Antlers
PrinceAlexus
RisingRobin
Half Pint
cosmiccowgirl
Tae
Nightwing95
Zenku
MaeBSoundtrack: Night Tapes - Drifting
Age: 33
Appearance:
Pale-skinned and lightly ginger, James is lanky in a way that suggests equal parts sleepless nights and too much time hunched over spreadsheets. He burns far too easy in the Californian sun.
He dresses like every tech-adjacent consultant, with rolled-up sleeves, slim-fit shirts, different colours of chinos while wearing a pair of square, designer glasses. 6"0 tall and with a face that has caught and broken hearts, James gives off the vibe of someone who makes it look effortless, a certain charm on him at all times with a comeback for anyone and anything, even if he's weathered and a transplant to a new continent.
He looks a little dead inside, even in the sunshine of LA- even if he seems to be an outgoing guy, his face displays someone who is through with American optimism and just deals in results, something that will excite you or piss you off. A classic consultant.
If SDN and the world of Dispatch is the US adaption of The Office, then James is definitely coming from the UK version of The Office, and he absolutely is through with the optimism and excitement of everyone, in favour of just wanting to get shit done. He might be beginning to crack, but what you're seeing is someone who chose business practical, and results over formality.
There’s always a tablet under his arm or a headset around his neck. He moves quickly, talks quickly, and thinks even faster, and by American standards, he's got a lot of colloquialism he hasn't shaken, in spite of consulting in the US for a while.
Face Claim / Voice Actor: Eddie Redmayne
Role at SDN:
Hero Development Consultant.
James is a freelance consultant, but at this point, he's basically a part of the SDN team full time, as there aren't exactly any other networks he could work with, not beyond some weird little startups. With experience of SDN's network on the East Coast and experience from the UK's equivalent branches, James is the critical link between the R&D teams, heroes, dispatchers and management. He crunches numbers, and more often than not, is advising the Branch Management of how to "improve synergy" or "deliver key stakeholder KPIs".
Does this sound like some bullshit? It is!
Day to day, James's job is much more simple. James is the person who if he isn't sitting at the dispatch monitor himself (if short-staffed), is likely the point of contact for the team's professional development, training, and mentoring- and works with not just the Claremont office, but across the LA region, taking his experience of looking after Sophie to basically help heroes where their dispatchers can't. That includes the Phoenix Programme, who he has been particularly involved in- and sees as his ticket in getting closer within SDN, because he's often the one working any angle the branch need to get the former villains involved.
James's job is to make sure the teams operate at their best, even if he isn't really contributing much more than others in actual work- mostly being a glorified middle man that just finds ways to link one member of the team to another. If the Branch Manager and Dispatchers might be the ones calling the shots on heroes, James is in the background, making sure they've got what they need to do their jobs, or at least, able to find someone who can. Given that SDN hasn't found anyone who can do that long term, James is their man until they find a hire for the role, that strangely enough, nobody has been hired for yet. Paying a fat cheque for this service does seem a bit stupid, but James is involved in redundancy, efficiency and other decisions across the network, and so far, he seems to be doing a good job of it. A good consultant never makes himself redundant, after all....
If you bribe him with good tea and a solid pack of biscuits, he will get you what you need by pulling on some levers, but he's fundamentally an outsider- so his view on SDN isn't of company loyalty, but deliverables, results and getting everything running as it should.
Being in Claremont means his role conveniently works out nicely given it gives him the ability to work with his sister- who he's also been a bit of an agent for before, and now gives him an excuse to be somewhere he might not normally be. Being based in LA also gives him a chance towards a permanent role within SDN as a permanent Director within the firm- arguing for his indispensable nature. His long term goal is to climb the management of SDN, rather than dealing in the day-to-day, but time will tell if that ruthless progression is going to change him, or he'll need to adapt to go where he needs to.
Problem is, it's really hard to do that when you have a 9th century, Vinland-originating shieldmaiden and some guy who can spit acid in the way who are also chasing more senior positions.
Background:
Born and raised in Manchester, UK, James was always the analytical one of the two siblings. James was the stereotypical eldest child: clever, wired, academically terrifying, the "responsible one" even when nobody asked him to be. He was always more analyst than athlete- always cleverer, like he had himself directed at something greater. When Sophie manifested her powers and nearly died, James immediately pivoted his ambitions; he wasn’t going to be a hero, but he’d damn well make sure she survived being one. Coming from Moss Side, James spent his youth misspent, and he wouldn't say he was a "hero" from the get go. He wanted nothing more than to just bugger off to uni and find a different life, yet from the moment his sister got powers, he was immediately went from the older sibling always bickering, to wanting immediately wanting to protect her and make sure she did the right thing.
It was like in that moment he had a responsibility to protect her from her own self, knowing the stories of other supes and how easy it would be to slip. A world it turned out, he could actually monetise.
He earned an undergraduate degree in Business Management from the University of Manchester before being recruited by the UK's Superhuman Response Unit- working a side gig as Lightning Girl's fixer, agent and minder. It wasn't always smooth sailing, but between his ability to wrangle problems and her ability to fill them full of voltage, they made a good team- even when they were apart due to work commitments. After five years of optimizing response times and resource allocation and working in SDN's UK branches, he was headhunted by SDN (America) and sponsored on a work visa.
