TRACETRACE
Real Name: Emi Ishida; Alicia (formerly Marcia Guzman); Jake (formerly Nita Young)
Identity/Class: Techno-armored warrior
Occupation: Vigilante
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Each other; Melanie, Hawkeye (Clint Barton); Millie Collins, Hanover Modeling Agency, Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Toni Turner;
allegedly Black Cat (Felicia Hardy) and others
Enemies: Chance (Nicholas Powell), Power Broker Inc. (Angela Golden, Dr. Seth Forrest), Dr. Forrest's mutates, Trapster (Peter Petruski);
Tulio Guzman (via misunderstanding);
formerly Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
Known Relatives: Dave (Emi's ex-husband);
Tulio Guzman (Alicia's brother, deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
unidentified abandoned apartment complex
First Appearance: Avengers: Solo#1 (December, 2011)
Powers/Abilities: The Trace armor seems to grant protection from injury.
The Trace armor can apparently alter its conformation from a smaller,
feminine form to a larger and more
maculine in build; it could this latter ability could be used even with
the
helmet off and could apparently be controlled at will. Further, the
armor design allowed a much smaller female (perhaps 6 to 8" shorter
than the armor's masculine form) to comfortably occupy and operate the
armor.
Alicia demonstrated this change in armor configuration. While Emi did
not change forms, she did appear large and masculine in the armor. Jake
was already masculine, so this ability was not needed.
The Trace armor may grant flight. Alicia seemed to swoop out of the
air, grab Hawkeye's skycycle, and swing it like a bat to strike Chance
during a rooftop fight; however, she may have been present
cloaked/camouflaged. She's leapt off of the roof of a building, but we
don't know in either case that she didn't just jump from building to
building and/or into the air.
Neither
Jake nor Emi seemed to be able to fly in the Trace armor. Jake
specifically used a zipline, but it may be that their were not
comfortable/skilled with flight.
Alicia has super-strength, Emi could manipulate energy to form shields and blasts, and Jake had fire powers. They also used these abilties as Trace.
Height:
Unrevealed; in its standard masculine form, the armor appeared to be
approximately 6'4" tall (about an inch taller than Hawkeye); it's
feminine form looked to be more like 5'8" or 5'10" tall (it may
have adjusted to fit the form of its wearer)
Unarmored, I estimated Alicia at 5'6", Emi at 5'10", and Jake at 6'
Weight: Unrevealed; we estimated the armor to weigh approximately 47 lbs.
Unarmored, I estimated Alicia at 120 lbs, Emi at 138 lbs, and Jake at
188 lbs., which would make them as Trace (Alicia) 167 lbs., (Emi) 185
lbs., and (Jake) 235 lbs.
Eyes: The armor masked the eyes of its wearer; Alicia, Emi, and Jake all appeared to have brown eyes
Hair: The armor masked the eyes of its wearer; Alicia: brown; Emi: Black; Jake: Blond
History: 
(Avengers: Solo#5 (fb) - BTS) <6 months prior to the main story> - Emi Ishida, Alicia, Jake,
and Melanie arranged -- perhaps via someone owing a friend a favor --
for the Black Cat (although the thief's identity is not confirmed) to
steal a suit of armor from a private research facility in Estonia to
help with their mission of locating and helping other victims of Power
Broker Inc's experimentation, as well as exposing PBI's crimes.
(Avengers: Solo#2 (fb) - BTS) - With Power Broker Inc. after them for over 6 months, Trace helped the group investigate their pursuants and push them back.
(Avengers: Solo#3 (fb) - BTS) - Alicia, Emi, and apparently Jake (and apparently not Melanie) shared the Trace armor.
(Avengers: Solo#2 (fb) - BTS) - Trapster and a group of armored Power Broker agents were instructed to monitor their primary target (Trace and/or the Power Broker augmentees Emi Ishida, Alicia, Jake, and Melanie).
