Hadron

* Part IV
* RE
* Part III
* Part II

*Resistance*

―Hadron embraces his true name and nature in his first fight with Elijah, *Hadron*

**Hadron**, called **Lord Hadron** by the *Zeroeremento* and the **Dark One** by the Apostates, is the reanimated corpse of Elijah Rayes, who was killed during the destruction of Everest Station and subsequently reborn in a new body by the Rising Tide. When the true Elijah turned out to be impossible to indoctrinate, his original body was rebuilt and reanimated, thus birthing Hadron.

Believing himself to be the "true" Elijah, Hadron was assigned the mission of infiltrating Elijah's crew in order to recover a modified version of the curse that the Tide had created. With "Tsunami" retrieved, Hadron murdered Zelphor and took complete control over the *Unreliable* as he prepared to deliver the bioweapon to the Rising Tide. Although his plan was foiled, Hadron finally encountered the true Elijah and learned of his true nature, only to embrace it and dedicate himself to destroying everything Elijah held dear. As part of his plans, he lured the Scourge Armada to Borealis and attempted to destroy the *Unreliable* during the Battle of Borealis. Suffering another failure, but learning that his power could only become greater, Hadron forcibly took control of the *Zeroeremento* and drew the energy from their Holy Stone, beginning a new campaign to achieve further power and cement human dominance over the entire Settled Systems.

Over the next three years, Hadron slowly consolidated his power and travelled across the stars, absorbing any trace of c-energy he could find, which led to his massacre of the planet Bancroft, Elijah's homeworld, and the birth of a weak psychic connection between him and the Calculator's swarm. Using this link, Hadron made contact with the Calculator and forged an agreement: Hadron would give the power of dark plasma to the Scourge in exchange for humanity being spared from the Calculator's intergalactic genocide, thus forming an alliance between the two most dangerous entities in the Settled Systems. Using unique energy of Hell, Hadron opened a portal to the Nexus and began draining it of c-energy, filling him with incredible power. This was still not enough for him to prevail over Elijah, who had arrived on Hell while searching for the lost *Artemis*. Horrifically burned during his fight with Elijah on the shattered Hell, Hadron was rescued and taken to Earth, where he used his power to seize control over the H.I.N. and establish the Hadronite Empire.

## Biography

### Reanimation

Minutes after saving his crew by absorbing the foldspace energy during the destruction of Everest Station, Elijah Rayes' badly burned body was recovered from the vacuum of space by the Rising Tide, an anthropocentric organization determined to bring down the Intergalactic Council.

Instead of attempting to revive Elijah, the Rising Tide instead initiated Project Hadron, an attempt to transfer Elijah's consciousness to a new body fitted with Rising Tide upgrades. Elijah's original body was preserved to serve as a source of his DNA, but when the unconscious Elijah demonstrated resistance to Rising Tide programming the scientists decided to reanimate his original body with cybernetics. Believing itself to be the original Elijah, albeit one who had been indocrinated by the Rising Tide to put humans above all else, the body was designated "Hadron" and given the mission of infiltrating Elijah's crew.

### Infiltration

#### Joining the *Unreliable*

Hadron visits an abandoned moon in the Euclid Galaxy and uses an old communications station to send a message to the *Unreliable*. Recognising Elijah's command code over the ship, the crew immediately travels through the Nexus Network and arrives at the moon. Hadron begins posing as Elijah and tearfully reunites with his crew, feigning affection for them. Later, in his cabin, Hadron reports in to the Overseer via a transmitter behind his eye, revealing his true identity as Elijah's doppelgänger.

