Radiopath/McDough Dossier

Fenwick McDough was born to Patrick and Mary McDough on May 26th, 1987. He spent the first six years of his life growing up on family land in the countryside of County Cork, Ireland. The boy never wanted for anything, his family name being quite wealthy. He had two brothers, his parents, and numerous cousins, uncles, and aunts. However, included in this mix were the inevitable one or two metahumans with minor powers. His parents, being pro-human extremists of the religious variety, would not stand for the amount of bias that was seemingly given to the metahuman family members.

With mounting aggression and animosity between Patrick, Mary, their sons, and the rest of the family, the small branch of the McDough tree quickly found itself ousted from the estate grounds. And so...

They left...

Seattle, Washington. The McDoughs found themselves going from a countryside estate of wealth and renown to a blue-collar neighborhood. It was there that Fen would continue to grow under his parents and brothers' vigilance. Church every Sunday and Wednsday, no 'fraternizing' with mutants, and no socializing with the meta population. These were the rules Fenwick McDough grew up with under punishment of grounding or worse. Fen always skirted the rules, and was always caught for it. It was only a matter of time before something gave...

..And when it rains, it pours...

The Rikti invasion of 2002. Fen was fifteen. The invading forces decimated key cities around the globe, and Seattle was one of them. Half of the city was in ruins, and Fen's family watched in horror as they saw his brother Marcus, who was a Navy sailor, disappear as the air craft carrier in the Sound was destroyed on the news.

Fen, who had spent his entire childhood under the boot heel of 'order' finally snapped. He called his parents on their hypocrisy. For all of their disdain and hatred of the 'inhuman' populace of the world, for all of their 'Earth was meant for mankind' talk, neither his parents or his brother seemed interested in combating the Rikti threat. Instead, they seemed content to allow Vanguard and the metahuman forces of America handle it, and Fen wouldn't stand idle. And so...

/He/ left.

It wasn't a gracious departure either. As the teenager left his home, he was confronted by his remaining brother, Gabriel, who seemed to usurp the mantle of wisdom left behind by Marcus. Fen respected and loved Marcus almost more than his own father and was utterly insulted by Gabriel's sudden surge of fraternity and keen interest in keeping Fen 'safe.'

The only thing that stood in Fen's way at this point was Gabriel, and while neither of the two seemed to enjoy it, the confrontation came to blows. Fen doesn't remember much of the fight, only that he won.

Fen spent the next three years as a vagabond. While he was a runaway, he was never fully homeless because of friends and acquaintances. His hobby at the time was tweaking sound systems and refurbishing stereos, it was a service he offered for small time bands as he stayed in Seattle's musical underground. The details of this block of time are hazy, as Fen's never really opened up about them.

When he turned eighteen, Fen enlisted as soon as he could. Though he never finished his high school education, Fen was accepted due to his history with the Rikti and desire to serve. With a world full of meta humans and invading aliens, there were cracks big enough for a young man to fall through... however, the loophole Fen happened to slip through led him directly to a man named Raymond Hyeller, and the CERES Project.

As a mechanic, Fen suffered an injury that crushed part of his ribcage and shattered his left knee. Such an injury would have put a swift end to his story, however due to modern sciences and technology he was fitted with a cybernetic harness that bridged the damaged nerves and would allow him to return to duty within a month.

Fen was walking in three days.

It was unheard of in that circle for an injury to mend that quickly on a non-meta, even with cybernetic aid. Such an event caught the attention of Doctor Hyeller, who quickly requested Corporal McDough be sent to his office for questioning. There wasn't much of a choice in the matter, Fen would be transferred to CERES: A black op program. It was one of many with a similar goal: to turn normal humans into meta-capable beings to help protect Earth from further Rikti threats.

The CERES program had the budgeting and support for Hyeller to 'create' four heroes. His chosen team consisted of twelve soldier patients. Fen spent an entire year sealed away from the rest of the world with them. The other CERES candidates were to be his friends, his family, and comrades in arms. But even the best laid plans survive reality.

During that time, Fen underwent a few surgical operations and received treatment that fully mended his spine. Another phase of his 'prep' work while he trained was a secondary operation that deadened the nerves in his hands, something Hyeller assured was necessary for his transformtion. He trained in CERES and completed his GED on the side to finish his education, but the entire year could never prepare him for what waited on that lab table.

