Kuben Blisk

• ARES Division (Contracted mercenary)

Sergeant (IMC, formerly)

• R-201 Assault Rifle

• Wingman

• Legion-class Titan

> "*You kill me, you're better. I kill you, I'm better.*"
> ― Kuben Blisk's motto
>
>

**Kuben Blisk** is a South African mercenary Pilot who served in the IMC's forces as a ranking commander and contracted mercenary. He is the leader of the Apex Predators, an infamous outfit of ruthless freelance Pilots. He serves as a supporting character for the IMC in *Titanfall* and the secondary antagonist in the single-player campaign of *Titanfall 2*.

## Background

Working on the Frontier, providing Combat Intel and Counterinsurgency services, his first contract with the IMC concluded with his outfit making enough money to retire to a tropical paradise. But after considering the excellent pay, and more importantly the opportunity to lay waste to everything in sight with state-of-the-art hardware, Blisk decided that the IMC's offer of renewal was just too good to pass up.

### Frontier War

At the time of the Fracture Operation, Blisk was serving as a direct advisor to Vice Admiral Marcus Graves, holding the provisional rank of Sergeant. During the battle, Blisk served to co-ordinate troops on the ground and inform Pilots of overall mission progress. Following the discovery of life signs emanating from Sector Bravo-217, Blisk would be given charge of an expedition and eventual massacre of Colony G21 on planet Troy. Following the eruption of combat on the planet, Blisk would lead a team in an attempt to take control of the IMS *Odyssey* and assassinate James MacAllan. Ultimately, he would fail, and MacAllan would be extracted by the Militia.

Blisk would not then take direct action during the battles of Angel City, Outpost 207 and Base Golden, once again serving in a combat intel role. He would later deploy in the Battle of Airbase Sierra, leading a team into the tunnels beneath the base in an attempt to engage and kill Militia operative Sarah Briggs. Ultimately, he would succeed in wounding Briggs, though would fail to kill her or prevent the destruction of Airbase Sierra.

During the Battle of Demeter, Blisk would deploy personally with several Pilots via Drop Pod onto the surface of the planet, with orders to stop MacAllan from detonating the reactor - thus delegating his responsibilities of coordinating the ground forces to Spyglass. Blisk would corner MacAllan in the reactor, firing on the Militia commander before being ordered by Graves to engage in hand to hand combat only out of fear of damaging the reactor. Blisk would then be ordered to evacuate the facility once clear that the reactor meltdown could not be stopped.

### Post-Demeter Conflicts

Three months after the actions on Demeter, Blisk had been promoted to Commander and Spyglass has become Vice Admiral in charge of IMC forces in the Frontier. Blisk is revealed to be disgusted that Graves deserted the IMC before the conflict at the Hammond Robotics Spectre production facility. During the battle, Graves tried to reason with Blisk, saying that his forces are machines without a conscience who are loyal only to their operator, and that together they could win. Blisk rejected Graves' offer, claiming that he had a job to do and would see it through, and claimed that Graves had no place to speak about loyalty due to his defection. Graves desperately reminded Blisk that against machines and mercenaries such as himself, the Militia would come out victorious; Blisk responded that he would willingly fight Graves without being paid, before terminating the connection.

On field deployments, Blisk relied on a Combat Advanced Round Submachine Gun and his knife as weaponry. In addition, Blisk had a ship of unknown classification hidden on Demeter for his retreat to the fleet.

## Personality & Traits

A ruthless mercenary, Blisk - and the Apex Predators, by extension - lives for the paycheck; as far as he's concerned, anything is worth doing as long as he gets paid for it. His loyalty to an employer lasts only as long as his contract with them. He loves his weapons and toys almost as much as he loves his money, always eager to try out new hardware and discover the newest ways to kill a man. As well, he lives for the fight and feels most comfortable on the battlefield.

Blisk will stop at nothing to complete his objectives, even at the cost of collateral damage and loss of innocent life. At times, he seems to enjoy killing a little too much, leading massacres on civilians, shooting down transport ships, even waxing philosophical on the ways he has killed a man. He will do whatever is required to complete his contracts and shows little to no empathy for his enemies, especially the Frontier Militia. In Blisk's eyes, the Militia are nothing but bloodthirsty "filthy terrorists" who preach for freedom and prosperity as an excuse to cause chaos and destruction throughout the Frontier. This hatred extends to the point where Blisk believes that any civilian even loosely connected to the Militia are potential terrorists and should be put down. It must be noted that these comments and behavior occurred while under contract with the IMC at the time, so it's unclear if that's the money talking.

About the only thing Blisk doesn't knowingly place in excessive jeopardy are his fellow Apex Predators. Loyalty to an employer is one thing, but loyalty to his fellow men is another. As a field commander, he insists on leading by and appealing to merit. He pushes his mercenaries hard to finish objectives and defeat their enemies, mostly on the principle that if they don't win, they don't get paid. He doesn't like things to take longer than necessary and abhors dawdling about or making things more difficult than they need to be. He believes in natural selection and the idea that the strong dominate the weak; not only is this a way of fostering loyalty to the Predators by appealing to the will to be stronger than all others, but also it serves as a way for his mercenaries to compete against each other and improve their skills. To Blisk, only the strongest deserve to be an Apex Predator.

As part of being a fully trained Pilot, Blisk is notably skilled at hand-to-hand combat and acrobatics.

## Quotes

* "Yeah, that's the problem with teams... if you don't win together, you die together."

* "Time to see who's right, and who's dead."
* "You kill me, you're better. I kill you, I'm better."
* "Oi! This fight is what you were born for!"

## Trivia

* Blisk's name sounds somewhat like the Afrikaans word 'Bliksem' - which can mean a variety of words such as "strike," "hit," "punch," or "bastard."
* Blisk's character is based off Rhodesian mercenary Michael Rousseau, who popularized the shooting technique known as the Mozambique drill.
* Blisk may also be partially based on the character of Kruger, a cybernetically enhanced South African mercenary from the movie *Elysium.*