MAUREEN D'ARCY
(MIDNIGHT)

Maureen D'Arcy leads a carefree life of wealth and prestige, mingling with New York's crème de la crème, haunting casinos worldwide as a professional gambler. But the beautiful society patron has a dark secret.

In childhood, Maureen had an identical twin, Leila. Not only did the two look exactly alike, but they often thought, dressed, and acted alike. Together, the girls played hide-and-seek in the darkness, fooled servants and governesses with wide-eyed innocence, even moving from room to room in the mansion without passing through a single door. Their parents, John and Elizabeth D’Arcy were not surprised - they had such gifts themselves, had encouraged the girls' skills, and after all, great-grandparents Lamont and Margo Cranston had been playing with the twins since they were toddlers.

Through childhood and early adolescence, the twins lived a luxurious life as befitted the daughters of a wealthy pair of New York socialites. They attended the finest schools, were both trained in the martial arts for self-defense, and were introduced early on to the high society life they would one day join themselves. By the age of sixteen, both girls had actually earned enough credits to graduate high school with honors, two of the youngest graduates in the history of their private school. And their private games continued.

Then one day, the game went horribly wrong. Just before the twins’ seventeenth birthday, Leila and Maureen both walked into the darkness... but only Maureen came back out.

Sitting in the mansion’s library, John and Elizabeth were horrified to see one of their daughters stumble out of a shadow, her eyes wide with terror. She stared at her parents with unseeing eyes, and could only gasp out that Leila was missing and she couldn’t find her. Her parents used their own gifts to try and find their missing daughter, but the elder D’Arcys’ talents were not nearly as strong as that of the twins.

Lunging back into the darkness, Maureen called her sister's name again and again, searching the shadows with all her talent, but to no avail. Try as she might, she could not find a trace of her sister's presence - Leila had disappeared completely. Day and night, she roamed the darkness, praying for even a glimpse of Leila’s mind. Eventually, Maureen spent so much time in the shadows that her vision suffered to the point where bright light caused her incredible pain.

Her parents publicly called it a kidnapping for ransom, since to draw attention to the family’s dark talents would be an unthinkable risk. An enormous reward was offered for information, full-page advertisements appeared in the papers, Elizabeth even went on national TV to beg for her daughter’s safe return. But Leila was never found, and after seven long years of agonized waiting, was declared legally dead.

Maureen was determined to keep on living, to enjoy life to the fullest since it could be snatched away from her at any moment. But from then on, she was terrified that something in the darkness had stolen her sister, and she became afraid to take anyone else with her into the shadows ever again.

She went on to attend university to study Mathematics, obtaining her Bachelors degree at nineteen from Columbia University, and her Masters degree at twenty-two from NYU. With a phenomenally high level of intelligence and a gift for numbers and statistics, Maureen could have had a brilliant career in business. Instead, she turned her talents to a profession that was not only more fun, but also paid much more – high-stakes gambling.

While the D’Arcys disapproved of their daughter pursuing such a frivolous lifestyle, Lamont Cranston looked on his great-granddaughter with a certain amusement and nostalgia of his own high-living days. To placate her parents, she kept her gambling image professional and high-class. She also gave generously to numerous charities, and even had a wing built on New York’s largest hospital in her sister’s name. Besides, no one could deny that Maureen was fantastic at her new career – between playing the stock market with uncanny accuracy and secretly using her mental gifts at the casino tables, within three years, Maureen had an effective income of over five million dollars a year. And that didn’t even count her trust fund, her shares in her parents’ corporate conglomerate, or her inheritances from the Cranstons when they died two years later.

Ten years after Leila’s disappearance, Elizabeth and John D’Arcy were assassinated by persons unknown, and Maureen came home from a charity ball to find them murdered together in the mansion's library. Her only clue was one that shook her to her very soul - a shadow on the wall before her... while the lit fireplace was to her right.

Maureen was initially suspected by NYPD, as she was now the sole heiress to a multi-million fortune, but too many witnesses at the charity ball testified to her presence there since well before and well after the double homicide. Her generous contributions to society and her extensive volunteer time spoke well of her character, and thanks to her grandfather, a well-respected New York lawyer, Maureen was removed from the suspect list and given a public apology.

The tingling in her mind that this was not just a simple hit on two prominent members of high society nagged their daughter so much that after burying her parents, Maureen became Midnight, a vigilante using the powers of darkness and suggestion to fight crime in the same manner as her great-grandfather, the Shadow, and she has refined her talents by using the methods of the Night Dragon clan of ninja.

