BRACEBRACE
Real Name: Brace; first name unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human cyborg
Occupation: assassin, enforcer; former laboratory technician
Affiliations: formerly Adarco (esp. Janet Galloway) and AIM
Enemies: Adarco, Annex
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Adarco Building, Manhattan, New York
First Appearance: Annex#1 (August, 1994)
Power/Abilities: Brace has superhuman strength (enhanced human to Class 10?) and durability, and he can fly and project energy bolts. He can absorb electrical power from outside sources to increase his own abilities.
History:
(Annex#2 (fb)) - Brace was an Adarco laboratory technician who
wanted to be more. When his research grant requests were rejected
in favor of others, he attempted sabotage, but wound up crippling
his own hands in the process. Brace's supervisor threatened to
fire him because his injured hands prevented him from handling
delicate experiments any longer. 
Adarco
offered him an alternative: if he would submit himself to
experimental surgery, they would support him for life. Their
bio-technical surgeons grafted a pair of cyborg hands onto Brace,
which seemed to work to perfection, even giving him a rudimentary
sense of touch. However, his body did not respond well to the
graft: it caused him great pain and eventually adversely affected
the rest of his body. Gradually, the doctors were forced to
replace more and more of Brace's body with synthetic parts,
eventually leaving him with less than 20% of his original body..
Telling Brace there was no cure for his condition, they converted
him into a weapon and convinced him to work as a super-powered
enforcer and assassin for them.
(Annex#1) - Adarco agents (backed by AIM) sent Brace to attack Annex, hoping he could either steal his technology, or that by threatening Annex's life they could force Dr. Hillman Barto to reveal his secrets. Annex escaped Brace by deactivating his armor. Brace tapped into the city's electrical supply to amplify his power, and as soon as Annex activated again so he tracked him down and attacked anew. Annex held his own and nearly defeated Brace with an energy draining device, but Brace replenished his supply by draining all of the power form Annex's armor.
(Annex#2) - Annex
crashed to the ground, and Ellis was forced to abandon the now
powerless armor and flee into the crowd (Brace had never seen him
without his armor). Barto then implanted a chip into Annex to
allow him to recreate the armor at will using the BREW, and he
went after Brace again. Brace set a house on fire, forcing Annex
to take time to save those inside it, while he abducted Barto.
(Annex#3) - Brace brought Barto to his superiors, and they forced him to alter the abandoned Annex armor for Brace's use. When Annex (followed by Spider-Man) broke into the Adarco building, Brace (now possessing Annex's powers in addition to his own) confronted him.
(Annex#4) - While Brace and Annex battled, Spider-Man freed Barto, who hacked into the BREW and used it to begin converting Brace back to normal. Brace continued to figtht against Annex, but eventually realized what was happening to him. Upon becoming fully human again, Brace felt that Adarco had lied to him when they told him he couldn't be cured. Angry at Adarco for using him, he flew back into the building and attacked Janet Galloway, the woman in charge of his transformation and subsequent usage. Galloway attempted to shut down the BREW, but the backlash caused an explosion that collapsed the building around them. Annex formed an enrgy field that protected Barto, but Brace apparently sacrificed his own life to ensure that Galloway would not escape.
Comments: Created by Jack C. Harris and Walter McDaniel
CLARIFICATIONS:
None
First Posted: 12/14/2002
Last updated: 12/14/2002
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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