“Oh, right, I thought you might’ve been, I dunno, related?” He shrugged, “Or something… Guess not.”
Sleep? If he slept now he’d end up missing most of the day and spending the night wide-awake. No, he couldn’t let that happen. Even if he was exhausted. Food, then distractions – books, music, anything. Will let the others leave first, only following when it was apparent Sara was waiting. He looked at her from time to time when she spoke, but when he answered, he kept his eyes fixed on the ground in front of his feet.
“Because I’m different, like everyone here, but not exactly the same, just not normal,” He clamped his mouth shut with a wince, then snorted, “Not that there's anything wrong with not 'normal'."
"Why I'm here is complicated. Well, I guess not really, but, like, my mum, she knew Xavier, uh, the Professor from back when she was… More public. When it was obvious I was different, like her, and my dad, I guess she thought it best to ask X- the Professor’s advice. After some talk, here I am,” he said, gesturing to the school around them. “To learn how to use it somewhere safe, and control it, for,” a pause as he thought, but the words eluded him, “whatever.”
As they walked, he chewed over what she had said of herself, then glanced at her sidelong.“How come it took so long to get in? An ability like yours seems, you know, confusing and kick-ass.”
Finally, they had made it to the Mansion. It had been 10 years since he had seen the place, and he wasn't going to wait for the slowpokes behind him before he raced inside the building. Looking around, he saw those gathered by the television, and noticed that Guin was in tears, a moment later, he put a flower in her hand, but there was a few people he didn't realize were in the room. When he looked up, he saw Pietro staring at him. "Who the hell are you," Pietro said, before the man with silver hair raced off again. Pietro Maximoff wasn't going to let this slide, and raced after him as well.
Dean frowned slightly, noticing a tall and muscular man zip into the lounge. He hadn't seen him before, but he apparently knew Guin - maybe he was an Avenger? Pietro didn't know him and Dean quickly began moving everyone out of the way. He put Guin, Carolina, Mira, Beth, and Charlie onto the couch. He didn't need anyone getting tripped up by a speedster. He then glanced down at the flyers he had, before putting a flyer in each of the students' hands. "Hey Pietro! Anything I can do to help out?" Dean called out.
Pietro had no idea who this guy was, but he was definitely fast. Something about him seemed familiar, but he had no idea what it was. He heard Dean's question as he chased after the man. "Help me figure out a way to trip the guy," he called out to him, before the man said something. "You can't catch me Pietro, I know that for a fact," the man said as the two of them ran. His voice had an accent that was much thicker than his own, but he knew exactly where this guy was from. "You're from Serbia!" he said, before thinking, what were the odds of two speedsters with silver hair from the same country?
"On it!" Dean called out. He hadn't really trained with his powers much before, unless gym class was counted at the institute. And in general, he didn't really have to try. He was the dodgeball king - no one ever managed to touch him, because he'd always see it coming and dodge just in the nick of time. Perhaps ironically, though, his mile time was two and a half minutes. He glanced around the room quickly before spotting a water cooler. He ran over to the jug and quickly lifted it off, appearing in the hallway in a flash, dumping the water all over the ground. With the speeds the speedsters were going, he hoped he'd cause the right one to slip and fall.
Dean did manage to make one of them slip, it was just the wrong one. Pietro slipped on the water, slamming into the wall. The other man stopped for a moment, and anyone could tell that he was trying hard not to laugh. "What? You didn't see that coming?" he asked with a smile. "Hope your alright though, gotta run, I've got business to attend to." Pietro got up off the floor, "If we could just find a way to corner him, we might be able to catch him." he said, before racing off, then shouting at the man loud enough so Dean could hear him, "How the hell do you know my name!"
Something then dawned on Dean. Didn't Magneto have a bunch of kids? He was really old from the papers. "Pietro - I think that might be your brother..." Dean suggested. It'd explain the resemblance between them, the similar powers, and the thick Serbian accent. "I haven't really done this type of thing before...using my powers to fight people...So just let me know what you want me to do, man." He felt a bit sheepish about it. As much as he wanted to become an official member of the X-Men, he hadn't fought before.
Ok, the thought that he could be his brother is really weird, and what were the odds that his father would have two kids who were speedsters. He caught a glimpse of the man's face, and it was clear that he thought the idea was weird too. An idea occured to him, one that might be able to help. He stopped by Dean so he could whisper it to him so the man couldn't hear. "Try to get something and hang it across the hallway, it might slow him down enough for me to tackle him," he said, before racing off again.
Barely even a second had passed since the new speedster entered the mansion. Of course, Dean still didn't quite understand how a Serbian speedster knew Guin - and why he'd give her a flower. Dean hurried back into the lounge, noting that no one had already noticed anything happening at all yet. It was all too quick. He grabbed and pulled on the curtains from the windows, before heading back outside and stringing them up on the hallway, designed to hinder the elder speedster. Hopefully between the curtains and the remaining water, it'd do the trick.
"Who are you?" Dean then shouted, intended for the other speedster.
Dean's plan did the trick, as the older man started to slow down as he ran, Pietro took a flying leap and tackled him to the ground. There was a loud crash as they slammed into the wall. They wrestled on the ground for a while, before the man threw Pietro off. He looked at Dean, then back at Pietro. Letting out a sigh, he stood up. "Well, since it isn't like I can hide it, but odds are the two of you won't believe me, at all." he said, looking at the two of them.
Dean couldn't help but feel confused and he glanced at Pietro. "You want me to give you two some space, man?" he asked. He felt incredibly awkward. All of these vague and cryptic statements - it wasn't something Dean saw every day. He then extended a hand to the new speedster. "I'm Dean Kesseli - a student here at the institute. Class of 2020."
"I know who you are Dean, I know the names of every single person who is inside of this building. Their faces too," he replied, his face looking a little sad. "Alright, so if you know us, then who are you? You said we wouldn't believe you, try us." Pietro responded. He let out a sigh, before staring right into Pietro's eyes. "I'm you Pietro. My name is Pietro Maximoff, 31 years old and from the year 2030."
Dean's eyes widened and he looked between the two Pietros. He then focused on the younger one - the one that he knew for a fact was Pietro Maximoff. "Does this sort of thing happen to speedsters often? I know in the Flash they do time travel every season...I didn't know you guys could actually do that," Dean said, sounding both terrified and impressed. "So, um, Mr. Maximoff...What brings you here?"
"Actually, I can only do that in short bursts, I can't fully control where or when I go. I came back with a few friends of mine, one of them is actually able to control time far better than I could. Uh, before I continue, would you mind telling me what the date is?" he asked them, looking at them. "Uh, June 6th, 2020." Pietro said a little hesitantly, he wasn't too sure if he could trust this guy.
"Look, I don't care if you guys believe me or not, but if you don't help me, a lot people are going to die."
Meanwhile, outside, three other people had walked up to the mansion. One of them, a woman with silver hair, looked up at it. "Looks like he couldn't wait to get inside. The least that Pietro could have done was wait for us. So, this is the legendary Xavier Institute, I thought it would have been bigger. Also, why doesn't this place have security up and running? I thought that if need be this place could be a fortress or something but we were able to walk right in the front gate." @FantasyChic@jdh97 The two of you, like practically everyone else inside the mansion, would hear a loud crash coming from the main part of the mansion. It was pretty loud, it wouldn't be surprising if someone broke through a wall or something.
Mirembe Adebayo
Location: Xavier's Institute
Mira was surprised to find that one minute, there were people standing there, and the next everyone was on the couch. She remembered Pietro saying something to someone, but that was about it. Looking up, she saw that both Pietro and Dean were gone. They had to be using their powers, but why would they at a moment like this? There wasn't any reason for them to. "Where did they go?" she asked, before there was a loud crash coming from outside of the room.
Mira got up off of the couch, she was confused as to what just happened. Not even waiting to see if any of them were following her, she went to where the loud crash had come from, Mira saw Pietro and Dean in the hallway, along with another man that she didn't recognize. "What happened?" she asked, confused. This man seemed to know where he was, but she couldn't tell anything about him, except for his hair color which looked almost exactly like Pietro's.
Marygold Isley
Location: Xavier's Institute
"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew. As I said before, it is this endless cycle of catching them and everything. We knew there was a good chance for them to at least attempt it, especially with Mystique on the outside. Next time we catch them, we need to make sure we get her too, because otherwise they will have a much easier time escaping again," she said, shaking her head slightly. It was true, and being caught in an endless cycle with the Brotherhood could get tiring. She remembered her first real run in with them, it was her second mission on the team, and it was also the same mission where she met Guin who was a student at the school that Magneto had attacked.
She stopped talking, looking out towards the front of the Mansion. There were three women there, two brunettes and a woman with silver hair. One of the brunettes looked familiar, but she couldn't see clearly from where she was standing. "There is no way that could be her," Mary mumbled, before walking over towards the group. Now there was no denying who it was now that she could get a better look. "Folly? What are you doing here? How did you get out of the hospital?"
Lance Banner
Location: Xavier's Institute
Lance let out a sigh as Allison started talking and asking about his dad. He knew what question was probably going through her mind, hundreds of other people over the years had asked him that question. It was also the one question that he hated the most, more than people asking if he was the Hulk's kid. No one ever wanted to think about that about their parents, but people have asked him anyway over the years.
"Yeah, Bruce Banner, the Hulk, is my dad. I also can guess what question is going through your head, and all I can say is don't even ask about it. Most people do without thinking about how weird it is to be asking me that," he said, looking at her. There was a loud crash from not too far away, and he had hardly noticed it, but a few gusts of wind had flown by too. He looked in the direction that the crash had come from.
For those of you wondering about what Mary was mentioning about her first real encounter with the Brotherhood, Morose and I just started creating this collab of the entire situation if you want to read it, totally optional. (I didn't do color coding since this collab was created on Discord and some of the other characters don't have a color.)
McClaine Academy was home to the children of the world's most influential figures. Its location was undisclosed to most in order to aid with its security, but one of its guards leaked its location to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The X-Men learned of Magneto's plan to lay siege to the boarding school and take the students hostage, in order to force world leaders to bow to his wishes. It's the middle of spring term and the majority of the students are inside at class - well, aside from those few rebels that feel like skipping that is.
Marygold was with the rest of the X-Men aboard the Blackbird. At 16 years old, she was both the youngest, and the newest, member of the team. She only had been on one other mission with the team, so she was a little fidgety and nervous about it. She didn't know what they were going to do, or how she was going to be able to help them, but with a little luck, they might make it there before the Brotherhood did.
Among those currently skipping class was none other than Guinevere Stark. The only daughter (that we know of) of Tony Stark, she rarely showed up to classes that didn't interest her. And on the day of exams, she'd appear and ace them, before the administration was forced to admit that they were running out of coursework to challenge her with. It had put them at a bit of an impasse. She was sitting on the lawns of the school, wearing the typical uniform of McClaine academy - blazer, white blouse, skirt, stockings, and so forth. But she also stood out due to the bright red bandana she wore along with her braids. She had her headphones in and was listening to music as she sketched something in a notebook.
"Uh, do they even know that we are coming?" Mary asked, looking at Cyclops who was at the front of the bird. "No, they don't, and I do not believe that they know that the Brotherhood has their eyes set on the school either."
"Perhaps it would be prudent for someone to contact the school and alert them to the situation," Storm observed. McClaine academy came into view. It had a huge sprawling campus, nestled in the midst of what seemed to be a thick forest. It was a rather secluded location - making it an even more perfect target for Magneto. It would be a while for the authorities to arrive and while some of the students did have security details, they'd be no match for the Brotherhood members.
"Beast, see if you can get a call through to the school before we walk up," Cyclops said, as they landed the Blackbird a little ways from the school. "Looks like we're going to have a little bit of a walk," Mary said, looking at the forested area. At least her powers would have better uses here, unlike last time when they were in the Sahara Desert. She didn't really like that experience.
Beast frowned slightly after he tried to get a call through to the school. "It appears that someone has tampered with their phone lines," Beast explained. "I imagine this is Magneto's doing, in order to isolate the school," he then added. It made sense, after all. Cut off the school's communications - don't let them get news in or out - then no one could go looking for help.
Guin finished the sketch she had been working on, tearing the piece of paper out of the pad and folding it in half. She stood up from her position on the grounds and dusted off her skirt, before doing a quick glance around. She raised an eyebrow. Usually, Stoner Rick would have been out here by now - but it was just her. No one else was on the grounds. "Weird..." Guin muttered. She picked up her bag and put away the sketchbook, before looking to see if she still had the emergency beacon Tony gave her on her - but it was missing. She must have left it in her room.
"We need to get moving, since Magneto and his group are already here," he said as he lowered the ramp, and exiting the Blackbird. Without really knowing what to do, Mary got up and trailed after him, with the rest of the group following. I have no idea what is going to happen, kind of wish I did though. No matter what, we need to stop the Brotherhood.
Guin hit shuffle on her phone, having 5000 Candles in the Wind play through her headphones. While she was supposed to be in a math class at the moment, it was only differential equations - and she found the teacher's style to be irritating enough as it was. She started walking in the direction of her dorm room, before pausing as she noticed that there still wasn't anyone there. It was all starting to feel a little creepy to her. Was there an assembly or something that she didn't get the memo on? "Right...If I'm in a horror movie, jump out already," Guin said, mostly to make herself feel a little better, before she continued on walking.
Mary followed Cyclops and the others, though she started to trail behind a little bit. Her mind was wandering, wondering what would happen, and why would this school be so far into the woods. She still appreciated its setting of the woods, as it felt more natural for her, having always preferred being out in nature as opposed to a city. It also would make it easier for her to use her powers if she needed to, and odds were that she was going to need them. The odds had been against her last time, but hopefully she was going to be able to do better this time around. Looking back at the group, she realized that they were quite a ways ahead of her by now, so she ran to catch up with them, and saw that they were almost at the school.
Almost as if he sensed her question, Beast turned to Mary with a kind smile. "The school prides itself on its privacy and security in order to ensure the safety of its students - it is no mistake that Magneto decided to target this academy for his plan," Beast said. "If memory serves, I believe the prime minister's daughter is here - and potentially the vice president's nephew."
"Wow, I didn't know that," Mary said, looking at him. Eventually, they made it out of the woods to the outside of the school. "Wow, this place is bigger than I thought it would be."
Gambit scowled. He already didn't like the place. It reeked of the rich and powerful - especially those that didn't care if the poor risked their lives for them. "Any sign of Magneto, mon ami?" Gambit asked as he looked over towards Scott. As far as Gambit could tell, the entire place looked deserted - though actually, he spotted a girl walking with a book bag slung over her shoulder. Judging by the school uniform she wore, she wasn't a member of the Brotherhood.
"Not that I can see, Wolverine, what about you?" he asked, looking towards him. Wolverine sniffed the air, a little bit in each direction. "No, no Magneto or his band . They aren't nearby, but I'll keep checking,' he replied. "So, from the sounds of it we beat them here," Mary said, looking up at the school and seeing someone who looked like a student.
Just as the X-Men spotted Guin, Guin spotted the X-Men. She got an eyeful of Wolverine's yellow spandex and had a stifle a laugh. She had seen some truly awful costume concepts - once, Steve "babysat" her when Tony and Pepper were out at a conference. He showed her the original stars and stripes they had him wear. And as exciting as going back to her dorm room would be, she couldn't help but be a bit curious - and so she walked over towards the group. "Erm...Whatcha all doing here?" Guin asked. "Bit early for Comic Con, don't you think?"
Cyclops was a little surprised that the girl had approached them, but quickly replied. "We are hear to prevent an attack on the school," he said, looking at her through his visor. Mary was standing more in the back, and edged forward to see the girl who was there. She had never really heard anyone say anything like that to the team, after all, everyone at the Mansion respected them. It made her wonder what was going through the girl's mind.
