DC Legends - Tuesday, April 18, 2000, 7:19 PM
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Uptown - Sunrise City(#1491RF)

Glass-walled skyscrapers arc upwards. Defying the sky with human strength 
and ingenuity. The very symbol of civilization. Suited businessmen and women 
move to and fro, milling in a wave of crowds. Big names have offices here, the 
names everyone knows. Restaurants focused on the professional, offering fast 
lunch buffets and combos, gather around the skyscrapers. Further north, the 
nightlife district flashes neon and bright, diners and clubs in a cluster around 
the arching entrance to the mall.

Starhawk flies above the city, her form flickering with silver fire against the 
dark of the night.

Suddenly, a green flare like that from an emergency single gun comes streaking 
into the sky leaving a smoking path that leads down to a dark rooftop. The flare 
explodes with a bright flash, which is more than noticeable in the night air.

Starhawk blinks, then changes course, banking down towards the flare's source, 
her aura brightening a little...just in case.

The light from your aura clears the shadows around the rooftop, revealing the 
cloud of white smoke a bit more clearly. It also reveals the glint of metal on a 
figure who stands in the deepest part of the shadow. He holds the flare gun and 
looks up at you, squinting but smiling. "Well, I figured that was bound to get 
someone's attention..."

Starhawk slows, dropping to a landing. "You have mine...is there a problem?"

Templar shakes his head. "Not one of immediate concern... but yes, a problem if 
you consider co-eds having their throats slit a problem..." The figure steps out 
of the shadows and approaches, reaching inside the tunic of his costume. He 
pulls out a newspaper clipping. "This is from today's paper... an update on an 
unsolved murder from some months ago..."

Starhawk frowns. "A serial killer?"

Templar nods. "Indeed. Not one flashy enough to warrant a fancy name... but one 
who has been operating on the USC campus for a while now... basically, all the 
article says is they still have no idea who it is..."

Starhawk frowns. "It can take years to catch those types."

Templar nods. "It can.. but from all appearances this one doesn't wait for years 
like most do... this one seems to go every few months..."

Starhawk nods. "I'm not sure I'm the best equipped for this hunt."

Templar nods. "Nor I. I'm not quite as mobile as you." he says with a smirk. 
"Still, every one of us who is keeping an eye out for anything..."

Starhawk nods, letting the silver flames around her die so that her form is more 
clearly visible. "I am Starhawk."

Templar nods. "And I call myself Templar", he says offering a leather-gloved 
hand.

Starhawk reaches to take your hand.

Templar takes the hand and bows, kissing it in a gallant manner.

Starhawk blinks. It's been...over a century since anyone did that to her, and 
she can't entirely dismiss her surprise.

Templar notices the surprise as he straightens himself. "I'm sorry... I keep 
forgetting how rare gentlemanly behavior is..."

Starhawk says "It seems...unusual."

Templar shrugs a bit and smiles. "You do realize how ironic that sounds coming 
from a woman who can fly and glows, don't you?"

Starhawk chuckles. "Blame the year 2000."

Starhawk studies you for a moment, her expression partially concealed by the 
mask. Unreadable.

Templar says "Well... let's just say the choice of name has less to do with my 
costume than my personality..."

Starhawk nods. "You model yourself after the knights of old."

Templar nods. "Well, I figured that if I'm going to traipse about playing hero, 
I might as well do it properly... although I run as much risk as being dubbed 
Don Quixote as I do Lancelot."

Starhawk laughs a bit. "I'm afraid I just stole ideas from comic books.

Templar smirks. "So did I, indirectly... just finding the name... you know that 
pretty much every other name having to deal with knights is copyrighted?"

Starhawk laughs. "Yeah. I wanted to be Superwoman, but..."

Templar grins. "Well, I wanted "The Dark Knight"... I'm a sucker for bad puns, 
though...

Templar grins. "But Knight was taken... Paladin was taken.. Cavalier was taken 
twice..."

