My Brother's Keeper (IC)

[GranspearZX]

Patrols seemed like a difficult part of life for someone who was, practically, just moonlighting as a hero. Clark Noble had, in fact, asked for this life, for more reason than one. Honoring the legacy of his father--certainly not the first Crusader but definitely not the last--was only a fraction when he was hanging out on rooftops, watching... No, he had more reasons than that to be out and about, thanks in no small part to his delinquent brother.

It was because of him that he knew there was so much filth and corruption in the Fens. In Freedom in general, for that matter. It hadn't been enough to make Clark go against his nature thus far; fundamentally, he still wanted to protect others just as his father had. It did, however, make him open his eyes to the distinct possibility that everything wasn't as rosy as the surface would have one believe. In the Fens, however, it didn't even bother to hide itself behind anything, as if the dimming sun was enough.

He was, in fact, watching his brother. Not directly, but he sat on a rooftop across the street from some seedy biker bar he'd watched Ben go into. Clark's expression was almost a sad one. The best case scenario would be that Ben would stumble out of the bar, drunk and penniless.

[Lone Star]

Mad Dog's Harley rode down the street, its raucous engine alerting anyone nearby of his presence. He didn't like coming down into the Fens- the dirty hub of crime that it was, but it was a part of his job. He figured the best place to start would be in a seedy bar, especially considering the bar's reputation. He looked very similar to a biker himself, although even people in the Fens knew he wasn't one of their kind.

He cut the engine, and put the keys in his leather jacket. Gregory popped the muscles in his back, using a sign as support. His strong arms flexed against the leather jacket, tightening it. He adjusted his hockey mask- painted black, and walked into the bar.

A hush fell over the room as the vigilante walked in. He had yet to really become famous in the better parts of Freedom City, but the slums knew his name. Mad Dog took a seat, and ordered a drink.

[GranspearZX]

In civilian garb, Clark could've easily been mistaken for a biker type. And given that Ben was his twin and was inside the place, it made it that much more plausible. Still, it really wasn't his thing--mostly because he didn't think it was the sort of thing anyone wanted a public school teacher doing. The motorcycle club he belonged to was nothing like these biker gangs; his was made up of volunteer firefighters, police officers... public servants that actually did things for their communities. Most of the intimidating look was just that for them--a look.

He watched as the man in the hockey mask strode into the bar, raising an eyebrow. It was definitely something he hadn't expected to see tonight, and he couldn't really tell what side of the law the guy was on. He'd heard of a guy in the Fens that walked around in a hockey mask and spiked collar... he really did look as intimidating as the rumors described. Sitting outside had done little but give him a runny nose from the changing air; going inside might not have been such a bad idea.

It only took a few moments for him to get down from the building. As he walked up to the bar, he looked at the dimly lit sign: "The Lucky Shot", complete with the 'o' designed to look like a large bullseye. Some of the bullet holes in it even looked real. He sighed--his brother would definitely be attracted to some place like this, and the second he walked in, the dank scent of sweat and cigar smoke hit him. It was surprisingly familiar, and red and white-clad hero felt over a dozen pairs of eyes hit him at once the second he walked in, his shield strapped to his back.

...yeah. This is gonna go over well. He didn't see his brother immediately, but he was certain that would change as the night went on.

[Lone Star]

He looked up, and saw a man wearing a bright red and white costume, with a huge shield on his back. What the hell does this guy think he's doing? If he's looking for trouble, he's about to have his pick. Maybe he knows what he's doing. At least I hope he does. Mad Dog looked up at the man, and beckoned him over.

"You in the red! I'll buy you a drink." Never hurts to make friends, though.

[GranspearZX]

Crusader could hold his own in a fight. He'd bailed his brother out of plenty of them, and he had the scars and medical records to prove it. He could almost smell the hostility in the air rising, and his senses did the same; he could almost hear the leather of his gloves creaking as he clenched his fists...

And then, the masked man's voice broke the tension. The Crusader definitely noticed that the man in the black hockey mask had a considerable amount of pull--the fact that he wasn't the first one to do anything threatening also hadn't escaped his attention. Eyeing a few of the patrons with a glare of his own, he sat down at the vigilante's table.

"Huh. Thanks." He hadn't let his guard down yet, turning the chair backward as he sat down, still surveying the room.

[Lone Star]

He raised his drink to his lips, and before he drank, he whispered to the vigilante. "Don't make any sudden movements or they'll be all over us." Mad Dog set his drink down, and peered behind him. He could practically feel their stares boring into his skull. "So what are you here for, anyway?" he said with what felt like a conversational tone. He hoped that if they started talking casually, the atmosphere might become a little less tense.

[GranspearZX]

"I'm... keepin' an eye on somebody."

