Max_Striker
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Interlude-1: Diamond Economics
🕑 Added 2025-09-02 04:16:07 +0000 UTC[A/N]: This one's a filler chapter I wrote just for fun after watching Comic Drake's video "How Much is Emma Frost's Diamond Form Worth?" 💎 You can treat it as canon or just a side piece, totally up to you. If you enjoyed it, be sure to check out the original video for the full breakdown!
The Blackbird lifted off from the Morlock tunnels with Emma Frost locked in her diamond form—a crystalline prisoner who made their aircraft look like it was smuggling a disco ball. The weight distribution was shot; Emma's transformed state had added nearly three hundred pounds to their passenger limit, and Storm was compensating by manipulating the weather.
Scott sat rigid in the co-pilot's seat, his jaw working overtime. Housing a terrorist at the school went against every tactical bone in his body, but arguing with the Professor about "moral obligations" was pointless.
The cabin hummed with post-mission tension. Emma sat in crystalline silence, probably plotting ways to murder Power Broker and the whole of Morlocks once she figured out how to turn back.
Then Kurt Wagner teleported into the seat across from her with his trademark BAMF, sulfur still curling around his blue form.
"So, Emma..." Kurt's yellow eyes studied her diamond body. "I haff been thinkink about vhat Power Broker said back there."
Emma's diamond features couldn't convey the "oh God, what now?" expression she was feeling, but her voice carried that weary resignation reserved for dealing with idiots. "By all means, Wagner. Dazzle me."
"Vell, you are made of solid diamond now, ja? Ze vhole body?"
"Obviously. What's your point?"
Kurt grinned. "Do you haff any idea vhat you are actually vorth right now?"
The cabin went dead silent except for the Blackbird's engines and Logan choking on his beer.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Ze four C's! Color, clarity, cut, and carat! Emma, you are ze biggest diamond in ze vorld!"
From his corner, Beast looked up from his tablet. "Kurt, you magnificent fool, you've stumbled onto something here."
"Don't." Emma's voice cut like a laser. "Don't you dare, McCoy."
But Beast was already in full mad-scientist mode, fingers dancing across his tablet. "From a gemological standpoint, this is unprecedented! According to our medical records, Emma's mass increases from 144 pounds to 436 pounds in diamond form..."
Bobby looked up from his magazine. "Okay, she's chunky. So what?"
"Diamonds aren't measured in pounds, Bobby. They're measured in carats. One carat equals 0.2 grams, which means 436 pounds converts to roughly 198 kilograms, multiplied by 5,000..."
His tablet beeped.
"988,831 carats!"
Kitty's head snapped up. "Did you just say almost a million carats?"
Kurt's jaw hit the floor. "Mein Gott! Zat is ze size of a small building!"
"A small building made of what appears to be vivid blue diamond," Beast added. "Natural blue diamonds are among the rarest gems on Earth—"
Emma's laugh was bitter. "Oh, this just gets better."
Kitty had that look—the same expression she got before pranking someone. "Beast, how much is a blue diamond worth per carat?"
"KITTY." Emma's voice was full of warning.
Beast adjusted his glasses, missing the homicidal aura radiating from their passenger. "The 'Blue Moon of Josephine, a 12.03-carat fancy vivid blue, sold for $48.4 million in 2015. That's roughly $4 million per carat."
Silence.
Kurt's tail went rigid. "Vier... vier million? Per carat?"
"For larger stones, the 'Oppenheimer Blue' was 23.24 carats and sold for $35 to $50 million. More reasonable at $1.5 to $2.2 million per carat." Beast dove back into his calculations. "Using the conservative estimate of $1.5 million per carat, multiplied by Emma's 988,831 carats..."
His tablet dinged.
"That would be approximately 1.48 trillion dollars."
Bobby's soda went everywhere, Rogue dropped her cards, and Warren fell out of his seat.
"TRILLION?" Kitty shrieked. "With a T?"
Logan spoke up from his corner, cigar dangling. "Darlin', you're worth more than Canada's entire GDP."
