Hollis Mason

**Place of Death:**
New York City, NY

## Background

### 1916 - 1933: Hollis Mason

Born into a family of Irish immigrant farmers that settled in Riverdale, Hollis Mason is the first son of Robert & Eleanor Mason. Shortly after his birth in 1916, his parent welcomed a second son named Gil then their first daughter Liantha a couple years later. Hollis was named after his paternal grandfather, Hollis Wordsworth Mason, who also saw to it that his grandson received a proper moral, conservative & god-fearing upbringing. Instilling in him a sense of what was good & just in the world which would be a part of him for the rest of his life.

At the age of twelve, his father decided to take the family from their family farm in Montana & move to New York City where he found work at Vernon's Auto Repairs. While his siblings quickly adapted to the city life, Hollis longed to return home to Montana where his grandfather had stayed. Knowing that his father felt guilty for leaving, he'd often say that he would rather return there than stay in the city but that did nothing more than annoy & guilt his father.

Despite this, Mason still assisted his father with work & got a part-time job running errands for the shop's owner, Moe Vernon, who in turn came to enjoy the company of the young man. Vernon had no children of his own & Mason was not getting along well with his father due to the move, leading to the duo forming a surrogate father-son relationship. His sense of humor was peculiar. Besides rubber bands, paper clips & receipts, he had one of the largest collections of tasteless novelty items. When someone tried to enter his office, he'd always try to startle them with his newest play thing & Hollis was no exception.

Vernon also offered some help to Hollis in school, who found himself stricken by his math teacher, Ms. Albertine. He fantasized about heroically saving her from kidnappers & then marrying her afterwards. The sense of justice instilled in Mason by his grandfather along with this new idea of how the world should be, spurred him on to train as a police officer.

Vernon eventually fell into a slump after his wife suddenly left him. He didn't explain the situation anymore & no one asked any questions, not even Hollis. One day, after running errands, Hollis returned to the shop thinking everyone had gone home. But from Vernon's office, he has faint music playing & decided to turn it off before locking up. Instead, he found Vernon in embrace with another man. He quickly apologized & left the office. Upon returning home, he informed his father, who took it upon himself to tell their co-workers the next day. All the men laughed at Vernon but eventually stopped & apologized when they saw the man's reaction. Though Vernon forgave him, Hollis discovered Vernon took his life later that night.

### 1938 - 1940: Hollis Mason

Leaving the auto repair shop behind, Hollis joined the New York Police Department at the age of 22. One of his first cases was catching one of the kids from the neighborhood stealing a comic book from the local store. On his way to return the book, he began reading & became so fascinated that by the time he go back to the store, he bought the book & many others. After reading through it back-to-back eight times in a row, Hollis' childhood fantasies of grand heroism returned to him. Mason wondered if such heroes could really exist and then two weeks later, he heard of the exploits of the real-life vigilante Hooded Justice.

Officer Mason had been present for a police operation at a factory near Battery Park. After chasing them down, Hooded Justice had cornered a group of notorious murderers in the building. The police had been sent there to handle the situation. A badly beaten body of one of the criminals fell from a window, smashing the top of a patrol car below. At that point, the police rushed in. Mason saw Hooded Justice fleeing the scene and decided to look the other way rather than apprehend him.

Inspired, Hollis spent the better part of the next three months designing his suit, trying to come up with a name for his vigilante persona & training as often as possible in the police gymnasium. He also added a strict regime, setting a time for him to go to sleep & wake up then head to the gymnasium for training before donning his badge & uniform. Because of this & for declining all invitations he received from his fellow officers to go with them for drinks after work he was nicknamed "Night Owl" by another officer at the precinct. Upon hearing the name, Hollis knew he had found the perfect persona. Considering himself ready, Hollis had urged his superiors to assign him a route that had him patrol some of the more troubled areas of the city. He began wearing his vigilante suit underneath his regular police uniform, reading to spring into action.

While on patrol as an officer one night, he spotted a van with armed robbers. Deciding to act, he retreated, took off his police uniform & donned his vigilante costume. As the Nite Owl. he ran towards the van, jumped inside & hijacked it from the robbers. This act of bravery quickly caught the eye of the news media, especially since the interest in "costumed protectors" was at its height, shining much attention & press to his following exploits. Shortly after, he saw an advertisement by Captain Metropolis & Silk Spectre for recruiting costumed adventurers to fight for America. Though very shy & nervous, he nailed the audition as his exploits were already known. He was chosen on the spot to join the Minutemen, a league of crimefighters.

### 1940 - 1962: Nite Owl

The team had their first mission together, exposing Italians smuggling weapons, which was botched, as the saboteurs turned out to be firework smugglers. On their second public mission, Nite Owl along with Hooded Justice & Dollar Bill, moved against thugs who held hostages in the National Bank.

After the Comedian attempted to rape Sally Jupiter, Hollis supported his expellation from the team. During World War II, he & Byron went to enlist but they both were classed 4F. He returned home & instead stopped colorful criminals like the Screaming Skull & went on to fight supposed Axis operatives including Captain Axis.

