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Description

Franchise: Halo

Real Name: Raymond "Ray" Battlement

Faction: United Nations Space Command (Formerly), UNSC Marine Corps (Formerly), UNSC Marine Force Recon (Formerly), Skullamanjaro Squad (Formerly), Himself

Age: 39

Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

Height: 6.3ft

Species/Nationality: Human, American

Birthplace: New Carthage

Job: UNSC Marine Officer (Formerly), Vigilante

Nicknames/Titles: The Vindicator, Ray, The Killraker, The Cleaner, Murderer, Grim Reaper, Skull Boy, Sylvester Stallone, Rambo, Secret Badass, Buster, Bonegrinder, Skullion, Death, Judgement Day, anxiouskitten19 (Username used to catfish a pedophile, who he then killed), The Expendable, Unfortunate Son, Ghost, God's Unrighteous Man, The Motherfucker, Just Gun, Black Hand, Anti-Soldier, Traitor, ONI's Vindicated, Jesus, Gun Jesus

Gender: Male

Vehicles/Mounts: M12 Warthog, M650 Mastodon (Formerly, blown up), 'The Battle-Van'- A Modified and Customised Mainz Träger Armoured Van bearing The Vindicator's Skull Insignia

Voice: A dark, brooding and vindicative American voice

Eye Colour: Blue

Hair Colour: Black

Skin Colour/Race: Caucasian

Scars/Damage/Markings/Unusual Features: Scars, Bullet wounds, Bruises, Burns, Skull Tattoo

Enemies/Rivals: Samuel Kaine, Kaine Family, ONI, Black Flag, Organised Crime, Murderers, The Covenant, Banicrons, Insurrection, The Dread Alliance, The Jiralhanae Covenant

Status: Alive and Healthy on duty

Weapons:

'Skull King'- A highly modified, customised M90 Shotgun painted Black and Silver with chrome pieces and a chrome Vindicator's skull insignia with a crown on top molded on both sides of the weapon. This M90 has been the deaths of countless criminals, and let's just say that Ray is never short of cleaning work to do, especially after having been out killing.

'Pain and Killer'- Two modified and highly customised MGC/SOCOM Magnums pained black with chrome pieces like the ends of the barrels, made as a retirement gift from his father. His father bored the chambers, customised the triggers and added some compensators, removing the suppressors from the weapons so Ray could hear a nice exploding bullet sound when he shot the two. Pain and Killer also have The Vindicator skull insignia molded onto their grips. The Vindicator retrieved these dual pistols when he began his vindication campaign on Samuel Kaine. With these, he eliminated Kaine's men in the Kaine Building, and later infiltrated his nightclub with the rest of his arsenal to finally exact his vindication on Kaine. Following Samuels demise, Ray contemplated suicide with one of these pistols, but he ultimately spared his own life.

'R-Rated'- A Modified MA-37 Assault Rifle with a red dot sight, serrated beyonet, grenade launcher attachment, painted black with chrome pieces and a chrome Vindicator Skull molded onto its frame.

Customised Black and Chrome SRS99C-S2 AM sniper rifle with Vindicator Skull molded on top of scope

Modified M45D Tactical Shotgun with brass coloured accents

Standard Issue HMG-38

Two SAS-10 Pistols

Standard Issue MA5K Carbine

Standard Issue BR55 Battle Rifle

Suppressed M395 DMR

WST DTM/Law Enforcement

Standard Issue Forge Industries MR45 Stalwart Burst Rifle

Standard Issue M7 SMG

XM510 Multishot Grenade Launcher

Modified M363 Sticky Detonator

Signature-Suppressed Anti-Materiel Rifle with I-0V Cranium-Sensitive Bullets

Two Standard Issue Type-52 Maulers

Confetti Maker LMG

Standard Issue M4D Magnum

Self-Made Flamethrower

Standard Issue M99 Stanchion Sniper Rifle

Customised Black and Chrome M57 Pilum Rocket Launcher

Standard Issue Whiplash Class ARC-920 Railgun

12mm Comet Hand Cannon

Standard Issue AIE-486H machine gun

Two Standard Issue M6H Magnums

Frag Grenades

Claymores

Anti-Personnel Mines

Incendiary Mines

Time Bombs

Combat Knife

Equipment/Paraphernalia/Personal Belongings: The Vindicator Ballistic Armour, Kit Backpack, Rations, Radio, Police Radio Frequency Scanners, Guitar, Chatter Mobile Phone, Computers, Mechanics Tools

Specialisation/Skills: Assault, Defense, Coordination, Demolitionist, Weapons Specialist, Shotgunning, CQC, Stealth, Tactician, Leader, Martial Artist, Marksman, Gunning, Survivalist, Strength, Stamina, Assassin, Interrogation, Torture, Fearmongering, Shotgunner, Guitar Player, Grenadier, Explosives Expert

Powers: None

Personality: The Vindicator is the baddest motherf**ker ever: a bitter, gun-toting vigilante who is more than willing to give criminals a taste of their own medicine. Driven by the deaths of entire family who were killed by the mob, The Vindicator wages a one-man war on crime while employing the use of various weapons and firearms. The Vindicator sees the world in very black and white terms, he solves his problems with utter finality. His response to any problem usually sounds like this: : when in doubt, hit back hard. Don't think about trying to change his mind about it though- the only way to keep the streets safe is to kill criminals so they do not harm innocents again. His sense of morality has turned to the extreme, differing greatly from what most would consider acceptable ideals of good and bad. He firmly believes that the wicked deserve to be punished and stopped permanently and that their deaths, no matter how brutal and even illegal, are needed as they better the world. As a consequence, The Vindicator is a controversial figure among the general public, with many people either praising or condemning his actions.

His military past has hardened him to even the most extensive violence, as well as his iron mentality; he claims to not suffer any PTSD for his actions as a Marine nor did he claim to feel particularly disturbed when he saw his friends die or kill for the first time. How much truth this actually holds is very questionable, because it doesn't seem like The Vindicator is the most psychologically equipped person to even read a bedtime story to a child anymore. One thing is for certain though: they have left The Vindicator emotionally exhausted and it doesn't appear that anything, whether good news or bad news has a real effect on him. To most, he has become stale, unresponsive, cold and unfeeling. The Vindicator doesn't seem to care, after all, there's nothing personal left to care about.

In contrast, the deaths of his family continually haunt and traumatise him, his soul has been tortured every night with nightmares flashing him back to the night his loved ones were murdered in cold blood. When everyone in his family were murdered, a devastated Ray Battlement turned into a violent almost sociopathic individual, determined to kill every single criminal who had a hand in his family's death, and then many, many more. In his own words: "Ray Battlement is dead, he died with his family," and now he is simply The Vindicator. When dealing with criminals, he becomes an extremist. He is brutal, cruel and efficient. He frequently uses extreme tactics such as torture before killing his poor unfortunate victims. He firmly believes that the truly evil deserve no mercy, and as such he holds no regret in the deaths of any criminal he kills.

He spends nearly all of his time planning his next hit, stopping only to recover from injuries or fatigue. Money taken from criminals is used to purchase food, weapons, ammunition, pay the rent of his many safehouses and occasionally pay towards anyone caught in the middle of his missions. He greatly values the lives of innocents, and will do his absolute best to make sure that civilians are not harmed.

Ray dislikes being thought of as insane or not in control of his actions as it goes against what he believes his mission stands for. At the same time, he does not seem to care what the citizens of New Carthage and the law enforcement think of him as he has witnessed their ineptitude in dealing with his family's murder first hand.

Despite his cold and ruthless demeanour, beneath it all, Ray Battlement is a man who strongly and deeply misses his beloved family and wishes only to make up for what he sees as his inability to protect them. Though he undoubtedly loved his family with all his heart, Battlement has admitted that his true home is only at wartime and when he feels like a soldier - something which he enjoyed being more than a family man. Despite having the chance to honour their memories and accept their deaths, Ray believes his 'vindication' against those who murdered them is more important and ultimately what drives him to war. It is ultimately the lack of conflict in life that scares Ray rather than death and having no true home to call to.

He's not a very nice guy, but he makes a damn good Mozzarella in Carrozza.

Born in Conway on New Carthage to Venezian immigrants, Raymond Battlement's skills in school ranged from shop class to cooking, to history. Raymond was a good boy, kindly, hard working, and attended Church every Sunday with his parents. To make extra money to pay for himself, he often sang songs in busy streets, often only two songs occupied his repertoire: Dr. Beat by Gloria Estefan and Lovestar by 26th century Singer/Songwriter Jonny Tenders. He would later remark that he 'tortured' people with those songs and people would actually pay him to stop singing.

For a time, Ray worked as a construction worker, with the hopes of being commissioned to work on large scale, high skill building operations, before he married his sweetheart, Francesca, who was already pregnant with their first child- Rita, before he was inspired by a UNSC Recruitment Poster to join the United Nations Space Command.

Battlement enlisted in the UNSC Marine Corps, and after graduating boot camp he fought Insurrection on the planet of Mamore, along with other active duty operations on Reach and Harmony, eventually earning the title of Scout Sniper, and was inducted into the ranks of the UNSC Marine Corps Force Recon, undertaking classified missions behind enemy lines.

While Ray was stationed on Ghanza with Gregory Caisso, they also met and befriended Clun Panhawk, a corpsman. During a mission, Panhawk was attempting to save the life of a young boy, while Battlement kept watch with a sniper rifle. However, when Ray saw a pregnant woman coming towards Panhawk, he failed to shoot her, resulting in the woman detonating a suicide vest, blowing off Panhawk's leg, something Battlement would feel guilt over for many years. For his service in Ghanza, Ray was awarded the Navy Cross for his service in the marine corps.

Whilst on leave from the Corps, Ray got into playing the guitar, hoping it would help his wife Francesca calm down their second child- Ray Battlement Jr. This was a failure however, but he did enjoy playing the guitar and would continue with it as a hobby. Ray's good friend "Pretty Boy" Gregory Caisso was introduced to both Francesca and the children as they became close friends.

During a new deployment against the Covenant on Actium, Ray's unit fell under the command of anonymous civillian (presumably ONI) commander known only the members of the unit as 'Black Flag'.

Skullamanjaro Squad was unknowingly involved in several illegal operations run by Black Flag, who was using the squad as agents of said operations. Skullamanjaro was unwittingly involved in Covenant Contraband smuggling operations- which included the smuggling of Covenant technology- illegal under the Cole Protocol, as well as several Covenant and Insurrectionist prisoners of war who were sold back to the Covenant via Kig-Yar pirates whom Skullamanjaro also unknowingly communicated with.

One of Black Flag's specified targets included a civil representative named Jando Kendair from the Outer Colony of Cygnus, who had discovered Skullamanjaro's illegal operations and was falsely convicted by ONI for being an Insurrectionist agent who was enabling Insurrectionist activity on Cygnus. Brutally strung up and beaten down by the Squad before Black Flag, wearing a face mask and using a voice changer to cover their identity from the squad then entered the room and began questioning Kendair in another language, so neither Battlement nor any of the other members of the Skullamanjaro could understand what Black Flag was saying. Battlement therefore stood by and watched as Flag began repeatedly striking the clearly terrified Kendair.