She didn't seem too shocked by the prospect of an attack on the school. Instead, she crossed her arms, sizing them all up. Sure, they looked strong - and she vaguely knew that there were other groups out there besides the Avengers - but she hadn't seen the X-Men before. "Okay. Who's attacking?" Guin asked, perhaps a bit bluntly. She hit pause on her music and put her headphones away in her bag. "Just would like to know who I'm running from this time - is it the Ten Rings? And no offense but...Who are you guys?"
This girl was truly a weird one, and Mary wasn't too sure how Cyclops would react. He took it in stride, calmly looking at her. "Before I can tell you that, I would like to know just who it is I'm speaking to."
She seemed a bit surprised that he hadn't recognized her. "Oh - Guin Stark."
"Wait, Tony Stark's kid?" Mary blurted out, before getting a look shot at her by Cyclops. "A mutant by the name of Magneto," he said, responding to her original question about who was attacking. Wolverine wasn't able to detect any Brotherhood members, but he was aware that they could potentially arrive at any time.
Guin grimaced slightly and nodded. "Yup - my dad's Iron Man," Guin said, her tone making it clear that she got this sort of reaction all the time and was tired of it. However, Guin had heard of Magneto. From what she knew, he was a terrorist that could manipulate metal - and likely her father's worst nightmare in any sort of combat. "Well, that sounds like....fun," Guin said a bit awkwardly. "Think that's my cue to get the fuck out of here though," she then started heading off towards the woods.
Wolverine sniffed the air once more, and he finally caught someone's scent. It was one he would recognize all too well as the scent of his enemy Sabretooth. He knew where he was headed, and he only had a second to react. "Get out of the way kid!" he yelled at Guin as he tackled her to the ground, with Sabretooth launching up and over him. Cyclops turned and shot his optic beams at him, but missed.
Guin yelped slightly, finding herself inadvertently pinned to the ground by Wolverine. She couldn't help but wonder if Magneto had anything to do with the campus grounds looking so empty. However, she was mildly freaked out. Most people just tried to kidnap her and hold her hostage. Sabretooth, as far as she could tell, looked like he was about to kill her.
Wolverine jumped up, charging at his old foe, with Cyclops trying to hit him. "Bloom, get her out of here," he called to her, but it made her wonder. "Uh, where do you expect us to go, we're in the middle of nowhere! There's the school or the bird, take your pick!" her response was something to be expected, and she did have a point. "Just get her away from here!" Alright then, she thought to herself as she grabbed Guin by the arm, pulling her up, before running through the woods away. After she had gone, it occurred to Cyclops that maybe he shouldn't have sent her alone.
Guin managed to keep up with Mary, only to realize her bag had been abandoned in the scuffle - and along with it, her phone. She didn't have any way of contacting her father and as much as she was sure the X-Men were capable, she really liked the idea of getting an Iron Man suit to come rescue her. "Do you have any idea where you're going?" Guin asked. "And you don't need to hold onto my arm - if you don't have a plan, I know a place where I can hide." She knew these woods very well. Whenever she got angry and wanted to be alone, she would wander through them.
"I'm open to suggestions, I'm kind of new to this, if it wasn't obvious by the big age difference between me and the rest of them," she replied, looking at her and letting go of her arm. Back at the battle with Sabretooth, Wolverine and the man were wrestling, and it seemed like Wolverine had it covered for now. They needed to go search around, see if the rest of the Brotherhood were nearby. "I'll stay here and help Wolverine, the rest of you, pair up and see if there are any others nearby. At least one of you I would recommend going after those two, it didn't occur to me to have someone else go with them." Cyclops said, they didn't really have any young members, and it made him forget that Mary might not be able to handle things by herself quite yet.
Guin had to crack a bit of a smile. "Well, it's your lucky day. This isn't the first time someone's tried to kidnap me. C'mon - this way," Guin said, before taking off at a run. She was headed deeper and deeper into the woods. There was a thick wall of plants practically to one side, looking almost like a hedge maze, and Guin motioned for Mary to follow her before pushing her way through. Once she pushed past the plants, there was a small little clearing with a canopy of trees over it. Guin then crouched down in front of a tree trunk, moving her hands around carefully through the leaves before producing two cans of soda and a bag of candy. "I keep contraband here," Guin then admitted.
Gambit, naturally, paired up with Rogue. Those two went off to search to see if there were any other students, while Storm took off into the sky and began trying to get a bird's eye view of what was going on. Beast then headed off into the woods to look for Mary.
"Woah, this place is cool," she said, as she looked around the clearing. "I always felt more comfortable around plants and nature, your school is basically surrounded by plant life." Mary was looking around, seeing all of the plant life that surrounded them.
Cyclops managed to land a hit on Sabretooth without hitting Wolverine as the two kept wrestling. Meanwhile, Storm up above would be able to see something moving quickly through the trees, and Rogue and Gambit would feel a great gust of wind as something flew past them."I think Quicksilver just ran past us," she said to Gambit.
Guin opened up her can of soda with a shrug before tossing the other to Mary. "Eh, it's not for everyone. I'm more of a city person at heart - not that this is bad...I mean, I hate this place," Guin admitted before taking a sip. "So how come you're with them if you're only what - seventeen?" Guin asked. She couldn't help but be curious as to why they had a kid on their team.
Gambit pulled out a few cards from his sleeve with a nod, as Storm used her comm to alert the others. "Quicksilver has entered the woods!" Storm said. "Yeah, Rogue and I just saw him, mon amie," Gambit replied. "Goldie - be careful. He's headed your way - probably going for the Stark kid, chère."
"Uh oh, sounds like we might have some trouble heading our way," she said as she heard Gambit and Storm on the other end of the line. "I'm 16 by the way, not 17. I just joined them a few months ago, but I've been a student at the school that serves as their base since I was 12." Mary didn't open the can that Guin had tossed to her, instead, she was trying to keep an eye out for Quicksilver, her hands at the ready in case she needed to use her powers to fight.
"Trouble? Not to worry - I've got something to help with that too. My aunt insisted I have one stashed here," Guin said, alluding to the infamous Black Widow. She bent back down and uncovered a few more of the leaves that were hiding her stash, before she produced a small revolver. "I only have the one - how good a shot are you?" Guin then asked. "Unless you're powered? I'm guessing you have to be, right?" She chugged the rest of her soda before setting it down, making a mental note to recycle the can once she could head back into civilization.
"Yeah, I am. My abilities are actually not that bad of a thing to have considering what we're surrounded by. Also, a gun is going to be basically useless against this guy, he has super-speed, so if you fire it odds are he could dodge it."
"Oh, that's cool. I wonder how his perception works...D'you think the entire world seems like a really badly buffering movie to him?" Guin mused. She holstered the gun, figuring that it may end up being able to come in handy later. "So - what do you propose we do about the mystery man...I have no idea what your name is."
Mary felt a large gust of wind rush by her, and she immediately shot off, using a few plants to try and trip him. She had just shot vines off in every direction, unsure of where he would be next. There was a loud crash as Quicksilver tripped on one of the vines, and due to his momentum went flying, hitting a tree. "Ok, we need to go, now!" she said as she motioned for Guin to follow her into the woods. "Quicksilver caught up to us," she said to the others over their comm links.
"Damn, that was wicked," Guin exclaimed, her eyes a bit wide. She hadn't seen powered on powered combat up close and personal before. She followed Mary deeper into the woods, filled with a mixture of excitement and fear. It was all amazing and epic - but at the same time, she knew that these people meant business. They wouldn't be as easy to trick and escape from as the Ten Rings or whoever else her father had pissed off. Beast, despite heading into the woods to find them, had somehow become hopelessly lost. "Bloom - I am unable to locate you. I would advise finding somewhere to stash the Stark girl if you have not done so already before engaging with Quicksilver."
"Yeah, working on it Beast," she replied, looking over at Guin. "So, don't suppose you want to climb a tree do you?"
"Not in this, but whatever," Guin said. Her boarding school uniform was hardly the best thing to be climbing trees in, thanks to the skirt. "Just don't look up - or I'll become your mortal enemy," Guin joked. She looked for the sturdiest tree she could find before jumping up and grabbing onto a branch, pulling herself up. For the kid of a celebrity, she was in surprisingly decent shape. It helped that she exercised regularly, allowing Guin to scale the tree without too much difficulty.
"Ok Maximoff, where did you go?" she whispered, looking around for any sign of Quicksilver. She felt a gust of wind again, and shot the vines off once more. Having never really used her powers in a combat scenario, she didn't know what else she could do. This time around, she missed, and Pietro Maximoff came zipping in, slamming into her and causing her to slam into the tree that Guin was sitting in. He jumped back quickly, giving her a smirk. "So, your the newbie? Why don't you have one of your babysitters with you?" he asked her, taunting.
Guin had to bite her tongue - she was tempted to jump down and deck the boy herself. Sure, she didn't know Ginger's name but she already liked her. Besides, her dad had Pepper. Having a ginger around seemed to be a good life choice. Instead, she thought about what the boy had said before she realized that it was highly unlikely they'd be able to find them in the woods. There was a reason they chose to put the school here - to make it difficult for people to find. Pulling the gun out of her pocket, Guin pointed almost exactly straight up and fired off a few shots, meant to signal Mary's team members. Beast heard the shots and took a second, before determining the direction they had come in, and began moving as quickly as he could.
"Oh, there you are, I was wondering where you had gone off to," Pietro said, before heading back towards the tree. Mary was running out of ideas, she usually had someone telling her what to do, but this time she was all alone. For the moment anyway. Thinking fast, she knew that Pietro would be able to climb the tree easily, so why not make the tree bigger and the branches higher. She put her right hand on the tree as she stood up. "Not this time Maximoff," she said, before the tree that Guin was sitting in began to grow. The branches were soon out of Pietro's reach, and he turned back to look at her. "Really newbie? You just had to make my job difficult didn't you?" he said, as he punched her in the stomach, building up speed as he went. Marygold coughed up blood, but she wasn't done with him. She moved her hand, causing vines to wrap themselves around his legs tightly.
She still felt torn - she didn't like just sitting there and watching Mary get hurt. However, she also knew that she'd just be getting in the way if she went down - and since the boy - Maximoff, apparently - was there to grab her, getting out of the tree would be a terrible idea. Her best option would be to climb up the tree more and more, putting as much distance between herself and Maximoff as she could. But she just couldn't help herself. "Hey, fuckface! Pick on someone your own size!" Guin shouted at Maximoff. Beast still hadn't quite made it to them, but he'd be there soon. Guin, meanwhile, kept on climbing higher and higher up the tree, occasionally breaking branches on purpose to make it more difficult for someone to follow her up.
Marygold punched Quicksilver, since he was distracted by his legs being wrapped tightly in vines. Her punch slammed into his face, but she knew that the damage likely wouldn't last long, he was a speedster after all. A second later, he glared at her, before tearing out of the vines that she had trapped him with. "You punch me in the face, and I'll hit back a lot harder," he said, as he punched her in the head, knocking her to the ground. Her nose and lip were both bleeding, but she took her position on the ground as an opportunity to sweep his legs out from underneath him, causing him to fall to the ground as well, though he wasn't hurting nearly as bad as she was.
Guin bit her lip, seeing Ginger in pain. No one seemed to have come to help her and she didn't seem to have any combat experience. "I am going to so regret this later," Guin muttered to herself with a sigh, before starting to scale down the tree. By the time she was about ten feet above the ground, she waited, knowing that she was too high up for the speedster to get her. "Hey, it's me you want, right? So I'll surrender or whatever if you stop hurting her."
"Really? Wow, that was easy," he said as he jumped back up off the ground. Mary also was able to get up, but she had no intention of letting Pietro get Guin. He turned to look at her, "Wow, you just don't know when to stop do you? Give it up, you've got no chance." Mary knew that he was probably right, but she had always been known to be stubborn. "Not a chance Speedy," she said, before she actually caught him off guard, tackling him into the tree. She looked up a Guin, before putting her hand on the tree again, causing it to soar even higher. It was taking a lot of energy for her to do that, but it would keep Guin out of harm's way. Pietro was definitely stronger, as a second later, she found herself on the ground yet again. "You know, you are really starting to get annoying," he said as he slammed his foot into her stomach yet again. This time, she thought she heard something crack.
"STOP HURTING HER!" Guin screamed. She knew that Ginger wasn't going to let her surrender herself - but at this rate, Ginger was going to get herself killed. Guin was about 20 feet off the ground at this point and there were no branches below her from which she could climb. Her eyes then darted to the neighboring tree. There was about a five foot gap between the branches. "Please don't let me die doing this incredibly stupid thing..." Guin said to no one in particular, before she attempted to jump to the other tree. Her feet missed the branch and she tried to grab onto it with her arm, but her grip slipped and she started to fall. She fell about ten feet before she managed to catch another branch and pull herself back up to safety. Her heart was pounding furiously and she started to descend the rest of the way down from the tree.
Pietro looked at Guin, "You do realize that I might get in trouble if I don't deal with her? She is getting in the way a lot," he said, giving her a smirk as he saw that she was climbing down. When Mary started to get up again, Quicksilver let out a sigh. "Your beaten newbie, just give it up," he said, but she didn't look like she was going to stop any time soon, not until she was either dead or unconscious. He grabbed her by the arm, before throwing her head first into a tree. This time, she was out of it for a little while anyway. "Alright then, let's get going," he said, as he grabbed Guin when she hit the ground, and started racing off, back to the school. Once more the X-Men members on the ground would be able to feel the gust of wind, with Storm seeing Quicksilver from above.
Beast finally made it to the clearing - just a few seconds too late. He saw Quicksilver rush off with the Stark kid and Mary lying down by a tree. "Cyclops, Bloom is down. I believe Quicksilver has the Stark girl," Beast said into his comm, before hurrying over to Mary. He knelt down next to her and checked her vitals. "Bloom? Can you hear me? Bloom?" He gently propped Mary up into a seated position, hoping that he hadn't been too late.
Guin, meanwhile, couldn't help but feel motion sick due to Pietro's speed. She couldn't help but blame herself for what had happened to Ginger. As much as people praised Guin for being a genius, she hadn't been able to do much of anything when it really mattered. At least she still had her gun on her - though she wouldn't be surprised if Maximoff and the others took it from her. "You're an asshole - you didn't need to keep on hurting her," Guin muttered.
After a few moments, Marygold opened her eyes to see Beast's face looking down at her. "That hurt, a lot," she said, before glancing around and noticing that both Guin and Quicksilver were gone. "I'm guessing he got her then, man that girl can be stupid," she said as she tried to get to her feet. Her legs were shaking as she leaned up against the tree.
"Hey, I'm just doing what I need to, it isn't like I killed her or anything. Be glad old Sabretooth didn't get her, he would have straight up ripped her to shreds before climbing into the tree to grab you," he said, as he ran."
"Quicksilver is not a foe to trifle with," Beast agreed. "Yet I do not believe the girl was being stupid - from what I can gather happened, she wanted to stop you from being in harm's way," Beast said. He then extended a hand to Marygold. "I can take you back to the Blackbird if you wish - or we may rejoin the others in their efforts."
"Wow, I should be happy that you only seriously injured someone instead of killing them?" Guin asked, feeling a bit incredulous. "That's just fucked up, man. And you need to do this? What, does someone have a gun pointed at your head? If anything, you're just being a bully - using your powers to beat people up to get whatever you want - that's your M.O., right?"
"Let's catch up with the others, I'm fine, don't worry about it," she said, even though she knew what he said was true. The girl had been trying to stop Quicksilver, which might have saved her life. "Let's get going," she said, as she started to walk away, a little unsteady on her feet as she walked.
