F Rm 30

A Ex 20

S Gd 10

E Rm 30

R Ex 20

I Rm 30

P In 40

Res Ex 20

Pop Pr -4

Health: Karma:

90 90

Origin:

Mark Hazzard, as opposed to the majority of heroes dwelling in the New Universe, is merely a normal human, gifted with nothing other than his wits, his impressive combat skills, and a complete arsenal of combat weaponry.

Known Powers:

(none)

Equipment:

Arsenal: a mercenary, and a very good one at that, Mark has built up a large array of weaponry for use on various missions. It is assumed that Mark can, if he has the preparation time, get his hands on virtually any standard, conventional weaponry before a mission.

Furthermore, Mark has a plethora of standard equipment ready to aid him on missions, such as flashlights, shovels, emergency rations and purified water, tons of spare ammunition, etc... His personal preferences, the stuff he usually carries on his person at all times, include:

* Handgun: Mark always, always has one of these secreted on his person, unless it has been taken away from him or left behind for a specific reason. This gun can be used to inflict Typical (6) Shooting damage per shot, and often is equipped with Armor Piercing bullets.

* Knife: to supplement his gun, in the event that it is lost or its use is suddenly impractical, Mark can instead assault a body with his long, serrated knife. He can use this deadly blade to inflict Good (10) Edged Attack damage - and it's quieter than his gun.

Kevlar Vest: when he knows he's heading into trouble, Mark will usually be wearing a thick kevlar vest, in order to improve his odds of living. This armor, of Good (10) rank, provides similar protection from physical attacks hitting him in the torso (either front or back).

Quirks:

Disgusting Personal Habits, x2: Mark is a heavy smoker. Not the type that smokes maybe one, two packs a day, mind you, but a HEAVY smoker. He's always lighting one as soon as he's finished another, and this tends to reduce his effective Popularity by 2 CS towards folks that don't smoke.

Stubbornness, x3: more than anything else, Mark is as stubborn as a brick wall (read: unyielding). If he should make up his mind on something, he must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -3 CS to later change his opinion. This, of course, should he even want to; after all, he knows that he's almost always right...

Talents:

Aerial Combat: a certified H.A.L.O. (High Altitude, Low Opening) paratrooper, Mark has been trained in basic aerial combat techniques, and as such, makes all attack rolls while in the air at a +1 CS to the applicable ability score.

Detective / Espionage: part of Mark's mercenary work seems to involve either staking out a target, or figuring out which of a client's enemies has acted out against him. As such, Mark has a +1 CS to his Reason or Intuition score (as is needed) when either surveilling a target or snooping for clues.

Guns: his stock in trade, Mark can effectively wield just about any gun in battle, from a .357 Magnum to a M-203 automatic rifle / grenade launcher. When using any non-energy rifle or pistol, Mark makes his attack rolls as if his Agility score were +1 CS in rank.

Languages: one of Mark's many skills is a natural affinity for languages; it is assumed that he speaks at least five different tongues, usually one for each continent he's worked on; this means English, as well as the likely addition of Spanish, German, and Arabic, if not more...

Leadership: in addition to his extensive military prowess, Mark learned how to effectively lead fighting men while at West Point. Thanks to these skills, any Karma pool Mark is involved with (as if) gets to add 50 to its total for the duration Mark is involved with it - as long as he's recognized as team leader.

Martial Arts types B and E: well-versed in unarmed combat as well as fighting with weaponry, Mark can make unarmed melee attacks as if his Fighting score were +1 CS in rank. Furthermore, he can add one to his already impressive initiative modifier in unarmed combat.

Military: having almost graduated from West Point, and then seeing three tours in Vietnam, Mark is the penultimate military man. He knows military protocol like the back of his hand, and gains a bevy of free talents and contacts from this.

Survival: a well-trained Army ranger, Mark has the ability to scrounge up enough food and water regardless of his surrounding geography, and can easily get by in just about any climate zone (desert, jungle, urban sprawl, etc...).

Tactics: some of Mark's more advanced West Point training involved the tenets of military strategy. As long as a group is following a plan of Mark's without deviation, they make all of their action FEAT rolls at a +1 CS.

Thrown Weapons: Mark can effectively use any weapon designed to be thrown with ease, doing so as if his Agility score were +1 CS in rank. Furthermore, he's shown quite the ability to catch said weapons as they are being used against him, and this bonus also applies to catching actions.

