Lawrence Mitchell grew up in Georgia to a traditional southern family. He loved playing outside in nature, went to church every Sunday, loved bbq and sweet tea, liked his lemonade with lemons in them, and played football during the fall, then baseball in the spring. He loved fishing, any girl with long legs, and even longer blonde hair, and his grandmother’s peach cobbler pie. By all accounts, Larry was a good ole boy.
After high school, he attended the University of Georgia, where he majored in Economics. He then obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard in the same field, after which he moved back to Georgia, and dove right into politics. He ran for local office and won, then married a fine Southern Belle named Darcy, with, of course, long legs, and even longer blonde hair. They had two kids, a boy and a girl, and a golden retriever named Scout. Larry’s family seemed to be made from the quintessential politician blueprint. This naturally helped him rise through the political scene in his home state, culminating with his election as governor of Georgia. It was a grand victory for him, as being governor of the Peach State had always been his dream.
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Lawrence has no natural hyper abilities. He is extremely intelligent, and a very creative politician.
The road there was quite uneventful for Larry. He was never in trouble in school, always made good grades, never had any run-ins with the law, and didn’t get caught up in any drama. He never even had a bad breakup. Larry’s life was pretty much smooth sailing. When he became governor, though, that all changed. The rise of hyper-beings in Georgia caused a lot of tension, and even rekindled some racial divides, which were thought to have been squashed in the post-Platinum-City era. A few isolated robberies involving African-American hyper-human suspects had incited the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan; and within that organization, a group of hyper-human white supremacists become some of the most active and dangerous members.
They began using their powers to patrol different towns throughout the state, and would bring down swift hyper-powered justice against blacks who were committing crimes. After a few weeks, however, the vigilante crew began to profile and target a wider range of blacks. No longer were they chasing down known criminals; now, they were attacking anyone they suspected to be a criminal. This led to a huge number of innocent blacks being assaulted by hyper-human KKK members. After a number of peaceful protests failed to induce swift movement from the local officials, hyper-human African Americans took matters into their own hands. Before long, the state of Georgia was on the brink of a full-blown hyper-human race war. Finally, it was Governor Mitchell Lawrence who stepped up to the plate with a plan.
A few years prior, Platinum City had set a precedent by being the first district to allow hyper-beings to serve as sanctioned and official police officers. Ladarius “Ox” Lincoln, and Julius “Brolic” Thorne had become two of the most famous law enforcement officials in the country. In the following years, a number of police academies had opened their doors to hyper-beings, but most districts had continued to be wary of hiring super cops. Another contributing factor to the wariness was that both Ox and Brolic were African American.
Governor Mitchell studied the super cops of Platinum City, and looked at the situation happening around his state – and he saw an opportunity to make a huge difference. He first denounced the hate crimes perpetrated by the KKK hypers, as well as the retaliatory actions taken by the POC hypers. However, he understood the reasons behind the violence, especially the actions of the latter. He then instituted the Peach State Hyper-Human Recruitment Program, in which the state would create the largest force of hyper-human super cops the country had ever seen. He announced that any hyper-human who had committed vigilante acts could turn themselves in and be pardoned, if they enrolled in the police academy and completed the program. It wasn’t just open to vigilantes; any hyper-human with a desire to serve could enter the program. Governor Mitchell even asked Ox and Brolic to come to Georgia, and help with the initial phases of the PSHHRP.
Within days of the announcement, enrollment to the police academies all over Georgia spiked to record numbers as hyper-humans took advantage of the opportunity to turn retaliatory vigilantism into a great job with good salaries, benefits, and respect from the community and the government. The first few classes were comprised mostly of minority hypers, as they saw a chance to take legal action against the KKK hypers. Then, as the first units of the Powered Police Division of Georgia began to roll out, whites with powers began to join the academy as well.
Initially, the the Governor and the police chiefs thought this would bring more racial tension. However, the diverse groups of recruits began to talk, grew close, and learned how to work together. Furthermore, because the PPDG operated at the state level, they had expanded jurisdiction under the watchful eye of a special oversight committee, put in place by Governor Mitchell.
