Turncoat
Under the alias, "Turncoat", Lucas West works as a spy and assassin for his best friend Jacob Decibel, who brainwashed him to save him from his life of villainy, and to avoid future corruption of Millennium City. He is currently one of the worlds most renown martial artists, charming assassins, and powerful telepaths. He now lives in Vibora Bay, working alongside Robert Caliburn to prevent the apocalypse.
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Contents
History
A Life of Betrayal
"Heresies are experiments in man's unsatisfied search for truth." - H.G. Wells
"Lucas spent his life in a never-ending cycle of fear and hatred. Fear for himself, those he became close to, and for those that would cross him. Hatred for the one that held from him the truth, myself." - Jacob Decibel
Lucas grew up in London, under the most bleak conditions, with no real parents to look to for guidance or aid. His father, a contract killer, and his mother a courtesan whom both abandoned him at the age of 12. His father became the leader of a group of criminals in the area, and his mother moved to the States, leaving him to fend for himself, where he ended up spiraling into the same criminal life his father lead. Stealing and doing shady errands for his father's former contacts he slowly began gaining a reputation in the criminal underworld most surprised of what he was capable of at such a young age. He gained the friendship of some of the most infamous men in the business, Marcus Avaler, a notorious firearms dealer, Sal Hader, one of the most powerful crime bosses in Europe, and a long list of killers, illegal vendors, and freelancers like him. He built up an distinguished reputation, he learned how to survive without anyone at his side, and he learned how to fight without powers, this would become his most useful asset. When he became good enough, he became a ringleader of the city, using his knowledge of his competition and his mostly clean record to get closer to law enforcement officials and help in convicting many of his former contacts and friends to get amnesty for his own practices. For 3 years he lived this way, on the streets, and in the shadows, he gained followers that worked for him, helping do any odd tasks he normally would take on such as deliveries, bodyguard duty, bribes and threats to public officials, but as his business grew, so did the hatred and envy of others. Alexander West, Lucas' father, took on the contract to kill his son, it was a hit that was paid for by his former employer Marcus whom Lucas helped put in jail just a year before. Although Lucas had been very intelligent and subtle about leaking information to the police, Marcus still had enough ears in all the right places to find out that Lucas was the sellout responsible for his arrest. Lucas' confrontation with his father came without warning, on a cold rainy night, as he was walking home behind St. Paul's Cathedral. Alexander and his men pulled up in four separate vehicles surrounding him and preventing any opportunity to escape, Lucas being unarmed at the time made no effort to fight back against the ten armed bodyguards as they seized him by the arms and threw him against the wall of the church and pinned him there. Alexander pulled out his firearm at his defenseless son and immediately assured Lucas he had no issues with killing him, stating that "I should have murdered you and that whore of a woman a long time ago." It was at that moment Lucas' first natural power awoken, his telepathy, overpowering Alexander's men mentally, he forced the ones holding him down to let go he strafed his father who had now fired two shots, one hitting Lucas in the leg and the other hitting one of the manipulated men, Lucas tackled Alexander into the vehicle behind him and ripped the pistol out of his hands, immediately and wordlessly shooting Alexander four times in the head, this was his first kill, at the age of 15. He then walked to each of the still hypnotized men, disarming them, and then left before relinquishing his control over their minds. Where another individual would have been confused and shocked at learning they possessed a power such as telepathy, Lucas was not, only his fathers words ran through his head, and powers were not that uncommon in the city, instead of wondering about his powers that manifested in the instant of dire need that night, he wondered about his next steps in life.
Tastes of Love and Loss
After the confrontation with his father, Lucas decided his life would have a price tag as long as he stayed in London, so he decided to begin his life anew, retiring from his crime ring and using some of the money he had earned to move to Detroit City where he thought his mother was living at the time. He found his own place, enrolled in public schooling, and made every effort to blend into the norm. While in school he befriended a girl named Claire Decibel who had telepathic powers like his, and offered to teach him about his powers and controlling them. Though he was never a person to put his trust in anyone, he became very close to Claire, to this day he still does not know why, but she may very well be the only woman he has ever loved. With his friendship to Claire, came a new family, her brother Jacob (Soundwave), soon became like a brother to Lucas, and Chris (Patheon) became his best friend. He now had a reason to avoid his former life of crime, he had people in his life he valued and that actually loved him. For the duration of that year, he had a normal life. But that moment of bliss would be lost with the battle.
