Cryz


Name: Mark Pendragon
Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 190 lbs (flesh), approx. 920 lbs. (crystal)
Hair: brown (flesh), crystalline (crystal)
Eyes: green (flesh), crystalline (crystal)
Age: 21
Distinguishing Features: None
Birthplace: Minneapolis, MN
Group Affiliation: X-Factor, X-Men: Gold Team (former), X-Men: Blue Team (former), X-Force (former)
Known Relatives: Dragon "Fenna Drakon" (wife), Sapphire (genetic construct daughter, deceased) Stephen Pendragon (father, deceased), Raquel Pendragon (mother, deceased), Katrina Gardner (sister, estranged), Samuel Davern (foster father), Tatiana York-Davern (foster mother)

Powers

Cryz is a metamorph, able to alter his molecular structure to turn his body into solid organic crystal close to the strength of diamond. While in his crystal form, he is able to manipulate the shape of the crystal but only within the limits of the amount of crystal in his body. Consequently, since he turns every part of his body to crystal, damage he suffers while in crystal would be there when he reverts back to normal. Also, any wounds suffered before turning to crystal would still be there after turning to crystal and back. While he is in his crystal form, his body functions are suspended so he does not need oxygen to survive, nor does he need sleep or food intake, and he has enhanced strength due to his crystal form allowing him to lift around a ton.

Skills/Abilities

Mark is a skilled pilot and can fly both planes and helicopters, having used his time in the mansion to study flying in danger room flight simulators. Also, he is somewhat self-taught in minor repair work since there weren't many people in the mansion who could fix the danger room if it was damaged.

