Morose

The Gifted - Concluded

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@Nallore@FantasyChic@BlueSky44@Achronum@Trainerblue192@KazAlkemi@Framing A Moose

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Washington D.C.: September 10th, 2020 - 10:20 AM

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The Amtrak Station...

The Three-in-One rolled their eyes at Jinx collectively. They had been working for the Hellfire Club for a while and they were certain what they had done was right. Leaving those humans alive would have just left a loose end. It was better to kill the staff, grab the prisoners they were interested in, and let free the rest... The media would find someone to blame for the escape, likely the prisoners themselves, and they would have no knowledge of the Hellfire Club's involvement. Kidnapping the children of Professor X without giving the easy explanation that Legion and the Tenth Muse had wandered off would bring down the X-Men, S.H.I.E.L.D., maybe even the Avengers. This was how they were going to keep the Hellfire Club secret - by staging a crime. "We look forward to reading the report," they quipped to Anastasia. Emma Frost was their genetic template, their mother - they doubted she would ever hurt them and she was now the Lord Imperial, the boss.

The mutants on the train were in various stages of stupor. They were all heavily sedated and restrained, collars around their necks dampening their powers and rendering them defenseless. The metal cages that Anastasia noticed had numbers stamped onto them - as well as greek letters. On one of the boxes was an omega - Ω. The rest of the crates had alphas - α. Some of the mutants were muttering to themselves quietly, rocking back and forth slightly as that was all the restraints really permitted them to do. On their wrists, they had bands with either betas - β or gammas - γ on them.

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JFK Memorial Hospital - Gift Shop...

"Da, for Mother Russia!" Colossus agreed. He picked up the cash register, carefully set down its contents neatly on the countertop, before he flung it out of the gift shop and into the hallway, where it skidded only to be stopped by someone's boot. Had Colossus not been in his metal form, the color from his face would have drained as he saw who it was.

"Sick choice in song," Vulcan complimented Feedback, smirking at her. He must have escaped since they left the Mutant Underground, but to be fair they hadn't really left anyone behind to watch him. Everyone had just assumed he couldn't free himself and that he would remain unconscious. His eyes were a bit red and he sniffled, before cracking his fists. "Still gonna kill you though, sorry babe."

Vulcan surrounded himself in energy, lifting himself up into the air as he hovered, staring at the Mutant Underground members. And then, all of the sudden, he shot immense blasts of energy out of his eyes and hands. The blasts were about to hit Feedback when Colossus jumped in front of her, taking the blast and falling to the ground, his metal skin somehow smoking.

"I guess I see why you were never good enough for the X-Men, huh Piotr? Couldn't find your sister... Couldn't even tie up a prisoner properly."

"Feedback, Moonwalker, run," Colossus requested. "I vill handle Vulcan."

JFK Memorial Hospital - Fifth Floor...

A significant part of Casper felt a rush as they arrived outside of the medicine room. He had just gotten out of rehab and while that meant he had already gone through withdrawal, his fingers still itched to grab a bottle of pills. He wanted desperately to pop them, to let himself float along a high rather than deal with the sharp feelings that defined his sober moments. "...Blue Oyster? Sick!" Ben exclaimed, playing an air guitar as the music Feedback summoned played over the speakers.

"Bit of a morbid choice though, don't ya think?" he asked Casper.

"...Well unless the hospital likes playing Don't Fear the Reaper, I think they've probably started," he pointed out to James. The reaper wasn't what people needed to be afraid of anyways - it was the souls of those who remained behind. There was nothing more terrifying than a mob of ghosts, all screaming at you for attention, for love, for help with their unfinished business... Just thinking about it make Casper want to scream and run for the hills. He never wanted to be the helpless little boy trapped in a mausoleum again. "Frosty, can you jimmy the lock?" Casper asked, figuring that Sapphire would just freeze it and snap it off.

"I can be look out," Ben offered.

"Ben says he'll watch out for anyone coming."

The Cherry Bomb - Barroom...

Sunshine inhaled sharply as Jack scolded her for going over to him, treating her like an idiotic little kid. She followed him with her eyes as he got out of the booth and turned back to look at her, fighting the blush threatening to form on her face out of shame. Her fingers twitched slightly and she curled her hands into fists, not saying a word as Jack went over to the bar, even as he requested that she go over there with him. All she wanted was to get vengeance for Erg and then someone who had, for whatever reason, attended her trial was here.

The bartender raised an eyebrow at Glimpse, before grabbing the photograph and bringing it on over. "Here ya go," he told her, before stepping away from her and Havok. He had a lot of glassware to catch up on cleaning, especially since his co-worker still hadn't returned from the basement. The bartender's phone buzzed and he glanced down, sighing slightly at the text that came in. "Sorry folks, we've got a burst water pipe in the basement, gotta shut down for the day!" he called out, loud enough for everyone to hear him.

"You two thinking what I'm thinking?" Havok muttered. It was a little bit convenient - some of their people had gone down there to investigate and now, the bartender was asking everyone to leave the bar. It would've just been a coincidence had Yukio not given them a tip about this place and the horrible things being done to innocent mutants here. "I smell a barroom brawl coming on," he then added softly.

The patrons were grumpily leaving the bar, with enough of them getting up and heading for the exit that Sunshine saw an opportunity. Jack, Glimpse, and Havok had the bartender distracted too. She slipped out of the booth and made her way across the barroom quickly, opening the door to the basement staircase and she closed it behind her, emerging into darkness. Holding still for a moment, Sunshine reached her hands out until she felt the wall against her fingertips. She tentatively reached one of her feet forward, trying to gently set her foot down on the next step but she overshot it. Her balance gave out all of the sudden and the next thing she knew, she was falling forward. The darkness of the staircase made it impossible to see as Sunshine fell down the flight of stairs, hitting her head against the closed door at the bottom with a resounding THUD.