Three quarters, nine soldiers died on the table during CERES' crowning moment. Immolation, cellular destruction, organ failure, all of these plagued the different men and women who were to be boosted into metahumans by force. Two of the remaining three were blinded and maddened so badly by the pain when they awoke that armed forces guarding the scientists gunned them down before their feet touched the floor. Fen was the last.

Hyeller had cut corners, skipped work, and it cost lives. Despite the doctor's delusions, Fen was not the golden survivor of a horrible trial. His fingertips were replaced by impractical cannons, an unfinished reactor was built around his heart, unwieldy pistons took up the bottom portions of his calves for a 'super jump' effect he had no control over, or no safe landing from.

Designation: Meteor Howl. That was Fen's new callsign. His purpose was to perform as a mobile weapons platform and shoot down Rikti dropships. Yeah right. CERES had failed, and everybody seemed to realize it save for Hyeller. The man's wayward mind led him to believe that McDough was a vanguard of evolution. The rest of the armed guards watched Meteor Howl as he was being relocated to Ohio for 'recalibration', it wasn't disdain or anger towards the failed cyborg, it was pity: A fellow soldier had given up part of his very humanity to help save lives, and Hyeller virtually spat on it by cutting costs and corners.

Once again, Fen's freedom came, but this time it wasn't his decision. As he was waiting at a transit station to transfer to Ohio, one of the soldiers that was supposed to be keeping an eye on the new cyborg grabbed Fen by the shoulder and pulled him aside. "I'm probably goin' to face court marshal for this, but you need to go. Crey's word isn't worth an ounce of salt out there, take this bus instead." The soldier uttered, it turns out that he was a friend of a friend from Fen's mechanic days.

The soldier's timing was set so that he'd have pushed Fenwick towards the bus as it was beginning to depart. When the cyborg climbed aboard, the door closed and its destination was very clear...

When Fen arrived in Paragon city, he was expecting... everything but Paragon city. The amount of metas present was incredible, almost as incredibly as the amount of crime. He found himself being put to work entering buildings and clearing out holed up gang members and sometimes he'd clear a den of thieves... much to the dismay of the city's officials. Fen's cannons were unwieldy, they had no control settings, so each blast fired at maximum strength. A nervous tick could send his fingertips blazing with energy. He was a hazard, and with so much power condensed within his reactor and fingers, Fen became a pacifist.

During his time in Paragon, Fen was led to Pocket D, an interdimensional nightclub where heroes... and villains... mingled on neutral ground. It was there he met Clara Su'cour, a demon hunter. Fen quickly grew to like her, calling her his first friend in Paragon city. At the time, she was investigating her brother, and Meteor Howl sympathized, knowing what it was like to lose track of a sibling.

He'd continue to work for the city as a registered hero, and was eventually assigned to the 'Battle Ready Organization Fighting Injustice of the Superpowered Type', also known as B.R.O.F.I.S.T. This group was NOT your Freedom Phalanx, the members of the Organization were dysfunctional at best- their leader, The American PeaceKeeper, having learned how to fight by watching old episodes of Star Trek. In the group, Fen was the 'new guy', and this stigma would stick for a long time, being as how the group was almost exclusive and hidden in the back of Paragon's record books. Despite the random prankings, the crude behavior, and almost elementary attitudes, B.R.O.F.I.S.T became Fen's new home, because they accepted the broken and unfinished cyborg as one of their own. They were his new family.

It was short lived, because during Fen's time as a street-hero, he developed a rivalry with a villain known as Dronebay. To Fen, he was a murderer, a pillager, and someone who used technology to extort and injure the helpless. To Beller, Fen was a marvel of modern technology who was still too human to be of any use. The two had an almost instant hatred for eachother, and several battles would play out between them, costing Paragon City. In addition to his high-energy scuffles with Dronebay, Fen had destroyed nearly five banks, and countless other smaller buildings in his pursuit of justice. There wasn't any malice behind it, Fen just simply couldn't control his weaponry.

