Omega Sentinel[]

Karima Shapandar was a detective in the Indian national police who worked in Calcutta. She was assigned by Mr. Shaara, a wealthy and influential officer, to look after his son Neal. Neal was looking for his brother, Sanjit, who had gone missing when researching the mysterious disappearance of vulnerable people in the impoverish sections of the city. An emotional bond quickly developed between Shapandar and Neal Shaara as they joined forces to search for Sanjit. On the verge of beginning a romantic relationship, they were attacked and captured by the anti-mutant robotic activist Bastion, who ran Operation: Zero Tolerance.^[8]

Bastion used his deadly technology to transform humans into mutant-hunting Sentinels and was behind the kidnappings in Calcutta. Sanjit had become one of his victims, being programmed to seek out and destroy mutants. Bastion intended to do the same to Shapandar and Neal, but the process catalyzed Neal's latent mutant power, which destroyed the building around them. However, Shapandar was successfully transformed. Sanjit and Shapandar were momentarily able to fight their programming long enough to disable the other Sentinels. As Sanjit perished in battle, Karima Shapandar quietly asked Neal to run away. As an Omega Prime Sentinel, she would soon achieve combat mode to destroy mutants in her proximity, which forced him to flee.^[8]

Genosha[]

The Omega Sentinel was acquired by Genoshan Magistrates under unrevealed means. They wished to use Shapandar as a weapon to gain control over the ruined mutant homeland of Genosha. Having been put in stasis in a capsule and shipped in an airplane from Mumbai to Genosha, her mutant-killing directives alerted mutant telepaths residing in Genosha, namely Hack^[14] and Professor Charles Xavier. Hack and his allies attempted to stop the activation of the Omega Sentinel. The Magistrates retaliated and the airplane exploded during the fight, causing the capsule where Shapandar was kept to fall into the ocean.^[15]

Xavier and the former ruler of Genosha Magneto tracked her location, finding her free from her cage at the bottom of the sea. Magneto's powers subdued Shapandar and he expressed his intentions of destroying her. However, Xavier idealistically wished to restore Shapandar to her former self by erasing her Omega Sentinel programming. As Xavier telepathically cured her organic mind, Magneto used his magnetic powers to prevent any further infections from technological nannites. Although successful, they could not revert the technological modifications made to her body. As a gesture of gratitude, Shapandar fended the Magistrate off with her weaponry.^[9]

Shapandar stayed on the island with Xavier, Magneto and their allies. They were subdued by Stripmine, a looter who took advantage of the ravaged island's situation. Shapandar was molested by Stripmine's minions, namely Appraiser and a bunch of Trolls. Shapandar's nannites were employed to nullify the mutant abilities of her companions.^[16] While captive, she was introduced to the vile McCoy. Xavier overpowered the attackers who were imprisoned, freeing Shapandar in the process. As a result of this encounter, Xavier and Magneto decided to found a republic in Genosha.^[17] Shapandar acted as a police officer in Genosha trying to restore order by reasoning with the prisoners in order to form a harmonious community.^[18]

At Magneto's request, Shapandar contacted a rebel group led by Unus the Untouchable to recruit their teleporter, Hub. She asked Hub to retrieve Xavier and his bodyguard Callisto in order to allow them to meet Magneto, who had brought his mentally-unstable adopted daughter, the Scarlet Witch to Genosha, after she had destroyed the Avengers.^[19] Soon after, Shapandar and other Genoshans found McCoy brutally beaten. She came into conflict with Callisto for her recklessness in having inexperienced mutants to investigate the problem. The two women took care of the situation, finding the Sugar Man as the responsible. Sugar Man fatally wounded Shapandar, but her machine body repaired itself rapidly. Adjusting to her artificial body came into conflicts with her Hindu beliefs. However, she overcame her struggles and helped Callisto finish the villain.^[20]

