Kealey invited him to help. And told him to take things seriously, which Ashton very much agreed with.

The man’s eyes quite literally lit up. Uh oh.

If Ashton would require a word to describe this person, he thought… capricious might be a good one. He was given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior.

He wasn’t nervous, but he was a bit wary and uncomfortable about the new guy. As Kealey had said? Things were dangerous. Clowning around for fun was a sure fire way to have a bad time. Get yourself hurt. He sympathized with her. And as she told him her powers, he realized she empathized with him.

Emotions shifted as new information became known. If she felt feelings, he would tamp down on anything that might make her job more difficult. master himself. He was big boy.

Almost immediately, someone was present in the vehicle who had not been there, prior. Between him and the other guy. Ashton was Startled. Driver was startled. Sudden stop. Then, calming himself, He relaxed. Focused on mob dress, he missed seeing the driver’s bout of glow.

The newest newcomer relayed information. Strange person. But not an inherent threat. He breathed. Then compartmentalized what the mob dressed person said.

Tarin and Lee… he knew a Lee. Was the world that small? He was curious. And two other kids? Hm,

And, wait. Had new guy said he could give them stuff? Items? Guns? Disguises? Some sort of portal power with item summoning, then? He liked the newest new guys outfit. And What had he said his name was? Fred? No. That wasn’t it.

”Okay, To-dinner.” Ashton said wryly. Under his breath.

Kealey started talking. Ashton droooed the subject to listen. His focus was on her, and he was calm, if a bit distracted by the mob guy, to-Dinner, and everything else. He tamped those things down without her assistance, preparing his game face. Until what was left was largely just collected calm.

>>> Taking a deep breath, Kealey addressed the car, ”Alright…so once they get here….” she said.

———

A few minutes later, the rest of the party arrived. Huh, it was the Lee he knew, small world.

>>> "I do not want to be shot today," she told him firmly. "So if you shoot that with me anywhere around, I swear to God, Ashton, it will no longer be functional."

She meant the shotgun, right? Not— never mind.

”I was a cop before I was an electrician,” He supplied. ”I am all about gun safety. I will be careful.”

He was not even annoyed, just… focused on making sure she understood. So she felt less insecure. The guy right next to her, he was surprised she knew him.

”We know each other through work. I fixed something at her bar,” He addressed the guy. Tarin, maybe? If the informant had informed them about the two most important, ‘and the rest,’ and he was with her in the lead… made sense.

Suddenly, the person who had been between him and to-dinner vanished. Yea, he knew the guys name wasn’t actually to-dinner. He got mild amusement from referring to the person as such.

Ashton blinked at the missing person. Confused.

>>> “I don’t know what kind of recon you were able to get…” Tarin said, addressing Kealey in the front of the car, ”But besides the guards out here, there’s a few patrols that seem to not be employees inside the museum. They’ve got some kind of dogs with them. I couldn’t get anyone into the Egyptian wing, but we were outside my range…once we’re within about a hundred and fifty feet I can figure out more.”

Well he was instantly useful. Ashton took all that information and put it in a box in his mind. Focusing. Nodding slightly.

The man’s next comment sort of explained where the mob guy had gone and where the information had come from.

>>> ”I’m Tarin, by the way. I do creepy ghost stuff.”

With so much weird going on, he hadn’t dwelled too long on the vanished… ghost. Okay. That was a weird moment where he processed that, his heart raced, then he forced himself down. He wasn’t afraid of ghosts. At least, not if this mutant was behind them. He seemed… Ashton didn’t know how he seemed. He’d know of him less than a minute. Capable, if a bit intense? Might that have been a first impression? As for the people with them…

Ashton looked behind him and Lee.

”Cool, cool,” He idly commented, about the ghosts. To-dinner was likely over the moon. Or hungry.

Probably both.

He was processing. He was calm. This was compartmentalizing. Putting people and things in boxes, to deal with later.

One of the two was a guy, Will. Probably somewhere around his age, which… William Faraday, the other Will, who he had called kid… they were probably both close to him in age. He regretted calling the man a kid, but oh well. Shit was happening at a mile a minute.

William was electrical. Will manipulated senses. Through grabbing. Okay. And the woman near him? Red hair, very pretty.

God, Kealey would feel the interest. And it was not just because she was pretty. It had been a long time since he had read his diaries from before he had deaged, but something about her— appearance, his own notes— made him interested. Because it clued in on something in his memories. But he would have to mess with that later.

A Quin, who manipulated plastics. Red hair. Hmmm.

Didn’t he have old pictures from before everything went down?

Hmmm…

>>> ”Are we really going to do this? If so, where’s the gift shop?”

Without context, that comment made no sense. But she manipulated plastics, and did not appear to have a lot of plastics. So— he was fast on the uptake. He followed.

He stepped out of the car to stand near William Faraday, the guy with the purplish glow.

Ashton held up the shoulder bag he had carried.

”If you’re wanting the gift shop for plastic stuff… I brought a bunch of things. Dunno what all you can use. Mainly zip ties and super balls, and little plastic beads.”

He glanced back at the rest of the group. For the people who had not heard his name, he repeated it, and shared more. ”My name is Ashton. My power is trading places with things, and making things and people trade places with things. If I get close to the lady with the ankh, like line of sight… maybe I can replace it with something. If things are ever that easy.”

He looked back at Quin. ”Take what you need. Leave me the tennis balls and whatever you don’t. Hrm… are riot shields in your bag, I wonder… I can work with pretty much anything. Oh, and Fred over there sounds like he has ways to get whatever you need, right Fred?”

Emotionwise, he was calm, a little curious, mostly just earnest and trying to be helpful. Tamping down on the overwhelmed feeling from earlier. He had to extend a little confidence and trust. He felt better with Lee there. Knew she was a competent mom. If people goofed off, she would… do exactly what she said she would.

Things were starting to move from motion to action. The team was assembled, rag-tag as it was, and it was almost time to get inside and see if they could accomplish their goal.

It turned out it was a red-letter day to come out of retirement and Kealey found herself directing a group with wildly varying degrees of experience. With those varying degrees of experience came varying degrees of comfort and readiness. It was a lot in such close quarters and as Kealey opened the door and exited the car she worked to sort out the tangle of emotions from the assembled group.

