Bio.

GENERAL INFO.

Full Name: Alexey Nikolaevich Khorkin
Aliases: Lyosha or Lyokha
Gender and Pronouns: Cis Male; He/Him
Place of Birth: Balashikha, Central Federal District, Russia
Heritage: White Russian
Date of Birth: September 9th, 1943
Age: 73-83
Parents:

Siblings: N/A
Children:
Other Family:

Allergies: N/A
Addictions: N/A
Mental Conditions/Disorders: Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)
Physical Conditions/Disorders: Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS; Chernobyl-Era), Weakened Immune System (Old Age & ARS), Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (PTC; Well Into Remission), Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL; Early Remission Stage)

APPEARANCE INFO.

Features: Aged, semi-angular features with sunken eyes and hollowed cheeks. Alexey's body is covered in uneven burn scars, all stemming from acute radiation exposure and his service as a volunteer fireman. They vary in darkness and depth, with some areas healing better than others. He also has faded scarring across the lower front of the neck from a thyroidectomy
Voice Claim: Mikhail Victor (RE3 Remake; Voiced by William Hope)
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Grey; Silver
Hairstyle: Short, thinning hair, often brushed back out of the face and held with gel or pomade.
Build: A bit pudgy, with a semi-stooped posture and an otherwise average build.
Height: 5 feet and 6 inches (approx. 169 cm)
Weight: 170 pounds (approx. 81 kg)

SOCIAL INFO.

Connections:

Relationship Status: Widowed; Single
Sexuality: Bisexual

MISC. INFO

Due to his operation working on an international level, Alexey is conversationally fluent in numerous languages. Alongside Russian, he is most fluent in English, German, and Mandarin.

In the vast majority of his canon, Alexey is unaware that he has grandchildren. While he does find Roman, he remains unaware of Valeriya.

Alexey has had a plethora of health issues crop up due to the lack of reception and care to issues raised following the Chernobyl disaster. Over time, the lack of immediate follow-up treatments resulted in him developing Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Thankfully, he managed to catch on to these issues before they got too far out of hand, but the interventions were significant and took a toll on his overall health. While he's in remission for both, he tends not to leave the home as much, only accompanying Roman on long-term travels (ex: contracts in New York under Adam's guidance, for example).

BACKGROUND.

Born to loving parents in the robust industria hub of Balashikha, Alexey lived a fairly normal life at the time—as normal as life could be during the tail end of World War 2 and under the rulership of Joseph Stalin, that was. While he would remain too young to understand the intricacies of the man's rulership, as Stalin would die just 10 years later, Alexey would still find some dinner table discussions alongside his parents confusing. When he was old enough, he would join his father in the workforce, working in local factories producing munitions and machinery to repair the losses the recently ended war would bring the Soviet Union. He would also see a major cultural shift as Nikita Khrushchev’s rise to power resulted in relaxed censorship laws, allowing an artistic boom as Western inspirations flooded through the media. As such, many of Alexey's formative years would be spent engaging in what many labeled as Stilyagi or "style hunter" culture; embellished fashion and lifestyles contrasting the "dull communist realities of the time." It was during this time that he would meet Nika, a vibrant young woman who shared similar interests with him. They would quickly fall in love with one another, wedding at just 18 and moving to their own home in Moscow.

Though, their honeymoon phase would not last long. International tensions remained tense, and new threats emerged.

Between earlier interventions and "talks" between the Russian and United States governments, and stubborn refusal for compromise, the next series of politicians to seize control of the Union would tighten their grip and rule with an iron fist. Crackdowns, conscription, and censorship would bleed the joy from the quaint home life Nika and Alexey had just begun to build. As such, Alexey would convince her to flee the city with him. He didn't want to die for a cause he didn't believe in, nor leave her behind. The two would make their way toward Siberia, taking refuge among the small communities built within the vast Tundra by others like them who defected. They would be welcomed in with open arms, and this newfound community would consequently conscript Alexey into their own cause. Alexey began to build a network of connections with other defectors and ex-prisoners alike, hoping that maybe—should enough of them work together—they could build something meaningful against the Red Army. Maybe not by confronting them with force, but taking a more elusive approach: slowly assassinating top-ranking generals and politicians to weaken their power. At first, Nika was unsure about this sort of business. There was too much danger involved, too much risk if they got caught.

