Gunsmoke

**Rene Adam Chase** is a vigilante turned criminal from Smog City. After the revelation that Kaz Becker was partially involved in the death of his brother, Rene swore that he would one day kill Becker. Unfortunately, Kaz emerged victorious in their last confrontation, though at an unknown period in time, Rene was resurrected.

## Biography

### Vigilantism

#### Working with Alexander Ramon

Rene Chase became a vigilante named "Gunsmoke" and fought criminals in Emerald City alongside his close friend, Alexander Ramon, whom he has known since middle school. The two shared a brotherly bond and were great friends.

On one occasion, Rene and Alexander were pitted against a villain named Spike. Rene broke their code of refusing to kill their enemies once Spike was defeated. Alexander broke off the partnership when he realized that Spike was his older brother being controlled by an unknown party. Rene apologized to Alexander, with the latter making Rene believe that he was forgiven.

#### Meeting Kaz Becker

Rene later transferred to Smog City to fight crime.

On one night of his crimefighting activities, he found another vigilante clad in green armor. From a distance, he observed the latter defeat a group of criminals. The verdant vigilante noticed Rene, which prompted him to leave the scene.

Rene was spotted by the same vigilante weeks later while fighting off ten attempted home-invaders and grappled away before the Smog City Police Department could arrest him. He was followed by the vigilante from rooftop to rooftop.

Rene took a break to smoke a cigarette on another roof and intercepted the verdant vigilante from sneaking up on him by punching him in the face. The two ensued in a fight, which ended in the other vigilante stabbing Rene in his knee. The vigilante interrogated him for his identity, but Rene stood strong and only gave away his codename, Gunsmoke.

The two eventually realized they had common goals and agreed to share names; the green shadow was named Kaz Becker. Rene and Becker later started sharing an apartment as an improvised base. Rene also divulged that he lost his brother Eli to unknown causes.

### Partnership

After Rene recovered from his wounds, he fought crime alongside Becker. Rene even gave Becker his own vigilante codename, "the Shadow of the Night." During their crusade, Rene and Becker discovered a hooded individual leading a group of men into a museum at night.

Rene and Becker followed the men into the museum and found out they were robbers and proceeded to fight them off. While Rene took some down, Becker fought the leader to no avail, and Rene had to take him home afterward.

#### Hunting Crane

After Becker came across the identity of their hooded suspect, "Nathaniel Crane," he and Rene were found by one of his henchmen who attempted to kill them. They took the would-be assassin down and questioned him, only for him to be shot and killed by another henchman in case the former failed.

Rene and Becker saw the shot came from a sniper on a flying plane, which they both grappled to. Rene silently boarded the plane and brought Becker up with him, but they were soon found by Crane's henchmen and a small fight ensued, in which he was initially overpowered by Crane himself and ended with him and Becker falling from the plane but got a few shots in before the two landed on a train.

Crane's plane landed in the distance and his henchmen rushed towards the train they were on, just before the train took off. Rene and Becker fought the men who got onto the train, until Rene was suddenly shot and fell off, leaving Becker to assume him dead.

However, Rene survived and pursued the train on foot, managing to catch up to the bridge it was headed towards and, as it exploded, saved Becker from falling into the water it previously crossed. Becker thanked Rene for saving him, and the two hitched a ride home on Crane's plane.

#### Losing Kaz

Nearly a year of crimefighting together, Rene and Becker were scavenging the streets for any suspicious activity when they came across a group of nine men approaching a family on the sidewalk. The group noticed him and Becker and sent for some to deal with the two. Rene stayed on the roof to dispatch the men while Becker went to protect the family. While Becker saved the family, he was caught by the police. Rene went to save him, but he was signaled to stay away.

While Becker was convicted, Rene stayed in the apartment to lie low. In January 2013, Rene was watching the news and heard that Kaz Becker had died in a prison riot, sending him into a blind rage.

#### Reuniting

After going to sleep that night, Rene was woken up by a strange sound, and he went to go investigate. He found Kaz collecting his personal belongings from his room and was shocked to see him standing. Becker explained that he faked his death and wanted to leave behind his old life, and Rene respected his decision.

