Rebecca was true to her word, scanning the area for anyone suspicious, but at this party, that definition was skewed. She could see stuffy rich people in suits, mostly white, mostly men, and of the women in the building, most fit the mold used to cast their table-mate Lena. Beyond the guest list, there were servers trying to keep a smile while serving a room of pretentious millionaires, and security patrolling their areas, stone-faced. The politicians seemed to be enjoying themselves, the wives seemed to be meek and neutral, and the servers were playing polite; anything outside of those would be “suspicious.”

That meant Rebecca was the only “suspicious” one in sight, with a clear look of frustration across her face. It was also likely she was the only one there, (beside maybe Juliette,) who might be a risk to attack Alan Adamson that night. The magnetic mutant could “see” the magnetic fields around her through an innate “sixth sense,” (which was ridiculous since most scientists agreed humans already had somewhere between nine and twenty-one senses,) and the only firearms she detected in the room were held by security and herself.

Some younger male politicians approached Rebecca while she was in the mingling area, but they all had personalities that seemed reminiscent of her “date” for the evening. Rebecca did her best to dodge them by providing a vague answer that she “could not chat” and “she was looking for someone,” which was partially true.

Rebecca found a young woman in a server’s vest holding a tray of sparkling wine. ”Aw, jist fa Ah was lookin' fur. Min' if Ah hae a glass, hen?”

The mousy brunette was caught off guard by the informality of the request, but managed to squeak out a, “Um, yes, of course, miss!” as Rebecca grabbed a glass from the tray and took an immediate sip.

The bubbles tickled on her tongue, but the wine was exactly what she was looking for. ”Mmm, sweit,” she purred, jist th' way Ah loch it. Thes mauna be th' lest time Ah come lookin' fur ye, sugar,” she added with a friendly smile before turning back to her table, leaving behind a blushing server girl.

The table was more full than when Rebecca departed, though no one interesting or of note was in attendance. Alan was chatting with one of the new guests, and Juliette had followed Rebecca’s lead and switched to something harder than water. ”Glad tae see yoo’re still haur, luv.” Watching the hand that held the wine glass, Rebecca could have sworn there was some redness tinting the darker complexion of her friend.

She glared at Alan suspiciously, but he had turned his attention to her when he heard her call out to Juliette in a warm, affectionate tone. Perturbed, he asked, “Did you have fun stretching out those lovely legs of yours?”

Apparently being insulting, antagonistic, and gay was not enough to keep Adamson from making an inappropriate pass at her. ”Loads. Ah didne miss anythin’ fin haur, did Ah?” she asked, taking her seat once more and sipping at the bubbly glass of rosy wine.

Juliette gave Rebecca a small smile as she returned to the table. She was more than glad that the redhead was back, even if it meant that it meant she would also have to suffer through Alan Adamson again. It felt wrong on some level, but she didn’t want to be alone in her suffering, and would have rather had them finish the mission together than have one of them get to leave.

She glared at Alan out of the corner of her eye when he commented on Rebecca’s legs. Sure, her legs looked great, but it definitely wasn’t an appropriate comment for him to make. Though, she reminded herself, how could she expect anything else from the sleazeball?

Rebecca took the comment in stride. Apparently spending a little time away from the table allowed her to gain some perspective, or something along those lines. Juliette bit back her envy.

“Nothing fun, really, just-” Juliette had been about to make a snide comment since her filter had all but left her, but she was cut off by Alan. It seemed that he was getting fed up with his dates and their mouths.

“Not a lot. Just some politics, love. Come and join us. Hopefully the conversation will get a little bit better now.” He shot a look toward Juliette, which she rolled her eyes at. It wasn’t like the conversation was all that great without her comments.

The table around them was full by that point, and Juliette was trying her hardest not to get pulled into the conversations around her. They were mostly about things she didn’t know much about, thankfully, but the politicians kept glancing over toward her. She silently wished that she had chosen a dress with a higher neckline.

The politician that had spoken on stage earlier was making his rounds through the room behind them, and had made his way to their table. He stopped at each person and offered a hand and an obviously forced smile before moving on to the next. Soon enough, he had made his way over to the three of them.