And, unfortunately, she would be proven right.

Not long after preparations were made to begin collecting the target pool, information was leaked and many would be taken prisoner—or executed if they resisted hard enough—for conspiracies against the government and planned terrorist attacks. Alexey and Nika would become political prisoners at Perm-36, a high-security labor colony located near the village of Kuchino. The camp was notorious for its incarceration of Soviet dissidents, and was characterized by increased isolation, constant surveillance, and severe restrictions on correspondence with the outside world. Given their designation as national traitors, Alexey and Nika would not only be separated from one another, but would be subjected to intense brutalization and mistreatment from the guards working there. One of these guards would become the object of Alexey's fixation: Mikhail Lyudomirovich Lupin. His name was etched into the back of Alexey's mind as, during a ploy to get the man to talk by forcing him to witness the torture of his wife, Mikhail would take the scene a step further and execute Nika in cold blood. When Alexey still refused to talk, he would simply step over her body and leave her within sight of Alexey's cell until it became necessary to remove her. Alexey would be released several years later under the pretense that he was so mentally far gone that he had "learned his lesson" and succinctly paid for his crimes.

Yet when he returned to his cabin in Siberia, he realized that there was nothing worth returning to. Everything had been taken from him while he was in custody, and he had nobody left waiting for him. While he could have attempted to restart his project and re-integrate with the community members still left, he didn't see a point. As such, he would turn away from it all and cut a deal with the government to take up employment as a volunteer firefighter. Once the paperwork was signed, he would be sent across the country to work and reside in Pripyat, a Soviet-controlled town near the northern Ukraine border. As it was a mostly scientific community, the work was smooth. Not many major incidents happened, and Alexey found himself spending most of his down-time simply wandering the streets and attempting to relax in local parks. The weight of his grief kept him from involving himself much in this new community, but people would come to recognize him as a passerby and offer niceties when paths crossed.

That is, except for one person.

While helping out some local community members repair a building's generator, they would thank him by inviting him out for drinks later that evening. He reluctantly accepted out of wanting to be amicable, but would find himself actually having a good time. The group chatted about various things, laughed at stupid stories, and one of the group's members—a woman named Ljiljana—would offer him her number. He, once again, took it to be kind, but it would be the start of a slow, blossoming relationship. They would eventually move in together, wed, and have a son named Igor. Things, as rough as they felt, were slowly crawling back toward normalcy.

This would, however, all change on one fateful night in 1968. At just 25-years-old, Alexey would become witness to one of humanity's most tragic disasters: the explosion of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Like many other volunteer firefighters at the time, Alexey was one of the first responders to the explosion and a core member of the stabilization efforts. As such, he would enter the radiation radius severely unequipped to deal with the massive amounts of radiation bleeding into the night. He would push through severe burns and acute radiation syndrome (ARS), which resulted in severe dehydration, disorientation, and nausea that made the job that much more difficult. As those initial hours passed, he would reach a point where—alongside other waves of the first crews—he would have to forcibly be pulled from the scene amidst episodes of disorientation and blackout seizures. He would be rushed to what was dubbed Hospital Number 6, operated by the Ministry of Medium Machine Building and the All-Union Physics Institute. There, he would stabilize before drastically growing sicker, teetering the fine line between life and death throughout his stay. Many scientists came to speak with him when he was lucid enough to be seen, and he would be documented alongside others who saw physical DNA alterations from the immense exposure. In his case, his eyes turned blue and he would be permanently scarred inside and out from the radiation burns. While many thought he would die, especially as his immune system seemed to cease entirely, Alexey miraculously pulled through recovery.

And when he was fit for release? He would find himself alone again.

Pripyat was no longer habitable, and the few and far between benefits offered to him by the government—who wished to keep the incident's impact as private as possible—wouldn't be enough for him to find a stable life in nearby cities. Likewise, the immense change and trauma he underwent would cause Ljiljana to fall out of love with him, stating that a man "so broken as him" couldn't be a fit father for their young son. She left with him, taking him West in hopes of escaping any long-term impacts from remaining in the area after the initial incident. So, he went where he knew he could make it: Siberia.

