T'was the night before Christmas,
Or maybe before,
When in snuck an assassin,
Through the mansions front doors....




Evelyn hadn't heard from her parents since the whole "lets make amends" fiasco. Actually, their silence had disturbed her a little considering it ended in physical confrontation and threats of retaliation. Her father wasn't really know for letting things go, so as the holidays drew nearer, her suspicion increased. Maybe they could just be nice and stay quiet forever. But the echoes, if nothing else, increased the sense of foreboding she felt. As she paced in her bedroom, the other mansion residence sound asleep, something didn't feel right. She never was great at discerning her own paranoia from the echoes warnings though.

While all the dear children deeply asleep,
The midnight invader continued to creep,
Down towards the room, where a mirrorwalker lay,
To complete an assignment,
Before Christmas day.

It was the night before Christmas, and Mirror had spent most of her day decorating the Mansion and setting up presents and a Christmas tree in the common room for the kids that had nowhere else to go for the holidays. It was a long day with lots to do; Miss Taylor spent all of it in the kitchen, cooking and baking, and the rest of the X-team helped out where they could. It was well into the night when finally everyone was sent to sleep.

Maya was just out of the shower, wearing Gawain's pjs and drying her hair with a towel, when she felt the cool air on her skin. The window was cracked open, and her whole body tensed up.

"Who's here?"

She reached for the light switch, but never made it. The blow came from behind her, from a dark corner of the room, and swept her feet from under her. Maya landed with a thud, and noted with bitter realization that Angua was still outside for her evening walk. No help coming from the wolfhound.

She kicked wildly and scrambled to her feet. Her mysterious attacker was moving around in the darkness fast and without making any noise. Maya lunged again, aiming a punch at the shape's center. She was mostly fighting blind, but she still needed to try. The shape dodged and grabbed her, bringing her to the ground; something clattered noisly to the floor.

Ouch.

The echoes picked up on the quiet thump before Evelyn really realized something was wrong. The noise came from Mirror's room, which was perhaps what caught her interest first. Mirror was usually asleep by this time, but with the decorations for the holidays and stuff, she had been up later taking care of things. As she opened the door and took a walk down the hallway though, the noise seemed a little excessive. She didn't hear Angua either, so that was...odd.

"Mirror?" She called out at the door, reaching for the handle.

>>"Mirror?"

Oh hell.

Maya twisted and threw off her attacker; the shade landed nimbly on its feet. Maya rolled away and stood, grasping around for something that could be used as a makeshift weapon.

"Eve! Don't come in..."

The share lunged and Maya reacted, but it was a feint. Instead of hitting her it moved towards the door, tore it open, and yanked Evelyn inside, shutting the door again. In the momentary light from the hallway Maya could see that her attacker was female, not as tall as she was, but definitely stronger built. It threw Evelyn towards one of the beds, then turned to face Maya again.

"Sh*t."

[OOC: Let me know if you need to change the godmodding part]

Paranoia no. Danger, yes. Evelyn yelped in surprise as the door flew open and someone yanked her into the room. The someone felt familiar, but the echoes didn't have enough time to process it as she tumbled towards the bed. Catching herself, she spun out her elbow, letting the echoes guide her in the darkness towards the attacker. Danger room session kicked in her instincts as she joined the fray.

"Hey! Kids are trying to sleep!" She hissed.

Okay. Maybe not the best response to a midnight attacker, but unless this person was santa, they should know better.

Although, the attacks did seem rather forceful...

[Danger]

Thank you captain obvious. Evelyn tried to figure out what seemed familiar in the brief moment when the door opened. The present was taking away from some of her thinking power though.

>>"Hey! Kids are trying to sleep!"

Evelyn was yanked into the room and into the fight, and she picked up the pace pretty fast. Maya hoped that the echoes would help her fight in the dark, and between kicks and punches she lunged for the light switch again. This time she reached it and the lights flickered open, a split second before she was grabbed by the mysterious attacker, all dressed in black, and pushed against the wall with a knife at her neck.

But no stabbing followed.

"Aaaaand, you're dead." noted the attacker with equal parts disapproval and mischief in her voice.

"... MOM?!"

Evelyn was fine fighting in the dark. She liked letting the echoes guide her without all the distractions you could find using your eyes. So when the lights flicked on, it helped Mirror, but also temporarily stunned her.

Bright bright bright oweeeee....wait,what?

Evelyn stared at the woman before her. Part of her was freaked out by the knife suddenly going for Maya's throat, but the other half was just taken aback by who was holding it.

"...Okay, why is your family member the one wielding weapons at you?" Evelyn remarked in confusion, still slightly on edge in case this was a less than family reunion. Mind control, general bad news happened from time to time with the x-men. You never put your guard down too quick.

