The fire erupted near him and he ignored it, Rex of the inferno was no foe, no one he stood with today was. “Hmmm?” green eyes focused on the woman next to him and he realized he had met this woman before. “Yes! Ha I am and it is!”

>“Charge their stronghold!!!”

The conversation would have to continue later. “At last!” roared Hercules his glowing green eyes looked forward. It was his job to protect the entrance. Elizabeth was on the other side and his master were scattered throughout. “Rex of the inferno, should I vanish fear not! My masters may need me... we shall not let them cross the threshold!” his club was lifted from the ground and hefted upwards as he pointed to the giant gooey whale.


“Such parlor tricks mean nothing to a god! Let me show you the power of my club!” Hercules threw the club and the power draw from his masters was miniscule, they were close and in numbers meaning the draw would be less. The club sped through the air whistling as it went and met the whale. Instead of bashing the creature like he had intended it to do the club just entered the whale with a ‘plop’ and cleared through it to the other side where it crashed into the ground behind the creature.


Hercules roared with laughter at his failed attempt “What a fortuitous day! A true challenge! May my masters witness my might! Club!” the club responded to the summons and shot from the ground back through the monstrous whale and back into his hand with a loud ‘crack’.

“Herc!” The god was about to throw his club again with more power then looked up to the roof as Sam of the rime was falling towards him.

“Throw me towards the entrance!” It was seconds but the god reacted in time turning and catching Sam out of midair spinning to build up speed, the god glowed and grunted as he released Sam of the Rime towards the main gates, his hand reached up to his eyes to block any glare as he watched his strength at work.

Zek began cackling maniacally as all the action began. The ground swiftly began looking like a duel between opposing fireworks companies, as energy signatures erupted on both sides, signaling mutant and magical might manifesting. The air wasn't particularly safe either. They shiny guy who could fly the X-Jet deflected some fire and while he was distracted by talking to Capricorn, Zek nonchalantly tossed a ball behind the man and captured a burning meteor the size of a motorcycle that was streaking towards the man's back. But Zek didn't brag about it. Oh no, that would come later.

He tried releasing it back at a group of people he thought were mystics, but he realized it was just some kind of construct, which just kinda stopped existing once he tagged it. "Asterisk pound symbol percent sign ampersand it!" he yelled into the wind as Featherbutt took them toward the woods. He dropped a car on the mystics instead as they passed over.

As for Rex? Rex had stopped praying. He started putting actions to his words.

In the wake of the disintegrating whale corpse, the last of the words, "...of the heart," could be heard, just before a sword of pure white light flared into existence in Rex's hand. He touched it to the dissolving whale and the entirety of it vanished as sliced the animating spell apart.

A cawing crow went streaking by him and swooped up into the sky in the wake of the projectile known as Cold Steel. Shapes were appearing in the air, rising up from the woods and gaining ground quickly. Flights spells of various types brought Mystics into the third axis and a flash of multicolored lights announced a squad of mystics teleporting in near the doors.

"Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled," Rex quoted, tapping into that realm of power that granted him fire. A cloud of light formed in front of him and then coalesced into seven balls of burning fire. With his offhand, he began making sharp flicks in the air, sending the fireballs rocketing towards the squad like burning stars, crashing into them and disrupting their element of surprise.

"You're fortunate I am not Elijah," Rex said quietly.

Jorge It had felt like eons since he had been in action. And maybe it had been. A lot has gone on and the detective found himself away on a lot of cases since the Mystics came in. But now it was more than his job drawing his attention...it was survival.

Standing near the mansion pool, Jorge Cervantes, watched as a pair of mystics flew down and landed on the grass. They smirked as they looked to one another, the anticipation of an easy fight on their faces. The officer smirked.

----

"Alright. You're all good cops. This is against protocol but the X-Men have always been there for us. I think it's time we're their for them. You don't have to be here. I won't hold it against you. But if you want out, nows the time."

Earlier Jorge had approached the members of the MRC about this. The X-Men were under attack and they needed help. He wanted to do his part but he wanted them to have the best chance possible. So he asked...and the department answered.