The Battle of Detroit
During the infamous battle that turned Detroit into a contained war zone between Destroyer and any able-bodied super-powered beings Jacob, Lucas, and Chris were making their way through the chaos to their home when the first shot from Destroyer's Orbital cannon fired and over his city block, hitting his house and killing his parents instantly. His sister whom had run out into the city to find Jacob was later found dead by him and Lucas, she had apparently been shot by a Destroid weapon. Lucas, loosing one of the very few people he cared about, snapped after seeing Claire dead, the severe mental trauma from the moment increased with the mental strain from his telepathic powers causing a physical fissure on his brain and the source of his D.I.D (Dissociative Identity Disorder [1]). Hunched over her body in pain, his second natural power manifested, his Pyrokinesis. Fire rippled from his form and turned her body to ashes, and in the flames of former Detroit he was engulfed in pain, and a desire for revenge until his last breath on Destroyer. Chris, whom was utterly fascinated with the power of Destroyer's weaponry and minions, vowed to devote his life to making a weapon that would ensure the catastrophic events would never reoccur. As a result, Chris later founded a company he dubbed, "Patheon Industries" that specialized in engineering weaponry and advanced cybernetics created to be used against robots.
Pleasure in Sin
Scarred mentally from the battle, Lucas left Detroit heading nowhere, he wandered and thought about his life, his hatred, and his powers. He traveled westward to Nevada, and settled down in the "City of Sin" where he deviled back into his former life of crime and riches. He would spend the next 9 years here, gaining back his infamy and slowly becoming the crime lord he was before, and merging with a large local Yakuza syndicate that was part of the Yamaguchi family, he eventually owned his own district of Las Vegas, next to the strip. He started his own vigilante syndicate called the "White Scorpion Assassins" specializing in taking out the trash of the city for the price. In an attempt to secure his position within the family, so that he would not be betrayed by them, he began a relationship with one of the more notorious female members of the organization, Amaya Ibaraki, (whom would later become "Nightlash") it was through her that he learned martial arts, and kendo. What would have taken him many years to learn took him days, his telepathy sped up his ability to comprehend and store information and allowed him to learn Japanese martial arts like Jujitsu and Karate. After mastering those styles he went out on his own to learn the Korean style of Taekwondo, and Muay Thai of Thailand, he spent months perfecting his form and then roughly a year incorporating his Pyrokinetics into his fighting styles, if for nothing more then added flair. While there was money to be made in his own frowned upon form of justice, he felt hollow inside, killing criminals in cold blood for money and his own selfish desires to see people like Destroyer burn, without trial or redemption. News of the Syndicate spread like wildfire throughout the nation, criminals and law enforcement both seeking his head on a platter, the news eventually circulated through the newly rebuilt Millennium City and Lucas became one of UNITY's top targets. Jacob, whom had already taken control of Former Patheon Robotics built his first two prototype Arklance suits, his own and the one that Dr. June Cates, one of his associates, now wears. Worried and frustrated at the allegations behind Lucas' reputation, Jacob sent June on a mission to capture and retrieve Lucas alive so that Jacob may confront him directly on the matter. Lucas is one of the few "Meta-Humans" with more then a single natural power, for this reason as his powers advanced, he became more unstable and suffered physically and mentally trying to restrain himself, for this reason, the confrontation between June and Lucas would change the course of their futures forever.
