One of the most successful bank robbers in American History.

Inspired by: Ned Kelly, Adam Worth, Slobbery Jim, George Leonidas Leslie & Liver Eating Johnson

Thomas Avery had a hard early life which may have had a big part in him becoming a brutal man. Avery knew how to work hard at an early age because of the way his father taught and treated Avery.

Avery's father was an alcoholic and was very tough on him. He made Avery work for what he owned, which made Avery to become a very hard and unfeeling man when he grew up. Johnston soon got tire of his father treating him badly, so he left between the ages of 12 or 13 years old and became a 'bounty jumper'.

Avery was first charged and then acquitted of assault and robbery when he was 14. Over the next ten years, Avery was in and out of trouble with the police, did two stints in jail and eventually went into hiding in the wilderness. His gang is officially outlawed as a result of this massacre, which meant that they could be shot on sight by anyone.

The Rattlesnakes’ first leaders were Mungo Ben and Tomm Hocks, who were sixteen and fifteen years old respectively when they took control of the gang. Other noted members were murderers like Thomas Avery, Julep Smith, Red-Eye James Malone and Billy the Butcher. It was rumored that every member of the gang had committed at least one murder and scores of robberies, before they reached the age of sixteen. The police said that The Rattlesnakes not only murdered in the course of a robbery, but also for the sheer ecstasy of doing so, even if there was no hope of cashing in on a score. The police estimated that in the three years that Mungo and Tomm were their leaders, the Rattlesnakes robbed over $100,000 and killed as many as forty people.

The Rattlesnakes were the most treacherous killers ever to prowl the Wild West. When they formed their dandy little bunch in the late 1840′s, there were said to be three dozen members, none of them over the age of twenty. Some of the Rattlesnakes were as young as ten years old, but lack of age never meant a paucity of violence.

Avery joined the United States Navy, but was said to have deserted the Navy after striking the superior officer during a unknown disagreement. Following the war, Avery turned to crime. Here he was quite successful.

He graduated with a degree in architecture from the University of Cincinnati in the 1860′s. His parents owned a brewery that they left in the hands of Avery after they passed away in 1867. He found architecture and work at the brewery to be very boring and ended up selling it to pursue a more exciting career path.

Avery became the mastermind of his day when it came to bank robberies. He recruited a team of associates that spent months, sometimes years planning a specific job from every direction. After they picked a target, Avery and his crew used several revolutionary methods to ensure that their heist would be successful.

Avery would use his architectural background to his advantage and often acquire blueprints of each bank. Then, he would assign a member of his crew to apply for a job inside the bank to get a feel for things on the inside. With a good idea of how the bank was constructed, Avery would create an exact replica of the safe room at a private loft he rented out. He would even go as far as acquiring the same safe model as the bank and create new methods of cracking it. Instead of loud dynamite explosions to break open a safe, Avery used a custom set of extremely valuable tools to drill into the safe and manually reset the locking pins. This process sometimes took several weeks or even months to perfect. Lastly, Avery would grade his associates by making them do several practice runs in complete darkness to mimic the setting of the actual robbery. These are the methods that Leslie used to become one of the most respected and successful criminals in America.

When John returned to his cabin he found the scalped and picked over bones of his sister and that night he swore an oath to avenge her death. And to avenge it as no other man had done before. Or would ever again. So was the beginning of the saga of Heart-Eating Avery and years of grief for the Sparrow nation.

He not only killed and scalped them as was the usual custom, but in the case of Sparrow warriors, he also ate their hearts. A symbolic gesture to others of that nation who he had sworn vengeance upon.

The armor is crudely constructed from parts of ploughs, pieces of leather, and iron bolts. The prototype for the armour was made by Thomas and was tested by firing a stolen police rifle, which left a dent on the breastplate. He also wore Hobnail boots.

Weapon of Choice

A well aimed and powerful blow to the skull can instantly kill a person. One of his duels ends with him decapitating the county sheriff. Thomas has also shown that he can wield his gun like a melee weapon and hitting people to avoid shooting them after becoming a bank robber. He is able to fence with his Buntline special, 16-inch barrel, as he is seen fighting off Sparrow warriors with his colt and quickly gaining the upper hand.

Power

Optic Delay : ability disrupt a subject’s optic temporarily and “rewind” the subject’s vision so he will see a few moments in the past. When used, it can prevent the subject from seeing things until up to a few second after it has happened, and so people can easily evade the subjects’ vision for a few seconds. This ability can affect more than one person at a time and lasts as long as the possessor of the ability wishes.