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Difference between revisions of "David Charleston"
Steelheart history
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== History ==
===
{{quote
|My education mostly involved learning to avoid gangs and how to keep my head down at school.
|David{{book ref|steelheart|23}}
}}
David grew up in inner-city Chicago.{{book ref|steelheart|23}} He was six years old and living with his widowed [[Blain Charleston|father]] when [[Calamity (Epic)|Calamity]] arrived. Two years later, he visited the [[First Union Bank (Newcago)|First Union Bank]] with his father, where he witnessed him being murdered by the [[Epic#High Epic|High Epic]] [[Steelheart (Epic)|Steelheart]] on the [[Day of Annexation]].{{book ref|steelheart|prologue}} After a year of living homeless and alone in the city of [[Newcago]], David was taken in by [[Havendark Factory]], where he, along with many other children, worked in exchange for food and board.{{book ref|steelheart|1}}{{book ref|Steelheart|8}} During this time, David became obsessed with researching Epics and finding their weaknesses, particularly that of Steelheart.{{book ref|steelheart|8}} He attended school half of each day and worked the other half in the factory. He knew he needed the education that the school offered him, but he was wary of appearing too smart and being recruited by Steelheart's administration; because of this, he hid his research into Epics and learned to be very mediocre at lessons.{{book ref|steelheart|16}}
After graduating from the Factory, David took on a job as a cab driver. However, he proved to be such a terrible driver that the job only lasted one day.{{book ref|steelheart|4}} At some point he moved in to an apartment at 1532 Ditko Place.{{book ref|steelheart|9}}
=== Steelheart ===▼
==== Tracking the Reckoners ====▼
{{sidequote
|You know, David, you really need to start thinking your plans through a little more carefully.
|To himself{{book ref|steelheart|4}}
|side=right|size=300px
}}
David managed to track down the [[Reckoners]], a rebel group fighting against the [[Epic]]s, by anticipating where and against whom they would strike next. He found [[Megan Tarash]], a member of the Reckoners, at the [[Reeve Playhouse]] seducing [[Fortuity]]. When another Epic named [[Curveball]] appeared, David assumed that the plan was going awry and intervened.{{book ref|steelheart|1}} He drew Curveball away from Megan and Fortuity by pretending to be one of [[Spritzer]]'s employees, but he accidentally gave himself away when he mentioned a [[Eddie Macano|man]] Curveball knew to be dead.{{book ref|steelheart|2}} Curveball pulled his gun on David, and the commotion caused Fortuity to flee. Megan killed Curveball, then briefly confronted David before giving chase. She initially left David behind by convincing him that a sniper on her team would kill him if he moved, but he realized there was no sniper when no one acted to save her from some of Spritzer's men who arrived on the scene.{{book ref|steelheart|3}} After Megan and David took down Fortuity, the rest of the Reckoner team picked them up in a garbage truck and took them back to their base in the steel catacombs below the city.{{book ref|steelheart|5}}
{{sidequote
▲==== Betrayal ====
|Your work means something! But it's not enough! So long as the most powerful of the Epics consider themselves immune, nothing will change.
|Convincing the [[Reckoners]] to pursue [[Steelheart (Epic)|Steelheart]]{{book ref|steelheart|7}}
|side=left|size=300px
}}
David eventually convinced them, against their usual protocol, to let him join. He told them that he had seen Steelheart bleed and got them to entertain the idea of targeting Steelheart next.{{book ref|steelheart|7}} The Reckoners were alarmed to discover that he had handwritten notes on various Epics and on themselves back at his apartment.{{book ref|steelheart|8}} Though they originally wanted to blow up his entire apartment building, David talked them into letting him go retrieve the notes. Cody and Megan accompanied him, and David was able to warn them of the presence of [[Refractionary]] as they surveyed the area around his apartment. They agreed to let him enter his apartment and serve as bait, with the ultimate goal of taking out Refractionary.{{book ref|steelheart|9}} As David gathered up a backpack of his possessions and notebooks, a [[Enforcement|Core]] arrived to arrest him. One of the members, [[Roy]], tried to intervene, but as the team was discussing his acquaintance with David, Cody and Megan sniped the two men with Roy. After shooting Roy in the thigh, David took the boy's mobile and called Refractionary to help Cody and Megan locate her.{{book ref|steelheart|10}} Megan was able to take her down, and David burned his source materials that he had to leave behind. He lied to Roy about working for a new Epic called [[Limelight]] before leaving.{{book ref|steelheart|10}}{{book ref|steelheart|11}} They went back to the Reckoner base, where everyone looked through David's notebooks.{{book ref|steelheart|11}} Impressed by his information, the Reckoners allowed David to outline his plan against Steelheart and agreed to try it.{{book ref|steelheart|13}}
====
David began learning how to use the [[Motivator#Other_Motivators|tensors]], and then Prof sent him along with Abraham and Megan to buy some arms from [[Diamond]].{{book ref|steelheart|14}} Just as they wrapped up their deal with Diamond to buy the gauss gun, [[Nightwielder]] arrived.{{book ref|steelheart|16}} While Abraham and Megan worked on digging their way out of the back of Diamond's shop using a tensor, Nightwielder heard them.{{book ref|steelheart|17}} David came out of hiding, pretending to be an employee who had made the noise while working on a gun, and gave Diamond Abraham's gun to sell to Nightwielder to allay the Epic's suspicion at the blank stretch of wall that had just held the gauss gun. He managed to get video evidence of Nightwielder becoming corporeal in UV light but then quickly had to flee with the others.{{book ref|steelheart|18}} When the group got back to the base, David and Prof discussed further alterations to their plan and decided to hit the power plant next.{{book ref|steelheart|20}}
{{sidequote
|Ponder. Worry. Stay up nights, frightened for the casualties of your ideology. It will do you good to realize the price of fighting.
