John Vattic in Infiltration
Dr. John Vattic in Preparation
Vattic in Experimentation
John in Breakout
"I debunk psychics, I don't confirm them." - Dr. John Vattic
John Vattic is the protagonist and player character of Second Sight.
Biography[]
John Vattic is a MIT scientist whose principle research work is investigating the underlying scientific credibility of parapsychology. He was co-opted onto the WinterICE squad under the recommendation of Jayne Wilde. Six months later he finds himself picking up the pieces of a shattered life - what happened to WinterICE?
Story[]
John wakes up in a hospital injured and subconsciously uses powers to escape his restraints. He is shocked at how he did it and attempts to use his power to open a locked door which works. After walking a bit John claims that he is to physically weakened to move on and suddenly activates another power realizing that it can heal and uses it to restore his strength. He suddenly encounters two guards and is forced to kill them in self defense. He finds a keycard and uses it to access a computer to turn on the elevator. While in it John starts hearing voices in his head which leads him to remember six months ago, when he was signed up to join a squad of soldiers, WinterICE, and was trained in armed combat and climbing obstacles.
After training, John joins the briefing where they are assigned a mission in Siberia to find a scientist named Professor Viktor Grienko but questions why he was chosen to be in the squad. In the present John finishes his memory now aware of the training techniques that were taught to him but when exiting the elevator is confronted by a guard attempting to detain him. John accesses a hidden power which he kills the guard with. John makes his way to the computer room learning Charm in the process, which makes him invisible. When searching for his squamates on the computer he learns that one of his squamates Jayne Wilde was killed in action during the mission in Siberia and then starts to remember what happened at the time.
WinterICE, now in Western Siberia, are heading to the United States HydroCarb Pipeline Station, when they are attacked by unknown Russian troops. While outside the station, and still in a gunfight with the troops occupying the station, Jayne, unexpectedly, runs towards the building. John is ordered to follow her in, and John informs Jayne the room is about to explode. Colonel Starke, believing them to be possibly injured, sends JC in to assist them if possible. After discovering Grienko's location, the WinterICE team discuss the enemy's origin. Jayne thanks John for saving her.
Back in the future, John discovers that Jayne is actually alive, however in a mental asylum, apparently with schizophrenia. John, confused, makes his way out of the hospital (learning Projection and the enhanced PSI blast in the process) and steals a car. He arrives to the Penfold Asylum, enhances his Telekinesis, and rescues Jayne. After escaping into the sewers, John asks about Starke. Jayne, who was, beforehand, mentally disabled, but now recovered, tells John that Starke is dead, and asks why he doesn't know, as he was there.
John revisits the Huvat Plateau, in a camp set up by WinterICE, where John and Starke are on nightwatch. After Starke talks about Jayne's previous successes, such as sensing a hidden nuclear bomb in a briefcase, John sees something, and begins following it, with Starke behind him. They are attacked by snipers, and they make their way towards a camp set up in an abandoned warehouse by the Russian troops. After investigating, John discovers that all information on Grienko is being wiped, and informs Starke. After more gunfights, Starke is apparently possessed, and leads John to some train tracks. After following the tracks, Starke falls into a hole and is surrounded by Russian guerilla soldiers. The thing John saw, and the thing which possessed Starke, reappears, and speaks to John, telling him to save the children, and gives John his powers, including possession, and John fights off the Russian soldiers. After they have all been killed, Starke thanks Vattic and investigates the bodies. He discovers a US radio on one of the soldiers.
Back in the present, Jayne informs Vattic that Starke went into hiding. Jayne and Vattic escape the sewers under the Penfold Asylum, and make their way to the tenements where Starke is hidden. After befriending the neighborhood's gang, he finds Starke, who before noticing John, put a gun to his head. Starke tells John that the other members of WinterICE are dead, and John remembers the past again.
WinterICE, now outside Dubrensk, are attacked by more Russian soldiers. After fighting off soldiers, John discovers the entrance to Grienko's research facility, however the entrance is closed before they reach it. Franklin, however, finds a key on a dead guard, and John finds the door to a hallway. At the end of the hallway, John finds a woman in a lab coat being shot at. Jayne falls, but John catches her, however, Jayne tells him to go. After fighting off the Russian soldiers shooting at her, she has fallen to the ground, and is near death. She tells John that he and he alone must go save the children, as they might hurt the rest of the team out of fear. He accepts the mission.
Back in the present, John and Starke fight off NSE agents in an attempt to get to the exit. While Starke holds off more NSE soldiers, Jayne is kidnapped before John can do anything about it. He makes his way to NSE Headquarters, where he finds information on the Zener Project, and the weaponization of the psychic abilities.
Back in the past, John, alone, makes his way to the back door of the Zener Research Facility. After fighting NSE Black Ops, he enters the church, and uses an elevator to go down. Meanwhile, in the present, John makes his way through the NSE building, and kills Hanson's "samples". He then confronts Hanson, and he reveals that he has Jayne, as well as a Black Ops soldier with a pistol to her head. John begins to go back to the past, but he's shot.
In the research facility, John rescues the five Zener Children. Afterwards, he finds Grienko, who seems to be ignorant on Hanson's intention to kill him and the children. He hides before he is spotted by Black Ops who enter the room, and kill Grienko. After escaping them and making his way down towards Hanson, he has several visions of the future, which are earlier levels in the game. He learns that the supposed past is actually the present. He makes his way down to Hanson, who taunts him through PSI-proof windows. He watches as John and the children kill soldier after soldier, commenting on their effectiveness constantly. After a while his army runs dry, and the children, as well as the mutated Zener children, break the frame of the windows. The children then appear to eat Hanson alive.
