Frank Horrigan

Special Agent Frank Horrigan (2211—2242) is one of the trump cards of the Enclave, its single most dangerous infantryman, and one of the deadliest creatures to ever walk the wastelands. He appears in Fallout 2 as the game's ultimate combat challenge.

Background
Born in 2211, Horrigan was one of the Enclave's finest soldiers. His low intelligence made him extremely loyal to the Presidency, the Enclave, and its armed forces. This loyalty allowed him to be promoted in spite of his lacking intellect, all the way to the presidential Secret Service at a very young age (his 20s). However, his career did not last long, as, to be frank, Horrigan was a monster. His various psychological problems eventually led to him being transferred to wasteland operations in 2236, after a psychotic blunder of undisclosed nature.

His unit was one of several assault squads tasked with capturing wastelanders to use as slave labor in the excavation of the Mariposa Military Base. Eventually, excavations began in September. The slaves and construction crews dug into the collapsed base, removing tons of rock. Unprotected wastelanders were exposed to low levels of FEV in the ruins, released after the base self destructed. Mutations began to occur. At the same time, Frank Horrigan was accidentally exposed to the virus. Sensing the opportunity, the Enclave sent him to the oil rig for study.

For two years, Horrigan was subjected to Enclave experiments. Kept under heavy sedation, he was heavily operated on and studied, with the occasional bloody incident happening when he briefly regained consciousness. The mutation process gradually transformed him into a super mutant, complete with impressive strength and the slow, stupid single-mindedness. Enclave surgeries, testing, genetic engineering, physiology tweaking, and injections of modified FEV lead to further mutation, resulting in Horrigan becoming a unique genetically engineered mutant derived from classic Mariposa super mutant stock. Fallout Bible 0: "7. What the heck was Frank Horrigan? A supermutant in powered armor? A cybernetically enhanced human? A robot? A cybernetically enhanced robotic super mutant in powered armor? Also, if he was mutated, why did the Enclave put up with him? Did they make a distinction between FEV induced mutation and radiation induced mutation? - Richard Grey" "Frank Horrigan is a munchkin's worse nightmare: as far as I can find in the documentation, he's a mutant in Power Armor (whether he's technically a super mutant is debatable, since the scientists operated on him so much and tweaked his DNA and physiology it's hard to tell what the final result would have been if he had been left to change on his own)."As for being a mutant, here's an excerpt from the last update:"'' "'It's important to note that Horrigan has never considered himself a mutant; only the scientists at the Enclave would consider him one, but they mostly referred to him as an 'experiment,' and even then, not to his face. Most soldiers considered Horrigan a walking nuke, something the tech boys built, and they were not generally aware of his mutant status. Most did consider him a freak, however, and there were few soldiers who wanted to accompany him on missions.'"''"They didn't make a distinction as much as an exception. Not many people were aware of his mutant status or could recognize him as a mutant... and those people saw him as more of an altered human experiment than a mutant. It's all semantics. And selective bigotry." "For fan fiction purposes, it's also possible he was just a genetically engineered monster whipped up by the Enclave... and that's what Segeant Granite assumes about him:"'' "'He's some genetically engineered freak is what he is. Used to be the President's bodyguard. Secret Service Agent Frank Horrigan. Now he's more than half machine.'"

By January 2239, tests began to run dry on Horrigan. After it was suggested that he be used as a field operative again, deployed against local populations in the wasteland, the Enclave implements various conditioning programs under a Presidential Directive to reinforce Horrigan's pre-existing loyalty. His low intelligence, further damaged by the FEV virus, allows these programs to take root easily.

Special Agent Horrigan
On March 27, 2239, Horrigan was sealed within power armor custom-manufactured to fit his massive physique. After a number of horrifically successful field tests, he became the Enclave's solution to a number of sticky problems. Nearly three years of continuous experimentation created a new model of super mutant, towering above normal humans, with an extreme level of endurance, strength, and even speed. His power armor is quite literally his life: It is grafted onto his body and continuously injects him with drugs and other stabilizing agents. Other cybernetic elements include bionic eyes, arm control mechanisms, and leg rotators among many.

Despite his appearance, Horrigan didn't consider himself a mutant, and neither did the Enclave scientists; for them, he was an experiment. To the common soldiers, Horrigan was an enigma, some kind of genetically engineered cybernetic freak. Most were unwilling to accompany him on field operations.

Horrigan was extensively deployed to the wasteland, tasked with resolving any situations that may affect the Enclave. These included hunting down an elderly man whose knowledge could prove dangerous, exterminating the rebellious deathclaws at Vault 13, and killing Matthew at the San Francisco Brotherhood bunker following his acquisition of Vertibird plans.

However, he met his match in 2242, at the hands of someone he'd consider inferior, no less. When the Chosen One invaded Control Station Enclave and destroyed its computer, triggering a meltdown, Horrigan personally secured the exit to the PMV Valdez, to prevent him from leaving the oil rig. In the ensuring fight, Horrigan was mortally wounded. Damage to his systems was too extensive and he was quite literally blown apart into two halves at the waist.

However, this mortal wound didn't kill him instantly. Horrigan still managed to get up on his hands and taunt the Chosen One for the last time. After reciting his oath, he collapsed as the internal pressure blew his head clean off.

Quests

 * Stop the Enclave: Horrigan is the last obstacle on the way to freedom after blowing up the control computer on board Control Station Enclave. The player can recruit Granite and the EC Company as well as turn the turrets against Horrigan to have a fighting chance.

Horrigan is a challenge. He possesses 999 hit points, a very high number of action points, and a top of the line suit of armor, giving him a very high resistance to most damage. And if that wasn't enough, a single attack cannot do more than 192 points of damage to Horrigan.

He totes the End Boss plasma gun and the End Boss knife, both very formidable weapons. He will normally use the gun first and then switch to the knife. He will switch earlier if his limbs are crippled or he is otherwise unable to fire.

Behind the scenes

 * Horrigan's weapons (End Boss Plasma Gun and End Boss Knife) can be added to the player's inventory with a savegame editor.
 * The mutagenic serum cannot be used to kill Horrigan. Don't try the mutated toe either.
 * Horrigan is the only forced endgame combat encounter in either of the first two games.

Behind the scenes

 * Horrigan is named after Clint Eastwood's character from In the Line of Fire, an aging Secret Service agent.
 * Horrigan uses the phrase Semper Fi in his dying speech, which is short for Semper Fidelis (Latin for "Always Faithful"), the motto of the United States Marine Corps.

Appearances
Frank Horrigan appears in Fallout 2 as a talking head.