Alex Basil Russel

   
   

Cold and reserved, Alex views everyone with a level of sucpison that he can not shake no matter how hard he might try. Intrinsically everyone wants something from others and tend to use whatever means they have at their disposal to achieve these means. To that end he has learned many methods by which to manipulate people and incorporated them  into his personality. Subtle ques are things that he makes use of, as well as has poured his entire being into learning to read. Everyone is a book, open and ready to read when one knows what they are looking for. If being affable means that he can gain something, then he is willing to wear the mask of the friend to achieve whatever ends he needs to. Products of the harsh lessons he has been put through his entire life, and ones that he holds onto like one holds onto a mantra.

To this end duty has become something like second nature to him. Duty to family as wells as The Silver Hand as a whole. Theirs is a mission that he respects, and will do anything to allow to further.  Despite being so willing to further the goals of what he holds dear, Alex is more than in control of his emotions. Anger, sadness and even happiness are not something that hold great sway on his state of mind. They are just things that he has, knows exists but also understands that can destroy someone. So they find themselves compartmentalized like so many other things about them. Feelings are in the end the doom of men, so he would not allow them to become the doom that would end him.

Trust is not something that he bears, and no one really can truly claim to have that despite what they may believe. Even still, he believes that he is helping mankind and at times that translates to helping people. How that help manifests depends on the situation, which may not always seem beneficial or even kind to the one being helped. He prescribes to the school of thought that good is not always nice, doing what he believes will help them in the long run with no regard to their feelings in the now. This comes off callous, something that he wouldn’t mind being called as it is not entirely untrue.

Even still, he is in possession of good qualities. Such as loyalty towards family, and the cause that he has devoted himself to. While friends are not something that he possess, but he can be loyal when someone has attained that loyalty. Even if it is difficult to do so. When these good qualities do shine, one may find that he can be a genuinely warm and even kind person; much like the sun shining in the arctic.
 

 Alex can’t say he knew too much about his parents. They were never a constant, or even known thing within his life. Instead from the moment he was born it was training, ever since he could stand he was expected to practice. First with weapons that his small hands could hold, then progressively larger ones. The training was something that he couldn’t call anything else than intense, working under the vigilance of Coraline along with a senior member of the swords and with a few others that were meant to be trained by her. All of them were given intense training, yet Alex had the feeling his regiments were always a step harsher and more difficult than the others. Was it some manner of standard that was set higher for him. This unknown reason was something that wormed away at his mind, and yet he didn’t do anything with it.

Someone had expectations of him, so those were worked with the best that he could given limited information. As time went on his body continued to become honed, something of use to those around him and his skills with the various arts expected from him also honed. He was driven, enough so that he tackled any challenge thrown his way and tended to succeed regardless of the things arrayed against him. Anything less would have been failure. Failure had been something that was unacceptable ever since he understood the concept of it, doing everything he could to prove himself a cut above the rest.

There was no being average with him.

Years passed with his training, occasionally interacting with other people within the order but in the end he didn’t have many connections. Life had been an isolated one, leaving him mostly unable to comprehend and even understand most of the people around him. Aside from the few that had become a constant company. That only being an issue until he went through training to improve those skills, make him adequate and even beyond when it came to infiltration and dealing with people. Learning their subtle social cues and reading them in a way that he could get what he wanted depending on the mission at hand.

Because there was no doubt that he would one day be given an assignment, maybe finally a test of his competency. Eventually all agents received such a test, though he didn’t know when that would come for him and how it would come. When that did come, he found himself almost  nervous considering the prospect. His goal then was a simple assassination.

There were no whys given about the target, just that they needed to be dead and he was the one expected to be performing the execution. Any sane human would have been flabbergasted by the implication that a thirteen year old boy was expected to kill someone, but he was driven to do so. His target then had been a CEO, dubious in his dealings and hated by many who worked with them. Someone likely had enough of them and so he was sent garbed in black and ready to undo them.

At first it felt easy, slipping through the compound of an office. People moving through their lives without the knowledge of death flowing through the shadows. That being until the surveillance equipment went out and he found himself dropping into the office. Only a stroke of the blade away, until the man revealed his metahuman abilities. They were strong, enough to throw him across the room and nearly shatter his ribs. From there it was a hard fought battle, but in the end they lay on the floor with blood gushing from their punctured neck and he was weakly escaping.

Death had grasped for him but he ended up succeeding. This was the first mission, and yet he performed better than expected considering the power of the target. After being taken care of he was put on more missions, some of them also assassinations and others simpler infiltration's that tested him even more. Each time his skills improved vastly and he proved himself more. Despite his lack of natural power, there was something about him that let him operate better than the average agent and that was perhaps what made him capable of functioning as a personal special agent for Coraline herself. When she needed something done, he always found himself doing so and that was the life he always thought he wanted.

