---

---

Allison opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. To any other person, what she saw would have shocked and surprised. And, to be fair, she was freaking out a bit. The last thing she remembered was getting ready to head to Los Angeles to spend some much needed freetime with her parents and now she was standing here, in a well decorated room surrounded by a bunch of people dressed fancy. She looked down and saw that she, too, was dressed rather well. Did she black out?

The glance around the room revealed some familiar faces. She saw Guin and Pietro talking to each other as well as Carolina, so she was thankful she wasn't alone in this. But still...what happened? Did Mesmero break free and control her? And if so, why put her here?

And then she heard his voice. A voice she hadn't heard in years. She turned to face it, seeing the man, now much older looking, she had fallen in love with those years ago. The one she lost.

"Oshea?"

Tears began to well up in her eyes. She fought them as best she could, but they began to trickle down her cheeks. She pulled him closer to her and embraced him, something she should have done all those years ago. "What are you doing here? What is this?" As happy as she was (and she was pretty fricken' happy) this could not be. She released him, taking him in. "I thought you were...."

---

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Tinley jerked a bit in her seat as she came to. She glanced around her, aware she was in a jet flying to God knew where. She recognized the people around her. Agent Smith, Agent Bautista, Agent Novikova. What she had not planned was seeing Wolverine and Mystique in the driver's seats. Acting like nothing was out of the ordinary when it clearly was.

She did not plan this and was not briefed. What, did they drag her away in her sleep. "Wait, the Hulk? What are you talking about? What is going on? Where the hell am I? If this is a joke I am not laughing." She stared at the others near her, expecting an answer. She was still in charge.

Right?

---

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Mother and father had groomed her to be the best. She was expected to maintain this. She cared not for their opinion of her, however. She merely went along because she knew it would be in her own best interests. She had to maintain the family name as it held some semblance of power. Honor among thieves, right?

That was hogwash. There was no honor. As she entered the casino proper, she took it in that she was finally ready to participate in heists all on her own. No more hand holding. She would prove herself worthy of being her own person. She joined the others as they waited for the last person to arrive.

"You know what schoolteachers did to late students? Surely some sort of punishment is in order. One cannot be late for these sorts of things, you know. One little misstep and everything comes spiraling down." She eyed the little girl among them. Cute enough, she supposed, but was it bad form to have her amongst them? Shouldn't she be off...playing with doll?

---

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James turned out the conversation involving the agitated agent, instead focusing on the dossier given to them. The Hulk was an issue so the challenge but from his profile, Banner was far more easily handled. Incredibly intelligent, forward thinking, and empathetic. James tapped his fingers along to the tune he hummed softly as he read. But a lack of episodes in recent years suggested something changed for the scientist and James stilled his fingers over the page on Banner’s son.

His fingers stilled as he read about the man's son again. The Hulk was an issue but leaning on Banner's other emotions could solve that tricky little bit. If they separated the son from his father, put him in a secure location the Hulk was unaware of, and spent a few days turning the boy it may make controlling Banner that much easier.

And in the event Banner went green? Well, place a bomb in a location near wherever they discussed a civil path with Banner, detonate it if things go south, blame it on a human or inhuman, and then broadcast it to shake the faith of anyone who protects him has as the Hulk turns the city into mush. A pile of dead bodies and a burning city should serve to isolate the monster from his allies and keep him in the open long enough for the unit to apprehend.

“Our mission is to apprehend, secure, and return the Hulk.” James confirmed without looking up. He spoke calmly, like he was discussing the weather rather than taking down a monster. “And you're right. Meeting the Hulk head on would practically guaranteed our failure. Banner's last episode was over (age of child), before the birth of his son. If we want to keep Banner's lid on, we should separate and isolate the child for a few days. Send out texts or whatever communication method they standardly use to keep the suspicion off while we gain his cooperation. Then use the child to urge for Banner's compliance. Avoid and evade the monster.”

“And if that doesn't work? Prepare to detonate a government building or something. Blame a disgruntled human and then let the Hulk does what he does best. A body count and a pile of rubble will ensure practically anyone will be willing to hand him over once he's calmed down.” James shrugged as he closed the documents, his face void of emotion as always. “As long as no one knows what set him off, the responsibility falls entirely to him and whichever unfortunate normy the organization decides.”

---

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Mission Discussion encouraged Michelle to take her nose out of her Diary.

"You want to ransom the Hulk's son?" Michelle interjected, "and if that doesn't work kill Humies until he just gives himself up and spills the beans?" Michelle shook her head. "We need to be in his good books if we're going to get him to finish the Super Soldier Project with us. He can and will eventually outsmart us, him being a brainbox is precisely the reason we're doing this and I dare to think what a secretly vengeful Banner with SHIELD resources and the trust of those swooning nerds from R&D is capable of."

"My suggestion?" Michelle pre-empted, "We demonstrate to him why we need more good guys with powers to beat bad guys with powers. We manufacture large mutant-supermacist attack on Lance's campus to draw Bruce out, local law enforcement won't be enough to deal with the terrorists meaning, unless he wants to Hulk out and use his personal brand of hyper-violence on a University Campus to solve the conflict he'll have to choose between us or waiting for his league of super friends to show. Either way demonstrates that SHIELD was right all along. If that doesn't work then we can consider kidnapping."

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Max stood amongst the crowd, speaking to a few guests that followed his modeling gig, gaining over him slightly. His eyes however, danced about the room, watching the royal family that was present as well as their loved ones, searching for an opening where he could spark a conversation. For a moment Prince Flynn had stepped away from one of the guests he was speaking to, leaving a short window for Max to grab his attention. Quickly, he snapped his fingers at his attendant, motioning him to ready to move with the bounty of gifts Max was making him carry. Tugging on the edges of hiss suit jacket to straighten it up before adjusting his cuffs and pressing forward towards Prince Flynn casually. "Pardon me folks, I must go now to speak with the Prince, I'll be back."

He cleared his throat softly before taking a knee in front of Flynn. "Prince Flynn, it's a pleasure to be here at your family's behest for such a joyous holiday." He stood up, grabbing a large blue box that matched Max's suit color and was tied off with a shining silver ribbon and bow. "Happy Hannukah. I really wracked my brain on what to get you, sports were never truly my thing, but I finally landed on a set of gifts I hope you will enjoy. For tonight, it is a fireproof soccerball. Capable of being enveloped in flames without it being harmed, for a more...extreme form of the sport." He handed the gift over to the Prince before continuing. "Tonight truly has been a splendid evening so far." Max held his hand in front of him as if he was holding a champagne flute, ready to drink. As his hand moved towards his lips, dust that shimmered like a stars I'm the night sky, began to swirl and form into his hand, creating a champagne flute with what appeared to be champagne. Finally, taking a sip, Max tipped the glass in the air and smiled "What's your poison? I can have it realised in a matter of moments." Max took another sip, thinking to himself how much he wished it tasted less watered down.

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Antoinette stood in the middle of the dance floor without a care in the world. She absolutely adored these parties. The live bands, the music, the food, the artwork people wore on their bodies in the form of clothing. Everything about these nights made Antoinette’s unique eyes sparkle. Dancing wasn’t one of Antoinette’s talents but she did have the innate ability of not caring about how other people perceived her so dance she did.
She was growing rather thirsty though and she needed to take these heels off if she was going to continue dancing tonight. She swayed off the dance floor, running fingers through her tangled hair as she smiled at the people she passed. Some she knew, others she hadn’t a clue but none of that really mattered to her. She had no reason to feel distressed or fear these people. Antoinette had herself a glass of water before she took a flute of champagne and walked around the edge of the crowd, looking for her best friend and best friend-in-law. She looked for Carolina's familiar hair and blue dress she wore. Antoinette went with a brilliant yellow colour. It contrasted against her blue and purple eyes but it only made her stand out all the more. Finally, Carolina and October came into view. Antoinette skipped up to them and wrapped one arm around each, kissing either cheek before she settled into a happy smile.
”You two aren’t going to stand here all night are you? You must come dance!”

