Normality...What's that?(Open)

[Amara Aquilla- Magma]

It was raining again, like yesterday and the day before that the only difference was that today she felt a lot calmer about being out in the world alone. She’d gotten up the strength to reject the offer that had been placed before her and also the offer of being transported anywhere in the world. It wasn’t how she wanted to do things anymore, she wanted to try living without the constant reminder that she was different and she wanted to prove to herself that she didn’t need to use her powers in order to help people or be around those that constantly used their powers in order to feel like she fitted in.

She’d decided after her encounter yesterday that perhaps leaving the city so soon was a little premature after all although she had lived in the suburbs and visited it upon occasion she’d never really had the chance to explore it fully and to leave before doing that was in a sense against the whole point of her travelling to see the world. She walked further down the sidewalk before turning left and then right a little further on. She’d never been down near the harbour so was going to take a walk along by the waterside, try to take in as much as she could of the city before dusk fell and it didn’t bother her in the slightest that the neighbourhood that she was wandering into wasn’t the most pleasant in the world and there were constant reminders of it as she walked past burnt out buildings and walls littered with graffiti amongst other things. The whole time she just kept her eyes to the ground and walked in silence.

As she walked she realized that she had yet to eat anything and the morning was getting on so decided to stop in at a small run down cafe in the hopes of grabbing a coffee and perhaps a muffin before continuing her walk. As she entered she noticed that the place obviously didn’t see a lot of business by the way the equipment looked as though it was years out of date, but it seemed clean enough so once she had ordered she took a seat and waited just gazing out of the windows onto the bleak day outside. No sooner than her coffee and muffin had arrived however did she hear an argument commence from a room somewhere in the back of the building, trying not to cringe when she heard the sound of things being broken she immersed herself into drinking her coffee as quickly as possible so she could leave but that wasn’t to be.

A large bang and crash and a flash of light followed moments later as one of the men who had obviously been involved in the argument was propelled through the wall into the cafe. The owner backed away horrified and scared, Amara on the other hand could not help but turn her head to see what was going on, a sinking feeling beginning to surface in the pit of her stomach as she sat rooted to her chair. There was another flash of light as a beam of energy came through the hole hitting the wall above the door causing the roof to begin to disintegrate into rubble barring everyone’s exit. “Fucking mutant scum? I’ll show you what scum can do!”

A large man clambered through the hole raising his hands and firing again at the man who lay still on the floor. It was then that Amara managed to find herself and scream at the top of her lungs “Stop it!”. The man turned anger etched across his face as he crossed the short distance towards Amara and lashed out at her his fists glowing as he struck the side of her head hard knocking her to the ground “Nobody tells me what to do bitch!” he hissed before turning once more and approaching the man who lay bleeding and groaning in agony, scorch marks covering his clothes. It was nothing short of a miracle that this man was alive.

As she was knocked to the floor Amara felt the power behind the fist burn her skin and knock her jaw out of place and it brought tears to her eyes as she tried to touch her mouth but felt the pain sear throughout her face. It was only then that she began to lose check of her emotions, the ground began to shake and not lightly as it once would have done, it shook to the point where pictures fell from the walls and the already unstable remains of the roof began to fall as light began to fill the darkened corner in which Amara lay as her body began to shimmer as her form changed. Anger and pain fueled her transformation, she hadn’t asked for this, for any of it yet here she was caught in the middle of a fight that had nothing to do with her but she wouldn’t sit and be a victim, no the man deserved to pay for what he was doing, what he had done. The pieces of rubble around her began to melt down forming the molten substance she had so often wielded and like before she used her powers to push the substance in the direction of the man.

[Zephyr - Adam Westin]

Once the four of them that were going made it up to the Helicarrier's deck, Adam pulled his glasses on and fired up the miniature tactical HUD built into them - he could fly, but navigation was a bit trickier, and these were one of his favorite SHIELD gadgets because of that.

"Alright, everyone stay close, and don't mind the breeze." he said, grinning slightly. Once they made it near he held his hands out at his sides, and a massive gust of wind wrapped itself around the group, forming into an almost solid sphere with them each supported on the air currents within it. Adam grit his teeth slightly, not entirely comfortable with the effort of moving more than just himself and his sister, but they lifted smoothly off the deck, then shot out towards the city. He had to hold the acceleration back, since he had no power to negate THAT, and the effect was very much like being in a fighter jet when someone kicked the afterburners, as they gained just as much speed until -

BOOM

Just as he'd promised, they broke the sound barrier shortly after leaving the deck, and rocketed in towards town, leaving a contrail of condensed water from the sheer pressure around the air-shield he'd created.

