- “The Cricket is the Coil Arms Division's ultimate superweapon. Made up of a Cryptid specimen stolen from Frixion and the Coil Arms Division's own version of the serum used to create The Hybrid and the Zombies at Fort New Trinity, this beast is one of the most dangerous and highly unstable weapons ever created by the group.”
- ―Notebook Information
The Cricket (codenamed Project Omega) was a biological Cryptid superweapon that was created by the Coil Arms Division with the use of their version of the advanced Hybrillium serum that created The Hybrid at Fort New Trinity. It serves as the final boss within the map Project Omega.
The Cricket was created by the Coil Arms Division as a mean for tipping the entirety of the closing years of the Human-Alien Conflict into their favor.
History
Call of Duty: Eclipse Warfare
Millions of years ago when only the Cryptids roamed the Earth, they were visited by the Madrelerons, who managed to capture a few of them and brought them back to their homeworld of Frixion. There, the Madrelerons began to start breeding the Cryptids in order to somewhat preserve their race from extinction, but to also create an army out of the Cryptids.
During the closing years of the Human-Alien Conflict, members of the Coil Arms Division managed to infiltrate Frixion and steal a few of these Cryptid specimens, with plans of creating a superweapon out of them. Bringing the specimens to the Coil Arms Division's base of operations, they kept the specimens on ice in order to preserve them until the time arrived. Eventually, they received intel from their spies within the Eclipse Medical and Health Services at Fort New Trinity about a Hybrillium serum the Galactic Council of Alliances was creating to fuel a new super soldier experiment.
With this information, the Coil Arms Division ordered their spies to send them schematics and data on the Hybrillium serum so they could replicate it in order to create a biological superweapon with the serum and their Cryptid specimens. Once enough information was received, the Coil Arms Division began work on manufacturing their own version of the serum before injecting it into their Cryptid specimens. After a series of trials, most of the specimens died while testing the serum on them, leaving only a handful of specimens left.
On November 3rd, 2251, one however managed to survive being infused with the serum and ultimately passed all of the Coil Arms Division's tests. With this enhanced specimen, the organization now had their own superweapon ready to help them take over once both the humans and Madrelerons tired themselves of battle, dubbing their new Cryptid breed the Cricket. Unbeknownst to the division however, they failed to realize that despite the usefulness of the serum, it would have a devastating after effect, one that ultimately caused The Hybrid to start the outbreak at Fort New Trinity with the use of the Hybrid Virus on November 19th, sixteen days after the Cricket's creation.
After the survivors of the Fort New Trinity outbreak arrived at Frixion, they discover that the Coil Arms Division was responsible for indirectly sabotaging the Cryptid hatchery on the planet and the ensuing outbreak of zombies. Locating the organization's base, the survivors head for the site with the hopes of uncovering the truth behind the Coil Arms Division's motives. Around this time however, the Cricket began to succumb to the after effects of the serum used to create it, ultimately breaking free of its containment unit and infecting the facility with the use of its serum-infused saliva. By the time the survivors reach the station, the station was nothing but abandoned, completely ravaged and overrun with zombified scientists and soldiers.
After fighting through the station and uncovering more of the division's dark history and plans, they soon discover the Cricket within the locked main engine room. They also discover Paul Thompson, the scientist that they helped escape Fort New Trinity, next to the Cricket. Thompson then reveals that he is in fact a spy that was sent by the Coil Arms Division to Fort New Trinity in order to secure samples of the serum in order to breed the Cricket so that they could use it to win the war in their favor once the humans and Madrelerons tired themselves of battle. Ordering the Cricket to attack the survivors, the beast initially refuses, instead attacking Thompson and mauling the man to death before targeting the survivors. After a long fight, the heroes are able to kill the beast by electrocuting it with the use of some loose wires from the main engine of the space station. However, this causes the engines to begin to short-circuit, causing the facility to lose power as it begins to hurdle through space aimlessly, ultimately becoming lost in space. Despite this however, the heroes managed to escape the station with the use of an emergency escape pod.
