Derek Lucks

""I gave you both everything life could offer. I housed you, trained, made you stars, and THIS is how you repay me?!"" ""Change of plan. I no longer just want her abilities for TAS Corp... I want HER.""

Derek Lucks is the main antagonist of Meta Runner. Serving as the main antagonist of the first two seasons and likely a posthumous antagonist in later seasons.

He was the CEO of the corrupt and abusive speedrunning company TAS Corp., intending to capture Tari and exploit her abilities to warp into video games, he is also the former boss and archenemy of Masa Shimamoto.

In Shutdown, he successfully makes Tari "his" after MD-5 fails to expose TAS Corp. to the public and she surrenders herself for their freedom. To ensure Tari's loyalty and prevent MD-5 from bothering them again, he crushes Theo's cartridge and traps him in the TAS Corp. server as "collateral".

Six months later, he prepares to introduce Tari into the main lineup of TAS Corp. Runners alongside Evelyn Claythorne.

In Fatal Error, he meets his fate, as MD-5 successfully expose TAS Corp. for the company it really is and has himself set to be arrested. However, this does not come to be, as due to a frame-up by (presumably) Dr. Sheridan, he is forcibly shot dead by Masa.

Appearance
Lucks was a Caucasian male with blue eyes, slicked-back blonde hair, brown eyebrows, and light beard stubble. His usual outfit was a blue business suit with a white undershirt and black tie. In season 2, his suit had more of a teal color and his eyebrows changed to match the color of his hair.

Personality
On the surface, Lucks appeared to be a man very much in control of his emotions. No matter the situation, he always spoke with an even keel whether it's giving orders or threatening a subordinate. Just beneath that, however, he possessed some strong anger issues and had no problem with making others suffer for his goals. Right before his fate, however, he chuckles as he manages to sarcastically congratulate "him" for his victory rather than being afraid.

Lucks proved himself to be an opportunist as he saw almost anything as an opportunity in some kind of way and seeked to take advantage of it. This led to moments of obsession, such as his desire to make Tari "his". He never cared who he hurt or what gets destroyed along the way as long as it suited his goals. He did have some measure of self-restraint, taking precautions not to raise attention when possible.

It can be seen, however, that he would go to extreme lengths when necessary to achieve his goals, such as when he shot Masa's Meta Runner arm off or entrapped Theo in a comatose-like state after destroying his game cartridge, as 'collateral' to keep Tari loyal to TAS Corp and dissuade MD-5 from giving TAS Corp any more trouble. Later, when his leverage against MD-5 is endangered when Tari warps into Theo's game to rescue him, Lucks took advantage of Evelyn's hatred for the former and gave her connection to the game to stop Tari.

History
Not much is known about Lucks, but it is revealed that he invented the titular Meta Runner arm.

He became an insanely popular CEO of the world-renowned gaming tool production company, TAS Corp.. He was even associated with authorities and soldiers. However, he was secretly performing illegal acts into becoming rich and powerful.

He had his own team of Meta Runners manufactured by his company, led by Masa Shimamoto, and includes a range of people including Belle Fontiere and Lucinia Porter. He also had scientists working on other products, one of them being Dr. Sheridan, who struggles the most.

Eventually, he discovered an explosion taken place in Sheridan's lab, believing that the scientist wanted to coverup his mistakes. On the same day, Lucinia disappeared.

Masa suspected that Lucks was behind her (possible) death, and hacked into his files. Masa was eventually caught and decommissioned from TAS Corp.

And shortly after, he finds Lucinia's body with the left arm destroyed in the old lab and called a medical team. It's believed Lucinia is the subject on Shutdown's post-credits.

For a whole year, Lucks, Belle, and his team have been fighting a rebellion led by Masa, that consists of Lamar Williams and Sofia Porter, two of which's lives were "destroyed" by him.

