Stein and Ronnie were over-powered and knocked out. They were left next to the reactor, with the bomb lying beside them. Moments later, Ronnie woke up just seconds before the bomb went off. The explosion breached the reactor and caused an atomic blast.

You’d think these two men would be goners due to the whole atomization/disintegration thing that happens when a human being is caught in ground zero of such a blast. But instead, the nuclear energies somehow fused them into a new being of incredible power, a glowing being of atomic energy with flaming hair. What’s more, he heard Prof. Stein’s consciousness in the back of his mind. Stein seemed almost unreasonably calm considering the situation. He even had enough poise to explain to Ronnie that the young man was the dominant persona of the matrix that made up their composite being because Ronnie had been the only one conscious during the blast.

Ronnie realized that this new fused body he now inhabited had quite a few abilities. He could fly and had great strength and resiliency. He could emit energy blasts from his hands (which he called his “fusion blasts”) and alter his molecular state to become intangible. He could phase through solid matter. And most interestingly, he could perceive atomic structures and manipulate inorganic matter as a result.

...

Whenever he saw there was trouble, Ronnie would duck into a corner and will himself to become Firestorm. There would be a flash of light and he would be in his super-hero body. And wherever Martin Stein was at that time, he’d simple vanish away as he was transported to wherever Ronnie was, forced to join in the fusion. Stein was a valuable ally to Ronnie when they were combined into Firestorm. Thanks to Stein’s vast scientific knowledge, Ronnie was able to use his transmutation powers very effectively as the professor told him how to alter and combine inorganic matter to achieve desired affects. But each time they separated, Stein would have no memory of what he’d been doing for the past several minutes or hours and had no idea why he’d randomly woken up somewhere else with Ronnie Raymond close by.

# posted by Gerry Canavan @ 12:01 AM  |