The Pauls has other uses. Please see The Pauls (Disambiguation) for other meanings.
Paul Marion was one of Murkoff's mitigation officers who worked alongside Pauline Glick, known collectively as The Pauls.
Background
Paul was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and passed the state bar exam in 1987.[2]
Story
Paul is first seen trying to enter into an FBI office. He is heavily bleeding and is told by a security guard to put his hands up. Marion is reluctant and says he needs his hand to stop bleeding for the heavily inflicted wound on his face. When the guard repeats his actions, he reluctantly removes his hand and his right eye comes off with him claiming shock that he can still see from the detached eyeball.
Later on, Paul is seen telling his story to an FBI agent. He wants to admit the culpability of Murkoff and their inhumane crimes in both Mount Massive and elsewhere. Before he could finish the first account of his what led him to confess, a doctor comes in to say that if they don't get him to the operation theater he may have potential brain/memory damages. Paul refuses to still leave without getting his account done stating that perhaps forgetting would be a blessing.
Paul talks about his working relationship with Pauline Glick. They are litigators for Murkoff and are nicknamed "The Pauls" by their department for fun. Paul does commend Pauline's work seeing that she has good deduction skills and is able to solve cases pretty much by the book. Their first case involved Chris Walker. Pauline rightfully deduces that the murders happening in a company owned by Murkoff, that gives therapeutic services to war veterans, was done by the person in charge of security. This person happened to be Chris Walker. When staking out Chris Walker's home he suddenly walks in on them. Seeing that the duo has his childhood toy, "little pig" who he is very attached to, he attacks them. Paul tries to control the situation by shooting Chris in the face which only angers him to more violence and he is saved by Glick running Chris down with her car. Marion explained that a Muslim veteran was charged with Walker's crimes and put away for them whereas Walker is taken to Mount Massive as a subject for experimentation. When asked by the agent why he kept on working for Murkoff, knowing they are unethical, Paul revealed that his daughter has a rare blood disease and Murkoff is the only company that makes experimental medication for that disease which he gets for his daughter in return for his services.
Their second case involves Rick Trager. Trager is a philanderer who has inappropriate relationships with the female staff at Mount Massive, including his own personal assistant, and Waylon Park's boss, Michelle. After Michelle becomes pregnant he repeatedly on pressures her for abortion, causing her leak sensitive information about the company to get the litigators' attention. Pauline Glick decides to investigate Trager by going on a date with him and once they go back to his home he tried to drug her with Rohypnol. Pauline understands this by the bitter taste of her drink and coerces Trager, at gunpoint to his privates, to drink his own concoction. She calls Marion, who gets concerned for her, and quickly comes to pick her up. They go and then interrogate Michelle who reveals Trager's apathetic nature. Marion gets upset for her and convinces Glick not to simply fire her but give her and the pregnant personal assistant a decent severance package for their unborn children.
Though, later on Glick reveals that these were false pregnancies due to the women's proximity to the Morphogenic engine. Glick knew some aspects of the Walrider project as Jeremy Blaire revealed them to her, asking Marion to step outside as this went above his clearance level. The situation implied that Murkoff trusted Glick more than Marion and their partnership was never completely an equal one. Glick mentions that Paul never knew that he was also her "target" though the specifics of this context is never fully disclosed in the comics.
Glick and Marion eventually have a face-off with the Walrider. They go to investigate Billy Hope's mother. When Pauline reveals that Billy's mother sold him, a typical person with no mental illnesses, for money for Murkoff's experimentations, an enraged Billy comes out and reveals himself. As the Walrider, he kills his mother and then attacks Glick and Marion prompting them to blow up Billy's mom's trailer park home. During this case, Pauline shows she has the upper hand on Paul, as he seems a bit frustrated asking her questions and realizing that she knows things that she won't reveal. Though he accepts this as part of his job and decides to help her. When the trailer park is burned down he tells the agent that he had doubts that the Walrider wasn't dead and this case was far from over.
Their investigations finally lead them to Simon Peacock. Peacock had helped Waylon and his family escape though he was a former Murkoff employee who is recently supposed to be dead. Paul and Pauline are shown to be at Peacock's funeral, implying that maybe Murkoff got rid of him. Glick and Marion decide to defame Waylon's leaked video of Mount Massive by uploading bizarre articles with his name on the internet so people will look at his evidences with skepticism. They are also tipped off when Miles Upshur's bank is emptied out making them go to his residence. The neighbour states that Miles has been away for a long time and when she seemed to have seen him a day ago her dogs, who are usually friendly with him, barked at him as he entered the house.
