Shrike the freelancer.

Name: Shrike Burn

Nicknames: None

Age: 25 (Last recorded before genetic altering took place.)

Species: Human (Supposedly.)

height: 5'8 (5'7 with out armour.)

Occupation: Freelancer (Glorified security guard.)

theme http://sndup.net/qpwt


Appearance:

 Shrike stands roughly 5'8 in height (5'7 with out armour), bearing equipment and gear left over from his G.U.N days, modified over time by Lysander. Wearing a thermal layered light weight smoke grey clothing with charcoal armour elements over his chest, shoulders, back, shins and sometimes forearms. A advanced combat helmet with distinct mint green visor hides the true identity of who Shrike really is. Any information is unknown regarding facial features such as hair or eyes as he has never been seen with out the gear strapped too him. His frame is one of a mesomorph construct giving a good blend of strength and endurance while giving athletic shape to his upper body what little skin is visible is of caucasian colour. Age wise still seems to harbor around middle 20's.


Personality traits: Tenacious, selfless, logical, patient, caring, vigilant, paranoid (Sometimes), curious, hopeful, loyal, un trusting (too most.)


Likes: Technology, armament, exploration, paranormal, stargazing, assisting others, protecting, coffee.


Dislikes: Any thing remotely corporation based, the empire (Duh.) Heights, sense of failure, violence, egotistical lifeforms, Advanced AI systems, Potatoes (Yes.) exploitation of him and others. Extremely judgmental beings.


Personality:

 Shrike tends to keep to himself most of the time often seeing his place in the world as a minor role. Always happening to look at the bigger picture and what is going on around him far more then his own wants or needs Shrike usually always places others well beings above his own a trait both taught and learned from his days a G.U.N soldier, unlike most humans Shrike is very accepting to others that are vastly different to himself for he is not one to judge a being upon image but rather the actions they take. 

At times he can seem distant and cold upon first glances his stand off on guard nature is a result of events past, he'd rather be safe then sorry. A figure who struggles to relax even in the calmest of times Shrike's confidence is sorely lacking he does not view himself as a hero but rather someone just trying to do the right thing with what he has. Honing his limited skill set to as best as he can do Shrike can be sometimes a perfectionist in his own image upon himself most times not accepting "Good enough." results, pushing for that extra more. Adopting a gentleman's approach in times of peace avoiding to start fights but willing to end one. Once someone get's past the coldish exterior Shrike becomes a loyal ally, caring protective and who would more then be willing to assist where ever and what ever it may be. He understands full well he can not change the world but he too also understands that his actions may mean the world to others. 



Combat traits:

Basic firearms training and refined over constantly operating a select few weapons, Shrike prefers to engage targets at range using his overwhelming sense of firepower to quickly dispatch threats before they can figure out what has happened, Limited hand to hand combat training, uses as a last resort but will stick to long range if possible. With no natural powers Shrike relies on experience, technology and weapons to win his battles as rare as they may be, his perception has allowed him to become a fairly good marksman able to almost instinctively know how far to lead a weapon to hit the target.



Equipment:

Stemming his G.U.N days, the gear worn by Shrike is of military standard now upgraded and improved by Lysander, the armour worn is a classified composite layered system of level 3, the armour is fairly light weight is able to withstand substantial hits and remain intact. The primary weapon of choice is in fact the very same rifle he was issued back at G.U.N a typical automatic rifle capable of high rate of fire with integrated short optical sight, very easy to maintain and reliable considered his most important item, tho he does make use of a small pool of other weapons. The helmet is probably the most advance gear worn by him. A advance modified version of those worn by G.U.N troopers with built in respirator, fully integrated spectrum visor capable of various vision modes, information collection, communication and more it is also decently well armoured to stop hefty blows from knocking too much sense out of him.


Strengths:

Shrike's probably greatest strength is his stubbornness, regardless of what may be put before him he will carry on regardless, no so helpful in a conversation but rather useful in the field. His advance armor and equipment also give him a advantage in various aspects such as ability to spot someone before they spot him, providing great protection and technological systems such as thermal, nigh vision, navigation and more. His access to high powered weapons make him a deadly force in long range engagements, this combined with his perception allow him to be a avid support figure, digging himself in and holding back or suppressing others to by time for allies to do their jobs.

