Michael Cray

## Background

### 1956 - 1991: Michael Cray

Michael Cray was born to James Cray, a US Navy Admiral & his wife Elizabeth Cray. Described as a happy child, he grew up idolizing his father but never dreamed of following in his footsteps. He demonstrated incredible compassion with a knack for violence, but only to defend people. He felt that war & killing was unnecessary. His mind would changed when the summer after his high school graduation, both of his parents were killed by (supposed) terrorists. Wanting to travel the world & avenge his parents' deaths, Michael joined the United States Army after setting up his brother to move in with close family friends.

Here, he proved his skill as an assassin, able to find the vulnerable point's in his targets' security by studying them & empathizing with them, while acknowledging that they were bad or callous people who needed to be killed. After serving several years with the United States Army, he was recruited by Miles Craven of International Operations to join the newly formed Team 7, a group of highly experienced Special Forces operative. Though hesitant, he accepted the job & took on the codename, Claymore.

### 1991 - 1994: Claymore

Eventually, Team 7 was sent on another mission (or so they thought) in the Middle East. After they had arrived at their safehouse to get themselves together, the team was exposed to a chemical known as Gen-Factor. Their handler had been the one that orderer the chemical bomb because he wanted them to gain super powers that he could later expose. Unlike the rest of the members, Michael didn't possess any powers following the event.

The team was disbanded & International Operations got rid of Craven so Michael decided to stay with the organization. He would be assigned to the Special Operations Group where he completed many wetwork & black ops assignments for them.

### 1994 - 2009: Michael Cray

Michael would stay for two more years before getting diagnosed with a brain tumor. He got the results shortly after his wife Gabrielle D'Angelo had been murdered. He then decided that he wanted to use his time left to atone for his past sins & all the killing that he had committed throughout the years. He would join a religious group, the Order of the Cross as they focused on their mission of selflessness.

During his time with them, Michael realized that his cancer was not the only result of the Gen-Factor & that he did gain powers. He has regenerative abilities & the power to manifest psionic shields to protect himself.

## Romantic Relationships

* Gabrielle D'Angelo: Girlfriend (1984 - 1988); Wife (1988 - 1993)
* Susan Goldman: One Night Stand (1997)

## Powers & Abilities

* **Gen-Factor**: Exposure to the Gen-Factor had gifted as well as cursed him with supernatural abilities both mental & physical. These powers have fluctuated in potency over the coarse of his life. His powers took much longer than the others to manifest.
	+ ***Mental Shields***: He can place mental shields for protection against other telepaths or other forms of mind-control.
	+ ***Telekinesis***
		- ***Force Field*:** He can create a skin layer telekinetic shield over his body which offers protection & physical augmentation.
	+ ***Longevity*:** Cray's healing power is at a staggering level, such as that he can't die because his body keeps regenerating itself even after wounds severe enough to shut down his biological functions.
	+ ***Regeneration*:** Since his initial subjection to the Gen Factor chemical, Cray's healing abilities have appeared on & off again at various intervals. He once has a hole blown into his chest via double barrel buckshot & recovered from it in seconds. It's been explained that as long as there's at least a tiny particle of his DNA to survive, his body will continue to regenerate. The time it takes to regenerate varies, depending on how severe the damage is.

* **Hand to Hand Combat**
* **Military Protocol:** As a former Navy SEAL & Team 7 member, he has unsurpassed skills in spec ops warfare, military weapons, tactics, demolitions and is an expert in Close Quarters Battle (CQB)
* **Weaponry:** Michael is skilled in various weaponry due to his time in the military. Much of his equipment revolves around heavy tactical gear such as assault rifles, a combat knife & various explosive charges.

### Weaknesses

* **The Rush**: The side effects of using this power are sometimes terrible. The team referred to it as The Rush due to the effect that the use of it is likened to a drug.
	+ ***Physical Strain***: Using the powers can put a terrible strain on him & trying to keep them under control would often cause blood vessels to rupture.
	+ ***Affect Mind***: Prolonged use would threaten his sanity & outside forces.

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** Unknown
* **Strength:** Unknown
* **Speed:** Unknown
* **Occult:** Unknown
* **Weapons:** Unknown
* **Range:** Unknown
* **Strategy:** Unknown
* **Combat:** Unknown
* **TOTAL:** Unknown

## Trivia

* Michael was friends with Slade Wilson as they were both in the Army at the same time.
* He left Susan Goldman with a lighter that had "Deathblow" engraved onto it. The lighter was the reason his daughter was able to find him.
* He once has a hole blown into his chest by a double barrel buckshot & recovering from it in seconds.
* His closest friend on Team 7 was Cole Cash.