Hea Pang (Cataclysmic Gerosha)

Hea Pang is a member of the Sodality of Gerosha in the Cataclysmic Gerosha universe of The Gerosha Chronicles of Dozerfleet Comics. As part of the Sodality Support Staff as of the fourth season of Sodality, she becomes crucial to helping out the main heroes with little tasks they cannot themselves deal with directly. She is the daughter of museum curator Dae Pang and fisherman Jooh-Chin Pang, the girlfriend of SCALLOP agent-in-training Kyle Medsor, and the mother of Tabitha Pang-Steel. She is primarily an ally of the Gray Champion.

She made her debut in a 2001 Hyper-Uber-Proto-Gerosha (Earth-G0) draft for what later became The Gray Champion: Freedom's Apparition, where she was initially dubbed "Heeshwa Pwong." She was initially set to return for a sequel dubbed End of Decadence, which later became Chillingworth's Revenge. There have been variations of her in Classic and Comprehensive Geroshas, with the latter of those two being the first time she acquired her current name.

In the Gerosha Gaming Universe, she would be a playable character during certain levels of Sodality: Battle for Metheel. The aftermath timeline of Centipede + 49 discusses her semi-retirement from involvement in superhero politics. She is also one of many characters who were involved in the non-canon crossover fanfic Percolation, which saw a variation of the Gerosha Gaming Universe crossing over with Marvel and Playdom's game Avengers Alliance on Facebook.

Abilities and equipment
Hea is quick on her feet and strives to maintain a good figure. She is agile and witty when getting herself out of tight spots. She is also a very quick learner who is willing to add anything to her arsenal if needed. She rarely keeps anything on her for very long, however, as she is willing to switch out her arsenal as needed. Her experience with being a sort of "mission control" for the Gray Champion in Chillingworth's Revenge makes her ideal for her later job as a member of the support staff for the Sodality of Gerosha. She has some combat training to be a SCALLOP agent, a career path she chose to honor the memory of her fallen boyfriend Kyle Medsor.

Her only signature weapon is Hester's Locket, which she will use to de-power enemies that are too powerful for her friends to face. Possession of the locket makes the otherwise non-powered Hea into paradoxically the most powerful Sodality member of the entire first generation, even giving her an advantage over Extirpon. She will typically only join the Sodality in battle and endanger herself and the locket when all other options are exhausted. The Sodality understands that putting her and the Locket in combat situations runs the risk of the Locket falling into enemy hands - which could doom the entire planet.

Early life
Joo-Chin, the son of a Korean woman who married an American man, grows up and pursues life as a fisherman. He marries Dae Tahn, an American history major whose family riches allow her to operate a museum and be its chief curator. The couple eventually have a daughter in the form of Hea, who was born to them some time in 1995. Little did they know that around that same time, Marge Domeck was sent by a Marlquaan storm from the 17th century Massachusetts to Miami in 1995. Hea and her parents were a very happy family of three for quite some time, hoping to add a brother or sister to that. However, Joo-Chin's boat encountered a surprise storm at sea that knocked him overboard. His body was never recovered, and Dae took her husband's death very hard. She became bitter, and very strict. This did not mesh well with Hea's adventurous attitude.

Hea did acquire from Dae a strong fascination with history and American literature. She also acquired some of Dae's flair for conservative political activism. However, Dae was very limiting in what she allowed Hea to get away with. Hea was also bothered by her mother's refusal to find another man. By age 16, Hea met Kyle Medsor at high school. Dae's only problem with Kyle was his strong desire to become an agent in SCALLOP, a field of work that Dae felt was too dangerous. Hea started showing interest in joining SCALLOP as well, when she discovered equipment that Kyle failed to hide from her properly. Dae was so distraught by Hea's willingness to consider life as an agent, that she nearly forbade Hea from dating Kyle. Hea sensed this, as well as the fact that Dae was only doing this due to her bitterness over losing Joo-Chin. A fight one evening resulted in Hea even telling her mother to stop misplacing her anger. The resultant grounding led to Hea pondering thoughts of running away.

