Difference between revisions of "Reptile (@Ulyssestorms)"

Biography

Secret Origin: Twice Bitten

While Draysha proved to be more successful than their previous attempts at creating serpentine super-soldiers, the limitations that allowed for Draysha's results were naturally something that VIPER sought to eliminate. The Draysha program required subjects to ingest king cobra venom to trigger their temporary transformations and came with the unwanted side-effect of significantly reducing their lifespans. VIPER enlisted the expertise of Dr. Adam Atelis, a mysterious geneticist who claimed he could create Draysha 2.0, granting subjects even more power than the current Draysha program without any of the drawbacks. While Dr. Timothy Blank and VIPER's other mad scientists were busy at work on Project Stein, VIPER's attempt to capture and/or recreate the powerful mutate Grond, Dr. Atelis conducted Project Draysha 2.0 at a secret subterranean facility in Michigan, miles away from Millennium City. The city's chaotic, crime-ridden Westside area was rife with test subjects who could be abducted without stirring up much trouble. It was Westside, after all. One of the unfortunate individuals taken by this VIPER subcontractor was young Trevor Derrickson.

One fateful night, Trevor lost track of time while reading at Kountry Komics after leaving his part-time job. On his way back home, even later in the night than usual, Trevor was shot with a tranquilizer dart, dragged into a van and taken to Dr. Atelis's laboratory. He woke up to the mad scientist's sinister grin and multiple needles stuck into his body, firmly strapped against an operating table. Trevor spent weeks at the facility undergoing the new and improved Draysha procedure. Due to the drugs that kept him unable to resist, his memories of the experience are muddled, but he clearly remembers other test subjects screaming in agony and dying during the experimental procedures. After weeks of experiments, Trevor was the only survivor. While not the complete success Dr. Atelis had hoped to create, the madman saw Trevor as a step in the right direction.

A new batch of test subjects would need to be brought in for further experiments so that the doctor could perfect Draysha 2.0. That meant the old batch, including Trevor, would need to be disposed of. When the time came for him to be put down, Trevor's metabolism overcame the tranquilizer and he metamorphosed into a rampaging beast. He easily overpowered the VIPER goons who were about to execute him and nearly killed Dr. Atelis. But after becoming the monster VIPER made him, Trevor was still more human than they were. He left the criminals mauled in their bloody laboratory and fled the facility. Over the next few days, Trevor made his way back to his home in Millennium City.

His memory of this trek back home are as blurry as those of his time as a lab rat, but Trevor recalls hunting wild animals and running through the sewer system. In this bestial form, all that guided Trevor was the instinct every animal had when they fled predators. Eventually, Trevor regained consciousness in a Westside alleyway, having reverted to his human form, not far from his destination. After the comfortingly familiar walk back home, dressed in some of the tattered old clothes of a deceased homeless man he found in a cardboard shelter, Trevor was met with the door forced ajar. He already knew what had happened before he took those heavy steps back into the place he had grown up. There they were. The stiff, cold bodies of his parents welcomed Trevor back home.

After this ordeal, Trevor swore to use the power Dr. Atelis and VIPER cursed him with to oppose them. Far from the superpowered lackey they tried to create, Trevor fought to protect the innocent and take down the criminals who perpetrated such evil. He knew that, one day, he would make those snakes pay. VIPER would be no match for Reptile.

Attributes

Metamorphosis

Mutated Physiology: Trevor's genome was drastically altered as a result of Dr. Atelis's experiments. His genome is now a fusion of reptilian and human genetic material. VIPER's experimental genetic engineering process was designed to produce super-soldiers who could transform between their human and Draysha forms at will, seamlessly, while retaining their intelligence and self-control. While nowhere near as powerful as Ripper or the Grond-derived monsters Dr. Blank sought to create, this new breed of Draysha agents were meant to be more versatile and covert. Dr. Atelis sought to accomplish this by modifying the genomes of subjects to be both unstable and mutable. The reptilian genes would lie dormant as junk DNA until they were activated by a focused mental command, overwriting the human DNA to allow their influence over gene expression to rapidly increase, manifesting almost instantly. In their human form, the subject would not exhibit morphological differences, concealing their status as a mutate. While the effects of the reptilian genes could not be entirely suppressed, their influence over the subject's biology would only become apparent upon close examination. Dr. Atelis had promised that the agents produced by the Draysha 2.0 program would complement Project Stein's heavyweight agents by giving VIPER a covert superhuman asset. While he does not possess the seamless control over his transformation that Draysha 2.0 was meant to bestow, Trevor demonstrates a certain extent of control over his transformation. He can shift between human and stage 1 of his metamorphosis almost seamlessly, but when the transformation is pushed further, Trevor's cognitive faculties deteriorate to a primitive level and he is prone to losing control. Despite this drawback, Trevor's power increases proportionally, highlighting the trade-off inherent to his metamorphosis. The stages of his metamorphosis are:

