Erik Turner

**Erik Turner** is a man of many hats. Chief Engineer at Axxis Corp, husband to Marie Turner, and an Outlier. His powers awakened at a young age, though after an incident nearly costing him both his freedom and life he had chose to go about life as a *normal human*. During the incident at Prism City Medical Center (PCMC) that caused the loss of his and his wife's unborn child due to the villainous Outliers while members of The Fold were otherwise engaged elsewhere, he decided to use his powers to become a hero for **Prism City** alongside his wife, taking the name **Apex**.

## Biography

### Early Life

Erik grew up in a loving family, son to Melvin and Michelle Turner, and his two sisters Trine and Ava Turner. By the time of his and his sisters births, Variants had already surfaced and spread across the planet, making waves in many cities, states and nations. As a lover of comic books and super heroes, Erik had hoped and prayed every day and night that he would receive a variant as well, fantasizing about a life of super heroism. It is a wish that his father tried heavily to dissuade him from, warning him that nothing good will come from becoming a target of others or the government. His father's warnings fell on deaf ears, with Erik being far too wrapped up in his fantasies to realize the reality of his father's warning. Even as friends from the neighborhood began randomly and oddly moving without a word, while saddened by the loss of a friend or two Erik thought nothing more of it. Finally, on Erik's 13th Birthday his wish had been answered in the form of his variant surfacing at midnight.

### Teenage Years

At Sixteen years old, Erik has had his Variant for at least three years. While initially excited and eager to share the news with his family, he recalled his father's lack of zeal towards his dream of gaining super powers and opted to keep his abilities a secret. Eager to jump into the world of heroism and stopping crime, Erik realized that he truly didn't know much of anything about his abilities and so in his spare time after school, he would rush towards the old scrap yard to practice with his abilities. His parents had noticed that he was getting out more and had also stopped mentioning about wanting to gain powers, perceiving that he had simply grown out of that phase and was growing up. Every day Erik felt himself growing stronger, *better* at controlling his abilities causing his thirst for improvement to only grow further. Late at night in his bedroom, rather sleeping he'd work on fine tuning and refining his control, lifting and manipulating items of varying size and weight in his bedroom. These late nights often caused him to fall asleep in school, something that would place him at odds with his teachers from time to time. Despite dozing off, his grades were rather exceptional, rarely ever dropping down to a B in his classes.

Confident in himself he chose to finally make his debut as a hero. To grant him plenty of time to do what he needed while also avoiding making his parent's suspicious, Erik told them he would be staying at a friend's house for the night. Given his grades (despite the calls they got regarding him falling asleep in class) he was allowed to. Erik waited until it had become night, dawning a thrown together outfit t serve as his superhero suit he went out looking for crime to thwart, and found it. Venturing into the shady Pewter Valley, he found a family being harassed by some local street thugs. Excited he jumped out, using his abilities to slam the thugs into a wall from a distance. Rather being thankful the family appeared frightened of Erik, confusing the boy. Realizing he was one of those individuals the government were calling Outliers, both the thugs and the family scattered. Perplexed Erik began walking back to where he was hiding out until tomorrow, unaware that at some point he was being followed. By the time he did realize it was too late, and all he could see is black.

When he woke up Erik found himself in an unfamiliar place, strapped to a table with his wrists and ankles bound. He'd been abducted, and worst of all, he couldn't use his powers. Across from him he noticed several others, bound in a similar fashion to him, and he realized that they too must have had powers. A voice came over an intercom, explaining that they were all deemed dangerous, too dangerous to be out and about unattended. The facility they were in belonged to some clandestine group called "*The Balancers*" a group that would later become known as The Stabilists Task Force. They had apparently been doing this for some time, sanctioned by the government for the safety of mankind. It is then that Erik recalled his friends that had mysteriously moved without warning, and his father's words of warning resurfaced. This is what he meant, what he and his mother feared would happen. Regretting being so foolish, while a teenager he felt like a small boy, eager for the comfort of his family once more. Next to him was a hispanic girl, she said her name was Marie Diez. Seeing the fear and pain he was feeling, despite being in the same situation she still sought to comfort him.

