[hider=Duncan Mallard][centre][h1][b][color=#edd06f]Subject 970d-0322 Duncan Mallard[/color][/b][/h1][/centre] [centre] [img]https://i.imgur.com/7HEwCiT.jpg[/img] [sub]art by: [b][u][url=https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu7ZMkHBn0M/]Claparo[/url][/u][/b][/sub][/centre] [centre][h2][b][color=#edd06f]Ducky || 20 || Male[/color][/b][/h2][/centre] [centre][h2][b][color=#edd06f]Spectre[/color][/b][/h2][/centre] [centre][h3][b][color=#edd06f]Reconnaissance || Marksmanship || Signaller[/color][/b][/h3][/centre] [hr] [centre][h3][b][color=#edd06f]Appearance:[/color][/b][/h3][/centre] There’s something about Duncan that is rather unsettling. In many ways, he is the spitting image of a young Dr. Jacques Mallard, one of the brilliant yet controversial minds behind Belisio’s Spectre program. Were one to overlay their faces and account for the changes due to aging in the doctor, one would see that their features match up unnaturally well. Eye shape, nose shape, mouth. Identical patterns on their grey irises. Flaws in their skin. Were it not for the difference in age, one could assume the pair to be twins. But it’s hard to make that comparison once one sees either in person. Perhaps the result of undergoing the Spectre procedures far too early, the younger Mallard towers over the good doctor. At full length, he’s about 198cm (~6’6”), though he stands with a bit of a hunch, bringing him closer to 194cm (~6’4”) on average. His limbs are long and spindly, giving him a rather lanky silhouette. And he is thin. Painfully, uncomfortably so. Coupled with his rather corpse-like pale complexion, one could be forgiven for mistaking him as more ghoul than man. Duncan doesn’t have many options when it comes to apparel. Finding properly fitting clothes is a pipedream, really. So he settles for whatever he can find. This usually means that he ends up in clothes that are waaay too baggy or going shirtless, which really doesn’t help with the whole ghoul aesthetic, but what can you do? The boy’s hopeless, really. He does own a single leather jacket that surprisingly does fit, but it was a gift. Apparently when you’re a weapon of the state, visiting a tailor is just too much to ask. A piercer, however, seemingly isn’t, as both of Duncan’s ears are pierced multiple times. Priorities, people. He has ‘em. [centre][h3][b][color=#edd06f]Personality:[/color][/b][/h3][/centre] A bit of an oddity amongst the Spectres, Duncan is a rather outgoing, gregarious kind of guy. One might even go so far as to call him friendly. And, perhaps on a particularly good day, maybe even funny. One shouldn’t be faulted for thinking that Duncan could even be considered…normal. But one mustn’t forget the crucial fact that Duncan is a Spectre. And Spectres are, as a whole, anything but normal. And the truth of the matter is that Duncan is a highly manipulative little shit. Remarkably intelligent, quick witted, and highly proficient at picking up on social cues, along with the whole psionic thing - it’s nothing for Duncan to figure out what particular brand of bullshit to serve whoever has the misfortune of interacting with him. It’s a particularly useful skill to have in his line of work, being able to snake information from a target, but not one that he can so easily switch off. It’s not that the young Mallard is inherently evil, mind you. It’s more that he lacks an internal moral compass. He was created with the sole purpose of serving the interests of Belisio. His loyalty is unwavering and he is practical to a fault. He wasn’t brought up to question orders, only carry them out. A tool need not worry about the consequences of its actions. But the tool is still human at its core. Even if it can’t quite connect all the pieces, they’re still there. And even if he cannot hear his own moral compass, there are at least two people who act as his heart. His childhood friend, one Ms. Juno Ohara and fellow Spectre Liffis Kai. The former taught him how to interact with people and how to treat them with kindness. The latter is a source of calmness in a sea of madness. Maybe it’s because of how similar the two hearts are that drives Duncan to attempt to show even the smallest fraction of compassion to his nation’s enemies, to creatures he otherwise wouldn’t even consider living beings. Why he attempts to be a scalpel rather than a chainsaw. And why he finds himself so painfully at odds with his very purpose. [centre][h3][b][color=#edd06f]Background:[/color][/b][/h3] [b]TL;DR[/b] designer test tube baby does cow lick hensticks for big brain powers - gets big brainwashing for free* misses stacy and her mom, but that's okay because big brother loves you until he doesn't[/centre] [centre][hider=Duckboi Lore Dump] [u][b][color=#edd06f]Experiment 970d-0322[/color][/b][/u] [u][b][color=#edd06f]Purpose:[/color][/b][/u] To gauge the