"Well, I guess you could say I'm in the family business," he replied, before bringing her into the gym where Magneto and the rest of the Brotherhood aside from Sabretooth were standing. "Father, I found a straggler," he said to Magneto as he set Guin down by the other students before standing next to Wanda. "You were right, the X-Men are here too."
Beast was careful to watch Mary as she walked, waiting for the moment when she'd stumble so he could catch her just in case. It wasn't long until they had ended up back out of the woods and on the front grounds where the other X-Men were assembled. Storm then descended down from the skies. "Magneto has all of the students and staff in the gymnasium."
Guin noticed a few of the other students staring at her and she rolled her eyes. Had this not been a clear hostage situation, she would have got up and left. But she knew what all of those stares meant - your dad is Iron Man, you should do something! It made her grit her teeth and clench her fist slightly. If she hadn't been so careless to leave the emergency beacon in her room, then maybe she could have done something. But as it stood, she was powerless - and yet, the other students and staff still seemed to expect her to do something. "Stop staring at me," Guin eventually said, causing some of the other students to look away. She took in a deep breath until an idea came to her. It helped that she already felt sufficiently nauseous from Quicksilver's run. She raised her hand, waving it around until she caught the attention of one of the Brotherhood members. "Hey, I'm diabetic - I need to take my insulin injection and it's in my dorm," Guin said. She did look a bit pale.
"We need to tread carefully, otherwise they might harm everyone inside. Bloom, you still good to go? You don't look like it," Cyclops said, glancing over at her. "Yeah, I'm fine, so what's the plan?" she asked, looking over at him. They had to be careful, since this was a hostage situation after all.
"As I suspected they would. Wanda, Pietro, be prepared for them, as they will likely try to make the first move," he said, looking over at the twins. "Yes father," they said in unison, before heading over to keep watch on the entrances to the gym. Magneto glared at Guin, "No one is to leave," he said simply.
Gambit frowned, unconvinced that Mary was ready for any form of combat. Beast, Gambit, and Storm remained quiet however, looking at Scott for the plan.
"Then can you send someone to go and grab it?" Guin suggested, her arms crossed. "I just drank a soda, which is 39 grams of sugar, and I was going to take my insulin when this shit happened. So unless you'd like to deal with a medical crisis, which will both consume your time and weaken your power in a hostage negotiation, please kindly send someone to room 412 F to get the insulin pump." There was a certain air of defiance in her eyes. One of the staff members then nodded. "Ms. Stark is a type I diabetic," they said.
Cyclops nodded to Mary, "Alright, we need to take out Quicksilver, since his speed could potentially cause a problem for us since it isn't easy to catch him. We need to do everything that we can to lure the fighting outside while a few others work on evacuating the hostages." he said, "Now, X-Men, let's move."
Magneto glared at her, before nodding. "Pietro, go grab the insulin pump for Ms. Stark here, and be quick about it." he said, as Pietro raised his head when he heard his name. "You don't need to tell me to be quick about anything," he said with a grin, before racing out again.
Gambit spotted a blur heading out of the gymnasium and towards the dormitories. "Well, there he goes, mes amis," Gambit observed. He grabbed a few more cards from his deck before running in that direction.
"Thank you," Guin said. She shot her hand down and tugged on one of her braids slightly, trying to ignore the looks the rest of the students were giving her once more. She got lucky that the one member of staff decided to go along with it. She wasn't diabetic. She did, however, have an emergency beacon that looked practically identical to an insulin pump. It had been Happy's idea - that way if she ever did end up in a hostage situation, she could pretend to be diabetic and either be escorted to grab it herself or have it brought to her. Either way, it'd at least let her alert her father and the Avengers as to what was going on.
Mary's head was a little dizzy, and her chest was hurting. There was no way she was going to stay out of this, and she wanted a rematch with Quicksilver now that she wasn't alone. She followed behind Gambit, at a slightly slower pace, with Rogue right behind her. Cyclops nodded to the others, before starting to head towards the gym, where Pietro had just left.
Magneto was just looking around the gym, getting a little jumpy at the thought of the X-Men closing in. The team had taken down the Brotherhood numerous times, and they were not one to hold back. They would play it cautiously, that was about all he would expect of them, he knew not to under estimate them.
"Chère, you sure you don't want to sit this one out?" Gambit offered as they entered the dormitories. There was a directory on the wall, listing the names and room numbers of the various students. Gambit paused for a moment, glancing up and down the list. He spotted that the Stark kid was on the fourth floor. "Mon ami - do you think the Stark kid would have somehow convinced Quicksilver to go to her room?" Gambit inquired.
"Come on, Stark, aren't you gonna do something?" one of the younger students finally called out, having lost their patience. The kid couldn't have been older than eight. A few of the other students nodded, looking at Guin and then fearfully glancing over at Magneto. "Yeah, Stark, you spend all day sketching out new inventions - don't you have one that'll take him out?" another kid added, practically tugging on the sleeve of Guin's blazer. "Will you all please stop looking at me like that?" Guin finally snapped. "We are hostages. We're not heroes. We are definitely not going to try any sort of stupid escape plans. Do as your told and they won't kill you." She pulled her hair out of the braids before redoing it up in a bun, the bandana on top so that way no one could pull her hair if needed.
"I'm fine Gambit, don't worry about it," she said, this time a little more harshly. She was starting to get annoyed with them all asking her that. Just because she was the youngest, it didn't mean they had to keep trying to keep her out of the action. "I don't know, but there is a chance that she might have. I don't know how she could have though," she replied, looking at the directory.
Magneto was starting to get a little suspicious of the Stark kid, he would not have expected the daughter of Iron Man to be this willing to cooperate. He made a mental note to keep an eye on her, in case she should try something.
Gambit nodded. "Then we each take a floor - Goldie, you've got the fourth. Beast, the third. I'll take the second. And Rogue, the first," Gambit said, before dashing up the stairs. If anyone ran into trouble, all they'd need to do is use their comm to alert the others. He was hoping that he had made the right gamble in sending Goldie to the fourth. He was hoping to find Quicksilver on one of the other floors, looking for stragglers.
The kids that had been begging Guin to help them looked at her in shock. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Look, I get it - the first time someone holds you hostage is terrifying. But I'll let you all in a secret - anyone who takes someone hostage is an idiot. They will mess up at some point. So all you do is don't give them a reason to hurt you or to kill you, wait for them to make a mistake, and someone will come to rescue you."
Mary nodded, before racing off, trying to see if she could find Quicksilver. She didn't like the idea of being so far off of the ground, it would make using her powers more difficult. Running upstairs, she finally reached the fourth floor. Looking around, she tried to see if Quicksilver was on her floor. She couldn't see him, but that didn't mean he wasn't there. "I thought I dealt with you back in the woods," a voice said behind her. Whirling around, she managed to catch a glimpse of Quicksilver before he punched her in the face yet again. Now she was pretty sure her nose was broken. That wasn't the only thing that was wrong though. She felt around, and realized that her comm was missing, and saw it in Quicksilver's hand as he smashed it. "I tried to play nice newbie, but you didn't get the hint."
Nothing truly seemed to be happening in the gym, however, Scarlet Witch looked over at her father. "The X-Men are almost here," she called out, and Magneto nodded his head. "Then be prepared to welcome them Wanda."
The other X-Men were searching the other floors of the dormitories, unaware that Mary had run into Quicksilver on the fourth floor. Guin, however, had been estimating the time that had elapsed. It was one thing to claim to be diabetic - it was another thing entirely to act the part. And for whatever reason, the speedster still hadn't returned yet. "Told you...I needed...insulin..." Guin said weakly, before she let herself collapse onto the floor.
Mary looked up at Pietro, before struggling to her feet. She swung a punch at him, but he was way too fast for her to hit. Pietro grabbed her by one of her arms, and whirled her around, slamming her into the wall and twisting her arm behind her. "I gave you a chance to leave, that girl did try to help you, but you didn't. You must be the dumbest person in the world," he said, before there was a snap as the arm he was twisting snapped.
"What is taking your brother so long? Perhaps he ran into a few of them, and that is why he isn't here yet That would make sense, though it could prove problematic." Magneto said, talking to Wanda, and looking at Guin as she collapsed.
Although none of the X-Men had come up to check on the other floors yet, someone else did hear all of the commotion. Guin's room was a few doors down but it helped that the dormitory was virtually abandoned. A computer program was activated at the sound of the scuffling and violence, and through the hallway, a strangely humanoid yet robotic voice could be heard. "Good morning, Ms. Stark. The weather today is partly cloudy, with lows in the high 40's," P.H.I.L. announced. "There appear to be hostiles in the building. I am alerting Mr. Stark now - please take steps to evacuate."
Pietro raced over to Guin's room, before proceeding to smash the computer to bits, silencing PHIL. Mary managed to scramble to her feet, and got herself over to the staircase. Odds were that she wouldn't be able to get to the next floor before Pietro caught up, but at least she could shout down the staircase and hope that someone hears her. "Hey, I could use a little help up here!" she shouted down the staircase, before Pietro had once again caught up to her. He grabbed onto her, and threw her out the window, not even bothering to open it as he sent her crashing through, sending glass bits flying out as she fell and slammed into the ground. There was blood coming from her head, creating a pool of blood.
Beast came rushing up the stairs, followed by Gambit. They both spotted the glass and the speedster, with Beast quickly jumping out the window and landing down next to Mary. He was confident that Gambit would be able to handle Pietro - but not that Mary could have survived that fall. "Marygold, Marygold, you need to stay with me," Beast begged her. Upstairs, Gambit was seeing red as he threw card after card at the speedster. "You'll pay for that, mon ami!" Meanwhile, back in the gym, Guin had been doing the mental math in her head. This was the part in her performance as a fake diabetic where she would need to really sell it. And so, Guin began to consciously slow down her breathing to be as minimal as possible. One of the kids that had been staring at her noticed the change. "She's not breathing!" the kid screamed.
Mary wasn't opening her eyes, her breathing was heavy, and her heartbeat was faint, but she was still alive for the moment. "Hey, I did give her a chance to leave earlier, but you people seem to be stubborn. " Pietro managed to dodge out of the way of a few cards, but several of them blasted him, hitting his chest. Pietro stumbled backwards as the cards hit him. There were burns on his bodies caused by the cards.
Magneto looked over at the girl, knowing fully well that Quicksilver had ran into trouble. "One human life is worth less than that of a mutant, since I believe Quicksilver seems to have run into trouble, but I would prefer him to survive, over a human girl."
Gambit wasn't in the mood to argue specifics with Pietro. He used to use his powers for nefarious ends - and it was so easy to fall back into doing just that. Rather than aiming to stop Pietro, he was aiming lethal attacks at the Brotherhood member. "You haven't seen nothing yet, mon ami!" Gambit shouted. He had already gone through an entire deck and was opening up the next package.
Guin could feel Magneto's eyes trained on her, but she also knew that even if she hadn't managed to get the emergency beacon activated, Quicksilver had at least run into the X-Men. She still had her gun on her and in one smooth motion, she grabbed her gun and fired it off at Magneto, standing to her feet in the process. "Everyone, run!" Guin shouted.
Mary coughed up blood, but slowly, she opened her eyes, and once more saw Beast. Her body ached all over, and she didn't even want to try and move. "Wha-What... Happened..." she managed to choke out, more blood coming from her mouth. Pietro dodged Gambit's next few cards easily, but the next four hit him hard. As the last explosion hit him, he fell to the ground, but was already in the process of standing up again.
Magneto laughed as he held up his hand, stopping the bullets she fired at him. "Pathetic girl, why do you think they call me Magneto?" he asked her. Scarlet Witch kept the doors held tight, no one would be able to open them very easily.
"You went up against Quicksilver," Beast informed her, before picking her up. "I'll bring you back to the blackbird. You're in no condition to fight." Gambit threw another handful of cards at Quicksilver, before he picked up the trash can and charged it, flinging it towards the speedster. "Give up yet?" Gambit taunted.
"Honestly? All the good names were taken," Guin shot back. "Unless you're really into the magneto-dipole effect, but you don't seem to be the nerdy type to me...Just the crazy kind." The other staff and students were watching, a few of them huddling together. Some of them seemed to be afraid - others were practically trying to cheer Guin on. With her gun now empty of bullets, Guin discarded the magazine and tossed it aside. "But you're just a bully - and a bit of a dumb one, too. The...Whatever they're called - they're all ganging up on your son right now. The insulin pump he went to get? It's an emergency beacon that will bring the Avengers here. Between those two teams, your odds are shit."
Mary was silent as she closed her eyes again, not thinking to even try to argue with Beast. Pietro was able to move swiftly, avoiding most of Gambit's next round, except for the last one. When Gambit threw the trashcan, Pietro managed to move out of the way, but still got caught by the explosion. "No, do you?" he asked as more burns covered his body, replacing the ones that had already healed.
"Maybe, however I am willing to take that risk, as it might take them a little while to get here," he said as he flipped the bullets around in the air, all of them pointed at her/ "You also think that they scare me? A few of them rely on metallic objects, which won't be able to do much against me."
"Pas de chance," Gambit muttered, before throwing as many cards as he possibly could at the speedster. He actually ran out of cards and went into the nearest open room - Guin's room - and found a stack of CD's. He didn't care if the Stark girl was mad at him later. He switched over to throwing the CD's now, each of them charged to become a deadly explosive.
Guin's heart beat a little faster. She knew that she was making a gigantic gamble - and it would be awfully nice for the X-Men to barge in already - but she was running out of options. "You don't care about your son?" Guin asked, raising her hands up slowly. "Sure, maybe you come out on top - but your kids?"
Pietro dodged out of the way of the cards, and several CD's as well. It wasn't until one of the last CD's where he slipped up and it cost him. It hit him directly in the face, and sent him flying backwards, his head hitting the wall with a crack. He was knocked out, for now anyway.
"You have no idea what their life was like before they joined me," he replied, not even trying to defend it. Outside the Gym, Cyclops and the others finally got to the point where they felt better about charging in. Odds were that the door was blocked, so blasting it with his visor seemed like the best course of action. With a blast that shook the building, the door blew apart, and the X-Men raced in. Wolverine had specific orders to hang back, since he was vulnerable to Magneto's powers, and he might be able to deal with Scarlet Witch. "This ends now Magneto!"
Gambit glared at the speedster, and while he knew that he shouldn't, he sent another wave of cards towards him for good measure. He knew that the punk would heal, but his anger had gotten the better of him. Marygold had been too young to be on this mission. Her injuries were on all of them - but that didn't mean he couldn't take that out on Quicksilver.
Guin couldn't help but pity the twins. Their father didn't really care about them, did he? She could relate to that sentiment. She slowly began to move back towards the other students, leaving an opening for the X-Men to go in and take down Magneto.
Pietro was down and out, he wasn't getting up any soon. Rogue had gone to deal with Sabretooth again after she had searched the first floor, and she had noticed that he was sneaking up on the other part of the team. Noticing the blood on the ground and the broken glass, she flew up to the window just in time to see Gambit throw a bunch of things at a knocked out Quicksilver. "What happened here?" she asked as she entered through the shattered window. She saw that Beast and Marygold weren't there.
Magneto turned towards them, before sending the bullets flying at them. Almost ever bullet missed, but it hit Wolverine, and he healed almost instantly. Cyclops fired at Magneto who was up in the air, sending him backwards and causing him to fall to the ground. Wolverine charged at Scarlet Witch, slamming into her and pinning her to the ground for the moment. While they dealt with them, Storm had been instructed to start evacuating the hostages since her powers could easily give them cover.
Gambit took a shuddery breath, managing to stop himself from throwing more explosives at the speedster. "He nearly killed Bloom - chucked her out the window, chère," Gambit admitted. He then went over to the speedster and picked him up, slinging him over his shoulder. "We still got a secure room on the Blackbird, chère? He'll heal fast enough and I don't want him to give us anymore problems."
