Thomas Hausler

"I'm going to make my brother proud."
 * -|Synopsis=

Thomas Hausler is an active bounty hunter who formerly operated internationally, using his abilities to investigate and stop malignant criminals from causing havoc, primarily working alone with certain exceptions. Forged from a life of unfortunate circumstances, Thomas presses forward the best he can in order to make the best out of his- and other's- situations. He currently works within Berlin and the surrounding area.

Growing up in Vienna, Thomas was an average student and photographer, who manifested his own powers shortly after seeing his brother murdered at the hands of Václav Novak, an infamous criminal who escaped from solitary confinement. With newfound resolve and restless anger, he treks across Europe to find the man who killed his brother, and murder him in an act of vengeance, damn be the consequences to himself.

Thomas is the son of Masako Arakawa, another bounty hunter active during the fifties who became considerably famous for her deeds, and who was absent for much of Thomas' life. He is also the adoptive father of Isabelle and Lucia Hausler. Much of his motivation currently comes from wishing to help forge a world where his daughters would be safer than he was when he grew up, preventing them from becoming bounty hunters like himself, and being a good and involved parent to them, unlike his mother.

Thomas is quite tall for someone his age, being around 6'6 (198 cm), with a muscular build (obscured by the coats he wears). His hair is black and spiky. He has a preference for wearing coats and scarves.
 * -|Appearance=

It's noted that Thomas looks older than he is, mostly due to his height.

After his final encounter with Václav, both of his arms have been severed off. He has been fitted with robotic arms since.
 * -|Personality=

Personality
Thomas comes off as cold, stoic, and mean. He doesn't show his emotions often, though this is simply natural to him, as he feels he doesn't know how to properly express them. Thomas gets straight to the point in his words and doesn't like wasting time, keeping his sentences short if he talks at all. He's not good at speaking with other people for too long, which causes him to inadvertently distance himself from others. Sometimes, he feels that he just doesn't know the "right words" to say, and would prefer just not speaking at all if it meant These habits, coupled with his menacing appearance, have contributed to him being a lonely person as a consequence. It's difficult for anyone to reach Thomas, and much more difficult for him to communicate with others. The only people he doesn't have trouble talking with are his family and close friends.

Despite this however, Thomas is a passionate and empathetic man, willing to help others and put himself in harm's way for the sake of doing the right thing. Where he has difficulty showing his emotions through his words, he'll express them through his actions and gestures. Thomas is utterly selfless, willing to do everything it takes to save another person, or get vengeance for an inexcusable crime. It doesn't matter what happens to him; As long as he's able to pull through with helping at least one person, he will sacrifice himself to make sure they get there.

Perhaps this is why Thomas' most admirable trait is his tenacity. He's pragmatic, and will do whatever he has to do to achieve a goal. It is this willpower that Thomas has that allows him to push through situations where others couldn't, including being on the receiving end of an excruciating level of pain and torture. He detests being sidetracked or slowed down if it keeps him from his goal, but he'll do so if he feels it's necessary to help others. He was inspired into this ideology by his brother, shortly before their father died. As a man that's always hopeful for a brighter future, Thomas doesn't hesitate to move through the dark to get there if that's what it takes to get what he wants. He's a man who strives for hope in the bleakness of the world around himself, with an unquenchable desire for justice. Though it's great, Thomas' determination can work against him as he may be put through unnecessary strife and situations he could avoid. He often suffers more injury than he has to, but is willing to put up with it anyway if it means he'll see his goal to the end, or help someone in need. There is only one limit to Thomas' determination: he will not harm an innocent person, even if they're in his way. The numerous injuries he suffered trying to find Václav, and how he kept trying to look for him anyway, including getting both of his arms torn off, are a testament to how hard and how far he's willing to go.

When he's fighting, Thomas is known to be explosively violent, giving his enemies horrific beatdowns. However, he isn't a killer, and will try to avoid doing so even if his enemy attempts to murder him first. There is only one exception.

Above all else, Thomas stresses in having a strong sense of family, whether it be by blood, adoption, or through marriage. He firmly believes that having a happy, caring family is one of the most important things in the world. Having grown up without his mother  in his life, and seeing both his father and his brother die, Thomas empathizes with people who have had similar conditions to himself. He curses and despises his mother for leaving their family behind because of this.

