David Baxter

> What the fuck!? I was attacked by some lizard woman, where in the holy hell did you go!?
>
> - David to Martha after his first encounter with Liza.

David Baxter is a character that appears in the HydroVerse series of comics, he lived in the same apartment building with Martha Crawford and as a result ended up befriending and sticking with her through numerous situations.

It is assumed that David and Martha were dating, but they are never seen sharing anything intimate which could indicate they are close friends instead.

## Appearance

David Baxter appears as a Caucasian man with brownish hair and brown eyes, in his first appearance he has a somewhat visible beard.

From Martha/Liza Chapter Three, due to many years spent on Isla de Reptilia, David possesses a more prominent beard and tired eyes.

## History

### *Martha/Liza*

David had become infatuated with Martha Crawford sometime after she had moved into his apartment complex within Downpour City, where he constantly checked in on her every time she had a nightmare involving Liza.

Eventually, David checks in on her again and builds up the courage to finally ask her out to a date to which Martha gladly accepts. During dinner, David confesses one of his secrets to Martha, and it causes Liza to start fighting for freedom. Watching as Martha fidgets in her chair, David tries to ask her about it but Martha speeds off to the restroom and mutates into Liza as David walks outside as he believes he has upset her in some way.

Heading back into the diner to apologize to Martha, David finds Liza chewing into one of the diner's employees which causes him to flee the area. As David runs through Downpour City with Liza in pursuit, he runs down an alleyway where he is cornered and pinned to the ground by Liza who insists they find a better spot.

Liza takes David to the top of his apartment complex and hangs him over the ledge, where she explains that she wishes to test him on the secret he mentioned earlier.

Martha manages to take brief control over Liza which causes her to throw David to the ground and disappear, she reverts back into Martha and heads into her apartment to dress herself. She is then met at the door by an angry and confused David who questions her, so Martha takes him to her secret underground lab where she explains how Liza came to be.

Afterwards both Martha and Liza decide to converse further on a field in the outskirts of Downpour City, but Martha feels Liza once again and runs away from David and into the nearby woodlands. David follows her, calling out Martha's name until he comes across torn clothing on the grass.

David is then knocked unconscious by Liza, who takes him to the sewers where she blackmails him into practicing his secret with her until they leave as Liza senses a nearby enemy.

### *Martha/Liza Chapter Two*

Somehow David managed to escape Liza's clutches and made his way back to the surface whilst Liza stayed in the underground. David hid in his apartment complex for a while, until he was visited by a mysterious girl named Anne Horizon.

Anne interrogated David on the whereabouts of her old friend Martha but David explained how he did not know her location, this annoyed Anne who then mutated into her own alter-ego known as Lacertia. Making her way back to David, Martha walked in on Lacertia holding David hostage. The group travel to Martha's underground lab where Lacertia attacks Martha by throwing her to the ground.

After striking David to the ground, Lacertia forced Martha into bringing out Liza who attacked but was quickly outmanoeuvred by Lacertia who was then hit over the head by David using a cinder block. The unconscious Lacertia reverted back into Anne, who then explained herself to Martha as well as mentioning the island of Isla de Reptilia and its people.

Martha makes it her mission to seek out the island, and Anne shares the same aspirations. The group travel to a Sigma-owned air force base where Anne mutates into Lacertia and forces two pilots into transporting them all to Isla de Reptilia via one of their "advanced jets." Whilst in transportation, Lacertia kept both Martha and David in the lower levels of the jet until she called out David and made him come to her.

David approached the seated Lacertia who proceeded to tease him as well as using him as a footrest. After piercing him in the torso with her toenail, Lacertia realised they were close to their destination and prepared to jump out the hangar.

Martha mutates into Liza once again and goes to face Lacertia after finding and insulting the injured David, who later manages to make his way through the jet and discovers the battling reptiles. David drops a chair onto Lacertia which distracts her enough for Liza to attack, resulting in both Lacertia and Liza almost being sucked out through the hangar. Liza's hand is grabbed by David, but they all eventually fall from the jet and into the ocean below.

