Gadget Tress Hackwrench:[]
"Hi, I'm Gadget. Oh...wait. You already know that. Um...what comes next? Oh yeah! What's your name?" - Gadget T. Hackwrench
Name: Gadget Tress Hackwrench
Species-:Genetic Hybrid Mouse
Age: Not Recorded
D.O.B.: March 3rd, XXXX
Height: Not Recorded
Weight: Not Recorded
Hair: Blond
Eyes: Blue
Fur: Peach
Inate Element: None
Hybrid Ability: Size-changing (Dormant ability. Requires use of Reduction Belt to activate)
Prefered Weapons:Various makeshift technology; crossbow, heat blaster,
ice shooter, pop-bottle laser rifle, GTX-200 utility gauntlet
Supplimental items: Backpack of Holding; makeshift glider wings, makeshift scuba suit, makeshift skateboard, super-enlarged double-ended wrench, duct tape, tool kit, etc.
Vehicle of Choice: make-shifted climbing ring, "Gyro Mobile"
Favorite Food: Peanut-Butter and Jelly
Favorite Music Genre: Baroque, Heavy Metal
Favorite TV Show: "MacDuder", "The R-Team", "Senior Sorceror's Universe (science)", "Gunsmith Mice"
Theme A: "Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers Theme" - Disney
Theme B: "I Hear Motion" by the Models
Personality Profile:[]
Bright-eyed, spritely, and very naive, young Gadget Hackwrench is
implied to be the youngest of the Miranda UCI team. While quite
intelligent and possessing a high level of mechanical aptitude, Gadget
is described as being a bit airheaded, scatterbrained and ditzy. While
she is quite helpful to her big, adoptive brother, Volt Arcade, she is
timid. Still possessing many of her instincts, mentallities, and
inclinations from when she was a normal laboratory control group mouse,
she often hides behind those braver than herself--often Volt, Bunnie, or
Mitzi. What Gadget lacks in raw guts, she makes up for in learning
capacity.
Extraordinarily self-taught, and drawing upon her big brother's
incredible perseverance, Gadget can learn and often master new skills in
compressed amounts of time, usually through all-nighter practice and
study-sessions, using trial-and-error as her template. Often such
endevours have her resorting to relying on "an experiment which involves
sleeping an average of 14 minutes a day" (to which she has not revealed
the specific nature of, only that it doesn't involve chemical
stimulation) to cram large amounts of practice and research. A method
which has her days and nights running together. Though she shows no
signs of fatigue or adverse effects, it's a mystery whether she covers
them up or if she truly needs very little sleep requirements to be
functional. Some even describe her as being hyperkinetic, working on
projects like a humanoid typhoon. Volt has pondered the possibility that
the accident which made her a genetic hybrid might be a contributing
factor.
Gadget has little physical ability though she seems to have a talent for
skateboarding and surfing. Though she lacks any fighting skill
whatsoever, she's a skillful marksman with energy and alternative
weaponry, often of her own design. Using her ability to assemble new
weapons, gear, and equipment on the fly, even in the midst of battle,
Gadget has a Macgyver-like talent for thinking her way out of
situations. Gadget has been known to have uncanny good luck in tight
spots which she dismisses as just coincidence. Bunnie often muses that
it's just good karma looking out for her.
History:[]
Simpler Times:
Neo Arcadia City. UCI Laboratory Control Group Lab Animal Specimen
GTH-016 was born with no abnormalities and was well within the standards
for the requirements of being the comparison for the experimental group
specimens. Basically what that meant was that she'd spend the rest of
her natural life being fed food pellets and water while getting her
exercise from a hamster wheel while the experimental group was subjected
to the actual testing. While lab mice were a tenth of a Credit a dozen,
she at least seemed special to certain people. Namely a certain UCI
co-founder and his prodigal student, one elemental werewolf cub. When
the lab work was done for the day, GTH-016 was allowed out of her cage,
often against the Sarge's strict security regulations. But young Volt
adored her and just couldn't confine her from her natural curiousity to
explore. The Professor initially kept a small radio transmitter attached
to her just as a precaution, but it became apparent that the little
mouse had no intention of escaping her home, always coming back to the
same lab table and waiting patiently to be returned to her cage with the
rest of her brethren. Her tendancy to poke around a tool box belonging
to UCI Founder, Edward Theodore Videomax, and her tendancy to nose
around the wrench and a hacksaw that was missing its blade would earn
her the nickname "Gadget Hackwrench". Ed had joking said that the saw
had history as a cheese slicer at his residence prior to and the wrench
probably still had traces of motor oil on it.
