BIOGRAPHY - Page 7
The next few months were a turbulent time for the X-Men and the whole of mutantkind. The Terrigen mists, the vapors that gave the Inhumans their powers, were released into Earth’s 
atmosphere and it became apparent they were deadly to mutants. Whilst the main X-Men team chose to relocate their base to Limbo for fear of infection, a number of mutants, Monet included, chose to stay on the surface and protect those left behind. After Jamie Madrox was killed by the Terrigen, Mists Monet saw first-hand how deadly they were and realized she couldn’t run and hide from the situation. She decided to join Magneto’s newly formed team of X-Men, who were more direct and efficient in their desire to protect the remaining mutants. The team was made up of various mutants with morally grey outlooks, including Sabretooth, who had recently had his depraved personality inverted so that he was more heroic than villainous. In spite of his newfound moral compass, Monet didn’t trust him and constantly taunted and mocked him at every opportunity. She was so relentless in her verbal abuse of him that the other team members questioned whether she was insulting or flirting with him.
Regardless of her true feelings for Sabretooth, she was able to work alongside him when the team were tasked with rescuing mutant healers, who were being assassinated. The team split up with Monet and Sabretooth being sent to find and guard the former X-student Elixir. They found him quickly but realized that the Dark Riders had also caught up with him. Monet tried her best to 
convince Elixir he was in danger, but he ended up walking into a trap and getting himself executed. [Uncanny X-Men (4th series) #1-2]
Monet didn’t have time to mourn, as more healers needed protecting and she was sent to Tibet to warn Shen Xorn about the threat. She finally got her chance to avenger Elixir when the team fought the Dark Riders again, only this time the villains came off worse. Beforehand, Monet would have objected to the killing of anyone, including villains, but now with her entire species on the line she was beginning to see that sometimes it was the only way. [Uncanny X-Men (4th series) #3-5]
Monet’s past came back to haunt her when she got word that the Morlocks were in dire need of help and had specifically requested her presence. Travelling into the underground tunnels with 
Sabretooth, she met up with Callisto, who explained that many mutants had taken shelter with the Morlocks to try and avoid the Terrigen mists. Some of them were nevertheless falling ill and it wasn’t M-Pox, the disease caused by the mists, but something else entirely. When Monet examined some of the afflicted mutants, she was horrified to see they had become thralls for her brother Emplate. After a brief fight with them, she followed some back to Emplate’s base and met up with her brother for the first time in years. Disgusted by his presence, she was ready to fight him but he pleaded with her for help instead. With mutants dying of M-Pox, his food source was dwindling and he didn’t want to shift back into the other dimension in which he normally resided. Monet offered to be his food source if he vowed to leave the Morlocks alone. Desperate, Emplate accepted her offer but, once alone, Monet attacked him and tried to force him to shift back into his own dimension for good. Her plan almost worked but Emplate had another 
trick up his sleeve and he triggered the power all the St. Croix siblings shared. He merged his mind and body into Monet’s, inflicting her with his curse and becoming an unwanted presence in her thoughts. When Sabretooth found her, she pretended nothing was wrong, but back at Magneto’s base she was already struggling to contain the hunger she was feeling. Sabretooth wasn’t as stupid as she thought and he revealed he knew exactly what was going on and offered himself to her so she could feed. [Uncanny X-Men (4th series) #6-10]
Monet tried to continue on as normal and assisted Magneto in helping forge ties with as many powerful organizations as possible. When offered the chance, she took up the mantle of the White Queen within the newly formed Hellfire Club. Whether this was to honor or spite her old former teacher and previous title-holder, Emma Frost, is anyone’s guess. Using the Hellfire Club’s connections, Magneto and his team tracked down a base used by the Someday Corporation, a company kidnapping and weaponizing mutants who just wanted to hide from the M-Pox. During a 
fight with Someday’s forces, Emplate’s influence over Monet started to show and she used her newly acquired vampiric powers to feed off one of them. [Uncanny X-Men (4th series) #12]
The team took one of Someday’s subjects hostage but, despite Psylocke’s best efforts, she was unable to get any useful information from his mind. Once Psylocke had left, Monet offered to help instead, claiming she wouldn’t be as delicate as Psylocke was when traversing through the man’s mind. Monet’s more heavy-handed approach worked and she discovered that it was Exodus, a former Acolyte of Magneto’s, who was controlling the Someday Corporation. Exodus was quickly defeated and in the aftermath the various members of Magneto’s team started to drift apart. [Uncanny X-Men (4th series) #13-14]
Monet’s cravings for mutant bone marrow began to overwhelm her and, without a team to keep her in check, she started to lose control. When the X-Men and Inhumans went to war with each other, prisoners were taken on both sides, with the Inhumans being taken to Limbo out the way. 
