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To her, this was an interesting fight to be had for some reason. They had to figure out a way to get everyone's minds back to being in control of themselves and not being mind controlled. Of course, she couldn't think on how to fix that potential problem as the child that Andy had been talking to shape shifted into Mystique, who decided to kick her fairly hard and knocked the wind out of her, causing her to stumble a bit backwards from the force of it, but it mainly just left a bit of a sore spot from where she had gotten hit.

That probably would explain why her first attack seemingly was a swing and a miss. That wasn't good, since Mystique was practically a sitting target with how she was currently. However, her next hit struck true as she landed a pretty nasty blow to her, severely injuring her and she fell to the ground knocked out. "Well now that she's down, we should probably try and deal with one of the other groups or something at this point now." she ended up saying, resting her sword against her shoulder as she looked at the chaos around her.

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Well Casper seemed hellbent on getting into more trouble, which was not exactly a good thing. Jack was somewhat attempting to keep Casper from trying to get himself killed, however that was seemingly not working out all too well, since he seemed to just want to go racing off or something like that. That was just making things more difficult, and Jack raced off after Casper, figuring he'd at least slow down James so Casper doesn't get himself killed by his boyfriend or whatever.

"Well if anyone is going to kill Casper ever first of all it'll probably be me at some point, so hands off," Jack said to James, before trying to land a hit or so on him. Though he knew that James' powers would make landing a physical hit on him a hell of a lot harder, so he did attempt to try to get into his head and mess with him mentally. However none of those attacks seemed to be working out, but hey, who knows how this will turn out.

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"This certainly is an interesting thing to witness," she mused a bit, watching the commotion for a little while. Miranda wasn't exactly a combat oriented, so this also was something she was a bit unused to. She was better off using her powers to protect others, not send them flying at everyone else to do damage. Oh well, this just proved to be a challenge for her for the most part, since that would lead to some interesting results if she actually managed to do more aside from stabbing one person in the leg.

When Legion sent the spear flying directly back at her, she managed to get out of the way of the attack, managing to avoid getting impaled by it. Well wasn't that rude to do, send someone's own weapon right back at them? Miranda sent another wave of spears flying that direction, though likely because of the avoiding the spear sent back at her, she ended up having her aim a bit off, missing anyone in the group as a few of the spears stuck into the ground again. That wasn't good, but oh well.

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* not actually a mutant

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BOOM! Thunder, wind, rain, and lightning rule the sky! The previously weather-perfect gala has been put to the mercy of the elements, thanks to Spark Plug. The elements did not seem to really care who they harmed, as both Selene and her minions ended up being buffeted by the rain and cold. Most horrifying to Selene, her hairstyle was becoming ruined with the water - perhaps that was why she was screeching?

"Gah, cease this rainstorm at once!!! It's ruining my fit!" Selene shouted, somehow making her voice heard over the din.

Mutant Underground Table -

Mystique was knocked unconscious and critically injured, making at least one less minion/victim of Selene that was actively trying to kill all the mutants of Genosha. The power of lesbians working together :)

Had this entire relationship developed today? Yes. But Ben still held Max somewhat tenderly as Max ran back and kissed him. He didn't voice that a not so small part of him was tired of rushing off to Casper's rescue. He didn't want to always have to get Casper out of trouble. And he felt guilty for feeling resentful over it, and then he felt annoyed for feeling guilty. Emotions sucked.

Ben hesitated, before rushing after Max.

Jack Wayne, aka Legion, sized up Moneta. "You're pretty tough for a lil' lady," Jack Wayne said. "But I reckon that you're fixin' for a beatin' all the same." He glanced over at Andy, Zarina, and Echo. "I've got her handled, if you'd like to go stop one of the others." Was it overconfidence? Probably. But then again, Legion was an omega level mutant. Jack Wayne was ready to hop into the saddle.

He pushed Moneta back telekinetically, slamming her into one of the mushroom tables, food and drink spilling onto her clothes, ruining them. She'd hit her head pretty hard in the process and definitely had a concussion, her vision swimming and she was seeing double. However, she wasn't down for the count - not yet. Jack Wayne was confidently walking towards her.

Shi'Ar Bartender Set-Up

Veil nodded approvingly, seeing the storm that Callie had wrought come to fruition. It reminded her of demonstrations Storm would make at the Xavier's Institute when she was a student there - there was something about the raw, natural power that commanded attention. There was one flaw, however, in a lightning storm... particularly for someone who had just been granted adamantium skin, metal skin... James was a respectable 5'10", so while he wouldn't ordinarily be considered a lightning rod, well...

Perhaps Xavier's school should've supplemented their science curriculum - maybe then Veil would've instantly spotted the problem. Or perhaps Selene's spell should've allowed for more higher brain functions and thought, rather than having her enchanted minions going off of pure impulse and a tendency to cause destruction.

Nope, instead of thinking about how easy it would be for James to get hit by lightning, Veil instead was terrorizing people. No one was really fighting back against her, and she didn't feel like going after the Underground people, they had enough attention at the moment.

Midway Between Shi'Ar Bar and Underground Table

"JAAAAAMES! WHAT THE HELL!" Casper screamed, nearly pissing himself as James tried to get both of them electrocuted. His beautiful pink dress had gotten torn up in the struggle and Casper's heart was beating wildly. He didn't have Ben here to save him. He didn't have Ben here to save him. But luckily(?) his baby brother, Jack, came dashing to the rescue. "Jaackie! What do you mean you're going to be the one to kill me?! And how is James metal?! Why is Max evil??? What the hell is happening here I thought we were having a paaaarty?" Casper whined.

James lunged at Casper and hit him in the throat. Casper fell backwards onto the ground, thankfully not getting trampled as people were doing their best to avoid James at the moment. Ordinarily, Casper would've loved having James on top of him, going for his throat. But right now, he was both horny and scared. "Uh uh uh someone help meeee!!"

Casper's eyes glowed blue and a blue aura covered his hands. A spirit formed next to him, one intimately familiar to both James and Jack.

"What have you idiots gotten yourselves into without me?"

And then, mere seconds later - CRACK!!!!

James was hit by lightning.

James' mutation could not adapt in time.

James is hurting badly.

"What the hell... Why is James metal?" Ben blurted, rushing onto the scene. "Cassie, you good?"

Near the Asgard Bartender Set-Up

"Babe, you're fucking insane, you can't beat Magneto and Polaris!" Marrow hissed, grabbing Sunshine's arm and forcing her to stop. Sunshine glared at her for a moment, before Marrow continued. "Not without me, anyways," she added, before giving her wife a brief but passionate kiss. Someone's firework-like powers went off behind them, giving the kiss a much more romantic scene than their surroundings would have implied.

"I hate you," Sunshine said lovingly. She generated a small ball of disease in her hand, only for Marrow to shake her head. Marrow snapped off more bone spikes and handed them one at a time to Sunshine. "Put your disease on these, babe - and throw them at the fuckers."

"Alright, just be careful," Sunshine requested, not wanting to accidentally make Marrow sick. She imbued the first bone spike with disease and chucked it, aiming for Magneto's neck. Fortunately, he was wearing his party clothes and not any sort of armor. Her aim was true, as such was her mutant power. The bone spike went through, as Magneto for whatever reason didn't notice, didn't react fast enough, and hit him in the stomach. It wasn't thrown hard enough to pierce, more of hitting and falling to the ground, but that was enough for the disease to begin to take hold.

