Name: Jonothon "Jono" Starsmore
Identity: Secret
Membership Status: Active
Other Aliases: Chamber
Other Affiliations: Generation-X (former), X-Men (former), Weapon-X (former)
Relatives: Jack Starsmore (grandfather, deceased), En Sabah Nur (Apocalypse, exact relationship unknown)

Powers: Decibel has the ability to project waves of sonic energy.  Formerly, as Chamber, he had a furnace of psionic energy in his chest which he could use as on offensive blast.  He also communicated telepathically, since his lower jaw and much of his chest had been destroyed during the initial manifestation of his powers.  He had no need to eat or drink, nor did he need many of his internal organs as his body was fueled by the psionic energy in his chest.

 

History:  

Jono had a relatively normal life in England, despite the claims his grandfather made of their family being descendants of an ancient god named En Sabah Nur.  His grandfather insisted that all members of the family be tattooed to show their heritage.  Jono received the strange tattoo on his chest at an early age.  But Jono's relatively normal life ended one night during an intimate moment with his then girlfriend, Gayle Edgerton.  Jono's mutant power manifested in an explosion of psionic energy that left him horribly disfigured, with the better portion of his chest and his lower jaw destroyed.  Gayle was left paralyzed from the waist down.   After his powers developed, Jono discovered that he no longer had to eat or drink.  Also, with his lower jaw destroyed, he found that he communicated telepathically.

Sometime later Jono was invited by Charles Xavier to enroll in the Massachusetts Academy with other young mutants who would be training in the use of their powers.  Upon arriving, an attempt was made by Emplate to abduct Jono for the purpose of feeding off his mutant powers.   But the other members of Generation-X were able to defeat Emplate.

Going by the codename Chamber, Jono kept mostly to himself, considering himself to be a freak and feeling like his appearance made the other members of Generation-X uncomfortable.  One member however, Paige Guthrie, a.k.a. Husk, developed a crush on Jono.  When she tried to kiss Jono one night after having a few drinks, she startled him causing him to lose control over his powers resulting an explosion the destroyed an entire wing of the Academy.  Amazingly, neither of them were harmed.  Jono didn't reveal to anyone exactly why the explosion happened, which Paige thanked him for saying that she would've died from embarrassment.  Misunderstanding her, Jono thought that she would've been embarrassed for everyone to find out that she had tried to kiss a freak like him.

A short time later, Jono was contacted by his old girlfriend, Gayle, who had been injured the night his powers manifested.  Believing she just wanted to talk, Jono agreed to meet her.  But she was in league with the Emplate, who had given her the same power to feed off mutant energy that he had.  She used this power as a way to get revenge on Jono, rendering him unconcious while Emplate attacked and subdued to the remaining members of Generation-X.  Gayle was betrayed by Emplate, who had promised Jono to her.  Generation-X was able to defeat Emplate, and Gayle and Jono were able to work out their differences. 

Jono's relationship with Paige continued to have it's ups and downs.  Paige invited him to her family's Thanksgiving dinner, but when they got there no one was home.  Jono assumed that everyone left because of his ghastly appearance.  Paige tried to tell him that his family was accepting of all mutants, being that there were two known mutants in their family already.  After going through Paige's old things and discovering a picture of her parents together, Jono left saying that their relationship could never be like her parents.

Later, when Paige had decided to leave the school, during a time when Jono temporarily lost the use of his telepathy, he used his psionic powers to burn a heart into a piece of paper to tell her that he loved her.  But when Paige returned to the school, Jono avoided her as he only told her he loved her because he thought she was leaving the school for good.  Paige would eventually return his cold shoulder treatment.  Their relationship was put under further strain when the school began accepting human students.  They were both secretly jealous each time one of the new students showed interest in the other.  Eventually, their relationship settled into one of mutual friendship. 

A short time later, the members of Generation-X decided to leave the school.  Jono was invited to join the X-Men, but instead moved back to London where he began a relationship with pop singer, Sugar Kane.  After negative media attention, Sugar Kane ended their relationship in order to spare her career and Jono decided to join the X-Men.

