Karl Katz (Finished)
Jan 1, 2018 17:39:38 GMT -6
Post by Mayor Katz on Jan 1, 2018 17:39:38 GMT -6
MAYOR KATZ
Name:Karl Katz
Alias:
Galvan
Pen Name:
TechnoWiz
Age:
35
Occupation:
The Mayor of Jump City
Previous Jobs:
Computer Technician, Website Designer, Hotel Critic, and Singer
Sexual Orientation:
Pansexual
Affiliation:
Civilian
Family:
Kimiko Katz; Daughter; 15; Cheerleader and Swim Team captain for Kingston High
Katherine Katz: Wife; 37; Professional Dancer; Deceased
Carmen Katz: Mom; 67; Co-owns the Katz Hotel
Rodney Katz: Dad; 65; Owns a fancy hotel
Jorge Katz; Brother; 40; Actor and a war veteran
Pets:
Chauncey: A Blue Cobalt Tarantula
Sir Reginald: A Flying Fox
Faceclaim:
Dante Vale from Huntik
Physical Appearance:
Karl is a thirty-five-year-old Caucasian man whose family was originally from England. He sports shortish red hair and while he can grow a mustache he usually shaves. He also has a pair of yellow eyes; which glows everytime he uses his powers. He is fairly short for a guy standing at only five foot and six inches. And despite being raised in Jump rather than in England he has developed a thick British accent from being around his British accented parents and their elite friends. In addition to speaking with a clear British accent, he will also use some British slang. His favorite color is red prompting him to have some red clothes. His preferred manner of dress is usually very casual, especially for a politician.
PERSONALITY
Karl has been an oddity since he was a kid. He often preferred the company of animals than people since animals don't judge whereas most people from his childhood did nothing but judge him. Young Karl often found solace with his animal friends after a hard day at school. Having been born with the ability to talk to animals certainly helped Karl with his natural affinity for animals. Unfortunately, it also made him look weird to any outsider that didn't understand he was born with powers. Not to mention he was the only one in his family to have powers making him look even stranger in the eyes of his parents' rich snooty friends they like to hang around with. Karl never did much care for his parents' friends since they often struck him as rude, snobbish, arrogant, and completely self-absorbed. With company like that it certainly became easier to see why Karl had so many animal friends.
Interestingly enough, Karl considers himself a traditional feminist of sorts as well as an equalist. He wholeheartedly believes in equality and often dreams of a world where everyone is treated the same no matter their gender, race, and sexual preference. It really bothers him whenever a person is treated unfairly for something they cannot help. As the new mayor he hopes to one day change the viewpoints of the smallminded.
Karl is also very much into the environment. As new mayor he promises to do all he can to lessen pollution and smog in the air. One of the ways he hopes to achieve this is by promoting recycling and organizing beach cleanups. To ensure people recycle he has cleverly made recycling look attractive by promising rewards after recycling so many bottles and cans and by throwing fun parties promoting the environment. He has also made it where the city no longer makes paper bags.
Despite his somewhat selfish and immature behavior, Karl cares deeply for his daughter and has a genuine interest in keeping Jump as well as its citizens safe from harm. He often worries for Kimiko fearing what will become of her should anything remotely bad happen to him. In turn, he often wonders what he would ever do without her. He feels he would truly be lost without her and that she's the one that keeps him somewhat sane.
Karl is many things, but stupid is not one of them. He knew that by taking the job as the city's newest mayor he was pretty much setting himself up as a target for crazy people wanting to either kill him or kidnap him for ransom. Still he felt the benefits and the status were well worth any risk. But the biggest reason he wanted to be mayor so badly is due to his fear of change. In his mind, so long as he is in charge no changes that he dislikes will occur decreasing his stress level and so he feels he doesn't have to worry so much.
It is no secret that Karl is an intelligent, articulate, strong-minded individual. He is also creative and eccentric. He is really good at coming up with various creative ways to earn a positive approval rating from his citizens. Charismatic, assertive, and manipulative, Karl has all of the makings of a natural born leader. Although he didn't always, he now knows just how to get people to listen to him and take him seriously.
One thing Karl is really big on is modern technology. He rarely leaves home without his laptop and he takes his cell phone as well as several backup phones with him wherever he goes. The backups are there just in case something unforeseen happens to his main phone. Further, he enjoys taking selfies, making posts and having online followers. He does this in part to appeal to the youths and because he finds it fun. As such he hates being called things like old man and pops often exclaiming in frustration, "hey, c'mon I'm not that old yet!" Other things he enjoys doing are getting back massages, shoe shopping, pedicures, appreciating art, karaoke, playing his guitar, and attending various conventions. A closet brony of sorts, Karl likes to go all incognito to MLP conventions. He also enjoys writing a series of MLP fanfiction under the pony name, TechnoWiz and posting it online to show off his work while remaining totally anonymous. Unfortunately, he just had to write it using a special, unique font that he created and so someone might notice that he's the one behind the fanfiction. He also writes MLP fanficy songs and posts them under YouTube using the same alias. His other hobbies include tinkering with and improving his spy bots and creating his own brand of font.
