Shadow

*"An ongoing gamble and a rather just cause; yep that's my life these days."*

## The Pilot

He was just a mostly normal guy in his late 20's working a lower end job with occasional surfing of /tg/, /a/, and /m/. One day, a suit crashed right by him on his walk to work. Being fed up with being broke, he decided to gamble on using the pod. His thoughts created a suit that was an extension of him (someone rather unnoticeable), with some tweaks that made his life easier. In a bit of curiosity, he also decided to make an uplifted AI based on a favorite character of his.

Upon waking up three weeks later he found that his life was turned upside down, as he was considered missing (losing his job and getting his stuff moved down in the basement) and saw that people were inquiring about the pod. He knew he had to leave and try to find a way to straighten things out enough to get his stuff back.

On his journey he found himself growing detached from his old life due to his life being more on the computer, and he largely began to think of himself as "Shadow". During this time he discretely assisted in a few battles. He found the advice of his AI, Komachi, to be invaluable and someone to talk to.

One day while he was relaxing in a library (one of the few left) he got in contact with Fyhlen (a friend pre-suitfall, now suited himself) who recommended the Corps to him, and he departed, hoping to be able to pick up the stuff he left at home. That, and aid the cause of course.

In his time waiting for action, he actually was headhunted by DOG to join Hanse Behörde. The offer was flattering but Shadow felt he was better suited for the Armor Corps.

Since joining, his free time has him recovering from his time on the run. He appears to have some bad luck in catching missions for one reason for another. This went so far as the big stealth missions. Since then he's been doing various scouting activities.

### Personality

Generally well meaning and friendly, being around many more experienced pilots humbled him. He also has an odd side that shows when he decides to speak. He takes his AI's remarks in stride as he knows she doesn't mean much harm and it's better for her to enjoy herself in times of peace so she won't be disruptive during missions... most of the time.

His time before joining Armor Corps has made him somewhat paranoid in combat, trying to spot any enemies before they get the jump on him. For this reason he finds being part of the Corps to be quite a relief and he's relaxed this trait.

His work ethic built up in his life carries into missions, as he's always willing to do his role to the best of his ability. Things like gathering scrap can wait until the mission's cleared. This also means he's pretty practical when choosing his gear for missions.

But off mission he's fond of relaxing and having fun, now that he's relieved of the stress of constantly hiding. He also possesses a sense of humor that can range from odd to snarky, though it only shows when he feels he's comfortable enough. Still, underneath the reasonable, serious guy is a major Metal Gear fanboy (among a few other games). He has a hobby of trying out new foods, mainly those with real meat. Due to the usual AC base diet, he relishes real meat stuff in general, and now, Dirty Granny Cider due to a bar in Australia

He thinks nothing of risky things as the very act of getting in the pod was one massive gamble that he's still in the middle of.

He's habitually rather repsectful to supervisors and elder teammates, though he's baffled by some of the things he finds out. He's generally friendly towards his teammates, usually finding something to talk about while trying to be a mature voice of reason and he has considerable patience in dealing with some of his more difficult members. Out of missions he will talk about small things.

His belief in the cause (saving the earth from ailens) stands strong, though his faith in some of the more trigger-happy members of the Corps is another matter. As far as the commanders, he's willing to think the lack of intel on recent missions was a fluke. ("I hope they didn't call Falling Down a fluke.") These beliefs keep him from taking his AI's suggestion to run and hide. Due to the general suspicious nature of Indonesia's invasion mission (and Zulu's demise) among others, he is starting to really lose faith, only sticking around due to his friends.

He is over not adverse to pragmatic measures though he isn't quick to resort to them and his temper is more of a cold, passive one than anything explosive though it's only the traitorous suit known as Fortress that fully sparked it.

That and he swears by taking a more mindful approach to things, as opposed to "just shoot it".

When drunk enough, his reservations drop revealing a very open and rampbuncious shift in personality.

### Appearance

A dark browned haired/brown eyed guy, fairly unremarkable but in decent shape until his brush with death by nanites melting him. Afterwards, his AI reconstructed him with various improvements, looking a bit more handsome and slightly more buff among other things.

He generally wears T-shirts and jeans, and occasionally a ninja-ish outfit he's been working on (complete with a blue scarf seen on the suit in peace time). That is, if he's not in his suit, wearing it out of habit formed by both his Mycelium nanites and his past.

### Relations & Allies

He has a friend in Fyhlen, a fellow newcomer to the group (and the one that recommended it to him), and works with him on missions that they both join.

He sees his AI, Komachi, as an invaluable partner not just for her AI functions but for keeping him from getting too serious about things. Though this might have shifted due to his brush with death, though she shows it more than him until one day at a Bar where he openly returned her affections.

He has been known to hang out with the duo of Redneck Rider and Stark Soldat, serving as the reasonable third person.

