William Hargrove

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William Hargrove and Codename: SONGBIRD was the bastard son of Charon Industries CEO Malcolm Hargrove. After rising from nothing he would join the UNSC Navy, eventually becoming the commanding officer of the commando unit Lima Nine-Nine. Shortly after its conception, William and his unit were deployed across human space in the most pitched of battles in order to secure information and assets critical to the Office of Naval Intelligence and purging what could not be saved. After the war, he would briefly reunite with his now childless father, but would forsake him to pursue life as a mercenary. William worked for many clients on a variety of jobs for anyone who could afford him, doing work protecting pro-UNSC settlements from the Gilgamesh Free State, and most any other job that paid. In 2558 his former XO Joseph Kovacs would bring Hargrove into a personal war against the Office of Naval Intelligence, more specifically the enigmatic Codename: CALIFORNIA for a time. However following the Created Uprising, he found himself alone, separated from what comrades he had, on a torn apart by war. From there he would join the rag-tag crew of the Chancer V until his death in 2559.
==Career Service Vitae==
==Biography==
===Harsh Beginnings===
Born William Ackles, William was almost instantly thrown into hardship, being delivered in the slums of to a mother too young to drink with no home to speak of. His mother, Lilith Ackles, had been a young intern at Charon Industries who'd become pregnant as a result of an affair with the CEO Malcolm Hargrove. He had pressured her to seek an abortion, but Lilith refused and as a result Malcolm had her essentially buried, stranding her in the slums of Minister and threatening harm to her and her family should she ever attempt to contact them.
In spite of the cruelty she suffered, Lilith loved her son dearly, and worked up to four jobs in a desperate attempt to make ends meet and support her son. However, this left her often absent from his life, leaving him to spend most of his time floating between poorly funded day care centers and babysitters. Too young to comprehend why his mother was absent, William felt rejected and unwanted, often staying away from his mother even when she was present much to her distress.
Eventually Lilith began dating, being courted by a number of men who lured her along with a veneer of sincerity and affection as well as false promises to support her and her child. Each and every one turned out to be some level of scum, criminally or morally, and while they did not bring support or stability to William's life they did introduce more suffering.
Between the constant fighting and manipulation, the suitors managed to eventually have Lilith develop an addiction to illegal narcotics on top of several of the men assaulting both him and his mother physically and otherwise. Over time, William no longer cowered in fear as chaos erupted in home, having become used to it, and having learned that crying often would make things worse for him and his mother. 
Eventually his self-preserving indifference turned to anger, and as he grew older William became more violent. Men who he perceived as aggressive with his mother often ended up beating him after he intervened. Lilith remained loving of her son, however his love rarely extended beyond attempted protection as the consequences of his mother's addictions took their toll.
At the age of fifteen William stopped going to school, falling in with a gang of young troublemakers who routinely vandalized, robbed, and assaulted members of the community. William attempted to keep his hands clean for the most part, avoiding beatings of those he didn't see as deserving. That said, he became one of the group's most notorious members, proving himself a capable athlete by outrunning and evading any pursuers after a theft, as well as an utterly brutal fighter when he chose to do so. 
Dubbed Arkham by rival gangs, he began to carve out a place for himself. However, as refugees from the outer colonies began to pour in as a result of the ongoing , the little he had was taken away. 
His mother succumbed to her addictions and died after a refugee man she had begun seeing gave her laced drugs. Consumed with anger, William lashed out and beat the man to death. Soon after, as the result of a crackdown by the planetary government, the police stomped out gang activity in the area, arresting or killing what friends he had less. Wanted for murder and his gang affiliation, William went on the run.
For nearly a month he evaded the police, and on two occasions he managed to fight his way through the officers attempting to arrest him. Eventually however, on the run from his third scuffle with police, William was shot in the leg and arrested. While he was taken to a hospital for treatment, his impressive grades prior to dropping out, and uncanny physical abilities for a boy his age which had earned him minor celebrity caught the attention of an ONI officer stationed on world.
Throwing some of his weight around, the enigmatic Codename: HANGING TREE was able to meet the boy and make him an offer. The youth could be charged and sent to prison, or he could attend Patuxent River Academy of Military Science to finish his schooling then join the UNSCDF following his graduation. In spite of his rebelliousness and aversion to authority, William accepted after being questioned about what his loved ones, if he had any, would want for him.
===Patuxent, Luna, and the Jovian Moons===
===Kholo===
==Weapons and Equipment==
==Personality==
The only legitimate inheritance William received from his father came in the form of his charisma and his tenacity. From a young age William found himself taking charge of his fellow street urchins on Minister, easily swaying them to his side and providing them with inspiration with his determination. From stealing a loaf of bread to storming Covenant positions, odds often are little more than numbers to Hargrove, and he will simply throw himself at any problem a thousand different ways until he discovers what works. His qualities as a leader aside, as a person William was sharp tongued but rarely cruel, however the sociable and witty exterior often served as little more than a cover for his deep-seated insecurities. His father's absence and life of poverty instilled a feeling of inadequacy in William that regardless of how far he climbed in life, be it to the lead of Lima 9-9, or as the potential heir to his father's company, he could never accept that he was doing enough.
Behind the mask of charisma, and the pain of his anger, William in truth grew tired of war. By the time of the Created Crisis, it was he desire to exact revenge for his fallen comrades that kept him going, rather than the excitement of combat. When the chance at revenge was taken from him, he would fall into a bitter despair, only finding purpose again thanks to Cassandra-G006 and Zoey Hunsinger. Through their influence, William found a new purpose in the desire to settle his friends on a peaceful world, and forge a life for himself away from war.
==Gallery==
File:Hargrovebdu2.png|Hargrove during his time leading Lima 9-9
File:TheBastardArkham.png|thumb|William's custom set of PISCES power armor
==Literary Appearances==
*Halo: A New Day
*Halo: Heaven and Earth