Karl Bundy

Karl Bundy (generally referred to as just Karl) is a former Federation soldier and a worker for ISIC. He plays an important role in Shane's backstory, as well as making several appearances in the Sci-Fi Dogs campaign, assisting the Dogs and befriending Taylor.

## Biography

### Earth-3

Karl was born on Earth-3 but was taken in by the Federation during it's siege of the planet in ANX 38, and spent the rest of his childhood with them.

### Involvement with Shane

Karl Bundy was first introduced as a Federation soldier, part of the Federation force sent out to confront the protest on Sarlis in ANX 48. Karl was responsible for turning the protest into a full scale riot after he shot unprompted (seemingly) and for an unknown reason into the crowd, killing a pregnant woman, Mary. One of the consequences of this was the beginning of Arthur Hermis’ journey to becoming Shane, and it is an action that Shane has vowed to avenge. Little is known of Karl’s life for the next 22 years, Shane has tried multiple times to hunt him down, to no avail, and Karl is not seen again until ANX 70, where he is revealed to have become a Wolfenstein Lieutenant.

### Interactions with the Dogs

He is part of the squad sent to rescue the Sci-Fi Dogs at the end of Sci-Fi Dogs Episode 6, introduced striding through the smoke from the exploded wall, to the beat of California Girls, leading the team and blasting away at the rogue bots with duel pistols. Karl is described as being in his late 30’s by ANX 70, meaning he was at most 17 years old during the events on Sarlis. Karl makes irregular appearances throughout the remainder of Phase 1 of the Sci-Fi Dogs and the beginning of Phase 2, drinking with Leon, Bernard, Taylor and begrudgingly Howel in Episode 1 of Phase 2, and later seen that night with Leon drunkenly sharing his bed. He appears in the next episode, again in the bar, where he is met by Taylor, who is reluctant to socialise with anyone, but eventually ends up sharing a drink with him. Taylor rants about the other Dogs, making an offhand comment about how Karl seems like a 'cool guy', to which Karl firmly replies that he is "not a good person". Karl also states that none of the Dogs really work for the Wolfenstein, everyone just works for ISIC, and implies that ISIC's reach and staff in far more widespread than he could imagine, telling Taylor that it has an entire planet of workers. Taylor eventually leaves, expressing a willingness to talk again, before taking a succession of shots, and Karl telling Taylor that "[he] know[s] where to find [him]!". In the next episode Karl comes to check up on Taylor who is in his room, explaining that he was worried about him after he seemed in a mood earlier. Taylor shares the dish Leon gave him with Karl, quickly noticing the latter's drunkenness. Taylor admits that something is bothering him, but puts it down to tension between the crew. Karl can sense that he is lying, or at the very least that there is much more to it, but decides not to push it. After a while of the two eating together, Taylor asks Karl a question that has been bugging him: how did Karl come to work with ISIC? Karl, slightly slurring his words, begins to explain. When ISIC found him he was imprisoned by the Federation for not following orders, but was apparently "too good to be killed, or something". This was just after the merging of the Federation and Wolfenstein, and ISIC then rescued Karl from imprisonment to come work for him. Karl also admits that the reason he drinks is "to forget his past mistakes". Taylor is initially somewhat disgusted when he hears of Karl's background in the Federation, but quickly represses this response, and it is a reaction Karl does not notice in his still somewhat drunken state. Taylor sends him on his way, content to have learned more about Karl and even though he was closed to him in regards to his own issues, the interaction still improved his mood slightly. Taylor keeps a loose eye on Karl as he walks away. Karl is later seen at the front of the crowd during the group's performance as Sci Fi BTS, and is one of the many soldiers to be slaughtered by Hans, however he is quickly medstimmed by Taylor after he jumps down from the stage to help him. Karl makes a cameo appearance in the next episode, seen drinking beer in the corner of the room, and he is mentioned by Taylor to ISIC, when Taylor asks ISIC about getting Karl to join AA. ISIC explains that he's tried before but Karl keeps giving in.

