Aura watched as her opponent's skin began to harden and expand. The girl shot up over three times Aura's height and her skin turned a bright silvery white and the reflective substance shined in the lights and seemed to run at times only to be absorbed back into the body. Aura could see a distorted image of herself on the other girl.

Aura fell back in caution, circling her opponent she made a few feints trying to draw the other woman in. The fourth such attempt worked, and Aura return swing bisected the body despite the drag she felt. The Other girl hardly noticed her body reforming right after the blade and even as Aura's blade exited she was struck in the chest and was thrown back from the blow, her aura barely holding the blow. She thickened her aura and let her blade fade away a drill appearing in its place. She dodged the next blow seeing drops of the silvery white substance land around the impact only to slowly move back to their master rejoining the mass.

Her net swing, Aura met with her drill, sending the droplets everywhere and Aura sank the drill to the other girls elbow but the other woman smiled as her split arm wrapped around Aura like rope, trying to draw her in, to smother her within her own body, Aura let her drill fade and replaced it with hammers over her fists striking the substance and flinging portions away from her, hoping to reduces the other girl's mass enough, it worked only when Aura struck the other girls head, which stayed solid and forced the girl back breaking her hold and taking greedy breaths as she did. Aura smiled and used a quick series of hand motions, her Aura flared purple from the light spell cast on her Aura.
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The security guard chief watching the camera's sent a call to have a camera that had gone out checked. Paranoid He assumed but when dealing with super powered live stock with friends outside the farm you stayed alive by being paranoid. Most likely a mere camera malfunction in his opinion. If not he had some pretty cool magic he could try out he joked to himself.

The building itself was built in a circular fashion, offices on the outside, concessions and bathrooms one ring closer, two stair cases spiraled off into the dark basement where pained moans emanated from the dungeon. The second floor however were the offices, the outer of which had a view outside and the inner set's offering VIP seating. A squeaky cart rolled past the room labored with samples from a dozen foods. A few of the more important rooms had a guard outside them. One room at the end of the curved wall was guarded by six guards, a private betting room.

>>
”I thought that was my line?”

She smirked back.

—

Shin threw Sam a thumbs up overcome shoulder, never turning around. When they’d left, he frowned. He gave them a quick prayer of good luck. Then he flew off.

—

Guards, handled, camera, handled, ice wall over real wall… handled.

Witty banter… handled.

>>
“So what’d you use?” zek asked as he followed his fellow X-Men, doing whatever an X-Men did. “Curare? Arsenic? Strychnine?”

”Company secret,” Lenna replied mystifyingly. He was company she wished to keep a secret from. So it was all true. Mostly though, she did not wish to do shop talk when they were away from the shop.

They entered the building. Zek first, because he was pushy. She did not try to boot his butt, mainly through sheer virtue… and sheer luck. He had been too fast, too forward.

The Tranq gun was stashed on her back. A new, hand-sized fun gun was in her hands, in proper position to be readied but not pointed at any living things. Close to her body, and pointed up. She checked her zones as she followed him in.

He sat in a chair and spun, then kicked his legs up on the table… the tune-covered table. Something about the table struck her as strange.

>>”So did either of you bring the map of the place?” Zek said, licking the food tray clean.

Lenna said ”Yes, and your ass is sitting next to it.”

She strode forward, and punched a button an tables surface… a rune-etched button. A ghostly blue hologram of the facility sprang up above the tabletop. It had leetle nubs at the top of the projection “screen”, like internet tabs. She poked one. The air rippled, then switched to security feed in real-time.

It showed the outside of a room surrounded by six guards.

”Like Magic,” She said. She popped the hologram where runescript words hovered. The text resembled comic sans and it said “betting room.”

She switched between a few different tabs. The next showed the food cart, followed by the next few we’re office reads, both inside and out. Offices and hallways, she switched from one view to another. Hopefully this would give them all a good sense of layout. As she went, Lenna also noticed a tiny view of a map UI in the bottom right corner. It had a blinking red dot that noted the location of each view. Finally, Lenna reached a basement view.

