Nick Carter

* Tank Top Style
* T-Shirt Style

> [...] Yeah, to the public, this ring is nothing more than a stage, a play in front of them and they cheer for the character with which they identify the most, usually the martyr, the victim. The people likes the outsiders but when these same outsiders become regular fighters, they don't care anymore.
>
> **Nick Carter** to Roméo Grriatz, Dangerous Woman (Ch.10), Arc 1

Nick Carter (commonly called Carter) is a main character in Gun Wounds. He is the respected gang leader of the Black Devils, a loved friend and an imposing enemy.

## Appearance

Nick Carter is tall and quite brawny. He has a wave haircut and also has tattoos on his body, a turtle on his left leg. Compared to other Afro-Americans in his gang, Carter's skin is part of the lightest. In the first drafts of his body, he was supposed to be even lighter than that. His eyes are tiny and black, he does not have wrinkles nor bags under his eyes, he manages to always have a smooth skin and a shiny forehead. His nose is a little bit big compared to his mouth. However, he has the habit of wearing simple earring on a daily basis.

He tends to wear casual clothes. T-shirts, jeans, but also more rap oriented outfits is his liking. He barely never wears expensive clothes, he prefers cheap and comfortable ones. Actually, Carter doesn't care much about his look, he dresses for himself and never listens to other people's criticisms.

## Personality

Carter is a very serious man. He can be chill and more relaxed but he tends to be serious in everything he does. His main quality is his cold-blood, he always manages to keep his cool whenever the situation is getting messy and never tries to do anything stupid. He is a very caring man, an attentive leader and also an emotional friend.

However, when the conversation turns to the love talk, Carter avoids the subject. He is not searching for love and is not interested by it, he'd rather stay single and have to strings linked to a woman at all. It seems that he never been in love nor in couple in his life.

## Story

**Early Life**

In the story of the Black Devils, it is revealed that six years before the story begins, he was a simple basketball player, he was playig Point Guard. Also, as Carter told Roméo Grriatz in Chapter: Family's Handyman, he is always taking care of his family. He says: *"[...]I tried to flee once but the kids caught me up and begged me to come back. This house saw countless family dramas. Whether it was drunk uncles hitting their children, a white girlfriend entering the family, an unexpected coming out very bad received, cheating under the same roof,.."*

He continues: *"[...]Each time, I was there. If I wasn't, they'd call me right away. If I couldn't come, I'd video call them. If they didn't listened, I'd take a flight back to Boston the same night to handle these dramas by myself."*He truly is his family's handyman and can't break free from his position no matter what he tries or does. Even though he likes his family, he also seems to be suffering from this love.

**As a Leader**

When his basketball team was being targetted by racist attacks and the murder of the twin sisters of Noah Fidzzer followed, all of the members decided to stop playing basketball to become a gang. However, after a while, the members understood that Noah was just a brat driven by violence and selfishness and that it which would lead them to be a terrible gang, they chose to deprive Noah of his leader role to put Carter in his place.

He was (and still is) the wise one of the crew. Everyone would listen to him and he was the only one who was calm enough to make the right decisions. At that time, Carter simply nodded and accepted his role without flinching. He was already a very respected member of his crew even before becoming its boss.

**Ties with Stella Johnson**

In Chapter 29: Kept By A Collar, Stella reveals clearly her ties with Carter. Because she was drowning his debts, she decided to beg him to work for the Black Devils in order to earn some money. At that time, Carter didn't know why he accepted to help her even though they were never friends to begin with. Stella now works as his underling and Théo's handyman as well, they don't seem to be friends but Carter became less hostile towards her.

**Taken Away**

A few years after becoming a gang, Théo Perrier appeared in the picture. It is still unknown how he managed to take control over the Black Devils but one thing is sure; Carter hates him from the bottom of his soul. He tried to break free from his control but all of his attempts ended in more deaths of his men, he eventually gave up on trying to push away Théo.

**Criminal Record**

It took them a few years to completely take over the whole disctrict of Jamaica Plain all by themselves. They are very feared by most of the civilians and followed closely by the Boston Police Department. According to Michael Blake, Carter is a well known criminal in Boston and is often wanted for a few cases, such as what happened with Marlo Swiski.

