CIVILIAN . VISSER, EMIL

Emil Visser

Cultured. Sharp. Vindictive.

Just 'Emil' is ideal, although close friends can get away with almost anything. In certain circles, he is known as 'Mockingbird'.

Twenty two

Nineteenth of January, 1990

Male

Somewhere between homosexual and asexual

Civilian

Emil’s source of income is two-fold. On one level, he collects information about various people and organizations in order to sell it to whoever seeks his services, effectively functioning as an information broker. He doesn't discriminate and is happy to sell information to all - gangs, government, private citizens. Assuming that doing so doesn't compromise his position, of course. At the same time, Emil also engages in acts of extortion, which is his primary source of income, which is where the moniker, 'Mockingbird' comes in. Commonly, this takes the form of blackmail, coercion and small-scale cons.

Personality

Emil is shockingly aware of his surroundings and of the little quirks of all those he meets. His mind is always sharp, and he is making careful observations of even minute details and just as quickly making deductions. As such, he is very perceptive, and is thus able to make accurate judgments of character. However, this ability of his tends to be clouded by distrust. Perhaps due to his cynicism, Emil has come to focus on the inconsistent, selfish and deceptive aspects of human nature. Therefore, his trust is hard to earn, but it is worth it in the end. Emil has plenty of acquaintances, but few friends, however, he is loyal and capable of showing great empathy and generosity towards those who he comes to trust. However, generally Emil is cautious and rather distant, even with friends.

That isn’t to say that he is necessarily always cold and stand-offish. Emil is a talented actor – he puts up a façade, attempting to mirror those who he meets. This tendency is not motivated by the desire to be liked by the other person, it’s more selfish than that. Emil wants to understand what they are thinking, to file that information away and use it when it’s useful. As a result, the ‘real’ Emil is hidden beneath a good upbringing, superficial small-talk and an oftentimes fake smile. Furthermore, getting an honest, straightforward answer from Emil is borderline impossible. Especially when asked questions to do with his personal emotions and feelings, he will fall back on vague, long-winded responses that will not actually answer your question. Evasive and secretive, Emil can create a sense of coldness, however, this barrier only becomes blatantly evident when people start trying to get too close too quickly.

Emil can be surprisingly cruel – those who wrong him or someone close to him should expect him to target them. He will not forget about them until he has enacted a ‘punishment’ of the same or greater magnitude that he had suffered. This potentially warped understanding of justice and aggressive loyalty is detrimental in that it clearly displays his stubbornness, as well as a chronic inability to forgive the wrongdoing of others. In that sense, Emil is like a hunter, who will stalk his targets every move and strike their weakest and most vulnerable points. Which are fairly easy to determine, given his observational skills.

His background has instilled a certain level of haughtiness within the young man. While Emil’s family is old money, he does not consider wealth to be a measure of character. While educated at a prestigious institution and taught proper etiquette, what Emil values above all is both ambition and intelligence. Emil views those who lack these traits as nothing particularly special, sheep that can and will be exploited. A more controversial view of his is that those who achieve status or money by inheritance or marriage are unworthy of what they were given. Given Emil's own background, he believes he is allowed to make that assertion. Thus, it is generally these types of people that he targets.

He's ambitious and determined - if he sets his mind on something, he will not stop, will not give up, until he gets what he wants. Emil's default is to pursue by any means necessary, and while he will try to avoid inelegant and dangerous avenues, such as violence, he will attempt to manipulate and con people to get what he wants. And if that doesn't work... Emil responds with more proactive means, like blackmail. He's also pretty adept with a gun, and using it isn't beyond him.

Nonetheless, this does not stop Emil from being street-smart and prepared to get his hands dirty. This change occurred with him reasonably recently, within the last four years. His former naiveté was replaced with a hard understanding of how harsh people can be in the outside world, where there is no one to protect you. Therefore, he is self-reliant, and while that is good to an extent, Emil’s ‘independence’ is extreme to the point where he tends to refuse help even when it is clear that he needs it.

Despite what image he may at times project, Emil has a sense of humour. It's just rather harsh and cynical in nature. He's witty, and while Emil tends to keep his stinging remarks to himself, those close to him know about his sharp tongue and penchant for black humour.

