Lucian Pennyworth (Earth -666)

== BIO: ==
Name: Lucian Pennyworth (*pronounced 'loo-shen')
Aliases: Foxtrot, H.O.B.O, Hobo With A Stick.
Age: 91 (*note it is canon that Alfred is 22 yrs older than Bruce)
Species: Human
Alignment (hero? villain? anti-hero? lawful citizen? unlawful citizen? etc.): Vigilante.
Alliance (who do they ally with? e.g. JLA, JSA, Titans, Batfam, Rogues Gallery, League of Assassins, League of Villains, etc.): Batfam, British Armed Forces (formerly), Project Nemesis (formerly).
Gender: Male
Sexuality (+ include if they are shippable or not): Bisexual. Shippable (*but, comes with extreme emotional baggage).
Personality: Trusts very few people in his life these days. He is a usually a patient man when not in a stressful environment (lmfao, he lives in Gotham, laugh now) but can easily snap if triggered by certain things. Although kind at heart, he tends to push people away as to not get attached. He is quite humble, even going as far as to deny people calling him a great detective.
Appearance: (*see concept art at end of post)
Abilities/Fighting Prowess (*not including Traits): Medical training from his military career. Years of experience in CQC. Is very street-wise, and has a knack for tracking down people. Has a notably high IQ.
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****TRAITS****
Magic Traits (*optional - only if OC is a magic user): Is NOT a trained magician/sorcerer. All he knows is a few simple protection spells and the like, which he asks from John Constantine when he comes in contact with crime cases that involve magic/demonic entities/evil spirits/etc. He considers magic on a NTK basis; not wanting to "mess around with that hokus pokus bs" after what happened with the old band (*see background).... essentially, magic to him is a last resort.
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Weaknesses: Refusal to use magic unless it's absolutely necessary - his biased judgemental behaviour to supernatural beings (after what happened with Constantine's band - see bio) sometimes leads to tense/negative relationships with those beings he meets, whether they're enemies or allies. His PTSD can cause panic attacks at certain triggers (e.g. a ceiling fan going round like helicopter blades), or if he gets too stressed out. He has high blood pressure, which results in him seeing almost nothing but red when he truly gets angry - he just about loses it, not even giving a thought to what he says or does... he just rages.
"""Brief""" Background:
He always looked up to his older brother. Where Alfred went, Lucian would follow. The multiple times Alfred ran away from home, his little brother would soon be on his tail. The two of them were both very talented in acting/singing. Lucian's favourite stage role, was in a stageplay of The Mask of Zorro, as El Zorro himself. When an 18 year old Alfred left to join the British Armed Forces, Lucian spent his time up until he was of age, plotting to enlist as well. That, he did.
He starts a career in the British military as a med tech, and falls in love with a young Amanda Waller. He later reconnects with Alfred, and they get into a sticky situation that results in the both of them getting discharged. Amanda breaks up with Lucian, saying that 'things just weren't working out between them'. Heartbroken, Lucian decides to follow his brother in search of a new career opportunity.
The two later train under the Nemesis Project led by a man named Briar. When the leader supposedly goes psycho, the brothers team up to stop him. The man is supposedly killed by their actions, and they leave.
One night while they are both out drinking, a tipsy Alfred mistakenly lets slip that he had slept with Amanda back when they were still in the military, and that she recently sent Alfred a letter claiming she was pregnant. A fight breaks out between the two brothers, and they come to the conclusion that they must split paths. Alfred would go on his lonesome, on a career of stage-acting and later replacing Jarvis Pennyworth as butler of the Wayne family in Gotham.
Finding a decent-paying job as a surgeon in Steel City, Lucian finds love with another woman (*unnamed for now, bc I'm undecided if they should be a canon character, a new OC, or just remain unnamed) and settles down with her. They marry, and have a daughter together. A few years go by, and all is seemingly well. That is, until his wife suddenly decides she's had enough of his PTSD attacks and waking up to him crying and yelling in his sleep. She files for divorce, and by hiring very shifty, very influential lawyers, she takes the house, the money, and even succeeds in denying him in ever seeing his daughter ever again.
Now on his own once more, Lucian decides to throw caution to the wind and spend a good portion of what little money he had left in a secret bank account meant to be his retirement funds, and go back to visit Britain. Drinking at a local bar one night, he staggers onstage to do a little bit of karaoke. Impressed by his great singing voice, a man by the name of John Constantine would recruit Lucian to join his band - the Mucous Membrane.
Getting a decent wage from being in the band, Lucian manages to scrape by just barely in life with his new pals. Having not a care in the world at this point, he shows no caution in drinking, smoking, or other drugs during parties the band goes to. After Constantine has a mishap with a demonic entity that takes a girl's soul, the band is broken up. On the streets once more, Lucian gives a half-a$$ed effort into finding a job. He ends up being pulled into a drug cartel, and regrettably begins working for them - justifying it with his need for money.
