky was still a toddler, divorcing her father and leaving Mazursky to grow up without a mother figure.

Amphibian Transformation

"Yes, well, Nina, from birth, had issues with her lungs. She wasn't able to breathe properly. So I tried to infuse her biology with elements of aquatic animals thinking that would... well, she's no longer in pain." ―Edward Mazursky to Gale

However, Mazursky's health began to decline and her father was forced to build her heavier suits, and willing to take any risk to save her, he sought to help alleviate Mazursky's condition by injecting her with fish DNA. After Mazursky was taken for a walk in a park, where she struggled to breathe when walking, her father took her to his lab to implant the changes into her DNA.

While this allowed her to breath the liquid in her lungs, it had the unintended side effects of transforming her into an amphibian metahuman and rendering her only able to breath water. Her father in an act of desperation took her to a sink to douse her in water and despite warnings from his colleagues that he might be drowning her, they found that Mazursky began to breathe, which shocked them, and upon awakening Mazursky identified her father.

School Bullying

"Dear Daddy, I love you more than anything in the world, and I am so grateful for everything you've done for me. But I do not belong, nor have I ever in the world of humans. I want to be free and I want to free you of the burden that I know I am. And I've always been. I love you, Daddy. You could not have been a better father." ―Nina Mazursky's Letter to Edward Mazursky

After years of homeschooling, Mazursky's father enrolled her into Emberton Prep private school in order to help her socialize. At the meeting with Principal Gale to enroll her, Mazursky told her about his daughter's breathing issues while Mazursky appreciated vintage photos of students playing lacrosse, and after Gale agreed to enroll her, Mazursky thanked her and asked about the game in the photographs which she then joined in on. Despite her efforts to fit in, Mazursky was heavily bullied in the school for her appearance, often being called a frog.

Nina bullied Mazursky suffered discrimination at school because of her appearance. When playing lacrosse, she was pushed and insulted by her classmates, and later when walking unsteadily through the halls, she was harassed by two students who threatened her by pushing her against the locker to make frog noises, breaking down in tears when they laughed at her. On one occasion when she went to open her locker, she blushed at the sight of the boy she liked, but when she opened it, she was upset to find a frog while her classmates, including the boy she liked, laughed at her. Mazursky returned home where she began to cry inconsolably in her room for not being able to deal with all the bullying she received.

This, along with viewing herself as a burden to her father, led Mazursky to run away from home, and live in isolation in the Star City bay. Before disappearing, Mazursky left a letter to her father where she thanked him for everything he had done for her, but where she claimed that she did not fit in the human world and that she wanted to be free, which he found when he returned from work, who cried inconsolably for her in the middle of the rain. Meanwhile, Mazursky opened a sewer to abandon her suit and jump out of the sewer, where she felt happy living hidden under the water.

Captured "Nina! Nina, you were never a burden. You were the greatest gift." ―Edward Mazursky to Nina Mazursky

For the next three years, rumors of the existence of the Star City Sea Creature began to spread in the media, until one day she tried to hunt a fish and sat on a rock to eat it, however, she was spotted by a photographer who took a picture of her and scared she hid on the surface. The photographer sent the footage to the media, and the authorities called animal control experts to find her, and despite Mazursky's attempts to escape, she ended up being hunted down and captured by wildlife services. As she was being dragged off, she was approached by her father, who had seen the news broadcast. He pushed his way past the officers in order to tell Mazursky that he saw her as a gift, not a burden, before before being shot and killed by a trigger-happy officer. Mazursky could only scream helplessly as she watched her father be killed as she was taken away to be imprisoned at Belle Reve Correctional Center based solely on her appearance.[4]

Invasion of Pokolistan One morning, while resting with her fellow non-humans at Belle Reve Correctional Center, Nina Mazursky was left in a sad state as Rick Flag, Sr. and Amanda Waller watched from the monitoring enclosure, with Flag confused as to how she would serve on the team and Waller explaining that she was the smartest of them. When Waller opened the entrance to see the prisoners, Weasel, the Bride of Frankenstein and Doctor Phosphorus ran at her, so she used the Nano-Bomb Remote Detonator to electrocute them and stop them, also electrocuting Mazurky and leaving them unconscious on the ground. Upon awakening, Mazurky along with the rest of her teammates were forced to join as a task force on a mission to Pokolistan, soon being transported on the Sheba, on the trip Mazursky heard Flag talk about Weasel having a bad experience on the Osprey, then was shocked to learn that the Bride had already been to Pokolistan. Upon arriving, the team got off the Sheba to be greeted by Guard Alexi, who took them away in armored tanks, as they traveled, Mazursky watched in displeasure as Weasel peed next to Doctor Phosphorus, and when the tank briefly stopped, Mazursky greeted a child walking down the street.