#### Sci-Fi Dogs: Phase 2 Episode 5

Karl, along with other Wolfenstein soldiers, are sent to accompany the Dogs when ISIC drops them off in an unknown part of space. He walks behind the group along with the other soldiers until he grows tired of their bickering, shouting an obscenity to get their attention. Taylor is somewhat shocked but eventually puts the crudeness down to Karl's 'federation side' showing through and begins a conversation with him. Taylor asks Karl why he thinks that ISIC picked to Karl to be part of his crew. Karl repeats what he said earlier, the story of how ISIC took him from the Federation's cells, before eventually admitting that this wasn't answering Taylor's question, and he didn't really know why ISIC went to such lengths to get him onboard, or put up with his behaviour. He makes an offhand comment about doing something that ISIC didn't like. but this is never expanded on (this lead to Karl's spine being removed and replaced, a punishment method occasionally used by ISIC, although this is something that Karl never revealed to anyone for fear of getting them in trouble). Later in the session Karl joins the Dogs in the room where they defend the blender from the resistance and later Shane's attack. He is positioned with Leon behind the cover nearest to the blender. Instead of fighting the members of the resistance he sits against the cover drinking beer. Taylor eventually notices and pleads at him across the room to help them fight, but Karl ignores him. When Shane arrives he does not notice until Leon eventually turns his head around to look at the battlefield, at which point he sees Shane. Karl turns pale and begins to shake, before beginning to slowly walk towards Shane, ignoring the battle around him. He finally reaches Shane, and upon spotting him Shane immediately pushes Howel, who he had been initially focused on, to the side. The two stand face to face for the first time in 22 years. Karl's two pistols drop from his hands as he stares at Shane and says "*I'm so sorry Arthur*". During this interaction, Shane seems almost to falter, the first emotion he has shown the entire fight. A blade of bone slides out of Shane's wrist as multicoloured pustules appear and inflate on his inner forearm. He stabs the blade into Karl's stomach, the pustules deflating as Shane injects Karl with the contents, what seems to be an incredibly large dose of a stim like substance. Karl's whole body bloats, before shrinking, and then he begins to shake before exploding everywhere, all within a matter of seconds. Blood and gore fly everywhere before seemingly dissolving to a molecular level. What is left of Karl lies splattered across the room and he is so utterly destroyed that not even Taylor's attempts to medstim him can bring him back.

Karl is dead.

After the fight ends, Taylor grabs a sample of the remains of Karl.

#### Post-humous impact and references

Karl's gruesome death and Taylor's inability to help him in any way affect Taylor deeply for the remainder of the campaign.

The Nazi Anime Girls request the DNA from Taylor to put in the blender, and he reluctantly gives them half.

It is later revealed that the Nazi Anime Girls used this sample to create a horrific clone of Karl, that lacks many recognisable features and seemingly any intelligence. It is seen covered in blood and dragged into the blender.

Taylor's half of the sample is kept safe in a fridge with the Nazi Anime Girls, although when he later goes back for it they deny him entry.

## Trivia

-Karl Bundy has Wolfsbane in his blood. It is implied that this is why ISIC kept him alive, and is also likely why the Nazi Anime Girls wanted to use his DNA sample for ST-N1K's new body.

-After the events on Sarlis Karl made an oath to never kill again. In Sci-Fi Dogs he is only seen killing robots and it explains why he doesn't take part in the final battle in Sci-Fi Dogs: Phase 2 Episode 5. This is the reason he got his spine removed by ISIC.

-Karl was actually imprisoned by the Federation, not because he shot into the crowd, but because the rest of the firing squad didn't. The Federation had actually ordered them to shoot and Karl was the only one to obey. The surviving members, including Karl, where then imprisoned and punished indiscriminately, in particular being subjected to prolonged instances of Chinese Water Torture.