Frank Horrigan

Special Agent Frank Horrigan, the Enclave's finest instrument of warfare, is the main antagonist and final boss of Fallout 2.

Described as a kind of "ultra super mutant in power armor," having been witnessed laughing off plasma rifle fire and ripping deathclaws and armored humans in half with his bare hands, he is one of the deadliest entities to have walked the wasteland.

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.

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 ensuing 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.

Characteristics
Horrigan is a mutant, but he had been a monster before his exposure to FEV in the military base, as he had many psychological problems. Horrigan never considered himself a mutant; only the scientists at the Enclave would have considered 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, and there were few soldiers who wanted to accompany him on missions.

Horrigan's loyalty to the Presidency, the Enclave and the armed forces was present before his exposure to FEV, and it was reinforced by Presidential Directive through various conditioning and testing programs developed by the Enclave. Horrigan's low intelligence (which was further damaged by the FEV exposure) made these conditioning programs take root easily.

Standing more than 12 feet tall, Horrigan is significantly taller and bulkier than a standard super mutant. His FEV mutation was further augmented with controlled injections of an experimental modified version of FEV developed by the Enclave, resulting in Horrigan being a "next-gen" super mutant: stronger, faster, tougher and just plain meaner. Additionally, a special suit of power armor was cybernetically grafted onto his body, transforming him into a walking death machine without peer. Cybernetic elements include bionic eyes, arm control mechanisms and leg rotators.

Gameplay information
Horrigan has 999 HP, and is equipped with two unique weapons normally unobtainable, an End Boss plasma gun and an End Boss knife. He is also very fast, having a great amount of AP (being able to attack several times per round). If his weapons are disabled (either due to running out of ammo, or if his limbs are crippled by repeated aimed shots) Horrigan will engage in hand-to-hand combat with his enemies to the death. Normally, he continually fires his gun until he runs out of ammo, at which point he changes for his knife.

Additionally, Horrigan's armor grants him high resistance against small arms fire, explosions and laser and plasma bolts, but is somewhat vulnerable to electricity. This special cybernetic armor cannot be bypassed even by critical hits, which makes him extremely hard to kill, even relative to his high number of Hit Points.

Quests

 * Stop the Enclave: After somehow finding a way to destroy the Enclave Oil Rig, Horrigan will confront the Chosen One and try to take them down. The Chosen One must fight him.

Death animation

 * Killing Frank will trigger a unique death animation:

Notable quotes

 * (Defeated)
 * (Defeated)
 * (Defeated)
 * (Defeated)
 * (Defeated)

Appearances
Frank Horrigan is the final boss and antagonist of Fallout 2, who also appears in a special encounter early in the game killing some defiant "peasants." He is also seen killing Brotherhood of Steel agent Matt in a cutscene in the San Francisco Brotherhood outpost if the Chosen One accesses the ACE computer terminal and asks what happened to him. Analogously, another scene of Horrigan killing deathclaws can be seen in Vault 13 after the Enclave raids it a second time. He was a talking head voiced by Michael Dorn (who also voiced Marcus).

Behind the scenes

 * He was named after Clint Eastwood's character in the film In the Line of Fire. Frank Horrigan from the movie was also a secret service agent whose task was to protect the US president.
 * In his last words, Horrigan uses the phrase Semper Fi. "Semper Fi" is short for "Semper Fidelis," which is Latin for "Always Faithful," and is the motto of the United States Marine Corps.

Bugs
In the SFall 3.2a version of Fallout 2 (shipped with the game if purchased from Steam), Frank Horrigan may be completely impervious to damage dealt by the Chosen One during the final battle, only receiving damage from the turrets and Granite's squad if they are made friendly. It is unknown if this is an avoidable glitch, or a permanent glitch with the game's version.