### *Martha/Liza Chapter Three*

After a mighty fall, David managed to swim to the nearest surface of an unknown island. Getting up and shivering due to the low temperature, David notices a light inside a small cabin, but he is knocked out by a new Reptilioid that is disgusted at his presence. The unconscious David is dragged inside a big, well-lit house on the island and thrown to the ground at the feet of the island's leader Sassy who refers to David as a "delicious male".

Sassy decides that they will lock David up inside a small room for a year, to study him and see if he is worthy to be kept alive for their own plans. Using her magical abilities, Sassy sends David into a deep sleep and he is thrown into his room.

A year passes and David wakes up from a nap, after complaining about the sheer boredom and worrying about Martha's whereabouts, he is met by another lizard called Mary Jane who appears to treat him in a more hospitable way.

Mary Jane notifies David that it is time to meet with Sassy, and reveals that they plan on mating with him which naturally horrifies David. Mary Jane takes David through an underground tunnel leading to the outside. Once outside, David is met by Sassy and Gila, the Reptilioid who knocked him out when he arrived on the island.

Sassy tells David that he has the choice to mate with any of her subjects, but David refuses. Another lizard named Margaret then runs up to the gathering, dragging Liza along with her. Suddenly, a large flash of lightning strikes the nearby ocean and Uira appears to confront Sassy.

After a heated debate, Uira leaves and David is left speechless. Sometime later, David runs into a small tool shed elsewhere but is surprised by Mary Jane who tries to convince him of his importance to them. However, Mary Jane notices something about David and becomes excited.

She decides to play along with him, but ends up scaring him away much to her dismay. After Liza and her newfound allies defeat Uira, David is last seen hiding inside a bedroom but is again found by Mary Jane who announces her presence by wrapping her feet around his head.

### *Martha/Liza Chapter Four*

Sometime after the fall of Uira, David was thrown back into his cell for an unknown amount of time until he was called upon again by Liza to help her people prepare the boats for transportation to Howlite City. David and the reptiles all sail across the ocean away from Isla de Reptilia, they eventually arrive to Howlite City where they start secretly moving across the rooftops. After Liza and the others carjack and mutate Kevin Faing, David is stuffed into the boot.

The lizards drive to a nightclub where they sneak through the back, but Mary Jane stays in the main section while the others mutate innocents in the back.

David eventually frees himself from the boot, as it was unlocked by Mary Jane before she entered the club. After finding Mary Jane at the bar, David tries to convince her to not go along with Liza's plan as it could get her killed but Mary Jane stays loyal to her leader. Mary Jane then asks David to a dance as she has never had one before, David accepts.

David eventually runs off to find and stop Liza but is slowed down by Gila who asks him to show her happiness, Gila then tells David where Liza could be. David checks the backrooms but doesn't find Liza, he makes his way outside. Liza has mutated numerous people in Howlite City and is close to creating an army, lizards end up attacking every corner of Howlite City and Corvus are contacted to exterminate them all.

Eventually finding a group of Corvus soldiers preparing to launch a jet over to help take the lizard army out, David decides to knock the pilot out and board the jet himself, using his past pilot training. As Corvus begins killing off many of Liza's army and also killing Gila in the process, David intercepts Corvus' helicopter and opens fire on them.

Corvus orders his men to take control over jet and they do so, flying David far away from the city out of his control. After Corvus gained control over the jet he flew through Howlite City, David was taken away from civilization and eventually crash-landed on a small island not far from Devil's Island. There he managed to set up a campfire and witnessed a huge demon rise from the neighbouring island's volcano.

### *Hell's Child: Crestfallen*

During Darkstar's invasion of Devil's Island, they had noticed David and decided to take him with them back to base. They interrogated and mercilessly tortured David, eventually brainwashing him into turning to their cause. After months of vigorous training in both weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, David was a completely different person and now went by the alias Sharktooth.

### *Hydro-Girl/Liza: Revelations*

Under his new leadership and travelling to San Francisco, Sharktooth managed to find Liza who had been critically wounded after a brutal fight with Natalie Norcio. Sharktooth took Liza back to his hidden lair, and trapped Liza inside a cell surrounded by a forcefield. Sharktooth spoke to Liza, berating the reptilian female due to ruining the lives of so many and having no remorse, Sharktooth then activated an electrical shock within the forcefield which resulted in Liza reverting back into Martha.

