Archer

Luchnik

Reaper

Task Force X-Ray

During his time in the Russian Armed Forces, **Luchnik** (Russian: **Лучник**), real name **Nikolai Petrenko** (Russian: **Николай Петренко**) was a formidable sniper who struck fear in the eyes of anyone unlucky enough to face him in the field. However, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Luchnik grew horrified and angry at the atrocities his country was perpetrating in the name of "reclaiming Ukraine" and by mid-August of 2022, he wanted nothing to do with Russia.

## Biography

### Early years and military service

Nikolai Petrenko was born to a military family, which explains why he is described as a "born warfighter." Born and raised in Volgograd, Russia, the young Petrenko grew up hearing stories of his grandfather, a World War II veteran who fought against Nazi Germany. Because his father and grandfather were enlisted men, Petrenko decided to continue the family legacy by attending the Frunze Military Academy as a captain in the Russian Army, where he later graduated as a captain in the Russian Army by serving as a paratrooper in the 98th Guards Airborne Division of the VDV.

In 1991, he was stationed in Berlin during the collapse of the Berlin Wall, before being reassigned to the Russian Spetsnaz. In 2022, he was deployed to Ukraine, operating under the callsign *Luchnik*.

### Russo-Ukrainian War

During the Russo-Ukrainian War, Luchnik was initially convinced that the invasion of Ukraine was justified. However, as time went on and he saw atrocities his comrades were committing against the Ukrainian civilian population, as well as the military, he began to question exactly what he was fighting for. As the war dragged on, Luchnik began to suspect that Russia no longer cared about the sacrifices soldiers made during war and had lost its moral foundation due to complacency and divisions amongst the Russian population. He was also outraged to learn that the Russian government was rationalizing everything he'd been told to do as a "necessary sacrifice for the Motherland." Later, he berated one of his subordinates for mistreating a Ukrainian POW, only to be reprimanded by his commanding officer for "sympathizing with the enemy."

Things came to a head when Luchnik overheard several Russian commanders discuss "Operation Red Star", a plot to assassinate the Ukrainian President himself with drones fired from a Russian submarine and attack the United States to prevent it from sending aid to Ukraine.

It was at this point that he decided to defect to the West, his suspicions regarding the Russian government and its own military now seemingly confirmed.

### Defection

In early September of 2022, Luchnik was stationed at the Kyiv Hydroelectric Station in Vyshhorod, Ukraine, which had been captured in late summer of 2022. Unbeknownst to everyone in his unit, however, he planned to defect to the Ukraine and the United States. In early September of that same year, a joint strike force consisting of Ukrainian military personnel and civilian resistance forces alike launched an attack to liberate the station. In the ensuing chaos, a stray Ukrainian rocket destroyed the dam, flooding the city.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Luchnik used the firefight and flood as a diversion and deserted his post. However, during his escape, Luchnik fell into the raging flood.

Luchnik survived the flood, but was presumed by his unit to be killed in action. After escaping the flood, Luchnik was found by a Ukrainian family of Good Samaritans. He was able to convince his rescuers that he wanted nothing to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and offered to aid the Ukrainians. He was later brought to a Ukrainian military commander, and Luchnik gave intelligence on the Russian conspiracy against the Ukrainian and American governments, personally handing documents regarding Operation Red Star to Ukrainian military leaders during a debriefing session.

## Personal details

### Physical appearance

Nikolai Petrenko is a tall, muscular man with short, graying brown hair and green eyes. As of 2022, he is forty six years old.

## Abilities

* **Master Marksman**: As a former Russian Army sniper, Nikolai Petrenko is a skilled and accurate marksman, showing tremendous expertise and experience in handling many firearms, including pistols, revolvers, automatic rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, sniper rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers, although his specialty as a sniper is with sniper rifles. Due to his military training, he is a strong follower of the motto, "One Shot, One Kill." He was so good, in fact, that the enemy frequently thought they were dealing with a whole army of men instead of just one man. Once he defected to the Ukrainians and used his military training against his former comrades, Nikolai gained the moniker of *Reaper* (Russian: Жнец, Zhnets).
* **Master Assassin**: Nikolai's Spetsnaz background enables him to locate his enemies and eliminate them with military precision. His aptitude for killing has both astonished and disturbed many, even his own men at times.
* **Master Combatant**: Being ex-Spetsnaz, Nikolai is a skilled, formidable, fierce, and lethal hand-to-hand combatant. Trained in the Russian art of Systema, Nikolai has gone toe-to-toe with a variety of opponents, both Ukrainian and Russian alike. His fighting style includes martial arts disciplines from Systema, the US Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, wrestling, hapkido, savate, kung fu, kickboxing and Taekwan Do.
* **Knife Mastery**: Nikolai is highly skilled at using knives in combat, frequently incorporating knife slashes into his fighting style.

## Equipment

### Weapons

* **Dragunov SVDM**: This was Nikolai's signature service weapon during his time in the Spetsnaz. He continues to use it even after defecting to Ukraine and the United States.
* **AK-74M**: During his time in the Spetsnaz, Nikolai carried this assault rifle as a backup weapon along with his sniper rifle.
* **MP-443 Grach**: This was Nikolai's service pistol during his time in Spetsnaz. He continued using it after defecting to Ukraine until sometime in mid-October of 2022.
* **Springfield Armory XDM Compact**: Nikolai briefly carried this pistol after defecting to Ukraine.
* **Heckler & Koch P30**: Nikolai used this weapon quite frequently after defecting to Ukraine, using it against the Russians on multiple occasions.
* **SIG716 G2**: This weapon became Nikolai's main assault rifle of choice after defecting to Ukraine.
* **Magpul Massoud**: This rifle became Nikolai's signature weapon after defecting to Ukraine. He used it during Operation Nest Wrecker after stealing it from a fallen Verus Rex operative.

### Other equipment

* **Ballistic Mask**: Nikolai used a black ballistic mask as face protection during his time as a sniper in the Russian Army. He continued to use it after defecting to Ukraine.