Fireman Apprentice Thomas "Tom" Patterson, Machinist Mate (Nuclear) 3rd Class Richard "Dick" Shepard and Machinists Mate (Auxiliary) 1st Class Henry "Hank" Henderson were all assigned to the Mechanical and Auxiliary Divisions (Auxiliary notoriously nicknamed "A-Gang" in the sub community) aboard the USS New Hampshire (SSN-778) in 2013.

 

The New Hampshire was performing a 'Spec Op' (Special Operation) spying on the dangerous Atlantic Kingdom, 5 miles outside of the Kingdom's major military stronghold, New Poseidon.  At one point, she was attacked by an Atlantic Kingdom undersea cruiser, leaving the sub's propulsion system damaged. The sub was taking in catastrophic levels of flooding and the reactor room and core were cracked open. The sub's emergency blow remote control valves in the Control Room were inoperative, leaving the three mechanics, Tom, Dick and Hank to have to go to each valve and man-handle them open.  This requires an enormous amount of torque on these valves, having to slam them open against 4500 psi air pressure.  One by one each Emergency Blow Valve was opened; the sub stopped sinking, but was still under attack...and moving at flank speed, in a bee-line to one of New Poseidon's most important buildings - the city's teleporter bay (a bay that was used to teleport troops, equipment, food and resources to and from any major Atlantic Kingdom city).

 

Just as the three mechanics opened the final valve, the sub crashed into the New Poseidon Teleporter Bay, causing a massive inter-dimensional power surge and warp.  The resulting warp 'phased' everything in the area making everything once solid now intangible and ghost-like.  The warp only lasted for a few seconds, but when it subsided, the warp subsided and everything phased back to normal exactly where it was; sub parts phased into teleporter bay equipment; kingdom troops fused into the crashed sub...and three mechanics fused into one another and making themselves a 'single' person.  The effects of the nuclear core exposure, the teleporter explosion and the sub's collision created a unique occurrence that left a gruesome sight to behold.  No one at the crash site survived - except for our fused mechanics, Tom, Dick and Hank, all now combined in one large, muscular mass of a man.

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The Atlantic Guard of course blamed the United States for the disaster, demanding compensation and apologies.  As such, the 'fused mechanics' were paraded around as 'spies' over international websites, with King Dolphin demanding 'political prisoner' swaps for some of his incarcerated "Atlantic Guard" villains...which is exactly what happened.  For four Atlantic Guard villains, Tom, Dick and Hank (again, all in one body) were traded off.  Nonetheless to say, their homecoming was nothing but more pain and an even greater derision.

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Tom's parents immediately disowned this 'new' Tom and instead had a formal funeral service, even though Tom was still alive in the massive body housed with two of his other fellow mechanics. The only one who would even talked to Tom was his younger brother, Robert (Bobby); a brother who considers Tom as a hero for what he/they tried to do to save the ship. Dick's wife, Karen, didn't know what to do and instead moved back home to her parents house. Although they are still technically married, she has yet to talk to him and according to WNN news, she's already 'seeing another man'.  Hank's wife, Lisa, went on a complete breakdown and tried to kill the 'new' Hank with a gun, calling him a 'monster'; she immediately divorced him, taking their daughter, Tonya, with her, while also suing the US Navy for what happened 'to her' as a result of her husband being turned into a freak.  People hated them for 'allowing' four villains to get traded for a 'freak', all the while the media (i.e., WNN) continued to be unkind to each of them, publishing story after story of their 'dubious' pasts and their asshole attitudes they had as A-Gangers in the Navy (a standard attitude for most).  That's when a certain Captain Seawolf of GUARD's Seaguardians came to them with an offer.

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After performing some 'actual' tests on the three men fused into one body, they discovered that their strength in the new body had tripled; their endurance quadrupled; their skin was as strong as a thick sheet of aluminum.  They were super-powered now.  Each of their minds operated independently and were able to control any part of the body, however, they couldn't just 'turn their minds off' except for a period of  psycho-stimulated sleep; sleep that required certain brainwave (each of the three's brainwaves to be precise) functions to be neutralized to allow any form of sleep.  As such for the first time in months, the three actually were able to 'sleep', making their disposition better, their aggressiveness less, and their reasoning far superior.  As such, they all learned to 'take shifts' like on a sub to control the body while the others slept. The only time they'd all be awake was if they were in a fight, combat or needed three minds to solve a problem.  In the end GUARD, offered them a roll as a resident 'A-Ganger' on their incredibly high-tech sub, the GSX-1, Paragon City.  The three of them, for the first time since their fusion, all agreed in a split second to join the Seaguardians.

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Today, "A-Ganger" as they now call themselves are the strong arm of the Seaguardians.  Their remarkable strength makes them an outstanding asset in combat. To make a 'point' about their job, they had a titanium wrench made as a mace-like weapon that they could use in combat, or in shipboard repairs (other wrenches just 'broke' in their hands).  As such, A-Ganger is now considered a bit of a celebrity, although a much more 'salt of the Earth' type of person, seen drinking in bars and pubs, brawling, partying and of course drinking everyone they know under the table, all while being one of the best submarine mechanics ever.

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A-Ganger, as mentioned earlier, shares three minds in one gestalted body. As such, they take 'shifts' to sleep, allowing for one of their personalities to 'rule the roost' for about 8 hours a day; sometimes they go long so they can have a different shift after the next sleep cycle. As it is, their personal lives are still a complete Hell.  Only time will tell if their families will ever get over the tragedy that happened to these three men. One day, one can only hope, that the rest of the world can understand that Tom, Dick and Hank are each suffering three times more than anyone else; they've lost their friends/family, lost their personal privacy and mostly lost their own body, never once wanting for any of this to ever happen to them in the first place. On the bright side though, they may have just become their own 'brotherhood'.

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