Lance Gerken

Chesterfield Act Registry of the Expressive Database

File #22 Feb 2018 04:17

Summary

Name Lance Gerken Aliases Status Registered Expressive (Class C Kinetic) Ability Selective Acoustic Field Generation Audiokinesis (Fusion) Gender Male Birthdate 10 / 17 / 99 Age 21 Height 5'9" Build Lanky Eyes Blue Hair Brown Residence Phoenix Heights, NYC Safe Zone Employment Intern at SESA Parents Gerard Gerken (presumed deceased) Ashleigh Gerken (presumed deceased) Siblings Hailey Gerken Marital Status Single Children None First Scene Random Laundry Dancer Last Scene Profile Once upon a time, there was a Lighthouse… Things happened. A strange family grew up around the orphanage. People tried to kill them. Most of them survived. Not all of them. They'll always be family, even if they're drawing apart as they discover new lives for themselves. Who ever would've thought Lance would grow up to be a government agent?

portrayed by Quinn Lord

Background

Somewhere in whatever’s become of the Company’s records there’s a case file under Griffin Mihangle’s name about Lance and his sister being orphaned in some Evolved-related incident, with a note of their memory erasure being applied before being put into foster care. The fact that he manifested his ability first during this incident was missed by everyone for some time.

They just thought he was mute, or traumatized. He could hear himself just fine, of course, but the adults had him convinced he was mute, so why argue? Maybe it was normal to hear yourself when you’re mute, but you’re the only one who does. He had his sister Hailey to talk for him, though, so that was good. It took awhile for someone to realize that he literally didn’t make any sound even when he should be, and the blood tests taken thereafter proved that he and his sister were Evolved.

So it was off to the ‘special orphanage’ for them! The Lighthouse.

Once he’d learned to turn his ability off it became hard sometimes to shut him up. He became fast friends with Paul, and later Joe, the trio a terror of pranks amongst the children with Lance as the mastermind. It helped people laugh, and smile sometimes, so it was worth the occasional punishment.

There were too many times that people were crying instead, during those years. Lance included.

After they were smuggled north in 2011, their new ‘family’ broke down. Brian’s decision to train the older children to fight - to be soldiers - created a split that caused Gillian to leave. A part of him resents her for leaving, even now, although he still loves her. She’s the closest thing to mother figure he had, after all. Unlike his sister, when Gillian left he threw himself into the training, on the theory that with her gone they’d all have to work twice as hard to protect each other. He learned, and he learned well.

The training meant that he was on patrol around their home-in-exile when a bounty hunter sniffing on their trail came upon the place. He was painfully young still, but the knife in the stealthy child’s hand didn’t care how young its wielder was as it went across the man’s throat before he could radio their location.

He didn’t turn off his power for two weeks, withdrawing in horror at the memory of what he’d done. His sister was ferociously protective of him during this time, and eventually - with the help of a woman named Cash that occasionally came by the Lighthouse - managed to coax him back out of the dark place he’d fallen into after the act.

He didn’t practice with knives after that. Or ever again.

Cash was around rather more often after that, although usually not when Brian and Samara were. She just became an expected part of his life, there sometimes, not there at others. She taught him things about his power he didn’t know he could do, helping him master it years before he might otherwise have.

Eventually, the war ended. Eventually, people could go home. And eventually, Lance ‘graduated’ from the Lighthouse.

He went through all the proper channels, got registered even, to get to the city he knew best - New York City. It’s where his sister went, after all, even if she was hiding out in the ruins like a /hobo/ and she should just /stop it/ and come live with him in an apartment like a /normal person/. He applied to Brooklyn College and was turned down, leaving him a bit at a loss for what to do next. He’s been doing odd jobs for the moment to get by, skating by with just enough to pay the bills.

Psych Profile

He’s always been the prankster and troublemaker of the Lighthouse Kids, and that’s never really changed; it’s better when people are smiling, or laughing, or even exasperated. At least they’re not crying, or worried. He tries to keep everyone’s spirits up when he can, because he grew up around people who had every reason to be otherwise.

