Chapter 38

Late in the day, when the sun is setting, a day where the group of mutants have been treated like heroes by the residents of San Sebastian, super nice change there, they are all gathering together for a feast held in their honour.

"You see this is all I've ever asked for," Tabby proclaims as she grabs a glass of juice. "To be treated like a queen," she says in faux haughty tones.

"Finally the respect we deserve," Julian declares as he eyes the feast in front of him.

"Well we are big time heroes," Jen argues...though in her case she usually gets what she wants with a flutter of her eyelids...or perhaps the occasional flash of her perfectly defined and voluptuous body.

At that point a tremor rocks the island.

"Not again!" the Five-in-One complain as one.

"Ah, it's just an aftershock," Ali thinks as she tears into a leg of chicken with all the table manners of a caveman. "Besides even if it acts up again we can handle it," she declares arrogantly.

As they sit down it hasn't escaped Emma's notice that Amara isn't looking all that merry. She makes it her business to find out what's wrong and sits down next to the Nova Roman princess. "What's the matter Amara, dear? Still feeling sick?"

Amara takes a moment to answer. In truth there is an odd sensation in her stomach and she wonders if that's related...or just guilt. "No. It's just..." she trails off.

"Yes?" Emma pushes gently for Amara to continue.

Amara turns in her chair to face Emma. "Ms Frost...I think I might have been responsible for the volcano acting up," she says.

Emma arches one of perfectly maintained blond eyebrows. "How do you mean?"

Amara's head drops as if she can't bear to for Emma to see the guilt on her face. "In the hot springs there was a fissure and when I swam down and touched it...I...um..."

"Go on," Emma encourages, truly wishing to know what is bothering her student.

"It felt like I connected to it and awakened it somehow...the whole mountain...we're...I don't know...I feel joined to it in some weird way."

Emma listens as this confirms something she was beginning to suspect. She would normally insult Charles for missing it but truth be told she didn't recognise it either until this trip. Amara's powers...they're not fire related...well they are...sort of. What Emma means is they're also...

Before she can finish that thought the whole island rocks again.

Amara almost doubles over. "AH!" she cries out as she grabs her lurching stomach. "The volcano," she grinds out.

You look up at it and the volcano is no longer dormant. It's very, very active as it blows its top, sending smoke and fire into the air.

Lava bombs reign down from the sky, impacting the settlement the mutants happen to be standing in. People panic and start to run for cover.

A nearby wall collapses as the ground under it cracks open and toward Amara who is now standing, just watching it. Lava rises up from within. Amara reaches out with her hands...and just wills it to stop and it does. The lava instantly cools and hardens.

Amara blinks. She doesn't know how she did that. She just did it. Like some sort of new instinct bursting forth from within her.

Amara looks up at the volcano. If she can do that on a small scale can she...?

Somewhere deep down she just knows the answer is yes so she starts to walk toward the mountain, vanishing into a cloud of smoke.

Almost vanishing unseen apart from Tabby who chases after her friend. "Mara! Where are you going?!" she yells in worry. Her chase is cut off by a fountain of lava that erupts in front of her, blocking her path of pursuit.

A river of lava is now quickly flowing into the town.

Scott blasts an old wall trying to use the rubble as a dam but the lava just flows over it and keeps coming.

Elsewhere Emma is ordering the Hellions into action into rescuing people. Yes, Julian suggested they should just leave but if she did that then it would destroy any chance she has with Scott. His hero complex can be irritating but it's far too deeply embedded as part of him for her to ignore it. If one didn't know better you might think that Emma genuinely has feelings for Scott rather than this being part of her plan to destroy the X-Men.

Luckily one knows better, right?

Anyway Beef saves a woman for a toppling tree that caught fire, while Jetstream uses his Cannonball-like powers to rescue a man off a jetty just before it collapses into the sea.

Hellion uses his telekinesis to try and hold the river of lava back. He grunts under the strain. "Too much," he wheezes out. It's all far too much, even for him.