The final battle between the two took a heavy toll. Dronebay had managed to take several scientists hostage and were trying to bargain their lives for military tech. PPD sent out a call, and while they didn't like it, Meteor Howl was the closest hero in range. High powered energy beams, pulse rifle rounds, and the mechanical wailing of robotic minions filled the building as the two battled for nearly half an hour. Eventually it came down to just the two, and in what seemed to be an extraordinary stroke of luck, Fen landed a hit on Beller that removed his right arm and leg. The hostages were unharmed, PPD secured Dronebay and had him emergency beaconed to the nearest hospital to be cared for before being sent to the Zig.

Fen, however, was dying.

Ontop of considerable pulse-round burns and bruises, the man was born with a heart defect. Given a normal life it wouldn't have caused him much grief. However, the reactor installed by CERES was faulty and had exposed elements that were damaging his already imperfect heart. The amount of energy and power drawn from his cybernetics during the extensive fight caused him to go into heart failure. Meteor Howl sat down, put a hand on his chest, and once word reached that the scientists were safe, he promptly fell over with his vision dimming.

The last thing he remembered were the cries to get more help, and the boots of PPD officers scrambling to save the fading hero.

Fen woke up three weeks later in the hospital. His reactor had been powered down and his cybernetics were offline. He felt borderline useless. Doctors were still wary of his heart, however, and Fenwick was ordered (in his words 'condemned') to remain off of cape duty. He spent almost a year in the B.R.O.F.I.S.T base as dispatch and communications.

Cabin fever at it's worse, but Fen managed. Will or another member of the group would occasionally get him outside for fresh air... under supervision. He felt smothered, but the reality was that he was a heart attack waiting to happen if he strained himself, and while bedrest was preferred, everybody knew that Fen wouldn't do it. Dispatch was a compromise.

Time passed, Fen returned to active duty. He had another run in with his heart, but the answer came quickly in the form of an overhaul from Will Carrigan. His reactor was replaced, his fingertips were upgraded. Stabilizers were implanted in his spine and legs. Meteor Howl was becoming a force to be reckoned with. He had learned to deal with sub-par tech and was given access to top-of-the-line paramilitary cybernetics.

This got attention.

The military, and Hyeller, soon came to see that the surviving member of CERES may yet yield results. Fen's mutant gene adapted even more, and he was becoming closely attuned to his mods. Hyeller wanted tests, and the Military wanted their investment's worth. Fen became scared. He knew that if Hyeller was behind the knife, there was a chance he wouldn't survive the 'examination and sampling'.

A plan was quickly hatched with the woman who had claimed Fen as a younger sibling, Lia MacKay. Fen set a body-double built by William in his apartment. There, Lia 'broke in' and opened fire with a throwaway Arachnos rifle. Riddling the apartment, and the double, with bullet holes. MacKay was a nurse, and was able to sign off the death certificate.

Within the coming weeks, the vigilante known as 'Aaron Bringer' surfaced in the underground of Paragon city. An unregistered cyborg clad in retro-style tights and a mask began cleaning up crime in Faultline and the surrounding districts. While PPD usually arrests unregistered meta-humans and frown upon vigilantism, Bringer did good work under the alias. He dodged patrols and left thugs tied to lampposts and fire hydrants.

The change of pace was a breath of fresh air for Fen. It felt old school, a throwback to the old days of heroing before registration. It couldn't last forever, though. Fen knew he was living in a dream, and he'd have to wake up and face cold reality. That reality check came with a name...

Niska.

An old man came to the Pocket D one day and clued in on Fen's condition as a cyborg. He was greatly interested in how his cybernetics worked, and asked the cyborg to accompany him to dinner to discuss his body modification. Fen took the business card and an arrangement was made, but Fen never made it to the dinner meeting. The next day, he received a phone call.

"Am sorry that you were missing dinner last night, Mister Bringer. I am not fan of being made a fool. Please, come meet me as soon as you can in Faultline. Bring no armor and power your weapons down if you are wishing no harm coming to Miss Becca."

It was such a blatantly obvious trap, but Fenwick was caught. Becca Su'Cour Was Fen's girlfriend, a woman he loves very much. If there was any inkling of a chance that she was in harm's way, Fen complied with Niska's demands and met him beneath Faultline at a cafe. His armored shell was left behind at the B.R.O.F.I.S.T '09 station.

He met Niska and the trap was sprung. High voltage currents that were the opposite of Fen's shut down his cybernetic network. At the time, Fen's body couldn't support his own weight without the aid of his mods, so he was quickly overtaken by the man's thugs. He woke up in a dark chamber, deep beneath the district.

