(( I like this idea, and decided to throw my hat into the ring. I'm pretty much pulling this out of my arse here so please bear with me ))
Character:
Code-Name: Mirage
Real Name: Michael Thomas Brannigan
Ethnicity: Irish-American
Sex: Male
Age: 28
Relationship Status: Single
Team Affiliation: Xavier
Position at the School: Resident Advisor (PhD student working on thesis)
Appearance:
Hair: Short & sandy
Eyes: Green
Build: Athletic
Clothing style: Comfortable and stylish, Michael usually sticks with what works best for his tall, athletic build. Blazers and pants are a large part of his wardrobe - he dresses like a professional.
X-Men Suit: He is rarely seen in it. When he is, however, he dons a skintight protective suit with a load-bearing vest in military kit, exemplifying his ex-military status. He also dons a special pair of goggles to protect his eyes, which are the keystone of his powers.
(Michael's suit looks like this)
Date Of Birth:May 20, 1982
Place Of Birth: Dublin, Ireland
Citizenship: Naturalized US citizen through US military service
Information:
Personality: "Call me Mike."
Michael is popularly known amongst the general student population as the genial, open and intelligently incisive person to go to should any student need someone to talk to, bounce project or papers off of and a shoulder to cry on. More importantly so, Michael isn't a 'snitch' - he won't inform the school authorities if a student explicitly requests it and this has gotten Michael into a ton of trouble over the years. While he knows that his powers are substantial, his experience in The War has taught him that relying solely on them won't do at all, and he continues honing his physical fitness and other non-mutant skills at a razor-sharp edge should the need ever call for it. His position as faculty/staff places the students as his primary responsibility, and his protectiveness of them because of that duty shines through in times of dire need.
Background: Michael had always led an unremarkable life. His childhood and early formative years were as thankfully boring and typical as anyone could ever ask for, until the economic collapse in his home country of Ireland, on top with the medical costs of his cancer-stricken mother gave him the reason to leave his beloved homeland, friends and family to enlist with the US military, which was desperate for fit, capable and more importantly, non-mutant recruits.
While Michael has always had strange incidents throughout his life of momentarily seeing through solid walls, he had very much often dismissed it and never spoke about it to anyone else. But being in The War forced that latent power to grow abruptly, albeit somewhat painfully. He did not realize that it was an actual mutant power he possessed until his pressing need to seek out the enemy in combat, be it in wide open terrain or in urban close quarters, did he grow to use that power with increasing frequency. This enabled him to find the enemy in the most inexplicable of hiding places, much to their befuddlement whenever they were captured. At one point, over the course of four months, he with his platoon found and captured thirty High-Value Targets which netted a ton of reward money for his whole unit, making him a popular lucky charm to bring along whenever his unit moved out.
He did not reveal this to his platoon-mates, however, always putting it down to sheer luck and soldierly instincts. Prolonged and constant usage of that power however, made his eyes grow rather sensitive to daylight and would not recover for at least half a week, causing him to keep his ballistic goggles on throughout the day. This practice of his caused his platoon-mates to make fun of him at first, because it was considered unfashionable and unmanly in the Army in general to even consider wearing those things, but his continued insistence on keeping the goggles on turned his platoon-mates' amusement to suspicion that Michael could actually, be a mutant. It didn't take very long before he was subject to a blood test, showing the rapid changes in his chromosomes as a result of his accelerated evolution in combat and was promptly medically discharged.
Even though he could keep his Army pay through those three years of service, his mutant status caused him to be exempt from the pension accorded to any veteran. The religious right even made it their business to keep him from marrying another person, and snuffed out the hope of ever landing a decent job. It was a godsend that Professor Xavier sought him out right away and offered him a position to continue the graduate studies he disrupted when he departed Ireland. Now that he has earned his Masters in Political Science, he decided to stay on and repay Professor X's generosity by serving in his school whilst pursuing his PhD as well.
Mother:
Name: Alice Brannigan
Race: Human
Father:
Name: Lucas Brannigan
Race: Human
Other Relatives:N/A
Powers: 'X-Ray Vision' - Michael can see through any manner of solid objects.
Secondary Powers: Exceptional Agility - Michael has always been a very athletic boy in school, bagging first place and first runner-up medals effortlessly with some amount of training. This ability did not make itself obvious until he was scrambling around in combat like a monkey with his body weight in equipment and armor on his person.
Power Limitations:1.) Prolonged usage of 'X-Ray Vision' causes his eyes to grow very sensitive to light and will hurt unless he dons a pair of shades that blocks out sufficient light.
2.) His muscles will take on additional strain and fatigue every time he pushes himself to the limit. Physical conditioning and training increases the amount of strain he can take and mitigates that strain.
Hobbies and Interests: Despite his capabilities, Michael is an absolute bookworm. There's nothing he can ask for more than to bury his nose in a book accompanied with a cup of hot chocolate, which he makes using his own recipe - none of that silly commercialized powder. It's quite popular with the ladies who can be fond of dropping by to say hello.
To top things off, by god, if the man can
cook.
