Los Hermanos Numeros (The Number Brothers)

Membership: Número Uno, Número Dos, Número Tres, Número Cuatro, Número Cinco

Purpose: To battle evil and demons, to defend the Mexican and Chicano population of L.A.

Affiliations: Angel

Enemies: El Diablo Robotico, Tezcatcatl

Base of Operations: Los Angeles, c.1950s

First Appearance: Angel #5.6 "The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco" (Fox for the WB Network, 5th November 2003)

History: In the 1950s Los Hermanos Numeros (The Number Brothers) were a group of five luchadores (masked wrestler) brothers who defended the people of Los Angeles against demons and other evil beings. When not in the ring, they played hard, but they were ever vigilant for the call to battle, even defeating El Diablo Robotico, a robot built by the Devil himself.

Sadly in 1953 they fought what looked to be their last battle. An Aztec demon, Tezcatcatl, was killing heroes and eating their hearts, and if he was not stopped before he completed his task, he would gain godlike power and plunge the world into chaos and darkness. Los Hermanos Numeros opposed him, and though they won the day, all but Numero Cinco fell in battle. Cinco buried them in a cemetery behind San Gregorio. Each year, on El Dia de Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead), he would visit their graves, but in spite of the Mexican belief that the dead visit on that day, his brothers did not return to see him.

Without his brothers, people stopped turning to Numero Cinco, who fell in with an evil crowd. Fifty years passed, and Tezcatcatl returned from the grave as part of his demonic cycle, ready to try once more to consume heroes' hearts. This time he was opposed by the vampire with a soul known as Angel. Angel discovered Numero Cinco's involvement in the demon's last defeat, and so turned to him for help. Cinco was initially reluctant, the years having worn him down, but did relate his sorry tale. On El Dia de Los Muertos, Cinco used a talisman it wanted to lure the demon to San Gregorio, where he hoped to either die, or to redeem himself. Angel arrived shortly before Tezcatcatl did, and witnessed the start of the fight between demon and luchador. Injured, Numero Cinco bled on his brothers' graves...and Los Hermanos Numeros arose! Working in harmony once more, the four revenants and Angel killed Tezcatcatl, driving stakes through his limbs to immobilise him, and then a final one through his heart, banishing him for another fifty years.

Their jobs done, the four revenants gathered up Numero Cinco, who had redeemed himself in death, and returned to the grave, finally reunited with their lost brother.

Numero Cinco: "The five of us were always joined, always connected. And when necessary, we came together as a fist. We fought monsters and gangsters. Vampiros. We were heroes. We protected the weak... and we helped the helpless."

Comments: Created by Jeffrey Bell.

Numero Cinco

Real Name: Unknown

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Luchador, superhero, mailroom delivery man for Wolfram and Hart

Affiliations: Los Hermanos Numeros, Wolfram and Hart, Angel

Enemies: El Diablo Robotico, Tezcatcatl

Known Relatives: Número Uno, Número Dos, Número Tres, Número Cuatro (brothers, all deceased)

Aliases: Number Five

Base of Operations: Los Angeles

First Appearance: Angel #5.1 "Conviction" (Fox for the WB Network, 1st October 2003)

Powers/Abilities: Skilled fighter, superhuman strength.

History: Numero Cinco was once one of five luchador brothers, Los Hermanos Numeros, who defended the Hispanic community of Los Angeles against any and all threats. However when his siblings were all killed defeating an Aztec demon, Tezcatcatl, Numero Cinco found that people stopped coming to him for help - alone he was unwanted and swiftly forgotten by those he had protected. He lost faith, and stopped viewing himself as a hero any more. Thus it was that when Holland Manners, a lawyer from the evil firm Wolfram and Hart approached him with a view to hiring him as muscle for the firm, he agreed.

Fifty years later he was still working for them. When he had become too old to continue to fight for them, they had given him a job in the mail room, and now he delivered the mail throughout their L.A. offices. Known simply as Number Five by the staff, who had no knowledge of his heroic past, he felt old and a sell-out, and he no longer lived: he merely existed. The Hispanic community remembered him and his brothers only as a joke, parodying them with midget wrestlers in the ring, a fact which made him extremely bitter. Each year, on the Day of the Dead, he would visit his brothers' graves and light candles for them, but they never came back to visit as tradition said they should; Cinco viewed this as another sign of his fall from grace.

Then Tezcatcatl arose again, once more seeking to consume the hearts of heroes. Hearing this news, Numero Cinco at first wanted nothing to do with the attempts to kill him again, feeling that heroes were fools, unwanted and unappreciated by those they saved. However the vampire with a soul known as Angel tried to convince him otherwise, even after Tezcatcatl passed Cinco by: even the demon felt his heart was not heroic enough. However Tezcatcatl also needed a talisman to complete his plans, which Numero Cinco had in his possession. Since it was the Day of the Dead, he went to visit his brothers' graves, taking the artifact with him, hoping to lure the demon into a final battle. When both Tezcatcatl and Angel showed up, Numero Cinco informed them he had swallowed the talisman, so that the demon would have to kill him to retrieve it. Tezcatcatl stabbed him through the stomach, but as he bled onto the ground, hands erupted from the nearby graves...and Los Hermanos Numeros returned from the dead. Working as a team, they swiftly eliminated their opponent, while Numero Cinco watched on, to hurt to join in. Angel, who had dealt the killing blow to Tezcatcatl, went to the stricken man, telling him that he had proven himself worthy once again, which is why his brothers had come back. Seconds later, Numero Cinco passed away, and his corpse was gathered up by his siblings. They returned to their gravesite, and then all five faded away like dreams.

Comments: Created by Jeffrey Bell, played by Danny Mora.

CLARIFICATIONS: Los Hermanos Numeros should not be confused with

Numero Cinco should not be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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