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"I could always go out and look out for her if you'd like." Callie said to Veil giving her another playful nudge as she turned her attention over towards Moneta and smiled towards her. "I'm doing pretty well, the party is really nice." Callie said as her as she continued to wait in line listening to her. She didn't really want to pry to much into what was going on with her, unless she wanted to talk more about it anyway. "Do you want to join us at our table?" Callie decided to offer Moneta she figured she'd like some more company, and they group was always fun to hangout with whenever they weren't busy just trying to survive.

When it was their turn to order, Callie took a moment to look at the various drinks that they had out on display before deciding to try the Starjammer. "I'll take one of those." Callie said as she accepted her drink, her attention turned towards Max and Ben and smiled giving Max a slight nudge. "You guys are adorable." Callie told Max smiling towards him.

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Andy was deeply unsettled. She couldn't have put her finger on it exactly. Other than it had something to do with Selene. (She couldn't quite think of Selene as her mother yet.) The way she was looking at Zari and asking her question, all of it was like when you're standing near a tall tree just before lightning strikes it. And, of course, she thought about it in electricity metaphors.

"Uh," She cleared her throat. Did Andy know how she would spend her last day? If she knew that it was as such? "Probably the same as Sunshine, that is fighting to save the world." She said. That's what she had done already. She had been certain the fights leading up to ending up here would be her last. It wasn't a big leap to say that's what she would do in the doomsday scenario Selene was posing.

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To say that she was beyond weirded out a bit by Selene was an understatement. The woman freaked her out a little bit, but she wasn't going to admit it or really show it. Nope, not now, not ever. Though it was a bit difficult for her to keep her emotions from getting the better of her, that was definitely something she probably needed to work on. If she tried she knew that she could probably create a decent poker face and all to prevent that sort of thing from happening again, but still. This was weird.

Selene's question though, that was a bit concerning, since Zari very much would not like the idea of the world ending tonight. "Well if the world ended tonight there would be a bit of a paradox, since I wouldn't have been born, so I wouldn't have been able to be a part of this conversation, and other bits of random things wouldn't have happened. So if the world was ending I'd do whatever it took to prevent it, since then the weird paradox wouldn't have happened. And all of that weird nonsense." She didn't ever hide the fact that technically she wasn't born yet, so that was the best answer she had.

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He had to think a bit about the right way to answer Casper's question. Since he was almost certain that there would likely be even more questions to spawn from the answer. How was the best way to explain to his brother (well, both of them since David was there too and he counted) that he had died, and his father and Selene did something to more or less bring him back That likely was going to go over well, though he might omit the part about his father being involved, since bringing him up never seemed to end well, he might just omit the who was involved entirely actually.

Selene's question though, did provide him a decent window of opportunity for him to let it slip. Especially since he didn't hide the fact from people for the most part that he was not weirded out or afraid of dying from whatever cause. Jack looked at Selene for a moment, before responding, "Personally I wouldn't care if it was the end of the world or not, I've already died once, got brought back by some weird magic or something, so who really cares about the one that might be the more permanent one all. I'd just live my life as I would any day, wouldn't matter to me." he ended up saying with a bit of a shrug in response.

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"Yes well, can't do too much about everything now anyway. What has been done is done. Though can't help but what could have been had I not done the main thing that I did..." she started to say, though she was a bit hesitant to explain the major thing she had told Magneto at the end of their very one sided conversation. However, since it had been a secret for so long and finally had seen the light of day, she was thinking in general that maybe it should be talked about. Since that would make life easier.

"The main thing we spoke about was the whole alternate reality Wanda had created... At the end of the conversation though... I mentioned how he has a son he didn't know existed, was put up for adoption not long after he was born... Last I knew, he's a SHIELD agent now, though at one point he was in a different organization, and his powers are fire based..." she said softly to her, as they got their drinks. She took her own and took a sip of it instantly, unsure of what else to say or do aside from drink something strong.

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Mutant Underground Table -

David thought for a moment about Selene's question - and he blushed, grinning a bit at Harry's answer. He felt firmly in control and present tonight, none of the others bickering for a turn at the wheel. He felt peaceful. "I'd want my last night to be like this," David admitted, before sheepishly nipping at Harry's earlobe and then pulling away. He wasn't drunk, but Harry was right - it was easy to get drunk off of vibes. "I'm me and he's him. That's all I need. Plus, my baby brothers are here," David added, referring to Jack and Casper.

Casper held up his hands in the shape of a heart, beaming at David. "Love you too, Davie!" He wasn't as close with David as he was with Jack - largely because David had spent most of his life in an asylum. David had been adopted by his mother legally speaking, but they were actually half-brothers. Valentine was Casper's only full blooded sibling. But even with the distance, Casper did love his brother - he loved everyone in his family, with the exception of his dad.

Selene sighed at Echo's query, almost with longing - as if the idea of a true, permanent death was absolutely enticing to her. "If it were my last night in the world - as impossible as that would be, as I am immortal, darlings, never forget that should you decide to kill me - I hope my death would come at the hand of a redheaded sweetheart... And I would spend my final hours bathing in the blood of my enemies under the moon's divine light."

"That's creepy as fuck," Sunshine said, giggling at Selene. It was becoming a little hard for her to take Selene seriously. From a distance, Selene was a terrifying dominatrix - but up close, she really was just pure camp. It was like she was giving a performance, playing a children's idea of a supervillain. And Sunshine had to admit, the vibe was fun - the more Selene talked, the more outlandish things she said, the more Sunshine wanted to listen.

