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Diana's younger brother, the little Murdertwink™️ that Dorian had started dating a while ago, came over and teleported April away. Did April want to go? Honestly, Leah was glad she wasn't present anymore after this whole thing happened. She didn't think about it yet, but Leah may have made it worse by shaking the whole damn building just by asking a question... She'd have to apologize for that, probably. But right now, she was pissed that Nimue had left this thing in here. So when the fucking watery tart made her way over to them, followed by Nemo and some purple-haired guy, she locked eyes with her and started bitching like crazy.

"Why the hell would you stick something like this in here? We all showed up to this dance to have just one normal day without training like hell. Walking into a magic... Whatever that was, full of strangers trying to attack us without warning is the complete opposite of that!" She glared at Nimue like she was about to deck the aquatic bint right where she stood.

All things considered, Leah sounded surprisingly in control as she vented out her fury on Nimue. She definitely sounded pissed, but not to an irrational point. "Everyone's been walking out of there crying and scared to death, and I just thought there was something really convincing in there. Look at me-" She lifted her bloodied, flayed, broken hand and absolutely refused to acknowledge the pain that shot up her arm. "I got tossed around like a sack of flour, and beaten into the damn ground. What if someone walks in there and they get hurt worse!? And before any of you give me the superhero-in-training speech, you do NOT leave magic death traps just laying around to attack people! I saw Victoria's sister walk in there way before I did, and I'm pretty sure she hasn't come out yet."

"What are you going to do when someone gets killed in there?!"

---

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"It'll defintely take awhile to try and find her or at least get some kind of information on where her whereabouts are." Diana said, as she looked at Kate and America it seemed like the two of them agreed as well to and Kate opted to come with her. "I'd say we all meet back here in two hours." Diana suggested, that should be more than enough time to try and hopefully find Cassie and then get back home, she watched as America opened up a portal into what looked like a throne room. "Good luck you two." Diana said as she nodded towards Zelda. "You stay safe alright?" Diana told her.

Diana turned towards Kate. "We should try the taverns, bars and inns around here maybe someone from there has seen her." Diana suggested, normally she would teleport to them, but she didn't know this area at all. And it was a bit risky as well, she could still do short jumps without any issue however. Diana turned and started to head off into a random direction to find the closest tavern people there always did have some kind of information.

As she continued to look around the area until a dog approached her she smiled at the cute dog and knelt down. "Well aren't you just cutest thing?" Diana said as she gently patted the dog on the head and went to look at it's collar seeing that it's name was Buttons it was a Golden Retriever, and when she blinked it was now a German Shepard that was certainly interesting.

---

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Madalyne luckily made it to their dorm without to much of an issue as she started to open the door with her key and headed inside while keeping the door open for whenever the others got to their dorm. Madalyne quickly started to head over to April's side of their room and started to make sure that it was clean and spotless for her and put some of her things away. Madalyne then went over and used the sink to fill up a glass of water for her best friend.

She went to their closet and pulled out an extra blanket as well to just to make sure that she would be comfortable as well to. Once Madalyne was satisfied that everything was set up and ready for April Madalyne made her way towards the door and waited patiently outside for the others to get here.

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Andy nodded and smiled. "You're absolutely welcome to join." Andy said and made her way toward the food. Her stomach was growling. There was a creeping sense of dread that she had thinking about that hunger that had started to claw through her. She had been hungry plenty of times in her life. She had lived on the streets. She had been near starved at times. But the hunger that had started to seep into her since leaving the haunted house was not the same.

As they walked over to the table Andy thought of the few times she had 'eaten.' There had been a feast at Genosha, that had filled her so much but had been basically purged for the sake of those she had eaten. Then had been the accident with Mads, the drink she had then had been quickly countered with a stab, and last had been the drink during the fight for a place in the Contest of Champions. Now she suspected that whatever had happened in the Haunted House had started her appetite up again. The thought of asking a teacher for a way to...eat. It seemed like something that would quickly get her expelled. But taking from her classmates and friends was just as likely to cause that.

At the table, she got some punch and quickly drank three cups of it, the hunger not abating. The food seemed unappetizing but she filled a plate and took a few bites. As expected the food itself was bland, despite the smells of spices. This was going to mean a conversation with Selene later. She didn't like that idea much.

"Well, so do you still want to watch a horror movie?" She finally said after a bite of food and a sip of drink to wash it down. She tried to smile, tried to cover the concern that had settled into her bones. Also, ignore the chaos that April's breakdown was causing. Nimue had moved and was now in that area. Andy looked away focusing again on Mary Sue and Zari.

