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HOME > CASE FILES > PROMINENT PEOPLE > THE STORY OF PHOENIX DEGRAVES

THE STORY OF PHOENIX DEGRAVES...

In 1990, Phoenix Degraves was born outside of Gotham City in the now-infamous family home belonging to her parents, Grant and Irene. She was their second child, two years younger than her brother, Wilder. Her parents would say she came into the world making noise, and she never really stopped. This was a good thing, though, as even as a newborn it seemed like all Phoenix wanted to do was to talk, and to do whatever she could see her brother doing. She was born ready for the world, as some would say — which, in contrast to Wilder, who was always a very quiet boy supposedly, was quite the challenge. But it was one her parents took on happily. Join us on this deep dive into one of Gotham's most unfortunate, loathed, and best-loved residents...

GRANT AND IRENE

Grant and Irene were high school sweethearts; they'd dated long-term as teens, with a handful of years between them. They split after Grant graduated and soon moved to the city to persue a career as a police officer. Irene, a few years later when she graduated, stayed in the subhurbs outside the city with her parents, and got a job at a doctor's surgery as a secretary. Unlike Grant, however, this obviously wasn't her dream. Her friends described her as world-obsessed: Irene wanted to travel. Realistically, however, this wasn't on the cards, so she instead saved up all her money, bought the cheapest working car she could, and spent all her free time in New Jersey's mountains, hiking and sight seeing, as well as travelling along the Jersey coast. She was a wildly independent young woman who people looked at, almost with awe.Grant on the other hand, remained in the city for these few years, putting all his time into his job — Gotham has never been anything but riddled with crime and upset, and so his work at GCPD kept him occupied. When he wasn't knee-deep in it, however, he'd travel out and spend some time with his parents. It was during one of these times, that his father requested a lift from his son to his doctor's appointment - he usually walked but for whatever reason this time, needed a little help. Grant of course was more than happy to oblige and did as he was asked. It was at that doctor's surgery that he met Irene again. She'd actually taken a phone call from him a few hours earlier to confirm the appointment, and neither had realised who they were talking to — something they both found funny, as they'd spent so many nights on the phone until sunrise as teenagers.The two had a quick catch up there, given that Irene was working. They exchanged their new numbers and made a date. They went to dinner the next week and that was it, they realised they were still head over heels in love with each other. At first their relationship was a little tricky, given that they both lived very separate lives, and Grant was working almost constantly, but they found a balance: Irene, it was said, would spend weekends in the city with Grant, and Grant would make the effort in return to head out and be with Irene. A year in, however, this constant back and forth became more frustrating, and Grant started focusing on getting a promotion, to earn more money, so he and Irene could live together just outside Gotham City. That same year he received his promotion, and both of their parents chipped in with them to buy a small house, with a little yard. It a was modest two-up, two-down, but they loved it. It meant they could spend all their free time with one another, and really the commute wasn't too awful for Grant. They were engaged a few months later, and thrilled with the direction their lives were taking.The marriage to follow, however, was soon delayed by the news that Irene was expecting a baby, something the entire family was elated by. Few arrangements had been made for the big day, and while Irene would have happily just signed the papers to marry Grant in an afternoon in the city, their wedding day was delayed. Some months later, the couple welcomed Wilder, a healthy baby boy. In fact the couple were so in love with their son it was said they momentarily forget they hadn't even married, but they did eventually mark a date on the calendar, and set about arranging the wedding to include their new son. This went off in the summer without a hitch, with Wilder as the smallest groomsman known to man. A big family event, it was every bit the celebration it should have been. Grant and Irene were over the moon.Some time passed without incident; the couple were enjoying the quality family time they could spend together whenever Grant was home from work, Wilder climbed mountains and explored beaches before he could even really walk. They were a picture of perfection and so, so happy in themselves. And so when news came that Irene was pregnant again, it was just another reason for joy that the two of them could not get over. Irene loved being a mom and dedicated all the time she had to her son, who was shaping up to be a quiet and gentle boy like his father with the same stubborn need to explore as her. Irene apparently hoped their second would be much the same, so they could finally have the family adventures she used to when she was a child. She had fond memories of travel with her own family, and was desperate to share the same with her babies.Grant began putting overtime in at work to save more money so the family could move a little further from the city, and deeper into the suburbs. By now he'd spent over half a decade on the streets of Gotham, and decided he'd definitely take the hit of a longer commute if it meant his family wasn't as close. It's presumed that it was around this time that a case was opened on a wildly prolific killer and drug dealer, only known as Riktor. Which was a case Grant was a part and threw all of his energy into. By doing so, he and his new wife did manage to save some extra money, and once again with a few small loans from their families on either side, where able to place a down-payment on a bigger house with a lot more space, a bigger yard, away from the road. It was everything they wanted and needed. This is the house where Nix was born, upstairs in the master bedroom some months later. She came as a surprise in the early morning, and she arrived loud and eager. This is also the same house that has become the unfortunate face of this whole story, as you will see.

