[hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=add3ff]Novikova,[/color] [color=lightgreen]Maria,[/color] [color=FFD9E9]Allison,[/color] [color=A4FFFC]Sapphire,[/color] [color=9C00FF]Jack,[/color] [color=DBA1DE]Casper,[/color] [color=MediumSpringGreen]James[/color][/b][/h3][i]Featuring: [color=FF5733]Magneto,[/color] [color=A9F8C7]Polaris,[/color] [color=FAFD95]Havok,[/color] [color=AC42B2]Miranda,[/color] [color=FireBrick]Oshea[/color][/i] [hr][hr][b]Location:[/b] Ballroom - the Palace [b]Skills: [color=lightgreen]Power Absorption (Novikova's Metal Manipulation), Regenerative Healing Factor[/color], [color=FFD9E9]Telekinesis[/color][/b], [color=mediumspringgreen]Kickboxing[/color], [color=MediumSpringGreen]Accelerated Healing Factor[/color], [color=A4FFFC]Cryokinesis[/color], [color=add3ff]Earth Manipulation, Metal Bending[/color], [color=DBA1DE]Mediumship[/color] [/center][hr] Through the portal, the group emerged in the ballroom - the very place where King Erik had hosted the Hanukkah party not too long ago. Novikova's muscles tensed. She had never tried going toe to toe with another metal manipulator before, but there was no time like the present. Either she would succeed and be able to help hold back Magneto or she would die trying. However, she hadn't been counting on Magneto's daughter, Princess Lorna, to be there as well. [color=add3ff]"Maria... Mind helping me with the metal?"[/color] she muttered. Havok was chewing a piece of gum, blowing bubbles as he stood with Polaris a few feet behind Magneto. He looked at the group with little to no recognition in his eyes. [color=FAFD95]"Wait, so these are the people that have been giving you so much trouble, Your Majesty?"[/color] he asked Magneto. Casper swallowed thickly, his hands shaking slightly with nerves. He hadn't really [i]fought[/i] before. Sure, he had been in fights but they never had been for something as pressing as the fate of reality. They were for smaller scale problems, things they could handle like stealing medicine to help Colossus' sister, Magik, recover from what Sebastian Shaw had done to her. [color=DBA1DE]"...I guess it's showtime, then."[/color] [i]"Let's do this,"[/i] Ben agreed. [color=A9F8C7]"I can take care of the rebels, Father."[/color] Maria looked towards Novikova and smiled towards her girlfriend and nodded. [color=lightgreen]"Sure thing love."[/color] She said as she leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss, feeling bad if Novikova felt any ill effects from it. Feeling her getting the power again, Maria took off her bow and quiver of arrows, she didn't want a repeat of their last encounter. Maria focused on something metal nearby as it broke free and then flew straight towards Havok impaling it onto his side. Allison followed alongside the others. If they had any hopes of stopping this, these three needed to be taken care of and prevented. [color=FFD9E9]"Good luck then,"[/color] she told Polaris before she picked up two tables with her telekinesis, launching them at the girl and knocking her to the ground. She then focused her sights on Magneto, who she felt was a bigger threat (or at least the threat that no one was taking care of at that moment). She pushed him back, but he only moved so far. She kept on him though, hoping the others would handle the other two. She knew Magneto could manipulate metal, so she would watch out for him trying that. James waited as the others sprung into action. Unlike the others, James was at the disadvantage from the start. He had no way to monopolize the space between themselves and their targets and that was quite an issue when two of their enemies could fling metal around with their minds and the last one could blast lasers across the space. So he waited until those who could dominate that stretch did so and left an opening for him. Polaris hitting the ground provided the perfect opportunity and James pressed a chaste kiss to Caspar's hand and a soft [color=mediumspringgreen]"Stay safe, babes."[/color] before he took off, finding the downed Princess and slamming his foot into her exposed throat-repeatedly-before she could recover. Even if he didn't down her, hopefully the pain would keep her off center. Sapphire shook her head slightly at Maria, [color=A4FFFC]"Really? You had to attack Havok? I mean yeah, the guy is an idiot and from time to time deserves to be smacked around in the face, but that's it. A shard of metal to the side is a bit much,"[/color] she said as she glanced over at Havok. An idea started forming in her mind, not so much a good idea, but it was worth a shot. Who knows, maybe it would result in him remembering the real world? She wasn't sure, but if all else failed Havok was going to end up with a serious case of brain freeze. Sapphire raced over instantly to Havok, and did something she only had done once before and it wasn't exactly when she was in control of her own actions. She kissed him. Frost emanated from her mouth, and Havok would look a little blue in the face as she pulled away from him, and then she proceeded to smack him across the face. [color=A4FFFC]"Tell anyone I kissed you again and you'll have worse problems then brain freeze."