Donald Mathews (Avenger)

 Membership: Freelance

Race: Human

Height: 5’6

Weight: 165

Apparent Age: 65

Archetype: Physical Adept: Circle Unknown

Preferred Weapon: Longsword

Runner Song:

Bio: The Avenger is here and what can be said about this old timer from the bloodiest days of Old Seattle, well basically nothing good thats what. This man was full of hypocrisy and deception he would claim to be serving the just cause and fighting for justice; well the Avenger was only fighting for his corrupted version of justice and dispensing capital punishment to anyone that he felt deserved it, which was basically anyone that stood in his path. This man would not allow the actual justice system to commence and any criminal, corrupt citizen or even a disrespectful youth would receive the death penalty with the Avenger being judge, jury and executioner. This man once crawled the back streets of the sprawl during the days of the Founders and even is the reason the legendary Dread was unleashed into the streets, some say that Avenger helped create that menace to the legal system and others say that Dread just picked up where Avenger left off; either way the Avenger was the cause of Dread and many lives where butchered at that madman’s hand and we can thank the Avenger for that.

This man wasn’t originally a runner per-say, he was more of a vigilante and pissed off father of a murdered wife and child; when the legal system failed him and the courts released the murderer after a miss trial do to prosecutorial misconduct and with double jeopardy attached the murderer would walk away a free man and never again face the judge for the murder of two innocent lives. This would send Mr. Mathews over the edge and send him on a warpath to convict and pass sentence onto the man whom he knew was guilty and had destroyed his life, though even in the courts system he was only facing a maximum of 20 years for two counts of third degree murder as the deaths accord during a vehicular accident where the suspect had fallen asleep at the wheel (Though the prosecution had presented evidence of intoxication, but had failed to charge the suspect with a DWI and legally get his consent or a warrant for the tests.). This was the primary reason the suspects trial was thrown out, do to a ADA slipping up and mentioning the defendants blood alcohol level during the trial, this had already been thrown out by the judge during pretrial and as soon as the ADA mentioned it in open court; the jury was considered contaminated and the judge was left with no other choice but to declare a mistrial and throw the case out.

Well for Mr. Mathews this was unacceptable and he decided that the only proper sentence was death, and the Avenger was born as he made sure that the killer of his family meet a truly brutal end. The Avenger would leave his first victim so dismembered that it would take the medical examiners office months to put the pieces back together again. Though with even the police openly stating that Mr. Mathews was their number one suspect no charges where ever filed and even when the victims family protested and openly pleaded with the DA’s office to converge a grand jury and prosecute Mr. Mathews for capital murder nothing happened and Mr. Mathews would never see the inside of a courtroom and would get away with murder. Though for those within the law enforcement community I feel this might be one time they are regretting their decision to allow an angry, vengeful father to walk free; for after the murder of his first victim the Avenger would be born and soon the streets of Seattle would rain with blood as he would begin to hunt the guilty and send them to a brutal and terrifying grave. Many of the Avenger’s earliest victims would meet their end by being tossed off of the roof of many of the districts buildings. With the city already dealing with the rise of the runners and the increased violence that would plague the city, a few dozen low lives being murdered was not considered important and slowly the Avenger’s reputation would grow as he would take the law fully into his own hands.

This man would haunt many of the lower districts as a very bloody dark knight, he would never leave his targets alive and they would never have a quick death according to the reports from the many coroners that would oversee the Avenger’s cases. The nicest death he would give his victims would be when he tossed them off a roof to fall to their deaths, though do through blood tests it was revelled that even those victims would be under great stress and terror prior to their untimely end; one witness confirmed the reports by testifying for the grand jury that the Avenger would hold the victims over the edge by their ankles and dangle them their for minutes as he lectured them about the dangers of criminal behaviour. He would even give some a sense of hope as they would tearfully plead for their lives, the Avenger would make them believe that he would spare their lives if they confessed their sins and were truly apologetic and willing to turn their lives around; though this was not the case as the Avenger never spared any criminal and would just torture them mentally prior to dispensing justice.

He would leave the streets littered with victims and grieving families, though in his mind he was doing the world a favour by removing yet another scumbag, drug dealer, murderer or deadbeat. The Avenger is a man hellbent on cleaning up the streets and dispensing street justice, though his idea of who is guilty and innocent is very tilted as he ignores most of the runners and only targets the lower criminal element. How the Avenger would come to be a runner is unknown but it seems most vigilantes also run within the shadows and work alongside hardened killers and terrorists with no morale objection; I guess when you commit murder for a living, it’s nice to be among kindred spirits. This is the reason the Avenger is considered a Next Generation runner even though he already had quite a reputation within the urban sprawl as a vigilante.

The Avenger would partner up with the newly forming Mariners and work directly alongside these kindred spirits, he would pass along his sage advice and would even take a few of the younger runners under his wing and treat them like their where his own kids. As for the Avenger’s operations during this period it is quite sketchy and the records are quite vague so it is hard to truly confirm anything he really did, though we do have confirmation that he would still hunt the streets seeking the guilty and punishing them for their sins; this would become quite obvious during the shadow war and the rise of the dreamers when the Avenger would shift his focus from the lower criminals and the abusers to the youthful posers that would flood the streets and engage in a bloody civil war with the more experienced veterans. Many a parent would be forced to bury their son or daughter do to the Avenger and whats worse is that their bodies would almost always be buried within Potters Field or cremated before any identification could be made. The Avenger would send the victims families their kin’s bloodstained identification card with the word “Guilty” written in the victims blood. Thus he would remove any chance of the police using the ID to help identify the victim and he would leave them in such a brutally butchered state that even hardened veterans of the police and medical examiners office would be left with a feeling of dread and a queasy stomach.

