In partnership with the New York City Police and Fire departments, the Historical Preservation Society had planned this Haunted House. Without a doubt the Lion's Head Hotel held an antiquated feeling. The building itself was structurally sound, but with the collapse of the Stock Market, and the struggling economy that followed in the years after had given the dated wallpaper and architectural details an eerie feeling. Nearly seventy years of the building being closed had given it the abandoned factor needed for spooks. Well planned and organized spooks controlled by volunteers of course. Much of the atmosphere that made this such a convincing haunted house was the original hotel. The walls had not been knocked down to make room for crowds of people to move about, there were few false walls for hired performers to hide behind and jump out at people. In fact most of those false walls were up to keep the patrons of the haunted house from wandering into rooms that might be less than safe, or to keep some of the most historical elements safe.

Not much had to be done for aging the Lion's Head. Cobwebs were as authentic as the crown molding. Some of the nights profits would go to the removal of the graffiti that made it seem as though mentally ill patients had been given a can of paint and told to express the word invocation. Actors dressed as if they were employees or guests from the Lion's Head back in it's glory days. The idea was that they were people who simply didn't know that they were dead. Disturb and maybe startle the patrons, but don't terrorize them. Past Halloweens in New York City had been rather... eventful. This year there was going to be someplace where families could bring their small children without fear of blackouts or costumed people convinced that they were zombies, witches, or Greek gods.

It was Locke's favorite holiday, and this year he was spending it with two of his favorite people. Kendra had agreed to fly out to New York City for a visit, and with her came his little brother and sister. The family had decided to head to the haunted house event at the Lion's Head. For the twins it was all about the fun of Halloween, and spending time with their big brother. Chris still viewed Locke as a hero. How close that was to the truth was unknown to the kid. Locke needed a break from the whole saving the world while being a fulltime student. Tonight the Earthwalker was just a guy dressed like a zombie, a minion hanging off one arm, and a clown/cowboy/doctor on the other.

"Did you really take someone else Trick or Treating?" the costume confused nine year old asked, pulling his brother in one direction, while his minion sister went the other, trying to hide from a tall man who looked like his chest was a chest of drawers. Chris's question sounded like an accusation. Locke grinned and angled his body to keep Mai hidden. Chris had always been the bolder of the two, but once Mai knew that she was going to be safe, she'd be into the haunted house.

"It's not like that. Kid needed a chaperone," Locke explained. There was a ding and a false elevator door opened to an empty space. Mai peeked out just as a "guest" dresed in an oversized bathrobe screamed and closed the elevator door. Sensing that Mai needed to know that it was suppose to happen, he gave her hand a squeeze and laughed. Mai looked up at him and gave that little grin that all women do when they can't believe what men find funny. "You know what? The RA for my dorm did that same thing last week, only he had on bunny slippers too." It was a small lie to make his sister feel more at ease.

Evelyn wasn't exactly big on the whole 'Halloween' thing. Having voices in your head sort of took out all the fun of it. It didn't matter that she already knew the costumes were fake and people were dressing up, but the echoes felt the need to point out every flaw, every stitch, every fake blood splatter. (Then there was one year they pointed out a few real ones. She was somewhat skittish at that point.)

When you lived in the biggest mutant hub around, there were bound to be some real monsters lurking about. That didn't make her feel relieved. It just made her feel somewhat drained listening to the constant feed of information, waiting for the one tidbit that was useful. It was like tapping a phone line, knowing she had to pay attention whether it was interesting or not. As soon as you hung up, you'd miss something.

Not that she could really hang up on her powers.

This year though, she at least had something to do. The Historical Preservation society was working with the Fire Department, putting on some 'haunted house'. Evelyn was recommended to help because of her work with the MET. While most of the staff was on hand acting, she was there mostly to keep an eye on the building and see it didn't come to harm. She sort of had a knack for that sort of thing. Plus, the fire department knew her relationship with the x-men, which was just a bonus. So maybe she could have been doing something more fun for Halloween, like maybe trying to convince Mirror to go out with her to dinner or something. But at least here she could let the echoes be useful instead of just nosy.