Juliette started replying to Rebecca’s inquiry, but she was cut off by the man who was clearly growing more weary every time one of the women decided to speak. It was a reminder of how foolish he was not to do his research, since Rebecca was outspoken as a career.

For all the work the redhead had put into frustrating Alan, she felt his ire was now focused on Juliette, which made her wonder what the feisty X-Woman had said in her absence. It was probably for the best; had Rebecca been around for Juliette’s reminder that they could walk out whenever they wanted, she may very well have took that as an opening, grabbed her teammate’s hand, and walked them out the impressive doorway.

She grumbled to herself, ”Loch Ah caur if yoo're havin' fin,” as she sat down. Alan glared at her, but her voice was quiet enough that most of the table’s occupants would have missed her comment. At this point, that must have been the line he was drawing for what was and was not a salvageable, acceptable situation.

Following the lead of her colleague, Rebecca did her best to remain silent on any topics of conversation, not because she was accepting a role as a “quiet, submissive woman,” but because she wanted as little involvement with the party as possible. Rebecca had a base knowledge of politics, but she had her select passions and was not afraid to get vocal in their defense.

While she was trying to remain quiet, Rebecca was catching the looks men at the table kept giving Juliette, another thing she was ready to defend. The thought crossed her mind of turning all the forks and knives at the table on their owners, but she was still putting up her last lines of resistance against starting a scene.

All Rebecca could do was sacrifice herself to take some heat from Juliette. As nonchalantly as she could, she tugged down on her sleeveless dress, shimmying the bodice uncomfortably down just enough to expose a little more of her befreckled chest. She was not sure if there was much overlap at the table when it came to her admirers and those sneaking looks at her gorgeous bombshell of a friend, but every little bit had to help.

The night was moving along, which was the most positive thing Rebecca could say about the event, but things were on the verge of getting worse. She spotted Senator Mandell, the host of the evening, approaching their table, and of course, specifically to Alan. Their “date” stood from his seat and gave the Senator a firm, warm, but decidedly heterosexual handshake. “John, it is great to see you. Thanks for inviting me here to celebrate your many successes, past and future.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes out of the sight of both men, as they got through their introductions. She leaned over Alan’s empty seat to mutter to Juliette, ”Ye knae, Ah hink John has a metal fillin' if ye want tae see me yenk it out an' shet it at Alan's—“

Her inappropriate suggestion was cut off as the Senator brought the conversation back to the women at the table. “And these must be your dates for the evening. If I wasn’t a married man, I’d be jealous. Ladies, it is nice to see two young women who recognize a catch like Alan, here.”

The urge to scoff was strong, but Rebecca thought better of it, not because it was a rude thing to do… but because she felt there was more fun to be had…

The corners of her lips curled into a sly smile, and she could see Alan already getting nervous as she stood from her seat. She outstretched her hand for Mandell to take in greeting. She summoned the abilities she had honed as a voice actress to neutralize her accent enough to ensure she was properly understood, while leaving enough lilt to make it clear she was an immigrant to the states. ”Rebecca Grey. Charmed. It is good tae hear you feeling sae receptive tae us, given... well, you know…”

The Senator looked at her inquisitively, and the last remaining pigments of color were draining from Alan’s face.

It had been a long time since she heard the little voice reminding her not to make a scene…

Juliette’s eyes fell on Rebecca as she shimmied part of the way out of her dress. The brunette raised her eyebrows at her partner. She wasn’t really sure what the point of doing that had been, but it had certainly captured the attention of the rest of the occupants of the table, so she wasn’t about to complain.

She tuned out the conversation between Senator Mandell and Alan as it came to be their turn to receive his greeting, not really caring about the small talk that would inevitably occur between the two. Her attention was once again stolen by Rebecca as she leaned forward, though, offering to deal with the both of them in one fell swoop. Juliette snickered, but shook her head. Unfortunately, the end of her partner’s offer was cut off by the Senator.

She gave him a small smile, doing her best to keep herself civil and quiet. She knew full well that her smile was probably less than sweet, but she didn’t bother to change it. She would settle for a partial grimace.

She nodded slightly at the Senator’s words, trying to bite back any sound effects or snide comments that begged to fall from her mouth. She desperately wanted to take on a swamp monster or that giant pumpkin kid again.

Juliette’s head turned almost immediately at Rebecca’s words. She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t do that, would she? It seemed that she was going to.

