Gotham's Sword and Shield

[archy]

Terrence McGinnis

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Hope. Courage. Honor. Justice.

.....................................................................

Full Name: Terrence McGinnis
Code Name: The Scarlet Bat
Age: 17
Date of Birth: August 18
Sexual Orientation: Hetero
Species: Human
Alliance: Antihero
Citizenship: DC
Canon or Original?: Canon

"Victory is MINE Baldy!
And if you had any hair I'd take that too!"

Hair: Short black hair hangs messily across his brow, sometimes stylized up.
Eyes: Light blue round that are slightly oval
Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 170 pounds
Distinguishing Marks: A gun shot wound on his left arm

Appearance: Light blue eyes on medium-hued skin, against high cheekbones, a sharp, but strong jawline, with a knife like nose and full lips. Short black hair hangs messily across his brow, sometimes stylized up. Terry's body is lean, but accented by muscle. Terry is frequently seen sporting a brown leather jacket, with a white sleeveless shirt, and loose, black jeans. Though his clothing varies, it is usually casual in design, practical for fighting, but always paired with the leather jacket.

Face Claim: Nicholas Hoult

"I’m not interested in making new friends,
I don’t even like the ones I have”

Likes:

Slacking off (academically)
Girls
Fighting
Downing some jock's ego
Technology
Dancing
Techno music & industrial music
Loyalty
Clubbing
The Rain

Dislikes:

Authority & authority figures
Being told what to do
Taking the blame
A lack of justice or vengeance
Judgmental people
Double-standards
Not being there for his family
Politicians
The police
Druggies

Personality:

To say that Terry is an unpredictable teenager would be apropos. Although everything in his background points to sociopath; poor grades, disrespect for authority, fights at school, criminal activities, and even time spent in juvey, he is no heartless fiend. Compassion and a sense of right flows through his veins, and though he gets in fights over personal pride, he gets into just as many to protect those who cannot protect themselves. He doesn't even really think about it, it's instinctive, as natural to him as breathing. How he can protect the weak and be indifferent about committing petty crimes is difficult to explain. Terry is this way about many things, much to the frustration of his mother.

Terry's pride is a key motivator in a lot of things, solely because it is the root of his determination. Sure, his pride makes him more likely to get into fights if someone spits on his face or talks badly about his family, but over all, it is Terry's outright stubbornness that gets him into the most trouble. Terry isn't the type to concede, he isn't the type to back off - he will fight for what he believes in, either verbally or physically. If you try to take him down, he will get up and come back for more, even when the odds are weighed against him. This applies to actual fights as well, Terry is likely to keep coming back, time after time, determined to find some means of victory, though he is usually intelligent enough to eventually adjust his approach.

Tying into his pride and his stubbornness is his general tendency to spite others. Sometimes, when people tell him not to do something, he will, just to stick it to them. Or to prove that he can. Other times, when he's done something wrong, he'll outright refuse to rectify his mistake until it's convenient for him (if at all).

This pride also means that he is unbending about juggling his social life with his vigilante life. So far it's been working. So far.

Another key factor of Terry's personality is his rather snarky sense of humor. Even with things look the grimmest (maybe even especially then), Terry is quick to offer some sarcastic or witty remark, or derisive quip to his enemy. It's sort of like the first and last line of defense for him. Relating to this is Terry's brutal honesty. The teenager isn't afraid to ask why something is the way it is, or state out the stupidity in any plan.

Fiercely independent, Terry is contented to simply be alone most of the time. But even as a boy who thrives in isolation, Terry is still a human being, and still yearns for social contact. His guarded nature makes it difficult for him to immediately befriend everyone he meets. This isn't to say that Terry is distant, tight-lipped and cold, simply that, after Antony Bigelow, he isn't going to wear his heart on his sleeve and make "bestest" friends with every schmuck he meets. But this doesn't mean he's a cynic or that he expects the worst in people, others, just that he isn't particularly socially outgoing, or determined to make new friends. He's quite happy with the ones he has. If a person doesn't set off his instincts, and manages to wriggle into the lives of the few people he calls friends, then he will adjust to them.

