Chesterfield Act Registry of the Expressive Database
File #15 Feb 2018 17:04
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 Luke Burgess |
End of 2011-2012. After the events in Alaska that led to the death of Elisabeth, Jaiden was a damaged man. Injured from Elle's explosion of electricity, he barely made it to his last bastion of safety - Lake Kabetogama in Minnesota. This place, right on the Canadian border, was to be his refuge for the foreseeable future, acting as a home base and a refuge for any and all who needed it. With the chaos of the cities, people coming and going weren't going to cause too much attention from the locals and besides, he had owned that place for well over a decade. He was established there under a different name, more or less, and being a resort town, visitors from all over the world were often seen there. During the siege at Pollepel Island, Jaiden, sadly, was in no condition to fight. Forced to use a cane to get around and knowing mobility was one of the main things to ensure survival on a battlefield, he stayed put. This meant that when when the last of the Chessmen moved to deal with the siege, he remained behind at his base to watch over Dr. Luis and anyone else who was there, defend against any attackers, and to welcome people home and to offer assistance to those who needed it.
The war started in January 2012. Tired from the neverending battles, Jaiden took up a more support role. Often mentioned in communications as 'Mom,' Jaiden specialized in getting people to the front and away from the front using various means of travel, often including boats or trucks in, and sometimes for small groups, beneath the surface of the water.
When he wasn't smuggling people or things back and forth, he offered his unique set of skills and knowledge to anyone who requested it. He specifically focused on training Devon, his adopted son who seemed to have a visceral need to go into battle, and Ygraine, who didn't want to go to war but saw it as inevitable. Remi took a little training too. He recognized that his experience could mean the difference between life and death for anyone he met, and for that, he taught everything he could, from combat to sniping to explosives use. He was also in contact with Richard Cardinal, safe in his bunker, and acted as an information relay for the king locked in his castle.
2013. The war continues. During the war, Jaiden acted as a safehouse keeper and a mentor. Kabetogama becomes known through back channels as a place for people to flee to. Mom's house, as it's referred to, is too remote to be bothered, too well protected, and not really well known by anyone on the other side other than the name. His proximity to Canada, combined with the shortwave and satellite links he had set up from long ago, allowed him to act as a rather successful smuggler, using a forgotten barge for a truck and trailer or a small boat to head for an out-of-the-way boat ramp on the other side of the Canadian border. A short trip through the woods and down Highway 11 found him in the bustling city of Mine Center or, if something really specific was needed, Winnipeg. This spot in the middle of nowhere becomes somewhere - an important resupply depot for the Evolved forces during the war, and people and material flow south into the United States, almost unimpeded. This side job, as he likes to call it, also allows Jaiden to collect stories of battles 'from the horse's mouth' as it were, stories from fleeing refugees, and the ability to send messages to and from to help the resistance. As time passes, Kabetogama is upgraded and expanded. With people not able to make it to their cabins or fleeing entirely, property is 'borrowed' for use by Jaiden. An airstrip and warehouse is built in the empty land across from his original property - large enough for a long-haul private jet or a small cargo plane to land and take off without much difficulty thanks to Remi Davignon, who had taken up residence there. And when news of the assassination attempt reached him, he was dismayed. With no knowledge of the impending assassination attempt on the President, Jaiden felt that, had he been able to speak to whoever planned this, it would have not happened in the way it did. It would be bad for everyone, no matter the result. Setting up a precedent for murder of political operatives without trial is something that the bad guys do, not the good guys, which Jaiden sees himself as a part of.
Remi takes a break from Jaiden's training after discovering she was pregnant, giving birth to her first child in the Autumn of 2013 in bed at Jaiden's house. Victoria Jessamyn Cormac-Davignon came into the world surrounded by a massive extended family, and thanks to her, Remi decided to take up residence full time in Kabetogama with Jaiden acting as Daddy when Graeme was not available and maintaining his smuggling on the side.
The nuke launch in November 2013, aside from scaring the everloving crap out of him, shifts Jaiden from 'support' to 'this is royally fucked up right here' mode. This caused Jaiden to move from his safe position on the edge to a more active role, taking part in more major battles, and not just the ones that show up nearby. The proverbial big stick, Jaiden was pointed at the most difficult problems and took care of them without too much trouble and almost always non-lethally.
That's not to say he got through the war unscathed. He was taken out of the Special Forces in Australia due to a bad knee and after the second battle when he stepped wrong and wrenched it to where he could barely walk, things needed to change. Starting with the next conflict and from there on out, when he was in country, as he liked to call it, he always had an aide or two with him to help him out in case something went wrong or to carry anything that he may need, or him if his knee blew out again. To help limit that, Jaiden fabricated a custom knee brace that kept his leg from torquing or twisting in the wrong direction. Sure, he got sore, now and again, but it wasn't anything that he couldn't fight through. Also, given his experience wtih smuggling, his powers would have grown quite a bit stronger due to constant use. Given any small water source, Jaiden could almost single handedly wipe out an attacking force or severely hinder a large battalion by simply ruining the roads they drove on or forcibly injecting large amounts of water into engines to hydrolock them. He also specialized in data collection and intelligence gathering, taking note of troop movements, battalion names, weapon types, maps, and anything else of interest regarding what happened and why. These documents were all stored carefully in his archive to be used after the war was over.