The facility they were in seemed to be a mobile one, and while in transit to wherever they were being taken to the facility was attacked by unknown individuals In the chaos the bindings and power dampeners malfunctioned, allowing Erik and others to break free. He instantly freed Marie who urged him to help the others who had not gotten out of their bindings yet. Hesitant to do so just wanting to return home, he relented. While escaping they came across several Balancers, but managed to suppress them with their powers and get away. Distancing themselves from the strange moving facility as quickly as they could, Erik feared the worst. Feared being hunted down, feared having placed his family back at home in danger. Marie comforted him, resolving his fears by telling him she got into the minds of those that were there and *erased* them from their minds, or rather erased their appearance from their minds. This event would however temporarily kill Erik's fantasy of being a super hero, viewing his dream as little more than a nightmare. He continued training with his abilities though now, it was out of self preservation. He wasn't certain how full proof Marie's wipe was and needed to be ready in case any of those strange individuals came after him again.

During his junior year in high school they received a new student, it was Marie. Initially he strove to keep his distance from her, fearing they were still being watched despite her assurances. In time the wall he had built between them would crumble and the two even began to date.

### Reborn from Tragedy

A few years after graduating college, he and Marie had finally married. Marie had become the light of his world, and had brought out the best in him. The two had shared what their abilities were with one another, and while Marie's telepathic abilities were off putting she had promised to never use her powers to pry into his mind, stating if she wanted to know anything she would just ask and trust him to tell her the truth. In college he majored in engineering while Marie focused in social science. She spent much of her time volunteering in hospitals and other facilities and discreetly used her abilities to help those she could. She told Erik that they didn't need to be superheroes to help people, and while what she did worried him, he felt that she was far more of a hero than he could ever be. Within the first year of their marriage, Marie had become pregnant exciting both of them. Erik had slight worries, certain that the child would be born with special abilities like them, but his worries washed away whenever he saw Marie. Having started work at Axxis Corp, a place he had interned at during college, he found new resolve to try and advance the corporate ladder hoping to be able to better provide for his growing family.

Several years prior the government had presented The Fold on national television, a group of super powered individuals officially sanctioned and thus allowed to use their abilities to protect the people. While this seemed good on the surface, it also presented the underlying issue that wasn't being said; the government was implementing a means of controlling who could and could not use their abilities and was creating a divide between people that would inevitably lead to further discrimination.

One day there was an incident or rather, multiple incidents that forced members of The Fold to be dispatched in various parts of America, leaving Prism City essentially vulnerable. Marie who was three months pregnant was making her rounds through **Prism Medical Center** (PMC), one of the local hospitals. While siphoning the pain from a young child there was a synchronized attack on three areas in the city, the hospital swept up in the mess. The city quickly became chaotic, and many lives were lost. Marie who was at the hospital in the time while physically unharmed, found herself bombarded by the pain of the hundreds around her, their fear, their deaths, all drawn into her. While the S.T.F managed to eventually step in and help stabilize things the damage was already done, and the pain that Marie had inadvertently taken in had also caused her to have a miscarriage.

The pain of the loss of their first child together was nearly unbearable. Marie blamed herself, apologizing to Erik who had constantly warned her to be careful while he consoled her ensuring her it wasn't her fault and that she did nothing wrong, all while blaming himself for not having been at her side. In his grief his anger began shifting towards the individuals who had coordinated the attack, supposedly under the orders of those that would make up The Triumvirate, the government for making it difficult for those with variants to act in fear of being locked up, and The Fold who wasn't there to stop it. It took months for the two to work through their grief, and at the end of it Erik had come to a conclusion. The Fold wasn't a hero group for Prism City, they were dogs leashed and led by the government. What would happen the next time they were sent out somewhere to save others, who here would protect those who couldn't protect themselves? Despite the city's beauty it was a jungle, an ecosystem and every ecosystem had a pecking order, a food chain with an apex predator at the top. Erik decided that he should become just that, but he couldn't do it alone. Knowing how much Marie loved helping others and the good that was in her, he knew that she would be able to keep him in check when his anger would try to take over, she would balance him. With resolve to stop others facing a similar tragedy, they would become heroes, they'd become the experts needed for resolving crisis's as Esperts.

