Lauren Carmichael

Lauren Carmichael is a superhero working with the Lestigue Police Department with the power of Pyrokinesis

Early Life
Lauren was born with an enormous burden: her vivid red eyes and hair gave away her power early in life. Everyone seemed to take a wide berth when she was young, even though she hadn’t manifested. She struggled with making friends – unlike her younger twin Abigail – and that was worsened when she had a talk with a pyrokinetic at the age of six about what could happen to her when she manifested her ability. The pyrokinetic scared her, and she spent a lot more time in her room than before, sequestering herself away, scared of her own body and its powers.

Manifestation
This self-introspection was ill-fated though, and due to her constant focus on being prepared for it, she had no idea how to control her manifestation. One day, whilst Abigail was banging on the door, she opened it, eyes and hands aflame. She pushed past Abigail, running for the swimming pool, not hearing Abigail’s pained screams over her own. She got down the stairs and was immediately scooped up off her feet by her father who was holding an emergency pyro blanket. He rushed to the nearest exit, a large living room window. Jackson dove through the window just as Lauren exploded, taking the bulk of the explosion outside. When the dust settled, Lauren was being held by her father, his force field flickering, having taken the brunt of the blow.

Drakes betrayal
Over the next few years, Lauren learnt about her powers and tried as much as possible to not hurt anyone with them. She even helped Abigail with her company and tried using her powers for entertainment, but never quite ended up getting there after her brother Drake seriously injured Aubrey, incapacitated Abigail, and kidnapped Lauren. During her missing week, she was denied the most basic of human rights, including showers and light, until her sixth day. Out of nowhere Drake walked into the room, threw a dress at her, and teleported her– overheating her with his own pyrokinesis in the process– into the middle of an almost open bank with only the bank manager and her staff inside. Lauren was out of control and almost exploded in the face of the managers, until Drake showed back up brandishing his own pyrokinesis, feeding off Lauren’s heat. He forced Lauren to watch as he made a statement by burning the manager alive in front of the staff, torturing her until they provided him with close to 50,000,000 dollars in electronic funds. As he finished with the manager and received his money, Lauren watched the rest of the staff burn around her, as the temperature around them from her stress had caused their clothes to combust and catch fire.

Rescue and Recovery
She found herself back in the cell the next second, where she was left cold and scared. She had hurt people with her power. She withdrew and cried for a solid day before passing out and waking up in Clayton’s arms outside the cell, walking towards an ambulance. Lauren was changed after that. She wanted to help people, and she would. But her power became more and more unstable, and a reflex more than a tool. Any time she got upset, something would ignite. Suffering clear signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, she worked with a therapist to manage her trauma, and then successfully applied for the Lestigue Police Department, where she became “Pyroette”.’

Pyroette
As Pyroette, Lauren worked mostly alone or with Breaker, her detective boyfriend. They made a good team, and their missions were a success. The biggest challenge of them all came when The Crimson Ghost finally tracked down Drake for her, and presented her with a chance to bring him in. The entire Taskforce had to be present to make him almost surrender, and through clever use of a Super they had previously met on a mission, along with Clayton forcing Drake to steal his difficult to control power, they arrested him and managed to get him into a stasis chamber. This helped Lauren move past the trauma and get some closure on her past.

The Turn of the Century
Her next horrific ordeal occurred on the last day of 2299, when, as she prepared for a date, she received a health alert for her boyfriend Will, and raced there to find him already dead and the police on the scene.

The Turn of the Century also cost her her brother-in-law, who was murdered shortly after saving the world. After the Turn of the Century, Lauren took off and flew away for a while, only to be found by her twin sister in her home gym, where she was pushing herself harder than ever before. Over the next few weeks, Lauren spent all day, every day working out in Abigail's home gym.