Chapter Five

Susan Gala was an orphan. Her parents were in a plane crash while flying over Brazil, and only she survived. A tribe found her and took her in as their own, and she had been there ever since. The tribe was ruled, however, by money-hungry terrorists. Born with sandy blonde hair and lime green eyes, she was remarkable when it came to intelligence. However, she had an odd attribute. She would always play near the snakes, but they would never harm her. The tribe, seeing this, coined her Anna Conda.

Anna was seven years old when they discovered the true extent of her power. It was a normal day in the tribe, and Anna was receiving her schooling when they received sudden news from a rushed messenger. "Our tribe is being attacked by an anaconda! Run!" Even though it was close to a pun, the man she was with drew his mouth into a thin line as he looked down at the child, standing up and forcing her to follow him out of the area. However, she started going the other way when she saw the anaconda.

"Wait! Stop! You'll be killed!" The man knew of Anna's affiliation with snakes, but a child taking on an anaconda was too much. He ran after her only to find her approaching it, getting it to lower its head enough so that she could stroke it. The snake's eyes closed and its tongue flicked out in a pleased matter, which made Anna smile. "How..." From that day on, she kept the snake as a pet, though sometimes she would be seen with a small garden snake laced around her shoulders. The snake had the mystical power to grow as small as a garden snake or as large as an anaconda, or anywhere in between. Finding this odd that these two seemed to find each other, he noticed that the men watching over the tribe took great interest in the girl, but never confirmed it.

Anna Conda was thirteen years old. She had become a trained thief, picking pockets for money to survive. She had gone out today like any other day, deciding to pick the pocket of a heavyset man in a suit, but before she could remove her hand, he grabbed her wrist. "What do you think you're doing?!" He pulled her hand from his pocket and took her back to her tribe, throwing her on the ground. "That little girl almost robbed me...I demand retribution!" Anna stood, and the man put his hand on her shoulder, grasping it, and not letting go. Suddenly, he screamed as a snake bit his hand, a snake protruding from her head. What once was her hair was now composed of dozens of snakes attached to her head, and the fear she was projecting had allowed them to take action.

Anna Conda decided then the route of her life, the thirst for blood driving her decision to become a tool of the terrorists. She believed that snakes should dominate the Earth instead of humans, and developed the ability to control snakes as well. The terrorists left the tribe and took her to North America, more specifically the States, and then was trained in combat efficiently. On her biggest mission, to destroy the Empire State Building, the X-Men appeared, sent by S.H.I.E.L.D., but were unaware of who had committed the crime.

In her early teens, she became a millionaire because of her proficiency in killing and destroying cities with her snakes. However, she moved back to South America to continue her criminal activities, naming her pet anaconda 'Nigh'.

It was then when she discovered the mystical powers of Nigh, as she was going on a mission and became seriously injured. The next morning, she woke up without the injury, and it was then when she realized that Nigh had healed her. Also, the snake carried an anti-aging aura, which is why Anna will always look like a late teenager.

For a short time, Anna lived in Valle Soleada, the mutant-friendly community in California, and there she met Henry Lynch, a fellow mutant. After she fell in love with him, Anna began to reconsider her ways and started a life with Henry, getting married at nineteen years old. She even began to work as a spy for the U.S. government, giving them information on the biggest terrorists there were to clean her record and have a normal life.

Anna went on maternity leave when she found out that she was pregnant, and nine months later gave birth to a baby girl. However, when her daughter, named Maeve Lynch, was just weeks old, she gave her up to an adoption agency when she and Henry divorced because of a disagreement. Nigh bit and killed him by Anna's accord, and she fled California, resuming her life as a criminal at the age of twenty-one.

Anna Conda sat in her mansion now, in the living room, reading a book. It wouldn't be too long before she revealed herself to the world...Not long at all.