After giving Martha some clothing, Sharktooth took off his helmet and revealed himself as David much to Martha's shock and confusion. David mentions how after he had flown out of control, he was found by Darkstar and trained him. Ever since he joined Darkstar, he wished to reunite with Martha who mentions how she's working on ridding herself of her. However, David explains that Darkstar could exploit Liza's power but Martha tries to convince him otherwise.

David continues to insist on the endless possibilities of using Liza's abilities, a disgusted Martha tries to leave but her arm is grasped by David, resulting in her kicking him in the groin. Martha runs down a dark street and quickly climbs over a fence, she takes a breather until David appears inside an aircraft, he fires a laser over her and destroys a truck. Martha continues running and David gives chase, another laser blast hits the ground in front of Martha.

After Martha falls to the ground, David lowers his vehicle to retrieve Martha but he is hit by a heavy stream of water from Hydro-Girl, causing David to retreat in his damaged aircraft. David flies towards a nearby dock and lands in the water, he climbs out and contacts Darkstar HQ for a better and stronger gunship.

After acquiring his new gunship from Darkstar, David took to the skies once again and flew towards where he believed Liza is currently located, while looking sorrowfully at a photo of Martha attached to his desk. After looking at one of his monitors, David learns that the now-giant Liza has begun attacking a nearby city and also spots the black smoke in the distance.

As Hydro-Girl and Liza finish their battle in the city, David arrives in his gunship and uses drones to stun them both before lifting them into the air for transportation.

David takes his gunship over the ocean with both Hydro-Girl and Liza still encased in forcefields utilised by the drones, David also speaks of the many possibilities Darkstar can also do with Hydro-Girl's DNA.

Hydro-Girl manages to absorb energy from the ocean below, allowing her to break free from the drones and land directly onto the gunship, using her fists to pound the floor and tilt the vehicle. The gunship slowly lowers into the ocean and becomes partially submerged, Liza breaks free from the drone as well and lands before being stabbed through the stomach by David using a sword.

As Liza collapses, David mocks her until she apologises for all she has done to him and Martha's relationship and reaches out to his arm sympathetically. Suddenly, David is blasted away by Hydro-Girl who speaks to the downed Liza before she is attacked by David who uses his arm shields to take her down.

Using his arm shields to repeatedly strike Hydro-Girl in the face, David eventually stops and calls in a mini-gunship that he jumps onto and notices Liza getting up.

David confirms he'll have to extract the desired DNA from Liza's corpse as she is failing to cooperate, Liza leaps onto the mini-gunship and clings onto the edge as it hovers into the air.

Initially, David tries to convince Liza to stay with him and she takes his hand only to impale him in the stomach with the tip of her tail. David snaps and grabs Liza by the neck, threatening to eliminate every single reptile in the world and explains that he and Martha could have had a happy ending.

Looking on, Hydro-Girl fires a powerful stream of water into the mini-gunship's turbine which causes it to explode and throw David off into the water. As Liza jumps off the damaged mini-gunship, it begins to plummet and eventually lands on David as he helplessly looks on, creating a second explosion and seemingly killing him.

## Personality

Throughout his appearances, David displays a very awkward personality upon first meeting Martha but during their date when Martha ran into the restroom to transform into Liza, David feared he had said something to hurt her feelings which shows that he is considerate of those he barely knows.

David seems to be very submissive, especially to Liza but this could possibly be because he cannot physically hold his own against those who are stronger than him. When Liza and her allies invade Howlite, David displays a constant feeling of doubt in their mission, and looks to the more logical side of what will happen to them. Along with that, David also shows that he cares very much for those who have even wronged him, showing Gila "happiness" (something she had never felt) even when she ridiculed him most of the time.

As Sharktooth, David's entire personality flipped over as he was now highly aggressive towards Martha and Liza which could have been a result of the immense brainwashing process that Darkstar subjected him to, David also expressed major bursts of anger under Darkstar's rule.

## Powers & Abilities

### Arm Shields

After joining Darkstar, David was fitted with a suit that came equipped with metallic shields on the arms that protected him against gunfire and other forms of attack. He can also use them as blunt weapons.