Estranged from his own parents and older brother: Karl has this interesting love/hate, hyper-competitive relationship with his parents and older brother. While he really hates their guts for the way they treated him growing up he doesn't have the heart to kill them or to even physically do them harm. This in turn drives him crazy causing him to suffer from cognitive dissonance!
In addition, Karl is a major control freak and perfectionist. It just frustrates him when things don't go his way or quite as planned. In fact, whenever his campaign team makes the tiniest mistake he has them start all over again until he is finally satisfied. He is also a major neatfreak and germaphobe obsessed with cleaning everything spotless. Usually going so far as to shake others' hands with a clean rag claiming that it's not them; it's him. Whenever eating at a restaurant, he tends to spray down the table and chair with his bottle of disinfectant out of his obsession with cleanliness.
Further, Karl is a Metathesiophobe; which is just a fancy word meaning that he fears change. In fact, he is so scared by the prospect of change that he will literally go out of his way to make sure that his daily routine will not be interrupted by anything unexpected and unwelcomed. His fear of change is also what ultimately led to him running for mayor since he realized that should he succeed he'd be able to revert everything back to normal and be able to oversee changes that he does approve of. He also constantly checks his schedule several times a day to make sure he is on time to every little thing. He tends to go crazy with his eye twitching and compulsively eating things like paper and grass whenever something or someone throws him off his schedule.
Karl tends to consume inedible things like paper and grass whenever feeling stressed out or nervous. In stark contrast, he is also a germaphobe. Karl really hates germs and as such is really big on obsessively cleaning everything until satisfied. He is a total neat freak who loves order and as such cannot stand to find so much as a pencil out of place. He also distrusts public restrooms for this very reason.
As he is an attention seeker, Karl has been known for pulling some insane stunts in order to get attention from the media as well as an elaborate attempt to earn even more voter approval. no problem talking about himself and will even humor curious reporters with tales of his youth claiming he has nothing to hide. Though, he does seem to have selective hearing causing him to either misinterpret or completely miss some things that others tell him in favor of moving the conversation along more quickly.
Karl is extremely fickle when it comes to whose side he's on. As a somewhat selfish opportunist, he tends to side with whoever best suits his needs and desires. He will, however, not deal with those who refuse to give him and his citizens anything in return.
When it comes to protecting the ones he loves from harm, Karl tends to go all out. From using his spy bots to insisting that his daughter bring along one of his homemade weapons as a means of protection Karl really does overdo the whole overprotective father thing. Case in point he has yet to like any of his daughter's boyfriends and has even gone so far as threaten a few of them scaring them off much to his daughter's chagrin. In addition to this, he has also blatantly invaded his daughter's privacy by spying on her whenever she is out with some "questionable" boy with either his pets or spy bots.
Given his personality and all of his beliefs, Karl is most definitely a stubborn person. Once he gets an idea in his head even a bad one; good luck talking him out of it. He'll do whatever it takes to see his plans all the way through even if it costs him something. This naturally isn't really a good thing since this line of thinking tends to get Karl and those closest to him in all sorts of trouble. This is especially true when he stubbornly ignores the advice of his assistants, bodyguards, and his Council and instead runs off and does the opposite of what they suggested. Like using a good portion of the taxpayer's dollars to build a super weapon or hire someone to get some dirt on a rival and make them look bad in the media.
Soon after becoming mayor of Jump and thus becoming a target for kidnappers and assassins, Karl has become increasingly paranoid and distrustful of others. He tends to suspect most everyone and everything around him as he believes everyone is after him. It certainly doesn't help that he has nightmares of these very fears coming true. And it really doesn't help any that he has been receiving actual threats from anonymous people soon after accepting the job. In his mind, he doesn't know who all he can trust. Still, he puts up a brave front acting unbothered by these threats in public while behind closed doors he is nothing but a nervous wreck, a ticking timebomb ready to explode at any moment. To prepare for the worst he went so far as to build a secret, hidden underground shelter in his backyard.
It is no secret that Karl is a super nosy person as he wants to know as much as he can about the people he meets; which is certainly understandable since he just wants to know if they are trustworthy or not. Even so his own nosiness certainly does coincide with his growing paranoia.
Karl tends to drink heavily whenever feeling depressed or nervous. He also tends to drink a lot at parties. He claims the alcohol relaxes him.
