BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
Upon returning to Earth after Tigra had been cured of her personality issues, Firebird had a strange vision. The setting was many years in the past and she was a young woman named Carlotta, riding the mission trail to San Luis Abispo. Suddenly, the caravan was attacked by Native Americans. Carlotta proved well skilled with a gun and saved a member of the army who was traveling with the group. Unfortunately for her, Carlotta was moments later shot in the back by a traitor. The vision ended with Bonita being unsure about who the traitor was.
After the group retuned to the compound, Hawkeye again started pestering the Thing about joining the group, an opportunity which the dejected Bonita took to slip way unnoticed. Mockingbird, however, did notice and took her husband Hawkeye aside, where they argued about Hawkeye's indifference towards Firebird. Mockingbird was angry that Hawkeye kept asking the Thing to join the team, only to be turned down on each occasion, while Mockingbird knew that Firebird would join the team with great delight. Hawkeye promised Mockingbird that he would ask the Thing one more time and, if he was refused, he would think about asking Firebird. Bonita, 
meanwhile, found herself at the cliffs that led to the beach below the Palos Verdes Compound, where she considered her powers, the visions and what she should do next. She prayed for guidance and moments later believed she had received her answer.
Bonita contacted her allies in the Rangers and proposed to them that they firmly establish themselves as a team in the American Southwest. Not only did they agree, but they quickly arrived at the Avengers Compound to collect Firebird. When Hawkeye sheepishly tried to voice his hope that they hadn’t done anything to drive her away, Bonita assured him that she understood about his rules, and that her dream of joining the Avengers was just that – a dream.
However, events took a surprising turn when the Ranger called Shooting Star touched Firebird’s back, inadvertently activating Bonita’s sixth sense. Stunned at the sensation of evil that overwhelmed her body, Firebird proclaimed that Shooting Star was possessed. Though Shooting Star claimed otherwise, the threatening actions of the other Rangers seemed to prove Firebird right. A fight between the two teams broke out, during which Firebird struggled against Lobo, Red Wolf's actual wolf, which was able to increase its size. Believing she alone had the ability to expose the source of this possession, Firebird released a mighty burst of energy into the air, the light of which blinded all of the combatants on both sides – except for Shooting Star. Realizing she was the true demon among the group and was possessing the other Rangers, Firebird battled the demon and warned her to release the others, or she would incinerate her demon soul.
Fearing for her life, Shooting Star revealed her true demonic form and released the Rangers. She then explained that it was she, the demon, who had prevented the Rangers from forming as a true 
team, as she knew that Firebird would be able to detect who she was. When Firebird queried the demon about why she simply didn't possess her too, the demon reminded her that she said she would incinerate her soul – though Firebird did not recall saying that. With the demon captured, the Avengers deduced that their demonic foe must have something to do with Master Pandemonium. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #8]
Eager to help out Bonita, it was Mockingbird who devised the plan to entrap their elusive foe. Disguised as Shooting Star, Mockingbird would pretend to be pursued by the West Coast Avengers, hoping for Master Pandemonium to rescue his agent and take her to his lair. Though the plan worked and Mockingbird sent a signal to her teammates, the demon master teleported the two of them away and even Firebird’s sensitivity to evil could not divine to where they had gone. Though the Avengers eventually located the demon master’s lair thanks to the magic of the 
Cat people, Master Pandemonium escaped. More unfortunately for Firebird, she could do nothing but silently watch as the Thing took opportunity during their victory celebration to finally agree to join the West Coast Avengers. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #9]
Shortly after Firebird returned to the Palos Verdes Compound with the Avengers, she announced her intention to leave again and thanked Hawkeye and Mockingbird for their hospitality. She also alleviated any guilt the two might have on her not being offered a role on the team, assuring them that it was God’s will that she be humbled for wanting it too much. Before she left, Hawkeye asked Bonita to consider giving the Avengers another chance in the future and also suggested that Bonita look into that vision she had, as in their business one can’t ignore things like that. Bonita promised him that she would, though she primarily wanted to learn more about her strange powers. Firebird’s time of departure could not have been less fortuitous, however. The Thing left soon thereafter due to personal reasons, freeing up the sixth Avenger slot. Even more ironic, Hawkeye learned that the six-member rule to which he had been adhering had not been in effect since the government suspended their priority clearance months before and he had all along been able to offer Avengers membership to both the Thing and Firebird. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #10]
Despite this, while on her spiritual retreat Bonita found a peace that surpassed everything else, inspiring her to change her name from Firebird to La Espirita – “the Spirit” – and don a new, angel-like costume. As she promised, Bonita returned to Palos Verdes to visit her friends in the West Coast Avengers. Though they were not home, Bonita nevertheless arrived just in time to prevent Hank Pym from killing himself. During her brief time at the compound before, she had studied the files on Hank and all of the Avengers, so she knew about Hank's previous identities, his successes and failures. When Hank reminded her about his failures as a hero, Bonita suggested to him that he be the hero he is, not the hero others wanted him to be and promised to help him reclaim his life. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #17-18]
Bonita’s approach was to have Hank walk through his life, looking at the decisions he made and those he did not. While they did so, the two were unaware of the ordeal the West Coast Avengers were currently enduring or how it related to Bonita and her time-displaced vision. Having been sent back in time by the villain called Dominus, the Avengers were currently trapped in the past with only the ability to go further backwards. In the year 1776 the team encountered a woman named Carlotta Valdez, whose name Hawkeye remembered from Firebird’s vision some weeks before. Hawkeye soon determined that Bonita’s vision was real and that they had encountered Carlotta about a month before her mission to San Luis Obispo, where she was fated to die. Further to Hawkeye’s surprise, Carlotta revealed that she often dreamt of two people she might be and drew images of Bonita in the sand, one in the costume of Firebird and the other Espirita. Desperate to get a message back to his present, Hawkeye wrote a note to Bonita, informing her that the West Coast Avengers were trapped in the past and that they are heading for Rama Tut's Egypt. He then gave the note to Carlotta and asked her to keep it in her family Bible, hoping that Bonita would one day come across it in the heirloom. Hawkeye also tried to convince Carlotta not to go to California but, when it was clear she was determined to go on her mission, the Avenger left her with a warning to watch her back.
Back in the present day, Hank and Bonita finished their first day together, by which point Hank’s entire worldview had changed. No longer depressed with his life, he revealed to Bonita that he had enjoyed their day together and that wanted to spend more time alone with her. On their way 
to making their evening meal, Bonita pointed out the only possession she brought with her was her family Bible. Neither noticed the strange note sticking out of it, which had been written by Hawkeye over two hundred years before. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #19]
Continuing to act as his muse, Bonita assisted Hank in his work, which included building a small, multipurpose aircraft, akin to a personal Quinjet. Hank named the vehicle Rover, a nod to the low, canine-level of artificial intelligence built into it. Pym also demonstrated to Bonita how he could use his Pym particles on other objects instead of himself, shrinking gadgets down to miniature 
size and which he could store in pockets for later re-enlargement. His intention was to ask the Avengers upon their return if he could join them, not under a new identity but as “Doctor Pym.” Bonita was happy that she was able to help Hank and told him that is what Christian fellowship was about. Sensing that he had built their relationship up in his mind to be more than it really was, Hank remarked that he was silly to think there could be anything between them. To his surprise and relief, Bonita revealed that she too had developed feelings for Hank during their time together. After she joked that she wasn’t a nun, the two embraced and kissed. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #21]