Blake O'Crowley

**Blake Joseph O'Crowley** or **Knight** is a character in *Villainy and Virtue,* created and portrayed by Adam.

 Something of a child prodigy in software and hardware development, Blake is an incredibly intelligent, sweet and handsome young man descending from wealth, but ultimately living by his own means.

## Biography

### Before *The Knight*

#### Family Life

Son of power couple; retired hardware developer; Michael O'Crowley and retired software developer; Joseph Harroway of cyber-tycoon Chriertech, Blake was never much of a stranger to wealth. For the first seventeen years of his life he had a very privileged existence, he would often go on extravagant holidays and trips out on the family yacht and had anything a young boy could every want, and through this he grew close-minded, inconsiderate of others of less fortune and ultimately blind to the outside world as he had no desire to go out into it.

But shortly after his eighteenth birthday, Blake would experience something that would change his outlook on the world forever...

#### A New Outlook

His butler; Sebastian was stabbed and killed while defending the home from thieves. This tragedy opened Blake's eyes and his perception was brutally changed. He saw the world for the corruption and pain in it and sought to make a change in his over-engorged life for a much simpler one. His parents were, of course, horrified to hear that their son wished to live in *poverty* (a drastic hyperbole) and forbade him and so a compromise was made.

Blake left his home in Oxfordshire and renounced his place at Oxford University before the beginning of his first term. Taking a small fortune (nothing compared to that of his parents) as per the compromise, Blake moved to the booming American metropolis of Heartania where he would seek to keep a low profile and perform charity work for the needy, setting himself up in a humble apartment. Though these goals of charity work were dashed as Blake found his true calling.

#### Becoming *The Knight*

As the streets of Heartania erupted into chaos, Blake happened upon an idea: he sought to be like the super humans he saw combating (and causing) the chaos of Heartania and his childhood hero; Argent Mind. Visiting his parents in Oxfordshire, Blake stole the long-since-discontinued plans for an industrial power suit and - back in Heartania - spent months re-purposing the suit and militarizing it; slimming down to match his slender build and incorporating remote activation.

Then, months after chaos began the Knight-1 suit was complete. Donning the alias; The Knight from back in his hacking days, Blake O'Crowley sought to take to the streets to combat crime.

### Life in Heartania

#### Heartania Nuclear Disaster

As Yowgmoth broke into the Heartania Nuclear Power Plant to acquire uranium for his radiation gun - slaughtering the workers - a nuclear meltdown was initiated. On orders from The Broker, Kay arrived to stop Yowgmoth but could not stop the meltdown. In response, Blake transformed his near-perfected warp drive into a warp *bomb*, capable of teleporting full sections of land to wherever he designates. Blake sought to warp the entirety of the plant into the sun to prevent the destruction of Heartania, with the help of Argent Mind to clear and evacuated the nearby civilians to safety.

Blake confronted Yowgmoth with Argent Mind while Kay delved deeper into the facility to seek a more peaceful solution but as Yowgmoth prepared to unleash his nuclear rad-cleanser on the crowds of Heartania, Blake had no choice but to dive in front of the cleanser and absorb the radiation himself, with the weapon still attached to it's owner. It was then that - in order to make sure that his enemy; Argent Mind survived to fight him once more - The Shadow Fixer shot at the cleanser with an explosive round, causing a miniature nuclear explosion. Blake and Argent Mind just survived but the same could not be said about Yowgmoth, only leaving behind a glowing blue core. And then, for reasons unknown, the core bonded with the Knight-1 giving it a new, more powerful supply of power.

#### Attack of Maleficus' Machines

On information from Argent Mind and Alex Richardson, Blake had a new mission. Seconds after the miniature nuclear explosion, trusting in Kay's skills, Blake left the plant and charged into the streets to combat a new threat as Marshal Maleficus' drones marched into the city to destroy and harvest new candidates. With the newfound ally in Yowgmoth and by teaming up with Argent Mind once more as well with Starlass, Ftangr, Land Slide, Hammerfist, The Blob and - to a certain extent - The Broker, Blake fought for the freedom of mankind.

### Day 2

#### The Tower

Due to his acts of valour the night before, Blake O'Crowley was invited to join The Tower; a brand new, hi-tech base of operations for heroes across Heartania spearheaded by Argent Mind, along with Starlass, The Blob and Dark Hawk.

#### An Attempted Assassination

Then immediately the news rolled in that The Mayor's speech had been interrupted by an attempt on his life by The Shadow Fixer. Quickly The Tower deployed their team to the scene and - along with other emerging figures such as Land Slide, Hammerfist and Ahmoses - the situation was contained, with Argent Mind carrying the mayor to The Tower's surgery immediately. Starlass then confronted The Fixer, who invited her to see her side of things. Climbing into his car, Doctor Cooper began to drive Starlass to the hospital. On Argent Mind's orders, The Knight and Dark Hawk pursued the car from a distance, careful not be detected before the two were split up by a mysterious event.

