Name: Mercy Sheridan
Alias: Black Queen, Sanguine
Gender: Female
Age: 30
Date of birth: January 11th
Place of birth: New York City
Nationality: American
Heritage: Greek, French, Welsh
Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 124
Eye color: Purple-blue
Hair color: Red (natural), light brown or black (dyed)
Occupation: Philanthropist, businesswoman, assassin, Black Queen of the Hellfire Club
Family: Both parents are alive and well, considers Valerie Huntington-Whiteley to be her sister
Identity: Guarded
Sexuality: Bisexual
Marital Status: Married to Andres Knightfall
Bio:
The Secret History
Religious scholars have portrayed Mary Magdalene as many things over the years. Diseased. Prostitute. Wife of Christ. Not one of them got it right. In the same strokes that they falsely painted Judas as Betrayer, they painted Mary as the Sinner, the Whore. Anything to tear her down with any strength that she may have once borne. Heaven forbid the world see a female with the innate strength and power she possesses. Mary was so much more than what they made her, they both were.
Judas Iscariot was a member of the league of assassins known as the Sicarii. He was not the one who betrayed Jesus, but for reasons that have been lost in the sands of time, those who authored the Bible believed for the world to wish that he was. Not only those men, but the men in charge of the Church, who were more than happy to spread the word that Judas was the one at fault.
He was not the only one who was more than he appeared to be, though. Mary Magdalene was no mere woman. Yes, she was the companion of Christ, but the history books were unaware of the rest. She was trained by the Sicarii in the deadly arts of assassination and placed as Jesus's protector. She failed in her duties, but not before she became impregnated with his child. The heir of not only the holy bloodline, but the heir of a Sicarii legacy.
Unknown to Mary, the daughter that she carried within her would be heir to a deadly gift spurred by the combining of bloodlines and the holiness that ran throughout her. After the death of Christ, Mary was spirited off to France. It was there where she lived out the rest of her life, but not quietly by any means.
She established her own sect of Sicarii and quickly got down to business, even as her womb was burgeoning with an impending life. The French sect differed from their brethren in the fact that instead of being labeled as terrorists and zealots, they acted quite covertly. Trained by Mary with her own personal knowledge of the Sicarii, they quickly grew to a unit of forty men and women.
The Birth of the Bloodline
By the time her daughter arrived, born in the walls of a monastery in the south of France, Mary had gathered considerable power and wealth through her Sicarii and their tactics as they remained covert and unknown. The only child of Christ, Sarah, grew to age in the lap of luxury, learning skills from her mother in the center of a pit of assassins.
Sarah was no normal child. She knew no shortage of love, but also no shortage of training. But what was unknown to The Magdalene, to the Sicarii and most importantly, to the Vatican, whom they were working against - was the fact that Sarah was bestowed not just with the bloodline of Jesus, she had a gift. She had the ability to see into others minds and see what they were thinking; telepathy.
As she grew older and so did her mother, Sarah progressed in momentous fashion. Dubbed simply the Sanguine, she fashioned a name for herself as somebody not to be trifled with. An elite assassin by the time she was seventeen, she took ownership of the sect of Sicarii that her mother had led.
Heavily involved in political assassination, their goal was to keep the Vatican and their slanderous and false statements in check. They succeeded much of the time, but not always where they wanted to. Overall, they took small victories fashioned in behind the scenes meeting rooms mixed with a heavy dose of political intrigue and assassination, opposed to the outright guerilla tactics and terrorism of their brethren in the Holy Land.
The Sanguine
Each generation of the Holy Bloodline bears one daughter. This girl is known as the Sanguine, literally the Blood. She's the blood of Christ and the blood of Magdalene and she is heir to an inglorious burden. Saddled with purpose, ambition and means, not a single daughter of Magdalena's line ever lived a quiet uneventful life. Any who tried went nearly mad in the process.
