Atom Eve's siblings

Known only as Phases Two through Five, these four were engineered as follow-ups to Atom Eve, the government's original Phase One. Officials judged them defective almost from the start. Most never learned speech, and none could endure more than a single day away from the pods that kept them alive, though each still held considerable power.

After Elias Brandyworth left government service, a replacement scientist was tasked with rebuilding his greatest creation. Lacking Brandyworth's talent, the new researcher turned out unstable results, drawing on Polly, the same woman used to make Phase One, who had died giving birth and been revived only in a brain-dead state.

When Erickson learned that Phase One still lived, he ordered the surviving Phases released. They drew Atom Eve to a downtown highway, where the siblings discovered how they were all connected before turning on her. The fight killed most of them, their fragile bodies failing under the strain. Afterward, Eve conjured a portrait to hold their memory, and years later spoke of them again with Rex Splode as her true family.

Phase 2 stands out as the only one of the group besides Eve able to talk, and he died in her arms wishing their lives had gone differently. Phases 3, 4, and 5 followed, each a rougher attempt than the one before, never maturing past a half-formed state.