"And yeah, you better not be planning on fucking my wife," Sunshine teased Andy, giving her a warning glare before breaking out into a grin. She knew that Marrow's was hers and that she was Marrow's. She didn't feel a need to really worry about someone else trying to steal Marrow away, as Sunshine believed in their love more than she believed on anything else in the world. Marrow completed her and she completed Marrow.

"Much too little for me, anyways," Marrow agreed. "Aren't you like twelve?"

"You are welcome, of course, for your restored life - I did have a hand in it," Selene mentioned to Jack.

"You... What? When? When did you die?" Casper asked, his eyes wide. "Oh shit, did the X-Cutioner kill you? Shit Jackie, I'm so sorry - I didn't notice - I mean I was frozen and ooooh that must've been it, huh? You froze and shattered like freezing gum and then hitting it with a rock and.... Oh yikes, that must've hurt so much. But you're alive, so that's what matters."

Sunshine didn't say anything to Jack's revelation that he had died, but her eyes did dart over towards him, as she regarded him with suspicion.

Suddenly, Selene rose from her chair. "I must be off now, my darlings - I'm performing a little number in a moment here, so do please pay attention. I'm giving a tribute to one of my favorite films of your era, you may know it? It stars an ancient and formidable trio of witches, the Sanderson Sisters." She then waved before gliding off through the crowd, and was soon out of sight.

Shi'Ar Bartender Set-Up

Veil took a long sip of her drink, listening to everything Moneta had just confessed. To be truthful, Veil didn't know her very well - she barely knew her, really. So this was all a lot to process from a practical stranger. "Wow, that's... That's a lot," she said. "Hate that he's a cop, but at least he's safe, right?" she finished.

Meanwhile, Ben had half a mind to bite Max's tongue and pull him away from the crowd. He could picture it in his mind's eye for a moment, but Ben decided against it. He hadn't even thought through the logistics of this relationship - he was mentally over thirty years old, physically less than eighteen. He didn't know if it would be age appropriate for him to blow Max's back out. But he found himself not caring if it were.

In line, Ben accepted the flower - he stared at it, his own cheeks going crimson for a moment. No boy had ever given him a flower before - no one ever had, really, with the exception of his funeral. His adoptive siblings had each presented his coffin a flower, their faces showing varying degrees of emotional distress. He wondered if any of them would care now that he was alive - or if it had all been an act, a way to keep up appearances, like so much of his childhood had been.

He realized he had fallen silent though, just studying the flower. And then Ben didn't care that Max needed to grab the drinks from the bartender. He didn't care that they were in a crowd of people. He was alive and the blood was pumping through his veins and the music was blasting, Dazzler singing her heart out to a rock ballad, and Ben put a hand on the back of Max's neck and pulled him in close and kissed the shit out of him.

Ben then pulled away and grabbed James' and Casper's drinks in one hand, holding the flower in his other, and a self satisfied smirk was on his face.

Veil couldn't help but grin - she was genuinely happy for the two of them. And Ben seemed to be in a much better mood now than he had been earlier that day. "When did this happen?" she asked, taking a coy sip of her own drink, curious as to what the boys would say. She was pointedly not responding more to Spark Plug about her own fascination with Aurora - one French-Canadian mutant twin girl thirsting after another French-Canadian mutant twin girl, how more cliché could she be? But that wasn't really it. No, the truth was that as much as Veil loved to be in control in intimacy, she wanted to feel chased when it came to something new. She wanted Aurora to come find her. She wanted to feel hunted.

The Main Stage

Up at the main stage, Dazzler had hopped off for a break, Reeva introduced the next singer -

"Please, put your hands together for the Dark Priestess, the Vampiric Huntress, the Mother of All Mutants, The First One.... SELENE!" Reeva's voice was telepathically amplified, rattling in everyone's minds as Selene took the stage, appearing suddenly in a burst of smoke. Selene winked at the crowd, before snapping her fingers and her outfit transformed into something more comfortable to perform in.

"This one is for the gays," Selene said, before her performance began.

---

While Jack’s response left him wondering what answers he’d been looking for, the revelation of his death cleared that up real quick. The man had died and not a single one of them had noticed. Although, how could they? James had been half mad with developing his abilities, Sunshine was doing her best to find something else to focus on… it hadn’t been much of a stretch to think Jack was just processing everyone’s comatose state, wondering if they’d wake up and how long they’d be waiting. James never would have thought he was dealing with something even heavier.

“Shit man, that sucks. I’m sorry you went through it but I’m glad you’re still here at least.” James offered after Casper. Jack seems to feel better about it after the journey he took to find his answers but Casper was probably going to do that thing where he buried his feelings under whatever distraction he could get his hands on.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up at Selene's, and then Reeva's, announcement. He didn't trust Selene as far as he could throw her and all this talk about final nights, blood and moons, and now a performance of a Sandersons sisters song made him very nervous. He glanced up, checking to see if the moon was out, and hoped she didn't considered them enemies.

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Andy wondered how Selene would take the inevitable heat death of the universe. She was also very glad that she had caught the unintended innuendo of what she had said. "Had my seventeenth birthday while frozen." She shrugged. So much had changed since she was twelve. She hadn't been mad about missing her birthday as only the time with the Drummonds had happy memories tied to her birthday.

