DEAD MEMORIES
“I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my eyes and all is born again.”
THE LIFE AND DEATH
Desdemona Mariya Antonov was born on October 13th, 1956 to an American mother and a Russian father-- both gifted and well-known throughout the world of biomedical research and engineering. She was a spoiled, and content only-child. The happy couple had met through work at the Pharmaceutical company known as HALO, having began as lowly research assistants after grad school. But soon, the father would rise in rank within the company, and the mother would retire from it as a gifted author -- publishing many a work on various scientific topics pertaining to biomedical engineering advances. Despite their busy schedules, the couple always made time for family. All was well, for a while.In 1970, HALO went belly up. Desdemona's father was laid off. Soon, everything began to crumble. Despite being spectacular parents-- they'd always spent lavishly, living above and beyond their means. Now, with no passive income, Desdemona's father grew desperate and the debts piled higher. To keep his family afloat, he began selling out company secrets to budding new rivals, eager to get their foot in the door when HALO finally sank.HALO had never been just a Pharmaceutical company -- yes, they might have sold various chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and various other consumer products for public and private consumption but... it was purposely built to cover up illegal, immoral activities. HALO's primary trade was in developing biological weaponry for militaries across the world. Although adept at chemical warfare, the CEO of the company became greedy-- using stakeholder funds to initiate the super soldier program known as SERAPH. The first round of "advanced" soldiers lacked the control and obedience necessary to perform the delicate and discreet tasks thrust upon them by national figures. Some respective world leaders had tasked their nation's brightest with developing their own super soldier programs-- using secrets sold to them by none other than Desdemona's father. After several more failed chem-soldier launches, the stakeholders withdrew and the company shut their doors....In 1974, on Desdemona's 17th birthday, her father forced the family to pack their things-- they were to take an unplanned trip to a little cabin in the woods her mother had inherited. Desdemona's father had gotten word from an old colleague that his family was in danger due to his traitorous actions, and decided they would be much safer there. The roads grew treacherous, and a few hours in and they were roadblocked by fallen trees. As they sat, stranded, a glitching figure wrenched the driver's side door from the car. Desdemona's father was yanked from his seat and tossed to the road. Her mother screamed and screamed as the shadowy figure began to stab him repeatedly, marring the white snow with red. Desdemona sat in the backseat, frozen in shock-- having just woken from a nap... still angry with her father for ruining her birthday. She had never known fear before now, never felt ice in her veins and tears well so hot behind her eyes. The glitching man is gone, and then he is back-- the barrel of a gun pointed at her sobbing mother. The gunshot sounds far away, foreign and disjointed as she slips to the car floor for cover; wedged with her back to the door, hands covering her ears and face as she sobs. The door to her back is wrenched open and she's pulled into the wintry air. The glitching man drags her to the pile of gore on the road-- the bodies of her parents stare out, with twisted limbs and mouths agape in horror. She's yanked back by the hair, and her final scream is cut short as a blade slides across her throat....Desdemona survives, but she does not live. It had been requested that her life be spared by the glitching man's employer-- the son of HALO's CEO, Doctor Leroy Keller. The 26-year-old had always had a deep fascination with the young Desdemona. He couldn't bear to have her killed, so he kept her in a medically-induced coma, comfortable in cryosleep for thirty-nine years. Meanwhile he marries, becomes widowed, and has several grimy, awful children. The company rises from the ashes like a phoenix -- PROJECT GLITCH had done well with the matter of rival elimination, and as time passed ... technology advanced, and HALO flourished. But, Doctor Keller's children grew bitter with his indomitable fascination with Desdemona, and angry when their father went behind their back to leave behind all of his mountainous fortune to the sleeping girl he'd hidden away in a backroom laboratory hardly anyone but him and a chosen few had access to. When he died, and this discovery was unearthed, the scheming children managed to rearrange what they could of his will. Before his death, he had planned to wake the girl and release her into a brand new world where she would be able to live out the rest of her days free and comfortably. This is not what happened. He was smothered in his bed, first....In 2013, Desdemona was brutally brought back into this world and immediately Indoctrinated into HALO'S new program-- SERAPH. Using experimental nanotech, HALO obtained unidentified comatose patients and people who lived on the outskirts of society-- altering their brain chemistry and rewiring them into perfect soldiers. Each soldier is equipped with enhanced strength, speed, and the ability to infiltrate organic and inorganic systems utilizing electromagentic impulses. They are made only to obey commands, their services auctioned off to the highest bidder whether that be extremist groups, crimefamilies, organized militants, or political figures. Each soldier is rigorously trained for 10 years, and put through immense psychological and physical torture to both teach and train them in various tactics.Some SERAPH soldiers of higher capability are implanted with false origin stories to showcase HALO's mind control capabilities: Occasionally, Desdemona believes herself to hail from an ancient race of celestial beings; to be an apocalypse-wielding angel of true death ... chaos-consuming, bloodthirsty. These episodes are unpredictable, sporadic; reality is likely to melt with the forced delusion.
Before you go...
Despite various body modifications and cybernetic enhancements, HALO never found it necessary to repair Desdemona's vocal cords, and just had them removed them entirely. She is mute, and her main form of contact is projecting her thoughts directly into someone's mind. She is also fluent in ASL when necessary.She is telepathic, can make her victims see false images, and even gain control over their actions when she is at her strongest. This power also contributes to her weakness... too many voices make her panic, and her surroundings can get much too loud if she loses concentration.She does not often utilize her psychic abilities when in battle because of her love for combat and desire for a challenge. There are occasional triggers that will bring back an onslaught of terrible memories, and each time Desdemona discovers a forgotten memory, the torment brings back a little piece of her former self and it sticks, creating another kink in the SERAPH armor around her mind.She will likely not physically progress past her current age of twenty-six. She can still be wounded, but she possesses a healing factor unless burned to ash. Installed within the confines of her brain is a pain-blocker -- making her a more efficient assassin ... but since she can't feel, serious injuries can go unnoticed and down her suddenly. This also makes her a bit of a masochist, chasing even the smallest bit pain just to feel something strong enough to get through the blocker. She can be sadistic, cruel, egotistical, unyielding, and relentless. In rare weakened states of vulnerability-- she is confused, skittish. She yearns for something akin to normalcy, but has no idea how to translate such 'feelings'.There are spatial moments of intense clarity for soldiers like Desdemona ... where truth spears through their mind with undeniable certainty and wicked clarity. HALO has technicians on standby to monitor such outlier errors. No soldier has made a breakthrough and bypassed the false persona encryption.
Not until now.
author's note
This is an original character with influences pulled from various forms of media. She is intended for the DC or Marvel universe, but she is open to the multiverse and any cross-over fandoms I am familiar with. Extremely mature and potentially triggering topics will be explored on this account, including but not limited to: blood, gore, nudity, violence, mental illness, substance abuse, sexual themes/situations, etc. NO MINORS. If you wish to interact, please DM me or feel free to banter. Ships possible with heavy chemistry only. Most of the art used for this character is by Luis Royo unless stated otherwise, and all filters on the account are by sladestrokes or kaijucat. Thanks for reading, don't be a creep.