Agent Counterforce
- The Operative: I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.
- Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: So me and mine gotta lay down and die... so you can live in your better world?
- The Operative: I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there... any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.
- —Joss Whedon, Serenity (2005)
Agent Counterforce was created as a counterpoint to the character Agent Repulse. While he obviously draws upon the "Man-in-Black" stereotype and is affiliated with a group that has comparisons with the Company from the television show "Heroes", the character's persona is strongly reminiscent of "The Operative" from the movie "Serenity".
Willpower
Personality
Agent Counterforce considers himself the blunt instrument that his Agency would prefer not to use. He believes himself cleansed of morality, and thus best prepared to do whatever the Agency demands of him. He considers his actions to be the projected will of the Agency, and is willing to sacrifice anything or anyone in order to achieve its ends-even himself, if need be.
In spite of often ruthless action, Counterforce does not become angry. Neither does he have any sense of humor. He does sometimes display a certain wistfulness when he speaks of his past-a time of comparative innocence, or so he says. He regrets what he must do at times, but it does not stop him from doing what he must.
Powers
Agent Counterforce, like others in his Agency, utilizes technological gear to perform his amazing feats.
Dual Blades
Agent Counterforce utilizes a pair of razor-sharp Impervium katanas. When not in use, they are stored in a subspace pocket. Counterforce is a competent swordsman, and continues to improve as he tests himself against his fellow "residents" in the Rogue Islands.
Willpower
Agent Counterforce's strength of will allows him to shrug off injuries that would bring pain and incapacitation to lesser-trained men; indeed, injury and fatigue barely slow him down at all. His calm and inflappable manner has the side effective of causing opponents to attack him wildly and without strategy-making them further vulnerable to his careful attacks.
Additional Powers
Agent Counterforce relies on far more than just his sword blades to overcome his enemies.
Teleportation
A subspace teleportation device allows Agent Counterforce to travel at exceptional speeds, teleporting short distance hops in rapid succession. By targeting a foe, he can reverse the process, bringing a distant enemy within easy reach of his katanas.
Fitness
Agent Counterforce's rigorous training and diligent dietary habits ensures that he is at the peak of health. He heals far faster than ordinary men.
Abilities
Agent Counterforce has enough tech know-how to repair his outfit and equipment. He has shown talent with high-explosive materials and intrusion procedures. His ability to make snap decisions on a moment's notice makes him a dangerous and canny opponent.
Weaknesses and Limitations
Without his equipment, Agent Counterforce is nothing more than a very well-fit human being, vulnerable to the superhuman powers of others. If his concentration can be broken in a fight, or if his will can be broken down, he becomes a much easier target.
Equipment
Agent Counterforce's powers derive from his equipment. Under his Man-In-Black outfit he wears a tech bodysuit that helps keep him standing when sanity demands he fall. A set of wrist-guards attached to the suit (under the jacket) controls his subspace storage access and teleportation apparatus.
The eyeglasses he wears are, in reality, a sophisticated sensor suite, complete with a Heads-Up display, and can tie into computer systems to update the Agent on threat levels.
As with other Agents, he wears a hat. It has no special abilities aside from helping keep his head warm.
Character History
There are no records that exist about Agent Counterforce prior to his employment with the Agency. This has led some researchers to wonder if he is truly human, or if he was an android built by the Agency. Those researchers have the minority view, however-most agree that Agent Counterforce-like other Agents-is definitely a living human being.
The Agency is a secret organization formed by the Executive Order of the President of the United States, as a part of a two-pronged strategy a year after the start of the Rikti War. The Agency was established not to monitor the comings and goings of alien life forms on Earth, but to keep tabs on those who acquired superhuman abilities. Paragon City and the Rogue Islands, being the centers of superhuman activity on the planet at the present time, are watched very carefully. It is thought that the Agency is continuing to put together a massive database of all known superhumans, their strengths, weaknesses, and even identities.
The Agency employs its agents as Men In Black, knowing that the outfit can be intimidating-as well as making it difficult to personally identify any of its agents. The best agents are equipped with uniforms that allow them access to considerable super powers themselves. One such agent was code named "Agent Repulse".
Agent Repulse is considered a rogue agent by the Agency-and a faction within the Agency were concerned greatly by that fact. While Repulse seems to be acting in a benevolent manner, the Agency knows that situation can change abruptly. It felt that a control would be needed. Agent Counterforce would be that control.
Agent Counterforce was commissioned to be a counter to any of the Agency's operatives. This meant that he would have to be better trained, better equipped, and better supported than the rogue Agents. It also meant he would have to be controlled himself-his loyalty to the Agency to be paramount to any other loyalties. After months of psychological conditioning and training, he was released to test himself in the most dangerous environment imaginable: the Rogue Islands.
Unfortunately, the conditioning never accounted for the fact that the Agent's loyalty was to the Agency alone-not to the country that created it. Worse, he has begun to see that the rigid control of Lord Recluse could be applied to the United States, and has come to believe that the best way to deal with the rogue Agent problem is to do to them what was done to him. Understanding that his handlers in the Agency might disagree, he broke off contact with them-ironically going just as much rogue as the Agent who prompted his creation.
At some point in his time in the Rogue Islands, he chose to reconnect with his handlers, and the Agency sent him to investigate rumors of a WMD production facility in the Rogue Islands. Counterforce succeeded in locating a hidden island that the Agency later codenamed "Bullseye", but was discovered in the attempt. He was permitted to send a message to the Agency-presumably to learn who had sent him-but before he could be captured, he enacted a suicide protocol, preferring death to being taken alive.
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