Starhawk nods. "And Hospitaller has the wrong ring to it."

A gust of wind and one of the 'Milennials' hovers along, pausing to hover down 
to a nearby rooftop, heading slowly and uncertainly over to where he can see 
Starwind and Templar.

Starhawk knows Starwind isn't a Milennial. And is definitely unsure about 
Templar.

Templar looks at the approaching figure with a barely concealed awe. He quietly 
wonders if everyone got the ability to fly but him.

Starwind obviously doesn't fly 'naturally', but he does take a moment to make a 
quick gesture to the side, like twisting a lock somewhat. He disappears in a 
swirl of minature 'sparks' and reappears in the same display a few feet away 
from the two, walking forward. Calm, at that. He watches for a moment, then 
looks at Starwind, "Is it just me, or are the costumed wielders of power coming 
out of the woodwork lately?"

Starhawk chuckles. "Well, this one is apparently looking for some legwork help."

Templar nods. "Well, I can't be everywhere at once... and... I have a feeling 
that something is about to happen regarding this..." He pulls a piece of 
newsprint from the sleeve of his tunic.

Templar says "This is from today's paper, regarding a co-ed killed nearly six 
months ago..."

Templar says "She's the latest victim of a serial murderer they believe has been 
working around the USC campus for the last few years..."

Starwind tilts his head, "Interesting..."

Starhawk frowns. "He's USC staff. Probably a janitor or something they wouldn't 
notice."

Templar nods. "Or a student... or a former student..."

Templar says "They haven't worked out any kind of profile on whoever is doing 
it.."

Starhawk says "I'm going for somebody who wouldn't be noticed around campus."

Templar pauses a bit as he looks to Starhawk. "How do you know it's a "he"?"

Starwind hrms, "The not-noticed is best for a killer, probably."

Starhawk says "It might not be, however, usually, serial killers of women are 
male. Usually."

Templar nods. "True... but there's nothing other than averages to eliminate the 
possibility of it being a woman... "

Starhawk says "I'm not eliminating it."

Templar nods. "Odds are it's an employee... most serial killers don't become 
active until their 30's... that would clear most of the students... but I don't 
think it wise to limit ourselves...."

Starhawk says "All female, any pattern in the subjects they studied or the 
classes they took?"

Starhawk frowns. "And I know who could help us a lot. If I can find her."

Templar shakes his head. "I know the last one was a cheerleader... I think maybe 
one of the other ones was too... "

Starwind folds his arms, looking quiet. "Check the murder pattern."

Templar says "But aside from that, I can't think of any common links... from 
what I've read..."

Templar nods to Starwind. "I intended to... but I thought it wise to make sure I 
had some help first..."

Starhawk says "I'm a bit too...obvious to be good for this, but..."

Templar nods. "Well, I don't know anyone else in this line of... work... I 
thought maybe someone else might have some connections...."

Starhawk says "I'm still working on that myself."

Starwind tilts his head, then looks at Starhawk, "I can teach you a trick, if 
you wish to investigate alone?"

Starhawk glances at Starwind. "Like what?"

Templar hmms. "What say we meet back here tomorrow night? I shall tell you what 
I found out about the victims and we'll see if there's any patterns I can't 
find..."

Starhawk nods. "I'll try to find my...contact."

Templar nods. "How might they help?"

Starhawk says "She's a bit more...sublte than me."

Starwind says "Give an idea, for one... I can do something on it?"

Templar nods. "I'm just trying to get all of us... gifted people to keep an eye 
out... it's possible that this killer may see us as too big a risk to deal with 
and stop. Or, depending on their psychosis, this could drive them out to dare us 
into catching him. Some killers, like the Zodiac in San Francisco did that..."

Starwind blinks a few times, "Zodiac?"

Templar says "It was sometime ago... 30 years or so... rather famous case... 
Zodiac was the name the media gave him... it turned out he was mapping out 
constellations with the locations of his victims."

