2013-03-04 Drawn Together: Part 3

Some schools have bake sales or car washes. Some do charity auctions and some just sell school-themed merchandise. But tonight at Washington Charter High in Queens, there's an uncommon fundraiser going on. Casino Night! Slot machines, card tables, and various other games have been spread through the school gym. There's also stands to buy things like plush versions of the school mascot and t-shirts with the logo as well as various other things. Students, parents, and anyone that wants to wander in is free to gamble for tickets and tokens to cash in for things like school merchandice, coupons to get members of the football team to mow a lawn or shovel and driveway, and even CDs from the school glee club.

In one corner of the gym there's an oversized card set up for people to sign. A get well card for school sports star Joey Orman who was injured in an attack by unusual big cats where he worked. His girlfriend Penny, also recently attacked, is sitting at that table which also happens to be the cash-out station where one trades in their tickets and tokens for prizes. The Class President, Danny Martin is wandering the floor and making sure everything is going well. He helped set this up after all so he wants it all to go perfectly. It'll make him look bad if there are problems after all.

There's someone out place around tonight. Axiom, teenage superhrero and member of the Young Allies, is on patrol in Queens tonight. On the roof of the school, he's stopping after chasing off some people that were going to tag a nearby building. He's been investigating the recent attacks but so far...no luck.

Jocelyn was here with Victor and Kwabena tonight. She was dressed casually, in a long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and her black gloves. She trusted her powers well enough, but she didn't want to make a mistake and shock anyone by mistake anyway. They were here to gamble for the school, so to speak. And it wasn't that hard for Jocelyn to fit in, what with the fact she was a high schooler herself. She might stick out since nobody at the school knew her, but that was perfectly fine with her. She knew enough that there were lots of schools in the area, so it'd be easy to pick one and say she was from there, but was in the neighborhood.

So, she finds herself strolling along with a little bit of spending money. She finds herself taking a seat at one of the poker tables and getting dealt in. A nice, relaxing night was just the thing that she could use tonight. It had been a really crazy few days.

Also investigating the attacks is the X-Man known as Shift, who was present at the coffee shop where Joey Orman was attacked. Having kept an eye on those who worked at the cafe, Shift was able to learn about the casino night, and asked for the two X-Students to come with him. It would be an opportunity to teach Anole and Jocelyn a few things about the world of gambling, without resorting to taking them into Jersey, or, God forbid, an underworld gambling operation.

Those classes are reserved for graduates.

Having chosen a blackjack table, Shift keeps his eyes on Anole and Jocelyn at all times, while being extremely subtle about the whole affair. Blackjack was an easy game to play, which leaves him plenty of mental space to keep a watchful eye upon them. All the same, he is most interested in watching out for Joey Orman and his girlfriend Penny, having overheard some of the parents nearby talking about how strange it was for both of them to have been attacked by strange creatures.

Something is amiss about all of this. Either Kwabena is paranoid, or his instincts are spiking once again...

"Hit me."

"Twenty one."

A cheer goes up as Kwabena, dressed in his black leather riding jacket and an unoffensive white button down shirt reaches out to collect his winnings with a smug grin.

In any situation that Jocelyn stands out, Vic *really* stands out all green and scaly like he is. He was no good at poker, so it was at the blackjack table with their chaperone. He tried the same tactic, "Hit me." Bust. "Damnit." he mumbled under his breath, "I still don't get it." he says, looking towards Kwabena. "When am I supposed to hit again?" he asked of the more experience gambler.

Speaking of teen heroes on patrol in Queens tonight, there up in the sky is a speck, a weather balloon, no it's Wiccan of the Young Allies! Floating a good distance up, but low enough he does not have to worry about low flying planes he learned that lesson does not want to repeat the experiance thank you very much, his cape is caught in the winds as he works a spell.

"Showmetrouble, Showmetrouble, Showmetrouble!" The mage's eyes glow blue while images appear around him zeroing in on what they can find in range while he trys to keep his spell from faling apart...or focusing in on things that a superhero might be a little bit overkill for like a small argument between a pair of cheerleaders over a guy that was dating both of them, or a teenager fuming at his Dad for acting like Joe Pesci in Casino.

The dealer, a young woman dressed in a dealer's costume, for the blackjack game just smirks as Victor loses. She hasn't been very polite to him at all. Some of the other kids and parents have been giving the green guy nasty looks too. No one's done any harassing or shoving or anything like that though so it's a plus atleast.

As a hand finishes at Jocelyn's table, the person sitting next to her leaves in a huff. The seat is quickly taken by none other than Danny Martin himself. Around the same time he flashes a supposedly charming grin, Jocelyn might notice a little surge of unusual energy coming from the direction of the hallway that leads to the bathrooms. "Hey, beautiful," Danny speaks up. "I don't think I've ever seen you around here before. In fact I'm positive I haven't. I'd remember a face as pretty as yours," he flirts, tapping the table to be dealt in. It's right after the cards are dealt that something happens that would definitely catch the attention of Wiccan's spell. As Danny reaches for his cards, something hits the table and pins them there. A ninja star. There's screams as a small crowd of ninja each brandishing a weapon just appear with little puffs of smoke around the gym. Two appear on the poker table, one kicking the dealer in the jaw and another raising a sword with the intent to bring it down on Danny and Jocelyn.

