John Smith (The Raider)

== John Smith ==
"We had a good thing, you stupid, treacherous, greedy son of a b***h! We had Brewer. We had your money. It was perfect. But, no, you just had to force me to kill Brewer. My mentor! My father figure in cold blood! Can't believe that I let myself fall down into this path. You and your pride and your ego! You just had to be the man, controlling everyone and take everything that you wanted for yourself. If you’d done your job perfectly and haven't forced my hand, we’d all be fine right now!.... Shut the f**k up, and let me die like a man." - John's last words/defiant speech to Duke
John Dean Smith (known as John Smith) is a main character and supporting antagonist in the Raider timeline. 
Serving as the main protagonist of his own series, John Smith is a US Army veteran, former LAPD officer, and a calm and calculated career criminal. He worked for both Tobias Brewer and Duke Bennett as a hitman, cleaner, and private investigator. 
As a former police officer and professional hitman, John has an extensive knowledge of how to operate both sides of the law without detection and maintains an up-to-date knowledge of surveillance equipment, forensic evidence, and police procedure.
== Background ==
John was born on April 22, 1986, in Seattle, Washington. While not known, John grew up in a rough environment where he forced himself to make money for himself by robbing petty criminals. 
At the age of 18, John went to West Point Military Academy and served in the United States Army as he stayed in West Point, eventually becoming a 2nd Lieutenant. He served for 12 years as a Major and was honorably discharged for his bravery and leadership abilities.
He went to Los Angeles, California and became part of the LAPD, and rose through the ranks of a Sergeant, eventually earning himself a reputation. 
== Biography ==
In the first chapter, John left the LAPD and began working for Simon Martinez, a crooked car dealer, as a repo agent until his encounter with Tobias Brewer, a retired career criminal. Desperate and hoping to make a name for himself, John reunites with Tobias, and the two began to bond and became a criminal pair, eventually settling on a jewelry store that they rob to both earn profit and pay off a debt that Tobias owed to Manolo Hernandez, a feared Mexican drug lord. 
It's later revealed that the store they robbed was owned by the Red Order Syndicate and that Duke has captured Tobias and ordered him to rob an armored truck and to take out bearer loans to get rid of the corrupt politicians that are suspecting him. As Tobias met up with John, Tobias revealed himself to be working for the FBI after making himself a clandestine deal to put Duke behind bars and even offered John a chance to get out of the criminal lifestyle by arresting Duke and dismantling his organization.
After some thorough planning, Tobias, John, and Roger (a recruit/Marine Corps veteran) managed to rob the truck, deal with LAPD officers, and got away. As the 3 met up after leaving the site, Tobias suddenly killed Roger, revealing that Roger was actually working for Duke as a mole and took the bonds for himself while using a file with fake bonds to trick Duke. John then walked away and a few weeks after the heist, Duke suddenly appeared with Talbot and gave John an order to kill Tobias for his involvement with the FBI and his betrayal and deceptive act from the heist. 
Conflicted and desperate at the fact that he might die, John reluctantly goes after Tobias and even killed him, eventually joining up with the Red Order and becoming their main enforcer and fixer.
In his second chapter, John appeared to be distrustful toward Duke and when he asked him for permission to leave, Duke gladly allowed him to leave upon ordering his men to capture and sell his family to Randall Reed as part of his human trafficking operations to serve as intimidation if John were to snitch upon dismissal. Angered and fueled with vengeance, John sets off on a quest to kill Duke by taking out his rackets to weaken him.
After finding his location, John killed most of the hitmen and as he prepares to shoot Duke, Royce suddenly crippled him and Duke reveals that it was a trap and that John took the bait. Under Duke's orders, Royce shot John in the chest and hung his corpse far from the compound.
John's death is mentioned by Agent Wade Bryan, describing his murder as "a nobody that crossed the wrong man".
== Personality ==
In his first appearance, John appeared to be a highly ambitious, mild-mannered, and optimistic person, having believed in himself to put his efforts into his work and even kept himself in check, even under pressure. After meeting Tobias Brewer, John became more wiser and self-confident in his ability to do anything while following orders. However, it seems that John doesn't handle pressure very well if forced into doing anything he wouldn't do, such as killing his mentor in cold blood under Duke's orders, showing that John is very gullible to work for whoever used his skillset. In short, John has devolved from a self-confident and level-headed man into a greedy and selfish person that worked for the man that his mentor distrusted.
