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It sounded as if the suits had done an approximation of what Max believed them to do. It wasn't just a poor choice in clothing, it was also functional for medical purposes, which made Max a little glad that he had chosen not to remove them from anyone. Sure they all felt fine for now, but no one knew what the long term effects could be of having been frozen for that long. So perhaps having their vitals monitored for a bit longer wasn't such a bad thing after all. Even if it was by that creep Nemesis. Max tried not to think too much about it. Instead pushing past the ideas to listen about Sunshines wedding.

Max grinned as he saw how happy, confused, yet happy, Sunshine was as she spoke about Marrow and their potential wedding ideas. He had to admit, Marrow sounded like a cool name and he was sure that she was just as awesome of a person. The idea of a ritual combat made him a little uneasy, knowing he wouldn't want to be involved in making anything for something that could potentially end badly. However an Astral wedding sounded right up his alley. Max thought about how cool it must be to be able to traverse the Astral realm, wondering how closely tied that may be to the realm that ghosts lived in, and if Caspers sight extended that far.

Before Max was able to get too deep into thought, Miranda had decided to answer him about Wanda. Though where the sudden change in attitude came he had no idea. It took him back, wincing slightly as she spoke. He hadn't realized it was a sore topic for her, after all Wanda created a world for them all to be together and happy. So why shouldn't Max think that she still cared for them? "Sorry, I wasn't aware of any of that. The only memories I have of you or her was as a family back in her reality. I figured if she wanted you all there and happy that...well that that had to carry out here as well."

Max wasn't expecting much of a response back as Zari continued to throw her tantrum, assaulting the table and going off about her possessions and how nobody could touch them. He wasn't exactly sure as to what was going on with her, noticing how Veil moved towards her first to help calm her down, followed by Callie and then finally Miranda. He wasn't about to add himself into the mix, instead opting to lean against the wall with a hit of an eye roll and look towards Renegade who was kind enough to attempt to care for their stuff.

"If you need, I can try and repair the table. Though my magic has been a bit unstable since I've been awake, I was hoping someone on this island could help me with that." Max was hoping for Wanda but if Miranda was to be trusted then she wasn't here. His mentor Doctor Strange would be next but Max wasn't sure if he was even a mutant or just a wizard of sorts. Sunshine had mentioned Selene but...he didn't know anything about her, and that made him a bit nervous.

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As Harry gathered his things, he lingered on some items more and more. Questioning everything that had happened and everything that there was to come. He was still wracked with guilt over the death of his love, still torn by how strayed he felt at times with his sister, and eaten away by the sheer remorse he had for how long it took for him to contact her. All to add to the survivor's guilt that he felt each and every day since his fiancé died. If only he'd paid attention to the mutant plight beforehand, if only he'd cared. But he didn't have a visible mutation. He was a passing mutant, and he didn't care for all the politics, or so he kept telling himself.

Everyday since her death Harry had been doing something. Always keeping busy and trying to help out with the Underground however he could, as if helping countless other mutants would somehow make the weight of his guilt that much lighter but all it did was keep his mind busy enough to not think about what had happened. Now, there was no mutant cause. There was nothing to fight for as the battle had been seemingly won. For the first time in a while, Harry was allowed to think. He nervously tapped his foot against the floor, numbness creeping into him until finally he stopped. He felt so lost in this new world, so worthless, so grief-stricken. He quickly stepped out of the room to catch Casper for a moment, his eyes meeting him in a gaze of understanding. From one addict to another. "Do you carry any smokes on you?"

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Andy pulled back as all the adults started actually listening to Zari. She was glad they were finally. Zari had been trying to tell them she had been upset and no one had cared. They just brushed it off. Andy preferred being ignored, vanishing off to the sides of the room. So she did. She pulled away.

She watched with rapt attention though as they saw a young Zari with her mother. Her heart ached. God how it ached. There was a good chunk of jealousy though, but she was used to that. She wanted to ask Zari if her mother was still alive if she thought they'd reunite. She wanted to be angry at the girl and tell her how awful it could be. Sure Ash wasn't her biological mother, if she had been Andy would have never been abandoned. But Ash and Jamie had been as much as her parents as anyone ever could be.

When the image faded she closed her eyes and fought back her own sadness. Ash and Jamie weren't here. She slid out past the others into the hall. She didn't want to go any farther. Was too scared of what this place was and wasn't to leave the only people she knew. Even if she had only known them for two days. It didn't matter that she had met them months ago. Those months had never happened. And for all of that, she was seventeen now. One year more and there wouldn't be a system for her to be worried about getting lost in. One more year and she'd be an adult...if she survived.

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Sunshine shook her head again at Waverley - it was still too humany those suggestions. "Nah, no ceremonial weapons. Just our mutant powers," Sunshine clarified. Marrow didn't need weapons anyways - she could always grow them. And Sunshine could use any spikes Marrow had shed if she needed one. Plus, the goal wasn't to kill each other - just to be their true selves. She did, however, pick up on Waverley having somewhat of an ulterior motive for wanting to film the ceremony. "Fine, you can, but you can't post it anywhere," she relented.

Havok paused for a moment, before nodding. "Of course I want to fucking talk to her," he replied hastily. He didn't love the idea that Casper would have to be present for the conversation and a small part of him wondered if the ghosts Casper conjured were really the same as the person who died. Were they just memories - or were the ghosts truly real? He then rolled his eyes at Waverley, even though he knew she meant well. "Right, because if Polaris really was chill again, she definitely would have been there when I woke up."

"No need ta apologize for something ya didn't do," Renegade told Spark Plug and Feedback. The table wouldn't be too difficult to replace - hell, she'd probably be able to find a mutant who could use their unique abilities to simply repair it, making it whole once more. No, she was more concerned about Zarina's violent outburst and whether or not Zarina was safe for Genosha. Renegade did smile ever so slightly at Waverley's realization about the money. Her son was right - the only people on Genosha who used money were those who left its shores and went into the human world.

