Cerebra's Files

The man who would become known as Alex Hayden is actually a combination of three people: the mercenary known as Deadpool, the telepathic Black Swan and Swan's dead partner Nijo. Swan had just killed Nijo when Deadpool burst in on Swan and stabbed him. In the stress of the moment, Swan's powers mutated and his mind began to absorb and share memories and powers between Deadpool, the corpse of Nijo and himself. Each man got part of Deadpool's and Swan's memories and abilities, and the corpse of Nijo was resurrected into a man with X-shaped scars all over his body.

This man made his way to a familiar apartment building and was found by Sandi Brandenberg (Deadpool's old assistant) in the parking lot. Bleeding and with X's carved into his skin all over his body, Alex knew more about Sandi (including her name) than he knew about himself. Sandi thought he was Deadpool, and decided to take him in, over the objections of her then-boyfriend Taskmaster. Alex seemingly picked his "new" name out of thin air, though later Sandi discoverd that it is made of the names of two composers that Alex likes (Alexander Grieg and Josef Haydn). What significance this has is unknown. Sandi even got Taskmaster to train Alex to fight. During one sparring session, Alex performed a move that the Taskmaster couldn't copy, stunning the veteran merc. Later, Outlaw pronounced that Alex couldn't be Deadpool after she trained him to shoot, because Deadpool was never that good.

Sandi and Alex opened up a mercenary agency, Agency X, and wound up getting a run-down amusement park as payment for their first job. This brought Alex into conflict with Higashi, a Japanese-style warlord CEO of a group whose previous leader was killed by Deadpool. Alex was also sent after the Punisher's weapons, which ended in embarassment, but not the expected death. Eventually, Agent X and Outlaw (who worked with the Agency on a retainer basis) became lovers, until she decided to return to Texas to care for her sick father.

In the course of running the Agency, Alex met a girl named Mary Zero, whose mutant power was to make people not notice her existence in any way. Alex, however, could see her, and Mary developed a crush on him for obvious reasons. The reason for Alex's anomalous perception of Mary is likely his absorption of some of the Black Swan's abilities. Coupled with Taskmaster's inability to "read" him, it implies that Alex had some major psychic potential, though he didn't know how to use it actively.

After Outlaw left, Alex and Sandi had a romantic fling. Then Higashi began to court Sandi, and Alex was jealous, though he was forced to work for Higashi as a way of burying their feud. Alex's world was further thrown into disarray when the Black Swan showed up at his home and brought Deadpool with him, whereupon Alex immediately shot Deadpool in the head!

While Deadpool regenerated, the Black Swan explained the telepathic power and memory switch and proposed to use his powers to restore everyone to their "normal" selves. The transfer took place at the amusement park, but upon regaining his evil memories, Swan betrayed Deadpool and Alex and began to absorb everything from them, becoming god-like in power. Fortunately, his concentration was limited, so Deadpool and Alex were able to fight him, with helping hands from the prodigal Outlaw and gunmen sent by Higashi. Alex was able to breach Swan's telepathic shield and shoot him down, then effect a reverse transfer of all of Swan's memories (presumably except for the ability to shoot straight). This caused the X scars to leave Alex and transfer to the Black Swan.

Alex was joined in Agency X by Taskmaster, Outlaw and Sandi, and they all went on a vacation (with the stuffed corpse of the Black Swan as a prop). Alex and Outlaw appear to have reconciled, as do Sandi and Taskmaster (who were dating early on).
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