Each was born with a gift, just as Sarah had been, but that was not the only special feature that the Sanguine possessed. In addition to that gift, at the age of 17 or the death of their mother, whichever event occurred first, each girl would inherit the combat knowledge of all those who came before them
The muscle memories transferred over, as well as every technique and piece of information that all who had come before had acquired during their lifetimes. This alone makes each Sanguine one of the world's premiere combatants. That is without adding in the knowledge that they gain during their own tenure and the gift that has been bestowed upon each of them.
Mercy Sheridan
Persona Non Grata
In the fallout of the Venezuelan Conflict, Mercy launched her own individual investigation. Through the combination of tireless fact-checking and solid sources, she was able to unearth White House communiques and audio of a private conversation between the President of the United States and Anthony Stark, the man who had been responsible for a huge amount of damage and a large death toll during the incident. He had been acting as an agent of the government with complete authority to do what he wished.
This, along with several other key pieces of information were released in a report on Mercy Sheridan's own personal blog. Throughout the year, she had managed to accrue a widespread readership and it was this devoted group of individuals paired with the sensitive information that caused the report to go viral. Brought up on news shoes, hundreds of thousands of notes on tumblr, shared all over Facebook and linked throughout the Twitter ether, the report and evidence became a common topic of discussion in households. The President was not pleased, considering his nefarious plan had just been spilled. But was something so blatant easily believed?
She was given the status as a person of interest in the eyes of the US Government. President Ziev took a large hit in his approval ratings (the lowest since the Bush administration) as people began asking questions of their own. There was simply too much for it all to be the inane ramblings of a drug addict. There were only four people outside of her family able to place the name Mercy Sheridan to her face at the time of the report, allowing her to slip into the ether unnoticed.
An anonymous source contacted her through her secure network, directing her towards somebody who could give her both shelter and the skills and training that would be necessary to adequately take care of herself. Dubious at first, she completed her research and came to the conclusion that whether or not this source was benevolent, they were not wrong. Setting out to find the alluring and enigmatic Quintus Knightfall, the man who would push her physicality and instincts to the upper echelon.
Arashikage Training
The esoteric group of highly esteemed warriors took few into their fold. At the request of Quintus and along with his continued presence, they accepted Mercy Sheridan, who all had believed to be a modest reporter in need of training in order to protect herself. She was taught their techniques and their methodology and adapted their abilities, if not their mantra. It was two weeks of concentrated training as the prodigious upcoming martial arts savant soaked in all the techniques and knowledge at her disposal. By the time they were done, several of the Arashikage had formulated theories as to who she really was, but out of respect for her and Quintus, not a soul spoke a word.
The weeks ended too soon, as she skillfully mastered the training that had been offered to her. It was at that point that Mercy and Quintus took their leave of the island, thankful for the gifts that they had been offered. They returned to New York City where Mercy took up residence at the Knightfall homestead. From that point forward, feelings between the two of them progressed after having been heightened by isolation on the island and they became a couple.
The Devil's Deal
The militant anti-mutant force of Charlemagne LeBeau had gone quiet after the fallout of Venezuela. It was to the disconcertation and worry of those in the know that he was not making any moves. Potentially presumed to be deceased, others knew better, but as weeks went by, he drifted out of mind, following the age old adage, out of sight, out of mind.
In the early morning of mid-June, Mercy received a frantic telepathic summons from Quintus's daughter. The summons led her to Agiad'coda Island, the home of the fabled Arashikage. They had been completely decimated, wiped out in an attack of extreme prejudice. All that was left was the masked warrior who had taken to calling himself The Last Arashikage as a taunting of his perceived accomplishment and by his side, chained in a collar and referred to as Slave, was Quintus's daughter.
Up until this point, Mercy had portrayed herself as the mild-mannered reporter, but with a life on the line, her inner Sanguine broke out. A fight ensued, one that tested every ounce of strength, fortitude, perseverance and skill that was beholden to her name, both as Mercy Sheridan and Sanguine of the Sicarii.
