ABYSS

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

After a brief stint as the super-hero Singularity, attorney Thomas Pierce was brutally murdered, but his story did not end there. Pierce's body was taken from the morgue by the sadistic alien scientist Styxx. Using his advanced scientific skills, Styxx revived the recently-deceased corpse and transformed it into a super-powered zombie soldier for his master, Overlord. Styxx named his new creation Abyss. Though his body was alive again, Pierce was still effectively brain-dead so the Abyss body was not much more than a mindless slave to whomever could control it. Abyss served Overlord during the tyrant's attempted invasion of New York City and was captured when the invasion was thwarted. The villain Death Spider broke Abyss out of the research center he was being kept in to be part of the first incarnation of the Enforcers of Injustice. Abyss was captured by Justice Inc. along with several other members of the Enforcers of Injustice and was sent back to the high-security hospital, where doctors continued to try and revive Thomas Pierce's conscious mind.

After several months of effort, Pierce's mind was successfully awakened. It took a few more months of therapy for him to adjust to what had happened to him, but eventually he was released. His next task was putting his life back together, a difficult task given that legally Thomas Pierce had been dead for several years. It is a testimony to Pierce's skills as a lawyer that he was able to legally reclaim his identity in as short a time as he did. Luckily for Pierce, he had a benefactor in his efforts, a large legal firm that had taken an interest in his case. After successfully re-establishing himself, Pierce took a job with his benefactor, becoming an associate in the law firm of McLellan & Rhodes in Superior City.

Thomas Pierce came to the attention of the heroic Enforcers of Justice when he acted as part of the defense team at the trial of the Fearsome Five. Some of the Enforcers had been members of Justice Inc., and of the original Enforcers which Pierce had helped found as Singluarity, and remembered battling him as Abyss. They investigated his seemingly miraculous recovery and decided to leave him alone, a decision they would later regret. Among McLellan & Rhodes major clients were several front companies of the World Crime League, and during one of the League's campaigns against the Banzai Institute, Pierce appeared to return to his Abyss identity and start working with the League's agents. Though they have no proof, the Enforcers know that it was Abyss that attacked and crippled their teammate Surge and was responsible for transporting Renegade to the extra-dimensional realm of Otherworld.

A short time later, Pierce was again believed to have been killed. This time it was at the hands of the mercenary Enforcer, who was under the control of the psychic vampire Mindshadow. Mindshadow was seeking a way to return to Otherworld, and decided that Abyss' portal generator was the best bet. Since it could not possess Pierce and travel through the portal at the same time, Mindshadow instead had Enforcer rip the implanted device out of Abyss' chest cavity and then duplicate the necessary powers to activate it. Mindshadow, Enforcer, and a few members of the Enforcers that had tried to intervene were transported to Otherworld while Pierce was left bleeding to death on a rooftop with a large hole in his chest. When the heroes returned to Earth some months later they were surprised to learn that Pierce was not only still alive, but seemingly perfectly fine after this traumatic event.

What they did not know is that during his time as Singularity, Pierce used a suit of power armor of unknown alien origin. He discarded the armor when he learned that it was somehow alive and had been trying to form a symbiotic bond with him. The armor was eventually destroyed but unknown to Pierce it had already succeeded in bonding with him. Microscopic pieces of the alien technology were now a part of him, and they had a strong instinct for survival. It was the presence of the alien technology that kept Pierce's body from decaying when he was murdered, which was why it had been so easy for Styxx to revive him. During his months in the hospital the technology had been slowly multiplying, and at the same time had been repairing nervous system and brain damage, which eventually led to Pierce's consciousness being revived. When the artificial portal generator was torn from Pierce's chest the technology was strong enough that it was not only able to keep him alive, it regenerated and repaired the tissue damage in a matter of days. Pierce remembers few details of the incident, but knows enough to suspect that something is happening to him. How he reacts when he learns that the alien power armor is still a part of him remains to be seen.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Abyss still possesses the magnetic and gravity powers he had as Singularity, but at a greater level due to the manipulations of Styxx. Styxx had also artificially increased Pierce's musculature to give him superhuman strength, but much of that was lost during the months Pierce spent in the hospital. He is still supernaturally strong and resistant to injury, though, due to Styxx's manipulation of the tissue density of his skeletal and musculature. Also thanks to Styxx's work, Abyss' gravity and magnetic powers constantly suround him with an invisible field that can absorb large amounts of energy. Styxx had also implanted a device in Abyss' chest that was capable of opening dimensional portals to Otherworld. This device was activated, and powered, by Abyss' gravity powers. It was forcibly removed from Abyss' chest cavity by Enforcer and was subsequently lost or destroyed.

Though he is no longer as physically large as he was when Styxx first transformed him into Abyss, Pierce does still have the unhealthy skin tone he took on as a result of the procedure. This, and his permanently increased mass, still make him stand out in a crowd

Original Form

Warp Zone | DC Heroes | Villains | Abyss