Moxie Danger
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| by Juggertha ([1]) | |
| Moxie Danger | |
| Player: @The Biz | |
| Origin: | Science |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Brute (blueside) |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | unknown |
| Known Aliases: | Kerri Elmore (secret ID) |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 22 |
| Height: | 5'4" |
| Weight: | 110 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | blue |
| Hair Color: | blonde |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | U.S. Citizen with no criminal record |
| Occupation: | Private Detective |
| Place of Birth: | Unknown |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, RI |
| Marital Status: | single |
| Known Relatives: | Ken Elmore (adoptive father, deceased); Ruth Elmore (adoptive mother, deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes (see relevant section) | |
| Known Abilities | |
| well-versed in: surveillance methods, safecracking, forgery, forensics, and computer hacking (see relevant section) | |
| Equipment | |
| Sadie (see relevant section) | |
| ' | |
Contents |
History
(( Under massive construction ))
- Baby Moxie dropped off at a Port Oakes orphanage; a note slips unseen out of the basket when the baby is found (Oooooh....)
- Grows up in orphanage with a bunch of other kids, but they live under really strict rules and schedules
- Moxie's always getting in trouble, and getting other kids in trouble, but she gets away with it because she's really good at a lot of the things they're being taught...like forgery... (Ooooohhh....)
- Unbeknownst to the kids, they're routinely experimented upon; magic, science, technology, psychology, etc.
- Really old janitor dude at the orphanage who Moxie hangs out with turns out to be former mystery man Jake Danger
- Jake enlists Moxie's help with bringing the orphanage down, since, y'know, it's actually a breeding ground for supercriminals (Moxie's about 10 at the time)
- They team up and bust the place up (yay!), but the main "staff" of the orphanage get away (boo!)
- Jake--actually Ken Elmore--and his wife Ruth adopt Moxie, giving her the name "Kerri"
- When she turns 18--which is when Ken said he would allow it--Moxie puts on a mask, takes up the name "Moxie Danger", and starts bombing around the Rogue Isles, helping the "regular people" there deal with the insanity. She makes some enemies during this time (seriously, look down there)
- This goes on for a while, until Moxie's old pal Prissy (from the orphanage; peep "Crime Queen" down there a bit) starts looking for her
- Jake and Ruth send Moxie to Paragon to hang out with Jake's former partner's grandson, Guy Friday, and give her a bunch of money, too; the Elmores leave the Isles, saying they want to have "one last grand adventure" before they die
- They die
- Moxie starts up a detective agency; Jake's old gadget guy, Doc Robot, shows up to give Moxie some more stuff that the Elmores had left for her, and decides to stick around becuase the kid doesn't know what the hell she's doing
- The gang starts taking clients
- Now we're all caught up!
(( Oh, all the "Ed.'s Note" business down there is being written by Guy Friday. ))
Personality
Powers
Enhanced Strength
Yup, I'm strong like bull. I mean, I'm not gonna be throwing cars around anytime soon, but I can lift 'em up off the ground, if I try. And I've got a crazy mean right hook. Oh, and I can jump real high. Or far, either or. [Ed.'s Note-Yes, Moxie is very strong; part and parcel of the whole, "we want to make a bunch of supervillains, oh hey I know, let's use little kids as test subjects" thing that the orphanage had going on. She's probably about as strong as she's going to get, but she has got a waaaays to go before she figures out how to control it. Which is why we don't play the Wii anymore.]
Enhanced Speed
Yup, I'm fast like...a fast thing. I think I can get up near sixty, can't remember. G probably knows; he keeps track of all that stuff. I still like to drive, though. I mean, for one, I get tired after a while. Two, sixty's not really all that fast. Three, I love my car. I mean, just look at her. [Ed.'s Note-Again, thanks evil empire, for giving Moxie all these powers.]
Enhanced Reflexes
So you teach a cat ninja skills, then that cat gets struck by lightning and is super quick afterwards. That's me. [Ed.'s Note-...]