The brunette bit her lip. On one hand, revealing themselves in front of a room full of anti-mutant politicians was not a good idea, but on the other, it seemed so much more interesting than keeping silent.

Glancing between the two vastly different reactions from the two men, Juliette decided not to stop Rebecca. In fact, she even gave herself permission to join in. After all, life was short, and the gala was long. Way longer if they never were never even given the chance to do anything fun.

“Well you know, given your anti-mutant policies, it’s so nice of you to be so welcoming to two known mutants,” she continued Rebecca’s statement and batted her eyelashes at the Senator.

That time, her smile as entirely genuine.

As ready as Rebecca was to go all in on Senator Mandell, she did feel some guilt hanging Juliette out to dry with her actions. She was representing the X-Men, which was bad enough, but Juliette was going to have to deal with the repercussions of her teammate causing an incident.

Maybe that was why, when Juliette doubled-down on Rebecca’s comment, taking the honor of outing them as mutants. She felt so proud of the beautiful brunette, she was tempted to kiss her right there and then. Sadly, there were more pressing matters, like the stunned Senator standing before her.

“Mut—Alan, you brought mutants here?” Flabbergasted. Verb. To be greatly astonished by the unexpected. In that moment, the word was working its way into Rebecca’s list, along with aghast, (adjective, filled with horror or shock,) which perfectly described the look on Alan’s face.

Grinning, proud of herself for garnering so many curious eyes in the room, Rebecca spoke just loudly enough to be heard by anyone who was interested to listen. ”Ah can see hoo it would have been toogh tae tell. You know, since we ur like anyain else. People. Just folk.”

“With all due respect—”

”You sure aboot ‘at?”

The Senator cleared his throat, clearly not pleased with being interrupted by anyone, let alone a mutant. “With all due respect, you are not ‘just folk;’ you are dangerous.”

Rebecca laughed a short laugh. ”Ha! We’re dangerous? We arenae the ones who use narrow-minded, reactionary policies tae set people against ain anither.”

While the loud and proud mutant was enjoying her time having an impromptu debate with a bigoted senator, unbeknownst to her, undercover security people were slowly moving themselves into position.

Rebecca was going all out. It seemed that she was done with holding back, just as Juliette was. The brunette felt a slight twinge in her gut, feeling a little bit bad about going so far out of her way to wreck the event. But, they had gone too far to back down at that point, so there was no use in her fretting about it.

“We aren’t the ones talking hatefully about an entire people group,” Juliette added onto what Rebecca had just said. She was sick of listening to him already, and it had only been a minute or so. It seemed that Alan had worn down her tolerance.

As she thought on the human sea slug, she turned her head to look at how he was faring with the conversation going on around him. He had turned bright red and fallen silent in the presence of his obvious superior, ashamed of himself. She secretly hoped that that meeting would do something to damage his reputation.

“Why you-” John had stuck out his gnarled finger to point at the two woman angrily when he was cut off. Surprised, he looked up.

“Are these two causing a disturbance, sir?” A security guard asked. He was large. Very large, in fact. The kind of large that suited exactly the job he was doing. His black suit and general aura reminded Juliette strongly of something out of an 80s movie.

She swallowed. They had clearly taken it too far. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to reveal themselves after all.

Their table had been completely surrounded by security guards, none of whom showed much emotion. Their impassive faces worried Juliette, and the fact that they all had their hands over some bulgy spot in their suit worried her more.

“Yes,” John snarled, “yes they are.”

She looked at Rebecca worriedly, unsure of what was going to happen next. 

It was hard not to think of the power dichotomy between Rebecca and the Senator. Yes, she had magnetic powers he was still unaware of, but he was the one on his home turf with political sway and control of all the security in the ballroom. She could almost feel nervousness creeping in, but Juliette backing her up reaffirmed her bravery. In for a penny, in for a pound.

A large man, who in the context of their evening, could only be part of the security team, asked if the two X-Women were being a disturbance. Wanting to get her word in edgewise, she hastily replied, ”Nae disturbance, jist tois invited guests having a chat with th' senator abit policy,” just before the angry older man could point them out as problems.

