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Quote1 Psychic attacks are my specialty. Quote2
Cuckoo[src]

Cuckoo was the first-born child of the immortal Adam Destine and the Djinn Elalyth. Armed with immense telepathic powers, Cuckoo has lived for over 800 years by jumping to a new host body to when her host body dies. When needed, she has her brother Albert heal the new host body's injuries.[3]

History

After freeing her, Adam of Destine lived with the Djinn Elalyth together as husband and wife in Yden. Jasmine, their firstborn, was born in 1192, with their second child, Thaddeus, being born in 1193.[7][9]

In 1209, Cuckoo travelled to Ravenscroft to meet her paternal grandparents for the first time. After their meeting, the ancestral estate was established and has been in their family ever since.[6]

Jasmine Destine (Earth-616) and Gracie Gamble (Earth-616) from X-Men Clan Destine Vol 1 2 001

Cuckoo as a Spanish nobleman and Gracie Gamble preparing to explore Mexico

In 1519, Cuckoo's host body was a Spanish nobleman. Eager to explore the New World, Cuckoo joined Cortés's Conquistadores and brought along his young sister, Gracie, posing as a young male and his personal valet. In Mexico, the pair longed to study the Aztec people and culture, but Cortés was only interested in gold. The pair separate during a battle, and Gracie with the Aztecs wanted to explore their magics and accidentally unleashed Synraith.[8] A few years later, in 1526, Cuckoo was in Peru with Adam, where she learned the language and magics of the Mayans.[6]

Clan Destine (Earth-616) from ClanDestine Vol 2 1 001

Cuckoo (in the body of an Indian wan) with Gracie, Adam, Flo, and Maurice in 1849

In 1849, Maurice, Gracie, Adam, Florence, and Cuckoo infiltrate The Guild and slew four Guild brothers.[10][9]

Jasmine Destine (Earth-616) from ClanDestine Vol 2 4 002

The death of Natsume Masako and Cuckoo entering Marietta Borgezia's body

In the 1860s, Jasmine inhabited the body of a Japanese woman named Natsume Masako and married Prince Sakai Masaaki in Japan. In 1889, Masaaki was appointed to be the diplomat to France, and the couple moved to Paris. Their Parisian residence had a private Japanese garden, where Masako was attacked and killed by the vampire Marietta Borgezia. In shock, she transferred her consciousness to Borgezia, expelling her life force. As Cuckoo tried to reoriented herself in Borgezia's body, Prince Masaaki entered the garden to find his wife dead and attacked seeing Cuckoo in Borgezia body, forcing her to flee. When Cuckoo took over Borgezia's body and expelled her consciousness, she inadvertently re-ensouled all of the vampires sired by Borgezia. Grateful, the group bonded, came to regard Cuckoo as part of their family even as she moved into other host bodies.[1][9]

Jasmine Destine (Earth-616) from ClanDestine Vol 1 2 001

Cuckoo in the body of a young Native American woman

Cuckoo's next known incarnation was when she inhabited the body of a Native American woman.[3] In this body, she helped Gracie and a young Charles Xavier to temporarily banish battle Synraith from this realm in Mexico.[6]

In recent years Cuckoo has lived as the fashion designer Kay Cera, creator of the Kay Cera Label. During her long life, she has been able to accumulate a vast fortune and owns homes in Geneva, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Rio.[2] To protect her wealth, Cuckoo usually poses as her own child to inherit her properties and money.[11] When Adam killed her brother Vincent, Cuckoo was in her 43rd host body.[2] Unlike some of her siblings, Cuckoo supported the murder of Vincent and viewed him was a "bad seed".[12]

When Adam disappeared into space, posing as their uncle and grandmother respectively, Walter and Flo took guardianship of their youngest siblings, the twins Rory and Pandora.[13] Cuckoo (as Kay Cera) also posed as their aunt and infrequently visited the twins to indulge them with expensive gifts.[11][2] Kay Cera also supported Rory and Pandora's superhero fantasies and created their superhero costumes.[14]

After the twins interrupted a fight between Griffin's Omegans and Lenz's minions and stole the Gryphon, Lenz learned that their costumes were created by Kay Cera. Lenz next sent his minions to attack Kay Cera in Barcelona resulting in her death by defenestration. Lenz's minions also found a tiny book with details about the other secret members of the Destine family. Using this knowledge, Lenz's force attacked Maurice, Sam Hassard, Walter and Flo ending with the deaths of Maurice and Flo.[15]

With her former body deceased, Cuckoo transferred her mind into a stray alley cat and began her search for a new host body.[13] Near the Church of the Sagrada Familia, Cuckoo came upon upon two men attacking a sex worker named Pepa Perez.[3][2] After knifing Pepa in the gut, Cuckoo used a psychic illusion to scare the men away and transferred her mind into Pepa's dying body. Using her telekinesis to keep the body alive, Cuckoo contacted her brother Albert via Astral Projection. Under duress, Albert agreed to heal her body to repay an old doubt, but informed her that it would be the last time he would heal her as he disagrees with the ethics of her taking new host bodies.[3]

