Once upon a time, Walter Crawford had deeply resented two of his children when he discovered they had been actively hindering his success for years. He’d tried to kill them both as well, until his son succeeded in ripping the reactor from his exo-suit straight out of his chest. The look of both determination and desperation in his son’s eyes as he clawed it out with his bare hand made Walter realize that somewhere along the way he’d lost sight of why he’d become Leviathan in the first place. It’d been for his family, for his children, and to help the very child that was risking his life without hesitation to bring Leviathan down — he’d really fucked it all up.
He’d never been an ideal family man. Every single time he tried to settle down for a steady job he always managed to ruin it. He couldn’t help it. The thrill of skimming a little extra off the top, of just being bad for the sake of being bad, it always intoxicated him. His wife had managed to kick her addiction with his help, but every time he stopped with one he only picked up another. That’s all Leviathan was, his longest running addiction. He craved to leave his mark on the world; to make something of himself. It would help his kids, too. Which is why he let his vendetta against his own children go the day he crashed into the bay with his own son. The police had drug him out and arrested him on the spot. But he’d been given the biggest punishment of all that not even the government could dish out: his son would never forgive him again for as long as he lived.
Walter tried everything. He reached out in letters, he tried calling, he paid for people to try and make contact, but Tate shot everything down. He’d lost his mother, lost his wife, and lost his children all because of his own selfish deeds. In the end he’d have withered and died in prison if that’s what it would have taken for his children to live without his disappointment in their lives, but then Sullivan had to go and get himself killed by that Blackout wack job. Nancy wanted to avenge her father and in order to do that she needed the best supplier back on the streets, so she had Leviathan broken out and expected Leviathan to fall in line with very little push. Walter had already fucked everything up, but the last thing he was going to let happen was anyone to threaten his family. Nancy knew where the Crawfords lived and Walter was no use to them if he were dead, so he made his deal.
Warmonger had barely put her hatred to the side. Their partnership was so rocky that one wrong move and he’d wind up dead in a gutter somewhere. Walter would never be a good man, so eliminating fellow mutants truly didn’t phase him. Not if it got him what he wanted in the end. The plan was to force the Cliffords to expose themselves and eliminate them. Taking out their properties one by one until they had to do something about it other than send out pawns to get mowed down. Freight Train had his own score to settle with Nancy and Otto, and he was a powerful player to add to the board. After he dealt with them, they were going to take out Warmonger, together.
It was only a matter of time before Tate caught up with Walter. He had promised to put a permanent end to Leviathan, whatever the cost. Though seeing his son and daughter together again, with the new Sentinel and Total Eclipse was just icing on the cake. They’d laid an ace from his hand right into Warmonger’s lap, and revealed to her all of their abilities in a single night. He felt proud as he looked down to see Montana handling her own against a man that could have crushed him easily. Even seeing Tate standing before him, fists ready and more determined than ever, he was proud. They’d both striven to do something that they believed in, even if it was to spite his own motives. That’s part of what fatherhood was, he assumed. Being proud of your children no matter what.
He should have known that they’d thwart his plans. Apparently he hadn’t yet learned that the bad guys never won, not fully. All he wanted was for Freight Train to rampage and for enough of the explosives to go off that this loss would set the Clifford empire back. Hitting them where it hurt the worst until they were forced out of their protected penthouses. Even if Sentinel had died that night, Walter would have still been able to salvage it all — until he heard that name leave his son’s mouth… Giovanni.
Walter always had an assumption of who had taken over as Sentinel. He knew that Giovanni Capitani was trained by Isaiah. He knew where Isaiah was, and he knew what Isaiah was doing in his retirement. They had once been friends, after all. Walter wanted to stall for as long as he could. Drag Warmonger along until he had a plan where he wouldn’t have to give up his old friend and get him killed. He’d wanted to do that even if Sentinel died that night, until he had confirmed what he’d had a nagging suspicion of for years. Gio had taken over for Isaiah.
Watching as Tate ran in front of his childhood friend, Walter saw his own life flash before his eyes. He turned and activated his jetpack, launching himself into Warmonger and tackling her off the edge of the building they were standing on. The fall was anything but graceful as they both slammed into the ground, propelled into it by his exo-suit. He knocked the gun away that she still had a grip on, wrapping his hands around her throat with the intention of crushing it.
