---

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OfAll turned her attention back to Peitro, who clearly had taken on the manner of a bickerson. That is, she knew responding to him with the fact that saying what he did wasn't the problem so much as being here at all with that mentality, wasn't likely to cause anything else than a back-and-forth. Which in her experience was one of the most grating things to have going on in the background when you had something going on in your own head.

Which brought things back to Guin, as OfAll could tell he was half focused on her. That settled it - something more was going with their acting leader. How could things already feel so sideways when they only just got here?

OfAll had just had the new idea to suggest Pietro go out and around the surrounding area of the Gardens, to make sure there wouldn't be a bunch of locals coming around -or within a danger radius, though who could say what that could be- but that now fell into the category of what she didn't think he'd take to, right. With his speed anyway, he could always accomplish the task after things fell over completely.

Which fortunately, didn't seem to be happening. They seemed to be righting just a smidge, in fact. OfAll's attention following the thoughtful action of Guin asking Mary if they could try something, and Mary responding in the affirmative. The eye colour flashed OfAll's mind back to Asteroid M. She'd noticed the full shift in Mary's eyes then and questioned to herself if it was the Phoenix. That hadn't quite fit...now she had that piece of the puzzle. Despite this trace of Chrysi, OfAll could feel -not in any uncanny way- a little less tensity in the air as her eyes shifted back to Perry at Mary's concern for her.

She wasn't sure if that had something to do with it - Mary's caring emotion working like putting a stone on the "calm" side of the scale?
At least it meant they were treading okay so far.

Given their proximity, OfAll heard Antoinette explain her plan to Guin, and OfAll herself resumed her visual in-take of the Gardens' contents, while also thinking of a Plan 2. If not Mary's powers, which would be best to manifest? She wasn't going to add herself to the number of telepaths. Though OfAll could show remarkable skill for a power she wasn't familiar with, touching someone's mind without a lot of experience was way too dicey to chance here.

Maybe Edus's power?
OfAll looked back at where he was standing near Jean, and got the impression he was doing his own kind of in-take and problem-solving.

That felt like an apt term to describe any of the team right now: problem-solvers for the greater good -of Mary, their team, and a whole lot more. She had a thought for how the others were getting along, far far away.

---

---

Guin bit her lip, thinking through the options - not that they had many. They could try to seal away Mary's alternate personality, something that historically never went well. Repression wasn't the answer, as tempting as it was. Part of her wanted to put an inhibitor collar around Mary's neck and knock her unconscious and give them more time to sort everything out. Something she was sure that Mary wouldn't consent to, something that would then trigger doomsday all the more sooner. She wanted to put her best friend on ice, and find a way to slowly and methodically take out the Phoenix and isolate Mary's mental illness. She wanted to wrap a suit of armor around her mind and save her.

Annie's suggestion was incredibly tempting.

But she couldn't help but wonder if it was wrong - if instead of repressing the other personality, they should try to integrate them into one - or to somehow clone Mary and put the alternate personality in its own body. "Mare - does that sound okay to you?" Guin then asked, leaving the coin toss up to the person whose autonomy was in question.

---

---

Ben's eyes narrowed slightly at the Majestrix's admission. She was Xavier's child? He didn't share Casper's trauma, and he found him to be exhausting in the best of times, but Casper was like a brother to him. Every time he saw something connected to Casper's abuser, his heart swelled up with anger. It was why it had been so contentious between Max and himself when Max had gone off to join the X-Men - and why he couldn't decide if he hated the Majestrix or pitied her. She was Xavier's daughter. She was also Casper's sister.

And then, the shameful part of him that was a mold of his own father, wondered if they could use it to manipulate her.

Meanwhile, Avery felt completely out of their depth. Everything was already intense enough, meeting Xavier's mysterious alien child wasn't even something that they could begin to properly process. When had Xavier been to space? When had he been to space long enough to have a kid with someone? And if Xavier's kid was the ruler of a mighty empire, why hadn't they known? Did Xavier know? If he knew, why didn't he use that to help mutants - why didn't he ask the Shi'ar to come and push for change? It's what Avery would have done, had they been in that situation.

But mostly, they couldn't get past the revelation that Professor X fucks.

It was such a distracting and foreign thought that Avery almost missed Xandra's explanation about the device, how it hadn't been tested, and the relative urgency that they needed to operate under, due to Shi'ar law. The same urgency that had driven them here - the very real possibility that Mary could be about to lose all control and kill billions of people in the lapse.

