Unity Act Database of the Evolved and Non-Evolved
File #23 Mar 2018 01:01
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 Lance Reddick |
"From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity. Our most precious gift, without exception, is the desire to know more — to look beyond what is accepted as the truth and to imagine what is possible" — Roger Goodman in an interview with Time Magazine, published April 8th, 2002.
Born December 17th, 1967 in Chicago Illinos, Roger Goodman was an inauspicious birth at an uninteresting juncture in history. Born to relative poverty in the social downturn of late 1960's Chicago, the Goodman family was resigned to their fates in the rough urban neighborhoods that were on the verge of economic decay as wealthy citizenry began to flood towards the suburbs. Raised with a tight-belted family, Goodman learned the values of living on a budget and the hard-earned respect of a good, solid job.
Through the formative years of Roger's youth, it became readily apparent that he was a gifted child, not in an unusual way, but in his budding intellect. A dream of his family to have a son put through College, Goodman's family was strongly supportive of his continued education, but it was his choice to attend Westpoint Academy straight out of High School that came as the biggest shock. Finding a sense of purpose in service to his country, rather than academia, Roger went on to spend four yars at the Academy, putting his superior intellect towards all of his activities, graduating in 1989 at the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.
Joining the United States Marine Corps following his graduation, Goodman was prime for field duty by the time Operation Desert Shield came about, serving as a precursor to the Gulf War. Three long years spent in the desert, however, would serve to be the catalyze for his new life.
During the first three weeks of Operation Desert Storm, from January 16th 1991 to February 6th 1991 Roger Goodman served in the USMC on the front lines moving from Saudi Arabia thorugh to Iraq. His first field conflict, Goodman along with other young and green soldiers suffered from the onset of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. However unlike most soldiers, Goodman's manifestations of the sickness was unique. It began with what his superiors believed was sleepwalking, resulting in Goodman being put on mild sleep-aids during downtime in the field, as he would awake outside of his tent with no recollection of having moved.
By February 16th, at the height of the ground war in Iraq, Goodman's unit had sustained light casualtis from hit and run battles in the burning oilfields. During one incursion of Iraqi military, a grenade was lobbed into the center of Roger's platoon, and grabbing his nearest brother in arms to attempt to dive for cover, Roger finally realized why he was disappearing in his sleep.
Roger teleported, over sixteen miles across the Iraqi desert. Four pounds of desert sand were transported with Roger's molecular breakdown, along with -most- of Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Briggs, who was improperly rearranged on the other side of his teleportation, turning him into a mangled mess of organs and bone.
The official military report about the incident claims that Briggs died from a grenade after throwing himself on it to save the men in his unit, given a heroes burial. Then 1st Lieutenant Roger Goodman was detained for questioning about the incident, and was eventually Honorably Discharged for mental health issues.
Shortly after his discharge, in March of 1991, Goodman was approached by Mr.Thompson, representing a private organization that would be receptive towards a man with Goodman's background and skills to work for them.
Having had a hand in the military's dismissal of the mysterious circumstances surrounding Lt.Colonel Briggs' death, the Company sought to draft Goodman into their own, and eventually would come clean on knowing the truth of what happened in Iraq, and that they knew what was "wrong" with him, and how he could learn to control it.
This began Goodman's decades with the Company.
From Autumn of 1991 and on, Roger Goodman would serve as the "One of Them" among Company pairings, following months of extensive research and training into his powers. Operating out of the Chicago branch of Primatech Research, Roger would return home to "settle down" to a normal life as a regional claims representative for a paper company.
Over the years, Roger's assignments would stray from field operations to desk work, serving in more administrative measures through the late 1990s and into the early 21st century. But on November 8th, 2006, his position within the Company and his view of the world changed forever. The people he has worked to keep under wraps, keep controlled, cataloged, and tracked were visible to the world. New York was laid to ruin by one of their kind, and Roger Goodman was forced back into the field due to the tightening noose of Government directive in his field.
Unknown to the Company, Roger Goodman was approached in the summer of 2007 by Maury Parkman, on behalf of Arthur Petrelli. Roger was made aware of what he was told was manipulation of his birth involving genetic experiments involving a chemical compound that can bestow Evolved abilities onto non-evolved children. Told that he was one of three siblings experimented upon that survived the testing phase, Roger was horrified to discover that the Company was the cause of this.
Secretly, Maury invited Roger to meet with Arthur Petrelli, putting him on a path to deconstruct the very Company that he worked so diligently for all these years.
Following the PARIAH raid of the Primatech Facility in 2008, Goodman was put on notice that his unique expertise and field training may be necessary in New York, and was kept in contact with Director Bob Bishop and Sabra Dalton, who would relieve Bishop of his position of command in late 2008.
