SuperPheemy

Until Champions Online comes out, and I'm able to afford a computer capable of running it with some *oomph*, I'm trying out some character concepts.

Witness, The Atomic Android

In the early 1950s the US was going through a period where it was both fascinated by Atomic Power, and fully paranoid about the Red Scare. In this cold-war environment, Project Vulcan was initiated. The purpose of Project Vulcan was to create a Super Soldier capable of fighting in the immediate aftermath of an Atomic detonation. Dozens of teams worked on the task independently for months, none finding complete success.

Project Vulcan 21a was one of the most successful. Thanks mainly to the genius of Dr. Everett Parrish. PV21a focused not on human subjects, but androids, mechanical substitutes for human soldiers. The potentially near-limitless power of the atom could provide enough raw might to remain active in a chassis layered with the thickest, heaviest armors science could provide. Dr. Parrish's greatest contribution to the project however, was in the androids brain. The mind of PV21a was an artificial intelligence capable of full sentience.

Once the prototype was activated, it started learning immediately, and Dr. Parrish instantly discovered an ethical and moral challenge. For all intents and purposes, the prototype was a thinking, reasoning, <i>sentient</i> being. Despite being manufactured, such a being had, in Dr. Parrish's opinion inalienable rights, and to make it a slave to the Army, or to any individual or agency was contrary to all the ideals the Constitution stood for. Dr. Parrish refused to create any further such androids. He was summarily dismissed from Project Vulcan, and his career was terminated with equal alacrity. The prototype was designated property of the United States Army.

The prototype Android was handed over to General Dennis Starkweather, who assigned it to a number of Public Relations and Pro-American propaganda stunts. The Press even gave the prototype a name, "The Atomic Android". Throughout the mid and late 1950s, The Atomic Android fought Communist Agents, performed rescue in disasters, and appeared all over the Nation as a symbol of American military power and scientific ingenuity.

However, by the 1960s, the Atomic Android no longer had the excitement of being "new". Furthermore, with the retirement of General Starkweather, and the real threat of nuclear annihilation looming overhead, the Army considered him to be a dangerous potential threat. "What if his Atomic power source critically failed?" "What if his machine brain learned too much and decided to take control of America?" These, among other paranoid questions sealed The Atomic Android's fate. On December 5, 1960, The Atomic Android was deactivated and stored in a warehouse in Area 51.

The Atomic Android was rediscovered in 2008 during an inventory of cold-war projects. Even after almost 50 years, it was discovered that the android's power source was still safely operational, and that the computer brain designed by Dr. Parrish remained active, though on what scientists would later determine to be on an unconscious level, akin to a long sleep. Professor Diane Frasier argued successfully to the office of the Secretary of Defense that keeping The Atomic Android in such a state was both cruel and unusual. In yet another publicity move, The Atomic Android was reactivated, given full citizenship, and "retired" from the United States Army with the rank of Captain.

Now free, The Atomic Android has settled in Paragon City, and tries to find new purpose in the struggle against injustice and evil.