---

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Richard seen a lot in his life. Hell, he'd done some screwed up things in the past in the name of finding his sister! But this was by far the strangest thing he had come across. He had no idea how he had turned up into the apparent basement of some building. But his snake esque eyes were locked on the bitch of a red head that had given his sister so much trouble earlier. Marygold had a strange way of talking that was sure, though why was she asking Remy where a Ms. Goody Two Shoes was? Of all people, Marygold was hardly one to talk. In fact, as he took stock of where everyone was around him, he found himself extremely worried. He knew some of these people, and he didn't know a grand number of them. But most of all, his gaze settled on Ayita who was perched next to him...

Ayita Dyrkin smiled and flipped a page in her book, it was a thick thing that resembled a collage book, for that was exactly what is was. Ayita had been studying for the past few years in preparation to be a vet- her life time goal. Wearing a stylish black cardigan over a green blouse and well fitted black jeans, Ayita was lovely to look at, and she knew it. Her amber eyes flickered up as she studied the slight chatter about the table, before glancing over at her adored older brother. Beaming happiness turned to worry as she raised a brow, her mental thoughts brushing against Richard's mind. Not in the sense and images that Ayita usually used but words heavily strung together. "Brother? You look like you've seen a ghost."

It was the same Ayita, he would know her mind's feel of speaking anywhere but Richard was still knocked figuratively onto his ass. Startled by the change in sister. No longer was she walking the border between humanity and what nature and their mother had forced her to become, but she was human. Human emotions fully contained within her. No long leaning towards that feral and wild nature and simpler way of life. Patting the solid shoulder, Richard was relieved that he could feel solid muscle beneath. No matter how she was the world was still dangerous. "Perhaps I have." He muttered softly, leaning back and keeping his mouth closed tightly as he considered where he could be and what was going on. This is seemed to be one of those sit back and see which way the wind blows situations. "What has been going on of late?" Or risk alerting his baby sister at least. Her loyalty had always been with him, surely that was still true?

Ayita gave her brother a sideways look, looking a might uncomfortable herself at the question. "You didn't drink that much at the club last night. Did someone slip you a drug?" She hadn't sensed anything wrong with Richard the night prior but he was acting a bit strange for the carefree and arrogant club owner of Lux. "Remy called us all here for a meeting. I can't wait til we get back to home. I left my other book at Lux." She saw his eyes flick to her. "What is it? You are acting like that time when you blacked out after News Years two years ago." Something akin to confusion filled Richard's eyes as he was looking at her and Ayita didn't like it. Turning her attention to Chrysi and Remy she tiled her head. Her dark hair falling over one shoulder. "Want me to take a look around?" The young woman offered her voice soft and fitting far better with this softer version of her.

---

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Bobbi rolled over in bed and saw the blaring red numbers on her alarm clock. 2 pm. "Uhg, early," she mumbled to herself. She snuggled her face into her soft, plump pillows when she heard someone next to her make a moaning morning grumble sound. Her body stiffened and she slowly turned her face to see a rather handsome, muscular black man in the bed next to her.



She slipped out from beneath the covers and found she was wearing nothing but her birthday suit. She quickly pulled on a tank and some undies from the floor. As she pulled the undergarment over her hips the man woke up. He blinked blearily and looked around the room and then at her. He gave her a toothy smile. "Mornin," he mumbled in a deep voice spiced with a light southern accent.

"Mornin," she responded carefully. Coldly.

"Come back to bed." He patted the place next to him that she had just vacated.

"First of all, who dah fuck are ya?" Had her voice always sounded like that? Cajun tones wove their way through her words. Maybe she had just smoked a bit too much last night.

"Jeb, we met at the bar last night," he offered as he sat up in bed, the blankets falling from his deliciously firm torso. "What're you doin in clothes. I'll help you out of them." Had this been any other moment in time Bobbi would have found this absolutely charming and hopped right on.

"Yeah, okay," she said. "How 'bout ya get dah god blessed fuck outta mah house." She began to pick up clothes that had been spread over the room that looked like they might belong to the man and tossed them at him. "Don't ya know dah first rule 'bout one night stands?" The man was thoroughly confused but caught his clothes with a grin. "It's dat yah fucking leave aftah yah blow yah load." She threw the last sock at him and the put her hands on her hips.

"Alright baby girl, I can take the hint." He dressed quickly and made his way toward the door. And by hint he meant sledgehammer. Bobbi followed behind and when they came to the entryway he leaned down and kissed her cheek. "Hope to see you around wild thing." With that he was gone. Bobbi rubbed her cheek and glowered at the door.

"Oi-yeh," she muttered to herself as she scrubbed her hands over her face. "Dis is so fuckin' sad. Alexa, play des-pah-cito."

"Playing Despacito by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee," came a woman's voice from beside the flat screen television. Bobbi just about jumped out of her skin. She must have forgotten she had one of those stupid bots. The song started playing over her speakers and she just had to laugh at herself. She danced her way to the kitchen and made herself a cup of coffee with chicory. She then sat on her couch and lit up a cigarette while she sipped the life-giving blood of the coffee bean. She sang along with the song. When did she learn Spanish? She could understand every word. It was a strange morning to say the very least.

---

After a morning of a few other shocks, Bobbi made her way out of her front door dressed to the nines. She wore a black bandeau, cut off daisy dukes, knee high sports socks and a pair of combat boots. Her hair was left in soft curls around her face and reached down her back to stop just above the waistband of her shorts. She had found some sort of weird black belly dancing scarf with a bajillion coins sewn onto it. She had wrapped that around her waist and so she jingled every time she walked. To top it all off, she had actually put some make-up on her face! Having a bit more curve and muscle than she remembered, it made her clothes look much better on her. She enjoyed the way things hugged her frame and her closet had been an absolute trip to go through. She was not looking forward to that clean up later.

The only other things she grabbed on her way out into the wide world was her smartphone, a gift bag, her keys (with a gym card on it, Bobbi had never thought of herself as the type to go before) and a wallet. She shrugged her signature leather jacket over her shoulders. There in the driveway was her bike. Her baby, just the way she always remembered it. Bobbi popped the helmet onto her head and drove off in the direction of the casino.

Inside the establishment, she ordered herself a Coke and Jack double. She had them put in some cherries for her and she carried the drink and her gift bag downstairs into the basement. Quite a few people were already here. The person she wanted most to see was sitting on her father's lap. In general Bobbi did not like children, however, Lexi was an exception. She spoiled the young girl to filth. Sipping her drink she waltzed on over and paused at the delightful picture. Setting the bag and drink on the table she fished her wallet out of her back pocket and produced a twenty dollar bill. "Mon petite cher, youse an artiste in dah making. Propah payment fo' a propah pict-chah." She meant the colorful dinosaur of course. She then handed over the bag to the girl. Inside she would find a little velvet box and inside of that would be a little bracelet with New Orleans themed charms on it.

