Charlie Winters

Charlotte "Charlie" Winters
Aliases	• Blackcat • Černá Kočka
Born	07/21/1997
Nationality	American
Occupation	• Senior Staff Writer —Detroit Free Press • Freelance Media Correspondent —Sarif Industries • Clinic Coordinator and Director of Services —Augmented Rights Coalition • Personal aide to Talos Rucker
Height	5’5
Weight	115 lbs
Eye Color	Gray
Hair Color	Blonde
Augmentations	None
Relatives	Mother (deceased)
Relationships	Allies Adam Jensen (romantic partner) Francis Pritchard Ivan Berk Viktor Marchenko (former ally) Talos Rucker Enemies Bob Page
Affiliation	Sarif Industries Juggernaut Collective ARC
Opposition	Illuminati Picus Communications
Credits
Creator	forevermarked
Year	2016
Appearances
Sunshine

Overview

Charlie Winters is a journalist, hacker, and activist. She has ties with dangerous pro-aug individuals and organizations. She has no formal combat or infiltration training, but her intelligence, persistence, and brashness have made her a formidable threat.

She believes power corrupts, and is naturally suspicious of authority figures. She is a revolutionary and a guerrilla, but not of the typical sort. Words are her weapon, and she knows how to capture and hold the public's attention.

Appearance

Bespectacled with shoulder length and somewhat unkept blonde hair, Charlie's one hundred percent more comfortable wearing more clothing.

Generally, she doesn’t like showing a lot of skin and prefers to be mostly covered, preferably with multiple layers. Usually she wears long-sleeve jersey knit shirt, jeans, boots, and a jacket.

Personality

Ferociously idealistic, emotionally driven and unashamed, she lives her life in service to the truth and will follow the fight wherever it takes her.

Among her flaws the main one is extreme righteousness. She's also overemotional and illogical and latches on to people. Has poor self-esteem, a tendency towards denial, delusion and melodrama.

She likes ridiculing bigotry and ignorance - like a lot of people, she makes fun of malicious stupidity, because it’s hard for her to deal with the fact that it exists on such a massive scale. Politically she is far left, and believes that every individual in the world, augmented or non, deserves the right to live free of prying influences or oppression.

Charlie can be clumsy - sometimes she is so absorbed in her own thoughts, completely inside her head, that the movements of her physical form become almost an afterthought. She always moves with an urgency, though, even when she’s like this. On the other hand, in stressful situations she becomes hyper-focused and moves in a controlled, exacting sort of way.

A person with a presence behind her eyes, she makes direct eye contact with most people she sees. Her ambient facial expression is that of someone who is an active participant in the environment they find themselves in, prominently thoughtful, wavering between serene and intense. Smiles are forthcoming, usually small and warm like a candle flame.

Eloquent, but casual and colloquial. She definitely has a “professional” tone of voice and a “street” tone of voice, though - the polished, measured speech she uses in her work vs the relaxed, lively speech she uses in interactions with her social peers.

Her voice is warm and full, medium in pitch. She very rarely speaks loudly but she always speaks confidently. She mispronounces things often because there are many words that she has never heard spoken, only read, and will become embarrassed about it. Sometimes she gets too excited and talks too fast. She has a slight northern accent.

History

Charlie's appearance.

Her mother - who raised Charlie as a single parent - was a former employee of Page Industries, manufacturing electronics in one of their Detroit factories. In her work, she was exposed to dangerous chemicals that, over the years, led to her developing aggressive lung cancer. Lucky for her, it was around this time that Sarif Industries was making great strides in advanced biotech and cybernetic augmentations. David Sarif had designs for a preliminary Rebreather - something that would allow Charlie’s mother to have her tumors removed and still have a functioning respiratory system. It was still untested and very experimental, though. David offered to personally oversee installation of the Rebreather in Charlie’s mother - free of charge, and any external medical costs would be completely covered by Sarif Industries, as well. Charlie was fifteen when her mother had the operation. It was a success.

Through extensive oncological treatments both before and after the Rebreather implant, her mother’s doctors advised that it was demonstrably clear that the cancer had come from unsafe chemical exposure on the job, and she likely had a very solid legal case against Page Industries. With a team of lawyers who specialized in OSHA violations, she officially filed suit against Page Industries in early 2019. Bob Page was already a respected public figure, and his conglomeration a major force in the business world. Before it even went to court, the case was highly publicized. The sick single mother versus the megacorp. David versus Goliath. It would never come to fruition. A week before the first hearing, Charlie’s mother was found dead in her own home. The investigation was short - no foul play suspected. At eighteen, Charlie Winters was an orphan, and got her first taste of injustice.