Thomas is prone to blaming himself for anything bad that happens to him or those he cares about, feeling that he could have prevented them from occurring at all. He feels like he could have saved his brother, and swears to never let it happen again, resulting in his overprotective parenting of his daughters.

Thomas is uncomfortable with the idea of infusing his body with cybernetics, such as prosthetic limbs or nanomachines, and is quietly unnerved by those who have gotten them (or, similarly, Abnormals who can turn into machines). When he woke up to find that the arms Václav sliced off were substituted for robotic ones, he screamed.

Family

 * Adler Hausler - Adler is Thomas' older brother, and someone who he highly respects. When their father died, Adler was the one to help Thomas find closure about it and move on, as they would learn to live without him. Thomas sees Adler as someone to strive to be; a man who can surpass challenges even with his own drawbacks and disabilities. Thomas is inspired into an ideology of optimism because of Adler, and believes that the world can be made better through determination and action.


 * Masako Arakawa - Thomas' mother, who has been absent for the entirety of his childhood, and only reappeared when he was an adult. She broke off her relationship with his father when the brothers were very young, and neither Thomas nor Adler has heard from her since. Thomas is only aware that Masako currently lives in Japan, and is furious at her for leaving her family behind, then trying to come back in like everything is fine. The lack of contact between mother and son hasn't given either of them a chance to reconcile, though Thomas has warmed up to her slowly.


 * David Hausler - Thomas' father. He was a man Thomas had a great deal of respect for.

Friends

 * Roland "Fender" Kilmister - The first friend Thomas makes on his journey is a retired cop who calls himself Fender, while the two are on a train to Germany. He discourages Thomas from attempting to go after Václav due to the history he has with the killer, but is impressed by Thomas' bravery nonetheless. Fender reveals to Thomas that he and a partner were the ones who originally arrested Václav several years ago; resulting in part of his face getting badly injured. This is why Fender decides to go along with Thomas despite his own misgivings. As the two travel together, they earn a great amount of respect for the other, saving each other in combat on several occasions. He, along with Melanie and Carmilla, were the ones that helped Thomas open up more.


 * Melanie Étincelle - Melanie started following Thomas and Roland when they came across her in France, as she was goaded into doing so by an unseen force. Having no Abnormality at the time, Melanie had no way of defending herself from an attack. Thomas saw her as a liability and kept trying to get her to go home, though Roland knew that neither of them could speak enough French to go about by themselves, and asked Melanie to help them around. When Alice Cooper, an insane Abnormal with the ability to make anything dance emerged, Thomas and Roland were nearly defeated as they were not only forced to try and resist control but were also attacked by people and the environment under her spell. Upon seeing her own family affected, Melanie finally unlocked her Abnormality, High Voltage, out of stress and nearly electrocuted Alice to death. Though he still saw Melanie as annoying, Thomas realized that he could never convince her to go away now that she had powers and after they learned that Alice was one of the Abnormals Václav freed from confinement. Melanie subsequently assisted the group in their endeavor to find Václav and even slowly befriended Thomas with the help of Roland. Though Thomas never openly admitted it, he began to see Melanie as a sort of calming presence to have around; someone who could break tension with her sunny personality, which reminded Thomas of his brother. Thomas eventually softened up to Melanie and came to be a loyal friend.


 * Carmilla Novak - The group discovered Carmilla after she was forcefully ejected from Melanie's shadow, after the latter unlocked her Abnormality, due to being weak to light. Thomas is initially hateful of her after he learns who she's related to, but quickly begins to sympathize with her after she reveals what her brother did to her and their family during their childhood. As the group moves closer to Václav, Thomas is the first to realize that Carmilla is increasingly reluctant Carmilla is to facing him again, and tries to reassure her that they're going to be fine, and tries to console Carmilla on multiple occasions. Though she's especially shy, Carmilla begins to see the group, and especially Thomas, as close friends, and inadvertently helps Thomas become better at trying to talk with people in turn.


