Bud Kane is an Olympic athlete and heir to the Kanetech fortune. He's publicly known as a world-class athlete and a young man-about-town. Secretly, he's the new hero on the scene, Flamebird. Villains should, like, totally beware and stuff!
Personality
Bud is an only child, which translated to a deep loneliness. A loneliness he's still trying to fill and what might be at the root of his obsession with super-heroes and joining their ranks. He hides his loneliness by being relentlessly cheerful, even in the face of great danger or situations where such an attitude would be inappropriate. This tends to leads people to think that he's not serious about his endeavors, but nothing could be further from the truth when you look at what he's accomplished.
Background
It was the week of his thirteenth birthday, on a visit from Metropolis to Gotham City with his parents to visit his cousin Bruce Wayne that Bud Kane's life changed forever. While there, his family was assaulted by a gunman as they left a theater and cut through an alley. As his father confronted the gunman and tried to talk him down, Vengeance fell from the shadows above, paired with a bright little birdie at its side. They made short work of the gunman, and a huge impression on young Bud.
Bud took his own stab at crime-fighting. Dressed in a costume reminiscent of Robin's in red, yellow and green, Bud dubbed himself 'Bat-Lad' and began his meager crime-fighting career. While he wasn't terrible at it, and took down a few street-level criminals, he kept getting closer and closer to danger until the Bat came to him and put his foot down: Bat-Lad was done, or Batman would reveal his nocturnal activities to his parents.
So, Bud left the Twin Cities and headed West, to California. There, he trained extensively in gymnastics and martial arts, in addition to his regular training in his sport of choice, tennis. He quickly became expert in all of those, winning several trophies in each, and qualifying for the Olympic Tennis team. He even won silver at the Olympics one year. But he only ever had one goal in mind: returning to his dream life as a crime-fighter.
And now, he's back, with a new costume, a new code name, and the same determined attitude. Criminals, beware the Flamebird!
SKILLS
Athletics - Competent Level
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As a result of his extensive training, both in athletic endeavors such as tennis and gymnastics as well as his martial arts training, Bud has a peak-level physique. This makes him significantly faster, stronger, more agile, and more durable than the average human being.
While not an expert on the level of Batman or even Nightwing, Flamebird is learning the art of detecting and forensic science and can figure most stuff out, given time.
Driving - Competent Level
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Hey, in California, everyone drives. If you've been on the highway out there, you know what it takes to survive. Bud is a survivor.
Gymnastics - Expert Level
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Bud is an Olympic-level gymnast. There's very little he can't do, acrobatically.
Hacking - Competent Level
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With his father being successful in the tech field, Bud has been around computers and tech his entire life. He knows how to work the system. Literally.
Martial Arts - Expert Level
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Crime-fighters need to be able to fight. Bud is serious about crime-fighting. He's trained with several masters in Jiu Jitsu, Karate, and Krav Maga, and is highly ranked in all of them.
Stealth - Competent Level
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He can get around in the dark pretty good. He can't quite master the 'materialize from the shadows' schtick, but hey! He's still learning this gig.
Bud has Olympic medals in the sport of Tennis. They are shiny. You definitely want him as a doubles partner.
ADVANTAGES
Flamebird's costume offers basic-level ballistics protection, including being fireproof.
Flamebird's mask tech provides a variety of lenses that allow him to see in infrared, night vision, microscopic/telescopic vision, and to scan electronics as well as take pictures of what he's seeing.
Flamebird's utility belt is not only stylish, but carries a number of things a crime-fighter might need: stylized 'birdarangs', smoke and glue bombs, lock picks, flashlight, taser bolos, grappling hook, energy bars...the only thing it doesn't carry is patience for criminal scum.
The Kanes are as wealthy and well-known as their relatives, the Waynes. Bud has a great number of resources at his disposal, including vehicles, homes, money and tech.
WEAKNESSES
Bud Kane is not an unknown. He's an Olympic athlete from a very well-to-do family. It is vital that he keep his identity a secret to protect his father and other family members. He will protect that almost any cost.
Teamwork is important to Flamebird, after seeing how well Batman and the Robin worked together. He wants more than anything to team up with other heroes (particularly Nightwing), and can often take their disinterest personally. (Not that he'd ever let that show.)