Months later, while Xavier and Magneto tended to the Scarlet Witch, Shapandar and Callisto convinced their Genoshan friends to intervene in the actions of the terrorist Weaponeers led by Viper, who wished to destabilize and colonize the country of Zanzibar under Courtney Ross's orders.^[21] As Callisto confronted Viper, Shapandar assisted president Askari, but was surprised by the hitman Scimitar.^[22] Shapandar ultimately was able to defeat Scimitar alongside her allies, who then earned medals of honor in Zanzibar.^[23]

Where Shapandar and Callisto were successful, Xavier and Magneto failed for the Scarlet Witch succumbed to chaos. She used her powers to reshape reality, where mutants were the socially dominant species in the world.^[24] Sentinels worked for mutants' best interests and, as such, Karima Shapandar was the omega officer of King Magnus' powerful nation of Genosha.^[25] The Avengers and the X-Men were able to overcome the illusory setting and restore reality. However, in the process, the Scarlet Witch decimated mutant numbers, leaving only a insignificant fraction of mutants empowered.^[26] With so many mutants losing their abilities, including Xavier, Magneto and Callisto, Genosha became a lifeless graveyard again with no potential. Presumably, Shapandar left the island after this event.

X-Men[]

By getting into contact with a telepathic call for help from the mutant illusionist Lady Mastermind, Shapandar went to her rescue.^[27] However, she was kidnapped and disassembled in an illegal laboratory in the Fordyce Clinic, which ran tests on mutants. The X-Men tracked Lady Mastermind's mutant signature down as well and, ultimately, retrieved both of them.^[28] Beast reassembled Shapandar at the Xavier Institute. She realized she had lost her records from the period she was a hostage.^[27] Her rescue coincided with the X-Men being targetted by the anti-mutant race of temporally-advanced creatures known as the Children of the Vault. Shapandar was recruited by Rogue to be part of an independent strike team of X-Men aimed at preventing the Children of the Vault from reaching the Xavier Institute.^[10] She was initially subdued by the technopath Serafina. However, the X-Men were able to turn the game and defeat the interlopers. Rogue then had her team leave the Xavier Institute in the Children's flying cargo ship, El Conquistador, to operate independently from the school.^[29]

Rogue's X-Men team helped Shapandar and Lady Mastermind in learning the identities of those who had kidnapped them. Their investigation led them to Dr. Richard Palance, a.k.a. the Pandemic, who ambushed the X-Men and kidnapped Rogue after subduing the team and teleporting away.^[4] Shapandar was left in poor condition due to the attack. After rebuilding her components, she repaired the teleporter to follow Pandemic. Shapandar teleported the X-Men to Calcutta,^[3] where the villain was defeated, but Rogue was infected by a deadly virus that violently boosted her mutant powers.^[30]

The X-Man Cable took the team to his nation island of Providence, where Rogue could be cared for. Shapandar stayed in El Conquistador to watch over the erratic X-Man Sabretooth, who she had trapped within a time-slowing cell.^[31] Unexpectedly, Providence was attacked by the dangerous Hecatomb, a Shi'ar mind-absorbing bomb. The Hecatomb destroyed El Conquistador, forcing Shapandar to override its systems to prevent a crash. However, the interference freed Sabretooth, who locked Shapandar out to sabotage her plan of evacuating potential victims through the ship.^[32] The X-Men resisted the Hecatomb, which was unable to affect Shapandar's robotic mind. However, it still devoured the population of Providence. The device was destroyed thanks to the cojoined efforts of the X-Men.^[33]

Rogue's condition worsened for having interacted with the Hecatomb, and the X-Men went to her family house in Caldecott to recuperate. For having experienced several minor damages in her fight against the Hecatomb, Shapandar decided to run diagnostics and repairs online. This left her open to be supplanted by Malice via an e-mail attachment. Under Malice's control, Omega Sentinel became an unwilling member of the Marauders. The Marauders had other infiltrators in the X-Men as well, namely Lady Mastermind and Mystique, who ultimately betrayed the team. Emma Frost telepathically sensed Shapandar's corruption but not before being paralyzed by a neurotoxin blast first.^[2]

