Felix-116

Lieutenant Commander Felix-116, born Felix Caden Martel, is an operative of the classified ORION supersoldier project, and the first augmentee of the . Following medical complications that arose from ORION's unstable experimental procedures, he was placed into cryonic suspension due to the fatal nature of his illness. He remained in stasis at age 19 until he was awakened in 2525 upon the request of . Offered a fleeting chance at survival, Felix agreed to undergo the risky augmentations as a possible cure to his seemingly untreatable condition. He made a full recovery and was subsequently reassigned to 's covert , as part of the top-secret Spartan VELOX Unit. Leading a team of class 2 SPARTAN-IIs, Felix has spearheaded 107 ONI operations throughout the majority of the before the unit vanished on in .
==Biography==
===Early Life (2476—2492)===
Felix was born on Eridanus II as the middle sibling of three boys, raised on a modest crop farm built by his grandfather in . His parents were Abigail Hollenbeck, a one-time revolutionary who sought change for Eridanus II, and Caden Martel, a humble farmer who inherited the family estate after his siblings' aspirations led them to more thriving colonies. Though a long way from the nearest major population centres, Felix and his brothers received a stellar education from Asphodel District Primary Education Facility Number 182, one of several schools built to accommodate Eridanus II's rural population. Outside of school, Felix spent much of his childhood helping around the farm, practicing with Caden's old hunting rifle, and exploring the surrounding forest with Dawn, a local stray husky that he was very fond of.
In 2492, a new manor was completed down the road from the Martel family farm, commissioned by Colonel Michael Thornhill who had recently emigrated from . Although Thornhill remained largely reclusive, his arrival was also heralded by the presence of his son Hector, who became Felix's new classmate in school. They did not talk much until one day Felix walked into a bathroom to find a group of senior boys trying to pick a fight with Hector. After Felix defused the situation, Hector warned him that intervening only made him a target as well, a prediction that came to pass when the bullies subsequently came after Felix on his walk home from school. Fortunately, Hector had noticed what was going on as his self-driving car passed by, and got out to help him fight off the senior boys. He offered to give Felix a ride home, and the two soon became friends. Not long after the scuffle, Felix was warned about Thornhill by his older brother Astor, who had learned of the Colonel's involvement with the . Perturbed by the notion that the UNSC could and would raze an entire civilian population if pushed, Felix noted his mother's disapproval for Astor's reckless procurement of classified military information and began to ponder the nature of her wariness. He accompanied his brothers to Asphodel City the following day using their father's truck, where he witnessed Astor smuggling a data module from a shopping centre while eluding his pursuers. He soon discovered that the module was encoded with the digital signature of the city's , one of numerous devices intended to simultaneously reveal the news of Far Isle to the entirety of Eridanus II.
The contents of Astor's stolen data were remotely broadcast via Waypoint Four later that night, revealing the last transmissions of Far Isle's comms relay to a shocked and outraged public. This was followed by a recorded statement by Commandant Matias Gavilán stating that his aim was not to provoke civil unrest, but to deliver the truth for the people to judge. A sickened Felix stepped outside to clear his head when Hector sought him out, having deducted what Astor had done and warning that Thornhill was very close to figuring it out. Felix managed to coerce a reluctant Astor to give him the stolen module, and with Hector's help, brought it away from the Martel farm and the suspicious Colonel. While Felix's parents kept Thornhill occupied, he and Hector drove Caden's truck all the way to Asphodel City, intending to torch it with the module inside amidst the colony-wide riots that had broken out mere hours ago. However, they had just found a suitably secluded location when they were confronted by a group of looters looking to steal the valuable-looking module from them, and a fight quickly broke out with Felix desperately trying to fend them off using the stashed under his seat. The fight was quickly broken up by a CMA patrol, who revealed that they were loyal to Gavilán and persuaded Felix to hand them the module.
