I am a Sonic Defender. Thats right, a Sonic Defender. Not a ringer, a shielder or a gimped defender. A Sonic Defender. Thats my job; its what I was trained to do. I modify sound waves to protect my charges. I actually vibrate incoming damage until it is weakened, so that when it hits, it does so much less. I can also make the enemies less capable of resisting the damage we do to them. Because of me, my team will get less hurt and more quickly defeat the enemy in the pursuit of justice.
Often times, when a group of superheroes is gathering up to pursue an enemy, there are some concerns about including me on their team. R U Healzor? No. No I am not. Have you ever been healed by sound alone? Relaxed, sure, but healed? No. Now, dont get me wrong
I am well aware that by only weakening incoming damage, my heroes WILL still take damage. So I am fully qualified in First Aid. But I am not, nor will I ever be, a healer. I am a DEFENDER; I defend my team against defeat and failure by every means at my disposal!
Sometimes, my contributions to the function of the team are unnoticed, or ignored. Whereas a Force Field Defender can give obvious shields of glowing light, sound waves, being SOUND WAVES, are difficult to be seen:
Shield me, please.
You are shielded.
I dont see it!
Trust me
Or
I can only protect you from their mesmerizing effects if you stay within the larger sound wave barrier.
Big ring? I dont see anything!
Sigh. Dont worry about it. Stay with the group and *I* will keep you within the sound protection
Further, my team gets damaged, even though it is in small amounts; I can NOT stop all of the damage from coming in. Often, they assume that I am doing nothing since they are still being hurt. Indeed, I have on occasion even felt a bit, lets say, impotent, as I watch them take bits of damage continuously. However, on the rare occasion that I get a bit distracted by a particular enemy, and the individual sound waves disperse, I notice that all of my team is looking very hurt much more that they have for most of the mission. I begin healing, but still cant figure out why they are being beaten so thoroughly. And then I realize that their personal sound protection is gone! (No, I cannot see them any better that the team can they are SOUND waves
). As soon as I restore the sonic vibrations, they once again are merely being bruised instead of bloodied; they are being pinched instead of punched. Still, by the nature of the sound waves, I cannot protect myself and if my team forgets this, I may be taking a visit to the hospital (there is a dedicated wing specifically set aside for the Sonic and Force Field Defenders in every hospital).
Blasters, Controllers and other Defenders on the team never quite notice, but they dont often suffer the entrapment that the terrible bosses of the Lost, and many others cause. They are infrequently knocked senseless by the overwhelming blows of the Crey Tanks and others. They are not even hindered by the irritating earth piles that the Earth Thorn Casters and others use to ensnare the unwary. They just dont suffer the same amount of distractions as they usually do. And, on the occasion that some attack breaks through my barriers, including forced narcolepsy, imposed terror or even the sweet siren song of confusion, I can bring clarity to their minds and bodies. When I am quick enough, they never know what hit them or that they had been hit at all. Sadly, if I get forcibly distracted, I can NOT regain focus, and remain helpless to the enemy.
And finally, I can set up a sound field around a Tank or a Scrapper (or anyone really), which will weaken any nearby enemy, such that a simple punch will feel like a truck ran them over. Enemies in this field are swiftly defeated, tied up and sent to jail. Everyone on the team feels extra super with this field going, and yet never quite realize that it is the field allowing them this added strength. Yet, as always, I suffer for their benefit; somehow, the enemies always know who is causing this problem, and they come to me to try to shut it down. When I set up this field I need the assistance of the team to keep them from overwhelming me and sometimes I just dont get the help I need. Then its back to the Sonic Defender wing of the local hospital.
Now you might think Well, why DO you do it? If you are so marginalized, and so poorly regarded, why dont you train to be some other defender, some other type of hero, or even an opera singer? At least they get paid to screech and warble. But, you see, I dont do it for the regard. I dont do it for the money. I do it, because it needs to be done and I do it well.
I never feel as much like a Hero as I do when I am keeping my team healthy and functioning in a battle. And, contrary to the current perception, I am BUSY! Sure I only need to sing out the damage distortion fields every so often, but in a battle, I need to be sure those waves stay in place. I need to be sure that everyone keeps their health up, even if all I have is band-aids and Neosporin. I have to make sure that the larger sound barrier stays around everyone. I have to be sure to weaken very specific targets that may become trouble. I have to keep an eye on the less resilient members of my group, and help them defeat the enemies surrounding them with my limited, but still potent, arsenal of attacks. I have to be sure no one has become mesmerized by one of the enemys attacks. I move, I fight, I heal, I defend. And, after a battle is done, I smile as the rest of the team runs off to the next battle because they *can* run to the next battle, rather than run back from the hospital. Just because I have to make that trip a little more often then most in no way diminishes my sense of satisfaction that I am the ONLY one making that trip.
And sometimes, I find a group of heroes that understand my methods, and are very glad to have me join them. I make sure that the enemies they fight are weakened; they make sure the enemies dont take me down. I make sure they are protected from overwhelming damage; they prevent me from being overwhelmed. They trust me to do what I need to do to keep them up, and I keep them up. I find my best symbiosis with Tanks. I can make all of their attacks do so much more damage with my sonic disruption field, as well as keep them safer in the midst of a swarm of enemies. They, in turn, can distract the enemies from attacking and defeating me.
Indeed, it is not an easy life. It is not an easily *understood* life. But it is MY life.
I am a Sonic Defender. I am a Hero.