Memories Shattered, Chilled, Unbroken
June soon saw the influence that Lucas had over the entire city shortly after arriving as no one would give any information on his whereabouts or where the scorpions base of operations was located. It was only because of a crime lords hired men that she located a scorpion member. A high-profile crime lord by the name of Gerald Wake (who would become ".357MM" another one of Turncoats Nemesis') ordered several guns for hire to track down and kill the leader of the Scorpions in attempt to route their organization, the mercenaries had discovered a member that blew their cover and were rounding to extract any available information from her and then kill her. June intervened, wanting to test out the new armor and get closer to finding Lucas. The fight was short as the mercenaries were greatly disadvantaged fighting an experienced cryo-kinteic meta-human who was in powered armor with nothing but cheaply manufactured firearms and ammunition, she froze two of the men in a pillar of ice almost instantaneously, and skewered the last before turning to face the Scorpion member who was already trying to make an attempt to escape. June quickly froze the fleeing woman's feet to the pavement and slowly approached her with an intimidating presence, she openly offered to spare the woman's life for the information she needed and assured her that Lucas was an acquaintance of hers. She relinquished the information, not fully believing June's story but sure that June would not be able to take down Lucas even if she did know his location, June kept her promise and let her go, knowing that she would run straight to him to warn him of her approach. Not knowing June's relationship to Jacob, Lucas was preparing for an assassin that was not coming, stationing many of his underlings in places he assumed an assassin would take advantage of, but instead of the silent and cautious approach that he prepared for, June surprised him by flying straight up to his floor and through the glass windows behind him. He immediately launched an assault against her, not giving her time for words and she put up barriers of chilling frost to keep him from getting within close enough distance to mount an attack. Lucas began to melt the ice she had formed and ordered a sniper he had stationed on a nearby rooftop to fire at her, which she defended against with ease. Seeing that she could not be taken out so easily he began using his telepathy simultaneously with his ordered distractions to mess with her concentration, he made her here voices in her head that were merely illusory and distorted her field of vision. As June had not anticipated that he was also a telepath she found that the armor suddenly became a burden rather then an advantage as it became harder to operate the suit and maintain her powers at the same time. The fight continued this way, Lucas gave orders as he kept her on her guard with sudden attacks and messing with her mentally, hoping she would create an opening in her defenses long enough for him or one of his men to bring her down. Ordering another of his people to plant several charges on the ceiling underneath where they were fighting he had them blast the floor from under her and used the flames from the explosion to his advantage as she dropped down to the lower level. At that moment in which he gained the upper-hand in the fight a splitting pain coursed through his head and down his spine and he began to lose control over both of his powers, the flames roared up to consume them both and memories of Claire started to flash through his mind. Defenseless, and certain of her death if she didn't act quickly, she removed a locket with a picture of herself and Jacob from her neck and threw it towards him in attempt to stop what she thought was a fit of rage. Lucas, seeing the locket immediately recognized it as the locket Claire once used to wear around her neck and the pain started to subside. He picked up the locket, examining it, and began to interrogate June, about how she knew Jacob and why June was attacking him. When Jacobs plan was revealed to him he agreed to cooperate and meet with his old friend on pleasant terms, leaving control of the Scorpions temporarily to Amaya, assuring his group of his return after the meeting.
Walking through Shadows
As June and Lucas traveled back to Millennium, Lucas' lack of control over his powers became worse, and his mental pains worsened. He began losing track of times and his memory started to slip. When he finally arrived with June to JAVELIN HQ, the pain became so severe he became unable to retain consciousness, he completely forgot who he was, where he was, and everyone he had ever known. Jacob and June quickly got him medical attention where he stayed for nearly two months as they assessed his mental condition and the issues his powers were giving him. In this comatose state, his subconscious brought up painful memories of his past he couldn't recognize. Then the night of the Battle of Detroit pierced back into his mind, he saw himself hovering over Claire's body, Jacob standing next to him, looking up to Chris, whom was standing in the hand of a monolith sized Destroid, with a pistol in his hand manufactured by JAVELIN. The pistol smoked from it's recent use, and a hole the size of a bullet appeared in forehead of Claire's corpse as Lucas held her. This version of the way the Battle took place was forever etched in the back of his mind and he would find out things were the way that dream portrayed it. As Lucas wandered through his subconscious, Jacob discovered the cause of Lucas' mental state. Much like the way his powers would constantly evolve beyond his control as he aged, Lucas' powers were doing the same, but because he had more then one innate power his body and his brain were fighting amongst each other and causing internal chaos. Jacob created an inhibitor much like his own, in the form of a ring to stop Lucas' telepathic progression, allowing his pyrokinetics to continue evolving instead. He also assessed that due to the combination of Lucas' improved telepathy and his mental disorder, the side-effects of his mental condition became far worse then they would have normally been. Those that suffer from D.I.D commonly have short-term memory loss, can formulate multiple conditional identities within themselves, and have a host of social issues; in Lucas' case he had severe memory loss and comatose due to his traumatic flashbacks. To counteract the memory loss, Jacob created a special device that is now paired up with the sunglasses Lucas can commonly be seen wearing, which Jacob named the "HALO Archive System", housed outside of the wearer's head over select parts of the cerebral cortex it feeds information to the wearers brain with electrical discharges, the halo is synced up with a network of servers that allow the wearer to simultaneously save and retrieve information from its database. It was then that Jacob made a difficult choice, rather then choosing to input an accurate database of Lucas' life, he omitted most of the memories in his past that made him into the person that Jacob was trying to steer him away from being, and left him only with the memories of Lucas' life with him and Claire, hoping that this would stop him from turning into the traitor that Chris turned out to be.