Before long, thousands of candidates flooded to Georgia from across the country, exponentially increasing the quality of talent the PPDG had to choose from. As a result, this also made the quality of police officers from within the state go up as well. Soon, the state of Georgia had the best and most diverse police force in all of the country by far. Crime decreased dramatically and race relations ended up improving, as many of the hypers who had been fighting against one another were now working side by side; and those hypers who continued to commit racially charged crimes, (or any crimes, for that matter) were easily tracked down, arrested, and imprisoned. The formation of the PPDG did not end all racism and the ignorance that came with it, but it made a huge dent in the racial epidemic Georgia was facing. All of this was because of Gov. Larry Mitchell.
As the PPDG gained national praise, Larry’s notoriety and celebrity rose as well. He soon had the hottest name in all of politics. That was why when Enid Remington decided to run for president, she did not hesitate to reach out to him. Larry gladly accepted, as he was on the same page politically with all of Enid’s platforms. It was a match made in heaven.
Enid and Larry won the election in a landslide and immediately hit the ground running. Larry thought he would serve for eight years as vice president, then run for president, and serve for eight more. In fact, he was certain that was his future. However, the chaos caused by Edgar Lockhart in the fourth year of Enid’s presidency was greatly threatening that reality, as the two of them were suddenly under heavy fire from the American people, and seemingly every other nation. Edgar, who had masqueraded as the most successful business man on the planet for several years, had just been exposed as the most corrupt hyper-villain on the planet. The Alpha Initiative had been tasked with bringing Edgar down, and bringing his sister, London Lockhart in, but the missions had failed miserably, and now the latter had spawned a plethora of new powerful hyper abilities, and subsequently begun wreaking havoc all over the planet, in the form of London Omega. The UN was breathing down Enid and Larry’s necks for accountability and a resolution. Thus, as the POTUS and VP scrambled for answers, they went to the Alpha Initiative for an explanation on what had happened.
Enid and Larry sat in the President’s Room at the Eisenhower NASA base, and discussed the mission with General Hank Garrison, Lt. Rashard Bonds, and Liberty Star. Needless to say, they were furious. Enid gave them a piece of her mind, but it was Larry, who was the most vocal. Approval for the Alpha Initiative came to the POTUS with his strong recommendation. He saw it as a special forces version of the Police Powered Division of Georgia, which is why President Remington signed off on it so quickly. However, their failure to apprehend Edgar, AND the fact that an even greater threat in London Omega emerged, meant the mission was an absolute failure. Not only that, but dozens of war heroes had been killed, as well as the super cop Brolic, with whom Larry had formed a close relationship since the early days of the PPDG. There were no positive takeaways in the eyes of the POTUS and VP.
Lou and Liberty Star detailed all of the events, and explained how there was no way they could have known about London’s transformation. Edgar himself didn’t even know. Enid and Larry did not want to hear it, though, regardless of how sound the argument supporting the reasoning was. General Garrison came to their defense, and outlined the maximum proficiency the Alpha Initiative operated with, but even his credibility, experience, and expertise couldn’t save them from being chastised. All they could do was to take the berating, and that they did.
When Larry was finished, he instructed Lou and Liberty Star to gather the rest of the team together, and await further orders. They were going to have to go after London and Edgar again. Even though they had failed, the Alpha Initiative was still the best chance at bringing the super villains to justice.
Enid immediately called a meeting with her team, to begin devising a plan to ease the public and satisfy the United Nations, as well as the other countries pointing fingers at the US. As they boarded Air Force One and took off from Washington, Enid began laying out ideas with her press secretary and chief of staff. But Larry was a little distracted. Before he could truly participate in the meeting, he had to make a call. He went into his cabin toward the back of the plane and paced back and forth for a few moments while taking a few deep breaths, before finally pulling out his phone and dialing the number.
After a few rings, Ladarius “Ox” Lincoln answered. Larry proceeded to tell him the bad news – that his partner and friend had been killed in action. A few moments later, the Vice President heard a dial tone….