Electron
Biographical Details
- Full Name
- Franklin (Frank) Marks.
- Born
- 8 November 2322. (Adjusting for time travel, his physiological age equates to a date of birth in 1965.)
- Died
- Unknown.
- Relatives
- Carla Zod, wife.
- Occupation
- Former officer of the 24th century Special Police; electrical engineer in his 20th-century "civilian" identity; professor of psychology in the 21st century.
- Associates
- Member of Strikeforce.
Description
Human male, slim, short brown hair. Wears a form-fitting blue costume bearing lightning-bolt motifs and a full-face mask that conceals his features.
History
Franklin Marks had an unremarkable childhood and education in the 24th century. He studied electrical engineering and became a technician working primarily on high-voltage power systems.
On one particular job in 2349, Marks had been sent to investigate a power drop at a power relay. He found that the relay had been struck by some kind of large, unidentified object, which he later swore was a crashed alien space craft. While investigating, he touched the metal of the "craft" while it was conducting a massive electrical charge from the power relay, and the charge went into his body, almost killing him.
When he awoke in hospital, he learned that the accident had given him great powers. His story of the alien craft was dismissed by the authorities, though. Marks could not find out what had happened to the craft, nor find anyone else who claimed to have seen it. Possibly it had repaired itself and flown away, Marks suspected, however, that the authorities had deliberately suppressed knowledge of it due to the Council of Science ruling that aliens do not exist.
Once Marks's fitness was fully recovered, he applied for a role with the Special Police and accepted. He took the code name "Electron".
In 2350, Electron was sent back in time to the 20th century as part of a team with a mission to avert a world-threatening disaster.
The team arrived in 1987 to avert the disaster, but on completion of the mission found themselves stranded there.
Electron continued to work with the team, now calling itself Strikeforce, as they attempted to make new lives for themselves in their new century. He adopted a civilian identity under his real name of Franklin Marks, made his home in Los Angeles, and obtained a job at Swan Research as an electrical engineer.
Electron began to develop a romantic relationship with Carla Zod, and they married in 1993. He re-trained as a psychologist and eventually became a respected figure in the field, holding a teaching position at a San Francisco university, where he and Carla were living in 2014. In this role, he began testing his students for psychic powers, looking for signs that super-human abilities were returning to the Earth in the wake of the Event.
Psychological Profile
Electron is a dreamer who chose to become a Special Police officer because of his love of old adventure fiction and comic books. He is serious about his work but is ready with a quip or bad pun in even the most serious circumstances. In common with all Special Police officers, Electron believes in the sanctity of human life above all other things.
Skills and Abilities
Electron had the power to generate electricity within his own body. He van project bolts of electricity with stunning or lethal force. He is also immune to the effects of electricity on his own body. He has some limited ability to detect the flow of electricity around him.
A separate facet of Electron's power is psionic, or psychic, in nature. This includes telekinesis, allowing him to levitate his own body weight, or the weight of another person with some effort, and telepathy, which allows him to read thoughts. His telepathic ability is limited to picking up surface thoughts and feelings; he does not seem to be able to scan deeply into a person's mind or to push his own thoughts into others' minds.
Electron can teleport himself short distances, and with considerable effort carry one or two other people when he does so. He can teleport without seeing his destination in advance, but is reluctant to do so as it involves considerable danger to himself.
A final aspect of his powers is atomic transmutation, which allows him to temporarily or permanently change one substance into another. This power is unreliable and difficult to use, so he rarely exercises it.
Electron is a qualified engineer with a good knowledge of physics and machinery.
Equipment
Electron wears a standard issue 24th-century police communicator bracelet on his wrist.