How it goes from there is yet to be seen.



 

   

1. Agility
2. Reaction
3. Endurance
4. Strength

      My body is a weapon: Throughout his entire life, Alex has been training. Ever since birth he has been put on a strict regiment to hone his body to the level of physical perfection. Constantly expected to be capable of operating at the maximum capacity that someone of his age and build should be capable of, perhaps even a little beyond that. There are many words that describe what he is. An olympian, the peak of human capacity or even charitably a freak of nature. While nothing about him is superhuman, he is far beyond the average ilk of humanity and even some of the more impressive examples. Alex has proven himself capable of lifting 700 lbs with some effort, running 40 mph in short sprints and has attained a tolerance for pain that allows him to continue operating despite the fact that he might be suffering grevious injuries. Even his stamina has been built up, allowing him to go hours on end  performing strenuous activity before tiring out and even going days on end without sleep before his performance actually suffers. Even his reflexes and reaction times have been honed to the maximum that a human could perform, allowing him to maximze everything about himself.

      Poisoners arts: A large portion of his training has been learning the herbs and tinctures that can be mixed together to create the desired effect. However, despite his knowledge in the medicinal arts, Alex best specializes in the use and creation of poisons. He knows how to mix them together to create desired effects. Scentless and tasteless poisons that can create prolonged, swift or even delayed death are things that he can create given sufficient time and materials. In fact he prides himself in his ability to craft various poisons and tends to use them when he desires a target dead. Paralytic agents as well as anathesia are also things that he has learned to use, should death not be the end result of what he is going for.

      Mastery of stealth: The work of an assassin requires stealth, and a subtelty that just anyone with the ability to swing a sword would lack.He’s a social chamelon that has leanred to mimic, and even replicate the behavior of people around him. A skill that makes him an expert of infiltration as well as silent movement. Even without gear he has proven himself capable of tricking, and even sneaking around the most observent of humans to perform his job without impediment. Few without superhuman aid would find themselves his superior, let alone his equal and he takes pride within that fact.

Silver Hand Training: While he did gain the standard training that a Silver hand Agent would recieve, Alex was also personally trained by The Head of that order personally. This put him several steps above the average agent in skill as well as competency. He has been trained in various disciplines of unarmed combat, as well as how to use various weapon that he would have been expected to use in the field as well as a few that he would’nt have been expected. Those that only prepare for the expected were those that ended up dead. This has lead to him blending together various fighting styles, mixing and molding their disciplines to suit his purposes and creating something that allows him to protect himself should the need arise or should he need to escape from the confrontation. Through constant practice and stubborness, he has managed to hone a skill that puts him above all human combatants to a level that could even be considered superhuman.
 

     Only human: Despite all the training he has put himself through, Alex cannot change or deny the fact that he is only human. Cut him and he will bleed. Shoot him he will die and so many other things.
 

      Nyctos armor: An armor composed of various polymers, mixed together with the greatest leatherwork available to The Silver Hand as designated by Coraline herself. All sections are colored a various degree if black, save for a few sections around the torso and hands that are a deep royal blue. Is lined with various kinetic dampeners and thin ablative pating that allows the armor to best protect the wearers vitals, allowing them to operate at peak efficiency. Personally designed to fit only Alex, is was created to allow him to perform extended bouts of combat against firearms as well as low yield metahuman powers should the need arise. Despite the fact that kinetic dampeners exist, they simply dampen and don’t actually negate damage; meaning that sufficiently powerful blows still transfer their energy through. Even still, the kinetic dampeners are only present on the most vital of spots, meaning that hist joints are the easiest to damage should one aim for them.

A secondary purpose of the armor itself is that it produces a minimum amount of sound, a byproduct of a soft material that composes the soles that absorb sound and further improve the wearers ability to move silently. Aiding this is that the suit itself can alter its color to suit the wearers specifications, allowing them to blending in better with their surroundings all through an interface that can convert thoughts into action. Failsafes and codes are put into place that allow him to activate this feature when needed, and leave it inactive when he doesn’t need it. What he mosr favors about the suit is that it is lined with small pockets that allow him to store small weapons, all hidden seamlessly on the suit and lined in a way that any attempt to see through the substance will leave the looker none the wiser. Lastly, the suit it capable of making minor alterations to the form of it, allowing Alex to have it look like anything he wants. Also built with sensory protection gear that allows him to resist things that would overload his senses, mostly sight and sound.

