James Adams
Corporal James Ulysses Adams (February, 2005 – ) was a United States Marine soldier who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valorous actions in combat near Panmunjom, Korean DMZ in July 2024, while serving as a member of the United States Marine Corps, guarding the border crossing. Due to extenuating circumstances, that remain classified, a massive number of civilian casualties were caused by Adams' actions. Adams was immediately dishonorably discharged, within days after being honored for his actions, with all relevant files being heavily redacted. All awards were subsequently removed from his service record, and he was stripped of all medals. For unknown reasons, he was never presented to a military tribunal, and was granted a full pardon for any associated war crimes.
After being discharged, Adams worked briefly as corporate security and a freelance soldier, before being recruited to an experimental program. He now serves Latitude Zero, as a member of the Zone Fighters.
Childhood and early life[edit]
James Ulysses Adams was born in February 2005 in Wichita, Kansas. His father, Robert, was a soybean farmer, and his mother Susan, passed away during childbirth. James assisted his father on the family farm until 8th Grade, when the financial burden became too great, and James dropped out of school to help run the farm full-time.
In the summer of 2018, due to ongoing drought in the region, the Adams' farm lost their entire harvest, resulting in extreme financial struggle. As a result, the farm was foreclosed on, and Robert and James relocated to rural Oklahoma, outside Tahlequah, where Robert took employment as a trucker.
Due to Robert's frequent absences for work, James slowly became ingrained in the local community, taking up odd-jobs for the local residents to contribute to his family's financial responsibilities. During this time, he befriended a local elder, Ambrose Pathkiller, who acted as a surrogate father during Robert's long absences, during which time, James learned many of the customs and traditions of the Cherokee. James took a special liking to the history of Joe Medicine Crow, the last War Chief, and in 2023, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines, leaving town without telling his father, who hadn't contacted him in over a year.
Military career[edit]
US Marines[edit]
After months of training, at Camp Pendleton, James entered the service as a Corporal. Having shown significant ability as a leader, and a proclivity for the healing arts, he was designated a Hospital Corpsman, and assigned to Camp Mujuk, in South Korea.
In the fall of 2024, during the Great Korean Famine, civil unrest led to the deployment of military forces to the Korean DMZ, due to increased hostilities from North Korea.
"One Hour in Hell"[edit]
Several weeks into his posting, masses of North Korean citizens overran North Koreans military installations, in a mass protest, due to the famine, and growing number of starving civilians. The populace swept south, amassing in the DMZ near Panmunjom, trying to reach the southern border, and find food. As the posted joint force held them at bay, a strange rumbling from the ocean went unnoticed, to the southwest. A strange hulking figure, hundreds of feet tall, emerged from the water and began to lumber inland. When the civilian refugees finally saw the figure, panic ensued. All military forces were ordered to hold the line, and keep the gates shut, defending South Korea from the incoming monster. When James saw the monster, and the chaos erupting amongst the refugees, he defied standing orders, activating the gate controls of the border fence, raising them and allowing people in.
The alarms and lights of the border gate caught the attention of the hulking leviathan, drawing it closer. As it advanced, the civilians began to panic, stampeding each other, resulting in massive crowd crush event, with casualty estimates ranging into the tens of thousands.
Aftermath[edit]
Clandestine government forces quickly descended on the DMZ, quietly sweeping the entire event under the rug. All formal military forces were compelled to sign NDAs, and were discreetly paid off.
James, for his heroism and fast-action in the face of an unknown adversary, was given a field promotion, advancing two ranks, to Lieutenant, while also being nominated for a Silver Star, Legion of Merit, and a Purple Heart for a series of broken ribs suffered trying to calm the refugees.
Within 48 hours, the promotion, and all awards were stripped, and James was Dishonorably Discharged from the Marine Corps, who disavowed all knowledge of a creature descending on the border crossing. James was given a life sentence at Fort Leavenworth, which was suspended, following his signing of an NDA.
Post-Service Career[edit]
Having been stripped of all military honors, and essentially being a convicted felon on U.S. soil, James provided his services to various military contractors overseas, including Blackrock. After a handful of years, he was privately recruited to be employed as private security for Apex Cybernetics, due to his skills.
Experimentation[edit]
Within months, James was fast-tracked into an advanced employment program, being given an opportunity for great financial compensation, to participate in an experimental program that was recruiting willing human subjects, sponsored by a classified benefactor. James was put into suspended animation, prior to any experiments being done, to his knowledge.
Post-Apocalypse[edit]
After an unknown amount of time in cryostasis, James awoke in a Bikross facility, in New York, finding it abandoned. After collecting resources to sustain himself, he took off into the hellscape, of what remained of the city, to try and figure out what had taken place.
After several days of wandering, a spotlight erupted from the sky. The Gotengo, a massive Super Aragon-Class ship descended from the sky to collect him. Aboard, he was debriefed by Jet Jaguar and Elias, regarding James' lost time, and what had transpired while he slept.
Afterwards, he was equipped with new weapons and armor, and recruited into The Zone Fighters, a group of K-Type mutants, acting as soldiers for Latitude Zero, in their fight against Bikross, who sought them as his "property".
Prypiat[edit]
After numerous missions, James began to miss familiar things from his past, and feeling nostalgic for a simpler time, on the farm, he approached the geneticists at Latitude Zero, to inquire about acquiring a German Shepherd.
Weeks later, the scientists returned with Prypiat, a genetic descendant of dogs from the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Personal honors[edit]
Adams' personal honors include:
- Navy and Marine Corps Medal
- Legion of Merit
- Joint Service Achievement Medal
- Silver Star
- Purple Heart x2
- Distinguished Service Medal
- Congressional Medal of Honor
