Snakes in Paradise[]

After the establishment of the nation of Krakoa, all mutants were granted Krakoan citizenship and welcomed on the island.^[2] Though most Krakoan mutants rapidly adapted to life in this exclusively mutant society, some proved to be problematic cases to Krakoan authorities. Empath, Orphan-Maker, Nanny, Wild Child, Greycrow, and Havok were mutants considered by the Quiet Council of Krakoa to be dangers to themselves and others, as they either refused or were unable to temper their murderous tendencies. To solve the problem these mutants posed, Mister Sinister proposed to assign them to a special group in order to channel their unstable personalities into something productive to Krakoan interests, a group that was to be under his control. Psylocke was invited by Cyclops to act as a watchdog for the team, since her powers, personality, and training were considered adequate to handle the group.^[3] Unbeknownst to most, Psylocke was indebted to Sinister, who had saved a copy of her dead daughter's conciousness. Using the copy as a bargaining chip, Sinister was able to steer the team through Psylocke.^[4]

For their first mission, Sinister charged the group with destroying his former orphanage, which was a cover for a still active Marauders cloning farm.^[3] When the Hellions arrived, Greycrow immediately killed Empath for abusing his powers against his teammates. The Hellions were then quickly ambushed by the zombified Marauders and their new mistress: Madelyne Pryor, the Goblin Queen. She planned to use the Marauder clones as vessels for her demonic servants, and to launch an invasion of Krakoa as revenge for being denied an invitation to the island. The Hellions were swiftly defeated, and all except for Psylocke and Wild Child were captured, with Havok personally tortured by Madelyne. With his animalistic powers seizing hold of him, Wild Child attacked a wounded Psylocke. Psylocke subdued him, earning her his unquestioned obedience as the "alpha" of the group.^[5] Psylocke then managed to free her fellow Hellions. Greycrow shot Madelyne dead and killed the zombified Marauders. Despite Havok's pleas for leniency, the Council refused to resurrect Madelyne and grant her a place on Krakoa.^[6]

Vile Affairs[]

During a tournament conceived to solve the conflict between Krakoa and the fallen mutant nation Arakko in Otherworld, the Hellions, led by Sinister, were tasked with averting the tournament by infiltrating Arakko and forcing them intro a forfeit. After a long and hard journey through Otherworld, they made their way to Amenth and encountered the Arakkii mutant Tarn the Uncaring and his Locus Vile. Tarn revealed to them that they were too late as the tournament was already well under way. They realized that Sinister had misled them and had in fact come to Arakko to steal the genetic material of its mutants. After Sinister stole samples of Tarn and his Locus, they began murdering the Hellions. Sinister (who was in fact a clone) charged Psylocke with ensuring that the genetic material made it back to Krakoa. Psylocke and the surviving Hellions Havok, Greycrow and Empath found their way back, only to be immediately murdered by Mr. Sinister, who wished to hide his true reasons for going to Arakko.^[7] THe Hellions were resurrected without any memories of what had transpired in Arakko.^[4]

As a result of his mutant power, Orphan-Maker required a suit that suppressed his gift to allow him to function normally. The suit could only be made by Nanny's Ship, in possession of the mutant-hating organization the Right.^[4] The Hellions succeeded in entering the Right's base, fighting an android copy of Cameron Hodge and his army of mutant-hunting robots. Empath tricked the robotic Hodge into ordering his own machines to fire on him to prove he was human, which led to his destruction. Infected with the techno-organic virus, the machines developed an evolving A.I. and expressed gratitude to the Hellions for being released from Hodge. However, Psylocke received orders from the Quiet Council to upload a hostile virus that deactivated the machines. Unbeknownst to the others, Nanny had saved an "infant" robot and took it with her to Krakoa.^[8]

Next, Mister Sinister went missing during a meeting with Mastermind, prompting the Hellions to search for him. Mastermind used his powers of illusion to disable them, revealing that Mister Sinister, and now they, had been captured by Arcade.^[9] Keeping Mastermind's daughter hostage, Arcade forced him to trap the Hellions in traumatizing illusions in his Murderworld. Arcade's plan was to blackmail Sinister into creating a clone farm for his use.^[10] Psylocke was able to gradually dissolve Mastermind's illusions and reassemble the Hellions. After the Hellions broke free, Mister Sinister emerged and explained that he and Mastermind had planned this together to seize Arcade's Murderworld. This way, Sinister had acquired a base not known by the Quiet Council. In order to ensure Psylocke's compliance, Sinister moved her daughter's consciousness to the new facility, tying her fate to that of the clone farm. Mastermind used his powers to make the other Hellions believe they had rescued Sinister in a blaze of glory, leaving Psylocke the only one aware of the truth.^[11]

