Image Sourcebook: Trencher

Real Name: Gideon
Occupation: Trencher
Identity: Unknown
Legal Status: Undocumented
Place of Birth: Unknown
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: Division of Karmic Designation
Base of Operations: Mobile
First Appearance: TRENCHER #1
History: In the Division of Karmic Designation, bureau of re-incarnation and retrieval, the task was set to repossess the over 1,000 souls who were wrongly returned to life on Earth in the 1900-1990 period. At the suggestion of the being known as Phoebe, the Council approved a Trencher unit for this duty. By definition, a Trencher is "one who repossesses errant or misplaced souls." Controlled by the consciousness Gideon under the constant supervision of Phoebe, this humanoid "re-possession agent" would seek out and exterminate these erroneous reincarnations in their present lives, usually with extreme prejudice. Coarse, ill-tempered, and violent, Gideon went about his chore beginning approximately in October of 1993 with the least regard for discretion and with the greatest application of Murphy's Law in every attempt.

After a brief local environmental tumult, Gideon was cast down from the heavens to Miami, Florida in a bolt of fuchsia lightning that destroyed several city blocks with explosions and tidal waves. His earliest recorded collection was Lawrence Tsabo, who employed bloody prehensile nose hairs of great strength as The Nasal Python before the Trencher ripped off his lower jaw and shot him repeatedly in the chest with his very large machine gun. Gideon then proceeded to rob the corpse, as a Trencher has no material means provided to support his mission.

While Phoebe determined that cases such as a Spawn operating out of New York, government-sponsored reanimated dead (indicating Bloodstrike,) and Gideon's antagonistic "little girlfriend" Skylark would have to be dealt with eventually, his next job took him to Detroit, Michigan to collect the aging Nazi Cheryl Noble. Active as an aggressive agent since at least 1941, Cher Noble exhibited an unexpected "past-life cognizance" and awareness of Trenchers. Noble had enough fight left in her to blow Trencher in half, but was ultimately dealt with. Significantly damaged, Trencher needed a day to heal, prompting Phoebe to teleport him to his next job in Tuscon, AZ to recover lost time on his itinerary. Once there, Trencher bisected Martin "The Hurler" Gallagher and briefly confronted the local cactus-themed hero The Mighty Saguaro. Failing to maintain a low profile, Trencher attracted the attention of the exceptionally powerful superhero Supreme, who punched Gideon hard enough to send him flying all the way to Las Vegas, NV. Much destruction on the strip followed, and even after using an "adrenal burst" to very briefly challenge Supreme, the superhuman literally knocked Gideon's block off with one punch. In a major violation, Phoebe opened a nexus portal to save the chassis, and Gideon was trapped for two weeks on an isolated alternate dimensional platform in the nexus "core" with the chatty Trencher of 1963, Gabriel. Gideon regretted bringing up Horus, and hearing about Gabe's Trencher-Mobile.

In Kansas City, Gideon encountered the first of four unauthorized Elvis Presley reincarnations that had divided his soul by as many lives, fragmented in transit, known as a "Carlyn Rift." The first was a cyborg that demonstrated "past-life cognizance" and ambushed Trencher. The second was a three-year-old who performed in diapers in New Orleans, but Gideon had a strict "no kids," policy, and would have to keep until adulthood. In Hyannis, MA, an Elvis in large mechanical armor was dispatched before it could kill a "heretic" impersonator. The diminutive Nigel P. "Pelvis" Rippington befriended Gideon in gratitude, who grudgingly accepted a ride to Memphis, TN. A final superhuman Elvis operated from a secret high-tech lair beneath Graceland, and intercepted the "trenching filth" en route. Despite powers beyond those of mortal men, it was swiftly doomsday for the reign of The King. Meanwhile, a faceless man with long fingernails had awakened in Boston, and appeared to be tied to the newly super-powered and cognizant repossessions.

Following the breaking of his back by local vigilante Shadowhawk, mob boss Carmine "The Blowhole" Oliveri was set to turn over evidence on the mafia. Shadowhawk guarded him so that he could do so, but Oliveri was also on Trencher's docket for repossession. A drawn out night of multitudinous conflicts resulted, with Trencher brutalizing the vigilante, as well as local police, S.W.A.T., mafia assassins, and a super-powered street gang. Trencher was eventually bisected and defenestrated from high atop the hospital where The Blowhole was being kept. Rival Boss Konik enlisted Deever and his body-hopping Twilight Runners, who eventually landed inside the aged asthmatic Oliveri and caused him to shoot himself in the head. As Trencher's body reconstituted itself in a New York City morgue drawer, Gideon made plans for his next repossession, Boss Konik.