Freedom's Apparition
Main article: The Gray Champion: Freedom's Apparition In 2012, Hea's life became even more difficult. The mayor of Boston was considering giving clearance to Dereck Johnson of Marl-Q Industries to force a vaccine for the dangerous "Dwayne Strain" on schoolchildren. This put her at odds with the corrupt cop Eric Andro, as well as his LGBT militant allies. They began scheming to murder her after she witnessed them beat and falsely arrest a peaceful protestor of the Dwayne Strain vaccine. However, their second attempt was foiled when a confused John Domeck came to her rescue.

She quickly became friends with the time-travelling Puritan. Kyle helped John understand his new Marlquaanite powers, while Hea educated him on American history since his time period. Dae allowed Hea to keep John in a special room in the museum as his temporary home, while sometimes living at their house as well. John was angry when he learned of Dereck becoming Eqquibus, as well as Dereck's diabolical plan to poison protestors with weaponized Dwayne Strain. Hea decided to explain to him a statue that was in one part of Dae's museum, which contained an artist's depiction of Hawthorne's Gray Champion character. John read the story with Hea, and immediately determined that God sent him to the 21st century with the intent that John would assume the Champion's mantle. Hea and Kyle assisted John when they could in training to become a 21st-century superhero. Their efforts are quickly put to the test, especially when the mayor declares Gray an outlaw in order to appease Boston's LGBT militants. Team Gray is born. However, battles to protect Boston from Eqquibus lead to the horse-headed monster becoming desperate. He devises a scheme to trap Gray in a Marlquaanite prison field. He also decides to capture the Pangs, deducing that Dae's museum was where Gray got his costume and information on life in the 21st century from. Eqquibus realizes that he'll have to deal with Hea, but is unsure of her whereabouts. He makes off with Hea, with intent to have his way with her before killing her. Eqquibus upon capturing Gray leaves so much of Boston in fear of what he'll do - and with so little faith in the mayor to help matters any - that many, including the Medsors, flee town. Kyle stays behind, however, vowing to free Gray. Hea flees to Kyle's house and vows to help out. Kyle reminds Hea to focus primarily on rescuing Dae, and to leave the dangerous work of saving Gray to him. She agrees to the plan, but fears Kyle will kill himself. The two briefly make love before going out into danger. Kyle and Hea succeed at freeing Gray, leading to a final showdown between Gray and Eqquibus. Hea also gets her mother free. However, Kyle is murdered by Eqquibus before Gray can intervene.

Maternity
It is a short time after the events in Freedom's Apparition that Hea discovers she is pregnant. Dae, feeling betrayed, kicks Hea out. She ends up living with Gray and the Medsors, the latter of whom take pity on her. They pull some strings with SCALLOP personnel - including Darius Philippine - and allow Hea to find work as an agent. They also assist in her and Gray getting their own apartment in town. When not working as the Gray Champion, John babysits baby Tabitha so Hea can train to become a full-fledged agent. The Medsors also take turns babysitting their granddaughter.

Chillingworth's Revenge
Main article: The Gray Champion: Chillingworth's Revenge

Hea and Gray begin adjusting to their new lifestyles in Boston, but those lifestyle are threatened when Miles Charleston of the Society of the Icy Finger dons the moniker of "Chillingworth" to carry out the Icy Finger's ancient hit order on John Domeck. Hea and the rest of Team Gray learn about Mapacha, as well as her adoptive parents Pablo and Anna Ramirez. They discover that the Ramirez family, which wants to meet with Team Gray, is in possession of a powerful relic known as Hester's locket. However, Chillingworth makes an attempt on Hea's life and forces Gray to take actions that nearly get him captured by local law enforcement. After Chillingworth attacks the hospital, Gray and Hea are forced to flee early. The Medsors attempt to catch up by plane. However, Chillingworth tries to bring the whole plane down. It crash lands, and the Medsors survive. Local authorities battle Chillingworth until he retreats, as he vows he will not stop until all of Team Gray is dead.