He re-purchased his property with what cash he had on hand, and would spend a few years recuperating from the physical impact of the Chernobyl incident. Soon enough, though, Alexey would be back to re-establishing his network once and for all. This time, he made sure to do things the right way, and would evade detection long enough to have his efforts eventually outlive the Soviet Union. He would hire men from his community to aid him in his pursuits, establishing something of a name to dissidents who remained passionate toward their cause. Yet even still, he would remain a lone wolf, primarily planning and going on jobs utilizing his own skill-sets and informing nobody of where he'd go. This solitude would be peaceful... until a sharp thud outside awoke him one night.

Armed, and fulling expecting an ambush, Alexey would open the door to find a young teen collapsed and frozen. After looking around to ensure it wasn't some ploy, Alexey would drag the boy in, change his clothing, and warm him up. When he came to, the young boy found himself inside and in the stern gaze of its owner, who held a shotgun in his lap and blocked the doorway with his chair. Alexey explained how he'd found him collapsed and turning blue the cold, then demanded to know how he'd found him. Confused, the boy said he didn't even know who the old man was, or where he was for that matter. Seeing this, Alexey begrudgingly set the weapon aside and would introduce himself.

From there, the rest was history.

Once Alexey learned what happened, or what Roman perceived to have happened, he opted to take him in and let him lay low while figuring out what to do next. This, and he quickly picked up on the teen's penchant for alcohol after catching him stealing from his own reserves. Alexey would help Roman through that initial period of panic and grief, getting to know him and coming to see him as just a troubled soul who needed support. And, in missing what could have been, Alexey decided to take Roman under his wing. Roman, not wanting to be alone with himself, accepted the proposition and would live with Alexey full-time, working around the cabin to contribute to their shared space. This is how Roman learned of Alexey's contract business, and—perhaps against his better judgment—Alexey would offer him a job as a hitman. Believing that he had it in him to be a killer, Roman accepted this proposition, too.

The duo would work as a pair, with Alexey personally overseeing Roman's contracts and guiding him through the ranks.

The targets they sought were people who had done others wrong, in some way or another. Some of it was questionable, but at the end of the day... Alexey truly believed they were doing something right. And this would be affirmed when the pair took on a contract to assassinate a prominent, highly dangerous politician.

The operation was straightforward and the preparation was smooth, but there was a hitch—they weren't the only ones on the job. Nor was the political the only target. While alone, Roman was ambushed by a rival group, his communication with Alexey severed and his being severely outnumbered. He fought like a caged animal, managing to even the odds until the sole survivor rushed him and attempted to gut him. It was then that Alexey found him, taking the shot that would botch the contract but save Roman's life. The old man carried Roman away from the scene, and would bring him back to Siberia for medical treatment (as remaining in any city would surely get them caught). This fear was affirmed as, while Alexey waited for Roman to get out of emergency surgery, authorities had tested the blood at the scene and tied the assassination attempt to "the miscegenator teen who killed his parents a decade ago, Yury Zoranovich Koshelev." The only solace in that news report was a lack of recent photo. It was what allowed Alexey to lie to inquiring medical staff and give his right-hand his new name: Roman Zemlin.

Throughout the recovery process, the small hospital did what they could to keep Roman stabilized, though the surgical process was intense and had hit some crucial systems. Thankfully, as it turned out, the two were a blood donor match and Alexey was able to give what he could to aid in this process. It also turned out, while testing samples for compatibility, it was revealed that Alexey was more than that—the two were related. Left to sit with this knowledge, Alexey would think long and hard on the approach as Roman recovered. When he was woken up, Alexey decided that just being straightforward was the best approach.

Which didn't go over well, initially.

Rife with pain from everything and the overarching frustration of the failed attempt, Roman was furious with denial. He called Alexey a 'cruel bastard' for bringing something like that up at a time like this, and that that was the one topic there wouldn't be jokes about. Yet, despite this, Alexey stuck around and continued to be the point of contact for his care and recovery. It was through this that Roman realized he was serious and—when he saw the results in his folder—slowly came around to the idea. The next time they saw each other, on the day Roman was discharged, he would use his newfound strength to hug Alexey and say thanks... to his grandfather.

From there, the two would establish a closer bond than ever before, even as Roman found his footing and opted to travel the world while continuing accepting contracts. And that little cabin in Siberia would become a home that he could always return to.