Amber Hunt

PHASE 1

Amber Hunt
Portrayed by Julia Stiles
Known Aliases:	None
Affiliations:	Tara Trask
Socked By:	Socker required
Introduction:	X-Men Mission: Mercy Flight

A former patient of Moira MacTaggart, Amber Hunt had finally gained control over her dangerous energy-absorption power when tragedy struck. Grieving and alone, she found new purpose under the guidance of Tara Trask and Ilyas Saidullayev but eventually paid the price for her terrorist activities. She is currently in Hungrarian custody, awaiting trial.

Details

Name: Amber Hunt

Aliases: None

Occupation: Formerly an architect

First appearance: X-Men Mission: Mercy Flight

Family: Evan Weir (husband) - deceased

Biography

Amber Hunt was fourteen years old when she manifested as a mutant. Her parents soon contacted Moira MacTaggart on Muir Island, as Amber's ability to absorb and rechannel energy was proving difficult to control, causing her to have numerous dangerous accidents. She spent two years on Muir learning control and then returned to her home in Maine, where she finished high school and then went to university, training as an architect.

Eight years later, she called Moira to tell her that her abilities were out of control and that she was absorbing more energy involuntarily than she ever had before. The X-Men picked her up and transported her to Muir Island in a makeshift containment chamber. They were forced to make an emergency landing but eventually reached Muir successfully. There, Moira and Curt Connors discovered that Amber had moved into the vicinity of a manufacturing facility for semiconductors, something that had jumpstarted her abilities to a new level.

Amber spent six months living on Muir, regaining control over her abilities. She then returned to her life in Maine, moving soon thereafter to take up a new job with an architectural firm in Philadelphia. The head of her firm also taught in the urban studies program at Bryn Mawr; while on campus with him, helping him with a seminar, Amber was introduced to Tara Trask, who cultivated a friendship with the young woman. Amber also became involved with a local artist, Evan Weir, also a fellow mutant (and unlike her, openly so). Evan later proposed, and the two married in August 2006. Their happiness was unfortunately short-lived; only a few weeks after the wedding, Evan was attacked by a handful of drunken university students involved with an anti-mutant campus group. What they'd intended to be a simple beating got out of hand, and Evan died of his injuries, leaving a bereaved and angry Amber. She was more than susceptible when Trask took their friendship to the next level, encouraging Amber to take control of her own fate. Amber became involved with Trask's group of 'disciples', finding a great deal of comfort in it.

Still, she was not inclined towards any kind of militant action. She took part in the case against Evan's murderers, testifying to the ongoing harassment her husband had suffered. But the defense attorney outed her as a mutant on the stand, and two of the fathers of the students on trial broke into her house one night in April 2007. What happened then left them dead, her house a shattered ruin, and Amber herself badly injured. Though she was not charged because of the circumstances, remaining in Philadelphia was impossible. At the end of her rope, she asked Trask for help, which was gladly provided. During her recovery, Amber became part of Trask's inner circle, willing to take direct action at her order.

The sweet-tempered young woman Moira knew is essentially gone; Amber is angry, often self-destructive when she doesn't have an opportunity to direct that anger at a handy target. Because of Moira's training, she has a high level of control over her power; that, combined with her sheer power levels, make her lethally dangerous.

She first encountered the X-Men as an enemy as part of the team sent to act as a diversion while Alexi Garnoff was assassinated by a car bomb. In an encounter with Tabitha Smith and Shiro Yoshida, she revealed deep-seated anger towards anyone associated with the X-Men, calling them 'frauds' who made promises they couldn't keep. In her next encounter with the X-Men she fought Sam Guthrie, and again was not prepared to be reasoned with.

While operating as part of Trask's team during the invasion of Wakanda, however, she encountered Alex Summers, who proved himself to have inherited the Summers tactical genes and managed to find a way around her powers, incapacitating her. He was forced to flee approaching troops and leave the unconscious Amber where she fell, but the X-Men later found no trace of her.

Her luck did not hold. She accompanied Trask in the attack on the Psionic Arts Centre in Budapest, and was taken down by Forge and into Hungarian custody.

Powers/Abilities

Amber absorbs and rechannels ambient energy. She is absorbing energy at very low levels all the time, but under normal conditions must concentrate to absorb larger amounts. When she absorbs a great deal of energy, it is almost always discharged explosively. Her level of control was demonstrated when she absorbed Shiro's powers from several feet away, leaving him weak and dazed. She can also absorb different types of energy simultaneously. Her limits are as yet unknown.

Plots

X-Men Mission: Mercy Flight

X-Men Mission: Becket

Seven Minutes In Heaven

The Magnificent Seven

X-Men Mission: Fifth Column

Meta

PB: Julia Stiles

Socked by:

Formerly socked by Alicia

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