The Caretaker

The Caretaker, in an undisclosed location

The Caretaker, also known as CT-68, is a member of Aleppo Incorporated and a former United States Military Operative during the Cold War. In the current state of Los Santos, Caretaker has served Aleppo Incorporated's escapades into a variety of operations upon their return to the United States - after a long dormant period in Aleppo, Syria.

## Appearance

The Caretaker has a variety of outfits that they have cycled through for mission purposes. Generally, The Caretaker likes to cover their face, desiring discretion while in public or on operations. While in their nightclub, The Caretaker takes on the look of a businesswoman, to keep themselves from arousing suspicion among the nightclub guests.

Several tattoos adorn The Caretaker's arms, dating back to their service during the Cold War. Upon joining Aleppo Incorporated, they adorned the company flag onto their chest, despite it remaining hidden from view during their daily activities.

## Personality

More machine than woman in their current form, The Caretaker is seen as stoic, with an almost robotic-like personality at times. Their attitude can be seen as cold during most operations and daily life, while flashes of emotion poke through during time with close friends in Aleppo Incorporated. Besides that, The Caretaker generally keeps to themselves and remains silent unless spoken to first.

Before undergoing cybernetic enhancements, The Caretaker was a much different person, and was a standard model family woman of the 1950s and 60s. Kind, generous, and filled with joy, her personality took a large downturn at the implementation of cybernetics into her body.

## Biography

### Early Life

Due to her reluctance to reveal personal information, and her information still labeled as "Classified" by the United States Government, The Caretaker's origin location remains unknown and disputed by various sources. What is known, however, is that The Caretaker was born as Melinda Cain in 1943, in the United States. Cain grew up in a standard household of the era, born and raised to be part of one of America's "nuclear families" in her inevitable future. At the age of 20, she was married off to a fellow local named Raymond Hansen, and assumed her role as a typewriter at a local office. By 1965, however, the United States had plunged into the Vietnam War with troops being deployed onto the ground. Hansen, Cain's husband, was deployed amidst the first American troops in Vietnam - led by Putt-Putt, an American war hero during both World War II and the Korean War.

### The Caretaker Program

During World War II, Putt-Putt tended to stray off from directives by his fellow commanders. While he proved effective as a hero in battle, he remained difficult when it came to following orders from his superiors. With America needing a way to commandeer Putt-Putt, The Caretaker Program was founded by American researchers. Their goal - to field a human being that could interface with Putt-Putt and commandeer them as needed. Many early prototypes of the project failed, as the researchers initially intended to utilize an AI program of some sort as an on-board interface for Putt-Putt. The technology of Putt-Putt's encompass was scanned, and used as a basis for sentient AI in many of the prototypes. These prototypes would later become the basis for Avon's Clifford A.I. program. After 27 failed iterations of the program, researchers deemed that an AI program would be far too dangerous, and instead went for the alternative - cybernetics.

Finding a proper subject for the experiments would prove rather difficult. Children were far too young and frail to withstand the power of cybernetics, and the same went for elders. Since the design considered that the person controlling Putt-Putt be involved in military situations and operations, someone youthful was preferred. They also took family into account - connections with others had to be minimal, with a willing being for the program. While the researching team and the U.S. Government would have liked to use a male in his 20s, most of these either had hard family ties or were employed into the United States Army in Vietnam. Finally, the team behind the program settled on finding young, unmarried or widowed women in their 20s as the best fit for The Caretaker Program. A total of 40 women (and possibly more, but this is disputed) were experimented upon and failed to meet the desired outcome of the program. Today, the whereabouts of these test subjects remained unknown. Melinda Cain was the 41st woman tested. After her husband perished in the Vietnam War just a year prior in 1967, Cain was enthusiastic about doing whatever she could to aid the government - feeling as if she should share the same enthusiasm her husband had when he left for the war. While earlier tests of The Caretaker Program attempted to employ super soldier-like properties into their added cybernetics, Cain's tests succeeded due to small changes in the experiment. Instead of major stereotypical cybernetics across the body, Cain was outfitted with early forms of computer chips, which were wired into her brain. The other metallic material within Cain's body was injected via serums, adjusting the properties of her brainwaves and senses. Due to the architecture of the experiment being based on Putt-Putt, Melinda Cain was gifted with anti-aging properties and heightened senses. Her designated training and mental complex was hard-coded into her

Cain was given the designation of "CT-68", designated her as the 68th total attempt at The Caretaker Program, while also coincidentally representing the year she was employed by the United States.

### Vietnam War

Nicknamed as "The Caretaker" by fellow Americans that were deployed in Vietnam, Melinda Cain joined Putt-Putt almost immediately after landing in the country. Interfacing with Putt-Putt took almost no time at all, and The Caretaker took control of him, guiding him through the dense jungles of Vietnam alongside American troops. Cain felt pain throughout her body from the intense experiments, but powered through nonetheless.