Gabriel Melchior

Gabriel Melchior was a nova known as "The Miracle" who turned against Project Utopia in 2009.

Background
Melchior was raised in a devoutly Christian household and always believed whole-heartedly that God had a plan for him. He joined the extremist Church of the Immanent Eschaton and, when he erupted in 2004, he used his powers to rapidly grow the congregation worldwide. Melchior believed his powers of Biomanipulation were a gift from God and he was destined to lead God's forces in a final battle against Satan.

As Melchior's public displays of his powers grew more dramatic, he accumulated significant amounts of Taint as well. Project Proteus became concerned about his fraying mental state, and in 2008, in the midst of an Easter service, agents abducted him and took him to Proteus' secret facility in Bahrain. Due to the pyrotechnics used to cover their escape, many within the Church of the Immanent Eschaton believed Melchior to have ascended bodily to Heaven.

In Bahrain, Proteus researchers concluded that Melchior's mental state was beyond helping, but he was also too powerful to simply euthanize. Instead, he was loaned out to Operation Genesis under the complete psychic control of Allison "Psyche" Pfaltzgraff. During this time, Melchior was forced to exert himself to his limits, accumulating additional Taint in the process. He also developed low-level telepathy, a power which granted him "visions" of many of Project Proteus's more unsavory activities.

In December 2009, Melchior successfully broke free of Pfaltzgraff's control and returned to the Church of the Immanent Eschaton's compound in Boulder City, Nevada. He was convinced that all of Project Utopia were in fact the forces of Satan, and began marshalling his followers for war. Utopia agents quickly surrounded the compound, but entered a stalemate when Melchior threatened to release a deadly plague with his powers if he or his followers were threatened. The standoff attracted a large crowd of onlookers as well as the attention of the United States government, who threatened to use nuclear weapons to eliminate the threat.