Eric Steele (Reboot Timeline)

Leader of the Brotherhood (Imprisoned)

Intimidation

Manipulation

Firearms

Hand-to-hand combat

Abuse of Power

Assault

Enslavement

*"You folk got a little more time to gather up more stuff. A little more, I ain't saying how much. But you better start showing me some results, and you better not piss me off. You understand? Nothing happens around here without my knowing about it! And **anybody f\*\*ks with my command or with my stuff**... **they get court martialed**... **and then they get executed**. **You better know I mean it too, people**."* - Steele's subtle act of mercy/threat towards the people of Johnstontown

Captain **Eric Michael Steele** is a main character and supporting antagonist of the entire Reboot timeline.

Steele was a former US Army Captain who took charge of his own operation in the Civil War-era small town of Johnstontown, Georgia, where he enslaved the whole town for supplies and control. He served as the main antagonist in the Roberts & Winchester trilogy.

## Background

Born on March 16, 1985, Steele was born into a military family. At the age of 18, Steele joined the Army and worked his way up as a Captain during the Iraq War and the War on Afghanistan. Steele was discharged due to losing his leg from an IED. After coming back to the States, Steele moved into an apartment, and after realizing that the government didn't care about its veterans, Steele joined a militia force and reunited with Dean Robertson, his old friend and the founder of the militia, to fight for a cause and to make people feel bad about veterans.

Sometime later, Steele took over the militia after Robertson's death and moved to Johnstontown, where they began to enslave the whole town by raiding, torturing, and killing anyone that stood in their way.

## Biography

In the Roberts & Winchester trilogy, Steele is revealed on a news report, as he has subjugated the whole town and murdered several unknown civilians. Steele is never shown until he is first seen, ordering the citizens to kneel and give up half of their supplies before letting them go.

Steele is last seen when he and his council talked about a shortage of food and as Jay and Mordecai attacked their compound, Eric tries to retreat but was forced to fight against Jay after knowing that he can't escape and discards his gear. As the two fought, Eric apparently got an edge due to his past combat experience and strength. Despite this, Steele loses the fight and is arrested by Jay, leaving his fate unknown.

## Personality

In his first and last appearance, Steele is shown to be an extremely cold, ruthless, and psychotic authoritarian who used intimidation and death threats to subjugate and threaten those who tried to stand up against him. He's shown to be more than willing to kill those who questioned his authority or disobeyed his orders with no hesitation, showing how homicidal and paranoid he's become with the increased stress and severe PTSD from his time in the Middle East. Being an extremely proud man, Steele is consumed with extreme bitterness, rage, and violent paranoia over being treated like a nobody by the government and will stop at nothing to restore his reputation, even if it means to rape, torture, and murder anyone in his sights.

He also displayed no compassion towards the people he enslaved and his own men during his campaign of fear. As a Captain, Steele kept his men in line and have them perform their duties, but his decreasing sanity and menacing attitude made him more aggressive towards them and place them in their place by using fear. Despite not caring about his own men, he seems to genuinely care for them, as shown as he increasingly grew angrier at Jay and Mordecai for killing his men and desperately used all efforts to kill the two, even forcibly recruiting military-aged boys to join the Brotherhood as a last resort.

During the attack on the compound, Steele revealed his true colors as a traitorous coward, leaving his men behind while trying to find himself an escape route. Despite this, he's extremely tenacious, as shown as he's capable of standing his ground against his opponents whenever he gains an advantage.

Before his devolvement, Steele was a kind, brave, honest, thoughtful, sympathetic, and persuasive individual with a genuine passion for protecting the country. Even before ruling Johnstontown with an iron fist, Steele is completely polite and affable as long as people do not interfere with his plans or try to assassinate him.

Steele, despite his sanity, held great respect towards anyone who stood up against him and was more honorable than most villains, having discarded his gear and chosen to fight Jay, purely out of envy since he wanted to claim Jay's legendary title. Unfortunately for Steele, his envy and decreasing sanity ultimately led him to his downfall and capture by the man who bested him.

## Appearance

Steele is an American man, standing at 5'8. He was tall and slender with weathered skin, graying black hair (medium-length, slicked back), and a beard (long length). His notable traits are a small scar near his mouth, presumably from either the Middle East or his past encounters from his victims and a prosthetic leg as a substitute for his left leg, which is revealed by Steele himself that he lost during the Iraq War from an IED.