While Guin could have easily been one of the first to leave, she actually did her best to help Storm in getting the other students out. Some of the little ones were so terrified that they could hardly move.
"Yeah, we do. Do you want me to help you? I could easily get both of you back to the bird," Rogue said, looking at him. The kid had to be hurting, but they couldn't do anything about Marygold right now, the rest of the Brotherhood has to be around, and there was a commotion coming from the gym.
Cyclops and Magneto were throwing things back and forth, and Scarlet Witch had managed to get Wolverine off of her. The fighting seemed to be evenly matched, one side landing a hit, then the other. Cyclops and Wolverine were managing to keep the fighting away from the students and staff.
Gambit nodded. "I'd appreciate that, chère. Maybe we get the kid back to the Professor - we might have a real advantage over Magneto." He then sighed a bit. "Think the Stark kid might kill me - she doesn't have a CD collection anymore. And I think 'Silver smashed her computer."
Once all of the students and staff were out of the gym, Guin decided she had done enough playing the hero for that day. She needed to get the things she cared about for her room and get out of dodge - maybe hitchhike until she hit Boston and then hop a plane back home to New York. She then started heading in the direction of the dorms, spotting Beast carrying Marygold in his arms.
"Well, her daddy's rich, she shouldn't have a problem replacing anything that was broken or destroyed. Alright then, hold on," she said, grabbing a hold of Gambit and Pietro, before soaring out the window. With all of the students and staff gone, Magneto, Scarlet Witch, Cyclops, Storm, and Wolverine were the only ones left inside of the building. Their fighting was still going on, but Magneto was starting to see that now was maybe the time for them to leave.
Once back at the Blackbird, Gambit put Pietro in the secure room. He locked it up, knowing that the room had been designed by Beast to hold just about anyone - including a speedster. Beast saw the Stark kid and Guin ran up to them, looking at Mary with worry. "Shit. Is she gonna be okay?" Guin asked, feeling as if this was entirely her fault. Beast nodded sagely at the young girl. He then paused for a moment. "It's not safe here at the school yet - come with us."
Pietro started to stir as he woke up in the room that Gambit had locked him in. "Wow, fancy," he said with a smirk as he looked around the room. Marygold didn't stir in Beast's arms as they made their way to the Blackbird. Cyclops and the others were fighting Magneto and Scarlet Witch, when the two decided they had failed. They managed to get out of the building. "Magneto is on the run, what's the status with Quicksilver," Cyclops said into the comm, having not heard from them for a while.
Beast, Mary, and Guin made it into the blackbird. Guin noticed the room towards the back, recognizing the metal that it had been constructed out of. She didn't think there had been any of it left in the world - but apparently, Wakanda must have had a bit more vibranium than her grandfather had claimed. She stood uncertainly before a console caught her eye and she gravitated over towards it. She set her hand on it, her eyes flickering to and fro as she attempted to figure it out. Beast then turned to his own comm. "Quicksilver is secured in the blackbird. Bloom is in critical condition."
"We're on our way, be on the lookout, Magneto might try to get his kid back," he said, before being quiet once more, as he and the others raced back towards the bird. Meanwhile, Marygold's eyes fluttered open, and she saw that they were on the Blackbird. Her skin was pale, but she was conscious for the moment.
Guin finally tore her eyes away from the console. "Your password needs to be better," Guin observed as she glanced towards Beast. He wasn't exactly sure what to make of that. "Why do you say that?" Beast inquired, preparing the blackbird to fly as soon as the others returned. "I cracked it already," Guin answered with a bit of a shrug. She then peeled off a sticky note from the console, revealing that the password had been written on it.
"You guys are really loud," Quicksilver called out to the group. Mary couldn't help but agree with him. Her head was pounding and her vision was fuzzy. "Why is the speedster here?" she managed to say, before coughing a lot. With an aching body, and several broken bones, not to mention the fall from the fourth story of a building, all of this caused by Pietro, she would be happy to never hear his voice again.
"We are transporting him in order to hand him over to S.H.I.E.L.D. officials so that way he may answer for his crimes," Beast explained. He had the blackbird all set up and ready to go, before hurrying over to Mary with some medical equipment. He wanted to make sure that none of her injuries would be too lasting. "It is likely that they will then transfer him to the Raft." Guin's ears perked up - she had heard of the Raft. She never knew anyone that had been sent there but those who went to the Raft generally didn't come back. "You mean supervillain jail?" Guin inquired, taking a seat out of the way.
"Ok," she said with a weak voice, she said nothing more, closing her eyes again. Cyclops and the others raced up, and ran inside. "Alright, we need to get going. Who knows how long it'll be before Magneto catches up to us," he said quickly as everyone sat in there seats. He took one look at Mary, and couldn't help but ask, "What happened to her?"
Beast started to patch Mary up, before giving her some hard core pain killers. "I believe that Quicksilver decided to practice the art of defenestration," Beast summarized. Guin, meanwhile, turned to look at the glorified cage that the speedster was held in. It felt a bit like cosmic justice, in a way. He had tried to kidnap her - and now, they had "kidnapped" him. She strummed her hands on the wall of the plane, feeling a bit bored and out of place. Sure, hitching a ride would be nice - Beast had mentioned they were headed to New York - but she was in this plane filled with extraordinary people...And she was just Guin.
Cyclops looked over at Mary again, before they took off. "It was either out the window or down several flights of stairs," Pietro said through the wall. "Hey, Stark kid, how's it going?" He was starting to get bored, his father was probably going to catch up to them soon.
Guin didn't say a word before walking over to the console and typing in the password that had been left. A moment later, the heat in Quicksilver's cell had begun to rise. It was something like a slow boil, as she increased the heat to 100 degrees in there. It wouldn't kill him - but she hated being called Stark kid. She had a name of her own, after all. "Say you won't call me that again and I'll turn down the heat."
"Hey, it's not like I know your actual name," he responded. Pietro wasn't used to the heat that much, and there wasn't much he could do about it. Mary's pain was vanishing, but those two yelling at her were really giving her a headache that she could still feel even with having taken the pain killers.
"Then maybe try asking next time - I don't call you Magneto brat," Guin shot back. She sat back down and closed her eyes, already feeling exasperated with the speedster. She made no movement to turn down the heat, however. Quicksilver's cell had reached its full temperature and it wouldn't be long before he started to sweat.
Cyclops shot a look at Guin through his visor before he walked over to the console and lowered the temperature. "The consoles are not to be messed with Ms. Stark," he said, before sitting back down again, and now he was staring at her, keeping an eye for any trouble. No one ever saw his eyes, while the others you clearly could. To Mary, those looks can be a little unsettling, might not be so much to others.
"Sorry," Guin grumbled. She crossed her arms and was glad that the speedster at least seemed to have shut up for the moment. And although she had no idea why she did this, she decided that she might as well tell him her name. Well, not the name she actually went by. "And it's Guinevere," she said to Pietro.
"Ah, ok. Nice to meet you," he said, since his boredom was annoying him. The Blackbird started shaking, before it started turning towards a clearing. "Looks like Magneto caught up to us, everyone hold on," Cyclops said as the plane nearly did a direct nosedive towards the ground.
Guin gave the speedster an odd look. "You do realize that less than an hour ago, you were trying to kidnap me? And beat up the ginger?" She was thankful that she hadn't been afraid of heights before in her life as she gripped onto the edge of her seat. Maybe after this latest fiasco was sorted, she'd go back to her normal plan of leaving the school - hitchhiking until she got somewhere interesting.
The Blackbird actually managed to not slam into the ground, but land safely on the ground. Lowering the ramp, Cyclops started moving outside. "Everyone, be ready. He has to be nearby, otherwise he wouldn't have forced us down here. We can safely assume that he is probably after Quicksilver."
While the X-Men disembarked the plane, Beast instructed Guin to remain behind - and to watch Quicksilver. She nodded, even making a bit of a face when he asked her if she was familiar with the various systems the plane ran on. Beast may have designed it himself, but she had a knack when it came to these things - a mechanical intuition. As Gambit and the rest disembarked, Guin returned to the console despite Cyclops' warning. This time, instead of messing with Quicksilver, she quickly sent a message to her father with the coordinates of a nearby town where she'd be heading. As soon as that was sent, Guin hesitated for a moment. She could read the files this team had and find out more about them. She couldn't help but be tempted.
"So, Magneto came for Speedy over there," Marygold said, her eyes open and she was looking straight at Guin. "Yes, I knew he'd come!" Pietro said happily. Cyclops and the others looked around, but saw no sign of Magneto, or any of the rest of the Brotherhood. It was eerily quiet as they looked around, and Wolverine wasn't able to detect anything with his sense of smell.
Guin signed off of the console, managing to avoid giving into the temptation to hack them. They had just saved her life - it would have been incredibly uncalled for. But some instincts couldn't be avoided - even her father had hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. when he worked with them. "Not surprised. He's valuable as muscle," Guin said. It may have seemed cold but from what she had seen of Magneto, he didn't actually care about his children. She couldn't help but wonder how long it would be until Magneto came in. Guin stood up from her seat. "Probably best to get out of here, ginger. We're in a metal container, after all."
Marygold looked at Guin, "I'm not exactly in any position to move anywhere Guin" she said, taking a deep breath. A moment later the Blackbird started moving, without anyone in the pilot's seat. The engine and everything was turned off, but it was starting to move. Oh crap, we are so dead. I don't have my comm on me thanks to a certain speedster. Her mind was racing, but she needed to call out to someone. Cyclops was in the lead, and probably wouldn't be able to hear her, she didn't know what to do. "GAMBIT!" she yelled out as the Blackbird started to rise into the air. The ramp was slowly being raised too.
"Fuck. Knew I should have hacked into this shit. Fuck fuck fuck," Guin cursed. She ran over to the console, quickly typing in the password once more and set herself to work. She pulled up the ship's manifest before finding where the parachutes were located. She quickly ran over to them, finding that there were seven parachutes there in total. Quickly hurrying back, Guin handed one to Mary - before realizing that she really couldn't move and she began to strap her in. "Have you ever jumped out of a plane before?" Guin said quickly. "It's this or we get in the metal box with Quicksilver - and I don't know about you, but I'd rather kick him out of the plane than do that."
"Last I checked, we aren't high enough for the parachutes to be effective yet, and there is no way I'm getting in the box with Speedy." she replied, her voice getting quieter as she spoke. "I also have had enough of falling out of things today."
Guin nodded. "Okay, okay. I can do this," she said as she started to pace back and forth, pulling her hair out of the bandana and tugging on it nervously. "It'll be too long for any tech to get here. I don't know how to fly a plane. We need to get higher for parachutes to work. And the safest place in the event of a crash is currently where we have the speedster." She bit down on her lip. "Any chance you can fly or something? That'd be pretty helpful at the moment...Even just slowing down a fall would be nice."
"If we can get the ramp to stay down, Storm and Rogue can possibly fly up to us, but aside from that, no, I don't fly. My powers are based off of plants and the Earth, do you really think I'd be able to? I also wouldn't have hit the ground when he threw me from the window."
Guin then hesitated for a moment. "Maybe the answer isn't that we fall out - maybe we chuck him off the plane," Guin suggested. "He tried to kill you, anyways." She then went over to the console, finding the controls that had the setting for the cell. There did just so happen to be an eject button. "It'd be a flying metal deathtrap, but hopefully Magneto could only handle manipulating one metal thing at a time...And we have a better chance of figuring out how to fly this thing than surviving that fall."
"You know nothing about this guy do you? Even if your right, he'd drop us, and currently he is the only force keeping us in the air right now."
"I'm sorry I didn't study mutant terrorism in my classes this year!" Guin said with a sigh.
"Well, he can easily manipulate several heavy objects, but currently the only thing stopping him from dropping us is his kid. Try to get the ramp lowered or something, that would probably be our best shot right now," she said, closing her eyes again, she wanted to pass out right now, but her mind kept wandering to the team who were currently still on the ground. She wondered what they were doing, but everything going through her mind was making her head ache again.
Guin nodded, going to the pilot's console. She took a minute to familiarize herself with the controls until she found the lever to lower the ramp. But as she pressed it, she realized with horror that it was stuck. "Ginger...The ramp won't lower. He's probably keeping it shut," Guin said, before taking a deep breath. "All we can do is wait for him to set us down somewhere and try not to get killed."
"If we're lucky that is what he'll do, but he might just rip the cell from the bird. If he does that we are screwed."
Guin's eyes then fell on the speedster. She rapped on the door of the cell. "Hey, your entire shtick is saving mutants, right? I'm going to put Ginger in there with you. You won't lay a finger on her unless it's to make sure she's okay. If you agree to that, great. If not, I'll crank the heat up full blast and shut off the oxygen. Deal?"
"My name isn't Ginger... It's Marygold," she said, starting to get a little annoyed with Guin calling her Ginger, "I am not getting in there with him Guin. The guy nearly killed me, you might be able to try and get in contact with the teams through the consoles. There is one that let's you speak to everyone who has a comm on the team at once."
"If we don't have any other options, then it's the only way you'll live," Guin said. She went onto one of the consoles and started trying to ping the team. "Hey guys? Little help up here would be nice. The, um, speedster is still secure but Marygold isn't looking too hot...I have no idea what I'm doing up here."
"We were starting to wonder what was going on up there. We can see the bird, but we can't tell where your headed, or where Magneto and Scarlet Witch are. Storm and Rogue are going to see if they can get you down, or if they can see Magneto, just hold on," Cyclops' voice came through. It didn't seem weird that Guin knew Mary's name, he figured that she told her to make things easier. Magneto had lured them off the plane so he could fly it away, the question is why?
Holding on. Guin took in another deep breath and resumed her seat back down by the console. She glanced over at the captive speedster, half expecting to see him with a huge grin on his face.
Marygold looked over at Guin, before the plane started getting lowered to the ground. "Sounds like we're landing," she muttered, looking towards the ramp that should be lowering soon. Cyclops' voice came back, "We saw where it went down, we're on our way, just hold on."
Guin nodded and hugged her knees to her chest. To say she was terrified was an understatement. Nothing that she had experienced before in her life had prepared her for this. "Holding on...Got it..."
The bird hit the ground with a thud, and the ramp lowered itself. Magneto himself walked up, along with Scarlet Witch. "So, a bunch of children were left here? Pitiful," he said before looking at Pietro. "Hey Pops, sis, how's it going?" he said with a grin as Magneto opened up hiss cage. "What are we going to do about them," Wanda said, nodding towards Guin and Marygold. He did not know, he hadn't expected them to be there. One was a member of the X-Men, the other a human girl. Both could be useful in getting out of there for them. "Bring them with us." he said, even though one of them would probably not be able to get very far before she collapsed.
Guin wished that she had some sort of trick up her sleeve - a tracking device or something that she could use in order to help them find them. But at least they weren't about to die. She didn't want to dignify them by bothering to get up for them, knowing already that she'd be made a hostage once more - but this time, so would the ginger - Marygold. It made Guin wish that her father hadn't been famous. That she could have been nobody special to the criminals of the world.
Pietro walk over and grabbed Guin by the arm, yanking her up and dragging her off of the Blackbird. As soon as Scarlet Witch started to make her move, pain shot through her body, but she gritted her teeth to stop herself from screaming out. She had several broken bones, including some ribs and probably a cracked skull, not to mention the fact that she had been thrown out a window. Eventually, she was able to get up and move, but her skin turned even paler than it was before. "Odds are that they'll see where the ship landed, now all we need to do is wait," Magneto said, looking at the two girls.
"You shouldn't be moving her!" Guin pleaded. Mary didn't look like she was in any condition to move at all. And while Guin knew that their captors wouldn't listen to her, she felt she owed it to Mary to try. She didn't even complain about the slight pain from Pietro's grip on her arm. She didn't know Marygold but she didn't want to see her die.