(Avengers: Solo#1 (fb) - BTS) - Apparently knowing that the exoskeleton-wearing Trace was associated with his missing sister but not realizing she was one of the ones to wear the armor, Tulio "Tuli" Guzman apparently threatened to go to the police when Trace (Emi) refused to take him to see Marcia. Trace tried to force Tulio not to do this, and Tulio fled down an alley off 11th avenue by the Hudson river.
(Avengers:
Solo#1) - Trace (Emi) pursued Tuli down an alley, ultimately blasting him off
his feet to make him stop running and so he would not go to the police.
While Tuli argued that he had a right to know, Trace told him that he
knew too much already, and that his sister didn't want him to get hurt.
When Hawkeye interrupted the confrontation, Trace warned him that the
situation was none of his business; and when Hawkeye fired a net arrow,
Trace used an energy field to deflect it. Hawkeye tried to confront
Trace, but the vigilante generated a blinding flash of light and
vanished.
(Avengers: Solo#2 (fb) - BTS) - Chance apparently planted a tracker on Trace during their encounter.
(Avengers: Solo#1 - BTS) - After discovering Tuli's death, Hawkeye was then ambushed by Power Broker agent Chance.
(Avengers: Solo#1) - Chance was, in turn, assaulted by Trace (Alicia) who grabbed Hawkeye's skycycle and used it like a bat to swat Chance across the roof of a building. When Hawkeye confronted and blamed Trace for the killing, Trace denied the allegations, shoved Hawkeye away, and then leapt off the top of the building.
(Avengers:
Solo#1 (fb) - BTS) - Hawkeye finished off Chance, who was arrested.
(Avengers: Solo#2) - Hawkeye observed Trace (Alicia) entering the apartment window, closely followed by multiple Power Broker agents. Alicia changed back into her civilian garb upon meeting with the others, and Hawkeye broke in just as the PBI agents entered.
(Avengers: Solo#2 (fb) - BTS) - Hawkeye placed a tracer on one of Power Broker's agents.
(Avengers: Solo#2) - Melanie alerted Hawkeye to their location, and he asked if Trace could provide back-up; Melanie told Hawkeye Trace was somewhere in the building, having gone after the Power Broker agents; not knowing the truth, Hawkeye was irritated, feeling Trace should have stayed to protect the civilians. Emi instructed Alicia to find Trace and get Jake and Mel out of there.
When Power Broker command reported tracking on "the signal," Hawkeye realized they were tracking Trace.
(Avengers: Solo#3 (fb) - BTS) - Hawkeye told Emi that she and the others should get rid of their phones so they could not be tracked by them.
(Avengers: Solo#2) - Hawkeye found Trace (Alicia) a few blocks away battling Power Broker and Trapster, enraged and shouting about being sick of running and that she was planning to kill her foes. When Hawkeye asked where Alicia was, Trace noted being busy and instructed Hawkeye to take out Trapster if he wanted to be helpful. Hawkeye confronted Power Broker's Angela Golden in her car, and she told Hawkeye Trace was an industrial saboteur who had last week broken into one of her facilities, destroyed a research lab, and stolen proprietary data worth billions to her competitors.
Hawkeye destroyed the laptop through which Golden had controlled her drugged mercenaries, and Trace subsequently pushed over Golden's limousine, but when Hawkeye asked about Alicia's location, Trace instructed him to leave Alicia out of it as she was not his problem. After Trace and Hawkeye fought the mercenaries together and he told Trace how the mercenaries had followed a transmitter stuck in the armor's left arm by Chance, Trace calmed down and listened to him. Trace planned to head east to lead the mercenaries away from the others who had headed west, but Hawkeye launched the transmitter east with an arrow, planning to follow and take out the mercenaries when they pursued it.
Trace then unmasked, reverted the Trace armor to its smaller, feminine form, and Alicia told Hawkeye that Captain America had been behind the project.
