Maya was idly wondering what would happen if they ended up with too many kids. The Jet could carry a lot of people, but there were also a lot of gorgons living in the Necropolis, and news traveled fast. Also, the Mansion had space, but it was not endless... they would just have to make do. The kids deserved a fresh start. And no one ever died from having a roommate.

>>“There. I did my part.”

>>”Ah! Oy, yer slippery”

>>“Yes, It is almost as though I am comprised mostly of liquid.”

"Hey Praxi" Maya grinned at the slime girl. She liked the attitude. And it was also funny that she managed to make Becca jump.

>>”Is thes most ay th’ kids?”

>>“Seems like it. Might be one or two stragglers waiting until sunset is upon us here.”

>>”Aye. We’ll wait a bit langer.”

"Until sunset." Maya nodded. It was possible that some kids might have mutations that kept them from coming out in the sunlight. They could wait a little more, just to be sure. Maya glanced at the slime girl, folding her arms.

"So... have you made up your mind yet? Are you gonna come with us?" she asked "You know, some of these kids will need some looking after..."

She knew Praxi would do well at the Mansion. She was smart, and had good control of her mutation. She was rough around the edges (ironically, for a liquid body), but that was not necessarily a bad thing.

Minutes ticked by, and the sun slowly sank towards the horizon. Shadows grew longer. It was a good hour before Maya tilted her head.

"I think more people are coming."

Maya seemed to like Eupraxia, and honestly, so did Rebecca. Even with the attitude she had with the redhead, she clearly cared for her own kind. Some if it could have been self-preservation, but Eupraxia was putting herself on the line by assisting the X-Men in gathering the other children.

Rebecca knew not everyone would come, but she hated the idea of leaving children on the streets. With every gorgon they took away, what if they were increasing the chances for the remaining ones to get abused? It was a regretful possibility, but they could only save those who wanted to be saved. Rebecca was just glad the turnout was so promising, even if the X-Jet would be full on the ride back.

Maya asked Eupraxia about her own plans, and Rebecca agreed with her friend, adding, ”It’s yer choice, but Ah hink ye coods dae really well at th’ Mansion.”

It was hard to decipher the viscous, semi-transparent facial expression, but Eupraxia was still torn. She did not like the idea of running from her home, but she was still trying to decide if Atlantis had stopped being a home to her long ago. ”I… am still making that choice,” she admitted. It was understandable; the X-Men were literally offering to take her to a new world unlike anything she knew in her life, even if the life she had known was filled with hate and discrimination.


Time passed and Rebecca was considering whether it was time to return to the X-Jet when Maya pointed out that people were approaching. They were waiting on stragglers, after all, so Rebecca was just glad the last of the interested mutants had not missed the boat—or plane, as it were.

Except a closer inspection of the approaching group filled Rebecca with concern. The people approaching were not children. There were no physical mutations amongst the bunch. There were at least a dozen people walking in a tight pack. Rebecca and Maya were staring down a small mob. ”Oh, nae this **** again,” she muttered. They had already taken care of a small group of bigots, but if they were dealing with a dozen mutants, that could pose bigger problems.

“I heard you are taking these gorgons away to your Nation. What is wrong?” asked one of the men in the mob mockingly. “Do they have no sense of pride in Atlantis? They would betray their kingdom and follow a bunch of kingslayers?”

Yes, things were not going to go well. ”Children, get into the shelter,” Rebecca said in a low voice, keeping her eye on the group.

Praxi was still making up her mind. Maya secretly hoped she would say yes. She had fire (strange for a liquid person), and she would do well at the Mansion once her life was not constantly threatened. Plus, she liked her. Apparently she was not done adopting Atlantean kids yet.
They waited for sundown - but the people that appeared with the twilight were not the kids they have been waiting for. Not that Maya was completely surprised at the sight.

>>”Oh, nae this **** again,”

Maya rolled her eyes.

"I swear to God if they start snapping their fingers..."

>>“I heard you are taking these gorgons away to your Nation. What is wrong? Do they have no sense of pride in Atlantis? They would betray their kingdom and follow a bunch of kingslayers?”

