Mikayla

...............

Name: Mikayla Angelina Fuentez
Codename: Phoenix
Nicknames:
Age: 27
Place of Residence: Santa Fe, New Mexico, but now lives on the Island
Occupation: Mechanic
Family: (mother - deceased) & Miguel (father - deceased)

Physical Description

Height: 5'5"
Weight: 115
Hair: black
Eyes: Brown

Distinguishing Features: Tribal tattoo on her lower middle back

Powers/Abilities:

A Botanical Elemental. Phoenix has the ability to control and manipulate plants and other organic substances, with results ranging from giving life, growth, or death. She controls heat and/or fire regarding plant life. Simply by touching a plant, she can give the slightest bit of heat, to make the plant grow, or intensify the heat to cause death.

Psychological Background:

Phoenix has a permanent attitude and angry streak. She was raised with loving parents who tried to keep her safe and protected. But no amount of protection could stop her early onset Leukemia at the age of 3. She was in and out of the hospital a lot as a child.

She was raised in a not so great neighborhood and she was always having to fight to defend herself, especially when her hair fell out due to the treatment for her leukemia. But her parents stayed loving and even more protective of her and her father even took her under his wing and taught her his trade of Mechanics when Phoenix grew bored. She took to it like a fish to water and loved getting greasy and working side by side with her father and soon found she had a natural aptitude for the trade.

Personality Quirks/Hobbies: Phoenix loves working out and does so on an almost daily basis when her schedule allows her. Mechanic by trade and still enjoys it despite her new abilities as a mutant. She was raised in a not so great neighbourhood, so is also a great street fighter.

History:

Phoenix is an only child, though she was always surrounded by scores of cousins and weekends were spent at her grandparent's farm with her extended family, where she thrived in the love and laughter that always seemed to surround the farm.

Her parents were loving and dedicated, both to her and to one another. They did everything for her and although they tried to keep her safe and protected, no amount of protection could stop her early onset Leukemia. She was in and out of the hospital a lot as a child.

The neighborhood she was raised in was nothing like the wonders of her grandparents farm and with only her father' salary coming in to pay the bills, they lived in a rough area. Therefore, she was always having to fight to defend herself, especially when her hair fell out due to the treatment for her leukemia. However, her parents stayed loving and even more protective of her and her father even took her under his wing and taught her his trade of Mechanics. She took to it like a fish to water and loved getting greasy and working side by side with her father and soon found she had a natural aptitude for the trade.

One day when she was 7 & was really sick in bed from the treatments, her parents declared that they had found someone who could 'cure' her Leukemia and whisked her off to the GSA where she was put under the care of Adam McCoy. She WAS cured of her Leukemia, but it took a little over a year of the 'experimental' treatments that her parents reluctantly agreed to. It was definitely a miracle as far as her family were concerned and when she was nearly 9 she was allowed to go home, where her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins threw her a huge welcome home party at the farm. Everything was great and seemed normal for a few years, but as she reached puberty at the age of 12, and she was visiting her grandparent's farm during the summer vacation, she watched sadly as her grandfather struggled to make his crops grow. There had been a drought that year and farms were suffering the most. That evening, after dinner, she snuck out and went to the small vegetable patch her grandfather had set up for her. Here, the corn, carrots, onions, pumpkins & strawberries, among other things were trying to grow, but wilting badly in the heat of New Mexico. Sitting down at the edge of the patch, she looked at the wilted vegetation and suddenly felt a sadness like no other. With her hands digging in the dirt absentmindedly, she began to cry silent tears, and to her amazement, the strawberries, which were the closest to her hands, began to bloom and then grow larger right before her eyes. She couldn't believe it and instantly wrenched her hands away, staring in awe. But, without her hands there to touch the soil, the strawberries, staying in bloom, stopped growing any larger. Slowly, she placed her hands back in the dirt and once again the strawberries began to grow. She couldn't believe it! SHE was making that happen! HOW was she making that happen? This question went through her mind many MANY times over the years, but she soon realized that she didn't care. She could make plants grow, unless of course she got angry and then she found that if she placed her hands near any plant during a rage, the plants would wilt and die. This was a secret she kept to herself and did not tell her parents. Until one day, when she was 18, she was in her bedroom near the beautiful flower box her mother had set up in her window and, angry over the break up of a cheating boyfriend, Mikayla absently placed her hands in the box and the plants died. A gasp was heard behind her and she turned, pulling her hands out of the soil and saw her mother looking between her and the flower box, her eyes wide with horror and shock. Mikayla realized right there and then that she had to tell her parents... To SHOW them, and hope they would understand. They all sat down and she told them when it started and where and they soon deduced the why and the how of it. "It HAD to be that damn GSA!" Her father yelled out, "And they were going to sue them for everything they were worth for making their daughter a... a.... " Mikayla looked up in horror at her father and a range of emotions went through her... Shame, incredulity and then finally, anger. She stood up and finished her father's sentence, "Freak! Is that what you're saying dad? That I'm a freak?!" With that, she stormed out of the room and packed a bag, leaving her father standing there staring and her mother crying as she made her way to the door, 'Don't worry. I won't be burden on you anymore!' Those were the last words she ever spoke to them, and that was the last time she ever saw her parents alive.

