They say that a snake waits patiently. That a snake lies waiting for prey, hours upon end. Until the weak show themselves, until they make a foolish, costly mistake. One that is priced with life. The snake lies coiled, then it strikes, plunges his fangs deep into the skin of the helpless prey. Then the venom rends the flesh beneath. Then the poor creature realizes, there is no way out. There is but one door, and that door leads to death. So, the body grows stiff as the prey silences, to dream nevermore.
Kenny cannot remember anything before his abduction. His name is an odd exemption to this though. His memory begins waking up on an operating table, his hands, feet, and waist clamped to the table. He tried to speak. What the fuck? Why can't I talk? Where am I? Why am I here? Kenny thought. Then a woman with swept back red hair looked him in the eye. "You're finally awake Mr. Morgan. You are most likely wondering why you are here, yes? I can tell by the panic in your eyes," The scientist chuckled, "I'll tell you this much, boy. The Talon Corporation has a very special place for you within our ranks, whether you can make it depends on if you survive the initial series of 'tests' that we have lined up. Failure will result in your death Mr. Morgan. With that, we may now begin," she said with mild irritation.
A large muscular man walked in the lab before they could begin. "Is this the one? I expect this to not fail, Moira," he said.
"Rest assured, Doomfist. His cellular structure has a strong base makeup, perfect for introducing new genomes to; plus the sedative cleared his memory of everything, his memory began when he woke up. Moira said.
"Good," his voice boomed, "then you will not mind if I stay to see things through? Not that I distrust your abilities, Moira."
"Not at all...enjoy the show." Moira said flipping a switch.
Electric currents immediately began surging through Kenny's body. He writhed in agony but was unable to express his pain. His eyes widened in pain, his senses started sending signals he had never felt before. This pain was immense. Every minute, three bursts of electricity. Zap... zap... zap, followed by muffled screams of agony. After ten hellacious minutes of the accursed cycle, Moira dubbed him ready for the genetic augmentation.
Moira and her team of doctors, each picked Kenneth up by a limb, his body was warm to the touch and he suffered a few minor burns, but nothing physically major. Mentally he was starting to crack. Once Kenny was upon another operation table, Moira took four green tubes, she put one in both of his arms in a main artery, and she done the same to his legs.
The stage was set for the mad geneticist to throw her twisted creation upon this somber threshold.
Then with the flip of a switch, a viscous green liquid began rushing down the tubes, once they entered Kenny's body, he became inhuman. His eyes became fluorescent green and developed slit pupils, his eyes also were able to see on an infrared spectrum now, then flexible but durable scales formed over his skin, they were black with undertones of the same green. His teeth formed into long venomous fangs. His tongue became slender and forked. His transformation was complete within mere moments.
Moira laughed with pride at her creation, "Kenneth Morgan is no more, I give you, 'Orpheus' the latest creation of Project Prometheus," Moira said.
"As per the usual, magnificent work, Dr. O'Deorain. You exceed all expectations of you," Akande praised her work.
"I thank you deeply, Akande," Moira said with a bow, "Now let us unbind him, so that Kenneth may see this world as Orpheus!"
"You've done well today, Moira. And you know that my praise is not given out freely," Doomfist said.
"We can begin cognitive testing, but anything related to combat he will need a little time to get used to his new body, the mental reconditioning was very little in his case. His will was broken easily, so not nearly as much was required as Mrs. Lacroix in her case," Moira bantered.
"About Widowmaker..." Akande began.
A few hours passed as they chatted. They both thought Orpheus was unconscious, but he did what he could. He listened. Listened to everything that they said. Eventually they began on him.
"We must test what we can, let him out of the chamber," Doomfist said.
"As you wish, but I cannot say for certain what he will do," Moira advised. She nonetheless activated the switch to release him.
The pain, oh god, the pain. Every little thing, burned the soul. Kenny felt his shackles untighten. He opened his eyes and he was in a chamber, and on the outside was the same woman and a muscular man. He got up with incredible new speed he saw the door open, he immediately bolted to the door, he saw the muscular man poised for battle. The Doomfist Gauntlet on his right hand mattered none to the newfound primeval instincts inside of him.
Kenny immediately charged at the man, but in an instance a rocketing punch connected with Kenny's chest, he collapsed to the ground wheezing, he had gotten the breath knocked out of him, and his new reptilian lungs were still weak.