"...Oww..." she mumbled, clutching her head. She was incredibly lucky that she hadn't cracked her skull open.

The Cherry Bomb - Basement...

Veil heard the thud near the doorway, but it was too dark for her to really tell what it was - it could have easily been the mutant they were fighting slamming himself or someone else up against the wall. Additionally, she had no idea that Spark Plug had attempted to turn her into a hound, but Max was far less than subtle in his attempts to take on the leader of the Mutant Underground. "Tome, I am not your enemy," Veil stressed, her force fields still up to protect herself. "I need you to calm down."

Nightcrawler was clinging to the ceiling like a spider, shaking his tail as he attempted to warm it up again. The cold didn't really slow down his body, but it did make it harder for him to concentrate which interfered with his skill in teleportation. He instinctively knew that Spark Plug was a hound just like him as well, allowing him to turn his focus to the others in the room. If he didn't manage to kill them or at least knock them out, his master was going to be furious with him...

And he never liked seeing Mr. Sinister like that.

He teleported again, appearing in front of Leighton. "I am not zee covard!" he shouted in a heavy German accent, before his tail shot out and he wrapped it around Leighton's neck.

Veil could dimly see where Leighton was, thanks to the light of her poncho. She dropped the force field she had been using to keep Max at bay, sending one out that slammed into Nightcrawler and forced him to let go of his grip he had on Leighton. "Ice him, I've got you covered!" Veil shouted. Max had been going crazy and Leighton was in a prime position to strike. She had no idea what Spark Plug was trying to do, but she didn't have time to think about it and wonder.

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Guin, Novikova, Runa, and Casper

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Location: Human Resistance HQ -> the Palace - New York
Skills: Mediumship, Telepathy

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October gave her wife a loving smile. "No tears, promise me, dearest," she insisted. She wasn't afraid to die - to die twice was something extraordinary and beyond the realm of normal people, so much so in fact that it was a slight point of pride. Her own family had a healthy relationship with death, but that didn't mean October was blind to the fact as to how hard this would be for Carolina regardless of the outcome of today's battle.

Novikova raised an eyebrow, curious as to what Maria was going to talk to Marygold about but she nodded. The X-Men had a terrible relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. at best - the last they had really seen of her had been shortly after the Phase Three experiments had given them their powers. Marygold had been the one to have the foresight to bring with her glasses that worked to hold back Novikova's dimensional sight, giving her the ability to live a (somewhat) normal life.

While Max apologized to Pietro, he hadn't said anything to Guin - the other person he had attempted to chain up. "No apology for me? Okay, that's cool. Whatever. Glad to know sexism is alive and well regardless of the universe." She doubted she would run into the fashion-conjuring-trigger-happy mutant again in the real world, but if she did, she most certainly was going to hold onto this grudge. It bothered her more that he only apologized to Pietro than the fact that Max had tried to attack them both in the first place.

Novikova frowned, hearing Annie's suggestion. "That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard," she said instantly. Luring Wanda with penguins?! She knew that some of the X-Men were underage, but she still hadn't expected them to throw out such a childish and idiotic suggestion. Speaking of idiots, she noticed that one of the boys brought back from Louisiana, Casper, had come on back over while the other one hadn't. She could practically smell the family drama coming off of them.

"Sorry about that, Jackie needed a pep talk to call his kid," he whispered to James, standing by his boyfriend as James healed Niah back up.

"His kid kinda reminded me of someone... I just can't think of who..." Ben mused. He couldn't contribute much to the strategy conversation, but he had noticed something in the little girl's mannerisms that he could have sworn he had seen somewhere before.

And once Maria returned, Novikova couldn't help herself. "What were you talking with Bloom about?" she inquired, using Marygold's codename.

Guin bit her lip slightly, hearing Pietro's outburst and she couldn't help but feel part of it was directed at her. Mary came over to try to calm Pietro down, just adding to the slight feeling of hurt. Pietro was her fiancé - she should be able to calm him down and he should know that she would always be on his side, but that didn't seem to be the case. There was so much about their relationship in this reality that just broke her heart. I don't think you're an idiot... she whispered to him through the mental link. I know that Guina... I wasn't including you in that rant...

"... Let's go destroy our happiness, then," Runa murmured, before walking through the portal Klara had created. She didn't want this dream to end, but she knew that it had to. She would be back to her old life soon enough, shunned by the host of Asgard due to the nature of her abilities... and to a certain extent, her violent temperament. Casper took James' hand and went through the portal, with Novikova heading through alongside Maria.

Guin hesitated for a moment, looking at her fiancé. She still didn't know if he would like the real world once they returned to it. If things go south... I love you, okay? I love you too Guina... Guin gave him a kiss, before she went through the portal and emerged on the other side to see her father squabbling with Queen Miranda. "Hey Dad... Wanna be on the same team for this?" she asked him, a part of her looking forward to the idea of fighting alongside her Avenger father.

