Nine

Nine (AKA William Wallace Harris) is a player character in the online *In Memoriam*.

## Background

Born William Wallace Harris, Nine worked as a HVAC technician and was a practicing Catholic. He was captured for experimentation while in the process of disposing of Rachel Harris' (his wife) dead body. He awoke from a cryo chamber alongside the other members of the Headhunters team.

## Powers

* Light energy blasts
* Blinding light blasts
* Light energy katana
* Supersonic flight
* Becoming insubstantial light energy

## Character description

Nine is characterized by his fiery temper, which leads him to make rash decisions when angered. He is sensitive about his short height, as well as the likelihood that he murdered his wife. Despite his rash nature, when in calm states he often makes rational suggestions and plans for the team.

The other team members often have an ambivalent if not negative opinion of Nine, largely due to his often brash and prickly nature. He has a reputation as a "shoot first, ask questions later" type, being trigger happy and too eager to kill. He has been attempting to change that assessment, but with little success so far.

## Game history

Nine took a while to warm up to the team, being distrustful by nature and confused about what happened to him due to his amnesia. In time he established himself as a powerful (if fragile) combatant, with a tense but firm connection to the rest of the team.

During the fight at the high school Nine encountered Azrael, AKA his resurrected wife, Rachel. Seeing her brought back the memories of him disposing of her body. After she focused her forces on attempting to kill him in revenge and was herself apparently killed, Nine left to recompose and refocus himself. Unbeknownst to him at the time, Azrael began to resurrect, leading the team to launch her into space at Amanda's suggestion. Upon learning of the team's actions, Nine attacked Amanda in a fit of rage, before she calmed him down using telepathy.

After the team gained the ability to portal between dimensions, Nine began visiting alternate realities with the intent of checking the versions of himself and Rachel in each. During this time he was discovered by the Guardians of Boston, caught having allegedly murdered an alternate dimension version of himself. The Guardians pursued him, leading inadvertently to the death of one of the Guardians' members (Puppetmaster) and a portal device falling into the hands of a cosmically-powerful and reality destroying alternate version of Nine.

Nine vigorously attempted to hide from his teammates that he seemingly killed his wife. The secret was finally revealed after the team found a database of their personal information, leading to Nine fleeing. Amanda pursued and attempted to convince him to return, but Nine ultimately left into the multiverse, his whereabouts unknown to the team.

Nine continued his activities of visiting alternate versions of himself and Rachel, whereupon he again encountered the Guardians of Boston. The Guardians pursued him, leading inadvertently to the death of another alternate version of himself (William). Upon successfully escaping, Nine hid in a cave resistant to portaling and scanning.

When he began running low on provisions, Nine contacted the Headhunters and informed them of his location, asking them to rescue him and find a way of hiding him from the Guardians. The team successfully located him, however the Guardians intercepted their communications and quickly located them. The Guardians then attempted to bring Nine to their reality to stand trial for the alleged mass murder of alternate versions of himself. Before they could take him into custody, however, William (resurrected by the Headhunters) arrived and turned into a dark light form, leading to the Guardians and Headhunters subduing him. The Guardians explained that every mutant version of William Wallace Harris inevitably "turns" and becomes imbued with dark light energy, gaining immense power, losing all reason, and seeking only to destroy. Worse, it is impossible to predict when this transformation will take place.

## Relationship with others

### 5

Nine and 5 have had a generally weak relationship. Most often, Nine finds amusement in 5's misfortune, mocking 5 when the opportunity arises.

### Amanda

Nine has interacted with Amanda more than any other member of the team, and they have had an often tense relationship. Amanda has displayed a continuous desire to have Nine open up to the team, much to his chagrin. They have come into direct conflict on multiple occasions. The first came after she led the team to launch Nine's resurrected wife, Rachel, into space due to their inability to kill her. The second came after the team discovered that he likely killed his wife, as Amanda attempted to force Nine to talk to her. Both incidents led to fights between them, and the second came directly before Nine's absence from the team. After Nine's return, the situation between Amanda and him remains unclear.

### D

Nine and D have had a tenuous but somewhat positive relationship. The two have agreed on courses of action which are more direct and potentially violent, which the rest of the team have questioned. Nonetheless, D finds Nine to be abrasive.

### Gina

Nine and Gina have had a generally ambivalent relationship. Gina often describes Nine as a "jerk", especially in comparison to his alternate universe counterpart, William.

### Hank

Nine and Hank have had a generally ambivalent relationship. Hank considers Nine to be largely unpleasant, and preferred if the team could replace him with his alternate universe counterpart, William.

### Steven

Nine and Steven have had a generally neutral relationship. In their first interaction, Nine allowed Steven to use a shock collar on two prisoners (Jerry and the Squad Leader) in order to gain information. Nine and Steven have had relatively little interaction since then, due to Nine's absence.