The Marauders, led by Mister Sinister, had as a mission to keep the X-Men ignorant about the messianic birth of the first mutant since the Scarlet Witch's decimation.^[34] After the child was born, several factions, including the Marauders, fought to grab hold of her.^[35] Malice and the Marauders secured the baby,^[36] taking her to Muir Island,^[37] where a final confrontation against the X-Men took place.^[38] There, Malice brutalized the young X-Man Pixie. During their battle, Pixie stabbed the Omega Sentinel body with her magic Souldagger, purging it from Malice's possession.^[39] Shapandar returned to her senses, with substantial damage as a result of Malice's viral corruption; though her body had repaired itself, her memory files were corrupted.^[40]

No Hope[]

Freed from Malice, Omega Sentinel found herself in a battleground for the fate of the mutant baby messiah. Xavier was mortally shot in the head by Bishop by accident. The X-Men believed him to be dead,^[41] without knowing Exodus's Acolytes had intervened. Via Tempo's time-slowing powers, Shapandar stabilized Xavier's condition with her machinery, which allowed the Acolytes to secretly take him to their New Avalon headquarters. There, Exodus rebuilt Xavier's brain telekinetically, but was unable to wake him from his comatose state.^[40]

With the help of the de-powered Magneto, Shapandar jumpstarted Xavier's mind. This sparked the rage of the Acolyte Frenzy, who saw Xavier as a traitor of the mutant race. Shapandar was damaged by Frenzy during a vicious fight, until Magneto was able incapacitate Frenzy. Curious about mutant theory, Shapandar took the opportunity to ask Xavier about the winner of the endless philosophical conflict between him and Magneto. As an answer, Xavier mentioned the future had rendered them obsolete.^[42] In an attempt to avenge the harm done against Frenzy, Exodus attacked Magneto and Xavier. After a psychic tussle, Xavier was victorious and left.^[43] Shapandar stayed with the Acolytes until Xavier returned to put them down. She betrayed Exodus to assist Xavier in gratitude for him having restored her humanity in Genosha.^[44] With the resettlement of the X-Men on the island Utopia, at the San Francisco Bay, Shapandar used her Acolytes association to convince them to join the new mutant nation.^[45]

With the return of the mutant messiah, now baptized Hope, Utopia was sieged by Bastion. The X-Men triumphed over him, but San Francisco was damaged in the confrontation.^[46] The X-Men, including Omega Sentinel and Hope, offered their help to reconstruct destroyed sites. Experienced glitches in her devices, the Omega Sentinel was useless in the assignment, however. Eventually, her malfunctioning directives led her to attack the X-Men with various lethal countermeasures in order to ultimately finish Hope with an energy blast.^[47] The telekinetic Hellion redirected the shot to protect Hope and stop Shapandar. As the Omega Sentinel attempted to finish the X-Men, Hellion brutally destroyed her body, which forced her to shut down her own consciousness. With Shapandar trapped in a comatose state, Doctor Nemesis assessed that her original Omega Sentinel programming had been unlocked by a virus the X-Men had used to corrupt Bastion's army of Sentinels.^[48]

Arkea[]

Shapandar's deactivated Omega Sentinel body was relocated to the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning, where Beast once more took care of her. Her systems were infected by Arkea, a primal technology-infecting bacteria who sought revenge against her sibling who had asked for asylum with the X-Men, Sublime.^[1] Controlling the Omega Sentinel body as a puppet, Arkea seized control of the school's circuitry when fighting an intense battle against Rogue. In the Danger Room, Kitty Pryde threatened to use her phasing powers to shut down the Omega Sentinel body; Arkea had no choice but to retreat.^[49]

