| “ | It's surprisingly tough to go from being the guy who knows everything that's going on school to some dumb jock who didn't even realize there was a war going on around him. I can fix that. I just have to gather info. | ” |
-Return to Paradise
| ||
Mark James was the ex-boyfriend of Sarah Hart. He was a Senior, and the star quarterback, at Paradise High School at the time that John (Number Four) attended and was instantly jealous of the relationship he formed with Sarah.
Mark later redeems himself by fighting along side Number Four and Number Six during Battle of Paradise High School and remains in Paradise when they leave. After the battle Mark becomes involved with online alien conspiracies and investigates the intentions of the FBI which have swarmed the town.
Appearance
Mark is described as the school's tough guy. He has black hair, usually full of hair gel and styled carefully with meticulously trimmed sideburns. He has bushy eyebrows and dark eyes.
At school he wears a letterman jacket with his name written in gold letters across the back. He is tall and loves football.
Biography
Paradise High School
Mark was a popular student at Paradise and was a talented football player. His activities gained many rewards and attention from the Paradise Gazette, something the Principle, Mr. Harris, was very proud of and favoured him as a result.
At an unknown time Mark began dating Sarah, a cheerleader at the time. They were together for two years before Sarah realised that she was becoming like Mark, drinking at parties and being nasty to people. She broke up with him after her trip to her Aunt's in Colorado and he couldn't get over it, believing that she would come back to him.
When John Smith comes to Paradise and becomes friendly with Sarah, Mark grows jealous and taunts him. On separate occasions he steals John's phone, throws meatballs at him and Sam and puts manure in their lockers.
Shepard Falls Incident
Mark plots to attack John during haunted tractor ride at the Halloween fair. Mark and his friends, equipped with night vision goggles borrowed from the Police Department, kidnap Sarah. Meanwhile, John is assaulted by members of the Football team, and forced to defend himself with his Legacies.
When confronted by John himself, Mark tries to fight him, but is beaten easily. John threatens him into giving up his vendetta and forces him to apologise to Sarah, who slaps him, before throwing him into the water of Shepard Falls.
House Fire
Mark invites John, Sam and Sarah to his house party, where he greets them both cordially. When a fire breaks out in the basement, he attempts to fight it, before being told by John that it is too late, and to start evacuating the house. Once everyone is outside, he is left to watch his house burn down in a daze. John returns to the burning building and rescues Sarah and Mark's dogs.
Mark, his Parents and the dogs move to his Nana's house in the country.
Battle of Paradise High School
When the YouTube video of John rescuing Sarah and his dogs is released on the internet, Mark goes to John's house in order to warn him. He is present for the ensuing arguement between John and Henri and witnesses John's Telekinesis.
After John leaves for the school, he follows with Henri who gives him John's Loric Chest to hold. When the group converge in the kitchens, he, along with Sarah, arms himself with various kitchen supplies, including several knives. When they are ambushed outside, he saves Henri's life by tackling a Mogadorian attempting to sneak up on him. John then orders him to take Sarah and hide inside the school. After this he takes part in the battle alongside Sarah, at some point he is almost crushed by the Piken and says that Sarah almost died beside him. He later tells Four that Six had saved his life on three separate occasions.
As John watches Bernie Kosar fighting with the Piken, Mark appears and tries to drag John away from the fight. John refuses, and attacks the Piken in order to save Bernie Kosars life. Later, when John asks Henri where Mark is, he says he didn't see him anywhere.
After John slips into unconsciousness following Henri's death, Mark carries John to the truck and later into the motel. When John prepares to leave he shakes Mark's hand and tells him that he owes Mark for saving his life, but Mark argues that Four dosen't owe him anything. [1]
Life after the Battle and Aliens Anonymous Blog
Mark adamantly denies that Four had anything to do with his house fire, even though blaming him would have got him off the hook completely. [2]
After John leaves, Mark struggles to go back to his old life. Since Paradise High School was destroyed he and Sarah attend Helena High School in the next town. Mark is still in love with Sarah, and sometimes becomes angry with Four, believing he would find a way to keep both Sarah and the world safe and happy.
After dropping Sarah off he drives by Paradise High School. When he sees an officer he knows from school. He asks whether he could sneak in to school since he left his Letterman jacket in his locker. Todd refuses and tells him even he is not allowed beyond this point. When Mark returns home he finds that his Father is in a terrible mood, partly because the FBI had taken over his office and partly because Mark's mother had called to say that she was staying with her family in Cleveland for a few more weeks.