[/color] Jack did not understand at all what the hell Sapphire was doing, but he figured she probably had Havok handled, however she did that anyway. It was a bit strange, but he figured he was better off not asking any specific questions about it. Instead, he looked at the others that they were fighting, and saw that at the moment, the only person that they really needed to deal with at the moment was Magneto, as Polaris was down as well. [color=9C00FF]"So... Magneto it is then,"[/color] he said, before he sent his fist flying out, and it slammed into Magneto with enough force to send him flying into the wall. [color=FF5733]"It would seem you are having some difficulties Lorna, perhaps they should see how a real master of magnetism deals with problems,"[/color] he said, before metal shards started flying around him, and he sent them flying at of all people Casper. However, the shards never hit him. Jack had been about to move to protect Casper from the metal, but someone else stepped in front of Casper and stopped the metal. It was Miranda, her eyes having a bit of a pinkish purple glow to them as what looked like a wall appeared in front of them, protecting them from the metal. [color=AC42B2]"That isn't going to last forever, actually, it probably will go away fairly quickly depending on how hard they hit it... My hard-light holograms don't last nearly as long as the soft-light ones... I'm a bit out of practice with that ability..."[/color] Miranda explained simply to the others, before as if right on cue, the wall disappeared once more. [color=AC42B2]"...Like that..."[/color] Polaris glared slightly at James, scrambling to get back to her feet under her own power, but she was not going to be taken down so easily. He might have gotten the jump on her, but it would be his mistake. [color=A9F8C7]"Maybe we need a Mistress of Magnetism, Father,"[/color] Polaris suggested, a little glad to see that Miranda had foiled her father's attacks. Polaris hated to be outdone. She sent metal shards of her own into James, hitting him in the portions of the human body where she figured she would cause the most pain and damage: the arteries. However, fire began to burn in her eyes as she witnessed Sapphire kiss her boyfriend, Havok. [color=A9F8C7]"That was a mistake,"[/color] Polaris threatened. [color=A9F8C7]"Alex, whatever spell she placed on you..."[/color] Havok blinked slightly, his face a soft shade of blue as his memories came rushing back to him. [color=FAFD95]"Lorna... Lorna she didn't do anything to me..."[/color] he told her softly, but he didn't have time to explain things to his girlfriend. He knew it was only a matter of moments before Magneto did something else and he rocked his hips a bit, trying to send off a gigantic blast of energy at Magneto but he missed. A blush colored Havok's face - he was a bit out of practice in this world. Fortunately, Casper's eyes and hands were glowing an eerie blue as the phantom of Ben came into focus. Everyone would be able to see the dead mutant as tentacles sprouted from his stomach and latched onto Magneto, tossing the master of magnetism around like a rag doll. Of course, Polaris didn't care that Havok had attacked her father - she was seeing green and she flicked her wrist, flinging metal shards at Sapphire's face. One of them embedded itself in her neck. [color=A9F8C7]"You'll die for that transgression."[/color] Novikova meanwhile was listening to the earth around her, trying to rip up a boulder but it was proving far more difficult than she would have cared for. Maria was grateful for Miranda to step in and protect them with those hard light holograms she had made, she looked at Sapphire for a moment at her comment and shrugged slightly. Even if he was a good guy in their reality right now he was a threat anyway, as she started to focus on the metal around her, seeing Casper and Ben doing their thing as well. She then sent shards of metal flying to both Polaris and Magneto only for the two of them to stop the metal from hitting them. Allison looked over at Sapphire, the girl already looked pale but she couldn't be sure if she needed help. The shard seemed to be holding the blood in place for now. She'd see to her later. For now, Allison tried to force the shards forward more to aid Maria, but no go. Then she got an idea. Allison quickly ran over to Oshea and whispered, [color=FFD9E9]"Get me behind them please."[/color] Oshea obliged and she was facing their backs. She used her telekinesis to pick up more shards, sending them flying at Polaris and Magneto from behind. Polaris caught on, catching them, but Magneto seemed distracted and Allison managed to knick him some. She kept her resolve, aware she'd have to retaliate. James crumpled to the ground as Polaris' metal shards shredded his arteries. He bit his tongue in the effort not to scream,an unnecessary distraction right now, as his inside felt like they'd been set on fire. He waited a beat for the wounds to start healing only to realize the pieces were still in him. He'd didn't have an specialized equipment so he'd have to do it the old fashioned way. Hopefully, he could handle the further aggravation to the wounds afterwards but