---

---

---

---

"Oh yeah no, I'm doing better, figured that was you who did some healing from a distance so thanks. Did not want to shift to fix anything at least not wanting to risk causing any accidents or whatever." Lance said with a bit of a shrug towards Ed when he asked how he was.

Mary was massively getting a bit of a headache with regards to the sort of arguing over various things at this point. Namely the confrontation between Guin and Robert. She personally wasn't sure how to feel with regards to Robert, aside from the fact that the guy seemed to think everyone in the area were children which was ridiculous to say the least. "Can you all stop arguing or trying to one up each other in options on what to do? Look, Guin is right, I may not be much of a chemist or anything like that, dealing more with genetics and that sort of thing, but I do know that the effects of chloroform is very different then the perception it has been given due to media of various types. We also don't have time to do something like that. But can say this, arguing isn't going to get us anywhere, and is just going to make me want to smack everyone on the head and I would prefer not to do that."

She fell silent for a moment, thinking, before continuing onwards, "The try and take him on all at once is our best bet with the time we've got. If we had the time to craft something to hold him or block his powers out at least temporarily, I'd be all for that. But we don't, so our options are very limited..."

"Yeah the potential tools and everything to even make the blockers that are just injectable would take a while to make, assuming you'd be able to even be able to get the necessary materials to make them, and making one of the other potential blockers would take like only a little bit shorter in time, but still would take a while," Lance interjected, paying attention to the conversation in front of them now.

"Exactly... Now Max, I think we might want to change that idea up a little bit but go with the basic concept, and Bethany, we'll save that one for a last resort... We have the firepower to easily knock him out from what I've been able to tell during the few interactions with him. And it doesn't matter if he's not next to you, he can use his powers from a bit of a distance, though not sure if it is limited to what he can see, seems like it though. If that's the case, Annie distracting at the beginning so we can get close makes sense, however then I'd suggest we try having Bethany or Lance blind him in some way with their own powers, as that would take that slight risk out of the equation entirely. As long as no one actually keeps contact with him for too long. Once he can't see in theory it should limit what he can do. Sure he'd potentially be able to shoot off his powers in random directions, but he would likely be slower in his attacks."

"Have to keep in mind, no matter what there always is the chance of everything in a plan going wrong, backups for backups are a good idea, at least in my experience." Flynn commented.

"That you are right, because if he gets his powers on one person the entire idea of the plan goes up in smoke. Though the power boost if it doesn't burn you out seems to be temporary, since after a while Perry stopped conjuring up ghosts everywhere, and I burned off the extra energy for me. So whoever gets hit, no matter who, we'll need to also potentially deal with the repercussions of that while continuing with the plan of knocking out Cortez so he can't do more damage. Which given how things are, might make it worth while to have two people at least for each part of the plan to deal with him, that's the main thing that I'd want to add to your idea Max, since we can't potentially just rely on a few people to do the majority, it is a team effort after all. That can make it so if one person gets overwhelmed, then another could potentially fill in that gap... Plus then we aren't relying on just a few people to carrying everything out too much."

"So if you get hit by the guy try to at least aim away from everyone else, got it. At least until it wears off."

"I feel like there are so many things that can go wrong with any of these ideas, but fighting and going in punching makes the most sense, currently anyway. I'm all for that option." Pietro added, looking at the others before adding mentally to Guin, Plus it is the plan most against what the one guy over there is saying, and I really don't like him at all.

"Well here's the thing, making illusions to distract and confuse, we have two people here who can do that. Both Miranda and Annie can do that, so if one fails we have another to fill the gap. We have two people who can potentially blind Cortez since that might be something useful to try and weaken him, Lance can with light, and Bethany in theory can do something similar with shadows. Heavy hitters wise, to actually knock him out or to deal with the effects of the others who potentially lose control of their powers. Lance, I know you wouldn't want to shift in this area given the way the space is, while large, not sure I'd want to fully risk it."

"Same here, hence why as I said to Ed, why I didn't shift before. Basically the idea is currently that it is a last resort. At least the way I see it."

"Agreed, only if it seems lie all hell is breaking loose anyway and there is no other way, or to prevent yourself from dying. Now, we technically have two potential people who can take over his body in a pinch, Guin or Carolina, if we need to, problem then exists where we have a few issues with that. Carolina would require someone to keep an eye on her body, and Guin would actually mentally switch bodies, so someone would need to restrain her a bit when she switched. But the upside being then Cortez wouldn't have any ways to use his powers. That would then be all that matters with that. Since then we can figure out what to fully afterwards, though it likely would be to fully knock out Cortez in some way."

The walls around them randomly began to rattle without warning. Not like it was an explosion or something, no, it had to be something else causing it, and Miranda was partially paying attention to that sort of thing trying to figure out what was causing it. If she didn't now better, she would have said that Magneto was the one causing it, but considering the work done to build this place, he likely wouldn't cause that sort of thing on purpose. Unless he was getting angry about something of course, and given the current situation, well that wasn't too difficult to understand why.

---

---

---

Max hadn't had time to answer or even react to Neil's statement as he held back a groan of disdain and sigh of agitation as Guin went off on the man he'd seen outside. Rob if he recalled. Not everyone was a Stark, nor did everyone have an advanced knowledge of chemicals, compounds, and the way they worked. Hell Max had believed the chloroform idea had merit as well…until Guin enlightened him by proxy of telling Robert off. Half of it went over his head and he couldn't even begin to imagine exactly how much of the stuff it would take as she was saying it, but he was glad to see she went back on track towards the semi formed plan they had made to take on Cortez.

