Template:Featured Articles/45-2011

Manuel de la Rocha: Son of an ancient and influential Spanish line, Manuel Alphonso Rodrigo de la Rocha was groomed from birth to greatness, until his empathic powers surfaced in his early teens. Unable to cope with the influx of external emotions, Manuel was cast out, eventually institutionalised by his father. It was in the asylum, being tortured and trained as a mind breaker, that he met Emma Frost and agreed to help her escape in exchange for his own freedom and a save haven. Manuel's new life at Xavier's, however, was far from easy, and his natural arrogance and susceptibility to using and being used by others gained him the enmity of most of his peers and not a few of the staff. Redemption came during the summer of 2006, when he joined Marius and Jennie, his only remaining friends during the events of Bleeding: caught in Jennie's lucksnap, he was critically injured when he pushed her out of the way of an oncoming truck. He spent almost a year in a coma before returning to Xavier's to retrain his powers and resume his place with the White Court of the Hellfire Club. The discovery of a younger sister who was also an empath drove him to consider the welfare of someone else before his own, and when she was almost abducted in February 2010, Manuel made the decision to relocate to Spain and live anonymously for a time. His sister, however, will still need training, and who is to say the siblings will be safe on their own?