Hea learns about how to use Hester's Locket via Anna Ramirez, and arrives just in time during the final battle to use the locket on Chillingworth. However, Miles is smart enough not to engage his blast while being beamed, preventing him from dying the same way as the first Chillingworth. He resolves to keep fighting anyway, as he has nearly killed both Gray and Mapacha. However, Hea and the Medsors intervene long enough to distract him while Gray stabs him and Mapacha gets to her feet. She finishes him off in grand fashion. Hea is entrusted to be the new bearer of the locket, entering into an age-old sorority of locket bearers.

Sodality
Main article: Sodality (series) Hea goes on to become a SCALLOP agent. However, the collapse of America results in her and Team Gray having to relocate. Kyle's parents are killed by Ameristani regime guards, while she and Tabitha make their escape to Kentucky on foot to catch up with Gray and Mapacha. The two of them are nearly captured by Judge Terry Beliah's connections with equipment on loan from the Hebbleskin Gang, but quick thinking allows Gray to get both out of harm's way. The two divisions of Team Gray rendezvous just in time for Gray to teleport everyone to Oklahoma before the power grid between Ameristan and Toklisana is completely cut off. Marge gets a job as a fashion model in Texas, while Gray stays behind with Hea and Tabitha in Oklahoma. Darius keeps a close eye on them. However, Beliah strikes again in 2020 while Milp has assassinated Darius. Hea and Gray are captured, along with Tabitha, and kept in Marlquaanite prison suspended animation. Beliah's goal is to trap all Marlquaanites and Phexos, then later let his friends with connections to the Hebbleskins decide what to do with each one captured. He does not realize that Hea has Hester's Locket in her pants pocket.

In 2021, however, the Sodality of Gerosha gets tired of Beliah's assaults on them and those like them. They resolve that the only way to survive Beliah's continued onslaught is to start going into dangerous enemy territory to collect recruits. However, few of the Phexos and Marlquaanites recovered actually bother to join the Sodality's lineup. Emeraldon discovers and frees Hea and Tabitha before he does Gray. Hea immediately uses her SCALLOP agent training to get herself and Tabitha out of harm's way, then drives to the new SCALLOP headquarters to meet with Lex. She is almost immediately recruited to the Sodality's support staff, as they are in need of additional support after Laurie Pegol resigns. She soon finds a friend in another new support staff recruit: Tiffany Sterlie. It isn't long before Tabitha meets young Jordan Sterlie, and the two young mothers immediately begin fancying the idea that their kids will one day marry.

Battle for Metheel
Main article: Sodality: Battle for Metheel

King Morzhuk seizes control of Metheel, and decides to bring back Hebbleskin-era brutality. He invites the defeated Hebbleskin Gang from Earth to Metheel. From them, he learns that the single greatest threat in the universe to his rule is the Sodality of Gerosha. Specifically, those in it referred to as "the Legends." He sends a full-scale invasion to Toklisana in order to pull this off. His forces are unable to capture Extirpon, Ciem, Emeraldon, Mukade, Meerkat, Jackrabbit, Earwig, or Botan the Plant-Man. They are able to capture Gray, Mapacha, Navyrope, Hea, Tabitha, and the Barrins along with three Pilltar and three Strawberry units. The damage both Sodality and SCALLOP communications.

Morzhuk's transport ship is attacked by a team of Phaelite warriors, as they see Morzhuk's act of aggression as an attempt to rekindle dying flames of the Phaelon-Metheel War. The attack splits the Legends into two camps. Ron and Stephanie Barrin arrive on Metheel with their Pilltar and Strawberry units and controllers. Mapacha is with them, and they help Shabika wage a campaign to free several villages from Morzhuk's tyrannical control. Meanwhile, the other Legends arrive on Phaelon. Navyrope leads Gray, Hea, and Tabitha to Desulon's lab safely. From there, Navyrope and Gray defend Desulon's lab from Bosom-Serpent and other villains. As Desulon establishes contacts with the Metheel camp of heroes and with the Sodality and SCALLOP on Earth, Hea is sent into the past. She is to recruit Hester Prynne to the Sodality, and get her to recruit Kicked Deer for a mission. They both need her help to use Hester's locket to destroy the Grand Ultimate's Ruby - before King Morzhuk in the present can unlock it and use it to conquer all three worlds.