Becca sent the kids into the shelter. They went; they were clearly scared of that many demigods showing up together. There was no way this was going to end well. Maya grinned fiercely at the group.

"Whoa, that is rich. You want them gone, you just don't want them gone with us? How does that work inside your tiny little fish brains?"

There were so many ways Rebecca respected Maya, but she was not sure if “respect” fit the way she admired Mirror in combat. Missions could always go sideways, and everyone had different ways of managing the stress and pressure of the situation. Intense focus, channeling anger, or on the fly strategizing were all common. Mirror seemed to revel in the chaos, not letting it slow down her charm and swagger. She could be bold and quippy in the face of a literal mob, and that confidence was honestly… well, it was sexy.

It was also reassuring. Rebecca could feel a smirk on her lips, despite their situation. ”Ah guess th’ demigods ay common sense an’ intellect stayed haem today.”

“Your words are tainted by the crimes you committed against Atlantis and its rightful king!” one of the women in the back of the group shouted.

Rebecca was tired of Atlanteans defending a man who entranced them for ages. She was not a perfect person, but she lost no sleep over Atlan’s final fate. ”Atlan was a corrupt tyrant an’ we kicked his arse. Yer friends, too,” she added, noticing the cowardly demigod from their earlier altercation in the crowd. ”If ye wanna prove there’s a brain amongst yer lot, jist let us leave.”

The group was staying a few yards from the X-Men, but there were enough people for Rebecca to miss one in the back melding into the stone street. The missing person reappeared, rising from the ground behind Rebecca with a body coated in stone. The sound of stone grinding against stone was the only warning Rebecca had to turn around and raise her shield at the last minute to block a stone fist with enough force to push her back two feet.

It was impossible to talk sense in the face of hate, unfortunately, so they would have to fight a way through their foes before they escaped to the X-Jet.

The 'demigods' showed no signs of remorse. Maya knew that the king had kept most of the population docile by brainwashing them, but in every place, every era, there were always people that were entirely too eager to volunteer. This merry bunch of ***holes was definitely recruited from the best of them.

>>”Ah guess th’ demigods ay common sense an’ intellect stayed haem today.”

"Or maybe that's a gorgon mutation." Maya frowned at the well-built figures. ***holes or not, there were too many of them.

>>“Your words are tainted by the crimes you committed against Atlantis and its rightful king!”

>>”Atlan was a corrupt tyrant an’ we kicked his arse. Yer friends, too. If ye wanna prove there’s a brain amongst yer lot, jist let us leave.”

They didn't. They felt secure in numbers, and all too eager to fight.

"Stay at the door and if this gets bad, get the kids out back" Maya told the guard on duty at the shelter. It was another guard, not the one from before. Whatever the demigods could bring, they were not going to get to the kids.

The rock mutant moved first, manifesting right behind Becca. Maya's first instinct was to yell, but her companion was fast to react, and blocked the hit just in time. Besides, she had her own problems to deal with. She felt defenseless without her archery gear. The next person lunged towards her, assuming that the rock guy would make short work of Becca. As if. The woman, stunning in her figure and also apparently an accomplished fighter, threw a kick that Maya managed to block, but it did push her back several feet. Enhanced strength? Maya ducked and countered... and her fist sunk deep into the woman's side. Nope, malleability.

"Oh come on! That's at least half of a physical mutation, you hypocrite!"

Rebecca was glad there were two X-Men and a guard between the mob and the gorgon children. The shelter was not impressive, but it was enough to give them one point to defend. Then again, hiding the children was only going to help if they could put an end to the small riot. If they failed, there was a large room filled with children who were promised a better life.

The man with stone fists was throwing punches quickly, but each time he collided with Rebecca’s shield, cracks would form in the stone coating. When most of the stone was chipped away, he dropped to the ground and pressed his hand against the stone street, merging it in to cover it with a fresh layer. The mutant could meld into stone and coat his body, but the flesh and bone beneath it remained unchanged. He was truly not a physical mutant.

Apparently, Maya was the one fighting a physical mutant, or “half” of one. ”Come oan, Mirror!” Rebecca shouted, defending blows with her shield to save herself from a stone-punch concussion. ”If they’ve proved ain thing, it’s nae that they hae any intelligent consistency frae thes lot!”

