Darcy Lawrence

Flight of the Polunochnaya

Hadrian Kelly (AC)

Rachel Enns (AC)

Harper Brooks (AC)

Visarion Tokarev (AC)

> *"I-I'll...do my best!"*
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> -Lawrence, prior to bringing down an entire building on advancing hostiles during the Flight
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## Introduction

**Darcy Lawrence** is a psyker and conscript of the Imperial Intelligence Agency, serving as a junior field operative. In both canons, she eventually becomes a partner of seasoned operative Jonathon "Jon" Rollins, however, this happens much sooner in the Alternative Canon as opposed to the Main Canon (where in the former, she becomes a part of a small team led by Rollins).

Unlike the Frenks she often serves alongside, she is actually a natural-born human, originating from the Outlands. However, as is to be expected, she is a mutant, which grants her gifts as a psyker.

## Background

Darcy was born outside Northwatch to a group of wandering squatters in 2130. However, her parents and the rest of their group were completely unaware they had made their home in a pre-war community desolated by nuclear fallout. By the time Darcy was born, her father had already died of radiation poisoning, and her mother was suffering from a terminal case, and died during childbirth. The few survivors of their community did their best to look after her, but by the time the local government of Northwatch (at the behest of local Ranger teams who had often aided the area) decided to evacuate the survivors, there were fewer than a dozen left from the original group of over a hundred. Darcy was only two at the time, and found to be suffering from no apparent ill effects (with the exception of her odd amber eyes). Hence, without parents, she was made a ward of the state, and enrolled in the Youth Development Program to be raised alongside the other Frenkish children.

However, she never quite fit into her surroundings, as the mutations (despite having no ill effects or considerable deformation) rendered her physically weak, and her psychic capability (which was clearing around this time, allowing her to read minds and see briefly into the future) often factored into awkward conversation with other children, making her an outcast. Regardless, she performed well in school, due to her mix of natural intelligence and psionic talent, making things that much easier. On top of this, she proved clever enough to hide her abilities, shielding her from the IIA, which often looked for psychic capability within the youth population.

Based out of a YDC in the Western half of the city, however, her YDC was bombed and subsequently occupied when UDAP invaded the city in 2136, starting the Ten Years' War. Since the PLA planned for a long-term occupation, she was drafted into the youth wing of the Pan-Asian Communist Party, helping the war effort by serving as military auxiliaries. It was shortly after this, however, that a PLA officer, Ajay Sengupta, took notice of her. Excusing her from her duties, Sengupta would grow to be Lawrence's father figure throughout the rest of the occupation, until the Imperial Military launched a brutal counterattack in 2139 after months of warning the civilian populace via pamphlet drops. Sengupta was a victim of the sustained bombing campaign, being grievously wounded by falling debris a missile strike. Against his wishes, however, Darcy refused to leave his side, and did all she could to help him until a squad of Vanguard Marines stormed his command bunker. Despite Darcy's pleas to help him, they instead slapped her away and executed him in full view of the (then) eight-year-old. In a fit of anger, she channeled her psionic capability and killed the soldier who shot Sengupta, using telekinesis to literally squash his head.

After this, she was captured and presented to the IIA, where she was subsequently conscripted into it's ranks via the Johnson Protocol.

## Life in the IIA

From an early age, it was apparent that Darcy tested into the top percentile of "volatile psionics users", making her one of the most powerful of her kind. Her mentors often focused greatly on fine-tuning her abilities, making her a master of telepathy and other mind-based techniques. She was also one of the few on-record psykers to posses precognitive capability, making her ability to see brief glimpses into the immediate future an important asset.

However, her innate timidness, paired with her physical weakness and low motivation as a conscript often prevented her from advancing far into the IIA's SOG program, her rebellious, "inefficient" attitude prevented her from being shoved into the Investigators, and her psionic capability proving too "valuable" for desk work. As such, she would still be stringently trained, well into adulthood, while the majority of her peers were determined to be "combat-ready" and sent on missions.

### Main Canon

With no further results from the SOG trainers, they would grow tired of her inefficiency in combat scenarios, and hand her off to the Ranger Corps, in the vain hope they could "at least teach her which end the bullet comes out of a gun". She would eventually be placed as a ride-along for Corps Sergeant Allen Baker's platoon. Though the well-seasoned Sergeant was benevolent and (mostly) gentle with her throughout, he too grew disillusioned, eventually stating that "this girl isn't soldier material". However, when his platoon got orders from the IIA to ambush a Narodnaya Volya group on Mars in 2153, he decided to bring her along, intent on dumping her into the hands of Rollins, his old friend who had recently came out of retirement.

Despite Rollins' initial reluctance, the deaths of Baker and the rest of the Rangers when the ambush went wrong gave him no other option, and he took her under his wing. Rollins' policy soon proved to be beneficial, as instead of attempting to teach her things "she had no business knowing", he instead played into her strengths greatly, giving her confidence she never thought she possessed.

### Alternative Canon

Like in the main canon, Lawrence would fall into Rollins' care. However, unlike the MC, circumstances are vastly different. It is unknown exactly when this happens, but it is much earlier than 2153, and hence, well before she would be the charge of Allen and the Rangers. Unlike the MC, Hadrian Kelly never dies, never giving Rollins an excuse to retire. As *A Blood Debt* explains, Rollins and Kelly came across her while she was performing poorly in her training. At the request of Kelly and seeing potential in the young psyker, Rollins convinced her superiors to allow her into his group, and by the events of the RP, it's been established she had been with Task Force Golf for some time.

## Physical Characteristics

Darcy is small and scrawny, but possesses an attractive, youthful appearance. Though technically considered a mutant, she has no great deformities, with the exception of her weak muscular structure and deep amber eyes (which many consider to be more of a benefit).

Despite the fact that she's only 21-23 in RP appearances, she is often mistaken as much younger than she actually is, due to her small stature.

## Personality

With an upbringing that can, at the very least, be described as "traumatic", she gives off an aura of timidness and nervousness, and often has difficulty getting close to others. Despite the great power she possesses, she also lacks considerable self-confidence, and often has trouble doing tasks she would easily be capable of doing otherwise. Due to her age and inexperience, she is also quite naive, and practically requires someone more hardened (such as her mentor Rollins) to guide her on the right path.

However, she is very good-natured, and treats everyone with kindness when possible. She typically shuns combat, relying on her telepathic abilities to avoid violence whenever possible. When violence is necessary, she avoids fighting, instead helping her allies with her powers. She is also visibly sickened by the sights, sounds, and smells, being observed suffering a violent vomiting fit after witnessing Nemezida brutally slaughter a group of RallCorp Mercenaries.