Both took huge blows, not only to pride and ego but to their physical state of well being. The conflict ended with both badly injured and a dagger held to the throat of Quintus's daughter. Mercy had no intention of testing out whether her opponent was bluffing or not and offered herself and her servitude as a trade. One year of her servitude on her honor, on the life of her lover's daughter, in return for that little girl's safety. There had been no other choice for her and time would only tell if she'd live to regret it.
Departure of the Dear and Severing of Service
Almost a full year into her tenure with Charlemagne LeBeau, a great and grievous tragedy struck. Her dear friend, the friend for whose daughter she had entered this deal into had been killed. Murdered. Struck down by LeBeau himself.
Quintus Knightfall was taken from the world yet again. In the wake of his death, his daughter, Isadora, allied forces with LeBeau, much to the shock and awe of all. Most of all, Mercy.
Several Hounds were sent to the Cotta and took it upon themselves to taunt the Sanguine. It was this confrontation, and their deaths, that lead to a confrontation with LeBeau that unveiled Isadora and resulted in the early release of her tenure from the Steel Island.
Solace of the City
Relocating back from the horrifically transformed former paradise to the city that she had grown in, Mercy spent several weeks re-establishing her presence in the city that never slept. Taking comfort with the woman who was more a sister to her than blood could ever be, Mercy spent the majority of her time with Valerie Huntington-Whiteley.
Continuously running into Andres Knightfall, one of the more elusive of the Knightfall clan, Mercy found herself entranced by his captivatingly charming nature. Drawn to each other for a myriad of reasons, the Knightfall Don and the Fractured Fatale embarked upon what was intended by Mercy to simply be a mutually beneficial relationship.
After a couple of months of rendezvous, they found themselves in something much more integral that simply friends with benefits. It was a romance of the ages between two people separate from the world. The gossip magazines ate it up and those in the more heroic circles besmirched it, not understanding of Andres’s true nature.
Rejuvenation of Agiad’coda
Just like everything he’d ever touched, eventually Charlemagne LeBeau tired of Agiad’coda island, rebranded during his tenure as ‘The Yard’. Having stripped it of any resources he could find, and marring its nature, he left. The battle that had directly resulted in his departure left any buildings demolished.
It was at this point in time that Mercy Sheridan stepped back in. Utilizing scrolls that had been stored in the Cotta that she had removed with her presence after being relieved, the island was restored to its previous immaculate nature.
The call was put out to any and all remaining Arashikage that it was now a safe place to return to. There are currently seventeen Arashikage making their residence on Agiad’coda, with Mercy still taking up residence in the Cotta. It is considered her safe haven, and it is the place that she retreats to when all else falls apart around her.
Under her watchful eye, the island is once again thriving.
What’s Dead is Not Always Forgotten
During high school on the Upper East Side, Mercy Sheridan and her sister in mischief Valerie Huntington-Whiteley found themselves in trouble. In attendance at a particularly out of control party, Carson Donovan attempted to date rape a considerably high Valerie. This transgression resulted in the spurring on of particularly potent powers and the death of Carson.
From that moment, the Donovan family held a grudge against the two socialites. Well situated with takedowns and blackmail, Mercy and Val had never met a foe that didn’t crumble beneath the red soles of their Louboutins. But the Donovan family was different. They were at the forefront of anti-mutant weapons manufacturing and sentiment.
Hatred stewed for nearly a decade until the patriarch of the Donovan clan attempted to enact his vengeance against the two women. This was an effort that eventually proved futile. Putting together two of the most brilliantly tactical and scheming minds in recent history, the two socialites found enough evidence of the wrongdoings of the Donovans to silence them.
However the head of the Donovan family didn’t take their generous offer and instead attempted to further blackmail them. This resulted in a meeting between the three during which the man who had attempted to bring them so much misery suffered a mysterious heart rupture at the ballet. In reality, Mercy had utilized her vast telekinesis to bring about his premature death, thus ending their torment.