"What did you give him, by the way?" Marrow asked.

"No idea," Sunshine admitted. "Hopefully just enough to get these fields down... But we gotta deal with Polaris still."

Polaris was right behind them - and not all too happy.

Uh oh.

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Max had no intention of playing with his food the way James was. He looked towards Casper with a sneer before clicking his tongue. "You're not worth my time. I've got my sights set on something…bigger." He felt the rushing winds of the storm that Callie had whipped up, listening to the cracking of thunder as rain peppered his face. A bolt of lightning crashed right before him as it hit James and illuminated the area they all stood in before dimming back out and arcing around James' metallic skin. The ground around Max's feet began to swirl with his magic, hues of purples, blues, and pinks, speckled with white dancing around him as his coat billowed off his body.

Harry hesitated for a moment. Watching as Zari knocked out Mystique with his and Andy's aid before they all turned their sights on Moneta. Jack Wayne seemed to believe he had her handled. A fight of the telepaths it seemed, and although it wasn't David at the moment, Harry still worried about him all the same. Reluctant to leave his side for too long during all this chaos. Ben rushed off towards Max, and Zari and Andy stayed nearby. It seemed the couples were…coupling off. "Max said we needed that shield down for his plan. I'll go help Sunshine and Marrow out, if you two wanna go help somewhere else." Harry ran off towards where Sunshine and Marrow had gone.

The magic flowed up towards Max's hands, levitating him off the ground from the sheer power before he began to make some arcane gestures. It all came naturally to him, as if someone out there was feeding him the information. A loud crack resonated across the gala, not from the lightning that lit up the sky, but from a massive portal tearing above everyone's heads. Magic emanated from Max before erupting upwards, piercing the tear that was forming and allowing for a wide split. A roar sounded off in the distance before a large looming figure zipped through and brought a rush of air as it whipped its wings into a frenzy and spewed fire down below. Max snapped out of the enchantment in a daze, the dark magic visibly leaving his body. His jaw dropped at the sight of the dragon as the last traces left him and he whispered. "What have I done?"

Harry arrived just in time to notice Polaris standing right behind Sunshine and Marrow. The fields around them were still active, but he didn't want to harm anyone. Just this once, everybody lives. His bardic nature kicked in and he'd put on a performance like no other. Pulling out all the stops as a solo artist. He wished he had the boys with him, they typically played the instruments while he took lead vocals. Harry placed himself between Polaris and the girls, using his mutation to immediately put a spotlight on himself. Waves of light pulsed behind him in a multi-colored display building up until the moment he sang. Bisexual lighting taking full display.

"What do you mean?
I'm sorry by the way
Never coming back down
Can't you see?
I could, but wouldn't stay
Wouldn't put it like that
What do you mean?
I'm sorry by the way
Never coming around
It'd be so sweet if things just stayed the same
La-da-da-da-da
All the lights couldn't put out the dark
Running through my heart
Lights up and they know who you are
Know who you are
Do you know who you are? (Oh)
Shine
Step into the light
Shine
So bright sometimes
Shine
I'm not ever going back
Shine
Step into the light
Shine
So bright sometimes
Shine
I'm not ever going back
Shine
Step into the light
Shine
So bright sometimes
Shine
I'm not ever (Oh)
What do you mean?
I'm sorry by the way
Never going back now
It'd be so sweet if things just stayed the same
La-da-da-da-da
La-da-da-da-da
La-da-da-da-da (Oh)
La-da-da-da-da (Oh)
La-da-da-da-da (Oh)
All the lights couldn't put out the dark
Running through my heart
Lights up and they know who you are
Know who you are
Do you know who you are?

As he danced along, grabbing her attention with both his musical prowess and hypnotic lights, he could see her concentration slipping until finally the field went down. He'd hoped he could buy Max enough time to teleport out and back in with whatever it was his plan involved.

---

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With Mystique taken care of, Andy looked around. Legion was handling Moneta. She had no answer for Ben and Max as far as she knew; they hadn't been a thing before the party. Sunshine had done something to Magento, and Harry was living his pop star dreams. There, of course, was the dragon that Max had summoned. Andy couldn't figure out why he thought that was a good idea. It was storming. There was lightning. Maybe she could do something with that. But really, besides the dragon, she wasn't sure where to go. Oh, she supposed she could talk to her mom.

What do you say to your mom when you just found out like a day ago that she was your mom, and now she was trying to kill you and everyone you knew? "I'm gonna go yell at Selene. I don't think I can like kill her or anything. But maybe she'll stop." Andy said to Zari with a shrug.

Andy marched over to the stage with Selene on it. "Hey! What the hell is this all about? You ruined a perfectly good party." Andy felt that if she said Selene had ruined it with murder, Selene would probably believe that only improved the party. And maybe, if anything, Andy could distract Selene while someone else smarter figured out how to stop her. "Do you think killing everyone I know is the way to convince me to be a good and diligent daughter?" This was the stupidest thing Andy had ever done in her whole life. And she had done some dumb things.

---

James' knees buckled as the lightning hit him, every nerve on fire as he struggled to get his swimming vision to focus. His hearing was little more than a dull hum in the background and his skin, where he wasn't numb, felt like he'd pressed several hot pokers to it. The wounds started to heal immediately, burns fading into nothing, but soreness radiated through every muscle as he slowly recovered. It'd been a hard hit and it left him weak-he couldn't even move from where he knelt.

Slowly, his hearing keyed back in, his vision settled, but he couldn't move. He studied the scene in front of him with mild confusion. Casper was on ground, Sapphire's spirit and Jack were here, the table had vanished, and the weather was out if control. Fighting could be hear elsewhere and James tried to turn his head but the damage done by the lightning strike was too much for his healing at the moment.

Why was their fighting? The last thing James remembered was Casper sitting in his lap while he chatted with Selene. Max, Veil, and Callie were coming back with drinks but after that it was all hazy. Shit, did someone slip then some weird alien alcohol that didn't go well with human physiology? He could see someone pulling a horrible prank like that and as soon as he recovered, he was going to have a stern talking to with whoever thought drugging him was a fun prank idea.

Then James stood.

Normally, this would be a good thing, a great thing even. However, James was not trying to stand and yet here he was, ignoring the screaming muscle pain in favor of scowling at the blue apparition. His gaze dropped down to where Casper lay, clearly terrified and hurt, and James panicked as he tried to move, to speak, to do anything. Nothing happened. No one responded. James realized whatever was happening, he was made a prisoner in his own body. Someone else-

Fucking Selene. The hazy memories came back slowly, the fog parting to reveal Slene's performance and his last glance up at the moon. If he got out of this, he was chopping her to pieces, separating them, and fuckong burying or sinking them or whatever other bullshit immortals needed to be dealt with.