he didn't really have a choice. He shoved his fingers inside each cut, blunt nails digging in further as he dragged out the little shards. His breathing picked up and the lightheartedness of blood loss started kicking in, dulling the pain response. Clearing the wounds helped a bit, the blood flow trickling a bit slower, so he refocused on his original target and lashed out at her feet, hoping to knock her down again but blood loss made it hard to focus past the pain and the slowly spinning room. Sapphire was managing to push through dealing with the fact that there was a piece of metal sticking out of her neck. One thing was for certain though. She was more then just a little bit pissed off. Sure, she knew that Havok cared a lot for Polaris, but at this point that didn't seem to matter. [color=A4FFFC]"You'll pay for that bitch,"[/color] she snapped at Polaris, before there seemed to be a bit of an ice storm swirling around her. Sapphire was just glaring at Polaris, before giant shards of ice went flying at the Mistress of Magnetism, one of them slammed into her side, causing enough damage to result in there being a lot of blood. [color=A4FFFC]"I'm not planning on dying anytime soon."[/color] [color=AC42B2]"Erik, stop this already, you shouldn't be doing this,"[/color] Miranda said, as Magneto had sent out another blast of metal shards, and once more she was able to create a barrier in order to prevent it. [color=FF5733]"Do you really dare to defy me Miranda? Why turn against me now? We've accomplished so much, so why go against me now, why join these rebels? Come back my queen,"[/color] he said instantly, before he started sending metal shards more sporadically, making it much more difficult for Miranda to defend the group. One fragment slammed into Maria's stomach, sending her backwards. [color=AC42B2]"Erik stop this!"[/color] she said again, attempting to defend everyone still, but now it was becoming more difficult for her to. One rather large metal shard once more was headed for Casper, probably in retaliation for what he had had Ben do, but the shard never hit him. Instead, as if he was making up for Miranda having stepped in to protect Casper before, Jack had stepped in front of Casper to take the blow for him. The metal went straight through him, it had been fairly sharp, making it difficult for him to reflect it back and have it bounce off of him. Casper instantly went into a panic, noticing the extensive injuries that James and Jack had both sustained. Abandoning all thoughts of fighting Magneto and his daughter, Casper made a mad dash over to James. Ben was still corporeal and he used his tentacles as a sort of shield, making sure that no one could get to them. [color=DBA1DE]"James? Baby?"[/color] Casper asked, incredibly panicked. His brother wasn't doing so well either and he didn't know what he would do without them - but James looked far more injured and hurt. He didn't know what to do, but Casper tried his best to manually stop the bleeding and somehow, it worked. [color=DBA1DE]"Ben, help Jackie!"[/color] Casper pleaded, tears in his eyes. [i]"I got you,"[/i] Ben told Jack, wrapping a tentacle around Jack's wound and he gently applied pressure, managing to slow the bleeding. Novikova saw red as Magneto sent metal shards slamming into Maria's stomach, letting out a scream as she threw metal shards back at him - they all hit, but it hardly seemed to phase the Master of Magnetism. [color=add3ff]"You coward!"[/color] she shouted at Magneto. [color=add3ff]"Fight me like a man!"[/color] She knew it was likely suicide, but she didn't care. No one was allowed to hurt Maria and live. Polaris was still focused on Sapphire, especially with the wound the Ice Witch had caused her. She flexed her hand and the metal shard in Sapphire's neck flew on out, the very thing that had been stopping the massive amount of blood flow. Havok looked at his girlfriend with horror and he tried something incredibly stupid, but maybe just stupid enough to work - he kissed Lorna, hoping it would restore her memories as it had with him. Yet as he pulled away, there was no realization in her face - she wasn't his Lorna. Havok's eyes welled up with tears as he blasted Polaris, sending the Mistress of Magnetism flying backwards, and while he was so certain it would knock her out, Polaris managed to stay on her feet despite her wounds. [color=A9F8C7]"...I loved you..."[/color] she told Havok quietly, before she sent metal shards slamming into his body. Havok fell to the ground, bleeding extensively from the injuries his true love had inflicted on him. If he didn't get medical attention, he would likely die. Maria fell to the ground the moment the metal shard hit her stomach, groaning out in pain as she looked down at her stomach seeing the blood coming out of her shirt. She slowly rolled over onto her side, having a really dumb idea that would probably make Bonnie have a major fit about. She dug her hand into the wound until she felt it and yelled out as the shard was pulled out, and the pain was gone right away as Maria slowly stood back up to her feet. [color=lightgreen]"Let's try popping their heads like a can."