> **Lenna**
Something Aura said confused Lenna. “These mystics came to dance, my null friend.”

She wasn’t sure what that meant. She was not a null, whatever that was. She was mutant. Oh well, maybe it was some sort of slang Aura had, and not the woman briefly getting an alternate reality version of her confused with this reality’s very dead version! Regardless, Lenna stowed the gun and hopped from the tree, lowering herself with telekinesis.

She threw a bubble of telekinesis around the foot of one mystic aura was fighting, so in a crucial moment he would meet minor resistance, be slower than usual, and trip himself up so she could defeat him with even greater ease. Invisible help. Yay! Then, she heard lots of sounds and saw lights. Something was happening by the front doors— and also by the gates. Sprinklers turned on, a wall of water, a guy in gold, someone was hexed on the comms, everything suddenly was going very fast in a short amount of time and two Humvees were being manhandled by a Man who shouted about being a god.

Lenna sighed and repositioned in her camouflaged spot. Then, she proceeded to continue with tranq dart cover fire. At one point, she tossed a stun grenade into a large clump of mystics assaulting the front doors.

> **Shin**
Wet. Armor. Sucks. It gets up in through the chinks in the armor, and gets to all the clothy bits. Sure, it helped Jorge and Sam, but it definitely did not help him!

Water rose up, ice crashed and flew and fell. Amelia called out that she was hurt, and Jorge went to help. Shin thanked him, deep down in his heart. As he moved onto the next group of mystics, he thought to himself ‘gee Sam really does not trust SUPER.’ From what he recalled of all he had heard, maybe he did not trust them much either. Even if Amelia WAS one. Food for thought.

Sam was making a bottleneck by the entrance, huh? And— Mirror cursed into the comms. The entrance would be fine for the moment. Mirror needed backup. Shin took off running, with shard armor boosted hops.

He landed in a skid, several yards from Mirror. They were firing their bow. He didn’t want to stop that. So, he focused for a moment and did some calculations with his head and with his eyes. Then, he raised one hand and gifted some shards off his armor to Mirror. A compress of sorts appeared over the injured area, shards the color of gold. He’d keep his focus on the area, so it gripped and kept up pressure. Shard would not let Mirror leave his range until Maya got access to some real bandages. For now, he was missing a chunk of armor on the opposite side of the patch job he had done with Porygon. He would have to fight smart until he could summon more, or rearrange things.

Mirror would gain the protection of shard armor in that area. But it would not be perfect and kinetic force would still leak through.

Shin had been battered by the winds and hit by bullets and fire. Shard armor was not perfect. He was starting to feel a bit tired. Mentally, and physically. Bruised, aches were bleeding through… he pushed them into the a little triangle in the back of his mind. Then, he threw his blunt sword at the nearest mystic and knocked their legs out from under them.

“I’m covering Mirror!” He shouted into the comms. And, he fought, summoning the sword back only to send it flying again and again as mystics appeared near them both. “I’ve got your back!” He said. And put his back to Mirror so he would match word with action.

Ez had a pouch full of air gems to rely on, knowing mobility was more important than her other abilities. This Mansion had an absurd level of land surrounding it, and while she couldn’t fly or run with super speed, the whirlwinds she could make carried her well and softened her landings.

Running as quickly as she could, Ez realized she was walking into a shadow rapidly growing in size. She gusted her way out just in time for a grand goddamn piano to narrowly miss her. Looking around, she noticed the Mystic responsible; some oily loser. Annoyed, Ez burned Ruby and a burst of fire came from her hand, making him fall back. She kicked him in the face for good measure and moved on once she was sure he was down.

Noticing a young woman with insect wings(?) was moving with purpose toward the edge of the woods and what seemed to be a large group of Mystics. Crystal Witch trailed close behind, not sure what the young woman was thinking. “Ey, wait for backup!”