Much to his family's chagrin Karl has done some pretty embarrassing and totally immature things. Such as going through a ton of trouble just to throw a fancy party just so to not invite his parents and elder brother and then taking a bunch of selfies at the party and typing things like, 'haha I'm having fun with Jump's elite and you're not! In your face!' He also likes to sing karaoke while drunk and he sings way off key while drunk. And he pulls a lot of crazy stunts too just to get attention. Sometimes he even insists on having board meetings in unprofessional settings although some might consider that more eccentric than immature.
POWERS/SKILLS
Technopath: Karl claims to have a computer for a brain enabling him to see inside machinery such as computers with a sort of x-ray vision. With this ability along with his own knowledge of machines, he can fix pretty much any machine that is malfunctioning or just not working right. Further his technopathy also enables him to communicate with robots even if their only form of communication is through a series of beeps. He can also use his technopathy to seize full control over any electrical technology and use it to do whatever he needs it to do.
Electrokinetic: Along with his technopathy, Karl also has the ability to both absorb and generate electrical blasts from his hands.
Animal Communication: In addition to understanding robotic beeps, Karl can also talk to animals. He likely looks crazy to any outsider since Karl has to use animals speech to communicate with animals. While he tries to keep his powers a secret fearing that if the whole world knew it would only make him an even bigger target; he finds it nearly impossible to ignore small, furry creatures trying to talk to him.
Electrical Transportation: Karl has the awesome ability to turn himself into an electrical current and then travel through electrical conduits such as power lines or telephone lines. He can also transport himself inside electrical devices such as televisions or computers.
Strong-Minded: Karl is so strong-minded that he is almost immune to hypnotism. Almost. Karl is a real pro at throwing up mental walls to fool hypnotists. Still, it is not always enough as such tactics only wind up stalling the inevitable. Even so his clear set of goals and desires is what helps him be so strong-minded and mentally prepared to fight off mental invaders.
Above Average Intelligence: Having graduated in the top twenty percent or so in his class, Karl is really smart. Maybe not quite at the genius level save for a few areas, but still pretty up there in terms of intelligence.
Building Robots: Karl has a real knack for building robots many of which are his spy bots that he uses to spy on anyone he distrusts.
Computer Genius: Utilizing both his technopathy and his own extensive knowledge of computers, Karl is really skilled with computers. He can fix them easily and knows a number of computer coding.
Articulate: Another thing Karl is really good at is words. This is naturally due to him reading a lot and as a kid his parents made him read dictionaries despite his complaints that they were boring.
Extensive knowledge of politics and in law: Karl attended college for many years to study political science, history, computers, business, and math. He graduated with a Masters degree in Political Science and in Business.
Leadership: Karl is a natural born leader. He had always felt comfortable asserting himself, telling others how it is, and what to do. But like all great leaders, he started off as a follower.
Charismatic and Manipulative: Karl is quite the charmer and unfortunately for others he knows it and flaunts this skill of his like no tomorrow treating his skill much like a toy. He tends to use his manipulative skills and his charisma to deceive and distract enemies. Other times he uses these skills to achieve his own ends and get what he wants.
Some Acrobatic Skills: Interestingly enough during his youth, Karl was really into gymnastics. So much so that much to his parents' frustration and the mocking of his elder brother that he became a cheerleader long before high school even. Upon reaching his high school years, he joined the Kingston's High Academy cheer squad who were only too happy to have a boy on their team.
Musically Inclined: Can both sing and play the guitar.
Dancer: Is a skilled dancer who claims to have picked up a thing or two from his late wife. In addition, his past in gymnastics and as a cheerleader certainly helped limber him up making him all the more flexible.
Gadgets:
His various intelligent, flying spy bots that he sends out to spy and take pictures
His various vehicles that he uses to make dramatic escapes with
WEAKNESSES
Is a High Profile Target: Karl is many things, but stupid is not one of them. He knew that by taking the job as the city's newest mayor he was pretty much setting himself up as a target for crazy people wanting to either kill him or kidnap him for ransom. Still he felt the benefits and the status were well worth any risk. But the biggest reason he wanted to be mayor so badly is due to his fear of change. In his mind, so long as he is in charge no changes that he dislikes will occur decreasing his stress level and so he feels he doesn't have to worry so much.
His love for his daughter: The love he has for his daughter can be used against him for he will do pretty much anything for her and will do anything to keep her safe from harm going so far as blatantly invading her privacy with his spy bots and even surrendering himself to those who threaten her.
His loyalty to Jump City and its citizens: Much like his daughter his loyalty can definitely be used against him. He will do pretty much anything to keep the citizens of Jump safe even going so far as cooperating with anyone that legitimately threatens it.
Estranged from his own parents and older brother: Karl has this interesting love/hate, hyper-competitive relationship with his parents and older brother. While he really hates their guts for the way they treated him growing up he doesn't have the heart to kill them or to even physically do them harm. This in turn drives him crazy causing him to suffer from cognitive dissonance!