The Uncanny X-Babies - Concluded

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⚡John Watts⚡

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Location: Big Bad HQ - Secret Elevator -> Elevator Room
Skills: Cyclone Generation, Superspeed

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Watts was too angry to feel the pain of Evelyn's punch and he wasn't about to just let someone lecture him, when in Watts' opinion their actions were far more likely to endanger Andrew's life. "Punch me again and you'll regret it," he warned Evelyn darkly, acting on pure rage regardless of his feelings for her. "If you believe that my exclamations somehow are more of a giveaway than a fucking jet landing here or the fact that no one has even fucking bothered to deal with cameras, then you are not HALF the warrior I thought you were!" he pointed out. This mission was never about stealth - that wasn't how they were going to beat these people and rescue Andrew. No, it was going to be a game where in the end, someone would most likely lose their life. He hoped that it wouldn't be those on the team he cared for, but he couldn't control that. The universe demanded balance, so if they were going to save Andrew... someone would have to be lost.

He ignored Belladonna's words, wanting the elevator to move faster and get them down to the lowest level. The doors had finally closed after what felt like an eternity of waiting and a moment later, the elevator started to shake, followed by a loud BOOM! He gave Evelyn a bit of a pointed look. He hadn't caused that, meaning that someone else was in this facility - as he doubted Andrew's abductors would make an explosion like that. He stepped out of the room with Sapphire and the others, hearing two female voices nearby. They must not have heard his screaming, only alerted by the explosion - he darted another pointed look over at Evelyn, practically screaming I told you so! at her. "I'll disorient them. You all, attack," Watts instructed, not bothering to wait for their agreement.

Zipping forward at superspeed, Watts flung the door open and then stepped to the side, moving his arms rapidly to create a cyclone that engulfed both Mastermind and Lady Deathstrike.

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🏹 Arthur Twist 🏹

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Location: Big Bad HQ - Lowest Level: Empty Room -> Machine Room
Skills: Stealth

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He couldn't detect any sign of movement towards him, allowing Arthur to take a stealthy peak - his explosion had done more damage than he had predicted. The ceiling had partially caved in, allowing him to glance at the hallway for the floor above. While some might have been deterred by this, Arthur smirked slightly. It would be easiest to perform a fast getaway with that, as it would allow him to use a grappling arrow to elevate himself to higher floors, rather than relying on the elevator being available.

Even better, his targets had left the room of interest and were walking in the direction of the explosion to investigate. He couldn't have planned any of this better. They didn't even pause near his door, continuing to move onwards. Lady Luck must have been smiling on him. Arthur moved silently into the hallway and then through the door Mastermind and Lady Deathstrike had just come from, closing the door quietly behind him. The first thing he noticed was that the room was not entirely vacant - there was a man with dark brown hair standing over at a machine.

His bow extended, Arthur was ready to let loose an arrow and kill this man. "Step away from the machine slowly with your hands up," Arthur requested. He recognized him as a member of the X-Factor team, one who was supposed to be dead. That made him a threat. Whatever the Sisterhood had done to him... Arthur wasn't going to trust him. Period.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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🌈 Leda Storm 🌈

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Location: Camp Half-Blood - Big House
Skills: N/A

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Leda hesitated for a moment, thinking over what Chiron had said - it seemed like there was a chance Ash's gift somehow wasn't from Hades. That was an even more troubling idea in Leda's opinion. The barrier prevented monsters from entering Camp Half-blood, unless someone summoned them or let them cross. Was there something out there powerful enough to send the skull into camp and pass it off as a gift from Ash's father? Or was there someone inside Camp Half-blood that had a grudge against the daughter of the Underworld? "Could someone else have sent that gift into camp?" she asked Chiron, not sure what answer she was hoping he would give her.

However as he asked her and her sister to make preparations for Ash's body, she nodded. She had barely known the girl and she never really liked her, but it was the right thing to do. The others may be fine with just jetting off to the city and acting like this hadn't happened, but that wasn't in Leda's nature. She could be bitchy, yet she was empathetic. She would help with Ash's burial preparations, even if her only real reason was in the hopes that someone would prepare herself for burial once she had left the mortal coil. "Yeah, we can do that..."

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✨ Rebecca Eventide ✨

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Location: Camp Half-Blood - the Big House/Infirmary
Skills: N/A

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Rebecca rolled her eyes at Zeke. "One - why would I abuse a poor book like that? And two - we have bigger problems at the moment." She nodded at Zeke, thinking quickly as to the various potions she could try to brew for Rosie but for the moment, the priority was getting the Oracle over to one of the beds. Rebecca awkwardly started to escort Rosie on over to one, only to freeze as a green mist poured out of Rosie. The mist swirled around them and Rebecca could not help but inhale it.

The infirmary was gone, replaced by something out of her nightmares. She saw the gigantic force in front of them, legions upon legions of monsters in what must have been the Pit. They were moving slowly in a uniform direction and Rebecca coughed as the vision faded away. Rosie fell to the floor and Rebecca barely managed to cushion the intensity of her landing, trying to grab the Oracle to keep her from banging her head too hard. "Hypnos, Athena, and Apollo..." Rebecca whispered, listing the gods that corresponded to those titles. The army she assumed was what she had just seen before her, but who was the Mother of Monsters? She looked at Zeke, hopeful that he might be familiar with that moniker.

Darke Magyk - Concluded

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@Nallore@BlueSky44@FantasyChic@KazAlkemi

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The Small Wet Country Across the Sea: November 6th, 12,508 - 12:30 AM

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Wizard Way, the Castle...

"Hold onto the eye - you will need to give it to Mimir once we reach him," Sága explained. "Mimir's dwelling is known as Well of Urd... Located in the Asgardian sky." Some legends said that the gods would meet there for council meetings, others said that only those who were willing to sacrifice could meet with Mimir at the well and receive his wisdom. Regardless of the myth, one thing was clear - the Well of Urd was where the most sacred knowledge was kept and those who were worthy could access it. "Now, if one of you would ask Heimdall to open the BiFrost, we can be on our way..." Sága requested. She must have been traveling by other means over the years, as not even Heimdall had seen her.

