☣ INFO
CANON [PROTOTYPE].
NAME Alex Mercer.
AGE The virus is around 3 weeks old at the point I'm taking it from. Physically, its host (Alex) is 29.
CANON POINT Right after beating the final boss. Though, he isn't sure what happened directly afterward, and assumes the bomb was dropped.
HISTORY Basically, a guy runs around Manhattan with permanent godmode on, killing and destroying things and etc. Here is his personal history.
CANON ABILITIES Alex has a vast plethora of abilities, not limited to: complete physical shapeshifting, parkour skills to the point of being able to run vertically up the sides of buildings, huge resistance to all forms of damage, the ability to morph his arms into various alien-like weaponry (giant claws, spiked tendrils, metallic blades, shields, etc.), thermal vision, health gain and memory absorption from any human or creature he can "consume", incredibly destructive surges of biomass called Devastators, and other ridiculous things. Even when these more obvious abilities are taken away, Alex retains combat skill and enhanced strength.
SIRENSPULL UPDATE: Alex consumed imonabike and took his electrical powers, so he now has those. They are a modified version, like all his consumed abilities.
PERSONALITY There are two parts to Alex Mercer: one side is human, the other side is essentially a virus. A virus that learned everything it knows first from the human Alex Mercer, and the rest from every person it subsequently consumed. Alex's official bio describes him as a typical sociopath: distant, cruel, cunning, and emotionally blank. This is half-true. While the virus aspect of Alex is certainly more animalistic and violent, he's not immune to showing care. With the same energy he uses to kill innocent people and "consume" them, Alex attempts to rescue his sister from harm. His human side is not the one responsible for this, though - Alex Mercer, before dying and becoming the virus, can be viewed as selfish and almost insanely impulsive. By destroying the tube containing the original virus, he willingly causes the near-apocalypse that is the infection in Manhattan.
The virus has regrets, eventually. At the end of the game it seems determined to undo what Mercer did and repay debts. This brings up a strange paradox - Alex can be both the dislikable, predatory, inhuman thing he's become, as well as a remorseful being with a conscience. The two halves seem to flip-flop haphazardly, showcasing the instability of what Alex is. This can be attributed to all of the memories and feelings he's consumed over the weeks, resulting in an unpredictable mess of a brain. Life attached to a human is much more complicated than to any animal; on its own, the strain of infection is meant to transform its hosts into mindless bloodmongers, even capable of destruction when unattached to a body. And yet it would appear they, or at least some, are also able to produce more rational thought.
Alex is ruthless and vengeful. He has extreme anger issues. Often, he doesn't seem to care if he endangers other people, so long as he gets what he wants. Virtually unstoppable once putting his mind to something, such as finding out what, exactly, happened to him (and delivering "justice" to those responsible), Alex would rather get himself killed before failing to accomplish his goal. No amount of self-induced bloodshed, of carnage wreaked on innocents, of bullets and explosions fired at him will cause him to let up. It's this rashness that would have put him in the ground long before he actually found what he was looking for, if not for the extreme resilience of the virus. Stubborn, immovable, incredibly difficult to persuade otherwise. Not just that, but he's prone to grudges from hell, as his entire rampage through Manhattan results from his wanting to find who caused the amnesia and unleashed the virus on his body.
There isn't much social tact to speak of - nearly all his conversations are quick and to-the-point. He's blunt, mostly unfriendly, short-tempered and a bit awkward most of the time, especially when having to show some sort of softer emotion, such as when attempting to explain to his "sister" that he's been killing and eating people. When faced with sensitivity, Alex freezes up. It's just as difficult for him to receive some sort of affection as it is to give it - perhaps the human Alex had no trouble with this, as he had a girlfriend and other relationships, but to the virus it's a relatively foreign concept it hasn't quite gotten used to.
Similarly, he's got problems with authority. This worsened after being considered a terrorist and subsequently pursued by the military - Alex does not take kindly to being told what to do, and especially not attempts to force him into anything - too many experiences being surprise-stabbed with syringes. Defiance is natural, and he can be straight-up paranoid toward most people, questioning them fiercely even as they try to help. No one can be trusted, as no one gives him their trust, and he believes he's more likely to end up falling for some sort of trap than getting out of an agreement unscathed. It's likely the virus figures this a normal aspect of humanity, as, again, it's implied that the original Alex Mercer was adjusted enough to not only keep a significant other, but a nice apartment and a high-up career. However, when he does end up trusting someone - his "sister", for example - he becomes highly protective, willing to kill for them if they're in danger.
Overall, Mercer can easily be cold, unapproachable and downright vicious, but he's also capable of compassion. Of guilt and giving a shit about a cause or a person. There's a want inside him to change and become a better "person", though he's liable to act on a hair-trigger and do things he later regrets. He still has urges to kill, to consume, to destroy - and this leaves him feeling extremely conflicted and frustrated a good amount of the time. He'll give into these urges more often than not, and being that his views on "morality" are all kinds of distorted, it can be difficult for him to deal with or consider. Alex is complicated and it's impossible to pigeonhole him into one group of similar facets of personality, because he's swallowed so many different dispositions and viewpoints.
APPEARANCE FINAL CONCEPT ART
