BIOGRAPHY - Page 9
As it turned out, this was all a ruse. Charles and Moira had decided her profile had grown too large, and her influence on the timeline was jeopardizing the predictions she could make based on her past experiences. And so, it was decided Moira would fake her death and step back into the shadows to work towards their long-term goals in secret. The Moira who died was a Shi’ar golem, specially engineered for this purpose. Presumably, the Shi’ar golem had a surface shell personality that was a copy of Moira’s, which Cable and Phoenix observed dying on the astral plane, instead of interacting with a remote version of Moira herself. [House of X #2, Powers of X #6]
Not much is known about Moira’s years in seclusion afterwards. She resurfaced only as Xavier and Magneto were finally ready to put their plans in motion. Krakoa – used as a mutant nation-state in Moira’s past lives – was tamed to the mutants’ cause by the hyper-linguist Cypher. Innovations long dreamt of finally had a homeland to grow. A group of mutants known as the Five were assembled who could bring back deceased mutants, thanks to Mister Sinister’s storehouse of genetic data and Xavier’s secret purpose for Cerebro, recording mutant minds. Moira’s son Proteus was among them, finally stable thanks to the Five’s ability to grow him new bodies on demand. Krakoan flowers allowed for instantaneous travel around the globe and created wonder drugs which ensured political leverage to get Krakoa officially recognize by the nations of the world.
Moira remained in hiding despite the rise of Krakoa. Her continued existence was known only to Charles and Erik. Her survival was paramount to the furtherance of all their plans, and so Moira occupied No-Place, a tumorous habitat of Krakoa hidden from the island’s own consciousness. A Krakoan gate allowed her to access Paris, France, to stretch her legs, but mostly Moira remained in the No-Place to ensure the protection of the timeline, lest she be killed after so much was 
accomplished. Moira continued to advise her co-conspirators based on her past lives, and she was adamant that no precognitives be allowed on Krakoa or raised through resurrection protocols. This was personal revenge against her old rival Destiny, but it also kept the future veiled from those who might not agree with the trinity’s long-term plans. [Powers of X #6]
Krakoa progressed as a nation-state, but efforts to prevent the rise of Nimrod failed. Data from Moira’s previous life helped establish an algorithm to predict when the paradigm shift would emerge that triggered the creation of Nimrod. The anti-mutant organization Orchis constructed a Mother Mold, the next stage beyond the Sentinels’ Master Mold, and the X-Men succeeded in preventing its activation. The survivors of Orchis were only prodded further in their research, though, leading to the birth of Nimrod anyway. Furthermore, Xavier and Magneto continually promised Mystique to resurrect Destiny soon, yet found one excuse after another to avoid fulfilling their promise. Unbeknownst to Moira or the others, Destiny had warned Raven before her death about this scenario, and Mystique had instructions from her wife to bring her back or burn the mutant civilization to the ground.
Moira consulted with Magneto and Xavier about the Nimrod and Mystique problems. Her advice was to eliminate even the possibility of Destiny’s resurrection by wiping her Cerebro back-up and destroying her genetic samples. Raven was already several steps ahead, however. She used her abilities to acquire the materials needed and then posed as Xavier to direct the Five into resurrecting Irene without anybody knowing. Mystique and Destiny ambushed Xavier and Magneto with a plot that not only revealed Destiny’s return, but also got her an empty chair on the 
Quiet Council. Moira was livid at this development, even more so when her co-conspirators refused to kill Destiny now that she was back, out of some sudden respect for the rule of law on Krakoa. The trinity attempted to regain ground by inviting Emma Frost into their confidence, but Emma was only furious and betrayed by being kept out of the loop up until now. She shared what she had learned with Mystique and Destiny, recreating the rivalry from Moira’s third life.
Mystique and Destiny ambushed Moira in Paris. Moira was first taken into an Orchis facility by a disguised Mystique, where her arm and the techno-organic tracking chip inside was cut off. The arm lured Xavier and Magneto into the facility and a direct confrontation with Nimrod while Mystique and Destiny brought Moira back to her No-Place. In order to remove the threat of Moira’s abilities annihilating the timeline, Emma Frost had provided a Neutralizer gun to Mystique. Moira’s powers would be wiped away and then she would be killed. Firstly, for standing in the way 
of Raven and Irene’s reunion, but also because of what Destiny saw when she looked at her. The idea of curing mutants had never left Moira completely. She tried embracing her people’s plight as Destiny commanded out of self-preservation, but the lifetimes of failure wore at her. Here, in her tenth and possibly final life, Moira was seriously considering going back to her old ways, and that made her not only an enemy… but a threat.
