Opening File: Sterling Archer
Sterling Archer is a Huntsman and former marine, dishonorably discharged at the same rank he had when he enlisted and had even turned down a battle field commission to 2nd Lieutenant. Now he works as a private detective/hunter/mercenary for hire, who has done jobs around the world where no case is too dangerous for Sterling Archer to handle. Though he has picked up a habit of causing trouble or ruining criminal operations that his mother is connected too, not that he's found a way to prove it though. Granted any evidence does end up being destroyed in one or another during his jobs.
After becoming estranged from his mother Sterling Archer has traveled the world trying to find himself. Though since this is Archer he's ended up involved in all sorts of crazy crap, most of which he kinda of was the cause of. This has caused Archer to develop a mixed reputation in his travels, where in some places he's regarded a unorthodox hero/hunter, while in others he's thought of as a wanted criminal and rogue hunter that should be killed on sight.
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Opening File: Pam Poovey
Pam Poovey has Archer's best friend for years, as well as Huntress partner/teammate who for years has always her friend's back, and usually helps get him out of the messes he lands himself in or causes. They've been a lot of crazy stuff over the years but the two even at their worst have always had the others back. She is rumored to not only fight in illegal underground Hunter/Huntress fighting, but also is a recurring champion. Also just for fun she has an on/off relationship with one Eddie Lipsky aka Motor Ed.
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Opening File: Arthur Henry Woodhouse
Woodhouse was the partner of Sterling Archer. When Sterling was born Woodhouse was employed as the butler to his mother, Malory Archer. However upon seeing how ruthless Malory was and how she emotionally and mentally abused Sterling it was clear that Woodhouse could either allow it to happen…Or take a chance to save the young boy as redemption for failing to save his younger brother. Deciding to he had nothing to lose Woodhouse gathered his things and with Archer, slipped away into the night.
Woodhouse became Sterling's surrogate father, trying to teach him how to be better than his mother and how to be a good man. It worked for the most part but Sterling did grow up with a penchant for causing trouble. Calling in some favors Woodhouse helped Sterling in training how to defend himself and Sterling would eventually enlist in the marines, being deployed in several operations before he was dishonorably discharged. Taking a license exam he became a certified Huntsman and with Woodhouse as his partner they would go around the world, solving crimes, saving lives, and righting wrongs…some of which were Archer's doing.
Still Woodhouse loved Archer as if he was his own son and did his best to raise the son of the woman who would have likely made Archer emotional dependent on her by any means necessary. Archer in turn was fiercely loyal to Woodhouse…
So much that it broke his heart when he found his partner and surrogate father had been found murdered.
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Xxx
O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? For man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery; He cometh up and is cut down like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow; In the midst of life we are in death, in the midst of death we are in life."
"It was a nice service."
"Mmm-Hmm."
"And he had a good long life."
"He did…For a heroin addict."
"Sad Archer wasn't there."
"Or here."
"It's been a long couple of months."
"Three, next week."
"You should go sleep in a real bed."
"I'm fine. I want to be here if-when he wakes up."
"Yeah. Did the doctor…?"
"The same. Could be tomorrow. Could be another three months. Could be…"
"Yeah. Well, I guess I'll go. I'll try to bring A.J. by tomorrow. Or Friday."
"We'll be here."
"At least he doesn't know that Woodhouse died, that would break his heart. "
"Mmm-Hmm, although, there's no telling what he knows, or what he's thinking about. Well, dreaming about, I suppose."
As the two woman sadly looked down at the comatose man who was unconscious in world…
And wide awake in another.
"No! No, no, no! No! NO!" He tried rushing over to the dead body of his partner but was held back. "Noooo!"
"So when I get away in this truck you prefer I run over your head not your ankles."
"Wait, that's not what I-"
"I know what you meant."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Xxx
"Dreams: a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep. Dreams come from our mind, our memories and our thoughts. But what if not all dreams were just…dreams? What if they are windows into other versions of you living a completely different life?" TOM asked once the recording was done. "When we close our eyes, seeing ourselves as completely different people? A figment of our imagination or the results of invisible thread tying us to every possible life we could have or might still live? Food for thought, isn't it?"
"And to all those working on spin-offs of the main story, we've seen your cameos of Stan Lee and we love them."