Veil bit her lip ever so slightly, as they all were able to see Zari's memory. It felt like an invasion of Zari's privacy to witness it, but overall, it did seem to add context to Zari's stories and claims. The home from the vision hadn't been anything from the 21st century - at least, not anywhere on Earth that she was aware of... It looked steampunk almost, as if someone had married a machine shop with a viking's home. When it ended, Veil half expected Zari to lash out again, but instead, she seemed much calmer.

Zarina had claimed to be from the future. She didn't want to upset her. But now that they didn't have the X-Cutioner breathing down their necks, Veil had time to process the information she had learned. And for better or for worst, she trusted Renegade and Moneta. "Zari... Who are you?" Veil asked bluntly. She wasn't one to mince words, even when she wasn't going through an emotional rollercoaster of grief and change.

Renegade didn't want to touch that conversation with a ten foot pole. Instead, she decided to respond to Max. "Oui, there is. Selene runs Voltus Glade, all the magic types train together and all up there," she explained.

Outside of the apartment, Casper fumbled in his pockets at Echo's question, before coming up empty. "I usually do, but not today apparently - sorry fam," he apologized. He then glanced as Andy came out into the hallway and started slinking on by them. James seemed like he needed more time, he was clearly going through something. Ben flickered, reappearing right in front of him.

"You missed the old lady using her powers," Ben told Casper unhelpfully. "... Everyone's pretty rattled. Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm always okay, you know that Ben," Casper lied - although he really was feeling fine right now. He was used to being completely disoriented and thrown into new environments. He'd learned how to adapt to all of that a while ago, but not everyone here had. It wasn't as traumatic in his opinion as when Wanda had rewritten all of reality, since they were more or less all together. And yes, it was tragic and sad that Sapphire was dead, but... Her ghost was free to hang around and bother him, so he just didn't feel as sad.

---

James hadn't realized how far he'd fallen into his own head, staring at Casper without really seeing him. Harry had shown up at some point too and Andy was hovering, apparently decided that she was ready to be out from whatever was happening inside the apartment. James grinned at Casper wearing the familiar coat, just another thing to remind him that everyone waking up was real, but he immediately noticed there was far too much space between them and that was quite frankly unacceptable. So he fixed that, pulling Casper to him by the waist and snuggling into his side with a satisfied little sigh.

"Sorry babes. Just got a little lost thinking about stuff." James apologized, placing a kiss on his cheek. It was almost surreal that he could touch Casper again; he'd spent months trying to make sure his memories with Casper were always fresh in his mind because he wasn't sure when he would get to do anything with him again that he almost felt like it was a dream. "How would you feel about slipping away from everyone once we're done with the ceremony, Casper? I'll have to show you the apartment but I've spent a good chunk of my free time finding places around the island I think you'll really like."

He sent Harry an appraising glance, the normal upbeat energy that usually wrapped around the man like a glove noticeably absent. James wasn't sure what was going on with him but he could certainly empathize; the last four months had been rough for him too. James would save that for later though; Harry probably needed sole time to adjust to this whole life change. James would step in and see if maybe Harry needed someone to talk to.

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Callie turned to look at Renegade and nodded towards her, she seemed fine with it by the looks of it she wasn't sure how they would be able to buy things here if there wasn't any kind of currency. Did they have to trade things or something like that now, or did you just go to a store now and just take whatever you needed and leave. It was something that she would probably look into at some point here as well to, as Callie's attention turned to Zari and Moneta as she used her powers, and a memory of Zari's suddenly appeared and filled the entire room somehow.

Callie couldn't make out the face of the woman that little Zari was talking to but she assumed that she was Zari's mother, as the memory continued to play out, how Mr. Eyeball was made in the first place. Zari seemed to instantly calm down once the illusion had ended and nothing violent happened. Callie then knelt down and gently rested a hand on Zari's shoulder and looked at her and gave the girl a smile, to let her know that it'll be alright. "We won't let anyone mess with your friends." Callie said as she stood up, seeing some of the others had gone out into the hallway.

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Kristina stood there for a moment as Moneta used her powers to create a memory of Zari's as the room suddenly turned into a workshop of sorts, seeing a much younger version of Zari messing around with an early version of Mr. Eyeball by the looks of it. She was rather quiet as she let the thing play out and Zari seemed to calm down now after that now. She wasn't really paying attention to what Waverly and Sunshine were talking about her wedding earlier. She looked over her shoulder as some of the others were leaving the room now, she did want to find out what the whole ceremony actually was now.

"I'll be outside waiting for you guys if you need me." Kristina said as she turned and made her way outside and into the hallway, seeing James, Harry, Casper and Andy were out in the hallway now. Harry seemed to be upset or something and decided to see if he was alright as she poked his side a little bit. "Is everything alright?" She asked him.

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As Jack spoke to Waverley, explaining the money situation, the young woman gave a small nod of understanding, tucking the bills back into her wallet and slipping it back into her pocket. She supposed it made sense; there were bound to be a variety of mutations that cut down on resource use. Still, in a country pushed by the mutant elite, she couldn't help but be surprised that they didn't use the age old tool of capitalism to keep some amount of control. Her lips turned down a bit into an uncertain frown as Havock spoke, giving a half shrug.

"Maybe...she already had lunch plans?" Waverley half-heartedly suggested, her hopes of spreading her optimism out to the grouchy man getting dimmer and dimmer. Her expression was dampened more when she saw the look of suspicion decorating the face of Sunshine, looking at her like she was trying to sniff out some grander scheme she was up to. Waverley, for one, was pretty sure she'd never been up to a scheme in her life, and the fact that Sunshine was gazing at her the way Waverley tended to gaze at Max rather than the unfiltered excitement that had been bubbling in Waverley moments prior made her shoulders sag. First she'd blown her off in favor of Max upon waking up, and now she was staring at her like Waves had spat in her sandwich. Waverley couldn't help but wonder if she did something wrong. "Dude, is it that hard to believe I want to record an important part of my friend's life just for the sake of having it?...and maybe showing it to the MarrBow kids, if, y'know, you two decide you want children." A life of geekdom had left Waverley pretty well capable of coming up with ship names on the fly, and she was about to give herself a pat on the back when suddenly the room faded away, leaving them in a strange, semi-futuristic version of on old Norse house.