Before Mystique could carry out the murder, however, an unexpected variable entered the equation. Cypher, Speaker for Krakoa, had been aware of the trinity’s plotting since the very beginning of their nation. With his Arakko warrior wife, the Technarch Warlock and Krakoa itself by his side, Doug Ramsey was a force even Mystique and Destiny had to listen to. Cypher insisted that Krakoa must remain a society loyal to its own code of laws, and not the desires of individuals. In other words, the Neutralizer made Moira human and the law said Kill No Man. Destiny foresaw 
the nexus of probability around Douglas’ threat and relented. Cypher ensured Moira would be released through the Krakoan gate unharmed (with a head start at least), and Warlock provided her with a techno-organic arm to replace her severed one. This was not a kindness – Moira MacTaggert was now human, exiled from the mutant homeland she helped create, and on the run from Mystique, Orchis and all the other forces put in motion by her actions. [Inferno (2nd series) #1-4]
Alone, afraid, and painfully mortal, Moira soon realized she had even less time than she thought. Stage Four metastasized cancer was discovered in her system, and Moira correctly deduced it came from Krakoa. After Emma Frost outted her secrets to the entire Quiet Council, a vote was taken and Moira’s death was ordered over Charles and Erik’s objections. She wasn’t dying fast enough for Mystique, though, who hunted Moira down in the hospital and tried to end her quickly, rather than a slow death through cancer. And, as if that weren’t enough, a new future had been 
forged by Moira’s depowering and exile. In at least one timeline, Moira would turn against mutantkind and the Omega Wolverine – a techno-organic augmented version of Logan – was sent back in time to end her before she ended them. With nowhere else to turn, Moira retraced her steps and opened herself to contributors from a previous life.
Moira sought out Arnab Chakladar, founder of Epiphany, whose commercial memory drives served as a prosthetic cerebrum and a step towards true bio-tech synthesis. She killed Mystique in a trap to buy herself time, then set the C.I.A. and Omega Wolverine against each other at Epiphany’s launch event as a distraction to kidnap Chakladar. Moira and Arnab had been collaborators on the cure in her third life, so she knew what he was capable of in a lab. She gave him an impassioned plea, convincing him of their past together, and got Arnab to agree to help. Moira knew the direction Arnab’s research would go from her past lives, allowing her to help him cut corners and make new breakthroughs on his work.
Once they were done, Moira planned one last mission for her tenth life. She hoped to re-enter Krakoa, confront Forge and find a way to reverse the Neutralizer’s effects. Then she could die and reboot everything to start over. Only mutants were allowed to use the gates, and so Moira sank to exploiting the man who once loved her. She called Sean Cassidy, told him just enough about her 
survival to get him interested and off the island, and then murdered him. Moira used the corpse of her lover to fool Krakoa’s gates and pass her way back onto the island. She failed to find hope in Forge’s Armory, though, for the Neutralizer had been specially altered to prevent it from reversing her de-powering. Charles sent his astral projection long enough for a hollow apology over the Council’s decision to give her cancer and a trite warning to take better care of her life now.
Livid beyond belief now, Moira stole Forge’s bio-tech armor and was prepared to burn Krakoa to the ground. She sought out Destiny for her vengeance but was caught by the Omega Wolverine 
and stabbed fatally through the chest with his six claws. Moira X died, human, and her ten lives came to an end. But Moira MacTaggert lived on. Moira and Arnab Chakladar had finished his work on biotech synthesis. A mnemonic copy of Moira was created before she left his lab, kept in reserve to activate only if she failed her mission on Krakoa. Moira MacTaggert was now augmented intelligence, man and machine operating as one, driven by a sense of betrayal and the need to destroy the mutant nation which cast her aside after it was done with her. [X Deaths of Wolverine #1-5]
Moira sought new allies and she reached out to Orchis through their computer network to make 
the proper introductions. Feilong, Doctor Stasis, and the other principals were intrigued by her knowledge and gumption hacking into their system. [X-Men (6th series) #10] She confirmed the existence of mutant resurrection, which Stasis already knew, but also shared the mechanics of it and the importance of the Five. However, she still presented herself only as a former human ally of the mutants, and obscured her own mutant history (or rather, histories). She soon claimed a position as head of Orchis’s oblique strategies “petal” for Sociology / Modeling. Moira’s first official mission for the enterprise was infiltrating the next Hellfire Gala. Her digital consciousness allowed her to make moves previously impossible for her. Moira chose a Trojan Horse in Mary Jane Watson, former model, television personality, and now spokeswoman for Krakoa and their medicines after her Aunt Anna received the benefit of their drugs. [X-Men (6th series) #12, FCBD 2022: Avengers / X-Men #1]
In her new artificial form, Moira downloaded her mind into her hand and wrapped her hand around Mary Jane’s neck. With some modifications, the hand resembled an ornate necklace while also allowing Moira to access MJ’s nervous system and guide her body while they were in contact. As a passenger, Moira rode Mary Jane into the gala and used the opportunity to get a moment alone with Proteus of the Five. With a holographic image, Moira projected her true self for Kevin to witness. She coldly explained to her son the reasons for his existence and why she never loved him. It seemed Moira was hoping to undermine the Five by using psychological tactics to break Proteus. Fortunately, his “found family” gave Kevin the strength to rise above her cruelty, and reject Moira’s efforts.
