Reverend Christopher Carroll (Sly)

Weight: 140

Apparent Age: 80+

Archetype: Social Adept: Circle ???

Preferred Weapon: Yamaha Pulsar

Runner Song:

Bio: This is one of the few truly honest runners left in the world, and to say the words honest and runner in the same sentence is an oxymoron in itself. Sly is an acting minister at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church in Lynnwood and is highly active in the community with his ministry, outreach programs, food banks, homeless shelter and community and youth centres. Sly is a true humanitarian and actually cares about each and every citizen within his small suburban town, not to mention those that are suffering world wide. He is the true definition of a good Christian and one couldn’t ask for a better man and role model for the youth of Seattle and Lynnwood, though Sly does hide a dark side and his past is not all sunshine and rainbows.

         During the rise of the shadow warriors in the early 2050’s Seattle was entrenched in a dark and violent war of the shadows and it was coming out of an even bloodier age that is being refereed to as Old Seattle, when the founding fathers ruled the night and natives were ravaging the cityscape. The sprawl back during Old Seattle couldn’t have been deadlier for criminal and citizen alike. The rules of the night where being defined by people like the Iceman and Spade and the law was having a hard time dealing with this new breed of criminal that was decked out with the latest cyberware and newest hardware straight out of Aries Arms. Sly’s ministry would act as a safe haven for those that were being displaced during these days and the need was high but yet the donations and weekly attendance during Sunday service where declining at an alarming rate. Sly would eventually be left no other choice then to enter the cold dark shadows in order to help keep his programs afloat and keep the shelters doors open.

        Though for Sly this was not an easy decision to make, and he didn’t take it lightly. For him entering the world of the criminal didn’t sit well with him knowing that he would be expected to partake and condone actions that went against his morale beliefs and his personal code. See Sly is a true pacifist and believes very strongly in the whole turn the other cheek, he is not a violent man and will only take action to defend himself from personal harm. Though even then he chooses to use non lethal force and just subdue the assailant. He believes very strongly in the commandment of Though Shall Not Kill, and for a acting minister this is a wonderful quality to have, though as a runner not so much. After much deliberation and watching his outreach programs and shelters beginning to fall deep into the red, Sly picked up his armour jacket and holstered his Pulsar and left the church doors under the cover of night and began his double life of being a runner of the shadows.

         Sly used his social graces and the contacts he made during his time spent within the Bowery and Ironside reaching out to the poor and homeless, he learned the basics of being a runner from these people and made contact with a fixer to gain access to some quick employment. Though Sly would alert his contacts about his limitation and that he would never do any operation that would put anyone in harm and he was mostly desiring courier jobs seeing that those posed the least risk of physical engagement, they might not yield the high payouts but where considered entry level and standard practice. Though as anyone who has ever worked the shadows knows things never work out as you imagined and a runner must always be prepared for anything. For Sly this would come after he was already well past his rookie status and considered a successful runner, the courier jobs began to dry up as the employers where looking for Sly to begin harder and riskier operations that he couldn’t do alone. This Sly knew was a problem but he needed the money to keep helping the people, seeing that the war in the shadows was at an all time high. Sly would be teamed up with a group of runners from the same generation, and they would begin to accept far more dangerous operations. Though for Sly he was able to stomach these jobs do to them staying within his personal code, and no lives where lost, though for Sly he also knew that this was only going to last so long before all hell would break loose. He was working with two street samurai and a trigger happy magi these runners where itching for a fight and one day the bullets would begin to fly, Sly prayed nightly for a safe and secure operation and that no lives where taken.

          The issue having a pacifist on a team is that they aren’t willing to engage the enemy, even when the bullets begin to fly and for Sly he was also not combat trained and just a simple minister that was left no other option. His operations where allowing him to increase the amount of aid he could offer and increase the size of his shelter as well begin his employment outreach program where he would help teach people the skills needed to return to the working world, offer them the suits and ties needed for the interviews and place to come for job training. Though with this new program came even further funds needed and Sly was about to get in way over his head. His team would accept an operation against a corporation where they had to steal sensitive data and it was supposed to be yet another simple in and out job with low risk but great reward. Well for the team everything went south fast as soon as they entered the building, the guards were waiting and primed for them and they had been double crossed and set up by their employer.