viability of Spectre augmentation upon artificially created humanoids throughout various stages of development. [u][b][color=#edd06f]Method:[/color][/b][/u] Fusing stabilized samples of Dr. Jacques Mallard’s somatic cells with human oocytes after removal of the latter’s nucleus. Incubate successful fusions in artificial womb for nine-month gestation period. Rear in isolation with minimal human contact until designated procedure window (970d-series: onset of puberty). Observe physiological developments. Compare against control group (970a series). [u][b][color=#edd06f]Results:[/color][/b][/u] Of the five subjects within the 970d series, Subject 970d-0830 expired during gestation. Subject 970d-0301 expired at on-set of puberty. Subjects 970d-0213, 970d-1103, and 970d-0322 all underwent and survived Spectre procedures. Subject 970d-0213 showed unfavorable physiological defects shortly after. Terminated. Subject 970d-0322 displays unusual growth patterns, but otherwise within acceptable margins. Subject 970d-1103 showed minimal deviation from control group physiology. [u][b][color=#edd06f]Conclusions:[/color][/b][/u] High fatality rate pre-procedure across all 970 series as well as low success rate of procedure/high rate of terminal physiological changes post-procedure indicate poor viability of artificial humanoids as Spectre candidates with current gestation practices. Recommendation: terminate non-combat ready subjects and proceed to field testing with remaining subjects. Postpone further series until further advancements can be completed on gestation practices. [hr] 970d-0322 grew up just as all his brothers did - mostly alone in a small, sterile white room. The key word being mostly. As 970d-0322 was never truly alone. There was always somebody on the other side of the dark glass. Watching him. Observing him. He couldn’t see them, of course, but they were there. Always. In a way, it was comforting. Three times a day, the buzzer would go off, and that meant that it was time to do his Cow Lick Hensticks (calisthenics). Three more times a day, the light would go on, and that meant it was time to play the thinking games. And twice a day, when he was hungry, the door would open and someone in a puffy white suit would bring him his nutrient paste. 970d-0322 called them the bubblemen. To himself, of course. Never to the bubblemen. He wasn’t supposed to talk to the bubblemen. Ever. That was bad. And he didn’t want to be bad. When he was bad, the bubblemen wouldn’t show up again for a while. Only good boys got their nutrient paste. Good boys always did their Cow Lick Hensticks and played the thinking games whenever the light came on. But one day, when it was time for the bubblemen to bring his nutrient paste, one spoke to him. 970d-0322 was scared, obviously. He didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t supposed to talk to the bubblemen - that was bad. But ignoring the bubblemen when they told him to play the mind games or do his Cow Lick Hensticks was also bad. This particular bubbleman was persistent though. They pulled out something that 970d-0322 had never seen before - a small, shiny rectangular object. And when they removed the shiny cover, he smelled something strange. Something different. The bubbleman offered it to him, and he took it. They told him to eat it. So he did. It was the first time he had had actual solid food. It was also the first time he had chocolate. The strange bubbleman came to visit him again time and time again. And they told him all sorts of amazing stories about the word and brought all sorts of snacks and treats for him to try. One day, the bubbleman even took off their bubblehelmet. 970d-0322 couldn’t believe it - they looked just like him underneath it. Just bigger. And pretty. Whatever that meant. The bubbleman told him that her name was Ms. Ami. Ms. Ami Ohara. Occasionally, Ms. Ami would bring her “daughter” Juno Ohara. Juno was small like him. But pretty. Like Ms. Ami. It was frustrating. But he very much liked it when Juno came to play. She was really nice. He didn’t quite understand what “nice” meant, but she let him know that “being nice” meant saying things that made the other person happy. Like calling her or Ms. Ami “pretty” was being nice. Ms. Ami was the one who decided that 970d-0322 wasn’t a proper name for a little boy (that was what he was!). She decided that the “d” stood for “Duncan”. But when the boy tried to say the name, he misspoke. “Duck can.” he said. And when little Juno heard that, he was “Ducky” in her eyes from then on out. Over the years, the Cow Lick Hensticks got harder. The mind games more tedious. But Ducky stuck with it. He did his very best. Because when he did good, he got to see Ms. Ami and Juno. And that made it worth it. But all good things must come to an end, eventually. One day Ms. Ami and Juno