"Maybe if you were more than a worn out rubber band, you'd realize I want him alive a little longer. No wonder your daughter barely tolerates you. I'd hate sharing blood with you too." James heard himself say to Jack before turning to Sapphire. "And while I'm sure you're just dying to remind everyone how much of a bitch you are, save it. You've served your purpose just showing up. James tried to curse out Selene, beg with himself, scream out for help but it didn't matter what he did. He caught the dragon as the not-him looked up at Max's creation, terrifying in its majesty and danger, but the recognition was far away. James was a prisoner in his own body, one that wanted to kill everyone he loved, and he couldn't do shit about it.

As miserable as James was, it seemed the enchantment controlling him didn't know or didn't care about how James felt. Instead, he was more concerned with the tight, itchy feeling skittering across his skin, overshadowing the quickly fading soreness. It felt uncomfortably tight and for a moment, James could have sworn his skin would split.

Then it did and internally, James was horrified and disgusted. Not-him couldn't move fast enough, the dry, tight, itchy feeling maddening as he tore at his face, rolling layer after layer of skin down his cheeks and neck and shoulders. He tore it out in patches from under his clothes, through the holes left by the lightning strike, with the faintest glimmer of ooze on the freshh, new skin beneath. Both James and not-James needed a moment to recover after that but it wasn't long before the enchantment overrode his needs and drove him to bloodlust again.

James screamed and railed as his body went for Casper again, vulnerable and defenseless. It was obvious he didn't want to kill him-after all, an unlimited supply of mutant souls seemed like the greatest gift of all from the Goddess-but the shaky, unsettling aftermath left James's control lacking and what was meant to be a stunning blow turned into a crushed skull. James watched in horror as the blood of his beloved dripped off his fingers.

"Not what I wanted but it isn't every day you she'd your skin, I suppose." James heard himself say followed by a shrug. The voice was distant and tears pricked at his body's eyes as he wept, his devastation equal parts fury and sorrow. When he broke free of this shit, Selene wouldn't get the chance to die. He'd torture her for all eternity before he was satisfied. "At least, he can rejoice in his contriubution to the Goddess. We finally found something his pathetic ass was good for."

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Callie watched as the storm that she had created continued to play out around her, as lightening struck the ground electrocuting any mutant that was close to where it had landed. She continued to summon more lightening from the clouds that she had created sending them down, enjoying the chaos that she was creating. "Sorry ma'am." Callie said when she heard Selene yelling for her to make the rain stop she obliged her, as she willed the rain to stop around her, but Callie continued with the lightening and thunder.

She turned for a moment as a massive dragon came out of the sky and started to attack the mutants as well thanks to Max's summoning as she smiled seeing everything happening right in front of her. She watchd as Veil had gone off to attack other mutants doing what Selene had commanded her to do.

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Zari wasn't entirely sure what to do, but she looked at the chaos, trying to find another target to attack. It took only a moment for her to see the dragon that Max had summoned, as it started attacking people. "Ooooooh, a dragon!" she said happily, looking at the creature. There weren't a whole lot of people who would think about how to potentially get up to fight or slow down the dragon. However, Zari was a bit on the strange side, and was fine with the idea of fighting a dragon. So of course she was going to do something that many people would consider crazy or stupid.

"I'm gonna go fight the fire breathing lizard," she ended up saying to Andy and Echo, before she pulled out her horn and blew into it, immediately summoning Mr. Sparkles to her side. "Alright Mr. Sparkles, let's fly," she said as she jumped onto the pegasus' back. She drew her sword as they flew higher, almost losing her footing at one point as she instantly went to go swipe at the dragon. Zari had the problem of the scales, and she was aiming to hit different areas to maybe find a weak point. Of course she wasn't going to be super lucky with her first few attempts. Her first one practically bounced off the scales, the other two she couldn't even hit the lizard as it decided to shoot fire at her, but thankfully Mr. Sparkles was able to dodge the fire heading their way.

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"It's called a joke Casper not actually serious," he responded to his brother with a bit of an eye roll, before he more or less watched in slow motion practically, James actually killing Casper. Well that was a bit annoying, but the silver lining was that he didn't have to do it anymore, or Selene getting mad at him for Casper not dying or something. A memory crossed Jack's mind, which made his full understanding of the entire situation a bit different. Then again, he personally at this rate would probably just go charging in heading straight for death or something like that. His views on dying were a bit strange compared to most. "Wow James now I know Casper can be annoying but seriously?"

Jack then turned his attention towards James, who was still in the area. In a physical fight, he wasn't going to be able to easily win, mentally though, he still had the whole telepathy thing up his sleeve since no one in their group actually knew he could do that, so he set back to trying to mess with James' head in some way. This time, he managed it, not able to cause him mental pain really, but enough to convince him of a mental illusion he'd think was real. Where did James think he was? Well, Jack wasn't the most creative with this at this point, so had decided to keep it simple. He had James think he was back at the old Mutant Underground HQ, but it was still actively in use, as if they had never ended up frozen by the X-ecutioner and brought to Genosha. "Maybe that will slow you down a little bit..."

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Well, Miranda was not too thrilled with the fact that Legion seemed to have decided to go fight against her, of course, that wasn't a bad thing really. She was supposed to kill everyone and all, still a bit out of her typical skill set, so this was going to be fun. Getting thrown backwards, she took a moment to try and get her bearings once more, seeing double for a moment and her head was pounding as she slowly got back up off the ground, shaking her head for a moment.

Turning to look back at Legion once again, another spear appeared by her, with a simple flick of her wrist, the spear went flying straight at him. Despite her head injury though, her aim seemed to be true as she impaled Legion, managing to strike his heart with her spear. He was still alive though, as it wasn't enough to kill him, and she kept her distance slightly, just in case he decided to get up or try to get up again. "How about you stay down now..." she commented.

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* not actually a mutant

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The Stage

Selene's eyes flashed in warning as Andy approached her at the stage, chastising her for ruining the party. Selene dramatically turned her head to face her daughter, staring down at her - Andy would then realize that her mother was not the same as she had been when the evening started. No, her skin was glowing a luminous blue and she was now at least ten feet tall, growing a bit more every moment. The enchantments on Selene's outfit must've been constantly adjusting, in order to keep her looking as pussy as possible.

"Daughter," Selene sneered, as if talking to a particularly dumb pet. "This is the Hellfire Gala. This is the party. I'm not doing any of this to impress you or to win your favor. If you have not accepted your nature, our nature, as the lunar huntresses of this world... Well, then I'm afraid you might be even a larger flop than that Nova Roman brat." Selene rolled her eyes in disgust. "Now, darling, stop ruining mummy's moment and decide if you are going to be a predator... or if your soul will be the next one I consume to fuel my divinity."

Selene then flicked her finger, using her mutant gift to manipulate non-organic matter on Andy's dress (and of course, a little magical assist so that way Andy's dress didn't merely rip off of her). She sent her daughter flying backwards off of the stage, before throwing one last look in her direction.

"Also, that dress is not your color. It looks hideous."

Mutant Underground Table -

The Jack Wayne persona vanished, as the hard-light spear went through Legion's heart. Legion stumbled backwards to the ground, gasping for air as blood trickled from his lips. His body began to still. And then suddenly, there was a new light behind his eyes. He looked uncertain and scared, frightened and overwhelmed, as his body lost its tangibility. He was made out of swirling water, somehow holding his shape and not breaking apart. The skittish personality that took over quickly darted back.

