Shortly thereafter, the village is attacked by unknown creatures, with JD, Del and Kait being spared only through the heroic actions of Kait's mother Reyna, who was abducted along with all the other Outsiders. After a violent battle which left large parts of the village in flames, JD and Del attempt to fix the Fabricator which had sustained damage during the battle, with Kait watching guard. Jinn accused the Outsiders of abducting COG citizens, and soon declares that the Outsiders are starting a war they cannot hope to win. Along with Kait and Kait's uncle, Oscar, the small team survived a Windflare and successfully breached the settlement's perimeter, however shortly afterward ended up with a prolonged skirmish with the settlement's DeeBee security force.Īfter escaping from Settlement 5 with the help of an unknown benefactor, JD and his squad returned to the Outsider village with the Fabricator, just in time to hold off a heavy assault from the mechanized forces of COG First Minister Jinn. The pair eventually wound up in an Outsider village, led by Reyna Diaz.Īpproximately six months after they left the COG, JD and Del took part in a raid on Settlement 5, a COG settlement under construction, with the objective of stealing a Fabricator for Outsider use. However, a classified (and disastrous) incident left the both of them deeply disillusioned with the new COG wanting to leave, Del convinced JD into going AWOL with him, an action that made them enemies of the state. Marcus had seen JD only once in the five years leading up to the Swarm Crisis-an encounter that did not go well.Īccompanied by Del, JD entered an officer training program and reached the rank of Lieutenant when he caught the eye of First Minister Jinn, who selected him and Del to lead a unit of security DeeBees. This proved to be the final straw between father and son, as JD ran away from home and Marcus washed his hands of him. Marcus objected, having withdrawn from the new COG when they proved more interested in authoritarian control than civic-minded rebuilding. Upon graduating, JD announced that he would be enlisting in the COG as a Gear.
Before long, Del was accompanying JD back to the family estate, and had become a practical member of the Fenix family. Although they were both loners, and for different reasons, they had a woundedness in common and became fast friends. Despite some idyllic early years of childhood, such as when he watched Marcus plant a tree and carve his initials onto it, JD's rebellious nature put a strain on his relationship with his father.Īt some point, JD was sent to an elite boarding school in New Ephyra, where he met Delmont Walker, a ward of the state. Baird, Marcus' former squadmates, played a part in JD's upbringing.
From a young age, he was surrounded by stories of his parents, both of whom were war heroes who helped bring about the end of the war. JD was born to Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud on the Stroud Estate sometime after the Locust War, far from the walled confines of sanctioned COG territory.