She then quickly leaned down, a slight act as Bobbi was quite petite in stature, and kissed Jack on both cheeks. "Mornin' Cher," she said in a light tone. She grabbed her drink and repeated the kissing greeting procedure with Casper. She plopped herself in a chair nearby the brothers and proceeded to put her booted feet on the edge of the table to lean backward. She shared more verbal greetings with the rest of the gang but Richard got himself a wink thrown in the mix. The chair now balanced on two legs and Bobbi pulled out her smartphone. One bracelet and ring decorated hand held her drink and the other began to pull up one of the many games she played on her phone.

"Merde!" she growled at the phone as the front legs of the chair came down with a loud thunk. She began a long string of swears in French. It included just what she would like to do to the mother fucker who had thought to attack her town was a grand idea. Wait a fucking fuck. She knew French too? Well of course she did. After a moment she remembered the young girl sitting next to her. Her lightly tanned face paled a moment before her charming, crooked grin appeared and a shade of rose excitement cheered her cheeks. "Excuse mah French." Bobbi pressed her lips together in an attempt not to laugh while her eyes started to water with her mirth.

---

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"Hmmm," October mused for a moment, giving her wife another kiss. Carolina was intoxicating to her, though when it came to drinks, October preferred them to be as strong as possible. There were many belief systems that stated that spirits could allow an elevated state of mind. "There is something I would care to eat, though I believe that would be best done in private.... Some fresh pineapple would be fine too."

"You thought I was what Ally?" he asked her, giving her a bit of a smile. Though there was a slight look of confusion in his eyes of what it was that she was talking about, but he didn't think too much of it.

"Believe it or not I am not actually that much of a drinker, though I do enjoy the occasional glass of wine though," he said with a smile, before he handed off the present he had been given to a servant to have them take it out of the room as it was a bit too big to keep the soccer ball around. "Might I ask what your name is? I may wander around this place as if I do know everyone, but it is very difficult to keep track of names when there are so many people."

Pietro gave Guin a bit of a smile, "Thank you Guina," he said after her had opened the box, then he put the dreidel in his pocket. "Now wouldn't that be ruining the surprise a bit? I was planning on giving it to you later though... I mean what would the fun in giving it to you now be?" he said with a slight smirk. He did have her present in his pocket, but was more of slightly debating about giving it to her now.

From across the room, the larger doors opened up and Magneto and Miranda stepped into the room. They wandered over and started talking to a few of the other guests at the moment.

---

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Alexis opened up the little box and saw the bracelet inside, Jack gave her a bit of a smile, before he helped to put the bracelet on her wrist.

"To know what schoolteachers did to their students, ah would've had to show up ta school mon amie," he teased, laughing slightly. He then looked at Jack for a moment and sighed. "Ya know, this ain't really the place for a kid, right? It's important ta me that ya know that."

Jack nodded his head, "Yeah, I know that, problem is that her nanny quit, so I had no idea what else to do... he said, before he grabbed a few pieces of candy and handed them to her, before he pulled out a tablet and headphones. "Eh bien, Lexi? Est-ce que tu peux t'asseoir pour un petit peu et regarder le Blues Clues pour moi?"

"Avec les sous-titres français?" Alexis asked, taking the candy from her dad. Her French was way better than her English, mostly since her school was taught in French and her father spoke French to her at home.

"Bien sûr."

"Youpi!" she responded as Jack put the headphones on her head and started up the videos on the tablet for her. He then noticed Casper had come over to him and gave his brother a smile.

"Nothing too much at the moment really," he said with a slight shrug.

"I'm all for punishing her for being late, honestly, usually she's the one that shows up on time and I'm the one whose always here like, 10 minutes after."

"Chrysi, mon amie, that ain't your decision. I'm the head of this Guild and ya ought to remember that."

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know, honestly lighten up a bit Remy," she said with a shrug as Mary did eventually come into the room.

"Sorry for being late, lost track of time," Mary said as she went to take her own place at the table. However Chrysi decided to try something, and vines shot out into Mary's walk way, and she almost tripped over them but caught herself before that happened. "Really Chrysi?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said with a slight smirk.

"Chrysanthemum, quitte la salle!" Gambit snapped.

"Aww, ruin my fun," she said with an eye roll before she left the room.

"She's going to be the death of me I swear..." Mary mumbled.

---

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"Learn your place girl, honestly, thought you were trained better than this, remember, you are the lowest ranking person here Abercrombie," Sapphire said with a somewhat bored sort of yawn. Mystique however, her eyes seemed to flash with fire, before she walked over and just smacked Tinley across the face, glaring. However, from where Novikova, Tinley and Cass all could see, Wolverine's eyes seemed to light up a bit when Tinley started questioning everything, as if he knew what it was that she was talking about.

"Let me handle this one Darkholme, Abercrombie and Reed, over here, now, seems the two of you need a reminder," he said, looking at the two of them before he went to start walking away from the group. Before he left Mystique gave him a kiss, before letting him walk away.

"You better listen to him," Mystique said, glaring still at Tinley.

"Anyway I'm all for Kingston's plan, sounds like the best idea yet, sounds to be way more direct and a whole lot more fun. Ooh, maybe we'll get lucky and Banner won't actually be at the house but his kid will be. I mean, wouldn't that just make things a bit easier? Since if the plan actually works we might not have to deal with a rampaging Hulk at all. That would be a horrible thing to have to deal with if you ask me."

"Let's go after the kid if given the choice, since odds are that he could potentially help us and potentially stop the Hulk from rampaging if need be."

---

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Meanwhile at the house that the Red Guard was heading towards, seemed that they might be in for a little bit of luck. The house was more of a ways away from the actual city of Sydney, and Dr. Banner was no where around. He'd left the house to go run a few errands in the city, leaving Lance there by himself, well, not really, as Lance's girlfriend Runa was there too.

He was sitting at a table reading a book, being used to waking up early in the morning and working on a few things. Since his dad had left the house he had a bit more downtime to actually just relax a bit, not working down in the lab or anything really. After a few moments, he decided to go see about getting Runa up, as it seemed like she was still sleeping. Lance went to the room and opened the door, "Hey Runa, are you awake yet?" he called to her as he poked his head into the room.

---

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"Lame," Guin giggled, hearing that she would have to wait till later to get her Hanukkah gift. She wasn't religious, but she had no problem with celebrating the holiday. Eight days of gift giving? Yes, she knew that wasn't the point of it and she wouldn't tell anyone this - certainly not anywhere around King Erik - but she really loved it when Pietro spoiled her every day for over a week with gifts. They also tended to be shiny too and she couldn't help but love shiny objects. It was something she had in common with her mother - the one and only Pepper Potts. She had so many good memories of raiding Pepper's closet to play dress up, Pepper helping her learn how to use make up, even how to walk in heels. "Looks like your parents are here," she said softly.

She loved Pietro's mother - Miranda knew so much about engineering and it was always cool to have someone at the Palace who understood what Guin was doing in her copious amounts of spare time (for once, not sarcastic!) Sure, Lorna was a scientist but she found it difficult to talk to Polaris. Miranda was kind and approachable - while her husband, King Erik, he scared Guin. He was king of the entire world and one of the strongest mutants on the planet. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if he got angry at her.

Let's go talk to Allison - you know your father kinda scares me... Guin told Pietro softly. They had a permanent mental connection, due to how much they loved each other and the fact that Guin was a telepath. It made it easy for them to speak privately, without fear of anyone else overhearing. Taking Pietro's arm, Guin dragged him along with her, heading over to Allison and Oshea.

