History
Inferno Babies[]
Using information from Cameron Hodge, ten mutant children were kidnapped by the demon N'astirh because of their purity and power, including Alex. The infants were brought to a cemetery where N'astirh was attempting to create portal between the demon infested dimension of Limbo and Earth that could stay open permanently. The infants were teleported to Times Square, where the New Mutant Magik (Illyana Rasputin) was opening a portal to return her teammates from Limbo. N'astirh kept the portal open, using the babies as natural, living conduits as the points of an inverted pentagram. N'astirh was partially successful in merging the two realms before the X-Terminators and the New Mutants saved the children.[1][2]
After the defeat of N'astirh, the Goblin Queen (Madelyne Pryor) attempted to sacrifice her infant son Christopher Summers and the other nine mutant babies atop the Empire State Building to finish N'astirh's work and permanently open the gateway. The invasion was thwarted after the Goblin Queen committed suicide in combat with Jean Grey. After the X-Terminators and New Mutants took the babies to X-Factor's Celestial Ship, X-Factor turned the babies over to the US government, while being attacked by Nanny and Orphan-Maker.[3]
Project Purgatory[]
The United States Army founded Project Purgatory to research the fields of the supernatural and paranormal. One of the recruited scientists, Doctor Noc, developed technology to use the children to open portals to Limbo. General Ulysses, Doctor Noc, and a trained band of military soldiers established a military base in Limbo, the Hatchery. At the base, they continued to train new soldiers and experiment on both demons and on the Inferno babies. However, when the soldiers recovered the Bloodstone amulet, the base was attacked by Witchfire and the Inferno babies were believed dead. The Earth based military forces sealed off the portal Epsilon, leaving those on the Limbo base stranded to find the observation portal with virtually no hope of escape.[4]
After twenty-six years in Limbo, but only four years on Earth, Noc and Ulysses were able to locate a traveling portal and return home, keeping the existence of the children to themselves. However, they never gave up their mission of taking control of Limbo and capturing Illyana Rasputin. They returned to a world where all of the mutants were living together on Utopia and, therefore, their commanding officer, General Combest, ordered them to stand-down. The unit still believed that Illyana was a significant threat and, after Project Purgatory kidnapped Pixie, the Inferno Babies revealed themselves when they killed General Combest and obliterated the entire battalion. The New Mutants showed up to rescue Pixie and the Inferno Babies defeated them. After Dr. Noc and General Ulysses took Illyana's Soulsword and Pixie's Souldagger, they extracted the Bloodstones and completed the Bloodstone Amulet to call forth the Elder Gods They, along with members of Project Purgatory, tortured the New Mutants. Once they returned to Limbo, the Demons Three asked them to turn over the Bloodstone Amulet and General Ulysses had them beg for mercy, then killed. After releasing the Elder Gods, General Ulysses was killed attempting to control them and the group fought against a demon horde.[5] While fighting, Alex's whereabouts were unknown.