Characters: Koal
Real Name: Kristy Mazur
Occupation: Adventurer
Identity: Known to the general public
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record.
Place of Birth: Middleton, Indiana
Known relatives: Chad Mazur (father), Sara Lee Mazur (mother), Lillian (sister), Helen (sister), Cody (brother)
Group Affiliation: T.A.S.K.
Powers and Abilities: Due to a mutagenic reaction to unknown chemicals while being in the center a fiery explosion, Hothead developed the abilities of flame generation, projection, and flight. Since her abduction and as a result of unknown experiments, Koal now generates plasma through the absorption of solar radiation. Before her abduction Kristy could only produce flames from her hands, now she is able to project blasts of searing heat or concussive plasma energy from her hands, feet, eyes or mouth. Koal's plasma is hot enough to melt steel with ease. She herself is immune to the effects of her abilities. The only time she was affected was when she first projected superheated plasma through her eyes.
Brief personal history: Kristy was your typical All-American high school senior with no real dreams beyond leaving her boring hometown to attend college. On the night of her senior prom she was in the passenger seat when her intoxicated boyfriend crashed into a truck carrying experimental mutagenic compounds for Nundar Industries. The resulting explosion should have claimed her life as it did her boyfriend's but inexplicably not only did Kristy survive unharmed, she soon began to exhibit superhuman fire generation and control abilities. Not long afterwards, Kristy was visited by John Henry and Meridian who invited her to become a member of T.A.S.K.'s trainee program under Meridian's mentorship. She accepted and chose the codename Hothead.
Kristy excelled during the trainee program and within three years became a full fledged T.A.S.K. member. Also, as Hothead, Kristy became a public favorite and moved on to become press spokesperson for T.A.S.K. Her winning smile and easy charm helped her become a household name and she was one of the few members of the organization to have their own fan club. At its zenith the Hothead Fan Club boasted over 2 million members and even hosted national conventions. Hothead also founded numerous charitable organizations and worked with terminally ill children.
Kristy's warmth even melted the cool exterior of the man who trained her. Although he had found her to be an exceptional trainee, it was only after years of seeing her bravery as a hero and her compassion for the less fortunate that Meridian began to see her as more. Soon the two began dating and as a couple they became the face of T.A.S.K. News of their engagement was greeted with worldwide joy and congratulations from celebrities and world leaders.
During a mission in India where T.A.S.K. battled the Kala Naga, Kristy went missing. It was later discovered that she had been kidnapped by Legacy and spent weeks as the subject of experiments conducted by The Factory's leader and his protégé, Prof. Shallum Chowdry aka Brother None. The nature of her powers was divined, their limits tested – and then broken. The situation was even direr for it turned out that just before the mission Kristy had revealed to Meridian that they were going to be parents.*
After weeks of captivity, during an excruciatingly painful experiment, Kristy's anesthesia lost its effectiveness and she gained consciousness in time to hear Legacy and Brother None discussing how much of a "tragedy and a waste" it was that they had not been able to save the child. Consumed with grief and anger Kristy attempted to attack her captors using her powers only to discover that something was vastly different. Instead of projecting her flame abilities from her hands, a concentrated beam of superheated plasma fired from her eyes. Kristy's tear ducts exploded and rivers of scalding material ran down her cheeks in place of tears, forever scarring her face. The heat Kristy projected grew as her rage increased and soon she was free of her bonds and savagely attacking Legacy and None. Legacy managed to escape but Brother None was caught by one of Kristy's plasma blasts and nearly incinerated. Kristy left him for dead. While chasing after a fleeing Legacy, Kristy found other captive women and children. The grief-stricken heroine decided to free the other captives rather than continue her pursuit and once everyone one was rescued she destroyed the facility that had been her prison for weeks. Her act of destruction was spotted by an unmanned U.S. UAV flying reconnaissance and it was then that Kristy discovered that she'd been held captive in Afghanistan for almost 3 months. T.A.S.K. was alerted and Meridian, John Henry, Kraken and a host of other T.A.S.K. members were on the scene within hours.
A full examination by Kraken revealed that Kristy's powers had indeed been altered. Every cell of her body was now in essence, a nearly uncontrollable plasma generating furnace. Her power levels had greatly increased and she experienced great difficulty remaining in control. So much so that Kraken had to design and create a containment suit to help her control her flare ups. Additionally she would go on to spent months dealing with the psychological effects of her capture and the loss of her baby.
Kristy's deep grief and anger created a rift in her relationship with Meridian. Legacy had also left them a parting gift, a mutagenic trigger that caused Kristy intense agony if in physical contact with Meridian. As a result the couple's relationship crumbled and Kristy took on a new, darker attitude. Hothead was gone, she now called herself Koal.
As Koal she became much more violent in the execution of her duties and John Henry suggested she take a leave of absence after critically injuring one of the Sisters of Winter.
Koal has not been an active member of T.A.S.K. for 2 years and presently lives in isolation on an abandoned farm in upstate New York.
* It is very possible that Kristy's pregnancy was the reason she was abducted.
Written by Damion Gonzales
Character design by Sean Isaakse