Joseph Salinas
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Xerox Real Name: Joseph Salinas Alias: Xerox, Salty, Showtime,
Copy Master, Carbon Identity: Public Alignment: Good Affiliation: Fed-X, Reserve member
of X-men Relatives: Sabrina Salinas
(sister), Alora Salinas (wife). Trisha Gannon (sister in law) Base of
Operation: X-Lair, formerly Twin Sister Peaks Missile Base, Characteristics Gender: Male Height: 5’11” Weight: 162 lbs Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown Status Citizenship: American Martial Status: Married Occupation: Adventurer, former Federal Agent Education: BS, Mechanical
Engineering, NYU, Origin Origin: Born a mutant he didn’t
discover his ability to copy other people’s powers until he tried to stop a
fight at school and replicated his friend’s mutant power. Place of Birth: |
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1.History 1.1 Origins 1.2 Splinters 1.3 New Path 1.4 Stranded 1.5 New Beginnings 1.6 Pride and Sorrow 1.7 New 2. Powers and Abilities 2.1
Powers 2.2
Abilities 2.3
Strength level 2.4 Weaknesses 3. Paraphernalia 4. Notes |
History
Origins
In college he was the funny
guy, the one who pulled pranks and threw wild parties. That all changed when he
tried to help childhood friend, Brock Erickson, from getting into a fight and
instead copied his latent mutant power turning both of them into living
statues. Fearing they’d be arrested or turned into lab subjects they both went
missing for several days before being found by Oswald and they were offered a
place at Fed-X. Along with Berserk, Flare, Aero, Dash, Medic, and the Gannon
sisters, they’d form the core of what would be the first Fed-X team.
During his stay at Xavier’s
School for higher learning he learned he had duplication powers allowing him to
genetically copy anyone else special gift. While he does this automatically
during skin to skin contact he learned how to control it as to not use the
copies he just made. He also trained the hardest in basic combat and strategy
to try and minimize his own weaknesses as he was semi-dependant on others to
give him a usable power. This would also be when his relationship with Alora
Gannon would start to change from friendship to something more although it would
take years to reach fruition.
From the start he was the
one with a quick quip or joke who didn’t seem to take the danger seriously. Few
of his teammates knew that contrary to this belief though he was all too aware
of it and used humor to mask his own feelings of fear and inadequacy as a
member of the team. As the relationship with Cinder deepened it only grew worse
until the day she was kidnapped by Cataclysm and transformed into the Elemental
Inferno. Blaming himself he became fixated on finding her, going days with
eating or sleeping.
After their first encounter
with her new incarnation he felt it was a further failure on his part to
protect the ones he cared about. When her sister was the one to revert Alora
back to her old self it only seemed to highlight his failures so far as she was
in a coma.
Splinters
Now heart sick with doubt,
regret and anger, Xerox vowed to avenge his would be love. This would occur
days later as Cataclysm lead an attack on a nuclear plant. Enraged and reckless
Xerox flung himself at the tyrant and began to copy his powers as the others
fought his elementals. While epic it was also short lived. Bursting through a
containment wall into the surrounding countryside Cataclysm beat the young man
to an inch of his life as his over-strained powers ran out and then nearly
crippled him by slamming the trunk of a tree onto his back. Robbed of his prize
though He left the battered team to collect Xerox and hope he hadn’t broken
more then just his body.
