Nexus

History

Horatio Hellpop is the son of General Theodore Hellpop, and his wife, Marlis. General Hellpop served the crumbling Sov empire on the planet Vradic, whose citizens were struggling to overcome Sov oppression. When a rebel uprising resulted in a coup, Hellpop and his pregnant wife fled Vradic.

Rather than allow the loss of Sov control, his superiors ordered the general to destroy the planet from space, thereby killing millions of people. Ashamed by his actions, Hellpop charted his ship into a black hole. His hope was that he would be transported to a remote sector of the universe.

Marlis eventually gave birth to their son, Horatio, aboard their home-ship. At first, Horatio was not breathing, and a mysterious voice instructed his father to “put him in the tank”. A tank filled with strange fluid appeared, and Theodore desperately threw his son in. Little Horatio survived, and this would be the first of many trips inside “the tank”.

Growin’ up

Years passed by aboard the ship. When Horatio was a toddler, two strange creatures, calling themselves Alph and Beta, appeared to him. To his parents, they were Horatio’s “imaginary friends”, but in reality, they were something else altogether.

One day, Marlis strayed down one of the ship’s many endless corridors. Three months later, Horatio and his father found her, dead of starvation. Theodore Hellpop was a broken man after this. In the years that followed, he fell deeper and deeper into despair.

From the age of nine on, Horatio began having infrequent “attacks”. These forced him to submerge in the tank’s fluid.

As a young teen, his fusionkasting abilities emerged, and he began having vivid dreams, which illustrated the atrocity Horatio’s father had committed against the people of Vradic. Alph and Beta continued to speak to the young man, indicating to him that in order to stop the dreams, he had to kill his father.

Eventually, Horatio did what they asked, executing Theodore Hellpop for his crimes.

Advertisement

Nexus

Two more years passed, until another attack sent Horatio into the tank. When he emerged, a costume was waiting for him, and a name – Nexus. Horatio now knew his purpose – to go out into the universe and execute mass murderers. He was drawn to a distant moon that orbited around twin suns, and he set up his base of operations there.

The cycle of justice always began with the attacks, which drove Nexus to the tank. Once there, he dreamed of a specific murderer. If he did not execute this person, the dreams would become more severe, and begin taking physical manifestation on him. Eventually, Nexus would die in the manner the victims died, unless he took action.

In 2583, a fledgling Nexus appeared on the planet Thune. He freed its citizens from slavers. One Thune, named Dave, has since become Nexus’ closest friend and companion. Wherever he went to commit his executions, Nexus ended up bringing back refugees, orphans, etc. They soon populated his moon, called Ylum (or EYE-LUM), short for asylum.

Nexus’ exploits soon became legend throughout the universe, and he was worshiped like a god in some circles.

Ties

Nexus attracted the attention of the Cohesive Web, a system of worlds aligned with the Earth government. The Web sent agent Sundra Peale to spy on him. But she fell in love with him instead, and remained with him on Ylum. Another Web agent, Ursula X.X. Imada, later seduced Nexus, and bore twin daughters, Sheena and Scarlett, from this union.

After several years operating as a cosmic executioner, Nexus learned that the source of his powers and dreams came from the Merk. This supposedly was the last survivor of a race dedicated to justice. The Merk had sent Alph and Beta, extensions of his own consciousness, to guide Horatio from little on.

It was later revealed that this Merk was insane and lying. Several other Merks have appeared over the years, most notably GQ, the one that currently provides Nexus with power.

In Nexus-time, “now” is as of this writing the year 2596. He no longer suffers from the attacks or dreams, and only uses the tank to rejuvenate himself, as GQ is a slightly more benevolent Merk than the last one. Nexus still executes mass murderers, but of his own volition, and has truly accepted his role as cosmic executioner.

Personality

Nexus has accepted his duty, and his powers as a means to fulfill it.

He is very reluctant to assume any kind of leadership role, although his popularity among the citizens of Ylum would seem to warrant it. He is content to let Tyrone, Ylum’s elected President, run things, leaving him free to do his job as executioner.

He is a sucker for refugees, and cannot leave behind anyone who has been abandoned in the wake of atrocity. He is trying to be as much of a father to his two daughters as possible, which is difficult, as he and Ursula are not always on the best of terms. This makes him sort of a “weekend dad”.

Horatio has always been an emotionally tight person, only allowing a few friends and Sundra to get close to him. He is extremely loyal to the few close friends he has, however. Sundra is the love of his life, and the two are planning a family of their own soon.

By Daryl Kuxhouse.

Helper(s): Robert Reineke, Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: First Comics Nexus comics.