Copycat

Copycat is a District 1 Tribute reaped for Arena 05 of the 75th Hunger Games. Copycat has garnered some attention for her high body-count in her first arena, mercenary training, and her mutation that grants her access to a veritable host of abilities and identities.

BASICS;
NAME: Vanessa Geraldine Carlysle CODENAME: Copycat AGE: 29 DATE OF BIRTH: 15 October, 1983 HOMETOWN: New Brunswick, New Jersey RESIDENCE: None OCCUPATION:  Mercenary, formerly Prostitute

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single SEXUALITY: Heterosexual LANGUAGES: English (variable)

CANON POINT: Post-Deadpool #59

APPEARANCE;
HEIGHT: 6'0" (variable) WEIGHT: 143 lbs (variable) EYE COLOR: Red (variable) HAIR COLOR: White (variable) SKIN TONE: Blue (variable) POSTURE: Tall TYPICAL SCENT: Cinnamon DOMINANT HAND: Right (variable)

TATTOOS: None (variable) OTHER IDENTIFYING MARKS: None (variable) WARDROBE: Typically consists of a sleek dark maroon or black stealth suit, but casual wear is often jeans with a yellow t-shirt and green fur-trimmed hooded jacket.

Vanessa's appearance typically varies as a metamorph, but she has two main looks. Vanessa is 5'9" medium build with long blonde hair and blue eyes, but Copycat (her natural form) is 6'0" tall of a lean, muscled build. This look is much more striking due to her blue skin, red eyes, and snow white hair. As Copycat, she's typically seen wearing a red, skintight leather suit that suits her purposes as a mercenary rather well.

PERSONALITY;
Vanessa is a woman who is neither good, nor evil. She is simply out for herself. From a young age, she's done everything necessary to ensure her survival in a world that doesn't show kindness to young girls, let alone mutants. Though she was once a carefree and happy child, the difficulties she’s been through have made Vanessa wary of others. She trusts no one but herself and constantly expects other people to take advantage of her if she lets them. Instead, this manifests outwardly into a devil-may-care confidence that can sometimes come off as arrogance in her interactions with everyday people.

Vanessa has spent years as a prostitute, operating under the notion that the client is a God. Do exactly what he wants, be his fantasy, and he is a very happy God. Step out of line or break the fantasy, and he is an angry God. Through this experience she has learned how to read and manipulate people around her, and she is not above using her sexuality to her advantage when it comes to getting what she wants from men around her. She knows what she wants, and how to get it, and she's willing to step on anyone to get it.

ATTITUDE;
FIRST IMPRESSION: SOCIAL PERSONA: The Chameleon POSITIVE TRAITS: NEGATIVE TRAITS:

ROMANTIC PERSONA:The Vengeful Lover TURN-ONS: TURN-OFFS:

LIKES: DISLIKES: FEARS:

MOTIVATION;
Vanessa has had to fend for herself most of her life. Ignored by her parents and mocked by the kids at the school, she learnt very quickly that no one was going to take care of her, except herself. After running away from home when she was about ten, she quickly learnt how to be responsible for herself and figured out exactly what she needed to get by in life - and how to get it. Even now she cherishes her independence - she might actually have friends and lovers these days, but she still holds enough of herself back that she wouldn't be devastated if she lost them. She would just move on, and continue to survive.

Vanessa has seen the worst humanity can offer, and she's somewhat comfortable with it. While she doesn't think it is okay to be doing some of the things she's seen, she gets that it happens. She finds it hard to get outraged by it either - people are awful and terrible and do amazingly cruel things to each other. She’s more likely to be surprised at people that do actually do the right thing by people, especially if it's because they truly want to be doing that, and they aren't just doing it to score points with someone - her, their peers, God, whatever. She’s pretty suspicious of everyone - everyone has an ulterior motive for doing something, and it's pretty rare that that motive involves caring about the other person.

She's also fairly willing to do whatever she needs to to survive - there's not much she won't do if she's getting paid for it. Sleep with people, kill them, con them out of their life savings? Whatever. She has a right to survive, and she'll do what is necessary to continue to do that. Her life is ultimately more important than anyone else's.

BACKGROUND;
Vanessa Geraldine Carlysle was born and raised in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Apparently an only child, Vanessa loved to participate in neighborhood scavenger hunts. However, her childhood was far from normal, given that her mutant abilities manifested in various stages, with some aspects already kicking in long before Vanessa reached puberty. Ever since she was a little girl, Vanessa started to “get a feel” for people if she hung around them long enough.