"You have my assurance, Majestrix, that the Midgardians' error will not be repeated," Runa vowed. "I will see the host dead myself if needed."

---

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Lance asked the question that was on everyone's mind. Who was Xandra’s father? And why would they know him? Luckily for them, she wasn't about to hold the information like a guarded secret. She was open and honest as she mentioned Xavier was her father. Another child of Xavier, Max thought, he surely gets around. He willed himself not to roll his eyes at the mention of him, but listened on. He scrutinized every syllable of her statement. Xavier wasn't much to her, an afterthought, a stranger who's name you happened to know and could mention to form some tangible relation to another.

Max had thought about using this relation as a string to pull, a way to sway their need to help them at their cause. But pulling the “we are family” card wouldn't work well here. It wouldn't be detrimental per se, but it also wouldn't be beneficial to mention it. There were concerns about the last time this was an issue, and that was fair, but Runa had stood up and already mentioned that she would ensure we took care of the host should it become a problem. He stepped up near Runa, finally speaking after having given her a deep bow. ”Majestrix, my name is Max, and I stand by Runa of Asgard in this matter. Should the device fail, and our options become exhausted before this entity becomes a threat, I will use my magics to help ensure the host is dead. I cannot abide more of my people dying and in the grand scheme of things, her sacrifice is worth more than her life.”

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Well that took a bit of a dark turn. Actually if he remembered correctly, the last time this happen it had ended with the host (in that case Jean) dying, but then she eventually had been brought back and resurrected by that same entity. Still, the fact that they had two people being perfectly fine with killing Mary in a heart beat was a little concerning. Actually, Lance wasn't too surprised by the fact that Runa had said that, a little more surprised that Max had said it but considering he didn't know the guy too well, that didn't exactly amount to much for it.

"...Well perhaps we can help you. Though there is another problem or so with regards to it. That being the device might not even be fully portable yet. Or well, more so easily portable. That and the amount of energy it requires likely means that for this test, you essentially would have one shot at it before it could easily be burned out."

"So basically don't miss with it if you do loan it to us to test out, got it."

"Yes, very much so. I only know the fundamentals of it, you'd likely need to discuss more of it with those who actually have been working on it..."

"Majestrix you can not be serious about letting them take this do you?"

"I am, especially since we know their faces, if we have to retrieve the device from them ourselves, it seems like that wouldn't be much of an issue. Though just know, that if something were to happen on a catastrophic scale that we could detect, we will not be hesitating to step in and go to Earth ourselves over it."

"It seems like we should be stepping in ourselves now!" the same person was saying, and there seemed to be a murmur of agreement from those around them.

"I said no, if something happens we will step in, however it seems in the best interest of everyone involved to let them try and solve the issue for themselves. So we shall let them."

"Thank you Majestrix," Lance ended up saying, as Xandra motioned for some of the guards to come over.

"I'll go with you myself, if you will follow me and the guards here, we will take you to where the device is, and those there can explain more about it and how it works, in theory anyway."


Perry would start feeling a strong sense of emotions fluctuating stronger once more, as Mary simply nodded her head without saying anything else, closing her eyes. Between Annie and Guin, they'd start to try to use their powers together to help, hoping to make things easier. Except something goes horribly wrong, and what they caused was definitely not the intentions.

The emotional turmoil that Perry had been feeling seemed to go away entirely, as if one of the two main sources that had been there was just gone up in a puff of smoke. Guin and Annie would both be able to tell that something seemed to have not gone quite the way that they had been hoping.

"Well that was an unexpected surprise," she said, her tone shifting as she spoke and she opened up her eyes again, this time both were a bright red color. "Think you might have screwed that one up now didn't you?" the ground was starting to shake, almost as if from an earthquake. Black vines started rising up from the ground around everyone and the trees and foliage around them seemed to be getting a little closer.

Another moment later and plant life shot out, and was heading straight for Guin, Annie and Perry. Ed's shield would go up, however moments later it flickered before shattered as the attack hit it. Luckily Pietro seemed to have been paying a lot of attention to the sudden seeming shift, and he took off, managing to grab and yank the trio out of the way of the attacks. Barely getting them out of the way though.

"Well this is not good..." he muttered under his breath as he let go of the three.