 His willingness to follow orders allows him to be a great part of a team as being used to told what to do, one rarely needs to enforce orders too him unless its obviously something stupid, this makes Shrike a easy figure to mold into a team. His simplicity is also a strength, with no desire for fancy living, fancy foods, less reliance of material wealth Shrike is able to survive on little and still be satisfied, a uncomplicated soul that is fine with the basics.



Weakness's:

 Shrike's weaknesses seem to out number his strengths, the first being the obvious lack of powers totally relying on weapons and tech out in the field he has learned to work around this to certain degree. He's developed trust issues often result in isolation or unable to form bonds with many, he has simply seen the worst aspects of sentient life and has adapted, choosing carefully who he may grow close too.

 Shrike is also limited in his skill set as only being a soldier he his very little too no other experience in the world leading to difficulty in integrating in normal every day life It has began to nag at him in the current events he finds himself at. Poor confidence plagues him as he tends to expect the worst rather then the best. Stubbornness while good in some aspects are also a weakness to him when able to be wavered in certain situations.

High powered electrical abilities or weapons can overload a great many of his systems leaving Shrike in a worse off state forcing him to fight a battle with out technology to aid him.

Ladies, yes Ladies can cause him to be nervous, why ? Not even he has a answer for that.

unique traits:

 Shrike has only 3 unique attributes to his being. The first is his perception, for some unexplained reason Shrike is almost able to predict events before they can happen, while not able to tell the future it does allow him in a sense to almost predict movement allowing him to follow up his shots on moving targets or naturally be able to range something with out having to check it himself.

The second ability is heighten reflexes. When trapped in a situation of life or death Shrike's adrenaline kicks in and in these specific times his reflexes go through the roof, in his explanation "It is if the world slowed down around me but it is in fact not the case, It seems I am just reacting faster then considered normal."


The last unique trait was more by sheer chance then any thing else, upon Lysander attempting to boost Shrikes performance through genetic altering he inadvertently slowed down the aging system with in Shrikes body, it is said for every 5-6 years Shrike only ages 1 due to this fact, whether this is fixable or not is unknown at this point.


Positive relations:


Darken the fox: A member of the G.U.N establishment Shrike has every now and then assisted the grey fox in matters that seemed to overlap or be in line with Lysanders goals this has allowed them to operated time to time and build up a respectful friendship between the two, apart from Lysander Shrike considers Darken his closest ally.



Bonnie Winchester the Husky: While their time shared was limited Shrike seemed to enjoy the huskies spirit upon meeting her, she unlike many took in kind too the freelancer which found a nice comfortable warm spot in his soul, he chose to remain in contact with her after helping her defend herself from a gang that jumped her in her home town.


Marcus Lysander: The most important figure to Shrike's life by a mile, if it were not for him Shrike may of been just another casualty of G.U.N Marcus saved his life during the Aribis Cascade event fleeing with him to avoid being captured, ever since then Marcus took the lonesome former trooper in and treated him almost like a son, he helped him in various aspects including updating and improving his gear. Shrike is always willing and able to help Lysander feeling it is his duty to repay him for what he had done over the last 6 years, as Shrike has no family he is the closest too date he has ever had to a father after his original parents vanished.



History: 

Shrike once a member of the well established global military super power that was the Guardian units of nations upon being drawn into its ranks as requested. Filling in the rank and file as just another grunt seeing minor action against empire forces in the southern territories he would obtain the lowly rank of lance corporal, preferring to leave commanding in more capable hands however one night and one night alone would forever change his life.


Shrike's unit had been promptly rotated to act as "stand in." Security at a undisclosed facility near by their area of operation, they were assigned to protect the exterior and and admin sectors. They were not informed of what was transpiring deep within. On night duty of day number 3 the facility would suffer a major energy spike of unknown origin, so powerful it began to cut out communications and interfere with advance equipment. Sirens triggered, Shrike and the rest were mobilized too secure the facility, unfortunately or rather fortunately Shrike was ordered to remain near the confines of the armory while the rest moved into to deal with the unfolding event.


