Jorge could scarcely recount the amount of time that passed by. All of his focus was on keeping his watery form together and firing jets of water as hard as he could against the side of the side of the mountain. It was growing more difficult before of the amount of heat as well as the focus that he needed in order to complete his task. Thankful Sam was there to lower the temperature around him just enough so that he could remain cool and not evaporate. On top of that the man summoned as much ice as he could and melted it for Jorge to use.

They definitely made a dangerous combination. Using the water that Sam had pulled for his use, Jorge pumped more and more of it into the rock while Sam froze it. They wedged more ice, deeper inside, but already Jorge was beginning to grow fatigued. He was not sure how long they had been doing this but it apparently had been for awhile.

But still, Jorge did not give up. He was tasked with firing these jets of water at the mountain and, though he was visibly beginning to look tired, he didn’t stop. That is until another tremor shook through the ground.

Jorge looked to the ground suspiciously as he felt the violent vibrations rip throughout his entire body. The water undulated and shook, threatening to shake itself loose but Jorge’s control on it was strong enough to keep himself together. Especially since he stopped the flow of pressurized water. Focus on himself was easier.

>> ”@#$*”

He turned to Sam and just as another violent tremor shook the ground. He gurgled as stone itself began to crack and form fissures all around. The volcano was mighty upset with them and it was definitely going to start taking its revenge. Jorge could practically feel the rush of molten rock that pushed up through the insides of the mountain. They didn’t have time…

>> , ”Cold Steel to all X-Men on the island…****…Jorge, I think its best we leave!”

Jorge nodded in agreement. One look at Sam though and he could see that the mutant was exhausted. It could not have been easy to summon ice near a full blown volcano. Both of them must have been pushed to their limits. But Jorge knew they needed to get down. But before he could try to communicate this, another massive tremor shook their feet and already Jorge could feel the ground become less and less stable. They needed to get out of here, and now.

Seeing little option, Jorge did what he did best as a cop…sprung to action. Suddenly rushing at Sam, Jorge wrapped his watery arms around the X-Men and suddenly pulled him in. In doing so, Jorge also reached out his hand and focus on forming a large bubble from within his hand. He pushed it down, over Sam’s head that floated within his watery, churning body so that the X-Man could breathe, and suddenly dived for the bottom of the mountain.

He’d never done this before. God…he hoped it work. And if they did, they were SO never talking about this again...

Up above, the X-jet circled the mountain, looking for the other members of it's team.

A black and red plume exploded out of the top and back of the volcano. Large rocks flew threw the air with even more force that an Abyssi propelled Lady of Liberty. The smoke grew thick, flames shot upward, ropes of lava flung outward like Jackson Pollock threw paint around, not caring at all where it landed.

The left wing took the brunt of the force, and the blast sent them hurtling higher into the sky, twisting sideways in several unintentional barrel rolls.

Somehow a one winged plane emerged from the other side of the plume. It part tumbled, part glided as it made it's way out over the ocean and disappeared from view.

(See also Fire in the Sky.)

The next several seconds blurred together as Sam’s heart started to race and adrenaline washed away his fatigue he had before the event that set everything in motion. In that one moment Sam wanted to jump ship and bail on the mission in that one-second his world stopped and nothing else mattered. He was being carried away in a mass of water a small bubble of air left over from Jorge allowed him to speak and breath but he didn’t pay it much thought onto how weird it was being submerged in another living person.

His thoughts raced as he saw the explosion. Kat and the others were in the jet when the explosion hit the wing. The liquid hot magma shot the jet up higher and higher. The altitude wasn’t the problem it was the damage and gravity of the fall that worried Sam. He let off a scream and fought against the water for a moment before the jet vanished out into the horizon. He wanted to go after them he had to and at the same time he couldn’t. It was the worst possible outcome.