"I think I was doing perfectly fine. Honesty still surprised that she managed to get control again late yesterday, after I'd been in charge for what like a month now. You all were so easy to fool with it. So how about you all though now leave before you end up getting yourselves hurt. Wouldn't want that right? Mary's not exactly here anymore, you all kind of decided to mess with something you shouldn't have and look what happened. I'm not complaining though, works out for me in the end."

"You know that we can't exactly do that considering right?"

"Oh I know that, figured I'd ask and say something anyway to make things more interesting."

---

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---

---

Antoinette smiled when Mary agreed to give the plan a try. It was the first time Antoinette had tried something like this, but she felt it was their best option. However, while her idea worked, it worked on the wrong entity. Something shifted, and Antoinette’s heart dropped when Mary’s voice shifted tones. Things shifted quickly after that.

Antoinette thanked Pietro after he had moved her, Guin, and Perry out of Mary’s direct attack. Antoinette checked on Arnold before she looked at Mary. She stepped in front of Pietro and her friends, knowing a fight was imminent, but answers were needed.

”What do you want with Mary? With the Phoenix? What is the end game here?”

---

---

Perry felt the emotions play out, gauging their flow. Perry remained hopeful that Mary would win out in the end. So when the emotions seemed to dissipate, as if one had finally taken control, Perry looked at Mary.

But it wasn't Mary.

Pietro had managed to grab her, Aniie, and Guin, though just barely. It seemed the Phoenix had won out. Perry knew that no amount of talk was going to resolve this. Not right away. Perry stepped back a bit, her spirits in tow. Perry lowered her voice to a whisper. "Not sure how this is going to play out but I would like her to remain relatively unharmed should the worst come to me. Mary Ellen and Barry, I'm relying on you."

So Perry waited, hoping someone may get through, but prepared for the inevitable anyway.

---

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---

Carolina looked at Runa for a moment, she had a feeling that she would say something like that, however she wasn't expecting Max to say that he would help with killing Mary. She was friends with Mary along with just about everyone else, but Carolina didn't say anything out loud she didn't want to jeopardize their chances of getting the device from the Shi'ar. Seems like the council members weren't really willing to let them leave with it.

"Thank you again for helping us Majestrix." Carolina said as she started to follow shortly behind her and the guards to wherever it is that the device was located. Carolina looked over to Avery gently brushing her hand against theirs giving them a slight smile she was hopeful that they'll save Mary.

---

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Bethany shifted slightly as she looked at Mary as she listened to everyone as they spoke she didn't have any mental powers to really do anything or help out with. She then started to notice that Mary's eyes shifted red and the tone in her voice started to change as well to, Chrysi finally took over which wasn't good.

Then the ground started to shake and vines started to sprout out of the ground to try and attack some of the others. Luckily it seemed that Chrysi didn't target her. Bethany used her powers sending a small wave of shadow at Chrysi only for her to miss causing Bethany to groan slightly she tried again this time and managed to hit her but didn't do much of anything.

---

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Jaclyn reverted her attention when she heard Mary/Chrysi speak, and if the tone-shift wasn't enough to do it, the confirming red of the eyes was; Jaclyn felt like an uncomfortable bolt of electricity had just shot through her nervous system, followed by her temperature draining away. She actually found herself shaking--just ahead of the earthquake which drowned out her own shakes with the ones it caused.

She questioned how Chrysi was doing this when the answer came in the form of black vines practically erupting from the dirt. By reflex Jaclyn assumed a ready fighting pose, anticipating having to fight against the vines' snare, but they didn't go that far--yet. If they had, she might've missed the other pieces of foliage that seemed to be creeping closer like botanical soldiers.

Then the vines did advance--specifically towards Guin, Annie and Perry; Chrysi's active adversaries.

Jaclyn watched Edus attempt at a shield fail.
'Get it together,' she admonished herself. If her reaction time was faster, maybe she could've manifested Edus' powers and augmented his shield. Fortunately the team's #1 fast-reactor addressed that issue.

Again Jaclyn's attention turned back on Chrysi who continued to speak. It could seem as though Jaclyn's focus was set on her, and technically it was, though she was dedicating part of such to trying to manifest her/Mary's powers.

Something of a slight, grounding calm washed over her body when she realized she was successful, at least to some degree: feeling the plants as though she'd just connected to the mycorrhizal network. If she had to put it into more techy terms, she didn't feel like she had full bars, though she was sure there was some connection; hopefully enough. It actually just gave her an idea for something to try later, if she could communicate it. For right now she was of a more basically defensive mind. . .and a troubled one.

