Michael Anderson

"C'mon partner, we can do this!"

Michael Anderson is a man on a mission. Four years ago, during the previous Gundam Fight, his father was killed under mysterious circumstances after challenging a man known only as Thanatos. Since then, he has struggled hard to track down his father's murderer. During his quest, he rescued a young child soldier that goes by the name Cero and has joined Orb both out of believing in their cause to end war and in the hopes that their resources will bring him closer to his ultimate goal. In combat, he is a level headed fighter and pilots the ST Falcon, a two-seat technological marvel of miniaturization that compacts the power and ability of a high performance mobile suit into a machine half the size.

Background Information
All his life, Michael Anderson looked up to his father who was a veteren of the Second Impact Wars and later the One Year War. A man of great intengrity, even after all the horrors he saw, Michael's father ingrained the concepts of honor, responsibility, and dedication upon the young boy who understandably took an interest in mech piloting at an early age.

It was around Michael's 16th Birthday that his family got the good news that his father had been selected to be the Gundam Fighter this year for Neo Singapore and began an intensive two year training regime. At the time, Michael Anderson was an up and coming Racing Mobile Suit Pilot, tearing up the track with his civilian model suit. There were high hopes for him in the racing business, as he showed keen reflexes and a natural feel for sensing an opponent's patterns and slipping in under their guard to move up the positions. Though he had failed to win the championship that year or the next, he was favored to win it in 114 thanks to his rapid advancement of skill.

Unfortunately, that was the year of the Gundam Fight, and while challenging a mysterious man named Thanatos, Michael's father went missing, and it wasn't until two months later that the authorities found his body and the wreckage of his mobile fighter. Michael was devestated, and withdrew from the racing scene shortly after. His pit crew and fans thought it was out of grief for his lose and he did in fact grieve... but his real reason for leaving wasn't out of paralyzing lose... it was out of a desire to find his father's killer. Using his race earnings, he purchased an old mech and left home on his quest, using what contacts his father had to help him track down Thanatos... but it was like the man just vanished into thin air, and his leads were rapidly dwindling.

During this time, Michael sustained himself and his aging suit by taking mercenary jobs, and during one particular job, he ran into a young boy. The mecenary unit he was hired by was on a contract to deal with insurrgence in the area when they walked into a trap. Michael thankfully was at the very back of the troop, and managed to avoid getting caught in the avalance the young boy's detonators had caused that buried or disabled most of the other mercs, and he caught glimpse of a child fleeing the scene with a gun in hand. His mind still numbed by what happened, Michael gave chase with his rickety mobile suit. Of course, he had no idea that the boy wasn't running from the scene... but rather was making his way to his own suit to finish the job.

In the jungles of South Africa, Michael searched, his vision heavily obscured by the dense undergrowth. It was only because his attentiveness to his surroundings that he sawe the glint of metal moments before the boy's Leo opened fired from under cover. Michael juked as the shell impacted high off his Dom's shoulder and he retaliated with a shot of his own before fleeing back into the jungles. Without knowing it though, his wild shot would end up deciding the deadly match between them.

For over an hour, the two stalked and counter stalked each other through the rainforests, with Michael's inate agility saving him time and time again from what would be fatal shots. The boy's aim though was remarkable, and Michael knew it would be only a matter of time before the sniper fire would catch up with him. Thankfully though, fate smiled on him. His earlier wild shot during the inital ambush had damaged the Leo's hip lightly, and the moisture of the rainforest was beginning to take it's toll. Water began to condense in the wounded leg. When the child soldier tried to climb up to a better sniping position with the help of the rear hip mounted thrusters, a stray spark from the waterlogged electronics ignited the vapors in the engine, causing a backfire from the engine that unbalanced the mobile suit. That minor explosion was all that Michael needed. Operating on a hair trigger after an hour of cat and mouse, Michael whipped around on pure instinct and opened fire, blasting the upper section of the staggering Leo's torso clean off.

It took several moments for Michael's brain to even catch up with his body, but when he saw the young boy stagger out of his wrecked mobile suit and collapse, Michael rushed to his aid and took him to a nearby village for medical treatment. Of course, the boy wasn't very happy two days later when he woke up from his coma and he naturally took a syringe to Michael, only to have his weakened muscles collapse underneath him before he could. the boy spent the next two months in rehabilitation, recovering from his injuries... and Michael visited him every day out of a sense of responsibility for the boy's care. Their relationship started off very rocky though, with the boy often issuing death threats in response to Michael's inquiries, but eventually the threats became more of a force of habit than actual intent, and once it got to that point, Michael began to learn a bit about his mysterious assailant.