After he escapes, John is airlifted out of Russia by US Marines, along with Jayne and Starke.
Powers & Abilities[]
Psychic Powers[]
John Vattic developed psychic abilities during the WinterICE mission, an outcome that probably factored into Jayne Wilde's clairvoyant selection of him as a consultant on the operation. With his powers he became a formidable foe against professional soldiers, mercenary's and other psychic users.
- Telekinesis: This ability allows John to interact/lift up/throw objects and people without physically touching them.
- Telekinetic Attack: Developed in a moment of terror, Vattic learned how to use his telekinesis offensively, lifting people in the air and choking the very life out of them.
- Healing: This ability allows John to recover stamina. The amount of stamina regained is directly proportional to the amount of psychic energy expended. John is rendered immobile during the Healing process.
- Psi Pulse: This ability allows John to convert raw psychic energy into a devastating shockwave attack. It is his sole purely-offensive ability and last-ditch defensive move when he is out of ammunition or does not want to risk using firearms.
- Radial Blast: This ability allows John to hurl a "sphere" of condensed psychic energy at the foe. Even when surrounded, he can throw an entire squad of attackers flat on their backs in one fell swoop.
- Telepathic Charm: John uses his psychic abilities to telekinetically influence the foe and implant thoughts into their head. It's main use is to misguide the foe, making them unaware of John's presence. The Charm effect is immediately dispelled when John comes into contact with the Charmed foe. The Charm ability fails when used in plain sight of the foe.
- Calming Charm: When he goes to rescue Wilde from an institution, Vattic is able to use his Charm ability to calm her pharmacologically-induced mania enough that she can stay lucid and follow his lead in their escape.
- Projection: This ability allows John to telekinetically project himself out of his own body. This projection appears as an ethereal version of himself. While using this, John has limited contact with the physical world. It also leaves his physical body immobile.
- Possession: This ability allows John to put his astral form into another's body and take control of a foe's mind through psychic influence. The Possessed person can then be freely controlled. It is temporary, however.
- Precognition: This ability allows John to see into the future and change the Timeline. He developed this ability in the midst of suffering a psychotic break, to the point that he believed he was having flashbacks of the past, but those flashbacks were allowing him to change the "present", not realizing until the end that he was actually experiencing a future state then subconsciously using his future knowledge to avoid the outcome.
Main Combat[]
Prior to the WinterICE mission, John Vattic received a crash course in military operations, firearms usage, and combat.
- Guns Expert: Vattic received firearms training in preparation for the WinterICE mission. He showed good marksmanship proficiency, which is why he tended to use a long-range rifle to pick off enemies from a distance and thus avoid close-range combat.
- Hand-to-Hand: Vattic also received hand-to-hand training for use in close-quarters combat.
- Infiltration: Not being a trained soldier, Vattic tended to take a quieter approach, opting to infiltrate rather than use force for entry or exit. He was a skilled climber, using his athleticism to get into and out of locations where he could not simply go through the front door.
Education[]
Dr. John Vattic holds a PhD in psychology and works as a researcher at MIT.
- Research: John Vattic spent many years in school to receive his PhD - several years beyond as a parapsychology researcher - and is thus familiar with performing academic research. This aids him in locating key information scattered around the areas he infiltrates.
- Psychology: Vattic's specialty is in understanding human psychology, which is what aids him in understanding other people, their motivations, and what they are likely to do. This also helps him out after he awakens with amnesia, as he is able to use his analytical skills to examine his mental state and to avoid sinking into psychosis.
Quotes[]
- "Who am I?"
- "I'm in a squad now?" - Said to Starke
- "I know who she is. She's a mystic. She's a fake. She's your Advisor?" - Speaking about Jayne Wilde
- "The Colonel called me a doctor, yet I don't recognize any of this at all."
- "I'm stronger than you think, Hanson." - Said to Hanson
- "Grienko, no one is going anywhere. He'll slaughter us all! I've seen it happen!" - When speaking to Grienko about Hanson
Relationships[]
Jayne Wilde[]
Before joining WinterICE, John was one of Jayne's biggest opponents in the psychic community. While Jayne thoroughly believed and practiced psychic abilities, John was always there to deny it, saying that only his scientific method could be proven by facts. However, Jayne predicted that John would be of great help on the WinterICE mission and requested that he be recruited alongside her.
Colonel Joshua Starke[]
As the commanding officer of WinterICE, Starke was the first person John met in Kastein and became his most trusted friend in the squad.
WinterICE[]
After he was inducted into WinterICE, John got to know each of its squad members. However, he never visits them after the mission.
Zener Children[]
While in Dubrensk, the Zener Children helped John to discover his psychic abilities, so that he would help them escape. Following the events of Enigma, John was blamed for the death of the children.
Professor Viktor Grienko[]
The original objective of WinterICE was to apprehend Grienko and investigate his project. However, when Grienko discovered John's connection to the Zener Children, he changed his tone.
Director Silas Hanson[]
Hanson was a leading figure in the research of psychic abilities, but often believed that ends justify any means. Hanson was responsible for incarcerating and experimenting on Vattic at the Osiris Medical Facility and the subsequent NSE manhunt that followed his Escape.
Trivia[]
- John Vattic is voiced by Andrew Lawson.
- In the Flashback missions, John's glasses, hair color and hair style give him a faint resemblance to Harry Mason from the Silent Hill video game series. Likewise, at the start of their respective games neither have any experience with firearms before being forced to use them.