Charles Arbitor

Charles Arbitor is Erin's father, as well as an agent for DOME. Once the greatest enemy of the Dust, he finds both his beliefs and career in limbo as a result of Erin's choices.

Biography
Mr. Arbitor was once a police officer—such a good one, in fact, that DOME hired him to serve as one of its agents. When the Spokie chapter of DOME proved unable to handle the threat posed by the Dust, DOME called on Charles to move to Spokie and deal with the problem, leaving his wife Olivia behind and forcibly uprooting Erin.

Swipe
"“The Dust has killed. The Dust has kidnapped. Under Peck’s orders, the Dust is planting the seeds of a rebellion. And you think they’d show mercy…to you?” —Mr. Arbitor"

Unpacking is a gradual process, and Mr. Arbitor leaves one box in his apartment that probably should have been put in a safer place. That box contains information on Peck, and Erin, left alone there one evening, becomes curious and opens it. When Charles notices that surveillance supplies have been stolen from DOME, he guesses that DOME has a vigilante on its hands. He did not, however, even imagine that the vigilante might have been Erin. After Logan places a call to DOME in hopes that DOME will prevent the Dust from kidnapping Dane, Charles assumes that the vigilante must be at work again. Agent Johnson then informs Charles that Erin must have been the vigilante, since she visited DOME headquarters on the day the equipment went missing.

Furious, Charles goes to Dane’s concert and attempts to arrest Logan and Erin. Logan, however, throws flash pellets at the ground, blinding Charles and his agents. Charles follows Logan and Erin to the Fulmart, where he arrives during the stand-off between Blake and Logan. Charles pins Blake to the ground, demanding to know Peck’s location. Blake refuses, and then Meg Steward attacks him with a frying pan and cooking pot, allowing Blake to escape.

Charles is particularly angry with Logan for putting Erin in danger. He comes up with a compromise: if Logan will help him find Peck and the Dust, then Logan’s record will be cleared. He brings Logan and Erin to Slog Row during the street cleaning, but, for different reasons, neither one is able to point out any members of the Dust. Despite his initial hostility toward Logan, Charles allows him to talk with Erin on the day before his Pledge. When Erin tells her father the contents of that conversation, Charles leads DOME to burn the warehouse and chase the Dust into the woods.

Sneak
Mr. Arbitor works with Erin to attempt to track down and arrest Logan and the Dust. After getting a tip about Logan’s location, Charles has Erin give that location to Hailey. Using a DOME raid as cover, Charles sends his agents to ascertain that Logan and Hailey are together. He then tracks the two of them to the Hayes’s farm, where he mounts a second raid intended to capture Logan and the Dust. His agents shoot Papa Hayes and arrest Mama Hayes, but Logan and the Dust all escape.

Charles’s superiors are upset at his failure, and they transfer him back to Beacon City. Dr. Arbitor is not ready for the sudden arrival of her husband and daughter, and she and Charles get into an argument. During the argument, Erin sneaks out of the apartment to search for Logan among Beacon City’s Markless.

Storm
"'Look. You and I--our differences--they'll keep.' 'What's that supposed to mean?' 'It means I may need your help on this.' --Charles and Olivia Arbitor"

As if being demoted was not enough, Charles finds that Erin is not merely a runaway—she is a fugitive. Charles gets some updates on Erin’s location at work, but he realizes that he cannot depend on DOME to bring about a family reunion. If DOME finds Erin, she faces prison or worse. Fortunately, Charles’s instincts remain better than those of his co-workers, despite his failure in Spokie. When DOME thinks that Erin escaped from Dr. Rhyne, Charles secretly disagrees. His attempts to contact Dr. Rhyne, however, are unsuccessful. Dr. Rhyne does not trust him enough to admit that Erin is really there, so he comes up with a second plan.

Charles knows that some of the Dust remain in Spokie. He follows them during one of their attempts to find Eddie and manages to trap Blake, Shawn, and Tyler in an elevator. Handcuffing the three, he gets them out of the way of the IMPS and convinces them, along with Joanne, of his good intentions. Charles brings the Dust home to his apartment, where he and Olivia feed them, give them shelter, and use them to help contact Erin.

During the talk with her parents, Erin reveals that she is dying from Project Trumpet. Charles decides to act on her suspicion that she came into contact with the activation protein through the DOME equipment she stole, and he enlists the help of the Dust. Smuggling them into DOME headquarters in Beacon, he has them gather samples of every surface they can find. Then he sends the samples to Dr. Rhyne, who is able to find the activation protein and develop an antidote that saves Erin’s life.

Physical Appearance
Mr. Arbitor’s desk job at DOME has made him a much less imposing figure than he was as a younger man. He is balding, and the rest of his hair is messy and needs cutting. He has gained weight, and, as a result of stress, his face has become lined. His broad shoulders and well-defined forearms show that he is still strong, however—certainly strong enough to subdue three teenage boys in an elevator.

Personality
Mr. Arbitor has a sense of humor, but when it comes to doing his job, he is extremely serious. Under some circumstances, he can be very rude and unforgiving, as he is when he believes Logan endangered his daughter. But that loyalty to his daughter is what ultimately causes him to bring the Dust into his home, since they are his only remaining link to her.

Family and Relationships
When Erin was young, Charles and Olivia Arbitor had a good relationship. When Charles came home from his job as a policeman, he enjoyed clowning around with Olivia and Erin. As Dr. Arbitor spent more time overseas, however, Charles and Olivia grew apart. Both love Erin deeply, however, and the desire to protect her after her disappearance helps bring the two of them back together.

Skills
Mr. Arbitor is, under normal circumstances, a top-notch agent. The Dust, however, proves to be a challenge that none of his training or experience prepared him to handle.