POLARIS: Page 9 of 11

BIOGRAPHY - Page 9

Polaris and Havok were joined by Rachel Summers and her paramour Korvus on their journey back to Earth. Along the way, they stopped at Space Station Gul Damar and were dragged into a civil war between the Shi'ar and an insectoid race named Gran Nan Holt. While there, Polaris and her allies would fall in a very familiar trap and end under the thrall of another psychic, this time it was the Gran Nan Holt, Friendless. Under the control of Friendless, Polaris was powerless to stop herself from murdering Shi'ar troops. If only to make matters worse, Friendless was nihilistic and ignored the fact that the station was falling into a collapsing sun. Only Rachel Summers managed to resist his pull and, in the hopes of saving herself, she astral projected herself across the galaxy to Earth to reach the X-Men. Luckily, Rachel managed to make contact and a rescue party of X-Men arrived on the Gul Damar, among them being Polaris' estranged father Magneto.

Polaris and Magneto had not spoken since the revelation that she was his daughter. Despite this, Polaris initially greeted her father warmly. Things soured when Friendless extended his influence, causing Polaris, Havok and Korvus to react violently towards the X-Men in an effort to the protect the Gran Nan Holt's “nest.” Luckily, a newly reformed Rachel Summers managed to break Friendless hold on Polaris, Havok and Korvus. In the aftermath, the reunited X-Men attempted to save the lives of the aliens trapped on the space station by preventing the station's collision with the collapsing Star. Despite the stakes, Polaris was distracted with the questions behind her mother's death still lingering on her mind. When she told Magneto she still had needed answers, he swore to her they'd discuss it when they got home. Through an incredible act of teamwork, the X-Men were successful in their endeavor and managed to defeat Friendless and saved the station, although in the process they teleported Gul Damar to Earth's orbit. [X-Men Legacy (1st series) #254-258]

Things had really changed with the X-Men since Polaris had left Earth. First among them was that the majority of the mutant population now lived on the mutant isle of Utopia, administered and led by Alex's brother, Cyclops. Neither Polaris or Havok were comfortable on Utopia. Havok questioned if this was right move for their people, whereas Polaris was having problem's with Cyclop's most loyal lieutenant being her father, Magneto. Magneto had kept his word and he and Polaris did discuss her mother's death but he denied his involvement and, presumably to spare her, he did not disclose her own culpability. This caused some sort of unseen disagreement between the two and, when Wolverine approached Polaris and Havok to ask them to return to their old team X-Factor, the two jumped at the chance to get a break from their complicated families. [X-Men Regenesis #1]

Wolverine had asked Polaris and Havok to return to X-Factor in the wake of the apparent death of the current leader of the group, Jamie Madrox. In reality, though, Jamie wasn't dead and, when he returned, he and Havok repeatedly butted heads with Madrox about the correct way to run the team, with Lorna often filling the role peace maker. Despite this, Lorna herself was happy to reunite with her old friends making particular effort with the other young women in the team, such as Theresa Cassidy and Rahne Sinclair. Not every woman on the team, however, was interested in Lorna becoming their den mother. Monet St. Croix had experienced some very similar horrors to Polaris, as she too had been the victim of a loss of control of her own mind and body. Perhaps recognizing some of herself in the angry young woman, Lorna attempted to form a bond but was rebuffed. [X-Factor (1st series) #230, 235, 237, 241]

On the anniversary of her parent's death, Lorna's thoughts yet again turned to her mother's plane crash. Speaking to new teammate Longshot, she expressed her doubts at her father's innocence. When the emotional Lorna dropped a photo of her mother, Longshot picked it up, instantly triggering his psychometric powers. Longshot initially tried to shield Polaris from the truth, about her own guilt in the crash but she was determined to finally gain answers. Unable to just hear the truth, she demanded that Longshot used his powers in conjunction with another teammate, the telepath Monet, to see what he had seen. Lorna was horrified when she realized that she herself was responsible and her mental instability resurfaced. At times, she would be catatonic, other times extremely violent. Fearing for Lorna's fate, Theresa Cassidy made a deal with the celtic goddess the Morrigan to take the tired goddess mantle if she would give Lorna some balance. Lorna awoke from her slumber to Theresa's beautiful banshee call with at least temporarily some regained semblance of lucidity. [X-Factor (1st series) #243-244]

