Brittany Diggers

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Britanny Diggers
Publisher Antarctic Press
First appearance as Britanny Diggers, Mangazine (1991)
Created by Fred Perry
Characteristics
Alter ego Britanny Elin Diggers
Notable aliases Cheetah, Brit
Abilities superhuman strength, capable of running at over 200 miles an hour for several minutes at one time, regeneration, telescopic vision, infa-red vision, "doom gaze" (only effective against Wererats), super hearing, the ability to change her hair to any length and style she chooses, shapeshifing (three forms, human, hybrid and cheetah), trained martial artist, capable of throwing punches and kicks at speeds high enough to create miniature sonic booms, high-level magical manipulation via "ether vents" in her shoulders and tail

Brittany "Cheetah" Diggers is a fictional character in the Gold Digger series of comics. She is a werecheetah and the adopted daughter of Theodore Diggers and sister of Gina and Brianna Diggers. Until recently, she served as Gina's bodyguard on adventures, until her pregnancy and related incidents required more of her attention.

[edit] Personality

Brittany is at first glance a very selfish person. Her interests are primarily in her own satisfaction, be it from spending time with her husband Stripe, tuna for her appetite, or her well-known and often very expensive shopping sprees at the local mall. However, underneath that initial layer is a good deal of love for those she cares about, which culminated in her original choice to serve as Gina's bodyguard when her sister was first starting, despite her lack of interest in archaeology in general. Furthermore, since the birth of her daughter Tiffany, Britanny has further settled down into her role of a happily married young mother.

[edit] Abilities

Brittany is a werecheetah, and as such has abilities in tune with the Cheetah species used to create her race. She has enhanced strength capable of lifting significantly more than 2 tons (she has been shown using a hydraulic press set at that level for everyday exercise), and she is capable of running at over 200 miles per hour (though this speed is slower than the average werecheetah as Brittany did not grow up in the somewhat less plentiful Serengheti plains where the tribe originally lived). She possesses an enhanced sense of smell and hearing, and is capable of seeing into the infrared spectrum, allowing her to see in the dark. Her natural regenerative ability allows her to quickly recover from almost any wounds save those made by other lycanthropes, magic, or silver. She is also a trained martial artist in the style of Shun-Leep, though not as adept as some of her mother's other students.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

After defeating the Lich King in the pocket realm of the giant base station Oblivion, Brittany was trapped in the realm for several years due to the planet-craft's strangely accelerated time. While outside only a scant few days had passed, in Oblivion, Brittany had aged considerably, during which time she was implanted with Gaoblin 'void artifacts'. These artifacts served as massive ether vents, absorbing enough large amounts of ambient ether to allow Brittany to cast spells of impressive magnitude. Recent revelations in the Perfect Memory series have also confirmed that Brittany is currently a more powerful mage than her father, Archmage Theo Diggers, and likely able to compete on equal standing with Exthillion, the eldest of known dragons.

[edit] History

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Brittany Diggers was originally the child of Xerses and Cyan, the leaders of the dwindling were-cheetah clan. After a famine in the Serengeti Plains, Xerses and his clan accepted the offer of Brendan, leader of the werewolf clan with whom they had been at war, to finally be at peace, and return to the magical realm of the Retreat where all the other lycanthrope races had left to during the end of the Age of Magic.

However, the offer was a trap by Brendan, who had sold out both clans in return for incredible magical power. Theodore Diggers, having been dispatched to contain the situation, attempted to disarm Brendan's magic book, but made a mistake which did nothing to harm the werewolf's magical tome. Rushing to the scene, Theodore was too late to stop the slaughter, but discovered a lone child left alive by the fleeing Brendan. Taking her with him, Theodore adopted the infant as his own daughter.

Brittany grew up with full knowledge of her history, as well as her ability to shift between human and full cheetah forms. As she grew up, she had her first encounter with 'crime-fighting' when she and her best friend in gradeschool, Danielle Carter, set out to fight the evil manipulations of their principal to subdue her unruly classes by sneaking a mind-control substance into the cafeteria's lunch food (no, really). Inventing identities for themselves as 'The Pink Avenger' and her partner 'Cheetah'(Brittany having at this point learned to shift into her hybrid 'were' form), the two stopped the plot and continued to partner up until Danielle eventually moved to New York City, where she continued her superhero career under the moniker of 'Avenger'.