William was fairly stable as far as his emotions were concerned. Nothing had changed since they’d made it to the museum. That was good. A less experienced member of the team should have a healthy dose of nerves. It kept them cautious and from being rash or making silly decisions.

The odd man in the back who had identified themselves as ‘Zek’ was downright happy and eager despite the fact that Kealey had just explained the stakes of their situation. It was an incredibly odd reaction and Kealey still didn’t know exactly what to think. She decided that he fit well into the wildcard category and would proceed accordingly.

Ashton was waffling back and forth a bit, but was what Kealey would generally acknowledge as regulated at the moment. There were varying emotions at varying levels, but Ashton seemed to have them under control. Fine. That was fine.

Lee’s emotions were probably the closest mirror to Kealey’s in the group. There was healthy worry there, but it wasn’t overwhelming. There was another, more nuanced concern, some aggravation, and simple resignation. Kealey could empathize on a level beyond her powers. Kealey knew Lee pretty well and neither of them was particularly interested in participating in these kinds of things anymore.

And that’s where things stopped being easy.

The other three in the group, despite their fairly cool and collected appearances were really anything but…

Tarin, who Kealey had only spent any appreciable time with once before today was a tightly coiled bundle of nerves. As he had the first time they’d met, he was studiously looking anywhere but at Kealey and the blonde reminded herself that this was not the same Tarin she had known previously. Lee had suggested some things, but this level of anxiety came as a bit of a surprise and Kealey looked away from Tarin to make eye contact with Lee for a moment before turning to the other two.

These two were nervous, reluctant, scared, but there was also some quiet determination there. Potential. They weren’t a part of this world, at least not yet and they were overwhelmed by what they had found themselves pulled into. Still, if Lee had thought the two of them capable enough to help…

Kealey knew she was making a decision that could get people who weren’t even a part of her team hurt, but more help was better.

They’d all shared as much as they could in the short time they had about their powers and Kealey nodded. Side conversations were happening, offers of help, more context, all the things that tended to help with group coordination. It was time to act though, all the planning in the world wouldn’t accomplish the task.

”Thanks to Tarin’s information we’ve got a plan now. I’d assume that the guards aren’t going to stay away forever and if they are being mind controlled, someone is going to eventually notice that I’ve been messing with them.”

The little blonde shook her head and took a breath, focusing to try and keep her own emotions at bay as the influence from the others in the group tried to push them askew. ”The most important thing we can do is get the ankh away from the Mystic Woman. According to Shin and Michael that’s the key. From there, if we can neutralize Ahk, we do so…if not, we get away with the artifact.”

”We neutralize all museum employees as gently as possible, but full engagement with Ahk and anyone she directly summons. Do your best.”

The nerves were starting to get to her a bit and Kealey reached out to the three who were the most affected, gently pushing down that particularly emotion. It didn’t disappear, it was dangerous to completely remove all caution from a person, but hopefully it would take the edge of and help them make good decisions.

[colo=deeppink]”I’ll be heading for the Egyptian wing with William, “ [/color] Kealey said, nodding to the younger X-Man who was beginning to glow, ”Lee, I’d like you…” she hesitated for a moment, ”And Tarin to join me…we are going to need support from the outside too, and help to keep the way clear. Can everyone else do that?”

Zek's new backseat buddy vanished without taking the jerky either. Zek sniffed the piece but it didn't smell bad to him to he bit off another piece and chomped away at it. So e people had no taste.

Then there were more people. A woman who did not want shot was the first to speak up. Zek turned to look at Ashton with a huge grin. This guy shot people? With his shotgun? Oh boy, this was gonna be great!

Then the guy with her -- Terry? -- said there were dogs in the museum and that made his smile slip for a moment and he mentally assessed his Molotov cocktail inventory in Zekworld to make sure he was prepared if he saw any dogs thank you very much. His smile turned upside down. He didn't think he had enough o burn down the entire museum. Probably not even a fourth of it. Stone buildings tended to be tricky like that. Well, he'd come up with something.

Then Terry said he did creepy ghost stuff. Zek's smile returned immediately. Oh yeah! Now this was gonna be a party! Like, even more of one! Especially if they all dressed as sharply as the backseat guy who Zek was now a bit suspicious might've been a ghost after all.

There was something about not being about to get into a wing but Zek tuned it out. Obstacles and access issues were for other people, not him.

Two other people also introduced themselves and said stuff about powers but they weren't as cool as ghosts. Ghosts! Yeah, ghosts! But Plastic Girl did have an idea about a gift shop. "Ooo yes, let's loot the place while we're at it!" he said enthusiastically.

Then the driver also introduced himself. Okay, that wasn't as interesting. Ghosty Guy was still winning the powers contest--

Zek froze and this his head twisted a full ninety degreees to stare at Ashton. The guy who traded places with things. And with other people. Zek scrambled out of vehicle after him. "You!" Zek said pointing a finger at him.

"Are going to be my new best friend!" he finished, holding a hand up for a high-five. The guy even had a bag of stuff with him! If Zek's eyes could've turned into little hearts, they've would've been by now! He then flashed a smile as Plastic girl as Ashton vouched for him. "Sure can!" he told her with a finger gun as he maneuvered to try to slide an arm of besties around Ashton's shoulders.

Then came the explanation. Zek studied his black-painted nails as Blondie talked. Steal from a magic lady. Check. Neutralize people. Cool. Get engaged to Akh and other people. He wasn't sure about that last one, but maybe if they had a really nice dinner and got to know each other then sure, it could be an option, but he wasn't immediately gonna say yes to anything.

He turned to Ashton, "Score! We're on the same team! Hey, if we encounter any dogs, I've got some extra molotovs you can use!"

He started dancing in place and his eyes were glowing with bright blue light as he got ready to go. He even put his jerky away after quickly offering it to everyone else!

At first there had just been one intruder, so some of the museum staff had gone out to direct him away. They just so happened to be guards, but the rest were inside, all waiting patiently, silently, ready to obey the compulsions in their minds.

Keep people away from the museum.

Do not attack.

Pretend nothing is wrong.

Don't make a scene.

Stay by the entrances if you aren't having to keep people away.

Smile.

Of the six who'd gone out, three of them had cut away to try to ward off another incoming vehicle while the other three dealt with the first one. Then the man had gone over and assured them everything was fine and they'd all be leaving.