In her teens, Vanessa was kicked out by her parents when they discovered that she was a mutant. While they may have just picked up on her apparent “sixth sense” as some sort of mind reading power, it’s rather likely that she was also beginning to show some early signs of her physical mutation, like involuntarily switching back and forth between her regular self and the blue-skinned body that would eventually become her template form.

Still a minor, Vanessa lived off the streets and ran away to Boston where she turned to prostitution to survive. Actually her emerging powers helped her with this profession, as Vanessa once described it as having to “forget that you have an identity,” and rather become an empty vessel to be filled with the customer’s idea of the ideal woman. It was during this time that Vanessa met and fell in love with mercenary Wade Wilson. Romanticizing their relationship and imagining all the ways the brooding mercenary could kill her customers helped Vanessa get her mind of the disgusting things she had to do as part of her job.

Vanessa's feelings for Wade were deep and genuine. She wouldn't budge and give away his location when some of his employers came looking for him over an assignment he had botched; she’d rather let herself get shot than betray her lover. One can only imagine how much it must have hurt that Wade broke up with her on the same day, claiming that they were too different and that he hadn't considered their relationship as serious as she had. It would be years before Vanessa learned the truth, namely that Wade had been diagnosed with cancer in its final stages and didn't want to burden her.

Heart-broken, Vanessa became a mercenary herself when she fully manifested her shape-shifting powers. Although her power always maintained some involuntary aspect to it, Vanessa found herself able to take on the form and special powers of any person she made long-term contact with. In fact, she copied other people so perfectly that neither a genetic scan nor the most skilled telepath could discover her true identity. Operating under the alias of Copycat, Vanessa came into contact with other mercenaries such as Sluggo, Slayback and Kane, who were all involved with the Weapon X program that had initially created Wolverine. Now referring to himself as Deadpool, Wade Wilson too was an operative of that program, as they had managed to cure his cancer with a serum derived of Wolverine’s healing factor. Unfortunately, though, the treatment had left Wilson horribly disfigured and borderline insane.

Regardless, he and Vanessa hooked up again in an on-and-off relationship and eventually they both ended up in the service of an international arms dealer named Tolliver. It is unknown what kind of leverage Tolliver had against Copycat but, when he learned that his arch-enemy, Cable, was trying to get in touch with his former associate, Domino, Tolliver arranged for Domino to be kidnapped and ordered Vanessa to take her place. Vanessa’s meeting with Cable was set up quite dramatically, as Tolliver had sent Deadpool to assassinate Cable and “Domino” arrived quite in the nick of time to rescue the man and defeat Deadpool, thus instantly proving her worth to the New Mutants whom Cable was leading at the time.

As Cable had not seen the real Domino in years, he didn't notice any odd behavior on Vanessa’s part. He completely trusted “Domino” and relied on her help while molding the New Mutants into a tight combat they dubbed X-Force. Together they drilled the adolescent mutants in the use of their powers, but Cable also turned to Domino for tactical analysis and he confided in her about things he wouldn't tell the rest of the team, while secretly Vanessa reported everything she learned to Tolliver.

Over time, Vanessa came to like being Domino too much for her own good. It was the first time in her life that she was someone whom others respected and looked up to. Additionally, whereas Cable and the real Domino had only had a platonic relationship back in the day, Vanessa slowly developed genuine feelings for the man and acted on them. As she was under the assumption that Tolliver had killed the real Domino, Vanessa must have believed that she could keep on being Domino for as long as she wanted.

Naturally, Tolliver wouldn't tolerate betrayal, so when Vanessa stopped sending in her reports, he sent Deadpool after her when the rest of X-Force were away on a mission. Deadpool and “Domino” fought each other in X-Force’s base, with Deadpool eventually getting the upper hand. He reminded Vanessa that, while she could dump him as her boyfriend, she should better not try to cross their employer, Tolliver. Yet, Vanessa did exactly just that when X-Force returned and, while she kept on pretending to be Domino, she admitted that she had been working for Tolliver. On Cable’s orders, she contacted Tolliver and faked still being loyal to him, as she prepped X-Force’s base with explosives. The plan was for X-Force to leave the base before the explosions and fake their deaths. However, Tolliver had remote-control access to the bombs and set them off early.

During the explosion, Cable and “Domino” were separated from the rest of X-Force. As Cable demanded from her to take him to Tolliver, Vanessa led him to a villa in Sicily that served as his hideout. Inside, both Cable and Vanessa were in for a surprise, as they happened upon the real Domino, who had been held prisoner there for the better part was as shocked as Cable, who demanded answers from her. Just as she wanted to explain herself, though, she was stabbed from behind by Deadpool. During the following battle between Cable, the real Domino, Deadpool and Tolliver, the gravely wounded Copycat managed to slip away.