It was ironic, because the girls were the ones with problems, as Rebecca cooled her temper enough to focus on her surroundings and realize they were, in fact, surrounded by guards of similar stature to their leader. Her heart was trying to race, but Rebecca was seeking a spot of calm in herself like Emerald once taught her. Anger had its place, but she needed clarity.

She was strong. She was smart. This was not the Ragman—these were just brutish humans posing a threat to her and Juliette.

It was the other girl she was more concerned about; Rebecca was unsure how much combat training Juliette had, and beyond that, it was Rebecca’s loud mouth that put them in a situation like this. She could trust Firefly to have her back, but as far as the feisty Scot was concerned, keeping Juliette safe was more important than her finding her own way out of this mess. She could only imagine how Cold Steel would react if her carelessness put a member of the team at risk.

Rebecca focused on the gravitational field around the table, and the disturbances being carried by each guard: guns. A dangerous variable, but one she could negate if necessary. Reaching for their firearms would result in a surprise where the guns would slip out of their hands and fall to the ground, refusing to be recovered. No one knew what she could do, she was sure of it—and that was her advantage.

Of course, some guards were already opting to pull out batons from their belts. Those… were a bigger problem. They caused no disturbance in the fields, so they were not metal. She had to be careful. She wished she brought her marbles, or a baton of her own, or even her shield, (though it would have clashed with her dress.) She had a gun of her own, but the last thing she needed was to be seen as an armed political terrorist. These were humans; she could handle this. Probably.

”Jules…” she muttered quietly, backing toward her only ally in the room. ”Sorry fur th' mess. Dornt know if yoo're much ay a fighter, but if nae, jist stick close.”

Her eyes were watching vigilantly for movement from the men gathered around them, but her hand reached behind her, reaching for Juliette’s hand. She might have just wanted affirmation that Jules was still there, or she wanted to reassure her new friend that she was there. Maybe she just liked holding someone’s hand as a creature comfort before getting into a full-on brawl. There were a lot of things on Rebecca’s mind.

”Nae need fur force, lads,” she cautioned loudly, trying to keep any wavering out of her voice. ”Consider us peaceful protesters, ready tae leave withit incident.”

The guards seemed suspicious, but a few of them softened in their body language. Maybe they were not huge fans of beating women with sticks. The tide of the evening felt like it might turn, but suddenly a hateful voice intruded again. “They are not peaceful, they are dangerous! Just by being here, they are dangerous! Who knows what will happen if we let them leave?”

Her eyes darted behind the guards to Senator Mandell, issuing the command dripping with cruelty. “Deal with them.”

"Oh, **** a duck," Rebecca muttered to herself, steeling her nerve and preparing her body.

Breathing steady. That was what Juliette tried to focus on. Over the course of her life, Juliette hadn’t gotten in too many fights. In fact, all but one had been within the time of her joining the X-men, and that one was an anomaly. Whatever had overcome her and convinced her to join a team that fought people on a regular basis had been very misguided, she realized. She was not cut out for that kind of thing. Even thinking about going into a fight at that moment scared her more than anything else.

Unfortunately for the light mutant, there wasn’t much she could do about that fact. There was no use in her rethinking her life choices while staring down a group of armed men.

So, she continued to focus on breathing. A breath in, a breath out. The thing about breathing, though, was that the more she tried to focus on it, the harder it became to do. Focus on something else, she convinced herself. Something like how much light was available for her to use in the room.

Thankfully, the sun hadn’t quite set yet, so there was light streaming in on either side of her from the large windows in the hall. Above her, there was a huge light fixture that could be used. On the table, if she desperately needed them, there were some candles. They wouldn’t do much, but they were, in the very least, something.

Very carefully, Juliette started to slowly absorb some light. She’d stocked up before coming, but it seemed like a good idea in that moment to make sure she wouldn’t run out. She just had to be careful; too much and she would start to glow.

“That’s on me too,” Juliette surmised. They were in it together, spurring each other on despite the warning signs. If there was blame to be doled out, it would have to fall on both of them. Juliette frowned slightly as she tried to imagine how she would explain the situation to Sam.

A hand was offered to her by Rebecca. After a second, Juliette took it. She wasn’t sure what the gesture meant, but she was glad for it. They definitely were in it together. There was no denying that.

