Alex Riker

Conviction •••••
Willpower ••••••••

Background:
Alex Riker was born on the wrong side of town. He went to school, but dropped out before reaching the tenth grade to go to work and help provide for his family. It was a hard life, and frankly speaking – he hated every minute of it. Until one day, one of the people he worked with showed him a way to make it all go away, in the form of some weeds he smoked. Alex was taken in a second. It wasn’t long before he moved up to pills, and quite quickly to injecting hard drugs. Soon, he began steeling, mugging and mostly scamming to keep paying for his habit. No crime was too low for him, and no arrest or hassling by the forces of the law could keep him from going back to his life of crime.
It was a cold and stormy night when he wondered down to the alley where he always met his pusher, sick and screaming for a hit in every fiber of his being. He saw him talking to a young woman, who was obviously trying to score a hit herself. “It does not live”, a little voice in Alex’s head warned, but Alex ignored it, sure it was just his mind playing tricks on him, begging him to buy his shot and make all the voices go away. The pusher looked around, and not noticing Alex decided that he wasn’t watched. Alex saw him lift the girl with inhuman strength and press her against wall of the alley, his teeth nearing her neck. Out of pure instinct, Alex picked up a crow-bar that was lying there and charged the Pusher, yelling “Leave her alone, you freak!”. The crow-bar seemed to burst into flames as Alex charged, and it sent the Pusher flying when Alex hit him straight across the chest. He struggled to his feet, but Alex was all over him, raining blows on him, yelling “Stay down, you monster!” as he vented his rage at the pusher. When his rage subdued, he realized he had just killed a man in his drug-induced madness. He bent over, threw up, and passed out.
When he awakened, he discovered the truth was even more frightening. He did not kill a man. The body besides him was decomposed as if it had been dead for years. Its fingers ended in wolf-like claws, and its fangs were unnaturally long. Whatever Alex believed he saw – he had actually seen.
Alex and Sue, the woman he saved now live together. They help each other stay sane and keep each others monkeys off their backs. They both know monsters exist out there, and as terrifying as they are, they are not afraid of hunting them.

Personality:
Alex is a man who found a new meaning to his life. Even though not one day goes by without him thinking about how easy it would be to let the needles take away all his pain and fears, he will not allow himself to fall back into that bottomless pit. He now has a purpose to his life – the monsters are out there, lurking in the shadows, and he will not rest until he has destroyed them all. He will take back the night, or die trying.

Appearance:
Alex is a man of average height and average build. His brown heir is usually a mess and he dresses as if he just threw on himself the first thing he could find in the closet. Or the washing machine. He usually has a three or four day old beard, since he usually does bother shaving. But underneath his untidy look his blue eyes stare with a cold determination of a man who will not be distracted from his target.

Powers/Tactics:
Alex’s Imbuing has granted him some remarkable powers.
He has an extremely perceptive eye-sight, and usually picks up things other people just don’t notice – that a person does not actually breathe, or that a man in a crowded hot subway does not sweat like the rest of its passengers. He can also see quite clearly in darkness, fog, etc.
When he picks up a weapon to strike down a monster – be it a baseball bat, a crowbar or a chair leg, it seems to catch a light with a mystic flame, causing extreme damage to the unfortunate monster on the receiving end.
Lately, he has learnt how to create some sort of barrier that can stop monsters from attacking him and those he wishes to protect. He still isn’t quite sure how to work this power, but he is slowly getting the hang of it.