|[[Prof]] to David{{book ref|steelheart|23}}
|side=right|size=300px
}}
Cody watched over David and Megan during their infiltration of the plant,{{book ref|steelheart|21}} during which Megan used her powers to hide the two of them from some guards.{{book ref|steelheart|22}} They found themselves in a room not on the blueprints, where they grabbed some data chips, and then moved on to acquire some power cells for the gauss gun. They fled with the workers while the rest of the team blew the building and used the explosion to distribute leaflets about Limelight.{{book ref|steelheart|22}} David was troubled when he realized that Megan had a point when she called Steelheart a decent ruler whose death would lead to more problems, discussing the dilemma with the others.{{book ref|steelheart|23}} He slowly began to fit in more with the team, even convincing them of his suspicions regarding [[Firefight (Epic)|Firefight]].{{book ref|steelheart|24}}
Tia located the old First Union Bank vault, so the whole team went to look at its contents. David uncovered his father, who had been turned to steel,{{book ref|steelheart|25}} and Abraham recovered the handgun Blain had used to injure Steelheart and gave it to David.{{book ref|steelheart|26}} Having decided it was necessary to attempt a hit on [[Conflux]] next, the team went after a convoy typical of Conflux's transport.{{book ref|steelheart|27}} Nightwielder was waiting for them in the van, but David drove him off with a UV flashlight. He rode with Megan as the group split up on motorcycles, and the two of them drew the pressure off of the others.{{book ref|steelheart|28}} David ended up using the gauss gun to facilitate his and Megan's escape from Enforcement,{{book ref|steelheart|29}} but their motorcycle died on them, injuring both of them. David dragged Megan away down a tunnel, but he got cornered by soldiers and ended up having to be rescued by Prof.{{book ref|steelheart|30}} David was devastated by Megan's death after the team failed to be able to treat her injuries. He and the team moved to a new hideout, where they had Conflux captive.{{book ref|steelheart|31}} David was convinced of Conflux's identity by the answers he provided, and he quickly realized that the Epic had been a captive all along. They told Conflux to quit powering everything, which shut down the city.{{book ref|steelheart|32}}
{{sidequote
|Prof, you said that you worry our failure will depress people. I don't see that. They’ll hear our story and realize that there’s an option other than doing what the Epics command.
|David{{book ref|steelheart|33}}
|side=left|size=300px
}}
▲==== Confrontation with Steelheart ====
After Steelheart sent out an invitation for Limelight to meet him in combat,{{book ref|steelheart|32}} David suggested [[Soldier Field]] as a good location. The team discussed their theories on Steelheart's weakness, David positing that he could be wounded by crossfire. He began to feel anxious and excited that the confrontation would finally happen.{{book ref|steelheart|33}} Per their plan, David and Cody dug extra tunnels under the stadium with tensors and created various rooms and pockets. David finished rigging up his sniper's nest with an escape route fifteen minutes prior to the Reckoners summoning Steelheart.{{book ref|steelheart|34}}
When Steelheart and his soldiers arrived, it quickly became clear to the team that their preparations had been compromised. Nightwielder went after David, who ran into the stadium and was distracted by an image of Megan appearing in a hallway.{{book ref|steelheart|36}} He fought Nightwielder off, reporting his sighting of Megan to the team, but the Epic kept ambushing him as he attempted to get to the field to try shooting Steelheart with his father's gun. David ran into another "illusion" of Megan, but this one spoke to him, mentioning the word knees. Deciding not to shoot her, he instead grabbed onto her and discovered that she was real right as an explosion knocked him down.{{book ref|steelheart|37}} Realizing both that Megan had disappeared again and that Steelheart's team must be listening in on their conversation, David lured Nightwielder and Megan to him again and managed to kill Nightwielder. He understood suddenly that Megan had been Firefight all along. Megan appeared to just be coming back to full awareness, with memories of the past still trickling in, but in the end she let David go, and he went to join Prof.{{book ref|steelheart|38}} David helped cover Abraham and Cody's retreat to the copter, but then he ran out to the confrontation between Prof and Steelheart and shot the latter with his father's gun.{{book ref|steelheart|39}}
{{sidequote
|We are all afraid of you. Fortunately I know someone who isn't afraid of you, and never has been.
|David to [[Steelheart (Epic)|Steelheart]]{{book ref|steelheart|40}}
|side=right|size=250px
}}
The bullets failed to harm Steelheart, and Prof was forced to jump in and save David. Steelheart savagely attacked Prof, leading David to think that he was dead. As Steelheart advanced on him, David finally put together the Epic's weakness. He quickly rigged the handgun to explode, pointing it at Steelheart so that the Epic would grab it and try to kill him with it. Steelheart fired, killing himself in the explosion.{{book ref|steelheart|40}} Prof kept the explosion from harming himself and David, revealing to David that he was really an Epic. They discussed his powers and Megan's identity as Firefight, and then Prof handed David Steelheart's steel skull. As Prof waited on the field for Tia to bring the helicopter, David ran into the stadium again and sought out Megan. He tried to convince her to come with him, but she refused; failing that, he warned her not to use her powers for a while so her mind could clear. The copter arrived, and Prof called David out to the team.{{book ref|steelheart|41}} They flew away from Soldier Field as the citizens of Newcago gathered outside to look up at the sky in daylight.{{book ref|steelheart|epilogue}}
=== Mitosis ===
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