This was the character background for an old character of mine, so here it is.
Why am I here you ask? Because I was told to come here, oh you mean working for SLA, what took me from where I was to where I am. Well, that is a good as question as any to begin with I suppose. I grew up on the streets of Downtown Sector 2, a kid without any future, just one of the dregs of a stagnant and oppressed society. Life meant little to me then, it was more like a living hell, but we did what had to be done to survive. I lived with my parents and kid sister, Angie at the time.
What? Oh, my family, yeah there dead now, or at least I suppose they are. My mum, well she died early on in the piece, cut down by some cancer or something, being poor the family couldn't afford any medical treatments or hospital bills, so she basically just wasted away. Well, her death hit us all pretty hard I suppose, but my father, he was hit worst of all. Left with 2 children to look after, me barely a teenager, and my sister but half my age, he just couldn't cope. Turned to the bottle pretty quickly, taking solace in an alcoholic haze. Soon, he lost his job, and it became unbearable to live. Little or no money, and soon we started feeling the pinch really quickly.
Then one day I came home, and my sister was missing. Dad was really quiet like, not saying anything about what happened, ignoring it, kind of hoping that it'd all go away and be alright if he didn't speak about it. Well, I wanted to know what happened, but couldn't get anything out of him. You see, I loved my sister, she kind of looked up to me in a way that made me feel good about myself. She was my well of sanity in an otherwise cruel and uncaring world. I needed her to be around so that I wouldn't have to bare the full brunt of my fathers depression. With her gone, and no trace of how it happened, I just snapped. I grabbed a few things that I thought that I might need, and left without saying a word. Hell, I wasn't running away or anything, I was going to come back - but I just needed time to clear my head, get my self together.
I stayed at a friends place that night. Thankfully, his parents didn't ask many questions.
Then everything in my life went from bad to worse. I went home the next day, to see if my sister had returned. The place was crawling with Shivers, heaps of them. I couldn't find my dad anywhere, and it wasn't until I tried entering the area that the Shivers actually stopped me, telling me to get lost. I never did get inside, never. All our stuff was taken, my dad I never saw again. I heard one of the Shivers mention something when he thought that I wasn't within hearing, something about my dad selling Angie to the Skin Trade.... Damn him....
Skin Trade? What do I know of it... not a great deal. It's only starting to garner up a little publicity now, but all I know is the vague stuff you hear in the media, read in the paper etcetera, that, and it cost me a sister.
Anyway..... it was a long time before I managed to get some semblance of order and realism back into my life. The next couple of years were the hardest that I have ever faced in my 20 years on this forbidding planet. I lived out of junk piles, trash cans, you name it... how I didn't end up with some strange disease, or cannibal bait, I'll never know. Guess I must have been lucky I suppose.
How'd I end up an Op? Well, it's kind of a boring story.
One thing that my mum did manage to teach me before she died, was how to read and write. That one skill probably saved me from the streets.... Probably? Of course it did. You see, I was rummaging through some garbage, looking for scraps of food, I must have been I don't know, 15 or so at the time, and I saw one of those massive TV screens that take up the sides of buildings. Well, the sound was broken as normal, but the actual screen was working properly for once. Anyway, it was showing some add of SLA Ops, they were taking applicants for Meny, and any Down-Towners that wanted to try could apply. Well, I'd never really thought about joining SLA up until that time. Never really thought much about the SLA Ops hanging around the joint. They were just part and parcel of the territory. Hell, we were living in a SLA owned and run city on a SLA owned and run planet, in a SLA owned and run Universe, they were just always there... cool. But something about the add perked my interest, I'd been living in and out of refuse that you wouldn't believe for the last 18 months at this stage, and thought, hell, why not. So I applied.
Yeah, I don't know what it was about me, or what they thought that they saw in a scrawny, smelly, dirty looking brat like myself. But they ran us through all these tests, physical, mental, hell, they even asked me about my sexuality... Then you know what, they said "congratulations son... Go get yourself cleaned up and report to the Sergeant over on platform 2". Then they gave me a bar of soap, a towel and some clean clothes, and pointed me into the direction of some showers.
Well, that's how I became an Op. Told you that it was pretty boring.
Meny? You want to know about my time there? What can I tell you that you probably wouldn't already know? Oh! I see, this is another kind of test.... Ok!
