Quicksilver



Quicksilver is a behind-the-scenes - and initally very loyal - member of Cobra. On most missions, he is the one infiltrating security and taking out key targets to make it easier for others to finish their own missions. Assassination and espionage are his main priorities in the group.

His real name is Danell Vashchenko, a former Russian military operative who supposedly died in a car accident on a trip to Moscow. In reality, his death was a farce so he could devote his live to Cobra and their plans.

"Quicksilver" was chosen as a moniker due to its toxic properties. Many targets are eliminated with the help of poison, and on rare occasions mercury itself. It was also chosen due to it's constant liquid form. He is gifted at disappearing into a crowd or simply finding a place to hide when pursued by G.I. Joe.

Eventually, after growing increasinly disatisfied with Cobra, Danell defects to G.I. Joe.

Appearance
Quicksilver is 6'1" tall and weighs in at approx. 180 lbs. He has a light complexion, short slicked back brown hair, and dark blue-green eyes.

His uniform is different from other Cobra members and has several layers:
 * Base layer - sleeveless cotton black turtleneck, black nylon/cotton pants, black steel-toe boots
 * Black nylon/cotton military style jacket
 * Black body armor with red trim - styled similarly to motorcycle racing armor, made of kevlar and ceramic plating. The Cobra emblem is on the left side of his chest.
 * Sleek silver, black, and gray helmet - in a similar style to Cobra Commander but without the "hooded" helmet addition.

His uniform in G.I. Joe remains similar, but the coloration is different. (Still being decided)

Personality
Before his military service, Danell was social and easy to get along with. The typical overprotective brother, he joined the military to protect his country and his family after terrorist attacks became a common topic on the news.

His people skills have suffered significantly once he joined the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB). Different operations, many with questionable motives, left him questioning the concepts of right and wrong. After a time, both from stress and either depression or PTSD, he grew emotionally distant from everything. Consequently, his relationship with his friends, family, and girlfriend suffered. In response, he relocated out of the city and only returned for work.

Due to his past military career he is well suited for working with a team and giving orders, a reason he is high up on the chain of command in the organization, but he is mainly a solitary operative and prefers to work either alone or in a very small team. Often, though, working with a team slows him down and he ruthlessly reports teammates to the Commander if they prevent him from duing his job efficiently.

Quicksilver rarely speaks unless spoken to, especially around the Commander (he has discovered that anything can qualify as "back-talk" if his leader were in a bad mood, which is often.)

He is very serious about his job and completes it without question. His lack of back-talk and smart-aleck comments have gotten him several brownie points with the higher ranking Cobra team, namely Baroness, Destro, and Cobra Commander. Despite this, he won't do missions that seem to have a personal goal unless he gets clearance from the Commander or if it comes from the Commander himself. This actually makes a lot of the Cobra members very careful in the way they approach him.

As far as anyone can tell he is a loyal member of Cobra and - up until it became clear that Cobra Commander was planning to destroy Moscow just to illustrate a point - he was. After he learns this he contacts the Joes through back channels, agents, and secret identites to avoid detection. All the Joes know is that a member of Cobra gives them helpful information, but his identity remains hidden.

Quicksilver always wears his helmet. Only higher ranking members, like Baroness and Cobra Commander, know of his physical appearance, and because of this he is able to disguise himself as a normal Cobra Viper and hide among the ranks to seek out potential traitors.

He does not regret any time with Cobra up until the Moscow incident. To prevent anyone from learning that he plans to betray them to the Joes he continues with any missions as if nothing were wrong, even if they furthered Cobra's goal to destroy his home city.

Quicksilver is almost obsessive when it comes to appearance and filth off of the battlefield.

He is often percieved as a cold individual, and this is true, but he appears to be a lot colder than he actually is. It is only a front that he puts up to prevent anyone from getting too close. After he gave up his life (literally and figuratively) to join Cobra he couldn't deal with the posibility with losing another family member or loved one, even if he was the one to leave.

Once he joins the Joes, mainly thanks to Zen and Synth, he eventually grows closer to people and relearns social skills. He doesn't ever make it back to the point before he joined the FSB, but he certainly is a lot more agreeable.

Relationships
Danell was close to his parents, his mother especially, before he was pressured by his father to join the military. Being the oldest, he was both a bully and the best friend to all three of his siblings. The middle and youngest girls, Tatiyanna and Rozza, followed him everywhere while the eldest, Karyl, preffered to spend more time to herself or with her friends. Nevertheless, Karyl and him would often spend late nights playing games in their rooms, and their bond was easily the strongest.

He dated a woman named Shura from when he was 18. Danell and Shura shared a class in high school. Initially all was fine, but once their relationship became serious they began to have problems: once she found out that it was unlikely that she could ever have children and another time when she expressed her dislike of the concept of marriage. Despite this, they remained together.

Once he was transferred into the FSB his relationships at home crumbled. He became distant from his family due to the stresses and either a case of depression or PTSD. When he was almost 27 he stopped contacting his family unless it was necessarry and even then wouldn't hold conversations for very long, and four months later he ended his 9 year relationship with Shura. To prevent them from finding him he moved out of Moscow.

All relationships in Cobra and the military were strictly businesslike. The same goes for the Joes as well, the only exceptions being Zen, Snake Eyes, Synth, and Hawk whom he develops a deep respect for.

History
Danell was born and raised in Moscow, Russia on December 21, 1983. He is the oldest of four children, him being the only son, and by being the only boy was expected to follow in the footsteps of his father and join the military when he was old enough.

After some time as part of the Russian Ground Forces and rising to the rank of Sergeant, he was moved into an elite faction known as "Alfa", a stand-alone component of the Spetsnaz and (ironically) the counter-terrorism task-force of the FSB. There he was trained in espionage, precision shooting, intimidation and interrogation tactics. Because he was one of only 700 soldiers, these skills made him look very attractive to the then rising Cobra Command.

He recieved an offer to join the organization while investigating the deaths of several Russian diplomats, all assassinated under orders from Cobra. After finding an image of the Baroness on satellite footage, he began looking into her whereabouts and eventually located her. Cobra Commander was impressed with his ability to track her down, this all being a test to see if he really was what they were looking for, and offered for him to join them. He, of course, laughed at the idea that a terrorist organization would want to recruit him. Cobra was eventually able to convince him to come to their side, as he was not happy with the demands of his job and the stresses had completely ruined his relationship with his family and girlfriend.

Together they faked his death during a terrorist attack at a Metro station one his way to Moscow where he was supposedly coming back to town to see his family for the first time in over a year. Not enough of his body was recovered for a full ID, but surveillance footage on the train platform clearly shows him standing within five feet from one of the bombers. It's unclear how he escaped without being injured.

Artist's Notes
Inspiration taken from both Ian Somerhalder and Eyal Podell.

RGB values:
 * Hair: (68, 48, 25)
 * Eyes: (72, 129, 117)
 * Skin: (240, 204, 172)