She looked around unsure of if she should help the guy where the portal was forming or help the guy down here fighting by her side, nether choice seemed entirely right. She was about to attempt a shot of getting her tail aimed at the window but they got a reply from a teacher. Liz. Luna silently promised herself she would never be late for one of her classes again and maybe not skip them. Birds and various other animals began pouring out of the building and fighting Mystics as well. Luna though how amazing it was for a second to long however and a magic dagger cut through fur and traced a shallow but painful line down across her upper arm. She crouched and struck the man hard and low and brought him down that way with the man still clutching his privates. Raising her tail she fired a random jet of skunk juice into what she hoped was a concentration of Mystics. "I’m starting to think, i should of skipped this war class" she said to Javier taking a few steps closer to him, not wanting to quite admit she was scared. She could prove herself an X-Man in this if she lived.

The Mystic swung at her back but tripped as something grabbed his foot, Aura spun around and even as she did her blade turned into a hammer which struck the Mystics shoulder cracking it as the man was knocked to the ground. A second fell asleep with a dart in his neck and Aura gave a short wave to Lenna not sure if she saw her but glad for the Woman’s health. Lenna was gorgeous in combat Aura thought to herself. "Thank you my Beautiful Levitating friend" she shouted hopefully above the noise to Lenna. Aura threw a stun grenade as some gathering mystics like a softball, it bounced off one fo their head a foot in the air before it blew. Aura was on the group in moments knocking out four o the mystics left standing.

Aura was being pushed towards the gates and away from the School though the woods behind her looked to have quite the lightshow as well.

Mai let out a small scream as a Mystic landed in front of her hard. Mai barely had enough time to stand up and not be landed on. keeping her tendrils out and wide like weapons. She took a step back to brace herself against the walls. She was just thinking of a good strategy when the Mystic rushed her tackling her and suing her as cover to break the window behind her. The pair landed in the mansion struggling, Mai covered in small cuts of glass, She shipped the Mystic in the head with her Tentacle which did make the male mystic let go. She tapped her com device "brea..." she started before dodging a blade only barely. "ch I'll try and cover it" She said sounding braver then she felt.

The portal opened before them and like so many times Carrick trusted that Zek was sending them right were they needed to be. This time in a pool. The water extinguished his wing and he bobbed to the top of the water in zek world. “Dropped me phone!” he dove back down as all the water vanished. The stadium returned to normal.

After a wardrobe change and a quick dry off he checked his wing and decided that it would not be too difficult to fly with it. “I’m thinking a bat.” the shifter said opening his locker removing the ash baseball bat he had used a few times to fix problems. A tooth was still lodged into it. He looked to the sledgehammer and shook his head knowing that with mom and the X-men around they’d frown upon that much violence.

“They set me on fire.” he said now in dry clothes waiting for Zek to open the portal and get on his back before flying out. The shifter was pissed, in fact now he was doing everything in his power not to shift. None of his forms liked being set on fire, they took it personally.

It took minutes, but the Supremes were finally channeling enough mystical energy to get involved in the assault. They knew their army was… green. They were causing trouble and wearing down the defenses of the Mansion. (At least some of them had to be tripping traps, too, which was unfortunate but helpful.)

They got the ball rolling and the Supremes could join to turn the tide. The First raised his staff. “Fourth, bless your acolytes and we shall begin the march.” Agatha’s followers were the most zealous and devoted, and with her skill in Metation, she could “bless” her soldiers with a charm to enhance their strength and durability. They were kept out of the initial wave so they could be the honor guard of the Supremes.

All except one, of course. “Fifth…” The old man smirked. “Scout ahead and cause your trouble.”

”Finally.” Constantinos touched his finger to his palm, draining one of his many tattoos. He pointed the palms of his hands down as a burst of fire came from each, launching him far into the air toward the Mansion.

Chapter 2: The Woods: The Fourth’s Holy Army

Agatha clutched her Holy Symbol, a modified cross pendant hanging heavy on her neck. “Go with the blessing of God’s righteous sword and shield,” her voice echoed.

The Mystics standing before her started to light up, their skin developing a golden sheen and their eyes glowing brightly. Leading the charge was Malachi, adorned in enchanted armor and a sword burning with white fire.

The Blessed Supreme’s Mystics were more coordinated, moving uniformly to protect their leader from the front and sides, with two Mystics watching their tail. They knew mutants would try breaking through their phalanx to get to Agatha and the remaining Supremes, but they were prepared for holy war.

