Daughter of Villain "Toybox" loses Arm
Whitney Fox was put into state care at the age of five after her mother Jessica Fox, AKA Toybox, was caught and put into prison for an extensive list of supervillain activity. She would be almost immediately adopted by Dr. Helen Pratt and Dr. Winston Pratt. Whitney was a tiny child with lots of issues over her size and over her adoption. The Pratt's were wonderful adoptive parents and dealt with the seemingly endless stream of drama she brought into their lives.
Kidnapped by Mom!
When Whitney was ten years old she lost her right arm in a horrible traffic accident. Thanks to the wonderful parenting of the Pratt's Whitney recovered from the accident quickly, both emotionally and physically. She wasn't going to let the loss holdd her back. She worked hard to adapt to the arm and actually become stronger and more confident in the process. Rather than being horrified by her artifical arm, she was fascinated by each one she was fitted for. The Pratt's bought her tools and gave her a spot to tinker with things as part of a deal to keep her from taking her arms apart. A deal which she regularly broke of course, but she figured that it only counted if she didn't put her arm back together again. She began taking things from around the house and disassembling them, examining how they were put together. Sometimes she would forget to put them back the way she found them, which lead to some family issues of course.
Jessie Fox would escape prison in time to crash Whitney's thirteenth birthday part in order to kidnap her daughter. Whitney found herself a prisoner of her crazy supervillain mother. It should have been a nightmare, but after the first few weeks she began to discover that it wasn't that bad. Sure, her mother was a crazy supervillain, but she really wasn't that bad. Try as she might, Whitney couldn't bring herself to hate the woman, especially once Jessie gave her a brand new arm, one that was oh, a million times better than any she'd had. Even better, she didn't freak out when Whitney promptly wanted to try taking it apart. In fact, Jessie helped her completely disassemble it and rebuild it. Jessie liked taking things apart and making them better too.
It would take nearly nine months before she was rescued. Which was long enough for her to have seriously mixed emotions about the whole rescue thing. Still, she was incredibly happy to be reunited with the Pratt's. They were wonderful parents to her. She seriously loved them. They were her Mom and Dad. But she loved Jessie too. Jessie understood her. Her brain worked the same way and Jessie clearly loved her, even if she wasn't really very good at the whole parenting thing. She was excellent at giving gifts and taking her cool places, and that was incredibly fun of course, but she just didn't know the little things that made a parent a parent. It would be several years before Jessie would crop up in her life again. During that time she would do her best to fit in and live a normal life with good friends and a great family.
Whitney and Jessie go to school and The Spectre too!
Whitney got accepted into Gotham University with a Wayne Scholarship. When she arrived at school she had a surprise visitor not five minutes after the Pratt's departed. Jessie Fox walked into her room and after hugs and kisses gave her a top of the line laptop, light years better than the one that she had brought with her from home. A few days later she found keys to a brand new car on her pillow one day after returning from classes. The gifts would keep coming as well as the occasional visit from Jessie. It was really easy to forget that Jessie was a wanted criminal. While Mrs. Pratt was still her Mom, Jessie had become her BFF.
Other than the stress surrounding Jessie, Whitney loved school. She was a good student and kept her nose to the grindstone for the most part. She liked learning. The more she learned, the more she wanted to learn.
During Whitney's sophomore year, the Spectre lifted his ban and suddenly Whitney's knack with tech was a lot more than a simple knack! It was freaking awesome. Whitney immediately runs to Jessie to share and it turns out she wasn't the only one who woke up to awesome. The two women experimented with their powers together, pushing them to the limits and having a ton of fun learning what they could do. Tech did what she wanted without much more than a touch and sometimes she didn't even have to touch.
The only down side to it was that the Pratt's weren't so keen on the return of powers to the world. They were all doom and gloom and Whitney kept her new found abilities from them. Their powers were a secret that Jessie and Whitney shared.
Whitney attends Jessie's Supervillain School
Whitney began to spend increasing amounts of time with Jessie. By her Junior year she was not only hanging out with Jessie socially, Jessie was one of her professors. Not officially of course, but Jessie took "Private Studies with Dr. Fox" very seriously. She pushed Jessie harder than any of her real instructors, which was saying something. Not only did she push Jessie to design and build complicated devices, she also pushed her to use her abilities, her powers. They worked out together religiously, training in martial arts and combat. Jessie was a firm believe in sound mind and body. On top of all that, Jessie began educating her in how to skirt the law.
It wasn't something that Whitney leapt at at first, but she had grown quite fond of having a generous bank account and quality toys thanks to the gift giving of Jessie. Protecting those perks only made sense. Jessie showed her the basics of laundering money and how to set up false backgrounds and identities. Still, Jessie never talked about her own criminal activities, and talked about crime in very disparaging terms for the most part.
