Colin Ashworth Hume was a Canadian expatriate who grew up in England. As an adult, he found work as a special operative, using his mutant powers for the superhuman division of Roxxon Oil Corp's United Kingdom branch. Roxxon Oil gave Hume a suit of armor and the code-name Windshear.

On one assignment, Hume investigated Roxxon Oil's energy research facility in Colorado, which seemed to have been taken over by an outside force. Hume was unable to thwart his foe, and Roxxon called in Madison Jeffries, then a member of Canada's Alpha Flight as Box, to deal with the problem. Jeffries soon realized the true nature of the problem- Roxxon had discovered the comatose body of James Hudson, formerly the hero Guardian, and attempted to use him for their own purposes. Jeffries, with the help of the mutant Forge, soon revived Hudson even as Roxxon executives hoped to destroy Hudson and their facilities in an explosion. Hume, upset over the truth of Roxxon's practices, returned to Canada with the members of Alpha Flight, and he was soon accepted onto the team.

Hume soon grew into his role as a superhero while also lending his executive talents as Cheif Administrator. He even became a mentor for Alpha Flight's trainee team, Beta Flight. Eventually, the Canadian government disbanded its sanctioned teams, and Hume returned to England.

Hume set up a curio shop to sell objects created with "hard air," and his objects command a high price. When the hero team Thunderbolts was investigating a series of murders committed with bullets created out of hard air, they investigated Hume and learned of Roxxon's connection.

More recently, after reality was twisted by the Scarlet Witch, many of Earth’s mutants were stripped of their powers. Colin Hume was revealed to have been among these, as his mutant energy signature was recognized as having been absorbed by the Collective.