"Hey Ally," she greeted, giving Allison a hug. "Any hot gossip I should know about?" she asked, hoping the answer was yes. Things could get a bit boring sometimes around the Palace, especially since Pietro really didn't like it when she went to Stark Industries to work on projects. It was an ongoing argument the two of them were having, as to whether Guin should continue to work or just spend all of her time relaxing at the Palace.

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"Damn, who let the Femme Fatale in here?" Casper couldn't help but comment, his eyes widening a bit at Anastasia. She didn't look like she could've been older than nineteen and here she was, making illusions to corporal punishment and advocating its use over tardiness. His bottom felt a little bit sore just thinking about it and he moved in his chair slightly, as if to guard his rear from her. His eyes darted around the room, spotting a pair that could have been brother and sister - or brother and age inappropriate girlfriend. Not that he was judging, of course!

"Okay, so we need to figure out what is going on here, Casper..." Ben muttered. "We can't be the only ones that know something is up, right? So we just need to find out who else does... Well, you need to."

Casper nodded slightly. "Just gotta find one," he mumbled to his friend. He knew that it made him look a little crazy, talking to Ben, but he wasn't going to just ignore him or anything. Ben was his best friend - sure, Ben had a crush on Casper's brother and was horribly murdered, but friendship could withstand anything if it was true and strong! He then turned his head, as a girl in a leather jacket came over and started spoiling the kidnapped child. Would that lessen the sentence, if the child seemed to be happily giggling and wearing a gift an accomplice to the kidnapping gave her? Also, was Casper considered an accomplice, even though he had no idea what was going on? What even was the definition of an accomplice?

"Focus!" Ben snapped, telling that Casper was getting lost in his own thoughts. The girl in the leather jacket - he had nicknamed her Bombshell in his head - kissed his cheeks in greeting. Not really knowing what to do, Casper kissed her cheeks back, staring at the Cajun woman. Did she know his mother, maybe? His mom was a piece of work and was from New Orleans.

"... Do I know you?" Casper asked, tilting his head at her. "Did we go to rehab together or something?" he followed up. His brother thought he was high, he knew that much, so he had to have been forced to rehab at some point, right? If there was one constant in the universe, it was Jack forcing him to go to rehab to get clean at least once a year. There was a bit of drama going on with the Gingers - wait, was that GAMBIT?! and Casper took a breath, focusing again on his brother and Jack's impending kidnapping charge.

"So um... What's the laws on kidnapping here in Louisiana?" Casper asked casually. "Asking for a friend..."

"You are so bad at this!"

---

---

Novikova glanced over at Cassandra for a moment, hearing as she asked for a refresher on their mission. It was a bit weird - Cassandra had never struck her as the inattentive type, not here and not in the real world. However, her mind practically short circuited as Maria gave her a kiss. It had been so long since she had been able to kiss her girlfriend - to hold her and make physical contact. Cassandra's plight could wait a little while. She returned Maria's kiss, wishing they had somewhere a little more private to go to for about an hour or so. "Agent Abercrombie..." Novikova started to say, she wanted to warn her since it seemed like something odd was going on there, but it was hard to convey a message to people when ruby red shades made it so no one could see her eyes.

She couldn't remain passive much longer, though. The people around her were proposing horrible things. She took a slight breath, knowing that while she had joined SHIELD in order to pursue her scientific dreams, it also had been to help people. She became a part of the Phase Three program in order to make the world a better place. Arguing with Mystique and Frosty? Not a great plan. But Novikova didn't have a lot of options and she wasn't about to let them go piss off the Hulk and kill innocents - fake reality or not.

"Actually, I think I should go in and talk to him. I can take off my glasses, get a good look at the kid, and report back the most likely tactic to get him to come quietly without needing anyone to get hurt," Novikova said. She had the power to see people's alternate lives when she took off her glasses. She couldn't control it, but the longer she looked at someone, the more lives she glimpsed. "And according to the files, he has a girlfriend. A human one. We might just be able to fabricate a crime to arrest her for and just drop the charges against her if he cooperates with our mission."

And then, once they had Dr. Banner, she would spring him and set him free.

---

---

Before the shift in reality, Runa had been at her room in the fabled halls of Asgard. She spent the majority of her time in there, since her treatment at the hands of the other Asgardians was too difficult for her to bare. Her unique abilities made her a threat, one they believed could help bring about Ragnarok, the end of their world and ways of life. But instead of waking up to a bleak morning, she found herself somewhere she had never been before - until the memories slid into place. She wasn't a goddess here. She wasn't Runa, Baldur's daughter, Granddaughter of the Eternal Flame, Goddess of Lies. She was just Runa Blake, a human studying Astronomy in a society that could not accept the lesser evolved species.

And as the door to the room opened and Lance came in, she turned bright red, realizing that she had a boyfriend here. She glanced down quickly, relieved to see that she was wearing some strange garments... Her memories of the false reality then supplied the words for her: pajamas. They were pink with little kittens all over them and she couldn't help but giggle slightly, looking at the cute images. No one had clothing like this back on Asgard. Then as she looked back up at Lance, remembering all of the false things from this world, she felt this intense sensation of yearning. She just wanted to run across the room and hug him as tightly as she could and never let go.

Sure, she had dated Apollo but she never had felt this for anyone before. A slight tear went down her face from happiness and she dried it, only to notice that there weren't scars on her wrists from centuries of self harm. "I'm awake," she said, a bit giddily. Yes it was concerning that reality had shifted completely but... the black dog of depression wasn't lurking in her head. Centuries of pain and suffering didn't exist here!

She got out of bed and ran up to Lance, giving him a hug - he was practically half a foot taller than her. "How are you?" she asked, finding a new enthusiasm for life. She could get used to being human.

Was Reed suffering from a bout of amnesia? They had all been fully briefed. She frowned slightly, but then Abercrombie was being weird too. What had gotten into them? Niah visibly flinched with Mystique slapped Abercrombie. She didn't think that Abercrombie deserved a slap. Niah knew that her word wouldn't help Abercrombie at this time. Mystique outranked her, it simply wasn't her place to say anything. Hell, the girl was powerful for an Inhuman and had clawed her way into the originally mutant only team. If Abercrombie had been a mutant instead of Inhuman she would have been begged to be part of the team considering her power.

She resisted an urge to look at her cell phone again and soak in the image of her sister. It was like some part of her brain feared she would never see her again, a fear easily placed on the current mission being so dangerous. Instead, she turned her attention to Novikova, Niah liked her plan the best. It seemed the most gentle. "That seems like a good approach. I agree we should definitely be going through the young Banner. If we bring him in unwillingly he may not cooperate. We do not know how trained he is. Giving him a reason to cooperate would be ideal." She flicked through the dossier she had. Would her power of psychometry be handy in trying to find something to leverage against them? "I can also see if I can find some information we can leverage against them." She held up a gloved hand and wiggled her fingers.

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James flipped his dossier open again as Agent Darkholme stalked towards the moronic inhuman, rolling his eyes as the sharp crack of flesh meeting flesh punctuated the strategy discussion. The inhuman should have known better to open her mouth. Maybe the smack was a bit harsh―really the metamorpher should expect such behavior from the pathetic creature―but spare the rod and all that. It should have known the consequences of it’s outburst. It just needed to sit quietly and do what it’s told and thank it’s lucky stars someone considered it useful enough to elevate it past its inhuman status. James personally thought the finance department could use it; they seemed short staffed and it could tell them when someone was abusing company funds. At least gifting them the inhuman might stop them from harassing everyone about receipts. He paid no mind to what was happening with Howlett’s group, continuing on with the mission discussion instead.