What Scott wouldn't give right now for Storm to bring down the rain and help put out some of the fires that have started...but he can only deal with what he has to use. He whistles loudly at a high pitch. "Firestar! We need a trench! You and me!" he barks out the order to deal with the lava.

Angelica nods in understanding and takes to the air. Bringing her hands together she fires a concentrated blast of her microwaves while Scott lifts his glasses and adds his own blasts to the efforts. Together the two carve out a trench to the ocean for the lava to travel along which takes the pressure off Hellion.

Emma must admit to smiling a little at how easily Scott can just take over her team. Now imagine that being a permanent arrangement.

For the moment they've stemmed the crisis with the lava now safely, relatively speaking, flowing along the trench into the ocean but it's a temporary fix. If that volcano continues to increase in activity...

"Look out Ms Frost!" King Bedlam shouts.

In response Emma barely ducks out of the way of a flying something that impacts one of the way beneath her dwellings, causing it to collapse.

Emma turns her head as walks into a view a dishevelled looking gentleman with wild hair and a wilder look in his eye. Purplish energy is crackling around his hands which are clenching and unclenching.

One of the poor residents of this island get in his way. His hand touches them on the head...and they are literally turned to dust accompanied by screams of agony that are definitely going to stay with you for awhile.

"Who the fuck is that?!" Ali asks.

That's just what Scott is asking himself...without the profanity.

The man growls. "Get out of my way! I'll kill him! I'll kill him!" he screams quite insanely. He then fires off warning blasts of energy from his hands in random directions.

Scott rushes over to Emma's side and helps her up. "Can you shut him down?" he asks her. It's the simplest way because they have way too many problems right now to be dealing with some crazed mutant.

Emma reaches out with her mind to try and shut his down. It's not an enjoyable experience. Emma makes a noise of discomfort.

"Emma?" Scott queries, a touch of concern in his voice.

"His mind's a confused mess," she reports. "He seems to be obsessing on the fact his wife cheated on him...wanting revenge..." she shakes her head. "Ugh, I can't get in through the chaos. Perhaps with the girls' help, together we can just force our way in with blunt force," she suggests combing her power with the Five-in-One.

The man staggers slightly before his eyes focus in on Emma, glowing intently with purple energy. "I loved you!" he screams. "And you return my love by sleeping with him!"

"Oh no," Emma says as she realises what has happened.

Scott looks at her curiously.

"He thinks I'm his wife," she says with a shudder of revulsion.

"Die!" the man screams...and a beam of energy erupts from his mouth.

Scott, in a foolish act of heroics, prepares to put himself in front of Emma. She pushes him out of the way, all the while rolling her eyes at his act of ridiculous medieval chivalry and transforms into her nearly indestructible diamond form. She raises her arms as the beam strikes her, pushing her back along the ground, the beam diffusing around her body.

Emma lowers her arms. That was unpleasant...or would have been if she actually felt anything in this form but she doesn't. Literally feels nothing because even her emotions become as hard as diamond.

The man prepares to fire again...only for a powerful red beam to slam into his side, sending him spiralling into another dwelling which promptly collapses atop of him.

Everyone looks to where that came from to see Superman emerging from the rubble of the first dwelling, his eyes burning bright red.

Quite a frightening sight actually.

"Superman!" Scott exclaims in surprise.

"If you're going to try and get into his mind, Emma, I suggest you hurry," Superman says, his tone one of all business, having managed to overhear what Scott was suggesting.

Emma can see Superman is right. They have an opportunity before the man digs himself out. Her diamond forms fades away as she can't use her telepathy in it. "Girls!" she telepathically calls out to the Five-in-One.

The 5 identical blond-haired girls step in behind Emma and they combine their power and launch a telepathic assault on the man under the rubble.

There is a cry of pain and rage from beneath.

The combined power of 6 telepaths should shut this guy down instantly...but Scott can see from their expressions that they're struggling. "Emma?"

