The alarm rang with the steady stream of static, getting progressively louder as Kayle attempted to ignore it. Today was his day off from the Radio Station, but that meant he would simply be devoting more of his time to the streets today. Eventually he slapped the alarm, turning it off and slowly sitting up from his prone position. Running his hand through his hair, he could tell it was a mess and wondered when he had actually decided to pass out last night. He had actually decided against wandering the streets last night in favor of relaxing. He had started painting, and only stopped when exhaustion had started to creep up on him. He slowly rose to his feet, walking across the apartment in nothing but his boxers as he threw a lazy swing at his punching bag.
Making his way to the kitchen section, he started brewing himself a cup of coffee and looked into his cupboards for some sort of breakfast. He was running low on food and would have to make a grocery run soon, but for now he could survive until payday. Finding nothing that he necessarily felt like eating, he closed the cupboards and instead went to the fridge. Pulling out an apple, he took a bite out of it as the coffee maker started making the telltale bubbling sounds as it filtered the caffeine substance into the large pot. Kayle wandered over to his art corner, staring at the picture as he chewed thoughtfully. The image was a black and white coloring of a long hallway. The shadows cast by the light at the end of the tunnel were formed into separate images of differing intensity. Some appeared to be small families, others weapons, but more appeared to be some kind of vice. Drugs, drink and sex. There was a small body standing in the light, casting a shadow that displayed horns on its head.
Well this was one of my more depressing creations. Kayle said, usually painting only as his whims demanded. One day he might paint something that resembles a deep pain akin to addiction only to paint something completely opposite, like a picture representing how hope can be found in all things. Granted, that’s what he saw in his paintings, the art world was terribly subjective and more often than not many people took different meanings than the artist intended. Kayle looked it over, deeming it complete and took his brush to paint his name in red coloring in the bottom right corner. He had a great selection of these, separated into ‘dark’ and ‘light’ sections, but ultimately had never done anything with them. There was no money to be made in being an artist unless you became famous.
After several minutes of studying his own work, there was a beep from the coffee machine as the appliance finally finished producing the very thing that would actually wake up Kayle from his near comatose state. As he took a cautious sip at the steaming beverage, he stared at his workout equipment and grimaced. Today was one of those days he really felt like letting himself slip, but he knew from experience that if he started down that path than it was going to end up two days, then three, then four. He couldn’t afford to let himself stop for even one day if he wanted to keep in prime physical shape to do what he wanted to do. After taking ten minutes to enjoy his coffee and flicking on the news briefly, Kayle slipped into a pair of his workout shorts and started up his morning routine.
After completing what others could consider a ridiculous morning routine for one’s day off, and spending some time getting the bare necessities that would allow Kayle to get through the next week, it was time to do some work as someone the general populace couldn’t figure out if they loved or hated. Maybe they tolerated him? Maybe they loved the idea of him but hated it in practice? There were so many shades of gray in this kind of market and profession that simply labelling people as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ was rarely the end of it. These thoughts filtered through Kayle’s mind for probably the millionth time since he started his little vigilante show as he drove his bike towards the seedier parts of town. Most of the time, Kayle kept his activities to these parts, where most of the people around were guilty of a crime somewhere down the line. Considering how destructive his abilities could get when he fully unleashed them, he had to do his best to minimize collateral damage and what better way to do that then make sure nearly everyone is a target?
Right before he started entering what could be classified as the slums/warehouse district, Kayle pulled into a back alley on his bike. There he tied his helmet up to the bike, and then chained his bike to a dumpster. He didn’t want to ride his bike directly to where he would be doing his business, especially in broad daylight seeing as he had actual plates on this thing and that would be an easy trace back to who he was. He took a moment to assess himself before setting off. He felt the familiar tug of a combat knife at his hip, a last ditch option should the enemy somehow get within hand to hand distance. He had fairly decent combat training, but it never hurt to have a helping knife when necessary. Aside from that, Kayle wore raggy blue jeans and a dark blue hoodie. It was obviously a bit ripped and torn from previous fights, but in a place such as where he was going it would fit right in.
Aside from that, he did have his phone on him that was encrypted thanks to a bit of money put aside to hire a techie to make sure that if he dropped it, someone couldn’t simply guess the password and have access to all his personal information. It was tuned to police frequency, which also relayed cape activity as well. While not all capes went through official channels when responding, it was still an advantage that helped him many a times. With those two things, that was the entirety of what Kayle carried on him. He didn’t have anything that could identify him nor anything that would link back even remotely to where he lived or what he did as a career. This was a risky business, and as such he went in with the bare essentials when he decided he was going on patrol.
With everything secured and reaffirmed, Kayle pulled his hood up and shoved his face into the collar of his hoodie. He walked out of the alleyway and started his little patrol into the shadier part of Capetown. An area filled with broken down buildings, thugs in every corner, warehouses and railroads...and not to mention a strong villain presence. Granted, Kayle wasn’t looking to take on one of the villain organizations on his own, but maybe he could catch one or two off their guard and take them out before their friends could move to engage him. Kayle looked up at the sky, nearly noon without a cloud above him. It would diminish his powers out in the open, but if he could draw people to a shadowed area, he could gain the upper hand.
With his strategy and mind in the right place, he continued walking the streets. Maybe something would happen, maybe not, either way this was where he wanted to be.