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Myrus Silvers

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Location: Dungeon One - the Palace
Skills: N/A

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"As do I," Myrus answered Amarantha softly, as she hoped he knew what he was doing. He was determined to do the right thing for the Castle and his people - he couldn't see a way around locking Amarantha up, with the only alternative being to kill her. Maybe they would be able to find her a cure and restore her to what she once was... but for now, he couldn't think of her as Luna's protector - he had to view her as a weapon of evil. He fastened her chains tightly, in order to prevent an easy escape. Once they were on her, Amarantha would begin to feel her life force being slowly drained - a little bit of her power leaving her with each passing moment.

"...You are allowed one visitation," Myrus then decided, looking at Amarantha. "The guards will check on you once a a day to bring you meals - let them know when you have decided who you wish to have visit you. If you make any attempts to escape... you will be burned at the stake," he finished, his voice scarcely above a whisper. His hands were shaking - he didn't like this part of being royalty, but he had to do right by the Castle and that meant making the hard decisions no matter what.

Meanwhile back upstairs, Apollodora sighed slightly. She couldn't blame them for the confusion - the timeline had been altered and her mother seemingly died. Arya had put her faith in the wrong child to ensure that things operated smoothly. Of course, it was hardly surprising... Arya and Cuyler had always favored Rainbrook, adoring him and singing his praises for the Magykal deeds he could perform. Apollodora meanwhile had hard blue eyes, never showing any Magykal talent. She had to carve a name for herself without any legacy to fall back upon.

"Arya Rincewind is not dead - tell me, did you ever find a corpse?" she asked Princess Luna. She only half listened to Queen Valda, not really caring for the little tantrum she was throwing. They were rather hung up on the fact that everyone believed Arya was dead and she decided they just needed to see proof then. "Take something of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard's and cast a locator spell - you'll see that she still draws breath, she just doesn't know who she is... and that's exactly what makes her dangerous."

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Violet

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Location: ???
Skills: N/A

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Fleur's father smirked at her slightly. "You say that your Coven has amassed power, but within two decades time will they remember you? I think not," he chided. "Your efforts will be undone by the heroes... They always can face the threats that they can name - it is only in the shadows that you can both hold and keep power, my child." However, he could not help but be proud of her ambition - he saw himself in her. She wanted to rule a country, maybe even the world - had he not been the same when he was her age? Was he that different now?

"I have already made my move, daughter..." he answered her, not offering more as to what he was going to do now. He wasn't about to tell her his entire plan, even if she was his flesh and blood.

Violet was skeptical of this entire situation. She didn't know if it was true or not that this demon was Fleur's father, but she knew evil when she saw it and he was pure evil. "With all due respect, as you two are related... He's too dangerous to leave alive, think of what he could do to the world... what he might have already done," she whispered to her ally. She wasn't going to attack the Lord Hellfire without hearing Fleur's thoughts on the matter. She would come and kill him another day if Fleur preferred to spare him for now. She wasn't about to rob a child of her father, at least not right in front of her.

"... The witching hour is waning, we should leave."

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Asgard: November 6th, 12,508 - 1:30 AM

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The Palace...

Antonije stared at Myth for a second, as if deciding whether or not to accept her care and affection - his chin then wobbled and a few tears escaped from his eyes as he nodded. "Okay," he murmured, trying to believe her words but a part of him was still afraid. He didn't know how he could help Sylvi and he didn't know if any of these gods knew how to as well. None of them had been able to bring back his parents from the dead, after all, and Bruce had almost failed in rescuing Marya and Medea from their Coven.

"Excellent, we'll be off then," Halley said. The prison was located below the Palace, meaning that once they reached the Palace she turned down the corridor with Myth and headed down to the dungeons. The prison was guarded by a small group of Asgardian soldiers, with each cell closed off by a yellow energetic barrier. No one had ever been able to escape it in the history of Asgard. Approaching an empty cell, Halley set Loki down inside and then pressed a switch, sealing the God of Mischief inside.

"I see you've brought another soul for me to guard," Forseti, the God of Justice and Retribution, commented with a smirk as he wandered on over to Myth and Halley. He was Runa's older brother, imprisoned for thousands of years for crimes against the multiverse... it was only recently that he had been reinstated to his old positions of running Asgard's justice system. "What was Loki's crime this time?"

"Loki is being held for questioning by the All-Mother," Halley informed her uncle. She crossed her arms, not exactly thrilled to see him... While Asgard may have forgiven Forseti for what he had done, she didn't. She couldn't forgive something so horrible and drastic, something that went against everything they stood for... It had taken a team of Midgardians to stop him, bringing even greater shame to the House of Odin.

"You can't hold people in my prison simply because you dislike them, niece," Forseti warned darkly. "You'll have to release Loki."

"No, I will not."

Meanwhile back upstairs, Antonije was looking at the little demigod skeptically. She looked incredibly small and sleepy to be an all powerful being capable of healing Sylvi of her vampirism. The extremely filthy stuffed bunny she had by her side hardly helped matters, just adding to the perception that she was just a little kid that wouldn't be able to help at all. His eyes flickered over to Bruce and he kept a strong hold on Sylvi. "I need you to help her," he told Nova. "A vampire turned her..."