Standing on the driveway up to the mansion, he looks upon several of the other detectives and officers who had made a barricade. Guns drawn or powers activated, they did their best to make a shield Jorge applauded them for it.

"We're with you and the X-Men, Cervantes! Give em hell! We'll do our best to slow them down!" A voice shouted.

Jorge smirked and nodded his head. These were good cops and he hoped he'd seen them again by dawn.

----

Rolling his shoulder, Jorge smiled as the two Mystics approached. One wreathed in fire and the other sprouting tentacles from his back, they charge, running around the pool to get at the detective.

Jorge shakes his head. "No running at the pool!"

He swipes his hand and a massive whirlpool of water splashes out and wraps around the fire mage, carrying him away. To the other there is a thunderous step. Jorge and the mage look and watch as a massive water golem climbs out of the pool and instantly grabs the mage, unbothered by the whip like tendrils.

Jorge smirks as the man stands and holds up his radio. "They're coming from all sides, guys. Stay frosty."

He shouldn't be here. Everyone told him no but he managed to convince someone to let him in. That someone being Javi. And by let in, well, Booker want going to let his favorite people get hurt. Not if he had anything to say about it.

Being an adapted made this dangerous, and a liability, but again he was willing to do his part. So now Booker was patrolling the inside of the mansion. He may not have had fancy powers or an arsenal of weaponry. But he was smart. He read a lot of books. And he had a baseball bat.

And he was scared.

But he would not be deterred. Instead he patrolled and did his best to stay out of the way. But as soon as the fighting began he could feel his nerves growing. Was this the right call? It was too late now. The sound were getting louder. He gave his bat another experimental swing and waited, silently hoping danger would not find its way to him.

Hugh The agent ruled his eyes as he stands out in the lawn with the rest of the mutants. This whole operation seemed a little counter intuitive... at least where he was from. But he guessed strange times and all that. Either way the agent had volunteered, much to everyone's chagrin relief. Of course they needed his help.

In his tactical gear, the gun-toting agents sighs as he chews on a piece of gum. The sound of Sabine voice fills his ear. Of course there was no direct intelligence. He rolled his eyes.

"Startin' ta think this is a bad idea, chere," he responds through the comm to Sabine. "How abouta kiss if I survive?"

He grins like a cheshire...that is until the Mystics touch down. First a void of blackness opens up on the lawn and then a golem of stone come charging at him. Still chewing the gum, Hugh runs, raises his rifle and begins unload round at round into the stone creature, expertly dodge and firing at joints until chunks of the golem began to fall.

Despite his success, Hugh could only feel that bad feeling growing.

Javier was... slightly terrified. This was an actual battle. He had been in fights before, usually against his better judgment, and managed to come out the other and alive, albeit slightly traumatized. But this... this had been a choice. The Mansion needed help. The school was in danger. And they were... fighting actual magicians. It was all-around bonkers.
What was even more bonkers was that Booker insisted on coming along. Bringing an adapted to a mutant vs. magic fight... was questionable. But he wanted to be useful, so now he was patrolling the parts of the Mansion not actively under fire. Javier volunteered to join him and do the same. There were many people protecting the building, but with the brunt of the attack focused on the front lawn... one could never know. Javier looked out a rear window, scanning the hedge labyrinth on the Mansion grounds. "Did you... see something?"

Mirror made the request, mystics were arriving. Some commotion from the side of the mansion caught his attention first then the whale appeared. “On it! Maya!” The icemancer looked around for Carrick and Zek, one of them could get him there faster than a slide. The idea left him when he Shin and Carrick fly away from him and towards the woods.

“Fine.” he said out loud. “I’ll get there my own way.”

Chiming into the communication device, “Good call Sab. On it!” there was sarcasm in his voice but she was right Sam also jumped from the front of the mansion roof leaving his post and Mai up there. He was more useful with combat than recon anyway. The air rushed past him as he shouted to Hercules who was easy to spot standing next to Rex and... Ami?

