Hybrid Minion

Another fine Infinity Inc product!

While much of Infinity Inc's work tends toward the relatively uninteresting field of genetic analysis and obscure one-off "Induce/Deactivate Metahuman Ability" applications, the Hybrid Series product lines show off some of I.I.'s best work. Testing specimens, prototypes, mobile advertisements, and living tools, the creatures created at the Hybrid Series facilities that survive to a genetically stable existence are further subjected to brainwashing, psionic surgery, rigorous training, and eventual deployment at a secondary facility such as the Azores office. They serve the acquisitive needs of the corporation; they also are leased out, at appropriately villainous rates, to nearly anyone who has a use for such minions.

Certain restrictions apply, and are explicitly included in every lease. Infinity Inc doesn't mind a certain amount of damage to their property in the course of a client's work.

In fact, it is expected.

However, each Hybrid represents a not inconsiderable expenditure in time, materials, and patience: and one small squad of the most effective Hybrids are never leased out. They exist for two purposes: retrieval of corporate property, and resolution of lease abuses.

Hybrid Minion Baseline Creation and Refinement

Almost every Hybrid of either series will do some leases as solo minions, so their early training has a strong foundation in individual puzzle-solving and obstacle navigation. Every Hybrid minion will at some point work in tandem with other Hybrid minions, however.

During the creation process, the human template's original identity is wiped away to varying degrees. Any Hybrid who retains a strong connection to their previous self will undergo aversion treatment -- brainwashing and psychic surgery -- to weaken that connection. ^ID

Mind Controls

All Hybrid Series minions have certain programs universally installed during the implementation phase, using mechanical psychic surgery methods followed up with hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming, and many other brainwashing techniques.

• A minion is programmed to serve Simon Arkangel above all other priorities. Simon Arkangel is not to be harmed, through action or inaction. Simon Arkangel's commands are obeyed with alacrity, in spirit as well as to the letter of his command.
• Every minion is programmed to understand and obey the Voice Command System. Many Deltas are programmed with the exact techniques necessary to issue certain of the commands.
• A minion is programmed with a kill trigger: being touched by any unauthorized person results in immediate lethal assault. Peers -- Alphas and Deltas -- do not elicit the kill trigger. Properly dressed employees from the Behavioral Design division absolutely do not elicit the kill trigger. Most employees in the Physical Design and Development divisions also are unlikely to elicit the kill trigger, but extremely stressful situations can result in unplanned bloodbaths.
  
  Note: insulation against the kill trigger does NOT equate to guaranteed safety!
• All Hybrid Series minions are programmed to not harm a noncombatant. Most minions are programmed to not harm any Infinity Inc employee. ^NC
• Each minion is programmed with the dormant triggers to form a unit bond. These connections may never become active, but their potential is integral to the basic programming of all Hybrids from the earliest design prototypes.

Biomechatronics

Simon Arkangel founded Infinity Inc with the goal of advancing the quantity ''and quality'' of human life, using biological enhancements such as genome alteration, metahuman augmentation, and cellular rejuvenation. He considers himself a pioneer in the superscience field of pushing human biological limits. To that end, he is enthusiastic about developing and using various new technologies. The more advanced his tools are, the more exceptional his creations can be!

Mr. Arkangel also believes that life and art are intertwined. For that reason, he considers very few mechanical technologies to be tolerable inclusions in the creations of his company. Tools, after all, are part of the process for creating art; they are not one with the art itself. Hence the Hybrid Series minions do not, with two universal exceptions, have implantations that are anything other than biological tissue.

The two exceptions are both custom-designed nanodevices, with dedicated purposes:

• I. I. contraceptive chip : A contraceptive device, essentially a nanotech mechanism that blocks the Cs protein in male Hybrids and prevents endometrium thickening in female Hybrids, is implanted into every newly-acquired human template very early in the implementation phase of minion creation. The purpose of this is NOT to allow sexual activity under whatever circumstance! It is a precautionary measure only, preventing certain potential sources of aggression.
• I. I. locator chip: A parasitic device is implanted in a nerve cluster between the heart and the spine. Upon receiving a certain signal, it triggers seizures in the host body, and uses the excess electrical energy generated by those seizures to transmit an encoded radio pulse so that the host body can be located.

Units

Two kinds of operating units exist among Hybrid Series minions: sets designed from initial proposal through implementation, given a single blueprint number with letter variations for the individual; and assembled units, placed together after initial implementation to improve their effectiveness. Of the assembled units, some are deliberately placed together by a Trainer or Observer, while others gradually draw together as random lease assignments prove more effective when working jointly.

• Hybrid blueprint record #092 is an example of a designed set: five Alphas, all Scandinavian wolves, and a single Delta who was the first combat medic design to survive implementation and training.
• Delta 109b and Alpha 113c were assigned to form a unit by a Trainerwho drilled them both in herding and containment techniques. The Delta's use of fire cages and the Alpha's ability to freeze the air around a target's limbs made useful complements, plus the two had a very palatable visual impact ... so long as the tiger was kept away from fried cheese curls.
• The Stage Crew was an example of a unit formed through serendipity. Shortly before Alpha 150a was slated for termination, he served a few leases with Delta 97d. His mood swings and control of his energy flux stabilized; her lucid periods grew in duration, and the sensory disconnect phase significantly faded from her cycle. With the addition of Alphas 172c and 163g, her disconnects almost completely vanished.

Dr. Michael Wyndham, Lead Designer for the Hybrid Series project, adjusted all designs of the Alphas and Deltas -- physical designs as well as mental designs -- to integrate them in mutually-supportive "operating units". His first set involved all four functional Hybrids, each having a specific role in any moderate undertaking, though they still function to limited success as individuals. A large portion of the brainwashed reaction relies on instinctive urge of the subjects to comfort and protect one another from their mutual antagonist.

