A152 - Clayton "Clay"
Clay comes from a line of traders and ship captains, his father was killed when his cargo vessel was attacked and destroyed after it inadvertently exited slipspace just outside a Covenant carrier, it did not last very long. He and his mother were visiting Arcadia when the Covenant attacked Pirth City in 2531. His mother sacrificed herself to rescue him when a squad of elites fired upon them, she shielded him as they ran, taking every plasma bolt to the back, she died just as a team of SPARTAN IIs arrived. One of the Spartans, Jerome as he went by, kept Clay shielded as they pushed back the Covenant forces. A wraith separated Jerome and Clay from the rest of the Spartans, and they were brought face to face with Zealot class elites.
Jerome combated the rest as one tried to dispatch Clay. Clay managed to elude the zealot, but only angered the towering alien, when finally, confronted Clay, ready to deliver the final blow before Clay ran a piece of glass into the elite's eye, blinding it before Jerome finished it off.
Impressed with Clay's display of courage, he recommended Colonel James Ackerson to sign Clay into the Spartan III program, after discovering Clay had become orphaned during the attack. Shortly after, Jerome left with two other members of Red Team aboard the Spirit of Fire.

Clay managed to score a place in Beta Company, and was ultimately one of the very few survivors from Operation: TORPEDO.

Clay is headstrong and a bit of a hothead sometimes, he is one of those who hates to be corrected or lectured, he has even gotten into an argument with his superiors a few times. His volatile nature is only rivaled by his lack of fear in high stress situations, his lack of fear is what cost him his right eye, and even the damages from the event still remain on his armor, to remind him of what he nearly lost. He is one of those people who goes by the quote "if you ain't got nothing at all, you have nothing to lose", losing his mother was the most devastating impact on Clay, to a point where he has become socially detached. He has little respect for many UNSC officers, but so far he shows deep respect to Colonel Ackerson, SCPO Mendez, and a few other Spartans.
Although Clay has a knack for close quarters combat, he is often seen using a battle rifle, it is something he switches between every now and then to keep his long and close ranger skills in tune.

___________________OOC

Clay is one of my older Spartans, One I came up with back when Halo 3 came out. I know his armor setup is not 100% original, but I did add and cut out some stuff you can't in game, namely the big metal "nipples"[as a friend of mine quotes] that come with the upper half of the UA/Multi-threat armor chest plate, the lack of a combat knife, to just show how much he loves to pummel his enemies with his bare hands, and the dual UA bracers on his wrists and the CHOBHAM things on his thighs, plus the lack of knee pads, like in the beta.

This one I worked to put a bit more work and detail into than the pic with Sassif, which I hope to fix up in a final group pic of him and my other spartan, Alex.