 *  Robert H. James  - During his travels to find Václav, Thomas had met Robert several times. They'd exchange information about what they'd found out about his whereabouts, as well as the information Roland already knew about him. When he became a bounty hunter, the two become better acquainted and later good friends, working together on multiple occasions in order to catch bounties. Thomas would attempt to help Robert cull his drug addiction.

Enemies

 *  Václav Novak  - Thomas despises Václav for murdering his brother in cold blood. Most of his motivation comes from wanting vengeance for the and the emergence of his Abnormality letting him be a match for the sociopath. However, as his quest went on, Václav proved how ruthless he could truly be, destroying everyone and everything around him with his presence, killing both friends and enemies alike and causing misery for even his own sister. Václav is one of the only men that Thomas truly fears, and his memory continues to haunt Thomas.

Others

 * May - Thomas took care of an injured raven for some time while carrying out civil service. He named the bird May. Although he wasn't able to keep the bird legally, his nursing allowed him to befriend May, who would find its way back to Thomas' home on several occasions. May would die of natural causes sometime before Thomas moved to Germany in 1979.


 * -|Skills and Abilities=

Skills
Thomas has developed a number of skills over the course of his career, such as

Abnormality
Thomas possesses the Abnormality A Warm Gun, which manifests itself after his first encounter with Václav. and the reason whyf he undergoes his quest. It imbues him with an incredible capacity for murder, which acts as the source for both his main abilities and his Aversion. With years of experience under his belt, Thomas has furthered the potential of his powers to reach an unprecedented level of fighting skill.

Killing Mastery
"I don't need a gun to kick your ass."

With A Warm Gun, Thomas possesses extremely high potential for murder. He can instinctively figure out how to kill anybody he meets in a violent but efficient manner with any object he can get his hands on. Even without a weapon, Thomas still has the strength to put up a brutal fight with only his bare hands, breaking fingers and tearing out veins with his intuition of murder. Fighting Thomas requires the adversary to be prepared for even the most unpredictable tactics, and anyone who doesn't heed that warning will never come out unscathed, as much of Thomas' quarry can attest to. The longer he's exposed to someone, the greater of an understanding he gains as to how he can kill them. Though A Warm Gun is the power of immense killing prowess, Thomas' kind nature has helped him learn to use it in a non-lethal manner when dealing with most of his adversaries.

Absolute Weapon Mastery - Naturally, Thomas can use objects already designed for combat and draw their killing potential out even further. He's capable of taking any weapon, even if he's never seen it before, and use it with such precision that it would appear that he's trained with it his entire life. Thomas is more inclined to use firearms (mainly revolvers) in battle, but has no qualms with constantly switching between any type of weapon as long as it suits his situation. Thomas is known to be incredibly fast when wielding weapons; This is not enhanced speed as most observers may believe, but rather that he's able to wield the weapons with just the right amount of efficiencty and movement that it appears that he's got superhuman speed. This doesn't stop him from mowing down an army of the undead in seconds, though.
 * Bullet Ricocheting - Thomas is knowledgeable in finding just the right angle for a projectile to hit a wall and rebound, opening up a wealth of targets for him to shoot his enemies in that would otherwise be impossible to reach for anyone else. He's quick enough on the draw to make his own bullets bounce off of each other. Combined with his uncanny marksmanship, Thomas creates a fighting style that lets him combine physical brawling with firearms.

Whether it be a leaf used as a sword, a toothpick ripping apart muscle tendons, or the dust in the air becoming a hail of razors, Thomas can make everything he touches into a tool for combat. Virtually anything he can get his hands on is free for him to wield and slaughter everything in his path with. He seems to have the power to draw out the killing potential of anything, making it just a little more dangerous in his hands than in anyone elses, no matter how harmless it may have seemed before. Going by this possibility, Thomas doesn't physically enhance the objects he uses to fight with. Instead, he just knows how they can be used in the deadliest way possible, and uses his skills to support their unveiled potential as weapons.