Her next swing, Aura met with her drill, sending the droplets everywhere and Aura sank the drill to the other girls elbow but the other woman smiled as her split arm wrapped around Aura like rope, trying to draw her in, to smother her within her own body…

Lenna watched as the drill was replaced with a hammer. They all saw the rest of the scene. At least, until Lenna remembered the mission and punched the miniature map. It grew to cover the whole screen, and neatly censored the ultimate end to the conflict. Not that SHE had the squeams… was squeamish…whatever… but Zek WAS eating. A strangers food.

Obviously this was a security office and the official had left during a meal. To piss, most likely scenario.

The map showed the last tab’s location. The arena. The next tab, she clicked out of curiosity. It showed the holding cells, and was titled… “Fungeons.” She did not get whatever joke had been made.

The dungeons or the arena. Which first?

Well, obviously they would work in a circular pattern, from offices to concessions and bathrooms, to stairs, and down, cleaning the way as they went. They would avoid the betting room. Obviously if they freed prisoners first, they would have assistance. Unless prisoners were under a sway. Then, not.

Lenna quickly relayed this plan to Sam, and by fantastic feat of him occupying space, Zek as well.

A door rattled behind Sam, as she was finishing her thought. It opened and a man adjusting his fly stumbled blearily into the room. Sam was right there to handle him.

Well that was one more X-Men mystery confirmed. They totally used poison. Aw right! Zek knew he’d love being an X-Men! Besides, they had the best kitchen he’d seen in a long time. Way better than that Texan governor’s, even. Oh yes, he was gonna get used to this who shtick very quickly indeed.

Also, his butt was great at finding things, apparently. “Lucky me!” he chirped, dumping the tray on the table. He briefly considered storing it again until he could return it to the mansion, but really, why bother? It’s not like the mansion didn’t have a bajillion trays or whatever.

Then came the hologram.

“Ohhh, that’s some high-def stuff!” Zek oohed and awed. Man, of all times not to have a stash of popcorn on him! He had to settle for pulling his candy necklace off and chomping down on it. It reminded him of that time Carter had shown him the X-Men Danger Room and all their ugly holograms. But this was cooler because this wasn’t an entire room and therefore quite mobile.

Then the show got good! Zek’s eyes were wide and practically glowing with intense concentration and glee in the light of the hologram. He saw the betting room listed and that gave him an idea. “Twenty bucks that The Color Purple wins,” he said. He probably had twenty bucks on him. Plus, he’d see her fight before, back when she was Lady Fuschia. He also made a mental note about the location of that food cart.

Lenna started giving her plan or whatever so Zek took the chance to play around with the hologram. He zoomed in on the concessions area and started casing the joint. “I call dibs on the food,” he said. “Case they’re smuggling stuff in it.” A guy appeared. Zek bounced a light off the floor between Samgelina Frostie’s legs and the random guy disappeared.

“Also, dibs on the fungeons.” Those sounded very interesting indeed! As was a giant hologram of an entire establishment. He really liked the idea of something showing everyone in a particular place at once. He went back to the estate’s layout and focused on some of the moving dots. Then a speaker somewhere on the desk crackled.

“Hey Joe, Celery Team is missing. Have they checked in yet?”

Sam stood guard by the door his thermal sense extending out around him. Studying the slight differences in temperature indicating a few water pipes just under them. A man came into view in the hallway and slowly approached the door. Sam let himself get distracted long enough by the exchange between Zek and Lenna and then Holomap.

The icemancer had fought Aura before, even under horrible circumstances fought with her. So he didn’t need to see the outcome of the fight. Ignoring Zek’s comment about betting on Aura he jumped slightly as one of the glowing balls Zek could produce bounced under him and took out the guard Sam didn’t have a chance to take down.

There was no ‘thank you’ from the winter warrior. Even if it was justified, Zek’s method for dispatching enemies and targets was a great one. If he or Lenna had taken anyone else down they’d have to search for a place to put the bodies, but Zek just made them disappear if stealth was key his powers were an asset even of the person wielding them wasn’t.

