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Rufus is the friend and partner of Aloysius Knight, as well as the pilot of his plane, the Black Raven.

History[]

Early History[]

Through unknown circumstances, Rufus joined the aerial wing of the United States armed forces, and eventually became one of the NightStalker helicopter pilots who flew Delta Force operators to their missions.

While Rufus proved himself an exceptional aircraft pilot, he was teased by his fellow pilots for his awkwardness in social situations, and was often tricked with pranks which saw him being sent to briefings he wasn't meant to be at or having women act sexy towards him. The only one who didn't tease or harass him was Captain Aloysius Knight, whom he had worked with on several occasions. Knight eventually intervened by injuring the instigating pilot and threatening the other NightStalker pilots, which saw the teasing stopped.

In 1998, Rufus was unknowingly the chopper pilot for a group of Intelligence Convergence Group agents within Delta, led by Wade Brandeis, who were sent to Knight's position after he reported seeing Osama bin Laden meeting with CIA operatives. Once the ICG agents arrived, they prepared to liquidate Knight and Rufus in order to keep them from talking about what they had seen, but luckily Knight saved them by firing back first, and then by barricading themselves in a lighthouse storm cellar the ICG-Delta operatives brought down on them.

As the ICG framed both of them for murdering the ICG agents and turning against American interests, Rufus became Knight's bounty hunting partner. When Knight was rewarded with a test-damaged Sukhoi Su-37 for saving the life of a Russian deputy President's daughter, Rufus became the pilot for the Black Raven.

In October 2003, Knight was contracted by Lillian Mattencourt to protect Shane Schofield in an international bounty hunt, with Rufus accompanying him.

Scarecrow[]

As they arrived at Schofield's location at Krask-8, Rufus and Knight noted the destruction that Schofield was notable for, caused by his encounter with Executive Solutions. As they landed, Rufus remained with the Black Raven while Knight examined the area to confirm that Schofield had already moved on.

Rufus and Knight proceeded to track Schofield to the Karpalov coalmine, where Rufus dropped Knight down one of the air vents to reach Schofield. As Knight helped Schofield and his team escape from the Skorpions, Rufus noticed IG-88 taking Schofield's girlfriend, Libby Gant away, secretly dropping MicroDots onto them so that they could track them. After a last-second pick-up before the mine was destroyed, Rufus relocated the group away so that he and Knight could explain their reason for keeping Schofield alive.

Tracking the IG-88 unit to a British airfield, Rufus was tasked with taking Book II and Mother to London to find out more about the bounty hunt from a Mossad agent while Knight and Schofield went after a sub-team transporting Gant and some of the bounty targets' heads to France.

Shortly after dropping Mother and Book II off, Rufus and the Black Raven were detained by Scott Moseley and his men until Book II and Mother returned. With the President's blessing to use whatever resources necessary to keep Schofield alive and the U.S.'s support, Mother demanded Rufus be released so that he could transport her to rendezvous with the others in France.

During the journey, when questioned why an honest guy like Rufus hung around with the reputedly volatile Knight, the pilot explained their history to Mother. As they approached the Forteresse de Valois, Book II shared with them and the others what he had discovered about Majestic-12 and their plans to start a new Cold War.

Soon the pair picked up Knight, and proceeded to rescue Schofield from a French Aircraft Carrier, with Rufus utilising the Black Raven to cause as much mayhem as possible, even flying the fighter plane within the carrier's internal hanger. Soon afterwards, once Knight informed Schofield of Gant's death, Schofield demanded that Rufus land, and proceeded to try and take his own life. As Schofield and Mother fought each other, Rufus made to intervene, however Knight stopped him, saying it was for them to sort out.

After Mother convinced Schofield not to give up and beat Majestic-12, Rufus proceeded to fly them to the English Chanel, where a disguised supertanker was set to launch Chameleon missiles at London, Paris and Berlin. He then proceeded to find another supertanker for use in ramming the Talbot if their attempts to disarm the Chameleon failed, and set it on course with the Talbot when that plan became necessary. After picking up Schofield and Knight, Schofield revealed what he had learned about Killian's extra step to incite global anarchy by launching a Chameleon missile at Yemen. After Rufus noted that they could never reach the launch site in time on the Black Raven, Schofield had Moseley prepare a pair of X-15's for them to use, with Rufus getting the chance to pilot one of the super-fast planes.

