Origin, Project 2614

1979-1985

Due to tensions during the Cold War, the American government launched a series of experiments hoping to create a highly evolved human being immune to all adverse effects of radiation. This series of tests was codenamed Project 2614.

The experiments consisted of frequent radiation and chemical exposure to a select group of pregnant women without the participant's knowledge. There was a total of 30 subjects, many of which did not survive birth being either stillborn or dying shortly after. Those that survived their birth were allowed to live with their families in a seemingly normal life with no knowledge of the testing that continued on them. Many more died in early childhood.

1982

Subjects 20-25 were born. Subjects 21 and 23 survived and went home to their families. Subject 23 displayed weak immunity throughout most of his childhood, continuously becoming ill without apparent cause. The government noted all adverse effects of the continued testing but marked subject 23 as an insignificant test failure.

1991

After the end of the Cold War the government scrapped Project 2614. All records and files were burned and deleted. All experimentation ceased.

Post Project 2614

Subject 23 continued a fairly normal life throughout his teenage years with a noticeable improvement in his health and stamina after puberty.

2005

At age 23, while attempting to get out of debt and provide for his family, Subject 23 volunteered for chemical and radiation testing at an underground medical lab. The lab of course paid him handsomely for the testing and the vow of silence they required. The technicians placed him in devices with combination technologies of an MRI, X-ray, and other new experimental devices. They also tested a number of newly developed drugs not yet on the market.

After a particularly risky radiation experiment gone wrong, Subject 23 did not revive. Wanting to avoid discovery and murder charges, the members of the underground lab disposed of the body by dumping it into a river.

Rebirth

Although Subject 23's body had for all appearances seemed to lack any vital signs at the time of his disposal, it was not long however before it began to display unusual symptoms of transition and change. As he was swept through the current of the river, Subject 23's body began to convulse. Gradually over a period of several hours he reduced in size until washed up onto the muddy river bank. There he lay the remainder of the night in the rain.

When Subject 23 awoke that morning he was shocked to find himself barely alive and a mess with vague but traumatizing memories of the previous night. When he finally surveyed his surroundings however, a further wave of panic swept through him. Subject 23 stood a mere fraction of the height of a blade of grass. At a quick guess he estimated himself to be little more than an inch tall. Panicking he slipped and climbed out of the mud and began weaving his way through a relative jungle of grass and plant life.

Suddenly he found himself frozen staring face to face with the largest set of deep black eyes he had ever seen. The wasp stared right through him sending chills down to his spine and Subject 23 could sense the insect's pure indifference to him with the knowledge that it was master of its own world. Little could harm it and fewer would ever try.

As the wasp turned to take flight an electric tremor roared through Subject 23's body and he could feel every vibration the wasp's powerful wings created. Subject 23 did not feel proud or lucky but only spared.

Wanting to get a sense of his location, Subject 23 then tried to find a more open area in the patches of grass. As he entered a clearing he heard a strange shriek and turned just in time to see an enormous open beak diving directly for him. He was immediately swept up to what seemed like miles above the ground, and although this gave him a good perspective of his surroundings, his stomach lurched and twisted. He fought violently to escape and unexplainably felt as though his body was being repelled from the beak the harder the bird tried to bite down on him. The bird quickly lost it's grip and Subject 23 found himself free-falling towards the earth below him.

In the midst of the panic and gasping for air his mind was suddenly interrupted with a meditative vision of the wasp he had encountered and it's self contained power. Subject 23 then wrapped himself in his own aura of self containment and aside from achieving a breathable calm he also seemed to achieve a perceptible amount of control over his movements. It was then that he realized that he was no longer free-falling but hovering a good 15 feet above the ground.

Taking a moment to take in the situation, Subject 23 decided to test his new found abilities. He propelled himself forward faster and faster and his view of the world, although it should have been unrecognizably distorted at that speed, was visible in unusual clarity as if the aura around him slowed down time and space itself and re-showed it at a perceivable pace.

Subject 23 closed his eyes in disbelief of his new set of abilities and opened them again just as he came up on the engine of a flatbed truck. He screamed and instinctively threw his arms up in front of his face but instead of becoming a grease spot on the front of the truck, it was as if his momentum was amplified as he made contact and he found himself being propelled directly and harmlessly through all the metal parts of the engine as if he were a bullet.

He emerged out the other side catching his breath in disbelief. It was then that he realized he would be taking on a entirely new role in life. Thinking again of the wasp that inspired him, he decided to take it's name as his own new persona.

powers

Size Manipulation - the Radiation experiments conducted on Acewasp's body has caused a change in his mental abilities giving him conscious control over the electromagnetic pull of his atoms. By increasing their electromagnetic pull he is able to reduce the space between his atoms, making him decrease in overall size and increase in density. the increase in density allows him to retain his normal lvl of strength. It has not been shown that Acewasp has been able to increase his size beyond normal limits and may not be possible.

Electromagnetic force field - Acewasps ability to control his own electromagnetism on an atomic level allows him to use his own body's energy (which is extremely concentrated due to his increased density) to create a type of electromagnetic energy field around his body. This field absorbs all energy and force and redirects it around Acewasp and in the opposite direction thus creating a 'bubble' of invulnerability. Wind resistance is reduced as the kinetic impact of the wind is absorbed. Light and air within the field is slowed and time perception warped allowing Acewasp to breath and perceive his surroundings clearly even at high speeds. Energy being slowed within the field or redirected around it would cause intense light or heat energy such as lasers for example to be muted and subdued inside providing protection from blindness or burn. To an outsider a laser would appear to go right through Acewasp as it would be immediately absorbed and redirected.

Flight and Flight speeds - Acewasp is able to fly using his electromagnetism to repel himself against the magnetic field of the earth. He controls speed by adjusting the strength of his field compared to the earth's, and gains further directional control through the repulsion against ionized particles in the air. The top level of Acewasp's speed has not yet been discovered, however he has been recorded as reaching speeds of up to 4000 feet per second.