Moments later, he started putting on the brakes, and swooped in lower over the rooftops.

"Your stop, Spider-Girl! Don't have too much fun!" He grinned, releasing her from the wind currents and letting her drop towards one of the rooftops some thirty feet below - he'd seen her take much longer falls, and wasn't worried at all. Heck, she'd have yelled at him for coddling if he'd been too gentle, he figured.

With that taken care of, he picked up speed again and lifted up - Adele he could hold up as easily as himself, and unless he was mistaken, Demon could fly perfectly well on his own.

"Demon!" he called over the wound of the wind, looking back to the man, "I'm going to put out some of the fires before they spread, and Dryad is going to hit whoever fire-girl's fighting! We'll let you handle her unless you yell for help, alright!?"

He swooped down low again, the blaze of the flames and energy blasts bright ahead of them, slowed their speed to something reasonable, and broke she shield, releasing his support of Demon and throwing his hands out in front of him, sending all the compressed air he'd been gathering around them, and his sister, shooting towards the man Amara was fighting.

The man looked up just in time to see the strange, almost opaque wall of air streaking towards him, but not in time to stop it, and it hit him with most of the force of a truck, sending him flying back, bouncing off the pavement as he went and seeming to do more damage to the road than he was to himself. Dryad caught the expanding wave as it released, slowing herself, and hit the ground with what was still a massive crack, half kneeing as she placed her hands on the ground and looked up at him.

"SHIELD agent Dryad. You will stand down or we will apprehend you by force." she said, her soft voice somehow easy to hear over the din.

"Another bitch!? Fine! You get some too!" he roared, drew back his arm, and threw another huge energy blast. Part of the already damaged road (either from the earlier fight or his crash after Zephyr's hit was impossible to tell) suddenly tore free of the ground, forming a heavy rock barrier between Dryad and the blast before it hit her, and the energy blew huge chunks from the rock and asphalt, but left her safe behind it.

"Or not..." she whispered, shaking her head a little.

[Damien MacLeod - Demon]

“When we get there Zephyr I will take point. I know one of the combatants and her powers can’t harm me except at their most potent.” Damien had called out over the wind of his fellow agents powers. He did not want to sound over commanding or combative as he spoke to his current partners but his X-Men training was coming back to him not to mention it was the love of his life down below. That in mind Sages orders came back to him like a flash causing him to growl under his breath. He believed that the Director had gotten the information out of the blue but he also know from his study of past X-Men that her brain acted like a computer, he suspected she knew who was involved and that she had given the order of lethal force partially to spite him if not anything else. “Right now I can tell you all one thing, fuck Sages orders, no one is even gonna try and use lethal force on the girl, over my dead body. If anyone has to take her out… it will be me.” He had glared darkly at Spider-Girl, Zephyr and Dryad making sure they knew he was serious and that this was personal. If it came down to it he would die or kill for Amara. He would willingly break his deal with SHIELD for the only person who really meant anything to him… He only hoped it would not come down to any of that.

As they had approached the battle area Damien could see even from a distance away that he was right, it was Amara and she was near out of control now with her power. “Ok that’s not good…” He spoke to himself in a low sigh just as he was released to fly on his own. He extended his leathery bat like wings out immediately upon release, allowing the air currents to lift him up and carry him where he wished. It immediately felt good to be free and under his own power again.

For a moment he hovered high in the air, circling where he could not be seen from below by his target, his love. He watched her rage, her powers spiking and extending outward, burning all in her path. This time he took he felt was needed for he had always been taught, always had it drilled in his head that reconnaissance and knowing the lay of the lad was one key in a successful opp. The other key, knowing your target or enemy… well he had that down for the most part. “…really not good!” This time he shouted out and dove down into what seemed to him to be a fiery maelstrom.

“Amara Stop!” Damien called out as he landed between her and the attacker, using one of his wings to shield the man and Dryad by deflecting her fiery blast. He watched as the fire did not burn the thin, weak looking grey flesh of his wing but rather acted as a block to her rage driven lava attack. However he did not forget about the man whom he had shielded from certain death. He was obviously guilty of something or Amara would no be attacking him, she just wasn’t that way. He glared at the bastard as he fired another blast, this time at Dryad only to have it partially deflected by a piece of rubble. As the man began t once again charge his energy into his hands Damien decided not to give him a chance to counter attack, he had already charged once of his own demonically empowered energy attacks. “Dryad…Attack Now!” He shouted into his comm. over the intense sound of crackling earth and boiling magma around them then fired the energized beam of black energy at the mans back, watching it tare through his clothes and flesh to expose the muscles and tendons underneath.