#### The Task At Hand

Posing as Elijah, Hadron calls the crew to the command deck. Rebuffing Alia's attempts to hug him, he brings the crew to attention. Gerren asks how Hadron can possibly be alive; he reveals that the Rising Tide "rescued" him and rebuilt his body after the explosion of Everest Station. In return, the Overseer requested that the crew fulfil a mission. Hadron activates his arm-mounted console and throws a hologram of a large metal sphere onto the central command unit. Hadron explains the the Rising Tide has been working with the Kingdom of the Great Veil, a member-state of the Confederacy of the Great Attractor, to create a modified form of the curse, codenamed "Tsunami", that no longer affects humans and could even "cure" humans already infected with the curse. According to Hadron, the Rising Tide intended for "Tsunami" to only be used as a bargaining chip against the Nexus Council to win more power for humanity, but the Kingdom has stolen the sample and intends to unleash it on the planet Borealis to seize power over the entire Confederacy. Further, Hadron claims that the Tide wants to recover and destroy "Tsunami" as a peace offering to non-humans.

The crew pause in shock at "Elijah"'s sudden moral turn. Zelphor passionately refuses to undertake such a mission and work for the Tide, to which Hadron says the crew won't be working for, but rather with, the Rising Tide to save Borealis and the entire Confederacy. Gerren asks how Hadron could possibly trust the Rising Tide, but Hadron says he has little choice, "a debt has to be paid". Zelphor agrees to the mission as the *Unreliable* is already AWOL, but says he will petition the Nexus Council to rescind "Elijah"'s status as an agent of SpecOperA. Kera is forced to walk away from the discussion, overcome with anxiety when just looking at Hadron, and Hadron continues to even ignore HIEdi and Hendrix.

#### Facing Opposition

Now completely AWOL, the *Unreliable* uses its stealth system to avoid detection as its moves through several systems towards the border of the Kingdom; according to Hadron's intelligence, the "Tsunami" is being loaded onto a cargo vessel for transportation to Borealis, where it will be unleashed. Still posing as Elijah, Hadron makes contact with Regent and agrees to deliver the "Tsunami" to the Rising Tide station *Twilight*. He is interrupted by Alia, who complains that the two have barely spoken since he returned. Feigning affection for her, Hadron says the two should put their relationship aside and concentrate on the mission. Alia suddenly slaps Hadron and tells him he's changed. Angered, Hadron begins glowing blue as he threateningly stares back at her and orders her to leave his cabin.

On the command deck, Hadron watches Kera and Gerren nearby. Apparently sensing her energy, Hadron looks over to them and holds out his hand as if trying to patch into their thoughts; he stops, however, when he is approached by Zelphor, who continues to threaten Hadron with tribunals over his decision to make the *Unreliable* go AWOL. Hadron sternly says that Council-led tribunals can only occur if the defendent recognises the Council's authority; believing that Hadron speaks of treason, Zelphor threatens him once more that he can re-take control of the *Unreliable* at any moment, but stops speaking suddenly and begins to choke.

Hadron tells Zelphor to not make a fuss and reveals that he is telekinetically choking him. Hadron refuses to stop until a passing navigator asks if Zelphor is okay, and Hadron reminds Zelphor that he is still a subordinate before dismissing him. Hadron then brings the entire crew to attention and angrily rants that any insubordination on such an important mission will be met with severe punishment, "whether human...or *alien*". His final statement deeply troubles the crew.

Hours later, SHAE broadcasts an alert that the ship has been detected by a specialised stealth ray. Against Zelphor's demands, Hadron orders the crew to battle stations as two Guardian Corps cruisers pull up on either side of the *Unreliable*. The pilots demand to speak to the captain; Hadron accepts the comms connection and tries to say the ship is on a Scourge-related mission. The pilot says that they are bringing the crew in for going AWOL, at which point the *Righteous Judgement* appears from a lightfold. David Young patches in to the *Unreliable* and is shocked to see Hadron on the ship.