Rebecca was looking for an opening in her own fight when a chill fell over the street. A literal chill. She briefly peeked over her shoulder to see a woman approaching with her arms coated in jagged ice shards. The last thing they needed was an elemental.

Or was it? Ice formed around the woman’s foot and she tapped it against the ground. From the spot she touched, a gleaming coat of ice spread forth, covering the whole street. It could have been a major inconvenience if Rebecca could not lift herself off the ground with her boots and gauntlets. The slippery surface could have been a challenge for Maya, too, but Rebecca was sure there was some truth to “fortune favors the bold,” because the ice on the ground was so even and pure, it was genuinely reflective.

Rebecca grinned, lifting herself up a few inches off the ground. She threw a punch at the arm with the most cracks in its stone armor, and the force of her shield and the punch behind it shattered the shell and snapped a bone in the man’s forearm. ”Oh no, Mirror. Ice everywhere. Whatever sha ye dae?” she asked in a flat, sarcastic tone.

Dumb. These people were dumb, hateful, and vindictive, and on top of all of that, they genuinely believed that they were better than the gorgons... and yet they went out of their way to punish those who they believed were less fortunate. It was disgusting all around, and Maya was really, really glad she would get to punch some of them in the face.

Not that it was going well so far. The woman could apparently manipulate the malleability of her own body; her punches and kicks were hard, but Maya only found soft spots on her, and did not do any damage at all. And then suddenly, the ground got slippery under them. Maya ducked a punch, slipped, and fell flat.

>>”Oh no, Mirror. Ice everywhere. Whatever sha ye dae?”

Maya grinned. Okay, so maybe the fall was a blessing in disguise. It would leave a bruise, but it also gave her an advantage. Maya reached up, grabbed the woman by the ankle, and pulled her into the reflection. Before she had time to react, Maya popped out of the ice surface a few steps away, and tripped another demigod.

"Okay here's the deal. The ice goes away, the person in the ice goes away. Otherwise, she'll be out in a day or so. I'd keep that ice puddle fresh if I were you." Maya told the ice elemental, who was clearly surprised "Any questions? No? Good. Who's next?"

The ice was a game-changer in favor of the X-Men, putting Maya’s powers back in play. She was able to claim an advantage on the unsuspecting malleable woman, dragging her into the mirror world and out of the fight. She took the ice elemental off his feet and made it clear that, without ice, their malleable friend would vanish. Rebecca was unsure if the statement was even true, but it undoubtedly allowed Maya to claim control of the situation, and the confidence in her tone suggested she was well aware.

The patch of ice remained on the ground, so the power play worked. Evidently, the demigod did not want a non-gorgon life on his conscience.

After breaking her foe’s arm, Rebecca had finished him off in short order with a shield punch to the face. The man had barely hit the ground before two new enemies were keeping Rebecca on her toes. Well, her toes were still hovering over the icy street, but she was definitely on her metaphorical toes. One woman was able to manifest a solid form of energy akin to a whip, and the short man with the glowing blue eyes from earlier was evidently a teleporter. Between the man phasing in and out of existence and the woman relentlessly trying to strike Rebecca out of the air, it was hard to find an opening to do anything but dodge.

Rebecca was too preoccupied to notice a small child covered in fuzzy tufts of feathers approaching the shelter. By the time the young gorgon realized what he was walking into, the teleporter spotted him. With a wicked grin, he vanished away from Rebecca, reappearing over the young boy with a knife.

A child’s voice screeching caught Rebecca’s attention and her eyes darted to the man with a knife looming over a little boy. ”STOP!” she shouted, before an energy whip caught her in the back. The sharp pain broke her concentration, dropping her to the ground. The moment she hit the ice, she was already trying to scramble to her feet to stop the blue-eyed man.

