Snow started showing up out of nowhere. People and animals and kids and weapons and chaos and fun were happening all at once. Eisen felt he hit the jackpot on his first visit to the Mansion (though he’s heard about this day from multiple sources). Equipped with his utility belt of spray paints, a communicator and some stun grenades, he frolicked through all the preparations, cheering everyone on. Of course he knew nobody, but morale was something to give freely, no? “Let’s get em folks! No holding back! Either we give it our all or we die trying!”

Eisen knew that there was no turning back now that he was here, so might as well fight. And snack on the beef jerkey he kept in his multi-pocket pants whenever his energy got low. VIVA LA RESISTANCE! He made his way to the roof to get a better view of all the action, and let the wind rustle through his hair.

August Appleberry
When the elder mystic sent out the call to join them in an assault, August said … nope. And he used his mystic powers to suggest the message carrier stay home that entire day, too. The suggestion was reasonable, nonlethal, and would be followed to its duration. Attacking a school was bad, yeah? That was a bad look. And dangerous. Someone (read Cold Steel) might get hurt. And then his dad… and others… might be inexplicably sad. He used his powers to remove one mystic from the equation.

Tetsuya Shinbo
Shard was present, fully in shard armor directly over real armor. The white coat Kealey had made him, the reinforced one with armor inserts. He had told his friend Aurum’s sister about it, so she was there too in a “spell armored” duster. He supposed she was in SUPER, maybe she’d tell them, maybe not, but she was a friend of the family who had gone to the mansion and knew everyone, Sam, Rebecca, etc, so… he had told her over the phone. When she had arrived in-person, and on such short notice too, her face had changed.

Amelia Mellitus
Her face HAD changed. That had surprised me Shinbo.

“It’s a long story. A wizard did it. So this… is personal…” she had said. He had gone ‘uh huh’ and seemed mildly annoyed at the melodrama. Whatever.

It was personal. She’d kissed a mystic and she’d liked it. The mystic had (with her help) changed her entire physical appearance. And then, she had ghosted her. Amelia had never found the woman. Maybe she would be here? So Amelia could kiss her— kick her FACE! And protect the school and all that too, yeah? She had not alerted super. It was her day off, short notice, and it did not fit their MO. Mystics weren’t mutants. So that was her excuse (sorry everyone).

Amelia did not noticed Aura, who she still had not called. She did notice the guy from the night club she had danced with in another life though! The loud shirt man? She went by the doors and greeted him. At least she thought it was him, she had been a little drunk back then. He’d been infinitely more noticeable than aura though, with the shouting.

“Yo. Hawaii right? From the club? Nice club by the way.” Club from the club. She should stop. A burning bush appeared and made her jump. Oh but it was a friend of Hawaii. She put her game face back on.

Lenna
Lenna received a communication device from the slime girl with much thanks. Especially for the stun Grenades! She took two, and said she would give the spare to someone else if she saw them. Such a sweet jelly girl, sliding around. So cute. And such a vivid shade of… to Lenna, at least… orange. Like orange jello.

As an X-trainee or whatever, she would protect the mansion. She had a sleep dart rifle and was ready, hiding camouflaged by a tree on the grounds. Someone had even helped her be certain it was color coordinated to be camouflage, and not Skittles themed rainbows like the last time. Not like the last time…

She did not like mystics. Mystics hurt kids. And other things. Forget them.

As she settled in, she noticed— hey! Aura was by a tree not too far off. She made to wave, realized she was camouflaged, and went to be camouflaged by the woman. She approached.

“Hello,” she said. Held up the tranq gun. “I will be your overwatch with sleep darts. Yes? With us, they will not stand a chance. Okay, bye. Luck.” Turned to walk away, stopped, walked back and handed the woman a grenade. “Stun grenade. Be safe. May your gods be with you.”