The harrowing trip ultimately proved to be futile, however, when one of Thornhill's men recovered the module not long after, discovering not only Astor's fingerprints on it but that of Felix and Hector's as well. Felix, who had managed to make it home the following morning, was surprised to find Gavilán there trying to persuade his family to leave for their own safety. Abigail admitted to Felix that she had history with Gavilán, who had continued with his cause long after she had given up, and she firmly rebuffed him by stating that she would not make her children into fugitives. Not long after Gavilán departed, Felix spotted Thornhill's Warthog speeding down the road mere moments before it opened fire. Chaos broke out as Thornhill and his "problem solvers" launched grenades at the Martel family farm, trapping Felix and his younger brother Thomas inside the burning house. An injured Caden managed to start his cropduster and send it speeding toward Thornhill and his men, giving Astor the opportunity to rush into the house and pull out an unconscious Thomas with Felix's help. Salvation then came in the form of Hector, who had followed his father and used the Warthog turret to gun down several of his men. Felix managed to shoot Thornhill in the leg with Caden's rifle, and the Colonel retaliated by firing a grenade at him, sending a spray of shrapnel into his right arm. Despite this, Felix managed to let off one more shot with his working hand, losing consciousness shortly afterward but giving Hector the chance to close distance and kill Thornhill by driving a knife through his eye.
When Felix woke up, he found himself in an ONI recovery facility with his right arm amputated from the shoulder down. Waiting for him was , from whom he learned of Caden's death. She also informed him that Abigail and Astor were due to be incarcerated for inciting acts of , while the underage Thomas was to be placed into UEG-sanctioned foster care, and that Felix would be sent to for "re-educational purposes". Despite his bitterness over the cost of Astor's choices, Felix implored his brother to behave himself out of a forlorn hope that they could eventually heal from what had happened, and told his mother that he had accepted ONI's deal on the condition that he would be allowed to see his family in the future. He was fitted with a prosthetic arm, and after making a full recovery from the injuries he had sustained, Felix was joined by Hector, who had also been enrolled into Corbulo. The two boys were soon shipped off to , leaving the horrifying events of Eridanus II behind them.
===Training at Corbulo Academy (2492—2493)===
==Analysis==
===Personality and Traits===
Early in his life, Felix was regarded as a thoughtful but unassuming child by his parents and teachers. His grades were fairly average compared to his peers and he had no extraordinary ambitions, as he was content simply to help tend the family farm. He knew all of his classmates by name and had a good sense of their individual quirks and social comfort levels, which made him well-liked among the students in his year even though he kept very few close friends. Prior to meeting Hector Thornhill, he had never gotten into a physical altercation in his life.
During his time at OCS, Felix maintained a rigorous sense of self-discipline to stand among the top of his class, no easy feat due to his Accelerated Education status condensing his four-year curriculum into merely two years. He applied himself tirelessly in both academics and combat training, motivated by nothing except the desire to bring his family back together. Knowing that his peers hailed from decorated military families who would have most certainly given them a distinctive head start, Felix would often extend his personal studies late into the night to make up the difference. He even turned down repeated recommendations from the academy doctor to take an extended leave of absence in order to undergo a flash clone transplant for his right arm, citing his need to keep up with his studies even if it meant using a prosthetic for the rest of his life. Though his loyalty to the UNSC was far from infallible by the standards of his ONI observers, his outstanding performance at Corbulo sufficiently cleared him to be approved for Project: ORION.
Felix's reluctance to fight for the UNSC was soon curbed by the increasingly violent measures taken by the Insurrection, which did not particularly endear him to either side of the conflict. This was further complicated by his relationship with his mother and his brother Astor, both of whom officially joined the Insurrectionists in 2494. With his hopes of reuniting with his family made all but impossible, Felix devoted his efforts to curtailing further bloodshed, until the side effects of his ORION augmentations rendered him unable to fight or even stand on his own. After being "cured" by Dr Halsey's experimental augmentations in 2525, he had finally accepted that he would never get to have the ordinary life he wanted.
With no one to answer to but ONI, Felix grappled with his new reality of fighting a losing war with only the faintest hope of victory, while having no one left who knew or cared that he was alive. He fought to preserve his own humanity as much as he could, something that his handlers worked to stamp out with each new mission and the horrors that accompanied them. With each short-term victory, decisive sacrifice, and colony abandoned to glassing, Felix found his emotional faculties blending together into numbness as the war ravaged humanity year by year, and it would not be until he was placed in charge of the VELOX Unit that he began to feel slightly more whole again. Through it all, a small part of Felix never stopped longing for freedom — from war, from the UNSC, and from the cycles of depravity that perpetually encircled humanity at every turn.