Emma was at a loss. Could read his mind, get into it to some degree but couldn't seem to find the way into the place to shut him down. It was such a confused mess it was almost labyrinthine. They just need more time...which they're not going to get when suddenly there is a massive blast of purple energy from beneath the collapsed building, sending debris flying in all directions.

The man staggers out, grabbing at his head...screaming incoherently...grabbing at his head...ripping at his head...until he rips the flesh clean off.

At this point the Five-in-One all simultaneous vomit...which ruins any further attempt to telepathically shut him down.

Even Emma makes a face of disgust and her stomach turns.

The man stands there, essentially his face in his hand and his head...his skull remains in place, glowing with purple fire. He stands there, clearly still alive as his empty eye sockets gaze at those standing there in shock.

"Holy Fuck!" Ali swears at the sight. "He's like some sort of...of..."

"Atomic Skull," Superman suggests. "Oh hey, that's pretty good," he suddenly remarks in awe at his own genius.

"What do we do now?" Scott asks Superman.

"You? Nothing," Superman tells him.

"But..." Scott begins to argue.

"Scott, you can't handle him," Superman tells him bluntly. "That purple fire...it's a form of radiation. He's pumping out enough to kill anyone who gets within 10 feet. Plus you know how I ended up in that building?"

Scott shakes his head.

"He punched me," Superman says gravely as he rubs his jaw. "He's as strong as I am...minimally," he relays what he has discovered so far. Needless to say the fight so far hasn't gone too well but Clark never expected the sheer level of strength, the atomic energy blasts...yes Clark can feel it's radiation of a sort. Luckily his body can essentially process all forms of radiation...except kryptonite. That trait is the only thing that stops him from becoming fatally radioactive to others. "If Emma can't shut him down then I need to lead him away from all these people...and I'm sorry Scott, that means you have to handle the volcano for the moment," he apologises for not being able to help with that.

"How do you plan to do that, exactly?" Emma wonders.

"Well, my sweet little adulteress," Superman in sugary sweet tones, referring to who Atomic Skull thinks Emma is.

Emma rolls her eyes.

"He thinks I'm the man you cheated on with and he wants revenge. You know what that means?"

"Not really."

"It means for this act I get to play the villain of the story."

Superman turns his attention back to the Atomic Skull...as he plans to call him from here on out, at least in his head, because it's just a cool name and he thought of it. Atomic Skull seems...lost almost, looking around. It's given them a nice momentary pause. Superman put his fingers in his mouth and whistles. "Hey! Michaels!" he shouts out the name on the tag on the guy's clothes. "Did you ever ask yourself why? Why your wife chose me over you?" he asks, playing the role fate has seemingly laid out for him today.

That seems to get to her Atomic Skull's attention as his skull snaps round in Superman's direction.

"I know. She told me everything. How you neglected her. How you decided your work was more important than her. I mean all she wanted was some loving attention and you couldn't even provide that," Superman demeans the man, making a total guess at the facts and hoping he's somewhere near the truth.

"She was my world," Atomic Skull mutters, his voice now having a distinct distortion to it.

"Yeah, that's why she said I satisfied her in ways no man ever had before," Superman mocks.

Atomic Skull roars in rage and charges at Superman.

Perfect.

Superman dodges easily enough...just about. "Oh come on, Michaels, what's the matter? Can't handle the truth? I thought as a scientist the search for truth was the point."

"YOU!" Atomic Skull roars, chasing after Superman, who is leading him away from the settlement. "You poisoned her mind! Turned her against me! Men like you should get what you deserve!"

"Perhaps...but from what she said I doubt you are capable of such a performance," Superman continues to stoke the man's anger, getting him to only focus on chasing Clark.

"He's quite mad, you know," Emma comments to Scott.

"I got that."

"Not our skull friend. Superman," she clarifies because seriously she wouldn't do what he is doing.

"No," Scott disagrees with Emma. "That's just...him," he says with a peculiar smile. He hopes Clark will be ok.

