Julia Carlyle

A fictional character in the Legion of Lawndale Heroes universe, Julia Elaine Majel Carlyle is a Cadet First Class at the United States Academy of Extranormal Studies, and the Deputy Leader of The Alliance.

Biography

Born in New York City (specifically, in Manhattan), Julia is the daughter of Forbes Carlyle (although she was raised by Forbes and Paige Turner, her long-time domestic partner); she is also oldest of three children to Deforest Carlyle (her biological father). Julia also has, (through Deforest and his wife, Lauren Merritson) a younger sister in high school - Antigone Carlyle (or just 'Annie' by her friends), who is three years younger than Julia, and a younger brother - Lexington Carlyle ('Lex'), who is in grade school and is seven years younger than Julia. Finally, she also has a younger sister (unnamed) who is the child of Paige and Deforest, who is the biological father; this sister's name is unrevealed, and she is eleven years younger than Julia.

Julia is a member of the uber-wealthy Clan Carlyle, a family that can trace its recorded ancestry as a distinct, separate faction within the Twelve Clans back over fifteen generations - to the birth of Majel Carlyle, and her actions in the war of attempted unification of the Twelve Clans with The Elite. All members of the Clan Carlyle have metahuman powers, but are not members of The Elite, nor are they interested in revealing those abilities to the world in general. This is one of the mitigating factors that allowed the truce to be crafted, and also why The Elite has not tried to eliminate them, although it is almost certain that they have been in contact for various purposes over the centuries. The exact wealth of the Clan Carlyle is unknown, but they are easily one of the three wealthiest of the Twelve Clans and known as one of the wealthiest families on Earth; Julia's personal worth (due to her own trust fund and her family allowances) is in the three to six-billion dollar range.

The great-granddaughter of Miranda Carlyle, Julia is incredibly attractive; she is 5'10 in height and weighs 125 pounds, with the traditional Carlyle birthright of long, dark scarlet hair and slender, with very long legs. Like the majority of 'Carlyle women', Julia has large, jade-green eyes; Julia, in fact, looks exactly like Majel Carlyle herself. (This was a factor in the naming of Julia, as she was given her ancestor's name, as well as 'Elaine' - Paige's grandmother's name.) Forbes, having a background in art history and decades of research in the area, named Julia after Julia The Elder - the daughter of the first Roman emperor Augustus.

Always a rebellious child, Julia discovered her powers at the age of seven (when she sprouted her wings for the first time), and for the next two years, found a great thrill in annoying her family members and neighbors in the upstate New York area (on and around the Carlyle estate). (It was revealed in the 'Judith Strikes!' fic 'Not So Different' that Julia lived at both her great-grandmother's estate, and in the affluent Denver, Co. suburb of Aurora with her mother and Paige - who she refers to fondly as 'Mommy Paige' - before she went to USAES.) She grew more daring, using her hyper-speed flight powers to travel around the world to various locations and having adventures. (Because of her habit of constantly disappearing and never being where she was supposed to be - even before her powers developed - Julia picked up the nickname 'Milky' (as in you'll have to put her face on a milk carton to find her.') She came to the attention of Professor Richard Hiram Blumenberg in the summer before her ninth birthday, who spoke to the Carlyle family about Julia attending USAES; he left after being given a resounding 'no' to the question, but was shocked when Julia showed up at USAES less than a half-hour after he had returned. (She used her powers of flight and tracking to follow him there.) After a spirited conversation on the phone, Julia was allowed to stay at USAES, and would become the final member of Training Cadre 2996. (She is also the youngest member of the cadre, being almost three years younger than the others.) In order to give her 'her own space', as well as a person outside of her cadre who she could feel comfortable with, the Professor assigned her as Sherrie Klein's roommate. This was also a way to keep Klein (who was to be the final member of The Alliance, had Julia not arrived) close to the group. (Despite her signature wings and sonic powers, the majority of Julia's abilities are psionic in nature, and Julia spends as much time in the Mental Enhancement as she does in the Metahuman Transportation and Travel program, and she wears both a platinum 'psi' symbol and a pair of platinum wings - the symbols of those programs.)

Every inch the autocratic 'Carlyle woman' expected by her great-grandmother (albeit with a rebellious, adventuring streak and a gift for snarkiness), Julia is nevertheless a very strong team player, even to the point of accepting a subordinate role to those she feels are worthy of being good leaders. It is also telling of her personality, skills and overall ability that she was chosen by popular vote among the Alliance members to be Deputy Leader during the cadets' second year, when they were expected to act as a group in many school activities, and she has their complete trust, respect and affection.

