Ezekiel-072

"'Long distance, good winds, and a target. Perfect for me and my rifle.'""-Ezekiel-072"Ezekiel-072 earned his nickname on his stealth missions; Yūrei, Japanese for Ghost. Having an extensive history before the Human-Covenant war, he was also noted to form attachments more than his fellow Spartans within Erebus, as seen with his handler.

Early Life
Ezekiel was born and raised on the planet New Harmony to Japanese heritage. This cultural specification would be engrained into him by his family as they held strong and fast to the old ways, raising him on the principles of bushido. As he grew older he began to incorporate his own ideology into this ancient code to better suit him. In 2517 he would have his mental world flipped as one day he was kidnaped like his fellow SPARTAN-IIs were and conscripted to follow the program. However he was not among the normal SPARTANs, instead being placed within the Erebus Project under the surveillance of Sebastion Hammond.

Much of his training was typical of the SPARTAN Program; however that too changed when he was suddenly assigned a handler named Akira Hideyoshi. This man would start aiding Ezekiel in mastering the art of stealth and long-distant killing, effectively making Ezekiel one of the UNSC's best sharp-shooters, second only to Linda-058 who he would become friends with and hatch a rivalry for the title of 'best'.

However it was keenly noted that no matter how hard, his vehicular skills were always noted to be abysmal, and his attitude toward people he did not have any bound with was that of an ill-mannered man.

Pre-Fireteam Erebus:
During the 12 years before Erebus, Ezekiel was trained by Akira to excel in close quarters, marksmanship, reconnaissance, and stealth thanks to Akira. These merits overshadowed his ill-mannered attitude and horrendous vehicle skills. He functioned as sniper and assassin during the period of his first short term operation known as Stone Heart. After the analysis of this operation, he was deemed a suitable temporary member of Fireteam Nyx after Shiv-127 was inured and taken out of action for a small amount of time. Something of note is that Shiv and Ezekiel would also grow a sort of rivalry, trying to be the better sniper of the two. Currently Shiv is behind by 37 kills.

Operation Roundabout
His last solo operation was known as Operation Roundabout. This operation left an impact on him due to the loss of an entire team that was placed under his leadership. His guilt would be that which allowed him to change his subpar social skills, throwing them away and for him to start finally accepting teams and group work despite his reluctance.

Dao KI5
Perhaps the most hard-pressed mission for Ezekiel to have faced; the initial recon and later mission-turned-fubar would devastate the SPARTAN with the death of Akita at the hands of Kus 'Munamal’s via and energy sword through the back. Ezekiel would charge in, emotionally driven and sloppy due to the extra augmentations done to all Erebus member’s Amygdalas, resulting in an easy defeat and for him to be thrown aside by the Elite who then began to duel Antonio; this ended in the team lead loosing his arm and for the whole operation to be abandoned after more slips and mistakes resulting in injuries and the SPARTANs ultimately escaping on a stolen Phantom to leave the planet.

This marked a major turning point for Ezekiel: now he lost the only other person he had a connection to, and began to form one with his team more so now then before from the fear of being fully alone- which later would turn into true friendship and comradery.

Operation Decay
Operation Decay was a culminative operation that saw Ezekiel and the team bounce around the systems of and to the planet Reach to defend her from the Covenant. Of course this would be futile as the planet would eventually fall, a fact Antonio even stated when they heard the reports from Nobel Team on the surface,

Invasion of Earth
Once they were deployed they had done the usual elimination of enemy units in specified areas until the team was pulled out to save Raptor-5 in New Mombasa. Upon reaching him they found he was wounded by a Type-25 Carbine, more commonly referred to as a Spiker, round to the side of his torso just below the ribs and the shoulder. The team would be pinned for the next three days fighting off waves of any Covenant forces that dared approach.

They escorted him to safety and was extracted after this, and then were turned over to the command of Commander Keys for the next major operation in the Human-Covenant War.

Voi and the Ark
After being placed under Commander Miranda Keys control he along with Erebus would aid in Voi whever they could until a worse threat arrived. With the Flood's arrival they were tasked with aiding in the containment of it at the initial crash site, but when Antonio-007 was suddenly taken by the parasite their containment mission had turned into yet another rescue mission. Led by Jospeh-004 they found their leader 'hooked up' as Ezekiel described to a mass of the ancient being. They carefully freed him of his binds  After this ONI would give them over to Commanded Keys, which led them straight to the Ark along with the other forces. Once John-117 and his team had finished in High Charity however Erebus was extracted back to Earth. Ezekiel would witness the memorial on a cliff side and approach Blue Team for some words along with his team. After this he and Lind-058 would train together with the goal of improving his sniping and eventually being deemed near the same level of Linda, if not just slightly lower.