History

For the most part, Mark's childhood was a blur to him. He was never told how or why, but he was raised by his aunt and uncle as if he were their own child. Whenever he'd ask about his real parents, they'd get a far off and pained look on their faces. He learned early on in school to not talk about his family, because he would often get ridiculed for talking about not having any other relatives besides his aunt and uncle who were raising him. He was never one to be the center of attention and for the most part was rather quiet growing up. But he was still happy and never had any complaints about his life, aside from never learning the truth about his parents. Then about the time he turned 14, Mark began to be more and more tired, which his guardians merely wrote off in their minds as puberty since they were never really around the house that often. But then one day he woke up feeling really bogged down and tired and didn't want to go to school. His guardians wanted him to go though and drove him there after he purposely missed his bus. In the middle of the day in class he just blacked out, falling out of his desk, hitting his head on the side on his way to the floor. Despite the tries of the teachers and his fellow students, they couldn't wake Mark, and he ended up spending three months in a coma before finally waking up. When he woke up, he found himself in a strange and unknown environment, surrounded by strange equipment. Based off his limited television based knowledge and the fact that there was a strange man in a weird uniform with a big gun standing just outside his doorway, he knew he wasn't in an ordinary hospital. Confused and distraught, he started to get up right as his aunt and uncle came into the room. Adding to his confusion, he found he couldn't speak, and that he couldn't feel anything at all. His aunt and uncle began to explain that he'd been in a coma for three months when he saw his reflection in the mirror. Aghast, he tried to scream but he couldn't, because in mirror he didn't!
see himself, but a visage of him made of solid crystal. In an attempt to calm him down, his aunt and uncle said that he was a mutant, and they had guessed he was for awhile from the moment he'd begun being more and more tired and that they'd sent a sample of his DNA off to a scientist "friend" of theirs to have it confirmed. They then explained that they simply wanted to help him, and had him come with them as the trio walked around a large facility, escorted by the guard from outside the doorway. As they went on, Mark for the most part ignored them, more concerned with what was wrong with him and why he couldn't feel anything or say anything, as well as being crystal. From the minor tidbits he did listen to, though, he figured out his aunt and uncle were running some sort of militia and wanted to start their own government or something. Realizing he wasn't paying attention, his aunt and uncle tried to shock him into paying attention by telling him the truth about his birth. Mark finding out that his mother had died at his birth and shortly after his father killed himself from the grief actually got him to pay attention, but it also got him to realize he didn't want anything else to do with his aunt and uncle. And it didn't help his aunt and uncle when they went on to say that they weren't really his aunt and uncle, but actually people working at the hospital under assumed names who took him once his father'd killed himself. Frustrated more than ever, he remained the appearance of being calm, mostly because he hadn't yet figured out how to properly control the intricate details of the crystal in his face. Fueled by a combination of disgust and disbelief, Mark disappeared that night from the room he was given, beating up any guards that got in his way. Mark then spent the next three or four years wandering the countryside, trying to figure out how to control his body better and hopefully turn back to normal, as well as get used to not needing to sleep, breath or eat. After awhile, he regained the ability t!
o talk and in order to keep from going mad from boredom he'd work on trying to alter his shape after doing it once accidently to defend himself from a bear. More than a few times when he felt like he was going to burst from his situation, so he'd find a tree and take his frustration out in it. For the most part he tried to keep as far away from civilization as possible, but a few times he'd venture close when he was missing other people. Often when the urge to be around people would get too great, he would actually find a suitably popular place and reform himself to act as a humanoid sculpture. Even by simply doing this, he'd feel better by just watching people. He still longed to walk amongst the people he'd watch. On a few occasions the place where he'd be acting like a statue at would get robbed. The first time it happened, he just stood there and let it happen, afraid that he'd get caught and who knows what'd end up happening to him. But watching the looks on people's faces as they'd come down to the scene while the police worked on the case. Torn apart, he decided he wouldn't let it happen again. So the next time he was acting as a statue and the place he was at was robbed, he started them by seeming to "coming to life" and moving to stop them. After stopped them though, he became worried and paranoid that he'd be found out so fled the area as fast as he could. He spent the next few weeks hiding out in a cave 50 miles from the nearest town, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. It was while wandering around the Pacific Northwest that he stumbled upon a strangely empty and abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Observing the house for about a month and still seeing no activity, he finally decided to check it out to see what was going on. Investigating, he found the door unlocked and went in only to find the house looking like nobody'd been there for a year. Digging around a file cabinet filled with mostly junk, he found a few files on Xavier and his dream. Reading on, he discovered that the house !
had once been used by Xavier's Mutant Underground but had been abandoned since the Underground couldn't stay in one place for too long withour risking being caught. Intrigued and interested by the possibility but more importantly by the fact that he thought Xavier might be able to help him, he set off to find Xavier's Mansion. So that night he set off to find out if they could help him with his situation. After getting there he was delighted to find himself welcomed in. After awhile of hanging around the Mansion, he joined the X-Men under the codename of Cryz, rather than simply hanging around. Through the X-Men he went on various missions and met new people and eventually grew strong feelings for another member, Dragon. Despite being stuck in crystal form, the two formed a close friendship and then relationship. After awhile on the X-Men, Cryz eventually was able to revert back to his human form. But due to the fact that he had been in the crystal form so long, he was stuck without being able to turn back to crystal. It was during this time that Dragon's brother Edge was killed and Dragon went off on her own with only saying goodbye and that she needed time for herself to think about things. She didn't really give a definite explanation of where she was going, which worried Cryz, though he didn't show it because he had been used to hiding them for so long while in his crystal form. He considered going after Dragon to find out what had happened and where she went, but got tied up in X-Men business, and he also realized he shouldn't disturb her if she wanted time alone. But much to his relief, Dragon returned shortly safe and sound, although sporting a new hairstyle. He was simply glad she was back because she'd worried, but then he found out she'd actually ended up joining a group to infiltrate the new Hong Kong Hellfire Club. By then Cryz had read enough of the files in the Mansion computers to realize that the Hellfire Club was a group of people who thrived on mindless overindulgences. So when Cryz pictu!
