Vanessa Carlysle
This page is about the Phase 2 incarnation of the character. For other uses, see Vanessa Carlysle (disambiguation).
| Vanessa Carlysle | |
|---|---|
 Portrayed by Charlotte McKinney | |
| Codename: | Copycat |
| Affiliations: | X-Force |
| Birthdate: | May 10th 1974 |
| Journal: | xp_copycat |
| Player: | Evy |
Quote
A former runaway-turned high class prostitute-turned-Weapon X assassin-turned-experiment, Vanessa has come to the mansion to redeem herself after a life of deception, lies and murder.
Contents
Details
Character Journal: xp_copycat
Real Name: Vanessa Geraldine Carlysle
Codename: Copycat
Aliases: Cheryl Marks, Debbie Phillips, Andrew Ingleton, Marguerite Hopkins, Patricia Muggins, Veronica Adams, Christina Valentino
First Appearance: (link to DW (x_logs) with date as link text)
Date of Birth: May 10th 1974
Place of Birth: Boston, MA
Citizenship: United States
Relatives: Burt Carlysle (father, deceased), Dorothy Carlysle (mother).
Education: High School dropout
Relationship Status: Single
Occupation: X-Force Operative, former prostitute, former assassin and spy.
Team Affiliation: X-Force
Biography
Childhood
Born into a family of Irish Catholics in Boston Massachusetts, Vanessa Carlysle was the treasured only child of Burt and Dorothy Carlysle. Born into a lower middle-class family, Vanessa wasn’t a brilliant student at school, preferring sports as she was very much a Daddy’s girl. Her father Burt was loving, but demanding, whilst her mother Dorothy did not have a very strong personality. Both her parents were very religious and although Vanessa sat through the services, she was never particularly interested in religion herself. This was where her problems started in her teens.
As Vanessa grew into a woman more and more boys started to pay attention to her as the most beautiful girl in school and she quite enjoyed leading them on, much to the displeasure of her Catholic parents. Teen rebellion caused fights in the formerly close family, fights caused stress and one day in early 1990 that stress caused Vanessa’s latent mutation to activate in the middle of a shouting match with her father. Burt reacted with horror as his daughter suddenly began to mutate into a ‘freak’, her skin turning blue and her eyes a horrible demonic red. In that moment there was no doubt in Burt’s mind; in punishment for her sins his daughter had been possessed by a demon and there was only one thing to be done. He went to grab his gun and Vanessa fled, taking a bullet through her shoulder as a parting gift from her father before she was able to escape into the night.
Overnight the popular girl at school had become homeless, abandoned and to many a demonic freak. Cold, hungry and desperate, Vanessa stole food from stores, raided restaurant trash, and slept under bridges, hiding her blue skin behind tattered clothes. Struggling to survive and broken by her misfortune, one night Vanessa bitterly wished to be normal again, to look like other people and she felt her body change. Looking into a muddy puddle she was shocked to see a pale human face looking back at her and dismayed when it rippled back into blue. Concentrating frantically, Vanessa was able to bring her 'human' face back and over the next few weeks as she struggled with her new power, was shocked to realise that with effort she could look like anyone she pleased. The stray’s life began to improve from that point, as even though she couldn’t maintain other forms for very long, she could do so for long enough to steal money or food from local stores. One night, after enjoying her first hot shower in months in a motel room, she heard noises outside and peeked through the curtains to see a group of hookers leaving a party in one of the rooms. Seeing how well they were being paid, Vanessa aged her looks a few years and asked to join them, offering to donate a percentage if they would teach her the tricks of the trade.
Vanessa took to her new profession quickly, albeit with a few false starts (losing control of her form whilst losing her virginity) and as her skills and control over her powers grew, she was able to demand higher and higher fees. Moving into a home in New York with fellow prostitute and new best friend Christina Valentino, the phrase ‘Call Copycat for whoever you desire’ soon became known throughout the Big Apple’s seedy underworld. A kiss from Leonardo DiCaprio? $500. A blowjob from Brooke Shields? $1000. A night with Marilyn Monroe? $10,000 and that was just the women, Vanessa was happy to be fantasy men too.
