Lachlan James Deatley (Dark Future)

Lachlan James Deatley
Portrayed By	Gerard Butler
Gender	Male
Date of Birth	December 13, 1971
Age	37
Zodiac Sign	Sagittarius
Aliases	Lach; The Dogmaster
Place of Birth	Possilpark, North Glasgow, Scotland
Current Location	New York City, NY, USA
Occupation	General handyman, father
Known Relatives	James Deatley (father); Alice Deatley (mother); Megan Deatley (sister); Abigail Aldric-Deatley (daughter)
Significant Other	Cass Aldric (fiancee)
Known Abilities	Animal telepathy
First Appearance	Accidents

Lachlan has had a small change in the past two years. There was a bad run-in with a hit man that came around when he tried to quit the drug business permanently (something at which he succeeded when the war broke out) and then there was the fiasco with birth control that led to his fathering his daughter, Abigail. He now moonlights a bit with the Saints as well as lending a hand around Cass' labs, when he's not busy being a father.

History

From the very start, it was apparent that Lachlan was not really destined for great things. He was born on December 13th 1972, the eldest of two children, in the Possilpark district of North Glasgow, Scotland. Life was fairly troublesome there, and his parents were not the richest of folks. His mother was a waitress, and his father ran a kennel out of the home, specializing in the breeding of Doberman pinschers. Though his stock was not the best, he managed to eke out a living selling the puppies to the less savory sort as guard dogs. Lachlan grew up with a love of dogs, and naturally, Dobermans were his favorite.

When Lachlan was four years old, his father found gainful employment as a postman. The family moved to a better neighborhood within Glasgow, and Lachlan started school. Thanks to his more destitute appearance, sluggish wit, and easily baited temper, he quickly became the subject of ridicule amongst his peers. He quickly learned to loathe school, and due to this dislike and a general disinterest in learning, he did very poorly academically. It wasn't unusual for Lachlan to get into fights at school (most of which were instigated by the taunts of fellow students), and as such, he was branded as a "problem student". Lachlan grew withdrawn and bitter, finding solace in the family Dobermans.

Thanks to the generosity of some relatives, the Deatleys moved to the United States when Lachlan was nine years old. Between himself, his sister, his three cousins (with whom he did not get along), and the two sets of parents, life in the house was very crowded and loud. Though the dogs were left behind, Lachlan found canine companionship with the various dogs that ran loose in the neighborhood. He was able to approach even the most skittish of dogs and earned himself a reputation within the neighborhood as a bit of an odd child.

At age ten, Lachlan's abilities manifested themselves when he and two of his cousins got into one of their many and frequent tussles. During the struggle, Lachlan began to hear voices. It was for only a few minutes, and afterward, he had an excruciating headache. The incident frightened him so much that he holed himself away and spoke to no one for the rest of the day. After that, he would have infrequent flashes of telepathy that didn't last long and usually left him with headaches. He was always too terrified to approach his family about these occurrences, afraid that he would be deemed crazy. For weeks, he was unaware of who the voices belonged to, until it became apparent to him that the incidents happened mainly when he was around dogs, and that the voices seemed to speak from the canine's perspective.

As he grew, Lachlan found that he could turn the powers on and off, and with practice, he was able to keep them on during most of the day. At age eleven, his parents surprised him on his birthday by giving him a mongrel dog for a pet, and it was this dog — Rusty — that he used most to hone his gifts. When he finally did tell someone about the telepathy, it was Megan, who was sworn to absolute secrecy. Naturally, his family was none too keen on evolved beings.

One day during his twelfth year, he was walking home with his sister and Rusty from the bus stop after school when they were attacked by a gang of peers. Lachlan was shoved to the ground hard, and the bullies began to pick on and push Megan around. Afraid for his sister, Lachlan felt himself surge forward and begin to tear at the ringleader with his teeth. The rest of the children, terrified, fled the scene, and the ringleader was mauled horribly. However, when authorities arrived on the scene, they found the bloodied culprit to be Rusty, not Lachlan, and the boy was curled up in a ball with a splitting headache, hardly able to string together a coherent sentence.

