Royce Talbot (Reboot Timeline)

== Royce Talbot ==
Royce Harold Talbot (simply as Talbot or Mister Magic by most allies and enemies alike) is a main character and the secondary antagonist in the entire Reboot franchise (most notably in the Canon timeline as a supporting antagonist in the 1st and 2nd chapters and a main antagonist in the 3rd chapter and the Raider timeline as a secondary antagonist in the 1st chapter). 
Talbot is a high-ranking member of the Red Order Syndicate and its combat section, as well as acting as Duke's advisor and right-hand man.
== Background ==
Born on June 8, 1985, Royce was born in the United Kingdom to an American traveling family. His childhood wasn't known completely, but it's assumed that Royce was given dual citizenship by his father and that Royce joined the British Army at the age of 18 before his parents' passing. 
While serving here, Royce was selected to become an operator of the 22nd SAS Regiment for his quick adaptability and physical prowess. During his time in the service, Royce quickly enjoyed the love of his violent lifestyle and killed an unknown number of insurgents in the War on Terror. 
After 7 years, Royce left the British Army with an honorable discharge and moved to the United States illegally (under the false identity of Earl Turner) to make himself some profit by working for manual labor jobs until he met Duke Bennett for unknown purposes (either for the money or his hidden love for violence). 
During his time with the Red Order Syndicate, Royce became a high-ranking member and thanks to his training, Duke personally chose Royce to be his right-hand man and field commander of their combat section, having trained most, if not all, of the members that Duke personally chose for his protection detail and even recruited or train special forces operatives to become part of their combat section as elite soldiers for riskier missions. 
Royce also dealt with the dirty work that most members wouldn't dare touch, making him more feared within the Underworld, and due to his quiet and unpredictable nature, he was nicknamed "Mr. Magic" due to his habit of disappearing after committing his criminal acts.
== Biography (The Canon Series) ==
Royce is first introduced as an unseen character, watching from afar and bailing Duke out. He helped out Duke by hiring Randall Reed (a former soldier and Royce's ally) for security detail. However, Royce ends up being nearly killed by Jay when Jay attacked the entire compound and killed Duke and almost all of the security detail chosen, except for Royce, who managed to escape and hid for a while.
After surviving his near assassination, Royce managed to round up the surviving members and took full control of the Red Order, now seeking vengeance on Jay for killing Duke. It's later revealed that Royce was waiting for an attempt to kill Duke and to take over to rob him, so he thanked Jay before killing Amanda and nearly killing him. 
As Jay recuperated, the Red Order Syndicate was taken over by Royce Talbot and as revealed by Paul Clarke (a former USMC medic), Talbot's take on leading the Red Order seemed incredibly more efficient and profitable in his control than Duke's leadership, having grown more power and influence within Georgia, eventually operating around Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah. However, Talbot died fighting against Jay while gearing up for war against an unknown rival gang.
== Biography (The Raider) ==
After getting Duke out of prison, Royce managed to trace Jay's location and with Duke's orders, Royce managed to kill Lilly and captured Jay for his torture. Although the mission is a success, Royce failed to kill Jay, resulting in the Red Order being nearly wiped out by Jay, who's now seeking revenge. 
Royce was the first member to notice that Jay was still alive and even tried to warn Duke about the impending danger. As Jay fights his way through, Royce fought Jay for a 2-minute match until Jay killed him, failing to protect Duke, even though Duke was already dead from the moment that Jay began to attack.
== Personality ==
Royce Talbot, in his first appearance, is shown to be a very calm, serious, and collected individual, basically acting as Duke's advisor and the brains of the organization. However, Talbot is extremely manipulative and charismatic, having conned, mentally tortured, and intimidated civilians into doing anything he wants and using power-plays, fear, and various tactics to get information out of people rather than using violence, showing above average intelligence that made him extremely dangerous than Duke (who's more business-oriented). Talbot was also resourceful, having helped train most members of the Red Order Syndicate.
