Fran Lawrence

Quinn's roommate and closest friend at Pepperhill in the Falling Into College series. At age 10, Fran was badly injured and scarred by an auto accident that killed her parents and seven year-old sister. As a further result of her injuries, Fran is short (under 5 ft tall) and has to eat constantly and carefully manage her diet to avoid deficiencies. After the accident, she was raised by her maternal uncle (David Stamford) and aunt (Beth Stamford). In appearance, she has black/brown hair that falls to her thighs, soft, gray eyes, long even eyelashes and delicately arched eyebrows. She is an Architectural Design major.

Quinn's general confidence and makeup assistance to minimize the appearance of Fran's facial scars has changed both girl's outlook on life. Quinn eventually talked Fran into joining the Theta Theta Theta sorority with her, and starting their sophomore year, share suite 3-1 in the chapter house, along with Tammy and Grace.

First appearance in "The Parents Are At Rest."

Fran Lawrence in the 'Legion of Lawndale Heroes'
An alternate version of Fran was introduced as a character in Legion of Lawndale Heroes 12:7. She possesses the metahuman abilities of shrinking and mass control; these abilities allow Fran to shrink to subatomic size, but retain her normal physical attributes. Fran has the ability to shrink other lifeforms or non-living objects, enlarge shrunken/minaturized items to human-compatible sizes, or keep them at any variation of size between that she chooses; most items affected will suffer no effect on the inherent qualities those items may possess. (For example - a minaturized radio still has the same power and range as it does at normal size; however, weapons such as bombs and PFT Weapons will have a reduced effect appropriate to their size.)

With living beings, Fran's power can keep them at the reduced/enlarged size for twenty-four hours, after which they return to normal size (unless she returns does so beforehand). With non-living objects, she can choose to make the transformation temporary or permanent (although she can return the item to normal size as she wishes. A noticeable quirk is the speed at which Fran can use her power; she can shrink or enlarge herself or other persons/objects so fast that her power resembles teleportation. Because of the nature of her powers, Fran can carry a multitude of items on her person, and enlarge them when needed.

She also has an increased physical durability when shrinking, and can subconsciously alter her mass to allow her to sit on a person's shoulder without notice, or fly through an armored windshield at very high speeds without harm to herself. A favorite stunt of Fran's is to slam into a person while minaturized, but at her full weight, in order to incapacitate them temporarily.

Fran possesses the ability to fly. This was first achieved by a set of artifical wings that were given to her by William Appleton (who was also holding her in a very unhealthy relationship where he dominated her emotionally and sexually), but after joining the Legion, Fran discovered that she has a very limited anti-gravity power (as a supplement to her mass-control ability) which allows her to defy gravity. Fran has kept the wings, as they help her to fly better. She can fly at speeds of up to 800 MPH (just over Mach 1), or hover for extended periods.

Fran also possesses enhanced physical attributes: she is capable of lifting up to 2000 pounds ((or up to 400 pounds with no effort), possesses the agility of an Olympic athlete, and endurance comparable to a Class Five physical augment (such as Tom Sloane or Maryann Lyter), which allows her to engage in physical exertions for as long as she is mentally unfatigued. It is possible for Fran to fly across great distances, such as a continent or an ocean.

Because of her training (authorized by Appleton), Fran has extensive knowledge of architectural design; she can examine the layout of any structure or area (or the blueprints/schematics thereof) in order to determine the most appropriate manner in which to place security features, and then circumvent them. She is a consummate infiltration and intrusion specialist, even without the use of her powers, and possesses intuitive skills that, combined with her Thieves' Guild training, allow her comparable deductive talents to a professional private investigator.

Fran is an unusually intelligent young woman (while not in the league of Daria Morgendorffer); however, the various physical and emotional traumas she has suffered over the years has left her with a slightly fragile psyche. Her first instinct in a dangerous (or even stressful) situation will be to hide herself or flee; however, working with Daria and psychiatrists (specially trained to deal with abused metahumans) is helping Fran to deal with her issues.

Fran overheard Appleton and an subordinate discussing her upcoming termination; already sickened by her relationship with him and seeing the Legion as a possible sanctuary, Fran approached Daria Morgendorffer at her home and asked for asylum. After a mindscan (and an unexplained vision of an alternate future where Appleton had control of both Fran and her, and compelled them to engage in a lesbian relationship for his own gratification), Daria brought her to Legion Tower for her own safety.

In Legion of Lawndale Heroes 13:6, Daria nominated Fran for membership, and Julia Carlyle promised to heal Fran's scars. It was also revealed that Fran had been trained to steal for William by the Thieves' Guild.

In 'A Legion Halloween', Fran won the 'Best Costume' award at the Legion Halloween Costume Ball for her 'Tinkerbell' costume, complete with sparkling trail as she flew.

An older Fran with apparently the same metahuman abilites from an unknown universe appeared as an Emissary Ringbearer in "With New Responsibility.