Maya stared as her attacker stepped back and peeled off the mask and the scarf that covered her face. For a few moments, that face was nondescript, easily forgettable, and then the features rearranged themselves to show Jillian Morris smiling broadly at her daughter.

"Hello Maya."

>>"...Okay, why is your family member the one wielding weapons at you?"

"Because she was paid to do so" Jillian answered, putting the knife away and turning to look at Evelyn "And you are lucky the people who put out a hit on my kid decided to go to the agency I happen to work for. Hi Evelyn, nice to see you again."

Maya gaped, shaking her head slowly. This was not how she planned Christmas Eve would go.

..."Nice to see you again..."

"Nice to...see you too. Wait, who put a hit out on Mirror?" While the x-men didn't make a lot of friends, lately things had been a bit on the calmer side. She wasn't exactly expecting an assassination attempt anytime soon.

Unless Gawain was hanging out with Danny....There was something about a mob she may have recalled hearing. But Gawain's mom worked for a classier organization than that. Well, not necessarily classy, but spending. She paid for her services once herself so that gave her a little information on it.

>>"Nice to...see you too. Wait, who put a hit out on Mirror?"

"Excellent question" Jillian noted, pulling up a chair and sitting down between the two of them. Maya sank down to sit on her bed, still slightly stunned from the turn of events, looking at Evelyn a little lost, then back at her mother.

"Wait, did they know I was your daughter when they sent you?..."

"Yeah" the assassin nodded "I convinced them it would be interesting."

"Seriously?!"

"It is complicated. But yeah, basically. As for your question..." Jillian turned back to Evelyn "... there is really no good way to say it, but I think you already know the answer."

...you already know the answer.

Evelyn's heart sank. While a small corner of her brain was already considering the possibility, it felt too unthinkable to linger on. Her parents were terrible, but this was...would they? She shook her head from side to side, as if that could stop the echoes from chiming the answer. Parents parents parents parents.

"How would they even..." She already knew that answer too. She leaned against the wall, careful not to touch anyone as she did. With the volume her powers were yelling right now, she felt like the force of the thoughts in anyone's head would be an unwelcomed intrusion.

>>"How would they even..."

Maya watched as realization dawned on Evelyn's face a moment before her own caught up. She stared at her mother in disbelief. Jillian shrugged. There was really no good way of breaking the news.

"Wait... Evelyn's parents put a hit on me?!"

It wasn't entirely unexpected, to be fair. She had been waiting for some kind of righteous retaliation, although since they had already disowned Eve and had no power over the Mansion, she was not sure what it would be. But still

"They. Actually hired. An assassin guild to get me out of the picture?..."

That was just... a whole new level of crap.

"Yeah" Jillian admitted "Apparently they had the money and the motive. I don't know what you did to piss them off this much... other than dating their daughter... but they decided it was enough reason to kill for."

"I can't believe this."

This was messed up. This was so messed up. Maybe they just didn't think it through all the way. Hire an assassin out of spite... Right? No...Yes? It was so ridiculous. Who hires an assassin?

Well, her and Mirror did, but that was for... And they used... "Oh hell....the credit card..." She whispered. Her head thunked against the wall behind her. This was totally her fault then. Mirror could have gotten killed...

"So what happens now? Obviously, no one is dead...I don't think hits just like...vanish on a whim." She tried to think. She inched further away from Jillian just to be on the safe side. The echoes were rattling in her head at a rate even she felt dizzy by. Connecting dots, trying to find solutions, analyzing the situation...Overload.

>>"Oh hell....the credit card... So what happens now? Obviously, no one is dead...I don't think hits just like...vanish on a whim."

"They don't." Mirror's mother nodded, making no one's mood better at all. Maya sighed, moving from her seat to Evelyn's side. She didn't reach out to touch her, since emotional overdrive probably did nothing good for transferring echoes, but she felt like she needed to be closer to the girlfriend whose parents tried to get her murdered.

"I'm trying to figure out if they wan't me dead because I'm a mutant, because I'm dating their daughter, because I'm half lesbian, or because I punched her father in the nose." she sighed, and Jillian let out a low whistle at the last one.

"You're obviously not gonna murder me" Maya noted "So, are you here because you have a plan?"

"Me being here was the plan" the older woman nodded "From this point on... we gotta work on this together."

Mutant, half-lesbian...nose... Evelyn's mind rattled with the possibilities. All of the above? Was there a check-box for that? Her parents were rich bigots? Was there one for that? She groaned and rubbed her eyes. Suddenly she felt very very tired. Plan....

"I don't suppose you can just...assassinate them instead, can you?" She remarked with a rueful grimace. She was tired of this game. While she was no longer a doting daughter, there were lines being drawn in the sand. They crossed boundaries, oh they were testing their limits with her. Evelyn was stuck somewhere between mortified, pissed off, and horrified.

[Frustration, confusion, disbelief.]

Checkbox: all of the above. She was feeling all of the above.