Peaceful protesters. Juliette held her breath as she awaited a reaction. The guards seemed to soften, and a strong feeling of hope crept into her mind. However, the Senator was not enthused. It looked like they were, indeed, in for a fight.

The guards drew closer to the table, and raised their batons. Silently, Juliette shared Rebecca’s sentiment. One approached her, but then suddenly stopped.

Confused, Juliette lowered her formerly fight-primed hands. He looked as though he’d just seen something. Was Rebecca doing something? She could vaguely remember her powers - something about magnetism, but she couldn’t think of something that would make him stop attacking her. Unless…

“Sh*t! That one’s glowing! She gonna blow, or something?”

Juliette could feel the blood drain from her face. She’d gotten distracted and forgotten about being careful about how much energy she absorbed. Next to her, the candles had gone out, and the light above her was flickering. She stopped as soon as she realized, but it was too late. She’d have to do something soon, or she’d end up causing problems.

F*ck.

The Senator even looked a little bit afraid. With a shaky breath before, he began to give commands. “Welcomed guests,” his voice rang out above the crowds. Most of them had fallen silent when the guards appeared, making his job easier. “Unfortunately, our lovely dinner will need to be interrupted. We’re having some… trouble with mutant terrorists. Yes, you heard me correctly. This is why we work to set up laws against creatures such as these. Do not fret, though. These two will be contained. I just have to ask you to evacuate the building in an orderly fashion.”

As soon as he finished talking, there was a great panic followed by pushing and shoving. Juliette was pushed aside by a few people trying to exit the room, not wanting to be harmed by the ‘mutant terrorists’.

She could hear a little bit of what the senator said to one of the guards, “contain this. Use lethal force if you need to.”

A string of naughty words crossed Juliette’s mind as she searched for Rebecca in the crowd. Things were not looking good for them.

It was comforting to feel Jules take her hand for a moment, even if she could not afford to take her eyes off their problem long enough to look at the other woman. They were teammates, and as much as Rebecca could try to claim sole responsibility for what happened, Juliette was apparently not going to let her shoulder that guilt alone.

They were mutants, and any advantage they could leverage against the armed security was vital if they wanted to get out. Rebecca could have willed the weapons wielded by the men to be cast aside, but there would be more benefit from the confusion they would be dealing with when they could not unholster their weapons.

She was not the only creating confusion, as a guard stopped dead in his tracks, eying Juliette. Curious what her friend might be doing to catch a trained professional so off guard, Becca turned to see her fellow mutant’s body beginning to glow. She had been briefed on the basics of Firefly’s mutation, but it was different watching as the lights around her dimmed and flickered and died, providing their power for her.

Seizing an opportunity, the Senator spoke to the nervous crowds, painting the girls as “mutant terrorists,” and advising his guests to leave the room immediately. She hated his manipulative nature and the way he was spinning this against them, but even Rebecca wanted the civilians out of the building. The last thing they needed was a non-combatant to get thrown into the mess they made.

With the room cleared, the Senator gave the go ahead to use “lethal force” to contain the problem, and Rebecca was unsurprised to see some of the guards jumping to this option at the invitation. Instinctually, she flinched, but her body eased up as she watched the men reaching for their guns pulling fruitlessly at the handles. The performance issues drew curious glances from the men around them, who reached for their sidearms only to be met with the same issue.

Seeing her opening, Rebecca strained her focus to try something she had practiced on her own gun hundreds of times, but on a larger scale. Using her power, she constricted the magnetic fields around the guns, pressuring the magazine release mechanisms. All around them, magazines ejected from the handles of pistols, clattering to the ground, out of reach. With the guns successfully rendered useless, Rebecca finally allowed them to be released from their holsters, aided by her magnetism as they flew upward, hitting several of their owners in the chins and faces.

This attack of opportunity left many of the guards stunned or dazed after being in the head with the hard metal slides and barrels of their guns, but that would pass, and did little to help with the large men with batons coming toward them. Firefly took much of the attention thanks to her illuminated nature, but Becca was the one to throw herself into the fray. Surprise meant doing the unexpected thing, and jumping in at them was unexpected.

