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Arnold was a longtime friend of Quentino from the latter's times as a gang member in Los Angeles. When Quentino was injured and lost the ability to walk, he asked that Arnold take his place on the Wild Pack, leading to some tension with recovering racist Pack member Powell because Arnold was an African American.

History

Larry Arnold, an African American with high combat capabilities,[2] was active in the youth gang community of Los Angeles,[5] where he befriended Raul " G-Wiz" Quentino, another gang member.[2] G-Wiz disappeared from that environment after his gang, the Jackclubs, was nearly annihilated by a rival group, and Arnold lost contact with him.[5]

Later, Arnold teamed up with Latisha Arnold and her brother Morris (See Notes). Secretly financed by crime lord Justin Hammer, Latisha had rallied one hundred and thirty Los Angeles teenage gangs to take over the city, including at least one police precinct hostel;[2] Hammer intended to cause Beverly Hills land prices to plummet, allowing him to buy it cheaply,[5] and to that end Latisha used the gang members to scare away the owners. Arnold was an elite associate of Latisha, informed of the details of the deal, unlike most gang members (although possibly he did not know that Hammer was personally involved).[5] Latisha, Morris and Arnold used the captured precinct as their base of operations.[2]

Seeing that neither the government nor LAPD could retake the city, the landowners hired elite mercenary group Wild Pack, where Quentino was active. The Wild Pack attacked gang members on several fronts, including the precinct. Arnold detected the incursion and warned Latisha, after which he joined the defense of the base with other gang members. Arnold battled superhuman African American Pack member Battlestar, whom he accused of servility toward white authority, and then fought Quentino, recognizing each other in the process. Quentino was reluctant to fight an old friend, but Arnold was offended that Quentino had "sold out to the white man."[2] While fighting, Quentino convinced Arnold of the advantages of abandoning the ethics-aesthetics of the criminal ghetto and how not doing it harmed their ethnic communities. Arnold not only agreed to collaborate with Quentino against Latisha's people, but he confessed Latisha's plan to Quentino; Quentino made Arnold understand that Latisha and her employer would have killed the gangs out after winning.[5]

By then, Hammer had sent a group of supervillains in battle armor to reinforce the gangs,[2] but the gangs were offended by the intrusion and the encounter degenerated into a three-way fight. Quentino gave Arnold a gun, but then one of the villains, Spymaster, shot Arnold. Quentino pushed him, being injured by the shot; Arnold reacted by attacking Spymaster. Finally, the Wild Pack won that day: The supervillains escaped, but Latisha and her gang members were arrested. Quentino was seriously injured,[5] and recommended Arnold as his replacement;[5][8] the leader of the Wild Pack, Symkarian mercenary Silver Sable, accepted and hired Arnold,[5][9] who had to pass preliminary tests to be Wild Pack member on trial basis.[3] Quentino was confined to a wheelchair and abandoned field work, staying in the pack only as a research and development technician.[5]

Wild Pack[]

As a member of the Pack, Arnold was introduced to his teammates at the Symkarian Embassy in New York City. Southern racist Pack member Powell, dissatisfied with a new African-American teammate, tried to intimidate Arnold, going so far as to insult him; Arnold suckerpunched Powell and knocked him down with a single blow, earning the respect of another of his companions, the Crippler, who found the situation amusing.[3] Powell later acknowledged to himself that he already respected his other African-American teammate, Battlestar, but did not want more African-Americans on the team.[1]

King Stefan of Symkaria decided to decorate Sable at the Royal Palace, and Sable had the Pack go there not only as witnesses, but also as additional security. Arnold was impressed by how different his new life was from his previous one. The ceremony was interrupted when a Hydra Issue Fighter stolen by the Genesis Coalition attacked the palace courtyard, in an attempt to capture Sable. Powell used a two-handed weapon developed by Quentino to attempt to overload the fighter via an electrified cable, but the fighter's aerial movement made this difficult. Arnold and Battlestar helped Powell by grabbing him, and together they crash-landed the plane in the yard. Three crew members emerged standing: Genesis Coalition fugitive Dmitri Petrovich and two Coalition agents whom Sable nicknamed Laurel and Hardy. Sable ordered her people to take care of "Laurel and Hardy" while she fought Petrovich; Arnold and Battlestar defeated those two thugs, while Powell lamented that his prejudices prevented him from properly appreciating that Arnold and Battlestar had saved him.[1]

Sable captured Petrovich, who confessed where the Coalition's secret base was. Sable went there with the Pack and, once in enemy territory, divided the Pack into pairs to explore,[1] with Arnold accompanied by the Crippler.[1][10] Sable found that her uncle Fritz Sablinova supposedly infiltrated the Coalition, and agreed to make the Pack surrender and allow themselves to be captured as part of Sablinova's alleged plan to destroy the Coalition and Hydra; but Sable had tricks up his sleeve and his associate the Foreigner freed the Pack, also taking them to Sable's father, Ernst Sablinova, who had been a prisoner of the Coalition for years. Sable had the Pack track the leader of the Coalition, Ivan Trefkov, to a stolen Hydra Battlecruiser on a battlefield in Bosnia, where the Pack confronted the Coalition while Sable killed Trefkov. Fritz Sablinova attempted to kill Sable for ruining his insane plan, but the Foreigner killed Sablinova first. Before the Pack's eyes, Sable beat up the Foreigner, but left him alive in exchange for him getting away from her, something that impressed Arnold.[10]