While Medic’s healing powers
had saved his life and his then crushed legs, they didn’t heal his heart or his
spirit. While still recuperating Xerox found a group of Anti-mutant supporters
assaulting a young mutant boy near his hospital. Using a mixture of the powers
he had absorbed he brutally beat them until he was restrained by Rocc. Seeing how close he’d come to killing them he seemed
to sober up and fell limp against his friend as he lead him away. As deserving
as they may have been the violent outburst by Xerox and his previous actions
with Inferno and Cataclysm left the team with little choice but to put him on
inactive reserve. Considering this a betrayal by his closet friends, Xerox
stormed out of the X-lair leaving his uniform and security card behind before
anyone could talk to him. Aimlessly He walked and fumed until he collapsed in a
snow bank. Waking up he saw a familiar face from his days at Xavier’s but not
necessarily a friendly one. His caretaker was none other then Mystique and
beside him was the master of Magnetism himself, Magneto. Magneto claimed to be
impressed by the young mutant and how talent was going to waste working for
Homo sapiens and their petty concerns. If he really wanted to help people, help
mutants like himself or Alora then he should be working with Magneto. After all
what had Humans done but get him nearly killed time and time again for their
agenda not his. Wasn’t it a Homo sapiens that dared to call himself her father
that caused Inferno to exist in the first place? Wary of Magneto’s reputation
he reluctantly agreed to be an acolyte. He had tried Xavier’s way now he would
another way.
New Path
While he was with people who
seemed to be as like-minded as him the more time he spent with Magneto and his
forces the less he actually felt like one of them. Sweeping Genosha of the
rebel elements opposing Magneto’s rule did nothing to calm the dull ache in his
heart or put any of his old doubts to rest. He did begin to learn new ways to
use both his power and his skills in combat as Magneto attempted to sculpt him
into an ideal Lieutenant. This attention drew the envy of others who thought of
him as one of the preferred among the new regime. From Fabian Cortez it drew
his jealousy as his power was augmenting Magneto’s and Xerox’s duplication
power threatened that position. Joseph’s discontentment didn’t require a
telepath to detect though. Even among a nation of mutant brothers and sisters
he was a man alone, the polar opposite of his old life and still just as
unhappy.
Xerox eventually found a
mutant named Angela Tagnett similarly disenchanted
with Magneto’s ways. For weeks they met and shared their lives until they
finally planned an escape from the island nation. She was immediately attracted
to the troubled young man but knew something was eating at him. Discovered
early by the brotherhood, Angela, also known as Wisp, turned both of them into
vapor to escape. As their disembodied minds mingled along with their gaseous
forms she found herself picking up pieces of his thoughts and memory as a side
effect of their combined powers. It was then she learned that while he cared
deeply for her, Joseph was still in love with Alora. Their escape was stopped
short by Magneto himself. Magnus and Joseph argued bitterly about the mutant
cause and the role he could play in mutantkind’s destiny still. Xerox then
posed the question ‘What good is your heart’s desire if you lose your soul in
the process?’ Moved by his words Magneto released them and promised the boat
safe passage this time for when they met again it would most likely be as
enemies.
Stranded
While Magneto had promised
safety from reprisals the weather seemed to have no such agreement as a nasty
squall mauled their ship and ran them aground on an uncharted tropical island.
Their timing was such that it was mere hours before the Genosha massacre and
they were thought dead by the world, along with the 16 million other mutants
who had died. Despite his best efforts he couldn’t fix the boat and with no
idea how far land was it was too risky to use his stored powers to try and
escape. It quickly seemed to become hopeless to escape and that they would be
suck there in an island paradise in the middle of nowhere for the rest of their
lives
Xerox refused to believe it
though and tried any number of ways to repair the Radio or somehow signal a
passing ship they were there, eventually burning out all his copies in the
process. Angela would finally angrily confront him about Cinder and asked him
what was so great about the outside world if it meant your heart would be
broken. Xerox has no answer but the hope it would mend stronger then before.
The weeks trapped there gave him new confidence in his usefulness without
powers and perhaps for the first time since he discovered his power he had a
true sense of worth again.
Salvation would finally come
in the form of pirates who captured the pair thinking it was deserted beach.
Using her powers Wisp slipped free and used their radio to call his former
teammates as he held off the pirates on his own, powerless. After a long chase
across the island they had Xerox pinned with only the ocean and a long fall
onto the sharp rocks behind him. Diving off the end of the cliff he suddenly
flew back up as he stood on the roof of a hover jet. His friends refusing to
believe he was dead had heard his distress call from Genosha and ‘borrowed’ the
jet. Taking her helmet off the pilot turned out to be none other then Alora
herself. Overcome with relief and happiness he finally told her how he felt and
was cheered on by his friends, old and new, as they finally kissed.