Chrysi's words sinking in, Jaclyn's heart went out to Mary who had basically been missing in her own mind for the past month?
Her trouble deepening as she wondered to what extent "Mary's not exactly here anymore" meant.

She heard Annie's line of questioning and was appreciative for it; it seemed like the correct first response to this. And also indicated that at least Annie didn't feel like Mary was that gone yet.

'She can't be,' Jaclyn determined to herself. 'In any case, keep ready.'

---

---

His shield hadn't done much, but it may have slowed down the attack enough that Pietro was able to reach those most in danger. Ed winced but was glad they had been pulled to safety. This situation was already out of control, but he could see how it could go even further south quickly.

Ed could distract maybe? He could through blasts of force at Mary, those didn't do serious damage. It might knock her focus around and give the others a chance at something useful. He could also try to bubble her, but that wouldn't stop her from attacking since she wasn't a physical fighter. An idea budded in the back of his mind and he did not like it. He didn't even think it could work. Trying it alone could kill or at the least break one of the family laws. He didn't think he could do that.

He decided to prepare his bubbles again. Blocking attacks that could come from the plants or if fire itself was sent at someone he could protect someone from that.

---

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Max wasn't sure how his words would be taken itself the others on the team, or even Ben for that matter. But he had to believe that his husband would know he had only the best of intentions when saying what he'd said. One of Max's biggest groans back on Genosha was that the X-men were always capable of bringing people back, and it wasn't fair that other mutants couldn't get the same treatment. That was what led to him creating a trio of mutants capable of resurrection for those who didn't have the same privilege as Xaviers children. Those actions of which he later found out had grave consequences. One's taught to him by his Mentor Dr. Strange. It was the job of the Sorcerer Supreme to defend Earth against otherworldly threats, and that included The Phoenix.

Max may not be the Sorcerer Supreme anymore, not since Strange came back from his untimely death due to Max's uncalculated defiance of the natural order, but that piece of him still lingered. He had once held the title and that meant he needed to stand up against threats as they are needed. But death would always be the last resort. He followed the group towards where the Majestrix was leading them. Speaking up when there was enough of a pause for him to do so. ”If needs be I can attempt to bind the creature with ancient magic that should hold her still long enough to take a good shot. We have others at our aid capable of illusions, perhaps they can disguise the weapon so that it can hold an element of surprise when the time comes to strike.”

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Guin's stomach churned as everything went so wrong so quickly. The partition was in place - and the wrong personality was fronting, leaving Mary inaccessible. They'd made a gamble, one that they were about to pay for dearly. Chrysi lashed out at them with plants, with Ed's shield shattering and Pietro grabbing them faster than the eye could see, taking them to temporary safety. And then Annie, genius Annie, tried to reach out - to draw Chrysi into a dialogue, to see if they could negotiate. It was probably the only option they had left.

And as Annie asked Chrysi what she wanted, Guin's mind snapped back to Wanda's world - where everyone got exactly what they wanted.

"You want a body, right?" Guin said tentatively, her voice growing in confidence. "You want a body and a mind all to your own. No one else to share it with. No more roommates." She walked forward slowly, her hands held up to show she didn't mean any harm. "We can do that. We can make it happen. We can make you a body of your own - hell, you can even design it, make your ideal self. We don't need to fight, Chrysi."

The only person she knew who did cloning was Nathaniel Essex, but she would burn that bridge when they got to it.

---

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Runa bowed her head as the Majestrix agreed to take them to the device, and to allow its use. A lack of portability and a single shot were two constraints, yes, but neither of them troubled Runa greatly. She was a goddess, after all. Even should she fall, the cycle of Ragnarok would see her and her loved ones born again. But mostly, she was not accustomed to being limited - her magicks allowed her to warp and redefine reality at a whim. "Thank you, Majestrix."

Though, as they walked, another notion did occur to her - a failsafe option of sorts. She was not well versed in curses, yet she knew of a curse that would impact the caster's bloodline. She was the blood of the Phoenix. Should she cast a curse to kill her blood... the Phoenix would die, and the universe spared. All of her family would die. She would need to go to Hel's domain to beg for their return... All but Loki, her uncle not by blood but by bond.

Unless she could localize the curse somehow, hone into just the Phoenix herself and spare the others. But the modify the spell, she would need aid. Aid that Klara, witch-kin as she was, would not be able to edit a spell of this power - and her mind was still addled from everything that had happened. This sort of magic was forbidden, no one else in the House of Odin would be able to help her with this task.