It took Waverley a moment of confusion before she understood what was going on, at which point she watched young Zari and her tender mother. Waverley couldn't help but feel a hollow sadness at the memory playing out around of them; she would've expected some deep stabbing pain at the reminder that she was now without a mother, but instead, it caused her to look inside for a memory similar to Zari's. She found none. As much as she had mourned the stern woman, Waverley didn't have much in terms of vibrant, loving memories of her. Part of her wondered what would appear were the woman to use her powers on her, but the other part was scared to find out. As the memory faded away from the room, Waverley shifted uncomfortably on her feet, quickly nodding along with Callie, trying to shove past her own thoughts.

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"That's not quite what I meant," Miranda said to Max, shaking her head. "I more or less raised the twins as if they were my own, even though they aren't. They made it quite clear that they are cutting off all contact with their father and ignore his existence, which has also resulted in them being cut off from me. My daughter and son are a little close to their age, my son is a few years older, my daughter is a year or so younger. So even though I couldn't be there for my own children when they were growing up, I was able to be there for them once they ended up with their father. If they ever want to talk to me about anything, they know where to find me."

Voltus Glade, that was on the list of places Jack was still trying to wrap his head around. Namely for the reason of how he had wound up there and not in a hospital like literally everyone else. He wasn't going to voice that though, at least not right off the bat, "Yeah, it's surrounding by a lot of trees and all, seems perfect for the magic people, we can show you the place later if you want to," Jack commented to Max with a bit of a shrug. Sure, he personally couldn't use magic or anything, but he did sort of want to look around the area a bit more.

"01011010 01100001 01110010 01101001 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01110100 01100101 01101100 01101100 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010..." Mr. Eyeball beeped a bit at her.

"Jeg vet at jeg burde det, men hva om folk synes jeg er en rar, eller i det minste mer en rar person enn det jeg allerede ser ut til å være for dem?"

"01001010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01101111 01101110 01100101 01110011 01110100 00101100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110000 01110000 01100101 01101110?"

"De kan hate meg og vil ikke ha noe med meg å gjøre, og jeg blir igjen alene?"

"01001001 01110100 00100111 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101111 01101011 01100001 01111001 00100000 01011010 01100001 01110010 01101001 00101100 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01110100 01100101 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110100 01110010 01110101 01110100 01101000."

"Hvis du sier det... Hvis dette ender dårlig, skylder jeg deg på... Fordi hele greia er en hel sekk med sprø og jeg kan bli sperret inne i en elendig søppel eller noe." With those last words towards her robotic friend, she took a bit of a deep breath and looked directly at Veil. "I'm half-Asgardian and half-mutant. Also known as an Asgardian with an active X-gene, I know, impossible right? And weird... Anyway, my birthday is October 27th, 2021... Also known as I haven't been born yet. My parents both are originally from an alternate reality with the numeric designation of 257, my mother was sent when she was a baby through to this reality to avoid troubles in their home one, my father being Asgardian eventually followed suit, since my aunt is a love goddess and can tell who people's soulmates are and whatnot and told him and he went through to this one... Besides the point really, sorry for rambling. They eventually ran into each when they both worked at SHIELD, and eventually I was born. Though not too long afterwards, they decided to go back to their home reality, which is where I was raised... So tada! How I ended up here adds more weirdness and confusion and I really don't like it and all, so I don't really want to talk about it... That's also why I'm more durable than I look, I've got enhanced durability..."

Well that was not at all the sort of thing that Miranda had expected to hear, since unlike Ellie, she had been sort of paying attention to the conversation, since if something else happened she was going to step in. The fact that the x-gene could work genetically with an Asgardian was not something she had heard of, it was more than a bit strange. As far as she knew, that sort of thing had never happened. "That is a bit strange, and it isn't something I've really heard of, but that is definitely an interesting story, and it could in theory happen I suppose, just there isn't any record of it from what I know."

"And here I thought sometimes my family was a bit confusing and insane, actually I tend to think that sort of thing all the time," Jack commented under his breath as he listened to what it was that Zari was saying. It was a mixture of time travel, reality jumping, and aliens (since that's what Asgardians were after all) which just seemed weird. He was a bit curious as to how everyone else (especially Veil) would react to hearing that. This was a moment that you had to clearly be careful what you wished for.

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Max wasn't sure how to take the news that The Queen, or Miranda, was giving to him. It all felt so tragic, to have raised Pietro and Wanda only to lose them because of the sins of the father. It felt so...wrong. A part of him wondered if either of his parents or family felt that way now. If any of them blamed another for his disappearance away from home and life on the run. He closed his eyes for a moment as the memory of the day he left flashed back into his mind. The fear, betrayal, and anguish still fresh inside of him. He shook the thought out of his head before offering Miranda an apologetic smile as he wasn't sure what else to say, what else he could say.

Max turned his attention towards Renegade when she finally addressed him. His pupils went wide with excitement as she mentioned this Selene again, but this time adding a new bit of information. A Voltus Glade. A place for all magic types. A million questions ran through his mind, trying to pick apart every word she said and analyze it to find deeper meanings or clues to more information. Max hardly had time to comprehend that Jack had been the one to offer to show him the location, too excited and blinded to feel any form of distrust towards the man. "I...how...I have so many questions. I didn't know there were other magic type mutants out there. I've met like three people that I can think of that had magic and only one was a mutant to my knowledge. How many more are there? Is their magic as chaotic as mine? Is all magic chaotic in nature?"

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Harry faltered for a moment as Casper ran up empty for the cigarettes. His eyes bouncing between James and Casper for a moment before Ben popped out and finally Harry let out a small gasp. "I'm so sorry. You two were probably having a moment and I just- sorry I'll um see myself out." Harry began to move backwards but before he could get far however, he felt a poke in his side. He turned to see Kristina standing there with concern coloring her face as she asked him if he was ok. He bit his bottom lip from the inside as he gauged her look and weighed the options before him.