Strengths:
Doesn't play by the rules - He's more than willing to fight dirty and do low-blows.
Above average intellect - Terry's academic knowledge isn't super impressive (still pretty good), but he's quick witted, resourceful, and good at figuring things out.
Intuitive - He's pretty empathic, and can usually spot bad-news from a mile away.
Witty - A lot that comes out of his mouth is coated with snark and sarcasm.
Strong willed - Almost single minded, you can beat him down and he'll get up and come back for more.
Loyal - Once someone gains his trust and gets close to him, Terry's the type to keep them close and do anything for them.
Confident - He knows what his strengths, and he's more than happy to act on them.

Weaknesses:
Cocky - Terry's a little bit arrogant, and is prone to overestimating himself against the odds. This is especially so if it's personal.
Anger Issues - Certain things just press Terry's buttons. Always eager for a fight, he's more than ready to throw down with anyone who rubs him the wrong way. Generally he'll try blowing it off, first, but with a little persistence...
Expectations - Terry expects a certain level of performance from himself, and when he fails to meet his own standards, he gets frustrated. He also loathes to disappoint anyone that means anything to him.
Spiteful - Unfortunately, he often likes to rub people the wrong way on purpose.
Competitive - Maybe it's the teen male in him, but he can rarely resist a good challenge.
Stubborn - Terry doesn't know when to let something go, or when to heed people's advice.
Guarded - Being a loner and having a Juvenal record, he isn't so quick to befriend everyone he meets.

"With great power comes great responsibility"

Powers: None

Weapons:

The "L9V5" Suit

W/O Utility Belt
Turnaround
Front Wings
Back Wings


Terry's costume is a sleek, form-fitting black suit, complete with boots, gloves, and mask. The mask covers the entirety of his face, and affixed to the top, alongside the temples, are two long, razor-like ears about four to five inches in height. His gloves have sharp black blades alongside the outer portion of the arm, and the arms and back are capable of producing red wings for gliding and jet-based flight. Around the waist is a small, affixed "utility belt", primarily for storing back up fuel, tracers, audio bugs and small cameras.

Cloaking: The cloaking technology in the L9V5 suit is advanced enough to render Terry nearly invisible. The sensors in the suit detect his surroundings and imitate the coloration and textures flawlessly. If he is pressed up against something, the cloaking is made all the more accurate, as the sensors can sometimes imitate moving objects. The sensors even imitate the temperature of the surrounding area, in order to make it more difficult to be seen by infrared. Unfortunately, the cloaking isn't completely fool proof, and is best utilized when others are unaware of his presence. If one gets too close, the dimensions of the suit against the object can be seen, and there is rarely any human-shaped architecture. This cloaking measure can also be countered by the use of ultraviolet light.

Enhanced Strength: The suit amplifies its wearers natural strength to a factor of ten, ultimately allowing Terry to lift up to 4 tons.

Heightened Senses: The suit provides many enhancements to both sight and hearing, with limited enhancements to the sense of touch. The "ears" of the suit help amplify sound at a vast range, and can even focus in on a relatively precise area, making eavesdropping on distant conversations easy. The sound amplifiers have to be manually adjusted through vocal commands for each situation. Sight has been enhanced considerably, as the lenses of the suit can serve as high powered binoculars, and at a proper vantage point, are capable of seeing up to half a mile away. This is further enhanced as the lenses can adjust for night time and low-light environments, and even go into the infrared spectrum.

Flight: The suit possesses retractable wings, with jets at the bottom of the feet. This is not flight in the truest form, and is closer to gliding. should the wings ever become damaged or out of commission, the flight pattern of the jets would become erratic, and difficult to control, a danger to whoever is within the suit. The wings, however, are made of a relatively durable, but flexible material, making damage difficult, but not entirely impossible. With everything in proper functionality, the suit is able to fly up to speeds of one hundred miles an hour for a short period of time (around a minute). The faster the speeds reached, the more the suit's fuel is consumed, and when that runs out, further flight is impossible until it is refilled.

