Red Queen

*"She entered the Lab as a shy girl.. then.. what the hell happened in there?! Ever since she met Adam she's been-- fucking twisted in the head or something!"*

-- Chief Engineer Oracle discussing the inhuman shift of Cassandra

**Cassandra Knox**, known otherwise as **Red Queen** or later on as **Cassandra Spyker**, is the adoptive sister of Aaron Spyker and a member of Cerberus Contracting's Director's Unit.

She is the protégé of Adamantite and is one of the many members of Cerberus' research and development division who are socially engineered by their commander to do his bidding.

Additionally, she is a Krieg, a handpicked operator with the skills necessary to utilize specific warmachines in battle, despite complications. Red Queen herself is in possession of the Eyes of God, as well as the Tankhunter and a custom-fitted Saint suit.

## Biography

### Early Life

Born nearly twenty years after her parents adopted Ryan Knox at birth, Cassandra grew up with her brother acting as a both an idol and a protector. With him watching over as much as he could, she was subject to a rather lackluster upbringing. As a result of this, as well as of her shy and quiet personality, she took a liking to computers, reading, science as a whole, and especially mathematics.

The only true disruption of her academic career, however, was the complete disappearance of Ryan. After months of absolutely no communication with the supposed military man, the Knox family finally received a flag and the condolences of the United States Army; according to them, he had perished during a special operation somewhere in the Middle East -- the body was unable to be recovered. Under the impression her only brother was killed in action, she dedicated herself to her studies, becoming rather secluded.

With a few close friends accompanying her throughout her school life, Knox eventually graduated high school at the top of her class in the summer of 2016 despite emotional complications. Although she firmly believed Ryan was deceased, a strange envelope with over $5,000 in cash within arrived with her name on it just a few days later; certainly containing the largest amount of congratulation money of the numerous letters she received, a small piece of paper alongside it simply stated, "Never let them hold you back, Cassie." The sender was never identified, though for only a brief period Cassandra had her hopes.

### Adulthood

Having a huge love and interest for numbers, Knox didn't stay idle for long. Right out of high school, she enrolled in college to make progress towards a degree in mathematics. With no complications restraining her from completing it, she graduated four years later with a masters degree in math as well as a bachelor's in computer science. Her skillset solidified, she quickly received an offer from a somewhat new freelance intelligence company known as Driftshadow Intelligence. Taking the job as an intelligence analyst, she would soon fall in love with her career.

#### Driftshadow Intelligence

Cassandra, with a great love for her new job, made a career out of her employment at Driftshadow Intelligence. Travelling around the world analyzing information for several major corporations and even countries, it was like a dream to her.

However, Knox never once suspected the true nature of the private agency, and held firm to her belief that rumors of foul play by the company were just simply rumors, and thus untrue. Unfortunately, her blind ignorance would be the end of her life as she knew it. Participating in an intelligence contract in Egypt, Cassandra, along with the majority of the other analysts and technicians employed by the corporation, were suddenly turned on by Driftshadow's security branch. Blindfolded and escorted out to waiting trucks, the employees were swiftly kidnapped. Like the other victims around her, she was completely uninformed of where she was being brought to. Only a day or so later would she discover her beloved company's real business.

Cassandra, along with everybody else in the truck, was eventually brought to and thrown into a large abandoned warehouse in the heart of the capital of the country. One of many of the corporation's hidden human trafficking facilities, the kidnapped employees had little choice but to await their fate. Confined to crowded 'cages' with little to no personal space, the prisoners were kept under constant watch for what seemed like forever to them. Many of them, however, were unwilling to sit by and accept the terrible behavior of the guards. Knox agreed, though she was entirely powerless to resist.

This was only mostly the case, though. Little by little, Cassandra did what she could to disrespect and disobey her captors; simple things such as stealing an extra piece of bread and socializing with other prisoners after the allotted time to do so had ended. She just couldn't stand the situation at hand, but she tried to make the best of it. The guards, on the other hand, did not agree with her persistent refusal. Unfortunately for Cassandra, she decided to take more food than she was entitled to just one too many times. During the middle of one night, while she was fast asleep in her designated bunk, a security squad barged in, grabbing her right from her bed and blindfolded her, dragging her out of the room by her feet. She was brought to a small interrogation room, where the guards finally ripped off her blindfold. Fed up with her constant disobeying, they finally got down to business; they beat her savagely with and without weapons, ensuring she was in too much pain to ever resist them again. Vulnerable, the guards proceeded to rape Cassandra, taking complete advantage of the situation. To them, she was nothing but scum -- another disposable liability awaiting purchasing. As a final reminder of their brutal beating, one of her attackers sliced at the poor woman's eyes with a knife, causing her to go completely blind in both of them within mere moments. Scarred from head to toe from the experience, she was swiftly put into a very small and isolated cell, where she would remain for the remainder of her capture.

A social creature at heart, Knox, unable to see her surroundings or even speak with anybody other than the occasional guard, began to slowly break down. Being completely cut off from an entire sense as well as human beings swiftly took an effect on her mentality, slowly but surely changing her. By the time a prisoner riot broke out and eliminated all of their captors a few weeks later, Knox was all but a completely different person. Deeply scarred and insane by all accounts, she refused police assistance and opted to instead roam the streets of Cairo for several days before finally accepting the help of an older Egyptian man.

#### The Rebel's Apprentice

Cursed to what seems like eternal civil war between a corrupt government and religious activists looking to restore the country's faith in the gods of old, Cassandra was pulled the war torn roads of Egypt's capital by a man known only to his fellow rebels -- and Knox herself -- as Khepri. An old man who was described as being in his 70s or 80s, Khepri swore to Casssandra that, despite having lost his own ability to see, he had been blessed by the Egyptian god of war Montu.