Then, she went back to hiding in the trees. She climbed. There were no angry chittering squirrels in it either. Thanks miss… Liz? Clearly the rattatosk in this tree, along with all the birds in the sky, we’re needed elsewhere

Tetsuya Shinbo
Shin finished summoning his golden GARO armor (google GARO) and a great big flying Porygon Pokémon mount construct. He also had a seven foot horse slayer sword. It had taken time to make it all, an he’d had time. Forewarned is fore-armed. Th blade wasn’t sharp but it was big and would knock people down, hard. It could have been sharp, but he had wanted it dulled. He essentially had a large baseball bat. He was defending the mansion with a baseball bat. It was just seven feet long, and looked like a sword.

Madison always questioned the ethics of being Hercules' "Master," but it was mainly just a type of pact; he gained power from the pact, and she had a kind-hearted himbo at her beck and call.

While she was not alone in that connection, it was interesting to meet one of his other masters, Serena. She was just... iconic. After all the battle, if the world was not filled with demons and monsters, she would totally have to get her opinions on fashion. "Well now you're being silly; who wears glitter to a battle?"

Crystal Witch watched the commotion of people preparing for a fight from the rooftops. Ez was not here as a civilian and the X-Men's version of vigilantism was always too sanitized for her. Still, this was the kind of trouble she signed up for.

And maybe it did make her a little grumpy that spellcasters accessing deeper levels of magic than she ever could were using those powers to attack mutants and threaten an apocalypse. It was offensive, and honestly, pretty Buffy.

She tapped an earpiece one of the X-Men was kind enough to give her. "Can confirm from roof level, bird boy is right. Also, can someone tell frosty he better be worth me freezing my t$%# off?"

"Reminder that this is a public channel," Rebecca chided.

"Yeah, yeah, I... wait, what's that?"

The air on the edges of the woods surrounding the Xaviers’ campus started distorting and shimmering green. Suddenly, with a crack, hundreds of Mystics appeared, standing in rows and ready for battle.

The Elder cursed. “Why are we still in the woods?”

A muffled, processed voice from behind the Third’s mask answered, ”There are protection charms in place. They interfered with the precision of the spell. This is fine.”

The Elder still grumbled, feeling the drain of such a powerful spell on his body. The Supremes would need a few minutes to gather more Mystic Energy regardless, which would be easier this close to their final goal.

Loudly, he barked, “Charge their stronghold!”

The call boomed, enhanced by magic, and the waves of Mystics charged into the woods protecting the courtyard and the Mansion.

-

“Mystics on the move!” Gemwitch shouted, burning the Amethyst in her stomach to launch herself into the air on a whirlwind, leaping toward the woods to get into the action.

Suddenly, something was happening. A whole lotta mystics appeared out of nowhere just outside the Mansion grounds. Better than inside, she decided. But too close for comfort anyway. If they were gonna do the teleporting thing, so would she. "Steel, give me some mirrors closer to the gates!"

Hearing the trouble was already so close, Madison wished her friends luck so she could rush into position.

She pulled out one of her decks, a normal deck of trading cards, and grabbed one of the Jokers from the deck. Setting the corner of the card on fire, she signaled two hand signs and flicked the card. In a flash of smoke, Madison vanished.

And reappeared where she left the other Joker, in the heart of the woods. "Yes! That worked!" She looked at herself. "And I'm still clothed!" The fates were coming up Madi.

Pulling out her deck of Trading cards prepared for this battle, she pulled a card and prayed for more good luck. "Grow strong and deceive your foes, Vesiculo!"

The monster she summoned was a young woman adorned in plants and fae-like garb, but that was not the monster. That was the lure.

Mystics approached Madi and Vesiculo, preparing their own spells, but they missed the plants rooted in Vesiculo. A large Waterwheel Plant snapped up several pods, catching cultists in the sturdy plant walls. "Aces! Keep that up, Vesiculo! But... probably don't digest them."

Sabine appreciated Svetlana for keeping her in the loop on what was coming. For the X-Men to allow her into their space, she knew the situation was dire. Even Aoife, the captive Supreme, seemed skittish about what was coming next.

Knowing her limits, Sabine was helping to coordinate communications from the security room of the Mansion, (with supervision, of course.) She had members of Mansion staff and the MRC working alongside her to monitor the situation, and they had a covered mirror held in the War Room to ensure no one got to the Sixth Supreme without Sabine having something to say about it.

"Okay people, we do not have confirmation on where they need to reach to get on with their plan, so the goal should be to stop as much forward progress as possible!"

