Having ascended as the ruler of the demonic realm of Limbo,^[1] Madelyne Pryor, a.k.a. the Goblin Queen, used her influence to get revenge at the X-Men for her traumatic existence as a clone of Jean Grey.^[2] However, she was offered compassion by her apparent enemies instead, and ultimately chose to tame Limbo, becoming an ally of mutantkind.^[3] With her lover Havok at their side, she established the Limbo Embassy in New York City to deal with aspects regarding the interaction between Earth and Limbo.^[4] The Limbo Embassy gained a new purpose following Orchis' attack on mutantkind, as fugitive mutants found asylum under Pryor's protection. Using the Mercy Crown, Pryor searched for runaway mutants across the globe in order to rescue them.^[5]

In an attempt to replace the missing X-Men, Pryor assembled a new group of X-Men formed by macabre mutants, including Havok, the bizarre and perverted Zero, the wicked and vampiric Emplate, who owed a dept to the evil demon-lord Azazel. They crossed paths with former X-Men Gambit, Archangel, and Maggott who, at the time, attempted to rescue the young shapeshifter Carmen Cruz from Orchis. The two groups of mutants joined forces to be successful, but Havok was mortally wounded by the robot Albert and Archangel was captured by Orchis.^[5] At the Limbo Embassy, Pryor revived Havok as a zombie, while Cruz joined the group as Feint. Recovered, Pryor tasked her X-Men with rescuing more mutants at peril.^[6]

At the seas surrounding Madripoor, part of the X-Men found a band of Morlocks sailing under Callisto's leadership. Unfortunately, they were attacked by the lethal Archangel, who had succumbed to Orchis' mental control.^[6] After some Morlocks perished in battle, Gambit assassinated Archangel to stop the massacre. Maggott chose to stay with the Morlocks, believing Pryor's X-Men to be a tainted group of agents. Simultaneously, in Mexico, the rest of the team met Creep, who formed a fungal fortress to protect mutants from Orchis. When trying to contact Creep, the X-Men struggled to defend themselves against the vile Bamf Dragon. Ultimately, Feint was able to go through Creep's hallucinogenic defenses and reached out to her. Pryor decided to leave Creep in peace after conversing with her.^[7]

Back to the Limbo Embassy, the X-Men welcomed another refugee, the teleporter Abyss. However, he was revealed to be a trap sent by Orchis, who trapped Pryor and the X-Men in the Brimstone Dimension. The master who controlled Archangel and the Bamf Dragon was revealed to be a disrupted version of Madelyne Pryor from another dimension who had been retrieved by Orchis' agents Krol and Vallens. The residents of the Limbo Embassy were murdered by Orchis, but Azazel and Emplate resisted the attack, for they had not been trapped by Abyss. Azazel killed Abyss, his own son, to liberate Pryor and the other X-Men.^[8] The X-Men directed their rage against Pryor's doppelgänger, who wished to use the Mercy Crown to punish mutants all over the world. In the ensuing battle, Zero, who symbiotically merged with the remains of Albert, destroyed Agent Krol. Azazel killed Agent Vallens, but was cannibalized by the Bamf Dragon afterwards, which freed Emplate from his servitude. In the end, Feint encouraged Pryor to stand up against and execute her maleficent copy. Believing herself not to be a leader, the Goblin Queen disbanded her assembly of perverted X-Men.^[9]