Mark spends his afternoons on a blog named 'Aliens Anonymous' instead of partying with his friends. He befriends the editor, going by the name GUARD and shares what he knows about the destruction of the school. Flicking through news stories, they discover that people, with the same description as John, Six and Sam, were stopped by police in Tennessee a day or two after they left Paradise. They also find a story from Miami, a girl admitted to hospital after claiming that a boy used "mind powers" against her boyfriend.[3]Another story tells of a boy in India who is suspected to be Number Eight.
Agent Walker and the FBI
Mark and Sarah meet for lunch; She tells him that she is being followed by the redheaded woman sitting behind her. Agent Walker, introduces herself and her associate, Agent Noto, and sits with them, asking questions about John. She tries to bribe Mark with the reward money and gives him her contact number. Both of them leave and Walker gives him a number and tells him not to let Sarah drag him down. After Sarah leaves Mark calls the number and doesn't get a reply. He sends the number to GUARD who rings and speaks to an Agent called Purdy and gets his attention by mentioning the Mogadorians.
Having agreed to go to Alex Davis' house party, Mark takes his Father's truck. He leaves the party early and notices that he has his Father's office keys as well as the truck keys. He sneaks into his office and look through files to find out about the High school destruction. His father catches him, deletes the photos that he took and reads his messages from Sarah that tell him that John has returned to Paradise. He orders Todd to take Mark home. Mark frantically contacts Sarah, telling her that his father is calling the FBI and coming for John.
Mark is dropped off at home and he listens for updates on the police scanner. He discovers that John and Sam were taken to the Dumont Facility. He sneaks out early morning next day and parks infront of the police station waiting for Sarah. When she finally comes out she tells him that she was interrogated by Walker, Noto and Purdy. Sheriff James tells Mark that two detainees had escaped Dumont and that "weird stuff" was happening over there, referring to John and Sam being broken out by Six.
Mark and Sarah sneak out of school and go to Goode's house, to investigate the explosion/"electrical fire". No one is home and they see evidence of the battle the previous night. When they leave Sarah notices a black car. When they drive away the car follows and nearly drives them off the road. That night Mark gets a text from an unknown number asking whether he has heard of any sightings of John. He assumes it is Sarah and asks her to call him back since he has stuff to talk about. But she doesn't. He then types eveything he can remember about mogs in his computer and saves it as a draft on Aliens Anonymous thinking it might come in handy one day.
Sarah's Disappearance
Following the events of recent days, Walker and Noto comes to Mark's house, unexpected, tells him that Sarah hasn't returned home from school and asks whether he knows where she is. Mark wonders who texted him last night. He thinks that he failed to protect Sarah and failed to keep his promise to John.
Days goes by without a word from Sarah. He goes back to Sam's house, breaks in and looks through his room for more information. He comes across the 'They Walk Among Us' magazine with the article about Mogadorians taking over Earth. He sends pictures of the magazine to GUARD who gives him phone numbers to contact the editors. After some failed attempts he manages to reach a man who is distraught, telling him that the Mogadorians "took everything". Mark suggests that they should change the blog's name to "They Walk Among Us' making it easier for true believers to find them. GUARD agrees and sends him an encrypted file with information about Purdy.
After leaving notes for his family and creating an automatic blog post of his draft Mark sneaks into the police office with thanks to GUARD creating a distraction. Mark sees Purdy exiting his father's office with a Mogadorian who says that they will be taking over the operations in Paradise. When they leave Mark sneaks into the office and hacks into Purdy's laptop. He sees email which mentions that Sarah is in Dulce, New Mexico. When he hears Purdy coming to the office he steals the laptop and escapes. Mark sits in a diner few hours outside of Paradise and checks the laptop. He sees a file named 'MogPro' and when he tries to open it he accidently deletes the hard drive after three failed passwords. He decides to keep the laptop thinking techsavy GUARD can recover something from it. He gets in his truck and drives to New Mexico to save Sarah. [4]
Life as a fugitive
Mark races to Dulce to save Sarah. GUARD texts Mark and tells him to go to a gas station where he has something for him. Mark thinks he may finally meet the elusive GUARD face-to-face but instead a female courier messenger waits for him. She gives him a package and leaves. Inside he finds a netbook, smartphone, a usb drive to revive Purdy's laptop he crashed, a stack of cash and a grenade like object with weird symbols with a warning not to press the button. GUARD texts him back and tells him that the instructions are in the phone the messages will self-delete once being read. All of this leaves Mark to wander who the in the world is GUARD?! Mark makes it to Dulce to find the base being destroyed and evidence of a major battle. He enters through a mangle section of the fence around the base (It is possible Mark entered through the section Adamus had destroyed earlier). He sees a collapsed watchtower. (The same place Adam, Rex and Dust was taking shelter) However he is captured by FBI agents before he could make it into the base. They put a bag over his head and drags him into an interrogation room where he meets Agent Walker again. also he was very lonely and liked playing with his nan
Walker interrogates him and inquires about Purdy's laptop. Mark says he came to rescue Sarah and demands that she'd be released. Walker informs him Sarah was rescued by the Garde and Purdy's dead. She tells him that things have changed in the past few days. Agent Noto arrives in the interrogation room and Walker informs that they'll leave in the morning and orders him to gather all the assets they can from the base. She releases Mark and advices him to lay low.
