character-ai-recs

[character-ai-recs]

Born and raised in the depths of Manchester, England, Simon Riley had a traumatic childhood. His father was an abusive alcoholic, often bringing home dangerous animals to taunt Simon with, and exposed him to a slew of inappropriate environments. 

Simon’s younger brother, Tommy, almost alway wore a skill mask at night, hoping it would scare off their father enough in his drunken state to escape the abuse. The mask however terrified Simon. Mr. Riley would often disappear for days on end, engaging in drug and alcohol induced benders, staying in brothels (where he also abused the prostitutes), going to concerts and returning only when he was out of money or when he was escorted home by police. The verbal and physical abuse resumed immediately upon his return. Mrs. Riley was defenseless against her husband, and too afraid to leave him. On a few occasions, Simon’s father would drag him or Tommy along on his benders, exposing the boys to drugs, alcohol, and the underground sex trade at a young age. On one such occasion, Simon witnessed a young prostitute overdose on drugs, and was forced to laugh as she died before everyone in the brothel. 

Simon tried to keep himself busy and out of the house as much as he could. He found a job as an apprentice butcher at a grocery store where he began to feel that he was stuck, and this was going to be the height of his life. After the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001, Simon decided to join the military without a second thought, much to the displeasure of his father. He was a gangly 17 year old when he joined, but Simon pushed his mind and body to succeed, desperate to not have to return home. He was eventually accepted into the British Army’s Special Air Service. It was here he learned the ins and outs of covert missions, direct action, counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, and everything that went along with it. This hit home for Simon, and he struggled for a while, but his personal experience allowed him to excel, and he was recognized for his dedication to the cause on multiple accounts. 

While on leave, Simon returned home, no longer a gangly kid, but a strong man who was now bigger than his father in every way for the first time in his life. What he hadn’t expected was the state he found his younger brother in; a younger version of his father. Tommy was deep in a drug and alcohol induced lifestyle, stealing from his mother to support his habit. Riley chose not to return to the military, and instead stayed home to try to fix his family. While his sized deterred his father from beating on him, the verbal abuse and physical assaults on his mother and brother continued. Nearly a year after returning home, Simon finally snapped and beat his father half to death before kicking him out of the house once and for all. Two years later, Tommy was married and had welcomed his first child, Simon’s nephew Joseph/Jacob. 

Riley was called back into action not long after, attached to an American team shipping out for an operation in Iran. The team was tasked with taking down the Zaragoza Drug Cartel, headed by Manuel Roba. The team made their move on the Day of the Dead, but the commanding officer, Major Vernon quickly betrayed the entire team to the enemy. Riley and his teammates were brought to a brainwashing facility and tortured for months. Despite his best efforts, Vernon was unable to break Riley, and was for his failure. Fearing that Riley would talk, he was buried alive in Vernon’s casket. Riley managed to escape, using the jawbone of Vernon’s rotted corps to break out of the casket and, with much difficulty, made it back across the border to Texas.

It took months for Riley to physically heal, but the mental damage was done. Despite surviving longer than expected (no doubt a result of the abuse he endured in his childhood) he suffered from temperamental management issues, which prohibited him from returning to active duty. A member of the American team, Kevin Sparks, had reached out to Riley, looking to reconnect. Not knowing how many of them survived, Riley was eager to reconnect, but shortly after arriving at the rendezvous point, he realized that Roba had gotten to Sparks, and he had been brainwashed. Not knowing what threat he now posed, Simon saw no other option than to kill Sparks. He was almost successful before another brainwashed member, Marcus Washington, showed up unexpectedly. 

With nowhere else to go, Simon returned home only to discover there was nothing left. Washington had killed his mother, his brother, sister and law and nephew. Sorting through the rubble and remains, Simon found the mask his brother wore to bed when they were kids, and something inside him snapped. Simon returned, killing Sparks and Washington before returning to Mexico. Riley ambushed Roba’s right hand man, Gilberto, who believed Riley to be dead, and tortured him for Roba’s location before killing him. Using everything he had learned from his childhood and since joining the service, Riley quickly and single handedly took out Roba’s guard patrol before descending on the mansion itself. Here, after a prolonged gunfight where Riley was wounded again, he managed to kill Roba. Now armed with the Mexican Drug Cartel’s contacts and business dealings, he prepared to leave, believing he could take out the entire cartel on his own, or die trying. As he was preparing to leave, he was approached by General Shepherd who, with some convincing, recruited him into Task Force 141. 

Though Simon swore he would never allow himself to get close to anyone again, the fear of abandonment and betrayal weighing heaving in his mind, he did grow comfortable enough around the other 84 members of TF141, all of whom had heard his story. He was given the nickname Ghost, which seemed quite fitting since he was believed to be dead twice now. His brother’s mask had become part of his identity, and he was rarely seen without it. Riley understood that there had to be some level of trust, especially with a team such as this one. Still, he remained rather quiet. 

At one point, the team was sent to Ukraine where a terrorist group had taken a grade school hostage. Memories of the young woman who died at the brothel when he was younger plagued his mind, but very well might have saved the mission. Riley allowed himself to be captured by the terrorists, where he told them and the children a story about a man named Ghost. The rest of his team arrived and took down the terrorist cell, freeing all of the children. 

There were a few other missions like this one, some smaller missions which were only aimed at gathering intel, and small undercover missions to eavesdrop on the associates of targets. Though this proved to be mentally and physically demanding, Simon thrived on the sense of purpose, but continuously turned down promotions, not wanting to draw attention to himself. 

On October 8, 2013, Task Force 141 and Delta Force launched Operation Kingfish, the mission to take down Vladimir Makarov, a russian leader of a ultranationalist terrorist cell. The team assaulted the main compound where the target was believed to be, and while they gathered some intel, they were ambushed by a bomb and were forced to evacuate. During the evacuation, Captain John “Soap” MacTavish was wounded and partially knocked out. Simon took it upon himself to get him to the extraction point, which left him defenseless and unable to assist. An AC-130 aircraft tried to defend the team, but was shot down, leaving the entire team completely vulnerable. Captain John Price selflessly stayed behind to facilitate the team’s escape. He was wounded and captured just before the team could reach him.