Why move to the US? Well, his sister was on the payroll there, and he was brought in as a reliable hand, knowing how heroes operate and what they need to succeed. And he had the ability to work remotely, so, that was what he did.
James was sponsored on a work visa by SDN, who continued to employ him for projects in Baltimore, Boston, Denver, and now, in Los Angeles, specifically, the smaller branch at Claremont that despite being less of a dumpster fire than the operation in Burbank and the often chaotic Torrance Branch. Sophie's want to live in LA, always a dream of hers was one that James has finally decided to join in with- Sophie being the local and James being lost, it just made sense that SDN needed help and so, he came in and based himself at the office there.
While a specialist for SDN network-wide, James's main activities are turning out to be the Claremont office- and he works with a wide roster of the team, usually coming into contact with everyone.
Powers:
None. While James is relatively fit, versus most heroes he hasn't got anything "super" about him. Unless you count an exceptionally good talent for Excel. Or being incredibly dry sometimes. This is a running gag.
Likes:
-Brew Co Earl Grey tea (proper stuff, not that American hot water with a bag)
-Data visualization tools (and how much he hates how outdated SDN's systems are)
-Rainy days (reminds him of home)
-Classic British sitcoms
-Classic Rock Music, Britpop, 80s Music
-Keeping Sophie alive (and being a supportive big brother)
-Books on Business Management
Dislikes:
-Corporate jargon (despite using it himself)
-Heroes who ignore protocol
-American coffee
-When his sister shows off unnecessarily
-Budget cuts
-Paperwork that serves no purpose
-Being called a "parasite" (whatever that is)
Quirks:
-Speaks with a slight Mancunian accent that gets more pronounced when he's stressed
-Has memorized every single expense and cost centre code for SDN.
-Stress-eats Fisherman's Friends. Sophie brings him boxes of the stuff from the UK on her weekends off, and if you try one, you'll be disgusted.
-Has memorised all of the training modules that he has to teach you and is bored of this
-Comes across as more cynical, and used to the way of work in America- but still relishes in it and the processes of SDN. He's moved a lot, and is clearly fatigued, but sees LA for a traffic clogged, difficult city but doesn't hide behind the good the work does, and the worth he brings to it.
Theme Song: The Stone Roses - She Bangs The Drums
(FC, with changes in appearance listed)
Age: 29
Appearance:
White-haired, Sophie is truly a diva of her own making- she never was like this (having more red-hair like James, and being quieter), but electricity has turned her a little different paired to her now grey eyes. It's a manner that she manages to pull off even out of her costume, looking a bit more gaudy than some with that white hair. She sometimes bleaches her hair with blue tips, if she's feeling the mood to show off a bit. On off days, she's even returned back to her original red-chestnut hair, but once the mask is on, she's all white.
At around 6"2, Sophie is quite the opposite of James. The powers giving her a little bit of height and muscle density, Sophie comes across as an old-school hero, with a silhouette that occupies any doorway or skyline, even if she didn't have electricity in her, being enough for her to mess you up pretty badly. An athlete's physique, a moderate amount of chest, and plenty of shoulders and legs that have come from benching weights James would even gawk at. Sure, she's a stereotype, but then again, with that much electricity in her fingers? She's practically occupied in that. There's a certain kind of beauty to her, with a heart-shaped face and a poise that is contrasted by the strong smell of ozone and burnt toast you almost get when she seemed to be "live".
It would work great, if she didn't sunburn really badly. Powers do not stop that, so she's constantly on Factor 50, and that absolutely takes away that "girl next door" vibe that Sophie seems to give off. Being British in LA is like being Prince Harry in....actually, that is not going anywhere as a reference, so we'll leave it there! Herr British voice becoming more of a "transatlantic" tone, like she's an American from the 1920s.
Her civilian fashion tends toward practical but fancy clothing, from premium t-shirts, leather jackets, gym gear and whatever she feels makes her look good, out of the line of work come on.
Faceclaim: Alice Levine
Voice Claim: Hayley Atwell
Role at SDN:
Hero for Dispatch.
Sophie was headhunted and with a move to LA, put in was impossible to say no to. She loved the idea of moving there given her obsession over Hollywood and the lights, and while not in the DTLA dream team, she is knocking on that door, as a figurehead that is no rookie to this line of work, but absolutely to the US and the dreamy vision of superheroes that sometimes ends up a bit more complicated.
Background:
Growing up as James's younger sister, Sophie was quiet, reserved, and while sporty, growing up as the younger sibling to a brother that seemed clever and all wired up. Instead of his nerdy behaviour, she was always into activities like running, football, being outdoorsy, and also liking all girly things that all teenage girls liked. Bit of crochet from her mum too. She still does love it. She was a wallflower, unsure of what she wanted, but well, she'd work it out, but otherwise, a rather normal teen. Brought up with a dad who worked all the time, and a mum who made every end meet in their relatively less-affluent upbringing in Moss Side.
