Vitorio Manfredi (SIGMA)

Part of the Alpha-Omega Hi-Tech Science Fiction (some would say tokusatsu) oriented armor and gear design.
Early drafts and original ideas at my behance
Related to the APKALLU Mythos whilst concerning the moments when the agents of the main faction (the fictional AXIS) which uses the armor series against Apkallu's protagonist (the "hybrid" Triton) or his 'crime partner' (Minotaur Miredrinn).

Here the man behind such strange looking "boiler-head" armor:
Vitorio Manfredi de Tomaso, Lacian man born in 29 July 1990, in Bologna, is the one assigned by AXIS Military Academy to carry out Project Sigma's completion, by using the namesake armor (imbued with powers of fire, combustion, and limited "mind-blasts", as well as porting a fire sword) in difficult ground missions concerning demon and 'terrorist' (whoever their staff may appoint too) hunting. Often, there are squads or teams assisting, but "Agent Sigma" prefers to work as the lone member of the alpha-omega squad involved (the squads are formed with people on usual regular military attire, not imbued with any power). Understandably, his powers are some of the most dangerous ones, and should one be wise on how and when to use it, since it can end missions really fast. His only problem is that, despite his reckless loyalty (and he's one of the most unresponsible members, acting without critical sense for the slightly consequences), he'd often lose control of his powers (not when people like authorities are around to push him away and deliver a good sermon), endangering those around him, be enemies or friends alike. With most of luck, or peculiar 'coincidence', he's employed where enemy hideout are often in open-field, or when closed, surrounded by forests, rather than caves, buildings and so on.

    He built a cold carelessness for enemies, and even though one would admit he care not even for his fellows, he's just lack the means to compensate. He's socially awkward and reject 'wasting time' with other people. He does relate to others, but hardly will use the expected mean to that. He's obsessive and considered dangerous, offending people with childish sarcasm. Even though, while most of Alpha-Omega agents passed tests concerning at least some military reliability or sportsmanship expected from teenages (15 year old the minimum age of recruitment), he suffers from fatigue and has asthma (at least that accounts on his medical report, who knows if that's true). While on the Sigma suit, however, he loses such limitations. That didn't avoid him from practicing swordsmanship, being passed by only few colleagues such as Ben, Kai, Dalal and Drake. He fares with newcomer Nick in order to train him. While their overal political inclination is similar, 'Vito' can't relate to the estranged man, believing he's too low IQ for him (despite both being somewhat conservatives, Nick's just too unused to political ground whilst Vito lack some pop clture references). In fact, Nick might have just be the most hated in the institution after himself. Vito is arrogant, but his ego just masks his lack of self-confidence.

One should wonder, if this "AXIS Military Academy" keeps up with such merit of forming students-soldiers (not necessarily in this order), how does one inherit an armor without such a reliable test? One could assume many abilities could result in subjects to test (Tara for example earned her armor, PSI [which requires good memory and comfortable concentration to use its detection skills], after scoring good on tests and solving a complex problem presented to her by the AXIS' Staff). That's the major 'excuse', as if it was related to each armor treated as a separate case, demanding special skills (one wonder, which skills are necessary to earn Sigma, then?).
After all, how could one who 'suck' at teamwork, has less than desirable a regular health, disputed reliability on ethical usage of the armor (*cough*not that military people with weapons such as those "hunting demons" [or any autoctonous free people "getting in the way", labeled as "terrorist"] have any kind of ethic in first place, but they like to play by the rules to show good pic of themselves for committees*cough*) or lack anything other than an average display by its vlog (which re-sounds its political 'views' by triggering polemic views on so called "solved" matters, such as frontiers, immigration, civil rights, with obvious anti-humanitarian tendencies as if to support this or that economy), have been cleared to use such powerful suit?
Answer is simple:
    Vitorio was the heir of the Dominati Fabrica, an industrial domain of his father, Sergio. He became an orphan at age 9, by the turn of the Millennium. His industrial empire "collapsed", divided between other magnates. One of them, a dangerous belical enterpreneur, came to 'adopt' him. He meant the child Vito to learn his ways, feeding his idealistic views on his continent's recent history (one of imperialism, war and propaganda). When time came, he'd enlist to AXIS, which itself is at a low profile by the eyes of UNA, as if it was just a legal, yet reclusive and safe recreational place forming both geniuses and private security agents of highlight. He'd find the "Sigma agent" post vacant. Its former user, also a kid chosen by another former industrialist of a failed corporation, also earned the armor after its fabrication, under no actual 'test', but only by ceremonial and standard medical supervision to assure it was 'safe'. The kid died recently (at time, 2005) of 'unknown means'.