(Avengers: Solo#3) - Alicia (still in Trace armor in its feminine form) told her story about Cap's apparent involvement in the project that experimented on her. When Power Broker's agents located and approached the transmitter, Hawkeye and Trace (Alicia) defeated these agents and Trapster.
(Avengers:
Solo#3 (fb) - BTS) - Hawkeye and Trace cuffed Trapster and the Power Broker agents and emptied their weapons.(Avengers: Solo#3 - BTS) - Figuring his longer-than-expected absence indicated problems and that he might need a doctor, Emi replaced Alicia as Trace for their meeting.
(Avengers: Solo#3 - BTS) - When Hawkeye left Ryker's Island he was assaulted by more drug-enhanced monstrosities sent by Golden.
(Avengers: Solo#3) - As Trace (Emi) approached, Hawkeye instructed "Alicia" to hold back to be sure what was going on, but Emi revealed it was her in the armor. Trace/Emi joined the fight and allowed herself to be overpowered by the mutates, who were ordered by Golden to capture her because she was their only chance for a cure. Trace hit Hawkeye with an energy blast to get him out of the way and give him a chance at following Golden's transporter on his Skycycle. Golden and the mutates took off in the transporter with Trace as their captive.
(Avengers: Solo#4) - As planned, Hawkeye followed Golden's vehicle; meanwhile, Dr. Forrest's mutates battered Trace, trying to tear off "his" armor. When Trace fought back, Dr. Forrest, a seemingly battered captive, warned Trace of a device that dampened powers and fogged the mind, but that it was also protected and should not be touched. Recognizing Forrest, Trace resolved to protect him from the mutates, and she and Hawkeye soon broke Forrest out of the van.
Hawkeye then arranged for the others to meet them at a cabin he co-owned.
(Avengers: Solo#4 (fb) - BTS) - Apart from Forrest, Emi removed the Trace armor and met up with everyone at the cabin.
(Avengers:
Solo#4 (fb) - BTS) - Althought none of them trusted Forrest, they
appreciated his offer to bring them to Golden/PBI fit their goals.
Hawkeye figured out a plan that could take down
the whole Power Broker operation, considering Mel, who had never shown
her powers, and Jake, whose identity and nature was unknown to Power
Broker, to be their secret weapons. 
(Avengers: Solo#5) - Forrest brought Alicia and Emi by boat to the Power Broker ship, intending to turn them over to Golden and some mutates, with the plan for Hawkeye and Trace (Jake) racing to save them.
(Avengers: Solo#4) -
Having discovered the Trace armor to be that stolen from an Estonian
research facility, Iron Man (Tony Stark) tracked down Trace and
confronted Trace (Jake) and Hawkeye as they oversaw Forrest's delivery
of Alicia and Emi to PBI's ship.
Jake feared Hawkeye has betrayed them.
(Avengers: Solo#5) - When Iron Man questioned how they had gotten the Black Cat to steal the Trace armor, Jake nervously offered that someone owed a friend a favor. Hawkeye tried to convince both Jake and Iron Man to trust him based on his previous actions, and he delayed Iron Man to allow Trace (Jake) to travel down a zip-line Hawkeye had made from their location to PBI's ship.
(Avengers: Solo#5 (fb) - BTS) - Trusting Hawkeye, Iron Man departed.
(Avengers: Solo#5) - After Hawkeye shorted out PBI's ship's power, he and Trace (Jake) boarded the ship and began taking down the guards who were preparing to stop the prisoners from escaping. Recognizing Trace as the fire-powered subject Forrest had been seeking, the guards swiftly contacted and informed Forrest. While Mel worked to secure transport for the prisoners off the ship, Trace and Hawkeye saved her from mutates threatening her. Forrest then arrived, demanding Trace demonstate the fire power; when Trace refused, Forrest tossed Mel overboard, but Hawkeye then engaged Forrest.
(Avengers: Solo#5 (fb) - BTS) - Trace presumably helped return Mel to the ship.
