He was training to be an engineer for NASA before everything. As a kid, Chester Rye was the one sitting in the corner with his head in a textbook. In high school, he collected every scholarship he could get to afford college without a dime of his parents money.

Chester was hanging out with his friend, Dominic, in their dorm room. They were building his suit that would allow him to be a hero like the Atom. It wouldn't shrink, but with a few more adjustments, Chester would be able to fly.

Everyone else had gone to the launch of the particle accelerator at StarLabs but they were so close, they had to finish as soon as possible.

They worked tirelessly on it. Occasionally though, Chester would toss an empty bottled water at his friend making them both laugh.

"I think we're finished." Dominic took a step back and admired their work. The red exosuit was fitted specifically for Chester and had a variety of features, but his favorite were the rockets that would keep him in the air.

"Help me get this baby on." He opened it up and stepped in backwards. Dominic helped him latch it shut and put the helmet on. It was suffocating at first, it wasn't turned on so his whole body was locked in place. Dominic got his tablet out and started pressing buttons, the suit came to life.

"Careful," he said as Chester waddled around, knocking the bundles of wires all around on the floor. It was hard to get used to as his limbs all weighed alot heavier. Slowly he could bend his knees and move his arms. They thought it'd be best to wait until tomorrow morning to try to fly.

That's when things started floating, moments later the wave blasted through, sending Chester into the pile of wires and filling him with dark matter. Dominic was knocked in the other direction, also radiated with dark matter.

Nobody noticed the two loners were missing until the next day when Dominic's girlfriend got worried and checked on them. She found them unconscious on opposite sides of the room. The torso of the exosuit was destroyed, but she couldn't pry the rest off, it was apart of Chester now.

The ambulances took both of them to the hospital. Their vitals were normal, they just wouldn't wake up. They laid in the hospital for months. The staff gave up on trying to remove the metal from Chester and they began looking for long-term places for the college students.

Their eyes squeezed shut at the same time. Then they opened slightly. Doctors and nurses were right there quickly. They had been waiting months for this moment.

Chester had a very different view from the inside of his helmet. Surprisingly, he could move his body, he just couldn't see very well through the eyeholes. His breath picked up and he thrashed about, having no idea where he was or how he had gotten there.

"Mr. Rye! You need to stay calm." The doctors were baffled by the fact Chester could move his limbs, the power source and control panel had been blasted out the night of the incident.

Chester did calm down, but he was still pretty freaked out. He couldn't get the suit off, it pulled at his skin like it was apart of him now. They both got check-ups and were discharged quickly, there was nothing they could do about the suit.

Their dorm was just how they left it, except for some new windows. Chester clonked about the room, knocking things over and making the room even more of a mess. A wire on the floor twitched. Then another, and another, until all the wires came to life.

In any other situation, Chester would have jumped in Dominic's arms and screamed, but it would have crushed Dominic. Nowadays Chester was the muscle in the friendship, he didn't like it though.

The snakes flew at Chester as he screeched and ran, instead of attacking however, they rested on his shoulders and around his torso. He gave a confused look to Dominic, then tentatively patted the wires and attempted to peel them off. They were as stuck to him as his suit was.

Dominic stared in awe, his closest friend could control wires and lived in a metal suit.

It took a while, but Chester got used to the wire "snakes" that slithered around his body. Then they began training.

He couldn't fly anymore, but his snakes could shoot quickly through the air at a target. Chester's strength and agility was amplified by the suit, the only weak point was his stomach, where the torso had been blown off. The only thing he could find that looked decent with the red metal was a black dress suit, and he wore it most of the time.

One night at a bar, where the lights were too dark to tell skin from metal, Dominic and Chester downed alcohol. It didn't take long for them to begin stumbling and slurring their words. The got cut off and went home. Chester's snakes awaited them in their dorm, he had learned to control them recently. 

With the drink in his veins for the first time since he got his powers, Chester tripped over the wires, giggling uncontrollably.

"Hey dude... Tony Stark's heart, ya know..." Chester laughed some more, despite the topic not being funny. 

"Whata bout it..?" Dominic collapsed on the computer chair, his eyes half closed. Chester stood in the middle of the room, looking around blankly.

"The team wass is heart..." He practically whispered while staring at the bundles of wires at the ground. They had minds of their own, slithering across his feet. The feeling amazed drunken Chester.

He began playing with his powers, launching the snakes at walls while Dominic sat nearly unconscious in the chair. Then he tossed one at Dominic, landing on his face. He casually swatted at the thing in his sleep like a random nose itch. Chester had no idea what he did. Dominic began screaming in pain.

The wires were swarming and electrocuting Chester's best friend to death. He realized what was happening too late, his brain had mistaken the screams for fear instead of pain. 

"HEY NO STOP!" Chester screamed and pulled the wires. "Stop! Please!" He cried, they weren't listening to him.

Dominic stopped screaming. The wires came back to Chester and slithered around him, content. 

"Dominic? Dominic!" He shook his friend's lifeless body, he could smell the burnt flesh coming from him. He was gone. "No No No." He became aware of the killers wrapped around him. "Get the hell off me!" He pulled them off and threw each one against the wall. They just came back each time. He put his head in his hands, giving up. How could he ever believe any good would come from building this suit.

"It was stupid of me to even think I could be a hero, being a villain suites me so much better," Chester told the team his story from his cell in the pipeline. They looked at him with more empathy now, but they were all skeptical.

"Being a villain doesn't suite you at all, just saying," said Frost, unimpressed.

~

Well my writer's block is gone to say the least lmao 1200 words. Don't worry, a long snowbarry chapter is coming, I really missed telling backstories of people.

Not gonna lie, I shed a few tears for Dominic. I spent like three days with these characters, let's just say I switched the storylines around soo much

happy belated holidays, I hope all of y'all enjoyed yourselves during whatever you celebrate, Ostara was last month so I didn't really celebrate anything yesterday except with my christian family I got some candy.

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