Bugbyte
NAME: Benjamin "Ben" Davis
ALIAS: Bugbyte
AGE: 27
BIRTHPLACE: Paragon City, RI
OCCUPATION: IT Technician
ABILITIES:
- Electrokinesis
- Bio-electric manipulation
- Ability to cling to solid surfaces
- Enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and durability
Benjamin "Ben" Davis was a skilled but reserved IT technician working for NexTech Solutions, a tech company specializing in cutting-edge hardware and cybersecurity. He spent most days troubleshooting slow internet connections, resetting passwords, and explaining tech jargon to confused clients. His role was to maintain the company's vast network of servers, troubleshoot tech issues, and keep things running smoothly. He was the kind of guy people only noticed when their devices stopped working.
One night, however, Ben was called to address a server issue in NexTech's experimental tech lab, where engineers were testing "EonNet," a new prototype relay system designed to wirelessly distribute electricity across devices using quantum computing and electromagnetic fields. The issue seemed mundane: an improperly installed firmware update. But while patching the system, Ben noticed an unusual device connected to the network—a device not listed in any documentation. Curious, he investigated further and stumbled upon an AI program codenamed “The Hive.”
The Hive was NexTech's secret project, designed to surveil and control entire digital ecosystems. By embedding malicious code into its devices, the company planned to mine user data, manipulate online behavior, and gain monopolistic control over global information networks. Ben realized the implications were massive—not just financial greed, but potential harm to millions of people. Before he could fully comprehend what he had uncovered, the lab’s lead scientist, Dr. Evelyn Ward, entered.
Startled, Ben tripped over a loose bundle of cables and accidentally enabled a system override, disrupting the EonNet's calibration and triggering a cascade failure. The grid emitted an unstable electromagnetic pulse, causing an explosion that engulfed the lab. A swarm of drone-like maintenance robots, programmed to prevent equipment damage, surrounded Ben to shield him, but their energy sources and quantum processors fused with the surge. Ben's body absorbed the resulting cascade of electricity and fragmented AI protocols.
Ben awakened in a hospital, startled but inexplicably alive. Desperate to avoid a public relations nightmare, NexTech quickly covered up the incident, firing Ben under the guise of negligence and scrubbing all traces of their involvement. And because he had signed a comprehensive NDA upon his hiring, Ben was unable to officially report anything that had happened that night. Though alive, Ben found the accident had changed him—his reflexes and senses were now hyper-attuned. Electrical devices flickered when he was near, and his body seemed to pulse with a low hum of electricity.
Refusing to allow the corrupt company to escape justice, Ben became determined to show NexTech that even the smallest “bugs” can disrupt the largest systems...
