Geese Howard

Geese Howard is the chief antagonist of the Fatal Fury series and a secondary villain in the Art of Fighting series. His role varies in the The King of Fighters storyline, but he is always either in the position of a villain or an anti-hero.

Profile
Geese comes from a poor American woman and an Austrian terrorist. His father abandoned them after Geese was born in Southtown. Working for both of their sakes to surpass his father, he took up odd jobs around the city. Despite his efforts, his mother eventually died from poor health and hunger. Rather than dwelling in sadness, Geese tracks down his father in Europe and learns his father's real name is Rudolph Krauser Von Stroheim. He tries to assassinate him when he was 15 but fails due to his half-brother, Wolfgang Krauser, effortlessly stopping him. He tried to rid of his anger through religion but couldn't shake the humiliation of his loss.

Learning at a young age that power grants results, Geese trained in the school of Hakkyokuseiken with Jeff Bogard and Cheng Sinzan, under Tung Fu Rue's tutelage. Other games imply that Geese had also studied with other martial arts teachers, including the grandfather of Blue Mary and Toji Sakata - mainly Japanese martial arts styles. During this time of their prime, the three were once renowned as the "Three Brothers of Godly Battle". However, at the same time, he also started to build his network with the Southtown local mafia through intimidation and personal bribes. This is where he also gained the services of Ripper and Hopper. Sensing that Geese would not use the sacred techniques of the school selflessly, Tung passes the secrets of the school to Jeff. He had hoped to tame Geese's spirit afterward but he departed from the place enraged, and saw the end of the school's relations with him.

He focuses his efforts in overthrowing a kingpin named Mr. Big and he eventually becomes the reigning crime lord of Southtown. To separate his business with his mafia and to find a place to properly train, he also commissioned the building of his own headquarters, Geese Tower. As time passed, he also used the tower as one of the main operating stations for his own business, Howard Connection.

Art of Fighting 2 reveals that it is Geese who orders Mr. Big to kidnap Yuri Sakazaki in the original Art of Fighting. Yuri is kidnapped to keep in line Mr. Karate, who is being forced to work for Geese. It is Geese who orders Mr. Karate to fight his son, Ryo Sakazaki.

Although he was powerful, Geese had still not completely conquered Southtown yet. Hoping to gain more men for his cause, he hosts the first known King of Fighters tournament. Unfortunately, he came out of the event empty-handed and was defeated by Ryo. He was able to escape and successfully defended his turf from the jealous Mr. Big.

In 1981, Geese Howard kills Jeff Bogard in front of his son Terry's eyes and hires Billy Kane as his personal bodyguard. He sets up Billy as his champion in his King of Fighters tournaments.

Ten years after Jeff's death, Terry, his brother Andy Bogard, and their friend Joe Higashi enter Geese's King of Fighters tournament. Terry faces him on top of Geese Tower and defeats him by knocking him out the window. While the town presumes him to be dead, Geese was actually alive, apparently thanks to the secrets of a Chinese scroll in his possession. The scroll, called the "Phoenix Scroll", was later discovered in Geese Tower; it allows the user to speed up their recovery rate.

During Fatal Fury Special, Geese hears that the scrolls grant immortality, so he discreetly searches for them. The story in Real Bout Fatal Fury explains that Geese obtained all three scrolls from Jin Chonshu and Jin Chonrei. However, he strategically wants them destroyed so that they would never be used against him. In the same game, he finally announces his presence to the public and organizes another King of Fighters tournament to settle his differences with the Bogard brothers. In the tournament's climax, he faces Terry and is once again thrown from the tower. Although Terry caught hold of his nemesis' hand, Geese refused his help and wrenched his arm away from Terry's grasp, laughing while falling to his own death, for good.

Though there was speculation that he survived his second encounter, the story in Garou: Mark of the Wolves depicts that Geese had fatally fell from Geese Tower. He is survived in the games by his son Rock Howard.