Machine

* Cyborg
* Human

"*Look at me. **Look at me!** **You** did this. All I wanted was your **help**. Your **loyalty**. Your **faith!**. Now...look at me! [...] No. I am **more** than human. I am **improved**. **Upgraded**. I have surpassed every known physical limit. Stronger, faster, smarter. **Better**. You may be gifted, Eddie. But you're still **weak**. I was once weak. But now...**now I am strong!***"
—Machine taunting Eddie[src]

**Zachary Henson** is the former CEO of Henson Robotics and the best friend of Eddie Blythe and Lana Sheppard, who gave him the nickname **Machine** in college due to his work ethic. In the mid-2010s, Zachary designed a series of highly-advanced robotic prosthetics and asked Eddie to help finance the technology; when his friend refused, Zachary, feeling betrayed, blackmailed Lana into hitting Eddie with her car, paralysing him. Driven insane by the perceived betrayal, guilt and narcissism, Zachary replaced several of his own body parts with cybernetics. Determined to give the world a reason to use his technology, Zachary orchastrated the sabotage of his own company's revolutionary new fuel, H-SOP, which would have destroyed all of Salem City were it not for Psion. After his brutal defeat, Zachary's cybernetics were removed and he was incarcerated in a secure location. He serves as the primary antagonist of *Season 1* and will serve as the secondary antagonist in *Season 2*.

## Overview

### Personality

At his core, Zachary is cold, narcissistic, selfish, callous, vengeful, belligerent, and paranoid, primarily driven by a pathological lust for attention and power. He believes himself to be superior to everyone around him, both mentally and, later, physically, and therefore feels entitled to use those around him as he sees fit. He resents not getting his own way and will go to great lengths to secure revenge against those he feels have wronged him, including rendering his friend Eddie paralysed by blackmailing a mutual friend, Lana.

His personality is likely due to the pressure of his violently abusive father, who tormented Zachary constantly and precipitated the rise of a darker persona that quickly swallowed him. As a result, Zachary has become a mirror image of his father: a deranged psychopath completely consumed by hatred, jealousy and paranoia.

## Powers, Equipment & Abilities

### Powers

* **Artificially Enhanced Physiology and Bionic Enhancements**: Having undergone extensive cybernetic augmentation, Zachary has reached the peak of human physical potential, albiet artificially. He has undergone an almost complete transformation into a cyborg, leaving less than half of his original body unaltered.
	+ **Enhanced Strength**: Machine possesses strength that is far greater than a normal human, both with and without his battlesuit. He can lift much heavier objects that cannot be moved otherwise without use of machinery and overpower normal humans and send them flying about tens of feet away. With his strength, he can tear apart any solid objects like concrete and steel with ease. In addition, his strength extends into his leg muscles as he is able to leap great distances.
	+ **Enhanced Durability**: After his transformation into a cyborg, Machine can withstand physical damage much greater than a normal human.
	+ **Flight:** Machine's battlesuit is flight-capable and is able to keep up with Psion in atmospheric flight.

### Abilities

* **Genius-level intellect:** Zachary ranks among some of the smartest people in the world, surpassing all of his peers and even his father in intelligence.
* **Master Engineer**: Zachary is an extremely talented and prolific engineer and robotics technician, having been able to make many complicated inventions from a young age. Zachary is responsible for creating futuristic robotics technology that is widely considered to be revolutionary.
* **Master Scientist**: A exceptional scientific prodigy, Zachary is ingeniously resourceful, knowledgeable, and brilliant in many different fields of science, particularly physics, but also computer science, chemistry, and neuroscience.

## Associated Deaths

### Murders committed by Zachary

* His mother - smothered with a pillow
* His father - shot three times in the chest
* At least six members of the Henson Robotics board - shot with his battlesuit machine guns