Hollis also held a romantic interest fro his teammate Ursula Zandt, who like him participated in the fad for some nobler cause. In attempt to court her, he helpe in her private exploits against child trafficking & pornography. The two soon established a close friendship with Ursula, leading to them revealing their identities to each other even though it was against their internal rules. In addition to his full identity, he also told her of his day job as a police officer & gave her his police box number. One night, she was heavily injured after going after a thief & called him. Instead of notifying his colleagues, he abandoned his post & as Nite Owl, he took her to Gretchen, her personal doctor.The next day, he paid her a visit & found out that Gretchen was actually her lover.

When Ursula's lesbianism was exposed & the Minutemen voted her out, Mason was one of the two to vote in favor of her alonsgside Mothman. Despite her expellation, they continued to work together. The two specifically worked on a case on murdered kids, with Hollis using his job to look up information in the police files.

A month later, Hollis finds the bodies of Ursula Zandt & Gretchen in their apartment. Against police procedures, he collected all evidence that could find along with Ursula's investigations. He & Byron arranged for unmarked graves so that they wouldn't be defiled by haters. The following days the two continued to work Ursula's case, patrolled & investigated for missing kids while also searching for their friend's killer. Her killer was found the next year by Captain Metropolis & Hooded Justice, though someone had killed him by the time he got there. Silk Spectre retired from the team shortly after, leaving only four of the original members.

Eventually, the Minutemen disbanded in 1949. He established a closer relationship with Sally Jupiter's family, being there for the birth of her daughter Laurie Juspeczyk. Hollis continued ridding his neighborhood of criminals but felt it harder to keep up with the arrival of other costumed adventurers & felt this marked for him the end of his era.

### 1962 - 1987: Hollis Mason

In 1962, Hollis officially retired & a ceremony was given in his honor with a dinner, where he was given a statue engraved with the words "In Gratitude." He decided to spend his retirement repairing cars. Before retiring to a clinic, Byron bought him a new apartment & a building for his auto business where he moved with his dog, Phantom.

Not long after, he took on a protege in the form of Daniel Dreiberg. Daniel had sought out Hollis & asked if he could use the mantle of Nite Owl to fight crime. The two met & Hollis was far too impressed by Daniel's technologies & ideas to deny him the mantle of Nite Owl (which Hollis confesses in his book was a slightly idiotic name).

In addition to working as a car technician, Hollis decided to write a memoir of his crime-fighting exploits called Under the Hood. He felt it was a confessiοn he had to do to the public, regarding the covered-up, idealized image of the costumed adventurers. He found opposition from his ex-manager, Laurence Schexnayder & Sally Jupiter. Despite the reactions, Mason was adamant about the factuality of the book. Shortly after news became public that he would release a tell all, The Comedian informed him that J. Edgar Hoover was not happy with the book & felt that some things should not be revealed. He also threatened him that the his book should be nothing else than a light-hearted reminiscencing of the old days. Mason was convinced, although he didn't cut the part of the Comedian's rape attempt.

As the years went on, Hollis kept a good relationship with Byron & Sally with the three regualry meeting for lunch or dinner at one of their residences. The two became surrogate uncles to Sally's daughter Laurie as well. Along with his continued relationships with old friend, he also had Dreiberg over each Saturday for beer sessions & to talk about their past careers. Mason believed that Dreiberg was a "better Nite Owl" than he had been.

After Nite Owl II & Silk Spectre II broke Rorschach out of prison on Halloween night, the Knot Tops heard of the news. Angered by it, the entire group followed the suggestion of a gang member who mistakenly believed that Mason was still operating as Nite Owl. Mistaking the group for trick-or-treaters, Mason opened his door to them. They attack en masse but Mason was able to get in a few solid hits before being beaten down. The Knot Tops considered their work done but their leader Derf decided to kill Mason with the very statue that was given to him as an acknowledgment & reward for his service as a costumed adventurer.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Firearms:** As a cop, Mason is very adept with semi-automatic handguns, revolvers & most longarms & the sub machine guns of his time.
* **Hand to Hand Combat**: Mason was a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant. He fought with a boxing style & could put a lot of power into his punches. He also mentions that he has a mean right hook, which he used to defeat many of his nemesis. Even in his declining years, Mason was still able to hold his own against the Knot Tops for a while, though he was ultimately overwhelmed. He also taught Dan Dreiberg how to box
* **Investigation**: As a police officer, Mason was a highly skilled detective & highly experienced crime investigator.
* **Mechanical Engineering:** Hollis ran a successful auto repair shop & also spent most of his childhood working at one. He helped Dan with many of his gadgets & machinery.

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** Unknown
* **Strength:** Unknown
* **Speed:** Unknown
* **Occult:** Unknown
* **Weapons:** Unknown
* **Range:** Unknown
* **Strategy:** Unknown
* **Combat:** Unknown
* **TOTAL:** Unknown

## Trivia

* Had Hollis not been killed by Derf, he likely would have been killed upon the execution of Adrian Veidt's plot anyway, making his murder easier for Nite Owl II to stomach Veidt's actions.
* He was a staunch conservative & was an avid reader of the New Frontiersman
* Mason made it clear in subsequent interviews that he knew of Hooded Justice's same-sex relationship with Nelson Gardner, aka Captain Metropolis, a relationship Mason designated as deviant.
* It had been speculated that Hollis was a closeted homosexual himself because he was never known to be with a woman & he died a bachelor
* Hollis once stated that he could not hear opera music without thinking about how he & the others inadvertently drove Vernon to his death.

## Notes

* Hollis Mason is a character from the Watchmen series.
* In the series, he is from Montana.