She knew her mother was murdered, but lacked the means or power to prove it. Instead, she decided to dedicate her life to making sure nothing like this ever happened to anyone else - to uncovering and sharing the truth, objective truth, no matter how unfavorable it was to the rich and powerful. A powerful hatred for Bob Page and his ilk drove her through college, where she studied journalism and graduated with top marks. She interned with LIMB as well as Picus, but that wasn’t a good fit - a news organization more dedicated to spinning and manipulating the truth than reporting it clearly.

Timeline

2025-2026

In 2025 she landed a job as a junior editor at Detroit Free Press, a small independent paper with no corporate ties or clandestine loyalties. There she thrived, and demonstrated a knack for sniffing out even the most scandalous, deeply buried, deliberately obscured stories - no matter how dangerous or illegal. Her colleagues characterized her as a bloodhound, and had a bail fund pool for her, as she spent many nights in jail after crossing the wrong line or pissing off the wrong person. It was worth it - with her help, Detroit Free Press rose to respectability, renowned for it’s hard-hitting investigative journalism and as one of the few remaining news outlets in the city that reported fairly and objectively.

2027

Charlie and Adam.

She then found herself back in association with David Sarif. Following police radio chatter, she broke into the scene of the Purity First attack at the Milwaukee Junction factory, and stumbled right into the augmented hacker who was attempting to steal Sarif Industries’ Typhoon prototype. She was a witness, privy to dangerous secrets meant for the FBI and CIA. Recognizing her skills, and as a way to keep her close and under watch, David offered her a job as a private media consultant for Sarif Industries.

2028

Charlie then worked closely with Team Sarif. She assisted Adam Jensen in his search for Megan Reed’s missing team of scientists. She and Frank Pritchard dug into the Tyrants, the mercenaries who orchestrated the attack on Sarif Industries months prior, and hacked into their killing floor. Along the way, she furthered her own investigation of her mother’s murder, finding first the cop who covered it up and then the Triad-associated assassin who did the deed and then the high-ranking government official who ordered it. She also uncovered the truth about Jensen’s past and his augmentations, revealing to him that his ex-girlfriend Megan Reed had been experimenting on his DNA, and that David had given him far more augmentations than he actually needed. This all came to a head when she and Faridah Malik traveled to the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, and Charlie walked in on a conversation between Elizabeth DuClare and one of her most trusted agents. Charlie uncovered the Illuminati’s plot to use the new mandatory biochip upgrade to control all augmented citizens, killed the agent, and for the first time became a direct target of the Illuminati herself. When she returned home to Detroit, she anonymously leaked the information about the biochip, urging citizens not to get the upgrade. The public reacted in a rash of fear and confusion, but the leak worked - overall, less people got the biochip upgrade, and so a small amount of damage from the Aug Incident was mitigated.

Charlie was by David Sarif’s side at Panchaea, when Hugh Darrow gave his speech and activated the signal that drove all augmented people with the biochip to violent madness. As chaos and carnage tore through Panchaea station, Jensen rushed to shut down Darrow’s signal while Charlie helped lead groups of survivors to safety. Eventually, she was evacuated along with David, and the station self-destructed beneath them with Jensen still inside.

Her biochip leak had grabbed the attention of several big players, for good and for evil. Janus and the Juggernaut Collective had been watching her for a while. She was obviously skilled, and obviously sympathetic to her cause. After the Aug Incident and the loss of so many she held dear, she was profoundly disillusioned and broken. Sarif Industries and Detroit Free Press were in shambles. For a short while she remained in Detroit with Pritchard, selling corporate secrets and living off the fruits of cybercrime, drinking and using drugs to try and abet the pain she felt. Her recruitment into Juggernaut was swift and easy. She was desperate for purpose, and her anger propelled her. It was almost ruthless, the way she shed her old life. Disappeared from Detroit without a trace or a word, leaving Pritchard and all she'd known behind.

