Robert Smith

### Relatives

Nicole Smith (Mother)John Smith (Father) (Deceased)Joey Smith (Brother)Mi Young Cho (Wife)Si-woo Cho (Father-In-Law)Ji Min Cho (Mother-In-Law)

## Appearances

### Debut

The White Knight and His Lotus Flower #1 (1950s)

**Robert Johnathon Smith** was once a soldier in US Army. A few years in his service, he was chosen to go through an experimental process for a classified mission that gifted him super strength and flight. The scientist in charge, Dr. Charles, gave him a new name: White Knight. His first appearance was in *The White Knight and His Lotus Blossom #1.* Then, the character was brought back under the comic series, *The Knights #1.*

## History

### **Origin:**

Robert and his younger brother, Joey Smith, were raised solely his mother, Nicole Smith after his father, John Smith, died in combat when he was three years old. His mother was often absent from home due to work, leaving her children to fend for themselves. Robert had to grow up fast and take care of his brother. From a very young age he shouldered a lot of responsibility, becoming the role model for his younger brother. He acted as Joey’s protector, fighting off bullies and muggers.

Wanting to follow in his father’s shoes, he joined the army at eighteen, undergoing rigorous training with a smile, which led to him getting punished by his superiors who thought that he was mocking them and their training.

In earlier renditions, he was stationed in South Korea and met his wife, Mi Young Cho, who was one of the entertainers for the US soldiers at camps. They fell in love, and he brought her back to America. However, after the reboot, Robert and Mi Young when they both had to work together on a mission.

### **Beginnings**

Shortly after high school, Robert joined the military, even skipping the graduation ceremony to move into the training quicker. He befriended the members of his squadron and demonstrated his athletic capabilities early on, but he ran into conflict often with his superiors due to his cheerful nature making it seem like he was being disrespectful. They saw him as never taking it seriously enough. Robert often got punished with cleaning duty or running extra laps. Nonetheless, he worked hard and managed to graduate from the academy. He remained a soldier for a few years, being stationed in South Korea for most of it, where he met Mi Young. He called her his little Lotus Blossom, and eventually, he brought her with him, they got married in America before he was approached by Dr. Charles for an experimental procedure and a classified mission. He agreed to it while looking at a picture of Joey and his mother and a picture of new wife, wanting to make the world a safer place for them.

After undergoing the experiment, Robert needed to get used to his new abilities and was forced into grueling training sessions for a year to get into peak condition. He fought against attack drones and tanks, and he learned how to catch an explosive before it could land. All of which were overseen by Dr. Charles. Once he was deemed ready, the mission was revealed to him. He needed to infiltrate the lair of international villain, Fu Huáng, as known as Master Fu in China. They learned that Fu Huáng was planning to send missiles to destroy government facilities (The Pentagon, The White House, FBI, CIA, etc) and destabilize the government to put it under his communist regime. Angered at such a thought, he took the coordinates from one of the assistants and blasted off to Asia to confront the villain. When he arrived to the palace, he was ambushed by the Shadow Guards, a league of lethal ninjas, but defeated them by ripping out one of the dragon statues and pinning them to the wall with it. He headed to the launchpad and destroyed everything, not only the missiles, knocking out any henchman that got in his path. A mysterious fog surrounded him before a razor-sharp claws sliced at his chest, drawing blood. Robert flew above the fog and saw Fu had arrived with a katana on hand. Every time Robert tried to get the upper-hand with his powers, Fu used tricks by manipulating the smoke and fog to either hide or blind Robert. This continued until Robert flew in a circle, creating gusts of wind that blew it away, giving him the opening to knock out the villain and taking him to prison.

