Kyle Craig

Kyle Craig is a master criminal portrayed as a violent psychopath and serial killer. While not as intelligent as David King, he was smart enough to outlast his opponents until he was either captured or killed. He was considered dangerous by both UEG Law Enforcement and ONI, making him a troublesome target. He used various disguises and aliases to accomplish his objectives, even going as far as infiltrating a local police department to utilize information on his enemies.

He has many enemies that he likes to taunt; among them are his greatest challenges: David King and Josh 'Konar. With David he competed for mastery of the criminal underworld, as the one in control, a title that David held while hunting him down. Kyle attempted to frame David, in which David was the lead suspect in his chaotic schemes. This failed, and as a resort, Kyle killed David for the infamous title. As for Josh—the Sangheili—his hatred for this particular individual was sparked when Josh foiled Kyle's attempted assassination of the Arbiter. As a game changer, Kyle attempted to kill Josh's uncle instead, but failed when he was attacked and apprehended by Josh himself. The two have been enemies since 2560.

Kyle watched his final master plan unfold from the television's news in the prison's dayroom. Earth's finest cities were being torn apart by the Crimson Circle's invasion. Simultaneously, a LEGION terrorist invasion was sent to destroy the Office of Naval Intelligence. Both parties failed in their endeavors and were fully unaware of Kyle's master scheme. The whole thing had been orchestrated by him as a way of getting back at both the UNSC and ONI for leaving him to become the murderous psychopath that he was. The only person smart enough to find out about this at the time was Ryan Wilson, who even then was too late to stop the ongoing cataclysmic events that were unfolding before his eyes. Kyle escaped his holding cell and started a prison riot, planning to take down the prison a second time before he would wreak havoc on Earth. Kyle didn't get far when he was killed by Ryan, who made it look like an accident.

Childhood
Kyle was born on 2532 in Los Angeles, California. His mother and father had fought a lot when he was little. His father had occasionally beaten her up for cheating on him. When she was at work Kyle's father would beat him up for not believing that he was his son. Kyle's mother got a divorce, she took Kyle with her and threatened to file a restraining order if her now ex-husband came as much as one-hundred feet from them.

One day, Kyle's father visited a local bar. He saw his ex-wife working the bar and approached her. He tried to apologize for the way he acted when the cops approached him. She showed him the restraining order and told him to stay out of her life. He left the bar and hid in an alley. When the shift was over, he saw his ex-wife leave the bar and he killed her. The police chased him down and arrested him for first-degree murder.

With his mother killed and his father arrested, Kyle was then adopted by a wealthy family and had presumably lived a normal life.

Adolescence
Kyle saw that a convicted felon had escaped from jail. He knew from the nightly news showing a photograph of the convict that it had been his biological father. That same night, he gathered his mothers pistol and set out to kill his biological father to add some justice to his own life. When he made it to his biological fathers home he knocked on the door, only to find complete strangers answer. He ran off and decided to go to his biological father's favorite place, a local bar. He went inside and talked to his biological fathers friend, the man who had ran the bar, and learned that his father was headed to his own home where his adoptive parents had been. In fear for his adoptive parents life, he ran home and found that his adoptive parents were dead with his biological father standing there. Angered by what happened, he aimed the pistol at his biological father, who urged Kyle to pull the trigger. Kyle refused and his biological father attacked him. After a brief tussle, Kyle's biological father wrenched the pistol from his hands and was about to kill him when he found out that the gun had been empty. Kyle had been one step ahead of his biological father and held out the magazine in one hand and a cell phone in the other. Police kicked down the door and arrested his biological father.

Although his biological father tried to cover up the crime, Kyle had testified in court against him with enough evidence to charge his biological father with first-degree murder. His biological father was found guilty and was sentenced with the death penalty as means of punishment.

During his high school years, he would participate in criminal activities after school hours, trying to earn enough money to make a living. He would hang out with the very few local gangs of the Cortez Cartel, and participated in small scale crimes that earned him enough credits to survive for months on his own.

Joining the UNSC
When Kyle heard that the Covenant invaded most of the Inner Colonies he felt interested in joining the UNSC. The gang members were against it and threatened to kill Kyle if he joined them. He began to develop a hatred for the Cortez Cartel, but he was careful not to show it and continued to partake in small criminal activities such as burglaries and petty theft. At one time he was send off with four other members of the crime group to murder a high value target, one that had been hiding in the midst of the rival crime group known as the El Federación. While on their hunt, they were stopped by a few UNSC forces with their guns trained on all of them. Kyle stood out from the group and with his hands in the air. He tried to negotiate and failed. His comrades tried to persuade him to flee while they would deal with the mess. He turned on the two of his teammates and then surrendered. The UNSC soldier finished off the other two and took a wounded Cartel member in for interrogation.