"Scooter!" Tabby's shrill tones break his chain of thought as she comes running up, breathless.

"Tabby?" he queries.

"It's Amara...she...she went up to the crater. I couldn't stop her," Tabby explains.

Real concern peppers Emma's face. "Which way?!" she demands to know.

Tabby points and Emma breaks into a run, heading for the volcano and when the heat from the rivers of lava become too much she simply transforms into diamond and keeps going. She has to get to Amara. Whatever is happening with the girl...well frankly what matters is keeping her safe. If something were to happen to Amara...even if Emma wouldn't outwardly show it, trust her, on the inside she would be devastated. She truly does love her students.

Clark's plan was genius even if he says so himself. Ok maybe he's exaggerating but his plan worked. His new glowing skull 'friend' was chasing him, away from any people he might harm.

Still what to do with him Clark hadn't quite figured out yet. The guy's mind was obviously completely mixed up. There had to be some way to reach him. Some way beyond resorting to fists...because from what Clark's seen so far that's a fight that could take awhile.

Clark's plan comes across a teeny snafu when a group of people, no doubt running in terror from the volcano, stumble into Atomic Skull's path.

Superman swoops in to get them out the way before Atomic Skull can get too near but that momentary distraction allows the atomically powered man to get the jump on him from behind, his hands strangling his neck, pulses of radiation slamming through him, making him cry out slightly in pain.

"Go! Run!" Superman shouts at the people he rescued and they thankfully do so.

Atomic Skull then slams Superman through the jungle until Clark can get some purchase, putting his hands around his opponent's throat and pushes back, slamming the Atomic Skull through trees and rocks and the odd strewn boulder but the guy just won't let go even as Clark lifts them into the air.

Clark then remembers a trick he learned from Mr Cassidy. Clark has very powerful voice muscles so if he uses them wisely...

"LET GO!" he screams in a way Banshee would be envious over. The vibrations literally shake the skull of his foe who has to grab his own head, letting go of Clark which was the only thing holding him up and he plummets to the ground.

Superman lands a short distance away.

Atomic Skull rises to his feet, his mind still fixated on gaining what he deems his rightful payback. "Cute trick...but it won't save you!" he roars, accompanied by another blast, this time from his eyes.

"So stealing my bit," Superman mutters. Beams from the eyes is his bit. Ok Scott's too but he isn't here. Superman ducks under the blast which cuts through the trunks of several trees, toppling them over. He catches one, swings it like a bat and smacks Atomic Skull hard, sending the man flying before he comes to a sliding halt.

As Superman flies after him, Atomic Skull grabs his own tree, ripping it out of the ground and uses it to block the next attack. They parry back and forth, trees clashing until Superman knocks it out of Atomic Skull's hands. He uppercuts the skull bathed in radioactive flame sending the altered man high into the air.

Superman rockets after him, catches him and delivers a massive punch to what was the face sending the man down into the smoking, flowing rivers of lava base of the volcano, carving out a crater from the force of the impact. Superman lands nearby at the unmoving figure. Can't be that easy, can it? His luck is never that good. At least not lately or so it seems to Clark.

And no, his luck is never that good, proved as Atomic Skull's hands shoot up and he blasts Superman directly in the face. It doesn't hurt as more stings his eyes, making it difficult to see, which is why he doesn't see the first punch coming that sends him flying.

As Clark thought. This is gonna take awhile.

Don't even bother to ask Amara to explain what she is feeling right now as she comes to stand at the cusp of the crater of the erupting volcano. If anything she guesses she feels the responsibility she has had drummed into her whole life as the Heir to the throne of Nova Roma.

She feels like this is her fault somehow and therefore she has to fix it.

A fountain of lava shoots up from the lake of fire below her, startling her a bit but she soon regains her composure and focus. Her hair rises up, her whole body has a glowing aura in the moment before she transforms into her fire form...which honestly now she stands here on top of this active volcano resembles currents of lava more than fire.

