HAVOK

Real name: Alex Summers
Occupation: Professor of Geophysics at Columbia University
Identity: Alex's identity as a mutant is known only to Xavier, and a few individuals that have earned his trust in the matter
Legal status: Citizen of the US with no criminal record
Other aliases: None, really
Place of birth: Honolulu, Hawaii
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: Christopher (father, presumed dead), Katherine Ann(mother, presumed dead), Scott (brother), John and Christine Blandling (foster parents), Haley Blandling (foster sister)
Group affiliation: None as of this time
Base of operations: Columbia University, New York
First appearance: November, 2000
History:

Alexander Summers is the youngest son of Air force Major Christopher Summers, and his wife, Katherine Ann. Alex was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the spring of 1976, three years after his older brother Scott. However, they didn't stay in Hawaii for very long since his father was a pilot...causing the family to travel a lot.

Alex grew up in military air bases, surrounded by soldiers and airplanes, however where his brother Scott was fascinated by the planes Alex was more fascinated by the sandbox that was in their backyard. However, living on the air base was not that much fun to Alex. Not really having many friends he sort of kept to himself. His older brother and his father were all he needed for friendship, but when Alex was 6, Katherine and Christopher decided that it would be better for the children if they left the military life so they could be raised like a normal family. The planned to move to Anchorage, where Christopher would take a job as a pilot in the family business and Scott and Alex would be able to go to a normal school and have lasting friends. Two years later after his father was decommissioned Alex and his family were flying back to Anchorage, his father piloting a private plane.

Unfortunately, his family never made it back to Alaska. The airplane that his father was piloting collided with something in mid-air causing the plane to begin its rapid descent toward the ground below. His mother knowing the fate that was about to befall her children used one parachute the plane had to save her boys. She strapped Alex to Scott, and pushed them both out of the plane. While the parachute opened, a spark from the fire caused by the collision managed to make the chute catch fire. The growing hole in the chute made them hurl to the ground faster. Alex clung to his brother tighter, and buried his face into his shoulder, hoping the nightmare would come to an end soon....

Alex awoke sometime later in a hospital bed. Any attempt to move any of his limbs resulted in excruciating pain. When he asked about Scott, the doctors just shook their heads slowly. Alex was grief stricken, and very distraught that no one would tell him anything about Scott. Alex was released into the care of an orphanage about one month later, and even upon being released from the hospital no one told him of what happened to Scott or his parents.

Life at the orphanage was no pick nick for Alex. He liked it there about as much as he liked living on the bases. He kept to himself mostly, and would occasionally have nightmares concerning the last time he saw any of his family. Only bits and pieces of the event were remembered by Alex. He could remember being strapped to Scott, being tossed out of the plane, clutching onto Scott, and for some strange reason a red light beam would strike the ground just before Scott and Alex hit causing Alex to wake up breathing rapidly and shaking slightly. Alex wasn't at the orphanage very long before he was adopted in a fairly short time by John and Christine Blandling.

The Blandings had a dead son, Todd, who happened to be a star football player. John and Christine made life very difficult for Alex. They tried to push him into Todd's mold, and this caused Alex a great amount of stress. Fearful of hurting his adoptive parents feelings, Alex kept his emotions hidden from John and Christine. He didn't want to upset them by telling them he was not, nor would he ever be Todd. Instead he kept his stress and problems bottled up, generally keeping happy pretences about various things his John and Christine had him doing. The only person whom Alex ever told his troubles to was his adoptive sister Haley. She was older than Alex by about 8 years, and always lent an ear to anything her foster brother wanted to share with her. Haley and Alex got along as well as a brother and sister could, and Alex trusted her more than anyone else in the world. It was from Haley that he learned Todd had died one night while trying to stop a thief who had broken into the Blandings household. He had struggled with the gentleman, and in the midst of the struggle the thief shot Todd in the chest twice. Todd had been rushed to the hospital, but the doctors could do nothing for him...he had bled out.

After high school Alex pursued a major in Geophysics with a minor in Geology at Landon College. He was an active campus athlete. He played both Baseball and Soccer for Landon, and would have entered the MLB draft had he not decided to pursue his studies more. After graduating third in his class, Alex decided to pursue a Masters degree in geophysics at Columbia when he was 22. He has done extensive field research concerning mutation/radiation in various rock formations, consulting frequently with the resident genetics professor at the University, Charles Xavier. Alex has spoken several times with Xavier, more so now that he is also a professor at Columbia. A bond has formed between the two through common interests, and Alex stops by to speak with Xavier on occasions.

About a year ago Alex began being plagued by nightmares about an incident concerning a thief he had inadvertently killed, and dreams of fire coupled with Alex's body exploding. While out on a field expedition to the site of an old nuclear testing ground Alex inadvertently set one of his Geiger counters wrong. There were various signs making sure people stayed out of fenced areas, but the military assured Columbia the radiation doesn't affect the surrounding area any longer. Because of the nightmares plaguing Alex, and the loss of sleep due to them, the miss-setting of the Geiger counter caused Alex to take a much lower local radiation reading. Since the counter displayed the wrong reading Alex continued to wander into the area deeper, and eventually slipped past the fence.