That was, until Sophie was struck by a lightning bolt that sparked out of a fragment of a comet, which just so happened to smack into the park where her and her friends were playing football, aged 15.
(It's a stereotype, but, being the unlucky victim of a celestial body's is one hell of a way to get powers. Especially when it's totally not a rip off from Misfits right?)
Getting a power that way is quite interesting- because instead of dying, she shut off the power an entire hospital down when she came to, being on life support that needed her a lot less than any doctors realised. She healed quickly, but was found that electricity would just shoot out of her.
Often uncontrollably at first, but she was addicted to leeching, then transmitting power. And realising she could fly. And take significantly less amounts of damage than most. It was as if the electricity healed her, fuelled her, and made her more potent than she could ever believe. Sophie had a hunger to go to substations and just sit there and keep sucking up power until she felt like she'd drunk five Red Bulls. And sometimes, blow the power out for thousands.
An electricity based hero then. Sophie discovered that having millions of kilowatts running through her made her a bona-fide powerhouse, and she was fitter, faster, flightier, a blur of ozone-like electricity-crackling. She went to the gym more, and found gains went from little to lots, because her metabolism was frankly broken. She stopped playing football when she realised she basically deflected tackles (and people) and was shocking everyone with static all of the time. Heroes like her were a bit unsporting, so she turned her hobbies to crochet.....and fighting crime, and, making a living out of it. The comet's effects weren't totally understood- but a personality shift felt like it came along with the power too, maybe as it crept to her head and made her want to project a version of control, order, and putting things right, her way.
Her red hair seemed to turn pale white, her bone density and musculature grew as she suddenly went from quiet athletic girl to superpowered woman (mostly through metabolic diversion and those relentless amount of Rocky-grade training montages in the gym), and in time, she found herself trying to navigate putting her powers to good and bad. A few run ins made her realise villainy was not worth the effort- and doing good felt good and came suddenly with attention that she was growing to absolutely adore. It was easy to steal, take what she'd like but realistically, her powers meant she was rewarded for what she did by those she helped. Small at first, but suddenly, being a hero for hire added up.
And the attention she hadn't had as a younger sister, she now absolutely got in spades when she was Lightning Girl, in a costume designed by her brother and designer friend, and able to project all her confidence through it. She could be someone she wasn't, out of the shadow of her brother, the strong, capable, saviour of Moss Side.
And with James's guidance, the two made sure Sophie was in the right place, right time, solving crimes with James running behind the scenes (and the mountains of paperwork it caused the Greater Manchester Police), and Sophie non-lethally shocking the crap out of anyone, recovering stolen property and finding missing people among many things- to really become the hero she wanted to be with all eyes on her now. She had a gift- best use it, she said to herself, and get something from it. Manchester needed a hero, and Sophie was that, among a field of supers with augments, she still stood out as the one that dominated the city. Even while he was at university, Sophie always relied on him, and she then spent time in London working with a local start-up called "PowerServe", rather than SDN that dealt with emerging talents like her. A certain security for response, and Sophie made quite the mark, even if she wasn't the most experienced, or best of heroes in London, she got into the right circles and became a standout.
SDN came calling, and Sophie's skills were what brought her over to the United States, chasing sunshine versus the bleak grey of London. The money was significantly more, and well, the promise of a high level role came calling when it was in LA- the sort of place that really put a hero on the map, and someone like Lightning Girl? Well, she was born to run. Though.....that role turned out not to be DTLA, Claremont called instead due to....reasons that are still unknown to her. Still, better than rainy England (especially for her powers) and she saw it as a stepping stone to something bigger, and despite the eye-watering numbers for an apartment, she's made herself at home as a well-established member of the team.
Being deployed in Claremont was maybe not Sophie's idea of making it "big in LA", with her eyes still turned to the DTLA team and joining in the big leagues, seeing some of the local stuff as below her (and perhaps one of her flaws, that despite being a hero, she's really a bit too progress minded from James's mentoring. Lightning Girl certainly has her eyes upwards- though not being a local is something she'd adapting to, given perhaps she's more "hero for hire" than she grounded. It turns out Lightning Girl can run on 110V just as well as 240V so her powers, thankfully, are unaffected. She still loves what she does and with James just joining her, is looking to move onto the next step and go save the day even more, and maybe, just maybe, even get her dream house in the Hollywood Hills. She's always liked the idea of making it big, and the quiet girl from Manchester becoming a superhero superstar in Los Angeles? Well, so far she's found few things to stop her....
Yet behind the scenes, Sophie still struggles with that image. She's more personally confident, sure, but she's still looking for something and feels like chasing the image, status, becoming the best version of herself, still lacks something. Moving halfway across the world has left her without friends, and the wallflower still wants to be loved, if not found for who she is becoming, as well as the hero she outwardly projects.
Appearance:
As Lightning Girl, Sophie wears a skintight white and grey coloured spandex and ballistic cordura costume from neck to ankles (arms/legs in grey, torso in off white), with the grey creating a silvery Lichtenberg scar-like effect across where it contrasts with the off-white, with a pearlescent-like silver cape (not always worn). A bit of yellow stitching across all the seams, and what appears to be a Honey Bee (a symbol of Manchester) is sown into her collar. It's the look of efficiency when paired to a classic carbon-fibre black mask that covers eyes, forehead and nose, with platinum/white hair. It's safe to say that Sophie has relished in her image as this, and has gone from quiet and reserved to maximalist, larger than life and able to light up any environment she walks into.
