Vanessa Carlysle - Phase 1

PHASE 1

Morgan Lennox
Portrayed by Michelle Hunziker
Codename:	Copycat
Affiliations:	X-Force
Birthdate:	October 30, 1982

Journal:	Unique like Everyone Else
Player:	Nichole

A former teenage prostitute and mercenary with Mág Ealga, Vanessa has recently become the newest member of X-Force using the alias 'Morgan.' Frequent mimics use the aliases Aiofe and Daniel.

Details

Character Journal: x_copycat

Real Name: Vanessa Geraldine Carlysle

Codename: Copycat

Current Primary Alias: Morgan Lennox

Current Secondary Aliases: Aiofe and Daniel, both of which have corresponding bodies to go with them.

Former Aliases: Nurse Veronica, Patricia Muggins, Christina Valentino, Domino, Cheryl Marks, Debbie, Marguerite, Amy, numerous others

First Appearance: May 08, 2008

Date of Birth: October 30, 1982

Place of Birth: Boston, MA

Citizenship: US

Relatives: Burt Carlysle (father, deceased), Dorothy Carlysle (mother)

Education: GED only

Relationship Status: Single.

Occupation: Works for the Snow Valley Memorial Center for Mutant Affairs. Former self-defense teacher, former mercenary, former prostitute

Team Affiliation: X-Force

Biography

Childhood

Vanessa Carlysle was born to Burt and Dorothy Carlysle the day before Halloween in 1982. Vanessa's parents were working class, third generation Irish-Americans. Burt was a butcher and her mother worked in a meatpacking plant. The prospects for her future weren't looking bright from the outset. Despite that Vanessa loved growing up in South Boston. With fair skin, dazzling blue eyes, and brilliantly cherry red hair she was the picture of a typical Irish girl right down to the smattering of freckles across her nose and over her shoulders.

She was always a social creature, ever since she could walk and talk. Vanessa made friends easily, though she preferred playing soccer and stickball in the streets with the boys to playing with the girls. She got decent grades in school but Vanessa wasn't going to be winning any academic scholarships any time soon. She was a daddy's girl and actually aspired to walk in his shoes when she was old enough and become a butcher. It wasn't the life her mother wanted for her and many a shouting match was had over the difference in opinion.

At the age of fourteen Vanessa began going to the butcher shop where her father worked after school every day. The owner, who Burt worked alongside of, liked Vanessa and the old man agreed that she could hang out and her father could begin teaching her the trade. The arrangement didn't last long, and within six months it would all fall apart.

Her parents were fighting, her grades were down and the neighborhood was seeing a spike in gang-related activity. That gang activity involved a group of Italian-American guys in their early twenties picking fights with a similarly aged group of Southie Irish-American guys. One particular confrontation resulted in a shoot out near the butcher shop where Burt Carlysle worked. At first people just thought it was the front window that had been broken from the shooting. Inside Burt laid in a pool of his own blood with three bullet wounds in him, all of them in his chest. Hearing the news of her father's death Vanessa broke down, unable to grasp the idea of her father being gone. Over the next few days the Italians would be hunted down and killed as an apology to the Carlysle women, but nothing assuaged the hot, sharp pain that was the loss of her father for Vanessa.

It was in the middle of the gathering after her father's funeral as she listened to people whisper about how they'd make ends meet just on Dorothy's paycheck that the stress of it all finally broke whatever it was inside of Vanessa that had kept her mutation at bay. Her skin bled from porcelain to a uniform blue that even washed away her freckles. Freaked out and not knowing what was going on she sought her mother who took one look at her daughter's red eyes and declared not only that she was a demon but that she believed Vanessa was the cause of her husband's death. They were words spoken in the midst of her grief, but Dorothy Carlysle made it very clear that Vanessa was also dead and whatever this blue and white creature was it was not her daughter. She quite seriously accused her of being a changeling.

Prostitution

Distraught and confused, Vanessa packed what she could in a backpack and left, unsure of where to go. She made money the only way she seemed to know how, by becoming a prostitute at the age of fourteen. Her virginity was lost to her first John one week after she left her home and was desperate for food. She would soon learn that she could look like other people, actually become them just by touching them, sometime she discovered by accident while with a john. In the middle of the act Vanessa began to actually become the man who was having sex with her, a bit problematic when she realized the shift to his body was rather thorough. He was so freaked out he just ran for it.

