Sep

No Wraith allowed

She looked serene. Dominic felt she looked as if she had been sleeping, the blue and red flashing lights did little to change the atmosphere. Little spots of rain continued to fall, a silent drum beat admist the cacophony of a night in Calder City. He had taken the photos he needed long before the 'real' detective arrived. Being careful to not touch the body, any farther than he already had in closing her eyes, and did a scout of the perimetre. Hidden in a plastic bag down an adjacent alley now was one fancy looking shoe. No doubt the compatriot to the one that 'Eve' was wearing. Calder Citys own retelling of Cinderella, now with more murder and mystery.

He watched as the medical examiner, an eccentric old man called Doctor Buckley, and his assistant a niave young woman named Pilar studied the body. He took notes ofcourse, her liver temperature was colder than the ambient temperature meaning that she was killed, stored and cooled and then dumped here. That made guessing a time of death, especially here in the field next to impossible. Dusk merely nodded along, and took notes as the Detectives did their thing. They could have asked him for his photos, and his sketches. Instead all they asked for were his fingerprints, and boot prints, in order to eliminate them as possibles.

As if they didn't already have his fingerprints on file anyway.

Eventually the body was moved onto the gurney, raised and then placed in the back for transport and taken away. Only then did the lead detective approach him. Dusk didn't look her in the eye, and just continued to look at the spot where the body had been. The outline now the only trace that there had ever been a person there. "Same as all the others huh, good catch Albie. How did you find her, busy night on the town?"

He ignored the stab. "This is the third I've seen. Same circumstances, same clothing, some bald head. I guarantee that Buckley will find she's not an ounce of blood left."

"Right. Why don't you come into the station, see if you can't help us identify her-"

"I'll pass. Just let me know what you can."

Dominic could feel the touch before it made contact. The shadow on the ground recoiled from the contact, though his body didn't betray him the same way and stood firm. He turned back to look at her.

"Work with me here Albie."

He pulled his shoulder free. "I am. That's why I called you, and not anyone else. It didn't have to be you, hell this isn't even your case anymore."

"Why won't you trust me, just let me into that big brain of yours-"

Dominic looked at the two junior detectives, who very quickly looked away and suddenly found something very interesting to do at the otherside of the crime scene. Albert lowered his voice. "You know why I won't trust you, why I won't let you in. You're here because you're a good detective. Thats it." He could see the sting in her eyes. He would have been lying to himself if that didn't sting him a little bit too, but another part of him felt some level of satisfaction.

He wasn't sure which side he hated more.

She appeared to regain her composure. "Very well then. We'll be in touch once we've made an arrest."

"Come on now Lucy, you know this isn't how this works."

"How this-" Detective Lucy Wilcox pointed between her and him. "-Works, is that you have very correctly called in a crime. I will now go and do my best to solve that crime, and then I will tell you once I have done so if you are required to attend court." She slapped her notepad closed. "That is how this works."

"Now who's being difficult." He called as she turned and walked away, but she didn't reply which was all he needed to know that his time at this scene was over. Unbeknownst to Lucy he already had several things to follow up on, for starters he knew who the victim was. He had seen her face in the dozens of missing-persons reports he had stored in his office, during his hours of parousing trying to find a link between the missing victims.

Dominic Dusk bent down and under to go under the police-tape, not looking back even as he could feel eyes on him as he walked away. He needed caffiene, this looked like it wasn't going to be a night that stopped anytime soo and he had important work to be done.

Vanguard: Calder City

More importantly: what are the bennies like? Are we talking HMO, PPO? What's their 401K match percentage?

@Eddie Brock

Please never contact me or my family again.

I have a question, if Vanguard is a SHIELD equivalent, is it a global org, or is specifically American?

I ask because a lot of Bret’s story hinges on his spy roots. Don’t want to step on any toes.

@BrutalBx

We never really decided yet.. at the very least they will have an international presence if that helps.

Vanguard: Calder City

What’s the hierarchy with vanguard at the local office? I know I want a woman named Gail West as Legions superior. I said deputy director in the sheet but title is subject to change

@Byrd Man

You can always give her some fancy Deputy Director of Special Operations type title

Vanguard: Calder City

Nah nah they're 'good'. Albert's dad is our local division chief.

I forgot his dad's first names I can just remember his grandad of top of my head lmao.

We will be compiling the lore we've made and that with which you have given us once one of us has enough free time. Probably around the time the Ic drops.

