Satan's Claw
| Item: Satan's Claw | |
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| First Seen: | March 2009 |
The Satan's Claw is an oversized left-handed gauntlet, approximately three times the size of an average human hand and when worn, covers the wearer's forearm up to the elbow. Constructed of an unknown alloy of various metals, it is predominantly red in color, with various exposed vacuum tubes and gauges labeled in indecipherable code. The four-fingered gauntlet extends microfilaments into the wearer's arm, interfacing directly with their nervous system. Continued use results in the wearer developing an almost symbiotic relationship with the gauntlet, as well as exposure to increasing amounts of dangerous radiation.
The gauntlet possesses increased physical strength, allowing the wearer to perform incredible feats of power with that arm such as piercing most known forms of tank armor, and its most devastating feature, unleashing a burst of focused neutrons in a "nuclear beam" that can melt through solid steel.
Unfortunately, the first use of the "nuclear beam" begins a chain reaction in the atomic pile that fuels the Claw, reaching critical mass in approximately 100 hours. Once the pile reaches critical mass, the energy of the nuclear beam is released over a three-mile radius, delivering a fatal dose of radiation to any living being in the area.
At this time, short of amputation or extensive surgery, there is no known way to remove the Satan Claw from its wielder.
Device History
In 1941, the Nazi Party was beginning work on the *UberSoldat* project, a series of experiments designed to create a "super soldier" that would tilt the balance of power in the war effort. Various approaches were taken, from Wolfgang Strucker's biological research, to the occult experimentation of the Thule Society, to the technological advances of the party's best scientists.
It was this last group that developed a series of mechanical and technological enhancements to existing field equipment that resulted in the German army's advanced rocketry and artillery during the war. One of their projects that did not make it to a full deployment was the *SatanGreifer*, or "Satan's Claw". Designed as part of a modular battle armor, the Claw was a portable nuclear-powered weapon of destruction, capable of bonding to its wearer's nervous system in one of the earliest successes in cybernetic enhancements.
But the Claw had its drawbacks, being in the prototype stages. The attachment process was not easily reversible, and once activated, the nuclear pile that powered the device was prone to rapid neutron buildup resulting in a high-yield release of radiation that proved fatal to not only the wearer but everyone in a three-mile radius.
In 1945, the Russians captured the laboratory where the surviving Satan's Claw prototype was stored, and the device was moved around between Warsaw Pact nations during the Cold War, eventually becoming a sort of legend - a technological bogeyman mostly discounted and disbelieved by the intelligence community.
After the fall of the USSR, the location of the Claw was unknown until an individual (presumed to be a former GRU operative) claimed to possess it and was willing to sell it to the highest bidder. This alerted Russian intelligence czar Alexei Vazhin to the Claw's existence, and he deployed Natasha Romanova to obtain the Claw by any means necessary.