Amara tries to do what she did below. Reach out...connect. She slams her hands together in front of her before spreading them out and 2 fountains of lava rise up in response to her. She closes her eyes and concentrates hard and the 2 fountains fade back down.

She claps her hands together again, the fountains rise back up and forms balls of lava at the top before falling back down into the lake.

Putting hers arms out to the side again a huge plume of lava rises up in front of her. She's doing it! She can do this!

No...it's...she's struggling. It's such a huge thing...connected to the whole earth. There's a whole system...and she can feel it. She can feel that system. It's like she can feel the whole planet. They're connected. They are one.

Unseen behind her Emma still in her diamond form is scrambling up the smoking black rocks, trying to save her student. "Amara! Amara!" she shouts trying to get the girl's attention.

Amara looks behind her briefly as the volcano continues to erupt.

"Come away from the edge!" Emma pleads with her.

The rocks underneath Amara give way and even in her diamond form what counts as panic wells up inside Emma. "Amara! Amara!" she screams as she scrambles up to the edge but of Amara there is no sign.

Clark just knows Logan's going to give him hell for this. The fight with the Atomic Skull had broken down into a slug fest. All technique had gone out the window. Ok, maybe that is what Clark will think later when he's not battling for what feels like his life.

Atomic Skull slams a fist into Superman's stomach, doubling him over and then locks his hands together and slams them down on the hero's back, flattening him against the ground.

Superman lets out an 'Oof!' of pain. He rolls out of the way of Atomic Skull trying to smash his skull in with his boot. Clark then manages to swing a leg round and sweeps Atomic Skull off his feet.

They lie there, both breathing heavily. By now both their clothes were tattered and torn. Their bodies ached.

They both wearily push themselves back to their feet.

"I...will...kill...you!" Atomic Skull promises between pain-filled breaths. "And then I'll kill her!" he also promises, still locked in his delusion that Superman stole his wife from him. He throws a blow, it's blocked and Superman retaliates with several quick blows followed by a roundhouse kick sending Atomic Skull head over heels backward before he gets back up.

"Come on," Superman complains in exhaustion and exasperation. "Stay down will ya," he pleads for just one break today. He zips in and the fight returns to its slug fest. Exchanging blow for blow with bone breaking force...even for Clark it's pretty close to bone breaking force. He's pretty certain his face right now is probably not very...pretty. He hasn't seen it but he can feels like it's probably a little messed up.

They deliver simultaneous punches to the face sending them both careening in opposite directions, carving out trenches through the black rocks and lava. Above them the sky is still filled with the ominous black smoke of an erupting volcano. It's like Hell is their battlefield.

Clark shakes his head as he rises once more to his feet. He can't keep this up. It's not getting anywhere and is not likely to any time soon...plus even his body has its limits and he's taking a pounding.

Through the smoke and fire he can see the purple fire of the Atomic Skull, marching relentless toward him. The man then breaks into a charge.

Superman takes a deep breath and blows hard. Ice starts to form on the figure, getting thicker and thicker, slowing him down. He raises his hands to deliver a blow...only to stop mid-way, frozen solid.

Clark's breather is only momentary as cracks begin to appear in the icy prison. "Didn't think that would work," he mutters to himself but it bought him a moment. He looks at Atomic Skull...and then at the volcano directly behind...and an idea strikes him.

The ice breaks.

Superman catches the two arms in his hands...though the force behind them almost makes his knees buckle. The ground cracks under his feet due to that very same force. With a grunt of effort Superman pushes Atomic Skull back, pushing his arms up, leaving the man's torso very vulnerable. In a burst of superspeed Superman shoulder charges into the man's gut and keeps going, lifting into the air.

Even as the Atomic Skull slams fists into his back Superman keeps going until the volcano crater is beneath them...at which points he drives them both into the lake of superheated rock, creating a huge splash.