“Of course. Cobble together a story about the Human Resistance wanting to push the Hulk into a frenzy to rally more to their lost cause and we’re offering temporary protection. If he’s anything like his father, that should be enough to trigger his protective instincts.” James hummed thoughtfully as his finger stopped on a spot in Lance’s page. In a relationship with a human girl? James sneered at the thought. “That being said, Banner may have connections to the group. We should send two people initially, wired of course, to feel out what the boy knows. Bring the inhuman so it can listen to the boy’s thought process and adjust the discussion accordingly. His… attachment to the human may help us when he sees someone allowed it to join our ranks.”

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Despite the happiness, Allison felt at seeing Oshea in front of her, it was mixed in with a feeling of weirdness and dress. This whole situation was...unreal. He was literally there. She felt him. She could kiss him. But why? Why was he here? Why was she at this party? She had no memory of anything. This had to be a trick, she had to be in some dream world. "I thought you were....Look I can't explain it. I'm so glad to see you. I never got to tell you how much I love you. So if this is how I can finally say it, I am going to do it." She then kissed him, feeling the warmth of his lips on hers melt her insides. She never got to do that.

Allison pulled away in time to see someone at the entrance. She glanced that way and saw Magneto enter. She gripped Oshea's hand. Magneto led the charge that saw Oshea killed. She would not let him die again, dream or no. "Magneto's here. He must be planning something. Look...we can.." She was interrupted when a familiar face ran over and greeted her.

It made sense now. "Guin? Goss? Oh.." She inched closer to Guin. "We're undercover right? Still doesn't explain how Oshea is here, but I must have missed the memo. So what's the plan?"

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The situation was weird. Mystique and Logan kissing? She felt the desire to barf then and there. But no one was speaking or answering her questions. They were acting like this was all in order, which it clearly wasn't given the batshit insane-ness of it all. Mystique walked over to her and she began to speak before she felt her cheek grow hot.

Did this bitch just slap her?

Normally, she would have punched the ever-loving daylights out of her, but the situation was wrong. She glanced around. She couldn't see how or why, but there was more to this. She looked over at Logan, trying to pierce his thoughts, but coming up short. She sighed mentally. This was not right, but it was not something she felt she should address. She glared at Mystique as she made her way over to where Logan called her over. If she didn't get answers soon, heads would roll one way or another.

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While Anastasia understood the conversation, it was still better that little kids were unseen and unheard. In fact, why not bypass all the awkwardness and stickiness, to begin with. Just grow them into adults right away, save the trouble. Regardless, Mary had finally arrived, though she felt entertaining the sibling's thought in searching for her was a tad tedious. She was capable of being on her own.

She eyed Casper, enjoying the game. "Spare the rod indeed. Just seems to me we are expected to be on time. We were all here and had to wait. But who am I but one of many? Pray continue." She gestured towards Gambit, eager to hear what the plan was.

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Carolina turned towards October and blushed a little bit towards her and gave her wife another loving kiss and winked at her playfully. "Once the party is over i'm sure we can finally get some private time together." She whispered towards her, when she turned her attention towards Annie and quickly returned her hug. Annie was her best friend ever since they met together at the art school and they got along really well and just stuck together like glue ever since. "Annie!"[/color] Carolina was happy that she was at the dance as well giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. Carolina took a moment and looked over towards October, and wondered if she'd like to dance as well, they hadn't really had the time to yet either.

"We can all have a dance soon it'd be a lot of fun." Carolina said, as she stopped as her attention turned towards the doors seeing King Eric and Queen Miranda both coming into the room. Carolina thought of doing a big portrait for the royal family, and it'd certainly be a great art piece within the palace as well. She always did spend a lot of her time working in their art studio together as well, as Carolina looked at Annie and October. "I wonder who they are going to be talking to tonight." Carolina said mainly to herself as she looked at the rest of the guests noticing Allison, Oshea, Guin and Pietro all there talking.

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Cassandra turned to stare at Mystique as she walked over and slapped Agent Abercrombie across the face, which made her flinch slightly she didn't think that was deserved at all. And she did feel bad for her superior as well, and she wanted to stand up for her, as the other people in this team started to suggest things that she would never approve at all. Cass briefly did meet Lance while back at the X-Mansion and thought about trying to warn him some how, when Wolverine spoke up and met his gaze. She had a feeling that he knew something that was going on around here, and she looked at Tinley for a moment as she got up from where she sat and made his way over to him.

Cass gently grabbed Tinley's hand and looked at her before whispering into her ear, just so that no one else would hear her speak she still didn't know what Wolverine knew. "I don't know whats going on here as well. I don't know about the rest of the team here either, so just read my mind so that way we can speak privately." Cassandra whispered before stepping back quickly and then stood before Wolverine and made direct eye contact with him. "Whats going on?"

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Maria smiled as Novikova leaned in and kissed her again, and gently held her hand and made direct eye contact with her, before the others started to speak out about possible plans. Personally Maria didn't want to experience Banner Hulking out, and stared directly at Kingston suggesting blowing up some buildings and rolled her eyes a little bit. "Yeah blowing up government buildings and drawing more humans to join terrorist cells would be such a lovely idea. That's such a good idea, and so much political drama as well, that's totally not a start of a wild fire on foreign soil. Just give humans an army while your at it. I'm sure King Eric would love that political shitstorm." Maria said sarcastically, sure she didn't like humans who joined terrorist cells because of some violence caused by them.

"And i'd rather not have my face punched in by the fucking Hulk either." Maria said, and then bringing up the idea of Lance was probably the best, sometimes the non-violent way was the best as she looked towards Novikova and smiled towards her girlfriend. "We go through the girlfriend, to get to the boy, then get the boy to turn on his dad, and he will turn himself over. Less paperwork and hopefully no Hulk out episode."

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Max would be lying if he said he wasnt infatuated with the man. The curl of his lips, his eyes, that voice, and ofcourse his body. He watched as the servant took the gift away and started to mentally beat himself up for it. Stupid! Ofcourse it's too big, why didnt I think of that? he smiled warmly at the Adonis of a man before him, "Oh I'm so sorry, where are my manners? My name is Maximillian Gray. It's a pleasure to mee you." Max gave Flynn another bow, snapping his fingers for his servant to do the same. When he stood back up, he swirled his hand about attempting to create a glass of wine for Flynn. Instead, he made a sippy cup of grape juice. Laughing nervously as he set it to his side, Max brushed a piece of hair behind his ear before locking eyes with Flynn once more. "I seem to be finding myself apologizing quite a bit tonight. I'm not used to using my conjury around such...esteemed individuals. I meant no offense by the sippy cup full of juice."

Not a moment too soon, the doors flung wide open and revealed the King and Queen herself. Max quickly took a knee, pausing for a moment and then standing back up, looking at Flynn conflicted. "I. I don't know if I should approach their majesties. But I do come bearing gifts for them as well as their children, such as yourself. What do you believe is the best course for me to deliver them to their majesties?" Max held his hands together low, fidgeting with his fingers and thumbs, searching for an answer, and hoping that Flynn could provide one for him. He took another swig of his drink and began to regret not making it alcoholic. Surely some inebriation would make his nerves calm before such royalty. But I may also make him unable to control his powers.

