PYRA II	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Jack Kirby, revamped by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett

Pyra II

PERSONAL DATA

Occupation: Slave, fugitive, adventurer
Base of Operation: Space
Group Affiliation(s): None
Eyes: Yellow (human form), Orange
Hair: Blonde (human form), Flame
First Appearance: Superboy Vol. 3 #57 (December 1998)
Creators: Jack Kirby, revamped by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett

OVERVIEW

An energy being encountered by Superboy and the Titans.

HISTORY

An alien being made of pure living energy captured and imprisoned by the intergalactic slaver Kossak the Slaver. Pyra escaped the slaver aboard a stolen spaceship. In order to gain her freedom, she entered the "Demolition Run", an ultimate stock-car race organized by the megalomaniac businessman Mr. Big, who offered to grant his heart's desire to whomever won the race. Hoping to win enough to keep her father Rex Leech out of trouble, Roxy had convinced Superboy and Mickey Cannon to participate aboard the Whiz Wagon. Unfortunately, Roxy's hopes fell apart along with the Whiz Wagon when it percuted Pyra's ship and crashed. Superboy wanted to check on the pilot of the UFO (as he called it). But when he removed the door of the ship, a flash of blinding light and energy burst in Roxy's face and, for a moment, she felt strangely hot. But the sensation faded and Superboy couldn't find anybody aboard. While Superboy was having a few words with Mr. Big, Roxy decided to leave. [Superboy Vol. 3 #57-58]

For a time, Pyra secretly inhabited the body of Roxy. Her organism eventually reacted to Pyra's presence and a deadly fever forced her father Rex to sought assistance from Project Cadmus. There, Doctor "Angel" Angelico tried to stop her inner combustion and put her in stasis inside a coolant gel. Meanwhile, the Gadget Guru (of The Hairies) had finished to repair the UFO Mickey and Superboy had salvaged from the race. He proposed Mickey Cannon, Dr. Serling Roquette and the powerless Superboy a trip in space. Unfortunately the UFO was pre-programmed for a return course to Kossak's ship. While pumped by the recent death of Tana Moon at the hand of Amanda Spence, Superboy didn't posed much of a threat to Kossak and his minions. [Superboy Vol. 3 #76]

At the project, Dr. Angelico was unable to stabilize Roxy's condition. The Guru's young apprentice, Tekka realized that her body was in fact reacting to the coolant gel and tried to compensate its effects by generating more heat. "If we can't chill Roxy out then we have to light her fire". She stopped the heat-dampeners and Roxy's temperature stabilized. [Superboy Vol. 3 #77]

On Kossak's ship, Superboy, Mickey, Serling and the Gadget Guru joined forces with a small group of freedom-fighters. They finally managed to free the slaves and had Kossak cornered. He cursed Earth for his demise and declared that this planet had cost him the one being he desired more than life. In an instant he teleported out of their reach. Tracking its signal from the ship, the Guru realized its destination was Earth and Cadmus. Moments later, the project alarms started ringing but Cadmus' troops were no match for Kossak. Homing on Pyra's peculiar energy signature, he found his way to the lab where Roxy was held in stasis but seemed surprised by what he found. Kossak ordered Tekka and Dr. Angelico to bring him the one he sought but was stopped by Superboy who had followed him in an escape craft. They fought and eventually managed to knock each over out. At this instant, Pyra's consciousness took over Roxy's body and broke free of her cooling tube. She used her powers to jump-start Kon-El's lost powers with a solar flare. Pyra bargained with Kossak and agreed to come back with him if he left the Earthlings unarmed. She then retracted in Roxy's unconscious form. [Superboy Vol. 3 #78-79]

To have an outside opinion on Roxy's condition, Dr. Angelico called Dr. Sarah Charles of Star Labs. Upon her arrival at Cadmus, Roxy's temperature had started to climb again. In a blinding flash, Pyra broke free of the cooling tank. She then took off and left Cadmus for the outside world. Superboy followed her to the nearby town of Kurtzberg where she started to blast things at random with her energy blasts. HeatWave arrived soon later, just in time to save a police officer. Guardian arrived aboard the Whiz Wagon and together, along with Superboy, they tried to stop Pyra's rampage while moving the civilians out of harm's way.

Things started to escalate when the Titans, called by Dr. Charles, appeared in Kurtzberg. The Titans charged head-on without regards for Superboy's efforts to restrain Pyra peacefully. Their self-righteous intrusion only served to antagonize Superboy and the situation got a little out of hand for a time. The fight was stopped by the impromptu arrival of Dr. Angelico and Dr. Sarah Charles along with Rex Leech and Dr. Serling Roquette in Kurtzberg. They had finally managed to make sense out of Roxy's test results and told Superboy that Roxy was somehow fused with an alien energy-based life-form, two entities fused in one body. Sarah Charles explained to Kon-El that he might be able to jostle Roxy free if he could get her to expand more energy by directing her energy safely. The kid took off and went to Roxy/Pyra. He told Argent and the Titans to release her and started to talk to Pyra. Through her, he addressed Roxy and tried to apologize for his past actions. Finally Roxy reached out to Superboy and the two entities separated. Pyra then flew away. When Argent asked if she should try to contain her, Roxy said "No! Pyra doesn't want to hurt anyone... She just wants to be free".

POWERS AND WEAPONS

As an energy being, Pyra can inhabit other life-forms. She he also able to generate heat, flames and energy.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Pyra in chronological order click here