Turning to the Squad, Kendair insisted that he was not an Insurrectionist and that he had a family, while Ray and the rest of the Squad watched Black Flag grabbing Jando by the face and then say something more to him in another language. Eventually Flag noted that clearly Kendair did not know anything useful for them, and therefore turned to Ray, and told him to execute him. Ray then shot Kendair point blank in the face, killing him instantly.

Some years later after seeing more sides of the war and more tours of duty, Ray Battlement, Black Flag had a new target: The Prophet of Burden. Allegedly Kig-Yar informants had informed ONI that he was currently be giving sermons on the Covenant controlled world of Eloan IV. By this time, Black Flag claimed to care deeply for all the members of Skullamanjaro, despite being unable to reveal their identity to the members. Although they were then ordered to drop onto the Eloan IV and capture the target, Ray warned against it, believing this was a trap for Skullamanjaro, with Caisso agreeing. Flag however ignored Battlement's objections and insisted that they continue with the mission objective regardless.

Dropping onto Eloan IV using ODST Drop Pods, Skullamanjaro made their way through the rural and sparsely populated Covenant world, making Ray and Gregory wonder why one of the Covenant's Hierarchs would be doing official business on such an outlier of a Covenant planet, contributing to his belief that this was a trap.

When they arrived at the temple Burden was supposedly giving his sermon at, the Covenant seemed to be ready for them and they opened fire with Plasma Chainguns and Fuel Rod Guns, killing and injuring several Skullamanjaro members and blowing off Eileen Vennerman's right arm. Greg and Ray decided that the only way to keep making progress was to continue and storm the temple and make it out the other way to an extraction point. The rest of Skullamanjaro slowly made their way up the temple, killing several Covenant soldiers, with Heavy Gunner Lewis T. Joneson losing his life at the hands of a Sangheili Zealot, who impaled him with an energy sword and managed to fallback and pepper Skullamanjaro with Needle Rifle fire. Eventually however, Skullamanjaro made it, with Battlement carrying the rest of the team, to discover that Burden was never on Eloan IV.

Loaded up into two Pelicans, the team and those whose injuries had not killed them yet made it offworld. On board the UNSC Galen, a medical station, Battlement overheard someone asking for a mission update and saw Black Flag, again, with a mask, looking at all of the wounded and severely damaged soldiers, calmly asking if they had successfully killed the target as they wanted. Mortified that Flag was more concerned for Skullamanjaro's mission than they were over all of the wounded and dead men, Ray wrestled with an inner desire to charge at Black Flag, tackle them, remove their mask and voice changer and beat them to death, and instead gave a disgusted and betrayed look at Black Flag, unsure if they had noticed it.

Following this, Ray's opinion of what he and Skullamanjaro were doing, and of Black Flag greatly decreased. Ray realised how much he despised the bureaucratic nonsense of Black Flag. Battlement also started to wonder if Jando Kendair was right, and wondered about what Black Flag was actually using Skullamanjaro for. Ray continually felt that he couldn't get Jando out of his head, and started blaming himself for all the wrong Skullamanjaro had potentially done, believing that if he had been open to a different perspective beforehand, he wouldn't have lost so much of his own humanity.

Skullamanjaro continued to undertake dangerous, often near-suicidal missions in the pursuit of more targets and objectives. Every time the squad was deployed into another even more controversial mission, Black Flag would always tell them that it was for the good of the war, that it was for the good of humanity, that they were saving lives.

Fearing he was losing his honour under the command of Black Flag, Ray Battlement told his family that he would continue his last few missions before he would resign himself from service and live as a family man from there on out, that he would only return to service if the Covenant invaded New Carthage.

Black Flag then deployed Skullamanjaro to Levosia, currently being invaded by the Covenant to take out Jiralhanae Chieftain Terrifox and his entire pack, along with United Rebel Front cell leader Dimah Randey. A failed attempt at luring Terrifox's pack into a strategic killzone resulted in the pack picking up on Skullamanjaro's scent and mounting their Choppers and Prowlers to hunt them down through the woods. With two members of Skullamanjaro: Jessica Horn and Harold Weiser having scouted out the base where Dimah Randey was located, in small industrial complex being used as a base camp, Black Flag saw a potential hope of eliminati two birds with one stone.

Just as Ray and Gregory ran together at full speed, trying to avoid the lights coming from the Brute's vehicles, Black Flag radioed all members of the squad and told those being chased by the Brutes to lead the Brutes to the complex Horn and Weiger had scouted.

When they did so, Horn and Weiger questioned the direction of the mission, Ray wondered what Harold was going to say about the complex before Black Flag cut him off entirely. Once they reached the complex, Flag had the Skullamanjaro squad members use the last of their scent masking lotion to take away the Brutes' ability to detect them via smell, then make it to the ridge that Horn and Weiger were positioned and scouting the complex from and then watch as the Brutes pick up the new scents and go out into the complex and kill the Insurrectionists inside. Flag told them that this would mean that whoever came out on top would be easier for Skullamanjaro to kill off and the mission would be completed efficiently.

Whilst Battlement watched, he kept on wondering why Black Flag cut Harold off, and proceeded to ask him what the deal was. Harold reluctantly told Ray that the URF troops there were not alone and were accompanied by civilians, all of whom were merely seccionists from the UEG and they were families, children, and that he was trying to express his distaste at orders to effectively let the Brutes kill and eat them. Disgusted, Ray snatched Gregory's MA-37 Assault Rifle and Marvin Torone's M1310 Anti-Personnel Machine Rifle and went into the complex himself, whilst down there, the squad watched over him, but as Black Flag monitored them, they couldn't do much to help Ray.

Ray slaughtered as many Brutes as he could before he watched as Terrifox slammed his hammer down on a teenager and slaughtered an adult. Disgusted, he opened fire with the Machine Rifle and caused him to run off. Ray followed, and watched as a Terrifox beat Dimah Randey and then try to use her as a shield, which worked as Ray shot her in the chest. Realising his mistake, he then switched to his pistol and tried to shoot Terrifox in the eyes, but then Harold smiled Terrifox in the head and killed him, but by then it was too late anyway, Ray could see the dead bodies of Insurgents and civilians, children which were already half eaten by Brutes and he looked to the dying Randey, who he settled down and tried to keep alive. Randey said that ONI must've sent him, and that she knew all about what ONI was up to, everyone in the camp knew, and then she said that was why they were willing to let the Brutes slaughter everyone before she died of her injuries. Realising just what he had helped circulate, Ray returned to his squad, mortified.

Back aboard the UNSC Rambo they had used to drop on Levosia, Ray was washing his hands of blood when Black Flag commended Skullamanjaro on success, but this was met with no welcome from Ray, who ran towards Black Flag and beat them, the damage Ray did to Black Flag fractured the commander's left eye socket, but all Ray found out was that Black Flag was certainly afraid when he got jumped before being pulled away by Gregory and Marvin.

That day, Ray was, to his own satisfaction, relieved of duty as a soldier in the UNSC and set to return home to New Carthage.

As he arrived back home on New Carthage, Battlement was greeted by his wife Francesca, son Ray and Daughter Rita, all of whom he embraced lovingly as soon as he arrived at the door. Ray promised he'd never go anywhere else again, that he was done being away from his family.

Over a year later at a family reunion in Nevo Talerico, a tropical island on New Carthage, the entire Battlement family had an outdoor beach barbecue party, hosted by Ray's parents who had retired there. Ray's father, Jonnio Battlement told Ray he had something to show him that he had made in his shed. Ray and his father went in, and Jonnio presented Ray with a black UNSC Marine BDU Ballistic Vest, with a massive white skull insignia spray painted over it. He then gave Ray a case with two customised M6C/SOCOM Pistols, bearing the insigina on the grips, painted black and silver, with the integrated suppressors removed. Ray asked if he had really made them on his own, and Jonnio laughed, pleased with himself at his own work. Jonnio then said that these were supposed to be retirement gifts for his son, and although Ray was more than willing to put the UNSC behind him, he couldn't deny his father's presents to him.

After the kids called out to Ray and Jonnio to come out and join them, the two packed up the gifts. Unbeknownst to them, Black Flag decided to have Ray killed for he believed he was going to leak the torture and death of Jando Kendair. Black Flag had arranged a deal with Samuel Kaine, a powerful Mafia Boss on New Carthage to kill Ray Battlement, selling Kaine on informing the Mafia boss that Ray Battlement had been responsible for a tactical decision on Levosia to kill everyone in a Secessionist camp which resulted in the death of Samuel's Secessionist son Manwell Kaine, twisting the truth of the operation to suit their needs.

Ray and Jonnio stepped outside, only to hear gunshots and screams. Feeling called to action, the two unpacked the guns and loaded them, taking them out to defend the family. Ray and his father were able to unload their mags, but then were caught in knife fights which resulted in Jonnio getting killed, and Ray had to kill both his attackers so he could run after his wife Francesca and Son Ray Battlement Jr., having seen one of the attackers shoot his daughter Rita dead.

Ray ran after them as they escaped in an SUV, but arrived too late as the mobsters had run them over. The assassins returned, and Nathan Kaine beat and shot Ray himself, telling him "My father and mother send their regards". Vittorio Malassini then torched the place, and they left Ray for dead, not knowing that the explosion they caused actually just blasted Ray into the water.

Canniara, one of Ray's parent's friends who was caught in the crossfire, rescued Ray. After Battlement recovered, she took him back to his parents' house. Ray picked up the guns his father had been showing him, as well as the ballistic vest with the skull insignia. Filled with anger, he was determined to have revenge and asked Canniara if she could take him back home to Conway, but Canniara informed him that she too had suffered injuries, and that she needed to 'take a rest', when she did, Ray watched as she drifted off to sleep, never to return. Ray then returned her to her own home, and then went back to his parents' house. Ray then went to work on establishing a way to return home. Ray spent time recovering from his injuries and trying to process what had just happened to his family...his entire family.

With the idea that whoever attacked him would be making sure nobody named Ray Battlement survived, Ray looked for a way to get back home safely, and was contacted by a man on the dark web known as 'Nanopoint'.

Nanopoint informed Battlement that he knew about his past and had been sent footage years ago by a teammate- footage of Jando Kendair's torture and murder. Nanopoint informed Ray that no official records of the operations Skullamanjaro was running were kept, that this was the only way to prove what had happened back in the day and it was the only way to bring ONI or supposed ONI officials like Black Flag to justice. Nanopoint then said that he saw what had happened to Battlement on the news. Ray asked Nanopoint if he could arrange a fake passport for him to travel back to Conway, and Nanopoint agreed to do so, with Ray's new passport arriving around a week later.

He returned to Conway and moved into a poor run down apartment building, where he started modifying guns, the apartment he lived in, and his car. Ray's actions eventually caught the interest of his fellow apartment building mates, the opera- and food-loving fat Demo Vance, the piercing-covered skinny video gamer Dale Hadstone, and the Jane Wincole, who worked as a waitress and was friends with Demo and Dale.