stopped showing up. And that was that. The Cow Lick Hensticks got even harder. But he kept pushing himself. It was never enough though. No matter how well he did, it wasn’t good enough. He wasn’t good anymore. That’s why Ms. Ami went away. Because he was bad. He was so bad that The Bad Thing happened. The bubblemen came and took him away one day. Away from the small white room. To a large white room. With knives. And the bubblemen cut him. And they took parts of him away. And put other things in. Ducky was asleep for most of it…but not all. He was in pain for a while after that. It’s hard to tell how long though. It never went away, not truly, but it did become bearable. At least a little. Eventually, however, he was returned to the small white room. To his home. And while he was weak at first…eventually he became stronger. And smarter. The changes came suddenly and harshly. He was doing even more difficult calisthenics than before The Bad Thing, but it came easier. And when he played the mind games, it was as if the answers came flooding into him. Along with other things. Sights. Sounds. From behind the window. From the bubblemen. And eventually…thoughts. It was intoxicating, these experiences. Even better than Ms. Ami’s stories. He could actually see and hear and feel all these new things. The bubblemen could tell. It made them happy. It made them scared. They called him a miracle of modern science. They called him a monster. As months passed, Ducky grew. Both in body and in mind. And it was getting difficult to tell which was growing more. While his body began taking up more and more of his little white room, his mind [i]expanded.[/i] He learned of the world beyond his walls. Of Belisio - sweet Belisio, the love of his life - for the first time as he peered in the minds of his scientists. It was strange, the moment he became aware of the very concept of Belisio, his nation, his country, his [i]love[/i], he knew in that instance he would do anything, absolutely anything, to protect her. He became obsessed. He had to better himself. For Belisio. Always Belisio. It was shortly after this revelation that the scientists began having 970d-0322 leave the small white room. The same thing which terrified him to his very core as a child meant nothing now. It wasn’t his home. It wasn’t Belisio. He would train. With others very much like him. And he would learn. Of war. Of the [sub][sub]disgusting, monsterous,[/sub] evil[/sub] Mages. Of the [sub][sub]foul[/sub] wrong BAD[/sub] Vaim empire. They were taught everything they needed to know to terminate these Mages. They were given the means. Over years they would become the very tools that Belisio [sup]sweet sweet Belisio,[/sup][sup][sup] always Belisio,[/sup][/sup][sup][sup][sup] my life for Belisio[/sup][/sup][/sup] would use to defend herself and purge the world of evil. And defend her they did. Exceedingly well. There were only a few of them - six in total - but the clones were incredibly efficient. For a time anyway. Subject 970d-1103, considered the perfect example of what the experiment was meant to produce, led the small band. But the clones were a flawed project based upon a flawed man. And it didn’t take long before this was apparent. One day, six clones left. And only one came back. 970d-0322. The clone was interrogated relentlessly over the details of the mission, but he had nothing to share. Torture, mental probes, bribes…nothing. He remembered leaving for the mission and he remembered returning. The rest was blank. It was as if an entire section of his memory was just carved out. Which would sound absurd under normal circumstances, but it wasn’t out of the question that the psionic clones had turned rogue. Strange then that one would remain, but it was quite clear that the clone’s loyalty remained as firm as ever. It wasn’t until recently that 970d-0322 found himself in the company of Liffis Kai. And something about the Holy Man sparked an old memory. A ghost in his head. Of the woman in the bubble suit, and her daughter. Ms. Ami and Juno. He had forgotten about them - hadn’t thought about either in years. At some point, thoughts of Belisio[sup]glory to Belisio[sup]protect Belisio[/sup][/sup] had…what? Replaced them? It was odd. Strange. Unpleasant, even. He resented that feeling, resented the Holy Man for bringing it up. But at the same time, he desperately wanted to hold on to it. He didn’t want to forget again, even if he didn’t exactly know why. He was conflicted. Unsure now of his grand purpose. He wasn’t Ducky, the little boy that spent his days being enraptured by the woman’s tales of the fantastical world outside, but to say that he was just 970d-0322, Belisio’s[sup]always Belisio[/sup] instrument of war…it didn’t feel right anymore either. Thus, for better or worse, the conflicted soul became the man we know today. He would reach a compromise of sorts - protect Belisio[sup]die for her! [sup]kill for her![/sup][/sup] and become good enough to see Ms. Ami and Juno again one day. Wherever they are.