Kyle Tugrass (Cataclysmic Gerosha)

Kyle Tugrass is a minor villain in the Dozerfleet Comics Sims comic Blood Over Water, based on the 2009 miniseries by the same name produced for the Ferris Access Channel. While in disbelief that his boss Clyde is behind Gleeful-N'-Young, Kyle is willing to do whatever it takes to protect his shares in an elaborate plant waste cleanup fraud scandal - in the hopes of using his money to fix his relationship with his estranged wife.

Before the storm
Kyle was the warehouse supervisor at Sleet Mountain for many years under Bob Lusital, but often wondered if there were some way to help make a little extra money on the side. Always one for a lead to make some side cash, Kyle was often kept too busy to pay much attention to his wife Marsha - or their children. This led Marsha to be prone to cheating, as she couldn't handle Kyle ignoring her and the kids so often to fuel his greed.

The proposal
One day, Clyde proposed a big plan to Chris, Mark, Kyle, and Vance: cleanup fraud! They would direct other plant workers to assist with hiding evidence of where the plant would dump its pollution: in a nearby pond. They would forge paperwork for the EPA about pollution cleanup protocols that weren't being utilized. They'd keep the EPA inspectors away from the pond. They'd launder saved funds. Those at the top, would each get rich. Secretly, Clyde filled in Kyle on this plan earlier in the day, suspecting that Kyle's greed would be a valuable asset. Clyde knew not to tell Kyle the entire truth about Gleeful-N'-Young, however, realizing that even Kyle's greed had limits.

Vance was already suspicious something sketchy was afoot. First, there were the rumors about the Hebbleskins. Then, Vance saw a flyer for Gleeful-N'-Young in one of the bathroom stalls. He was skeptical of the outsiders that were allowed into one room on the second floor - that ordinary Sleet Mountain staff weren't allowed inside of. Vance quickly grew belligerent, leading to Kyle threatening him. Clyde attempted to convince Vance to reconsider his position, and Vance instead quit on the spot. Clyde adjourned the meeting even as Vance was leaving, saying he needed to "take care of" something. Only Kyle was allowed to stay in the room. Chris and Mark headed to their own offices, with Ashley inquiring of both what the commotion was. However, only Mark was willing to tell her anything.

Clyde convinced Kyle that going along with the plan was the only way to fix Kyle's family situation. He revealed to Kyle that he knew that Marsha was planning on leaving him. Clyde wasn't fooled by Kyle's efforts to pretend around coworkers like he had a perfect marriage. Promising Kyle that the cleanup fraud scam would make Kyle rich enough to retire, in the hopes that he could use this to win Marsha back, Clyde swayed Kyle into agreeing to meet a man named "George" that Clyde was associated with from outside the company. Clyde then made a phone call to George, informing him that Vance had "become a problem." He instructed George to wait for further instruction, and to remain where he was until then. When Kyle asked what this meant, Clyde assured Kyle that George would ensure Vance didn't say anything incriminating. He wasn't informed that this meant outright murder.

As paperwork arrived from the EPA, Kyle began lying on sheets about where the plant's waste was being sent. Meanwhile, Kyle arranged secretly for the waste to be transferred to a pond and dumped, rather than disposed of the way promised. Sleet Mountain started yielding grant money, and didn't have to pay the cleanup expenses that were cutting into its bottom line before that. The operation appeared to be going smoothly.

Mark becomes a problem
Shortly after the disappearance of Vance, Clyde assigns Kyle to work with George on vague "security details." Kyle attempts to reach out to Marsha, but she taunts him by describing graphically how she's in the middle of having an affair. Mark's enthusiasm for being at work wanes, causing everyone to suspect that he may turn traitor. Clyde drops hints that Mark may have tampered with some files related to the cleanup scam, but to instead ask Mark about his dampened enthusiasm. They'd try to trap Mark into making a confession, rather than accuse him outright. Clyde also believes that he can possibly get Kyle to bribe Mark into helping plug any suspected leaks.

Kyle and George confront Mark in the bathroom. They ask him why he appears to be so reluctant to celebrate how rich they plan to be. Suspecting it's a trap to get him to confess what he's done, Mark lies; stating that he prefers to celebrate after it's a surefire guarantee. Chris walks up to the group, assuring them that Mark prefers to celebrate with his close circle of friends; and not with those he barely knows. George and Kyle leave, realizing the time isn't right to take action. Chris suggests to Mark that getting cold feet may be a bad idea for all of them. After all: anyone trying to back out could lead to them all getting exposed.

Chris makes it clear to Mark that he has no intention of ever going to prison - no matter who he has to throw under the bus to avoid it! Chris also threatens Mark that something terrible could happen if he ever catches Mark mistreating Ashley, as Ashley is the only woman outside of family that Chris has ever truly cared about. Mark assures Chris he has no intentions of harming her, and that Chris shouldn't be worried about a thing.

First encounter with Aaron
After Clyde tricks both Chris and Ashley into going over to Mark's apartment to recover the stolen envelope at differing times, Chris assassinates Mark in his own bed. Chris convinces Ashley to help him hide the body, as she's an unwitting accessory to the murder - given that her sleeping with Mark made a perfect diversion. Clyde informs George and Kyle that Chris and Ashley are dealing with the body; but that they were unable to find the envelope. Instead, George and Kyle are sent to Hillcrest to investigate the scene and recover the envelope. Their timing is a little off, and they instead witness Aaron leaving the apartment. Not knowing that Aaron exists, they believe that Mark has somehow cheated death. They attempt to give pursuit through traffic, but are unsuccessful. Aaron suspects he's being followed, and gets clever in order to lose them.