When Selene left, she let out a soft sigh of relief. She really had no idea how to deal with mom. She also wanted answers but talking to Selene was like talking to ...Her mind was short-circuited she had no idea what talking to her was like. Nothing compared. Heck, she'd rather talk with Magneto again.

Then Selene started her song. Andy frowned. Picking at the memory of the Sanderson Sisters and this song. She didn't remember the film well enough. Something about a virgin lighting a candle and salt. But she looked up at the stage, watching.

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Callie leaned back against the counter slightly as she looked over at Moneta as she started to explain more about what had happened to with Magneto, and that she had a son between the two of them, and that he was working as a SHIELD agent. She turned towards Max and looked at him for a few seconds. "Hey don't you know a few SHIELD agents or whatever?" Callie decided to ask him, and she couldn't help but smirk slightly seeing Ben straight up kissing Max in front of him and she gently patted Ben on the shoulder. "Good job there Ben." Callie said to him.

Callie then paused for a moment as she heard Reeva's voice in her head announcing the next singer, hearing that it was Selene who was at their table not to long ago. Callie had heard of the movie Hocus Pocus but she had never actually seen the movie either, as she listened to the song that she was singing along to. "Why did Selene pick this song?" Callie asked, mainly to herself as she looked towards the stage for a moment before looking back at the others. "Shall we head back to our table?" She asked them.

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Silence had fallen between the pair, allowing for Dazzler's music to fill the space. Max had no idea what was going on through Ben's mind, but clearly he was lost in some form of thought. He'd gone to turn to grab the drinks when they were ready, but as he began to do so he felt a hand placed on the nape of his neck. His head spun towards his assailant, wondering who dared try him at this moment when he was quickly pulled into a kiss with Ben. Max instinctively closed his eyes, allowing for the moment to happen, unsure of what to do with his hands or where to put them. But as Ben began to pull back Max fully panicked and without meaning to he BAMF'd leaving nothing but a cold air where he stood as he was engulfed by a void of black orb.

One moment he was outside with an amazing man from beyond the grave, another he was alone in the stillness of his room. His eyes were wide with panic, as he caught his breath and began to figure out what had just happened. Did…did Ben just kiss him? Did Max just have his first kiss? A series of questions ran through his mind as he realized he'd just abandoned his new date right after a kiss. There was a lurch in his stomach and a skip in his heart as he softly whispered a very tiny "no". As if on command his powers kicked in again and the next heartbeat was stood back in front of Ben.

Max looked at him awkwardly, shyness quickly creeping up over the somewhat confident demeanor he'd pretended to have earlier. He placed his hand over one of Ben's. "Sorry. First kiss jitters, I guess it made my mutation kick in…" He cleared his throat as he looked towards Veil and Callie with disbelief in his eyes. Like did this just happen? He grabbed some of the drinks they'd been waiting on in an attempt to occupy his hands as he suddenly became very aware of their existence and couldn't quite figure out what to do with them. When the announcement rang over Max nearly dropped the drinks in his hands. He hoped the song choice was just more camp and not a purposefully chosen song to weave a spell into as the Sanderson Sisters had done.

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Harry giggled as David nipped at his earlobe. Turning to face his boyfriend before giving him a soft peck on the lips in response. His smile turned askew as the rest answered Selene's question. "Well now you're all just making me look selfish and bad." he said through small chuckles. "Here I was expecting the end of the world to be something like global warming or an unsolvable end." Jack's answer took him by surprise however. The only three that had known about Jack's little secret were off getting drinks at the moment, a real shame.

Selene somewhat overshadowed it however with her answer. Claiming she was immortal and couldn't die. Harry would've found it laughable had her sigh not sounded like a longing for something she could never have. Either she was an incredible actress or she truly was immortal. He didn't know how to feel about that prospect. Watching everyone you know and love die around you as you stay the same year after year. If the world were to end what would she do? Wander the remains by herself for eternity? He looked towards Jack, wondering how many others she'd revived. If she could do him, why not the others that fell with the bomb, or the massacres? Why Jack? Before he could inquire further she made another dramatic gesture and vanished in thin air. "So are you immortal now Jack?"

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The conversation had definitely taken a bit of a weird turn in her mind. For numerous reasons, one of course being Selene's oddly specific answer to her own question which was really weird to her. Another being that Jack just said he died and shrugged it off as if it was nothing at all. Then again, in her own mind resurrection and all wasn't that surprising, though she was a bit curious as to how Jack had come back, considering how much effort it had taken the one group to resurrect Ben.

To say that she was a bit glad that Selene had decided to leave the area to go up to the stage. She was beyond confused as to what it was that was going on with the conversation now, but her attention still turned a bit towards Selene and her song choice. The song just sounded a bit weird to her, and she had no idea where the hell it was from. It probably was some reference or something that she'd never understand, but it did give her a bit of a weird feeling that something more was going on, but she didn't know what.

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"Yes Selene forgot to say thanks for that one. Though forgive me for not saying that before considering the other person involved was my father and his whacked out science experiments," Jack responded with a shrug. He then decided to answer the question of when and where. "Actually that situation was a bit screwed up and I was going to die no matter what. Either it was going to be from the mist that the X-Cutioner used to try and make Dc uninhabitable, or from the ice that basically froze everyone into a cryostasis sort of thing. Because let me tell you, ever seen what happens to rubber when it gets frozen? Tends to not end well for the rubber and it likes to shatter. It was a no win situation, and I think technically the ice is what actually killed me."

