Gabriel
Switchblade's guardian angel that is always watching. Created by Pulse
Name: Gabriel
Faction: Predacon
Serial No: 760-253-027
Function: Black Ops. (Intelligence Retrieval)
Status: Online
Affiliation: None (Formerly Predacon Military)
Type: Fuzor
Beast Mode: Gargoyle (Bat / Panther)
Age: 123 Stellar Cycles
Height: 9 ft.
Size Class: Large
Description:
-Beast Mode: In Beast Mode, Gabriel possesses the form of a Gargoyle. He is
approximately eight feet long and stands between four and a half to five feet tall.
The Panther component of this mode resembles a normal Panther in most respects.
His feline form is covered with a sleek, powerful, and well-defined musculature.
Gabriel's panther legs are slightly under-proportioned, though any lack of length is
more than made up for by the heavier sets of muscles surrounding all four
appendages. In Beast Mode, just as in his Robot mode, Gabriel’s optics are an
unsettling off yellow that glow dimly in the dark. Just the opposite of his legs, his
head is just slightly over-proportioned, with sharp angular planes ending in a blunt
nose. Gabriel has no whiskers in Beast Mode, though he still possesses the tail of a
Panther. His heavy paws each sport a set of five sharp non-retractable claws.
(Not mono-molecular. For use only in Beast Mode.) He also possesses a powerful
set of jaw muscles, connected to two rows of sharp edged teeth, just as any
normal panther would. (The teeth can only be used in Beast Mode.)
He departs, however, from the normal panther in two very important ways. The
first, and most obvious, is the large pair of bat like wings protruding from his back.
They each have one main “bone” extending outward. From each large bone stem
five smaller thinner ones, between which a thin, yet ultra tough, membrane exists.
In effect, they are bat wings. The wings are about six feet long. Powerful muscles
lay at their base to allow Gabriel the power to lift himself off the ground. The
second major difference is Gabriel’s coloring. Instead of a more natural organic
shade, his hide is covered completely with a tough, hairless, iron gray skin. It is
flecked all over with spots of darker gray and black, giving him the look of a
moving stone sculpture. Across the entire left side of his Beast Mode face, there is
a large patch of permanently stained metal, scarred and twisted in places. It is a
deformity that boarders on hideous, and usually frightens away anyone unlucky
enough to catch a glimpse of it.
-Transformation: Gabriel rears up on his hind legs as his joints straighten and then
realign themselves for two-legged motion. His torso slides down, stopping just
short of his hips and his arms rotate at the shoulder and elbow, allowing a greater
range of motion. They become less like panther forelegs and more like normal arms.
At the same time two pairs of hands slide out of the front of his heavy Beast Mode
Paws. His fingers are freed to move. His Beast Mode claws retract so not to
interfere with any other part of his hand. Two thick stone gray shoulder pads slide
over the exposed area of Gabriel’s shoulder joints. His neck retracts a ways into
his upper torso, and his head pivots ninety degrease to look outward. Finally, his
blunt Beast Mode nose splits in two halves vertically down the middle and retracts
into a compartment below his ears. (Now folded flush with the rest of his head.) It
reveals his Robot Mode mouth and nose. Gabriel’s wings fold into a cape like
position on his back.
-Robot Mode: In Robot Mode, Gabriel stands a total of nine feet tall, and sports a
muscular, but none the less medium build. His tough Beast Mode hide and metallic
Robot Mode armor are nearly indistinguishable, due to the identical stone like color
scheme. His face sports a sharp hawk bridged nose and cold sneering mouth, all
set behind the same haunting yellow optics. (The optics are just blank color now,
as opposed to the reflective irises of his Beast Mode.) His stone like armor is a
mass of hard edges and flat surfaces. It gives him a very hard and uncompromising
“Predacon” type look. Though Gabriel’s wings are normally folded over across his
back like a cape, they can easily extend to their full length (Total span of about
12 feet), and provide powerful bursts of speed. His most prominent, and disturbing
feature, is the same large acid burn running across the left side of his face. As
with his Beast Mode, it is a gruesome deformity that can be very frightening to
those not used to the look of it.
Personality:
A long tenure in a Predacon Black Ops. Unit will have a detrimental effect on
almost anyone. Gabriel is no exception. His past has molded him into a cold,
calculating, brutally effective killing machine. He has very few morals, and virtually
no respect for individual life, unless it suits his purposes. Because of his former
occupation and his hideous deformity, Gabriel is a very silent, solitary type. He
does not go out of his way to talk to people, or to make friends. It’s against his
nature. For over a hundred years his life has not been about these things, it has
been about killing, and destroying, and doing whatever his superiors wanted him to
do, whenever they wanted him to do it. When he does interact with others, he is
very gruff and rather curt in his speech. The word unfriendly comes to mind.
