1. Their physical weak spots
He doesn’t have any, at least none that are specifically weaker than others. No bad knees, no bad back, no blown shoulders.
He’s been ridiculously lucky in his line of work. He’s never once been injured doing it.
14. Ingrained habits/forces of habit
Literally everything he does. He’s very big on rituals. I’ve mentioned before that he’s incredibly superstitious, and he’s both a control and a neat freak.
He showers the exact same time every morning, and he’s so deep into his rituals that he even washes himself in the exact same order. He dresses in a very specific order, ties his shoes in a very specific way, combs his hair a very specific number of times.
Again, he’s one of the few people in his line of work who’ve never been injured doing it. In his mind, that’s all because of his rituals. If he ever misses part of one, he’s convinced that’ll be the day he either gets caught or killed.
16. Dark secrets/’skeletons in the closet’
His metaphorical closets are full of skeletons, and they’re the literal kind. He’s killed more people than he can count, and definitely more than he can remember. But he’s not secretive about it.
He doesn’t exactly go shouting it from the rooftops, but it’s not a huge secret, either. Daniel definitely knows what he does for a living. Kreese absolutely does, since he called him. Johnny will know by the time things are said and done.
His biggest “secret” is his name. On paper, so far as the rest of the world knows, Mike Barnes doesn’t exist. No one who’s ever hired him, aside from Kreese, has hired “Mike Barnes.” They’ve hired a man with literally no name.
22. People who’ve influenced them greatly
Terry Silver, greatly, and to a lesser extent, John Kreese. But he stayed close with Terry, while he and Kreese had a falling out not long after the All Valley in 1985.
He’s studied serial killers, random murderers, Jack the Ripper and Nazi hunters. He’s taken from all of them small pieces of what he’s built into his job - always finding your target, always catching your “man,” dispatching them quickly and effectively, and not getting caught.
And all of those people considered, honestly, the person who’s impacted his life the most, and the reason he became what he is, even though it was never what he intended to do or have happen, is Daniel LaRusso.
I was not expecting Mike! This was great. Thank you!