Hadron greets Captain Young, who keeps quiet about his encounter with the true Elijah and demands the *Unreliable* deactivate its engines. When Hadron refuses, Young orders the pilots to forcibly bring the *Unreliable* under control, prompting Hadron to quietly ask SHAE to prepare the Starfish cannon. Overhearing the order, Zelphor takes out his gun and orders Hadron to stand down; an angered Hadron screams at Zelphor for insubordination and declares Zelphor is a mutineer and "a filthy lizard" before using his telekinesis to smash Zelphor against a wall. Hadron disengages the communication and orders SHAE to launch an emergency lightfold. As the *Righteous Judgement* arms itself, the *Unreliable* thunders away, way too fast for the other ships to keep up.

Hadron orders Zelphor arrested and locked in his cabin and asks if anyone else wants to disobey a direct order; in his anger, he begins releasing uncontrolled gravity waves that put the *Unreliable* off-course, causing it to near the borders of the fold around it. Gerren fights for control as Alia attempts to calm Hadron by counteracting his gravity waves with her own. HIEdi appears on deck and shouts that Hadron will destroy the ship, finally getting him to stop. Still angered, Hadron reminds them at this mission is critical and apologises, promising that he will step down as captain when the mission is over. In an attempt to apologise to his crew, Hadron asks Gerren to fly the *Unreliable* through a nearby dust cloud, producing an amazing display.

After the *Unreliable* arrives as Menethus, still cloaked, Hadron directs Alia to navigate the ship to the cargo vessel's projected route back to the Borealis, where they will intercept it and steal the "Tsunami". Night-time begins inside the ship and Kera sleeps in her chair beside Gerren; Hadron takes the chance and decides to look inside her mind, where he catches a glimpse of her nightmare: a scorched figure cloaked in lightning locked in an intense battle with someone identical to himself. Disturbed by the vision, Hadron looks at his own hands before feeling a pain behind his eye. As he prods, the hidden camera behind his eye broadcasts his silent distress to the Overseer, who watches with a worried look.

#### The Heist

The *Unreliable* maneuvers to match the course of the cargo ship carrying "Tsunami". On the command deck, Alia creates a trajectory to intercept the ship near a wandering asteroid 560 light-years from Borealis. Hadron approves and attempts to complement her, but Alia, still hurt from her previous interactions with him, coldly ignores him.

As the *Unreliable* approaches the cargo ship, it goes into stealth mode while SHAE attempts a remote shutdown of the cargo ship's engines. The shutdown is successful and Hadron uses his SpecOperA credentials to authorize a search of the ship. The *Unreliable* docks and Hadron picks a team that includes Alia to enter the cargo ship.

The team dons power armour and are welcomed onto the ship. The team enters the cargo bay, where they discover a large metal sphere housing "Tsunami". Upon the discovery, the Kingdom soldiers try to kill the team, but they are torn apart by an angered Hadron, leaving one soldier alive.

Hadron begins to gleefully torture the soldier to death with telekinesis, but stops when a rageful Alia aims her weapon at him and orders him to stop. Hadron brands her an insubordinate and orders his soldiers to arrest her. Alia defends herself, causing Hadron to unleash another gravity wave. The energy damages the containment sphere, although the "Tsunami" does not leak.

Outside, a gigantic red tear opens in spacetime, through which the *Pestilence* emerges. The spire rams into the cargo ship, damaging the *Unreliable*'s dock and causing it to separate from the cargo vessel. The attack causes the cargo ship to drift towards the tear and passes through it, severely damaging the hull. Hadron and Alia reactivate a lift to move the containment sphere while fending off swarms of Scourged, who mostly ignore them while trying to attack the sphere. On the *Unreliable*, Gerren drops a shield charge that creates a clear area of space around the cargo ship and docks the *Unreliable*. They are saved by Zelphor, who directs them to jettison the sphere out of the bay and onto the *Unreliable* while the trio hang onto it.

Hadron uses telekinesis on a piece of debris, smashing it onto the button that opens the cargo door beside them. Alia creates a strong gravity field around them that keeps them in place as the cargo door slides open. The sphere begins to move as air rushes out of the ship, and the trio let go and grab onto the sphere. The *Unreliable* moves into position to catch them, and the sphere moves through space into the *Unreliable*'s cargo bay.