Sneaking through the woods, the insect-mutant cast a glance towards the newcomer, the woman flying on jets of wind. She had grumbled that maybe Agnes should wait for backup but she couldn't think that clearly. There was something about this, trekking through the woods, listening to the sounds of battle, that made her heart start racing. She no longer winced at the cacophony, nor did she shy away from the bursts of movement. Rather she was flooded with something different, another sense, another presence, and it wanted blood.

Tearing through the trees, Agnes retched and screamed as she felt her body changing. Pinpricks tore at her back as four thick appendages ripped their way out and slammed into the soil. Her wings shook furiously at the pain, but the insectoid mind that began to take over Agnes relished the transformation. Fingernails stretched painfully into claws while her mandible split and separated to reveal rows of sharpened teeth. By the end she cried a primordial, insect-like chitter that filled the air and release wave upon wave of insects at any who attempted to stand before her.

Seeing the light up ahead, the transformed Agnes chittered and snapped her jaws as she barreled towards it. She had apparently worked her way around the back and found that the defenses were lacking. A pair of mystics, imbued with magic to make them strong and fast barreled towards the mutant but were quickly felled as the spiny appendages whipped out and skewered them both, one in the calve and the other through the shoulder. Picking them up, Agnes whipped them aside as she locked her eyes upon the woman mystic gifting each member with power.

She was older, but Agnes knew that face. Knew that hair. Knew who and **what** she was. All thoughts of subterfuge gone, Agnes roared as he stormed forward. "AGATHAAAAA!!!!"

And before the holy woman there appeared not a mutant or a desperate girl, but a demon come from the past. An insect queen come from justice.

> Lenna had planned on tossing that stun grenade at masses of mystics, as she hid out by the tree line. And damn it, but would not you see that massive approaching group there? She lowered her gun, and lobbed the stun grenade (with a little range boost from Telekinetic assist). It sailed into the ranks of the empowered mystics, to explode— to mooooooderate, if largely poor, effect. Some mystics had been given shields, some were simply tougher and more resilient with their constitutions. Some simply had not been close to the grenade. Of the large group, maybe 5 staggered. Two clutched their eyes, stunned. ‘Best I could have hoped for,’ Lenna thought. Then she went back to sniping at them with tranquilizer darts. In the six seconds of her action, she probably hit one mystic with a sleep dart. Then, she slipped back into the shadows and moved to a new location to hide. Grenade, dart, movement, hide. Action, action, movement and bonus action (a tabletop nerd she knew might have said) and then Lenna was done. She had not downed anyone. A few, staggered or stunned. The darted mystic was acting sluggish, and their reactions would be dull.

Zek popped out of Zekworld and the portal vanished behind him. He was surrounded by trees, which was a way better situation than what the hellfire had been back wherever he'd just been.

Then a couple of dudes in some kind of glowing armor charged him. "Oh nice!" he said, his eyes glowing gold with greed. One of the guys looked about his size! The fact that they were clearly about to attack him was just icing on the cake. He hit them with a couple of glowing golden lights and they vanished, armor and all. He turned around to get his bearings when a burning eagle screeched and flew at his face.

"Yikes!" he said and instinctively smashed another golden light into the bird. It, too, vanished, but he felt nothing in his pocket. "Stinkin' energy constructs," he muttered, kicking some dirt. And he'd just lost his other flying pocket monster, so now he needed to stock up on stuff.

Well, fortunately for Zek there was a forest full of people and stuff. He turned around and saw a small battlefield opening up, filled with flashes of light as mutants and mystics fou - hey, that was Pink Floyd! Well now he had a destination! Zek grinned and started hitting people with energy orbs as he jogged lightly in her direction.

The battle was chaos. Mystic and mutant powers threw up a beautiful rainbow of power. It really was quite a beautiful dance. Sure, people were probably hurt and with the powers everywhere maybe dying but that did not mean she could not drink in the sheer beauty of the battle. It took her back to when she was young charging her first group of soldiers.

Aura fought a tall strong looking mystic who looked like a bodybuilder and looked like he knew he was outclassed. So as the mad women wrapped in pink charged he did the one thing he could think of, he raised the ground under her quickly and threw her high into the air towards the woods. Aura briefly saw a dart strike the man in the chest. Aura almost smashed into a tree but missed though she did use her aura sword to slash the tree to slow her down and by the third tree she was able to nearly stop, tumbling to the ground unhurt only thanks to her powers.