Visiting home with the Pratt's became a challenge. There was so much she couldn't share with them about her current life. Thanks to her lessons with Jessie, she had a decent enough lie to cover most of her bases. She 'worked' for TechTron Inc., a company that she and Jessie had created as a cover. It made the lies a whole lot easier, but she still hated lieing to the Pratts.
Supervillains are bad. Superheroes are cool.
Jessie was out of country most of Whitney's senior year. She wouldn't go into specifics, but it was plain she was on the run. Even while on the run, she was a taskmaster, sending her the occasional encrypted message to make sure that Whitney wasn't slacking off on her 'independent studies'. Jessie returned in order to see Whitney graduate, and would pay the price for returning too soon. She was nearly murdered by criminal associates, and only survived thanks to the intervention of a superhero. It got Whitney to thinking.
She took the summer off and redoubled her training. She started piecing together information and gear that might be useful in hunting down the people that nearly killed Jessie. She entered grad school in the fall, but that didn't slow down her efforts. She wanted to make the people that hurt Jessie pay and that's just what she began to do.
She started small. It was a big organization, and the people she ultimately were after were pretty scary, so it was best to work her way up. That way she could hone her skills as she went. She found out quickly that she liked beating up badguys, and not just because of her quest for vengeance. It felt good to punish people who made the world so dark and dangerous. She liked helping out people. She liked being a hero. She also liked the fact that the badguys tended to have all sorts of money and things that she could take. Taking their money hurt them, and helped her
Motivation: Though she started fighting crime initially with the end goal of paying back the people that nearly killed Jessie, Whitney has decided she really likes fighting crime. It is a fun challenge mentally and physically, and it is oddly rewarding. In fact, it has gotten her to start helping people in other ways too. She likes that too. Helping people is way cool, and even cooler because she gets to break the law and beat up bad people in the process.
Goal: Her specific goal at the moment is to root out the entire organization behind Jessie getting hurt and destroying it so that Jessie can retire from being a supervillain safely. Note that Jessie hasn't really said she's interested in retirement, but that's an entirely different story. Her long term goal aside from that is to become the greatest superhero ever, to have her surveillance network everywhere and stop all the crime that matters.
Planner: Whitney likes to plan. She prefers attacking foes after doing extensive research and planning. She doublechecks then triplechecks. Unless she sees someone getting hurt, she is unlikely to leap into action when she sees a crime underway. She likes having her eyes in the sky, she likes knowing about who she is fighting and what their resources might be, what their lines of escape are, and have her own escape plans and resources all mapped out.
Morally Ambiguous: Whitney doesn't really care if someone breaks the law. She tends to be okay with non violent crime and non violent criminals. She is pissed pissed off by violent crime and crimes that hurt people. She has no problems living off the ill gotten gains she confiscates from criminals. She doesn't feel guilty about it, she thinks every hero should do it.
Nerdy: Whitney is a nerd and proud of it. She knows Star Trek, Star Wars, and Doctor Who. She's read LotR and GoT and most every other fantasy series out there. She knows her anime. She has cosplayed. She disdains normal culture for the most part.
Gearhead: Whitney 'feels' machines and machines 'feel' Whitney. Technology works better for her than it does for others. Her presence can provide a boost to performance, generally about ten percent. This innate connection to tech allows her to disassemble, repair, and construct devices that are technically beyond her actual skill to do so. However, when she builds devices beyond what her actual skills allow her to create, they have a habit of slipping into failure if they spend too long outside her presence. While in general her kinship with technology is a 'in the lab/garage' power, she IS able to use it in the field in order to take control of tech. The simpler the tech, the more reliably she can do this. Basic tech is a snap, home security systems, turning on cars, computers, etc. Advanced tech from tech organizations is hard, and personalized advanced tech like Stark, impossible.}
Radiohead: Whitney can recive and broadcast radio and TV signals. She is able to watch video directly, or put it on a screen embedded on her right arm so that others can watch it. Communication with her remote devices is encrypted.
Cyber Arm: Whitney's right arm is no longer flesh and bone. It is a fully cybernetic limb that is strong enough to crunch steel with some effort. It is tough enough to bounce bullets, though she has no Wonder Woman ability to get her arm in the way of bullets. It also gives her a wicked right cross. She has a selection of them that she experiments with with minor tweaks.
Wealth: Whitney has already accumulated a sizeable personal fortune through her exploits as well as her business TechTron (which manufactures speciality prosthetics and wheelchairs). The criminal money is tucked into accounts around the world. Having reached personal goals for wealth she is using an increasing percentage of any gains from her endeavors to fund charities.
Arsenal: GearBox uses a variety of weapons when she's fighting crime, almost all of them 'Less Than Lethal" She normally carries a pair of machine pistols that look like Luger P08's. These fire less than lethal gel rounds. Collapsible Batons, Stun Gun and some good old fashioned pepper spray. She does have heavier weapons, but these would only be carried for specific purposes. And of course, everything is less than lethal unless she came to a scene with a anti-material use for them.