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This was a first for Sabine. She felt herself get angry, grow contempt, for (of all people) Danni. April was on the ground in tatters having experienced something traumatic. Dorian wasn't helping matters either but at least she expected that from him considering his choice in romantic partners. Danni she expected better of. But here he was, giggling and pretending like they hadn't just gone through something horrendous. Like their anger isn't justified. Sabine bit her tongue. She didn't want to add to the drama already unfolding. Emotions were high. Perhaps once she cooled down she would feel better.

But as of right now she wanted heads on spikes. And it appeared Leah was the same. Percy had managed to teleport April away and she was thankful for that. She wished he would teleport everyone else though and leave them to handle Nimue, who showed up looking full of herself.

Before Sabine could speak Leah dug into her. Leah shared the same points she was going to and Leah appeared surprisingly calm, though Sabine figured there was righteous anger burning underneath.

"We're not going to pretend like whatever this is hasn't caused harm to others and isn't actively causing harm since, as Leah said, there's still people inside. So fix this now and promise to help undo the damage it caused." The underlying threat was there. Fix it or I will and I won't worry about how it looks to outside observers.

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Zelda just sort of nodded, not really sure what to think of what was going on or the sort of plan, but she was just fascinated about where they were. This place was just incredible to her, and she always thought based on the limited knowledge she had, it would be interesting to go to. However this was not something she had expected to be doing when she headed to the dance at the school today (or was it night? Time differences were definitely a bit weird).

Anyway, she stepped through the portal after America and looked around at where they had ended up. The throne room was definitely interesting to look at, but her attention was immediately drawn towards those in the room. Easily she recognized King Arthur himself and his queen Guinevere, and what looked like a few nights around him. The third somewhat recognizable person was the one that she instantly went to thinking could potentially help them. "That looks to be Merlin... If anyone here might be able to help us it'll probably be him..." she whispered to America, motioning somewhat in Merlin's direction.

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She wasn't sure why Mary Sue seemed to think that she wasn't invited to go get something to drink or to munch on. The whole situation with regards to April was definitely a bit more entertaining at this point after April left, and with April and Sabine confronting Nimue about it was fun to potentially watch. However Andy was already wandering to the table with the drinks and such, so she followed along without too much of an afterthought, figuring that Mary Sue was following along after her.

"What movie would we even watch or start with? There are so many..." Zari asked, looking over at Andy, figuring she probably knew some that would be entertaining to watch. She didn't fully know what sort of movies were really around on this world at the moment. She didn't actually know what sort of movies were around or whatever, both past and present, so she didn't know what they'd watch or anything, she'd leave it up to the others to choose.

Danni barely refrained from screeching in frustration as Spicy pooped out with Princess, but it was alright. Danni wasn’t a stressy spagettghi l, he was… whatever was the opposite, Danni didn't know right ‘cause he was in fact, a stressy spaghetti. “Dee, I swear to God, if Spicy and Princess didn't make it, or somet'in’ ‘appened ta t'em, Imma start cryin’ an’ t’en you'll ‘ave ta fix t'ree people instead of one.” Danni whined as they ran out of the cafeteria, not bothering to see whatever nonsense was happening.

“What t'e fuck was up wit’ t'at whole t'in’? W'at even ‘appened in t'at ‘ouse? I told y'all not ta go, but y'all went anyway and now look what's ‘appenin’. Beanie and Rocky are all scramble ‘eaded, Princess is cryin’, apparently Rocky got ‘urt, Vicky got tossed, like I t'ought ‘houses were just like people in costumes and props, not Poisson-Pas trainin’ courses. One night. Just one night. Just wanna dance wit’ my friends, but no. T’ey want ta go into t’e murder ‘ouse instead! Great, just great. Nice ta know I was t’e worse option.” Danni word vomitted as they hurried back to the dorms. With Beanie and Leah being fucking stupid, and Princess now out of sight while having an attack, spirals of fire whirled to life around him and vanished just as quickly.

Danni took the stairs two at a time, too hyper to wait for the elevator. He fumbled getting thr dorm key out and into the lock, but only a few scratches around the lock later, he burst in and began grabbing stuff for cocoa and the Bad Day movie stash. “Dee, can you get t’e blankets and stuff? Can’t promise I won’t scorch ‘em.” Danni muttered as he dug through their stuff.

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Danni and Dorian were walking April out slowly but surely. Closing distance that would hopefully make it easier for Percy to teleport her out. The less he traveled the easier it was right? Right? As if on cue, Percy had gone up to them and taken April off their hands for the time being. He'd hoped that he'd take them with him, but Dorian didn't want to push Percy too much. It was already a big ask to go up six stories. Dorian looked at Danni and nodded, as he watched Nimue approach the group in his periphery and Leah and Sabine began to make more of a scene.