Inside, Marion and Glick found no evidence of anyone residing there. However, they found a strange email that seemed to have materialised odd insects. Marion and Glick try to brush them off but they get on in their skin prompting them to take off their clothes and get into the bathtub and turn on the shower. This does not help so they finally strip down and run out of the house and set it ablaze hoping the company people could fix up the mess later on.
Paul notices someone going off, wearing a coat disguising their appearance, in the distance. He gets out in his underwear and chases after them. Paul then meets Simon Peacock, who tells him that he still has a heart and that he should salvage it and not be in this business. Pauline comes after them with a gun and fires at Peacock to stop him from escaping. They both notice, when Peacock swipes at them, that he looks like he is has corroding flesh but is somehow still alive.
This is when Marion and Glick start going their separate ways. Peacock gives Paul coordinates to the outskirts of Temple Gate. He lies to Pauline that he is taking time off for his daughter and goes to those places. He says to the FBI agent that he keeps seeing and hearing his dead wife when he comes close to the perimeter of Temple Gate. When asking why the agent seems so calm hearing this the agent says that this is the most sane thing in his entire narrative up till now. Paul is temporarily transported to the day in the hospital where he hears the doctor say that his wife has passed away. He even feels the moment he accidentally drops coffee on his daughter, hearing the shocking news and apologizing to her.
When he comes back to the present he sees a member of The Testament of New Ezekiel fleeing with Anna Lee, Ethan's daughter, who takes his gun and questions him on who he is. Trying to reason with the man, he says "Jesus Christ" making the man get angry for taking that name in vain but Paul gets the gun away from him and is able to pacify the cultist for a moment. Only to have the man attack him with a knife wounding him. Paul shoots him in self defense but this prompts Anna Lee to run away from him in fear. Paul then hitches a ride with a family as he needs medical treatment. Glick is annoyed at him and tells him that he does not work for Peacock, he works for Murkoff and that what he did goes against their clearance level and company policies.
In the hospital, Paul sees a tattoo of a cross with two intertwining wheels on an unconscious Anna Lee's chest, who has also been taken here by some people. He says that he has seen this in the bible as "the countless wheels of Ezekiel", and upon hearing that name Anna Lee goes into a shock and starts having an epileptic fit. Marion goes to call the doctors but Glick feeling that Anna Lee is a liability strangles her to death. Later on in the car journey back, Marion seems to be skeptical that Anna Lee died for the seizure and tries to verify this information again to a quiet Pauline, who just repeats it. Glick also then mentions that he is a good father and that perhaps he should spend more time with his daughter. When Paul goes home he sees that his daughter has been kidnapped, one of her fingers have been chopped off, with the words in her bedroom "You work for us now" written supposedly in blood.
It's suggested that because of his daughter's kidnapping he turned against Pauline which resulted in them having the shootout that severely wounded him.
Personality
Paul Marion is compassionate and kind compared to the ruthlessly calculating and indifferent nature of Pauling Glick, which makes her call him a "creampuff". He shows care and attention towards Glick though. He loved his wife a lot and is visibly shocked and distressed at her death that he accidentally drops coffee on his young daughter. He also loves his daughter. However, he seems to forget that she is a teenager now and got her a doll for her birthday which he apologies for. Though when asked what she would want instead she says for him to be around more implying that he has a workaholic life and is pretty dedicated to Murkoff.
He loves his daughter so much that he overlooks the terrible things Murkoff does so that he can get the medicine for her rare blood condition. He also shows kindness in requesting a severance package for Michelle and Trager's personal assistant feeling they were victims rather than liabilities. He is sensitive as when Pauline asks Trager's assistant on how many months she is pregnant Marion points out that can be an insensitive question. He also blanches at Trager's intellectual narcissism thinking the man's weak puns, attempts to be witty and outright sexualization of Glick to be in poor taste. He also does not like always like Pauline's dark humor. When she says "when does Murkoff hurt women and children" he scowls making the other apologize evidencing how he does feel Murkoff has culpability. Furthermore, as he has less clearance of some issues he gets curious enough to investigate things on his own when Glick doesn't tell him things as shown when he goes to Temple Gate.
Physical description
Paul is depicted as being a stocky man with curly hair and blue eyes. He frequently wears a white shirt, yellow tie, black pants, matching shoes and belt, as well as a black leather jacket. Following an unknown event, Marion received a severe wound on the upper-right side of his head, leaving him with a bandaged face.
References
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