He sent them to rescue the original team of X-Men trapped on the mutant island Krakoa. MacTaggert, her friend Professor Charles Xavier took Petra and the other children within the doctor's custody: Sway, Darwin, and Vulcan. The visitor turned out to be Moira MacTaggert. The person dealt with young people that had 'gifts' like hers. A woman led her to get showered and dressed, explaining she had a visitor who had managed to get the charges against her dropped and the authorities would release her to their care. She was eventually caught by the police, who had to taser her after she began using her powers. However, one day the clerk made an excuse about needing to call the owner and she fled. She kept the diamonds small so as to not draw suspicion. She had even heard stories about mutant hate crimes on television, and seen Sentinels flying on occasion. She used the subway to get around New York City. Soon, she found a pawnbroker that would take them and then rented a motel room, happy to shower and sleep in a real bed for the first time in years. Īround the age of 16, Petra learned she could turn coals into diamonds. Often she wondered if she was responsible for her family's death-either causing it or not using her powers effectively enough to save them. She avoided others whenever possible, unsure what they would do if they would find out she was a mutant. To survive, she panhandled and occasionally stole, but stayed away from drugs and prostitution. She manipulated nearby caves to provide her with a safe and secure hiding place. Not wanting to be placed in another home, Petra became a runaway. Petra was terrified as the man called her a 'freak', 'one of those mutants'. One day while they were vacationing at NYC's Central Park, he attempted to molest her, only to find that the ground was suddenly swallowing him up.
She was afraid of her foster father, who seemed to stare at her. She was then placed in a crowded foster home in New Jersey. Just before the accident, she had experienced a strange feeling while staring at the jagged rock that had killed her brother. Soon after her thirteenth birthday, a mysterious rock slide suddenly occurred, killing all except for Petra, who didn't have even a scratch. Her parents and older brother immigrated from Denmark while her mother was pregnant. Petra was the first of her family to be born in the United States.