The heat from the explosion drew his attention from the jet going down he looked back from the jet to the magma racing down the side of the mountain. The village had a little time to finish evacuation before it would be buried in molten hot lava. Several boats were seen in the harbor and Sam knew what he had to do. There wasn’t much time no matter how badly he wanted to go after Kat, Maya and Slate. Closing his eye and forcing himself to focus he yelled out to Jorge hoping even though he surrounded him, the water form Jorge could hear him fine. ”Jorge! Turn towards the harbor!” Sam cried out trying to keep the heat from affecting Jorge in his liquid form. ”We have work to do!”

He had to focus on the matter at hand. Kat was a skilled pilot she learned from the best after all, she could handle herself and the jet not to mention the life rafts, the rations and the GPS on the jet if the jet was too injured to take control of. Sam trained them for this (or at least two of them) and even though every fiber in his being was screaming ‘go after them’ he knew there was something he first had to do.

The world fell away from Jorge as he dived down the mountain that rumbled angrily behind him. It bubbling, red saliva spurted and rolled down the sides, raising the heat all around him to the point that Jorge feared it would get to be too much for him to sustain his watery form. But he could not focus on that now. He needed to get to the bottom, to hopefully get away from the lava just enough to take a breather and release Sam from within. He hoped the other team was having better luck.

But that was when he felt the struggling from Sam. Landing at the bottom of the volcano, Jorge splashed but did not displace himself enough for Sam to get injured. Instead, though, as he stood there, churning and spraying water all about him, he looked away to notice a very familiar jet high in the sky.

A jet that quickly lost a slapping contest with a very angry mountain.

His eyes widened as he saw the plumes of smoke and fire reach out, licking the plane and send it wheeling off into the distance. No wonder Sam was upset. They X-men, teenagers trying to make a difference, but to Jorge they were all still just kids. None of them deserved an ill fate.

He made motions to go after them as well when suddenly he felt the vibrations from inside of his body. They made their way to where his ears used to be and, surprisingly, Jorge was able to understand exactly what was being said…

>> ”Jorge! Turn towards the harbor! We have work to do!”

A glance to the horizon where he saw the plane go down and Jorge nodded firmly. The greater good. He turned towards the direction of the harbor and shuddered. He was not going to last in this form much longer and the harbor was still a good bit away. If he pushed it he would collapse into his human form even before they got there. But as Jorge scanned the area, he paused in relief.

Off the side, abandoned, was an All-terrain jeep, probably abandoned once the volcano started to sake. That could get them there faster.

Focusing, he kept Sam in one place as he himself stepped backward. The water receded and sloshed away from the man and began to reform into the humanoid water elemental again, now free of the X-Man that moments ago had stood within. Once that was done, Jorge moved over to the jeep and took on a more solid form. Water stopped churning, a tightly muscular body took on a stronger shape and before long, Jorge himself stood there in the flesh…sans clothes.

That was really annoying. But a quick glance in the jeep and he sighed in relief. Laundry. Quickly he snagged up a pair of cargo shorts slipped those on and called out to the X-Man, who was surely having a hard time of dealing with this situation.

“Sam,” he said in a calm, yet urgent away. “Let’s go.” He was exhausted looking but he just needed a few minutes to regain his strength. Minutes that could easily be regained through driving. Quickly he climbed into the driver’s side, turned the ignition and revved the engine. The second the Team Leader climbed in, Jorge would book it straight to the harbor.

It took Sam a second to understand why the watery form of Jorge inched away from Sam, it was a weird feeling, the water all around him inched forward and he stayed back feeling pushed an pulled like he would during a wave at the beach only to a lesser extent. Breathing in heavily the fresh hot air Sam exhaled even harder willing him-self to calm down. It was crunch time now the rest of his team, his friends went down over the horizon all that was left was Jorge and himself against the clock and a volcano. ‘One step at a time’ thought Sam as he ran toward the Jeep that human Jorge now sat in.

Jorge’s tone calmed Sam, it had a sense of urgency but it still calmed him none-the-less and for this Sam appreciated having Jorge with him all the more. Hopping into the passenger’s seat Sam exhaled and told Jorge once again, ”Punch it” however it was far calmer than it should have been given the situation, Sam still couldn’t keep the kids out of his mind it was his fault after all.

