A Tale Of Two Cities

[Sparky]

Coming soon to a forum near you.

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Name: Lilah Ferris
Hero Alias: Phoenix
Appearance:
Costume: Red, orange and black body suit (fireproof, of course, with a front zipper) that appears nearly painted on her skin. There is a little half-skirt over her backside for flair, a silver chain dangling in the front. . She wears red and orange thigh-high boots and elbow-length gloves in the same color, both lined in black and silver. To keep her identity safe, she paints a black stripe over her eyes (much like a latex mask) and she puts in amber colored contacts in place of her glasses.
Weapons: Normally carries no additional weapons.
Powers: Able to call fire from mid air without incantations, fuel, or any outside forces. She can mold and use fire as she desires, controlling what it burns and what it does not as long as it stays within her line of sight.
Personality: Dependable, serious, able, bright, stubborn.

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Name: Rose McKinney
Villain Alias: Lolli-Pop
Appearance:
Costume: Bubblegum pink shorts and sleeveless tanktop with a baby blue skirt/slip over the shorts (see example). She wears white boots and a white mask (covering only her eyes, not the rest of her face). She puts her hair into pigtails, curling them to complete her outfit.
[Example]
Weapons: Anything that makes loud noises, dramatic explosions, and huge messes. Her very favorite weapon of choice is a bazooka but, as she isn't known for having much to speak of for money on a normal basis, she'll take whatever she can get. She likes to draw lollipops on her weapons just so she knows if someone else takes it.
Powers: None
Personality: Bubbly, quick, fearless, helpful, childish.

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Name: Alice Graves
Villian Alias: Drifter
Appearance:
Costume: Black fabric with silver edging, splashes of silver where shown in example as light blue. No pin thingy.
[Example]
Weapons: She has two knives, two guns, and can shoot lightning in limited quantities.
Powers: She uses her riches to pay for weapons that are able to make lightning. She also is able to "fly" (meaning jump impossible heights and land safely from tall buildings, not actually fly) thanks to some devices she paid to have made.
Personality: Sassy, rich, materialistic, flirty, vain.

[Wolf]

HeroA

Active Name: The Collector
Real Name: Roux Grimmetz
Appearance: [General]

Hero Appearance: Cloaked, covered, could pass as a villain more often. Black mask over face to keep hidden. Two orbs can be seen through the fabric, typically fiery blue. Smoke vapor visible when he breaths.
Power: Tougher, stronger, faster, not perfect and not indestructible. Catch up with/beat down enemy to use power. Must keep physical contact. Drains life from enemy, i.e. 'soul collector'. Visible color tinted creeping smoke from body up hands/arms to his chest when complete. Roux can decide how long it takes/to linger, handy for interrogations. Weaker, run of the mill humans would take no time at all to absorb, even quick enough to take while walking by. Something, someone stronger or more powerful would take longer. When performing the absorption [or some other occasions], blue eyes turn red. Wears cloak due to appearance. As the collector, physical appearance deceitful, beneath are blackened bones. His mask, if removed, exposes something of a blackhole with a black wrathful skull just on the edge reaching for you.




HeroB

Active Name: Wolf
Real Name: Logan Alexandre
Appearance: Damn close to Wolverine
Powers: Damn same as Wolverine
Awesomeness: As much as Wolverine


Villain

Jack
Real Name: NA
Appearance: Bright/Dark colors [greens, purples, blacks, reds] Black hair typically slicked back. Tall and lengthy.
Powers: Brilliant with computers and cyber security/control as well as engineering. Through knowledge and production, able to use others at his creation or command to do his work.

[Wolf]

He stood at the ledge, his boot pushing dust over the corner of the stone. The same hand that lifts up the skirt of the city, blew against the fabrics of his thread, rippling the lightly hanging jeans and dark maroon fleece. His eyes peered, scanning like a hawk. This was his city. He would not let it fall.

This place was a safe time bomb. An ironic oxymoron. A contradictory to all extremes.

He waited.

Anytime now, a hit. An explosion. A robbery or mugging. Some uprising. Hopefully small, as was the late trend. The Team seemed to be taking things slow. A grin shot through his tight lips still visible miraciously somehow through the furr. As long as it maintained, he could handle it. He wouldn't let his city down.


Then, if he were unable to somehow manage, the back of his mind could not resist to remind him of his passer by accomplice.

Pheonix.

She rapped in his mind sometimes. He made sure to keep her away but she crept her way back in.

Wolf stepped back from the ledge, turning his back toward the city as he returned to the stairwelll. Venturing down, his mind remained in thought. Before he knew it, out onto the sidewalk he strolled. His jacket recovered in the stairwell, his hands shoved into the pockets immediately. Most kept away from him. This stocky tall man strode with no regret. With business and purpose in ever sole. Some out there liked to try and see what could happen. The difference between sizing up and trying out is a beat down like never before.

There wasn't much in the air tonight anyway. He would be able to get away with kicking at a pub for a while. The benefits that come with the job. Another grin crept through the darkness of his face.