With Scourge approaching, the trio fight to keep the cargo door closed; while Alia is distracted, Hadron takes the opportunity and blasts Zelphor into space, smiling cruelly as he does so. The impact of the blast destroys Zelphor's helmet and he suffocates in the vaccum of space. The *Unreliable* escapes through a foldhole as the Neo-Forerunner arrives with reinforcements, revealing the Scourge to have organized into a massive armada.

The crew demand answers from Hadron as to what happened to Zelphor. Hadron lies and claims he was killed by Scourge, but SHAE, demonstrating independence, plays security footage of Hadron purposefully blasting Zelphor into space.

The crew back away from Hadron and Alia says that he is too different to be the same Elijah, closing with "who are you?". Hadron smiles and says he is their superior before restraining them all with telekinesis. He orders the *Unreliable* set a course for *Twilight* station, revealing his true identity as a Rising Tide agent.

#### Learning the Truth

Hadron orders the soldiers loyal to him, revealed to be Rising Tide plants, to lock the core crew in their cabins as the *Unreliable* arrives at the enormous *Twilight* station. Docking at the station, Hadron and his minions remove the "Tsunami" capsule from the cargo bay and carry it to the biodome at the center of the station. There, Hadron meets Regent, who greets him as "Elijah Rayes".

Alia and Kera sneak through the station using silenced blasters and bioenergenics, finally arriving above Hadron, Regent and Rising Tide soldiers. Feeling their presence, Hadron unleashes a destructive telekinetic blast that destroys the balcony where the girls are stood, and they collapse on the ground.

Alia recovers first and fires at Hadron with her blaster, but he stops the blasts in mid-air and attacks once more. The two engage in a telekinetic battle by throwing debris at one-another, but Hadron gains the upper hand and begins torturing Alia; while doing so, his telekinesis appears to draw an energy field from Alia, causing her to scream. As Hadron is distracted by his newfound power, Kera recovers and attacks; Hadron easily deflects her telekinesis, his powers strengthened.

The station is suddenly rocked by a small lightfold explosion, one powerful enough to cause the station to fall apart. The explosion causes the central biodome to start to collapse, and the containment sphere rolls away from its carrier. Taking the chance, Kera creates a massive telekinesis field and throws it at the sphere; Hadron tries to stop it, but he misses and the field makes impact. The sphere explodes, unleashing "Tsunami" and blasting Regent and Hadron away.

As expected, the human soldiers survive, but one bioenergenic soldier is somehow affected and transforms into a Scourged. Kera shoots it dead and heads over to an unconscious Alia. As she tries to wake her, she sees a figure walking through the cloud.

Hadron emerges, limping and bruised, his left cheek now embedded with a vein of "Tsunami". Despite his shock, Hadron laughs that he is unaffected and attacks Kera; although she tries to fight back, Hadron ultimately wins and once more draws energy from her, cackling as she screams in agony. He brands her pathetic and nothing more than a child as he approaches to finish her with a final incineration wave.

Hadron unleashes his power, but the blast is blocked by a figure that materialises from nowhere. Hadron realizes that the figure is someone identical to himself and prepares to attack, but is easily knocked away.

Once he recovers, a shocked Hadron demands to know what is going on as the figure introduces himself as the "true" Elijah Rayes and attempts to calm him. He explains everything about Project Hadron and Hadron's true identity as nothing more than Elijah's reanimated corpse.

Although Hadron does not believe him at first, Elijah mentions "a friend" that he loved and perished on the Green World, saving the rest of the crew, and asks Hadron for their name; when Hadron cannot recall, Elijah calms him and holds out his hand, offering him his help, a place among the crew and the chance for Hadron to not be what the Rising Tide made him. Hadron looks behind him at a groaning Regent and hesitantly takes Elijah's hand.