Water: Being electrokinetic has its pros as well as its cons. Unfortunately for the Mayor of Jump City, water is one of his biggest weaknesses. Even the tiniest drop is enough to short him out whenever he is in galvanized mode. He does, however, need to be in galvanized mode to short circuit. Just know that water and electricity do not mix well.
Insulators: Pretty much any material that prevents him from electrocuting an enemy. In other words insulators are materials that for the most part resist his electrical shocks. Such materials include: rubber, glass, paper, leather, and plastic.
Has Selective Hearing: Karl has a little something known as selective hearing simply meaning that Karl will sometimes subconsciously miss certain things that people tell him and hearing only the parts of said conversation he wants to hear. This habit of his will no doubt drive people crazy.
Suffers from Pica: Karl tends to consume inedible things like paper and grass whenever feeling stressed out or nervous.
Suffers from Mysophobia: Karl really hates germs and as such is really big on obsessively cleaning everything until satisfied. He is a total neat freak who loves order and as such cannot stand to find so much as a pencil out of place.
Suffers from Metathesiophobia: Karl distrusts and hates change so much that he went so far as to become the mayor so he wouldn't have to worry about any changes he disapproves of seeing the light of day.
Control Freak and Perfectionist: Karl has this constant desire and need to control everything that goes on in his life. Everything has to be perfect and just so with him. And if something fails to meet his unrealistic expectations he goes all crazy and demands that the person(s) involved start all over again and work on it until Karl is at last satisfied with the end result.
Overprotective and overly controlling: When it comes to protecting the ones he loves from harm, Karl tends to go all out. From using his spy bots to insisting that his daughter bring along one of his homemade weapons as a means of protection Karl really does overdo the whole overprotective father thing. Case in point he has yet to like any of his daughter's boyfriends and has even gone so far as threaten a few of them scaring them off much to his daughter's chagrin. In addition to this, he has also blatantly invaded his daughter's privacy by spying on her whenever she is out with some "questionable" boy with either his pets or spy bots.
Side Player: Karl is extremely fickle when it comes to whose side he's on. As a somewhat selfish opportunist, he tends to side with whoever best suits his needs and desires. He will, however, not deal with those who refuse to give him and his citizens anything in return.
Stubborn: Given his personality and all of his beliefs, Karl is most definitely a stubborn person. Once he gets an idea in his head even a bad one; good luck talking him out of it. He'll do whatever it takes to see his plans all the way through even if it costs him something. This naturally isn't really a good thing since this line of thinking tends to get Karl and those closest to him in all sorts of trouble. This is especially true when he stubbornly ignores the advice of his assistants, bodyguards, and his Council and instead runs off and does the opposite of what they suggested. Like using a good portion of the taxpayer's dollars to build a super weapon or hire someone to get some dirt on a rival and make them look bad in the media.
Super paranoid and Jumpy: Soon after becoming mayor of Jump and thus becoming a target for kidnappers and assassins, Karl has become increasingly paranoid and distrustful of others. He tends to suspect most everyone and everything around him as he believes everyone is after him. It certainly doesn't help that he has nightmares of these very fears coming true. And it really doesn't help any that he has been receiving actual threats from anonymous people soon after accepting the job. In his mind, he doesn't know who all he can trust. Still, he puts up a brave front acting unbothered by these threats in public while behind closed doors he is nothing but a nervous wreck, a ticking timebomb ready to explode at any moment.
Nosy: It is no secret that Karl is a super nosy person as he wants to know as much as he can about the people he meets; which is certainly understandable since he just wants to know if they are trustworthy or not. Even so his own nosiness certainly does coincide with his growing paranoia.
Alcoholic: Karl tends to drink heavily whenever feeling depressed or nervous. He also tends to drink a lot at parties. He claims the alcohol relaxes him.
Immature: Much to his family's chagrin Karl has done some pretty embarrassing and totally immature things. Such as going through a ton of trouble just to throw a fancy party just so to not invite his parents and elder brother and then taking a bunch of selfies at the party and typing things like, 'haha I'm having fun with Jump's elite and you're not! In your face!' He also likes to sing karaoke while drunk and he sings way off key while drunk. And he pulls a lot of crazy stunts too just to get attention. Sometimes he even insists on having board meetings in unprofessional settings although some might consider that more eccentric than immature.
