Ghoul Cobra Operator
File name: Classified
CSN: Classified
Primary Military Speciality: Unconventional Warfare
Secondary Military Speciality: Special Reconnaissance
Grade: Operator level 3
There is a little-known, rarely discussed and almost never invoked agreement among Range- Vipers that, if in great survival difficulty, and with a dying or recently dead team member, the remaining members can use the corpse to aid in their own survival.
It has only been used four times. Ghoul was involved in two of those.
Qualified top of class Range- Viper training. Top of class RV sniper course- an elite course based on the Royal Marines course. HALO and HAHO trained.
Cobra, apart from having rank and file troops, use extremely well- trained and very dangerous individuals, either promoted from within or contracted. These individuals are known as Operators and are used as Cobras unconventional warfare special forces, equivalent to the CIA’s PMOOs.
Ghoul is considered one of, if not the best, Operator in Cobra. No mean feat, considering that both Firefly and Blackout are among their number, as are the Plague.
Something of an urban legend among Cobras ranks, it is claimed by the most superstitious that he actually is a Ghoul who feasts on his enemy’s flesh. Or that he is immortal. What is certain is that even among the hardened forces of Cobra he instils both fear and respect.
Skullbuster: “I aint afraid to admit it, Ghoul scares me”
Communiqué from Rich, K. D. to Abernathy, C. D.
Hawk- we’ve had a major breakthrough in our ongoing project to identify and profile Cobra Operatives.
One of our deep cover agents has managed to download hundreds of files from a secure server. We’ve managed to find files on at least 12 known Operators and 7 suspected.
Full profiles to follow, but I wanted to give you a heads up on one that, well, I’m not sure how exactly to put this, unsettles me.
File Name: Charles Bundy
CSN: CR 7162 8473 9981
Primary Military Speciality: Unconventional Warfare
Secondary Military Speciality: Special Reconnaissance
Grade: formerly E- 7
The name is an alias- not uncommon in Cobra- but unfortunate in that it means locating school and childhood records will be practically impossible.
The alias, in itself, is telling. Charles is most likely a reference to Charles Manson, or possibly Charles Whitman. Bundy is almost certainly from Ted Bundy. This suggests a man that relates to multiple murderers. It is speculative, but could also suggest he views himself as a peer of these men.
Bundy entered Cobra as a (reported) 22 year old, passing through Viper training and went straight into Range Viper training, bypassing the usual year’s service criteria. This could indicate he had prior military training, or did extremely well on Cobra entrance exams. Likely both.
Graduated top of his class at Range Viper training. Reports will be included in the full profile. However, the gist of them is he excelled in all tasks. Was earmarked for Operator status from the start. Possesses exceptional physical fitness and well above average intelligence. IQ estimated in the 160-180 range
Works well within a team, though seems to prefer to work alone.
Extremely aggressive- even within Cobra’s relaxed mores.
There follows several bi- annual reports- all approximately the same as the training reports and several mission summaries. Again, all will be included in the full profile.
Of the mission summaries, three are of particular interest.
Mission (redacted), Afghanistan, date (redacted):
Bundy was part of an eight man team sent of a Long Range recon of potential allies and adversaries.
They were discovered by a local and were engaged in an ongoing gun battle. Four members of the team were killed outright. The other four managed to evade pursuers and entered into an E and E.
Of the four, two were wounded, one critically. Over the next three days the critically wounded team member died, and the survivors butchered his corpse and used him as sustenance. After six days and almost 100 miles travelled, they reached friendly territory and were evacuated.
Mission (redacted), Sierra Leone, date (redacted)
Again, Bundy was part of an eight man team, this time sent to intimidate and suppress the local population.
During a sweep of a small village, several team members drank from the village well.
Within hours, all that drank became violently ill and one subsequently died. Reasoning that the well had been poisoned, the enraged troop returned to the village and exacted bloody revenge.
Bundy, in particular, terrorised the locals. Taking the five pregnant women in the village, he made each kneel in front of him and one by one, slit their throats, and removed their unborn foetuses. (Thankfully) four of the children were dead on removal, but one lived. Bundy took the child and boiled it in a cooking pot. Eviscerating the tiny corpse he then ate parts of several of the internal organs, including the liver and kidneys.
Although the report is written in a detached style, it appears that the other members of the troop were horrified at his actions and it was this incident that led to his nick- and later code- name Ghoul.
Further missions are mostly blacked out- suggesting Bundy (Ghoul) was either starting to work as an operator or as support staff to them.
Mission (redacted), Siberia, date (redacted).
Part of a four man team on a Long Range Recon mission.
It seems the team greatly underestimated the weather. One team member died of exposure while on stag. The rest decided to scrap the mission and return to HQ. The weather continued to hamper them and all contracted frostbite.
The other surviving team member reports going to sleep and when he woke, Ghoul was butchering the third team member. Ghoul had stated he woke to find him dead and invoked the agreement. Both ate their teammate and returned to a pre-arranged RV within two days. The survivor expressed gratitude that they were rescued as he feared for his life if they ran out of supplies.
It seems this was Ghouls’ last mission as a Range Viper. His files have been moved to a more secure server, one we have been unable to access.
Medical records are also included from his time as a Range Viper (approximately three years).
In that time, he was stabbed, shot or wounded over twelve times. At least two he was considered critical and unlikely to survive.
He has also survived three explosions, including one that killed the two people directly beside and behind him.
One major incident of relevance:
Ghoul was attacked and stabbed three times in the back by another Range Viper- a friend of the man he butchered the second time.
Ghoul, though in severe pain and bleeding profusely, disarmed his attacker and bit a chunk out of his neck, severing both the jugular vein and carotid artery.
He then stood and watched as he died, ensuring no one could assist him. He also swallowed the chunk of flesh he had bitten off.
He was put up for Court Martial for this, but as he was clearly attacked and not the aggressor he was cleared of all charges.
In summary:
I feel there is enough evidence to support a diagnosis of a Sociopath. However, Ghoul does fit in to the Cobra culture and has never openly transgressed any of their rules.
This suggests a highly controlled and disciplined personality. He appears to hold to his own moral code, but can and does exist within an imposed statute of limitations.
I think we can safely discount the more outlandish rumours of immortality and that he is an actual Ghoul. In fact, the fact that he appears not to have made any attempt to counter these rumours suggests he may revel in his notoriety and quite likely promotes the image.
He has been seriously wounded several times and has recovered. This suggests an extremely wilful, highly motivated individual.
He has eaten human flesh on at least four documented occasions. Of these, three can be said to have (dubious) context to them- the two survival situations, allied to the agreement that exists, and the eating the child- could be construed as terror tactics.
With the last incident the only context I can suggest conjecturally is that he did so to perpetuate the rumours and supposition that surround him. There is no documentation to support if he mentions enjoying the taste of human flesh, or any mention of further incidents, but there is more than enough circumstantial evidence to suggest this man could be classified as a cannibal.
I believe this individual should be classified at our highest level of risk.
thanks for reading (if you did).