"St-st-stay back!" Legion shouted at Moneta, Legion's voice high-pitched and feminine. "I don't wanna hurt you, lady!"

Shi'Ar Bartender Set-Up

Of course, there were heroes beyond the Mutant Underground cohort here ready to fight. One of them, for example, was sneaking up right behind Callie. Wearing a gorgeous black gown that really brought out the colors in her wings, Pixie had her souldagger clutched in hand. Her souldagger had the ability to remove enchantments, as it could really only harm things made of magic. "Hey, bitch!" Pixie shouted from right behind Callie, meant to stun and surprise her.

And then, Pixie stabbed Callie in the head with her dagger. It was painful, and it would feel like someone was scrambling her brains, but the enchantment would be removed. Callie would be her own person again. "You good now, hmm?" Pixie asked. "Because we have a lot of assholes to deal with. And it'd be super chill if we weren't all getting hit by lightning while it happens."

(Un?)fortunately though, Veil was nowhere to be seen. She had turned herself perfectly invisible and was sneaking up behind unsuspecting people, killing them from behind. They never saw her coming and her blows were quick and smart, giving them nearly painless, instant deaths.

Midway Between Shi'Ar Bar and Underground Table

The lightning strike that had hit James had spared Casper - but it was not a long reprieve. Helpless on the ground, Casper scrambled backwards, doing his best to put distance between himself and, well, everyone. Everyone here seemed to want to insult and/or kill him.

Then, James was upon Casper again. Casper desperately searched James' eyes for anything, for any sign that his soulmate was still in there, but there was nothing. Casper was weeping, holding up his hands in front of his face. "Please, James, I..." CRACK! Casper's sentence went unfinished. He died almost instantly, almost painlessly. His blood was on James' hands.

And Casper's body was limp now, lifeless on the dance floor.

"CASPER!!!!" Ben screamed, horrified as his best friend died in front of him. Ben couldn't believe what he was seeing. Yes, Casper got himself into dangerous situations all of the time, but he had been close to death before and managed to beat the odds. But this, this was final. Ben knew in his heart that Casper wouldn't just pop back up a moment later, that his heart wouldn't manage to be restarted with a well placed shock.

Ben saw red. He wanted James dead. His tentacles shot out from the pocket-dimension inside of his stomach, and Ben ensnared James. It was easy enough for him to do, as unbeknownst to Ben, Jack had convinced James' mind that they were back at the Mutant Underground, as if they had never left. Ben tightened his grip on James, aiming to pop him like a tube of GoGurt. James' reactive adaptation power kicked in, making his body stretchy and elastic - like Jack or Mister Fantastic, really.

Sapphire's ghost, strangely enough, was still with them. She blasted at James with a beam of ice, aiming to freeze and shatter him - the very way she had killed Jack - but Ben's tentacles were in the way. She ended up giving Ben's tentacles a bad case of frostbite. "Huh, looks like rolls are a bit reversed now, your the living one and I'm the ghost," Sapphire said towards Ben with a bit of a laugh.

"Watch your aim!" Ben snapped at her.

"Anyone else wonder how the hell I'm still visible to the rest of you. Considering the person summoning me is dead?"

Above the Crowd

Currently, Max's dragon was not causing nearly as much damage as it could have been. It was very much fixated on trying to kill the annoying Valkyrie pest and her stupid magic horse. The dragon was hungry, having just been born into existence, and felt like they would make a nice snack. The dragon had decided that the Valkyrie would have a nice crunch to her - crunchy crunchy crunch!

The dragon roared, breathing a gigantic column of fire. The fire missed Zarina, as her horsey was able to fly out of the way, but the innocent people below were not nearly so lucky. Many perished in the flames, their souls then consumed by the psychic vampire, SELENE! The fire didn't just kill those innocents though, it seemed to melt the ground that it touched, as if it were somehow dissolving the island itself...

Near the Asgard Bartender Set-Up

Polaris was enchanted by Echo's song - or rather, disenchanted. She swayed to the song, the fields dropping, and then suddenly it was like she was truly awake again. Selene's hold on her had dissolved, the spell that had ensnared her vanishing. "That goddamn bitch!" Polaris cursed. "I'm going rip her apart with my bare hands," she vowed, glaring in Selene's direction.

"I think not, daughter," Magneto wheezed. He was shaking and trembling, not from fear but due to illness. Sweat was pouring down his face and it wasn't really clear how long he would actually be able to remain standing. But Magneto was the master of magnetism - he had an iron will. The illness forced him to drop the magnetic dome, allowing innocent civilians to begin to properly flee the scene, as he began to battle his daughter. Magneto and Polaris shot up into the sky. It was a battle of magnetic poles, north against south, daughter against father, future against past, legacy against history. Their powers clashed. Ordinarily, Magneto would have easily won, being an omega level mutant whereas Polaris was not. But today, they were evenly matched, locked into a contest of wills.

"Woah..." Sunshine whispered, before shaking her head slightly. As cool as it was to see two masters of magnetism going at it, they had more important things to deal with. There were still members of the Quiet Council who hadn't been engaged yet. But even then, there was something important that they had learned that the others needed to know. "Echo, it's music - that's how we break the spell. She enchanted them with a song and then you singing a stupid Harry Styles cover undid it."

"I like Harry Styles..." Marrow muttered under her breath. It was a point of contention between them.

"Whatever. If we can get you, Dazzler, and Lila Cheney singing together - maybe it'll be catchy and loud enough to remove the spell from everyone at once," Sunshine suggested. "You can make your voice really loud, right? Like annoyingly loud? Because I somehow doubt Selene would give up the stage and all the mics..." Of course, most of the music had been telepathically boosted in volume at the party - there weren't very many mics at all.

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Max caught Pixies entrance just in time. He'd been wondering where she was and how she was fairing throughout all of this but seeing her alive and well made him almost forget about Caspers demise. He still hadn't gotten a full rundown of the abilities of soul weapons, but whatever she'd done seemed to snap Callie back. Max summoned his soul staff and Ben, Jack, and Sapphire assaulted James. Keeping him held down by tentacles and whatever it was Jack had done. "Don't kill him! He's being mind controlled, he can't help it!"

Harry had no idea that his music could break the spell. But having Polaris keeping Magneto distracted was a definite boon to their cause. The fields were down, people could now flee, and Sunshine had placed an enormous task on him. He immediately scanned the crowd searching for Dazzler and Lila who couldn't have gotten far after their performances. Dazzler was using her powers to protect the innocents with blasts of light, while Lila was using a strange gun against others. "Stay safe you two." He said towards Marrow and Sunshine as he made a break for the other singers.

Max ran up to James, using his current state to his advantage, as he tried hard not to hit his new boyfriend in the tentacles, and jabbed the bottom end of his soul staff to James' forehead. The enchantment surely enough broke, freeing him of Selene's spell. Though Caspers body was still laid there though. "If Sapphires still here then you must be around somewhere right?! So, show yourself and use your powers to manifest like you'd done with Ben. We need you man, I…I need you to come back." Tears formed in Max's eyes as he called out to the spirit of Casper, hoping for a way to bring back his friend.

