Alex Thorton

## Alex Thornton

Out of Armor

In Armor

## Personality

Alex was always viewed as a leader by his comrades, always ready and willing to sacrifice for others. What made this image possible was the decisiveness he possessed, when an idea or goal came to mind, he didn’t think twice about it, he only thought how to make it happen. Though he was charismatic with his comrades, he was still reserved, only saying and doing what was necessary for the group. This reserved nature also caused him to become very observant and empathetic towards others. He is good at reading into others, either to help comfort them or decipher their true intent. Despite keeping most of his feelings and thoughts to himself, he still cares greatly for the safety of his friends and will do anything to keep them safe, even if it means failure of the mission.

Alex’s decisiveness also helps creates a strong drive and work ethic in him. He spends most of his time in the firing range and the gym, honing his craft to make sure that he is prepared to complete the mission and protect others. With this rigorous training, what he sometimes lacks physically he now makes up for it with his skill in various firearms. He can also be found his dorm, studying his datapad memorizing any intel that can potentially help him. This efficiency in his training allow others to trust him and have take on some of the more dangerous task.

When he is not consumed with training and combat, in his free time, Alex can be found at the lounge or dorm having a drink in order to relieve the stress and pain. Though sometimes he can be seen excessively drinking when it is detrimental to his health. Alex also enjoys dealing with firearms, whether it’s shooting them or repairing, he’ll do anything to further his knowledge and skill with them. Besides training here, Alex also spends leisure time at the firing range to help others improve their shot and even install weapon modifications for himself and others.

## Physical Traits

Standing at 6’0'', Alex has a very lean and defined build when not fully dressed in his ODST armor, this helps him move more quickly than others and be able to go undetected from unwanted eyes. However despite being physically fit, his smaller frame allows him to defeat most in tests of strength but he will struggle against others such as spartans, elites, brutes, maybe some more physically gifted marines, and ODSTs . Another unique trait that Alex possess is his superb eyesight. Always having a natural knack for spotting abnormalities whether on the battlefield or while on watch duty, his amber colored eyes are often compared to an eagle’s who are known for their eyesight. Though his fellow marines and ODSTs saw that it was more fitting for his nickname to be Owl since “Al”-ex rhymed with it.

Also, his clean shaven and smooth skin is dotted with noticeable features on his body such various plasma burns from being grazed by Covenant small arms on his arms and legs, a tattoo of the UNSC emblem on his right shoulder blade, and scars on his left shoulder and abdomen from shrapnel wounds.  Alex's face being an oblong shape, has a very sharp jawline and cheekbones. He wears his hair in a fade style haircut while he also sports a short brown beard that covers half of his face. Noticeable features on his face are plasma burns on his left cheek and upper neck (due to Covenant plasma grenade), as well as a series of cuts and scratches.

## Bio

Alex was born on the planet Reach, on June 4, 2528. His father Dimitri Thorne and mother Kira Thorne were from Earth and worked as industrial workers in a UNSC weapons factory. They struggled to make ends meet every day on Earth. They tried everything to get better compensation for their work but nothing ever came of it. With each passing day his parents grew bitter towards the UNSC, feeling underappreciated. With this, their living conditions worsened and their disdain for the UNSC grew. One day when Alex’s parents caught wind of Insurrectionists establishing their own settlements in the outer regions of space, his parents jumped on this opportunity, in hopes of providing a better life for Alex and his sister Kiara. There he was born into an insurrectionist family that lived outside of UNSC settlements. From what Alex could remember, life in the settlement was quiet and uneventful for the most part initially. He lived like any normal child did mostly, though the peace didn’t last long. When Alex was three, UNSC falcons approached and landed near the settlement. Dimitri looked towards Alex who was coloring on the front porch at the time, “Alex go inside and get your sister. Don’t come outside until I say so.” Alex tilted his head in a questioning manner “Dad?” His father snapped at him “I SAID GO INSIDE BOY.” Alex ran inside and found his sister, the two then hid in their bedroom. Alex unsure of what was going on decided to take a peek through his window to see what was happening. He slowly pulled back the shade, making sure that only his eye was exposed so he could see. There he saw it, all of the adults, including his parents running towards the walls with rifles in hand. Then, the violence ensued. The UNSC troops fired upon the insurrectionist, killing off many of them in their first volley, while the insurrectionist did the same. Alex unsure of what was going to happen, was consumed with fear and he continued to hide with his sister. His mother burst through the door, holding his father, who he noticed was bleeding from his leg. Yelling in a very tense frantic tone, his mother looked at Alex “Alex grab your sister and follow me, we have to go, it’s not safe here.” Thus the next chapter in Alex’s life began.