After turning tricks on her own for a couple months she was found by a woman calling herself Mistress who was a madame. Mistress used Amy as her ultimate in fantasy play. A man booked her in advance so she could track down a woman of his choosing who she'd become for him. Life went on this way until Amy turned seventeen. A customer who called himself only Aleister purchased her for an evening. After proving she could do what they said she could do he bought her from Mistress for a heavy price. Unsure what this meant for her, Amy changed to Marguerite and went with Aleister. She could have run away but she didn't have anywhere to go and while this could have been a very bad thing for her it turned out to be remarkably good.

Mág Ealga

Aleister, a mutant with a healing factor who never told her his real name, was a mercenary. Along with three others they were collectively referred to as Mág Ealga, in honor of the Irish heritage the founding members shared. Everyone but Marguerite in Mág Ealga was ex-military, mostly the Marines with one Navy SEAL. Marguerite was the youngest of them, but Mág Ealga took her under its collective wing. They taught her to fight, to box, how to shoot, handle weapons and anything else they could think to impart on her young mind. She wouldn't have to fuck for money any more, but she'd have to take orders. Marguerite was more than okay with that. During an arms deal in Colombia early on she copied the body of a twenty-seven year old woman and that body became Marguerite, complete with passport and all necessary papers.

Mág Ealga stuck primarily to Africa, Eastern Europe and South America, and despite the widespread area the group worked within their rivals were always there as well. Mág Ealga had a reputation for professionalism, details, and being creative when needed. They didn't fall down on or short change a contract and were known for not only being reliable, but always doing precisely what they've promised to do, nothing more or less. Because of Marguerite they got a number of contracts that involved espionage. One such mission involved infiltrating the Pack, their main competition and rivals for contracts, who was working for the rival to an employer of Mág Ealga's.

The Pack which was comprised of Nathan Dayspring, Bridge, David Rabin and a young girl named Domino was the only group that Mág Ealga ever had to really worry about winning contracts out from under them. At least three times a year Marguerite seemed to run into Domino somewhere in the world and it usually ended in black eyes and knife wounds. Both being the only girls in the crews and being the youngest they developed something of an unspoken rivalry to prove who was better. Their mutations gave them different advantages, but it was hard to compete with Domino's powers. That didn't mean she necessarily always came out the victor, however.

Taking advantage of Marguerite's ability and rivalry, Mág Ealga sought out the youngest of the Pack as their way into the group. Domino saw one coming, but the group of them she wasn't prepared for all alone. She didn't go down without a fight, but ultimately she was knocked unconscious. After finding out where the Pack was holed up for the moment Marguerite went in as Domino. The charade lasted for nearly four weeks until Nathan found the actual Domino unconscious where Mág Ealga were keeping her while the rest of Mág Ealga was out on business. Aleister came back to find Domino missing and called Marguerite in time that when Nathan came through the door with Domino she was slipping out the window and making a run for it. She just barely got away from the Pack in time to drop the mimic and pick up one from the nearest homeless man, managing to escape then only because of Nathan's lack of telepathy use at that point in his life and her ability to mimic psi-patterns as well anyway.

After finishing that contract Mág Ealga moved on and Marguerite was dropped in favor of becoming Debbie on what was Vanessa's 20th birthday in 2002. Debbie didn't last long, in fact very few of her alter egos lasted long afterward. After the deal infiltrating the Pack Mág Ealga got similar contracts that found Vanessa changing bodies so often she lost track of where she ended and they began. It was a mounting problem but when the Pack dropped out of the mercenary world that problem eased. Suddenly their main competitors for contracts was gone. Mág Ealga literally just picked which contracts they wanted, and of course always went with the highest paying ones unless it was unreasonably dangerous. No one was a fan of seeing the inside of a prison ever again and they'd all ended up in one at least once or twice by then.

The next three years were easy, or as easy as they got for a mercenary, until Aleister died on the job. Another stepped up to lead but many of their connections were specific to Aleister and once again the woman born as Vanessa Carlyle who had been living as Cheryl Marks for the past year found herself playing musical bodies. Her own blue skin became a rarely glimpsed sight in the frenzy of genetic changes. Vanessa's mind and that of her mimics began to bleed into one another to the point where she would lose sight of her task. She'd forget the mission and start to think like her mimic would, which led to her developing their values and beliefs as well. When it nearly got the Mág Ealga leader killed she packed it in. With an invitation to return when she could get a grip on her mental state and a permanently functioning line to reach the crew at she left.

Xavier's

Clad in her own body she renamed herself Morgan Lennox, complete with official documentation thanks to an associate, and went looking for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. It was one of two places she figured might be able to help her and a school for gifted youngsters sounded a hell of a lot better than a research facility. Charles Xavier took her in once he did an exhausting telepathic scan of the woman. It was determined she, herself, was not a threat to the students and not only was capable of but willing to play nice while there. As with all of the guests and residents Morgan was given free room and board, but she wasn't comfortable with being such a freeloader. In exchange for Xavier's help and everything else he gave her while there she became the school's new self-defense teacher in the fresh absence of Lorna Dane.

