David Robert Jones was a well-mannered, high-risk criminal originally with ties to ZFT and the Pattern and, in the new timeline, creator of the new breed of Shape-Shifter and a program involving Fringe projects affecting both universes for an as-yet unknown purpose.
Background[]
Early Life[]
Born in London, England on August 8th, 1961, Jones was once an employee of William Bell, the founder of Massive Dynamic. However, due to unknown circumstances, Jones was fired by Bell, causing bad blood between the two and left Jones feeling the need to prove himself "special." ("There's More Than One of Everything") Jones became a genetic weapons trafficker and was eventually imprisoned at Wissenschaft Prison in Frankfurt, Germany, due to his possession of state secrets.
Season One[]
You're very serious, do you know that?
When Mitchell Loeb (secretly an employee of Jones who was carrying out his orders) became afflicted with a heart parasite, it became necessary to contact Jones, who was deemed to be knowledgeable about the case. Olivia Dunham traveled to Germany to seek help from Jones. However, upon her arrival, she was denied access to Jones by the warden, because Jones could not have foreign visitors. Instead, she managed to get fourteen minutes to question him the next morning, but he demanded that she bring him Joseph Smith, a suspect in Loeb's attack.
However, Smith had been shot in the head during an FBI raid on his home, rendering communication with him nearly impossible. However, Walter Bishop was able to communicate with Smith's brain, and the answer to Jones' question, "Where does the gentleman live?" was given to him as "Little Hill." Jones then quickly responded with the chemical formula for the antidote, and the parasite was removed from Loeb's heart. ("In Which We Meet Mr. Jones")
Soon afterwards, Jones asked his attorney, Salman Kohl, to retrieve for him several items, including suntan lotion, Dramamine, a watch, and some U.S. currency. After retrieving these items, Jones killed Kohl by quickly breaking his neck, took his suit (which Jones told Kohl to buy on their previous visit), and then teleported by a machine created by Walter Bishop and stolen by Loeb. He arrived at Little Hill Field in Westford, Massachusetts where Loeb had set up the teleporting device. ("Safe")
Jones, after spending a short amount of time in a decompression chamber in order to slow the side effects of teleportation, turned himself into the FBI in order to meet with Olivia Dunham, whom he had become slightly obsessed with after their meeting. Though at first he was met by resistance from Sanford Harris, Jones eventually gained his meeting with Dunham, agreeing to help with the rapid skin growth toxin if she would complete a test which included telekinetically disabling a switchboard of light bulbs. Olivia, unable to believe that she was capable of such a feat, faked disabling the lights. Jones, seemingly satisfied, told her of the location of a bomb filled with the toxin that would unleash it on the city. However, the bomb could only be disabled by the use of the telekinetic ability that Jones had attempted to get Olivia to exhibit. Olivia was able to disable the bomb, however. When she returned to the hospital to question Jones, she discovered that he had disappeared from his hospital room, leaving a gaping hole in the wall, with the message "You passed," scrawled on the adjacent wall. ("Ability")
Jones did not reappear for a short while, though he finally assaulted a Massive Dynamic building, shooting Nina Sharp and removing a power cell from her bionic arm which had been planted there by William Bell. At this point in time, Jones was heavily bandaged, blind in one eye, and suffered from a terrible skin condition. He intended to use the power cell to open up a portal into the Alternate Universe, in which Bell was hiding. After two unsuccessful tries, Jones eventually tried at a third location. The portal was successfully opened, and Jones continued to walk toward the portal, even though he was shot several times by Olivia (the teleportation experience gave him a slight degree of invulnerability). However, as soon as he entered the portal, it was shut down by Peter Bishop, bisecting Jones. ("There's More Than One of Everything")
Season Four[]
In the Alternate Timeline, Peter Bishop was seemingly erased. As a result, Jones was able to successfully cross over to the Alternate Universe and continue the next parts of his plan. However, he was still dying from the effects of the teleporter. He was seemingly able to cure himself of its effects, but the cure left his face heavily scarred. After his return, Peter later speculated that he used a "DNA graft" to cure himself.
On the Other Side, Jones created a makeshift lab in the Flatiron District and built the Organic Shape-Shifters, and was able to successfully infiltrate the governments of both sides, getting the Alternate Broyles to work with him. He has also acquired much of Walternate's and William Bell's technology, including the technology necessary to quantum-entangle certain objects, which he uses to create a set of typewriters (much like Walternate's) which he uses to communicate with his agents. After Peter's return to the timeline, he orders one of his agents to kill him, as Peter was an anomaly he had not anticipated. The agent fails, and this allows Fauxlivia and the Alternate Lincoln Lee to track him down.
However, he was notified by Colonel Broyles that the Fringe Division had discovered his location. He calmly awaits their arrival and shows them one of the shape-shifters he has been developing. He then kills the shape-shifter in front of them, saying that it is a warning: if this is what he is willing to do to someone he "loves", then imagine what he will do to his enemies.
He allows himself to be taken into custody, but this is simply a part of an elaborate ploy to gain information about a location where he can obtain a large amount of Amphilicite, a substance capable of generating the energy needed to blow holes into the universe. During his brief incarceration, he meets Peter for the first time and is confused by Peter's knowledge of his past, although he regains composure and is able to escape. This completes Phase 1 of his master plan.
Phase Two involves Olivia Dunham. At an unknown point in time, Jones began to work with Alt-Nina and tasked her with the job of injecting Olivia with Cortexiphan obtained from the Massive Dynamic storerooms. When Olivia regained her memories of the Original Timeline, Jones took the opportunity to strike and kidnapped her from a convenience store, locking her up alongside Alt-Nina.
Jones meets his end in Part 1 of the Series four finale, Brave New World. After it is revealed that he has been working for William Bell, all along, and it is Bell's intention to collapse the two universes, and start a new world -filled with his bizarre genetic creations, such as the flying porcupine-humanoids seen earlier in the series. Bell makes a cryptic statement to Jones in reference to a chess game he's been playing for 40 years. Bell says that at this moment the most powerful piece on the board is the bishop, and if the player is willing to sacrifice the bishop then possibilities and opportunities will abound. Jones seems to take this to mean that "bishop" refers to Bishop, as in Walter or Peter.
Later he confronts Peter Bishop, as Peter attempts to shut down a device Jones had been using to control orbiting satellites to focus sunlight for destructive ends. Jones gains the upper hand in a fist-fight and dislocates Peter's shoulder. Before he can administer a coup de grace Olivia uses her telekinesis to take control of Peter's body and knock down Jones. The evil scientist lands on some power cables, which react with his already destabilized body and he begins to disintegrate, his final words " I was the sacrifice, I was the Bishop." as the realization dawns on him that he has been used by Bell, and sacrificed, just like the Bishop in the chess game.
Trivia[]
David Robert Jones is the birth name of David Bowie - see Thomas Jerome Newton.
Prime Universe Characters
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