Alice Nightingale / Nova

Name/Alter Ego: Alice Nightingale (nee Hargrave)

Aliases: Alicia Dove; Alexandra Chapman

Age: 48

Marital Status: Married ~ Leighton Nightingale

Children: (It’s a secret! ^_~)

Workplace:
Before Meeting Leighton and Afterward – Booking agent/manager in the music industry... with added “connections”
She decided to quit when a Mafioso assaulted her at her office.

At Present – Wondercafe; manages the front as waitress and cashier

Appearance:
Alice stands a slightly below-average five feet and four inches, though wears high heels to make up for what she lacks in height. She has medium-length, wavy jet-black hair though regularly has it lightened to a chestnut brown to hide her true identity. Her build is uncannily similar to that of her daughter, Gail, only Alice is slightly heavier.

Personality: Alice has a personable front – friendly, caring, would give the shirt off her back if you needed it... seems to have an innate empathy that has more to do with keen intuition than superpowers. She also likes to be liked, and cares about what people think of her. This sometimes leads to conflicts between trying to please while trying to protect those she cares about. Alice wants to be free like the rest of the world without constantly having to look over her shoulder, which makes her even more thankful to the man she married for putting up with that aspect of her life.

Despite coming from a mafia family she has managed to retain her hero’s posture. Because of her status of being a marked woman, she doesn’t genuinely trust as quickly as she appears to. If anyone so much as thinks of seeking to do harm to one of her loved ones this amicable front vanishes to reveal a Hero with a temper... and considering she could’ve easily turned villain with her upbringing the way it was... it would not be a wise decision to evoke that side of her.

On the flipside to the above, when worse comes to worse or whenever the mafia is involved, Alice can take on a rather cold, hard-hearted streak. She knows how the mafia thinks, and how it works... and she’d be damned before they outsmarted her! ... Even if she had to give up the things, or people, that she loves most, if under the belief doing so was the best option and would keep them safe.

While she has given up her only daughter physically, Alice has never truly been able to let her little girl go. It is the primary cause of a hole in her soul that has been empty for a good twenty-three years, for it killed her to give her baby away. Alice hopes that one day things will get better and they’ll be together again... the only question is: When?

Powers: Fire Manipulation, Invisibility, and Superhuman Tracking

Weaknesses: Cannot stand anything cold. It has to be either room temperature, warm, or hot. If subjected to prolonged cold or submerged in it she will become ill. When she becomes ill her powers go on the fritz or refuse to work entirely.

She can only become invisible if in an extreme situation of fear, or if able to mimic the fright to trigger it.

Is allergic to most members of the mint family, though is severely allergic to both peppermint and wintergreen. If she ever has a breath mint in her mouth it is likely a spicy cinnamon one.

Her tracking ability only works when she thinks about the person (if it’s someone she knows), or if she has a picture of the person in front of her. It is a very draining ability as well, though she uses it quite often to check up on her daughter.

Superhero or Supervillain: Hero

Supername: Nova

History:
Alice was the first child born into a lavish mafia family, though she barely remembers the Super that was her father and thus the source of where her powers originated. She has some vague memories, but for reasons unknown he vanished one day and never returned – her mother, sisters, and brother under the watchful eyes of Witness Protection. Despite living so comfortably Alice often felt like a bird in a cage. This caused the little girl to rebel. Constantly she would sneak off on adventures instead of meeting at strictly-scheduled rendezvous points for transfer to one vehicle to another. She was the only member of the little family to rebel so furiously the measures put in place to protect. Alice’s mother vehemently selected private schools for her education, even enrolling her into a select, high-security college where the young woman earned a degree in Business at an alarmingly accelerated rate. Not long after her schooling she went into the music industry to be on the managerial and booking agency side of things, rather than the fame and stardom of actually singing. It was through her work that she met Leighton Nightingale and his parents – both of whom interestingly were also in the music business.

In spending time with Leighton, Alice found the man a delight to be around. He had so much more than a handsome face and a nice voice. Kind, open-minded, intelligent... passionate about what he did for a living. It wasn’t long before she was head-over-heels for the man. Because of her roots and powers Alice grew more and more apprehensive about how her new boyfriend would take to such things, but could not get up the courage to speak with him about it for fear of driving him away. To Alice’s chagrin, it didn’t take long for Leighton to notice the Witness Protection agents everywhere near her and asked her about it. She was terrified they’d hit this snag sooner or later and despite being horribly tempted to brush it off and lie, Alice instead told him the whole of what she knew of the truth. She was in the Mafia, albeit indirectly, and her father may have given his life to protect what remained of his family from the people he’d ratted out. To say Leighton was shocked was nearly an understatement since, in his words, she didn’t seem like someone from the Mafia. With great relief on Alice’s part Leighton got used to the idea, and began jokingly referring to her guards as the Men in Black.