Whilst eating at Jane's diner, Ray got a call on the diner's local chatter line. Ray listened to the man on the chatter, and he told him that he was Nanopoint and wanted to meet him on the roof of Ray's apartment. Ray did so, meeting with Nanopoint- his real name Mason Kauffman. Mason told him he was a former ONI Section Two data analyst who was 'killed' for attempting to leak documents of ONI Section Two's propaganda and communications dealings and their interference in everyday life. The reality of his 'death' being that when he was shot, he wore a ballistic vest underneath his clothes with blood pouches of his own blood he had collected to make it appear as if he died as he fell backwards into a river, surviving and hiding out in a long abandoned underground headquarters where he set up his operation of spying on ONI affairs and his loving family in their home, who thought he had died. Nanopoint told Ray he had learned of him through an investigation into what little records he had on him before they were deleted, detailing that he worked under a supposed ONI official named 'Black Flag'. Upon learning of the Battlement massacre, he decided that he'd have to find out more, believing there must've been a connection. Ray told Kauffman about Skullamanjaro and their many operations, and how he felt he was losing his honour under Black Flag, leaving Kauffman to wonder about the status of Skullamanjaro's operations in official government records. Kauffman believed he could help Ray find who killed his family, telling him that he had already found one individual who travelled from Nevo Talerico on the day of the massacre- Jimmy Tula.

One evening, Ray was driving off in his car. Using information collected by Kauffman, he kidnapped Jimmy and showed him a blowtorch in his garage, telling him that if he didn't like his answers, he'd burn his skin from behind. Ray then took a steak and popsicle, telling him that once a blowtorch reached a certain temperature, touching the flame would be feel so hot that it would feel ice cold to the nervous system, he then tricked him into revealing all he knew about the Kaines by torturing him with the steak and popsicle, making Jimmy believe that his skin was burning from the ice cold-feeling heat. Jimmy started screaming (which scared Ray's neighbours). Jimmy eventually gave in, telling him that Samuel Kaine relied on two individuals the Tomodo brothers, who controlled all gambling and prostitution up and down the Tunis system. They would give the money to Samuel, who would invest it in his bank on Europa in the Solar System and where he would "wash it". Ray released Jimmy, who discovered he was never really hurt after Ray popped the popsicle in his mouth, revealing his deception, and then the mob rat freely talked about the Kaines - whom he claimed to hate and to have been forced into their servitude.

Kauffman deployed spy drones to check if all of this was true, after it was proven true, with the information about the family's schedule and their closest friend Vittorio Malassini, Ray started following the actions of the Kaines and their friends and took photos of them. He learned about Samuel's golf schedule, his wife Denia's movie nights, his son Nathan's sexual exploits and fast car driving lifestyle and finally Vittorio's secret of being a homosexual. Afterward, Ray went to work and dragged his own gravestone out of the graveyard and planted it in Samuel's golfing spot with the date of his death removed and a skull spray painted on it designed just like the one on his ballistic vest.

Ray, seeking justice, confronted the police in front of several reporters, wearing a Marine BDU mask and different clothes to cover his identity, asking why nobody was arrested for the Battlement family's deaths after five months. When asked on why he was wearing the mask, he replied that he wasn't going to let whoever killed them learn who this fighter for their justice was. Learning that the police were too linked to the mob to take the Kaines head-on, Battlement took matters into his own hands. He sneaked into the Kaines' bank building, got past two guards and then got into the vault. He hit one man unconscious and ordered two others who were counting cash to fill up a suitcase with money. The rest of it he threw out the window, which drew in a noisy crowd trying to catch the money. Ray, dressed in a long black coat, the BDU mask, a black shirt and his ballistic vest, confronted two of Kaine's armed guards and killed them, he escaped easily into the crowd. The Conway TV news reported the bank incident and linked the man who caused it to the man who confronted the police.

Samuel was furious at the news, and received a warning from the Tomodo brothers that if they lost more money they would be switching bankers. Back in Ray's apartment, an angry former boyfriend banged on Jane's door demanding to be let in. Demo and Dale were scared, but Ray easily disarmed the man and sent him away. Jane thanked him and said they were sorry for what happened to his family, now with the knowledge of who he was thanks to recognising him form the news refreshing the Battlement case and detailing everyone who had died in the massacre- Ray mistakenly being one of them. Jane, Demo and Dale all made a promise not to tell anyone about Ray.

Ray informed Kauffman that Jane, Demo and Dale knew who he was, and Mason agreed to keep an eye on them all to make sure none of them revealed that Ray Battlement was alive.

Setting his vengeance in motion, Ray broke into Denia's car and called Vittorio on her chatter phone with a device to disguise his voice. He blackmailed Vittorio for 5000 credits, saying he had photos "Mr. Kaine would not want to see", telling Malassini to come to a hotel. Ray parked Denia's car illegally near the same hotel, and got a ticket. Samuel, looking for Vittorio and failing, was then told by Jimmy that the man was at the hotel. He later spotted Denia and Vittorio talking and laughing together and became more suspicious. Vittorio, after being questioned, denied being there however.

Aboard a cigarette speedboat moored at a jetty, Nathan found a Claymore bomb with the sign "Front Toward Enemy". He jumped off the boat just in time as it exploded, and Ray was standing on an overlooking hill. Meanwhile, Samuel was agitated enough to start throwing things around, and the Tomodo brothers marched into his office. The two sides argued, Samuel said they had had a good partnership but the business was one without insurance so he refused to cover their losses. Before the brothers left he warned them that if they didn't like it he had more guns than they did. Samuel however, then received a call from an unknown caller, though he knew exactly who it was, telling him where the person that attacked his bank lived.

Samuel then told Vittorio to call Mangus- a Jiralhanae whose Banshee crashed on a moon Samuel was visiting in the past, who agreed to join Kaine's business in exchange for not being handed over to the UNSC.

A few days later, Demo asked Ray to help because Jane's hostile ex-boyfriend was back. At first he closed the door on him, but reopened it seconds later and went to the apartment, where he finds June and Dale there preparing a meal. They invited him for the meal, and after saying what they were all thankful for, they ate. Afterward, Dale and Demo left for dessert, and after trying and failing to convince Ray to move on with his life, Jane went to help make dessert and danced to opera music. Ray opened a bottle to have a drink alone in his apartment when suddenly he saw Mangus there, and a fight began. The music drowned out the fight between Ray and Mangus at first, but then Ray was beaten badly by the seemingly indestructible foe. The fight eventually led into the others' apartment, terrifying June and the others. Battlement successfully unloaded a clip of magnum bullets into the Jiralhanae's body, but as he ran out of ammo, he took a steak knife and stabbed the Brute, and then threw a pot of boiling water in Mangus' face and while stunned, Ray pushed himself and the Jiralhanae downstairs. Ray was able to move but Mangus was laying still, his neck broken. Ray stood up briefly but passes out due to his own injuries. The three neighbours then tried to patch Ray up.

Meanwhile downstairs, four of Samuel's hitmen discovered Mangus' body and headed upstairs. Jane and Ray hid in a secret room under the floor, while Dale and Demo remained to deal with the men. Vittorio questioned the two and tortured Dale, cruelly yanking out all his piercings with pliers. But Dale refused to tell where Ray was. Vittorio finally believed him, and after leaving one of his men to report should Battlement return, he left. Nathan then called his father to report Mangus' death and Ray was missing. Vittorio, as always, left for the night whilst Denia told her husband she was going out until 10 for her movie night.

When Ray recovered he killed the guard with a paper cutter blade, then asked Dale why he would help him. Dale responded by telling him that they were neighbours and family, whilst Demo took him to the hospital. After this, Ray decided that enough was enough and that he wasn't going to let anymore happen to innocents around him, and began preparing his weapons, much to Jane's dismay. Whilst doing so, Ray began to write a "declaration of intent" where he invoked the motto of his old drill sergeants, "Etiamsi pereundum super orbem terrarum nobis ferimus ea" ("We must prevail even if the world must perish over it."- in itself a corruption of "Fiat justitia, pereat mundus."- "Justice must prevail even if the world must perish over it.") and stated that he wasn't pursuing justice, or heroism, and not even revenge, but it was vindication. Jane asked how he was any different than the Kaines, Ray replied "they have something to lose", and Jane realised part of Ray's plan was to be killed in battle.

Ray then broke into Denia's car again and took her diamond earrings from her handbag. He then set up another blackmail meet with Vittorio. Jimmy, under Ray's orders, showed Samuel the ticket on Denia's car at the hotel. Samuel remembered that Vittorio was also there at the time, and suspicious, headed to his friend's home. Meanwhile, as Malassini left his mansion, Ray broke in. Samuel went in later and discovered Denia's earring in Vittorio's bed. When Vittorio returned, Samuel greeted him at the stairs, startling the man. Samuel then argued with Vittorio over the truth, with Kaine believing his wife was having an affair with his friend, who he then murdered in vengeful hatred, despite Vittorio rightly claiming that he and Denia had done no such things. After watching this, Ray drove off.

When Denia returned home, she saw Samuel throwing her things on the floor. He told her he knew about her and Vittorio, that she was with his best friend. Upon seeing Vittorio's body by the doorway, and after being shown the parking ticket by the hotel, she told her husband that Vittorio was gay, but Samuel didn't believe her, only slapping her and dragging her out to the car. He reminisced about their history before they arrived at bridge overpass. Ray, watched, with Kauffman watching from the vantage point of a drone as Samuel tossed her over the side, where she was quickly run over by a train.

Now that Kaine had just killed two of the most important people in his life due to Ray and Mason's trickery, Ray Battlement could now set in motion the final phase of his "vindication". Meanwhile, the identity of the man who was in the mask was revealed to Kaine by the same caller who informed him of where the masked man lived, and now that he knew exactly who he was, he ready to kill him at last.

Ray got to work on modifying his car with all sorts of traps, making the car a literal death trap as he rigged it with dangerous tools that would kill the driver. He wouldn't be driving this car anymore. He took a tow truck and towed it to the next lcoation- wherever Kauffman's drones were going.

Kauffman's drones followed Samuel to his extravagant luxury nightclub, where he offered his men a reward for the one who would kill Ray Battlement. Battlement towed his car as if it had been parked just outside the nightclub, hoping that Samuel Kaine would try to drive it. He then went to the next parking lot, covering the cars and the ground in gasoline before making his move.

Shrouded by the trees in the massive, luscious garden outside of Kaine's club, Ray, or as he now called himself "The Vindicator" prepared himself for battle, brandishing a modified M90 shotgun, a suppressed DMR, an MA-37 Assault Rifle with a grenade launcher attachment, his father's modified MGC/SOCOMs, an M7 SMG, a double barreled sawn off shotgun, a combat knife, several small anti-personnel mines, grenades and finally, a full complement of black UNSC Marine BDU body armour, complete the ballistic vest that would from there on out become a symbol, a terrifying symbol of The Vindicator.

The Vindicator, now ready with his massive arsenal, killed the outside guards using the suppressed DMR, then set bombs to several cars and sneaked into the club. From upstairs one of the men ordered champagne by pressing a mic button. The Vindicator then set a grenade in the bucket he sent up the dumbwaiter. The grenade pin was attached via a wire to the bottom of the champagne bottle, so when one of the goons took it out of the bucket, he set off the timer of the grenade, and a few moments later it went off, obliterating almost everyone in the room.