GTH-016 was observed maintaining social ties to a handful of the other
control specimens, including fraternal twins, GEM-017 "Gem and GMA-018
"Gemma" and MJK-045 "Monterrey Jack". They remained together during
downtime in between laboratory hours (also against the sarge's security
protocols) for some time until MJK-045 was removed from the control
group due to exceeding weight standards as the result of his designated
technician constantly feeding him cheese treats (and inspiring his
nickname). Some however believed it more as the result of an incident in
which two chipmunks had found their way into a lab and caused a bit of a
stir with the control mouse clique. The presence of a rather stubborn
fly at the time of the incident eventually forced stricter-enforced
laboratory conditions as well as upgrading unauthrozied pest controls..
GTH-016's antics outside of the lab cage required Volt to seek a more
"underground" approach to preserve their fun time together.
The Accident:
The lab was constantly getting equipment upgrades and maintenance. It
was so difficult for Arcade Industries to ensure Neo Arcadia held its
own in the science race against Appra and Renalia--further complicated
by its more ethical approach to how research was conducted on living
creatures. But Neo Arcadia had a conscience and to experiment on life
was a fine line. Experimenting on intelligent life crossed that line.
Granted all genetic hybrids remain thankful to the ancient scientists
and sorcerors of Project Exodus, millenia ago, for attempting to create
the genetic world's version of Noah's Ark and thus giving birth to their
ancestors. But it was understood that creating life from life was just
something that mortal people had no right to do; playing God was a sin
and every Neo Arcadian scientst had pledged not to undertake what was
taboo. The disaster that Project Exodus wreaked upon Ancient Arcadia was
permanently etched into every continuing generation as reminder of the
dangers of tampering with life's blueprint. Genetic research became an
overglorifed librarian's career with DNA manipulation only reserved for
curing disease and cloning fruit and vegetables.
It was an ordinary equipment upgrade and maintenance proceedure. The lab
was bustling with activity that day and no person in particular was
giving their full attention to the transporter workers hauling a
particularly sensative piece of electrochemical processing technology
through the commotion. Having taken a wrong turn into the lab mouse
sub-lab, they spent a good amount of time arguing with the director in
charge before picking up the device and heading out. But in the process
the machine had accidently been smashed into a nuclonium damper tube in
an active project's array, releasing its highly energized, highly
volatile contents. In the explosive impact, the machine was dropped,
damaging it and its internals while in the process releasing even more
dangerous contents into the mix while damaging some nearby electrical
wires and pressurized hoses. The lab was immediately evacuated and
locked down, the security measures sealing it airtight, as a plethera of
volatile chemicals combined and became exposed to high voltage
electricity and intense fires that had started up. All the while both
the experimental and control lab mice were exposed to the chaos.
In order to contain the damage, the security system triggered a
localized oxygen flare to combust all the oxgen and flash-snuff the
flames while the electrical failsafes kicked in blacking out the sublab
on the facility grid. And finally, while the room was completely sealed
off, a bleach protocol went into effect, deleting any biological,
chemical, and other hazards.
After a lengthy period of time elapsed and any gaseous hazards vented
through the fan system, a haz-mat team entered the sub-lab to survey the
damage and clear away whatever was left so the room could be stripped
down and rebuilt. Low and behold amonst the many perished mice, a
haz-mat worker found, isolated from the groups--in fact out of its cage
and taken refuge at the epicenter of the disaster where it was later
deduced all of the reactions had culminated before reaching equilibrium.