Weapons: The prototype L9V5 suit comes equipped with retractable titanium claws, of up to six inches in length. These claws have been painted with black chrome to match the entirety of the suit, and sharpened to a razor point, making them very effective in close range.

Built in Defenses: In full functionality, the suit properly monitors the vital statistics of the wearer. Should the operator full unconscious, the suit will send out an electric pulse throughout the exterior of the suit, to make retrieval of the suit and the operator more difficult. Unfortunately, there are a manner of ways this can be bypassed, and the wearer of the suit can simply be killed with range weaponry even after the defenses kick in.

Environmental Resistance: The suit is highly adaptive to even the most hostile of environments, and is easily capable of withstanding impressive heats and freezing colds. Fire outright can be resisted for a short duration of time. Electric shocks, extreme pressures, and even low levels of radiation can be shrugged off under the suit's protection.

Armoring: The suit consists of triple-weaved, very flexible kevlar armor. The suit is capable of withstanding most small-arms fire without penetration (it still hurts the operator). However, very high powered small arms, like a .44 magnum, are capable of resisted penetration, with rifles and large caliber bullets easily capable of bypassing the suit's armoring.

Scanners: The tips of the fingers of the suit serve many functions, and can be pressed up against a surface to hear through it (walls, etc). But the fingertips of the suit can be dipped into nearly any substance and bring back results as to what the substance in question is.

Enhanced Mobility: allows him to move/react and perform at vastly enhanced speeds. The effect t being that ordinary people (pedestrians, joggers, etc.) appear to be moving roughly analogous to just shy of frozen molasses, bullets can be both tracked and dodged (assuming he’s aware of them), and even some similarly enhanced types, (in terms of reaction and speed) can appear to be moving sluggishly or in relative slow-motion. Nothing on the same level as actual full-on speedsters, but more in reference to people who are marginally faster than is humanly possible.

Electromagnetic Pads: The bottom of the feet of the suit, as well as the palms of the hands, have electromagnets which can be activated, allowing the operator to climb on walls and ceilings.

Belt Buckle: The buckle of his utility belt can be detached and strapped to the back of either hand and used as a monomolecular bladed buzz saw, allowing him to quickly and silently cut through walls or other hardened material with relative ease.

Dispensable stylized boomerangs: capable of burning with blinding brilliance and filling an area with cloying white smoke, tasering, harming foes or emitting a high-pitched sonic screech that drowns out sound and can disorient.

Miscellaneous: EMP shielding, micro-burst encrypted radio relay, 600lb tested mono-filament lined grappling guns built into forearms, launchable tracers/bugs, flexicuffs, smoke pellets, miniaturized flash-bang grenades.

Limitations and Weaknesses:

Ballistics: High-powered handguns are capable of piercing through the L9V5 suit, whereas rifles and high caliber guns are capable of achieving maximum penetration and all together bypassing the suit's armor.

Radiation: Though the suit has limited resistance to low-levels of radiation, it cannot withstand exposure for a long period of time to even moderate levels.

Heat: Most fires can be ignored with the suit's environmental control, but exposure to very hot fires for a long period of time (temperatures of around a thousand degrees), will begin to mess with the suits circuitry and sensors, and then even start to have affects on the exterior of the suit. Temperatures of over two-thousand degrees can immediately have adverse affects on the suit.

Knives: The suit is best at warding off ballistic attacks, but is not entirely resistant to bladed against. With the weight and strength of a muscular individual behind it, a knife can puncture through the armor (with some resistance). The knife can also be used to shred the suit overall.

Blunt Impacts: Though the suit's material tries to bypass some blunt trauma and distribute it over a broad area, it is not very effective. Simple punches can cause a great deal of damage and pain. The stronger the individual is, of course, the more effective the blunt trauma.

Breath: The suit's defenses can be easily bypassed through an application of toxic gas. Though the suit's sensors will immediately inform the individual of the inhospitable conditions, the wearer can only last as long as he can hold his breath.

Strengths/Abilities:

Gifted Martial Artist - Though Terry has never been outright trained, he's been in a lot of brawls over the years, and is a pretty gifted fighter. But his lack of training means that he isn't flawless, and he often leaves his left side slightly exposed.

