Atomic-Splicer

Collin has always had quite a chaotic personality. Being six years old, he's obviously overly sensitive to many things that adults would be able to handle in an mature manner. Adding a wealth of radiation to that sensitivity makes things a bit more complicated. Though he is generally a happy kid, with little care in the world apart from having his Cheetos, people who spoil his mood have been known to meet especially painful deaths. For that reason, he's hard to control, especially for his mother. A difficult balance between spoiling him and showing that she's the authority figure has always been a task that Lia's faced when dealing with Collin. Not because she would have to put up with the temper of a normal six year old like any parent, but because even she risks getting in the way of his cancerous tantrums.

Collin is a happy child, though. He loves his mother more than anything, including Cheetos(though this isn't publicly known). He's usually running about the Pocket D, looking for people to call friends, or even more likely, 'Uncles'. He's very fond of hugs, and is quite affectionate to even some of the most unlikely beings. Yet due to his original 'purpose' of being used as a weapon, Collin has an undying need to kill with his radiation output. While he is frequently taught the difference between right and wrong by those who love him, the message never seems to sink in. Most attribute this to the lack of control his mother has over him, and simply assume he's a disobedient brat. In all reality, though, his memory capabilities have been greatly altered, so that simple concepts of 'right and wrong' are quickly lost. For this reason, he was given an alter ego, so that he could freely unleash his devastating powers on people in the Rogue Isles. Only his mother, Lia, and a mysterious 'father figure' are aware of the fact that Collin and his alter ego, "Haven", are in fact the same child.

Collin's love for Cheetos is actually much more than him just being a kid hooked on junk food! While many people believe he just refuses to eat anything else, the fact is that when he was being experimented on and altered by The Projects, a lost delivery truck full of Cheetos arrived in front of the government facility. The truck driver was killed, assumed to be a threat trying to penetrate the compound, but rather then dump away the wealth of junk food, they put found their lifetime supply of sustenance for Collin. It beats having to order pizza every ten minutes!
Collin is literally incapable if ingesting anything other than his cheesy snacks.
Collin has an obsession with homosexuals. Particularly males. The reason being that when he was first adopted by Lia, her current group of friends mostly consisted of gay men. Many people find Collin's surprisingly accurate 'gay-dar' to be a bit disturbing.
Collin calls all of his favorite people 'Uncles'. This got started when his mother referred to his first male role model as 'Uncle Rentis'. From then on, it was generally Uncle or dead. He's even had a few Uncles who are only a few years older than him. As for Aunties? Well, that explains itself. But he does have quite a few more Uncles than Aunties.
Collin refers to his ability to produce extremely deadly radiation as 'cancer'. While this is a blanket term for his overall abilities, his powers do in fact leave an infection which attacks the immune system at an accelerated rate, leaving the victim ill with a sort of 'super cancer'.
Strangely, Collin generally gives the people he loves most cancer. While many think of this as disturbing, which it is, his motives for doing so are a bit more heart warming. While Collin believes he has no other option but punish those who've done him wrong, he punishes those he loves by letting them dye slowly, as opposed to flat out obliterating them with a more direct blast of radiation. In his opinion, he's doing them a favor by keeping them alive longer.
Collin's favorite movie is 'Lady and the Tramp'. It was the first time he'd ever seen a movie, and did so at the big screen with his Uncle Jason, and a large bucket of popcorn. Collin, of course, had Cheetos, but it's a memory he cherishes.
Collin is neither hero or villain, nor does he really walk that 'gray line in-between'. He's really just a kid who deals with life like any kid normal kid would...any normal kid who produces radiation.
Collin has no records of being 'the Atomic-Splicer', because it's not an official hero/villain title. The only purpose of the name was to literally compliment the costume, so that Collin could run around and 'play' super hero(which in reality, meant killing random people on the streets after yelling "Stop, bad guys!").

It was a beautiful day in the late spring when Donna and Stephen Danvers were having a picnic in the park. They were always perfect for each other, so it was no wonder they married young. Donna had a contagious smile that lit up the room no matter what. Anyone who saw it couldn't help but smile as well. Stephen was a great guy for her. A true gentleman, good looking, and a good head on his shoulders, he complimented her as much as she did him. All they needed to complete the family was their baby, and it was that day that Donna was taken to the hospital. Stephen smiled by her side as she gave birth to their son; a beautiful, healthy, baby boy. Stephen placed the baby in Donna's arms, and she smiled down to him, softly saying, "You're everything I'd hoped for, Collin." It was perfect. They were perfect. Life was perfect. Naturally, it was too good to be true...