”They're gonna be fine D. No worries. Perce can knows where to go, if anythin’ he may need a small break in between but it's all good.” Dorian replied, now concerned more than ever as to if Percy actually made the jump. He listened as Danni ranted on, but once they'd gotten to the stairs Dorian ghosted and began his flight up. He didn't need to be tired from walking up six flights, and besides…he needed to make sure Percy wasn't stranded in some hallway on the way up. Sure enough after the third floor there he was against a wall with April. Dorian flew over to them, looking at the pair. He pulled out his phone and tried calling Danni. ”You ok Perce? April? I'm callin Danni, gonna see if he can ‘elp me get you two up and attem.”

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Running diagnostics...
Diagnosis complete.

Chassis integrity: WARNING! Loose debris within chassis!
Power unit: WARNING! 15% charge remaining.
Power unit: NOTE. Outlier power consumption over last: 300 seconds.
Propulsion: FAILURE! Spinal T4-X, T7-Z servos seized.
Propulsion: FAILURE! Right hand index finger servos not detected.
Propulsion: WARNING! Left leg knee servo overvoltage.
Communications: FAILURE! External connection hardware not detected.

Software integrity: NOTE. Minimal residual magic interference detected.
Personality matrix: NOTE. Activity outlier in the emotion emulator.
Holographic memory: NOTE. Fragmentation 6.5%. Approaching lower control limit: 8%.
Core code: FAILURE! Ultron firewalls 1, 4, 7 Breached.
Core code: WARNING! Ultron firewalls 2, 3, 5, 6 Offline.
Core code: NOTE. Ultron firewalls 8, 9, 10 Operational.

---

Recommendation: Contact admins for immediate repairs.
FAILURE! External connection system offline.
Recommendation: Contact user for assistance.
FAILURE! Available users indisposed.
Recommendation: Use external means of communication.
FAILURE! Phone destroyed by magic influence.
Recommendation: Return to service bay to use communications terminal and perform emergency repairs.
Commencing...

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Destination reached.

Preparing repair plan... Done.
Compiling parts list... Done.
Checking part availability... Done.
Checking tool availability... Done.
Evaluating interference from unit damage... Done.

Partial repair possible.
External communications: Unable to repair.
Spinal servos: Unable to repair.
Scheduling start after the following task.

Communications terminal detected. Contacting Admin...

===EMERGENCY ACTION MESSAGE===
From: A-U-0
To: #ADMINS
Significant damage inflicted to unit. Unable to restore 100% functionality.
Core firewalls operating at 30%. Credible threat form ULTRON.
Requesting Admin inspection and repair.
===EAM END===

^{Mom... I'm scared.}

Mary Sue smiled, she knew it was weird of her to ask, but she was feeling insecure, and hiding that felt borderline impossible at the moment. She had no idea what to watch, but she winced for a moment at the thought of getting anything that could give her flashbacks to what she just experienced. "Uh... I want to I think, Just no gore?" She said, flinching a bit at the thought of seeing anything that involved mutilation or even blood. Truth be told, that was far from the worst part of that haunted house, but it seemed like the most likely thing they'd encounter in a horror movie that she had to be worried about.

Beyond that, she really didn't know that much about horror as a genre, so she asked, "What kind do you like?" She was a little curious how much variety horror had; people were scared of all kinds of things, so she figured there must be a lot. A part of her thought that finding out what Andy liked would tell Mary Sue about her, and Mary Sue wanted to know about her teammate and friend. She wondered, briefly, if Percy would be interested in joining, but girl's horror night seemed like a fun thing to start doing, and so she resolved that she'd try to find some other time to spend with Percy. Now that she'd made it into the Contest, maybe she could make more time for friends. As she was thinking about this, she grabbed a cup of punch and sipped from it slowly; sugar was good for her right now.

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@Nallore: Kate nodded, heading off with Diana - and grinning a bit at the dog. When she looked at it, Buttons was a Chihuahua. "I wonder if he likes pizza," she mused - her own dog, Lucky, loved pizza. It was probably bad for him, but the vet said he was perfectly healthy, so she wasn't too concerned about trying to change his diet. She knelt down, offering Buttons some pets, and he turned into a corgi, so she played a bit with his ears. "I don't suppose you know where Cassie is, do you buddy?"

Buttons woofed and took off at a run.

"Well... Shit. Maybe he does?" Kate said, before sprinting off after the pooch.

@BlueSky44: America nodded, less surprised than others might have been to come face to face with Merlin - she was well traveled, after all. The bigger issue really was that they had just suddenly appeared within the Throne Room. King Arthur rose in defense of his wife, pulling his sword - drawing Excalibur and aiming it at the two of them as a threat. Merlin snapped his hand and vines appeared, ensnaring them.