Mark is quite shocked at being released and still having his truck and the rest of his stuff. He texts GUARD and tells him what had happened. GUARD says if he is serious about battling the mogs he will set up a base in Alabama for him. He agrees to it. When he asked whether he will him he says he has some personal business to take care of. Mark goes to a motel and checks his email. He disappointed to learn he hasn't gotten an email from Sarah. There are tons from his family and friends. He sends an email to his father saying he is looking for Sarah and wants to bring her back home. He sends an email to Sarah describing about what had happened to him. He reads the emails people had sent to him through TWAU blog and finds one about "weird looking community in a rich suburb in Maryland". He passes out before he could read the rest of the emails.
He wakes up the next day and plugs in the USB drive GUARD had sent him to Purdy's laptop. It boots up but there is nothing but weird commands in foreign language. He goes back on the road, staying at motels and constantly emailing Sarah without a reply from her. Half a week or so after he was at a truck stop near Dallas when he learned about the John Hancock Center being destroyed. He noticed a mog blaster in one of the videos and realized it was a mog attack. It prompted him to write article on his blog titled "Mog Attack in Chicago: Is this the Zero Hour?" with screen grabs of the mog blaster.
Later at night he finally manages to fully revive Purdy's laptop but the MogPro file is still missing. He learns about Bud Sanderson's "treatments" and others will join the cause when they see the results. He learns more about the procedures done on Sanderson by emails exchanged between Purdy and mysterious figure only known as "D". Mark gets a text from GUARD on his old burner phone telling him to meet with him at a nearby place. When he gets there he gets a call from GUARD on the phone he sent to him. A mechanical voice warns him that there communications have been compromised and not to get out of there. Mark runs into a FBI agent holding a mog blaster. He is soon joined by many other agents. Mark tells them he is working with Walker who has gone underground for a special mission. He tells them Walker gave him a homing beacon and when pressed the button Walker will be here within a hour. He tells them it's mog tech and has weird symbols on it. The lead agent orders to take Mark away and takes out the grenade GUARD had sent him. Just as he presses the button Mark overpowers his captors and hits the floor. A telekinetic blast knocks the agents off the ground and disables their mog blasters. Mark manages to get away just as the agents start to open fire with their regular weapons. A bullet grazes his arm and damages his truck which eventually dies down.
Mark makes his way to a hotel to regroup and tend to his wound. He contacts GUARD and tells him what happened. He sends him a truck under Mark's alias on the blog Jolly Roger with directions to the safe house in Alabama next day. Mark asks him how he knew where to find him. GUARD admits he had been monitoring his movements with netbook he sent. He apologizes and says that with all the double-crossings going on he had to be sure about him. Mark sends another email to Sarah before heading off to Alabama. He finds the base which was equipped with security cameras, computers and a rack full of guns.
He checks his emails and learns about a man named Grahish Sharma who had shot down a mog ship and captured a mog. GUARD manages to track down a recent photo on Sanderson and he writes article about him on the blog. He trains with firearms and is reminded about his family. He doesn't want to check their emails in fear of that he might want to reply.
Reuniting with Sarah
He sends another email to Sarah saying that he needs help. Later that night Sarah replies. After confirming it is really her he tells her to come to a waffle house in Huntsville and he will bring her to his safehouse once he is sure that she isn't being followed.