Guests were gradually starting to arrive, and Evelyn drifted from room to room keeping an eye on things. Pale white hair, tattered white dress and natural pale skin, she had been volunteered quickly for the role of ghost which allowed her to 'drift' without looking out of place. So far, so good. No one needed to warn her she was a terrible actress, so she didn't even try. So long as she didn't spend much time with customers, she was fine. Somewhere between rounds, the echoes gave an interesting heads up though. One of the figures who just arrived was one of the x-men she trained with over the summer. Even in make-up, they could make out the face. Maybe she should say hi...but she resisted for the moment, not wanting to spoil things for the kids he brought along.

It was amazing how only the halloween before last, she'd killed zombies with Mirror. It seemed to her like that had been years ago. So much had changed. She had changed. Time had a funny way of making that happen. The Halloween two years ago had been scary. Awesome. Traumatic. There were several memories connected to it, and Mirror, but she definitely hadn't gotten caught up on those. What had happened had happened, for better or worse. She took the good and the bad alike, and moved on. Halloween was supposed to be fun. That was why she'd dressed up in a blue Officer Jenny style police uniform, with a blue-green Jenny wig and a stuffed Growlithe doll. This was Halloween, and she planned to have fun.

It had been a hotel in the past. A nice one. But now, it was rundown, and being preserved in honor of 'history.' She'd read about it in the paper, and been intrigued. Seemed like something fun. She'd tried to get her friends to go with her, but most had had parties or underaged drinking or something inane. Amelia hadn't gotten in touch with all of her friends. She hadn't called Serena or Gina or Jameson. She supposed this Halloween would be her running solo, and had left it at that.

The plush Growlithe got smooshed just a bit closer to her chest as she entered the hotel through the front entrance, glancing around. It seemed like it had been well-decorated. There was a guy ahead of her, with who he assumed were his siblings. The girl seemed far too young to be his girlfriend. And they certainly weren't behaving as such.

This would be fun.

Locke grinned as a ghost drew near. He didn't leave his room much, so seeing someone that he not only recognized, but had interacted with was pretty awesome. Not wanting to make her break character, but still wishing to acknowledge that he saw his first student, Locke nodded to Ms. Summers. The twins had wanted to do something fun on Halloween, but Locke ahd just wanted to visit the Lion's Head. He liked history.

Mai found something that she liked. "Twins!" Mai exclaimed, letting go of Locke's arm to dash over to two young teen girls. There weren't many sets of multiples in her school, so finding people that came in pairs like her thrilled Mai. Especially if it was a set of girls. Mai didn't realize yet that the girls in the pretty dresses were actresses hired to scare people. Locke gave a small cry of his sister's name, but didn't worry too much. His heart knew every detail about his aiblings, and for the first six yeara of their lives, Locke's powers had been picking up on the impressions that the twins mhad on the earth.

And Chris was demanding his attention now. Locke's arm was being shaken now. "Locke! Locke!" Chris said in a whisper. At least what Chris considered a whisper. As quuiet as Locke was, Chris could be loud. "It's Officer Jenny!"

Locke looked over his shoulder to sneak a peek at what had caught Chris's attention. He hadn't followed Pokemon like his younger brother, but he did know what the plush animal was. His attention back on Chris jhe was surprised to see something more than adoration on Chris's face. How could it be taht Chris had a crush nine years earlier than it took for Locke to get one? Then again, KD was real. This was someone from a cartoon show.

Ted heard about a haunted house being put on by the NYPD. It was broadcast all over the TV and it was all over the mansion. Bundles of kids had been talking about going. He'd discussed it with his doctor that he was hesitant to go but the doctor assured him that it would be fun and a good chance for him to make some more friends around the place. In the end Ted decided to go with a group of kids from the mansion. He knew a few from classes and some were friends of friends. They were all dressed up in their various costumes.