2014-2016. The Fall of Raven Rock found Jaiden on the front lines, protecting the initial assault with a massive barrier of water, cracking the defenses, and generally being a giant boot through the front door, all the while having a go-pro strapped to his chest. One of the first inside after the surrender, with his camera, he saw Raven Rock as a massive crime scene, using all the time he had to collect records, images, data files, thumb drives, and anything else that he could be gathered to use as evidence for what happened and why. The darkest part of humanity was in control of the country for a short amount of time, ruling by fear and hatred, and a little sunlight would work wonders to cleanse the taint from the United States. He begins to collate all of the data he's collected into a massive archive for educational purposes and begins writing his book "An Evolved History of the Second Civil War." which comes out a little bit before the war crimes tribunal begins in Albany, New York. Before his testimony, Jaiden made his archives available (copies, of course, not direct access) to academics.
Jaiden's testimony in this matter lasted well over two weeks, his journalistic eye, pictures, and well-researched notes providing an unflinching view of the war from the side of an Evolved human that was involved in almost every facet. As a journalist who had been in combat before, he had a great deal of insight into why things happened and a massive amount of evidence to prove what he's testifying to. While he was a fighter on the front lines, that was his second job. Any battle he was in, which were most of them after the bomb dropped, intelligence would be gathered and prioritized. Names of units, soldiers' names, chain of command, weapons used and the like. Estimated battle lines. Estimated casualties. All were recorded dutifully with pictures in lurid color Scholars of the Second Civil War had a field day going through his records and once his testimony was complete, a second book of short historical stories - tales of battles, journeys and the like, was published to modest acclaim for public consumption. His archives eventually became the basis and use in some of the initial research Wolfhound and other PMC's did to gather evidence in their hunt for war criminals. He also married Remi at the end of 2015, deciding to make an honest woman out of her and to officially assist Remi and Graeme as Victoria's stepfather.
2017. 2017 was the first 'quiet' year, though the country's still borked in so many ways. Jaiden and his family make due and survive rather well. Although there are occasional Ferrymen deaths and location of high-value targets by Wolfhound and others, and despite the danger of a world rocked by nuclear bombs, a massive EMP, and considerable infrastructure damage, he finds things are actually rather okay in Kabetogama. His daughter, Lisette Ophelie Mortlock-Davignon, was born on May 17th of this year and things really started getting nice. Jaiden tried not to worry about him or his family being the target of the attacks, even after being a publicly verified member of the Ferrymen from before the war. The thing is, after his testimony, his name and face became rather well known to tribunal watchers and those looking for someone to blame, and this had the effect of making him a fairly high profile target. His presence could be rather polarizing, too. Despite his reputation of being a decent sort that limited casualties whenever possible, there is still a substantial non-zero number of people who would love to see him removed from this world. Assassinations do tend to be frowned upon, even after a war, and any attempt to take out Jaiden would be met with major backlash, if it could even be done. Thanks to the fact that Kabetogama is a remote fortress without walls, surrounded by non-evolved sympathizers and evolved alike, when he's there, he and his family are completely safe in the woods on the shore of the lake. He maintains his contacts in New York, coming to visit periodically and staying in the skinny brickfront which is being upgraded to something safe and secure. He's there any time he's needed and then home on a private plane to Kabetogama to watch his daughters. Nature is better, he thinks, than irradiated New York. He's also looking at getting a knee replacement - his cane is becoming more a fixture than he'd like, and it's harder to get his running in with his knee feeling like there's ground glass in the joint.
Jaiden is a military man who has kind of worn down around the edges, and has been kicked a few times. He can be very businesslike when necessary, but can let his hair down and have fun in the right crowd. Ever since his lover's death, he's become more quiet and reserved, more contemplative, thinking before he speaks, often toying with a tool or a bit of metal to keep his hands busy while he formulates the right things to say. People are more often given a wide berth and are held at arm's length until it is known that they can be trusted with any form of loyalty and then, once that happens, Jaiden can be a strong ally and a wonderful friend. He has an eye for beauty and composition and finds it in the strangest places. Even during the war, beauty could be found. Flowers growing in an upturned helmet or the joy felt when a family was reunited, that was enough for a photograph or two and a smile. In another life he could have been a painter or a sculptor.
The Evolved don't worry Jaiden much - he is one, after all - but those who want him to segregate himself or register his power - once it's known and if he allows them to know - are politely and quickly shuffled off to the perimeter of his social circle or contact is cut off completely. Registration was an abomination, and when people started dying that were registered, his fears were confirmed.
Jaiden's evolved ability is Hydrokinesis, or the ability to manipulate and control motions of water molecules in their liquid or gaseous state, and in their frozen state to a limited amount. In the simplest terms, Jaiden uses the inherent properties of water to manipulate large concentrations of water molecules in ways that allow him to do many interesting things, and due to experience, he's gotten quite good at it. His ability would break down into three subsets - Kinetic Use, Surface Tension, and Other.