The jeep moved forward and Sam looked into the backseat of the jeep and found a flare gun and a handful of other provisions including two water bottles one that he placed in the cup holder nearest Jorge and he opened one himself, and quickly emptied out the contents. If Jorge’s power was anything like Sam’s he knew the water elemental would be exhausted from his over use of his mutation.

They weren’t far now the smell of sulfur was weakening the closer they got to the shoreline where a few larger boats could be seen. Good there were some ships here that could ferry some of the islanders away from the hell that was quickly destroying their home. Sam’s fear however that there weren’t enough boats to carry the contents of the island and one thing he stressed in the briefing was that ocean water boiled once lava hit the water and even before due to the magma escaping through any underground fissures.

As they drew closer Sam looked to Jorge, ”Jorge I don’t know how much you got left in you but it won’t matter in a few minutes as soon as one of those houses is hit with…” the ground shook once again and held on to the side of the car not having buckled seconds before. He continued shortly after the quake, ”the lava they are going to go up in flames fast I don’t even think our combined powers will be enough to stop it.” Sam looked to the shore-line and then to the smoke coming from the tree lines. They still had some time, the magma didn’t hit their wall yet, it would by them seconds but seconds could save lives.

”I’m going to make a ice slide from the top of the village down to the shore line. Not the safest but it will get everyone down the fastest. Unless you have any better ideas?” there wasn’t much time but if there was anything safer and faster Sam was all ears.

>> ”Punch it”

Jorge nodded as he put the jeep into “Drive” and immediately raced off against the flow of lava to attempt to make it to the citizens that lived below. They were going to be cutting it close but Jorge knew that this jeep was probably going to be their fastest means of movement right now. Sam seemed nearly out of ice and Jorge could already feel his dehydration nearly kicking in. But he had to keep going. He had to keep moving for not only the sake of those people that lived on this island, but those younger X-Men. The sooner these people were saved, the sooner they could go looking for the others.

After all, the Mission was what was most important at the time. Lives needed to be saved and they needed to be focused in order to do so.

Jorge weaved and raced through the trail, gunning the jeep’s engine for absolutely everything that it had. The air was thick with the smell of sulfur and he could see the bellowing smoke and ash out of the corner of his eyes. They were definitely running out of time. A glance to the passenger side and he saw the look that Sam had on his face. As team leader, it was obvious that the man was feeling some type of guilt over what happened to the others. But Jorge knew that assuring him that everything was okay was not going to work.

The man needed to beat himself up before they jumped into action against this volcano. Get it out of his system now before the real fight started.

Another glance and he noted that Sam had placed a bottle of water for him. He was definitely grateful for that. He nodded his thanks to the X-Man as he reached down and unscrewed the cap single-handedly. Once done he held it up to his lips and drank the entirety of the bottle in a single gulp. Jorge could practically feel his cells fattening up with the hydration. It was a glorious feeling.

Turning onto main road, Jorge raced down towards the harbor as the sounds of the rumbling volcano issued forth from all around him.

>> ”Jorge I don’t know how much you got left in you but it won’t matter in a few minutes as soon as one of those houses is hit with…the lava they are going to go up in flames fast I don’t even think our combined powers will be enough to stop it.” [/color]

Jorge grimaced at the earthquake but nodded to Sam’s words. He doubted the town was going to last much longer the second that first lava flow hit a single structure. They were both already feeling exhausted those he knew that they had little more time to act. They had to get people out of here safely, that was the most they could do.

>> ”I’m going to make a ice slide from the top of the village down to the shore line. Not the safest but it will get everyone down the fastest. Unless you have any better ideas?”[/color]

The detective thought. And thought. And thought. Sam’s plan was good, they could save lives. But how long would his ice hold up? They needed more time.

Driving down to the harbor, the scent of the ocean wafted across his face and immediately be began to feel a little more invigorated. Suddenly…he got an idea. A dangerous idea…but one that could possibly give them the time they needed.

“Get me to the ocean,” Jorge said boldly. “I think I may be able to give you the time you need.”

