Albert Bolden

"Family. Honor. These things are nothing next to the Templar Order. The one source of light in a midnight world."

―The Black Cross to Darius Gift, 1927.

The Black Cross

Albie Bolden (born 1893), better known as the "Black Cross", was a Templar agent active during the early 20th century, who traveled around the world under the guise of the leading trumpeter in Albie Bolden and the Harlem Hotsteppers, a touring night club jazz band.

The Black Cross was not the first Templar to carry the title, which was bestowed upon the members of a branch within the Templar Order tasked with keeping the Grand Masters of the various Rites in line with the Templar Code and to eradicate any corruption of the Templar value. The agent was known for his signature weapon, which was a bladed pin shaped as a black Templar cross.

Biography

Early life

Before becoming the man known simply as Black Cross, the Templar agent was a soldier who fought in the trenches of World War I until he was injured by an explosion.

In February 1927, while in London, the Black Cross executed Thaddeus Gift for stealing money from his fellow Templars and for using the good name of the Order to embezzle money. Tracking him across the streets of the city, the Black Cross eventually slit his throat and cut out his Templar ring finger.

Mission in China

One month later, as China was marked by a growing conflict between the Chinese Communist Party and the government of the Nationalists, the Black Cross confronted and killed Yuri Dolinsky aboard the Templar-built train, the Great Wall, as it traveled through Chekiang province for using it to support the warlord Zhang Zongchang in opposition to the Order's interests.

In April, the Black Cross was playing with his band in Shanghai when he witnessed the arrival of Darius Gift in the club where he was playing. He followed Gift outside when the package he was supposed to deliver to the Shanghai Rite was stolen by a prostitute named Roo. From a nearby roof, the Black Cross observed two Frenchmen approaching Gift, believing that the newly arrived young man was the Black Cross, before deciding to intervene.

Equipment and skills

Black Cross was a capable freerunner and climber able to scale buildings in London and China. He was also a skilled tactician allowing Thaddeus Gift to get to a phone to reveal his collaborators, and accounted for Yuri Dolinsky's superior swordfighting skills by cutting the tracks of the train prior to their duel on board which caused Dolinsky to fall and lose his advantage. In terms of equipment Black Cross carried a bladed pin as his primary weapon he also carried a sword on occasion, and possessed what appeared to be a kind of rope dart.

Gallery

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  The trumpeter