The Operator

Martin Hopkins, better known as The Operator, is the main antagonist of The Saviors of Sunset City. He is known for founding Hopkins House for Gifted Individuals and his habit of leaving recorded tapes at his crime scenes.
== Personality ==
The Operator is good at putting on a veneer of kindness and happiness with his life, hiding the cold, lost man underneath. He is extremely intelligent, and desperately wished for death, as years of trying to cope with his struggles had made him suicidal.
== History ==
=== Origin Story ===
Martin Hopkins was a happy man with a wife and daughter named Paula and Angela respectively, who he unfortunately lost due to a battle between Mr. Superior and Lord Threxus, causing the man to hurtle through his home, catching his wife and daughter in the scuffle as collateral damage, but leaving Martin miraculously unharmed. At first hateful, he tried to rebuild his adoration for superheroes, building Hopkins House for Gifted Individuals with Mindstretch's help to try and rehabilitate dangerous children, or give homes to super-powered orphans unfit for a normal home. At the school, he formed a romantic relationship with one of the stewardesses, Madeleine Geiger.
This, however, only set back his resentment, and made him miss his daughter more, with all the children he surrounded himself with. One night, he finally decided enough was enough, and shot himself in the mouth with a shotgun, only to discover his true power. The reason he had survived was that he was immortal. It was at this point he desperately sought out a cure for his ailment.
He tried every weakness he could muster, gas weapons, various alien crystals, obscure elements, wood, nothing worked. This was until he heard of a detective Norman Mann. The detective had a unique power, in which he could strip certain powers from their wielders for a short time. He sought the detective out, and, while apprehensive, and initially saying no, Norman agreed to help him in his suicide. Assuming his power was disabled, Martin tried again, failing once again to die. It was at this point his villainous spiral began.
Desiring to amplify Norman's power, he recruited Lochan Chaudhary, Ryder Fleming, and Wilfred Christmas with promises of cures to their ailments, promises of superhero-dom for Malachi Martel, revenge for Finn Kodar and Seth Chase, drugs for Rusty Samuels, and marriage to Madeleine to get them to help him with his scheme.
At some point, he made deals with Dollface and The Aces for their help.
=== The Saviors of Sunset City ===
Martin Hopkins introduced the The Echelon Eight to Hopkins' House, and told them about his family history during the tour, with them giving a pep talk to the school's students. After this, he planned a drug deal between Hindsight and the Road Crew, who sent Hot Rod in as an ambassador. This results in Hindsight getting temporarily jailed, before Martin ordered Egress to free him. The first tape The Operator recorded was found on Hindsight's person, and said:
"This is your operator speaking. Don’t worry, this was just a test message. Making sure we know what we’re getting into before it’s too late. Careful out there, a big storm is on the horizon. Until we meet again.”
The Operator was first name-dropped by Moth Mogul when interrogated by Void Empyrean and Big Red, telling them that no one sees him, no one knows him, and you can't track him down because he comes to you. Oracle soon recalled that the tape on Hindsight's person mentioned an Operator. These suspicions were further corroborated by the tapes found on Soulshaker's person and from the portal Matter Man was supposed to escape through, as well as Golden Boy and Flood's tapes.
Later, Martin sends Soulshaker to get some of Normalcy's blood, and he succeeds, even though he got beaten to a pulp by the Eight. The tape found on his person said:
"Seems like you're not the only ones out to get me. That's okay. I can take on a few more challengers. It's in my blood to persist. Literally. Until we meet again."
After the party found this tape, Martin sent Matter Man to find and kidnap Dr. Russell Hader from Hader Labs, and Matter Man succeeded in pushing him through Egress' portal, before being captured by the Eight and interrogated. The tape Matter Man had said:
“So what if you banged up Matter Man a bit? I have Dr. Hader. I just wanna play some pool with the guy, is all. And as long as he cooperates, he will be able to leave without a hair missing from his balding middle-aged head. Until we meet again.”
After Matter Man is cured and turned back to Ryder Fleming, the Eight find that he is a student from Hopkins' House, and decide to pay Martin a visit to ask him some questions. He commends the Eight for bringing in a lost pupil, and explains the other missing pupils, who lined up with those he'd seen so far. Hopkins mentions the Sunken Earth incident Terraformer caused and vehemently reiterates he will defend the school with his life, showing off the same shotgun he tried to kill himself with.
