Nate (Guard)

Nate first appeared in Rocksteady Game's Batman: Arkham Asylum in August 2009.

Biography
Nate is a security guard at Arkham Asylum, one of the many present during the Joker's takeover of the asylum. He was taken captive and injured during a scuffle with some armed inmates.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Nate was on duty when the Joker was recaptured and returned to Arkham Asylum by Batman following an armed siege at Gotham City Hall. Every available Arkham guard had been called up for extra shifts, over heightened security concerns due to the Joker's return and Killer Croc's simultaneous transfer. The asylum remained dangerously understaffed and overcrowded, however, due to hundreds of additional prisoners it was holding from Blackgate Penitentiary, which had been leveled in a suspicious fire.

With assistance from Harley Quinn and Frank Boles, a mole inside Arkham's security force, the Joker was able to break free and orchestrate a mass breakout of Blackgate convicts, among them many of his own gang. The inmates quickly rampaged through the Arkham Intensive Treatment Center, which had been emptied of guards after a message was broadcast on all radio channels ordering the security staff to report to new posts near the eastern point of Arkham Island. Presumably, Nate was among these.

Unknown to Batman, the Joker had allowed himself to be captured and returned to the asylum so he could engineer the breakout and gain access to the Titan formula, an experimental Venom-based compound being developed by Penelope Young, Arkham's head of research. Young was initially captured in the island's medical facility, but Batman rescued her. Accompanied by Aaron Cash, she made her way to her office in the old Arkham Mansion to recover her research files before the Joker could get his hands on them. The Joker responded by sending Harley Quinn and an army of his thugs to storm the mansion, secure Young, and locate her research. The convicts killed most of the staff they encountered, but took Nate and at least one officer, Louie Green, hostage, along with two Arkham orderlies. Quinn personally took charge of Green, intending to use him as bait for a deathtrap which she hoped would kill Batman. The other three were driven in an ambulance to Arkham West, where they were brutally beaten by sadistic inmates. Nate attempted to fight them but was knocked to the ground, sustaining a minor concussion in the process.

Batman arrived on the scene shortly afterwards, tracking Quinn and missing asylum director Quincy Sharp, who was also being held by the Joker's men. He soon encountered several inmates milling about in front of the island penitentiary wing; they'd killed one of the captive orderlies and were busy assaulting the other. After Batman knocked them unconscious, the orderly checked on Nate and informed him that the latter had struck his head when the inmates knocked him to the ground. Batman warned them to get out of the open, instructing the orderly to take Nate to the Medical Facility as soon as he could stand.

Nate's injuries were not serious and he was expected to regain consciousness not long after Batman left the area. He was not encountered again, although he and the unnamed orderly presumably survived the remainder of the Arkham riots and returned to their normal duties following the Joker's defeat. The Medical Facility was later converted into a makeshift triage ward for all wounded patients and staff.

Notes/Trivia

 * As Nate cannot interact with the player, he is not considered a living character for gameplay purposes. For instance, Nate's skeleton is not visible in Detective Mode unless the player has him in visual sight, a trait normally reserved for inanimate corpses. If Batman inspects him with Detective Mode, he does not appear to be breathing, either. Somewhat paradoxically, Nate still registers a pulse and is identified in Detective Mode as "unconscious".


 * Nate resembles Eddie Burlow, but upon scrutiny has lighter hair and blond eyebrows (unlike Burlow's, which are distinctly dark). It is likely that Burlow's facial textures were incorporated into Nate's character model.