Jake Mandell

Background: Jake Mandell was born to middle-class parents. His parents were both, and likely still are, researchers with the federal government working in the biomedical discipline. Due to domestic and international conferences, they traveled frequently, which allowed a young Jake to experience many parts of the world and cultures. He would also attend these conferences with his parents, where he could learn about many different scientific disciplines and meet scientists working in all areas. These factors, coupled with being an only child led Jake to become quite the studious and intelligent student in his grade school years, and later become a brilliant scholar in his future academics.

Due to his academic excellence and his graduating at the top of his high school class, he was awarded full scholarships to more than several schools all over the country and abroad. He of course jumped on these opportunities as soon as he was able to do so. As an undergraduate, Jake would double-major in biochemistry and molecular biology, for which he received two bachelor's degrees. However, after hearing about several nuclear and radiation accidents occurring over the world while he was an undergraduate, he would develop an interest in the subject of radiation and atomic energy, as well as environmental science. It was then that he would enroll in graduate school, majoring in Nuclear Science and Engineering. His motive was to be the person who made nuclear energy and products 100% safe for humans and the environment and prevent nuclear accidents from ever happening - or at least to be one of the people who undertook such a noble goal. Another one of his goals would be to be involved in research in therapies, technologies, and pharmaceuticals that would prevent anyone from ever developing severe radiation poisoning and a fatal prognosis again. After finishing his graduate program, he would again enroll, this time in an MD-PhD dual degree program.

It was during this time that he would also meet his then-girlfriend, and later, his future fiancée who was also an MD-PhD student. He would complete residencies in Nuclear Medicine, Internal Medicine, Immunology, Toxicology, Hematology, Radiology, Hepatology, Pediatrics, Gastroenterology, Neurology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Nephrology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Urology, Infectious Diseases, Emergency Medicine, and Medical Genetics during this time and the time leading up to his own unfortunate involvement in a nuclear accident. Most of these residences were completed as short-term intensive subspecialty residencies of Internal Medicine. Along with these accomplishments, he also individually or collaboratively was cited in many research papers in many of these specialties, among others. These accolades soon gained the attention of an international conglomerate in which much of its operations were in nuclear energy and nuclear research and development.

During his late years as an undergraduate, Jake did mostly laboratory work with a well-known scientific organization. It was during his years as a graduate that he would start working directly within the nuclear industry. He worked in various nuclear power plants and stations holding many different positions, as well as nuclear laboratories (as well as two research hospitals) throughout the world leading up to being contacted by the mysterious conglomerate. On the day that he was contacted by a representative from the conglomerate, he was working in a research hospital on a project that involved a new drug to strengthen DNA strands to prevent them from easily being broken or altered by radioactive particles after exposure and to initiate effective DNA repair where it may not be possible otherwise. The representative offered him a higher payroll to come and work for them at a newly constructed nuclear power plant where he could continue his research, in which he would be credited as working in their organization. Jake saw it as another opportunity and took it. A few weeks after being contacted, he gathered his research files from the hospital that he currently worked with and packed up and moved near the new power plant with his girlfriend (who also was offered work there).

In the first few months of working at the new power plant, everything seemed to be going smoothly. It was also during this time that Jake proposed to marry his then-girlfriend. It wasn't until a week or so after this proposal that Jake started to realize that things many things were actually horribly wrong in the plant in terms of safety. Many safety protocols were being ignored to create shortcuts for less spending and instead of correctly documenting and reporting proper radioactive waste disposal, he discovered by overhearing plant administrators that it was being stored on-site and sold to various buyers or illegally disposed of. Not only were these two problems prevalent at the plant, but he also discovered that there were constant radiation leaks and that several of the workers in the plant also developed radiation sickness. Concerned for the safety of himself, the plant employees, the environment, and others who may be affected, Jake started to plan an intervention to create a safe work environment and resolve the aforementioned issues... and if that didn't work, he would have to report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Jake first attempted to bring his safety concerns to the attention of his co-workers. However, much to his dismay, his concerns mostly fell on deaf ears. This was not due in part to them not being aware of the issues or refusing to believe Jake... they were literally too afraid to display anything other than indifference, as they had been working with the corporation long enough to realize that any attempts made to whistleblow or change any of their current illegal and dangerous operations would be met with unspeakable ramifications, courtesy of the conglomerate itself - something that Jake would soon discover himself. Regardless, a few of the workers actually paid attention to his concerns, but this was localized to those who hadn't been working long at the plant. Unfortunately for Jake, his speech about the unsafe conditions would eventually get around to the plant supervisors and administrators. This led to an unforgettable confrontation between Jake and goons from the conglomerate one night when he was leaving the plant after his shift was over. In sparing too many details, Jake was confronted and dragged off to a secluded location where he was explicitly assaulted and threatened with radioactive waste. The goons would let him escape afterward by tossing him out near his vehicle in the parking lot, but promised that he would die a horrible death if he told anyone about what happened that night or if he became a whistleblower.