Outside, Axiom jumps as he hears the screams. "Wha?" he leans over the edge of the building to peek in through one of the big windows and his eyes go wide. "Oh man, n-not good!" he squeaks, heading for a safer way off the rooftop.

Jocelyn gives Danny a sweet smile. "No, I don't go to school here, but I happened to be in the neighborhood on a bit of a walk, and thought I'd drop by and see what all the fuss was about". She rolls her shoulders, 'accidentally' nudging Danny with her arm, but doesn't seem to pay it any mind. After all, she had on long-sleeves, so she wouldn't shock him. She then takes her cards up into her hand and glances at them. Not a bad hand, not too bad. She might win this hand.

That's when there's a flash of very fast moving kinetic energy and that ninja star embeds itself on Danny's cards and...ninjas appear.

Reflexes take over immediately, and the trained fighter pulls in energy, first toughening her skin and then standing up and forward, rising to her full height and bringing a powerful uppercut at the ninja. Normally, she'd be going for the head, but even at her full height, she can't reach the head of the ninja on the table. Intead, she's going for the wrists in an attempt to disarm it with the strike. If she does connect, she'll attempt to turn that uppercut into a grapple and swing the ninja into the other one.

"Everyone, clear out!" she bellows as the things attack. Just in case the crowd needs more incentive to flee. She'll look around for more detail later, but for now, she's got a ninja right in her face. Searching out the puppetmaster would have to wait.

Kwabena is about to stop Anole from hitting, but is too late. A wince shows on his face, and he shakes his head. "No, you had a -nineteen-, Vic. Guarantee the dealer is going to..."

The dealer deals herself to a twenty-five.

"... bust." Kwabena smirks toward the dealer, having noticed her snide attitude, then looks over toward Anole while tossing out another ante. "Now you see? You -always- double down on eleven, especially when de dealah has a weak hand like dat." He chuckles. "I know, it's a lot to keep track of-"

And then, there are screams.

There is a brief moment where an almost paralyzing fear strikes Kwabena, the effects of his acute PTSD. His mis-matched eyes, however, flash to see Jocelyn in danger. It's enough to shake him out of it, and with a quick motion, he's out of his chair and casting his eyes around, trying to map out where the appearing ninja's are in relation to the exits. "Everyone, stay calm," he urges those nearest. "Vic..." he casts his eyes toward the mutant next to him, then gives a slow and approving nod of his head.

Permission to be a Young X-Man, granted.

Expecting pandemonium at any moment, he reaches for those nearest to him with his arms, as if to suggest that he will guide them to the nearest exit.

Victor was *not* pleased that his night of learning blackjack was being cut short by *Ninja*. The nasty look and whispered words he could handle. But ninjas?! That, sir, was the straw that broke the Lizard's back. With Shift's nod, he gave a dark, wicked grin.

As people ran from the danger, he stood big right arm grabbing the blackjack table. His claws sunk in. He began to twirl as if the table itself was a discus, to fling the thing at great speed towards a ninja. A spinning wooden shiriken of his own. A much larger one, at that.

Wiccan's spell flashes red and shows him...oh boy, that is not good. For just a second at least three different very nerdy parts of his brain war with each other before one of them wins the right to comment. "Dang, Ninjas. Iwanttoprotectpeople, Iwanttoprotectpeople, Iwanttoprotectpeople!" He chants before vanishing out of the sky.


 * CRAKOOW!* With a flash of light and a crack of lightning Wiccan appears in the midst of the pandemonium of the sudden Ninja attack. Short staff in his right hand he moves bringing it up too block the swing of a random Ninja's sword with a faint blue aura around the staff shimmering into existance where the sword strikes it.

"What the hell?!" Danny yelps as the ninja appears, falling right back off his seat. He'd been looking forward to flirting with Jocelyn but now he's being attacked and the girl is fighting. "I'm outta here!" he calls as he scrambles away. Yep, big tough guy leaving the girl on her own. Luckily, Jocelyn's got more to her than good looks. That uppercut doesn't disarm the ninja...it dehands him! The ninja's whole hand pops off with a cloud of black dust that stains the poor girl's hand the same color. The ninja stumbles back only to get grabbed and thrown. It goes over it's fellow mysterious martial artist, the non-thrown ninja ducking and then kicking hard at Jocelyn's midsection.

For Shift, he's able to shepherd a few people towards the nearest exit but that's followed by one of those ninja leaping at him with a flying kick. The ninja numbers are thickest near the far side of the gym so he's got three non-ninja blocked exits to choose from though two will send people through locker rooms before they get outside.