If you have anything you want to see or anything you want to do tribute in terms of the city scape feel free to bring it up with us either publicly or privately.

Vanguard: Calder City

This may be a stupid question, but I am a stupid man and bad at reading between the lines:

What is Vanguard? Is it a private corporation, a government agency, an independent group (a la the Avengers or Justice League)? I just wanna make sure before I go namedropping organizations that I actually have a good handle on what's around in the setting.

@Eddie Brock

It's our version of SHIELD... we really need to add it to the OP

Vanguard: Calder City

<Snipped quote by Colonel Sep>

So someone who might or might not be a criminal but not like a supervillain is okay? I'm just testing waters in the character concept lab.

@Fabricant451

Yeah of they're currently a criminal then sure that's fine, as long as they aren't going around murdering people. Who doesn't love a good redemption story?

Vanguard: Calder City

Question: are more, let's say antagonistic characters allowed?

@Fabricant451

Outright antagonists no, not at the get go. Anti-heroes, anti-villains and people who may fall depending on how their story goes... Yes

Vanguard: Calder City

<Snipped quote by Melissa>

I will PM the GM's then and see what can I change, thanks!

@Anciek

I'm at work, Melissa is in a meeting and Hillan can't read but one of us should be able to shoot you a reply later

Vanguard: Calder City

_________________________________________________________

D O M I N I C D U S K
D O M I N I C D U S K

^{"My songs know what you did in the dark."}

C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T _________________________________________________________ (FC:Milo Ventimiglia; Dialogue: Slategray | 708090) _________________________________________________________ S U M M A R Y S U M M A R Y _________________________________________________________ Albert Lukas Lichtenstein _________________________________________________________ December 21st, 1995 | 31 _________________________________________________________ Single | Male | Straigh S T A T S S T A T S _________________________________________________________ Height | 5'9 _________________________________________________________ Hair Color | Dark Brown/Black _________________________________________________________ Eye Color | Dark Brown _________________________________________________________ Hometown | Calder City -

H I S T O R Y H I S T O R Y ___________________________________________________________________________________ Albert is the third generation of Lichtenstein to live in the united states, and the third generation to have abilities. His Grandfather Otto survived the Gray Death and unlocked abilities to manipulate light. One of the first Powered to join up with the fledgling organisation 'Vanguard'. Otto had a son, Karl who inherited his abilities to manipulate light. With the extra ability to cast a 'healing' beam of light on the wounded. Karls career would progress at an unhindered rate, climbing rapidly in the ranks of Vanguard until he one day became the Regional Chief for the city of Calder. Albert was the born the youngest of three. William his older brother gained the familial abilities at 13 years old, and overtime as his powers progressed he unlocked the ability to create realistic looking illusions. His sister Matilda gained the familial abilities at 15, and could use the light to bed space around her to teleport over short distances. There was great anticipation for Albert to follow on in the family legacy, but on his fifteenth birthday he disappointed. His mother Helen, and his father Lukas tried not to be too surprised when as he blew out his birthday candles, all the lights in the room went out. At first they thought his powers were the ability to turn the light on and off, as it became clearer over time that his abilities were those to manipulate shadow he slowly felt himself become shunned. Not by his brother or sister, but by his father. His father stopped mentioning Alberts future in law enforcement, started talking about college and university. It all blew up on his eighteenth birthday, when Albert submitted an application to the Vanguard training program and was rejected, by his own father. Storming out, the last words to his father were that he would prove him wrong and just show him how he could help people just as well as the rest of them. Five years on the beat in Calder City PD, two years as detective. Inter-personal conflicts within the departmen he left the department, and went solo. Now his life exists of cases, alcohol and shunning attempts by his family to reconnect. Something however is shifting, and he can feel it within himself. He's just not entirely sure what it means. A B I L I T I E S A B I L I T I E S __________________________________________________________________________________ Shadow Manipulation: Albert can manipulate shadow, as of this moment he can just cast actual shadow around. He can make two and three dimensional shadow constructs, however at the moment they are not solid. Who knows what the future can bring... Durability: Like many powered people Albert is slightly more durable than your average human being. M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S __________________________________________________________________________________ Albert wants to do his best to prove himself as a capable powered individual, and he just wants to help the city in his own particular way. He doesn't always rush to the scene of a crime, or the scene of an accident. But if something needs solved, he's the man that you come too.

Vanguard: Calder City