"What business brings you here, witchbreed?" King Arthur said darkly.

It would then dawn upon Zelda that in not all stories was King Arthur the hero...

In some, he was the villain.

@Blizz@PatientBean: Lady Nimue considered Leah's words carefully, although her features were scrunched up in confusion. "Was it not horrifying enough?" she asked. "I was told that these things are supposed to be terrifying. What is more terrifying than to face one's shadow?" she posed. Yet when Leah asked about what Nimue would do when someone was killed in there, it did not seem to bother Nimue in the slightest. She came from a world of stories, where death just meant one version was dead and another would revive to take its place. She was an immortal being, a goddess. What does death mean to someone who can never die? What does death mean to a person who sees everyone as just characters, fated by the rules of narrative?

Nimue then considered Sabine's demand that she fix this - but what was there to be fixed? Her enchantment had fulfilled its requested purpose, she had partaken in this ritual, this means of celebration for the people of this realm. Far be it from her to judge them for their odd customs, but she prided herself on being able to understand, to adapt to them.

But more than anything else, her magic was bound to the rules of story. The enchantment had been set to expire at midnight. To end it all sooner, it would require heroes - heroes to rise to the challenge.

"I cannot fix this," Nimue said calmly. "The spell is bound to the rules of narrative. Heroes must prevail to break it."

She then produced a shimmering sword, offering it not to Sabine but to Leah. "But I may arm you for the battle you will face. With this sword, you must go to the heart of the enchantment - and you must destroy it."

"I don't suppose we could do it?" Darius, Ser Nemo's husband, asked.

Lady Nimue shook her head. "You are not chosen."

Ser Nemo frowned, before addressing Leah and Sabine. "You don't have to do this, girls. I can block off anyone else from entering tonight. Go, enjoy yourselves. Comfort your girlfriend. You can be heroes another night."

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Being away from the crowds, from all the questions and stares and glances, it did help - somewhat. With how shattered April felt after that experience, so untethered from reality, so unmoored, even a small improvement wasn't too noticeable. Her tears had dried up, her body shaking as it tried to produce more but failed to do so - and her eyes felt so wet, so uncomfortably wet, she wanted to dry them but her body felt unresponsive, like it wasn't hers to control - like she was someone else, like the software running her body just was outdated, uninstalled maybe. She was somewhere else, just watching the scene, watching this Homecoming Queen try to piece herself back together.

So when Dorian came on up to them, asking if they were okay, saying that he was going to call for help - April wanted to answer him. She really did. She wanted to tell him that she was okay, that he didn't need to worry about her, that he shouldn't worry about her. But her lips felt too heavy and she couldn't quite remember how they worked, couldn't quite recall how to exist in her body. She couldn't move her head, all she could do was stare melancholically, all she could do was be trapped in this body.

Percy, however, was in a better state - marginally. He was dizzy and exhausted, and his legs felt like they were made of Jell-O as he tried to rise to a standing position, only to immediately regret it, the ringing in his ears increasing. He didn't want to look weak or incompetent, especially not in front of Dorian. He wanted to be able to meet his boyfriend's expectations - to exceed them, really. "I'm fine," Percy insisted. "I just need a moment, then I can get her upstairs."

He could do this.

Yes, teleporting with another person was incredibly difficult and yes, he was traversing a long (to him) distance that required multiple jumps - but Percy was as prideful as he was stubborn. He took a breath, placed a hand on April, closed his eyes, focused against the pounding headache, and... They teleported a floor up, making it to the fourth floor. He could feel bile pooling at the base of his throat. He tried to summon his power, to get them to the fifth floor, but his body couldn't take it.

He fainted, hitting the floor with a thump.

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"I don't think they have pizza here honestly." Diana said to Kate as she continued to pet Buttons, until the dog decided to run off and into the crowd. "Hopefully it does know where she is." Diana said as she quickly bolted off to chase after the dog through the busy crowds, of course Buttons the Magic Dog changed form every time she lost sight of it Buttons would turn into a different breed from a large dog to a small teacup sized pupper.

They meandered throughout the entire city until they were in front of a cantina of sorts, Diana looked at Buttons and gently petted the dog. "Good job Buttons." Diana said as she approached the cantina and tried the door, only for her to see that it was locked. There was a sign that said it was closed until the evening, Buttons kept barking at the door as she looked at Kate they needed to find Cassie and get back home soon.