Sublime and the X-Men and Sublime tracked the Omega Sentinel back to Budapest, near a biomechanics facility close where the Arkea entity first made earth-fall. Fortunately, a remnant of Shapandar's core personality managed to retake control of herself, just long enough to plunge Psylocke's psionic knife into herself. Arkea was purged from Shapandar for good.^[50] Arkea's presence rendered the cybernetics in Shapandar's body inert.^[51]

Having regained her humanity back, Karima Shapandar was at a crossroads in her life, wondering whether to return to police work back home in India or to find where her talents and her heart really lay. She was targeted by Ana Cortés, the new host of Lady Deathstrike, who wished to acquire the Omega Sentinel technology for enhancements. With the X-Man M's help, Shapandar evaded Deathstrike's assailants, though she took a bullet to her shoulder. Despite being injured, Shapandar decided to stay on board with the X-Men since she was a cop through and through.^[51]

Deathstrike's obsession with the Omega Sentinel led her to learn about and reactivate Arkea, forming a Sisterhood of Mutants to combat the X-Men.^[52] Arkea possessed Deathstrike's companion Reiko and reactivated Sentinels all across the globe. This interacted with Shapandar's dormant implants, causing her to hemorrhage.^[53] She guided the young students of the Jean Grey School in defeating the unleashed Sentinels. With Arkea subdued, Shapandar then shot her with a gun devised by Sublime that specifically destroyed her infection. Shapandar ultimately left the X-Men, being offered a position with Sabra and Gabriel Shepherd to investigate crimes related to Ana Cortés' family.^[54]

Orchis[]

Karima Shapandar had her mind overwritten by a version of herself from an alternate possibility by the Enigma posing as a Titan, effectively killing her. ^[55] This Karima Shapandar had achieved the Omega state of the Omega Cycle, which is the total machine state of the Omega Sentinel infection, something her counterpart had been able to prevent. The Omega Sentinel had, in her reality, experienced an existence where mutants thrived over human and machine oppression. This prompted her to counter mutantkind before they could achieve such dominance by sharing her life experiences with S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Dr. Killian Devo as if they were his own. Devo was blinded in the process as a way to keep him ignorant about the brainwashing. As a result, the Orchis Protocols were implemented, leading to the creation of an organization especially focused on preventing the ascension of mutants on Earth.^[12][13]

The Omega Sentinel would spend years as one of Orchis' top lieutenants, notably participating in the massacre and forced exodus of most of mutantkind during the third Hellfire Gala.^[56] She would also play a leading role in Nimrod's betrayal of humankind and of Orchis itself, attempting to use Orchis' Sentinel City to destroy Earth's atmosphere and kill humans and mutants alike.^[57] During the X-Men's counterattack, Omega Sentinel would face Psylocke and Rogue. Psylocke would stab Karima through the head with a psionic blade in an attempt to kill her, inadvertently killing the alternate Omega Sentinel and liberating Karima's mind for the first time in years. She would rejoin the X-Men and escape the facility after Nimrod's defeat.^[7]

Prime/Omega Prime Sentinel Technology: Karima was fitted with Omega Prime Sentinel technology that grants her numerous abilities. Recent testing's show that the majority of her nano-bionics have been rendered impassive lately. Her subsumation of an alt. universe Omega Sentinel reasserted her inert micromechanical enhancements and modified them in a few respects.

• Superhuman Strength: Karima possesses heightened physical strength, the exact limits of which are unknown, it is believed to be around 70 tons of force as is the norm for most Prime Sentinels.

• Enhanced Sensors: Her Prime Sentinel technology offers numerous scanning, homing and radar senses. particularly used for tracking mutant signatures Karima is capable of finding and tracking other odds and ends as well. Stemming to Telescopic, Microscopic and X-ray vision as well as Proximity Sensors, Bio-Scanning and Monitoring, individual Bio-Tagging and Locating, Target ID and Acquisition Locks, etc.

• Enhanced Reflexes

• Enhanced Speed

• Enhanced Endurance

• Flight: Has flight capacity by unknown means, either along the lines of rocket boots or anti-gravity propulsion.