Max made his way over towards the woman asking about a Selfie, listening in as others put in their input including Annie expanding on her abilities and powers. He didn't go anywhere without his phone, always one call or mystic message away from hearing the latest news about his son. He'd wrapped one arm around Perry quickly as he snapped a picture of the two of them. ”I'll send it over later. Pyrokinetics sounds like a great addition, Annie. Mary's right. We have the people to double up on jobs which gives us a greater advantage than we even realized. Teamwork is how we make it out of here, and He'll, do a great job and I can treat us all to some authentic New Orleans cuisine and the best beignets you'll ever have.” He said with a confident smile that came with someone who'd faced threats larger than this.

The smile grew wider, turning almost into something new as he felt something coarse inside of him. He'd had a similar feeling before, back on Genosha, back when he told himself he wouldn't do that again. It felt good, it made him feel powerful, and it was just so easy. But it was Magic he wouldn't touch again. This however felt different, it was like ecstacy yet his nerves felt on edge, as though they were on fire. His chest felt warm and as he heard the walls groan in protest he realized too late what was happening. Multi-colored flames danced gently across the surface of his skin and clothes, inches away from actually touching him like a shield of Cosmic Flames. All he was able to get out was a singular word. ”Fuck”

With a massive pulse of energy, Max erupted outwards with a blast of flames. He could barely see it, barely make out what had happened until it all cleared out. Fire now littered the space they once resided in, almost every single person in there had been blown backwards and slammed against a wall as the flames caused burns. The fire lingered against the walls, floor, and ceiling, only three people missing from the disaster. Pietro, Bethany, and Guin. The only two left physically standing were Annie and Miranda, flames having barely singed their skin as minor burns were left behind.

---

---

---

OfAll watched Antoinette pet Arnold as she answered. Having a pet to look after amidst all the stuff going on up here wasn't something she envied her for. In a certain way, it made OfAll think of her little sister. Not because she was like a pet, but being her guardian, OfAll had spent quite a few years of her life looking out for her amidst less than ideal conditions. Relief didn't begin to describe what she felt at Holo not being up here with them. "We've been learning our compatibilities. Both with each other and in my case, with different powers. . ." OfAll answered tactfully, and still with a little embarrassment thinking of her "contributions" so far.

But she'd gotten out of her funk and was prepared to continue doing what part she could.

There wasn't time for their conversation to continue.
Soon OfAll was healed.

She'd watched Edus' face, and respect exuded from the very manner in which he conducted his healing. And, it was successful. The orange light felt like a salve and when it disappeared, so too had the rest of OfAll's pain. "Absolutely," she answered him with a grateful smile, "thank you."

Then another light surrounded OfAll. One altogether more transformative, and when it disappeared, her spacesuit was good as new. She turned her smile towards Max, which would have to do as a 'thank you' as he was already talking plans. . .and OfAll's smile faded completely. Her expression doing almost a complete 180 and her disposition gradually following. Last time Max had lost control of his powers...

It felt incongruous -the heavy details of that story and the manner in which Max just proceeded to go one brainstorming. There was certainly no time to live past traumas, but it came off less like one and more like an anecdote. Had it been during a Danger Room session?

Regardless, that wasn't the problem. OfAll wasn't thinking what kind of person Max was now, she was thinking about how his powers were what she presently held, as well. For the second time a feeling rose. This time nearer to the surface. She felt indignantly like she should've been told "probably best not to try manifesting my powers at all, at least not first out and on an actual mission!"

Manifesting a variety of different powers throughout her mutant life, OfAll seemed to have a certain level of innate or honed control. Like an athlete who can take what they know, hand-eye coordination etc. and apply it to other disciplines they haven't ever tried before to better result than the layman trying something for the first time.

That to say, powers that required more control and OfAll essentially being a novice with them, didn't spell the disaster one might think. That by no means guaranteed she'd have the necessary level, but nor was auto-failure a guarantee. This in mind, OfAll wasn't panicking that she had essentially taken on an explosive device, though it did feel like she had.

After all. . .hadn't her first attempt with these powers nearly ended in multiple deaths?

She actually stopped walking. Half from processing, and half because she was thinking she shouldn't proceed. It wasn't a coward's thought in this instance to consider walking in the complete opposite direction of their foe. It was the thought of someone who understood sometimes removing yourself from a situation was the most helpful course of action; a choice of strength not weakness.

This consideration went through OfAll's mind all the more as the whole chloroforming plan was solidly -and confrontationally- shut down, and the "rush it" one was back on. While the words of the discussion filtered through her, OfAll was feeling all the more confident on both sides of the consideration:
1. This "rush it" plan had a lot more thought behind it than had initially sounded. Marygold was proving herself in this first impression as a thorough leader.
2. The bases were covered and it did not sound like Chaos Magic was needed among the operative players.

OfAll "tuned in" a little bit more when the detail was mentioned of someone having to watch Carolina's body if she astral projected. If she could do so from a safely-out-of-Cortez' reach location, OfAll could maybe field that job.

In the next moment, OfAll had the split second oddness of feeling like she was shaking with emotion before she realized it was the walls. It was reminiscent of Magneto's powers, and she looked around for him --missing, save for a glimmer out of the corner of her eye, what power was actually emanating and from whom. . !

Life repeated itself --OfAll was burned and thrown violently back again, except the repeat was amped up.

She was rendered nearly senseless -barely able to register where fire still burned -everywhere.

It seemed impossible that it could, given the material it lit on.

What happened. . ? OfAll tried, weakly, to figure out to herself, trying to see or perceive anything else as she struggled desperately to make her body rise, though her system felt as though it'd lost sync. If she could've thought of some way to react with her powers she wouldn't have tried it, as her next thought came vaguely yet convincingly, it. . .it happened.