New Beginnings
Agency
X, the governing body that oversaw Fed-X reinstated Xerox after making it clear
he would sere on the same team with Cinder due to a possible conflict of interest.
Now second in command of Team Blue he took this chance to show what he could do
starting by freeing the other two captured teams held captive by Kang the
Conqueror’s invasion forces from the future. When Rem
Quesada suddenly replaced Wiz as team supervisor he began to implement new
polices. One was no member of the team could pursue a relationship with another
member. This placed a huge strain on the new couple who had to sneak around
behind agent’s backs to be together. Change after change would push the team
morale to the breaking point before Rem was revealed
to be Masquerade working as a mole for Dr Malice’s attack on them using
Vengeance Unlimited. Seeing how uneasy the alliance between them, Xerox was the
first one to start to question the mind control powers of several members as
the only thing that made them join together. Knowing how uncertainty could gnaw
away at someone he worked Red Monarch until the alien warlord physically
confronted his new team mates and allowed Fed-X to defeat them.
His
true test would be when Cataclysm, the madman who had broken him reappeared
with a plan to spark a global war. Splitting up He and Flame disabled a
microwave generator array only to find it been a feint and Cinder herself was
the intended source if the thermal energy needed to trigger the orbiting death
spore pods. He tried to bring Inferno back and seemed to succeed until a fully
aware Cinder incinerated the pods to ash. The mental link the couple now shared
had anchored her mind and let her use Inferno’s powers rather then the other
way around.
Cataclysm
wasn’t done as he rigged a bomb to their home base using Jump, a friend of
theirs to bypass security. Jump would ultimately give her life to save the
world and them by jumping the whole complex deep into space and allowing them
to escape back to Earth by Xerox using her copied power before the massive
explosive tore it apart. While Cataclysm seems to die Xerox knows better then
to go by appearances.
With
a multi-million dollar base destroyed overnight, the government pulled the plug
on Fed-X. The once teammates drifted apart as they tried to go on with their
lives on their own. Joseph returned to New York with Alora to attempt to finish
a college degree at NYU and develop their relationship without the uniforms and
codenames. He found especially hard to go back to being another mutant in
hiding after being open about his powers as Xerox. Taking a brave step he
talked to Alora and then they revealed themselves to be mutants during a mutant
rights rally. Using their powers they stopped the attempted arson of the church
the rally was being held at. Their personal lives took a hit as people began to
distance themselves from them, only for being mutants. When Moon Dog invited
them along with most of the old team to his home they accepted. There they both
voted to reform the team using his family manor as their new headquarters.
After
being forced back into working for the government one last time, Xerox, like
the others was none pleased to find out they were hunting a fellow mutant.
Again dividing to conquer, Xerox worked with Wisp and Matrix to see if their
friendly federal agent was being on the level with them as the others carried
out the mission. A mind scan using Cinder’s powers revealed the set up before
team red fell right into it with the mutant terrorist turned ally, Hassid.
Delivering the evidence in person he watched with great satisfaction as SHIELD
agents led the would-be drug kingpin away.
Pride and Sorrow
Later
during a second meeting with Vengeance Unlimited He’d join the psychic strike
to take out Poppet and Red Monarch as they eventually destroyed Talbot Manor
during the prolonged battle to defeat them. Being mentally linked to Cinder and
Flame he picked up the odd vibration as House of M unfolded and collapsed in a
heart beat for reality. Locked into receiving thoughts he heard the panic and
horror of thousands of mutants who were de-powered including a large number of
his friends and teammates. Xerox was nearly crushed by the emotional tidal wave
before the sisters forcibly broke the link and put him to sleep to prevent
further harm to his mind.
