History of The Dogfighter

Raquel Rodriguez grew up in a well–off family in Haddenburg, Ohio. Born in 1914 to Marco and Gracie Rodriguez, her father soon left to fight in The Great War.

Her father was luckier than most, having been pulled into a burgeoning division helping to repair and improve aircraft. He returned home in 1919 where his luck ran out just a few months later as Gracie came down with influenza from the Spanish Flu pandemic and soon passed away.

Marco used his contacts from his time in the military to pull some strings and was able to get a contract building new airplanes. The new company, Rodriguez Aerospace, quickly gained a reputation for building quality precision machines. But Marco struggled with balancing being a single father to Raquel. As she grew up she joined him, learning the ins and outs of aviation. She was also cared for by the growing number of employees and partners in her father’s company, including his lead engineer William Widmore.

Raquel attended the local high school but her father wanted to give her a better life so he made sure she had access to the best tutors and extracurricular activities available. She particularly specialized in typing as well as marksmanship. But her heart was drawn to flight just like her father’s was. When she turned 15 her father gave Raquel her first flying lessons and they worked on designing a new engine and plane design. It ended up being one of the fastest in the world. The christened it The Rodriguez Dynamite Mark II, but fate had other plans before they could bring it to market.

In 1929 the stock market crashed and ushered in the Great Depression. With it, their formerly lucrative contracts dried up leaving them with no one to design planes for and no funding to build new models. Raquel dropped out of school, desperate to help keep the company afloat.

Eventually, they figured they could use speed to their advantage. They began a courier service, getting important parcels and information across the country faster than rail networks. This pivot helped keep the company going, though Marco and Raquel were the only remaining employees.

In 1932, Marco contracted tuberculosis and much like his late wife, quickly passed away. Raquel, now alone, worked through the grief. She took on more and more runs, keeping her father’s legacy intact.

But soon others took to the skies in similar ways, giving her competition. And with legitimate businesses going airborne, soon gangs and thieves took to the skies. Raquel narrowly avoided them until one day she was chased down by another pilot. Despite not having any armaments on her plane, she was able to trick the pilot into a crash landing. Raquel landed to examine the wreckage. She didn’t find a body, but she found an unusual dog themed mask and took it for herself. 

With the Great Depression raging on, Raquel often found herself visiting new towns going through hard times. She also reconnected with Widmore, who now ran an airstrip near Las Vegas bringing in people and supplies for the Hoover Dam. Meanwhile there were business owners, gangs, and landlords who took advantage of people’s desperation. Concealing her identity (and her gender due to a concealed voice modifier in the mask), she began to act as a sort of hero for the people, who called her The Dogfighter.