Gabriel "Skin Coat" Merino is the supporting character of Haze.
Overview[]
Gabriel Merino is the leader of the Promise Hand, a militia army that was formed to counter the threat posed by Mantel Global industries when it sent it's private army to invade the region.
Biography[]
Gabriel Merino is often believed to eat his prisoners and have a long coat made from their flayed skin, but when he is finally confronted, it if found out that this is all lies made up by Mantel, and that his coat is in fact made of "100% cotton".
When Shane Carpenter first meets him, Merino debates with Shane on the nature of war, specifically the one that they are fighting in, the debate ends with his words "My friend... There are always two sides to every war. Are you sure you are on the right side?". Before he can continue any further Sgt. Duvall and his squad breaks down the door and drags Merino into a lift and cuts off his index finger as "Payback for stealing our meds".
When Merino is dragged onto the Mantel drop-ship Sgt. Duvall's squad-mates say that Merino took more then "just a finger's worth" and are about to cut off his hands when Shane Carpenter pulls his gun out and aims at Duvall's head. A fire-fight then ensues and the pilot is killed, causing the drop-ship to crash in the swamp.
Merino escapes the crash-site safely and his men help rescue the other survivors, but when they reach the village Duvall and his squad start attacking the rebels and Merino is almost killed by Duvall when a squad of rebels drive him back, he then instructs Carpenter to neutralise the other two squad members before being sending him to a heavily fortified beach to investigate a Mantel distress beacon.
After Shane escapes the beached cargo ship he is picked up by Merino in a chopper, but is attacked by Duvall's drop-ship and has to participate in a long air battle. Once Duvall's ship retreats Merino and Shane make their way to the village, which is under siege by the time they arrive.
Once the assault on the village is stopped, Merino puts a desperate plan into action: Sending in a small squad to neutralise the regional Nectar administrator controller at the observatory, and then using a cruse missile to destroy the heavily defended Mantel Land Carrier.
After the Nectar administrator is destroyed, the Mantel troopers begin to realize the atrocities that they have committed and go insane, making them defenceless against the final assault on the Land Carrier before they can attack it with the missile.
Merino then gathers his army for a great speech before sending in the attack wave and when a soldier admits that he is scared, Merino replies that all he is feeling is "Chemicals interfering" with his brain.
Merino is not seen again until the missile is launched, where he quickly picks up Shane right before the missile hits and destroys the Land Carrier. He then tells Shane that he will use the captured Nectar, combined with "free will" and "confidence", claiming that Mantel's use was mere "mismanagement", and calls them animals, just like Duvall when he described the rebels.