HAZARD

BIOGRAPHY

Carter Ryking lived his life as a pawn in other men's schemes. His father, Alexander Ryking, was a billionaire industrialist and genetic researcher. Ryking was recruited by Jacob Shaw to participate in the Alamogordo Nuclear Research Facility as well as Project: Black Womb, a genetics think tank on the cutting edge of mutant research when the phenomena had yet to reach the public eye. The pioneers at Alamogordo were Nathan Milbury and Amanda Mueller. Milbury was secretly the altered, mad scientist called Mister Sinister and Mueller was one of the first mutants he ever met, a woman of unprecedented lifespan.

Shaw found Ryking and his fellow scientists Kurt Marko and Brian Xavier, not only because of their scientific background but also their genetic background. Each man was likely to produce offspring containing the X-Gene. Indeed, both Carter Ryking and Charles Xavier (Brian's son) tested positive for mutant DNA at a young age. Carter and Charles played together as children at Alamogordo, largely unaware of the laboratory beneath their feet and the test subjects Milbury and Mueller exploited in their experiments. They only knew the creepy Doctor Milbury occasionally took samples from them for his "Cronus Project." [X-Men (2nd series) #13, Gambit (3rd series) #4, X-Men: Legacy (1st series) #212]

Alexander Ryking seemed to have little regard for Carter's well being and, like Milbury, saw him only as a potential test subject. When Carter's plasma-based abilities manifested at a young age, Alexander had his son incarcerated indefinitely for "treatment." The Ryking Hospital for Paranormal Research in Las Cruces, New Mexico became Carter's home for many years. He had little to no contact with the outside world and was frequently kept in a drugged stupor by the staff (at his father's request) whenever a seizure caused his powers to flare up. He lived a life of pain and abandonment, knowingly under his father's guidance. [X-Men (2nd series) #12]

Decades passed and Carter's power levels grew, though he was never given the opportunity to learn to control them. Carter became reasonably bitter and resentful towards his father for keeping him as a lab rat, and began to gather evidence against Alexander during his few waking periods. He hoped to expose his father to the public as a monster, not the philanthropist he seemed to be. Having met few people in his lonely, isolated life, Carter sent the file he uncovered to Charles Xavier, revealing the secrets their fathers had kept years ago at Alamogordo and more. Without realizing it, Carter set into motion events leading to his father's death. Alamogordo also had ties to the Weapon X Program back in the day, and the government still guarded those secrets very closely. When Team X's former liaison Col. Barrington learned of the breach of security, he traced the file back to Alexander Ryking's facilities and had his troubleshooter, Maverick, sanction Ryking when he refused to answer questions. [X-Men (2nd series) #5,10-11]

Carter Ryking had to learn of his father's death on the news, triggering his worst plasma seizure to date. The hospital staff subdued him with hypo-guns, but only temporarily. When he awakened after that incident and had another fit, the orderlies made the mistake of attacking Ryking with wire-guided tasers. Carter was able to take control of the tasers, channeling his plasma charge back down the wires to murder his assailants, leaving behind nothing but bones. Ryking flew off into the night, myopically focused on exposing his father, even after his death.

Calling himself Hazard, Ryking constructed an armored costume that contained the taser wires and helped him focus his plasma energies. He appeared at his father's funeral, intent on forcing the mourners to accept the truth about Alexander Ryking. His manic ramblings only panicked the crowd, however, and Hazard incinerated some of the security officers who tried to confront him. Hazard crossed paths with Xavier at the funeral, and fixated on making Charles see what their fathers had been involved in. Their history led to a powerful mind-link, which even Xavier had trouble shaking free from, as he experienced all the pain Carter had gone through over the years. Hazard kidnapped Xavier from the funeral, intent on showing Charles the truth at Alamogordo. [X-Men (2nd series) #12]

Hazard and Xavier made their way to the abandoned facility, and Carter confronted Charles with the secret rooms and hidden laboratories sequestered away underneath the surface. Although Charles accepted there were things about Brian Xavier's work he didn't know, he couldn't believe their fathers were as insidious as Carter made them seem. The X-Men came to his rescue and Hazard fought back against Charles' students. Hazard was defeated when the regulating power of his armor was damaged, causing his plasma energies to erupt uncontrollably. He was taken into custody, leaving Charles Xavier with more questions than answers about their shared past. [X-Men (2nd series) #13]

Hazard spent the next several years incarcerated, trading the hospital bars for prison bars. Lacking agency in his own life, Carter once again became a minor piece in the larger games of others. When Adam X went looking for a man named Milbury who hired Arcade to kill him, his search turned up Alexander Ryking and the Alamogordo connection. Meeting at the prison, Carter could only point him towards Charles Xavier for more information. [X-Men (2nd series) #38] When Fontanelle, a psychic dream therapist, was searching for clues about her own mother, Amanda Mueller, she skimmed Carter's memories in his dreams to learn about Alamogordo and its connection to Black Womb. [Gambit (3rd series) #4] In time, Carter didn't even rate incarceration. His declining mental health and the loss of his powers on M-Day [New Avengers (1st series) #18] led to him being transferred back to Las Cruces.

Eventually, Mister Sinister was killed in a conflict with the X-Men, setting into motion the Cronus Project he started years ago. Sinister recognized he was powerful but not immortal, and wanted to insure his survival even after death. The purpose of Carter, Charles and the other mutant children he sought out at Alamogordo was to imprint them with a coded sample of his own DNA. At the time of his death, the Cronus Machine would preserve Sinister's consciousness and transmit it into one of the children, recoding their bodies into a host for his own mind and abilities. However, circumstances prevented Cronus from fully taking effect. Jacob Shaw was no fool and had provided his son Sebastian Shaw with a device that protected him from Sinister. Cain Marko was protected by the mystical helmet of the Juggernaut, and Charles Xavier's own telepathic abilities helped him resist Sinister's influence.

Carter Ryking, unfortunately, had no such protections and, with the loss of his X-Gene in the Decimation, he was no longer strong enough to contain Sinister's essence. As the Cronus machine cycled through each potential host in turn, Carter suffered seizures and a greater deterioration of his mental faculties than before. He had the opportunity to see Charles one last time, and warned his old friend as best he could. When the next Cronus cycle hit, Carter Ryking could not withstand it and suffered an aneurysm. In a way, his struggle was finally over. [X-Men Legacy (1st series) #211]