Walter Shreeve is a young acoustical engineer working in Wayne Industries R&D where he can do what he loves while making a living at the same time developing a series of micro transceivers, portable noise cancelling systems, and various prototype devices using ultra low frequency sound waves. However, Shreeve’s boss was less than impressed and soon demanded more substantial results or else he’d cut his losses with Shreeve and his studios. In his stress Walter successfully made a prototype sound suit implementing his most advanced systems and allowing the wearer to easily level buildings, perfect for Shreeve’s intentions for it being used for construction. His boss was still unimpressed and was going to pull the plug unless Shreeve did him a favour: take the head of R&D, Lucius Fox, out of the game so that he could move up the corporate ladder. Shocked but seeing no alternative Shreeve donned his suit and quickly began to use it’s noise cancelling features to slowly drive Fox paranoid and anxious using high frequency sound waves to keep him restless as Fox’s work began to suffer. Despite this Shreeve’s boss didn’t want to wait for Fox to break and demanded Shreeve killed him outright a task Shreeve accepted but with great reluctance. Kidnapping Fox, Shreeve, under the alias of Shriek, began to inform Fox that someone in Wayne Industries wanted him dead as well as the fact that he had no desire to kill anyone. But before Fox could negotiate with Shriek Black Bat quickly interrupted and attempted to subdue Shriek alone only resulting in her capture and Shriek’s growing uncertainty now that he had two hostages’ lives in his hands. Eventually Batman would find his sidekick gone rogue and in the ensuing fight was nearly beaten by Shriek’s impressive destructive power only to be saved at the last moment by Black Bat who had freed herself. Damaging one of his sound generators and causing it to implode crippling Shrieks arm and incapacitating him in the process. Following his arrest, Bruce Wayne would visit Shreeve and upon hearing his story he had Shreeve’s boss arrested for his role in Fox’s torment vowing to do all he can to help Shreeve. However his time behind bars would expose him to other criminals and slowly start to bend his morals and mind so that the next time Gotham saw him, Walter Shreeve would be known only as Shriek.