Literally.
Paired to a pair of grey leather boots that complete the ensemble, a pair of white fingerless gloves that go up to her elbows (and black arm-long rubber gloves she carries with her in a convenient hip-pack to make sure she doesn't shock anyone she carries), Sophie is a beaming, classic hero that absolutely has been honed in on by James and then SDN's marketing team. A little bit of Blonde Blazer, perhaps, but if you're gonna have a classic hero, sometimes simple is best!
Powers:
Able to cast electricity, Sophie is your classic electrokinesis styled hero, flinging bolts of electricity out of her fingers / hands, but equally versatile in being able to use her fists like a tazer, and be significantly more resilient than a normal human being, considerate of the fact she's more or less got electricity supercharging her metabolism constantly. She's effectively an incredibly dense battery (Batgirl was taken, so she worked with the obvious alternative)- that can charge as high as far as she's reasonably able to. Capable of static-based flight- of which she can fly at nearly the speed of sound (when juiced up to roughly an energy from waste's plant entire hourly power output). However, that means being carried / moved by her like being exposed to a static shock from a door (hence why she always carries rubber gloves). All of this means Sophie is relatively powerful for a superhero and is a versatile tool in any Dispatcher's arsenal. A Swiss Army Knife if you will, that turns on the charm, and even if she hasn't got the intellect, she has the talk as an exotic, export of a hero that naturally can do good, and make any chance to make her look good while doing it. She isn't tanky, super fast, super capable, or the cleverest in the room- but she absolutely will give every one of those categories a good go, and probably get hurt trying.
TLDR:
Electrokinesis: Launches bolts, arcs, and fields of electricity
Static Flight: Propels herself with directed bursts; not effortless, but fast
Superhuman Physique: Enhanced strength, reflexes, and durability due to electric overcharge
Shock Strikes: Punches like a living taser
EMP Bursts: Can short out tech (though James hates when she does this)
Likes:
-The warm buzz of getting zapped by a transformer of high voltage electricity (we really, really do not want to talk about the fact she seems almost a bit *too* eager to get zapped)
-Earl Grey Tea (like James, but more obsessed in that she'll physically fly back home to get it, even if the commute is at least several hours)
-Indie / Electronica / Synthwave
-The smell of ozone
-Thunderstorms (see above)
-Sitting on the Hollywood Sign
-Social interaction (as Lightning Girl)
-Crochet (she has made endless amounts of stuff in the office while sitting waiting to be deployed)
Dislikes:
-Rubber Matting (it feels very uncomfortable to walk on)
-Water and Fire Foam/Powder (really messes around with her ability to fling bolts)
-American Coffee
-Her brother telling her to calm down
-Swimming (skin reacts all funny to it)
-Social interaction (as Sophie)
Quirks:
-Sophie's powers rely heavily on keeping electrical charge- and while having a base level of "bioelectricity" in her body, that means she'll always have power from eating and drinking, she'll need to crank herself up. Whilst not a "villainous" trait, Sophie will hang off power lines, transformers and such to keep her powers topped up, and she has to be careful not to accidentally destroy infrastructure that's hooked up to it, because she is basically a data centre's worth of energy. She'll physically be exhausted if she hasn't gotten power from one in a while and a bit low. Thankfully, a plug socket is usually not far away, and if not that, she'll usually be able to "make do". If it makes current, or could make a current, she'll use it. Nobody quite knows what the limit of what she can take is, and everyone agrees- it's probably best not to find out...
-She's a walking powerbank. An ability that was once poorly used, she's learned how to set her mind to exactly the right frequency to charge phones, laptops and other devices. This is a fun trick at bars because she can literally point her finger at phones and charge them.
-Sophie glows white when using her powers, particularly when she's on "charge". Her eyes turn a pale white.
-Sophie rain with a passion- it affects her skin (shorting her out), but also reduces her potency (not entirely given the costume, but it still pisses her off). Lightning storms though, do absolutely flip that notion and massively outweigh the negatives of rain.
-Lightning Girl has a fairly popular series of social media accounts- she's pretty enough to be into modelling work on the side, but also doesn't like the idea of going all the way down that rabbit hole as her alter ego. Her personal, non hero self is a bit more shy.
-Speaking of which- her personality is a rather mixed bag. Similar to James, Sophie is sometimes dry, but finds that like her split personality as a hero, she's reserved when in a more personal setting. There's this feeling of insecurity, uncertainty almost- she's moved halfway across the world, but she still misses home, and somehow, despite smiling for camera, has a lot to get used to in the sunny coastal state, even though she still wants to be in DTLA, and seems a little too focussed on that right now- forcing herself to be in that position and believe in the dream anyone of her capability might have. She's an outsider- and has still got to make friends, still got to learn how America works, and find out who Sophie is a bit more, not just the persona she's hiding behind.