That was good. That was right. That was what they were supposed to accomplish. The first compulsion, to keep people away from the museum, ebbed away for a bit. They hadn't needed to do anything more. They had tried and it was working. And then they suddenly stopped caring it and so they stopping thinking about it.

The fifth compulsion, stay by the entrance if you aren't having to keep people away, grew stronger and the three started wandering back toward the entrance.

Then the three people, who'd originally been talking at the first, solo intruder realized the car of people...wasn't leaving. Sure, people got in it...but the vehicle stayed there. Upon realizing that, the first compulsion began to burn in their minds, pushing them forward.

Then the car began moving. One of the three sighed. Good. If people didn't resist them when they were asked to leave, the guards didn't have to worry about the third or fourth compulsions. But then they didn't even care about that. After all, the people were leaving, so why worry about a compulsion that could be hard to achieve and might be out of their control? It was easier to just assume everyone would do what they were told. They obeyed the fifth compulsion and made their way back toward the entrance as well. There, all six just watched and smiled. Everything was fine. Everything was great. They didn't have to worry about what would happen if they failed the sorceress's compulsions. Just do the job, this would all be over soon. Probably.

Then....four more people showed up. The smiles on the guards turned uneasy but they couldn't stop smiling. They looked at each other. This wasn't good. The newcomers were talking to the people in the car. The people who hadn't left and were just idling in the farther part of the parking lot.

As they made that connection, the first compulsion pulsed in their heads and they jerked forward suddenly as the compulsion drove them forward before they were able to walk in a normal manner toward the people who were now all getting out of the vehicle. The people in the car had been warned multiple times now. They refused to leave. It didn't matter if they care or not about sticking around to watch if the people would in fact leave or not - they now knew these people weren't leaving. And if fact, they had friends. Which meant the first compulsion was going to blare in their heads as hard as they'd ever felt it and it would not go away until all the guards saw the people leave, no matter their feelings or what happened to they themselves.

Oh no, oh no oh no oh no!

The smiles never changed, and as the guards got to the parking lot, their faces went as bland and polite as possible as the third and sixth compulsions began to rise up. Pretend nothing is wrong. Smile.

"Excuse me!" the more vocal of the group said in order to get everyone's attention. "But I need to ask you to leave!" Trapped in his head, he wanted to scream at them to leave leave leave!

A second guard added, "There's nothing to see here, the museum is closed today because of all the bad things that happened yesterday!" It was the only think he could think of to not make a scene, to pretend nothing was wrong, and to get these people to leave."

"Nothing is wrong," said a third guard, who's ID badge on his lanyard said Jeff but the charcoal hieroglyphic covered the rest of his name. One of the guards briefly glanced at Jeff and they all got nervous, but they maintained their polite, forced expressions. "We don't want to have to call the police on you."

The anxiety spiked...but relaxed a smidge when the compulsion didn't force any of them to do anything. Well, it was the truth. Calling the police on these people would have involved making a scene and they couldn't afford to do that. They were all reminded of what happened when Bob, one of the janitors, had been unable to smile.

The terror skyrocketed.

But all they could do was spread their hands and approach them people and politely ask them to leave. "Please leave," they said in unison. "Please," Jeff repeated.

Apparently Ashton had been a cop before he'd been an electrician handyman. That honestly did not increase Lee's confidence in Ashton walking in there with a shotgun. She was likely going to be moving quickly in the museum, at least any time that Ashton would feel the need to use the gun, and spread out when fired. But they had more than enough to worry about for her to add to it by fighting about the shotgun.

Tarin asked if there was no one that she didn't know. "Well, don't know the other two in the car," Lee said as she turned her head to look at him. Though what he had said was almost teasing, Lee could see the tension in his face. Tension, nerves, and fear? Though, he was doing a good job keeping what most would think was a neutral face.

Still, Lee could see it, and she knew that Kealey would be feeling it. Squeezing Tarin's hand again, Lee shifted closer to him so her arm was right up against his. While everyone was still talking, introducing their powers, and the group was sitting out the plan, there wasn't much else she could do.

People were getting out of the vehicle now, and as Lee turned she saw the Irish woman looking at Tarin, then turning to look directly at her.

No words were spoken, but Lee was sure Kealey was concerned about how Tarin was feeling. Lee knew that Tarin had spent his entire life, up until that day in fact, doing just about everything he possibly could to avoid anything even remotely like this. And now, he was willingly following her into a potentially very dangerous situation.

Still without words, Lee's eyes darted to Tarin before looking back at Kealey as she tried to push a questioning hopeful feeling toward the woman. Hopefully she would understand the request to help Tarin calm down a bit.

But it was planning time, and Kealey laid out about the best plan that they could have had given the lack of information. Lee nodded when Kealey asked Lee and Tarin to join her and William going for the Egyptian wing. That's exactly where Lee had figured she'd end up.

That all decided, Lee tugged on Tarin's hand, leading him off to the side a ways. When she thought they were probably far enough that those with normal hearing would have trouble knowing what she said, Lee stopped and faced Tarin, stretching up to give him a quick kiss. "Still the same deal," she told him softly. "If things turn bad, we go get Kevin. But you can do this," Lee continued, lifting her free hand to place it on Tarin's cheek.

Before she was able to say anything else, Lee felt a group of people approaching from the museum. Closing her eyes, Lee sighed. "Company's coming," she said before giving Tarin one more kiss and heading back to the group of mutants.

"I can't deal with six of them at once," Lee told them, looking at Kealey and Ashton in particular. "Not without injuries. If you can manage only one or two getting close to me at a time?"

Lee then turned to Tarin. "Guess I'm up. If Tony and friends can catch them once they're out? I won't have time to stop their heads hitting the ground."

With that and one more squeeze of Tarin's hand, Lee started walking towards the guards by herself, her hands out to her sides slightly. "We know you want us to leave," Lee responded to the guards, her voice much louder than it had been. "We're just figuring out what to do. We were so set on coming to the museum that we can't decide. Maybe you can help?"

Lee continued toward the guards, hoping the others would be able to keep her from dealing with all six at once. Anna once she was writing arms reach, Lee placed a hand on a guard's arm, siphoning just about as quickly as she could.

Well, there were apparently a few people that Lee didn’t know in the car. Tarin almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the comment he had made in the first place. It had just been strange to walk up to a seemingly random car full of super heroes and have Lee know enough of them that it was clearly beyond coincidence.