"Why don't we move away from the two lovebirds and give them some space? I'm sure they have a lot of catching up to do." He said, deciding to deflect the conversation away from the subject of his well being. Harry began to walk away once more, not far from where they were just further down the hallway where he pressed his back against a well and let out a slow but shaky breath. He began to ask himself why he was here? What the purpose of this all was now? And just closed his eyes as he slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor.

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Andy listened to Zari from the hall. She was glad she could hear what she said. Suddenly, Zari made a lot more sense. She stayed leaning against the wall. Zari's parents worked for SHIELD, but as far as they were concerned Zari didn't even exist. No wonder she was so protective over her stuff. Her parents didn't know she existed yet. Well if Andy's math was right her mom would be pregnant right now. If Zari showed up and talked with her parents she could really mess up her own timeline.

Talk about bizarre.

Everyone was stressed. And she just wanted to disappear. She didn't have a place in this. But she had told Zari she would help her if she needed it. Zari hadn't asked for her help, but she had promised. So she would stay. She would help if she could. Andy kept her promises.

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Casper's shrugged off James' guilt. He could be a bit spacey too - in fact, Casper was often very spacey so he wasn't going to hold it against his boyfriend. Besides, it had been much longer for James than it had been for him. He didn't know what he would have done if their roles had been reversed - actually, that was a lie, Casper knew exactly would he would do. He would have found any drug he could get his hands on and overdose himself into a coma rather than spend a minute without James. The realization scared him slightly - but it also excited him. He wanted to spend his life with this man.

"Ooo, if slipping away means slipping out of some clothes then I'm down," Casper said with a playful smirk. He knew that Echo was right there, but Casper didn't care. He had missed Pride after all! He nibbled at James' earlobe slightly, just in case James didn't get what Casper was hinting about. He turned his head slightly, seeing that they were slowly gathering an audience. It wouldn't have been the first time Casper was sexually inappropriate in front of other people.

Inside the apartment, Sunshine had no idea where the MarBow name had come from - she knew the first part was Marrow, but she had no idea how Bow had anything to do with either of them. "I don't think we're gonna have kids - and if we did, we could just have a telepath help share the memory," Sunshine pointed out. She had fully adapted to mutant culture and processes on the island. A lot of human things - like cameras to record videos - weren't really needed anymore when all you needed was a psychic. Sunshine even knew one mutant who could permanently project images from her mind onto hard surfaces, making flawless photos just from mental images.

Havok was too brooding and grumpy to want anything to do with the trip down memory lane they had all collectively shared, so he headed on out of the apartment, wanting to find something to smash.

Veil, meanwhile, had a slight headache from the information drop Zarina gave them. Plenty of her teachers at Xavier's School had similarly complicated backstories. It only made Veil wonder more why Zarina had ended up with them, if she was not really just a mutant, but also someone like Thor, one of the most powerful and beloved Avengers. Her parents were SHIELD agents too, meaning this kid was seriously well connected. She had more questions for Zarina - well, one in particular really: why?

But people were starting to chaff at being in this one spot. Already a good number had gone out into the hallway, and while Veil wasn't technically in charge anymore, she felt responsible for her companions and their wellbeing. She could interrogate Zarina more about her past later. Right now, it was probably best for her family if they went to the ceremony and then ideally were able to settle down and stake out a little spot to call home for a while. She didn't doubt everyone would want to thoroughly discuss what they had seen too. "Thank you for sharing that with us, Zarina."

Renegade almost forgot to answer Max's question, thinking more about the half-Asgardian elephant in the room. She wasn't one of those educated types, so she didn't know that other species could have mutants. "Bien sûr. There's loads of mutants who can use magic. But I ain't the one to answer those questions, I don't do any hocus pocus stuff myself. Gives me bad vibes, reminds me of an ex."

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Image Reference: here

The full force of the Mutant Underground - or what had once been the Mutant Underground - was standing on the stage at the Carousel. The Carousel was more or less centrally located on Genosha, allowing everyone to travel there fairly rapidly. It helped that the island's telepaths sent out the alert, explaining everyone who wanted to meet the heroes who had saved Washington D.C.'s mutants from a terrigen bomb should head there immediately.

The Mutant Underground weren't the only ones on the stage, looking out into the crowd - there were easily at least 20,000 mutants in attendance, their collective body heat raising the temperature of the space. There were raised natural platforms everywhere, allowing everyone to take a look, and the light filtered in gorgeously through the strange purple and red trees. The Quiet Council stood to the side of the stage - some of their members would be familiar to the Mutant Underground already. Reeva, Magneto, and the Three-in-One - the fourth would be knew, a woman with wild dark hair and a mischievous grin, dressed like it was Halloween.

"On behalf of the Quiet Council, we would like to honor these young mutants for their actions in Washington D.C. Without them, many of us would not be here," Reeva Payge began, her voice somehow echoing in everyone's minds, as telepaths ensured that everyone could hear each and every word. "Two heroes, however, are not here... We would like for there to be a moment of silence, physically and psychically, to honor the sacrifices of Glimpse and Sapphire."

Reeva held up a hand. The crowd was still, motionless. After a few minutes, she continued on. "To our mutant brothers and sisters who survived, I ask that you introduce yourself to the island, as you are and will forever be the heroes of Genosha."

Sunshine didn't hesitate. She looked really proud to be up on the stage, despite having viciously hated almost everyone in the Quiet Council not too long ago. "I'm Sunshine, duh," she introduced, the telepaths amplifying her voice. She let out little puffs of green smoke from the palms of her hand and the crowd roared, cheering her name - "SUNSHINE! SUNSHINE! SUNSHINE!"

Casper also didn't have stage fright. "I'm Casper!" he said cheerfully. "And that's Ben," he said, pointing at his ghostly friend despite no one being able to see him. "CASPER AND BEN! CASPER AND BEN!" the crowd cheered.

When it was her turn, Veil's voice was so quiet it was a bit hard even for the telepaths to psychically boost it in everyone's mind. "... Veil ..." "VEIL! VEIL!"