           The team entered the building and all of Sly’s fears came true as the guards held them at gunpoint and prepared to detain the runners, well it is unknown who fired first if it was one of the runners or guards but all hell broke loose and the bullets began to fly. Sly took cover behind a desk holding his Pulsar praying that the fighting would end, suddenly Sly would crumple over as multiple bullets would enter his side. Sly would be riddled with pain as he began to crawl away, the guard that shot him approached to finish the job and Sly on instinct fired his Pulsar into the officers chest and watched as he collapsed and would begin to seize, his eyes glazed over and blood pouring out of his eyes and mouth and eventually the scent of urine and faeces as the security officer stooped seizing and blood poured out of his mouth with his eyes rolled back and mouth wide open. Sly watched as the man perished from his non lethal attack, Sly froze in shock as he just stared at the weapon in his hand and was only broken from his trance as another bullet entered his body. Sly now severely injured glanced around as the runners and guards where engaged in mortal combat and many of the security force laid dead on the ground. Sly was horrified by what he saw and what made things worse for the injured minister is that a few of the deceased guards he recognised from Sunday Service as they were members of his church including the man he just killed.

          Sly just curled up in a ball and awaited death, seeing that he was in to much pain to move and he couldn’t run away do to having his kneecap blown out by one of the guards bullets. The surviving runners knew that they where outnumbered and outmatched, and would begin to retreat Sly unable to run was sure he would be left for dead but fellow team mate Castle would risk further injury and help carry the wounded sly out of the building and bring him to a shadow clinic for medical treatment. Seeing that there magi was one of the unlucky ones and perished during the fire fight, Sly would make a full recovery from his wounds though he would be left with a permanent limp from the leg wound he received. Though Sly would never make a full recovery mentally from the killings and the death of a man at his own hand. For Sly this would be his last shadow operation, he would hang up his armour and put away his Pulsar for good.

         Sly will forever be haunted by the actions of that night and would be forced to face the nightmare as he would have to officiate the funerals of many of the guards that died that evening including the man he killed. Sly would dig deep into his life savings to assist the families of those that would be left grieving do to his actions, Sly would have to sit and watch as the world around him would begin to collapse and the violence in the streets would escalate to an all time high as the gangs and runners would begin to war and take over the streets. The innocent where becoming the victims and prisoners of their homes as the streets would become to dangerous for many to traverse come sundown. Sly no longer desiring to ever return to the streets, he would be saddened by all the youth that would choose the dangerous life of a runner do to the glamours big budget movies and cartoons that made them out to be action movie stars, not actually focusing on the real life aspects of being a runner and the tears of their victims that Sly knew all to well.

         He would open his doors once again and this time he would reach out to the youth and to anyone wanting to escape the violent life, he would bring in troubled children that were forced into the gang life that wanted out. He would again push himself into near bankruptcy  by opening additional outreach programs and expanding his community centre and homeless shelter. Sly would spend the next handful of years living in near poverty, but trying to restore his conscious and stem the nightly nightmares from his one and only murder. Though for Sly those nightmares would never go away and the demons of that night are a constant reminder of the dangers of running the shadows. He is reminded every Sunday when he delvers mass and his sermons are always about helping each other and community togetherness, he preaches against the dangers of the shadows and the true victims of the victimless crimes. Though for Sly his life was once again going to be torn upside down when he would be arrested by the UCAS for adding and abetting known terrorists and accepting undeclared money from a terrorist. Sly would be facing the death penalty for these crimes as he was as well charged with treason, this old minister was more then ready to die for the crimes he was charged with and allow himself to be martyred for the cause.

        Sly might not have agreed with the war and the violence brought directly to the citizens, but he also couldn’t stand by and accept treason and allow the once great nation to fall into peril do to the actions of the many. Though the war would be brought directly to him though the actions of his brother a very dangerous and deadly man known as Vex, it would be his brother that would alert Sly of the dangers of the UCAS and it wan’t till that day when he was arrested for accepting a donation from a troubled and lost lamb, that Sly would fully understand his brothers warnings. Sly was rescued from his prison cell moments before he was to brought to the gallows and hung with no trial and no one to bare witness but the Lord himself. Sly again was forced to witness undo violence as the military fought to keep him in his shackles and the runners fought hard to free him from those chains. Sly would be rescued and returned to his church under his direct request, even though he was warned that they would be back to kill him again, for they saw him as a liability and threat do to his humanitarian outreach and his uniting the district.

         Sly is still preaching every Sunday and he has no fear of the government, he is still haunted by his past and the darkness that he once traversed within. Sly walked through hell and has come out stronger for it, though his demons still haunt him and the ghosts of his past remind him of the dangers of walking within the shadows, for as much as you try to avoid becoming a monster the beast always emerges victorious.

Page Written By: Shadow Writer