#### A Mysterious Occurrence

From the sky fell a figure. As Dark Hawk continued pursuit, Blake hung back as watched as the figure stood; it was a suit identical to the Knight-1, only with green accents instead of red. And as Blake's own suit forcibly melted away it occurred to Blake that this WAS his suit. Then, to his surprise and also horror, it began to speak... in the voice of Yowgmoth.

The voice introduced himself as a changed man due to the convincing conversation he had had with... the suit... And then the voice changed to that of a shy, young woman; the voice of the suit's AI itself. Announcing some new gadgets such as Flight Mode, the AI excitedly beckoned Blake back into battle, and so he did in his new green suit, dubbed Artillery Mode.

### Day 3

#### Futility

During Day 3, Blake returned from Oxfordshire after celebrating an engagement only to find the city in chaos. Immediately, Blake spotted a government peacekeeper known as Pursuer-02 at the foot of the city hall, preparing to execute various citizens who were protesting the newly exposed government corruption. Naturally, Blake intervene as so was charged with 15 years in prison for his crimes against the government. Attempting to hack his way out of the sentence, a mysterious message appeared on city monitors reading: **"Do not cheat the system, Knight. We are always watching <3".**

This lead Blake to surrender. With a sentence increased to 25 years, The Knight was arrested for interfering with government business, blackmailing a government official and assaulting a government official by the deadly Pursuer-02.

#### A City in Chaos

Full Article: A City in Chaos

However, mere minutes after being left in his cell, strange men approached Blake, giving him back his Knight Braces and alerting him to massacre occurring in the prison. Freeing himself, Blake teamed up with Nimbus to end the conflict occurring between guards and prisoners during a mass breakout caused by a mysterious power outage caused by Reaver.

He and Nimbus then secured a weapons convoy before Blake returned to the prison where he met The Kinetic Warden; an ageing superhero who isn't afraid to kill. The Knight and The Warden then worked together to disband the small militia that had re-established itself inside the prison.

### Day 4

#### Stadium Brawl

After an assault was launched on the Capital City Archives by The Broker's Inner Circle, Hammerfist was captured by Reaver and taken to a nearby football stadium. The Inner Circle and Ravagers would then begin to fight to rescue their respective ally and defend their respective hostage. The Tower team - minus Argent Mind - were sent to the scene where they would fight alongside Dr. Cooper against The Ravagers to defend the incredibly outmatched Broker and co.

Personally, Blake fought against Ishiwaka Nariko, The Adamant Tyrant who - despite his best efforts - got the upper hand and disarmed Blake... literally as his right arm was chopped. The heroes then retreated and returned to The Tower where Blake would spent the night.

### Day 5

Awaking in a hospital bed, Blake quickly discharged himself and returned home where he fashioned himself a replacement arm.

#### McDondon's

After reports of an incident at the popular fast food chain; McDondon's, The Knight and Argent Mind arrived at the scene where they found that rookie heroes Cosmo, Klondike and Moon Guardian had already apprehended the criminal Joltz.

With Argent Mind leaving the prisoner to Blake, Blake would then escort Joltz and the rookie heroes to The Tower before taking off again.

#### Apex

After the incident at the CopperFlower building where Chief of Police Monica Johnson refused Blake's help, Blake began to patrol the city. Here he would intercept a distress signal and find a young woman called Natalia Vargas in need of aid. Blake and Natalia made their way to an abandoned warehouse in search of her missing abductee brother Esteban where they promptly burst in and were greeted by a hulking mass of flesh and a squad of armed grunts.

As the room sealed it began to fill with toxic gas. Knowing the safety he had in the Knight-1's systems, Blake had no choice but to bequeath to the twins twin pistols which upon contact gave them not only Braces such as Blake's own but access to Knight-1-esque suits in the form of the Warlock-1 and Rogue-1.

The trio fought off their opponents and fled the scene, quickly moving to the makeshift base Blake was establishing underneath the Power Plant ruins. Here the twins expressed their need to keep fleeing but ultimately accepted Blake's offer to sleep there for the night.

#### Dark Matter

It was shortly after sending the two to their quarters that Blake received a message from Cosmo, the scientific wiz from the restaurant requesting Blake's help diagnosing problems with his dark matter generator. Gladly, Blake invited Cosmo over to the cave.

The two exchanged news and Cosmo then left the device to Blake as he left to rest after injuries sustained that day.

#### Integrity

Blake would then tinker with the device for a while, eventually finding a miniature *anti*-matter generation inside the device, disrupting its function. Blake quarantined the two separately and then - struck with an idea - tried hooking up with warp systems with dark matter. Though deciding against testing the human teleport, Blake found himself warped anyway, against his will as an explosion rang out and Blake was nowhere to be seen.

## Appearance

Standing at six feet, Blake is of an athletic yet slender build. He has short, somewhat curly, dark blonde hair and is clean-shaven.