---

---

---

---

Bethany leaned herself up against the nearby wall as she listened to everyone as they started to come up with a plan, she wasn't a chemist or a techie at all really. Rob's plan wouldn't work they simply didn't have the time or materials that they needed, and Guin knew her stuff as well to she was one of the smartest people she knew. She nodded ejecting Cortez out into space would be the last resort if it did come down to it. "Alright then." Bethany said to Mary, the rest of the plan did seem to be the best, just overpower Cortez as quickly as possible and they would be able to take the guy out.

Blinding him would be pretty easy she could just make them appear over his eyes, or she could also create a dome of sorts blocking Cortez's line of sight. She turned to look at Neil hearing him coming out as nonbinary she smiled, as she made her way over towards him gently resting a hand on their shoulder. "I'm happy for you." Bethany said, when she noticed that the walls started to rattle around them, and turned to Magneto. "Is that you?" She asked him, when Bethany started to see Max as his powers started to go haywire, Bethany was about to shield herself when Pietro managed to grab her along with Guin, nearly dodging the wall of flames that Max had created protecting them all as Pietro sped over the walls and ceilings to avoid the fire.

---

---

---

---

Carolina listened to the plan as she looked at everyone around the room as she listened to Max's plan and Mary adding onto it, it was a pretty sound plan she could try and possess Cortez and block him from using his powers against everyone else. [color=cyan["Sounds like a good plan to me then."[/color] Carolina said as she listened to Neil as he came out as nonbinary, Bethany being nice for once was surprising to her as Carolina gently held Neil's hand and gave them a loving smile. She was certainly very happy for them it did take a lot to come out to everyone but they were all friends around here anyway.

Then Carolina started to hear the walls around them all rattling, and then there was a sudden explosion, and she was sent flying back burns started to appear around her body as she was flung back and slammed into a nearby wall as she hit it pretty hard. Carolina laid on her side as she would let out a slight groan as he ears were ringing as she tried to get up.

---

---

---

---

Leaving Jaclyn temporarily, Antoinette walked over to Miranda. ”If we are to use our ability together, should we make the same illusion? Or perhaps split their senses and create two different realities?” Antoinette continued to pet her tribble, finding comfort in his slight puring.
The ground and walls rumbled around them. Antoinette looked up and turned in a slight circle. She was trying to determine what was happening when the room started to grow bright. Antoinette looked down to see Max starting to lose control. Antoinette quickly turned as Max erupted. She hunched over, securing Arnold from harm, but ended up getting burnt along her side and back. Everything ached as she twisted back around, pain flaring across Antoinette’s body, but at least she was still standing.
”Away with you,” she told Arnold and tucked him away. She focused on the others who were in various stages of disarray. ”What on earth was that?” Antoinette knew Max's powers were advanced and prone to go haywire, but that was completely out of left field.

---

---

"Things could have been better. I am thankful we are all reunited." Ed smiled at Antoinette. Something was calming about her presence. He appreciated her.

"Good, glad you're feeling better, Lance." Ed wasn't fond of trying to heal people he couldn't see at all. His distance healing was normally across a battlefield. He shifted his attention to Mary who was to give the group direction.

Plans were laid out. They as a group would deal with Cortez. Ed considered what he could do. His normal tactic of locking down someone in a bubble wouldn't help here. He might put him in a half bubble so the group could hit him but not allow him to run away. He wondered if his shield could prevent Cortez from enhancing anyone's powers.

The thoughts were cut off when a fire flared and threw him into a wall. He had burns and hurt from hitting the wall. Ed winced and stood assessing his own injuries and the rest of the group. He wasn't sure what had happened but it had been big. The rattling of the walls hadn't helped the situation or his thoughts about why it might have happened. Magneto's little project was breaking at the seams already.

Ed looked around the group, Peitro, Guin and Bethany had disappeared, and everyone else looked at least a little hurt. He could try to do a mass healing on everyone he had hair for. Everyone else would have to wait. He placed his hand on the inner pockets of his jacket that contained the tiny vials of hair that had been neatly labeled (he still needed to label Jaclyn's, but at least he had her hair). Orange light emanated from his hand and then brushed against each person. The worst of the burns were cooled and reduced. People still had wounds, but they wouldn't be passing out from pain or anything now.

---

---

This was how it was done. The team back in action, making a plan, calling the shots, and kicking ass. Mary took the lead and Perry felt very impressed. She hadn't known her long, but Mary seemed to take to leadership very well. Perry waited, hearing Mary say what each person should do. She waited for her name, wondering what task she could do. Granted, Mary didn't know her exact powers apart from spirits, but she could be useful. Hell, she punched Cortez in the face so that was something she could fall back on.

But as Mary continued, her name never left her lips. Almost everyone else was tasked with something. It was a solid plan, sure, Perry wouldn't fault her that. Maybe she just didn't know how useful Perry could be.

Before she could speak up, Perry felt some heat which was weird considering they were in space, but soon she was thrown back with force, crashing to the side wall. She coughed, feeling her skin get hot. She glanced up to see where the source of the fire was from and, no, they were not being attacked. Max stood there, looking....guilty? Was he? He should be considering he just firebombed the lot of them. Some weren't even there anymore. "Did the others disintegrate or something?" she asked standing up, not believing that's what happened.

Ed, to his credit, used his healing ability and Perry said a silent thanks she gave up her hair. She still felt sore, but it was better. "So yeah, maybe pyrotechnics is not the way to go. We don't need more holes in the walls here."

---

---

Guin was glad that she didn't have to listen to a longwinded rebuttal from Robert, and she was additionally pleased that everyone seemed to be agreeing with her plan. Good. Mary hammered out some of the finer points of it, none of which raised any alarm for Guin. She could work to possess Cortez's body, or even serve as additional hands for working the illusion, diving into his mind and altering his perception of reality. Either of those were fine and achievable.

