laura kinney - x-23 When a top-secret program attempted to recreate the original Weapon X experiment that involved the feral mutant Wolverine, they failed to secure a test subject who could survive the bonding process of the virtually unbreakable metal Adamantium to their skeleton. Seeking to take the project in a new direction, the project's director, Doctor Marin Sutter, recruited renowned mutant geneticist Doctor Sarah Kinney and tasked her with creating a clone.
Using the only available genetic sample from Weapon X, which was damaged, they were unable to salvage the Y chromosome after twenty-two attempts. Kinney proposed they create a female clone, and though her request was initially denied, she still went ahead and produced a viable female subject, prompting Sutter to reconsider. Despite resistance from his protégé Doctor Zander Rice, whom Sutter had raised after Rice's father had been killed by a bestial Wolverine at the original Weapon X Project, Sutter allowed Kinney to proceed. As revenge for her insubordination, Rice forced Kinney to act as the surrogate mother for the clone, and she gave birth to "X-23".
Seven years later, raised in captivity X-23 was trained to be a weapon. Kinney did her best to ensure the child retained some semblance of humanity, but her efforts appeared to be in vain. After seven years, Rice had X-23 subjected to radiation poisoning in order to accelerate the activation of her mutant gene, and forcibly extracted her claws and coated them with Adamantium. After Rice realized the child was growing soft, he blamed her sensei, one of the few people who treated her with kindness, and tested a chemical compound called "trigger scent" on him. The "trigger scent" causes Laura to kill mercelessly anything in her path, and thus she murdered her best friend. Rice already had a replacement in the wings, a woman named Kimura. Kimura was harsh and strictly punished X-23 for the death of her sensei.
Not being able to stand the way that X-23 was being treated, Kinney arranged for X-23 to be sent away from the Facility, in hopes that she would be found by Wolverine, and he would safe her from further mistreatment. Kinney went against her superiors, and smuggled X-23 out of the Facility. Unfortunately, the Facility found out, and pursued the pair. Sarah was gunned down as her and X-23 made their way to New York. X-23 managed to escape, with nothing but the clothes on her back, and a letter that Sarah wrote to Wolverine, asking him to protect X-23, who Sarah had named Laura. Laura was left alone, and felt, at the age of eight, for the first time in her life, very scared. She survived on the streets of New York City, stealing and hoping to find someway to get to where Sarah said she was taking her. One night, Laura was cornered by a man, who attempted to assault her. She killed him in self-defense, and the way the murder had been done gained the attention of SHIELD, who noticed the claw marks where the man had been gutted, and thought it was someone impersonating Wolverine. Logan got called in to track down the killer before more murders could be committed.
Once he was called in, Logan managed to pick up the killer's scent. Eventually, he tracked Laura down to an alley where she'd been hiding. At first, Logan refused to believe that a little girl could be capable of murder, until Laura, scared, attacked him. Logan, though initially shocked at a little girl with claws and abilities like his, managed to subdue Laura and knock her out. Searching her, he found Sarah's letter, and read it. Seeing that Laura was just a little kid, and not wanting to hand her over to SHIELD, where she'd be again treated as a living weapon, Logan took Laura back to Westchester with him, and told SHIELD that the killer had been taken care of.
Laura had a hard time adjusting to Xavier's. She'd never been outside of the Facility, save with Sarah, and the different atmosphere was overwhelming to her. Though everyone treated her with kindness and concern, she was prone to frequent rages, and Logan was often called in to calm her down, as even though he'd frightened her at first, she felt a certain calm in his presence, as he seemed to understand her. Logan, in turn, kept a very watchful eye over Laura, as he felt responsible for her. It took time, but Laura slowly adjusted. She had a hard time trusting people, but she felt more at ease then she had before in her life. Laura struggled with emotions that weren't related to anger and rage, but Logan helped her work towards becoming more human.
Though her adjustment was slow, Laura became more open around people that she trusted, mainly Logan, Storm, Gambit, Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, and Nightcrawler. She still had a hard time making friends, which was why Storm recommended that she join the Young X-Men when she was seventeen, so she'd be around her peers. While Laura was distant to them at first, she eventually became friends with Cessily Kincaid. She had an antagonistic relationship with Julian Keller, who would call her a "robot without a soul", and was a favorite of Emma Frost, who she distrusted.
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