Abilities
Equipment
Sadie: Custom 1936 Delahaye
Yes she's aces. No you can't drive her. Of course she has pop-up machine guns.
Rubber bullets. Honest.
Base of Operations
Known Associates
Guy Friday
"G", as he doesn't really like to be called, is my personal assistant and kinda sorta partner. Well...okay, he pretty much runs the business side of [Detective Agency], and I guess he's an okay armchair detective. Different story out on the street. G loses his lunch if there's just a little tiny bit of blood, and oh, God forbid there's a dead body; G's scrammin'. He also drives like an old lady. And lemme just put this one to bed; there's nothin' goin' on between us, no Dave and Maddie, Dawson and Joey, Ross and Rachel type of deal. Just partners. Besides, he's like 40 years old. Watches those screwy Japanese cartoons, too. [Ed.'s Note-Moxie signs my checks, so I won't totally throw her under the bus here, but...there have been a number of occasions when she's actually said, out loud, that she didn't know what she would do without me. Of course, that's usually followed by, "...probably make a lot more money...", or some other half-witty comment. And just for the record, I'm only 34. And anime isn't "screwy", it's awesome.]
Doc Robot
The Doc's been around forEVER, in one way or another. Like, he used to just be a regular joe, instead o' a robot. Back when Jake was busting heads, Doc was the one who hooked him up with all the gadgets and gizmos he used. Messed around with robot stuff in his spare time, which--wouldn't ya know it--came in handy when he got really sick. Doc started using a robot dude, like by remote control, to help him out around the house. Then, well, he got REALLY sick, but by then, science and stuff had gotten really crazy. So...well, I guess he uploaded...or downloaded, whatever...his whole self into the robot. Still smells like an old man, though. [Ed.'s Note--Doc Robot has really taken Moxie under his wing, now that Mr. Elmore's no longer with us. I keep getting after him to add some upgrades to himself, but he just flat out refuses. He says that he "don't wanna mess wit' perfection".]
Stoolie
Stoolie! I love Stoolie. HE found ME one day when I was casing a building over in Cap Au Diable; he was hurt, like a real mess, and I fixed him up. Been with us ever since. [Ed.'s Note--...seriously? She listed Stoolie on here? It's a bird. Some stupid city pigeon that Moxie brought home one day. She claims it's got "carrier pigeon" blood in it. Yeah, maybe. Bird flu is more like it. Anyway, she keeps this thing on the roof of [Detective Agency], where it uses its vantage point to drop "presents" all over the damn sidewalk. Looks great when clients come calling.]
Known Enemies
Crime Queen
Pfft..."Priscilla". Prissy was with me in the orphanage back in the day. Your typical spoiled little brat. Always had to have the best toy, the first shower, yadda yadda. And man oh man, what a suck-up. She was always tryin' to make the rest of the kids look bad so she could look good. Only way she could get ahead, I guess. When Jake rescued all the kids, Prissy was the one who fought him the hardest. Won that fight, too; she went off to be with those whack jobs. Now she's runnin' their show. Good for her. She ever tries to come to Paragon, she'll get what's comin' to her. [Ed.'s Note-Methinks the lady doth protest too much. From everything that Mr. Elmore's said, Moxie and Prissy were two peas in a pod. The only fights they ever had revolved around whatever trouble Moxie had gotten them into that week. When Mr. Elmore made his move and extracted the children, Prissy chose to stay with the only people who had ever shown her some semblance of kindness. I don't think it's too late for her, but I'm afraid that the longer she's under [Villain Group]'s sway, the less likely it is that she can be saved.]
