Real Name: Nesser, Baktre
Birthplace: Makadi, Egypt
PMS: Animal Handler
SMS: Veterinarian

Bast was born in Egypt to an American father and Egyptian mother. She spent most of her childhood however, in the jungles of South America, where her parents were studying the big cats. She came to think of the jungle as home, and it's still the place she feels most comfortable.

At the age of 17 Bast was sent to America to attend college, but first served a stint in the Marine Corps, which helped to pay for her schooling. During those years contact with her parents was sporadic at best, and by the time Bast graduated and got her license, she was only hearing from them once a year.

Bast spent the next few years working for a major zoo, where her knowledge of jungle animals and big cats added to what she'd learned in school. She briefly worked alongside Dr. Lincoln Talbot but found him a bit too overbearing to be friendly with. Finally, almost 13 years after she left the jungle, Bast went back to see her parents.

She returned to a disaster. Her parents research compound looked to have been attacked, the workers dead or scattered, and most of the animal subjects missing, save for a day old black leapord cub. Her parents were missing also, as was much of their research. The locals were afraid to talk, saying only that "strange men" had attacked the compound; they had no idea what happened to her parents.

Bast took the cub to care for it and what she could find of her parents research, some of which had been hidden in a place only she would be likely to look. What she soon learned was her parents had become involved in genetic research on big cats, an attempt to make them smarter, more tempermental and able to better adapt. The cub (which she named Onyx) was the end result. She found hints in their notes that "others" had come to the compound and tried to turn the research toward turning the big cats into living weapons, which her parents opposed. Who these "others" were Bast didn't know.

A year later she returned to the States with Onyx in tow. The leopard was as docile as a housecat, yet very protective of her; smarter than most big cats, she was easy to train and understood visual and verbal commands. Bast was putting Onyx through search-and-rescue training when Dr. Talbot (now Link) showed up with evidence pointing to Cobra involvement in her parent's disappearance, and seeking her help to combat Cobra's sudden use of tigers as combat animals. Bast agreed to join, on the condition that Onyx not be used as a weapon herself and that the Joes would put forth as much effort as they could to finding her missing parents...


Onyx
Black panther

Genetically bred to be more docile, intelligent and adaptable than normal big cats, Onyx is very much like a large, friendly housecat, until her mistress is threatened or someone Onxy considers a friend is in trouble. She never likes to be far from Bast, nor does Bast like to far from her.

Onyx has had extensive training in search, rescue and retrieval operations and can follow visual and basic commands to find what or who she was sent for. While she can fight and fight well, she is trained more to subdue than injure or kill, using her big paws and strength to disarm or pin opponents.

Bast didn't come out as well as I would have liked. She suffers from "big hair" and the skin tone didn't settle right. Other than that... well, here's how I made her. Heavily sanded the Jinx lower legs to make them smooth, then used putty to form ankle boots; used more putty to provide straps for the knee pads (so they don't look stick-on) and still more putty to form the rolled up cuffs of her shorts. The hair is Sculpy Flex; I regret not having removed her pony tail first, as it doesn't mesh well with the rest. The camo pattern is one I saw custom painted on a truck, and modified for my own use; started out as just on the shirt but I liked it enough to do it on the shorts, too. Overall she's not my best work, but not my worst, either