SABRETOOTH

Real name: Victor Creed
Occupation: Mercenary
Identity: Not public
Legal status: Wanted by the U.S. Government, but not publicly sought for any crimes.
Other aliases: Numerous. Vincent Caul, Edward Hand, Simon Tasker. He is sometimes known as Sabretooth, and for a brief time, El Tigre.
Place of birth: Pennsylvania
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: None
Group affiliation: Brotherhood of Mutants
Base of operations: New York City
First appearance: October, 2000
History:

Victor Creed was born in 1819 in Pennsylvania. The son of Thomas and Virginia Creed, devout Puritans. Their first child having been taken from them by God before its birth, Thomas and Virginia had thought themselves truly blessed when Victor was conceived. It was Virginia's fault that they lost their first child seven months into her pregnancy. She was weak, and her faith in God surely had faltered. But now, she had made amends, Thomas had seen to that. They were going to have a child. Thomas had high hopes for the boy. He would be the perfect, obedient son. Handsome, confident, helpful and attentive. What Thomas wanted was a dog. It was a difficult and bloody delivery. Virginia nearly died giving birth, and perhaps wanted to once she saw her baby boy. Victor looked at his new world those first few moments with an incredible hunger, his shining eyes poking through the blood, his tiny hands reaching out with their sharp fingernails, searching for sustenance. His father shouted an obscenity, his mother fainted.

It became evident within the first few months that Victor was not a normal child. He excelled in all motor skills, walking at only 7 months. Most of his teeth had grown in by the time he was 6 months old. He was strong and aggressive. He tore his mothers tender flesh while breast feeding, drinking eagerly, the blood and milk. Virginia attempted to conceal this from her husband, but he discovered the wound and noticed the devils teeth his child had grown.

This was not the child he wanted. This was not the child he deserved. This was no child at all--it was a beast. Thomas' pride was injured, he was angry and deeply disappointed in what God had given him. It was obvious that his wife still doubted the Lord. She was cursed by the Devil and it was her fault their son was a beast. Thomas summoned his rage into a fist and began to beat her. He had to teach her faith. He would beat the witchery out of her. Victor, barely able to walk, watched his father batter his mother day in and day out. He never once cried out, but kept silent.

Whether it was for physiological reasons or psychological ones, Victor did not speak actual words till he was four. Instead he spoke in a guttural baby-talk that only upset his father more. So it came that Victor was beaten like his mother was beaten, on a regular basis. It became a pattern in their daily lives, one that would never be broken, unless someone had the courage to stop it.

Victor was a hyperactive child, wiry and strong. His canines were pronounced, nearly sticking out when his mouth was closed. His fingernails were becoming more like claws each month. His parents did their best to teach him the bible, and God. They prayed to God to release Victor from the Devil's grip. Still, at three years old they allowed him to run around, perhaps secretly hoping something bad would happen to him. But Victor's freedom ended only two months after his third birthday.

Virginia stormed into the house screaming for Thomas. Thomas ran outside as she pointed toward the field, unable to voice her terror. Outside, Victor sat, mouth dripping red, hands covered in blood. A sheep lay next to him, torn to pieces. Little Victor smiled at his father and giggled, his bright devil-eyes gleaming in the morning sunlight. Thomas threw Victor against a tree and laid his foot heavy into the boy's back. Victor fell and Thomas rained a furious beating down on him. Victor was muzzled and restrained with rope to a post in the yard.

They fed him less and less. Virginia continued to teach him the bible, but Thomas had given up on him. In fact, on both of them. It was obvious now that his wife had consorted with the devil. This was not his son at all, but the dark demon's child. It was his duty as a man of God to show them the proper path, in whatever ways he thought would work best. Victor's outdoor confinement kept him from seeing his father beat his mother, now he only heard his fist smacking into her, her voice squeaking in pain, trying to contain a scream.

Victor's mother, pushing through the abuse, found it in her heart not to blame her little boy for her suffering. She blamed herself for his condition, because, in fact, she had once felt herself slip from faith in God, and in faithfulness to her husband. And this was God's punishment to her. One she swore to fight through and survive. Virginia began to change her approach to Victor. When Thomas was not around she would stroke Victor's hair and tell him he was a good boy. This affection pleased Victor dearly. He could not control all of his animalistic urges, but he began, slowly, to behave himself. He hungered for the love she gave him--love his father denied him.

