LogFAQs > #966896340

#27 Jack Cross
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Oh, Jack Cross.

Before Hassan, before Bobo Bennetti and Thom Kallor, Jack Cross was the original 'person who provides debriefing what it needs'. We met Jack Cross in Mesa Verde when he put a gun to our heads, and it's been all uphill since then.

Jack Cross may be a member of Checkmate, but he isn't a true believer. He's a doubter. He asks the questions people don't think about, or are too afraid to voice. He questions Checkmate's purpose, if it even should exist, he questions how much we even know about what we're doing. He questions people on a personal level, and adores reading about Hamilton Drew, the greatest detective ever. The phrase 'He's Hamilton Drew!' is often used as the only description needed of the detective, and that's word for word from Jack Cross. He sometimes asks utterly ridiculous questions, just to lighten the mood.

...One of those questions was directed towards Roz'etta, asking how her people have sex. This is not to be offensive or crass, but because his love of reading has led to him writing science fiction novels and wants them to be somewhat based in reality. And the most logical source of reality to base science fiction on is the local alien. Besides, everyone else has surely wondered the same things he does.

Jack Cross is what was so sorely needed early on, someone to lighten the mood, someone to question the field agents, but without the sort of authority where we felt we couldn't talk back. Someone who could talk back to anybody in Checkmate, talk bad about the way the world was before the Society and A-Day, someone who is just going to sit there and stand up for his principles, and someone who is happy to share a laugh with anybody if they tell a good joke...or a ridiculous part of a mission.

Jack Cross is just someone you need in the room when decisions are made, because if he isn't he'll point out everything that is wrong long after you've committed to your plan and it's too late to fix things. He's Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park (although no, his voice is not scar attempting a Jeff Goldblum impression, this is called an analogy), making sure that just because we can make some decisions, it doesn't mean we do. He tests our convictions, and calls us out, but he doesn't stew on things, let anger boil. What Jack Cross says in the moment is how he feels, and he isn't sorry about it.

And inside the great spy organization in the world, in the greatest political organization in the world, someone who will never hold back, whether it's anger or laughter, is extremely valuable. He improves morale of everybody when he opens his mouth, because well...

He's Jack Cross!

Hint for #26: This character is, or was, part of a super team.