Origin

Milo, the boy who would become Bait, was the son of two alcoholics. One night while they were passed out from a day of drinking, Bait was playing with his older sister, Ashley. She was trying to teach him how to cut shapes out of paper like snowflakes and doll chains, when they were attacked by an animaltype monster, a large centipede like creature. It ate Ashley and cut Bait's two arms off. He tried to yell for his parents, but it wasn't enough to wake them from their drunken slumber. While he raced out of the house to safety, he knocked over some lit candles, burning the house down with the monster and his parents inside.

Creation

Bait first appeared in House of Slaughter #6 by Sam Johns and Letizia Cadonici

Major Story Arcs

House of Slaughter

Bait was recovered by the Order of St. George and inducted into their training program. Based out of the House of Slaughter, Bait's physical injuries and abnormal behavior got him a lot of attention. He plays and beats scarlet mask Edwin Slaughter at chess, with his chaotic game play and uneducated moves. Fellow white masks, Tybalt and Paris, often bully him, even taking turns throwing daggers at Bait, who never flinches.

The Erie Mission

The White Masks were on a mission in Erie, PA, and it was not going well. Twelve bystanders under fourteen had been killed in monster attacks, eight of which since the White Masks made it to town. House of Slaughter considered this a lot for a town with a population under 1,000. Another anomaly was that the local orphanage had no victims, so Slaughter House decided to place Bait at the orphanage undercover. They believed one of the children at the orphanage must be manifesting these monsters.

Nannette, an older teen who helped with the care taking of the others, would read monster stories to the children. Bait determined that she was the source of the monsters, however, she reminded him of his late sister. So, he kept his conclusion from The Order to protect Nan.

After the Erie mission, Edwin, who now worked in the morgue, was tasked with silencing Bait with surgery. Edwin faked the surgery, knowing Bait would never speak anyway.

Two Edwins

While hanging out in the library of the House of Slaughter, Bait and Edwin caught azure mask Nolan Slaughter spying on them. Nolan was suspicious that Edwin was triggering two different biomarkers on the house security system. Edwin genuinely did not seem to know what Nolan was talking about, so the trio teamed up to investigate. Through independent investigations, they uncover a number of phenomena around the house that bears striking similarities to phenomena that occurred at the New York branch right before it was closed.

Believing the house was being targeted, Nolan uploaded Edwin's DNA evidence to their intranet and got a ping on the double glitch. After following it, they found Edwin's former totem, Hermes, previously presumed dead but now a duplicitype of Edwin. Hermes had been secretly taking everyone in the House out with the help of all the retired totems. Bait had attacked Hermes and nearly got the upperhand while Nolan and Edwin tried to help any survivors. Unfortunately, Bait's totem was among the retired totems, distracting him from his goal.

To rescue Bait, Edwin destroyed the totem and reminded Bait that he was his hero. Inspired, Bait shook off the trauma of his previous failures and joined a group of Azure Masks fighting Hermes. Together, they were able to destroy him, however, Gerde Slaughter of the Scarlet Masks revealed herself to be a new type of shapeshifting oscura, responsible for the attack at House of Blood in New York. Surrounded by hunters, Gerde lost control of her shapeshifting abilities, giving Bait an opening for a kill shot.

In the aftermath, Edwin and Bait were made Silver Masks, responsible for investigating and hunting more of these new shapeshifting oscuras.

Powers and Abilities

Monster Hunter: Bait is a trained monster hunter, specifically trained in the use of his feet.