Mary McTeague

Mary "Tee" McTeague is an original fictional character who first appeared in New X-Men #5.

Background
Relinquished at birth by her biological mother before she could even be given a name, the girl who now calls herself "Tee" has bounced around the Arizona foster system for the entirety of her 14 year life. As an infant she was nicknamed "Little Mary" by the catholic nuns who first cared for her, and was later given the surname McTeague from her first foster family.

Tee has had a troubled life in the foster system, moving from place to place, never staying any longer than 9 months in any given location. Most of her time has been spent in cramped, underfunded group homes, surrounded by an ever-changing cast of social workers, administrators, and fellow children. Over time she learned to be independent and resourceful, but also to be mistrustful and callous towards others.

At the age of 14, Tee's best chance yet of landing an adoptive family were dashed when her mutation surfaced only two weeks into her placement. Her skin rapidly began to lose colour, and turned a deathly, ash grey from head to toe. Moreover, she developed unusual and unsightly habits, such as the urge to smoke and to eat unusual and even harmful objects and substances. She also began swearing profusely, though most seemed to chalk this up to an emotional reaction to her mutation rather than a direct psychological symptom.

Given her new set of special needs, Tee soon found herself in yet another group home in Phoenix. Her mutation clearly wasn't just going to go away on its own, and a global shortage of the Hope serum meant that she may be stuck with her unsightly new appearance and compulsive behaviour indefinitely. Sick of being stared at by the other children, she took to barricading herself in her own room, sneaking out the window only to procure cigarettes and other items to satiate her bizarre cravings.

New X-Men
Fortunately for her, Tee was one of four North-American mutants located and identified by the New X-Men. Kelly Marshall was dispatched to retrieve her from her group home, though Tee wouldn't make it so easy as that. Barricaded inside her room, she saw Kelly approach and immediately became suspicious: she was too old to be another foster child, yet she wasn't any social worker that Tee recognized. Pegging Kelly as some sort of specialist come to deal with her - perhaps to study or disect her, or at least to lock her up in some creepy asylum - Tee bolted, slipping out the window, up to the roof, and down the fire escape as she learned to do.

To her astonishment, Kelly pursued her by flying through the air. She was no social worker, but a fellow mutant, though that wasn't really any better. The only mutants Tee had ever heard about on the news were the terrorist kind, and anything they wanted from her couldn't be good. She kept running, ducking through traffic and down narrow alleyways, trying to use her small size and knowledge of the city to her advantage, but it was no use.

When she was inevitably cornered, a strange feeling built up inside her. When she could stand it no more, a dark cloud of noxious chemicals burst out of her mouth, filling the alleyway. Terrified, she once again fled, leaving Kelly to cough and choke on the fumes.

Kelly soon caught up to her again, and this time Tee kept a hand clapped tightly around her mouth. She listened to Kelly's story, about the Institute and how she didn't have to face being a mutant alone. Even Tee had to admit, it sounded pretty okay. Though hesitant at first, she eventually agreed to accompany Kelly back to the Institute and become her pupil.

Powers and Abilities
Tee is a Gamma-level mutant, and while the full extent of her powers are not known, she has exhibited the ability to expel large clouds of thick, toxic black smoke from her mouth. Her mutation has also manifested cosmetically and psychologically, giving her skin a distinctly ashen colour, and the compulsive need to swear, smoke, and ingest unusual and sometimes even dangerous objects and substances.