Impossibly, the mouse was still breathing and soon fell out of its
slumber. Recovered, the mouse, later identified by nano-markers embedded
it its ears as specimen GTH-016 was placed in isolation, awaiting
euthanization in accordance to contaminated bioform protocols. However a
number of strong objections was to be raised.
Life is no Malfunction...or Mutation:
An initial investigation was conducted and the incident was officially
ruled accident. But now there was the dilema of a surviving specimen--a
control group at that--contaminated by chemical and electrical chain
reactions that were still being analyzed and dismantled to determine
what happened. Most of the technician staff called for the unwavering if
not immuteable rule of sterilization to ensure that there would be no
risk of contanimation. However objections came from the UCI's chief of
medical staff--Nermal Stephanie Gamepro. As a dedicated humanitarian and
pacifist, Nermal was adamantly against the termination of life. To
further add to the fire was young Volt Arcade who had become nearly
unseparable from GTH-016. Eventually garnering other support, the
lynchpin finally came when undecided Professor Odie M. Arcade finally
ruled in favor of Nermal and Volt. Gadget was to be spared but very
closely observed. And it was soon apparent this was a smart move.
This isn't a Comic Book:
The inital blood tests and scans showed multiple anomalies and rewritten
genetic structures. New RNA was being processed from these modified
genetic codes and Gadget's physiology was starting to implement them.
And the resulting changes started as almost unnoticeable at a
biological/chemicial level let alone a physically observeable
level...but eventually began to domino effect into exponentially altered
growth patterns over time. Over a lengthy period of time, Gadget had
doubled in size and began to show signs of deviations in body structure.
As she continued to grow, there was also an increase in brain activity.
It had become obvious that there was an accelerated evolution taking
place and while many technicians jokingly made allusions to comic books
and science fiction movies, Professor Arcade was not amused but at the
same time not perturbed. But that did little to console what was on his
mind. Neo Arcadia's ethics community had long since banned genetic
experimentation on living specimens, especially sentient life since the
fabled days of rebuilding from Project Exodus. And had this been an
intentional case of inducing mutation, it would have been deemed several
counts of third degree illegal activity. After inquiries, further
testimony, and a deadlocked opinion, no charges were filed and this case
of genetic modification was ruled accidental. Odie Arcade did not take
this lightly, knowing full well the Arcade Industries research and
development superstructure had dodged a bullet. But now the issue
became, what was to become of their little mousey?
From Family Pet to Just Plain Family:
The evolution continued as Gadget's growth and changes became more and
more obvious and uncanny. She had slipped out of quadrapedal to bipedal;
first with increasing sitting up on hind likes similar to a meerkat and
gradually graduating to upright on her more and more humanoid strutured
feet. Further sparks of intelligence began to take shape with less
animalistic instincts and more identifiable human-like behavior. Long
since outgrowing traditional mouse cages and living quarters for small
animals, Gadget was soon in a transition between being treated as a
family pet to the possibility of needing the basic essentials for a
humanoid child. And as more humanoid characteristics began to take
shape--from opposable thumbs to the growth of blond hair on the head, it
wasn't long before the issue of clothing no longer became outlandish.
Volt had grown even closer to the rodent anomaly while Odie was
continuously amazed by how intelligent she was getting. But nothing
could have prepared them for what happened next...
A Talking Lab Mouse...riiiiiiiiiight:
Speech was an ability of intelligent lifeforms that extended well far
back into the dawn of time and had evolved into a plethera of languages
and styles. And it was generally understood that humans and humanoids
were capable of this. So why did it seem that much of a suprise when
little Gadget addressed the young Volt as "big bruddah" with Odie
present?
Certainly the scans and X-rays had indicated that her evolved vocal
chords were theoretically capable of simple and complex phoenetics.
Certainly she had observed enough instances of people around her
speaking. Was there really something that compelled people to be
surprised by something so common manefesting itself in something that
many of the technicians still hadn't brought themselves to regarding as a
person? Whatever the case may have been, there was no containing the
shock, surprise, and confusion. The issue was no longer if Gadget was
intelligent...the issue was now accepting that she was a person. A
genetic hybrid person. And that meant there were to be things that had
to be done.