From then on, most of his childhood he and his family, as well as other rebels, were constantly on the move trying to avoid UNSC forces. By the age of seven his family had  abandoned all notions of normal parenting and began to teach him how to handle basic small arms and how to utilize guerrilla tactics(this seclusion from society also led to him and his family having no knowledge of the UNSC-Covenant War). Being consumed with hatred, his parents became more concerned with fighting the UNSC than raising their children. Alex resented his parents because of this, he wanted no part in this rebellion but was faced with a hard choice. Either fight to make sure no harm would come to his sister or abandon his family and leave open the possibility of his sister being captured, hurt, or worse, killed. Alex saw no other option available, knowing that if he took his sister and ran that the two of them wouldn’t stand a chance if the UNSC hunted them down. Alex continued to fight but his resentment towards his parents intensified as time passed.

After constantly fleeing and fighting the UNSC, by age twelve, a moment that would resonate in him for the rest of his life occurred. Alex and the group of insurrectionist, lead by his father were on patrol that day. They walked quietly through the woods, on high alert for any UNSC forces. Though something felt off that day for the entire group, Dimitri spoke to them “I don’t like this, normally there’s a hornet or a warthog that patrols the path but...there’s nothing...not a single sound.” What followed the silence was a loud explosion that occurred a mile behind them, at their settlement. The group looked at each in fear and high tailed it back. As they ran the sky was filled with pelicans and hornets headed straight to their home. Alex thought to himself “No no no! I have to save Kiara, damnit I have to get there quick.” Alex ran until his legs went numb and his lungs burned. When the group arrived, it was all too late. The marines rounded up all the settlers and placed them on the pelicans to be imprisoned. Alex looked frantically about the settlers from the woods, hoping that Kiara escaped. “I don’t see her, where could she b-” the sound of leaves and branches cracking could be heard behind Alex, he quickly turned around with rifle in hand to find himself looking at Kiara. The two began to tear up and embraced each other. Alex whispered “You alright Kiara?”, she responded with a nod “We have to get out of here...follow me.” The two siblings broke off into a sprint through the forest, leaving behind the settlement and their parents.

As they ran, a voice was heard in the distance “ALEX! ALEX!” The two stopped and turned around to locate the voice, only to discover it was their father. Something clicked in Alex’s mind he shook his head and thought “No more, this ends here. I won’t let this continue.” Alex looked at his sister and gave her his rifle “Kiara take this and keep going, I’ll catch up with you. Don’t look back.” She had a worried look “Alex what are you doing?” He snapped at her “Just go! There isn’t time for this.” After a few brief moments she finally listened and continued to run. Alex turned to face his father once more, he walked slowly with each step feeling heavy as if bricks were tied to his feet. His vision blurred and his ears began to ring. His heart sunk as anxiety began to take over. His father drew closer and began to speak “Alex where you going with your sister? We have to save your mother!” Alex drew his pistol and chambered a round, continuing to walk towards Dimitri. Dimitri stopped and raised an eyebrow, he raised his hand towards Alex, “Alex what are you doing?” Alex began to breathe rapidly “We’re not going back." Dimitri appeared upset now “What do you mean you’re not coming back? What did you do? This is your fault isn’t it?! You led them to us!”

Alex snarled back to his father, “You brought this on yourself Dimitri, I would’ve never put my sister in danger like that. Because of your extreme beliefs and actions, you’ve brought this on us. You and mom, you neglected us, you forced this on us. You let your anger consume you and became selfish. I won’t let this continue.” Dimitri screamed back “We did this to provide you and Kiara a better li-” Alex cut him off and replied “Don’t give me that bullshit, if you wanted to help us you wouldn’t have put us in this position. You all did this for yourselves, we were just along for the ride.” The two stared at each other, their gazes locked. Dimitri broke the silence “As far as I’m concerned you’re dead to me, I can’t believe you won’t help your family. After everything we’ve sacrificed for you...” Alex shook his head “No...Kiara is the only family I have.” Dimitri replied “And Kiara is my family and I’m taking her back and we’re saving her mother, she’s not safe with you.” Alex raised his pistol towards Dimitri “No...you’re not going anywhere.” Alex slowly squeezed the trigger and then birds in the distance took flight. Smoke seeped out from the barrel and Alex stood there, he holstered his pistol and turned to follow Kiara.

