Project Zodiac - Subject Dreadscale 2031 (Classified)

The following documents detail the progression of Subject Dreadscale of the Human Weaponization Program code name Project Zodiac.
(Note: These documents have been marked with confidentiality level 7, and should not be shared with any non-Project Zodiac personnel.)

[Project files DS-01 -- Subject entry logs]

Entry 1 - May 28, 2016 -- Subject Dreadscale

-- Donor Child, Koryne Parker (7) received by A.G.E. Corporation. Entry status: Youth Enhancement Project 1. Subject was donated by parental units for the purpose of genetic enhancement. Testing of subject has proven widely successful - critical thinking, comprehension, and athletic ability deemed passable for Project Zodiac. Subject will be given code name Dreadscale, and used as prototype in Human Weaponization. Parental Units have been properly disposed of. Experimentation may begin at any time once subject viability is determined.

Entry 13 - September 17, 2016 -- Subject Dreadscale (Viability)

-- Viability testing and studies are going well. Subject Dreadscale proves more capable than other children chosen for Human Weaponization. Upon further study of Subject's skills, it has been determined that she will be assigned to Serpent Sector with Subject World Eater. No further study required to determine subject viability. Training of Subject Dreadscale scheduled to begin immediately.

Entry 27 - June 5, 2017 -- Subject Dreadscale (Progression Update)

-- Subject Dreadscale's progression in Project Zodiac is on schedule. Training of both physical, and mental faculties has proven largely successful with the subject. As per usual, critical thinking, and comprehension are key notes for Subject Dreadscale. When put under stress, the subject shows a calm and collected demeanor - a sign that the training program is impacting the subject in a positive manner. No negative mental conditions detected, though the subject will remain under monitoring for such conditions.

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{As one scrolls through the data files, an array of tedious, and less than interesting notes on Subject Dreadscale's progression can be read. They mainly detail the subject's weekly studies, and minor development. This goes on for a few hundred entries.}

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Entry 547 - June 10, 2027 -- Subject Dreadscale (Mental Health Update)

-- Subject has begun to show signs of mental health issues. Subject was observed staring at a wall in her room for forty-eight minutes and thirty one seconds. When approached, subject remained completely silent until snapping out of her trance. Genetic Splicing of Subject Dreadscale with various serpent's DNA is beginning to prove detrimental to subject's mental state. Administration of drugs recommended to aid in keeping subject's stability. If all works out, subject's mental health will revert to a healthy state, and experimentation may continue.

Entry 577 - February 15, 2028 -- Subject Dreadscale (Mental Health Update 2)

-- Administration of drugs has proved somewhat effective in keeping Subject Dreadscale stable. It would seem that genetically splicing her with serpents that are nocturnal are causing her to experience bouts of insomnia that seem to be leading to the issues disclosed in the previous mental health update. Suggested action is to induce sleep via the use of a sleeping agent - introduce into the subject's diet immediately. This should aid in subject's sleep deprivation, as well as provide restful nights in order for the subject's mind to recover from the weary state it is left in at the end of each day's experiments.

Entry 581 - March 7, 2028 -- Subject Dreadscale (Final Mental Health Update)

-- Sleeping agent has been largely successful in reducing sleep deprivation related mental health concerns. Other minor issues have come up, though it would seem Subject Dreadscale is coping just fine. Suggestion: End administration of drugs, continue administration of sleeping agent. Slowly take subject off of sleep agent as she shows the ability to maintain a healthy balance. As a side note - The Subject has shown some violent tendencies, though the use of the Kill-Switch has proven useful in deterring her. Hopefully it continues this way.

Entry 582 - March 13, 2028 -- Subject Dreadscale (Recent Mission Report)

-- Today's mission marks the 8th successful venture for Subject Dreadscale. Subject displayed superior understanding of combat tactics, as well as competence in the usage of her enhancements. Furthermore, as usually noted; Subject Dreadscale has proven to possess greatly superior critical thinking, and comprehension skills. Subject possesses superior intelligence in all mission related fields. As of this entry, Project Zodiac is moving along with better than expected results. Prototype success rate among children selected between years 2015-2018 is calculated at 94%. Subject Dreadscale is proof that the project nearly ready for market. Expected time line is three years.

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{Following Entry 582, the A.G.E. corporation seemingly stopped keeping weekly logs on Subject Dreadscale. Some entries detailing about forty more successful missions are written - the result is almost always the same with no failures recorded in the log. Following those, only three more entries were recorded by the Project Zodiac Team.}

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Entry 598 - April 30, 2031 -- Subject Dreadscale (Important Information)

-- Recently, the prototype subjects of Project Zodiac were informed of their purpose. All subjects reacted to the information in a composed manner. Subject Dreadscale seemed to be distraught by the knowledge. Upon further observation it has been discovered that Subject Dreadscale and Subject World Eater have developed a sibling bond. This was not an expected outcome of Project Zodiac. Plans have been set in motion to terminate the bond shared between the two subjects. Further updates will be posted at a later date.