With her new body fully healed, Cuckoo met with Samantha Hassard in Barcelona. After fight more of Lenz's minions, the pair flew to England to rescue Walter and the twins from Griffin, but Rory was abducted by Lenz before they arrived.[16] Believing that trading the Gryphon for Rory was the only way to end Lenz's attacks, Cuckoo and the rest of Clan Destine teleported to Lenz's base. Unfortunately, Clan Destine was overwhelmed by Lenz and only survived by the arrival of Adam.[14]

Because of the abrupt nature of Kay Cera's death, Cuckoo was unable to set up the legal channels to allow her new body to inherit her former host's fortune. To resolve the issue, Cuckoo and Sam traveled to New York where Cuckoo psychically manipulated her lawyer into accepting her new will.[11] Unbeknownst to Cuckoo, her former colleague, Mr. Kramer, had been embezzling funds from her for year and were planning to kill her to gain control of Kay Cera Enterprises. With Kay's death and the emergence of her "daughter", Kramer change his plans and hired an assassin to murder her. Although the assassin was able to capture Cuckoo and Sam, Rory, Pandora and Spider-Man were able to save them.[17]

With her former life gone, Cuckoo remained in Ravenscroft with her recently regathered family (despite frequently butting heads with Walter). Cuckoo was among those supportive of fostering Rory and Pandora's desire to become superheroes and took turns in chaperoning them during patrols.[18][2]

As part of his plan to enter the Earthly plane, the demon Synraith corrupted the X-Men's Danger Room. Knowing that only three individuals were powerful enough to stop him, Synraith pulled in Cuckoo, Gracie Gamble, and Professor X into a simulation of his realm and tricked them into helping him escape. Fortunately, Adam was able to learn the truth and the psychic trio were able to successfully and permanently banish Synraith.[18]

Missing her past life, Cuckoo convinced Sam to come with her to a "Goth Carnival Masquerade" party hosted by her vampyr friends at Blasco Castle.[19] When Rory and Pandora arrive to tell their sisters about Adam's disappearance, Cuckoo and Argent returned to Ravenscroft Manor to investigate. Immediately after their arrival, the sisters were attacked by Griffin and his Omegans. Unfortunately, the family was again saved by the timely intervention of Adam and Elalyth.[7]

When a mystical/psychic entity claiming to be Vincent appeared from Vincent's grave and escaped to New York,[20] Cuckoo followed it with a plan to destroy it. While pursuing Vincent in the Plastoid's body, she encountered Daredevil who assisted her in destroying the Plastoid in the American Museum of Natural History.[21] However, destroying the Plastoid did not banish Vincent's spirit. To finally destroy the entity, Cuckoo coerced Wolverine into aiding her by posing as her father, Adam. With the aid of the young twins Rory and Pandora, Cuckoo was able to banish the entity that was revealed to actually be her brother Vincent.[12]

Personality

Jasmine Destine (Earth-616) and Samantha Destine (Earth-616) from X-Men Clan Destine Vol 1 6 001

Sam disapproving of Cuckoo's tactics

Cuckoo is an amoral hedonist and often uses her psychic powers for her own benefit, casually reading or manipulating the minds of others without their permission, out of curiosity, for personal gain, or out of anger, much to the disapproval of others in her family.[3][14][17][2]

Attributes

Powers

Jasmine Destine (Earth-616) from ClanDestine Vol 1 3 002

Cuckoo's Astral Projection

Due to her magical heritage, Cuckoo possesses powerful psychic powers including:

  • Telepathy
  • Telekinesis: She has limited telekinesis which can be used as a brunt offensive attack, to act as temporary life support, or keep a glider aloft.[22][3][16]
  • Neuralkinesis: When she was mortally wounded, Cuckoo could transfer her mind into the bodies of other humans and even animals in order to prolong her life. She could also put someone into a coma in order to protect them from psychic attack, or use that person as a conduit through which she could psychically attack someone else.[3][11]

Abilities

  • Magic: Cuckoo is able to wield magic to an unknown degree.[6]
  • Polyglot: Thanks to her long life, Cuckoo has picked up a range of other skills, including fluency in many different languages.[6]

Weaknesses

  • Limits of Telepathy: Cuckoo is unable to read the minds of certain individuals including her father Adam's mind (as attempting to do so causes her great pain)[2] and more powerful telepaths like Charles Xavier.[6]
  • Adjusting to New Host Body: Cuckoo's psychic powers always experience "glitches" when she settles into a new host body, especially when the death of the previous one was particularly violent.[10]

Notes

Jasmine Destine (Earth-616) from ClanDestine Vol 1 7 001

Psychic shades of Cuckoo's past lives

Trivia

  • Cuckoo is over 800 years old and has possessed approximately 45 host bodies.[2]
    • Although the majority of Cuckoo's host bodies have been female, she has had multiple male host bodies as well.[5][6]

See Also

Links and References

References

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