It was weird to see Kealey like this too. When Tarin had met the woman she’d been very happy, a little giddy, and even a little flighty. She and Shin had made sense in a way that was impossible to explain. None of the lightheartedness was here now though, no, she was serious as a heart attack and Tarin couldn’t meet her eyes.

Tarin couldn’t meet Kealey’s eyes because he knew what she was feeling from him and it was embarrassing. He was a wreck, he didn’t know what to do, and the simple fact that every instinct Tarin had was telling him to go somewhere else didn’t help matters. There were other conversations going on around him, but Tarin wasn’t paying attention to any of them…he was spiraling and he knew it.

It was inevitable that Lee was going to figure this out, and then she was going to worry about him. Lee was going to worry about him. He was a distraction. This was the exact thing that Tarin had always wanted to avoid and here he was living it in stark reality.

A plan was being made and Tarin pulled himself out of his thoughts to pay attention. Kealey wanted Lee with her, of course she did, and Tarin noted the slight hesitation before he was listed too. Good, there wasn’t a chance in hell he was going anywhere else.

The instructions given, Tarin nodded, trying to pull himself together and figure out what he could do to help. A tug on his hand made Tarin realize Lee was pulling him off to the side and he went, looking down quizzically as she kissed him and then started to speak.

Part of Tarin really wanted to get defensive, to insist to Lee that he was fine and this was absolutely unnecessary. Lee didn’t need to baby him like this, to treat him like he couldn’t handle things.

The problem was…she kind of did. Tarin knew he’d been spiraling since they’d made it here to the museum, and he took a deep breath and listened, taking the support where it was offered. They were in this together, Lee knew what she was doing and he needed to shut up and listen.

They had a plan. If things got bad, they could still go get Kevin and leave. Was that really a possibility at this point? Lee thought it was, so Tarin decided he’d believe her instead of his own thoughts.

He could do this? As Lee spoke, Tarin started to feel better. The gripping anxiety and fear that had been there previously seemed to be dissipating with each breath. Tarin had signed on to this, he’d said he would have Lee’s back. Now he needed to put his money where his mouth was.

He could do this, even if he didn’t want to. That’s what things like this were, people stepping up. Nobody wanted to do things like this, but somebody had to. “I’m okay.” Tarin said, carefully avoiding the word fine. It had become a bit unspoken between him and Lee that fine meant anything but, and Tarin thought that maybe he really was fine.

Lee’s eyes closed and the little sigh she sighed told Tarin that their little pep talk was over and it was go-time.

“I’ll have your back.” he said as she kissed him, because of course he would. Having been scolded once before for choosing inappropriate times to share his feelings, Tarin held back on anything else he might have wanted to say and followed Lee as she declared that the guards were on their way.

Tony and friends could definitely help with what Lee suggested and more, but suddenly Lee was letting go of Tarin’s hand and walking towards the guards by herself.

Lee had literally just said she couldn’t handle them all on their own. Pouring more energy down the link between himself, Tony, and the two other spirits, Tarin sent them to help. The two he didn’t know barely needed a nudge, and Tony had already been moving. They were invisible again and would stay that way until they got to the guards. Once they were there, Tarin would make the three spirits fully corporeal. Down the mental link, Tarin sent instructions to help Lee handle the guards, but not hurt them. To hold them and let Lee take their energy.

“What about me.” Said the little guy Tarin had been using as a messenger.

I’m gonna have a special job for you, and you’re not going to like it…stay close he said mentally down the bond.

Will was used to being overwhelmed, but from the outside. Too much stimulus. The world too fast or loud or bright. This was too much -inside- for once. Grappling with what was right, versus what was smart, trying to weight best choices for right now, versus what would be best later. Trying to keep up with names and faces and the barest outlines of skill sets. Too much, too fast. 

Still, he had practice at keeping his head on straight even when it felt like his skull would pop. Different, but the same. Try and ignore what didn't matter or couldn't be changed. Worry later. That later pile was gonna spill over at some point, but it just needed to hold for a bit longer. 

Quin stepped in after him, speaking on what she could do. Introductions continued. Will had met Lee before this. Just met Tarin moments before. Who else was here? There was another person who shared his first name here too. Electric. William started glowing, and Will turned his gaze away from the purple light. He wasn't sure how bright Other Will would be getting, but it probably wouldn't be good going into the fray with scorched retinas. 

Riot Guy seemed like he was more than ready to go, given the gear. Armor, a gun, plus a bag full of stuff that sounded both genuinely useful and a bit bizarre... until Ashton explained his abilities. Some kind of switcheroo teleportation? Well dang, if the goal here was to get something and get out, that seemed pretty much picture perfect for the job. Zip-ties would be good too, Will knew he could put someone down non-lethally, but it didn't always last long, as his encounter with the metal absorbing mutant the other day had demonstrated. But, it was long enough to slap one of those on them.

There was the woman in the X-men uniform, she started talking tactics, giving orders, making plans. Apparently she'd been messing with the employees here, giving them the time they had now to group up and make their plan. And the plan was pretty simple. Light touch with people. No holds barred against Akh and the people or things she summoned. Get the Ankh and take Akh down, or at the very least get the Ankh and get out. With a plan set, Will started to feel better, enough tension leeching from him that he didn't have to focus on keeping his hands from shaking. 

Seemed like there was going to be two teams, the woman heading the outfit, Other Will, Lee and Tarin. They'd be going forward into the thick of things, leaving Will and Quin to team up with Riot Guy and... Fred..? 

"Fred", in Will's eyes was terrifyingly enthused about the whole situation. The owl-like head spin wasn't doing much to endear him either. But he seemed confident enough, and if Will was getting dragged into things, than any help on their side was a good thing, right? 

That was that then. Watch the backs of the people cutting in deep, keep the path clear. Eyes and ears. He could do that. 

Then, there was the sound of shoes on asphalt, pebbles skipping over the ground as the guards went from passive to active, beginning their approach. Will hesitated. There was something off about the employees, the customer service smiles that didn't match the look in their eyes. The charcoal scrawls on the badges didn't help either. Magic runes or hieroglyphs? Both maybe? It's not like Will had studied either. 

Before he could wonder further, Lee had already made a move. Seemed like she was playing along, feigning disappointment as she got closer. Will took the opportunity to try the same, keeping a few steps back and to the left. Slow, unassuming, trying to seem like he was just interested in the details of the conversation, why they wouldn't be allowed in the museum. The one of the far left, that'd be the mark. Gotta just get within lunging distance, and when they moved, he would. 