Juggernaut had their eyes in Europe, on a powerful new force - the Augmented Rights Coalition and it’s charismatic leader, German doctor Talos Rucker. ARC could be a helpful tool, but they suspected the Illuminati already had or would soon infiltrate it. They sent Charlie to Berlin, where she joined ARC at one of their clinics as a nameless volunteer. For months she assisted in distributing neuropozyne amongst the poor neighborhoods there, and providing medical care to underprivileged augs. Through cunning, she rose in influence within ARC. She redesigned systems of the clinics to make them more efficient, and increased recruitment tenfold through pamphlets and public relations. It wasn't long before she caught the attention of Rucker himself.

They grew close quickly, personally and professionally. She worked with him directly in Berlin, and when ARC established their headquarters in Prague, she relocated with him - all the while funneling information to Juggernaut and learning the organization inside and out to try and sniff out any Illuminati agents. She worked as Rucker's personal aide, and as the de-facto spokesperson for ARC, dealing solely with the press. It was a demanding job - Rucker had a drinking problem, and Picus seemed determined to paint him in the most negative light possible. He was a real threat, and needed to be undermined.

At ARC's base in Utulek Complex, Charlie made many friends - most notably, Ivan Berk and Viktor Marchenko. She became close to the both of them - close enough to realize that something was up with Viktor. He expressed unusually violent ideas, and seemed to be influencing Ivan towards the same. She wasn't able to prevent the suicide bombing of Ruzicka station, and mourned the loss of her friend Ivan. The incident drove her, and after persistent investigation, she discovered Marchenko's Illuminati ties and the existence of the Orchid poison. She was able to save Rucker's life, and when Task Force 29 sent an agent to question ARC about the Ruzicka bombing, she was ready. It was then that she was reunited with Adam Jensen, a man she believed to be dead, and once again they were united in fighting the Illuminati.

Charlie's continued loyalty to Juggernaut is absolute, but guided by an overarching hatred of the Illuminati, both because of what they've taken from her personally and what she's seen them take from others.

Charlie treating Adam's wounds.

Trivia

• She owns a cat named Ivy.
• Smokes.
• "Winsen" is Charlie and Adam's ship name.
• Regarding "how's your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories?"

Yes, yes, and yes. HAHAHAHAHA. Charlie has an absolutely rich inner life. She is constantly in her head, daydreaming, even in an idle sense. She’ll pass people in the street and imagine what they’ll be going home to, what their lives are like, how they’ve loved and lost. When it comes to her own life, her vivid imagination can become a problem, causing her to be indecisive because she is running through fantasies of all possible decisions and outcomes, and giving her a tendency to overthink in a major way - whether fantasizing about future events to such a dramatic extent that nothing that really happens could ever measure up, or reimagining past events ad infinitum in a way that prevents her from ever moving on. She is highly anxious, though she hides it well and it doesn’t not manifest in her actions much (aside from her alcoholism AHHAHA.) Living in memories very much so - ghosts follow her everywhere, and from the time her mother dies to when she and Adam are reunited in Prague, her entire life is like some sort of memorial to the past.
One of my absolute favorite things I’ve ever written of/about her is that scene where she’s daydreaming about how Adam and Megan met and what it was like when they first started dating and while she doesn’t particularly want to go down this path of imagination she can’t help it and is somehow enthralled all the same. It’s very much a pure distillation of her re: imagination and the interior workings of her psyche.

• Regarding "do they always rationalize errors? How do they accept disasters and failures?"

Ooooooooooooh this is a good one. I think when something bad happens to Charlie or someone she cares about and it’s her own fault, she starts to feel very sorry for herself? I think she can very easily get sucked into despair. I think she will beat herself up endlessly, in a way that can prevent her from moving on and doing better.
She does not get over things easily. She holds on, she will re-examine a situation 1,000 times killing herself to try and determine where she went wrong and what she could have done differently.

• Regarding "what were your character’s deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now?

From a young age, because of what happened with her mom (who worked at a Page Industries manufacturing plant and became terminally ill from chemicals used there,) she learned that power, money, and corruption were absolute. Her dad’s abandonment didn’t affect her much as she got older - if anything it just showed her that people would always be unreliable but also that survival was possible if you could rely on yourself.
In recent years, since her mother’s death, she’s been overcome with a profound sense of her own insignificance. She has no meaningful interpersonal relationships and she desperately needs those to feel like she occupies an important place in the world. The longer this goes on, the less she believes she will ever matter to any person ever again. She soldiers on because her idealogical conviction is SO strong. She so intensely believes that her work is fundamentally, profoundly important that it is literally her sole motivation to keep living. She is severely isolated and utterly alone - except for Ivy. In fact, that’s one of the reasons she got Ivy - for her mental health. She needed to be needed by some living thing. She needed to be held accountable for continuing to exist.