Interrogating Aaron
Being persistent, George eventually figures out where Aaron lives. However, he still believes it to be a safehouse that Mark is staying at. He plants a tracker on the car, and then stalks Aaron through traffic one evening to capture him - right after Aaron calls George's number. George, still believing the caller to be Mark, gives Aaron a place to meet. Yet, he takes out the car before Aaron has a chance to arrive at the safe rendezvous point. George takes Aaron to the Ewigleben Sports Complex, and has him interrogated on the basketball court. While Kyle and George are preparing to have "Mark" executed, a security officer overhears what's happening, and engages the two of them in a gunfight. Kyle is nicked in the arm, but survives. George lands a fatal shot on the officer. Aaron seizes the opportunity to escape, causing Kyle to panic.

Losing Marsha for good
Kyle later nurses his wound, and calls Marsha. He warns Marsha that things at Sleet Mountain are going south quickly, and that he will soon have his money. He tells her, to her disbelief, that he intends to leave Sleet Mountain just as soon as he gets his final deposit from Clyde. He warns that company life in Big Rapids is becoming too dangerous. Marsha, however, informs Kyle that she's already made up her mind that she doesn't love him anymore, and that he should leave alone with the money. He warns her to leave Big Rapids with the kids - with or without him. He insists that what's coming, if the rumors are true, is something epic. George's reaction to "Mark" asking what "Gleeful-N'-Young" was indicates that there's something more going on - something that could endanger the entire Tugrass family. He warns her that no matter what he and Marsha deserve for their sins; their children deserve better. No sooner does Kyle say that, then the man on the other end yells at Marsha that there are "SWAT" outside the door. Marsha screams and hangs up the phone.

Kyle resolves to collect the money and flee; realizing he no longer has a family. Even so, he is determined not to let on to anyone at work that his marriage has just completely failed.

Chris' revelation
After a bold move by Aaron alerts Chris to the fact that Aaron knows too much, Chris is forced to admit Aaron's existence to Clyde, George, and Kyle. By this point, Chris is already intent on betraying the cabal. However, he can't yet let them know of his plan. Finally deducing where Aaron and Monica are, Chris raids the study room along with Kyle. They abduct Aaron and Monica at gun point, and set forth to drive them to Lot 47.

Death
Kyle and George taunt Aaron and Monica about the fact that the two of them are about to be executed, as Monica gives a defiant speech and Aaron pleads for her life. Chris fakes shooting Aaron and Monica, and then turns the gun on George and Kyle - killing both henchmen immediately. George and Kyle are later found dead in the grass by a Ferris student, who fetches the police for help immediately.

Personality
Kyle is considerably more on-edge with the overall assignment of murdering defectors than is George. Even so, when he gets flustered and angry, he demonstrates varying forms of cruelty. He provides the straight foil to George's more comical and cartoonish gestures, and has a fair level temperament - even about murder! This is in contrast to George, who tries his hardest to live it up. Of all the characters, he was one of the least altered from his miniseries to novel form; managing to maintain an almost identical persona throughout.

The original script called for him to have a family that he was "providing for" by doing what Clyde said. The webcomic elaborates on this, stating that he wants to get himself and his wife and children out of a financially stressful situation. However, he's always a few steps behind. He believes his criminal side jobs will pay off eventually. Yet, he's been unlucky in his endeavors. He believes that scam he is operating with Clyde is his last chance to secure financial stability - and to save his marriage. Already, his wife has shown signs of wanting to leave him, though he tries to put on a show like his marriage is still solid. Her infidelities become another reality he tries his best to ignore, still believing that procuring the money will solve his dilemma.

In some respects, Kyle has morphed via reinterpretation from original materials into a sort of poor man's Walter White figure. Simply wanting to be rid of his financial worries and also save his marriage leads him down a dark path - one which gradually makes him comfortable with pollution cleanup fraud, kidnapping, evidence-tampering, and even murder! It's clear from the get-go however, that Kyle takes an end-justifies-the-means approach. He isn't, like George, into doing evil for the sake of evil.

It's entirely possible that, had Kyle lived through the apocalyptic events of Halal Affadidah's takeover of "Ameristan," Kyle could have found redemption. With his family all dead and his creditors in death camps; Kyle would only have his own life to preserve. He'd only be willing to throw others to the wolves if it was necessary to save his own skin. He wouldn't have any pretensions of needlessly harming an innocent party. Yet, being murdered by Chris sealed Kyle's fate.

Trivia

 * The comic makes only minimal changes to the character from his miniseries counterpart.
 * His most unique feature is that he is explicitly defined as being a warehouse supervisor in the comic, whereas his miniseries counterpart's exact role in the company was left ambiguous.
 * Kyle's family life is expanded upon greatly in this version; whereas his miniseries self has only a throwaway line about "needing to provide for a family."
 * Kyle's loss of his family when Gleeful-N'-Young operatives show up to abduct them, and his reaction to it, shows him to have a human side that was absent in the miniseries.
 * Ironically, Kyle Mayer, who played Kyle Tugrass in the miniseries, has had a much healthier marriage than his fictional counterpart.
 * By contrast, Zach Foster, who played Aaron and Mark primarily, appears to have had issues. Yet, the Cataclysmic Gerosha version of Aaron has a healthy and happy marriage on par with or better than real-life Kyle's.  Arguably, it can be seen that the fictional entities' married lives are a drastic role-reversal from reality.