Thomas' deadly efficiency in combat bleeds into his unarmed skills as well. Every strike he lands is, by their nature as killing blows, going to be horrifically painful. Even slight taps can be enough to make enemies with a weaker constitution scream in agony. Thomas needs to consciously hold back the murderous force behind his touch in order to make contact with other people, as something like a simple handshake can overwhelm victims with the sense of death. With time, he has learned to instinctively pin down the weak points of the human body and specifically attack them to incapacitate an enemy in moments.

Adaptive Memory - Thomas can observe the fighting skills of others and add this to his own skills in killing. All it takes is a moment of exposure for him to understand the style, though he can't necessarily figure out the thinking process behind it, unless he's known his enemy for a long enough period of time. The skills Thomas picks up are naturally supplemented by a murderous force, which makes them inherently deadlier to fight against than the original users. However, "deadly" doesn't necessarily mean that it's better, and Thomas learning how to use a fighting style or technique doesn't mean that he'll instantly master it. Thus, the original wielders are more or less equal, if not superior, than Thomas in combat when it comes to the use of these fighting styles. Over the years, Thomas has improved upon what he's learned from other combatants and applied it in a way to improve his own fighting style, turning him into a combatant infamous for ending fights with only the use of brawling alone.

Killing Arsenal
The simplest- and the first- use of Thomas' power is to create any weapon that he's previously seen. These range from firearms and blades up to and including nuclear warheads, as well as any object he's previously used as a weapon. He doesn't need to physically be in the same location as the weapon either; as long as he can acquire a decent photograph of the weapon, he can use it. Weapons created as a result of other Abnormalities can also be copied and stored. The origin of this ability comes from Thomas' instinct for murder, which is strong enough to change reality to make these weapons exist in the first place. Upon seeing a weapon, Thomas may make certain modifications to it for different purposes. This may include changing its size or adding more parts from different weapons onto the main weapon. Exploding swords and bullets and the like are just a few possibilities that can be done.

Thomas can create an unlimited amount of these weapons at once, enabling him to overrun his enemy with countless projectiles of varying types. Enemies can be cornered and have nowhere to run when Thomas cuts loose with his power. Though it's rare, Thomas isn't afraid to unleash a storm of hundreds, or thousands of projectiles, if it means he can overwhelm his enemies.

Thomas' weapons have certain quirks when compared to mundane weapons. For one, Thomas cannot physically harm himself with his own weapons. He's taken advantage of this trait to cause explosions nearby without getting hurt by his own attacks. Secondly, they can't be used by anyone except Thomas, unless he explicitly allows it.

Frag - Thomas can create weapons directly inside of pre-existing, solid matter in order to cause the original object in the overlapping spot to explode. Known as "frag", it can be used as a means of quickly incapacitating his foes, though he uses the technique sparingly.

Flight - By repeatedly detonating his own explosions near himself, Thomas can propel himself into the air in order to fly. He mainly uses this technique by creating gunpowder all over his body.

Thomas has seen thousands of weapons over the course of his career, a fraction of which are those he's personally designed and created himself. Weapons in Thomas' kit include but aren't limited to:

Scourge Berserker
Like many of Thomas' abilities, his Aversion also originates from the force of his murderous power. In certain occasions, such as if he were mortally wounded or bore witness to something traumatic, this Aversion would immediately activate, signified by the sudden appearance of a plague doctor's mask appearing on his face. While it's active, Thomas enters a blind and insane rampage, attempting to murder everything within his vicinity, no matter who they are. Dealing pain to him while he's in this state is worthless, as he'll attempt to push through anything that's thrown at him as if it were never there. The longer he remains in this state, the more monstrous and disfigured he'll become, as the mask slowly overtakes his body and covers it in a black, skin-like substance. Thomas himself is not aware of anything that takes place during the transformation, making it virtually impossible for him to control. Thomas has named this part of himself the Scourge Berserker.

Additionally, while the Scourge Berserker is in control, he will constantly give off a presence that causes anyone close to him to feel like they're about to die. The feeling is almost universally overwhelming and can cause any victim in Thomas' presence to collapse from fear and exhaustion. It can be traumatic to even come close to Thomas during this time, and those who manage to stay up in his presence don't last for long. The sensation that can be felt

Attempting to read the mind of the Scourge Berserker will instantly cause feedback that harms the telepath in question.