Fallen Angels

Origin

The Vanisher was never a moral individual. As a mutant with the ability to teleport anywhere he wished, he often used his skills to steal or blackmail others. Yet after an adventure when he was caught travelling through another dimension with the teleporting X-Man known as Nightcrawler, the Vanisher decided it was time to take life a little easier. So he settled down in New York and gathered around him a group of teenaged runaways.

In exchange for giving them shelter in his Beat Street Club, they would have to go out on the city streets and steal whatever they could find. Picking pockets, stealing purses and swiping food, they would take back their ill-gotten gains to the Vanisher who would then keep a large percentage of it for himself. Sometimes the Vanisher managed to recruit girls with super human powers, which would aid them in their daily quest to find more money and food. Yet the girls didn't always appreciate his unique brand of generosity, and sometimes girls like Boom-Boom would leave after they demanded more.

Aliens & Cyborgs

The all-girl group underwent a few changes after Boom-Boom was taken in by X-Factor Most of the regular human girls left the team, leaving Ariel and Chance to find new members. Chance was believed to be a normal human, while Ariel gladly used her space-bending teleportation as often as possible. Together they tracked down a young boy nicknamed Gomi (Japanese for 'garbage') and his two lobster associates Bill & Don

All three of them were cyborgs resulting from the experiments of Gomi's older cousin, while Don was also considered to be a mutant lobster due to his blue coloration. Unbeknownst to the Vanisher, Ariel had a hidden agenda; she didn't just want to repopulate his team of young thieves, she was recruiting as many mutated beings as she could find. As a team, this group of runaways would be known as the Fallen Angels.

Mutants

Gomi always was a hard worker, who didn't seem to mind doing the chores that no-one else wanted to do. Yet it was Chance who accidentally stumbled across their first new mutant. Sunspot had recently runaway from the New Mutants after he lashed out at his best friend and accidentally knocked Cannonball unconscious.

He'd run away to the city where he found Chance being threatened by local street thugs. Although Ariel rescued Chance leaving Sunspot to face the thugs alone, they later went in search of their first mutant.

By the time Gomi, Bill & Don found Sunspot, he was accompanied by Warlock. Fortunately for Ariel & Chance, Magneto and Moira MacTaggert had sent Siryn & Multiple Man in search of the two runaway New Mutants and therefore they also joined the team. At the time they believed that Boom-Boom was being held prisoner by the mutant hunters, X-Factor, so Ariel demonstrated her space-bending alien abilities to everyone just in time to save Boom-Boom as she was being chased by Beast & Iceman. Ariel's collection of young mutants was completed after a brief inter-galactic trip to a jungle-forest planet where they recruited Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy.

Multiple Trouble

Returning back to New York the Vanisher sent the team out to scavenge more food. They paired off with Ariel & Chance, Sunspot & Warlock, Siryn & Multiple Man, and Boom-Boom with Gomi and the lobsters. While Ariel & Chance were tormenting Sunspot & Warlock, Boom-Boom discovered one of Multiple Man's duplicates wandering around the street. He desperately ran away from her and didn't watch where he was going when he ran into the street. A cyclist hit the duplicate breaking some of his ribs, the pain of which was fed to the original Multiple Man a few streets away.

In the midst of all the chaos, no-one had noticed that Devil Dinosaur & Moon Boy had slipped out of the Beast Street Club. Despite the dinosaur's large physique and bizarre appearance on a New York street, they were unnoticed until a large cracking noise as heard. It was the tragic demise of Don, who had been crushed underfoot by Devil Dinosaur.

As the remaining Fallen Angels feasted at Don's wake, Multiple Man and his rogue duplicate discussed re-absorption, how that would be like dying, and the possibilities of further mutation. The duplicate didn't want to be re-absorbed and opted to have his own life, even if it meant living with the pain of broken ribs. They theorised that it was a further mutation or Multiple Man's own multiplying power. Using the portable Cerebro unit that Magneto had given them to find Sunspot & Warlock, the Multiple Men began to detect the presence of two new mutants: Ariel & Chance.

Meanwhile, the young mutants began to experience strange fluctuations in their mutant powers. A slight tap would trigger off dozens of Multiple Men duplicates, while Siryn could suddenly shatter metal, and the Vanisher vanished uncontrollably. Then as a complete reversal, all of their powers would suddenly disappear. Multiple Man's duplicates all mysteriously disappeared (except for the wounded one), Boom-Boom's time-bomb didn't detonate, and Warlock became murderously enraged. The wounded Multiple Man duplicate continued to study Cerebro, but he could not yet determine whether it was Chance or Ariel that was causing the trouble.

Betrayal

Ariel convinced the others that New York was too much trouble, and that she the best place for them: The Coconut Grove. There the team were treated like VIPs and received a make-over from their hosts. All except Chance who screamed in terror at the prospect of being feminine, and was subsequently mocked by Sunspot. The team was relaxed and didn't suspect a thing. The girls tormented Sunspot, Multiple Man gained another independent duplicate, and when Boom-Boom was accidentally left behind she didn't seem to mind since she was being praised by the locals for her amazing mutant powers.

