Biography - Page 7
Shaw’s imprisonment on Utopia eventually incited a chain of events that might someday lead to a shift in his behavior, and possibly his withdrawal from his old business affairs. However, the path to this possible destination has been anything but direct, or even voluntary, for that matter.
Shortly after his detainment, Shaw, along with the rest of the prisoners in the brig, was transferred to the prison on Utopia, where Danger, the sentient personification of the Danger Room, served as his warden. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #515, 526] Around this same time, Shaw's old nemesis from the Hellfire Club, Selene, hatched a scheme to ascend to godhood and, as a tangent, decided to destroy all those who had crossed her along the way. Despite their feud being years dormant, she made a special target of Shaw, and sent his resurrected son Shinobi to murder him while in captivity. Shaw's old friend Harry Leland came along as well. It was Danger who came to Shaw’s defense, helping him fight off Harry and Shinobi. Together, they were able to stave off the undead until Selene’s eventual defeat, finally settling Shaw's longtime dispute with the ancient, conniving, mutant sorceress. [Necrosha crossover]
After a series of traumatic events rattled the worlds of the X-Men and the Avengers, Emma Frost had an epiphany about the need for superhero unity—and that unity required them to keep no secrets from each other. She suddenly realized hiding Shaw in Utopia’s prison represented a massive liability: if Namor were to discover him, he would not only withdraw his protection from the X-Men's maritime headquarters, but he was also liable to attack the island’s inhabitants because of Emma’s deception. Emma realized she needed to get rid of Shaw. With the discrete help of a few conscientious X-Men, she transported the prisoner to the skies over the most landlocked part of China where, after a scuffle, he was inadvertently ejected from the ship and dropped onto the middle of the continent. Once free, Shaw fought for his life and his freedom, nearly besting Emma and her cohorts. Ultimately, though, he underestimated her, and suffered yet another humiliating defeat at her hands. His life was spared when she decided to refrain from executing him. He did not get off easy, though: Emma completely wiped his mind and his memories before sending him on his way. He had always claimed he was a self-made man, Emma mused, and this would be his chance to prove it. Shaw was left a penniless amnesiac in Western China. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #526-534]
Sebastian awoke from his stupor with no knowledge of where—or even who—he was. He knew that he could speak English and understand a few languages but, other than that, he felt like a newborn. He wandered around China for a few weeks, thinking he must be crazy. One day, he wandered into traffic and was hit by a truck. To his surprise, he didn’t die. The man who hit him, Jin Billion, took him into his care after witnessing his resilience. Jin told Shaw that his amnesia and his powers must have been the result of inhumane genetic experimentation occurring across the border in Pakistan. He told Shaw he was lucky to have survived the process, but that the process itself must have been what gave him the superhuman abilities that allowed him to survive. Shaw vowed to get revenge on the men who supposedly captured and augmented him. 
He eagerly became a suicide-bomber for Jin—albeit one whose unique abilities meant he wouldn’t be killed by his own explosives. In service of Jin, Shaw would strap bombs on himself and wander into hostile territory, where he would blow up the warmongers and gangsters who had supposedly experimented on him.
During one such suicide-attack, a team of mutants led by Hope Summers—a mutant connected to the Phoenix Force—arrived in Pakistan in search of a new mutant. They arrived in time to see Shaw, whom they didn’t recognize, detonate a suicide bomb. They were stunned to see that Shaw survived. They took him into hiding in a nearby village, at which point they realized he was the new mutant they were seeking. The amnesiac Shaw told them what he knew of his tale. After he was finished, his friend Jin stormed into the room with a posse of men. Shaw tried to explain to Jin that Hope and her friends were trying to help him. At this point, Jin revealed his true colors: he was a war profiteer who was merely using Shaw to scare people into buying weapons from him, making him extremely rich in the process (incidentally, a strategy similar to the one Shaw had employed earlier with the Sentinels). Enraged by this betrayal, Shaw struck back and killed Jin.
Because they had come to Pakistan to find him specifically, Shaw received an offer of sanctuary from Hope. Believing himself a murderer for his crimes against Jin’s enemies, Shaw refused their offer, but Hope explained he had been manipulated into doing it and was therefore inculpable. Shaw agreed to return to their home with them. Immediately upon arriving back on Utopia, however, he was confronted by Emma Frost and Cyclops, both of whom were horrified to see him cavorting with their students. [Generation Hope #13-14]
Shaw was immediately apprehended by the X-Men and imprisoned, without any idea as to why. Hope eventually came to visit him, but only after she had read his extensive file and learned about his part in the creation of the Sentinels, his involvement with the Phoenix and his attempts on the life of Cable, her adoptive father. Still, Hope was willing to give him a second chance, and released him from captivity so he could clean himself up. While he was showering, however, Hope became the victim of a vengeful coup involving many of the residents of Utopia, including Emma. Shaw came to Hope’s defense and managed to intercept one of Emma’s psychic attacks. 
After the battle, Hope expressed her gratitude to Shaw. To thank him, she decided to give him his confidential file to read. Shaw was wary about learning what horrors he had committed in his past life, but he braced himself and read his file anyway. After reading the dossier, he decided to stay with Hope and serve on her team, as she was the only one who had forgiven his past mistakes. However, because of Hope’s connection to the Phoenix Force and what Shaw read about his past involvement with the Phoenix in his file, it’s unclear, exactly, what his motives for staying were. [Generation Hope #15-17]
Shortly after Shaw officially joined Hope’s team, a cosmic incident involving the Phoenix Force resulted in the X-Men and the Avengers fighting each other. To ensure the safety of the students on Utopia, the X-Men sent all their underage charges to the Avengers Academy. Because Shaw was technically a student of the X-Men, he had to go with them. However, he was immediately detained by the Avengers and locked in a cell designed to absorb the kinetic energy from his punches. Shaw was crafty enough to convince the Avengers to allow him a book to pass the time—a book he then beat against his head in order to accumulate kinetic energy. Once he stored 
enough energy, he busted free and made his way to the surface, besting several Avengers along the way. Once topside, he helped the X-students fight for their freedom from the academy. In the end, though, it was reason—not force—that convinced the Avengers to let the detained X-students go free. They even released Shaw, although not before warning him they would apprehend him if he made even one misstep upon returning to society. Grateful for the second chance at life, Shaw accepted their terms. He dove into the water and swam to freedom. [Avengers Academy #29-31, Avengers vs. X-Men crossover]