When Elijah smiles and tries to pull away, Hadron holds on tight. He begins to chuckle menacingly before ranting that Elijah is no different than the Rising Tide: "I see inside your mind. You mean to *kill me*. To *erase* me. I see inside your mind. You mean to *kill me*. To *erase* me." When Elijah tries to say that isn't what he wants, Hadron interrupts and continues: "You say to *not be what they made me*. But what if...that is all I am? What if *this* is who I am?"

Hadron's grip becomes strong enough to hurt Elijah. He continues, "Yes. It's time I seek my own truth. And that truth...is *power*".

With a jolt, Hadron begins drawing power from Elijah. Elijah manages to wrestle himself free and strikes a combat pose as Hadron's veins begin to glow. Elijah demands that Hadron puts aside his anger and stands down; Hadron simply laughs and accepts "Hadron" as his true name. He continues ranting, "You took my *name*. You took my *purpose!* You took *everything* from me!. So I will take a new name, a new purpose...and I...will take *everything*....from *you!*"

Hadron begins a barrage of attacks, all blocked by a stronger Elijah. He begins by not trying to hurt Hadron, but unleashes the Traveller's Light when Hadron threaten's Elijah's crew and Kera's life. Hadron is temporarily knocked down and Elijah orders Kera to carry Alia back to the *Unreliable*, which she does before returning to help against Hadron. Hadron gains the upper hand when a piece of debris he launched strikes Elijah across the face, scarring the side of his head, and easily repels Kera attacks before pushing her against a wall. As the dome above them breaks apart, exposing them to the vacuum of space, Elijah releases a final blast of the Traveller's Light that forces Hadron to the ground before a piece of debris apparently crushes him.

On the smouldering *Twilight* station, Hadron, badly wounded and coughing preservation fluid, crawls out of the debris. Freezing, he grabs a nearby overcoat and throws it on. Desperate and conflicted over his identity, he looks over the scars across his body before returning to the burning pain behind his eye. Using his powers, Hadron painfully extracts the camera hidden behind his eye; noticing a piece of text that reads HADRON on the lens, he crushes it before throwing the fragments aside.

Further exploring the cold and empty station, he lifts some debris to find a damaged teleporter. He tries to activate it, to no avail, and collapses to his knees, defeated. Agonized by the vein of "Tsunami" embedded in his left cheek, he tries to prise it out. Upon touching it, however, he finds himself weakly connected to the Egregore hive mind. Despite the pain, he touches the sample again and holds on.

Seeing inside the hive mind, he has a vision of Borealis covered in an ocean of curse, its cities on fire and its orbit clogged with debris. He realizes that the Calculator is seeking "Tsunami" to destroy both it and any planet that the Scourge discovers it on.

His vision continues until he finds himself on a scorched and barren Earth. Before him stands a figure in an overcoat, surrounded by green lightning and its skin burned away, revealing the flesh and bones beneath. Behind him, he sees Elijah and looks upon him with hate. Believing this is his future, he leaves the vision and is drawn to a nearby power core. With his newfound strength, he removes the cover from the core and stares at the blindingly blue block of element-C within.

Reaching in, his fingers are burned but he persists. Upon touching the piece, he begins to draw its energy into himself, filling him with incredible power. He continues until the block is dull and unleashes his new power on the teleporter, charging it within seconds to reactivate it. He steps inside the dropspace field just as Scourge ships appear in orbit above.

A beam fires down on the wrecked station biodome, from which the Neo-Forerunner emerges. It moves over to attack Hadron, but he smiles and broadcasts his intensions to the creature. Instead of attacking Hadron, the Neo-Forerunner allows him to leave before climbing onto one of the ships. Hadron smiles as he teleports away.

#### Luring the Armada

Hadron teleports to a suburb of Invictus, the capital of Borealis, and disappears into the passing crowd. Far away, the Scourge Armada prepares to open tears leading to Borealis.