Eventually, Brittany took on the role of bodyguard to Gina as the latter began her archaeological career. This paid off for Brittany when she met Strypp'gia during Gina's expedition to El Dorado. While freeing Strypp's city from the Atlantian wizard Gyphon, Cheetah and Strypp quickly became attracted to each other and, upon the conclusion of that adventure, began dating.

However, this would prove dangerous for Brittany in the near future. After the accident that created her sister Brianna, Brittany was kidnapped by Tanya, priestess of El Dorado. By El Dorado's laws, Strypp would wed her if Strypp had not chosen a bride by the time he was crowned king. Tanya, however, was not willing to let Strypp go so simply to some random woman, and if not for the inconvenient activation of her scrying crystal by Strypp to ask that she transport Brittany to El Dorado for a festival celebrating her birthday. Brittany immediately accepted (Tanya having had to dispel the chains before she woke up so as not to raise suspicion), and Tanya was forced to release her captive for the moment.

Later, Brittany was tricked into being teleported into the catacombs under Tanya's tower, where she was forced to do battle with Jetta, the werewolf she and Gina had encountered in the Garden of Eden. Tricked by Tanya to believe that Brittany had kidnapped her son Pojo, Jetta had come after the were-cheetah with murder on her mind. Facing Jetta head on, Brittany was still no match for the war-trained werewolf, until her father teleported into the area looking for her. Jetta quickly slashed him out of the way, doing what looked like lethal damage to Theodore. Brittany reacted in horror, and horror quickly turned to rage as Jetta taunted her with the kill.

However, as the enraged were-cheetah began to win the fight, Tanya was forced to bring in Jetta's husband Thabian to ensure that Brittany perished. Thabian quickly disabled Brittany but refused to kill her, sensing that the situation was not as it seemed when he could not detect Pojo's scent anywhere on Brittany. Despite this, Jetta could not be persuaded against finishing Brittany off, but was prevented from doing so by Dr. Diggers, whose inherent control over his own physical form as a mage was advanced enough that the 'lethal' wounds that the werewolves could inflict on him were utterly ineffective.

As Brittany came to see her father easily handling both werewolves, she tried to convince her father to destroy the pair but was talked down. After the situation was explained between the two parties, mainly through the revelation that Dr. Diggers had encountered a similar "Brittany" that had attacked him with magic and had been responsible for all of it.

Together with the werewolves and her father, Brittany made her way through Tanya's mystical defenses until they reached the keep, with Brittany rescuing Jetta from fairly certain death in the process, an event that truly galled the werewolf. However, after the group had defeated Tanya and Strypp had returned Pojo to his mother, Jetta was able to see past her pride to realize that her entire family would have died if not for Brittany's help. Calling an end to the feud between their clans, Jetta returned to her home in Eden, leaving a somewhat surprised Brittany behind.

After her birthday celebration, Brittany and Brianna bonded over a little shopping side trip to New York, but barely had time to relax before they ran into Brittany's old friend Danielle Carter, now operating out of New York as the masked hero, Avenger. After a brief confrontation with one of her rogues gallery by the name of Slasher, Danielle asked Brittany to help her with a recent crime wave that'd spread out, assimilating all the small time crooks and thugs under one banner. Brittany agreed, but before they could do anything more, the area was invaded by two more enforcers from the crime wave, the undead zombie Burn Head and the mercenary Tech Ninja.

While struggling to save civilians, however, Avenger was captured by the two criminals' backup, T-Hawk and the returning Slasher. Brittany, Genn, and Brianna managed to capture Burn Head, however, and got from him the location of the base where this "Crime Syndicate X" was operating out of. Infiltrating the area, Brittany's group quickly proved a match for most of the group until the combination of Avenger's coerced betrayal and the entry of Crime Syndicate X's leader Tirant into the battle turned it against them. Brittany, however, was rescued from Tirant's vengeance for her original attack on him by Danielle coming to her senses and fighting the villain to a defeat. After the criminals were taken into custody, Brittany easily accepted Danielle's apology for her actions.