Phineas Mason

## Personality

Sometimes, it's the quiet ones that surprise you. Such is the case with Phineas Tiberius Mason, a calm businessman who's quiet gaze and work manner hide a strong genius. Phineas Mason lived a long life and worked quietly in the shadows. His upbringing affected his relationships and how he saw the world. He is courteous and gentlemanly with most people, albeit in a professional sense and even when dealing with antagonistic individuals, he remains level-headed, if mildly irritated. He can even be affectionate, though usually with children. He ia also quite a frugal and resourceful man, working to make the most

However, he also possesses a cynical side. Having grown up with his adult years involved in morally ambiguous activities and his childhood defined by poverty made him all too well-aware of the problems of society and what he sees as failures to move forward. He is a supporter of the common man, but can be a pessimist with the future. He also has a tendency to hold grudges though more toward broad groups of people rather than individuals. Overall, he's a quiet man trying to build a life from the refuse.

## Powers & Abilities

***Engineering/Technological Genius*-** The Tinkerer possesses extensive knowledge in a wide variety of scientific disciplines such as engineering and machinery, as well as a high degree of expertise in designing and manufacturing innovative weapons and devices. However, his speciality is in reparation and recycling. Namely in being able to create new inventions from older ones and discarded parts. As such, many cash-strapped individiuals will more often than not.

## Tools & Equipment

**- *Various inventions:*** Being not much of a fighter, he tends to focus more on building and his various inventions and equipment are made to work on the products of his clients, directly or indirectly. As such, he does does not possess many items he uses on a day to day basis. However, he does tend to wield a form of plasma gun as a self-defense weapon, but not much else. His base of operations is located underground, connected to his repairshop via access tube.

## History

### Humble Handyman...

Phineas Tiberius Mason was born the only son to a family of mechanics around the start of the Great Depression in 1930. As such, his formative years were defined by poverty and frugality. His father worked in whatever odd jobs he could try and find. However, Phineas was blessed with a gifted intellect and he would help out around the family by repairing items and helping to earn some money. Growing up, he was a fan of wartime heroes like Captain America and various others during World War II. His father would end up joining over into World War II and would end up using it to get a new job thanks to the GI Bill. Noticing his son's talents, he encouraged Phineas to go into the government in some form or fashion which Phineas reluctantly did so through the developments of military technologies. From there, Phineas became responsible for managing and assisting in the developments of various cutting-edge military technology, but would come to grow embittered at the lack of positivr impact it was making in the world.

He would eventually meet his wife there, Deborah Watts. A secretary who he would often have lunch with, the two would bond over it. After a few years, he would end up marrying her and both leave behind their jobs in government technology. Using the money he had saved up along with a few favors, Phineas Mason ended up opening his own repair store known as *Phineas' Fix-It*. Throughout that time, he would even become a father with the birth of Rick Mason over in 1960. Phineas would end up running his store and gaining a positive local reputation while working to raise his boy alongside his wife. Like him, Richard would follow in his footsteps in joining the military though more as a secret agent. As part of a way to keep tabs on his son, Phineas would do some consulting work with them and later some technological companies, but he was more content to be in his shop or do the occasional teaching gig at schools, meeting a few bright puplis along the way he kept in touch with. However, tragedy came in with the accident that robbed him of his wife Deborah over in about 1980. Circumstances around it drove a wedge between him and his son Rick to where the relationship between was strained for a number of years. However, the two would begin reconnecting when Rick would be getting engaged and by the time Rick got married and had children of his own, they were on much happier terms.

### ...To Terrifying Tinkerer

Evetually as he entered his golden years and continued to tinker by, he was called The Tinkerer. However, eventually running his simple repair shop was insufficient to deal with the growing bills in the long run. Additionally, he was aware of the dangerous work his son was doing and he wanted to stockpile some money for his grandchildren's futures in the event something happened to Rick. Using his old connections, he delved back into the world of cutting-edge technologies, only to see a changed landscape. A world of rising costumed crusaders and criminals... the rise in paramilitary operations and heavens knows what else.

Despite the fact he would be working with plenty of unscrupulous individuals, he nonetheless went forward into it, seeing as not that different as his time with government agencies and the like. He had little to lose and needed a new way to make a mark on a world growing madder. However, in particular, many of his clients would end up in defeat at the hands of one persistent and sharp-minded superhero known as Spider-Man. As such, he would be unsurprised that he would be coming face to face with the webslinger at a few points.

## Trivia

* Mason is sympathetic to people born hard on their luck, even criminals motivated by strife and misfortune. This may be in part of what fueled him becoming a mechanic for the various supermachines that super-powered criminals that have been on the rise as a result.

* Mason has connections to various organizations such as A.I.M. and even SHIELD, the latter due to having been a brief time as a mechanic there and later on his son Richard would end up joining up with them down the line.

* Among the various people that Phineas met during his time teaching was a bright man named Otto Octavius, whom he grew to mentor for a brief period of time. Other people included bright men such as Adrian Toomes. However, the one that helped him get into it was a special effects artist he befriended known as Quentin Beck.

* He was named after Phinehas, son of Eli, as in the Biblical character. Apparently, had he had a younger brother, he would've been named Hophni.

* Despite his cynical edge, he still has some goodness in him and will reluctantly work with the heroes if they offer the money for it or if there is a greater sense of survival at stake. However, he does change up his contacts that help disguise his gray eyes whenever need be.

* He taught his son plenty about the advanced machine and technology that he handled, knowing that it may one day come in handy. This aided him considerably in his field operations as an adult. He has also noticed his grandchildren share the same fascination in science.

* His weapons have various failsafes he can activate in the event his clients try to pull a fast one by trying to run off without pay or kill him to cover his tracks. He has kept meticulous track of these troublesome clients to blacklist them and often will offer discounts to other clients to take care of the blacklisted ones if they are persistent troubleakers.

* He has been noted to be able to speak Latverian fluently and refuses to go into information about it more, though when asked who taught him, he gives the name of Vincent Doonan as the one who taught him, which has further confused people.

* Phineas Mason has noted a skepticism toward superheroes, despite being a fan of the World War II superhero team, The Libery Legion. His reasons for them seem to be in part due to his own cynicism in regards to what he saw as people with powers doing whatever they pleased. This has become a source of ironic humor among the supervillains he works with though they never tell this to his face.

* Whenever criminals or supervillains need a request for his more clandestine services (instead of mundane work, which he still does), they use the specific phrase "I've got a raido that just can't carry a tune" to let him know of their interest. He has yet to find a normal client tell him this to his face, hence his continued reliance on it.