Director X (Virtue)
Contents
Affiliations
Director X is affiliated with an illegal scientific program known as Protocol X (Virtue Supergroup). A program like Protocol X can't operate alone, and although there are no direct links to other organizations it is suspected that funding for the Protocol's projects may come from other entities such as Crey Industries, the Malta Group, or Arachnos.
Backstory
The correct identity of the woman known as Director X has not been confirmed, but she has been linked to several notable personalities in the United States and abroad. Photographs of the woman have linked her to Countess Crey at various social functions, but the Countess does not recall the woman's name and does not have any further information. Director X has also been photographed on the island of Malta speaking with known Malta associates, but those associates have since met untimely and conveniently accidental deaths. Director X is currently in the Rogue Isles and has apparently received some form of protection from Arachnos.
Crey Industries and DIADEM
The association between Director X and Crey Industries goes beyond social functions at which she has been seen in the company of Countess Crey. In February 2008 a mutant teenager named Danica King (Virtue) came into the custody of GIFT with a horrible story to tell. Danica claims she was an orphan who was enrolled in a Crey sponsored foster care program when she was a very young girl. When her mutant abilities began to manifest in her early teens, Danica was sent to a special school where she was supposed to learn how to control her powers. That school, known as the Duchesne Institute for the Advanced Development and Education of Mutants, or DIADEM (Virtue Supergroup), was supposed to be a place where Danica could learn to control her powers. The funding for DIADEM comes directly from the philanthropic Duchesne Foundation, and the institute does have several Boardmembers who are associated with Crey Industries. According to Danica King (Virtue) DIADEM wound up becoming a prison for her, as well as several dozen other young mutants like her. Although DIADEM appears to be a legitimate institute of learning, Danica believes that it is simply a front operation designed to provide test subjects for an illegal mutant experimentation program known as Protocol X (Virtue Supergroup).
Danica escaped from the Protocol X 'facility' beneath Paragon City where teams of scientists conducted illegal and fatal experiments upon the young mutants, although she was never certain what those experiments were supposed to be for. What Danica recalls is that she was about to be dissected on an operating table when her powers instinctively saved her. When Danica recovered from the drugs within her, she led GIFT and Longbow operatives to the sewer tunnels where she escaped from. The only evidence Longbow found of a 'secret facility' was an abandoned bomb shelter that did not appear to have been disturbed for over 50 years. Danica specifically recalls a woman who seemed to be in charge of the scientists and doctors, a woman who was referred to as Director X. When Longbow showed Danica a photograph of a woman who matched her description, Danica became hysterical and almost feinted due to fear. It was the same woman as the one in several photos with Countess Crey.
Countess Crey was questioned regarding the identity of the woman known as Director X, but she masterfully denied any specific knowledge. There were no employee records that matched the mysterious woman's description, and Crey's foster care program for young mutants did not appear to be anything like Danica described. In fact, the Countess invited GIFT to visit and check up on the volunteer foster parents and their children enrolled in DIADEM, and to contact several mutants who benefitted from the program and went on to productive careers. Any connection between Crey Industries, DIADEM, and the woman known as Director X has for the time being been swept away, but Danica King (Virtue) is not convinced.
Protocol X
Although the details of what Danica King (Virtue) revealed to GIFT and Longbow are not very complete, what can be surmised is that Protocol X (Virtue Supergroup) is a program that performs experiments upon living mutants, and possibly other metahumans, to determine and isolate the source of their powers. Once isolated, the program extracts those capabilities from the test subject so that they can be synthesized and prepared for transplantation into other living subjects. In other words, it is a power-stealing procedure that kills one metahuman so another can be created.
Such a program is highly illegal in the Western world, but if Protocol X has achieved success there will be a market for the superhuman abilities that it can provide to those seeking them. Director X could very well become the world's most influential power broker. There are hundreds of reports about missing metahumans throughout the world, especially those of young ages, and they collectively possessed an equal number of diverse abilities. If Protocol X has even been responsible for but a handful of these disappearances there may already be hundreds of superhuman abilities kept in storage, waiting for implantation into subjects willing to pay for them.
Arachnos
Informants within Arachnos have confirmed to their Longbow handlers that Director X is affiliated with this organization in the Rogue Isles. Although Director X is not an official member of Arachnos and she does not hold any position of authority or command, she has frequently consulted known Arachnos Fortunatas such as Kalinda and Seer Marino, and she has been a frequent visitor to Ghost Widow's tower on Mercy Island.
Powers
Mind Control
There may be some truth to the capabilities of the Protocol X program. Director X may have received an ability to manipulate and bend the minds and perceptions of others to her own will. People who are known to have been in her company forget who she is or fail to recall any factual and useful information.
Psionic Assault
Director X may also be able to directly assault the minds of others around her, inflicting severe pain and suffering by overloading a victim's neurological system without leaving any signs of abuse. Several people who have been identified as being close to Director X have died of strokes or fallen into comas right before investigators could speak with them.
Concealment
Director X is an elusive figure and difficult to detect. It is likely that she has acquired a superhuman ability to conceal her presence from those around her, but it isn't known if this ability is a form of telepathic manipulation or an ability to otherwise become physically invisible or blend into her surroundings. There are also rumors that Director X may be able to change her physical appearance at will. If true, Director X could literally become anyone.
Regenerative Medicines
If the rumors behind the Protocol X program are correct then it is certainly possible that Director X could have unlimited access to a variety of medicines or serums that promote the rapid healing and repair of damaged tissues. In Paragon City, researchers from GIFT and SERAPH have worked with superhumans gifted with regenerative powers and have proven that it is possible to synthesize powerful medications from their blood samples. The Rogue Isles may be a safe haven for superpowered criminals who escape from the Zig and similar prisons throughout the world, but FBSA reports indicate that more than a few superhumans who were rescued by Arachnos operatives have since disappeared upon reaching Mercy Island. What connects many of these disappearances is that too many of these supervillains, mostly mutants and scientifically altered humans, all possessed regenerative abilities. If FBSA investigators are correct then it may very well be that Director X is working with Arachnos to not only liberate superpowered criminals from incarceration but to cherry-pick those with desired abilities and force them into the Protocol X program.
Contact Information
Director X may be contacted on Virtue by e-mail using her name, Director X. Her global channel that is valid across all servers is @Major Paragon.