During his time with the X-Men Jono investigated a new group called the X-Corps, which policed affairs involving mutants.  He once again met up with Paige, who was a member of the X-Corps, although their reunion was awkward due to his highly publicized affair with Sugar Kane.  After nearly being killed in an explosion, Chamber began to question his place among the X-Men.  However, he agreed to investigate an apparent anti-mutant bombing at the ESU college campus which recently began accepting mutant students.  Several mutants had died in the explosion, while the only survivor was a human student, Gigi Martin, who had founded a human/mutant peace group.  After investigating the bombing, Jono discovered that the explosion had been caused by a mutant with powers similar to his own.  Gigi Martin had told everyone that the explosion was caused by a bomb, fearing that if everyone knew that it was caused by a mutant that the college would no longer allow mutants at the school. 

Chamber returned to the X-Men, but not as an active member.  Instead he stayed on to help teach the younger students.  But in his absence, Jono was unaware that Paige, now an X-Man herself, had begun seeing Archangel.  Jono eventually took out his rage on Archangel, punching him.  In an elaborate set-up, the X-Men and Jono appeared to sever their relationship during a fight at a bar.  The X-Men subdued him and handed him over to the police.  Jono was then approached by Brent Jackson, who offered him a place in the new Weapon-X program.  But Jono was acting under the orders of the X-Men in order to infiltrate Weapon-X, as the X-Men became concerned about rumors that Weapon-X had a mutant death camp called Neverland.  As a member of Weapon-X, Jono had his chest and lower jaw replaced, giving him a normal appearance for the first time in many years.  Also, allowing him to eat, drink, and speak normally.  His chest was fitted with an apparatus that allowed him to release his psionic energy.  But in order to gain their trust, Jono was assigned to kill the leader of the U-Men, John Sublime.  Jono succeeded in the mission, but was uneasy about killing a man. 

Jono continued to explore the Weapon-X compound without bringing too much attention to himself.  He soon discovered that Weapon-X was holding several telepaths in stasis, using their powers to shield their secrets from other telepaths.  The telepaths  helped Jono find the Neverland camp.  During a call to Wolverine with the exact coordinates, Jono's line went dead.  When Wolverine arrived at the coordinates Jono had given him, there was no sign of the mutant hostages or Jono.

Jono was not heard from again until after the events of M-Day, in which he lost his mutant powers.  Unfortunately, his mutant powers were the only thing keeping his recently fixed body in check.  Without his powers, the apparatus in his chest exploded, once again destroying his lower jaw, chest region, and his internal organs.  Miraculously, the X-Men were able to keep him alive on a machine until they could figure out how to help him.  They learned that during the time he had been absent that he had been brainwashed into believing that he was really a member of Weapon-X.  He had forgotten that he was ever a member of the X-Men.

While Jono remained on life support, he began receiving regular visits from a therapist to help him deal with his trauma.  After a visit from Pete Wisdom interrupted a session, Jono and his therapist disappeared.  It was later revealed that the therapist was actually a member of the Clan Akkaba named Frederick Slade, an old acquaintance of Jono's grandfather.  The Clan Akkaba worshipped the god, En Sabah Nur, also known as Apocalypse.  They had abducted Jono because he was a direct descendant of Apocalypse.  They gave him a transfusion of Apocalypse's blood which restored his physical body but left him with gray skin and facial markings resembling those of Apocalypse.  Also, the tattoo he had received as a child was once again on his chest.  Although Jono was no longer a mutant, combining his blood with Apocalypse would give him powers.  Jono was told that in time, his powers would return, but it's unclear exactly what those powers would be.  Jono was allowed to leave the Clan, but was sought out by Excalibur.  He told them to leave him alone and he went off on his own.

Jono is now a member of the New Warriors and has adopted new powers and a new codename, Decibel.  His powers are sonic in nature, but it's not clear yet if these powers are a result of his blood being mixed with Apocalypse's or if they are technologically supplied.

 

Important Appearances: 

Generation-X #1 - First appearance
Generation-X #6 - Blows up part of the school after Paige tried to kiss him
Generation-X #12-14 - Set-up by ex-girlfriend then makes up with her
Generation-X #75 - Leaves Generation-X, invited to join X-Men
Uncanny X-Men - #395-398 - Dates and breaks up with Sugar Kane, joins X-men
Chamber #1-4 - Investigates bombing at ESU college
Weapon-X #15-18 - Infiltrates Weapon-X, has body restored, kills John Sublime
Weapon-X #20-21 - Discovers Neverland death camp then disappears
Generation M #1 - Discovered to have lost powers, put on life support by X-Men
New Excalibur #9 - Body restored by receiving transfusion of Apocalypse's blood