Gabriel prefers to hide himself in the shadows and watch as events transpire. Part
of this is due to his training. Another part of it, however, owes more to a facial
deformity he himself finds repulsive, and doesn’t like to show off. Since becoming
infatuated with the Sirius courier ‘Switchblade’, and breaking his ties with the
Predacon Military, he has only answered to one person: Himself. Unlike
Switchblade, he fully understands his feelings toward her. This brings him much
personal pain because he also feels (because of his face, and the fact that he’s a
Predacon) that he would never have a chance with her. He believes that if she
saw who he really was, that she would be disgusted and hate him. So he keeps to
the shadows, her silent and unseen guardian angel.
History:
At a very early age, the young Transformer that would come to bear the name
“Gabriel”, was selected for both induction into the Predacon Military. As a young
cadet, Gabriel displayed an aptitude for stealth and hand to hand combat. These
skills, along with his relative intelligence and apparent ambition, caught the
attention of his superiors. After a time, he was tapped for something deemed more
suited to his skills. It was a more secretive and ruthless branch of the Predacon
Military known simply as the Black Ops. Program. He underwent and eventually
graduated from a merciless training program, designed to leave only the best of
the best standing, and the others dead. He had become stronger, quicker, and
most of all deadlier. By the time he reached the age of fifty he had completed his
training and been fully assimilated into the program. Taking an active hand in some
of the unit’s more unsavory activities, he had risen to a position of marginal
respect by the time he was seventy-five. In recognition of his services, he was
eventually given the unique Gargoyle Beast Mode and ironic code name “Gabriel”.
This for him was a proud day, as many of the less valued Black Ops. members are
denied both titles and Beast Forms.
About that time he was ordered on a mission that involved the assassination of a
Predacon informer named Stakk. It was supposed to be a routine mission.
Unfortunately, it proved to be anything but. The informer, who had taken the
Beast Mode of a Spitting Cobra, proved a greater challenge than his team had
expected. The ‘bot managed to subdue two members of his three man group,
leaving only the less experienced Gabriel to fend for himself. Hoping to garner a
promotion by killing Stakk single handedly, Gabriel dove headfirst at the snake ‘bot,
crushing his throat with bare hands. However, he was not able to accomplish this
uninjured. In the struggle, Stakk had managed to hit him with a heavy dose of his
corrosive poison on the left half of Gabriel’s face. Ignoring the pain as he had been
taught, he disposed of his teammates bodies (as well as that of the traitor Stakk),
and returned to base, deciding that it was better to report the blunder immediately
than to take time to repair the large acid wound. Upon arriving, though he learned
that he had waited too long. The damage done to the superstructure of his face
by the acid had become irreparable. Between the time he had received the injury,
and the time he returned to base, the hideous discolored burn had eaten its way
dangerously close to a set of vital nerve connections. Operation, the only real
solution to the problem, was deemed too risky by his superiors. Additionally, he
was demoted for allowing the death of two valuable operatives. Gabriel was
understandably up set over the turn of events. Disheartened, Gabriel spent
marathon sessions in the CR Tank in an attempt to repair his damaged face. The
action was futile, though. The mark remained.
The incident cast a dark cloud over Gabriel’s personality. As time went on, he drew
farther and farther away from his teammates, becoming more reclusive with each
passing Stellar Cycle. His tactics on the battlefield also grew more violent, almost
to the point of barbarism. Nothing was sacred, and everything was fair game. Even
his “teammates” were not safe if they stood between Gabriel and accomplishing his
mission. This eventually earned him a very dangerous reputation. It only grew
larger as the years wore on. Even the ‘bots in his own unit were marginally afraid
of him. He had become a cold-blooded killer, even by their standards.
At length, Gabriel was brought in to assist with the capture of a Sirius courier
named Switchblade. The small Black Ops. unit assigned to the task had been
unable to capture their valuable prey. Though it was somewhat of a taboo, they
requested, and received Gabriel’s help. The Gargoyle’s job was simple. The courier
held important Maximal research files that were being transported to a more secure
location. He was to intercept the information, and kill Switchblade. The mission
was not new. Nor was it difficult. Gabriel had performed similar tasks with great
efficiency in the past. It was hoped that he would do so again. However, when he
picked up her trail at a mid sized starport on Cybertron, the shadowy ‘bot found
himself fascinated by his quarry. For a time he merely observed the inventive ways
that she slipped in and out of security, the way she talked…even the way she
moved. The killer became infatuated with Switchblade, and, despite his best
efforts, was unable to bring himself to kill her. He regarded it as a waste…for many
reasons. So, instead of completing his assigned task, Gabriel went AWOL. He sent
a coded transmission to the courier, tailored to look as though it had come from a
Sirius operative. It told of the Predacon attempts to “bring her in”.
Switchblade naturally bolted, and when she did, Gabriel followed. The badger ‘bot
dumped the information at the nearest Maximal installation and continued to run,
lest the Black Ops. unit remained on her trail. Though she succeeded in eluding the
unit, she was never able to slip away from Gabriel. For a long time he considered
revealing himself to her, but pushed the idea out of his mind with a simple touch to
the left side of his face. He knew he was a monster…a killer. On top of that he
was a Predacon, and a particularly hideous one at that. Though his affection never
lessened, he resigned himself to a place in the shadows, where she couldn’t see
him. If he could not be with her, he was determined to do the next best thing:
Follow her and protect her as best he could. But always from the shadows. She
could never be allowed to see his face. That would be the end of everything.