EARLY LIFE

Phoenix was an intelligent and forceful little girl almost from the get-go, it's said. With a shock of honey-blonde hair and bright blue eyes to match her lightning personality, neighbours would tell you it was difficult to ever find the little girl stopped for more than a second. Irene had got her wish: her little girl was a bulldozer, unstoppable and always asking why. By the age of four, she knew she wanted to be an astronaut. In that she was the opposite of her brother, Wilder, who kept his father's quiet resilience as he grew up, but it was very clear that even with their differences that he adored his little sister. The two were virtually inseparable from the moment Phoenix was born. From any outside perspective, the family had it made. Irene was a doting mother who now spent all her time at home with the children, Wilder and Phoenix were a team to be reckoned with, and Grant put all his effort into ensuring his family had the best of everything.This determination is what led him to his next promotion. The killer and dealer known as Riktor was finally caught after a good few years of thorough investigation. He had been terrorising the city's underground, and had an MO of simply blowing people up who he happened to disagree with. The investigation into Riktor made Grant glad that he had moved his family so far out; it gave him space between his work and home life that he desperately needed, and when he was at home he was the adoring father and nothing else. He was able to pack away all the horrible things he'd seen and really focus on his family. Again, perfect. If you ask anyone they were perfect.When Nix was four years old, opposing her brother's soccer practice each week, she began taking ballet lessons and would join her mother weekly at a mother and child's art class, run by the local community. The family as a whole was established, and popular. They weren't church-goers but were known and remembered fondly by the congregation, some of whom were said to have been a great support for Grant in the early days post-tragedy. By the time both their son and daughter were in school, Grant and Irene had built a stable, loving home within a wide community of family and friends. Nix with her wrecking-ball-personality was just as popular as her brother, who seemed to acquire the more quiet and thoughtful children. Phoenix had what her father would describe as 'a herd' of good friends, though never had any people her age she was exceptionally close with. This was because she and her mother were 'best friends' according to our sources. Irene and Phoenix were identical, shared the same spark for adventure, and were the definition of kindred spirits. Irene supported her youngest's dreams of one day going into space by adorning the little girls bedroom with model rockets and alien plushies, among the other typical toys a little girl would have. Her bedroom was decorated with glowing stars on the ceilings, too, something Irene surprised her with for her seventh birthday. The family had taken a surprise trip to Cape May, south of Gotham and on the coast, and returned home to the newly re-modelled room, much to Phoenix's delight.Wilder on the other hand maintained his composed spirit, and excelled not only at his soccer, but in writing and the arts, too. The little boy's imagination led him to write short stories and 'plays' that would often be gushed about to the neighbours. He also commonly played Joseph in the local church's nativity, despite the family rarely being in attendance. Though her brother lacked her louder personality, both children excelled at being wholly themselves, as was eagerly encouraged by their parents.