His mother's tender care ended when Victor was five. His father found her petting him. Thomas yanked her arm and threw her to the ground. He began punching her stomach, cursing her for giving birth to this demon. She screamed as he kicked her side and boxed her nose. Victor watched in terror, pulling at his restraints he broke free, shredding his muzzle and biting his father's hand to try and halt his attack. Thomas turned on the boy nearly beating him to death. From then on Victor was chained in the basement. His mother's visits became less and less frequent and she never said much, or gave him any indication of love. She had finally been broken. She could not fight back. Thomas took a pair of pliers and ripped out Victor's claws and teeth, to take away 'the Devil's tools.'

Victor was not alone in the basement, though. He had a furry white rabbit, that had somehow been trapped down there with him, as a pet. Perhaps it was one last gesture from his mother to try and show him love. It was the only pure, beautiful, soft thing Victor had in his dark world. He loved it deeply. It was his only friend.

Thomas rarely came to see the boy at all, except when he felt the need to punish something. He never saw the rabbit and never knew about it. Thomas took it upon himself to starve the devil out of Victor. No food or water was to be given to him. Victor was forced to suck what little water leaked through the basement on rainy days. He had nothing to eat. Only his bunny to keep him company. He knew, even at his young age of five, that it was a choice between companionship and survival. The bunny was his only friend and his only source of food. He killed the bunny and has forever felt damned for his actions. He made a choice that day that would be a choice he would stick with his entire life. Survival. Over anything else. Survival.

Victor remained a prisoner of his parents till he was ten years old. He barely spoke, though he could. He kept quiet for fear of being beaten for speaking his "devil-tongue." One Autumn morning, taking pity on her child and feeling deep guilt for her own failings as a mother, Virginia released Victor from his chains. Perhaps to set him free. Perhaps to set herself free. Mainly because she was tired of this life, and despite what Thomas said, he was still her son. Victor killed her. Then his father. Victor escaped into the wilderness.

Victor spent several years living on his own as a feral beast of nature in the woods of Canada before finally venturing into small towns. Deep down, below the super-senses and the claws and teeth, Victor Creed was still a man. He sought kinship, kinship he could not find among animals. He began to live in a dual world--the world of man and the world of the beast. He learned from both, the two worlds merging in his mind as if they were one and the same. Victor saw no distinction between civility and ferocity. He became accustomed to being in either culture, but at the same time he did not fit into either one. Growing up on his own, he adopted no sense of morality, and with his physical gifts he learned he could take what he wanted, fight who he wanted to fight, and never have to say "please" or "thank you".

Victor lived off of stealing and by doing manual labor. Victor worked hard, one month doing honest work, the next month he was stealing what he wanted. A part of him wanted to be accepted as a normal guy, even as he proudly showed off the fact that he was "better" than normal humans. Victor was struggling with the two sides of his nature. Did he become a beast and an evil creature as his parents had told him he was, or did he follow the laws of man and become better than that. In time, the two philosophies became one. In his twisted brain Victor saw that he could be both.

With the constant regeneration of his cells, Victor aged very slowly. To cover up the existence of his long life, Victor would disappear every few decades, only to return posing as his own descendant.

Victor was working on the railroads down in the south when the American Civil War erupted. Victor immediately found a place in the Southern Confederate army. His regiment had no uniforms, and was only disciplined in the acts of killing. They were just common folks who wanted to fight for what they felt was right. Victor had no hang-ups about killing "nigger-lovers." This was Vic's first introduction into the military, one that fit him and his killing hunger well.

After the war, Victor traveled west to continue working on the railroads. It was peaceful, quiet work, and perhaps was the most pleasant time of Victor's life. But Victor's hateful side got the best of him. He couldn't stand working with blacks and Asians. He began to feel as if he were doing menial work, far below his delicate standards. To cut his ties with the railroads, he tore apart a large Chinese railroad camp, killing or seriously injuring everyone in camp. He then returned to Canada.

