Cameron Lark

"*Happiness doesn't last. Sooner or later you go right back into the shit.*"
―Cameron Lark to Kate Bloom[src]
 Cameron Lark is a mercenary along with Malcolm Truman based in Alter.

## Biography

### Background

Cameron Aaron Lark was born in the Northern city of Alacross to Robert and Valerie Lark, where he grew up living a fairly normal life. Robert died when he was four, leaving him with his very overprotective mother. Cameron once asked to sleep at the house of a female friend and was treated very suspiciously.

At age 17 Cameron entered the Northern army in a series of guerilla conflicts with Eastern raiders. Cameron developed a camaraderie with his squad, particularly Sergeant Morgan Chase and his fellow squad member Lisa Troy.

During the conflict Cameron came upon a child soldier being used by the Eastern soldiers. He hesitated out of horror and ended up shot in the foot.

Cameron continued his service for a few more years, becoming increasingly disillusioned with military life. He learned that Sergeant Chase had sexually assaulted his friend Lisa. Out of anger, Cameron killed Chase while he was sleeping before fleeing the Northern army for good. He would then travel across the land to find a place where he could call home.

### Arc I

Cameron came across the city of Alter, a city still barely within Northern reach but in reality a mixing pot of cultures and attitudes. Before entering the city Cameron was jumped by several members of the Talons, a local gang. They were lead by Carter Talon, son of the gang's leader Grant Talon. Cameron proceeded to kill all of them easily before entering the city.

The morning after, Cameron learned that he'd become a wanted man due to his killing of Carter Talon. Cameron speaks to the bartender Phil Thornton about it. On the streets Cameron was ambushed by Paul Mann, Grant Talon's lieutenant, who caught him off guard and subdued him.

Cameron was brought before Grant Talon himself, who expressed anger at his son's demise. Cameron was thrown in a cell to rot, where he met Malcolm Truman. The two bonded over a time and agreed to break out together. Malcolm expressed hatred towards Quinn Hayes, the terrorist who murdered his family. As Cameron and Malcolm escaped, an explosion went off in another part of the compound, aiding their departure. It is later believed to have been the work of Hayes, who wanted to sabotage his own gang members.

Cameron woke up in a hospital bed and met Lori Bishop, the woman in charge of running government operations in the city. Lori lectured him about how hard it was to have her job before letting him go. Cameron met up with Malcolm afterwards and the two agreed to work together as mercenaries. Cameron met the gun shop owner Lee Adams, who would act as their benefactor.

Soon after Cameron expressed distress over Malcolm teaching children how to use guns from the gun shop. After this the two were approached by Adrian Pasdar, the knife-loving representative of the gang Green Sky. Adrian's boss, Lace Jensen wished to hire them as guards during a negotiation with the Crested, another rival gang. After some convincing, the two accepted. Lee also ribbed Cameron about his "relationship" with Adrian due to both of them liking phallic objects such as knives.

Cameron and Malcolm met with Lace Jensen and finalized the details, before they met with Harrison Root at an abandoned sports facility. Few problems presented themselves until after the negotiations were concluded, when Catalina Luna, one of Root's enforcers, drove Adrian too far and ignited a gunfight between the two gangs.

Cameron and Malcolm both attempted to leave the facility. Lace attempted to persuade them to rejoin the fight, but the two claimed that they did their job and she messed it up. Lace ordered Adrian to kill both of them. The three fought, and the fight ended when Cameron kicked Adrian in the face. Cameron then ordered Adrian to tell his boss that they were done with everything. Adrian complied, and Cameron took Malcolm to a hospital to get treated.

Cameron and Malcolm later returned home to find Lee sitting in the middle of the aftermath of a chaotic gunfight. She provided no explanation, only exasperation that the two were never around to see her badass moments.

Later, Cameron and Malcolm returned home to find that Lee had subdued two assassins sent by Paul Mann. Cameron and Malcolm witnessed Lee torture the pair of them for information, before killing one of them with office supplies. The remaining one, Aaron Wilson, readily volunteered information after that display.

Aaron was sent to draw Paul Mann out at Phil Thornton's bar. Aaron's throat was slit in the conflict. Cameron snuck up behind Mann and threatened him, only to be blasted back with a gust of wind. Mann's smug monologuing was interrupted by Malcolm throwing a table at his head, splintering the table and knocking him unconscious.

Cameron and Malcolm then used Paul Mann to determine the location of Grant Talon, drawing him out to meet them in a parking lot. They attempted to exchange Mann's life for Talon calling off his grudge. Talon refused, instead intentionally angering Malcolm until he began attacking. Cameron and Malcolm faced off against Talon and Hayes's lieutenant Marta Ryan. Paul Mann escaped in the mayhem.

Talon went after Cameron with a shotgun, monologuing about how he didn't want any of this, and how he had to do what he had to do to survive. Cameron finally managed to subdue Talon, as Malcolm joined him after beating Marta Ryan. However, the two remained befuddled as Talon turned into a pigeon before their eyes, flying away. They did not know how to respond to this, and just went home.

Later, the two watched Quinn Hayes's publicized execution of Grant Talon on TV.

Cameron had a talk with Malcolm concerning Hayes's return. Upon their return they ran into a half-unconscious Kate Bloom. The two took her in, and Lee helped her recover. Kate had been a prisoner of Travis Cooledge, a leader of the Red Ants along with his sister Taylor. Travis had sexually abused and humiliated Kate for months. Reminded of Lisa, Cameron accepted her contract proposing to kill Travis.