Piloting the X-15 carrying Schofield over the Mediterranean and through an aerial armada of African fighters, they discovered Killian had set off the missile early. Encouraged by Schofield to pursue the missile in flight, Rufus successfully kept the X-15 in range as Schofield disarmed the missile, being forced to eject before they crashed. Knocked unconscious, Rufus, Schofield and Knight were captured by Brandeis, who under Killian's orders, brought them back to the castle. Before they could be executed, Mother freed them, however during the battle, Rufus was shot in the back and forced to remain behind as Schofield and Knight went after Killian.

Once the crisis was over, Rufus and Knight met with Mattencourt to claim their reward for keeping Schofield alive, however before she could arrange to transfer the money she was killed by Demon Larkham.

Later, though both Knight and Rufus had their names cleared for the crimes ICG framed them for and had decided to remain bounty hunters, the pair accepted a new job. However, a letter from Knight to Schofield informed the Marine that if he ever needed help, both Knight and Rufus would be there to assist him.

Between Scarecrow and The Three Secret Cities[]

At some point in the years after the M-12 incident, Rufus and Knight took on a job to defend some Russian oil rigs on the African coast from pirates, during which Rufus learned that rigs designated "red" were ones that drilled in the Red Sea.

The Three Secret Cities[]

In November 2016, Schofield contacted Knight and Rufus to request that he use Knight's debt to him to find and aid Jack West Jr. As Knight believed that the Knights of the Golden Eight had taken him to a remote Algerian mine, Rufus piloted the Black Raven to transport his friend there. After hearing internal radio chatter that another group had been captured after attempting to break in, Rufus was left onboard as Knight parachuted down into the Erebus cavern.

Once Jack was retrieved, Rufus joined the Australian's team in attacking Aragon Castle from the Black Raven, destroying a railgun emplacement and dropping a pair of decoys for the Knights of the Golden Eight's torpedoes that were set to strike the castle.

As Jack and his team intended to find the Three Secret Cities and overcome their defences in order to save the world from catastrophe, Rufus flew him and Knight to Santorini to seek out Poseidon's tomb.

After the Trident was recovered, Rufus picked the pair up and began transporting them to Atlas to empower the weapon. However, with Sphinx threatening Lily's life if they did not empower the Mace and return it to him, Rufus was ordered to fly the Black Raven 100 miles away from the area to keep him out of the way.

Some time later, after Knight and Jack arrived at the Altar of the Cosmos, Knight contacted Rufus to requested his friend to pick them up. When he did, Knight told the pilot to start flying them anywhere away from the Rock of Gibraltar, explaining that the despondent Jack was in shock upon seeing the body of his daughter after Sphinx killed her for the ritual.

The Two Lost Mountains[]

During the next few weeks after the trial and the discovery that it was not Lily's body at the Altar of the Cosmos, Rufus and Knight continued to assist Jack's team as they attempted to locate Lily, uncover Sphinx's plans for the remaining trial and begin countermeasures for use against the ancient automatons. After flying Jack, Knight Alby Calvin to the former's farm in Australia, Rufus and the others were alerted to Lily's presence in Moscow, and so set off for Russia.

After dropping the trio at Vnukovo Airport, Rufus remained there with the Black Raven, his protective headphones soon preventing the pilot from succumbing to the Siren bell's tone when Jaeger Zwei rang it. Rufus was soon notified by Jack that Knight was out cold and that they needed an urgent evac from the top of the St. Basil's Cathedral. Once Rufus arrived in the Raven, he used tracer fire to knock some of the bronzemen from the cathedral and picked up Jack and the unconscious Knight before going after Alby's garbage truck. Finding them being pursued on the Moskva River, Rufus took the squires and their bronzemen out of the chase by bringing down a bridge on top of two of the trucks and and hit the last one with a missile.