After the grenade went off, The Vindicator rushed in, shooting anyone still left alive with his MA-37. Though he did take a few point blank shots into his vest from some of the survivors, he quickly dealt with them, deeming them as unfit to even spar against him as he shot them all to death. One tried to use a machete to decapitate Ray, but Ray then quickly drew his sawn off shotgun and let two shotgun shells tear wide, gaping holes in his life. He then found Nathan Kaine trapped and injured under rubble from the blast, with two of his prostitutes dead under his desk. He then told him that he looked like a strong kid who worked out alot, then elaborated that the anti personnel mine he was about to out in his hand didn't weigh much, he then forced him to hold onto the mine with an outstretched arm upwards, attaching it to a cable hanging down from the ceiling with a deadman switch, he then told Nathan that after a while, keeping hold of it so it didn't set off would be a real workout, and then left him there.

More goons came downstairs to attack The Vindicator, who he took cover from as he opened fire with his MA-37, until he ran out of ammo in his clip and then tried to reload it, but was then met by another goon who tried to attack him from the window side of the building. The Vindicator quickly turned on the goon and acted fast, firing a grenade from the grenade launcher attachment directly at the goon, which hit him in the chest and forced him out of the window as he crashed through, and then the grenade detonated in mid air with the goon. The Vindicator was strangled by the next goon from behind, but he just managed to force him off and then switch to his SOCOM and blast him to death with it, dropping his MA-37 in exchange for an MA5K Carbine on the floor, which he used to slowly clear the room of more enemies, running out of ammunition with it too.

The Vindicator then went up to the next floor, met at the stairs by several more goons, one of which who carried a 12mm Comet Pistol/Hand Cannon, and another with a shotgun. Ray nearly got killed by shots from both, and then, whilst in cover, quickly changed to his M90 Shotgun and tossed a teargas grenade inside, entering with the protection offered by his battle mask. When he entered, he had the freedom of opening fire as he pleased with the M90, killing goons left and right, with them totally unable to recover from the gas, or barely just muscling through it before their helplessness overwhelmed them and their guts were blasted across the room. Eventually Ray switched to his SMG to suppress some better trained goons, and then took the 12mm Comet Hand Cannon to finish off the final goon who refused to reveal where Samuel Kaine was. With more incoming, The Vindicator told them to bring it on. Each goon that was rightfully punished by The Vindicator's weapons brought Ray closer to his enemy: Samuel Kaine.

Finally, after slaughtering everyone, The Vindicator arrived at Samuel Kaine's office, but saw nobody there. He looked out to the window overlooking the car park, where he had planted some bombs, and realised that he probably wanted to get out using the car park.

Ray ran downstairs, and as he did so, Samuel Kaine's goon tried to open the front door for him, but as he did so, Kaine saw the anti-personnel mine rigged to the door and ran away as it exploded, killing his goon and blowing up the front entrance and some of Kaine's sports cars parked outside. Kaine ran desperately outside to the other car- Ray's car, parked outside, albeit on the other side of the parking lot.

As he ran, The Vindicator walked through the flames at the front entrance, and Kaine looked back at him, quivering in fear as The Vindicator fired one of his SOCOMs at his ankle, causing him to collapse. Kaine tried to justify himself to Ray "You killed my son." Funnily enough, the pained screams of Nathan Kaine were heard from upstairs as he failed to keep the mine held up, and part of the building exploded, killing him. "I killed both." The Vindicator responded, without a hint of mercy or sorrow in his voice.

Samuel then tried to draw his Magnum on Ray, but Battlement was quicker, and fired his SOCOM again at a non-lethal area, making him drop his gun. The Vindicator then took off the BDU mask to make sure Samuel could look at his soon to be killer dead in the eyes in his final few moments. "Made you kill your best friend." The Vindicator said as he tossed pictures he had taken of Vittorio, each proving that Vittorio had indeed not done anything with his wife. "Made you kill your wife." He continued as he dropped Denia's diamond earrings onto the floor next to Kaine as the penny dropped and he realised he had been duped. Battlement injected Kaine with a large amount of biofoam, and then he stepped away. "Who told you about Skullamanjaro?" He asked, and Kaine questioned what he meant, but Ray then elaborated angrily "My team, Levosia, your son's death...WHO TOLD YOU?" He roared, threatening to shoot him again. Hoping not to be shot again, Kaine told The Vindicator that it was someone going by the name of 'Black Flag'. Now finally realising that Black Flag must've paid Kaine to kill him and his family, he burned with anger, but then quickly brought himself back to his original composure.

The Vindicator then seemingly gave Kaine a chance to get away, to run, or stagger, or crawl toward the car, whilst he counted to ten. As he began, Kaine desperately crawled away, unable to stand back up on his own feet. "One...two...three" and Ray fired his SOCOM at Kaine's body, causing him to shriek in pain. "Hurry up, you crawl in there you little rat...four!...Five...Six." And another bullet went into Samuel, causing him more and more agony as he tried to get to his car. "Seven" he shot again. "Eight." and again. "Nine." and again, then, before he could get shot again, Kaine quickly climbed into the car, and as he sat down on the seat, he felt a knife go up his underside, causing him to squeal. Samuel tried to ignore the pain and find the key. Ray told him to check the glovebox, and Kaine opened it, only to receive a boxing glove with spikes on the knuckles spring forward into his chest. "Oh right sorry about that, check the sun visor." Kaine then opened the sun visor, and the keys fell on his lap, but two massive nails sprung forward and went into his eyes. Ray then took the keys, started up the car for him, and told Kaine to step on the pedal. Kaine, somehow still able to respond, stepped his foot on the pedal, not knowing that he had set off a timer for an incendiary bomb in the car, he tried steering but the wheel was glued and stuck, unable to move. Samuel was going to stop, but the Vindicator roared at him to keep his foot on the pedal. The car then drove into the next parking lot area, into the middle of a full lot, and the incendiary blew up, engulfing the car and Kaine in flames as he screamed in the combined agonies from his injuries and the burning. The detonation then set off a chain explosion of all the other cars in the lot, each incendiaries, setting the gasoline on fire with them. The burning fires were arranged in a predetermined manner, as from the sky above, the fires and cars formed the shape of the massive skull insignia, which could be seen by local news reporting from a chopper above, which used a spotlight and a camera to see The Vindicator, discovering that he was Ray Battlement and that Ray Battlement was still alive, before Ray broke into one of the cars and drove off, calling Kauffman to tell him that he had been found out and he had to go and live in his underground headquarters with him to evade custody.

Back at his apartment, Ray thought about what he said to Kauffman, believing that he just didn't want to go on anymore, and he was about to commit suicide by shooting himself, having avenged his family. However, the thought of Black Flag and the failure of the justice system stopped him, realising that he would never have truly avenged his family until the justice system was put to shame and Black Flag's head was on his wall...but then he still felt like ending it all there. But the memories of his loved ones reminded him that they would be telling him if they could, to keep going on in life, in the end, that was what changed his mind. He decided to set himself a new path and left the apartment for a final time after packing everything he had into an armoured van. Meeting up with Jane on his way out, he told her that she was right, good memories could save a life. He left, telling her he had a gift for her, Demo and Dale. When Dale was released from hospital, he found wads of cash left for him under his pillow, as did Jane and Demo- cash all taken from Samuel Kaine.

High on a bridge, Ray claimed that Ray Battlement was dead, and he was now "The Vindicator".

Around a month later, after moving in with Mason Kauffman, Ray had already made The Vindicator a well known public figure and name. At one point, The Vindicator used the username anxiouskitten19 to catfish a local pedophile and arrange a meeting with, who he shot dead upon meeting. Though The Vindicator was ready to take on all forms of crime, his main targets are now organised crime, as he has failed to get any leads on Black Flag yet, he has resorted to ridding the streets of some of the most brutal criminals by administering the death penalty, playing judge, jury and executioner all at once. The Vindicator has had run-ins with several major mafias, street gangs, cartels, biker gangs and virtually all forms of organised crime present on New Carthage, and now that the Human-Covenant war has ended, a whole new swath of organised crime from alien criminals has come to town, and he doesn't discriminate, all criminals deserve death at his hands in the most brutal way possible. Whether you praise his actions or defile his actions, he doesn't care, he knows what he's doing, and he knows that it must be done.

Ray started getting radio signals from a man going by the name of "Pretty Boy", knowing exactly who it was, Ray was hesitant to answer, but eventually he did so, and told Pretty Boy he'd be meeting with him soon, and he decided not to tell Kauffman about this. Ray got another call from Pretty Boy, scheduling where the two would meet with each other. Coming to the outskirts of Conway, Battlement and Gregory Caisso were reunited as Caisso offered his condolences for the deaths of Ray's family. As they sat down for a beer together Caisso questioned why Ray had not reached out to him, noting that he suspected he was alive after seeing the man who attacked the Kaine bank, and was amazed to have it revealed to him that he was right months before their meeting. Caisso then told Battlement about his private security company: N.A.I.L, and Ray teased him over Caisso's love for wearing fancy suits, using expensive hair products driving fast cars and his numerous sexual relationships.

Ray then told Caisso that he was skeptical about the legal status of Skullamanjaro's operations and was hoping to eventually prove them as illegal and get Black Flag arrested. Caisso however, believed Ray should let go of the past and offered Ray a place in N.A.I.L. Unbeknownst to Ray, Gregory was actively trying to steer Ray off the course of discovering the legal status of the operations. Ray left to think his offer over, but would eventually formally decline, not knowing of Gregory's mysterious ulterior motives.

More recently, The Vindicator has begun hunting down war criminals of the Human-Covenant War, Human and alien alike, pardoned and unpardoned, and killing them across the Galaxy. There doesn’t seem to be a particular pattern to Ray’s killings, and what’s more likely is he simply has a long list of Human military and government officials and Covenant warlords, one he’ll probably never get through, but he can try. What’s been more worrisome is that Battlement seems to have his eyes on Supreme Commander Thora ‘Marumee- leader of the Trident of Revelation coalition alliance between the UNSC and Swords of Sangheilios and an individual responsible for billions of human civilian deaths. If Vindicator truly sees only in black and white, then he might be coming for him next, in spite of the force for good ‘Marumee has been.

Quotes:

"In certain extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law. This isn't justice. This isn't heroism. It's not even revenge. It's Vindication."

"Those who do evil to others - the killers, the rapists, psychos, sadists - you will come to know me well. Ray Battlement is dead. Call me... The Vindicator."

"I leave this as a declaration of intent, so no one will be confused. One: "Etiamsi pereundum super orbem terrarum nobis ferimus ea" Latin, changed from another Latin phrase, but that one's about justice. Boot Camp Sergeant made us recite it like a prayer. "Etiamsi pereundum super orbem terrarum nobis ferimus ea - We must prevail even if the world must perish over it."

”Sadists, psychos and murderers. Don't matter what planet they're from. All deserve to be vindicated.”

"They laugh at the law. The rich ones who buy it and twist it to their whims. The other ones, who have nothing to lose, who don't care about themselves, or other people. All the ones who think they're above the law, or outside it, or beyond it. They know all the law is good for is to keep good people in line. And they all laugh. They laugh at the law. But I'm not the law, and they don't laugh at me."

"You know I'm not gonna stop. Not until Kaine and his whole damn operation are burnt to ashes and buried."