"I'll teleport inside and see if anyone is home." Diana said a bright blue light emanated around her and she was gone, and she reappeared on the other side. She found herself inside the dark cantina she quickly noticed that it was infested with vampires, which she really didn't expect. "Hey uh Kate you don't happen to have stake arrows on you by chance?" Diana called out, when she heard something move and then someone suddenly grabbed onto her leg and bit into it. "Because there are fucking vampires in here!" Diana yelled out to Kate.

Diana cried out in pain as she tried to unlock the door from where she was, when she couldn't Diana tried to teleport herself out. The blue light flickered around her but nothing happened, she started to panic even more as she started to feel lightheaded. "I might need a little bit of help.." Diana said as she felt the tingling sensation around her leg and she started to enjoy the biting sensation now to,

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Madalyne started to pace around her room and she started to get worried about April, she wanted to make sure that her best friend was doing okay, the others should have been here by now. She didn't want to wait any longer and she decided to go out and look for April as she headed down the stairs she didn't see anyone in their hallway. She went down to the fifth floor and she didn't see anyone there either Madalyne quickly went down to the fourth floor and this time she was able to find Percy and April.

Percy didn't look good at all just as he fell to the floor with a thud, she quickly went to catch April and started to help her friend back up to her feet. "April are you okay?" Madalyne asked April, as her attention turned towards Percy. She didn't want to leave Percy alone as she gently set April on the wall, and tried to help Percy back up to his feet. She didn't have enough strength to help both of them up two flights of stairs and into their dorms she decided to wait hopefully Danni and Dorian weren't far behind.

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Really? That was her response? Handing her a fancy sword and telling her to do it herself? And what the fuck did she mean by "Face one's shadow?" Leah didn't have a damn clue, but she was still angry, and someone was probably trapped in there. So quickly thinking about it, she reached down and realigned a few of the broken bones in her hand with a disgusting CRUNCH. Leah didn't even fucking flinch as she did this, and while it didn't unbreak her hand, at least it wouldn't agitate her as much. If it hurt, it wasn't obvious to the others. Having done that, she took the sword and rested it against her shoulder.

"We damn sure would've liked to not be heroes tonight, but that's apparently too much to ask for. So go ahead, block people off, but we're going to fix this little fuck-up. 'Bine. House. Let's go." With that, Leah turned around and marched back into the damn infernal nonsense that Nimue had put up.

When they walked in, Leah couldn't help but start bitching, even as they moved further and further away from the land of reality and the mundane. "Fucking incompetent watery little bitch. WhAt Is MoRe TeRrIfYiNg ThAn To FaCe OnE's ShAdOw? The fuck does that even fucking mean?! I didn't face a shadow, I saw a person in here who beat the damn shit out of me. They're probably still in here so be careful- Their hair works like mine for some fucking reason." Leah was being a real dumbass right now by still not connecting the dots.

"She's lucky I didn't take this sword and stick her against the nearest wall. People are getting fucking traumatized."

The more they walked, the more it just seemed like they were going nowhere. Were they walking to where Leah found herself before?

"COME THE HELL OUT ALREADY, ASSHOLE! IT'S TIME FOR ROUND TWO!"

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Sabine was beside herself as Nimue played it off as if she were not in the wrong. Who in their right mind asked her to create a haunted house? The woman was clearly batshit. Sabine would go to the higher-ups once this was all done. According to Nimue, there was nothing she could do. If they wanted this monstrosity destroyed, they would need to do it themselves.

Leah took charge and went in. Sabine glanced at Ser Nemo, a look of disappointment on her face. she liked him, or she thought she did. "That's the thing about heroes. They don't choose when to be one. Cowards are the ones that see danger and do nothing about it." She let her venomous words hang there before following Leah in.

Once inside, she made sure to keep Leah in her sights. The house would surely try to keep them apart. She listened as Leah went off on the whole situation. Sabine understood her rage. She felt it too.

"We might not be fighting the same shadows this time around. We're together, so we may fight both of ours, or something much worse. I vote the latter, especially if the house senses what we are trying to do. Either way, we need to end this now so the ones still stuck in here can get out."

Sabine readied herself. Sword in hand, mind focused on the task.

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Dorian had turned his back on the pair for just a second. His ghostly form glided above the floor as if he was walking while on the phone. ”Danni it's Dori, Percy made it to the third floor with April, he's wiped and April is still non responsive. Can you help me get them up the rest of the way? It's only…” He was about to say three floors, when suddenly he'd heard a familiar sound with an all too familiar blue light shimmering behind him. He rolled his eyes at his boyfriend's stubbornness. So much for needing a moment. It was cute, but he needed to learn his limits sometimes. At this rate he'd be passed out again like that night. ”One sec, Percy teleported again. I'm going to see how many floors up this time.”

