Assassin (Fate/Crossover - Madame Hydra)

**Assassin** (アサシン, *Asashin*) is the servant of ??? in the ??? Holy Grail War.

"*We were orphans. Little girls, all alone. Hydra gave us a home. Eight great houses. Twelve girls to a house. And in the end, the most determined... the most ambitious... the most aggressive... That girl would be the Viper. All it cost was everything. I have been married to a man I hated. I could not marry the man I loved. I betrayed him. And I was betrayed in turn. Then I was murdered. Death, welcome and well - deserved. But HYDRA, it seems, will never be done with me... To live, and die and live again.*" - Madame Hydra

## Profile

### Identity

Assassin's true identity is **Ophelia Sarkissian**, better known as Madame Viper, Madame Hydra, or Viper, is an antagonist from Marvel Comics and one of the leaders of the terrorist organization known as HYDRA. She is an enemy of Captain America, the X-Men, Spider-Woman, and the Avengers.

Ophelia Sarkissian was born to unnamed parents and was orphaned, and was eventually recruited into Hydra. She became the student of the Kraken, and became a well-respected agent of the organization, earning the title "Viper". She gained a position in Hydra's inner circle, became a mercenary for a time, and pupil of Seraph. Later on, Viper and Seraph rescued the mutant Wolverine from Sabretooth, and Seraph died of his wounds.

Taking the name Madame Hydra, she took control of their New York operations and frequently clashed with the super-soldier Captain America. However, her identity was stolen by the Space Phantom, who turned her branch of Hydra into his own private army. Madame Hydra eventually returned from Limbo after the Phantom ceased using her form, but was on the outs with Hydra due to his actions. She reorganized the then-defunct Serpent Squad, killing the original costumed criminal Viper, taking his alias. Acquiring the ancient and powerful Serpent Crown artifact, she sought world domination but was again opposed by Captain America. Viper next organized her own terrorist cell and employed the mutant warrior the Silver Samurai as her bodyguard.

Viper battled Spider-Woman when Drew stumbled onto one of Viper's plots during her career as a private investigator in San Francisco. Viper, under the influence of Morgan le Fey, believed herself to be Meriem Drew, Spider-Woman's mother. Morgan sought to use the Viper as a weapon against Spider-Woman and briefly replaced the Viper's right eye with a black orb capable of projecting others into a magical dimension. Hoping to unravel the mysteries of her origin, Spider-Woman tracked Viper down to confront her and was tossed into this dimension and seemingly forced to confront Chthon. The elder god wanted to use Spider-Woman to emerge on Earth, but Viper ultimately defied Chthon, with the help of the force of will of Spider-Woman, who resisted Chthon long enough for Viper to ultimately free herself from his thrall. This entire scenario was later revealed to be false when Viper broke free of the hypnotic blocks placed in her mind by le Fey. She blamed Spider-Woman for this violation of her mind, and tried to seek revenge.

Soon after, Viper and the Silver Samurai clashed with the New Mutants when they attempted to coerce the motorcycle stunt riding Team America into stealing the Cavorite crystal. Later still, Viper, alongside numerous other snake-inspired costumed villains, infiltrated the criminal organization known as the Serpent Society with the intent of taking it over. She poisoned the water supply in Washington D.C., changing most of the residents into snake-like humans, including the President.

Viper subsequently entered into a brief alliance with the murderous Red Skull. However, this alliance was short lived as the two criminals soon double-crossed each other.

When the throne of Madripoor was left without an heir, Viper brainwashed many of the women closest to Wolverine in order for them to capture and bring him to her. She reminded him of his old debt to Seraph, their mutual mentor. Following his code of giri, or honorable debt, Wolverine agreed to marry the Viper. The Viper had gambled that Wolverine's respectability in Madripoor would enable her to seize the throne. She also used him, along with Sabretooth and Shadowcat, to foil both Hydra and the Hand's attempts to control the island. Soon after, the Viper was installed as the ruling princess of Madripoor.

Following an illegal bloodsport tournament hosted on the island, in which Wolverine was a participant at the Viper's request, the demonic ninja spirit Ogun attacked. After failing to possess Wolverine, Ogun possessed Viper. In order to exorcise the spirit, Wolverine seriously wounded Viper, and Ogun's spirit was dissipated. In return for ensuring she received medical treatment, Wolverine made the Viper agree to divorce him. During this time, the Viper must have had plastic surgery to repair her facial scarring, as she no longer bore scars on the right side of her face.

Her reign was subsequently challenged by the alien warlord Khan. Viper helped organize a resistance force against an attempted alien invasion of Earth which had made its beachhead in Madripoor. Viper ran afoul of the X-Men, and betrayed their leader, Storm, who was subsequently captured by the aliens. Ultimately, the invasion was repelled by the X-Men and the Avengers. Viper returned to ruling Madripoor.

When Tony Stark was head of S.H.I.E.L.D., he wanted Viper dethroned, but S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't attack a sovereign state, so Tony had to go there himself. After seeing Viper in her palace, where both tried to outsmart each other, Viper ordered Roughhouse and Bloodscream to kill Iron Man, but they failed. Tony Stark then turned the public against Viper and helped Tyger Tiger to become the next ruler.

### Personality

Madame Viper is shown to be a completely aggressive, remorseless, schizophrenic, materialistic, cantankerous, egotistical, vindictive, impatient, paranoid, sadistic, brutal, mean, greedy, violent, uncaring, murderous, sociopathic, manipulative, unmerciful, iniquitous, selfish, cruel, rude, and evil woman whose lust for power and conquest rivals that of fellow Hydra leaders Red Skull and Baron Strucker. She can and will cross any moral line in the pursuit of her goals, and became one of the most wanted criminals in the world when she horribly mutated 8,000 people in Symkaria, which earned her a death sentence from that country.

Being a classic nihilist, Madame Viper is also completely intolerant of failure, and every agent who has ever failed her has been executed without delay.

For all of her capacity for cruelty though Madame Viper is also driven, determined, cunning, and ambitious, and these traits mixed with her complete lack of redeeming qualities makes her a dangerous threat indeed.

## Abilities

Viper is a brilliant and cunning criminal strategist who has been rigorously trained in various martial arts. She is also a skilled markswoman and expert in the use of a bullwhip. Viper is highly skilled in the management of criminal organizations and very well connected in the international criminal underworld. She is also a master of stealth and espionage. Perhaps her greatest strengths are her influence, the financial resources at her disposal due to her stature in organized crime, and an uncanny luck which has allowed her to cheat death in situations where lesser people would have died.

Viper is also extremely knowledgeable in the properties and uses of toxins, poisons, and snake venoms, frequently creating her own poisons that she spreads through her hollow fangs or poisoned lipstick.

The Viper carries a set of throwing darts tipped with either a lethal or paralytic venom based on the chemistry of snake venom. She usually uses a whip and guns she keeps strapped to her waist, among other high-tech weaponry provided by HYDRA.

Madame Hydra has rendered herself immune to most toxins via controlled exposure.

## References

https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Madame\_Viper

https://femalevillains.fandom.com/wiki/Viper\_(Marvel\_Comics)

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Ophelia\_Sarkissian\_(Earth-616)