While recovering from her injury, Vanessa retreated to the home of her best friend, Tina Valentino, in Norwell, Massachusetts. She spent weeks locked up in her room, until she was strong enough to use her shape-shifting power again. Adopting the guise of Tina, Vanessa and her friend had some fun in town pretending to be identical twins. Before long, Deadpool tracked Vanessa down, looking for revenge. Additionally, as Tolliver had been reported dead in the meantime, Vanessa and Tina found themselves hunted by Sluggo, who believed that Copycat withheld information on her employer’s will which was rumored to lead to a huge treasure. As they tried to outrun Sluggo, Tina was shot.

Before Copycat shared the same fate, she was saved by Hammer, Grizzly and Domino, who shot Sluggo and Deadpool with a stun gun. The three mercenaries were one half of Cable’s former group, the Six Pack, and trying to locate Cable.

Although Domino was furious with Vanessa for having stolen her life, she agreed not to kill her, as Copycat promised to lead them to X-Force. Vanessa took the three mercenaries to X-Force’s destroyed base where they found clues to their current location. Once they reached the team’s new base, they ran into Cable and the remaining members of the Six Pack, Kane and Bridge. The reunion ended up being bitter-sweet as Vanessa was overjoyed to see Cable again, who did not even recognize her in the form of Tina Valentino and made it pretty clear that he had no interest in her at all. Therefore, she secretly snuck away while the six mercenaries were busy settling their Six Pack matters.

Back on her own, Copycat decided to search for Tolliver's will too. In fact, she had access to some of Tolliver's private files, as in the past she had posed for several months as the lover of Tolliver's personal assistant. Vanessa followed a lead to a temple in Katmandu, but she wasn't the first to get there as Slayback was already waiting there for her. Slayback had been an enemy of Deadpool and Kane back in the day of the Weapon X program, so he took Vanessa hostage, expecting the two mercs to catch up with them sooner or later. Indeed, Deadpool and Kane were already on their way, with Kane wanting to recruit Copycat into the Six Pack and Deadpool being after the treasure.

By the time they arrived, Vanessa had already begun to copy Slayback's techno-organic looks due to being held in a tight grip by the villain. Both men deemed that these powers could be harmful for Vanessa, so they rushed into battle to free her. Slayback proved to be nearly unbeatable though. In the end, Copycat hurled herself in front of Deadpool when Slayback stabbed him with a techno-organic lance. Close to dying, Deadpool pressed Vanessa’s limp body to his bare chest, so that she would absorb his healing factor faster. Having saved her life, Deadpool wanted to profess his love, but Copycat interrupted him, stating that she no longer loved him but someone else. Deadpool understood and handed the weakened woman over to Garrison Kane, who promised to get her to medical treatment.

While Vanessa did not accept Kane‘s offer to join the Six Pack, probably because she needed some time to fully recover, Kane continued to run missions with the group for a few months before they disbanded and went their separate ways. Around that time, Kane and Vanessa admitted their feelings to each other and chose to retire from the mercenary life.

They settled into a quiet routine in San Francisco where they worked at a local stage theatre. Despite an explosive visit by Deadpool, they lived a peaceful life there. Due to her experience of taking on other people’s identities, acting came rather naturally to Vanessa.

Following the Onslaught debacle, the flames of mutant hatred were fanned significantly by the loss of Earth’s mightiest and most popular heroes. The Psycho-Man was more than willing to make use of this and, employing his emotion-manipulating devices, he magnified every fear, doubt, or hatred among the populace until they turned against themselves. During the riots, an angry mob destroyed Kane and Vanessa’s home. Having recognized the psionic nature of the city’s madness, Kane contacted Cable and Domino for help. Domino still had strong feelings about the metamorph, which she barely kept beneath the surface even before the sub-atomic Psycho-Man began manipulating their emotions. During the fight that broke out, Vanessa taunted Domino by telling her she was easy to replace because no one knew her well enough to tell the difference.

The Psycho-Man attempted to kidnap Garrison in order to pilfer the bio-technology from his body for his own uses, but as soon as the villain revealed himself, Vanessa posed as her lover and let herself be captured to protect Kane from harm. With the help of the Micronauts, the others managed to follow the Psycho-Man and his prisoner to the Microverse, where Kane ended up captured too. Before the Psycho-Man could finish his plan to turn Kane into a living matrix for his new breed of techno-organic soldiers, though, he was defeated by the other heroes. Once back on Earth, Copycat and Domino made peace with each other. After that, Garrison and Vanessa packed their belongings and hit the road to find another place where they would fit in and be accepted.

