BIOGRAPHY: Page 2
Worried by Beast’s hints, Nate decided to look for the X-Men and ask them for help. However, at the same time, Xavier was alerted to the presence of a telepath with a signature similar to Cable’s by Blaquesmith, who had been studying his readings about Nate ever since he dropped to Earth. Xavier was concerned that Nate was apparently able to shield himself from Cerebro, which shouldn’t be possible, and entered the astral plane to search for the telepath himself. When he found him, Nate had just erased the memories of an entire crowd of mutant haters and, sensing that he was being watched, Nate dragged Xavier’s astral form into reality - something that the professor had believed impossible.
When Xavier tried to introduce himself as the leader of the X-Men, Nate’s impulsiveness and suspicious nature once more got the better of him. As far as he knew, Magneto was leading the X-Men. He angrily lashed out at Xavier and vowed to kill the next person to come after him. Xavier fought him psychically but, noticing that Nate would not let up, although the strain on the his own health was considerable, Xavier decided the best way to end this was to pretend to be killed and retreated back to the mansion. [X-Man #10]
Soon after, Nate had a chance encounter with Rogue, who was on a leave of absence from the X-Men. Recognizing her as the leader of the X-Men and Magneto’s wife, he helped her defeat the X-Cutioner. Learning that he did not trust Xavier, Rogue got Nate an appointment at Moira MacTaggert’s mutant research center on Muir Island to let himself be examined. Upon arriving, Nate’s attitude led to a brief mix-up with Excalibur, who thought him an intruder. However, once the misunderstanding was cleared up, Moira ran her tests. Analyzing the results, she found a fatal flaw in his powers: they would burn him out and kill him at the age of 21 at the latest. In the meantime, Nate discovered that part of the Muir complex was used to incarcerate mutant criminals and was reminded of the pens in AoA. Doing a mindscan on Moira, he learned of her connection to Xavier and his test result. Nate lost control and angrily lashed out with his powers, but Excalibur and Moira managed to convince him of their good intention by letting him perform another mindscan. Still, Nate was confused and departed. [X-Man #11-12, Excalibur (1st series) #95]
Nate returned to Paris, still hoping to find Madelyne. However, he heard someone else calling out to him psionically. In the sewers below the city, he found a girl named Threnody, who was on the run from the Marauders. As Sinister’s prisoner-turned-assistant, it was her task to scan for new mutant activity. However, when she registered Nate’s signature, she kept it secret, hoping that this powerful mutant could help her to escape from her master. Learning that the Marauders served Sinister, Nate immediately took Threnody’s side and finished them off with frightening ease before leaving with Threnody in search of Maddie. [X-Man #13]
At the same time, Xavier had invited Cable and Blaquesmith to the mansion to discuss the situation regarding this young Nate Grey with him, Moira, Jean Grey and the X-Men leaders, Storm and Cyclops. Suspicious because of Nate’s similarity to Cable’s evil clone, Stryfe, and in awe of the sheer scope of his powers, they noted that the major difference between Nate and Cable, who are genetically identical, was that Nate’s unbridled power threatened to consume him and those around him. Meanwhile, Cable’s immense potential was thankfully stifled thanks to the techno-organic virus in his system. Blaquesmith was adamant in his opinion: The boy should not exist in this timeline and needed to be destroyed. Knowing that the X-Men would not approve, Blaquesmith mindwiped the others and sent Cable to find Nate and properly deal with him. [Cable (1st series) #29]
Cable tracked Nate to the sewers of Paris and, from there, followed him to the Swiss Alps, when suddenly Cable’s techno-virus went wild and he started experiencing flashes of Nate’s memories and vice versa. As Nate frantically cried out “stop,” everything around him stopped: wind, snow, birds. The weakened Nate and Threnody found a house and, as Nate was wondering why he was drawn to Switzerland in the first place, the house’s owner - Cable - arrived too. Nate, of course, started a fight.