Unfortunately, her activities eventually attracted the attention of the Weapon X program. In June 1994 after raiding her brothel and arresting Vanessa they gave the young metamorph a choice; jail or the chance to serve her country. Given that her father had always drummed ‘God and Country’ into Vanessa, her choice was obvious. For the next five years she went through intensive training aimed at turning her into a formidable spy and ‘special operations operative’ (aka assassin). Unlike some mutants in the hands of Weapon X, Vanessa never had to be mind-controlled, as she genuinely believed that she was serving the best interests of the United States, Weapon X’s anti-mutant agenda being kept from her. Once her training was complete, she was set to work, eliminating dangerous mutants and threats to the program, retrieving intelligence and earning a sinister reputation.
But there were failures too. One of them, a mutant named Sabretooth that Vanessa had been instructed to sedate and retrieve, nearly killed her, shredding her body and leaving her for dead. In that moment, trying to self-heal with her shapeshifting and desperate to survive, a latent part of her mutation surfaced through pure instinct. Feeling the need to heal and having earlier unknowingly absorbed his DNA, Copycat changed into Sabretooth, his healing factor giving her everything she needed to recover. Confused and with Sabretooth’s thought patterns firmly in the driving seat, she went on a brutal rampage, hunting down and butchering the inhabitants of a nearby small town. A squad was sent to bring ‘Sabretooth’ in, the attempt cost them their lives. Taking personal charge, William Stryker deployed tanks and the National Guard in an incident that became known locally as the Spring Valley Massacre.
When the dust cleared, Weapon X brought in the mangled, slowly healing body of ‘Sabretooth’, taking DNA samples for the record. But familiar surroundings and people helped to jolt Vanessa back to herself and once Stryker had overcome his surprise, he immediately realised the potential of Copycat’s full mutation. The Spring Valley Massacre was covered up as a gas leak, with Weapon X working hard to silence or discredit anyone who reported the incident. Experiments on Vanessa started at once, non-invasive at first, aimed at unlocking her full potential. But Weapon X tried too much too fast and in the process they unwittingly broke the control mechanism in Vanessa’s brain that kept in check all the mental imprints that she had unknowingly absorbed since her mutation surfaced. Deluged with a flood of memories and psyches that were not hers, Copycat’s mind broke under the pressure.
As Vanessa’s mental state deteriorated and Weapon X realised they had damaged their asset, then the nature of the experiments changed. Now that she was no longer of use in the field, they started to experiment on her to see how her mutation worked, flaying skin from her bones to see how well she healed, cutting into her brain to see how it changed when she did. Vanessa might have died then were it not for the impact of Dark Cerebro in 2003; her psi patterns were so scrambled that neither wave affected her, but as her jailers writhed in agony Copycat was able to escape. Frightened that Weapon X might track her down and her psyche shattered into fragments she did what came easily; killed a man and became him, taking refuge in his psyche. Why be the broken Vanessa when she could simply forget her old life and live somebody else’s, it was certainly easier.
Spending months at a time in other people’s psyche’s Vanessa nonetheless never stayed in any one life for too long. Covering the trail of bodies, she moved from identity to identity, until finally she lost herself altogether. Julia Hernandez worked as a librarian at Salem Public Library, Oregon. Married to Alvaro and with two teenage sons, Julia happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and was killed and replaced by Copycat. She then spent the next four years as Julia, enjoying her happy family life so much that she forgot Vanessa Carlysle ever existed, until one day Alvaro was digging in their yard and came across Julia’s body. Returning home from work, ‘Julia’ was confronted by Alvaro, who lunged at her with a knife. In that moment Copycat awoke for the first time in years. Pure survival instinct let her deflect the blade, Weapon X training drove it straight into his throat. For the first time in years Vanessa was herself and as she looked down at the body of the man that she-no Julia had loved, Copycat felt deep crushing remorse for the first time. In that moment as she cradled Alvaro’s dead body she made a vow to change. Wracked by guilt and unable to face Alvaro and Julia’s sons she fled, running as far as she could, her scattered memories leading her inexorably back to New York where she sought out Christina Valentino.