    Truth is, the Sigma project is just the formal start of the Oraklyte Project, a research led by Jorgen Zimmermann and his Ulhaden Corporation directly supported by Interpol's current leader at time, Wagner Kantz. It's nothing more than a secret "cold war" on its own, where Jorgen and his scientists, some of them the best over there, have a deadline to develop something to harness the power of the Xnobius before the country of Haijian, which turned from a so-called socialist state to a "mixed economy"in the late 80s, soon enough spraying its services and technocrat empire over all the world. Amidst those who fought at the Gulf War, it became clear there was something other than "oil" in the resources they fought over.
    Xnobius is both the key to a clean energy and to mass destruction. Yet using it as clean energy is undoubtedly expensive, since it provokes a regulation in the before thought to be "chaotic" process of nuclear fusion (making one able even to 'predict' the outcome, thus being dubbed 'oraklyte', as to 'oracle'), its "mass-destruction" effect is more akin to nuclear fission. The problem is that not only it's rare, it tends to be unstable (thus using it 'just to test' could cost millions and also the safety of entire environments) and cease to be, unless stabilized by more amounts of itself (as if in a chain of Xnobius in proper conditions the Haijianese exceeded at). Its main source of energy is heat itself, but some believe to such maintenance be helped by some nano-tech instead of induced conditions.
    The Sigma Armor is the first step of such a project because it managed to solve its original self-sustainable promise. The outcome, however, is that the amount of heat is all too un-bearable, yet it is less than desirable to be both a weapon of mass destruction or a energy-generator. It was decided it became a man-controlled weapon, then (since that'd fail as a bomb, lacking a 'conscious trigger'). Proper tratment to isolate the un-bearable temperature from the user were made, but nano-tech expertise proven more or less radioactive contamination to be possible (suspicious, huh...).
As per praxis of the AXIS Academy, given the armors had symbiotic imprints, it was likely suggested that those which ranked among the Alpha-Omega inherited a vitalicious contract, assuring both the user and the armor to the institution (in exchange of a massive amount of money and assured services for the agent and its family), so effective changes on both user and armor could be more easily tracked. On such role, Vitorio is no better than a lab-rat. But one should never forget his background:

    Jorgen, a busy magnate, wouldn't exactly sponsor a child only for the affinities of its lifestyle with his bilogical father. He meant the armor to be used by an agent of his own purpose, as an agent provocateur to pave the way to reactionary forces' strengthening in European Union territory. By cracking the slave-pits of Africa, through agents of AXIS' missions under a "liberator" facade, and through forged diplomacy with sheiks and traditional dictators allied with american and NATO interventionist imperialist cause, they'd be setting a great influx of people, workers, into the outskirts of Europe (Eastern boundaries and Russian frontiers).
As a man led by nostalgia of dictatorships, he found support in the early process of neo-liberalism, "free-market" tendencies which happenned by the faked independences of the satellite states of a former so-called socialist state during 80s and 90s. States marked harshly by corruption, veiled competition between side powers and its intricate mafias, Jorgen profited with some para-military which re-sounded throughout separatism and independence of crafted countries. Amidst those, stood the poor and explored 'state' of Kosovia. On its East, laid still socialist Palarokhiel, which found yet support from Interpol in security matters (despite it having its own KGB). He had no intent into waging war against such stong self-sustainable state, but instead, with the countries by the West frontier, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. To his chagrin, by the role America played by helping the KLA (Kosovian Liberation Army), most of his paramilitary empire was shadowed, limited to offer weapons amidst terrorist groups and mafias with no intention of joining an "unified europe", but instead keeping it cracked down.
He struggled to keep still in the head of weapon industries (free market evolved to such a manner that monopolies were formed by affinities of some certain policies, policies Jorgen was failing to meet, since innovation was well spent in asian countries instead), which themselve spawned itself from other industries during the post 2nd War scenario.
     On such role, however, he came closer to secret heads of the hidden government which has a world-domination goal. One of those envisioned the AXIS to put in use the Alpha-Omega series and force a joint between two weapon magnates, Ulhaden Co. and ABEL Inc (American military company). That put Jorgen "some squares back", unable to do his bidding if in it was in disaccord with pre-established powers. Entrusted by General Wagner to the Oraklyte Project, however, he grew paranoid and let his ancestors' mysticism and opportunism to search for political unstabilty, still in his greedy search of the foolish promises of free-market. That was the role of Vitorio. By feeding his idealistic views of a strong, incorruptible Europe, taking use of the xenophobic tendencies finding supports under the bias of a worry or fear regarding 'economical stability' versus 'social policies', he was maintaining a main player in field. But Vito wasn't satisfied with his role in AXIS, since usage of the armors had time limits for training, mission and maintenance purposes. He had no power base other than gangly pawns he'd rally through vlogs vociferating for a nationalist view on a side and for opening the economies in the other.

