Harbinger

### Affiliation

ARGUS (Chief of Operations)Team Arrow (Member)Monitor (The Chosen One)Challengers From Beyond (Member)

## **History**

### **Lyla Michaels: 1978 - 2017**

Lyla Michaels was a small town girl from Blue Valley, Colorado. The daughter of a war hero turned politician and his trophy wife, Lyla was a sick child for much of her youth. As a teenager Lyla’s father was elected to the U.S. Senate and took her for a fishing trip to Florida, hoping to get her some sun as he wined and dined some southern politicians. While her father and his fellow statesmen got wasted, Lyla fell overboard and her cries were not heard over the raucous, drunken laughter. With her limited strength, Lyla may have died that day but somehow she washed up on shores of Themyscira.

We'll get to how that happened, but anyway she wasn’t the first stray human to wash up Paradise Island’s beaches. However she got there, Hippolyta and Donna discovered her while out for a stroll. Due to Lyla’s frail form, Hippolyta took great pity on the child and instead of forming a team of warriors to send her back to man’s world, Hippolyta put the girl in the care of her daughters.

Once the girl was nourished back to health, Hippolyta sent Nubia and Andraste to take Lyla back. In accordance with Amazon custom, Hippolyta ordered Lyla to drink a potion that would erase her memories of Themyscira; but when her mother and sisters were not looking, Donna had Lyla drink of another potion, one that gave her the abilities of an Amazon (I only know of this because of a bottle of Martian wine and the loose lips of a tipsy Amazon).

When Lyla was found with no memory of where she had been for weeks and with her chronic illness gone, there was much talk about miracles (and yes, her father is still winning elections from this). With new strength, Lyla joined the U.S. Naval Academy after school and with her new Amazon physique and political connections; Lyla soared through the ranks and was one of the first female Navy SEALs.

It was during her time in Special Forces that Lyla met John Diggle, the man she married (then later divorced, before marrying again in 2007). The two even had a child together (Note to self: I still need a DNA sample from Sara). In 2009, Lyla was handpicked by Maxwell Lord to head up the Operations Division for ARGUS, a position that has been natural fit for Lyla.

### **Harbinger: 2017 - Present**

Sometime in late 2016, Lyla was contacted by the Monitor and selected to become the cosmic being's Harbinger. Apparently Lyla had agreed to this as the Monitor had been discreetly preparing her for this her whole life, having been the one to rescue Lyla from drowning and placing her on the shores of Themyscira at a young age and having appeared to her several times in her dreams via telepathy to covertly direct her path in life, inspiring her to join the military and later ARGUS. Lyla even chose her ARGUS codename to be Harbinger due to faint recollections of the Monitor's dream-given messages.

After working with the Monitor for several months, Lyla finally agreed to become the true Harbinger and was granted an endowment of cosmic power so potent that it would likely have killed any being who had not been truly chosen. Now, as the Harbinger of the Monitor, Lyla oversees the Challengers and acts as the Monitor's right hand in his upcoming war against the Anti-Monitor.

## **Powers, Abilities, Equipment, and Weaknesses**

### **Powers**

**Cosmic Entity Physiology:** Having been born with certain genetic traits and later given an enhanced anatomy through Amazon rituals, Lyla was able to be given a significant investment of the Monitor's cosmic energy, which fundamentally altered her DNA.

* **Absolute Strength:**
* **Absolute Speed:**
* **Absolute Stamina:**
* **Invulnerability:**
* **Absolute Athleticism:**
* **Absolute Reflexes:**
* **Decelerated Aging:**
* **Regenerative Healing Factor:**
* **Absolute Senses:**
* **Cosmic Manipulation:**
	+ **Cosmic Attacks:**
	+ **Cosmic Awareness:**
	+ **Cosmic Constructs:**
	+ **Flight:**
	+ **Invisibility:**
	+ **Self-Replication:**
	+ **Spatial Manipulation:**
	+ **Superhero Mode:**
	+ **Telepathy:**
	+ **Time Manipulation:**

## **Trivia**

* Lyla practices speeches and planned confrontations in the mirror or in elevators if she is alone.
* Lyla is a huge Christmas fan, going overboard with decorations for the holidays and usually taking her vacation around this time of year in order to spend as much time as possible with John and Sara. Even Lyla's favorite drink is, of course, eggnog.
* While she can tolerate it, Lyla hates resorting to text messaging when she can just call someone instead.
* Watches cooking shows when home alone, but is herself a horrible cook.
* Tells "mom" jokes and if she finds a joke funny, she might snort while laughing... even if she is the one who told the joke.
* Hates shoes and socks. Often works barefoot in her office in ARGUS or puts slippers on to walk the halls.
* Orders her drinks on the rocks so she can chew the ice.
* Is a secret fan of Young Adult literature.
* She's one of the Holliday Girls.