Athletic - Terry is a very skilled athletic, and moves with lightning-quick reflexes.

Observant - Terry's pretty good at noticing patterns, and putting the pieces together.

Mechanics - If it's an old-school car, Terry can fix it. This applies to mechanical devices other than car parts, but cars in particular are his forte.

Weaknesses:

Without the suit, Terry is a normal human being, and although he is muscular and quite durable, humans are easily injured creatures. All of the normal weaknesses apply, knives, guns and fists will damage him as intended. So will fire, electricity, pressure, and cold. He only heals as fast as a normal individual does, and further, can only endure starvation, dehydration and fatigue as long as a normal person can.

"All it takes is one bad day to reduce
the sanest man alive to lunacy,"

History:

As with many of the denizens of Gotham City, Terrence McGinnis hardly has a "picture perfect" life. His childhood was relatively normal, or as normal as it could be. His father, a tech developer for a powerful corporation was rarely around, leaving his mother to juggle her job and raising Terry. Even when his father was around, it wasn't as joyous as you might think. His parents were prone to disagree on almost everything, on how Terry was being raised, on finances, on many, many things. Though these arguments were always kept quiet, Terry was more observant than they thought.

But things weren't always heated. His mother and father had as many contented moments as they did argumentative moments, and both doted upon him greatly. Four years after Terry was born, his mother brought his brother, Matt into the world. Terry was eager for the opportunity to play with another boy. Unfortunately, he soon found out that babies weren't much fun at all, and couldn't really be played with (and when he tried, his mother always got upset with him about endangering his brother). Ever since then, Terry held a sort of natural grudge against his brother.

As the two of them grew older, their relationship changed slightly. Though the two of them were close, Terry would frequently tease and torment his younger brother, which was returned in kind. Sometimes their roughhousing would get out of hand, and items in the house would be destroyed, resulting in major time outs for both parties involved especially Terry, who was older and should "know better". The destruction was a strain on his family's finances, resulting in more arguing between his parents.

The arguing grew more and more frequent over the years, even if they tried to keep it quiet. So frequent that Terry would leave the house and do whatever he could just so he didn't have to hear it. His grades began to tank, he started skipping school, and showing up late on days he even attended, and he got into fights. A lot of fights. So many fights that he started building something of a reputation at school. Teachers were met with the same confrontational attitude most others were met with, and when he wasn't in detention for fighting, he was in detention for bad behavior.

Over time, he befriended another detention-frequenting kid, whose name was Antony Bigelow. Antony was one of the few people at school who didn't avoid him, and the two almost immediately began to hit it off. With few other friends, Terry and Antony did almost everything together, and became as thick as thieves.

Right around this time, Terry's home life got even worse. His father was selected for a special project - the company had been commissioned by the army to engineer some kind of super weapon. His father was around even less, and when he was home, it was almost nothing but arguing, and now it was getting to the point where they weren't even quiet about it. Terry was never at home, and when he wasn't looking out for Matt, he was spending time with Antony.

Antony's elder brother, Charlie, was the head of a gang. For a while, both Antony and Charlie coaxed Terry to join, eager to have a kid of his prowess in the gang. For a while, Terry resisted, but, dependent on his only friend, and eager to stay away from a hostile home environment, Terry joined up with Charlie, and ran with a gang.

Things started out pretty slow. Petty crimes like vandalism, theft, that sort of thing. Once Terry became desensitized to this, Charlie decided to up the ante and include his brother's friend on... juicier assignments. Terry started joining gang brawls, and would even muscle in one kids Charlie sent him after, kids who'd pissed Charlie and the other gangsters off... or kids who looked loaded. Worse still, Terry got lumped in to some robberies and muggings, even some major thefts.

Every now and again, there would be run ins with the cops, but the gang was usually pretty quick to avoid it.

