Marcus Arnold (Apparition)

Weight: 165

Apparent Age: 50

Archetype: Physical Adept: Circle: Unknown

Preferred Weapon: Cougar Fine Blade/DAOD Combat Assault Bow

Runner Song:

 Bio: Well its time to talk about the man known as the Apparition, this man is truly a ghost as he stalks the night seeking revenge for an injustice brought onto him be the elves of the Nog. This man is a spirit of vengeance and hunts those who wronged him, the Apparition has become a living variation of the character he portrayed nightly on the stage. This man was a beloved opera performer and was cast as the Phantom of the Opera, in the long running opera. Little did this man know that his life would model that of the character he portrayed for years, The Apparition would suffer a horrible fate one night after a performance at the hands of an elven street gang. As he was leaving the theatre on night his spirits couldn’t be higher as he had his beloved in his arms. He had just become engaged to his co-star a young women that he shared the stage with night after night, and eventually there love blossomed of the stage as it did on stage. The two where on their way to a cast party to announce their engagement, when tragedy struck. An elven street gang was looking to initiate a few new members into there fold, and there task was to beat, rob and murder two prominent humans. This gang choose to target the stars of the famed Phantom of the Opera as they where leaving the Opera House, well for these two performers the assault was vicious and they stood no chance against a group of armed thugs.

         The Apparition was caught off guard as he was splashed with the explosion of an acid grenade, and then shot multiple times. As he would fall to the ground and the thugs began to stomp in his defenceless body as he laid there crying out in agony clenching his burning face. He was forced to watch as the thugs ransacked his beautiful fiancée, doing things to her that are unmentionable but the visions would forever burn themselves into the Apparitions memory. These elven thugs would then douse her in gasoline and set her ablaze while she lived, her screams echoed through the night as she burned alive. She bellowed for much longer then the elven thugs had anticipated, till she swallowed the fires that danced unforgiving on her body and then silence. His finance had drowned in fire, her young life snuffed out in a blink, the elven gang left the ally cheering and celebrating as the air became rancid with the scent of burning flesh.

        For the Apparition doesn’t remember much more after that, the next thing he can recall is waking up in the hospital, his face bandaged, tubes sticking out of him and his body numb from the drugs that coursed through his body. He remembers seeing the reports about the attack on the television and suddenly the memories of that night came flooding back. The Apparition vowed that night to seek revenge for what had been done to him and to his beloved, he vowed that no elf would see the light of day till justice had been served. The only issue was the Apparition didn’t know exactly who did this to him and he didn’t care, for he saw all elves as guilty and thus would hail the beginning of the reign of terror for the elven kind.

       So on February 14th 2030 the stage performer known as Marcus Arnold died and the Apparition walked out of the hospital a mentally and physically scarred man. He had very little actual combat knowledge beside what he learned through his performances, but for the Apparition had one skill that he was able to exploit, that being he was a skilled cat burglar and a master marksman with a bow and crossbow do to his years of sport shooting and performing as Robin Hood in a travelling renaissance faire. The Apparition would put these skills to use over the coming months as he would silently hunt the elves, where the lived. He would slip into their homes after dark, silently kill them as they slept, then he would rob the house of its valuables. This was basically the life for the Apparition for many months as he stalked the dark London streets forever in search for those who had done him wrong. That was till he made a very serious slip, the papers where already talking about a masked phantom that lurked the dark streets stalking the elven districts and murdering them where they slept. It also talked about how London Police where left clueless as they had no suspects and no evidence. This made the Apparition get a complex, he started to believe the stories that where being written about him. And as the months turned to years and the bodies continued to pile, he would become even more over confident truly believing that he was this phantom, this ghost, this untraceable apparition that even the legendary Scotland Yard couldn’t locate.