Acting as the cell's expert marksman and wielding an old M1 Garand from World War II, the man overcame his extreme disability by supplementing his lack of sight for sound -- he listened for his foes as he waited atop structures and buildings, taking a shot only when he knew it would strike. None around him questioned his undeniable gift, though some outside of his rebel group simply believed the man was lying and that he was not blind at all. Cassandra had her doubts at first. Surely this was impossible, but Khepri had promised revenge against those who had wronged her so long as she took up arms against the Egyptian government.

With few options, Cassandra took up the offer. Over the course of months and months of rigorous training, government convoy raiding, and political assassinations, Khepri slowly taught the blind Knox all he knew, which he described as his gift from Montu. Swearing the goddess Isis had called to him to take her in as his apprentice, he was entirely dedicated to creating a killing machine out of her. With high hopes that she would remain a permanent member of their organization, the cell integrated her into their daily lives, attempting to befriend the woman.

But Cassandra had one goal, and it had nothing to do with inciting widespread revolution throughout Egypt; she had her sights on Driftshadow, the company that had completely destroyed her life, for better or worse. She slowly planned her escape, intending to slip out while her comrades slept.

#### Cerberus Contracting

After sneaking out from the rebel's hideaway in Cairo, Knox eventually made contact with Cerberus Contracting, which, much to her surprise, was run by none other than her brother. Keeping under the radar within the organization and slowly making her way towards mounting an operation against Driftshadow Intelligence -- the headquarters of which lied in the British Confederacy -- using Cerberus' resources, her presence was soon discovered by Head Researcher Adamantite, who had done his research. He requested she be brought directly to the Director's Unit, much to Aaron Spyker's surprise. There, she was outfitted with numerous upgrades and equipment to supplement her skills as a killing machine.

## Physical Description

Red Queen, though not the biological sister of Aaron Spyker, bears a rather striking resemblance to him; standing at about one inch taller, 6'1", than her adoptive brother, she carries a tall but sleek, and possibly even threatening, physique. Sitting on her head is dark black long hair that reaches down to her shoulders, allowing it to flow as she moves quickly.

Her eyes, however, are certainly the most unique aspect about the woman; having been a simple dark blue for the entirety of her life, Red Queen earns her name from the bright glowing cybernetic red eyes she was gifted by her mentor.

Though serving little purpose other than intimidation of her foes and victims in the beginning, the eyes, after numerous upgrades from both Adamantite and Queen herself, return to her the ability to see.

In addition to her unique eyes, Cassandra's skin is a prominent feature of her body. With each cybernetic implant she receives, her skin, due to lack of precious energy being sucked up by the augments, becomes increasingly paler and grayer, adding to her overall intimidating and maybe even demonic appearance.

## Personality

### Pre-2021

Cassandra, in comparison to her adopted brother, was always a rather shy and quiet individual. The first twenty three years of her life proved that fact -- she rarely ever spoke unless she needed to, and she was highly devoted to her work. That, however, did not mean she was rude; when she did speak and socialize, she was a kind soul and treated those she interacted with respectfully and with the utmost kindness.

### Post-2025

All of that would change, however, upon Cassandra's return to known existence. Though initially after the return she still boasted a quiet and shy demeanor, anything that even slightly angers her will send her into a ballistic rage fit, sometimes causing damage to the environment around her and even injuries to herself and others in the immediate area. That initial shyness would eventually subside due to social engineering from Adamantite, though it only proved to further her down the road of insanity as she began to develop the symptoms of such. Eventually, she seemed irredeemable, and like a totally different person.

## Arsenal

### Primary Weapons

#### Modified Barrett M107

Red Queen, emerging as an expert marksman after apparently receiving training during her years she spent out of contact and out of sight, primarily uses a heavily modified Barrett M107 .50 caliber sniper rifle. Despite her lack of ability to see, Cassandra has modified the rifle with directional sound amplifiers that, in replacement of any orthodox targeting equipment, link with her enhanced hearing aids to allow her to accurately pick out targets and eliminate them. However, this proves useless in locations of loud noises, inhibiting her unique ability.

#### The Tankhunter

One of the multiple warmachines Red Queen is trained and

permitted to use, the Tankhunter is a massive anti-material sniper rifle created for the purpose of the Leonidas Project. Functioning similarly to a railgun, the weapon was modified slightly to work in unison with Cassandra's other modifications, such as the Eyes of God and the Saint. Like with most other warmachines, however, she is unable to utilize its effectiveness safely without first donning a zero suit.

### Secondary Weapons

#### Modified Glock 40 (x2)

When situations become too near to her to be dealt with by her Barrett, Cassandra carries two specially modified Glock 40 fully automatic 10mm pistols. Holstered on each hip, the pistols have been customized by Queen herself to have their selective fire functions removed -- automatic fire is the only option available. In addition, the pistols' usual magazines have been replaced by a slightly larger extended magazine, allowing for her to keep on shooting longer.

### Auxiliary Weapons

#### Skinning Knife

Given to her by her mentor Adamantite, Cassandra boasts a near-identical version of the oversized knife he uses to intimidate and torture victims. Though she primarily utilizes the knife when attempting to gain information from those she interrogates, Queen will not hesitate to equip and use it in defense of her person in the event she is forced into close quarters combat with an attacking foe.

### Cerberus Combat Uniform

#### The Archangel (Variant of the Saint)

TheCerberus Contracting "Saint" Multi Purpose Combat Suit was originally created and perfected by Adamantite, and still remains in his usage to this day. However, due to Cassandra's status as one of his greatest underlings, she was selected to be the user of the only other operational suit of its kind. Functioning as a wearable weapon, the Saint comes armed with significantly more firepower than any standard CCU, and is completely modified to fit Cassandra's unique fighting style while still holding all the functionality of the male variant.