John Dynell

John Dynell is a major character in Roentgen's Legion of Lawndale Heroes series.

On his tax returns, John Dynell is listed at the President of Dynell Security Services, a jack-of-all-trades individual security provider headquartered in New York. However, his true occupation is as Director of Operations/Security-North America (Eastern United States) for a centuries-old organization of superhumans known as "The Elite." As a member of the "The Elite," it must be assumed that Dynell possesses psychic powers (see Superhuman Abilities).

Since the foundation of the Legion, Dynell not only knows that several Lawndale teenagers have gained super powers, but has either tried to kill them, kidnap them or spy on them at various times, all for reasons which also have yet to be revealed.

He is a friend of Angier Sloane, and has known the Sloane family for years, as the Sloanes have been members of "The Elite" since birth. He has also currently formed a business relationship with Jake Morgendorffer, and is considered a "friend of the family" by both Daria and Quinn Morgendorffer.

In addition to other activities, he has attempted to influence the Lawndale mayoral election by supporting the campaign of Andrew Landon as the Republican candidate. Recently, he has been given control of a 'Black Box' operation (the meaning of this is as of yet unknown) which has allowed him to override the Elite decision of refusing Tom Sloane to access his metahuman abilities, and to also have a series of commands planted deep inside his mind. The reason for this is unknown, but it seems almost certain that Dynell wished to have a highly-placed deep-cover operative within the Legion that he could activate and control completely at a moment's notice.

During their relocation to Legion Tower, Daria discoverd (while perusing her cyber-diary) she had written down the information that one of the FBI agents whose mind she had read, after the assassination attempt on Russell Stark, had mentioned that a 'Mr. Dynell' would be very happy to know that Stark had been captured. She has not shared this information or discussed it with anyone at this time except for a call to Dawn Hall's answering machine and a letter to Kyle Armalin. (We do not know how either have reacted.)

The Elite

Dynell is a subordinate to Furmann Singh in the Elite hierarchy. Dynell hates Singh and it is hinted that the feeling is mutual. Singh dislikes Dynell because Dynell's family does not have superhuman blood and thus Dynell is not "blue-blooded" enough to belong.

After the attack on Singh that left him incapacitated, Dynell was appointed Executive Director for all Elite activities in North America.

Superhuman Abilities

It has been suggested that Dynell possesses psionic abilities. Two specific abilities have been alluded to; first, that Dynell is able to maintain a constant surface veneer of specific thought-patterns that can be read by intruding telepaths without revealing any actual information. Dynell has actively demonstrated this ability when Daria tried to read his mind.

It is also believed that Dynell has the psionic ability of mental coercion (a lesser form of mental domination) which allows him to place mental commands within a subject's mind. The method of delivering suggestions/commands has not been demonstrated as of yet, but seems to be of a psionic nature, as Dynell seems reticent or unable to coerce Daria as he wishes; it can also be embedded as a deeply-embedded control within a subjects' mind by means of other psionics transmitting those controls via mental link.

Dynell has not, as yet, demonstrated any other powers. However, as a member of The Elite who possesses psionic abilities, he is part of a ultra-secretive caste within the Elite community that refers to its members as True Humans, as they believe they are superior to all others because they need only the power of their minds. It is possible that he has fixated upon Daria for that very reason.

Trivia

• Daria Morgendorffer has attempted to read John Dynell's mind, but Dynell's mind reveals only trivial thoughts that would not arouse suspicion.

• Dynell was the person who had mental controls placed in Tom Sloane's mind in orer to control him at a later date. These were circumvented by David Allen Farrington.