red the Dragon in the Hellfire Club, he pictured a place where most of the female members were either there as sex toys for the other members, male or female, or walked around wearing lingerie as their daily clothing. To compound matters further, the X-Men recieved invitations for a formal affair from the New York branch of the Hellfire Club, and upon arriving, Dragon was recognized as Fenna Drakon, the alias she'd gone under in Hong Kong. Still stuck in his human form, when a battle broke out all Cryz could do was throw broken shards of glass at the people who had interrupted the affair. Again, though, it was merely a matter of time before Cryz slowly regained the ability to turn back into his crystal form. Upon returning to his crystal form, he found that he could consciously shift between the forms. Delighted, he put aside any lingering doubts about Dragon at the time and resumed his relationship with her, now that he could actually feel her touch. They both continued to help as members of the X-Men, but eventually Dragon left the team and soon joined the Government sponsored team X-Factor. A little bit later, Cryz fell victim to mind control on a mission and was used along with fellow teammate Skylark to attack the rest of the X-Men. Eventually he was snapped out of it, but he didn't know what to do. Confused but knowing he couldn't face his teammates and not trusting himself enough to return to the X-Men, he took over leadership of the rogue mutant team X-Force. Among the missions X-Force went on they dealt with the threat of an underground base full of dormant Sentinels and also dealt with Psionix, a crippled mutant woman who's power allowed her to swap minds with a person, effectively taking over their body. After stopping in Minnesota at the Mall of America, the team was stopped by numerous armed vehicles, demanding they hand Cryz over to them. Not wanting anybody on the team to be injured, he went along willingly. Knocked out, when he awoke he found himself strapped to a table in a very familiar l!
ooking laboratory. His "aunt" and "uncle" then showed up and talked to him about him helping them with their militia. Unwilling to cooperate, a telepathic woman was brought in to change Cryz cooperate. By scanning Cryz's mind, the woman found him to be her younger brother. The woman then escaped with him, telling him the truth and that she was his older sister Katrina Gardner. For some reason, Cryz believed her, so he sent her along to the Xavier Mansion because he knew they could help her there. Believing Katrina to be safe now, Cryz went back to dealing with Psionix, who had swapped bodies with teammate Takillya, leaving him trapped in the body of a crippled woman in a wheelchair. Eventually, Psionix was dealt with when Takillya's body and Psionix's were swapped back and Takillya accidently used his force blasts on her at close range, killing her. In the house Psionix lived in, X-Force found the mutant Eclipse, handcuffed in the upstairs bathroom, evidently one of the earlier mutants Psionix had hoped to change bodies with. Recieving a message from the mansion saying that Katrina was in trouble and that it somehow involved the Hellfire Club, X-Force was on it's way to the mansion when it was shot down by an unknown mutant exhibiting powers which causes a dark shadowlike aura, much like Eclipse's. Frustrated that he couldn't help Eclipse, Cryz opted instead to bring the team to the X-Mansion where he knew they could get help. Cryz then took gathered more information about his sister, finding out that she had gotten in trouble with the New York Hellfire Club, he set off for New York City. When he contacted the Hellfire Club to demand they release his sister, he was told that they had never heard of her. Asking around, he found out that his sister had given up at the Mansion so had headed to NYC to strike out on her own and had eventually had to resort to prostitution. She was then taken in by Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Club for his personal enjoyment and she was raped, ending up pregnant as well. Alway!
s one step behind his sister, he wasn't able to find her so eventually returned to the X-Men. A bit later though, he recieved word that his sister was in the hospital. Going there, he found out the truth about what had happened and what she had done. Katrina lost the child, and Emma Frost, who had become a good aquaintence of Cryz's while he was on the X-Men, agreed to help Katrina. Hoping Katrina'd actually continue on with it this time, Cryz hung around the mansion for a little while longer while not actively being a member of the X-Men. Then when Cryz and Dragon were having one of their numerous phone calls, he decided he needed to be with her more and went to join X-Factor. About the time he got to where Dragon was, Cryz recieved a phone call from Emma saying that Katrina had tried attacking her and had fled. Emma told him that she was trying to work with Katrina through her pain when buried psychological programming put in by the militia kicked in, making Katrina think she was better than everybody. Mixing with her deep emotional pain from being raped, Katrina had snapped and became mentally unstable then tried attacking Emma, but Emma had faked being overwhelmed so Katrina would leave, allowing Emma to return her attention to her company. Happy to simply be with Dragon, Cryz tried to ignore what had happened to his sister because he'd given her two chances and both times she'd ruined them. Moving on, Cryz paid his full attention to Dragon and X-Factor, working as much with them as he could. Just a little while after joining X-Factor, the team was captured by Mr. Sinister and their bodies were altered to disguise them since they were on the run. Cryz's appearances were altered so he had darker skin, black hair, purple eyes and dark brown, almost black when in crystal form. After being let go by Mr. Sinister after the alterations, X-Factor attempted to subdue the Incredible Hulk who was rampaging through a nearby city. During the fight Dragon used her powers and accidently set off an underground gas li!
ne under a parking ramp, trapping herself under the rubble. Thankfully, Dragon wasn't injured much, and after a little while, Sinister's alterations wore off. But then the Government stepped in and relieved Dragon of her command because she had used the team for personal gains in a mission in Hong Kong. When Gage, a current member of the team was named the new team leader, Cryz had to help Dragon through some of her feelings of losing the command. Soon after, X-Factor helped to save the President from an assassination attempt and the media coverage caused the team to be heroes in the eyes of most of the public. Supposedly coincidently, X-Factor was moved into a new base which was further from the public, right after they'd become famous. After awhile and various missions, Dragon began to realize her powers were fluctuating, and then the doctor at the base informed her that she had the Legacy Virus. Dragon kept it to herself for a few days out of the shock of finding out she had it, and Cryz had to find out from the base doctor as well. As time went on, the virus began to manifest itself more. Sapphire, a female telepath used her powers to coerce Dragon into being more and more irrational. Sinister, wanting a young boy who was with Sapphire, shut down Dragon's telepathy so she wouldn't be able to be manipulated by Sapphire anymore. It was eventually revealed after the young boy was killed that Sinister wanted Sapphire dead. Hoping to cheer her up, Cryz again asked Dragon to marry him. Since she had too much on her mind, Dragon wasn't able to give him a definite answer. With Sapphire in custody, X-Factor did what they could to protect her from Sinister. In a battle with Sinister, who had come for Sapphire, Dragon's Legacy Virus flared out of control, causing lesions to break out on her body. With Dragon in the infirmary and Cryz holding her hand the entire time she was there, Sapphire told Cryz and Dragon that she was a genetic construct created by Sinister using Dragon and Cryz's DNA gathered from when they!
were in his custody before. Sapphire then sacrificed herself in order to stabilize Dragon and cure her of the Legacy Virus. Afterwards, one of the first things Dragon told Cryz was that yes, she would marry him.