HELLION: Page 3 of 7

BIOGRAPHY - PAGE 3

Life was looking good for Julian and the rest of his teammates, until the tragedy known as M-Day struck, rendering 98% of the world's mutant population powerless. Although Julian retained his powers, chaos erupted at the Institute as the majority of the student body, and several of the Institute teachers and X-Men, found themselves without powers. Tensions were high amongst the student body and Julian made it quite clear that those without powers had no place at the school any longer, as they were mere humans now. This included his crush Wind Dancer, putting her at odds with him and his best friend Tag. Julian inappropriately continued a rivalry he had with Surge, whom he initially turned away from the school for being homeless. To make matters more difficult, Wolverine dropped his clone/sister X-23 (Laura) with the rest of the Institute students, and she displayed some protective instincts towards Julian, saving him during a simulator scenario. Even Mercury, always loyal to Julian, told him that it was time to grow up.

As relationships broke down further between Julian and the other students, Emma summoned the majority of students who kept their powers to the Danger Room and subjected them to a fight amongst themselves. Julian was taken aback when Emma telepathically instructed him to take out Laura first – Emma did not want the young clone at the school. Julian was reluctant to carry out Emma's instruction, however, and even helped Laura when another student attacked her, although he told her they were now even. Emma concluded the test by informing the students that the squad system was out and named Julian as a member of the New X-Men team, along with his rival Surge, Elixir and three of the Hellions Squad. However, a furious Cyclops was not impressed by Emma arranging this and placed Laura on the team, too. Emma surprised everyone, Julian especially, when she announced that Surge would lead the team. Further tragedy soon struck the already vulnerable Institute when the anti-mutant organization known as the Purifiers launched an assault, destroying the bus departing the Insitute with the depowered students with a missile attack. A large number of the former students were killed, including Tag. The New X-Men leapt into danger to try and save their friends, but it was too late, the damage had already been done. [New X-Men (2nd series) #20-24]

Hellion, the entire student body and X-Men attended a mass funeral for over a dozen of the slain students whose parents would not allow their bodies returned home, including Tag. Julian was hurt to learn after the funeral that Wind Dancer had departed the school without saying goodbye to him and angrily lashed out with his powers. [New X-Men (2nd series) #24] Emma Frost took the death of the students particularly hard and became very strict with Julian and the other New X-Men. The New X-Men underwent rigorous and frequent training so they could become familiar with each other but, even so, Julian continued to be disruptive and unsupportive of Surge as leader, and the other Hellions Squad members on the team continued to defer to Julian for instruction. [New X-Men (2nd series) #25]

When the Purifiers launched another attack on the school, Julian and Surge found themselves fighting side-by-side against the anti-mutant lunatics. Initially, they appeared to do well, but the Purifiers had a technology that could disrupt mutant powers, and a bullet pierced Julian's telekinetic shield, wounding his shoulder. Thanks to the skills of X-23, the Purifiers were defeated, but not without further loss to the remaining student body. [New X-Men (2nd series) #27] Julian didn't think things could get any worse but, when the body of his old friend Icarus was discovered at the Purifiers compound. He even overheard agents from the Office of National Emergency, who were assigned to support and protect the Xavier Institute, talking about how the Purifiers missed some of the mutants and realized just how much hate there was for mutantkind. [New X-Men (2nd series) #28]

By happenstance, it was during a time of absence of the majority of X-Men, who were out of the country, when the New X-Men learned that the deadly future Sentinel called Nimrod had returned to the present day. Deciding to take action on their own, the New X-Men stole a Blackbird jet and snuck out of the Xavier Institute, which was still being guarded by the Office of National Emergency. The team flew to Texas, to where the Nimrod was with former X-Man Forge. When the young mutants battled the Nimrod, Mercury found herself in genuine danger when Nimrod electrocuted her. Showing how much he had grown as a person in recent days, Julian showed genuine concern for his longtime teammate. When Forge's lab exploded in the ensuing chaos, Julian was wounded. However, when his teammates were in serious danger from the Nimrod, Julian fought past his pain to protect them from the deadly Sentinel. The rest of the New X-Men all found themselves in dangerous positions as they tried to challenge the powerful Nimrod, but Julian once again proved resourceful and skilled with his abilities, using his telekinesis to shunt his rival Surge from Nimrod's grasp as Surge delivered the final blow to overload the Nimrod's system. With Surge safe, Julian then used his telekinesis to rebuild Rockslide, who was shattered during the conflict.

When the dust settled, the young heroes discovered that Laura was in serious danger, having been blasted at close range by the Nimrod. Julian immediately took control, grabbing Laura in a telekinetic field and, with the stolen Blackbird damaged, flew X-23 back to the Institute. Knowing he had to get Laura back to Elixir so that she could be healed, Julian cried out to Emma Frost and pleaded for help to save Laura. Emma began by telling Julian that there was nothing she could do but, when Julian told her that he didn't want to bury anymore friends, Emma opened up the part of Julian's mind that controlled his powers. This enabled Julian to use his telekinesis to fly at an incredibly fast speed across the United States, back to the Xavier Institute, where he slammed through one of the Sentinels guarding the Institute and landed in the infirmary where Elxir was currently unconscious. Julian forced Elixir to wake up and instructed him to heal Laura. Having been unable to save another teammate recently, Elixir didn't want to try… but Julian didn't give him any options. With Laura safe, Julian passed out from exhaustion. [New X-Men (2nd series) #29-31]

After sleeping extensively to recover from the increased use of his powers, Julian met with the Beast, who determined that Julian's power levels had come down somewhat since he flew back to the Institute. However, when Julian had trouble merely controlling his powers when lifting a paperclip – and instead lifted the entire floor up – the Beast concluded that Julian's power levels were still vastly more powerful than prior to Emma opening his mind. [New X-Men (2nd series) #33]