Well Meny was much like Downtown, only cleaner, at least on the surface. It was crowded, full of kids and teenagers, a lot of hormones just walking around the streets. There were drugs, booze, sex, fights, everything that existed in Downtown, only under this pseudo-control. The sleaze was there, you just had to look a little harder.
I was shacked up with this guy, real weirdo, named Stave something or other. Yeah, he didn't last. They found him with his wrists cut after only a month. Guess whoever ran him through his tests to see if he was suitable stuffed it.... Anyway, they next moved me in with this gorgeous babe of a girl. Millisa Andres, now she was something. We hit it off right away, in more ways then one if you catch my drift. What, yeah, we slept together, infact, as it turned out, she was sleeping with half of Meny. Anyway, it certainly didn't dampen our relationship, she was good in bed, as long as I was getting some, I was happy.
Anyway, Millisa and myself ended up in quite a few classes together, and we often sat next to each other and generally became pretty good pals. Man, she even saved my life one time, you want to hear about that too? Yeah, well, you see, one of the problems with Meny, was that, unlike Downtown, there was forced interaction of different species. You know, Wraiths, Shaktars, Wasters, etc. Well, when you get all these races, lump them altogether, especially when many don't really know how to interact, and then expect them to all live happily, in harmony etc, then well, there's going to be a few incidents.
Anyways, as it turned out, I unwittingly insulted this massive brute of a Shaktar, anyway, he was after blood, something about honour and such. I was just trying to get him to chill out, but he needed to satisfy his primal instincts in ceremonial battle. Fight... against one of them? No weapons, no armour, until one is dead. Hell, I'm not a coward, but I aint that bloody stupid. Have you seen how big them things get? Anyway, this was blowing all out of proportion and I thought that I was going to be as good as dead, you see, we weren't Ops yet, and the Trainers thought that it would be a good exercise to allow the young Shaktar to vent his rage, namely on me. Shit man, I was scared out of my mind.
Well, into all of this walks Millisa, she took the Shaktar aside, you know, I still don't know what his name was if it was even a he. After speaking for a while to the Shaktar, it turned and walked away, never bothering me again. Later I asked her what she had said to it, but she never did tell me, keeping it to herself instead. I still don't know what she said, but I'm sure as hell interested to know. You never know when a Shaktar is going to want to rearrange your anatomy, and any little trick would be welcome in avoiding it.
As for the rest of my time at Meny, it was pretty cool. Damn hard, but if you did it right by the trainers, they did it right by you, usually. I ended up coming out with some pretty decent marks in a lot of subjects. Though I trained in Kick Murder, because I was told that it suited my personality and skill potential best, I decided to broaden out, and learn a lot of different things. After all, you never know when your going to be alone out in the field. I ended up, being classed as expert in Detect, 1handed Blade, Polearms, Martial Arts, Sneaking, Hiding, Pistol and Acrobatics. A long way from my days in downtown, I guess, SLA took me and moulded me into a killing machine... oh well, it was fun.
Polearms training was the best, the Flick Scythe, what a marvellous weapon. Who makes it? I suppose I had better find out for sponsorship deals later on in my career. Who? Dynamic Precision Blades... cheers. I'll have to remember that.
Sponsorship, yeah, well I guess that is the path that most Ops tread when they come fresh out of Meny like myself, especially trained in Kick Murder or Death Squad. Kontract Killer circuit I suppose is the best angle that I should attempt to follow, you never know, you could be looking at the next Deity or such not. Ahh, but I shouldn't get so cocky, I'm still only SCL 10 after all, and I haven't even completed my first BPN. BPN... I can't wait, though it will undoubtedly be a Blue. But at least it will be a chance for me to start repaying SLA back for their time and money invested in taking me from the streets, giving me a chance at something better.
So that's it is it? Cool. Did I pass?
What's this? Oh, cheers man. Where'd I end up? Ellai Building, duPont Street, excellent, Suburbia. I would have hated to got stuck downtown again, I don't know if I could have handled it. Too many bad memories, you know what I mean? I hear that Millisa has been placed somewhere near here, you don't happen to know do you? Nah, didn't think you would. You wouldn't know how I could get in touch with her do you? Man she's a babe.
Anyway, thanks for the chat, I guess I'll be seeing you later. Oh, I won't? Anyway, it was nice.... I think.