🌠 Once Upon A Time 🌠(Concluded)

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🗡️ Megan Pendragon 🗡️

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Location: the Morgue -> Police Station
Skills: N/A

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She rose an eyebrow, considering what her brother had said. Their John Doe could have been living off the grid or someone was trying to conceal his identity. "I can get an ID on him, I'm certain of it - so that'll help to shed some light," she asserted. It wasn't too hard to get fingerprints off a corpse like this and Witchita was a small town - someone was bound to know this stranger. People couldn't just entirely disappear and vanish without a trace, especially the sort whose bodies were found near children's homes. However, as her brother teased her about trying to play detective, Megan couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Ha, ha, ha... Very funny."

She followed her brother out of the morgue and into the police station proper, only to run into Jack's partner Isabella. She was sweet, kind, and nauseating in Megan's opinion - as well as boring and predictable. "It's nothing that concerns you, Isabella," she told her plainly. "It's family business." It wasn't a lie. With the mysterious letter and the connection to the orphanage, where both she and Jack had been dropped off what must have been fifteen years ago, it really was family business. She didn't know how Jack felt about it, but she didn't want to involve his partner.

Agents of SHIELD - Concluded

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@BlueSky44@Kirah@Nallore@FantasyChic@Natsu

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The Hub - San Fransisco: December 24th, 2020 - 5:00 P.M.

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While most businesses allow their employees to enjoy Christmas Day with their families, S.H.I.E.L.D. does not have such luxury. Essential staff has been asked to stay during the holidays and there is no team more essential than the Secret Warriors. In the ongoing struggle against HYDRA, they have been a terrific sword - and with world ending apocalyptic threats, they had been the finest shield that the agency could ask for. And as a thanks for them sacrificing spending a holiday with their loved ones, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Maria Hill, quietly slipped some funds to the Secret Warriors' leader, Tinley Abercrombie, in order to let them celebrate Christmas at the base.

It was a chilly San Fransisco night and the common room was decorated as a winter wonderland. Everyone was encouraged to dress up slightly for the party - there was even going to be a Secret Santa gift exchange. For one of the agents, Oliver, it was his third official day as a member of the team - and with groups like these, fitting in and becoming a member is easier said than done...

And oh, one more little thing... In one corner of this room is the beautiful Christmas tree, where everyone can put their gifts beneath. "Santa" Raynor will then distribute them to their receipients during the party and the lucky soul can guess who their Secret Santa was! And in another corner there happens to be a thick strand of mistletoe...

Secret Santa List

NOTE: Please DM/PM me what your character is giving as a gift - this may be important for the plot of this arc!! This PM is due before this post hits day 8

Secret Santa - Recipient
Roman - Flynn
Novi - Tinley
Oliver - Harry
Harry - Tempest
Matt - Maria
Tinley - Novikova
Cass - Raynor
Tempest - Roman
Niah - Bonnie
Bonnie - Matt
Flynn - Niah
Raynor - Sparky
Sparky - Oliver
Maria - Cass

Everyone - Goose (if you know what's good for you...)

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Bonnie Chase

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Location: Bonnie's Room - the Hub
Skills: Quebecois

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Bonnie was Skyping with her parents in her room at the moment, wearing a scarlet A-line dress and a soft white cardigan. "Non, Papa, il est très sympas," she reassured her father. While she didn't speak French much around the team, she usually did with her Québecois father - though with her American mother she stuck with English. "Et bien... Je ne sais pas - il n'est pas catholique comme nous." She was twirling her hair slightly, feeling a bit nervous and excited. It was the first party she was going to Flynn with as a couple.

"Remember to watch your drink, sweetheart, especially in today's society," her mother cautioned.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Maman, I will, I will - but it's not like any of my teammates would be dumb enough to try to drug me... You know me, I'd poison them and get away with it as revenge."

"Do you have protection with you?" her mother then asked and Bonnie's cheeks turned bright red.

"I love you guys, have a good Christmas Eve, I'm going to go before I die of embarrassment," Bonnie said, blowing kisses to her parents before ending the call. In some ways, it was fortunate that they no longer lived near enough that they could easily visit - she hardly wanted to have to endure her parents meeting Flynn in person. And besides, things were even still a little bit weird. They didn't just have the missing year or so that Flynn remembered and she didn't from the Age of Ultron, Wanda Maximoff had also temporarily warped reality to make mutants the dominant species on the planet... yet another alternate timeline that Bonnie had no recollection of but Flynn recalled perfectly.

She slipped on her flats and grabbed her purse, as well as the present she had prepared for her Secret Santa. She didn't have a Christmas gift for Flynn, as she had given him Hanukkah presents instead.

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Raynor Blake

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Location: the Common Room - the Hub
Skills: N/A

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A serious of unfortunate events had caused the Asgardian Raynor, God of Lies and Light, to be forced to wear a Santa costume. Despite living on Earth for a few decades, Raynor had come to the conclusion that being forced to be Santa was a form of public shaming. He had to wear this awful cherry red suit with a fake beard that would make Odin weep with despair, as well as stuff his shirt with a pillow in order to give him a large belly. Yule had begun two days ago and would last until the second day of January.

One of the customs of celebrating Yule included sacrificing a boar - it had been a bit awkward when Sparky walked in on him completing the sacrifice to Freyr, covered in the animal's blood. Of course, the rest of the agents on base would benefit from it - sitting in the common room at the food table was the roasted and seasoned boar, ready to be consumed.

He had already carved a Yule Log and he had discretely placed it against the wall in the common room, the runic symbols a warding against evil. Of course, there was something about the Christmas traditions that clashed with him - the damn mistletoe in the corner of the room. Raynor was hardly the most open person in the world, so naturally none of his fellow agents knew that mistletoe had been the cause of his father Baldur's death in his home reality.

Sitting on a couch in the common room, Raynor was on his third bottle of rum. He couldn't feel the alcohol just yet, but hopefully he would soon enough.