THE BOMB

It was early September, a Sunday evening. Irene Degraves had taken her two children into the city to shop for clothes fit for school while Grant worked late on a case that hasn't been disclosed, or deigned to be linked to what was about to occur. The three of them, mother and her two children, stopped at burger joint for dinner, before they made their trek back across the city to GCPD's headquarters to pick up their father. Grant would typically use the family's car, but on this particular day, lent it to his wife for her and the childrens' errands. This particular piece of information was key in this case, as it proved that the family were being watched, second-by-second, as they went about their evening.Witnesses claimed the three to be in high spirits while they ate together. A trip to the city was a treat for the two Degraves children, dinner in the city moreso. It was there that Irene received a call from her husband, apologising and informing her that he'd have to make the trip home later that night by another means. While described as glum, Irene ordered her husband dinner to go, and packed the children away back into the car.She later parked her vehicle in a near-empty lot, a single street away from GCPD's headquarters, where she typically parked while visiting Grant at work. She and the children were seen heading into GCPD's headquarters shortly after, around 8pm, and remained in the building for forty minutes. It was later revealed that she and the children stayed with Grant while he ate the dinner they'd brought for him, which was something they'd done before. They were seen leaving on CCTV at 20:41, with Irene holding each of her childrens' hands. They were captured entering the lot in which they'd been parked just moments later. This was the last time both Irene and Wilder were seen alive.GCPD responded to reports of an explosion just nineteen minutes later. Irene's car, with she and her children inside, had erupted into flames emanating from beneath the hood, and the engine within. The immolation was swift, and powerful enough that the front screen of the car and the windows had been blown inward, injuring the three seated inside just moments before flames engulfed the front of the vehicle.Grant Degraves was among those first responding.Irene and Wilder were pronounced dead at the scene, and their injuries so severe that they were later identified, and their deaths officially confirmed by dental records. Irene Degraves' cause of death was later confirmed to have been asphyxiation through smoke inhalation and the swelling of airways, while young Wilder's was confirmed to have been shock-induced cardiac arrest.Phoenix, who was alive and screaming while strapped in the back seat of her mother's car, suffered mostly mental and emotional damage as a result of the explosion. Her father, after making the quick and devastating assessment that the two occupying the front seats were in fact deceased, suffered major burning to his right arm, hand, and side while pulling his daughter out of the burning car. It is said that the girl didn't cease her screaming for days on end, and fell mute swiftly after that.

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Comments...

🔎Anonymous892 this is miserable i just thought she was a bitch🔎doubletapzs WE MISS RIKTOR!🔎Anonymous12 gonna be stuck thinking about nix in space for the rest of my life thanks this sucks🔎phoenix-nix thank you so much for this deep-dive you guys did an amazing job! we're sharing this to all our fans as we speak!
........^{🔎DANK!GOTHAM @phoenix-nix thank you for the collab, ladies, youre awesome}🔎elvisisntdead you guys probably shouldn't be making her a sympathetic character she's a literally mass murdered🔎dummy-run69 after a quick look through your website it seems you can't exist ingotham unless your parents are dead or some shit
........^{🔎corpsechick @dummy-run69 it's a beautiful city actually}🔎Anonymous9004 she still riding the coke train?🔎alienfck i subscribe to her somehow this makes her hotter ¯_(ツ)_/¯ sue me
........^{🔎corpsechick @alienfck your fucking weird bro}
................^{🔎alienfck @corpsechick and you spend too much time on this page defending a bitch who doesnt know you exist}🔎beretta26 hiding the good stuff behind a paywall i see.........
........^{🔎DANK!GOTHAM @beretta26 hey man we've gotta make a living}🔎dreamfairy are vacations cheap in this city? thinking about meeting my dank heroes🔎bunubber all of this and she's s till hot
........^{🔎corpsechick @bunubber *** pls}