" You don't get it. I have my fingers in the web. Information, power.. I pull the strings. I conduct the current.
With these hands, I move data. I move technology. I move you. And I can drink you dry. "
⚡ ALIAS: Discharge
⚡ REAL NAME: Simon Synapse
⚡ AGE: 16
⚡ RACE: Superhuman
⚡ SEX: Male
⚡ HEIGHT: 5'8"
⚡ WEIGHT: 140 lbs
⚡ POWERS:
ϟ DRAIN | The power to drain energy, whether by electrical charge or plasma, from any source by touch. This includes technology, and the synapses that run through the bodies of living creatures. While electrical currents provide the greatest power with the least amount of effort, sources of plasma require a strain on the body over a longer period of time. As this power only requires touch to operate, it also makes him immune to incoming electrical currents or "attacks".
ϟ DISCHARGE | The power to send an arc of electrical energy, or "lightning", from his body and into a connecting surface. Typically used as an attack to shock or electrocute an enemy, the wattage-- or "stopping power"-- of this ability can be controlled freely. Because he is fully immune to the effects, this power can be released anywhere, from the tips of his fingers to the tip of his tongue, with no danger.
ϟ DEADZONE | The power to block the flow of energy through any conduit, as if clogging it. When used on technology, depending on how connected one piece of technology is to others, this power can go so far as to cause blackouts for several miles. When used on a person, this power can block the flow of information from the brain to the rest of the body, stopping simple motor functions or organs. However, a conduit must be sufficiently Drained before being affected by Deadzone, requiring incremental use of the Drain power at the same time. Thus only effective with time and concentration.
ϟ INPUT | The power to control the flow of energy through a conduit over a pre-determined length of time. Depending on how intricate the command, this can require mere seconds or entire minutes of concentration to inact. When used on technology, this power can control the information sent to any connected components in the "network"; it can not only control how machine or computer hardware operates, but also how software and information are manipulated and exchanged. When used on a person, synapses can be manipulated to make their body move to his will. However, the "plot" of the currents must be mapped as he Inputs them, meaning he either cannot change commands after he releases somebody/something or must maintain touch with them for prolonged control.
⚡ WEAKNESSES & LIMITATIONS:
ϟ OVERCHARGED | Although certainly a deep well of power, he is not the bottomless void he would have people believe. His internal "battery" can only hold so much charge before it must be discharged; continuing to drain energy from any source without releasing it will cause him to feel sluggish and overloaded, reducing both the speed of his motor functions and capacity for thinking, eventually causing him to pass out.
ϟ ONE AT A TIME | Unsurprisingly weak to the time-honored tradition of being ganged up on, he can only maintain one of his powers at a time while focusing on one point, with the exception of Drain (which can be maintained passively.) This means that he can neither use Deadzone or Input on any two targets, nor can he attack with Discharge on more than one enemy.
ϟ NO CONDUCT | Perhaps the most obvious weakness to his powers, he cannot pass electricity through that which does not conduct it. Drain, Deadzone and Input are all useless if the "point of touch" required is blocked by a non-conductor, such as rubber. The Discharge power can be "arced" around such barriers/armor if used from a reasonable distance, however, trapping him inside a room or container made of a "non-conductive" material will render all powers fairly useless.
⚡ WHO IS.. "DISCHARGE" ?
If you ask online, they'll tell you he's a legend. A hacker who's gained notoriety in the community over the course of the past 3 years, spurring on a new age of information brokering. If you ask the police, they'll tell you he's a menace. A kid on a power trip who's robbed several banks, hardware and convenience stores, and has shut down power to important government buildings on more than one occasion. If you ask his parents, they'll tell you he used to be a sweet kid. They'll tell you they haven't seen their son in months. They'll beg you, if you see him, please tell him they love him and just want him to come home.
Young Simon J. Synapse was once an awkward child in an average home, living a fairly average life. He was a little slow- had some trouble speaking- but still managed through his school life with a small handful of friends, and parents who cared for him as any good parents would.
This changed at the delicate age of 13, when powers started to awaken within him. He started to notice an alarming occurence where he would accidentally "shock" anybody who touched him, as if he had picked up static; his hair, too, would start to stand up throughout the day, making the young boy fluster as the girls around him pointed and laughed. Small things that were certainly strange, even as they escalated.. but despite being shoved around, beaten up and shunned by the other students in his class for his strange new deficiencies, he still managed to eke through each school day, hoping these "anomalies" would settle down over time. Sadly, they did not. Simon was officially banned from using any of the school's computers after instances of "short-circuiting" or even "bricking" any technology he came into contact with, costing the school hundreds-to-thousands of dollars in equipment. His parents, having to pay off the damages, became frustrated with their son, occasionally lashing out at him. They considered homeschooling him. Perhaps they should have.
On April 19th, 2014, Simon took his first life. A young girl by the name of Alicia Prescott-- who had not only been kind to him during his most trying times, but had even called him "unique", and shared a kiss with him that morning behind the bleachers-- was found dead, an hour later, with no discernable cause. Her brain had simply stopped, as if it had been "turned off". Witnesses were quick to point the finger at Simon, who hadn't been seen since the girl's time of death. Simon did not return home that evening, and would never step foot on school grounds again.
What happened over the next few years is something of an enigma. There are reports that a boy matching Simon's description visited several local doctors, trying to find someone who would help him, but was most often turned away when he "could not" provide identification. A government report was released online under an "anonymous" source detailing the subsequent capture of a young man who similarly matched Simon's description, but the name was marked out in the report, and it was revealed that they only held him for a few months. Workers were quoted as saying the boy "somehow cut the power from inside his cell, opened his own door, and just.. walked out." All subsequent sources deny the report as nonsense. "We did not, and have not ever, retained any 'superpowered children'," they'd say.
On April 19th, 2016, Discharge appeared. Donning the moniker of an infamous online terrorist, a teenager wielding supernatural powers over electricity robbed his first bank and, in the ensuing heist, caused a blackout through half the city, affecting all nearby businesses and a local hospital. When a newsvan arrived on the scene to report the story, he took the entire newsteam hostage. Demanding that they broadcast him on live television, he was quoted saying: "I am the ghost of a synapse snuffed out. The switch that will turn on the revolution. I shun you all, as you all once shunned me, and I will rip the power from your cold, dead hands."
Placing his hand on the anchorwoman's forehead, viewers watched in horror that day as the life drained from the woman's eyes and her entire body convulsed for a full minute before, at last, going completely limp. Discharge made a clean getaway.