Isaac Mendrax

"Who dares wins."

- SAS Motto

History
Born in 1958 as "Harold Hepburn", Mendrax would later trace his recent family history to Northern Scotland and the British Isles surrounding the mainland. He was raised in London in a poor area, as the only son of a prostitute. With no known father other than sharing the man's distinctive red hair, the young boy didn't seem to have it all there from the start. He would often have a vacant stare across his face and watch out the window, stare at walls or even just simply watch people and follow them. Mid-century British reaction to such behaviour was less than favourable, and often times the young Harold was beaten by his mother simply for looking at her when she didn't want him to, looking out a window too long or simply annoying her in ways he did not understand. He was generally regarded as a troubled boy by adults and a freak by his peers and was regularly attacked and beaten by groups of much older boys. Isaac was slow at school and seemed to have trouble not only understanding the teacher but the work provided to him; after repeated beatings didn't seem to fix things, the teachers simply labelled the boy as 'stupid'. He seemed incapable of interaction, schoolwork and according to his mother, doing anything right. She regularly scolded him and told him how she wished she'd found some method of abortion.

Isaac's temper began to swell as he hit puberty. Regular beatings from all sides had made him tough, and he could take punches from much older boys while standing as well as endure much physical pain. He never fought back, being often described as "gentle" by others like it was his only true asset; others said he was just a wimp and a coward. It was not fists that stirred him into action, but words. Two much older teenagers mocked him, insulting him without laying a hand. Unable to deal with the temper that rose up inside him and surprisingly physically strong, he seemed to have no qualms about violence as he beat the older boys senseless, disfiguring one permanently as he knocked out most of his teeth as well as actually pulling his ear off the side of his head. Despite being taken into a police station because of what happened, the young man was let go; it wasn't believed he would have stood a chance against the older boys, and was likely defending himself if he did. He was of course, beaten senseless by his mother for such an offense when he did get home. Life continued like this for Harold until he turned 15. Unable to take it anymore, he walked into a recruitment office, expressing his interest in the army. He was asked his age, and replied truthfully. The recruiter simply handed him a piece of paper reading 'Isaac Mendrax'. He said to walk around the block and come back, and when he did a boy with that name who was 18 years old would be here. Harold understood, returning after walking around, claiming his name was Isaac Mendrax and that he was 18 years old. Now signed up to join the Army, the young boy was happy to be rid of his name.

By the time he actually was 18, the man now called Isaac had found his calling. He was an exceptional shot, strong, fast and with high amounts of endurance. He was unusually physically and mentally resilient, and seemed to have next to no qualms about killing or hurting others. His superiors noted that the young man's steely blue eyes seemed to have an anger in them, though they put it down more to his drive and wish to improve that he seemed to constantly display. This seemed even moreso when he put out a volunteer form for the Special Air Service. It was scoffed at, with nepotism rife throughout the special unit at the time as well as his very young age. He was permitted to go through the training course, assumed to be one of the 85% that drop out in the first week. That wasn't to be, with Mendrax pulling through in the jungle, weapons and combat training exercises with flying colours. He was recorded as being able to run 4 miles in 20 minutes and swim two miles in 65 minutes, high above standard. He eventually reached the week-long escape and evasion test; given a tin can of survival equipment, he was told to reach a point by first light a week from that time, avoiding being caught by other trainees and actively serving SAS men during that time. He made it through most of the tests, before reaching the final and most grueling part of the training; Resistance to Interrogation. Over 36 hours, Mendrax was tortured in all the creative ways the SAS interrogation officers could come up with, trying to force him to break and hand over information that he was told not to compromise under any circumstances. His trainers noted that he seemed to have no fear of death or harm from clearly loaded firearms and various torture instruments. He was considered a standout amongst his class that made it past the final exam. Finally achieving something, the thing he had set out to do and put so much work into, Isaac felt pride, something he'd never experienced before.