Gathering together, Multiple Man revealed that Cerebro had not been wrong earlier. He continued to read distinctive mutant signatures from both Ariel and Chance, except for when all their mutant powers were cancelled out when only Chance registered. They deduced that Chance could 'Double or Nothing' their powers by increasing them or completely removing them, and Ariel had the gift of the gab by being able to sweet talk others into doing what she wanted. The whole conversation had been overheard by Coconut Grove guards who informed their leader, Unipar.

When the Coconut Grove guards attacked, the Fallen Angels were soon taken captive. Although Ariel's deal with Unipar meant that Chance was not to be taken too, they quickly seized her as they knew she was a mutant. Ariel turned to leave, so she didn't have to see the friends she'd betrayed, but then was immediately imprisoned within a force-field pillar. The captive Fallen Angels were thrown into a cell which dampened mutant powers, Gomi was blindfolded and locked inside a spinning cage, while Boom-Boom was being experimented on. Ariel remained inside her cramped pillar of energy, and was socially rejected by the rest of the team.

Unipar was determined to continue his experiments on the mutants. They would not go quietly, and therefore he shot the third Multiple Man duplicate. The death instantly sent a psychic feedback to the remaining Multiple Men and scared the others into silence. As all three Multiple Men were taken away, Sunspot offered to go to support his traumatised friend.

Escape

Due to his diminutive stature, Bill had remained undetected by the guards. The little green lobster cyborg made his way to the cells and battered any guard that was in his way. Finding the keys to the cell, he quickly liberated the team. They were ready to abandon Ariel, but took pity on her and freed her from the force-field pillar. They soon located Sunspot and the Multiple Men, who agreed to re-absorb and fight for their freedom.

Chance gained control over her powers and boosted the abilities of the others. Ariel used her voice based manipulation to convince Unipar to let them go. Devil Dinosaur destroyed the room and threatened savage violence if they were chased. Ultimately Unipar was informed that all of his scientific experiments were pointless, as their own kind had already begun to evolve again and Ariel was the living proof.

The End

Ariel returned everyone back to the Beat Street Club. Sunspot and Warlock parted to return to school. Boom-Boom returned to X-Factor. Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy were sent home to their jungle planet. Siryn and Multiple Man stayed with the remaining Fallen Angels saying that they were a good bunch who just needed a little guidance.

All-New Team

A new team was formed by Psylocke (Kwannon), kid Cable and X-23. Husk and Bling also joined the team.

Trivia

The cover of the first issue of the first series says "One moment of anger, and their lives are changed forever". Although this may seem as just a marketing gimmick there is a sense of truth in it.

That is because all the events happening in this issue have impact right up until the end of "The Fall of the Mutants" story line, published in New Mutants 59-61. Because Sunspot hit Cannonball in rage after a game of footbal, he and Warlock left the New Mutants. They only came back at the end of " The Fall of the Mutants" story line. Just a few minutes after Sunspot and Warlock returned to help their teammates fight Cameron Hodge and his elite robots, their friend and teammate Doug Ramsey (aka Cypher) was shot and killed. Though nothing is certain, but it could be possible that, had Sunspot and Warlock stayed with the New Mutants, they could have turned the tied in favor of the mutants, and thus preventing the death of Doug.

Epilogue

X-Team Adventures

Eventually the rest of the team also disbanded. Gomi, Bill, Ariel and Chance have not been seen since, while Devil Dinosaur & Moon Boy continue to re-appear in various places. Yet many of the other members have gone on to be in more popular teams, particularly X-Factor & X-Force Siryn and Multiple Man returned to Muir Island at some undisclosed point, and were later mind controlled by the Shadow King

Multiple Man joined the government backed incarnation of X-Factor and created X-Factor Investigates. Siryn became a long-time member of Cable's X-Force, and rejoined Multiple Man in X-Factor.

Boom-Boom was also a long-term member of Cable's X-Force with Siryn, and later had a brief relationship with Sunspot. He joined and left X-Force on various occasions and became a public figure when working with the X-Corporation. He even became the Lord Imperial of the Hellfire Club before aiding the Young X-Men & eventually reuniting with his New Mutants team-mates. Boom-Boom was a member of NextWave who fought an evil talking version of Devil Dinosaur who claimed he had eaten Moon Boy. Neither of them recalled their adventures together (although there are theories to state that was in an alternate reality).

Warlock has returned from the dead, and returned to outer space where he attempts to cure the Kree of the technarch inflicted techno-virus. He has since sired a son of his own, and is slated to appear in the New Mutants. The Vanisher has been drafted into Cyclops & Wolverine's X-Force. He had previously encountered the first X-Force during a heist on Hawaii where he did not recognize Siryn and even tried to chat her up. During the Second Coming event, Vanisher was severely wounded and presumed to have died though he showed up later alive and well.

Ariel recently appeared aiding the X-Men during a riot in San Francisco and resided on Utopia. She was believed to have been killed in a car explosion during the Second Coming event but was actually trapped between dimensions since the car door she tried to escape through had been destroyed. Once the X-Club realized this, they were able to rescue Ariel.