HISTORY
Karl was born to Carmen and Rodney in the heart of Jump City on October 25, 1983. Both of Karl's parents as well as his older brother, Jorge were born in England. But one day his parents decided to move to America for they were curious about American life and heard from their elite friends that America was quiet and peaceful. Little did they realize just how wrong they were! But for whatever reason his parents stayed and started a fancy new hotel called, The Katz Hotel; obviously they named it after themselves due to their enormous ego. Still it is a nice place to stay for those lucky few that can afford it. Karl was an unusual baby. His very first word was, 'robot.' Indeed even as a baby, Karl seemed interested in robots. His parents despite their snobbish ways humored him by getting him picture books about robots and toy robots for they thought it merely a phase that he would soon grow out of on his own. Only this was not the case. In fact, Karl's natural love for technology and robotics only increased with age.
Karl was a very strange child or at least he was in the eyes of his parents, their rich friends, and his older brother. Not only did certain things fascinate him, but he was born with powers; which was most unusual since nobody else in his family had any. His parents first noticed his powers when he was a mere baby. His powers were wildly unpredictable and untame. As a baby there were times his parents spotted him on T.V due to his electrical transportation powers and other times when he just mysteriously appeared inside their laptops. Other instances included electrical devices acting strange around him and sudden electrical sparks coming from his tiny baby hands. It was never easy for the Katz family to raise a baby with powers.
They just prayed that things would get better and easier as Karl got older and in a way it was. But still very difficult for Karl was a very mischievous and a somewhat selfish, rebellious child who would often abuse his powers for his own gain. Mainly he would use his electrical transportation powers as a means to sneak into theme parks and movie theaters without paying. His parents understandably weren't particularly thrilled by this though to be fair Karl was only acting out as a child due to the unfair treatment he received. His parents were hypocritical in that they wanted to teach him the value of a dollar by not giving him any money without his earning it first. Which would all be well and good except they never gave Karl a chance to earn spendable money via an allowance. Instead they often favored his older brother by not only giving him an allowance, but by giving him extra spending money on top of that for no real reason. What's more their eldest son didn't even need the extra money since he was a child actor whose fame only grew with each new role. Karl was always jealous that his older brother got to be an actor while he didn't. He always felt he could be just as good if not better if given the chance!
Karl saw the injustice in this, but that didn't stop him from seeking creative ways to earn his own money once he got old enough. Mainly he used his powers to break into places out of spite and as an act of rebellion against his unsupportive parents. Not only that, but he quickly discovered he could use his technopathy to help him mow neighbors lawns. He tried to be sneaky about it, but eventually got caught by his elder brother who ratted him out to their parents who were unhappy with him using his powers in public. They often told him not to use his powers in public and to keep them under control. Naturally, Karl felt really stifled and frustrated by his parents ordering him to keep his powers to himself. Moreso he hated them referring to his powers as freakish and then going so far as to call him a weirdo freak. It hurt since this was his family who were supposed to love and care for him. Not treat him like some sort of contagious disease. Unfortunately, their rich friends weren't much better. Karl hated having to be so nice to them.
Things weren't much better in school as Karl had a tendency to act out in class as a means of getting attention. It was clear to his teacher that Karl had some serious attention seeking issues and had to send him to the principal's office a number of times. The Kingston High principal recommended that they get Karl therapy and to get him involved in extracurricular activities to give him something more constructive to do. Even as a child, Karl loved to talk anyone who would listen's ears off. And as for joining an extracurricular school activity; Karl joined the Debate Team; which given how persuasive and articulate he was suited him only too well. While he was a very good debater; his words often scared those around him leaving them feeling uneasy. Still, that didn't stop him from winning some debates.
Apparently that still wasn't good enough for his parents. They wanted both of their sons to join Kingston's football team. with Jorge five years Karl's senior he had already graduated high school and continued his acting career. The pressure to be as good as his older brother at football was high. He tried. Oh how he tried only to fail and fail miserably. He just wasn't suited for football. But he wasn't half bad at one other thing besides debate and that was gymnastics. Ever since he was five years old, his parents had him enrolled in gymnastics. His parents only did so to humor him. They hoped it was just a phase he would soon grow out of. But as years went on with Karl showing no signs of wanting to quit gymnastics his parents had given up that he would ever grow out of it. As it were, all of those years of gymnastics had really limbered him up and made him quite flexible.
With football tryouts not looking so well for him despite his relations, there was one other team he knew he just might have a chance at and that was the cheer squad. The cheerleaders were skeptical at first with him being a boy and all. But were pretty impressed by Karl's skill at gymnastics. But they reminded him there was more to cheerleading than being about to perform flips and cartwheels; you had to be able to memorize cheers and cheer loudly for the team. His parents went all crazy upon learning that he had tried out for the cheer squad due to not being very openminded to such things. But he told them he wanted to do something school spirity for the school and he was really good at cheerleading it turned out. After passing the tryouts he made the team and didn't really mind that he was the only guy on the team. Karl soon became smitten by none other than the cheer captain, Katherine McDoogal who was two years his senior. It took awhile, but Katherine eventually returned his feelings.
