Michael Welkin (Earth-4040)

Name: Michael Gabriel Welkin

Codename: Seraph

Age: 16

Date Of Birth: September 29

Eye color: Blue sclera and amber colored iris with white pupils

Hair Color: Frosty Black

Height: 6'0

Weight: 230

Gender: Male

Place of Birth: Seattle, Washington

Physical Appearance: Pale skin with thin eye brows and almond shaped eyes. Instead of being white his sclera are sky blue his iris is amber colored and his pupil is white. Black frosty hair and a Cupid's Bow shaped lips, a lean figure but wide muscled shoulders. He has several tribal like tattoos on his body that appeared when his mutation activated. When he uses his powers or is feeling intense emotions they glow. He has a pair of snow white wings on his back with black eye like markings on the tip of each feather.

Personality: Quiet and thoughtful Michael is very peaceful preferring to negotiate before a fight but if backed into a corner or if his friends are threatened he is a fierce opponent. He can be quiet but is highly perceptive, able to notice things people tend to miss by observing his surroundings. This trait also helps him in a fight as he can quickly figure out an opponents weaknesses or their fighting style and how their powers and abilities work. He has a strong sense of right and wrong and will stand up for his beliefs and for people he feel is being bullied or ganged up on. People tend to be drawn to his warm and caring personality which quickly gains him their trust. He is shown to be very loyal, learning sign language when a friend of his lost his ability to speak and the social costumes of Sooraya's culture so he could better understand her faith. He is shown to have a strong sense of morality and justice. This has caused him to come into conflict with members of the X-Men when he feels they are to quick to resort to murder. He has even gone so far as to defy the older members to avoid a bloody outcome.

He is also shown to be very formal and polite. He often berates others of they are rude or ignorant. He often chastises Julian for his arrogant attitude and often speaks up in Ruth’s defense when the others start speaking ill of her.

He is shown to have a dark side, despite his pacifist nature his sense of justice compels him to punish those whom have committed heinous crimes. He scared the face of a woman who used her good looks to seduce her step-son and got him to kill his father and broke the arms of a man who abused his family. He even goes so far to acknowledge a part of him enjoys the punishments he dishes out. However he does believe in redemption and forgiveness and had spared people when he sensed they felt guilt or remorse for their actions.

Although he is deeply religious he acknowledges the flaws in his faith and admits he does not agree with many of the teachings of his religion. However he does hold firm to certain ideals like staying chaste until he is married.

History

Heir Apparent

Raised by his Catholic parents Michael grew up with his 2 older brothers Paxton and Jericho as well as his sister Maya in Queen Anne Seattle Washington. Michael comes from a long line of Cheyarafim mutants, who like Warren and Jay have angel like mutations. Michael’s bloodline is unique in the fact that the mutants if his family all share the same powers and abilities; a very rare occurrence in the mutant community as it is extremely rare for an entire bloodline to pass an exact mutation given the X-Genes inclination to genetic diversity. Even more odd is the fact only person in the family has an active gene every odd generation.

The last person to have an active gene was Michael’s grandfather who, like many of his predecessors used his abilities to help provide for his family as well as give them a comfortable life. He died when Michael was young and Michael has few memories of him.

Michael's mutation activated when he was ten. Cerebo immediately detected his omega level signature and Xavier along with Betsy and Warren went to speak with his parents about enrolling him at the Xavier Institute. Michael was especially taken with Warren who shared a similar mutation; But his parents were not willing to send him to be taught by the X-Men due to the fact they had so many enemies and were constantly under threat of attack. Xavier respected their wishes, but he knew Michael would manifest more powers eventually and advised Michael's parents to keep an eye on him and left his card so they could contact him should they change their mind.

His parents already knew exactly what Michael was capable of and were well prepared to help him learn to control his powers. As could be expected there were some set backs, for a time Michael had to be home schooled until he learned control without the risk of accidentally incinerating one of his classmates.

This was also to protect him-at least for a time- from anti-mutant hysteria. Although his wings could be easily hidden away his eyes could not be altered. Once people saw them they instantly knew Michael was a mutant.

As per family tradition Michael was made the heir of the majority of the family fortune and property. This caused tension between him and his eldest brother Paxton who felt it was unfair that Michael inherit so much simply because of his mutation, a right he believed belonged to him and his twin Jericho as they were the oldest and the first born sons.

Brother Against Brother

Paxton already had anti-mutant beliefs and the family tradition only fueled his bigotry. Around their parents and kin Paxton did not show much ill will to Michael, but in private he found ways to torment Michael and bully him. Jericho tried to discourage his brothers behavior, Jericho found the old family law to be stupid but did not blame Michael for it. Like Paxton he had some misgivings about mutants, but he did not hate them or wish them dead. He did help pick on Michael with Paxton, but when things got to cruel or heated he was quick to put a stop to it.