Kurt was hyperventilating. "Zat is more money than most countries!"
Scott's voice came out strangled. "Emma's walking around worth more than..."
"Stark," Rogue finished. "More than Apple, Amazon, and Google combined."
But Bobby had that look he got before doing something stupid. "Wait, Beast, she's technically artificial, right? Not naturally formed?"
Emma's death glare could have cut through Logan's skeleton. "Drake, I swear to God—"
Beast's curiosity reignited. "Absolutely! Emma's diamond transformation is artificially induced. In gemological terms, that classifies her as laboratory-grown rather than natural!"
"Vhat difference does zat make?" Kurt leaned forward.
"Lab-grown diamonds are typically 80-90% cheaper than natural stones!"
The cabin held its breath.
"So instead of $1.35 trillion..." Beast paused. "We're looking at $112 to $319 billion!"
Warren blinked. "That's still enough to buy half of a state."
"But WAIT!" Kitty was vibrating with glee. "What about regular prices instead of fancy auctions? Like, if you walked into a jewelry store?"
Beast was in his element now, while Emma radiated enough fury to power a nuclear reactor. "For commercial-grade blue diamonds, market prices average around $711.73 per carat."
Beep.
"$703.78 million and 47 cents!"
Logan's laugh was pure evil. "From over a trillion to seven hundred mil. Sweetheart, you just depreciated faster than a Maserati off the lot."
Rogue grinned. "Sugar, you went from national debt to baseball team money in five minutes."
Emma's voice could have flash-frozen the Pacific. "Are you finished converting my molecular structure into your shopping catalog?"
But Beast, oblivious to how close he was to becoming a corpse, held up one finger. "There's one final consideration! Cut quality dramatically affects diamond pricing. Emma's current form isn't precision-cut like a traditional gemstone. It's more... organic and rough especially after what Power Broker put her through."
Emma whispered two words that carried more menace than any villain's monologue: "Oh no."
"Rough diamonds—even blue ones—trade at significant discounts. We're probably looking at $150-300 per carat for uncut specimens of this size!"
More tapping. Another beep.
"So, our final estimate is approximately $148 to $297 million!"
The laughter that erupted was loud enough to be heard outside the jet. Logan was wiping tears. Bobby had fallen out of his seat.
"Emma!" Bobby wheezed. "You went from buying Amazon to maybe purchasing CNN!"
Kurt was practically convulsing. "From White Queen vith corporate empire to... still ze White Queen, just vith a smaller empire!"
Logan lit a fresh cigar, grinning through smoke. "Darlin', I've seen stocks with better price stability."
Emma's crystalline form radiated fury. "When I get out of this form, I'm going to demonstrate exactly what 'rough cut' means to each of your faces."
But Beast, possessing a death wish, made one final observation. "Though I should mention, your theoretical value could appreciate if we could get you certified by the Gemological Institute of America—"
"HANK!" Every voice roared in unison, including Storm from the cockpit.
As the mansion's lights appeared below, Bobby couldn't resist one final shot. "Hey Emma, want me to check the diamond futures market tomorrow?"
Kurt nodded. "Ja! Or perhaps ve should get you professionally appraised!"
Kitty giggled. "We could take her to one of those 'We Buy Gold' places!"
Logan's chuckle was weaponized evil. "Two hundred and fifty million ain't bad for a terrorist's bounty ."
Warren, who'd been quietly processing, suddenly spoke up. "Wait, what if Emma gets stuck like this? Permanently? Then we're housing a $250 million liability. The insurance paperwork alone—"
"WARREN!" The collective roar nearly rattled the windows.
As they filed off the aircraft, Kurt made one last attempt: "Vell, at least now ve know Emma is worth her weight in diamonds literally!"
The sound Emma made wasn't quite a growl, nor a scream, but it was funny for the X-Men after everything they'd endured in the Morlock tunnels; hearing it lifted their spirits more than any of them had expected.
Comments
Gemaxter
Guess you could say... She's worth the weight!
