Francis Ackerman Jr.

## History

Francis Ackerman Jr. witnessed his mother's death at the hands of his father at an early age. His father then treated him as a slave and kept him locked away for over two years as his own little experiment to prove his theories. Ackerman discloses in *The Cage* that his father (Francis Ackerman Sr, a psychologist) kept him "locked away in a dark little room." Here, Ackerman was subjected to physical and psychological torture with the hopes of proving nature vs nurture in the sense that serial killers are made, not born. The room had a bare fluorescent bulb with a constant hum that tormented Ackerman much like Chinese Water Torture. Some of the mental torture we are told of are the same events that took place in the lives of notorious serial killers.

In T*he Shepherd* Ackerman reveals to Alice Richards that he remembers his mother's love, but not her death. She had died, along with his unborn baby brother. He has no recollection of her funeral or of visiting her grave.

We find out that this is because she ran away from his father. Marcus is the baby brother.

Ackerman made a promise to Marcus not to kill anyone, and he keeps that promise (expect for Craig's men, but that was self-defense).

## Appearance

Ackerman is said to be quite handsome. He has storm grey eyes and short black hair. His arms are heavily scarred, especially around his wrists. It's said that his wrists are just as thick as his hands owing to his amount of scar tissue, which makes it easy for him to escape from handcuffs. He is described to often wear black or dark clothes. Ackerman is also quite strong seeing as he is able to fight and restrain other grown men and women. He is able to fool people with his looks, making them a deadly weapon in many cases.

## Weapons and Deaths

Ackerman seemingly uses anything and everything, and does not turn up his nose at torture. He has a genius level intellect, an impressive reading list (one of which is the Bible), and absolutely no fear due to damage to his amygdala. He is strong and seems to know how to fight barehanded (Muay Tai). He sees everyone as predator and prey, and often describes himself as a predator.

*The Cage*

Ackerman uses a gun to wound a doctor (Jennifer Kelly) and then kill a guard (Bert) after making him beg for his life. After sneaking into a supply closet, Ackerman gets his hands on chemicals (ammonia, drain cleaner, iodine) and creates a bomb in a bucket, taking the lives of a group of guards hunting him. In the flooded basement, he takes a hammer left by the construction crew and beats in the side of a young guard's (Ferris) head. Also in the basement, he captures Dr. Kendrick and dresses the man in the guard uniform he stole, then pushes him from a closet. This causes Kendrick to be shot and killed by David, who mistook him as Ackerman. Ackerman then attacks David McNamara with (presumably) the hammer and then restrains the man in a chair. To test Jennifer, he claims that she can electrocute both men and survive if she stands on a table. The "game" is only a test.

*The Shepherd*

Ackerman kills an old woman in her house by hunting her (Maureen Hill) by saying that she can live if she evades him for 10 minutes. When he sees Alice Richards, he kills her husband (Dwight) and forces her to play Russian Roulette with him and her two children - she lives due to her unconditional love for her children. He kills and guts a man (Alexi) in the style of Jack the Ripper in the bakery. He kidnaps a woman (Maggie) to lure Marcus to the school and throws her from the roof. He kidnaps another woman (Emily), but later saves her because she understood why he did what he did.

*The Prophet*

Ackerman kills an officer and uses a Knee Splitter to injure the other before Rosemary Phillips talks. He kills Vassago Crowley with a Spanish Donkey.

*Father of Fear*

Ackerman scares Jezebel's Masks & More's owner by hanging him from the rafters and acting as if he's going to light him on fire. He kills Craig's men in self-defense.