Description

Franchise: Halo

Real Name: Raymond "Ray" Battlement

Faction: United Nations Space Command (Formerly), UNSC Marine Corps (Formerly), UNSC Marine Force Recon (Formerly), Skullamanjaro Squad (Formerly), Himself

Age: 39

Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

Height: 6.3ft

Species/Nationality: Human, American

Birthplace: New Carthage

Job: UNSC Marine Officer (Formerly), Vigilante

Nicknames/Titles: The Vindicator, Ray, The Killraker, The Cleaner, Murderer, Grim Reaper, Skull Boy, Sylvester Stallone, Rambo, Secret Badass, Buster, Bonegrinder, Skullion, Death, Judgement Day, anxiouskitten19 (Username used to catfish a pedophile, who he then killed), The Expendable, Unfortunate Son, Ghost, God's Unrighteous Man, The Motherfucker, Just Gun, Black Hand, Anti-Soldier, Traitor, ONI's Vindicated, Jesus, Gun Jesus

Gender: Male

Vehicles/Mounts: M12 Warthog, M650 Mastodon (Formerly, blown up), 'The Battle-Van'- A Modified and Customised Mainz Träger Armoured Van bearing The Vindicator's Skull Insignia

Voice: A dark, brooding and vindicative American voice

Eye Colour: Blue

Hair Colour: Black

Skin Colour/Race: Caucasian

Scars/Damage/Markings/Unusual Features: Scars, Bullet wounds, Bruises, Burns, Skull Tattoo

Enemies/Rivals: Samuel Kaine, Kaine Family, ONI, Black Flag, Organised Crime, Murderers, The Covenant, Banicrons, Insurrection, The Dread Alliance, The Jiralhanae Covenant

Status: Alive and Healthy on duty

Weapons:

'Skull King'- A highly modified, customised M90 Shotgun painted Black and Silver with chrome pieces and a chrome Vindicator's skull insignia with a crown on top molded on both sides of the weapon. This M90 has been the deaths of countless criminals, and let's just say that Ray is never short of cleaning work to do, especially after having been out killing.

'Pain and Killer'- Two modified and highly customised MGC/SOCOM Magnums pained black with chrome pieces like the ends of the barrels, made as a retirement gift from his father. His father bored the chambers, customised the triggers and added some compensators, removing the suppressors from the weapons so Ray could hear a nice exploding bullet sound when he shot the two. Pain and Killer also have The Vindicator skull insignia molded onto their grips. The Vindicator retrieved these dual pistols when he began his vindication campaign on Samuel Kaine. With these, he eliminated Kaine's men in the Kaine Building, and later infiltrated his nightclub with the rest of his arsenal to finally exact his vindication on Kaine. Following Samuels demise, Ray contemplated suicide with one of these pistols, but he ultimately spared his own life.

'R-Rated'- A Modified MA-37 Assault Rifle with a red dot sight, serrated beyonet, grenade launcher attachment, painted black with chrome pieces and a chrome Vindicator Skull molded onto its frame.

Customised Black and Chrome SRS99C-S2 AM sniper rifle with Vindicator Skull molded on top of scope

Modified M45D Tactical Shotgun with brass coloured accents

Standard Issue HMG-38

Two SAS-10 Pistols

Standard Issue MA5K Carbine

Standard Issue BR55 Battle Rifle

Suppressed M395 DMR

WST DTM/Law Enforcement

Standard Issue Forge Industries MR45 Stalwart Burst Rifle

Standard Issue M7 SMG

XM510 Multishot Grenade Launcher

Modified M363 Sticky Detonator

Signature-Suppressed Anti-Materiel Rifle with I-0V Cranium-Sensitive Bullets

Two Standard Issue Type-52 Maulers

Confetti Maker LMG

Standard Issue M4D Magnum

Self-Made Flamethrower

Standard Issue M99 Stanchion Sniper Rifle

Customised Black and Chrome M57 Pilum Rocket Launcher

Standard Issue Whiplash Class ARC-920 Railgun

12mm Comet Hand Cannon

Standard Issue AIE-486H machine gun

Two Standard Issue M6H Magnums

Frag Grenades

Claymores

Anti-Personnel Mines

Incendiary Mines

Time Bombs

Combat Knife

Equipment/Paraphernalia/Personal Belongings: The Vindicator Ballistic Armour, Kit Backpack, Rations, Radio, Police Radio Frequency Scanners, Guitar, Chatter Mobile Phone, Computers, Mechanics Tools

Specialisation/Skills: Assault, Defense, Coordination, Demolitionist, Weapons Specialist, Shotgunning, CQC, Stealth, Tactician, Leader, Martial Artist, Marksman, Gunning, Survivalist, Strength, Stamina, Assassin, Interrogation, Torture, Fearmongering, Shotgunner, Guitar Player, Grenadier, Explosives Expert

Powers: None

Personality: The Vindicator is the baddest motherf**ker ever: a bitter, gun-toting vigilante who is more than willing to give criminals a taste of their own medicine. Driven by the deaths of entire family who were killed by the mob, The Vindicator wages a one-man war on crime while employing the use of various weapons and firearms. The Vindicator sees the world in very black and white terms, he solves his problems with utter finality. His response to any problem usually sounds like this: : when in doubt, hit back hard. Don't think about trying to change his mind about it though- the only way to keep the streets safe is to kill criminals so they do not harm innocents again. His sense of morality has turned to the extreme, differing greatly from what most would consider acceptable ideals of good and bad. He firmly believes that the wicked deserve to be punished and stopped permanently and that their deaths, no matter how brutal and even illegal, are needed as they better the world. As a consequence, The Vindicator is a controversial figure among the general public, with many people either praising or condemning his actions.

His military past has hardened him to even the most extensive violence, as well as his iron mentality; he claims to not suffer any PTSD for his actions as a Marine nor did he claim to feel particularly disturbed when he saw his friends die or kill for the first time. How much truth this actually holds is very questionable, because it doesn't seem like The Vindicator is the most psychologically equipped person to even read a bedtime story to a child anymore. One thing is for certain though: they have left The Vindicator emotionally exhausted and it doesn't appear that anything, whether good news or bad news has a real effect on him. To most, he has become stale, unresponsive, cold and unfeeling. The Vindicator doesn't seem to care, after all, there's nothing personal left to care about.

In contrast, the deaths of his family continually haunt and traumatise him, his soul has been tortured every night with nightmares flashing him back to the night his loved ones were murdered in cold blood. When everyone in his family were murdered, a devastated Ray Battlement turned into a violent almost sociopathic individual, determined to kill every single criminal who had a hand in his family's death, and then many, many more. In his own words: "Ray Battlement is dead, he died with his family," and now he is simply The Vindicator. When dealing with criminals, he becomes an extremist. He is brutal, cruel and efficient. He frequently uses extreme tactics such as torture before killing his poor unfortunate victims. He firmly believes that the truly evil deserve no mercy, and as such he holds no regret in the deaths of any criminal he kills.

He spends nearly all of his time planning his next hit, stopping only to recover from injuries or fatigue. Money taken from criminals is used to purchase food, weapons, ammunition, pay the rent of his many safehouses and occasionally pay towards anyone caught in the middle of his missions. He greatly values the lives of innocents, and will do his absolute best to make sure that civilians are not harmed.

Ray dislikes being thought of as insane or not in control of his actions as it goes against what he believes his mission stands for. At the same time, he does not seem to care what the citizens of New Carthage and the law enforcement think of him as he has witnessed their ineptitude in dealing with his family's murder first hand.

Despite his cold and ruthless demeanour, beneath it all, Ray Battlement is a man who strongly and deeply misses his beloved family and wishes only to make up for what he sees as his inability to protect them. Though he undoubtedly loved his family with all his heart, Battlement has admitted that his true home is only at wartime and when he feels like a soldier - something which he enjoyed being more than a family man. Despite having the chance to honour their memories and accept their deaths, Ray believes his 'vindication' against those who murdered them is more important and ultimately what drives him to war. It is ultimately the lack of conflict in life that scares Ray rather than death and having no true home to call to.

He's not a very nice guy, but he makes a damn good Mozzarella in Carrozza.

Born in Conway on New Carthage to Venezian immigrants, Raymond Battlement's skills in school ranged from shop class to cooking, to history. Raymond was a good boy, kindly, hard working, and attended Church every Sunday with his parents. To make extra money to pay for himself, he often sang songs in busy streets, often only two songs occupied his repertoire: Dr. Beat by Gloria Estefan and Lovestar by 26th century Singer/Songwriter Jonny Tenders. He would later remark that he 'tortured' people with those songs and people would actually pay him to stop singing.

For a time, Ray worked as a construction worker, with the hopes of being commissioned to work on large scale, high skill building operations, before he married his sweetheart, Francesca, who was already pregnant with their first child- Rita, before he was inspired by a UNSC Recruitment Poster to join the United Nations Space Command.

Battlement enlisted in the UNSC Marine Corps, and after graduating boot camp he fought Insurrection on the planet of Mamore, along with other active duty operations on Reach and Harmony, eventually earning the title of Scout Sniper, and was inducted into the ranks of the UNSC Marine Corps Force Recon, undertaking classified missions behind enemy lines.

While Ray was stationed on Ghanza with Gregory Caisso, they also met and befriended Clun Panhawk, a corpsman. During a mission, Panhawk was attempting to save the life of a young boy, while Battlement kept watch with a sniper rifle. However, when Ray saw a pregnant woman coming towards Panhawk, he failed to shoot her, resulting in the woman detonating a suicide vest, blowing off Panhawk's leg, something Battlement would feel guilt over for many years. For his service in Ghanza, Ray was awarded the Navy Cross for his service in the marine corps.

Whilst on leave from the Corps, Ray got into playing the guitar, hoping it would help his wife Francesca calm down their second child- Ray Battlement Jr. This was a failure however, but he did enjoy playing the guitar and would continue with it as a hobby. Ray's good friend "Pretty Boy" Gregory Caisso was introduced to both Francesca and the children as they became close friends.

During a new deployment against the Covenant on Actium, Ray's unit fell under the command of anonymous civillian (presumably ONI) commander known only the members of the unit as 'Black Flag'.

Skullamanjaro Squad was unknowingly involved in several illegal operations run by Black Flag, who was using the squad as agents of said operations. Skullamanjaro was unwittingly involved in Covenant Contraband smuggling operations- which included the smuggling of Covenant technology- illegal under the Cole Protocol, as well as several Covenant and Insurrectionist prisoners of war who were sold back to the Covenant via Kig-Yar pirates whom Skullamanjaro also unknowingly communicated with.

One of Black Flag's specified targets included a civil representative named Jando Kendair from the Outer Colony of Cygnus, who had discovered Skullamanjaro's illegal operations and was falsely convicted by ONI for being an Insurrectionist agent who was enabling Insurrectionist activity on Cygnus. Brutally strung up and beaten down by the Squad before Black Flag, wearing a face mask and using a voice changer to cover their identity from the squad then entered the room and began questioning Kendair in another language, so neither Battlement nor any of the other members of the Skullamanjaro could understand what Black Flag was saying. Battlement therefore stood by and watched as Flag began repeatedly striking the clearly terrified Kendair.

