[attr="class","header2"]APPEARANCE

[attr="class","body"]Trigger Warning: Dark Themes

Carmen, born Caihong Xueke, was the child of two small time villains in England. Both of her parents had simple quirks (Father, Kueng could touch one thing and make it invisible, mother, Jilpa could easily see sensor lasers.) They used it mainly for stealing alot of money as a part of the gang they were members of. They were never affectionate to Carmen, as to “harden her attitude.” At age 4, the gang that Carmen’s parents were a part of was taken down, the two fleeing to Japan with her to avoid arrest and joining a street gang there. The gang focused on mostly robberies, pickpocketing, purse snatching, and other cheap ways to gain wealth.



When Carmen’s quirk showed at 5, her showing the ability to create two portals, they immediately knew that they could use it for their advantage, taking her out of school, much to Carmen’s dismay (she really wanted to have an education, but they took it away.) Still, Carmen read up on everything, staying at a high grade and strong intelligence level, all by her own initiative. She was forced to be a ”tool” for her parents, complying with their orders until she was old enough to have her own sense of choice, immediately stopping it, much to her parent's dismay. This lead to her parents becoming more abusive than ever. They would beat her, take away everything she owned including food, and even killed pets that she had as a child, all to regain control of their daughter through fear.



Through the years, to try and get her to "come to her senses", Carmen was forced to join the gang and continue to be used as a tool, though she was very inefficient and stubborn. The worst part of it was that her parents decided that if she didn’t work harder, Carmen would be sold off to the ang leader when she turned 18, them telling Carmen that they’d put her to use one way or another. This threat finally made her succumb. Carmen agreed to work with the other youths of the gang, which created their own branch away from the adults.

Out of sight of her parents, Carmen was able to relax her efforts significantly where she barely did anything during their “missions”. Carmen was always seen as the outcast, Especially since Carmen went back to how she was and would never help her group of peers, refusing to be a villain. In return, they commonly beat her down and practically tortured her, leaving her with many cuts and bruises. Carmen didn't mind it since she told her parents she got them during "heists" to cover up for her refusal to commit crimes and keeping herself safe enough.



As she grew up, her appearance became more intimidating, her getting piercings and tattoos at a very young age, smoking and drinking, and her hair half shaved and dyed. The only part of her appearance which didn’t appear slightly intimidating was her weight, her being severely underweight due to her developing a very poor relationship with eating due to her parent’s abuse. Even still, this style helped appease her parents, them thinking she was becoming closer to being a real villain. With this, her father decided to her how to use butterfly knives. She learned to use knives efficiently and effectively to intimidate her opponents as well as helping her pick locks swiftly.



The façade she put up was holding up enough that Carmen was even able to safely have pets again. She got 2 ferrets, Zafira and Eulalie who were her only source of true happiness. Carmen’s true self was hidden away, especially as she got older and found out more about herself. Carmen had discovered her attraction for girls, but knew the abuse from her parents and the threat of being sold would happen again. This constant abuse and fear of her “family, Carmen abandoned her birthname, in her mind officially becoming only Carmen. However, even with these internal discoveries and choices, she stayed silent with her pets. The only time any of this was shared was when Carmen wrote it down in her journal, which she always kept on her and away from anyone’s eyes,



Carmen’s escape from all the stress and pain was through the arts. Carmen carried a camera always with her, taking pictures of completely random things which were posted all over her bedroom wall. She also escaped in classic literature, understanding to read in multiple languages. Her final escape was through making garbage sculptures, welding together sculptures out of scrap metal in the dump. Even though they would reside in the dump and not be able to be shown off or taken anywhere, making them still helped relieve the anger inside her.



Being trapped in this situation, Carmen’s thoughts often were about other people trapped in villainy, thinking about the little people of the world. By 16, Carmen realized her dream was to protest how society worked. How heroes were more celebrities and didn’t care about the people on the streets, the people stuck in horrible situations. She wanted people stuck in villainy and crime either by force or poverty to be helped rather than persecuted. She wanted equality between vigilantes and heroes, not the messed up society they were stuck in where people get arrested for trying to make the world better just because they don’t have a massive statue and a talk show.



These thoughts were in her mind every time she had to “work”, and she hoped one day there would be a change to achieve this. Until then, she would be a terrible villain, take the abuse of her peers, and survive this world, the true Carmen trapped inside a journal and inside her art until the day she was free from the dark hole she was chained into.