Theme Song: Wolf Alice- Delicious Things
James Alan Speight
"Christ, how the fuck are we meant to keep with the KPI of "don't break the infrastructure" when you're constantly giving it a go?"
Age: 33
Appearance:
Pale-skinned and lightly ginger, James is lanky in a way that suggests equal parts sleepless nights and too much time hunched over spreadsheets. He burns far too easy in the Californian sun.
He dresses like every tech-adjacent consultant, with rolled-up sleeves, slim-fit shirts, different colours of chinos while wearing a pair of square, designer glasses. 6"0 tall and with a face that has caught and broken hearts, James gives off the vibe of someone who makes it look effortless, a certain charm on him at all times with a comeback for anyone and anything, even if he's weathered and a transplant to a new continent.
He looks a little dead inside, even in the sunshine of LA- even if he seems to be an outgoing guy, his face displays someone who is through with American optimism and just deals in results, something that will excite you or piss you off. A classic consultant.
If SDN and the world of Dispatch is the US adaption of The Office, then James is definitely coming from the UK version of The Office, and he absolutely is through with the optimism and excitement of everyone, in favour of just wanting to get shit done. He might be beginning to crack, but what you're seeing is someone who chose business practical, and results over formality.
There’s always a tablet under his arm or a headset around his neck. He moves quickly, talks quickly, and thinks even faster, and by American standards, he's got a lot of colloquialism he hasn't shaken, in spite of consulting in the US for a while.
Face Claim / Voice Actor: Eddie Redmayne
Role at SDN:
Hero Development Consultant.
James is a freelance consultant, but at this point, he's basically a part of the SDN team full time, as there aren't exactly any other networks he could work with, not beyond some weird little startups. With experience of SDN's network on the East Coast and experience from the UK's equivalent branches, James is the critical link between the R&D teams, heroes, dispatchers and management. He crunches numbers, and more often than not, is advising the Branch Management of how to "improve synergy" or "deliver key stakeholder KPIs".
Does this sound like some bullshit? It is!
Day to day, James's job is much more simple. James is the person who if he isn't sitting at the dispatch monitor himself (if short-staffed), is likely the point of contact for the team's professional development, training, and mentoring- and works with not just the Claremont office, but across the LA region, taking his experience of looking after Sophie to basically help heroes where their dispatchers can't. That includes the Phoenix Programme, who he has been particularly involved in- and sees as his ticket in getting closer within SDN, because he's often the one working any angle the branch need to get the former villains involved.
James's job is to make sure the teams operate at their best, even if he isn't really contributing much more than others in actual work- mostly being a glorified middle man that just finds ways to link one member of the team to another. If the Branch Manager and Dispatchers might be the ones calling the shots on heroes, James is in the background, making sure they've got what they need to do their jobs, or at least, able to find someone who can. Given that SDN hasn't found anyone who can do that long term, James is their man until they find a hire for the role, that strangely enough, nobody has been hired for yet. Paying a fat cheque for this service does seem a bit stupid, but James is involved in redundancy, efficiency and other decisions across the network, and so far, he seems to be doing a good job of it. A good consultant never makes himself redundant, after all....
If you bribe him with good tea and a solid pack of biscuits, he will get you what you need by pulling on some levers, but he's fundamentally an outsider- so his view on SDN isn't of company loyalty, but deliverables, results and getting everything running as it should.
Being in Claremont means his role conveniently works out nicely given it gives him the ability to work with his sister- who he's also been a bit of an agent for before, and now gives him an excuse to be somewhere he might not normally be. Being based in LA also gives him a chance towards a permanent role within SDN as a permanent Director within the firm- arguing for his indispensable nature. His long term goal is to climb the management of SDN, rather than dealing in the day-to-day, but time will tell if that ruthless progression is going to change him, or he'll need to adapt to go where he needs to.
Problem is, it's really hard to do that when you have a 9th century, Vinland-originating shieldmaiden and some guy who can spit acid in the way who are also chasing more senior positions.
Background:
Born and raised in Manchester, UK, James was always the analytical one of the two siblings. James was the stereotypical eldest child: clever, wired, academically terrifying, the "responsible one" even when nobody asked him to be. He was always more analyst than athlete- always cleverer, like he had himself directed at something greater. When Sophie manifested her powers and nearly died, James immediately pivoted his ambitions; he wasn’t going to be a hero, but he’d damn well make sure she survived being one. Coming from Moss Side, James spent his youth misspent, and he wouldn't say he was a "hero" from the get go. He wanted nothing more than to just bugger off to uni and find a different life, yet from the moment his sister got powers, he was immediately went from the older sibling always bickering, to wanting immediately wanting to protect her and make sure she did the right thing.
It was like in that moment he had a responsibility to protect her from her own self, knowing the stories of other supes and how easy it would be to slip. A world it turned out, he could actually monetise.
He earned an undergraduate degree in Business Management from the University of Manchester before being recruited by the UK's Superhuman Response Unit- working a side gig as Lightning Girl's fixer, agent and minder. It wasn't always smooth sailing, but between his ability to wrangle problems and her ability to fill them full of voltage, they made a good team- even when they were apart due to work commitments. After five years of optimizing response times and resource allocation and working in SDN's UK branches, he was headhunted by SDN (America) and sponsored on a work visa.