"And I'm pretty sure the Stan Man loves them too." TOM chuckled. "If coming up with ideas for these cameos was half the fun then it's no wonder he loved doing them so much. And the best part about them is you never know when he might show up. Next episode or the ten after that. Either way, Stan is here to let you know he's never gone as long as you remember him."
Suddenly a holographic image of Stan Lee appeared next to TOM and SARA and all three finished the lecture with one word. "Excelsior!"
Xxx
"It's been a tough couple of weeks, staring with my partner's murder and the murderer turning out to be the guy whose ankles I ran over because he liked drowning people in barrels of acid and because he helped with bringing in slaves so that's kind of justice when you think about it. Still when I found out he was the murderer I went to the hospital where he was to pretty much finish what I started with his feet with a quick bullet through the head only for him to be gone. I spent the last month after I drank my misery on the island where my mother set up shop after she was chased out of Empire City, caused a bit of damage there and now I get word he might be here in GrimmFall, working with the Red Caps so I think maybe I can stop by and ask those Redcaps boys what they know about him." The car stopped and the person inside looked to his passenger seat. "So remember when I said I'd drop you at the pound?"
"Woof!" The passenger, a dog with dirty white fur barked.
A second later the dog was whimpering as he jumped out of the car.
"Because I don't need a spirit animal and if I did, he'd be an Ocelot!" The man barked, slamming the passenger door shut. "Now then, time to ask some questions. Hang on Woodhouse, I'll be sending the murdering d-hole to you so you can punch the living GOLB out of him soon enough. Or as you used to say…'Hurry up and move your bottom, Archer. You dumb twat'." His voice became high pitched as he recited his late partner's catchphrase but now it was time to get to work.
Being a Huntsman along with a marine, detective and somewhat involved in crime for parts of his life he knew many criminal hideouts throughout the city. He remembered everything he used to do back in the good old days.
Ahhhh... Those were the days.
Like when he would commit the obscure crime of people stuffing squirrels down their pants and gamboling on it, or when he illegally smuggled pandas across the globe, or cheating in poker games and running off with people's (more precisely criminals) money that he tricked out of them, or trying to raise an emu farm...
Ahhh... The good old days...
Anyway after he threw out his coffee he walked over to the club under the bridge known as the Birdcage. As he walked in front of the doors he pushed them open to see the regular typical type of bar that you would see. With a dance floor, tables, multi colored lights, a bar counter, and dozens of people dancing on the dance floor, at the tables, or at the bar counter with friends talking and guys flirting with girls. Not to mention as the man walked in he looked around to see several men in black suits, red ties, black hats, and red sunglasses eyeing him.
He either smiled at them or just ignored them. He knew they were supposed to be security, he knew that they were supposed to take care of any type of 'problem' that happens. He wasn't going to cause trouble unless they provoked him. He make have been a questionable guy when it came to tricking others out of their money and just in general...
But he was actually not a very violent bloodthirsty person.
He only fights if others start it off first.
Archer walked over to the bar counter as he saw a tall man standing there. A tall man with short hair and a black suit as he was cleaning a glass with a rag. He was focusing on cleaning the glass until he looked back up and saw a man in a dark grey suit and hat walk up to him. The bar owner instantly gave a suspicious look as he put the glass with the rest of the clean glasses as he reached under the bar counter and gripped his bat bazooka.
Just in case.
As Archer walked up to the owner, he stopped and leaned on the bar counter looking at the owner remaining silent.
"Can I help you?" The bar owner asked.
"Yeah, I'm looking for one of the Red Cap's hangouts. And I know this place is a magnet for gangs and criminals, so would you mind pointing me in their direction, sir?" Asked Archer nonchalantly.
"I'm not sure what you think, but any criminal that comes in here should be reported to the cops. Because it is ILLEGAL to be harboring a criminal, or criminals." The bar owner said.
Archer just remained silent as he smiled and reached into his pocket. The bar owner's grip on his weapon tightened as his henchmen who were sitting nearby began to grab a hold of their own weapons. But as Archer pulled his hand out of his pocket he had Technos in his hand as he threw it on the counter. The bar owner looked down at the money as he lessened the grip on his weapon and looked back up at his henchmen, signaling them that there was no threat at the moment.
The owner grabbed the lien as he looked through them. There was over 10,000 worth of Technos there.
He placed it back on the table as he looked back at Archer."... You're not a cop or a hunter right? Because that's something I don't need."