“Ahhhh You… Fucking… Bastard!!!...” The man shouted out as he fell to his knees, turning his blast on Damien, catching him off balance and striking him in the face. Demon’s defense went down, he next found himself in the wall of a building near by. His face hurt, it was burned badly on once side but was already healing thanks to the demonic energies inside his body. It was times like these being possessed by powerful… nearly omnipotent demons was a plus, though he could not tap into half their power on his own he did receive some of the benefits.

“What in the world hit me…” He groaned and pushed himself up onto his knees and out of the walls rubble. “ Amara… don’t…” He groaned, reaching out to her in the distance… “Don’t…”

[Spider-Girl - Reilly J. Parker]

Spider-Girl took the Demon’s remarks seriously; she knew what it was like for something to become personal like this seemed to be for him. However she also knew how to put aside her feelings and get the job done and that is what she had intent. She would help the people evacuate but if things got out of hand with the woman or the man she would be their in the fight, no holds barred if need be.

“Perish the thought!” She shouted out to Zephyr as he released her and she went into free fall. “Wooooooooooooooooooohooo” She exclaimed going into a dive position and then firing a web line to the top of the nearest building to swing forward with great force and velocity. She loved the wild rides, in more ways then one she had to silently admit to herself with a cheeky grin under her living mask.

With a acrobatic flip in the air from one web to another and a smooth swing around a near by flag pole she scooped up a pair of full grown men in her tiny arms, feet that made even the man gasp in shock as they were carried away a split second before a geyser of lava exploded from under them. “Going my way gentlemen?”

As soon as the pair were dropped a safe distance she moved back into the danger zone at lighting speed. With her spider sense and acrobatic she easily avoided the erupting magma bursts and falling debris. Her amazing speed and smaller body was also valuable in getting her into the buildings around to help people out and get back in time for more… but it was starting to seem not enough.

“Where are those Agents, Widow?! I can’t do this all on my own there are too many people in this 2 block radius. I have gotten most of the kids and women out, some of the men but some are refusing my help and some are gang members more interested in killing me on sight. I can’t drag them all out myself.” She spoke into her comm. link to her team leader with an exhausted sigh. “I mean I thought I was coordinating the evacuation not doing it all my dang blasted self!”

[Sage]

Unlike the rest of them Widow had taken a transport filled with Agents down to the battle scene. From her vantage point she could see that it was futile for her to send Agents right into the middle so she would have to rely on Spider-Girl to evacuate the inner circle as she deemed it. This was just yet another ill prepared team she was having to lead and he would be having words with the director once back aboard the helicarrier. She snorted with disgust hearing Damien call to the whole team, if he didn't get the girl under control quickly she would have no qualms about using the lethal force they were authorized to use, they were supposed to be in and out, problem solved but if the boy wanted to drag it out she would stand for that as team leader.

Directing Agents towards safe points for the civilians and herself going in to the midst of it all to help guide those lost out of the carnage she could not believe what she was hearing when Spider-Girl broadcast across their comms. "Just do your job and stop whining, perhaps if you used the energy you are wasting in protests to help evacuate the citizens you would be done a lot quicker" she retorted having no time for the girls remarks, they were in the middle of a serious situation and Natasha had to deal with it in the manner she was used to even if it put the others noses out of joint.

[Amara Aquilla- Magma]

Things hadn’t exactly gone the way she’d hoped after being struck by the man. Her pain and anger at being attacked just for defending a seemingly defenceless man had risen up consuming her body and mind, leaving no trace of the girl with control left. The building they had been in lay in ruins, piles of rubble lining the torn up street, the scenario wasn’t getting any better either as the residents fled fearing for their lives as the two battled one another, The man sending energy blasts at Amara which on the surface appeared to be absorbed by the magma that covered her body and Amara retaliating by sending wave after wave of molten magma back at him. Her eyes were no longer the clear blue color they normally were; now they mirrored the fire that she wielded as she glared at her opponent, pure anger and now hatred driving her actions.

Even as Damien flew down standing between the pair she did not acknowledge his presence. He called a name, her name...telling her to stop. Who was he to demand this of her? Her fiery eyes narrowed as she purposely put more energy behind her next blast towards the man, however it was shielded and deflected by Damien needless to say it only served to anger her more and as Damien turned firing a blast of his own energy at her original opponent she willed the ground beneath her feet to split, the rock melting down into the molten substance she controlled, within seconds it had begun to spiral around her feet lifting her a few feet above the rest. The ground still trembled the ferocity increasing the angrier she got, for a moment it seemed that she was just observing the scene from her pillar of magma but as quickly as she had risen to a height above them, her expression changed once more.