It didn't take long before Morgan ran into her old rival in the mansion. In fact, Nathan was one of the first five people she came into contact with after arriving. Knowledge of just who she was and what history they had was cause for some tension to begin with, but before the conversation was done they seemed to have found a friendly common ground. Nathan became one of three people Morgan considered friends there at the Institute, possibly mostly because he already knew her past as a mercenary and understood her on levels others weren't likely to.

The other two people Morgan took to were Adrienne Frost and Garrison Kane. Perhaps unlikely candidates, they became the closest to real friendships Morgan developed at the mansion. Adrienne was an accidental friendship born out of Morgan mocking her and thinking she was a bit of a weak girlie girl, no better than the typical model. Garrison, however, was only unlikely due to his rather upright occupation as an FBI agent. It was definitely lust at first sight for Morgan, something that's a little hard to avoid when Garrison insists upon chopping up wood half naked. While she did develop something a bit more than a crush on Garrison she never brought it up. After all, you don't go after a guy who is still hung up on another girl.

Between her two new friends Morgan ended up in India helping the FBI with a mutant terrorist attack and having a little "chat" with Adri's friendly hitman to ensure he didn't rat out Frost for the murder of her husband. She wasn't thrilled about either job, so to speak, but you did that stuff for friends just because they're friends. Even if you don't want to admit it.

Apocalypse's attack on New York City saw Morgan joining sides with Kane and the FBI again. For the first time since she'd shown up in the States again her real skills were useful. It was nice to exercise that part of her but it also reminded her of something. She had no reason to fight here. Her family was elsewhere and their backs weren't being watched as well as they could have been because she was in the States working on her brain so she wouldn't be a danger to them. But Morgan wanted to go home to her family. After a phone call to Eamon in mid-November Morgan tracked down the important people to let them know she was leaving, though she didn't know precisely when she would leave. The date would depend upon when the guys moved on to their next job from the one they were working on finishing up now. Charles was told first out of respect for him, what he had done for her and what he was doing for the kids at the school. Adrienne, Garrison and Nathan all followed. The three were left with a nearly blank business card that held an international phone number on one side and the word Ness on the other. She didn't bother to tell any of them it was her birth name, only that it was who to ask for if they called needing her help.

Morgan's plans to leave the Xavier Institute to rejoin Mág Ealga were indefinitely and possibly permanently put on hold when news came that Garrison Kane, along with others, were missing and possibly dead. She refused to leave until Garrison's been found, whether that would mean she gets to see that he's safe for herself or whether that means she will end up at a funeral to properly pay her respects to the man one last time.

X-Force

While waiting for news of Garrison's fate, Remy LeBeau hired Morgan for a job as extra manpower and firepower in Africa at the end of December in 2008. The contract hired her for a minimum of two weeks, though the job itself took less than half that time. As a result, when Apocalypse was found to be escaped, mobile and having taken over a mutant commune Remy called her to help X-Force's infiltration of the place. It was during that operation that Garrison Kane and the other missing three were found. Morgan's plans returned to rejoining Mág Ealga now that her friend was found alive, though she put off setting concrete plans to achieve this in place. Remy offered Morgan a job with Snow Valley and a position in X-Force in light of Pete Wisdom not being fit for operational duty. She agreed to consider the proposal but would not agree to anything concrete. Weeks after it was a conversation with Manuel de la Rocha that ultimately swayed Morgan who took off the next day on a flight to The Democratic Republic of the Congo where the rest of Mág Ealga was on a job. She went to talk to them and by the time she landed back in New York state half a week later her mind was made up. Only a couple days later Morgan received an e-mail from Remy. Bait was needed in order to set a trap and Morgan once again joined X-Force in it's efforts by taking on a mimic of Maverick. The next day she met with LeBeau and accepted his job offer. One week later she moved into the Brownstone and took up the responsibilities of her new job, which would largely see her in the field to begin with.

Physical Characteristics

Vanessa

File:Vanessa.jpg

Height: 6'0

Weight: 143lbs

Eyes: Red

Hair: White

Other Features: Her skin is pale blue

Appearance subject to change.

Daniel

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 180lbs

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Dark brown

Other Features: Charming smile and a default expression that brings the term "puppy dog" to mind.

Aoife

Height: 5'4"

Weight: 116lbs

Eyes: Grey-ish green

Hair: Bright orange-red

Other Features: Heavily freckled on her face, shoulders, arms, chest and across the top of her back. Black roses on her left upper arm and black birds on her right upper arm which appear to be tattoos but are made by a pigmentation concentration and discoloration by Vanessa's mutation.