[/hider][/centre] [centre][h3][b][color=#edd06f]Equipment:[/color][/b][/h3][/centre] [list] [*][b][u][color=#edd06f] BCW Spinal Array Custom[/color][/u][/b] - A custom suite of cybernetic implants along the spine. The main features include a number of radio transceivers and docking interfaces for the drone units. [sub][sub][color=#2d2d2e].[/color][/sub][/sub] [*][b][u][color=#edd06f] BCW Optic Relay System[/color][/u][/b] - An implant on the optic nerve that allows for the overlaying of images/videos on ones’ sight. Can be used in conjunction with the transceivers within the spinal array and drone platforms to allow for monitoring of the drone platform cameras while in the field. [sub][sub][color=#2d2d2e].[/color][/sub][/sub] [*][b][u][color=#edd06f] BCW Remote Drone Platform "Ducklings" x5[/color][/u][/b] - Lightweight, armored drone units equipped with audio/video recording capabilities, wireless transmitters, and a small turret capable of firing firing small-caliber energy bolts. [sub][sub][color=#2d2d2e].[/color][/sub][/sub] [*][b][u][color=#edd06f] Halific .338[/color][/u][/b] - Five round heavy rifle system accurate up to 1,000m in perfect conditions. Suppressor sold separately. [sub][sub][color=#2d2d2e].[/color][/sub][/sub] [*][b][u][color=#edd06f] Otto 9mm[/color][/u][/b] - 15 round lightweight sidearm for use against soft targets in medium to close range. [sub][sub][color=#2d2d2e].[/color][/sub][/sub] [*][b][u][color=#edd06f] Sol Classic[/color][/u][/b] - issa knife. 17cm (~6.75in) in length. If Duncan ever finds himself in a spot where he’s relying on this, he’s probably SOL himself.[/list] [centre][h3][b][color=#edd06f]Abilities:[/color][/b][/h3][/centre] [list] [*][b][u][color=#edd06f] Mindjack[/color][/u][/b] - The technique by which Duncan “jacks in” to another person’s mind, enabling him to access any of their senses and relay it back to himself. He uses this in order to see and hear what his comrades are experiencing and, in conjunction with Telepathy, allows him to update Spectres on battlefield conditions in real time. Requires a line of sight to the target, but once he’s in, he can continue jumping to targets in his new POV’s LOS. Duncan refers to hopping this way as “going long.” With each jump from the initial target, Duncan can tap into one less sense at a time. He reaches his limit on the fifth jump, being then only able to access a single sense at a time and unable to jump further without dropping the connection and recovering for a short period.. Alternatively, Duncan can choose to “go wide” with the ability, allowing him to tap into multiple people simultaneously. He taps out again at five connections, able to access a single sense across all five people, such as sight from five different viewpoints, or five people’s hearing, etc. [sub][sub][color=#2d2d2e].[/color][/sub][/sub] [*][b][u][color=#edd06f] Telepathy[/color][/u][/b] - Long range mental walkie-talkie. Duncan requires a visual of the person for the first connection, but if he’s made contact prior and is at least aware of the approximate direction and distance of the person, he can make contact again, although it might take more time/concentration to do so. Besides communication, Duncan is capable of catching surface level thoughts without leaving much of an impression if any. Deeper thoughts or probing for memories/knowledge/the like is much more invasive and much more obvious/painful for the probee. It’s easy enough for anybody with experience around psionics to shut Duncan out if they so wish. Other psionic users especially. [sub][sub][color=#2d2d2e].[/color][/sub][/sub] [*][b][u][color=#edd06f] Artificially Enhanced Physiology[/color][/u][/b] - A strict regimen of chemical soup, cow lick hensticks, and a little dash of surgery has pushed Duncan’s body to its physical limits. The big gangly freak might not look it, but that’s peak human physique right there. [sub][sub][color=#2d2d2e].[/color][/sub][/sub] [*][b][u][color=#edd06f] Artificially Enhanced Intellect / Information Processing[/color][/u][/b] - with Doctor Jacques Mallard serving as the template, it was hypothesized that the clones would likely possess a similar intellect. And that hypothesis turned out correct. Duncan’s a smart cookie now. But what’s more impressive is the speed in which he can absorb information. It seems that this came at a price, however, as Duncan is unable to effectively make a physical impact with his psionic abilities. So no barriers. No throwing cars. No fun.[/list] [centre][h3][b][color=#edd06f]Extra:[/color][/b][/h3][/centre] [centre][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06wkCStmI1E[/youtube][/centre][/hider]