"Fine, I'll just look somewhere else then." Archer was about to leave, but was stopped.
"Wait, wait..." Archer turned back. "You're not gonna cause any trouble in my bar right? Because I had some REALLY bad experiences with hunters in my bar."
"I promise, I only want to talk to the Red Caps... No harm to you, your bar, or your men... Just where they're hiding out." Archer put his money back on the counter.
The bar owner looked back at Archer for one more second as he took it and put it in his pocket. "They're in the back, they also have guns and stuff just to give you a little warning."
"The weapon under the counter." The owner was about to flat out refuse, until Archer pulled out even more Technos than before and put it on the counter.
The owner looked at him again and took the money. He then reached under the counter and took out his bat bazooka. He unloaded the ammo putting it on the counter and handing the weapon to Archer. Archer simply took the ammunition from the weapon and put them in his pocket. Ricky gave a confused look as he put the unloaded weapon back under the counter.
"Anything else I can get you?" Asked the bar owner as he started to smile.
"Radio contact your security, and tell them if they see me at all, no matter what I do, don't attack me."
The bar owner was yet again extremely suspicious of this but that all changed as Archer pulled out five times the Technos he gave the owner before and put it on the counter, causing the bar owner to easily forget his suspicions as he snatched the money up, pulled out his radio, and spoke into it.
"This is Stan, attention all security, if you see a man walking around in a dark suit DO NOT engage, no matter what he does. Understand?"
All the security on the line responded with a united 'yes'.
Archer nodded. "Thank you."
With that said he walked to the back and kept walking until he made his way to the door at the very back end of the bar, a more uninviting darker part. As he made his way to the door he came across two large men with guns in their hands and holding guns.
"What do you think you're doing?" Asked one of the thugs in a threatening tone.
"Hello young men, I'm just here to talk with the other members of your little pride meeting that's going on in there. I just wanna ask them a few questions." Archer said smiling.
"...You have five seconds to get out of here before we blow your head off." Threatened one of the thugs before he started to count "One... Two..."
"... It could've been much simpler." Sighed Archer as he turned to the thug counting and quickly punched him in the face knocking him out.
The other thug quickly tried to shoot Archer but he quickly bashed the thugs joints until he finished off his attack and knocked the man out cold with a kick to the head. After he took care of the guards, he walked up to the door and knocked on it a couple of times. There were a few collective groans behind the door as another second passed and one of the Red Caps got up and opened up the door. He was wearing the standard Red Cap uniform: basically regular clothes with a red bandanna on his head.
"For the love of Glob, what do you two idiots want this ti-..." The Red Cap stopped talking as he saw the man in a dark suit and hat standing in front of him and smiling.
The Red Cap member looked down and saw the two guards knocked out.
"Hello there sir, I'm selling girl scout cookies for my troop. Would ya like to buy one?" Asked Archer jokingly as the man just stared at him. "No but seriously, I'm trying to hunt down a guy named Robin Redcap, so if you can just help me that would-"
SLAM!
The man slammed the door in Archer's face as there was more muffled talking behind the door that sounded a bit panicked.
"Can't say I didn't try to be civil." Said Archer as he kicked the door open to see a nice looking room with about ten Red Cap members sitting there either playing cards or getting a little friendly with the girls, all of them wearing short and very revealing dresses...
Appeared to be four ladies of the night anyway.
"Hey there, I need to talk to you. Ladies, please excuse us." The four women didn't respond to Archer and just sat there.
Archer let out a sigh of frustration as he pulled out a pistol, putting three holes in the ceiling.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
The women panicked as they got back up and ran out the door. "Yeah, go and be free girls. And while you're at it go find a more dignified jobs and ones that benefit society."
As the girls left, he turned back to the Red Caps as they were visibly gripping their weapons ready to fight.
"Look, I'm not really looking for a fight here and go through this little song and dance. I just want some info, and you can leave without a scratch." Said Archer but the thugs didn't listen as they got up and aimed their guns at the man who groaned. "Okay, I guess we're fighting then."
Half of the men started to fire at him while the other half grab a hold of their knives and blunt beating objects.
Archer held ups an arm with a light shield projecting from his wrist watch, blocking the bullets with some bouncing off of his shield and others ricocheting off of it. As the thugs stopped firing for a second Archer immediately hopped in as he used vicious kicks and punches to knock all the jokers around.
