Henry Cross

* Moot's Render
* Tree's Render
* Concept Art

*"Rule one, When you're here, speak freely and honestly. What you might say may be stupid, or a waste of my breath to answer, but thats how you're gonna learn. Rule two, keep smart ass comments to yourself unless you want extra work. Rule three, when you're here, you're here to work. If I catch you stalling, wasting your time, or otherwise goofing off when you should be working, you're gone.*

*I don't care if we're tracking down some old ladies dog, you put 110% effort into it."* (Henry speaking to his interns.)

Henry Cross was a teacher at U.A. High School.

## Appearance

Henry Cross appears to be a regular man in his early fifties, and has a glare that could stop a raging bull dead in its tracks. He has a normal build slightly on the wiry side, and unremarkable features that allow him to blend in with crowds seamlessly. His brown hair is heavily fading to gray with age, but his light brown eyes retain a strength to them that time could never dull. He typically dresses in casual wear suited for colder environments, preferring thick jackets and jeans. On occasion he will wear slacks and button up shirts.

Henry appears to constantly be taking his surroundings, eyes always studying the environment around him and the people within it. He has an air about him that indicates he takes everything extremely seriously, never even taking a moment for breaks. Whenever he moves around, he does so with a straight back, shoulders set, and eyes forward.

His typical expressions range from blank, to annoyed, to mildly amused, and furious.

## Personality

Henry was a workaholic at his core, and had spent nearly every day of his career working on criminal investigations. Due to spending his life in his line of work and just his general attitude, he was extremely tough to be around. He gave little praise to his co workers or students, instead pointing out their many mistakes at every opportunity, always looking for something to nitpick. He was particularly hard on the students he teaches, as he thought their modern ideals of heroism are flawed.

Henry had unfortunately picked up some bad habits from his career. He rarely ever let his guard down, and regarded anyone new he met with suspicion. His eating and sleeping habits were terrible from years of working overtime, and he has a caffeine addiction. He tended to keep to himself most of the time, giving little information about his past to anyone except trusted individuals.

Despite his jaded and rough exterior, Henry was fiercely loyal and kind when he needed to be. He went out of his way to help those who need him, and tried to protect anyone close to him with his life if it were necessary. Often he has shown his own form of compassion towards certain criminals he encounters, offering them strongly worded advice or confronting them with the reality of what it truly means to be a criminal. Often this tough compassion is aimed at children.

## Synopsis

Henry was a former police officer turned private investigator and pro hero. From tracking down lost family members to bringing down entire criminal organizations, the man had more completed case work than most police departments rack up in a lifetime. His Quirk had put him in the unique position of being able to infiltrate any location he wanted without a trace, as well as being near invulnerable to any type of physical damage. This has made him excellent at espionage and surveillance, as well as recovery related tasks. Due to his abilities, the underground community began referring to him as a ghost. When he applied for his pro hero license, he decided to take the title for his own and his official hero name became "Ghost."

### **Death in the Family**

After his sister Jessica's unexpected death, Henry became the primary care taker of his niece Sarah. He raised her while performing his duties as a private investigator. During this time he was obsessed with tracking down his sisters assailant, spending every waking moment trying to find scraps of information that just weren't there. Even as his niece grew up and the pain faded away, he still found himself periodically searching for any new information he could find. This was the period in his life where Henry accidentally created the legend that is Ghost, the inhumane force that could level entire criminal empires. Luckily for him, he had his niece Sarah to keep his sense of humanity alive. While there were many tough moments for Henry as he raised Sarah, mainly issues he caused from his non-natural parental instincts, he feels prideful in how she ended up turning out.

### **The Boss X Incident**

Henry was brought to UA to help his only former intern, Mitsuki Akame, to sniff out a traitor leaking information to criminals from within the school. He was brought on as UA's Head of Security, where he implemented a complete systems overall to improve their defenses. His joint investigation was successful, finding the location and apparent identity of the villain. With the help of fellow pro heroes he planned a siege to capture the crime lord Boss X. What ensued was a dramatic car chase through the streets of Japan, ending in a warehouse down by the city's shipyard. Here it was revealed in a moment of surprise and weakness that Boss X was actually the Pro Hero Moleman, who took advantage of the confusion and Henry's obsession with finding his sisters killer to strike a devastating blow to the detective.

Henry saw a vision of his sister while he lay there, dying on the cold concrete. In his vision of her they boxed one another, like they did when they were young and taking lessons. She told him he needed to move on, that he had a new family he needed to look after. It was okay that she died, and Henry needed to embrace that and stop comparing himself to her. Henry awoke from his vision, in a literal ghostly form floating over his inanimate corpse to the shock of heroes and villains alike. In this incorporeal form he flung Moleman with so much force that he cracked the concrete floor of the warehouse. Once the threat was over he returned to UA, where for he remained in his strange new form for over a month, where he wasn't sure if he'd ever return to normal.