Yes, throughout his middle and high school years, Karl was a male cheerleader and a pretty good one too. Given what a motivational speaker he was, cheerleading in a weird way also suited him just fine and despite not quite making the football team he was fairly athletic enabling him to not only help come up with some of the cheers, but to perform the moves too. Unfortunately, his parents were never supportive of this as they thought it wrong for a male to be a cheerleader due to not being very open-minded and it was yet another thing they would give him hell about by saying things like, 'your older brother, Jorge would never become a cheerleader. No, he was the star quarterback of the football team every year until he graduated and yet here you are prancing about in that ridiculous outfit like a weirdo.' 'Karl just yelled at them before retreating up to his room and slamming the door behind him. Karl defended himself best he could, but there was just no reasoning with them whenever they got like this. Clearly, he must have kicked babies in a previous life to deserve such 'stellar' parents. Could they not see he was only doing this to get some attention from them since he felt he didn't get nearly enough attention when his big brother was still there. Even with him gone he felt ignored and shunned.
Karl had hoped his less than supportive parents would accept Katherine at least, but they didn't simply because she was not from a wealthy family. That and she too had powers of her own. Her hair was animated and was strong and full of life. She could use it to pick up objects and crush them or throw them about and she could also use her long, tough animated strands of hair to climb up walls and trees. Karl did not get his parents at all. He thought Katherine's powers amazing! And she in turn loved his! So instead the two would hang out together in spaces more accepting and less judgmental of them. After falling in love the two agreed to wait until Karl graduated before running off and getting married. Karl couldn't wait! He wanted to get as far away from his apathetic parents as humanly possible!
After Karl graduated the two made good on their promise and got married. It was a modest wedding and Karl out of spite refused to invite his parents. As happy as they were they sadly had no money and thus no real way to support themselves. Karl's parents effectively cut him off and Katherine's simply did not have a whole lot to spare. The two were forced into odd jobs so they could afford a honeymoon. They took whatever they could find using their powers along the way to help with this. Karl who had a bit of a musical ear took to writing songs and performed at clubs and the like while Katherine became a security guard for the mall. She would use her amazing hair powers to take down any shoplifter who dared cross her path. They soon saved up enough to go on a nice honeymoon to the white sandy beaches of Cancun, Mexico. There they spent a week relaxing on the beach and just looking around.
After they returned home from their honeymoon, the two decided to go to college, so they could get better jobs. Karl studied the political sciences and computers while his wife studied general stuff while learning dance.
Two years later and their daughter, Kimiko was born. They doted on her and Karl swore she will have all of the attention that he himself never received as a kid from his own parents. Still it proved difficult studying with a baby around. Not to mention they still had to work to keep up with the bills. They quickly discover that their daughter inherited her mother's hair powers. But there was something else; something they did not yet realize about their daughter...
After a few more years Karl and Katherine got their bachelor degrees and Katherine was on her way to becoming a professional dancer. It was a dream of hers, a dream Karl fully supported. Following several auditions, Katherine was at last called back to a major dance studio where she landed her first big break. Karl, meanwhile, put his computer skills to the test and became a computer technician and a website designer. Together the two soon made enough to move out of their small apartment into a slightly bigger place.
Three years later and Katherine became more well-known throughout the dancing community. Ballet was her favorite form of dance and people enjoyed watching her dance. One day the two decided to celebrate their success. They left little Kimiko at home safe and sound with a trusted sitter while they went out to eat a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant. The two had a really good time and the world around them seemed to be in agreement that they were really a cute, sweet couple who perfectly complimented one another. Sadly all that was about to change in a single moment.
Along the drive back home, the couple's car got hit by a drunk driver; which pushed their car off Jump City's Bridge and into the ocean. Karl manged to free himself from his seatbelt, but his wife was stuck. They both tried to free her from the seatbelt only for Karl to find himself being forcibly pulled out of the water by one of the city's heroes. Karl screamed at the hero to go back and save his wife. The hero did so, but it was too late. Despite the combined efforts of the on scene paramedics and the city's doctors, Katherine had passed away just a few hours later at the nearest hospital. She was declared dead by the hospital's doctors and her autopsy report only confirmed that her cause of death was from drowning. Karl was devastated and he and his young, five year old daughter grieved for her death. Karl truly felt lost without his beloved wife. He felt that she was the only one on this whole planet that truly understood and appreciated him. But he knew he had to be strong for his daughter's sake.
It wasn't easy for him being a single father of a little girl with powers especially since he was still grieving. But he still somehow managed with the help of Katherine's parents. They would watch her for him whenever he had to work. It was also during this time that Karl developed depression and a strong sense of loneliness. It was also during this time that he would drink a lot; which he claims makes him feel better and more relaxed. Even as young as she was, Kimiko understood why her dad was so sad and lonely, but wasn't sure how to help. All of his closest friends and coworkers suggested that he move on and meet someone new, but he refused claiming he will never find anyone as 'perfect' and wonderful as Katherine. He blamed himself and the hero for his wife's death. And he especially blamed the drunk driver. He didn't understand why the hero chose to save him instead of Katherine. The hero failing to save his wife is what caused Karl to feel embittered towards heroes and the incident also made him really hate drunk drivers.