Taser Fingers: Not that it is something she needs to do (since she carries a stungun anyway) but she does have the ability to taser with the fingertips of her right hand.
Fleet of Vehicles: Gearbox maintains a wide variety of vehicles. Most are normal vehicles that she's modified for her own personal use. This normally includes a general tune-up, the addition of some armor, cameras and sensors, and a remote control package.
- The Vans: GearBox's mobile headquarters. The outside of each van is carefully painted to blend in, while in the back she carries her scooter, a launch system for a few aerial drones, storage for some specialty drones, a mini-fridge and other creature comforts, along with a hub for extending her ECM/ECCM.
- The Scooter: Don't be fooled by the retro styling, GearBox's scooter is a fast, modern machine with a high powered electric motor and some gadgets for boosting her peformance even more 220 MPH Range 100 miles
- The Whirlybird: A tiny one seat twin rotor helicopter inspired by the Everett Autogyro of James Bond fame. Not as fast as the scooter, but hey, it can fly! Speed 120 MPH Range 50 miles
- The GearBoat: It's a boat!
Jessie Fox aka ToyBox: Jessie was a seasoned super criminal before The Spectre flipped the switch on powers. The increase in power allowed Jessie to make a play for independence, which would ultimately end with her being nearly killed. She's now recuperating from her devestating injuries in hiding. Still, she is Whitney's good friend and an invaluable mentor. While Jessie is not about to show up and help Whitney out in a fight she is always there for advice and emotional support.
Martial Arts: Whitney is pretty darned good at martial arts thanks to Jessie. The martial arts her mother taught her are a well rounded mix of techniques suitable for most occasions, blending a wide variety of martial techniques into a modern mixed martial arts set. She doesn't even need her arm or weapons to whoop up on common street thugs, but lucky for her, she generally has those things too.
Shootin' stuff: Whitney generally prefers shooting badguys and she is even better at that than she is at martial arts. Her standard weapons are meant for hosing down the badguys with large quantities of gel rounds from relatively close ranges, but she is definitely capable of pulling off some sniper shots if needed, though she would normally do that with a special drone (non-lethal as always).
Tech: Whitney is a graduate Engineering student. She is a whiz with anything related to vehicles, drones, and robotics at least those of the more mundane variety. No fusion powered gravitic thrusters for her (Though if Tony Stark wanted to give her some of those that would be cool, she could probably get the hang of them pretty quick even without cheating). As far as superhero tech goes, her solutions are generally pretty low tech and inexpensive. She is also more of a tinkerer than an inventor. She can rip things apart and put them back together better than they were before, but rarely will she invent anything entirely new. Tuning up or hotwiring a car, building rc drones, and bypassing security panels are more her speed. Her main area of true innovation is in prosthetics and wheelchairs.
Vehicles: GearBox is a skilled at handling vehicles. She has a feel for them, an understanding of the physics involved in every maneuver. Whether it is with her Whirlybird, scooter, one of her vans or one of the various non-descript vehicles, she can push their performance envelope and get the absolute most of them whether they are remote controlled or she's there personally to do the guidance.
Acrobatics: Any street level hero has to be able to get around, and Jessie saw to it that Whitney knew how to climb, jump, fall and all the other fun stuff. She even likes it, and does parkour with a club when she's feeling social.
General Nerdy: She can't cook. Doesn't clean, but she knows how to sew and make costumes like nobody's business! (Cosplay) She can quote from nerd sources at length. She is able to endure long periods of time without bathing while indulging in anime. Able to subsist on a horrible diet. Oh, and she was an honor student at a prestigious university and was forced to learn poetry and history and painting and such.
Secret Identity: GearBox leads a double life and protects her normal identity as Whitney Pratt, punky geek, jealously.
Cyberarm: Gear's right arm has been replaced with a cybernetic one. Though it has many upsides, there are some downsides to it as well. She sets off metal detectors, and due to the obvious advanced nature of the arm might be forced to endure prolonged examinations at security checkpoints or even refusal of entry. Her arm can be removed against her will. It can malfunction. See also: Can't Swim
Can't Swim: Due to the weight of her cyberarm, Whitney simply cannot swim while wearing it. The weight will pull her down just like an anchor or a pair of cement shoes. She is an excellent swimmer without the arm however.
Antenna: Whitney hears radio and television signals. Normally she can filter them out without much thought, however strong broadcast sources can be painful, disorienting, and in extreme cases she can even be injured or killed by them.
Machine: Whitney's entire body (Not just her cyberarm) is susceptible to powers that target machines or electronics.
Whitney Pratt-Up and coming entrepreneur with an eye for charity. Her company is always giving away prosthetics and wheelchairs to kids in need.
GearBox-Hero with questionable motives