| « | Many locals understand our language. Do you get what I'm saying? Kindly leave all of this shit talk behind once we're there. That goes for everyone, not only Kurt. John Wicks
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John Wicks was a supporting character in ArmA: Armed Assault's Royal Flush campaign.
Background[]
The former leader of the Royal Flush team, Wicks was an experienced contractor who had worked for many years with the Black Element private military company.
Royal Flush (2007)[]
At the request of newly crowned Queen Isabella Ximénez, Royal Flush is hired by the monarch after an anti-government movement in the north threatens the stability of her reign.
Wicks' team first arrives by helicopter at the government palace in the south to meet with the country's military Chancellor. Upon landing however, Wicks is contacted by an unknown informant over the radio who urges Wicks to meet with him at a secret location inside the palace.
After they meet with the Chancellor, Wicks begins to brief his men on their task. Their main priority was to retrieve dangerous biological weapons that were supposedly stolen by anti-government insurgents.
An agent working for the army possessed information on the whereabouts of the weapons, and they were to rendezvous with him at the quarry he was hiding in.
When they land at the site, Wicks finds that things have already gone from bad to worse. Many of the surrounding buildings were in flames, and corpses were littered everywhere with the agent nowhere to be seen.
Royal Flush soon comes under attack from the insurgents who were still in the quarry, and Wicks' men immediately return fire.
After clearing out the remaining insurgents, Wicks spots a car with the agent inside racing out of the area and towards the forest. Wicks orders Lambowski to pursue the vehicles, and the latter manages to intercept the vehicle after a brief chase before they can flee successfully.
The agent provides Wicks with the coordinates of the insurgent base, alerting them to a convoy that was preparing to leave before heading back to safety himself. Wicks on the other hand, briefed his men on their next task and assigned Lambowski with leading the attack on the base. Before they moved out however, Wicks alerted the rest of Royal Flush to possible treachery from the Kingdom and strictly warned them against abiding to any "unlawful" orders from the government.
| « | Before we move out, there's one thing you guys should know. After we arrived someone contacted me. His message casts into doubt... the legitimacy of the government here. The message is an uncertain matter. It could easily be some sort of provocation, so I decided to honor the contract we have with the queen and go on with the mission. But don't get fooled. If someone from the queen's own contingent attempts to give you orders outside of the contract, you are advised not to blindly obey. Wicks' warning to his men
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Later that evening, Royal Flush moved into position on the outskirts of the insurgent base and waited for the enemy convoy to leave. When the opportunity arised, Wicks' men eliminated the insurgents and secured the base soon afterwards, though some of the insurgents managed to flee in the chaos.
Wicks returned to meet with the Chancellor and informed him of their success, leaving the base clear for the army's chemical specialists to move in. The Chancellor was less than pleased to hear that some of the insurgents had managed to flee, however. When he's alerted by his intelligence sources of a car with the insurgent's leader inside it, he orders Wicks to hunt down and destroy the vehicle; using explosives if they had to.
Wicks refuses, stating that it was simply too risky as there was the danger that the weapon containers could be compromised. The Chancellor angrily reminds Wicks that he was the one who was issuing their cheques; if they wanted to get paid then he'd have to agree to his new terms. Wicks denies the Chancellor's request, and tells his men to only disable the vehicle rather than destroy it.
| « | Go after them, but take them alive. I want to finally know what the hell is really going on here! Wicks
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Not long after, the insurgent vehicle is immobilised by Royal Flush and its passengers are forced to disembark. The insurgent leader identifies himself as Prince Orlando, and demands to a (rightfully shocked) Wicks that he be allowed free passage through as the rightful ruler of the Kingdom.
Before he could elaborate any further, the Chancellor and his men arrive at the scene, with the latter immediately ordering one of his bodyguards to execute the Prince. Wicks cuts down the soldier before he can kill the Prince, much to the dismay of the Chancellor.
Death[]
The Chancellor once again demands Wicks to kill the Prince but he continues to refuse, remaining adamant that assassination was not a part of their original contract.
With the tense standoff reaching boiling point, one of the Chancellor's bodyguards attempts to shoot the mercenary but is cut down by Wicks. The rest of the Chancellor's men and Royal Flush mercenaries open fire on each other. In the ensuing gunbattle, Wicks is fatally shot by one of the soldiers.
| « | Kurt... it seems... that now everything will be up to you. Wicks' final words
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In his dying moments, Wicks hands over leadership of the team to Lambowski, entrusting him with the responsibility to see their mission through to the end.
Personality and Appearance[]
Wicks was a middle-aged looking white male with a mostly bald head. He always wore a coyote brown-coloured lightweight version of the Interceptor Body Armor (IBA) vest, along with a sleeveless black shirt and khaki pants.
Wicks was the kind of person who held a surprisingly altruistic and ethical outlook with his profession. He prioritised justice for the Prince despite being offered large sums of cash in exchange for silence; a relatively rare trait for a man in this line of work.
Trivia[]
- Although uncommon, Wicks can be killed by the insurgents in the very first mission of the campaign (Spy). This will lead to an automatic game over with a unique mission failure message.
- Wicks and Mark Reynolds from ArmA 2's PMC campaign share similar personalities, the same voice actor and even retain the same archetypes of being strict team leaders.
- Where they differ are their attitudes regarding ethics; Wicks cared more about doing the right thing (morality-wise) and ultimately dies fighting for it. Whereas for Reynolds it's the complete opposite, as he only cares about amassing as much wealth as possible at the expense of truth (but survives).
Gallery[]
See also[]
| Characters of ArmA: Armed Assault | ||
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Army | David Armstrong* • William Porter | |
| USMC | Davis • Leon Ortega | |
| SLA | Ramirez • Torrez* | |
| RACS | Andrea Riboli • Chancellor† | |
| Black Element | Denys de Jong* • Dewan Robinson* • Jamil Stehlik-Fawaz* • John Wicks† • Kurt Lambowski* • Tom Larson* | |
| Civilians | Isabella Ximénez • Joseph III† • Marian Quandt† • Orlando† • Raoul Gonzales* | |
| † indicates deceased characters | * indicates character status is unknown DLCs that the character was first introduced in: Queen's Gambit | ||