PSYLOCKE II: Page 3 of 3

Biography - Page 3

Psylocke had little say in the matter when the Quiet Council formed a team of troublesome mutants dubbed the Hellions to carry out missions that would enable them to release their natural, violent urges. The team was overseen by Sinister, and Psylocke was placed on the team to act as field leader, keep watch over the team and report back to the Quiet Council. None of the other Hellions knew this arrangement and, when Havok queried her about it, she offered no explanation. [Hellions #1]

Psylocke's first assignment as leader of the new Hellions team took her to the State Home for Foundlings in Nebraska, a facility where Sinister kept a cloning lab, which the Hellions were tasked with destroying. Waiting for them was Madelyne Proyr, who had turned Sinister's original Marauders into zombie-like versions of themselves. Most of the Hellions were captured, while Psylocke found herself dealing with Wild Child, who challenged her leadership in an attempt to assert himself as the alpha of the group. Psylocke had no trouble in fighting Wild Child, and shoved her psi-blade through his skull, scrambling his brain, reducing Wild Child to his lower functions. Wild Child continued to attack Psylocke, leaving her with no other option than to snap his neck. Wild Child's healing factor kicked in and he healed himself but, when he woke, he submitted to Psylocke's leadership. The two united with their teammates to defeat Pryor and the zombie Marauders. With Wild Child following her around, Kwannon gave some advice to her teammate Greycrow, one of the original Marauders, about finding peace. [Hellions #2-4]

When Krakoa found itself at war with Arakko, a hidden island of ancient mutants, Saturnyne, Majestrix of Otherworld, proposed a tournament of swords between the great warriors of both nations. In an attempt to prevent the tournament from ever happening, and hopefully ending the war before it began, the Quiet Council agreed to send the Hellions to Arakko to steal the swords from the Arakki mutants. Sinister was manipulated into leading the expedition himself, although he sent a clone in his place, to Psylocke's annoyance. The group had to pass through Otherworld to reach the region known as Amenth, where they were confronted by a group of Arakkii mutants. Sinister's intention all along was to collect the DNA of these mutants, but this put Psylocke and the other Hellions in grave danger. Two of the Hellions were killed on Amenth and, after Sinister's clone obtained the DNA, he gave the box of genetic material to Psylocke and ordered her to get it back to Krakoa safely. Psylocke instructed Wild Child, who continued to obey her every whim, to stay behind and cover the others who escaped through a Krakoan gateway. However, this was all part of the real Sinister's plan and, as Kwannon and the other survivors stepped back onto Krakoa, they were all brutally murdered by the real Sinister. [Hellions #5-6]

Psylocke, like the other Hellions, were all resurrected promptly, although Wild Child and the others who died on Otherworld were changed, their essences “enhanced” somehow. Havok and the other Hellions began to grow suspicious of Sinister, and at a team meeting they challenged him – until Psylocke stepped in and protected Sinister from her teammates. When Psylocke was alone with Sinister, she was shown a DNA helix of her daughter which Sinister had retrieved from the Overclock technology that Psylocke had previously given him. This cemented Psylocke's loyalty to Sinister. When Havok later questioned Psylocke about her surprise loyalty to Sinister, she was unable to answer him. [Hellions #7]

During a mission against the mutant-hating Right, Psylocke was tasked by Magneto to destroy the Right's A.I techno-organic virus, which was evolving and thinking, possibly reaching self-replication. Under the laws of Krakoa, no A.I. was allowed to flourish. Psylocke downloaded a virus to infect the Right's computer system and destroy the A.I. Greycrow found her in a laboratory and offered to press the button for her so that she could keep her hands clean. Psylocke prevented Greycrow from doing that, telling him that she saw who he really was, and that she knew he didn’t not want to be a killer. She then activated the virus, destroying the Right's A.I. [Hellions #8]

Kwannon soon found herself assisting the very woman who stole her life for so many years. Betsy Braddock had not been acting herself after several strenuous adventures on Otherworld, and her teammates on Excalibur were unable to ascertain why. Kwannon ventured to Otherworld and found the true essence of Betsy Braddock cowering in an old dungeon. Betsy initially acted hostile towards her, but Kwannon was resilient. She collected Betsy's essence and took her back to Krakoa in the reformed Starlight Sword, which Kwannon placed on Betsy's body and purged the spirit that was haunting Betsy's body – Malice.