In front of her a few dozen yards away were people wrapped in gold much like her pink. Their leader seemed to be a guy with a sword in flames and armor of some sort. Aura let her other hands hammer melt away and made it flow into a sword. "I am Aura, I am THE war crime, thousands have lost their souls to my blades, are you so eager to have your heads mounted on my wall? Are your lives so worthless you would throw them away?" She taunted with a fierce calm smile even as her feet began to charge the Mystic line, blades ready, she headed for Malachi as he was leading their line. but her angle let another golden Mystic intercept her. Their blades crossed twice, and Aura knew right away these were not the Mystics she had fought on the train nor were they even the cannon fodder she had just been fighting. They seemed barely phased by her boast and Aura was forced to take a few steps back to better defend herself.

The bug girl made Aura wonder if she had seen her before, she recalled a girl who could control bugs back when she tried that disloyal parrot as a pet. There did seem to be differences, but powers did grow.

“You talk way too much, lady.”

Aura countered another blow and a second from what would have been past her natural reach but she moved her Aura blade to her elbow to block. The first mystic pressed his assault and Aura moved forward into it throwing a punch at the Mystic who now, arrogant due to numbers and seeming success, retaliated with a stomach blow of his blade. Aura’s aura however passed through the man skin without effect until Aura smiled and hardened it, cutting of the man oxygen and slowly contracting her aura even as she felt warm blood come from her back.

"Hello friend Zek, nice of you to join our dance. " Aura was happy to see Zek for the second time in her life, twice more then she had ever figured. His chaos would be very useful here she thought as she saw several Mystics disappear from zeks orbs.

The Mystic passed out and Aura let the man fall dissolving that part of her aura before his windpipe was crushed, it was then she saw who had struck her back, Malachi her original target... She had no way of knowing that the cut was deeper than she thought but had missed vital organs slowed just enough by her aura. These guys were not the talkative type and seemed less then intimidated by her words, so Aura decided to do something in the fight she had not done in over fifteen years, sing loudly.

"Peel their flesh, eat their muscle ,
braid their veins, Drink their blood
Savior their marrow, stew their organs
Take their bones, discard the fat
Burn their brain, drill the bone
Dinner is made, our bed is built

Her wrath is us, Her will is all
For we are nothing, she is all
Our powers her armaments', Our lives hers to wield
She is unerring, failure is our crime alone
Miracles love will see us dead.
Our purpose served, we can rest.”

Aura never realized she hit her communicator and sent it to anyone who had a communicator. Th nursery rhyme was four hours long in total, though Auras suspected she wouldn't finish it one way or the other.
As she sang, she traded quick and fast sword strikes with Malachi, both angling for a fatal or knockout blow. Though her song sent shivers or anger through Aura, and she had no idea why. She blocked an overhead strike that left her standing only because her Aura barely resisted it, she aimed a return strike at her chest hoping to break a rib.

> Lenna popped on the comms.
>
> “Aura, your mic is on.” She said.
>
> A charging mystic got hit in the neck by a tranq dart. They had opted for speed, rather than defense. It had worked well for them, she had required more than one shot to make the hit. She had needed two.
>
> Her gun jingled as she stowed it away with the strap on her back, then she bent to pick up a stick. It was a rather large stick. She also had an extendable baton strapped to her side, but for the moment, the stick would do. Enemies were getting too close for comfort.
>
> Without words, Lenna left her obscured tree position and charged the nearest mystic. They found a timely trip hazard, an invisible Telekinetic bubble that caught one foot. As they tripped, Lenna swept down with the stick. It broke, but not before breaking the mystic. It was a rather large stick. Not lethal, but— with a movement of her hand and a thought, she sent the broken stick shards flying at the mystic just next to the first. Aimed at their eyes. As they recoiled, clutching at them to brush the splinters from their eyes, Lenna pulled the magic wand from their hand with a rapid tug of psychic energy, then beat them with it.
>
> Lenna had entered the fray.