In LLH 13.2, 'Angel Of The Morning', Julia joined the Legion as the first member not to be a resident of Lawndale upon becoming a Legionnaire. Her membership is part of a one-year trial exchange program between the Legion and USAES, which could lead to a permanent program of having USAES cadets (who are also eligible for membership) spending a one-year period as Legionnaires.

In June 2012, Julia graduated with the USAES Class of 2012, and received her Bachelor of Science in Administration of Justice. Because of her exemplary record and achievements, Julia was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve (as all Federal Service and National Service track cadets are commissioned as officers in either the Army or Navy Reserve).

Powers

Winged Flight: Julia possesses a pair of fully-functional wings (which extend outwards from her back and possess a wingspan of fifteen feet) which she can either fold back against her back so that she can wear clothing over them, or she can 'shrink' them back into tiny 'wing buds' just beneath her skin. Her wings possess superhuman strength of their own, as she can easily knock even persons with superhuman strength and durability unconscious with a single blow from them. (In terms of lifting strength, Julia's wings have the comparative strength to lifting twenty tons). She can fly at speeds easily matching Kryptonian super-speeds in flight, and can do so without causing damage to the surrounding environment (see Flight Adaptations). If her wings are damaged, her healing power also allows her to regenerate them.

Flight Adaptations: Julia's body possesses special adaptations allowing for high-speed, long duration and even exo-atmospheric flight:

her skin is more durable than expected; this actually provides her with the equivalent of light body armor, as she can resist puncture wounds and small-caliber bullets (up to the effect of a .45 round; she will feel some discomfort from the impact, through)

her bones are hollow, she can withstand extreme temperatures and extract oxygen from even very thin atmospheric conditions

her body can actually sustain itself while in hostile environments such as space (underwater, in gas-filled areas, etc), with no need to eat, drink or breathe.

her body does not store excess fat, and allows her to convert any food that she dos eat far more efficiently into energy than non-powered or even most metahumans.

her muscle structure, while similar to a woman of her age and figure, possesses far greater tensile strength, allowing her considerably more strength than would be expected. Julia can can lift and carry up to 2000 pounds (up to 800 pounds with no effort), or up to ten tons while in flight.

her eyesight is incredibly acute (superior to predatory birds) and her eyes are adapted for flight.

she possesses superhuman agility which allows her to both fly and fight in incredibly tight areas and at very high speeds, and superhuman endurance at the pinnacle that humanoid beings can possess. Even without her other powers (or if her other powers are actively suppressed), Julia retains agility, strength and endurance levels greater than that of an Olympic athlete.

Julia has a very limited connection to the 'Speed Force', allowing her to fly at ultra-high speeds without damage to the environment, as well as perceive her environment at ultra high-speeds in order to perform tasks at those speeds (allowing her to dodge bullets, energy effects, other speedsters, etc.). It is active only when she is in flight .

Environmental Awareness: When using he flight powers, Julia possesses an innate awareness of the environment around her when flying, allowing her to easily navigate through any environment. Her awareness can extend out to roughly one Astronomical Unit (roughly 93 million miles, or the distance between Earth and the Sun). This awareness also makes Julia a superior navigator.

Talons: Julia can extend her fingernails out into razor-sharp talons measuring six inches in length. This is an ability she chooses not to use very often.

Healing Factor: Julia also possesses the ability to self-regenerate and heal herself from even lethal injuries or exposures to lethal environments or substances. This ability is so powerful that she can even reconstitute her body if large portions are destroyed or even if she is subject to disintegration; if even a molecule of her form still exists, she can reconstitute her form. (Even if her body is completely destroyed, if her spirit is still viable, she can reconstitute her form if a sample of her DNA (a hair, fingernail, saliva sample, etc.) can be found; her power will reconstitute her body and automatically re-establish her spirit inside her body.) Julia's power even provides her with total immunity to supernaturally-oriented conditions (such as vampirism) and diseases which are traditionally considered to have a 100% mortality rate (such as exposure to the viral agents that cause transformation to a zombie state); her saliva acts in a way similar to the solution created by Project Nightbreed, in that it grants a person exposed to it her full healing ability (the effect wears off after five minutes). Julia's regeneration/healing ability is so powerful that it exists even in her bodily fluids; a kiss from Julia can heal persons of even mortal injury, and a small transfusion of her blood can resurrect a person who has been dead for up to twenty-four hours. Unlike other metahumans with healing factors, Julia is not adversely affected if her powers are nullified; she still possesses the same resistance to germs and disease as any normal in excellent physical shape that engages in intense physical exercise.

