The Syndicate

"*We'll do the right thing. **No matter what** that may be,*"
—Nobody to his allies[src]

**The Syndicate** is a group of vigilantes operating in New York City that first formed during the investigation into the Empire Killer. Six months later, the crew came back together and added two new members, The Rook and Pyro, in order to defeat Handsome Joe and his army of followers. Under the leadership of Nobody, the Syndicate is dedicated to protecting New York City from organized crime.

## History

### Origins

"*Well...the chance to do some good. To break a routine. And work through some of your...**more violent thoughts**. [...] Come on, nobody goes through what you did, does what you're doing, without having some kind of darkness that they need to let out,*"
—Michael and Adrian discuss the possibility of a vigilante partnership[src]

A few years before the beginning of *Nobody*, NYU student Michael Keene was attacked and almost killed during an assault in which he was attempting to save an old man from a similar fate. After waking up from a year-long coma, he developed photographic memory on a superhuman scale, able to remember every second of his life from that point on, as well as every detail. Unbeknownst to him, his memory extended to being able to instinctually remember the fight choreography from martial arts movies. Suffering from violent urges because of the damage to his brain, Michael eventually turned to vigilantism to release his pent-up anger. During his second night of vigilantism, he saved Cassidy Lynn, the daughter of a Manhattan city councilman, from the clutches of David Crank, killing Crank in the process.

During his vigilante activities, Michael formed an alliance with Adrian Sheppard, a detective in the NYPD's Major Crimes unit who had become frustrated with the corruption in his unit, which enabled crime lord Archie Shaw to remain in power. Together, Adrian and Michael worked to bring down Iosef Barnes, an arms dealer affiliated with the Shaw Family, only for Michael to discover that Deacon Shaw, the twin brother of Archie, was the man who had assaulted him. Despite Iosef planting a series of bombs in the subway, Michael was able to defeat both Isoef and his henchmen and stop the bombs from detonating, saving the lives of thousands. With the media nicknaming him "Nobody", Michael vowed to continue using his abilities for the good of the city and bring down the Shaws, with Adrian agreeing to remain his partner.

### The Empire Killer

#### New Case

One year after the death of Iosef Barnes, New York City was being terrorised by the Empire Killer, a twisted serial killer who targetted young families and followed a close M.O: killing the children by suffocating them with plastic bags; killing the father by slitting their throat; and killing the mother by mutilating their face, in that order. With no leads, the case was transferred to Major Crimes, with Adrian Sheppard and his new partner, Mariana Montoya, being assigned to solve it. Adrian delivered the case to Michael, who was still operating as the vigilante "Nobody" and had become a feared presence on the streets of N.Y.C. In the year that had passed, Michael had become close to Cassidy Lynn, who had began begging him to train her in hand-to-hand combat so she could confront her fears stemming from her kidnapping at the hands of David Crank. Additionally, Michael was struggling to balance his civilian life with his vigilante life, and began a sexual relationship with Elise, a friend of Sophie Dawes, a woman who had been dating Michael's best friend and roommate, Joseph Hertford.

#### A New Ally

Following his first encounter with the Empire Killer, Nobody was badly injured and barely managed to get himself to a hospital, where he was found by night-shift nurse Stephanie Grimes, who held a deep respect for the vigilante. Trusting the nurse enough to reveal his face to her, Michael realized that, despite his exceptional fighting talent, he was no match for the Empire Killer, who fought with no predictable pattern, and decided that he needed more outside help in order to find the killer. Michael subsequently enlisted Joseph, who worked in the office of N.Y.C Mayor Andrew Ramsay, to assist in the investigation.

While Joseph used his access to public records to try to find a pattern in the Empire Killer's seemingly random targets, he became friends with Marie Anderson, Mayor Ramsay's secretary. Through Marie, Joseph learned of the Niobe Group, a support group for women who had lost their children to violent deaths. Discovering that all of the Empire Killer's female victims had either friendships with or were related to members of the group, Joseph passed on the information to Adrian and Michael.