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Dominika Novikova

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Location: Outside the Hub
Skills: N/A

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The Christmas Party was due to start a five o'clock and still, Novikova couldn't help but dread it. She had been fired from S.H.I.E.L.D. and while she loved her career at Pym Tech, she couldn't help but be bitter about the circumstances regarding her dismissal. Yes, her actions had been illegal but she had saved people - and Niah had fixed the Age of Ultron mess anyways, so overall there had been no harm done, right? No one had threatened to quit if she wasn't reinstated... they had just moved on with their lives.

"We could leave, there's probably some rad parties at mutant friendly clubs going on," Novikova suggested to Maria, standing outside of the Hub. Even though it wasn't snowing (and likely would not snow in San Fransisco unless the world was ending), she could still feel the winter chill. She had earmuffs on, a habit she adopted in the winter as her ears always quickly were cold, and in her hand she had a bag containing several bottles of vodka, as well as the gift for her Secret Santa. "Besides, I sneaked a few inhibitors from work, so we could always see about finally playing Naked Twister properly..." she added with a slight smirk.

The Gifted - Concluded

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@Nallore@FantasyChic@BlueSky44@Achronum@Trainerblue192@KazAlkemi@Framing A Moose

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Washington D.C.: September 10th, 2020 - 10:10 AM

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The Amtrak Station...

"Don't worry, Jinx, we've got this," the Three-in-One said in unison. Their eyes were glowing blue and it wasn't too long before the train came into view. There was no sign of it slowing down initially, until the girls smirked. "Stop the train," they ordered, speaking into the mind of the conductor. There was a loud screech as the train came to a rapid halt, a metallic scent clinging to the air. The triplets then dove into the mind of the security guard on the train, commanding him to draw his gun on the conductor and other staff members. "Fire. Fire. Fire."

The sound of gunshots on the train wasn't muffled, with the staff members dead and just the patients remaining. The triplets then turned to look at Jinx and the White Queen. "We'll have the car ready - good luck," they then said. There looked to be about three passenger cars on the train, so hopefully it wouldn't take the two of them too long to find Legion and his sister... but then again, they were about to enter a train filled with highly unstable mutants.

What could possibly go wrong?

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JFK Memorial Hospital - Gift Shop...

Colossus frowned slightly, putting down the frilly stuffed bear and he grabbed the next best one - it was plain brown with a propeller hat. He smiled slightly, hoping that his sister would like it. The X-Men associate spun the propeller lightly, watching the cheaply made piece of plastic move for just a few moments. He always tried to remind himself to appreciate the little things in life, especially when doing hero work. Any day could be his last.

"Good work," Colossus praised Feedback. He went up to the cashier and paid for the bear, putting it carefully into a little bag, before he stepped back and turned into his metallic form, letting out an exaggerated roar as he awkwardly picked up a display case and threw it across the room. "Da, I am angry! Raaaaaa!" Colossus shouted. Somehow, he was even less frightening than he was normally... It seemed that Feedback and Moonwalker would need to really supplement this distraction.

JFK Memorial Hospital - Fifth Floor...

Casper had gotten into the elevator with James and Sapphire, about to defend James against Sapphire's accusations only for him to defend himself - and role-play a bit while he was at it. Casper filed that under information that was helpful to have for the future, especially if this was going to turn into some sort of a relationship. "Look, I get it, we're all stressed as shit with what Danny is going through... And yes Sapphire you've been friends with him way longer than we have, but you know what they say in Girl Scouts, our cookie overlords? Make new friends and keep the old - one is silver but another's gold. So you're gold, we're silver, and together, we're any robber's dream."

"...Right, so I'm going to forget you ever said that," Ben muttered. "Let's just get the drugs and leave, okay?"

Casper nodded, taking a deep breath. He could see shimmering shapes at the edges of his vision, usually signaling that some ghosts were about to manifest, but none of them had so far (except for Ben). He let out a bit of a sigh and glanced around. He didn't see any doctors at the moment, meaning that maybe Feedback had done her job or maybe all of the doctors were just around the corner or something. At any rate, stalling wasn't going to help anyone so Casper walked to the left and headed down the hallway, hoping that they would stumble across the medicine room soon.

The Cherry Bomb - Barroom...

Havok looked at the Polaroid photos for a moment, thinking. "Well that's Negasonic," he murmured, pointing out one of the grumpy looking teen and an Asian girl with pink hair (Yuriko, Negasonic's girlfriend). None of the others stood out to him at first, until he saw one and it sent a jolt down his spine. "...That's Mystique, she uses that form a lot," Havok explained. What was Mystique doing on the wall of the Cherry Bomb - she was an associate of Magneto, not Shaw. And why would someone working with Magneto ever have anything to do with Shaw? The two of them should have been natural enemies from what Havok knew - especially if the theory that Shaw was a Nazi scientist was correct.

But what Glimpse had said about the man Jack was talking with... It kept on gnawing away at him. He had heard about someone like that before - and he was pretty certain it had been his brother, Scott, who told him. "That's frustratingly familiar... My brother knows who that is, I'm certain of it," he offered, keeping his voice low so that way Jack and the mysterious stranger wouldn't be able to hear them. "... But if Scott told me about him, he's not good news. My brother I swear knows more villains than heroes..."

Sunshine frowned as Jack put his hands over her ears, she wasn't a little kid. And besides, with him doing that, it was only going to draw attention to how she was definitely too young to be in a place like this. "Ugh, Hufflepuff, I don't need you to do that," Sunshine protested. "I'm not a baby," she reminded him. She then started trying to pry his hands off of her ears, but he was a lot stronger than her and she made little to no progress.