## Relationships

* For main article, see Marie Turner.

His wife, his partner, the Co-Leader of the Esperts, and his moral compass. In their relationship Erik had always been the more stern, serious and aggressive one while Marie was warmer, kinder and gentler. While the events of his early abduction caused him to distrust nearly everyone, Marie despite facing the same situation saw the best in others. Though he is mostly serious even at home, he loosens up a bit around her, as she is always doing something to make him laugh or smile, wanting him to be able to see the good in the world. It is this very goodness that Erik wishes to protect, and so finds himself doing what he feels needs to be done, things he knows his wife is incapable of doing. However, no matter how aggressive he has gotten, he's never crossed the line of killing, Marie always managing to pull him back before he does something he can't take back. It is because of this that he has jokingly called her the sheath or scabbard while he exists as the sword. Without the scabbard to cover the blade, all it can do is cut and harm others, even those it shouldn't.

* For main article, see The Fold.

Erik has a negative view of the members of The Fold. As he and Marie are unsanctioned the two groups have butted heads on more than one occasion, with the Fold often being ordered to bring them in. It is a task they have never succeeded in, though not from a lack of trying. Proving to be formidable in their own right despite the numbers disadvantage in most cases there is also a more pressing issues, forcing the two to place their fights on hold. Marie ensures Erik that The Fold truly want to do good for others and he shouldn't hold it against them as they're only doing their jobs.

* For main article, see Robert Wise.

Erik's employer, though as Robert is the CEO of Axxis Corp the two do not meet that often truth be told. Still, Erik is rather thankful to him for the opportunities given to him that's allowed him to advance in his career.

## Personality

As a child Erik was generally bright and extremely energetic. As he grew older he began to become more quiet and reserved, moreso after the incident where he and Marie met. While not paranoid, Erik had grown cold, distant and rarely ever smiled. Despite his quiet nature, Erik is extremely confident in both himself and his abilities. There is also a rage that resides within him, a fact he became aware of early on, something he consciously keeps in check, an act made easier by his relationship with Marie. Before becoming Apex he took up engineering as a means of channeling his focus and rage into inventing and developing. With his enhanced intelligence and all that bottled up anger of his it made him extremely productive. Those that know him while all regarding him highly, they admit he is rather reclusive and that they truly don't know much about him. Erik never truly talks about himself, or his hobbies. This is of course intentional, a means of protecting both himself and his family.

While he is quiet, focused and hardworking at work, when with his family or close friends he appears to openly laugh and smile more, Marie commenting how genuine it is compared to the laughs he gives in social settings regarding his colleagues at work. After the loss of their child, Erik's rage became even stronger to the point simply inventing wouldn't be enough to channel it. He took to a costume and hero persona as a means to help people true, but that is only part of it. In reality, it is also a means of channeling both his grief and anger, something that becomes apparent when battling criminals and villains where the level of violence used against them nearly goes too far, as there are several cases where he has stopped just shy of murder. He constantly assures his wife he would never go that far, having stated that he needs to do at least that much to instill true fear into their hearts to prevent them from acting out again. These are just words, while not untrue as he does wish for them to be so, they are not **the** truth. Erik understands that if Marie was not there, there's no telling what he would do. This level of objectivity and self reflection helps to tether him, keeping him somewhat grounded as he truly does wish to do good and protect others.

## Powers

* **Tactile Telekinesis**: Erik's variant manifested in the form of telekinesis. Initially he simply applied it remotely via lifting and pushing items and people (though the latter weren't lifted by much given his inexperience). Over the years his abilities with his telekinesis have become incredibly advanced. Where he was once only able to use his abilities outwardly, he has managed to create and maintain a telekinetic membrane of sorts around his persons. This produces the illusion that he possesses a different variant in the form of super strength and durability, as well as super speed, and flight. Erik is able to subconsciously maintain this field or erect it reflexively. His ability to affect people and things around him telekinetically has increased as well, able to move both large and miniature objects with surgical precision and efficiency.