The next day Sarah arrives and Mark instructs her to meet him at a nearby parking garage. They embrace causing Mark's wound to bleed again. Along with Bernie Kosar they head to the safe house. They each tell the other what had happened to them in the past few days. They swap information back and forth with John who had been joined by Agent Walker and her team of rogue agents. They drive to a nearby town to get supplies when Mark's wound starts to look bad. Mark runs over a stop sign and is stopped by a police officer. They tell him that they are on vacation and had left their IDs back at the hotel. After making sure the truck isn't stolen he lets them go. He mentions what a peculiar name Mark has. Mark suspects the mog might connect the incident to the blog and will come looking for them. He immediatley informs GUARD who tells them it is their call to abandon the base or go back and get their notes and stuff. Sarah makes the decision to go back.
Mog Ambush and meeting Lexa
While they were collecting their things they are ambushed by mogs. With the help of BK they manage to shoot their way out. Mark is surprised by Sarah's shooting skills. When they are a safe distance away GUARD remotely explodes the base. He instructs them to come to his homebase. On their way they see the destruction mogs have left behind in their wake to find them. When they make their way to GUARD's base he aims a shotgun at them. He lowers the gun and removes the helmet she had been wearing revealing that she is a woman. She orders BK to heel in Loric. Mark recognizes her as the courier from New Mexico. She introduces herself as Lexa saying it had been her name on Lorien. Sarah notices a silver spaceship in the hangar. Lexa tells them she had been trying to get it running on Earth's primitive fuel. Afterwards, Lexa tends Mark's wound, and he, Lexa, and Sarah upload a video onto the internet, explaining who the Loric are and who the Mogadorians are.
Battle for the Sanctuary
Mark, along with Sarah, Bernie Kosar, and Lexa, are sent by John to aid Six, Marina, and Adam, flying there in the Loric Ship. After they arrive in the Loric Ship and rig the skimmers in the Sanctuary area to blow, they are attacked by many Mogs. Mark uses the detonator to blow up the skimmers, killing at least thirty Mogs. Mark is wounded, but healed by Marina. Then himself and Sarah, both armed with Mogadorian blasters, kill many Mogs during the battle. After Marina is almost killed trying to stop Setrákus Ra from entering the Anubis, Mark heroically saves her by shooting Ra in the ear, before Ra throws Marina at Mark, and Mark is then helped by Adam, and they get a wounded Marina onto the Loric Ship. As Lexa pilots the ship away, Sarah is slowly bleeding to death from her injuries. Mark, unwilling to see Sarah die, tries to wake up an unconscious Marina, bawling as he does. Adam stops him, saying that he could accidentally kill Marina, shaking her like that. Mark says that they never should have come here.
Relationships
Family
Sheriff James
Mark's Father is a local Sheriff. He is a good father to Mark and is always there when he needs him. He is hard on Mark when he suddenly has no interest in going to college, despite the fact that colleges were clawing at each other and even offering generous scholarships to have him attend.
Mr. James grows furious when he catches Mark snooping in his office stating that the investigations there are a matter of national security. He later asks Mark not to get any bright ideas running away with his classmates (John and Sam) when they escape Dumont.
Mother
Not much is known about Mark's mother, other than the fact that she is staying with family in Cleveland after the fire at her home. Extended company with her mother-in-law is suggested to be the main reason for this. Mark says that she has been weird and distant since the fire but he hopes that she will return once everything has blown over.
Nana James
Sheriff James' mother, gives them a home since the house fire. She keeps them well fed and tries to ensure that everyone is happy and safe.
Abby and Dozer
Mark's pet dogs. Abby is a golden retriever and Dozer is his bulldog.
Sarah
Sarah is Mark's ex-girlfriend. For a while Mark could not accept that the relationship was over and became overly possessive of her. After the battle and when John leaves, Mark and Sarah become friends again with their mutual experience with the Mogadorians bringing them closer. Mark is still in love with Sarah but has accepted the fact that she loves John. After the battle Sarah was the only person who he could talk about what really happened. After a brief meeting with John, Sarah goes missing. Mark leaves Paradise in an attempt to find Sarah, putting his own life at risk. He emails her daily with updates of his blog hoping one day she might reply. When she finally does reply, he is relieved and asks her to join him in Alabama. They work together on the blog, trying to gather information to help both the Loric and the unsuspecting humans. Their safehouse was compromised and they were ambushed by the Mogadorians. Mark is amazed when Sarah shoots a Mogadorian in the forehead, killing him instantly. Sarah is concerned when Mark's condition starts to worsen after being shot at and forces him to get medicide and let her drive. After the ambush they both head to Lexa, Mark's friend's homebase.