”Right then. We’ll go room by room, like Lenna said. Room by room working our way down, as a team. I don’t want to get separated for.... obvious reasons.” Sam looked from Lenna to Zek. Neither of them were X-men. Lenna had training sure but if they were going to throw around the X-men name it was possible it could implicate the rest of the team. Sam didn’t want that and if anything happened to a student while he was around.... well let’s just say Sam would get ‘chewed out’.

”Zek, your on clean up, one of us takes a guard down you orb him to your pocket, we’ll find a place to drop them off that’s out of the open so it doesn’t arouse suspicion. We want to remain hidden as long as possible. Till the cells at least.... don’t answer the call.” he said not knowing how close all the guards were. Words, voice mannerisms any of them could be a tip that they weren’t Joe.

Eyeing the holomap one last time Sam nodded his head and looked out into the hallway first with his thermal sense then with his lone eye. The nearest cameras quickly frosted over till the cameras themselves froze cutting the feeds. ”Half of the rooms we won’t even need to enter, not if there is no one there. Lenna lead the way. I’ll notify you guys if I feel anyone showing up.” he said exhaling as a plume of breath became visible indicating the sudden drop in temperature.

”Let’s move!” he said exiting into the hallway.

Aura's experience began to show as the girl tried to keep Aura from contacting her core piece. She worked her way through the shimmery silvery tendrils, not at all understanding the poisousness nature of the element the girl was made of but her Aura guarding her skin the same. She moved under one tendrils and cut through another with a blade then plunged her aura coverd hands into the girl.

She could feel the tendrils pounding on her Aura as she searched and even though she could have broken Aura's aura in time, Aura was not going to give it to her. Aura ripped her hands out of the girls chest, a ball of her aura dripping with silverd mercury and a small purple orb within. She reducedher aura upon command untill the ball strained against her Aura before cracking in half.

Once the orb broke the girl's fell to the ground a puddle of silver and a purple dust sparkling i it as Aura let the orb dissopear. Internally Aura screamed and the crowd did the same. Both knew Aura had executed the girl. Part of Aura mind, wondered if she deserved this for her failure to protect her people, for outliving tbhose she had served and from doubting her code.

Aura turned and moved back to the gate to be processed on secured before being returned to the cells, her aura switched off like a light as handelers came close.

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The security room wondered of Celry team was not off drinking again but a number of camera's had also started to not function as well Well he waited for a reply from the last room he paged, he brought up a list of security agents and paged them, asking them to look for Celery team and check the camera's that had stopped working. Derek was hoping it was his imagination but he was starting to worry about the strange things going on. He held of on souncding an actual alarm yet both for fear if he was wrong and because he did not wish to panic the very well paying patrons eho valued their safely and privacy.

A minute after they left the room a praying mantin looking woman came up from the dungeon her mandibles clocking and control tiara a bright red, she moved down the hallway as a guard. Derek rather enjoyed puppeting them and it took little magic to tap into and send commands. The mantis girl, a captured mutant had been used in the role before. her speed and the sharp edges of her arms let her control many of the others if and hen they did get out of hand.

He paged Joe one more time then directed the mantis girl to the room to check. It was possible Joe was just out but with no responce from the other team he grew more worried.

He wished to bet. She rolled her eyes. No bet. Besides, it was all orange to her.

On-topic, she listed out thoughts. And on-cue, Zek ignored them. He did ball some person as they appeared though, which was handy. Amid the mewling about food and stuff.

Sam ignored it just as she had done, and continued in.

>> Right then. We’ll go room by room, like Lenna said. Room by room working our way down, as a team. I don’t want to get separated for.... obvious reasons.” Sam said.

Lenna nodded.

Sam continued by directing Zek.

His talk was interrupted by a voice on the nearby speaker. Lenna was suddenly reminded of Han Solo in the Death Star, responding to a storm trooper check in. She moved smoothly over to the source of the sound before Zek could Zek it. She put herself between him and the object in question, without acting as if that were her goal. She poked something on the map with a tiny “huh.”

No answering the call, no yes we’re fine! How are you? What’s your ID number?! ZAP!!

She followed Sam’s lead… by being first out of the room. They were moving.

