BLINDFOLD: Page 2 of 3

Publication Date: 14th Jun 2019
Written By: Gremlin.
Biography

Biography - Page 2

A while later, the X-Men were forced once again to relocate, this time to the island of Utopia, located just off the shore of San Francisco. This didn’t deter their enemies, though, and the X-Men were constantly bombarded by threats to their new home. One such threat came from the ancient mutant Selene, who was trying to achieve her goal of becoming a goddess. She raised an army of undead mutants to help her and amongst their number was the precognitive Destiny. Unfortunately, Destiny was unaware she herself was possessed by a third party and, when she saw a vision of the future, it scared her enough to telepathically contact her daughter Rogue. When Destiny reached out, though, she ended up linking minds with Ruth instead. As time was a factor, she relayed her warnings to the young girl. As well as the threat from Selene, the X-Men were to go to Muir Island in a bid to stop a secondary threat from rising there. What neither woman knew was that the entity that had possessed Destiny was now passed on to Blindfold and it was able to manipulate her visions too, just like it had done Destiny. Avoiding the chaos of the assault going on around her, Blindfold found Cyclops and relayed the message.

Blindfold and a team of X-Men travelled to Muir Island to take on this mysterious threat but, when they got there, they found no trace of danger. Unbeknownst to Blindfold, the moment she stepped foot on the island, she had begun absorbing some latent energy that was blanketing the area. The first hint at what the threat was came when Colossus touched Blindfold’s shoulder and she reeled away in pain from the touch of his metal hand. She ran off to be alone but, every time she touched something, she would absorb more and more energy. Destiny, who had escaped from Selene’s clutches and regained her senses, had travelled to the island, as she could now see the threat for what it was. She confronted Blindfold but the young girl was confused and grabbed the old woman’s hand, absorbing the last bit of energy she needed to go into critical mass. Blindfold was fully taken over by the entity, which revealed itself to be the reality warping mutant Proteus.

The crazed Proteus made short work of the team and, every time one of them touched Blindfold, they were taken over and joined the growing hive mind. It was Magneto who managed to use his magnetic manipulation to disrupt Proteus’ energies, causing him to loose his hold over Blindfold and the rest of the team. Whilst the whole event had been rather traumatic for the young girl, a silver lining came when she got to speak to Destiny. The old woman revealed that the reason she had inadvertently linked with her instead of Rogue was because of their powers and that Blindfold was probably related to her in some way. Blindfold herself had been remembering events from her childhood but she still couldn’t see things clearly. Destiny explained that her mother had died protecting Ruth from her brother but she needn’t worry anymore because her brother was gone. [Necrosha crossover]

When Pixie was kidnapped by a horde of demons, some of the other students were also taken. While Ruth remained behind on Utopia, her powers accidentally caused her to become trapped in the illusion the other girls were stuck in. Thanks to Pixie’s hallucinogenic dust, they were all allowed to dream of their ideal high school experience and Blindfold imagined herself as part of the popular crowd and she actually had eyes for the first time. Unlike the other girls, Ruth seemed partially immune to the illusion and she managed to break free of it and warn the senior X-Men, who promptly rescued the missing girls. [X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #1-4]

By now Blindfold’s role amongst the X-Men was akin to an early warning system of threats that were imminent. When she had visions of an invisible threat descending on Utopia, she told Rogue who immediately set about trying to find what it could be. Ruth wasn’t one to sit by and wait for someone else to save them, so she set off to find the problem herself. She visited Gambit and Hellion, as both had dark sides to them and she wanted to see if they would become a future threat.

Satisfied they weren’t the problem, she took a trip into Legion’s mindscape to see the work Professor X and the X-Club were doing in a bid to contain his multiple personalities. Dismissed by Professor X, she went on her way and wandered the island, where she was set upon by a squid-like creature. The inter-dimensional mutant Emplate had attacked the island weeks before and one of his invisible portals still remained. The creature captured Blindfold but she was saved by Rogue, who killed the creature and helped close the portal. The X-Men assumed that Blindfold’s premonition had been dealt with but she assured them it hadn’t been. Before anyone could say anything else, darkness descended over Utopia and the real threat emerged. [X-Men Legacy (1st series) #244]

The world around Blindfold changed dramatically as the reality warping mutant Legion had finally resisted the changes being forced upon his mind. All the X-Men had their histories re-written and they were now residents of Fortress X, being forced to fight a constant battle against the unseen forces of the outside world. Blindfold remained the single mutant unaffected by Legion’s power but, due to her unique way of talking, she wasn’t taken seriously. She, along with any other mutant capable of revealing the truth about the world, was kept in the dungeons of the fortress as prisoners. The world began to unravel though when Legacy, the re-imagined Rogue, stumbled upon the truth and came to the dungeons. Blindfold told Legacy to seek out the Professor, as he held all the answers. Eventually, the truth about the reality was revealed and Legion put the world back to the way things were meant to be. As all the X-Men adjusted to the memories they now had, Blindfold told Professor X that Legion should be held accountable for his actions, as this wasn’t his first offense. [Age of X crossover]