Lee grabbed someone. Others reacted. Will lunged forward and grabbed his target by the wrist. Had their attention. Now he just needed a couple seconds. 

 

”I was a cop before I was an electrician” At the words, Quin’s eyes shot over to the man in the car with the gun who looked like he’d walked out of a cop show. That tracked. Was this going to be someone who knew who she was…had been? The guy didn’t look much older than Quin, so maybe he was new enough to the force that he wouldn’t know. That would be for the best.

Out of the car he got, and hefted a big of things. Those things included a lot of plastic. This guy’s power involved trading places with things, or making people trade places with things. It seemed a quick and facile way to get the artifact that they needed to get…

She could take whatever she wanted? Quin felt a little stuck as she looked down at the bag…what was she supposed to take? She only had two hands.

Riot shields? Bending for a moment, Quin grabbed a few of the riot cuffs and shoved them into her pocket, then did the same with a few handfuls of the plastic beads. There was just no way she was going to be able to carry enough of the rest to make much a difference. ”Thanks…” she said, ”But I wasn’t really prepared for this and I can’t carry much more. If the bag is open when we’re in there, I should be able to get more if I need it…” .

His name was Ashton and something in the name tickled Quin’s brain, something was familiar, but not quite. Why did she know him? So much had happened that night at Hunt’s Point, so much was happening now, that there was no way she’d remember the ride she’d gotten home from the cop who had stayed with her while the EMTs had checked her out. The cop who’d said he was her partner. The cop who had explained what had happened.

So much was still going on though, Quin couldn’t dwell on those thoughts. The other Will (that had the potential to get confusing) was starting to glow purple with what Quin could only assume was electricity after what the guy had explained as his power.

They also had someone who could make things appear? Quin shook her head, that guy was stressing her out a bit. He had the manic energy of someone who was eager for a fight…he was also dancing in place, which was just bizarre.

Quin had asked after the gift shop and that guy, Frank(?) wanted to loot the gift shop after Quin got the plastic she needed.

This was a lot.

Now Kealey was laying out a plan. She and Will were going to go with Ashton and Frank and the others were going to go and try to get the ankh from Ahk. Okay…that sounded somewhat less risky than taking on the big bad guy from Michael’s story.

Things seemed both more and less complicated at the same time and Quin found herself feeling completely unmoored as she stood. She didn’t now what to do, how to feel…but suddenly she wasn’t nearly as nervous as she had been. There was a plan, they knew what to do.

Quin was just thinking that maybe she should ask Will to numb her ribs again so she could move better when Lee pointed out that the guards were coming and she couldn’t deal with all six at once…then the older woman was off and approaching the group.

Good God that was brave…or stupid…

Then things started to happen. Lee grabbed the guard by the arm, the figures ghosts appeared behind two others and started to attempt to grapple them, and Will followed Lee.

Was this just a thing he did?!

It apparently was, because a moment later, Will had reached out to latch onto another one of the guards. The fight was on.

Taking off at a sprint, wincing at the pain in her side, Quin didn’t know exactly what she was going to do, but maybe she could get one of the other guards on the ground and put the riot cuffs to good use.

Names and powers shared, the group was in full coordination mode. Kealey laid out a plan, the group would split. Will would go with Kealey, Lee, and Tarin to the Egyptian wing. To where the cause of the whole threat was. William was less nervous about that than he thought he should be. Still there allowing William to keep an alert edge, but not as strong as it had been.

The other members of the group were tasked with essentially everything else. Coordination had already begun among them as Ashton was offering plastic to Quin for her to use.

They had the very roughest of plans, but it was better than before. Before it was barely a nebulous idea of a plan. Now there was some concreteness to the plan and more people to execute it. That was an amazing improvement.

While it was all being ironed out, William kept to himself. His power slowly fired, a small charge being generated inside himself. It leaked out as fast as he was generating it which caused his coronal discharge. The goal wasn’t the light show, rather it was to raise the limit on his ability to discharge in a controlled manner.

It seemed their opponent was unwilling to give William the time to reach his peak. The people who had moved to shoo them away from the building before were approaching again. Eerily asking them all to leave.

Lee took point, moving toward the people. Literal ghosts disappeared before later reappearing by the people with Lee. The other Will moved to grab one of them.

William smiled. He could actually shine here.

A TASER is an electrical device that, depending on the model, utilizes pulsed DC current to promote neuromuscular incapacitation. It was what made it more effective than a traditional stun gun, hot shot, or cattle prod. Depending on the model it fires off upwards of 50,000 volts down its wires with an output at 2.1 milliamps to 3.6 milliamps. Sure, a taser could out range William since it could fire out to 35 feet, but once William was within five… It was bad news for people.

The voltage and amperage were the easy part. The cycle rate of 19 Hertz was the hard part.

William closed to within five feet of one of the employees, reached out a hand, and a bolt of electricity sizzled through the air between them. The bolt was gone and replaced by another, then another than another. A crackling filled the air as the bolts sprang into existence then died only to be replaced by another at an incredibly fast rate.

Over the next few seconds the rate of discharge increased. William didn't quite reach a TASER’s cycle rate but he got in the ballpark. Why rely on pain compliance when you can simply interrupt the brain’s connection to the skeletal muscles.

>>> ”Thanks…” the Redhead said, ”But I wasn’t really prepared for this and I can’t carry much more. If the bag is open when we’re in there, I should be able to get more if I need it…”

The redhead… Quin… was right. He had a bag full of stuff, but she had no bag. Ashton opened his mouth to offer the bag entirely, but then… Fred… came over, hyper-excited and talking and acting like Ashton would be his bestest best friend. Ashton just smiled politely, and kept any uncomfortable words to himself.

Ashton slid the shoulder bag back into his shoulder. Glanced at Fred.

Fred could provide. He confirmed it.

“Great.” Ashton said.

Fred was nice, but too excited and it all felt off. When he moved to slide an arm around his shoulders, Ashton casually took a step to one side, towards Kealey and the rest of his group. Like he had not even noticed the man’s attempt at a shoulder snug.

A glanced back at Fred and the other two, calm smile aimed at Fred. Mainly. A reassuring look, like he was not mad , and was merely on this, laser focused on the mission. No need to make things weird one minute in to the mission.