Havok, of course, was glaring at a woman with green hair standing near the front. "I'm fucking Havok," he muttered.

"FUCKING HAVOK!" the crowd cheered and Havok facepalmed.

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Callie followed everyone out of the building and made her way towards the center of the island where the Carousel was located, she looked around amazed to see the number of other mutants there or the numbers that were already showing up now. Callie remained pretty close to Veil, she really didn't like all of this attention, she was mainly just used to hiding in a crowd of people and not being the center of attention.

She looked towards the corner seeing the Quiet Council was there, she still really wasnt sure what to think about them, but they were the ones who were able to somehow create this place for mutants. Callie remained silent as the telepaths mentioned the two members that they had lost. Sapphire and Glimpse, sighing slightly she remained quiet for the most part until it was time that they were to introduce themselves. Sunshine was the first to go, even doing a bit of a display of her powers, and then Casper and Ben, then Veil and then Havok, she couldn't help but shake her head slightly. She took a moment and looked up at the crowd of mutants there, before stepping forward a bit. "Spark Plug." She said loud enough so that people could hear and the crowd cheering her name.

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Kristina looked at Harry and nodded towards him for a moment as she looked over her shoulder at James and Casper she shook her head slightly. Once everyone was done Kristina followed everyone outside of the apartment building and made her way towards the Carousel seeing all of the mutants who were gathering there. The number of mutants that were there was actually pretty amazing in her opinion, as she stood up on stage looking over to the side she didnt recognize the people who were in the side of the stage. Kristina remained quiet for the most part when the moment of silence was asked. She didnt know Glimpse well, but she remained quiet anyway Sapphire saved her life she paid more respect to her.

As the members of the mutant underground started to introduce themselves to the new nation, she looked over at the other members as they announced themselves. She thought about doing something flashy, but decided against it this was the most attention she had ever gotten in her life anyway to. She took a step forward looking at them all for a moment and smiled somewhat before she decided to announce herself. "Stareyes." Kristina said loudly as the crowd chanted her name.

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“Babe!” James laughed as he pushed Casper away halfheartedly, pointedly ignoring the hiss that escaped him at Casper’s antics, and briefly debated how bad it would look if they skipped out on the ceremony. Yes, he said earlier that they should attend but he had plenty of time to explore and meet people already, four months more exactly. That was plenty… James knew he wouldn’t just blow it off; it wasn’t particularly in his nature and while he didn’t really care for whatever attention this would bring, he at least wanted to support the Underground. And maybe, despite all the Doctor’s assurances, he was afraid someone was going to collapse. “Once we’re done with all this official stuff, we can definitely make that happen.” He melted into Casper, savouring the way they fit together while they waited for everyone to head out.

And damn, James could only wish he’d decided to ditch this. He didn’t usually experience stage fright but he really felt like thousands of people watching them after spending so much time running, hiding, and doing just about anything to keep attention off of them lent his sudden queasiness credence. But despite his nerves, James found comfort in all of these people living and thriving away from the cruelty of purifiers and politicians and all the other tragedies mutants and their allies suffered. He’d been far too deep in his own thoughts, drowning in his guilt and tears, but now, with his family awake and safe, James could let himself fully appreciate the implications of this new world. His experiences in the Underground and the alternate reality all made his instincts scream, rally against trusting this new arrangement, but James was tired of fighting for his life, for his family’s life, for every mutant as best he could.

So he took a deep breath and ignored it all. Hellfire club or not, they’d created somewhere safe and so James beamed at Sunshine, clapping as she introduced herself with a display of power, watched Casper throw himself out there with disgusting fondness, and laughed so hard at Havok’s fuck up that he doubled over in pain, tears spilling out as he struggled to reign himself in. He managed to get himself under control as Callie and Kristina introduced themselves and he took one last wheezing breath before waving at the crowd. “I’m James. Nice to meet everyone.”

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Stepping out onto the stage at the Carousel was like a nightmare for Waverley. It appeared as though her newfound confidence was limited to assault and other stupid decisions, and did not stretch to protect her from good old fashion stage fright. The presence of the Quiet Council didn't help; they were all people she'd long since learned to fear, so feeling their eyes watching her and her friends was unsettling to say the least. And somehow, the strangely dressed stranger somehow managed to be even more intimidating, an impressive feat given her company. It was moments like this (and many others) that Waverley found herself jealous of Veil's ability to disappear. She did her best to do so mundanely, sticking near the back and hoping to become just another face among the Underground. She watched as her friends went up and did their things, clapping along, snickering slightly at Havock's fuck up.

Then, right after James stepped up to say his part, there was an undeniable path for her to the forefront of the stage. Her mind immediately went haywire, trying to figure out if she was expected to go up now, or if the pathway left for her was simply an accident. Her body eventually made the decision for her, putting one reluctant foot forward, then another, then another. Her hands were nervously clutched together in front of her, her legs threatening to collapse out from under her from the nerves. She stood quietly in the front for a solid few moments, frozen in place, staring out at the crowd of strangers. Or, well, mostly strangers. Seeing Polaris in the front row was...oddly comforting? She was by no means a friendly face - their only interaction had left Waverley traumatized - but she was a familiar one, which was more than could be said for most everyone else there. Waves let out a deep breath, her shoulders sagging a bit as she forced herself to relax.

"Uh, Waverley...Watts. Waverley Watts. Or Waves. Sometimes I go by Feedback? It's, like, my superhero name...or whatever. Really anything is cool, I'm cool with anything," she said, before giving a small, demure wave.

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Zari wasn't too sure what to think with Veil's reaction (or really lack there of) she honestly had expected something aside from what she had ended up saying. Well, that sort of thing didn't really matter all too much, at least not right now as they were heading for the ceremony or whatever it was that was being mentioned with regards to what apparently had happened since they ended up as popsicles. That was going to be fun right? She wasn't too sure what to expect from this whole thing, this place was more than a bit strange.

