Foes of the Superwomen of EVA #16: Ms. Fixit
"The villainous gamma-enhanced super-genius known as the Leader (formerly Shiro Tokita, an executive for Japan Heavy Chemical Industries), in his various schemes, sometimes bolstered his forces with genetically-engineered gamma mutates. Two of his more notable creations were clones created using data from the abandoned 'Project: Titania' originally drafted by NERV head scientist Ritsuko Akagi (secretly the superhero known as Spider-Woman), with the Leader collaborating with a renegade American geneticist by the name of Miles Warren. One clone, created from the DNA of NERV Evangelion pilot Asuka Langley-Sohryu (from well before she'd become the hellish vigilante Ghost Rider), would later be known as Ruby Shikinami, alias Red She-Hulk (due to her ability to assume a red-skinned, black-haired form similar in physique and stature to the original She-Hulk (secretly NERV tactical ops director Misato Katsuragi)). The other clone, created from the (pre-mutated spider bite) DNA of Ritsuko herself, would become, for a time, the Leader's right-hand woman in the dark green-hued, semi-monstrous-looking Abominatrix. Unknown to the Leader's frequent foes the Avengers (a superhero team Spider-Woman, Ghost Rider, and She-Hulk helped found), during a raid on his hidden mountain lair, a third gamma clone was accidentally awakened and freed. The frightened clone fled in the chaos without anyone's knowledge, and remained off of everyone's radar for a long time afterwards.
The clone, as it turned out, was created from the DNA of another now-former Evangelion pilot, Mari "Illustrious" Makinami (secretly the new Captain America). As the DNA sample the Leader's microscopic drone had acquired contained a bit of the Super-Soldier Serum that gave Mari her special abilities, it served to unintentionally balance out the clone's mental faculties and side-step the usual gamma-induced rage that Misato experienced when she 'hulked out' for the longest time. It also resulted in the clone being a gray-skinned, black-haired She-Hulk akin to when Misato had assumed a similar form during the middle stages of NERV's battles with the otherworldly creatures codenamed 'Angels'. Alone and confused, the clone for a time wandered the countryside (briefly returning to the Leader's now-abandoned lair, where she learned of her origins) until she found herself in Tokyo-2, the sibling city of Tokyo-3 (the main location of NERV's central headquarters). She became something of a freeter, taking odd jobs to survive, resigning herself to trying to live as a distinct person separate from her genetic 'donor'; the only thing she kept the same was her choice of eyewear, as a simple matter of personal style, though she also wore her hair unbound. In secret, she learned to gain a better level of skill with her She-Hulk form, and was content to keep it exactly that way; fate had a different idea one night when, while walking home to the halfway house she stayed in, the girl came upon a couple being accosted by a group of Yakuza thugs. Not liking this situation at all (due to her sharing some of the same morality as Mari), the girl transformed and the thugs were soon beset by a teenage gray She-Hulk, much to their shock and the couple's great surprise. After roughing them up enough that they were sent fleeing with their tails between their legs, the couple thanked the girl by taking her out for a fancy dinner.
The girl soon learned that the couple in question were Mahiro Babasaki and his wife, Suki. Mahiro, as it turned out, was himself a yakuza boss who ran a large and popular casino and a few smaller pachinko parlors in the city; the thugs were the henchmen of a rival of his by the name of Akihito Gobu, who had been trying to muscle in from Hokkaido-2 for a stake of 'his' city. After hearing their guest's own story (with the girl carefully leaving out certain details of her origins), the Babasakis decided to take her in as their ward, a prospect the girl was happy with. On asking her name, she gave them one she'd come up with on the fly: Michiru "Mitzi" Makinami (as something of a nod to her technical 'sister'). The Babasakis treated Michiru like a daughter, and she in turn appreciated their efforts at raising her, such as enrolling her in a private school and seeing to her own needs, including hiring the martial artist known as Stick to help her further master her self-control while in her gamma-powered form. (She even began taking on some of the same Kansai accent the Babasakis sported.) Michiru learned the ins and outs of Mahiro's yakuza clan in her desire to pay him back for his kindness, especially considering how much Mahiro reminded her, in terms of temperament, morality, and choice of 'businesses', of the fictional Vito Corleone from The Godfather (a movie she remembered seeing thanks to her memories duplicated from Mari). Mahiro allowed her to learn, and in the years that followed, where her classmates worked fast food and retail, Michiru's 'part-time job' was as an enforcer (while in her hulked-out form) in her adoptive father's casino, under the alias of 'Ms. Fixit', due to her penchant for stepping in to 'fix' whatever problems arose. Her primary responsibilities were backing up the casino's security in the event of patrons acting unruly and stopping any attempts on Mahiro's life; her reputation grew well-known enough that even the most desperate compulsive gambler would quiver in fear at the mere mention of her name. The familial bond between Michiru and the Babasakis also deepened to the point where Mahiro declared that Michiru would someday lead the clan.