Hea is temporarily delayed in her goal when the original Chillingworth stumbles upon her in the woods. He immediately deduces she is out to ruin the Icy Finger's plans, and engages in a battle with her. After she defeats him, she lies in wait for him to be killed by Hester when she accidentally activates the Beamer's Ruby. Hea then befriends Hester, and the two travel to Lynn to recruit Kicked Deer. However, the Icy Finger intercepts when they suspect trouble. Infuriated that the Grand Ultimate's is destroyed, they resolve to kill all three women. However, Desulon brings Ron to the lab. Ron travels back in time with Pilltar and fights off the Icy Finger while Kicked Deer and Hester go their separate ways. Pilltar and Hea travel back to the present, and Desulon helps them join the Sodality on Metheel.

The Elites and Legends team up with Shabika and her Meethlite resistance to finally take down Morzhuk. However, Hea is attacked at a precise moment that tricks her into aiming her copy of Hester's locket directly at the sword of her attacker. The beam reflects off that sword and onto Morzhuk, giving him a Marlquaanite bond. He uses his new-found power to force the Sodality and resistance to fall back. Shabika is beheaded personally by the wicked king. It is Hea's failure that compels Desulon to finally allow Extirpon to join the fight. From there, Extirpon readily and easily defeats Morzhuk. Hea returns home with Tabitha, while John moves into a SCALLOP-operated apartment and receives instructions on how to eventually choose his replacement.

Marriage
A few years after the events in Battle for Metheel, the Sodality must rescue Jordan after he is captured by the Phaletori. It is revealed that they used some of his DNA to create an experimental Marlquaanite to do their bidding, one they named "Dollschief." Jordan recovers the creation, whom he considers his "daughter." Tiffany Sterlie eventually marries Warren Steel, who adopts Jordan. Jordan likewise gives his offspring the name "Samantha Steel." As soon as he comes of age, he marries Tabitha Pang. They raise Samantha together eagerly. Samantha becomes the youngest heroine ever to join the Sodality. Tabitha's strong desire from a young age to marry Jordan convinces Hea to look into marriage as well. She meets a man in Texas named Darren Hayes, and the two become immediately attached to each other. Hea rests secure in the knowledge that she is finally able to move on from Kyle's death.

Centipede + 49
Main article: The Gerosha Chronicles: Centipede + 49

John Domeck eventually picks Roy Bernald to be his replacement as the Gray Champion. When the Second Generation Sodality is called to protect Alaska and California from a Phaletori assault, Lex Philippine calls on the original Ciem to team up with 49 enhanced soldiers for a tactical assignment campaign in order to clear the path for the Toklisanan army to take over Ameristan and rebuild the United States. The Muslim Brotherhood puts up a good fight, but loses without Halal Affadidah's leadership. Darren and Hea Hayes move back to Massachusetts following this victory, and seek to be a part of the rebuilding of Boston.

Jordan and Tabby Steel, however, move with Samantha to Florida so that Samantha can learn how to operate a solo hero career. Roy eventually passes the Gray Champion torch to another with Tabitha's help, as she inherits Hester's locket from Hea. At this point, Hea retires completely from work in the Sodality. John Domeck, no longer a Marlquaanite, quickly begins aging at a normal human rate. He is eventually laid to rest in a cemetery erected not far from where Kicked Deer is believed to have been buried. Hea ensures that John's burial spot is as close to that of Kicked Deer as possible.

Personality
Hea is a mostly reclusive teenager, opening up only to those she deems her closest allies. In school, she often goes unnoticed by the crowds. And she is completely content to be ignored most of the time. However, when a friend is in need, she does not hesitate to leave her comfortable isolation and lend a helping hand. She has a very firm sense of right and wrong, but will break the rules if necessary to save someone's life or say goodbye to a loved one. She is a determined activist, and is very goal-driven. She prefers not to go on the front lines, but will do so if she feels it will help the situation.

