ABEL

BIOGRAPHY

CW: ableist slurs[break][break]

Rhode Island, 2014: Working under the watchful eye of the mysterious PANACEUM BIOMEDICAL, mild-mannered geneticist Adam Archer Abel toils away at what he hopes will be a bold step forward in the world of medicine, a wonderdrug that will render degenerative illnesses a thing of the past! Then, just when he is on the verge of a breakthrough... disaster strikes!! Exposed to an unstable experimental version of the cure by forces unknown, Adam's body rebels against him, twisting, mutating into a mockery of the human form! No longer able to live a normal life, he stalks the night, hunting for answers... for a cure... for revenge. Adam Abel is no more. In his place stalks THE CREATURE![break][break]

That's the official line, at least, the one Aegis feeds to the press and the public so they don't have to explain the truth: that Adam's mutations were self-inflicted. That this is all his fault. His fault for getting involved for getting involved in so personal a project, for getting so attached. For being so damn selfish.[break][break]

It goes without saying that growing up with muscular dystrophy can be rough on a kid, especially one as open and energetic as Adam was. He had few chances to play, and even fewer friends, and even then he knew that the ones he did have looked at him with pity, with shame, with revulsion. It only grew worse as he aged, and pity transformed into malice. Now he was a freak, a cripple, barely human at all. He knew in the abstract that they were wrong, that nothing about his condition was abnormal or wrong, but that never stopped the bullying and scorn from sinking in and taking root.And so, Adam retreated inwards.[break][break]

That was when the blame game started. It wasn't his fault, after all, that he was the way he was. It was his body, his idiot nonsense body, that was the problem. His mind, though, that was largely untouched, the one muscle that hadn't failed him. So he threw himself into study, devouring books by the dozens. He rocketed ahead of the rest of his class almost overnight, fighting and scraping for any advantage he could get, and by 17 he had a free ride to any college he wanted. [break][break]

Much as it seemed a break from high school's open scorn and harassment, MIT wasn't much better. Feelings once made public were now hidden behind closed doors and sidelong glances, none of which were helped by Adam's deserved reputation for being antisocial and more than a little snappish. That was fine by him, of course, he didn't need anyone but himself. By now, a vision had put its hooks in his brain, and he'd set his whole being towards seeing it come to fruition. He piled his schedule high with courses, skewing heavily towards genetics and biotechnology, pulling all-nighters until his body threatened to collapse. [break][break]

Eventually, four years' worth of obsession paid off and Adam graduated with honors, immediately signing on with Panaceum Biomedical before the ink on his diploma had dried. It only made sense; they had the focus, funding, and creative leeway to allow him to see his plan through. The board accepted his proposal without hesitation: a mutagenic retrovirus intended for gene therapy, restructuring the host's genetic code from the ground up and effectively "curing" any degenerative conditions. Adam was brought onto the project as a junior researcher without any consideration for how personal it might've been for him.[break][break]

The team worked long nights, hitting roadblock after roadblock, and Adam grew more and more frustrated. Some of them even suggested abandoning the project entirely, a possibility that he even refused to consider. They couldn't quit now, not when the end was so close. They didn't understand what this meant to him, to others like him, how it could change the world. He grew ever more reclusive, eventually refusing to interact with the rest of the team at all, toiling away long after the others had gone home for the night.[break][break]

It was on one of these nights that the dam finally broke. Adam's frustration had come to a head with the board's refusal to move into human trials. Too early, they said, too unpredictable. Fine. If they were too cowardly to, he'd do it himself.[break][break]

On April 17th, 2014, Adam Abel self-administered an experimental dose of the Lamashtu retrovirus, and was forever changed.[break][break]

The changes were small at first, barely noticeable; a small shifting of bones here, a muscle tweak there. Then a shifting, a warping. His body made a furious twist inside his skin. Adam's DNA had become a roiling mess of contradictory information, warping his flesh beyond recognition and transforming him into what everyone had always called him: a freak. A monster. A creature.[break][break]

Suffice it to say, he didn't take this very well. First came panic, scrambling for something, anything to reverse this, locking himself in his apartment for days as the transformation began to settle, and the finality of his situation set in. Then, anger. This wasn't right, this shouldn't have happened, something was wrong and it wasn't his fault. Someone had tampered with the serum, sabotaged his life's work! And for what? Money, he figured, or credit, or simply to spite him. Either way, Adam was furious, and the whole world would know. He'd start from the top down, project heads first, then the board, then anyone who'd so much as glanced at the damn thing. Whatever it took to get even, to make everything right again. There had to be a way. There had to.[break][break]

It didn't take long for The Creature to have his first run-in with the superhero community. Rhode Island's own Lamplighter saw to it himself to put a stop to Adam's quest for vengeance, then Majestrix Midnight, then Superposition, and on and on and on. It was only three years into this cycle of revenge and retreat, victory and defeat, that he realized he'd become a supervillain. This was of little concern to Adam, who considered it little more than a label, and besides, it wasn't like any of these so-called "heroes" were offering to help. He held this to heart even as his plans grew more and more base and disorganized.[break][break]

