Victims #0...

Victim: One harmed or killed by another. A living creature slain or offered as a sacrifice. One harmed by an act, circumstance or condition. This is a dictionary definition.

But who are victims?

We are a group of people who were made victims by the people be loved; by the people we trusted. By families, friends, strangers and even our own government. Before this week, none of us had met, only one thing in common. Together we are... THE VICTIMS.

The first of my newfound friends, Sizzler (alias Natasha Dixon) was made a victim by a mad scientist while working as an assistant at an animal hospital. After drugging her Coke, he injected her with a needle that had an experimental poison in it. He had invented the poison to rid the Earth of all animals (whom he considered to be lesser beings). It didn't work. Instead it gave Natasha the inhuman power to transform into any size, shape or form. Natasha decided to use her misfortune to defend others. Though she resents the way she got the power-- tested on as though her life meant nothing-- she doesn't resent the fact that she can now protect the life and land she loves.

Inferno, aka Doriann Quinn (we call her Dee for short). Dee's story is a sad one. Doriann always wanted to be a model-- she was so eager to become one that she answered an ad in the newspaper. Before Dee knew it she was flying to Asia for a big shoot, and when she got there it was less than she expected. She and the other girls were shoved into a bus by a big fat man. They were driven to a big mansion where she soon learned that the ad was just a scam to get girls to Asia. The fat man worked for one Hiro Sakata, who was the leader of Asia's largest prostitution ring. They were sent to work right away. The girls were used, abused and drugged nightly. It was work with no pay. No work-- no food, and the food they did get was so rancid and infested that it was hardly worth eating anyway. Her body was so wracked with drugs and by malnutrition that a weird antibody started building up. She took ill-- the fat man cursed and sent for a doctor. Her temperature rose to three times normal. Though Doriann felt no pain at all, taking ill was the only way to escape the workload. One night while alone in her room, Dee attempted to reach for a glass of water and when she reached out flames shot from her fingers. Doriann stretched out her fingers one more time and the flames stretched further than they had before. Realizing her gift, she ran out into the hallway, pulled the fire alarm and set the place ablaze. Making sure everybody was outside, she called the proper authorities. After hanging up, Dee realized the fat man had not escaped the burning building. In fact he had been in a sound-proof room and by now would be in a fiery grave. When Doriann was back in Canada, she realized that she no longer fit in with her group of friends-- she felt alienated. She felt angry at what had been taken from her. She had lost the ability to be carefree, naive and innocent. Doriann decided to forgive and forget, except for one man in particular-- Hiro Sakata. Dee decided to use her powers to stop the wrongs of society.

Lark is a victim of her family. In Kate's eyes, she was born with two birth defects; one that she was born a mutant and two she was born stunningly beautiful. Kate Chandler's mutant curse (or gift as some would say) is the ability to hypnotize by singing. Kate's parents, soon realizing this, decided to use their daughter to make a profit. Taking Kate from city to city booking nightclubs for her to sing in, her parents stole money from unsuspecting audiences under Kate's hypnotic spell. Kate realized her parents cared nothing for her, only for the money she brought them. One night while they were sleeping she gathered up her belongings and fled into the night. After a long journey she came to stay on my island.

Dreamweaver alias Paul Chipewyan. Paul lived with his parents on an Indian Reserve in Southern Ontario when he discovered that a large corporation was using the reserve as a dumping ground for unsafe chemicals. Upon learning of this, he went to the head office of Cosmic Limited to protest the dumping. Cosmic Limited could not afford the ill publicity of the scandal and decided to eliminate Paul by shooting him and disposing of his body with toxic chemicals. Paul did not survive. During Paul's short time in the afterlife Paul met a demagogue Annaroc, who had seen Paul's courage when he had gone to Cosmic Limited and decided to send Paul back to Earth as an immortal to protect all living things. Becoming an immortal, Paul has gained the ability of telepathy and the ability to become intangible.

Leech, alias Mike Bishop. Mike was a fast runner, a smart student, but he was weak. He was picked on by classmates, even his friends. So Mike decided not to get mad, but to get even. While his scientist father was away he got into his father's lab and began to mix chemicals. His goal was to create a potion to increase his strength without physically harming himself. The potion worked, he had become quite strong and his speed had been doubled, but a side-effect which he had not anticipated was the ability to suck the strength from any living thing by touching their foreheads. Mike viewed this accident not as a curse but as a gift. As long as he concentrated he could keep his newly gained power under control. Mike was made a victim by his so-called friends and classmates by continually bullying him. Mike started off using his powers to stop common criminals, but the police viewed his acts as criminal. So Mike left for my island.

The leader of our team calls himself Crossfire-- none of us really know much of anything about him-- not even his real name. After today's battle, I know that I-- and everyone on the team-- can trust him with out lives.

Me? My name is Nattalie Gustafson, my code-name is Remedy. Let me explain why. I have the power to heal any and all living things. I have lived out here for the past ten years, though I have only aged two-- my mutant power has slowed my aging process. I was a victim of a lie. Just after my thirteenth birthday we received a letter from a distant relative in Sweden asking if we wouldn't mind him coming to visit us. My father, wanting to be closer to his relatives, wrote a letter to Sweden inviting him to come down. He arrived later that week and after a month of staying at our house, he rented a boat and suggested we take a picnic cruise. While sailing in Lake Ontario, he tried to assassinate my whole family. During the struggle, I was knocked out and dumped overboard. A couple of minutes later, the boat blew up. For the next eight years I laid unconscious under the water-- I don't know how but somehow my mutant gift kept me alive. When I awoke-- the United States and Mexico were gone. I swam until I found a small deserted island. I did not find out until later that the U.S., Mexico and Central America were blown up by agents of the nation of Iraq and I have been gone a decade. I love my island, all the animals and plants I have brought back to life, and my newfound friends, but I cannot help but miss my family. God rest their souls.

Well, gotta go. Love always, Nattalie Gustafson.