Kyle's crimes were acquitted was he was recruited and offered a position as a soldier within the UNSC Marine Corps. He smiled and gladly accepted, knowing that he could make a difference.

Kyle was sent to a training facility in Africa where he had to complete a thirteen-week training program. He excelled in many areas of military training including physical conditioning and educational training. His strongest areas that his instructors noted were the use of explosives. During an exercise he would find cunning ways to disarm explosives. He would bond with his teammates to accomplish objectives and excelled in marksmanship and hand to hand combat. He graduated with his class which would perform as a squad during the Human-Covenant war.

Kyle took part in military raids on Covenant targets. He was one of the UNSC Marine Corps' demolitions experts and was tasked with all things explosive ranging from small explosives to huge bombs. He won the colonial cross in the Human-Covenant war when he planted C-12 charges and destroying a scarab for the Master Chief to finish it off. But while great at war, Kyle wasn't too great on the domestic front. He was working in repairing explosives for future missions when he got into a fight with his superiors, and as a result was transferred out.

Working for ONI
In 2553, Kyle was transferred out of the UNSC and picked up by ONI. Although his hot hotheadedness played a small role in his transfer, ONI dismissed that fact and told him that the trait could be directed more towards the enemy. They looked through his military reports and noticed excellent improvement over the years and what he was capable of doing. Kyle told them that he could also sabotage enemy outposts and bases. They recruited him into the Spartan-IV program and he passed the augmentations with little to no difficulty.

His medical records indicated mild aggressiveness and he was given antipsychotic drugs or "Smoothers" to keep his mind and personality in check. Next, he was given the alias "Jack Reacher" and placed on a five-man team known as Fireteam Wolf as the team's demolitions expert.

His first and only mission before his capture had been to take down an outpost on the Insurrectionist-controlled planet of Etheria. The outpost was a heavily guarded base with several weapons caches. Kyle had to remotely detonate the outpost while Cassandra and Ash provided cover fire. This provided enough of a distraction to plant the explosives and escape with very little injuries as the Innies were occupied with the oncoming fire they were receiving.

Kyle got to a distance far enough to safely detonate the explosives, destroying the outpost completely. As Kevin called in for an extraction, more Innies were converging onto their position. Kyle managed to keep them at bay by laying down suppressive fire until they knew the location of their extraction. Their UH-144 Falcon couldn't land safely in a hot zone so it had to relocate seventy meters from their current position. The team ran for their lives while suppressing fire blindly from behind. Kyle was the first to board the Falcon and the rest of the team followed. As more Innies caught up to them, their pilot was killed. Kyle, as desperate to evacuate as the rest of the team was, tossed the dead pilot out of the Falcon. The Falcon took off and managed to gain some distance before being shot down by a surface to air missile. Kyle told his team that he needed to gain enough control to land the Falcon on the ground safely. He managed to make it far enough to where his whole team jumped out in time. Unfortunately, the Falcon flew over the cliff and spun uncontrollably, crashing into the valley below. Although Kyle had jumped out just in time to save himself, his team assumed he was dead and he was marked 'KIA' by ONI.

Capture and Escape
Kyle's armor had been badly damaged from skidding on the cliff face after he jumped out. He found a cave and chose to hide in it. Insurrectionist forces found the wreckage of the Falcon and searched the perimeter for survivors to interrogate. After finding Kyle, they captured him and used extreme methods to brainwash him into serving their cause, in which he began to develop a warped sense of morality as the insurrectionists have pushed him too far. He began to blame the UNSC for mistakenly placing him in such disposition and ONI for not sending a backup unit to rescue him, although this was not the case. He was given insurrectionist BDU and gear before setting off on his mission. Having gone a week without his Smoothers he began to show signs of mental instability, but the Innies neither knew nor did they care. All they wanted was a killing machine for themselves to serve their cause.