• Regarding "what is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?"

Charlie’s father left when she was an infant. She never knew him, never even saw a photo of him as her mother got rid of everything after he left. Charlie is no longer hung up on it. Sure, when she was younger, she hated him and was very angry with him. But maintaining anger like that is exhausting, and not in her character. Now, she’s glad he left. She’d rather have no father than a father who didn’t want to be there, and her mother was all she needed.

Charlie and her cat Ivy.

• Regarding "does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?"

(i didn’t realize there was a separate dream/nightmare question so i already kinda answered this in the dream one but) the biggest theme is death and dying. herself - she has disturbingly vivid dreams of her own death. the people she loves - Jensen, Pritchard. She even dreams of losing her cat. She doesn’t take the transition from (mostly) normal girl with a (mostly) life to Adam Jensen’s sidekick directly in the line of fire very well - though she deludes herself in to thinking she does, and she’s constantly telling Adam she’s fine and can handle it, but it comes up in her dreams.

• Regarding "is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?"

Hm, not particularly. she doesn’t love it, but she doesn’t have much of a choice other than to get used to it really quickly - the first time she ever meets Adam she’s just had someone’s brains splattered all over her. she becomes desensitized to it.

• Regarding "does your character remember names or faces easier?"

Faces! she’s a very intuitive, left-brained person so she has a much easier time with human things like faces rather than abstract/analytical things like names, data, etc. she’s totally one of those people who will drive herself crazy like “i KNOW that person from somewhere……. i KNOW i know that person from somewhere….. who are they”

• Regarding "on an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?"

Charlie is a little bit of a mess of a person. Her bag/pockets are always incredibly cluttered with trash, receipts, etc. In her messenger bag she carries her camcorder, tablet and phone and more charger cords than one person could possibly need (dead battery is her worst fear) plus her stun gun, keys, the case for her glasses, hair ties, chapstick and a small flask. she only keeps one thing in the pocket of her jeans - a zippo lighter. she doesn’t smoke. it’s for Adam.

• Regarding "How does your character behave around children?"

She doesn’t abjectly dislike children, but they make her feel a little jumpy and nervous. she’s really neurotic about how easily children can get hurt and tends to be overprotective and watchful of any children around her. she doesn’t like to hold people’s children because she’s scared she will drop them and hurt them. a shame, because children seem to love her and she can carry on a nonsensical conversation with a 2-year old for hours.

• Regarding "What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?"

People who are prejudiced against augs

• Regarding "How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?"

Um :’) it’s very easy for her to say. almost too easy. she has to stop herself, at times. she’s one of those people who is literally like overflowing with love and has an abundance of it to give to all people??? and being so isolated in her life, not having any family or anyone really close to her, when she begins to form a meaningful relationship with someone she feels intense gratitude and wants to let them know. most people would probably find it disarming or inappropriate, how readily she loves and expresses her love. this applies to both romantic and platonic love.

Fanart Gallery

By Original Creator

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  Photomanip concept by forevermarked
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  Made in Rinmaru Games
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  Made in Rinmaru Games
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  Made in Rinmaru Games
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  Made in AzaleasDolls

By Other Artists

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  by agent-gwendolyn
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  by DemonHunterJoan
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  by DemonHunterJoan
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  by DrVauclair
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  by needlesscryptic
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  by oatson
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  by onehundred-fandoms
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  by runakvaed
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  by suchsunshinewow
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  by thefraulein
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  by thefraulein
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  by xen-dance
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  IMVU avatar by xen-dance
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  by xen-dance
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  IMVU avatar by xen-dance
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  IMVU avatar by xen-dance
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  IMVU avatar by xen-dance
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  IMVU avatar by xen-dance
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  IMVU avatar by xen-dance
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  IMVU avatar by xen-dance
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  IMVU avatar by xen-dance
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  by xen-dance
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  by xen-dance
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  by xen-dance
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  by xen-dance