When Krakoa celebrated mutantkind's new advanced position in the Hellfire Gala, Mister Sinister, Psylocke, and Havok were invited, but the rest of the Hellions were not, which led them to crash the party and cause a brawl before they were kicked out.^[12] After the celebration, the Sinister clone left in Amenth returned to confront the original. Mister Sinister summoned his Hellions to learn that the clone had been sent by Tarn in retaliation for the Hellions' theft of his genetic material.^[13] The Locus Vile arrived to fight the Hellions, and were soon followed by Tarn who easily incapacitated them and revealed to the Hellions the truth about their return from Arakko. Before the Hellions could turn on their leader, Mister Sinister activated his frozen clones, unleashing them on Tarn and the Vile. He managed to convince his erstwhile clone to come with him to Murderworld, ordering the betrayed Hellions to stay and distract Tarn.^[14]

Tarn and the Vile made quick work of the clones and the Hellions, leading Psylocke to bargain: if Tarn would spare the Hellions' lives, she would tell him where Sinister was. Upon gleaning the information, an enraged Tarn teleported away to confront Sinister. Psylocke confessed to the other Hellions she had known of Sinister's manipulations all along. Enraged, Greycrow murdered two of the Vile and fed one of them, Amino Fetus, which triggered his universe-destroying abilities. Tarn was forced to teleport back in order to save all of creation from Amino Fetus. In Murderworld, the Hellions stumbled upon Sinister's hidden secret; a chimera of Mister Sinister and Tarn, granting him access to Tarn's godlike abilities. They initially wished to destroy the facility, but Psylocke confessed that Sinister had her daughter stored there. While the Hellions stood down, Empath revealed himself to be a mole for the Quiet Council member Emma Frost, bringing out Havok's murderous alter-ego and prompting him to obliterate the laboratories, destroying all of Sinister's experiments, including Psylocke's daughter and the chimera.^[15]

Fall of the Hellions[]

Rescued by the X-Men, the Hellions quickly fell apart. A haunted Psylocke decided to leave Krakoa and dismiss Wild Child; Greycrow planned to kill Empath once and for all for his treachery; Havok was distraught over having inadvertently killed Psylocke's child; and Nanny rejected Orphan-Maker, lashing out at him after the Right kidnapped her robot baby.^[16] Desperate for approval, Orphan-Maker went off on his own to go rescue the baby. As a Great Captain of Krakoa, Psylocke gathered the Hellions, except for Empath, for one last mission to go after their friend. After storming the base, Orphan-Maker rescued the baby, only for it to kill Nanny as its mutant-hating code activated. Blinded by rage, the heartbroken Orphan-Maker went on a rampage and killed all of the Right scientists and soldiers he came across, including two innocent park rangers who had stumbled upon the scene and attempted to pacify Orphan-Maker. The Hellions found him surrounded by the corpses and begging for forgiveness.^[17]

Since killing humans broke one of the cardinal laws of Krakoa, the X-Men interevened. A potential battle with the Hellions was prevented thanks to Empath, and the issue was brought to the Quiet Council. Their former patron Mister Sinister argued that they should all be exiled to the Pit but the Hellions and Nightcrawler tried to argue in Orphan-Maker's defense. Despite this, the Council judged him guilty. Nanny demanded to be exiled with him, threatening to kill as many humans as it would take to have her request granted. The team then went their separate ways. Empath tried to rejoin his original Hellions teammates, but was rejected and realized he had alienated the closest thing to friends he had ever had; Psylocke talked Greycrow out of killing Empath, prompting him to confess his feelings for her, with the two remaining on the island as a couple; Wild Child agreed to take medications to control his animal side; and Havok was rewarded for his part in stopping Mister Sinister with the resurrection of Madelyne Pryor, who was allowed to be part of Krakoa.^[18]