Scarlet Witch ignored Guin's pleas, and Marygold was soon next to them, though she looked like she was going to keel over at any second. Pietro leaned in and whispered into Guin's ear, "Don't worry too much cutie," he said, before quickly giving her a peck on the cheek. Mary's body didn't look like it could take much more of this, but she couldn't do anything about it. She was too weak to try and use her powers, all they could do was wait for the X-Men to show up.
Guin's eyes widened slightly, as she started to blush furiously. She then started to try to yank her arm out of Pietro's grip. "Let go of me," Guin grumbled, trying her best to get free.
"Only if you promise to sit still. I can outrun you no matter what you do, and if you try to do something my father might do something to hurt you" Pietro whispered with a smile. The arm that Wanda was holding onto for Marygold was the one that Pietro had broken right before he had thrown her out the window. Her body didn't want her to be standing anymore.
Guin glared at him. She wasn't about to promise to sit still for him, especially with how weird his behavior was becoming. However, the blush hadn't left her cheeks yet. "Fuck you and fuck your dad," Guin muttered. "I'm not going to promise to do anything."
"Then I'm not going to let go," he replied, staring at her. "You would think with having a few people who could fly their navigation skills would be better," Wanda mused, completely ignoring the fact that Marygold had started coughing. Blood started coming out of her mouth again, and it was clear that she really needed help, since odds were that she probably had internal bleeding.
Guin looked at Mary, biting down on her lip hard. "What will it take for you to help her?" she finally said to Pietro. "Money? I can get you that."
"I don't want money, I don't need it," Pietro responded, looking over at Mary "I hadn't expected to get caught, so throwing her out the window seemed like a good idea at the time. It was either that or down the staircase, it was kind of a last minute thing."
Guin tried to hide the disgust she felt. "Then what do you want? Name it. I don't care what it is - you just need to help her or she'll die..."
"Sorry, but neither of us are in a position to do that. If I turn to help her, I might as well be a dead man walking too."
"I hate you," Guin muttered. She kept searching to see the X-Men approaching - but they were running out of time. "For people who want to protect mutants, you're doing a piss poor job at it!" she shouted at Magneto.
"Risk the lives of the few to save the many," he said, before he stopped, and was listening. The sounds of people heading towards them were coming from the trees. "Father, the X-Men have seem to have decided to join us," Wanda said, nodding towards the sky where Storm and Rogue were.
Guin felt a bit of hope as they mentioned the X-Men were coming - but would they be there soon enough? She hated this, feeling completely and utterly helpless. It was driving her nuts. Guin then pulled as hard as she could in an attempt to break Pietro's grip. "Let. Go. Of. Me."
"No way," he said staring at her. Marygold by now had lost a lot of blood due to coughing it up, and was wobbling, she was going to fall down soon, and there wasn't any promise that she would get up again. Cyclops followed by the others came through the trees. "Let them go Magneto." he said, his visor pointing directly at him.
It seemed that Guin had finally had enough, as she swung her fist, attempting to break Pietro's nose. There was anger and rage in her eyes. Marygold looked like she was on the verge of death and this pretty asshole wouldn't lift a finger to help her. In that moment, Guin made a vow that if she got out of this, she was going to go out of her way to be the exact opposite of Pietro Maximoff.
Pietro managed to dodge out of the way of her fist, but let go of her as he dodged it. Marygold looked up in time to see Guin spin around and try to sock Maximoff, but that was the last thing she saw before the darkness took over, and she collapsed to the ground. "I hope she's not dead," Wanda said with a grin. Magneto was looking straight at the team. "Only if you let us leave freely," he responded to Cyclops' demand.
Guin took advantage of Quicksilver letting go of her to rush over to Mary and kneel down next to her. She quickly began to feel for a pulse and there was one, but it was faint. Guin didn't even realize that tears were streaming from her eyes. "You're all monsters..." Guin whispered, referring to the Brotherhood members.
Cyclops said nothing, but looked over at Pietro who was distracted by Guin kneeling on the ground. "No chance Magneto," he said, before his optic beam shot off and slammed into Quicksilver, throwing him backwards. Scarlet Witch started preparing to deflect attacks and Magneto was scanning the team, looking for Wolverine who he could control because of his metal skeleton.
Guin took off her bandana and looked at Mary quickly, before realizing that there were so many things wrong with Mary that she couldn't really use it to help with the wounds. But the very least she could do was prop Mary's head up. She took off her blazer, leaving her just in a white blouse and skirt, and crumbled the blazer up, using it as a makeshift pillow for Marygold.
Somehow, Magneto was unable to locate Wolverine amongst the team. Instead, he started moving a few metallic objects that he had in his possession already. He manipulated them, so they were like javelins, swirling around him. "We need to get Ms. Stark and Marygold out of there, if anyone sees a chance to do so, go for it," Cyclops said, so that everyone on the team could hear him. They charged in, with everything they had to use, hoping that someone among them would be able to pull the girls out.
"Marygold? Marygold, can you hear me?" Guin asked. Gambit was being a little more restrained than normal with his explosives, attempting to minimize the possibility that one of the blasts could hit Marygold. It didn't seem like Quicksilver was too concerned with keeping her and Marygold away from the fight - but he didn't seem to be concerned for anyone except for himself, really.
Marygold stirred for a moment, but didn't wake up, her eyes remaining closed. Quicksilver looked at the group, and ran up, hitting Cyclops in the face with the speed he had built up. Wanda was constantly deflecting anything that was shot her way, and Magneto was sending metal flying. The trio seemingly ignoring the girls, for the moment anyway. That could all change in an instant if they weren't careful.
"I'm so sorry if this hurts, but I need to get you out of here," Guin whispered. She then carefully grabbed onto Mary and started to drag her, trying to get her away from all of the chaos and mayhem. She was counting on everyone else being too distracted to notice. And if anything seemed like it was heading their way - especially if it might hit Mary - Guin would be ready to throw herself in front like a shield.
Mary coughed, more blood coming from her mouth, but she didn't do anything more. Scarlet Witch noticed them, and using her telekinetic powers, started dragging the pair back towards them "Just where do you think your going?" she asked them, her smile was anything but comforting.
"Probably hell," Guin shot back. "At least I'll see you down there."
Scarlet Witch did nothing but smile at her. She wasn't paying attention to Marygold, who had managed to wake up. She saw the situation, and knew that the odds were against them. They needed to do something, but she could feel her strength leaving her. Marygold turned her head and looked towards the woods holding her hand out, calling the last of her strength to pull this off. A pair of vines shot out, wrapping around Wanda's legs, before yanking her off her feet and throwing her into her brother. The darkness came again, and soon, she was out once more, her heartbeat was even fainter than it was the last time that Guin had checked.
Guin was beyond stressed. She was thankful that Marygold had managed to get Scarlet Witch away from them, but she had no idea what she was doing. She checked Marygold's pulse and it was barely there. It wasn't like CPR was the solution here - there was internal bleeding and broken bones and a cracked skull at play. She then did the only contribution she could - she picked up a rock from the ground and chucked it at Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, hoping to hit one of them. "One of you - get Mary now!" Guin urged, hoping one of the X-Men heard her.
Rogue heard Guin's call for help. She landed down next to the pair and looked at her. "I need both hands to carry her, do you mind riding piggyback? If you don't, hop on and try not to touch my skin," she said to Guin as she picked Mary up off the ground.
"I don't mind at all," Guin said, climbing onto Rogue's back carefully. She didn't want to ask why she couldn't touch her skin. It seemed like a bad/sensitive thing to do.
Rogue took off into the air, taking Guin and Mary away from the battle. "We can't really leave due to Magneto being able to control the bird. Wonder where Wolverine wandered off to," she said, before preparing to take off again, "They need my help, stay here and try not to move her, I'll come back once they are dealt with." Rogue took off, leaving the two of them alone. There was a rustling sound, and a few moments later Wolverine came out from the brush. "Cyclops told me to make myself scarce, thought I'd come play babysitter when I saw Rogue carry you two away."
Guin nodded a bit, abandoning the argument before it began that she didn't need a babysitter. She didn't know how to take care of Marygold or how to deal with the Brotherhood. Having a member of the X-Men there with them would be incredibly helpful. "Thanks."
"I'm more useful here than there. Magneto can control me, like a damn puppet. How's she holding up?" he asked her.
"I....I don't know," Guin admitted. "I don't think it looks good...She's pretty broken...like...everywhere."
"If I ever get my hands on that speedster," he said, grumbling. The usual gruff and tough X-Men member was showing concern over the youngster. "If only I could transfer my healing ability to her, I would do it in a heartbeat."
Guin nodded. She didn't have any sort of medical knowledge. The best she could do would be to describe vaguely how to make an arc reactor - but an electromagnet wasn't needed to keep Marygold alive. "She'll be okay..." Guin tried to sound convincing, but she fell short.
Wolverine suddenly sniffed the air around them, and let out a growl. "Quicksilver..." He said, before the speedster himself showed up. "Oh, so that's where Wolverine went, my father was wondering," Pietro said with a grin, before he dodged out of the way of Wolverine's first few attacks.
Guin tried to maneuver herself to be in front of the speedster. If push came to shove, she was going to make sure that she was the one that was captured and not Mary. She was worried that if Mary was moved one more time, then that'd be it.
"Seriously old man, you are getting a little slow," Pietro said with a grin. "No I'm not," Wolverine replied, before tackling the speedster to the ground, and Guin would be able to see his adamantium claws shoot out from his hands, aiming to hit Pietro in the head with them.
"Don't kill him!" Guin shouted, not even realizing she was about to say that until she did. Yes, he had nearly killed Marygold - but that didn't mean he deserved to get skewered. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to shut out all of the images.
Wolverine stared at Guin, before sheathing his claws, instead proceeding to punch Pietro several times. Looks like he does have a soft spot. He got up and held onto the speedster. "You do realize that his crazy family is going to come looking for him right?" he asked her.
"That doesn't mean he deserves to die just because they'll look for him," Guin argued.
Marygold opened her eyes after taking a deep, painful breath. She woke up just in time to hear Wolverine's voice, "He nearly killed Goldie over there." Hearing Wolverine use the nickname that Gambit generally used was strange to her. Wolverine looked over at her, "Well, looks like your awake again Mary. How you holding up?" he asked her. "I feel like my body got put through a blender." was the reply.
Guin nodded. But as she looked at the speedster, she found it hard to see him as the physical embodiment of evil. Mary seemed to be fine and Guin found the anger subsiding. "But he didn't kill her - he doesn't need to answer for that with his life," Guin then argued. "He's just a kid being deluded by a crazy person - his dad doesn't even give a shit about him."
"Alright kid, have it your way," he replied, but kept a grip on Quicksilver's arm, in case he woke up again. "How are things on your end?" he asked, talking into the comm. As usual, it was Cyclops who answered, "We managed to knock out Scarlet Witch, but we lost sight of Quicksilver..." he said. "Well, Quicksilver is right here, so don't worry about him. What about Magneto?"
Carolina looked towards Guin for a moment, she wondered why she though that proms were boring, though the hooking up part probably wasn't that far fetched. But Carolina never really had the time to truly date anyone, well there was one person but she passed away a few years ago. "I'd be down for some gaming with you guys as well if you don't mind me tagging along?" Carolina asked as she listened to Dean and smiled slightly. "Allison would definitely have fun dress shopping as well." She was getting more, and more excited about the prom now, she planned on doing some shopping later anyway.
Then one moment Carolina was standing, and now she was on the couch next to Beth along with the others in the room were now all sitting on the couch. "Oookay you have to tell your boyfriend to not man handle me Guin." Carolina pointed out as she looked around she saw that he was gone now along with Dean. She was really confused on what exactly was going on, then Carolina heard a few crashes and quickly got up seeing Dean coming back in and ripping off the curtain.
Carolina followed shortly behind Mirembe as well to try and catch up, to find where the source of the noise was, when she finally got to it, she saw Pietro and a much older man there. Looking really confused as she looked around, then towards Mirembe, she had never seen. "Yeah what is going on exactly?" Carolina finally asked, she didn't get the conversation that the Pietro's were having together.
Bethany Bell
[ Location: Xavier Institute
Bethany looked towards Dean when he offered her to join prom, taking the flyer and eyed it for awhile before setting it down next to her. "I'll pass." Bethany simply said, it really wasn't her thing she would rather be reading or listening to music than being subjected to wearing a frilly dress. Then she watched Pietro quickly disappear and the others in the room appearing on the couch next to her, she really didn't like the idea of being close to people.
But then Bethany heard several loud crashing sounds, getting confused at the noise, it actually caught her interest and decided to go and check it out. Beth wasn't comfortable enough to be with these new people she never met before, she started to follow shortly behind Mirembe and Carolina until she was at the source of the commotion. Bethany moved over and leaned herself up against the wall, and started to cross her arms over her chest eyeing the others with interest, but remaining pretty quiet for now.
Cassandra Reed & Future Carolina Reed
Location: The Xavier Institute
Carolina walked up the path that led to the Xavier Mansion, it was really weird for her to step back up onto the grounds again, for her as she ran a hand through her hair. Pietro had gone and ran ahead to the mansion, she was nervous again seeing everyone again, like they were before everything happened. "I would have expected the security to still be up." Carolina said, looking over towards Folly and Thalia for a moment. Carolina then caught some people standing in the distance towards the front of the mansion, taking a few steps closer she could see her sister, Marygold as well as Richard, then Marygold started to make their way over towards them. "What kind of hospital?" Carolina asked looking over towards Folly.
Cassandra looked towards Richard, rubbing the back of her neck for a moment, she was wondering if she was being a little bit to harsh on him, after all it was a year ago. "I know you are here because of your sister, and i'm sure she means a lot to you, as she is the same towards you." Cassandra said, sighing slightly he was here now and they needed to work together. Cassandra looked towards Amni as he approached asking to see if Professor X was around. "I don't think he is around at the moment." Cassandra answered him, and went back towards Marygold. "We just need to make a better cage for them next time." Cassandra said, when she saw her attention turned towards the gates.
She noticed three women approaching the gates as well, Cassandra raised an eyebrow towards Marygold she seemed to recognize one of the three women. She looked at the three of them as Cassandra started to approach them, getting a better look at them, she couldn't help but noticing one of them looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't point out what.
Dean glanced between the two Pietro's, completely uncertain as to whether or not he should believe him. It seemed crazy to him, but was it crazier than their being another Serbian speedster with a thing for Guinevere Stark and with naturally silver hair? He wasn't the best when it came to statistics, but he figured the probability of those two events were relatively comparable to one another. But compounded with the fact that the other Pietro knew his name - despite Dean only just now getting approved to join the X-Men - that made him inclined to believe him.
"What can we do to help?" Dean said. It might have been a bit naive of him to just instantly accept the other Pietro's explanation, but it seemed so real. "And this is going to get confusing already but...We should decide a way to distinguish you two in conversation. I'm getting confused already just thinking of one of you as the Other Pietro," Dean admitted sheepishly. He then spotted a gold band on the other Pietro's finger and his eyes widened, before he looked at the younger Pietro.
"Congratulations, man!" Dean exclaimed. He held his hand out for a high five. Sure, it hadn't happened yet - but it was going to happen. "You two could probably win Prom Queen and King if you tried," Dean then added. It didn't occur to him that the future Pietro could have been married to someone else, given that he had just put a flower in Guin's hand. He felt like if his wife wasn't Guin, his wife would be pretty angry about that.