—

They moved like she had directed them to do, rounding the building past offices. In the few minutes they managed, they saw nothing of note. They were almost to concessions, when the mantis woman appeared in front of them.

Lenna initially wanted to force push it into a wall, very smooshy, but very loud. Her follow up response was to rush at it with a knife in hand. As she came in contact with it, she partied the arm slash with her own blade, and locked arms and moved with the mantis, to ultimately throw it back towards Zek and Sam. The woman stumbled across the ground between them, right into the two men’s range.

Once that was handled, however that would be handled, Lenna turned and lead the way into the next area.

”Concessions await,” She said dryly. As if they had not just iced slash slashed slash balled a weird mutant woman.

Obvious reasons? “Honestly, Sammie-dear, if you love me so much, you gotta learn to let me go sometimes, my little Icy Hottie.” Zek said, batting his eyes and making his lips all pouty. He formed a heart with his hands. “I just can’t be tied down like that.”

There was suddenly a butt in Zek’s face. “Excuse you,” he said imperiously. Lenna was practically sitting on his legs and his legs were not seats. They were glorious works of art that did not need to be flattened by sudden butts.

Zek automatically reached around her to get to the speaker right around when Sam said no. Zek rolled his eyes and huffed, withdrawing his hand back into his trenchcoat and pulling out a bag of chips. “You’re not fun,” he said as he loudly smacked his lips and crunched down some chips. He received orders. “Okay, you’re a little fun.” He still got to hit people. That was cool.

And they were soon off! Off on a grand mission to the concessions! The best part of the place! Zek really needed to stock up on his coat snacks - he was starting to make a dent in his reserves. He was also making excellent progress on his chips, too.

He finished off the bag as Chitin Wonder came running around and was promptly and aggressively greeted by Lenna. Zek absently smacked the Bug-Gal with the last of his balls and she vanished. He tossed his empty chip bag behind him and materialized the parachute and his duffle bag before vanishing them with a single ball. Even someone as amazing as Zek sometimes had limitations - it was time to consolidate some of his pockets.

And then concessions.

It was glorious. So many boxes of junk food! And an entire stack of hotdogs! He promptly went over and started making himself a huge thing of cotton candy. “Who else wants some?” he said through a mouthful of spun sugar.

For all his annoying personality quirks Zek was actually pretty useful with the mission at least making bad guys or controlled mutants disappear. The mutant woman parried with Lenna for a moment then was pushed into Sam and Zek’s direction. Sam was about to freeze her to a wall then felt the motion and then saw the glowing orb with his peripherals.

”I’ll pass.” the icemancer said coldly as he slowed for Zek. They were on a time crunch and were limited to how fast they were all moving. Zek was the one he didn’t leave behind mainly because he didn’t know what the man would say or do if captured and frankly Sam didn’t want to leave him to the rest of the team to deal with.

”How many orbs you got left?” he asked sending a wave of cold forward into the next hallway. Making note of another pair of mutants walking forward. Sam only assumed they were mutants because of the extra appendages that registered with his thermal sense.

Motioning and warning Lenna about the next two coming in he pushed his back to the corner of the hallway and waited. ”Non lethal. Don’t know who is being controlled.” he said to Lenna who already seemed way ahead of him. ”annnnnd go!” Sam jumped from the corner, grabbed the nearest arm that was accompanied by another three sets of arms on one body then was thrown onto the ground and blasted with a beam of cold pinning them to the ground. Another swift motion and the man was out.

”Need another closet to drop them in.” he said looking around, ”Unless you got more space.” he said to Zek who was busy with the cotton candy machine. Why it was working in a hallway with no one around Sam didn’t bother to ask the question.

The mantis girl never reported back in and that made him nervous. he made a few calls and hit a button to the higher paid booths, that their might be a breach. Whoever it was or whatever needed to be stopped at least long enough for the richer people to get away, once confirmed he would signal the rest to go, but their was no need to lose more money on this if no one learned of it. His bosses would be ad if he lost them to much money over somthing they could get under control.