It means that he tends to hide all of his actual feelings about things behind a joke, or a prank. When he’s being most genuine, he gets a bit awkward, and emotional situations often have him shutting down entirely. His power is a good excuse for that.

Deep down, he’s still healing from losing so many friends and role models, and from the time he had to kill someone himself. He just wants to live his life, to forget everything he was taught to do and be /normal/, but he’s not sure if he can ever have it. And he wants his friends and his sister to be safe, and happy.

He fights with his sister a lot, but he’s the only one that’s allowed to, and a lot of times it’s a weird way of showing affection. He loves her dearly, and woe betide anyone who actually hurts her.

Evolved Ability

Lance’s ability allows him to generate an unseen field through which he controls the passage of acoustic waves both selectively and directionally. In layman’s terms, he can set a boundary through which he gets to decide who can hear what. It’s easiest to generate the field at a half-inch distance from himself and anyone he touches, but with some effort he can expand the field up to fifty feet from himself, shaped roughly as desired - he could expand it fifty feet in one direction and only five in another, for instance. If he strains himself he can effectively originate the field around something within his fifty foot range, for instance around one other person - technically there’s still a very thin tether between him and that field, however.

While this is a fairly specific ability, with time and training by Cash he’s (re?)developed a few different methods of using it.

Silence Field: The very first, and most natural way of using his ability is by generating a field through which sound can enter but not leave. This allows him (and anyone else within the field) to move in complete and utter silence while still able to hear things occurring outside the field and communicating freely within the field itself. He could also use it to keep someone else within range from communicating with others, allowing for an extremely stealthy take-down or simply breaking down enemy communications.

Isolation Field: By not allowing any sound into the field, he can effectively create an area free of distractions and external noise. While useful when trying to talk in noisy areas - and for meditation - the most potent use of this ability is as a flawless defense against sonic attacks of any sort originating from outside the field.

Privacy Field: For a completely private conversation with no interruptions allowed, Lance can turn off any sound moving in either direction. No sounds outside the field gets in, no sounds inside the field get out.

Audiokinesis

Lance possesses the ability to absorb sound waves in his body, collecting phonons (the discreet particles that make up sound waves) that would be blocked by his primary ability. Phonons, once absorbed, are stored as electromagnetic energy within Lance's body and are absorbed by the natural EM field that all SLC-Expressive people emit. All of Lance's talents with this ability stem from his power to absorb and harness phonons.

Talents

Talents	Effort	Description	Learned From
Record	None	Lance automatically records any sound he blocks with his primary ability. He can store up to a maximum of 10 minutes of sound before he begins to suffer negative side effects. See "vulnerabilities" below.	Self Taught
Playback	Low	Lance can play back any sound he has stored at any volume up to the maximum volume of the original sound. Therefore, if Lance blocks out a conversation he could play it back later. Any part of a sound that is played back is no longer stored as EM energy, and cannot be played back again.	Self Taught
Shockwave	None	When Lance has a full charge of phonons he can release them in a shockwave of sound in a 20-foot radius around himself. This sonic shockwave is a discordant and horrible noise comprised of layered, exponential volume pitches of every sound he's recorded played on top of one-another. The noise temporarily deafens anyone adjacent to Lance and stuns them for anywhere between 15 seconds to 1 minute depending on their pain tolerance. People not adjacent to Lance but within 20 feet are not deafened but have a strong ringing in their ears, but are still stunned. Using this talent depletes all stored phonons.	Self Taught

Vulnerabilities

Overload

If Lance attempts to record sound over his 10-minute maximum, he begins to suffer deleterious effects. At 0-1 minutes of additional recording Lance just has a headache that lasts for a few hours. From 2-5 additional minutes he is fatigued until he has a good night's sleep and all the effort rankings of his talents of either ability increase by 1 step. From 6-15 minutes of additional recording Lance experiences all the previous effects and is visibly agitated and cannot sleep. From 17-20 minutes Lance experiences all of the prior side-effects but also starts leaking sound in little clips and blips of noise wherever he is. At 21+ minutes Lance involuntarily utilizes his Shockwave with double the range and effect, making the sound burst enough to shatter glass and deafen people out to 20 feet and stun them for twice as long. Afterward, Lance is rendered unconscious for 8 hours and then is fatigued for 3 days.

