Clea Lake

PHASE 2

Clea Lake
Portrayed by Ellie Bamber
Codename:	Clea
Affiliations:	X-Force
Birthdate:	September 9th, 1999
Journal:	xp_clea
Player:	Rei

I never really paid attention to how I get the magical energy to focus into my spells. It just happens.

Clea is a magic user and a spy in training, happy to learn about her powers... and cause lots of trouble.

Details

Character Journal: xp_clea

Real Name: Clea Lake

Codename: n/a

Aliases: n/a

First Appearance: August 4, 2015

Date of Birth: September 9th, 1999 (on legal documents)

Place of Birth: Capital City of Dark Dimension

Citizenship: Dark Dimension / United Kingdom

Relatives: Prince Orini (Father), Umar (Mother- Currently Unknown), Dormammu (Uncle - Mother Side), Roslina Lake (Adoptive Mother), Marcus Lake (Adoptive Father)

Education: High School c/o 2018, Studying Religion and Rituals (expecting graduation 2024)

Relationship Status: Single || Formerly Dating Stephen Strange

Occupation: Admin Assistant Snow Valley Research Center, Studying at Kamar-Taj

Team Affiliation: X-Force

Biography

Childhood

Clea was born in the Dark Dimension, a parallel world to Earth. She was born during the rebellions waged between Orini, the rightful heir to the Dark Dimension and Clea’s father, and Dormammu, an entity who had seized power. Her mother was Umar, Dormammu’s sister, who had taken human form in order to infiltrate the rebellion’s camp. She seduced Orini into a one night stand to gain his trust, but then betrayed his location. Orini was taken prisoner, alone, as the rest of the rebels were able to escape due to his aid. However, the news of Orini’s death and sacrifice deeply hurt the morals of the rebellion. Hope was rekindled several cycles later with the news of Umar giving birth to a baby girl, the daughter of the rightful heir.

The rebellion placed several spies within the palace to attempt to steal the princess. However, Umar was waiting for them. Chaos broke out in the palace as Umar’s guards worked to apprehend the spy, Leya, and bring back Umar's daughter. Leya, desperate, entered one of Dormammu’s portals in hopes to do anything to keep the baby away from Umar and Dormammu’s influence. This portal took them to Earth in locals called "the year 2000."

This world was brighter and filled with more color than either had known. Unfortunately, Leya was gravely injured from her wounds in the Dark Dimension and found that being away from the source of her powers meant she could not herself. Leya found an orphanage to take in the baby girl, telling them two things: the girl was named Clea and to keep her safe. Leya died from her wounds several hours later.

Clea was still an infant when she was adopted to a couple living in London named Roslina and Marcus Lake. She lived a normal life with her adopted parents, who gave her the best life they could. The two were not able to have children of their own and had been on a waiting list to adopt.

Clea was a quiet child. It wasn't until the age of 8 when she started to attend summer camp that she slowly came her out of her shell and made lasting friends – Sebastian Druid and Stephen Strange. They continued to be in touch, mainly via Clea, as she would send them letters and care packages throughout the school years. When Clea hit puberty, her powers manifested. It was little things at first, but she learned that she could do things that she would describe a "witch doing."

She kept her powers a secret from her parents for as long as possible. Still, even then they started to notice odd things going on around the house. Reports from her school started to file in claiming there had been weird occurrences with Clea typically at the center. It was then that Clea finally confided to her parents about what was happening, and though she expected backlash she didn’t receive any. Her family was supportive, however, they encouraged her to not share this information openly.

Clea eventually entered secondary and new course load took a more demanding presence in her life. However, she found herself waiting for the school year to end so that she could be able to go to camp where her real friends were. Little did she know that her life was about to change — in the last week of camp, Clea found out that a television show called "The Legendary Hunts of Bloodstone" would arrive to film concerning the rumor of an overly large cat. Clea knew that they were talking about Cata. Clea, Bas, and Steve decided to put matters into their own hands and save their friend from being exposed. Bas, using his power of shifting into a large cat with anime eyes, provided a distraction to keep Ulysses Bloodstone busy. Clea and Steve meanwhile used their magic to shrink their cat. This was successful, but it ended with Cata never being the same size she was once was. Their magic also pinged the Occult Network, bringing Amanda Sefton and Megan Gwynn to find the three teens. Amanda soon met with their parents and it was agreed that the teens would be going to America to continue to learn how to control their magic and mutations.

Living At The X-Mansion

Living in the States was very different and it would mark the first time Clea attend a mixed school (boys and girls). She quickly took a liking to Topaz and eventually became friends with newcomer Maya Lincoln-Lopez, even if the girl was quite angry. Clea joined Cheerleading and enrolled in AP classes, but most of her time was spent with Steve and Bas. She assisted in helping others out during a car crash and helped Hank out. After a falling out between Xavin and Maya, Clea found herself a new roommate with Xavin. She was happy that she was no longer alone and welcomed the company.