Thanks to his power Michael was able to see the true depths of his brothers feelings for him. Because of this Michael has a lot of animosity to Paxton for his bullying and indifference to Jericho for not trying harder to keep Paxton in check..

His sister Maya was always fiercely protective of Michael, Paxton was always careful to not bother Michael when she was around. Like their Mother Maya encouraged Michael to take pride in who and what he was. Both his parents loved him, his mother doted on him (which only fueled Paxton’s jealousy of him) his father was more firm and taught him that being a mutant would be a trial that he would have to overcome. When Michael started attending public school with his brothers and sister it did not take long for him to have to deal with bullies. It got to the point where he was physically assaulted by some of his peers (who only attacked him so viciously because Paxton was spreading rumors that Michael was flirting with their girlfriends) that things took a turn for the worse.

Paxton had thought they would rough Michael up a bit, but when one of them tried to pull a knife on hims Maya took the blow and was seriously injured. Michael unleashed his fury and injured his attackers enough that they had to be hospitalized.

Life in Westchester

Of course Michael was expelled from school. The only reason he avoided being sent to a juvenile detention center was partly because of his families influence and because there had been witnesses who saw what had happened.

In order to keep him safe Michael’s parents decided to send him to Xaver’s school. Michael was not happy to leave home at first but he quickly adjusted to his new life. Since he could finally be more open about his nature and not hide what he was he found a happiness he did not have before.

Thanks to both his good looks and his gentle nature Michael soon found himself popular and well liked among his peers, something that took him a while to get used to at first.

His roommate was Jay Guthrie, they quickly bonded over their similar mutations, love of music and were soon best friends; Having come from a large family Jay easily fit the ‘big brother’ role in their friendship. Since neither Paxton or Jericho were the best of brothers to him, Michael quick became to Jay, it soon became a common thing to see the two of them together.

Becoming an X-Man

At first Michael had no desire for heroics.

Warren-who took a personal interest in Michael’s progress-was convinced he would make a great hero and tried to persuade him to become a trainee.

Michael had little faith in himself, but when it was revealed their was a traitor in the school Michael would soon find out he was made of stronger stuff then he realized.

Rachel (under secret orders from Xavier) began to scan the minds of the students of the school one by one. To her surprise Michael felt her intrusion in his mind, even more shocking he was able to enter her mind and find out some of her secrets.

He feared she had learned that his feelings for Jay were turning from friendship to romantic and threatened to reveal the things he learned from her mind if she told anyone.

Rachel agreed, she had found Michael was not who she was looking for but resolved to keep an eye on him.

Ironically it was Michael who found the traitor. Mystique had infiltrated the school, thanks to her mental shields none of the telepaths could sense her. Once she had learned of the schools weaknesses she ordered her group, the Brotherhood to engage the X-Men.

But Michael saw through her disguise and stopped her before she could infiltrate Cerebro and steal the names and locations of all the mutants in it’s database. Naturally she was better at hand-to-hand combat. But like Rachel she did not know the full extant of his power and not only did he manage to stop her from getting Cerebro’s files but was able to restrain her long enough for the X-Men to apprehend her.

Feeling good about himself Michael finally accepted Warren’s offer to become an X-Trainee and took the name of Seraph, after the order of angels.

Tragedy Strikes

For a time Michael was truly happy.

He had friends, he had respect of his peers and he was training to become an X-Man. His parents were not to thrilled to learn this, but they saw how happy Michael was and supported his decision.

Thanks to the versatility of his power and his own analytical mind, Michael showed a lot of promise as an X-Man.

His feelings for Jay were becoming stronger. Michael had developed feelings for him but knew Jay was not into men. Confused about his own orientation and what to do about Jay it was Victor who gave Michael the help he needed.

Victor figured out Michael had developed a crush on Jay. He noticed how Michael always found an excuse to touch Jay, whether it was a friendly arm around the shoulder or brushing his shoulder against his.

Michael was also known to buy Jay a lot of gifts, no one thought anything of it, but Victor knew it was because Michael was trying to show his affection for Jay.

So when Michael came to Victor for help he was happy to assist Michael with his situation. After explaining his feelings and situation Victor helped Michael understand his orientation was not so much bisexual as biromantic.

He encouraged Michael to confess his feelings to Jay because he knew Jay would understand and still want to be friends with Michael.

But before Michael could confess his feelings to Jay the mansion was faced a massive attack by the Purifiers who had amassed a large attack force, using upgraded Sentinel’s to attack the mansion when several of the X-Teams were away on various missions; many were killed, Jay among them.

Seeing his best friend ruthlessly murdered caused Michael to snap, tapping into the ancient power of his bloodline he wiped out a large portion of the Purifiers, helping the school regroup and give the other X-Teams time to return to defeat the remaining Purifiers.

