Alison Carter

Alison Carter works at Wayne Enterprises and seems to think that she's high society, even though she's just a secretary.

Background
My name is Alison Carter. Most people, if they remember me at all, remember me as Jeanine Hall. I was a star! From the time I was in diapers, my parents, mostly my dad, had me auditioning for commercials, TV spots, and minor roles in movies. I didn't really have an actual childhood, instead being focused entirely on the next part. By the time I was nine, I had graduated from minor roles in movies to a secondary character in a TV sitcom. Unfortunately, the show only lasted another two seasons, but it did open the door to my first starring role in a made for TV family movie! My mom worked a lot throughout my entire career, insisting that it was her job as a parent to support me, not the other way around, so Dad and Nona, my maternal grandmother, were the ones that were always there at every audition and class.

Eventually, Dad stopped coming, so it was Nona that made sure I got to the set on time, that read lines with me, and that saw to it that I went to every audition that I wanted to do. By the time I was thirteen, Dad was gone. It was only after I graduated from high school that I found out that Mom had told him to either sober up and stop gambling or get out. He, apparently, chose to get out.

I continued acting for another two years until Nona had her first stroke. Mom was working full time as a legal aide in a big law firm, so she couldn't take the time off to take me to the auditions my agent had lined up or make sure that I arrived on time for makeup for the movie I was filming, so I had no chance to get those parts and lost my fourth big starring role. It took Nona six months to recover enough from her stroke that she could drive me to auditions again, but, by that time, my agent had dropped me. We tried to find someone else to represent me, but, apparently, I was now considered unreliable.

My career was over.

It was hard to be a normal kid after that. Here I was, fifteen years old and a washed up has been having to learn how to interact with normal teenagers. Mom told me to just think of it as another role; the role of a lifetime. After all, how many people get to live their dream before they're fifteen? I hate to admit it, but I had to point out to her that there aren't very many whose dreams die by the time they're fifteen, either.

By the time I was sixteen, I had fallen into a deep depression and had to be hospitalized because I tried to kill myself. I just didn't see any point in going on, at that point. It wasn't until Nona's second stroke, the one that almost killed her, that I decided that I'd wallowed in self-pity long enough and really started living my life. I went to an alternative school to get caught up with my classmates so I could graduate on time, discovering through home ec class that it wasn't too difficult to modify the out of date clothing I had into something chic and trendy again.

I had to wait a year before I was able to get accepted into college, taking classes at a local community college before moving to Metropolis to attend Met U. I only ended up with a two year associate's degree, but I could still go back to continue my education later, if I really want to. I relied heavily on student loans and a part time job in the school bookstore, even earning a little money on the side by altering clothing for the girlfriends of my friends at school, but as little as I had coming in, it just wasn't enough to sustain the lifestyle I had been accustomed to when I was still acting and living at home. I ended up running up mountains of debt that I now have to pay off; over $20,000 the last time I checked, and that doesn't even include my student loans...

Slowly but surely, however, I am paying it off!

When I graduated, I moved back home with Mom until I could get a high enough paying job to be able to afford my own place. Unfortunately, that took a while... I tried working for manufacturing companies, lawyers, hotels, in fast food, and even took a job as a school janitor for about a month. (I couldn't deal with all of the kids intentionally making messes. Not to mention all of their drama just about drove me to check myself back into the hospital!) That was when I decided that what I really needed was to have a rich man fall in love with me, sweep me off my feet, marry me, and take care of me for the rest of my life. Besides, if I marry someone rich, they're probably going to be famous, so I'll have my name in print again!

Anyway, I finally got hired on as a secretary at Wayne Enterprises. There wasn't a position open for anyone specific in the company needing a secretary, so I ended up moving around to different departments where I was needed, or working for various board members when their regular secretaries were on vacation. It wasn't a glamorous job, but it paid better than anything else I'd had, and I was actually able to stick with this one! It took a while, but, three years after getting my associate's degree, I was finally able to move out of my mother's house and into an apartment of my own.

Now there's just the matter of finding that rich husband...

Personality
Bitch - Alison can quite often come across as a bitch, particularly to those she doesn't know. If she knows for a fact that another person doesn't work for Wayne Enterprises, she tends to lord the fact that she does over them, thinking that she is somehow better than they are for the simple fact that she works for one of the largest employers in Gotham.

Ambitious - Having been a star when she was young, Alison dreams of one day returning to a life of being famous. If that means that she has to work her way up out of the secretarial pool and into a position of power within the company, then so be it, and God protect anyone that gets in her way.

Romantic - It's no secret that Ali has a thing for romance. She cries at weddings, coos over cute couples, and tries to keep up to date on both office and celebrity gossip about who is dating who. Deep down, her greatest wish is to find a rich man to fall in love with, get married, and never have to work another day in her life.

Protective - While she's no superhero, and only barely knows self defence, Alison would do anything to keep those she either cares about, or that she feels could further her ambition, safe from harm. She still spends every Sunday afternoon at the nursing home visiting her grandmother, and reserves Wednesday nights for dinner with her mother. She would willingly sacrifice herself to keep her friends or family safe.