Shortly after the formation of the mutant teen team Generation X, the red-skinned Monet is dropped onto the front lawn of the Massachusetts Academy by Gateway, who speaks the single word: "Penance," which is taken by witnesses to be her name. She is brought inside by headmaster Banshee, who discovers her powers as he cuts his hands by trying to pick her up As Penance cannot speak, understand English (apparently), and with an immunity to telepathy, Banshee places her in the infirmary as Banshee and Emma Frost attempt to discover her identity. Teen member M, her relation to Penance unknown, tells the adults that Penance was perhaps a prisoner of Emplate, whom the group had encountered previously and known only as a parasitic mutant who fed upon other mutants.