Guinevere Stark
Location: Lounge --> Hallway Outside
Guin tilted her head slightly, trying to comprehend the situation that had just happened. One minute, she was standing next to Pietro. And now, she was sitting on the couch with a purple flower in her hand. She had no idea what type of flower it was - that was really Mary's area - but she was confused. "Huh. Dean's gone too," Guin observed. She supposed that the two could have gone to do races or something - though she figured that Pietro could take Dean any day. She didn't know Dean, but he wasn't a member of the X-Men and from that in itself, she doubted he had a lot of training. "And sure thing, Carol. I'll tell him that," Guin said. She took the flower and stuck it behind her ear, pausing for a moment to see if she liked the way it looked. It was a little girly, but at least it left her hands free.
Guin headed out of the room with the others, noticing the strange scene in the hallway. There was a rather muscular and fit looking man with silver hair there, talking with Dean and Pietro. Dean looked like he was in the midst of one of those stupid bro moments that happened in about every high school movie. "Hey, Piet, mind sharing with the class what's going on?" Guin asked. She noticed the wedding band on the silver haired man's finger but she didn't think all too much of it. It might have been a mutant that Pietro knew from his time working with the Brotherhood of Mutants. It would have been silly to think Pietro was the only one to ever switch sides.
She then snapped a photo of the flower in her hair before texting it to Mary, with a simple question attached: Yo, Mare. What kind of flower is this? Piet gave it to me. She didn't realize that it had actually been the stranger that put the flower in her hand. She just assumed that it had been her speedster boyfriend, given that she didn't even comprehend seeing it appear in her hand. It wasn't there one moment and in the next one it was.
"You two related?" Guin then asked, picking up on the silver hair. "Don't know a lot of people with silver hair under the age of sixty, that's all."
Folly Valeska
Location: Grounds of the Institute
Folly had to reassure herself that Mary was really there, especially given the reactions of her companions. It wouldn't inspire confidence in her if she had to ask Thalia if she saw Marygold Isley alive and well too. She took a deep breath before smiling a bit shyly at Mary, knowing that this conversation would be a difficult one. Ever since Boston, her mutation had grown a lot stronger. She hadn't aged much over the last decade.
"An asylum for the criminally insane - and for those with violent tendencies who have not yet committed a crime," Folly answered Carolina. Professor Xavier had had her committed there. One of his former students, a psychic, was an employee and managed to handle Folly for the most part. She had attacked Gambit the last time she was here - it had been an accident, of course. Folly slowly removed the knives that she carried on her person and set them down on the ground, before holding her hands up to show that she meant no harm.
"I'm here with some friends," Folly answered. "And I know that you're going to think that I'm not clear headed....but I promise you that I am. No voices... No hallucinations... I'm in control...We've come from the future to save the world, Mary, and we could use your help in doing that." She bit her lip slightly, hoping that Mary would believe her. She knew that if Mary didn't, there was a good chance she'd have Wolverine or this time's Pietro come to restrain her and put her in a medical isolation chamber.
"Yeah, you wish, Iron Jr." He rebutted Guin's comment with a teasing grin before his attention turned towards the TV. Watching along with the others, Charlie decided that Guin's mother seemed like a real bitch. Thankfully, karma was an even bigger one. Bursting out laughing as the woman was suddenly covered in paint from an off-screen attacker, Charlie tilted his head back again as Pietro zoomed back into the room.
"Nicely done, speedy." He said through his laughter, still grinning as the TV aptly switched over to commercials. As Dean suggested a group game (Not that Charlie would get pulled into a game of Truth or Dare - no way in hell, not with the trickster minds of Guin and Pietro present), Charlie looked to Carolina as she requested to join in. He hadn't played all that many video games with her, but it'd be fun to see how she faired with one of his many FPS games.
"The more the merrier, Car-HEY!" Before he could even finish his sentence, Charlie had been shifted on the sofa, now squashed inbetween four girls and one of the prom flyers stuffed in his hand. While many boys in his position would be pleased with the quite attractive girl sandwich he'd been shoved into, Charlie was too much of an awkward soul for that, and clambered to his feet, blushing.
"What gives, guys?" Looking towards where the crashing sound came from, he followed the others into the hallway and stared incredulously at the new guy stood there. Tall, silver-haired, muscular. And what was Dean going on about? Looking towards his fellow student as he congratulated the new guy, Charlie brow furrowed in confusion.
"What do you mean, "Other Pietro"? Don't tell me we've got a brand new student with super-speed that just happens to have the same name as Speedy Gonzales over there?" Charlie wasn't a huge believer in coincidence, but what else could be going on? Were they related? They didn't look similar in the slightest, barring the frosty hairdos.
Nina van Essenhout
Location: Xavier's Institute
Arms folded as she considered the man before her, Nina watched as he explained himself. Or rather, didn't, and skirted around the real reason he was present. They had no need for medical personnel on site, so she doubted he was being hired as the school nurse. According to this fellow, Professor Xavier had asked him to be here. Yet from what she knew of Xavier, he was ready and waiting for any visitors to arrive, and yet here this Doctor Clayteer was, wandering around the corridors with free range. So... what was the reason behind Xavier's lack of appearance?
"I wonder what was so important that he summoned you at such a time?" She wondered aloud, though knowing he likely wouldn't give an answer. Looking at his hand briefly before grasping it firmly and shaking it, Nina sized up Amni. "I'm Agent Van Essenhout. The Professor should be in his office." Turning and looking pointedly at Ayita - Nina would like her to keep following, as there was something about her animal's instincts that could be trusted more than this strange man - Nina walked back into the mansion, heading straight for Professor Xavier's office. A crash in the near distance caught her attention, but with the usual mayhem going down in the school, crashes and explosions weren't exactly out of the ordinary here.
The Adder arched a brow at Cassandra. Giving a slight nod of his head in acknowledgement, the assassin glanced back at the newly appeared Amni and his self appointed escorts. So Ayita was still wary of strangers. His sensual lips twerked upwards in a slight smirk. It wasn't a notion he was going to abuse his sister of. Better to be wary than to be dead as he saw it. Advice that had saved his life before and he was certain, would do so again. Giving a slight nod to the younger shifter, the black haired killer turned back towards what had captured both of his companion's attention. Adjusting this cuff links on his dress shirt the man slowly moved forward, standing in front of the two women. A hand gently, but firmly, gripping each woman's shoulder before he pasted them. Warning them to be wary.
"Can you be sure it's her and not Mystique?" He whispered to Marygold as he pushed the young woman behind him with a herding motion. Apparently Marygold might know the one, 'Folly' as she called herself. Though the name and the woman's words made the killer give a smirk. "Criminally insane. How odd." Her murmured more to himself. The other one was a typical brunette though something felt off about her. But the third woman with silver hair caught and held his attention. "You say you come from the future, can you prove this?" Richard raised a brow, a hand slipping into his pocket to finger the knife there. His eyes slowly travelling up and down each though it wasn't a look of a man assessing something he liked. It was a killer assessing a threat. Though for the silver woman he did spare her a sultry smile. "Forgive my manners, Richard Laine. And you three are-?"
Ayita Dyrkin
Location The Institute {"Friend or Foe?"}
Ayita glanced past the stranger to her brother and gave a slight nod. Catching Nina's gaze she turned slightly on her heel with out batting an eye that she heard. But she waited, still as a statue til the two passed her. Turning on near silent feet, Ayita stalked after Amni and Nina. Her amber eyes glancing over her shoulder at her brother and the woman. Richard would be fine. Situations like this were his forte from what she understood. Rolling up the sleeves of her brother's shirt, she turned the haughty gaze back to Amni's back.
He wasn't muscle bound, something she was thankful for. But he was taller than her and most likely outweighed her. Her lips quirked as she gave a low rolling growl that was not something a average human could produce. A chuckle for her. He wouldn't outweigh several of her forms. He was dressed well, but her brother being her brother Ayita was not one to judge on clothing. It usually hid fangs and claws. Her eyes flickered slightly as she considered stalking him as one of the great cats. See how he liked hearing a good roar. But that would be horrible of her to do, and there was no point in scaring a unknown man. Not when he wasn't a clear threat yet.
Allison felt a bit embarrassed that her mind went towards that route. She was sure Lance was asked constantly about his parents. "No, I'm sorry! I just think it's cool that he's your dad! That must have been interesting growing up with him!" Before she could continue, she heard a loud crash. She looked over to Lance, a worried look on her face. Given the whole "mutant awareness" thing going on, it could very well be an attack.
She started towards where she heard the sound and came face to face with something she wasn't quite sure about. There were a lot of people around, some she did not recognize. However, what really set her up was seeing double. She looked around at the others, confused as to what was going on. "Umm...what's going on? How come I don't have a cool double?" She was half-joking, but it would have been neat! And scary. More neat than scary though!
Sara Grey
Location: X-Mansion {"Every part of me is sore..."}
"My parents didn't want me around mutants. It's a long story, but I have an Aunt who was a mutant and she kind of went haywire and nearly destroyed the world. Kind of hard to allow your daughter to be admitted into the school that didn't prevent that." Sara shrugged it off. She was not her aunt and she would not be her aunt.
She heard the crashing sound and let off an audible groan. "Ugh, I am too sore to give a damn right now. But we gotta look into that..." She stood up, slowly, and made her way upstairs and towards the sound of many voices talking all at once. It was gonna be a qhile before she could get that nap.
Amni noticed that he was being analyzed by the female square in front of him. Not really bothered by her questioning eyes as he smiled a little more. Just causing his cheeks to pudge a, little more from his face. Knowing he was not really a guest at the moment but an investigation to everyone around him. He did not blame them for judging since he was only here once before. A long time ago way before what he was now.
Taking her hand as he felt the firm grip he nodded to her as they had a brief handshake. His was also firm and he seemed pleased that she had a strong handshake. “It is a pleasure to meet you Agent Van Essenhout.” Introductions were done and he seemed a little more comfortable towards the female but still he had searching eyes. If he was trying to figure out if Agent Van Essenhout was putting on a show or not. Watching, Agent Van Essenhout and the contact in between her and the female leaning against the wall. Amni’s eyes sharpened slightly as he seemed to not enjoy their eye contact. “Thank you for showing me to Professor X.” Amni spoke out softly as he followed Van Essenhout. Glancing at the female leaning up against the wall he passed her. Hearing the growl from the, smaller human. Tilting his head with curiosity. “Hello to you too.” Amni chuckled a little as he kept walking. Seeming to be slightly curious on why she was so quiet. Amni kept following the leader to wherever Professor X’s office was.
“Oh…” Was all Will said. He knew what it was like to find out a close family member was different, "gifted", but having them nearly destroy the world? It was unthinkable. Whether the aunt did it on purpose or not was something he thought better not to ask. He chewed his upper lip, trying to think of what to say.
Unthankfully, he didn’t need to. The crash was felt as much as it was heard. Will’s eyes darted around. It was sudden, not lasting long enough to be an earthquake, and it was too loud. That wasn’t exactly soothing though. After a brief moment of silence, Sara groaned. The nonchalance she handled the situation with soothed the edge on his nerves a little. Maybe this wasn’t something to be overly concerned about.
He nodded, with a shaky smile, following her as they made their way towards the voices.
@Zora@Peridot When the two of you reached the office door, a voice immediately came from the other side of the door. "You may enter," it said, and the voice was from Professor Charles Xavier himself who was sitting behind the desk.
Mirembe Adebayo
Location: Xavier's Institute
"No we aren't related! That would be so messed up! It would also be really weird. Then again, this already is weird. At least one guy believes what I said, thanks for that Dean. As I told these two before the rest of you showed up, I am him. I'm Pietro Maximoff from 10 years into the future trying to stop something that'll destroy the world! Seriously, it might just be easier for me to go back to the three other slowpokes who came with me. They probably are mad that I ran in ahead of them," he said, doing a quick glance around to see if they were there when they weren't. He also just noticed what Dean had said, glancing down at his wedding ring real quickly before putting his hand behind his back. "Look, we don't have much time, a lot of people are going to die, because history says that an organization called OMEN is going to hit the mansion, today! Man were we cutting it close there."
"I'm still not sure I believe you, though you being Serbian, with super-speed and silver hair is quite convincing. What type of proof do you have that you are me?" Pietro asked, and Mira just started looking back and forth between the two. They did look similar, and all of the running he does probably will give him more muscles as he gets older. She just wasn't too sure about what to do, or say. The fact that someone was going to attack the mansion today was going to cause problems, especially if he really was from the future.
"Knew this wasn't going to be easy, here, recognize this." he replied, before tossing something at Pietro who caught it. In his hand was an old, beaten up watch, and anyone who had been at the Power Plant, at this point only Guin and Pietro, would recognize it as Guin's old watch that had been the reason her dad had shown up to that mission. "Hold on second," Pietro said, before racing off and returning again. In his hand was a newer looking version of the exact same watch. It still had been beaten up, but it wasn't dusty or anything else that would show any signs of age. "So... You're me... This is really weird now..."
"What the hell is with the ring? he could help but ask, looking at the man who claimed to be him. "It's nothing, I just grabbed the ring before we left and put it on my hand, not even thinking of what finger I was putting it on," he replied, managing to keep his voice even as he put the ring on his right ring finger.
Mira couldn't help but agree with Pietro. If they really were the same person, and it looks like they are from the look of things, then Pietro was in an awkward situation. "You mentioned OMEN... Are you referring to the Mutant Registration Act that is currently being put through Congress right now?" she couldn't help but ask as she looked at him.
"Yeah, the MRA is going to cause big problems, but that isn't the only thing. Either we evacuate the mansion, or prepare to fight because they are coming, and they are coming soon. Not exactly positive when today, but they are coming, and it will be the beginning of the end if we don't do something."
"Any idea what sort of threat we'll be facing? Since if your from the future, you should know all of that if you ask me."
Marygold Isley
Location: Xavier's Institute
"No, however if it was Mystique, who are the other two? They aren't any Brotherhood members that I recognize," Mary said, looking over at the three. Thalia noticed Richard's smile, and she returned it with one of her own.
Folly was saying she was from the future? This wasn't making any sense. How could she really from the future? "Ok Folly, I believe you about being in control right now, not too sure about the whole from the future thing. It just sounds impossible to me, and who are these two with you? I've never seen them before. Friends of yours from the asylum or something? Look, I think you aren't going to freak out on us, but you have to admit, that is a little bit of a crazy thought."
Thalia rolled her eyes as she looked at Marygold, though she couldn't blame her. She had known about time travel for years, especially since she could travel through time herself easily. "Look, you might not believe us, but it is the truth. We are from the future, though the guy who could more easily prove it already ran inside the mansion. Damn that speedster sometimes." They had known convincing people wasn't going to be too easy, but this whole thing was just getting to be a little ridiculous.
It clicked in Mary's head what Thalia had just said. The speedster? Could she have meant Pietro? He was the only true speedster they had at the moment, but why would she mention him? It sounded like they had a speedster who ran inside already, and now she was completely and totally confused. "Wait, speedster as in Pietro? Ok, now I just know you're messing with me, why would he be a member of the team that you would bring back. I mean yes, a speedster is handy, but Pietro of all people? Now you're just messing around."
"Well excuse me, but a lot of people were already dead, so our choices were limited!" Thalia snapped, a puff of smoke coming out of her mouth. She was starting to get mad, and that meant that the dragon was going to come out if they weren't careful. She took a few deep breaths, before replying to Richard's question. "I'm Thalia Maehers. As for proof that we come from the future the only one of us who had it raced inside without it. Damn it Pietro!" she said, but this time, it was more than a puff of smoke. A full fireball came out of her mouth and sputtered on the ground before going out, Mary had to jump back to avoid it.
"Ok, if you are from the future, how did you get there to here? I know that the Professor and Beast have theorized that Pietro could probably do it, but that's him, how did you do it?" she asked, not being able to help being curious. If they could come up with an explanation, that might help to prove that they are from the future. She also was a little wary of the woman who just spat fire at them, even if it was by accident.