Why move to the US? Well, his sister was on the payroll there, and he was brought in as a reliable hand, knowing how heroes operate and what they need to succeed. And he had the ability to work remotely, so, that was what he did.
James was sponsored on a work visa by SDN, who continued to employ him for projects in Baltimore, Boston, Denver, and now, in Los Angeles, specifically, the smaller branch at Claremont that despite being less of a dumpster fire than the operation in Burbank and the often chaotic Torrance Branch. Sophie's want to live in LA, always a dream of hers was one that James has finally decided to join in with- Sophie being the local and James being lost, it just made sense that SDN needed help and so, he came in and based himself at the office there.
While a specialist for SDN network-wide, James's main activities are turning out to be the Claremont office- and he works with a wide roster of the team, usually coming into contact with everyone.
Powers:
None. While James is relatively fit, versus most heroes he hasn't got anything "super" about him. Unless you count an exceptionally good talent for Excel. Or being incredibly dry sometimes. This is a running gag.
Likes:
-Brew Co Earl Grey tea (proper stuff, not that American hot water with a bag)
-Data visualization tools (and how much he hates how outdated SDN's systems are)
-Rainy days (reminds him of home)
-Classic British sitcoms
-Classic Rock Music, Britpop, 80s Music
-Keeping Sophie alive (and being a supportive big brother)
-Books on Business Management
Dislikes:
-Corporate jargon (despite using it himself)
-Heroes who ignore protocol
-American coffee
-When his sister shows off unnecessarily
-Budget cuts
-Paperwork that serves no purpose
-Being called a "parasite" (whatever that is)
Quirks:
-Speaks with a slight Mancunian accent that gets more pronounced when he's stressed
-Has memorized every single expense and cost centre code for SDN.
-Stress-eats Fisherman's Friends. Sophie brings him boxes of the stuff from the UK on her weekends off, and if you try one, you'll be disgusted.
-Has memorised all of the training modules that he has to teach you and is bored of this
-Comes across as more cynical, and used to the way of work in America- but still relishes in it and the processes of SDN. He's moved a lot, and is clearly fatigued, but sees LA for a traffic clogged, difficult city but doesn't hide behind the good the work does, and the worth he brings to it.
Theme Song: The Stone Roses - She Bangs The Drums
Sophie Elise Speight
(FC, with changes in appearance listed)
"Let's go cross some wires!"
Age: 29
Appearance:
White-haired, Sophie is truly a diva of her own making- she never was like this (having more red-hair like James, and being quieter), but electricity has turned her a little different paired to her now grey eyes. It's a manner that she manages to pull off even out of her costume, looking a bit more gaudy than some with that white hair. She sometimes bleaches her hair with blue tips, if she's feeling the mood to show off a bit. On off days, she's even returned back to her original red-chestnut hair, but once the mask is on, she's all white.
At around 6"2, Sophie is quite the opposite of James. The powers giving her a little bit of height and muscle density, Sophie comes across as an old-school hero, with a silhouette that occupies any doorway or skyline, even if she didn't have electricity in her, being enough for her to mess you up pretty badly. An athlete's physique, a moderate amount of chest, and plenty of shoulders and legs that have come from benching weights James would even gawk at. Sure, she's a stereotype, but then again, with that much electricity in her fingers? She's practically occupied in that. There's a certain kind of beauty to her, with a heart-shaped face and a poise that is contrasted by the strong smell of ozone and burnt toast you almost get when she seemed to be "live".
It would work great, if she didn't sunburn really badly. Powers do not stop that, so she's constantly on Factor 50, and that absolutely takes away that "girl next door" vibe that Sophie seems to give off. Being British in LA is like being Prince Harry in....actually, that is not going anywhere as a reference, so we'll leave it there! Herr British voice becoming more of a "transatlantic" tone, like she's an American from the 1920s.
Her civilian fashion tends toward practical but fancy clothing, from premium t-shirts, leather jackets, gym gear and whatever she feels makes her look good, out of the line of work come on.
Faceclaim: Alice Levine
Voice Claim: Hayley Atwell
Role at SDN:
Hero for Dispatch.
Sophie was headhunted and with a move to LA, put in was impossible to say no to. She loved the idea of moving there given her obsession over Hollywood and the lights, and while not in the DTLA dream team, she is knocking on that door, as a figurehead that is no rookie to this line of work, but absolutely to the US and the dreamy vision of superheroes that sometimes ends up a bit more complicated.
Background:
Growing up as James's younger sister, Sophie was quiet, reserved, and while sporty, growing up as the younger sibling to a brother that seemed clever and all wired up. Instead of his nerdy behaviour, she was always into activities like running, football, being outdoorsy, and also liking all girly things that all teenage girls liked. Bit of crochet from her mum too. She still does love it. She was a wallflower, unsure of what she wanted, but well, she'd work it out, but otherwise, a rather normal teen. Brought up with a dad who worked all the time, and a mum who made every end meet in their relatively less-affluent upbringing in Moss Side.
