Mirage

---

Context

Because she’s one of my favorites AND my Internet namesake. 🙂

The Team Titans were chiefly seen during the early 1990s. They were superhuman youths from a dystopian future, and part of the resistance against an immensely powerful tyrant.

A team travelled back in time to kill the tyrant soon after his birth, since otherwise he was too strong.

Since the baby was Donna Troy’s, they clashed and eventually allied with the New Titans.

Background

Powers and Abilities

Mirage’s powers are psionicPsionics are sci-fi style psychic powers in nature, but not fully defined or developed.

She is able to cast “mirages” over herself to disguise her appearance (in DC Heroes RPG terms, Chameleon).

Mirage’s illusions are powerful. They are “solid,” can be photographed and will also appear on video. How this is possible has yet to be explained.

Her illusions are able to fool all of the human senses. Nightwing was unable to tell that she wasn’t Starfire even after days in her company. He even slept with her and did not realize he was being tricked.

(Or so he claimed).

While invisibility is not one of her powers, she has projected a mirage of herself several feet away from where she is actually standing so as to avoid being directly attacked.

Other assets

In addition to all of this, Mirage:

History

Mirage’s story began 10 years in the future. Or, rather, the false future where Lord Chaos reigned and a force known as the Team Titans struggled to overthrow his tyranny.

Miriam Delgado had a traumatic childhood. She had been abused by her father as a child and killed him in self-defense.

Miriam joined the rebellion at an early age. Her shape-shifting abilities gave her an advantage.

Agent of chaos

Eventually, she was captured by Lord Chaos, who sought to exploit her abilities for his own needs. Chaos brainwashed Mirage (as he now dubbed her) and subjected her to a number of abuses, both mental and physical.

Chaos’ brainwashing of Mirage was successful. He used her as a member of the Force Elite and she was perfect for spy missions, due to her abilities.

On one mission, she infiltrated a rebellion camp, and her true brainwashing began to unravel. She fought Chaos’ control and escaped to rejoin the rebellion.

It was at this time that she was recruited by the mysterious Leader of the Team Titans, signed on and joined an army of hundreds.

It was here that she met that era’s Nightwing (Richard Grayson), who trained the Teamers. Mirage fell in love with Nightwing and they entered into a relationship.

Shortly thereafter, the Leader gave the Team a mission. They were to travel 10 years into the past to stop Lord Chaos from ever being born. They had to kill Donna Troy before she would give birth to the child who would become Lord Chaos.

Terminators

The Team Titans successfully traveled to the past, but came into conflict with the New Titans.

As a way to get close to the Titans, Mirage impersonated Starfire. During this time, she met the younger version of Nightwing, the man she loved in the future. Mirage took advantage of the disguise to have sex with Nightwing.

Donna gave birth to her son before the Teamers could intervene. However, the Titans and the Team Titans were able to stop Chaos and spare Donna’s life at the same time.

Mirage constantly made advances toward Nightwing, which made him uncomfortable while angering Starfire.

No time like the present

After this, the Teamers found themselves stranded in the past, unable to return to their future.

With nowhere else to go, they resided at Donna Troy’s New Jersey farmhouse. The Teamers tried to find a place in this new world.

Shortly after that, the future version of Nightwing entered this timelineUsed here in the sense of an alternate history, where events unfold differently.

Mirage was reunited with her lover only briefly. A dark version of Raven attacked the future Nightwing and corrupted him by planting a Trigon-seed within him. Nightwing renamed himself Deathwing – a violent, brutal sadist.

Deathwing attacked and raped Mirage. Ms. Delgado then learned she was pregnant with Deathwing’s child.

Zero Hour

Shortly after this, the Teamers lives were disrupted by the Zero Hour time crisis.

It was revealed that the true dictator in the future was the villainous Extant. He had created Lord Chaos’ false future as a training ground for meta-humans. These would then act as his sleeper agents.

Extant had brought various super-powered beings from alternate realities and trained them as Team Titans. He knew of the impending time crisis, and wanted a super-powered army at his command.

Extant commanded all of the Team Titans to attack the heroes who were trying to unravel this time crisis. His plan was thwarted; the heroes contained the Teamers.

Time continued to collapse, erasing the false timelines that had emerged.

Chronal anomalies

As a result, all but three of the Team Titans were erased from existence.