Once Harry reached the pair he looked at them with a serious glance. "Music. Music breaks the spell on those possessed by Selene. We just have to outperform her and be heard. Dazzler can you help me out here to amplify our voices?" Harry tried to summon the bois but again they didn't come. He was beginning to worry something else may have happened. Though as he looked around he noticed that all the instruments were smashed so his idea to have them play for them was out the window. Harry closed his eyes as he made his voice louder than usual but still not quite at the level they needed.



He looked towards Dazzler as he sang, queueing her up for the next set of lyrics so that her and Lila could join in and sing.

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She wasn't dead. That was easily a miracle. Everyone was still too distracted. No one was going to come to help her. She couldn't fight Selene alone. It did seem like the Mutant Underground crew had succeeded in figuring out a way to break the spell. Could she still find a way to distract Selene? She picked herself up. That was something Andy was used to doing. She liked her dress. She didn't care if Selene did or didn't. Hell, she would wear nothing but pink going forward to spite Selene if she had to. Her dress was covered in mud now. Andy fought up close and personal. But among this crowd, she was outclassed. Maybe it was the fact that she had already thrown a bit of a tantrum, but she felt really petulant at the moment.

Andy walked over to the edge of the stage. Inspecting it and Selene's shoes. There wasn't enough water on the stage to do what she wanted. Though if there had been, Selene's shoes didn't seem to be rubber-soled, so that it might have worked. But there didn't seem to be enough water on the stage. It might have worked if the rain had gone a bit longer or been stronger. So what now? What could she do? She glanced up, and Zari was fighting the dragon. That was cool.

There was also the lightning that was still coming down. The rain may have stopped, but Spark Plug had kept the lightning. Andy had never tried anything like this before. She normally just created a small field around herself that was electrified. But she had already proved to herself that she could control larger fields.

She pulled. The lightening that was filling the air hit the stage. Connecting to metal points. It was quite a light show. It naturally didn't hurt Selene. But that wasn't what Andy was trying to do. The others were breaking the spell on some of the people. If they could keep that up, that'd be great. Then they could all focus on Selene. But they couldn't allow Selene to do what she wanted while the others worked on that. So Andy was setting up a distraction. She could do that.

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Callie continued with the lightening show that she had been doing, until she heard someone's voice behind her she turned just in time to see Pixie perched behind her and thrusting her soul dagger right into her head. Callie stumbled back and dropped to her knees as her head started to hurt quiet a bit and her ears rang slightly as the enchantment over her mind was quickly dispelled. Callie's eyes turned back to normal as she looked up at Pixie. "Thank you Pixie, but was calling me a bitch necessary?" She asked her as Callie slowly started to get back up to her feet, they needed to get rid of the other members of the Quiet Council free from Selene's enchantment.

"You don't happen to have a spell that removes invisibility right?" Callie asked Pixie, she wanted to get the enchantment off of Veil first she was incredibly hard to find her whenever she was invisible. Everything was to chaotic around her to notice that Casper had been taken down by James as a dragon flew overhead breathing fire onto the ground. That was also going to be a pretty big problem to deal with as well, and they needed to take out Selene.

---

James rubbed his forehead where he’d bumped into the door frame coming in. He stood aside, waving off Cayden’s concern as he passed by for his morning run and wished him a good morning.Normally they jogged together but James was in the mood for an easy morning. He’d only gotten up for the bathroom but he had the sudden urge to watch the sunrise. He let the door shut behind him, thinking of leaving the door unlocked but deciding against it. Someone would just have to let Cayden back in once he returned.

The sound of fighting rang from the room they’d transitioned into a training room and he leaned against the door frame just to watch. Sunshine and Magik sparred but it seemed more like flirting, if the playful banter and pulled blows were anything to go by. He caught Sunshine’s eye and quirk a brow with a smile and she just rolled her eyes at him, flipping him the bird while Magik set up for the next demonstration. He made a mental note to give her the talk soon, adding it to his next ending to do-list. His attention moved to Callie and Waves. Usually only armed with a rebar, Waves had gone to Callie for some more formal hand-to-hand combat training and Callie was always more than happy to oblige when someone on the team needed advice or help. He watched for a few more moments, noting a few pieces of equipment that needed some maintenance, before shoving off the door frame and drifting to the dining room and kitchen.

Veil and Harry spoke in low tones in the kitchen, the occasional laugh breaking the siblings’ conversation as Harry prepped breakfast like he usually did. Sapphire was wandering into the dining room with a pile of utensils and the plates they’d managed to swipe on their last supply run and placed it all in a pile in the center of the table for everyone to grab their own stuff. James wished her a good morning and headed back for the stairs, his help not needed there at the moment.

Max and Luna were discussing something that sounded vaguely magical and mindfucking related but it died out quickly in favor as they exchanged greetings on the stairs. The three of them chatted and a strange pang of nostalgia shot through him, quickly waved off in favor of the conversation. It wasn’t anything exciting, just how everyone slept and plans for the day and ideas for what they needed to help stabilize their new headquarters (and no Max, decorative tapestries were not necessary even if they were free), but he felt like he missed it for some strange reason. He was reluctant to end the conversation but he had something to do so he bid his farewell, wished Luna a safe trip, and took the stairs two at a time on his way to his and Casper’s room.

He crossed paths with Jack, who was just closing his door. Jack looked better, better rested ad sure of himself, than he had in recent days. They paused as well, the conversation not flowing as easily as it did with his previous conversation partners but he still made the effort. Jack was important to Casper and that meant he was important to James, even beyond how much he cared for everyone here. But Jack and James both had business to attend to so instead of delving into deeper conversation, they went their separate ways.

He hummed softly as he cracked open their door and slipped into the semi-darkness of the room. Casper was half under the covers, mouth open and drool running out of the corner of his mouth, and hair wild across his face and pillow. Still, he looked like an angel straight out of James' dreams. He let out a breathy, fond noise and gently pushed his boyfriend's hair out of his face, wiped the drool away, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. People said a lot of things about Casper, about his past and his behavior, and he knew some people-cough, Max, cough-didn't see why James was so infatuated with him.

But they didn't really look at Casper. James couldn't deny he had a colorful past and he was erratic and eccentric but none of those were bad things. They made Casper unique and interesting and beautiful, coupled with a heart of absolute gold. James wouldn’t lie and claim he saw past everything. He’d thought the guy flirting with him was cute so he took the chance, one that paid off way better than he expected. They balanced each other well, Casper’s chaotic and boundless energy pushing James to grow and James' steady nature keeping Casper more grounded than he once had been.

He chuckled quietly as Casper babbled some dream nonsense and fidgeted in his sleep. James settled on the bed next to him, soothing his hand up and down Casper’s back. He was going to marry this man one day. He wasn’t sure when or how he’d do it but Casper deserved the stars and the moon and every damn thing James could offer him. It wasn’t much now but James had hope that one day, things would be better. He’d show the world how much he loved the beautiful, loving, crazy man who James had given his whole heart to.

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"The usual, sweetheart?"

