CLEA DATA FILE
Identity:
- Narwhal – Lance Mickelson
Group Association
CLEA Classification:
- Bacteria Z Hybrid
Special Skills and/or Abilities:
- Able to swim at great speed underwater
- Though well suited to aquatic environments to the extent of having gills on his torso, he can also breathe on land and use his body to move like a snake.
Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):
- Permanently stuck in his “monster form”.
- When on land he has to keep his body moist to prevent drying out. Since his form is not reptile based his body can pick up injuries on rough ground far more readily than other land based hybrids.
- Prefers not to join in with “hero” community unless absolutely forced to
Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:
- N/A
Notes/History
Lance Mickelson was famous or rather infamous before the age of twenty. The son of a business tycoon who owned an IT company, Lance had no need to work. His substantial allowance pair for a lavish playboy lifestyle. The stories of wild parties with celebrities earned him a certain notoriety but despite the negative press he refused to change.
At the age of twenty five his parents were killed in a plane crash. That meant he inherited the company. The media speculated that Lance might grow up and act responsibly but the companies board of directors thought otherwise. There was no way they were going to allow a loose cannon like Lance to take control so they offered to buy him out with a deal of the lifetime. With more money now than he knew what to do with Lance returned to his old ways.
He even bought a small island off the coast of New Zealand and entertained guests, mainly women. The press tended to dub the place as Sex Island. Though it was private, the stories of the happenings on the island had a habit of falling into the public domain. Undercover reporters considered it sensational media gold material.
Then almost overnight everything changed. The parties stopped and Lance Mickelson became a recluse. The media wanted to find out what had happened but without the passage of party guests to and from Sex Island all their sources dried up. There were occasions Lance hired people to come and do maintenance work but upon arriving on the island their instructions were left for them. They never actually saw their employer. There were plenty of theories as to why he’d gone so secretive but there was no evidence. With the passage of time the media lost interest in Lance and moved on to other bad boy celebrities. Over eleven years would pass before the truth was learned.
Nina Dupont aka the Alpha Hero known as Oceanic had been visiting New Zealand on a holiday. Despite the fact she was giving herself a break she still liked to keep her training in top condition. During one of her training exercises she wanted to test her endurance and so set off from the coast at speed. Her intention was to keep going until she started to feel tired and then turn back.
In a million to one chance she happened upon what was left of Sex Island, although she did not know this at the time. After arriving at the shore and wandering up the beach, Nina concluded that she had found an old abandoned resort. The place looked a complete shambles, almost like a hurricane had been through the area which would not have been unsurprising. Curiosity led her to venture further inland and she found the house. Thinking it was abandoned she decided to take a quick look around and then make her way back before darkness fell and she would have difficulty in making the return passage across the ocean.
As she walked around the back of the main house she came across a swimming pool which seemed to be strangely in good condition compared to the rest of the premises and in the pool she came face to face with Lance or rather what Lance had become, a half human, half eel like creature which a short horn jutting out of his forhead.
She could tell he was not happy with her presence but seemed confused as to the fact she had not fled. He told her to leave but Nina did not move. Lance slithered out of the pool. Though obviously more suited to water he could move quite effectively on land and his extended tubular body allowed hum to rear up like a cobra. Nina though felt strangely composed and saw beyond the “ugly” exterior and noticed a sadness in his eyes.
Being a hero who liked to help others, something inside her compelled her to help the man. She simply replied to his order by asking who he was. Since it was obvious she was not going anywhere, the man invited her inside. It was only when she was sat down did her tell her that he was Lance Mickelson. She now realised that was on the infamous “Sex Island” after recalling the media stories. This led her to asking what had happened to him.
For the first time in over a decade Lance found himself engaging in a conversation with another person and since the woman had not been scared off and did not look the sort to go talking to the media, he felt the need to finally tell someone what had happened. Lance said he’d had another of one of his parties and the next morning he’d take an walk down the beach and found some sort of organic mess washed up. Wondering what it was he picked it up and examined it before throwing it down in disgust.
Thinking nothing more about it, over the next few days he started to notice changes in his body. Out of panic he brought in string of specialist doctors until eventually one of them suggested that that something was rewriting his DNA. The doctor asked Lance if he had come in contact with any unusual foreign material so Lance took him to the mass that was still on the beach.
Tests on the mass revealed the presence of Bacteria Z. Since Terror Island was a few hundred miles to the north this was not a huge surprise. The doctor guessed that an aquatic species Beta had been killed and its remains had washed up on Lance’s island. Unfortunately for Lance there was nothing the doctor could do to stop the changes. The changes started subtly at first with his skin taking on a glossy colour. Then a bony growth started to emerge from his forehead. Finally his legs started to fuse together. Hating the freak he was turning into Lance decided that it was in his own and everyone else’s best interest if he simply vanished from public view, and he had stayed a recluse ever since.
Despite the fact he obviously hated his looks, Nina knew that Bacteria Z hybrids, had special abilities. Being an Alpha meant that in some way she had remnants of the alien bacteria inside her. She was therefore curious as to what Lance could do now as a hybrid. Lance admitted he’d never been interested in experimenting because all he saw was a monster. Despite his obvious aquatic “alterations” he had never even bothered to venture into the ocean, instead choosing to remain in the house or pool or when outside workers arrived he would hide in a cave where the damp air stopped his body from becoming dehydrated. Before they could talk any more Nina announced that she had to get back but promised she would return. Lance bid her farewell, but never believed her, so was surprised when mid morning the next day she came back.
Over the course of the next few weeks the pair got to know each other. Without his good looks Nina could see a different side to how the press had portrayed Lance in the past. She believed for the first time that she was actually seeing the real person as opposed the playboy facade he had worn in the past. She even got him to start to embracing his mutation and and learn if it gave him any special “gifts.”
Working with her, Lance ventured into the ocean that surrounded the island. Here he learned for the first time he could swim exceptionally fast and his fan like ears allowed him to detect distant sounds underwater. Eventually Nina’s holiday came to an end but before leaving she suggested that perhaps he came with her and be like her, a hero to the people. Lance though was not quite ready to expose himself in public and so turned her down with regret. A holiday romance over, she was surprised after returning home to receive a correspondence from Lance inviting her back to the island, all travel expenses paid.
She accepted the invitation and less than a week later was back on the island. It was then that Lance admitted though that whilst he was not quite ready for public life again, since she had helped him live again, he felt that he wanted to do something similar to her in helping others. He had money and an island and believed he could do something with both and needed her ideas.
It was then that Nina had the crazy idea of turning the island into an exclusive holiday resort catering for people in the hero community who could never have a holiday due to either a celebrity status or having to risk the media finding their real identity. She also felt that the resort could also cater for heroes who had been harmed physically or mentally in the line of duty and needed a “safe” location to recover.
Lance liked the idea and started making plans. Together with Nina he helped create the Harmony Island Beach Resort. Once set up Nina joined him on the island in order to help him run it. Whilst trying to hire staff, he was approached by Cayla Staunton (later known as Network). Her abilities enabled her to find him and she was on the run from both government agencies that wanted to use her gifts and other agencies that wanted her neutralised. Desperate to stop running she asked to use his island for a place to stay.
He agreed and decided to allow her to find others that were similarly troubled. Most would go on to act as staff. In time he expanded his philanthropy to fund certain groups of heroes and allow them to use the island as a base of operations.
Since the guests want to avoid the media Lance has no problems in allowing people to see him. Whilst he still won’t become a hero that the world know about Nina has tempted him to use his gifts which he had chosen to call upon to protect his island and the guests from those that would want to harm either.