As Alexander Quinn told Roméo in Chapter 8: Strategy (and mentionned in the Chapter 1: Encounter), Carter is currently researched for a very serious case. His cousin sold a gun to Marlo Swiski, gun that he used to kill a 7-years-old girl who dumped and humiliated Marlo's child. That being said, when Roméo asked him if Carter ever killed somebody, he answered: *"[...]Well, maybe. We can't know for sure. From what we know, no, we haven't heard about any murders coming from him but we suppose he did kill some people on his own but officially, no murders have been recorded."* This statement alone says a lot about Carter's habits and personality in general.

**Involvement with the Others**

Even if Carter looks like a loner, he showed at multiple times signs of care for the others. Firstly, he gradually became more and more friendly towards Roméo throughout Arc 1: Welcome to DrugCity when in the beginning, he was shown as a mere criminal who couldn't care less about him. As time passed by, he began to feel a certain closeness to Roméo and might've even started to consider him as a friend.

His affection towards the others also extends to Danny Fidga, a childhood friend and leader of the Vanguard 36, when he approached him in Chapter 20: Plans and Feelings he seemed to care a lot about his well-being despite being part of different gangs. He cared enough about him to warn him about Théo and try to protect him from that man.

### Prologue

Carter's first appearance is during **Chapter 1: Encounter** in the police station of Boston when Quinn and Michael come in the interrogation room to ask him questions about his link to the case involving his cousin Marlo. Carter denies any link to this case at first but when he notices that the police officers already have proof and the name of his cousin, Carter tries to get the blame for him to save his cousin from jail.

### Arc 1: Welcome to DrugCity

Carter is properly introduced in a cafe where Théo invited Roméo to meet him during **Chapter 3: Debt**. He is presented as Théo's associate and the man in charge of Roméo during his mission to take down David Martinez. Carter detains Roméo before he walks out to tell him to meet him tomorrow at the cafe.

Roméo looks impressed by Carter's presence and leaves the cafe not long after. On his way, Roméo sees wanted poster where he recognizes Carter being part of the list of criminals whom escaped from the police station during Danny Fidga's hold up.

In the morning of **Chapter 4: Comrade**, Roméo comes back to the cafe to meet Carter. Carter gives him the address of a warehouse situated quite far from their current position in order for him to meet his comrade, Stella Johnson, for the whole operation and explains him quickly his mission to kill David. Before Roméo could say a thing, Carter mysteriously disappeared.

When Roméo asks for the permission to leave early their training practice in **Chapter 5: Unwanted Ceremony**, Stella says she won't tell anything to Carter and reveals she's working under him and is possibly linked to the Black Devils as well. However, when Roméo tries to question her about that, she kind of avoids the subject.

In the middle of **Chapter 7: Strategy**, when Maddie walks out Michael's apartment to go buy groceries, Roméo starts to question Quinn about Carter. He asks him why was he researched for and if he did kill people in his life. Quinn tells him about the current case Carter is in but he also tells him that Carter was never accused of murder officially (but he presume Carter already killed people even though no dead bodies were found by the police). Knowing Carter's doings thanks to Quinn, when Michael came back home Roméo hurries to the door to walk out and meet Carter at the warehouse.

During their tensed meeting, Roméo threatens violently Carter of sending him to the police (by lying about his family and implying he's the son of a police officer) in order to get information from him. It is not revealed what the information Carter must find for Roméo but it seemed to be important.

During the day in **Chapter 9: Explanations?**, Carter texts Roméo to praise him and Stella about the fight they won against The Beast of the Depths which reminds Roméo that he'll have to leave America once all of this story with David Martinez is done. Later that same day, Carter meets Stella at night in a cafe of his district.

He tells her not to be so full of herself and asks her about how Roméo is doing. He later reveals to her that he feels a certain force emanate from Roméo that even Théo can feel too which may be why he chose him to defy David. He also reveals a part of Stella's past by saying it wasn't the first time she went on David's ring (alone or with partners) to win his tournament.

He threatens her to harm her if she does not manage to kill David but she replies she doesn't have any other choice anyway. Before leaving, she reveals she tried to suicide once but the Black Devils managed to 'bring her back' before dying which implies that Stella is tightly tied to the gang, so much that they cannot let her die.

In the **Chapter 10: Dangerous Woman**, Carter unexpectedly shows up at David's arena during the day before tonight's fight to meet Roméo. Their conversation is mainly about winning and the power of the majority. At the end, Carter says he's going to witness Roméo's upcoming fight with Ava Mackat which confuses him a lot.