Deltas are, at the most fundamental study, standard human bodies with superpowers artificially imbued. Since the form did not naturally grow into this state, a Hybrid Delta Series minion's body does not have the inherent build-up and relaxation of power around use of power. A Delta's body generates high amounts of energy at almost all times, requiring strict metabolism control and dietary oversight … and also requiring opportunities for controlled release of excess energy when not actively engaged in power usage!

Dr. Wyndham specifically altered the core process of Alpha creation, the process that combines mammalian DNA seamlessly with the host human, so that Alpha Hybrids can safely absorb a Delta Hybrid's built-up energy through firm skin contact. In return for relieving pressure on the Delta's system, the Alpha's pain receptors are temporarily numbed -- making medical treatment a far more straightforward prospect.

The true purpose, however, of the unit structure is to assemble a practiced team of complementary abilities for joint action. Every Hybrid is relentlessly drilled in several forms of "puzzle solving": infiltration of an enemy base, destruction of a well-defended target, collection of intelligence or resources, assembly of a death-trap, any task a proper villain might prefer to leave to minions. A unit can get the job done, overcoming the little obstacles that life always presents, without direct mastermind oversight. An excellent unit can get the task done without having to constantly regroup for micromanagement or planning!

Special Roles

While all Hybrid Series minions are designed to serve the interests of Infinity Inc and the lessee, some minions acquire less common functions.

• control-equipped Hybrid Delta Series Minion
• I.I. Executioner
• I.I. Retrieval Team
• Hybrid Omega
• Arkangel Archive

Naming Traditions

Unisex names

Record designations start with an "A" for Alphas or a "D" for Deltas⁰ followed by a dash, followed by the three-digit code for the blueprint number, finished with a lower case letter for which "print" of the blueprint this particular Hybrid Minion is.

The first 20 designs were prototypes.
Actually: the first 10 designs were the original prototypes, the proofs of concept. Of those first ten attempts, five Alphas survived the initial process and three survived more than a few months of mental programming and training. Two Deltas survived the initial process, but only one made it through enough programming to be put in group training with the successful Alphas. ⁰⁰

In 1996, additional Hybrid Minion creation teams went to work in other facilities around the world. Failed blueprints still outnumber successes. The margins, however, have narrowed; and some blueprints include multiple Alphas and/or Deltas in a single design. One set, for example, was a quintet of dhole Alpha Hybrids whose records were numbered "A-088a" through "A-088e". Each of the dholes was designed slightly differently (a "tanker", or endurance specialist; a "scrapper", or melee damage specialist; a "controller", or area of effect specialist; a "blaster", or ranged melee specialist; and an "observer", or team coordinator) but their appearances are complementary and the intention was to have them always work as a cohort.

By campaign year 2009, the active Hybrid records have reached past the number 230. Many of the older records have been archived but it would be reasonable to presume Infinity Inc has more than 40 total active Hybrid Minions out there at any given time.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

• gesture code custom-designed visual pidgin created by Infinity Inc employees for use by and communication to all Hybrid Minions

The templates that become a Hybrid Delta Series or Hybrid Alpha Series Minion are drawn from most populations across the world. They are not chosen for their ability to understand their potential captors. Even members of a single unit may have no common language other than the pidgin imposed by Infinity Inc.

Common Taboos

• By design, the foundation of the mental programming requires every Hybrid Minion to serve Simon Arkangel if within his presence or the sound of his voice. His mildest command will be obeyed with alacrity. He will be protected. He will never be harmed. A Hybrid Mentat must act to please The Benefactor. The very sound of his cane tapping on a hard floor is a source of abject terror and abasement.
• By design, the first layer of the mental programming requires a Hybrid Minion to respond in a specific manner to the "Silence!" command: occupy minimal space, move as little as possible, make no sound, and devote at least eighty percent of attention to the one who gave the command.
  This is the first programmed command tested on any new Hybrid Minion. If it does not work as expected, the new creation may already be too flawed to continue.
  Because of the intensity of this response, control-equipped Hybrid Delta Series Minions avoid using the word even in casual, unrelated conversation. Its misuse is likely to cause all other Hybrid Minions in the vicinity to turn on the misuser once they recover.
• By custom, Alphas do not say the word "chains", even when talking to employees or bullying each other. They use the gesture alone if they have to reference the concept. Wise Deltas don't speak it either, even among themselves, as a Delta does not enjoy being chained up for torture any more than an Alpha does, and Deltas can get pretty damned violent when distressed.

---

^ID

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The Hybrids who are still moderately in control of themselves quickly learn to conceal any sign that they know who they once were.

^NC

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(For exceptions, see the I.I. Executioner subsection.)

⁰

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(or an "O" for Hybrid Omegas)

⁰⁰

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The first volunteer for the Omega process succeeded beyond expectation, but the next five did not survive the Omega process; the Omega line was paused for one year while adjustments were made to the genetic grafting process and tested on lesser designs.

Hybrid Minions are the superscience creation of villain organization "Infinity Inc", which despite its name and its literature is not actually a corporation. It is a privately owned Evil Company of Evil Superscience, with goals that might sound lofty, but the biggest impact they have on the Tales of Justice world came when they created a mutate slave army in two parts:

Diverged ethnicities

• Hybrid Alpha Series Minion
• Hybrid Delta Series Minion
• Hybrid Omega

Related Organizations

• Infinity Inc

Related Items

• I. I. contraceptive chip