Appendices

'Modern' Slang

The children of the wasteland brought hope back from the future, but also their own slang, which was swiftly adopted by the Lighthouse Kids and has begun to spread through the youth of the Safe Zone as well. As slang goes, it's evolved and other words have joined it over time.

Primal:

• adj; Awesome, amazing, cool. Usage: "That guy jumping out a window and catching himself on a flagpole was primal!"

Chalk:

• (1) adj; Focusing on or being lost in puzzles, conspiracies, plans, questions. Usage: "She found out that her grandfather was with the Company and is going totally chalk about it, looking into all his past associates and records."
• (2) noun; Information that would lead to one becoming 'chalk' as in definition 1. Usage: "I got some serious chalk right here, this says that Jamie's mother actually worked with the Institute, /and/ she faked her death!"

Botswarf:

• adj; 'bullshit'. The word originates from the effluvia left behind by the meat-eating hunter robots of the Wasteland. Usage: "You're dumping me? That's botswarf!"

Slice:

• adj; Evolved. This word originated from the acronym SLC-E (Suresh Linkage Complex-Expressive) pronounced as a word. Usage: "That guy is definitely slice, nobody can run that fast."
  • Occasionally used as counterpoint: En, meaning SLC-N. Non-powered humans.

WSZR Broadcasts

Broadcast 1

7/10/18

RADIO: <WSZR> (Testing, one, two… what?)
RADIO: <WSZR> (Wait, this is live?)
RADIO: <WSZR> Lance clears his throat, "Gooooood afternoon everyone out there in the Safe Zone, hope you're keeping it as safe as you can. This is DJ Lancelot coming to you for the first time from WSZR, Safe Zone Radio, live and on - the - air."
RADIO: <WSZR> Lance says, "I remember when I was a kid, they said that New York was the greatest city in the world, and looking around at what we've rebuilt in just a few short years? I'd say it still is. So thanks for not burning the Safe Zone down last week, everyone! Great job. Although I did miss the fireworks. Maybe next year."
RADIO: <WSZR> Lance says, "And for all you scavengers, transients, and CHUDs out there, please avoid the underground tunnels for the time being due to some serious wildlife dangers down there. Seriously, this isn't a joke, keep out of the sewers and old subways. There are shelters if you need them for now."
RADIO: <WSZR> Lance says, "Next up we've got the weather and traffic report, but before then we're going to listen to a classic of Country that I found on vinyl in Red Hook Market last weekend. With no further ado, I give you the late, great Ms. Dolly Parton— "
RADIO: <WSZR> ~Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene…~
RADIO: <WSZR> ~I'm begging of you, please don't take my man…~
RADIO: <WSZR> ~Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene…~
RADIO: <WSZR> ~Please don't take him just because you can…~
RADIO: <WSZR> "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixrje2rXLMA

Emergency Broadcast

11/19/2019

RADIO: <WSZR> Lance says, “…hey there, Safe Zone! This is DJ Lancelot and, uh, I hope you've been enjoying the WRAY feed that we've had up for awhile!”
RADIO: <WSZR> Lance says, “We'll probably still have it on for awhile, but we'll be doing our best to make sure you're hearing our voices on the radio more often. We've picked up some new records too, and I'm sure you're interested in hearing some new tunes!”
RADIO: <WSZR> Lance says, “On a more serious note, uh, if anyone has any information about Martin Pines, please contact us or your local SESA office. We're all hoping that he's found soon, and our wishes are with him.”
RADIO: <WSZR> Lance says, “That said, uh, here's the Beatles, with 'Help!'”