DELUGE

Real name: Natalie Katherine Blake
Occupation: Student at Columbia University (Writing Major)
Identity: Nat's mutation is a secret she closely guards
Legal status: United States Citizen with no criminal record
Other aliases: "Nat" She uses the code name "Deluge" to refer to herself when she's using her powers, but the name isn't known to the public.
Place of birth: The vast suburban jungles of New Jersey. Poor kid.
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: Katherine (Mother, deceased), Phillip (Father), Michael (older brother) and his wife. Natalie has been disowned by her family, and cannot currently count them as a resource.
Group affiliation: Columbia Branch (The Scoobies)
Base of operations: Columbia University
First appearance: Early Feb., 2001
History:

Natalie's mother died giving birth to her. Natalie was raised by her father with help by grandparents, aunts and uncles when she was very young. She has a brother named Michael who's three years older than she is and her father is a pretty well-paid executive type. Nat's father never remarried, and so Natalie was raised in a male-dominated household, which is why she grew up as a bit of a tomboy. She used to climb trees and get beaten up by her brother all the time when she was very young. Natalie was always a bit of a loner, and she started writing stories when she was very young - drawing pictures before she knew the words to express herself. She showed signs of being very intelligent early in life, and excelled in all of her classes.

When Natalie got to Junior High School, she was teased by her classmates because she was always reading or writing. Kids called her "nerd," geek," or "teacher's pet." While the comments hurt Natalie, she didn't let it show, keeping her feelings bottled up as she had since childhood. She withdrew even more from her classmates and threw herself into her studies and her true passion - writing.

The summer just before her freshman year of high school, Natalie was at a sleepaway camp that she and her brother were sent to every year. Although her brother loved the long hours of kickball and hiking, Nat was never one for that sort of thing, and so she would spend most of her time reading quietly by herself. One afternoon, while Nat was sitting at the edge of a boat dock reading a Nancy Drew Mystery (the only book the camp actually stocked), some of her bunk-mates who thought that she was being "snobbish" decided to teach her a lesson by pushing her into the lake, still clothed.

Natalie was taken by surprise, and she went under. She was disoriented and when she tried to surface, she surfaced underneath the boat dock, which sat directly against the surface of the water with no pockets of air underneath. Natalie struggled to get out from under the dock, but her jeans (she didn't believe in shorts) were weighing her down too much. Natalie ran out of air and figured she was done for when she swallowed a gulp of water. Instead, Natalie found that she could breathe underwater. She took a deep "breath" and then looked - for now that she was calmer, she found that she could also see a bit thorugh the murky lake water - and got to the surface where she coughed up a lot of water. For the rest of the summer, Natalie spent every spare minute near the lake learning more about her powers.

Fearing that people would add "freak" to the list of insults they called her, Natalie didn't tell anyone about her powers, not even her family. However, knowing that she had something that others didn't caused Natalie to come out of her shell a bit in high school. Natalie was more social and hung out more with the kids in her grade. She prefered to hang around guys not because she wanted to flirt, but because it was what she was used to. Nat was more comfortable with guys and she could joke around with them. Of course, Natalie's intentions were always plutonic, but some of the guys had other ideas. On more than one occasion, Nat found herself in an uncomfortable situation and had no idea what brought it on. Nat unwittingly earned a reputation as a tease, and one guy started a rumor that she was really a slut, but she liked girls.

Natalie withdrew socially once again, taking on a job at the public library to fill the void her lack of a social life left behind. She eventually graduated top of her class and was offered a very nice scholarship to Columbia University. As a graduation present, her father paid for Natalie to spend some time in France (she studied French in school and speaks it fluently), and so Nat took a semester off before enrolling in Columbia, where she's now a Freshman.

Natalie is listed as having a "medical condition" which requires her to drink fluids and have a water bottle with her at all times. Natalie is an English major, and she always carries several notebooks and an arsenal of pens just in case she gets "inspired." She aspires to be an author, and although she's more focused on college at this point, she's sold a few of her writings to various journals and magazines.

After she began attending Columbia University in the Spring of 2001, Natalie befriended several other mutants who also attended the school. Through her friends, she met Charles Xavier and learned of his school for mutatns in Westchester County, befriending many of them. She later joined a team of mutants who called themselves The Scoobies. They are stationed at Columbia University and share a suite in one of the residence halls. They keep on the lookout for strange phenomenon that could be mutant-related, though they seem to only run into things that are of a different nature entirely, many of which take a toll on the sanity of the group's members.

When one of her friends, Nox, was killed by mutant haters, Natalie was inspired to write a book about her views on mutants and how they really are in an effort to change the way that mutants are viewed by the public. She published the book anonymously and it made quite a splash when it arrived, receiving equally mixed reviews. She kept the fact that she'd written it a secret until she was anonymously interviewed by MTV. Although her face and identity were hidden, her voice was not, and when the interview aired, her father (an avid hater of mutants) saw it and recognized his daughter. An argument ensued, the end result of which was that Natalie was told never to return home.

Natalie is currently taking out loans to pay her way through college, living at the suite during the year and at the mansion over the summers. She works odd jobs and is working on her latest book project. She's seen a lot while in New York, and although it hasn't all been pleasant, it's helped her to grow stronger as a person.

Height: 5'6" Weight: Average, let's leave it at that.
Eyes: Dark Blue Hair: Long and Brown
Unusual physical characteristics: Although she appears normal, Natalie drinks more water than most people.
Strength level: Natalie has the average strength of a woman her age who engages in intensive regular exercise.
Known superhuman powers: Natalie can control and manipulate water. She can move it telekinetically and manipulate the surface tension of water to walk on top of it, make it into water "balloons" and shape it into pretty shapes. She can also breathe and see well underwater and has recently gained the ability to absorb and expell water through her skin.
Other abilities: Natalie is a writer and is often seen writing in a journal or reading a book. She was also taught by Remy LeBeau how to fight using a quarterstaff, and has also learned a bit about working with a team in a combat-type situation.
Weapons and paraphernalia: She usually has at least one water bottle with her as well as a few pens and a notebook.
Other notes: The actress used in Nat's OHXET picture is Jennifer Love-Hewitt.