He watched as Selene walked off to go up to the stage, before continuing on with his previous train of thought, "Though not call this really living, since as mentioned before, pretty sure it turned out to be a science experiment with just a hint of magic that caused me to be here right now. Reason why as mentioned in answering Selene's question that she posed, I don't really care if I end up dead again at this point, anything could happen. Which I am perfectly fine with at this point. It'll be interesting to say the least."

Things were interesting enough at the moment, with Selene performing a song or something of the sorts, which to him likely meant things were about to pick up the pace or something of the sorts. That was confirmed a bit by the little voice that decided to speak into his head, and the instructions it gave were not exactly good ones, this was definitely going to be an interesting thing.

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She knew that she just more or less dumped a lot on Veil and Callie randomly, but frankly it actually was nice for her to tell someone, even if it was in a bit of an info dump of sorts. Miranda fell silent as she was a bit unsure of what else to say at the moment, though the other two seemed partially invested in what was going on between Max and Ben. Though her attention was drawn away a moment by Selene and her, well, interesting choice of song. It was a bit strange in her mind, but she didn't say anything more of it.

"Sorry for that, just needed to vent a little bit to someone, sorry..." she ended up apologizing somewhat quietly to Veil. It had been a long time since she'd been able to really do that sort of thing. They seemed to be getting ready to head back to where the rest of their group was. And she was a bit unsure of whether or not to join the, since Callie had invited her to join them initially and all, so she didn't know what to do really.

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* not actually a mutant

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The Main Stage

An oddly hushed silence came over the venue as Selene finished her song. Silently, like puppets, the members of the Quiet Council all rose to their feet and turned to pay attention. Their faces would look blank, their eyes glazed over and unseeing, words falling upon deaf ears should anyone but Selene speak to them.

"Thank you, darlings - now, in the moments to come, you may find yourself asking why? Why did I die for the Dark Priestess this night? Why is the garden of Eden aflame?" Selene began, opening her villainous monologue. "I shall do you the honor of knowing for what purpose your deaths serve. Since time immemorial, I have been a predator, with the ones we call homo sapiens as my prey. Their souls have sustained me for eons, enhancing my beauty and power and granting me immortality."

"With the souls of homo superior, my fellow demigods, I shall not be merely immortal... I will ascend to true godhood - omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient! I have ensorcelled the minds of your Quiet Council through my ballad. Now, my dark coven, go out and do as your goddess commands - kill every mutant on this sacred island, so that way I may claim my divinity through devouring their immortal souls!"

Selene then broke out cackling, a good proper villainous laugh. "Oh, and do try to escape - I adore playing with my food," she added wickedly.

A hum filled the air, as a gigantic magnetic field surrounded the venue. Magneto and Polaris had combined their powers to construct it, the field so strong as to prevent anyone from leaving, even by teleportation or magical spells. And of course, no one would be able to come inside.

They were trapped, with twelve of the world's deadliest mutants gunning for their heads. The Quiet Council members were firmly under Selene's spell, and had been ordered to kill every mutant in sight.

Let the party begin.

Mutant Underground Table -

Everything Jack was talking about sounded completely and utterly insane to Casper - but then again, that seemed to be the norm for them. They were mutants with weird godlike powers, was being able to see and channel ghosts really that strange next to Jack being brought back to life? Hell, Casper had been part of resurrecting Ben not too long ago. There really was no reason for him to raise an eyebrow at what Jack was saying, even though it gave him chills - probably knowing that Sinister was involved. That man was bad news.

"Wait, James? You okay?" Casper asked, looking at his boyfriend with concern. Selene's performance had just hit its peak and suddenly, it was like James wasn't there - like he was under a spell. Casper gasped. "Omg omg omg, is she... is she really... no she can't be, she can't be actually singing the spell about putting someone under her spell from a movie where they use it to put people under a spell and then using it in the real world to put people under a spell?!" Casper said, completely freaking out.

Then, Selene gave her evil villain monologue, revealing that she had done just that - and that his poor, wonderful James was now under her control.

"James, snap out of it!" Casper said, before hurrying and pressing a kiss to James' lips. "C'mon, true love's kiss for the win?" he said hopefully. It did not break the spell. Some spells could be broken by true love - but not this one.

Of course, poor David was so freaked out by everything happening that another personality bubbled up to the surface, taking control. Legion was carrying himself now with much more self confidence, flicking a finger and sending poor James flying backwards via telekinesis, away from the table. "Name's Jack Wayne, you'll be thankin' me for that in a minute when he tries to kill ya," Legion said, nodding at Casper.

"Now, I don't know much about witches, but I do know that people tend ta burn 'em - anyone got any gasoline?" Legion asked.

"No, I left my gasoline at home - of course we don't have gasoline!" Sunshine snapped. Her heart was pounding furiously in her chest and she felt like crying. They had a place that was theirs, a place where they belonged and could be free and safe... and here was Selene, a mutant just like them, trying to kill them all and burn it all down to the ground. Sunshine felt incredibly angry, but more than that, she felt betrayed. They were supposed to all be working together here.

"We do have alcohol - that's flammable, right, babes?" she asked Marrow. "I have perfect aim, so I can hit her with a Molotov or ten. It'll destroy her - and the couture." She was very much deciding to ignore Selene's claims about being immortal. That had to be Selene bluffing - probably to try to keep people from trying to kill her.

