Joseph

## General Timeline Information

Joseph (also known as Dan or Random Kid) was born in 1988, and later ended up losing his memory of his younger years. He and his only family; Darkness, joined THEM in 2002, rising in popularity before being kicked out due to issues between them and Talon. In 2003, Joseph and his brother joined the SSC and became temporary apprentices to Larson. They would then work to rise in rank; training under Matt and then Robert for some time before being outed as traitors, thus resulting in them leaving the SSC and going into hiding. In late 2003, Joseph would fight his brother in order to save the life of the young Brett Blakley. He would lose the fight to his brother, yet still manage to save Brett's life. Joseph went up for adoption as the year came to a close. He was adopted in 2004 and worked to watch over/toughen up Brett Blakley for the inevitable return of Darkness. Joseph would then go by Random Kid, and worked to unite Tim Allender and Brett, and reveal the returning strength of THEM among other things. He'd later stop looking after Brett in 2010.

## Biography

Joseph had no memory of his life prior to age 9. He and his brother lived together in a seized, abandoned household, with Joseph unaware of what happened to his family or his past. The two would rise to prominence upon joining THEM. Once in the group, the two became highly liked by fellow soldiers. However, the current leader; Talon, feared this would lead to him being overthrown, and promptly managed to exile the brothers from THEM for good. Not long afterwards, the two would join the SSC, with Joseph's brother dreaming about an upcoming dark force that must be stopped. As such, the two would need to rise in rank, steal a file pertaining to the dark force's father (Gus Blakley), hunt down the target, and take him out. The two served as temporary apprentices to Larson; training with him and Henry until a sparring contest to determine their moving on. Joseph lost the spar with Larson, but impressed him enough to move on towards training under Matt. This training would continue until Joseph and his unit was attacked by THEM forces who recognized the two from their time in THEM, and took their presence with the SSC as being a sign that the SSC used them as spies years prior; an act of reigniting war. This misunderstanding led to the unit attacking and barely being taken out in time, with Talon himself being captured in the process. Joseph accompanied the captured Talon to Brian's base, where the two were unable to come to an agreement or come to terms with the scale of the misunderstanding. Thus war broke out between the SSC and THEM for the first time in generations. Matt; noting Joseph and Derek's prowess in fighting, allowed them to move on to serving with Robert as actual soldiers. The brothers served with Robert for some time, working to fight against mounting THEM forces, even fighting in a barn battle with them, in which Joseph was barely saved by his friends Clocker and Apollo as well as Larson's elite forces. Now seeing the opportunity, Derek was able to trick Larson and Henry into giving them a tour of the file warehouse. During this tour, Derek and Joseph knocked out Larson and stole the document on Gus, only to then be caught by Henry, who alerted the entire base to the presence of the two traitors. Joseph and Derek fought off the incoming forces, with Joseph ultimately facing off against Henry. This brawl ended with the two knocking each other out simultaneously. Joseph awoke in time to watch his brother defeat Larson, but seemingly die in the process by knocking over a pile of wood. Joseph mourned over this loss, only to quickly find his brother was still alive, having somehow escaped and now plotting out the final stages of the plan, as well as preparing to go back into hiding. Ultimately, Derek tricked his brother into staying at home while he raced off to take down the target (knowing that Joseph would not agree with the truth of the mission). However, Joseph ended up finding about about this ruse, as well as the fact that the target was actually a young Brett Blakley, who his brother intended on killing. Unwilling to let this happen, Joseph raced after his brother, catching him just in time, and fighting him. After a grueling battle, Joseph was ultimately unable to stop his brother and (as a last resort) talked to him instead; calling him the true Darkness, and begging him to stop the madness. Joseph's brother then firmly adopted the name Darkness and allowed Brett to live; but left Joseph behind to live on his own. Joseph would go on to put himself up for adoption and upon being adopted, worked to look over Brett for the next several years; to toughen him up and prepare him for Darkness's inevitable return, as he was quite certain his brother would stop at nothing to prove him (Joseph) wrong about saving Brett's life.

Due to his previous comical actions with Clocker and Apollo, as well as his need to protect his identity, Joseph decided to take up the name 'Random Kid', and despite acting aloof and crazy; was responsible for uniting Tim and Brett, setting up a fight between Jack and Brett, and even revealing to Brett that THEM forces were growing stronger and planning on a mounted attack. Random Kid ultimately went a bit too far in some of his mocking, and ended up aggravating Brett more than he had intended (though Brett would not truly become an unstoppable force of anger until Darkness would later approach him). This would eventually result in Brett confronting and slightly injuring Joseph, though Random Kid would not mind this; allowing Brett to proceed with the beating, knowing that Brett would eventually snap out of his dark persona and return to being a hero. Thus Random Kid ceased watching over Brett and moved on with his life. He'd later attend the winter dance at the school, following Brett's return towards his prior, heroic self. While sitting alone in a corner, he'd spot Brett and give him a slight smile, happy to see that Brett was better now, but still somber over the loss of his brother in the process. Brett would forgive Random Kid, and soon after, Joseph graduated.

## Personality/Appearance

Joseph was notably confused and torn at multiple points in his life; being forced to blindly follow the orders of his brother; the only family he had. His unexplained memory loss contributed to his constant wanting of love and attention, as well as finding out who his family was (though he would later cease this wondering, following his brother's leaving). He was shown to have similar dreams to that of Darkness; able to predict future events to some degree. He was decently skilled and lying and making up personas; being that he was able to hold separate lives in THEM, the SSC, school, and his personal life; though he was notably fearful at times due to the many enemies he had gained over the years. Despite his lack of education or family, Joseph was surprisingly intelligent and comical, able to constantly make jokes around his fellow soldiers. This ability to easily make friends would go on to serve Joseph quite well when he'd later adopt the identity of Random Kid, giving him quite a popular standing among most others in the school. He was skilled in stealth and espionage to some degree, and was even able to utilize a sort of calmness, allowing him to clear his mind and fight with incredible efficiency and strength, ignoring pain and other unnecessary outside stimuli. He was able to hold his own against Darkness for an extended period of time; outlasting any other fighter to ever battle Darkness in a fair duel. Despite the rage and fighting instinct ingrained in his head by Darkness, Joseph still had a heart and a moral code; resulting in his rescue of Brett. He was even capable of talking down Darkness and thereby - to some degree at least, winning the fight. During his later years, Joseph fully adopted a comical personality; which he was decently comfortable with, though this was still a ruse in order to spy on Brett and hide his identity. Joseph would learn to see things positively and expel the hatred from his heart. Through careful manipulation of his friends and events, Joseph would work towards preparing Brett for the struggles which awaited him. In a large sense, these measures helped to repel Brett's dark side until Darkness finally found it necessary to step in. Brett would never learn of Joseph's true identity and intentions. Joseph's eyes and hair were distinctly black, with Joseph also having prominent, long eyebrows and practically no long-lasting scars. Joseph exhibited average white skin. During his time masquerading as Random Kid, he dyed his hair red and no longer brushed it upwards. His eyebrows grew thicker with age and were not dyed.