She closed her eyes for a brief moment, whispering a soft incantation - a near silent spell, her thoughts cast out into space, echoing across the galaxy as they sought out their target. Uncle, she thought. I have need of your aid.

"How fragile is this device?" Ben asked the Majestrix, his arms crossed. "Is it fire resistant?" It was one thing if they could disguise it, so the Phoenix wouldn't recognize it - but if a single fireball destroyed it, it didn't do them much good.

Avery brushed their hand back against Carolina's. She was an anchoring presence in this moment, a little bit of normalcy amongst the nonsense of the X-Men. They were in space, unfathomably far from home, and their world - their galaxy - their universe was on the brink of destruction because of one of their own. Hopefully the Majestrix's device worked - and if not that, then maybe Max had some ancient artifact that he could pull from a vault, and use it to bind the Phoenix and nullify the threat.

They shivered for a moment, acutely aware of the fact that the rest of the team could be dead right now - that they had no knowledge of how the encounter with the Phoenix went. Annie and Perry and Edus and Bethany, all of them could be dead right now. They could return back to find bodies, bodies that Avery would be able to raise and puppet, but not restore life to, not in any way that counted.

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Runa's spell would go off seemingly without a bit of a hitch, but there didn't seem to be a response from Loki. Either he was busy doing something else (which was it really a good idea to think of what he could be doing?) or he was completely ignoring her ask. Both were fairly viable options given the last few interactions that they have had with Loki not going too well.

"Oh it is more durable than that, of course it is fire resistant. That was the first thing they ensured when crafting it. More of it's structural stability isn't as great as they would like, meaning it could likely get crushed pretty easy by heavy weights, and we aren't sure if it'd even survive what it is built for. I suppose something fragile to us is a bit different for you all." Xandra responded with a shrug.

Eventually they would come to a rather large chamber with various machinery and technology lying around. What each machine did was anyone's guess. However there was one that Xandra was walking straight towards. It was decently large, looking to be about 7 feet tall and it looked to be almost like a massive laser of sorts. The base seemed essentially like a really really large tripod for it.

"Majestrix, I see we have visitors," someone said, walking over.

"Yes, well it seems they are wishing to test this out for us."

"I see, well as you can tell, it is a decently large machine, the main thing is you likely would want to plant this down in one area and draw the Phoenix to it, as it doesn't obviously work to go chase the person around with it."

"So to make it the most effective shot we'd have to set a trap, sounds like fun. Not sure what would be the best sort of lineup or place to do that for."

"So how would you activate it? Not to mention aiming it?" Mira asked, figuring it would be probably for the best for them to ask how the thing works and to maybe create a plan to use it after getting that knowledge to plan for it.

"Fairly simple, the control panel on it can be used to aim it towards your target, though if you are feeling less daring, aiming and activating it can also be done from this," was the response, as they held out a computer pad, "Though it is a bit more difficult to get the correct aim from this as opposed to actually triggering it on the device."

"...Well sounds like we'd want to be as accurate as possible with this though both options are a good thing to have though... Figuring out how best to line this up properly and where, since if we miss that much energy could cause some damage if I had to figure."


"Who says that I need or want anything? Aside from maybe to mess with all of you. Not to mention what you are suggesting to do also is not as simple as you would think."

"Him? Non, mon amie, you cannot trust him!" Gambit's eyes narrowed. "Chère don't need dat."

"Remy maybe right now we shouldn' be really talkin' bout that," Rogue muttered, since the situation was clearly going downhill. Now was probably not the time to get into the arguments over why doing anything with regards to Mr. Sinister was a bad idea.

"Clearly we're all on the same page as to who you're thinking of. Not to mention any potential price might not make it worth it, that'd be assuming I'd agree to it, which honestly just no. Especially since I'd probably just get thrown in prison by you all anyway. So why bother? As mentioned before. Way more fun to mess with all of you anyway. Plus can get back at her for trying to get rid of me, that also adds to the fun now doesn't it."

Fire started dancing around her fingertips as she looked at everyone else around her. "So many different things can go so very wrong with your idea of potential solutions to the predicament that has kind of been ignored for a while. Love how it is only a major concern once some insane amount of power is involved."