"Very, babes," Marrow said, snapping off bone marrow daggers and tossing them to those in their group, so that way everyone had some sort of weapon. "Stabbing her in an artery ought to also do the trick."

A small child then ran up to the table, screaming and crying. "Mama!!! Mama!!!!" the child wailed.

Shi'Ar Bartender Set-Up

Veil was about to tell Moneta that it was fine and not to worry about it - that spilling painful secrets was what parties and alcohol were for. However, as Selene got deeper into her song, the world gradually seemed to fade away. At first, it was like someone had shoved cotton balls in Veil's ears; then, it was like a filter had been slipped over everything, the world strangely sepia. And then, it was all too late. Veil was enchanted, held underneath Selene's spell.

Some small part of her must have been fighting the spell though, as Veil attempted to turn invisible and remained incredibly visible. But that in itself took almost all of her concentration. Veil turned to look at Max and extended her hand. She shaped a small force field around his head and slowly shrank it, making it smaller and smaller, putting pressure on his skull and suffocating him, threatening to burst him like a zit.

"Oh come ON!" Ben complained. "I come back from the dead and the first party I'm at, this shit happens? Fucking unbelievable, I hate it here," he muttered. Tentacles shot out of the pocket dimension in Ben's stomach, curling around Veil and squeezing tightly as he tried to choke her out. Her concentration faltered, forcing her to release Max, as Veil struggled to push against the tentacles to free herself.

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Callie looked at Moneta as she apologized for all the information that she spilled out, to her it was completely fine with it, it was better to tell someone than to keep it all bottled up. However as the song continued Callie's attention turned back to the main stage, the grip of her drink loosened and eventually fell to the ground and spilling it. Her eyes glazed over as Selene had control over her mind as the song ended and she went on with her villainous monologue as the order to kill everyone around them as Callie nodded turning her attention towards Ben and Max.

Veil tried to take out Max but it was stopped by Ben rather quickly as tentacles wrapped around her friend, she quickly held out her hand sending a powerful bolt of electricity directly towards Max knocking him backwards shocking him pretty badly. Her attention turned towards Ben now as she tried to shoot lightening directly towards him. Only to somehow shocking herself knocking herself backwards slightly groaning slightly as she got back up again.

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His concerns seeped away as Selene put on an amazing performance, unbothered as the world seemed to slip away with them. The weight of Casper on his lap, the sound of the others at the table, the rest of the mutants here celebrating and mourning in equal measure― none of it mattered except the woman singing on stage. This would normally alarm him but the feeling was quelled beneath a heavy blanket of apathy and when Selene’s performance ended…

James jolted back to awareness as the world spun before his eyes. He was staring at the sky, absolute pandemonium around him, and he frankly had no idea how he’d gotten there. The dull pain along his back suggested he’d been shoved but by who he didn’t know. There was the faint sense of pressure on his lips, the fading warmth of a body lingering still on his legs, and the shadow of concern and fear that vanished in the face of a more pressing issue: James had no idea where he was. This wasn’t where he was a minute ago. He couldn’t exactly remember where that was and in fact he couldn’t seem to recall much at the moment, but he did recall something important: Everyone here had to die.

James took a step towards a strange mushroom table where a group of strangers were arming themselves. He paused as he prepared to lunge for them. Something in the back of his head was bothering him, some voice begging him to stop. James clicked his tongue at it and shook it off, taking another step before the voice came back, telling him about allies. He remembered there were friendly people nearby, he wasn’t alone in this. It made sense, the voice in the back of his head reasoned. James wasn’t meant to take on a large group of enemies. His strengths lay in his resistance, stamina, and support. He should find them so he would be more effective, the voice reasoned.

James struggled to make a decision, eyeing the strangers in front of him. Now that he was considering it, James wanted nothing more than to tear them all to bits, fling their organs around like rags dolls, and gouge out their eyes with his fingers. It took everything he had to bring himself to heel. The voice, trick or not, was right. Allies would make it far easier to slaughter them all. James turned and ignored the table for now, heading off for the drinking area where the voice whispered his allies were, memorizing the faces of everyone around the table.

He’d make a game of killing them.

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Max could hardly enjoy the moment he was having with Ben. Selene's speech sent a cold shiver down his spine as every hair on his neck stood up at once. He turned to Ben, time seemingly stretching on for eternity, as he realized he was around two of the Quiet Council members. [Color=Ben! Wha-"[/color] His words cut short as Veil suffocated Max, compressing his head in an attempt to kill him.ax grabbed at the invisible barrier in a panic before it quickly disappeared thanks to Ben's aid. He took a sharp breath in, trying to regain what he'd lost but there was no end to their barrage.

A sharp tingle ran through the entirety of Max's body. His joints ringing from the strange pain as a sense of numbness began to flood his systems. Spots danced around his vision as all the sounds began to muffle into the background. The humming of the field surrounding them, distorting the sky and downwards, Selene's cackle, screaming, running, and then suddenly in his spotty vision he saw James approaching. For the briefest of moments there was a smile on Max's lips. Thinking that healing and succor was on his way, until he remembered James too was on the council. "no" he whispered to himself.

