Butch Wilhelm serves as one of Variant Labs’ lead security figures, bringing with him a long, uneven history molded by institutions that never quite knew what to do with him, that or they were annoyed by his existence.

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For a time, he served in the Zion Armada alongside his best friend, Baron Gartargus, the two built a reputation for being  effective & being difficult to keep in line. Across their years in Zion, both men developed a troubled history with holding positions, clashing with authority, and gradually growing more disillusioned with the systems they were expected to serve. Their energy eventually reached a breaking point when they fled their military posts altogether, turning their backs on what the Zion Armada stood for and accepting the consequences that came with it. Even after that, their story with Zion did not end cleanly. They later became officers under a smaller unit, operating while watched closely by Internal Affairs whose job was to make sure they stayed under code and remained useful to the state.

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What truly pushed Butch and Baron toward a different life was their involvement in what many within authority circles still refer to as the Southwoods Psycho Case.

The case left a permanent mark on both of them. After gunning down the perpetrator and walking away from that encounter, something about the work they had known of, finally broke them in a way it had not before. It was no longer just about bad leadership or failed systems; it was the realization that the job itself had hollowed them out.

When Variant Labs began looking for security officers, the two applied because it offered something unfamiliar: the possibility of a place removed from Zion’s usual machinery. 

 

At Variant Labs, even with all the strange, dangerous, and outright wild things that came with the territory, Butch found something he had not felt in years, a workplace where people actually gave a damn about each other. For all the lab’s unpredictability, it felt more like home than anything Zion had ever offered him.

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During his time in the military, Butch picked up the title “The Buffalo,” a name that followed him because of his animalistic personality. He has always been known as the bigger guy, though to the amusement of others, not necessarily the one doing the heaviest physical work himself. Theo took it up as a challenge to draw him AS a Buffalo.

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At Variant Labs, he stepped naturally into the role of security lead, a position that suits his instincts far better than being treated like disposable muscle. These days, he is often stationed near his own home base, monitoring the camera systems, tracking alarms, and overseeing the wider security picture while appointing Baron or Axton to do most of the direct observation and reporting in the field.

 

Butch remains rough around the edges, rude, and difficult in all the familiar ways, but at Variant Labs those qualities finally feel like part of a life he chose, rather than one being forced on him.