Mac Gargan

## Personality

MacDonald Gargan could best be described as a reserved individual. He tends to be rather quiet about his past and remains in the background for the most part. This trait of his appears to have been cultivated from his youth as an orphan and vagabond. Mainly that by doing so, he can observe people and use his observations to his benefit. As such, it gives off the impression that Mac is a methodical and calculating person and to a degree he is. Combined this with a fierce survivalist determination, this allowed Mac to endure to where he was at.

But under this thin veneer of silence and calmness lies a troubled individual. A childhood of poverty had led him to be greedy and combined with his general apathy for the well-being of others, it gives him a ruthless attitude in the pursuit of his ambitions, namely to achieve a high status financially and by whatever means possible. At the same time, he also possesses an inferiority complex over this and while he suppresses the rage from this, it can be provoked. Ultimately, you need anything done at a price, he’ll do it, but dealing with him is like dealing with poison.

## Powers & Abilities

***Scorpion-like Physiology*-** Gargan’s genetic augmentation enhancements imbued him with superhuman capabilities that are shared with scorpions though not to the same extent as what Spider-Man has, hence the creation of the exoskeleton armor:

* ***Superhuman Physiology:*** Gargan possesses superior strength, speed, agility, durability and stamina, all surpassing baseline human capabilities. He is able to lift and move up to 15 tons. He can more at faster speeds, agility and reaction time.
* ***Metabolic Deceleration:*** Gargan can lower his metabolism during times of inactivity to conserve energy. Much how scorpions can do so to survive off a few insects a year, Gargan can do so during extended down periods, to lay low or for a variety of other reasons. This augmented by his armor.
* ***Scorpion Tail Movement:*** Gargan's nervous system has been modified to control the robotic scorpion tail when he is locked into his exoskeleton. He's able to move and control it with a thought like any other limb though with a much greater range of freedom.

***Investigation and Deduction*-** Gargan’s lifetime of observation in the background and ambition has led to him honing investigative skills to be able to be considered worth his slightly exuberant prices. His familiarity with the criminal underground and their habits also allow him to get contacts that most wouldn’t be able to do so.

***Hand-to-hand Training*-** Gargan knows the basics of hand-to-hand combat due to a combination of his time as a police officer as well as his misspent youth out in the street and learning to fight dirty. He has used to apprehend suspects (with minimal injury to avoid law suits) and bounties.

## Tools & Equipment

***Scorpion Biomechanical Exoskeleton:*** An exoskeleton implanted onto Gargan, it is divided primarily into two layers. The inner layer is permanently attached to his body to balance the troubles of his genetic enhancements while also assisting with the metabolic deceleration, providing optimal comfort and stability with the outer shell,and interfacing with his nervous system to utilize the various artificial extra appendages naturally and in conjunction with his normal human abilities.

The outer layer meaning is for combative purposes; it consists of the bulkier harder “scorpion carapace” armor that provides protection against extreme temperatures and extensive damage. Additionally, he has some powerful “pincer claws” over his hands that allows to cut, crush and compress things, done through optimizing his enhanced strength along with further hand protection. Most notably is the mechanical tail attached to his armor. Thanks to being attached to his nervous system via the inner layer, he can control the tail like another limb albeit more flexible than others. The tail can also administer a variety of venoms by stinging the target and injecting into it. The venom is stored in a modular capsule, allowing for the usage of different "poisons" to be used.

## History

### A Man Named Mac

Little is known about Macdonald Gargan’s life outside of being born in Yonkers in 1964. The lack of information on parentage implies he was an orphan and lived likely through a combination of on the street and the foster home system. These rough early years were extensively formative on Gargan’s character; he would spend his time in the background and observing people, honing his observation skills while also fueling his desire to escape his destitution and climb up to make a name for himself. However, while he was doing so in adolescence, he began his path into applying his observation skills by spying on trouble-making students and reporting them anonymously. Other times, he would blackmail some of the other students in exchange for some money for his silence. At the same time though, some of his deals didn’t go so well and he would have to fight some of the more intimidating, well-built or tougher students to do so.