Rene walked Becker down to the city bus and sent him off to his new life, but found him in the apartment later after Becker realized he already had a life fighting alongside Rene.

#### Party Crashers

A month later, Rene was invited to an old friend's party. He left Kaz and Smog City for a few hours, but he was gone for longer than he told Becker he would be. Rene was subdued by his old crimefighting partner Alexander Ramon, and was restrained by him before Becker found him hours later and intervened.

When Becker appeared in the party house, Ramon used a smoke orb as a diversion to escape him, along with Rene. He was brought to a dark room and tied to a chair, as well as Becker later on. Rene was taken out of the room by Ramon's men to destabilize Becker, but overpowered them in the next room and disarmed one of them, proceeding to return to Becker and shoot Ramon.

Once he freed Becker, Ramon detonated several explosives within the building, forcing him and Becker to run. Once they escaped, they returned home to watch a recap of the events and discovered Ramon was somehow alive.

#### Saving the School

One rainy afternoon on a patrol, Rene and Becker saw a pair of armed men storming a school building. They charged to the school as the men killed the security guards, with Rene targeting the man inside while Becker handled the man outside.

Rene saw Becker was stunned when the final armed man had his sights on a little girl. He took the opportunity to take his gun off line to save the girl and knock him out.

Rene and Becker were praised as heroes by the school, but left immediately once they heard sirens. Once again they returned home to review the events, they realized they were being hailed as heroes for once. Rene was very pleased in contrast to Becker.

### Forming a Team

#### Meeting Kendra Snart

In December 2013, Rene and Becker encountered a woman fighting off a group of men by herself. They sought to make her an ally and potential teammate, and introduced themselves to her. They quickly became friends after realizing they share common goals and could be more efficient crimefighters altogether.

Snart revealed to not just be skilled in unarmed combat, but also is capable of archery due to her childhood of hunting animals for nourishment. She was nicknamed "Shikari" as a childhood for her skillset, and began using it with her new teammates. Rene and Becker then welcomed Snart into their apartment and allowed her to live with them.

The trio would often scout for crime at a bar while in their civilian attire.

#### Attack on Smog City

On one night, a group of twenty men led by a man named Jefferson Merlyn came to the city and threatened Rene and his new team. Merlyn left his men to fight Rene and Snart while Becker chased after him.

Rene and Snart were left to fight Merlyn's men with the help of a police officer, Sebastian Williams. They were victorious, and were greeted by Becker carrying a deceased Merlyn. Rene was told that Merlyn killed himself.

#### Return of Alexander Ramon

One rainy night, a gang of armed men broke into Rene, Becker and Snart's apartment building. The trio opened their door to find the men dragging people from their homes, as collateral. Rene and Kendra fought the men off while Becker took on their leader, who was revealed to be Alexander Ramon.

While Rene and Snart battled, Alexander dueled with Becker but took his own life before the latter had the chance to kill him.

#### Kaznapped

At the bar, Rene and his teammates saw a man enter and attack the innocent patrons. Rene and Kendra escorted people to safety while Becker took on the attacker. When he went back inside, he could not find Becker.

Rene deduced that Becker was taken by an old enemy: Nathaniel Crane. He pursued his theory with Snart and commandeered a jet, and flew to Japan. He found Crane's warehouse in shambles and found Becker in the debris.

#### Losing Kendra

Nearly a year of crimefighting as a team, Rene and Snart began noticing unusual behavior in Becker. While Rene was visiting his family, Becker was left to deal with an escaped convict named Elliot Taylor. Unfortunately, Taylor abducted Snart along with an innocent woman, and the former was dropped to her death in his absence and due to Becker's failure to save her.

The two attended her funeral in her memory.

#### The Painful Revelation

On New Year's Eve, 2014 atop a building, Becker confronted Rene with a hard truth. He revealed to him that he knew his brother, Eli, from the Guild of Death, and how the two of them conspired to escape from their cruel mentor, Axel Trevor. Trevor uncovered their plan and killed almost everyone involved, except for Becker, who had escaped.