Casper almost jumped out of his skin. He didn't recognize where he was, although it felt vaguely familiar. Well, he did recognize where he was - he was in what looked like a retro diner. The walls were pink and white tiles, the light fixtures flickering on and off as the bulbs struggled to illuminate the space. Specials were written by hand on a chalkboard in a crisp cursive, although as Casper glanced around, he didn't seem to see anyone eating anything.

"Um, I... I don't suppose you've seen a vampire/witch with great fashion taste trying to take over the world or something around here, have you?" Casper asked. His eyes were watering and felt raw, as if he had been crying for hours. But that was nothing compared to the pounding ache in his head - not quite a headache - it was like someone had tried to bash his skull in. "Did you happen to see how I got here? I think... I think I must have lost some time or something," Casper admittedly. Normally, he spoke quick and rapidly, without any pauses or hesitation - but instead, Casper felt frazzled, nervous, afraid, and vulnerable. He didn't understand what was going on. He didn't understand where James was - what had happened to everyone.

"You might want to be a bit more specific," the waitress said with a laugh. She was dressed in a white blouse and pink poodle skirt, over which she had a neat white apron. The embroidery on the apron gave her name - Persephone. "About half of my customers match that description."

Casper then took another moment to look at his surroundings - to properly examine them all. His eyes widened as his heart began pounding furiously in his chest. There was a woman who looked almost like TwoFace from Batman movies, as half of her flesh was young and youthful, the other half completely decayed. Chatting with her was a blue skinned man who reminded him of a Pharaoh, and a younger boy with the head of a jackal. Across the way was a witchy looking woman and a small army of crows.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god.... Oh gods," Casper stammered. "What the hell? Am I in hell? I know people think I'm dumb, but I LOVE watching Jeopardy when I'm high, and I'm pretty sure that's Anubis over there chatting up Hel??? What the hell? Am I... Am I dead?" Casper did a double take, reading the waitress' name again. Persephone. "I'm dead, aren't I? Selene killed me, and I'm dead, and my eternal punishment is to be in a... a diner? Do you not have waffles? Where's James? And Jackie? And Danny and Mum? Are they all okay? Are they here?"

Persephone looked at him with sympathy. She set down her little notepad on the table and sat down across from Casper, reaching a hand across to him. "Take some deep breaths. In and out," she prompted. Persephone held his gaze, and didn't speak again until she had determined that he was starting to calm down. "Your friends are still alive," she answered, "but you, sweetheart... Don't you remember what happened?"

Casper's eyebrows furrowed, as he tried to think back. A shudder went over him as bits and pieces came back to him. Selene had done an homage to Hocus Pocus and enchanted James, and Casper had gone after him. And then... everything was dark. "I really have no idea what happened," Casper said. "Like, I remember trying true love's kiss and all - which apparently is just Disney propaganda, fun fact, the Mouse is a LIAR! But no, nothing else. It all goes black. So I... I... I died then?" his voice cracked slightly on that word.

He felt ashamed and guilty. He knew that people thought he was a liability, and Casper didn't spend much time thinking on it. But now, he was here and his friends were back there, getting killed by an icon in a corset.

Persephone nodded. "I'm sorry, I really am - you wouldn't be here if you hadn't."

"And where is here again? Like is this the Greek afterlife? Were the Greeks right? I had always kinda thought that Thor being real and all meant that the Vikings were right - unless is this... oh god I'm blanking on the name, it starts with a V, it reminds me of Marshmallows, but not quite... Don't tell me I'm going to remember it," Casper rambled.

There was a certain sadness in her eyes, as Persephone took her hand back. "How about I get you something to eat? We have cranberry pomegranate waffles - on the house," she offered.

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Zari was not too thrilled with the dragon, since it was clearly not going to go down rather easily without a fight. She started attacking the dragon again, but once more she hit nothing but scales. This time however, Mr. Sparkles was unable to dodge the fire, and it took her a moment to put out the flames that had been lit as his mane had caught fire. Looking at the dragon, she started thinking of potential places a weak point could be found, and to her the only logical place at this point would have been the dragon's back. Of course, that did mean she'd have to do something either really epic, or really stupid.

She was hoping for the epic outcome.

Flying closer to the dragon, her sword in hand still, she launched herself off of Mr. Sparkles' back and managed to land a solid footing on the dragon's back. Running up, she jumped and rammed her sword several times into a spot on the dragon's neck. The creature roared as she felt it shift and start to head down, her attacks having gotten through it's scales and mortally wounding the dragon. Zari wasted no time in leaping from the dragon's back, hoping that Mr. Sparkles would catch her, and thankfully, he did. The dragon continued it's descent, having been killed, and Zari instantly started flying towards where Selene and Andy currently were. Now that they didn't have to worry about a dragon anymore.

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Well that whole situation escalated quickly. As people seemed all hell bent on trying to kill James now. Then again, leave it to this group to blow things way out of proportion given their current situation, you'd think people would blame Selene more then James for that situation. It wasn't exactly James' fault, and apparently no one seemed to notice that he apparently wasn't attacking or trying to get away from them? So no one actually understood fully what was going on, or that James was trapped in his own head at the moment.

"Well sorry for that, honestly it's a bit difficult when you decided to show up and try to suffocate him to death!" Sapphire responded to Ben with an eye roll.

"How about you all relax, James if you haven't noticed, isn't fighting back which is because he's stuck in his own head right now," Jack said to the group, not explaining the how he's stuck in his own head or anything like that. "Not to mention, Casper isn't going to stay dead forever, he's going to be back. Just might take a few hours, at least I'm pretty sure that's what happened. When we were little I told mom that Casper got hurt and really stopped moving, and then a few hours later he was okay and we were away from Xavier's after that." he said with a shrug, not seemingly caring that he just said that Casper can resurrect himself somehow.

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Miranda was looking at what was going on with Legion. Though to be fair, she was somewhat used to the idea of Legion randomly changing personalities around at the drop of a hat. It was basically who he was, so it made some sense since this was a bit of a stressful situation for him now wasn't it? Of course, she was trying to kill him, and given his insane powerset, that was becoming next to impossible at this rate. Since he had personalities that had regenerative healing factors or course it seemed. So she would have to try something else to take him out of the fight.

"How about you hold still now?" she ended up saying towards him, before she started creating another illusion. However, this time it had nothing to do with projectiles, instead it appeared that she was playing to her strengths and creating what at first appeared to be a defensive wall. Then, another one appeared, and another, eventually Legion was completely surrounded and trapped in a holographic box, hopefully keeping him contained for the time being until she could figure out how to kill him.

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The Stage

Selene wasn't hurt from Andy's attack, but she was certainly annoyed. Her eyes were flashing dangerously, a bit like a provoked animal, ready to attack the next thing that it saw. She was twenty feet tall now, glowing a luminous blue. Her giant blue god-ass was blocking the view of the chaos for anyone north of the main stage. "LUNA MINOR!" Selene shouted, her equivalent of screaming Andy's full name in anger. "Hoc est quod non possumus habere nice quod omnia," Selene muttered in Latin, which roughly translated to - this is why we can't have nice things.

Selene took a step forward, her giant blue foot almost crushing some more innocent mutants. She wasn't twenty feet tall anymore - no, she was forty feet tall now, making the Hulk look infinitely puny by comparison. She crouched down to try to find Andy, her ass hitting the stage lights and sending them careening down to the ground, narrowly missing Dazzler, Lila Cheney, and Echo in the process. Selene hadn't even noticed them yet. They were like flies to her.