Stumbling across an element-C substation, Hadron uses his siphon ability to draw yet more energy, becoming even stronger. He continues to avoid detection and waits for the armada to arrive. As the Battle of Borealis begins, he watches from the surface with glee.

#### The Battle of Borealis

Hadron watches the *Phage* descend to the surface and transform into a mobile battleship before he kills a team of soldiers sent to find him. He notices that a form of electricity is beginning to form around his hands and smiles.

Hours later, the *Pestilence* deploys on the planet's surface and begins unleashing hordes of Scourged and the curse. Taking the chance, Hadron uses his powers to fly into orbit; his undead nature allows him to survive in a vacuum. He stumbles upon the *Unreliable* and begins a one-man assault.

Hadron begins killing the crew in increasingly brutal ways, including tearing a few to pieces with his mind. Kera challenges Hadron to a fight that she quickly loses, earning Gerren's wrath. He aims to shoot Hadron, but he stops the blast and throws the ship's rover at Gerren, crushing him against a wall. Hadron smiles at the sight and Kera begins a fresh onslaught that even Hadron can barely defend against; Alia attempts to help, but she finds herself almost completely drained of power.

Hadron overwhelms Kera, but is challenged by Ryzen before he can kill her. Arrogant in his strength, Hadron accepts. The two engage in a brutal duel. Despite impaling him with his nano-sword, Ryzen is unable to kill Hadron, who draws power from Ryzen as well. He declares that their "Special One" cannot save them now but stops when he notices the *Zeroeremento* logo on Ryzen's sword. He deduces that Ryzen was not born with his bioenergenic powers and was therefore given them, and silently leaves the *Unreliable*. He hijacks a nearby cruiser and disappears through the conduit.

At the *Zeroeremento* temple on Earth, a prayer is interrupted by Hadron, who defends himself against the clan's warriors. Seeking more power, he demands that the clan reveal their secrets to him. When he kills the temple's high priest, he is led to an underground chamber that houses the source of the clan's power: the Holy Stone, a solid piece of the Nexus itself. Hadron touches the Stone and draws its power into himself, imbuing him with green energy. A green plasma begins to form around him; the warriors declare it "dark plasma" and swear loyalty to Hadron's power.

Revelling in his new strength, Hadron tells them to prepare, for a new age - "the age of Hadron" - has dawned. It is revealed that the heat of his body has partially burned his skin away, causing him to resemble the figure from Kera's nightmares.

## Overview

### Physical Appearance

For the most part, Hadron is physically identical to Elijah; however, there are subtle differences in Hadron's appearance due to him being technically undead, including slightly pale, mottled skin and a series of surgical scars across his body.

Since he absorbed the c-energy of the Holy Stone, Hadron's energy has become so strong that it burns away his skin whenever he uses his powers extensively, exposing the red muscle and sinew beneath, which glows with ominous green light; however, his body is able to regenerate when his powers subside. His appearance in this state closely resembles the figure from Kera's nightmares, suggesting that the two are one and the same.

Three years later, Hadron has been both strengthened and deformed by the energy he has absorbed. In addition to his eyes and nerves glowing green with dark plasma, his skin has greyed to the point of appearing purple, and his brown hair has turned white. He has also been cybernetically modified as a result of his leadership of the *Zeroeremento*.

Hadron's appearance changes once more - dramatically this time - during another duel with Elijah in which a sustained beam of the Traveller's Light burned away the skin of his face and hands, exposing the blood-red muscle and sinew beneath.

### Personality

―Hadron reveals himself as a Rising Tide agent to the crew, *Glass*

Hadron is the antithesis of Elijah Rayes: cruel, power-hungry, somewhat cowardly, narcissistic, arrogant, resentful, cold, brutal and calculating; whether Hadron is malicious by nature or by design is unknown, as he himself was unaware of his true nature until meeting the true Elijah. However, after this meeting, Hadron decided to embrace his true nature as Elijah's opposite and dedicate himself to destroying everything Elijah held dear, even if it meant the destruction of the Settled Systems. The threat that he poses to the Universe is second only to the Calculator, driven solely by an ambition to fulfil his destiny as Elijah's mortal enemy.

