Biography

“Pick on someone your own size.”

Thorn grew up on a farm in a part of Ireland known for two things: horse racing and military training. For several generations her family was heavily involved with both. When she wasn’t outwrestling one of her five older brothers, she was helping her parents breed and raise thoroughbreds for the tracks as well as for the mounted division of Ireland’s national police force. It’s a Hawthorn family tradition to eventually abandon farm life for the military, as it’s considered to be “easier”. Thorn, however chose to follow the horses and joined the Garda Síochána.

After four years of impeccable service she applied for the Garda’s elite tactical branch, the Emergency Response Unit. Only five percent of applicants pass the grueling two-week entrance exam. Thorn not only finished top of her class, but would routinely assist other applicants through the training gauntlet.

She quickly rose through the ranks as a tactical weapons expert and helped re-design the unit’s obstacle course, referring to the former design as a “walk in the park.” Word of her course reached the ears of Caveira, who upon barely completing the training exclaimed with exhaustion “You want a job?”

Psychological report

"If ever you want to feel physically inept, shake hands with a farmer. At least that’s how I felt when I first met Specialist Brianna “Thorn” Skehan. In that brief instant I experienced a life’s worth of hard work, discipline, tremendous strength, and total control. I knew then and there she’d fit right in.

Growing up on the farm, Brianna had to fight for attention, and everything else. Her mother and father were too busy and left most of the parenting to her older brothers. And while she may have been picked on when she was little, it all stopped the day she broke her oldest brother’s nose. She possesses a strong sense of justice and has zero tolerance for bullying […]

When we discussed her decision to join the police force, she recounted with some reservation an incident involving her youngest brother, Liam. His many addictions led him to the racetracks, where he fell into the pockets of organized crime members. One night he led them onto the farm where they burned a stable to the ground, killing the champion horses inside. Brianna joined An Garda Síochána the very next day, and never saw Liam again.

[…] Brianna often glosses over hard topics with humor and is quick to suppress her emotions. Signs of vulnerability were weaknesses in the eyes of her brothers, which would explain her perfectionism, her competitiveness, and her ferociousness on the field.

Brianna’s personality is magnetic. She gets along with everyone and elevates morale with her stories. She’s awake and training before most of our specialists have opened their eyes, although Sledge has recently been joining her on morning jogs. […] When I asked if her past was a distraction, she laughed and said “Only fools get distracted by the past.” I was tempted to explain how I’d be out of a job if that were the case.

-- Dr. Harishva "Harry" Pandey, Director of Rainbow"