He wasn't too sure about this ceremony, in all honesty he wasn't too sure about anything that really seemed to be going on on the island. Jack's brain wasn't sure who to trust really, especially since no one seemed to be willing to help him get any answers with regards to how he was still standing there. However his one slight clue was where he had woken up, and as soon as Max wanted to head off to the Voltus Glade, he was once again going to offer to take him there. Namely it was because he wanted to talk to him still and maybe get his help...

Miranda lead the group more or less to where the Carousel was, before she ended up separating from them. She wasn't a member of the Quiet Counsel or of the Mutant Underground, so she wasn't up on the stage with everyone else. Instead she was down in the crowd, though she was fairly close by to the stage. She was just watching to see what was happening, see if there was any other sort of thing that might be announced or whatever now that the group was awake and everything.

She listened as a few of the group said their name, and literally everyone behind her started chanting each name in response and started cheering. It was sort of obvious that Havok seemingly was glaring at the one child of Magneto currently in attendance, that being Polaris, who wasn't too far away from where she was, and wondered somewhat what was going through her head. Miranda herself typically did more of what she thought was best in any sort of situation, and from what she could tell, Polaris did something similar, even if others couldn't necessarily see it.

He was now thinking about what sort of name he wanted to have called out. For most of his adult life when dealing with mutant issues of sorts (like with the Morlocks) he had gone by whatever name people were more comfortable calling him, whether it was Stretch like what the Morlocks (and Colossus) had mainly called him, to just his normal name of Jack with the Underground. One of those two groups was all but gone now, the massacre of the Morlocks in DC still stuck with him, and it wouldn't leave his mind ever. So what better way to choose a name than to go by the one that the Morlocks had mainly called him? "Stretch," he said with a slight wave to the crowd as they started cheering yet again.

Despite her typically bubbly and outgoing personality, Zari wasn't too sure about being on a stage in front of several thousand people. She kept a tight hold of Mr. Eyeball though, not wanting to let go of the robot again. It was more or less just beeping at her a bit from being held in her arms, and every so often that she muttered something under her breath seemingly towards the robot that no one else could really hear. However, she did know what name she wanted to go by, it had been the sort of superhero name that she had come up with from both her training, and the nickname her parents had called her. "Hi there, I'm Valkyrie!" she ended up saying, removing one hand from it's tight grip on her robot to wave somewhat before her went back to hugging Mr. Eyeball.

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Max dropped his shoulders ever so slightly as Renegade began to answer his questions. He was hoping for more information, more details, yet all he received was a confirmation on magical mutants and that's it. It was clear he needed to visit this Glade and see what it had to offer. Maybe they could help channel his magic, focus it so it wasn't so chaotic. A part of him worried they wouldn't appreciate his powers, telling him that it was literal chaos magic and could never be tamed. He tried not to think on it further.



Max felt awkward and uncomfortable standing up on the stage. Not that those feelings were anything new to him, but being with the underground while having the Hellfire Club plus one presiding over them? It was a new level of weird and uncomfort. He stood silently as Reeva spoke, as he tended to do whenever he crossed her path back at the headquarters, listening to her words and feeling a pang in his heart when she mentioned Glimpse. He refused to believe she passed away, she was fast and was a telepath, she could've handled her own against a few agents.

Max decided she was simply M.I.A. Perhaps off with some other mutants laying low and keeping to herself so that S.H.E.I.L.D. couldn't find her. As his thoughts drifted back to the present he was suddenly faced with needing to introduce himself to the audience. He scanned the thousands of chanting mutants and figured Selene could be any of them, what's more the other magic mutants could be there too. One by one the Underground introduced themselves, and as they got closer towards Max he only got more nervous.

When it finally came his turn he took a deep breath, exhaled, and went to use his powers. Until now he had only ever levitated himself, he never even knew it was possible for it to extend to someone else. But as he tried to fly up into the air his visuals stayed the same. Nervously he shifted his gaze and saw Havok flipped upside and dangling in the air, clearly not pleased. Max tried not to laugh, as he let Havok remain there and tried to float once again. His climb was steady and looking good, as he moved up five feet his voice echoed "I'm Warlock" But as soon as the words left his lips he began to slowly spin in place and eventually ended up upside down as well. He tried to right himself but no matter how hard he tried his magic was clearly disagreeing with him.

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Harry was glad that Kristina seemed to follow along with him, leaving the pair alone. There hadn't been much of a conversation after that. He kept to himself and his thoughts, trying to piece together a few things until everyone piled out of the room and were asked to head towards the ceremony. He got up, dusted off his pants, and began to follow them out towards the Carousel. It wasn't long before he was standing up on the stage with everyone else, looking out towards the crowd and seeing thousands of people cheering them on. He was used to crowds, having been a live performer and using his powers to amplify his stage.

This felt different however. Harry didn't have stage fright, but being up here felt wrong. He felt like an imposter, as he watched each and every member of the Underground slowly introduce themselves. For years he wished to perform in front of a crowd this big, to have the gigs that Dazzler did, but now that he had the audience's attention, he didn't want it. It was for all the wrong reasons and he couldn't think of a right one. So when it finally came time to say his name he simply looked out to the crowd and said "My name's Echo…" His voice trailing off before suddenly speaking again "I'm sorry, I don't belong up here." If there was a mic he would've dropped it, as he started to walk off the stage.

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This was literally the largest crowd of people, not to mention mutants, that Andy had ever seen in her life. She had lived in big cities but had avoided the worst crowds. She hated them. Hated the press of bodies and the confusing patterns of large crowds. She wanted to disappear and wished that had been one of her powers instead of making her body spark and being quick to react.

She listened to the others introduce themselves. It was a mix of real names and codenames. (And Echo...echoing her own thoughts.) She didn't think she belonged there either. Sure she had wished to be a champion and be a great fighter and have crowds cheering her name, but this felt ill-fitting. She considered giving her real name, or the one she wanted to claim as her real name since she didn't know her birth name. Andy was used to her identity being fabricated. She also hoped that maybe this place would give her a chance to shrug off the past. To lose the ghosts that haunted her dreams. If any place could allow for that it was here. Even if she only wanted to melt into the fabric of society. She didn't want to be singled out.

