Kay and Maria Killian were recruited during the late 1970s by the independant reseach firm known as ImageCorp Industries. Amongst its many shareholdings, ImageCorp had several subsidary plants that dealt with frozen gases and their containment units. The company was in the process of developing ways in which to perfect the process of freezing gases, such as nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, and as such began experiments with different types of radiation. Kay was a systems engineer, and Maria a radiologist. Both helped with these experiments, often exposed to the aftereffects of their research.
An accident at the plant they were working at shut the project down, and all of ImageCorp's employees who worked on the project were given intensive clinical studies, to determine whether or not the work effected them. Given a clean bill of health, the Killians relocated to a small town outside of Biloxi, Mississippi from North Carolina to continue their work with another branch of the company.
When Mackenzie was born, they discovered that they had had been effected by their work. The doctors were puzzled about the infant's low core body temperature, yet that she was healthy in every other way. After being kept in the hospital for a few weeks for tests, the doctors let the Killians take their daughter home. As she grew older, the only other problems the little girl had was that she would get heatstroke easily if she played too long outside without a rest. They took steps to prevent this, especially seeing as the Mississippi climate was rather brutal on her, and Mackie had a relatively normal childhood.
When she was 5, her baby brother Frank was born. He seemed a normal child, and the Killians were overjoyed that he had been spared the same sheltered life as Mackie. The siblings were rather close as children, always playing together and raising hell as only siblings could. Mackie's inability to cope with warm weather continued to worsen, and it soon became apparent to the Killian family that their daughter was not human. A trusted family doctor put Mackie through several tests, only to deduce that the radiation exposure her parents had experienced somehow mutated Mackie's genetics. Mutants were public knowledge, but rare, and afraid of their small community's reactions to the findings, the Killians kept Mackie's mutation secret.
Mackie was in high school when she discovered there were other facets of her mutation, namely the ability to create ice with an exertion of will. Excited by the discovery, she immediately told her parents, who were not nearly as excited at the news as Mackie was. Concerned for her future, her parents warned her against her powers, and tried their best to convince Mackie not to use them. She acquiesced, simply to not worry her parents, but continued to practice her new-found ability in private. In order to keep the ruse up, she took to computers and found she had a knack with programming. A broken leg during the summer between her junior and senior years kept her indoors for a few weeks, and in her boredom, Mackie discovered she had an aptitude for something else: computer hacking. She started out small, hacking into her friends' websites and leaving humorous messages, but eventually she expanded her range of expertise. It was always something of a game to her, but after a skin-of-her-teeth escape from local police, she decided that hacking was not something she wanted to get caught for.
Mackie graduated from high school -- sporting blue hair at graduation, which annoyed her teachers to no end -- and started college in the University of Southern Mississippi, majoring in computer science. She didn't take to the rigors of college life very well, being far too independent and mouthy to make passing grades. She didn't like it when professors talked down to her, and she didn't like her classmates much, either. But she tried as best she could, to not disappoint her parents. Too many failing grades saw her on academic probation, and although one of her professors tried to get Mackie to fall in and start doing better, she was expelled from the USM. Not daunted by the expulsion, Mackie decided it was time for her to experience "real life."
She started working to save up money while she worked on her vision: moving to Paragon City. Where else should a mutant like her go? Instead of working 9 to 5 in some boring computer tech job, she could use her unorthodox abilities to actually help people. She let her brother Frank in on the plan, and he gave as much support as he could, which was mostly moral. A year passed, and finally Mackie had the means and finances to relocate herself. She packed up what little she had -- mostly computer equipment, a futon, and her clothing -- and headed towards Paragon City. She decided on the moniker Iceangel, a name her brother had given her several years ago as a joke, and a name she had been using in various hacker circles. She knew it was silly, but if she was going to be a hero, she'd need a name for herself.
"The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right."