Until recently, Gabriel has followed Switchblade everywhere, often providing small
but vital assistance that he thinks she doesn’t know about. In reality, Switchblade
knows that someone has been following her in the shadows and helping her,
though she has never figured out whom. Lately, a threat from within the Black
Ops. organization has drawn him away. Though he hates to leave Switchblade to
her own devices, he is aware that she can take care of herself, and that with
time, this old threat (the Black Ops. team that tried to kill her), would fester and
become even worse. He could never have known that the courier’s next mission
would place her in more danger than ever before. He is currently in the process of
locating and murdering the last members of the Predacon team.
Special Abilities:
1) Tracking
2) Surveillance
3) Hand to Hand Combat
4) Assassination
5) Flight
-Tracking: Gabriel is highly adept at tracking other ‘bots. Though he works well in
all forms tracking, his specialty is urban tracking. Instead of following footprints or
broken twigs, he is skilled in ferreting out accurate rumors and shadowing his prey.
This is how he was able to follow Switchblade without necessarily keeping his eye
on her every moment.
-Surveillance: Gabriel is also highly adept at monitoring a subject for long periods
of time without being seen. Though he is able to conceal himself in many types of
terrain, he excels at blending in with shadowy urban surroundings because of his
unique color scheme. This is how he was able to remain hidden from Switchblade
for so long without notice.
-Hand to Hand Combat: During his tenure as a Predacon Black Ops. agent, Gabriel
was exposed to many forms of hand to hand combat. By necessity he had
thorough training in all major Transformer and Terran forms, as well as a few
obscure techniques of his own choosing. This background is combined with
vigorous weapons training to allow any Black Operations operative to eliminate
nearly any opponent quickly and quietly. Gabriel’s preferred form of combat is a
lightning fast combination of simple yet effective strikes, executed with textbook
accuracy. He is not in it for the fight, hand to hand is sometimes just the quickest
way to bring a ‘bot down.
-Assassination: Though he is not an assassin by trade, it did make up a large
component of his work in the Predacon Military. Gabriel is versed in a number of
common forms of assassination, and trained in their execution. He has plenty of
practice at this if not much flare or interest in it. For most ‘bots, if he wants them
dead, they will be very soon.
-Flight: With the help of his large bat like wings, Gabriel can fly in both Beast Mode
and Robot Mode. In Beast Mode he is capable of short term sustained flight
(maybe an hour max). His maximum speed is about fifty miles per hour. In Robot
Mode the arrangement of his wings is more awkward. He able push himself upward
and propel himself forward / backward at great speed, but not sustain flight for
any long period of time. (Max is about thirty seconds.) He will transform if any
long-term flight is necessary. Flight is somewhat of a drain on his systems, but not
enough to cause him any major problems. For him it is comparable to running.
Fighting Ability:
Strength: 8
Speed: 9
Skill: 10
Aim: 6
Stamina: 8
Discipline: 8
Intelligence: 5
Firepower: 6
Luck: 3
Total: 63
Weapons and Equipment:
-Blaster: This medium sized silver firearm is standard issue in the Predacon Military.
It is small enough to be fired with one hand and shoots a short yellow laser bolt
from its squared off muzzle. Gabriel’s gun, altered to fit the needs of a Black Ops.
agent, has been outfitted with a hyper efficient cooling unit, and a more powerful
refractor component, allowing his shots to pierce a normal - Transmetal ‘bots
armor in small sections. (Not lethal unless hit directly in spark cage, head, etc.)
This improved refractor also allows for greater effective range (between 90 and
100 yds.) The blocky gun is semi automatic, and due to the cooling unit, takes in
excess of two hours of constant use to overheat. The bolts are generated by a
self-sustaining power supply. The damage any given bolt causes decreases
gradually with use. The gun can easily be recharged by thumbing a ‘recharge’
switch, located where the safety should be. The weapon has no sight, but Gabriel
is well trained in its use and can normally hit his mark.
-Combat Knife: A thick, durable, two and a half foot long combat knife, complete
with hand guard and thick black textured handle. On one side it is a normal knife,
though very sharp, that tapers t a point four inches from the end. It is used to cut
soft and / or organic materials. The opposite side has large serrated spikes cut
into it, coated with a super tough compound designed to tear through metal
without dulling. The serrated side can rip through even Transmetal armor provided
enough leverage.
Equipment:
-Laser Scope: Made for use with Gabriel’s altered Blaster pistol. It shoots a small
red beam of light indicating the aim of the gun. It is used when the precision of a
bolt is more important than the quantity of them.
-Flash Bang Grenade: Small black charge in the shape of a square. Explodes in a
flash of brilliant white light after a three-second delay. Blinds opponents and allows
Gabriel a critical fraction of a second to move. He they are roughly the size of a
human fist. Gabriel carries four at any given time. As they too are standard issue
goods, they are easily replaceable.
Graphics Provided by Riboflavin