"Mister Bringer, I am interested in how you are working with such beautiful equipment." Were the first words he woke up to, and he was wired to a station that was keeping his mods offline'd. He was unable to offer any resistance, being crippled by both his own weight and the strain on his heart from having his reactor off.

Piece by piece, Niska removed Fen's cybernetics, the ordeal took the span of twenty hours of pain and torture as his body went into shock from having the mods removed so harshly. Fen died on the table once, but was resuscitated; he was no use to Niska dead. The next day, the old man made a call to one of Fen's friends, Nikki Reynolds. She handed the phone to William Carrigan and a deal was struck.

Fen's life in return for everything in Carrigan Industries data cache, which included the MX-2000 armor and weapons, as well as other blueprints. Fen was returned with his spine, legs, fingertips, and chest reactor modifications. Even the implants in the frontal lobes of Fen's eyes were removed, and one eye was damaged beyond recovery.

The recovery process was lengthy, even for the advanced medical technologies Paragon had to offer. When Fen was cleared to return to active work, he felt... incomplete. The cybernetics that were installed weren't his old ones, and he felt like he lost an affinity - a side effect from his mutant gene's adaptation.

Life continued as normal with the support of friends and loved ones, but Fen always waiting for his shot at Niska, and it came.

Niska's location was discovered, and a strike force was assembled. Many of the members who enlisted ensured Fen that nobody would think less of him if he didn't want to enter that place again, but he tagged on regardless. While Fen was recovering and healthy with newer mods, there was a part of him left in that station. And he wanted those parts back.

The team arrived to find the base empty, and each of the specialized member went about their own ways for finding clues. Figuring the entrance was covered well enough, Fen decided to hunt on his own for what he was looking for. What he found infuriated him. A crate with velvet interior, and his old cybernetics that were ripped out of him arranged like trophies inside. The cyborg quickly opened his fingertips and began replacing the new modules and lenses with the old, he did the same for his thigh capacitors. The rest of the pieces would wait until surgery to be replaced.

A trap was sprung, and after the fighting cleared, Niska came in to survey the dead heroes. What he got was a burned crater in the floor where his 'Destroyer' drone ambushed the strike force. The man was arrested and brought into custody. Fen walked out of that hole with his old parts and new realizations, as well as a slight peace of mind.

Aboard the BROFIST '09 station, Fen looked at his old spine mod, some of his older cannon modules that didn't get swapped back in, and his old capacitors. Before him lied a possibility to become more than a weapon. With almost obsessive dedication, Fenwick tore the cybernetics infront of him apart on his workbench. Many of his old cannon modules were taken to pieces and refurbished into transmitters. His old cyber-spine had a portion removed and replaced with the wiring and casing of a communication antenna. The generators in his capacitor were removed and replaced computer parts that could act as media connectors for various accessories.

Eventually Fen finished his work and beheld his new parts. There were installed and Fen saw that they worked. He could use the transmitters in his fingers to coat a friend with a sonic barrier that would deflect harm. The wiring in his spine let him better reroute communications and bolster his team's abilities to keep in touch and share information.

This realization let Fen also see the need to return to the land of the living. A problem was, however, that most of his records were destroyed alongside the original B.R.O.F.I.S.T base. His parents weren't an option; the realization that not was their son alive, but also a mutant-gene carrying cyborg made it clear that they'd prefer him long gone. Fen made a desperate call.

Tormey McDough, his father's brother, flew to Paragon from County Cork to meet Fen. Fen hadn't seen the man since he was five, and the exchange was awkward. A wealthy man who was also the inherent of the land that made up the McDough Estate, Tormey saw taking Fen back as a boon. Not only would it give the cyborg a family tie again, but it would also be a biting last laugh to Fen's father. There were also possible perks to having a nephew who was a potent meta. While Tormey tried convincing Fen to return to Cork, Fen ultimately made the point that he was still needed in Paragon with his friends, the only other people Fen considered his family.

With Designation Meteor Howl long gone, Fenwick McDough resurfaced (After a hell of paperwork). It was a new chapter of life, and the final step to becoming the hero Fen always dreamed of being. Fen felt like things were finally falling into place.