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Her warnings fell on deaf ears, even if they didn't take any notice of her suggestions, her observations were still true. It was rather like they cared more for the letter, and not the intention of job and would be happy to bring back Banner comatose and paralysed from the neck down. Michelle got the impression some of them were spoiling for a fight, that they wanted the Incredible Green Rage Machine ready to punch their lights out the moment they rap on the door.

Michelle's train of thought was disrupted when the weird non-mutant recieved a slap. It was not on, in Michelle's opinion. Embarassing for everyone involved, herself included. Michelle couldn't imagine any of her mutant colleagues being displined like that, mind you Michelle couldn't imagine any of them doing something to deserve it. The situation left Michelle feeling uncomfortable.

Discussion continued. More thought out plans were being proposed and they were moving away from absolute disaster scenarios. Michelle thought that perhaps she should have more faith in SHIELD negotiators. Her job wasn't to recruit him, it was to capture him so that he could be recruited. To that end, capturing the boy were excellent leverage and two of them turning up on the doorstep was less intimidating than all ten. She still had concerns, but she was going to have to compromise somewhere.

"So we scout out the place. If Banner is home we just wait until he isn't? Then we can safely send Agent Novikova and Abercrombie who between them should see enough thoughts and alternative futures to dupe Banner's son and his squeeze into coming with us." Michelle summarised, "My biggest concern is Lance knows not to trust us already."

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She pouted a little when Carolina said they would dance soon, not now. She would just have to wait for her friends to come and join her. Perhaps she would have a bite to eat as well. Antoinette turned attention back to the ballroom and gazed around at everything that shone and sparkled. She remained glued in the middle of October and Carolina, not knowing what her friends had just been speaking about or why there was a faint redness to Carolina’s cheeks still.
There were many people here tonight. Many familiar faces even though Antoinette mostly just saw them on the T.V. She followed the rooms switch of attention as the King and Queen finally walked in. They were quite the regal pair and they always commanded a room. She took in their every graceful step and sighed, wishing her parents were here to see this as well but after going to school and opening the art studio with Carolina, she had moved out of her parents. Although she did still see them frequently.
”Do you think they know everyone here?” Everyone knew who they were and Antoinette found that strange suddenly. Everyone in the world knew who they were but they probably didn’t know everyone else. How lonely to be known but not truly known.

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Ayita shrugged off her own question as she had been about to roar everyone to silence when their missing red-head (the Other redhead) waltz in. Between the two twins Ayita had to give props where it was due. Marygold was calmer than Chrysi. Though she could respect a bit of rowdy temper, God knew she saw enough of it over at her brother's night club. Though her amber eyes turned to Casper as she arched a manicured brow. "Why are you talking about kidnapping? We haven't kidnapped anyone lately, that I know of. And I happen to know a lot." Ayita had a small smirk on her lips, a tell tale sign that she at least had kidnapped a very willing Damon for a few hours. Running a small spying operation with several of the local residences that didn't walk on two legs (generally), Ayita had a fair idea of a thing or two that she shouldn't have had a clue about happening in their home city of New Orleans. Speaking to animals was a very useful thing, especially when you sequestered yourself to a high loft above Lux.

Though her attention was pulled away as her brother shifted about in his seat uncomfortably. Sure, it was was probable that Richard was just having a very bad time with a hangover but something just didn't sit right. He kept looking at her oddly. Like she wasn't quite fitting in her sweater or something. Pressing her lips together she turned her attention back to Gambit with a sly smirk. Though her eyes turned to look at her fool brother. Tapping into the telephatic communication that was a subset of her powers, the shifter snipped at her brother in what could only be the tone of annoyed younger sister. "What is it that is bothering you? Or did the three Britanys take too long last night? I told you, I'd run them off if you wanted. But no, I'm too young to pour drinks for the masses." It wasn't just helping her brother, Ayita honestly wanted to pick up a thing or two of information. Have a reason to learn a few new tricks to surprise her fiance with. The general gist of stuff and things.

Richard who had found a flask in his suit's pocket was in mid sip of a wonderful concoction of brandy. At least with whatever was going on, he'd have a good stiff drink. Or he would have if Ayita hadn't sent that disturbing thought to him. Brandy nearly sprayed from Richard's lips as the newly realized owner of Lux choked himself into a coughing fit. Ayita. A bartender. At his night club?! Oh, no. No, non, non, non. "Oh, bon sang, non." And he could speak French quite well, as if this day was not strange enough already. Closing his eyes tightly, the man took several breathes to remember what breathing felt like. "I do not need a little demon like yourself tending the bar. I want customers, not the police knocking on my door." He wanted to glare and demand what Ayita meant by 'the three Britanys'. But this wasn't the time or the place, not in the slightest.

"So, what a day. What are we here for Remy, I do have ladies that would love to admire me and a club that won't run itself." Oh, if he needed to play a lavish and lustful night club owner he could do that with ease. It was a mask that was all to familiar to him. It was the face he had worn when he was searching for Ayita and still donned from time to time. In part because it felt good to put it on again.

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October nodded in agreement. She rather liked Annie and if her wife ever wished to pursue some sort of arrangement there, she would have had no complaints with it. “Yes, a dance would be lovely,” October said, little bits of fire dancing along her finger tips. It happened from time to time when she was truly excited. “As for the Royals… Probably everyone and no one. It’s all just empty words, rather boring if you ask me… I like my Royals with a bit more bloodshed. Perhaps even a decapitation!”

Pietro nodded at Guin, giving her a bit of a smile as he went over with her to where Allison was with Oshea. Though Oshea gave Allison a sort of confused look on his face, like he had no clue what it was that she was going on about. "...Of course he's here Ally, he's kind of the king of the world you know... Literally... Are you feeling alright? I'd suggest taking you home but usually leaving a party is a bad idea."

"Yeah, I think my parents would consider that to be a bit rude, or at least my father anyway... Nice to see you again Oshea, always nice to run into someone else who can almost keep up with my speed," he said with a slight smirk, and Oshea shook his head slightly at that, chuckling a little bit.

"I can understand having issues with your powers not working under pressure... As for approaching my parents well... Recommendation honestly don't approach my father if you can't help it, he generally is not the nicest person around at all... If he approaches you and starts conversing with you, then you are fine and be sure to stay respectful to them, otherwise no way. My mother on the other hand, she's a lot calmer of an individual and likely would be very kind to you if you approach her. I'd wait a few more moments to see if the pair do separate and give any sort of gifts to them then... Or just find one of the servants who are running around, I'm sure they'd be happy to give the gifts to them on your behalf," Flynn said, nodding his head in response to Max's questions.

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Jack glanced over at his brother a bit confused about what the hell he was going on about. "...Uh, Casper? What the hell are you going on about?" he asked his brother, just giving him a strange expression. To him, his brother was acting really really weird, even weirder than he normally acted, so this gave him another question that was sitting there in the back of his mind, and he lowered his voice somewhat so no one else could hear him really. "Casper did you come here high or something? Since none of what you are saying makes any sense and sounds like rambling."

Gambit sighed slightly, wishing that his sisters would get along, but he had given up any realistic hope that that would happen a long time ago. Chrysi and Mary’s similarities began and ended with the fact that they were physically identical and had the same power set. At least Chrysi hadn’t argued when he asked her to leave the room, that much was a nice way to begin the evening. He had decided to ignore Jack’s brother for the most part - it usually was the best strategy. Nodding at Anastasia and Richard, Gambit stood up at his seat at the head of the table.