Her parents went on to try and sue the GSA, but unfortunately, they weren't the type of company to allow something like that, and Mikayla's parents paid the ultimate price and were killed to stop them from 'spilling the beans' about the GSA. Hence, Phoenix's permanent attitude and anger.

After Mikayla left home, she survived by using her Mechanics skills and soon had her own place and tried to forget about her parents. After being gone from home for 5 years, Mikayla decided to try and make amends and went back home. But the house was empty and Mikayla began to panic. She went straight to her grandparent's farm, where they welcomed her with open arms and tears in their eyes. She asked them about her parents, but they seemed scared and reluctant to tell her anything. Finally she got it out of them that her parents 'disappeared' soon after she left, and they hadn't heard from them since. But there seemed to be more to it, something they weren't telling her. The fear in their eyes was enough though to stop her asking any more questions.

Over the next 2 years she began staying at the farm more and more, hoping to find something about her parents and worried about her grandparents' aging and how they would handle the farm. So it was here that one day she was out in the corn fields, using her new ability when she heard a noise behind her and turned to see a man in a suit. She thought at first she was seeing things... what on earth was a man in a suit doing standing in her grandparent's corn field? She rubbed her eyes and yes, he was still there. Then, it suddenly occurred to her that she had been using her ability when she noticed the man there... Had he seen her? She would soon find out. A few minutes later, her grandfather appeared with a strange smile on his face, as if he knew more than he was letting on. "Grandfather?" She started to ask, but he cut her off and said, "Ahhh, I see Mr. McCoy has found you Mikayla. Why don't the two of you go for a walk and have a chat?" Still not knowing what to make of any of this, Mikayla followed her grandfather's instructions without question and she soon found out that Mr. McCoy... Adam, as he insisted on being called, had indeed seen her using her abilities and it was then that he began to tell her everything. The experimental treatments, the mutations and her parent's disappearance. She was shocked, and then angry and then sad... so many different emotions all at once. More than she wanted to deal with right then in front of a stranger. He told her that he wanted to help her, to introduce her to others with mutations, some like hers, others that were different. He told her that he would give her a week and then be back for a decision. After he left, she thought through everything he said. He seemed genuine, and if there were others like her, then she wanted to meet them. She'd always thought she was alone with this strange ability. But now... now it was different. Before the week was out, she made up her mind. She would go with Adam.

Finally having enough he said he'd retire or so he thought. He bought took over a restaurant and had made a success of it for several years when the government came calling again.

Special Notes: She is not interested in ever having children, as she doesn't want to pass down the Lukemia gene or the Mutation.

Played by Brandi