Starwind blinks. "That's an odd one."

Starhawk nods. "I will think about this...and I will try and find my contact. If 
you need me...another of those green flares. Not quite a Bat signal, but..."

Templar nods. "One of the more extreme cases... before they figured out the star 
pattern, he taunted the police with letters that gave clues that were supposed 
to lead to him."

Starwind chuckles, "At this rate, we need our own way of communicating." He 
smirks, looking at Starhawk, "Although I have a suspicion finding you isn't so 
hard?"

Starhawk says "I'm not very subtle."

Templar nods to Starhawk. "Well, it was the first thing I could think of... and 
firing emergency flares isn't exactly subtle either...."  Templar smiles a bit, 
an action that makes him look extremly heroic in the classical sense.

Starhawk smiles. "It worked." Silver flame explodes around her and she launches 
into the sky...so fast as to be but a streak.

Templar watches Starhawk fly off as he turns to Starwind. "By the way, I am 
Templar."

Lucia has arrived.

Starwind smiles slightly, "I... don't prefer giving my name."

Templar nods. "Understood... no one must know your true name, right?"

Lucia saunters up the street. Green hair. She'd stand out...like a sore thumb. 
Even, perhaps, to the spandex types. Of course, it /could/ be died.

Templar hmms a bit and moves to the roof-ledge, looking down on the city. He 
spots the girl with green hair immediately; a task made easier by there not 
being much of a crowd....

Lucia hasn't noticed the spandexers on the roof top. Yet. She's actually looking 
cheerful, now her powers are under more control...

Templar hmms a bit to himself as Starwind falls silent. "I think I'll try one 
more shot..." he says mostly to himself. Taking the flare gun from the rooftop, 
he aims it up and pulls the trigger. Another green flare explodes in the sky 
with an obvious smoke trail motioning to the roof.

Lucia looks up at the flare and blinks. It's coming from a rooftop. If she tries 
to levitate up there, she'll probably nearly shoot herself into orbit again. 
But, nobody ever told her what curiosity did to the cat. She heads towards the 
building, looking for an alternative way up.

Starwind raises an eyebrow slightly. He turns a little, looking around quietly.

Templar turns to regard Starwind. "I'm guessing you didn't see the first flare, 
then..." he says, walking past a fire escape leading to the ground as he 
approaches Starwind.

Lucia ahas and heads up the fire escape. People letting off flares. Maybe 
they're up to no good and she can...like.../try/ to use her powers to stop them. 
Maybe.

Starwind shrugs a little, "If Starhawk knew my real profession." He smirks.

Lucia reaches the top of the roof. She knew it. People up to no good. "Hey you! 
Thief!"

Starwind tilts his head, turning to look and putting his hand to his face. "Uh-
oh..."

Templar smirks a bit at the young woman. "Now what kind of thief would I be 
parading about in this thing?" he says. The figure wears a full chainmail 
suit...

Lucia looks at Templar. "Not you. Him. I caught him at it!"

Starwind shrugs, looking at Templar. "Like I said..."

Templar looks momentarily confused. "What?! I'm sitting here trying to tell 
everyone to look out for the guy slitting girl's throats around the college...."
You say "'And you have... the nerve to hang about here....?!?!""

Lucia blinks. "What? Somebody's killing girls at /college/? Which college! I'm a 
student!" Hoo boy.

Starwind shakes his head, turning to head towards the edge of the rooftop away 
from the street, "I should go. And my stealing has a purpose beyond financial 
values."

Templar turns to the distraught woman. "USC... but they only seem to strike once 
every few months... I can tell you more after..." Templar spins around to 
confront Starwind but by the time he does, the other one is gone.


Lucia relaxes a little,. "I'm at the art institute. I'm probably safe 
but...like...somebody should do something about that."

Templar nods. "Exactly why I've been sending those flares off...trying to get 
other... well, costumed types attention..."