### **Early Adventures**

After the success of the first mission, the U.S unveiled him to the world as the symbol of democracy, and he spent a year traveling and giving support to countries like Vietnam to prevent the effects of Fu Huáng's communist reign from spreading. Robert spoke on the behalf of American ideals of freedom and liberty, and he fought against enemies around the world. He took the more dangerous missions and came out mostly unscathed, feeling on top of the world. However, one day, the camp he was residing in became the target for air strikes, and he was unable to take down all of them before more than half of encampment was destroyed. When he grabbed one of the Chinese pilots for questioning, the man stuck a bomb onto Robert's chest and held on until it exploded. While the man had died, Robert was taken to the hospital and slipped into unconsciousness. He was plagued with nightmares of failure and destruction; one of which showed that the explosive had hit his family and wife, killing them.

When he finally awoke, he saw his wife by his side, clutching his hand. As soon as his eyes opened, Mi Young shoved a bowl of rice that she had made him. His stomach rumbled, and he quickly ate as much as possible. It wasn't until he finished it did he realize that he was completely healed of any injuries. His wife told him how scared she was for him and pleaded to let her be by his side, so she could help him. Reluctantly, he agreed, allowing her join him as his sidekick, under the moniker of Lotus Blossom.

### **The White Knight Infiltrates the Red Empire**

During Robert's return to the United States, he learned that Fu Huáng had escaped from the federal prison, aided by his sister Min Huáng, or the Dragon Lady, another dangerous villain who went into hiding ever since her brother's capture. Due to his fast recovery, he was given the mission to find and arrest the two. He wanted to bring his wife, as he promised her, but his superiors denied his request, saying that they cannot trust her to not turn on him. Robert reassured them that Mi Young was Korean, not Chinese and would not betray him. Then, the superiors believed that she would not be helpful to the assignment, but they gave in after he vouched for her and promised to receive any punishment if the mission failed.

After following a trail of clues of the Huáng siblings' movement for a month, him and Mi Young discovered their underground base, the Red Empire, in the Taishan Mountains. When they entered the structure, they were immediately separated when they triggered one of the traps. The floor underneath Robert dropped and sent him down a pit filled with spikes that he avoided via flight, but by the time he got back up, Mi Young had disappeared.

Disturbed, he shot throughout the building to find her when he stumbled into the bed chambers of Min Huáng. She attempted to seduce him, but he refused, loyal to his wife. She fell to her knees and cried, confessing that her brother had threatened her to free him and had been his puppet for years. Moved by her tears, he knelt down to comfort the woman, only for her to pull out a poisoned dagger and stab him in the chest. She placed a kiss on his cheek, leaving behind a red lipstick stain before leaving him to die. Robert stumbled around the bedroom and accidentally tore down a tapestry, revealing a safe. He figured out that antidote had to be here and used the last bit of his strength to break it open. Seeing the vials, he downed the antidote and used the nearby close to wrapped around his wound. He started to destroy the interior in search of his wife, wondering that Fu had done something to her like Min had done to him.

He found the two in the throne room where Fu had Mi Young trapped in a birdcage that hung over a lava pit as she cried out for help. He dodged several attacks from Fu who alternates for his claws and his katana before he sent the man to crash against a wall. He took this change to save his wife and yanked the birdcage off the hook. His wife leapt into his arms but started to cry when she saw the lipstick mark, but he explained that it was Min had stabbed and left it there. Fu called out for his sister, and she appeared out of red mist. Robert fought against Fu while Mi Young distracted Min by dodging her fireballs by hiding a lotus flower and teleporting to another spot. Used to Fu's tricks, Robert broke the ground to create rubble and sent a whirlwind that swept it all of it to attack Fu. Fu was unable to hide behind his fog and gets smacked repeatedly by the rocks. Robert tied him up before disarming Min and capturing her. They took the siblings to prison, and when asked by his superiors about Mi Young's involvement, he gave a stunning review, which allowed Mi Young to officially join him.

### **The Corruption**

Some time after the siblings' imprisonment, Robert noticed that his superiors were acting a little different and no longer sent him onto missions despite the growing threats. They were also making policies that seemed to go against American ideals. He brought it up to his wife, and they decided to investigate. They scoured the superiors' offices, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. The only thing that each office had in common was a mostly empty cup of tea. Robert took a sample of the liquid, and they continued to search for clues. Mi Young found out that a guard, Ben, had been taking more patrol shifts after the Huáng siblings were imprisoned.

