Ark Shine

**Ark Shine** is a Luxian super-criminal with potent mind control abilities that is often considered to be the arch nemesis of Glowie.

## Biography

### **Life on Lux**

Ark had almost always known about his abilities, and with no one capable of overpowering him to teach him any better, he turned towards a life of crime, taking and doing whatever he wanted. Most of the time he didn't even do anything himself: he forced others to commit his crimes for him, leaving no evidence linking himself to anything.

After some time a team of detectives caught on to the fact that a recent string of crimes were likely being caused by someone like Ark, but when they confronted him they all succumbed to his abilities, except one: Glowie. Glowie immediately realized what had happened and fled, but by that point Ark had taken an interest in him: Glowie was the one being he had ever encountered that could resist him, and that made hunting him down interesting.

When Ark eventually caught up with Glowie he used his abilities to turn his friend Mina against him. Glowie's attempt to defend himself accidentally resulted in Mina's death, a fact that drove him to leave Lux. Ark was content having driven Glowie off world, but not long after he was randomly abducted by Bandos, who had been observing the Luxians for some time.

Ark quickly found that he was unable to control Bandos, and immediately agreed to do as he asked, in order to save his own life. Bandos then sent Ark to Gielinor to figure out the status of Guthix, and whether or not he still posed a threat to Bandos' return.

### **Arriving on Gielinor**

Ark arrived on Gielinor some time later, and decided that while he was in a new world he might as well resume his old crime spree. It would allow him to get a feel of the worlds law enforcement, and he simply couldn't help himself. However, after his first theft he stayed close by to watch the aftermath. He attempted controlling some of the responding detectives when they started asking too many questions, but quickly realized the most prominent among them was immune to his abilities.

Recognizing the detective as Glowie in disguise, Ark set a trap for him. He took control of the local news station and forced him out into the open, forgoing his mission for Bandos to instead focus on catching Glowie. When Ark and Glowie fought he quickly realized that the news anchor, Spiffy, was a personal friend of Glowies, as was the warrior who responded to the mysterious broadcast.

Glowie fled, fearing that he would hurt his new friends like he had Mina, but Ark continued his hunt, using Spiffy and Grumble to learn all he could about Gielinor and Glowie's possible whereabouts. He even learned about Guthix's capture from them, effectively fulfilling his mission for Bandos. Rather than report back, however, he kept this to himself to use as leverage later. Soon after he was contacted by Glowie, who gave him directions to the desert entrance of Zamorak's pocket realm. There the two fought once more, Glowie utilizing he newly discovered duplication abilities to finally defeat and lock up Ark.

### **Joining the Payback Squad**

Ark spent the next few months locked within Zamorak's pocket realm in absolute solitude. When the Trio defeated Pargo they decided to throw him into the same prison, and so Ark was now forced to deal with the ramblings of the seemingly insane mage. In an effort to save himself from Pargo's eccentricity he kept him under his mental domination most of the time. Not long after yet another prisoner was added to the mix: Zhylen, leader of the Zamorakian Cult. Ark and Zhylen shared a similar rage and hatred against the Trio, so Ark spared him from mental domination.

Ark and the others were eventually freed by Derponet and the Silver Warrior, who had allied themselves to kill the Trio. Together the five of them hunted them down and attacked, but their own disorganization and lack of trust in one another allowed the Trio to escape.  They regrouped, and despite his anger Ark continued to go along with the plan to take them out. When they next fought the Trio Ark managed to dominate Grumble, and the team itself managed to capture Glowie. Spiffy, however, managed to get away before Ark could control him.

In a desperate effort to save his friends, Spiffy doubled back and ambushed the Payback Squad, knocking Ark out before he could react. This, in turn, freed Grumble and allowed the Trio to fight back. When Ark regained consciousness a few moments later he immediately dominated both Grumble and Spiffy, but something went wrong when he connected with the latter. By establishing a connection to Spiffy he also established a connection to the Stone of Jas, of which Spiffy held a shard of. This, in turn, granted Ark the increased strength and powers that the Stone offered, but it all went straight to his head - literally.

His brain was unable to handle the sudden increase in power and almost immediately Ark was hit with an excruciating amount of pain as his mind overloaded, rendering his powers obsolete. When he eventually recovered, after the Payback Squad had escaped, he discovered that he no longer possessed his mind control powers. The Stone had overloaded and effectively "popped" the part of his brain that allowed him to control others. It did not leave him helpless though, as he was now able to create powerful psychic blasts, a remnant of his former abilities.

With their faith in the alliance as shattered as Ark's abilities, the members of the Payback Squad split up and all went after the Trio individually, with no unified plan. Because of this the Trio were easily able to defeat and capture them, Ark included. In an effort to do things better, the Trio decided to turn the criminals over to the proper authorities, who sent them to more proper, conventional, prisons.

### **On the Run**

Ark's imprisonment did not last long, though. Almost immediately after incarceration he once again found himself teleported away to face Bandos, who was not particularly happy with Ark or his actions while on Gielinor. Ark desperately leveraged what he had learned about Guthix for his life, which was enough to appease Bandos for their immediate conversation. But despite giving Bandos what he wanted Ark was still cast out of his organization, where he quickly found himself being pursued by an alien bounty hunter, Narzai, who had been looking to bring him to justice for some time.

Knowing he'd be unable to defeat Narzai without his mind control abilities, Ark returned to Gielinor in an effort to find protection. He approached Glowie and Spiffy, claiming that he was being hunted by Bandos' forces, who he promised to give intel on in exchange for their protection. Spiffy convinced Glowie to go along with the plan, and the two of them soon found themselves fighting Narzai off. This ruse didn't last very long, as Glowie quickly figured out that Narzai had absolutely no association with Bandos whatsoever. He promptly turned Ark over to him so that he could finally face justice for everything he'd ever done.

## Personality

Ark has always been particularly arrogant due to his abilities. Because he could mentally dominate anyone he ever encountered, he came to believe that there was nothing that could stop his crime spree. Even when he first encountered Glowie and his ability to resist mental domination he remained arrogant, and used his abilities to instead turn Glowie's loved ones on him.

Ark's arrogance is matched only by his sadism; while he did not follow Glowie to Gielinor as originally thought, he took genuine pleasure in tormenting him and ruining his life. After Ark was defeated and imprisoned in Zamorak's pocket realm his arrogance and sadism were replaced by anger and irritability. Having never lost or been captured before, his pride had been shattered.

When we allied himself with the Payback Squad his rage was his driving motivation, rather than his arrogance or sadism. This ultimately backfired as it made teamwork impossible, resulting in the inevitable collapse of the unholy alliance. His raging personality didn't last long, however, as when Bandos abducted him it was replaced by a more devious and uncertain one.

## Abilities

### **Former**

* **Mind Control**: Before losing it, Ark possessed an extremely powerful ability to dominate the minds of others, forcing them to do whatever he commanded. The only limit on this power was Ark's focus, meaning he could control a small army at once, though it would leave him practically immobile. Only Glowie and Gods have been able to resist it.
* **Invisibility Sense**: Ark's Mind Control ability allowed him to effectively see all nearby minds, making invisibility practically useless against him. He is even capable of sensing the presence of those he is unable to control.

### **Current**

* **Psychic Force**: After his mind was overloaded, his abilities "shattered" in a sense. He is no longer able to reach out and mentally dominate other beings, but can still "reach out" mentally. This basically allows him to mentally fire powerful psychic blasts in any direction.

## Appearances

* "Glowie"
* "The Trio 2"
* "Warning"