Blink (Clarice Ferguson) [Earth-295]

[Blink]

Real Name: Clarice Ferguson
First Appearance: X-Men: Alpha
Group Affiliation: Exiles
Former Group Affiliation: X-Men

In the alternate reality known as the Age of Apocalypse, Clarice’s parents and brother were killed in the Horseman Abyss' death camps. While in this camp, she befriended Illyana Rasputin. The two were huddled together in hopes that Abyss' henchman the Sugar Man would leave them alone, but he never did. After Sabretooth and Weapon X, two members Magneto’s X-Men, destroyed the death camp, Sabretooth stopped because he smelled someone still alive in the wreckage. Sabretooth with the help of Weapon X saved the young Clarice. Magneto and his X-Men took her in. Clarice became a member Magneto's X-Men and was given the codename Blink. Under Magneto's tutelage, she learned to control her powers and expand her range for teleportation.

During one campaign with the X-Men, Clarice attempted to go against Apocalypse on her own; however, something went awry with her teleportation and caused her to accidentally teleported into the Negative Zone. The effort used too much of her personal energy, which led to her amnesiac state when Ayhmor, leader of the rebels, found her. He befriended her, and in return she helped in his rebellion to dethrone the cruel ruler of the Negative Zone Blaastar and return the former, yet less evil monarch named Annihilus, to his rightful place. Flashes of her other life crossed Blink's mind, but the memories were not enough for her to trigger her memories of her home universe. Through their close working relationship, the two fell in love. During the final assault against Blaastar, Blink and Ayhmor were captured. When the couple was brought out to a gladiatorial arena for their public execution, Blaastar revealed that Ayhmor was only another form of Annihilus. The news rattled both Blink and Ayhmor, shaking her trust in Ayhmor. To continue with the public humiliation, Blaastar triggered Ayhmor's transformation into the insect-like Annihilus, while Blink was returned to the dungeon. While in her cell, her amnesia lifted, allowing her to remember who she was. Though hurt by Ayhmor's unknown betrayal, Clarice decided to help him. Slowly she worked her hands free to grab hold of one of her darts and teleported to the arena where Ayhmor was strapped into a bomb. She was able to teleport Ayhmor free of the bomb and its blast before she returned to her home universe and her family, the X-Men. It was not the first time Clarice had disappeared for weeks, but this experience changed her. She apologized and promised not to act against Magneto’s orders anymore.

After a successful scouting mission with fellow X-Man Sunfire, she returned to camp to find Gambit, Rogue's old beau, in conference with Magneto. Since Clarice lost her real family to Abyss' death camps, she became protective of her new family the X-Men and viewed Gambit as a threat to her family. She made every effort whenever he visited to keep him away from Rogue.

During the final days of the X-Men's fight against Apocalypse, Sabretooth asked Blink to teleport him to the Horseman Holocaust so he could delay the Horseman to ensure the X-Men would arrive in time to free the people in the pens. She agreed to do this because she believed in the sacrifice he was making would saving lives in the long run, even if the sacrifice was someone she valued as a surrogate father. Blink knocked out Rogue by displacing her for a fraction of a second then teleported Sabretooth. Sabretooth fought Holocaust, but he was no match for the Horseman. The X-Men arrived to find Sabretooth appearing to be dead. This was more than Blink could handle, causing her to seek revenge on Holocaust. As she fought, Blink used charged short javelins to displace pieces of vital equipment and to punch holes in Holocaust's armor. Also she opened a portal to avoid slamming into a wall and transferring that momentum into a devastating kick to Holocaust's back. When Holocaust gained the advantage, he pinned Blink with his cannon. However, Blink charged short javelin and pointed its tip through a hole in Holocaust's faceplate and teleported Holocaust into the corrosive gene pool.

Moments before the universe known as the Age of Apocalypse vanished from existence, Blink was transported away by a ripple in time. She emerged in a desert located outside Time and Space to find five people from different realities ñ Nocturne, Morph, Thunderbird, Mimic, and Magnus, the son of Rogue and Magneto. A man by the name of Time Broker explained to the group that they were all unstuck in time because events in their realities had changed. The only way they could return to their lives right in the instant they had left was to get other realities back on track in order to stop the ripple effect disrupting the fabric of all realities. If they failed, however, they would return to their altered reality and existence, except for Blink, she had no reality to return to.

Once they all agreed to work out the kinks, the Time Broker gave Blink a gauntlet called the Tallus - a guide instructing the team on how to repair the break and, once they completed their repair, move the team via Blink's teleportation ability to its next mission.

On their first mission, the Tallus transported them to a world that had Zero Tolerance for mutants and super beings where they were jailed, executed, or aborted. Their mission was to "find your greatest teacher." Mimic, Nocturne, and Magnus believed the Tallus spoke of Charles Xavier, and the team went to free him. However, once they set him free, they learned that this reality's Xavier was not the Xavier Nocturne, Mimic, and Magnus knew this Xavier wanted to exterminate humanity. Only after their mistake did they realize the Tallus was speaking of Magneto. The Exiles split into two teams: Mimic, Thunderbird, and Morph dealt with Xavier and his minions while the others went to free Magneto. When Blink, Nocturne, and Magnus reached the prison holding Magneto, Magnus chose to leave Blink and Nocturne behind as he entered the prison because the prison was rigged with a nuclear bomb. He freed all the prisoners but was unable to escape himself.

The Exiles regrouped, and Mariko "Sunfire" Yashida joined their team. Then they were teleported to their next mission.

Blink has the mutant ability to displace matter through a type of teleportation rift, enabling her to move an object or people various distances. Her effective teleporting range is to the moon and back. Furthermore, she has the ability to manifest the energy for her portals in the form of short javelins, which she could throw at an object to cause it to teleport. She uses this ability both offensively and defensively. Also she can send targets to multiple locations at once.

Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 115 lbs
Eyes: shining green with no visible pupils
Hair: pinkish-purple

Appearances:
Amazing X-Men #4
Astonishing X-Men (1st series) #1-4
Blink #1-4
Exiles #1-21, 37, 42-89
New Excalibur #16
Tales of the Age of Apocalypse
X-Men: Alpha
X-Men: Omega