After showing his fighting experience during a raid from another local gang, the higher-ups decide to promote Lucian; as their boss had heard of his skill and wanted to meet him. He's taken to an island in Fiji, where he meets the white-haired boss herself. They have a brief fling, which doesn't last long - while high on something, Lucian has a sort of epiphany... he has a vision of a fox leading him through foggy streets of a dark city.... after coming to, he decides with a start that he needs to turn his life around while he still has a life left. China White is very displeased, but surprisingly decides to just let him go on the condition that he stay out of her business.
Her kindness in the end is all too good to be true, when Lucian soon finds a group of highly trained League assassins on his tail. Using his former training along with what little money he has left, he manages to escape back to America. The man finds himself seeking refuge in the backstreets of Gotham... recognizing some scenery from his vision, he decides this is where he must stay for whatever purposes fate has in store for him.
Oliver Queen, fuming over his recent coming up 2nd place in a 'who's the most handsome billionaire' poll to none other than Bruce Wayne, is currently on his way to a celebration party hosted by Bruce himself. Oliver stops the car suddenly, seeing what appears to be a homeless person that is the spitting image of him. He beckons the man to come closer, offering him a large sum of money if the homeless man do a prank for him.
Lucian finds himself taking up the job of dressing as a very dirty hobo armed with a stick (or other random useless weapons - a rubber chicken if he's feeling extra saucy), and harassing Batman. This task, he finds to be a bit challenging, but he manages to put his skills to good work - much to the great amusement of Green Arrow (when an exasperated Batman would later complain about it to the rest of the JLA).
When Oliver Queen gets a little stingy with the money-giving; only paying Lucian $5 because he thinks the man is nothing more than a simple hobo who would marvel at the sheer notion of a dollar.... he soon finds himself nearly sh£tting his pants. As he is in suit as Green Arrow, the hobo corners him on a rooftop and demands payment. Realizing his mistake, and that there's definitely more to this man than meets the eye, Oliver asks if he can start over with the hobo as friends.
They come to a mutual understanding; sharing a couple drinks over stories of Lucian's exploits. Lucian takes a liking to Oliver, learning that this is the man who took down China White's drug empire. Oliver, being the tricky boi he is, decides to step thing up a notch with the prank on Batman. He let's Lucian in on the secret that Batman = Bruce Wayne. Lucian would now taunt Bruce and Batman.
These actions would soon attract the attention of a long forgotten figure in Lucian's life... one night while toilet-papering Bruce Wayne's private limo, none other than the cabby driver himself would place a hand on Lucian's shoulder. Whipping around in surprise, he comes face-to-face with his older brother. Lucian begins to lash out in rage built up from over the years, but Alfred tries to calm him and beg him listen to his apology.
Lucian settles down when Alfred suggests they go get a drink or two while Alfred waits for Bruce to come back from the party. Once sitting down at the bar counter, they share tales of what they've each been up to over the past years. Alfred, in an attempt to reconcile, offers financial support to his younger brother, who downright refuses. The conversation ends with Lucian storming out into the rain (Bruce's tp'd limo now throughly soaked in strips of white paper...).
The next morning, Lucian tells a disappointed Oliver that he will no longer be pranking Bruce/Batman. He isolates himself to a dingy little shack he built of cardboard and scrap wood at the back of an alley; coming out only to scrounge for food scraps or cheap booze. He's sipping away at a bottle of stale beer in his shack one day, when a shadow falls over him. Looking up.... he sees.... Bruce Wayne. The man greets Lucian with a calm smile, then says, 'that, was the best prank I have ever been subject to'.
Seeing the baffled look on Lucian's face (as he wonders how Batman was able to catch up to him, when he was sure he covered his tracks), Bruce explains that Oliver had come clean about the whole deal when he visited Bruce a few days ago. His butler, who had been serving them tea at the time, had spoken up at the mention of Lucian's name.... and that, Bruce explains, is why he came to visit Lucian. He offers to give Lucian a job (Wayne Foundation - specifically at the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic/aka Thompkins Clinic, currently run by Leslie Thompkins) and a place to stay (one of his extra penthouses in the city).
Lucian demands why Bruce would even bother to help, saying that if he dares mention it was Alfred's idea, he would have to decline. Bruce tells him that he wishes the man could join him as an ally in his war against crime. He also offers that he help find some sort of legal way for Lucian to see his daughter again. After some consideration, Lucian accepts.
He takes on the moniker of 'Foxtrot' (it being an ode to his military history - the phonetic alphabet version for 'F', a reference to his fox vision, as well as a Zorro reference - 'El Zorro' = 'fox'). He begins fighting crime in Gotham, but much more hidden from the media than Batman - he also requested that he work alone; Batman understandingly accepts this, seeing as the man indeed functions a lot better by himself (not to say team-ups happened once or twice).