Turning to the Squad, Kendair insisted that he was not an Insurrectionist and that he had a family, while Ray and the rest of the Squad watched Black Flag grabbing Jando by the face and then say something more to him in another language. Eventually Flag noted that clearly Kendair did not know anything useful for them, and therefore turned to Ray, and told him to execute him. Ray then shot Kendair point blank in the face, killing him instantly.

Some years later after seeing more sides of the war and more tours of duty, Ray Battlement, Black Flag had a new target: The Prophet of Burden. Allegedly Kig-Yar informants had informed ONI that he was currently be giving sermons on the Covenant controlled world of Eloan IV. By this time, Black Flag claimed to care deeply for all the members of Skullamanjaro, despite being unable to reveal their identity to the members. Although they were then ordered to drop onto the Eloan IV and capture the target, Ray warned against it, believing this was a trap for Skullamanjaro, with Caisso agreeing. Flag however ignored Battlement's objections and insisted that they continue with the mission objective regardless.

Dropping onto Eloan IV using ODST Drop Pods, Skullamanjaro made their way through the rural and sparsely populated Covenant world, making Ray and Gregory wonder why one of the Covenant's Hierarchs would be doing official business on such an outlier of a Covenant planet, contributing to his belief that this was a trap.

When they arrived at the temple Burden was supposedly giving his sermon at, the Covenant seemed to be ready for them and they opened fire with Plasma Chainguns and Fuel Rod Guns, killing and injuring several Skullamanjaro members and blowing off Eileen Vennerman's right arm. Greg and Ray decided that the only way to keep making progress was to continue and storm the temple and make it out the other way to an extraction point. The rest of Skullamanjaro slowly made their way up the temple, killing several Covenant soldiers, with Heavy Gunner Lewis T. Joneson losing his life at the hands of a Sangheili Zealot, who impaled him with an energy sword and managed to fallback and pepper Skullamanjaro with Needle Rifle fire. Eventually however, Skullamanjaro made it, with Battlement carrying the rest of the team, to discover that Burden was never on Eloan IV.

Loaded up into two Pelicans, the team and those whose injuries had not killed them yet made it offworld. On board the UNSC Galen, a medical station, Battlement overheard someone asking for a mission update and saw Black Flag, again, with a mask, looking at all of the wounded and severely damaged soldiers, calmly asking if they had successfully killed the target as they wanted. Mortified that Flag was more concerned for Skullamanjaro's mission than they were over all of the wounded and dead men, Ray wrestled with an inner desire to charge at Black Flag, tackle them, remove their mask and voice changer and beat them to death, and instead gave a disgusted and betrayed look at Black Flag, unsure if they had noticed it.

Following this, Ray's opinion of what he and Skullamanjaro were doing, and of Black Flag greatly decreased. Ray realised how much he despised the bureaucratic nonsense of Black Flag. Battlement also started to wonder if Jando Kendair was right, and wondered about what Black Flag was actually using Skullamanjaro for. Ray continually felt that he couldn't get Jando out of his head, and started blaming himself for all the wrong Skullamanjaro had potentially done, believing that if he had been open to a different perspective beforehand, he wouldn't have lost so much of his own humanity.

Skullamanjaro continued to undertake dangerous, often near-suicidal missions in the pursuit of more targets and objectives. Every time the squad was deployed into another even more controversial mission, Black Flag would always tell them that it was for the good of the war, that it was for the good of humanity, that they were saving lives.

Fearing he was losing his honour under the command of Black Flag, Ray Battlement told his family that he would continue his last few missions before he would resign himself from service and live as a family man from there on out, that he would only return to service if the Covenant invaded New Carthage.

Black Flag then deployed Skullamanjaro to Levosia, currently being invaded by the Covenant to take out Jiralhanae Chieftain Terrifox and his entire pack, along with United Rebel Front cell leader Dimah Randey. A failed attempt at luring Terrifox's pack into a strategic killzone resulted in the pack picking up on Skullamanjaro's scent and mounting their Choppers and Prowlers to hunt them down through the woods. With two members of Skullamanjaro: Jessica Horn and Harold Weiser having scouted out the base where Dimah Randey was located, in small industrial complex being used as a base camp, Black Flag saw a potential hope of eliminati two birds with one stone.

Just as Ray and Gregory ran together at full speed, trying to avoid the lights coming from the Brute's vehicles, Black Flag radioed all members of the squad and told those being chased by the Brutes to lead the Brutes to the complex Horn and Weiger had scouted.

When they did so, Horn and Weiger questioned the direction of the mission, Ray wondered what Harold was going to say about the complex before Black Flag cut him off entirely. Once they reached the complex, Flag had the Skullamanjaro squad members use the last of their scent masking lotion to take away the Brutes' ability to detect them via smell, then make it to the ridge that Horn and Weiger were positioned and scouting the complex from and then watch as the Brutes pick up the new scents and go out into the complex and kill the Insurrectionists inside. Flag told them that this would mean that whoever came out on top would be easier for Skullamanjaro to kill off and the mission would be completed efficiently.

Whilst Battlement watched, he kept on wondering why Black Flag cut Harold off, and proceeded to ask him what the deal was. Harold reluctantly told Ray that the URF troops there were not alone and were accompanied by civilians, all of whom were merely seccionists from the UEG and they were families, children, and that he was trying to express his distaste at orders to effectively let the Brutes kill and eat them. Disgusted, Ray snatched Gregory's MA-37 Assault Rifle and Marvin Torone's M1310 Anti-Personnel Machine Rifle and went into the complex himself, whilst down there, the squad watched over him, but as Black Flag monitored them, they couldn't do much to help Ray.

Ray slaughtered as many Brutes as he could before he watched as Terrifox slammed his hammer down on a teenager and slaughtered an adult. Disgusted, he opened fire with the Machine Rifle and caused him to run off. Ray followed, and watched as a Terrifox beat Dimah Randey and then try to use her as a shield, which worked as Ray shot her in the chest. Realising his mistake, he then switched to his pistol and tried to shoot Terrifox in the eyes, but then Harold smiled Terrifox in the head and killed him, but by then it was too late anyway, Ray could see the dead bodies of Insurgents and civilians, children which were already half eaten by Brutes and he looked to the dying Randey, who he settled down and tried to keep alive. Randey said that ONI must've sent him, and that she knew all about what ONI was up to, everyone in the camp knew, and then she said that was why they were willing to let the Brutes slaughter everyone before she died of her injuries. Realising just what he had helped circulate, Ray returned to his squad, mortified.

Back aboard the UNSC Rambo they had used to drop on Levosia, Ray was washing his hands of blood when Black Flag commended Skullamanjaro on success, but this was met with no welcome from Ray, who ran towards Black Flag and beat them, the damage Ray did to Black Flag fractured the commander's left eye socket, but all Ray found out was that Black Flag was certainly afraid when he got jumped before being pulled away by Gregory and Marvin.

That day, Ray was, to his own satisfaction, relieved of duty as a soldier in the UNSC and set to return home to New Carthage.

As he arrived back home on New Carthage, Battlement was greeted by his wife Francesca, son Ray and Daughter Rita, all of whom he embraced lovingly as soon as he arrived at the door. Ray promised he'd never go anywhere else again, that he was done being away from his family.

Over a year later at a family reunion in Nevo Talerico, a tropical island on New Carthage, the entire Battlement family had an outdoor beach barbecue party, hosted by Ray's parents who had retired there. Ray's father, Jonnio Battlement told Ray he had something to show him that he had made in his shed. Ray and his father went in, and Jonnio presented Ray with a black UNSC Marine BDU Ballistic Vest, with a massive white skull insignia spray painted over it. He then gave Ray a case with two customised M6C/SOCOM Pistols, bearing the insigina on the grips, painted black and silver, with the integrated suppressors removed. Ray asked if he had really made them on his own, and Jonnio laughed, pleased with himself at his own work. Jonnio then said that these were supposed to be retirement gifts for his son, and although Ray was more than willing to put the UNSC behind him, he couldn't deny his father's presents to him.

After the kids called out to Ray and Jonnio to come out and join them, the two packed up the gifts. Unbeknownst to them, Black Flag decided to have Ray killed for he believed he was going to leak the torture and death of Jando Kendair. Black Flag had arranged a deal with Samuel Kaine, a powerful Mafia Boss on New Carthage to kill Ray Battlement, selling Kaine on informing the Mafia boss that Ray Battlement had been responsible for a tactical decision on Levosia to kill everyone in a Secessionist camp which resulted in the death of Samuel's Secessionist son Manwell Kaine, twisting the truth of the operation to suit their needs.

Ray and Jonnio stepped outside, only to hear gunshots and screams. Feeling called to action, the two unpacked the guns and loaded them, taking them out to defend the family. Ray and his father were able to unload their mags, but then were caught in knife fights which resulted in Jonnio getting killed, and Ray had to kill both his attackers so he could run after his wife Francesca and Son Ray Battlement Jr., having seen one of the attackers shoot his daughter Rita dead.

Ray ran after them as they escaped in an SUV, but arrived too late as the mobsters had run them over. The assassins returned, and Nathan Kaine beat and shot Ray himself, telling him "My father and mother send their regards". Vittorio Malassini then torched the place, and they left Ray for dead, not knowing that the explosion they caused actually just blasted Ray into the water.

Canniara, one of Ray's parent's friends who was caught in the crossfire, rescued Ray. After Battlement recovered, she took him back to his parents' house. Ray picked up the guns his father had been showing him, as well as the ballistic vest with the skull insignia. Filled with anger, he was determined to have revenge and asked Canniara if she could take him back home to Conway, but Canniara informed him that she too had suffered injuries, and that she needed to 'take a rest', when she did, Ray watched as she drifted off to sleep, never to return. Ray then returned her to her own home, and then went back to his parents' house. Ray then went to work on establishing a way to return home. Ray spent time recovering from his injuries and trying to process what had just happened to his family...his entire family.

With the idea that whoever attacked him would be making sure nobody named Ray Battlement survived, Ray looked for a way to get back home safely, and was contacted by a man on the dark web known as 'Nanopoint'.

Nanopoint informed Battlement that he knew about his past and had been sent footage years ago by a teammate- footage of Jando Kendair's torture and murder. Nanopoint informed Ray that no official records of the operations Skullamanjaro was running were kept, that this was the only way to prove what had happened back in the day and it was the only way to bring ONI or supposed ONI officials like Black Flag to justice. Nanopoint then said that he saw what had happened to Battlement on the news. Ray asked Nanopoint if he could arrange a fake passport for him to travel back to Conway, and Nanopoint agreed to do so, with Ray's new passport arriving around a week later.

He returned to Conway and moved into a poor run down apartment building, where he started modifying guns, the apartment he lived in, and his car. Ray's actions eventually caught the interest of his fellow apartment building mates, the opera- and food-loving fat Demo Vance, the piercing-covered skinny video gamer Dale Hadstone, and the Jane Wincole, who worked as a waitress and was friends with Demo and Dale.