"I can create temporal portals, usually only able to hop short distances, however we were able to make a serum that boosted my powers to the point where I could do it in one jump," she said, letting out a bit of a breath, no fireball this time, but it still had a puff of smoke.
Lance Banner
Location: Xavier's Institute
"Don't worry about it, I generally try and stop people before they can ask anything like that. A lot of people think it would be cool having one of the Avengers as a parent don't know anything. I was 12 when I found out he was my dad. Everyone just by default gave me my dad's last name, even though that isn't my actual one, I just kind of went with it," he said, before following her to the sound of the crash.
Apparently they weren't the only ones who heard the crash, as quite a large crowd had formed by now. Looks like it was most of the students there or something. The tall guy was the oddball in the group, but his silver hair reminded him a lot of Pietro's. His voice was also thick with an accent, but what he was saying made no sense. Time Travel? Why would someone send Pietro Maximoff to the past of all people anyway? When he saw that the current Pietro was holding two identical watches, one looking a lot more old and worn, it made him wonder whether or not it was possible.
Carolina looked over her shoulder seeing Allison and some new guy she didn't even know come up as well, she instantly smiled at Allison and gave her a quick wave. "Hey Ali! Whos your friend?" Carolina asked looking over at Lance, before her attention turned towards the two Pietros that were there before her. She listened rather closely to what they were saying, Carolina was still a little bit skeptical about the whole time traveling thing. However knowing her own personal brush with OMEN, Carolina had a feeling that they would set their eyes on the X-Men and the mansion at some point. "Pietro apparently has a future twin." Carolina said jokingly towards Allison.
Carolina ran a hand through her hair, when Future Pietro pulled out a rather old and beaten up looking watch and tossed it over towards Pietro. She took a step closer and took a closer look at it when Current Pietro came over with the same exact beaten watch, but I wasn't as old looking like Future Pietro's was.
Now she was starting to believe it more, and maybe their story was actually true, but Carolina watched the scene unfold, looking at Guin when they mentioned a ring. Carolina started to put two and two together, maybe they were a thing in the future that is if they were saying was actually true. "We could call you Future Pietro or something." She said looking at the older version of him, then at the younger one that she knew very well.
Bethany Bell
[ Location: Xavier Institute
Bethany listened intently towards the group as they discussed who the older speedster was, she still felt a bit awkward being a bit of a distance from the rest of the group. Beth really wasn't into the whole social scene before her, but she did listen in she wasn't really much of a believer of the whole future thing. But Beth was somewhat open minded, I mean they all had superhuman abilities and the attack on New York years ago as well.
"We could call him Old as Fuck Pietro as well." Bethany finally spoken up smirking ever so slightly at her own little name towards the speedster. But still she didn't know them or the group, but she was cautions about the attack that OMEN may or may not execute as well, she only had the time to believe it until it happens to late. Beth however did see the exchanging of watches. She wasn't there when that happened, but she could see the exact same similarities to the two items.
Cassandra Reed & Future Carolina Reed
Location: The Xavier Institute
Carolina stared at Folly, and nodded slightly she had a feeling that her future time traveling companion did go to some asylum at some point in her life. "I can assure you that neither of us are Mystique Richard." Carolina said finally speaking up answering Richard, as she eyed him directly. Cassandra was skeptical she wasn't sure if these people were here to start a fight or not, as she looked towards Thalia as she started to speak up. Cass took a step back when Marygold pressed on if she believed them or not about time travel causing the woman to breath fire.
Carolina then reached out to gently rest a hand on Thalia's shoulder, to try and calm her friend down a bit. "I may have proof, I brought with me as well." Carolina had a feeling that Pietro would probably run off into the mansion, as she started to pull out an old and battered looking SHIELD Badge and handed it over towards Cassandra.
Cass reached out looking at Carolina for a moment before taking it and opened it up, looking at the SHIELD Badge that had her name, and picture on it. Cassandra quickly started to pull her own out and started to compare the two then looking up at Carolina, everything was accurate, badge number, even the weight of the insignia as well, which was really hard to replicate it every SHIELD agent gets one once they completed their training. "This is mine, how the hell did you get this?" Cassandra finally asked looking directly at her sister. "It's because I am your sister, Carolina ten years from now."Carolina finally said looking at everyone who was there. Cassandra stood there speechless as she let Marygold look at the two SHIELD ID badges.
"We don't have enough time, though OMEN is planning on hitting this place and soon, the defenses aren't up either as well, that's how we were able to get in." Future Carolina pointed out.
Richard gave Thalia a flirtatious wink and a long whistle as he observed the fireball, stepping about it to take the woman's hand a bestow it with a gracious kiss. "Charmed, Richard Laine. Though I must say 'Charming' fits you far better dear." Turning on his heels it was no longer the brother of Ayita that gazed at the manor, but the Adder. His slitted eyes stormy with pure rage as he held a hand to his head and called out mentally with every ounce of thought. "Xavier I have three women here claiming their from the future and there is to be an attack on the Mansion. They are Carolina Reed, Thalia Maehers, and Folly. A future version of Peitro is supposed to be within the manor already." Continuing he also spoke aloud as he gestured the others to follow him as he moved towards the Manor. His stride brisked as he rolled up the cuffs of his sleeves, though not to show off the muscular arms nor the fact he was fit. The Adder was all business and dolling out commands in a assured voice. There were lives on the line and his sister's and Guin's chief among them.
If the Professor wanted to contradict him the man could go right ahead, but until he heard otherwise his duty was to secure the students and the let the school rot. Getting them out in time however was debatable. So the first to go would be the youngest and weakest. Those that could not fight or cause liabilities. "Cassandra try to find and get in contact with SHIELD through a secure line. Go directly to Fury and speak to no one but him and make sure it's damn well him. Also, alert Guin and get her on the computers stat. Connect everyone with wires, I don't give a damn with we have Xavier or not. We are not going to go blind just because we lose him. Marygold, you know the students better than I do still. Sort out who can fight and who is our weakest link. I want the weakest ready to leave for a secure location in fifteen minutes. I don't care if their ancestral crown jewels are in their rooms. Items can be replaced lives cannot." He growled with a venomous fever. "Older-Ghost-brat," He jerked a curling fore finger at Carolina. "Make yourselve useful and fill me in on exactly what happened. Exactly. If you don't know, get moving. Green-brat, take Folly with you and go. Someone find me both speedsters, Ayita, and Allison. And I want Beast, Wolverine and every teacher on the double. If the Professor tells you otherwise follow his orders, but be vigilant and ready for an attack from any possible angle. Even within." He gave all three time travelers and piercing look. One hand on the door to inside. "If you mean to trick us, or screw us over..." Richard growled with darkening eyes. "You will regret before I am done with you." Opening the door for the group of ladies, he let them proceed him. Reaching out with his thoughts again he hoped to reach the Professor. [color=Olive=]"Contradict me if you wish, but you hired me for a damn reason and I'm going to protect these brats."[/color]
Ayita Dyrkin
Location The Institute {"Friend or Foe?"}
Ayita trailed behind the stranger and Nina as they entered the Proffessor's office/study/whatever it was humans called it. It was a room, a den for books and paper and things she did not really care about most of the time. Her eyes darting over every detail of the new environment as she moved to lean against a wall. Crossing her scarred arms over her small chest. Old wounds that looked like they were from claws, teeth or even knives littered her arms. A few fresh scraps and cuts merely a day old and some older, showed as well. Ayita had revealed herself to be a fighter and one who was still alive. Flicking her hair to one side she revealed the nicked ear where a bow hunter had shot her. A subtle but clear statement of 'dangerous'. Setting her feet in a balanced poise, Ayita appeared both relax and ready to move in an instant.
Internally Ayita felt edgy. Nervous. Three strangers had walked up towards her brother, Cassandra, and Marygold. Strangers rarely boded well from her experience. Three coming one way and this stranger wandering about the Mansion? It was a situation she did not care for. Ayita had a desire to know exactly who was on her territory at any point in time and the mansion was her territory. A paranoia her brother had only encouraged as the siblings worked around the ten years gap. Figuring out and piecing their lives together again. It wasn't complete, she still would try to rip him from head to toe and Richard would still bare his teeth and snarl anytime she did anything overly dangerous or disappear for days. The first time he had done that, the Adder had tracked her down and they had nearly beat each other to death. Richard had never lashed out before or since. Taking her temper and rage with a offered shoulder for anything she dished out. She in turn had not ranged so far nor for longer than sunrise to sunset. Or the same time under the moon. Giving a nod to the Professor she tilted her head, reaching out with her psychic thought to Nina and Xavier and hoping it would reach the woman. "I will stay and make sure there is no trouble." There was not questioning or wavering in that thought. It was fact. Ayita had said she was staying and so she would unless persuaded other wise. That this man knew the Professor meant nothing to the wild woman. Adding on a second spear of thought to the Professor Ayita sent what she had seen of the trio of strange women.
"You're welcome, Other Pietro," Dean said with a sheepish grin. He tended to be very trusting and accepted things at face value, so it made sense that he didn't really question the speedster's claims. However, just because Dean believed him didn't necessarily help the speedster's case. Those who had classes with Dean would know that he had a reputation for being incredibly gullible. He had once been convinced that Pluto wasn't a planet because of a Russian conspiracy - and on a separate occasion, that it was necessary to put deodorant in one's "knee pits." If anything, Dean believing an outlandish claim likely made it harder for those who knew him to believe it.
"He's a Serbian speedster that has the same name as you - isn't that proof enough? And he totally flirted with Guin, too," Dean pointed out. To him, it seemed like an open and shut case. However, Dean's thoughts then quickly moved onto O.M.E.N. - they had to learn a bit about the organization in his civics class. From what Dean remembered, they were pretty much the anti-S.H.I.E.L.D., pretending to stand for peace and protection - but only for non-powered humans. Everyone else was a second class citizen to them. And frighteningly, one of their figures was now a presidential candidate. Dean grimaced a bit - and he thought the 2016 election had been bad.
Dean wasn't sure why a watch suddenly convinced Pietro - or why Guin was so interested in it either - but he figured it wasn't important in the grand scheme of things. O.M.E.N. was coming to attack the mansion - but they had the X-Men. The team had brought down Magneto - beating O.M.E.N. shouldn't be that much of a problem, right? Dean couldn't help but hope that he'd be asked to help as well. He had wanted to join the X-Men ever since he started attending this school. Sure, he had almost no combat skills to speak of - but he could dodge. He was really good at dodging. If fights were anything like dodgeball, it'd be a piece of cake...
...Right?
Guinevere Stark
Location: Hallway Outside the Lounge
Guin crossed her arms, staring the new speedster down. He seemed to think it was so incredulous for him to be related to Pietro, but from what Guin could tell, Magneto was like her own father. He slept around. The main difference between him and Tony in that regard was that Tony only slipped up with protection on one occasion. But from what she remembered reading in the S.H.I.E.L.D. files, Magneto had at least three kids - that they knew of. "You're from...the future?" Guin said slowly. She heard Dean's "case' for the speedster to be telling the truth but she found it unconvincing. "Yeah, and I'm the Queen of Scots," she added on with a bit of an eye roll. Time travel wasn't possible. Period. The only way to end up out of time would be to do seventy years as a Capsicle and wake up in the future.
Sure, she was interested in him saying that O.M.E.N. was going to attack the mansion - she didn't like the group at all. Their ideology was horrific and they lacked any sort of compassion or empathy. Sure, S.H.I.E.L.D. made their fair share of mistakes, but they were ultimately doing them for the better good. O.M.E.N. just killed things that were different, even if that meant killing innocent people. Her eyes flashed with recognition as the speedster tossed Pietro a watch - and as Pietro retrieved the same watch.
Guin's eyes widened. "Knew you fucking stole P.H.I.L., you klepto!" Guin said playfully with a huge grin. It was the computerized watch she used to wear, until it was smashed and then stolen from her. She always knew that Pietro had it but he never admitted to it and she didn't care enough to press the subject. But as she walked over and examined the watches, she could tell that they were identical. Either the speedster was somehow able to copy the damage to it and then account for the passage of time - or he was telling the truth. He really was from the future.
The ring caught her attention and it gave her a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach. "So let me get this straight - O.M.E.N. is going to come and attack the mansion. Things continue to go downhill until the only feasible option is to break the laws of physics and travel through time?" Guin said. As much as she would have loved to think on the entire nickname conversation, her mind was going a thousand miles a minute. She doubted time travel was the first plan they had come up with - it had to have been a last resort. Whatever happened in the future...It was bad. Really bad. End of the fucking world level bad.
"Guess we're evacuating the school," Guin murmured, before pulling out her phone and sending a text to Cassandra and Marygold with the information they had just learned.
Folly Valeska
Location: Grounds of the Institute
Folly let out a bit of a frustrated sigh. She had imagined that this would happen, yet with Pietro running ahead and her not having any belongings, she didn't have much to convince Marygold with. "This isn't my type of insanity," Folly then said quietly. "And I would never lie to you, Mary...I also didn't have friends in the asylum," she said, making a sad little joke. It was true - she had mostly been held in an isolation ward. She would be allowed out for an hour a day in order to get some exercise, and towards the end of her stay, they'd also take vials after vials of her blood. It was always claimed to be in order to conduct tests, yet she knew that the vials were being shipped to Trask Industries. Mutants with healing factors were of special interest for researchers.
Folly nodded at Thalia's explanations, before adding quietly one of her own to Marygold. "Thalia was a member of my Circus," she whispered. She then turned to look at the other man - the Adder. She extended a hand to him, the massive scar on her neck plainly visible as her hair fell away from her neck. "Folly Valeska - though some call me Woolf," she said, introducing herself. Thankfully, Carolina had brought proof with her. Folly's best idea would have been to have Mary call the asylum, where they would confirm that she was there, and realize it was the only way she could be in two places at the same time.
She knelt down and picked up her daggers, twirling them in her hands. They were crafted from adamantium. Her eyes flickered towards the mansion before returning to the assembled group. A strange smile then appeared on her face as she looked towards Marygold. Mary already knew how formidable Folly could be in combat. There was a reason they had brought Folly back with them - she was the muscle.
"You're kidding me, right?" Charlie looked disbelievingly between the Pietro and "Other Pietro." There was absolutely no resemblance there between them, barring eye and hair colour. But apparently this future Pietro provided proof by way of a watch that Guin seemed to recognise, so Charlie shrugged his shoulders and conceded. "Must have face transplants in the future." He muttered to himself, watching as the two Pietro's examined in each other. Charlie didn't buy F.P's lame excuse for the ring (Like dude, just admit you're married, Jesus), but kept his mouth shut, only opening slightly in fear as F.P told them his reason for being here: They were about to be attacked.
Almost immediately Charlie's eyes darted to the doors and windows that he could see, paranoid of any movement he saw outside. He'd known about the MRA thing going on, and knew it was a big deal for a lot of mutants, but never thought it would come to something like this. That is of course, if F.P was telling the truth, but it was a really random thing to show up and lie about. It seemed to elaborate and pointless to be a ruse by the Brotherhood.
"Shouldn't we, I don't know, maybe tell the Professor so that he can call in the big guns for help?" He suggested, glancing at Allison as she joined the group with another new guy. Charlie had made far more friends since the last time he'd ran into trouble, and already was worried about Blondie, Carolina and Guin, even though they were all perfectly capable of looking after themselves. "Also an exact time would be helpful too, if you are really from the future. Maybe details about firepower? Weapons? Numbers? Anything you can give us barring pretty flowers would be great." He added sarcastically, his nervousness ramping up his attitude to about ten.