According to Matter Man and Golden Boy, the Operator was able to convince them to join him through promising to fix them and cure them of their ailments. When Soulshaker was made a mole for the Eight, Martin cut contact, showing that the threat of assassination was empty. Golden Boy is tasked with going to Honey Heath Park to feast on enough people to gain enough energy to power his contraption. The party foils his efforts, in the first real win against The Operator. The tape found with Golden Boy said: 
“I sort of knew you’d beat him. I’m not stupid. He’s built on a poor foundation, a lot like that Hopkins House place. We all think we can fix the world, but frankly that's out of reach. After all, losing everything you have will make you see the world through a new lens. Until we meet again.” 
Flood is sent to attack a beach, with the only purpose to be a distraction from the various component heists the Operation was committing at the same time. Flood was turned into an ally for the Eight, and thus, Martin cut contact. Flood's tape said: 
"Well done land-lubbers, you stopped the distraction. This was the storm I was talking about before, but there's another one coming right this way. Batten down the hatches and get ready for the biggest day of my unnatural life. Until we meet again." 
Golden Boy's tape prompts the party to investigate Hopkins House, finding various notes from "Madeleine." Martin talks to the party about Mindstretch, accidentally giving his red herring an alibi in the process. When probed about Madeleine, Hindsight's mind-meddling fought to keep him from remembering her. When Oracle probed into his mind, she found nothing, before dropping the bombshell on Martin that the Operator has five minions that were missing pupils of the school, and that Rusty, the janitor, was with them, causing Martin to blow up in anger. He follows them into Rusty's room, and Martin, shortly after, breaks out of the mental blockage, remembering that he used to date Madeleine. Martin is saddened by the locket found in Madeleine's drawer, due to him forgetting her so easily. 
It is unknown as to whether or not Martin deliberately sent Savant to fight Phantasm or not. The tape found on him said: 
“Sorry about the interruption. Kid’s just a little mad that I chose an esteemed scientist over an 11-year-old to help with my work. In other news, expect the skies to gray, not from rain, but from ash. It’s time I burn these bridges I’ve built, so that my plan can go off without a hitch. Maybe I could start with the one that’s been the biggest thorn in my side. Who knows? Until we meet again.” 
Martin set up a heist to gather steel from a Monk Enterprises warehouse, though the plan was foiled by the Eight. This cemented his connection with The Aces and Dollface, which Normalcy would later use as a search warrant against the latter. Dollface would not end up directly giving away his identity, but did so accidentally, with the bank statements going to the Hopkins House Foundation, cementing many of the Eight's worst fears. 
Martin set the House ablaze while he set off to the Old District to build his machine. After being quickly foiled by Terraformer and 10, Martin explains his reasoning to the party, which causes Spinflux, after spinning and landing on God's Wrath, to resurrect his family, make them immortal, and give Martin a kill-switch only he can touch in the Eight's base, before he was promptly arrested. It is unknown if Spinflux intentionally made his life worse. 
== Relationships ==
=== His family ===
Martin loved his family quite literally to death, and wished to die to be with them again. Now that they are resurrected, his relationship is tainted with them.
=== Mindstretch ===
Mindstretch was an old college friend of Martin's, helping him start the House.
=== Madeleine Geiger ===
Madeleine is his second lover, with her having an undying irrational devotion to him, which he deliberately manipulates.
=== Missing Children ===
Martin manipulated the missing children, with Savant in particular growing to hate him over time.
=== Rusty Samuels ===
Martin was Rusty's boss, and they never got along quite right, until Martin brought Bliss into his life to make him subservient.
=== Kickbutt ===
Kickbutt was the only one willing to listen to Martin's motive, and Martin appreciated it.
=== Dollface and The Aces ===
Martin was linked to Dollface and the Aces, working together to achieve their common goals.
== Notable Moments ==
* Building Hopkins House
* Getting Soulshaker addicted to Asphalt Bliss
* Becoming the Operator
* Manipulating Madeleine and the children
* Building the contraption
* Multiple suicide attempts
== Powers and Abilities ==
=== Immortality ===
Martin is unable to die, and as such, is immune to lethal harm, with his body rapidly regenerating to prevent mortal wounds, making him indestructible.
== Trivia ==
* The Operator was originally much different during development, being a mad scientist who built robotic duplicates of his wife and child, as well as holding a robot army to commit his crimes. Chris changed this because he thought it was stupid.
* The Operator was inspired by John Kramer/Jigsaw from the Saw franchise.
* The Operator was originally going to leave old-style radios at his crime scenes, but this was mostly scrapped when the tape recorder was brought out for Hindsight's boss fight.
* Chris kept unintentionally making Martin have a British accent, when he was supposed to have a light New York accent.
* Martin was originally meant to be white, but his race was changed to black when Chris found out that's what everyone else thought he was.
Category:Characters
Category:NPCs
Category:Antagonists
Category:The Saviors of Sunset City
Category:Humans
Category:Mutants
Category:Hopkins House