Character-Santini III

Character Details

Character Details
Real Name:	Paolo Santini
Birthplace:	Barcelona, Spain
Specialty:	Acrobat
Team Affiliation:	Eagle Force Returns 2018-Present

Character Biography

Like the previous two generations of Santini family, young Paolo learned about life in the big top instead of school, getting a real world education from fellow circus acts instead of classmates or teachers. During a European tour, Paolo was born in a Spanish hospital, though he still considers himself truly American.

As if that early life wasn’t difficult enough, at a young age, Paolo’s mother died in a circus accident, forcing him to grow up far sooner than he might normally have done and also leaving a somewhat sour taste in his mouth for the entirety of the acrobat business. In spite of his opinions, he poured his full effort and attention into his circus studies, acclimating to the physical conditioning exceptionally quickly. While Paolo’s father withdrew somewhat into his act, the young boy gravitated towards his grandfather, becoming attached at the hip while he was there, and missing him during his sometimes frequent absences from the Santini circus act. It was difficult on the younger Santini, as his father started disappearing from time to time as well, mysteriously vacant.

At one point during his grandfather’s return, young Paolo followed him after one of his acts, late at night, and saw him doing some additional training, but training that looked much more like combat training than the circus work he was used to seeing him do. From that point on, Paolo would not let his grandfather out of his sight when he was around, becoming fascinated in combat training, wondering why he was doing it.

Shortly after his 12th birthday, Paolo was sneaking around after midnight, following his grandfather, and was confronted by him, revealing for the first time that he’d been aware of his grandson’s activities and thought he might be about old enough to work with him. During this conversation, he revealed that he’d been moonlighting, working for various European governments as a security consultant and sometimes an intelligence agent, two tidbits of information that pretty much changed Paolo’s life. He already looked up to his grandfather, but now he pretty much idolized him and begged him to get him involved in that life.

The elder Santini was hesitant, but continued to work with his grandson, helping him develop different physical skills while sharpening his mind, getting him indoctrinated into the murky waters of his after hours side business.

This was something he discussed frequently with his son, who was operating with the second generation of Eagle Force and seemed hesitant to get his child deep into that life. At the end of the day, he relented, and began working with both his father and Paolo on developing Paolo’s physical skills.

By this time, both of the older Santinis’ service to Eagle Force was long done, and he never mentioned his association with the classified organization, though Paolo picked up on some things through various conversations his grandfather had with his father.

Like a good pupil, Paolo continued excelling in his circus training during the day, while religiously following combat training protocols at night, with his father being much more available as he got older and less able to work for the governments of the world. As Paolo turned eighteen and began developing into a competent, intelligent, well-conditioned young man, his father began introducing him to some of his intelligence contacts and bringing him along with him on some simpler, less dangerous operations. The young Santini took to this like a fish to water and soon enough he was beginning to run his own operations, taking over for some of the more physical missions where his father could not.

Paolo’s father and he began forming a stronger bond through these operations, growing closer and closer as they worked side-by-side.

By this time his grandfather was frail and unable to participate in much of their training, but through the work of two previous generations of Santinis, Paolo evolved with a very unique skillset combining acrobatics, combat, and firearms into a very unique style of battle that even his father and grandfather had not grown to in their years of training. Starting so young and pulling inspiration from various different generations of the Santini family gave Paolo a deep appreciation for hard work and a unique perspective on the combination of flexibility and power when dealing in high stress combat situations.

This perspective would grow to become immensely valuable in a few years down the line as R.I.O.T. made their very public emergence back into the terrorist world. Extremely disturbed by this new threat and what it meant to the European way of life, Paolo Santini confronted his father, asking what they could do, insisting that with their skills, there must be some way they can fight back against the threat of R.I.O.T.

At this point his father confessed his previous involvement with Eagle Force and also told his son that the next iteration of Eagle Force had asked him to come along as a consultant.

Paolo insisted on coming along, and after a quick phone call to Captain Eagle and General Brown, he joined his father in a consulting role for the special operations team.

It didn’t take long for his physical prowess to become evident and while the elder Santini remained in a consultative role, his son was asked to join the Eagle Force team itself in a more involved and combat-ready frame of mind. While his father wasn’t especially happy with the idea, Paolo was a grown man and eagerly volunteered to join up, bringing his unique and invaluable skillset to the front lines.

Notable Commendations

"We used to harass Santini about being fast and flexible, but a terrible shot. But his boy? His boy can flip, sneak, and shoot. He's a triple threat right there." - General Brown

Action Figures

Series 2