Before she could get up from the ground, Rebecca was watching a large glob of slime fly through the air, colliding with the teleporter. Eupraxia had no definitive form as she enveloped the man’s head, arms, and torso. He tried to struggle, but his movements were slow and restricted. His eyes were wide and frantic as he struggled for breath. He teleported all around the street, but the slime girl came along for the ride every time until the man finally stopped moving. She oozed down his unconscious body, recollecting on the ground until she returned to her preferred form. She turned to the younger child and shouted, ”Get in there! Go!”

The young child made it into the Shelter, but before Eupraxia could follow, a purple bubble formed around her. An angry female demigod with purple hair was holding out her hand. “I hope that was worth getting squashed to death,” she growled as the bubble started to shrink.

Things were happening faster now. The ice mutant and the malleable lady were out of commission, and Becca had taken care of the earthbender... but there were more than those came from, and they all wanted in on the fight. Someone had to be a telekinetic, because random crap started to fly at Maya's face; garbage, bricks, pieces of firewood, whatever was movable in the area. Maya ducked and dodged, as she caught glimpses of Becca fighting two other people. One? Two. Crap. Teleporter.

"Watch ou..."

There was a cry from a child, and Maya's insides froze. And then Praxi was suddenly in the fight, and Maya managed to catch a flying brick out of the air. The telekinetic was distracted now by the glob of slime that was Praxi, creating some kind of an energy field and lifting her off the ground. Maya saw red. Lots of red.

"Alright, that's it, palytime. Is. Over." she growled, as she threw the brick, with frightening accuracy, at the telekinetic's head. Back to sender. The woman was too distracted by trying to crush a child, so it was only fair that she caught the projectile straight on the forehead, and was immediately out cold. Praxi plopped down on the ground.

"Back in the house, now!" Maya snapped at her, before she turned to her next opponent. The guy had flames engulfing his hands, but at this point, she was too enraged to care. "BRING IT, DOUCHEBAG!"

Rebecca was back in the air, ready to shoot toward the bubble-crafting telekinetic, but a brick beat her to the mark. Maya’s playful energy was replaced with serious anger. Threats to the two of them were easy to handle; the X-Men lived in a state of constant threat. The enemies they were fighting nearly killed an innocent child, and Maya was having none of it. She was always the truest definition of a hero.

Maya was not the only one maxing out on anger. With the children and Eupraxia safe, she could turn her attention back to the whip woman. The teleporter was no longer in her face to keep her off balance, so Rebecca was able to nimbly twist around in the air to avoid a lash before plummeting shield first. Like a small meteor, she crashed into the woman’s face and shoulder, knocking her back and knocking her out.

With that woman out of the way, Rebecca could face the remaining crowd that was barely a crowd anymore. Five demigods stood, with a sixth challenging Maya. Rebecca wanted to be pre-emptive, so she tossed her shield at the man in front of the pack.

The olive-skinned man raised a hand and formed a three-foot black ring in the air. The shield passed through the ring and promptly vanished. Once the ring was dismissed, Rebecca could not sense her shield. Whether it was in a pocket dimension, teleported, or destroyed, it was equally useless to her. She looked around, trying to sense some useful metal, but it was surprisingly sparse in Atlantean architecture. With the pack moving closer, Rebecca tried to focus in harder on the magnetic fields around her, looking for a disturbance she could use to her advantage.

The looming stress and need for a solution was met with an unexpected new discovery. Rebecca could sense two magnetically charged presences close by; specifically, each of her hands had a charge that had not been there moments earlier. She was not yet sure what it meant, but she had to figure something out fast.

Backed toward one of the Necropolis’s abandoned buildings, Rebecca looked around for any object she could use to her advantage. She grabbed a piece of wood, but it was only when she placed her other hand on a large chunk of marble that her stored charge took effect. Where she touched the object, there was a positively charged pole, with a matching negative pole on the other side. Suddenly, the marble was present to her magnetic sense like any piece of iron would be.

It was worth a shot. Rebecca focused her powers on the stone and, sure enough, it flew toward the group closing in on her. The man tried making another ring, but the marble was too large and the ring shattered, leaving him to take the brunt of a large chunk of marble to the chest. If the ring had not slowed the object down, Rebecca could have done more damage than she intended.