“Mes amis - et les autres…” he began, speaking in fluent French. “Nous avons de la chance aujourd’hui!” Taking a stack of packets from in front of him, he sort of tossed them towards the middle of the table, letting anyone take one. “Le garde rouge a un object très cher et rare - le Diadème d’Athéna.” He held up an image of an elegant crown with a citrine gemstone. “Ça, c’est au complexe de Baton Rouge. À demain, on le vole. Mais aujourd’hui, on commence les répétitions. C’est clair? Il y a des questions?”

Jack took one of the packets that Gambit had tossed onto the table and started flipping through it. "...Let's see odds of getting another babysitter by tomorrow are slim... Guess I'll have to see about calling Val to watch her..." he muttered, though Casper was the only one really close enough to hear his words when he said that.

"Nous devons donc obtenir le diadème d’Athéna, ce sera certainement une chose amusante, c’est certain. Cela me semble un travail assez facile si vous me le demandez," Mary said fluently, looking around at the others in the group. There was one thing that currently concerned her at the moment, and that was that Chrysi had left way too easily. Usually she argued or fought, making a bit of a scene, but for once she didn't do that, so she wondered where the hell her sister was going. Knowing her luck she was going to go on a bit of a murder spree up above.

"Remy, je crains que Chrysi ne se lance dans une nouvelle série de meurtres..." she said softly, looking over at her brother.

"Ya oughta give your sister more credit, mon amie, ce n'est pas grave - je suis certain."

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"I can hear what you are muttering to her Agent Reed," he said, before he made sure that they were out of earshot from anyone else, "And unlike you Abercrombie, I'm a decent observer who knows when to play along and keep my mouth shut, and Reed at least had the brains to do that, so use your brain. Or are all you one of those SHIELD types who have none. Not sure how you two managed to keep your heads in all of this, but you need to keep on your toes and try to blend in as much as possible. Unlike me it obviously sounds like you both have no idea what it is you're doing, or what your lives are like. Listen and adapt to the situation, see what we can do. And we might have to see about a Hulk jailbreak at this rate, if anyone involved actually believes a word we say. The other problem being I think trying to fix the world is going to take a lot more than just the three of us." Wolverine said to the both of them, basically hoping that they got the whole picture about everything. If they didn't then there was going to be more than a few problems. "Abercrombie, keep your head down especially, to everyone else here you are literally nothing. Mutants are the majority and anyone who isn't is a second class citizen. Do you get how everything works now? Magneto is literally the King of the entire freaking planet and I have no idea what happened to cause this, but we have to adapt and see about figuring out what is going on. I actually know what my life is like in this world, and since you two don't you better learn fast."

Meanwhile, back with where the others were Mystique did not seem too thrilled at the idea of sending Tinley to go try and read minds and talk to people. "Until Abercrombie can prove that she can be helpful and not trying to be better than she actually is, she is not going to be involved with the group going to go deal with those within that house."

"I can go, since if they did try to run I could just stop them in place rather easily, at least if Dr. Banner isn't in the building. If he is there, then there are a whole slew of other problems that we have to deal with, namely a rampaging Hulk. Though I will say this, the girl is human, so she's likely a lot easier to potentially kill, so why don't we just go in and threaten to kill her if the boy doesn't cooperate? Would just make life so much easier if we went about things that way."

"Novikova, Bautista, Kingston, Clarke and Smith, you five will go in to see if you can get the young Banner to cooperate without any problems, and to see if Dr. Banner is within the house or is off somewhere else, if he is in the house, come back here immediately and we'll see about coming up with a new plan to deal with the Hulk."

"So what's the plan?" Wolverine asked, walking back over.

"A small group is going to scout out the house in a way and see if they can end the situation swiftly without us having to fight the Hulk," Mystique responded simply as she went over to the controls to see about doing a sweep of the house for life signs, figuring it was worth a shot to double check that.

"Cool, sounds like fun to me," Sapphire said, as the jet touched down on the ground and they were nearby the house it would seem. She lowered the ramp of the jet and turned to look at the other 4 who were called, "You all coming?" she asked as she walked off towards the house. It wasn't too far from where they had landed only maybe a hundred feet or so, and it was easy for the group to get to the door. "Well don't know about you all but I'm going to knock and see what happens," she added, there was a little bubble of cold air around her, as Sapphire always had hated the heat, and she knocked on the door.

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Lance laughed slightly at Runa, returning her hug with a smile. "Glad to hear that, so, how are you doing this morning?" he asked, before he gave her a kiss. "You sound awfully happy to see me, almost like you didn't expect me to check up on you." He was glad to see that she was awake, and was happy to see her all happy somewhat early in the morning.

There was the sound of what seemed like to be an engine outside, it was strange, it was at least a 20 minute drive out to the main city, and his dad hadn't left too long ago, a little bit before nine maybe. So there was no way he'd have been able to run those errands and be back now. As if to double check the time, he glanced down at his watch, and sure enough it was only 9:30. So what was that sound? No one ever came out to their home aside from Runa, especially since his father preferred to be sort of isolated and away from crowds as often as possible. This wasn't making any sense. "...You heard that engine too right?" he asked Runa, before he let go of her.

Then came the knock at the door, and he glanced at Runa with a confused look, before he shrugged and went towards the front door. He glanced out the window, seeing some weird ship he'd never seen before and a group of people heading for the front door. This was definitely weird, and he unlocked the front door and opened it up just a little bit, enough for him to just be able to peek out the door. "...Can I help you?" he asked.

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Guin tilted her head slightly, confused at Allison's words. They were undercover? At first, she figured Allison realized how boring these events were and had decided that they needed to LARP as secret agents - but Allison didn't strike her as the type to pretend to be a spy during a Royal party. She knew better than to risk King Erik's anger, after all. Without asking for permission first, she used her telepathy, managing to get a few flashes of what was going on in Allison's mind. Allison was inside some sort of room with holographic hard light images, training...

"You know what? How about us girls go and talk?" Guin suggested, looking at Pietro and Oshea. "I'm sure you two have loads to catch up on - maybe you could see about inviting him and Ally to go to Robo Death Match with us later? My dad's working on a new suit for it." She smiled sweetly, before switching over to her telepathic link with Pietro to let him know what was going on. There's something weird going on with Ally... I'll see if I can figure it out, but if not, we might need to take her to a hospital for a better evaluation...

Hopefully Pietro wouldn't insist on having her bodyguard come if she was going to go off with Allison to talk somewhere a bit more private. Her suspicion was that Allison was having some sort of mental break - it was the holiday's, people were stressed out and it happened. Or maybe it was due to the engagement stress? Guin could relate - she hated all of the wedding planning she had to do, even though the Palace had hired a wedding planner, she still had to be there to consult with all of the choices made. And if Allison really did have a mental break, Guin wanted it to just be between them for now - and Allison could decide for herself if she was going to tell Oshea.

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Princess Fatale, as Casper had nicknamed her, was continuing to freak him out. How could someone so tiny be that scary? Of all of the new people he had met that day, he definitely was a lot more comfortable talking with Bombshell. At least Ben was here - his dead friend looked as confused and freaked out as Casper did, only Ben didn't have to worry about people realizing something was up with him. Casper was the only one who could see him.

"You know, if you summoned more ghosts, maybe we can figure things out - they might know more than we do," Ben pointed out.

"...Why don't I feel scared?" Casper muttered. Usually, the idea of summoning ghosts would have freaked him out entirely, causing him to yell and scream and curl into a ball and shoot up - sometimes in that order, usually not. Ever since his father locked him in a mausoleum in order to get over his fear of ghosts, it had been his goal to do whatever he could to keep his powers from manifesting. Ben tilted his head at his friend, surprised as well that Casper wasn't freaking out. He nodded at Ayita though, indicating that she was talking to him.