He respects Silver Knight after hearing (and seeing) his feats of heroism. He considers his role to be valuable as a "Hero" of the corps, a figure to keep up morale. Shadow took his death rather hard and is helping Team Bearbreaker in devision a plan to take Fortress down once and for all, taking the same care to smash his head in (just as it was done to Silver Knight). This lead to him joining Gravediggers (Team Bearbreaker's new name), though in a mostly support capacity. He was quite glad to hear news of his return.

He also considers Tommy to be among his friends, where he takes Tommy's quirks in stride though there are signs that Shadow isn't quite so different.

He does try to help out newer meshes such as Zulu learn their roles if not literally in a mission. He is however mildly peeved by Bunyip's air of smug superiority after joining GI. Zulu's death affected him pretty badly.

Unlike many in AC, he only has solely a professional respect for Zipline. He also respects other vets of pre-split missions.

He's also been seeing talking with White Falcon at times about mecha stuff.

At the Bar thing, he's shown to get along well with Tommy and Private (the latter a bit due to undisclosed events), though he thinks Tommy's fondness of dragon dildos are a bit odd. He was unsettled by Deathfire/Nameless's infamous hatred of meshes until he found out it only applied to the enemy and an incident with drider meshes, something he cosiders unsettling.

His respecfulness for some of command figures has suffered, particularly Valkyrie as he feels they're mainly out to lead them into deathtraps.

He attempts to tolerate Gentle Giant as the other man has a way of getting under his skin.

He also recongizes the strengths of the other human factions and hopes that he'll be able to work with them well.

Tumblr Engineers: "Not my cup of tea, but their tech guys seem second to none and have a decent mix of hobbies."

Moqaddas: "I don't get why they're against a Plasma Bow when it seems right up their alley as a warrior's weapon. That and I doubt they'd take claiming Gensokyo as a religion kindly. Still, in terms of fighting, they're among the best allies and the worst enemies."

Hanse Behorde: "Someone from there tried to invite me but I'm not much of a speaker. I get the impression that suits from there are pretty good at anything that isn't a direct fight, but they like putting a pricetag on their aid. Luckily it's not me that has to pay them!"

Green Intiative: "An interesting take on things, perhaps I might have wound up there, but well not with this cyberbrain!"

Phoenix Collective: "I can certainly respect their mindset, but I hope they don't stain the profession"

Tumblr Armor: "At this point it's just a normal thing, taking them down."

## The Suit

Shadow conceptualized a cyborg ninja suit akin to those found in the recent Metal Gear games, but colored black/dark blue. This resulted in a practical yet stylish look, though typically it'll have its camouflage up. He believes the best defense is not to attract any attention. When he's wearing the suit peacefully he's prone to wearing a dark blue scarf akin to various ninja heroes. When he uses Collapsible, it assumes the form of a smartphone, mainly as a way to talk to his AI and check on his suit.

For the time being he has focused on combat until he feels he can vary things a little.

### AI Personality

Komachi is an AI personality with a lazy streak and an ear for stories. She doesn't object to working on missions as she figures the sooner they get done the sooner relaxing can resume. And while she can be configured to work in each of the 3 AI modes, she clearly prefers the Soldier. She also will not move to an avatar drone out of mix of laziness and a rare case of vanity. Many find that she's awfully humanlike for an AI, leading to various theories on how it was pulled off, such as a slower CPU. Shadow doesn't know and Komachi answered "A woman's mind isn't something easily understood"

Unlike Shadow, she's far more outspoken and not afraid to speak her mind, even to the extent of poking fun at him for things, such as basing her off a shapely redhead from a certain shooting game. Despite this, he's pleased with the results as the last thing he wanted was a totally subservient AI.

She looks forward to meeting people and teasing them, though she considers Gentle Giant a boring target and Ronin a rival. Upon finding out the cause of the latter (similar looks and personality traits), Shadow started to brace himself for the day the two meet.

 File:AboutRightAIv2.png
After Operation Lurker, she appears to have gotten more affectionate towards Shadow, if a bit possessive at times. Unlike him, she doesn't trust anyone in command spots (particularly Valkyrie, having forgiven Zipline), but tolerates things if he goes along with them. She has started to insist on taking things far more safely as well as getting a memory palace, something Shadow refuses on grounds of practicality... until he went and did it after getting drunk. While pleased by the display of affection, she was also embrassed by how he behaved, particularly after she bragged about his sensibility.

Silver Knight's death upset her due to to how her fellow AI never got to fulfill her dreams, not being able to give Pally advice and its effect on Shadow. As a result she's agreeable to any revenge plots. She was happy of his return.

She's overjoyed to see Pally recover and thinks of herself as big sister.

During a recent trip to a bar in australia, she was able to befriend Editi, Alice and Private to varying degrees. And she was shocked by how Shadow and be while drunk. She has taken to looking up some things and requesting a few moments alone with the suit for unknown reasons. As far as other uplifted AIs go she's generally friendly.