• Nano Shifting: Her nano-technological carapace enables Karima numerous mechanism morphing capabilities from generating Plasma Coils, Electrostatic Poles, Plasma Torches, Energy Guns to life Support, Machine Interface, Hologram Projection, Threat Adaptation and more.
  • Nanite Regeneration: Ability to repair any physical injury/damage she receives, she is also repaired so that she is stronger and more durable than she was before she suffered damage.
    • Adaptive: Once assaulted in some manner or another and after having recuperated from it, Omega's Omega Prime Sentinel tech memorizes the damage dealt onto it and alters her frame to develops a tough resistance to recurring injury.
  • Power Negation: In another showing against the Krakoan X-Men, Omega Karima could mix Sentinite like nanomechs into her energy blasts that negate the powers of mutants they are used on.^[58]
  • Cyberpathy: Having been remade into a living computer, Omega's mind operates on different level compared to when she was a baseline Humans (Homo sapiens). like a typical cyberpath Karima has vast data storage and collating capacity, able to receive and utilize all forms of electronic data and transmissions with her mind. She also has an access store of various functions pertaining to her Omega Prime Sentinel programming which enables her to activate a host of protocols and functions of her biomorphic person. This includes satellite modem access, long-range interactive holograms, target identification and acquisition locks.
  • Technopathy: A more direct application of her cybernetic functions, Typical of most Omega Prime Series sentinels while also unique to Karima herself. She has a capacity for linking with and controlling as well as restructuring and assimilating localized technology to a limited degree, during her possession by Arkea she has shown a number of feats featuring the remote manipulation of machines. Either ranging from usurping the Jean Grey School's A.I. machine from it's handlers to overriding and manipulating it's Danger Room Protocols.^[49] Her control of machinery despite its limitations is finely tuned, she's even capable of controlling foreign nanites spliced in another person's blood with enough concentration.

• Energy Manipulation: Being an early series prototype Omega Prime Sentinel, Karima boasted modifications that enable her to project and control energy on a subatomic scale. Enabling her to emit various dynamistic signatures and alter their substance to various degrees projecting plasma, microwave or even electromagnetism on some scale.
  • Energy Shielding
  • Tailored Bio-Blasts: Capable of adjusting internal energies towards making a more effective offensive armament against targeted quarry.

• Teleportation: A new feature fixed and augmented by Arkea, Karima's body proved capable of long range instantaneous transport over incredibly vast distances. About as far from one point of the world to another on the other side of it.^[49]

As a Prime Sentinel, had advanced cybernetic nanotech responsible for superhuman strength, resistance to injury and regenerative abilities, electrostatic poles mounted on her arms, flight, and a selection of unspecified weapons and mechanisms that retract into her body and cloaking devices.

Damaged memory core drive greatly limiting her technological capacity, every time she is possessed it only worsens her decreased data stream.

Complex Nanite Matrix, Life Support Nodes, internal CPU with satellite linkup, Searchlights, Electromagnetic & Microwave Emitters, rocket boosters, Electrostatic Poles generating massive amounts of electrical energy (Formerly).

Several projectile weapons including Plasma Knives, Armour Piercing Darts, Lasers, Volt-Casters, Sonic Scramblers, Neural Disruptors, Rail-guns, Extendable Finger Knives, Nitrogen & Flame Dispensing Weapons (Formerly).

Flight, Teleportation (Formerly).

• Karima was described to be a mutant Sentinel by Appraiser.^[5]

• When asked what he liked about the character, creator Chris Claremont responded "I liked the idea of her. The notion... of someone being transformed into a wholly mechanical being and what effects that has on sense of self, sense of soul? She's an outcast from both human and mutant society, yet bound by her own personal sense of honor to try to protect both. Callisto's (another character in the Excalibur series) one kind of 'monster,' Karima's another. They both have their measure of prejudice to overcome."