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Alex dropped another used glass into the sink and stretched, rolling his shoulders as he wiped off the counter and grabbed more empty glasses off of it. It was a slow morning at the Iron Throne pub, seeing as how in the morning he ran it more as a breakfast place than an actual bar. No alcohol on tap in the mornings, just juice, milkshakes, smoothies and all the pancakes and waffles people could eat. Just that barely anyone was in. The usual breakfast crowd would've been in earlier, had he opened up at 8 instead of 9 in the morning, but that was a sacrifice his night crowd made up for in spades. He watched idly as his waiters, only two of them for the morning, went around clearing plates and serving food from the kitchen as the late risers slowly poured in. The smell of freshly baked bread, bacon sizzling in pans and hot pancakes and waffles invaded his nose, one of the most comforting scents in the whole world.

It'd been a few months since he'd moved here with his sister, leaving his legacy behind in the UK to start fresh in the US. His powers were still a secret, mostly anyway. He helped his staff out with the heavy lifting once in a while and surprised them by being able to lift kegs of beer by the armful, something no regular person could do. His sister, Shirley, kept herself busy by tending to the kitchen. She'd gotten pretty good at cooking in the time they'd spent here, so she helped out in the bar when he was low on cooking staff. The fact that he'd actually managed to get a place like this set up in such a short period was luck in itself; he'd nabbed the place after the previous owner sold it on the cheap, spruced it up a bit and started bringing in customers. Mostly British expats at first, but as his business grew, so did his customer base. He expanded the menu to include American food and booze and he had a recipe for moderate and comfortable success.

The day was still young, which is why Alex was shocked when an older man barged into the pub, his slate gray shirt drenched in blood. He staggered to the bar and grabbed onto the edge, supporting his weight as he stared up at him.

"P-please...h-help me..."

The blood on his hands slackened his grip and the man slipped and fell onto the floor as Alex rushed out from behind the counter. The few patrons in the pub moved away as he kneeled at the man's side and gave him a once-over. The three bullet holes in his chest were the most obvious, prompting Alex to whip off his apron, bundle it into a ball and press it against the open wounds to stop the bleeding.

"Sir? Sir! Stay with me, help's coming!"

Alex looked up and locked eyes with one of his patrons, a younger man with his fiance sitting near the door.

"You! Call 911! Now!"

The young man scrabbled for his phone as Alex felt a tug on his apron. He looked down and saw the injured man glaring up at him, a bloody hand gripped tightly onto his front. Alex leaned down close, barely able to hear the man whispering to him.

"D-don't call an ambulance...please..."

And then the bloodied man fell to the floor, unconscious. Alex stared at him blankly, unable to quite process what was going on, even as he heard the same young man talking to the 911 operator on his phone.

What was he going to do?

Name
	Alexander Mackey

Secret Identity
	The Tower

Gender
	Male

Age
	37

Date of Birth
	June 20th, 1983

Themes
	Trauma, loss, recovery. Healing, coping and learning.


Appearance
	Standing six feet two and weighing a good 195 pounds of muscle, Alex is well enough built of a man for some women to call him a stud. He has brown eyes and a head of shoulder length, shaggy brown hair, with a long, thick nose and thin lips. His hands are big and thick yet soft and gentle, belying his calm, gentle nature. He normally dresses simply, often wearing a tee-shirt, plain blue jeans and sneakers underneath a dark green apron when he's at work. However, he will never be seen without his signature silver signet ring on his right index finger. This ring is decorated with a kite shield on its front, and engraved on the shield are the coat of arms of his ancestors; clockwise from the top left, a gothic cross, an eagle, a castle tower and a sword. He also has a silver chain, on which dangles a locket with a family picture inside it, whose case is engraved with an ornate castle tower.

Costume
	In his identity as The Tower, Alex is normally clad in a navy blue flat cap and a black domino mask, mostly concealed by his shaggy hair. He wears a white turtleneck shirt underneath a brown trench coat that's normally left open. The length of reinforced iron chain that serves as his weapon is normally wrapped around his left arm. On his legs he wears a pair of beige cargo pants and steel-toed boots. On his hands are a pair of black leather driving gloves.

Personality
	Alex is a cool, mostly calm and reasonable person, able to get along with anyone almost instantly because of how laid-back he is. He has a strong sense of right and wrong behind his lazy exterior and will go to great lengths to ensure justice is served. Following the tragedy of his parents' deaths, he is rather stoic and quiet, but still the same friendly person inside. However, he hides great sadness, regret, and a sense of guilt at not being able to protect his family despite being nearly invincible. The big man keeps his worries and thoughts to himself, masking it behind a smile or a happy face, and it takes a fair bit of effort to crack his facade and get him to talk about his problems.

Backstory
	Alex and Shirley Mackey were born in London, England, to Robert and Arwen Mackey in the summer of 1983. Almost identical twins save for their genders, they both shared many things growing up in life; a school, teachers, similar hobbies and the like. However, what they didn't share was personality; Alex was cooler, calmer and more gentle, while Shirley was hot-headed, aggressive and fierce. Both siblings, however, were very protective of each other, evidenced by how close they were growing up. 