Lorna regained her sanity shortly after a Phoenix-possessed Cyclops killed Professor X and been arrested. This event further put strain on her relationship with Havok. He had been undergoing an identity crisis of sorts throughout their time with Madrox's X-Factor. He felt like it was a move backwards for them. Lorna, however, disagreed and implied that that, though it might have been a step back for him it wasn't for her. Further, up until her finding out the truth of her past, she had been happy there. As the couple argued and threw insults about each other's relatives back and forth, Havok asked Lorna if she had plans to confront Magneto about not coming clean with her about her mother and she stated no. She didn't feel strong enough and that she had enough confrontations with her father to last a lifetime. As Lorna and Alex calmed down, Lorna spoke openly about her feelings. She said that their relationship had become too co-dependent. She said she wanted to stay with X-Factor because they weren't segregated; they were part of humanity and offered them a service. She said she liked the fact that they didn't feel they were defined by that fact they were mutants. At this point in her life, Lorna felt like she needed that. Unlike past break ups for Polaris and Havok, this was one was amicable and mutual. As Havok went off to find himself, Lorna wished him luck and showed off her new costume to him, which was more in line with the outfits of the other members of X-Factor. [X-Factor (1st series) #243-245]

It wasn't long after Lorna had donned her new costume that X-Factor would face one of their greatest threats since they restarted. Rahne Sinclair had birthed a child fathered by the Asgardian god Hrimhari. Named Tier, the boy was the seventh billionth person born and, according to prophecy, held particular importance to the various hell gods, as whoever killled him would rule all the others. To this effect, the various gods took their armies to Earth to battle each other, overrunning the planet and the multitude of Earth's heroes. Early in the fighting, Jamie Madrox was removed from the fray. As the most senior person left in the group, Lorna yet again became the defacto leader for a team. Unfortunately for Lorna, she had to deal with mutiny in the ranks almost immediately. In a skirmish with one of the hell gods, Satana, daughter of Satan, the team realized that Tier had the ability to kill the hell gods. Seeing an opportunity to end the carnage and potentially return Earth to it's earlier state, Lorna pleaded with team to take the fight to the remaining hell gods. The team, however, believed that Tier should decide himself if he was willing to kill, much to Lorna's chagrin. It was only after Mephisto managed to kill the other gods and become ruler of Earth that Tier agreed. For Lorna, the battle was especially personal, as Monet had been killed in battle again the hell lord Hades. As such, Lorna ruthlessly led a frontal assault on Mephisto's fortress. After heavy fighting, victory seemed to be at hand when Tier seemed poised to kill Mephisto. However the tables unexpectedly turned when Lorna's former teammate, Guido, impaled Tier with a spear through the back, thus winning the demonic game and becoming the lord of hell, all so that he could resurrect Monet. As Lorna and the remaining heroes listened to the wails of Tier's grief stricken mother Rahne, they were enveloped by a while light. [X-Factor (1st series) #250-256]

When the light subsided, the world had been reverted to its pre-war state and Polaris was transported back to New York City, alone. Fearing her team dead and that she was yet again the sole survivor of another tragedy, Lorna went to a dive bar and hit the bottle, hard. Her resulting intoxicated and belligerent attitude resulted in the bar being trashed and the authorities being called. The police and their metal guns were not threat to the Mistress of Magnetism and, near suicidal, she goaded them into opening fire and actually kill her. When the police's reinforcements arrived, they were convinced to stand down by Lorna's estranged half-brother Quicksilver, who tried to calm her down. Too drunk to listen, Lorna fought against her brother, irrationally accusing him of being just like their father and insinuating he was there on his behalf to manipulate her. Despite the fact that she was far more powerful than her older brother, in her drunken state Lorna was no match for Quicksilver and he managed to subdue her. Despite Quicksilver's protestations, Lorna was then arrested.