BIOGRAPHY: Page 1
The story of Nate Grey, one of the most unusual and powerful mutants ever, begins in the Age of Apocalypse, a changed timeline that shortly existed when Prof. Charles Xavier was accidentally killed by his wayward son, Legion, who had traveled about twenty years into the past. This tragedy caused a chain reaction, resulting in the rule of the mutant madman, Apocalypse, over Northern America. During Apocalypse’s rule, one of his Horsemen and longtime-allies, the geneticist, Nathaniel Essex aka Sinister, realized that his and Apocalypse’s goals were no longer compatible. He wanted to bring humanity to the next level, but Apocalypse’s creed “only the strong may survive” endangered all of humanity. In order to rid himself of the dictator, Sinister formulated a plan. He took genetic material from his foster son, Scott Summers, and the imprisoned X-Man, Jean Grey, and, without their knowledge, used their DNA to secretly create an immensely powerful offspring - the ultimate telepath and telekinetic, whom he christened Nathan Grey (after himself and Jean). Young Nathan was force-grown in a tube of Sinister’s lab and let out several times as a child to check on his progress. Even then, he displayed telepathic powers at an incredibly high level, which convinced Sinister that he needed to build a “failsafe” into his creation. [X-Man #minus 1]
When Nate reached the age of a boy in his mid-teens, he escaped, with no knowledge of his origin and a little help from Scott Summers. Whether this escape was an accident or Sinister wanted a “test-run” for his creation is unclear. Nate was lucky as he was quickly found and adopted by a ragtag group of mutant rebels, who, disguised as a theatre troupe, tried to help humans. The group, consisting of Toad, Mastermind, Soaron and Brute, soon became his family and their leader, Forge, was the only father Nate ever knew. After some time, however, Nate grew dissatisfied with their life and his role in it. He wanted to know who he was, what his limits were and it bristled that Forge, afraid that Apocalypse might take notice of the boy, ordered him not to use his powers. Nate, being a teenager, rebelled more and more openly, which resulted in two others joining their group : One was a young girl named Theresa, who was saved by the group, who then learned she was a mutant with sonic powers. The other was the mysterious Essex, who claimed he had worked in Apocalypse’s factories and now wanted to help the rebels against his former master. [X-Man #1]
Essex fuelled Nate’s rebellious feelings and urged him to use his immense psychic powers more and more, even making suggestions on how to better use them, e.g. using telekinesis as a means to fly. The result, however, was that Apocalypse’s pet telepath - the Shadow King - noticed the new, powerful telepath and Apocalypse dispatched his personal assassins, under the leadership of the deadly Domino, to capture or kill Nate. The assassins confronted the group and, after several deaths on both sides, Nate and his friends managed to beat them. At that time, however, Forge recognized that Essex was up to no good and confronted him. Essex, actually Sinister in disguise, murdered Forge and told the boy of his true origins. Like he expected, he managed to convince Nate to go after Apocalypse after the obligatory fight. However, what he did not expect was that Nate, in his rage, actually managed to wound Sinister mortally.
Wanting to honor Forge’s dying words, to look for Magneto, Nate did so telepathically - what he got was a vision of Magneto imprisoned and being 
tortured by Apocalypse. After saying goodbye to his lover, Theresa, Nate decided to fly towards Apocalypse’s palace, well aware that this might be his death. Entering New York he witnessed how humans and low-level mutants broke out of the genetic pens. He helped them against the Infinites, Apocalypse’s troops, and ran into the leaders of that break-out, his genetic parents, Jean and Scott. Nate and Jean instantly recognized that there was a bond between them. Scott asked him to join them, but Nate replied he had to finish Apocalypse first and hoped to catch up with them later. [X-Man #4]
After gaining entrance to Apocalypse’s stronghold, Nate freed Magneto and then was engaged in a battle with Apocalypse’s son, Holocaust. While the X-Men desperately worked at their plan to restore the true reality via the M’Kraan Crystal, Apocalypse actually stole a shard of the crystal, intending to travel to the other reality to team up with his counterpart and conquer an entire universe.
Nate yanked away the shard, before finding himself once more up against Holocaust. As the X-Men’s plan succeeded and the Age of Apocalypse was washed away, Nate, still fighting Holocaust, angrily rammed the shard in his foe’s chest, while still holding on to it.
The consequences of that act were unexpected and far-reaching, as Nate and Holocaust were both transported to the actual reality, when it reasserted itself. [X-Men: Omega] Nate ended up in Earth-orbit and crashed down to Earth in Switzerland, letting out a telepathic scream, which was heard by all telepaths. [X-Men: Prime]
Exhausted, Nate woke up, surrounded by snow, something he had never seen in his young life. Believing to be still in the AoA reality, he was very confused and was hit by a truck. The driver, feeling guilty, gave him a ride into town. As his memories caught up with him, Nate became convinced that something was very wrong. Seeing a mother with her children, he felt reminded of Jean Grey, without realizing why. He asked a passer-by, whom he briefly mixed up with Forge, for help and subconsciously influenced that man to help him. The man, Sven, brought Nate to his home, put him to bed and left to buy some food. Drowsily, Nate thought of Jean again, when suddenly he was being covered with a blanket. The person who did it - the spitting image of Jean - introduced herself as Madelyne Pryor. It became quickly clear that, while Maddie was offering help, she herself was in need of it. Amnesiac, though not admitting it, she had some very weird memories of the X-Men and of Mr. Sinister, something Nate realized they shared.
In the meantime, Nate’s arrival had not gone unnoticed by other parties. One was fellow AoA refugee Sugarman, who had arrived twenty years ago and lived in the shadows of Genosha (a country that used to enslave mutants), as its secret mastermind. Sugarman ordered his bounty hunter named Rex to bring him young Nate. Rex tracked down Sven in a bar and questioned him about Nate, before killing him and then confronting Nate and Maddie. However, Nate took him out quickly, only to feel weak and drained afterwards, so he and Maddie decided to flee. [X-Man #5-6]
At Maddie’s suggestion, they went to Paris, where Nate suffered another bout of weakness. While Madelyne told him she dimly remembered being hurt by the X-Men, Nate grew more and more enchanted with her. At the same time, they were being stalked both by Rex and the immortal mutant sorceress, Selene, who was fascinated with Madelyne, whose power and potential for darkness she clearly recognized. Selene lured Madelyne away from Nate’s side, leaving the lad alone again. [X-Man #7]
Nate spent the next weeks trying to acclimatize himself to his new home. He took a job as a handyman on a boat. However, he still suffered from inexplicable sudden bouts of weakness, alternating with phases of ravenous hunger and thirst. As he woke up one night and saw a famished emaciated version of himself in the mirror, he realized that something was very wrong with him. The same night, Rex once more tried to get Nate for the Sugarman and, while defending himself, Nate was close to burning himself out. In the last instant, he was rescued by another AoA refugee, the Dark Beast. McCoy, like Sugarman, wanted Nate for himself and offered to become Nate’s mentor. He also hinted that Sinister deliberately built Nate not to last, but he - Beast- could fix that. Nate wanted nothing to do with the sadistic scientist from the AoA and psi-blasted him, before departing. [X-Man #8-9]