Silas Stone was a university research scientist. He and his wife, Elinore, performed experiments on their son, Victor Stone, looking for ways to boost child intelligence. Though he loved his son, the way Silas treated Vic would drive a wedge between the two. Their experiments succeeded in making Victor into a child genius with a 170 IQ but the two often argued, particularly about how Silas was trying to control him or how Victor was wasting all his potential running around with crooks or playing sports. Their problems hit a peak when Victor came home after a gang fight. Swearing that he wouldn’t call a criminal his son, Silas disowned him then and there.
Years later, Victor stopped by his parent’s lab to see his mother. An experiment to reach into another dimension had gone wrong and a creature from that dimension made its way into ours. The creature killed Silas’ wife and badly burned his son before he managed to send it back where it came from. As Silas stood alone at his wife’s grave, he swore that his son would not join her. Using an unapproved prototype for a cybernetic body designed for injured soldiers, Silas repaired his son’s body. However, when Victor awoke, he saw the experiment as just one more attempt at by his father to control his life. After five months of physical training, Victor finally walked out on his father, determined never to see him again.
Soon after, Victor would become a superhero and join the New Teen Titans as Cyborg. In order to try to help his son, Silas used his money and influence to have the original Titans Tower built, though he could not bring himself to reveal to Victor that he was responsible. When the Fearsome Five attacked the Tower, they found Silas and took him hostage. Their gambit did not work as the Titans made short work of the weakened supervillains. Though he was loathe to do it, under Raven’s guidance, Victor listened to what his father had to tell him. The monster that had killed Elinore had exposed Silas to terrible radiation poisoning. Silas was dying.
Putting aside their problems, the two spent the following weeks together trying to make up for lost time. After a month, Silas was bedridden by the radiation poisoning. On his deathbed, he told Victor how proud he was and reminded his son that his happiness was all that really mattered to him.