Adam Krale's Story (Tobyverse)
When Sophia Verres, Julius Faraday and a select team of commandos and resistance fighters finally breached Xyle's palace, the things they found inside were awe-inspiring and horrible, all at the same time. He'd fit the rooms of a dozen palaces inside the one, twisting space itself to his very whim. They found prisoners, put through the most debauched of torments and experiments. They found strange and bizarre beasts, twisted vampiric things, even robots that defied classification and understanding, their mechanisms twisted beyond understanding. But the thing they found that hit them the hardest was the body of Christopher Wainscott.
Christopher, even today, was the most popular individual to take up the Praetor Atlantis mantle. A handsome, charming scion of a wealthy and respected family, he was everything a hero should be. Courteous, brave, quick-witted and good-hearted. Despite holding the position for less than a decade, a shorter time than any other Praetor until the current one, his is still the face that many see when they picture Atlantis's official hero. A true-blue son of Progress City, he accomplished much in his tenure as Praetor Atlantis, but his bravest hour was leading a handful of Consular Guards against an entire division of Xyle's forces. The survivors still talk of it today, of how he was like a young god, weaving in and out of the battle as if he wasn't surrounded by ravening monsters, hardened mercenaries and deadly weapons. With his help, they held out long enough to evacuate the Proconsul, all of the Body Politic and Popular and the staff. When the Guard saw the beam coming for him, they expected him to twist out of the way gracefully, dodge it like he'd dodged countless others. But he'd been fighting before making his stand at the Hill, and he'd pushed himself too far. A single misstep was all it took, and the beam weapon punched right through his armor and killed him. At least, that's what everyone had said happened. That's what everyone had seen.
So it was with the utmost surprise that Faraday found Christopher, this Christopher, to be alive, if in terrible condition. At first the soldiers wanted to parade him out, make him the Hero of Atlantis. But Faraday was clever and paranoid, and so he swore them to secrecy, and they smuggled Wainscott's comatose body out secretly. The canny vampire suspected a trick or a trap. A clone or robot or a dimension-double from a universe where everyone was evil. It wouldn't be beyond Xyle, both in means and method. And so when this Wainscott had recovered enough, Faraday began to interview him. It was slow going. Wainscott was in terrible shape, barely kept alive by Atlantean technology. He'd been tortured, brutally and there were...other complications. Faraday eventually pieced together Christopher's story, that the last thing he remembered was fighting Xyle's forces and being shot. This was the story that was told. But Julius Faraday began to find inconsistencies. He and Christopher had been, if not close friends, at least friendly acquaintances. He questioned Christopher's father, brother, sisters and lovers for personal details, and brought them all before his interviewee. There were parts of Christopher's story that didn't match up. And other clues. He seemed to be several years older than the Hero of Atlantis should be. His organs had subtle differences that stymied the early attempts to treat his injuries. And then Faraday began to push, using his vampiric mesmerism. And Wainscott finally broke. He remembered that he wasn't Christopher Wainscott, Praetor Atlantis. At least not from here. He was a true hero, a favored son of Atlantis. But a different Atlantis, from a place far, far away. Xyle had brought him here, the closest duplicate he could find, to twist and break and show to the people to convince them that he'd brought their martyr to his side. By the time the interview was over this Christopher was in tears. He'd lost everything, even his identity, and they didn't know how to bring it back.
But Julius Faraday told him that he could still do service to an Atlantis. This Atlantis. Faraday told him that he'd been broken. Brought low, his very place in reality taken from him. But at least he could still serve. That in time, he could become a hero again. Christopher Wainscott accepted. The first three years were spent building his mind into a fortress. Never again would Christopher allow his innermost thoughts to be violated. Faraday used his mesmeric powers and techniques learned at great cost from secret monasteries and schools to harden Christopher's mind against intrusion, invasion, probing and pain. By the end, though Wainscott's body was still broken, his mind was impregnable. Which was for the best, because the next step wouldn't be easy. Faraday had Wainscott put in stasis for over a decade while the best scientists available could figure out how to fix him. And not just fix him. Improve him. MIDAS scoured the globe, and Sophia Verres was brought in. It was she who realized the problem. This Christopher Wainscott was from another world. One with subtle chemical differences. Many worlds held similar atmospheres, but our world had a subtle enough difference that it was damaging, that his organs were breaking down. So she woke him up and ripped them all out, replacing them with technology decades, if not centuries ahead of its time. The Avatar of Innovation was at work, and she would not be balked by the impossibility of her task.
Building him into a new man cost enormous amounts of money and an even longer time. He was made stronger, faster, smarter and tougher. He was uploaded with hundreds of specialized programs and counter-measures. The pain was...extraordinary. But he held. He was more machine than man when they were done, but some of his flesh remained, as did his mind. He trained to become intimately familiar with Atlantis's weapons and research, their enemies and their allies. But just as he was about to be revealed, Praetor Atlantis reborn, Emma Burnett surged onto the stage. Faraday's secrecy had come to bite him. He'd never expected Project Praetor to produce results this quickly. He didn't expect to be upstaged. But Christopher counseled him. He'd always be there if Atlantis needed another Praetor, a symbol to rally it. But he would not deny that fierce girl he met her chance to be a hero. So he received a new identity. And then he was put in charge of an organization that needed his guidance. MIDAS.
Today Commander “Adam Krale” is the leader of MIDAS in all its operations. He looks different than he did all those years ago, gruffer and leaner, an old soul in a hard-eyed body. He leads from the front, with courage and hardheadedness enough to inspire his troops and cunning and ruthlessness enough to crush his enemies. He can be a hard man, no-nonsense at time, but with an underlying sense of deadpan humor that often leans towards sarcastic and even black. He doesn't always approve of some of MIDAS's activities, and wishes they could devote themselves purely to saving Atlantis and the world. But he also understands the necessity of their grayer actions as well.
He is attempting to serve as a sort of mentor to the new Praetor Atlantis, a role that he feels he is unsuited for, but must do and one that she is resistant to. Because what does a secret agent know of being a super-hero? More than ever though MIDAS and Atlantis is coming to trust it's heroes through Commander Krale, and he is quick to recruit them if he needs aid. He loathes STEEL even more than his organization does, and views them as dangerous, jingoistic and ultimately more destructive than any dozen super-villains. He once punched Doctor Chaos in the nose when the Doctor called him a “jack-booted thug” and tried to blow up a MIDAS hover-ship. He is also currently trying to reach out feelers to contact other notable super-heroes in an attempt to build some sort of network in case of serious need, including Legendary, Spearhead, Maenad and many others.
