She spent most of her time since then flirting with Morph, who did not find out about Mariko's preference for women until much later. The rest of the team wanted to go to a clothing-optional beach, and were afraid (rightly so, as Morph later admitted) that Morph would be too immature, so they convinced Sunfire to take him shopping. Knowing his attraction to her, she offered to go lingerie shopping. Morph obviously figured it out, and over lunch she told him about her past and personal preferences. Mariko felt bad about leading him on, but the two have reconciled.

Recently, when the Vampire King's chaos spell sent Mariko and Nocturne on a return trip to the Legacy planet (once overrun with Techno-organic lifeforms), Mariko hooked up with Mary Jane Watson (Spider-Woman), whom she had met on the Exiles' previous mission there. MJ and Sunfire lived together for about six weeks, and though they both knew that Mariko would jump soon, they continued their relationship, and the emotional aftershocks of their eventual separation were not easy to deal with.

On the very next jump, Mimic was revealed to have a Brood embryo implated in him, and it hatched after he was injured in battle with Ben Grimm. Mimic went mad, and when the Exiles tried to subdue him, Sunfire expended most of her energy in futile blasts. Then, when Mimic collapsed a building, Mariko used the rest of her power to disintegrate the debris before it hit innocent people. Unfortunately, she was completely drained by the effort and fell with the rubble. She suffocated before Morph found her and removed her body. She was replaced by Blink, who had returned to the team.

Reason for Being an Exile: In the disrupted timeline, her nuclear powers flared out of control, turning her into a walking radiation hazard.