In his smiling mother's arms, Collin began to glow. The bright green shine let off an uncomfortable heat, and the alarms in the hospital began to go off. Stephen's eyes widened in horror, as Donna suddenly took on a deathly ill appearance. The nurses rushed to take Collin, who's glow was already fading, into the next room. They managed to escape with small burns on their hands. Donna didn't. Stephen cried, as she rotted and burned in his arms. And even he wasn't lucky enough to escape. Donna's infection already caught onto him, and he died next to her, moments later.

The alarms were still sounding, and the branch of the hospital was sealed off. The nurses who tried to calm Collin's screams were already dying from the radiation burns on their arms. Just before falling to the ground, the nurse holding the baby gently set him down. It was then, that the government suits walked in. Already dressed and prepped for the quarantine, as though they'd expected the entire situation, they took the baby, and rode back to a government facility in a helicopter.

The Projects was a top secret government organization that had been enhancing people since the 1960's, originally dedicated to human psychic warfare and cloning technology. It had only been in the recent decade that they expanded their research to the greater meta-human population. It was here that the baby would sleep over the next five years. An experimental psychotropic drug, Dialyte Surgic TRIONE acid, was the first drug to be carefully injected into Collin's pituitary gland. Plenty more experiments would come. They justified what they were doing to the child. They claimed that his life would go to waste without his parents. They said they wanted to make use of the potential power to ensure the safety of the nation, and to fight the terrorist threat. The experiments were approved quickly. Of course, they weren't helping anyone. They were making a weapon...Project-Radiant Fallout.

When Collin was five years old, he finally awoke from his sleep. He'd been sleeping his entire life, and was dramatically underdeveloped. But after a quick few weeks, his motor skills were normal, and he was able to learn. At this time, he was given to Arachnos to be trained. While the government organization wasn't a direct enemy of Arachnos, they weren't allies either. They were limited to strictly business encounters. Arachnos quickly made use of Collin's abilities, however the Projects' benefit in the bargain is still unknown.

Collin spent the next year learning under the close watch of Arachnos. He was put in various dangerous situations to see how far his powers could take him. Being caged in with rabid animals. Being thrown in the middle of a gang war. He was even tied to a chair, and placed in the middle of a busy highway. The drivers were innocent enough, but whenever they couldn't brake in time to dodge Collin, they were incinerated in a blast of radiation. Though he hadn't known life could be better, Collin was completely miserable. And he wanted out. Lord Recluse himself attempted to bribe Collin with gifts. Even with a costume specifically designed for Collin, so he could play 'super hero' while running about and destroying countless people. It was that day, that Collin's life took a sharp turn.

He was out on the streets of Mercy Island, being cornered by several dozen Arachnos agents. A Night Widow stepped forward, kindly offering Collin his new costume. He wouldn't cooperate, though. It was at this point, Lord Recluse saw how dangerous he was, and recognized the fact that he couldn't be controlled.

With that, the order was given to execute the child. Collin backed away slowly, whimpering and trembling in fear. He'd faced plenty of dangerous situations, but he was never this outnumbered. And he'd never fought off Arachnos. Yet even still, he started to glow. The soldiers of Arachnos opened fire, hoping to kill him off before he could do anything, but the bullets didn't make it. They burned away in his radiant aura before they could even touch him. Things were already looking bad, and Collin hadn't shown half of what he could do yet. At that point, the Fortunatas tried to kill him off with psionic force, and though it was almost effective, Collin's mind reacted to the attacks. With an overly stimulated pituitary gland, he unleashed a miniature nuclear blast, melting away everyone within the immediate area, save for a few soldiers, who were already running away, as well as the Night Widow with the costume. Collin was exhausted from the outburst, but managing to form enough energy on his hands to thrust himself, he flew into the air for as long as he could. This only lasted a few neighborhoods, until he broke from exhaustion, and crashed down in a dumpster with a knock to his head.

It wasn't clear how long he'd been down there. At least not to him. But when he awoke hours later, nothing was clear. He couldn't remember a thing about himself, or what had happened. As he climbed out of the dumpster, the Night Widow with the special costume was just on the other side of the street. She noticed him immediately, and shouted out, "Collin! Get back here, NOW!" Collin's eyes widened in fear of the aggressive Arachnos agent, and naturally reacted by shielding himself with his hands, cowering back. At that, he unintentionally fired off a bolt of radiation at the Night Widow, melting her were she stood. Collin didn't really bother to question what he'd just done. Even though he'd lost his memory, it still felt natural to him. He wandered over to the costume that was to be his present, which lay next to the burning corpse. He put on the costume, just for fun, which had a tag attached to it that read, "The Atomic Splicer".

