Warpies

The Birth of Madness

A large group of individuals- made up of young children and unborn fetuses- who were mutated by Mad Jim Jasper's 'Jasper Warp', which caused a non-coherent reality manipulation. When the first Warpies were born, no one knew what was going on and several who were already teenagers were rounded up by Resources Control Executives, more widely know as R.C.X. In several cases, the children were separated from their families by force. Among the agents sent to collect Warpie children and infants was Dr. Joshua N'Dingi. When he picked up a scared Warpie baby, the child exploded on his hands, forever disfiguring him and killing several others. This in turn led to him becoming the cyborg Doctor Crocodile. R.C.X. instructed the Warpies on the use of their new powers and trained them how to use them offensively.

An Unpredictable Weapon

Nigel Orpington-Smythe was director of R.C.X.; believing the Jaspers Warp was evidence of an attack against the U.K. and determined to create defensive forces to protect it in future, he used his influence to create teams of Warpies to work for him. One such team consisted of the Cherubim: AC-DC, Quill, Cherub Whirlwind, Fern, Giggles, Lump.

Several R.C.X. agents, fearful of Nigel's intentions to turn the children into weapons, fled to Braddock Manor, hoping to enlist the support of Captain Britain, a high profile and popular hero whose protection might shield them and their charges from Nigel's influence. During the agents' initial meeting with the hero, the empathic Meggan sensed the confused Cherubim's presence within one of the RCX vehicles, and attempted to free them. In their excitement they overwhelmed her, but also unwittingly helped her unlock her shape-shifting power. Captain Britain, Captain UK and Betsy Braddock subdued the Cherubim, but Meggan discovered she had unintentionally slain the Cherub Whirlwind; after the battle the Cherubim, led by Quill, ran away. Captain Britain, Captain UK, Betsy Braddock and Meggan all subsequently departed Braddock Manor, leaving the Warpies in the care of the RCX agents and the Manor's computer, Mastermind.

Nothing more than simple thugs

In their escape the Cherubim meet other Warpies who had never been captured and instead were led by Uncle Lex, a young adult with no physical disturbance but with the ability to predict the level of the powers the Warpies one day would possess. Uncle Lex merged the Cherubim in with his Warpie gang of thieves know as the Parasites, enlisting the Cherubim members by preying on their fears. As the Cherubim reach a point were they could no longer take it, they fought back and during the confrontation many of the Parasites' members perished, except for Uncle Lex. He revealed that one day Lump's powers would grant him the ability to actually manifest the fear of others and not just illusions, and that Giggles' light manipulation powers would turn into reality bending powers just like Mad Jim Jasper; the one who turned them into their current state.

Having recaptured his errant agents and Warpies, Nigel created more teams from within the Warpies, such as the Sky Pilots, the Seraphims and the deadly and uncontrollable Serpents, and meant to be his own personal guard and peace-keeping force for Cloud 9, consisted of the Advocates: Aberdeen Angus (team-leader), Bison, Butane, Cabbage, Celery, Mustard, Oak, Pumice, Salt, Shrew. However, a new crisis began when some of the Warpies started losing their powers and becoming ordinary humans once more. Fearful that he may lose his super-team, Nigel sent the Cherubim to bring back Meggan and Captain Britain with the hope that magic and science could prove a way to restore their powers. However, Captain Britain refused. Nigel, in an attempt to gain the hero's help, invented the lie that the Warpies who were de-powered die a horrible painful dead. When Nightcrawler revealed this information to be a hoax, Excalibur punished Nigel and he was removed from his R.C.X position. The Warpies and Cherubim were handed back to the R.C.X. agents who had opposed Nigel, now released from stasis chamber prisons.

Black Air Revival

The organization Black Air sought to exploit the potential of the Warpies and captured all of them from R.C.X. They then submitted them to genetic manipulation to weaponize them. This killed most of them, but Mastermind broke into Black Air and retrieved the surviving ones. With many of their powers upgraded the Warpies, including the Cherubim, were taken to the Otherworld (Avalon) by Mastermind, who had been reprogrammed by Kang the Conqueror. There they killed many of the Captain Britain Corps and even fought Excalibur and Captain Britain himself before he use the Sword of Might to transform them back into humans.