Pheonix was an unnamed little girl that was brought into the world not by loving parents, but by cold machinery. His dna was made of artificial strands made living by lines of code that somehow became organic. He grew in not a womb, but a tube, with machines hooked to him as soon as he was deemed “alive”. When he was born, he was cared for by the kinder staff until he could open his eyes. That was the last time he ever knew peace before his escape. From that moment on, Pheonix was known as subject FB-097 in FoH. His caretaker became a woman named Leana Wolfram, who was a well renowned documenter and tester for the children made in the FoH labs. She was well respected as a tester, but those under her care were terrified of her. Pheonix was no exception. He grew up being hit, starved, ignored, and tortured by that cruel woman. When he began to show that he didn’t feel like a girl, Wolfram didn’t gender him. She dehumanized him, calling him a thing and “it” and the like. When Pheonix hit early puberty at eleven years old, the treatment grew more severe.

As the years went on, Pheonix was the only kid out of all of the groups he was placed with to still be alive. Dozens of kids had been killed around him, yet he was the only one to survive. He was only 12 by the time it was discovered that he wasn’t mortal. He had been starved for months, fed nothing but water. When he died, he didn't even realize it. He was far too weak to notice anything. He was pronounced dead by another scientist, only to be pronounced alive minutes later by another. For some time, it was thought that the first scientist had made a mistake. They were nearly dealt with when it was confirmed that Pheonix had, in fact, died. Almost instantly, Pheonix was hooked up to monitors to see what had happened inside of his body and how it happened. They had discovered the key to immortality- or at least thats what they thought. They hadn't realized in playing God, they had made an angel. Pheonix's blood wasn't blood, it was some sort of liquid fire. A mistake was made when they tried to draw the bloody fire and they began to test it without documentation first.

The building went up in flames.

In the end, only a handful of scientists and Pheonix remained. Because of the loss of documentation and subjects, Pheonix was moved from the (now ruined) lab in Canada to a lab in Australia. He was 13 when the move was finalized. He spent a little under a month in a cargo ship with the remaining scientists and information. Even on the boat he wasn't safe from mistreatment, and it only continued when he made it to Australia.

It would be a few more years until he finally escaped the FoH's labs. The lab in Australia wasn't the most secure, as it was in the middle of a warland during the Omnic Crisis. The same treatment continued under the same people, including his "mother." It only stopped once he was rescued at 16 by a gaggle of hooligans that raided the department for supplies. The hooligan group was just a bunch of other teens and young adults getting up to no good, and in the end they invited Pheonix to join them. Honestly for me its not super clear what happens just after this- not super clear because I deadass never really thought about it. I imagine that like maybe he stuck with the hooligans for some years, dated one or two of them, and split off after he was in his late twenties. During that time he grew into his abilities, and while he had fun, he just wanted to relax for once in his life. So after his run with his group, he found himself a place and job in Junkertown.

In Junkertown, Pheonix originally was outcasted. No one trusted the new guy with the ability to manipulate fire, you know? But he found himself a job as a welder and nurse, got himself a nice one bed one bath apartment, and tried to just… find peace. Then he watched Junkrat and Roadhog get kicked out and decided to pick back up his silly shit! He still has a place in Junkertown, more recently being a personal nurse for the Queen when she wants a fight. A bit after meeting Junkrat and Roadhog though is when he had a huge breaking point. It was at least a few months after they started hanging out.

Pheonix found himself in the middle of the wasteland, muttering and shaking, walking with no active destination. He'd have flashbacks of things he couldn't quite remember the events of, but he sure remembered how he felt. The pain, the hate, the want. As he spiraled, he took no notice of wings resembling fire sprouting from his bad, the ends of his hair seemingly burning, and the feeling of ice all around him. As his panic grew worse, so did the charge of his ability. At the peak of this spiral, with a wail, a devastating burst of power would explode from him, leaving a massive crater around him and demolishing anything within that radius. Because of the overwhelming negative effects, he'd pass out for who knows how long. When he came to, he'd find himself in a cool medical bay. He was being tended to by none other than Angela Zeigler, or Mercy! Her team (Baptiste, Brig, Echo, and Cassidy) had been scouting out in search of Junkertown and New Junk City to get an idea of who they could call upon for Overwatch, but had been distracted by the explosion of blue across the horizon. Mercy explained they had seen the explosion and assumed the worst, only to find him laying at the center of a crater. Pheonix was naturally weary of all of these new folk, but with some convincing from Brig (who reminded him of himself in a way), he allowed Mercy and Baptiste to finish taking care of him. He explained that he had been spiraling but was fine now, but Mercy insisted she give him a way to contact them in case of something like that happening again or if he ever needed help. I imagine Cassidy or Echo would mention needing new recruits for Overwatch of course, and after Pheonix talked with them about it, accepted keeping a contact. They assured him he didn't need to make his decision now, but if he ever wanted to join, he could contact them. With that he returned home, and has the contact device on his bedside table. He holds it at night sometimes, thinking about what it would be like to join the big leagues. But what about his friends here? He didn't want to leave them behind. He doesn't have it in his heart to leave the only people that care about him behind. So he waits, hoping for the answer to just magically appear to him.

THIS WAS SO LONG LMAO IM SORRY I WANTED TO GET AS MUCH OF HIS STORY AS I COULD I LOVE HIM SO SO DEARLY. I'VE DONE SO MUCH ART OF HIM. HIS TOYHOU.SE IS LINKED HERE AND UP AT THE TOP WHERE HIS NAME IS SFJSHJSDHSHDAKD THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE YOU ENY!!!

An edit literally minutes later: SOME DETAILS I FORGOT TO MENTION AND I DO NOT FEEL LIKE GOING BACK TO ADD. - He transitioned with the hooligans!!! They helped him with HRT and even surgery, both types! - That explosion at the end happened at least a year ago from his active story starting point, meaning that the scars on his back are ACTUALLY FROM THAT AS WELL AS THE BLACK IN HIS HAIR!! - The reason its a "blue" burst and not a red one is because of the intensity of the flames that had burst from him! Red/orange/yellow is his base, but with every color going all the way up to white means its more and more intense. White is like, his "theres no going back from this" color, blue is right before that. - He's obviously queer if that wasn't shown enough HE IS A TRANS MAN AND LIKES MEN!!! GAYBOY QUEEIRO FAGGATRON WHATEVER HES A GAY LIKE ME