Staying with Tina helped Vanessa to begin to recover a sense of self. Suffering from gaps in her own memory and possessing the memories of those she’d imprinted, she spent the next few months centering herself with Tina’s help. Then M-Day struck. Neither Vanessa nor Tina herself knew that she was a latent mutant, something that only came out when Tina spontaneously combusted with explosive force in front of Vanessa’s eyes. Pulling herself loose from the rubble of their shared apartment, Vanessa spent hours digging through the debris to try and find her friend, hoping to find that she had survived, until finally she could deny it no longer.
Grief stricken once again and devastated by the loss of her only and best friend, Vanessa ran again, spending the next few years bouncing around various soup kitchens and homeless shelters until she discovered the Mutant Underground. Although slow to trust the group, Vanessa eventually allowed them to help her, and moved to Muir Island for rehabilitation in early 2021. After treatment, Vanessa has emerged determined to repay her debts to society and to help young mutants so that they never have to go through what she did. She has therefore joined X-Force and in her spare time helps the Mutant Underground find and support young mutant runaways.
Living At The X-Mansion
TBD
Physical Characteristics
Height: 6'0
Weight: 148lbs
Eyes: Red and Purple, luminous, with no pupils or irises.
Hair: White
Other Features: Copycat’s most distinguishing feature is her pale blue skin, in a shade that matches the sky, coupled with pure white hair and glowing red-ish purple pupiless eyes. Her skin is satin-smooth and entirely flawless, whether naturally or via shapeshifting Vanessa does not tell. Another unique feature are the tips of her ears, which are pointed like an Elf’s and other than on her (black) eyebrows, lashes and her head, she has no body hair.
Human form
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Distinguishing Features: Vanessa often uses this form when she needs to appear human. The characteristics are the same as her true form with the colouring altered. The tips of her ears are rounded out.
Aliases:
Identities that Copycat uses regularly or semi-regularly and are likely to be seen around the mansion or by other characters.
Cheryl Marks
Status: Fully maintained
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 122lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Other Features: The daughter of a wealthy New York stockbroker, Cheryl is an art student at NYU. She has the tattoo of a red rose on her right shoulder.
Debbie Phillips (Imprint)
Status: Used only when needed
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 103lbs
Eyes: Hazel-Blue
Hair: Light brown
Other Features: Debbie’s an IT specialist (hacker) from Orange County, California. Vanessa imprinted her roughly ten years ago and uses her whenever she needs to get technical. Debbie gets flustered when talked to by hot guys, speaks too fast when anxious, pushes her glasses up her nose as a nervous tick and is a huge nerd.
Andrew Ingleton
Status: Not maintained, irregular use only
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 176lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Other Features: Handsome devil, all that really needs to be said.
Marguerite Hopkins (Imprint)
Status: Kept partially maintained
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 130lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Dark brown
Other Features: When Marguerite enters a room you know she’s in charge.
Patricia Muggins
Status: Used only when needed
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 121lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Other Features/Profile: Patricia (call me Pat) Muggins is an invented persona based off a woman Vanessa once passed on the street in a small town. Over the years she’s been a Federal Marshal, Police Officer, FBI Agent, whenever Vanessa needs to be someone in uniform, Patricia is her go-to face.
Veronica Adams
Status: Fully maintained
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 117lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Other Features/Profile: Veronica has loads of attitude and will not take crap from anyone. A qualified nurse, she’s known to a lot of people in the shadier neighbourhoods of various cities and is the face Copycat uses to keep her ear to the ground and gather intelligence.