[/color] Maria said to her girlfriend, turning her attention to Polaris who had really injured Sapphire and Havok as well. She focused on the tiara headband thing, and started to attempt to crush it, seeing that it was starting to hurt her a little bit. Allison watched as her team was hit harder and harder with each blow to them. Havok was out, but Polaris and Magneto stood their ground. Though, Magneto seemed preoccupied with Miranda. That could be used to their advantage, but Polaris was making it hard. To make matters worse, Allison couldn't get a vision that showed her how to handle this. She whispered to Oshea, [color=FFD9E9]"We need to take them out quickly before we lose any more. The injured need to be looked at."[/color] She wasn't a healer, by nature, but she could do her best. James wanted to respond to Casper, he really did. He looked so worried and Casper had been through enough in his life. He didn’t need another reason to frown. James groaned as he righted himself, sitting up to lean a little on Casper. Everything still stung like a bitch but at least he wasn’t in danger of dying anymore. James still stared past Casper for a few moments with a blank look and cupped Casper’s face with his hands, rubbing circles with his thumbs. [color=mediumspringgreen]“I just want you to know, I love you and I’m not judging you but why the actual [i]fuck[/i] is Ben an eldritch nightmare? On second thought, questions after this mess. Thanks for saving me, babes. Always knew you had magic hands.”[/color] He pressed a quick kiss to Casper’s cheek. [color=mediumspringgreen]“Okay, okay. Gotta get everyone back on their feet.”[/color] He bolted, sliding to his knees next to Havok and sighing in relief as the wounds closed. One down. Sapphire was next, helping steady her as he closed the gash on her neck. And it took a second longer, the slightest bit of hesitation at approaching… Ben, but nonetheless he hit his knees next to Jack. [color=mediumspringgreen] “Never thought this is how I’d meet my boyfriend’s best friend but weirder shit has happened. I’ve just never seen it.”[/color] James muttered as he unsuccessfully tried to shut Jack’s wound. [color=9C00FF]"You get used to this sort of thing James, trust me on that one,"[/color] Jack said, coughing ever so slightly still, his injury was starting to really hurt a bit now too. [color=9C00FF]"So how have you been Ben? We haven't exactly gotten a chance to actually talk or anything because usually you've only popped up when fighting someone so far since we've been here in this reality anyway."[/color] Sure, he knew that now was not the time to be having a conversation, but it did help somewhat to distract from the fact that he was [i]really[/i] hurting. [i]"I'm still single, if that's what you're asking,"[/i] Ben informed Jack, one of his tentacles wrapped around the man to keep his wound tight. [i]"And why do you look like Kid Flash?"[/i] he then asked James, a bit annoyed at the eldritch horror comment. It wasn't his fault that his mutation wasn't the most visually appealing one. Sapphire stood up fully now, glad that James had managed to heal her, and she was glad that Havok seemed to be okay now too. She was really wanting to just knock Lorna down, that's all she had been trying to do, but sometimes the way things work is not how they play out. [color=A4FFFC]"How about you just [i]stay down![/i]"[/color] she snapped at Lorna, before the air seemed to freeze around her, and she sent a dagger of ice flying at Polaris, hoping to knock her down to the ground or something. However she watched everything happen in slow motion, as the dagger headed towards her target. She hadn't meant to aim that high, she had been trying to hit her leg or something, nothing vital, just trying to knock her down. That wasn't what happened though, as her dagger ended up slamming straight through Polaris' chest, right through her heart, and it pierced out of her back on the other side, the dagger of ice completely covered in blood. Seeing what happened as Lorna's body fell to the ground, Sapphire just sort of edged away now, shaking somewhat as she realized what exactly just happened. Sure, she had known that they needed to take out Magneto and Polaris, or at least keep them busy, but she had never planned on [i]killing[/i] either one of them. [color=A4FFFC]"I-I-I didn't m-m-mean to,"[/color] she managed to stammer out, looking at where Polaris had fallen, blood was starting to pool around her body. To say that Magneto was pissed off at the death of his favored child was an understatement. In retaliation he sent metal shards slamming into literally everyone else in the room. Casper and Maria got somewhat lucky, only getting hit in the arm and such. Behind him Allison and Oshea would get a shard to the leg (a bad thing for a speedster to say the least, but hey, he can heal quickly). James also got a shard into the arm, Jack luckily didn't get hit at all. Sapphire meanwhile got a shard to the stomach. If she had been paying attention, she probably could have avoided it, but she was more or less panicking still over what had just happened. [color=FAFD95]"LORNA.... LORNA!!!"