Selene spotted Andy finally, and pinched Andy's clothing between her finger and hoisted her up into the air. Selene stood to her full height, still rapidly growing with each mutant soul that she devoured. "Any last words?" Selene asked her, not able to resist an evil villain moment.

Meanwhile, Dazzler and Lila Cheney had thrown themselves into the song - Lila Cheney somehow having a guitar still on her that she used to play, and Dazzler using her powers to boost and amplify, as well as make everything ~aesthetic~ with a light show -



And then, as Dazzler made it through the chorus, the spell shattered.

The Quiet Council was no longer under Selene's control.

But Selene was still forty feet tall and growing, glowing blue, divine, and eating mutant souls like they were candy... One problem was solved, and one problem was getting bigger and bigger by the second.

Mutant Underground Table -

Poor Legion was trapped inside of the box Miranda had made, sniffling and crying and begging to be released. The personality in charge right now was conflict avoidant, the sort of person to run away and threaten anyone who tried to follow with shaking hands. It would only be a matter of time though before a more violent personality would take over, one with a power that would allow Legion to break free of the box, and even though the spell had ended, who was to say this personality wouldn't kill Miranda anyways?

Shi'Ar Bartender Set-Up

Pixie gave Callie a bit of a smile. "There's a spell for almost everything - except for your haircut, unfortunately," she said cheerfully. "I could give you the name of my hairdresser, she's really great." She was one of those people who was sweet and venomous at the same time - usually more the former, but Pixie was incredibly stressed out. And there was an unfortunate side effect of Selene's ascension, one that was afflicting all magic users all over the world - a pounding headache that was threatening to get worse and worse by the minute.

"Once I stop the chant, the spell ends - so hopefully you spot your friend soon," Pixie said, before beginning to chant in Welsh. Anyone within a one mile radius of Pixie who was cloaking themselves with invisibility was no longer invisible - which meant that for now, until Pixie stopped chanting, Callie would be able to go find Veil.

But it turned out that Pixie's spell wasn't needed. Veil would've removed her invisibility all by herself, as Dazzler, Lila Cheney, and Echo broke Selene's spell with a catchy tune. Veil suddenly appeared, blood on her hands, and bodies near her feet. She gasped and startled backwards, letting out a scream of anguish at the nightmare she had been plunged into. Veil didn't have any words. She didn't know what to say. All she knew was that she desperately, desperately wanted this to not be real.

She was a protector of the innocent, not their killer! Veil's immediate impulse was that this had to be some sort of a trick. If it wasn't, if she had done this... then Veil wouldn't know how to live with herself. How could she face herself in the mirror, knowing she had stolen people's lives from them? How could she sleep at night, knowing the pain and suffering she had caused? Veil wished that she could have died instead.

She wished she was dead.

Midway Between Shi'Ar Bar and Underground Table

Ben didn't care that James had been mind controlled - not at first, at least. His best friend had been killed by him. Casper's blood was literally on James' hands. Whenever they managed to break James from Selene's spell, that fact wouldn't change. The anger and rage burned inside of Ben like a fire, as he contemplated just how easy it would be to kill James, to just continue to tighten and tighten his grip, even as James' body adapted and turned into something like silly putty.

"Fine," Ben almost growled, releasing his grip on James and letting James fall unceremoniously to the floor.

He eyed Jack doubtfully thought. His information may have been out of date, but he didn't recall Jack being able to casually trap people inside of their own heads. And he had never heard Casper admit casually to being immortal. Sure, Casper had had dozens of near death experiences - some of which Ben witnessed as a ghost - but actually dying? Ben was skeptical. "How about you start elaborating?" he asked Jack, and it was clear by his tone it was somewhat of a threat.

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The rest of the fight fell away. Andy lost track of it. But that didn't matter. Selene had shrugged off her attack, which was expected. But she had started to grow. She was gigantic and still growing. Andy's heart pounded in fear. A whole lot of fear. Selene picked her up. She was like a little kid's toy in her hands.

"Only, you shouldn't have touched me." Normally, Andy would have reached for the lightning in her. But she had a new skill. Something her mother, Selene herself, had given her. And she pulled. After a second she felt that she was being pulled on. Selene was taking from her. That couldn't be allowed. She gritted her teeth, a brief thought of an annoyed dentist almost made her laugh, and she pulled again.

It wasn't like lightening. But it felt good. She pulled and pulled. She wasn't going to win. That was impossible. But for now the power that was entering her felt like the world was at her fingertips. She didn't even notice she was growing. She did notice that Selene was shrinking. That the hands around her no longer felt like a giant holding something small. But that their sizes were starting to equal out.

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Callie looked over at Pixie as she smiled towards her. "Sure why not." She said jokingly as Pixie started to do her spell again, as she looked around the area, her attention turning towards the massive dragon that was falling from the sky. Along with Selene being massive and continued to grow and grow, she felt horrible that she had been mind controlled and forced to kill her fellow mutants. When Pixie finished her spell, those with powers to make themselves invisible appeared Callie managed to spot Veil and quickly ran up towards her.

Seeing her friend completely distraught at what had happened made her feel sad as she pulled Veil into a hug. "Veil it wasn't your fault what happened." Callie said as she gestured towards Selene standing at the main stage still holding Andy in her hands as the two looked like they were fighting. "It's her fault not yours or anyone else on the Quiet Council for what happened tonight." Callie told her, hoping to help her friend calm down.

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Casper didn't seem to be responding to him. For a moment, Max felt hopelessness. His best friend had just murdered his boyfriend in cold blood and become a single father. What was the point of all this fighting if he couldn't protect the ones he loved. There was an emptiness within his chest, his tears were bitter cold as they slid down his cheeks and stared at the remains of Casper. That was, until Jack spoke up. What he was saying didn't make any sense, how did Jack get James entrapped into his own head? And if he didn't do it then how would he know it had happened? Was this further collusion with Selene?

The tears began to heat up on his cheeks the more that Jack spoke. His eyes burned as the color all left them and was replaced by his own magic. Max had struggled before to keep his powers in check with his emotions, having gotten better with time, but this emotional roller-coaster was proving to be too much for him and he was beginning to slip. "Release him now Ja-" A wave of pain radiated from Max's head as his powers began to manifest. His hand quickly went towards his temples as he felt his head throbbing with pain. A small wave dissipated from him as the hues of magic left his eyes. He looked up and was once again reminded of the threat that was Selene.

"Fuck!" He didn't know what was happening, or if Jack was now assaulting his mind too, but whatever it was Selene was the root of the problem. Maybe if he removed her Jack wouldn't act out against them. Without another word Max opened a portal behind him, back stepping into his room and making his way towards his bed. He grabbed Strange's gift and made his way back through, closing the portal behind him. He'd quickly made his way towards where he'd seen Pixie last, watching as she began to chant something. He couldn't ask her again how to operate the device, but his mind was muddy with pain.