Amara hadn't panicked when the ground fell away beneath her. Quite the opposite. She dived in, welcoming the splash into the lava. It felt wonderful. It felt like part of her now. She swam down to the heart of the volcano, where she felt she could connect to it better.

It was now she put all her effort into seizing control...or perhaps a better term would be borrowing control...or perhaps forming a partnership with Mother Nature is the correct definition. They weren't enemies. They were one and the same. She just understood that now.

She...stretched herself out, through the Earth and began to divert away the lava, ease the pressure in the magma chamber far beneath her, cool everything down. For a moment she felt like she was everywhere she was connected to...which is the entire planet. Kinda hard to describe the sensation. She does know that she'll never be the same again after this.

Everything calms. There. That's better.

The calm breaks from shock-waves above her head. Amara looks up and her eyes widen in shock at seeing Clark battling some guy with a purple flamed skull. She can feel the shock-waves from the blows they are exchanging.

As Amara swims nearer she can see Clark is...hurt? Actually hurt. His face is bruised and battered.

Amara's eyes narrow in righteous anger. No-one hurts her God! With a cry of rage she sends a massive current of lava at her God's foe, swirling it around him and in the process spinning him round and round and as he spins the lava thickens, sticks, hardens until it encases everything but his exposed skull in a thick lump of solid rock, imprisoning him quite effectively as it turns out.

Amara swims up and comes to place Clark's arm over her shoulder. He's quite shocked...ok very shocked to see her down here. Amara smiles gently...touching his face with concern.

Clark points upward. He does need to breathe at some point.

Amara nods and creates a small lava bloom beneath the two of them that lifts them toward the surface.

Emma stands there, as the volcano dies down and a crust forms over the lava lake in the crater, stands there at the edge of that crater. Her diamond form fades away and she can feel the full impact of what has happened. The...sorrow. She's not as cold as she may appear. Her students are...well not everything to her but very important and Amara...

Oh God.

The longer there is no sign the more Emma starts to think that she has lost her.

"Frost!" a voice shouts from behind courtesy of Tabby as she, Scott, Alex and Jen manage to finally catch-up. The rest of the Hellions had stayed behind to try and save as many as possible.

Emma turns to face them

"Did you find her?!" Tabby asks in a panic over her friend's fate.

"She...she fell in," Emma says, her voice distant.

There are gasps of shock at that.

Then, the now cooled surface of the lava lake in the crater cracks and emerging from it, riding a stream of melted rock, comes Amara, still in her lets call it now her lava form..magma form?...still helping hold Superman up. His clothes were tattered before he landed in the lake of lava. Now they were holes burnt right into them, revealing portions of his soot ridden flesh below but amazingly he still retained his dignity.

Amara guides the stream to the crater edge where she and Superman step off.

There are more gasps of surprise.

Tabby shakes her head in disbelief. "Oh man...how cool are you?!" she cheers her friend.

"I hate to burst your bubble Tabby but Amara's always been the coolest," Superman announces.

Amara smirks and playfully shrugs her shoulder. "I don't like to boast," she jokes.

"B-but how?" Scott asks...about everything really.

"It's hard to explain," Amara admits. "But it's like I merged with the volcano. Like we're the same."

"You are a geokinetic...and probably a pyrokinetic too now I think on it," Emma reasons.

"You knew?" Scott queries.

"I suspected...after she became ill on the boat. Geokinetics are very connected to the Earth," Emma gives her reasoning behind it.

"It's a 2nd power," Superman realises with a snap of his fingers. "That's why you only showed up as a pyrokinetic before. That was your first power to emerge. Your 2nd one remained dormant...until...that fight with Magneto. Remember when you tore the earth apart," he recalls back.

Course Amara does. "But I could never repeat it," she argues.

"Must have gone dormant again after," Superman reasons the obvious.

"But now...?"

"It's fully awake," Emma declares it to be.

"Whoa, wait," Tabby intervenes. "Now I know I ain't the best student but as I recall aren't having 2 powers rare?"