Adrian and Montoya began interviewing the members of the Niobe support group, all of whom were reluctant to give details of themselves or the other members. When the pair arrived at Marie Anderson's apartment, they also met her boyfriend, Jake Hendrik. Recognising Hendrik, Adrian searched police records and discovered that Hendrik was a registered sex offender, and Marie herself had previously spent time in a psychiatric ward following the tragic deaths of her husband and children in a murder-suicide. Additionally, Adrian discovered that Marie rented a property from a real estate company owned by the Shaw Family.

#### Facing the Past

With no other leads, Michael donned his Nobody gear and confronted Archie Shaw, who had been horrifically crippled by his brother Deacon. Nobody made a reluctant deal with Archie: if Michael found and brought Deacon back to him, Archie would not only give him the address of the property rented by Marie, but he would also withdraw his funding for the NYPD's Anti-Vigilante Task Force. Nobody agreed and hunted down Deacon, fighting him in a deeply painful and traumatic battle that finally allowed Michael to get revenge on Deacon for the assault that had changed his life forever.

#### Revelations

After being given the address, Nobody searched the building, which turned out to be a fire-damaged apartment. There he discovered a diary written by the Empire Killer in which their motivations were revealed. Before he could leave, Nobody was attacked by Paul O'Neil, a previous suspect in the case, who then escaped, confirming forensic evidence that there was more than one Empire Killer. Reading the diary, Nobody discovered that it was, in fact, Marie Anderson who was behind the Empire Killer, with all of the actual murderers being her list of lovers. As this revelation was made, Marie had sent Jake Hendrik to Michael's apartment, where he brutally mutilated Sophie Dawes and also injured Cassidy Lynn, who had visited the apartment searching for Michael. Calls were then made to the NYPD that the Empire Killer had kidnapped the members of the Niobe Group and demanded that Nobody come and attempt to rescue them.

#### Final Confrontation

Using Marie's diary as well as the habits of the Niobe Group, Michael's team deduced that Marie had taken her hostages to the Manhattan Psychiatric Center, an abandoned mental hospital where Marie had lost her mind following the death of her husband and children, and that she had lured the group there based on their tradition of meeting in abandoned buildings. Inside the building, Nobody confronted Marie and revealed his identity to her, revealing that he had been suffering every day since his assault and he understood her anger, but destroying the lives of others was not a path that would bring her peace. Marie refused to listen and attempted to start a gas explosion in an act of murder-suicide, but she was stopped by Nobody. When a smaller explosion caused the derelict building to start to collapse, Nobody, Adrian and Stephanie escorted the hostages away from the site as Marie Anderson was crushed to death.

With the case closed, Nobody visited Cassidy and agreed to begin training her, as well as revealing his true identity to her in the process. As he returned home, however, he was horrified to discover that Joseph had suffocated Sophie with a pillow and, having been driven insane by what he had done, had cut off his own face.

### The Rise of Joe

#### Hunting an Arsonist

Six months after the Empire Killer case, the neighbourhood of East Harlem in Manhattan was being terrorised by the East Harlem Arsonist, a vigilante who targetted the homes of small-time criminals and gang members. The arsonist had become the new target of Michael, who had kept his promise to train Cassidy in hand-to-hand combat. One evening, after one such training session, Michael reiterated his condition that Cassidy not use her new skills for vigilantism before donning his Nobody gear and joining Adrian at the arsonist's latest attack.

#### A Long Night

"*Nothing can hurt me anymore, Mickey. **Nothing** you do...all your strength...you can't stop me! I feel **nothing!** And you feel **everything!** Hahahaha! [...] Tell me, buddy...do you think I'm **handsome?***"
—Handsome Joe to Nobody before their final duel[src]
With Stephanie, Minerva and Adrian captured and held hostage by Joe, Michael hesitantly recovered from his wounds with Cassidy tending to him.

## Members

### Current

* Michael Keene, a.k.a "Nobody"
* Adrian Sheppard, a.k.a "Overseer"
* Stephanie Grimes, a.k.a "Black Mamba"
* Cassidy Lynn, a.k.a "The Rook"
* Erik Grayson, a.k.a "Pyro"

### Allies

* Minerva Hardy
* Angela Keene
* Hailey Sheppard