Mary Jane wasn’t completely without agency, either. She subtly tapped out an S.O.S. on her wine glass when talking to her ex, Spider-Man, an action which Cypher picked up on. Spider-Man intervened on Moira’s talk with Proteus, but his effort to remove her hand from Mary Jane’s neck produced a shock that threatened them both. Realizing Moira held Mary Jane’s body hostage, 
Wolverine counseled Spider-Man to let her go until they could perform a proper rescue. [X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1] Mary Jane was tracked after leaving the gala, and Forge armed Logan and Peter with an EMP to safely separate Moira from MJ. Moira would be paranoid and vulnerable until her hand had the opportunity to reconnect with her full artificial body, and she used Orchis troops as guards until the reunion was complete. Wolverine and Spider-Man’s mission was successful in saving Mary Jane’s life, but Moira escaped unmolested. [Amazing Spider-Man (6th series) #9]
Using her knowledge of multiple timelines, Moira could reach out to potential allies that Orchis would not normally have considered. The Eternals were a secretive society of god-like beings introduced to Earth a million years ago by the Celestials. Though they were somewhat known to the public, what Moira knew was that Eternals were hard-wired by their creators to correct “Excess Deviation”, the uncontrolled or dangerous spread of the Celestials’ other creation-species, the Deviants. “Excess” was open to interpretation, and Moira also knew the Eternals had recently been taken over by a self-serving snake named Druig. She met with Druig and framed an argument of how the X-gene was derived from Deviants cross-breeding with humans eons ago. If mutants were Deviants, the notion of Deviants becoming immortal through resurrection and colonizing other worlds could certainly meet a definition of “excessive”. Druig was eager for a decisive move he could make to justify his position and legacy as Prime Eternal. He would happily wipe out mutantkind if it won him political points with his people. [FCBD 2022: Avengers / X-Men #1, X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1]
Moira consulted heavily with Druig at first, providing him with all the information she could think of which would be useful against Krakoa, Arakko, the Five, and so on. [A.X.E.: Judgment Day #1] However, the situation escalated well beyond their expectations. Ajak of the Eternals recruited Iron Man and Mister Sinister to reanimate the Celestial Progenitor at Avengers Mountain, in the hopes that the space god would address the doctrine of “excess deviation”. Instead, the Progenitor awakened to pass judgment on all of humanity, and found them wanting. With the guidance of Destiny, Nightcrawler of the Quiet Council endured real-time back-up and resurrection to 
repeatedly assault the Orchis Forge until he could get past Nimrod to parley with Moira. Kurt used Moira’s obsessive fear of final death to convince her Orchis and Krakoa needed to make an alliance before the Progenitor destroyed them all. Moira relented, and Orchis indeed stood alongside the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals in the final conflict with the Progenitor. Unfortunately for Krakoa, Orchis’s public relations arm used this victory to go public and curry favor openly with the people of Earth. [Immortal X-Men #7, A.X.E.: Judgment Day #6]
Moira and Orchis took many steps in the weeks to come for their chess match against mutantkind. Mages from Clan Akkaba provided Moira with the Otherworld substance of "Blightswill", a poison to mutants which also disrupted their powers. It was tested by Orchis operatives when they infiltrated the Pit of Krakoa and found it near empty, more ammunition for their campaign against the mutants. [BIshop: War College #1-5] Special steps were made to preserve the next upcoming Hellfire Gala from interference. Moira X and the Omega Sentinel neutralized time-travellers like Cable to ensure no one would step in to save the mutants when the final bell tolled. [X-Men (6th series) #24] Krakoan bio-technology was hacked, key mutants were poisoned, and sabotage was planned well in advance of the final strike.
At the next Gala, Nimrod and Feilong's Stark Sentinels introduced themselves to the mutant race. Orchis eliminated several Omega-class threats and lesser mutant targets. It gave Doctor Stasis plenty of time to gloat about his success at the last Hellfire Gala, when Moira was distracting security with her attack on Proteus. With some time in the Krakoan medicine factories, Stasis introduced a genetic modification into the mutant drugs -- a kill-switch that allowed Orchis to kill any human who had used the tainted medicine, and blame mutants for the deaths. It served as a suitable distraction for Moira X to enter the Gala through a co-opted Krakoan gate. With a dagger dipped in Blightswill and her own mechanical immunity to telepathy, Moira plunged her weapon into Jean Grey's back, taking another Omega-class mutant off the board and breaking Charles Xavier's heart as his first and most beloved student died slowly.
Orchis held the human race hostage and compelled Charles Xavier to telepathically send all of mutantkind away. The Omega telepath forced the mutant race through the Krakoan gates to leave Earth behind, under the threat that Orchis would kill the humans if they returned. A few X-Men resisted and fled, but Xavier was held behind to watch as Orchis gunned down all the human 
witnesses who remained at the Gala. Moira X savored her victory a moment too long as Rogue arrived to take Charles to safety. Still, while she hadn't killed the man, Moira had absolutely broken him. Mutantkind was dead or lost among the stars. Those that remained on Earth were hunted international fugitives as Orchis's sanitized public relations blamed them for the Gala massacre and leaked the peril of using mutant drugs. Moira X swore to burn down everything Charles Xavier loved when he betrayed her. That night, she proved to be a woman of her word. [X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 #1]