Stay low, stay grounded, stay balanced. She could never forget the fundamentals—she had to repeat them so often when she trained. She did not have her gauntlets, but she did have her cuff bracelets which would have to do, just like they did when she started with the X-Men. She kept one leg rooted while the other made short, jab-like kicks at shins around her. It was “cheap,” but Becca was not taught to fight in tournaments, she was taught to fight people she needed to take down. There was a reason shin guards were necessary in soccer—a kick to the shin was debilitating if one was not careful.

Of course, batons were also swinging wildly at her from every direction, so while she was trying to launch a lower-body offensive, she was doing her best to dodge or deflect attacks with her bangles. If there were three of them, she would have been fine, but there were at least six men trying to deal with her at a time. She almost wished there were more, just so there was more of a chance they would get caught up on one another.

She was taking hits to the back that sent a shockwave through her body. There were too many angles to keep her defenses up. She managed to disarm at least one man and hit two others with the baton she took from him, but that was knocked out of her hand before she could make more use of it.

Rebecca grabbed a lot of the security attention, but certainly not all of it. She hoped Juliette was handling herself okay…

Juliette had one thing to be grateful for in that moment, and that was Rebecca Grey. The woman had clearly trained to be in a fight, she realized as she watched her get low to the ground and strike some of the guards in the shins. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing with the bracelets she was wearing, but they seemed to be helping her use her powers.

However, as wonderful as it was to have Rebecca drawing some of the attention of the guards away with her fighting, it also served to punctuate in just how untrained Juliette still was. She hadn’t bothered to spend much time in the danger room practicing, and other than the self-defense moves she knew in a pinch, Juliette wasn’t much of a brawler. She typically relied on her mutation, which was something that she had been hoping to avoid in that situation.

But, she was already glowing. Her powers had decided to show themselves, and they would make themselves even more known if she didn’t use them. There was no use in trying to keep up appearances; they were well past that point.

In a matter of milliseconds, Juliette was no longer flesh and blood. She was light. Light that was ready to not be in the middle of a group of armed guards.

She aimed a blast at where the guards were surrounding Rebecca and fired. She was glad that her friend was crouching, since that made it easier to fire the blast near their heads, where she was hopeful that it wouldn’t even be near the woman. She just hoped that the redhead didn’t make some last minute decision to stand up.

While she had been distracted with what Rebecca was doing, Juliette hadn’t noticed the fact that there were more men behind her, using the opportunity to try to catch her off guard. She turned around to face them, met with a baton to the side of the head.

She couldn’t remember a moment where she had been more thankful that she was made of pure light. The baton hurt, but it didn’t do anywhere near the sort of damage that it would have if she hadn’t been in that form. It was lethal force that the man was using.

Bouncing back, she shot off another blast at the group that had formed in front of her. Then, she whipped around to see how Becca was faring.

Rebecca was doing her best to focus on the task at hand since the task at hand was trying to find an opening to crack her over the back of the head with batons. She was trying to tread the delicate line between doing enough to defend herself and incapacitate her targets without doing serious damage to men who were likely just following orders. If she went too far, it would only be easier for the Senator to paint her and Juliette as “violent mutant supremacists” or something of that ilk. It was a challenge to balance a potential public relations nightmare while worrying about intense personal injury.

For a moment, Becca lost her focus, but so did the men surrounding her, as their eyes all caught the shining of a strong source of light from behind them. With a keen eye, she identified the figure as her friend, who evidently mutated past her physical constraints to become a light elemental. ”Wicked…” she said quietly to herself in awe.

This returned attention to the magnetic mutant, and while this could have been unfortunate, her eyes lingered on Jules just long enough to realize what she was doing before anyone around her could. Bending back to get as low as she could without falling to her knees, the redheaded X cleared out enough space to watch as a burst of night flew over her, hitting the men surrounding her in the heads, leaving them dazed.

The attack left her with the opportunity to sweep the legs of three stunned guards so she could take the others to the ground in quick, efficient succession. With more of her plate cleared, she could focus on picking off Jules’s plate, as friends often did, (and after a disastrous party and a free-for-all team battle, she hoped they were at least sealing the friend deal.)

With Juliette as a literal beacon of attention, the guards who were not groaning at Rebecca’s feet had gathered around the Firefly. The light elemental was holding her own, but the men were forming an approaching wave that needed to be quelled.