Allison was a bit lost. Having only heard the tail end of things, she pieced together what she could from that. There were to Pietro's now, one from the future, one from now. And people were hunting them? What else was new? However, Carolina's question threw her for a bit and then she remembered Lance followed her. "Oh gee, where are my manners. Sorry, kind of stuck on the whole "future Pietro" thing. This is Lance B..." She held off on his last name. Did he want her telling the others? She had that reaction before. She would let him do it if he desired. Guin already knew. "This is Lance. Just met him. Seems super cool."
As the others talked, Charlie spoke up. She had gotten closer to the guy in the time span after their mission. "If I know anything about the professor, he already knows."
Sara Grey
Location: X-Mansion {"Every part of me is sore..."}
Sara trudged into the room, finally. Her body ached, but she lost that train of thought with what was going on in the room. There were a lot of people, some new faces, but one face in particular struck her fancy. "Lemme guess, we got some time shennanigans going on?" It didn't take a genius to figure out that two of the same person who were not twins were together, freaky time things were happening.
She looked around the room at the others. "We finding out the lottery numbers or planning something else? I'm leaning towards an attack of some kind? Does that mean we need to suit up?" She was kind of anxious to get into a real situation apart from training. Her body was still sore, but she felt a good surge of energy.
@Peridot@Zora@LadyRunic Xavier was about to start talking, but stopped as Richard's voice entered his mind. He thought for a moment, before replying to him. I am aware of the situation Richard. They appear to be speaking the truth, and if we are not careful, our world could become as dark as theirs, he replied. Once more, he was going to start talking to the three, but stopped when he noticed something on his desk. There sat a glass of water, and it was vibrating, as if someone was taking large steps.
Mirembe Adebayo and Lance Banner
Location: Xavier's Institute
"Hey, it's Lando!" Future Pietro said with a smile, before looking at the others, trying to come up with something for them to call him, then, it hit him. "Let's make this a little easier, when I come from, we hardly ever use our real names anyway, so some of us came up with other aliases. Call me Mateo, it was the name of one of my cousins, so I started using it."
"Uh, only Guin calls me Lando. Don't see why you get to... This guy is a little weird, even if he is from the future. He's right," he said, nodding towards Charlie, "I-is there anything you can tell us about this supposed a-attack." His voice had started to stutter towards the end, not being sure how to react to the large group of people who had gathered.
Mira wasn't doing to well in the large crowd, but she was perfectly fine letting the others do the talking. "So, how are we supposed to stop this supposed attack on the school? Seems a little weird if you ask me. Why would they randomly attack us, this place is a school, they would have to know that we are a school for mutants, and think they'd be able to take us all out easily, which I seriously doubt."
"How did I get so far in life being that cocky. OMEN has known about the Institute for a while, they know everything about the Mansion itself. They have giant robots that are designed to either capture or kill mutants, depending on the orders they are given. In our case, they are being told to kill. I don't know exactly when the attack comes, I only know that when it happened, the entire ground began to shake because of the steps of the Sentinels."
As soon as he said it, Mira started feeling vibrations in the floor. Her power being able to generate sound waves that can cause similar vibrations to occur, she was more sensitive to it. "Uh, is it just me, or is the ground shaking like in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex showed up?" she asked, looking at the others. Future Pietro froze, listening, as well as feeling the ground underneath his feet.
His eyes grew wide, and he looked at everyone else. "You know how you all were just asking when the attack would happen? I would like to rephrase my previous statement, it's happening right now." he said, before taking off out the front door of the mansion. Pietro raced off after him, while Lance looked at the group, before he ran to the nearest window and looked outside. "I think those would be the giant robots he was talking about."
Marygold Isley
Location: Xavier's Institute
Thalia just gave Richard a smile, saying nothing. She kind of like the guy, he seemed like a nice one. Mary thought about what Carolina had just said. "Well, we generally lower the security if we need to let anyone onto the school grounds who doesn't have a code. Once they are inside the mansion, they generally are put back up unless someone messed with the settings. They get put on a timer, someone would have had to have manually shut those off, even though I think it is possible to get remote access to them if someone really wanted to. They'd have to know exactly how our computer system works, as well as the extent of the security system."
Marygold then followed Richard, but right before she entered, she noticed that Thalia had stopped walking, and was staring at the trees across the street. "What's wrong?" she asked her, trying to see what she was looking at. That was when she felt the ground start to tremble, and she started looking around, trying to find the source of it.
A giant robot appeared, breaking the tree lines, and it wasn't alone. There were a total of 5 of them, and several cars pulled up as well. "I'm guessing they're the reason the security is down right now..." she said, looking at them as they started heading straight for them.
"First generation Sentinels, they probably aren't as powerful as they are 10 years from now, but still, they can definitely cause problems for us. We need to start getting people out of here. Damn it where is Pietro!" Thalia said, as wings proceeded to sprout from her back, and claws extended from her finger tips. A gust of wind behind her told them that Pietro had shown up, and there was another gust of wind as the present Pietro ran up. "What the hell are those things?"
"Sentinels, mutant hunters basically, and if we don't do something fast, they are going to try and kill us all!" was the response he got, as Thalia took off into the air.
Snake pupil eyes looked at the emerging menaces with a stern frown. "Not on my damned watch, Charles." The Adder dropped all pretense as he looked upon the threat. "Send these orders onto my sister. She is not to engage with the men of metal and is to protect you. We have five robotic killers and a good few cars that I can see. I'm going to suppose there are more that I cannot see. Don't argue with me on this one. She can get you out if nothing else, and your connect is too valuable to loose." The thought disconnected as Richard drew a breath. This was not a good situation. The Adder would have loved for more time, but that wasn't the issue right now. Sorting though several quick thoughts, the assassin looked to the former-Brotherhood speedster. Same age it seemed, so this Pietro was not the futuristic one. A shame, but Richard was not about to be picky.
Shoving the boy into the manor, he snarled to the Speedster. "Go. Get anyone who can fight on our entrances and exits. Everyone else, you and your futuristic counterpart that is supposed to be running about is to evacuate to a safe area. Bring me more ammo and a damned bullet proof vest. Another one for Cass. Go boy!" The Adder turned and yanked his glock from the straps beneath his shirt. "Marygold, get in cover and use those damn powers of yours! Turn that damn forest into our defense." Grinning at Thalia, the assassin gave a low whistle of appreciation as she flew off. Enjoying a view despite the situation or perhaps inspite to the situation. It was possibly the last one he would get. Saying a prayer to whatever god there was, he took aim at the cars and fired. Doubting his guns would do much against the robots. "I want a vacation."
Ayita Dyrkin
Location The Institute
Ayita flinched as the water moved. Her eyes narrowing as she stalked to the window, her jaws opening to reveal fangs. Peering out from the cover of a corner she gave a low snarling rumble. Several weird looking creatures were stalking from the forest, and appearing to be made of metal. Her amber eyes narrowed as she noticed several cars as well. Her fingers curving like they were claws. "We are under attack. Giant metal men and regular hunting men." Her voice was dry with annoyance as she looked at the other three and narrowed her amber eyes on the newcomer, Amni. Her figurative hackles raising as she stalked towards the older man with a predator's fluid gait that had been honed over the years.
"Did you bring them? A judas to lure the poachers to our territory." Ayita accused, her words a soft snarl as she moved to circle the man with a deadly intent. Traitors were something the woman expected, strangers were something she knew came with little good tidings. Amber eyes glanced at Nina before focusing back on the stranger. Nina was capable, even if she was slightly foolish. Ayita came to the conclusion. But this man! Who was he to start wandering about the manor? It was too suspicious if the wild woman thought about it. Growling deeply in her throat, she felt her body shiver and ready for a split change. Forms flashing through her mind as instincts battled at her to join the fight and turn back this intruder. But the shifter waited. Ready to intercept any attack and bring down this man. By any form or means necessary.
Anni stood there as the room seemed quiet. To his view it looked as if Professor X was focusing on something. He did not want to say anything and bother the man. Mainly he wanted the Professor to speak up about why he called him to come here.
Not paying attention to the two girls in the room with him and the Professor. Anni did not know if the agent girl was still in the room or not. She was not in his line of view. The animalistic girl on the other hand was still there. He could hear her.
Anni noticed the glass of water having trickles as something disturbed its peace. Focusing his eyes on the water slightly bouncing on the glasses sides. He lookes the Professor right in the eyes. Then he heard the female accusing him. "If you think I brought them here you are dumber than you look sweet fangs." Amni hisses his words at the female. His brows furrowing. "I don't work with no one. If you are really as animalistic as you look you should pick up on scents better." Anni stated in a calm yet slightly annoyed tone that he was already getting accused for something. Did not even feel like an hour and somebody was already pointing fingers. Anni realised why he did not chose to join the X-Men the last time he was offered to join. Crossing his arms as he tensed up slightly. Not feeling comfortable anymore. He was on guard now. Ready to jump into another dimension if somebody tried anything.
Carolina looked towards Allison and looked towards Lance and gave him a friendly smile and wave, he was actually pretty cute at least in her mind. "Nice to meet you, i'm Carolina." She said as she looked towards Guin, and the two Pietros as they started to talk about the watches. As far as she was concerned she believed them from what she knew, Carolina had her fair share of seeing weird things in her time, meeting and nearly getting killed by a Norse Goddess. She then saw another new girl coming up and gave her a friendly wave as her attention went back to the present.
Then Carolina started to feel the ground starting to shake ever so slightly and quickly went over towards the window she could see several cars parked out infront of the mansion. Knowing OMEN personally they weren't here to capture, or interrogate or even arrest, they were certainly there to kill them all. "OMEN tends to shoot, and ask questions later." Carolina said sounding very worried, those giant massive robots were probably the largest threats to them.
Carolina looked towards the others that were there, then both Peitros disappeared, most likely towards the front of the mansion to get ready for the fight. Carolina's abilities weren't really combat effective, and she knew that she'd most likely be vulnerable. "I'll start helping with getting those that cant fight to safety." Carolina said looking towards the others before making her way towards the rooms where she could find the other students.
Bethany Bell
[ Location: Xavier Institute
Bethany stood up and started to dust herself off, as the others started to have their own conversations, that's when she started to feel the ground starting to shake. She followed Carolina over to the window to see what she saw, seeing that OMEN was indeed knocking on the front door. Beth watched both Peitros running off, leaving her with the others that were there, she was going to stay and fight for as long as she could.
"Gonna go and help them get the defenses set up." Bethany said as she quickly turned off and followed shortly after the others and made her way towards the front door, when she got a better look at what they were dealing with. Beth looked over at the Adder and Marygold as well. "What do you want me to do?" Bethany was eager to help, it was the main reason why she wanted to join up with the X-Men so that she could stop groups like OMEN from attacking or killing people like her.
Cassandra Reed & Future Carolina Reed
Location: The Xavier Institute
Cassandra looked towards Richard as he gave her orders, normally she didn't like being ordered around unless there was an actual chain of command. But she didn't care, Cass knew that lives were at stake as she handed back her future version of her sister's SHIELD ID that was actually her's. Cassandra eyed the massive Sentinel robots that were there, she wondered how exactly OMEN managed to get them but right no she was focused on the task at hand. "I'm on it." Cassandra said as she quickly started to head back into her room when she felt her phone going off, seeing that it was a text from Guin.
To Guin: Yep I already know, there were more at the front door. Meet me at my room, have a stash of weapons in there that we may need. And a little thing I have been working on as well.
Cassandra hit send as she walked into her room, quickly getting changed into her SHIELD Agent clothes and made sure that she was ready, going into the case she stowed away under her bed. Inside were her weapons as well as a few Dwarves that they used from the Brotherhood mission.
Future Carolina looked at Adder as she then felt the ground starting to shake, turning her attention she could see Gen One Sentinels that were there she counted five of them. Carolina eyed Marygold, and the Adder biting her lower lip for a moment then looked at Folly before answering his question. "The future is bad, nearly every country starts their own version of the MRA over the course of time, and Professor X may die today." Carolina said grimly as she reached from behind her back pulling out two handguns of her own, she would use her powers but there were to many currently as she eyed the newcomer as well as the two Pietros. "Well welcome to the party." Carolina said giving a slight smile.
As Future Pietro - or Mateo or whatever - called Lance Lando, a thought occurred to her. If they had come from a desolate future, where was her future counterpart? Where was Mary's or Allison's or Carolina's? She truthfully didn't mind that he had stolen her nickname for Lance, but Lance clearly did. There was something a bit off about how he had acted when she ran into him earlier that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Did he have a problem with Pietro or something? She couldn't imagine why - Lance of all people knew what it was like to be seen as nothing more than one's father. Guin went and stood next to Lance, putting an arm around his shoulder and giving him a smile. "Don't worry too much, Lando," she said quietly. She could tell that he was scared.
Guin ran towards the window with Lance, taking in the sight. "Well, shit. I wish I could say it's just Hammer Tech but that looks more like Trask stuff to me," Guin admitted. She nodded as Carolina and Beth went up, before turning to the rest of the group. She wasn't the field commander of the X-Men - that was Mary's job - but she figured she'd at least lead this small group. "Okay, everyone goes in pairs. Mission is to get all of the kids evacuated to the Blackbird. Items are replaceable - people aren't."
"Dean, you've got some sort of speed, right?" Guin asked. The wannabe speedster nodded his head. "Okay, perfect. You need to go to every computer in this place and pull the hard drives from them. Try not to destroy them, but if you have to, do it. The less information O.M.E.N. can get when they sweep this place, the better."
"You got it, Ms. Stark," Dean said before rushing off. She rolled her eyes at that, before pulling out her phone and seeing the text from Cassandra. She shot a quick one of her own back - Sounds good, boss. She wasn't technically a SHIELD agent anymore - she was on reserve, meaning they could call her in whenever they wanted but she wasn't considered active duty. "Lance, you're with Allison. Charlie, go with blondie - sorry kid, I don't know your name. You get in a situation where you don't see a way out, give a shout and don't panic."
She then headed off to meet Cassandra at her room to arm up.
Dean Kesseli
Location: Hallway Outside the Lounge ---> Various Rooms
Dean didn't have any sort of super speed, just reflexes. And given that he hadn't been in a combat mission before, he wasn't about to argue with Iron Man's daughter over what to do. He quickly headed downstairs, knowing that pretty much all of the important computers were kept in the labs. The feeling of the ground vibrating was unnerving. He made his way down the stairs and found the labs, heading inside and pulling the hard drives. They were rather thin and he threw them all into a bag, making his way through the various rooms.
He didn't want to imagine what sort of information could be on them - probably their addresses, their families, their powers and their weaknesses. He gulped a bit. What if OMEN tried to kill everyone he knew? From what Future Pietro had said, they were relentless and they wouldn't stop at anything. There was nothing beneath them. His thoughts flickered to his long lost sister for a moment - would they get her too? He assumed that she had to be a mutant as well. Dean bit his lip and shook his head. Once he was pretty certain he had grabbed all of the hard drives, he headed outside, trying to get an idea as to where they were supposed to be evacuating to.
Folly Valeska
Location: Grounds of the Institute
Folly raised an eyebrow at Richard. He wasn't in charge, last she checked - but she imagined that he would be reminded of that soon enough. She rolled her wrists, letting them crack, before doing a similar process with her neck. She could heal from whatever the sentinels threw at her. She gave the Future Pietro a bit of a smile. "Palla Latchi...I can buy you some more time," she said kindly. Her knives gleamed a bit in the light and she started to walk forward, heading towards the sentinels. She didn't know what it would take for them to wound her so badly that she couldn't heal back from it - but these were only first generation sentinels. She could handle them.
And besides...As long as Mary survived, this would all be worth it. The world could end but without Marygold Isley, it wasn't a world that Folly wanted to be a part of. She glanced upwards to see Thalia and couldn't help but smile again. Sure, they were under attack - but the people she cared about most in the world were all together again and the hallucinations were at bay.
