Mary

*This article is about The 'Lambs' Mary. For the girl that Mary replaced, see Mary (Original).*

## Mary

### POV Chapter(s)

Interlude 7.y, Black Sheep 13.10, Interlude 18.b

## Physical Appearance

### Hair

Black

**Mary Elizabeth Coburn** known as **Mary** is a member of the Lambs.

## Psychology

Mary is focused and efficient in all she does striving for perfection. Multiple examples abound such as in expression, presentation, dress, and even movement. All of this she takes immense pride in.

Her elitism causes issues in a leadership positions when people don't think or function like she does. When she is with like minded people she excels.

Feels diconnected from

### Relationships

#### Percy

Despite everything she was still loyal to him.

#### Lillian Garey

Has a close friendship with the young doctor. Mary used Lilian as her conscience in a way.
The relationship eventually turned romantic.

## Appearance

She has brown hair with white ribbons. She is conscious of her opinions and constantly has her

## Project Goal

Subject was created by a new technique that sidestepped the usual issues with clones.

It is meant to be an improved version of the original. Changes were made in tank to guide its mindset; making her willing to train and receptive to authority, subject dedicates a large amount of their cognition on how to damage targets. Consequently subject is adroit in knives, throwing and otherwise, and was able to self teach how to use wire in combat.

Was meant to act as a trainer especially for the next generation of clones but functions just as effectively training others, provided they're sufficiently dedicated. Consequently subject was not implanted with a trigger phrase outsider its creators standard procedure.

### Appointments

Subjects' sessions are focused on her physical ability and training ensuring they are within projections. Outside of this it needs a special diet to meet her nutrition requirements, for things that her body never learned to make itself.

## Record

### Before

She is one of Percy's clones, Like the others she was meant to be a limited term use object for Percy. Meant to help him accomplish his goals and them be disposed of.

### 1921

She was outmaneuvered by Sylvester and was recruited into the lambs.

Got trapped in the Bowels with the Lambs. Was knocked out by anesthetic wasps.

Eventually she was accepted into her position in the lambs.

### 1922

Went on a mission to destroy some rebels, she and gordon were the ones doing the major planning.

Discovered the ghost threat and almost died, luckily Lilian saved her.

### 1923

Went on a mission with Duncan, Ashton and Helen. Mary was the leader but the others lacked the will to follow her instructions.

Was devastated to hear of Gordan's death.

Helped kill the Baron and the last sister.

### 1924

Continued to participate in the lambs efforts to track Sylvester.

She was part of the team that tried to retrieve Berger from the Lost Lambs custody.

### 1925

Eventually joined up with the rebel lambs and started training the people.

She was a major factor in killing the Infante.

### 1926

Lady Margret greated the king when he visited the crown states.

## Trivia

* The mary who had a little lamb, that Sy refrences when thinking about her. Was a real person.

## References

1. ↑ I bent over to give Lillian a kiss on the head, then stood from the bed, gathering my coat and boots. I circled the bed and put the paper down on the other bedside table, nearer Mary.

Her hand went out, pinning the paper down against the bed. Eyes awake. She was alert, eyes sharp and hawkish.

I tapped the paper. She took it, sliding it along the bedside table before unfolding it.

She took a short while to read, and then looked up, giving me a small nod. She smiled just a touch, but she also looked very sad.

Very Mary. Crisp execution, to the point. I wondered if she didn’t want to look brittle in front of me. Were the tears and the human side of Mary reserved for her best friend, now? - Excerpt from In Sheep’s Clothing 10.1
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 I raised an eyebrow. Mary didn’t want to go, when she *loved* her appointments. They were a chance to show off, to show her coordination, skill retention, fitness…

“Would it be better if you were in a room near ours?” Jamie asked.

Mary, as a new addition, had her appointments in the tower, but she was on a different floor than we were.
[...]
*She’s lonely, and she doesn’t like a ‘loss’. She senses something’s wrong, and she wants to be part of the group, in the midst of it.*

She was a Lamb, through and through. - Excerpt from Stitch in Time 4.12
3. ↑ - Excerpt from In Sheep’s Clothing 10.1
4. ↑ “Then- this is about the children? The work I do? It bothers you so much?”

Mary shook her head. “No. You shaped me, honed me into a tool, a weapon. You could kill a thousand children a year and it wouldn’t bother me.”

“Then why?” he asked. There was a note of anguish in his voice. “You want me to *die*?”

“It bothers *her*,” Mary said, pointing at Lillian. “And she’s important to me.” - Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.15

“One student died and was autopsied,” Gordon said. “The rest burned. Wouldn’t a clone turn up on autopsies?”
[...]

“It depends on a lot,” she said.[...] “If he tried to accelerate growth, which he must have, then there’s a good chance something would show up. There are chemical ways to promote aging. Hormones, substances, alter the seventh ratio. But those substances turn up, and they have effects. Any drug is like a puzzle piece. We flood the body with puzzle pieces of a particular shape, and intend for those pieces to fit into a specific place and enact a specific function, but you can’t stop it from connecting to other sites, enacting other functions. It’s how we get side effects. We control it with how we deliver the medication and other factors, and some of the best graduates of the Academy have it down to an art, making it so one drug only affects one thing in one way, but that’s a delicate balancing act. That’s without getting into the fact that a badly made clone might be more prone to wear, tear, and side effects.”