Surveying anything metal in her close proximity, she considered using the discarded pieces of the guns again, but there were too many pieces to manipulate with the pinpoint accuracy she would need. She needed something quick and efficient and preferably large. Nothing large and metal as conveniently nearby.

But something large and wooden was. The table they had been gathered around earlier might not have come across as useful initially, but the legs holding the platform up were all metal and all up for grabs. Taking a deep breath and focusing on lifting the weight of the object off the ground, she grunted, ”Jules, move!” before pushing the large circular table flat-side first, flying at high speed toward the collective of men, hoping to clear them out and quiet the last of the threat.

>>”Jules, move!”

Juliette looked up just in time to avoid the table that Lodestone had thrown at the group of people standing where she had been. She dashed to the right, managing not to be hit by the massive object.

The men that had been surrounding her, however, were not quite as fortunate. The marble top of the table combined with the heavy metal legs made for a mass that they weren't able to lift from themselves. At least not without mutant abilities. It didn't look as if any of them were too badly injured, but they definitely weren't going anywhere, and there was the definite possibility of a few broken bones.

Juliette let out a breath in one quick go, switched forms, and looked around at the situation. There was no one else attempting to attack them, which was a very nice change of pace. The room, however, was in a poor state. She really, really hoped that the mansion would have some sort of coverage for situations like theirs. 

After taking in the room for a minute, Juliette turned back to Rebecca. She looked relatively alright, which was very encouraging, all things considered. They'd just fended off a large number of bigger, stronger men, and lived to tell the tale without being too banged up.

She slipped off her heels after realizing that one had broken at some point, rendering it useless. Barefoot, she then trotted over to Becca, careful to avoid any broken glass or splinters of rock that could easily pierce skin. As soon as she reached the redhead, she looked at her with raised eyebrows and the slightest hint of a smirk on her face. "So much for quiet and demure, huh? I think we should probably get out of here."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn that she had seen Alan Adamson cowering in the corner under a table. 

The table was a gamble, but it was a large, effective gamble. With one last sweeping move, she had pinned or knocked out any remaining guards. She felt bad about taking out men who likely were only following orders, but historically, those were the dangerous ones.

They were not, however, the evil ones. She knew all too well who was in the wrong in their situation. As the two X-Men brushed themselves off and regained their composure, Juliette proposed it was time for them to make their exit. Rebecca agreed, but she had one last thing to take care of. ”One sec, luv,” she replied, before sauntering over confidently to the Senator, who seemed far less confident than he was when he ordered a flock of armed men at two mutant women.

”Listen here, Mandell. Ah knae yoo’re probably feelin’ th’ temptation tae use this evenin’ as part ay yer anti-mutant propaganda. Sae let’s discuss facts: we live in th’ world ay public opinion.” It was true, even if it was not right, but in this case, it was a double-edged sword. ”We still hae th’ video invitation ay yer buddy there,” she said, gesturing at the cowardly man under the table she arrived with, ”Invitin’ us tae this shindig. It’d be th’ easiest sell fur anyain tae paint this as a set-up.”

The senator was looking at her defiantly, but he knew the women were in charge of the evening and the narrative now. ”At that point, yer dealin’ with questions of lurin’ mutant women tae be attacked. An’ as a member of th’ media, Ah’ll be glad tae push ‘at possibility.” She did not specify that she was a member of the “new” media, because fossils like Senator Mandell would doubt her credibility on that front, and her threat had teeth. She would be glad to ruin the man if necessary, taking them both into the dangerous gaze of hyper-critical judgment. ”Yer bread an’ butter micht be anti-mutant policy, bit ye cannae scare off all th’ moderates, richt?”

Pleased with herself, Rebecca walked away from the man, heading toward the exit with Jules. ”Let everyain knae this was a misunderstanding, an’ we’re sorry fer causin’ a stop tae th’ festivities. Thenks fer th’ guid time!”

And with that, the two X-Women made their exit, having unexpectedly, but very successfully put an end to an anti-mutant event. A success like this called for tacos, she was fairly sure. She would propose a post-mission snack run, her treat for causing the ruckus. The night could use a fun turn, and she wanted to get to know Juliette more. The woman seemed smart, fun, and beautiful, and even if she happened to have, say, a boyfriend who also happened to be one of the team leaders of the X-Men, she would still make a great new friend.