Grondess
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The living barrier between Greenskin and their greatest creation.
Contents
Background
Losing Sid
Sidney Potter, often called the most unlucky man alive, was completely destroyed in the experiments he unwittingly agreed to in order to reduce his prison sentence.
Left in his place was only the monstrous Grond.
However, while little remained of the person Sidney once was, there were people who still remembered him.
One such person was his sister, Jessica. When she first heard about Sidney's last prison sentence, she had brushed it off. Her brother had never been much of a man, and what little hope he had of ever making anything out of himself went out the window along with his freedom. She was fed up with his antics, so now he'd just have to fend for himself.
That was her attitude then, and that's what made it all so much worse when Jessica found out what had eventually happened to Sidney.
Driven by guilt, she spent years studying her brother's incident, and - in the process - became an accomplished scientist in her own right.
Eventually successful at landing a position with UNTIL, she dedicated all her efforts to finding a way to cure Sidney - or destroy him.
Filled with guilt for turning her back on her brother, she would do anything to free him from what she believes is a miserable existance.
Does Two Wrongs Make A Right?
Enter Project Greenskin.
Another scientist, and her senior at UNTIL, Dr. Lucius Alexander took special interest in Jessica Potter.
Having plenty of experience in the area of genetically engineering superhumans, using (often dubious) methods, Alexander believed that - given their shared genetics - he could reproduce Grond's strenght in Jessica, while still preserving her mind in the process.
Although heavily opposed by Dr. Nelson Dupree, who saw everything and anything related to the Grond incident as an immidiate threat, Alexander eventually managed to convince Jessica to give his experiments a try.
The process was long, and extremely painful. Several times over the numerous stages, Jessica was tempted to just lay down and die - and just as often she felt as if that was going to happen regardless.
In the end, the project was a failure.
Alexander was unable to reproduce the unique exposure to countless toxins that Grond had endured without killing Jessica, so instead he had to "settle" for what he considered the most acceptable compromise.
Instead of copying Grond's altered genetic makeup completely, he would mirror what he could, while using his own Alexander-formula to fill in the gaps.
The result was that Jessica gained only a portion of Grond's massive strenght, but with the benefit of being able to not only think clearly, but also "turn off" the effects almost at will.
Round One
Jessica accepted the fact that she wouldn't be able to overpower and subdue Grond directly, but she still believed that she was strong enough to fight him, and combining her strenght with her wit, defeat him.
What she did not count on was exactly how much Grond had been affected by his prolonged exposure to the radiated wastelands.
Despite her own, quite considerable strenght, she was far from strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Grond. Especially now that the radiation had made him even more powerful than before.
She put up a decent enough fight, all things considered, but the outcome was inevitable. Jessica was soundly beaten, and the only thing that saved her life was most likely a sparkle of recognition...and perhaps saddness, in Grond's eyes just as he was about to deliver the final, crushing blow.
Regrouping
Although beaten and bruised, Jessica's resolve was now stronger than ever before. If Sidney could not be cured, she would see him dead before letting him live on as a rampaging, thoughtless monster.
She did, however, realize that she needed a different approach than last time.
Recently, mutant attacks in the wastelands, as well as an increased presence of VIPER, has halted much of UNTIL's work in Project Greenskin, which means that just getting to Grond and, not to mention - trapping him - just got a good deal more difficult.
Dr. Lucius Alexander has promised to keep searching for ways to improve his Grond formula, and if he is successful, maybe then will Jessica have enough strenght to end her brother's misery once and for all.
Until then, she'll put the power she has already been granted to use for the greater good, going by the name of Grondess.
Powers and Abilities
Unlike the original Grond, Jessica's mind does not suffer as a side-effect of her mutations. That is, however, offset by the fact that not only is her strenght considerably less than that of Grond, but it's also not as static as his.
In fact, Jessica's strenght is directly tied to her adrenaline levels.
When she is calm and relaxed, she is only marginally bigger than her original, unaltered size, and suffers no visible side-effects beyond that. If she can remain calm and collected, she is able to maintain this appearence indefinetly.
However, if she Jessica gets any more than slightly excited, for whatever reason, her body's chemical reactions cause her to greatly increase in mass, weight as well as strenght.
Her documented peak was over 600lbs of extremely dense mass, standing almost 12ft tall.
It should be noted that her strenght is considerable long before she reaches those levels though, as she is - even in a calm state - one of the physically strongest superbeings on record.
Personality Traits
Driven by the guilt she felt for abandoning Sidney to his fate all those years ago, Jessica developed a very strong will to always make things right.
In most cases, this is a great tool for doing good deeds, however there is also a downside to it.
Grondess will do anything to accomplish a goal she thinks is for the greater good, and she absolutely believes that the ends justify the means.
If that means she must sacrifice a few to save the many, then that is what she considers collateral.
Now, she won't willingly sacrifice anyone, obviously, but presented with a "no-choice" scenario, it's something Grondess probably wouldn't hesitate to do.
It's not that she doesn't care about a would-be victim of such an act, but the thought that someone would *not* make that sacrifice for the greater good just never entered her mind.
In her head, her past selfishness with regards to her brother was a weakness so vile that she doesn't even stop to think that other, "good" people may share even the slightest trace of that.
- User:Wickedsquirrel