But now it was her turn. All the other members of the group, she couldn't bring herself to think of it as her group because she wasn't part of them. Not really. She had been with them not even a full two days. The time frozen didn't count.

She took a deep breath and she said, with a small glance at Havok remembering his teasing of her chosen name, "I'm Thundering Champion." She waved and electricity sparked around her fingertips. It wasn't a major show, just a subtle thing that under normal circumstances only the first few rows of people would have been able to see, but since everything was being telepathically broadcast it would be clear to all.

There was no more Andy, not with that proclamation. She was now Thundering Champion. It didn't matter what her real name was, what any name she had gone as, all of that was wiped clean by twenty-thousand voices calling her Thundering Champion.

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Casper looked at James with total adoration as James seemingly lost his mind at Havok's little snafu. It was pretty hilarious - and Casper only regretted that he hadn't taken advantage of the mindless chanting to try to get the crowd to say other things. If he had shouted I hate Professor X would the crowd have just shouted that back at him? If he had jumped off the stage, would they have let him crowd surf? He'd gone crowd surfing before and it was easily the best form of surfing in the world.

"Don't," Ben warned, seemingly reading Casper's mind, but it was too late. Casper gave James a wink before rushing up to the edge of the stage, turning around, and trust-falling backwards. "Cannonball!" Casper shouted, despite not having made a cannonball motion at all. Fortunately, he was indeed caught - unfortunately for him, the person who caught him had eyes covering every inch of their body and Casper squealed slightly from the oddly wet touch, before his crowd surfing finally took him away from Eye Boy.

The crowd was a little confused when it came to chanting for Waverley, so there was a lot of disconnected murmurs, switching back and forth between the varying names and words she had said - no one was really sure which one to shout. They were very much relieved when Stretch and Valkyrie introduced themselves next - those were simple and to the point, great for chanting, especially since Valkyrie was three syllables. Although, some of the younger mutants were chanting Stretch to the tune of Shots.

The witch of the Quiet Council tilted her head, cackling slightly at Max's antics. "Il piccolo bambino ha molto da imparare," she said to herself in Italian. Her voice wasn't telepathically boosted for all to hear, but those on the stage may catch a word or two. In fact, if anyone studied her closely enough, they would realize she had a striking resemblance to one of the newest members of their group, their eyes and facial features practically cut from the same clothe. She could have been Andy's wicked, older sister.

The witch twirled one of her fingers lazily, and suddenly, it would be like a cord had been severed and both Max and Havok would drop to the ground unceremoniously. The witch gave Max a cheeky wink. "I'll see you in Voltus Glade at the witching hour, little Warlock."

For a brief second, Reeva glared at Echo, before resuming her composure. Veil instantly went after her twin brother, turning herself invisible in the process. She didn't want to be stared at as she left. At least being invisible prevented that, as she caught up to Echo at the edge of the stage, taking his hand. She cloaked him in invisibility as well, and he would be able to see her now, although to each other they looked like ghostly outlines thanks to Veil's powers. "Ça va?" she whispered to her brother, getting to the point by asking him what was going on/how he was doing.

"THUNDER! THUNDER! THUNDER!" the crowd chanted. It had began as Thundering Champion, but it was a bit of a mouthful, and the crowd of mutants quickly shortened it.

The roar of the crowd died down, as Reeva stepped forward once more. "Thank you. Now, brothers and sisters, I ask you - who are these kind souls? Who are these heroes of Genosha?"

"MUTANTS! MUTANTS! MUTANTS!" the crowd cheered, instantly going back up into a frenzy. Some small children were looking up at the stage amazed, as if they were meeting the Avengers.

"Precisely. And for what people is Genosha the promised land?" Reeva followed up.

"MUTANTS! MUTANTS MUTANTS!"

Sunshine was beaming. She was practically glowing. She loved it here. She didn't have to worry about her friends and family being hurt - she didn't have to look over her shoulder for a Purifier. She was able to be free and true to herself. Beyond even just being a place for mutants, so many silly human customs just weren't a thing here. People could love who they loved. And capitalism was a dead concept. She hadn't smiled this much back with the Mutant Underground, but now, she was smiling so hard that it hurt.

"Magnus, would you be so kind as to present our heroes with a token of our gratitude?" Reeva then asked, as Magneto stepped forward.

Usually, Magneto was dressed in red and purple. Instead, his suit was all white, as if symbolic of the new era they were in and the fresh start. Magneto outstretched his hand and revealed several small metallic cases, about the size of a baseball. The cases flew over to each person, with two going to the edge of the stage for Veil and Echo to grab when they wished. Inside the metal cages were what looked like a strange rock.

"Meteors, portions of an asteroid, killed the dinosaurs and allowed for homo sapiens to evolve. Mutants, homo superior, are the logical end of the evolutionary chain, for we shall inherit the Earth. As thanks for your bravery, we give you these meteorite fragments," Magneto explained. One of the fragments had ended up hovering over the crowd surfing Casper, who grabbed it, being a bit confused.

"Since when were you all into space, Magneto?" Casper shouted.

Magneto pretended he couldn't hear him.

Havok stared at the meteorite fragment, before chucking it at the stage and storming off, muttering curses under his breath about how the entire world was going to hell if Magneto was trying to give them prizes.

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Callie still wasn't sure what else to say as she watched the rest of their group introduced themselves to the group, as she looked towards Max who levitated himself and Havok into the air she shook her head slightly. She wasn't one to be super flashy or anything like that it felt like to her it would draw to much attention in her opinion. Callie saw Casper instantly going crowd surfing into the crowd of mutants which was funny to see as well. Once everyone had finished introducing themselves Magneto came out wearing white for some reason and some cases moved over towards them all. Callie half expected it to be a bomb or something as she opened it to see some kind of rock inside of it as she picked it up and inspected it.

"Thank you." Callie said as she set the meteor fragment back into it's case as she looked around she couldn't see Veil or Echo anywhere really and hoped that nothing bad had happened to them. She noticed Havok chucking his fragment towards the crowd, sighing slightly as he watched him storming off. She thought about going after him but decided not to for the time being and let him try and calm down, she looked around at the crowd and gave them all a slight wave as the crowd cheered.

