Dmitri Hadak

"You're wet. Excited to see me?" - Dmitri Hadak

Physical Description
With long mousy brown hair that is only slightly lighter than his Middle Eastern complexion, Dmitri doesn't seem extremely threatening. At 5"7, his naturally lithe physique serves well to hide the muscular frame that he's built up over time.

He's often seen wearing dark clothing that enables him to move covertly; most of the time meaning jeans, hoodies and beanie hats.

Background
Dmitri was born to Iraqi immigrants living in the Russian city of Toblosk, the historic capital of the frozen wasteland that was Siberia. Ironic, really, that his parents were killed when an arson attack on a government official's home carried out by the Russian Mafia spread to his house. The final memory the five year old boy had of his parents were their faces as they lowered him out of the second story window.

It was his luck that a travelling circus was passing through the town and he, as many small children, was drawn to the flashing lights of the performance tent. One small incident involving a trampoline, two trapeze artists and a bottle of vodka later, the boy was noticed by the performers who, after hearing about his parents' deaths, decided to take Dmitri along with them.

Over five years, the boy learned the tricks of the perfomance trade. Acrobatics, escape artistry, gymnastics, fire manipulation and aerial arts. The troupe travelled Europe, performing in many major cities across the land.

It was during one such event in the UK that a fire breathing stunt went wrong and much of the performance tent was set aflame. Due to injuries caused by trying to protect the only place that he'd known as home, Dmitri ended up in a London hospital with many others who'd been injured in the fire. Though it was no fault of his own, the situation brought back repressed memories of his life in Russia. Dmitri felt ashamed that he'd been unable to stop the fires that had savaged two places he had come to call home and the ten year old boy slipped out of the hospital at the first chance he could.

The boy had no passport, no formal identification and no money but too much pride to go back. He had to fend for himself on the streets on London, going up against other street-children, many of whom had joined together in gangs. Physically overmatched by the gang, all Dmitri could do was run and, employing his learned circus skills, was able to evade the roaming gangs of youths using a crude version of free-running and concealment.

Two years of thieving, running and the occasional fight changed Dmitri into a far more stoic, reserved boy; one with an unfortunate smoking habit and willing to do anything to survive. One night, he climbed into the window of the London home of a man being investigated by CHERUB. Considering the window was on the fourth level of an isolated townhouse, this warranted further investigation by CHERUB and Dmitri was taken in by the agents.

At CHERUB, Dmitri excelled in the physical tests to a standard unseen before in a twelve year old but barely scraped in through the intelligence exams, due to his lack of formal education.

Compared to his weeks on the Siberian streets and years in urban London, Basic Training wasn't that bad for Dmitri and he was quickly sent on his first mission. He earned his black shirt missions later after uncovering a people smuggling ring. Though his pride won't let him admit it, he holds the belief that the shirt was awarded to him out of pity for the four hours he had to spend tied up upside down in a warehouse.

Personality
Whilst at CHERUB, Dmitri has gained a reputation for being able to obtain items that others would have difficulty with. A thief by nature, other agents' possessions aren't off limits and he's been known to sell them back to the owner or to other agents, for a substantial fee of course.

A boy of few words, Dmitri is known to those who are patient enough to hear him speak as someone of laconic wit. His ability to move silently and to seemingly pop up anywhere have earnt him few friends and many nicknames.

Dmitri's three years at CHERUB have seen him gravitate toward very few people, the most influential being Tristan Weinberg, a hyper-intelligent who he respects quite a bit after helped Dmitri improve his English in exchange for Dmitri's "covert item procurement" services.

Selene Aello still remains the only person at CHERUB that inspires a combination of respect and fear in Dmitri and as such, he makes a conscientious effort to avoid her, though he'd never admit it.

History
Since the night that has now come to be known as "The Window Incident", Dmitri and Selene have had what some might describe as a "predator-prey" relationship dynamic. Though very little is known about what actually occurred that night, what is clear is that it resulted in Dmitri being semi-thrown out of the window by Selene. The actions which led up to this are unknown to all but the two.

Dmitri decided that the best course of action was to "play it straight" and avoid thievery as much as possible. That lasted all of two minutes but it did give him the opportunity to get out of English lessons by helping Red Shirts on the obstacle course.

One mildly snowy November morning wound Dmitri up in the Medical Block for 5 months with severe damage to his ribs and legs. Having completed his physical therapy, Dmitri is back in top form but vowed to stick to English lessons.