CHILDREN OF THE VAULT

 

CHILDREN OF THE VAULT

Roster: Sangre, Serafina, Fuego, Aguja, Perro, and Luz

First Appearance: X-Men (Vol. 2) #188-189, September-October 2006

History/Powers: The Children of the Vault are an offshoot of humanity more than 6,000 years more advanced in terms of evolution and technology. They were created by scientists in the early 1970s using volunteers in a time-shift experiment off the coast of Chile in a massive tank ship known as the Conquistador, causing time to flow forward at more than a thousand times faster inside the ship than outside. The Conquistador was meant to be a time capsule, set to open only when a global catastrophe eradicated humanity. However, the energies released during M-Day awakened the Children early. A description of the first roster is as follows:

Sangre has integrated technology enabling him to instantly transmute himself into water, causing all manner of physical impact or assault to pass harmlessly through him. This also enables him to collapse into a liquid state and flow through cracks or tight spaces unhindered. He is also capable of cooling water vapor from a gaseous to a liquid state, summoning water literally out of thin air. He can cast globules of water around a victim's head, forcing them to drown.

Serafina is the most clearly mechanically-enhanced of the Children of the Vault. She can extend an array of wires from bio-plugs on her arms, chest, and spine in order to interface with machinery. Once plugged in, she is able to copy any and all information from computer hard drives into her own mind, and can also edit and delete this information as she chooses. Even without directly connecting to machinery, Serafina can hack into transmission feeds from a distance to "see" through security cameras, and emit a "blackout" field that prevents electromagnetic transmissions from traveling in her range, selectively or generally. Her human senses are masterfully enhanced as well. She can differentiate between psionic illusions and reality on sight. Serafina is also able to detect genetic and bio-chemical data down to the molecular level. This makes her an extra-ordinary tracker, capable not only of tracing a target's path but also identifying any person or object they might have touched and recognizing subtle shifts in their body chemistry or metabolism, such as changes in adrenaline levels or pulse rate. She can also manipulate bio-molecular ingredients to some degree. On her own, she can plant subliminal thoughts in people's minds in close proximity, placing an idea in their head. When mechanically enhanced, however, Serafina's capacity for influence and illusion increases dramatically. When a human being is hooked up to any kind of technology for her to interface with, she can project her consciousness through the machine and into the person's neuro-chemical pathways, effectively simulating a psychic link. She can then interact with someone's astral form with her own psychic self, modifying her "appearance" and their environment as she chooses. Plugging directing into someone's thoughts gives her considerable persuasive abilities, allowing her to plant powerful and controlling directives into their minds. By plugging into Lady Mastermind, she was also able to access and manipulate Regan's telepathic illusion power as she saw fit, while the woman herself remained in a coma.

Fuego is a walking furnace of thermal energy. His body constantly expels heat at temperatures in excess of 1,500° Fahrenheit, giving him the appearance of a charred and smoldering corpse. This heat can be projected outwards as beams from his hands or waves emanating from his entire body. Besides its intense temperature, Fuego's power discharge is also self-augmenting: He draws energy out of his environment to sustain and magnify his flames, neutralizing resistance and retaliation to his attacks. He can also scan his environment for heat signatures, registering various kinds and sizes of thermal output, including being able to track a man by his body heat.

Aguja projects scatter-bursts of energy, disrupting matter at a molecule level on contact so that it explosively atomizes at the point of impact. She can also cast spheres of light around herself and others, which can levitate them through the air or act as a force field to protect them from harm.

Perro is able to manipulate gravitational force. He can bend gravity as it affects certain objects, causing them to "fall" upwards, sideways, or diagonally in any direction. He can also increase the pull of gravity, enough so that his re-directional effect was strong enough to instantly overcome Cannonball's downward momentum. He also seems to possess superhuman strength, though that may simply be applied G-forces channeled through his fists to maximize the power of his blows.

Luz was a light-manipulator. Her ability to manipulate existing light allowed her to shape and sculpt ambient light waves to create convincing imagery, and she had an artist's eye for recreating any sight after seeing it once. She could warp light to make herself or others invisible, or create illusory skins to disguise her appearance and the appearance of another person. These illusions were stable and would continue even after she left the general vicinity. She could manipulate other sources of light beyond ambient light waves, such as bending energy-based security beams or force fields out of her way. Luz could also transform into light, beaming herself from point to point at light speed.