A Very Unusual Birth Certificate? Or an Even More Unusual Laboratory Specimen ID Sheet:
What to do about a lifeform that now met every criterion for being
considered a Genetic Hybrid? The first thing was to have this fact
recognized by the law. Kitty Dimiter, UCI's paperwork jockey and
legal/buisiness dynamo set about to attack the paperwork and other
technicalities that would have Gadget Hackwrench recognized as a legal
citizen with inaliable rights and priveleges and then legally adopted as
a child of the Arcade Family. After a cyclone of paperwork, Kitty was
able to finally hammer all the legal matters in place. Officially
adopted as the legal daughter of Professor Odie Megabyte Arcade, Gadget
was listed simultaneously on a modified birth certificate as Gadget
Tress Hackwrench while still listed as laboratory specimen GTH-016 in a
classified lab report with the status "Ongoing Experiment" as a
formality to continue to observe her for any unique anomalies,
mutations, or such that merited concern from the scientific community.
But that was of little matter. Volt Arcade had a little sister, now. And
he was quick to be the best big brother he could be.
The Prodigal Son now Teaches a Prodigal Sibling:
It wasn't long before Gadget's personality began to bloom and the scope
of her intelligence became recognizeable. While initially introduced to
toys and dolls, Gadget would quickly grow bored of them. Her need for
constant mental stimulus soon led to mishaps involving the disassembly
of a number of machines and the cobbling together of odds and ends.
Gadget's relative age had been established and her biological date of
birth as a lab mouse was decided over the day of her lab accident. At
the age of four, she had managed to find her way into Edward's vehicle
bay and completely dismantle a carburator. When discovered, she
reassembled the machine, actually reparing it in the process before the
group's eyes.
Odie was astounded by how much mechanical aptitude she possessed and
thus tasked his prodigal adoptive son, Volt with ensuring her education
outside of academia was the best possible. Where the Professor could
fill her mind with facts, equations, and theory, Volt would take care of
the brotherly aspect. The "human(oid)" component so to speak. It was
around this time that she had admired his collection of archaeic vacuum
tubes that she found a niche of her own--collecting gears. And thus the
scavenging for gears of every size, shape, and type began.
She May Shrink From Scary Things But She'll Grow On You:
Gadget was present for many projects and experiments in the lab as the
years went on and watched in fascination. And her personality became
more defined as she watched and learned. Volt noticed she was always
spritely, energetic, and continuously looking at life through
rose-tinted glasses. Sometimes to a fault. He'd notice a sort-of
airheadedness to her take root; often the result of her need for
constant mental stimulation leading to multitasking, disorganization,
and
even a page out of big brother's book--being a packrat. Her mind always
moving in a hundred directions led her to become scatterbrained and
absentminded yet retaining the ability to always be adoreable and
loveable. Taking after Nermal in some regards, she was often too cute
for even the most gruff of employees and furthermore oblivious to how
cute she really was. Gadget was just so likeable by everyone.
Gadget wasn't without other personality quirks. It soon became obvious
that as cute and likeable as she was, she was also quite timid and
innocent. Having had a bad experience with scary movies, Volt didn't
think much of it, but soon noticed that Gadget was prone to acting upon
mouse-like instances in situations. One such example was her being
constantly terrified of mousetraps, snakes, and regular housecats as
opposed to the nine hybrid cat UCI founders. Gadget also seemed to have
some more subtle mouse stereotype behaviors such as a love of cheese and
peanut butter.
Volt had grown of age eventually and was soon tasked with the UCI Team
to be established on Fontraile. It was a heart-felt goodbye to his
little sister, but he promised he would return. Gadget remained
meloncholy for a period of time but kept herself occupied in her studies
and being present for any lab experiment she could sit in on.
It was during the observation of one of the lab's experiments in
progress that the issue of a hybrid ability had finally surfaced. A
noticeable reaction to the energy emissions of a certain project had
taken everyone by surprise when Gadget's dormant hybrid ability
manefested. Affected by the energy, Gadget had begun to change size,
shrinking down a number of sizes, causing her to almost be engulphed by
her own clothing. After stopping the experiment and recallibrating the
equipment to return Gadget to her default size, the experiment went
though again, though unforutnately overdone, resulting in an embarassed
oversized mouse hybrid suddenly feeling it was a bit too drafty.
