Mingmei Chéng (Cataclysmic Gerosha)

程 "蛰人的大黄蜂" 明美 (anglicized: "Mingmei Stung Hornet Chéng") is an agent of the Chinese Ministry of State Security in several versions of Ciem mythology in Dozerfleet Comics. First appearing in the 2009 version of Ciem 2, she was later going to feature in its Comprehensive Gerosha novel Ciem: Nuclear Crisis. That project was eventually canceled, to make way for her to be reinvented for Cataclysmic Horizons.

Ciem 2 / Nuclear Crisis
Continuities: Earth-G5, Earth-G6

Early renditions of Stung Hornet possessed very little background and character development for her. She was one of four agents who were sent as spies into the US to hunt for Miriam Flippo, who was wanted for questioning in connection to a Hebbleskin Gang infiltration of Chinese state department security. Their quest to find her, however, led them straight into the crossfire of the terrorist group known as the Mik-Non; which was planning to spread mayhem all over Dirbine/Evansville. Making matters worse, Captain Aardwulf was on the loose. His reign of terror led directly to the murder of Stung Hornet and Tin Dragon. Black Rat was spared, albeit briefly; and only by way of a Classic Gerosha and Comprehensive Gerosha retcon. In Gerosha Prime, where Black Rat debuted, he too was killed. The only other agent to survive was Teal Hog, who debuted in Classic Gerosha along with Tin Dragon and Stung Hornet.

Cataclysmic Horizons
Continuity: Earth-G7

Main article: Cataclysmic Horizons (series)

Mingmei grew up as a sweet child, but was constantly mistreated by her peers. The irony of her codename was intended originally as an insult. A hornet that is itself stung is supposed to be an epic fail. Overcome with disgrace, she ran away from home and joined the Ministry of State Security at the age of 19. She was determined to prove wrong all those who ridiculed and belittled her as useless in her old life. She soon proved to be worth her salt. A few of those girls that taunted her were later caught with various contraband stolen from US firms; and it was none other than Stung Hornet who led the charge to have them arrested.

She did not, however, let her new-found power get to her head. Her father had a wise old friend whom he kept around, who became a mentor to Stung Hornet in her younger years. He taught her to always be ready to show compassion, and to not let her heart be ruled by revenge. After the combined effects of the Hebbleskin Gang and the Obama White House's policies dissolved the United States into four countries in 2018, chaos ensued in the western hemisphere. Once-great nations disintegrated. Madness, calamity, and evil were soon everywhere.

Beijing colonized one whole section of the four splinters of what was the US, forming "Chimerica." Stung Hornet suspected she would be reassigned to the colony at any time. In the mean time, she was put in charge of patrolling Hong Kong to keep the Hebbleskins out. It is this patrolling of Hong Kong that leads her to discovering Miriam Ann "Sniperbadger" Flippo, who is hiding in Hong Kong under the alias "Haishui." After an unpleasant encounter with Meethlites that smuggled themselves into Hong Kong, Miriam decides to betray her secret identity in exchange for protection by government officials. She turns herself in, and Stung Hornet is assigned to the case. Mingmei immediately realizes that Miriam is a broken soul, and sets to work acting as a surrogate mother figure. In this way, she quickly gains Miriam's trust. Miriam agrees to work for the agency as a hacker, at least for a time - provided they only assign her to cases involving the Hebbleskin Gang. Mingmei takes her role as Miriam's supervisor very seriously, often protecting her from Tin Dragon's brash, demeaning, ethnocentric remarks. This causes Tin Dragon to ridicule Mingmei, accusing her of "adopting strays." The criticism - and Tin Dragon's racist remarks - intensify when she allows Miriam to begin dating their other ex-American, gang-pressed operative: Guan. "Guan" turns out to be the codename of a scientist whose real name is Steve McLaine. Stung Hornet in this continuity is a sharp-shooting agent with quick wits, who knows when to use force and when to use persuasion. Her team considers this to be her greatest strength; since she's an even better negotiator than Black Rat - and can work with clientele that he can't. However, her need to control a situation has led her to work undercover, often posing as a prostitute in order to gain information. Having a wild side, she has quickly earned a bad reputation on the force for the underhanded methods she has pursued in order to first seduce and then subdue targets. Due to her risk-taking, and lack of pregnancy, she has often feared that she might be sterile. In spite her bad reputation, she was able to begin dating her fellow team member Black Rat. He is himself notorious for his conquests. Tin Dragon, ever the hothead, was the least-approving of this arrangement.

In season one of Cataclysmic Horizons, Stung Hornet is introduced to Miriam. They work together with the other agents to fight back against the Hebbleskin Gang's push to take over Hong Kong. Their quest continues in season two, although they end up eventually reassigned to an outpost in Alaska. Here, they have to deal with Russian spies that want to take Alaska back for Russia. A hacker who rivals Miriam's skills, known as Melvin Markus, vows to crack the code of Sniperbadger's security measures, spelling jeopardy for the whole team. In season three, Stung Hornet must put her life on the line to help Miriam, Steve, Black Rat, and Teal Hog defeat Captain Aardwulf. This results in Miriam's friends having to team up with Candi's. She does not play a major role in season four.

Development
Stung Hornet's real name was not deduced until shortly before the initial work had begun on creating Ciem: Vigilante Centipede. Before that, she was known only by her codename. Stung Hornet was never intended originally to be more than a joke character, thrown into Ciem 2 just so that Captain Aardwulf could rack up a body count. Her appearance wasn't finalized until concept art was made for her in 2011, when preliminary work was being done for Nuclear Crisis. Since then, her appearance changed fairly little.

For Cataclysmic Horizons, it was decided that she was to be given an in-depth backstory. She also became a secondary character, as opposed to a one-off cameo. Her look was unofficially put up for a casting call on DevianArt in the late fall of 2012. On December 19th of 2012, DeviantArt artist Maleico agreed to a deal to be advertised on DozerfleetWiki in exchange for the use of modified versions of his work. This made the Stung Hornet article the first to feature an approved image by the actual artist to feature a real-life model double for the character.

That same day, the Stung Hornet article became the first to implement anaglyph glasses icons on the wiki, to indicate links to DeviantArt-stored, 3D versions of images. This was to help promote the series' concept art, which was made in 3D as well as 2D. While anaglyph, and therefore not in keeping with the best 3D technology out there, the move into 3D at all became a major milestone in Dozerfleet history.