If I never see him again, it'll be too soon, Guin agreed, echoing Pietro's sentiments. She often formed strong opinions of people and she had formed an entirely negative one of Bobby so far.

But before they could enact their plan, the metal walls around them shook. Guin's stomach dropped, her palms sweating as her nerves skyrocketed. Immediately, her head swiveled in the direction of Magneto, ready to see that the villain had finally reverted to type, and that they would be kicking his ass after all - that somehow he had been deceiving her, even when she examined his mind, that he had locked away his true intentions and only now would they be revealed. But rather than seeing Magneto having a meltdown, there was Max - a rainbow aura of flames pushing off of him, and Guin blinked as the flames them shot off, and she was grabbed by Pietro, moving at speeds faster than her mind could process.

---

---

Neil smiled, grateful for the support from those who had overheard their declaration. The nerves in their body settled a little bit, even if they hadn't intended to come out to everyone in that moment - that they had only meant for their explanation to be for Max's wise old years. Ironically, Max hadn't even said anything. It would have hurt Neil, but they assumed that only meant that Max was so ancient that he hailed from a time when gender was not even a construct yet, that Max couldn't understand the significance of that act to someone from the modern world.

They were hurt, however, when Max took a selfie with Perry... and not with them. Green envy twisted and curdled within them.

But the unhappy jealousness could not last for long, as in rapid succession horrible things happened. The metal all around them began to shake and distort, causing Neil's anxiety to skyrocket. And then Max, wise old Max, burst into cosmic flames, angelic colors from every portion of the visible spectrum radiating off of him - and then violently pushing out, crashing into Neil and the others. Neil was flung against the wall, knocked to the ground, covered in burns and their head spinning in confusion.

"Was that..." Neil trailed off, the sense of foreboding hitting them suddenly and strongly. Was that Cortez?

"Yes, I was over at the explanation, however it isn't surprising that there was no one there, there aren't enough people to have someone there all the time, and as of this moment, no, everything seems structurally sound at the moment." Magneto replied to him. Well, he didn't seem angry at him, that was a good start. As Guin decided to, dismantle not specifically his plan, but a dumbed down and stupid version of his plan. He simply sat and patiently listened to her. Yes he realized that the movie trope of "Excuse me, does this rag smell like Chloroform to you?" wasn't entirely realistic, but as he had said in his plan, Chloroform was the general gas anaesthetic used in medical procedures for a good reason. Very quickly renderng the patient unconscious. It wouldn't take too long to rig something up, it was mostly just changing the air intermix ratio in Life Support in a specific area, say a confined area, maybe one of the smaller rooms they could lure him to, then they could keep him bottled up in until he went to sleep. The Major weak point of the plan was less the gas and getting him to the specific place then needed him. But as he had said, setting up the plan relied entirely on Pietro on using that super speed to grab him stuff and set it up and from the sounds of things, that was completely out of the window. He grunted. He sat back silently as everyone became 100% convinced that a wild bum-rush was the only answer. He smiled as he remembered back in the day when he thought exactly as they did. 17ish years old when he had a death wish and was the first person to voice his "Let's just take his head off. Last one alive is a pussy!" mentality. But he had priorities now. He looked over at Magneto again. First priority was keeping that man as far away from Earth and Humanity as he could. Partly because he had proven too many times he couldn't be trusted to let the nature of natural evolution take its course, but mainly... He feared that Jasmine had a little too much of her mother in her... That man could NEVER be allowed to get his claws into his daughters mind. Fill her with the idea that the only way this could end is with one big, decisive battle between Homo Sapien and Homo Superior. That was the reason for M. The only way this battle was going to be avoided. Magneto had to leave and never come back. As they began assigning jobs, Rob sighed.

"Attack Pattern: Suicide, my favourite... I'll give a pre-apology in case i accidentally absorb anyone's eyes out of their head." He groaned, preparing himself mentally for when they left. Suddenly, the walls began to rattle. "Ummm, Eric?" He asked, looking around... No if Eric was doing it, his Wheelchair would also be affected "Ummm... Eric?" He asked again, this less accusatorily and more questioning if his weird "Sight beyond sight" thing could tell what was going on. He grunted, he hadn't had enough time to rest, but hopefully it had bought him enough time. He suspected that end-game was about to happen. Falling backwards as he re-absorbed his Wheel-chair he lay for a second, re-alligning all of the absorbed molocules and his skin turning to metal, his spine reconnecting. He pulled himself back to his feet. He looked at Magneto "Whatever happens, M NEEDS to survive." This place was the last, best hope for peace. At that point he was thrown against the bulkhead in a blast of rainbow flames. Some days he missed the X-Men life, but it was at times like this when he had been punched, electrocuted, barbacued and now barbaqued again that he didn't... He got to his feet again. "What in the name of the sweet baby jesus was that?" He was unburned, aluminium skin was always a good thing for quick bursts of flame and being slammed against a bulkhead. While the others were looking around for their friends, he was more concerned with the rest of the station. "Sprinklers?" He asked out loud, as if commanding them to come on. Maybe they had been damaged by the burst. He had been staring at Magneto when the flames exploded him so he hadn't seen Max being the epicenter. He was about to try and rush off to one of the computer rooms, but as he saw the others were far more damaged than him. He walked over to Carolina "On your feet, lass, you're an X-Man and you've got a job to do." He had a quick feel over her to make sure nothing was broken. "You'll live, come on." He helped pull her to her feet just as that orange magical effect fell over them and Caroline would start to look a lot better. He looked over at Ed "And where's my healing?" He laughed a little. He then looked around to count off "Ummm... Aren't we 3 people down?"