Turning into the building, the door slamming shut behind him, even the music could not drown out the slap. Gave him a few eyes to peer, though he kept to himself and straight to the bar. It wasn't the corner of the city bar, or the hick club. He noted a few couples in the scene though men manifested the most. It was a very open bar. Very mixed crowds.

"Get me one." He ordered as he sat.
"One of what?" The barkeep asked in a tone that was unflattering to hiim.
Thus, responding with a 'what do you think' look upon his face, he flashed his white teeth "Whiskey double. Straight."

A stare off ensued between them. Once finished, the word 'jackass' mouthed from Wolf's teeth. With the slam of the half, he sat on it for a bit.










[at least a start.]

[Sparky]

Amber eyes scanned the city from a rooftop, a slender feminine form perched on the ledge, her gaze focused on the streets below her. Her pixie-like face was set and serious, the black streak of paint over her eyes and lower brow making her expression all the fiercer. After a few quiet moments, she stood and hopped backwards, away from the edge of the building, the little orange and red half skirt fluttering in the breeze caused by the movement. Looking a little disappointed, she walked towards the fire escape and raked her gloved fingers through her raven hair.

-

As she made her way towards the ground, making sure to create as little noise as she could manage, she let her mind stray to her city, feeling that it had been quiet lately. The strange and very marked quite that generally arrived right before the shit hit the fan. She'd seen it happen many times and had no doubt that the very same shit storm would be coming again. Metropolis never stayed quiet for long.

-

Quiet as a whisper, her feet touched the pavement once again and she scanned the area, looking for the best place to duck into while she got out of character. It didn't take her long to find just what she was looking for, slipping into the shadowed doorway and slipping out of the costume, wiping off the paint over her eyes with the skilled speed of the most experienced make-up artists, and remove the contacts. As she stepped out of the shadows, she placed her black-rimmed glasses into their proper place, breathing a sigh of relief.

-

She felt like herself again. Lilah, not Phoenix. The woman, not the hero. Barely noticed by the people she walked among on the sidewalk. Seen but unseen. Something Phoenix would never be. Not that her costume choice would ever help her blend in any, but even if that was more inconspicuous than the orange and red material, the Phoenix was known to this city. Possibly others. Lilah, however, was just like everybody else. She worked a regular job, she went home from work, usually dug in the fridge for whatever leftover take-out was still fresh, ate it, watched her movies or shows, and then went to bed. Or that’s what she looked like to the rest of the world. Now, able to blend in with the crowd, she could seek out her, for lack of better word, partner.

-

Wolf.

-

The thought of him made her frown a little bit. The man was a damn enigma. He'd drop out of nowhere, either taking care of a problem on his own, or getting her out of whatever pickle she managed to get herself into, and then slip away. He obviously wanted none of the glory. Probably wanted to stay hidden, to keep his identity safe from the world. If that was the case, she wondered, then why not wear a mask? And why not trust her to keep his identity safe when he knew hers?

-

Damn man, she thought as she pushed open the door to one of the pubs she had met with him at before. Once again, her eyes scanned the area, falling on the man sitting at the bar. Ah, speak of the devil. Very casually, she walked to the bar, her heeled boots tapping on the wooden floor as she moved. She slipped into the stool next to him, careful to adjust her skirt as she did so. She smiled at the bartender when he approached, “could I please get a Shirley Temple?” She watched as one of the bartender’s brows raised slightly, a reaction she was well used to when she requested the non-alcoholic drink. But it was her policy not to drink when things were likely to go down. Which was daily, which also meant that her last drink was so long ago that she could barely remember how it tasted.

-

After the bartender mixed the drink, taking payment without a word before making his way to the other side of the bar, she sipped, her blue eyes flicking over to the man beside her. “It’s been a while.” It wasn’t a lie. With as quiet as the city had been, there hadn’t been an occasion where both were needed at once. Lilah set her drink down delicately and turned her face towards him, a small smile in place. “Hope things have been going well.”

-

((Sorry it took so very long.))

[Wolf]

"I've made sure to keep it as long as it has been." He was quick to pipe in his expressed opinion.

He kept his brown eyes straight forward, clinging back the last of the whiskey before raising the glass to signal down another. As he waited, she continued. So typical of a woman to so casually catch up on a conversation that has no relevancy. 'Hope things have been going well.'

Logan, Wolf to her for any better reason, did all he could to keep his eyes from rolling back. That would have been more disrespectful than he wishes to come across. But for her to come as a friend, as she is, as she were, to him as if to carry on where they had left off. What little she knew of him, how did she expect to come off as the girlfriend who got away? His very name was a mystery to her, and he would keep it that way as best as he could, which having a nosy intelligent woman digging around everywhere made things difficult for him to keep quiet.

The bartender returned, new glass chilled in his warmed hand. Alone again, he peeked over to her as he spoke, "Listen, girly, there are plenty other places to get a drink. Now I'm not saying this is my place or what, but what I am saying is why? Why where I want to be? We're not friends. We do what we do because it's what we're suppose to. That's all." He shot back half of what the man had brought him. "If you want to stalk me, go ahead and try. If you want something more you're looking the wrong way. Just do your thing, and I'll make sure you stay on track." He finished, slamming back the rest of the liquor and dropping the glass on the bartop.

