born with the ability to create shadow mimics, little sarah used to accidentally torment her aunt and uncle. where her powers came from, no one's quite certain, as no one else in her family has demonstrated anything like it. her aunt and uncle were haste to abandon her, dubbing her a demon, leaving her two years prior at eight instead of ten. having never shown anyone else, she fled to amy and jon at first, not quite sure what to make of her situation. however, her powers were startling, and though amy and jon didn't scorn her, their initial reactions of surprise left sarah fearful she was as bad as her "parents" believed. running away again, she found her path to becoming cat, but with just a bit more power under her skin.
LOCATION ;; varies, default to new york city
AGE ;; 17 - 18 years
STATUS ;; homeless thief, mutant
sarah's mother never knew she had powers, murdered while the baby was too young. when robert and mary discovered them, the only explanation they could believe was that she was a demon, and their hatred and fear of her burned easily. it didn't help that her abilities allowed her to mimic anything's shadow, creating life size replicas of whatever could cast one - including people. though nothing more than mindless bodies, these beings made entirely of inky blackness startled robert and mary one evening, two forms of them appearing when sarah wanted more people to play with. enough light easily shattered them to nothing, but the seed of horror was planted.
due to their response, she never used her abilities outside of the home. even at five, she was aware that something about them must have seemed unnatural. no one else spoke of playing with shadows, and only whispers of mutants made it around school when she went. one thing was obvious to her; these powers were unwanted. so sarah blended in instead, only playing with mimicked toys when alone in her bedroom. not even scott ever got to see a demonstration, because even despite his fascination with heroes, she didn't want him to view her as some sort of villain.
this led to sarah being abandoned two years earlier than her main - at eight years of age instead of ten, and with far less care for her wellbeing. mary and robert couldn't take it anymore and left, her screaming for them from the sidewalk. mimicking their shadows before they could leave, the soulless beings stood with her there. she clutched their hands until the sun eventually faded them away, and she was left crying, knowing exactly what had happened. with nowhere to go, she went to amy and jon, pleading for help. they brought her in without question, but the longer she stayed, the more the burden of the truth on her heart tormented her.
sarah finally revealed her powers, wanting them to know exactly who she was. they were not angry or scared, but the surprise they showed made her believe they were. with fear she was about to be spurned again, sarah took off, running and running until she couldn't anymore. while on her own, she used her shadows to help her steal. distracting people, scaring them, anything to get a hold of food or water or money. it got her noticed by a group, and it wasn't long before the ring swooped in with promises of accepting her and helping her. desperate for such, sarah accepted.
the ring would go much similar to main. copper desperate to control her.
he would take drastic measures to ensure she behaved, and the abuse and torment he put her through was worse. sarah got used to the darkest of areas, a place where her powers were terrifying because she could feel the throng of shadows surrounding her, enveloping her. copper pushed her limits faster and harder, and sarah, now cat, broke, eventually unleashing herself fully.
she managed to avoid juvie... when she spied them on the street from tinder's guidance, there came a need for revenge. spiraling, she launched an attack, but as she was about ready to murder them both, she realized that she was now exactly what they had always feared her to be. recoiling, cat became haunted by what she almost did for days, though blood was already on her hands from jobs copper had forced upon her. it was during a moment of trying to control herself that hackett got her from behind. he didn't know of her powers, however, so when she woke up as he tried to make his move, he didn't last long. sarah used his own shadow to untie her, then fled into the world, using her disappearance to escape the ring.
she's reached new york city since then and become a bit of a villain. not the sort going around and causing mass destruction or searching for domination... just one who wants to survive and will take any means necessary to do it.
the ability to mimic shadows. anything that casts a shadow, she can mimic... meaning literally everything physical
these mimics have structure and are three dimensional. once created, she can telekinetically control them, meaning if she mimics the shadow of a box, she can use her mind to throw it at someone.
the mimics have a limited lifespan based on how much exposure to light they have. being left out on a bright, sunny day means only a few minutes, while the evening allows them to exist for hours.
the stronger the source, the stronger the shadow. people based mimics are stronger than a fair amount, as well as brick or concrete, etc. they can take more physical damage as well as light damage
her shadow people just do whatever she tells them to. they cannot speak or act on their own, they're nothing more than masses. similar to shadow sora in kingdom hearts minus the yellow eyes. see here
cat herself is weak to light based powers and magic alongside her shadows, but she is not as easily taken down by it as her creations
she does know scott in this verse, and he discovered his own powers of electricity when he's in his teen years. this makes him a bit of a weakness to her
meatloaf hangs around her less in this verse because she tends to make mimics of him to bug him a lot. not that the feline hates or fears her, but she tends to bother him
some people tend to call her the shadow puppeteer as her "villain" name, but she hasn't really taken to it or tried to make some big deal of herself. she has no desire to be a major villain, she's just trying to get through life