## Skills

* **High Intelligence**: Steele was shown to be a highly intelligent, sharp-witted, and methodical man and was highly adaptable to any situation given to him. He is extremely level-headed and can handle extreme stress to get out of dangerous situations by using incredible street smarts.
* **Intimidation**: Due to his authoritarian leadership style and his exceptional combat abilities, Steele is widely known and feared in the town and was so infamous that even his name strikes fear and terror into the hearts and souls of his victims and his own men that incurred his wrath.
* **Master Tactician**: As a former Army Infantryman/Captain, Steele is highly capable of casing out, planning, and executing plans and raids. He is a keen judge of character, often correctly assessing the correct intentions, flaws, and capabilities of both allies and enemies just by watching them. He is a skilled negotiator and interrogator, capable of presenting facts and torturing anyone with ease. He is a very effective leader and mentor, having trained, fought, and led his men into the town raid with strategic facts and thinking. He's also capable of spotting certain flaws within the town and using any methods deemed necessary to accomplish his goals, such as using explosives to take out any threats with ease. As shown in the raid in Johnstontown, Steele is a strong and fierce leader to the core, having commanded and led a massive number of skilled soldiers against Jay and Mordecai in retaliation and even used conscription to recruit several more men into his group's ranks.
* **Master Marksman**: As shown in various fights, Steele is extremely proficient with firearms, including pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, as well as being frighteningly precise with eliminating targets in both close-range and long-range distances (as shown during his fights). He's also skilled with using and firing heavier weaponry, such as grenade launchers, light machine guns, and flamethrowers as well as using mounted weaponry. Due to his extensive knowledge of guerrilla tactics, Steele has shown to be extremely skilled with scavenging and using whatever firearm that the enemy has to achieve his goals.
* **Master Martial Artist**: Having been trained in the Army, Steele is shown to be an incredibly skilled hand-to-hand fighter. His fighting style is mostly improvised and is consisted of Kickboxing, Krav Maga, Eskrima, Kempo Jiu-Jitsu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo. He can quickly outmatch, and outlast his opponents, even capable of taking on a stronger opponent head-on. Due to his quick wit, Steele is able to adapt to his opponent's fighting style, studying them during the fight and adapting to turn their strengths against them to gain an advantage. Despite his limited mobility, Steele still used whatever methods to beat his opponent in a fight.
* **Peak Human Condition**: As a former soldier of the United States Army, Steele has displayed peak human physicality for a man of his age. He's extremely athletic, and his strength, stamina, speed, agility, reflexes, durability, and pain threshold are in top condition, despite his advanced age and limited mobility.
* **Peak Human Strength**: Despite his slender build and having one leg, Steele is very strong, capable of overpowering and restrain even larger opponents. His notable feats of his strength are from his fight against Jay, as shown as he easily lifted him up with ease and thrown him at a wall.
* **Peak Human Durability**: Steele is highly resilient and sturdy due to his time in the battlefield. His greatest feats of his durability was withstanding heavier punches from Jay, who's more skilled in hand-to-hand and utilized brute strength. His durability also made him tougher to beat, as evidenced during his fight against Jay.
* **Peak Human Reflexes**: Steele has incredible reflexes. Due to his time in the battlefield, he has displayed a fast reaction time, as he is able to evade bullets and melee attacks during combat with ease. Due to his expertise in guerrilla warfare, Steele is able to correctly assess the situation, to understand the purpose, and to react effectively, making it harder for the enemy to outwit him in the field. His senses are shown to be enhanced, having the capability to hear, smell, and sense his enemies from any direction and to avoid ambushes, raids, and sniper fire with ease.
* **High Pain Tolerance**: Despite his strong combat proficiency, Steele has been frequently injured throughout the series, but demonstrates a near-inhuman tolerance to pain, being able to survive near fatal injuries, such as gunshot wounds, stabbing, blunt force trauma, and physical blows with ease. As shown in his fight against Jay, he managed to withstand a severe beating and kept going in order to beat Jay in H2H.

## Equipment

* **S&W 629**: Steele's main sidearm. He notably used it to threaten anyone. His revolver is customized with Mag-Na ports and Hogue grips.

## Deaths

**Murders committed by Steele:**

* **25+ Iraqi Soldiers**: Shot to death.
* **35 Unnamed Civilians**: Shot, hung, burnt, and beaten to death.

## Trivia

* Steele is considered to be one of the most dangerous individuals alive due to the fact that he managed to enslave a whole town and to conscript anyone.
* Steele is the only antagonist to have a prosthetic limb.