- Mark Twain, Notebook, 1898 and
- Bart Allen, aka Impulse/Kid Flash/The Flash, Teen Titans v.3, #6
Kay and Maria Killian were recruited during the late 1970s by the independant reseach firm known as ImageCorp Industries. Amongst its many shareholdings, ImageCorp had several subsidary plants that dealt with frozen gases and their containment units. The company was in the process of developing ways in which to perfect the process of freezing gases, such as nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, and as such began experiments with different types of radiation. Kay was a systems engineer, and Maria a radiologist. Both helped with these experiments, often exposed to the aftereffects of their research.
An accident at the plant they were working at shut the project down, and all of ImageCorp's employees who worked on the project were given intensive clinical studies, to determine whether or not the work effected them. Given a clean bill of health, the Killians relocated to a small town outside of Biloxi, Mississippi from North Carolina to continue their work with another branch of the company.
When Mackenzie was born, they discovered that they had had been effected by their work. The doctors were puzzled about the infant's low core body temperature, yet that she was healthy in every other way. After being kept in the hospital for a few weeks for tests, the doctors let the Killians take their daughter home. As she grew older, the only other problems the little girl had was that she would get heatstroke easily if she played too long outside without a rest. They took steps to prevent this, especially seeing as the Mississippi climate was rather brutal on her, and Mackie had a relatively normal childhood.
When she was 5, her baby brother Frank was born. He seemed a normal child, and the Killians were overjoyed that he had been spared the same sheltered life as Mackie. The siblings were rather close as children, always playing together and raising hell as only siblings could. Mackie's inability to cope with warm weather continued to worsen, and it soon became apparent to the Killian family that their daughter was not human. A trusted family doctor put Mackie through several tests, only to deduce that the radiation exposure her parents had experienced somehow mutated Mackie's genetics. Mutants were public knowledge, but rare, and afraid of their small community's reactions to the findings, the Killians kept Mackie's mutation secret.
Mackie was in high school when she discovered there were other facets of her mutation, namely the ability to create ice with an exertion of will. Excited by the discovery, she immediately told her parents, who were not nearly as excited at the news as Mackie was. Concerned for her future, her parents warned her against her powers, and tried their best to convince Mackie not to use them. She acquiesced, simply to not worry her parents, but continued to practice her new-found ability in private. In order to keep the ruse up, she took to computers and found she had a knack with programming. A broken leg during the summer between her junior and senior years kept her indoors for a few weeks, and in her boredom, Mackie discovered she had an aptitude for something else: computer hacking. She started out small, hacking into her friends' websites and leaving humorous messages, but eventually she expanded her range of expertise. It was always something of a game to her, but after a skin-of-her-teeth escape from local police, she decided that hacking was not something she wanted to get caught for.
Mackie graduated from high school -- sporting blue hair at graduation, which annoyed her teachers to no end -- and started college in the University of Southern Mississippi, majoring in computer science. She didn't take to the rigors of college life very well, being far too independent and mouthy to make passing grades. She didn't like it when professors talked down to her, and she didn't like her classmates much, either. But she tried as best she could, to not disappoint her parents. Too many failing grades saw her on academic probation, and although one of her professors tried to get Mackie to fall in and start doing better, she was expelled from the USM. Not daunted by the expulsion, Mackie decided it was time for her to experience "real life."
She started working to save up money while she worked on her vision: moving to Paragon City. Where else should a mutant like her go? Instead of working 9 to 5 in some boring computer tech job, she could use her unorthodox abilities to actually help people. She let her brother Frank in on the plan, and he gave as much support as he could, which was mostly moral. A year passed, and finally Mackie had the means and finances to relocate herself. She packed up what little she had -- mostly computer equipment, a futon, and her clothing -- and headed towards Paragon City. She decided on the moniker Iceangel, a name her brother had given her several years ago as a joke, and a name she had been using in various hacker circles. She knew it was silly, but if she was going to be a hero, she'd need a name for herself.
"The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right."
- Mark Twain, Notebook, 1898
and
- Bart Allen, aka Impulse/Kid Flash/The Flash, Teen Titans v.3, #6