Many were lost in the chaos of war and Monet took the opportunity to feed, even if it was Inhuman marrow. Sabretooth eventually caught up with her in the wastelands of Limbo after she had fed on several hapless Inhumans unlucky enough to get lost. Emplate’s influence on her was growing and she attacked Sabretooth, easily overwhelming him. As he had been offering himself up for her to feed on for the past few weeks, she had slowly been acquiring his mutant abilities, such as his healing factor and claws. During their fight, an Inhuman that Monet had cornered managed to escape, forcing Sabretooth to chase after him. Despite saving him from some demons, Sabretooth chose to protect Monet by letting her feed on the poor soul. If the X-Men ever found out about her, there was no telling what they would do. [Uncanny X-Men (4th series) #17]
The threat of the Terrigen mists was soon ended and the X-Men were able to return to the surface world. With Magneto’s team going their separate ways, Sabretooth became part of a newly formed Weapon X team and he lost touch with Monet. Without a constant food source on which to rely, Monet finally lost her fight against her brother and she succumbed to his influence, becoming M-Plate once more. As well as a physical change in her, she took on aspects of his powers, such as the ability to shift in and out of the regular dimension. Still needing a food source, she followed the X-Men to their new base in Central Park and began hunting any mutants who crossed her paths. She met up with Emplate’s minion DOA and together they set up home in the abandoned tunnels under Central Park. To begin with, she was content at draining the life-force of the various runaways, vagrants and Morlocks that inhabited the tunnels. Soon enough, she was forced to go further afield to feed and gained the attention of the X-Men’s newly formed Generation X team, led by Monet’s former teammate Jubilee. When she attacked some of the 
students at the school, M-Plate earned the wrath of Jubilee and revealed to everyone that their former friend was now under the influence of Emplate. [Generation X (2nd series) #4]
Not wanting to give up on the bountiful food source of mutants at the school, M-Plate hatched a plan to feed off them on a more permanent basis. Using DOA as an anchor, she managed to unhinge the school from the regular dimension, effectively segregating it off from the outside world, allowing her to enter and feed on anyone inside. Her scheme worked and she managed to strike whilst most of the X-teams were away, leaving the students inside at her mercy. M-Plate feasted on many of them, finally satisfying Emplate’s insatiable appetite. Her plan was ruined though by Generation X, who managed to knock DOA out, forcing the school to reappear back on Earth. It wasn’t just the new Gen X team M-Plate had to deal with either, as her former teammates Husk and Chamber joined in the fight 
against her. M-Plate had absorbed many powers from her recent victims and she proved to be a powerful adversary, beating each of her former friends down. Her downfall came when she absorbed the powers of Hindsight, a mutant who had the ability to share memories by touch. Unable to control the power, M-Plate was forced to see all her friend’s memories of her, good and bad. The sudden emotional response it triggered forced Monet to gain control of her body and purge Emplate from it. In a weakened state, Emplate was unable to stay in the dimension and he phased out of it, leaving a dazed and confused Monet behind. After being checked out at the school’s infirmary, Monet was found to be in good health, although it would take longer getting over the trauma of being her brother’s unwilling slave once again. [Generation X (2nd series) #8-9, (1st series) #85-87]