“THOSE ARE MY CHILDREN!” He shouted in her face, glaring holes into her eyes. “YOU SHOT MY SON!” Before he had the chance to squeeze any tighter his hold was broken and she’d stabbed him in the thigh between the plating of his exo-suit. She got distance between the two of them to regain her footing, then grabbed his head and slammed it into the brick wall of the alleyway until she found the release on his helmet.
With his face exposed, she gripped his hair and yanked him up to her own face. Her gaze was cold and lifeless, but despite being deceptively calm there was clearly a hint of rage behind it all. She ripped the knife from his thigh and held it up to his throat before speaking.
“You mutant fucks are all the same. Pathetically trying to protect yourselves when you deserve to be eradicated entirely.” The edge of the blade pressed hard enough against his throat that blood began to trickle from behind it. “I don’t care about your mutated offspring, but now I know you’ve been lying to me.” Her voice didn’t elevate once, adding to her calm demeanor as she threw him down to the ground again. She wiped his blood off her knife before returning it to her hip, then walked over and picked up the gun he’d knocked out of her hands.
“You’re going to take me to the original Sentinel or else I’ll finish your son off.” Returning the gun to her back she turned around to stare Walter down and added, “bet I could snap your ex wife’s neck with a single hand, too. What’s your littlest’s name? Emmalie?” She leaned down, putting her mouth right next to his ear. “Wanna see what she’d look like cut open and put on display? I’d stitch her back together and turn her into one of her pretty little dolls.”
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Nancy Clifford is a psychopath that enjoys torturing people to death, but Warmonger was a whole different breed of crazy. It was why Walter knew that she could kill Freakshow. That wasn’t going to happen, though. Not that night, like he had planned. Now he had an entirely more dangerous threat gunning for his family, literally. He was going to have to make a choice between an old friend or his own children, and he simply couldn’t harm those kids more than he already had. If Giovanni got in the way she’d kill him without remorse, so no. Walter was going to have to be careful and calculated in his approach to this. Isaiah was a master and had fought crime for over half of his life. The man would be dangerous. No doubt his retirement hadn't slowed him down at all. On top of that, Walter feared his wife, Myla. The woman was powerful unlike anyone Walter himself had seen before and hadn’t aged a day in fifteen years. In fact, she was one of the founding people of New Elysium City. There was even a damned golden statue of her, standing tall with her sword and shield drawn and her wings that she could make appear from her back spread wide, in the middle of their biggest park. She was unnatural and protective. She’d kill them both without a second thought if it meant protecting Isaiah and Gio. In fact, he was pretty sure she could kill them with a single look if she really wanted.
Unaware of how badly his own son was hurt, Walter set out to make his scheme work. He didn’t learn of Tate’s condition until a couple of days later, when Warmonger disguised herself as a police officer and went to check on him in the hospital. She had proven once again just how dangerous she was, being close enough to his son to kill him and leave without anyone even noticing. He needed to carry out his plan and do it quickly, even if he’d lost his most powerful card because his daughter had nearly blasted his head off his shoulders. Freight Train wound up being arrested again, but escaped. Now not even Walter could find the big cretin. Who knew such a large man could be so accomplished at hiding.
If there was one thing Walter knew for certain, it was that he’d never be a father again in his children’s eyes. That didn’t mean that he was ever going to stop. He had never wanted to be like his own father, but he’d fallen into the lull of corruption just as his own father had. A con man but under a different guise. He’d even tried to force it onto Tate, failing desperately to groom him to take over as Leviathan. Maybe he had broken a cycle and not even realized it. Him hardly being part of his children's lives had ensured that they grew up to be honorable. He’d failed at protecting them all along, but he couldn’t fail at it again.
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Deciding to be a better man could be seen as honorable to some, but Tate and Tana Crawford will certainly not see it that way when it comes to their father. Walter is sincere, however. Caring deeply for his children and being snapped out of his ways by his son, he sat in prison all alone without any contact from his family. It opened his eyes and allowed him to truly see the error of his evil ways. That doesn’t stop a man from hoping that, even without him in the picture, he can still help save his family before it’s too late.