In February 2016, she became a reluctant part of a rescue mission after several of her fellow GenX members were kidnapped to another dimension. The remaining students agreed that calling adults would be a bad idea, and forged ahead alone. Clea, however, put in a quick text to Topaz before helping Steve open a portal to the other world. They found their friends and were rescued by the X-Men and senior magic users.

Clea enjoyed a quiet life, after that. There was a bit of trouble at an end of year party, but she was lucky enough to avoid the police, and she got some quality time in with her BFF Stephen - who became her boyfriend at the end of the summer. Not bad all around. During Halloween, Clea brought to life some dolls all in the name of Halloween. She went back home for the winter holiday but returned to the States before the New Year started.

I am Small

The school year started and the homework was piling up as Clea was taking AP classes. In February during Magic Class, the spell they were performing backfired when Billy walked by causing them to shrink themselves. The class was attacked by the green army men brought to life by Topaz, vacuumed up, brought to the garbage room and had to escape from the bag. On the trek down a string, Clea found out she is terrified of heights but managed to make it to the ground safely. After failed attempts to get people's attention, Amanda decided that they could fix it themselves, they just had to get to her room to her wych. After escaping near death by Rooney the Cat, and climbing a steep bookshelf, the class was able to restore themselves to normal height; Clea felt bad that she could manage that, but couldn't restore Cata back to normal size.

Big Again but Spiders

A month after the incident, Cata brought Clea a green army man. She kept it in a jar until Topaz removed the spell on him. In April, the magic students all received a smooth rock that was half white and half black, which was revealed eventually to be an "invitation" from The Winding Way. In May, Clea got heavily into manga and Anime. She decided to put her new hobby to work and in July decided to go to the New York Comic Con in October and cosplay. Clea found she had a knack for sewing and costuming and decided to put her hobby to use for the conventions coming up in the future. In the beginning of July, she and Steve stumbled upon a new game store in Salem Center. Though the owner was creepy, they purchased a game called "How To Kill A Spider". Gathering others to play a game, it turned out to be a cursed deck that unleashed hundreds of spiders. After a quick text to Topaz and Amanda, they came to their aid but the kids had to continue to play in order for it to end. Upon the ending of the game, Clea locked herself in her room for awhile, refusing to come out because of spiders. In August, Clea found out Sebastian had decided to stay home in England after a holiday away.

Dark Dimension: Homecoming

If spiders weren't bad enough, Clea started to have dreams about a ruined city. They were harmless enough until the start of October when they started to intensify with something chasing her. This lead her to avoiding sleep at all cost during the week, earning her detention and missing out on her first Comic Con. While in the Library, Clea drifted off to sleep and found herself in the familiar landscape once more. A figure appeared before her and then reached out for her, as if it was trying to grab her. Clea woke up with slash marks on her arm — deep enough to need stitches. Topaz found her a few seconds later and helped her to the hospital wing. Topaz also alerted the staff that something had attacked Clea in the library.

Later, Clea was being attended to by Dr. Jean Grey and Amanda told them that an entire search of the grounds had found nothing. There were a few questions asked, and Clea revealed that she had been having dreams and they were only getting worse. Jean and Amanda talked Clea into letting them see the dreams by entering her mind a few minutes later. More suspicions were raised when the entity that attacked Clea turned to them and told them it was just a dream. In order for Clea to get some sleep and to make sure nothing else happened, Topaz was placed in charge of watching over the teen. The girls settled into Clea's room for the night. No sooner had Clea fallen asleep, the figure was waiting for her. Clea woke up screaming and Topaz rushed to her side. However, a portal opened behind them and sucked both of them into the Dark Dimension.

The wards and electricity around the mansion went haywire. Clea's room was cornered off to make sure nothing else happened. Both girls landed in the other dimension, and soon found themselves running towards the castle in the distance. It was revealed that the place once housed people but neither knew what could had happened. Upon entering the castle, they were greeted by a man calling himself Prince Orini and both girls followed him deeper into the castle as he revealed the history and Clea's connection to the palace. Apparently, Clea was a long lost princess taken during the height of a revolution against the entity calling himself Dormammu. She was the daughter of the ruling family and Dormammu's sister. Once they were deep inside the castle, it was revealed that Orini was in fact Dormammu in disguise. Both girls ran for it. They lost the man and soon began to wander the corridors until they found themselves a kitchen. They ate as Topaz tended to Clea's reopened wounds. Further exploration revealed an old nursery and the two made camp for the night. Clea mentioning that going outside might be out of the question due to the figures she kept seeing in the distance.

