Spiral's real name is Rita Wayword, better known as 'Ricochet Rita', a professional stuntwoman who befriended Longshot when he first appeared on Earth. Rita was attacked by her evil, future self which led to her meeting Longshot and falling in love with him. When Longshot sought to return to his home dimension, the Mojoverse, the lovestruck Rita went with him, only to watch Longshot fail and be captured by the dimension's evil overlord, Mojo. Longshot was promptly mindwiped to forget all about Rita, while a much worse fate was left for Rita.
Becoming Spiral
After holding her prisoner for several years (at which point Rita was made to serve as guardian for Mojo's army of "X-Babies"), Mojo forced his chief scientist, Arize, to perform extreme physical and mental body modifications onto Rita to recreate her into a loyal subordinate. These experiments left her with six arms (two of which are robotic), turned her hair grey, and drove the young woman insane through forcibly evolving Rita's mind to the point that she could see into other dimensions that were used for time-travel/teleportation. He also trained her in the dark arts of magic and body modification, so that she could use these skills to mutilate others like Mojo had mutilated her. Finally, in a cruel act of manipulation, Mojo sent Spiral back in time to set into motion the events that led to her former self becoming Mojo's prisoner and become Spiral by attacking her past self.
Freedom Force
Now in the past, Spiral found herself stranded on Earth by Mojo for failing to kill Longshot and Rita. At some unknown point, Spiral encountered Val Cooper and was recruited into Freedom Force, a revamped version of the second Brotherhood of Mutants. Despite being utterly insane and more blood-thirsty than her new teammates, Spiral quickly became a valuable member of the team, singlehandedly defeating the X-Men on several occasions as well as kidnapping the X-Man Rachel Summers for Mojo. She was also instrumental in Freedom Force's victory over the Avengers and the West Coast Avengers when sent by the U.S. government to arrest the heroes. Her magical powers temporarily robbed Captain Marvel of his energy powers and she also defeated Iron Man, removing two of the most powerful Avengers from the battle.
Body Shoppe
She also ran the "Body Shoppe", which sells alien cybernetic parts to amputees and others who see the power of cybernetic limbs. Most notably, Spiral transformed Lady Deathstrike into a cyborg; upgraded the cyborgs the Reavers originally created by Donald Pierce; and installed the cybernetic eyes in Psylocke's original body, which doubled as cameras for Mojo to spy on the X-Men.
Psylocke's Transformation
Along with Mojo, Spiral was shown to have played a role in Psylocke's physical appearance changing from white to East Asian. Originally, it was believed that the two literally transformed Psylocke's original English body to an East Asian one, but it was revealed that Spiral (without Mojo's involvement) transferred the X-Man's mind into the body of the Japanese assassin Kwannon. She also merged the two women's minds and genetic structures, giving each of them personality traits and physical characteristics of the other, as well as halving Psylocke's telepathy between them. This led to much confusion as to which of the two was the real Elizabeth Braddock when Revanche first appeared. Other than malicious intent, Spiral's reasons for doing this (if any) are still unknown. Even though she was a loyal servant of Mojo, Spiral deeply resented Mojo's crass manners and cruelty towards her. In particular, Spiral has been known to go against Mojo's orders and attack Longshot out of a psychotic need for revenge for Longshot's seduction of her and how her love for him led to her transformation into the being she is today. As such, Mojo has been known to leave Spiral stranded on Earth (since Spiral needs Mojo's power to travel between dimensions safely).
"The Apocalypse"
Spiral was revealed to have conquered an alternate timeline and referred to herself as "The Apocalypse". She managed to kill most of that Earth's heroes, and only Cable and some of his X-Force/New Mutants allies were left. Spiral had kidnapped that universe's Sunspot and tortured him by making him make love to her until his rescue. With the aid of Shatterstar, Spiral was evidently defeated and apparently returned to Mojo's services. She later attacked the X-Men together with Mojo, but ended up defeated once again.
Endangered Species
Spiral was among the nine criminal geniuses that Beast seeks out when it comes to reversing the effects of Decimation. Mojo himself is another. Later Spiral teleports to Beast claiming Mojo is displeased with the fact mutants are now an endangered species and while Beast asked for her help, her boss Mojo demanded it. Spiral commented science is blinding him to find the real solution to answer how to save mutantkind. Spiral tells him energy dances its way through everything, keeping her out. It is beyond anything her Body Shoppe can simply fix. The death of mutants is not caused by science, and it will not be saved by science. Her last comments before teleporting away were: "Put aside what you know. For where science ends... magic begins".
The Sisterhood of Mutants
While repairing Lady Deathstrike after the events of Messiah Complex, Spiral is approached by the Red Queen and agrees to join her Sisterhood of Mutants. After a brief confrontation with Domino, The Sisterhood steal Kwannon's corpse from her grave in Tokyo. Madelyne performs a ceremony with Spiral's assistance, transferring the soul of the kidnapped Psylocke back into her original body. Later the Sisterhood take on the X-Men. Spiral seriously injures Nightcrawler and Colossus while the Red Queen goes and fetches a lock of Jean Grey's hair from Wolverine's room before teleporting the Sisterhood back to base. Back at base, the Sisterhood split up, leaving the Mastermind sisters and Psylocke behind while Spiral and the rest of the Sisterhood go to Jean Grey's burial site. Spiral takes on Northstar and when Pryor is defeated, Spiral grabs the rest of the Sisterhood: Lady Deathstrike, Chimera, Lady Mastermind, and Martinique Jason and escapes.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Spell Casting: Spiral has powerful mystical abilities. With gestures or dance moves, she can teleport herself and numerous people across great distances. Teleportation and powerful spells require more complicated dance moves. Spiral's spellcasting powers can be triggered through small hand gestures of her many hands. Spiral often incorporates knives and swords into more complicated spells. Spiral can also disguise herself through her magic. Spiral can open gateways between dimensions and travel through time, though it has been implied that she sometimes requires Mojo's help to successfully teleport from one dimension to another.
By using magic, Spiral can:
teleport herself and others
project concussive energies
paralyze others
turn invisible
remove superhuman abilities
cause unconsciousness
conjure up objects
Possession Immunity: Spiral's mind seems to be immune from possession. When Rogue attempted to steal Spiral's mind and powers, Spiral stole Rogue's instead, laughing that she had danced in many people's souls. Nocturne was fooled by Spiral into thinking Spiral had been possessed while Spiral remained in control.
It was also established that Spiral is aware, through unknown mystical means, whenever a person speaks her name.
Abilities
Spiral is a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant and sword fighter. Her six arms are fully coordinated, giving her great dexterity and athletic ability. However, Spiral will often lose to less powerful opponents due to tendencies of overconfidence, toying with her foe for too long, or becoming distracted.
Spiral demonstrated highly developed skills in cybernetics and genetic manipulation which she has used to turn humans into powerful cyborgs at her Body Shoppe. Most notable include Lady Deathstrike and the cybernetic Reavers, who have since been "upgraded" by Donald Pierce.
Strength level
Superhuman with an unknown upper limit.
Paraphernalia
Transportation
Dimensional travel using her own spells. Formerly Freedom Force Helicopter.
Weapons
Swords constructed from unknown metals.
Notes
It was revealed that Spiral was Ricochet Rita in X-Factor Annual #7.
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