Once the passengers had been picked up, Rufus flew after the Sky Warrior, making several attempts to contact Sky Monster and Pooh Bear, warning Jack that they had likely been rendered comatose by the bell and notifying him of three Super Galaxies taking off behind them. After watching an orbit-to-air missile destroy the Tupolev, Rufus narrowly managed to avoid a second volley aimed at the Black Raven, and then proceeded to fly back to the team's base at Hades's estate in Alsace-Lorraine.

Rufus was present during the team's discussion of the requirements for the Trial of the Mountains, and after agreeing to transport Zoe, Mae, and Sisters Lynda and Agnes to Rome, reported that Sphinx's Super Galaxies were on course for the first iron mountain at Mont Saint-Michel. Before leaving, Rufus carried the comatose Knight to a bed for Alby and Easton to look after, and loaned Jack Knight's shotguns, believing that his friend would want Jack to use them to do some damage.

As they arrived over Rome and observed the damage caused by the Siren bell Sphinx had used on the city, Rufus cursed Jesus's name before apologising for the blasphemy to the two sisters, though Lynda assured him it was fine. Once he had dropped the ladies off at St. Peter's Basilica, Zoe told Rufus to park the Black Raven out of sight and keep the engines running. After a missile blew a hole in the Basilica, Rufus flew the Raven into the Basilica to pick up Zoe and the others to rescue them from Garthon Rastor. Like the others, however, he was caught off-guard as a V-88 Condor under Rastor's control appeared, and though Agnes and Mae fell from the Black Raven, Zoe and Rufus followed Mae's order to escape, with the big pilot citing that he was probably going to hell for flying into the Basilica anyway before blasting open its front doors and taking off.

After the team began reporting in their progress, Jack decided to send Rufus, Zoe and Lynda to Potala Palace so that they could have a chance to perform the Fall at its iron mountain, but a worldwide transmission from Sphinx showed the Palace and the mountain beneath it being destroyed, scuppering that plan.

Instead, the team reunited outside Dijon, and began discussing plans to find one of the two lost mountains. As Jack began speculating that the fourth mountain was potentially in Jerusalem, Rufus proclaimed that it was, his certainty surprising the team since he was no historical expert, until Rufus pointed out news coverage showing that Rastor's forces were already in the Israeli city. After Alby came up with a plan to head to the Zapadny Cosmodrome to create an uplink to expose the lunar pedestal to enable a Fall at the mountain, Rufus gamely agreed to transport the young man to Libya.

When they arrived at the Cosmodrome, they were disappointed to find the spaceport in ruins thanks to Rastor, though Rufus suggested that they create an alternate uplink using the abandoned orbital rocket's communication unit. As Alby was creating the uplink, Rufus noticed an ADS containing a platoon of bronzemen approaching, and used the Black Raven to try to slow them down while Alby kept the pedestal uncovered. Once their job was done and Jack, Zoe and Lily had completed their Fall, Rufus picked up Alby and began flying them on to meet the team at the gates to Supreme Labyrinth.

En-route, however, Alby realised the location of the tomb of Imhotep, and redirected Rufus to the Hill of the Dead in the Siwa Oasis. Once there, Rufus helped Alby uncover the mummified remains of the ancient architect, taking Imhotep's head with its clues to the Supreme Labyrinth with them as they rushed to rejoin the rest of the team.

Rufus and Alby arrived in the middle of the Russian Doll Plan, helping buy Jack, Lily and Zoe a few extra moments by firing at the bronzemen until one of Sphinx's men fired a shoulder-missile that damaged the Black Raven and brought it down. After Rufus and Alby emerged to continue firing at the automatons, until they and Knight used the Black Raven's second ejection seat to aid their escape while Jack and the others made their way inside the Labyrinth.