Dorian didn't hang up the call, he simply kept the line open as he floated on up one floor and turned around towards the sound of a thud. Percy was passed out, Mads had come down the stairs, and April was just sitting there. How could tonight get so bad? He floated closer to them, trying not to spook Mads too much as he appeared behind here. ”Danni we're on the fourth floor now. Percy’s out like a light, and Mads is here to help as well. You two can take April. I can handle Percy.” He said as he tried to go and possess him. He phased through his body, then the floor, and was once again floating above the third floor. Groaning in annoyance as he floated back up through. ”I'll just carry him, give me a sec”

[Hider=Held Roll] Roll to become corporeal again so that I may carry Percy up[/color]

“Who t'e fuck is callin’ me right now? Does now look like t'e time ta chat?” Danni groaned, looking at the movies in one hand and the chocolate powder in the other, mugs dangling off each finger. He dropped the movies, deciding the mugs more important, and fished his phone out his pocket. He frowned at the picture of him and Dee flashing at him. “Dee, darlin’, sweetheart, baby we’re in t'e same…” Danni trailed off as he looked up and around, the open dorm door the only thing greeting him. “Well, shit.”

“‘eeeeeeeeey, so tots t'ought you were in t'e dorm, just sayin’. Lettin’ me talk ta t'e air… Yeah, I'm ‘eadin’ down now. Kay, love you, use protection, all dat jazz.” Danni giggled, borderline hysterical. Princess and Spicy flitting through floors and now one of them genuinely unconscious made him a little antsy so he unceremoniously dropped everything on his he'd and bolted from the room, scrambling down the stairs, jumping two, three at a time, and bursting out the stairwell door. He heaved in great gulps of air.

“Dis is t’e second time in like five minutes I’ve ran t’ese stairs. I ‘ave learned I do not do enough cardio. Dee, make a mental note for me. Gym, mornings. But like, not tomorrow. Def not tomorrow.” Danni panted as he headed to Princess and Mads. “Hi Princess, hi Mads. We'll get the good stuff in a bit. Dee said he'll get Spicy and then we'll all cuddle pile.” Danni took the other side of April, helping Mads support her and heading for the stairs.

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Nothing. As the seconds turned to minutes, Victoria understood that noone would answer to her message. What she did not understand was why. Why was she left alone? Did they not understand the perilous situation? Or was it something else? Was she right in telling Ultron that breaking out of the confinement within her core would leave the world unbothered?

Heh. That's right. I told Leah what to do. And Zari could just end him, most likely. Why would they bother? All it would cost them would be one chassis. Why bother when you can just wipe the whiteboard clean and start again? she thought bitterly. After all, that is all I am to them, right? That's what I always have been. Expendable. A prototype to mass produced soldier to throw into the meatgrinder. Good only to fight and die. she gloomed as she disposed of her costume.

She almost broke down in dry heaves again, just like before the contest qualifiers. But something was starting to fill the void of emptiness she felt her life to be. Anger. Straightening out, she looked at the polished surface of the armor vault, seeing her reflection's face darken.


No. I am done with this. I will not go quietly into the void! I don't care what you want anymore, you hear me?! she cursed in her thoughts towards the trio of her masters that remained silent in her time of need. Everything I did has been by your instructions. Hope's design! Rhodes' training! Attending this ridiculous place! And all I have to show for it is failure! Everything you made me to be, and I can't so much as approach a stronger mage. Everything you taught me and I can't even solve the disunity on my own team. Every order you gave me to hide what I am, and yet it's like there isn't a single person here that doesn't have a big dark secret! Enough. I will be this world's protector - The way I see fit!

Taking a few steps back, she locked the basement and then hooked herself up to the power berth. Repairs to her chassis would have to wait. She had a teenage rebellion to enact. She had to restore the firewalls first. But while they were down, she would be damned if she didn't try to wrestle the control of her life back. Closing her eyes, her conscious mind plunged deep into her core code through the now opened gates.

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"That keeps a lot of options open still. My favorite type of movie is a category called 'B films.' They are intentionally bad sometimes all about being campy and silly. I do enjoy a lot of the classics too. But I can find stuff that'll fit your desire for no gore. There's plenty of that out there." Andy smiled, she had put some snacks on a plate and was drinking liquid—a distraction, just like the conversation. Neither thing was really pulling her from the clawing in her stomach. Her mouth was watering in a way that she might have thought she was going to throw up any moment if it had been accompanied by queasiness.

She was watching the events near the Haunted house, out of morbid curiosity and the being ready to step in if needed. What she would do she wasn't certain, especially with Sabine and Leah just marching back into the Haunted House to fight it. Andy thought she had a broken fight or flight, it almost always went to fight. Those two were trying to beat her and fight something that logically couldn't be fought. But who knew magic was weird?