Aura stood redeploying her standard swords and only glanced at the bruise colored dogs made from magic appeared around her, both looking heavier then Aura, who promptly climbed on one and directed it forward. In truth their was little her handelers needed to instruct her on as search and destroy missions were drilled into the woman's soul. Still a handeler climbed atop the other dog like creature and took the lead as they rode down the hallways as fast as their mounts would take them. Aura never said a word, but followed each order immediately and without word, her aura still purple as she had not yet been given the command to drop the miner spell.

Mentally Aura was enraged. The girls memory haunted her mind as they all would. She could do little to resist the control she knew or reverse what she had done. But she could recall their faces and their powers as she did for each mutant she had killed. Aura saw it as a way to repent and a way to remind her of the damage she had done herself. It was funny the faces of those she saved tended to all blur together. They came around the courner ready to attack if needed or look what happened to the other guards and the mutant. Tbhe magic dogs nails, emitted loud shreiks as they dragged across the floor.

The warning was noted. She prepped herself. Two bodies. Lenna got into a fighting stance, with one knife held ice pick style in her left hand and her right held palm open, so she could grab or deflect. He said non lethal, but still, there was much one could do with a blade that did not outright kill. Intimidation was but one excuse.

“Aaaand go.” Sam said. He quickly handled his. Her foe was— much less pretty than the many-armed one Sam had tangled with. Black fur, with a white stripe and tufted ears meant—

Lenna threw herself out of the way as a visible flamethrower of foul-smelling gas erupted down the hallway. Five whole feet, it extended, away from the bent mutants posterior. When it dissipated (the fire part, at least, ew), the mutant stood up from their “bent-forward posture”, and stowed the cigarette lighter. Then, they rushed the dazed young mutant with claws outstretched.

Somewhere along the way, invisible pressure was applied at just the right angle and degree that the force of skunk woman’s own running feet literally skewed her feet out from under her. Lenna took advantage of the sudden rough landing to pounce upon the target. One swift punch to the back of the head, and they were unconscious. How was that for non-lethal, Sam?

The odor still hung in the air. No one had gotten hit, save the ground of the room. It likely would put a damper on the mood of the concessions area for quite some time.

With a grunt, Lenna hauled the skunk woman over to Sam, and was grateful it had been female rather than make. Females are often lighter. A make may not have been so easily moved by a teenaged girl.

She found a closet not too far away, around a corner. She pocketed the bic, then shoved the woman in the closet, which was full of extra boxes of popcorn and salted peanuts. Hopefully the two mutants lacked a nut allergy. Or legumes. What ever.

Bodies stowed, they went onwards. They did not have to wait too long. As they rounded yet another corner, they heard the sounds of scraping and tapping, like many doggy feet pattering across hard floor. Large doggy feet. And shrieks. Then, Lenna saw them. Hounds? And— Aura. She was riding one.

”Everyone back! Please excuse me for what I am about to do—“ Lenna announced. And then, she—

She sent a wave of invisible force crashing across the intervening space with the force of a 300 lb football linebackers tackle. For every object it encountered, the size of the unseen wave would lessen, but each target struck would be sent reeling. That ought to at least knock the hounds and their riders on their asses. Aura could take it.

As Lenna sent the wave out, her vision flared normal colors around its edges, with the usual orange she always saw focused only along the path of the wave. Then, her vision momentarily staggered to black as she took a step to press her palm against the side of the hall. She would need a minute to recover. A Force push took much mental energy, and took a toll upon the body as well. Zek and Sam would have to engage whatever had been knocked ass over tea kettle and was still conscious.

Aura's mind considered the three, considered the force that was with Aura and was pretty sure she knew how it would end, but no one asked her as the spell took tighter grip on her mind. Aura had not fought with this Lenna something both the controlled and resistant parts of her mind were happy enough to remedy, the difference was the end goal of that fight. None of them were prepared for the force blast that struck, for a second her mount and her moved back together, until the dog was stripped out from under her, forcing her to the ground, and stopping her self with an aura spike which ripped a two inch wide and foot deep gash in the floor, her ankle protested the abrupt stop but it was just pain, nothing broke, her aura weathered it. She spring forward knowing full well she was no match for the three of them, but she had to by time for the others to recover. Orders are orders, a distant part of her mind echoed.