A cold recognition of Damien and the powers he wielded flashed through the forefront of her mind adding more pain and hurt to that which fuelled her fire. She raised her hands calling a large stream of magma towards her from the street below, the rubble melting, creating more for her to use. Her attention was now split between the man who had broken her heart and the man who had injured her for trying to help another. It was because of this that as she lowered her hands and the magma began to follow its directed path it suddenly split into two streams, one directed at the man and the other at Damien. She was not in control, the forces that guided her body had taken over and she sought to reek as much destruction as was possible....starting with the two who had wronged her.

[Zephyr - Adam Westin]

"Demon!" Dryad shouted, distress in her eyes, but she turned her eyes back on the man with the energy powers, and scowled dangerously towards him, forcing her power out through the ground again. The street itself suddenly bucked the man hard, literally rising up to smash him in the chin, and he was sent flying up into the air, spinning lazily, having no flight powers of his own. When he was at the apogee of his flight, there was a sudden whipcrack of a sonic boom, and Zephyr came streaking back out of the sky, and the sphere of almost solid air around him impacted the man with a sickening crunch, and sent him slamming hard into the street again. It punched him six feet into the road, shattering already damaged asphalt and concrete. It seemed to render him unconscious, at least for the moment, and Zephyr flew back over to his sister, landing lightly beside her amid his usual gale force winds, which settled quickly.

The woman was already conjuring massive streams of magma, and he shivered slightly... Sage hadn't told them they were going after someone who very well might be an Omega... Sis... Can you stop the magma?

Temporarily at least... what are you going to do?

Slow down the flames... Tag me.

She glanced at him, worried for a moment, then she nodded and took his outstretched hand - and he vanished. There was a tremendous gust of wind as he did, and she nodded slightly, looking at her hands as the coating of rocks and minerals that served her as armor started to grow. Tendrils grew out from her skin like roots and branches, and quickly dug into the street beneath her. The plants she kept in her satchel grew out and wrapped around her, sinking their own roots into the flowing rock and minerals that surrounded her, and she started growing out still further. The roots anchored the rocks and structured beneath, buffering them against the earthquakes the woman was creating. She couldn't hold her off indefinitely, and she didn't know how long she could force her growing shell to resist the intense heat... she drew water up through her roots to resist, but for now...

Huge plates of asphalt shot up in the path of the magma, forming reservoirs to slow it down, and water poured down out of quickly growing branches - she was no longer recognizable as human, the plants and rock had encased her completely at the center of what was now a huge tree, already almost twenty feet high. The water she was drawing up from below sprayed out from the branches, hissing loudly as it evaporated, cooling the magma... if she just kept it contained for a short time...

But there was Zephyr as well. The air around Amara shimmered with something other than heat as tornado force winds suddenly blasted around her, wrapping the fire that surrounded her up in it, directing it upwards into the sky and away from anywhere it could do damage. Worse - at least for her - the wind moving up was sucking the air away from her, and her breathing air would be getting much thinner before too long... he wasn't actually looking to put her out, so he did it slowly, but it would certainly help prevent enough oxygen from getting to any fire she wanted to produce... Zephyr, at least, was as close to immune to heat and magma as someone could be, but even he was starting to suffer under the heat. A human face formed in the wind, ethereal and difficult to see, but there. "We've taken care of the guy who was attacking you, now calm down before you wreck half the city! Do you want to be the one who kills all those people!?"

[Damien MacLeod - Demon]

Damien was not surprised by the amount of power Amara was producing in her uncontrolled rage. He had always known, even outside the fact that she had been specified an Omega Level Mutant, that she had untapped power far beyond anyone else’s understanding. She was part of the planet, part of mother earth and yet so was Dryad it seemed. That appeared to be enough to slow down Amara’s attack but he had a feeling that Dryads powers would be insufficient in the end to his loves… more was the pity at this moment as the magma blast directed at him burst up in a column to surround him.

The inferno heat did not exactly hurt but he could feel its intensity in a bizarre detached sort of way, he had noticed this since his possession. He reached out and cupped his hand in the molten rock, pulling some in and looking at it for a moment in fascination. He never imagined being this close to such a primal element and surviving and yet here he was. Faintly in memories not his own he could see the bowels of several Hell dimensions. He could see what Dante described as the 9 circles of the inferno in his Divine Comedy. He could see the ethereal fires of those worlds where it not only burned body but soul and as he looked at this mortal counterpart he could see why it paled in comparison, why he was no longer harmed by it except at its most potent.