Risen from Ashes
Two months after entering comatose, replaying the Battle of Detroit in his head repeatedly and seeing people from his former life flash in and out of each scene, Jacob, produced a controlled electrical pulse on Lucas' head to break him out of his subconscious state. Shocked from being removed from that state so violently caused Lucas to lash out unexpectedly and he threw Jacob back against the wall with a cone of kinetic energy derived from his telepathy, despite the fact that his inhibitor had been implanted in him, he still managed to launch a mental attack and inhibit Jacob from evading. Determined to stop the assault, Jacob shouted in Lucas direction and amplified the noise just loud enough to stun him and break his concentration to restrain him. Stunned from the attack Lucas settled down and slowly regained his composure, the HALO that Jacob had attached to his head began flooding his memories back into him. Every terrible memory that turned Lucas into the infamous criminal he became; killing his father, watching Claire die in his arms, being hunted down since his childhood, all of those memories were omitted from his mind. Losing those important parts of his life would give him a hollow feeling that he could not place, and although he did not know what parts of his life were being kept from him he was desperate to find them. Jacob then gave him an ultimatum, Lucas would work for him, being his eyes and his blade when needed, to find out whats more important to him, learning about his past, or preserving his future. With this, he was assigned to work with Jacob's former crime-fighting group, "The Guardians", in tracking down a potential threat to the group, a mercenary that had been working for groups such as VIPER. He became known as "Major Gray" and Lucas was eventually given the word to assassinate him as he posed a greater threat if left alive and detained. He was insubordinate to Jacob's orders, claiming he wouldn't take the life of someone who was so similar to himself. Jacob, understanding Lucas and his decision, agreed, and instructed him to monitor Gray's activity and stop him with lethal force if needed, from hurting another Guardian member, or an innocent.
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Powers and Abilities
Former Powers
Telepathy - The first natural power to manifest for Lucas was his telepathy, and it also remains his most safe-guarded ability. Because the use of telepathy is frowned on and generally seen as "evil" by the residents of Millennium City and PRIMUS alike, Lucas chose this power to be sealed off inside of his mind when his pyrokinetics manifested itself later on, unable to correctly wield both in battle due to their incompatible nature. Pyrokinetics, relies on passion, impulse, rage, and creativity; while Telepathy requires patience, concentration, calm, and focus. Because it was unnatural to seal off apart of him, his D.I.D reacted to this, creating two conditional identities, reflective of himself influenced by each power.
Pyrokinetics - Lucas' favored power, which he incorporated into his various melee and armed fighting styles, gave him the ability to launch ranged attacks, blast through any obstacle, and cut through any armor to complete his jobs. Because of how versatile the power is, he carries limited weaponry into a fight, despite his vast knowledge of munitions and demolitions alike, none compare to wielding the very essence of power, fire. Lucas' signature uses of this power includes brightening the sparks from drawing his modified wakazashi, which is sheathed in a scabbard lined with a coarse stone that ignites like magnesium when heated, in order to blind people around him. His normal katana is also coated with a fire oil, which allows him to ignite the surface of the blade, allowing him to keep a ready source of fire at hand at all times during a heated fight. Though this power was iconic to Turncoat with the public due to his corresponding personality and flair with the media, he lost this power to his love interest, White Psychic, when she was removing the seal on his telepathic powers, his pyrokinetic powers were forced into her mind and out of his. He can now no longer control fire, but his body appears to still be immune to its effects.
Current Powers
Electrokinetics - After losing his pyrokinetic powers, Lucas, had Jacob create a device to simulate a new mental based power through an article of clothing that could easily be concealed. The resulting invention was the Vibroglove, which takes biokinetic energy from the wearer, vibrates at an intense speed, and discharges electricity which can then be controlled freely by the wearers mind through displacement of his/her own kinetic energy. After enough practice with the glove, Lucas was able to arc an electrical current off the edge of his sword, launch an electro-magnetic pulse by condensing energy in his palm, and even drawing electricity from power lines and passing it into another object.
Telepathy - Untouched by White Psychic, his telepathy remains, but is now more accessible to him, as it is no longer sealed off.
Teleportation - As long as Lucas is near an extreme source of electrical power such as power lines, a lightning storm, or a power generator he can de-construct his physical form into energy and pass his body through an electrical current, reconstructing himself on the other side.