One day, he was disappointed at Belle's failure in the speedrun tournament on Ultra Jump Mania. He and Belle later discover Tari's ability to transport her conscience into video games. he orders the TAS Corp. scientists into the room for experimentation. He attaches a controller into the game and plays as a discolored Theo. He tries to make conversation with Tari about her greatness while having a tracker placed inside her Meta Runner arm. Despite putting her in pain, he chose to keep going forward, saying that pain is an obstacle.

He accidentally causes Tari to break herself out of the game and bring Theo to life. He tries to apologize to Tari, but she refuses and walks away, with Theo calling him a final boss that would be killed later. A guard attempts to block the path, only for Theo to throw a coconut in his face.

He later tracked Tari and Theo down at The Hive and sent Belle and a few soldiers to capture them. He drives after the transport van that holds Tari and witnesses Lamar Williams crash his car into it. A car chase is initiated as he allows Belle to drive with a Bluetooth controller. At one point, she accidentally crashes the car, much to Lucks' frustration. When the police are about to get them, he contacts the police chief to call of their duty, revealing his connections to other authorities. He witnesses Tari's ability to evade a barrier of TAS Corp. soldiers. That's where he says his famous line "I want HER", vowing to gain Tari's power.

He later instructs Belle to find information about Project Blue at the laboratories, since Tari has a similar logo. Meanwhile, since he can't track Tari down anymore, he uses Theo's cartridge to hack into the latter's eyesight. Belle, traumatized, reveals to Lucks the footage she found, showcasing the incident of Dr. Sheridan and Lucinia. Later on, he finds out about the plans of MD-5.

At the big Tempest competition, he had his team of Meta Runners log into the server to prevent MD-5 from performing the glitch. While the others have failed, Belle has succeeded in killing most, including Masa. Instead of finishing Tari off as Lucks asked her to, Belle removes her speaker and begins to torture and question Tari about Lucinia. Later, Tari was able to fend her off and execute the glitch.

Lucks turns furious at Belle's missed opportunity but later chooses a backup plan. He manages to corner the group into a circular room and has his soldiers beat them down. He bargains Masa's life for the sake of Sofia to give in her phone, even going so far as to breaking Masa's meta runner arm. Sofia tearfully gives away the phone, and the soldiers delete the hacked information. Belle reveals the "truth" to Sofia about her sister. Lucks further reveals that he used Theo as a spy. As he and his soldiers were about to have the group imprisoned, Tari offers her membership in return for her friends' freedom. Lucks makes sure of this by crushing Theo's cartridge, holding the boy's conscience hostage.

It's later revealed that he has been experimenting on a person in a lab, who might be Lucinia considering the feminine silhouette in the human pod.

6 months after the happenings of Shutdown, Tari works for Lucks and competes in Tournaments with Belle and the new addition Evelyn Claythorne. Lucks also has Theo on the TAS Corp. server and works on a way to get Theo back into his game without glitches.

However, MD-5 is still in action, with Belle and Tari, and the show match is being chaos.

After Tari wins the Showmatch, Lucks attempts to do a security check around the arena, but is tackled by Masa, who gives him a black eye. Mercenaries find Belle in the Lab, and Lucks brings Masa and Belle into a van.

Lucks is furious that Tari, Lamar, and Sofia got away, and has to hold Masa, Belle and Theo hostage to save his company from public exposure. "Everything I did, I did to protect this company" - Lucks, Soft Lock

Lucks attempts to kill Masa in front of MD-5, but got exposed in front of the entire people of Silica City. He later gets shot by Masa, whose arm was hacked by Dr. Sheridan.

Trivia

 * Lucks appeared to have much power and influence in Silica City, as his company, TAS Corp seemed to be #1 in the production of gaming tools and enhancers, and even has the Chief of Police in his pocket.
 * Despite being head of one of the biggest gaming corporations in the city, Lucks was noted as having no skill with video games whatsoever.
 * Lucks was mistakenly listed as “Lux” in the official trailer description on YouTube.
 * Lucks went through a redesign since his appearance in the trailer, this was because the team felt it would better fit his character.

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