He and his older sister finally escaped and made their way to a nearby UNSC settlement and assimilated with the people in order to avoid capture. For the next four years, Alex and his sister survived in the streets of New Alexandria, here he first learned of the Covenant threat but nothing too detailed due to him trying to survive with his sister as they scrounged for food and etc. Time passed and the two siblings struggled to survive, each day food and shelter becoming harder and harder to find. Though Alex one day woke up with no trace of his sister to be found, except for a note she left on a datapad, here it detailed why she left him to join the UNSC as a combat medic in order to help undo the wrongs she had done as a rebel before. With this Alex continued surviving as the Covenant threat approached closer to him. One day as he was walking the streets of New Alexandria, a large screen on one of the buildings displayed various news updates, this was pretty routine for Alex to see while he tried searching for his next meal, but with his sister recently joining the UNSC, he paid closer attention as the words "Covenant" and "colonies" were uttered.

He looked up at the screen and walked closer to it, becoming invested, he learned more of the threat the Covenant posed to humanity, worried about his sister having to face this threat, alone, without him. He quickly ran to the nearest UNSC recruiting station and enlisted with the marines. Fortunately, due to him being dressed in ragged clothes and them having no records of him as a citizen of the UNSC, they assumed him to be homeless and at the time never learned of his involvement with some of Reach's insurrectionist. The marine recruiter looked at Alex and raised an eyebrow, he exhaled “Son I can’t find anything on you, no birth certificate, no address, nothing. You’re not in the system. What’s your name again?” Alex stood silent, letting some time go by he finally responded “Alex Thorn-...Thornton, Alex Thornton.” The recruiter sighed “Hmm, well Alex give us some time to get you properly placed in the system and we’ll send you off to basic soon after.”

At seventeen, Alex began his military career, for the next several months he excelled in training. After completing his training, Alex and his company were deployed at Arcadia to fight the Covenant. After battling the Covenant for some time, Alex and his squad were patrolling the wilderness of Arcadia for any Covenant forces. Alex was put on watch with a few others as the rest of the squad stopped to rest. Alex took cover near a tree and looked around slowly as he studied the land for any unusual activity, when out of the corner of his eye he noticed a shimmer among the trees and moonlight, he quickly snapped his head in that general direction and raised his assault rifle, then he saw multiple Covenant troops still cloaked, one in particular, an elite held a plasma grenade. He turned to his squad and yelled "CONTACT!", he turned his head back to see a bright blue shimmering ball hurdle towards his head, he ducked down and evaded the grenade. The plasma grenade stuck against the tree for a moment and exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. Alex evaded the explosion to avoid death but still suffered plasma burns to his neck and face, as well as some minor shrapnel causing some scars on his body. After regaining his wits from the explosion he lifted his assault rifle and fired at the elite, unloading a whole mag into it before killing it. The squad was outnumbered five to one, the company was caught in a bright crossfire that filled the night sky with various shades of blue, green, and yellow. Alex ran to his CO, yelling over the gunfire “Sir what’s the plan?” The CO continued to fire and replied, “We need to secure our right flank, Matthews and his fire team took the brunt of the ambush...he’s dead, then we-”

The CO was abruptly interrupted as he took plasma fire to the side of his head. His body slumped over on Alex, completely motionless. Then the sergeant called over comms “FALL BACK! Everyone rally on my location!” Alex knew he had to do something now or his squad would be taken over. Not wanting to see more of his comrades suffer, Alex then ran about the perimeter, dragging wounded back to safety and covering marines as they retreated. The squad eventually regrouped to the center with Alex and continued to hold off the Covenant, despite suffering heavy casualties. The Covenant crept closer and closer, like a colony of ants swarming their prey. Shortly after the sergeant fell in battle leaving command to Alex. Having to use his pistol now, Alex yelled out to the group “DON’T STOP NOW! KEEP FIGHTING!” The Covenant now nearly on top the UNSC forces, were then caught by surprised. A lane of explosions lit up the night and burned the Covenant forces. Alex looked up to see three pelicans armed with missiles fly by and swoop around to continue their attack. Alex looked at the four marines “This is our chance grab the wounded and head for the pelicans!” he pointed out towards more pelicans approaching them “Marines we are leaving!” There Alex led the group through fire and smoke, the bodies of friend and foe, and the debris from battle. The company boarded the pelicans and were now on their way to safety.

Despite sustaining heavy casualties, Alex's superiors recognized his heroism in battle by promoting him to a corporal and making him an ODST. After recovering from his wounds, Alex entered training for the ODSTs and eventually passed the training. Embarking on his new journey with his ODST unit, where he returned to his home planet Reach to defend it and then his parent’s home planet, Earth. Now that the Great war is over, Alex boards the Acheron to continue his service for humanity and in hopes of one day, discovering the fate of his sister Kiara.