Cerebra's Files

Arsenic

Real Name: Gertrude Yorkes
Affiliation: Runaways
Relatives: Dale (father, deceased), Stacey (mother, deceased)
Status: Deceased (Geoffrey Wilder)
Alternate-X Versions: (Heroine (Future-616), deceased)
Codename Etymology: Pronounced ärs'ə-nic. [From Middle English, yellow orpiment, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, from Latin arsenicum, from Greek arsenikon, arrhenikon, from Syriac zarnIg, of Iranian origin; akin to Avestan zaranya gold, Sanskrit hari yellowish]; A trivalent and pentavalent solid poisonous element (symbol: As) that is commonly metallic steel-gray, crystalline, and brittle.
Powers & History: None (human). However, she does have her dinosaur, Old Lace, which is genetically programmed to respond to her mental commands, who she has an empathic connection with, so that she feels it when Old Lace is hurt. Gert always thought that her parents were evil, and wasn’t surprised when she discovered she was right. However, she was surprised to discover that they were time travelers who had Old Lace made for her in the 87th century, and were also part of the Pride. She left with the other Runaways and was the first to adopt a codename, to the point that she refused to answer to her real name for a long time.

Gert is usually the most cynical and pessimistic of the team, and also one of the most intelligent, plus Old Lace makes her useful in a fight. She initially made fun of Chase (Talkback) for his supposed lack of intelligence, but somehow ended up becoming his girlfriend after saving his life. When the Runaways finally confronted the Pride in the Gibborim's Vivarium, Gert gave orders to Old Lace to follow Alex in the event she was hurt, showing that the empathic connection is transferrable. More recently, one of her future selves came through her parents’ time machine, explaining that in her timeline, she grew up to become the leader of the Avengers. This shows that she may be one of the most important members of the team.

However, Gert, never being one that really wanted the spotlight, wasn’t happy to learn of this possible future for herself, and constantly denied that this woman was even her. She even decided to go against her future self’s pleas to destroy Victor Mancha before he came into his powers, and even befriended the cyborg and welcomed him to the team. He eventually helped to repay the favor a bit by saving her with his powers when she was knocked off of a rooftop when the team traveled to New York City to help their friends Cloak and Dagger, for which she said she would stop sticking paper clips to his face while he slept.

Soon after returning to L.A., the team discovered that a new Pride had formed under a younger Geoffrey Wilder who had been pulled into this time by internet friends of Alex, who were trying to resurrect him. Geoff fed them numerous lies to get them to believe that it was the Runaways who were evil, and they worked to split the team up, such as revealing the kiss Nico (Sister Grimm) gave Chase while they were still in New York. This drove a huge rift between the friends and even led to Gert breaking off her relationship with Chase and attacking Vic when he was believed to be a spy for the Pride. It wasn’t until the unexpected return of Karolina that the team was able to patch things up and launch their own offensive against the Pride. In the ensuing battle, Chase rushed into a burning building to save some of his teammates, but found himself captured by Wilder to be sacrificed by the Gibborim instead. Just when he was about to kill him, Gert arrived on the scene, and managed to talk Geoff out of killing Chase, but he stabbed her instead! After taking out Geoff, Chase ran to her side and held her hand trying to get her to hold on and live. With her dying words, she transferred control of Old Lace to him and let Chase know she loved him, possibly changing the future for good as her future self said she never got the chance to let Chase know how she felt.
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