Ajax is an agent in the Department of Mary Sues. He is written by Mattman The Comet.
Character Profile
History
Ajax is a Psychopomp Commerce Deity, Hermes, a Water/Dark attribute God/Attacker type monster from the Puzzle & Dragons series. He was once a key sub in a Water Mono team, in the form of his slide evolution Commerce Deity of Dreams, Hermes, but as time went on his owner got increasingly better cards, and eventually sold him and his leader, a Blue Chain Starsea Goddess, Andromeda.
Being sold dumped both him and his commander into a plothole, landing them in HQ during early fall 2015—specifically in one of the Reality Rooms. Like Pokémon, PAD monsters don’t have much of a character beyond what they look like and what they can do. Therefore, the two’s landing point gave them a rudimentary personality, which they had never had up to this point.
Being the first known agents from PAD, the DMSE&R took them in for a week and tested their elemental abilities against the only other baseline they had—Pokémon’s type system. They share most of the same strengths and weaknesses as Water-type Pokémon, and Ajax inherited the Dark type’s weaknesses. In addition to that, Electric attacks are x4 effective against him, since PAD’s Light attribute (which Dark monsters are weak to) corresponds to Pokémon’s Electric type. However, his own Dark attacks get a x2 bonus against Light or Electric opponents.
During his free time, the Hermes read a copy of Homer’s Iliad. The warrior Ajax struck him as particularly impressive, and he took that name in the hero’s honor. The Andromeda, who also found a book of Greek mythology, named herself “Levy” as a humorous jab at her namesake’s origin story.
The two somehow ended up as partners, working as assassins. Eventually the duo found themselves in a particularly bad Percy Jackson fic, wherein the Sue was able to summon an Argus replacement before they could finish her off. Eventually the Sue was killed by a Dragon-like humanoid, but not without injuring both Ajax and Levy, critically in her case. While she would survive the encounter, she was left comatose for a week, and bedridden for another two. She is currently undergoing physical therapy.
Feeling guilty for Levy’s injuries, Ajax was by her side for the whole time she was in her coma. He returned to active duty after she woke up, but spent all of his free time by her side or training to make sure he could never let her get hurt again.
Likewise, Levy also wanted to keep him safe. But rather than training to get stronger, she decided to move to Floaters (ESAS to be exact) finding herself to be too much of a weight towards him. Of course Ajax refused, but she did ultimately leave the department.
Ajax would continue to work alone for another month before gaining a new partner. He’d hoped to get assigned to someone like Levy.
Oh how wrong he was.
Personality
Ajax has a tendency to act like a jerk, which is somewhat of a front to make him feel somewhat normal again. He also doesn’t understand people, but he’s not completely asocial and heartless. He has shown a sort of parental protectiveness towards children of Hermes in the PJO-verse, and rightfully so, given his origin. Catch him on a bad day and you would find a man longing for his simpler days, though these days are few and far between.
In contrast to Matthew, Ajax does have a few LOs. For example, Piper McLean is one of his personal weaknesses (he blames the fanart). Also worth mentioning is Fate Testarossa, because scythes.
As opposed to Matthew’s preference of fighting Sues to the pain, Ajax, and in a surprising twist given his origins, prefers the “give it no chance” approach. While Matthew does find it a bit strange, he chooses to not delve any deeper, figuring it has to do with Ajax’s old partner.
Abilities
He doesn’t like confronting a Sue, but when he does, he prefers going into the confrontation with figurative guns blazing, a good preference given his weapon. Since his primary weapon, a scythe, isn’t viable in most ‘verses, he’s learned how to use a sword. He can summon the scythe at will if the situation calls for it (and if the ‘verse’s rules allow for it); it’s generally a “Let’s Get Dangerous” moment.
He still has some of the abilities he had in PAD. First and foremost is his abilities stemming from his attributes: Hydrokinesis, Cryokinesis, and Umbrakinesis. A close second is Double Attack Stance - Wt, which allows him to transmute substances that fall under the Grass attribute (plant life, earth, and wind) and healing energies into water or ice which he can then use in combat.
In addition to these powers he would also discover abilities relating to his slide evolution, Commerce Deity of Dreams, Hermes’ abilities when encountered as an enemy in choice dungeons. Perhaps the most relevant are his for “Letter” skills, Black, Love, Hypnos, and Thanatos. Black blinds foes. Love has the ability to heal, and is his strongest letter in combat. Hypnos binds a foe, similar to sleep or freeze in Pokémon. Finally, Thanatos, which spawns a Jammer orb in PAD, would limit one’s options in combat. He only has a finite supply of these, as he has to handwrite each one of the letters.
Also available as a carryover from his slide are some other skills. He has the option to open with a skill called Speedster, which is basically a weaker Thanatos Letter. Depending on how injured he is he will gain the ability to use Trickster, which causes Jammer orbs to spawn at a high rate, meaning that the enemy wouldn’t be as powerful. Finally, if he is majorly injured, he can use Argeiphontes, a multi-hit with high damage.
In addition to these, Ajax also carries a Uzi-Pro, which is generally used for moments when he can’t utilize his PAD abilities, whether it be for lack of resources or the canon wouldn’t allow for it.
In addition to his PAD-standard abilities, Ajax has a very accurate internal clock in relation to the sending and arrival of most messages. He also knows what a received message says without looking. For some reason this ability does not extend to any console. He usually operates the RA.
Mission Reports