He set out with a group of five insurrectionists to steal chemicals from an abandoned biochemical manufacturer. He utilized different weapons to take down each of his compatriots, leaving him and the squad leader as the two remaining survivors within the facility. He located the squad leader, a female, in a lab searching for a biochemical agent. Having blood on his hands, he said that there is a flood infestation and that they need to evacuate immediately. She didn't fall for the trap and began walking towards Kyle. Kyle ran to the door and locked it sealing them both inside. One of the Innies charged towards them and banged violently on the door. She wanted to know what was going on and Kyle explained to her that it was a fundamental flood transformation; although, this statement was false. What Kyle really did was to inject the subject with a chemical that affects the serotonin, triggering violent behavior. After ordering for immediate backup, she ran over to Kyle and ordered for him to open the door immediately. Kyle refused, telling her that opening the door would lead to sudden death. She attacked Kyle and after a brief struggle he killed her. He then proceeded to kill the raging Innie outside the door.

He then proceeded to pour gasoline and mixed chemicals throughout the building before setting the place on fire. When the Innies arrived via a UH-144 Falcon, they found Kyle fake limping to the Falcon. Just when he boards he told them that the squad leader was dead and that they should begin searching the building for survivors. They did just that while two passengers and the pilot remained in the Falcon. Kyle threw the pilot out of the Falcon and killed the two passengers with the pistol he acquired. He then tossed the dead pilot out and took over, starting up the chopper and lifting off. When the Innies returned, they ran towards the helicopter, desperate to get the attention of the fleeing pilot, who turned on them and killed them with the UH-144 Falcon's M638 autocannon.

When he arrived back at the base he told the Innies that his squad mates have been killed off by the flood, so he had to burn down the place in order to prevent the flood from spreading. The Innies believed his concocted statement and Kyle brought out a brief case with every chemical weapon that he could recover and gave it to the leader. That night he would continue his escape plan. After most of the Innies were asleep and a few were on patrol, Kyle began to set his plan in motion: To destroy the base and steal a cargo freighter to get back to Earth and establish contact with UNSC forces to take down further Innies on Etheria. He snuck into the leaders tent and stabbed the guards with quick efficiency while being careful not to wake the leader. He then killed off the leader by slitting his throat and covering his mouth so that he couldn't make too much noise. He then grabbed the brief case and entered the code, revealing it's contents: multiple inhalation hazards and dangerous substances. He exited the tent and when he was approached by three suspicious troops, who asked him what he had been doing in the tent at this time of night, he answered that he was checking on the leader. Two Innies pushed him aside and began searching the tent, while the third kept and eye on him. Kyle slit the Innies throat, using a combat knife he concealed behind him. He then covered his mouth, and lowered him slowly to the floor. He then proceeded to poison the Innies that were sleeping in their tents. The two Innies exited the tent in horror when they saw that their boss had been killed. Kyle on the other hand was escaping in a warthog that had been parked a few meters away. The two Innies raised the alarm, only to find that nobody had awaken from their tents due to the poisonous gas that had spread inside the tents, killing off the other Innies.

With the two Innies on his trail, Kyle made his way to the a hanger that housed a cargo freighter. He quickly searched for a wooden freight crate that was labeled 'black powder' and concealed an explosive charge behind the crate. Just when he was about to board, he was stopped short by the two Innies who had caught up with him. He was ordered to turn around and raise his hands in the air. He did just that and detonated the black powdered crate. This distraction allowed him to pull out a pistol from behind his waistband. He fired two clean shots into their chests, knocking them to the floor. He then threw the gun to the floor and proceeded to board the freighter, leaving the two Innies to their deaths.

Return to Earth
Kyle made his way back to Earth with the stolen cargo freighter. When he arrived at, he was greeted with guns pointing at the freighter. It was not until he revealed himself that he was arrested and questioned by UNSC personnel. When he gave them his identity as Jack Reacher, they said that the man had been dead for at least six months and was officially marked 'KIA' by ONI. Kyle refused to divulge any additional information about himself and his whereabouts until an ONI officer was present. When his request was approved, the ONI officer interviewed him cautiously, checking on his mental report over the years as well as DNA samples. He had confirmed that Kyle had been Jack Reacher. Kyle was released from custody and transferred back to his hometown of Los Angeles, where he was honorably discharged from the military to work on his college goals and his career ambitions.

College and Career
He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a of Bachelors of Science in Explosives Engineering, followed by a career in demolition. He usually got along with his co-workers but had difficulty getting along with supervision and management. When he and his team were demolishing a skyscraper in the city of Los Angeles, one of the team members, supposedly Kyle Craig, may have contributed towards dangerous demolition work by changing the architectural blueprints and misplacing a few extra explosives during off site hours. Afterwords, the explosion caused a chain of chaotic events that either killed or severely injured his team and supervisors.

