Aiden Pearce

Aiden Pearce (born 2-5-74) is one of the main protagonists of the video game franchise (alongside T-Bone) and a minor character in the franchise. 
A professional hacker and former fixer, Aiden is a man hellbent on finding the people responsible for ordering the hit that resulted in the death of his niece. As he investigates, Pearce finds himself uncovering the underbelly of Chicago's worst. Depending on the player's actions, Pearce can be a revered or hated by the public, being either Chicago's protector or its most dangerous criminal.
He is voiced by .
==Biography==
===Background===
Aiden Pearce was born in , on May 2nd, 1974 to unnamed parents, and is the older brother of Nicole Pearce. According to Nicole, their father would do ugly things for the sake of family, and it's implied that he might have been abusive. As a result, their mother would take them to the United States to get away from him, as she wanted her children to have a peaceful life. Growing up in a bad neighborhood of Chicago, Aiden would take hits for his family. At some point, he joined a gang and later became a fixer, learning how to fight and shoot by paying others to teach him, or from personal experiences. He also had a personal trainer, but after knocking him unconscious when he was going to report Aiden's bruises, Pearce decided to study social engineering, psychology and intimidation tactics to get the head over his opponents.
At some point, his mother would learn of his criminal behavior and was saddened to learn this, telling her son that he had turned into his father. Instead of feeling the sting, Aiden felt proud, presumably because he was taking hits for his family. Around the 2000s, Nicole would give birth to her two children Jackson and Lena, and due to her husband not being in the picture, Aiden acted as their surrogate father. By the 2010s, Pearce became friends with the hacker Damien Brenks, who became a mentor to him.
===The Merlaut Incident===
In 2012, Aiden planned a job to hack into people's bank accounts at the Merlaut job, and was assisted by Damien in siphoning the money. Unbeknownst to the two, Delford "Iraq" Wade, the head of the Black Viceroys, was hacking into the Merlaut to obtain the video of Rose Washington's murder. Damien noticed another hacker entering the system, and decided to pry into what they were trying to obtain. Aiden then cut the link and left, but crime boss Dermot "Lucky" Quinn had the hacker Clara Lille identity them and ordered Iraq to send hitmen to scare the two. When driving through Pawnee with his nephew and niece, the assassin Maurice Vega crashed their car by shooting the front, which resulted in the death of Lena.
After the death of his niece, Aiden vowed to find the people responsible, but lied to his sister Nicole that he was ending his pursuit when visiting Lena's grave. Over the next year, Pearce became known as "The Fox" due to his vigilantism, but he was able to avoid the authorities due to his hacking skills. Around this time, Aiden hired a fixer named Jordi Chin to assist him in finding the hitmen responsible for Lena's death, and the hacker known as BadBoy17, who was secretly Clara trying to help Pearce heal from the tragedy.
===Watch Dogs===
Aiden continued his investigation, and managed to track down Maurice to the May Stadium where he was protected by the Black Viceroys. Confronting Vega with information, Maurice refused to give up anything, and Aiden knocked him unconscious and allowed Jordi to take him from the stadium. He managed to escape by having BadBoy17 knock out the stadium, and later met with Nicole for Jackson's birthday party. When noticing his sister's distress, Aiden hacked into her phone and overheard someone threatening her, and decided to hunt down. Once dealing with his target, Pearce hacked into his phone, learning that someone hired him to threaten Nicole. Aiden then has BadBoy17 trace the call, whom later has him met her to update his phone with DedSec's system hacks.
Heading to the trace of the call, Pearce learns that Damien hired the target, and the latter leaves him a voicemail to met him. Meeting his former mentor, Damien explains that there was another hacker at the Merlaut and wants Aiden to assist him in finding out why someone hired hitmen to scare them. Pearce refuses, which results in Brenks kidnapping Nicole as leverage to have the vigilante investigate. Pearce is able to protect Jackson from several fixers and has his therapist Yolanda Mendez take care of him, and agrees to help Damien as long as he doesn't harm Nicole. Brenks gives him the video from the Merlaut, but notices that the file is corrupted and that he needs the original. After protecting Clara from fixers that attacked his motel room, Aiden and Lille move to the bunker, a secret location that use to be a CTOS testing site.
Once Clara is able to trace the IP address to the Rossi-Fremont, Aiden hacks into the building and realizes that the Black Viceroys are armed and dangerous. Returning to the bunker, Aiden and Clara see a video of Iraq, who's dog tags are a security card to enter his sever room. Knowing that the severs has the video, Pearce decides to blackmail Iraq's cousin Tyrone "Bedbug" Hayes into infiltrating the building to obtain the severs. Once helping Bedbug gain status, Aiden heads to the sex slave auction to get close to Iraq to access his dog tags. He also encounters Lucky, whom notices that he isn't Nicholas Crispin and sends his fixers to eliminate the hacker. Aiden manages to escape, but calls the police before leaving so they can raid the auction and save the girls. During this time, Pearce learns from Yolanda that Jackson disappeared, and rescues his nephew before he can be kidnapped by several fixers.