As Kimiko got older she started to remind Karl more and more of her mother. She looked and acted a lot like her and Karl wasn't sure what to make of it. Part of him hated it while the other part couldn't be more proud of the wonderful person his daughter was turning into. But Karl much to Kimiko's chagrin was also becoming more and more overprotective of her. He could never forget that fateful night when he lost his beloved wife and so he swore to never let it happen again by doing what he can to keep his daughter safe from harm. He also became a bit more cautious for much the same reasons. The last thing he wanted was for his daughter to have to raise herself due to something horrible happening to him. And thus he wasn't exactly Mr. Spontaneous anymore. Instead, he became obsessed with making and following schedules to a T and he became obsessed with order and control. He feels that so long as he remains in control over a situation nothing bad can happen.
Eventually, Karl gave into his daughter's suggestion of getting a pet to keep him company. Despite visiting the pet shop nothing caught Karl's interest even with his natural ability to understand animals. His daughter who knew of his abilities just couldn't understand why her father was having such a hard time finding a good pet. It wasn't until later when Karl was just sitting on a park bench reading a book did he notice a large brightly colored tarantula crawling for its life from a large hawk. Normally, Karl would have just ignored the spider and allowed nature to take its course, but it was kind of difficult for the animal lover to ignore the spider's tiny cries for help. Karl managed to grab the spider before the hawk could and he scared it away by merely talking to it. That was a start of a beautiful friendship of sorts between the grateful spider and Karl. Karl would go on to save a bat in similar fashion from a fellow human. He named the spider Chauncey and the flying fox Sir Reginald. With his new pets, Karl's spirits soon lifted and he felt a lot better too. He would take them just about everywhere he went. Although the hole in his heart was not completely mended he decided to try his hand at dating only for each and every one of his dates to bore him. He couldn't explain it, but none of the women he dated did it for him.
Karl had to deal with a lot of things when Kimiko turned thirteen namely that he discovered that his own daughter is some sort of energy draining siren who was starting to develop an interest in boys and that her singing had a strange effect on those around her especially boys. Not long after she turned thirteen, Karl discovered that his daughter would act strangely during the full moon and become compelled to drain the energy of those around her. But all other times she was as sweet as ever and she hated that her beautiful singing tended to make boys act all zombified around her. The two weren't real sure what was going on until someone who knew confronted them with the truth that Kimiko is a siren and that for the safety of others she shouldn't be out and about during the full moon. Kimiko didn't want to believe it. Sadly because of her stubborness one of her closest friends got hurt prompting her to promise to never go out during full moon again. Karl never did find out who the mysterious stranger was nor how he knew so much about sirens.
Also he wasn't so sure about his daughter and boys, so he had the tendency to have his animal friends spy on her for him. For awhile it worked, but then Karl soon ran into the problem of his animal companions being unable to use a camera even a simple one. So to get around this rather annoying issue, Karl put his creative, technopathic mind to work and designed and built a couple of spy bots; which resembled little floating orbs. Karl even equipped them a camouflage ability as well as small laser guns for means of defense. In addition, the spy bots come equipped with built in scanners and micro cameras for which to search, locate and take pictures of the intended target. Naturally, he built them in secret in a hidden room of their home that not even his daughter knows about. Also inside his hidden room sat a shrine to honor his late wife, Katherine with. From then on he used his spy bots to keep tabs on his daughter. Last thing he wanted was anyone finding out about her.
Unfortunately, the Fates seemed to be conspiring against him. The city's mayor began passing so many 'ridiculous' laws that Karl could hardly stand it. Laws that negatively impacted his schedule; his perfectly formed schedule that he put a lot of hard work getting just right. But did the mayor care? Apparently not for no matter how hard he tried Karl couldn't even get in to see the guy. So Karl reacted in the most extreme way possible: he entered the wold of politics with his new goals of becoming the city's next mayor so he may revert everything back to normal while adding in a few changes of his own that he feels will only make life in Jump so much better. Karl went to work preparing himself for the next election, so he will be ready to run. Things he did to prepare mostly composed of him studying past and current issues as well as familiarizing himself with the current mayor. This was when Karl got sneaky and devious. By using both his spy bots and his animal spies, Karl was able to not only memorize the mayor's schedule, but to find out some pretty interesting things about him. Intel that he could very well use against the mayor in the upcoming election should he need to.