Kyle never returned to the demolition business after the tragic death from some of his team members. This was just one of his minor psychopathic tendencies. A month later after the demolition incident, he continued a life of crime, using his demolition prowess to blow up banks to acquire huge sums of money. He then got involved in weapon smuggling, and later became an arms dealer. He was tracked down by a local police task force and arrested for the murder of his fellow co-workers and supervisors as well as arms dealing and was sentenced for life in prison at the Mens Central Jail.

Holiday Thrills
Few of Kyle's crimes have been committed on a holiday or a special anniversary where he would plan his crime beforehand.

Halloween (2559)
On Halloween, October 31st, 2559, Kyle was to be transported from the Mens Central Jail to the Metropolitan Detention Center due to overcrowding of the jail. On the prison bus, Kyle planned to attack Grandpoint Bank as a means to gain enough money for his plan to take out David. When a group of LEGION criminals blew up the street, the prison bus drove off course, flipping and crashing into the street. As the prison guard called for backup, the criminals moved into the bus and disabled the energy barriers separating the prisoners using an EMP grenade. All the prisoners start a fight with each other, except for Kyle, who escapes during the prisoners' riot.

After gaining some distance from the bus, he encountered an escapee, Pedro Nunez. The two discussed their need for money and how they intend to use it. They both stumble upon a department store and change their clothes to better suit their motives. Pedro dresses in a blue linen suit. Kyle on the other hand, embraces Allhallows Eve and chooses the Joker as his Halloween costume. The two start their massive crime spree and held hostages in the store. The cops surrounded the store and a rookie cop by the name of Jason Miller attempted to negotiate Kyle to free the hostages safely. Kyle and Pedro stole jewelry as a form of temporary payment to the criminal underworld. After Jason's proposal, Kyle released the hostages as a means of distraction while they escaped out the back. But for Jason it would not go out that easily. He ordered a SWAT unit to move to the back. Kyle used a flash bang grenade to disorientate the SWAT team. Once they were temporary blinded, Pedro made a run for it and Kyle shot down the SWAT units using one of their sub machine guns. Angered by Pedro's betrayal, he took the sub machine gun and shot in the direction Pedro was running in. Pedro escaped and a cop car pulled in front of him, blocking off his target and ricocheting bullets. Kyle then took a grenade belt from one of the SWAT guys, pulled the pin, and threw it down the opposite end of the alleyway. The explosion had been big enough to destroy the SWAT van and a few other cop cars. Kyle ran, hijacking a car in the process. Kyle had tracked down Pedro. They met together under a bridge with a few other members of the El Federación. Pedro apologized for ditching him on the spot, but Kyle reinforced the Cartel's rules by punching him in the face and telling him no exceptions. The gang members took out their weapons and were ready to kill Kyle, when Pedro ordered his men to stand down. Pedro said that Kyle had been right and that he knew the Cartel's principles well. Pedro gave the El Federación members the bag containing their jewelry and in return the gang gave them an arsenal of weapons including: military-grade assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, and grenades.

As night approached, Kyle made his way to Jason's home and slipped a note on his door and continued on with his crime spree, creating a few kidnappings and murders to elude law enforcement from his ultimate plan: the robbery of the Grandpoint bank. Kyle met with Pedro and the two gathered their weapons and posed as an armored delivery crew, using the armored car given to them by the El Federación. They made their way to the bank and began a full-fledged assault on the bank, killing all security forces that were inside. As Pedro gathered the citizens and held them hostage, Kyle grabbed the bank manager and headed for the vault. When the bank manager lied about not giving him the codes he shot him in the kneecap and forced the bank manager to give him the codes or he would end his life. He agreed and opened the vault. Kyle executed the bank manager and loaded the money into the extra large duffle bags.

When UNSC forces surrounded the perimeter, Kyle threatened that he would start killing hostages if the UNSC didn't arrange for transport immediately and keep back from the bank. The UEG Police Department had brought up Jason once again to negotiate, though all forms of negotiation failed. Few hours have passed and Kyle escaped through the rooftops, killed the pilot of a civilian helicopter, and threw him out before Pedro took over. As they flew overhead and the SWAT teams moved into the bank to find all the hostages alive, Kyle fired upon the forces from above and rigged the vault with explosives. He blew up the vault killing multiple SWAT and police inside the atrium. Ground forces fired upon the chopper, and Kyle had escaped with little vehicular damage done.