While working with the Red Order, John is shown to be a highly cunning, intelligent, and patient man. What made John formidable is the fact that he is skilled enough to be the organization's main assassin, soldier, and investigator and that he is very pragmatic and rational even under pressure, always choosing the best option to benefit everyone with less danger.
Despite being older than most members, John's experience as a soldier and police officer gives him far more experience than anyone, having avoided the law, gone undercover to blend in and gain information, and having effective means to kill his targets without being detected. Because of this, many people tend to underestimate John due to his age and his "retirement". 
Due to his past as a former soldier and police officer, John is a highly proficient killer and will kill whoever is a threat to him and his employers' interests as shown as he single-handily assassinated and killed various rival gang dealers and assassins without any hesitation and remorse. Despite this, John is far from being completely remorseless and cold-blooded and has been shown to hate murder under unnecessary circumstances, as shown as he didn't kill anyone that proved to be loyal to Duke and even shown clear guilt over killing them while following orders. 
Despite his no-nonsense attitude, John is shown to care about the people he loved, and before betraying the Red Order, it's revealed that John was committing crimes because he needed to support his wife and his children, who had cancer, providing a strong reason behind the crimes he did. John is seen to show remorse and become regretful of killing Tobias, who was a mentor and father figure to him, which led to him growing weary of Duke and other men that left the Red Order. The reason behind it is unknown, but it's hinted that John killed them out of fear of what Duke could do and possibly greed, and given John's naivety and ambition, it could be both.
John was extremely good at reading people and like Tobias, he was one of the earliest members of the Red Order to see through Duke Bennett and recognized him as the truly cowardly, arrogant, prideful, and deceitful man he was. Duke's arrogance and violent means ultimately led John to force himself into a revenge plot to dismantle his operations, showcasing John's prideful and vengeful attitude.
John's naivety, loyalty, and desire for revenge have failed him to see what Duke is capable of and because of his short-sightedness, John has led himself to his eventual demise and died as a brave, competent, and loyal man that tried to kill the man that promised him riches and made him betray his mentor.
== Appearance ==
John is an American man, standing at 6'1. He has tanned skin, hazel eyes, graying black or brown hair, and usually sported a beard.
In his younger days, John is clean-shaven and sported an undercut fade. He wore blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and combat boots as street clothing. In the jewelry store heist, he wore a 2 piece and fitting denim suit.
Throughout his time with the Red Order, John usually wore a black combat jumpsuit and beneath it, blue jeans and a white t-shirt with dog tags, indicating his past military lifestyle. In his final moments, he wore a tactical long-sleeve shirt, cargo pants, and a plate carrier.
== Skills ==
* High Intelligence: John was shown to be a highly intelligent, sharp-witted, and methodical man and was highly adaptable to any situation given to him. He is extremely level-headed and can handle extreme stress to get out of dangerous situations by using incredible street smarts. He was capable of using his charm and polite side to gain the trust of enemies to blend in and complete his task without them knowing that he was there within their organization while following orders.
* Criminology: As a former enforcer/hitman of the Red Order Syndicate, John 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 that the Georgia criminal underworld was moving and selling. He tend to investigate both the Red Order and its rivals thoroughly and knew what deals to expect.
* Intimidation: Due to his title as "The Infiltrator" and his exceptional combat abilities, John is widely known and feared within the criminal underworld and was so infamous that even his title strikes fear and terror into the hearts and souls of his enemies incurred his wrath. John used his age to his advantage and has managed to outwit even opponents half his age to do any of his dirty work with ease.
* Hacking Skills: After learning from his special ops experience, he is an intermediate hacker with complete access to even the most secret government servers to find his targets and trace their location with technical help. He can use wiretaps, can jam communications, cause blackouts, and disable security systems.
* Master Tactician: As a former Army CO/LAPD officer, John 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 watching them, as seen as he found out who Duke really was. He is a skilled negotiator and interrogator, capable of presenting facts and telling lies without inducing intense emotion. He's also capable of spotting certain flaws within his environment and using any necessary methods to accomplish his goals, such as using explosives to take out the Red Order's rackets and easily picking out any stragglers. As shown in the attack against Duke's outpost, John is a strong and fierce soldier to the core.
* Expert Spy: Having worked with the Special Forces, John is extremely skilled in stealth, espionage, infiltration, disguises, thievery, and eavesdropping. He's well adept at blending in with his surroundings as well as sneaking around heavily guarded outposts and compounds with ease.
* Stealth Mastery: John is a master in stealth tactics, such as understanding the use of disguises to enter authorized locations, using his hacking skills to disable communications and light sources, and using the environment around him to blend in, even in plain sight, to avoid detection. He's also capable of luring enemies into certain scenarios where he can easily eliminate them or pass by them to move to the objective.
