Mark Collins's Questionnaire

Right now he has a modest home in sight of Chattanooga, but honestly, he spends time every day scrolling around and considering where he should live. Right now, he takes a jog to Chattanooga whenever anything live and in progress pops up on the news and assists, but he's getting tired of ending car chases and diffusing robberies. They pay the bills, so to speak- He ends up on the news and he does have a rapidly growing fan club here, but they don't know him.

Who he is, why he does what he does. They just project archetypes on him. Superman, Punisher, The Thing. Make-believe.

His home is modest at his insistance, paid for by Jeremy Wesley, god rest his soul. Other than the police scanners he leaves on in several rooms, and the slightly upsized furniture, its a relatively nondescript single-floor 2 bedroom house. The neighborhood around him is an empty 'model-neighborhood', bought by Jeremy so Mark would have privacy. 

Most of his income comes from odd-jobs, image liscensing, and OkCryptid residuals.  

Luckily other than groceries, he hasn't had to pay for a meal out in a while. Hotels, restaraunts, and cruises invite him, and cut security staff or hike up the rates for everyone else. Not that he minds, of course.  Oversized clothes and furniture aren't exactly cheap if he is feeling picky. 

He also occasionally gets lucky when he catches someone wanted for a reward for apprehension. Other than when the bill is footed, he doesn't spend that much on himself, mostly spending inordinate amounts of monday to get places quickly and discretely when he is needed, and celebrating with them after a job well done.

His goal boils down to.. 'Try to do the right thing.' 

Its rough, since it never has an end. There will be no grand triumph, moment of success where he is done and can sit back and relax. No concrete goal to work forwards, like killing the devil or destroying the planet. Every day, there is more pressure. His haunting failures and cowardly memories. Incorrect choices, and deaths that came from it. Someone savable in the world is dying right now.

And now.

And now.

And now.

And he just can't be there. He tries to find where he can do the most pivotal good. The catastrophies, the imminent disasters, the Mark Collins-sized problems. 

He will not sacrifice himself for someone, needlessly. As much as it pains him, there is a line he has seen with his eyes, where he deemed a situation hopeless and watched people die. But if there is a chance, even one in a thousand, that everyone survives, he will take it even at great risk to himself. Even when his body is shutting down, and physically dying- His force of will, determination, and physiology, will not allow him to stop, especially if he is still needed.

The first boxing match he lost, and his last one.

He was 19 and already built like a truck. He sort of 'fell into' boxing, meaning a coach came up to him as he was walking down the street, and after a short pep talk, nearly had a heart attack when Mark punched the bag off the wall. 

He trained a few weeks, trying to learn how to limit his strength and enjoy the game, and did really well at first. He played with his opponents, usually wearing them down over a dozen or so rounds until they went down. But his last fight- Kenny Keene in 2006-

His punches didn't hurt much worse than the others, but he took hits that would kill anyone else.  Mark was trying to pull his punches like he always did, applying just enough force to impact solidly, but this guy just wouldn't go down. Blood trickling down Keene's face and splattering over the ring, Mark didn't know the refs had been bribed heavily to not call the fight due to injury. 

By round 31, he had no idea how Keene was still up, but Mark was playing purely defense. Putting on a show, but eventually he hit a point where Keene had gone down 4 times, and kept getting back up. Mark was impressed, but this was overshadowed with concern for his wellbeing and shame that he was beating this man senseless.  Keene was mumbling gibberish, blood trickling from his ear.. Mark couldn't be sure one more solid punch wouldn't kill him. So he let himself get taken down by an uppercut, throwing himself against the metal railings and went face down, a smile on his face. 

He lost the regionals, never stepping back into the ring again.