It was pretty stupid of him, in hindsight, to waltz into a bar where the heroic type wasn't always welcome. Still, part of him actually thought that this masked vigilante might actually hurt Ben if something were to go down in here; not that he didn't deserve it, but his relationship with his twin brother had always been complex, and Clark had been protecting him for as long as he could remember. At this point, it was more of a reflex than a rational decision.

His shield was on his back and both his hands were on the table in plain sight; the brief thought crossed his mind that, if he really wanted to scare the crap out of people, this hockey mask-wearing fellow certainly had a better handle on it than he did. His entire costume design was based on his father's, after all... he wondered if it made him seem a little more stodgy than he really was.

"And what about you?"

[Lone Star]

"Came in for a beer, actually. I don't have any beef with these bikers. They know us, though, it seems. Although..." Mad Dog vaguely recalled beating up a few motor-heads who were assaulting a woman not far from here a few days back. "They may not like me very much. If they make a move, will you watch my back?" He couldn't be sure if he had beaten up one of their members, or if it was another gang. He was certain that not all biker gangs were Hell's Angels.

[GranspearZX]

"Least I could do for the drink," he replied with a nod. He'd never had a run-in with biker gangs--not that he actually knew about, mind you, but it was a small world. For a moment he wondered if he should just give up on his brother's antics for once, but the second he did...

"I doubt they'll do anything." He looked over his shoulder, his eyes meeting a particularly large bearded man's gaze. He promptly looked away, grumbling into his beer and directing whatever comment that came after to another patron sitting across from him. "I take it you do this sort of thing often."

[Lone Star]

Mad Dog nodded. "I take it that you're a hero, too, what with the proper costume and all. Hell, I kinda like the whole spandex bit. Goes well with the muscles, you know?" he said with a small laugh.

Naw, that's just not my style, personally. You pull it off, though. Mine's just supposed to look scary." He shook his head as he realized he was going on a tangent. "But yeah, I operate around this area of Freedom. What about you, man?"

[GranspearZX]

"Hm." Crusader grinned, though he couldn't really be sure if he was being made fun of or not.

"Name's Crusader, by the way. I... didn't exactly choose the look. You could kinda say it chose me." He shrugged. "Don't usually hang around the Fens much, but somehow I always end up here... Maybe I oughta try wearin' something a little less conspicuous."

There was, of course, the matter of the shield, but it wasn't really all THAT unusual compared to the red and white costume.

[Lone Star]

"Probably. They call me Mad Dog. Don't worry about the costume thing...people will get to know how you look sooner or later. How long have you been in the business?" Mad Dog said as he motioned for another drink. "That'll be my last for tonight. I try not to drink too much, especially when I'm on-duty." He popped his bones in his back, his leather jacket creaking as he did. "Man...I gotta work out more."

[GranspearZX]

"About three years," he said, thinking as he said it. "Yeah, three or four. Kinda hard to keep track sometimes."

He downed the drink Mad Dog bought him rather quickly. "Guess it's been on my mind for longer than that though. The last Crusader died during the Terminus Invasion." His face remained impassive as he said it; in the midst of his sentence, he spotted his brother across the room, already on his third or fourth drink.

"...so what about you?"

[Lone Star]

"Around a year now. It's difficult keeping track of work and heroics sometimes. Do you work at all? Other than heroing." Truth was, it really was getting difficult to balance the two halves of his life...which was now cut up into thirds. However, his relationship with Gossamer helped with organizing his romantic life and heroic life. He was glad he decided to move in with her. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and they kept each other sane.

[GranspearZX]

"Yep. Full-time job." He wasn't going to say what, of course. Not that he didn't trust Mad Dog with that information, but there were too many open ears around. Teaching and coaching were definitely full-time jobs, and he'd always been the sort of teacher who tries to make himself as available to his students as possible. The fact that football season was over helped tremendously; he was only an assistant to the hockey coach, and it took up significantly less of his free time, allowing him to keep a watchful eye over Freedom... though Ben was certainly an all-encompassing distraction.

"You got a job other than busting skulls? Not that there's anything wrong with that," he said with a wry grin, glancing over his shoulder again. It seemed that, at least on the surface, most people were starting to accept their presences...

[Lone Star]

Mad Dog shrugged. He figured he could trust this guy. He didn't have any family in Freedom, and his girlfriend was a superheroine herself. "I'm a veterinarian. It's prooobably best I don't tell you where, but I'll discuss it with you in a more private setting. Can we exchange phone numbers? I'm trying to get a contact list together in case I'm ever in a bind, and vice versa." He pulled out his cell phone. "I've only got a few so far. I totally met up with Avenger once, but I didn't get his number. I hear he's gone and retired."

[GranspearZX]

Crusader raised an eyebrow. He wasn't really sure what he was expecting to hear, but 'veterinarian' wasn't it.