“Herc!” he called hoping the giant was good at hearing. “Throw me at the gate!” The giant dropped his club caught the icemancer and whipped him around in a circle, “Hey Ami.” he said before being launched forward towards the front gates far faster than he was intending.

His eye closed for a second and he felt he cleared half of the grounds. As he passed snow banks ice leapt up to his body attaching itself till he was covered in armor. He needed to slow down. He was moving too fast even if he could use ice it would have hurt to catch his fall.

That was when a mystic floated up in front of him by the mansion gates. Past the line of MRC and Super agents, “Thanks!” Sam shouted as he opened his arms extended some ice to one hand and used the floating mystic to stop his trajectory which was heading to the ground. The mystic turned around a few times in midair and was sling shot from the grounds and back past the gates. Before he touched the ground several mirrors appeared on the ground where he was landing. “Mirror! You're up!”

Several mystics rushed towards him when they saw him land in their group ignoring the frozen reflective walls around him.

Aura- She nodded as Lenna mentioned the sleep darts as cover it would help a lot, anything they could bring to bear would. She took the stun gernade and considerd it for a moment. Non-lethal of course. This whole day woulda been way easier ig lethal rms were being used, dead opponents never hit you again, but this was not her house and slowly she was learning to play by their rules.

Aura heard the call to battle and her aura flared to life around her. As she walked blades flowed from the Aura around her fingertips untill they eache xtended nearly a foot from her. It was all part of the show of intimidation she used. The mystics however if the cared they did not show it much, instead she spotted a tall bald man point at her and grin.

Aura was about to charge him when she saw a cop from the mrc she thoguht from his face, he was surrounded, So Aura charged the four zen yards and cut through a cat like demon that had about to kill the man. As he pulled back the four mystics who had been attacking him approached her two copied her forming long blue-green swords in their hands and armor that looked old even to aura though it reminded her of her time in Japan.

Aura cought the first blade with her own and twirled to block the other coming from behind "I AM AURA. I AM WAR!" She said striking a Mystic hard enough to knock him to the ground but the knock out blow was against prevented by an Animal this time a summoned Lion. Aura ignored the lion and swung again, she cut a mystics should deep but the majority of her blade bit deep into the tree she had been standing by she felt her aura take the now familiar magic blasts as she turned to engage.

Mae- mae called out targets as they came over the radio trying to let them know where possible breaches might come into play, she had dodged a clumsily thown beam of green but she had not seen where it came from. She took a swing at the third but a shimmering hawk flew down and took the blow slowly it enough for the mystic to block the attack. The Mystics began to form a circle around her between them Lions or maybe tigers? she had no idea and it only made her smile when parted the head from the first summoned animal.

Luna stared in fear of the battle before her. Was this what the x men did? Was this what they fought? It gave even their biggest fangirl a pause. The pause could not hold long however as a group of Mystics break the fence in the rear of the mansion. Luna turned, aimed and fired two squirts in their path, pne struck where the planned in front of the Mystics the other went very high and struck one right between the eyes. the man screamed in pain as his eyes burned from the very smelly ammo. She was afraid sure, but she decided she would get through it. the Mansion needed her as much as needed it. She felt a hand grab her from behind but was able to driver her claed feet down the man's leg making him screamed n let go, she then turned and punched the man in the neck to knock him out

Aoi did not like to fight but at the last moment had decided she would defend her homw, defend those who had accepted her even if had destroyed the kitchen three times, once by throwing a fridge at a zombie crocodile. Aoi ran on all fours paws and it felt good. The Bear offerd no resistance today, instead she felt its curiousness and even excitement for the coming fight. Aoi spotted a Mystic and ran, letting out a growl as the Mystic raised gis hands much to late to cast and found himself trying to peel himself off the shoulder of the still charging polar bear before eventually falling off and Aoil managed to only step on him once. She hoped the claw marks were deep. She stood her full nine feet in the air and let out a thunderous cry lifting the mystic in one paw and then throwing him over her shoulder casually.