This confrontation resulted in Jake becoming depressed for a while after, and it did keep his mouth shut... for about a year or so. During this time, Jake completed several martial arts courses that he had been enrolled in before and felt that this gave him somewhat of an ability to take on the conglomerate without worrying about the goons that confronted him before. However, unknowingly to Jake, he would not be taking on a group of simple goons - but an entire multi-national organization. Regardless of this, he would directly contact the Nuclear Regulatory Commission without letting anyone at the plant know - except his fiancée, a move that Jake would soon come to regret. As turned out, soon after Jake's confrontation with the conglomerate goons, his fiancée was bribed by the conglomerate to report any "suspicious activities" that Jake partook in... which she did as she was commanded to do. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission agent stated that federal inspectors would be visiting the plant in approximately two weeks after the initial call to conduct a thorough investigation of the plant and its operators. However, this investigation would come two weeks too late for Jake, as the plant administrators had already devised a plan to get rid of him that they were ready to initiate.

Exactly a week after contacting the NRC, Jake was scheduled to perform a dangerous experiment using several radioactive isotopes, including various newly-synthesized and highly experimental isotopes. The details of the experiment were sketchy and truthfully frightened Jake beyond belief. Nonetheless, without considering his gut feeling at the moment out of fear after his recent actions in contacting the NRC, he went ahead with the experiment. About twenty minutes into the experiment, Jake saw a bright blue flash, heard a loud booming sound, felt a wave of heat, and was blasted into the opposite wall. He knew what had happened as soon as he saw the blue flash - a critical excursion had occurred. Jake screamed in pain as his first reaction, and immediately and instinctively pulled a dose of the experimental DNA reparative drug out of his pocket and injected it into his thigh. The radiation alarms sounded off as soon as he saw the blue flash, which automatically alerted local authorities and the NRC. In a millisecond that he had to think between the mind-shattering pain that he was experiencing, Jake found it surprising that they actually had radiation alarms installed - at least they probably wanted to avoid being blamed for extreme accidents that invariably resulted in death. The authorities were already on their way to the plant. Jake was able to desperately crawl out of the laboratory in an attempt to draw attention to himself so that someone could help him get to the decontamination showers. However, as soon as he was out of the lab, with blood leaking out of his orifices, he vomited and passed out due to the agonizing pain.

A few minutes after Jake lost consciousness, the first responders arrived at the scene. Thankfully enough by this time, his co-workers had taken him to decontamination, removed the contaminated items from his body, and scrubbed him down. They carried him to a locker room where the paramedics came and loaded him onto a stretcher for transport. On second thought, the dispatcher ordered medical helicopter transport to a facility that was farther away but offered much more advanced and specialized treatment than the one that they initially planned to transfer him to. Not only this, an emergency medical team with better equipment than an ambulance was also on board to offer critical treatment while he was being transferred to the hospital, which is almost essential to a patient's survival in a position such as Jake's situation. There was also the fact that an on-the-ground ambulance would draw more attention and speculation to what happened at the power plant, which would eventually lead to public panic in fear of a radiation leak (which may have occurred) - something which the authorities wanted to avoid, and especially the conglomerate that owned the plant. The medical helicopter soon arrived a few minutes after being ordered and Jake was quickly boarded onto it, complete with an emergency medical team on board. During transport, Jake gained and regained consciousness several times, ultimately being unconscious upon arrival at the medical center. His vitals were also dangerously unstable - his initial prognosis appeared very grave. On arrival at the medical center, he was immediately placed in an isolation unit in the facility's ICU, as it was predicted that his immune system was almost near destroyed, if not completely destroyed, due to the suspected radiation dosage that he incurred - which the medical team would soon discover to be true.