Doomfist predicted Orpheus' actions to a parallel. He calmly walked over to the downed operative, he grabbed his head with the gauntlet powered hand. "I could tear your head off of your shoulders, you answer to Talon now, is that clear? If it is not, you will be terminated," he said firmly.
Orpheus grunted in pain, but his eyes obeyed. Doomfist relented and walked out of the room. Moira walked over to Orpheus and began helping him up. "Get up, we must get you equipped for your training," she said.
"What happened, where, who, am I? My head is on fire," Orpheus started.
"Silence. Your code name is Orpheus, your past name does not matter as the man you were is dead, you are but an apparatus in his husk," Moira said.
She led him to the armory, Orpheus was still in his testing garments, Moira led him to a wall. On it was his outfit. Orpheus first picked off the wall an armored, and flexible black robe, it was sleeveless and had two green lines of hardened leather running down from each shoulder, it had a hood that the stripes ran up. Orpheus then picked out a par of lightweight boots that increased his overall agility, they had talons on the tips to dig into surfaces.
"Are you finished now?" Moira asked. Orpheus nodded and she led him over to a mannequin wearing his weapon kit.
Moira took a rebreather off and gave it to Orpheus. He put it on his face, it connected to his tissue and a small cord ran out of his hood and into his back. It covered his face up to just under his eye sockets. It helped instill fear with it's green lighting, the same as his eyes. Then Moira picked a holstered yautja style throwing disc up and gave it to him. It was housed on his right thigh, and could be easily concealed by his robe. It was made from bronze and could extend in the center to become handheld easily but unable to throw. He was practically set, all exempt for his main weapon, the wrist blade.
Moira pulled out a set of medium length double bladed dual wrist blades. She laid them down on the table in front of Orpheus. Then she grabbed a long sharp single blade, known by its sovereign users as the "kris" blade. In an instant Orpheus choose the elongated kris blade. "A wise choice, Orpheus, this one comes with a few extra toys, designed by yours truly, than the older obsolete model," Moira added as Orpheus strapped the runed holster to his right forearm.
He walked over to the final table where Moira awaited him. She was holding a gauntlet. "This gauntlet," she began, "dare I say has more tactical functionality than the Doomfist Gauntlet. It goes over your left hand like a glove, but it extends up to just below your elbow, as to not hinder movement." Moira said handing the glove to Orpheus.
He slid it over his hand, it made mechanical clanking noises as it unraveled onto his forearm. Then it fused to his tissue, to be sure that it did not fall off in combat, much like his rebreather. Both are still removable though.
"That glove has two main functions. I call it the 'Falconer Gauntlet.'It has top of the line cloaking capabilities to rival even Sombra's. It's second function is to control this," Moira said, handing him a drone that was shaped like the letter v. It had exhausts at the tip if each end.
"That drone, which I call the 'Falcon' can provide silent recon over your targeted region, it is heat seeking and can be upgraded to house a small silent minigun should you require it. The drone is completely silent and is controlled using the gauntlet on your left arm. This will be quite useful to you I suspect," Moira concluded.
Orpheus raised the gauntlet to be used, he commanded the drone to fly to him, and land on his gauntlet. It responded effortlessly and smoothly. He smiled devilishly. Orpheus commanded it to cloak and preform thermal scanning, it done so perfectly. He discovered it even had a vocal analyzer and could record audio in perfect quality and even read lips from a distance. He commanded it to rest, it landed on the bottom part of his gauntlet and folded up to look like an extra command module on the bottom.
Moira then led Orpheus to the operative quarters, which was separated from the solder barracks. Talon spared no expense on their operatives, which included Reaper, Widowmaker, Sombra, Doomfist, Moira, and now Orpheus. Although six rooms were taken each had a control pad to the left of the door itself and a large amount of room between each door. A number was on each door, Orpheus' number was six. Moira gave him the passcode to his door and left him to explore his quarters. "Be ready for your combat training tomorrow," she said, leaving him.
His room was beside Widowmaker's and in front of Sombra's. As he walked in he was astonished by the sheer space, it was like a medium-sized cabin. Even though everything was fused into three rooms, being the main room, bathroom, and bedroom. The main room had a comfy couch in the middle and a large flatscreen tv facing the door with the wall behind it. To the left corner behind it was where the kitchen supplies were. To the right of the tv was the main bedroom which was a large king size bed with a nightstand on each side. The room was just big enough for the door to shut with those. To the left was the bathroom. It housed a toilet, shower and a jacuzzi for extra comfort.
Orpheus jumped over the back of the couch and landed on it, he put his hands behind his head, and dozed off.