History

Romance between the aspiring French actress Chloé Marechal and Antoine Visser, a young Dutch businessman, began quietly. Both from prominent families, they met at a mutual friend’s New Year’s party held in the south of France. No real seducing was needed – the initial captivation was mutual. The pair first became fast friends, then a handsome couple, and within two years they were married. Everything was going rather well for the pair – Chloé’s films while already popular (perhaps partially attributed to her beauty as well as to the fact that her father was a renowned film producer in his day), gained a significant following in France.

Emil was born in Amsterdam on a winter night, and spent the rest of his early childhood years in the city. He attended a well-regarded elementary school, with small classes and big-hearted teachers. Emil’s observational abilities were noted early, he was attentive to detail and quickly showed significant potential. Almost surprisingly, Emil’s childhood was stable. Antoine and Chloé loved one another, and they loved their only son. The relationships within the family could best be described as casual. No, it wasn’t that there were any problems, no yelling, no crying in the middle of the night, no real disputes whatsoever. But neither were they all extremely, overwhelmingly close. They loved one another without feeling the need to remind each other about it.

And overall, everything was going pretty well – Chloé divided her time between shooting films in France and taking care of her son (who occasionally accompanied her to Paris), while Antoine mostly remained Amsterdam in charge of his branch. Despite having a rather stressful job as one of the three founding members of the Vos & Visser legal firm, the Netherland’s third most prosperous law firm and the result of a successful merger in 1996, Antoine managed to be a pretty good father. He cracked those mandatory corny dad jokes, cooked breakfast on Sunday mornings and helped with homework, and as any child would, Emil would roll his eyes and make snarky comments in response.

Despite his happy home life, Emil decided early that he would leave to go to boarding school. He was only 13 when he left for Britain’s prestigious Eton College. Emil was ambitious and always found himself raising the required standard for himself. Having both Dutch and French parents, Emil was taught both respective languages. To add to that, after spending his first years of school learning English too, Emil was confident that tackling the British school system should be easy. Despite being more or less fluent already, he miscalculated. The first year living away from home, in an entirely different country, was challenging, and that would be putting it lightly. Emil felt constantly awkward and isolated, as though he was watching everything around him through a veil. It felt like an excruciatingly long process, but those barriers were eventually broken down. This success could mostly be attributed to the fact that Emil copied his classmates. He copied their pronunciation, their interests. He immersed himself in British culture.

The first tragedy to strike his family was Chloé’s rather sudden death when Emil was 15. He knew that she had taken a break from filming, that she had spent about eighteen months resting in their country house, but the details were deliberately kept from his knowledge. Chloé was in a state of perpetual weakness for months when she passed away in her sleep. Emil got the call after class, on a Monday afternoon. It all felt very surreal. Perhaps the main reason it hadn’t affected Emil that deeply was because he was not there to experience the immediate aftermath – it just didn’t feel real. Or maybe he was just in denial about it. Either way, there was no real way of knowing. Emil was adamant to remain in boarding school, and refused counselling. He only returned home for a couple of days, for the funeral, before returning to school.

Emil graduated Eton College at eighteen with high grades, friends who defined themselves by their wealth and a quiet contempt for said friends. He returned home only to discover that the previous evening his father’s partners had made a sudden decision to oust Mr Visser from the board of directors. One day the Vos & Visser was flourishing, among the largest law firms in Europe, the next Mr Visser was out of a job and facing bankruptcy, allegations of professional misconduct and tax evasion charges. Antoine was too busy trying to work through the onslaught of attacks from banks and lawyers to stop to think, and Emil was furious. Never before had the usually calm, collected Emil ever felt so livid – the sensation of burning in his veins, in his chest was completely foreign to him. These people – fueled by greed and selfishness – had destroyed all former stability.

Aware of the situation his father was in, and not wanting to get in his way, Emil moved out of home and rented a tiny apartment in Amsterdam, above a cannabis coffee shop. After all, that was all he could really afford now that he and his father were facing dire economic strife. It soon became clear that Emil had never been able to fully adapt to the real world. He grew up in quiet luxury, and had spent the past five years in a boarding school famed for its top-notch facilities and subsequently high fees. But that was all over, and Emil was shockingly, painfully aware of that. In fact, the only certain thing left to cling to was that he was going to seek revenge. He was going to kill Piet Vos and his brother, Marten Vos, totally convinced that this would be the only way to overcome the suffering caused by the pair.

