Note: All things marked with * refer to items that are strictly MUX-related, and have no basis in the Marvel Canon.
Alias(es): Red, Ray, Phoenix
Parents: 'Jean Grey' (aka Phoenix), and Scott Summers
Known Relatives: (Tho technically, all of Rachel's relatives are
deceased. This list comprises the list of relatives had Rachel been the
daughter of mainstream timeline's Scott and Jean.)
Note: The following information is my application for the character. I want to prove to the MUX's players that I did earn this character.
Char Name: Rachel Summers (Phoenix)
Desc: [name(me)] is a fairly tall young woman, approximately 25 to 30 years of age. She has short red hair on the top and sides of her head, with a long braid down her back. Her body is thin, but not skinny, with little traces of flab anywhere. While not prominent, her muscles are visible in a way to show that she leads a fairly active lifestyle. Her green eyes show a depth unusual in most people. They tell a tale of great loss, great suffering, as well as great joy and great happiness.
Rachel's costume is the red and gold Phoenix costume she designed right before the X-Men went to Asgard after the New Mutants. Also, when stressed or not paying attention, 'hound' tattoos appear on her face. Explanation to follow later.
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History: Rachel Summers was born in an alternate future to Scott Summers and his wife, Jean Grey. Despite the passing of the Mutant Registration Act after the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly, she spent her formative years happily in the care of her parents and her parents' adopted family, the X-Men.
Rachel, it must be noted, is the daughter of the Phoenix' version of Jean, not the real Jean Grey. Marvel once alluded to Rachel's mother not being Phoenix in that alternate timeline, and with the Excalibur claim of 'no analogue for Phoenix', but all the other canon suggests that Rachel is the daughter of the original Phoenix from that alternate timeline that just wasn't killed on the Moon and managed to stave off the Dark Phoenix.
That said, back to the good stuff. Rachel was born in the house of John and Elaine Grey, Jean's parents, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, not too far from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Despite the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly causing a panic against mutants, Rachel suffered no major catastrophes until her mother was killed when Jason Wyngarde (Mastermind) caused the destruction of Pittsburgh with a nuke (I've heard of conspiracies against the Super Bowl, but this takes the cake ... oh, sorry. ;) It was during this time that Rachel met Franklin Richards, the son of Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four. The two were the equivalent of childhood sweethearts.
Rachel was taught by Professor Xavier himself (despite the continuity error of him having been killed with Kelly and Moira MacTaggert before she was born) at the School until his death at the hands of the US Government, which was trying to enforce the Mutant Control Act signed into law. After that, Rachel was captured by Ahab, who brainwashed her and programmed her as his prototype hound, a mutant whose job was to hunt down other mutants for the Sentinel-led government to kill. It was at this time that her hound-tattoos were applied permanently. Normally, Rachel psionically masks them from peoples' perception, but when exceedingly stressed, or when powered up as the Phoenix, the mask fails. Rachel was the leader of Ahab's hound pack, his greatest achievement. Still, the knowledge of her past happy life, and the shame brought to her by her slavery caused her to finally rebel and mutilate Ahab. She was then sent to an internment centre in the Bronx, and was rejoined with the remaining X-Men, Magneto, and her childhood sweetheart, Franklin 'Scrapper' Richards.
The X-Men had heard of a plot by the other nations on the planet to tactically nuke New York City and any other Sentinels' bases if they made moves against them. As the Sentinels' plans went forward, Rachel and the others made a counterplan of their own. Rachel used the telepathy she'd inherited with her mother and her own second-generation mutant power of astral time travel to send Kate Pryde-Rasputin's soul back to exchange places with Kitty Pryde some 30 years ago (the present of the books) to warn the X-Men about the attempt to assassinate Kelly in 1980. In the future, Rachel stayed and guarded Kate's body as the rest of the X-Men, Magneto, and Franklin were all killed by the Sentinels in their attempt to avoid the nuclear holocaust that was being threatened from overseas. The attempt to stop the Sentinels failed, so Kate and Rachel went on a suicide mission to try and blow up a particularly sensitive base, where the Nimrod Sentinels were being designed. Instead, Kate programmed Rachel with a post-hypnotic suggestion to send herself back in time to get a second chance at life.
In the past, Rachel immediately started tracking down those people she knew to be family: the X-Men. She knocked on the door of the X-Mansion and freaked out when an Illyana who was a teenager answered the door. Fleeing back to New York City, she wandered around, picking up information on where she was. She was beginning to suspect that she was in the wrong past after seeing Storm on telly all punked out, something that hadn't happened in her time. She didn't have much time to reflect on that as Selene attacked her. Rachel panicked and escaped into the club of Nick Damiano. Selene found her and attacked again after killing Nick. Rachel fought as hard as she could, but her raw power wasn't worth spit against Selene's eons of skill and experience. It took the intervention of the X-Men to save her. Rachel's trauma didn't end there. She had to confront the fact that she'd gone to the wrong past. In her past, the Professor had never walked, and Storm had never gone punk.
