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Emma Frost has been secretly working against a fellow member of the X-Men’s Quiet Council, and her suspicions were just confirmed.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Hellions #15, on sale now.
Trust between the various branches of power in Krakoa has been waning as of late, hinting that the First Age of Krakoa might soon come to an end for the X-Men. With X-Force and X-Factor constantly bickering and the Quiet Council splintered as a result of recent events, increased distrust could only further sew the seeds of chaos. It turns out that one major member of the Council has actually been far more cautious and conspiratorial though, even arranging for one of her allies to be seemingly embedded in another major character’s number.
Emma Frost has had Empath secretly working as her spy against Mister Sinister, as revealed in Hellions #15, by Zeb Wells, Roge Antonio, Rain Beredo, and VC’s Ariana Maher, and it might be a hint towards some of her other recent moves on Krakoa.
The Hellions have been operating less as their stated purposee — rehabilitating the more violent and anti-social of Krakoa’s citizens — and more as Mister Sinister’s personal attack dogs. They’ve been sent on dangerous missions across the world at his behest, venturing into Arakko and Murder-World under false pretenses while accidentally achieving Sinister’s secret goals. Despite this, the team has increasingly bonded — with Greycrow developing feelings for Kwannon that are hinted to be reciprocated and becoming something of a friend/mentor to the likes of Wild Child and Orphan-Maker. One person who has remained aggressive with their teammates is Empath, the emotion-controlling sociopath and former member of the original Hellions before they were wiped out by Sentinels.
However, that connection seems to have remained in his head all along. The original instructor of the Hellions had been Emma Frost, receiving one of her first real tastes as an educator and setting her on the path to becoming the more heroic figure she is today. She now serves alongside Mister Sinister as a part of the Quiet Council, the ruling body of Krakoa, and like many of their compatriots has never seemingly given her full trust to Mister Sinister.
In exchange for his assistance and acceptance on the island, Sinister was given a series of codes he could not break — namely, experimenting on himself or moving in secret against the betterment or wishes of Krakoa. Despite this, he’s done just that — stealing Murder-World to serve as a secret lab while he experimented on his DNA and that of Tarn the Uncaring, an Omega-Level psionic mutant from Arakko who can merge the DNA of mutants together as part of his cruel experiments.
Sinister has sought to replicate this and create the first Chimera — a fusion of himself and Tarn. Although the Hellions learn the truth and confront him, his capture of Kwannon’s daughter stays their hand — for the most part. At this point, Empath reveals that he’s been on the team in part to monitor Sinister’s actions — and notes that he just broke the rules. Taking control of Havok, Empath forces the Summers Brother to unleash his destructive power, wiping out the lab and presumably the Chimera — while telling Sinister that “Emma says hello.” This implies that on some level, Empath has been an agent of Emma Frost all along. Perhaps she approached him after he was recruited to the Hellions, or it’s possible she took advantage of their connection and even helped arrange for him to be added to the roster.
By playing up his surface-level narcissism and cruelty, the team has more or less written him off — which is the perfect mindset for an apparent spy to take on. It’s a huge reveal, hinting that Emma has been making moves against the rest of the Quiet Council (and potentially teasing the moral ambiguity she might embrace once more in the upcoming Inferno event). It also raises the possibility that Emma might have other spies across Krakoa, and that she might have been operating in secret against her allies for some time. But by stopping Sinister from gaining potentially limitless potential and power, Emma proved why it’s important for someone like her to have her own agents in the field.
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