Real Name: Brute Bashby

Rank: 2
Karma: 2

Initiative: +1
Speed: 5 (run), 3 (climb), 3 (jump), 10 (flight)
Occupation: Criminal
Origin: High Tech
Teams: None
Traits: Tech Reliance, Connections – Criminal, Clueless, Signature Attack – Buzzsaws
Tags: Black Market Access, Streetwise, Convict, Signature Weapon – Buzzsaws

Powers (all are Tech Reliant)

Basic: Accuracy 1, Flight 1

Melee – sharp: Vicious Attack, Exploit, Focused Fury, Hit & Run

Ranged – sharp: Double Tap

Shield Bearer: Shield Deflection (The Grinder can lower his head and use his spinning buzzsaws for defensive purposes)

Biography:

Brute Bashby was a major crime figure active in Los Angeles. English press mogul Rupert Dockery, who had just moved to Los Angeles to become publisher of the Los Angeles Courier, had heard about the bars Bashby frequented. When Dockery had a run-in with the superhuman costumed adventurer Spider-Woman, who had been operating quietly in the city, he covered the story in the paper, with great success; but from then on, his competition also knew about Spider-Woman, so Dockery no longer had the exclusive. In order to maintain control over the Spider-Woman news, Dockery decided to hire a criminal, give him some exotic equipment, and coordinate with him so that the criminal would phone Dockery before giving a caper so Dockery could cover the story; in exchange, Dockery was willing to pay the outlaw. Dockery especially hoped that his hired villain would fight Spider-Woman for maximum coverage. Dockery went to the bar where Bashby was and presented his plan. Bashby initially believed Dockery was insulting him and threatened to beat him up, but Dockery was eventually able to convince Bashby to perform capers under the identity of the Grinder, equipped with toothed rotary propellers. Dockery photographed Bashby dressed as the Grinder and published a challenge from the Grinder to Spider-Woman in the morning edition.

Spider-Woman and her ally, criminologist Scotty McDowell, deduced that the Grinder could fly and cut through materials, so McDowell correctly concluded that he could attack the penthouse of the World Skytower Building, where Arnolde Windersmith and Sons were preparing $250,000 in gold for an exhibition, protecting the merchandise in a massive molybdenum-steel vault with advanced security. (McDowell was also puzzled that only the Courier knew of this tip, which made him distrust Dockery as well.) Sure enough, the Grinder attacked the penthouse in broad daylight, smashing through the wall with the hull’s propellers. As the Grinder grabbed the gold, Spider-Woman attacked him with a venom blast, but the Grinder shielded himself from her attacks and attempted to fly away with the loot. Unable to shoot again while reloading, Spider-Woman attempted to glide behind the Grinder, before he got the better of her with his faster motorized flight, and she noticed that Dockery’s journalists were filming them. The Grinder, who had expected her move, detached a blade from his helmet and threw it at Spider-Woman in an attempt to slash her. Spider-Woman dodged the blade, but it broke the glider-webs in her armpits that she needed to glide. Spider-Woman crash-landed on an awning, but found the blade the Grinder had thrown at her, picked it up, and threw it at the Grinder with great precision. The blade broke the rotor mast of the hull, causing the Grinder to fall as well. Spider-Woman picked up the Grinder and handed him over to the police while Pete, one of the Courier journalists, filmed. Dockery witnessed the Grinder’s defeat, and lamented that the criminal had only earned him a single day of news. The Grinder apparently did not implicate Dockery after his arrest; but some time later, Dockery was arrested in New York City and confessed to several crimes he had committed in Los Angeles; whether this was among them is unclear.

The defeat at the hands of Spider-Woman was especially humiliating for the Grinder, in part because Spider-Woman was a woman and the Grinder was, apparently, sexist. When the Grinder was released from prison after several years, he recovered his equipment and decided to rob the First Federal Bank, slashing open the vault doors with his blades. Since the Grinder had failed to make a name for himself, reports took him for another villain, the Gladiator, who also used blades. The police cordoned off the bank, and the superhero Nova, wanting to boost his low reputation, entered the bank to confront him. Nova did not recognize the Grinder, and when the robber showed up, Nova took him for a loser and knocked him out with a single punch. Nova attempted to wake the Grinder to prolong the fight, but accidentally knocked the blade out of his helmet, causing more damage to the bank than the Grinder had done. Nova then left the building and turned the Grinder over to the police, falsely claiming to have had an epic battle. The Grinder confirmed this, possibly to avoid being seen as a loser, but the police were suspicious of this version. The Grinder was returned to prison.