Soon, he found the reason why: advanced cognitive deterioration. His condition had begun to worsen, the virus altering the composition of his brain and slowly shutting down his higher functions. This was unacceptable, and soon Adam descended into a spiral of panic. Even when his body betrayed him, he'd always found solace in his mind, and now he wouldn't even have that anymore. He'd be nothing, a mindless beast, little better than an animal. His search for a cure took on a grim desperation, carving a swath of destruction, theft, and violence across the continental US. It couldn't end like this. It couldn't. [break][break]

The Creature's crime spree was eventually brought to a halt halfway through a blood bank robbery in Modesto, California by the superhero Surgeon General, who took him into custody. It was there, in an Aegis medical holding cell, that Adam found his salvation. Surgeon General could reverse the worst of the damage, restoring his psyche if not his body. As he lay in recovery, chained to his hospital bed and under several layers of anti-metahuman security, he got to thinking: he'd been offered a second chance. He had fought, stolen, and nearly killed to take back what was his, and still someone had reached out their hand in mercy and dragged him back from the brink. It struck him as... curious, to say the least. [break][break]

He spiraled outward from there, finally given the time to stew in his actions, of all the wrong he'd inflicted. Was he truly worth the effort? Could someone so short-sighted, so selfish and petty and cruel really be given another shot? The blame shifted once more, outward to inward, and Adam became sure of one thing: if he was unworthy of mercy, then he would make himself worthy. He would give others the same opportunity that he'd been given, make right what he'd made wrong. It was the least he could do, but it would be a start.[break][break]

It took some finagling, a lot of talks with Aegis officials and law enforcement and a few very pissed-off executives, but eventually the deal was sealed. Adam Abel, alias The Creature, would work off any jail time accrued as a provisional member of Aegis' science team and a field agent. In other words, a superhero. It's taken some getting used to, and he's fully aware of how thin the ice he's on is, but Adam's putting his best foot forward. He can only hope it's in the right direction.

CHARACTER POWERS

✰ "LAMASHTU"-CLASS MUTAGENIC RETROVIRUS [break]
Body Manipulation [break][break]

Adam's self-exposure to the retrovirus has rendered his DNA highly unstable and capable of heavy alteration at a moment's notice. With only some minor concentration, he can radically alter the state of his own body, shifting the positions of limbs and organs, altering their functions, or even growing new ones on the fly.[break][break]

Appendage Generation: The Creature can spontaneously generate and break off new limbs which integrate seamlessly into his body plan. This isn't necessarily limited to humanoid biology either, and Adam can easily manifest fins, wings, or tentacles as easily as an arm or a leg.[break]
Dermal Armor: Adam's carapace provides protection equivalent to a kevlar vest, and with some effort can be hardened even further. He's far from invincible, however, and his shell can still be cracked or even broken with sufficient force. [break]
Organ Manipulation Adam can shift the position and shape of his organs, either for optimal function or to avoid damage, as well as generate new ones from scratch. This includes internal organs as well as sensory organs and other, non-human features such as gills or grip pads for wall-climbing.[break][break]

X- Heavy use of his powers places a lot of strain on Adam's system, and it can often be too much for his all-too-human metabolism to handle. Thus, he requires a tremendous intake of sugars, proteins, and carbohydrates to stay operational in the field.[break]
X- He can only maintain a handful of "adaptations" at a time, roughly around three. Any more than that and he runs the risk of destabilizing his biology even further and seriously injuring himself, or worse.[break]
X- The generation of limbs requires at least some understand of their inner workings, and Adam can't mimic anything he hasn't seen before.[break][break]

↣ THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH [break]
Artificially Enhanced Physiology [break][break]
As a consequence of both self-experimentation and general experience, The Creature's physical baseline is several times that of an ordinary human. Though far from super, he's still stronger, faster, and more agile than his sedentary lifestyle might suggest, able to lift and throw up to 350 pounds and run 20 miles per hour at a sprint.[break][break]

X- His highly-tuned reflexes lead to frequent false alarms, making him jumpy and prone to bouts of paranoia.[break]
X- Though powerful, Adam's not immune to muscular atrophy, and he still requires regular excersize to maintain his physique.[break][break]

↣ THIS TOO SOLID FLESH [break]
Regenerative Healing Factor [break][break]

As much as he'd like to sometimes, Adam's body simply refuses to let him die. He heals at a highly accelerated rate, patching up wounds that would take hours to recover from in a matter of minutes and healing broken bones over the course of a few days. This process isn't nearly as fast as it is for some others with similar powers, and it can't recover lost limbs or organs, but he's found it serves him just fine.[break][break]

Disease Immunity: Any foreign bodies are quickly ejected from Adam's system. [break][break]

X- The regeneration process also takes a tole on Adam's metabolism, and major injuries can leave him laid up for days after the recovery period while he regains his strength.[break]
X- His healing is robust, but lost limbs and organs will stay lost, no matter how long he waits.[break]
X- Adam's hyper-efficient immune system also makes him a highly effective carrier as viral and bacterial agents are forced out through his pores and saliva.