(Avengers: Solo#5) - As Mel and Emi helped the prisoners aboard their boat, Trace and Alicia held off the guards.
(Avengers:
Solo#5) - As Trace returned to Hawkeye and Forrest, he found Hawkeye
had convinced the mutates Forrest had betrayed them, and the mutates
turned on Forrest, threatening to tear him apart.
Water hit the electricals as the back-up generator was coming on, and Hawkeye had Trace use fire to drive the others toward the boat, and Trace made sure to destroy the records of the formulae.
As they approached the boat, the mutates hurled Hawkeye and Trace out of the ship; the mutates and Forrest were still in the ship as it exploded.
Hawkeye gave Trace the records and his equipment and sent him to land, while Hawkeye recovered a pair of mutates.
(Avengers: Solo#5 - BTS) - Returning to the others, Jake shed the Trace armor.
(Avengers: Solo#5) - Alicia, Emi, Melanie, and Jake planned to help get the women they had rescued back to their lives, after which they would try to find the ones that were still missing; once they knew who had been identified, they planned to go to the police. Hawkeye gave them Forrest's notes (and Golden assured them that Forrest did not have copies), and he assured them that he (Hakweye) was easy to reach and that if any of them ever needed him, they should just call.
Comments: Created by Jen Van Meter and Roger Robinson.
This story is REALLY hard to follow...I've been through it 4 times now to gain the understanding that I now have. Thanks to Markus Raymond for helping me sort it all out.
On the subject of the Trace armor's powers, Markus concluded:
The features of the armor? Flight! Physical protection! It seemed like it could switch between a form fitting mode and an additional body armor mode (making them appear masculine). I doubt holograms were involved. Actual size-changing sounds reasonable.
Trace armor weight suggestion from OHotMU engineer/expert Mike Fichera:
Assuming the armor plates are some high-tech light weight impact dispersing
fictional material and not simply steel.
- helmet (4 lbs)
- torso (8 lbs)
- shoulders, arms, gloves (4 lbs
each x 2 = 8 lbs)
- leggings (7.5 lbs x 2 = 15 lbs)
- boots (12 lbs)
TOTAL: 47 lbs
One article on the weight of plate
mail armor says, "An entire suit of field
armor (that is, armor for battle) usually weighs between 45 and 55 lbs. (20 to
25 kg), with the helmet weighing between 4 and 8 lbs. (2 to 4 kg)—less than the
full equipment of a fireman with oxygen gear, or what most modern soldiers have
carried into battle since the nineteenth century." -- http://www.sarahwoodbury.com/medieval-swords-and-armor-were-not-heavy/
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Trace should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
Avengers: Solo#1, story pg. 2, panel 3 (forming shield to block arrow);
pg. 8, panel 5 (holding skycycle with one hand)
pg. 9, panel 1 (back);
panel 2 (side of mask; height relation to Hawkeye);
#2, story pg. 2, panel 4 (face panel open);
#4, pg. 19, panel 3 (Trace, full);
#5, pg. 3, panel 2 (zip-line);
pg. 14, panel 4 (fiery blasts)
Appearances:
Avengers: Solo#1 (December, 2011) - Jen Van Meter (writer), Roger Robinson (artist), Tom Brennan (editor)
Avengers: Solo#2 (January, 2012) - Jen Van Meter (writer), Roger Robinson (artist), Tom Brennan (editor)
Avengers: Solo#3 (February, 2012) - Jen Van Meter (writer), Al Barrionuevo (pencils), Raul Lopez (inks), Tom Brennan (editor)
Avengers: Solo#4 (March, 2012) - Jen Van Meter (writer), Roger Robinson (artist), Tom Brennan (editor)
Avengers: Solo#5 (April, 2012) - Jen Van Meter (writer), Roger Robinson & Declan Shalvey (artists), Tom Brennan (editor)
Last updated: 02/26/15
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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