Dr. James Crow

## Dr. Crow

Concept art for Dr. Crow

> "*If you want me dead fine, kill me, but there's something you should know. You never should've let me talk for so long! hahaha!*"
> ― Dr Crow moments before activating a Z13 Mutation on himself
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Dr. James Crow (1916 - May 26th 1984) better known as simply "Professor Crow" was an American scientist who operated mostly during the 1950s and 1980s, using Cryogenics to extend his lifespan and enact his plots over long periods of time. He is responsible for the foundation of The Facility, a subsidiary of The Shadow Legion

## Early Life

Not much is known about Dr. Crow's early life, but he was born somewhere in New York City around 1916. He had many siblings, and was abducted from his home sometime in the 1930s. His family was under the impression that he ran off, and thus did not search for him.

## The Shadow Legion

He was used as a human test subject for the then prototype Z-11 Mutation Serum, the newest serum developed by The Shadow Legion. He was the first test subject to survive the mutations and was given advanced intelligence and abilities over elements as a result. The Shadow Legion groomed him to become leader of his own subsidiary organization, and in 1947 he was given a posting at a still-developing laboratory outside of Jersey City with one simple task, create the ideal soldier. He first started by developing his own serum, the Z-12 Mutation Serum, which would have the effects of Z-11, but amplified and with the added bonus of changing most of the mentality of its users, making them more docile and thus willing to follow orders.

## The Facility

The first experiments with Z-12 began with the outbreak of the Korean War, with Dr. Crow enticing wounded veterans sent home with the prospect of having all of their wounds healed and becoming the ideal human. Many took him up on this offer, but similar to the Z-11 serum, very few survived. It wasn't until the hundredth or so subject that he found someone strong enough to withstand the decaying effects of the serum, a man named Victor Anderson, who had his legs blown off by a land mine. His legs were healed and existing attributes accentuated, such as super-strength and speed. Through the use of cryogenic technology provided by The Shadow Legion he was able to preserve his test subjects. The only caveat to this was that Victor required that his family be preserved as well so he did not outlive them. His mother, father, and wife were preserved. Crow was similarly frozen and instructed not to be awoken until 1970, 10 years later, so that he could experiment on more soldiers from the newly started Vietnam War. When he was awoken, he went through the test files from the original Z-11 serum that as tested on him and found that a majority of the patients aged 18 and older had a 98% casualty rate, while those aged younger than 17 only had a 75% casualty rate. He decided to test this with his new Z-12 Serum and had numerous children abducted from the greater New York area, including one Abigail Rogers, who would go on to become the first person to escape The Facility. These experiments led to the conclusion that Children exposed to the Z-12 Serum faced far lower casualty rates, around 40%, due to the flexibility of their mental and physical capacities. Crow went into cryogenic sleep again, leaving an associate to continue experimentation while he was under, and was awoken in 1980 to continue his work with advanced research and technology. In 1981 he awoke X-001 (The serial number given to Victor) to test his capabilities. He sent him to destroy a group of turncoats that had stolen Facility information and were planning on using it to expose them to the public. X-001 was taken to the drop zone (An undisclosed spot over Colorado) and told to retrieve the information. This resulted in a 100% enemy death rate and the return of the information, much to the delight of Crow.

## Downfall & Death

In May of 1984 Crow ordered a continuation of the abduction of test subjects so he could create a fresh batch of soldiers and work on a new Z-13 Mutation Serum. This resulted in the abduction of 20 children including Eli Blade and Calico Graden being taken from their lives in New York & New Jersey and being used as test subjects. Eli was to become a footsoldier and Calico was to become a strategist overseeing a unit, due to each of their capabilities being more physical and mental respectively. Shortly after initial experimentation the two discovered supplies used by Abigail during her escape, and used them to attempt an escape that ultimately failed and resulted in both being punished severely. X-001 was placed in charge of guarding them and eventually training them. Realizing that The Facility has become a place of torture and pain, he offers to help the children escape if they help him rescue his family, who are being stored in an unknown spot in the Facility. On May 26th, the day they attempt their escape, Dr. Crow, along with a squad of soldiers intercepted them in the Level 5 experiment compound and threatened each one with punishment or death for their actions. After a fierce fight between them, with the children utilizing their powers to fight Crow, he ran to the lower levels and threatened to shoot X-001's family one by one if they didnt all surrender. This resulted in X-001 surrendering himself as a trap so Eli could sneak up on Crow, but Crow shot both of X-001's parents anyway. He was tackled and stopped before he could shoot Victor's wife. This resulted in Crow screaming about how X-001 is "Ruining everything!" before stabbing himself with a still-experimental Z-13 Needle. He mutated into an 8-foot tall muscular mutant human, with serum illuminating his veins a bright green and giving him super powers. As a fail safe measure X-001 activated The Facility's admin self-destruct in case of experiment escape and attempted an escape with his wife, Eli, and Calico. Crow intercepted them as they entered the staff elevator but was distracted by Eli, who proceeded to place 2 live grenades in his lab coat and push him off of the lab's 3rd level guard railing, plummeting to his explosive death below.