His focus returned to Kealey. He stood and listened.


—

Kealey spoke, telling of guards. Figuring out a plan. The guards would return, couldn’t stay away forever. Ashton knew they would, and needed to be dealt with. Kealey mentioned that shortly, but spoke of the woman and her item first. About how, when they entered, dealing with the woman and her magic item was most important. Get it away, get it away, get it clear. That was key. As for the guards, be gentle.

Ashton nodded. Basically his plan the whole time. His plan and her plan stopped overlapping right about there. She wanted to spearhead toward the woman, with William and Lee, and Tarin. And not him. The guy who could potentially trivialize the whole thing. A flare of annoyance flared in him, but he quashed it. She was the leader, he would follow the leader. It was entirely possible the woman knew something about their targets powers that he personally did not.

He could protect and assist the remaining folks. Mr. Excited, Red, and other Will. Did that make him team leader of that squad? No. But he may have had more experience, just maybe, from his time on the police force. If he was having an ego. Ego aside, He could still do his part to keep them focused. As a team member. Keep them safe. It just sucked an X wasn’t watching him, which had been the entire point of the whole mission. But whatever. Deferring and proving reliable were important skills, too. Listening was paramount.

Kealey had asked if they could do what she asked. Ashton said ”Yeah.”

Tarin and Lee broke for a second, to talk. William, with the glow, was off to one side, with the glow. Other Will just stood by.

>>> Fred turned to Ashton, "Score! We're on the same team! Hey, if we encounter any dogs, I've got some extra molotovs you can use!"

Ashton have him a thumbs up. ” That’d be great,” He said.

Fred started dancing in place and his eyes were glowing with bright blue light as he got ready to go. Ashton took a piece of jerky, when it was offered, because hell. He could trade places with anything. He shoved it in a pocket in his armored vest, for later.

He reached into his drawstring bag and idly palmed a couple of tennis balls. As He looked up, his eyes fell to the middle distance. The guards. Approaching. All 6. He squeezed his balls for reassurance. They could do this.

They chattered as they approached.

Excuse me, leave!

Nothing to see here! We’re closed!

Nothing is wrong!! The third said. One of the other guards glanced at him, and Ashton took note of the name on the tag. Jeff Illegible-Charcoal-glyphs.

‘He’s my favorite,’ Ashton thought

Jeff threatened them with a good time.

Please, they said. Please, Jeff repeated. He would take Jeff out first.

Lee and Tarin rejoined them, just in time.

>>> "I can't deal with six of them at once," Lee told them, looking at Kealey and Ashton in particular. "Not without injuries. If you can manage only one or two getting close to me at a time?"

Ashton held up his tennis balls. ”Yup.”

Lee then turned to Tarin. "Guess I'm up. If Tony and friends can catch them once they're out? I won't have time to stop their heads hitting the ground."

Lee was first to take action, plodding toward the men. Ashton got the impression, from brief words prior, Tarin and Lee were a thing. Ashton approved of Lee. Smart and quick. Good for him!

He mentally played his next moves. Keep them off Lee while she worked. Leave one open for Quin, help Will… keep Fred entertained.

He could bounce in and—

Oh— Will was copying Lee. Walking towards the guards. Slow and steady wins the race.

Ashton had two balls in one hand, one between index finger and thumb, the other, middle finger, pinky and ring. Without losing grip on the second, Ashton underhand threw the first. It went off and to the left, wills General direction , bounced, rolled, came to a stop. Highly visible, in yellow. Exactly why he picked tennis balls over baseball.

Lee had one by the arm. And things started happening.

Tarin summoned his ghosts. ‘And to think, some people go to therapy to get rid of those,’ Ashton thought wryly. Tarin told his to go, and they did.

They appeared by guards.

Neat.

Will lunged. Caught one guard by the wrist.

Others acted, too.

Quin dashed past him, and as She went, he noticed her wince for a split second. Like maybe she had gotten injured within the last 24 hours, and the sprint had agitated it.

Note to self: we may not all be at 100 percent.

He had triggered a bad headache, a nose bleeds and a bad migraine from all his swapping the day prior, and claimed a few bruises as well. It’s just, he was no stranger to a bruise: former cop. Etc. Which was why he noticed the gun on a guard before anyone else did.

Jeff. God dammit, Jeff.

William closed the gap to zap, and Ashton drew in his focus to That gun. As William sent loads of electric currents into one guard, Ashton appeared within six inches of another. In front of Jeff. Just as He had dropped his hand towards his holster. Which was empty now. The gun was where Ashton had been. It fell from chest level, to land on the concrete. Near Fred. And did anyone smell cinnamon?

1st teleport of the hour. 2 seconds before another. Cooldown period. If he went to his hourly limit, that doubled. Then, it tripled.

Ashton smashed his riot shield into Jeff’s chest. The man’s arms rose as He staggered backwards.

”God dammit Jeff! Watch out people, they may be armed!”

He didn’t know if 1 was or all of them. And He didn’t want to take chances.

The 2nd tennis ball “pong pong” bounced on concrete by their feet as Ashton’s (now free) hand went to reach out and touch somebody. All the coolest kids were grabbing wrists, so Ashton did it, too. That’s peer pressure!

He grabbed hold of the man’s wrist, and shoved his shield up into his face as He pulled and worked to shove him bodily to the ground. He had a few inches on Jeff, and more muscle mass, from training. Plus the big shield, and weight from the vest and pads. He got him facedown after a couple seconds, with his arms behind his back. One was pinned by his free hand. The other, by a knee. The shield was pressing down against the back of the man’s upper body and head, to make sure he knew he was downed. But that left him without a free hand to tie him down.

“Quin!” Ashton tried to get her attention. He glanced back to where he remembered she had been… you know… ahead of him, until he had teleported. ”I have a perfect situation for you to put one of those zip ties to good use.” Hurry on over here, Red!

As Ashton held Jeff down, He started a quick head count, but he never finished it. Lee had 1. William, 1. Will had 1 in his grasp, but— there was another standing behind him, raising their hands, and Ashton did not really want to give them a chance to do whatever they were planning to do to Will’s exposed back. And right beyond them, in Ashton’s vision, a little yellow ball. Very visible, where he had put it earlier.

Enough time had passed.

Ashton focused on the guard and the ball.

