Hardline (character)

Hardline (Frank M4 Sherman) is a male Yank born in Normandy during the Earthen War. He was a member of the Royal Armed Response Force up until the aliens arrived, at which point he was transferred to the XCOM Project and became one of the lead Heavy units. The only known family member of Hardline is Sherman, who is implied to be his little sister. The middle name of the two ("M4") is actually code for their family's integration into British society, like all Yanks are forced to have a serial code for their middle name in order to prevent them from being mistaken as Humans.

Hardline's work in XCOM allowed him to quickly enter Fielde's gaze, and he was quickly transferred to Strike One to become far more effective in working as a team. Hardline seems to have a personal hatred for Chryssalids, though exactly why is unknown. He claims his problems with them involve their scuttling nature, implying he has a phobia of insects.

Hardline was involved in the Exodus and Invader strike on the city of Trottingham, leading to the Trottingham Disaster. After the Midnight and XCOM had been alerted to the presence of an Exodus nuclear device, the teams were ordered to evacuate until the device was verified safe. However during evacuation (the XCOM team was on a Midnight Blackhawk, as the Skyranger would not be there in time) an XCOM Raven was shot down and crashed amidst the fighting. Seeing the pilot still alive and trying to fend off hordes of enemies with only her pistol, the team volunteered to rescue her by landing and extracting her by hand. While they managed to evacuate her back to the Blackhawk, the team was not able to escape the blast radius in time and the Blackhawk was caught in the shockwave, making it crash inside the fallout zone of the nuclear device. Hardline survived the crash only to limp out towards the ongoing mushroom cloud and collapse from his injuries, later dying of radiation poisoning and blood loss.

Hardline's death was heavily traumatising to all of XCOM, as he was the second member of Strike One to die after Twilight Velvet. Just like the aforementioned Twilight Velvet, his name was inscribed on the Memorial Wall by Fielde himself in bigger font with the words "Numquam obliviscendum robore ejus" below the words "Frank M4 Sherman." The translation for the quote is "Let us never forget his strength."