Advanced Telocation: Julia has the ability to lock onto the psionic signature of a target (after handling a personal object or being in a 'personal area' belonging to the target) and track them down. Julia's ability allows her to track a target anywhere within a 1000-mile radius. (If she has no personal object to focus her powers on, she is limited to a six-mile radius.) If the target is using active mental defenses or is shielded in an area proofed against mental powers, Julia can then only track to the spot where the target was before the protection was engaged. When Julia uses her telelocation power in conjunction with her speech-throwing ability (see below), Julia additionally manifests the ability to generate an astral form that only that person that she is tracking can see and communicate with; Julia can only perform within twelve miles of her target. (Note that while in contact with that person, Julia can maintain her astral form in order to move about anywhere within a radius of 120 yards of that person's position; she can walk up stairs, pass through doors and explore; with extreme concentration - during which time is unable to move her physical form - Julia can solidify her astral form (it will still be invisible) in order to perform physical tasks.) While using her telelocation power, Julia is vulnerable to psionic attack.

Astral Form: Julia can project her astral form out to 1500 miles away. While in astral form, she can use her mental-based powers as normal; her regeneration ability acts upon her astral form as it does upon her physical form. In addition, her speech-throwing and clairaudience powers act in the manner of telepathy.

Mental Shields: Julia possesses an innate psionic shield that is difficult for even the most powerful of telepaths to penetrate; this shield also protects her from related psionic and emotion-based attacks (including mind control, mental stunning, possession attempts of any form, mental-detection and suppression attacks upon the psyche and the autonomic nervous system). This shield is always in place, but is automatically lowered when Julia uses her telelocation power. Julia can lower the shield when she wants to allow any form of psi-contact; in addition, Julia can still 'hear' telepathic wide-band and personal broadcasts directed towards her even when her shield is active, as her shield acts as a 'filter' to simply allow reception, but not locating or control of her mind. Like her healing ability, Julia's mental shields cannot be nullified by any form of power dampening or nullification technology or powers; in the case of technology as the Mark 50 suppression band, Julia's shield goes into a 'default' state and is locked into place'.

Sonic Generation: Julia has the ability to project tightly-focused waves of hypersonic energy, which are so powerful that they can actually break down the molecular bindings of solid material and reduce them to a semi-solid/liquid state. She can affect everything within a quarter-mile area, or attack a single target within her line of sight. Furthermore, the nature of Julia's powers (see below) allows her to direct the sonic waves in such a manner so that the intense damaging nature of her sound projection can be directed without harm to persons/items she is not trying to affect (when attacking single targets). Julia can also use her sonic powers as a form of radar/sonar (when in the appropriate environments to do so), and although she rarely needs to do so (because of her wings and the higher speed she has with them), Julia can use her sonic powers in order to fly at up to the speed of sound, or 770 MPH. Because of the psionic basis of her power, Julia's sonic powers also act in the nature of a psionic blast as well as a sonic attack, allowing Julia to incapacitate even high-level psionics or persons with psi-defenses.

Julia's sonic powers are psionic in nature, allowing them to work underwater or in a vacuum; in addition, powers or devices that suppress her ability to speak (or even conditions such as laryngitis) cannot affect her power. However, her powers can be muted out or blocked by powers that dampen mental abilities. As a side-effect of her power, Julia cannot be affected by her own powers or any sonic-or voice-related ability or device; this gives her immunity to mind-control devices of this nature.

"Speech-throwing": Julia can 'throw her voice' in a psionic-related form of ventriloquism to any place or person that she can actually view in real-time (through television, binoculars, etc.). Her range for this power is 25,000 miles (if she has a way to view them in real-time); however, in conjunction with her telelocation and clairaudience, Julia's effective range for her power is 1000 miles.

Clairaudience: Julia has a clairaudience ability that is linked with her speech-throwing ability; her effective range is 1000 miles. She can also use it to listen to events up to six miles away without engaging her speech-throwing ability.

Pyrokinetic Energy Sheath: Julia possesses a limited pyrokinetic ability; this allows her to generate a sheath/corona of flame around any item she wishes, without doing any physical damage to the object. In addition, if the item is of the appropriate nature, the item/object can be used as a weapon with the additional protection or damage capabilities that the flame sheath provides. Julia has absolute control of the flame sheath, and can expand/or contract it at will, as well as exercise precise control the intensity of the flames (down to a tenth of a degree). She primarily has used this ability to sheath swords with flame (in order to fool individuals into believing that she is an angel).

