Alias: Electromagnus
Real Name: Edward Zolnick
Genre: Supervillain
Powers/Special Skills: magnetokinesis, electrokinesis
Affiliations: none
Other Aliases: none
Status: at large
Bio:
Dr. Edward Zolnick sat at his desk in the darkness of the laboratory. Tears cascaded down his weathered face, which carried a look of complete hopelessness. His wife’s letter, spelling out her years long love affair with her co-worker and requesting a divorce lay on the desk before him. He had read it several times, hoping each time that it would say something, anything but the cold words she had written.
He turned on the lights in his private lab. Metal parts lay strewn around the room, shapes oddly resembling human body parts. Edward knew his robot prototype would never be built. He had lost the will to continue his work. He wiped his eyes and picked up a mechanical arm.
The plans for the robot had been to give it the ability to absorb and store electrical energy and convert it to magnetic energy, giving the machine the ability to lift and transport huge machines effortlessly.
Edward sighed and pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk. There, lying unopened since four years ago, was a bottle of Scotch he’d been saving for a special occasion. He sniffed and unscrewed the top, tilting it up to his mouth and taking a long swallow. It burned going down, but for some reason he welcomed the sting. It was a feeling that was better than the deep depression he was feeling. He took three more gulps and the bottle was half empty.
Edward looked back at the arm and laughed. It was ridiculous, his dream of creating a self-supporting entity from scratch. He had no idea how he could make it think for itself. It would need a human influence no matter what. He held it up to his own arm. Having built the machine based on his own dimensions, it was the same length and width. What if…
No, that could never work. He took another swig of Scotch.
But maybe. And maybe, he could bring about justice to the two people who had destroyed him. The other man. And his wife. Mostly his wife, who couldn’t keep her legs closed no matter what he tried to do to please her.
The anger rose as he drank the last of the Scotch. Soon it would erupt. His mind was racing with thoughts, ideas, visions of death and vengeance.
He ripped apart the robot parts and modified them to fit on his own body. He could control them himself, use his own intellect to use the energy of the suit.
He stood from his chair, staggered with his inebriation, caught himself, and strapped on the equipment. It fit perfectly. He stumbled to the window, where dark clouds had filled the night sky. He looked out, and there, just two miles away, he saw the lights of his house. Thunder rumbled, loud enough to frighten him. It was closer than he thought.
A bolt of lightning leaped through the window and slammed into Edward as he stood there. He flew across the room and landed awkwardly on a filing cabinet.
But he had sustained no damage from the streak of electricity. No physical damage, that is. The suit had absorbed all of the lightning bolt, but the electricity had done something to Edward’s mind, driving him instantly insane. He stood, eyes wide, and raised his hands. Paper clips from his desk quivered and then rose a foot into the air. His stapler flew across the room and shattered his computer monitor. The filing cabinet tipped over and then slid across the room to stop at his feet.
This power is mine, he thought. I am in control.
He smiled and walked from the lab and down the stairs. Ink pens followed him, floating through the air just behind him. He walked out the front door of Brainstorm industries and began his slow walk home.
They would pay for their deceit.
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