Kicking one into the wall.
Knocking another one out with a fist.
As several tried to jump him Archer dodged as he activated yet another mechanism on his watch firing several darts that hit one coming at him with a crowbar and another running at him with a knife. However Archer didn't see that another man ran up from behind him and tried to break his arm. Luckily Archer managed to combat this as he grabbed a hold of the man's arm and flipped him into a table shattering it.
Archer quickly bent down and asked. "What made you think it would be a good idea to take me down without a weapon princess?"
"...Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Moaned the man in a pained high pitched voice.
"Oh calm down you baby, you should only have like four broken bones at most." Quipped Archer, but he wasn't paying attention as out of nowhere a man tackled Archer sending him back.
As he looked up at the man he saw that he had two gauntlets on with what looked to be barb wire wrapped around them.
"And who are you supposed to be young man?" Asked Archer, smiling.
"The names 'The Stinger'! And you're going down!" Yelled the young man with a cocky smile.
"Hmmm... Is that what your mommy named you? Do all your ex-girlfriends call you that ironically?" Asked Archer, angering 'The Stinger'.
"Oh, you are gonna pay!" Yelled the Stinger as he started swinging at Archer who dodged every attack, but as Stinger was about to throw his seventh punch Archer threw the man up against the ceiling as he used an Ice Dust bullet from his pistol to freeze him to the ceiling.
"I got a new name for you when you get to prison. How about 'The chump'? I think it has a good ring to it." Said Archer as he was about to turn to the two leaders of the group that he left for last.
"Alright guys, I want you to tell me everything you-" He looked around and didn't see anybody. He looked over to the entrance and saw that the door was hanging ajar and swinging. "...Know... Ugh, damn it!"
As he ran out of the room over to the front of the night club he saw the two men running out of there. Archer caught up with them as he loaded his watch up with fire Dust and blasted it at them, but only managed to severally damage the night club as the two men ran out the door. The henchmen saw this, but didn't act due to the owner's orders. So they just let the man in black run out the door.
"Umm, boss. You know that guys just caused thousands of techno's worth of damage right? Why can't we go after him?"
"He can wreak this place all he wants. Because that generous, generous man just gave me over 1,000,000 technos." The owner said happily as he handed the nearest henchmen the Technos he received. "With this money, we won't just rebuild whatever damages happen. But we'll also be able to upgrade this place and even give the employees a higher pay grade."
"Umm... boss these are fakes."
The owner just stared at the henchman who spoke. "What?"
"Yeah see, there's no picture of Earth anywhere on them, there are no numbers anywhere on them, and finally... They are printed on some type of crackers." The guard said as he took a bite out of one of the counterfeit techno.
The owner's eye slightly twitched out of pure rage.
Xxx
Outside, the two thugs dashed out of the bar as Archer was on their tail. As they were getting into their drive away vehicle they suddenly stopped as they saw Archer standing there, aiming his pistol directly at them loaded with lightning Dust. The two thugs didn't want to find out what would happen if he shot the car they were in with it, so they just sat there.
"Okay, now that I have your attention. I want you to tell me everything you know about the Red Caps."
Xxx
A portal of blue light appeared and from it emerged Team SEKR along with Raven, stepping onto the location of the steel mill they had been told about. The mill was actually much bigger than they thought.
"This is the place." Extor said as he looked down at his tablet.
"A building that size and the precious cargo their holding, there has to be over a hundred Red Caps in there. Obviously heavily armed." Rino said as they looked at the building.
"We can't go through the front door." Keanu said in an obvious tone.
"We can't hit them from the back, the right, the left or even from above. Those guards are walking around the exterior of the building with what looks like to be night vision. I wouldn't be surprised by that at this point." Extor stated.
"So the only option we have is to hit it from below. We need to hunt down Robin Redcap Junior, I'm guessing considering his last name he's probably the leader of this operation." Scotty said.
"You don't know the leader of the Red Caps? I thought you did your research." Raven sand, turning to Blake.
"We did, the leader himself is super reclusive. We don't even know his name." Scotty replied.
"Well then, I suppose we just capture Junior and hand him into the authorities and the Redcaps will fall apart. Along with us heavily damaging their incoming profit." Extor as they walked down an alley way and Scotty lifted a sewer lid and pushed it aside.