Father Midnight
Super, super creepy. This guy was supposed to be like our Sunday school teacher or whatever back at the orphanage. You ever see that Hunchback movie? The Disney one, with the pervert cardinal or whatever? Father Midnight was like that, only, y'know, in charge of teaching little kids. Oh, he never like did anything Chesterish or anything. I just had to unlearn allll sorts of wrong ideas. Did you know that you don't actually go to hell for wanting a Bratz doll? I didn't. Well, yeah, sure, maybe you oughta go there for buying one, but still. [Ed.'s Note-Far and away the most disturbing member of [orphanage]'s "staff"; Father Midnight did more damage with his stories, lessons, and admonishments than did the rest of the orphanage combined. Moxie, of course, likes to play the tough guy, but I think Father Midnight legitimately scares her to this day.]
Doctor Blood
Next. [Ed.'s Note-Best to leave this one alone. Suffice it to say that Blood used to be [Villain Group]'s "augmentation surgeon", and that he worked at [orphanage]. I'll let you put two and two together.]
Boss Dragon
This guy's kinda weird; he says he's a real dragon, like, from back in olden times. I mean, I guess; there's weirder things. He sorta looks like one, and I've seen him breathe fire, so, there's that. BD's a small-time crimelord over in Port Oakes, but I think he might've got himself mobbed up with the Tsoo or something. I actually used to do work for this guy, before he got all crimey and villainy. Back then, he was just another weirdo in the Isles. I dunno how he moved up the food chain so fast; hey, I should check that out...[Ed.'s Note--We need to keep an eye on Boss Dragon; I get the feeling that he really is what he says he is, and that his lifespan is really, really long. If that's true, then he probably operates with a protracted timeline...makes me wonder if he hired Moxie just to stick it to [Crime Queen's Villain Group]. We'll see, I guess.]
Mama Juju
Oh, this broad hates me. Hate hate hates. She runs a jazz joint in Saint Martial, with a little zombie action on the side. I, um...sorta kinda blew up her apartment this one time. But there were zombies! [Ed.'s Note--Yep, Juju's got it in for Moxie. She seems to be content to stay in the Isles, though. But she deals with voodoo stuff--obviously--and we're not real great at magic over here. Hopefully she leaves well enough alone.]
Nickelplate
Ha! This bozo. Nick used to just be a low level goon over in the Family, then he had a "freak accident". Coulda been dumped in somethin', or shot with like a ray, or got a super blood transfusion...I dunno, whatever. Anyway, Nick got himself turned into like a metally guy, but it didn't make him any stronger. Or tougher. How great is that? Literally, he's just, like, shiny. But, I guess there are dumber creeps out there, because Nick found some clowns to follow him around and do his dirty work. What a buncha maroons. [Ed.'s Note-...yeah, I've got nothin'. Nickelplate is as dumb as they come. He does have some pretty advanced force field technology, though, so he's got that going for him. Which is nice.]
(( OOC Stuff and Things ))
Origin
Moxie pretty much sprung about when I found that name free; the character followed from that, but really took off once I started checking names for her Rogues Gallery, and found a bunch I liked. At one point, I offered the name up to an in-game friend, who took me up on it, but then very graciously returned the name when I had gifter's remorse.
Probably my favorite thing about Moxie is that she's not tied down to any one genre or idiom. Sure, she's "rooted" in pulp detectivey stuff, but since she "lives" in Paragon City--with all of its attendant weirdness--any situation seems normal for her. Riding mutant dinosaurs, having coffee with a Russian werewolf, spending a night out dancing with the Jade Queen of Spiders...all in a week's work.
Inspiration(s)
Some are probably obvious.
- Buffy Summers: of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, obviously.
- The Spirit: Moxie's "work clothes" are pretty clearly modeled after Eisner's "hero"; that's because the Spirit is her favorite.
- The Goon: A not-too-terribly-well-known comic, but it's great. I love the manic craziness of the book, and the way the main character (the Goon) just takes the absolute insanity around him in stride as he goes about his business.
- Top 10/Astro City: Always dug these books, and their respective settings--Neuropolis and the titular Astro City, respectively--have always seemed to me to be how Paragon City would operate. Curiously, there were no private detectives in either of the books, and none in City of Heroes/Villains canon either, so it's nice that Moxie fills that niche.
- Veronica Mars: about as obvious an influence as Buffy.