Arrival to Poko Castle The team was then welcomed at Poko Castle, who as they walked were amazed by the magnitude of the place until they were greeted by Princess Ilana Rostovic, who mentioned that Flag's middle name was Bill, causing the Bride and Mazursky to become curious, as Mazursky believed it was William, which unnerved Flag, who shut them up. Flag then bowed recklessly, causing Guard Alexi to threaten to kill the entire team, putting them on alert when the army pointed their weapons at them, only to find out it was a bad joke, being confused by Alexi's attitude. Rostovic stopped Alexi and invited the team to have a snack with her.

Sitting down at the table, Mazursky ate by opening the window of her helmet so the food reached her mouth but seeing that G.I. Robot could not eat anything because he was a robot, Mazursky called the waiter to order diesel for her friend, who soon brought it to him. At dusk, the team went out to the backyard, where Mazusky and G.I. Robot watched the team from the balcony, enjoying the sunset. However, G.I. Robot claimed not to enjoy the scenery without them killing Nazis, inviting Nina to kill Nazis as Amanda Waller promised him it would be soon, and saying that it had been a long time since he had killed Nazis while showing off his gun, which Mazursky subtly made him lower. Mazursky liked her friend's attitude and stated that she would love to kill Nazis with him if it happened.

Following the Bride At night, Mazursky was getting ready for bed, taking off her costume and lying down in a bathroom shower, however she quickly heard noises, so she went out to see what was happening, discovering the Bride escaping the castle through a window. Mazursky began to run down the stairs to the castle exit to follow her, getting her attention, who asked how she managed to get to her, with her mentioning the stairs. Bride was upset that no one tried to stop her, and Mazursky explained that they were there to protect them, Mazursky then freaked out seeing Bride leave the castle, expressing her concern that if Flag found out and how he would activate the Detonator, electrocuting her as well, seeing it as a defect in the system because she hadn't done anything wrong.

Bride continued to the kingdom's gate, asking the guard overseeing it to open it, telling him she didn't need a time when he asked, claiming not to be a prisoner, while Nina followed her, insisting on convincing her not to escape. When the guard let them through, Bride asked him for money, being discriminating and rude to him as he agreed, however Mazursky thanked her and was cordial to him, stating that Bride was grateful as well, which she heard and denied. Upon leaving, Mazursky confronted her for being so rude to the guard, something Bride was proud of as she called a taxi and let it know that no one was forcing her to come, with Mazursky eventually getting in to accompany her. During the trip, Mazursky was shocked at the amount of prostitution on the streets as well as the level of inequality compared to the castle, choosing to look away. Getting off, Mazursky thanked the taxi driver and walked Bride out, confused, Mazursky asked Bride where they were, with her stating that it was the place where she was born, following her to the mansion. Entering the mansion and seeing the ruins around, Nina Mazursky asked Bride if it was in that mansion that she was born, with her answering affirmatively, the duo continued walking and stopped to see a portrait of a family, which made Mazursky ask if they were her parents, but Bride just made a grunt with her mouth, annoying Mazursky.

Bride then explained that the mansion was for work and not family, with Mazursky following her up some stairs, sighing, but upon reaching the top, Mazursky was amazed by the size of the laboratory, remembering her scientific parents, accompanying her to the mechanical bed where Bride was born, listening to the story of her birth, which Mazursky found horrible. Bride mentioned that humans could forget birth, which led Mazursky to claim not to be human, but Bride made her reflect that society was not kind to monsters. Mazursky then asked what they were looking for, worrying that Flag would find out about their escape and electrocute them, to which Bride told him that she was looking for a necklace. When Mazursky found a necklace, she ran up to Bride to ask if it was that one, Bride stared at it with excitement and then snatched it from Mazursky's hands disrespectfully, disappointing Mazursky who asked to leave. Suddenly, Circe appeared in front of the window, firing magical blasts at them, knocking Mazursky down, who dizzily got up, being pushed by Bride to save her from an attack by Circe. Mazursky was grabbed by Bride trying to escape, but they were ambushed by the Sons of Themyscira, Bride protected Mazursky from the shots and went out to fight them.