Entry 599 - May 5, 2031 -- Subject Dreadscale (Emergency Update)

-- Subject World Eater was successfully sold to an E.U. paramilitary organization. Upon hearing the news, Subject Dreadscale became volatile. Security claimed to have temporarily subdued the subject, however it was discovered a only a moment ago that the subject has gone missing. A dispatch order for a security team is being issued as this entry is submitted. Note: Subject Dreadscale was a failure. We set out to create a number of cold, unfeeling weapons yet we failed to account for incidental bonding among the subjects. This has resulted in a dangerous individual being let loose into the facility. Hopefully our counter measures can prevent Subject Dreadscale's escape from the compound, and into the world at large. Further Updates will be posted as the situation develops.

Entry 600 - May 5, 2031 -- Subject Dreadscale (Emergency Update 2)

-- It has been two hours since the escape of the subject in question. Security has had no luck in discovering her whereabouts, or even picking up a trail. Truly our attempt at making a genetically modified Human Weapon was fruitful. It is regrettable that we failed to keep her in check. We have requested another security task force be assigned in order to double our efforts. We only hope we can prevent her escape from the facility.

Entry 601 - May 5, 2031 -- Subject Dreadscale (Message to A.G.E. Corporation, and the Project Zodiac team)

-- Playing God, and selling my brother... You will regret your mistakes.

Entry 602 - May 5, 2031 -- Subject Dreadscale (Final Entry)

-- Security task forces were unable to locate Subject Dreadscale before she could escape. Additionally, the scientist assigned to the overview of this specific subject as well as his own personal security detail were found slain. As previously noted in the team's final update; Subject Dreadscale was a failure. Knowledge accrued through the study of the subject in question will be used to prevent further failures in the future. Dispatch of successful Project Zodiac subjects has been authorized in the mission to retrieve the subject.

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[Project Files DS-02 -- Serpent's Beta]

-- The purpose of the studies performed on Subject Dreadscale is to attempt to create an easily controlled genetically modified human. After a few days of testing it was determined that Koryne Parker, aged 7 at the time was a potentially viable candidate for the Human Weaponization Program aptly named Project Zodiac after the premise of splicing human genes with the genes of various animals found in the Chinese Zodiac Calendar. Upon determining candidacy, Subject Dreadscale's Parental Units - a lower middle class family who brought the subject in as a donation to our Youth Genetic Enhancement program, were eliminated. Subject was informed of a tragic accident. Reaction was as expected, but there was no time to waste. We immediately took her into our custody, and began work.

First we started by testing the subject's viability for the program. This included measures of the subject's intelligence, and ability to rationalize situational data. Subject Dreadscale consistently proved to have superior critical thinking, and comprehension skills in every single exam. Tests ranged from basic academics to more complex examinations of critical thinking ability via the use of specially formulated questions. Subject was superior to all peers taken in during her time frame. For this reason, she moved up in the program's viability examinations. Those who could not advance were sent to orphanages. After completing the intelligence evaluation, candidates were given a physical evaluation. The end goal of this evaluation was to determine a candidate's physical growth potential, as well as athleticism. Subject Dreadscale excelled in this field as well, albeit not as well as some of her peers. Still, none of the other candidates exhibited critical thinking skills on the level of the subject. This led the team to discard other candidates in the same manner as previous ones and select Koryne Parker for the Serpent Sector of Project Zodiac. At that time, she was given the ID 061902, and the subject name Dreadscale. Experimentation began shortly after.

The goal of Subject Dreadscale in the Serpent Sector was to develop a cold and unfeeling soldier who could be easily controlled by Project Zodiac administrators. To this end, we began an intensive training program on the subject. Subject was submitted to various types of mental training programs via Project Zodiac's psychiatric analyst, Dr. Ivan Schroeder. Dr. Schroeder administered a number of techniques to attempt to instill a sort of 'kill-switch' into the subject's mind at the sound of a verbal command. Attempts were seemingly successful. Following the kill order's installation into Subject Dreadscale's mind, she began to undergo training in various combative arts. It is important to note that we had planned to create human weapons, and so training them for battle was an important aspect of Project Zodiac's development. Subject Dreadscale's progress in this department was noted to be "Substantial, and immensely fruitful", as per the words of her oversight director, Dr. Hide Yamato. He also noted that the training program was "impacting the subject in a positive manner." Following this update, subject was submitted for genetic alteration.

