Call Sign: Reaper

Nicandro Cruz
Nicandro Cruz has always had a way with words, a gift that served him well. A silver-tongued charmer and quite the storyteller. You'd know it if you’ve ever had the chance to listen in as Nicandro would turn any dull and boring tale into a lively and inspirational anecdote. It's no wonder he's Malcontent’s Mercy's best song writer. Nicandro has an uncanny ability to connect with just about anyone. Age, preference, culture, creed, are all essentially irrelevant to him. Having been born between two worlds, his mother a Cadian, his father a Surpian, Nicandro was born in the image of diversity and love. He would grow to realize though that the love that created him was not celebrated as it was in his home, but rather in fact persecuted. This simply because two lovers from two different worlds followed their hearts and their undeniable, unbreakable love for one another. Raised in the caring surroundings of his adoring parents, he learned that true love does exist and indeed flourishes. An environment that would prepare him tremendously as he would eventually be forced to traverse a world filled with hate. He never understood how true love could incite such rage and hate until one fateful day he was forced to learn. The love story he lived and the life he knew would take a devastating turn. The senseless murders of his parents would set Nicandro on a course of vengeance. Once guided by noble principles tempered in fairness, he became unhinged by his anguish. His destiny infinitely altered, and the crystal-clear lines between right and wrong forever blurred. Devastated and without a sense of direction, Nicandro was lost and completely changed. Decisions he’d easily make with a sound intellectual mind were reduced to haphazard chaotic thoughts wallowing in a pool of murky despair. Present day, his struggle continues as does his position on the team. They call him Reaper, a call sign well-earned as the last stop measure in Sixth Sentinel’s arsenal. He often grapples with his inner turmoil and the integral demands of their many important missions, keeping him in a constant state of conflict. On days when despair is deep and especially consuming, he knows he must trust his team or at the very least Agent Ardy. Before meeting Ardy, Nicandro had only one way to help him determine what to do if a decision wasn't evident. He used an old family tradition; he’d flip the chip. A tradition born in love and burned in despair. On the day Nicandro found his parents murdered, he recovered his father’s lucky poker chip from among their bodies, covered in their blood. As he stood in the face of this shocking tragedy, Nicandro was struck with disbelief as he recalled the moments of bliss that this little poker chip had brought him and his family. He
remembered back when his parents joked about how that poker chip decided everything! What to have for dinner that evening, what bedtime story they would read, where they might spend their next family vacation. They would flip the chip and call it in the air. Nicandro needed to trust something and so he resolved to trust the only thing he had left, that poker chip. When critical moments of indecision arose and he was unable to make heads or tails of things, he relied on the chip. He'd flip the chip and let the chip fall where it may, and just like that, a decision was made. Trusted, tried and true, for better or for worse. Target acquired, danger assessed, punishment levied, or amnesty granted. What side of the chip would you get? Anyone who knew him was acutely aware of this peculiar method of chance that Nicandro liked to use, no one more than Ardy. Ardy also knew quite well that the simple flip of a poker chip deciding the action of the best shot in all of Arcadia was exceedingly dangerous, so he vowed to keep a sharp eye on that sharpshooter. As team leader and loyal friend, Ardy has stepped in many times to bring Nicandro back to center and away from the vengeance his broken heart continues to seek for the awful murders of his mother and father. Nicandro was singled out for his differences throughout his whole life, but the safety and warmth of his parents kept him on the straight and narrow. With his head held high, he would always rise above it. But the straight and narrow is irrevocably crooked now. Nicandro's compass was shattered on that sad day rendering him hopelessly wayward. But fortune is fickle, and Lady Luck cracked a smile. His luck and his coordinates soon changed, sending him on a path that would cross that of Ardy’s and began a once in a lifetime friendship. And so Nicandro carries on without his beloved parents, their memories in his head, that sacred poker chip in his pocket and the greatest comrade by his side.