Max tried to subtly cast a spell, his magic flowing around the three in an attempt to pull them all together, encircled by a chain. Unfortunately for him, Callie's little shock earlier coupled by Veil's sudden mood for decapitation had left him a bit woozy. The spell misfired and only gave each a cozy winter sweater each with a hand knitted letter right in the center of it, marking them with a V, J, and C. He silently cursed to himself as he grabbed a hold of Ben's wrist. "We have to go." Darkness enveloped them, an orb engulfing the pair as a ring dissipated it like a collapsing star. Only the chill remained behind that was left with each of his teleports.

Immediately they reappeared in front of Magneto. Max's heart skipped a beat. Not yet he thought to himself. Polaris would need to be knocked down first, in order to distort the field. But Max couldn't knock down either of the two in his current state. He needed allies. Once again he left with Ben in hand, leaving only the cold air to stay in his place. Ben appeared to his right, off to the side of the table as Max came in crashing down atop it all. "Fuuuuuck." he groaned as he rolled onto his side before sitting up. The team was there, armed with spikes and their own powers. It seemed James left them alone.

"Veil, Callie, and James-"

"We know. We heard the announcement from here." There was a grim expression on Harry's face. He'd truly hoped that Caspers kiss was enough to knock some sense into James. But it appeared the old witch's Magic was a little past that point. David had been consumed by another persona, one by the name of Jack Wayne. He didn't mind all those that lived within David's mind. He loved him fully for all he was and had. But right now, at this moment, he really wished David was here.

"Alright then. Jack Wayne, skillset? Is there any chance you're a master telepath like Davie is? If not, is there any chance he may return back into the fight soon?" Harry asked as he made his way over and helped Max off of the table and back onto his legs. "My thoughts are this, Veil is a danger unto her own. We don't need anyone dying tonight either friend or foe. But Selene's grip on them is too strong. If we could get a skilled and powerful telepath into their minds then perhaps-"

"They could use their powers to counteract the enchantment by forcing out their real psyche to the forefront. That could work. I mean it's magic sure, but it's afflicting the mind." Max leaned against the table, tired from the small jumps and assault as he grabbed a drink that hadn't spilled and took a sip.

"Once we've freed them we need to find a way to drop this bubble and fight Selene. The less casualties the better. Im…I'm sorry Andy."

"I may have a way but first we gotta get to that stage of the fight. Let's focus on the now."

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"I've only known she was my mom for like five minutes. And so far, that time has been spent being pecked by evil birds. I can't say I'm attached." That wasn't a lie. It also wasn't the total truth. Part of Andy was thirsty for a family. One that was hers. It was why she had let Magento adopt her. If Selene had come to her before she met the Mutant Underground group, she might have been up there on the stage with her.

She looked at the little kid who was crying. "Hey kid, who is your mom?" She didn't know the kid. And she didn't think any of the group had a kid, at least not one that would match the description of this kid. She thought James and Casper had an infant son they had adopted.

Andy was confident. If anyone came after her, she could protect herself. Or use her life draining to knock the person down some. Maybe if James came back, she'd have to. She knew he could heal, it'd be a way to keep him reduced. But Andy knew that was a dangerous and slippy slope if she wasn't careful, she might kill someone.

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Well this had turned into an interesting predicament of sorts didn't it? Then again, sometimes the best parties turned into full on fighting, but seldom did they turn into instances of people actually wanting to kill everyone else. That sort of thing was insanely rude in her mind, so it made this whole thing a lot worse. The chaos ensued fairly quickly, and everyone else was starting to stand up and get ready to fight. That was something she could do, and she stood up from where she had been sitting, drawing her sword instantly.

The symbols that were floating over everyone's heads struck her as odd, it took a moment for her to realize that they were symbols of death. That certainly didn't bode well, but her attention went from that, to what the prophecy she had been told referred to, and then it hit her. This was the event that it had foretold her stopping or something. Question was how the hell was she supposed to do that? "So this is what the Norns had spoken of..." she said outloud, speaking more to herself then anyone else.

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This definitely was changing things up a bit to say the least. Though he wasn't surprised at all really with it, considering the fact that Selene had spoken about becoming a goddess, so this was sort of the correct thinking really. Turning the Quiet Council against everyone was definitely interesting too, since they were some of the most powerful mutants in Genosha, and now they more or less were her puppets to do her bidding. Which in this case was to kill everyone in this little bubble of sorts.

Selene's message about killing Casper though? He wasn't too sure if he could actually do that. Casper drove him nuts half the time, but he still was his closest family member really. Jack didn't think he could actually do that, so he was more of going to slow him down. Since apparently Selene thought he could do something probably? Why else would she want to specifically target Casper? Didn't make sense to him really, but he decided to start doing a telepathic attack on Casper. Which was going to potentially be a bit difficult because of his father being Xavier, but oh well. They'd see how that turned out eventually.

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Miranda didn't say anything else really in general, as Selene's enchantment took over, and she couldn't really control her own thoughts, thinking about how to take down everyone there. She wasn't a really combat oriented person, she typically was more of someone who provided support to others in combat as opposed to full on attacking others. However, that didn't mean that she wasn't powerful in her own right and able to fight fairly well in combat if she needed to. In this case, it was a situation of where she needed to, like how in the House of M alternate reality she had managed to do well herself.

She glanced over at the group by the table, as Max and Ben had now joined them, and she raised her hand into the air. Three spears appeared above her, and with a flick of her wrist they went flying towards the table. Two of them missed, spearing into the ground near the group, proving that they were solid illusions. Her third one though, as if adding insult to injury, soared straight over and stabbed Max in the leg. Which now meant that a spear was currently sticking out of his leg at a bit of an awkward angle, and it would be somewhat painful for him now.