While the rumors over this infamy spread on the student body, he was perceived by the educators as showing model behavior and after graduating, he would be advised to consider joining up with the police to better hone his skills and perhaps may some good pay out of it. For the next several years, Gargan would train and later work as a police officer, honing his observation and deduction skills, even rising to the rank of detective within the police department. Gargan would become somewhat infamous for his dubious connections regarding the racial tensions between the city of Yonkers and the NAACP that were going on at the time. Eventually, he would be requested to retire from the force well, which Gargan took.

By 1988, Gargan had took some time off to figure out what to do with his life. His growing greed and ambition would have him return to New York, this time going to NYC itself in order to try and score some major capital. He initially attempted to join the police force there, but would end up being rejected. However, he would build up a reputation as private investigation without scruples while growing connections to the criminal underworld there for his own purposes, looking for an opportunity to strike it rich.

### Switching Sides of the Law

After several years, he got an interesting opportunity when he would be hired by none other than J. Jonah Jameson. Namely, to investigate one of his employees out of the fact he may be affiliated with the vigilante known as Spider-Man along with anything on the webhead in particular. He narrowed it down to the freelance photographer, but was not able to really get a good trace on him, as if he always knew where he was. Despite his attempts, he never got a solid lead and when he would attempt to use his contacts in the criminal underground, he would end up confronting the webhead, who left him stuck. He managed to escape, but he was quite mad at how it all went down. Additionally, when confronting Jameson, the two men aruged loudly over it, leading Jameson rescending the offer and further infuriating Mac.

Now viewing the matter as persona, he made an offer to the mob to track and get the webhead. He would be accepted and they decided that they needed *someone* for this experiment.

Gargan would be led to an establishment and undergone “Project: Scorpion.” After the criminal underground suffered losses, the various crime families came together and pulled in their resources to try and create their own ‘anti-Spider-Man” to end him for good while also dealing with the rise of “superpowered freaks.” Gargan would be infused with scorpion DNA and then bonded with the exoskeleton to hunt down Spider-Man.

Unfortunately, Gargan's rage mixed in with the nature of the experiment would cause him to suffer a psychotic episode, breaking through his restraints and damage his psyche. He would break out of the facility and fresh with aggression, he would be filled with a sense of outrage and vengeance over who he blamed for his predictament. The scorpion would begin hunting down the spider.

## Trivia

* He would blame both Spider-Man and J Jonah Jameson as responsible for his predicament, especially as his failures led to arguments with Jameson over his capabilities.

* When asked about what happened with him and Yonkers, he noted that he actually supported the “poor man” there in regards and implying that he was actually sharing confidential police information with the NAACP during the troubled times.

* According to him, the original plan was to infuse him with scorpion DNA to make him a scorpion-man hybrid, but was shut down due to concerns that the compatibility issues would likely drive him feral due to the limits of genetic engineering available over to them.

* The Scorpion exoskeleton’s tail was based off of earlier blueprints of the extendable arms harness created by Doctor Octopus, explaining its flexibility and control.

* When asked about who administered the treatment, he says he overheard the name “Stillwell”, likely referring to disgraced biochemists Farley and Harlen Stillwell, though he notes that they were assistants.

* The exoskeleton was partially designed by “some sort of Tinkerer” according to him. The Tinkerer also supplied him with his first batch of “venom”, though it was a hallucinogenic one. He claims it was leftover from another client.

* The bonding process has done some considerable damage to his psyche. It's believed that this is because he had weak mental defenses.

* While he does enjoy the newfound power coming from becoming the Scorpion, he is aware that he’s suffered physical and mental damage. He claims that once he gets Spidey, he’s gonna find who did this to them and make them turn him back along with compensation.

* Prior to moving to New York City, he would spend some time in northern Mexico and even considered staying there. While he talks about his time fondly there, he also tends to quickly change the subject when asked about the details. This has led people to believe that he had a lover in the region and would end up having to leave there. He still visited prior to his transformation.

* He has gotten some infamy for bashing Spider-Man twice, but because Spider-Man stopped him from attacking Jameson and the webhead's mouth, he refuses to drop the grudge and instead growing it out over time.