Mitch E. Gander

Background: Michelle a.k.a "Mitch" was born toward the later 50 years of the Great War, to parents Joyce and Lorenzo Gander. Despite growing up in a turbulent time with pressure to join the UNSC, Mitch instead enrolled into the New Rhea Institution of Higher Medicine in order to become a doctor at the age of 15 with roughly 200 other students of the same age. Things went well until her father, famed for his work with medical implants, was coerced into joining the UNSC for a secret project. Contact was lost from Lorenzo for many years until his death was reported among others on the ship Solar Flame. After his death, Mitch graduated at the top percentile of her class at age 19 and was given the opportunity to finish her training at any civilian hospital of her choice. Instead, she swallowed her anger at the UNSC and joined the Hospital Corpsman, hoping to find out about her father and try to help with the war effort. She survived many battles, until her last that happened around the age of 23. She was struck by a Gravity Hammer wielded by an injured Elite, all while trying to tend to a dying soldier. Though her armor absorbed most of the impact and it was only a glancing blow, it still severely damaged her spine and left her nearly fully paralyzed. She was stabilized by other medical officers, but the damage was too great to fully restore. She was slotted to return to civilian life with an honorable discharge, but was then approached by the Director of a UNSC project. He claimed to have worked with her father and made an offer: He would help Mitch gain some of the experimental implants her father had designed and tested that would relieve her disability in exchange for her working on a project for him. 

Project Freelancer: Mitch accepted and two years later, after many hours of physical therapy and intense surgery, she was brought on. It was named "Project Freelancer", with the goals to produce soldiers aided by A.I in the field. Mitch was given the name "Agent Michigan" and tested with 49 other possible candidates, despite already being slated as the head medical officer for the Project. After passing with acceptable scores, Mitch joined the program and became acquainted with the other Freelancers. Mitch got along well with many of the Freelancers, despite some of them assuming medical personal in the field was unnecessary. She became close with Pennsylvania, nicknamed 'Vania', and found herself becoming comfortable with the other Freelancers.
However, when A.I began to be implanted, Mitch grew concerned. She began tracking various symptoms and became suspicious of the Director. With A.I so hard to gain, it was impossible for him to have so many and none could technically be a full A.I. Her suspicions were later confirmed after the failed match between Carolina and Texas, and the later breakdown of Washington when Epsilon deleted itself in his brain. She voiced her misgivings about the project and how they were crossing a line, but she was shut down by the Director repeatedly. Feeling guilty of what her actions and compliance caused, Mitch fled Project Freelancer after the break in. She took all her notes and left her former friends no way to contact her, for fear of the UNSC tracking her down.

Post UNSC: After fleeing Project Freelancer with her notes, Mitch took on the fake identity of 'Mari Gonzal' on a heavily populated planet. For a while, she simply volunteered at the local hospital and laid low. She tried to find ways to report the Director to the UNSC but couldn't provide enough proof with her notes that wouldn't also land her in jail. Sometime later, she came across Samuel "Locus" Ortez when he was injured in a back alley. Mitch insisted on giving him aide and revealed she was a former UNSC field medic. They parted ways shortly afterwards and did not see each other for many months. The two crossed paths while Sam and Isaac were trying to capture another bounty at a bar Mitch was visiting with work friends. A fight broke out and someone made the mistake of trying to use Mitch as a hostage. After fending off possible attackers while Sam and Isaac found their target, she was confronted by Mason Wu when she tried to leave the area quickly. Deflecting any questions about how she had done so while appearing to just be a common doctor, Mitch left.
Mason later dug up Mitch's information and found her fake identity. They confronted her with the intention of turning her in for desertion, but Mitch pleaded that she had no choice. At this point, news of Project Freelancer had begun to spread and it gained her sympathy from Mason.
From then on out, the mercenaries began using Mitch as a way to get patched up without risking visits to gang controlled hospitals. She and Sam began to share small personal details, brought on while alone. Isaac kept implying Sam had 'a thing' for Mitch, who denied it. Eventually a romance did bloom, though it was kept quiet from Mason and Isaac.
Turbulent times arose when the mercenaries set their sights on finding dirty cops after having several bounties erased right under their noses. Tensions rose and finally the conflict resulted in a hospital being target and many innocent bystanders being harmed due to Sam, Mason and Isaac's actions in pursuing the dirty cops. Mitch, feeling like she could have stopped this, argued with Sam until it devolved into a full blown fight. Their relationship ended.
Mason, unwilling to let something like this happen again for the sake of his wife and child, stopped his work as a mercenary. Unable to properly cope and finally realizing it, Sam and Isaac took a job on the outer rim of the UNSC's jurisdiction and resolved to acting as true soldiers for hire.

Mitch soon discovered she was pregnant after Sam left. Unable to contact him and not knowing where he even was, Mitch struggled deciding if she should keep the child or not. After turning to Mason and his wife for advice, Mitch hesitantly decided to raise her child. She gave birth to a healthy daughter, who she later named Laila. 

Post Chorus: While Mitch was not active in the Chorus war, she came to the planet on a volunteer relief ship. She had heard the news of what had happened with Charon and the fake civil war, aided by two mercenaries named Felix and Locus. Unable to believe Sam could commit such atrocities, she began to seek him out. She did find him deep in the jungle of Chorus, but was taken as hostage. Sam was sick and in desperate need of medical attention, and did not recognize Mitch at first. Once he regained some form of self-control, he confronted Mitch about being a Freelancer instead of just being regular staff for the project. Another argument was sparked but resulted in only hurt feelings for both parties. Mitch talked about Freelancer, why she really left, and Laila. Sam admitted to his intense feelings of guilt and that he could not return to regular life until he had made his dues. Mitch helped Sam leave Chorus, and returned back home to Laila.

S15: TBA

Implants: Mitch suffered a severe spinal injury during the war that left her with paraplegia, and unable to continue her duties as a field medic. After being given access to advanced medical implants by the Director and enduring two years of physical therapy and surgery, she was able to return to active duty for Project Freelancer.

Her implants are both internal and external. The delicate wiring and functions are all embedded along her spinal column and into the nerves around and under it. On the outside, the implants looks like a medium width line of interlocking scales that protects her spine, starting at the T1 and ending at the L4. This allows her to move and act freely with little to no pain. However, her implants are susceptible to strong electric currents and extreme crushing forces. 

Abilities: Mitch is proficient with a MA5B Assault Rifle as many other field medics are. She is also skilled in defensive hand-to-hand combat, focusing on keeping enemies away rather than nullifying them. 

Mitch is a surgeon of high caliber and can treat most field injuries with quick thinking and deft hands. She can handle high stress situations with little difficulty on the field, but suffers under the burden of a leadership position.

Other Info: Mitch has Poliosis, which manifests as a slender patch of white hair behind her left ear and extending to the back of her neck. Laila also has this same distinct patch.

Mitch dislikes being called Michelle, as her father was the only one to use her name regularly. She feels as if using Michelle can only be reserved for him, and no one else.

Mitch is only a quarter Spanish, as her father was half Spanish himself and her mother is white.

Mitch used to enjoy gymnastics as a hobby, but was considered too tall to compete. However, those skills became useful once she joined the UNSC 

Mitch finds knitting to be relaxing and often manages to carry around a ball of yarn and pair of needles with her. It's not uncommon to hear rumors of her keeping difficult patients in bed by making them hold the yarn and scolding them if it gets tangled. She claims it's also a good way to keep them busy.