MAJOR DEEJ UNIVERSE

Professional international thief and assassin, Martin Callus has more INTERPOL 'wanted' posters out on him than any other criminal in Europe and North America.  Callus was once a CIA operative, trained to get in and out of places with the highest security.  His skills in overcoming and getting past all forms of human and technological security systems garnered him the title in the CIA of 'The Professional'.

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In 2004, one CIA mission that Special Agent Callus was on in Guatemala , an unexpected Earthquake triggered the building's alarm systems that he was to break into, wherein Agent Callus was caught.  There, he was detained, tortured and brought to near death for over a two year period.  Although several scenarios to extract and free Callus were concocted by fellow CIA field agents, the CIA leadership decided to disavow their association with Callus and instead purged Callus's existence from any US Government affiliation and left him to die in Guatemala. Callus, understanding the CIA's protocols, knew this was the likely scenario, however, he'd hoped they'd at least had tried once to save him before they gave up, or at least sent word to him of his disavowment. Regardless, Callus was not in a good state of mind after two years of torture, some of which resulted in severe head trauma and brain damage, mostly in the frontal lobe, an area that controls personality, decision-making and reasoning. As such, his newly aligned reasoning is that he was considered to dangerous and too good to keep alive. As such, he made a decision after two years of torture - he'd escape and show the world just how good of a thief he really was; a thief that could never get caught...and a thief who'd kill rather than be caught.

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After two years of torture, Callus finally found an opportunity to escape.  In so doing, he ran out into the bordering jungle with dozens of guards shooting and chasing after him.  By pure luck, he fell into a hole that was a vent to an enormous underground cavern.  In utter darkness, Callus walked the cave's length for nearly two miles and eventually to his freedom across the Mexican border into the town of Tapachula. 

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In Tapachula, Callus recovered from his wounds with the aid of a destitute prostitute, Elizabeth (Liz) Ortega, and her two street smart children. Over the next year or two, after his body was relatively healed (but not his mind, which would never be healed), all he did was practice again and again on being what he believed himself to be - a master thief. He had a child with Liz; a child named Martin Ortega (taking the prostitute's last name). It wasn't an ideal time for any of them, but it was a life of love and adventure. Since neither of them believed in marriage, they instead chose not to get married.

 

Callus started getting a name for himself locally as a master thief under several different aliases he'd devised, stealing from the rich and simply handing over the profits to his no longer destitute lover, Liz. The children were trained and used to scope out job sites and worked as a team, making the thefts even more grand and daring. Eventually, detectives from INTERPOL were brought into the area and a massive manhunt began for Callus and his several aliased identities. Knowing his operation there was blown, he packed up their things and was about to escape the city when instead his apartment was discovered by an 'unhappy' criminal leader recipient of one of Callus' best heists, Senor Alvarez of the Alvarez Crime Family of Panama. Senor Alvarez right hand man, 'Mucho Muerto', was sent to track down and kill Callus (and if possible, find the stolen money and diamonds). In a mad chase throughout town and onto a speed boat bound for international waters and a CANIS black market ship off the coast, Callus, Liz and the children almost made it out. As a parting shot with a sniper rifle, the right hand man, while giving chase, shot at Callus but instead killed Liz dead...with an explosive round to the head.  Callus and the children escaped Mucho Muerto, but at the cost of Liz. She was later buried at sea from the CANIS ship. From there, Callus knew he couldn't stay rogue anymore; he needed a home; a place for the kids to get protection and a chance to live a in a decent home, as well as a base of operations; operations allowing him to steal from even larger and greater sources.

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Rather than escape Mexico, he instead hid in Mexico City.  It was still in massive disrepair from the 2000 Soltan Invasion, however, investors had begun pouring billions of dollars into the rebuilding of the city, providing Callus a golden opportunity to steal a lot of money and materials in a region nearly devoid of quality detectives and police. Sadly, within two years' time, several Mexican superheroes came into existence in the region, most notably the Zorro-like "Aguila de Mexico'. Aguila was not only a crime-fighter but a detective, and as such was a perfect foil to Callus' criminality. Both Aguila and Callus (now going by the trade-name 'Maestro Malhechor AKA Master Malefactor', faced off time and again, pitting each other's skills and wits against one another. Using his adopted children and son as his 'crew', Callus seemed to always be one step ahead of Aguila. As part of his crime spree, Callus 'acquired' a nuerotech exoskeleton that he integrated into his costume. WIth this suit, he was more agile, stronger and was capable of fine motor controls. It took him a year to master its functionality, however, after stealing all the data, designs and equipment to support the suit (and killing the engineers that created it), he has become his suit's own designer and engineer now (well, ok...he's also teaching Martin Jr (as he calls his son now) to learn the tech and engineering side of the suit) He and his other kids also began devising diabolical traps and gadgets to be used for robberies and escapes, all of which were remarkably designed and used. 

 

Eventually, word and imagery finally got out onto the internet and found its way to the CIA. Callus was now known to be alive. Callus' old partner, Wallace "Wally" Wentworth, was now an assistant director for the international crime unit in the CIA. Wallace was supposed to have been Callus' backup to get him out of Guatamala in 2004, but fled instead of being captured, leaving Callus instead to be caught. Although Callus knew Wally wasn't that reliable in the field, he still held a deep grudge over being left behind.  As such, Wally was now ordered to bring in Callus 'alive', but dead if the situation presented itself. They needed to finalize the purge on Callus, again to ensure the CIA had no involvement with the Guatemala situation from back in 2004.