Bodily fluid (including blood) and non-invasive tissue laboratory analysis was completed as soon as possible. This analysis would confirm the medical team's worst suspicions. Jake's white blood cell (WBC) count was at zero, and his red blood cell (RBC) and platelet count were rapidly decreasing. As for the tissue samples, he was experiencing rapid tissue deterioration in every organ and structure in his body, including blood vessels. His full exposure was calculated to be 133 sieverts (Sv) - a lethal dose with treatment is around 8 Sv. This means that Jake absorbed nearly 17x the invariably lethal dose of radiation; the lethal dose without treatment is around 4 Sv - in this case, Jake's exposure was just over 33x the lethal dosage.

The medical team decided to focus on symptom management, body-wide vigilance, pain management (as much as possible) infection prevention, transfusion, and potential transplantation - as there was no "cure" to radiation poisoning, especially with such a level of exposure as Jake experienced. However, they did not expect that they would need to stick to this treatment plan for long, for the worse, as such a dose was usually fatal in hours, and although no human had ever received such a high dose of acute radiation, the medical team would have expected his dose to be fatal in minutes. They were shocked that he even made it to the decontamination showers alive, let alone to the medical center. However, Jake knew his fate as soon as he saw the blue flash - he knew that he was doomed. Moreso, he knew now what the goons meant when they told him that he would die a horrible death. Upon karyotyping, it was discovered that the radiation dose that Jake received caused his DNA to become extremely fragmented and irreversibly damaged. All of his chromosomes were completely shattered into unrecognizable remains. It appeared that his experimental DNA reparative drug wasn't working... yet.

Over the next three weeks, Jake's condition rapidly deteriorated. He was conscious during the entire time. His fiancée finally visited him in the medical center exactly the next week after the accident, after she contemplated her actions and his condition. On his perceived death bed, she took a moment with him and simply told him, "I'm sorry". It was at this moment that Jake realized that she was partially responsible for what was happening to him - it absolutely devastated him inside. It was after that moment that their relationship was over, as his fiancée abruptly left after her "apology", never to attempt to even contact Jake again after that. As his life was rapidly pulled away from him, Jake was victim to mind-shattering pain that only increased in intensity. The medical team administered sedatives and various painkillers, including (and with permission from the proper authorities) the world's most potent opioid, carfentanyl, which was 10,000 stronger than morphine - but it all seemed to give him hardly any remedy. In sparing too much information, his organs basically disintegrated and detached themselves from his body, including his skin and blood. He could not sleep at all during this time unless he passed out from exhaustion. The medical team recorded that Jake begged several times throughout the three weeks for someone to kill him to end his misery. On the twenty-first night after the accident, around 11 PM, Jake went into cardiac arrest. The medical team attempted a series of unsuccessful resuscitation attempts until around 5 AM the next morning. However, these attempts were painstakingly futile, as much of his cardiac tissue was destroyed.