Maureen searches for her parents' murderer, using her substantial wealth and position to help her, making subtle contact with the fringe in her gambling pursuits.

As Midnight, she haunts the streets fighting crime and putting pressure on the criminal underground for information.

Her latest leads have all led her to Edge City, so she has purchased a pied-a-terre condo in keeping with her society status, and can often be found pursuing her hedonistic lifestyle at any of the city’s casinos, high-class hotels, and yacht clubs. But at night, she pursues her mission with a single-minded dedication.

The answers are here, somewhere. And perhaps, even her sister.

As Maureen, she prays with all her heart that her sister might still be alive.

But as Midnight, she fears with all her soul that she is.

Quote: "You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"

Hair: Flame red
Eyes: Jade Green

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 130 lbs

Game: Champions (Dark Guardians campaign)

Theme Song: "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins
Theme Music: "A Pursuit" from the score MADLAX

MIDNIGHT QUOTES
FROM THE DARK GUARDIANS CAMPAIGN
(Season Two)

“I’m not only sending him straight to Hell, I’m giving him instructions on exactly what I’ll be doing to him during the entire trip!” -Midnight

“I hope we didn’t need that door.” -Midnight

“When I smile at someone, it implies ‘Nice to meet you.’ When you smile at someone, it implies, ‘You look like a snack.’” -Midnight, to Qurria’al

“At least if I die, there are at least two people who know hell well enough they can find me.” -Midnight

“I will descend from the ivory dungeon.” -Midnight

“What am I going to do at a bank, I don’t have a public ID!” -Vagabond
“You could stand outside, hand out daisies, and ask people if they’ve accepted Christ as their personal savior. Not only would they ignore you, people would probably go out of their way to pretend you weren’t there.” -Midnight, on the different members’ “cover” reason for being at the bank to prevent a robbery

“Whisper did not die with intent to defraud…” -Midnight

“Yes… but I know Psi wants me for my mind…” -Midnight

“Has anybody seen Cloak?” -Avatar, regarding the psion with invisibility powers
“Just for that, I’m not applauding the next 20 times we go trolling for muggers.” -Midnight

“He could hand you your a** folded neatly into origami… how’s that?” -Midnight

“I’m busy mentally b****slapping your father around…” -Midnight

“It seems this interruption doesn’t suit our arrangements, Mr. Yamaguchi… we’ll continue our business elsewhere.” -Zephrem
“…WIMP!!!” -Midnight

“Go ahead. Push me mentally. See what pushes back.” -Midnight and her weird little connection to the Qliphothic Plane…

“I’m sorry… I had to clean the sarcasm off the phone before I could hear you.” -Midnight

“I eat Qliphothic energy for breakfast…” -Midnight

“I’m busy right now bleeding all over the mountain…” -Midnight

“Wait a minute… make that ‘detect worthwhile minds’…” -Midnight

“Eat a few bricks… you’ll feel better.” -Midnight

“Hey… I died over here! If all you get is b****slapped, I don’t want to hear it!” -Midnight

“See? Even bleeding to death, I have a purpose!” -Midnight

“Put the Night Dragon back!” -Midnight

“Hey, just an FYI. The Night Dragon is back. It’s DEMON’s fault. We mobilize in 24 hours to defeat them both. Be there. If you don’t forward this message on to at least ten other Ultras, the world is going to end.” -Midnight writes the Ultra Chain Letter

“Your generosity is underwhelming…” -Midnight

“Blowing up my opponents works just fine as a romantic declaration!” -Midnight

“Delusions of Grandeur does not qualify as a Mental Power, Zephrem!” -Midnight

“I’m going to grab his arms… then I’m going to grab his head!” -Quirria’al
“Why not? He’s not using it anyway.” -Midnight

“I will turn your brain into Origami…” -Midnight

“I’m not going to make it easy on him!” -Midnight
“Oh, why not? Oh, that’s right… you’re not easy.” -John T
“No… I’m just cheap.” -Midnight

“Maybe you’ll fight better with that staff shoved up your a**… it’d give you a backbone, at least!” -Midnight

“I could have slept with him… but that just would have been tedious.” -Midnight

“So now Zephrem’s half the Morbane he used to be…” -Midnight

“We are the Dark Guardians, we are still here, and we are the hope that the sun will rise tomorrow!” -Midnight

“I suppose this is where I’m glad Quirria’al can’t see me, because then I don’t look like a target.” -Midnight

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