Atomic!

**Atomic!**, or **ATOM!C**, is a series about an elderly astronaut professor finding an unknown, star-shaped source of light that kills and resurrects him with superabilities.

Grateful to be alive, Anton travels back to Earth to experience the pleasures he missed out on, but also decides to explore the star's radiation inside of him by taking on the role of a classic comic book superhero.

His powers appear highly unsuitable for protecting and fighting normal human beings, and those acquainted with Atomic become overly cautious when he shows up to "save the day".

The series was conceived in June of 2019, but nothing has been published and its future layout is uncertain.

## Story

> A scientist couple create a controversial spaceship, able to raise a baby into a competent astronaut without human involvement, allowing for humanity to explore the deeper parts of space. They pass away before they can reveal the contraption to anyone, but with the news of the genius duo's death, every government of every country has their eyes set on their home and orphaned baby, with the Americans being first to discover and claim the ship hidden under their house.
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> They become enticed to test it out when discovering the young Anton has no other family members, and without informing the public or the space program's partner organizations that are most likely to object, they shoot him into space.
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> Anton is successfully cared for and taught by the machines, until old enough to understand the ship's controls. He lives the rest of his life doing what is asked of him, in complete solitude, until he comes across a star-shaped formation of light more than 80 years later.
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> Its radiation deforms the metal of the ship within minutes, sucking Anton into outer space with nothing to do but await his death. The mysterious light source seemingly reaches the end of its lifespan as well and exploded at the same moment Anton passes away. It reverts his body's molecules and causes his once pigmentless grey hair to get infused with mirror particles, reaching far enough to reflect the image of space.
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> No trace of the star is left after that and Anton reawakens with his youth regained and a set of superpowers.
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> Having lost interest in the research that's been forced upon him since birth, he flies back to Earth and uses his second chance at life to experience that which was taken from him. Besides the fun and excitement Earth and its people give him, he also gets acquainted with the foreign concept of evil and crime, urging him to get involved and take on a secret superhero identity as "Atomic".
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> He tries to learn more of the star's effects on him during his crime fighting, and while there're no deaths under his name, people start to associate his Atomic character with danger and pretend to be overly satisfied or act unsuspicious whenever he shows up.
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> He befriends a woman unfamiliar with his superhero identity, who helps him socially develop and better understand the world.
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## Characters

### Anton Mạch

Anton Mạch (*pronounced: "Anton Mai"*) is the only child of two German-born, Vietnamese scientist mechanics, who were mostly focused on space exploration. The advanced spaceship they'd built ended up becoming his prison -a solitary life he was forced to accept. Though he didn't know any better, he understood he had been done wrong after his rebirth and chose not to report himself to the government that had sacrificed him.

Anton tries to learn more of the star's effect on him during his crime fighting, but can only conclude he's no longer an actual "living" person, rather the human-shaped embodiment of space itself, in lack of better words. When he became a mutant, he gained knowledge of space's never-ending layout, which ironically made him lose interest in it.

His set of powers are mostly lethal and overkill in a world inhabited by normal people; like spawning comets and black holes, inflicting burning radiation, lowering the temperature, and erasing oxygen from the air. Anton can also see things that happened in the past, but not go there to mingle with it.

While there're no deaths under Anton's name and he's well-meaning, people are still nervous with him around and armies from all over the world wish to ambush and capture him. Since he doesn't have human DNA, nothing he sheds is useful for finding him. Not everyone agrees his existence and hero attempts count as tyranny, though. When given no reason to use his powers, he won't.

Anton is intelligent; and has a high textbook education, yet socially awkward and easily entertained. He understands little upon visiting Earth and is unfamiliar with slang, past and current trends, and most English sayings. He can only take everything literally.

Concerning human interaction and emotions, the ship did not cover this and he needs Becky to explain his own feelings to him. For example, he'd describe love or friendship as "feeling pleased when they're around", but can't mention the core difference. Despite him being so socially inept, he is harmless in his actions and can be easily mistaken for a jokester.
Whenever he's out on the streets, Becky looks him up to hand over presents as part of her never-ending gratitude for having "saved" her, usually candy. Because he didn't get to experience most foods in his life, he gladly receives it, his favourite ending up being a box of grocery store chocolates he calls "decorated stones".

After spending more time with each other in private, she begins to show romantic interest in him, but he's unfamiliar with the practises of courtship and can't pick up on the obvious.

Anton's a short, slender man with blue eyes and wavy long hair that looks like a portal into space, usually black with stars. Before his transformation, he had black eyes and black hair, though the latter had turned grey over the years.

On Earth, his hair is short and mirrors the Earth's sky, but changes back again when his hair expands/gets longer. This happens automatically when he uses any one of his powers. It feels like regular hair, but is noticeably cold.

When going around as Atomic, he wears a black bodysuit with white short sleeves and a high collar. As himself, he wears a mix of clothes that don't always match together, one consistency being the red plaid bomber hat he covers his hair with. His style is extremely colourful and playful, and appeals to him the most after having lived his entire life inside a monochrome environment.

### Becky von Mach

Becky von Mach *(example of pronunciation here)* is a German-American woman Anton "saved" from tripping over a pebble. She is somewhere in her 20s.

Her clumsiness stems from the fact she has a genetic eye condition that worsens her sight the more time progresses. Anton's help is extremely overglorified by her and she mentions it to people often, yet doesn't know of his superhero persona and can't fully perceive his appearance to see he looks off. She has no opinion on the controversial Atomic either way.

She sees Anton's ignorance and direct responses as humorous and is quick to call him a friend. When invited over to her house for the first time, he notices everything inside is either grey or white, to which she explains those colours are the cheapest and it won't matter when she's become fully blind. Her uninspired home reminds him of his time in space and he insists more colourful furniture will allow her to navigate better through the house. He redecorates her home for her and makes her realize her eyesight is not yet as bad as presumed, despite the fact his fashion style is what makes him so easily found by her when out on the streets.

This moment and his level of care for her confirms her crush on Anton, but he never comprehends her intentions. The young Becky is not immediately entertained as a possible love interests to the 80+ Anton.

Becky is upbeat and generous, with many friends, but bad at being alone. To become forgotten is one of her fears, another one being her inevitable blindness. She never wants to talk about her concerns.

Becky is tall, has a sturdy build, blonde hair, and blue eyes that point outward and rarely make contact with her target of interest.

## Trivia

* The series' creation was solely inspired by "Atomic" by Party Animals.

## See also

* Atomic! (Intro video)
* Aquarius (Spin-off/sequel)