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#2 - Black Alice (Lori Zechlin)

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I think I still get surprised whenever I remember that Alice's name is actually Lori. Does Brennus even know that in character? I feel like he does, but even if he does he's probably forgotten that the same way that I keep forgetting it.

We first met Alice when we travelled to Dayton. Detective Chimp knew that there was a powerful witch there and we needed (and still do need) all the magical assistance we could gather. How did Chimp know that there was a powerful witch in Dayton? He had a contact there that he didn't share details with us. When we arrived, we met his contact.

It was Rover.

He took us to Alice, who did not react well to us. Chimp was trying to explain to her how important it was she came with us, but she had headphone in and didn't hear a word he said. She thought we were there to attack her, and she demonstrates her first ability to shift into other forms to turn into a Blue Devil form - and attack us.

We fight her off and she retreats. As we continue searching for her, we find her house and her father, bound to a chair with an IV attached to him. His eyes glowing red - he's been equated but Alice is still caring for him. I mean, the IV was full of beer, but she's trying to care for him at least.

The next time we find her, Saoirse attempts to connect with her as a fellow witch, but it doesn't go well. Alice doesn't want to be compared to Saoirse, who she doesn't know and doesn't trust. Saoirse mentions that we know Enchantress, so Alice reacts by tapping into Enchantress' powers and attacking us again.

This pattern continues. We fight her off until she retreats and when we next meet her, she refuses to listen to us and fights us with a new set of powers - Nightshade and Phantom Stranger's this time. Eventually we realize that Alice is unaware that the only people left in Dayton are her, her father and Glenda, who was assigned to protect alice. She thought she was protecting the people of Dayton from us. As she tries to wrap her head around this, The Spectre appears, drawn her from our battles. She turns into Zatanna to attempt to fight him, but we stop her - she's not ready yet. And she returns with us to Z'onn Z'orr.

As is the case for oh so many of my top rankings, Brennus didn't like Alice. She was impulsive and didn't listen to us, resorting to attacking us instead. Which is totally the way Brennus would operate in that scenario, but he doesn't have enough awareness to understand that. But after we returned, Alice put in an effort to become friends with Alice. She was always around, she was really nice to him, she had an exaggerated interest in everything he said or did. It was nice! And to a closeted gay teenager with 1 perception, he was completely and utterly unaware that she was crushing on him, hard. Brennus liked Alice a lot - as a friend. He bonded with Rover, and she was smile while watching them play. Pepper, also oblivious to Brennus' secret but aware of Alice's feelings, spent time on both ends trying to push them together.

When Brennus went to Calvin City and was being tortured mentally by Susie, the brunt of the torture was The Spectre killing him repeatedlhy, but Alice played a part in it as well. Brennus was living with his parents and was dating Alice - unable to explain to anyone involved that this scenario wasn't right. Then the Spectre would kill him and the day would start over again. Sometimes his conversations with his parents and Alice would get interrupted by a naked Jagger which led to more confusion... before getting killed by The Spectre again.

Alice was really close to initiating things between them, but an NPC would always interrupt the scene before she was able to. But things came to the inevitable conclusion when Brennus invited Alice into the bathroom in Oblivion. Brennus' plan was to inact a plan to confirm his suspicions about fake Arion, but all Alice heard was Brennus inviting her into a private room. As soon as the door was closed, she kissed him. Brennus was stunned and pulled back and came out to Alice - the first person he ever told. She reacted... poorly. She turned into Etrigan and threatened him to leave Oblivion before she killed him.

It took a while for the two of them to get back on good terms. Alice decided before she could forgive Brennus for leading her on (not that he ever did!) she needed to punch him in the face. And she did. Right before the party went out on a snap, Christopher Chance was at the snap zone to talk to them. But it wasn't Chance! It was Alice! And Brennus nat 1'd his perception check to notice it was her, naturally.

Brennus isn't convinced that the natural reaction to being the first person he ever came out to is getting punched in the face, but as Alice's friend, he's willing to accept it, now that they are friends again.

There's been a lot more than Alice did and is doing. She tapped into The Spectre's powers to reach Heaven in an attempt to convince God to save the world. Whoever was sitting on the Throne in Heaven, which is still unclear to me at least, didn't react positively to her intrusion and branded her with a cross before sending her back to Earth. She's started training with Nightshade in Oblivion. The two of them have bonded and now Alice is conflicted - Nightshade wants to kill anyone who has shadow based powers, believing these powers to be evil. Alice and Brennus are attempting to research the Heart of Darkness where these powers come from and try to find a way to stop her. Alice has also recently joined the field team in Tokyo - she's been quite eager to get out into the field but Tokyo is a brutal place. I need to check in with her and see how things have been going there...

Her ability to tap into other magicians powers provides lots of entertainment. Her powers are wide and varying and it's always exciting when she taps into a new power source. Most recently, she tapped into Madam Xanadu for the first time - gaining some premenitions powers and bleeding from her eyes - tricking Lush into punching Brennus again - although I doubt that took much convincing...

I think Alice's attitude is another positive one for Brennus. She speaks her mind, challenges authority and doesn't sugar coat things. I like to think their friendship is causing this attitude to rub off on Brennus a little bit as well. He doesn't go quite as far as Alice does, but his confidence in himself is building.

Hint for #1: Brennus' personal will-they-won't-they story.