With a flick of her hand, fire headed out in a burst. Pietro managed to get Guin out of the way, but not much in the way of anyone else. Ed's shields managed to protect people, or at least dampen some of the fire, but the fire burst out, resulting in several people being targeted and getting attacked. Unfortunately he wasn't able to throw up a bubble to protect himself as fire charged right at him, however there was a slight glow of pink light coming from the amulet that Klara had gifted him, and he'd find that the fire didn't seem to do any damage.

As for the others, Jaclyn would be completely unharmed, Ed's bubble protecting her rather easily from the attacks, and Annie would as well be perfectly fine. Perry would get a bit of a graze attack, feeling the heat from the flames, but nothing too horrible. Bethany unfortunately would get hit pretty hard, Ed hadn't been able to shield her, and Pietro hadn't been able to pull her out of the way. Seemed like Chrysi didn't like her attempts at an attack. The fire would hit her throwing her backwards, causing her to land fairly hard and have a few burns on her body. Before more fire could hit her though, the flames were pulled away from her and sent flying straight up in the sky. Jean having used her own telekinesis to redirect the fire instead.

"I don't think talking her down is really going to work..."

"I did give you all a chance to just leave, though I knew you probably wouldn't do it, I at least offered. This is going to be so much fun though in the end I think."

---

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Carolina looked at Avery and smiled feeling their hand brushing up against hers made her feel calm as she followed the others to a large workshop area of sorts. Her eyes scanning the room before settling on what looked like a massive laser as she turned to the scientist who was working on the thing. By the sounds of it was fireproof which was good they wouldn't have to worry about the Pheonix burning it down making it unusable.

"So just make sure it doesn't get smashed gotcha." Carolina said as she started to wander around the workshop of sorts looking at the things around them. "I'm sure Gandalf here could make a good illusion with the help of Annie as well to disguise it from the Pheonix from seeing it." Carolina said looking over at Max she then turned to look at the one who worked on the device. "Does it require time to charge up a shot?" She asked them if it did require time to charge up a shot that would be a bit of a problem.

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Bethany winced in pain as she was knocked back, she felt her back hitting the ground very hard as burns started to appear over her body as she tried to smother out all of the flames. Luckily Jean was able to block the fire from hitting him again as she slowly started to stand up letting out a slight wince looking at her clothes burnt.

"Try and restrain her if we can try and lock Chrysi away maybe we can get Mary out." Bethany said again as she looked over at Edus. "Try to make a bubble around her Jaclyn either use Mary's plant powers to restrain her, or mine and Jean, Guin and Annie can try and work with her mind to get her out." Bethany said hopping the plan would work.

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Antoinette frowned at Chrysi’s reasoning. She just wanted to mess with them? No, that didn’t make sense. If rolls were reversed, messing with Mary’s teammates would be the icing on the cake, not the actual cake itself. The X-Men attacked before Chrysi did, and then she retaliated. Antoinette ducked down, completely avoiding the fire. After the attack, Antoinette quickly stood back up.

”No, Chrysi. It’s not too late. Guin is right, if a body of your own is what you want we can give you that. You haven’t done damage yet, which means there is no reason to lock you away. Mary tried to help you, which is why we didn’t act right away. Let us help you,” Antoinette said. She took a half-step towards Chrysi, hoping to pull her attention.

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OfAll glanced in the direction of Guin, who spoke ahead of Chrysi answering the question herself.
When Chrysi did, she punctuated her answer with an attack of fire--something OfAll's manifestation of chlorokinesis wasn't going to help against--

--she regretted not going with Edus' powers and for a second when she saw the bubble form around her, she thought she might've unconsciously manifested them after all--no, it was Edus himself, and for a sickening moment afterward, OfAll thought she was about to witness Edus getting roasted in exchange for her protection--

Her breath released when the glow of the amulet subsided to show he was as unharmed as she.

Annie, too, though others weren't so lucky. Namely Bethany.

It was by the grace of counter-telekinesis that that assault was extinguished.
OfAll felt bolstered to have the safeguard of the old guard with them.

Edus could heal Bethany; she'd be alright.
OfAll looked over at Chrysi.

Like Annie, OfAll thought something else was going on besides what Chrysi stated. She followed on the heels of Annie's offer with a supposition of her own: "You said you've been in control for a whole month, yet you didn't mess with any of us then." OfAll at least hadn't heard of any peculiar goings-on at the Mansion, so she felt sure that was true. "Would you just like. . .a turn of your own? Not only one -I mean going forward. Not to have Mary or anyone fight you and not to be separated from what, for all intents and purposes, is your body too, but to authentically share it? Be accepted in it?"