"Indeed," Emma confirms. "Only truly exceptional mutants have 2 powers," she describes it...and in the process is describing herself because she has 2 powers. "Of course those who have more than 2 are a little harder to ascribe a definition for," she says, giving Superman a critical eye. Selene never did explain and Emma hasn't been able to get Amara to spill whatever secret it is.

Clark smiles airily...which is a little painful in fact. "I prefer to think I defy description...just like Tabby," he quips, giving her a wink.

"You know it!" Tabby cheers in agreement at that.

Emma rolls her eyes and turns back to Amara. "I would put you in the Upper Alpha Class, Amara, dear," she gives Amara her classification. "It seems today you've taken a step forward in understanding the true nature of your powers."

"Seems I have," Amara agrees proudly.

"What happened to the Atomic Skull?" Scott wonders, suddenly remembering that.

"Oh him," Superman says. He looks to Amara. "Your Highness, if you would?" he requests with a theatrical bow.

Amara giggles and reaches out with her right hand over the crater and another stream of lava rises, this time carting up the imprisoned figure of the Atomic Skull.

"What do we do with him?" Alex asks.

"Leave it with me," Superman says with a sigh as he contemplates having to deal with this.

"He looks...fainter," Jen comments on his glow.

"It's the lava. It's absorbing the radiation. Should keep him down to only cancer-inducing levels until I can get him properly contained," Superman replies to her.

"But who is he? What is he?" Scott asks.

"Long story," Superman side-steps answering it. "I better get going," he declares.

"You sure you're ok?" Amara asks.

Clark smiles softly at her. "I'm fine. I heal fast." He then presses his hand into the small of his back and there is an audible crack as he rearranges a vertebrate or two. He grimaces, complaining in the tone of a grumpy old man, "Though I think I'll still be feeling this in the mornin."

That makes a few people laugh. Amara feels lighter in spirit too. Especially with the fact that she could already see a visible improvement in his face. "Be careful," she advises.

Superman chuckles and gives her a kiss on her cheek before flying across the carter, grabbing Atomic Skull and disappearing high into the sky.

Luckily Amara is still in her Magma form. Otherwise you'd see her blush brightly at the fact her God just kissed her. She feels all rosy inside...and it's not her powers that are responsible. In fact now she thinks on it no-one has ever kissed her before in her Magma form for the obvious reason she'd burn them. "So...anyone got a set of spare clothes?" she asks as she turns back to the group.

"Why you asking that?" Alex asks, oblivious.

Amara sighs and gives him a look. "Alex...what do you think happens to my clothes when I transform? My body is the temperature...of well Magma."

"You mean you're..." he gestures at her.

"Butt naked," Amara answers it bluntly, completely unashamed at being so. It's their culture that has the problem with it. Not hers. She's just being respectful to them.

Jen laughs loudly as her boyfriend blushes in response.

Author's Note: In fact this origin for the Atomic Skull is not very much different from his current one...at least until DC decide to retcon it again. Anyway he was a scientist on a sub performing radiation experiments. Something went horribly wrong, mutating him and he ended up stranded on an island using his new powers to survive until his face melted off revealing his glowing skull. As he lives on the island he tries to sort out his confused memories and eventually recalls he caught his wife with another man and he killed them both. I just took it that his confused mind thought Clark was the man who stole his wife and therefore begins the long clash of hero vs villain. Emma's one redeeming feature even when she was the villain of the X-Men stories was that under it all she genuinely does love and care for her students in the sense she doesn't want to see them harmed. She's never above manipulating them for her own ends though if she thinks it's for their greater good. And isn't Amara awesome, really? Honestly on paper she's a super-powerful mutant with an interesting background story. How come she doesn't appear more regularly in the A-list comics I can't figure. Heck, when was the last time she was even seen in the comics? I struggle to remember since they cancelled the New Mutants. And no, I'm not counting the Ultimate line when I'm saying this. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; Cruise Control part 4.