The bully survived the attack, but Rusty — despite Lachlan's insistence that he was the one at fault — was put to sleep in accordance with the law. It took a week or two for Lachlan to recover fully and to calm down enough to outwardly agree that Rusty was the bully's attacker, not himself. Inwardly, however, he knew better, and he was riddled with guilt for several months, believing that he had killed his dog. After that incident, Lachlan found himself unable to shut off his powers, but with practice, he was able to focus in on individual voices (much as one might focus on one conversation in a crowd).

The Deatleys moved into their own house and acquired another dog — Samson — when Lachlan was fifteen. The dog and boy bonded very quickly due to Lachlan's latent abilities, and with Samson, Lachlan began to explore the power he termed "dogsight" — the same ability he had accidentally used with Rusty. A year after receiving Samson, Lachlan began to formulate plans to run away from home, fearing that he might somehow be discovered. These plans were enacted as Lachlan was approaching the age of seventeen; taking his dog, he disappeared into the night and fled to Canada, where he joined up with a small traveling circus — one of the last of its kind. There, he billed himself as the Dogmaster and performed with Samson and (later) other dogs — Dobermans — supplied to him by the circus.

Lachlan ran with the circus for nearly ten years before he returned to the United States and moved into an apartment in New York. By that time, having found a lucrative business in helping one of the circus performers deal drugs to his fellow workers, Lachlan had acquired a small nest egg large enough to sustain him as he sought stable employment. He began to work as a dog expert and trainer, but due to his nature and temperament, he was unable to make much of himself in this line of work, despite his incomparable abilities. Naturally, Lachlan began to look back into the drug business, which had served him well before. He moonlighted as a drug dealer for a time, until he met Cass.

Cass changed a great deal in Lachlan's life. He fell madly in love with her in 2007 and remains with her to this day. They are technically engaged, but events of late have put a delay on that.

Timeline

• August 2008 - Cass informs Lachlan that she is pregnant. They decide to keep the baby in spite of it all.
• April 2009 - Abby is born.
• July 28th, 2009 - Lachlan purchases yet another plush dog for Abby and delivers it along with some takeout to Bat Country.
• July 29th, 2009 - Lachlan meets present-day Peter and gives him a manly hug. He and McAlister discuss her offer of babysitting, then later he and Cass have a talk about what to do should the painting Peter did for her two years ago becomes a reality.

Ability

Lachlan is able to telepathically communicate with all mammals, but his ability is mainly geared toward canines, felines, and common rodents. While communication with the three listed species is passive, unable to be switched off, Lachlan can turn it on for other species of mammal at will. He has a constant barrage of canine, feline, and rodent "chatter" going through his head as a result of the passivity. At any given moment, however, he can focus on specific "voices", tuning out others. This ability is primitive in comparison to human telepathy; Lachlan is able communicate on a basic level with the animals, rather than the more advanced, "higher-thinking" of humans. In other words: he's able to pick up on the animals' feelings and intentions and is able to reason with them on a basic level and even implant in them certain desires and urges, but as animals are not capable of debating higher planes of thought (such as the fundamentals of Shakespeare), he doesn't hold real conversations with them.

Quotes

• To be added.