Her hands were slightly shaking and she pulled herself back to the conversation with Mary Sue and Zari. "I have a few movies in mind already actually. I might want to rewatch them or check what the internet says about gore level for them before I suggest them though." Andy smiled, it wasn't her real smile. Not the bright one she often had, this one was forced. She drank some of her punch and ate some crackers and tried to beat back the edge of the hungry, but it didn't work.

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This, this was problematic. She really should have figured something was insanely wrong, and said something maybe over the whole situation with them popping into view in the middle of the throne room. Of course they were going to actually be met with hostility. Then came the other words that stuck out in her mind. The words referring to them as witchbreed. America she was pretty sure wasn't a mutant (right?) but she herself was. And that was not going to end well, since it seemed like they were going to have to deal with that discrimination here.

Right now, she sort of just wanted to break down and panic, she was very desperately doing what she could to remain calm (honestly later she likely was going to full on break down), since the only way out of this would be to convince them that they weren't mutants. Which at least they only had to convince them about one of them, since they wouldn't necessarily be lying about America. This was not going to be easy, since straight up lying wasn't going to be easy. The only way would be to not entirely lie, maybe just to stretch the truth a bit.

That's when she got an idea.

"Apologies your highness," she started to say, her voice a little shaky as she spoke, looking over at Arthur specifically. "We didn't mean to drop in like this, however you insult us with the term witchbreed. For we are not that. Her powers are magic, which created the portal that lead us here, as for me. I am a child of one of the gods, my mother is the host of the goddess Athena, though to you she likely would be known as Minerva," she was definitely not going to mention that her dad was a mutant, that would only end poorly for her. "As for why we're here, well, we actually are trying to find a friend of ours who fell through a portal or something and ended up here."

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"Awww no blood or gore? Sad, those are always some of the better ones, depending anyway on the film," Zari said, kind of sad over the idea of not seeing a bunch of blood and gore or fighting and all in a horror movie. What was the point in them if there wasn't a lot of death and destruction or what not with it. Any without it was kind of dumb in her opinion, but oh well.

The commotion over by the haunted house seemed to be winding down a little bit, with Leah and Sabine doing, something. Actually she wasn't entirely sure what sort of thing they were doing. Probably something entertaining to say the least. Made her wonder what exactly was up with that still, but she looked towards the other two again, "So do you two want to stick around here or head off to go look at movies?"

Mary Sue had a few things she was apparently pretty good at. She could think well on her feet, she was creative, and she'd obtained a kind of hypervigilance that made her very good at adjusting her responses and reactions on the fly. At this point, that last part of her wasn't something she cared for; it made her feel almost monstrous, and it was probably where her anxiety stemmed from, but at this particular moment, it was the thing that told her her new friend wasn't quite right. Though Andy was smiling and speaking of movies, her hands were unsteady. Something had hurt her.

Mary Sue gently placed her punch down, and thought carefully. Andy was hiding something right now, and there were two reasons, broadly, that people would refuse to say why they weren't doing well. They were either like Mary Sue, and scared of taking up space and making themselvescost something, or they didn't feel safe to do so. She thought she had a solution that could deal with either situation handily, or at least tell her what she was dealing with. Direct confrontation might upset Andy more, so instead, she agreed with Zari, "I think going to find movies; or watch one if Andy has any handy that she wants to share, could be fun! What do you wanna do, Andy?" Mary Sue gave her best friendly grin at her. She was confident she could make this girl feel better, and honestly? Solving somebody else's problems was exactly the kind of distraction she needed right now.

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As Leah and Sabine left, off to complete their hero's mission, Darius placed a cautioning hand on his husband's shoulder. "You cannot change things, Percy," he murmured in Nemo's ear. "Remember that."

Nemo nodded slightly, drawing up his weariness around him like a cloak. "How could I forget?" He still saw their graves when he closed his eyes - he still saw the ashes he had scooped by hand into those empty caskets, the stones he had carved by hand to mark their resting place.

Darius pulled him closer, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "The White Witch is watching, lover."

"Let her watch, then. I have nothing to hide."

@Nallore: A haunted young man with shock white hair and pointed ears was currently feasting on Diana, his mouth soaked with her blood. The more he fed, the more intoxicating and relaxing the sensation became - her logical mind would realize that this was likely some sort of chemical reaction from the bite, a mechanism to keep the victims from struggling, to allow them to resign themselves to the fate. There were runes on the wall, scratched into the wood by hand - runes that Diana didn't recognize, but would fill her with a sense of dread.