Upon waking both girls wandered until they were found by Amanda, Arthur, Doug, Jean, Megan, Miles, and Sharon Friedlander. Their happy reunion was put on hold when Dormammu revealed he had captured th eother half of the team. He would offer a trade — Clea for the group. Instead, the group broke into two and one part went to rescue the other team while the others went to distract Dormammu. This led to a small battle between Amanda, Arthur, Topaz, and Clea up against the deity. They retreated once they received a signal from Jean, and left the castle for the open portal that was made by the rescue group. They were greeted right away by Mindless Ones... but also the Ancient One and his followers. Clea was asked to stay for a moment more to add power by Ancient One, in hope that this would slow Dormammu enough where he couldn't make an assault on earth (or harm Clea any further). Clea didn't see what happened to the Ancient One and his group as she retreated through the portal with Steve. However, they reemerged in the Ancient One's house and it was revealed that he was going to help them further due to a change of heart. Clea was too tired and exhausted from the sudden shift of the lack of magic in the air and passed out soon after.

X Force was the Start of a Very Very Busy Year

Teas from the Ancient One helped Clea cope with her nightmares, and, in time, they almost completely vanished — if only she kept drinking the teas at night. For the Christmas holiday, she went back home with the intent of telling her parents the truth of her past, but found she couldn't bring herself to it. When she returned after the new year, Clea had a talk with Amanda about when might ever be the right time. It was decided that the summer holiday would be perfect as her parents were visiting and Amanda would be there for support. The conversation also gave Clea an idea about working, as she had no idea about college plans or what she even wanted to do with her life.

In February of 2018, a chance meeting with Kevin opened the possibility of Clea joining X-Force as the newest Girl Friday. A job offer from Marie-Ange sealed the deal and Clea was officially the newest member of the group, although she didn't participate in any of the spy work... yet. She had a talk to Marie-Angie after her first week and went over a few other important details.

She visited Topaz after her fellow English pal was forced into an unpleasant family reunion. Knowing her friend was not coming out of her room, Clea had Cata take her place for hugs.

In April a new game was released called Predator X: a virtual reality that was supposed to blow the competition out of the water. Clea, Stephen, Rahne, Maya, Xavin, and Monica were the first to try it. They were 'teleported' into the real life game only for it to be all too real. An attack by the first creature of the game proved the creatures actually hurt.

Another player, Gracie, rushed to their aid while being chased by another. The group quickly helped her in turn. However, they found out that they couldn't escape and headed to where others were making a stand. They only had to beat the clock. With the others that were also stuck in the VR world, the rag tag group was able to survive before exiting the game. Alive. A few days later the game programmer was arrested, but the real mastermind was the newest Arcade. He deemed his experiment it was a success.

A few days later, Clea was sent an SOS and took a shadow portal, via Tyrone, to the Bermuda Triangle. She helped with a spell that transformed people into mermaids to help friends captured under the sea. While Clea stayed aboard the ship versus diving in, she helped defend against sea creatures. Luckily that was the worst of what she witnessed. She still doesn't know the full details of what went on under, only something about jellyfish.

Clea continued her remaining high school year and her new job until another curve ball was thrown at her. Her history teacher's Native American display was found smashed by a group of students who trashed the school. Throughout the day, weird things continued to happen. Clea had an encounter with the mysterious sounds of a bear in the bathroom but found nothing. However, one girl from Maya's classroom had gone missing. The group talked about what happened and their own experiences when Nica, Miles, and Xavin joined them... followed by a bear. After the attack, Clea, Miles, and Nica were separated as they found themselves weaving in and out of the demon bear's dimension. Going outside had a strange 'upside down' feeling.

This continued to happen for hours until they were found by a rescue party. Finally, with all of them tied together so they wouldn't be separated, the adults and the students made their way to the auditorium where they made a final stand against the demon bear. It was quickly realized that there was a dagger stuck in the bear side, and Maya removed it. With a gust of the wind, the bear let out another roar before it disappeared. All were returned back to their own reality.

A few days later Clea was involved with helping put out fires that were happening around the city.

Finally graduation happened. Clea had survived - everything. Unsure what she wanted to do with the rest of her life, Clea decided to get a degree in business administration.

In July, Topaz's family enemies kidnapped her and set demon wards. Clea went in with Stephen, Tyrone, and Illyana to find and destroy the barriers that kept the demons there. They then found Topaz in a rough spot. Clea was visited by Topaz a few months later to apologize, but Clea reminded her that Topaz was there for her in the Dark Dimension. Clea was always going to have Topaz's back.

The year came to an end with a Danger Room experiment gone wrong and being trapped in a fictional world for a while.

The End of a Decade and a New Start

2019 proceeded as normal... normal as it gets when one is a witch working for a group of spies. That is to say, completely crazy. Starting with a mission to stop human traffickers with Kevin Sydney, her social life tanked a bit, but she couldn't escape the 2021 Mansion Halloween Incident. Throw in a a city-wide threat, and it was basically a normal year.