Carter watched the whole fight (even though he wasn't mentioned that much) during **Chapter 11: Dangerous Woman pt.2** but at the end of the match, Michael shows up at the exit of the arena to confront him. He looks mad and ready to talk and on the other hand, Carter is scared and obligated to obey him otherwise, dangerous things might happen.

In the beginning of **Chapter 12: Excuses**, Michael arrives in the Black Devils' district, Jamaica Plain, to meet Carter in a restaurant filled by armed men. Michael tries to convince Carter to surrender to the police but, despite being scared to death, Carter remains categorical; he won't surrender.

When Michael loses his cool and threatens Carter with his gun, Carter stays calm and orders his men to lower their guns. He manages to get Michael's attention just before he walks out of the restaurant to search for backup by talking about 'his boy' (Roméo). Carter tries to negotiate with Michael by exchanging his freedom for information on Roméo.

Carter explains to Michael the situation with Roméo and Théo and openly says he 'may be' on Roméo's side rather than Théo's. Carter tells to Michael they could team up against Théo to win the Black Devils' freedom from his yoke. Michael seems ready to trust him.

Roméo meets Carter at Théo's villa after he texted him to join them asap in **Chapter 14: An Ally?**. He notices that something is wrong between the two and chooses to say nothing. When Carter and Roméo walk out of his villa, they end up driving through the Black Devils' district.

After driving for some hours, Carter and Roméo stop by a food truck where they eat junk food during a great night. Roméo and Carter seem to get along quite good but when Roméo asks about the case involving him and his cousin, he notices it was a subject too sensitive to broach yet. However, during their conversation, Carter discovers about Michael and Roméo's relationship.

During the night at the end of **Chapter 19: Nice Nice Days**, Théo calls Stella and Roméo to join him and Carter at a night bar. He shows them the weapons they are gonna use during their mission to eliminate Alban Carruci's business but Carter looks against the idea of using such weapons. He remains silent but his face says it all.

Carter meets Danny at night to inform him about David's whereabouts at the end of the **Chapter 20: Plan and Feelings**. He tells him that David is about to ruin Alban Carruci's business and Danny is shocked by this revelation. Carter asks him why he wants to go in the Brickerstorm factory and Danny replies him that David is holding very important documents about his family and his opponents'.

At the end of their conversation, it is revealed that he and Carter were highschool classmates.

## Relationships

* Roméo Grriatz - At first, Carter was acting cold and professional towards Roméo but as the time flies by, he started to act more friendly with him. During their night meal at a food truck, they both felt like dinning with a friend, they could be considered as such.

* Stella Johnson - His relationship to Stella is vague; they are rather associates than true friends. Carter treats Stella differently from Roméo and don't hesitates to threatens her. The situation is tense between them and despite everything, they look united to defeat their common enemy; Théo Perrier.

* Théo Perrier - Carter hates Théo from the bottom of his heart. Even though they seem to hang out a lot together, Carter despises him deeply and his 'affection' looks reciprocal. Théo likes to act as if everything was perfect between them but Carter always shows a huge disgust to Théo's touch and behavior.

* Michael Blake - In the beginning, Carter and Michael were enemies by default but when they both started to get close to Roméo, they seemed to have found a common point to get along. Even if they're not friends nor official allies, they seem to be ready to team up against Théo.

* Danny Fidga - He is Carter's childhood friend and they look very close.

## Trivia

* Nick Carter is the first black character created in the story and was inspired of Cain from *Banana Fish*. It's also from this character that Carter got the gang and whole vibe.

* Nick's last name but also his interest in basketball is inspired by the movie *Coach Carter*.

* Taido404 (Author/Artist) confessed that the new and official chara design of Nick Carter is mainly inspired of his own brother-in-law named Rock.

* Carter's personality changed a lot during the creation of the story. At first, he was supposed to be quite a coward, very loving and protective over his family (which he still is but in a manlier way), almost bowing his head to ask for forgiveness.. but because Bleakeas thought it didn't suit him, she decided to drastically change him and give him a cooler personality, a calmer one.

* According to Stella in Chapter 28: Kept by a Collar, Carter is not interested in love at all ("[...]that guy is categorical: no girls, no romance, no love." is what she said).

* In Chapter 33: Family's Handyman, it is revealed that Carter has graduated university, though his degree is unknown.

## Gallery

First Drawing and Old Design of Nick CarterOld Chibi and Old Chara Design of Nick CarterNick Carter Crocodile Version and Old Design