The two would become unlikely friends with the sense of competition between one another bolstering their relationship. This competition is going still in present time.

Azuno Colony
During this mission they quilled a uprising rebel movement. Speculation was high toward the Outer Colonies Republic, however this was waved off after confirmation of said organization still barely recovering from Sev's handy work.

Operation Hellhound (January 12, 2555)
Once they finished on Azuno the team had started small kill orders for Section 0. Dubbed Hellhound for them being the proverbial guards to the gates of their target’s death, the team would eventually be tasked with killing then 62 year old war criminal and traitor Sebastian Hammond which they gladly did on January 16th. Ezekiel semi-blammed the man for Akira's death and did not hesitate when they were face to face

Earus
This campaign was heavily taxing on the Fireteams of Erebus, Nyx, Hemera, and the Wolf Pack. It would see the groups take 15 months to completely take back the UNSC world against a well known enemy: Kus 'Munamal, who at one point, personally led a group of spec-ops Sangheili and captured the Resistance's leader, former Earus colony leader Nancy Ekiert and took her back to the Deliverance. Erebus would have to preform a single man infiltration, once inside the Supercarrier the lone rescuer must preform a search and rescue to retrieve Nancy and return her safely to Earus' capital. Opting to send in Ezekiel, the rest of the Spartans and ODSTs commenced a pincer attack with them on one side of a major camp under the Supercarrier and the Resistance on the other. Once the battle began Ezekiel used a gravity lift that was sending supplies back and fourth between the colony and the Supercarrier and began his search. After finding her in the prison block they nearly successfully escaped with Ezekiel suffering from a plasma shot to the leg while his shields were down. After the Spartan healed the teams eventually were able to repel The Galactic Pact and take back the planet.

Unity
When Ezekiel and Erebus were sent to the colony of Unity, he knew it wouldn't be good just by the orders. Upon landing and finding the Flood had taken most of the world, he was proven right. The team had to fight their way to the colonies nuclear fusion core and light it, protecting civilians they found along the way. Once they did this they boarded a transport and left as the planet was bombarded and the system quarantined by the UNSC fleet Scourge.

Hunt for Blue Team
Strangely, Ezekiel did not mind when the orders were sent that they were to be hunting down fellow SPARTAN-IIs Blue Team. In fact, he may have been the second most ecstatic about it: wanting to know who was better between the teams. Ezekiel would play the role of tracker and be the holder of their prototype cloaking-drone; he would also provide cover when they were to engage any enemies from a distance and insure their path was cleared whenever he got the chance to with his sniper rifle.

Ezekiel would be the fourth most disheartened person at the news of Mavericks upcoming death however, so made it a number one priority to help find a way to prolong said life after they found Blue Team. This would not be necessary as they found a solution before the Created rebellion. Now aboard the UNSC Infinity again, Ezekiel typically is found training himself or meditating to pass the time as they bounce around avoiding the Guardians.

Accomplishments
Ezekiel trained to become the best marksmen the UNSC would see, and only is second to Linda-058 in that department. As such, he has a staggering amount of long distance kills all confirmed.

Along with this his status in stealth earned him a high reputation for getting the more silent and shady missions accomplished. Whenever someone was needing silenced, or an item or person of interest was to be quietly extracted, the UNSC and ONI would send him in.

Before Dao KI5:
Due to his attitude and belief toward his training, Ezekiel was very cold and would rather work alone as no one can distract him from his mission. This mindset drove him to excel in conditions where operating alone was a necessity. The after effect of this led to a distaste for partners and teams.

After Dao KI5:
"'The loss of his handler left a severe impact on his psyche. Survivor's guilt looms on his mind and he adopted the mannerisms of his handler as a coping mechanism for the loss. This doesn't effect his operating status. Watch for signs of mental degradation and terminate him if necessary.'""-ONI Psychiatric Evaluation"The experience of loss opened Ezekiel's eyes to how easy it is for him to die in the war he was dragged into. The sacrifice of his handler left an even greater impact, deeper than any bullet in the armory. Instead of facing the reality he berated himself constantly and never came to terms with his handler's death. He began throwing away the conventional ways of his training in favor of more unorthodox methods of removing targets. Slowly, to cope with his failure, he began to pick up traits from his handler and somehow shed the typical anti-social tendencies of the SPARTANs. He began to form deeper and more meaningful bonds wherever he could and cherished them.

Trivia

 * He is horrendous in vehicles. Like...don't let him drive or fly...ever. He was given the nickname Kamikaze for a very valid reason
 * His katana was inherited from his family, and has been reforged and refurbished with near unbreakable materials so it would be a viable weapon to back his augmentations strength and speed
 * It is unknow if his rivalry with Shiv is of a friendly nature or otherwise
 * He has small amounts of respect for SPARTAN III's and IV's, seeing them as not real Spartans