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Ed didn't want to fight Mary, even if she was not herself. He protected the others as best he could. Some fire got through his shields and he couldn't cover everyone, including himself.

As he was prepared to take the damage from the fire the amulet from Klara protected him. He sent a silent whisper of thanks to her for it. He didn't know if she could actually hear him, in a way it was a prayer, but he didn't care he'd thank her in person later.

He touched the vial in his pocket with Bethany's hair, healing her. Orange light surrounded her soothing wounds. He then cast his bubble spell specifically to try to trap Chrysi. It wasn't pleasant trying to bubble a friend like that, but if he could they might be better of. He expected her power was strong enough that it would do little to help them. The orange bubble surrounded Chrysi and he focused on it, trying to keep it in place.

---

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It started with fire. Despite the warring emotions ending it was clear emotions were still at play. Chrysi would not go down easily. As soon as Chyrysi attempted to attack the group her spirits did their part. Mary Ellen attempted to throw her off balance and Barry shot his taser. However the girl was capable, avoiding both Mary Ellen's gravitational pull and the shock.

Perry looked around to the others before she felt a negative force heading her way. Perry was able to get out of the fire blast, feeling the heat coming off the shot, but it missed her. Chrysi wasn't playing around but Marygold was still in there.

"Words aren't going to work. Not yet at least." Ed's shield popped up and Perry waited. She looked over to her new spirit Adonatille and nodded. Adonatille understood the assignment. "Edward if that sheild falls I want you to freeze her. We can't let her leave."

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Ben seemed to be asking the right questions. While illusions and trickery could help keep The Phoenix's attention away from the device, it didn't guarantee the device itself would be safe. Stray blasts from a fight, or even an overarching attack by The Phoenix could hit and potentially damage the machine. And while Ed certainly could erect a shield around it until the timing was right, that added another layer of things that could go wrong. Anything from his spell falling off too slow and blocking the shot, to having so much concentrated magic between his spell work, Annie's Illusions, and anything else they did to conceal and secure the machine, pulling the attention of The Phoenix itself. After all, if Max was able to sense the creature within Mary all that time ago, then perhaps the creature could sense magic back.

From the sounds of it however, the first thing they'd considered was making it fire proof. Which made sense given the being it was built to go up against. Though it appeared to be asking strong as a tincan from the sounds of it. When the machine itself was actually in view, Max couldn't help but let out a little whistle. It was much larger than he'd previously imagined. Taller than anyone on the team that he'd met thus far. Carolina began to ask her questions, and Max couldn't help but wonder who Gandalf was in this scenario. Did she expect him to both bind the bird and cast illusions at the same time? Splitting concentration like that could weaken the bindings or cause the illusion to fail if it was something complex. ”If I may also ask, how exactly does this machine work? What is it doing? Because if its ability to move and aim is an issue I could open up portals from the machine to The Phoenix thus extending its range. But if the machine can destabilize magic that may not be the best course.”

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Chrysi's comment stun, even though Guin knew it wasn't true. She had been trying to help Mary - but there was only so much help you could give to someone who wouldn't accept it. Mary had pushed them all away, had refused to take steps to make her situation better, instead relying on isolation and a fraying sense of control. But Guin couldn't help but feel guilty - couldn't help but feel Chrysi's words as an indictment. She was going to have to kill her best friend.

She was going to have to kill her best friend because she had failed to save her.

Words weren't going to work here. Chrysi blasted at them with fire, and Guin blinked, feeling the air whoosh past her as Pietro grabbed her, pulling her out of the way. Ed managed to shield some of the others, but not everyone - some of their group had burns covering their bodies. He then placed Chrysi inside of a bubble, and Guin bit her lip, before extending her hand out - out to Rogue. "We need another telepath," she said. "Try not to absorb my mind, will you?"

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Runa frowned slightly at the lack of response. She did not know her uncle's whereabouts, but she refused to believe that he could be incapacitated by any means. He was far too stubborn to be defeated so thoroughly. This lead her to the conclusion that Loki had heard her message, and elected to ignore her. So she shut her eyes once more, and whispered the spell again, casting a second and final message out to her uncle: I would hope you have not elected to ignore me, Uncle. I would owe you a boon, in exchange for your aid. But perhaps you lack the skill in magic that I seek. If a bribe didn't work, perhaps offense to his ego would.