### Casual Wear

Typically Blake can be found dressing in buttoned-down shirts of the white, black and grey variety tucked into a pair of black trousers, also with black shoes. His sleeves are notably often rolled up to his sleeves and occasionally he will wear a black, leather jacket.

## Personality

Nowadays, Blake is a friendly, outgoing and ultimately humbled character. Though in his head he is always processing something, be that today's lecture notes or how to escape the current situation. While intelligent, observant and pragmatic, Blake isn't the best at reading people. Despite his friendly disposition, Blake isn't good with people and despite his good looks he isn't too awfully popular, mainly due to his own desire to be such and keep a low profile. As he is an excellent thinker, Blake is therefore curses with over-thinking most things and will often dwell on things too much.

## The Knight-1 Powersuit

Based on discontinued plans of an industrial guidance exoskeleton, the Knight-1 Powersuit was developed by Blake O'Crowley to allow him to fight crime and corruption, wherever it may hide. A tightly fitting, super powerful armour molds and grows around Blake as he combines his *Knight Braces*, transforming him into The Knight.

Segmented over what resembles (but definitely is not) simple black spandex are the most powerful parts of the Knight-1 - matte black and red-accented. These segments are sharp; ideal for slashing and slicing with forearms and calves. Blades are also known to extend from the elbows, knees and fingertips of the suit.

### Strengths

The Knight-1 enhances strength, agility, mobility and durability - providing built-in life support. The suit can protect the user under great pressure as well as from temperatures up to 80 degrees Celsius.

### The Valor Engine

The Knight-1 runs off of a clean power source developed by Blake himself; the Valor Engine. The Valor Engine generates energy from sheer willpower and fighting spirit, and of course - this method is not available nor known by anyone but Blake himself. As the suit does not run on electricity, the Knight-1 is immune to EMP attacks.

### Weaknesses

There is one large flaw to the Knight-1 suit, it offers little protection from non-elemental magics such as light, darkness and telepathy as Blake has had little to no contact with such forces in order to record the necessary data to program in a tolerance.  In the unlikely event of power failure, the suit immediately de-powers, retracts, shocks the user and requires immediate repair.

## Paraphernalia

### Equipment

* Knight Braces: A necessary tool for The Knight, combination of the two braces transform Blake into his costumed form. They too run on Valor and are most black, flat and plastic looking. Adorned on each of them is a small golden profile of a knight's helmet; The Knight's insignia from back in Blake's hacking days.
* Quarterstaff: A keen fighter, Blake is trained in the art of staff combat. At all times, Blake carries a collapsible quarterstaff; collapsing to no smaller than half a bicycle's handlebars. This staff can also separate into two smaller escrima staffs and comes equipped with a expandable glider for air mobility.
* Grappling Hook: Using Valor as a power source, The Knight can use the Knight-1's sheer strength to propel him through the air with a grappling hook, greatly used in conjunction with his quarterstaff's glider.
* Heads-Up Display: In conjunction with his preexisting engineering skills, The Knight's HUD can be used to deconstruct most appliance and machines mentally (as long as they aren't *too* complex), it can also scan for heat signatures, provide night-vision and lock onto footprints or said-heat signatures.
* Shock-Absorbing Boots: The Knight-1 comes equipped with shock absorbing boots, meaning that little damage is sustained on impact with the ground and minimal damage is dealt to the environment, along with little noise created.

### Transport

* Golf Balls: Two small metal balls - no bigger than golf balls - possess the ability to transform into a Valor-fueled, lightweight motorcycle for increased convenience. This sports two forms; a more stylised form for The Knight and a more normal looking form for Blake O'Crowley the civilian.

## Relationships

### Argent Mind

Since he was a boy, Blake was obsessed with all things superheroes; TV shows, toys, movies. So naturally Argent Mind - one of the first *real life* superheroes - was Blake's childhood idol. So when Argent Mind approached Blake personally and asked for his help in saving the entire city... well you can imagine his reaction, not that he didn't try to hide it.

### Yowgmoth

Initially, Blake despised Yowgmoth as he faced him at the Heartania Nuclear Power Plant for slaughtering it's workers and endangering the lives of the everyone in the city and the feeling was very much mutual as The Father of Machines hated The Knight for his *crimes against machinery*, but after the event of Yowgmoth's defeat at the hands of Doctor Cooper, allegiances had seemingly switched up for Yowgmoth's remains transferred their entire energy supply and operating system to the Knight-1. A trap or an alliance, Blake certainly wasn't sure.

## Trivia

* Blake was born on the 26th of April 2040.
* Blake's abilities may or may not be inspired by The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
* Interesting, Blake's name contains many hidden meaning:
	+ Blake can be translated from Old English to mean both "dark" and "pale" as well as "strong" or "bold".
	+ O'Crowley is the anglicised equivalent of "O Cruadhlaoich" which means "descendant of hardy hero" as well as "forest of crows".