Laura Kinney is a mutant artificially created by the Facility using Wolverine's DNA to serve as their private assassin. Geneticist Sarah Kinney was tasked to lead the project, proposing to create a female subject after twenty-two failed attempts due to a damaged Y chromosome in the genetic material. Contradicting her superiors, Kinney mixed her own genetic material with Wolverine's and became the surrogate mother to the experiment, giving birth to X-23.[16][17] In the Facility, X-23 was forged into a lethally efficient weapon, being constantly brutalized by her trainer, Kimura.[18] However, she met a glimpse of tenderness with Kinney, who at the cost of her own life helped X-23 escape the Facility, recognizing her as her daughter "Laura".[19]
Wishing to put an end to vile weapons like herself, X-23 tracked Wolverine to the X-Mansion to eliminate him. However, Wolverine argued she had been a victim and offered to help her,[20] enrolling her in the Xavier Institute.[3][21] Since then, X-23 has become a respected and valuable player in the mutant community. She was a member of the X-Men in-training group,[22] part of the killer squad X-Force,[23] a student of Avengers Academy,[24] and even joined a couple of X-Men teams.[25][26]
After adopting the name "Wolverine" in honor of her father,[2] Laura formed a family with her new-found sister Gabby.[27][28] Later, she was chosen to enter the Vault with Darwin and Synch,[29] where they spent hundreds of years gathering information. During this time, she developed a romantic relationship with Synch, and eventually sacrificed her freedom to let him escape.[10] After being rescued by Forge, Laura and Synch were finally reunited,[30] moving together into the X-Men's Treehouse in New York City.[31]
