Keiji Otari was the childhood best friend of Victor Stone.
History
In coding school Keiji, with Vic's help, created a computer game called Perilandria. Vic gave him the codes for the S.T.A.R. Labs computer, which he later used to steal information and sell it to criminals without Victor's knowledge. Around the time of Victor's accident, these crimes were traced back to Keiji and he was sent to a juvenile detention facility. While there, he suffered an extremely harsh time, being away from any sophisticated technology to sate his computer and programming desires, as well as becoming a repeat victim to his cruel and violet detention mates. It was here where he discovered another dimension, using an old 8-Bit Game Unit he found by chance. This dimension took the form of Perilandria.
Soon after this, Keiji's injuries became too much and he was killed in one of his routinely suffered assaults at the facility.
H8-Bit
As a fail safe, Keiji had programmed a digital version of himself to appear upon his death. This program would later go on to reside in Perilandria as its sole "living" resident and complete master.
Keiji led a relatively peaceful, if decidedly isolated, life in Perilandria, until Victor stumbled across this plain of existence due to his malfunctioning Boom Tube. Keiji, now referring to himself as H8-Bit, attempted to kill Victor, as he pinned the blame on Victor for the troubles and trauma and, as eventually revealed in the end, death that he suffered for having been given those S.T.A.R Labs codes. H8-Bit was also further enraged that Victor never visited him while he was in the juvenile center. Victor, for his part, did not remember any of this, as the events that led him to becoming Cyborg as included his father removing his most recent memories as a coping mechanism, so by the time Keiji was arrested and in juvie, the new Cyborg had been made to forget him.
In his attempt to defeat and escape from his mentally unstable former best friend, Cyborg accidentally teleports H8-Bit to Detroit, where he latter's instantaneous programming powers manage to cause serious temporary damage, before Cyborg returns them both to Perliandria.
In the end, H8-Bit's plan to destroy Cyborg fails, as Victor is able to defeat and ultimately, though unwittingly on Cyborg's part, delete H8-Bit by using a game-breaking glitch in Perilandria from the two's game programming days that they could never quite fix. In his final moments, Keiji/H8-Bit, having calmed down considerably, relays why he's being deleted along with Perilandria, as he tells Cyborg that his real body had long since perished in the detention facility. Cyborg mourns his former best friend, wishing he could have found a way to help Keiji, digital or not, overcome his anger and resentment and rejoin society, as he departs the now-vanished dimension for good.
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
- Genius Level Intellect
- Computer Operation: Keiji was able to discover a entire new dimension using just an 8-Bit Game Unit and his programming and hacking skills.
- Computer Hacking
Other Characteristics
- Mental Disorder: H8-Bit is addicted to programming, to the point that he becomes suicidal with out it. His perception of his best friend Victor seemingly abandoning him, coupled with the isolation from living alone in Perilandria for many years, have also contributed to H8-Bit's negative state of mind, making him irrationally murderous and destructive in Cyborg's presence.
Related
- 1 Appearances of Keiji Otari (Prime Earth)
- 2 Images featuring Keiji Otari (Prime Earth)
- 1 Quotations by or about Keiji Otari (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Keiji Otari (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
  This character, team, or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of Cyborg. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Cyborg Villains category." |