Emil spent several months in the café below his apartment, just observing tourists, the change of seasons outside the window, and obsessing over his own hatred. Frankly, Emil’s memory of this period was very limited - it was as though he was in a trance. Having become a regular at the café, Emil forged a fragile friendship with the owner, Constantin. He could see that Emil was suffering, but never asked why, and Emil was grateful for it. After some time passed, Emil let on that his pathetic resources were quickly becoming depleted, and Constantin offered him a job. Not as a waiter, but as a drug-trafficker. Small assignments, at first, just couriering illicit drugs around Amsterdam. Emil had all the required characteristics, he was discreet, neutral , quick on his feet and knew his way around the city. While hesitant a first, Emil was aware that this was probably he best opportunity that would come his way, and so he accepted.

Emil was quick to prove himself to Constantin, and within a year he was already smuggling drugs from border to border. With the Netherlands considered a gateway for drugs travelling into Europe, Emil was quickly swallowed up, totally absorbed, into the underbelly. Stealth became his forte. Working for several employers at a time, Emil made some powerful and rather valuable acquaintances. Having gained a significant sum of money from his work, as well as experience and confidence, Emil decided that he was ready to carry out the murders that had until now had been just out of his reach.

He sought the assistance of Seela, a childhood friend, and one of the few people of his many ‘friends’ that he knew he could trust. To succeed, Emil had to overcome a certain internal challenge – his distrust. He was used to doing everything himself, or at least micromanaging. But Emil was not totally stupid, and was aware that getting away with the murder of two people (and to make it look accidental, at that) would require at least some help. So after consulting with Seela, he first made contact with Mallory. And that probably wasn't even his real name. Mallory was essentially Emil's foil. Crude, overtly charismatic, energetic and roguishly handsome in his looks, it was a miracle that the two managed to get along. Yet Mallory was Emil's first and only love. Their romance – if it could even be classed as such – was fleeting, and lasted only as long as the plan to kill two men. Less than twelve months. Seela, Mallory and Emil worked together to construct a plan. They gathered information. They used their respective contacts to get ahead. The trio made an effective, dangerous team. Time went by quickly, and soon it was all over.

One quiet morning, Piet Vos plummeted to his death while inspecting a platform in a factory for an industrial action case. There was no indication of foul play – only an unfortunate accident. Three months later, Marten Vos suddenly died in his sleep. An autopsy revealed that he had ingested a large amount of sleeping pills and after spending the night drinking, the result was fatal. Two tragedies had befallen the Vos family, with Emil and his two associates unknown witnesses to both of them. This marked an end to Emil’s quest for revenge. Mallory, as predicted, disappeared the very next day, leaving behind only a phone number.

It was strange, almost suspicious, that the two remaining managing partners of Vos & Visser should die so suddenly, and within such a time-frame. However, no wrongdoing could be proved – they were merely unfortunate accidents. Nonetheless, Antoine suspected that his son was somehow responsible. The Visser family attended both funerals (because after all, despite what they had done, these people were once upon a time close family friends), and it was there that Antoine noticed something about his son. It was a slight change in his demeanour that a father’s eyes could not miss – Emil looked totally, inappropriately calm, and just a tad triumphant. If his son had killed those people, Antoine accepted it quietly and never brought it up, mostly because he sincerely did not want to know.

That year of constant high-tension, coupled with changing external circumstances gave rise to a shift in Emil’s thinking. If he had spent almost eighteen years sure of the fact that he will graduate high school, proceed to university and eventually take over the firm, now that assumption was thrust into jeopardy – everything was. He overhauled those plans; they were broken because he could not accept that life. At least, not anymore. The same money could be made by doing something that gave him that irresistible rush of adrenaline, something that he was good at. Thinking on his feet, analysing the situation, acting.

Currently, Emil lives with Seela in the Hollywood Heights neighbourhood. He decided to leave his home country after being urged to do so by Seela herself. And after all, the potential for his line of work was more in Los Angeles. Their home is located in a hilly area overlooking much of the city, and is actually rather secluded, allowing the pair the luxury to live in a scenic area and dedicate their time to running their less-than-legal pursuits.

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