Standing up while pushing the stool back, he never once looked her in the eyes. It wasn't like he was breaking up with her, something awkward, not being rude. Just getting a point made. He knew she wasn't going to stop just because he said so. She's different. Stubborn. Always obtaining what she went after. She would continue on him and he knew that. Someday something would be different. He just didn't know what or how.

Out the door he went, onto the cold damp cement he strode. Hands in his pocket he walked as a man with a purpose. An objective. He was ready and willing, no matter the task, while managing the air of trust.

The night covered his back.

[Sparky]

Hearing the moniker that he deemed to label her with had her narrowing her eyes at him very slightly and her smile melting away. Girly indeed. Even as he shot back some of his drink after her listening to him ramble off his problems with her having come in the first place, her expression remained clearly displeased. At the word 'stalk' her eyes narrowed further, her slight irritation rising to a more dangerous level.

Like I would stalk him. And want something more!?? This man needs a serious ego check. She said nothing as he finished his drink, focusing more on cooling her temperature- something she found harder when around him as he seemed to bring her temper to a boil.

She waited a moment after he had left the bar, let the door close completely and her anger cool to a light simmer, before she stood and followed him, ready to give him a piece of her mind for his assumptions and accusations. She stood, dropping an extra bit of money for a tip and leaving her barely-touched drink on the counter to walk calmly out of the bar, running slightly to catch up with him before keeping pace with him, figuring he would expect it anyway. Probably will get all smug about it.

"You, sir, have me pegged all wrong if you truly think that I would stalk you or seek you out for anything other than pure business." The words were calm and she liked to think she kept them in a civil tone. "I sought you because I expect things to get rough in the very near future and wondered if you would have any sort of information to that effect." The second half of her words were probably a bit more prim than was polite but, all-in-all she figured that she had found enough class to satisfy herself.

Before he had a chance to say anything, she continued, "but, yes, I looked for you but would not have gone to the trouble of scouring the city to find you. If you would prefer I not do so in the future, just say so. I like to be prepared as much as I can." She shrugs her shoulders, keeping pace with him still as they walked in the darkness.

[Wolf]

He groaned hearing her footsteps approaching from behind. Hearing her voice was just the icing. He let her get it out, maintaining his partially haste stride. He listened as she got out all she had to. Wanted to. Thoughts of plenty crossed his mind, 'Why. Why me? Why not anyone else but me. Can't she just figure something out to do on her own?' jibberish never ending in pace within the confounds of his mind.

"Can't you just--" He finally stopped at the height of it all, unable to take anymore. He stopped dead on squaring her off before interrupting himself. The voices coming from an alley nearby stole his attention. No hesitation he took off running to the next street, seeing a small group of thugs cornering a couple. The man standing his role, though lost his poker face knowing he was out matched.

'Just what she wanted.' Logan couldn't help but think. "Well?" his eyebrows shot as he peered back at her, hands up in the air symbolizing 'will ya?'.










'But instead if this were to happen..' Jack's thoughts were plentiful and many. All over you could say. The example replicating the characteristics between genius and insane. He was deep into something now. Having been in a rut, all his plans coming to some dead end or unsatisfactory set up. Unsuccessful in it all, he was determined. Papers of his many previous plans laying around, seemed he was attempting to compile something of them all. His desk, chairs, stand up desks, floor, walls, wastebaskets, fireplace, cups, fridge shelves, every possible physical placing seemed to act home for one of his plans. Exciting over something he seemed to be putting together, quickly deterred in obvious ripping of the pages. Slamming on to the standing desk before throwing the pages into a flame, his ramblings were never ending to himself, the one he wanted to listen. The only one he suspected would be listening, although he was awfully vocal.






Coming off the streets and into the bookstore, the rain ceased to pour down upon him. The cover from the building was welcomed.

"Evening" The man behind the counter greeted the entering tall enigma. Brown hair brown eyes and a name to match his personality; Roux nodded and continued toward the back of the building. His taste was never out of the norm. The supernatural, survival, new age, mystic, antique, anything that could be beneficial for his goal; keep his city safe, understand his enemy, find a cure. Any footing he managed to gain was worth anything he had to go through, his mind set on. His attitude was lonesome and fast. Scooping up the hardcovers he desired, he placed them on the counter for the man to do the routine. Paying for them, Roux stored the new reads into his leather bag, carried along for just the reason to prevent damage and easy transportation, nodding to the man once more with so few words, Roux was out the door just as quickly and off toward his home once more.

The man was known to take different routes back home, always keeping anyone guessing. His home was an apartment downtown in the small city that barely passes the quota for being classified as. His theory being; anyone after him would have to go through alot to successfully pull off an uproar and get away with it. In the old part of the district, his two story apartment renovated above corner shops was easy to get to and get lost with. People were typical to drive by without thinking twice about some window above something. That's where his destination was. Back to monitoring and figuring out. He was always ready. For death, for the fight, for a Drifter to come by and stir things up. She was a haul on her own, his thoughts bustled through and around his mind as the rain kept beat on his hat, keeping the droplets out of his face best as possible. His footsteps echoed every new topic to cross his thoughts as he made his way back to his hideout.