Aura moved to close on Lenna, she needed to clear who she believed the weakest member of the three was, plus Lenna could be a shield against Cold steels and zek's powers, maybe. She knew to little about zek's powers to understand their limits and the zombie attack had not let her pay much attention to it in detail. Cold steel she viewed as the biggest threat of the three from over a decade of encounters. The battles for the golden doors and the battle at KP ran through her mind but their had been many. If she got close to Lenna it might restrict them. She brought her aura sword in a faint neck slash, following in an upper cut motion, hoping to impale under the ribs but not kill, the dead were worse meat shields.

One of the summoned hounds, Aura's former mount went sprawling back down the corridor, the other maintained it's footing, even as his rider was thrown back. even as he flew back his voice rose to that of a deep baritone oprah singer, and three shimmery dart sized objects of force made their way at the three invaders, then in falsetto he floated to the ground, but his pain was evident. His mount hit an open doorway and it's back leg snapped in a way that would have knocked out a real animal from pain, the summon however responded by breathing fire down the corridor, smart enough to aim at Cold steel and Zek.

“More for me then!” Zek exclaimed, licking up the pink sugar with nis blue tongue. If he was lucky, his tongue was going to turn purple soon! And then Sam asked about Zek’s orbs. A number of immediate responses fought to get out his mouth and his eyes lit up, but he settled for a casual shrug and said, “A magician never reveals his secrets.” Zek could play hard to get, too!

Contented as he was, Zek ended up just in the back of the trio, absently considering swiping the cotton candy cart to fill up his last pocket dimension (and it would be so worth it, too) when more stuff happened. He successfully evaded shivering due to his long johns and instead watched as Lenna and Sam Or Eye neatly took down two more enemies. Or maybe another team of invaders? Eh, didn’t really matter. Zek had cotton candy.

Even though it was pretty cool that Skunk Lady had a flamethrower butt. Zek was actually jealous!

Until he saw lights in the hallway. A purple glow was the first sign of trouble. “Hmmm, think that person knows Pink Floyd?” Zek asked. Only then did his eyes fall upon what the people were riding.

Big. Giant. Squid. Demon. DOGS.

Zek did not see the telekinetic whammy. He didn’t see The Color Purple launch her attack. He didn’t see one of the demon dogs spit hellfire at them.

Zek didn’t see any of that because he immediately started screaming at the top of his lungs and ran in the opposite direction.

“AAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!”

The icmancer gave Lenna a slight nod as she defeated the mutant and dragger the woman over ignoring the smell. He’d smelled skunks before and having trained another mutant similar to the woman Lenna just deposited in front of him he felt a twinge of anger. Sam didn’t know who was being controlled or not being controlled here but he didn’t like the fact that this was even going on.

Sam heard the dogs before he felt them, the sound of paws hitting the floor followed by the heavy breathing. Then he felt them, then he saw them. They were... altered. All of them. He didn’t know the effects magic had on animals but imagined they were in a similar situation to the mutants that they were here to rescue. Did Eve need a new pet? Did these animals also need rescuing? Animals, Sam understood more than humans and mutants. They acted on instinct, they were just defending their territory.

That was when Sam saw her, Aura. Riding one of the beasts. He didn’t know just how far gone she was but Aura was one of the most unpredictable and most dangerous mutants he had ever encountered. Her ability to create and destroy without much thought was similar to his ow powers. Her upbringing similar to his. The difference between the two of them was clear, Sam got out. Aura... she seemed to still be in it.

>>>”Everyone back! Please excuse me for what I am about to do—“

”Back up!” Sam said running back after Lenna gave the warning. He braced himself and brought his arms into a guard incase Lenna’s powers kicked him back further. He felt the force and then saw it did what it needed to do. The grotesque dogs were sent backwards as Aura leapt from her mount and landed covered in a purple aura this time instead of pink. She charged and before Sam could counter her he spotted the flames and heard Zek scream.