Still, the X-Men took Rachel to Westchester with them to ascertain the truth of her claims to be from the future. She was careful not to reveal too much about herself, but claimed to know the X-Men as if she was one of them. Professor Xavier was counselling her when Storm interrupted with a problem with Rogue having disappeared, and Rachel snuck a look at Xavier's phone list while he left the office. She ran up Xavier's phone bill by calling Scott, who was in Alaska with Maddy. As Scott answered the phone, Rachel broke down in tears. Her daddy was still alive.
However, mommy wasn't still alive, and Rachel was /not/ a happy camper about that. She nearly killed Nightcrawler when he said it. It took Xavier to calm her down, but she went on and revealed some of her past/a future to the X-Men, pleading with them not to give up on Xavier's dream. Rachel was desperate that the future of this timeline not go the way of her own. Finally, she convinced them that sticking with Xavier's dream was a good thing.
Rachel continued to hang out at the mansion, networking with the New Mutants in residence, especially Amara Aquilla. In an escapade in New York City, they ran across Selene. Rachel, fueled by revenge for Selene's previous attack on her, strikes out and nearly causes the destruction of the Hellfire Club. She reveals one of her mom's teke tricks by rearranging the X-Men's clothes after the inevitable fight.
Rachel's tenure with the X-Men and New Mutants included meeting Kitty Pryde, who recognized her from the timeswitch Rachel pulled on Kate. Rachel was still tormented by the ghosts of her past/a future, but she stayed with the X-Men, and she even grew back some of her hair!
Shortly thereafter, Rachel met the Beyonder, a being of incredible power. While the X-men were trying to find out which of Professor Xavier's students were trying to kill him, he observed her as they caused her to lose control and revert to a 'life-for-a-life' mentality as she revealed her past as a 'hound', a mutant that hunted other mutants in the future. Ironically enough, it took Magneto, feared and hated over most of the planet for his past crimes, to convince her that his former way of life, and the one she contemplated embarking upon, just gave the anti-mutant humans the final victory. She desisted for the time being. She was then involved in a caper in Canada and nearly killed Shaman of Alpha Flight when she falsely accused him of trying to kill Cyclops. She also freaked out when she found out that Scott's wife Madelyne was going to have a son, instead of a daughter.
Rachel decided to embark on the next stage of her life when she went to visit the grave of this timeline's Jean Grey. She then went on a conjugal visit to the house where she was born, reliving some memories of her real parents worrying about the state of affairs. She felt an overwhelming need to prove that the Phoenix was a force for good as well as take on enough power to help her void the future that she felt was coming: one like her past, if not actually hers. Still, when she revealed herself as Phoenix to the X-Men, Scott wasn't a happy camper. Rachel reminded him so much of Jean, and Jean was dead. Scott had married and had a son with Madelyne Pryor, a son that had never existed in Rachel's past.
Rachel felt that she was the lone guardian of the world against those who would come to oppress and kill mutants in her past and also threats like the Beyonder, those who could kill without a care, so she took it upon herself to take out the Beyonder. Instead, she wound up having to save the X-Men from him, using the power that he himself had given to her to kill him. When he didn't take the power back, she decided to destroy the entire universe to save it from him. However, within the M'Kraan Crystal, she discovered that she couldn't do it. She'd realized the cost of trying to rid the universe of the Beyonder, and the cost was too high. This leads to a measure of maturation of Rachel's psyche, but not enough. She goes on to try and take out Selene /again/, this time being stopped only by Wolverine. She had the power of the Phoenix, and Wolverine knew that if she didn't learn to control herself, she'd be no better than the Dark Phoenix, no matter her noble theories on Phoenix as a force of life. So, Rachel got stuck like a pig, and the X-Men had another fight on their hands. In the scuffle, Rachel was abducted by Spiral and shipped off to the Mojoverse.
Rachel returned on-camera after being rescued by Storm. In the process, Rachel gave up the Phoenix Force to save her. Rachel was with the X-Men for a time, but revealed to Scott who she was and went to live with him and work with X-Factor, retaining the codename and costume of Phoenix.
Teke/tepe -- Rachel is the daughter of the Phoenix and Scott Summers from an alternate timeline. She inherited the Phoenix's stolen telepathic and telekinetic abilities. This means that Rachel has the power to use her mind to manipulate objects by physically moving them, as well as link to other living minds and either listen in, send and receive thoughts, or manipulate other minds. Because she is a second generation mutant, her raw power is greater than that of her mother in either category. Also, due to her time spent as a hound, her telepathy is more strongly developed than her telekinesis. She is highly skilled, having been taught by her mother and her past's Professor Xavier. While it could be said that her skill is better than this timeline's Jean Grey, it is also unlikely that she could not out-skill someone who's spent nearly twice as long as a student of Xavier. Tepe power stunts include: psi-bolts, mind-changing, team-wide/multiple person mindlinks, astral projection, astral plane manifestation/fighting, mutant tracking. Teke power stunts include: lifting multiple people/heavy objects, clothes changing, blowing up things (usually when angry), teke bolts, low level subsonic flight.