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Kristina looked towards the Quiet Council group seeing the one who looked more like a witch than anything and then over towards Andy seeing that the two of them looked oddly close to each other. She wasn't sure what to think of that sometimes people did have similar looks without being related either to. She turned her attention towards the crowd as they all cheered for them, and waved at the crowd once more, still not used to all of the attention that she was being given right now. She thought for a moment and wondered if her sister would actually like it here as well to.

When Reeva spoke up and Magneto coming forward wearing white he held up some cases in his hands as they all floated over towards them, Kris gently took it seeing that it was some sort of rock. It was pretty cool as Kristina picked it up and looked at it in her hands it was pretty cool to hold a space rock, she gave the crowd another smile and wave towards them all again while the crowd cheered.

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Waverley quickly stepped back almost as soon as she called out her name, cringing a bit at the disjointed chants that followed her pathetic attempt at a grand introduction. Luckily, within seconds, the attention was off her and back on her team. The rest of the introduction went without a hitch; well, without many hitches. There was Casper's so-called 'cannonball' and Warlock's witchy hijinks. Waverley thought about joining the former, only to remember how little she liked being in crowds let alone riding them. And he latter...well, the latter admittedly caused a small smirk to break out on her lips. It wasn't awful to see Havok be the butt every now and then. Maybe it'd do something to his attitude. Still, she shook her head in disapproval; Havok or not, it was a dick move on Warlock's part. They were a team, and needed to act like such, especially in such uncharted waters.

There was one more hitch in the introductions, one that particularly distracted Waves: Echo calling his name out to the crowd, before attempting a shameful retreat from the stage. Waverley made a motion to go and stop him, but saw that Veil - along with her abilities - were coming to her brother's rescue. Before Waves could give another thought to trying to help the two, Magneto stepped up with Reeva's mention of tokens. She practically jumped as the ex-terrorist (or hopefully ex-terrorist) launched these tokens at them, small bits of meteorites for every one of them. Her mind instinctively reached out, caressing the thing for any signs of signals, but she found nothing. It was surreal. The people who Waves had grown up learning to fear from the news, the people they'd once fought, now stood with them handing out awards in front of a roaring crowd. It was like Waverley's biggest dream had a baby with her worst nightmare. Still, it wasn't enough to stop the idea of putting them all together to make a Sokka meteorite sword from shoving its way into the forefront of her mind. She raised her head to voice this thought, only to see Havok quite literally throw the gift away and run off their little podium.

"Shit, someone should probably go check on him," Waverley said, shooting a glance out at Polaris once more. She wasn't sure what exactly she was expecting of the ferrokinetic, maybe to either help catch her ex or find the precious space stone, one of the two, but she didn't entirely expect either. It was made clear pretty quick by Waverley's actions that when she had said 'someone' she meant herself. She felt about Havok the same way she had about Sapphire; he could be kind of a dick, but he was still family. In a lot of ways, he reminded her of her actual brother; a semi-charismatic douchebag with a temper. She gave an awkward wave to the Quiet Council, then curtsied (in her jeans, mind you) to the crowd of chanting mutants, before quickly vamoosing from the stage. It didn't take long to find Havok. When she did, she grabbed gently onto his arm and did her best to stop him in his tracks with her limited physical prowess. "Dude, are you good? If this is about what Warlock did up there, we can have a talk with him later. That was a dick move on his part, I'd probably be fuming too."

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Miranda knew what all was going on, at least for the most part. She had known previously about the bits of meteors that Magneto was planning on giving everyone. He had always loved space and the stars, so it wasn't all too surprising to her that he had decided to hand the group little mini meteors. Made all too much sense in her brain, but she didn't care. Right now she was just sitting back and watching the reactions of the group to see how they'd react. Of course, there was the whole part where they might not be too trusting of everyone else, but that was to be expected.

She was a little bit surprised when Echo more or less just walked off of the stage though, ignoring everyone else, it was a bit of a rude moment in her mind, but she brushed it off as maybe him just needing some space and to separate himself from what was going on. It was a lot to take in, and what was going on with Havok in all honesty was not too surprising. Miranda had expected him to walk off sooner than he did. Since from what she knew, his relationship with Polaris was beyond complicated and that he hated Magneto much like his older brother or something like that.

Jack was a bit silent as he watched everyone else do whatever it is that they were doing. Of course, Max was being chaotic and making a fool of himself in the span of a few seconds. First more or less flipping Havok around upside down (it was hard to tell if that was on purpose or not), and then proceeding to do the exact same thing to himself (which based on the flailing about wasn't intended). He personally didn't care much for Havok, but honestly that was kind of an idiotic and sort of mean thing for Max to do in front of this large of a crowd. That was just how he saw everything.

"Really Casper?" Jack couldn't help but comment towards his brother with regards to the whole crowd surfing thing. His brother could sometimes be a bit weird, and this sort of thing wasn't all too surprising to him. Actually now that he thought about it, he should have expected this sort of thing sooner rather than later. The bit of a meteor was kind of cool, but he was more of watching his brother to see what else he was going to do to make a fool of himself. Though as far as he knew, it didn't take much for Casper to make himself look like a complete dork or something, and he never seemed to care about it.

Zari glanced around the area as the crowd was more or less chanting everything that they said right back to them. It was more than a bit odd to her to be in this sort of situation, where people were more or less chanting her name like that. It was beyond odd to her, especially since it wasn't something she was super used to at all. However she was finding that it wasn't so bad, and actually she found herself somewhat enjoying it. It was nice to be seen as a hero to a bunch of people, something she had always really wanted in reality.

When Magneto handed them all little meteorites, her mind immediately wandered to the object he had given her before. Letting go of Mr. Eyeball (as he started floating there next to her) she grabbed a hold of the meteorite. With her other hand, she reached into her bag and pulled out the red thing that Magneto had given her before, and he had mentioned Genosha and was looking at the two items, though she did contemplate asking about the thing, she figured now might not be the best time to bring it up, so she was more or less just looking at the two objects now.