The stuffed animal shifter went with a rather unoriginal costume. He was dressed in black pants, black shoes, and a loose fitting blue shirt that had the old Star Trek emblem on it. He would have gone with the red shirt but everyone knows that the red shirt guys die first; besides he wanted to wear something that he could easily hide if he wanted to disappear from the crowds. Ever since his rescue crowds made him just slightly nervous and likely to have another episode.

The place was filling up with people rather quickly and he wanted to make sure that he stuck with his friends. Somehow, somewhere in the mix he got washed away from his group and bumped into someone dressed from the Pokemon. At least that's who he thought it was judging from the odd looking tiger-with-a-Mohawk thing she was holding. "Sorry." He said, inadvertently putting his hand on the Growlithe. As he removed his hand he had that some of the fur from the stuffed animal stayed on his hand.

Outside of the Lion's head, a small army of motercycles burped out noxious, toxic exhaust fumes. Bad Wolf, terror of New York City had returned to wreck havoc on their stomping grounds after a campaign on the East Coast. It was just one of those happy chances of fate that had lined up their arrival on October the thirty-first, specifically where the traffic for Fright Night at The Lion's Head caused them to be iddling. Not only were they penned in by the traffic, but Chuck, the leader of the gang was having mechanical issues with his hog. With an impressivegrinding sound, the power to his ride was cut.

"We're heading in boys," Chuck bellowed. His voice had always been rather loud, but years of shouting orders over choppers had gigfted the man with a foghorn volume. If his ride wasn't getting him anywhere, none were moving on that night. Chuck knew that the Lion's head hadbeen closed for years. He didn't think that it had ever really been open.

Bad Wolf was in for quite the surprise as they burst their way into the hotel, onlyy to find it occupied. The ticketman at the door recovered from his shock and approached the biker gang, tryining to express authoriy as they demanded either the entrance fee be paid, or that they politely leave. "Relax! It's a hotel ain't it?" Chuck yelled, his volume not decreasing even if they were indoors. One of the bikers put the ticketman in a headlock and dragged him along behind. "We're allowed a bed ain't we?"

Months ago Streak had been approached by the NYPD to help them with a problem they were having with a certain gang. The Bad Wolf's had been terrorizing the city for a while and they were suspected in being involved in certain mutant hate crimes during the riots. This is why Streak was involved. He'd become one, of many, liaisons for the police as part of his X-men training and had helped in many cases that needed 'special' attention.

The silvermancer had been brought in on this unit to try and find some material that the police could pin them, especially their leader Chuck, with some charges. He'd gone undercover and assumed the alias, Jacob Dollin, to help them out. It had taken a while for him to get through and in to the good graces of Chuck, the ruthless and powerful leader of the gang. He'd gotten a motorcycle and grown his facial hair out to blend in with the scruffy group. No one would believe that a clean shaven person rode with the Bad Wolf's.

As it stood they were just coming back from a trek along the entire East Coast and finally arrived back in New York on Halloween. The night when things can, and usually did, go haywire. Their position in the pack normally determined how high up they were in the gang. The closer to Chuck the more important they were. As it stood Streak was in the middle of the pack wearing his scuffed up combat boots, blue jeans, black shirt, and his leather biker jacket that had the emblem of the Bad Wolf gang on the back of it. A few other patches adorned the jacket that signified his level of commitment to the gang but no much else.

Streak had been able to inform the NYPD that they were coming back to the city, unfortunately what he didn't know was that Chuck would have engine problems. Chuck could always be heard over the roar of the bikes engines and tonight was no exception. They'd already spent hours during the day driving back towards the city and everyone was pretty beat. Chuck pulled off at the side of the Lion's Head that had been empty for a very long time to rest for the night. In the morning someone would fix up his bike.