She did not have time to concern herself with how she nearly maimed a man, because four more demigods were still closing in. Rebecca looked around for another large, loose object, but before she could get a hold of something, she heard the sounds of gasping and coughing. She looked back up to see her pursuers struggling to breath. There was something gathering in the air around them. Haze or dust or…

Smoke.

The man threw a fireball, and Maya dodged. The projectile got dangerously close to the icemancer, who yelled something none too kind. If the fire melted the puddle, they would be one person down, permanently... the fire guy yelled back, then switched tactics, trying to charge Maya to burn her up close. Maya did not like that one bit. Mostly because the flames were so blinding up close that she had no view of Becca, or the building. She felt exposed. Someone yelled, and something crashed in the background, which was probably Becca fighting, although it lacked the usual metal clang. The guy managed to singe her arm, but Maya shifted out of the way and then aimed a kick at him, something that made him stagger back for long seconds. Enough for Maya to face her next opponent...

... and then everyone paused. Smoke came out of nowhere. Was that another demigod? Someone's mutation that was supposed to...?

Maya glanced around to see if Becca was still on her feet. If the smoke was hostile they'd need to face it together...

Rebecca was glad the looming mob was no longer advancing on her, but she still was struggling to piece together why they stopped. She wondered if the dense cloud of smoke was the product of one of the children in the shelter, but once she thought of the smoke as mutation-related, the obvious answer clicked.

The last of the demigods fell to the ground, unconscious and unmoving. Rebecca watched in awe as the smoke congregated, reforming into a human shape before becoming the beautiful Queen of Atlantis.

The Queen was still the picture of perfection, with nary a white strand of hair out of place, but she wore a disappointed expression. ”Deplorable,” she said somberly, looking at the unconscious bodies of her most hateful subjects. ”Take them away.”

With one decisive command, the guards that made up the Queen’s Royal Guard made it to the scene, lifting the bodies to carry to the dungeons.

Rebecca got to one knee and bowed her head. ”Your Majesty. Thenk ye sae much fur steppin’ in. We—”

”Extend no thanks, Lodestone, please. If my kingdom were in order, this would not have happened.” Queen Achlus was disappointed by how far Atlantis was from peace and equality, and it showed. Thankfully, the Queen was not going to give up or decide she could not help. She intervened on behalf of the X-Men, and she walked to the door of the shelter to see the gathered children they were rescuing.

The children flinched and cowered in fear of their Queen, who was pained watching what her presence did to the gorgons of Atlantis. ”I am sorry, my children. Atlantis has failed you. I am still failing you. But we will continue to work toward a home where you may all be safe and happy. Until that day comes, go with my blessing and seek refuge with the X-Men. I have the utmost confidence they will watch over you in America as they have watched over you here today.”

Rebecca stood behind the Queen as she spoke, but there was still a mix of emotions she was dealing with. There was the relief of surviving the fight, pride that they were able to keep all the children safe, and coursing adrenaline that had yet to go away. Rebecca and Maya faced down a mob, and while Achlus may have stepped in to end the violence, in the heat of the moment, Rebecca was pretty sure the pair of X-Men could have taken on a hundred mutants and came out victorious. Life and death was a serious matter, but Rebecca could not deny that the thrill had her riding a high, and part of that was Maya’s fault for bringing that out of her.

”Ye know, naethin’s sexier than a heroine,” Rebecca said quietly to Maya, not looking to interrupt Achlus’s moment with the children. ”If ye wanted tae make a move oan a Queen, noo micht be a guid time.” With all the excitement still coursing through Rebecca’s body, she had moves of her own she wanted to make, but they did not involve the Queen, and certainly would not be appropriate when they still had a few dozen children to shuttle overseas.

Regina ex machina. The queen showed up in a royal (and royally pissed) fashion to save the day, and Mirror was glad to see the remaining mutants drop and be hauled away. Catching a glimpse of the woman trapped in the ice just in time she went in to bring her out too; she did not put up a fight now that all her allies had been arrested. She did not deserve to die in the ice. The queen could have killed the rebels too, but she was wiser than that. Maya sighed as she finally relaxed, and her wounds started hurting.

>>”Your Majesty. Thenk ye sae much fur steppin’ in. We—”

>>”Extend no thanks, Lodestone, please. If my kingdom were in order, this would not have happened.”

