S.P.I.R.I.T. Mathematician
Name: Eric W. Friestadt
Birthdate: June 22, 1977
Birthplace: Chicago, IL

Short-Fuze's skills in abstract mathematics were responsible for his appointment to the S.P.I.R.I.T. unit. One of the first discoveries made by the unit's scientific division was that certain obscure mathematical equations can open gateways to other dimensions and allow travel between them. Unfortunately, the equations themselves are almost impossibly difficult to comprehend or reproduce, and they operate only under specific and ever-changing conditions. Having a team member who is able to make calculations and adjustments on the fly is invaluable. Short-Fuze has also worked with the science division to design a portable field-generation system that creates certain necessary environmental conditions and makes calculating and subsequently using the gateways much safer and more controllable. Short-Fuze's extensive combat experience also makes him useful, as the odds of running into a squad of C.O.R.P.S.E. troopers or a hostile extra-dimensional being are very high. He also uses his military-engineering training in situations that call for controlled explosions to gain access to blocked passages or sealed doors.

From Psyche-Out's Evaluation File: "Short-Fuze's skill set is ideally-suited for the S.P.I.R.I.T. project; his temperament is exactly the opposite. His hot temper and general inability to remain calm under stress frequently put him and the rest of the team at risk. But it has been determined by higher-ranking authorities that his expertise as a mathematician outweighs his potential to adversely affect the team's ability to function, so my only choice is to work with him to control his temper as much as possible, and to hope that he's too busy being scared to be angry."

This guy was practically an LBC. I wanted to have at least one figure with a slightly more military look, and once I decided to use Short-Fuze as a team member, he was the natural choice. I tried something new with the lower legs: rather than just dremeling out a hole for the feet, which left the figure about 1/4 shorter than he would have been otherwise, I drilled out a portion of the lower leg and glued the entire PIT Trooper boot inside. It's much more stable and gives him back the height that would have been lost otherwise. Conceptually, I had just re-read Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-House, which deals with using occult mathematical equations to open dimensional doorways, so it didn't take much prodding to put that idea to use. All I needed was a Joe who was good at math.