Whale go boom! Club go thump, thump! Sam go wheeeeee, Hawaii Hercules go whooo! Light Saber go bwimg bwoom as whale go pfrt! All of that happened rapidly in very little time. Amelia would have flapped her hands and made the sound effects herself with manic glee, if asked to describe events to her boss. Good thing she did not have to. And had Sam said hi to her before he’d been tossed—- as he’d been getting tossed?! “Heeeeeey,” she had called after him.

The whale falling apart was pretty hard to describe, too. Who was fire guy with the white sword? Time enough for questions later, mystics were flying and some were appearing near her position by the doors. Fireballs streaked from fire man into the squad, boom boom boom. She thought, maybe, a few had fallen before the assault. Unconscious, like they had been hit with a sleep whammy? Or maybe a dart sticking from one neck was a clue.

“Someone has a tranquilizer gun around these here parts…” Amelia muttered.

Some distance away in a tree, Lenna looked up from her sights and smiled.

Amelia snapped her gloved left hand to her side, and formed a construct shaped like a circular shield, the exact shade of white as fireman’s sword. She hauled it back like a frisbee and chucked it at the remaining members of the squad. Amelia moved her left hand as she directed it, so that it hit people dead in the chest, bowling them over, then seemed to bounce from one mystic to the next. That ought to even odds.

A screaming mystic charged them and she summoned a fist construct right below waist level. He ran straight into the white construction, stopped then fell over holding himself. Amelia shouted to the fierce fireball mystic. “So what’s your name?” “I’m Amelia.” She paused, then spoke into the comms someone had given her earlier. “Sabine, this is Amelia Mellitus checking in. I’m by the front doors of the mansion Fighting mystics that’s just appeared. “Teleported in. Some are flying not too far off. Status fine. With fire guy and Hercules.”

> Lenna
She watched over Aura’s progress as the woman went, summoning her Aura. A tall bald man pointed at her and grinned, and aura did not immediately engage him. She focused on saving a police man from a big cat. He fell with a sleep dart in his next a moment later. No backstabs for him while aura fought first the cat, then four mystics, some with blades. One with a summoned lion.

Lenna was unsure if the lion was flesh, or Magic. Flesh would be affected by the dart but magic would not. She fired at one of the four attacking aura, instead. One without a blade. It seemed that though he had pulled back, the police man had his gun trained on the other mystic, which left aura fighting two sword-using mystics. He had not abandoned his savior. as the cop shot one without a sword— gut shot, very painful. Lethal. Lenna sent a dart into the neck of the other… he lost his focus on the summoned lion and it fell to green ectoplasm, rapidly evaporating. That left two on aura.

Lenna turned her attentions to the skies. If she shot a mystic there, they would fall. A great enough fall would be lethal. She shot at one that was not too high up. It took three shots to get her. She flew blindly into a tree top with a crash of branches and leaves. She would be pained, but fine. It had not been a lethal drop.

“Reloading!” She said, and swapped to new ammunition. This would take seconds.

Elizabeth noted the woman who was dressed to kill leave through the foyer, but she dismissed her quickly, knowing she was there for Hercules. She made sure the door was locked behind the woman and then returned her attention to the battlefield.

More mystics were breaking through the mutant frontlines and reaching the mansion in singles, pairs, and small groups. It was an army of people, and even if many were not significantly powerful, it would only take one lucky shot to permanently end one of Elizabeth's allies. One such mystic stopped short right behind a couple of barrier-making mystics and began doing what Liz could only describe as a waggle dance. As she moved and gyrated, a swarm of insects began appearing around her and flowing toward the mansion.

For a moment, Liz was about to raise an alarms, but then they entered her range and she smiled as she actually felt their minds, obviously teleported animals as opposed to magic constructs. "Thanks for the murder hornets," she said through a crow that came down and slashed at the woman's face.

Then Liz usurped control of the swarm and started scouring the courtyard, one mystic at a time, taking only a moment to deal with a second issue. "Reinforcements to the library please," she said over the communicator, a wandering fox hearing the sounds of fighting inside it, although Liz had no contact with the bugs she'd placed in there. "An allied Adapted has encountered the enemy. The mansion is breached."