“Amara! You have to stop!!” Damien called out as best he could over the roar of the magma. Covering himself with his wings like a protective shield for his body lunged forward through the wall of molten rock and out into the free air once again. Free air it was indeed as he looked up to see the column of wind much like a tornado surrounding the pillar of magma which held his love aloft. He watched as the pillar cooled turning once again to rock and started to crumble under the violent force of the air swirling around her. Damien found himself in a perplexing quandary all of a sudden… He could do nothing as the air inside Zephyrs attack slowly suffocated the love of his life or attack his allies and throw away his freedom…

Or…

Lunging forward once more he tried to break through a column though this one being comprised of a gale of wings he found it harder to fight this natural force then fire. He did prevail however as he found himself in the eye of the storm, at the base of the cracking pillar of solidified magma. He could see all the way to the top where Amara stood defiantly against the ever decreasing air supply within. He could see her bright magma form dimming and cooling under the pressures of the wind. “Amara STOP NOW!” he called up to her but the sound of his voice was completely drowned out by the windstorm. No he would need to get closer and what he was about to do was dangerous but for her he would do it… he would do anything.

Unfurling his wings again he pushed himself upward, fighting the Zephyrs attack to move upward, using upward drafts now and then to gain height until he found himself on the peak beside her. He could see that she started to struggle to breathe and he didn’t know if he could help her… he didn’t know if he should help her… but he could talk to her. “Hold still!” He called out as hard as he could gripping her arms tight and feeling the dullness of her burning skin to him, a feeling he knew would bring intense pain to anyone else if not burn away their hands instantly. Her forced her close to him and covers them both in his massive wings, shielding her from the whipping winds for a moment in a sort of makeshift cocoon. Inside his wings she would at least be able to hear him better if nothing else. “Amara you have to stop! Please!!! Your hurting innocent people and that isn’t you. I know you’re in pain deep down but you don’t wish to take it out on those that don’t deserve it. “ He held her closer to him, trying not to hurt her but support her as he felt the pillar under them start to give way. “Hurt me if you want… kill me if you want… I know I hurt you by keeping what happened to me a secret but these people don’t deserve the punishment…”

[Amara Aquilla- Magma]

Soon the man she’d originally been focusing on was taken care of by the others that had appeared on the scene, not that it mattered to the young woman it was just one less person and one less distraction. The powers that held her in this state dictating to her to move forward, keep pushing on, pushing her powers and soon enough there would be little that could stop her. Even as the asphalt rose in front siphoning the magma it did not deter her, all materials now could be wielded and as such the asphalt too became a source of fuel as it slowly began to melt away, the water spraying down upon the molten substance doing little to cool it, instead just causing huge clouds of steam to billow from the ground.

His words held no meaning for her, at least not while she was no longer in control of the devastation she was wreaking. She pushed forward towards the 20 foot tall tree sending blasts of magma and fire in all directions, the ground still trembling even though it was being held by the roots of the tree that stood a little distance from her. Buildings continued to fall and magma now began to seep from cracks in the road, how much longer these people could hold her off was unknown even with the wind now whipping the flames up and away. Even as the air began to thin slightly it was not enough to deter her. All it served to do was anger her further and sensing that it was not of a natural doing that the air was getting thinner her body pulsed with energy of the fires around her and in one short moment it all emanated from her body sending a solid wave of flames and magma into the tornado like winds, to her it was a way of taking out the threat that this unnatural being posed to her but she did not care if it had worked there was more destruction to be wrought yet.

Pushing wave after wave upwards through the winds was taking its toll on her body as the air thinned and it was beginning to show as her magma form began to dim and her attacks became weaker. Her will was focused on taking out the one who controlled the winds so she barely registered Damien’s presence until he had cocooned the pair of them within his large wings protecting them from the winds. A strange feeling passed through her as he held her close, for the first time since he’d appeared on the scene she did not strike out at him. Perhaps it was exhaustion or perhaps it was the fact that deep down in her consciousness she did not truly wish to harm the one she loved. The fire in her eyes began to subside and was replaced with fear momentarily as two words passed from her lips in a whisper “Help please” almost as soon as they had been spoken the fear disappeared and the fire in her eyes reignited and her form flared with light once more before pulsing outwards in a blast more powerful than any of the previous ones had been.

The heat generated from it was enough to cremate anything within the radius of the blast but as soon as it had dissipated the column of magma upon which Amara stood crumbled as the girl’s body dimmed completely returning to its usual form. She had pushed herself beyond usual and now her body had given up its struggle against all the forces that sought to oppose the destruction she was wreaking. Unconscious and no longer in control of the natural forces her body was limp and started to fall from the great height they had been at.