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* not actually a mutant

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There was mass panic and hysteria, as people found themselves rapidly sobering up out of sheer terror. Everyone felt in their bones that this was about to be a massacre. A dozen of the world's most powerful mutants were hellbent on slaughter, all to see SELENE become a dark goddess. Reeva's screams were shutting off the powers of groups of mutants in waves, and sending some abilities dangerously out of control. Magneto and Polaris were slowly making the magnetic force fields smaller and smaller, forcing everyone into tighter and closer quarters. Esme Frost was attacking telepathically, sending mutants dropping to the ground motionlessly. Mister Sinister was cackling, stealing people's capes and strangling them with them. Destiny horrifyingly was firing blind into crowds with a crossbow.

And yet, things could have been oh so much worse. Our heroes weren't the only ones fighting back. No, others were rising up to protect themselves and their community everywhere within the Carousel. Some might have argued that Selene made a mistake, assuming that she only needed the Quiet Council to destroy Genosha.

After all, Genosha was a people - not a place. A people who were shouting NO MORE.

Mutant Underground Table -

"James? James!" Casper shouted, broken hearted as James left him behind. Casper's shoulders slumped. There were screams all around. Was this the lot of mutants, to always be hunted, even by one of their own? All he could be thankful for was that his mother had little baby Danny with her and that she wasn't here - that if they all died, at least his son would make it out okay.

But Casper wasn't going to accept this. His head started pounding for a second, something that he vaguely recognized was some sort of telepathic attack. He wrote it off as being one of the Quiet Council people - a few of them were telepaths and all of them were apparently evil now, per Hocus Pocus rules. "I'm going after James!" Casper shouted, before taking off at a run in the direction James had gone. If true love's kiss didn't work, then maybe true love's punch would.

"'Fraid I can't do that," Jack Wayne said, nodding at Echo. "Lil Davie doesn't want to be out right now. But don't you fret, ole' Jack here has a few tricks up his sleeves," he added. He made a lassoing motion and telekinetically yanked the hard light spear out of Max's leg, the spear flying into Jack Wayne's hand. "Huh, now what's a nice lil lady like you doing throwin' around somethin' like this?" Jack Wayne asked Moneta, before throwing the spear back at her, aiming for her stomach.

Sunshine knew that they couldn't all just stay in one location here, concentrating their efforts on Moneta. There were other members of the Quiet Council that needed to be dealt with. And while other mutants were fighting, Sunshine wouldn't be able to live with herself if she stayed here in her battle tested group. "I'm going to go get these fields down," Sunshine said, not offering a moment for anyone to object before she took off at a run in the direction of Magneto and Polaris.

Marrow's eyes flashed. "Not without me you aren't!" she shouted at her wife, before running off after her.

"Watch out!" Ben shouted, snaring a tentacle around Andy and quickly lifting her up and out of the way. The small child had rushed up to Andy, seemingly going in for a hug, but Ben had noticed the knife the kid was holding behind her back.

"Way to ruin the fun," the little kid complained, before shifting into her true form - that of a blue skinned woman with red hair and a belt of real skulls. Mystique. "But we can do things this way, too," she offered, before feinting and punching Zari in the throat, hard.

Shi'Ar Bartender Set-Up

Max teleporting Ben away had forced Ben to release his tentacle'd grip on Veil. Veil fell to the ground unceremoniously, clad in a Christmas-y sweater with her initial on it. Somehow, Selene's spell allowed Veil to recognize that the sweater did not go with her suit, so she removed it quickly and threw it aside. Then again, that was exactly the sort of thing Selene would add into a spell - not only would her entranced minions kill for her, no, they would slay for her. Ugly outfits were simply unacceptable.

"Spark Plug, can you make the weather a living hell in here? Whatever the worst you can do is," Veil requested. "If we perish as well for goddess' ascension, so be it. That price is worth it." She then looked at Caduceus, contemplating what to ask him to do. Even now, Veil fell naturally into a leadership role. Moneta had already charged off towards the table the Mutant Underground was chasing at. "Caduceus, you need a more useful ability."

And then, without another word, Veil attacked her enchanted ally. She sent a sharp force field disc at James, aiming for a kill shot. But rather than beheading him, his reactive adaption kicked in. James' skin turned to metal - more precisely, adamantium, one of the strongest metals in the world. "There. Now you can better serve our goddess."

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Callie looked down at herself as an extremely ugly Christmas sweater appeared on herself with her first initial on it she glared at Max as he disappeared from the group. "I really fucking hate tacky Christmas sweaters.." Callie said as she quickly tore it off of her, and tossed it towards the ground. Her attention turned towards Veil asking if she could make the weather around the area a living hell and smirked as she could hear the chaos all around her as the other members of the Quiet Council were attacking their fellow Mutants in the name of Selene. "I would be glad to." Callie said to Veil.

Callie started to concentrate as a massive thundercloud appeared around the entire Carousel, and rain quickly started to come down rather hard, along with loud claps of thunder. Callie then sent several massive bolts of lightening out of the clouds and onto the ground hitting the ground, not really caring who would get hit with the lightening.