After successfully returning the young Hackwrench to normal size and
getting her a change of clothes, further R&D allowed Professor
Arcade to develope a device worn as a belt that would not only let
Gadget control her hybrid powers at will but also allow her to manefist
it to change the sizes of any other objects--live or articificial. Since
Volt was now in Miranda City, he would not learn of Gadget's hybrid
ability until their reunion in the square.
I've Made Up My Mind:
Odie had raised Gadget well and he'd taught her all that he could teach
her but Gadget had begun to miss her brother too much. Having heard the
stories come back of his group's adventures since the Ekris Aftermath
rebuilding, she began to fantasize about being a hero and like
brother-dearest. Better yet, work along side the great Volt Arcade and
be the best little sister she could be. After enough uses of the
adoreable eyes, cuteness, and overly sweet pleading, Gadget convinced
everyone she was old enough to go out on her own and was allowed to
travel to Miranda on Fontraile. While Bunnie was busy recruiting the
druid leader of the Wolf Tribe within the defunct Vorostovian
Reservation, Gadget was on a plane headed for Miranda City. Upon her
arrive she took the opporunity to try out her makeshifted skateboard.
Upon reaching the square, her board collapsed into junk and she soon
found herself introduced to the people of the square. As soon as Volt
had stepped out of the shop he found himself bearhugged in a reunion
even he wasn't expecting let alone prepared for. A spritely introduction
later, Gadget was welcomed aboard though quickly looked upon as a
possibly exploitable resource. A size-changing ability could after all
easily turn a small gold rock into a large gold rock...
Today: Gadget has remained on the team for a while now but despite having joined at the same time as Lupe is among the team that has the least amount of mission experience. (Rotor having the second least on account of being a relatively new addition, and Antoine having none at all on account of being...Antoine. :P) While she remains timid and airheaded as every, she's argueably the nicest person in town and one of the most resourceful when it comes to recycling. Initially intimidated by the appearance of Kid, her primal mouse instincts soon gave way to a strong friendship and adoration of Miranda City's ball of furry chaos. While she tend to keep her distance from the more intimidating characters like David, Cima, and Grimm, she musters up her courage when there's a mission to go on and get the job done. Often gravitating toward Mitzi, easily her elder (and big brother's) despite how much they look to be the same youthful age, Gadget enjoys every opportunity they can work together. Having come up with the name "The Twice as Nice Mice" for their endevours together as a duo, Gadget lends her makeshift technology expertise to Mitzi's experienced versatility. In off hours, Gadget can be seen snowboarding in Raxis during winter and skateboarding in the square during summer. Remarkably self-taught, Gadget has managed to learn new tricks including playing the drums--an endevour which surprised a few people when she demonstrated that she was already playing them at a death metal level of skill; which only seemed to serve as a contrast to her incredibly cute and innocent demeanor. Bunnie often wonders if Violet should be blamed for introducing her to the brutal size of percussion. A notoriously energetic worker, Gadget is known to do a lot of cramming, practicing and working to gain knowledge in skill in a short amount of time. One particular instance she revealed she was conducting an experiment in which she was sleeping an average of 14 minutes a day which freed up a lot of personal time for herself. While she has never gone into the details of the experiment, she's vehemetly denied that it involves chemical stimulant or drug testing. Volt is inclined to believe her on account of past observations that Gadget has always had unusual sleeping patterns and an overabundance of energy. He suspects it might be one of the long-term effects of her mutation.
Gadget continues to serve on the UCI as a well-liked and trusted member though her level of "mo-e" as Vi puts it seems to encourage people to keep her innocent and out of trouble and often others to be a little overprotective of her. But as Bunnie and Sally both remind people, everyone has to earn there stripes. And Gadget is more than willing to to her part to be a valuable team player. Future endevours may yet prove her untapped potential.