Equipment

As a member of The Alliance, Julia has a 'team jacket' which is lined with Salazarium. The jacket allows her to fly without using her own powers, acts as a form of body armor, (also giving some protection against mystical powers and effects), and has a microceiver allowing her to stay in touch with the other members of her team. Because of the flight capabilities of her jacket, Julia has the ability to fly for effectively unlimited periods of time (well, until dinnertime).

Julia also (as with all Alliance members) carries a weapon for melee combat; she prefers Tonfa,and carries a pair in sheathes on her trouser legs. For psychological purposes, Julia has a sword that can tap into her body's energies and generate a sheath of flame around the blade; she also possesses several outfits that, when carrying the sword and having her wings fully extended (she also allows her hair to fall free over her shoulders), makes her appear in the same fashion of the 'Angels' referenced in the Bible.

Since joining the Legion, Julia has been issued a PFT-M1 PFT Weapon for personal use, and also has a Legion flight ring. In LLH 13:8, Julia was seen wearing her Legion uniform, which possesses active camouflage elements that allow her to 'blend' in with the aerial environment, making her difficult to see in flight.

Skills

Julia has a major in Administration of Justice (criminology), and a minor in Business Administration (she is considering going forward with further studies in order to get her MBA). She has flawless linguistic skills in German and Gaelic (both Scottish Gaelic and Irish), and can converse easily as if she were a native of Germany, Scotland or Northern Ireland. She is an expert fighter in Tae Kwon Do and savate, and has incorporated both into an incredibly effective fighting style for use while airborne. She types over ninety-five words per minute, can write and read in shorthand, and is familiar with many computer programs used in office work-environments. Julia is also familiar with a wide variety of liquors and mixed drinks, and can easily stand in at the bar in any club. (This was part of Professor Blumenberg's Alliance training strategy of having all members proficient in a secondary set of skills, allowing them to infiltrate various organizations, survive in unusual circumstances or simply 'hide in plain sight' if the need arises; he saw Julia as being able to disguise herself as an office worker with the looks and abilities to ascend to higher duties in any organization.)

Julia has also developed a number of skills that are not entirely looked upon kindly by the USAES faculty (although they do have a limited group of courses that touch upon these areas; due to that and the fact that those skills are useful, Julia was allowed to continue). She is able to escape from almost any form of restraining device, and is an excellent lockpicker/safecracker. She also has impressive skills in circumventing security systems and entering secure areas. (Julia always keeps a set of lockpicks in her clothing at all times, as well as several micro-thermite charges and a miniature 'electronic lockpicking pad', for the purpose of defeating any door lock. She also keeps a pair of condoms in her uniform, as she has found various uses for them in the shadowy side of her training.)

Julia spent her internship year as an apprentice with the Thieves' Guild (which has survived to the present day) after being granted permission with a special dispensation from the Secretary of Extranormal Affairs. During her year with the Guild, Julia trained as a 'cat burglar', and participated in thefts which netted over $10,000,000.00 USD; Julia was allowed to participate due to the fact that her training would be used to curtail future crimes of this nature.

Although she has not attempted to expand upon the skill as several of her fellow cadets have, Julia possesses incredibly proficient marksmanship abilities (due to her powers). She is easily as skilled of a marksman with a handgun or PFT weapon as [[Fabian Nogura]; she recorded a perfect marksmanship score while doing her required testing at Quantico, and regularly scores perfect matches with a service rifle. Were she to focus upon the skill, Julia has the potential to be a sniper of unnatural lethality at extreme ranges; she is also capable of incredible lethality while manning a gun turret, and is also very good at hitting targets with her weapons while in flight.

Trivia

Julia loves to eat (she is a born and bred 'foodie'), and because of her powers she doesn't gain weight. She loves to compete in eating contests just to annoy people.

Julia's favorite food is barbecue ribs, and is not above flying all over the country (world) to get the best. She will also eagerly fly around the world to pick up special take-out orders for her friends.

Julia's birthday is August 1st. She was a 'preemie' (premature birth), having been born seven weeks before her due date (which was late September). Despite being slightly underweight, Julia was a normal, healthy baby, and was only kept in the hospital for several weeks until she had gained weight.

Julia has exceptionally large feet (for a woman) and wears size eleven shoes.

She has been nicknamed 'Duchess' by her fellow Alliance members because of her autocratic nature; she does not, however, act that way towards David Allen Farrington, which the others in The Alliance find humorous.

Julia's best friends are Sherrie Klein and Zoey Robertson.

Even though she has never really wanted to develop the talent (although she took classes just to please Professor Blumenberg), Julia has a beautiful singing voice and a talent for performing.

Julia's favorite animated character is Starscream from 'The Transformers'.