Things got even more strained at home, and after a week of not being around, Terry returned to find that his parents were getting a divorce. It was then that he plunged himself even further into the gang, and decided to go out on an extra risky assignment. Terry, Charlie and Antony were supposed to trash a store. A store clerk had given Charlie a hard time, and Charlie wanted to be sure that the man paid. Charlie and Terry were supposed to break in and loot, while Antony stood guard.

Things didn't go entirely as planned. Cops were already en route back to the station, and caught the alarm after Terry and Charlie smashed out the windows. Antony, instead of alerting them, turned tail and fled, leaving Terry and Charlie to loot the place, completely unaware of what was coming. Cops flooded the joint, and Terry and Charlie took off. Charlie was the first to be caught, the cops had more difficult a time chasing Terry down. But in the end, it didn't matter, Terry was cuffed. Charlie, who was eighteen at the time, got a full three year sentence. Terry's only saving grace was his age of fourteen, which resulted in three months of juvey.

When Terry came out, he was a changed man. Sort of. He certainly no longer confided in Antony Bigelow for anything. His parents, feeling some sense of responsibility for Terry's actions, mutually agreed to finish the divorce process before he got out of juvey, and tried to make things as civil as possible. His father had even moved out of the house, and Terry was going with him. Home life was more quiet, as the yelling had stopped and Terry refused to answer any questions about what juvey had been like, or how he fell in with the gang, or why he did what he did.

Terry stopped skipping school (as much) and started showing up on time (most of the time). Instead of throwing down with every boy he met who looked at him the wrong way, Terry avoided most fight (keyword: most). His grades improved (slightly), and things were looking a little better. Nonetheless, Terry's presence was still sparse, and he spent most of his time doing god-knows-what. Slowly, but surely, he became more social, and though he fell in with some... questionable people once more, they weren't criminals. They just didn't have the best reputation around.

Several months passed by, and Terry's attitude became something a little closer to what it had been. Confident and snarky, plenty eager to roughhouse with his brother during visitation and offer some witty one-liners. He never fully justified anything to his mother and father, but they came to accept it, grateful that he was just speaking to them in general. Though he was more guarded and aloof than before, his parents gave up on altering that.

A few months into his sixteenth year, things took a drastic turn for the worst. Terry got grounded for getting in a fight at school. Arguing with his father about it that evening, he ended up saying hurtful things and storming out of the house. His father disappeared, and his house was ransacked. For days and days, the police looked abroad, with Terry, Matt and even their mother looking over Gotham. Two weeks after his disappearance, a body, wallet less washed up in Gotham Bay. Police studied, and found the dental records to match Warren McGinnis.

Mary and Matt mourned Warren's passing. Terry, however, kept it all bottled inside and focused on finding out why his father was dead. Returning to his father's apartment, and passing the police blockade, Terry began to turn over everything. He emptied out drawers, flipped over furniture, and searched the house from head to toe. Nothing came up. Agonized by defeat, Terry broke down. As he regained his composure, he looked up, and saw his father's favorite book on the shelf. Something urged him to read it.

Leafing through the pages, Terry found a letter addressed to whoever found it. It detailed the L9V5 project on which he'd been working. The letter spoke of a super advanced suit, designed for the military. The prototype was nearly perfected, and the company, satisfied with their work, was going to hand it over to the military... but not all of it. The company was going to mass produce more models than the military requested, and sell them to the highest bidder. A few powerful criminal organizations were already interested in obtaining the suit. Warren found out about this, and the company viewed him as a liability. He knew he didn't have long.

Thoughts of vengeance clouded Terry's head. Unable to get rid of them, Terry formulated a plan. While he and his family were brought down to the station for a few questions, Terry broke into the evidence room and obtained his father's keycard. Before the police could review security footage and see the theft, Terry set out to the testing facility where the suit resided. Waiting until nightfall, until the place closed down, Terry dressed himself in black, wore a ski mask, and used the keycard to break into the facility. The keycard still had direct access to the suit itself... which Terry promptly stole.