Powers

Vanessa is a Genetic Metamorph. Her mutant physiology has given her blue skin, white hair, and luminescent red eyes. She is able to duplicate another human/humanoid or near-humanoid so accurately that even a telepath cannot tell the difference between the real thing and Vanessa unless she is subjected to a deep telepathic scan as she cannot duplicate knowledge or memories. Her shapeshifting, however, goes down to the genetic level which allows her to also replicate a person's powers/mutation. It is a very sponge-like process, Vanessa must touch a person in order to mimic them immediately thereafter. The longer she is in contact with a person the more accurately she can mimic them, even extending to duplicating the person's psi-patterns as well. She does not need contact with a living or even whole person. Vanessa can duplicate a person even if all she has is a piece (severed limb, hair, etc) though she can never replicate psi-patterns this way and a very small piece like a lock of hair can require longer contact for her to duplicate.

A physical mimic of a person can be done with just brief contact. She needs closer to five minutes of uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact in order to duplicate the person's vocal cords and therefore replicate their voice as well. In order for her to replicate mutations and psi-patterns she needs continuous skin-to-skin contact for ninety minutes or more.

If psi-patterns are acquired they work in two ways. First, they are a sort of blanket over her mind that duplicates the mental fingerprint of the person she is mimicking so that a telepath cannot tell the difference between her and the original person unless they go searching for memories and knowledge specific to that person. Second, by acquiring psi-patterns she literally begins to think as the mimicked person thinks. She inherits their thought processes and so she rationalizes the way the person rationalizes, interprets information and thinks through things the same way. By the same token she will react to things the same way they do because she is thinking like them. Her own mind is still beneath it and she can switch between the two, but whenever she has to play the part of her mimic, which is most of the time she's in it, she remains firmly fixed in her mimic's mind with her own only as a quiet whisper to keep her on track.

One of the drawbacks of her mutation is that if Vanessa stays in a mimic with a strong enough mind long enough she may begin to believe she is, in fact, that person and forget entirely who she actually is. She will never have their knowledge or their memories but because she thinks like them she can become lost in their identity. If she doesn't drop the mimic soon after this begins to occur she can effectively become trapped in her mimic by her powers. This can also occur if she goes from one mimic to another in quick succession repeatedly without any down time between them. Eventually the identities get confused and while she doesn't get as lost to the others it's harder for her to sift through them.

When mimicking a mutant control over mutation depends on a couple factors. Because she has the person's psi-patterns it becomes easier for her to learn control of an ability than it would be for her normally. She's a keenly observant person and this helps as well. If Vanessa sees an ability in use and it is something observable (such as telekinesis) then she can figure out out to do it through the person's thought process and rationalizing. Also if she has a theoretical knowledge of how to manipulate the power, how to use and it what it does then she can figure it out. She only has rough control, but it is enough to actually control the mutation. The longer she spends in the mimic the better her control will become as her mind adapts to the thought patterns of the copied person. Fine control is almost unheard of unless it is something like an energy blast which is primarily a matter of point and shoot. Something like telepathy she would have shoddy control at best unless she trained and had a really good grasp on it in theory.

Once she drops the copy it's gone and she must touch the person again in order to duplicate them again. With training it will be possible for her to pull up former mimics to use again without more physical contact, but she is so far unaware of this trait in her ability. Even then, however, it will always be considerably easier to pull up people she's had a lot of contact with or who she has mimicked the most. Training will also yield her able to mimic someone physically from just a description (however psi-patterns and mutations will always require prolonged physical contact).

While any contact with her could be used for gathering data for a mimic she generally has to purposely do so. She does not often passively or involuntarily absorb people through touch, it is almost always intentional. This means she can touch people and be turned off so as to not pose a threat. The only time this is not the case is when her mind is in a confused state from being dominated by or lost among other identities from recent mimics, then her control over her off switch becomes shakier until she has a hold on her mental state.

Equipment

None

Trivia

• Always carries a knife on her and usually has a handgun as well (outside of Xavier's).
• Sleeps with a stiletto under her pillow.
• Hates switchblades.
• Wakes up at four a.m. every day because she's used to waking up at 2 in the afternoon...in Europe.
• Does archery to relax and shoots guns to release anger.
• Swims a mile when she wakes up every day.
• The prospect of shopping makes her twitch, literally.
• Likes crowds when it benefits her for the job but otherwise prefers only small groups of people at once.
• Owns a 2008 Ducati 848 in pearl white.