Ian Murphy

> *"You play a beautiful game, but sometimes you still lose."*
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> *"A new threat logs on!"*
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**Ian Murphy** is the arch nemesis of Xander Mercury. A master hacker and drug dealer, Ian is a new threat logging on to Empire City. Ian is as diligent as he is belligerent, and is as militant as he is brilliant.

Ian has always been more comfortable around numbers than people, because he could control numbers. After committing internet fraud and being recruited by the NSA, Ian realized that he had to control people like he controlled numbers, and he learned to practice a sort of immoral mathematics.

To Ian, his own safety is paramount, so he hires private security, highly skilled peacekeepers who have trained in the most dangerous regions of the world. They are military mercenaries, many with criminal records.

## Biography

### Early Life

Ian was in and out of foster care his whole life. At one point, Ian spent three years with a foster family and their son, who would later serve three tours in Iraq and later become stateside, stationed at a camp in New Jersey. Ian's foster brother was assigned to weapons convoys.

### College Years

> *"The world would be a much better place without student loans."*
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Ian attended Empire City University, often spending time coding Linux emulators for Zork.

Along with that, he found exploitable nodes and used his super computer virus to crack firewalls, or as he called it, his X-Axis Bi-Numeric Algorithm.

He spoofed IPs, switched to MD6, and ultimately cracked the firewall of the United States Department of Education to edit department records. He often posted to Hackerforum to brag that he actually got in, but when his computer alerted that the firewall was going back up, he tried to wipe out all the loans, even knowing he would be tracked down and found.

### Arrest

> *"You know what I learned in prison? If you want to be respected, you find the biggest guy and you put him down permanent. I think I just found the biggest guy."*
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Ian regretted that even though he was past the firewall and into the account network, having 3000 debts wiped by the time he pulled the plug, but also thought of how many accounts he could go to prison for if he hadn't stopped. Luckily, the DNS wasn't configured, they couldn't backtrace him. Soon later, Ian realized they could, because the subroot was configured, and by accessing the accounts he set off a packets feedback that anyone could trace back to him.

The Empire City Police Department placed Ian under arrest for violation of U.S. Code Title 18, Section 10-30: fraud and related activity in connection with computers.

### Recruited by the NSA

> *"Five years with the NSA, you learn a lot about how the world works. How it can't be saved or salvaged. How it's every man for himself."*
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The NSA needed a hacker with game for cyber espionage and he needed to not be in prison for the rest of his life, so the world was told that he committed suicide. Because of what the NSA wanted him doing, it was advantageous for him to be dead.

After he finished his time with the NSA, he was going to find his family to let them in on his activity, and then he discovered they had become corporate lapdogs.

### Finance and Felony

> *"Look at that. Secrets and lies floating in a cloud of data. I just reach out, pluck it from the sky. And it's mine. A hundred grand in 30 seconds. God bless the rich and famous!"*
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Ian thought of himself as a modern day magician by siphoning bank accounts out of thin air.

#### Arming Himself and Others

> *"I was no one. I had no name. None that mattered, anyway. I was just another weak man waiting to get fired or evicted or killed. But now I matter, because I know the guy with the biggest gun wins, and that's why I will rule Empire City."*
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Ian armed himself and the gangs with illegal army weaponry in Empire City in order to unite the various criminal enterprises under his own singular command. After Xander Mercury took out two of his gangbangers, he explained his origin to his remaining members.

Two months prior, Ian got his hands on a crate of 12 M4A1s, military grade weapons, from a military base in New Jersey. Ian was aware that every crate was fitted with a GPS system so they could be remote tracked. Xander Mercury tried pulling it up, but it wasn't receiving, so he believed it was deactivated.

Xander believed that if he kept the crate, he might be able to find where he was hiding. The crate had the same make and model of a tracking system the army installs on all of its weapons crates, so if they lose a crate, they sound out a remote signal that activates the beacon. Since Ian deactivates his beacon, if Xandeer sent a signal, nothing would come back. However, when Xander pulled up the original plans from a company's mainframe, it turned out there was a design flaw: the beacon is still susceptible to a subform wave even if it's been deactivated. Xander turned it back on. After Xander detected where the beacon was, he headed for Ian's base.

At Ian's hideout, he saw the tracker was activated, much to his surprise. After breaking it with his gun, Xander showed up and took out all the gangbangers and secured the weapons.

The next day, Ian showed up at the mayor's "Cash for Guns" event, not recalling the event being sanctioned. Ian stated that what happens in Hell's Kitchen only happens if he allows it. Ian had his men fire at the mayor, but Xander saved him. Xander later stated in his hideout that the coward finally decided to show his face, and that vanity is going to cost him. He borrowed the FBI's facial recognition software, and got a match. Xander learned that Ian's foster brother is assigned to a weapons convoy that carries SCAR 16s by truck, scheduled to come through Empire City that night.

> *"Old school weapon. Respect. But can your arrows do this?"*
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Xander showed up to the weapons trade, and knocked down the fellow corrupt military men. Ian confronted Xander from afar, and fired a grenade at him. Ian was surprised to see Xander shoot the grenade in time, knocking them both back. Ian began to look around for him, and decided to escape.