Another issue keeping him from the next election is where to get the money for his campaign. After some encouraging from his daughter, Karl finally wrestled up the courage to ask his parents and even his older brother to loan him the money promising to pay them back. Sadly they all said no forcing Karl to go with his second plan: do various jobs outside his computer job until he has the funds needed. The various jobs included being a hotel critic, creating websites for people, and being a pet psychic. That and appealing to certain groups who will hopefully give him donations.
Karl luckily raised enough money just in time to run in the next election. After throwing his hat in the ring for mayor Karl wasted no time in familiarizing himself with the voters and what it was certain groups of people wanted. In turn he would inform the public what he stood for and assure local businesses that he is on their side and if elected mayor he will help them out in any way he can. Karl also hired the best campaign team money could buy to back him. Karl's main political campaign platform dealt with problems caused by supers and effective ways for cleaning up the city following a major superhero vs supervillain battles. Moreover Karl advertised his candidacy all over the place. He took full advantage of all of the technology given to him by inventors.
Following several public speeches made by Karl in order to let Jump City citizens know what he is up to, it was time for the formal debates between him and his opponent; which had been mayor for a long time. The former mayor was good, but Karl was well-prepared and well versed in government and had knowledge of former and current political issues, so he had a good counter every time it was his turn to speak. Plus, Karl creepily enough knew certain things about the former mayor thanks to his homemade spy bots that gave him a certain edge in the election. Fact was thanks to his spy bots, Karl had crazy dirt on the former mayor; dirt that would have ruined the guy forever if it ever got out and Karl had several chances to spill, but for some reason he decided not to. But it turned out he didn't need to anyway because the majority of the voters ended up voting for him making him officially the new mayor of Jump City!
Karl was more than a little surprised that he actually won. But then he supposed he wasn't the only one that became unhappy with the former mayor's more recent decisions. He just happened to be the only one obsessed enough to actually run against the guy. Following his victory, Karl wasted no time in doing things he promised his voters. His ideas were quick, efficient and effective. Karl approved several bills many of which dealt with improving the environment and promoting public safety. Not a fan of smoking, Karl hopes to run day get a law passed to ban smoking everywhere in the city. He also hopes to eliminate pollution by placing stricter safety laws on factories and promoting electric and hybrid cars. With a new purpose, the hole in his heart caused by his wife's death decreased.
So far Karl has been the city's mayor for just over a year now and he's been doing what all he can to keep the citizens happy. As a result a lot of the people like him due to how dedicated and serious he is with his new role as the Jump's new mayor. Unfortunately, not everybody was particularly thrilled with having a mayor so obsessed with cracking down on factory safety, on public safety, on pollution, and just safety in general. While others feel he is much too immature to take the job as mayor seriously since he throws a lot of parties and due to how relaxed and eccentric he is. Even worse, it is no secret that Karl doesn't completely trust the city's heroes as evidenced by his antihero speeches explaining his standpoint. Simply put, Karl thinks that heroes are magnets for villains. He feels that heroes are indirectly responsible for why there are so many supervillains in Jump! He thinks if there were less heroes then there would also be less villains... Naturally not everybody was completely thrilled by this as evidenced by some rather unsavory love letters in the form of threats he's been receiving lately. Naturally, the threats have put Karl on edge and on high alert. In fact, he becomes increasingly paranoid and his mind starts to play tricks on him making him suspect just about everyone and everything around him is out to get him. He is so paranoid in fact that he even has trouble completely trusting his own staff and the city's council. In retaliation to all of the threats, he also really cracks down hard on security and hires even more bodyguards. He takes this even a step further by cleverly hiding several escape vehicles throughout the city as well as having his chauffeur on speed dial just in case he needs to make a quick escape. In the midst of all this, he has also built a secret, hidden underground shelter in the backyard of his home for which to build weapons and even more spy bots. He uses the spy bots to spy on those he distrusts or suspects of foul play. He has also filled his underground shelter with all sorts of necessities like food, water, first aid kits, and other survivor stuff.
Further, once things started calming down a bit, Karl hired some very special secret agents to discover the identity of those behind the threats. Unfortunately, they returned empty handed prompting Karl to go undercover as an electric villain named, Galvan in the hopes of discovering the ones responsible for the threats himself. So far Karl discovered a lead to follow while undercover as Galvan, but not much more than that. He thinks he might find out who is behind the threats if he continues to play along with the gang. Meanwhile, despite being understandably jumpy Karl puts up a brave front in the public eye acting like nothing is wrong. In fact, that's exactly what he wants everyone to think. So outside his bodyguards nobody knows about the threatening notes Karl's been receiving not even his own daughter as he does not want to worry her. Also nobody knows he's Galvan not even his own bodyguards. As the city's new mayor Karl just continues trying to spread his ideals and beliefs around like a virus.
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Mordo
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