Ajax

Ajax
Omega Team Member
Details
Real Name	Ralph Valetti
Gender	Male
Archetype	Unknown
Affiliation	Vigilante
Age	Unknown
Romantic Associations	Unknown
Known Family	The Valettis
Primary Powers	Unknown
Secondary Powers	Unknown

Overview

Ajax is a former Omega Team member who has become a vigilante.

Villains face him:

• in Dean MacArthur's arc

Background

Ajax is a name shared by two heroes. Both were considered to be utterly invulnerable.

The first Ajax was shot and killed by a criminal named Ralph Valetti on an outlying island near Talos Island fifteen years ago. He is buried in an unmarked grave. How his invulnerabilty failed him and he was killed by a standard firearm is a mystery.

The second Ajax is Ralph Valetti, the man who killed the first Ajax. As Ajax died, his powers transferred to Valetti. Valetti took Ajax's costume and identity and continued the heroic career of Ajax. Ajax II was part of Hero 1's Omega Team, but was able to survive the blast that occurred when the Omega Team destroyed the portal to the Rikti Homeworld after being trapped in a Rikti stasis ray. He was the only known survivor of Omega Team until Glacia and Infernia managed to return from the Rikti Homeworld several years later.

SPOILER

Upon the opening of the Omega Team's capsule, and the revelation of Ajax's true identity, a warrant was put out for Valetti's arrest. He fled to the Rogue Isles, where he started taking down as many super-powered criminals he could find. After being defeated during Dean MacArthur's arc, he is recruited by the writer of the Ouroboros Letters to defend against the Menders and the Coming Storm. What happened to his helmet is unknown.

Time Capsule

On 27th November 2009, the Omega Team time capsule was opened. Inside was Ajax's final letter which he contributed to the time capsule before the Alpha and Omega Gambit took place.

To whoever reads this. My name is Ajax. All my life, all I've wanted to do is save people. That's just how I was raised. I don't have a tragic past, lost parents, or a vengeful arch nemesis. I've had a great life, to be honest. This is what I wanted to write, what everyone would want to hear. However, you all deserve to know the truth. I know at this point I will have been gone for many years. After all this time, you all deserve to know this. I am not the real Ajax. My real name is Ralph Valetti. The real Ajax is dead and buried somewhere on one of the islands off of Talos. Given when this letter will be read, he will have been buried there for nearly fifteen years. I killed Ajax. I shot him and he died. I don't know how - he was supposed to be invulnerable. I didn't even mean to do it. I was scared, I was petty - I was a coward. Ajax stared into my eyes before the life left his body. In that moment his power was somehow transferred to me. I buried Ajax and ran. I was terrified. I stayed in hiding for weeks, testing these new powers. I really couldn't be hurt - believe me, I tried. But how then did I kill Ajax? This is something that I still have not figured out. It was in my fourth week of hiding that I saw on the news people were searching for Ajax, wondering about his disappearance. I returned to where I buried Ajax and took his outfit. He always wore a helmet, so no one knew his identity. We both had a similar look in the outfit - anyone would have, really. I looked at his body one last time before burying him. Maybe I did it out of fear of being discovered. Or maybe I really wanted to be a hero. I still don't know. I took Ajax's life, his powers, and then finally, I took his name. I can only hope those reading this now can forgive me for what I've done, for who I was. I did everything I could to redeem myself, to fill in Ajax's shoes. I even forced my way into the Omega Team. I was one of the few who found Hero 1 and told him I was going to join. Hero 1 told me that this mission will be one that we will not be coming back from. I knew that from the start. My one wish is that when this begins, I will be able to save as many lives as possible - as an indestructible man going in with a team of magicians, it's the one thing I'm there to do. If everything goes according to plan, the rest of the Omega Team will be reading this now, with myself stuck somewhere on the Rikti homeworld. Whatever you do, please do not come looking for me. No more heroes should die on my behalf. No matter what happens, just please keep living your lives, even if it is as the forfeit of my own. That's what the original Ajax would have wanted. It's what I would want.

Powers

The nature of Ajax's powers is unknown. The way the original Ajax received them, and the method of transfer to Ralph Valetti is a mystery. What is certain is that they make him utterly invulnerable to any standard form of attack.

SPOILER

In Dean MacArthur's story arc, MacArthur theorizes that the invulnerability has worn off. It has not. However, Ajax can be made vulnerable by powerful psionic blasts.