    Jorgen was never a father. He came then closer to his right hand, Marco Friedenreich, who was also a professor in AXIS as Agent PI. Whilst Jorgen was arrogant and pitiless to Vito, Marco was a professor, no less an endoctrinator. He acted as a bridge between Jorgen and the goals he had to Vito. The other main subject of the project (other than countless human test subjects in southeastern Asia and throughout illegal human trade in Zealandia) was Agent CHI:         His armor sustained its heat and could conduct endless energy, but it deranged the symbiotic process. What lacked were Ushabti, micro-organism akin to the Akh species. Those species were more or less common in the slave-pits in Kenya and Armenia, but such specific genome was proven to be common both to some native people in Indonesia and few select traditional people in Yugoslavia's Transylvania range. Tests were done with aforementioned illegal human trade acquired individuals, and appropriated from side investigations led by Professor Morgan, namely the symbiosis factor improved in the armors YPSILON and PHI and the AI improvement from PSI. The achievement of the powers from OMEGA marked a new phase where no longer Akh related powers would be needed to proceed the plan.

    So far, the AXIS missions got more alarming status, some even being almost suicidal, and others offending the alumni's sense of ethics (for those which did have one, with subjection of conscience becoming a reality). Timely, it was around the time Triton and Paynal were put in the lens of the media. A "demon outbreak" was emminent, as they'd conspire and feed on public anxiety. But under the veil, defectives and double-agents such as Dr. Morgan would be 'dealt with' (in a disastrous armed conflict), and even though they'd ultimately lose Omega, Jorgen would rush his plans. As all gone accordingly to Wagner K., as he foresaw Ulhaden and ABEL fighting over the directories of AXIS, only to reveal Jorgen's political unstability agenda. Wagner forced him to focus his effort on the shrinking deadline, given the worldwide concern of demon outbreak was proven to be true when Akhs (species of hybrids with symbiosis with Ushabti, which helped Haijian achieve the apex of Oraklyte project's directories) emmerged from earth's crust.
    Sigma was a fiasco in assigned missions against these "Akhs", leaving Wagner to remove Jorgen from his chair (however replacing Marco on it). Jorgen detested his son, as if it was his failure, and not of the Ulhaden's tech. Chi was took down by another party, so the Oraklyte project had to resume in something or Wagner's support would end. Which did, when Wagner himself was out of favor by UNA's views on his lack of capability to deal with the security of their nations (and by allying with doubtful dictatorships such as Anatolia), as well as to his failure in bringing up tech to rival Tahuantisuyu's (it being a member of the UTSST, a block of nations alarmingly rival to UNA, most of them from South America), a 'solution' which was presented by no other than Haijianese magnates. On such a state, cornered and almost bankrupt, Jorgen hurried the plans and used himself as the test. The last phase of the Oraklye Project earned him nuclear power as in the awesome (yet exquisitely designed) QOPPA armor.

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