[/color] Havok screamed, running over to her as best as he could. It helped that James had healed his wounds and he sank to the ground, sobbing as he cradled Polaris' body in his arms. [color=FAFD95]"... How could you do this?!"[/color] he then screamed, looking at Sapphire. [color=FAFD95]"Y-you killed her! You freaking killed her!"[/color] [color=add3ff]"Hey, babes?"[/color] Novikova called out to Maria, ignoring the soap opera of Havok, Polaris, and Sapphire. Gritting her teeth, Novikova let out a bit of a feral scream as she reached her hands out, trying to crush Magneto's helmet by sheer force of will. Her metal bending was nowhere as advanced as her earth bending skills, but she was able to get it started. [color=add3ff]"Everyone with either a TK or metal ability - concentrate on crushing his helmet!"[/color] Novikova shouted. No one had really taken charge of the group, so she figured she would give them some direction. And if anyone was going to pull the entire [i]heroes don't kill card[/i] it was a bit late for that anyways. [color=DBA1DE]"Uh... Ben, do what the Russian lady said with one of your other tentacles?"[/color] Casper requested. [i]"It'd be my pleasure,"[/i] Ben replied, sending another one of his tentacles out and he wrapped it around Magneto's head. He then started to squeeze, the helmet starting to give way underneath his mighty grip. Blood was coming from Magneto's head and while he was still a threat, the tide was changing in their favor. [color=add3ff]"Oh and Maria - I know this is probably a bad time, but we never seem to have good timing so... Will you marry me?"[/color] Novikova asked, opening one of her palms to reveal an engagement ring. She was still focusing on trying to crush Magneto, but it was always a good thing to make time for romance. Maria winced slightly getting a cut from the shard that Magneto had thrown at her, but it wasn't as bad as the one she had gotten to the gut earlier. She watched as Sapphire managed to kill Polaris wincing slightly at the kill shot when Novikova got her attention turning to look over at her girlfriend as she told everyone to continue to crush his helmet. Maria held out her hand using Novi's power and started to crush his helmet even further managing to bring him down to his knees. [color=lightgreen]"Stand down now Magneto."[/color] Maria said, when Novikova held out an engagement ring to her, eyes going wide now and couldn't help but smile. [color=lightgreen]"Yes, of course I will marry you."[/color] Maria said and leaned to give her a loving kiss. Allison fought the urge to delight in the cuteness of a proposal versus the fact that one of the people they were tasked with distracting was dead. Sapphire, for all she acted, seemed genuinely shocked and horrified. The others managed to hold Magneto at bay, though she knew the man was still dangerous if her injury was anything to go by. Despite that, the tide seemed to favor them. [color=FFD9E9]"It's over. We can save her, but the other team needs to finish their work for us to be able to. She'll be alive again. Also congrats you two!"[/color] she called over to Novi and Maria. What? She couldn't help the cuteness. [color=A4FFFC]"I-I-I didn't mean to do it! I'm so sorry Havok,"[/color] Sapphire said, his words towards her were echoing throughout her mind as she backed away from him. It had been an accident, every time she attacked someone, she never once meant to actually kill them, it always was an accident. Ever since she first accidentally killed someone, she had been trying to better herself, to prove that she didn't just hurt people, it was one of the reasons she got a degree in medicine. She had wanted to prove that she could help others, but now it just seemed like she was going backwards. Jack was doing a bit better now then before, and was just watching what was going on around him unfold. Looked like to him Sapphire was more or less panicking over what she did, and odds were that Havok wasn't exactly helping matters. [color=9C00FF]"Alright, we need to finish this already,"[/color] he said, he tried to send his fist flying, but ended up failing at it because of his injury. [color=9C00FF]"Damn it..."[/color] he muttered under his breath. Miranda meanwhile looked somewhat sad at the whole situation that had unfolded so far. She created what looked like the image of a javelin over her hand, and it became solid, appearing to be real. [color=AC42B2]"I remember when Charles first got the idea for the Danger Room, from my powers creating holograms, though back then I only could create the soft-light ones that couldn't actually hurt people, but not any more... I am sorry Erik... And I'm so glad that you aren't going to remember this, but this world, it can't exist, this world isn't real, and never should have been real... When Wanda fixes things, you'll be brought back, and won't remember this... I truly am sorry... I love you, but truthfully I love my children even more, "[/color] she said softly, it sounded like she might somewhat cry as she threw the javelin and it slammed into Magneto, running right through him and having him essentially lying there bleeding out on the ground. He wasn't going to be getting up and causing any problems anytime soon.