While within the facility, he proceeded to trash everything he could. He broke millions of dollars of equipment, destroyed massive computers, overloaded the circuitry, smashed the security terminals, and stole any and all relevant data files he could get his hands on. He even started a fire. Terry was so wrapped up in the destruction he was reaping that he didn't even notice the private security force that was entering the building... not until he was shot. Fleeing into cover, Terry put on the suit, and brawled with the security force. The fire blazed around him, and the building began to collapse, but Terry didn't care. All of his rage, all of his grief was wrapped up in the fight, in destroying the building itself. He'd barely been able to escape in time.

Heading home, he took off the suit and forgot all about it... for a time. Instead, he allowed himself to grieve for his loss, and spent many days with his family.

The corporation began to send people out to investigate the theft and destruction of the facility. Meanwhile, the police investigation came back, and linked Warren's murder to one specific man. Rage boiled Terry's blood, but he decided to let the police deal with it, hopeful that things could be resolved. But they weren't. After a long, drawn out court battle, complete with testimonies from Warren's work people painting Warren in a negative light, the murderer walked free. The evidence on the man was circumstantial at best, and didn't hold up in court. Terry and his family were never going to see justice.

Donning the suit once more, Terry stalked his father's murderer, before preying upon him. Cornering him in an alleyway, Terry beat the man to a pulp, and tried to get direct answers. Terry was under no illusion that the man was solely responsible, so he wanted answers. Who was he hired by? Was it the head of the corporation, or someone else? How much had he been paid? Did it feel good killing Warren? Terry got his answers... even the ones he didn't want to hear. He killed his father's murderer without a second thought.

His eyes were now turned to the corporation itself. He would do everything in his power to destroy it.

"Next time guys, we should just
rebuild this place outta Lego."

Writing Sample:

A low snore can be heard from terry as he laid stretched out in his bed. His room door leisurely crept open as a little somebody carefully let himself in. The boy prowled as quietly as possible to the other side of the room to a closed window. The dark room flooded with light as he opened it. Glaring at his Terry in fear as the lump turned to his side, as if he was avoiding the light, the boy continued to prowl to the foot of his brother's bed. Upon reaching his destination the small boy froze. :Wait.: His eyes filled with the same fear as before. :What if this goes like the last time.: A flash back of his brother kicking him in the stomach crossed his mind as he clinched his stomach. The boy smiled. :Not this time: He took a few steps back and took a deep breath. Before he could get the high pitched scream out, a pillow flew across the room. The impact flung his head back, hitting the dresser behind him. The young boy, now in a squatting position, grabbed the back of his head and grunted. "Time for breakfast." Terry laughed as his younger brother raced out. "That's what you get, twerp!" He shouted out as he plopped his head back on the bed.

Ter then let out a cold sigh as he glanced at his closet door containing his backpack filled with the the L9V5 Suit. :Last night did get pretty rough.: With that last thought he zoned out to the memory of the night before.

"The view from here is intense." The amusement was embed in his voice as he zoomed around Gotham's night sky. That is until he stumbled upon a few gangsters jacking a moving van. Terry swooped down on top of the truck, using his 'pads' to secure himself. He made his above the passenger seat and ripped him out of it in one motion. The act obviously startled the rest for they were getting hysterical. One shouting stop while the other yelling go faster. The driver ultimately stopped to check on the safety of his cousin. Two mongers jumped out the front while four others hopped out the back. All glaring at the hero on top of the roof. "A moving van, fellahs. I guess an ice cream truck would have been out of your league then." He joked as he drop the man he had already knocked out. "It's The Red Rat!" One called out. "No, it's Crimson Wing!" Another shouted. :'Crimson Wing', huh. Maybe I should have thought of that...: Terry sighed. "Actually it's The Scarlet Bat, or if that's to hard for you I'll also accept..." The vigilante took a dramatic pause and used his 'scary voice'. "THE BAT." The gang looked at each other in confusion before one shouted. "Shoot'em!"

"Terrence get down here and eat your breakfast, now!" A stern voice snapped the young vigilante out of his day dream. "You still have to walk your little brother to school!" She finished up. "Okay, mom! Be done in'a second!"

"I'm through talking, get out of my cave,"

Your name/alias: Archy
Timezone: GMT-4


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[Devi B.]