Maurice Martinez (Raider: Last Blood)

== Maurice Martinez ==
Maurice Martinez is a supporting character and a minor antagonist who is introduced in the "Raider: Last Blood" series.
In the 1st chapter, Maurice is a street thug and hitman who was hired by Declan Barrington to scare off Jay Roberts after the Bailey job until his capture.
== Background ==
Born on June 14, 2008, in Los Angeles, California, Maurice grew up in a single-parent household with his father, who was a lieutenant of the Las Vatos Cartel. According to Maurice, his father trained him since birth to become an effective killer, and became a child soldier for the Cartel, having robbed, killed, and kidnapped various victims. At some point, Maurice tries to leave the life, but his father, loyal to the tradition, gets angry and goes to kill him until the Mexican Federales kills his father and his Cartel soldiers, putting the young Maurice into foster care. 
At the age of 18, Maurice found Abigail and after living together in her apartment, they got married and had a son together and getting desperate for more money to support his family, Maurice began working in crime again, becoming a hitman for the Atlanta North Club. After a few jobs, Maurice was anxious to leave the Club and start a new life with his family after making enough to leave the country. Unfortunately, the Club would not allow this and began to blackmail him, saying they were following him (to the point of listing what he bought at a local grocer) and threatening to kill his wife and son. Maurice finally cracked when he was brought along on a beating to be shown an example of people who upset the Club and, while continuously beating the man, the other gangsters inquired about his wife.
Reluctant and to make sure his family was safe, Maurice went back to work for the Club. His first job went well with no altercations, much to his surprise. However, he fails his next job, leading to him being forced to carry out a hit on Jay, ultimately setting the events of Jay's mission.
During the job, as he prepared himself with Milton and a few Club soldiers to shoot Jay, he spotted an innocent young Daryl Roberts in the house. Unable to bring himself to shoot Jay in the head, he instead shot out the window and purposefully aimed away from Jay and Daryl. Jay survived the shooting but Daryl did not. When the Club learned of Maurice's failure, his wife and son were kidnapped and put up for auction in the human trafficking ring. Afterward, Maurice was left alone by the Club and allowed to live out his life, despite Maurice no longer seeing a point in doing so, an outcome which was most likely the Club's intention.
== Biography ==
He is first introduced, being violently interrogated by Jay asking for a name regarding the hit, and who inadvertently killed Daryl. Despite Jay's brutal torture, Maurice doesn't crack, citing his fear of the Club as a reason for his silence. After a botched assault on Jay, he is knocked unconscious and left for Damien to take care of.
He is taken by Damien to a secure holding facility and moved a couple of times throughout the 1st chapter.
In the 2nd chapter, Jay is taken to the holding facility after Damien helps him fake his death and upon seeing Maurice, Jay takes his gun and points it at his head. Realizing that Maurice was going through a lot upon seeing his notes and seeing himself in him, Jay spares him and lets him out, to Damien's dismay. Jay states to Damien "He is living his private hell. He's a victim in all this, and I've seen enough death. He's gonna get his second chance. We both are." 
== Personality ==
From his first appearance and background, it's heavily implied that Maurice is a very ruthless and violent individual who killed people for money and strongly enjoyed it since he was trained from birth to be a killer.
However, it's revealed that Maurice hated his criminal lifestyle and deeply regretted everything he did and tried to get out, which led him to get easily overpowered and brought down by the people he worked with, such as his father, who attempted to kill him for leaving and the Club, who kidnapped his family to break him. Upon losing all of the money and his family, Maurice quickly became depressed and desperate to leave, and after getting captured by Jay, he becomes extremely suicidal and broken to the point where he begs Jay to kill him and even goads him to do it as he grabs the gun, which causes Jay to hesitate and realize that Maurice was a victim in the conflict and spares him, giving him a chance of redemption and freeing him from all of the violence.
All and all, Maurice was a heavily broken man who was forced into a life of crime and was mentally broken from his experiences, but his encounter with the Ghost gave him a second chance in life and allowed him to become free from all criminal activity.
== Appearance ==
Maurice is an American man of Mexican descent (from his father), standing at 5'10. He has styled brown hair, a clean-shaven look, a slender physique, and brown eyes.
Throughout the 1st chapter, Maurice wears a leather jacket, a gray t-shirt, blue jeans, and combat shoes. While in custody, he loses his jacket, his clothes are bloody and he is shown to be heavily covered in bruises from his interrogation.
== Skills ==
* Combat Skills: Since he was trained by his father, Maurice has decent marksmanship skills and fighting skills, having beaten and shot people during his time as a hitman. He notably fired on Jay during his assassination attempt.
== Equipment ==
* Smith and Wesson 945: Maurice's sidearm. It's revealed that he bought the pistol from Beaver and had it chambered in 230-grain hollow points.
== Deaths ==
* 35 Unknown Targets: Shot, stabbed, and beaten to death
== Trivia ==
* Maurice is the only antagonist who is spared by Jay.
* With Jay sparing him and having left Atlanta for good, it's unknown about Maurice's fate in the series.