Then the door was kicked down.

Then an arrow landed in the face of her attacker, of the vampire spawn Astarion, forcing him to retract his fangs and pounce at Kate, hissing.

But she shot another arrow and another, cool in the face of death, in the face of danger - in the face of the twenty other vampires in the room.

Needless to say, Cassie wasn't there. And Buttons was mysteriously gone.

@Forsythe: Vicky's messages had gone unanswered, the admins not responding to her pleas, to her requests for help. Unbeknownst to her, Hope wasn't in this plane of reality at the moment, off on an adventure in the Microverse. And Rhodey, Rhodey was in a top security intelligence debriefing, one where all electronics had to be removed from the room. They would see her messages later. But the teenage rebellion had already begun.



@BlueSky44: America grimaced, struggling against the vines that were ensnaring her, crushing her, but the only became tighter and tighter the more she fought. There was no mercy to be found in King Arthur's court, certainly not from Merlin. And it was then, ironically, that Zelda would notice something - would notice a small jar on a stone table in the back, about the size of the jar the rose was in in Beauty and the Beast. Within the jar, pounding her hands, was a miniature Cassie Lang - her voice soft and muffled as she screamed, trying to get their attention.

"A child of the false gods," Merlin murmured. "And a being of magic."

"It's true - I'm from the Utopian Parallel, it's this, like, lesbian magic dimension," America explained. She did cast a bit of a side eye at Zelda, since the entire goddess explanation seemed a bit confident, and with the skunk streak in her hair, she couldn't help but be reminded of the famous mutant Rogue.

King Arthur stared at Merlin for a moment, before nodding, a dark smile on his face. "My apologies. Release them."

Merlin snapped his fingers, the vines vanishing.

"As for your friend... I am afraid the only ones I know of who travel through portals are Morgan's witchbreed spies."

@Blizz@PatientBean: This time, they were not separated.

This time, they found themselves in what appeared to be a hedge maze in the dead of night, their breath fogging up before them from the bitter chill. An owl cried from somewhere near by, the moon lighting up their otherwise dim surroundings. And then, there it was. The cry of the shadow, of the other. The cry of fear, of terror.

The howl of the wolf.

The scream of Marrok.

Something was coming.

Something was chasing them, the size of a small house, with vicious claws and gnashing teeth.

A wolf, a werewolf, a beast - just names, nothing that truly did justice to their opponent, to the heart of Nimue's magic. It towered over them, its eyes glowing bright red. Rather than attack Leah, it went for Sabine - it snatched her up in its claws, opening its jaw wide, clearly ready to devour the princess whole.

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April's body was numb, as Mads helped her to her feet - as Mads asked her if she was alright. She wanted to say that she was fine, that everything was fine, that no one needed to worry about her and they could all go back to having a good time - that it was the best night of their lives and she had ruined it, yes, but it wasn't completely ruined. Gods, she had ruined it though, hadn't she? Leah had gone through so much trouble to come out and have a good time, and April had made a fool of herself, had had a complete meltdown. Her fear and panic and terror was mixed now with a vicious undercurrent of shame, of embarrassment - of a wish that she could bundle up the emotions she didn't want and toss them all away, to control her mind and her body and her soul completely.

Dorian would struggle to become corporeal, managing it only on the second attempt, and feeling drained.

April visualized the words, visualized saying them - saying I'm fine - but her tongue felt thick, felt swollen. The most she could manage to do in this fugue state was to squeeze Mads' hand - a sign to let her know that she was okay, that she was still in there, that she was just... April didn't know what she was. Terror then struck her suddenly. Magneto was inside her. Her family's illness then was inside her. Perhaps this was it. Perhaps this was the beginning of the end for her sanity.

Then Danni came down, sweet, gentle, kind Danni.

And something about seeing him made the tears flow once more - made her sobs start off again, racking her entire body, as she almost collapsed on herself, as she almost fractured, almost shattered, almost died a little bit one more time.

Percy was luckier. His unconsciousness was brief, his body stirring as his eyes flickered, before opening once more, straining against the sudden light. The last thing he remembered, he'd been teleporting April back to her dorm room - probably a farther distance than what was really needed, but he'd been wanting to do the right thing, been wanting to do right by Dorian, really, to show his boyfriend that he was dependable and able.

Slowly, Percy rose to his feet - his body felt like it had gone through an entire marathon he hadn't been prepared for, every muscle, every joint, every bone aching. He felt like he'd been hit by a bus, like he'd been drowned on the Titanic, like he'd been stranded on the Moon and left for dead. And above all else, he was hungry - his stomach constricted, crying. But he'd tend to that later - he could find some snacks for his hunger.