At 5:42 AM, Jake was pronounced to be deceased. However, this was actually far from the truth - Jake was still experiencing brain wave activity, despite many of his CNS structures being nearly destroyed - although Jake appeared to be in a coma-like state with no reaction to stimuli, which made him appear deceased. This brain wave activity would continue, and increase until he regained consciousness. It was also during this time that instead of further decaying, his tissues (and DNA) were miraculously appearing to reform to as how they were before his exposure - it appeared that his DNA drug was finally working. The medical team did not recognize this, as they had already placed him in a lead-lined body bag to prepare to transport him to a medical examiner's office that had the proper safety precautions in place to perform a post-mortem examination on such a radioactive body. Over the next two days, Jake's body fully reformed itself - with a couple of differences of course. His skin was now a glowing blue color due to the various radioactive particles permeating his entire body (as well as an overabundance of oxidative compounds). His eyes were also changed - although cataracts from the radiation had gone away, Jake's eyes now were a glowing ultraviolet color, due to pigment-producing stem cells being destroyed by the radiation. This also caused his hair (and skin... and eyes - but due to light scattering from the radioactive particles, they appeared to glow with the radioactivity of these particles) to turn translucent white before it fell out during the course of his poisoning. He also realized that his body was struggling to fit inside of the body bag... as his frame had become noticeably larger. It wasn't too long before Jake regained consciousness and complete (and perhaps enhanced) brain activity and vital homeostasis. Very shortly after this, he escaped the body bag when he realized that the unit where he was being held was closed off, and no staff was working at that time. His escape went unnoticed, and no one bothered to investigate it as if to take any attention off of the criticality accident that got Jake into this situation in the first place - a stipulation probably brought about by the conglomerate bribing the authorities to not investigate.

The first thing that Jake did when he left the medical center was to go to his apartment - he thought that was the only thing that he could do for now. When he arrived, he noticed that his fiancée was gone completely with all of her things packed and no sign of her anywhere, except her engagement ring, which she placed on the end table next to the front door. This sight only served to further devastate Jake, who grieved upon such a sight. Over the next week, Jake stayed inside of his apartment figuring out what to do next - now that he was... different. After this week of pondering, Jake was able to roughly establish a plan for the short-term at least - meaning the next year or so. He decided that he felt at least somewhat confident in the martial arts skills that he learned beforehand, that he could possibly apply for tournaments to make a living for now - and even better... save money for his next step. After saving enough money, Jake planned to start his own radioactive and hazardous waste disposal company. He thought it would be a good cover for what he really was now, given that he could just tell people that he was doing hazmat work if they questioned the radiation suit he wore (to mostly protect them), and if they asked about his glowing blue skin, he could just tell them that it was "a headlamp attached to the face shield of the suit". Sure it might not seem to make much sense or be very practical in the long run, but it was what he could think of for now. Besides, he needed to act quickly; he couldn't stay inside his apartment forever. With his short-term plans set, he contacted a company that made bodysuits, mostly for costume parties and the like. He asked for a custom-made bodysuit that he would wear in his tournaments to hide his identity. The suit was to be modeled with the idea of a humanoid radioactive mutant in mind... and was ordered to be lead-lined. The contact at the company thought that was a bit of an odd request, but kept his thoughts to himself and designed the bodysuit as requested. The completed bodysuit was sent to Jake shortly after completion, and he applied for his first couple of tournaments. In his persona, he would keep his name and his rather unfortunate backstory - but his identity would be hidden underneath his character.

Much to his pleasant surprise, Jake achieved great success, even in his first tournaments. With extensive martial arts training and massive size advantage, Jake seemed unstoppable. He would make thousands with each tournament victory, eventually saving up to $210,300 by the time of his participation in the Bushido Fighters tournament... which would be his ultimate victory. Speaking of which, he was informed of the Bushido Fighters bloodsport tournament by a fellow competitor, who was supposed to be a disgruntled deserter who used to be a colonel in the Marine Corps who only now went by the moniker of "Colonel Slaughter". Although Colonel Slaughter had never competed in any of the tournaments that Jake ever competed in, he was an excellent fighter in his own right. This time, he came to spectate this tournament, as he wanted to find out who this mysterious "Jake Mandell" character was who was making tidal waves in the world of competitive martial arts and challenge him to the ultimate tournament... Bushido Fighters.