In parenting, she is much more lenient with her child than Dae was with her. This is due in part to her rejecting the bitter attitude about life that Dae developed upon Joo-Chin's death. While she loses a lot of her naivety throughout her adventures, she never loses her determined-yet-cautious optimism. Even so, she is not without her enemies. Liberalism gone mad in Boston in particular means that Hea has no shortage of political enemies even at a young age. Alliance with and desire to take care of John puts her in an even more difficult disposition, one in which she takes on the Society of the Icy Finger as a sworn enemy. However, she never lets her enemies get the best of her. Quick thinking allows her to get out of most situations with little trouble, and without the rage and bitterness that poisons Dolly Malestrom's soul when placed in similar situations.

Character evolution
Hea was only given her current name in 2011, when Gray's debut story was given the official name of The Gray Champion: Freedom's Apparition. She was known in drafts from 2001-2011 as "Heeshwa Pwong." Hea was originally a resident in Grand Rapids, MI. However, moving her to Boston made more sense as Gray would most likely be there also. Her father's death in a boating accident was part of her backstory since the beginning, but only in Freedom's Apparition did his profession become one of commercial fishing. Her mother wasn't always named Dae, who didn't have a name until 2011.

As the original premise for End of Decadence gave way to Chillingworth's Revenge, Hea's role in the Gerosha universe was to be heavily expanded upon. Inclusion of the 2001 Hyper-Uber-Proto-Gerosha Scarlet Letter fanfic into Comprehensive Gerosha continuity meant that Hea was to inherit Hester's locket. This single acquisition made her a critical component of all future storytelling. When Cataclysmic Gerosha was first created in 2012 in response to that year's November elections, Hea was made an even more important character. Her future husband, Darren Hayes, was first drafted. The merger of her family tree with that of Tiffany Sterlie was also worked out as a convenient way for Jordan and Tabitha both to have a happy ending and serve some sort of purpose. It seemed crucial given her role in John Domeck's life that she also should return for Sodality, with most of her plot arc for that show happening in the fourth season.

Battle for Metheel
The Gerosha Gaming Universe, which explores one possible post-Sodality timeline, brings Hea back for Battle for Metheel. She is a playable character in there, compensating for the fact that Story Mode does not feature the Sapphire King as playable. She is one of many characters to get an epilogue in that game as well as the aftermath epilogue story following Centipede + 49, which sees through to her eventual marriage to Darren and eventual retirement. The game entries describing her path to marriage and retirement were drafted from July through August of 2013.

Percolation
Main article: Percolation (Gerosha Chronicles)

See also: Extirpon other media appearances

Percolation marks the first appearance of Hea in a form of media not canon to any prior Gerosha continuity. The fanfic for Marvel: Avengers Alliance explains how it would be possible for Extirpon to be temporarily exported to the game's version of the Marvel universe, where he'd partially lose his powers and be forced to become a SHIELD agent operating under the moniker of "Agent Opendi."

Jubilee and the Danny Ketch version of Ghost Rider find themselves switching universes with Extirpon and Anarteq III temporarily. SHIELD and SCALLOP would eventually find a way to establish contact with each other, and negotiate how to get Extirpon and Anarteq III home. However, the two displaced Marvel heroes initially arrive in Boston. They are attacked by Microwave Mouth, the Icy Finger, the Crooked Rainbow, and Boston police. Hea and the Gray Champion intervene to save them.

Hea contacts Darius and has the displaced heroes sent to SCALLOP headquarters until something can be done about their predicament. From there, she and Gray further monitor activity related to their new friends as SCALLOP agents request them to. This story takes place a short time after the events in Extirpon and The Gray Champion: Freedom's Apparition. Hea has her apartment, and knows she's pregnant with Tabitha. However, the timeline for Chillingworth's Revenge has not yet happened in the timeline for Percolation. Therefore, Hea has not yet met the Ramirez family. This means she does not yet possess Hester's locket in the fanfic's time frame.