---

---

---

---

Things were not going too well at all right now, fire had slammed into everyone throwing them everywhere. So now they had to deal with Max's powers going out of control. However, the metal rattling was not seemingly going too well. Actually she was fairly certain that Cortez had caused some issues with regards to that.

"Well that was fun," Pietro commented, having not raced the trio off but had basically done a fancy loop off the walls and ceiling of the hallway so that he, Guin and Bethany were still there.

"Max try not to use your powers we don't need to blow up or anything or any holes here to be destroyed or whatever." Mary said instantly, before looking instantly around. Cortez could attack with some range, but not a whole lot from what little things she knew.

"Well now someone is acting like a spoiled child demanding something." the speedster said out loud, looking over at Robert. "I swear, you can't just demand it or ask for it in a kind of rude way and then suddenly expect it."

Yup, definitely don't like this guy, he then said to Guin mentally.

Mira wasn't paying much attention to what was said once she was up and about once again, she instantly started looking down the hallway in both direction. When she saw Cortez. He was mostly hidden down around a corner not far from them, the guy definitely struck her as a weirdo though, considering the fact that he seemed to almost smile at the chaos that was going on. "Over there," she said instantly pointing farther along, before all hell broke loose once again.

This time seemed like Magneto's powers were either going haywire, or he really really hated all of them and had been hiding that until now.

Bits of metal started swirling about the hallway, pulling up from the place, though it did seem to be several layers of metal, so it wasn't exposed to space or anything. Yet anyway. Which wasn't exactly super comforting considering the fact that there was still a lot of shrapnel now seemingly flying around looking for targets. And considering how many people were currently in the area, that was not going to end well.

The shrapnel started flying outwards in all directions, and despite his best attempts, Pietro ended up getting a decent sized piece of metal stuck into his knee, making it so he couldn't easily speed to necessarily avoid any more bits of metal. Several others ended up with bits of metal stuck into arms, that being Bethany, Ed, Perry, and Max all got hit with the shards as well. The speedster was really wanting to get the hell out of there, but then came another wave of metal flying at them. He instinctively put his arm up to potentially block the metal from at least hitting his arm since it came too fast for him to have easily avoided it.

But the shards never hit him.

Moving his arm away, the shards had seemingly completely stopped. But that was weird for more then a few reasons, aside from the fact that the shards were within a few inches of him. What made it strange was that they were the only shards that had stopped, others had gone to attack others but all of them had missed. With that in mind, it was fairly obvious that Magneto hadn't been the one to stop them. So who had?

"...I am so confused..."

"Maybe don't complain and just go with it!" Lance eventually said, before a wall of light of something basically shoved Pietro out of the way as the shards then went back to moving and hit the wall behind where he had just been. They had to deal with Cortez and hopefully that would deal with everyone's powers going haywire.

Mary's mind was racing at what was going on, and she glanced over in the direction that Mira had pointed to, before looking towards Max, "If you aren't able to control fully your powers right now, just aim, Cortez is somewhere and might as well see if we can make it so he regrets messing with anyone's powers."

---

---

---

---

Bethany was glad that Pietro was able to avoid the three of them from getting hit by Max's powers, once things started to settle down she was set down. "Thanks Pietro." Bethany said as she looked around at the others, everyone seemed to get hit by Max the walls continued to rattle around them which wasn't good. "You'd have to give Ed a sample from you, usually a hair sample from you if you want healing. Thats usually how Ed's healing magic works." Bethany pointed out, they had a plan now they just needed to get it going and find out where Cortez actually was.

Mira seemed to get a glimpse from where Cortez was which was a good thing then he was nearby now. However more chaos started to happen all around them as metal started to break off and started to fly all around them. She quickly brought her arms up and tried to shield herself from the oncoming metal from hitting the rest of her body. She winced in pain as she felt some of the metal shard landed on her arms cutting her quiet a bit. "Lets take him down as quickly as possible now then." Bethany said to everyone.

---

---

---

---

Carolina winced as she was helped up by Rob she looked down at her arms they were hurting quiet a bit as she looked at him. "Thank you." Carolina said for helping her back up to her feet. Then the pain was lowered now as Ed managed to heal her and everyone else who was injured by Max's haywire powers. Pietro released Beth and Guin at least the three of them were unscathed she was about to explain to Robert about Ed not healing him. However her attention turned towards Neil she was worried about them as she walked up to them.

"Are you alright there Neil?" Carolina asked Neil giving them a worried look she couldn't blame Max for loosing control of his powers due to Cortez. Carolina could hear the sound of metal suddenly being torn and then shards of metal started to fly around the room, as Magneto by the looks of it started to loose control of his powers. Some of the group ended up getting hit by the shards of metal, she was glad that they had missed her.

---

---

---

Max looked around at all the chaos that had erupted alongside his flames. He shot an apologetic look towards Antoinette as the Multi-colored flames began to die down around him. ”Sorry Penguin, Cortez seems to have gotten ahold of me.” he said before he began to walk over to Neil. Carolina seemed to have done the same, but where she only stood and asked of his condition, Max bent over, holding onto Neil's hand and helping him stand up. His eyes still pitch with the ever changing scenes of galaxies being born and dying within them. ”Sorry handsome, uh handsome still a gender neutral term nowadays right?” He asked as he cracked an awkward smile. Many a times he'd heard of woman being called Handsome, and men obviously were too, so it stood to reason nonbinary peeps could be handsome as well…right?

Max had to leave the topic at the door however as shards came flying towards him, embedding themselves in nonvital locations while few others glanced across the skin. Max only hoped that his body was able to block a few from hitting Neil. Mary gave him a new order. At first he thought she would bench him, given how she felt about the instability he now had from her previous comment. But it appeared that she'd changed her mind, instead tasking him with making Cortez regret his decision. A wicked smile cracked on his face as he let go of Neil's hand, pulling out a shard from his arm and tossing it on the floor. ”cur id mihi semper accidat. Gladly boss lady. Most people regret having to be near my powers, let's see how quickly he does. Quicksilver, mind keeping them safe in the event I go off the rails? You too Banner, even if it means a construct wall behind me to bar my powers from all of you.”

