| “ | No need to replenish your energy when energy is all you are. | „ |
| ~ Positron: City of Heroes issue #1 Smoke and Mirrors |
Doctor Raymond Keyes more commonly called Positron, is a hero from the superhero themed MMO City of Heroes. Positron is a nuclear powered super hero with the power to project powerful energy blasts. While Positron's power-armor provides basic protection for him and grants him the ability to fly it's main function is in-fact to shield those around him from the nuclear energy he gives off.
Origin[]
Dr. Raymond Keyes was a scientist working for Crey Industries in Paragon City, Keyes and his friend Steve Berry worked for Crey primarily for the decent pay the company offered, though Keyes was also so what enamored by Crey's impressive and expansive engineering facilities. Berry had volunteered as a test subject for a few Crey experiments to bring in some extra money to get his car out of the shop while Keyes was working on power-armor to be used by Crey forces for disaster relief projects, or at-least that is what they had been told. After several days of being sequestered Steven Berry came into Keyes' lab broken and tortured, the "tests" he was put through were in truth secret bioengineering experiments intended to stimulate super-powers in normal humans. Steven had gained more power than was estimated and broken free of his restraints after one too many of torturous procedures he had been exposed to for the past few days. Though Dr.Keyes's college, Dr. Rudy Bein arrived shortly with a small strike team of armed Crey scientist to take back the escaped Steven, telling Keyes not to worry about Steven's "delusional story", no to ask questions and that he would be taken care of. At that point Raymond Keyes realized the sort of company he was working for and knew the armor he was developing was almost certainly not going to be used for "disaster relief". Raymond quickly dawned the newly finished power-armor and used it to get himself and Steven Berry away Dr. Bein and the other Crey scientists. Raymond made a formal report to the police to put Bein behind bars and seize all Crey assets involved in the illegal experiments however a Crey legal team swiftly got the charges cleared, claiming there was no proof and spiriting Dr. Bein away. It is unknown what became of Bein, whether he was hidden away or killed, but Crey never answered for the crimes against Steven Berry or acknowledged their research with power-armor. Both Ray and Steve decided to put their "gifts from Crey" to use fighting Crey and soon crime in general, Ray as the nuclear powered "Positron" and Steve as the electricity projecting speedster known as Synapse.
Freedom Phalanx[]
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In 2004 Positron joined in the fight against the alien invaders called the Rikti. Some unfortunately placed Rikti blast hit Positron damaging his power-armor. The blast destroyed the suit's internal regulation device, though Positron would eventually repair the damage to the suit the damage it had caused to him was far less easily fixed. The damage had caused Positron to become radioactive all the time. From that point onward Positron kept his armor on all the time to keep himself insulated so as to not harm people with his radioactivity. The suit he once relied on for power became the only thing keeping Positron's powers under control and he lived in fear that one day it would be damaged enough leak his radiation across Paragon, as a result Positron became obsessively fixated on maintaining and upgrading his suit to keep from harming those he was trying to protect.
The battle with the Rikti had been a wake up call for the many meta-humans of the world and once the Riti were repelled many of them took up identities as full-time super heroes, using their powers to protect the city from similar super-powered threats. Both Positron and Synapse joined the Freedom Phalanx, a long time hero-organization, though most of the Phalanx's stock and file troops, the Longbow, were non-powered humans (and a few mutants) the upper ranks were made up of super-powered heroes. The head of the Freedom Phalanx, Statesman, welcomed both Positron and Synapse onto the team as iconic protectors of the Paragon City. With the public and federal donations to the Freedom Phalanx Positron was given his own lab comparable to his lab back at Crey Industries and he was once finally able to continue his high-end experiments gratifyingly assured that as the overseer of his own work and projects his work in the lab would be used for only benevolent purposes. After a mission to restore superpowers and technology to the citizens of Paragon after a scheme by Arachnos to take them away Positron was given the power to control his powers and soon was able to undo his radioactivity. He continues his work both as a super-hero and as a scientist to try to make Paragon City a better place whenever he can.
Powers & Equipment[]
Though at first Positron's suit gave him his powers it is currently used as a form of insulation to keep them under control. The power-armor also absorbs a large amount of damage and grants him the ability to fly as well as houses a personal computer for Positron to access wherever he goes. Positron has the power to expel nuclear radiation in the form of optic blasts, hand lasers, and atomic bursts. Positron can absorb many forms or energy blasts from electricity, to plasma, to heat-rays but only up to a certain limit. A couple of occasions have seen Positron throw himself into a nuclear reactor or energy generator to try to absorb their energies to prevent explosion. Positron has a genius level I.Q. and spends his spare time inventing various new devices, including sentient robots to protect his work when he is out.
Personality[]
Positron with his helmet removed
While most other members of the Freedom Phalanx are annoyed by Statesman's perfectionism and feel berated by his critiques of them as public defenders, Positron takes all criticisms as hurdles to be overcome, wasting no time on ego and more time on overcoming even the slightest flaws in his capacity as a super-hero. Positron will follow orders even if they seem unreasonable and has gone as far as to lock himself in the Freedom Phalanx's secret bunker when the lack of super powers, which affected his suit but not him, nearly caused him to explode. Keyes has witnessed various acts which can not be explained through science and can only be classified as magic, while Keyes accepts the concept of magic he does not understand it very well despite his best efforts. Keyes's study of Incarnate energy, which grants Statesman his powers and is considered divine, has lead him to believe that Incarnate energy is neither magic nor science but a primordial measure of power that can be achieved through various, if insanely difficult, means. Positron has been able to grant himself temporary Incarnate powers, though he refuses to publish his findings until the powers can be maintained with more reliability. Positron mainly concerns himself with the mad scientist enemies of Paragon like the mad Doctor Vasilok, The Clockwork King and of course Crey Industries. Positron is willing to give fellow heroes every benefit-of-a-doubt he can when they appear to be approaching moral event horizons but if stepped over will waste no pity or mercy and go into a rage when confronted with acts of betrayal.
Trivia[]
- Positron was the avatar for City of Heroes dev Matt "Positron" Miller, who would eventually become the head of the game's dev team.