HUMAN BOMB (II)HUMAN BOMB (II)
History:
Kevin Lawrence was a scientist working for a secret government project. As far as Dr. Lawrence knew, the project was trying to create an improved version of the experimental explosive 27-QRX, first developed by the U.S. during World War II by chemist Roy Lincoln, who was also known as the Human Bomb, one of the heroes of that era. Dr. Lawrence eventually discovered the true purpose of the project, to duplicate the powers of the Human Bomb in another person in order to create a platoon of living weapons. When he found out that the project was using human test subjects Dr. Lawrence was horrified. He snuck into the lab at night and attempted to steal the only sample of the new chemical and destroy the notes so it could not be duplicated. In the midst of the theft, however, Dr. Lawrence was discovered by security and in the encounter the unstable 27-QRX detonated, destroying most of the lab and killing everyone. Everyone except Kevin Lawrence.
In an echo of the events that had turned Roy Lincoln into the first Human Bomb, Kevin Lawrence now found his whole body infused with explosive energy. His very touch would set off a devastating explosion. Scrounging one of the protective suits made of Fibrowax, the one material known to contain 27-QRX's explosive potential, Kevin went into hiding, fearing what would happen if the government learned he was still alive. Working in secret, Dr. Lawrence managed to create a device that, when activated, would dampen the explosive power within him. By wearing this regulator belt beneath his clothing, Kevin could again interact with the world without fear of destroying everything he touched.
Dr. Lawrence eventually found his way to Empire City where he created a false set of identity papers for himself and became a professor of chemistry at Empire City University. During his spare time, Kevin worked on modifying the Fibrowax suit to allow him to focus his explosive energy. One day, after work, Kevin found himself attending a professional wrestling match at the Empire City Coliseum. As fate would have it, this was the same night that a team of agents from the Crime Cartel chose to attempt to kidnap several of the performers. When several audience members, who happened to also be super-heroes (or at least were hoping to be super-heroes) attempted to stop the Cartel agents, Kevin donned his experimental suit and joined in. The heroes were able to put a stop to the Cartel's Empire City operation and afterward they decided to band together permanently as the city's new hero team, the Guardians. Kevin decided to use his predecessor's name and joined the team as the new Human Bomb.
When the Guardians took over the secret cave that the Crime Cartel had been using and made it into their own headquarters, it was the Human Bomb who helped decipher the advanced technology left behind. The Bomb became the technical support for the team as well as one of the front line members. In the beginning, he also acted in a leadership position, but after the arrival of Paladin the Human Bomb was more than content to focus on being the main scientific mind on the team and letting Paladin lead the team in battle. Even though he was a scientist first, that never stopped Kevin from doing whatever was needed to help his team, and he pay a heavy price for his heroism.
During the early part of the Revelations crisis the entire east coast of the US was threatened by the rampaging creature Brimstone. The creature had been brought back from the sun, where it had been trapped by Firestorm, along with the mystical Spear of Destiny. With the mystic energies of the Spear powering it, Brimstone was nearly invincible, overcoming the combined might of the Justice League, Justice Inc., the Guardians, and several other heroes. When all seemed lost and Brimstone was on the verge of destroying Washington, D.C., the Human Bomb flew directly into the creature's fiery body and deactivated his regulator belt. It did not take long for the seething energy to destroy the Human Bomb's Firbrowax containment suit and in the ensuing explosion it appeared that both Brimstone and the Bomb had been destroyed. In reality, the Spear had protected Brimstone by sending the creature to another dimension where it was eventually defeated by a group of young heroes called the Seven Thunders. Unbeknownst to his teammates, the Human Bomb had also survived, but the incident had not left him unchanged.
Instead of destroying the Human Bomb's body, the violent release of energy had, combined with the mystic energies of the Spear and Brimstone's plasma, transformed it instead. Kevin was now pure energy. It was days before the Human Bomb was even conscious of what had happened to him, it took all his will to keep his energies from dissipating. Eventually he managed to travel to Empire City where he was able to enter one of his spare containment suits. It too over a week in the suit just resting before he had regained enough strength and force of will to learn how to move in the suit. Finally, the Human Bomb was strong enough to leave the headquarters, he was reunited with his teammates just in time to save them from Philip Adler, who had just been revealed as the madman behind Brimstone's return and was the cause of the Revelations crisis.
The Human Bomb remained with the Guardians through the end of the crisis, but soon afterward began to lose control of his powers. Fearing that someone would be harmed he left the team and sought out the original Human Bomb, Roy Lincoln, for help. Several months later, and thanks to Lincoln, in better control of his powers, the Human Bomb joined the new Guardians team that was being formed by the mysterious Harbinger.
Powers and Abilities:
After the original accident, Kevin Lawrence's body was infused with explosive energy. Any time he made physical contact with an object his touch would result in a powerful explosion. The accident also strengthened Kevin's body to contain the energy without harming him. As a result his body was dense enough to deflect bullets and his enhanced muscles and skeleton let him lift several tons. In his civilian identity, Kevin would wear a regulator belt of his own design that dampened the energy, allowing him to interact with his surroundings without fear of blowing something up. As the Human Bomb, Kevin wore a Fibrowax containment suit to contain his body's energy. The suit was modified to allow the Human Bomb to direct his energies from special outlets in his gloves as a powerful, directed blast; or from his boots to allow him to fly like a rocket, though not very fast as he had little control over his flight.
After detonating himself to stop Brimstone, the Human Bomb's entire body was transformed to pure energy. Without a vessel to contain him, Kevin's body would slowly dissipate over several days, eventually killing him. Kevin now uses a modified version of one of his original Fibrowax suits, which affords him the full range of normal, human movement. The new suit is reinforced, because any major contact between Kevin's energy form and a large enough object could result in an explosion the equivalent of a small nuclear device, and his energy form allows him to lift even more than he used to when in the suit. The new suit still allows the Human Bomb to direct his energy as blasts or for flight, and his body of energy affords him greater control, and thus greater speed in flight (he has on occasion been able to rocket himself at almost twice the speed of sound). Since he now has no mouth, the Human Bomb speaks through a voice synthesizer built into his suit.