Nyctos suit weakness:

      Harpe: A monomolecular blade in the shape of a xiphos composed of a compound of metals that allow it both the greatest tensile and yield strength, allowing the blade itself to perform regardless of the circumstances. Has an edge that has shown to be capable of slicing through most armors regardless of material as well as highly durable flesh and natural plating. Serves as his favored weapon for assassination and one that he keep on him when possible. Is capable of folding the blade into the hilt with a press of a switch on the hilt. Making it the perfect conealable weapon.

Harpe weakness:

      Agony and Suffering: Twin weapons that take the form of handguns, save for the fact that they are composed of a dark silver material with glowing green cartridges where the bullets would be housed before firing. Two weapons that can fire off low yield plasma rounds that are capable of searing through human flesh and even damaging metahuman flesh to a lesser extent depending on their durability. These guns are powered by small cells within the handles that manage to keep them powered through a few shots before running low. Typically each handgun can left off thirty rounds before requiring a recharge period.

Agony and suffering weakness:

    Elysium: A sniper rifle that folds into itself when not in use, composed of the highest quality polymers and alloys. A high calibur weapon that is loaded with special rounds created specifically for it. They boast a high stopping power that puts all man-made rifles to shame, punching through tank armor as if it were wet tissue paper and giving even those that are immune to normal bullets room to pause.

Elysium weakness:

Zeus: Takes the form of two escrima sticks composed of complex and durable materials, ones that allow them to be both flexible and resilient against wear. Housed within the base of each are batteries that create electrical currents that run through the length, save for an insulated handle that allows the use to hold them without issue. The currents running through the battering ends are enough to stun humans, and even give the more resilient types moment to pause. When the two insulated ends are pressed together, they can click and form a staff that can be used with an equal amount of skill.

Zeus weaknesses:

      Utility belt: A belt composed of leather, with various puches attached to it composed of the same material. Each pouch carries small items within them that he usually brings on with him to missions.

• Shuriken: Thin discs created by The Silver Hand that look not so threatening until the middle is depressed and reveals sharp blades that slide out from the side. They serve as useful projectiles that can bruise as easily as it can leave the targets cut and bleeding in whatever places that Alex would want them. Typically around twenty of them are carried in whatever excursion he would need them to be in.
  
• Metsubishi:An innovation of The Silver Hand created by using a thin glass shell; thick enough to withstand even rigorous travel in a protected pouch. The inside is filled with a combination of pepper spray, itching powder, and a specialized, sharp edged particle derived from poison oak. Designed to throw at the eyes, it is the ultimate distraction technique. They are about the size of a small marble, but pack enough of a punch to drive a grown man to distraction. He carries five of them in the front right pocket of her utility belt.
  
• Caltrops: The nightmare of anyone who likes the souls of their feet unharmed. These metal balls the size of a thumb tack are lined with sharp spines that bite into the feet of whoever steps onto them, making any further movement painful.
  
• Flash bangs: Small marbles that when impacting with the ground create a brilliant flash and loud bang meant to disorient  the target. Around ten are carried on him at once.
  
• Explosive marbles: Small sphere shaped black marbles that upon hard impact explode, usually with enough force to throw someone back or at the very least feel as if they had been punched really hard. Very useful for diversonary tactics when the other doesn’t work. Around five are carried at a time.
  
• Medi-gel capsules: Small capsules that are filled with a special gel composed of nutrient rich gel and smaller nano-machines. When ingested they move through the body, rapidly searching for damage and repairing it at higher speeds than normal. Cuts stop bleeding within seconds, and begin closing within minutes. More dire injuries take longer, and at most might keep from being fatal as well as setting broken limbs rather than simply fixing it, though it can speed up recovery to a span of hours rather than weeks or months. A secondary gesture is that they serve as a painkiller and can numb even the worst of pain. (Weakness: If the capsules are broken before being ingested, they do nothing. EMP’s also shutdown their usefulness.)
  
• Grappling cable: A long but thin cable with great tensile strength that can be launched from an arm slot in the Nyctos suit. Adheres to any surface by a specialized adhesive end.
  

     
 

Polyglot: Due to the necessity of blending in several locations across the world for his work as an assassin, Alex has managed to become fluent within multiple languages. This includes reading, writing and even speaking them should he need to. This includes; English, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Arabic, French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Russian. Over the years he has managed to break the accent from his voice, though at times he does slip into one when he becomes careless.

Genius level intellect: Ever since he was young it was apparent that Alex wasn’t average in any senses, and his intellect was no different. He had no issue understanding, and figuring out complex problems that those typical of his age would have difficulty doing. His IQ has been measured by many tests, though it averages somewhere around in the 150’s.