Past Lover, Potent Anger
One of the few pitfalls of dating somebody as illustrious and charming as the Knightfall Don was the past baggage that brought with him romantically. During an event in New York City that the power couple attended, that past reared its ugly head.
The almost peerless magic user, Angela Lee had developed a friendship with the sneaky and snarky Clara Mass. Descending upon the public function in an attempt to enact revenge on Andres, they separated the two figures and proceeded to attempt to blackmail both of them.
The end goal was to publicly tarnis (through merit of announcing Andres’s status as a mutant) and to retrieve a pendant that was the source of Angela’s magic.
In the end, all they had managed to do was incite the rage and promise the unforgiving vengeance of Mercy and Andres.
Kamelot Era - The Rise and the Fall
After his seemingly inevitable resurrection, Quintus Knightfall took solace on Agiad’coda, re-sharpening his skills. After achieving strength and clarity, the aristocratic figure traversed back to New York City. Setting up shop there, he partook in a romantic dalliance with the esteemed Valerie Huntington-Whiteley.
Months and months passed as the two cohabitated in romantic bliss. All was well, and there was no clearer a warning sign of hard times to come than bliss, especially in the life of a Knightfall.
Forging forward in an always innovate manner, the unparallaed Kamelot was revealed. A company the likes of which had never before been seen, it was quickly cemented as the one to look out for, achieving notoriety in many fields.
The Knightfall family has been lauded as the modern-day Kennedy’s, and an unfortunate dichotomy between the two families of titans is the fact that they are both cursed.
That curse came to reap its vengeance in the form of a newly elected President, Anthony Stark. Unknown to them, he targeted the Knightfalls and a siege on Kamelot ensued. Many took part on the siege and the defense and in the resulting scuffle, Quintus once again nearly lost his life, saved at the hands of his ingenious twin sister.
Believed by the general populace to be dead, Quintus once again retreated to Agiad’coda with his fiance Valerie. It was there on the island that he recuperated from a deadly experience.
The Rock & Unlawful Incarceration
During the events of the infamous siege on Kamelot, Mercy Sheridan was approached at her new home and taken into custody by men she believed to be lawful police officers. A short time later, it was revealed to her that these men were acting outside the law, as one of them killed his cohorts and revealed the nature of the abduction.
It was a precice strike that had two purposes. Inciting the rage of Andres Knightfall and preventing her from interfering in Kamelot in any manner. She was transported to The Rock, a state of the art meta holding facility.
While in custody there, Mercy gave a code bestowed upon her by her father, a secretive and high ranking (leading) member of a shadow group outside the purview of the US Government. That code was relayed to whoever was in charge, and the response verified that whoever had ordered her abduction was a high ranking member of the government.
The next step was an attempt to disappear Mercy in the Pit of The Rock. This went over poorly, as she fought in a meta gladiatorial match, demolished her opponent and then took deadly mercy upon the guards.
Eventually brought to the Warden, Beremud, at her own demand, a deal between the two was crafted. She would not bring down the vengeance of the Sheridans, the Knightfalls and Valerie Huntington-Whiteley and the name of the orchestrator would be given to her.
It was revealed at this point that the one and only Anthony Stark, a man whom she was most familiar with via the scathing and revelatory blog post that had been issued under an alias, was responsible for her abduction.
The Birth and the Death
Unknown to all save for a rare and select few, Mercy Sheridan became pregnant. Utilizing the technological brilliance of her partner, the pregnancy was hidden from all for a myriad of reasons, chief among them being the fact that a Knightfall child would be a target. Add in the nature of the Sheridan family and it was doubling the trouble.
A nursery was set up both at the home she’d made with Andres, as well as the Cotta on Agiad’coda, which would end up becoming her primary residence.
The baby girl with uniquely hued eyes and hair was christened Catriona Tassiana Knightfall Sheridan. She was treasured, she was loved, and her very existence was hidden from the public eye.
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