Weapons Master: Mark is a veritable master of armed combat, able to kill a man with just about anything - knives, baseball bats, etc... In other words, when using any weapon (standard or improvised), Mark can add a +1 CS to his Fighting score for the purposes of hitting an opponent.

Contacts:

Mark has several contacts in his mercenary work, mostly from his personal crew, which includes Mal Rossi, Louis 'Treetop' Barrington, the so-called High Priestess, Sgt. Major Peel, and the mysterious Lincoln Griffin. Of course, Mark has innumerable other contacts in the areas of Crime, Espionage, Mercenary, and Military circles.

Costume:

When expecting to get into a fight, Mark often wears a black t-shirt, gray pants, and black boots, supplemented with a brown leather shoulder holster for his current gun of choice, and the occasional bullet proof vest, worn underneath his shirt. Sometimes, Mark also wears a green camo vest over his shirt, which he can use to hold all manner of tools and small weaponry (in the pockets).

Personality:

Mark is a rarity in the mercenary field: he's an honest, principled man. Mark won't do a job for an obviously bad person, and if he finds his employer to be such a person, he'll make sure said employer has a really bad day. On the other hand, Mark is a very stubborn man, with a black, sardonic sense of humor, and enjoys his combative life very, very much.

Real Name: Cpl. Mark Hazzard, Ret.
Occupation: mercenary
Legal Status: American citizen with an impressive criminal record, deceased
Marital Status: divorced
Alias(es), if any: none
Group Affiliation: his mercenary crew (unnamed)

Height: 6' 4"
Hair: brown, balding
Eyes: green
Weight: 210 lbs.
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: Mark is balding, and has several facial scars; one lies vertically across his left eye (though he can still see with it), and the other runs diagonally from his right cheek to his upper lip.

Story:

Mark Hazzard grew up in a rather cold, heartless family. His father always wanted him to be the best at everything he did. While he did rather well in everything he tried, such as football, he was never good enough in his father's eyes, and Mark's father couldn't tolerate this. All the way through military school, at West Point, this 'tradition' of disappointment continued.

Events came to a head, however, when Mark's father decided that the woman he loved, the woman he was going to marry, also wasn't good enough for a Hazzard man. That was the last straw, and with that Mark got married, quit West Point, and signed up for several tours in Vietnam (as that conflict was raging at the time).

During this tours of duty, Mark put his extensive military skills into play, doing all sorts of tricky missions for the U.S. military. Patrols, seek and destroy missions, and even the occasional stint as a tunnel rat were all a part of Mark's work, and he enjoyed it thoroughly. In fact, his three tours in 'Nam helped to form his vast military theory into impressive practical experience.

Also, Mark assembled a vast array of friends, contacts, and favors to be called in at a future date, as he was about the best there is at what he did, and he often pulled less skilled people's fat out of the proverbial fire. Eventually, though, the war was over, and Mark was shipped home. He couldn't get a job, though, in that nobody would hire vets, so he turned to mercenary work.

At first, Mark simply served as one of many fighting men in a mercenary company, but over time, Mark grew into a leader of such men, and formed his own merc crew. This crew included such rough and tumble fellows as Mal Rossi and Louis 'Treetop' Barrington. This three man crew grew to include lots of other occasional, part-time help, and their reputation grew.

Eventually, however, Mark's marriage went bad, namely because his wife forced him to choose between her and his work, and they eventually got divorced. Her new husband, a slime-ball lawyer named Gordon (last name unrevealed), never got on too well with Mark, always feeling that his wife and step-son liked Hazzard more than they liked him - and, of course, it was true.

As such, Gordon eventually set up Mark to die while on a mission in Iran, hoping he would disappear in that godforsaken desert once and for all. Mark's friends mounted a rescue to save him, and once he got back, Hazzard learned who was behind all of this mess - thanks to some leg-work done by his pal Lincoln Griffin. After dealing with the middle man, one Henri Graymalkin, Mark went after Gordon.

Already wounded from his encounter with Graymalkin, Hazzard was just slow enough that Gordon managed to plug him several times before Mark bore down on him, strangling him with his bare hands. Though he had finally gotten rid of his unknown enemy, the damage was done, and Mark collapsed in a heap of his own blood.

Taken to the hospital immediately, Mark nonetheless was too far gone by the time he'd gotten there, and after a long and arduous operation, Mark was effectively dead, being kept alive only by the hospital's life-saving machinery. Scott, Mark's son, told the doctors to turn the machines off, thinking that Hazzard would want things that way, and as such, the doctors let him die, ending Mark Hazzard's tale.