Arnold went on to train with the Pack at their two primary bases of operations, the Symkarian Embassy and Castle Sable.[11] Arnold worked with the team on an operation to stop graverobbers who were damaging Mayan Pyramids in Mexico, which required them to enter tombs and wear night goggles, something Arnold was not used to. Engaging the enemy in the catacombs, Arnold killed two robbers before Sable demanded to take prisoners to interrogate. Somehow, the Pack and the robbers emerged from the pyramids in what looked like the pre-Columbian Mayan Empire, and were all captured by the Mayans, who accused them of having desecrated sacred ground and forced them to confront the other group of intruders in the sacred ballcourts of Hunahpu and Xbalanque, in a ritual game. Sable gave orders to defend themselves without killing the enemy, and once again Arnold helped protect Powell, even though Powell had made a racist joke about Arnold shortly before (which Arnold possibly didn't hear). The group was saved by Sable's superhuman agent Sandman, who pretended to be a deity to intimidate the Mayans. The Pack apprehended the graverobbers and emerged.[4]

Sable was arrested for conspiracy[4] and sent to prison. Her manager Mortimer gathered the Pack and Sable's trusted team at the Symkarian Embassy to inform them of the matter. An especially tall superhuman agent, Fin, lifted short Arnold onto his shoulders so Arnold could see over the others, although Arnold told him that was not necessary. Mortimer relayed orders from Sable to send the Pack to Symkaria to prevent them from being arrested as well, but most of the Pack chose to stay behind to try and help Sable. Ultimately, Sable was exonerated shortly after,[12] but she chose to relocate to Symkaria. At Castle Sable, Arnold continued training with Powell, and there Sable gathered the entire team to tell them that he was retiring from active missions, focusing only on business tasks.[6] Battlestar became the team's commanding officer.[7]

In seventeen missions, Battlestar was an efficient leader, although not as good as Sable had been. During that time, Arnold and Powell worked together on several occasions, including an operation against an illegal arms smuggling rings in New Orleans; Although Arnold and Powell were a good fighting unit, Arnold rejected Powell's attempts to be friendly.[7]

The Wild Pack was hired by CIA agent Bogart Jeffries to track down a government experimental weapons development team that had deserted and fled. Sable refused to personally participate in that mission, so her father Ernst Sablinova took tactical command, with Battlestar providing field command.[7] Arnold traveled with the team to Chile and from there to the base enemy in the Pacific Ocean, but Sablinova's tactics put them in unnecessary danger and relied on obsolete assets. Fortunately, Sable spied on the mission and ultimately opted to take up his position as field leader, joining the mission. With Sable already participating, Arnold attempted to reach the enemy's lead scientist, Bob Jameson, but he took cover behind a force field, and was only captured thanks to Sable.[13]

Eventually, Sable decided to dissolve the Wild Pack. It was reformed by Andreas Vadas, who was defeated soon afterward,[8] but the Wild Pack continued operating in Symkaria[14] as an organization with access to sizeable resources,[15] and counting with some of the previous Pack members such as Chen among its members.[14] Arnold has not been seen since, and his later activities are unknown.

Personality

Having lived almost all of his life in an environment of street gangs, Arnold initially disapproved of collaboration with white men,[2] and took very seriously the use of nicknames that could be interpreted as racial slurs,[4] such as "boy"[3] or "bucky".[2] However, Arnold was not a zealot and was willing to listen to other people and understand them, which led to his position in the Wild Pack.[5] Although Arnold felt out of touch place in many places, he tried not to say it so as not to express weakness,[1] although he also asked when he didn't know something.[5][4]

Arnold joined the team early and was able to train[6] and serve with any of his teammates, but he was not a particularly sociable person[1] and Powell never got Arnold to appreciate his efforts to befriend him.[7]

Attributes

Powers

Larry Arnold's strength has not been properly stated, but his naked fists managed to stun Battlestar, who has superhuman durability.[2] Arnold also helped Battlestar keep Powell on the ground while the latter was downing an enemy plane, a feat that required either superhuman or almost-superhuman strength.[1]

Abilities

Larry Arnold usually fought with his fists,[2][10] with great efficiency,[1] and was able to stand up to superhuman enemies.[2] A direct punch from Arnold was enough to knock out Powell.[3] Arnold also had some acrobatic fighting capabilities[11] and was good at sports[4] as well as covering a partner in combat situations.[5][4]

Weaknesses

Arnold's education was possibly limited. It is known that Arnold was not familiar with Mayan mythology[4] nor he knew how to handle a semiautomatic weapon.[5]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Arnold has used a variety of gear, mostly the standard gear for the Wild Pack. Occasionally he was provided with night goggles.[4]

Notes

Trivia

  • Arnold was particularly short, but his height has not been stated.[1][16]
  • As a joke, Powell suggested that Arnold's teeth were especially shiny,[16] which is ironic as Powell himself took care of his own teeth to make them shiny too.[17]
  • The Wild Pack fought against Hydra in the Empire State Building after recruiting Arnold, but Arnold was not seen in that fight.[18]

See Also

Links and References

References

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