Max grit his teeth, pushing past the throbbing ache in his head as he conjured up a portal. It's opening lay only a stones throw from where Selene was, but with her massive size he hoped it would even the odds. He wound his arm back before tossing the Acheron straight through the portal and hitting Selene. For a moment she appeared to be caught, the mystic power growing faintly before she broke free from it. "Well…if this is anything like Pokémon…I guess we need to weaken her more." Max leapt through his portal and made a beeline towards where the Acheron was, ready to try and help Andy fight Selene.

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Harry dodged Selene's advances. She may not have been actively trying to kill them, but her forty foot stature made it too easy. It was like walking down a sidewalk just after the breeding season for lizards. Narrowly hitting each and every baby as you stepped along. Though Selene seemed to have no real reservations about stomping on those below her. He'd never thought he'd share a stage with Dazzler, having felt like a very one sided competition most of his life as some compared him to her in a less than flattering way, he had to admit being this close to her as they sang in harmony, they made an amazing team.

Her powers complimented him and they made up for each other's shortcomings as Lila went off on her guitar. Where she'd found it he had no idea, but hey stranger things have happened. As the song concluded he felt a sense of relief wash over him. The spell had been broken, the easy part was dealt with. Now it was a matter of how to deal with Selene. Max had mentioned he had a plan, and he needed to act on it fast. Andy was doing all that she could to distract Selene, but for how long? "Great job. Now we have a witch to deal with."

---

James frowned. Something buzzed in his ears, the sound of… people talking? People screaming? James shook his head, trying to focus on the noise but he couldn't make anything out. It was far away, he could tell, but where exactly it was, he had no idea. Maybe Luna and Max were doing something and it backfired or had consequences they hadn't considered. He grumbled to himself and pushed off the bed, upset that his morning with the love of his life was being ruined by mind fuckery.

It was always mind fuckery.

The house shuddered and shook and James caught himself on a wall as he stumbled. He whipped around to find Casper but the bed was empty. Something heavy filled his chest, dread thick and viscous, and reached into his lungs and crawled up throat, bitter like bile. He could barely breathe as he struggled to scream, to call out, to do anything. A chunk of the ceiling collapsed, taking a chunk of the floor down to the first floor. James clutched his head as he struggled to breath. Where was everyone? What was happening? Why did everything hurt? He stumbled and the building collapsed…

James screamed as he woke, scrambling to his knees and taking deep, heaving breaths. There was ground beneath him, familiar but out of place. There was blood on his hands but from where… His memory was hazy, struggling to piece together the bizarre occurances. How did he get here? Where was here? Who attacked them? It hit him like a ton of bricks. The party, Selene, suddenly conscious in his own body but trapped, fighting…

Casper.

"Casper." James whispered in horror, as he vividly remembered whose blood was on his hands. "Casper?! Casper?!" He spotted his corpse on the ground, unnaturally still. He remembered screaming, clawing, fighting himself to no avail. He remembered how his body lunged, knocking Casper to the ground. He remembered how easy it was to kill him, how he crumpled like paper with just. One. Hit.

James scrambled on hands and knees to Casper's corpse, horrified at what he saw. He felt bile rising in the back of his throat as tears burned his eyes and his breaths grew shorter and shorter as the memories of everything slammed into full force. He couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything, everything was too much, all of it was too much, too much, too much, too…

He buried his face in Casper's chest and screamed.

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"Elaborate which part exactly? There's a whole lot of nonsense I could actually tell you about right now... About the whole how I know what's going on with James right now, or the Casper part... Which is it exactly? Wait, don't answer that, I can kind of explain both. Now whether you'll fully believe me on anything I say, well... I am naturally good at lying, so for all you know I could be lying to you. Though I swear that everything I'm about to tell you is one hundred percent the truth. No lies, nothing. It is the truth." Jack said with a shrug towards Ben with regards to the entire situation.

It was going to be fun to have to mention to the others how this might play out. Or explaining things, and he looked at Max as he started to ask him to let James go, when James seemingly snapped out of it himself. "Well look at that, I didn't have to do anything, he's perfectly fine. Now what was going on with that, well... Figured I'd spell this out now while my brother is still taking his nap or whatever. I'm a telepath, reason I never mentioned it was because of the fact that let's be honest, most people in our group, hate telepaths. And I discovered all of this when we were still messing around with the crap that my father was causing. So I did not need there to blatantly be another reason why you all might not trust me over it. Especially since at first, all I could do was seemingly hurt people with it, just like him. So didn't seem important to mention it, at all." Yeah, it was a lot to process in the middle of everything, but honestly, he was kind of glad to get that off his chest.

Jack looked over at James as he started crying and screaming, which was honestly part of the reason why he had been keeping him in his mental world, to kind of prevent this freak out from happening. "Calm down James, he is going to be fine, just will take him a little while. Then again to him it will probably be like it never happened or something. Guessing you at least have heard as Casper refers to it, "The Mausoleum Incident"? Well... Casper doesn't actually know the full story of what happened. I do, he was 13, I was 10, we were still at the Institute when he got locked in that Mausoleum with food and water or whatever, and not allowed to leave. I broke that rule after a week, and basically busted the thing open, and I assure you he was very much dead. So of course I freaked and called our mom. Eventually, he suddenly popped up again, having no full memory of what happened and we got whisked away from Xavier's, which definitely makes things more entertaining. So calm down, Casper is going to be fine, it'll just take a while. Actually never told him this but that's why I wanted to be a PI, because of the whole situation and wanting to know what fully happened. Oh also, other thing of note, James took Casper out of the fight, which for some reason is what Selene wants. She wanted him out of the fight. Which is kind of weird if you ask me." He was not going to explain how he knew that last part about Selene wanting Casper out of the fight for some reason.

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Well the fight looked to be getting a bit interesting in her opinion. But that's what made it better, a good fight always had something cool happen during it, at least in her mind. Selene was seemingly shrinking now, all because Andy decided to basically zap her with something and was now absorbing some of her energy, growing to be close to the same size as her now. Bet Selene didn't expect that sort of thing really to happen, which definitely made her giggle a little bit about it. Of course, Zari was currently flying down towards the pair, and was heading straight for Selene.

She ended up getting spotted and knocked away like she was nothing more then a fly. Zari felt a shock and a pain go through her arm, and she had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself a bit. After all, it was just a dislocated shoulder. Flying around, she eventually managed to turn around and slice into Selene's ear, darting back upwards, circling around yet again. This time she managed to stab her cheek in order to try to do some damage as she shot back up again, hoping to avoid her entirely.

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It took a moment, but eventually her mind seemingly cleared, allowing her to finally think clearly and figure out what all was happening around her. Because of her typical style of how she used her powers, she hadn't really caused too much in the way of damage, however, that didn't mean she didn't feel bad for what was going on, or for everyone else who had caused damage. Especially since there were a few members of the Quiet Council who she imagined would have a big reaction to all that was going on in general.

Looking at the box she had created, she thought for a moment, knowing perfectly well that she had trapped Legion within the box, and she knew that currently the personality he had present wasn't one who was super violent. If she kept him there, odds were the next one wouldn't be so nice. With the wave of her hand, the box seemingly disappeared now. "My apologies... I wasn't fully in control of my actions... Are you okay?" she asked him, wondering who the personality in control was now for him.