Registry of the Evolved Database
File #03 Jan 2011 07:58
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 Julia Voth |
Nelly Leeson was the product of a happy home. She suffered no more trials and tribulations than that of any other average person. Loving, if slightly overbearing parents, and annoying siblings along with all the hijinx that came along with the package. She was born and raised in Manhattan, her family lucky enough that the dangers of the city were always at arms length, never more than a story on the evening news.The only quirk in her otherwise normal life came in March of 2004. It was then that her ability first began to manifest itself. It started small. A remote control suddenly seeming a few inches closer, a book she thought was on her shelf suddenly ending up on her desk. Over time she realized she was the cause of all these small accidents, but it was something she kept entirely to herself. WIth the existence of these powers not yet being public knowledge Nelly was fearful of the reaction she would receieve if she revealed them. Instead she chose to simply live life as normal, using her ability infrequently and only for menial tasks, and appeared to be no more than an average girl. Her life could have been mistaken for a family sitcom, if not for the tragedy in Manhattan. In an instant she found herself alone in the world as her family fell victim to the explosion.
Nelly had long been away from home when the tragedy occurred, struggling as many students do to balance college and work living in California. It was a state so many dreamed of running off to live out their dreams in. Unfortunately she was one of the many that didn't consider the living expenses that came along with the malls and amusement parks. Her jobs were nothing to brag about, moving from one to another as needed to stay afloat, from fast food to retail stores, but never managing to land any worthwhile positions or the paychecks that accompanied them. Likewise, her college life wasn't something that she wrote home about often either. Nelly was one of those children who was constantly reminded by her parents about her potential and how she never put it to its full use. With no clear direction in life decided for herself she bounced from one major to another in search of that one subject that would spark a desire in her to do that for the rest of her life. Her 'potential' showed itself in that she had little trouble passing most classes she applied herself too, computer related courses and math being her strong suits (though still far from top of the class), but still there was little passion or drive to pursue them further than required.
Despite the fact that she hadn't lived with or near her parents in years nor was there any way she could have predicted what was to happen, she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with guilt when the news of her family reached her. Nelly was one of the gifted, one of the cursed. She had long known about her ability, but rarely had she put it to any significant use. Like her rarely utilized capacity for learning her ability was never used for more than her own personal convenience. Her greatest problem solved with her power? Not having to get up to grab the television remote. She knew her power could have saved her family. If only she had been with them, rather than putting off writing her next report for another day to busy herself with the all important task of flipping through television channels.
While the incident became the source of her greatest guilt it soon also became the source of her greatest inspiration. With great power comes great responsibility. Yes, it was cliche and perhaps extremely foolish to be taking logic from a comic book, but no matter how hard she tried to carry on with life as normal Nelly couldn't get this thought out of her head. She had power, she had potential. All of which she had let go to waste once and she soon became determined not to let it happen again. Nelly struggled to make her way to Manhattan as fast as possible along with all the others rushing to their surviving family members or to simply put their lost families to rest as she was. Gathering what money she had left from her savings and what she could get from her family insurance amidst the turmoil, Nelly managed to get herself of the many newly vacated apartments, far enough from the explosion site to avoid any lingering radiation. Most of her following days were spent couped up in her tiny apartment, hardly more than what most would consider a closet with a bathroom, only leaving when necessary to deal with arrangements for her families funerals.
Despite the chaos seen with her very own eyes and the sounds of the city tearing itself apart in the aftermath of the explosion she continued to remain focused on her goal, on her newly found purpose to use her ability in defense of others as she should have for her own family. Determined to help those who clearly needed it most and those who were likely suffering through the same losses that she herself was, Nelly decided to stay within the city despite the obvious dangers.
Her days were then spent wandering the streets, using her power to do whatever she could to help people. Saving innocents from wayward drunk drivers, helping people from the ledges of burning buildings, or helping a mugger to find himself suddenly face to face with a lamppost. She never revealed herself as the savior of anyone however, instead keeping her actions secret to everyone but herself. Of course she was in need of help sometimes as well. An apple here, a loaf of bread there, Nelly would help herself to any essentials needed to live that the slight wages she got from her time spent doing oddjobs wouldn't cover. While she didn't don a cape and tights she had begun to consider herself a hero and was proud to wear the title, even if she was the only one who knew about it. However, it wasn't long before her world began to crumble around her again.
