The New Mutants were given a parade through the city, with Wolfsbane as the center of attention. Sunspot worried about his mother but tried to hide his feelings when Psyche was looking. However Psyche could tell what he was thinking and worried about how much she cared. When they return to the palace with Gallio they wondered about the ethics of using the slaves who served them. Psyche and Cannonball feigned acceptance as they listened to Gallio's politically twisted stories about Senator Aquilla. Wolfsbane, however, was spirited and swore to do whatever she could to support Gallio.
When Gallio left, Wolfsbane and Cannonball argued about each others motives. She shouldn't have spoken for the whole team, but he was biased in favor of Senator Aquilla because of his attraction to Amara. Sunspot went for a walk to clear his head. He considered all the girls he had lost in recent months; Julianna, Karma and now his mother. Then he spied a red-haired woman being led through the streets and tried to run after her. Roman guards prevented him from leaving the palace, and he lost sight of the woman who could possibly have been his mother. He nearly used his super strength against the guards, but recalled Professor Xavier's teachings. Instead he powered down and returned inside the palace.
That night Psyche went out on reconnaissance, but was grabbed from behind. Meanwhile Wolfsbane poured out her guilty feelings to Sunspot, but the moment was interrupted by a mysterious gunman who shot Sunspot in the shoulder. Cannonball caught his friend as he fell out of the window, and Wolfsbane pounced on the gunman. Guards came rushing in to discover Marcos at her mercy, claiming that he had been sent by Senator Aquilla.
Elsewhere, Psyche woke up wearing only a strange bikini. She, Amara and another girl were lead through underground tunnels to Selene's burning pit where she used a mild form of telepathy to force girls to sacrifice themselves. She forced the third girl into the fiery pit and absorbed her life-force. Psyche's own training with Professor Xavier had given her enough psi-defences against Selene but she could not snap Amara out of the spell.
Back across town Cannonball and Sunspot led Gallio's guards in an attack against Senator Aquilla. Wolfsbane wanted to join in the fray, but Gallio wouldn't let her. Cannonball took Sunspot out of the fight to confide his suspicions about Gallio's stories and the way that everything was happening too quickly for them to question him. Senator Aquilla was soon confronted, but Cannonball's interference made sure that the Senator was not killed.
Back underground, Selene was preparing to sacrifice Amara. Psyche drew up enough strength to use her power & scare Selene's servants. She ran to attack Selene, but wasn't strong enough. Instead Selene took a special interest in Psyche and cut her cheek to draw blood thus creating a special bond between them. With all her attention on Psyche, Selene's grip on Amara loosened. She tried to attack, but Selene soon pushed her down into the molten lava.
The earth began to quake, and Amara rose from the fiery pit on a tower of molten lava. She had been transformed into a girl made of burning hot Magma!
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