[Spider-Girl - Reilly J. Parker]

From what she could see Dryad was merging with the earth around her to fight the lava mutant but Spider-Girl wondered how vulnerable this would make her new teammate. The National Guard had finally arrived and had helped evacuate the majority of civilians yet she still scoured the buildings and alleys looking for any innocents left behind. It was only as one exploded outward with large columns of Magma that she knew it was time to turn her attentions on their enemy.

She was shaken some, she could feel it. Her costume did not like the intense heat building in the air, the fires all around them. The modified symbiote still possessed many of the same weaknesses and this mutant was very dangerous to it that was a certainty.

“Zephyr baby, what’s the sitch at this current point of time!” She called out over her comm. while avoiding more magma pillars in another approach to Dyads position. In the distance she could see the pillar of winds surrounding the mutant and then the crumbling of the solidified magma column where two shapes within stood. “What the hell…”

With a few acrobatic swings on web and symbiote lines se soon found herself sticking to the tree like structure which was in truth one of her team mates. “Hope you don’t mind babe but…” As surely as she had felt it with her spider-sense several more columns of fire exploded from all around sending flaming debris at Dryad. She has felt it coming and quickly fired out webs to deflect as many of the devastating pieces of rubble as possible. “…Seems like you could use a hand… or a web…” She grinned cheekily under her living mask and continued to fire web bolts and web lines out to deflect and protect her teammate.

(I write this at the behest of Magneto and half awake… so if it makes no sense I am sorry in advance sweethearts)

[Zephyr - Adam Westin]

"Give it up, girl! I'm only doing this slow to give you a chance to quit! You're going to wreck half the city, do you really want that!?" His voice came from everywhere, from the very tornado that wrapped around her. He didn't add that if she did he'd be forced to do a lot more than thin the air around her... he'd have to kill her. He didn't know if she could defend herself against blades of nearly solid compressed air started forming and slashing at her, and he didn't want to find out, but if he had to...

He started slightly as Damion suddenly tried to punch through the walls of the tornado he'd generated... there wasn't much chance of that on his own, but after a second Zephyr decided to let him through - there was still a lot of wind, but he diverted the worst of it around his teammate and let him into the core, still trying to draw off the worst of the heat... but he couldn't risk giving her back the oxygen she needed to burn anything else down.

Dryad, meanwhile, was fighting a losing battle against the tide of the lava, but she was at least slowing it, diverting it away from the places it could do the worst damage, and while the water didn't do a hell of a lot, it DID form a crust on the lava that slowed it's movements... and yet she could only do so much - her power didn't give her any effective way to cool it, that was what her brother was for... and he was busy at the moment, which left her to do this.

Hurry, Adam...

Her heard Spider Girl's call to him next - over the air currents, since his comm was currently, like the rest of him, not exactly in it's solid form. A ghostly image of him showed next to her for a moment, air slightly condensed to distort the light and give her something to look at, and for the voice to come from.

"Not the greatest." he said, the strain evident even in this voice. "Demon's trying to calm her down and I'm trying to keep the worst of this fire from spreading, Dryad's keeping the magma in check - Shit! Get back to you after!" His image vanished with a light gust of wind, and the tornado abruptly slowed, the force radiating outwards in a breeze that would wash over the entire city.

The magma was cooling and stopping with Amara's loss of consciousness, and Zephyr's image appeared under her as she fell, air currents keeping her up for just a moment. "Grab her - I'll be right back!" he called to Demon - sure the man would grab her as soon as he had the instant, Zephyr cut off the wind, but then vanished again as a massive gust rushed upward, hot air surging away from the magma and high up into the sky, punching a hole even in the clouds as he shot up with the heat.

The last few blasts of magma that Spider Girl was helping deflect were mostly stopped, the last gasps of the barely averted cataclysm, but a few chunks hit the branches of Dryad's 'tree', shattering the mineral-based constructs. Spider Girl got most of them, though, and Dryad's voice came softly from the tree, grateful. "Thank you... I certainly don't mind at all... now if you don't mind, you may wish to keep your head down..."

Vines reached out for her and formed a protective shell, and she reached out to form one around Amara and Demon as well, just before Zephyr returned from the high atmosphere, now with an immense rush of extremely cold air. The column slammed into the remaining lava flows and rushed over it, hardening the skin and actually leaving a slight layer of frost over most of the area... for now, at least, there would be nothing more melting. The wind died away, and another ghostly image of Zephyr formed, but this one solidified almost completely, then a gust of wind wrapped around him again, and he fell out of it, landing on his feet but stumbling to a knee, solid and human again - more or less. Dryad's vines would uncoil, letting the others out, and move towards him.

