Spent all day on this piece, I hope you guys enjoy it. Originally was for a contest "Smoke And Mirrors" hosted by none other than @medusacaptures and TimoVE!
Special thanks to @purpleflurpwf and Son_OG, I learned so much about the program I've been using for 6 years now 😭 🔥
Headcanoning that Quincy Isaacs, the Cyte-09’s protoframe, canonically does not use the warframe’s abilities as much as the others because of his hatred for Albrecht Entrati.
When you play as each member of the Hex during the quest, you’re able to use the abilities of the warframe strains each of them have. They also have cutscenes /animations where they actively use them:
- Amir when he’s first introduced at the arcade
- Aoi when she’s first introduced in the cd shop, when she lifts the truck off of herself, when she tries to hold the reactor together, her introductory trailer. She even admits to not being able to fully control her powers yet (requires guidance from the Drifter)
- Arthur’s introduction in Whispers in the Walls, when he first meets the excalibur/drifter
- eleanor when she needs to speak to people before severing a good part of her tongue, when she controls the techrot, when she comments on knowing about the drifter and operator (in passive dialogue)
- lettie when she heals
Quincy is not really seen displaying his abilities. Right off the bat, it’s noticable that he’s an excellent shot, but he has a history of being in the military. It doesn’t mean he uses his powers to be accurate, it could just mean that he’s a great soldier.
One can argue that it is because cyte-09 is not a flashy warframe. It was only a functional weapon that was meant to be a soldier. Thus, there isn’t any outstanding point where u can test out all his abilities.
BUT, even when you play as him, you’re only able to shoot through his gun, you don’t have access to his abilities like the other hex members.
In the bad ending 1999 quest, he dies because a tank locks in onto his position and he calculates that he can’t stop it from firing, nor can he dodge the blast in time. If he were to jump from his position down onto the ground, he’d be surrounded.
Also, protoframes are notably less durable than full warframes (as seen with amir’s death, as well as eleanor’s and lettie’s), so he’d probably die from the fall.
It seems that he uses his 4th ability exalted weapon throughout the whole quest, though which may have been the only ability he actively uses. He does not make an effort to learn or understand his other abilities out of pure spite. That being said, he’s a remarkable fighter for surviving this long on just one ability.
In the good ending, once the Drifter gets close enough with the Hex, they are able to connect with the members on a more personal, emotional level. They’re able to guide each member because their built relationship allows them to tell them exactly what they need to hear. On top of that, the Drifter is also trustworthy to them, so it is easier for them to listen more.
The Drifter is the one to show Quincy what other abilities he can do because of their experience with other warframes.
It’s also fitting that Quincy received the Cyte-09 strain. It is a warframe that was so purely functional with solely militant purpose that only the batch number remained. In a war, you count the number of soldiers per battalion, you don’t list the name of every soldier.
