Courtney Whitmore

Stargirl

All stories begin somewhere. Courtney's live may have started here, but her tale really began before. Her mother and father had wed right out of high school. Courtney wasn't born much later. Due to the date of her summer birth, it had been obvious she was conceived before marriage. Still, the couple were happy, for a while.

Most people would have described their marriage as bliss. Everyone who knew the happy couple never thought they'd break up. No one saw the cracks. The yelling, the crying. Soon it was exposed that Courtney's paternal father had only married her mother our of pressure. Because he had "knocked her up". Susan had been devastated. She moved back in with her parents and cut out all contact with her ex. Courtney was only two.

Courtney's mother changed her last name back to Whitmore and no more was spoke about the matter. It never really bothered Courtney. It just meant her mother was hers and only hers. She didn't have to share like the other kids her age. It also didn't hurt that her Grandparents were "totally awesome" as the little girl would say. However that began to change as she grew older. After her Grandparents passed when she was twelve she suffered a bout of depression. After that she had a new desire to know her father. At first she accepted her mother's unwillingness to tell her. Then, as she reached her teen years she resented her mother for never telling her anything about her father. Their screaming matches were stuff of legend. Each one lashing out to protect their wounded feelings. Eventually Courtney stopped pushing, though she has tried to find out on her own. It also didn't help that her mother began dating once more.

The gulf between mother and daughter widened when her mother started going steady with a man named Pat. Courtney would go out of her way to be mean to him to drive him off. It only served to make her mother even more angry with her. Despite all of Courtney's protests her mother married him becoming a Dugan. Courtney threatens all manner of misdeeds and bodily harm to retain the last name Whitmore. Pat never seemed terribly upset, a stark counter point to her mother's disappointment. This only pissed Courtney off more.

Things go from bad to worse when Pat moves the family to Nebraska. Blue-freaking-Valley, Nebraska. She stopped talking to her mother and stepfather completely. She started staying away from home as much as she could and ended up making friends that didn't exactly encourage good choices. Courtney was still in full on rebellion mode when it was announced that her mother was pregnant.

Courtney's little sister Patricia was born just a few months into the worst year of her life. Just days after the birth Courtney gets expelled from school for fighting. The two kids she fought were also expelled. Pat bundles her off to summer camp which was basically a boot camp with pink signs. There Courtney makes the first of her life long friends, Mary. She had anger issues like Courtney and when the two weren't yelling at each other, they devised annoying pranks to pull on the camp "instructors". Though the two were separated after the camp, they kept in lose contact through texts, emails and phone calls.

Courtney graduated high school, no thanks to her black mark of expulsion. She packs up the next day and announced her intention to go on a road trip to "find herself" with a two of her girl friends. Her mother at this point had pretty much given up on her wayward daughter and didn't offer any protests. There was just relief that she was out of the house. It was, surprisingly enough to Courtney, Pat who had nearly thrown a fit. He only agreed that she could go if she and her friends all enrolled (and attended and passed) a self defense class for a month. After they did so, Courtney and her friends flew to the East Coast where they meet up with Mary. From there they road tripped cross country to California. Mary and Courtney dropped off the other two friends at their college and drove back to New York. From there Courtney reluctantly flew back home.

Once back home Courtney packs up everything she wanted in her car, sells the rest and moves out. She rebuffed all attempts to reconcile with her mother and Pat. She gets odd jobs here and there, but never stays in one place for long. After a while she ended up living out of her car, unable to pay rent. Courtney, at this point begins to settle into a depression and wonders what she's going to do with the rest of her life.

While trapped in her depressive lethargy Courtney meets Dylan. He volunteered at the local soup kitchen. For a while the two flirted, but they never became more than just friends. Dylan was the one who introduced her to a shelter. The Woman's Shelter helped Courtney begin to feel like she had purpose again. Courtney ended up being a full time volunteer and even started filling out paperwork to join the Peace Corps.

Courtney shakes off her depression and all is pretty right in the world. What she never expected was to get approached by an alien. Called himself Starman. Or as he later confessed, Jack Knight. Infact, it turned out that he wasn't so alien. Years before he had left earth with the Comic staff and went to live on another planet. He was kind of sketchy about the details, no matter how hard Courtney tried to get him to tell her. She fell in love with his stories about outer space. Even though she thought he was a loon, making it all up even if there was a legitimate alien running around named Superman.

After a few months Jack confesses that he's dying. He then takes Courtney out on a trip with his Staff. Afterwards he tells her that he wants her to have his staff. Courtney is floored by his actions. At first she refuses. After all, what would she do with it? Jack had laughed at that. Then he told her to be a hero. She could right wrongs. For a while she does truly think he's lost it. Then he tells her that he can see greatness in her. That she was meant for better. With the Staff she could do better, even if it was just for the people she help with her volunteer work. Once she agreed to take the Staff Jack vanished and she never saw him again.

Courtney's start of her heroine career did not have an auspicious start. It was more a series of disasters barely adverted as she learned how to use the Staff's powers. More than once she went to the hospital with bullet wounds. One of those trips, Pat showed up and confronted her. Courntey ended up telling him everything and to her surprise he agreed to help her. Turned out Pat used to know Jack from his line of work. Pat's an ex-spy with his friend Sylvester Pemberton, a mad tech genius.