Later that night when the Cartel boss of the El Federación looked over his prized jewelry, it took him a moment to realize it had been fake and inside the bag of jewelry was a medium-sized package. When he opened the package, a explosive device was present and a gift tag that read 'Trick or Treat'. The treat had been his claiming of jewelry, but the trick was far more sinister. Before he had time to think, his whole entire estate blew up in flames. It was part of Kyle's plan to end the El Federación, but the device itself was designed by the Covenant Remnant.

Christmas Eve (2559)
ASSASSINATION PLOT TO KILL DAVID KING.

Life on Sanghelios
On the run from UEG Law Enforcement Kyle headed for Sanghelios and furthers his job with the Order of the Assassins. He is given his first assignment and begins killing the Covenant Remnant Commander Jul 'Hayash, along with his wife Aisha 'Hayash. After, he leaves a death threat terrorizing other Sangheili and makes a promise to kill other Corporate CEO's and Kaidons of the state in order to instill chaos and fear in Sanghelios' most powerful states. Josh 'Konar tracks him down little by little, unraveling his clues on other potential targets. Kyle then plans to kill major population groups in other states with the Sarin gas, provided by the Russian Criminal Syndicate, as a distraction towards his ultimate plan of killing the Arbiter. His plan eventually fails when he meets Draco 'Rorke and plans to negotiate a temporary alliance in order to take out his main target, but Josh gets in the way of this and Kyle plans to take out Fal 'Konar, Josh 'Konar's uncle, instead.

Capture and Prison
When he tries to kill Josh 'Konar, he is defeated, arrested by UNSC personnel, and sent to UNSC Maximum Security Detention Facility. During his interrogation he vows revenge on Josh 'Konar, and after, hires a hitman to kill him.

During most of his time in prison, he got into violent fights with a ruthless criminal on Cell Level 3, an African American drug leader. A few racial slurs were tossed back and forth and then what began as a profanity competition grew into a full on blood battle. After a few punches here and there, he tackled the drug leader and punched him on the ground, only to have his face gashed by the makeshift knife that was hidden by his attacker. He managed to disarm the drug lord, breaking his arm. When the drug leader dropped the knife, he grabbed the knife and shanked the drug lord in the abdomen before slitting his throat. EMT’s and guards sprang into the room and separated Kyle from the victim, disarming him. Kyle tried to lash out at them with the makeshift knife, but was disarmed and knocked to the ground. Afterwards he was taken to the Cryochamber and put to Cryosleep.

Personality
Kyle Craig views murder as a sport, and will not hesitate to toy with his captives before he finishes them off. He does things according to his own twisted sense of logic, and does not desire money. If there was one thing that he did desire, it would be the power to instill anarchy into his enemies by any means necessary, proving that their organization is meaningless and futile.

Kyle Craig is intelligent and this tends to be his greatest weapon against his enemies. He knows how to hack into systems and be one step ahead of everyone else. He is often confronted by the authorities, but easily evades capture due to the mind games he plays on them. He also has a dark side to his personality, barely showing empathy to his enemies and making them suffer. He also likes to be the center of attention, thus taking up a career in explosives so people know how dangerous he really is as well as the damage he can create. He also believes he is beyond the rules. Laws do not apply to him and remorse is only felt when someone catches and confronts him.

Kyle Craig is also seen as an opportunist, making deals that puts him on the edge. For example, in Chapter 13 of Retaliation, he makes a deal with Draco 'Rorke by promising to push the humans out of Sanghelios and destroy the Sangheili-Human alliance once and for all, in order to give him the opportunity to take out Josh Konaree.

As he grew older into his middle age, his crime's became more sophisticated as well as his insanity. At these moments, Kyle is depicted as expressing remorse for his acts; however, during a medically induced period of partial sanity, he tells his opponents that he will only stop murdering when the tyranny ends.

Behind the scenes

 * Kyle Craig was based on the character Kyle Craig; who calls himself "The Mastermind", having organized a series of brutal bank robberies and murders, from James Patterson's Alex Cross novels. After the author's attachment grew for the character, he decided to change Kyle into a more insidious character with an agenda and personality that much of the Arkhamverse Joker and Naoki Urasawa's Johan Liebert.