Name: Katja Sorkin
Aliases: Dissonance, Fugue; Cacophony
Age: 19
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 135 lbs
Hair: Uuh...Yeah (Varies)
Eyes: Blue
Occupation: Escort; Freelance Mechanic, Inventor
Background
Katja had been immersed in the world of superheroes since birth through her family, her lineage's first exposure taking place in the time of her great great grandfather.
A German Jew drafted into the army during the first world war, a young Hans Sorkin was introduced to the world of heroes when his squadron, stationed along the Western Front, managed to break through an Allied defense. Even after managing the difficult feat, the Allied forces fought fiercely to maintain their position. Even more troublesome was the discovery that one among the enemy ranks was in possession of "supermachten," aiding in the tide being turned back on them once she herself found out. Hans was among the soldiers wounded before the squadron was forced to withdraw the attack. Even more unfortunately, he was also among those left behind in the mercy of the enemy, twice as frightened when he came face to face with the quickly becoming infamous superfrau.
To his surprise, however, the woman herself was not as his expectation. Instead of the invincibly crazy larger than life figure who would murder him without thinking twice that he expected, he was treated to kindness, his wounds tended before the young man was turned over into captivity until war's end, after which he was surprisingly shipped back home. Once there, he continued work in his family's shop, mostly helping hand-craft playthings, toys and accessories for children. All the while, he became fascinated by the concept of the superhuman, entirely new to him. With research, he learned more, collecting numerous newspaper clippings from wherever he could, especially of the woman who helped him, and even fantasized about joining that world himself. But with no powers of his own, it was but a fantasy. He tried consoling himself in the fact that the entire country was already struggling, and his work in the shop would be more productive than chasing frivolous pavements.
With the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, in the wake of the second World War, the entire family was among those targeted for extermination. Moved into concentration camps along with millions of others, many would end up separated from the each other for years, some never to be reunited with their loved ones. In the end, Hans would not survive the ordeal, but his son, also named Hans, would be one of many displaced German refugees after the war. Recalling his encounter with the superfrau, sometime before his passing, Hans passed on the experience and his collection, encouraging his son to do whatever he could, but invoking a desperate plea to seek out the woman, Jupiter Red, who had helped him in a time of need, to build on the only known connection to the outside they had left.
In spite of a fear of the unknown, Hans heeded his father's words, and once he and his mother had arrived in the United States of America, he personally sought out the heroine. Although he had nothing, Jupiter Red was already a household name in the world of superheroes, and finding out where she was happened to be an easy task. Getting there proved more difficult, but after painstaking efforts, he found himself in Gothic City. But with almost no English and no idea of how to find the heroine, he was left in the dark for quite some time with regards to how to get in touch. Only after a chance meeting during an encounter with a group of Mafia thugs was he able to be directly connected to the woman he'd heard about. Hans explained his situation as best as he could with his limited English, relying also on the aid of his father's collection to tell his story. With that, he and his mother were given help as best as could be given to them.
In that moment it became clear that the families would be closely tied for generations to come. Using their knowledge of craftsmanship as passed down from generation to generation, the Sorkin family translated this skill into an adapted form suited to aid their friends and finally allow Hans' (the first one) dream to be realized, working more and more advanced "toys" into tools to make up for the lack of powers in the family.
This continued until the current generation. Katja Sorkin, while retaining many of her family's values and traditions, differs in a few ways. First, she is the only one noted in the lineage to have definitively possessed any inherent superpowers. Secondly, while learning the craftsmanship as passed down through the years, she also took an interest in other ventures, most notably music and dance. As one actually possessing superpowers, Katja is considered extremely fortunate by many of her family and friends, and was encouraged to explore her abilities from an early age. She, like the others, grew up with an admiration for the legacy of Jupiter Red and heroes in general. Closest to her age and within the two families, she held Katherine Miller, the current Jupiter Red, with a particular veneration, looking up to her as a role model as she herself grew.
Unfortunately for Katja, there also existed another notable difference between herself and the rest of the family, this one divisive, rather than elevating. Katja suffers from mental disorder, namely Dissociative Identity Disorder. Her alter, known only as Cacophony, acts as an almost perfect counter to her demeanor otherwise. A radical alter, Cacophony acts more often as a destructive force, more prone to anger and violent outbursts, coming into conflict with heroes on more than one occasion.
Powers/Abilities
Katja was born with an innate ability to manipulate sonic energies. She can mimic, distort, project, or cancel sound in all its forms, typically via manipulating waves of vibration through any medium. Most commonly used offensively in the form of a sonic scream channeled through her vocal chords, this is not the only avenue of use for her power. She is likewise able to distort sound in a number of ways, including mimicking or altering pitch, frequency, volume, or other aspects of sounds. Save for the offensive sonic scream, vocal chords are not necessary in use of these abilities.
An additional aspect of her affinity for sound is that Katja has an enhanced sense of hearing. Acute enough to hear the dropping of a pin from even different floors of the same building when not influenced by selective attention, focusing the sense well enough would allow her to sense both sounds above the range of human hearing (ultrasound) as well as below (infrasound). She is also supported by the ability to influence the carry of sounds, such that a whisper across a city may find its way to or from her from any specific location.
By emitting particular signals into the environment and receiving return signals through various objects in an area, it's possible for her to discern a sonic map of an area, the location, position, and other features of people and things in it.
Although not entirely special, Katja excels particularly in matters of speed and stamina, a low-tier superhuman in those regards. Having practiced since she was a small child, Katja incorporates elements of ballet and gymnastics into a custom hand-to-hand fighting style centered primarily around utilizing her flexibility, maneuverability, and stamina to outmaneuver an enemy, attacking from various angles with the aid of sonics to disorient and wear the foe down before a non-lethal finish. Such is the case with Dissonance. Cacophony, however, employs much harsher tactics, acting as an extreme aggressor with violent use of her power to ruthlessly batter and kill an enemy, most often in the most painful way possible.
Equipment
Sponsored by Antonia Dain, Katja was able to build a harness which acts as an alternative means through which to channel her power. This works through internal vibrations channeled into the apparatus. An Avalon mobilized vibration-powered generator on the inside acts to convert kinetic energy from ambient vibrations into other forms. Varying frequencies are used to produce different effects, from electrical energy to pure energy constructs or energy blasts of varying power levels. Additionally, she has constructed gauntlets to serve similar function, albeit with different effects corresponding with different frequencies.
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