They went to Dr. Charles to examine the tea and found that it contained an ingredient that changes the brain to be more agreeable and opened to suggestion. Needing to find more evidence, Robert and Mi Young checked the cameras and saw that Ben had been the one to deliver the drinks and had been conversing with Min in a rather flirty manner. With that, they took Ben in more questioning and discovered that Min had seduced him to make the powder and mix it into the superiors' coffees. It turned out that Min was working on a plan to convert the superiors to carry out her and her brother's evil schemes and eventually get themselves released once the power took complete control of their brains. Ben told them that he used ginseng, hibiscus seeds, salt, and a strange fruit that she gave him the location to find it. Mi Young took these ingredients and worked with Dr. Charles to find a cure and mixed it into the superiors' coffees. The superiors regained control and quickly cancelled the various policies they employed while under the influence. Once Robert revealed Mi Young's role in finding the cure, his superiors gave the woman a pat on the head and told her that she was "one of the good ones."

### **The Brave and Bold: The 2020s Reboot**

During the experimental process, Robert also gained super hearing, able to hear a cry for help anywhere in the world. He still had to face a year of arduous training before he was allowed to be on the field, but rather than only being for the use of the military, he became a hero for the world with dozens of countries being able to contact him for help. He used his super hearing to hear any calls for help. It ranged from stopping a bank robbery to preventing a plane from crashing to rescuing a kidnapped government official.

When he received one mission to save a French diplomat who had been kidnapped, he bumped into South Korea's number one hero, Harvester, a.k.a Mi Young Cho. They both refused to work each other, believing that their individual powers were enough to complete the mission, but President of France insisted. Robert realized that the kidnapper was Fu Huáng, aka Crowned in Shadows, a mercenary for hire, due to the similarities in the technique and the wording of the random note and that his assistant distracted the bodyguards during the time of the crime. Mi Young discovered that the diplomat's assistant had been taken and replaced with Fu's sister, Min, aka the Lady in Red, and that they used the assistant's car to make their escape. They tracked the car down to an abandoned warehouse where the diplomat had been tied up in. They get ambushed by Fu and Min and have to defend themselves. Min yelled at Fu about needing to change his writing style for ransom notes while Fu spat back that she should have changed the getaway car. Robert had a gun held to his head by Fu, but Mi Young used their tempers against each other and provoked them. Min sent a pillar of fire toward her brother. Robert used this chance to get away and tied them with a nearby iron pipe. They took the mercenaries to prison and returned the diplomat safely. The President of France thanked them for their service, and before Mi Young left, Robert asked her for a date.

### **The Knighthood**

Robert and Mi Young spent the next few years working together and being together. They fought alongside together, enjoying several crime-fighting adventures together until Mi Young proposed to him, and they married several months later. They even invited Fu and Min to their wedding as thanks for being the catalyst for their meeting, and surprisingly the siblings attended, and they brought dates.

Realized the benefits of working together and seeing the growing need for heroes, Robert and Mi Young founded the Knighthood and brought in several heroes such as Raiden from Japan, Flicker from England, Terran from Canada, The Balladeer from Italy, and Starlight from India. They learned various things about each other during sparring. They found out that Raiden had a passion for cooking and loved rock music, Flicker had an obsession with cats, Terran hated sweets and liked spicy food, The Balladeer used nature as inspiration for his ballads, and Starlight collected stuff animals and was going to marry his fiance in a few months. Together, they maintained peace in the world. Soon, an evil organization by the name of ASCEND appeared, and despite arresting multiple members at a time, ASCEND conducted themselves efficiently. Robert suspected that Fu and Min formed it in order to earn more money, but when question, they laughed him off, and Mi Young needed to comfort him.