===Relationships===
===Skills and Abilities===
File:ORION toprankings.png|280px
rect 41 41 810 90 Hector Thornhill
rect 41 106 810 155 Gylinda Dirix
rect 41 171 810 220 Avery Johnson
rect 41 301 810 350 Anton LaMarche
rect 41 366 810 415 Richard Mack
rect 41 431 810 480 Ellison Suarez
rect 41 496 810 545 Gladys Swanson
rect 41 561 810 610 Colton Vieira
rect 41 626 810 675 Bartosz Sówka
Felix was one of the top-ranked candidates of ORION phase 1.
*Augmented Physique: Felix initially took well to his ORION augmentations, which significantly improved his strength, speed, stamina, and endurance. Although his body rapidly deteriorated while in the throes of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, ONI was able to preserve him in cryonic freezing before the effects became fatal. After receiving SPARTAN-II augmentations, Felix's body was not only restored but enhanced to exorbitant proportions. His severely recoded genome makes medical treatment more complicated than most, but regardless Felix physically functions at the absolute peak of human potential.
*Enhanced Reflexes: Felix's ORION augmentations were limited in mental and cognitive enhancement, but combined with his own personal drive, they were fairly effective in improving the rate at which he learned to utilize his body proficiently. This was furthered by his SPARTAN-II augmentations, which helped him adapt to unfamiliar combat situations early in the Human-Covenant War.
*Tactician: During his time at OCS, Felix studied tactics attentively and feverishly. He learned many forms of war and combat, both on the ground and in space, and took on numerous operations under NAVSPECWAR and ORION. Post-recovery, he was assigned many high-risk operations when humanity was still inexperienced with their enemies, and throughout the Human-Covenant War he became one of ONI's most reliable black ops leaders.
*Marksman: Felix was accepted into NAVSPECWAR at the age of 18, in no small part due to his exhaustive dedication to mastering a diverse range of weapons, including Covenant weaponry as the war went on. Though not a dedicated sniper, he exhibits a strong knack for marksmanship even by Spartan standards.
*Martial Artist: Felix spent much of his time at OCS practicing unarmed and mêlée combat with Hector Thornhill. He has trained in Jujitsu, Karate, Judo, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, and Sylat Knife Fighting, along with several forms of mixed martial arts secretly developed by NAVSPECWAR and the SPARTAN-II Program. Having spent decades honing his expertise in hand-to-hand combat, Felix is a formidable opponent with or without MJOLNIR armour.
*Infiltrator: Felix's NAVSPECWAR operations were heavily dependent upon infiltration. After becoming a SPARTAN-II, ONI made great use of his skills in their methods against the Covenant. He continued to practice covert forms of engagement and other scenarios where he could not rely on MJOLNIR armour, and his pragmatism proved invaluable during his mission against the Syndicate.
*Tech Expert: Many of Felix's early operations under NAVSPECWAR involved navigating and manipulating enemy technology. Prior to becoming a SPARTAN-II, he was extensively drilled in hacking and cyber warfare before putting his training into practice. The unconventional disposition of his missions also familiarized him with a wide range of weapons and tech not commonly found on most operations, be they human or alien.
===Promotions and Decorations===
 Insignia 	 Rank  	 Date Received 
 	Ensign 	
*October 19, 2493
 	Lieutenant, Junior Grade 	
*February 4, 2494
 	Lieutenant 	
*December 3, 2525
 	Lieutenant Commander 	
*March 25, 2543
 Ribbon  	 Decoration  	 Date Received 
 	Basic Training Honor Graduate Ribbon	
*October 15, 2493
 	Purple Heart 	
*March 17, 2494
*May 28, 2495
 	Combat Action Ribbon 	
*March 17, 2494
 	Bronze Star Medal 	
*November 10, 2494
 	Silver Star Medal 	
*May 28, 2495
 	 	
*December 5, 2495
Category:ZOD Characters
Category:Spartan-Is
Category:Spartan-IIs