"Down here, we can get into the building with the sewer networks."
Raven seemed hesitant. "I think my way is better. I'll go in and scope out the place."
"That might be a bad idea, Raven. Despite your powers you would be outnumbered and these aren't low level criminals. They're sociopaths." Extor protested.
"I'll be fine." Raven replied. "This won't be my first time with such people."
"Raven.." Scotty spoke up.
"Yeah?..."
"I think I'm starting to get second thought of dragging you here with us."
Raven glanced at the Scotsman. "What? Why?"
"You seem distracted by something…Something that seems really personal." Scotty said, surprising the empath since she had not expected him to be so…observant. "If this about us doing this instead of helping the others get home or because you are starting to get homesick-"
"It's not that." Raven quickly said. "Remember that I'm not doing this because you forced me to or because you dragged me here. I did this to help you, because you are my friends now and because it is right."
"So then why are you here, lass?" Scotty questioned. "You could up and leave anytime you want but you stayed all this time."
Raven seemed hesitant before she sighed and lowered her hood. "Van Kleiss has captured someone from my world…A friend."
No one on Team SEKR even bothered to question how she knew.
They just knew she knew.
"Close?" Scotty asked.
Raven nodded. "One of my closest friends…An idiot but a good friend. He got caught up because I thought I could handle Van Kleiss and stop him before he did to anyone else what he did to me and the others. Connor and Artemis are here help and that other girl…She's lost her memory and I'm not sure if she'll ever get home because of that. If we stop Van Kleiss we can help send Artemis and Connor home while I use my magic to return to mine but…"
"You are bothered because Van Kleiss took your friend captive, possibly as a personal message to you." Scotty stated knowingly. "And you are worried if we take down Van Kleiss we might also stop anyone else who has ended up here from going home too."
"All my life, I fought for what I thought was right. I had my friends who grew so close to me, closer than I ever dreamed who always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place. Always fighting for good, even when I didn't believe it would make any difference. I thought I could handle it alone even when I don't have to and now I think I made that same mistake again when I didn't return home when I could have to warn my friends what was happening. I could have even sent a message but I didn't." Raven explained, her voice calm but carried a hint of sadness. "And now my friend and perhaps even more innocent people are suffering because I didn't act soon enough."
"We learn from history and as for the healing process time will heal all wounds. We can definitely accelerate the process with teaching love and compassion to others, but like what I said before everyone just needs time. This isn't on you, lass. This is on Van Klee and the people working with him." Scotty reached out and patted Raven on the shoulder. "If your friend is as close as you say he won't blame you. You just have to be there when he needs you, especially now."
"Yeah, girl. I can't tell you how many times I screwed and these guys still kept me on." Keanu gestured to his team.
"Wouldn't take no for an answer when these guys drafted me." Rino shrugged and smiled. "But I still have lots of fun and I actually can't imagine being anywhere else at the moment."
"See, lass. We're here not just because to stop these Red Cap tatties. We're to help you." Scotty pointed at Raven. "If you have trouble remembering that, let us remind you until you find your friend and get back home."
Raven was stunned into silence as she considered the words of Scotty and the rest of the team. "…Thank you. And…Scotty?"
"Yeah lass?"
"That technique you used in your match? The seven chakras?" Raven questioned. "…Can you show me how it is done?"
Scotty raised an eyebrow. "Aye. What for?"
"Our powers may be different but they are similar at least where the soul is confirmed. I think you're your help…I might be able to learn how to use it." Raven explained, holding up her hands and summoning a dark glow. "My powers are tied to my emotions and that makes then dangerous. Since I was a child I had to suppress and control my emotions to keep my powers from hurting anyone. I think what you showed me in that match might be the key to learning how to purify them…and because I think I need to become even stronger for what's coming."
Xxx
Name: Sterling Archer
Species: Human
Aura: Dark Grey
Semblance: Danger Zone
Description: When used on the most recently deceased Sterling Archer can revive them temporarily. However the longer they are alive the better the chance someone else nearby will die, taking their place.
Weapon: Silencer Pistol and Wristwatch
Description: Unlike many other Huntsman and Huntresses Archer prefers to carry around only a custom made pistol armed with a silencer that can hold ordinary bullets and ones armed with Dust. He also carries a special and very expensive watch on his wrist to act as a secondary weapon, capable of firing modified darts.