”Zek! Stay in formation!” the ball boy was untrained, unpredictable and annoying. Maybe he’d get killed? The icemancer had to push those thoughts from his mind he was only here because Lenna and Sam brought him along. He was annoying but still not expendable. ”I’ll deal with the dogs! Ball Aura!” whether he listened or not Sam wasn’t sure he just knew that with what Lenna just did she might need a second.

”Aura!” a beam of ice shot forward over Lenna’s shoulder aiming at Aura, then another beam as one of the dogs tried to give chase to Zek. ”Lenna down!” he shouted as he surged forward placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her as he leapt forward with a kick aiming straight for Aura.

”We need Zek to ball her!” he shouted. It was her mission, but to Sam that was the simplest outcome, less fighting with someone they were here to rescue.

Her head was, what was the word again? Yes. Foggy. Not a deep fog, such as the kind that clings to the harbor early in the morning. Not yet. A few more force pushes, and perhaps it would be. For the moment, it was more the tail end of a good fog. A nice mist or something. Fine enough to dull her reaction times a bit, leave her distracted, you know? But not enough that Lenna was entirely clueless about what went on around her.

Focus was centered on enemies, rather than allies. This meant she paid far more attention to… the wall she was leaning against… and then a bit of floor as she swung her eyes up to the people and animals she had launched a telekinetic assault on… then them… rather than any screaming fools running the opposite way.

Squid dogs, yes. And— her mind snapped sluggishly to the woman she recognized. The one with the distinctive purple aura, that was a visible glow of colored light, even in her world of orange. Because you cannot target light.

She had not fought this woman before. Not in this lifetime, at least. Was she still holding her— no. At some point, she had dropped both her knives. Perfect… she brought up her arms, ready to turn, to deflect, to guide Aura’s strike away from her and her vitals (to the best of her ability).

Aura moved in what she thought was a guided strike at her neck. Whether she fell for the feint or not, it did not matter. Because her mind was not focused as it usually would have been, upon the next step in the battle. And the next. No. It was focused on the arm with the aura blade, the arm with the purple light that blazed in her orange field of vision. Her mind was still hazy, but adrenaline had begun to dispel some of that. To wake Lenna up.

She took a step back, from the slash (true, or false), and as she did, Lenna twisted her body to the left and thrust out her arms, palms up. Her goal would have been to slap that sword arm up, and to one side with a directed bubble of Telekinetic force.

The feint slashed the air bare inches from her neck. Aura turned the strike to a follow up upper cut motion, aimed at chest level. Her heart? Her ribcage? Other vitals.

Lenna’s focus on the arm tightened. Colors on the edge of her vision grew more crisp as her world became that arm. And, she would have misdirected it, too— if it had not been for Cold Steel.

>>> “Aura!” A beam of ice shot forward over Lenna’s shoulder aiming at Aura, then another beam as one of the dogs tried to give chase to Zek. ”Lenna down!” he shouted as he surged forward, placed a hand on her shoulder, and pulled her as he leapt forward with a kick aiming straight for Aura.

She was clear enough in the head to go with the flow. She was not really feeling too hot, and maybe she could have done it, maybe she could have even tried to snap Aura’s arm with the TK bubble, or puppeteer it back and into her like some sort of grade school bully.

Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself, stop…

But she didn’t. Orange flooded her mind again as she let Sam direct her down and out of the melee. His timing was really quite impeccable.

Well then. Now that she was on the floor— Lenna rolled away, and retrieved both her knives. Had he said something? Many things were happening, so if he had, perhaps it had gotten lost amid the confusion and noise of battle.

That dart of force someone had directed towards her? All that movement in the melee had caused it to impact on the wall near where Aura and Cold Steel fought. Missed her completely. But at ground level, she noticed that attempted assault, and Lenna took exception to that.

Before she decided to get to her feet and rush at that person, Lenna had time to let her eyes stray and focus on the ground in front of her. The ground where Aura and Cold Steel fought. On footwear. Aura’s, and Sam’s… in an optimal world, she would have mentally untied Aura’s shoes and just sort of ruined her day. The mental dexterity required for such a feat was highly skewed towards a level the young girl currently did not occupy. So. She reached down, and pulled one of her own shoe’s off. She tore the other one off as well, for good measure. She rested them on the floor.