"Everyone alive...?" he asked, panting, over the comm channel, and smiled a little as a branch rose to help him up. He put one arm over it and stood, looking around at the destruction and wincing. "Boss lady's gonna be pissed, isn't she...?"

[Amara Aquilla- Magma]

It felt like she was falling through the air and there was no stopping. In her current state she couldn’t register anything around her body so she had no clue that she was now being held in the arms of the man she loved and carefully the pair were being lowered to the ground as the other SHIELD agents caught their breath and took in the destruction surrounding them. Her body was completely limp and her pulse faint, this had been the most she’d pushed herself unintentionally and it sure had taken its toll.

Although she was physically exhausted her mind was still active however it was not focused on the current events. Images passed through the forefront of her mind, people from the past, her parents....old school friends....Damien. Her love, her mind wandered back to the first time she’d laid eyes upon him that fateful day in Xavier’s office and the budding friendship that had followed, then the feelings she had developed for him but kept secret for so long. The heartache that followed when he had left the institute to see the world and the Joy when he had returned, In her mind the scene where she had seen him again for the first time in over a year seemed to play as if it were just yesterday. Hearing him confess to having felt for her as more than a friend for longer than either of them had cared to admit. The feeling of their first kiss washed over her as if she was experiencing it all over again.

The scenario changed once again, now she was in Damien’s arms wrapped in his loving embrace their bodies melded together as one. That night had been perfect until the revelation about the changes he had gone through in his absence but her mind did not dwell on the negativity of the evening, instead all she could find herself thinking about was the warm comfort that his arms had offered. She may have been angry at him for keeping his secret from her but at this moment all she longed for was him by her side, holding her, kissing her once more. Her eyelids began to flutter but it was only a faint movement and barely detectable except to those looking for any signs that the girl could and would regain consciousness.

As Amara lay almost lifeless in her loves arms, SHIELD clean up crews began to filter into the area from newly landed transports. Along with those that had been sent to help with assessing the destruction of the area and what could be done to help rebuild the buildings and make the area safer for civilians should they try to enter the area, another team followed closely behind this one kitted out in full capekiller armor. They approached Zephyr, Dryad, Spider-Girl and Demon and stopped before them, the team leader pulling a power inhibitor from his utility belt before approaching Demon and the girl in his arms. “Director’s orders, girl’s to be collared and we’ll take her back to the Helicarrier, Nice young one this time to be shipped off”

[Damien MacLeod - Demon]

Damien held Amara tightly to him as they began to fall. He very well could have extended his wings and softened their landing but he refrained from doing so as he felt an unnatural force of air rise up and support them from beneath.

“Amara, you will be ok, I promise…” He spoke softly close to her ear and kissed the side of her head. “You will be ok…” he could feel them slowly lowering to the ground and though he could hear the SHIELD personnel transports approaching his focus remained solely on the woman in his arms. He had noticed from watching her face the slight flutter of her eyes and the random eye movements of a dream like state she seemed to be in. “Wake up Mara, Come back to me lass. You know I canna live without you.” He whispered while kissing her cheek and ear hoping to God she could hear him all the while hearing Legion in the back of his mind, within his very being cackling and whispering of her death.

No, they were not going to get that too. They were not going to have that victory. They were not going to succeed in taking everything precious to him away…

All of a sudden he realized that they were on the ground and they were not alone. Men in large mechanical suits stood around them demanding the release of Amara into their custody. This immediately pissed him off and he would not stand for it. “No.” He growled as he stood up and wrapped his wings around his love. “Sage be damned. You are not putting that on her, you are not taking her away.” He made a bold and pronounced step towards the leading trooper. “Her life signs are low and she is barely conscious. This unintentional rampage of hers has almost cost Amara her life. Slap that collar on her and the sudden shock of her X-Gene being shut down is liable to kill her. She needs immediate help; she is not going anywhere until she is stable.” He did not know if his team would back him up or not. They did not know Amara; they had only seen her destructive, uncontrolled side. They did not know the sweet young, intelligent, free spirited young woman under the fire and magma she controlled. In the end though whether they helped him or not was irrelevant, he had to think fast, he had to make sure she was safe.

Then Damien saw him… Amara’s one and perhaps only hope and he did not know whether to be pleased or pissed…

[Magneto- Erik Magnus Lehnsherr]

Magneto stood in silence behind the armored SHIELD agents, his white eyes the only visible feature of his face from under his helmet as he glared with seeming fury at all around. Beside him stood Emma Frost and the mutant known as Gambit who seemed to smirk in amusement at what was to come.