That was, until Sophie was struck by a lightning bolt that sparked out of a fragment of a comet, which just so happened to smack into the park where her and her friends were playing football, aged 15.
(It's a stereotype, but, being the unlucky victim of a celestial body's is one hell of a way to get powers. Especially when it's totally not a rip off from Misfits right?)
Getting a power that way is quite interesting- because instead of dying, she shut off the power an entire hospital down when she came to, being on life support that needed her a lot less than any doctors realised. She healed quickly, but was found that electricity would just shoot out of her.
Often uncontrollably at first, but she was addicted to leeching, then transmitting power. And realising she could fly. And take significantly less amounts of damage than most. It was as if the electricity healed her, fuelled her, and made her more potent than she could ever believe. Sophie had a hunger to go to substations and just sit there and keep sucking up power until she felt like she'd drunk five Red Bulls. And sometimes, blow the power out for thousands.
An electricity based hero then. Sophie discovered that having millions of kilowatts running through her made her a bona-fide powerhouse, and she was fitter, faster, flightier, a blur of ozone-like electricity-crackling. She went to the gym more, and found gains went from little to lots, because her metabolism was frankly broken. She stopped playing football when she realised she basically deflected tackles (and people) and was shocking everyone with static all of the time. Heroes like her were a bit unsporting, so she turned her hobbies to crochet.....and fighting crime, and, making a living out of it. The comet's effects weren't totally understood- but a personality shift felt like it came along with the power too, maybe as it crept to her head and made her want to project a version of control, order, and putting things right, her way.
Her red hair seemed to turn pale white, her bone density and musculature grew as she suddenly went from quiet athletic girl to superpowered woman (mostly through metabolic diversion and those relentless amount of Rocky-grade training montages in the gym), and in time, she found herself trying to navigate putting her powers to good and bad. A few run ins made her realise villainy was not worth the effort- and doing good felt good and came suddenly with attention that she was growing to absolutely adore. It was easy to steal, take what she'd like but realistically, her powers meant she was rewarded for what she did by those she helped. Small at first, but suddenly, being a hero for hire added up.
And the attention she hadn't had as a younger sister, she now absolutely got in spades when she was Lightning Girl, in a costume designed by her brother and designer friend, and able to project all her confidence through it. She could be someone she wasn't, out of the shadow of her brother, the strong, capable, saviour of Moss Side.
And with James's guidance, the two made sure Sophie was in the right place, right time, solving crimes with James running behind the scenes (and the mountains of paperwork it caused the Greater Manchester Police), and Sophie non-lethally shocking the crap out of anyone, recovering stolen property and finding missing people among many things- to really become the hero she wanted to be with all eyes on her now. She had a gift- best use it, she said to herself, and get something from it. Manchester needed a hero, and Sophie was that, among a field of supers with augments, she still stood out as the one that dominated the city. Even while he was at university, Sophie always relied on him, and she then spent time in London working with a local start-up called "PowerServe", rather than SDN that dealt with emerging talents like her. A certain security for response, and Sophie made quite the mark, even if she wasn't the most experienced, or best of heroes in London, she got into the right circles and became a standout.
SDN came calling, and Sophie's skills were what brought her over to the United States, chasing sunshine versus the bleak grey of London. The money was significantly more, and well, the promise of a high level role came calling when it was in LA- the sort of place that really put a hero on the map, and someone like Lightning Girl? Well, she was born to run. Though.....that role turned out not to be DTLA, Claremont called instead due to....reasons that are still unknown to her. Still, better than rainy England (especially for her powers) and she saw it as a stepping stone to something bigger, and despite the eye-watering numbers for an apartment, she's made herself at home as a well-established member of the team.
Being deployed in Claremont was maybe not Sophie's idea of making it "big in LA", with her eyes still turned to the DTLA team and joining in the big leagues, seeing some of the local stuff as below her (and perhaps one of her flaws, that despite being a hero, she's really a bit too progress minded from James's mentoring. Lightning Girl certainly has her eyes upwards- though not being a local is something she'd adapting to, given perhaps she's more "hero for hire" than she grounded. It turns out Lightning Girl can run on 110V just as well as 240V so her powers, thankfully, are unaffected. She still loves what she does and with James just joining her, is looking to move onto the next step and go save the day even more, and maybe, just maybe, even get her dream house in the Hollywood Hills. She's always liked the idea of making it big, and the quiet girl from Manchester becoming a superhero superstar in Los Angeles? Well, so far she's found few things to stop her....
Yet behind the scenes, Sophie still struggles with that image. She's more personally confident, sure, but she's still looking for something and feels like chasing the image, status, becoming the best version of herself, still lacks something. Moving halfway across the world has left her without friends, and the wallflower still wants to be loved, if not found for who she is becoming, as well as the hero she outwardly projects.
Lightning Girl
Appearance:
As Lightning Girl, Sophie wears a skintight white and grey coloured spandex and ballistic cordura costume from neck to ankles (arms/legs in grey, torso in off white), with the grey creating a silvery Lichtenberg scar-like effect across where it contrasts with the off-white, with a pearlescent-like silver cape (not always worn). A bit of yellow stitching across all the seams, and what appears to be a Honey Bee (a symbol of Manchester) is sown into her collar. It's the look of efficiency when paired to a classic carbon-fibre black mask that covers eyes, forehead and nose, with platinum/white hair. It's safe to say that Sophie has relished in her image as this, and has gone from quiet and reserved to maximalist, larger than life and able to light up any environment she walks into.
