The Guardian

The Guardian

> *He ignored me, addressing the group. "System rules have been upgraded. Codes will now reset only within the updated parameters of the program. Reset points have been randomized, and are out of bounds. Only those undergoing a reboot process will have access. … I will not appear again until the current phase is complete."*
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Dr. Juilliard Bolton, also known as the black-suited man to Min Wilder, Black Suit to Noah Livingston, and the Guardian to all sixty-four kids participating in Nemesis 1, was the spearhead of the original Project Nemesis. He was also Min's father, a fact unknown to her until the Program had begun. He is credited with creating the MegaCom system and perfecting the science behind uploading a human being into digital code.

## Before the Program

Just after the digitalization of human beings was greenlit, Juilliard was in Fire Lake, scoping out ideal locations for the Program to take place. He met Virginia Wilder at the Skyline Café and accidentally told her his real name. Instead of killing her, as he was supposed to, he told her everything about the end of the world and the project he was undertaking.

Unaware that Virginia had accidentally conceived his child, Juilliard did not return to Fire Lake for six years, after the location had been definitively chosen for the Program. Here, it was his job to select betas, and when he discovered that his daughter was in the kindergarten class, he faked research that claimed her birthday was the optimal astronomical alignment for the project, and that the other members of her class were the only ones that fell within the correct time frame for this project to work.

Once the date had been established and the process had begun, Juilliard had to perform five beta tests on the subjects he had chosen. Every other year from 2009-2017 on September 17th, he would hunt down Min and Noah and kill them. During the alternating years, he would kill Sarah Harden and Ethan Fletcher after they had been hypnotized by Dr. Piro Fanelli. After the murders, he would regenerate them into cloned bodies and place them at one of four reset points.

## In the Program

Juilliard, in his role as the Guardian, stayed in Town Hall during the entire Program. He only came out to announce the beginning of Phase Two and the end of Phase Two. Min and Noah both visited him during this time, asking him to clarify what was happening in the Program. During Min's visit, he revealed to her that she was his daughter. He also attempted to block Min and Sarah's attempt to resurrect their fallen classmates, but eventually caved and let them into the system.

## Chrysalis

At the last moment, Juilliard decides to join the regeneration process. However, he emerges somewhere else on the station, outside the silo. He then spends the next sixth months dodging the crew, who knows he is there but cannot find where he is hiding, and watching the Nemesis 1 class survive in the Terrarium. He also makes friends with the Nemesis 3 Resistance. After reuniting with Min, Juilliard escapes capture and hides with Tack Russo until they manage to rescue Min. His final act is to sacrifice his life for her, trying to hold Sophia back so she can escape to safety.