The boy was one of many child soldiers raised by a Zeon deep infiltration and insurrection project, trained to be dropped deep behind enemy lines, where they would produre equipment, ambush troops, and tie up the enemy with putting down insurrections. The name he was given was Cero, spanish for Zero, or nothing. He had no knowledge of who he was before the training program got a hold of him, nor did he seem to care. He had spent the last six years since the end of the OYW harassing soldiers. He was supposed to be an emotionless war machine, but somehow, Michael chipped away at his armor, and the boy started to trust him, and Michael in turn promised to look after him.

It was around this time that the Orb Union approached him with an offer. They had been watching and gathering information on him for the past six months. The deal was simple. In exchange for developing a new mech for him and helping him to track down Thanatos, he would offer Orb his assistance in battle... but Michael added na additional requirement. He wanted psychiatric rehabilitation for the boy Cero, and they agreed. Originally, Michael intended for his new ST Falcon to be a one seater, and for him to be the sole pilot, but Cero insisted on becoming his gunner, so the two spent the next year training and testing the mobile weapon as it was being developped, with frequent breaks to allow Cero to recieve psychiatric help so he could be reconditioned to be part of society again. It's a long road to recovery though, but he has started to regain some of his humanity.

Finally, with the ST Falcon finished, Michael and his new partner are ready to resume the hunt for Thanatos. This is where his story truely begins.

Personality Traits
Michael Anderson is a dedicated individual... when he sets his mind to a task, he tends to be very tenacious about completing that task and seldome likes to leave things only half done. Part of this is his inate sense of responsibility and honor that he got from his father... to him, taking on a task isn't just about doing your job. It's about making a promise to those who rely on you to get it done to the best of your ability, and there are no shortcuts, no trick, no easy way out when it comes to a promise. Either you keep it or you don't.

Despite this though, Michael is actually a fairly friendly individual, with a clear head on his shoulders. He sticks up for his friends, tries to be thoughtful towards others, and generally makes himself useful whenever possible... sort of an oddity for someone on the trail of his father's murderer. It seems that his dedication to avenging his father hasn't tainted his mind like it has others. Though his feelings tend to affect his decisions, he rarely, if ever lets them take over. A substantial part of this is due to using his father as a yard stick when it comes to making a moral choice... whenever confronted with a dilemma, Michael has a tendancy to ask himself 'What would father do?', and so far it has kept him on the straight and narrow.

His thoughts on combat though are all about clarity of thought and efficiency. When he fights, he tries to do so with the professionalism and dedication that he shows in all his actions. Emotions fuel him, but they do not control him and he always tries keeps a level head.

Cero is a completely different beast from Michael though. Countless years of training and mental conditioning has left it's mark upon the 16 year old gunner of the ST Falcon. Where Michael's efficiency comes from his dedication, Cero's efficiency comes from ruthlessness, though the past year of mental rehabilitation and deprograming with Orb psychologists is helping to tone down his inate killer instinct and allow his suppressed humanity to reassert itself. He still has a long way to do though and still has a tendancy to rely far too much on his flight or fight responses.

Cero rarely participates in social settings, unlike his partner. He is just simply more confortable on his own or when in the cockpit of a mech, and much of his spare is taken up by the routine psychological sessions with Orb doctors... something he finds a little annoying, but puts up with for the sake of Michael. Most of the time, he simply doesn't understand what those doctors are talking about with their psychobabble! It just shows how far he has to come before he can live as a normal part of society.

Combat to Cero is, or rather was pretty much his whole life after being conditioned by the Divine Crusaders, and this shows by his cutthroat approach to combat. If he sees an opportunity, he capitalized on it. Unlike Michael, emotions don't even factor into Cero's mindset when he fights. His way is just cold, ruthless efficiency.

Talents & Abilities
Skill wise, Michael Anderson isn't really all that special, as his main gift comes from piloting, though he does have a few contacts ranging from friends of his father that he can occasionally go to. He tries not to abuse this though. Cero on the other hand is a highly skilled individual, trained in infiltration, demolition, sabotage, assassination, and other such black ops fields to fascilitate his original task of deep infiltration and raiding.