Literally.
Paired to a pair of grey leather boots that complete the ensemble, a pair of white fingerless gloves that go up to her elbows (and black arm-long rubber gloves she carries with her in a convenient hip-pack to make sure she doesn't shock anyone she carries), Sophie is a beaming, classic hero that absolutely has been honed in on by James and then SDN's marketing team. A little bit of Blonde Blazer, perhaps, but if you're gonna have a classic hero, sometimes simple is best!
Powers:
Able to cast electricity, Sophie is your classic electrokinesis styled hero, flinging bolts of electricity out of her fingers / hands, but equally versatile in being able to use her fists like a tazer, and be significantly more resilient than a normal human being, considerate of the fact she's more or less got electricity supercharging her metabolism constantly. She's effectively an incredibly dense battery (Batgirl was taken, so she worked with the obvious alternative)- that can charge as high as far as she's reasonably able to. Capable of static-based flight- of which she can fly at nearly the speed of sound (when juiced up to roughly an energy from waste's plant entire hourly power output). However, that means being carried / moved by her like being exposed to a static shock from a door (hence why she always carries rubber gloves). All of this means Sophie is relatively powerful for a superhero and is a versatile tool in any Dispatcher's arsenal. A Swiss Army Knife if you will, that turns on the charm, and even if she hasn't got the intellect, she has the talk as an exotic, export of a hero that naturally can do good, and make any chance to make her look good while doing it. She isn't tanky, super fast, super capable, or the cleverest in the room- but she absolutely will give every one of those categories a good go, and probably get hurt trying.
TLDR:
Electrokinesis: Launches bolts, arcs, and fields of electricity
Static Flight: Propels herself with directed bursts; not effortless, but fast
Superhuman Physique: Enhanced strength, reflexes, and durability due to electric overcharge
Shock Strikes: Punches like a living taser
EMP Bursts: Can short out tech (though James hates when she does this)
Likes:
-The warm buzz of getting zapped by a transformer of high voltage electricity (we really, really do not want to talk about the fact she seems almost a bit *too* eager to get zapped)
-Earl Grey Tea (like James, but more obsessed in that she'll physically fly back home to get it, even if the commute is at least several hours)
-Indie / Electronica / Synthwave
-The smell of ozone
-Thunderstorms (see above)
-Sitting on the Hollywood Sign
-Social interaction (as Lightning Girl)
-Crochet (she has made endless amounts of stuff in the office while sitting waiting to be deployed)
Dislikes:
-Rubber Matting (it feels very uncomfortable to walk on)
-Water and Fire Foam/Powder (really messes around with her ability to fling bolts)
-American Coffee
-Her brother telling her to calm down
-Swimming (skin reacts all funny to it)
-Social interaction (as Sophie)
Quirks:
-Sophie's powers rely heavily on keeping electrical charge- and while having a base level of "bioelectricity" in her body, that means she'll always have power from eating and drinking, she'll need to crank herself up. Whilst not a "villainous" trait, Sophie will hang off power lines, transformers and such to keep her powers topped up, and she has to be careful not to accidentally destroy infrastructure that's hooked up to it, because she is basically a data centre's worth of energy. She'll physically be exhausted if she hasn't gotten power from one in a while and a bit low. Thankfully, a plug socket is usually not far away, and if not that, she'll usually be able to "make do". If it makes current, or could make a current, she'll use it. Nobody quite knows what the limit of what she can take is, and everyone agrees- it's probably best not to find out...
-She's a walking powerbank. An ability that was once poorly used, she's learned how to set her mind to exactly the right frequency to charge phones, laptops and other devices. This is a fun trick at bars because she can literally point her finger at phones and charge them.
-Sophie glows white when using her powers, particularly when she's on "charge". Her eyes turn a pale white.
-Sophie rain with a passion- it affects her skin (shorting her out), but also reduces her potency (not entirely given the costume, but it still pisses her off). Lightning storms though, do absolutely flip that notion and massively outweigh the negatives of rain.
-Lightning Girl has a fairly popular series of social media accounts- she's pretty enough to be into modelling work on the side, but also doesn't like the idea of going all the way down that rabbit hole as her alter ego. Her personal, non hero self is a bit more shy.
-Speaking of which- her personality is a rather mixed bag. Similar to James, Sophie is sometimes dry, but finds that like her split personality as a hero, she's reserved when in a more personal setting. There's this feeling of insecurity, uncertainty almost- she's moved halfway across the world, but she still misses home, and somehow, despite smiling for camera, has a lot to get used to in the sunny coastal state, even though she still wants to be in DTLA, and seems a little too focussed on that right now- forcing herself to be in that position and believe in the dream anyone of her capability might have. She's an outsider- and has still got to make friends, still got to learn how America works, and find out who Sophie is a bit more, not just the persona she's hiding behind.
Theme Song: Wolf Alice- Delicious Things