"Relax, Jacques, I'm afraid I have some... business... to attend to," Essex said, rising from the booth and taking his cane. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Electra," he said, winking at his son before exiting the bar, using the cane to support his weight as he walked. It wasn't too long before he was completely out of sight, even when looking out the bar windows. For a man with a limp, he had an amazing walking pace - almost too good to be true.

"Damn it get your hands off of me," Sunshine hissed. "I wanted to ask him why the hell he was at my trial..." she then added, figuring that maybe that would get Jack to care. And since her chance to get answers had just walked out of the Cherry Bomb - and she hadn't noticed anything yet connecting this place to Erg's death - she could take a few minutes to grill the P.I. about all of this. "What do you know about him? Tell me or I'll give you the flu - it's way too early for you to have been vaccinated so that can't protect you." Of course, even if Jack said anything, she wouldn't really be able to hear it with his hands over her ears.

The Cherry Bomb - Basement...

Veil had been sent flying backwards, her head about to collide with the base of the staircase when she quickly threw up a force field. She smacked directly into it, but at the very least it was a slightly softer and far less lethal blow. Forcing herself back up to her feet, she could hardly see what was going on in the room in front of her - there were two glowing figures and then a pair of yellow eyes in the darkness. "Yeah, just peachy," she called back. She had dropped the invisibility around her and Spark Plug, mostly since it wasn't worth the energy it took to keep it up at the moment.

There was some ice now on the wall by the door, but it wasn't enough to really do anything to impact the temperature of the room. Veil, however, noted that Max was down in here - and that made her say something she was almost certain she would regret. "Max - summon some lanterns!" They had the advantage over fireballs of being easy to control and the advantage over most things of not needing any electricity to operate. She didn't trust Max with summoning fire, but lanterns? Hopefully he could manage that.

"Dein Ziel ist scheiße, Mädchen," the demon, Nightcrawler, whispered in Leighton's ear. He grabbed onto her and they teleported again. This time he threw Leighton into the bookcase and she hit the ground, a few volumes of books falling off the shelves and hitting the ground around her. She was rather lucky that none of them actually hit her - that would have smarted quite a bit. The demon then teleported again, appearing in front of Max, and Nightcrawler wrapped his tail around Max's neck, starting to strangle the mutant.

"Und diese Blätter sind dumm."

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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🌈 Leda Storm 🌈

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Location: Camp Half-Blood - the Barrier
Skills: N/A

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Leda's blood was still boiling slightly at the reactions of the others towards Ash's demise. In her opinion, it was bloody ridiculous. Sure, she found the daughter of Hades to be creepy and unsettling at best, but she was still just a little kid. Maybe seeing so many monsters die had desensitized the others, but Ash hadn't been a monster - she was a demigod just like them. Would they have reacted differently if it had been Kristin on the ground, stabbed by the animated skull? Or Mary or Zeke?

"After we finished off the Empousai, her talking skull... It made itself a body and it killed her," she told Chiron and Mr. D, her voice somehow managing to be steady. "It must've stabbed her over a dozen times..." she trailed off, thinking for a moment. Beyond the unsettling manner of Ash's death, she had to wonder just how it had happened. Shouldn't the dead know better than to assault the children of Hades? Hadn't that skull been a gift from Hades to his child? "I don't get it, her magical item shouldn't have done that... right?" she questioned, looking at the two staff members for an answer. "She's the bloody kid of Hades... So why the hell did the skeleton attack her? The way I see it, that only could have happened if something else was controlling it..."

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✨ Rebecca Eventide ✨

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Location: Camp Half-Blood - the Big House/Infirmary
Skills: N/A

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Rebecca noticed that Zeke's mind seemed to be elsewhere - no matter, she could guess as to which potions the healers of the camp were most likely running short on. And even if she had no clue what to brew, she could always let her mind go idle and pick a recipe from her grimoire at random to work on - sometimes she found the most breathtaking hidden gems of magic that way. The craft required a great deal of patience, but also intuition and cunning - traits that Rebecca had in spades. Her eyes flickered to the side as she felt the gigantic gust of wind go through the Big House. Of course, her attention was more focused on Rosie.

"Rosie? You look like you've been at a crossroads," Rebecca murmured, going over to the Camp Halfblood Oracle and putting her hands on her to steady her. "Come on, you should sit down for a spell - I can make you some tea or something to soothe you," she suggested, since they could hardly give her nectar. Tea had magical healing properties in Rebecca's opinion anyways. The natural world provided so much if only people could stop for a moment and pay attention to the whispers of the secrets of the universe hidden within the trees.

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Guin, Novikova, Runa, and Casper

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Location: Human Resistance HQ - New York
Skills: Mediumship

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Casper wasn't a complete idiot - he knew that his brother was pushing aside his own feelings. He didn't know how Jack was so certain that his daughter existed in the real world, maybe he had just decided to believe in hope rather than despair. At any rate, Casper glanced at the others. "Excuse us, my baby brother and I need to talk," he told them. "Whatever you're planning, you've got us on your side - and we don't have mental powers so... Just say where and we'll go. Unless my father's there - then hard pass..." Casper then dragged his brother into a corner where they could talk privately. "Jackie, it's okay to be in pain..." he then told him, before pulling Jack in for a hug.

"I'm fine Casper, you worry too much about me, I'm fine, honest..."

"I think you should call Lexi, Jackie... Just to say goodbye."

"I-I-I don't know Casper," he stammered somewhat, looking down at the ground and shoving his hands into his pockets.