"Phone numbers? Yeah, sure, why not." It wasn't often that he gave out his cell phone number. He was smart enough that he didn't have anything personal on it, and he had his tucked away inside his boot.

"Retired, huh? That's a shame. Sure he had his reasons though." That was a name he'd definitely heard several times, and though he'd never laid eyes on the guy, that was probably for the best.

[Lone Star]

"Yeah. He actually helped me on my first night out in Freedom City. So give me a little more background on that shield of yours. I assume you didn't buy it from RenFest." he said with a chuckle. "I assume that's some high-tech stuff you've got, obviously manufactured for such purposes. It's really cool, is why I asked. I'm jealous! I would ask where you got it, but a shield doesn't really fit my whole theme I've got going on. It fits you...Crusader. Yeah."

[GranspearZX]

"This shield's older than I am. Not really sure where my old man got it." He looked back at it for a moment and smiled at his father's memory, looking back at Mad Dog. "He's had it since at least the 80s. Y'know, before that whole superhero ban thing. I grew up with this thing hanging on my wall; I thought it was an antique until I caught him sneaking in one night. In costume. No song and dance was gonna get him out of it... so he explained everything. Well, as much as he knew anyway."

He nodded slowly. "The shield's passed down from one Crusader to the next. So far, I'm at least the fourth; God only knows how far back the mantle really goes."

[Lone Star]

"So you're a legacy hero then, huh? That's pretty cool. I've never met one before. So whenever you have a kid, they'll be Crusader Five?" Mad Dog asked, ordering another drink. "I mean, I don't know. How does the selection process for something like that happen?" He looked around again. "Are we sure this is the place we should be talking about all of this?"

[GranspearZX]

"I guess you could call it that. 'Legacy hero'... sounds fancy. Don't think I'd ever refer to myself as that, though." It did seem rather... odd. He'd never known the exact term for such a thing; there were plenty of 'legacy heroes' that he could think of.

He looked over at his brother, still drowning his sorrows in a bottle the Crusader couldn't identify from where he was sitting. He sighed and nodded at Mad Dog. "Yeah. A change of scenery'd do us all a world of good, I think." Part of him wanted to knock Ben unconscious and deposit him on his doorstep; at least then, Clark wouldn't worry about whether or not he got home. Either way, the fresh air would do him a world of good.

"Selection process? I dunno. It just kinda happened one day. Didn't really see it comin' at all... I'd like to think I'd be doin' this with or without the shield."

[Lone Star]

Mad Dog stood up, and patted his new friend on the shoulder. "Good man. I'll discuss why I decided to put this hockey mask on outside."

The two walked the streets of Freedom, Mad Dog bringing his heavy jacket closer to him as the wind whipped against his face. "Well...it all started when I was just a vet. This mob guy, Frank Tonifanni tells me he wants this horse race fixed. Only someone like me would know how much tranquilizer the horses would need so they wouldn't die, nor would their performance loss be noticeable. I tell him no, of course, and he makes a few threats on him and my hospital. Now, naturally...I couldn't fight him myself. So that's how Mad Dog got started. I've been doing it ever since."

[GranspearZX]

"Mobsters... pfft. Cowards." Crusader was mostly silent as Mad Dog told his story. It reminded him of his twin brother's gambling addiction, and the number of times he'd been mistaken for Ben when they came looking to collect a debt. Unfortunately for them, Clark was in much better physical shape than them--mistakes like that were much, much rarer now.

"I had... well, have a brother who turned to that life after my dad passed. I'll never understand why. It ruined him... so I lean a little harder on those wannabe gangsters. Guess we've got that in common." Name aside, the Crusader wasn't always a Boy Scout; he was human, after all.

[Lone Star]

Mad Dog nodded, understanding. "Well, hey. I'm always looking for someone to kick ass with, in layman's terms. If you're still up for it, want to maybe patrol around for a while? We'll more than likely find something pretty quick in this part of town." He snapped his neck and cracked his knuckles under his thick leather gloves. "Sorry. Force of habit. If I keep doing this, I'll have to retire early due to arthritis."

"I've also got a lead on Frank Tonifanni. It might not turn up, but once I find his base...I'll need a few guys with me. He's going to pay for what he's done. I know for a fact he's got his grubby fingers into more than horse races."

[GranspearZX]

"Oh, it never, ever stops at just one thing."

Crusader nodded. If he'd learned anything, it was the nature of greed and how it could change people. They didn't call it a 'deadly sin' for nothing. He stretched his arms above his head and gave a slow nod. "I'll keep my eyes and ears open; if I hear anything, you'll be the first to know. As for patrollin'... S'what I'm out here for. Wouldn't mind taggin' along."