The One Impossible Labyrinth[]

As the ejection seat landed, Rufus was thrown aside by the impact onto a nearby ledge, from which he was hidden from the view of Jaeger Zwei and his men as they surrounded Knight and Alby. As Sphinx's forces packed up, Rufus used a digital radio scanner to intercept their frequency, learning that Jaeger Eins was ordering all forces to head to the Labyrinth's surface point near the Red Horizon Star-4, which he realised was one of the oil rigs in the Red Sea he'd heard of. Once they'd left, Rufus spotted his fellow pilot Sky Monster among the wreckage, and informed him of Knight and Alby's plight. Both were determined to go rescue their friends and find out what the surface point of the Labyrinth was, so Rufus and Sky Monster took an abandoned motorcycle and started heading for the Red Sea's coast.

After a day-and-a-half of travel, Rufus and Sky Monster arrived at the coast of the Red Sea, where they found that Sphinx's forces had set up a temporary airfield near to a fleet of Russian naval vessels, which Rufus noted included an aircraft carrier. After Rufus pointed out the Red Horizon Star-4 out on the water, he managed to spot where Knight and Alby were being held, and so he and Monster started working on coming up with a plan to bust them out.

After seeing Knight and Rufus being transported over to the oil rig, and in the mass confusion caused by the damage caused to the wall of the Labyrinth's raised City-Maze, Rufus and Sky Monster managed to steal one of the Russian choppers on the airfield, flying over to the Red Horizon Star-4. They arrived over the precariously-toppled oil rig just as Jaeger Zwei was about to ambush Knight and Alby, opening fire on the Golden Knight to take him down before recovering their friends. Spying Lily and Easton trapped on a tower in the City-Maze, Rufus and the others reunited with them.

After swapping stories, Rufus decided to join Knight in doing some additional damage, using their chopper to rain fire upon the temporary airfield and scatter the now-leaderless forces.

Some time later, shortly after the Omega Event had been successfully averted, Rufus and the others were contacted by Jack, who had beaten Sphinx to the throne of the Labyrinth, and so Rufus set off with the others to pick up Jack, the rest of their friends, and the captured Sphinx.

As the world got back to normal in the aftermath of the events of the trials and Sphinx's actions, Rufus and Knight returned to their regular bounty hunting business, finding a dangerous-yet-lucrative new venture in hunting down fugitive shadow royals and their supporters.

Personality[]

Rufus is an honest and reliable person, and is also extremely loyal to his friends, particularly Knight. In spite of his genius-level aptitude for complex mathematical problems, which makes him a brilliant pilot, Rufus struggles with most social niceties and finds it hard to understand some forms of humour. Even after being branded a traitor, Rufus has maintained a military formality when reporting to Knight, due to him taking comfort in the direct and familiar speech patterns.

Skills[]

  • Expert Pilot: Having trained in the U.S. armed forces, Rufus can pilot a variety of military aircraft, including fighter jets and helicopters. His expertise was helped by his mathematical knowledge, a skill crucial to all pilots. Rufus is capable of performing a variety of aerial maneuvers and adapting to odd aerial combat situations. 
  • Expert Mathematician: To Be Added.
  • Trained Marksman: Presumably as a necessity of serving in the armed forces, Rufus is capable of using a variety of different firearms should the need arise.

Equipment[]

Weapons[]

  • G-36 Assault Rifle: To Be Added

Vehicles[]

  • Black Raven: A specially modified "test damaged" Sukhoi Su-37 plane that was gifted to Knight for success in one of his missions, he and Rufus use the plane as their personal transport for undertaking their bounty missions, with Rufus serving as its primary pilot.
  • X-15: An experimental hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft which Rufus piloted to escort Schofield to intercept the final Chameleon missile.
  • Russian Werewolf: To Be Added.

Trivia[]

  • Though unconfirmed, Rufus may have a high-functioning form of Asperger's syndrome, which for those diagnosed typically makes them find it hard to understand humour, irony and some social skills, while occasionally being notable for skills in mathematics.
  • Rufus is the fifth character from the Shane Schofield series to cross over to the Jack West Jr series, following Astro, Shane Schofield, Mother and Aloysius Knight.
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