No one could have predicted that the police and fire departments would be putting on a haunted house in the place the same night that they rolled into town. Streak parked his bike in the line of the bikers. Something he'd picked up from his time with them, and dismounted cutting his engine. The gang all followed suit and sauntered through only to find the hotel full of people. Streak scratched his beard and stayed looking for other people. This was going to be complicated. All they wanted was to squat for the night; however, it didn't look like they were going to be going to sleep anytime soon. The silver manipulator followed the rest of the gang into the hotel and pushed a few people out of the way. He needed to maintain his cover for a while longer. But there were kids here and he knew Chuck had no aversion to threatening or hurting the kids. This was going to be tricky...

At the attempted whisper of 'Officer Jenny', Amelia spared a smile in the young boy's direction. A moment later, someone in a Star Trek shirt bumped into her and Growlithe. "Watch it!" She exclaimed, as he apologized. Smoothing her skirt out, then straightening her collar, she stepped away from him. She shot him a reproachful look. So focused was she on making sure she looked good, she didn't even notice the fur thing at work. Growlithe and her were fine, but he'd have to be more careful. Some people! Appearances managed, she put her smile back on for everyone. It wasn't like someone bumping into her would ruin her night. The only thing that might ruin her night were... Thugs.

Thugs. Speaking of. There was some rough noise coming from the front. She turned her head towards it, arching a dark eyebrow in confusion. She worried her bottom lip as she watched the group coming in from the street.

This time, she was sure her cellphone was charged. Even so, it wouldn't do to call anyone in direct view of them, if they made trouble. And who knew? They might be friendly, once they stopped being rowdy. So far, all she'd noticed was the jackets and the noise.

Stepping further away from the entrance, her arm snagged the crook of the elbow of one of the costumed folks in the hotel. She wasn't sure if this person was one of the workers, or if she'd come for the fun. All she knew was that she'd noticed the girl gliding around. Still, it wasn't as if she was asking anything major. "Do you know who those guys are...? They seem a little loud." She said, concern in her voice. She kept shooting them disproving looks when they weren't looking. Her grip loosened on the elbow the moment after she'd caught the pale girl's attention. She let go, and straightened her hat. Growlithe lurked, pinned between her arm and her side. He seemed to glower.

The echoes clued in to the noise outside before Evelyn could really register what it was. The rumble of motorcycles, then the eventual yelling of the biker gang, and then the shuffling footsteps coming to the entrance. Curiosity started to draw her that direction, when a hand caught her elbow and she found herself face to face with a familiar looking costumer.

"Do you know who those guys are?"

Why did she look familiar? Probably someone from the mansion. The echoes were too distracted to track down the information. "I don't." She remarked instead, answering the question. That fact alone was disconcerting. "They must be from out of town." She glanced back at the kids and where Locke had been standing. At least there was an x-man here, and his powers were more useful than writing mystery novels.

Just getting into the hotel was hardly enogh for Chuck. There had been a question of his authority when he was asked to leaveand he didn't take kindly to being given orders. To add salt to the wound, it had been his bike that forced them to stay at the Lion's Head. Had it been anyone else in the pack, he'd have left them behind. If you couldn't even keep your hog running, you had no rights to wearing the Bad Wolf emblem. He could hardly call himself the leader if he failed to get his Harley running again. So with injured pride he now had to be boasterous. Distract the pack from his own failings by giving them this toybox to play in. They were, for the most part, not too bright a bunch.

Chuck got the party started by purposefully shoving patrons out of the way, sending them crashing into antiquated furniture and walls. Clouds of dust rose as plaster from the ceiling was loosened and came crashing down. No verbal command was needed to tell the Wolves to make some hell. Wrists of young ladies were grabbed with lewed suggestions made. Hired actors that had missed the entrance found that there shouts meant to startle were returned, often with a headbutt. One side table that had been broken by Chuck's barging through the crowd was picked up and tossed through a wall.

The Lion's Head was strucually strong, but the walls were still old and brittle enough to crumble at such enthusiastic rowdiness.