### **The Alliance**

The ASCEND organized several successful thefts from nuclear energy plants, hidden laboratories, military bases, and more. Robert and Mi Young approached the Huáng siblings to find information about ASCEND, only to find out that the cult had wanted to their services and was willing to pay more. They barely managed to convince Fu and Min join them in a shaky alliance. Robert worked to prevent the public from freaking out as the Knighthood kept a calm and cheerful demeanor in public, and Mi Young communicated with the various countries of the rising threat

Min and Fu revealed to the Knighthood that they discovered ASCEND's purpose had more cultish motives: they planned to put the entire world into a new age that would put those in ASCEND at the top and others at the bottom, working for them. They had stolen all of those materials in order to make a weapon that would send the world into the dark ages, giving ASCEND the chance to take over. The siblings also reported that the members of ASCEND greatly outweigh the Knighthood. It forced the them to recruit and bring more members into their ranks from everywhere. Robert questioned why the siblings choose to work with them. Fu answered that they could tell something was up with ASCEND when the recruiter kept talking about a natural order to things. Working together with the siblings, they made a plan to combat ASCEND.

### **The End of Red, White, and Blue**

The Knighthood discovered ASCEND's base of operations and Robert gathered weaponry and protective suits from the US government. They planned to have the army to have a full-frontal attack in order to drag ASCEND's attention away, giving the main members of the Knighthood along with the Huáng siblings the chance to sneak and dismantle the contraption. As they ventured in, Robert noted that the tapestries they were walking past seemed to showcase ASCEND's masterplan. They discovered the room where the machine and goes to destroy it when a forcefield appeared.

Robert felt him and the Knighthood go stiff, unable to control their bodies as they turned to see the leader of the ASCEND, Dr. Charles, but Fu and Min were able to. Dr. Charles revealed that he planned to use ASCEND to lure all of the superheroes into one spot and take away their powers. He planned to give them to himself and be able to control the world and later the universe. He was also the one to the design the suits, and he was able to control with them with his remote that sent a signal into the chip he snuck into the suits. It gave him control of their brains, able to manipulate their bodies, feelings, and thought.

Robert also learned that Dr. Charles intended for him to be his guinea pig and did not expect for him to live long after the procedure. Dr. Charles attempted to persuade the siblings to join him, and Robert believed that the siblings would join him. Min and Fu walked over to the doctor's side, but Fu quickly held a knife to the man's throat as Min stole the controller to cancel the signal before destroying it. Robert and Mi Young thanked the siblings before the Knighthood destroyed the emitters of the forcefield. Raiden, Robert, and Terran destroyed the machine with ease, leaving Dr. Charles powerless. He arrested him and offered the siblings a spot in the Knighthood, commending them for their heroics to which the siblings laughed at and accepted. Robert and Mi Young shared a kiss.

## **Personality**

In earlier incarnations, Robert had a confident attitude that swayed to arrogance, having a habit of patronizing others. He often toyed with criminals when fighting and belittled his wife. He also expressed his patriotism frequently. However, he held a strong sense of justice and a desire to protect others, ingrained into him due to needing to take care of his brother and during his time in the military.

In the latest incarnations, Robert maintained this attitude towards justice but turned his way from speaking from tactless and brash to cheeky and honest. He shifted into more of a simple good-natured man that often dotes on his wife. His happy-go-lucky nature also got enhanced as he is seen acting more goofy and friendly toward others, even the villains.

## **Powers and Abilities:**

* Super Strength: Due to the experiment, Robbery gained an inhuman level of strength, allowing to carry over hundred times his own weigh
* Super Hearing: He gained this skill in the new age of comics, so he can listen to calls for help
* Flight: He gained the ability of flight, and outside of hero work, he uses this power to race airplanes
* Durability:  He is more durable than the average soldier, able to be thrown against buildings and be relatively okay
* Peak Human Reflexes: As a result from military training, he is able to anticipate an enemy’s attack and dodge accordingly unless he is distracted
* Hand to Hand Combat: Trained by the most brutal instructors, Robert is very proficient in combat, and even without his super strength, he was able to deliver deathly blows
* Weapon Proficiency: Military training led him to be skilled with any sort of firearm and blunt weaponry