David Bates

**David "Dave" Bates** or **Cold Steel** is an NPC in *Villainy & Virtue*, created by Adam.

## Biography

Before his death in 2056, Dave worked as a hero in Scarlet City alongside his crime-fighting partner; John Drake / Red Fire.

### Red Fire

One night, a duo of criminal psychopaths known as Pain and Grief escaped from confinement and as Fire and Steel went to face the madmen they were all too prepared for them.

The two split up to cover both positions of the two criminals, as both had laid bombs to start a terrorist frenzy. But as Cold Steel arrived at the factory in which Pain was waiting, he found that Pain was alone - he had sent all his men to the warehouse where Red Fire was headed.

Steel was too slow, it was futile. He tried his hardest but he could not make it to the warehouse quick enough to help Red Fire and the building was set aflame with both Red Fire and Greed inside.

Ever since, Dave couldn't help but feel personally responsible and would so look over Tommy and his family both as Bates and as Steel.

### Red Wonder

But before he fourteenth birthday of John's younger son; Tommy, Steel had to make his presence known. On his way home from school, Tommy was attacked by muggers at dusk. He was not a fighter and so struggled to defend himself from the knife-wielding thieves. Sensing the danger, Bates intervened as they demanded more and more of he. Fending off each of the criminals with minimal difficulty, Tommy was amazed and before long his natural intelligence lead to the seemingly obvious deduction of the identity of his guardian angel - the two men that always looked over him seems to have similar voices as well as chins.

And so Tommy confronted Bates and demanded that he would be taught in Cold Steel's ways. With reluctance, Bates agreed and so after years of training and travelling on "fishing trips with Uncle David" he was schooled in the many martial arts that added up to becoming a vigilante such as Cold Steel and though Bates was opposed to firearms and deemed them *unnecessary force*, he recognised the importance of being able to use one in an emergency and so taught Tommy how to wield one.

Then around three years after his father's death (which he understood and reassured Bates was not Cold Steel's fault) Tommy took up the name *Red Wonder*, partially in memorial of his father.

### Incidence and Death

Aged 19, Tommy had served as Cold Steel's sidekick for three years now. The two had soon begun to work in near-perfect synchrony - David had missed the days of having a partner. But their relationship became strained as he's teenage rebellion lead him to becoming impatient with David who would continually have criminals incarcerated only for them to escape and kill more innocents - just like his father. Tommy suggested it'd be more effective to simply execute the criminals though David held this directly against his strict moral code. This frustrated him, though he did not act on his frustration as his respect for his mentor and father-figure was too great.

This was... before Pain escaped was confinement. Pain went on a murdering rampage, slaughtering men, women and children alike. Hundreds lost their lives, and this number just happened to include Tommy's mother, his two younger sisters and his older brother; everything left of his family.

Steel and Wonder stopped Pain and began to interrogate him for information on the locations of the other escaped inmates but despite Steel's best wishes to keep Tommy away from this - as he was too close to the case - Tommy refused and quickly beat Pain to a bloody pulp with his bare hands as soon as Pain began taunting him, even easily breaking free of Steel's restraints. Pain managed to get a hold of his concealed gun and there was a struggle for it between Steel, Wonder and him, and as the shot rang out... Cold Steel was dead.

Tommy immediately took the same gun and - in the heat of the moment - executed Pain there and then. Distraught, Tommy then broke into the insane asylum and the prison and began butchering murderous members of Cold Steel's rogues gallery; an eye for an eye.

This event sent Tommy over the edge, despite his use of force against his enemies David Bates was a friend; a father-figure for he and his death was accidental; more importantly, unnecessary.