Pat takes her to Sylvester. Sylvester had been working on tech modeled off the Cosmic Staff. With Courtney agreeing to loan the Staff for a bit, he created her a piece called the Cosmic Belt. When she asked why, Pat said it was because he wanted her to be safe. Sylvester insisted that Courtney keep in touch with him. She didn't mind much since they had become friends. She even liked his sister Merry.

Pat, after getting her the belt, trains her. He taught her everything he knew and even helped her with her hero-ing. With the assistance of her step-father, she becomes a rather good superhero.

Courtney moved to New York City at the behest of her friend Mary and also the Pembertons. She quickly garnered a reputation as Stargirl. She even gained a few rogues of her own. Though most of them are currently serving time in jail.

Powers: Courtney has no superpowers. However the cosmic staff grants Courtney powers:

• Rapid flight
• levitation of objects
• Energy manipulation

The staff can also:

• absorb stellar energy, which can then be manipulated into defensive force fields, and offensive energy blasts of incredible power.
  • Courtney can use both powers at once to protect herself from atmospheric damage in high velocity flight
• Receive Courtney's mental commands from a distance
• Attune itself to the user. It is difficult to quickly change the staff's affiliation.

Skills: Some martial arts. However she is mainly best at brawling due to her personality. Though she does know, and can use stealth if it is required. Use of the Cosmic Staff and Belt. Trash-talk.

Equipment: The Comic Converter Belt:

• Through a process called "Solar Energy Conversion" the Belt converts cosmic energy (star light) into a very useful and flexible force. The uses are listed below:
  • Enhanced Strength, Agility, Speed, and Stamina
  • Shooting Stars: which are light forms which disrupt electric devices and organic nervous systems.
  • Aura Connection: the Converter Belt is attuned to the aura of the wielder

New York City
Previously Blue Valley, Nebraska

Susan Dugan
Pat Dugan
Patricia Dugan
Starman Jack Knight
Sylvester Pemberton
Merry Pemberton
Dylan Whiting
Mary Thompson

Blue Moon
Arthur Pemberton
Paintball
Shiv

To mainly have fun. Courtney is a sassy, cocky girl. But she'll always be there for people. Everyone else seems so serious, I thought a light-hearted person would be good to include.

The gravel grated Courtney's hands as she skidded across the road. The curb bit ugly into her back and flipped her onto the sidewalk. The young woman groaned reaching blindly for the Cosmic Staff. Her hand only came up with open air. Blue eyes snapped open. She cast about, desperate.

"Looking for this?"

Courtney inhaled and braced herself as she sat up and looked at Shiv. The tall woman smirked, stroking the Staff. Her own dragon headed staff had been cast away for the new prize.

"Give it back." Courtney croaked. She wiped her mouth as blood threatened.

"No, I think not." Shiv crooned as she pointed the crook head at Courtney. There was a moment of silence then Shiv's face twisted in anger. Courtney couldn't help the smile that creeped onto her face.

"Trouble?" She taunted, probably a bit too cocky. Her back and hands ached from road rash, but the sight of seeing Shiv throw a tantrum was almost worth it. "I guess it doesn't like you."

CRACK

Courtney looked up at the sky dazed. Shiv loomed over her, staff in hand. It took her a few precious seconds to process that she had been whipped across the face by her own Staff. Above her Shiv was yelling something. However Courtney's attention was more focused on the Staff being raised for another blow. Anger rose in her bosom and she grabbed a hold of it, using it.

Focusing her anger Courtney kicked out at Shiv's legs as the Staff came down. It unbalanced the already mentally unbalanced woman enough that as the Staff came down Courtney was able to turn out of it's path. She winced as it hit the concrete, hard. She hoped the Staff was durable enough for that.

As her mind provided commentary as she reached out for the Staff. The metal was warm under her hands. Every time she held it she never ceased to be in awe of it. The warm reached into her very bones and soothed her. Shiv shouted and pulled on the Staff. Courtney wrapped herself around it and with the barest mental suggestion, Shiv went flying away. Launched off by the residual cosmic energy.

Shiv landed on her feet, much more gracefully than Courtney. Her face still twisted in a snarl. "Who are you?" She hissed out. She sounded almost like the dragon her father was trying to pretend to be.

"Stargirl." Courtney said as she pulled herself to her feet. She wobbled a bit, leaning on her Staff for support. She tensed as Shiv moved. But Shiv moved back, away from Courtney. At first the woman was confused, then she heard the sound of sirens. Right.

Shiv vanished. Not even a trace of her two toned hair. Courtney turned to look at the museum and winced. One of the Greek pillars was gone. Well, not all the way gone. Some of the bottom was still there. And then there was the rubble strewn about the street. Of course Courtney rathered that result than her body smeared on said pillar. Somehow she didn't think the cops would take that as a reasonable excuse.

Courtney tightened her grip on the staff. It hummed just a little as she lifted it then sat on it like a witch on her broomstick. A little maniacal laugh burst out of her.

"Some superhero I am." She murmured to herself through the laugh, looking up to the stars. "Jack..." She sighed and lifted further up into the air as the first cop car rounded the corner. Time to go. She turned her Staff around and drifted off, lazily to hopefully conserve the power. She still had no idea how much she had used, nor how much was left. If only Jack had stuck around to at least give her the basics.

Courtney watched the lights of the museum fade into the wash. In the sky she was sandwiched between two sets of stars. She looked back up and wished Jack peace. Then she added, "At least nothing was stolen, even if I got my butt kicked." She closed her eyes and imagined Jack laughing, maybe even proud.