Dearly Beloved,
We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Massachusetts Academy headmistress, Frost Enterprises CEO, and Hellfire Club White Queen Adrienne Frost, of the Boston Frosts. The third of four children, Adrienne idolized her father, Winston; tolerated her mother, Hazel; and tormented her siblings. Cordelia, Emma, and Christian.
At an early age, Adrienne discovered that she had the power of psychometry, so that by touching an object, she instantly knew about its previous, current, and future owners. Adrienne spent some time cultivating a successful and lucrative modeling career. She hid this career from her parents, because she knew that they’d never approve of her career. She insisted her siblings keep her secret, which they did for a while. After Adrienne outed her brother, Christian, to their parents, Emma outed Adrienne’s secret modeling career, and her father, as Adrienne expected, insisted that she quit and never walk a catwalk again.
Adrienne knew that she wanted to take over her father’s Frost Enterprises. To guarantee that he’d pick her as his successor, she tapped into her powers to ensure she excelled in school – but she hadn’t counted on Emma piquing their father’s interest by rebelling and making clear her plans to survive and thrive on her own. Seeing himself in Emma, Winston planned to name her his successor, and, in fact, did just that – except Emma had no interest in following in her father’s footsteps. With Emma no longer an option for his plan of succession, Winston tapped Adrienne to follow in his footsteps and run Frost Enterprises – which she did after her parents mysteriously disappeared.
After taking control of Frost Enterprises, Adrienne married Steven, who was as obsessed with power as she was, and after Adrienne realized that theirs would never be a happy or peaceful marriage, she killed him.
Alone, but never lonely, and taking Frost Enterprises to heights never before enjoyed – not even under her father’s reign – Adrienne is surprised when Emma turns to her and asks her for a loan so she can pay off debts acquired by the Massachusetts Academy, where she had spent months teaching the next generation of mutants to better understand, control, and use their powers. Adrienne initially turned down Emma’s request, though she had more than enough money to pay off the debt, but decided to grant her sister’s request – as long as Emma agreed to let her run the school as its co-headmistress.
As co-headmistress of the Massachusetts Academy, Adrienne learned that the school was a training ground for the team known as Generation X. Adrienne convinced Emma to open the school to non mutants, hide the identities of the mutant children, and even let her sometimes give the team missions – such as retrieving the sword she used to murder Steven.
After Adrienne tried – but failed – to drive Emma insane, she exposed herself as the newest White Queen of the Hellfire Club and disappeared, only to return months later and insist that Emma reinstate her as co-headmistress. Emma did, but only to prevent Adrienne from exposing the school and the members of Generation X. Adrienne did anyway, inciting riots at the school and planting bombs that ultimately led to the death of Generation X founding member Synch.
Emma confronted Adrienne, and, after realizing that she couldn’t use her telepathy on her sister, simply shot her in the chest. Adrienne died, which Emma tried to hide from her students, but the truth ultimately came out and drove a wedge between Emma and her students. Emma struggled to reconcile her decision to kill her sister, and thought for a while that maybe she could have found a different way, but ultimately decided that she did the right thing killing Adrienne.
Adrienne is survived by her sisters Cordelia and Emma, and by her brother, Christian. Unsurprisingly, they are not in attendance. They’ve requested that, in lieu of flowers, you simply forget her.
Will Henderson is a freelance writer and father. His memoir, Second Person, Possessive, is out now and you can order here. Follow Will on twitter @Avesdad.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