Sam blinked with his one eye as the ocean got closer and closer to them. Feeling the moisture in the air he got his second wind feeling the temperature around them drop slightly Sam nodded his head, ”I can get you there a little faster than driving on the road…” Sam said as the air around them became brittle Sam leaned forward and pulled the emergency break that sent the car into a slightly spinout that stopped quickly enough.

Once the vehicle was stopped Sam was already unbuckled and had placed a hand on Jorge’s shoulder and one on his arm trying to lift him up to stand on the seat of the car, ”Hold on.” Sam’s mutation kicked in and an ice slide quickly started to form as the two moved along the frozen path over the trees and down the road towards the beachfront where most of the citizens were heading for.

Passing them overhead Sam couldn’t help but notice how helpless they all looked, panic was all over their face, tears streaked down the kids faces and Sam’s pace quickened. They passed the beachfront and reached the docks and Sam lowered the ice slide towards the docks until his feet touched down on the wooden path that was quickly becoming crowded.

”Talk fast Jorge, what’s the plan?” the people o the dock paid little to no attention to them even though they seemed to appear out of nowhere. Sam doubted they’d go unnoticed for long.

This plan was crazy. Jorge knew it was crazy. If Gemma were here right now she probably would have killed him herself for even thinking of it before he had the chance to risk his life. But the detective did not have time to worry about that at the moment. The truth of the matter was that he needed to do this because they were simply out of options. If he didn’t, far too many people were going to get hurt and already they had lost three members of their team. They needed to press on and the only way that they were going to actually succeed is if he actually pulled this off.

It was risky. Incredibly risky because Jorge had never really moved that much water before. The last time he had moved more water than he was capable of, it threw him into a 24 hour coma. Now he was planning to move FAR more water than that amount. God, he hoped he didn’t die. If he did, Gemma would kill him.

A glance up and Jorge could feel the pull of the ocean. He knew that they were getting closer but they simply were not getting there fast enough..

>> ”I can get you there a little faster than driving on the road…”[/color]

“What?” Jorge asked with a little bit of confusion.

Suddenly the emergency brake was thrown on and Jorge struggled to keep the vehicle from completely spinning out. He thought that maybe the X-Man was simply out of his mind. After all, who really does that. But before he could say anything, suddenly Sam was urging him to stand up. Jorge unbuckled his safety belt and stood up just in time to see the slide of ice that Sam was beginning to create. It was now beginning to dawn on him what the plan was going to be.

>> ”Hold on.” [/color]

Jorge nodded and onto the ice slide he went with Sam. Though the air was chilled around him, a glance down and Jorge could see the village and the people that were panicking. They were scared, far more frightened than the detective could ever imagine. When faced against a force of nature like a volcano, he was not surprised. They could lose everything: their homes, their possessions, and worst of all, their lives.

They had to act fast.

Before long Jorge could feel that invigorating blast of ocean spray was they reached the docks. The sound of the surging water, the feeling of misty droplets across his exhausted features, the sight of the undulating and surging mass of water that was before him, all it only served to awaken his senses more. He was feeling close to his 100% self again.

Jumping off the slide of ice, Jorge turned back to the town and watched as the glow hot rivers of laval pushed closer to the town and sent anything in their path ablaze.

>> ”Talk fast Jorge, what’s the plan?” [/color]

Jorge nodded. He really, really hoped that this was going to work.

“I want you to go up and try to get as many of those people down to beach as possible, as fast as possible, okay?” he explained and then nodded to the waters that swirled around the pier. “As for me, well, my powers are stronger when I’m in the water. I’m going to shift, jump in and summon as much water as I can to throw a wave up around the beach. If…If I can manipulate enough, I should be able to cool down the lava to solidify and either detour the rest of the lava into the ocean, away dam it long enough to cool entirely.”

It was a risk. A big risk, especially on his part since Jorge had never moved so much water. But now was as good a time as to test out the ability. He patted Sam roughly and respectfully on the shoulder.

“Don’t argue with me, Sam. Go and get those people down to the beach!!” With that, he immediately began to shift again. Flesh melted away into water and soon Jorge had returned to that liquid form he was in none too long ago. He gave an encouraging thumbs up to Sam and then fell backwards into the swirling ocean underneath the docks.

