Brian Ward

## General Timeline Information

Brian Ward was born in 2020. In 2026 his parents passed away through undisclosed means. Brian was sent to an orphanage the same year. He grew to despise the unfairness in the adoption system and later escaped in 2032; only to later join Scythe. In 2036 Brian (now going by Shadow) would rise in rank and be put in charge of Shadow Squad. In 2037 he'd take part in the Scythe bank robbery; where he would begin to turn against Scythe; resulting in the disappearance of the bank funds and Shadow's secret puppeteering over the following years of war between Scythe and the SSC. In 2038 he'd partake in a battle against Gregory, the involved killing of Danson, the faked death of Tim Allender, and the rescue of Gregory from Trigger; which costed him his life.

## Biography

Brian Ward was orphaned at age 6 and was promptly sent to an adoption center in which he watched as only the younger kids were chosen by parents. Growing to hate this dis balance; Brian escaped the orphanage and joined Scythe; now with an uncanny urge to balance everything in his life. He'd come to rise in rank and be put in charge of Shadow Squad; an elite Scythe force tasked with protecting Scythe forces. However during the robbery of the local bank by way of Scythe; Brian (now called Shadow) would come to realize that he was growing to fond of Scythe and as a result and caused his balance to shift unfairly in their favor. As such; upon discovering Marcus Blakley trying to escape with the money he'd intercepted from the SSC (who; in turn - stole it from Scythe) Shadow threatened to kill him and his father if he didn't hand over half the money and play by Shadow's rules to keep balance. Shadow would hand over his half to Scythe for use in buying weapons while the other half was sent to Brett. Shadow then blamed the SSC for the stealing of the money; yet prevented an immediate attack by stating that the SSC would return the money within a given amount of days so long as they were not bothered. Despite Scythe not attacking the SSC; members within the group quit on a massive scale; weakening the group significantly. To continue his personal sense of "balance", Shadow slowly worked with Marcus under the guise of "Negative" to shape Gregory into the perfect spy; capable of taking back Scythe's half of the money and bringing the group down; only to lose his own life in the process. Gregory unwittingly played into Shadow's hands (just as everyone else had) and upon being pushed to fight Trigger; Shadow had a sudden change of heart and sacrificed himself to battle Trigger; resulting in him being fatally shot. Shadow later revealed to Gregory his full plan; stating that it was finally time for him to break the balance and move on. He later passed away and his death as well as Trigger's injuries were glossed over in the media as being part of a gang turf-war.

## Personality/Appearance

Shadow was an incredibly serious and threatening individual. His high rank and deadliness made him a feared Scythe member; who's intelligence and brutality allowed for superior training of Scythe forces. However; when not under this militant guise; Shadow was actually mentally obsessed with filling his life with "balance", which would result in him becoming a powerful puppet master in the events foretold in The Tale of Gregory. His incredible ability to lie made it nearly impossible to distinguish his Scythe personality from his Negative personality. He demonstrated superior sneaking abilities as well as fighting prowess which allowed him to stand up against most any unarmed foe. Shadow was described as having black hair which was somewhat parted to the right. Shadow had light brown eyes and a somewhat large nose. He also featured a prominent chin and an average white skin tone. Stress and sleepless nights left him with dark bags beneath his eyes. A prolific scar ran down the right side of his face, around the cheekbone, while another rested just above his right eyebrow. He was also defined as being tall and muscular. He often carried two guns strapped to his sides, and a pocket knife. When masquerading as Negative, Brian wore a blank black mask. A black cloth was also added underneath so that his other features could not be spied.