Teleportation count: 2

A headache instantly bloomed as He swapped something about 20 lbs over his weight limit of 100. The guard was about 5’2”, and skinny. 117-118 lbs. Lucky for Will. These were museum workers. Not mall cops. If it had been 250 lbs, Ashton would have blacked out.

The day before, He had needed to pick targets wisely. Gone to bed with a migraine. Mainly from over use. But he had picked one or two humans to swap with. He had been training, But He needed to bulk up.

Behind Will, where the guard had once been, a tennis ball dropped from chest level. It bounced a few times, then rolled away. It had traded more than just location, it had traded speed. Appeared chest level to where the guard had been. The now “not in a position to strike” guard? He was about 25 feet away from Will, at present. Confused. Both the ball and him now smelling vaguely of cinnamon.

Ashton grimaced at the headache. He had painkillers in a pocket, but he could wait til later to use a blood thinner. It wasn’t that bad.

He had done math earlier. With gear… shotgun weighed 6-8 lbs, the average weight of a riot shield was between 6 - 14 lbs… his was clear plastic, with reinforced fittings, and on the heavier side. It weighed about 14 lbs. His gear probably weighed 20-30 with armor and padding. Collapsible Baton weighed less than 1 lb. The bag of tricks was 3-5. Altogether, his whole kit weighed about 58 lbs. about 62, with clothing and ammo. Not close to his 100 lb “take with me” Maximum. For Sidealong teleportation, he’d probably only be able to take lighter folk. Like the ladies. Sorry, fellas. He didn’t want to pass out. 110 lbs, plus 62-65 in gear? Migraine. Instant migraine. Or nose bleed. Use when needed. But he could do it. Might make his ears bleed. Maybe he would leave some gear behind.

Things were certainly moving now.

As she handed out mission assignments, Kealey couldn’t help but notice the mild irritation lobbed her way from Ashton at what she’d told him to do. He probably did have a point, she thought, and there might come a time when they were inside when she’d call on him to help in a more specific sense. Kealey needed good people in all of the places though and the first priority was going to be actually getting into the Egyptian wing.

Kealey finished speaking and nodded slightly as Lee took Tarin off to the side. Between Kealey’s powers and whatever it was Lee said, things got much better there. Watching them for another brief moment, the empath had to think that they were good together, but time would tell how good and if it extended to a fight.

The other two newcomers seemed to respond well to the emotional tweaking as well. They were farm more calm now that their nerves were settled and Kealey watched as the other assembled members began to talk, plan, and share ideas.

This wasn’t the best planned mission Kealey had ever oversaw, but with the time she’d had to plan, it was the best that things were going to get and she was satisfied.

As expected, the guards didn’t stay away for long and before Kealey knew it Lee was heading towards the group. It might have been better if this part of the plan could have been a bit more coordinated, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. Almost before she could act…everyone else did. Kealey supposed that was a good thing because as Lee grabbed the guard by the wrist, Will turned and grabbed another. His nerves had settled quite nicely, Kealey had to think. What had he said he did? Sensory manipulation.

As that happened, what had to be spirits winked into sight and grabbed two of the other guards. Tarin was still standing where Lee had left him, a look of rapt concentration on his face as he presumably did whatever it was to control the things. They still made Kealey wildly uncomfortable and she suppressed the urge to cross herself as she took in the rest of what was happening.

The redhead named Quin had joined the fray and seemed to be grappling with a guard.

William (this had the potential to get confusing) had stepped amongst the guards now and was using his powers to subdue them just as effectively as everyone else was.

Then Ashton went to work. One second he was here, the next second he was there. Then there were tennis balls, riot shields, there was a gun somewhere in there, no…it was where Ashton had been standing minutes before. Now he was calling for zip ties and things seemed to be under control, or soon to be so.

Walking forwards towards the mix, Kealey did her best to pick out the emotions of the guards. Their sense of purpose was so strong and Kealey narrowed her eyes as she tried to manipulate the feelings around that. There was desperation there, and no small amount of fear. Those emotions she could change, but something about the sense of purpose eluded her. It was almost like it wasn’t an emotion…

”It’s as we thought,” Kealey said loudly, moving forward towards the group, fighting wasn’t her strong suit, but this she knew, ”They’re being compelled to act. They’re going to keep trying, they can’t do anything else. Render them unconscious if possible otherwise they’ll hurt themselves.”

Ashton didn't let Zek put his arm around his shoulders but Zek didn't mind. Some people were just afraid of their feelings, like Captain Icepatch. Ashton did take some jerky so that proved there was something there anyways.

And then guards approached and Zek just grinned, but before he could say anything witty to them or drop a car on them, everyone else burst into action.

And it was beautiful.

Seven people shot forward and between them and some ghosts, they immediately began attacking and beating up the poor innocent polite guards who were just doing their jobs. Some were better than others of course. Shorty just touched a guy and he went down. Ghost Guy made ghosts and they grappled two people, which was cool by proxy. Boring Guy and Boring Girl were boring and Boring Guy just touched a guard and the guard didn't even go down. Irish Spring just walked forward and started blabbing. Which put her down on the level of Boring Guy and Girl because it wasn't even interesting smack talk.

But Ashton.

Oh Ashton!

Zek opened a small portal to Zekworld and reached through it into a locker in the locker room, from which he extracted two blue-and-white pom-poms. He closed the portal, put the jerky away, and as Ashton savaged a guy, Zek began cheering.

"Whoooo! Attaboy, Ashton! Beat them up! Yeah!" he cried as he jumped and shook his pom-poms.

And then...and then....Ashton threw balls! And there was teleportation shenanigans!

Zek started weeping at the sheer beauty of it all!

"Yeah! Go team! Don't let any of them get away! Bonus points for every bruise you hive them!" he crowed.

The guards watched in horror as these people approached and ignored them. Then a woman grabbed James and he quickly collapsed. Even then, there was a still an attempt at a smile on his face.

Then the rest of the guards were set upon.

"Please don't do anything anyone will regre--" Jeff began to say before a man with a riot shield took him down. He started shrieking his mind even as he maintained a smile in the dirt.

They were making a scene. The fourth compulsion forbade that.

Three people appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Jimmy and Jason. Ghosts? Then Jason screamed as electricity coursed through him and he locked up as tightly as his smile before he collapsed.