Trivia

• Lefty-Handed: Lachlan is left-handed and seems to forget this often, as it always seems to surprise him when people bring it up in everyday conversation.
• Favorite Color: Is purple, a fact with which he is oddly at peace. Anybody who tries to tell him that purple is a girl's color is often met with derision and sarcasm.
• Allergic to Shellfish: However, Lachlan enjoys imitation crab (the sort only made from fish, naturally). Unlike his security with the fact that his favorite color is purple, Lachlan is strangely ashamed of his love of imitation crab and does his level best to hide it from anyone and everyone.
• Hates Snakes: A lot. He had a horrid experience with the things shortly after he joined the circus, and he's abhorred them since.
• Never Graduated From High School: Lachlan's an academic moron. Sometimes he's a non-academic moron, too.
• Stunt-Talented: Lachlan knows a variety of tricks, such as sleight-of-hand, juggling, and balancing and tumbling acts, but does not practice them regularly anymore. Sometimes he busts them out to impress women or when he's feeling particularly goofy.
• Guitar-Strummin' Yowler: It is a little-known fact that Lachlan plays the guitar — mainly because he doesn't usually play in public, preferring to keep it to himself. Being self-taught, he can't read a single note of music but is fairly good at picking things up by ear. Lachlan is also capable of singing and accompanying himself on the guitar — depending on the genre of music, he's not half-bad.
• Ink: Lachlan acquired a tattoo on the 15th of May, 2007. It was a whimsical decision. The tattoo is located over his left ribs and is roughly four inches tall. It is the head of a Doberman pinscher with red eyes. It has been dubbed "Fluffy" by Cass.

Dogs: Past and Present

Current

Bonnie: Bonnie is an Irish wolfhound/Chinook/God-knows-what-else mix given to Lachlan by Eliana after the death of Padfoot. She is roughly nine months old and is therefore only half-grown, but thanks to her breed, she is already rather large and promises to get even larger still. Bonnie has a sweet, loving temperament that has only been encouraged by Lachlan's training and by the fact that Cass spoils her rotten. She's well-socialized and loves people. She has survived the war and other conflicts and currently resides with Cass, Lachlan, and Abby.

Balthazar: Balthazar is a young unaltered male Doberman pinscher, a little over two years old. He's a happy, playful canine to members of his family, but to strangers, he's forbidding and standoffish. Nobody pets Balthazar ('Zar for short) except those he knows, lest they lose a hand.

Samael: Samael is far more good-natured than his name implies. He is also a young unaltered male Doberman pinscher and littermate of Balthazar. Sammy is kind and intelligent, however he is more withdrawn with strangers. While not as antisocial as his brother, he still does not warm up to strangers easily.

Past

Barguest: Lachlan owned Barguest — a Doberman pinscher — for a little over five years. He bought the dog — along with his brother, Padfoot — from a reputable breeder in New Jersey and raised him from puphood. Barguest was an unwaveringly loyal dog and quite friendly to other people, though reserved and watchful as his breed dictated. He was highly trained as an excellent companion and guard dog, however he was shot in the face and killed by Mr. Hendrickson in February of 2007.

Padfoot: Another Doberman pinscher and littermate of Barguest, Padfoot was more reserved than his brother and was firmly attached to Lachlan. Fiercely protective and intelligent, Padfoot was one of Lachlan's personal favorites. He was shot during the break-in at Kirby Plaza and, despite efforts to save his life, died shortly after from his injuries.

Relationships

Family

• Megan Deatley: (NEEDS UPDATED.) Lachlan is extremely close with his sister, to the point of seeking her advice when he feels the need. She often acts as a moral center to Lachlan. Recently, he began to suspect that she might be Evolved when he learned about her recent fainting spells at work, and how they connect to dreams he's known about for a while. When he tested her abilities, his suspicions were confirmed even further, however he hasn't pushed her to flex these abilities.

• Cass Aldric: Cass and Lachlan have had a wild, insane ride through nearly three years of being together. From infidelity to near-deaths, they've seen it all and still manage to remain together. They became engaged on July 22nd, 2007 after one of the most incredibly awkward proposals ever, however they have yet to marry. The war and everything else has delayed such nuptials, even when there was a failure in birth control and Abby was conceived. Lachlan is still madly in love with Cass and sticks by her side through thick and thin. He is fiercely protective of her, however he's also come to accept the fact that she can handle herself these days.