In the Canon timeline, Talbot was shown to be extremely greedy, selfish, and manipulative, having used Duke's men to kill Jay, having planned out how to kill Duke, and even used Jay as a tool to take over the Red Order for his own goals, which is revealed to be taking Duke's profits and leaving the country to form his own empire, showing a power-hungry, intelligent, and resourceful attitude. He's more sadistic and vicious than before, having forced Jay to kiss his lover's severed head and even using Duke's loyalists, Randall Reed, and other gangs to lead them into their demises out of self-preservation, revealing his true nature as a greedy and violent opportunist that have no compassion or use for people.
In the Raider timeline, Talbot is very similar to his Canon counterpart, but he was more serious, focused, and fearless, having known that Jay was still alive, having led a small army of Red Order members to find Jay, and tricked various people into giving up information about Jay's tactics non-violently. 
Surprisingly, Talbot is shown for the first time to have lost his calm and collected nature and reacted out of pure rage after Jay broke his nose upon taunting him, showing a contrasting side of his personality. Talbot is more honorable and cunning than his Canon counterpart, having no fear of fighting Jay, using cunning methods to get information and even discarding his gear to kill Jay fairly, which resulted in his demise.
Despite his manipulative and cunning nature, Talbot is shown to be extremely sadistic, vicious, and violent, having murdered various rival gang members, tortured Jay with glee, and even killed John Smith while taking advantage of his mental state. He is also more perceptive and cautious in the Raider timeline, having known about Jay's goals, observing and quickly figuring out the attacks were precise and even trying to warn the entire organization about their potential demise, which was in vain as Jay eventually found out about their location. Even in his final moments, Talbot displayed extreme fearlessness and even lasted for 2 minutes before dying as a vicious, manipulative individual at the hands of the man that bested him in H2H.
== Appearance ==
Talbot is an American man that stands at 5'10 and weighs about 172 lbs. He has tanned skin, dark hair, and a lean muscular build with various tattoos.
In almost all of the appearances, Talbot wore a designer suit with a solid light red tie and a vest. As shown in the ending, Talbot lost his tie and his suit is tattered and dirty due to the explosion.
== Skills ==
* High Intelligence: Talbot was shown to be a highly intelligent, competent, and methodical man and was somewhat adaptable to any situation given to him. Due to his combat experience, Talbot is shown to be extremely level-headed and can handle extreme stress by using incredible street smarts to get out of dangerous situations. He was capable of using his charm and polite side to gain the trust of the public to blend in and complete his task without them knowing that he was a high-ranking member of a crime syndicate.
* Criminology: As a secretary for Duke and the second-in-command of the Red Order Syndicate, Talbot has an exceptional insight into how the criminal underworld operated and how illegal activities work, such as mercenary groups and feared crime families. He also displayed extensive knowledge of illegal narcotics, able to tell what kind of drugs the Georgia criminal underworld was moving and selling. He also displayed extensive knowledge about leading and controlling a major racket, having founded them himself with Duke's help and making loads of cash from them.
* Intimidation: Due to his rank in the Underworld and his position in the Red Order Syndicate, Talbot is widely known and feared within the criminal underworld and was so infamous that even Duke and his men feared him to a degree.
* Master Tactician: As a former SAS operator, Talbot is highly capable of casing out, planning, and executing plans, assassinations, and raids. He is a keen judge of character, often correctly assessing the correct intentions, flaws, and capabilities of both allies and enemies just by observing them. He is a skilled negotiator and interrogator, capable of presenting facts and telling lies without inducing intense emotion. He is a very effective leader and mentor, having trained and led most of the Red Order members into various battles against Jay Roberts with strategic facts and thinking, which made him far more dangerous. He's also capable of spotting certain flaws within his plans and using any methods deemed necessary to accomplish his goals, such as using mercenaries and hit squads to hunt Jay down and help set up explosives around the outpost in case his men failed. As shown in the destruction of the compound, Talbot is a strong and fierce leader to the core, having commanded and led a massive number of skilled mercenaries and his fellow members to try to take out Jay.
* Connections: Having worked with various criminal organizations, Talbot has a vast set that he can use to gain an advantage on his enemies, even with weapons dealers, criminal informants, and government officials to find his targets or to find new rackets to take for the Red Order.