With this, he warned him that it was a bloodsport-style tournament with no rules and that he (and the other competitors) could possibly receive grievous bodily harm, life-threatening injuries, and even possibly death... and that several of the fighters were known to be extremely dangerous combatants - and that he himself would be participating in the tournament as well. Most of all... the grand prize was $250,000! Regardless of this, given his successes in tournaments that he previously participated in, Jake couldn't refuse the offer... and then, it wasn't like he had much left to lose anyway. Besides, the money that could be put to good use in the future was definitely worth the risk, Jake thought - he probably wouldn't have to fight in any more tournaments after this one. It was like the big score of martial arts tournaments. After repeated confirmation, the colonel then gladly informed him of what steps he needed to take to participate in this tournament - which was to be held at a secret location, due to the potentially dangerous nature of the tournament.

As soon as Jake got back to his apartment from the tournament, he contacted the organizers of the Bushido Fighters tournament. After being approved to participate, Jake traveled to the location of the tournament on his own personal plane. By now, Jake had already purchased his own small private plane to travel long distances to avoid... unfortunate incidents at airports. The competitors would be housed in a private dojo somewhere near Mt. Fujiyama in rural Japan. The competitors would stay here for two weeks to prepare and get to know each other - before they potentially killed each other. It was during this time that Jake discovered that he would be fighting five other competitors during the tournament: Dark Shade - a ninja, The Wanderer - a traveling martial artist, Chuck Renegade - an outlaw biker, Alley Master - a punk street gangster... and Colonel Slaughter, who informed Jake of the tournament. Jake never took off his bodysuit around the others to reveal his true identity. No, he had to keep that a secret for now. At the beginning of the second week of staying at the dojo, all of the competitors took a prequalifying test to determine their place in the tournament. As for Jake's place, it was determined that he would be the very last competitor that the winner of the previous match-ups would face. This fact both relieved and unsettled Jake somewhat... although he wouldn't be fighting most of the competitors, he would have to go against the toughest of them all. However, he continued to practice leading up to the tournament. Jake got along relatively well with the other competitors during his stay at the dojo - for the most part, at least. He couldn't seem to get along quite well with Chuck Renegade, who was not friendly at all towards him, biting back at him with passive-aggressive and somewhat threatening remarks when he attempted to socialize with him. After Jake found out his background history, he understood why he was so hostile towards him and ceased any further attempts to communicate with him. On the other hand, there was someone else who was much more disagree than Chuck Renegade. Alley Master was much more than slightly passive-aggressive towards Jake, even going as far as to make physically threatening gestures towards him and even shove him on several occasions. Jake didn't full-on fight him back, as he let his emotions build-up ahead of the tournament... he would let them all out on him at once. He noticed Alley Master making rather objectionable statements and engaged in brash behavior towards other competitors. However, this was Alley Master's general demeanor towards everyone. Besides, he stated he didn't see the point of them "being all lovey-dovey with each other now, to just tear each other apart later" and that he was "only there for the money he could make from their dead bodies". Although hoping that it wouldn't be the case, Jake worried that death may actually be a part of the tournament - he hoped he wouldn't be one of the competitors who killed anyone... or got killed himself. However, Jake would soon realize just how much death was truly a part of the tournament.