Max began to make his way towards where Mira had pointed. Having not seen anything or anyone at the time and hoping that he could get a better angle if he changed his point of view. Sadly he didn't see Cortez at all. Nothing but an empty stretch of metal. ”Don't tell me you're trying to leave the party, Cortez. Things were just heating up around here!” Max called out in a sing-song tune as they played their game of cat and mouse. He flared up once more with the cosmic flames that Cortez had gifted him with, firing in all cylinders as the hallways became engulfed in a barrage of rainbow flames only to catch a glimpse of Cortez running out of hiding. ”Don't leave now Cortez! We're just getting started!” Wisps of Cosmic energy swirled around Max's wrist and hand before it shot straight towards Cortez, managing only to link to one arm before the chain solidified in his hand and he felt the tug of Cortez trying to escape.

Rob was taken aback a little by Pietro having a go at him for his Irishness, but quickly regrouped and shook his head "Bloody Yanks..." He mumbled under his breath , before Carolina ran over to Neil and he followed. He smiled as the Gender Terms were brought up. He tried his best with them, but he was very much a man before their time. "Just try your best to show respect." He replied in a "I dunno, i just try my best" sort of way.

As the Shards started firing, Rob hadn't been looking and wasn't so much effected by the shards of metal, smashing into his hardened skin, but some parts of him were starting to act weird, he quickly put himself between some of the other X-Men and Magneto. He then looked at Magneto to see it was him freaking out. "ERIK!" He yelled, before running over to him. He was lucky that Aluminium wasn't magnetic, but he quickly collapsed as he got close to Magneto. Yeah, the Aluminium on his skin may not be magneticly conductive, but that Adamantium that was keeping his spine together sure as hell was. The waves kept pulling the adamantium out of allignment, meaning that he was pretty much doing a Ministry of Silly Walks in a desperate attempt to stay upright. "ERIK, YOU GOTTA PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! YOU GOTTA KEEP M TOGETHER, YOU'VE GOT A DREAM THAT NEEDS SAVING!!!" He roared at him over the din of shuddering and cracking metal. He then laughed "I HATE TO SAY I TOLD YOU SO ABOUT THAT CORTEZ GIT, BUT I DID TELL YE SO." He then looked at the others. "DEAL WITH CORTEZ, I'LL KEEP ERIK HERE COMPANY!" To be honest, Rob had had quite some time to prepare for a fight with Magneto. He understood that Magneto was a Mutant Supremacist and would rather murder a million baby humans than harm a single hair on the head of a Mutant, but he had always had that niggling paranoia that Magneto would try to kill him after M was completed in one of those Bond Villain "And now nobody will be able to reveal M's secrets, MWAHAHAHAHAH!!!!" twists. He grabbed one of the wires in the wall absorbing it, one of the lights near him went off as he grunted, using the rubber insulation to surround the adamantium in his spine. It helped, not perfectly, but at least he was able to move more coordinatedly now. He spat the copper of the wire onto the floor in a little ball then moved back into the middle of the hall and flung his arms and legs wide, trying to cover as much of the hall as possible, ready to absorb the next piece of metal that came flying and hopefully "COME ON, ERIK, YOU'RE STRONGER THAN THAT TOSSPOT, AND SO IS THE DREAM OF M! IT'S YOUR DUTY TO KEEP M TOGETHER! FOR ALL THE MUTANTS, FOR YOUR BROTHERS, FOR YOUR SISTERS... He turned to see Pietro hit by shrapnel and trying to hobble away "YOUR CHILDREN!!!" He breathed a little more heavily. "ASARI BELIEVED IN YOU. DON'T LET HER DOWN, DON'T LET THE CHILDREN DOWN!!!" He REALLY hated having to bring Jasmine and Asari into this, but anything to try and give Magneto the emotional anchor he needed to fight this right now. He'd deal with the fallout later. Right now, Magneto was in danger of tearing the whole station apart. ONE FATHER TO ANOTHER, YOU KNOW YOU'LL DO ANYTHING TO PROTECT THEM, SO PROTECT HIM NOW!!!" He roared with passion and fury "DON'T ME THE SHITTY FATHER THAT DOES THIS TO THEIR CHILD!!!" He pointed to the scar down his face, he had told Magneto about how his father had done it to him with a straight razer after his powers first manifested. DON'T BE THE HUMANS YOU'RE ALWAYS SAYING WE'RE ABOVE!!!"

---

---

---

Just as OfAll was feeling her muscles "waking back up" and responding to her painful attempts not to just be a sitting duck, she heard Robert's voice instructing one of the X-Men "lass's" to get up. It didn't sound nearest to her, but as she did fall into that category she instinctively looked around. Her mind couldn't decide on being amused or offended-by-proxy at his curtness, but it definitely settled on being a little wowed by how he now seemed to be made out of some sort of metallic-looking substance, and certainly wait-a-minute at the fact he was now walking, with his wheelchair no where to be seen.

She had no idea what his power was. The appearance of his skin seemed similar to Colossus, yet with the absence of his chair, OfAll wondered if he'd done something with it. If it had merely gotten destroyed, his ability to walk wasn't explained -not that it really was right now, unless the inability was a guise?

At that moment, an orange glow encasing mostly everyone caught her eye, and she looked down at her own skin as she felt her pain lessen; the glow like friendly embers, leaving her skin more whole as it subsided.