#### Return to Crime and Faking his Own Death

> *"Hello, Empire City. Miss me? Many of you have noticed that you're not feeling quite like yourselves like our good assistant district attorney here. You might recognize him from his work in the ongoing trial. Hi, attorney. I want what you want. For you to feel better. I do think that you want the pain to end, and I can do that with my drug. It's what all of your bodies crave. Fortunately, the power of relief is right here. And all you have to do is go to your friendly neighborhood drug dealer and request the cure. Simply supply and demand at work. Now, tell me you want this and it's yours. And all the pain will just disappear. Say it. Say you want it. You see a simple solution. I'm Ian Murphy, and I approve this high."*
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Ian had escaped Empire State Penitentiary, and returned to a life of crime as a recidivist. He had gathered money to pay his scientist, who tried post hoc negotiation on him. Ian killed him, as he tried to get more money for keeping quiet about their little science project, which was exposing people to his fear-inducing drugs. His drug spread to Duncan Grey, and the assistant district attorney of Empire City, whom he picked up as an impersonated ambulance driver. Later, at the Empire Municipal Records Department, Ian used his hacking skills to take over all the local station feeds in Empire City to broadcast his message. Xander Mercury tried to track his signal during this. He used the assistant district attorney as an example, He told the city where to get the cure, simply supply and demand at work. Xander tried to find where he broadcasted it from, but he bounced the signal off of a satellite, as he could have sent that transmission from another country. Xander scrubbed the footage, frame by frame, because there was something on there that gave a clue to where he is. He doses the whole city, only some people showed symptoms because exposure was selective, as he contaminated something that only certain people, like Duncan and the attorney, consumed. Xander scrubbed through the footage, and found that the district attorney's eye caught a reflection, which he enhanced to find the city seal of the Empire Municipal Records Department, and that building's been abandoned since the city went digital. Xander deduced that's where Ian was operating out of.

> *"You're really on the no killing wagon? Shame. Really letting one of life's true pleasures pass you by."*
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The vigilante showed up there and took away his guards, and Ian taunted him about his no-kill rule, as he rescued the assistant district attorney. Later, when Xander was trying to find out how Ian was getting his drug into people's systems, he found the homes of people with withdrawal symptoms, Xander wondered if people weren't exposed at home, but rather what if they got dosed at work, and Xander followed their employment addresses, which turned out to be a trail, a path through the city. Xander found that the flu vaccination tour, a truck sent out by Empire City Mobile Care, Xander saw the last truck was downtown, so he sent Duncan. Duncan visited the truck, where he found the drugs, and was subsequently kidnapped by Ian. Ian then called Xander, informing him that he knew his identity and that he kidnapped Duncan. Xander showed up without a mask, and was attacked. Xander hid, but Ian held Duncan at gunpoint in front of a big window. He threatened to shoot Duncan if Xander didn't lower his bow. Before Ian could pull the trigger, Xander riddled him with arrows, causing him to fall out the window and supposedly die. Xander later formulated a non-addictive treatment for Ian's drugs.

#### Cyber Attack on Empire City

> *"I am Ian Murphy. Judgement has been rendered against this city. A sentence carried out. An earthquake. A siege. This is what comes next. A new life you will live on your knees. And it will take nothing more than the push of a button. I am in control now. And this is all just the beginning. Let there be light."*
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Ian got access to Empire City's protective network and uploaded a system-wide virus, which deleted itself as soon as it completed its ask.

> *"I said this was just the beginning. Electricity is not the only power in this city. Consider money, for example. The banks are next to go dark. Your beloved dollars wiped away as your accounts will finally all be equal at zero."*
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When Xander Mercury found out that the Empire City Police Department dispatched a riot squad to Atlantic Standard Public Deposit Bank, he and Duncan Grey arrived on motorcycle, firing Tear-Gas Arrows into the unruly crowd gathering outside the bank doors, which dispersed them.

##### Financial Attack

Ian learned that when a city bank goes under financial cyber attack, the mayor will reach out to the Treasury Department and request an influx of fresh cash, which is transported by armored trucks navigating according to a closed-end GPS system which directs them to City Deposit. If the drivers deviate from the route, the trucks are shut down. Ian hacked into the system and directed the cash to come to his base. Breaking into the treasury's asymmetric encryption was not even beyond his capabilities. The terminal was configured to only connect with the treasury's IP.

When Xander Mercury showed up to his base, Ian's motion-sensored guns aimed at him, he used a grappling hook arrow to swing around and take out the guns, while Duncan Grey took out the rocket launchers aimed at the armored trucks transporting the cash.

### Hunt for Xander Mercury

> *"Statistical correlations do not lie."*
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First Ian located every crime scene the scarlet archer's been spotted at in the past six months. Ian created an algorithm calculating the average amount of time it takes the marksman to reach a crime scene, triangulated by the distance to said scene.

## Personality

Xander Mercury analyzes Ian as unhinged, sadistic, maniacal, psychotic, vengeful, vicious, savage, bonkers, unrelenting, crazy, and homicidal.