Mirage, Deathwing and Tara Markov (Terra II) were the only survivors. With child and with nowhere else to go, Mirage agreed to join the newly reorganized and government-funded Titans led by Arsenal.

Shortly after the team was reformed, a strange orb appeared, with messages for Mirage and Terra. It had been sent by the Time Trapper.

The Time Trapper revealed that Mirage, Deathwing and Terra were natives of this timeline and *not* Lord Chaos’ future.

The Trapper’s orb also revealed that Mirage was a runaway street urchin from Brazil.

The Time Trapper had kidnapped her and implanted false memories of growing up in Extant’s false timeline. The Trapper became aware of Extant’s petty manipulations of time, and set up his own sleeper agents (Terra, Mirage and Deathwing) that would be able to fight Extant’s programming.

Titans

The Titans encountered their old foe, Psimon, after re-forming the team. Psimon revealed that Mirage had much untapped power, including psionic abilities. These abilities have surfaced on a few occasions, but Mirage has yet to explore the full extent of them.

The Titans eventually came into conflict with Raven once again. During this conflict, Mirage was captured by Deathwing. Deathwing took a sadistic interest in his unborn child.

During the ensuing battle where the dark version of Raven was at last expunged, it appeared that Mirage had a miscarriage.

In truth, Mirage was still pregnant. She had used her illusions to make it appear otherwise.

She eventually went into labor while the Titans were off-world on another mission. She gave birth to a baby girl, who she named Julienne. Mirage then elected to spend time with her baby, and shortly after that, the Titans disbanded.

Retired?

Apparently entering semi-retirement, Mirage has only rarely been seen in action since.

She aided the Titans again during the Technis Imperative conflict, which involved the Justice League as well as all Titans, past and present. She also helped a small army of Titans confront Dr. Light in Boston.

She was one of the survivors of the initial battle with Superboy-Prime during the events of Infinite Crisis and temporarily rejoined the Teen Titans in the year thereafter.

Description

Mirage is very attractive in a leggy and luxuriant, sultry and sulky, fashion model type way.

Of Brazilian descent, she has dark complexion and long black hair which she always has tied into a ponytail.

Her eyes usually look inhuman, and her skin tone varies a fair bit. From widespread Brazilian complexions to Sinestro-like pinks.

Personality

Mirage is temperamental, complex and often in a bad mood. Given her backstory, can you blame her? She’s been in “survival mode” most of her life.

But she’s an extremely loyal friend and teammate.

She can be aggressive when she’s attracted to someone. Her main attractions in the DCU were to Nightwing, Deathwing and much later, Arsenal.

Men

Mirage’s Titans career can be broken down into three phases, all marked by each of the above three men.

(1) When first introduced, she was smitten by Nightwing and went to devious lengths to get to close to him, resorting to kidnapping and impersonating Starfire. This back-fired and earned her his scorn and contempt.

(2) Broken-hearted by this deserved rejection, Mirage was ecstatic when “her” Nightwing from the future showed up amongst the Team Titans and the two resumed their relationship. The aftermath of Deathwing’s assault left Mirage alone, pregnant, and more bitter & hostile than ever before.

She closed in on herself and became extremely anti-social, often running away from the Team Titans only to return when she realized she truly had no place to go.

(3) As a member of the New Titans, Mirage was true to her pattern of being attracted to strong leader types and slowly began to respond to her new team’s leader, Arsenal. She began to work hard as a Titan, trying to impress Arsenal without analyzing why this was becoming so important to her.

Right before the team’s dissolution, she realized she had developed a crush on him. Mirage was rather bemused by the fact, uncertain what to do about it.

Motherhood

Mirage’s last significant speaking role was after she had given birth to her daughter (the JLA/Titans mini-series.)

Mirage has a low-key, short conversation with Prysm about the confusion and pain of displacement. It’s obvious that being a mother has made her a less… angry person.

It would seem that Mirage has come to terms with her past and is ready for Life Part Two.