After their two-week stay at the dojo was over, the tournament organizer transported them by helicopter to the location where the tournament would be held. It was during this trip that the competitors gave each other their final well-regards before their possible deaths. On arriving at the tournament location, the competitors were met by the spectators, who were all former champions of the tournament - the survivors. There were about 25 of them. The current competitors and the former champions gathered together to wish the current competitors well... and to celebrate and respect former competitors who were killed. It was at this moment in Jake knew exactly what he got himself into - but it was too late to turn back now. After the ceremony, Jake headed to the spectator area to watch the match-ups with the others. It turned out that this was one bloody tournament, and it appeared that Alley Master was dominating it. Not only did he defeat everyone, but he also killed them by stomping them to death - particularly their heads with his heavy steel-toed boots. He wore a pair of clawed brass knuckles which he used to... let's just say he used them to make sure that they were dead. By the time Jake and Alley Master's match-up began, the tournament area was covered in blood and pieces of organs - it was quite the grisly scene. As soon as Jake stepped into the tournament area, Alley Master took no time to jump him for the advantage. For several minutes in the match-up, it appeared that Alley Master had the upper hand, which would be the trend for the rest of the match. At the very end, Alley Master prepared to stomp Jake to death as he did the others. However, this is when Jake, using the pent-up wrath against Alley Master from their skirmishes at the dojo, really pulled himself together and struggled with Alley Master - he wasn't going to let himself get killed. Alley Master used his clawed brass knuckles to rip open the hand of Jake's bodysuit, as he thought if he took his hand, he wouldn't be able to fight back much against him. However, unfortunately for Alley Master, he didn't even penetrate Jake's skin... instead, he saw Jake's glowing blue skin underneath. He was horrified and fell to the ground. Jake used this to his advantage - he would take the win with this measure. However, this was not without Jake realizing that he had special radiation-related abilities as a result of his exposure - which was over two years ago from this moment. He suddenly grabbed Alley Master's left thigh in an attempt to force him into submission. As he grabbed his thigh, Alley Master noticed a burning sensation in his thigh that rapidly increased in pain and severity. It felt almost as if a million tiny white-hot needles were simultaneously ripping... drilling... into his thigh. He began to scream and cry out in pain, begging Jake to let go of his thigh. Jake did let go of his thigh when he heard this, but he noticed that the area that he was holding was swollen and bright blood red. Alley Master grabbed his thigh in pain while continuing to sob, and Jake realized that he might have given him a fatal dose of radiation. The spectators were shocked at what just happened. Deep inside, Jake wanted to help Alley Master, but he knew that he had to get out of here after what everyone just saw. He was also faced with the moral question of if Alley Master actually deserved what was likely about to happen to him after he horrifyingly murdered his competitors. On second thought, this was not the only factor at play - Alley Master seemed as if he had no problem with killing his fellow competitors. It was as if he enjoyed what he was doing to them while hearing their pained and dying screams, as there was nothing but an expression of euphoria and delighted laughter coming from him as he did it. It was as if he had done it before. If Alley Master's claims of being such a violent and dangerous punk street gangster were true, then there was a very likely chance that this competition wasn't the first time he killed someone - or was involved in killing someone... and probably a lot of people. If this was truly the case, then Jake's sympathy for him ended there. However, Jake didn't ponder on the question for too long. He quickly collected his prize without conversing with anyone else afterward and asked the organizers to take him back to his airplane, as he was in a rush to get back to the US.

Jake had an incident-free flight back to the US, but he couldn't help but think about what he did to Alley Master back at the tournament. He was quite pleased with his earnings from the tournament, but it was absolutely brutal. He was still in quite a bit of shock from the whole thing, so he couldn't think much about it. However, in other good news, he realized that he finally had way more than enough money to start his own radioactive and hazardous waste disposal company. He started to work on a business plan as soon as he got back to his apartment. After around a month, Jake was finished with writing his business plan, and he was ready to put it into action. He started by purchasing the basic equipment that he would need, as well as purchasing a small warehouse building to store and process the waste. He didn't see it as too much of a risk to make these purchases, as he thought he could always rent out the equipment and property if his plans did not go according. His next step was to contact various organizations to secure contracts. Thankfully for Jake, the organizations he contacted were more than willing to establish contracts with him to process their radioactive and hazardous waste. In the first six months of starting operations, Jake had made more money than he had spent on equipment, which meant he successfully turned a profit from his operations. He used the money to upgrade his equipment and hire a couple more workers to increase profits, and by a year's mark... he was a multi-millionaire. Given that he now had employees to run the business while he was away, Jake was somewhat able to get back into medicine. He got into making home healthcare visits for clients who requested his services as advertised. He made sure that his services were affordable, and if there was a need or the client would not be able to pay under various circumstances, he would offer his services for free - it was one of the least things that he could do for now. He plans to start a few non-profits in the future, as well as open his own free medical clinic to serve patients in need without any prerequisites... and as a matter of fact, Jake is currently in the process of completing a business plan to open his own clinic! In addition to this, Jake still does independent research under the radar, but he would like to get back into peer research, and maybe even start his own research organization.