Rene was outraged and blamed Becker. He approached him and punched him and punched him over and over again, without objection from Becker. Rene felt utter betrayal, having worked alongside the man responsible for the death of his brother.

Rene walked to the edge of the building and took out his gun and prepared to shoot Becker, but he was gone.

### Revenge

#### Attack on the Beckers

Years later, a masked Rene would confront Becker and his father Rory in the latter's apartment. Rene, unbeknownst to Kaz, got the upper hand against him in a duel and knocked him down and out, allowing him to keep Rory at gunpoint.

When Kaz came to, Rene took Rory and held him even closer at gunpoint. He went on about how Kaz stole his brotherly bond, and just as he was about to shoot Kaz instead, the latter launched a hidden knife into the barrel of his gun, causing it to malfunction. Rene dropped the gun and released Rory to hold his hand, allowing Kaz to draw his attention from his father.

Kaz attacked Rene and tried to apologize to him, but Rene was a different man now; Rene had become insane. Kaz took the knife and lodged it in Rene's throat to prevent him from any further sinister deeds.

### Legacy

Kaz later found out that Rene planted explosives in the building as a contingency.

## Personality

Rene was a tough and dedicated vigilante who went to many lengths to protect the innocent. He murdered the first Spike out of anger, but he learned his lesson along the way when he worked with Kaz Becker and Kendra Snart.

However, Rene deeply missed his brother, Eli, and savagely beat Kaz when he found out he was responsible for his death.

## Abilities

* **Peak Human Condition:** Rene was in top physical form, with great levels of speed (allowing him to catch up to a train and outrun an explosion) and strength, sufficient to support Kaz Becker's bodyweight, kick open a heavy door, and knock a man out with a single hit.
* **Expert Combatant:** Rene was able to simultaneously fight off ten home-invaders at once before the police could arrive and even briefly contend with the master martial artist Kaz Becker, as well as Nathaniel Crane's henchmen and later double-teamed Crane himself alongside Becker. He overpowered Alexander Ramon's guards, despite being weakened and outnumbered. With the help of Kendra Snart and Sebastian Williams, Rene also defeated Jefferson Merlyn's Guild of Death-trained troopers and later more of Ramon's henchmen alongside Snart. Years later, Rene attacked Kaz and his father in their apartment and got the upper hand on the former, though he was ultimately defeated and killed.
* **Expert Marksman:** As his name implies, Rene was proficient in using firearms and had good accuracy. He precisely fired his grappling hook at a flying plane and readily used his sidearm against Nathaniel Crane and even shot him in the leg while falling out of a flying plane.
* **Stealth:** Rene was skilled in quickly disappearing from places and staying hidden. He successfully hid on Nathaniel Crane's flight to Japan, although briefly. He was also able to successfully hijack a jet to travel back to Japan to save Kaz from Crane.
* **Explosives Skills:** Rene was skilled in implementing explosives.

## Equipment

### Weaponry and Gadgets

Rene used firearms to battle criminals.

* **Beretta 93R:** Rene's sidearm was a full-auto pistol. He used it to shoot Nathaniel Crane in the leg when falling out of a plane. He prepared to use it to kill Kaz Becker after learning the latter was involved in the death of his brother, Eli, but Becker had escaped before he could get a shot in.
* **Beretta Px4 Storm Compact:** Rene began using this pistol after he stopped working with Kaz. He used it to hold Rory Becker at gunpoint, and when he was going to shoot Kaz, the latter launched a knife into the barrel of the pistol, causing it to malfunction.
* **Grappling Hook:** Rene was equipped with a grappling hook which he used to travel the rooftops. He fired it at Nathaniel Crane's plane.

## Relationships

Allies* Outcasts - Former Team
	+ Kendra Snart/Shikari † - Friend and Teammate
* Sebastian Williams
* Spike I † - Victim
* Kaz Becker/Argonaut - Good Friend turned Enemy and Killer
* Nathaniel Crane/Night Vision
* Jefferson Merlyn †
* Rory Becker † - Attempted Victim