The morning had been a contest of ethics, and would he, wouldn’t he questions. Real soul searching. On the one hand, it was stupid, but on the other…. Still stupid. More honorable though.

“#%% it,” **August Appleberry** swore. He arrived at the location of the well drinkers meeting on time. Listened to the grand poobah yukkity yuk of the mystic order of the waffle… took the magic transport like everybody else.

The air flickered. He appeared with all the other mystics. One individual in hundreds of cultish faces.

~~Charge their stronghold~~ the supreme grand master flash shouted.
Oh for the love of…

Did he charge with them? God help him, yes he did. They approached from the woods, they approached the road and the gates. August saw Cold Steel had left his mark in the grounds.

“Winter wonderland.” He muttered. Then one massive gung ho mystic stepped forward, screamed something and did an aggressive hip thrusting, gyrating dance. A full size orca appeared in the skies above the mansion. It fell, onto nothing save a pile of snow. There was a massive scream of joy from the hung ho—- gung ho, August, calm yourself— mystic. Then august tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey yeah, don’t do that again. It’s dangerous and you should go home and stay there the rest of the day do you don’t get hurt.” His hands twirled as he cast his spell… Gigachad whale man fought it for a second, then his eyes glazed over as the suggestion took effect. He ran away in the other direction. They really needed to vet their mystic armies better.

August ran after him, out of the clump of mystics and into the forest where he saw faerie carnage. Plants catching people. Problems. Also a woman and a cartoon.

“I’m a friend a friend!” He shouted. “See? Double agent! Flee! She’s dangerous.” He targeted a weak willed man who fled. Then looked hopelessly at the side he wanted to join. And mystics looked at him.

——

Back at the grounds, the whale was deteriorating. When it fell it had made a boom like a real whale, but it wasn’t. It was turning into lime green ectoplasm jello orca. No animals were harmed in the making of this mess. But wait… it wasn’t **dead**. It began to charge the doors. Moving towards Hercules, gelatinous whale. Verrrrry slowly. But it was…. Free. Slowly evaporating, but… free. 😭

**Tetsuya Shinbo, the golden knight, flew over the grounds on his Porygon. It was cold. As he flew, he saw Carrick in form with a rider. He drew close enough to talk.

“Hey! Beat a couple for me. Make up for the one I saved you from!! Heard he attacked a prison before we got him. All over the news! Crazy how he—“

Shin casually turned and caught a firebolt on the flat of his blade. The bolt had been headed straight for Carrick’s flank.

He glanced at Carrick. “Happy hunting.”

Then he blazed down on electric soldier Porygon to beat up some mystics. Lenna watched through her scope as the Asian sent the mystic that had just attacked him flying with a swing of his blunt blade. Then the knight retreated as missiles pelted him, rose up above them, then dove in again scattering ranks.

“Man! Bird Man!” Carrick chirped into one ear while being on the other line with the princess. About to comment on the woman’s behind he thought better of it. She was here helping the mansion, his home and he didn’t really want to get an earful from a any of the parties listening on the other end.


>>>Charge their stronghold!!!

It was announcement. One that told everyone that they were about to attack Carrick’s mismatched colored eyes shifted the grounds for any commotion. Turning his head he looked to the street leading up to the entrance. There were people.

“Nah, nothing yet love-” he said talking to the princess only to stop mid sentence, “the it was when a giant whale appeared out of thin air. “nix that, they brought a whale!” he did not elaborate, “Call ya back!” he didn’t know what it was like sitting on the other end of the line as a battle was starting to rage around him but would apologize later for the abrupt hang up.

A flash of light nearby and Carrick’s flight response was stopped short when Shin appeared riding.... what the hell was that? “What is that?” he asked aloud having never played pokemon. “Was gonna do it before ya asked me!” quipped the shifter as he was never a fan of taking orders. Even if it was not one. Watching the glinting shardmancer fly away Carrick looked back to the woods where a few bright flashes were going off followed by the percussions of the grenades.

“He did say hunt!” Carrick smirked and leaned forward making a b-line for the woods seeing as a whale was a little out of his weight class.