	But where Shirley excelled in her studies, Alex didn't. In their teens, Alex dropped out of school due to bad grades and spent a lot of his time on the streets, wandering around, getting into trouble and trying not to get caught. This was when he first caught wind of his powers of strength, endurance and defense, though he kept them a firm secret from anyone he knew, even his sister. Thugs that fought with him ended up on their asses, their wrists sprained and knuckles bruised from punching his tough skin. Eventually his antics were reigned in by his father and he was put on a home-schooling program, his mother being his teacher. With that, his grades eventually began to improve and he was set on a path much like his sister before him. As he was growing up, he confided in his secrets with his sister, who also shared her own secret: she could control light. Not as useful a power as his, but both of them had super powers. Something which scared them, separated them from the normalcy of regular life.

	Alex only realised his potential as a superhero later on in his life as an adult, when he was doing some grocery shopping and the store he was in got robbed. He stopped the robbers with his super strength and thick skin, the knives they used to stab him shattering on impact with his flesh. He threw the would-be robbers right out of the store to the applause of the shoppers within and the police outside. Something about the way he calmly handled the situation resonated with one of the police officers, who approached Alex with an offer: join Scotland Yard as a riot control officer. He grudgingly accepted, so as long as he had the freedom to make sure his family was alright without him around as often.

	So began his career as the Yard's first powered officer, codenamed The Tower. He would go on to feature as the Yard's best riot control specialist, being deployed in riots across London over the five years he spent with the police force. However, the strict rigorum and all the rules to follow made Alex rather disillusioned with how justice was being served in his home town. After his fifth year in the service, he hung up his uniform and left the force, much to the disappointment of Scotland Yard. However, in the two years that followed, the police would receive more and more reports of a masked vigilante whose description was eerily similar to Alexander. A tall, strapping man in a flat cap, coat and mask tore through the city streets at night, dealing swift justice to criminals big and small. Those in the police who'd worked with Alex before knew his methods and his powers and had no idea how to stop him.

	Then something happened that changed Alex's life forever, better and worse. In 2019, London was plagued by a serial killer whom experts simply could not track down. The murderer went after seemingly random targets, young and old, male and female, no distinction was made as to who they killed. But when this mysterious individual went after Alex's parents, leaving them dead in their family home and his sister distraught, Alex went back to Scotland Yard. With the help of the police he figured out that the killer, now named the White Death by the media, was targeting people with a crazed delusion that he was some sort of angel helping free souls from their fleshy prisons to ascend to paradise. His method of selecting victims was truly random, but because he'd left Alex's sister, Shirley, untouched, Alex knew the crazed man would come back to finish the job.

	One September night, Alex stayed awake at his sister's bedside. A cold feeling churned in his gut; something was up and he knew it. As the minutes ticked by and midnight came and went, the Tower found that they were not alone in their home.

	The White Death was back.

	The killer fought with Alex, but the battle was short-lived; as much as the killer was psychotic, Alex had his own super powers. He ended the fight by throwing his parents' murderer off the second storey of their home with enough force to tear the frame out of the window. By the time the police arrived, Alex was restraining the White Death, his reign of terror now over. Unfortunately for the serial killer, he would languish in prison following a guilty verdict, left to suffer several life sentences without parole while being straddled with a broken leg that wouldn't heal and chest injuries that left him breathless after climbing a staircase. Alexander Mackey was hailed as a hero for stopping the killer's violent spree, but nothing would replace the void in his heart that was his loving family.

	Without much else left for him, Alex packed his things and left, taking his sister away from London and towards the United States to start a new life. With a clean slate, he could only hope that things would go smoother.

Superpowers

Immovable Object - Alex can, when standing still with BOTH his feet firmly planted on the ground, root himself in place to prevent himself from moving. Nothing, not even the strongest force, can move him from where he roots himself. Only when his foothold is shaken or he loses balance does this power deactivate.
Super Strength - Alex possesses the strength of several hundred men, and can easily lift a small bus with little difficulty, jump as high as a small building and run faster than most humans can, though not as fast as those with super speed.
Iron Skin - By virtue of his defense-based powers, Alex also possesses a superhuman tough skin, akin to Colossus in terms of durability. It's not metallic, of course, but it allows him to survive most attacks by unpowered individuals. Of course, things like RPGs or explosives or attacks from powered individuals can break past his defenses to do him damage.
Power Channel - Discovered mostly due to experimentation with his sister, Alex is able, to a certain degree, to absorb and redirect most energy-based powers thrown at him, things like fireballs, beams, electricity and the like. If they are weak enough to not cause him severe injury, he is able to absorb them and then redirect them either back at his aggressor or somewhere else. However he can only use this when rooted as an Immovable Object. He likes to use this most in conjunction with his sister, as she can fire lasers and light beams at him and have him redirect her attacks at other foes out of her reach.


Talents and Interests
	Alex is a very good bare-knuckle brawler and an excellent athlete, with strong stamina and good reflexes. Outside of grueling police work or masquerading as a vigilante, Alex does a bit of gardening as a hobby. Among his friends, he's known to have a very green thumb, being able to grow almost anything he gets his hands on. From his time spent in Scotland Yard, he's developed a keen ability to read people, though not as developed as he'd like.

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