Returning to his main goal, Aiden has Bedbug infiltrate the Rossi-Fremont, but Iraq discovers the intrusion and has men find the one responsible. After evading Iraq's men, Bedbug calls him and reveals that the person in the video is a woman named Rose Washington, as Iraq asked him if he knew anything about it. Returning to Clara, she tells him that she can't decrypt Iraq's data, but believes that the hacker Raymond "T-Bone" Kenny could since he was involved in the creation of CTOS. Since he went into hiding after causing the blackout in 2003, Aiden and Clara trace him down to Pawnee, a small town district outside of Chicago. Before he can find T-Bone's exact location, Pearce hacks into an abandoned CToS station to find his position.
Going to a local bar, Aiden is confronted by Kenny, whom uses a stun gun to incapacitate the hacker before taking him to his safehouse. The two make a deal to help each other, with T-Bone having Aiden obtain his truck from the Pawnee militia and wipe away his file from Blume's database. When doing so, Aiden observes Damien making a deal with Charlotte Gardner, offering Kenny's location in exchange for CTOS access. Pearce returns to Kenny to help him fight off the militia, and the pair destroy T-Bone's junkyard before heading to the bunker. After recruiting T-Bone, Aiden has Jordi assist him in assaulting the Rossi-Fremont, where Pearce learns that Iraq was the hacker from the Merlaut job. The vigilante then proceeds to obtain the data from Iraq's servers before killing the criminal and his men.
At the bunker, the data is stolen by a hacker named Defalt, whom also sends an audio file of Clara identifying Aiden and Damien to the Chicago South Club. Though Aiden is angered at Clara for the revelation, he is forced to remain focus on dealing with Brenks since he doesn't have the data. Meeting with Damien, Aiden reveals that he knows of his meeting with Blume, but Brenks then has a fixer expose Pearce's location. Evading the police, Pearce has T-Bone find Nicole's location from their phone call, but they deal with Defalt by obtaining the data back. Once Default is dealt with, Kenny manages to trace Nicole's location, allowing Aiden to rescue her. Once having Nicole and Jackson leave the city, Pearce learns from T-Bone that Quinn was one who ordered the hit and that the crime boss will be at the Merlaut.
At the hotel, Aiden observes Lucky's conversation with mayor Donavon Rushmore, who confronts Quinn over blackmailing him. Once Lucky leaves to his office, Pearce assaults the Merlaut and manages to induce a heart attack onto Quinn by hacking into his peacemaker. The crime lord then shows him the vide of Rose Washington's murder by Rushmore, explaining that he thought him and Brenks were trying to take the video. When Lucky tells Aiden that the public will erect a statue of him, Pearce reminds that he is the vigilante and kills Quinn despite his attempts to make a bargain. Leaving the hotel, Aiden is contacted by Damien, whom explains that Clara attempted to trade herself for Nicole. Realizing that Quinn has ordered a hit on Clara, Pearce attempts to save her, but Lille is killed at Lena's grave.
Returning to the bunker for the final time, Aiden uploads the blackmail and video, which causes both Rushmore and Quinn's reputation to be tarnished. Upon leaving, Pearce is contacted by Brenks once again, whom explains that he has access into CTOS, which he uses to cause chaos across the city. Working with T-Bone, Aiden is able to install a virus into the system to cause a blackout, and rejects DedSec's offer to allow them to gain control. Finding Damien's location at the lighthouse, Pearce confronts before being held at gunpoint by Jordi, who has taken a contract to eliminate the vigilante. Before he can be killed, Aiden hacks into the lighthouse, causing an explosion that allows him to knock Jordi and kill Damien. Saving the city, Pearce vows to protect it from threats, accepting his title as the vigilante.
Afterward, Aiden is contacted by an alive Jordi, who gives him Maurice's location to deal with him. Confronting Vega, the player has the choice to either kill him or leave, believing that Maurice can have a second chance of life.
===Watch Dogs: Bad Blood===
After stopping Brenks, Pearce leaves Chicago to Missouri to evade the authorities, but Blume is determined to hunt him down after he hacked into their severs. However, T-Bone manages to stop the fixers from killing him, his sister and nephew, and Dr. Mendez since she has revealed that she knew the vigilante. Aiden is contacted by T-Bone on several occasions, and has three audio logs that can be found in the city.
