Having trouble with bringing a story of mine together, suggestions?

I've been at this for weeks now and the only thing I'm 100% certain about the story is that a woman with superhuman abilities (super strength, speed, healing & reflexes) kicks butt and her existence is largely unknown to the public, all who have several different reactions to her, ranging from awe, to fear and hatred. Unbeknownst to the public, she belonged to a secret government program that dealt with creating super soldiers and after unforeseen events that arose in the past she's now the last of her kind.

My problem with progressing so far:

- Why is she the last of her kind? Did the government try to bury the project? Was it terrorists, a foreign nation, or did she do it?
- How did she acquire her abilities? Genetic tampering from birth? Did she volunteer for it?
- Is she jaded and Cynical? A girl scout? Snarky and arrogant?

 

'Government tries to cover up their conspiracy' is either a cliche or a classic depending on who you ask. I think that out of everything you spitballed, her being the one that killed off the others is really interesting and opens up a lot more room for cool narrative and stuff. Because now the question becomes why did she kill them off? Is she evil, is she misguided, does she think she has to do it for some greater good? There's a lot more there to explore than running with a mainplot of "government/terrorist conspiracy", though any of that could work into other plotpoints.

Maybe her parents volunteered her when her mother was still pregnant for genetic tampering. Maybe the father was a military man who basically forced his pregnant wife to undergo the genetic alterations, then was kind of a shitty dad after that. A bit of a shallow cliche, but it'd serve if handled properly.

As for her personality, it really depends on her history. If she had a bad upbringing, maybe she's more jaded and cynical. Maybe her enhanced abilities make her slightly arrogant and disconnected from others.

 

I have a recommendation, you should read Cobra War, Book 1, Cobra Alliance by Timothy Zahn.
It is a Sci-fi that involves enhanced super soldiers that have enhancements like alloy laminae on
their bones that give them greater strength (with the aid of motors), and because of this enhancement
they live shorter lives than a normal person due to the fact that they cannot replace their blood
because the alloy cover their bones is not permeable to allow the new cells to be introduced into
the blood stream. It is an interesting read and does a decent job of documenting the attitude
and personal side of being an enhanced super soldier.

 

Further possibilities - she's the last of her kind because of unforeseen side effects from the process which gave her the enhancements which killed the others / drove them insane / something else. OR they all died trying to perform a feat of heroism so great that she doubted herself and didn't join in - when the others tried, they saved most of the people in danger but all died in the process and now she has survivor's guilt.

As for acquiring the abilities, there are loads of possibilities, such as:
Proximity to debris from a meteorite, experimentation by aliens in cahoots with the government (if that's the kind of story you're going for).
An accident involving something radioactive / genetically modified / full of nanotechnology and the government lied to her, suggesting it was intentional to keep her under control.
A rogue branch of the government which lured people seeking such enhancements to be test subjects, planning to use any successes as troopers to overthrow the people in charge. When the rest of the government discovered what was going on, they tried to get rid of the rogue branch and cover up everything by eliminating the evidence.

Personality wise, it might be that she used to be quite fearful before the enhancement, but became more confident with a no-nonsense attitude, causing her to punch first and ask questions to any survivors. Or if there was an incident that killed off the others and she feels guilt over that, she might be protective of the helpless while still kicking ass.

Most likely, whatever set of options you go for, someone will have written something similar before. But if you do something new or unexpected, you can make these tropes into something original.

 

"Jake 2.0?"

 

1. Plot twist: She's not the last of her kind—she only thinks she is!

2. Evolution and/or Heaven.

3. Realistically, I think everyone has the capacity to be a girl scout and snarky and jaded, maybe even all at the same time. I'd strive for the multidimensional personality

 

True.