It wasn't until that fateful announcement on February 18th of 2007 that she truly began to have doubts about playing the hero. Save for the single soul responsible for all the destruction she held no fear or malice towards the other Evolved, but she was smart enough to know that there were going to be far more who didn't share her opinion. As fear and prejudice towards those with abilities spread through the normal population Nelly became increasingly paranoid about continuing with her actions. One slip up and she could find herself on the wrong end of a mob. After hearing and witnessing for herself the hate crimes committed against those with abilities or even those who simply stood up for them, Nelly quickly came to the conclusion that she would keep her ability a secret as she always had.
The announcement of the official registrations brought forth by the Linderman Act only solidified her opinion on keeping her powers a secret. In her eyes giving a confirmation of her ability might as well be assigning herself a death sentence. How often had information been leaked from records such as that before? And that was when the government wasn't in such a state of chaos. Still, more than fear, she felt anger. To her this was no different than sexism, homophobia, racism, or any other rampant igorance plaguing society. Nelly now had not only people to save, but people to target. Those were outspoken in their discrimination and gave her the opportunity found themselves with mysteriously missing belongings. Over time Nelly began to amass a small fortune for herself, leaving behind her apartment once she had stockpiled enough cash to fund a more comfortable home.
All it took was an open window for her to take what she needed from anyone and there was no shortage of people with deep pockets and very few questions willing to buy or trade for her goods once she was able to convince them she could be a steady supplier of some harder to get goods. Nor did it take long to find out just what and what wouldn't sell through simple trial and error. There was no loss to her if these goods ended up in the garbage after all. She never kept anything that she took herself, never leaving any direct evidence of her crimes in her own home, save for the hidden stockpiles of cash kept, too wary of dealing with an official institution without registration. Despite having the funds to live otherwise Nelly keeps only a modest home, living as comfortably as possible, but not extravagantly. The last thing she needed was to draw unnecessary attention to herself.
Whether latent guilt for her larger crimes or that longing to live up to her potential, Nelly began to seek bigger opportunities to help others as well. The daily heroics on the streets continue as before, but she has also begun to look deeper. If there were those so eager to hurt the Evolved then there were bound to be those going just as far to help them. Using some of her more trustworthy outlets for her goods she soon became aware of the network run by the group known as the Ferrymen. Not finding herself brave enough to commit fully to the group she chooses to instead take on just the occasional jobs particularly suited to her abilities when called upon, helping to transport supplies when hands are low or aiding people in crossing particularly troublesome borders, while keeping her face concealed and identity secret when in contact with the group.
Nelly is a somewhat reclusive person. While she doesn't reject human contact entirely in her daily life, she does not tend to form deep relationships with others. Having nothing more than acquaintances or flings, though both tend to be extremely rare. Her moral values are somewhat skewed. While she has a very had time ignoring others in immediate need and those that are suffering, having put her well being on the line in her work with the Ferrymen, there are no such qualms about stealing from those that are not. Nor does she feel any guilt about living in comfort with her ill gotten gains despite the conditions others are living in around her.
Nelly also tends to be a fearful person. Her acts of kindess are done anonymously and she is just as careful to keep her theft as hidden as she can. Having witnessed the prejudice towards those with abilities and hearing the rumors floating through the streets of the fate that some of those who abuse their powers she far prefers to keep her status a secret rather than risk dealing with any consequences.
Nelly's ability is the power to teleport other people or objects to anywhere she can clearly envision within her mind or which she has current vision. This includes locations she can see in real time, such as viewing through a live stream or on a live television broadcast. However, due to the sporadic nature of the cities broadcasting and internet capabilities this aspect of her power is unreliable within the city. The range which she can teleport a person or object depends upon the mass of the person/object in question.
An average person or object of similar mass can be teleported anywhere within the city (sizable as Manhattan) with relative ease and can be moved multiple times within a localized such as city block an indefinite amount of times. The more mass an object has the harder it becomes for Nelly to move it and the distance which she can teleport it shortens as well. While on the opposite end she would be able to transport something small far greater distances.
Transporting multiple objects doesn't pose any additional difficulty for Nelly, as long as they are all within her line of sight and the accumlated mass of those objects/people does not exceed her limits. Those that are teleported by Nelly disappear instantly from sight of others, seeming to vanish into thin air, while the person themselves will find the trip to be instantaneous.
The extent of her abilities are not unlimited. Transporting a person across the globe is a nearly impossible feat. Moving something as large as a diesel engine is possible, but only within an extremely localized area. At best she could move something of that mass from one end of a neighborhood block to another and is likely to be exhausted and suffer physical damage if pushing the limits.
Also, there are two other drawbacks to her power. The first drawback is that she must be able to see her target to teleport it.This means she would not likely be able to something such as reroute a bullet fired at her or if blinded she would be unable to use her ability at all. The main drawback of her power is that she is unable to teleport herself in any capacity, whether able to see herself or not.