GREYCROW: Page 3 of 3

BIOGRAPHY - page 3

Not long after that, a new era for mutantkind began. A mutant nation-state was established on the living island of Krakoa in the South Pacific. The X-Men began this venture, but Xavier and Magneto opened the doors to all mutants, and even established the ruling body of the Quiet Council with the likes of Sinister and Apocalypse sitting by their side. One of the major innovations of Krakoa was the Resurrection Five, a group of five mutants who pooled their powers to bring dead mutants back to life. With the addition of genetic samples from Sinister's databases and copies of entire minds taken from Cerebro by Xavier, the Five improved upon Sinister's old cloning process in every way. No mutant needed to ever fear death again.

John Greycrow made his way to Krakoa, but peace on the island Eden did not come easily for him. Paradise or not, Marauders and Morlocks would never be good neighbors. Callisto gathered a force of surviving Morlocks and resurrected victims to attack Greycrow for revenge on the anniversary of the Mutant Massacre. Greycrow defended himself (to the point of killing several Morlocks again). When he was brought before the Quiet Council to answer for victimizing the poor Morlocks once more, however, John made no attempt to explain he was attacked first.

Other "legacy" Marauders had not come to Krakoa, and the resurrection protocols made it difficult to assess their situation. Krakoan law did not allow for duplicate versions of a given mutant, trying to preserve the uniqueness and individuality of their citizens while avoiding hard philosophical questions about identity. Before Krakoa, Sinister had hidden multiple clones of the Marauders around the globe for various purposes. Furthermore, his implanted modifications made it questionable what version of the Marauders qualified as their "idealized selves" to resurrect. Greycrow advocated for his former comrades to be resurrected on Krakoa, but Xavier and the Five almost didn't know where to begin in aligning their genetic and cerebral profiles.

The Quiet Council chose to address several of these matters at once. Greycrow and several other "problem" mutants were brought before them for judgment. Sinister proposed a trial group known as the Hellions where mutants of Krakoa who were particularly dangerous to others would find an outlet for their instincts. Greycrow and these Hellions would perform heavily monitored missions where their aggressive talents would be put to use in therapeutic matters of destruction where human and mutant lives wouldn't be at risk. Their first mission would be to destroy the Essex State Home for Foundlings in Nebraska, the nexus for Sinister's old clone farm automating the production of new Marauders. This was for the good of Krakoa, eliminating the stain of Sinister's older cloning experiments from the purified version practiced by the nation. For Greycrow, the last of the legacy Marauder clones had also holed up in the orphanage, apparently defending it according to their old programming. The Council indicated that, once they had the final Marauder clones in custody and shut down Sinister's automated cloning machines to ensure no further clones were made, they could readdress restoring the idealized versions of Greycrow's old team. [Hellions #1]

The demolition project started poorly and got worse. Greycrow warned his new teammate Empath up front that using his manipulation powers against the team would get him shot in the head. Well, it did. Worse, once they found the clone farm, the legacy Marauders revealed they were not acting on their own accord, but under the influence of Madelyne Pryor, the Goblin Queen. The forgotten clone of Jean Grey, Madelyne felt ostracized from Krakoa, and awakened the Marauders as decaying corpses under her control to stage a spiteful attack on the people who abandoned her. John tried to reach out to Arclight and the others, but found them too tightly bound to the Queen's will. [Hellions #2]

The Hellions were scattered by Madelyne's appearance, and Greycrow was forced to fight his former team. He was tricked into letting his guard down and taken prisoner by the legacy Marauders. John stoically submitted to torment at the hands of his former victim Madelyne, only speaking up when Maddie had Arclight begin cutting on herself. The Hellions' field leader Psylocke rallied her team and helped free Greycrow. The Goblin Queen began waking up the entire stock of Marauder clones as an army to besiege Krakoa, which weakened her control over the first batch. As Arclight regained her senses, Greycrow gave Psylocke directions to the control matrix and Madelyne, claiming he had to get his people out first. Once Psylocke and the Hellions were out of sight, though, Greycrow assembled a gun and killed Arclight and the other zombified Marauders who were still "alive."

With the Hellions running in the wrong direction, Greycrow made his own way down the control matrix and sanctioned the Goblin Queen, killing her on behalf of his team(s). With Maddie's death, Havok brought down the rest of the orphanage, destroying the clone farm, the remaining Marauders, and completing the mission. With the clone farm gone, Krakoa committed to restoring the Marauders through resurrection protocols in the future, once their gene sequences could be divested of any and all modifications Sinister imprinted them with. Greycrow was satisfied with this outcome but, after executing his own team, he decided to put distance between him and them should the Resurrection Five ever bring the Marauders back. [Hellions #3-4]

Greycrow was unrepentant towards Empath once Manuel was resurrected, and warned him not to use his powers on the team again. The Hellions were led by Sinister into Otherworld at the onset of the Swordbearers tournament. Ostensibly, their mission was to prevent the Swordbearers of Arakko from gathering their blades in time to appear for the tournament. In truth, Essex merely wanted an excuse to sample the mutant DNA of the lost people of Arakko. When Saturnyne's guards stopped their advance in Avalon, Empath agreed to use his powers to divert them if Sinister let him "play" with Greycrow too. Manuel made John his lavishly devoted best friend for the rest of their journey.

