Johnny Lawless is a thief for the European Special Corps.
Lawless takes tremendous pride in being in his line of 'work' - "villainy, blagging, thievery - call it what you like !. I'm a thief - a very good thief."
He is also an agent, of sorts. He admits to being an operative, albeit coerced, for what he enjoys referring to as 'Eurofuzz secret service' but he does so while making sure we know he is first and foremost a thief. He works for them simply because "it was either that or a long stretch in Brixton. No choice really".
As a thief, he sometimes took special orders as in the spot of breaking and entering and stealing that he does in the first recorded adventure. He was hired to retrieve something from a safe in a guarded house and he took great pleasure and pride in pulling it off. It is afterwards he learns that the beautiful woman who hired him for the thievery was setting him up. That woman, whom everyone working for her calls 'Mother', gives him a choice.
"You've got the wrong bloke!", he declares to her when she chides him for being a few minutes late for the the briefing on his first assignment, helping catch a few bad guys. "I'm a villain, born-and-bred. I'm not going to be much good at catching other villains! Honor amongst thieves!"
Lawless is a man likely in his early 30's, in terrific physical shape. Ruggedly handsome with lush blond hair brushed back, Lawless has a tremendous, almost irresistible love of taking exciting actions and risks. He enjoys taking a personal touch to his thieving, what he refers to as "the Lawless Touch", but is also quite comfortable using modern technology, such as a motorcycle helmet with special speakers inside aiding his hearing tumblers when cracking a safe as well as a collapsible hang-glider.
It is not surprising to learn but it is important to state that Lawless, when he is pushed to handle an assignment, is not above finding a way to profit from his forced missions. Yes, he carries out the tasks given him, even going above and beyond what he is told to do, but does like getting something out of it.