“Is our guy that good?” Jamie asked. “Enough to have the aging drugs down to an art, hiding symptoms from an autopsy?”

“We don’t know,” Gordon said. “But if what Sy said is true, I’d say he isn’t. He has one area of focus and he’s giving his all in pursuing it.”

“Okay,” Lillian said. “The second method is more complimentary, then. Altering the fundamental pattern of the clones. Humans mature at an exceptionally slow rate. We saw people try this a decade ago in the Indian Empire. Crown scientists tried to make a slave class that grew to maturity, with a specific level of intelligence. Domesticated humans, strong, playful, good natured, attractive, and obedient. If I’m not mistaken, they tried a lot of things, including imprinted behaviors.”
[...]
“It involves other problems,” Lillian said. “Like the drugs and hormones, it’s an art unto itself. It requires precision of a different sort, and a broad kind of knowledge. There’s prior work to draw on, other projects that tried similar things, but there would be signs of the attempt that would crop up in an autopsy, unless the work was perfect. Change one thing in the pattern, and it has ripple effects throughout the organism’s development and makeup.”

“I didn’t realize it was that difficult,” Helen said.

“Oh my god. It really, really is,” Lillian said, eyes wide, the incredulity she wasn’t voicing clear in her expression.

“Again, if our puppeteer was that good, why the hell isn’t he already employed by the Academy and earning a small fortune for his talents?” Gordon asked. A rhetorical question.

Many of us were nodding.
[...]
 There’s a third possibility,” Lillian said. “Maybe more, but I’m only thinking of three. It kind of complicates things. [...] Don’t accelerate the aging. If you need them to age, you make them age by letting time pass.” [...] I said it complicates things,” Lillian said. “Because our ‘puppeteer’ could strike a balance. Some natural aging. Some hormones or changes to the pattern. The more he relies on real time passing, the less he needs to accelerate the process. Maybe this project has only been in the works for nine years, or six.”

“Meaning there could be clues,” Gordon said, “Ones that slipped through in the autopsy.”

Lillian nodded.

“More time to develop them,” Helen said. “Either he inserts them while they’re young, where a half-socialized clone might go unnoticed amid rabid and rambunctious first graders, or he waits and he observes their real counterpart, and he trains the clones to mime the behaviors in his off-hours.” - Excerpt from Taking Root 1.8
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 **Vat Babies** - Experiments born in a lab, not a womb. Typically very carefully raised from an early point, with accelerated aging through the early years, careful training and adjusted metrics, as they are built for a special task. Mind and body may be altered as part of the ongoing process, but are often a roll of the dice in terms of the doctor's ability to control the end result. Includes wholly original life and clones. There is an emphasis here on *capabilities*, or on utility, either directly (Ashton) or indirectly (Mary; priming her for training, mindset). - Wildbow on Reddit
7. ↑ *I spend my time thinking about how to get out of bad situations, or how to get around them. I think about my enemies and their thought patterns, about their weaknesses, and how everything can be arranged to maximize our odds.*

*Mary thinks about how to make people bleed.* - Excerpt from In Sheep’s Clothing 10.15
8. ↑ My fingers unfolded the paper I’d collected. The puppeteer’s note. Instructions to the headmistress, useless. The kill command for a dead clone, useless. And his command to Mary, which was an interesting puzzle I’d have to work out in the future. Something to discuss with Hayle.

*Mary. You do not have a command like Clyde does.*
*I won’t say I didn’t try, but only managed to induce short fits to reset your mind.*
*I grew fond of you, I admit. What I told you was not lies. If it comes down to it and Clyde fails, run. Find your way.*
*I will find you. We will be together, and we will succeed.*
*– Percy* - Excerpt from Taking Root 1.11
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 “While you grow, you’ll need to change your diet,” he said.

“I have a team working with me,” she said.

“Supplements? The builder’s acids, the concentration-”

“Twenty percent. Type F.”

“C,” he said. “C. Tell them. Twenty-five percent should do it. You grew quickly in the early stages, you’re growing a little bit faster even now. The Type C should include a good calcium mix, and it will keep byproducts from accumulating in your joints. Without it, you’ll find yourself with arthritic symptoms.”

“I’ll remember,” she said.

“You’ll hit a wall before too long. Rapid growth, tissue regeneration, byproducts from the non-human cells, organ failure, cancers-”

“I know I have an expiration date,” Mary said, her voice quiet.
[...]
His face was taut with concern and repressed emotion as he spoke, sounding as if he were twenty feet away rather than five. “I was callow and stupid, starting out. Arrogant and narrow-minded. I thought a few years less of having to care for infants was worth a vastly shortened lifespan in my creations, that there was no point, because you weren’t to serve any use after a certain point.” - Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.13
10. ↑ Stitch in Time 4.12
11. ↑ Lamb to the Slaughter 6.7
12. ↑ Lamb to the Slaughter 6.8
13. ↑ Counting Sheep 9.18