One moment, the yelling stayed at the front entrance. The next, a biker came came crashing through the party, roughly shoving patrons and leaving a wake of chaos behind them. Evelyn, who came specifically to keep an eye on the antique property, called out in surprise as a broken side table went through a nearby wall. Grabbing the arm of the nearest biker, she yelled at him to stop.

Probably not the smartest idea.

He swung, she ducked, and elbowed him hard in the side. After training her reflexes were getting faster, but evidently her logic was somewhat flawed. The angry biker grunted with pain, and snatched out, catching her wrist in a painful squeeze. A groin shot bent him over, a punch sent him sideways.

Still had her wrist. Shiii---she scrambled for freedom as the biker went down.

Go out they said. It'd be fun. They said. What could possibly go wrong? they said. How about a rowdy biker gang crashing the haunted house and terrorizing everyone in the building. Perhaps that is what Teddy should have said when his group was convincing him to go with them. Maybe then he wouldn't be trapped in this ancient building with crowds of panicking people all scrambling around or getting pushed around by the bikers. Some were being harassed, while many others were getting pushed around and into things or people. Teddy was just looking for a nice night out. No chaos. Was that to much to ask for? Apparently it was.

The angry comment from the Pokemon lady seemed like it was so long ago. Everyone's attention was now focused on the bikers and keeping out of their way. Ted was no exception. He didn't want to fight. He had a feeling that it would only take a couple of minutes before he ran into problems, and he didn't mean losing the fight. Ted had been expertly trained but he didn't want to use any of it because he was afraid he might not stop. Teddy hustled down a hallway, trying to stay out of trouble when the remnants of a table created an opening the architect would have objected to. From that newly opened wall Ted could clearly see a girl beating the snot out of a biker. That biker certainly didn't look like he was getting up any time soon, not to mention not looking forward to using the restroom in the near future. Table pieces, plaster, dry wall were strewn across his costume and he brushed himself off. He decided to use the new entrance and walked towards the girl that had just put down the biker. He flashed her a thumbs up and looked around in case someone was going to come barging through at him.

"Nice punch." Teddy complimented the girl. There would be plenty of time afterwards for compliments. They needed to get through this. One thing that he could be glad of from his training is that his body wouldn't let him loose. Ted was about to say something else when he was suddenly pushed against a wall. One of the bikers seemed to think that it would be a good idea to pick on him. The back of Ted's head smacked against the wall behind him. That was all it took. Like a switch being turned on. The doctor said that some of the things they used would probably never be completely out of his system. He took a quick glance around surveying the area, size, and available space of his location. His already emerald green eyes seemed to get even darker. One thing came to mind. Lion.

The biker saw the look in Teddy's eyes and advanced towards him. This guy had been cooped on a bike for who know how long an he was eager for a fight. He was going to go after the girl that took down his fellow rider but decided that the young mutant would be a better target for him to have fun with. As the biker advanced Teddy completed his transformation into a rather realistic looking stuffed lion. Teddy's furry mane shook and he lunged at the biker. Although he wasn't a real lion he still had considerable weight. He hurtled toward the biker weighing almost 70 lbs. To say the biker was surprised would be an understatement. The full force of the stuffed lion slammed into the biker, knocking him backwards and over his buddy lying on the floor. The lion glared at him and he bolted. Teddy thought about turning back but decided he was more comfortable like this at the moment than he was in his normal appearance. Ted looked at the girl with his beaded eyes but didn't make any threatening moves once the biker had backed away.

The girl didn't know them. Okay. So unknowns. She noted that. Amelia also noted the very second they started making trouble, and pulled out her cellphone.

She looked up from her dialing just in time to see the girl she'd been talking to a moment before knee a biker in the groin, to see him fall, and see her struggle to free herself from his grip. A split second later, another biker noticed her. He hauled his hand back, and smacked the phone from her hand. It spun through the air as it flew, and landed on a nearby carpet, voice still speaking from the other end of the line. She hadn't gotten a chance to say anything, but hopefully the police would get the message from background noise. The phone didn't break: It wasn't a smartphone. It was your good ol' fashioned flip phone made of bricks. Her eyes moved from the phone to the punk who'd hit it.