Although Hadron possesses Elijah's memories, they have been tainted by Rising Tide indoctrination, causing Hadron to rebuff some of Elijah's closest friends and loved ones, especially Alia and Gerren, and he only realized his true identity when he could not remember essential small details, such as Alyx's name. Hadron also openly views humans as a superior species and often refers to non-humans as "aliens". A significant difference between Hadron and Elijah is Hadron's almost pathological need for power and control over those around him, especially the non-human crewmembers of the *Unreliable.* He often doles out punishments for insubordination and disrespect, being particularly cruel to non-humans, and does not care whether he puts the crew in danger. In addition, Hadron is quick to anger and is not afraid to kill those he sees as standing in his way.

Hadron's hatred for Elijah, lust for power and need to dominate has led him to commit various atrocities, usually for the sake of absorbing yet more c-energy. His disregard for innocent lives even resulting in him incinerating an entire planet, Bancroft, simply because it was Elijah's homeworld.

## Powers, Equipment & Abilities

### Powers

* **Bioenergenics:** As the reanimated corpse of Elijah Rayes, Hadron shares his natural talent for bioenergenics. Unlike other biogenics, who glow blue or even indigo, Hadron's body begins to glow green when he uses his powers; this is due to the high copper and barium content of his body, itself a result of the cybernetics and biotechnology used to reanimate him. The heat generated by Hadron's body is enough to burn away his skin and scald surfaces that he touches, although only his extremities appear to burn at such a temperature.
	+ **Power & energy siphon:** Like Elijah, Hadron is able to absorb energy of any kind into his body and use it to amplify his bioenergenic powers; unlike Elijah, Hadron is capable of storing such energy for extensive periods, perhaps permanently, and can release it in controlled discharges. Hadron has been shown to be capable of drawing c-energy from direct sources, including other biogenics like Alia and Kera and even from pure blocks of element C, thus sapping them of energy. Hadron is also able to acquire powers unique to other biogenics when he siphons from them, including a weaker version of Kera's telepathy that he used to communicate with the Neo-Forerunner. It is unknown how much energy Hadron can store, or if there is even a limit.
	+ **Telekinesis:** Hadron's bioenergenics primarily manifest as telekinesis. Hadron is able to generate dark energy fields that can increase or decrease the gravitational force of objects; he can decrease - or reverse - the graviational force of an object in order to lift it, and instantly increase the force to make it a powerful and deadly projectile. Hadron appears to be able to use his powers much quicker than Elijah can, with Elijah needing time to manifest his telekinesis while Hadron manages it in seconds.
	+ **Barrier:** When Hadron's cortisol levels increase, the E-C deposits in his endocrine system create bioenergenic barriers, dark energy fields that redirect the kinetic motion of hostile objects away from him. This is his primary defensive ability.
	+ **Telepathy:** Like Elijah, Hadron possesses limited telepathy. Unusually, however, Hadron appears to hold greater talent in this school of bioenergenics than Elijah, as Hadron was able to tap into Kera's nightmares, albeit only briefly, while Elijah is not able to even recall the memories of others without aid. Hadron's telepathy was greatly enhanced when he siphoned a portion of Kera's biogenic energy, allowing him to telepathically communicate with the Neo-Forerunner.
	+ **Cellular storage:** Because he is kept alive by biotechnology rather than cellular processes, Hadron's cells can be fully dedicated to storing energy; his self-healing constantly replenishes cells that have been burned out or destroyed by his bioenergenics.