Whilst eating at Jane's diner, Ray got a call on the diner's local chatter line. Ray listened to the man on the chatter, and he told him that he was Nanopoint and wanted to meet him on the roof of Ray's apartment. Ray did so, meeting with Nanopoint- his real name Mason Kauffman. Mason told him he was a former ONI Section Two data analyst who was 'killed' for attempting to leak documents of ONI Section Two's propaganda and communications dealings and their interference in everyday life. The reality of his 'death' being that when he was shot, he wore a ballistic vest underneath his clothes with blood pouches of his own blood he had collected to make it appear as if he died as he fell backwards into a river, surviving and hiding out in a long abandoned underground headquarters where he set up his operation of spying on ONI affairs and his loving family in their home, who thought he had died. Nanopoint told Ray he had learned of him through an investigation into what little records he had on him before they were deleted, detailing that he worked under a supposed ONI official named 'Black Flag'. Upon learning of the Battlement massacre, he decided that he'd have to find out more, believing there must've been a connection. Ray told Kauffman about Skullamanjaro and their many operations, and how he felt he was losing his honour under Black Flag, leaving Kauffman to wonder about the status of Skullamanjaro's operations in official government records. Kauffman believed he could help Ray find who killed his family, telling him that he had already found one individual who travelled from Nevo Talerico on the day of the massacre- Jimmy Tula.

One evening, Ray was driving off in his car. Using information collected by Kauffman, he kidnapped Jimmy and showed him a blowtorch in his garage, telling him that if he didn't like his answers, he'd burn his skin from behind. Ray then took a steak and popsicle, telling him that once a blowtorch reached a certain temperature, touching the flame would be feel so hot that it would feel ice cold to the nervous system, he then tricked him into revealing all he knew about the Kaines by torturing him with the steak and popsicle, making Jimmy believe that his skin was burning from the ice cold-feeling heat. Jimmy started screaming (which scared Ray's neighbours). Jimmy eventually gave in, telling him that Samuel Kaine relied on two individuals the Tomodo brothers, who controlled all gambling and prostitution up and down the Tunis system. They would give the money to Samuel, who would invest it in his bank on Europa in the Solar System and where he would "wash it". Ray released Jimmy, who discovered he was never really hurt after Ray popped the popsicle in his mouth, revealing his deception, and then the mob rat freely talked about the Kaines - whom he claimed to hate and to have been forced into their servitude.

Kauffman deployed spy drones to check if all of this was true, after it was proven true, with the information about the family's schedule and their closest friend Vittorio Malassini, Ray started following the actions of the Kaines and their friends and took photos of them. He learned about Samuel's golf schedule, his wife Denia's movie nights, his son Nathan's sexual exploits and fast car driving lifestyle and finally Vittorio's secret of being a homosexual. Afterward, Ray went to work and dragged his own gravestone out of the graveyard and planted it in Samuel's golfing spot with the date of his death removed and a skull spray painted on it designed just like the one on his ballistic vest.

Ray, seeking justice, confronted the police in front of several reporters, wearing a Marine BDU mask and different clothes to cover his identity, asking why nobody was arrested for the Battlement family's deaths after five months. When asked on why he was wearing the mask, he replied that he wasn't going to let whoever killed them learn who this fighter for their justice was. Learning that the police were too linked to the mob to take the Kaines head-on, Battlement took matters into his own hands. He sneaked into the Kaines' bank building, got past two guards and then got into the vault. He hit one man unconscious and ordered two others who were counting cash to fill up a suitcase with money. The rest of it he threw out the window, which drew in a noisy crowd trying to catch the money. Ray, dressed in a long black coat, the BDU mask, a black shirt and his ballistic vest, confronted two of Kaine's armed guards and killed them, he escaped easily into the crowd. The Conway TV news reported the bank incident and linked the man who caused it to the man who confronted the police.

Samuel was furious at the news, and received a warning from the Tomodo brothers that if they lost more money they would be switching bankers. Back in Ray's apartment, an angry former boyfriend banged on Jane's door demanding to be let in. Demo and Dale were scared, but Ray easily disarmed the man and sent him away. Jane thanked him and said they were sorry for what happened to his family, now with the knowledge of who he was thanks to recognising him form the news refreshing the Battlement case and detailing everyone who had died in the massacre- Ray mistakenly being one of them. Jane, Demo and Dale all made a promise not to tell anyone about Ray.

Ray informed Kauffman that Jane, Demo and Dale knew who he was, and Mason agreed to keep an eye on them all to make sure none of them revealed that Ray Battlement was alive.

Setting his vengeance in motion, Ray broke into Denia's car and called Vittorio on her chatter phone with a device to disguise his voice. He blackmailed Vittorio for 5000 credits, saying he had photos "Mr. Kaine would not want to see", telling Malassini to come to a hotel. Ray parked Denia's car illegally near the same hotel, and got a ticket. Samuel, looking for Vittorio and failing, was then told by Jimmy that the man was at the hotel. He later spotted Denia and Vittorio talking and laughing together and became more suspicious. Vittorio, after being questioned, denied being there however.

Aboard a cigarette speedboat moored at a jetty, Nathan found a Claymore bomb with the sign "Front Toward Enemy". He jumped off the boat just in time as it exploded, and Ray was standing on an overlooking hill. Meanwhile, Samuel was agitated enough to start throwing things around, and the Tomodo brothers marched into his office. The two sides argued, Samuel said they had had a good partnership but the business was one without insurance so he refused to cover their losses. Before the brothers left he warned them that if they didn't like it he had more guns than they did. Samuel however, then received a call from an unknown caller, though he knew exactly who it was, telling him where the person that attacked his bank lived.

Samuel then told Vittorio to call Mangus- a Jiralhanae whose Banshee crashed on a moon Samuel was visiting in the past, who agreed to join Kaine's business in exchange for not being handed over to the UNSC.

A few days later, Demo asked Ray to help because Jane's hostile ex-boyfriend was back. At first he closed the door on him, but reopened it seconds later and went to the apartment, where he finds June and Dale there preparing a meal. They invited him for the meal, and after saying what they were all thankful for, they ate. Afterward, Dale and Demo left for dessert, and after trying and failing to convince Ray to move on with his life, Jane went to help make dessert and danced to opera music. Ray opened a bottle to have a drink alone in his apartment when suddenly he saw Mangus there, and a fight began. The music drowned out the fight between Ray and Mangus at first, but then Ray was beaten badly by the seemingly indestructible foe. The fight eventually led into the others' apartment, terrifying June and the others. Battlement successfully unloaded a clip of magnum bullets into the Jiralhanae's body, but as he ran out of ammo, he took a steak knife and stabbed the Brute, and then threw a pot of boiling water in Mangus' face and while stunned, Ray pushed himself and the Jiralhanae downstairs. Ray was able to move but Mangus was laying still, his neck broken. Ray stood up briefly but passes out due to his own injuries. The three neighbours then tried to patch Ray up.

Meanwhile downstairs, four of Samuel's hitmen discovered Mangus' body and headed upstairs. Jane and Ray hid in a secret room under the floor, while Dale and Demo remained to deal with the men. Vittorio questioned the two and tortured Dale, cruelly yanking out all his piercings with pliers. But Dale refused to tell where Ray was. Vittorio finally believed him, and after leaving one of his men to report should Battlement return, he left. Nathan then called his father to report Mangus' death and Ray was missing. Vittorio, as always, left for the night whilst Denia told her husband she was going out until 10 for her movie night.

When Ray recovered he killed the guard with a paper cutter blade, then asked Dale why he would help him. Dale responded by telling him that they were neighbours and family, whilst Demo took him to the hospital. After this, Ray decided that enough was enough and that he wasn't going to let anymore happen to innocents around him, and began preparing his weapons, much to Jane's dismay. Whilst doing so, Ray began to write a "declaration of intent" where he invoked the motto of his old drill sergeants, "Etiamsi pereundum super orbem terrarum nobis ferimus ea" ("We must prevail even if the world must perish over it."- in itself a corruption of "Fiat justitia, pereat mundus."- "Justice must prevail even if the world must perish over it.") and stated that he wasn't pursuing justice, or heroism, and not even revenge, but it was vindication. Jane asked how he was any different than the Kaines, Ray replied "they have something to lose", and Jane realised part of Ray's plan was to be killed in battle.

Ray then broke into Denia's car again and took her diamond earrings from her handbag. He then set up another blackmail meet with Vittorio. Jimmy, under Ray's orders, showed Samuel the ticket on Denia's car at the hotel. Samuel remembered that Vittorio was also there at the time, and suspicious, headed to his friend's home. Meanwhile, as Malassini left his mansion, Ray broke in. Samuel went in later and discovered Denia's earring in Vittorio's bed. When Vittorio returned, Samuel greeted him at the stairs, startling the man. Samuel then argued with Vittorio over the truth, with Kaine believing his wife was having an affair with his friend, who he then murdered in vengeful hatred, despite Vittorio rightly claiming that he and Denia had done no such things. After watching this, Ray drove off.

When Denia returned home, she saw Samuel throwing her things on the floor. He told her he knew about her and Vittorio, that she was with his best friend. Upon seeing Vittorio's body by the doorway, and after being shown the parking ticket by the hotel, she told her husband that Vittorio was gay, but Samuel didn't believe her, only slapping her and dragging her out to the car. He reminisced about their history before they arrived at bridge overpass. Ray, watched, with Kauffman watching from the vantage point of a drone as Samuel tossed her over the side, where she was quickly run over by a train.

Now that Kaine had just killed two of the most important people in his life due to Ray and Mason's trickery, Ray Battlement could now set in motion the final phase of his "vindication". Meanwhile, the identity of the man who was in the mask was revealed to Kaine by the same caller who informed him of where the masked man lived, and now that he knew exactly who he was, he ready to kill him at last.

Ray got to work on modifying his car with all sorts of traps, making the car a literal death trap as he rigged it with dangerous tools that would kill the driver. He wouldn't be driving this car anymore. He took a tow truck and towed it to the next lcoation- wherever Kauffman's drones were going.

Kauffman's drones followed Samuel to his extravagant luxury nightclub, where he offered his men a reward for the one who would kill Ray Battlement. Battlement towed his car as if it had been parked just outside the nightclub, hoping that Samuel Kaine would try to drive it. He then went to the next parking lot, covering the cars and the ground in gasoline before making his move.

Shrouded by the trees in the massive, luscious garden outside of Kaine's club, Ray, or as he now called himself "The Vindicator" prepared himself for battle, brandishing a modified M90 shotgun, a suppressed DMR, an MA-37 Assault Rifle with a grenade launcher attachment, his father's modified MGC/SOCOMs, an M7 SMG, a double barreled sawn off shotgun, a combat knife, several small anti-personnel mines, grenades and finally, a full complement of black UNSC Marine BDU body armour, complete the ballistic vest that would from there on out become a symbol, a terrifying symbol of The Vindicator.

The Vindicator, now ready with his massive arsenal, killed the outside guards using the suppressed DMR, then set bombs to several cars and sneaked into the club. From upstairs one of the men ordered champagne by pressing a mic button. The Vindicator then set a grenade in the bucket he sent up the dumbwaiter. The grenade pin was attached via a wire to the bottom of the champagne bottle, so when one of the goons took it out of the bucket, he set off the timer of the grenade, and a few moments later it went off, obliterating almost everyone in the room.