Casper let go of his brother. "As someone who sees ghosts... You don't want to die with any regrets. Maybe if you talk to Lexi, she might remember something about the real world... some clue for you to find her... And if you never do find her... She deserves to know that her dad loves her - we never got that, so end the cycle, okay?"

"How exactly do you tell that to a 6 year old or something, what exactly is going on, that we are shifting things back to the real world and this world isn't real? Since let's face it, odds are she's going to ask a lot of questions..."

"...Jackie, just call your daughter, okay?" Casper answered. He figured that Jack wasn't really worried about how to explain things to Lexi - he was probably more scared about talking to his daughter for what could be the very last time in his life.

Jack just stared at the ground, not sure what to really respond to that with. He wasn't sure if he should, since he knew that there was a chance he'd never see Lexi ever again in any reality. Sure, his father had said that he had a child in the real world what felt like forever ago, but still, that didn't mean he actually did. There was a chance that his father was just messing with him or something, but he was hopeful that he would be able to find Lexi in the real world.

Casper hesitated. "I'm not going to force you to call her, if you think that's best but..."

"I just don't know what to do..."

"...What's stopping you from picking up the phone, Jackie?"

"I-I-I don't really know..."

"I think you do know," Casper urged softly.

"Yeah, you're right, I do know, but I don't really want to talk about it Casper..."

"I think you should say it..."

"What do you expect me to say to you? I just told you I don't want to talk about it."

Casper sighed, looking down at the ground. "Never mind, Jackie, forget I tried..." he mumbled.

"...Sorry Casper... You want to know the truth, fine, I'm scared okay, the world is a big place, so even if she is still in the real world what are the odds I'd ever find her again? Odds are I won't be able to, and essentially there being nothing I can do about it... I'm stuck alright and don't know what to really do about it."

He bit his lip slightly. "Actually, there is a way you could find her..."

"How?"

"My father, he can track mutants with Cerebro... He could use it to find Lexi no matter where she is in the world..." Casper explained quietly.

"...I never want to ask Xavier about anything or for anything Casper... No matter what..."

Casper shook his head. "No, no more broken families Jackie. I-if my father can reunite you with your daughter then... Th-then he'll have finally done some good. A-and if you won't do it for Lexi, then do it for me..." Casper started to cry slightly. "I don't want another kid to grow up afraid of the dark and wishing for their father's love."

"...Are you sure you want me to go to Xavier? Like, positive about it... Since even still, you know he's not the best person around... Not even sure if he'd be willing to help..."

He nodded. "I'm s-s-sure, Jackie."

"...Okay Casper..."

Casper dried his eyes. "So... Go call your kid, Jackie, okay?"

"Okay..."

---

On one level, Guin was glad that Pietro had sent Max flying - the boy had been trying to attack them and she didn't really enjoy people attempting to hurt her, especially when they were idiotic enough to assume she was working for Wanda. "Piet, stop - you've made your point, no sense wasting your strength on an idiot," Guin cautioned, putting a hand on her fiancé's arm in an attempt to keep him from strangling the fashionista.

"He's an idiot, so why can't I strangle him? Would probably make things easier for everyone in the long run if the guy literally jumps to conclusions in two seconds when he walks through the door..."

"Because we don't kill people," Guin reminded him.

"...What about seriously injure?"

She rolled her eyes slightly. "I swear you sound like a Firefly character..." she muttered, pushing his hand down with hers. "If he attacks us again, then sure, shatter his kneecaps. But until that happens, we're just going to leave him alone okay? He won't bother us if he knows what's good for him."

"...So no breaking any limbs?"

Guin nodded, her nose bleed having stopped but her face still had a fair amount of blood on it. "No breaking any limbs."

"...You should probably wash the blood off your face," Pietro said, ignoring the fact that he himself was still covered in blood from what happened at the Baxter Building.

"Only if you wash the blood off of yourself," Guin wagered. She figured she wouldn't be able to get him to clean himself up otherwise. Besides, she also knew if she straight out refused he probably would just use his speed and clean her up before she would even have a chance to properly protest it... and given this Pietro, his idea of a change of clothes for her was probably a ballgown.

"...I honestly forgot that the blood was there..."

She nodded slightly. "Go clean yourself up, please?"

Pietro looked at the ground for a moment, before he sped off. Guin was left by herself for a few moments, before Pietro was back in a gust of wind, having changed his clothes so he wasn't covered in blood anymore at least. "Better?"

"Much better," she told him with a slight smile, before kissing his cheek.

The drug addict spiritualist, Casper, had excused himself and his apparent brother, the two of them going off to talk in private. Meanwhile, Guin couldn't help but notice that her father was uncharacteristically silent. "Well since we've got Dumbledore's Nephew here," Guin prefaced, gesturing towards Doctor Strange, "and a couple of other magic users... What if they all did some magic to try to cancel out Wanda's? It would keep her from being able to easily turn us all into toads or something during the fight."

Runa considered it carefully. "My magic is not as strong here as it is in the real world... But I can try," she agreed. She still kept her eyes away from Doctor Strange, still worrying that he might label her as a threat to the multiverse and decide to eliminate her. At least her cousin was here again - it was comforting to have Klara nearby, even in their weakened forms.

"I can help with the distraction," Novikova volunteered. She shot a side eye at the little Stark, wishing that Max had been successful in his attempts to attack her and Quicksilver. She had fought Luminous before and doubted that she was that different than her genetic template. Of course, the kiss from Maria had lifted her spirits slightly, especially since she had been able to return it. In the real world, physical contact between them wasn't possible. "Where is the Princess now? We should head on there now.... Before she realizes we're all assembled."