The first four hackers who developed Nexus 5:
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Kaden "Kade" Lane
The main protagonist through the Nexus Series.
- Bad Liar: He literally has to hack his own brain to regulate his pulse so that people can't tell if he's lying. This doesn't work as well if the person he's lying to can access his brain through their own connections.
- Berserk Button: He really does not like the idea of people using his technology to commit rape and murder. And god help you if he even thinks you killed and tortured his friends.
- Break the Cutie: The universe seems out to correct Kade's notion that he can do the right thing and keep people from dying because of his actions.
- The Chew Toy- Kade get's his ass kicked more than anyone else in the series, most of the time when he tries using his "Bruce Lee" Software
- Heroic Willpower: Forces his badly broken body up a flight of stairs to confront Shiva, all while Shiva is broadcasting his will at Kade from every transmitter available to submit.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Damn near kills Holtzman once he finds out that Ilya died and Rangan was tortured. His Conscience (as Ilya's voice) calls him out on it.
- The Idealist: Tends to get mocked for this relentlessly.
- Playful Hacker
- Pro-Human Transhuman
Rangan "Axon" Shankari
Kade's best friend and a notable Flux DJ.
- Cold-Blooded Torture- The ERD waterboards him to get the access code. They succeed in breaking him, but fortunately Kade has already changed the password by that point. Not that he knows that...
- Earn Your Happy Ending- Arguably gets the best ending of anyone in Crux: He finally finds redemption for breaking under the ERD's torture by convincing Holtzmann to free the autistic Nexus children and later protects the underground railroad by destroying the Van used to rescue them, all in the middle of a Hurricane. And he survives.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Once he realizes that Nexus 5 has already been released and that he just handed the ERD the backdoor password, he goes into a deep depression.
- Odd Friendship: The Indian playboy DJ Neuroscience Grad student becomes fast friends with Bobby and the rest of the Autistic Nexus children, with whom he communicates through a flaw in their cells shielding.
- Playful Hacker
- Pro-Human Transhuman
- Took a Level in Kindness: Becomes a lot less self centered after his time in prison. Mostly due to the Odd Friendship mentioned above.
Watson "Wats" Cole (Formerly Sergeant Cole)
- The Atoner
- Heart Broken Bad Ass
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Done in a unique manner. When he was captured in Vietnam, his captors used Nexus to make him live their memories of the abuse they had suffered at the hands of their government. This causes him to flip entirely and join their resistance, at least until his brothers in the Corps come to rescue him, killing his new family in the process while he feels them die.
Ilyana "Ilya" Alexander
- Can't Stop the Signal: Invoked by name at the end of Nexus
- The Heart: So much so that Kade hears her voice as his conscience
- Heroic Sacrifice: Knowing that everyone breaks eventually under torture, she uses her Nexus program to stop her own heart rather than give the ERD the password to the Nexus 5 backdoor.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Unfortunately, Kade had already changed the password to the back door before uploading it to the internet...
- Voice of the Resistance: Arranges it so that after she's been captured , a message goes out on the internet explaining the conditions of her arrest and exhorting people to speak out against the government's draconian policies.