It can only be assumed why Garrison and Vanessa did not find themselves a new home. Possibly they remained bitter over their experiences with bigotry in San Francisco. No matter what the cause, though, Vanessa bounced back to her previous ways and let herself by hired for an undercover job involving Deadpool. Seeking revenge on Deadpool for screwing up a previous assignment of the Frightful Four (in a line-up that had included all three of them), the Wizard and the Taskmaster hired Copycat to pose as a roommate in his new shared domain for super-villains. As such, Vanessa impersonated the super-strong Titania and moved in with Deadpool and the Constrictor. The plan was for them to have someone to observe and slightly influence Deadpool. “Titania” was then offered a job by the Taskmaster but, fearing that she was being set up, she was to ask Deadpool for help.

Deadpool immediately saw through the ploy and realized that it was he that was being set up, just like he knew all along that it was Vanessa with whom he and the Constrictor were sharing the apartment. Despite all that, he accepted the Taskmaster’s botched mission and managed to accomplish it, although he temporarily ended up in space. While waiting for Deadpool (and the money he had earned) to return, Vanessa was stuck playing Titania for the Constrictor. When they ran into Titania’s husband, the Absorbing Man, her cover was nearly blown. Eventually Deadpool came back and demanded an explanation for Copycat’s actions. As she claimed that she had done it just for the money and not for any old feelings between them, Deadpool humiliated Vanessa by carving the access code to his bank account into her face, well aware that she could shape-shift the injury away.

Shortly thereafter, Vanessa’s powers grew unstable, so both she and Garrison Kane accepted an offer from the new and improved Weapon X program. In exchange for their services, they both received a power upgrade. Yet these augmentations came at a heavy price. Whereas Kane was left emotionally cold as he became more machine than man, Copycat – while having more control over her shape-shifting, including even an invisible form – began to lose her sense of identity and respectively her sanity as a side-effect of her rapid morphing. To test her new powers, Vanessa was ordered to try and recruit Deadpool for the Weapon X program, but because of her deteriorating mental state, she forgot about the mission as she sought him out.

Desperately trying to get Wade’s attention, Vanessa approached Wade in the guise of five different women, including an elderly lady who needed help after hurting her ankle, a sexy hospital nurse in the hospital, a night-clubber, a young woman who had just moved to town and a delivery girl. Copycat flirted with Deadpool in each these roles and always slipped him a phone number. As could probably be expected, Deadpool tried to set up dates with all five versions of her at the same time. Vanessa’s anger over Wade Wilson trying to cheat on the various versions of herself soon gave way to jealousy when he didn't call any of her five identities, as he was kept busy by his mercenary missions.

When Deadpool did get in contact again, he told Vanessa to stop the charade as he had again seen through her disguises – all five of them – right from the start. Much to Copycat’s surprise, though, Deadpool told her that he was willing to give a real relationship with her a try after Vanessa admitted that all she wanted was to be with him. They spent a night together, but the next morning Vanessa acted rather needy and obsessive. While Deadpool was taking a shower, Vanessa witnessed an incoming phone call from his former love interest, Siryn, asking Wade if he wanted to attend a flower exhibition with her. Vanessa attended the exhibit posing as Deadpool, and she immediately attacked Siryn, punching her in the face several times. Later, back in Deadpool's warehouse, she played him Siryn's recorded message and accused him of having an affair. She didn't believe Deadpool's true claims that he hadn't heard from Siryn in weeks, especially as he did confirm that he still harbored some feeling for the redhead. That was all Vanessa needed to hear; she said good-bye and left right after she blew up Wade's warehouse.

Vanessa's rampage didn't go unnoticed by the Weapon X program. Right after they recruited Deadpool as one of their agents several days later, they ordered him to rectify their mistake and kill Copycat. Deadpool refused, rather quitting the program than kill his ex-girlfriend, but Kane did not have such quarrels and went after her. Aided by Deadpool, Vanessa escaped to the Bronx Zoo where she hid amongst a group of gorillas by mimicking one of the animals. However, while Deadpool was busy battling Kane, the Weapon X program dispatched another agent, Sabretooth, to finish the job. After following Vanessa’s trail to the gorilla cage, he simply killed all the animals inside until he got to Copycat. By the time Deadpool found her, she was already bleeding out; she died in his arms.