The second of her worries came true not long after, when Alice had invited Leighton on a date in her own home. She and her mother had prepared the meal, though the rest of the family had gone out for the evening. Dinner went off without a hitch, however in retrieving the dessert Alice hadn’t noticed Leighton following. When she turned around to gracefully balance the rather tall, ornate dessert Alice came face-to-face with Leighton. Startled, she turned invisible while still holding the dessert cake, and just as quickly snapped out of it. Alice thought for sure such a sudden shock would send the man running, but instead he was merely confused. She had to explain to him what Supers were, and the difference between heroes and villains not being that much different than as told in comic books. To her immense relief, after he learned a bit more about it he accepted the fact his girlfriend had superpowers. He would often joke and express gladness that they weren’t enemies. It was Leighton’s acceptances and sense of humor that further solidified Alice’s affections for him.

As things started to get serious between them the woman couldn’t help but blush at the plethora of love songs by him that filled the radio stations and music stores. Le had shocked her good and well on the finale of one of his tours, in which he had proposed to her. Without delay she gave him her answer: Yes! It was one of the happiest days of her life.

Two years into wedded bliss and Alice received a phone call from her doctor. She hadn’t been feeling well, and decided to get checked out. It had been quite a shock when Alice learned that she was pregnant with her first child. How would she go about telling Leighton, and would he be as happy about the news as she was? Deciding to take a gamble, Alice waited until their second wedding anniversary to surprise him: within the anniversary cake she had made, Alice had also inserted a smallish, fake baby rattle. It was large enough not to be mistakenly consumed, but small enough to conceal. She deliberately gave this piece to Leighton, and impatiently awaited his reaction. Confusion had crossed his features at first, however when he realized what it was he’d asked if it meant what he thought it meant. Smiling, Alice showed him the ultrasound printouts next, coming right out and saying they were going to have a baby. It had been a very happy anniversary indeed.

Seven months later they became parents to a baby girl, whom they named Gail. She was born on the hottest day of the year, and for that Alice often referred to Gail as her “Little Phoenix”.

While Alice and Leighton lived happily, there was one constant problem in their lives. Every so often the mafia would ultimately find them, and attempt to finish the job of wiping out all members of the Hargrave family. They had gotten Alice’s father, Damian, and Gail Hargrave had passed once all of her children were old enough to look after themselves. It was assumed the mafia had gotten to her and poisoned her, or perhaps simply she had lost hope in ever seeing Damian again and thus died of a broken heart. No one knows for certain. What is known is that, even with her name now Nightingale, the mafia still wishes at least Alice and her new family dead. Largely speculation, it could very well have been because Alice had been Damian’s personal favorite.

It was a little over a year after Gail was born, and early into expecting a second child, that Alice decided to resign from her career in the music industry. A ‘band’ of mafia thugs disguised as an up-and-coming music talent looking to be booked in some good locations paid a visit to her office. However, during the meeting it was soon revealed they were there to abduct Alice in an attempt to draw out the other Hargraves. Despite her powers she was beaten and subdued before being taken to a secret location, with only a cryptic clue left behind to help Leighton and the local authorities. With the help of Eric Hargrave the police captured of one of Alice’s assailants and learned where Alice was being kept. Rushing onto the scene, Leighton and the authorities found Alice: she had been beaten, bound, and submerged within a tank of ice water. A diving mask connected to an oxygen tank was her only source of air. A rescue team pried off one of the panes of the tank and hoisted the frozen woman from the watery depths.

The only part of the whole ordeal Alice truly remembers is the distorted voice of her husband and his strong arms holding her, his voice begging her to stay with him. She doesn’t remember the fact she’d sustained a black eye, split lip, several bruises all over her body, three cracked ribs, or the fact that her hair had been shorn incredibly short. Alice fought to stay with Leighton, blinking tiredly at him and shivering violently during the whole ambulance ride. She asked if Gail was alright, and decided to rest a little upon learning that “Uncle Eric” was presently watching over her.

Alice spent a good long while in the hospital recovering. Normally she would have healed fairly quickly, her injuries minor, but the illness from being exposed to the cold for so long had weakened her. Eric had rushed to the hospital with his niece in his arms, determined to see his sister. Demanding to see her baby, Alice encouraged Eric to place the baby beside her. The whole room received a bit of a shock when, not liking how cold her mother was, baby Gail attempted to warm her mother by providing bits of supernatural fire. They were little more than sparks, all the tiny body could generate, but the fact remained the child had been given the gift of powers. Alice gave the child her thanks and a kiss on the forehead, then slowly faded back into dreamland with the child in her arms.