It was during this time of uncertainty that Henry became close with the school's resident science teacher Hibiko Saeki, who hypothesized that his new form was simply a feature of his Quirk that he had never fully realized. With his permission, she began performing experiments on his corpse to attempt to force him back into his body. As the experiments became more in depth and required them to spent more time with one another, Henry grew to like her more than he initially thought he might. The experiments continued, until finally he was reunited with his body in a painful procedure. As a result of it, he has a permanent metal spike that runs along the base of his spine to keep his alternate form from slipping out of his body.

After getting his body back, Henry noticed that a lot of the experiments Hibiko was subjecting him to were starting to become more random and misplaced, like a trip to the fair grounds to test "Stress Levels." Not long after a few "Field Tests" and other outings they officially started a serious relationship, one that helped Henry down a new path in his life.

Throughout this time at UA Henry relaxed slightly, displaying a much more positive attitude towards mentoring the students of UA. It was a time of peace for him, and while he spent much of it working as he usually does, he found himself enjoying the little things in life a lot more.

### **The Pied Pipers Incident**

During and after the incident involving Ko Yamshita, Tora Koybayashi and several other bystanders, Henry relapsed into old behavior. For a time he was back to working late nights, avoiding meals, and distancing himself all together from his new family. He stopped teaching class at UA and instead focused on his duty of UA Head of Security in his own way, working overtime to track down what he saw to be their biggest threat, Ko Yamashita. He felt that he had failed the students who were harmed, having spent too much time on himself and not enough time taking down threats that jeopardized safety.

Henry reached a critical point where, after weeks of going nonstop, he finally snapped and got into an argument with an extremely emotional worn out Hibiko Saeki. He berated her for being clumsy and useless, having spilt coffee all over his notes. Realizing his mistake, he apologized, and had to be told by her that all he was doing was ruining his life more. He was told he needed to make a change, or he would lose everyone around him.

Through a series of other events, Henry changed again. He started to wonder just who he wanted to be in his old age, and if he even had a life beyond the career that he had made for himself. He began to explore his own personality more, and found something that sat well with him. He relaxed a little, more willing to accept his love of others and accept it in return. He was much quicker in giving praise to students and attention to other people in his life. He even started taking care of himself again, eating better and restarting his therapy sessions. But with these positive changes came a much darker internal change too. Now, Henry had everything to live for and everything to protect, and he was willing to do anything to keep it, including crossing lines that shouldn't be crossed.

## Abilities

Henry possessed a variety of social abilities that he has honed from years of solving mysteries and engaging with criminals. He was extremely perceptive, his eyesight and hearing impeccable for someone his age, as well as possessing an uncanny ability to move silently. His most mastered skill is being able to read people or gain insights into what others are truly thinking. It is nearly impossible to lie to him.

### Quirk: Specter

Henry had the power to make his body entirely insubstantial, meaning he can pass through all material as if it were not there. While in this phased state, he could somewhat "fly", could move horizontally or vertically as long as he has solid material to phase through. He can launch himself with incredible speed out of a solid object, but rarely did so unless he needed to engage an enemy in the air.

### Special Moves

Henry had several moves capable of rendering opponents immobile or dead. Unfortunately, they were unethical and within the confines of a table top role playing system, completely unfair and were never used. However, here are just *some* of the hypothetical things Henry could do as a special move.

* **Spectral Strike** - Henry reaches inside a target and pops any vital organ, resulting in instant death or internal bleeding.
* **Live Buria**l - Henry drags a target underground long enough to suffocate them, or only phases part of their body, materializing them inside solid matter and instantly killing them.
* **Voodoo Doll** - Henry phases objects and sticks them inside opponents bodies. Causes internal damage, possible dislocation of limbs and or displacement of organs.

## Trivia

* Had a combined 10 years of police and detective experience with Boston PD.
* Known as the Boogieman of Boston
* Has a knife wound scar on his right palm from a deranged ex.
* Obsessed with sweets, often stealing from students baking projects.
* Never obtained a higher education from a college or university.
* His daughter Sarah is the author of Mitsuki Akame's favorite line of mystery novels.
* Actively does not appear on the public hero rankings upon a personal request. His performance numbers are known only to government officials or members Hero Association with high enough clearance.
* Has a high tech metal spike attached to his spinal column, keeping his spectral form locked into his body and preventing it from slipping out.

## Quotes

* *"I'll save you the trouble. I don't want to be involved."*
* *"Impersonating your peers is bad enough, impersonating staff is a whole other problem. Writing crappy gotcha headlines isn't an expel-able offense, but it should be. My kid wrote better when she was seven."*
* (To Joseph Warren, after asking Ghost for dating advice.) *"Oh, the Yakuza girl. I see your taste in women is about as good as the rest of your decision making."*
* (To Tora Kobayashi after her mind was nearly shattered by the CEO of the Pied Pipers.) *"I'm going to bury him in the darkest hole I can find, and if he tries to get out...I'll be there to make sure he can't try a second time."*
* (To Sanji Kyodo, during a tough conversation) *"You don't have to pretend to be anything than a wreck right now."*