Stephanie Gorgeouspalace

Stephanie Gorgeouspalace (ステファニー＝ゴージャスパレス) is a mercenary that first appeared in volume SS2, and is a friend with Sunazara Chimitsu, the sniper who attacked Oyafune Monaka and who was nearly killed by Kinuhata Saiai in volume 15.

Appearance
Both Sunazara and Thomas Platinaburg commented that her overall appearance is more of an actress or a model than a hitman. She has white skin, long blonde hair, her height is taller more than Sunazara and she is thin enough to have a model's figure. Sunazara also noted that her beautiful face just doesn't fit well for work, as the occupation has times when is required for one to avoid any attention if possible.

Personality
Both her personality and choice of method for assination completely run opposite to her partner, Sunazara even said that her ideas are practically heresy for assassins. As an example: she chose to take out a land target with a surface-to-air missile launcher and even though she had the option of silently eliminating Platinaburg thus avoiding his 200 guards she chose to do so anyway. She has demonstrated that she values her partner, if not friend, Sunazara as she openly declares revenge on Academy City.

Her reason for becoming a mercenary is that she wanted to make a difference in countries and places where war would just not stop and people lived in fear of conflict

Background
Stephanie had been given a life of freedom in a country that was very, very peaceful. Eventually she embraced her doubts about that tepid environment (or perhaps, was given the freedom to embrace them), so she determined to leave. The motivation for that civilian to head to the battlefield as a mercenary had been exceedingly infantile. She had been in a period where she was concerned with the twisted parts of society and could not stand to ignore those who were suffering. She had been in a period where she would only be satisfied by helping out directly with her own ability. . Stephanie's first hellish job was in a revolution in Costa Rica on which she would have died if Sunazara had not aided her and saved her, after that point Stephanie and Sunazara became inseparable and Sunazara always made sure that Stephanie either not risk herself on her job, or would teach her the necessary knowledge about being a mercenary so that Stephanie herself could avoid worts part of the actual danger.

Prior to becoming a mercenary, Stephanie was a resident of Academy City and received training by Anti-Skill, it's likely that Stephanie tried to join Anti-Skill at some point, this can be said so thanks to her personality.

Stephanie developed her own mercenary style were she could fight at high speeds and in close quarters against her targets, at that distance she could perfectly control how to attack her target and which how much force, fact which allowed Stephanie to injure and not kill her target if the circumstance allowed it; Stephanie further surmised that Sunazara kept Stephanie around because he could not share that trait as a sniper rifle was a weapon of such strength that even a shoot in an arm or a leg would rip off the limb and incur in such a pain and blood loss that the target would die regardless of where he is shot. If Stephanie's deduction was right, then Sunazara was most likely "learning" from her mercenary traits and was trying to modify his own style in a way were he would not always need to kill the target.

Chronology
She is first shown with Sunazara, who is prepping a sniper rifle for a job, the two get into an argument over efficiency of assassination for the job. Sunazara handed the job over to Stephanie since she claimed how easier it would be to do without sniping. Three days later she is shown crying and acting childly when being scolded by Sunazara when the mass media broadcasts that their target was alive.

Later on in Volume 19, she was hired by Platinaburg to eliminate Accelerator for revenge during the incident of Academy City Invasion Arc, but found out that Platinaburg was trying to use Sunazara's life as bargaining tool and so she eliminated Thomas instead. After fighting her way through 200 guards, she used the remaining Spark Signal terrorists to lure out Kinuhata. At one point she nearly defeats Kinuhata by exploiting the natural weakness of her abilit : without nitrogen the ability can't be activated; but it is shown that Kinuhata always carries a canister of liquid nitrogen in the even of natural nitrogen in the air is unavailable. Stephanie is defeated and later captured by the Girl in dress along with Kinuhata.

Abilities
Being a former member of Anti-Skill, she handled the basics of firearms and learned how apprehend targets without killing them. After barely surviving a fight, she was taught by Sunazara how to actually fight and survive war zones. Eventually, she gained experience handling all sorts of weapons along with tactics on how to use them effectively. Even though her training and experience as Anti-Skill was ineffective for killing, it was certaintly invaluable knowledge on how to engage ESPers and understanding their fundamental powers.


 * Various Missile Launchers


 * Light Machine Shotgun: a personal specially customized gun based on rapid-firing that usually was used while fixed on a tripod. It had been modified so that it only used shotgun ammunition and it could hold 150 to 200 shots with each bullet greater than 5 mm. When fired at close range, the light machine shotgun held enough destructive power that it could shred an armored vehicle in a very short amount of time.

Design evolution
Stephanie's appearance remains static throughout the series. Due to her similarities with Oriana Thomson, Haimura decided to emphasize on her childish propensities.

Trivia

 * She's also a fan of merchandising straps like Misaka Mikoto and Fukiyose Seiri, with them attached on her gun.

Quotes

 * “Actually, doesn’t sniping have a lot of pointless things in it? Whether it’s 5 mm or 7 mm, aiming for someone’s head or chest with such a small bullet is just pointless. Just a little bit of wind and the bullet’s trajectory is off, the target just has to sneeze and you’ve failed, and, if they’re wearing any bulletproof equipment, you might not kill them in one shot. That all just makes it pointless” -- To Sunazara, during SS2
 * “Sunazara-san always shot small and compact weapons from a distance.But it seems a hell of a lot easier to just get up close and fire like crazy!" -- To herself, during Volume 19
 * “Before I became a mercenary, I was a civilian in a peaceful country. I decided to go help the people caught up in war because I felt guilty happily enjoying peace while others suffered and lived in fear of guns, bombs, and mines" -- To Saiai, during Volume 19