The Viper
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A Brief Explanation
The Viper is a character that has followed me through various RPG's both Pen and Paper as well as video games. He originally started out as a Champions character and then as a Heroes Unlimited character when our group picked that game up. He was remade in Shadowrun, and our group came up with custom rules to keep his over-the-top antics moving with the new rules. He picked up the name The Viper during his Shadowrun incarnation due to his sole use of the Ares Viper pistols. He was recreated in City of Heroes as I undertook an enormous project and made a petless Thugs Mastermind in order to keep the two gun mojo going. And now that there's a dual pistols framework he's made his way here. Thankfully, since he mostly existed outside of the CoH reality there isn't much Retconning that needs to be done to his story.
A Brief History
There has literally been a novel written about his life and history so what I'll write here is a very brief history.
Elias Burke started his career on the wrong side of the law since his teen years. He was "bought" by the local Yakuza boss after his parents were kidnapped. He was trained, raised, and hired by Boss Tanaka to be a hitman. He was incredibly good at his job. Along the way he was paired up with another child that had been bought by Boss Tanaka, Shin Lao. They were partnered up on a good number of jobs. While Elias was deadly with pistols and other short range firearms, Shin Lao was deadly with a sniper rifle. This made them a deadly team.
In his later years Boss Tanaka became paranoid and felt that the two of them were conspiring to kill him, so he had a contract put out on Elias. The professionals thought that they had accomplished their goal only to be later proven very wrong. Shin Lao had teamed up with the detective in charge of hunting Elias down, Lenny Skinner, in order to find out what had happened to The Viper. They were shocked when, while at Elias' former headquarters to see the man walk in, a trio of bullet wounds in his chest. They then set about to get revenge. In the end Elias and Skinner had killed Boss Tanaka and razed his compound. Elias and Shin then disappeared, leaving Skinner a sizable fortune as a 'retirement present'.
They had been lovers for some time and disappeared under fake names and identities. They thought that they were retired only to find that Boss Tanaka's son, Gao had taken out a contract on both of them and that there were dozens of professional killers hunting them down. They've so far been successful in ducking the professionals. They've recently registered as heroes in exchange for the previous charges against Elias being dropped.
Personality
Elias is a very charismatic, hardened person. Make no mistake, past the charm and smooth talk, he is stone cold and calculating. His is constantly appraising the situation and surroundings around him. This is out of necessity considering his previous career. His charisma is honestly what has kept him alive this long and garnered him many contacts that enabled him to be as good at his career as his skills were. He's as skilled at talking his way out of a situation as he is blasting his way out of it. He is very much the Hitman with a heart of gold. He simply did the right things through the wrong means.
Powers
The Viper has no powers. He is simply a normal person at the peak of physical and mental condition. He is phenomenally skilled with his pistols. He has a network of contacts which can give him information, equipment, and vehicles. He has amassed a large amount of money through the years which he uses to maintain a number of safehouses, vehicles, and materials to customize pistols for various specific purposes.
Contacts
Here is a list of the contacts and "friends" that The Viper has made and/or employed over his career. He still relies on these people today.
Tommy MacGregor
Tommy Mac is the leader of a local Irish gang. He was directly opposed to Boss Tanaka when he lived. Though Boss Tanaka is long dead his boys still harry Gao Tanaka in New York City.
Edgar Oswald
Edgar Oswald is a man in his late 60's who Elias gets most of his firepower from. The man smokes far too many Cuban cigars and eats horribly, but he's the man who can get whatever you need and often whenever you need it. He's a gruff old man who's all business, except with Elias who, for lack of his own children, has somewhat started to consider Elias like a son.
Julio Gonzales
Julio "Iceman" Gonzales is the Viper's computer man. Self made and living in a nearly impenetrable compound, Julio sees no one except for a handful of people and can accomplish almost anything through the use of his computers. Fake IDs, information, reputation ruining and such he does with ease, but always for a price.
Vehicles
The Viper has a garage full of both high powered cars and more mundane low profile vehicles. His models range from an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish down to a Honda Prelude. All of which have been modified to optimum performance.
The Present
The Viper still maintains his contacts and equipment, but now without fear of the law chasing him down. Unfortunately Gao Tanaka is still hounding him, with the occasional goon appearing.
Trivia
- Elias still maintains a central compound in upstate New York as well as several smaller safehouses and larger compounds around Michigan currently. Each of the primary compounds is equipped with a garage with several vehicles, a fully equipped gunsmith shop for modifying his firearms and a firing range in order to test out his equipment.
- Elias worked for various criminal organizations in his career, taking jobs from whomever would pay him.
- The Viper bought Shin Lao's freedom from Boss Tanaka by completing jobs for him.
