XAND-1 and Test Pilot Jack Falcon
⦋ 26 || English-American || Male ⦌
APPEARANCE & PERSONALITY
APPEARANCE Far from the more elaborate AI-controlled combat machines that are currently being used, XAND has a rugged, militarized design that makes it blatantly obvious that it isn't meant for anything other than war. Painted in camouflage colors suited to the environment at hand, carrying a railgun rifle, and covered in pouches for equipment of every stripe, XAND is patterned after the human soldiers it is intended to replace, and it shows. Its pilot, Jack Falcon, is a muscular but somewhat overweight Caucasian man with a truly magnificent beard. His clothing varies by the occasion, but when piloting XAND he chiefly wears the fatigues of a garrisoned soldier. Jack should not be considered a weakling because he’s a little fat, however: Doughy he may be from spending all his time on a military base rather than fighting in-person, but he’s “fat and fit” as they say.
PERSONALITY TRAITS XAND:
--> Absolutely zilch. It's a drone, what the hell did you expect?
Jack Falcon:
--> Friendly
--> Loves to drink
--> Talkative
--> Gets shit done
--> Avid gamer
--> Extrovert
--> Cautious when he needs to be
--> Does not take kindly to sexual misconduct
--> Disciplined soldier when on-duty...
--> ...average guy when he's not.
BACKSTORY & MOTIVATION Jack Falcon was born to an average family in England, but his parents emigrated to the United States soon after his birth due to his father's job forcing him to move to New York. Jack ended up getting dual citizenship at a fairly young age, but grew up around Americans almost exclusively. He had a relatively ordinary childhood, though he was known to get into often physical scuffles with the local kids, and was prone to getting detention. He wasn't a bad kid, per se: He had good grades, and a decently-sized circle of friends, but he tended to respond to bullies with violence.
His record of fighting had an impact on his permanent record, and when he tried to apply to college, he found that he couldn't get in due to his reputation for violence. So he opted for the military. He displayed an excellent aptitude for hand-to-hand combat at boot camp, and he was approached by a representative from the Pentagon about an interesting project that DARPA had cooked up. With the ki-empowered martial artists known as "Nomads" roaming the world and getting into supernatural battles with one another, and the rise of the Nomad terrorist known only as "Abel," the threat of rogue Nomads was so dangerous that DARPA was putting together a project that would put this power in the hands of the governments of the world. But first, it would go into the hands of the U.S. military. Because of course it would.
The XAND Project, as it was called, took a different approach from the AI-controlled robots that had been used thus far. AIs weren't human. They were inherently alien, and could theoretically develop difficulties interacting with humans. XAND had no such problems, because it employed powerful bipedal combat drones that were designed to match Nomads through pure mechanical might. DARPA envisioned armies of XANDs crushing even Abel through sheer force of numbers, bringing rogue Nomads into line one battle at a time. However, it was still in the experimental phase, with small quantities of drones being sent on missions to test their capabilities in the field. Jack Falcon, due to his astonishing close-combat performance, had been selected as one of the privileged few test pilots for the XAND Project. Obviously, he accepted. Due to XAND being a military robot with a limited battery life and not a human being, Jack can’t travel the world looking for fights like actual Nomads. However, Jack nonetheless seeks out opportunities to test XAND at every turn, as an attempt to get a taste for the Nomad life vicariously through his robotic shell. If he runs into a Nomad, you can be sure he’ll bring up XAND and mention the opportunity for a good fight. You can expect to see XAND at tourneys and other events where Nomads gather as well. Not that XAND doesn’t get sent on missions like any other military robot, it’s just not as common, since it’s specifically an anti-Nomad weapon.
FIGHTING STYLE & ABILITIES
FIGHTING STYLE XAND-1 (or just XAND for short), technically fights in the manner of its pilot, but it is clearly built to have a “keep-away” combat style. Its punches and kicks have enormous reach with its extending limbs, and it has several ranged weapons as well as jet-equipped legs to keep its opponent out of melee range. Jack is trained in Modern Army Combatives (MAC), a fighting style which promotes integration of ranged weapons such as firearms into hand-to-hand combat, and it shows in his fighting style. XAND is equipped with various pre-installed weapons as well as jet-equipped legs for flight and an integrated repair bot. It also benefits from extremely fast reaction time due to being a robot, but such reflexes are par for the course among the Nomads it's intended to fight. However, XAND-1 only has a battery life of about three days, necessitating that it be recharged every once in a while.