Recovering
in a hospital, his open status as a mutant brought several attempts by
anti-mutant groups to either kill or abduct him. Each was stopped short by his
friends until in a diversion they fired a rocket directly into his room. The
bigot’s joy was short lived as Xerox levitated out of the burning room and used
the launcher to pin his attacker the wall then stripped the others of weapons
despite his copy of Magneto being seemingly used up. Once they were rounded up
Xerox began to flicker and vanished revealing Phantasm had projected the whole
thing using her telekinesis and holographic powers to protect her brother. They
then discharged Xerox from the hospital to avoid endangering people further as
anti-mutant activity was reaching an all-time high.
After
waking up he felt a sense of guilt again for retaining his powers but an
unexpected talk with Captain America made him see that his powers had always
been meant to help those who could help themselves and now more then ever he
owed it to them to do whatever he could to make the difference. Taking him up
on his offer he trained with the living legend refining his non-mutant
abilities yet again before returning to Fed-X and helping their new sister
team, the X-Patriots get set up in Britain.
New
When
he returned, Xerox was one of the driving forces for Fed-X to firmly
re-establish itself after M-Day To protect the now vast majority of de-powered
mutants and any threat that might take advantage of the current social chaos
from it’s aftermath. He also took a big leap in his personal life when he
proposed to his long time love, Cinder. The wedding lifted everyone spirits
after a prolonged time of darkness for the team with a host of friends and
allies attending. The surprise appearance of Red Monarch at the reception
though almost sparked a fight but he delivered a wedding present, a matched
pair of swords to fight any who would try to conquer their love.
As
the Superhero Registration Act was passed it split the team with Xerox being
staunchly Anti-registration faction. As a mutant he felt that openly disclosing
yourself as a superhero or just a mutant should be a choice you make when
you’re ready not because a law demands it. This belief had him fighting ‘Cape
Killers’, SHIELD agents trained to arrest and hold any superhero would did not
register after the dead-line in attempts to rescue captured mutants and other
heroes. He was put down personally by Iron Man in a fierce battle between the
Mighty Avengers and Fed-X. Considering himself a political prisoner, Xerox
refused to disclose his team’s headquarters or the identities of the new
members who’d joined after their government disbanding. Even a visit from his
friend and former teammate, Blast, didn’t sway him. During his transfer to the
Raft his transport was struck by an energy discharge and crashed in
With
the Pro-side winning, Xerox agreed to pretend to comply with the act and make
Fed-X an Initiative team while secretly helping and hiding members of the
Anti-registration faction. He’s even created the false superhero Showtime, to
avoid endangering his wife and friends in their efforts.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Genetic duplication: Xerox is a Beta Level Mutant with the ability to copy someone’s powers
at the genetic level. Any skin to skin contact automatically triggers this
power. This ‘copy’ stays with him for up to an hour if used continuously or he
can switch copies at will to mimic someone. If he chooses to switch, each copy
get weaker and the duration he can use that power grows shorter each time he
reuses it. Eventually it stops working completely and the only one to regain
that power is to resample the original owner. While he can copy an individual’s
powers he can’t reproduce physical properties or characteristics so he doesn’t
shape change when using their unique abilities. In other words he could copy
the healing factor and animal senses of someone like Wolverine but wouldn’t
grow claws or transform and gain mass if he touched the Hulk. On top of that he
doesn’t gain the same level of control as they have over their powers making
random copying potentially dangerous not only to others but also himself as
well.
Abilities
Xerox
is a talented tactician and leader who inspires by example. His has excellent
combat skills even without his powers thanks to training with several villains
and heroes, including Captain
Strength Level
Xerox
possesses the strength for a man his weight, age, and build who engages in
regular extensive exercise. He can lift up to 200lbs without any aid from his
powers.
Weaknesses
His
powers work automatically on skin contact so he must limit skin to skin
contact. His duplication power is totally useless against those who gained
their powers from non-mutations such as training, technology or magic. Without
a copy to use he’s essentially left a regular human male. While he can copy
someone’s power it never quite equal to the original.
Paraphernalia
Equipment: Uniform is made of unstable particles to match any
replicated power he’s using.
Transportation: X-Cruiser MK III; Talbot Private Jet.
Weapons: None known.
Notes