When Cyclops and Wolverine had a difference of opinion as to how to lead the X-Men, Wolverine left Utopia and set up the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning back in Westchester. Many of the students, including Blindfold, chose to leave Cyclops’ militaristic style leadership and go back to being just school students with Wolverine. Before she left, though, Ruth had one final task asked of her. Recently, a group of X-Men had come back from space and it seemed they had brought an unseen stowaway with them. When the other X-Men couldn’t figure the situation out, it was suggested Blindfold might be able to help, given that she viewed the world differently. As it turns out, they were right and she correctly identified that the Shi'ar named Korvus’ sword was actually a gateway and someone was trapped on the other side. The X-Men made a successful rescue mission and Blindfold travelled to Westchester to be with the other students. [X-Men Regenesis #1, X-Men Legacy (1st series) #259-260]

Much like Utopia, the Jean Grey School seemed to be a beacon for trouble and Blindfold foresaw many of the threats coming. She had visions of a man bringing great destruction to the X-Men and so, when Exodus showed up on the doorstep, everybody assumed that it was him. With Exodus dealt with, things calmed down for a bit but Blindfold realized that it wasn’t him that her premonitions were warning her about. [X-Men Legacy (1st series) #261-263]

The real threat came when Cyclops was possessed by the Phoenix Force. When Professor X tried to help him, the possessed Cyclops ended up killing his former teacher. The psychic backlash was more than Blindfold could stand and she doubled over in pain as all her premonitions were now in flux. Ruth wasn’t the only one to be affected by Xavier’s death as his son David, aka Legion, also had a monumental breakdown. Ruth didn’t know what had caused the changing futures but she could see that a mountain retreat in Tibet would hold some of the answers. A team of X-Men travelled to Tibet and found the retreat, only to discover dozens of bodies littering the landscape. They quickly realized that David had caused it and Blindfold could now feel him and how scared he was. They set off after him but, as they continued along his trail, they kept on finding more bodies of the people who got in his way. None of them realized David was not only battling the forces of his multiple personalities but also that of a mysterious force that existed as a pair of disembodied eyeballs.

The team of X-Men eventually caught up with Legion in Japan and, mistakenly believing he was about to harm some children, attacked. Ruth stayed back from the fight but her mind was clearing up now and she could see David for what he was. When he overwhelmed the X-Men, Ruth realized that she was the answer to calming him down, so she entered his mind to talk. Inside David’s mind, Ruth found she could speak perfectly without her usual speech mannerisms. She also wielded immense power over most of the personalities in Legion’s mind, calming them all down so she and David could talk undisturbed. Ruth introduced herself, kissed David on the lips and then told him she was supposed to be his nemesis. She tried to explain that everything was going to be alright and he should trust her, but she was caught off guard by one of David’s personalities. This one remained unaffected by her influence and it angrily slashed her throat and forced her out of David’s mind. In the real world, Blindfold collapsed and had to be rushed back to the school. [X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #1-4]

David was transfixed by this girl who had sauntered into his mind and kissed him without any trouble. David travelled to the Jean Grey School and used astral projection to check up on her, finding Blindfold in the medical bay in a coma. Deciding to find out more about her, David delved into her mind and discovered her tragic history for himself. He could feel Ruth’s psyche hiding somewhere within her memories but he couldn’t reach her before the personality that had originally harmed Ruth stopped him.

As Ruth lay in the coma, one of the young children David had saved in Japan entered the room and attacked the doctor looking after her. As it turned out, the young boy was possessed by Luca, Ruth’s not-so-dead brother, and he had been orchestrating events so he could get closer to her to kill her. He had been the strange disembodied eyeballs that had followed David around, helping him escape the X-Men. Apparently, when he stole some of Ruth’s powers, he also gained some precognition of his own and he was hoping to use it to rid the world of mutants, as he blamed them for all his problems. Firstly though, he wanted to kill the mutant who started everything off and so, sitting on top of Blindfold, he prepared to stab her with a kitchen knife. Before he could kill her though, he was stopped by David. The two fought and the X-Men were soon alerted to the brawl as it spilled out onto the back lawn. Luca, pretending to be the young boy, manipulated the X-Men into believing David was harming him. Unfortunately for him, Blindfold had woken up from her coma with all her memories intact and she raced outside and stabbed the young boy with the kitchen knife. Luca’s energy exploded out of him and vanished, leaving the husk of the young boy, who had apparently died a long time before. Ruth vouched for David’s innocence and, as he left, she warned him that something dark was coming. [X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #5-6]