*Random stuff that happened to him from that point on (in a loosely chronological order);
The League assassins that were hired by China White did catch up to Lucian eventually; not on terms of bringing his head to China White anymore, but to instead deliver an invitation from Ra's Al Ghul himself, who was seeking a heir to his throne (after Batman refused). Lucian refuses, making an enemy of the man.
After some string pulling from Bruce, Alfred and Lucian eventually come together to reconcile over the past. Things are a little tense between them still, but there's progress.
While patrolling Gotham one night, Lucian comes across a kid getting beat up by a bunch of thugs. He jumps in to defend the kid, fighting off the other men. The kid explains to him that he stole food from the thugs, to bring home to his drug addict mother. Lucian finds himself empathizing with the kid, and gives the kid a couple bucks along with telling him a few tips on caring for someone under the influence of drugs. Over the next few years, Lucian and Jason Todd would keep bumping into eachother by coincidence... or by the former being curious of the kid's well-being.
Recruiting vigilantes and villains alike for the Suicide Squad, Amanda Waller hears word of a crime fighter by the moniker of Foxtrot. The two of them have a very... awkward reunion. Amanda apologizes for what she did, and goes on her way, not wanting to say more (note: she'd look like her usual angy brick-wall self and dismiss Lucian's questioning as to 'who is the father' as she leaves, but behind that stern expression is a sea of emotion waiting to pour out).
After news of Jason Todd's 'death', Lucian drowns his sorrows at a local bar.... where he bumps into an old friend. Constantine is in town on a case of his own, of the supernatural kind. He asks Lucian if he'd like to join in on it, and the man refuses; calling supernatural entities a bunch of useless hokey pokey nonsense and faiRy tale cReatuRes (*notably in his British accent so it sounds almost like Shrek). He gets a tap on the shoulder from Swamp Thing in a trenchcoat and bowler hat, who had been sitting next to Constantine the whole time. Lucian gives the green giant a 'bugger off, will ye? Ye big green dingleberry' and... they don't get along from that point onwards (but they tolerate eachother as long as Constantine is in the room).
Constantine eventually convinces Lucian to join him, as the latter accepts it as a way to ignore his grief over Jason. They solve a murder case that was tracked down to a cult that was sacrificing young women to the Miagani Bat God. The cultists were defeated, the ritual was interrupted, the two men made out after ditching Swamp Thing, the GCPD arrested the cultists, the end. Lucian parted ways with them, returning to 'real crimes, not that sissy sparkly unicorn sh£t'.
After Jason Todd returns from the grave/starts his career as Red Hood, he takes care avoiding the parts of Gotham Lucian usually frequents - in fear that his former role model would try to turn him in to the GCPD and/or berate him for going down a more murderous crime fighting path. He does inevitably bump into Lucian during the busting of a human trafficking ring. Jason Todd prepares for the other man to attack him, nervously shouting for Lucian to stay back unless he wants to get shot.
Lucian says nothing, walking over to Jason. The Red Hood warns him that he'll shoot, and that, he does. The bullet would be stopped by Lucian's body armour (*note: I'm still undecided on his hero costume, so assume it's just kevlar or something for now), but it still hurts pretty bad. This doesn't stop the man from approaching Red Hood, and.... hugging him. Red Hood drops the gun. He'd shed tears under that helmet.
When Julia Pennyworth is intro'd, Bruce would ask her permission to conduct a DNA test. She's Alfred's kid.... Lucian has no qualms over this; letting Alfred have a chance at what Lucian himself lost long ago (his own daughter). Not to say he isn't a good uncle though.
Back in his younger years, Lucian's favourite hero was the first Green Lantern of Earth (Alan Scott). During his years living homeless on the streets of Gotham, a ring came to him in the darkness of the night. It reached out to him, calling to him. Lucian recognizes that it is a similar ring to that of his childhood hero. Realizing the significance of that ring, he refused, burdened by the guilt of his past actions. The ring keeps asking him to accept, but he keeps refusing. Eventually the ring gives it up; flying off away into the night sky... a tiny glint of green.
Nowadays, he does regret turning down the green ring, but is also mildly annoyed at some of the other rings that keep showing up at his doorstep over the years. When he was settled down with a wife and child, he turned down a red ring that called out to his PTSD - as he wanted to save his time for taking care of his family.
He once was visited by a violet ring while practicing with the band; Lucian would even go as far as to try it on, but rejects the ring after Constantine mocks him over the very revealing suit the ring gives him. The last ring to have come to him, was a yellow one. This was during the time Lucian was inspired to turn his life around - the ring tells him he is capable of making the world fear him - Lucian turns it down, because he wants to someday be a man his daughter would see as a hero, and not a monster.
Category:DCverse