Psychic Bond -- Due to Rachel having used her tepe to ensure the 'soul' transfer between Kate Pryde and her younger self, she has a curious bond with either Kate or Kitty that goes beyond her usual telepathic limits. Thus, if her usual tepe is blocked in some way, she might be able to reach Kitty/Kate.
Astral Time Travel -- Perhaps an adjunct of her telepathic powers, Rachel is also capable astrally sending herself or another 'soul' through time and crosstime, but whoever is sent must have a body to occupy in that time.
Non-Power Skills -- Rachel, as a two-time Xavier's student, has perhaps a high-school level of knowledge, with some areas in the college level. Presumably, she knows how to defend herself and depend on herself somewhat without her powers. She also knows how to survive in gruesome situations that might make even Wolverine blanche.
Impetuosity/Temper -- Rachel's biggest flaw has to do with her personality. She is quick to judge, slow to forgive, and quick to lash out at anyone who she thinks has wronged her or her friends. She generally doesn't take the time to think things through before embarking on a course that generally winds up with her getting yelled at by whoever is the adult or authority present. She is also, as someone told me, a whiny brat. When she doesn't get her way, look out and hide under the carpet! This also leads to her abusing her powers to get what she wants, and other breaches of the ethics that Xavier demands his residents and dependants uphold.
Former Hound -- Rachel spent over half of her life as what is called a hound, a mutant that tracked other mutants so they could be killed. This is what unbalances her teke/tepe powers to tepe... they didn't need her teke powers, so they found a way to keep her from using it. However, Rachel was worse than a slave. She was treated like an animal, a lower life form, something to just be used and discarded when done. As a hound, Rachel lived through the deaths of a number of her family and her friends telepathically, as well as helping to kill some herself. She was degraded beyond belief and even though free of this horror now, she sometimes slips back into that mentality. She can either slip into the degraded slave mentality, or the mutant killer one. It is this latter one that caused Wolverine to stick her when she still possessed the Phoenix Force. Another reminder of her status as a hound is the permanent scarring of her face with black tattoos. When stressed or exerting her powers at a high level, these tattoos emerge from the psionic masking she usually uses to cover them and mark her as a mutant.
PF Loss -- Rachel, once host to the awe- and terror-inspiring Phoenix Force, might forget she isn't host anymore and try to access higher levels of power than she has, thus straining or burning out her own powers, either temporarily or permanently.
Memory Loss -- While later books explained this as the PF's doing, at this point in the canon, Rachel experiences memory loss due to a possible post-hypnotic command on the part of Kate Pryde. This loss is the reason she cannot use her astral time travelling powers (and a good excuse to keep them off the MUX permanently -- she just doesn't remember she has them). She also is unable to remember some of the more pleasant aspects of her past life, including Franklin Richards' part in it. She knows the basics (parents, school, hounding), but she may fuzz out on some of the details and things that no one present in this timeline (other than Nimrod, of course ;) will be able to tell her.
Dark Future Survivor -- While this is half a flaw and half a trait, it mostly fits here as a flaw. Much of Rachel's 'dark side' are directly caused by her having witnessed or aided in the execution of most of her friends, family, and fellow mutants. What this generally means is that in a situation where she thinks (her perception is important here) a certain action will avert the future as she lived it, she'll do it, with no hesitation, regardless of the ethics of the situation. She sees the world in such black and white. There is no room in her worldview for shades of grey. You are either for her and her own personal dream of avoiding a terrible future, or you are against her and you'd best run away now. Unfortunately, she doesn't realize that her choice of means is just making her into those things from her past that she despises.
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** I'm not sure exactly how my world differs from the one I'm in now. I certainly can't point out the key event that led to the split in time. All I know is that /somehow/, our plan to change the past to save our world failed. My family, my friends... everyone's dead now. Even dearest Kate. Where did we go wrong? **
Rachel shivers to herself, staring out of her moonlit window with tear-rimmed green eyes.
** Mom's alive in this time. Kurt'd said she'd died, but she's not dead. I can feel her from time to time. I hide, like I hid from Daddy. I'm good at hiding. I did enough of it in the past, I think. I'm not sure. Some things are fuzzy, all jumbled up. ** Rachel closes her eyes and wipes them on the edge of her hand, sniffling slightly.
** I wish Kate were here. She didn't deserve dying... I did. She was always so strong, and me? I gave in. I hid, like I'm hiding now. I thought I could take on the world once I took on mom's name, only I lost the Phoenix Force. I suppose it's the only good thing I ever did. Mom shouldn't hate me now. I'm only Phoenix in name, and I'm doing it for mom. My real mom, that is. She was the real Phoenix. I was just a pale imitation. I try so hard to be like her... to beat my feelings and use my head, but sometimes I just can't help it! Like when I hurt Shaman of Alpha Flight... I thought he'd killed Daddy! I can't let my future happen! I can't let everyone go through what I already had to go through once. I don't want to see them all die! I'll do anything to spare them that agony! ** Rachel cowers slightly in the moonlight, acting more like a scared kid than an adult. Again, she wipes her eyes and sniffles, crouching down into a ball next to the window, rocking gently, her eyes misty and lost.
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