Death Row is a small band of costumed assassins who work together, usually as employees of a crimelord who use them to eliminate underworld rivals or eyewitnesses who threaten their power.
History
Except for Smoke, none of Death Row's members have actual metahuman powers, but are highly trained in his method of assassination.[1]
Founding Members
Death Row originally consisted of Guillotine, Hangman, Hypo and Smoke. Guillotine is a master of bladed weapons, particularly his axes that he claims can cut through anything. Hangman's favored weapon was the noose that he used to strangle his victims. Hypo wields numerous needle-like projectiles that he can launch at high velocity to impale his targets. Finally, Smoke is a human turned living cloud of poison gas who dispatches his victims by surrounding and asphyxiating them. Smoke is given form by the special cloak he wears.[1]
Besides their lethality, Death Row were experts at eliminating all evidence tying them to the assassinations they committed. As a result, few in the criminal underworld knew of Death Row while legal authorities were completely ignorant of their existence. This appealed to Death Row's clients, who valued secrecy above all else. Thus, Death Row could charge their clients very high fees, which was money well spent since the assassins had a perfect record in killing their targets.[1]
Death Row versus Hardware
Recently. Death Row was hired by unidentified Dakota City crimelords to kill Curtis Metcalf, vice president of Alva Technologies. That company's CEO, Edwin Alva, was a secretly major crime lord who decided to retire from organized crime. Alva appointed Metcalf to oversee the legal dismantling of his criminal operations. The unidentified crimelords feared a major loss of revenue if Metcalf succeeded and thus wanted him dead. To ensure this result, the crimelords convinced Death Row to add to their roster the electricity-wielding Volt, who agreed to kill Metcalf in exchange for his freedom from jail. The Death Row founders, especially Guillotine, believed the addition of Volt to their number was overkill for taking out a mere businessman. Still, Death Row agreed to this stipulation considering the enormous amount the crimelords were going to pay them.[1]
Death Row staked out Curt Metcalf's apartment for days before choosing the night to strike. Their plans were thwarted when the infamous spy Sanction ambushed and kidnapped Metcalf, whom he erroneously believed to be helping expand Edwin Alva's criminal operations. Death Row trailed Sanction to an abandoned hardware store, where Sanction was finally convinced of Metcalf's innocence after interrogating him. When Sanction left the scene, Death Row quickly moved in to seize Metcalf.[1]
As their teammates looked on, Hangman strung up an exhausted Metcalf from the rafters with his noose so he could be impaled by Hypo's needles. However, Metcalf swung his body just enough so the needles instead sliced through Hangman's rope, freeing himself. Metcalf then evaded a gauntlet of attacks by Death Row to reach his car, which Sanction had used to transport him to the hardware store. As he made his escape, Metcalf's path was blocked by Volt, who struck his car with a blast of electricity that caused it to crash and burst into flame. Death Row moved in to confirm Metcalf's death only to be surprised when the armored vigilante Hardware emerged from the fiery wreck. Hardware took advantage of this by shredding Smoke's cloak, causing him to dissipate. Death Row then realized Hardware was Metcalf, who had hidden his armor in his car. The assassins tried again to kill Hardware, but were soundly defeated. He then left Death Row at the warehouse to be picked up by the local authorities.[1]
Death Row is currently in police custody, facing numerous murderous charges for their past assassinations. However, from the assasins' perspective, incarceration paled to the damage their infamous reputation has suffered following their failure to kill Metcalf and their loss of secrecy.
Paraphernalia
Weapons:
Each member of Death Row employs specialized weaponry
See Also
- Appearances of Death Row
- 2 Images that include Death Row
- Team Gallery: Death Row
Links and References
Footnotes