He reasoned that Cable was responsible for his pain, plus he knew all the people he distrusted. Unexpectedly, their battle was interrupted by a being who had been buried around the same area - Exodus, who wanted Nate’s mutant energies. Cable saved Nate, who in turn, buried the beaten Exodus in the tomb that was originally his prison. However, Nate was seriously ticked off by now - so far everybody in this world had treated him like a criminal or wanted something of him and he had enough of it. Blaquesmith intervened, attempting to kill Nate, while Cable only reluctantly rejoined the fight, still trying to reason with the boy. As that failed, Cable worked Nate into such a fury that the boy overloaded himself and collapsed. However, despite Blaquesmith’s urgings, Cable did not want him to die. In Nate, he saw himself again, healthy, young and with a new chance. He healed the boy, recharging his “psionic batteries,” a choice which cost him a lot as his techno-organic virus resurged. [Cable (1st series) #30-31, X-Man #14]
Nate awoke in a ski-lodge Threnody brought him to, where all the other victims of the disasters Nate unleashed were being treated. Suspicious of Threnody and her link to Sinister, Nate entered her mind and understood the pain her power caused her. He realized they had much in common, both victims of their powers and Sinister. As he tried to take away one of the neurolocks Sinister placed on her to control her death-power, he and Threnody were thrown out of the cabin. [X-Man #15]
The two of them decided to recover in the Mediterranean. Nate enjoyed the beach, unaware that the mysterious villain, Onslaught, had a special interest in him and had sent his servant, Holocaust, after him. Holocaust attacked Nate, not caring about the innocents he injured. He offered him Onslaught’s help with his “limited life expectancy problem” and, since Nate refused, he took Threnody as a hostage. Nate seemingly surrendered, but actually activated Threnody’s death energy, hitting Holocaust with that charge, which kicked him away. Holocaust came back for a second round, but this time Nate was prepared and beat him. Before fleeing, Holocaust warned him that Onslaught would come for him. Nate realized that he might need help against this mysterious Onslaught, but he didn’t want to rely on Cable or the X-Men. Threnody suggested to approach the Avengers. [X-Man #16-17, Avengers (1st series) #400]
By the time Nate and the Avengers reached the X-Mansion, Xavier had already revealed himself as the vessel of the mad Onslaught and had beaten the X-Men within an inch of their lives. The Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four all tried to hunt Onslaught down, as he had abducted little Franklin Richards and unleashed the Sentinels on New York. Meanwhile X-Force was left to baby-sit Nate, who apparently played a big role in Onslaught’s plans. Sinister showed up, offering his assistance to Nate. However, it was a ruse - as Nate probed his mind, Sinister sent the energy back multiplied, knocking out both Nate and the members of X-Force. Sinister took the boy to his own base, where he tried to convince Nate that, in the face of threats such as Onslaught, they needed to pool their resources and that he could help him gain control. Nate, in a rare moment of enlightenment, responded that only he himself could do that. Nate was diverted from Sinister by the telepathic cry for help by a young child, seemingly Franklin Richards, but as Nate reached out towards the source, Onslaught sprung the trap and physically captured him. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #335, X-Man #18, X-Force (1st series) #57, X-Man #19]
Onslaught existed thanks to Nate; when Nate tore out Xavier’s astral body from the astral plane into reality, he taught him a use of his psychic powers previously unknown and thus created a psychic body for Onslaught. Onslaught wanted Nate’s raging psychic energy in tandem with Franklin’s reality control, but he also wanted to know more of Nate’s homeworld, where mutants ruled. However, as he saw Nate’s memories of the Age of Apocalypse he realized that it would not work
and, thinking that mutants were no better than humans, he decided to kill them all. The heroes furiously attacked Onslaught. As Onslaught’s armor cracked, he became a pure reality storm - the heroes sacrificed their lives to suck up that energy by joining with him - with the exception of the X-Men - as mutants doing this would have had the opposite effect. Onslaught became vulnerable and the X-Men fought him with all they had, until Xavier and Joseph (Magneto’s clone) managed to free Franklin and Nate. Alone with Xavier, Nate mourned the passing of the heroes that awed him, unaware that Franklin subconsciously used his vast powers to create a new world for them in a pocket universe (from which they later would return). [X-Men (2nd series) #56, Onslaught : Marvel Universe]
In Nate’s absence, Threnody had been captured by Sinister’s Marauders, only to fall into the hands of Emil Blonsky aka the Abomination. Blonsky and his group of outsiders despised Threnody, they had taken her in (before she met Sinister), but Threnody, with her unpredictable death mutant power, killed some of them inadvertently. Searching for his friend, Nate tracked Threnody down and rescued her from this group of misfits. The Abomination warned Nate about her but he replied that he was aware of what she had done. [X-Man #20]
On a sunny day, Nate and Threnody enjoyed New York Central Park and Nate showed off with his telepathic powers when he ran into a phony clairvoyant. The crowd loved his act and Threnody saw a business opportunity. Soon, Nate’s park mental acts became a regular occurrence. He took her on a fancy date, pretending to be celebrities and the two started to fall for each other. He also managed to secure them a fancy apartment, whose true owner was away for a longer stretch of time. Still not entirely trusting her, Nate probed Threnody’s mind to learn if she was still working for Sinister and, to his surprise, she didn’t know herself. After all, the scientist could have manipulated the events that led to her searching out Nate and running away with him. [X-Man #21-23]