Needing time to recover Michael took some time off and returned home to recover and mourn the friends he lost.

Michael knew it had been Paxton who had stirred the hornets nest by spreading rumors at school which resulted in the attack. But he told no one as he did not want his family to suffer any more because of Paxton’s bigotry. He also knew Paxton felt very guilty for inadvertently getting Maya hurt, so when he returned home he found Paxton had changed.

Having come to terms with Michael and realizing the foolishness of his actions Paxton asked for Michael’s forgiveness and began to try and rebuild their bond.

With Paxton treating him better Michael’s stay at home was a lot better. He knew Paxton meant what he said but still needed time to forgive his brother for his previous actions.

His parents tried to convince him to stay. They feared the X-Men would be attacked again and that Michael might not survive.

Michael decided to return to the Xavier School and finish his education and his training to be an X-Man. His time with them gave him a taste for heroics much to his parents displeasure.

Before he returned his father gave him the Teraphim. And ancient family heirloom that had been made during the time of the Cheyarafim. It could only be used by the heir of the Welkin family and was a powerful weapon.

With it, Michael returned to the X-Men. Ready to smite any who would bring harm to the innocent.

Powers

Wings: Michaels wings give him the supernatural ability to fly. They are not made from solid matter like Warren’s wings, he seems to have some control to their size, making them as large as fifty feet to ten feet from wing tip. They are shown to be more durable then they appear, he has used them to shield himself from gunfire and explosions. He is capable of retracting them into his back to blend in easier with humans. The feathers are imbued with small portions of his power. His feathers have been shown to heal injured people when they touch them.


 * Flight: His wings posses an innate power to grant him the power to defy gravity. He has been observed to hover and levitate in the air without moving his wings. With them he can fly at speeds around 250 miles per hour. When using his angel fire he can fly at even greater speeds and into the depths of space.

Angel Fire: Michael's most powerful and offensive ability. The angel fire is crystal white and is described as being like a mixture of fire and lightning. Magik has said the fire is actually the holy flame of angels and only used by the most powerful practitioners of white magic. Thanks to it’s mystical nature it does not have the regular limitations of fire or lightning. It does not require oxygen and can burn even underwater. It can not be extinguished using regular methods and is capable of harming those with pyrokinetic abilities. It is the antithesis of hellfire and is capable of breaking powerful dark magical spells and curses as well as protecting Michel from their effects.


 * Energy Projection: He can release Angel Fire as concussive force blasts that can level entire buildings. He usually uses his hands, eyes or wings to do this but can release it from any part of his body. Should his attacks be some how reflected back at him Michael can simply re-absorb it without harm into his body.


 * Burning Touch: By projecting his power over his skin Michael can burn anything that touches him. He can use this power to simply burn someone or incinerate them with a touch.


 * Shape Manipulation: Similar to how Psylock can form weapons made from her own psionic power Michael can shape his power into any assortment of forms like swords, spears, daggers, whips, rope, bow and arrows, etc. Similar to Indra he can make the weapons he creates levitate as well as alter their size and weight.


 * Holy Armor: By covering his whole body in Angel Fire Michael can create a defensive aura that greatly enhances his durability and protects him from melee attacks as his shield will burn anyone who touches him. It is strong enough to protect him from high caliber guns and explosions as well as extreme temperatures such as a river of lava and through an unknown means allows him to breath underwater and in space as long as it is active. The only downside it it reduces his reflexes and speed.


 * Force Fields: Michael can create barriers to protect himself or other people from harm, he can also use it to trap others, preventing them from escaping or fleeing. He used this power to protect a group of people from the debris of a collapsing building and on a group of thieves who were fleeing a scene of a crime.

Healing: Michael is capable of healing himself and others of any injury or disease. He can also heal people of mental illness and regrow lost or severed limbs. If a person has been brainwashed he can heal them or help a person remember things they have forgotten as well as purify people or places that have been tainted by an evil influence. He is also able to revitalize someone and restore their stamina, when Nightcrawler was too tired to teleport Michael was able to re-energize him so they could continue on their journey. He has also been shown healing tears in the fabric of reality and space. Closing a tear made by the N'Garai and a portal made by Blink. It tires him to do this and depending on the number of people he heals as well as the injury can drain him. Josh has stated his healing power is different from his own ability as Michael does not manipulate a persons genetic structure.


 * Healing Aura: Michael, according to Selene radiates life-force and vital energies. This gives him the ability to re-energize and help speed up the healing process of people near him. It also effects plants and vegetation, causing them to remain healthy and yield more produce. Because he leaks so much vital energy it makes him easily tracked by beings who feed on the life of others like Selene who wishes to feast on his life-force more then anyone else.