         He would continue to up the ante and go after bigger and better targets, he would strike not just as they slept in their homes, he would strike as the walked down the street, as the worked, and as they would board the tube or rail. So by the year 2040 the Apparition was one of the biggest stories in the headlines and the fear he would strike across London would nearly cripple the entire city. Though there was another foul foot beginning to stalk the dirty streets at this time, London would be forced to endure another Ripper killing spree as prostitutes would start showing up dead in back allies and hotel rooms. This new killer would steal the headlines from the Apparition and for the next five years the city would grind to a halt as the two serial killers would leave hundreds dead and leave the police baffled.

         Well that was till the summer of 2047 when the Apparition would go after his biggest and most public target, the elven prince of the Tir Na Nog was coming to London to address Parliament about another deal regarding the European Legion. At the time is was just called the League of Allies and the Nog needed additional British support to fend off a newly growing threat the Human Resistance Movement. The man being called the Apparition by this point new that this young elf needed to die. He so desired to drive his blade into this child princes neck and watch him die slowly, tough he knew even his skills would never allow him to get close enough to slice the throat of the deserving elf. So he studied the route, he learned the path and he figured out the best vantage point to strike with his bow. For the Apparition this would be his most high profile slaying and this killing should silence the cries of his beloved that haunted his dreams nightly.

         In the early morning hours the Apparition set himself up on the rooftop of a old English pub and just waited for the princes convoy to pass by underneath, knowing the police where more focused on capturing the infamous Ripper they wouldn’t be expecting an assault from the Apparition. So he stood there concealed in the shadows from the chimney, as he would begin to hear the rumbling of tires and the sounds of marching boots as the princes convoy slowly approached the intersection below. The Apparition notched an arrow and drew back the string and took aim on the child’s torso like one would a deer. In a flash he released the string and the arrow was sent on its deadly flight, little did anyone know that danger lurked so near and moments later the arrows tip found its home in the young princes chest and tore though the child and ripped out his back pinning him to the seat of the car as blood poured out from his punctured heart. The young elven prince died instantly, he still had a smile on his face and his hand still waving to the awaiting crowd before becoming limp.

      The Apparition would then use the ensuing chaos to slip away into the shadows, though he was not alone and for the first time this man had one of London’s finest hot on his trail. The Apparition was unaware that while he was taking aim on the child, he had been spotted by Captain Milton Wooden and he had taken it on himself to pursue the infamous killer. Milton’s radio report came in seconds too late to save the young prince from certain death. As the Apparition would dance through the shadows of the London back streets, he was unaware that Captain Wooden was hot on his trail.

       Eventually the Apparition in his hast to flee the scene would make yet another mistake and slip down an ally that he didn’t know was blocked off do to resent construction that he was unaware of. As the Apparition came to a stop with his path to freedom blocked, hot on his tail was the good Captain Milton. The Apparition spun 180 degrees on his heels only to hear the whistle echoing down the street from the officer, the Apparition slung his bow over his shoulder and drew his pistol from the holster on his hip, reading the weapon he moved towards a pile a construction debris as the good officer would emerge from around the corner. The first thing that was visible to the Apparition was the black and white checker hat of the officer, he aimed his pistol and pulled the trigger “BANG” the round flew out of the chamber, slamming into the brick and mortar wall. Again he heard the dreaded whistle, well prior to the troubles in Europe the police were not armed with firearms, well that was no longer the case as Captain Wooden opened fire with his machine pistol as bullets erupted all around the Apparition. He could here additional whistles in the distance, the Apparition new he was in trouble and the police would soon be all over him and he would hang for sure. The two men exchanged fire as bullets would explode all around sending dust and shrapnel flying through the air, after what seemed like an eternity the Apparition could hear that Captain Wooden was reloading, he used this as his chance to clear the distance. The Apparition lunged forward sprinting with all his might towards the good captain, drawing his knife with his other hand he cleared the corner as the officer was finishing reloading. The Apparition just took a suicide dive towards the Captain Wooden, as he dove he quickly pulled the trigger on his colt 911 and thrust his blade towards the throat of Captain Wooden. Though at the same time Captain Wooden raised his pistol pulling the trigger and unleashing three heat seeking bullets towards the Apparition simultaneously the two men collided.