"Bad move. Care to apologize?" She said.

Someone moved rapidly towards an exit, and she heard a faint crunch amid the sound of scuffling feet. Amelia winced. Well. Now, she'd need a new phone. Hopefully, the police had managed a trace during that whole 10 seconds of time the phone had been active. Now, she was upset.

One bad move deserved another. To prove that fact, freaking hammer it home, the thug chose that moment to come at her with a punch. Apparently, he didn't like girls with blue-green hair talking back to him (or talking at all). Maybe he liked activities that didn't require much dialogue more.

Martial arts are a lot like a dance. Guarding, blocking, and turning the speed and strength of an opponent against them involved a lot of circular movement. As her arms went up to guard and divert energy, her feet moved and pivoted. The thug's punch got intercepted, but Amelia didn't stop there, leading him forward and through to finish the movement, and send him tumbling to the floor. All that Aikido training had not been for naught.

At some point, Growlithe had been dropped in the scuffle. With the thug down (and out, thanks to his own weight and that bump on the head), she took the opportunity to bend over and pick him up, dusting him off. "

"If I were a real police officer," she sighed at the thug, and thugs in general, really. "I would arrest you all."

Wherever Locke went, trouble was sure to follow. Be it something as simple as getting caught in a rainstorm, or something as dangerous as a stalker mom, Locke attracted not only dirt, but problems. Tonight was hardly any different it seemed. There was a rather loud kafuffle coming from the front of the hotel. Locke had been around enough frat boys to recognize a party being crashed. His grip on Chris tightened. Mai was sensible, but her brother was unpredictable. Chris might very well decide to go rushing to the biker gang to see what that tattoo on that man’s face was. Not that there was anything wrong with people who had facial tattoos, or even people that rode motorcycles. Some of the nicest people liked to ride hogs or had ink on their face

What set Locke’s protective senses a tingling was the way that the gang handled people. The leader had no just cause for shoving people around, and what’s more the gang that followed behind were being even more rowdy than the man who had started it all. Evelyn was trying to stop one of the gang after there was some new adjustments to the floor plan. What people had been assuming was a hump, something that was easy to believe with the way that Locke had to slouch over to be able to hold onto his siblings hands without dislocating their shoulders, was actually his backpack filled with the portable Fluffy. The Lion’s Head was made with enough concrete that Locke had materials for an army of golems. Doing so though would weaken the structural integrity of the hotel. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if he stopped the gang by making the entire hotel fall in on them.

Be it their lessons together or the aide that came to help her by form of a giant stuffed lion? she was alright for the moment. One of the gang members, a man built wider than Locke, thought the crouching teen and the little kid might make a good target for mayhem. Hands were placed on Locke’s shoulders as he was reaching into the backpack. Big mistake. When Locke’s body went rigid, danger usually followed for any who dared to harm him. Chris was pulled underneath the safety of his big brother’s lanky form just in time to see a rush of gravel fly out from Locke’s backpack and strike the biker squarely in the jaw. He always knew that his big brother was a superhero, and now he saw it for himself.

Fluffy, underneath the guidance of Locke shoved the unconscious body of the biker out of the way and started lumbering forwards. Something important had vanished from Locke’s ‘sight’, and he was pissed. Mai had been with the “twins” but he could not sense her. Either she had climbed up onto something or…

“Locke!” Mai called as she was lifted higher into the air by Chuck, who was heading directly to the elevator that the guy in the bathrobe had been hiding in earlier. The “twins” who had been connected for the sake of the creepy conjoined affect were dragged along and tossed like dirty laundry into the elevator. His hands emptied Chuck hit the elevator button with a meaty fist.

“Going down?” he roared with laughter.