 * Regeneration: Thanks to this power Michael has been able to heal from massive and lethal energies. He has survived being shot multiple times and regrown an arm. He did die when he was impale through his brain but a few hours later when the obstruction was removed he immediately began to heal. This hints that although his healing factor is strong it does have limits. Hank has theorized that if he were to be decapitated or a large enough portion of his body was destroyed he would not survive.

Soul-Perception: Michael has a unique ability to see the souls of other beings. It prevents him from being fooled by shape-shifters as he can see the difference between souls. This ability also allows him to see ghosts and other normally invisible beings. It also allows him to see through illusions and other powers that confuse the mind. It also lets him to see spiritual energy and magic. He can activate this power whenever he wishes. If he is physically touching someone he can share this power with them so they can see what he is seeing. It has shown to be less effective on those who do not have a soul.

Telepathy: As long as he is making eye-to-eye contact Michael can read the thoughts and memories of a person. If his own vision is obstructed or his targets eyes are damaged or destroyed it may prevent him from reading them. He can tell the difference between true memories and memories that have been altered or even erased, because as he has said that the mind may forget but the soul always remembers. If Michael is touching someone it makes it easier for him to read a person.


 * Visual Empathy: Michael can read a persons aura and visualize their emotions as colors. This allows him to tell a persons emotional state with a single glance. It can also tell him if a person is lying or telling him the truth and if they are being manipulated by empaths. He can also see strings of emotional energy that connect people. This lets him see what people feel for those around them, whether it be love, hate, longing, distrust, disgust or any other emotion.


 * Life-Force Detection: He can see the life-flow of living beings and differentiate the life energy of others. This allows him to judge a persons health or help warn him if someone is actually a shape-shifter by the difference in peoples auras. He was able to easily identify Mystique as he recognized her aura and can tell the difference between Multiple Man and one of his clones. He can also tell if someone is related by how similar their life-force is.


 * Aura Reading: By reading the unique auras people posses Michael can tell the nature of a person or object. He can tell if someone is a regular human a mutant, an inhuman or if they are aliens. He was able to tell both Rachel and Cable were time travelers but that Cable was from the same timeline as the 616 and that Rachel was from another separate timeline. He can even read the aura of certain objects to tell if they are magical.


 * Psychic Resistance: Michael has shown the ability to sense when his mind is being invaded. When Rachel tried to read his mind she was shocked to find he not only sensed her but had been going through her mind without her knowing and threatened to tell some of her embarrassing secrets if she told anyone what she learned from him.

Archon Mode: In this state Michael's powers are at their strongest and they loose many of their limitations. His eyes glow yellow, a halo appears over his head the markings on his body begin to glow blue and his skin turns a bright luminescent white color. When he is in this form he was able to fight ten sentinels single-handedly as well as fight beings like Exodus, Juggernaut and the Void. Storm says when he is in this form he is capable of leveling a whole city and Beast was amazed to see his energy readings were so high he could power the entire planet indefinitely. He can only able to maintain it for so long as it puts a great deal of strain on his body and if he overuses it he risks being incinerated by his own power.

Weaknesses

Wings: When his wings are retracted into his body, his powers are not as strong. If they were to be amputated then he would be severely weakened and would only gain his powers back if he got them back. If his wings were destroyed then the power they contain would be released and return to Michael and he would regrow a new pair of wings.

Will Power: The more Michael believes in himself the stronger he is, however feelings of doubt or insecurity can cause him to tap less then his full potential.

Overuse of power: If he uses his celestial state for too long it can cause him to become unconscious for long periods of time or he will burn up from power excess, killing him in the process. He is also shown to be greatly tired after using it for long periods of time.

Equipment

Teraphim: Made during the war with the Neyaphem and passed through the Welkin family for generations the teraphim appears as a simple metal bracelet when dormant but when activated it is capable of assuming a verity of weapon forms that Michael can project his power through. It has shown a level of sentience as it seems to chose who can wield it. It always works for Michael and a select few but others it has reacted violently too. When Mystique tried to steal it and burned her hand and at first it let Noshiko use it, but when she called it a useless hunk of junk it burned her and would not allow her to touch it.

Trivia


 * His favorite color is blue


 * Can speak Latin and Russian and knows American Sign Language.


 * Enjoys reading, his favorite genres are sci-fi and fantasy.


 * Some of his favorite musicians are Adele, Linkin Park, Aerosmith and Nirvana.


 * He enjoys Grunge music.


 * Is borderline Claustrophobic. Gets edgy in tight enclosed spaces and dislikes having to go through caves and tunnels.


 * His family crest is an angelic figure holding a sword.


 * Supports the Seattle Seahawks.


 * Huskies are his favorite dog breed.


 * Manifested his powers at the young age of ten.


 * Even though he can retract his wings into his body he can not alter his eyes so when he would go out he wore colored glasses and told people he had an eye condition.


 * Is a omega-level mutant.


 * Politically affiliation is independent.


 * Sexual Orientation is biromantic.