* **Telekinetic Superhuman Strength**: Through the usage of the telekinetic membrane surrounding him, Erik is able to lift nearly anything he can perceive with no discernible limit. This is mostly due to the fact that it is not Erik himself physically exerting strength but rather the object in question being affected by his telekinesis. When lifting large objects they do not crumble, bend or buckle under their own weight thanks to the field surrounding them. In the same sense that he is able to lift whatever, under the same umbrella he is able to toss them effortlessly as well, sending them hurtling for miles, and is able to punch physically powerful individuals, those actually possessing superhuman strength and invulnerability with blows that they are able to feel.

* **Telekinetic Flight**: Using his telekinesis to lift and propel himself, Erik is able to use a form of psuedo-flight, traveling through the air at mach speeds. Because of the field surrounding him he isn't affected by things like air friction or the such. According to Erik, if he so desired, he could travel through space without a problem, as his TK field would protect him within the vacuum of space.

* **Invisibility**: By using his telekinesis to "*grab*" and bend light around him, Erik is able to render himself virtually invisible. Erik has found that trying to multi-task with his telekinesis while invisible makes maintaining the invisibility difficult.

* **Telekinetic Force-Field**: The field surrounding him at nearly all times acts as a natural forcefield against things like bullets, shrapnel, other projectiles along with the force from explosions as well. This field serves well against both physical attacks and matter and energy as well. Erik is able to expand this field or erect another around an area with similar results, though the larger the field created the more effort he must put in to maintain and enforce it. Though he hasn't had to do so, through running a digital simulation, Erik has surmised that while he could erect a field around the entirety of Prism City, it would be imperfect. When intensified the field becomes visible in the form of a light purple or violet aura.

* **Telekinetic Force Blasts**: Through the use of his telekinesis, Erik is able to launch concussive blasts of varying degrees. These blasts can be emitted from either his hands or his eyes, the power behind them based on Erik's efforts and will. Like his aura, these blasts are generally Violet or light purple in color.

* **Telekinetic Super Hearing**: Using his telekinesis, he is able to funnel sound, focusing and enhancing his hearing, an ability that works even through things like walls and glass.

* **Enhanced Senses**: Erik is able to perceive anything and everything he is in contact with. While standing on the ground, he is able to perceive whatever is on it, even things distant from him, and by touch or walking through a building he can perceive everything and everyone in it. Erik likens the ability to a form of echolocation almost, his telekinesis mapping out the area, and outlining the various objects and individuals. Erik is able to focus this ability, selectively choosing how far out he wishes to see, and what room or building floor he wants to focus on. So far it is determined that he is able to see throughout Prism City if he so chooses to, though he has not attempted to extended this ability further.

## Abilities

* **Leadership**:

* **Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)**: During his senior year in high school, and from college up Erik took up various self defense classes, adopting a mesh of fighting styles to better protect himself and Marie, especially should something happen to block his powers. It is a skill that is further augmented by his telekinetic super strength.

* **Enhanced Intellect**: It is believed that his telekinetic Variant is a byproduct of his enhanced mind, or at least somehow intrinsically linked to it. Erik is incredibly intelligent

* **Mechanical Engineering**:

## Equipment

* **Apex Suit**: Erik's suit was developed using resources from his lab at Axxis Corp. It uses a mesh weave of superium, a failsafe to further protect him should his telekinetic field be breached or if he should have to extend it outward or expand it, weakening it and exposing himself to harm. Its self repairing capabilities is made to prevent having to make multiple copies and thus drawing suspicion. A the center of the suit is his signature golden **A** made from synthetic primordium. It is a secret weapon, temporarily amplifying his abilities by many folds, though admittedly to a less degree of natural and pure primordion.