Ian has a genius-level IQ, is an exceptionally malevolent individual, being a complete psychopath with seemingly no moral compass or regard for human life, and a ruthless sadist that takes sadistic pleasure in torturing others to achieve his goals, and he is seemingly impossible to intimidate. Ian is manipulative, commanding the respect and loyalty from all of his goons, in addition to being extremely intelligent and unpredictable, thus managing to torment his archnemesis Xander Mercury for years.

Ian has quite the superiority complex and zero empathy. His psychiatric diagnosis is anti-social personality disorder, giving him a void of compassion and is full of factoids.

Prior to his rise to finance and felony, Ian was an ambitious and cunning sociopath who was willing to do whatever it took to obtain power. He was patient and used his high intellect to concoct plans in order to reach his goals. Virtually every move he made was premeditated to a certain degree.

## Abilities

> *"He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. And so I prepare with great zeal and patience."* -Sun Tzu's *The Art of War*, Ian Murphy
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Ian can answer any question on mythology, mathematics, history, science, literature, music, biology, and current events.

* **Genius-Level Intellect:** Ian is extremely intelligent (IQ 187), able to go to-to-toe with Xander Mercury for years, even when the latter was also aided by Duncan Grey. Ian has a photographic memory.
	+ **Master Hacker:** Ian is one of the world's greatest hackers, able to access information from computers around the globe. Ian is an extremely talented but dangerous hacker, being able to shut down the alarms and security cameras to a maximum security facility using his laptop.
	+ **Master Tactician:** Ian, much like his arch nemesis Xander Mercury, is a genius at planning and improvising criminal activities, despite his insanity being capable of sometimes impairing his higher thinking. While scheming, Ian usually manages to stay one step ahead of the police, and sometimes even the Scarlet Archer himself, due to him being completely unpredictable. Ian is also skilled at coming up with effective contingency plans. Ian is an expert at getting into people's heads and manipulating them. This is one of Ian's most effective weapons, as it especially aides him in gaining followers in his many loyal goons, but is also useful for carrying out mental torture. Ian, as a crime boss at the very top of 's criminal underworld, is a highly skilled and charismatic leader, inspiring fierce loyalty from all of his numerous goons.
	+ **Skilled Scientist:** Ian is an amateur chemist with an aptitude in chemical weaponry. Ian is also an amateur astronomer.
	+ **Explosives Expertise:** Ian is an explosives expert and creates explosives using household objects.
	+ **Skilled Martial Artist:** Ian is a third degree black belt martial artist tae kwon do student, and judo expert.
	+ **Skilled Marksman:** Ian is a trained sniper.
	+ **Skilled Pilot:** Ian is an amateur hobbyist helicopter pilot and trained combat pilot.
	+ **Multilingualism:** Ian speaks multiple languages, including English and fluent German.
* **Intimidation:** Ian, due to his exceptional capacity for heinous torture and murder, commands a very intimidating presence, enough to frighten low-level thugs.
* **Pathological Indomitable Will:** Ian possesses an obliviousness to danger that makes him invulnerable to fear and intimidation, which are usually the vigilante's greatest weapons in combat. Hence, Ian does not fear death and will even threaten his own life to achieve his goal or make a point. This makes the Ian the Scarlet Archer's most formidable enemy.

## Weaknesses

* **Human Vulnerabilities:** Ian's greatest weakness is that he is a human with no enhanced strength, speed, durability, or superhuman powers, therefore making him quite vulnerable to the physical attacks of stronger and more powerful opponents. Ian, however, always compensates for this extremely effectively with his brilliant and extremely unpredictable intellect, incredible escapology skills, pathological indomitable will and fearlessness, as well as and the numerous goons at his disposal. Hence, Ian has been able to keep up with the stronger and more skilled combatant Xander Mercury for years.

## Equipment

### Weaponry and Gadgets

> *"All I'm doing is unleashing the true potential of what I made."*
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* **Super Virus:** Ian's X-axis bi-numeric algorithm has 3407 traceable access nodes with a firewall on every one.
* **M249 Machine Gun:** Military-grade hardware, Ian bought a hundred M249 squad automatic weapons for him and his goons in his criminal empire. This machine gun is gas-powered, air-cooled, and fires up to 800 rounds per minute. An iconic light machine gun, accurate in medium range with high ammunition capacity and efficient suppressive fire.
* **M4A1 Assault Rifle:** Ian arms his gangbangers with fully automatic M4A1 assault rifles, military grade weapons,
* **FN SCAR 16:** Ian's foster brother was assigned to a weapons convoy that carries SCAR 16s by truck, a military assault weapons with a grenade launcher.

## Trivia

* Ian has a very vivid imagination.
* Ian's psychiatric diagnosis is anti-social.
* Ian is an avid video game player.
* Ian collects firearms and space memorabilia.
* Ian is a medieval history expert.
* Ian can recite 200 digits of pi.
* Ian's ringtone is *The Imperial March.*
* Ian thinks of Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and Aaron Swartz as modern day revolutionaries.
* Xander Mercury thinks Ian's one goal is to create chaos so he can rule Empire City with the barrel of a gun.