In reality the radiation levels within the fenced off sections of land were extremely high level, and extremely dangerous. Throughout his 4 days in the area his arms began to take on a yellow glow and small sparks could be seen flying off his hands. Alex attributed this to loss of sleep and thought nothing of it, until on the 4th night he caught his mistake on the Geiger counter. Scared beyond belief about being in an area of extreme radioactivity Alex noticed his glowing arms and began to worry. Quickly gathering his gear and leaving the vicinity, and kept flicking his hands to try and make the yellow glow go away. Becoming angry with himself for miscalculating the readings and setting the counter wrong he berated himself until a yellow blast forced its way from his hand into one of the small boulders close to him. The blast proceeded to turn the boulder into pure rubble, and this unnerved Alex greatly since the sensations reminded him of that horrible night with the thief. Making a vow to himself that he would find a way to seek help, he fled back to Columbia to speak with the one person whom he felt he could about this information....Xavier.

After arriving at Xaviers mansion, Alex proceeded to discuss the turn of events over the past few weeks with Xavier. Not wanting to share the whole story with Xavier, Alex mostly just listened and absorbed what he could. Having long ago decided that the best thing he could possibly do would be to venture off on another expedition, he filled Xavier in on a few of his thoughts about mutants and the world in general. Talking long into the night, the conversation eventually culminated with a small display of Alex's power. He obliterated the chair he had been sitting in during the conversation, but told the professor all he had wanted was to scorch the cushion of the chair. Making plans to have some tests run on him in the morning, Xavier and Alex parted company...and since it had been too late to drive back to Columbia, Alex accepted the room given him for the night.

However, after thinking about their conversation Alex still did not feel convinced enough to want to stay and allow Xavier to perhaps try and help him. He decided he would stick with his original plan and head off under the pretense that he was going to examine a rock quarry in the west. He awoke promptly at 6am as Xavier had instructed, and allowed Xavier to conduct his tests. After the procedures were over he promptly excused himself from the mansion and headed back to Columbia.

While grading term papers one night, about two weeks after the events at Xaviers, Alex received a call from someone claiming to be his brother Scott. Only a few days ago he received a letter from this person stating that Scott would be in town for a few weeks, and that hopefully they could get together and catch up on the last 20 years of their lives. Alex and Scott decided to meet at a quiet coffee house. They proceeded to catch up on news, but also spoke with another professor Dr. Jean Grey. Conversation shifted between mutants and the events at the symposium. When the conversation had ended, Scott gave Alex a number where he could be reached and then they parted ways again. He had been pondering the idea of leaving ever since he had come back from Xaviers. After discovering his brother was alive, Alex had decided that he couldn't risk losing his brother again. He felt that his power was too dangerous to people, and he couldn't ever forgive himself if something happened to those he loved because of his mutation. The very next day Alex packed his gear and proceeded to head west toward New Mexico, hoping he could be at peace out there where he wouldn't harm anyone.

Throughout the last nine months, Alex had been living in New Mexico doing odd jobs for a few schools out there concerning various geological formations. In between jobs Alex has been working to stifle or at least learn some semblance of control over this exothermic energy that he seems to be able to absorb into his body. When Alex brought evidence of high radioactivity concerning a small rock formation the schools Geology department had been sending its Grad students to, the University felt that the information had not been fully looked at and dismissed his notions of a problem. Alex once more became angered with himself for not fully analyzing the situation, and through his anger the exothermic blast exploded from his hands blowing a hole through a classroom. It was then Alex felt Xavier might be able to help him after all...at least he'd be able to help him understand how to work with this force. Four days later Alex was back on a plane headed back to New York, and Xavier's mansion....

Height: 6'1" Weight: 187 lbs.
Eyes: Hazel Hair: Blonde
Apparent Age: Mid 20's
Unusual physical characteristics: None
Strength level: Normal human strength of your average college athlete who engages in intensive regular exercise.
Known superhuman powers: Exothermic plasma blast, absorbs ambient cosmic energy, gets a yellowish tinge around his hands when he's extremely upset.
Other abilities: Alex has a Ph.D in Geophysics, and he has a minor in Geology. While he has knowledge of many areas within the field he deals mostly with earthquake mechanics, rock physics, reflection, refraction and topographic seismology, and the effects of man made radiation on minerals and rocks.
Weapons and paraphernalia: None.
Other notes: Pretty easy going individual, who gets along with most everyone unless you give him a reason not to. Alex is currently available for apping. He was last seen leaving with a mutant woman named Vegas, with whom he was involved, although their relationship could easily have ended in any way the apper desires. He has strong connections to the X-Team.