TECH-RAT
Dylan Archer has always been a whiz at anything mechanical. However, people skills were never his strong suit. In fact, he was the perfect epitome of a wimp in his youth. Ah, the beatings he could tell you about. Dylan didn't like violence and he liked being on the receiving end even less. He stayed out of trouble and out of people's way to avoid any confrontations. He retreated into his own world of machines and clockwork predictability as a result (In fact, his Mom didn't know how to operate any of the household appliances once he was through with them). He studied at MIT and was noticed by several of the university's sponsoring companies. Everyone wanted this new hotshot on their team. However, even among his own kind he was still a geek and he was dubbed with the less flattering name: Tech-Rat.
One sponsor in particular, SHIELD, was interested on how quick Dylan could pick up and adapt new technology. A situation had arose where two galactic empires, The Kree and Shi'ar, had gone to war and the Earth was stuck in the middle of it. They offered Dylan a chance to work with new, never before seen machines and see what made them tick. Dylan jumped at the chance before he realized what he'd gotten himself into. He started to think he had made a mistake when they put him in a uniform and gave him one vicious looking gun. This was so not his scene but he kept looking toward his goal on getting his hands on alien technology. However, the Shi'ar forces outmatched the SHIELD team and the alien technology got its hands on Dylan. The experience of the Shi'ar interrogation left him slightly fractured mentally. Dylan was desperate to escape from the Scout Ship and reconfigured his pocket secretary to interface with the main computer. He couldn't get into the main systems but was able to activate communication beacons. This gave away their position and they were set upon by a nearby Kree Scout. Both vessels crashed and the aliens all escaped. Dylan was left behind and survived touchdown on a deserted beach south of San Diego. He built a hut and made it his home. He spent the last year or so supplying his inventions to various organizations using The Underground to front the money and make the deals. Unfortunately, he also survived on the plants around the crash which were narcotic in nature. These drugs and his alien experience made him quite paranoid.
Hunter discovered Tech-Rat and his scrapyard when he was being hidden by The Underground from the Secret Empire. After Hunter cleaned the drugs out of him, Dylan became the ground technician for the Cavaliers. His inventions include JET, Hunter's gear, the Cava-Lear, and the Golden Girl Armor.
JAKE (THE HELL-PUPPY)
Jake's former name was Modeth, a Hound of Hell, 10th degree. He was the best at what he did and what he did made Wolverine look like a kindergarten teacher. He followed the orders of Mephisto, bring pain to all his tortured souls. He didn't enjoy or hate this job, as it was the only task he had ever done. Besides, what else was a nine-foot tall flaming eyed hellhound to do?
His life changed the day he met what Mephisto referred to as "the impudent mageling". He had come to the realm in order to get back a soul he discovered was trapped there. This human mocked and ridiculed everything from Mephisto's hair to his dress code. This lucky little mage was even able to escape after humiliating Mephisto. At the time, Modeth didn't know what this sensation he was feeling was called. He realized later that it was laughter. However, the young mage's luck ran out when Mephisto ordered Modeth to bring him back. Modeth had a perfect hunting record. He went out into the Limbo and found the Mage in no time. The mage, he could sense his name was "Jesse", was actually holding him at bay with his magic. It wouldn't last. Modeth would never tire and win eventually even though he was starting to like the young human. Another mage, Agatha Harkness came upon the battle and helped the mage defeat the hound. Modeth was sure he would be destroyed. Agatha looked in his mind and saw that he didn't like the evil things his master made him do. Upon meeting Jesse, he had discovered free will. Agatha gave him a new start and turned him into a hybrid of a hellhound and an earth puppy. She gave him to Jesse and asked that he take care of him and give him a new name. Jesse suggested the puppy be named Jake. The puppy licked his face in approval. They've been inseparable since.
MS. JETT CHEVALIER
When the Cavaliers were establishing their headquarters and equipment, they needed some major computer power to help keep everything going. Tech-Rat solved the problem by salvaging an alien A.I. system from a downed S'h'iar spacecraft, similar to the one the X-Men possess. The computer was set up in the new HQ (the Cava-Lair) and also could remote link and pilot the team's jet aircraft (the Cava-Lear). Then somebody let Midnight Express near the computer.
Because of their growing popularity, Express believed the team needed an agent (to get them booked on the really cool shows). To that end he re-programmed the A.I.'s personality routines and Ms. Jett Chevalier was born. When Tech-Rat added holographic systems to the headquarters, Express again went to work, and created a body for Jett. With the remote holographic systems installed in the Cava-Lear and in the modified Trans-Am (christened J.E.T.T.), Ms. Chevalier can be seen in public and Midnight Express has hacked into enough government databases to give Jett a credible "secret identity". She is even registered as a qualified secondary school teacher, skills and credentials Midnight Express added when Jett was being set up as Champion's tutor.
Jett survived the near-destruction of the Cava-Lair by Black-Jack and is still a strong ally and asset to the team. And despite rumors to the contrary, there is as yet no proof that Jett is carrying on a long-distance love affair with the X-Men's Cerebro computer.
