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Description
The Extraordinary Threat Response Assets Department manages the more practical response options and resources available to the United States' government for dealing with supervillains or other atypical threats. In the early days, however, it was a joke of a department grasping at straws, tasked with fending off supervillains using nothing but soldiers and research programs the U.S. military didn't think was worth their time.
For a long time, the military force attached to the department called themselves the EXTRAs, in part because of the acronym (EXtraordinary Threat Response Asset), but mostly because of the exceedingly high casualty rate. The average length of service was 8 months, after which somebody was probably either dead, mentally unfit for duty, or crippled from the government's attempts to give them superpowers.
Scott Roberts, like the overwhelming majority of EXTRAs, volunteered for a cybernetic enhancement program, which was the sanest sounding supersoldier program ETRAD was running at the time.
Like the program's previous volunteers, he died on the operating table during the first implantation procedure.
After several minutes of being medically dead, however, they were able to revive him, making him the program's first survivor. Unfortunately the cybernetics failed to work as expected, hindering him instead. Between the fact they nearly killed him and permanently impaired his combat performance, he was given a medical discharge. He was the first EXTRA still capable of walking and firing a gun to be offered a discharge for physical injuries.
Roberts was also the first EXTRA to refuse discharge papers. Instead, he asked to keep participating in the enhancement program that had slightly killed him. He survived the next round of surgery, and the next after that. It was eventually discovered that Scott possessed an unusual biology that allowed his body to tolerate cybernetics far better than most humans. After enough attempts and corrections the implants became helpful. Eventually, the technology progressed enough to do what it was meant to: make a supersoldier.
Roberts became known by some as "The First," being the first person to test new cybernetics as well as the first to achieve many remarkable things within ETRAD. He was the first non-superpowered human to defeat a Krith soldier unarmed, the first superhero to have a national holiday established in their honor, and the first EXTRA to be given a literal license to kill supervillains (as in, execute rather than arrest). Even before becoming an EXTRA, he was the first soldier to volunteer for ETRAD.
Eventually his extraordinary service earned him another nickname: the patriot. Thanks in large part to his contributions, the EXTRAs are now a highly successful mobile strikeforce, and in his honor its soldiers are officially known as Patriots. Each is an expert soldier with equipment or augmentations that help them deal with superpowered criminals, ghosts, and alien warriors.
But standing above them all is Scott Roberts. He has more augmentations than nearly all the Patriots put together, including cybernetics, genetic modification, and mystical enchantments. Scott has the strength to pick up a cement truck, yet despite being nearly 400 lbs he is nimble as a ballerina. He can further turbocharge his nervous system for bursts of superspeed, allowing him to dodge bullets or grab a speedster as they run by. Given that his body's durability combined with his unique combat armor protect him better than a tank, it's a rare day that he even bothers to avoid getting shot.
While technically he was not the first EXTRA, those within the department refer to him as the First Patriot. To the nation at large, he is usually just called The Patriot.

Description
The Extraordinary Threat Response Assets Department manages the more practical response options and resources available to the United States' government for dealing with supervillains or other atypical threats. In the early days, however, it was a joke of a department grasping at straws, tasked with fending off supervillains using nothing but soldiers and research programs the U.S. military didn't think was worth their time.
For a long time, the military force attached to the department called themselves the EXTRAs, in part because of the acronym (EXtraordinary Threat Response Asset), but mostly because of the exceedingly high casualty rate. The average length of service was 8 months, after which somebody was probably either dead, mentally unfit for duty, or crippled from the government's attempts to give them superpowers.
Scott Roberts, like the overwhelming majority of EXTRAs, volunteered for a cybernetic enhancement program, which was the sanest sounding supersoldier program ETRAD was running at the time.
Like the program's previous volunteers, he died on the operating table during the first implantation procedure.
After several minutes of being medically dead, however, they were able to revive him, making him the program's first survivor. Unfortunately the cybernetics failed to work as expected, hindering him instead. Between the fact they nearly killed him and permanently impaired his combat performance, he was given a medical discharge. He was the first EXTRA still capable of walking and firing a gun to be offered a discharge for physical injuries.
Roberts was also the first EXTRA to refuse discharge papers. Instead, he asked to keep participating in the enhancement program that had slightly killed him. He survived the next round of surgery, and the next after that. It was eventually discovered that Scott possessed an unusual biology that allowed his body to tolerate cybernetics far better than most humans. After enough attempts and corrections the implants became helpful. Eventually, the technology progressed enough to do what it was meant to: make a supersoldier.
Roberts became known by some as "The First," being the first person to test new cybernetics as well as the first to achieve many remarkable things within ETRAD. He was the first non-superpowered human to defeat a Krith soldier unarmed, the first superhero to have a national holiday established in their honor, and the first EXTRA to be given a literal license to kill supervillains (as in, execute rather than arrest). Even before becoming an EXTRA, he was the first soldier to volunteer for ETRAD.
Eventually his extraordinary service earned him another nickname: the patriot. Thanks in large part to his contributions, the EXTRAs are now a highly successful mobile strikeforce, and in his honor its soldiers are officially known as Patriots. Each is an expert soldier with equipment or augmentations that help them deal with superpowered criminals, ghosts, and alien warriors.
But standing above them all is Scott Roberts. He has more augmentations than nearly all the Patriots put together, including cybernetics, genetic modification, and mystical enchantments. Scott has the strength to pick up a cement truck, yet despite being nearly 400 lbs he is nimble as a ballerina. He can further turbocharge his nervous system for bursts of superspeed, allowing him to dodge bullets or grab a speedster as they run by. Given that his body's durability combined with his unique combat armor protect him better than a tank, it's a rare day that he even bothers to avoid getting shot.
While technically he was not the first EXTRA, those within the department refer to him as the First Patriot. To the nation at large, he is usually just called The Patriot.