The 2020s brought more stress. 2020 saw her X-Force mentor "die" (thankfully he got better), and in an alternate dimension, which led to the revelation of the previous universe. 2021 just barely topped that with a classic heist and giant crabs.

Not long after this, Clea took the chance to study with the Ancient One and, more importantly, Stephen Strange. She made the decision to remain there, for the time being, in February 2023.

2024: The Year of New Beginnings

After almost a year at Karma-Taj, Clea returned back to the residence. Having broken up with Stephen the previous Summer, Clea remained best friends with him. They were just on different paths at the moment. She switched her major to Religion and Rituals after becoming increasingly interested in magic and how it interacts with many of the world's religions. Clea dived head first into Pagaism and immersed herself in the religion. Equipped with a sling ring, a magical device that allows her to teleport to locations she is most familiar with, Clea continues her training at Karma-Taj, focusing on the more complex casting and spells.

In January, she met Jono, a fellow British person, and re-introduced herself to Illyana. The two girls agreed to share magical knowledge. She also met with Kevin, or he found her in the XForce offices and welcomed her back into their folds. At the end of January, she presented XF with updated files about the Ancient One, His Masters, and Kamar-Taj. In April, Clea was invited to go to another VR experience, in which she was trapped in a Tomb Raider-isc scenario with Paige. The girls ended up both escaping. Clea has know sworn off any video game related outing after being pulled into a VR scenario, twice, where lives were on the line.

Clea took on a small project to restore the Greenhouse with the help of her new friends Sam Guthrie and Rictor. During this time, Topaz, Amanda, and herself began researching how to destroy the Askew world after reports started to surface. It was at the start of July when their theories were put to the test when they went into the Askew World for a rescue mission and blew the world up.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 100lbs

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Red

Other Features: She has multiple ear piercings. Clea has some scars on her forearm due to the events of Dark Dimension when her stitches reopened.

Powers

Clea inherited the ability to generate her own magical energy. This allows her to draw on it to fuel her own magical abilities and spells. This ability is a result of her being half Faltine. She cannot shield herself from others who wish to draw upon and harvest her own magical energy. Clea can copy a spell after watching someone perform it for the first time. Clea has to pronounce the summoning spell correctly and visualize it.

Clea can summon objects to her. She could create mystic bolts, but they were pretty weak initially. Over time, they became stronger, giving the person receiving the bolt a jolt. She is more talented at illusions, at first only staying up for a couple of minutes; now, after training with the Ancient One, Clea's illusions can stay up for almost an hour. Through training with the Masters of the Mystic Arts, Clea's spellcraft grows stronger but still requires a circle to cast for the more complicated spells, but it can still only be maintained for a short time duration. Because of her Faltine half, Clea has the ability to fly, which still only lasts a couple of minutes at the most before she just wants to call it quits and eat everything in sight. She still prefers to focus on her invisibility and portal magic to get out in a pinch.

Following the attack on the XF offices, she requested training in more offensive magic, which Amanda agreed to. And when she went to Kamar-Taj to train under the Ancient One, Clea's power continued to grow.

Since she uses herself as a power source, she gets tired easily. The longer she casts the more she is likely to fail at anything spell and need more time to recharge. She will never reach her full potential as long as she is on Earth.

Trivia

• Clea is the owner of Cata (Used to be with Bas and Stephen, but everyone knows it is Clea's cat)
• Clea is terrified of heights
• Clea is terrified of spiders
• Likes anime and manga
• Goes to cons in full cosplay in outfits of her own design [She no longer attends cons, but she still follows]
• Clea owns a sling ring, a magical device that allows her to teleport easily. She can only go to places where she knows very well.

External Links

xp_communication posts

xp_journal posts

xp_logs posts

xp_generation_x posts

Plots

2015

For Cata!

Roadside Assistance - event

2016

Something Slender This Way Comes

2017

Honey, I Shrunk the Magic Class
How To Kill A Spider
Dark Dimension Homecoming

2018

Ready or Not

Poor Unfortunate Souls

Generation X: Demon Bear

Sins of the Father

Set Fire to the Rain

The Danger Room Paradox

2019

Escort Duty

Fear in the Dark

An Eye for an Eye

House of Horrors

2020

Operation: Crazy X-Girlfriend

Operation: Siege Perilous

2021

Operation: Dewey Deceptional System

Potomac Calls to Chesapeake

2024

TILT

Something Slender's (Got To Give)

Meta

Player: Rei

Player Icon Base: Ellie Bamber

Meta Trivia

Clea is Rei's third character. She was released back into the wild in February 2023 due to RL demands but was the first to be picked back up when things calmed down in December 2023. Clea's PB was Sophie Turner until January when it was switched to Ellie Bamber