Over the course of the next 10 years, Subject Dreadscale was genetically spliced with the DNA of various snakes. The goal of the gene-splicing was to create a soldier who could rely not just on her own training, but on the innate survival tactics of the serpents spliced into her DNA. We started with simple abilities such as sharpened hearing, and a heightened sense of smell. Entry logs 109, and 177 indicate that early stages of splicing did come with their complications as the subject was not completely able to control her enhanced senses. Files note that the subject could be found cowering in the corner of her bedroom with her hands clasping her ears, and at other times, her sense of smell caused her to experience nausea - especially during meal times. Experts in the field of biology were brought in to study the adverse effects of the splicing, and come up with a solution. By creating an artificial base pair of nucleotide, and inserting it into the spliced DNA, Subject Dreadscale was given the ability to tune her hearing, and smell for the situation as required. This did not end the subject's tests on this matter. Training was submitted to the subject in order to teach her to hone her more extreme levels of heightened hearing through the use of various psychological techniques, and focus drugs. Entry 284 of the subject's entry log detailed the wide success of this experiment, and authorized further splicing. Details are contained in the experimentation folder of Subject Dreadscale's archive. (Note: This folder is only accessibly by individuals with clearance level 8.)

Finally, in conclusion to Subject Dreadscale's progression through Project Zodiac, she was tested via a number of mission simulations. All simulations yielded expected, or better than expected results. Moving onto the final stage of Project Zodiac, Subject Dreadscale was rented out to the United States government for 50 covert operations missions.

The conditions were as follows:
- Subject Dreadscale. now code named Serpent's Beta, was to be returned to the A.G.E. Corporation's Project Zodiac facilities no later than 48 hours after each successful mission.
- The United States Government was to ensure the survival of Subject Dreadscale, regardless of the cost.
- Mission duration could not last longer than 72 hours.
- All mission results were to be recorded in a special log given to the Navy SEALS organization and returned to A.G.E. at the end of each mission.
- Any damages to subject were to be paid for by the United States Government.

With the President's agreement to our basic conditions, as well as more detailed ones posed in the form of a contract, Subject Dreadscale was allowed to venture out into the world for testing purposes. The 50 operations took place between the years 2028 and 2030. Details are classified to anyone who doesn't have clearance level 9, meaning only A.G.E. Corporation heads, Project Zodiac Lead Scientist, and Dr. Hide Yamato. Results were astounding. Subject Dreadscale was able to perform with the same accuracy, and precision as a 10 man SEAL unit. Of course, the limit of Subject Dreadscale's tactical ability is still unknown, but further tests that were approved to begin in 2032 were to determine that.

Unfortunately, in early 2031, Subject Dreadscale escaped. She left behind the bloodied corpses of Dr. Hide Yamato, and his security detail, along with a cryptic message. Current whereabouts are unknown to A.G.E. Officials, however, successful Project Zodiac subjects have been dispatched to locate, and contain Serpent's Beta. This marks the end of the subject record.

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[Project Files DS-03 - Subject Dreadscale Genetic Splicing Log]

Entry 1 - Enhanced Senses

-- Subject Dreadscale spliced with the genes of various wild snakes in order to enhance senses. Experiment successful, subject is able to hear, and smell much better than even the animals used for the splice. Authorization for other experiments has been approved by Project Zodiac Lead.

Entry 2 - Artificial Nucleotide Splicing

-- Subject Dreadscale reacted poorly to enhanced audial, and enhanced olfactory senses. Artificial genetics have created a nucleotide to be inserted into the DNA of the subject. Experiment successful. Subject reportedly now has the ability to tune her audial, and olfactory senses to desired outputs. Further experimentation authorizes.

Entry 3 - Scales

-- Subject was spliced today with the genes that cause snakes to have scales. Unfortunately, such an experiment might result in the death of the candidate as the pain of losing the skin as scales grow underneath them is potentially fatal. Artifical genetics created a nucleotide to allow the subject the use of on-command metamorphosis. Subject displayed the ability to re-arrange the molecular structure of her skin to that of scales. In addition, this project has resulted in the unexpected side-effect of camouflage as subject can change her scales to match the environment.

Entry 4 - Fangs and Venom

-- Today the subject was operated on to create a physical change to her body. Pits were hollowed out above her K-9 teeth allowing for the storing of Venom. In addition, her K-9 teeth were removed, and replaced with properly sized solenoglyphous fangs for injecting the venom in the pits. Splicing involved giving the subject the ability to produce venom naturally, and the immunity to venom. Venom used is a synthetic variety potent enough to kill a full-sized human in 30 seconds.

Entry 5 - Flexibility

-- Changes have been made to Subject's DNA in order to increase her body's elasticity. Experiment successful.

{The Entries continue. As usual, they are rather uninteresting, and bland, though this time simple - detailing the full scope of Subject Dreadscale's Gene Splicing experiments. There were roughly 30 experiments in total, but not all of them yielded successful results. This is the end of the subject's archive.}