How It All Began - The Origins of Honey Badger

I was born in Jo'burg (Johannesburg to you yanks but my parents raised me at our family estate in the Northern Cape. This part of the South African countryside was a far safer location than the strife-torn cities and townships. It dated back to the 19th century when the Engelbrechts arrived in country, having undergone the Great Trek with many other Afrikaners. Not only did they grow crops, raise animals, and make beverages; but they also provided power and energy through the use of experimental technologies and local fuel sources. I was home-schooled, which gave me a far better education than the average youth would get in the "public schools" or refugee camps. I'm truly grateful for what my parents did for me, giving me a happy childhood and a sense of stability even as things fell apart around the world. I wasn't confined to the estate, and made friends among the locals regardless of their language or skin color. They appreciated what my family did for them and their community.
 
When peace returned to South Africa, I was fortunately of the age to attend university studies. I left my family for the big city of Cape Town. I enjoyed athletics, having done dance, gymnastics and football (soccer to you yanks), but I opted to study business at the behest of my parents. I did find that I enjoyed Dr. Samuel Moses' chemistry course, which I took as part of a mandatory science requirement. Dr. Moses had a passion for teaching that his colleagues lacked, and this motivated me to study hard and engage with him. During office hours one evening, he confided to me that he was working on a secret project. It was to re-recreate the famous Cyberline formula used by America's elite PRIMUS force back at the start of this century. It was his own private initiative, as the formula had been lost in the chaos of Dr. Destroyer's takeover.
 
When I completed my studies and graduated, it was then my life took a sudden turn for the worse. The government had never liked my parents, as they had the wrong skin color, politics, culture, and income level. My family had reciprocated this affection. I never was one for politics, preferring to avoid it, given my family's reputation, but I guess this time politics came for me.
 
The government had declared my family's enterprise to be illegal, and the IERA was more than happy to do their dirty work. this was an escalation on the government's part. I got word that IERA with the help of the government's jackboots, raided on my parents' estate.
 
By the time I arrived, most of my family had been arrested. Not only that, but our fortune had been confiscated by the government and property destroyed by the IERA. I endured the trauma of watching the torture that the so-called "rule of law" gave them. As he knew the fate that the legal profession had in store for him, my father took his life.
 
My mother and siblings were despondent, and we were forced to watch as she was sentenced to the rest of her life in prison. My sorrow turned into fury as I watched the government and society I had trusted oppress my family and destroy everything I cared about, all with the sanction of the IERA. Both of them were responsible, and had not only ruined my life but ruined the lives of the community that resided around my family's estate. They had promised equity, equality, prosperity, and justice; and only delivered oppression, poverty, suffering and blackouts. This ignited within me a permanent disgust for those that claimed authority, as they were no worse than the criminals that they claimed to oppose.
 
Once the "trials concluded, Dr. Moses reached out to me. He gave me an offer: he would protect me financially and legally; and in exchange I would 'volunteer' to be his test subject. It seemed to me that I didn't have a choice, so I accepted his offer.
 
His "Neo-Cyberline" process altered my body chemistry, making me three inches taller, more muscled, with silver-white hair and yellow eyes. The subsequent treatments allowed me to shift between my normal and my new form that gave me greater strength, toughness, and agility. With Dr. Moses help, I designed a costume, acquire martial arts training, and augmented the costume with weapons. Now I was a challenge for the IERA and South African government.
 
I took upon the name "Honey Badger" out of fondness for the African animal and an old internet meme and prowled the streets of Cape Town, Jo'burg, Durban, and Kimberly as a roving vigilante. I wasn't able to find the officials or commanding officers responsible, but I was able to exact my own justice on the judges, lawyers, bureaucrats, and police responsible. These acts, coupled with dispatching other evildoers (murderers, drug dealers, arms dealers, rapists, burglars, corrupt cops, crooked officials), made a name for myself in the ensuing decade. To many I was a hero, but to those in power I was a dangerous terrorist. This made me an ideal recruit for the League of Free Energy Resistance, whose ideals I shared.
 
Once I had drawn enough notoriety and attention, the LFER decided to extract me and Dr. Moses from South Africa to the United States. It was hoped we would better assist their operations in this main theater. I found myself a stranger in a new land, but still dedicated to the cause of revolution.
 
That's my story of how it all began. Thanks for listening, but which side are you on?