Allyson Michelle, a.k.a. Blue Rose

Game Date: Pre-Campaign Start Date

Allyson Michelle and her twin brother, Allen Michelle, were born on October 22, 1976. Her father, Tyler, was a research botanist at UC-Berkeley as well as the owner of "Flower Power," a flower shop in the Haight-Ashbury district. Her mother, Regina, was a student when she met Tyler. After their marriage, she took over as manager of the flower shop. Regina and Tyler Michelle were known in the 60's for growing the best weed in the Bay area. Tyler and Regina stopped selling marijuana when she found out that she was pregnant with the twins.

Allyson and Allen were both physically gifted as children. Allyson studied gymnastics from the time she was three through her high school years. Allen excelled at every sport that he tried but baseball was his first true love.

The twins were also exceptional students and both inherited their father's love of plants and botany. They spent their summers helping out around the flower shop and doing research with Tyler.

Tragedy struck the family during the summer of 1991 when Allen was killed in a plane crash while traveling to a tournament in Japan with his youth baseball team. The crash was at sea during a terrible storm. The bodies of most of the passengers including Allen's were never found.

Allyson was devastated by her brother's death. She took a year off from school and spent most of it in counseling. The year off did not heal all of her wounds but it gave Allyson a new outlook and the strength to get on with her life.

She went to UCLA, against her father's wishes. Tyler preferred that Allyson stay in the Bay area with UC-Berkeley at the top of his list. Allyson majored in Botany with a minor in Chemistry. She finished her coursework in three years and graduated Magna Cum Laude.

The day before her graduation, Allyson felt that something bad was going to happen. The feeling passed and she went on preparing for the graduation ceremonies. When her parents did not arrive the next morning, the feeling returned. Allyson called and called but got no answer at either the flower shop or her parent's home. Allyson skipped the graduation ceremonies and drove to San Francisco.

The flower shop was dark and quiet when Allyson entered. She headed to the backroom and found her parents both lying dead on the floor by the flower cooler. The police came and took the bodies away and told Allyson that autopsies would be performed to determine the cause of death. A few days later after her parent's funerals, the detective told her that her parents died of belladonna poisoning. He also told Allyson that belladonna alkaloids had been found in the food on one of the workbenches in the backroom of the flower shop as well. Her parent's deaths were being ruled as suicides.

Allyson inherited her parent's estate including her father's botanical patents and the flower shop. She decided to forego returning to UCLA to work on her Masters and started cleaning the shop and getting things in order to reopen for business.

The day before she was to reopen the shop, Allyson received an email from her father. The email explained that an automated process had sent it. The email gave Allyson the combination for the safe in her father's study. She opened the safe and found research papers and a note from Tyler.

*****

Allyson,

If you are reading this, then your mother and I are in all likelihood dead. You have something that somebody wants, probably enough to kill for it. The culmination of my research, my blue rose. Hide it! Do whatever you must to keep it safe and out of the wrong hands.

All who know the secret of the blue rose, your brother, your mother and I, are now gone. It is not the legacy I would have wished for you.

Good Luck and all my love,
Dad

*****

On the back on the note was a map to a secret compartment in the flower cooler.

*****

After reading the note, Allyson went to the flower shop and found the blue rose buds in the secret compartment in the flower cooler. She put them in a black plastic garbage bag and returned to her parents' house. After arriving there, she opened the bag to see the prettiest rose buds in the world. They were blue, not navy, but a brilliant royal blue. One of the rose buds opened and began to shed its petals. Allyson picked up a petal and smelled it. A strange feeling came over Allyson and she began to grow. Her fingers grew longer; her shoes along with her clothes grew snug and then too tight for comfort. She quickly stripped them off. Allyson looked in the closet mirror to see that she had gained about 70 pounds of muscle and had grown to a height over 6 feet tall. Feeling a surge of energy in addition to the physical changes, Allyson went outside in her parents' backyard and began to do gymnastics. She found herself jumping higher and running faster than she had ever done before. After a while Allyson grew tired and while she rested she returned to her normal weight and size.

The next day, Allyson called the only person she thought she might be able to trust. Dr. Reid Davis, a research dean at UCLA. She and Reid had gone out on a date before he found out that Allyson was a student at the university. After the date, they decided to be friends and Reid had become her confidant and mentor. Reid asked Allyson to return to UCLA and they could work on the blue rose's secrets at his private research lab away from prying eyes.

Allyson and Reid spent a year researching the blue rose formulas of Tyler Michelle. They found a way to stabilize Allyson's ability to change forms as well as finding a formula to increase Allyson's strength and speed up her healing factor.

Allyson and Reid had a bit of a falling out when she showed him her "Blue Rose" costume and told him that she was going to use the powers of the blue rose to help people. Reid said it was too dangerous and urged Allyson to reconsider after all she was only a scientist. Allyson disheartened by his stance on the issue left UCLA and Reid behind to return San Francisco.

Blue Rose joined the Alcatraz Foundation Wardens on January 1, 2001. Her adventures with the Wardens are chronicled in the Wardens Chronicles. Blue Rose left the Wardens on July 21, 2002 to take on a new mission with the Warders.