After arriving in Arakko too late to stop the tournament, the Hellions were furious to learn Mister Sinister's true intentions. They quickly made enemies of the local genomic mage, Tarn the Uncaring, when Sinister stole genetic samples from Tarn's "children", the Locus Vile. The cowardly Empath fled back through the gate, letting Greycrow's fighting instincts reassert themselves. Wild Child, Nanny and Orphan Maker were killed by the Vile, and Sinister was left behind as well while Greycrow, Havok, and Psylocke got Sinister's genetic samples to safety. Backtracking to the Avalon gate to Krakoa, they found Empath waiting, and Greycrow fatally stabbed him in the guts before Manuel realized his control had slipped. As they passed back through to Krakoa, however, the Hellions were ambushed and murdered by the real Sinister. Essex had sent a clone with them at first, and now wanted no record or memory of his "samples" to exist. Disturbingly, Mister Sinister killed John with a remote control, indicating that the genetic engineering of his Marauder clones was still present in Greycrow's body. [Hellions #5-6]

Greycrow was increasingly endeared towards his field leader, Psylocke. Kwannon quietly encouraged him to be better without chiding him for his violence. During a mission against the Right, Krakoa's Hesiod Protocols required Psylocke to release a computer virus to destroy the emergent A.I. in their mutant-hunting soldiers. When Kwannon admitted she believed this was equivalent to murder, John offered to trigger the virus for her. She refused, telling Greycrow he was more than a killer, and should see himself that way. [Hellions #7-8] When Mastermind trapped the team for Arcade in individual illusions, Greycrow responded to Psylocke's telepathic distress call and broke through into her false reality. Their bond proved a centerpiece for uniting the rest of the Hellions and breaking the entire illusion scenario. This ad hoc team building exercise seemed incredibly beneficial as they sent Arcade running and completely destroyed his Murderworld complex. [Hellions #9-11]

The Hellions actually proved to be a healthy environment for John Greycrow over time, as the team grew closer in their headquarters called Purgatory. He befriended Wild Child as a brother and fellow soldier, helping him through his changes from Arakko. He bonded with Orphan Maker over cleaning their guns, a bittersweet experience as John opened up about how...cross his father would become if he failed to do gun maintenance properly. Greycrow even bantered with Empath a bit after Manuel helped them defeat Hodge and the Right. Betrayals soon began to fall like dominos for the Hellions, though.

Tarn the Uncaring came from Arakko with the clone Sinister under his dominion, seeking revenge for the Hellions' theft. Greycrow and the others learned through Tarn's telepathy how Sinister tricked and then killed them to cover his tracks. Mister Sinister abandoned the Hellions to Tarn and his Locus Vile while fleeing through a private Krakoan gate with his clone. To protect the Hellions, Kwannon revealed she and Sinister had lied to the Hellions and never destroyed Murderworld. Instead, Mastermind used his illusions to deceive them and Sinister made Murderworld into a shadow site cloning facility for his secret purposes.

Greycrow was crushed at first over Kwannon's betrayal. He assembled the biggest weapon yet out of his suit and cybernetic parts, killing wildly as he drove off the Locus Vile. The Hellions pursued Sinister to Murderworld and discovered he had used Arakkoan DNA to craft a Sinister-Tarn Chimera mutant to serve as his new body. Sinister protected his work by revealing the hold he had over Kwannon -- a digitially preserved copy of her human daughter's mind held in the same computers that supported his Chimera. Hearing this truth, Greycrow immediately understood the position Sinister put Psylocke in, forgiving her. However, Empath then revealed he was a plant on the team by Emma Frost against Sinister's inevitable misdeeds. He triggered Havok's psychotic second personality to destroy Murderworld, the Chimera, and the recording of Kwannon's daughter. [Hellions #12-15]

Whatever patience John had for Empath was done after that. At the Healing Gardens of Krakoa, he told Manuel to run, and also that running wouldn't save him. As he prepped with Wild Child, Greycrow said he planned to destroy Empath's backup as well, exile be damned. His warpath was interrupted when Orphan-Maker left Krakoa to battle the Right after they hurt Nanny. The Hellions (minus Empath) reassembled to bring Peter back before he ended up violating Krakoa's laws. Unfortunately, while the deaths of anti-mutant terrorists could be diplomatically explained, Orphan-Maker raged out of control and killed two innocent park rangers as well. [Hellions #16-17]

When the X-Men arrived to collect Peter, the Hellions stood by their own. Greycrow threw the first punch against Cyclops and the situation would have escalated further if Empath hadn't arrived and manipulated Greycrow. Again. The Quiet Council ultimately excused the Hellions' defense of their own member, but Orphan-Maker was condemned to exile in the Pit for his murders. John argued the loudest in favor of his "little brother", but when the verdict was cast, Psylocke insisted they console Peter rather than continue raging against his judges. Nanny chose to accept exile with Peter, and with that the Hellions were truly no more. Greycrow was prepared to carry out his execution of Manuel, but Kwannon asked him to stay his hand, one last time. The two of them returned to the beaches of Krakoa and watched the sun set. [Hellions #18]