• Stage 1 - Reptile maintains full control over himself, despite slightly reduced intelligence. While it is the weakest, this stage is highly efficient due to Trevor's near unhindered control over it. His morphology changes to take on a more reptilian, although still recognizably human, form and his strength, speed and endurance are augmented to superhuman levels.
• Stage 2 - Starting at this stage, Trevor loses conscious control as his animal instincts overtake his intellect. His strength and speed are significantly enhanced, while he loses the ability to communicate and think clearly. His body becomes even more reptilian, with his skull taking on a serpentine shape and his claws grow sharper and longer.
• Stage 3 - The furthest witnessed stage of Trevor's metamorphosis, where he grows to a size of over 8 feet with extremely dense muscle mass. At this point, Reptile is a rampaging beast, driven solely by the primitive instincts of hunger and self-defense.

Once past the initial stage of his metamorphosis, Trevor loses the ability to autonomously revert to his human form. Instead, he requires external intervention, either through complete exhaustion of his stamina or subdual, to induce reversal of the metamorphic process.

Regenerative Healing Factor: Reptile possesses a remarkable regenerative healing factor that allows him to rapidly recover from injuries sustained in both his human and Draysha forms. This ability allows Trevor to heal damaged tissues at an accelerated rate, far surpassing that of an ordinary human. Even severe injuries that would incapacitate or prove fatal to others can be swiftly healed by his extraordinary regenerative abilities. Reptile also possesses greater than normal endurance due to this healing factor.

Augmented Physical Prowess: As Reptile enters the initial stage of his metamorphosis, his strength, agility, and endurance are significantly augmented, surpassing the capabilities of ordinary humans. At stage 1, he exhibits a maximum lifting capacity of approximately 5 tons and is capable of achieving running speeds exceeding 90 mph. As the metamorphosis progresses through its stages, these abilities are further augmented. At stage 3, his thickened hide provides as much protection as Type III body armor and his claws can tear through standard grade armored exoskeletons with ease. His strength seems to gradually increase by a factor of five with each stage, reaching maximum lifts of approximately 25 tons at stage 2 and 125 tons at stage 3. The increase in his movement speed, which is primarily a result of the increased strength of his muscles, has been estimated to be roughly 30% with each stage, maxing out at about 150 mph.

Augmented Senses: Reptile possesses keen visual, olfactory and auditory perception, enabling detection of subtle changes in his surrounds.

Slippery: Reptile's body is very flexible, allowing him to smoothly maneuver through tight spaces. Additionally, his skin secretes a clear, oily fluid that makes him even more slippery. If Trevor was caught in the grasp of someone like Grond, he could quickly squirm his way out, assuming he isn't crushed right away. Past stage 1, his flexibility is greatly reduced as his cell tissues become denser and thicker.

Venom Gland: Upon reaching stage 2 of his metamorphosis, Reptile develops a venomous gland with ducts to his fangs. He can shoot the venom from his fangs as a corrosive acidic spray or bite opponents to deliver it as a paralysis-inducing agent.

Camouflage and Thermal Vision: At stage 2, Reptile gains the ability to change the hue of his skin to blend into his environment, making him undetectable to unobservant human eyes. His eyes also develop thermal vision, allowing him to track targets in darkness and obscured conditions.

Miscellaneous

• Reptile & Powerline: A Reversal in Polarity - short fiction depicting Reptile's first encounter with Powerline.