Raven

Raven is a founder of the Grey Elephants, the older brother of Hawk, and a recurring enemy of Gary Dem. Loss turns his underworld ambition into revenge: he joins the Phoenix Gang with Gil, accepts a risky infected Mythical solution, and returns as a Hydra Altered. After the Phoenix defeat, however, Raven chooses survival over another unwinnable campaign and trades valuable evidence for a quiet life.

Biography

The Grey Elephants and revenge for Hawk

After their parents die, Raven tries to build a better position for himself and Hawk by founding the Grey Elephants with Brendon and Yevon. The gang becomes one of Slough's two dominant forces, but each of Raven's closest partners dies after colliding with Gary's rise. Hawk disappears during the karaoke-bar killings, and Raven later reconstructs that Gary killed him. He blames both Gary and White Rose for failing to prevent it, even though Hawk had tried to assault Gary's sister. With the Grey Elephants destroyed and no family left, Raven leaves Slough alongside Gil rather than accept the Howlers' victory. (Chapters 110–353, 589, 779–781)

The two start at the bottom of the Phoenix Gang, volunteer for its dirtiest work, and train together until ordinary skill no longer offers advancement. When Sin offers improved infected Altered solutions, Raven recognizes their resemblance to the liquid that made crazed monsters, but accepts the injection because Gary is growing too quickly for caution. The gamble preserves his mind and gives him the Hydra form needed for revenge. Raven attacks White Rose investigators over Hawk's case, survives Kanu's intervention, and later helps the Phoenix assault on Slough, killing Howlers and forcing several powerful defenders to combine their attacks. (Chapters 573–589, 772–783, 868–922)

A bargain instead of another war

Raven escapes the Phoenix defeat by detaching the Hydra's heads from its central body and later encounters Amy Dem in Ashen City. Rather than use her against Gary, he asks for a meeting. He tells Kai that he wants out of the conflict and offers a stolen case of infected solutions intended for One Gang. In return he receives a home in a Tier-2 city, a monthly allowance, and a disposable contact phone, promising never to approach Gary or Amy again. The arrangement leaves him alive and supplies the Howlers with the link among One Gang, NIRV, and infected Altereds that they had been seeking. (Chapters 921–922, 1038–1043)

Appearance and personality

In human form Raven is a tall, slender man with dark-purple hair, tired bags beneath his eyes, and a preference for cigarettes. He is in his mid-twenties when Sin first brings him forward, older than Gil and experienced enough to explain Slough's underworld in detail. (Chapters 353, 573, 772)

Raven is observant, patient, and capable of unpleasant work without visible shock. His grief hardens into a willingness to kill uninvolved people and blame institutions for Hawk's choices, but he is less self-destructive than Gil. He notices the infected solution's danger, retreats from Kanu, uses a sacrificial escape from Slough, and ultimately abandons revenge when a negotiated exit becomes possible.

Powers and abilities

Mythical Hydra form

Raven acquires his Hydra form from Sin's improved infected solution. In full transformation his skin becomes scaled and his neck divides into five long snake-and-dragon-like heads. The heads can attack independently, bite through hard surfaces, extend across a battlefield, seize several targets, and use their combined strength to lift or tear an opponent apart. He remains articulate and tactically aware, unlike the earlier crazed Altereds produced by the same black contamination. (Chapters 589, 780–781)

Cutting off one head makes two grow in its place, and Raven states that the increase is permanent. His black blood is corrosive enough to burn exposed skin and wings, making decapitation dangerous even before regeneration. This adaptation lets him become more threatening when opponents attack the obvious targets, but it does not prevent damage to the central body. Kanu's raw force overwhelms him, and the combined strikes of Vlad, Ice, and Blackjack incapacitate the mass of heads during the Slough battle. The exact growth cost, maximum number of heads, and long-term effect of repeated division are not explained. (Chapters 780–781, 921–922)

Detachment and escape

When concentrated attacks strike his body in Slough, Raven severs or sheds the thin ends of the Hydra necks and escapes with the central body while the heads collapse behind him. The scene establishes an emergency escape application, not invulnerability or duplication: the discarded heads stop moving and Raven later appears as one person. How quickly he can repeat this maneuver or regrow the sacrificed structures is unknown. (Chapter 922)

Before becoming Altered, Raven is already a skilled gang fighter. Phoenix training improves that base, but his later threat comes principally from the solution-derived Hydra physiology rather than a separate martial power system. (Chapter 589)

Relationships

Hawk and Gary Dem

Hawk's death is the emotional center of Raven's hostility. Raven treats Gary as the killer who took his last family member and White Rose as the institution that allowed it. His account omits Hawk's own violence, allowing grief to justify attacks on strangers. By his final appearance, Raven no longer forgives Gary; he simply values escape from the feud more than revenge.

Gil

Gil is Raven's fellow exile, training partner, and revenge partner. Their shared willingness to do Phoenix work raises both of them from expendable recruits to Mythical Altereds. Raven survives because he eventually changes course; Gil continues threatening Gary's family and is killed.

Kai and the Howlers

Kai dislikes Raven and holds him responsible for Howler deaths, but recognizes that Raven did not directly kill Tyler and that continued conflict would cost more than the requested allowance. Their bargain converts Raven from an active enemy into a dangerous loose end whose stolen evidence materially helps the Howlers.

Items

Raven steals and transfers a briefcase of infected Altered solutions during his bargain with Kai. It is evidence and payment rather than a retained signature possession, and no finalized personal item is assigned to him in the supplied inventory.