Johnny held his hands out in a futile attempt to calm things down before he was suddenly moved about 25 feet away from everything. He wanted to run, to scream, to tell them to stop, that it wasn't the guards' choice to do this! And why were they being attacked? He saw the woman in an X-Man uniform. The X-Men were here? Hope mixed with terror. The X-Men could fight the sorceress and her army! But in doing so, would they crush him and the rest of the helpless guards?

He started shaking with stark terror even as he was compelled to return to the beatdown. "Please just go away!" he said as nicely as possibly despite. "We mean you no harm!" as he approached the X-Woman, still trying to get her and everyone else to leave.

And finally Jordan looked at the guy who'd grabbed his wrist and as the compulsion to not make a scene flared in his mind, he whispered, "Please don't hurt me."

Tarin had not said he was 'fine'. That was good, very good. He'd said that he was okay and that he had her back in what was to come. And as she saw Tony and two other spirits appear among the guards ahead of her, Lee was reassured that Tarin wasn't completely freaking out anymore.

That part was good, part of the plan. Two of the remaining five guards she wasn't currently draining were detained so they wouldn't all end up around her at once.

What wasn't part of the plan was the fact that as she was siphoning from the guard she held onto (who wasn't really fighting back, as far as he knew at the moment she was only holding his wrist), was she felt four others rushing forward from the group at her back toward the guards.

And the next thing Lee knew, she was seeing Ashton body slam one of the guards with his riot shield. "What the hell, Ashton!" Lee exclaimed, eyes darting to the guard in front of her to see him wavering on his feet. He was almost out.

"Tony, switch," she said, only for her words to be cut off by another guard's scream. "Really?" Lee shouted at her 'teammates' as Tony was dragging over the guard he was holding onto. Letting go of her guard as he passed out and counting on Tony to catch him so he didn't his the ground too hard, Lee grabbed ahold of that second guard. Who was putting up more of a fight having seen what had happened to his coworker, but with a hand on each of his arms Lee was effectively able to stop him from hitting her or getting away.

"What the hell guys!" Lee shouted again. "We just talked about not hurting the guards. What are you doing?"

At that point, Lee felt someone else moving toward the group dealing with the guards. Not Tarin. Even if she couldn't feel his particular energy still further back, Lee would know it wasn't him; he had no reason to come closer with the spirits he was controlling up here.

Glancing over her shoulder quickly, Lee saw that it was Kealey. Good. Maybe she could reign things in, because it hadn't failed to come to Lee's attention that the people causing injury had come with the X-Men.

And Kealey was saying that the guards would end up hurting themselves due to the compulsion if they didn't make them unconscious. "I can take care of that if they," Lee moved her hand in a bit of an arc to indicate Ashton and William, moving the guard's entire arm at the same time. "Chill out and simply restrain the guards for a minute or two."

It was only then that Lee saw what the other unknown to her person in the group was doing. Somehow, from somewhere, he had gotten ahold of pom poms of all things and was acting like a cheerleader. Cheering on Ashton's hurting the innocent guard.

Lee just looked at him in disbelief for a moment. "Not helpful, appropriate, or welcome behaviour," Lee told him sternly. Can you tell she's a parent? "So shut up and help with the plan, or get lost." It didn't matter to Lee who the guy was, an X-Men, Michael's nephew, or the mayor's son. If he wasn't going to actually help, he was a distraction or a liability. Neither of which Lee wanted to deal with going in to face this mystic.

Turning back to her guard, Lee saw his eyes flutter closed as he started to pass out. "Tony!" She called again. The dead fighter was well aware of the rules by this point and knew the consequences of not doing as she told him. So Lee simply released the guard as he fell into unconsciousness for Tony to catch and moved, faster than humanly possible, it intercept the guard making his way toward Kealey.

All of the anticipation that had been building since Lee had gotten the call from Michael seemed to release at once as Lee grabbed that guard.

As soon as that happened, everyone moved. The guy who had met up with them outside of Haven had followed right behind Lee and was doing whatever it was he did to one of the other guards.

The guy who had been in the car, Tarin hadn’t really paid enough attention to catch his name, was teleporting all over the place. A gun appeared out of thin air and fell to the ground and Tarin picked it up as gingerly as possible. There were few things that Tarin knew less about than guns, but leaving one laying in the parking lot in this scenario was not a good idea.

Holding the gun loose at his side, his fingers as far away from the trigger as they could get while still holding onto the gun, Tarin watched as most of the guards were very quickly subdued…in a manner that was probably not quite as gentle as Kealey had expected.

Lee noticed too and Tarin winced a bit for everyone who was over there that had not followed directions because Lee was absolutely letting them have it. Lee was also not remotely impressed with the weird little guy who was now playing at being a cheerleader. Tarin just looked at that spectacle for a moment before getting back to business.

For her part, Lee had two guards down at this point and it appeared that Tony was being particularly helpful. To that end, Tarin sent more energy down the bond, making sure to keep the ex-fighter corporeal and mentally reminding him of the rules of engagement. Honestly though, the guy was doing pretty well on his own.

Kealey was approaching the group now and Tarin followed a little bit behind, glancing over at the spirit he’d told to keep close. This spirit was invisible still, but Tarin could still see him. Don’t suppose you know how to take one of these apart like they do in movies…. he asked, keeping the conversation in his head so he didn’t distract any of the fighters. The spirit shook his head. After my time, boss. he responded and Tarin sighed. Maybe that one kid…Ashton maybe? Maybe he could use the gun. Kealey pointed out that the guards were being compelled and Lee requested that everyone just hold the guards still until she could deal with them.

A guard was approaching Kealey now and despite the grin on his face he absolutely reeked of terror. Tarin didn’t need to be an empath to see that and it made the compulsion make sense. It was a terrifying scenario to imagine. Tarin was about to call in the spirits to intervene, but Lee moved then…she moved really fast to come up on the guard. Tarin was ready to help if need be but let Lee do her thing.

Keep the guards that are conscious down until Lee can get to them, if the others need help, prioritize that. Tony, stay right with her and help in any way you can. Just like when you spar, anything she says goes.

I know…came the slightly nonplussed voice.

Good Tarin said.

Looking again at the spirit he’d told to stay close, Tarin changed his plans slightly, Go get more friends, as many as will come. he said and the spirit only hesitated for a moment before heading off on its errand.

That accomplished, Tarin approached the group again, ”Anyone want this gun…because I sure as hell don’t.”