For a second it seemed like nothing was going to happen. The water swirled and waved just as calmly as it was mere seconds ago. But that quickly began to change as a whirlpool slowly began to start up. It was slow at first and gradually sped faster and faster until slowly a form began to emerge from within the very center of it. The liquid form of Jorge Cervantes rose, like a very god of the ocean, with head down and arms tensed in a pose of concentration.

Move, Sam. Move! he thought as he twitched and connected with as much water as he good. More water than he ever imagined possible…

People were running towards him, well towards the boats he and Jorge were near and it made him look about quickly despite the fact he was trying his best to hear what Jorge was saying. His ears listened to the water shifter as his good eye quickly shifted from person, to ship, to dock to mutant. When Sam heard Jorge’s plan Sam’s attention fixed soley on the officer. ”…I…” before Sam could voice his lack of faith in the plan Jorge cut him off and he reluctantly nodded his head. Lives were at risk and he knew Jorge wouldn’t do anything he couldn’t handle right?

Flesh turned to water and Sam mirrored the shifter by covering his body in ice, pulling some water away from the opposite direction Jorge submerged himself in so not to accidentally shift the watery Jorge into ice. It wasn’t a great plan but it would give the village seconds if not minutes to evacuate. Looking around as the ice continued to grow on his armor Sam wondered what they hell Maya and the others were doing while Jorge and himself tried to prevent this mess, he’d chew her/him out later no need to dwell on it now.

Ice lifted him and purpose gave him speed he was several feet larger than he was normally, his feet standing atop stilts made of ice it was the first time he truly submerged himself in a armor this size but it wasn’t that he had to move much he just needed to slide uphill to the top of the village, that much was easy enough it was making a slide for everyone else to get down safely that was the problem.

It took a few moments; minutes even to get to the top of the village, the panicking screams of the islanders running towards the boats with their loved ones and their ‘important’ possessions. He paid little mind to what they were carrying he didn’t have time to focus on it. No the only thing he could afford to focus on for the moment was himself. Stopping the slide the Sam inside the armor crashed on the ground with a loud thud and quickly the armor around him began to shift towards the bottom of his frigid feet. A slide was quickly forming, bigger than he had ever created, wider than he thought he would ever need, all the houses closest to him had ice form at the foot of the front doors connecting it to the start of his giant slide.

His temple throbbed as he pulled moisture from the air around him as more and more ice quickly added to the slide. Once the armor around him was exhausted and reformed as part of the slide Sam clenched his teeth and yelled as loud as he could to whoever would hear him, ”Slide on the ice!” Sam called out as he himself leaned forward and felt his feet slide on his own creation. As Sam started to slide down a few people did as commanded and jumped on the blue frozen road.

Sam slid down towards the dock and ocean as he got closer to the edge of his slide that was created from his first thrust of power he quickly added to it as he would normally, however this time he had to call on all the concentration he could muster to push out the slide, it didn’t lead to every house but it was wide enough for a short walk for those who were higher up the hill. ”Come on Jorge, give ’em a miracle”

Water. It was such a powerful force. A force that can never truly be contained because of the sheer volume and rage it can possess when it is provoked. But Jorge Cervantes, he knew water. He knew water because he felt a special connection to it. A connection that allowed him to bend it to his will but only in the most respectful of manners. Then that connection grew deeper when his powers evolved to the point that he could actually become that very element that he so trusted. It allowed him to perceive it in a way that he had never seen it before. He felt part of it, and it was part of him.

It was this mentality that Jorge took with him when he shifted into a being of pure water and let himself fall in the churning ocean below. It was madness to do such a thing since he still did not have full control over his power. Holding onto the water form and keeping him from falling apart was exceedingly difficult and that was just on dry land. Here he was throwing himself into a large, churning ocean where he could easily lose himself in his element.

But my some miracle or sheer force of will, Jorge managed to hang on. He held onto himself as he exerted his control of the wild element that surrounded him on all sides. It took control, it took mastery, but finally, Jorge managed to get enough of a foothold into the element to ask for its assistance.

