12 Ideas, January: Black Alice

[paulpogue]

[Note: This approach picks up sometime after "Reign in Hell" and doesn't take into account still-unresolved events in "Secret Six."]

The setup:

Lori Zechlin, self-proclaimed Black Alice, possibly the most powerful being in the universe. Created as a vessel for the Spectre before THAT all went to hell in the Crisis, she now possesses the power to steal anyone’s magic, anywhere, anytime, from any distance, with the full knowledge of exactly how to use it.

The villains are scared of her. They should be. The heroes are even more scared. Same for them. The power to snuff out planets in the hands of a nihilistic teenager, one whom no one, NO ONE has even come close to beating in a fight? I’d be scared too.

But that’s not how Lori Zechlin sees herself. Black Alice is a persona created in her own mind, possibly in very early youth, to take refuge from a world that scares the hell out of her. She’s alone, friendless, growing up with the most boring, white-bread parents you could imagine: mother zoned out on antidepressants, father a bland company man. She wanted for little, save affection and attention.

She found it via magick, modern-day neopaganism, and for a brief time she was part of a circle that she felt thought the same way. But that all fell apart. So did her one boyfriend, a guy with a thing for goth girls but really just wanted to check off one more box in his quest for freak-seduction.

Then it all really went to hell when her mother, unable to take the living hell that was her half-life, ended up face first in a swimming pool with a stomach full of pills, and her father withdrew into near-nothingness.

Lori Zechlin. Black Alice. Goth teen, all alone in Dayton. She did the only thing she could: keep her head down and mouth shut and try to stay out of the way of the persecutors that infest high school, while in her mind she could imagine to her heart’s content how Black Alice would deal with the interlopers.

Until the day she woke up with the ability to steal magic. She didn’t understand it, she still doesn’t understand it, but there it was. And here she is, two years and several superfights later, going into senior year of high school. She’s been approached by three different factions: one wanted to imprison her, two wanted to use her. Even the Shadowpact, with whom she formed the closest bond, mostly saw her as a very advanced sword to be wielded in a suicide mission. Nobody cared about Lori. Everybody wanted Black Alice. Is it any wonder she has identity issues?

But now she lives in relative peace, mother resurrected, family together again, and all unmolested by supers of any kind – the heart-stopping fear she incites in the community assures that her “metas keep out” rule is strictly obeyed.

She’s changed. A lot. If with great power must also come great responsibility, what then does absolute power bring? Lori Zechlin is burdened with the greatest responsibility on the planet, and spends every second of every day keeping it under control. Even her fantasies of bringing violent revenge upon her enemies must be kept on a leash in her mind, lest they accidentally come to terrible life.

At night, in secret, she performs pagan rituals. Calling on everything from the mother goddess to pentacles to candle magic. None of it ever works. Because that’s the REAL tragedy of Black Alice – she loves magick, but NONE OF IT IS HER OWN. All she can do is take from other people. And though the gods and goddesses she tries to invoke do exist, none of them dare show themselves to her or give a little bit of power; they’re too afraid. Ironic; she’d be so happy if she felt she could so much as light a fire on her own, but she can’t. She tried to form a bond with the Birds of Prey, but that just didn’t click. She might have a family, or might not, with Misfit. She tries not to think about it.

On the bright side, everyone is leaving her alone. A combination of the terror her powers created amongs metahumans, and the fact that most of the magical community, from Blaze and Satanus on down, incorrectly believe her to be a shattered wreck. Precisely as she wants them to believe. Right now she’s still hiding out in Dayton, keeping a low profile, content with her life with her mother and father and no friends. It's quiet.

So far, anyway.

[paulpogue]

Entry 1:

MY FRIEND, THE PRESIDENT
Because every second-string hero needs a third-string sidekick created by Joe Simon

“I guess you could say I was a child of the me generation …”

That's how he introduced himself to her. The new kid, Preston. She tries to keep clear of new people, and generally prefers that they keep clear of her. But this one just wouldn't quit. She's not sure why. He seems fascinated by her, but not exhibiting a crush, either. Preston. Wears clothes about two cycles out of style, the very epitome of "whitebread," floppy blonde hair, has a vaguely elitist demeanor that belies humble origins. And despite herself, she finds him interesting. He's not after her power. He's not after her body. He's not after a relationship. He just plain likes her. Nobody's ever 'liked' her before.

Seems like a nice kid. Handsome in an awkward sort of way, and even inspirational. Everything about him should attract derision. Lori's a goth kid; she practically has a spider-sense for stuff that'll draw the ire of the mundanes. He's got it all in spades, but for some reason, he can command respect just by walking into a room. He never dominates or overarches. He listens. For real. And when he gives advice, it pretty much turns out to be right. A moral compass for a godlike being who's never had one before. He only ever gets upset if he thinks he's not being listened to. He has no power, but a deep understanding of responsibility. It's something his mother taught him, he says. She raised him in a trailer park, but always taught him that he could do great things. He could even be president. Cornball as it sounds, he believes it. And when he says it, others believe it, too.

Black Alice's best friend. Preston Rickard. His friends call him Prez.

[jessebaker]

Funny, but I would like to see Black Alice more like a money-grubbing, calculatingly capitalistic Goth mercenary who's uber power is downplayed because she's not interested in ruling the world or anything, just doing mercenary work to pay her bills.

They seem to have that going with her joining the Secret Six simply because of money concerns to take care of her sick father, which could make for some nice interplay by playing her as the member of the cast who wants money and sees the Secret Six and the life of a mercenary as a means to make bank with her powers, while avoiding the hassle of the super-hero community wanting to stick her on Power Girl and Magog's JSA team or force her to endure Cassie Sandsmark's cunt-themed bullying on the Titans.

That said, it would put her powers in perspective (IE she's too lazy to truly threaten the DCU and motivated only to use her powers as a leg-breaker for a team who's morally gray enough to avoid throwing their lot in with the Big Bads of the DCU. Bonus points, it gives a way for the Secret Six to become big time players in the major X-Overs via having Black Alice at their disposal for back-up for the super-hero community, and Alice's own lack of truly exploiting her powers for god-hood keeping her from becoming a deux de machina.

[paulpogue]

End of thread. Pick it up at the main 12 Ideas Thread at k-box.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=fandoms&action=display&thread=312