Kinetic Use allows Jaiden to manipulate the moisture from the air or nearby sources of water to generate shapes, constructs, columns, streams, or barriers of water. The size and thickness of these streams can range from being as thin as a scalpel's edge (not as sharp, but thin) or as thick as a tree trunk. The pressure of the water and durability of barriers, as well as the number of streams and barriers that can be generated, the relative height and thickness of a barrier, and whether or not it can go around a corner or curve are all directly related to the amount of moisture available and how much time Jaiden has to prepare.
The more moisture there is, the more he can do with less effort. Little to no moisture means no barrier or a single small accumulation of about a gallon of water at most. Enough to survive on if you're thirsty, or perhaps to fill a truck's radiator, and requiring a lot of effort to do it, possibly straining his abilities. Use in the middle of a normal forest or urban area means a normal amount of water. This means he can form a decent-sized barrier that can range in thickness from a foot to up to three feet thick and with concentration, can stop small arms fire and use up to two jets the size and pressure of a more powerful hose on high. Use here does require concentration, but not as much as in an arid location. Use next to (or in) a lake or ocean with abundant moisture is far easier, with barriers able to grow to a thickness of several feet with an increased surface tension that would allow the deflection of a full-auto attack from several attackers or have up to three individual streams with quite a bit of force behind them. Use of any stream or jet requires line-of-sight to the target, so no shooting around corners unless Jaiden can somehow see that the person is there.
Barriers can be layered, with voids of air in between different 'sandwiches' of high surface-tensioned water, providing excellent resistance to gunfire, but this is very rarely anything larger than a 3x4x2 barrier, as it requires a moderate amount of time to create and a lot of concentration to maintain. Imagine a SWAT shield made out of water and you get the idea.
Limitations are as follows - Complex use of power must be concentrated on and the more Jaiden's concentration is split - multiple streams, multiple barriers, multiple attackers - the harder it is to do things. This can be mitigated with an increase in effort, but this may cause a strain on his power which leads to headaches, nosebleeds or, in the case of a do-or-die situation, unconciousness once his power reserves are exhausted. Barriers must be concentrated on to be maintained or frozen in place, but given enough time he can pull enough water in to create and maintain a barrier 6x6 and 2 feet thick after about forty five seconds, with a more substantial barrier with the enhanced surface tension coming into play after at least a minute of concentration. Holding the barrier depends entirely on how much is being thrown at it. More direct fire takes more time and easily can take him out of the fight as he has to focus on regenerating the barrier by moving more water into the voids caused by rounds impacting the surface and the heat boiling away the meat of the barrier. With an appropriate amount of fire, it is possible to overwhelm his power if he is too-heavily taxed and, as soon as concentration lapses, the barrier is in danger of weakening in spots or falling with a splash, leaving people exposed.
Surface Tension control allows Jaiden, with sufficient concentration, to overcome the natural polarization of water and to pull water molecules closer together, allowing allow the surface of a body of water to support his weight and do a very good imitation of Jesus. This will allow him to walk across or under a lake, stream, or ocean. He can bring multiple people on a stroll with him, and thanks to practice and increasing power, it requires a small amount of concentration, allowing him to use a gun, dodge, and hold a conversation without too much trouble. A modification of this ability also allows the creation of large cavities of air by modifying the surface tension for up to five yards around him in a sphere, pulling oxygen from and trapping it beneath the surface to allow underwater breathing and free movement beneath the surface without a weight belt required. This can be done for long enough for a small group (3 or less) to move beneath the surface of the water and requires a decent amount of concentration. It's muddy, but you can get from A to B that way. This means Jaiden can hold a conversation, but defending himself from attack while keeping the bubble going isn't a thing he can do, and getting attacked while bubbling means that there's a very good chance that people are going to get really, really wet.
Other is anything that does not fall into the above three categories. First, Jaiden has an inherent ability to find water and the ability to pull water out of solutions. His power gives him a good idea of where water is and how he can get to it. Large concentrations of water can be detected if within 25 meters or so and can be affected at that distance. Of course, the closer he is to the water, the more control he can exert. For example, if Jaiden is in the supermarket and needs a source of water to control, he can cause the bottled water in aisle four to burst free of its containers, the leaking sewer lines, the sink in the kitchen, the toilets, etc. Items do not need to be fragile or have a leak that can be exploited, the water bursting its barriers thanks to the strength of his power, but this takes some wind out of Jaiden's sails.
Jaiden can also pull water out of weak solutions, purifying it, usually by 'moving' the clean stuff to a different container and leaving highly-concentrated muck in another. Given a bit of time Jaiden can pull more powerfully bonded water from substances - drying concrete, mud, clay, paint and the like - as well as from ice, or snow, thanks to his time practicing in Minnesota's frozen wastes. This takes time, of course, and gives him additional water sources in the midst of a frozen wasteland. This does not mean he can control ice and snow like he does water.
Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.