Bride and Mazursky escaped towards the exit but were intercepted by Circe, so Mazursky was grabbed again by Bride who ran dodging Circe's explosions. Bride then jumped through a window, snatching a gun from one of the thugs and starting shooting at him as Nina Mazursky covered her ears, angry at her for hurting her hearing, but was chased away by her to shoot Circe, soon asking Mazursky to run away while she fought. Mazursky ran using her communicator to contact Flag, desperately calling for backup, only to find a group of Sons of Themyscira in front of her.

Mazursky was forced to run and cut off communication with Flag as they shot at her. Returning to the mansion, Mazursky watched in horror as Bride fell off the cliff after being defeated by Circe, allowing the Sons of Themyscira to catch up to her and shoot her to break her tank, falling to the ground next to her, suffering from breathing difficulties, a weakened Bride apologized to her, but Mazursky gasped an insult at her, before both were hit by the thugs with a gun.

Circe and her forces took Mazursky and Bride hostage, tying Bride to a chair and locking Mazursky in the mansion's bathtub, guarding her with spikes and fleeing. The team soon came to the rescue, G.I. Robot found her, moving the spikes to see her, expressing his disappointment at finding there were no Nazis to kill, but that he was glad she was okay, taking her hand. Mazursky told G.I. that she couldn't breathe out of water after losing her suit but had another one in the castle. G.I. told her not to worry and used his strength to separate the bathtub from the bathroom, carrying her to the tank after they were forced to escape because Flag realized it was a distraction from Circe attacking the Princess.

Personality: Nina Mazursky was a kind and good-natured individual. Unlike most members of the Creature Commandos, Nina was rather shy and nervous, incapable of resorting to violence and even less harming others. As mentioned by Amanda Waller, she was reasonable and pragmatic, trying to find a more peaceful way to accomplish their mission. As a result of being from a different race, Nina yearned for genuine bonds and feeling loved and appreciated. This made her capable of forming friendships with others quite easily, as seen with G.I. Robot, with whom she'd never met before becoming teammates, and was seen deeply affected and saddened with his death despite the short time they spent together.

Because of her introvert attitude and being quite timid, Nina was frequently bullied by other inmates, and formerly by her former schoolmates for her metahuman nature, which was seen when after returning from Pokolistan and having defeated Circe, she was bullied by Congorilla, stealing her food from her tray and instead of fighting back, she tried to talk to him to get her food back. Nina was also polite and well-mannered, often acting respectfully with other people even if they're completely strangers, for instance, she apologized with a guard from the palace for Bride's behavior.

Powers and Abilities: Powers Amphibious Physiology: Nina's anatomy resembles a humanoid amphibian. However, she only possesses a limited ability to breath on land, requiring constant access to water in order to not suffocate after a brief period. Aquatic Adaptation: Nina could swim at incredible speeds and potentially could withstand the pressure of the ocean at great depths. Her physiology was adapted for breathing underwater and as a amphibious being, she could resisting deep-sea-level pressure. Abilities Multilingual: Nina can speak 4 languages.

Equipment: Weapons Karambit Knife: Bride entrusted Nina with a knife to assassinate Princess Rostovic from underwater, despite Nina’s lack of training in wielding weapons. Tragically, the same knife was turned against her when Rostovic overpowered her and stabbed her almost to death.

Other Equipment: Breathing Suit: Due to her amphibious physiology, Nina Mazursky has to permanently wear a specific suit whenever she needs to interact on solid ground. Similar to a diving suit, it possesses a glass helmet filled with water, allowing Nina to breath. A little opening at the base of the helmet enables her to consume food.

Trivia: In the comics, Nina Mazursky, also known as Mermaid, is a scientist and an agent of S.H.A.D.E. who operates with the Creature Commandos lead by Frankenstein. Nina is known for sleeping completely bare and often sleeps in large cases of water, such as a bathtub in the castle or her old bed that was built from a large fish tank.