"*We must prepare. The age of Hadron...**has begun**,*"
—Hadron, now leader of the *Zeroeremento*, after absorbing the energy of their Holy Stone and creating dark plasma[src]

* **Dark plasma:** Thanks to his undead nature and the fact that he is kept alive artificially, Hadron's cells have little to no metabolic function and therefore can be fully dedicated to storing energy. The immense heat of this energy manifests as "dark plasma": ionized dark matter. By manipulating dark plasma, Hadron can create physical constructs and even summon green lightning. In Hadron's case, dark plasma glows green because of the high copper and barium content of his body.
	+ **Lightning:** Hadron's primary offensive power arising from his control over dark plasma is the generation of green lightning bolts.
	+ **Ignition:** Hadron's body can become so hot that it ignites pressurized atmospheres, burning and suffocating those around him. One such demonstration was his massacre of the planet Bancroft, scorching its atmosphere and making the surface uninhabitable.
* **Hive mind link:** Hadron is able to tap into the Egregore hive mind, albeit only briefly, by touching the vein of "Tsunami" in his cheek. Despite the fail-safe that the Rising Tide implemented in the sample - that it would still affect humans with bioenergenic powers - Hadron remains unaffected as the curse can only transform living organisms into Scourged; since Hadron is technically dead, he cannot be assimilated into the Calculator's hive mind.

### Equipment

#### Armour & Apparel

* **Battle armour:** After seizing control over the *Zeroeremento*, who worship him as a god thanks to his command of dark plasma, Hadron is granted a set of metal battle armour designed by the greatest smiths of the clan.

##### Former

* **Overcoat:** Hadron wore a tattered grey overcoat during the Battle of Borealis, first to shield himself from the cold vacuum of space and then to distinct himself from Elijah. The heat from Hadron's body appeared to not affect his coat, as like the rest of his clothes it remains intact even when his skin burns away.

#### Vehicles

##### Former

* **CSS *Unreliable*:** While posing as Elijah, Hadron was a member of the crew of the *Unreliable* and later took his place as the ship's captain.

### Abilities

* **Enhanced Physiology:** As Elijah's reanimated corpse, Hadron is naturally a GIL, one who has undergone both biological and technological enhancements. Unlike Elijah, he is able to survive in the vacuum of space.
	+ **Enhanced marksmanship:** Despite little experience using firearms, Hadron is nonetheless talented with a range of weapons, likely due to engineering on his body.
	+ **Accelerated healing:** While not able to heal instantaneously, Hadron is able to recover from wounds and injuries much earlier than regular humans.
		- **Regeneration:** Hadron's skin is able to rapidly regrow after being burned away by the incredible heat of his own bioenergenic energy.

## Associated Deaths

### Deaths caused by Hadron

* Zelphor Naerth - purposefully jettisoned into space and suffocated

## Relationships

### Elijah Rayes

"*You...are **me!** And I...am **you!***"
—Hadron confronts Elijah during the Battle of Hell[src]

Hadron and Elijah are bitter enemies, and each considers the other their nemesis. Although they look physically identical, the two could not be more different: Elijah is courageous, righteous, humble and heroic, while Hadron is cruel, bitter, narcissistic and power-hungry. Thus the two are mortal enemies who each seek to eliminate the other. Hadron believes that Elijah stole his right to be humanity's greatest hero, and thus has vowed to overturn all of Elijah's efforts to protect the Settled Systems, even if it means the death of septillions.

## Appearances

### Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel

#### Part II: The Battle of Borealis

* "Superluminal"
* "Parabellum"
* "Nomads"
* "Indigo Dawn"
* "Glass"
* "Hadron"
* "War Never Changes"
* "The Battle of Borealis"

#### Part III: Age of the Scourge

* "The Sands of Tethys"
* "Uncharted"
* "Starbridge"

## Trivia

* Hadron is named for the class of composite subatomic particles that are made of two or more quarks held together by the strong nuclear force, which includes the proton and the neutron. The name was chosen for Hadron's incredible power, as the strong nuclear force is the strongest of the four fundemental forces.
* Hadron serves as the overarching secondary antagonist of *Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel*, and the main antagonist of *Part II: The Battle of Borealis* and *Part IV: Hadron's Throne*.