All hell broke loose, gun fire erupted garbled communications going back and forth the soldiers had come under attack by a unknown enemy and were trying to their damnedest to contain the situation, However it would not last long, with in 30 minutes or so, any and all communication ceased. Shrike repeatedly attempted to contact them, to no avail. Fearing the worst and having no clue what to do he sunk against the wall beside him all hope seemed lost.....that was until a voice crackled over it....there was a survivor...a scientist....Marcus Lysander, he would inform him that he needed his help as much as Shrike would need his in order to stop this telling him to meet him with in a confined secured location. 


Loading up tooth and nail with as much ordinance as he could carry the lone simple G.U.N soldier linked up with the scientist, the Mobian German Shepard by who was Lysander explained the situation, what had happened and what had happened leading up too this point. A Corporation that bit off more then it could chew attempted to create artificial controllable and sustainable chaos energy, which was now seeping into the facility. Its unstable nature had began to materialize in the forms of anomalies, strange warping of objects, deadly spots of highly radiated zones, law bending physic disruptions and rifts in reality too which the unexplained entities poured from. There was only one way out....through.


Lysander explained that the primary reactor failed during its routine systems check and was now out of control the only way to stop the spread and what ever else was manifesting inside was to either shutdown or destroy the reactor system. Luckily Lysander knew the ins and outs, his knowledge combined Shrike's weaponry the pair would quite literally fight their way through the warp twisted corridors and rooms, turns out Lysander handled himself just as well as any well trained figure would. Behind ever door and around every corner they came face to face with things beyond explanation. Pressing on and crossing the demise of his fellow squad mates, killed by the very beings that now lurked around. 


Vast expenditure of ammo and dodging all manners of hazards the pair was indeed able to disable the primary reactor called "Aribis." Exhausted, angered and of course terrified out of their minds, Shrike more so then Lysander who seemed far more use to such sights believed the worse was over....How wrong he would be.


Lysander exposed the harden truth that this was not over, intercepted communications by Lysander indicated Horizon Blackops security elements had been dispatched, Lysander knew they were on their way for survivors, no they didn't want any, none who could expose the truth. Lysanders keen knowledge would allow him to override the lock down that was in place, together with his G.U.N lackey he managed to convince him easily to escape the facility with him, or be gunned down the moment those guys put foot inside. The difficult choice made easy. Out into the night air they rushed barely avoiding the Horizon corp personal.


Together the pair were now branded as traitors and the instigators of the entire event by G.U.N who had been manipulated the truth. With a well established hide out by Lysander as his paranoid nature had finally come in handy, together a former Horizon chief scientist and a lone G.U.N soldier would spend the next 5 years in covert shadow life of attempting to collect what they needed, hit and run, rescuing defectors and gathering intel. However it would not be in vein when all was said and done by some sheer miracle Lysander was able to reason with G.U.N unveiling, just about every thing this once well established and respected corp had done over the last 50 or so years. It was with no surprise that G.U.N would effective immediately cut its funding and send its forces to reposes their assets and take custody of those who they could. 



Horizon was systematically shut down and disbanded, tho rogue elements would continue to exist after this it had finally come to a end, now vindicated for something they did not commit Shrike did not return to G.U.N, his faith was shattered as was his resolve, the light upon he saw the world now forever altered, choosing to stay with Lysander and take on the only life he knew the pair would continue to operate from their small based named "Haven." And continue on their goal of finding and ridding any remaining elements of Horizon and the left overs of their time. Tho as time moved on so did his ally, Lysander's becamed partnered with a companion along with de- militarizing the Haven base which had for its most part served it's purpose, while he moved on Shrike has remained much the same tho now conflicted to either stay or move on as well to seek a new life unsure of what it may hold, however too this day Shrike has remained a freelancer, hunting down the past, uncovering the weird and wonderful paranormal and bizarre, giving aid to those who may need his limited skills a figure with no clear path but a determined drive to push on until the end...where ever it may be. Shrike looks to the horizon, hoping the next day will be a better tomorrow.