Everyone within the law enforcement world knew that these where the victims of the Avenger, yet nothing was ever done about it. Only once would a grand jury be convened in an attempt to cease the Avenger and his bloody conquest, though the jurors would return a verdict of “No Contest” and leave the ADA baffled and unable to continue his investigation and the case would eventually stale and die. This would leave the people of Seattle with a sense of inadequacy within the District Attorney’s Office as they would fail to prosecute a known murderer but yet continue to send petty criminals off to prison for lesser crimes. Though for the petty criminal it was easier and safer to just turn them self into the police than risk being within the Avenger’s cross hairs, many that would live within a targeted sector would choose jail over a random chance of meeting the Avenger; this would be do to the increased reputation this man would receive during his run with the Mariners and the many movies that would be released using the Avenger as a main character. Though the movies where never accurate, and yet it wouldn’t stop the papers from covering the Avenger as a street guardian for a short period of time, though as the body count would continue to rise even the media would be unable to ignore the Avenger and would begin to portray him as a villain and call for his arrest. As the sectors he would frequent where being cleaned up do to the fear that stemmed from a chance meeting with this murdering vigilante the police would be forced to attempt to take action and at least publicly acknowledge the Avenger as a public menace.

With the Avenger labelled as a public menace and being targeted by the police department, he would have to up his game and change his tactics to stay one step ahead of the law enforcement that where more than happy to slap the cuffs on this violent vigilante, though the most surprising factor would be the lack of presence of Dread when it would come to dealing with the Avenger. Also Castle and many other vigilantes would ignore the Avenger and actually assist this man in his game. It seemed all the public outcry did was further drive the Avenger into the shadows and enable him to strike even further terror into the hearts of those who would be perceived as guilty. The police would begin an accidental war against those that would dispense street justice by targeting the Avenger, no officer that wasn’t crooked would loose their lives during this tiny conflict; though many would end up embarrassed as their pride would left exposed and sometimes that wasn’t all to be exposed as the vigilantes seemed to have a sense of humour. Though for the Avenger this was just another example of the police departments ineptitude and would further his devotion to cleaning up the streets, this would continue for a handful of years and eventually for some unknown reason the Avenger would simply vanish from the shadows and the streets. Though occasionally a body would be discovered mutilated beyond normal means or one that had fallen from a great height, this would keep the tales, myths and rumours of Avenger alive in the hearts and minds of the street criminal even though he hadn’t been seen and as the threat of the dreamers was concluding the Avenger was nothing more than an urban legend and myth spoken about in dark alleys and barrooms in a hushed whisper.

Now it has been close to a decade since the last person reported seeing the Avenger and according to recent police reports the bodies are once again pilling up; the victims are being butchered and victims being discovered after falling off roofs or being tossed through windows. It seems the Dark Knight has returned and the streets will once again be haunted by the Avenger. Their have been no actual confirmed sightings of this vigilante though there have been quite a few rumours being spoken of by those that live in the targeted districts. Also with the return of the Mariners and the Dreamers it seems the time is right for this soldier of justice to return. The Avenger if he actually returned is quite dangerous and since the records of his life prior to his first murder are gone and their isn’t a single trace of him within the matrix prior to 2033 though he was already an older man when his wife and child where killed; this means his prior life has been cleansed and anything about him post his days as a runner are as well gone. We don’t know anything more than what the streets and courtroom documents tell us about the Avenger, this might be do to his connection to the current Chief Benjamin Mathews (Chief of Detectives) within the Seattle Police Department. Though we know they are related and thats it, their actual connection is not on record and Chief Mathews will not openly speak about it.

The Avenger seems to be back within Seattle and if this is the case be prepared for the blood to rain once again, this man will begin to dispense justice and clean the streets of the guilty. If he has returned you can guarantee that he has reconnected with his brothers in the Mariners and has taken up arms against the British and the Dreamers not to mention the UCAS that seems to be a favoured enemy for these Seattle runners. I for one am quite fearful of the prospect of Avenger being on the streets, not because I am guilty of anything but the chance meeting with one of his falling victims or one of the criminals no willing to commit murder instead of leaving a victim alive. Seeing either way they look at it a death sentence awaits them. They can either die at the hands of the Avenger or by the cities newest hangman Mr. Harrison who holds the current record at 6.0 seconds from entry to drop. Most criminals will choose to meet the legendary hangman over meeting the Avenger, and the criminals have been backed into a corner and will now choose to just kill their victims in hopes to by them some time to escape before being arrested or meeting the Avenger.

This also converges with the sudden return of the dreamers into the shadows and the return of the shadow war, all signs point to the rumours being true: though I will have to employ some investigative reporters to dig deeper into these rumours to fully confirm the stories. So please my readers be careful out there on the streets today, the violent nature of Old Seattle has returned and with the Avenger supposedly lurking about it truly can be said crime doesn’t pay; unless you are lucky enough to be on his good list. This man was decreed as a menace to the public and has been officially charged with over 400 murders within Seattle alone dating back to 2033 when he killed his first victim though his true first victim he has not been charged with. This means that the police are aware of him and they are doing nothing, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he is actually among the blue wall and has been hiding within plain sight all this time. The age of blood is upon us and you can count on one thing if the Avenger is back, the total of his confirmed victims will continue to rise and the blood will rain down upon the streets once again, best to keep an eye to the sky and keep the umbrella at the ready.

 

Page Written By: Thomas Grady <Shadow Beat>