Abilities
Martial Combat - During his time engaged to "Nightlash", Lucas went under extensive armed and unarmed combat training. He is labelled one of the most talented close combat fighters in the world, and is not shy to using firearms if needed, though is seldom due to his meta-human powers. This ability gives him an edge when dealing with other meta-humans with mental based powers, using his telepathy to shield his mind from being controlled, and pressing an attack with his blade. This capability in particular made him a very desirable asset to PRIMUS, as he is one of few that can stand up to some of the strongest telepaths in the world with ease.
Covert Ops - As an assassin, Lucas has a broad knowledge of covert ops. From his days as a villain, to his current life as a PRIMUS operative, he has unparalleled knowledge of urban concealment, tracking, sleight of hand, parkour, and the art of disguise.
Empowered Persuasion - Through combination of his telepathy, his knowledge of human psychology and his amiable personality, Lucas has no problems manipulating others in order to extract information or gain influence with them.
Immunity to Fire - Even with Turncoat's pyro-kinetic abilities stolen from him, his immunity to fire is encoded in his genetics and as a result persists.
Gadgets and Weapons
Weapons
Modified Katana - Turncoat's main weapon of choice is the heavily modified sword he wears to his right side, while sheathed the katana's modifications are virtually invisible, however when drawn the katana reveals several grooved channels extending to the blade's tip from the handle and seven concealed and retracted "pain spikes" at the katana's tsuba (guard) that flip out when the handle is rotated at a particular angle in a counter-clockwise fashion. The grooved channels are designed to allow the flow of oils and poisons down the length of the blade without a normal loss in potency and quantity of liquid applied, while the pain spikes insure that anyone unfamiliar with the will suffer a painful lesson should they attempt to wield it.
Retractable Katana - Kept inside of Turncoat's suit-jacket, the length of this katana's blade completely retracts within the tsuka (handle) of the weapon until a concealed trigger within the kashira (pommel) is pressed, in which a spring-loaded mechanism releases the blade to its full length.
Modified Wakazashi - Worn on Turncoat's back is a heavily modified "Wakazashi" or reverse blade, slightly shorter to a katana in length of blade, this weapon is a favored off-hand weapon used for enabling parries in a dual weapon style. Turncoat's version of this blade is rarely used as such however, the length of the blade is lined with heavy metal protrusions used to create friction within the scabbard whos innards are lined with a coarse stone-like material with the same texture as that of flint stone. Upon drawing the katana, even at half length out of the scabbard it is able to create a tremendous amount of sparks which Turncoat would then use to produce fire for his pyro-kinetics, or would brighten to blind his enemies. Since the removal of his pyro-kinetics however, Turncoat is now rarely seen carrying this blade.
Trip Wire - Now heavily used by Turncoat, tripwire/ninja wire is often used as a conduit between Turncoat and his enemies so that he may pass electricity directly into his opponent and/or restrain/hinder their movement.
Gadgets
Vibroglove - The invention created by Soundwave that allows Turncoat to create electricity using intense static discharge. Worn on his right hand it allows him to arc devastating electrical currents off of his katana or through his tripwire, and has become the staple in his arsenal since the loss of his fire controlling abilities.
Arklance Powersuit - Another of Soundwave's inventions, the iconic Arklance Powersuit, is worn by only a select few members of Soundwave's company, Javelin Firearms. This suit is designed to enhance and drastically improve the reflex time, strength, and endurance of the person inside. Each suit is designed with a specific wearer in mind and can only be worn by that person, they are powered by the bio-kinetic energy of the meta-human that wears it and amplifies many kinetic powers as a bonus. The end result is a nearly unstoppable meta-human. Each unique powersuit is defined by a single color that represents the wearer, and though all of the suits are black, they are highlighted by a neon-glow reflective of Soundwave's favorite movie; Tron. Although the suit is his to use freely, Turncoat is only seen wearing the suit when on official work from Javelin, his signature glow on his suit is Red, representative of his former pryo-kinetic powers and also his desire for revenge on Pantheon, a desire so strong he relentlessly trains for the day he can finally end the life of his former friend and Soundwave's greatest rival.
Recognition and Awards
- Is a high-ranking PRIMUS covert operative with priority clearance to PRIMUS databanks.
- Is a renown martial artist, who is known for his mastery of Muay Thai, one of the worlds most dangerous martial combat styles.
- Is an undisputed master of the blade.
- Has been on the cover of People Magazine once.
- Was awarded with the "Key to the City" from the Mayor of Vibora Bay for exemplary service to the community.
- Is a sponsor for Old Spice.