Lucia uhs. "Well, I don't have a costume or a fancy name, but...I dunno...maybe 
I can help.

Starwind isn't exactly gone. More like he's using a window-sill to 'listen in' 
as it were.

Templar nods. "Anything can help... basically, I'm just asking people to keep an 
eye out for anything odd if they go near the college at night... in fact, we're 
meeting back up here tomorrow to see if we can find some kind of pattern to the 
killings..."

Lucia hmms. "Well, I could go there. They let us borrow books from the 
university library. So I've got plenty of excuses...and if I can like...get my 
powers to cooperate...maybe I can help find this guy. I kinda stand out, 
though." She tugs at her hair.

Starwind's voice drifts up from the edge of the rooftop, "Ever heard of 
illusions, young one?"

Templar nods. "Considering that so far, our party consists of a glowing flying 
woman, an apparent thief and a weirdo with a chainmail fixation..." he grins as 
he points to himself, I am not sure I am in any position to play critic."

Lucia says "Yeah, but I'm kinda...not very good with things yet. 
But...well...I'm a telepath."

Templar nods. "That could prove very useful..." He then offers his hand. "Oh, 
and I nearly forgot. I call myself Templar."

Lucia uhs. "I like...don't have a cool name yet. Kinda can't settle on one."

Templar nods. "Well, in my case it was easy. Figured that if I'm going to play 
the hero, I may as well look the part... and no matter where you go, the knight 
is one of the most heroic symbols there is..."

Lucia says "I can't come up with something that sounds cool that isn't like 
copyrighted or something. Uh...call me Lucy? Not like I can hide the hair 
anyhow."

Templar nods. "Well, maybe you could... somehow... and I know all about the 
copyright thing... went through about six names before I found out that no 
company has a character named Templar, yet.

Starwind chuckles, listening from where he is 'hiding', then he makes a quick 
gesture and hovers up on a gust of wind to settle neatly on the edge of the 
roof, watching.

You say "Knight, Paladin, Cavalier... all taken."

Lucia says "Anyway, I figured I could go to campus, hang out and maybe somebody 
that nasty will be thinking loudly about what he's gonna do."

Templar nods. "Perhaps... you can do this without them knowing, can't you? I 
don't relish the idea of putting someone who can't defend themselves in a 
dangerous position..."

Lucia uhs. "I /do/ have powers, and Will says he'd only pick me up if /he's/ a 
telepath.

Templar ahs. "Well, forgive me but I thought all telepaths could do was read 
minds... still..."

Lucia sighs, and tries to pick up a plank that's lying on the roof. With her 
mind. Of course, she overdoes it and sends it flying. "Oops!"

Templar gasps and looks up at the board. "Good lord!"

Lucia tries to catch it. Succeeds. It's now about sixty feet up. "Gah. Like I 
said, /if/ I can get my powers to cooperate." Oh dear. What /are/ you saddled 
with.

Templar nods wearily. "Who is this Will you mentioned?"

Lucia uhs, trying to lower the board back down without dropping it on anyone's 
head. "A friend. He kinda like knows about this stuff."

Templar nods as he double checks to make sure his chain coif is on. Yes. Good.

Lucia does drop the board. But not on herself or Templar. Phew.

Templar nods. "Perhaps you could see about enlisting his help... I have... a 
feeling that something will be happening very soon regarding this one..."
Lucia nods. "I'll try."

Templar nods. "Well, then.. we will be meeting on this roof tomorrow night... 
I'll send up another flare when we're ready.... Can you be here?"

Lucia says "I can like...try."

Templar nods. "Good... well, I must be off... have much to do and not enough 
time to do it in..." he grins as he moves to the roof ledge.
 
Lucia nods. "Take care. Uh...nah, I'll come up with one."

Templar nods as he climbs down the side of the roof....

Starwind sighs. "At this rate, we need a common place to meet." He removes his 
mace and leans on it quietly. "So, what are you doing here, 'Lucy'?"