Please…listen to me… he thought.

Whether he was talking to the water, to God, or just to his mutation, Jorge didn’t know. All he knew was that he needed to ask for help. And in the end, that was exactly what he had received. The water connected with him, and more and more of it began to listen to his heed. It was enough for Jorge to force himself to rise out of the water as a entity, a being of water itself. It looked as if an old god from the very dredges of the ocean was awakening from his millennia of sleep.

Towering next to the shore, Jorge, in his watery form, opened his eyes as he felt his mind connecting with the multitude of water that surged around him. Fists gripped, he caused as massive whirlpool to whip around him as he stared ahead. Through the watery veil in front of his eyes, he watched as the people slid down to the beach, cowering from the oncoming lava and marveling at the vision that Jorge made. But the detective did not just stand there, looking impressive. He soon broke into action.

Fists clenched, suddenly the water elemental raised his arms, in an almost praise-like way, and instantly the water of the very ocean itself sprang to the call. It swirled up and above, spinning around him in a massive wave that looked dangerous because of its fury, but released a riot of colors as the sunlight shined through each droplet.

With a thunderous road, Jorge suddenly shot both of his hands forward and the water from the ocean spilled onto the beach with a loud CRASH! People screamed and recoiled but soon they realized that the water was not coming towards them at all. Instead, thanks to Jorge’s manipulation, it skirted right past them and flew to the very farthest that he could push it. Once he was close to his limit, Jorge concentrated his hardest and swept out with both of his hands.

He bellowed, loud, in his watery form as he felt the strain of connecting with so much water but he did not shy away. Despite the exhaustion, despite the sheer pain, he fought through it pulled as much water as he could and raised it up so that it began to spin. It was slow at first, barely noticeably, but as the lava flowed closer, suddenly Jorge raised the water so that it formed a swift moving, defensively shield around not only the people on the beach, but the beach itself.

Limbs shaking, water droplets falling to the ground, Jorge spun and spun the tidal shield that he had managed to place on the land. Water churned faster and faster, protecting those people on land with a mist of shedding water and a kaleidoscope of color. The second the water met lava, an angry hiss filled the air. But Jorge did not stop. More and more water he pulled from the ocean as he kept the water spinning and the barrier up.

He was going to save these people…even at the cost of his life…

Sam was tired and running out of juice and time he breathed in and exhaled quickly trying to catch his breath people slid down the slide some head first some on their rears they were in pain or scared he couldn’t tell due to the chaos but he saw it. The red glow coming down the mountain and his heart sank. His hairs stood on end and he turned to see if Jorge mustered the miracle.

Sam wasn’t ready for the miracle the awestruck look on his face made it quite clear he wasn’t ready for it. Sam blinked once and again adrenaline kicked in he reacted on instinct his body turned away from the shore and where Jorge was to the dome he started to create. Sam’s hands shot up and every time a drop of water fell from above before it could be absorbed into the sand Sam directed it onto his skin creating a layer of ice.

”Damn new guy showing me up….” Sam muttered under his breath with a smile elated Jorge was there with him for there were few others Sam would have liked to take on a raging volcano with. The lava connected and let out a hiss and Sam cursed under his breath and jumped up into the air, ”Start moving people!

Ice connected under his feet and he rose towards the dome his body now encased in a full layer of ice. There was steam outside the dome and were there was steam there was moisture and where there was moisture. Shooting out of the layer of water Jorge had created Sam raised above it and felt the heat instantly. A small strain was placed on him to keep the layer of ice over his body as the steam rose up and weathered away at his frozen armor.

Closing his eyes and willing the steam around him Sam slowly started to turn the steam back to water helping Jorge in his miracle for he had not the energy nor time to create anything other than water. ”Come on come on come on!” Sam prayed as lava was met with a wall of water before it and a steady rain from above.