Following slouching activity reports and growing pressure from the United States Government on the Company to serve as compliance enforcers on their upcoming Evolved blood-tests, Roger was reassigned from Chicago to New York City, in an attempt to bring the rigidity of his military upbringing and his no-nonsense style of business from his tenure at Primatech to the field. There, Roger first-hand dismantled the Company from within and led to their ultimate downfall, paving the way for Pinehearst's rise.
Roger Goodman is a quiet and taciturn man who prides himself on his reservation and composure. Unwillingness to show lack of restraint, however, is not inability. When Roger's compsure breaks and his anger or frustration is let show, the tempestuous switch of one emotion to another is such a drastic turn from his usual demeanor that it is jarring to those around him. Despite trying to remain a man devoid of emotions, he is a man that is ruled by them, even if on the surface he seems to be in control.
To preach the limited mind is to foreclose on the promise of our future" — Roger Goodman in an article on the debate of stem-cell research in the New York Times, July 18th, 2004.
Roger's ability began with what he coined as a "ghost," a short-distance dislocation of his physical body from one point in space to another. At first the ability would manifest sporadically, a disjointed flicker or hop two or three feet apart from whise he was sleeping — his ability always seemed to manifest while unconscious. Later attempts to understand the complexities of the ability resulted in comprehension that Roger was not instantaneously moving from one point to another, but rather reconfiguring the composition of his molecules, converting them to light energy and reconfiguring them in another destination.
The actual amount of finite control Roger has over his ability to break apart his molecular makeup isn't fully understood. he disassembles himself and inanimate objects directly in contact with his body (and in the early stages of his understanding this included portions of the ground beneath his feet) and reassembles them in a familiar configuration at another destination. With years of training and education under his belt, Roger is capable of focusing on a specific area he has previously been to, and can transport himself there in what appears to be instantaneous travel. The exact speed of his transportation has not been clocked, though it is hypothesized to be close to the speed of light.
The physical manifestation of Roger's power comes with a visible shifting of light in a deep blue-purple hue for a flash when he discorporates his molecules. If viewed on the ultra-violet spectrum, a silhouette after-image of his body lingers for roughly 1/10th of a second where he was before fading away entirely; an "after-image" of his power's effect. The room temperature in the general vicinity of where he discorporated his molecules tends to be roughly 3 to 4 degrees warmer than the rest of the environment as well, and the exterior temperature of his body in the moments after his teleportation is anywhere from 4 to 5 degrees higher.
Repeated attempts at "ghosting" builds up this molecular agitation in Roger's form, gradually increasing his external and internal temperatures. Each ghost after the first raises his external temperature by 2 to 3 degrees, provided that he is not given roughly five minutes to cool down. Each ghost without a "cool down" time continues to increase his external and internal body temperature, to a point where his skin will darken and he takes on fever-like symptoms.
Prolonged "ghosting" without cool down also extends the time required of him to remain corporeal in order to return to a natural body temperature exponentially.
With his training in the Company, Roger has gained competence to be selective of what objects he chooses to take on a "ghost" with him. While he is fully capable of "ghosting" right out of his clothing, his presence of mind is strong enough to take what he wishes to that is in direct contact with his body, and what he does not wish remains left behind.
Some objects, however, are more difficult to exclude than others. A significant level of focus would be required, for instance, if he were shot and a bullet was lodged inside of his body. Isolating the bullet and then "ghosting" around the bullet.
Roger's corporeal recomposition also has interesting side-effects on both his metabolism and his physiology. On days where he repeatedly (even with cool down time) uses his "ghost" he burns through a high level of calories, requiring his to eat significantly more than a man of his size and age in order to compensate. Secondly, his ability to physically reshape his body is based on an internal memorization of his form's "base" state, while in theory he may be able to change his very physiology and appearance through a "ghost" he has not attempted such in practice.
However, this mental "base" he reconstitutes from affords his a measure of ability to heal from injuries. Fresh wounds, such as cuts or broken bones, can be mended by an immediate "ghost", which resets his physical form to his most recent recollection of it. However, this body-memory is subconsciously updated, and injuries he sustained an hour ago are impossible to "ghost" out of, as he is unable to definitely recall how his physical form should be.
Limitations on where Roger can teleport to are so far grounded in locations he has physically been present in. Even a video or photograph of a location is insufficient, it is the sensory information of the location and other unknown subconscious data that allows him to reconstitute his form.
Solid barriers are not hindrance to this ability, though ionized fields such as forcefields or strong electrical fields can both prevent and hinder his ability's accuracy.
