PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT HE IS A MIND READER. For the sake of fairness, I’ll have him ask for permission before possessing my RP Partner’s character, out of professional courtesy.
Psycho Mantis was a powerful practitioner of psychokinesis and telepathy, with Nastasha Romanenko considering him to be one of the most powerful psychics in the world. He was capable of moving objects with the power of thought, spinning them around himself to create a makeshift barrier, or throwing them towards an opponent. He was also capable of generating a ball of psychic energy, as evidenced during his battle with Solid Snake. Through telepathy, Mantis could read people's minds and learn about their pasts. This power could even be extended to mind control, which he used to sway members of the Next-Generation Special Forces into joining FOXHOUND's revolt, and to force Meryl to attack Snake. However, his telepathic abilities could be rendered ineffective if his subject was either strong willed or possessed surgical implants in their brain, as evidenced by his failure to defeat Solid Snake in battle, and to read Donald Anderson and Kenneth Baker's minds, respectively. Because of his constantly wearing a gas mask to ensure he focused on his psychic powers, he frequently had a rasping breath accompanying him.
As "Tretij Rebenok", he possessed tousled red hair, and wore a gas mask and a black straitjacket. By the time of the Shadow Moses Incident, Mantis possessed an emaciated body and a hairless skull while sporting a black bodysuit and a trenchcoat. He had a misshapen nose, with surgical scars and stitching adorning his cranium and lower face, causing Mantis to despise his own appearance to such an extent that seeing any depictions of his disfigured face would force him to break his concentration.
Mantis, in his adult years, joined the KGB as part of their psychic intelligence unit. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mantis moved to the United States and began work for the FBI. He would enter the minds of suspected killers and uncover the truth about their crimes. However, during one interrogation in the year 2000, Mantis dove too deeply into the mind of a serial killer and subsequently adopted the subject's personality, becoming psychotic.
Mantis eventually left the FBI and became a freelance psychic spy, offering his services to the highest bidder. During his travels throughout the world, he read thousands of peoples thoughts, and became disgusted with humanity for, as he called it, their "selfish and atavistic lust to pass on one's seed." He was eventually enlisted by his old ally Liquid to join FOXHOUND, becoming the unit's psychic expert and its psychological warfare specialist. At some point, Mantis received barcode tattoos on each of his shoulders and on the right side of his head, along with a large scar across his head.
In February 2005, Psycho Mantis and the other members of FOXHOUND grew tired of their roles as puppets to the government and they took over Shadow Moses Island. Mantis used his psychic powers to brainwash those soldiers that didn't support the insurrection into participating in the revolt.
While on Shadow Moses, Mantis attempted to read Donald Anderson's and Kenneth Baker's minds but failed due to the surgical implants in their brains that provided them with "psychic insulation." When Revolver Ocelot "accidentally" killed Anderson during a torture session, Mantis came up with the idea of tricking Solid Snake into getting the PAL key from Baker and using the keys to activate Metal Gear REX, while making Snake think he was de-activating REX. They made Decoy Octopus disguise himself as Anderson to talk Snake into the act.
Mantis later managed to take over the mind of a rookie soldier, whom Snake had encountered in the holding cells, and had the soldier fire at Snake shortly after Decoy Octopus's death from FOXDIE. Shortly afterwards, Snake experienced a brief hallucination, in which he saw the FOXHOUND psychic himself, resulting from psychometric interference emanating from Mantis's actions. As Snake and Meryl Silverburgh made their way through the island, Mantis managed to gain control over Meryl's mind. He turned her against Snake and tried to make her shoot him, though Snake was able to knock her unconscious. Mantis then revealed himself and fought Snake himself. On the edge of defeat, Mantis decided to awaken Meryl and try to make her shoot herself in the head, having anticipated that this was Snake's weak point. However, Snake managed to both prevent Meryl from killing herself and defeat Mantis.
Close to death, Mantis's mask was removed by Snake, revealing a disfigured face that he had formerly concealed out of self-hatred. With his final words, Mantis told of his tragic past, comparing it to that of Snake's, and explained that his past experiences had shown him that all humans were fated to bring each other pain and misery. He stated that he never really agreed with Liquid's revolution, only that he wanted the chance to kill as many people as he could. However, he went on to say he was "not so bad," in comparison to Snake, saying that the legendary soldier was even worse than Liquid himself, stating that Snake was true evil. Mantis also revealed that he had read Meryl's mind and that Snake had a large place in her heart, though he did not know if their futures lay together. Mantis then asked Snake to put his mask back on, as he wished to be by himself in his final moments. Using his powers, he opened a secret passageway that led to the communications towers and Metal Gear's underground maintenance base. Right before he died, Mantis said that this action was the first time in his life that he had used his power to help someone, and that it felt "kind of...nice."