Quotes

“I looked like Arsenal ? I didn’t even *know * How could I do that ? I should have to *concentrate* to change appearance, but I wasn’t even aware of it. Not only that, but I slipped right into Arsenal’s personality. I didn’t just look like Arsenal, I *felt* like him. Maybe I was limiting my powers without even knowing it. I’ve never really understood how they work, perhaps they’re *increasing* somehow. That would be great, if it were true. I’ve always felt like the weakest member of the team…maybe I don’t have to be. Probably shouldn’t mention this to the others, though. Not until I know what’s going on. I’ll just have to watch myself when thinking about Arsenal. And it is *sooo* nice thinking about him.“

Mirage: “What do you *mean* you’re bored ?”
Terra: “What do you *mean* what do I mean ? I’ve got nothing to do. Nada. Nothing. Zip “
Mirage: “How can you be *bored* with sights like these ? It’s *incredible.* Just look at all the stars…the planets. You can see *forever.*”

“I’m a Titan and it’s time I started acting like one.“

(Talking to her as-then unborn child) “What am I doing talking out loud ? Must mean I’m turning into a mother. I’m getting *used* to that idea. Maybe it’s the group that’s making it okay. I know I feel *welcome* here. And I’m *hopeful.* We’re new, but we already feel like a family. The Team Titans were formed to wage war. These Titans came together because we want to do good. I’ve felt alone most of my life. But little one, *you* won’t be alone. You’ll have me and my friends and a wonderful new world to explore.”

“That leaves me and Supergirl. How one-sided can you get ?”

(On seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time in her life.) “It’s a reminder of everything Chaos destroyed when he fed our people mind-numbers to control their existences. Take a good look… let it be a symbol of what we’re here for.”

“I can’t forgive and forget, Killowatt. My heart won’t allow it and neither will my memory.”

(Chewing out her teammates in the middle of a firefight with an unrelenting foe) “What are you *doing ?* Why are you *holding back ?* You can’t make that mistake – I *know* men like him… They just see mercy -decency- as *weakness*. And as long as you let them, they’re right… You can’t *joke around*. You have to play it *their* way. Find any opening -any sore spot-” (Throws a grenade at the enemy, which then explodes) “-and *hammer away*.”

“Freedom is life.”

Mirage (watching Starfire fly off): “Oh, let her go. After all, you don’t need her. Not with *me* around to help you.” (Passionately throws herself at Nightwing.)
Nightwing: “W-what…? HEY Miri…err, Mirage…cut that out “ (pushes her away) “What the hell do you think you’re doing ?”
Mirage: “Just being with you, silly. In the future, you and I were a *team*. We had each other. We didn’t need anybody else. Certainly *not her*.“
Nightwing: “Look, I don’t know about any future ’us’. Hell, I don’t even know *you *”
Mirage: “You certainly seemed to the other *night*. Remember, that *was* me disguised as Kory. If we weren’t meant to be, seems to me you should have *sensed* the *difference.* Ha Guess this means no ’midnight Olympics’ tonight “
Pantha: “Dick, you slut !“

DC Universe Adaptation

(This section proposes ways of using this character in additional DC Universe stories).

As a character, Mirage suffers from what I’ve termed Mid-90’s Hawkman Syndrome – a once clean-cut, simple origin story complicated by one damn retconMaking changes to a character or story after the fact too many. 😉

However, there is a goldmine of storytelling and role-playing ideas underneath the clutter.

First off, Mirage briefly rejoins the Teen Titans during One Year Later. If you’re playing a Titans campaign set in the present day DCU, there’s absolutely nothing stopping your gaming group from having her rejoin.

GMs should consider that a woman with illusion powers and training that make her a mistress of disguise would be a natural for an espionage campaign. No one should be surprised if Mirage ends up on the D.E.O.’s payroll or working for Checkmate.

More possibilities

To gain a Social security number and necessary things to live a normal life, Mirage probably served with the Suicide Squad for a mission thanks to Arsenal connections. She probably acted impersonating some big cat/being an invisible help. Perhaps the regular Squad didn’t even knew she was here.

Also, never underestimate the power of the private sector. Mirage could do a lot worse than to put her combat and espionage training to good use as a “heroine for hire,” taking work from many different sources and not once doing anything that was *technically* illegal. Luke Cage and Danny Rand would be proud, I’m sure.

Gamemasters could have their players encounter Mirage in this phase of her life, most likely while she’s on contract for Lexcorp or someone equally shady, thus putting them on opposite sides of whatever conflict the GM has cooked up. Extra style points if the players characters are the Titans.

DC/Marvel hybrid campaigns

I have only two suggestions:

---

---

---