===Watch Dogs 2===
Residing in San Francisco, Aiden is investigating a human trafficking ring under the head of the Bratva, but he is later captured by the group. While imprisoned, the hacker Marcus Holloway breaks him out, allowing Pearce to escape.
===Watch Dogs: Legion===
Aiden appears as a playable character in the season pass, and is the main protagonist of the story expansion Bloodline.
=== Assassin’s Creed ===
In the universe of the modern day of Assassin’s Creed, shows of the CCO of Abstergo Entertainment, Olivier Garneau had went to Chicago, Illnois for a shareholders meeting. However, he never fully arrived, after he was attacked and killed by an unidentified hitman, who was presumably hired by theAssassin’s Brotherhood, due to Garneau being a member of the Templar Order. He was reported missing, and his body was never found. Personal files were obtained by Layla Hassan, including CCTV footage of the assassination in 2014. The unnamed hitman seemed to clearly be identified as Aiden Pearce, due to the attack setting in Chicago, though it’s unknown if Aiden was actually apart of the Assassin’s brotherhood, nor is he actually a existent figure in the universe, as Watch Dogs is set in 2013. 
==Skills and Abilities==
*Genius-level Intelligence: Aiden is highly intelligent, having knowledge in the fields of social engineering and psychology, but also of the criminal underworld due to being a fixer.
*Intimidation: Having studied intimidation tactics, Aiden is a dreaded force to be reckoned with. 
*Investigation: Aiden is a skilled investigator, having solved the murders committed Edgar Noone.
*Master Hacker: As a professional hacker, Pearce is capable hack into most software that he comes across. With the DedSec update given to him by Clara, Aiden is able to hack into jam others communications, scan the area for enemies, and cause blackouts in small portions of a district. His hacking skills also allow him to manipulate CToS, as he can have the system not profile him.
*Master Combatant: Due to his experience as a criminal, fixer and paying a personal trainer, Aiden is a master combatant and martial artist. He was able to knock down targets with ease, such as the hitman Maurice Vega, the fixer Jordi Chin (whom he was able to disarm within seconds).
*Baton Mastery: He is skilled with a baton, which he uses to neutralize targets both lethally, and non-lethally.
*Expert Marksman: Pearce is a expert marksman, being able to hit his targets with perfect accuracy.
*Weapon Proficiency: He is proficient with various weapons such as sub-machine guns, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and grenade launchers.
*Stealth Mastery: Due to his time as a thief, Aiden is skilled in infiltrating areas without being noticed. He's also a master escape artist, capable of leaving without being noticed or utilizing CTOS to evade the police, fixers, the militia, and the club.
*Expert Thief: Having joined a gang at a young age, Aiden is able to steal from others without being noticed. Due to his profiler, Pearce is able to hack into other's phones to obtain money from their banks, or other equipment needed to make his gadgets.
*Skilled Swimmer: Though never utilized in the campaign, Aiden is a capable swimmer, allowing him to swim across the waters of Chicago.
*Vehicle Intuition: Aiden is a master defensive and offensive driver, and can drive any type of vehicle he comes across.
*Gadgets: A skilled craftsman, Aiden is able to create gadgets and devices that gives him the advantage over his opponents.
==Quotes==
==Gallery==
Aiden-Pearce-WD-L.png|Aiden in Watch Dogs: Legion.
==Trivia==
*Aiden's weapon of choice appears to be the Px4 handgun.
*Aiden stands 6'2 (188cm) and weighs 205 lbs (93 kg).
*Aiden may be working as a part of a larger network of vigilantes.
*Pearce used to work as a Fixer which is where he learned how to hack.
*The broken Z on his mask is based off the logo of the game's original title, Nexus.
*As a Fixer he was called on assassination, recovery, escort, bodyguarding, cover up/spec ops operations and essentially hacking.
*It is likely that Aiden's family emigrated to the US due to The Troubles, a period of heavy violence (largely concentrated in Belfast, Northern Ireland) between the IRA and British Military from the late 60's to the late 80's.
*It is also most likely that Aiden emigrated as a very young boy because he speaks without an accent. Also, he was born in 1974, two years after the Bloody Friday bombings occurred in Belfast (26 bombs went off, killing 11 people).
*Many of Aiden's combat animations and some of his dialogues during missions suggest he's a former military, but an audio log reveals that he paid others to teach him combat and gunmanship.
*The developers cited Walter White from Breaking Bad and Dexter Morgan from Dexter as the inspiration of the character.
== External Links ==
* Aiden Pearce on Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
* Aiden Pearce on the Watch_Dogs Wiki
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