 

Over the next few years, Aguila de Mexico, the other superheroes of Mexico, the CIA and Wally Wentworth were gunning for Callus AKA Master Malefactor.  Sadly, on two occasions, his children were shot or seriously injured in their escapes, leaving Callus to become emotionally provoked as a result. For each exact wound his children received, he did one in kind to those pursuing him and his children, although instead to THEIR family. Wally's wife got shot in the exact same spot Callus' adopted son, Manuel, had gotten shot in. Both Wally's wife and Callus' adopted son survived, however, the pain and the shock of having a loved one shot resonated to all involved and upped the stakes of their game. 

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Over time, Callus realized he was being herded to a region that there was no hiding in from the authorities. However, there was an alternative. Talaxaca, Mexico. Talaxaca was home to the notorious Crimewave cartel, led by the Central American criminal kingpin known as Crimemaster. Talaxaca was under the protection of Crimewave and to bring violence, the feds, superheroes or any federales into Talaxaca would most likely end in a gruesome death for Callus, his children and his remaining several criminal crew mates.  As such, Callus took a dangerous gamble. He humbly requested an audience with Crimemaster to provide a deal that Crimemaster, in his right mind, would never refuse.

 

Under guard by two dozen highly trained gun-totting Crimewave guards, Callus was escorted to Crimemaster's estate outside of Talaxaca.  Callus' crew and children were allowed and made available to be 'hostages' in a remote location to Crimemaster and his crew to prove no duplicity in their forthcoming deal's discussion. Crimemaster graciously greeted Callus and said he was a 'guest' at his estate and as such would be treated with the same respect and courtesy that he'd expect from Callus during their talks. Over dinner, Callus offered him and his children and crew's services for the next 10 years to Crimewave if Crimemaster would 'protect' him and his family and team and allow them to become part of Crimewave. As such, Callus offered up all intel he had on the CIA, Aguila de Mexico and the other Mexican superheroes as collateral. Notably, Crimemaster insinuated that other parties with the demeanor of a 'Scorpion' would be interested in this info also, and that if it panned out, he (Crimemaster) would consider Callus' offer.  In the meantime, Crimemaster invited Callus, his family and his crew to be his guests at the estate is a large bungalow cluster on the south side of the estate until a final decision was made.

 

In two short days, Crimemaster invited Callus, his children and Callus' crew to dinner.  At the dinner, Crimemaster was most gracious in lauding Callus for his intel and his desire to work with Crimewave. Crimemaster, however, said there was one issue that created a 'wrinkle' to all of this. One of Callus' crew members, Antonio, in his youth, was a member of a gang in the area once known as Death's Hand. Antonio was known to have killed several members of the Purple Gang during a Talaxaca youth gang war called "The Night of Purple Death". Without stating more, Crimemaster swooped from his seat in the blink of an eye and came up behind Antonio (who was also seated at the table) and one swift motion, sliced Antonio's throat from ear to ear, holding back Antonio's head and whispering something that made Antonio act like he'd seen a ghost as Antonio bled out onto the fine china on the dinner table. Crimemaster then looked over at Callus and asked if he had issue with what Crimemaster had just done to someone who had once 'betrayed' Talaxaca and Crimewave, to which Callus stated, 'no'.  With that a tentative alliance, already drawn up in a formal document, was brought forth by a lawyer to the table side.  Crimemaster had each of them sign, in their own blood, a contract to be in 100% servitude to Crimemaster and Crimewave for the next 10 years, even if Crimemaster or Crimewave were seemingly destroyed and/or killed, under penalty of a slow and painful death to all who'd signed, regardless of who strayed from the promise.  Callus, his children and the rest of the crew signed and the deal was sealed.  Master Malefactor and his 'crew' would now serve Crimewave for the next 10 years.

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Although the contract was indeed extreme, the protection it provided was equally so. Wally saw somehow 'demoted' and sent back to being a 'field agent' for the CIA (a role Wally despised), while Aguila de Mexico went through a severe rough patch, losing more and more Mexican superheroes, eventually leading to Aguila de Mexico being framed for the assassination of the President of Mexico and the destruction of a Mexican Navy Cruiser (see Major Deej Comics' 'New Allied Fighters' archived Issues #8 & 9!!)

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As such, Master Malefactor began stealing and thieving for Crimewave, this time in a purple, black and gray suit instead of his notorious black, gold and blue suit. His children and crew all got their own apartments in and about Talaxaca and lived comfortably amongst the citizens. Even Aria, Callus' adopted daughter, got married to a local, Marco Mañas, giving birth to Callus' first grandson, Alejandro Mañas.

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Today, Master Malefactor is still just as active as he was 20 years ago. He seems happy overall doing what he does best, but there is a sadness that can be seen, knowing he and his children and crew are slaves to Crimewave rather than free to go and do as they please.  Callus is still being hunted to this day by INTERPOL, the CIA and Mexican authorities, however, with his affiliation to Crimewave now, any efforts to directly capture or arrest Callus must go through to the top levels of their respective organizations (top levels that thusfar have said 'no' to any such requests for action against Callus and his family/crew).

 

Callus is a tactical genius and a master planner and thief. He is well known for his ability to not only steal the unstealable but to also somehow escape most of the time without being captured or even seen.  His children are professionals in being his support team in the tech, planning, resource acquisition and implementation and support of each theft or operation. In the criminal world, Master Malefactor is known as one of the top 10 thieves in the world, most of which in the criminal world wishing they had access to him like Crimewave did (especially the Gold Syndicate who constantly are trying to parlay a deal with Crimewave to use Master Malefactor for some of their more profitable gold thefts they wish to perform). As such, his life is his work, and his work is done so as to keep him and his family and crew alive another day.  With more years to do in the contract than done, Callus knows its going to be a long 10 years for all of them; 10 years he intends to continue amassing his reputation, keeping his family and crew safe...and maybe hide some ill-gotten gains on the side for a rainy day, should it come to that.

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