"I'll say it anyway. Thanks." Maya smirked, walking to join Becca as the queen turned to address the scared children.

>>”I am sorry, my children. Atlantis has failed you. I am still failing you. But we will continue to work toward a home where you may all be safe and happy. Until that day comes, go with my blessing and seek refuge with the X-Men. I have the utmost confidence they will watch over you in America as they have watched over you here today.”

Well, it looked like they were taking a bunch of Atlantean kids home today after all. Maya looke at them. Everyone at the Mansion would have their hands full, but for a good cause. And from a quick head count, she could tell they would all fit into the Jet, which was a bonus. Most of them seemed eager to go. Maya was glad that instead of running away from a mob, they got a hopeful goodbye from their queen. She was the symbol of a better future to come.

>>”Ye know, naethin’s sexier than a heroine. If ye wanted tae make a move oan a Queen, noo micht be a guid time.”

"Yeah, because hitting on the queen is totally appropriate right about now" Maya muttered back, giving her teammate a smirk. "Talking about heroines... how the hell did you throw stuff... nevermind. I'll ask later. Let's get all the kids in the Jet, shall we?... Where's Praxi?"

The pair of X-Men came to Atlantis to offer an escape from strife and poverty for orphaned mutant children, and that objective was an undisputable success. There was going to be a lot of paperwork and a lot of roommate assignment shuffling when they returned home. It was all just as necessary as getting the children free from the island, but it was nowhere near as thrilling. Rebecca was riding high on the success of defending innocents from actual evil and ignorance. She and Maya fought of a mob; the Queen’s intervention did not change that. She was riled up and there were so many things she’d rather do than paperwork, she thought to herself as she eyed Maya. ”When we get haem, Ah hope ye’ll help me get th’ lads and lassies sorted.” Help would make the process go more quickly, and it would keep Maya around. With the headspace she was in, it sounded like a win-win to Rebecca.

Maya was not going to hit on the Queen, because they did have bigger things to deal with. At least they were on the same page; responsibility and the wellbeing of children trumped that kind of fun. Maya cut short a question about Rebecca’s powers, and she was thankful for the chance to consider the question herself. She could still sense a small magnetic charge resting in each of her hands, so the event was not some kind of fluke. Her powers were changing and she was going to need time to figure out what that meant.

Rebecca was guiding the children out of the shelter, encouraging them to stay close together and organized so the guards could flank them. An escort to the jet was warranted after what they experienced. Maya asked about Eupraxia, and Rebecca was already looking around for the amorphous girl in the shelter; the last straggler, by her count.

”Hey, Praxi? Are ye still haur?” Rebecca stepped forward into the dimly lit shelter. ”We’re gettin’ ready tae—”

Squiiiish!

Rebecca sighed and looked down at her boot, which was ankle-deep in green slime. ”Really, Praxi?”

”Of course.” The teenager reformed into a shape mimicking Rebecca, though the magnetmancer was sure she could see a smirk on those slimy, translucent lips. ”I wanted to lay low while some pretty demigod talked to make herself feel better.”

Rebecca could not blame the girl for her opinions, but they did feel harsh directed toward the one demigod who seemed to be making an effort to make things better. ”She’s nae aw bad. She’s grantin’ passage fer all ay ye. Ah mean, if ye’d be interested.” She was walking with them and the group, which was a hopeful start.

Praxi took a form closer to the one she had when they met earlier in the day. Her face was literally blank as she contemplated her options. ”There will still be demigods in New York, right?”

Rebecca frowned. ”An’ humans. It’s nae perfect, Praxi.” Rebecca wanted the children to come with them, but they had to be honest with their expectations.

”But you really believe it will be better? For the children?”

”Ah dae.” Honestly, how could it be worse?

There was another long pause, but Praxi finally shrugged and reformed her face. ”Well, it is as Maya said: the children could use someone like me around.”

It was the answer they were hoping for, as Rebecca’s broad smile made clear. ”Weel, looks loch we hae a jet full ay kids an’ ain protector tae bring wi’ us tae New York, Maya.”