Radian (Morituri)

Following Vyking's demise, Radian, who was used to taking orders in battle, began looking for another leader figure and tried to pressure his new teammate, Toxyn, into this position, much against her chagrin.[7] Later, during a battle with the Horde, one of them managed to slip a videocassette in Radian's costume. Radian was unaware of it until he returned to the Morituri base. In his room, Radian watched the cassette alone. Through the cassette, the Kind Inquirer of the Horde made Radian a tempting offer: he professed possessing a cure for the deadly Morituri effect. As proof, the Horde warlord produced Bruce Higashi, a member of the Black Watch, the first team of volunteers to undergo the process. Higashi had been believed killed in the first and only battle of the Watch that had taken place months ago. In the video, though, Higashi appeared to be still alive, albeit a captive of the Horde, approximately sixteen months after he had been subjected to the Morituri process, meaning he had long outlived the time limit of the deadly effect.

Radian was torn between his devotion to the team, and his desire to evade the certain death that awaited him, which to him equalled suicide. That same day, teammate Scaredycat presented him with a communication she had intercepted, which proved that the team's employers, the Paedia Council, were discouraging Dr. Kimmo Tuolema, inventor of the process, from searching for a cure for the Morituri effect. An indignant Radian made up his mind and called the number that the Horde had left him on the cassette.[8]

The team privately discussed Scaredycat's finding and pondered on their options. However, despite their anger for being treated as expendable pawns, they all seemed to brush it off, with the exception of Radian. More and more troubled, Radian again communicated with the Horde and made an agreement with them.

Just then, the team was alerted by yet another alarm about a Horde attack. Even though the team was not officially called to action, due to the limited size of the attack, Radian took the initiative and led the team to a cruise ship that had been taken over by the Horde. Apparently, Vyking's parents were on board as passengers and the Horde took them hostage, hoping to lure the team, knowing they would not refrain from helping their dead leader's parents. The team prevailed in the ensuing battle and took over the Horde ship that had realized the attack. However, just then, Radian communicated with the other Horde ships that participated in the attack, and pretended to go along with their agreed plan of delivering all the team into their hands. The team lashed at him, but Radian, either accidentally or on purpose, drove the commandeered ship in space, thus breaking his deal with the Hordians.[9]

Nevertheless, the team accused Radian of being a traitor. It was only after Radian claimed that he had done all this in order for them to commandeer a Horde ship and for their teammate, Adept, to come in contact again with invaluable artifact stashed in their space fleet and catalogue them in her memories through her analytic abilities, that they were convinced of his good intentions.[10] After the success of the mission, the team returned to Earth, now facing charges of misconduct. Eventually, the team was acquitted.[11][12]

However, Radian still faced the same ethical dilemma of whether his death of the Morituri effect equalled suicide and whether he should pursue a possible cure that could save all the Morituri's lives, including the life of Blackthorn's unborn baby. He even visited a nun, asking for enlightenment, but she assured him that his death as Earth's hero did not signify suicide. Radian then visited Dr. Kimmo Tuolema, the inventor of the process and asked him if a cure was likely to be found. Tuolema dashed his hopes, revealing that one of his colleagues, who was vital in the research for the cure, was kidnapped years ago by the Horde and possibly killed by them, making the prospect of a cure in the near future highly unlikely. After that, Radian contemplated that the Horde's story of possessing the cure could be true. Shortly afterwards, the team faced the Super-Hordians, a genetically mutated breed of more powerful Hordians. The team was almost vanquished by them, before Radian decided to turn himself over to the Super-Hordians, allowing himself to be led to their leader.

Radian was taken in the Horde's Earthbound base, in Cape Town, where the Kind Inquirer presented Radian with the captive Bruce Higashi, reiterating his claims about a cure. Higashi tried to discourage Radian, arguing that what he was suffering now was worse than death, but the Kind Inquirer did not allow him to continue his communication with the Morituri. Radian then asked the Horde warlord if they had procured the cure from Tuolema's colleague, Dr. Ledbetter, which the Kind Inquirer confirmed. He also informed Radian that they would not hold him captive, but he still had to pay a price. Indeed, Radian was forced to transmit a message throughout the globe, in which he informed the public that there is, in fact, a cure for the Morituri effect, but the Paedia refrains from discovering it, wanting to keep their superpowered warriors under check. He also publicly denounced the Paedia and its actions.

Shortly afterwards, Radian was returned to Earth and confronted his teammates. They all lashed at him for his perceived betrayal and one of them, the aggressive Shear, mortally wounded him. As he lay dying, Radian confessed to Blackthorn, by then his closest confidant, that there is no cure and the Horde were lying. Apparently, a "Dr. Ledbetter" doesn't exist and Radian called in their bluff. He also explained that his purpose, to die in battle instead of "committing suicide" (i.e. dying of the Morituri effect) had been achieved. Blackthorn forgave him. After Radian died, Shear proceeded to spit on his face.[13]