* Master Marksman: As shown in various fights, Talbot is extremely proficient with firearms, including pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shotguns, as well as being slightly precise with eliminating targets in both close-range and long-range distances. He's also skilled in using and firing heavier weaponry, such as grenade launchers and light machine guns. His extreme use of handling weapons and his extensive knowledge of guerrilla tactics mostly stem from his time in the 22nd SAS Regiment. In his final stand against Jay, Talbot (despite being dazed) managed to accurately fire his sidearm at him, managed to hit him in the plate carrier twice before running dry, and chose to use a blade.
* Master Martial Artist: Having been in the British SAS, Talbot is shown to be an extremely skilled hand-to-hand fighter. His fighting style is mostly improvised and is consisted of Kickboxing, Krav Maga, Eskrima, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, and Savate. Talbot can quickly outmaneuver, outmatch, and outlast his opponents in H2H, and this is heavily shown during his fight with Jay Roberts, where he managed to land some devastating hits that dazed Jay very quickly. Despite knowing that Jay was more skilled, Talbot lasted about 2 minutes fighting against Jay, giving him more of a challenge in both the Raider timeline and the Canon timeline.
* Knife Mastery: Talbot is highly skilled in wielding blades, such as knives. Combined with his extensive knowledge and intense experience in Kali, Talbot can use blades to find a suitable angle to either wound or kill an opponent in a fight and has shown deadly expertise with a knife as shown during his fight with Jay, where he managed to slash him in the right side and the leg.
* Improvised Weapon Mastery: In addition to his skills with firearms and martial arts, Talbot is very good at using whatever tools that he sees during his fights to gain an advantage over his opponents. Talbot is shown to use different tools to torture his rivals before killing them.
* Peak Human Condition: As a former soldier of the British Army, Talbot has displayed peak human physicality for a man of his age. He's extremely athletic, and his strength, stamina, speed, agility, reflexes, durability, and pain threshold are in top condition.
* Peak Human Strength: Talbot is shown to be on par with Jay in terms of strength, capable of lifting him and slamming him against a wall. He also managed to break a door down with relative ease.
* Peak Human Durability: Talbot is highly resilient and sturdy due to his time in the regiment, having been able to survive an explosion without feeling that much pain (although he was drunk at the time). Talbot's notable feats are being able to take a severe beating from Jay, who's more skilled in hand-to-hand, and utilized brute strength out of anger.
* High Pain Tolerance: Despite his strong combat proficiency, Talbot has been injured more than once during his past and background. In his fight against Jay, Talbot managed to land some hits and managed to withstand some of Jay's hardest punches, demonstrating a decent pain threshold than most of his rivals, making him on par with Jay.
== Equipment ==
Weapons:
* Walther P99: Talbot's primary sidearm. He notably used the pistol to injure Jay and used it in the finale before running out of ammunition.
* Knife: Talbot's melee weapon. He notably used it to try to kill Jay in close combat. His knife was a Gerber MK II with a stainless steel blade.
* Vest: Talbot wore a concealable bullet-resistant vest to give him protection and for his enemies, this gives him the illusion of invulnerability, which made him more feared.
* Drug Kit: Talbot owned a drug kit and used drugs to psychologically torment, intimidate, and make people do whatever he said and give him what he wants without any problems or rarely order them to commit crimes.
== Deaths ==
Murders committed by Talbot:
* About 48 Enemy Soldiers: Shot and tortured
* About 69 Rivals: Shot, tortured, and beaten
* Lilly's Double: Decapitated
* John Smith: Shot and hung offscreen
== Trivia ==
* Talbot in the Canon timeline was a bit more extremely dangerous than in the Raider timeline, having taken over Duke's operations and was willing to kill Jay more than once in their encounters.
* Talbot is one of the only antagonists that came close to killing Jay and was shown to be on par with Jay in terms of H2H.
* Talbot is shown to be the only American in the series to join a foreign military branch (The British Armed Forces) and have dual citizenship.
* Talbot is the only antagonist to directly kill a member of the Red Order, next to Duke.