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He was glad he followed that nagging voice that had since gone silent. Immediately, Veil and Spark Plug's identity snapped together in his mind and he didn't even flinch as Veil forced a transformation on him. "Thanks." James tore the sweater off and tossed it on the ground carelessly as his skin finished changing. He smirked at the way the metal flexed as he closed his fist. Callie's storm certainly added an exciting element to the mix and with his new form, he should be able to harness that power directly and fix himself up while leaving his victims paralyzed. He waved farewell to Veil and Spark Plug, heading back in the direction he came.

As he headed back the way he came, following after Moneta, he recognized one of the people from the table on the way. A lanky man in a pink dress was running his way. It shouldn't take too long to break him, a few punches from his metal hands enough to crack his skull and break his chest probably. But a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder gave him a better idea. It'd be too easy just to kill him. Why couldn't he please the Goddess and have some fun with her prey?

James wore a manic grin as he faked a punch and instead ducked behind the man, getting him in a choke hold. James held his arm up to grab the lightning but the bastard was slipper than he thought, scooting out of his grip as a bolt of lightning flew wide and slammed into the ground nearby.

"It's fun when you struggle. Makes it more satisfying when I finally tear out your throat!" James cackled as he lunged.

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Andy couldn't repress a scream when Ben pulled her away from the kid. Well, Mystique. She cut the scream off quickly. He was lucky she didn't try to electrocute him on the spot. Instead, she mumbled her thanks. She got back to her feet. It was raining now, and it seemed the shield was shrinking. She thought maybe she could try to counteract it after what she had done in the spar with Magneto. But that was a later problem. The current problem was Mystique had punched her girlfriend.

"Fuck off." She said dropping into her boxing stance. She threw a punch but Mystique knocked her down. Andy bounced right back up. She had spent enough time in the boxing ring and wasn't afraid of being knocked around a bit. Andy went to throw another punch but Mystique grabbed her and tossed her onto the table. It knocked the air out of her, but she still zapped Mystique.

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Max hadn't even noticed the kid until Andy had pointed them out. In all this chaos it was no surprise some families may have gotten separated. His heart went out to them, but for now they had bigger issues to deal with. The fields around them were beginning to shrink, Casper had gone off on his own, Sunshine and Marrow split to handle the Magnetic Duo, and there was a sharp and stinging pain in his leg. Zari's center got drowned out as he let out an agonizing scream when the illusory spear impaled his leg. Jack was more than helpful by removing it, allowing Max to apply pressure to the wound. Grunts of pain escaping him every now and then.

Harry hardly processed the knife in the child's hand as Ben reactively pulled Andy to safety. "Good looking out Ben." he called before fixing his gaze at Mystique. She could easily spell trouble for a whole lot of mutants on her own. Harry knew Moneta was nearby, but he couldn't afford to take his eyes off a mutant that could easily escape just by being glanced away from. No, first they'd have to deal with her then they'd deal with Miranda.

As Max pressed against the wound, he let out a wave of healing magic that began to close the wound in his leg. He looked up and saw Miranda having launched her assault on them. A freak storm began to come out as lightning cracked and crashed into the ground at random intervals. Shit was going south and fast. "You guys can handle Mystique and Miranda. I'll go chase after the man-child so he isn't alone and vulnerable." he silently cursed to himself as he took a few steps forward before stopping and turning to look back. He'd never had someone to care for when going off into a fight, well no one beyond friends.

He'd run back towards Ben, giving him a small kiss on the lips. "You don't have to come after me if you don't want to. Go where you think you're needed, I just want to make sure Caspers safe seeing as he ran towards 3 of the council. But if something happens to me…just be safe." Max gave Ben another kiss before running back after Casper.

Harry tried to call out his clones to the fight, hoping that surrounding Mystique and bombarding her with a barrage of blows would allow for an opening to actually strike her. After all she couldn't fight everyone at once…right? But as he closed in on the fight between her and Andy, his powers failed him. He stopped cold in his tracks, re-evaluating his tactics as he tried to avoid using his other mutation. He didn't need to be burning holes into any other mutants, even if they'd recently discovered a way to resurrect mutants.

Andy had been taking a few hits, getting back up with every strike Mystique had thrown at her. But as soon as she was flipped onto her back, Harry could see the hairs standing up as an electric shock tan towards Mystique at the point of contact. Harry took the opportunity to leg sweep Mystique, knocking her down onto her back and off of Andy. "When did Ben and Max happen? And you! She's under my protection so back off you blue bitch." Harry sung an incredibly high pitch from The Phantom of the Opera, and a flash of blinding light dazzled before Mystique blinding her.

Max watched helplessly as lightning struck by the pair. He couldn't tell if it had actually hit, but he could see someone's glistening metallic skin in the distance. Casper had managed to wrangle free from the grasp and as Max got closer he realized it was James who was fighting him. Twice now they'd been pitted against each other. He quickly went to work conjuring magical chains to bind James into place. Unfortunately James' adaptation kicked in and he made easy work of his magic tearing through it like paper. Max began to step back uneasily as he for the first time, felt threatened by James.

"This is bad. Last shot." Max tried to undo the enchantment, but as his magic touched hers, it infected his own. The strands of hued magic that came from Max, colored in purples, blues, and pinks with specks of white peppered across it, was slowly inking black as it spread towards him. His eyes went pitch for a moment before he'd finally gone back to normal. His attention quickly turned to Casper with an evil grin. "No hard feelings. Selene's Godhood just means more than your lives."