Cassius Topklaw

Cassius is the younger half of the Topklaw Brothers. Both him and his brother Gomek get on top of the Big Al in an effort to kill Asuka for the sake of raising their ranks. He is ultimately defeated by Ray and Summer.

## Background

Cassius and his brother Gomek were both born in Sila, where they made a repuation as assassins. At some point, they participated in the Vara Theater Incident, which made them very infamous. However, they managed to erase their tracks with nobody recognizing them.

## Personality

Contrary to his older brother, Cassius is someone who prefers pleasure over business. He believes in indulging in sadism, likes being challenged by strong opponents, and despises politics. Despite his huge bravado, Cassius can panic or lose his patience when thigns don't go his way.

## Appearance

Gomek is a huge crocodile with green scales all over his body. His scales are a lighter yellow in the front of his body and the palms of his hands. He has yellow eyes with slit pupils. Unlike his brother's sharper features, his features are rounder due to being overweight.

Cassius size makes him part of a megafauna, as he easily dwarfs Ray, Summer, and their team in height, with only the megafauna passengers of the Big Al matching him in size. He is overweight yet still muscular, as he has a round appearance than Gomek He has sharp black claws at the tips of his fingers, digitigrade feet, and a long tail.

He wears a blue business suit with a light purple shirt underneath it, a red tie, and a black bowl hat. He also complements his clothes with black pants that end at his ankles

## Powers, Skills, and Abilities

As an assassin of the Monroe Syndicate, Cassius is a dangerous foe. His large size, ability to make explosions, and years of experience makes him a dangerous fighter. It took a combine effort from Ray and Summer, and some earlier help from Maureen Diggers to actually earn a victory against him.

### Powers

* Explosion Generation: Through unknown means, Cassius is capable of releasing explosions from the palms of his hands. He can also release an explosion by inhaling a large amount of air and blowing it through his mouth.
* Enhanced Strenght: As a result of his size, Cassius is very strong. This allows him to defeat the security staff at the Big Al without using his explosions, easily picking them up by their heads so that Gomek can knock them out. Furthermore, he wins a spar against Gomek by shoving him against a glass window, cracking it with the force of the strike.
* Enhanced Durability: As a result of his scales, Cassius possesses an incredible ability to withstand damage. This allows him to resist all of Ray and Summer's attacks. However, he has a limit to how much damage he can take as Summer breaks his hand by colliding against it and Ray ultimately defeats him with a fire ball to the groin.

### Skills

* Master Fighter: Cassius is an incredible fighter as his fighting style uses open palm thrusts that are enhanced with his mysterious ability to create explosions. Though he is the weakest of the two brothers, Cassius believes that he is slowly catching up with Gomek after beating him in a spar.

### Abilities

* Jaw Strength: As a crocodile, Cassius possesses incredible jaw strength. He actually bites a chunk of the floor on which Summer was standing on and destoryed it withi his bite, attempting to eat Summer alive with his jaws before Ray stopped him with a fire ball.
* Prehensile Tail: Cassius is shown to use his tail as another extra limb. This allows him to pull up a surprise attack on Ray, who barely manages to dodge his attack by learning how to use his fire powers to create explosions to change his attack course.

## History

### Infiltrating The Big Al

Cassius makes his first entrance after Gomek finishes defeating the passenger of a cabin, alerting the security staff with a noise complaint. As Gomek surprises the guards with his presence, Cassius sneaks up behind them to grab them by their heads so that Gomek can knock them unconscious With the security guards knocked out, Gomek and Cassius spar against each other.

Gomek explains to Cassius that he intends to defeat Asuka to increase their ranks in the Monroe Syndicate. Though Cassius dismisses the capture of Asuka, he ultimately agrees when Gomek states that he will get to fight against Ray and Summer, the two Meta Officers who defeated Roulette and Brigade. Cassius ultimately wins the spar, but he still believes that he is not on Gomek's level despite his victory. With nothing better to do until tomorrow, the two brothers keep sparring, intending to fulfill their mission on the next day.

### Fighting The Rookies

The following day, Cassius meets with Asuka's team while Gomek goes after Asuka. He pretends to be an escort named Jeff, leading them across a rainforest to take them to a conference room. While the team is distracted, Cassius calls Gomek and asks him how he's doing, having a mild panic attack when he discover Asuka is absent but recovering his cool when Gomek confirms that he's been tailing her. Cassius promises being able to take of Ray and Summer, but he is dismayed at how many passengers are looking at him because they are curious of Ray's presence in the Big Al since that would make it impossible for Cassius to assassinate him. Once Summer makes the passengers lead by yelling at them, Cassius leads the team to the room where he prepared an ambush.

While Gomek was fighting Asuka, Cassius leads her team to a room filled with security guards that he beat up. Cassius pretends to be scared for the staff members while the team checks on their condition. As Ray and Summer are distracted, Cassius attempts to assassinate them. However, Maureen Diggers uses her slingshot to temporarily blind Cassius with a flash bomb. She informs Ray and Summer that Cassius works for the Monroe Syndicate and attempts to fight him.

Cassius uses his explosions to injure Maureen after she asks him to let her join. Before Cassius can land a blow on her, Ray uses his fire powers and his own explosions to protect Maureen. Realizing that the team is going to call reinforcements, Cassius uses his breath to create another explosion. Summer jumps over the explosion and tries to kick him, but Cassius blocks her attack and fights back. Ray and Summer tag team against Cassius, but none of their attacks work against him because of his tough scales. Ultimately, they defeat him when Summer breaks his hand and Ray throws a fire ball to his groin. Unable to bear the pain any longer, Cassius falls unconscious, allowing the security staff of the Big Al to arrest him for his crimes.

## Trivia

* Cassius is the first Monroe Syndicate member that Ray defeats after becoming a Meta Officer.
* Cassius is the third person to get a groin attack from Ray after a yak in the first chapter and a panther prisoner in the third chapter.