The combination of the water swirling and the rain that fell from the sky made for a pretty awe-inspiring sight. Around the exterior of the water that Jorge had managed to whip up, the lava hissed like an angry reptile the second that it had touched it. Normally this would have done little to stop the flow of lava but the fact that Jorge kept spinning the water and replacing it proved to be a pretty tough barrier against the molten rock. The clouds of steam floated into the air, the water boiled as it spun, but Jorge was not going to back down. No matter how exhausted he was feeling.

Indeed, Jorge was pushing himself to the limits right now. If Gemma saw this, she was more than likely going to kill him when he got home…if he got home. At the moment the mind that was Jorge Cervantes inside the watery elemental could not really conceive if he was going to survive this. All he knew was that it was looking more and more unlikely.

If these were his last moments, then at least he was going out the way he wanted to, saving people.

The water churned and shuttered as his focus began to weaken. The longer he piled more water into his enormous title shield, the weaker that he was getting. But his will to keep going was what made him hold on. Water flow straight from the ocean, spilling onto the spinning shield as molten rock was shock cooled until it actually began to stop moving. Glowing red slowly died down into embers and then into hardened, black rock. People marveled as the sight they beheld. The water managed to sustain itself and the lava piled upon itself as it cooled down.

It was such a beautiful sight to see. But few, if any, bothered to look at the large, watery elemental that churned the waters for them. They didn’t see the form shaking and shuttering to hold itself together, nor the look of absolute pain and exhaust on its face. Jorge was in pain over the amount of strain he felt manipulating that much water. It was so much so that he was sure that he was actually hearing his heart bounding in his ears, even though he was made of water now.

Jorge was beyond his limit now, but still he didn’t stop. Not until he was sure that everyone was safe.

Hardened, black rock now circled around the beach and stopping at the very water line. After it had piled on and cooled do to the combined efforts of Jorge and Cold Steel, lava that was not directly touching water began to take a detour, sliding away and around the people trapped on the beach until it spilled into the ocean and further cooled there. They were saved and the lava would even run its way into the cool waters of the ocean.

The danger down, Jorge slowly let down his guard and willed the water to return to the depths from which he had pulled it. Once it had receded, Jorge eyed the black rock and sighed, thankful that impromptu wall was holding and diverting the rest of the lava flow away. But the second that Jorge took to breath, blackness incased his mind.

The watery sentinel shuddered and began to melt before the eyes of the people on the beach. Water shrunk down and down until it was the size of a normal man again. Once that had occurred, flesh replaced water and a naked Jorge Cervantes fell into the ocean, swallowed by the waves. Unconscious, barely breathing, Jorge sank momentarily before he floated to the top. His body bobbed in water as he drifted left and right…

Yeah that just happened, Jorge just took on Mother Nature and waited her out. Sure Sam had helped but there was no way his mutation alone was going to do much to the hungry all-consuming flow of lava. The red became Black and the water shifted back into the sea. The people were saved and Sam was about to fall back towards the beach exhausted from the physical and mental strain he had exerted today.

Sam exhaled and looked back to where the watery form was and found nothing he lowered himself on a small but still stable ice shield. There was plenty of moisture in the air and the only thing making his mutation weak was the lack of focus he could muster. Once on the beach Sam looked about for Jorge and started yelling at the locals to help. He wasn’t going to lose another teammate, he couldn’t. He was tired and about to pass out himself but he had to keep going.

One of the locals pointed him out bobbing up and down off shore. Sam slid out there and fell into the water next to him using some of his physical reserves of energy and grabbing onto him. Shoulder over his own Sam managed to pull Jorge close enough to shore till some locals jumped in and helped dragging both him and Jorge back to the beach.

Sam closed his eye for a second and shook his head and gave himself a small slap on the face forcing himself to become alert. ”Can you get him a blanket?” Sam asked one of the older islanders who was closest to him. It took a moment but Jorge who was now face up his back on the sand and a large blanket covering most of his body.

Taking a look back Sam took a look at the blackened rock and cracked a smile, ”Get some sleep Jorge you earned it, but we aren’t out of the woods yet.” he fell next to Jorge and was sitting up and while the islanders crowded around him and a passed out Jorge, Sam’s eye was fixed on the horizon where he knew Kat, Slate, and Maya would be.