• Abigail Aldric-Deatley: Abby is still young, too young to really have much of a comprehension about everything going on, but already she's got Lachlan wrapped around her tiny, precious, adorable, beautiful little finger. He buys her an abundance of plushie dogs and babbles at her when he thinks no one is looking. Should anyone attempt to harm her, they would find themselves killed in horrible, messy ways that defy description.

Friends/Good

• Elena Gomez: (NEEDS UPDATED.) Elena was working as a barista at Starbucks and, being pretty, Lachlan shamelessly hit on her. She was also present when he asked out Cass for the first time and has been present during many of the crazier events in his life ever since. Elena has also offered Lachlan plenty of moral support, especially during the rockier moments between himself and Cass, and he looks at her as a source of feminine wisdom as well as some sort of quirky younger cousin. He can't seem to understand (or refuses to believe) the reason for her having not slept with Eric and does his very best to encourage her to do so.

• Jack Derex: (NEEDS UPDATED.) Jack was present during Lachlan's disastrous first date with Cass and provided free drinks at the Den of Iniquity after all the excitement. Later, he called Lachlan about joining the rescue party for Peter Petrelli, to which the Scotsman reluctantly said "yes". Jack also found out that Lachlan was sleeping with Ling whilst still dating Cass and berated the Scotsman for it. It was through this connection that Cass managed to inadvertently discover Lachlan's infidelity. Jack and Lachlan are not too far different from each other, though it is to be noted that Jack has more morals than Lachlan. Lachlan views him as a good man worth hanging with — however his friendship with the Irishman has grown a bit strained after the events involving Eliana. It took Lachlan a while (and a mutual hatred of Elle) to approach Jack again after that fiasco, but he found the Irishman to be very forgiving, and the two seem to have picked up where they left off.

• Molly Walker: Molly played with Lachlan's dogs in Central Park one day and thus got on his good side. Plus, she's a cute little girl. He wasn't too thrilled when he learned she had been kidnapped by Sylar, but he has had no contact with her since that day in Central Park.

Other/Neutral

• Benjamin Winters: (NEEDS UPDATED.) Lachlan didn't make a very good impression on Benjamin from the get-go, as he was drunk at the time and attempted to sit and sleep on Benjamin's mother. Later, Benjamin showed up at Enlightenment Books and relayed this information to Cass and all present, embarrassing Lachlan. Benjamin was also present at the EvoSoft Charity Event and attempted to put Lachlan to sleep during the confrontation between himself, Ramon, and Cass — but to no effect. Lachlan doesn't particularly like Benjamin, but he has no hatred for the man either.

• Jaden Cain: (NEEDS UPDATED.) Jaden is just plain weird and crazy, and Lachlan is not quite sure how to feel about him. The CEO has proven time and time again to be a pistol, and his unpredictability and zany antics have made Lachlan rather wary of him. At one point, Lachlan assaulted Jaden with a potato when Jaden broke in through the window of Elena's apartment — and there is not much more to be said about their relationship.

• Mara Damaris: (NEEDS UPDATED.) Lachlan first met Mara on the subway, where she gave him her card after a little tenseness between himself and Mr. Hendrickson. She was later called by Lachlan to talk about the Squaring the Circle case and was present when Mr. Hendrickson broke into Lachlan's apartment and shot Barguest in the face. She took some buckshot to the stomach during the incident. Lachlan considers her interesting, however he likes to keep her at as great a distance as possible, considering that she works for the police.

• Ramon Gomez: (NEEDS UPDATED.) When Ramon went looking for an unregistered, unlicensed firearm, Lachlan was there to lend a hand. Ramon wound up giving Lachlan a tidbit more of information involving the Squaring the Circle case, and Lachlan did not see him again until the EvoSoft Charity Event, when he confronted Ramon about being out with Cass on what he perceived as a romantic date. Needless to say, Lachlan has made a rather poor impression on Ramon and recognizes this fact. He plans to rectify this with an apology the next time he runs into the man.

Enemies/Bad

• To be added.