BIOGRAPHY - Page 4
When the tragedy known as M-Day was unleashed by the deranged Scarlet Witch, 90% of the world’s mutant population was depowered. Karma was one of the few mutants who retained their powers. Further tragedy struck for the Xavier Academy when the Purifiers attacked, killing many depowered students as they were being transported to safety. The Lower School was disbanded along with the squad system since only two dozen students retained their mutant abilities. [House of M: The Day After, New X-Men (2nd series) #23]
Karma remained at the Institute during this painful transition. Though she did not serve as part of an active X-Men team, she continued to assist with various administrative duties, including organizing the so-called 198, mutants who had accepted refuge at the Institute in the wake of M-Day. Xuân found herself emotionally involved with the 198, as she was when Apocalypse offered 
mutantkind salvation, provided they drank his blood. Karma was initially sympathetic to the hope that Apocalypse was offering but soon changed her mind. Apocalypse’s Horseman, Famine, used his powers on the assembled mutants, making them crave any form of sustenance. Many accepted Apocalypse’s offer of life-sustaining blood. Despite her own hunger, Karma persuaded the others not to accept, especially as they did not know its full effects or the potential cost connected to this offering. [X-Men: The 198 #1, X-Men (2nd series) #183]
In the wake of the “Messiah Complex” and the destruction of the Xavier Institute, Karma relocated to San Francisco along with the majority of the X-Men. She assisted the X-Men on field missions as needed but was not a regular member of any of the established teams. When not aiding the X-Men, Karma spent her time with the other former New Mutants who had also moved to San Francisco. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #501-503]
When the Shadow King returned and took control of several mutants living in the X-Men's new base in the Marin Headlands, Karma happened upon the resulting battle. Shocked to see her hated foe, there was nothing Karma could do to prevent being possessed by him once more. Thankfully for Xuân, this proved short-lived, as Storm was able to free her and the other X-Men from the Shadow King’s mental thrall. [X-Men: Worlds Apart #4]
Though she appeared happy to those around her, Karma secretly mourned Kitty Pryde, who had 
sacrificed her life weeks earlier to save the world. To distract herself from this loss, Xuân spent her time looking after her younger brother and sister and training in her mental powers with Emma Frost, who believed that Karma was weak and had lost her edge. When Leong and Nga found Xuân crying over a photo of Kitty, they teased their sister, demanding a visit from "Aunt Kitty." Furious, Karma used her power on her siblings, but immediately realized she had made a mistake. She released the children from her mind control and told herself that she needed to take control of her powers, her emotions and her life. [X-Men: Manifest Destiny #1]
Karma and Mirage were sent to Colorado to investigate possible mutant activity. The source turned out to be Xavier’s son, Legion, who absorbed Xuân into his mind. Trapped within, Karma found herself the protector of a little girl named Marci, who had been killed by one of Legion’s personas and absorbed into his mind. Together, they attempted to evade Legion’s numerous split personalities, which had indeed become “legion.” Salvation soon arrived. The former New Mutants were reunited as an extraction team by Cannonball, after he learned from the recently returned Magik that Xuân and Dani were in danger. While the team fought Legion in the real world, Illyana joined Karma and Marci in Legion’s mindscape. Illyana brought her Soulsword into Legion’s mind and began massacring dozens of Legion’s personalities, giving Karma and Marci the time to rescue Legion’s core personality and restore him to at least temporary sanity. The crisis past, the reformed New Mutants returned to San Francisco with a pacified Legion. [New Mutants (3rd series) #1-4]
A short time later, Karma and the rest of the New Mutants were debriefed individually by Dr. Kavita Rao regarding the team’s encounter with Legion in Colorado. During her session, Karma remembered a buried memory from her time inside Legion’s mind. It was Xuân who had used Illyana’s Soulsword to kill the alternate personality within Legion’s fragmented mind who had killed Marci. Before she could confess this, Karma learned from Rao that Illyana, who had been interviewed before her, had already admitted to the act. Rather than correct Illyana’s statement, Karma kept this secret and corroborated Magik's story. [New Mutants (3rd series) #5]
Ever since the so-called "mutant messiah baby" escaped into the future with her guardian Cable, forces both friendly and hostile awaited her return. When Cable and the child, now a teenager named Hope, returned to the present, Bastion and his associates launched an all-out attack on mutantkind. In response, Karma and the New Mutants were sent by Cyclops to shut down a facility that produced anti-mutant weaponry for Bastion's allies - The Right. Karma made the first move against the heavily guarded facility by taking psychic possession of one of the armored soldiers and forcing him to open fire on his comrades. When Cameron Hodge himself joined the battle, Karma was asked to take possession of him. However, Hodge was able to detect and resist her mind control and when he found Karma, he shoved his spiked appendages through her left leg, severing it.
The New Mutants managed to rescue Karma and take out both Hodge and his army. They returned to Utopia with the gravely injured Karma, who was tended to by Madison Jeffries. Once Hope was safe, the X-Men had to contend with those who had been killed and maimed defending her. Karma was fitted with a cybernetic, prosthetic leg that Jeffries designed. Xuân was disgusted by her new leg, having hoped for something a bit more "sexy." [Second Coming crossover]
The New Mutants had precious little down time after their battle with Bastion. When they learned that Pixie had been kidnapped and taken to Limbo, the New Mutants mounted a rescue attempt. To their shock, the team learned that the culprits were the mutant infants whom they had rescued years earlier during the Inferno conflict. The babies had been taken by the US military and had grown up in Limbo where they were twisted into mutant weapons. They were now more than a match for the New Mutants, whom they easily defeated. Following their defeat, Karma was taken captive by a number of the Inferno Babies and their military keepers. One of them took a liking to Karma’s new appendage and decided to cut it off. Too weak to attempt a possession, Xuân entered the mind of the Inferno Baby called Face. At a young age, Face’s masters had secured a large focusing device to the mutant boy’s face to amplify the energy he could project from his eyes. The process left him blind and deaf but a more effective weapon. Traumatized by the sudden sensory deprivation, he retreated into his mind. As a result, his “teammates” treated him as little more than an animal. Xuân reached out to the boy, pulling his psyche from the darkness and allowing him to see what had been done to him through her eyes. Enraged, he unleashed his optic blasts on his teammates and helped Xuân escape.
Karma was soon teleported to safety by Magik and was angry that Illyana had left Face behind. Illyana revealed that Xuân was crucial to her plans and that she had deliberately let her use the Soulsword on the Legion persona so that she could later send Xuân back into Legion’s mind. Magik tasked Karma with entering Legion’s mind and bringing him to Limbo in this time of crisis. Legion proved to be the key to the New Mutants' victory against the Elder Gods of Limbo who had been unleashed by the Inferno Babies' masters using the Bloodstones forged from Illyana’s and Pixie’s souls. The New Mutants were victorious thanks to Legion's help and returned to Earth. With the defeat of the Elder Gods, Illyana achieved her revenge and now possessed the Bloodstones that had been crafted from her soul years before. In the aftermath, Karma realized that Illyana had manipulated them all to achieve her own agenda. Xuân decided that she had to tell the truth about her role in slaying one of Legion's corrupt personalities and reveal Magik’s plot. [New Mutants (3rd series) #15-21]
With these various adventures behind her, Xuân had begun to deal with her new, mechanical appendage. This is not the first time she had dealt with a dramatic change to her body and the added weight of her metallic leg seemed to have dredged up some of these old emotions. Karma was worried that she might be putting on some extra pounds but tackled her anxieties head-on by attending a “Waist Watchers” meeting in San Francisco. [X-Men: Curse of the Mutants - X-Men vs. Vampires #2]