Alfred Lewis

> "*I'm going to scrub this program from the face of the planet.*"
> ― Alfred
>
>

**Wormwood** (real name**Alfred Lewis**) is an MI6 agent who fell victim to Operation Iron Wolf. Originally tasked with confirming allegations concerning Iron Wolf circulating among the Americans, Alfred discovered the reality behind Operation Iron Wolf, but was caught by the KGB and captured. He was then subjected to brainwashing by Anatoly Gromov, the head of the Soviet spy program named Operation Iron Wolf. For eleven months he was subjected to mind-controlling techniques, waterboarding, and other forms of physical abuse before being turned into a "Cicada", a sleeper agent for Operation Iron Wolf. Eventually, however, after the brainwashing wore off, he escaped the program and later encountered Agnes Peterson, a CIA agent who also fell victim to the program.

The two of them briefly teamed up to help each other escape the program.

## Biography

### Capture and experimentation

In 1973, Alfred Lewis was deployed to East Berlin to uncover the truth behind Operation Iron Wolf after allegations of its brutal nature began circulating amongst the Americans. His orders were to gather intelligence about Operation Iron Wolf and, if possible, find ways to sabotage the program.

Using his cover story as a journalist, Lewis was able to find that MI6's suspicions were correct: Operation Iron Wolf was the brainchild of Soviet scientist Anatoly Gromov, alongside ex-Nazi scientist Amsel Freud.

However, before he could report his findings to MI6, his cover was blown and he was captured following a chase through East Berlin. While in captivity, Lewis was subjected to Iron Wolf's brutal brainwashing protocol; his captors tortured him and subjected him to doses of hallucinogenic drug cocktails and erased his memory multiple times over the course of six months to become an Iron Wolf asset. At first he was incredibly resistant, but thanks to the manipulative KGB officer Zina Volkova, he succumbed to the indoctrination procedures, culminating when Volkova ordered him to kill his own comrades-fellow MI6 agents that were also captured-while high on LSD.

### Escape and meeting Agnes

Horrified and infuriated by what Volkova made him do, Lewis snapped while Amsel was ministering to him afterwards, stabbing him to death with a scalpel and going on a one-man rampage against the KGB.

Volkova led a team of KGB agents to recapture him for reconditioning, but Lewis was able to severely injure Volkova and successfully escape the program. He then encountered Agnes Peterson, whom Lewis latered learned was a victim of Iron Wolf as well. Agnes aided Lewis in his escape. However, due to his injuries sustained during the breakout, he passed out. Agnes later brought him to a hospital in West Berlin, and told MI6 of what had occurred. Upon trying to recount what had happened to him while in captivity, Lewis realized that there were gaps in his memory that he couldn't remember, and what he could remember made MI6 suspicious that he'd been turned by the Soviets.

Fortunately, Agnes was able to use her own story to corroborate Lewis' cloudy testimony, leading MI6 to realize that Operation Iron Wolf was a greater threat than they had imagined.

### Taking down Operation Iron Wolf

> "*This is a war, lad. The mind, it seems, is the new battlefield. Now, if we are to win, we must not be afraid to match our enemy's level of brutality. Track Zina down!*"
> ― Station Chief Jason Montgomery giving the order to Alfred Lewis to capture Zina Volkova
>
>

The Station Chief of the West Berlin Station, Jason Montgomery, ordered Lewis to capture Volkova, whom Jason took interest in after Lewis told him of her role in his brainwashing. Montgomery sent Jason to Budapest, Hungary, where Jason went on a relentless pursuit of Volkova, finding and interrogating anyone she may have spoken to. Unfortunately, he got no leads. However, he had an unexpected reunion with Agnes Peterson, who was also tasked with assassinating the head of the program, Anatoly Gromov, under CIA orders.

Initially hesitant to share information, Agnes instead tried to distract Alfred by speaking of personal matters. Lewis, however, was so obsessed with finding and eliminating Gromov that Agnes agreed to work with him, despite not receiving official authorization to work with the British. Following this, Alfred met with a prostitute who took him on a drug trip to help him remember; while high on drugs, he was able to fully remember everything the KGB subjected him too, leading to an emotional breakdown. At that very moment, the KGB raided the bar they were at, and Agnes eventually found him raving madly while he fought off KGB agents trying to recapture him, despite being in a drugged state. After she assisted him in evading KGB agents once more, Alfred told Agnes everything he had remembered. The two then vowed to bring Iron Wolf down no matter the cost.

## Skills and abilities

* **Master Tactician**: Lewis was a brilliant tactician, able to use a variety of techniques and tactics to get as close to the KGB program Iron Wolf to obtain the intelligence necessary for his mission.
* **Multilingualism**: Lewis can speak his native English, as well as Russian, Georgian, Arabic, Farsi, Italian, French, Spanish, and German, among many other languages.
* **Combatant**: Lewis is trained in a variety of martial arts, but his main fighting styles are Boxing, and Judo. While brainwashed as an Iron Wolf asset, he was even taught Systema, the main martial art in use by the Russian Spetsnaz. As an enhanced assassin, Lewis was shown to be a very tough opponent; during his escape from the Iron Wolf facility, he could easily overpower many guards simultaneously and at one point he was able to injure a KGB officer by slicing her thumb off!
* **Master spy**: Lewis was able to pass off as virtually anybody with fake prosthetics and a variety of different makeup kits. He even fooled the KGB for months before they were able to figure out who he truly was.