Approximately a week after the ordeal, when Alice was just starting to truly recover, a sharp pain in her abdomen and subsequent bleeding told her she had lost the baby she was carrying. It crushed her to have to tell Leighton she had failed him. Alice’s only consolations were the facts that her family was still relatively intact, that baby Gail was happy and healthy, and that Leighton had suggested they could always try again.

Four months to the day, the mafia struck again and set the Nightingale home ablaze. It had been in the dead of night while the family lay sleeping. Chaos surrounded all attempts to determine where the fire had started, for there were several non-adjacent rooms with a fire raging in them. Le carrying their baby girl, and Alice leading the charge out of the burning home, she thought her husband had been right behind her. Reaching Witness Protection agents, she looked at them quizzically upon asking where her husband was. Alice turned around and nearly said he was right there... only to find an empty space behind her. Terror filled every fiber of her being. Where were they? Were they alright? Had the fire gotten to them? Without a single thought as to her own safety, Alice rushed back into the blazing ruin in search of her loved ones and ignoring completely any and all orders to return to safer ground.

To the woman’s relief she found Leighton and Gail... however, to her horror, Leighton was knocked out and beneath some debris and Gail beside him looking rather beaten up from the fallen debris and crying. Immediately she rushed to them, using her powers of manipulating fire to shield herself and eventually the three of them from the flames and falling architecture. Kneeling beside Leighton she begged for him to stay with her, for he was severely injured, and held their daughter to try and soothe the frightened child. It took quite a bit of effort, but Alice was eventually able to aid in extinguishing the flames. She didn’t dare move Leighton for fear of only making his injuries worse. The three of them were all rushed to the hospital, and with a bribe to the press she managed to get them to print an article saying they all had perished in the fire.

Alice stayed by her husband’s and daughter’s hospital bedsides day and night, refusing to leave. Leighton was barely stable as it was, and because one of the fires had begun in Gail’s room Alice didn’t want to take any chances of someone swiping her baby. The belongings of theirs that weren’t too badly damaged from the fire were transported to a new location, and once recovered enough Leighton was allowed to go home under a sort of hospice care until he’d made a full recovery. Alice was perhaps even busier this way, but it took her mind off of how close a call the last attack had been and allowed her to focus on her beloved family.

Family she longed to keep safe...

When Le had sufficiently recovered, Alice came to him with a solemn decision. It tore her heart in two to even suggest it. In defeated tones she proposed they give baby Gail away to a new home. She would have a new name, a new life... and with any luck be safe from the mafia’s long-reaching claws. At the rate they were going, Alice was afraid they’d lose Gail just as she’d miscarried what was to be their second child. The idea hadn’t set well with Leighton at all, causing the couple to get into a heated debate about their daughter’s safety and their abilities as parents to keep her safe. Eventually, however, the idea of foster care won out. It was with teary goodbyes they left the baby to the care of another. Alice requested for Gail to be told, if she asked, that her mother had died due to an illness shortly after giving birth. Leighton requested she be told he was found unable to care for the baby in his grief over his ‘departed’ wife.

Alice spent several sleepless nights crying in the transitional period of having given Gail away. No matter how hard she tried to tell herself it was the best move for everyone, it still hadn’t felt right and she found herself unable to truly let go. The woman only felt worse upon realizing the changes in Leighton’s voice when he sang. It was so somber, and the occasions in which he sang were fewer and farther between. Guilt overwhelmed the hero, feeling it entirely her fault for seeming to have torn her family apart.

In an attempt to soothe the tears in both of their souls, Alice became obsessed with everything about their daughter as the years went on. Every report card, all relocations and transfers to different families... anything at all, Alice took it in with the bittersweet knowledge that Gail had remained relatively safe under foster care. She shared every new discovery with her husband. For twenty-two years Alice continued this way, tracking her daughter with any photograph of Gail just to make certain she was okay. Despite how avidly interested she was in her baby’s life, she couldn’t ignore Leighton’s occasional wariness regarding her obsession. Only a couple of times have they debated solemnly over keeping an eye on Gail: Alice determined not to be ignorant to her daughter’s path in life, and Leighton worried for the hearts of both women and what might happen if Gail ever found out. Many a time has he expressed this worry, and Alice’s reaction varies from defeat to a gentle reassuring confidence.

Alice and Leighton have made a moderate, anonymous donation recently to the WonderCafe. And, after years of from-home employment, Alice has decided to give the real working world a try again. Where has she decided to work, you ask? Why, the Wonder Café... where else?