Lenna got to her feet, one knife in one hand, one sheathed in the clutch across her chest. Then, she scooped up a shoe and lobbed it at Aura’s back: she did not care if it hit or missed. Lenna took off running before she saw the results of the childish and petty act. Right before she got to the dogs and the man who had launched the darts, Lenna focused on the other shoe where she had left it, and sent it sailing towards the guy, with a swift application of TK.

It hit him in the forehead and sent his follow up volley of force darts wide. She followed it up with a shoulder tackle that sent him on his ass. Then, she stabbed his dog.

Sorry small one.

She would feel terrible about that later, absolutely terrible. The blade went clear through its neck. No more fire breathing. Enough of that.

”On your feet, smart ass. My head is now clear and I want someone else’s head to knock around. You seem unattached.” Her Colombian accent drawled. ”Got one minute?”

He glowered at her. And sang out in a deep baritone that took her by surprise. She parried the force dagger out of the air. Just smacked it down.

”Smart,” She confirmed darkly. ”Ass.”

Chaos rules the hallway or it would seem, the demon dogs making the portal man run away had helped but her owm plan sank quickly. she felt the ice beam strike her aura and her shoulder felt the wave of cold as permeated through her aura's small holes that let air in and out, it also knocked her back slightly, her following uppercut missing Lenna ruining the third strike in the attack. Aura had intended to kick at Lenna's ankle to try and sever the vital artery there. Cold steel had pushed her down and Lenna slipped past her, even as she turned to pursue the felt the kick at the side of her aura, not impaling it as she used her remaining resource to form a spike and impale whatever had struck her back, then quickly let the aura spike fade.

She needed to end this quickly and with a small amount of will she forced both her aura blades to change reforming them into drills, trying to rely on the penetration they provided. Ice was shockingly hard and she did not feel the blades would have cut against them as well. She also lacked the time to look where Lenna had gone, her handler was on his own as she had not been ordered to defend him.

Aura's first drill aimed at Sam's heart, trying to exploit his lone eye, the other a moment later drew a more obvious path for a kidney on the other side of him before bringing up a knee, with a quickly formed aura sword upon it, to try and gut the man. Aura expected the first two shots to be blocked and was counting on the final one, she needed Sam out of the fight quickly. Still even controlled she knew the snowman was at least her equal on the battlefield if not more. She still felt the slight numbness on her shoulder from the ice beam, reminding her of that as well, she could block the physical end of the attacks but the cold itself would sneak through.

The dog pursuing Zek shot fireball's after him where it could and then opened it's jaws and pinced hoping to land on Zeks' back and bring its bulk on his back, then the mutants neck would be exposed and it could sink it's searing hot jaws into it. It's ears perked up as it felt it being called away and unless balled or disposed off would begin charging back toward Sam but slipping as the floor began to shake. Another Mystic stumbled into the corridor from a doorway zek was heading to and it was clear he was completely taken off guard as the floor began to pitch.

The other dog dissipated as it's neck was cut, it's death disrupting it's summoned form and this made the Mystic nervous. Aura was engaged and the other dog was much to far away to get there it time, he wa son his own and the woman nearly at his neck looked quite angry. He had no idea who she was or what she was trying to do, but he had to ensure she was taken. It would get him promoted he thought to himself. He reached deep into his magic and let out a bar of rock and roll, bringing his hand down past his eyes and then he punched the ground, his knuckles bled and the floor beneath them began to shake, blocks of flooring began to fall into corridor below as the floor's shaking began breaking it apart. THe spell reached the entire corridor as the mage sang. Pictures fell from walls and small vases shattered from a top tables. Finnaly the majority of the corridor fell to the one below, the mage resigned himself in his fear, either he had just won or was going to die, he had done his job but now really wish he had chosen another. Aura fell, braced her knees for the impact to far from a wall to prevent her fall and let her aura absorb the impact as she fell into a crouch.