Kwannon then assisted Betsy as they set out on an assignment to capture the now free Malice, who was jumping from mutant to mutant across Krakoa. When Kwannon arrived at Excalibur's lighthouse, she discovered Betsy cleaning out of her wardrobe and offered her all of the clothes she used to wear when she inhabited Kwannon's body, as they did not fit her original body. Kwannon, however, declined, stating the clothes as they were not her style. Kwannon and Betsy journeyed to the Astral Plane where they found Malice. The disembodied menace them and attempted to take over Kwannon's body. When Malice's choker necklace appeared on Kwannon, Betsy cut it off and hurled it into a fire, essentially killing what was left of Malice. When Malice was then resurrected in her own body, Kwannon offered mercy to Malice, allowing the young woman to have a fresh start on Krakoa, rather than pay for her previous crimes. [Excalibur (4th series) #19-20]

When Sinister went missing, Psylocke led the Hellions on a rescue mission which resulted in the team becoming trapped in Murderworld. There, Psylocke lived out her life with her daughter, a seemingly peaceful existence. Deep down, it seemed that Psylocke knew something was wrong – for when she asked her daughter what her name was, her daughter did not know her own name. This existence was shattered by the arrival of a psychotic version of Betsy Braddock, who attacked her. Although she telepathically screamed for John Greycrow, Pyslocke was able to overcome the psychotic Betsy who attacked her. She continued to live her life over and over, killing this version of Betsy until Psylocke and Greycrow's realities began to converge. They eventually reunited with their teammates and freed themselves from the Murderworld scenarios, after which they defeated Mastermind and Arcade and rescued Sinister. Psylocke was particularly annoyed when she discovered that this was all another of Sinister's schemes, to give him access to the Murderworld facility. However, when Psylocke tried to assert her independence from Sinister, he reminded her that he held her daughter's life in the palm of her hand. He planned to move the DNA helix containing Psylocke's daughter's DNA to the Murderworld facility and suggested to Psylocke that she convince the other Hellions to rescue him in a blaze of glory. When Psylocke later threatened Mastermind, Sinister casually told her to go with the flow, which only angered her even more. [Hellions #9-11]

When Krakoa held its first Hellfire Gala, only Kwannon, Havok and Sinister were allowed to attend, the rest of the Hellions deemed “undesirable” and likely to cause problems. Kwannon saw her attendance at the extravagant party merely as work, so when Greycrow and the other Hellions crashed the party, she enjoyed sitting at the bar with him, drinking. However, the other Hellions began to cause trouble, and all of them were soon thrown out of the Gala. Taking pity on her teammates, Kwannon placed a telepathic image in their minds of the Gala's fireworks, which they did not get to see for real. [Hellions #12] Around the same time, Kwannon was also nominated to replace Gorgon as one of the Captains of Krakoa, joining Cyclops, Bishop and Magik in this strategic field leader positions. [Inferno (2nd series) #1]

