Decibelle

Decibelle is an American gadgeteer superhero and member of NOVA.

## Biography

Lauren Garner grew up idolizing the great heroines of the 90's and 00's. As a child she decorated her room with posters of She-Wolf and the Iron Maiden, and decided early on that she would follow in their footsteps.

A gifted youth, she worked extremely hard to get into the best technical programs where she hoped that science might make up for her lack of natural powers. At eighteen she joined an UNTIL-sponsored lab where young geniuses gathered to turn their theories into prototype weapons and gadgets. Unfortunately, hard work could only get her so far, and Lauren realized that she was missing some spark of true brilliance. Her own prototypes were relatively weak and derivative designs, and she knew that she was lagging behind her peers.

Inspiration literally came crashing down on her when one of her classmates, a young man of great intelligence and towering ego, decided to seize the contents of the group's laboratory before blowing it up, killing all his rivals and making off with their research. Lauren, her life in danger for the first time, looked around for anything to help her escape the death trap. She cannibalized a dozen half-finished projects to fashion a crude sonic weapon that created sympathetic vibrations in the walls. She succeeded almost too well; Lauren's weapon not only blasted her deranged classmate unconscious, it also knocked down most of the intervening walls and destroyed much of the lab's contents.

Lauren's quick thinking had saved the lives of everyone in the facility, and she realized that she had finally found her inspiration. Taking leave of the program, she continued working on her sonic weaponry in private. Eventually she finished her first pair of sonic gauntlets, and took these devastating weapons to begin her life's next chapter as 'Decibelle.' The villains of New York City were ill-equipped to resist her unusual powers, and a string of early successes brought her to the attention of NOVA. As their resident genius Brainwave had just declared his intention to depart the group, Decibelle was welcomed aboard with little delay and she eagerly accepted a place on New York's premier crimefighting team. She has been the group's backbone ever since, and has helped maintain the group despite the many subsequent years of near-constant upheaval.

## Personality

Decibelle is now the most senior member of NOVA but she gladly passed up the team's leadership position. She acts like a brash, fun-loving hero but in truth she lacks confidence. She cares for her friends and dotes on them, but due to her impostor syndrome she never tells them what to do. She rarely even shares an opinion if she can help it, which is unfortunate as she has more experience than any other two NOVA members put together.

She is uncomfortably aware that, at twenty-eight years old, she is one of the oldest members in NOVA's history. Decibelle is considering resigning soon but has no idea where she'd go if she did. She has confided this to Powerful Bill, who convinced her to stay at least for the time being.

## Powers

Decibelle's inventions use intense vibrations to control the battlefield and incapacitate foes. Despite her name, not all of Decibelle's powers involve loud noises— in fact, many of her weapons' settings utilize frequencies not detectable by the human ear. Since her allies are well-guarded against the effects of her sonic weaponry, she likes to enter battle with a thrumming subsonic vibration that causes nausea, weakness, and even fainting in anyone nearby. For those enemies immune to such subtle attacks, she opens fire with focused vibrational blasts that can hurl a target straight through a concrete wall.

Decibelle can protect herself with a vibrational wall that deflects incoming blows, but her primary defense is a carefully crafted armored suit that combines mobility and protection in equal measure. She also carries a variety of utilitarian devices that can aid her in fighting opponents immune to her sonic attacks.

Decibelle is a skilled mechanical engineer whose talents extend far beyond her signature sonic weaponry. She spends her time tinkering on new devices to aid her team and every member of NOVA carries at least one of her gadgets into battle.

## Weaknesses

Decibelle is a brilliant but otherwise normal human, and relatively helpless without her devices. Her modus operandi is well-known in New York City and many villains have adapted their kit to include defenses against her sonic attacks.