Trencher gunned down a prostitute due for repossession while she was performing for Blitz the Manic Mandrill. Blitz was understandably aggrieved, and a protracted series of escalating violent confrontations occurred over a span of days in early January of 1994. Ultimately, both aggressors were left with only disembodied heads, and yet continued to spit at one another as a last recourse. It is unknown whether Blitz has similar regenerative powers as Trencher to allow for his recovery.

Trencher was again drawn into Shadowhawk's orbit in New York when Phoebe decided to help the vigilante through a cathartic but otherwise fruitless fool's errand. This led to Gideon trenching a proto-demonic soul in the presence of the Al Simmons Spawn, but no move was made against him at this time. Gideon left one of his guns with Shadowhawk and encouraged suicide, but he ultimately refused. Instead, Phoebe aided Shadowhawk in an odyssey across space and time that helped him come to terms with his impending death.

Trencher repossessed a mall Santa in full view of patrons on Christmas Eve, and then struggled the rest of the night to escape Milwaukee. While there, he was attacked by Dr. Tushman, a serial killer with a perverse hunger for flatulence. When the noted World War II hero Blazing Glory had a radioactive missile lodged in his rectum, the proctologist was quietly enlisted by the government to extricate the large device. Though successful, Dr. Tushman was exposed to a concentrated blast of irradiated gas after prematurely removing his safety equipment. Scarred physically and emotionally, Tushman descended into madness, and was killed by Trencher in an explosion at a toy warehouse.

Trencher was in the Egyptian city Giza when it was blasted by an energy weapon wielded by sixty foot Martian exterminators. Exiting the wreckage, Trencher was attacked by Doc Stern... Mr. Monster, who was vacationing in Egypt with his assistant Kelly Friday. Stern had been investigating bug-eyed aliens in the region, and identified Trenchers as monsters to be eliminated. Later, Trencher pursued Kelly to Stearn's Slaughter Mountain mansion at Sector 666, Co-Vector 13, in the mistaken belief that he was at Laughter Mountain. Trenching was due for the reincarnated black widow & poodle murderess Merry Merle, and Gideon had mistaken Kelly for her host. Gideon's usually swift repossession of a target was delayed by the presence of visiting children, giving Kelly time to create a mute duplicate of herself. When Trencher was knocked into a Satan Glass, he pulled the duplicate Kelly in with him, then destroyed the dimensional doorway from the other side to avoid dealing with Doc Stearn. Trencher has not been seen since his encounter with Mr. Monster, and may still be trapped in a version of Hell.

Height: Approximately 6'4"
Weight: Approximately 250 lbs.
Eyes: Unknown
Hair: Platinum Blond with Sandy streaks
Strength level: Exceptional.
Known superhuman powers: The Trencher retrieval unit, model Sapien 2000, is a self-contained bio-system capable of extraordinary abilities far beyond the pale of mere humanity. It is capable of self-repairing from a state of near total obliteration, knitting rent appendages back together and even restoring itself when only Gideon's severed head survived a nuclear detonation. Once, Trencher came back from being ripped in half and losing an arm in just under 24 hours. Trencher can tolerate inhuman levels of physical trauma while only grousing about discomfort. Its agility is such that Trencher can run on its hands at a speed at least comperable to a regular man on legs, or even hop on one arm should the need arise. It is resilient against most small arms fire, though it can be penetrated by bladed weapons if projected with sufficient force. The Trencher unit also possesses enhanced strength of a high caliber, though his upper limits are unknown. Although his chassis can only handle it for about a minute, Phoebe can authorize an "adrenal burst" that once allowed Gideon to deliver an impactful if ultimately ineffective blow to Supreme.

While Gideon psychologically desires rest, the 2000 model does not actually require dormant periods. To all intents and purposes, the 2000 model is a walking cadaver under close inspection, but without cellular deterioration. Trencher appears to be a well-muscled, exceedingly pale person with body hair, saliva, etcetera. He enjoys hand rolled cigarettes and hot showers. Trencher's machine pistol fires rounds powerful enough to penetrate the skin of Supreme. When warranted, Phoebe can seek authorization for a priority "boot" that can teleport Trencher in a "Chuff" of pink smoke an unknown distance of at minimum 2,000 miles. It wrecks the chassis and the cost overruns are prohibitive, though. Phoebe can also control the Trencher chassis by remote in the event of decapitation.

Notes: Despite appearances, there is some indication that Gideon may in fact simply be playing the role of an uncouth Trencher, and is in truth a cultured, erudite individual of class and wealth with his own mansion and servant... who reads Howard Stern autobiographies, so there's that.
© & ™ 2001 Keith Giffen

See also:

• Spawnometer 0:0:1:9: