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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8383609" data-attributes="member: 30538">James Graham<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-TMRRh8s/0/5e8f09fb/S/shaft-1971-S.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Much of the story has already been told. The truth of the matter is that it wasn't the death of his mentor -- and so many other people whom he respected and admired -- that made James Graham abandon the identity of Masque. It wasn't even any actual failure on his own part. What finally made him dump the long underwear was the fact that his personal nemesis, the man whose skills had driven him to seek out additional training from other fighters besides the Cowl, had managed to hand the Tong that employed him a more serious setback than the Cowl and Masque had managed in more than a decade.So he became a private investigator, at first working independently and later employed by the Carter Detective Agency, putting the skills that he'd developed to good use and trying to make some justice in an unjust world. When old friends sought him out, he would help them, but he wouldn't put doing that ahead of helping his actual clients. There was only so much that a man could do, and so he chose to focus on the small things instead of the big flashy ones that got headlines. And for a while he was happy, as his job took him all over the world, even to Africa a few times.Then Sarah Blade came into his life, and everything changed. James tried to tell himself that he wanted to be a big brother to her -- she was sixteen years younger than he was, after all! -- but that was not the nature of the relationship that either of them wanted. When their daughter Leah was born, he was a bit horrified to do the math and realize that by the time she was out of high school, he would be half way through his sixties, assuming the best possible world -- which this clearly wasn't. He retired from the agency to focus on caring for her.Unfortunately, the world would not let him be. In 1996, James was contacted by the people who were forming Argus. They needed his help, specifically certain connections he'd established in West Africa during his career as a detective, in order to prevent yet another madman from engaging in yet another villainous scheme. James wanted to say no, but what they showed him made him genuinely afraid for the first time in years, and the thought of something like this happening in the world his daughter would inherit finally made him agree. He expected to be back home in about a week with a story he wasn't supposed to share but would.The mission was a disaster. Everything that could go wrong, did, and James was thought killed in action by those who managed to make it back to their headquarters. In fact, he'd survived, but the bastard who took him prisoner did a very good job of making him regret that fact. Kept as a slave, tortured physically and mentally, thinking that it was very likely that he would never see Sarah or Leah again, he took what comfort he could in the company of another prisoner, and ultimately found the strength to help her make an escape attempt.He did not, does not, know that she succeeded. He does not know that he has a second daughter, born in Ghana.Eventually, the monster who claimed to own him crossed the wrong people and wound up dead. James managed to escape in the confusion, and made his way to Spain. He'd lost all track of time during his captivity, and was stunned to learn that it was 2007, that a second age of superheroes was under way He was considering how to return to the United States when he came upon a small item in one of the newspapers he was consulting, about the recent murder of one Sarah Blade.Since then, James Graham has lived quietly in Barcelona, occasionally employed as a consultant by some local private investigators, and doing everything in his power to avoid anything that will remind him of the innumerable failures of his life. He regards the fact that he's been spared senility with some additional regret. Eventually, something is going to let him know that the world is not done with him yet. What he will do then is anyone's guess.James Graham -- PL 8Abilities:STR 3 | STA 3 | AGL 3 | DEX 4 | FGT 6 | INT 4 | AWE 3 | PRE 6Powers:Fast on His Feet: Speed 1 (4 MPH) - 1 pointsStriking Strength: Strength-based Damage 2 - 2 pointsAdvantages:Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Close Attack 3, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 2, Evasion, Improved Critical (Unarmed) 2, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Languages 3 (Arabic, French, Spanish, Swahili, others), Power Attack, Startle, Takedown 2, Well-informed.Equipment:Car: Size Large; Strength 5; Speed 5 (ground); Defense 8; Toughness 8 - 10 pointsSkills:Acrobatics 5 (+8), Athletics 5 (+8), Expertise: Streetwise 9 (+13), Intimidation 6 (+12), Insight 8 (+11), Investigation 8 (+12), Perception 8 (+11), Persuasion 6 (+12), Ranged Combat: Guns 4 (+8), Stealth 8 (+11), Technology 5 (+9), Vehicles 6 (+10).Offense:Initiative +7Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 5)Defense:Dodge 7, Parry 9, Fortitude 5, Toughness 5/3, Will 9Totals:Abilities 64 + Powers 3 + Advantages 20 + Skills 40 + Defenses 15 = 142 pointsOffensive PL: 7Defensive PL: 7Resistance PL: 7Skill PL: 8Complications:Justice--Motivation. Dislikes Using Guns. Family (Sarah and Leah Blade) Temper.For his current PL 4 incarnation, subtract 3 ranks from all physical abilities and Fighting, drop all powers, drop all Combat advantages, reduce all skills by 5 ranks and reduce Will to 6.</blockquote>

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