At Lee's suggestion, the three visited information broker Frank Gryphon, who offered them possible locations where Travis could be hiding, and that they might be backed by Quinn Hayes. Malcolm's judgment became clouded, and while the three stormed a Red Ant hideout Malcolm allowed a bomb to go off, severely injuring him.

Cameron and Kate quickly rushed him to the hospital, where they met Dr. Teresa Martin, who assured them that he would be fine. Things quickly turned sour as Travis attacked the hospital. Cameron and Kate tried to fight him off, but Cameron was knocked back as Kate was held against her will, likely about to be killed. She was saved by a shotgun-toting Dr. Martin. The blast toppled him over the railing of a stairwell, knocking him down a few flights of stairs. Kate then dropped a fire extinguisher on his foot. He would later be captured by Catalina Luna.

With Taylor closing in, Cameron brought Kate to the front to fight her off. Taylor retreated as the cops arrived. Kate and Cameron talked for a while, before expressing their newfound friendship before Kate resumed her life as an agent under Lori Bishop.

Cameron later bought himself a tuxedo cat which he referred to as Oreo. He became flustered at Malcolm and Lee's teasing and went out on a walk, where he was approached by Adrian. Adrian claimed to know of a hideout where Quinn Hayes was being held. Cameron reluctantly went along before Adrian ditched him. Cameron was tazed by the Red Ant guard Eugene Watt, and imprisoned.

Cameron was later interrogated by Quinn Hayes, before Malcolm and the Green Sky came in to fight him. After his fight with Hayes, Malcolm rescued Cameron and ran from the building as Malcolm broke down.

After this, Cameron began avoiding Malcolm due to awkwardness. While out for breakfast Cameron was jumped by a group of street thugs, who nearly killed him before a mysterious young man named Isaac intervened. The two developed a quick friendship despite Isaac's rather off personality and surprising knowledge of events. Isaac explained to Cameron the history of the Itamis and how Quinn Hayes had thrown the city into chaos by killing Dai Itami years prior.

Isaac led Cameron into a Crested compound, where the two overheard Harrison Root discussing with Lori Bishop. The two revealed that the Crested were actually a force being used by the government in order to work outside the law in order to bring the other gangs down and restore order. Isaac and Cameron barely managed to leave without either side resorting to violence.

Isaac and Cameron bid farewell as friends, after this.

Cameron then was recommended by Malcolm to see his psychiatrist Dr. Adeline Slater. Cameron confided in her details of his past, but stopped when having to recount his experiences in the army. They took a recess, and Cameron witnessed the aftermath of Lace Jensen going to apologize to Malcolm and Lee.

The next day, Cameron told Slater everything, who then urged him to tell Malcolm. Once he arrived home, Cameron did so, thus putting to rest the tension between the two once and for all.

## Appearances

* *City of Alter*
	+ *Arc I*
		- *I. Out of the Frying Pan*
		- *II. The New Deal*
		- *III. Thicker than Water*
		- *IV. Cold Heat*
		- *V. Confrontation*
		- *VI. The Anchor*
		- *VII. Turning Gears*
		- *VIII. Cloak and Dagger*
		- *IX. Check*
		- *X. Checkmate*
	+ *Arc II*
		- *XI. Fork in the Road*
		- *XII. Painting by Numbers*
		- *XIII. Parasite*
		- *XIV. A Dreamless Sleep*
		- *XV. Man of Two Minds*
		- *XVI. Of Those Left Behind*
		- *XVII. Hive Mind*
		- *XVIII. Eye of the Storm*
		- *XIX. Hear What I Hear*
		- *XX. The Interloper*
	+ *Chronicles of Ceres: Volume I*
		- *The Termite King*
		- *Happy Birthday*
	+ *Arc III*
		- *XXI. Rebirth*
		- *XXII. Divided We Fall*
		- *XXIII. Brothers in Arms*
		- *XXIV. Flesh and Bone*
		- *XXV. Eye for an Eye*
		- *XXVI. Shattered Glass*
		- *XXVII. Control*
		- *XXVIII. City of Blood*
		- *XXIX. The Truth*
		- *XXX. Reset*
	+ *Arc IV*
		- *XXXI. The Rogue*
		- *XXXII. Strings*
		- *XXXIII. Striking Back*
		- *XXXIV. Chains of Command*
		- *XXXV. The Tin Man*
		- *XXXVI. Crossfire*
		- *XXXVII. The Damned*
		- *XXXVIII. Man Behind the Curtain*
		- *XXXIX. Guilty as Sin*
		- *XL. The Gift*
	+ *Arc V*
		- *XLI. Premonitions*
		- *XLII. The Old and New*
		- *XLIII. Closure*
		- *XLIV. Lessons Learned*
		- *XLV. The Children*
		- *XLVI. Writing on the Wall*
		- *XLVII. Beginning of the End*
		- *XLVIII. Martyrs*
		- *XLIX. The Marionette*
		- *L. Brave New World*
	+ *LI. Remnants*

## Image Gallery

Cameron tries on his edgy outfit. Wait, that's just his normal one.D'aw, he made a pouch in his jacket for his cat.Wobbly frown.He standin'.If you can see him, he's really concerned about Juno.Okay, I look pretty fuckin' good today. Maybe stealing Lori's folded arms pose helps.