SPECIAL MOVES & TECHNIQUES ■ [Railgun Shot][XAND fires its railgun. Self-explanatory.]
■ [Rifle Slam][XAND smashes the opponent with the end of its rather heavy railgun.]
■ [Rocket Blast][XAND aims its arm at the opponent and reveals a small missile capable of fitting inside of its wrist. It then shoots the opponent with it, creating a sizeable explosion.]
■ [Jackhammer Strike][XAND hits the opponent with a straight punch or front kick, and then the entire limb extends and retracts repeatedly, hitting the opponent three times in one motion.]
■ [Taser Grapple][XAND grabs the opponent in a chokehold and then electrifies its outer shell, stunning and electrocuting the opponent. Against any normal person, the results would be an instant knockdown…but not against a Nomad.]
■ [Electro-Whip][XAND produces two electrified prehensile metal cables from its wrists and enwraps the opponent with them, dragging the enemy towards it and electrocuting them all the while. Can also be used to strike the enemy like a whip (obviously) and even to impale them with the sharpened tip.]
■ [Auto-Repair][A small repair drone emerges from XAND's back and begins to, well, repair it. XAND-1 must stay immobilized while using it and is vulnerable to attack.]
■ [Jet Upper][XAND uses jets integrated into its feet to propel itself into the air at close range, hitting the enemy with a devastating rocket-powered uppercut.]
■ [Jet Dash][XAND extends its legs in the direction Jack wants to move and uses its jets to dash in a single direction at high speed. Good for evading enemies.]
■ [Incinerating Repeater Kick][XAND kicks the opponent in the face while its jets are engaged. This is obviously intended to mess up the opponent's face pretty damn well. The leg which it uses to do so is extended via a reciprocating limb, causing it to have unnatural reach and hit three times.]
■ [Jet Tackle][XAND uses its jets to fly like Superman and tackle the enemy head-on with the force of a charging fighter jet. The force of the impact sends enemies flying, which puts them right at the range where XAND is most effective.]
SUPER MOVES ■ [Ocular Laser Cannon][XAND-1's central red "eye" fires a disproportionately large laser blast at the opponent that engulfs all but the biggest fighters completely, doing tremendous damage.]
■ [Autonomous Mode][XAND stuns the opponent with an electrified fist, and then performs a pre-made combo intended for maximum damage. This isn't truly "autonomous," since all XAND is doing is performing a premade set of attacks, but it does so without the limitations of a human pilot. After a devastating, twenty-second-long sequence of brutal blows, XAND lifts the opponent by their neck, electrocutes them for five seconds, throws them to the ground, and then fires all of its projectiles minus the Ocular Laser Cannon at its downed foe simultaneously.]
■ [Electric Skin][XAND electrifies its casing. Any opponent coming into contact with it without proper insulation will take dramatically increased damage even with ki use due to being shocked on top of being punched. Meanwhile, XAND can continue fighting as usual. However, due to all of this energy being transferred to its skin, XAND cannot use any other special moves while Electric Skin is active.]
WEAKNESSES & LIMITS XAND is a drone, and as such is often controlled from several miles away, and potentially from the other side of the planet. This can result in input lag when Jack gives a command, and a lag spike, or God forbid a complete loss of connection, can be deadly. It is also experimental, and as such has the potential for glitches to occur at the worst times. Jack himself isn't a ki-user whatsoever, and as such he isn't particularly strong when not piloting XAND-1. That means that he's vulnerable to a Nomad in-person, and as such may need to be protected in the event of a Nomad attack. Not that he isn't a well-trained soldier, he just can't throw fireballs or walk off bullet wounds like Nomads can. There's also the ever-present danger of Jack's connection to XAND-1 being hacked, allowing an external user to gain control of the drone to potentially-devastating effect.
As for XAND’s actual combat weaknesses, it’s a keep-away fighter, and as such it is vulnerable to opponents getting into close-quarters. It has very few options for dealing with enemies in close combat, and as such its entire combat strategy revolves around staying at a range at which its superhuman reach applies.
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