       Captain Wooden let out a deafening cry as the rounds fired from the Apparition buried deep into his vest and one finding it’s home under his arm and sliding behind the vest as blood erupted from Wooden, the Apparitions blade missed it’s initial target and dug deep into Wooden’s collar bone, though the three bullets from Wooden all found there home in the Chest of the Apparition two where stopped by the armour clothing he was wearing but the third tore through the ballistic weave like a hot knife through butter. The sudden chest would stopped the Apparition cold, as he struggled to breath, though he was in a very dire situation as Captain Wooden was not dead and other police where in route to the scene to lend a hand in apprehending the princes assassin. The Apparition tried one more attack with what remained of his strength he fired his colt again and brought the Wooden down to the ground as he cried out as the explosive round found it’s home directly into Wooden’s shin with the second impacting into his knee blood erupted from Wooden as he rolled on the ground thriving in pain. The Apparition took aim once again and fired into the groin of Wooden, the shredding of the officers groin was enough to silence the good officer and he suddenly stopped moving. As far as the Apparition was concerned Wooden was dead and no longer a threat, he then still gasping for air and struggling to breath pulled himself to his feet and slowly began to flee. Police and Ambulances where within in sight as the Apparition slowly manoeuvred his way down the old London street as blood rolled down from his wound and would roll onto the ground. The Apparition was only able to make it a couple of hundred feet, before exhaustion, blood loss and his sheer exhaustion would force him to come to a stop. He would collapse on the stoops to an old brownstone, the Apparition knew he was bested and he knew that he was dying. He contemplated eating a bullet to speed the process, but he was to weak, eventually he blacked out accepting his fate.

        When he came to again he was in a hospital bed, though this was different. He was not restrained, nor was he in an official hospital. He was in some sort of tented facility, being pumped full of some weird drugs. This is when the Apparition would encounter the Human Resistance Movement and he would come to learn they had been looking for him for years to join their ranks, He would as well learn that they where the ones who would save him that afternoon in London. As he collapsed at the best place he could, he fell at the stoop of the London home of HRM commander John Ripley. He would be the one who would make short work of the police trying to detain the Apparition and would bring him to a mobile command facility. His magic was the only thing that kept him alive, till doctors could work to repair the damage Wooden’s bullets caused.

         This is how the Apparition would come to be part of the Human Resistance Movement, he owed them his life and after hearing there plight he had no issues with joining them to fight against the tyranny of the elves. If this man was not already a threat as a self trained assassin, once he received official military training from the likes of Sawyer, Locust, Safari, and would spend a few weeks working with the Governor. The Apparition would become a serious advisory for any who dare stand against him. During his training he would come to learn that the London Police Captain that nearly killed him, survived his injuries and was hell bent on capturing the man who nearly killed him and rendered him sterile. The Apparition would come to have an arch nemesis, though anyone who was worked on by the Governor is someone to ever tangle with.

       The Apparition has come to the UCAS after spending multiple decades hunting the elves in the Nog, He would even strike down the British Prime Minister under the authority of the Governor before being dispatched to the UCAS. Why this man is here is unknown, though just having him here in Seattle is very unsettling, this man has become a stone cold killer and cares little for anything or anyone. He has long since put his past behind him, and it is said if you hear the haunting sounds of a females voice crying out in agony then the Apparition is near. This man is a total ghost and he still hunts those that killed his beloved, though this time he is more focused and even more deadly. The Apparition is not a man you ever dare meet in a dark ally alone, he has earned his place amongst the legends. Never underestimate the Apparition or you could end up being one of his next victims, as he doesn’t just hunt elves any more.

Page Written By: Shadow Writer

<<<UPDATE:  The Apparitions facial wounds from the acidic damage he received  from the elven attack appears to have been corrected somehow. This is a still image taken from the Hero’s of Seattle Banquet on December 16th 2073. Either he managed to restore the damage or he is wearing amazing make up. Though this is also a point of concern the Apparition was at the Banquet for what reason is unknown, but it seems he is sided with the city.