In The Fate of Ten, Mark and Sarah fight well alongside each other, both of them disposing of many Mogadorians. Unfortunately, after the battle, Mark sees Sarah die of her injuries, and becomes desperate, trying to wake up an unconscious Marina.
Allies
Lexa
Lexa, also known as GUARD is a fellow editor of "Aliens Annonymous" blog and a friend of Mark. She has been very helpful in assisting Mark to gather information about the loric, the mogadorians and their allies. When Mark leaves Paradise to find Sarah she sends him a care package. She later sent him a truck when his old one broke down after a being shot at by FBI agents and a safehouse, all of them leading Mark to wonder just who she is. When the safehouse is compromised she instructs Mark to head to her home base. They meet face-to-face for the first time and she reveals that she is a Loric.
John Smith and the Garde
At first Mark didn't like John because he started to hangout with Sarah, his ex-girlfriend. With the help of his friends he once tried to kidnap him and beat him. But John got the upperhand and beat his friends and him and threw them all in a nearby river. His attitude towards John changed when he found out John had saved Sarah and his pet dogs from a housefire. He helped John battle the mogadorians who had found him at the highschool. He promised him that he would keep Sarah safe. Learning the truth about John changed Mark and he continued to gather information about the mogadorians and Loric hoping to help the Loric beat the mogadorians.
Except for Number Six and Marina he has not met the rest of the Garde. In The Fate of Ten, Mark also meets Adamus Sutekh, and at first is shocked to see a Mogadorian on their side. He seems to have taken a liking to Marina, thanking her several times for healing him in battle. He later fights alongside Adam and the others in battle, and Adam and Mark help each other save themselves and Marina after Setrákus Ra nearly kills her.
Sam Goode
Mark and his bullied Sam because of his interest in aliens. But upon learning that aliens are real his attitude towards Sam changed. He apologized to Sam before he left Paradise. He later broke into his house hoping to find more information about the Loric and Mogadorians.
Bernie Kosar
Bernie Kosar or BK is John's Chimæra. Mark first witnessed BK's abilities during the battle of Paradise Highschool. Mark again met BK when Sarah brought him along for protection to Alabama to meet him. BK saved him and Sarah when they were ambushed by the mogadorians. BK expressed concern when when Mark's condition started to worsen after being shot.
Enemies
Setrákus Ra and the Mogadorians
After learning that aliens are real and some of them are seeking to invade Earth Mark started to gather information about Mogadorians and released them on a blog named "They Walk Among Us" which put him in the crossfires with the mogadorians. The mogadorians tracked him to his safehouse in Alabama and tried to kill him. He managed to escape with the help of Sarah and Bernie Kosar.
Appearances
Novels/Novellas
- I Am Number Four First Appearance
- Return to Paradise Narrator
- The Power of Six Mentioned Only
- The Fall of Five Mentioned Only
- The Revenge of Seven Mentioned Only
- The Fugitive Narrator
- The Guard
- The Fate of Ten
- United As One
Extras
Trivia
- The official facebook page launched an online interactive game where the player interacts with a number of "They Walk Among Us" bloggers searching for leads and collecting information. It also follows Mark intent on trying to find Sarah after she was kidnapped. These events differ slightly from the Novella, Return to Paradise. In both, however, Mark ends up in New Mexico.
- In "I Am Number Four", after he witnesses Bernie Kosar transforming into his beast form, he disappears mysteriously.
- He's the narrator of the eighth lost file, "Return To Paradise".
- In his senior year of High School Mark won an all-conference trophy which was later used to kill a mogadorian by John Smith.
- He goes by the name 'JOLLYROGER182' on 'Aliens Anonymous' blog. He mentions that he stole the name from the skull-and-crossbones flags flown at the Paradise Pirates football games and some of his grandfather's old navy stuff.
- His grandfather was a part of the Fighting 182nd in the navy.
- He's the sixth human to learn John's identity and witness his legacies.
- He is the third narrator to die.
References
- ↑ I Am Number Four
- ↑ The Power of Six
- ↑ This could be the incident in "Five's Legacy" where Number Five shoves a guy who disrespected him with telekinesis.
- ↑ Return to Paradise