After the grenade went off, The Vindicator rushed in, shooting anyone still left alive with his MA-37. Though he did take a few point blank shots into his vest from some of the survivors, he quickly dealt with them, deeming them as unfit to even spar against him as he shot them all to death. One tried to use a machete to decapitate Ray, but Ray then quickly drew his sawn off shotgun and let two shotgun shells tear wide, gaping holes in his life. He then found Nathan Kaine trapped and injured under rubble from the blast, with two of his prostitutes dead under his desk. He then told him that he looked like a strong kid who worked out alot, then elaborated that the anti personnel mine he was about to out in his hand didn't weigh much, he then forced him to hold onto the mine with an outstretched arm upwards, attaching it to a cable hanging down from the ceiling with a deadman switch, he then told Nathan that after a while, keeping hold of it so it didn't set off would be a real workout, and then left him there.

More goons came downstairs to attack The Vindicator, who he took cover from as he opened fire with his MA-37, until he ran out of ammo in his clip and then tried to reload it, but was then met by another goon who tried to attack him from the window side of the building. The Vindicator quickly turned on the goon and acted fast, firing a grenade from the grenade launcher attachment directly at the goon, which hit him in the chest and forced him out of the window as he crashed through, and then the grenade detonated in mid air with the goon. The Vindicator was strangled by the next goon from behind, but he just managed to force him off and then switch to his SOCOM and blast him to death with it, dropping his MA-37 in exchange for an MA5K Carbine on the floor, which he used to slowly clear the room of more enemies, running out of ammunition with it too.

The Vindicator then went up to the next floor, met at the stairs by several more goons, one of which who carried a 12mm Comet Pistol/Hand Cannon, and another with a shotgun. Ray nearly got killed by shots from both, and then, whilst in cover, quickly changed to his M90 Shotgun and tossed a teargas grenade inside, entering with the protection offered by his battle mask. When he entered, he had the freedom of opening fire as he pleased with the M90, killing goons left and right, with them totally unable to recover from the gas, or barely just muscling through it before their helplessness overwhelmed them and their guts were blasted across the room. Eventually Ray switched to his SMG to suppress some better trained goons, and then took the 12mm Comet Hand Cannon to finish off the final goon who refused to reveal where Samuel Kaine was. With more incoming, The Vindicator told them to bring it on. Each goon that was rightfully punished by The Vindicator's weapons brought Ray closer to his enemy: Samuel Kaine.

Finally, after slaughtering everyone, The Vindicator arrived at Samuel Kaine's office, but saw nobody there. He looked out to the window overlooking the car park, where he had planted some bombs, and realised that he probably wanted to get out using the car park.

Ray ran downstairs, and as he did so, Samuel Kaine's goon tried to open the front door for him, but as he did so, Kaine saw the anti-personnel mine rigged to the door and ran away as it exploded, killing his goon and blowing up the front entrance and some of Kaine's sports cars parked outside. Kaine ran desperately outside to the other car- Ray's car, parked outside, albeit on the other side of the parking lot.

As he ran, The Vindicator walked through the flames at the front entrance, and Kaine looked back at him, quivering in fear as The Vindicator fired one of his SOCOMs at his ankle, causing him to collapse. Kaine tried to justify himself to Ray "You killed my son." Funnily enough, the pained screams of Nathan Kaine were heard from upstairs as he failed to keep the mine held up, and part of the building exploded, killing him. "I killed both." The Vindicator responded, without a hint of mercy or sorrow in his voice.

Samuel then tried to draw his Magnum on Ray, but Battlement was quicker, and fired his SOCOM again at a non-lethal area, making him drop his gun. The Vindicator then took off the BDU mask to make sure Samuel could look at his soon to be killer dead in the eyes in his final few moments. "Made you kill your best friend." The Vindicator said as he tossed pictures he had taken of Vittorio, each proving that Vittorio had indeed not done anything with his wife. "Made you kill your wife." He continued as he dropped Denia's diamond earrings onto the floor next to Kaine as the penny dropped and he realised he had been duped. Battlement injected Kaine with a large amount of biofoam, and then he stepped away. "Who told you about Skullamanjaro?" He asked, and Kaine questioned what he meant, but Ray then elaborated angrily "My team, Levosia, your son's death...WHO TOLD YOU?" He roared, threatening to shoot him again. Hoping not to be shot again, Kaine told The Vindicator that it was someone going by the name of 'Black Flag'. Now finally realising that Black Flag must've paid Kaine to kill him and his family, he burned with anger, but then quickly brought himself back to his original composure.

The Vindicator then seemingly gave Kaine a chance to get away, to run, or stagger, or crawl toward the car, whilst he counted to ten. As he began, Kaine desperately crawled away, unable to stand back up on his own feet. "One...two...three" and Ray fired his SOCOM at Kaine's body, causing him to shriek in pain. "Hurry up, you crawl in there you little rat...four!...Five...Six." And another bullet went into Samuel, causing him more and more agony as he tried to get to his car. "Seven" he shot again. "Eight." and again. "Nine." and again, then, before he could get shot again, Kaine quickly climbed into the car, and as he sat down on the seat, he felt a knife go up his underside, causing him to squeal. Samuel tried to ignore the pain and find the key. Ray told him to check the glovebox, and Kaine opened it, only to receive a boxing glove with spikes on the knuckles spring forward into his chest. "Oh right sorry about that, check the sun visor." Kaine then opened the sun visor, and the keys fell on his lap, but two massive nails sprung forward and went into his eyes. Ray then took the keys, started up the car for him, and told Kaine to step on the pedal. Kaine, somehow still able to respond, stepped his foot on the pedal, not knowing that he had set off a timer for an incendiary bomb in the car, he tried steering but the wheel was glued and stuck, unable to move. Samuel was going to stop, but the Vindicator roared at him to keep his foot on the pedal. The car then drove into the next parking lot area, into the middle of a full lot, and the incendiary blew up, engulfing the car and Kaine in flames as he screamed in the combined agonies from his injuries and the burning. The detonation then set off a chain explosion of all the other cars in the lot, each incendiaries, setting the gasoline on fire with them. The burning fires were arranged in a predetermined manner, as from the sky above, the fires and cars formed the shape of the massive skull insignia, which could be seen by local news reporting from a chopper above, which used a spotlight and a camera to see The Vindicator, discovering that he was Ray Battlement and that Ray Battlement was still alive, before Ray broke into one of the cars and drove off, calling Kauffman to tell him that he had been found out and he had to go and live in his underground headquarters with him to evade custody.

Back at his apartment, Ray thought about what he said to Kauffman, believing that he just didn't want to go on anymore, and he was about to commit suicide by shooting himself, having avenged his family. However, the thought of Black Flag and the failure of the justice system stopped him, realising that he would never have truly avenged his family until the justice system was put to shame and Black Flag's head was on his wall...but then he still felt like ending it all there. But the memories of his loved ones reminded him that they would be telling him if they could, to keep going on in life, in the end, that was what changed his mind. He decided to set himself a new path and left the apartment for a final time after packing everything he had into an armoured van. Meeting up with Jane on his way out, he told her that she was right, good memories could save a life. He left, telling her he had a gift for her, Demo and Dale. When Dale was released from hospital, he found wads of cash left for him under his pillow, as did Jane and Demo- cash all taken from Samuel Kaine.

High on a bridge, Ray claimed that Ray Battlement was dead, and he was now "The Vindicator".

Around a month later, after moving in with Mason Kauffman, Ray had already made The Vindicator a well known public figure and name. At one point, The Vindicator used the username anxiouskitten19 to catfish a local pedophile and arrange a meeting with, who he shot dead upon meeting. Though The Vindicator was ready to take on all forms of crime, his main targets are now organised crime, as he has failed to get any leads on Black Flag yet, he has resorted to ridding the streets of some of the most brutal criminals by administering the death penalty, playing judge, jury and executioner all at once. The Vindicator has had run-ins with several major mafias, street gangs, cartels, biker gangs and virtually all forms of organised crime present on New Carthage, and now that the Human-Covenant war has ended, a whole new swath of organised crime from alien criminals has come to town, and he doesn't discriminate, all criminals deserve death at his hands in the most brutal way possible. Whether you praise his actions or defile his actions, he doesn't care, he knows what he's doing, and he knows that it must be done.

Ray started getting radio signals from a man going by the name of "Pretty Boy", knowing exactly who it was, Ray was hesitant to answer, but eventually he did so, and told Pretty Boy he'd be meeting with him soon, and he decided not to tell Kauffman about this. Ray got another call from Pretty Boy, scheduling where the two would meet with each other. Coming to the outskirts of Conway, Battlement and Gregory Caisso were reunited as Caisso offered his condolences for the deaths of Ray's family. As they sat down for a beer together Caisso questioned why Ray had not reached out to him, noting that he suspected he was alive after seeing the man who attacked the Kaine bank, and was amazed to have it revealed to him that he was right months before their meeting. Caisso then told Battlement about his private security company: N.A.I.L, and Ray teased him over Caisso's love for wearing fancy suits, using expensive hair products driving fast cars and his numerous sexual relationships.

Ray then told Caisso that he was skeptical about the legal status of Skullamanjaro's operations and was hoping to eventually prove them as illegal and get Black Flag arrested. Caisso however, believed Ray should let go of the past and offered Ray a place in N.A.I.L. Unbeknownst to Ray, Gregory was actively trying to steer Ray off the course of discovering the legal status of the operations. Ray left to think his offer over, but would eventually formally decline, not knowing of Gregory's mysterious ulterior motives.

More recently, The Vindicator has begun hunting down war criminals of the Human-Covenant War, Human and alien alike, pardoned and unpardoned, and killing them across the Galaxy. There doesn’t seem to be a particular pattern to Ray’s killings, and what’s more likely is he simply has a long list of Human military and government officials and Covenant warlords, one he’ll probably never get through, but he can try. What’s been more worrisome is that Battlement seems to have his eyes on Supreme Commander Thora ‘Marumee- leader of the Trident of Revelation coalition alliance between the UNSC and Swords of Sangheilios and an individual responsible for billions of human civilian deaths. If Vindicator truly sees only in black and white, then he might be coming for him next, in spite of the force for good ‘Marumee has been.

Quotes:

"In certain extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law. This isn't justice. This isn't heroism. It's not even revenge. It's Vindication."

"Those who do evil to others - the killers, the rapists, psychos, sadists - you will come to know me well. Ray Battlement is dead. Call me... The Vindicator."

"I leave this as a declaration of intent, so no one will be confused. One: "Etiamsi pereundum super orbem terrarum nobis ferimus ea" Latin, changed from another Latin phrase, but that one's about justice. Boot Camp Sergeant made us recite it like a prayer. "Etiamsi pereundum super orbem terrarum nobis ferimus ea - We must prevail even if the world must perish over it."

”Sadists, psychos and murderers. Don't matter what planet they're from. All deserve to be vindicated.”

"They laugh at the law. The rich ones who buy it and twist it to their whims. The other ones, who have nothing to lose, who don't care about themselves, or other people. All the ones who think they're above the law, or outside it, or beyond it. They know all the law is good for is to keep good people in line. And they all laugh. They laugh at the law. But I'm not the law, and they don't laugh at me."

"You know I'm not gonna stop. Not until Kaine and his whole damn operation are burnt to ashes and buried."