She looked over at Edus, knowing it had been his doing, and smiled: grateful both to him, and that she had managed to get a hair to him just before.

Then a startling question reached OfAll's ears from Perry's mouth.
Disintegrate?! Although Perry's question didn't sound serious, she was obviously responding to something -or the absence of. Robert voiced a seconding comment specifically mentioning three people.

With relief a second later, OfAll was pretty sure she realized what had occurred, as she saw Pietro letting go of Guin and Bethany as though he had just whipped them -and himself- off somewhere -a lack of residual damage on their persons and his comment further evidencing this.

Mira's voice then directed the group's attention a certain way, but before that could be followed on, the metal rattling which hadn't disappeared like the flames grew into a barrage of metal.

OfAll's head whipped around with the metal and her body jerked instinctively -there were close calls yet she was lucky not to count herself among those who got shards embedded in their limbs.

It looked as though Pietro was going to get that double, when shards suddenly arrested seemingly at the raising of his arm.
OfAll looked around.

Magneto didn't seem to be controlling this. In fact, where was he? And Miranda, for that matter?

A thought was forming in OfAll's mind....Max had used fire powers, which she'd witnessed Marygold having back on the stand-off on the grounds. Max's was multi-coloured, to be sure, but still. . .Now, had Pietro actually stopped the shards?

Was there a mutant around who could swap or share powers?

Lance responding to Pietro directed her attention back that way, and seeing him use his light powers to shove Pietro to safety got OfAll thinking of a swap herself.

While Marygold was speaking of a way to make Max's chaos powers work for them, which Max was clearly game for, OfAll was still determined not to be the next one instructed to just aim the chaos. Max's comment to Lance solidified OfAll's decision:
she made a manifest attempt.

And it backfired.
If there were cameras in this place, some time down the line there would be a mastercut of "OfAll slamming into walls".

For a moment she grew concerned. Were Max's powers so unpredictable, she wouldn't be able to use her own to replace them?

She pushed that out of her mind. That was nonsense. Powers were powers.
Okay, OfAll. One turn deserves another.

Follow-up attempt was a go,
she watched as light formed over her hands like a pair of momentary gloves -light exactly like what Lance had encased her, himself and Guin in previously.

OfAll now had his powers.
These, she felt, she could work with.

Something between a gasp and a "huh?" escaped her lips then as she snapped to attention at Robert's shout.

It was a sight, and an earful.
Robert was obviously in a power tug-o'-war that was doing an almost literal dance to his body, while he simultaneously fought to overcome Cortez-affected-Magneto.

Except was that what was happening?

In any case, despite Robert's instruction, OfAll moved only far enough down to be in a mid-way position between where Robert was, and where Cortez had been spotted.

So absorption is a part of his powers, the thought ran through her head as she caught sight of the power cord display.
She grew increasingly tense with the new barrage that were Robert's words, feeling the intensity of everything behind them, along with the discomfort of learning of pain in a person's past.

Keeping partial attention on both scenes, OfAll was ready to uses Lance's powers to aid whoever needed her most.

---

---

Ed clenched his jaw slightly. That mass healing had not been easy. "I am a sympathetic healer." Ed added to Bethany's explanation. If Robert had any clue about magic that would explain everything.

Ed was about to start making the rounds for those he didn't have a hair for when chaos erupted yet again. Metal tore into his flesh.

Robert's yelling was a little disconcerting and if he had included him in the 'yanks' thing that was just wrong. Ed was not a yank he was from Cardiff, making him Welsh. His accent was clearly non-American, with a slight sing-song to it that was indicative of the Welsh accent.

---

---

---

---

Penguin? Had Max ever called her that before? Antoinette struggled to remember if Max had, but she found it adorable either way. She smiled at Max, shaking her head as if she were shaking her head at the antics of some child. Antoinette started to feel a tingle over her body, and she looked down to examine her arms and hands. She began to heal slowly to the point where the burns were nothing more than red marks. The burning sensation had blessedly ceased. She would never stop being amazed by Edus’ powers or his generosity. Antoinette went to thank Edus, but then the next set of powers went haywire.
Antoinette crouched, covering her head with her hands. She felt stings along her skin as metal sliced against her. It stopped momentarily before going crazy again, and everyone was doing something to fight. Antoinette spotted who Cortez must have been and looked around for Jacelyn. She spotted her glowing and crawled over.
”Do you think you could blind him? If you can knock out one of sense, I could scramble the rest of them.” Antoinette could better manipulate Cortez’s senses if he were already down one, and by the looks of it, Max had Cortez bound. Now would be a good time to act.

---

---

It was fair to say things were going from bad to worse now that Cortez had made an appearance. He seemed to be causing their powers to run amok again considering Max's little fire show. To top it off, Cortez had dabbled in Magneto's power to send metal shrapnel at them, slicing into Perry's arms.

The dude was even trying to run away. Thankfully, Max had managed to grab onto him, but even then Cortez could just overload them. "What happened to using all our powers at once? Less talky-talky, more power use-y!" And if that wasn't bad enough, the newest addition to their little group, Robert, was screaming his head off at Magneto. Would it be bad form if she decked him too?

Perry called forth her spirits. The newest addition to her team, Mary Ellen, strode forward, launching her gravity power at Cortez, though it was hard to see if she managed to land it. Barry also attempted to shock Cortez, but it didn't have the desired effect. Even trying it again did nothing. Aggravating.

She stepped back, not wanting her powers to be controlled again and forming more alien ghosts or whatever else was roaming the halls.

---

---

Things were escalating more and more by the moment. And this wasn't the team that Guin would have picked, but it was the one she had. Well, there were only a few people on it that she would have deleted from the roster. A hurricane of schrapnel was spinning its way through them, Guin reflexively shielding her eyes somewhat with her hand. Magneto wasn't monologuing, so it probably was Cortez causing things to go haywire. "Stick to the plan!" Guin called out, hoping to be heard over the chaos.