Christina Valentino (Imprint)
Status: Not maintained, only rarely used
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 176lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Other Features/Profile: A fun loving party girl from Boston, Christina worked in the same brothel as Vanessa and they became best friends. Tina was tragically killed on M-Day (see above) for which Copycat blames herself. Latent mutant power: Empath
Powers
Although Copycat’s powers are defined by the term ‘genetic metamorph’, Vanessa's powers can be split into two parts:
The first of these is shapeshifting. Copycat can alter her physical form to resemble any human or humanoid of her choosing. She can alter her volume, density and mass to match that of the desired individual and can copy every single detail perfectly, right down to finger prints and retina patterns. Copycat can shift into a moderately accurate replica based on a photograph or video, to copy biometrics however she needs to physically see her target. In doing so she can pick up on hidden details such as scars. She can also create new people and monstrous forms from her imagination if she so chooses. Copycat is also capable of growing clothing and other accessories such as glasses or handbags.
Vanessa’s shapeshifting also grants her the ability to heal herself by morphing away wounds. This is far less effective than Wolverine’s healing factor for example, as Copycat must be conscious to heal and actively work on repairing any injuries. Her shapeshifting has either halted or greatly reduced her ageing process, with the result that Vanessa appears 20 years younger than she actually is. She can also use her shapeshifting to enhance physical elements such as speed, strength and endurance, but will never be as capable as someone with those specific powersets.
Whilst at the Mansion, Copycat has begun working with Kevin Sydney to improve and rediscover her shapeshifting skills. During her time at Weapon X she learned how to self-heal and how to boost her strength and endurance. Kevin’s training is aimed at improving her control, learning new tricks and discovering new methods of control or those that she might have forgotten.
The second element of Copycat’s power is her ability to imprint people at the genetic level, copying thought patterns, memories, feelings and even powers. Thus she can, not just look like someone, but to all intents and purposes actually become them, to the extent that friends, family and even telepaths would not be able to tell the difference. This ability comes with serious drawbacks for Vanessa which impact on her mental health.
The big drawback of Copycat’s imprinting is that she will start to think exactly like whoever she’s copied. At first this is relatively manageable, but the longer she spends using the imprint the more likely she is to lose track of who she truly is and become lost in the copied persona. Because of this strong mental aspect, whenever Copycat assumes an imprint she must take a few minutes to become used to the rush of memories, thoughts and feelings. Therefore, she cannot for example rapidly change shape in a battle to make use of an imprints skills. She must also assume the physical form of an imprint in order to access their thought patterns and memories.
Vanessa's imprinting works much like a sponge and through touch; much like a computer downloading a set of files, Vanessa must retain close physical contact with her subject, gaining first surface thoughts, then psi-patterns, then memories. Each stage takes around 15 minutes with more skin contact cutting down the amount of time in proportion to the amount of skin-to-skin contact. Copycat retains all imprints including incomplete ones in a sort of compressed mental filing cabinet, however experimentation by Weapon X broke this 'database'. As a result, memories have leaked out into Vanessa’s own memories and left her past a confused mess. This mental damage was extremely severe when it first happened but has lessened somewhat with time as Copycat has got a better grip on her psyche. However, this combined with the number of times that she has almost lost herself has made Vanessa reluctant to assume an imprint, as she is fearful of losing herself, therefore she only does so if she has to. She is therefore incapable of remembering what imprint does what, other than a few regulars whose personas are as familiar as close friends. As she copies the DNA of her subjects, Vanessa is capable of mimicking the powers of those she has imprinted. She cannot pick up powers quickly when making an imprint, taking around an hour of contact to start 'downloading' them. Copycat is also completely unaware of this aspect of her powers, having forgotten or never realised that she is capable of copying mutations.
Equipment
None.
Trivia
- Always calls others by nicknames.
- Will flirt with anyone and everyone.
External Links
Plots
2022
Meta
Player: Evy
Player Icon Base: Charlotte McKinney
Meta Trivia
Vanessa is Evy's first character in X-Project, after having been a reader for some time.
