Marie was the daughter of a teacher and a gardener who made a living as a student at high school and a babysitter to some of the locals in town - human and mutant alike without prejudice. She was popular, a cheerleader in high school. However, during a riotous party involving some of the mutant teenagers of Valle Soleada, Marie's family were killed in a car accident that left herself badly injured - Marie is missing her right eye which had to be entirely removed. It was this event that began Marie's downward spiral into terrorism. Her pleas for justice were ignored, and she found her and her uncle to be on the wrong side of the law when X-Corporation accused them of species harrassments. However, Elias Bogan was at the centre of the dispute.
 
Bogan then began to purchase all of the human homes in Valle Soleada, including Marie's childhood home after Bogan successfully manipulated her uncle.
 
Enraged at what was happening around her, Marie was pushed to the brink and came to the conclusion that a suicide bombing at a public mutant event - in this case, a concert of Lila Cheney's - was the only way that her message would be heard and her parents killers brought to justice. She had hoped that Sunspot, a member of X-Corporation Los Angeles, would be present at the concert but she was unfortunate enough to be faced with an entire team of X-Men - who managed to stop the terrorist attack before it could honestly begin.
 
Marie found herself placed in the care of the X-Man Rogue, who had been depowered recently, and was surprised to find herself comforted by the woman who she despised on principle. It was through this action that Marie realised she had been wrong, but she was still forced to await her trial. Things seemed worse when the mutants responsible for her parents deaths failed to be charged for their crimes and were set free whilst Marie waited for her hearing on charges of attempted murder and anti-mutant terrorism, which could have earned her the death penalty.
 
Evangeline Whedon, mutant lawyer and associate of the X-Men, came to the young woman's rescue by offering a plea bargain and promising to keep her in line. Marie was offered the role of Evangeline's assistant instead of her sentence, and she readily accepted the position.