Despite her feelings for Greycrow, Kwannon continued to keep him at a slight distance. When he commented to her on her achievements leading the Hellions, she cryptically told him that he didn't know what she had done. After Sinister's clone and the mutants of Amenth returned to take back what Sinister had stolen, Kwannon's control over the situation around her quickly began to spiral out of control. When the Hellions who were resurrected after being killed on Amenth had their enhanced gifts taken from them, this reduced Wild Child back into a frightened mess, who hid behind Kwannon during the battle. Kwannon, Greycrow and Havok were then shown the truth about Sinister killing them to keep his secrets about the stolen DNA exposed. Kwannon was left to lead the Hellions against the mutants of Amenth when Sinister escaped with the stolen DNA. During the battle against the mutants of Amenth, Kwannon revealed that Sinister had taken the DNA to the clone farm beneath Murderworld and exposed Sinister's manipulation of the Hellions to her teammates, upsetting Greycrow who felt betrayed that Kwannon had helped Sinister. The Hellions defeated the mutants of Amenth and stepped through the gateway to the clone farm, where they discovered Sinister had a created a chimera using the DNA of the mutants of Amenth. The Hellion were prepared to destroy the Chimera and the clone lab until Kwannon finally revealed to them why she helped Sinister – because he has her daughter's DNA. Greycrow immediately called off the attack but, when Sinister prepared to hatch the Chimera, one of the Hellions, Empath, placed on the team at Emma Frost's request, psionically manipulated Havok into losing control of his powers to prevent Sinister's plan becoming a reality. Havok unleashed the full fury of his powers, destroying the clone farm, the chimera and the DNA of Kwannon's daughter. [Hellions #13-15]

Following the tragic events at the clone farm, the Hellions were effectively disbanded and a devastated Kwannon planned to leave Krakoa. She lost her temper with Wild Child and scared him off from following her around. Meeting with Cyclops, she told him she was a fool to think Krakoa could be her home and revealed Sinister had something she cared about, but her plans to obtain that were ruined because the Quiet Council had other plans. She then told Cyclops she was leaving to hunt the evils of the world. However, when Kwannon arrived at the hangar bar, she was confronted by Emma Frost, who wanted to know why she was leaving. Kwannon suspected Emma already knew why, but their conversation was interrupted by a report that two of the Hellions had become involved in a conflict with the Right. Having some affection for the misunderstood mutants with whom she had worked, Kwannon opted to leave Krakoa to find Orphan Maker, the Hellion who had begun to attack the Right headquarters. As she left, Havok found her, and apologized to her for what he did, destroying her daughter's DNA. He explained that he didn't know what he was doing, to which Kwannon told him that she realized that. The other former Hellions wanted to join Kwannon in finding Orphan Maker and she accepted their offer, ordering Wild Child to her side once more. Unfortunately, the mission to rescue Orphan Maker took a dramatic turn when the out of control mutant brutally gunned down two civilian park rangers. [Hellions #16-17]

Upon returning to Krakoa, the former Hellions were summoned to appear before the Quiet Council. Determined to keep his secrets from being exposed, Sinister wanted them all thrown in the Pit for breaking the Krakoan law of not killing humans. When Sinister taunted Kwannon by calling her an unfit mother, she punched him. Xavier warned Kwannon that her status gave her some leeway, but not to push it. However, other members of the Council wanted her to hit Sinister again – so she did. Ultimately, the Hellions could not save Orphan Maker, who was sent to the Pit, and Nanny went with him. The other Hellions were all left to carry on with their new lives on Krakoa. Kwannon knew that Greycrow would be determined to carry out his threat to kill Empath for betraying the Hellions, so she followed him and was able to persuade him from carrying out his plan. They then sat on a beach together and Greycrow admitted to Kwannon that, because of the way she has looked at him and treated him, he doesn't think he would be the same again. Kwannon smiled and they watched the sun set. [Hellions #18]

Kwannon began to struggle with having aligned herself with Sinister during her time with the Hellions all to get her daughter back, and then losing her daughter anyway. She hid herself away on Krakoa until she was approached by Kate Pryde, who was putting together a new team of Marauders to set out across the world and rescue mutants who, for some reason or another, had been unable to make their way to Krakoa. Kwannon accepted the invitation and began to work alongside the rest of the new Marauders to bring hope to mutants in need. [Marauders Annual #1]