Having no ability to read, Collin eventually found someone to tell him what the tag said. He quickly grew attached to the 'pretend superhero' name, and the costume. He ran about for a month, blasting random people and objects with his radioactive powers, and scavenged for food, the only one he'd eat being Cheetos, for some odd reason. He was living the life! No shoes, no worries, plently of Cheetos, and living out of a cardboard box! But it was time to move on, and look for new things. The Atomic Splicer went walking, and eventually found his way to Port Oakes, in front of a building with a poster on it, reading "Journey to another Dimension with DJ ZERo!" The colors looked fun enough, so he stepped through the door, and explored!

A week went by, and Collin had fallen in love with the new place he'd found to hang out at, especially because the vending machine wasn't hard to steal from! It was at this time, that he encountered a group of people hanging out at one of the smaller bars in the Pocket D. Several men, half of whom were were lycanthropic in some way or another, and a young, red headed woman. Collin approached the drunk and swearing crowd, excited to meet some people who, for the first time, he didn't want to kill! He quickly bonded with them, but specifically with the red head who called herself Lia MacKay. She cared about him in a different way than the others, acting as the most responsible member of the party, and giving into many 'mommy-urges'. Collin, as usual, ran around carelessly in the crowd, quickly developing a potty mouth in his time with them. Lia always kept a close eye on him, though, and did her best to make sure he didn't get into too much trouble. The two grew close very quickly, and almost immediately upon hearing that he was living out of a cardboard box and living off of Cheetos, Lia dotted the i's and crossed the t's on the adoption papers. For the first time since he'd been born, Collin had a family.

Collin and Lia grew closer over the next few months, and both went through a dramatic learning experience. Collin was experiencing things he'd never known, even before he lost his memory. Things like what it felt like to sleep in a bed, or to have someone look out for him, instead of the usual loneliness. He quickly grew comfortable with being loved by his new mother. Lia, on the other hand, was going through an entirely different situation. Learning to be a mother was something she never saw herself doing, but being the mother of a radioactive six year old? She was definitely facing a challenge.

While life was different for both of them, they were still happy. But life could have been better, still, and Lia didn't want to raise her son in the dump of the Rogue Isles. Luckily, she had been offered a job in Paragon City, and pretty soon, the two were with an organization of heroes-in-the-making, called 'the Abandoned Warehouse'. Things worked out for a while, but pretty soon, things started falling apart. Lia was busy dealing with members of the Warehouse, many whom didn't see eye-to-eye. Collin, on the other hand, was backing Lia up. However, his methods of doing so weren't exactly the best. Collin had naturally learned to kill people who were any sort of a threat to him, and as such, he would use his powers on people who were a threat to Mommy. This caused plenty of controversy, but that would soon come to an end when bigger problems presented themselves.

Collin was wondering around the Pocket D, exploring as usual, when he came across several Ash demons from the Abyss Empire, a most famously evil legion of demons lead by the Ashen King of Lies, Labal. Of course, none of this registered in Collin's mind. All he wanted to do was make a wish, and sell his soul for immortality and Cheetos! What harm could come? Obviously, a lot more than he was aware of. The deal was struck, and Collin's body was impaled with an Ashen General's sword, then tossed in the fires of the Abyss, so that he could be reconstructed and enjoy Cheetos for eternity!

Mommy certainly wasn't happy about this, but the soul binding contract didn't leave room for many options. But finally, Chris(Lia's half brother) offered another soul for in exchange for his nephew's. The Ashen accepted, and Collin was free to go! The only problem was, he had no body. So Lia went out to the city morgue and fetched him a new one. She was lucky enough to come across the body of a young boy, close to Collin's age, who'd just been killed in a car accident. As disturbing of a sight it was, Lia returned to the Warehouse with the body, and Collin's soul made it's way inside to take over. While living in this body for several weeks, Collin had lost his ability to produce radiation. But this was replaced by a strange celestial energy, which he'd obtained in the soul transfer. It was eventually decided, though, that the celestial abilities were probably more dangerous than the radiation, as the new powers were from a completely unknown source. Using the last of this celestial power, his soul left that body, and made it's way into a cloned body from his original self. He was back to normal, and back to producing radiation!

After things got seemingly back to normal, Lia packed she and Collin's bags again, so they could move into a new group. The Midnight Refuge was formed by her brother, Chris, Jordan and Lia, though Lia and Chris run it now. Housing many members from the old Abandoned Warehouse, and many new people, Collin is surrounded by loving people. Though it's a constant struggle to keep him from using his abilities to harm, as well as to keep him from running his potty mouth, Collin is happier than ever with his family. Sure, life has it's ups and downs, but things have worked out for the most part.

But what no one has realized is that a certain organization has been tracking Collin's movements for quite some time, and are eager to get their weapon back...Project-Radiant Fallout.