Amp’s body is his energy source. Constant use of powers, particularly emission powerd, causes fatigue. The body will not allow emission to endanger survival, so if Amp uses too much energy, his powers will, in essence, enter a "sleep mode."

Amp’s energy body works in constant exchange with environmental energy. Static electricity, street lamps, etc. are sources Amp draws energy from. Conversely, Amp releases energy as a by-product of living. If Amp cannot emit any energy, he will eventually suffocate.

Child Services found a relative, an austere Aunt (Mary Grace Watts) in Milledgeville, willing to raise the foundling. Mary Grace lived an intensely religious and rural life, reading the Bible on her knees several hours each evening while running a small farm that had been in the family for generations. A.J. matured and grew-up in a house that was lighted by coal-oil and heated by wood-burning stove. Aunt Mary Grace insisted that it was good enough for her kin and "it was better’n what Jesus had," so it would serve. Mary Grace passed when A.J. was twelve years old. The sale of the antiquated farm and her few belongings created a small trust fund that allowed A.J. to attend boarding school rather than return to foster care.

At the Webb School, A.J. became increasingly isolated. He gained a reputation as a "techno-jinx"—when AJ walked into the room sometimes the fuse blew, the TV station became static, computers rebooted. Needless to say, A.J.’s popularity in the dorms was low, but disciplined study did not prevent him from doing well in the school. It was not until prom, senior year, that A.J.’s powers manifested themselves in a way that ended his years of being "human."

Annabelle-Lee and AJ retired to Frenchmen’s Bend, a well known "lover’s lane," after the prom. AJ turned off the engine of Annabelle’s father’s Edsel and glided into a quiet place. AJ pushed the parking break and leaned over to kiss his date: as their lips met the car roared to life, the radio blasted at maximum capacity, Annabelle cried out, convulsed, and slumped into unconsciousness as her hair-sprayed coiffeur smoldered. AJ leapt from the car and ran down the road away from Frenchman’s Bend. As he ran, parked cars sprang to life, car alarms sounded, headlights flickered and popped.

AJ lived in the relative isolation of the Tennessee-Georgia Mountains. There he began to explore his developing powers. Generating and controlling energy forms with increasing finesse, eventually he began to sense energy sources. However, AJ’s powers developed faster than he could cope with them. AJ found that as his powers expressed themselves more fully, his body—at times—began to feel dissipated, began to glow. In fact, his body began to fluctuate between states of corporeality and concentrated energy. AJ’s body now expresses itself as raw energy—each cell has radically altered so that each one is a combination of plasmal and electrical generation and interaction.