She didn't think screaming in Magneto's face was helpful, but whatever. If that kept the newbie out of her hair, then that was fine with her. She struggled to concentrate, to dive into Cortez's mind and take control of his body away from him. Between her and Carolina, at least one of them had to be able to take hold - hopefully their efforts would work together in tandem, rather than cancelling each other out. It was difficult and challenging - Cortez had clearly done some anti-psychic work before, his walls were up and strong. She redoubled her efforts, trying to push out the fear from her mind - the fear of being shredded by metal scraps, burned alive by wild flames, or otherwise killed while she focused on fighting on a plane that very few people could perceive.

For a brief second, Guin had him - well, some of him. She had broken through some of his defenses, gaining a foothold in his mind. But it wasn't enough. She pushed and she pushed, concentrating more and more, drawing on all of her training and experience - only to fail, to open her eyes, blood flowing from her nose. "Fucking hell," she muttered under her breath, before readying herself to go again.

---

---

"Um, handsome is fine?" Neil said, although they hadn't really given it deep thoughts. They were a little confused as to the middle aged man who jumped in on the conversation to give advice, purely because Neil didn't really know who he was. But at least at the moment, handsome was okay. They had just come to terms with the fact that they had been using the wrong pronouns for themself their entire life - they hadn't really thought through what descriptors were okay and what ones would never be. They hadn't even thought about what name would work - did Neil still describe them? Or was that the name for someone else, someone they could never be?

They did their best to protect the others, as the schrapnel started flying, a hail of deadly metal implements. Their original mutant power allowed them to move objects with their mind (and sometimes cause them to explode, although Neil practiced that less and less these days). It was difficult to grasp onto the flying pieces, there was such a haze of them, it was like trying to catch flies with their hands. They tried again and again, until finally they managed to provide a small amount of protection - to push the metal away from their friends, their hands trembling as they were like a shield.

Even as their eyes were on Max.

---

---

---

---

Nothing seemed to be going right, at all. At least when it comes to trying to slow down Cortez. As Bethany is unable to create any sort of shadow to try and blind Cortez, and when Carolina tries to possess Cortez, she practically gets thrown out instead. Lance looked at Max when he made his comment and laughed slightly, "Yeah, sure, I can do that pretty quickly in the event you need it, but just saying, I'm not exactly worried about your powers, just would prefer to not have to use one specific one of mine in a sort of enclosed space like this unless it's literally life or death sort of thing."

Pietro was only half paying attention to what it was that Max was saying, so he didn't actually hear really what it was that he had said. He was more of paying attention towards Robert who had decided that yelling at his father was a good idea. "Dude seriously??? I don't care for him too much but come on even I know his powers going haywire isn't his fault so why the hell are you deciding to yell at him over it?"

Of course that wasn't seemingly fixing anything that they currently were having to deal with. As despite Ed's efforts, the shards were not being bubbled or anything like that, at least not enough to really matter. The shards were flying around still hitting anyone still nearby, which considering most people were trying to deal more with Cortez himself, that at least meant that they were out of the way of it. Aside from a few people. The shards only caused a few minor cuts on Ed that were more of just an annoyance, Robert didn't really get injured from that at all, and for Pietro a weird thing happened again. He didn't actually move to avoid them, having been distracted by what he viewed as Robert's stupidity for the yelling, and despite that, the shards seemed to go, almost just sort of around him not actually at him. That was definitely not normal to say the least. The walls a few of the panels were starting to come apart, not exactly a good sign.

Mary was partially focused on both instances of chaos going on, however her attention shifted more specifically towards Cortez, as he likely could cause more damage then Magneto could if he kept using his own powers on people. The stability though of the hallway they were in right now was getting to be concerning though as the walls kept shaking all around them. Pulling a seed from her pocket, she sent it flying into one of the walls, vines starting to sprout a bit now and giving more stability to the hall so at least it wouldn't immediately result in them dying if Magneto started trying to pull the walls apart. Her attention moving towards Cortez again, who seemed to be almost smiling a bit at Max.

"Oh? Who said I was truly running? Seemed more like I was trying to just watch what was going on. However this is starting to be a bit more fun in general isn't it?" he said with a laugh, before he seemingly started using his own powers again to cause chaos. Though it wouldn't be overly apparent at first who it was that had gotten hit with it.

Instead of waiting to see more specifically what was going on, Mary used the vines that were along the walls now of the corridor and sent them charging straight at Cortez, some of them were covered in thorns as they hit Cortez, stopping him from continuing his power usage, while a non-thorn covered vine wrapped around his spare hand that Max didn't have entangled. "Give it up this is getting insanely ridiculous at this point!" she snapped at him, clearly a bit annoyed with Cortez at this point.

"You all think you know everything, but you don't, not really," he said, laughing a bit at them again. Lance meanwhile also had decided to try and blind Cortez like Bethany had attempted to, but the light missed Cortez's head, as he was moving a bit making it difficult to truly aim or anything like that.

---

---

Ed felt an urge to suffocate someone with a bubble but decided to go on the offensive against Cortez. Ed adjusted so that he could see Cortez. Then he flicked his wrist several times in quick succession. Most of his little blasts of orange light missed Cortez, except the last one. That one hit Cortez directly.

It might have been Ed's wishful thinking that Cortez looked dazed. Sadly the man didn't go down. Ed wasn't normally an offensive fighter. He tended to be protective or healing. This was the one spell he was willing to use offensively. It did minor damage. The reason for all of that was because of his family's laws. He did not break those laws. He had seen what would happen if he did, the last time he had been in space.