“All of you will stand down… That girl is a student of the Xavier Institute and there for is my responsibility. She foolishly ran away and had caused quite a mess but none the less she shall be coming with us.” His glaring eyes turned and finally settled on Damien’s dark stare. “If you please Mr. Macleod. We are better suited then any to take care of Miss Aquilla.” His voice was dark, commanding and drowned in suppressed rage over what had happened. At the time he felt he was helping the young woman more by letting her go. The structure of school was not for all as he knew well and like with some others within the X-Men ranks he felt the real world would do the girl some good. Obviously and unfortunately he was wrong and this devastation had been rot at the worst possible time, on the eve of leaving for the Savage Land and the Nullifier.

Quickly Gambit moved forward towards Damien only giving the awe struck Cape-Killers a side long glance. “très bon mon ami, you did well Demon.” The Cajun chuckled and slipped his arms under Amara as Damien opened his wings. He knew the young man had been a good student, one of Logan’s best and it showed in how he had handled the situation both with his acts or heroism and clear attitude. Amara also was a good student, she was top of her classes in almost everything, especially Storm’s natural sciences classes and before Xavier had died she was making great progress in her power training. They were both still X-Men deep down and X-Men always took care of their own. “Don’t worry Gambit will keep the petite safe.” He lifted the young woman up close to his chest remembering the many times he had done this for Rogue before she had gone missing during the war. Making sure he head was stable he then moved back towards Magneto and Emma only to stop as the Cape-Killers gathered their wits and step in his way.

“You really don’t want to do that.” The beautiful feminine voice of Emma Frost piped up as she stepped forward in all her powerful and sexy glory. “No, you don’t want to do that not when you stand between one of the worlds finest telepaths, one of earths most power mutants with the power to control the very magnetic forces of this planet and a mutant with the power over kinetic energy manipulation.”

With these very words a glowing playing card struck the inhibitor collar in the lead trooper’s hand blowing it to smithereens. The move was so fast, so perfectly timed that it appeared to most that Gambit had not even moved though he had shifted Amara’s weight enough for him to slip a card out of his pocket, charge it and toss.

“Of and if dear Sagey has any problems she knows how to get in touch with us.” Emma snidely quipped showing her disdain for the SHIELD Director, a hatred that ran long and deep. Magneto shot a dark glare at this then turned his attention back to Gambit and Amara. Without a word or move a glowing orb of magnetic energy enveloped them before the same thing happened to Magneto and Frost. All four of them slowly levitated off the ground, Magneto only pausing for a moment to look upon and address Damien. “We will take care of her and be in touch.”

Within second the X-Men were gone from sight leaving SHIELD to deal with what was left of the mess. As they traveled through the air Magneto knew repercussions would come from this. Sage and he would finally have words but he also knew deep down that it was the right thing to do… the thing Charles would have done.

[Spider-Girl - Reilly J. Parker]

Spider-Girl was to say the least shocked by these turn of events. First it seemed that the city was toast along with her new team. She had gotten almost everyone out of the proverbial war zone and then did her best to help keep her teammate Dyad safe from molten debris. When things appeared to cool off... no pun intended, the SHIELD army landed to clean up the mess. Their big mistake seemed to be trying to separate two people genuinely in love. She had wondered in that moment if Damien was prepared to take on all of SHIELD for the woman in his arms. It seemed romantic and in a way right. If it had come down to that she may have even said to hell with it all and fought with him.

Luckily for them all it seemed they would not need to, at least not for now. Her spidersence had not gone off as Magneto and two of his X-Men appeared to take Amara away. This meant they meant no true harm, they were no threat for the time being. Even as the Cape-Killer Troopers stepped into the mutant known as Gambits way causing him to throw a charged card to blow up the inhibitor collar her special sense did not go off. The X-Men were not here to fight if they did not have too.

As they floated away and the armored agents did not open fire all Spider-Girl could say was "Woh... even I don't have a smart assed comment for this... that alone is impressive." And it was so true. Turning to Damien, Zephyr and the tree like Dryad she shrugged her shoulders. "Ok, what now?" Cocking her head to the side she tried to look as confused as out of place as possible more for effect then true inquiry. One thing she did know for sure, Sage was not going to be pleased and that mental statement was confirmed as the voice of their fearless Director sounded over their communicators demanding the other members of her team to her office. "Oh I bet thats not good guys, getting called to the principles office rarely is. Been their enough myself to know."