Ben raised an eyebrow, hearing the description of the device. It was fireproof, but seemed about as delicate as a porcelain doll to him. From an imperial space regime, he expected better. But that was perhaps his own father's arrogance rearing its head in him, and he clenched his teeth. He didn't want to be like him. He didn't want to look down at everyone else in the world as inferior.

Avery followed with the others into the chamber, their eyes widening as they took in all of the machines and designs - before their gaze settled on the one they had come all of this way for. It was some sort of a laser, taller than they were, and they couldn't help but be reminded of something Doofenshmirtz would build, only for Perry the Platypus to come and destroy. They half expected Xandra to reveal the device was called the Phoenix-inator.

"Maybe you could do more with the portals than just extending the range," Avery said softly, looking to Max. "If you set up a series of portals, you can effectively split and multiply the beam - and make a web, or a net." It'd be easier to handle the Phoenix that way - an area of effect, then, rather than just one single shot.

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"Oh? Well, it only takes a few moments, about ten seconds to charge up the shot necessary," the scientist responds with regards to how long it takes to charge a shot.

"So ten seconds to charge it up, which means we'd have to try and line it up we'd have to start it firing before we actually want to... But Avery's suggestion might make that a bit easier, give us a bigger window to do it... But sometimes tech and magic don't work so not sure how well that'll work out..." Lance commented, thinking about what they could possibly do.

"As for how it works, well that is not such a simple idea or an explanation. See because when the entity bonds with a person, they merge and essentially become entangled. So the only way to potentially separate the two by force would be to separate them on a molecular level."

"So it basically rips them apart?"

"Exactly."

"That sounds painful... And also like there could be so many things to go wrong with it."

"We had to develop a potential way to even attempt to do something like that. Painful? Certainly. Potential side effects that we don't know of? Most likely, however it also is the best potential solution to separate them without killing the host, which from what seems to be discussed here would be the preferred option I take it?"

"Yeah, that would be the preferred choice." He knew that if all else failed, if the device did end up killing Mary, then they wouldn't have to deal with the potential destruction of everything. But that was not exactly still something he wanted to happen. At least if it was avoidable.

Why would I wish to aid you Runa? Things seem to be much more interesting this way, was the only response she got from Loki. The way he spoke made it seem like he wasn't super likely to help them.


Rogue walked over to Guin when she offered her hand to let her use her powers with a shrug, before she tapped on her hand, not really grabbing onto it, and Guin would feel slightly dizzy for a moment afterwards, but it was apparent that Rogue took care to not drain too much from her. "If we're gonna try something best to do it quick then," she ended up saying.

Chrysi for some reason decided against saying much more of anything, actually she sort of just sat down in the bubble shield that Ed had formed around them, and wasn't doing much of anything at all.

When Guin (with Annie and Rogue attempting to help her) tried to stun her though, nothing happened, at all. Instead she'd hear a voice in her head, (Annie would hear the voice too) You shouldn't mess with the minds of others, it's rude.

To those around them, Annie and Guin would instantly seemingly fall to the ground, Rogue would somewhat stumble backwards, but seems she managed to get out, barely anyway. That was probably a not good thing to happen to just take out two people, while Chrysi was seemingly doing absolutely nothing at all but sitting there. To the pair though, they'd seemingly find themselves (together at least) in a bit of an empty void. It was grey in color, and they seemed to be the only two around that they could see.

But even with that, Guin and surprisingly Annie would be able to hear Pietro's voice, but it sounded like it was through a bad radio, full of static and the loudness was going in and out for the words. ...Are---okay? were the only words they'd easily be able to make out from the interference.

Outside of that though, Chrysi seemed to contemplate what Jaclyn had said and shrugged a bit, finally saying something else for the moment. "I don't have to tell you my reasonings for anything," she said with a bit of a smile.

Pietro though was not thrilled, at all. He tried to reach out mentally to Guin but it was not exactly working out too well with some sort of interference. But that, he had to tell himself, was the least of their issues. Chrysi decided to just not do anything. That was the concerning part. She let herself sit in the bubble now, doing absolutely nothing.

"...Um... Why is she just sitting there?' he ended up asking, not super caring if she heard him or anything at all at this point. "She could break out, she could teleport to anywhere in the universe and probably out somewhere into space... So why is she choosing to sit there and do nothing?"