Following another Gobu-plotted attempt to kidnap Mahiro that was thwarted by Ms. Fixit, Gobu himself decided to bring in a heavy hitter of his own and hired the Absorbing Man (Iwao Chiron, former head of NERV's Section-2 security forces) to deal with the Babasakis' chief enforcer. Absorbing Man caused a ruckus in the casino and easily swatted aside Mahiro's regular security, necessitating Ms. Fixit's intervention as she worked to take the fight out of the casino, eventually winning in the end when she sent Absorbing Man flying towards the ocean. A few months later, Tokyo-2's gambling district would play host to another superpowered slugfest when the cyborg mercenary quartet known as Warzone held their annual survival 'war game' in the city, attracting not only Ms. Fixit's attention but that of Spider-Woman (as Ritsuko had been in town for a conference). The two each took on two members of Warzone (and each other due to a misunderstanding) until their respective fights were brought to the casino's entrance, at which point Ritsuko finally grew shocked by the sight of another grey She-Hulk, one who looked astonishingly like Mari. When Warzone was finally neutralized, while Ms. Fixit returned to the casino and resumed her duties, Ritsuko slipped away to inform her fellow Avengers of this new development.
Eventually, while out for a walk on her break one evening, Ms. Fixit found herself face-to-face with not only Spider-Woman, but also She-Hulk, Red She-Hulk...and her 'sister', Captain America. At first thinking they were here for a fight, Mari assured her that they just wanted to talk, and reach an 'understanding' of sorts. On hearing her vocal disapproval of the life Michiru was living, Mari's gamma-grey twin countered that as far as yakuza go, the Babasaki clan was practically harmless. After a lengthy conversation, it was agreed between them that they'd share a mutual tolerance 'policy', though Mari warned her not to expect any invitations to future Makinami family reunions anytime soon. Michiru, smirking, was fine with that, and also added that if Mari's group of goody-two-shoes desperately needed her muscle for anything, that they'd better make it worth her while.
In her adult years, Ms. Fixit continued to thrive in her role as the Babasakis' chief enforcer. She also became romantically involved with one Amiko Kobayashi, a swordswoman and the last descendant of a warrior clan known as the Shosei, supposed mystical guardians of Japan."
*Author's Note(s)*
For the Marvel half of this 'street-level wave', I was struck with inspiration on seeing a black-and-white commission piece OrionPax09 had done for DeviantArt member 680000 of Mari Makinami as a Grey She-Hulk very much in the vein of Bruce Banner's Joe Fixit persona. In the most recent chapter of Orion's "Emerald Fury" story (before he took his still-ongoing sabbatical), we saw the makings of a character beat from the omakes finally show up in the main story as *spoiler alert* Misato transforms into a grey She-Hulk following a botched attempt at curing her. One wonders where that would've gone (something I don't see being answered anytime soon), but after seeing 680000's commission, what started out as me coloring it on a lark led to me coming up with a backstory around this different Grey She-Hulk, one that tied in to the other gamma clones I created in my tribute series, the results of which are seen here. As seen in the Deviation, I kept the colors close to Joe Fixit's, with the white flowers standing in for pinstripes in a sense. (Ironically, that they look a bit like stars could be seen as Ms. Fixit's own in-joke towards her 'twin sister'.) Much of her backstory was based around the 'drifter' years of Spider-Man's clone Ben Reilly and the Hulk's time as Joe Fixit, featuring 'Nippon-ized' takes on Michael and Suzi Berengetti (who ran the Colosseum Casino where Fixit worked) and Anthony Gold (the rival mobster trying to set up a branch of the Maggia), along with the merc team that brought Fixit and Spider-Man together for a surprising fight. Minor Wolverine supporting character Amiko Kobayashi was thrown in for an interesting little tease of a development for Ms. Fixit. (And yes, Mike, I'm quite aware this is the fourth clone I've come up with for my narrative purposes.)