The Burnouts
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Real Identity: Various
Appearances (Comics): The Dream
Powers/Skills: Flight and Enhanced Strength
Voiced By: Not Applicable
Some members of the Hairies, a group of young idealists in New York, volunteered to take part in experiments conducted by one of their leaders, Doctor Psycho. A former participant in the C.I.A.'s mind control program Project MKUltra, Psycho, used experimental drugs meant to enhance minds and bring them to the next level of evolution but something went wrong and the volunteers were reduced to rabid states. Psycho locked "the burnouts" in a basement while he tried to figure out a way to bring them back to normal or further transform them. Bekka later searched Psycho's laboratory and found the basement. The burnouts swarmed her and attacked. To make matters worse, their confused and angry thoughts seeped into her mind like psychic sewage. She fought them off and confronted Psycho and Guitar Joe about their secret. Viewing Bekka as a threat, Psycho moved his lab and the burnouts from The Farm commune to a cave.
Enhanced by a leftover crystal made by Mother Box, Psycho had the imagination to transform the burnouts into something extraordinary. He used the crystal and his equipment on the burnouts. Several died from the pain and shock. Guitar Joe protested but was knocked out and subjected to the experiments. Due to his connection to the others as their leader, Psycho embedded the crystal in Joe's chest. The burnouts were transformed into winged monsters. Recalling Bekka's promise of a reckoning, Psycho sent the burnouts to destroy Bekka at her commune New New Genesis. After an hour of fighting, Bekka seemed to force them to retreat but another wave arrived. She recognized Joe and saw the crystal. Using her heart-connection to Joe and his to the others, Bekka was able to restore the burnouts back into humans and brought everyone into a state of unity and sacredness beyond words. Joe led Bekka to the cave Psycho used but it was already abandoned. She discovered the bodies of the burnouts that died in the experiments. The atrocity convinced Bekka that she needed to leave and rejoin the world.