Crimson Kin

"Crimson Kin" is a short story arc in the *Black Lotus* series focusing on Crimson Cloak's daughter, Alice Blackwood, and her emergence as the hero White Lotus.

## Plot

After her DNA is added to the Z13PD database, it is revealed that she is the daughter of Roy Blackwood, who was recently identified as Crimson Cloak after the hero's death. Eager to learn more about her father, who was a large part of her life as a symbol of hope, but totally mysterious otherwise. She attends Roy's funeral, and speaks with Opus Brand, who sympathizes with her quest to learn about her estranged father, but reluctantly tells her he cannot reveal any information about his life beyond being a citizen, as there's a delicate balance in Zone 13. Disappointed but unwilling to probe him any further, Alice spots Wesley Kane, who is to her an enigmatic figure. He is relatively unknown to the public, though she recognizes him from her reporting job, as he appeared at some press conferences held by Brand. She follows him after the reception as he peels off in a fancy sports car. She tails him to a warehouse at the edge of the commercial district, making note of the address before calling one of her friends and on-and-off lover Harvey Seeley, at the time just a beat cop for the Z13PD. She flirts with him and convinces him to look up information about the building. He tells her that it's slated as a storage unit for Opus Technologies.

She tries to sneak in, but she has already been sensed and monitored by the security system. She searches around in the dark with a flashlight, and it seems that it really is just a storage warehouse. However, she finds a desk strewn with documents and notes. On the desk is a felt container that holds pins. She recognizes one of the pin shapes as the logo of Opus Technologies. She searches the desk but can't find any similar pins, so she breaks off a piece of the desk and whittles it into the shape with a pocket knife. As she's about to place it in the spot to see what it does, Black Lotus appears behind her and knocks her out.

She wakes in her apartment with an envelope on the pillow beside her. It contains pictures of Crimson Cloak as a young man before he became a hero and a note that says, "He's not the man you think he is, and he's certainly no father. Leave it alone." She finds footage of Crimson Cloak, showing him slinging weapons. She takes her pocket knife and practices throwing it against the wall of her apartment, finding that she's pretty good at it.

One night, while listening to the police scanner to find good stories to report, she hears about a mugging report that's only a few blocks away. To her surprise, she sees the culprit running towards her, clutching a purse. She attempts to stop him, but he draws pepper spray from the purse and sprays it in her eyes. Clutching them in pain, she notices something strange - she can still somehow sense where he is. With her eyes still closed, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out her pocketknife, throwing it at him. It lodges in his thigh, causing him to fall and easy for the police to apprehend. Though she doesn't know it, Black Lotus is watching from above and realizes that she has the same abilities and fighting sense as her father, a concept that both intrigues and enrages him.

He speaks with Brand about Alice, and he says he should give her a chance if he thinks she's capable. Black Lotus says that he's not sure of that yet.

Meanwhile, eager to improve her fighting skills, Alice visits Ben Tanaka's gym, just a few blocks down from her apartment. He takes an immediate interest in her, though he doesn't know who her father is. She also displays a knack for martial arts. The two eventually strike up a romance, leading to her discovering his identity as Blind Tiger, though he too doesn't want her to get involved in the life that he and her father live. He responds to an armed robbery of a store nearby, leaving her behind. She finds some of his early outfits, namely one that wasn't colored properly and is totally white, a prototype of his mask that has no ears, and several throwing knives and stars.

It turns out the criminals Blind Tiger has confronted are no ordinary robbers, wielding high-tech weaponry that makes him unable to take them on his own. Thus, though he chastises Alice for getting involved, he's happy to have her help. Some of the robbers escape in a van that is tailed by Black Lotus in the Moonbeam, his high-tech vehicle modeled after a Porsche 911. Two cinches shoot out the front, latching on to the back of the escaping van. He turns sharply and drifts, which slings the van in a circular arc before he detaches the cinches. The momentum sends the van flying into a wall, totaling it and knocking out the driver. Two robbers, each carrying duffel bags and advanced weapons, jump out the back and flee on foot, but are cut off by Blind Tiger and Alice. Black Lotus is surprised to see her, and after seeing her in combat, decides that she might have some potential after all.

He takes her (and a jealous Blind Tiger, at his request) to the hideout, where she clumsily handles the weaponry and technology available to them, to Black Lotus's frustration. He leaves to patrol, telling her she can keep at it, "she'll need it." She takes the opportunity to look around and learn more about her father, though there isn't much about him as a person, just his persona. Blind Tiger reminisces about some of their encounters, making Alice emotional, but she has a tender moment as she finds a video log in which Roy, unmasked, is talking about her mother, who died when she was a teenager.

Meanwhile, on the feed of the Crimson Bird that is following Black Lotus, they see him being roughed up by some huge beast with broken shackles on his wrists. She finds the Crimson Bullet, using a computer panel by its garage to customize the color to be white before peeling out, telling Blind Tiger to keep up.