Three years later however, the space station would crash-land on the world of Harmony, where the infectious materials from the Cricket leaked onto the world, causing a massive outbreak on the planet, one that would force the world to be bombed by several nuclear warheads, rending the world of Harmony uninhabitable.
The Greatest Threat of All
After Ataraxia assembled an organization of villains with the use of the Time Blade, he set forth a mission to collect the six Infinity Stones, tasking the villains to scourge the world in search of them. Ataraxia would task Amsel Caligari and Paul Thompson to recover the Mind Stone from Rome; Amsel realized that the powers of the Mind Stone would be the final factor needed to control the Cricket from the Hybrillium after effects. After convincing Ataraxia to resurrect the former Coil Arms Division superweapon, Amsel and Paul imprisoned it and brought it with them to Rome, intending to use it as a countermeasure against the United Heroes.
Once the two scientists recovered the Mind Stone from its chamber in the Flavian Amphitheatre, they harnessed the stone's power and used it on the Cricket, hypnotizing it and forcing it under their command. Finally armed with the superweapon they longed dreamed of, the two awaited the arrival of Ben Crawford and Chris Bennett, who were assigned to stop the villains from acquiring the Mind Stone. When they arrived not long after the villains' acquisition of the Mind Stone, Amsel and Paul revealed themselves and the Cricket, explaining its purpose before unleashing it onto the heroes for them to combat. However, the two heroes utilized the Cricket's reckless behavior to their own advantage, using it to cause the Cricket to constantly ram itself into the walls of the arena until it accidentally broke open the exit. The two heroes fled, with Amsel ordering the Cricket after them while Amsel and Paul escaped with the Mind Stone. A long chase through Rome began, ending with the Cricket being run over by a passing freight train, killing it once again.
Upon learning that the beast was killed yet again, Amsel theorized that the only reason it was killed this time was due to its weakened state, as it had been immediately resurrected and forced into battle shortly afterwards, and was thus never given the proper time needed to regain its strength.
Behavior
Since the Cricket was birthed from a Madreleron trained Cryptid, it initially was trained to listen very well, obeying almost every order given to it by the Madrelerons. When the Coil Arms Division stepped in and took some of the specimens, it was originally hostile, but its hatred was mostly suppressed by the time the Hybrillium serum was added to the Coil Arms Division's recipe for a superweapon. Despite this hatred being suppressed, it didn't stop the Cricket from having a strong hatred for the Coil Arms Division. By the time the after effects of the serum started to kick into play, it began to cause the Cricket to begin to act savagely, sometimes attacking nearby handlers, resulting in the handlers being shot in order to prevent an outbreak.
By the time the survivors reached Frixion during Celestial Abyss, the Cricket ultimately went full berserk, breaking free of its cell and slaughtering much of the staff at the facility, resulting in an outbreak that plagued the entire facility, save for one scientist, who was in fact the undercover spy that the survivors helped escape at Fort New Trinity. The spy utilized a stabilizer vaccine to calm the beast down and tame it, but the effects of the vaccine would wear off, causing the beast to become more and more aggressive. When the survivors finally reached the station and confronted the spy and Cricket, the spy ordered the Cricket to attack, but the Cricket then betrays the spy after the vaccine wore off, instead mauling him to death before attacking the survivors. However, its reckless behavior would ultimately be its downfall as the beast accidentally kills itself after smashing into the control engine of the space station and electrocuting itself several times.
Abilities
Originally, the Cricket had standard Cryptid abilities primarily seen on the Hunter varieties. However, when the serum came into play, it enhanced the Cricket's abilities tenfold. It gained a drastic amount of health and armor, making it nearly bulletproof. It also gained the ability to use its saliva to infect anything with the serum, converting whatever touched the serum-infused saliva into a mindless zombie that the Cricket could now control with the use of its corrupted hive mind. Though not directly shown, the Cricket could also release small egg like pods from its body which grew at an accelerated rate. These eggs could manifest around locations and create gaseous spores that could infect the air and ground with its serum.
Trivia
- The Cricket's design is the same as the cut Cryptid enemy from Call of Duty: Ghosts. However, its role in the story is completely original.