Dmitri Tesla (not related to the famous scientist, Nikola Tesla), was a Russian Federation submarine sailor whose job was nuclear engineering and reactor water chemistry.  While on patrol in the Pacific Ocean, his submarine was attacked by the evil Kaha Koa​. His sub was severely damaged, causing it to sink to the bottom at nearly twice its crush depth.  Amazingly, the hull did not buckle, but with no power and no emergency air pressure to bring them to the surface, the remaining crew of the sub were doomed.

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With Dmitri being the only ranking living officer, he went through every option they had, none of which any 'normal' option would work. Thus, they went to abnormal an dangerous options to review. one such option was to un-scram the reactor plant and attempt to bring power back up to at least attempt to use the propulsion system. This would require someone to enter the reactor compartment and manually control the rods. This would easily be a suicide run whomever did it. As the ship's ranking officer, he took the responsibility and informed his crew what to do one the reactor was back online.  Leaving a final 'goodbye' letter to his fiancee', he entered the reactor compartment to do what he'd hoped would help save the crew. Little did he know until after he locked himself in the reactor did he discover several unmarked canisters hidden under the decks of the Reactor Room labeled at "X-65". These canisters were VERY old and although stowed well enough for sea operations, he could see that the rusting Tin metal canisters were well on their way to failing.  Not knowing what X-65 was (Writers Note: X-65 is a mutagenic mustard gas used in World War I that was later discovered to give 10-20% of those exposed to the gas 'meta-human' if not 'mutant' powers or abilities).

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Using all his skills, Dmitri manually lifted the control rods, allowing the reactor's uranium core to start boiling water in the hopes of running their engineering equipment and propulsion system.  Sadly, the rods used to control the reaction failed with the old manual controls and instead shot up, uncovering the rods 100%.  This created a massive steam bubble in the reactor, causing a catastrophic rupture, exposing the whole of the reactor room to significantly deadly amounts of radiation. The explosion also ruptured the paper-thin walls of the X-65 canisters, dousing the room in the mutagenic mustard gas. This, coupled with the radiation, the electrical arcs surging through the resounding explosions, Dmitri knew death was almost instantaneous. Death agreed with him, with Dmitri dying seconds later....

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...only to be awoken alive once again...but not as himself.

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Dmitri was glowing a yellow-green glow; all hair falling away.  He felt energized; energized enough to try to regain manual control of the core. Not only did he regain control...he did it without even touching the controls.  He was now controlling the nuclear reaction through his thoughts and motions. Within a minute, Dmitri had the reaction back in control, however, the room was still bathed in massive and deadly amounts of radiation.  He attempted to signal his crew through the porthole (which his crew watched all that had occurred to him through) and followed his motions to re-engage the engines and start working the steam plant to make power and steam.

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They did. The submarine jumped to life and shortly thereafter, the propulsion system came online as did the ships power. The sub was moving again, however, the hull was buckling worse than ever. Thinking that he still had to get air into the ballast tanks to get them up to the surface to safety, Dmitri tried thinking of ways to do so, strangely enough, with a passing thought of boiling the seawater in the ballast tanks to steam and making the sub positively buoyant in the process. No sooner than he thought this, Dmitri changed into an electrical energy body, shooting himself though the hull and into the forward main ballast tanks back into the glowing yellow-green body he'd had in the Reactor Room. Although perplexed as to the'how' he got there, he didn't waste time on postulating; instead he used his new nuclear powers and boiled the water in the main ballast tanks. Within seconds, the tanks were filled with air; Dmitri then shot himself to the aft tanks and did the same using the same electrical path he did before. Seconds later, the crippled sub arose from the bottom of the sea and began an uncontrolled ascent to the surface. By the time the sub broached the surface, they were travelling well over 45 knots, launching the sub nearly completely out of the water. It splashed down with a thunderous crash, causing welds across the primary hull to finally break, flooding the compartments.

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Dmitri once again went to work and using his powers, 'arc welded' the welds again, stopping most of the flooding within the next several minutes.  With that, he unleashed an electromagnetic burst, knowing the super-power nations had instantaneous sensors to report such a thing, any of which would immediately triangulate and investigate.  Dmitri, while waiting for help to come, ushered the crew topside and had them man the life rafts. In all, he saved 60% of the crew, far more than the fate the Kaha Koa had in mind.   Sadly, that's when one of the Kaha Koa, Ulupoka, returned to finish their work in destroying the Russian sub and its crew.

 

Ulupoka quickly died fighting Dmitri. 

 

Ulupoka was 'revived' later by the group's god of the dead, Milu, however, by that time, the sub's crew had been ushered to safety by the United States Navy and GUARD. GUARD had facilities to keep Dmitri from irradiating any and all near him (a result of his new powers). As such, GUARD offered to help Dmitri.  Dmitri stated he'd wait for Russia to respond. Months later, Russia told Dmitri they didn't have the resources or the desire to have to deal with his new powers and the issues and problems they would continue to cause.  Dmitri, saddened by this, attempted to contact his fiancee', Marlina Talovsky, only to find out she and Dmitri's family had already 'buried' him, after the Russian government reported Dmitri as 'Killed in Action'. It was said Dmitri had earned a posthumous medal for his heroic exploits, however, as far as Russia and his fiancee' were concerned, Dmitri Tesla was dead.

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Dmitri was visited by a fellow submariner that worked for GUARD named Captain Seawolf.  Over the next few weeks, Captain Seawolf and Dmitri went over what each was looking for should they create a new working agreement between themselves. As such, Dmitri wanted simply to do what he was born to do: work on nuclear power plants, however, in his current condition, he knew he couldn't.  That's when the scientists and engineers of GUARD came up with alternatives and solutions.

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The engineering team devised a bodysuit with a complex set of sensors, dampening fields and radiation armoring that would not only allow Dmitri to walk amongst people again, it'd help him control his powers.  Dmitri was overwhelmed with elation over the prospect of being able to work again and to potentially start a new life. Dmitri agreed to the solutions, and within the next month, he was fitted with an experimental anti-radiation suit that was tough enough to even be used in combat against super-powered people.  It allowed him to channel his powers and to focus his electrical conversions, which allowed for short-range teleportation.  With a few extra weeks of training, Dmitri was a functional engineer and person again.

 

When Dmitri called his fiancee to tell her that he was not only  alive, but was now capable of being in her presence, she told him she'd already married another man and that she didn't want to live with a 'freak' anyway. Russia continued to deny Dmitri's existence, and as such, Dmitri was never allowed to return to Russia ever again.  With options limited, Dmitri went to the only people that actually seemed to care for the new 'him' - GUARD and Captain Seawolf.

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With that, Dmitri agreed to join Captain Seawolf's Seaguardians team and as such became a valued member of the team.  Initially, there were a lot of politics and sociological issues between Dmitri and the team, but after several missions, Dmitri quickly learned that he could rely on the Seaguardians more than he could with his own crew of Russian sub sailors.  As such, Dmitri now enjoys being a part of the Seaguardians. His English is 'much gooder', and he is excelling at using him powers and applying his nuclear engineering skills with the quantum drive that makes up the engine room of the USS Paragon City (GSX-1) submarine, the most advance sub in the world.

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Today, Dmitri as 'Nucleonics' continues as a member of the Seaguardians and is thoroughly enjoying his new life as a naturalized US citizen and a new student of quantum mechanics and engineering.

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