Victor was not a dumb guy, and by the turn of the century he had found himself a profitable lifestyle--as a gambler and a mercenary. Victor was surprised at the amount of work he got, how many people out there wanted things stolen, or people killed, and were willing to pay well for it. But it was too easy, he decided, and no fun anymore. So when World War I broke out he enlisted in the army. Victor was a fierce soldier, though he had difficulty taking orders and backing down from authority. He was a fine, killing machine, but he had no loyalty.

Only two months into the American campaign against Germany, Victor began selling military information to the Germans. He made a bundle of cash and though his entire squadron was wiped out, he would survive and would get to kill. The trench wars were a laugh to Victor. Barbed wire and mustard gas did not stop him. He tore apart the Germans while selling his own army's soldiers to the other side.

World War II was a blast for Victor. He got to storm through the south pacific. He fought violently through the war, attacking citizens and Japanese military alike, telling one superior "I couldn't tell them apart."

In the early 1950's, Victor was approached by the CIA about becoming a spy. They promised great pay, adventure, and a chance to kill. Victor saw it as a golden opportunity to gain contacts and gather money on the side.

Victor spent a decade working for the CIA, mainly as a hitman. He was kept away from most agents, his main contacts being snitches, guerillas, and the like who had few if any visible connections to the CIA. Unbeknownst to Victor, he was working for the inner circle of the CIA. Few knew of his role in the department.

Victor was the lead on the Bay of Pigs invasion. His duty, to assassinate Castro. Victor was certain it was an easy job and that the Cubans posed no threat to him. This one would be an in and out job with no fuss. Victor was wrong. The Cuban government had been tipped off to the invasion and to Victor's assassination attempt. Suffering from numerous gunshot wounds and a stab wound through his heart, Victor managed to escape Cuba, though he would require weeks to heal. Following the Bay of Pigs disaster, Victor left the CIA and headed on one of his long sabbaticals from life.

In 1976, Victor was living in hills of Spain. He had done little professionally in the past few years and had kept to himself. There should have been no way for anyone to find him. But someone did. A contact for a man who would remain secret from Victor, arrived on his doorstep one day. The offer, to join a newly formed group of agents called Team X. They had tracked him down, and that impressed Victor, so he signed on.

Team X was an elite team of spies who did dirty work for both Canada and America. The true origins of Team X were never revealed to Victor. He was never made aware of their benefactor. He, along with several others, spent five years doing dirty work for both Canada and the US. Victor found that the government had incredible control over them. He never found it in himself to fully betray his team, obviously as a result of the government messing with his brain, he would tell himself later.

Victor was not well received on Team X. He often clashed with Logan, an arrogant punk with big claws. Actually, he clashed with everybody. He never grew close to any of his teammates. He alienated all of them.

It was as a spy that Victor met Birdie. Even in the early days of knowing her, Victor put an uncommon trust in her. Perhaps, even, it was her that kept him from selling them all out.

It was while in the program that Victor met Lennie Zauber. The two had an affair and Victor trusted her, wholly. Unlike he had trusted anyone before. Then, one day, he came back to their apartment to find it empty. His money gone. His passports, his weapons, his lover gone. Victor was angry, but tried to laugh it off as just a silly fling, even though it was the most developed relationship he had had since his mother. His mother's abandonment and then Lennie's proved to Victor that you could never count on anyone-especially a woman. Unknown to Victor, before Lennie disappeared, the two conceived a child.

In 1980, Victor was determined a liability by The Program and targeted for extermination. His repeated clashes with other members of Team X often compromised missions, and it seemed inevitable that Victor would tear the team apart. He escaped from the governments pursuit into the Canadian mountains.

Once again, Victor went on sabbatical. He performed occasional jobs as a hit and run merc to maintain a good standard of living. For most of the next two decades, he was hardly heard from. Recently he returned to America and New York, posing as a descendant of himself.

Height: 7'3 Weight: 300 pounds
Eyes: Amber Hair: Blonde
Unusual physical characteristics: Victor has inch-long claws on his hands and protruding, sharp incisors.
Strength level: Victor can lift two tons.
Known superhuman powers: Enhanced senses, Healing factor, claws and sharp canines.
Other abilities: Victor is skilled in stealth and shadowing, tracking, hand-to-hand combat master, guns, electronics, tactics, and can speak several languages.
Weapons and paraphernalia: Victor is a weapon.
Other notes: Nice guys finish last, and I'm never last.