* Skilled Scientist: John has shown to be somewhat knowledgeable in poison and was able to concoct poisons to either incapacitate or kill his enemies. Combined with his charm, John can use poison whenever he saw an opportunity in the form of food and other things and was capable of using it efficiently to make the death look like an accident.
* Connections: Having worked with the LAPD and the Red Order, John has a vast set that he can use to gain an advantage over his enemies, even with weapons dealers, criminal informants, and lawyers.
* Forensics Specialist: John is very capable of making a "clean job" by using a silent approach to minimize mass destruction. Whenever he kills his targets, he tries to make the deaths look like either a gang attack or a simple accident.
* Expert Driver: During his time in the Army, John has shown exceptional driving skills to the point where he is even capable of driving manual cars, mechanicalized vehicles (tanks, APCs, boats, and helicopters), and motorcycles with ease.
* Master Marksman: As shown in various fights, John is extremely proficient with firearms, including pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shotguns, as well as being frighteningly precise with eliminating targets in both close-range and long-range distances (as shown during his fights). He's also skilled with using and firing heavier weaponry, such as grenade launchers, light machine guns, and flamethrowers as well as using mounted weaponry. Due to his extensive knowledge of guerrilla tactics, John has shown to be extremely skilled with bows as well as scavenging and using whatever firearm that the enemy has to achieve his goals.
* Master Martial Artist: Having been trained in the Army, John is shown to be a decently skilled hand-to-hand fighter. His fighting style is mostly improvised and is consisted of Kickboxing, Krav Maga, Eskrima, Kempo Jiu-Jitsu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo, and Hapkido. He can quickly outmaneuver, outmatch, and outlast his opponents, even capable of taking on multiple opponents at once. Due to his quick wit, John can adapt to his opponent's fighting styles, studying them during the fight and adapting to turn their strengths against them as seen in his fights with Royce Talbot and Dominick Smith.
* Knife Mastery: John is highly skilled in wielding and throwing blades, such as knives and axes. Combined with his extensive knowledge of anatomy and intense experience in Kali, John 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 baton as shown during his fights.
* Peak Human Condition: As a former soldier of the United States Army, John 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 Reflexes: John has incredible reflexes. Due to his time on the battlefield, John has displayed a fast reaction time, as he can evade bullets and melee attacks during combat with ease. Due to his expertise in guerrilla warfare, John can correctly assess the situation, understand the purpose, and react effectively, making it harder for the enemy to outwit him in the field. His senses are shown to be enhanced, having the capability to hear, smell, and sense his enemies from any direction and to avoid ambushes, raids, and sniper fire with ease.
* High Pain Tolerance: Despite his strong combat proficiency, John has been frequently injured throughout his time working, but demonstrates a near-inhuman tolerance to pain, being able to survive near-fatal injuries, such as gunshot wounds, stabbing, blunt force trauma, and physical blows with ease. As shown in his fight with Royce Talbot, John has shown that he can outlast and outwit them by using his injuries against him, opening him up for a counter-attack before getting outmatched.
== Equipment ==
* Taurus Model 85: John's off-duty sidearm. He notably used it whenever he was on "duty".
* H&K MK23: John's combat sidearm. He notably used it for clearing out outposts with an Osprey square suppressor and in the final assault without the suppressor. 
* Remington M40A1: John's combat rifle. He notably used it for clean jobs and in the final assault with a suppressor.
== Deaths ==
Murders committed by John:
* 35 Rivals: Shot, poisoned, and strangled.
* Tobias Brewer: Dropped off a building.
* 48 Red Order Soldiers: Shot to death.
== Trivia ==
* John is the only member of the Red Order to be both a soldier and law enforcement officer in the past.
* John is one of the people (Jay Roberts, Tobias Brewer, and the Underworld itself) to see Duke's true nature.
* It's hinted that John might be ex-special forces, as seen as he called the hired muscle "operators" and his familiarity with certain weaponry such as the M40 sniper rifle, the MK23 pistol, and the Mossberg 590 shotgun. Given his past professions and his use of guerrilla warfare, it's a strong theory.
* Despite failing in his mission to kill Duke, John still technically won since Jay sought vengeance against Duke for using him, so in a way, John posthumously won his war against Duke and avenged himself, his family, and his mentor in death.
*In the Raider Reloaded series, John devolved into an antagonist and became the leader of the Red Order. He is also shown to be a heavy drug addict, seen using XP (edible crystal meth) throughout his scenes.