## Missions

### Operation Eyes Wide Open

He made his Armor Corps debut in the first part of the major Relay mission, expecting to assist in a breakthrough and clean-up. What he got instead was a rush of various TA suits where he helped hold the lines with his Plasma Bow, getting some good shots against various enemies. He even managed to survive an attack from an enraged fortress, though he didn't realize how badly he was damaged.

As the battle continued, he decided to take a risk and assist in hacking the relays, covering Fyhlen to great effect, nailing a suit with a perfect headshot. He attempted to aid in the clean-up but by that point things were well in hand and he saw Silver Knight make his heroic rescue of Redneck Rider. From this mission he gained some confidence in his abilities under pressure.

On top of the 40 points, he got BIS from it.

### Operation Lurker

He played a minor role in things as the mission didn't go as planned at all, even involving teaming up with Tumblr Armor. It was a very messy mission with various people on the verge of death, mainly by being hacked and dissolved by nanites that acted like grey goo. He was saved due to Komachi preserving his consciousness, though the experience has affected him and her in a mix of ways.

Gained 15 points (and some improvements as a result of reconstruction w/ Canvas)

### Operation Broken Containment

He carried over the hacking drones to the server in a decent time. A minor but important role.

15 points

### Operation Dealbreaker

He mainly assisted in scouting and searching as he found the mercenary base/ship. He also helped save Zulu's life.

15 points

### Operation Perth or Bust

Helped others fight the various enemies as that's what the mission turned out involve. Learned that his Plasma bow is better than a sharp shooter.

15 points (cap)

### The Founding

Helped found the Gravediggers and help fend off an unsual force of suits. Make a monster jerky/bacon burger

### Cold One: Downtime at Uluru

Got drunk, had fish+chips, named A drink Soldat Punch (Tommy's home brewed mix) due to how much punch it had, kissed his AI, and healed Private's hand. Next morning he did wake up to find two crates of Dirty Granny Cider in his room and other things.

### Operation Happy Hour

Had Scottish/Irish Whiskey, had a ton of ribs, won a "Ribtickler" Hat (which is at his room in base), and ensured Redneck's duel went without cheating.

A nice "Ribtickler" hat

### Operation Deep Freeze

Mainly did scouting and healing, found out he could survive one railgun shot. Saved Shieldmaiden's life.

15 points

### Gravedigggers' first night out

Scouted and supported the main team, and pulling off a stealth kill on the last suit that was going to fire a WMG, earning himself comparsions with Big Boss.

## Suit Crunch

Shadow (Base Build, will add/adjust for missions)

Class:

Mesh (2.5+2.5 slots)(300/300, current/cap)

* Dex 5+3+1
* Dur 1+1 (Block:+1, HP:6)
* Power 1+6-6
* Recover 5
* Speed 2+1
* Strength 1+1

Body type:

Hunter/Cap (40+20) (240)

* Env control II/III
* Radar
* Therm Vision

Features:

* Flight (20) (220)

AI:

* Soldier (10) (210)

UI:

* Brainwave Harness (10) (200)

HUD:

* Suit Status
* Adv Suit Status (5) (195)
* Hawkeye (5) (190)
* BIS (Broadcast interface System: Automatically scans for enemies and things of interest; improved with Radar and other BIS users, can't use Radar manually) (0)

Comms:

* Radio Transmitter (0)
* Terminal (10) (180)

Weapons:

* Beam Saber (15) (165) (1) (4.0)

DM: 7+2

* Plasma Bow (20) (145) (1) (3.0)

AC:7+1(8) AG:5 DM:8 FR:3+2(5) MA:3 RG:5+2(7!)

Defense:

* Light Shield/Armor Plating (5+5) (135)

Drone:

* None

Upgrades:

* Cyber Brain (10) (125)
* Storage (0)
* Martial Arts (CQC, Sword) (5) (120)
* Veteran Soul (5) (115)
* Capacitor (See Hunter)
* Kinetic Stabilizers (10) (105)
* Maneuvering Rockets (10) (95)
* Sub-Armor Pistons (10) (85)
* Uplifted AI (10) (75)
* Ghost (5) (70)
* Collapsible II (5+5) (60) (Portable Smartphone-ish thing)
* Memory Palace (5) (55)

Nanites:

* Mycelium (10) (45)
* Hydra I (10) (35)
* Hydra II (10) (25)
* Canvas (5) (15)

Notes:

* +10 Combat when attacking with RG 7+ Non AoE weapons
* +10 Combat from Soldier AI
* +5 Combat from Veteran Soul
* -5 Dex from Martial arts
* -10 Dex Bonus from Soldier AI
* -10 Dex bonus from enhanced camo when dodging
* Ignore any Dur when melee attacking an unaware target
* Total Combat bonus: +15/+25 if Ranged Assasinate applies
* Total Dexy Bonus: -15/-25 when dodging