Problem was, Casper had no idea who she was - he still couldn't decide if the man with her was her brother or her lover. Or maybe both?! "Oi, language!" Casper called out, looking at Richard. "There is a kidnapped child here and you just said bon sang in front of her!" He then turned to Jack and sighed. "I'm not high, Jackie ne t'inquiète pas," he told him softly. He barely paid attention to Gambit as he talked, hearing something about a crown of sorts they were supposed to steal. It sounded very Harry Potter to him.

"...Wait, Val? Really? That's worse than asking me to babysit - not that you shouldn't return this child to her parents," Casper told his brother, raising an eyebrow. Their sister, Val, had been in a mental institution almost her entire life. He didn't pay attention to the little soap opera of the Ginger Clan, having his own family issues to deal with.

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She had been about to tell him that she was wonderful, when suddenly, he kissed her. The warmth of his lips on hers was positively intoxicating and she wished that it would have lasted longer. If only her cousin, Klara, had been there - she would have loved to tell her all about this! Though she imagined if Klara was still Asgardian in this new universe someone had crafted for them, then she already knew all about it. Maybe Klara had arranged all of this somehow for her? Either way, Runa didn't care. She hadn't been happy in a long time, so she was perfectly content for things to stay like this. "Can I not be happy to see you?" Runa asked him, smiling at him and hoping he would kiss her again.

"Yes, I did..." she said softly, her smile fading slightly as the moment ended, interrupted by an engine. She glanced down for a moment, figuring that these pajamas were decent enough and she followed after Lance. He was easily half a foot taller than she was - she estimated maybe even a little bit more, but she wasn't accustomed to Midgardian measurements. Her memories of this world didn't help much there - something with meters and joules and Kelvin?

She poked her head out from behind Lance, spotting the ship - it was definitely from Midgard - Earth? She was getting confused, thinking about the two lives at once and it was giving Runa a slight headache. At the very least, she didn't have to worry about defending Lance from the Chitauri or anything - or Skrulls or Kree. But if any of them tried anything, she was going to... No Gandr here, she realized. She didn't know if her staff would come to her if she called for him. She wasn't Asgardian here.

But her memories did tell her something - she still studied magic. It was Midgardian magic - Eldritch magic - but it would be enough to defend Lance if anyone tried to take him from her. She finally had her happy ending and she wasn't going to let some woman with frost white hair take that away from her.

---

---

Novikova nodded approvingly of Niah's plan, glad to see that she was still a kind and thoughtful person in this reality. Some people never changed. It made her pause for a moment though, wondering again where Sparks was... and her heart sank a little bit. She missed her best friend more than anything - but hopefully once she had a moment, she could do some digging and see what happened to Dr. Sparks in this universe. But hearing James continue to bully Tinley... Novikova took a breath. She owed Tinley for not killing her after everything she had caused in the other universe.

"Shut the fuck up, Kingston," Novikova told him harshly. "Unless you want to see just how much metal your body can tolerate shoved up your ass before it gives up on healing you," she told him, glaring at him but it was hard to tell with her shades. Mystique then jumped onto the anti-inhuman bandwagon and Novikova took a breath. Even if they didn't shift reality back - she still wasn't sure if that should be a goal or not - at the very least, she could make Mystique disappear for those comments.

Tinley was a better commander in the field anyways. Mystique was just having them go in blind essentially - sending in a group of five to talk to Banner's son. Agent Clarke seemed all too happy with the plan and Novikova wasn't concerned for the ice manipulator's safety. She wasn't really a member of her team. But Niah, Maria, Cass, and Tinley? They were all her people - no matter the reality. They were her family. She glanced at them for a moment, deciding to not argue with Mystique - she figured she was their best bet against the Hulk in the group going at any rate.

Once off of the ship, she was a few paces behind Sapphire. She hadn't really seen Lance Banner before, and he looked a lot younger than she had imagined. There was a short girl in pajamas behind him that she had never seen before. And as if adjusting her shades from the change in lighting, Novikova took off her glasses, staring at Lance. Her body froze up and her breathing became slow as her mind was flooded with a rush of images. Only two of the brief flashes were interesting though.

The first? Banner had never Hulk'ed out in front of Lance in this world, from what she could tell - he didn't know his father was the Hulk.

And the second?

She saw Sparky. Lance Banner, Theresa Sparks... They were the same person, just from different realities...

---

---

There was a horrible feeling of being the one person in a room full of people not knowing what is going on. Allison could only stare in disbelief at Magneto and his family. King of the world? How the hell did that happen? Surely no one would stand for that? Did Xavier try to stop that? Did the Xmen? Even Guin seemed to understand it as she gave Allison a puzzled look. Allison fought back tears again, this time due to confusion. Guin made an excuse for her and Allison was about to take it.

"Yeah, let me go get freshened up and we'll be right back. Save me a dance?" She spoke to Oshea, still unbelieving that he was in front of her. She held on to Guin's hand as she walked towards the women's restroom. Once inside, Allison checked the stalls and corners to see if they were alone. Once she was sure that was the case, she pulled Guin over to the sinks and mirrors and spoke calmly and quietly.

"Look, I don't know what is going on and I am getting scared. You seem to understand all of this so please fill me in. Magneto was never King of the world. Oshea was...dead. Is this an alternate timeline thing because if this is a prank I am not laughing. If it is, in my time, we were part of the Xmen, helping to save the world. You and Pietro were freshly engaged, his family was not royalty, and Oshea was killed. So please, tell me what has happened in this world before I go insane."

---

---

Tinley bit her tongue as she was chewed out. Was her reaction really unexpected? She was thrust into this world and expected to know just how to act? "With all due respect Logan, since you seem to have a grasp on the situation, I'll ignore the chewing out as I am very unclear on all that is going on. I believe I have a right to be confused. I'll play along and see if I can do some digging to put pieces together."

She nodded at Cassandra, thankful the girl tried to help her, but she figured her best bet was the other players. She walked back in as the others began to leave for whatever mission they were on, a mission she was sure she was not a part of and tried to scan Mystique's thoughts. She couldn't get a read and she clenched her fist in frustration.

She noticed a terminal and walked over to it, pretending to work on something. Instead, she began to search news articles, blog posts, social media feeds, anything to give her some insight. What she found was...surprising to say the least. Magneto was king of the world, anyone, not a mutant was treated like scum (which explained the behavior towards her as an Inhuman), Shaw was the director of SHIELD (which explained more), and Flynn was, somehow, related to Magneto now. Tinley closed all the tabs and sat there stunned. This was not her world anymore, but at least she knew how to play it.

---

---

All this talk in French was a tad annoying. New Orleans or not. Still, the heist sounded fascinating. A dig at the Red Guard, plus a shiny crown. She could just see herself wearing it. "Sounds positively shiny. I do hope they put up a struggle though. It is no fun when the job is easy, non? As for practice, I am eager to get started. What would you have me do? Swords? Guns? Perhaps I can shift someone to go in and steal it for me. The possibilities are endless."

She hid her glee as best she could. The others, especially the weirdo Casper, were of no importance to her much. Tools to be used in a heist sure. Each skilled in it. She knew. She studied until the time was right for her to take part. And take part she will. She would prove herself to her family especially. Striking out on her own. Running her own crew maybe? Or just wealthy enough to own a castle full of servants to wait on her hand and foot without the need of parents watching over her shoulder.

This was going to be such fun.