The dealer ends up knocked on her rear as Victor picks up the table. People scatter, some screaming about a crazy mutant showing up on top of the ninja. The table goes flying, strikes a ninja...and causes it to explode into a cloud of thick black dust. Well, one down. This move is followed quickly by a chain with a small weight on the end wrapping around Victor's big arm. If he looks, he'll see a ninja on the other end pulling hard to yank him off his feet.

The sudden appearance of Wiccan doesn't get much reaction from the ninja. It's eyes are completely blank as it stares at the mage. It pushes hard with the sword, trying to keep him locked in place as it's intended victim runs. The reason? Well another ninja is moving up behind Wiccan and throwing a knife his way. A knife tthat...is intercepted in mid air by a plush tiger. "Ha!" that would be Axiom, grinning as he pulls off that save. "Hey, Wiccan. This is a lot of ninja! Where'd they c-come from?" he calls, starting to get into a little fist fight with the knife-thrower.

Good thing Jocelyn is wearing her gloves, so it's her gloves that get stained. Ohh, those are going to take AT LEAST three washings to get out! Stupid ninja...oh, it's kicking at her. Jocelyn pulls in more energy and disperses it through her body, her reaction time and nimbleness improving as she sidesteps the ninja. She reaches up to try and catch the leg and slam the ninja down to the ground. As she does so, she attempts to yank energy from it, just to see if she can. If she can...that would make this problem a whole lot easier, now wouldn't it?

The teenager starts scanning the energy, remembering what Axiom had said. Right. Constructs. Puppetmaster. Where are you, oh puppetmaster? Jocelyn would dearly love to see where the energy is all tied back to, or if there is a huge source of this weird psionic...ish energy. She's choosing not to let off any blasts yet, however. There are too many people and there's too great of a chance of getting hurt.

Shift receives a quick reminder that there are ninjas attacking people when suddenly, his upper body poofs into a cloud of smoke, letting said ninja go leaping right through him, with a leather jacket and a white shirt wrapped around his kicking leg. When the mutant reforms, he looks at the attacker with a humored look.

"Didn't see -dat- coming, didja?"

Instead of attacking, however, the African mutant poofs again, this time his entire body disappearing in a cloud of smoke, leaving his jeans on the ground. The cloud rushes across the floor, but as it goes, it makes two brief detours; one tendril rising to -slip- an earcomm unit into Anole's ear, and doing the same for Jocelyn. Only then does the mutant reform, clad in his gunmetal gray X-Men uniform, complete with silver trim and a red buckle. He quickly places the hood over his head to conceal his face, then issues their orders. "Vic, keep up de attack. Detroit, time to find our puppetmastah. I'll covah you."

That said, Kwabena begins drawing strength of mind from his reserves, letting his anger fill him until his body solidifies into material harder and stronger than flesh. He quickly scans about for any enemies making a move against Jocelyn, and if they do, he'll make damned sure they have an extremely solid barricade rushing at them.

"Waagh!" Strong arm or not, Anole doesn't weigh all that much different and he finds himself tumbling forward as that chain surrounds him. Now on his back he tries to pull back. "Yeah, I'm going to do my Abe Lincoln impression over here, Shift. Time to emancipate some teeth." Vic plants his large arm in the ground and then pushes- Rocketing himself into the air and towards the ceiling where he'll cling, and fade. The Ninja would, hopefully, follow at break-neck speed and meet the ceiling with him. Disappear into the background- his regular clothes just torn off. Someone has taken to wearing their training uniform under normal clothes. Clothing fluttering to the ground was the only clue Anole was even there.

Wiccan's eyes narrow at the Ninja he has sword blocked and takes his left hand off his staff just long enough to blast at him with a bolt of lightning point blank range. Of course then there is the odd sense that he should look behind him just in time to see the poor defenseless tiger give its live for his. He turns a smile on Axiom. "Ninja R Us. It's where they always come from. Problem is, no one ever remembers the law of conservation of Ninjutsu."

The leg is caught and the ninja is slammed. Enjoy a cloud of thick black dust kicked up around you, Jocelyn. And a still solid leg left in her hands. One that's trying to kick her still! Unfortunately the energy refuses to be pulled out. It's sticking there pretty stubbornly. Her energy sight powers will let her see some informative things. All the ninjas sport the same energy signature. Along with very faint energy lines leading back towards the hallway the flash came from earlier.

The ninja that attacked Shift makes no sounds as it lands from the kick, leaving a deep black foot print on the t-shirt. Once Kwabena is resolidified, he'll find a few shuriken flying his way as he defends Jocelyn. They won't break his hardened skin but they'll leave more of that powder before clattering to the ground.

It turns out to be a very good thing that Anole launches himself because a scythe imbeds itself in the flood where he'd been moments earlier. His pull makes the ninja come flying but the dark martial artist just flips and lands elsewhere in the gym. It looks around for Victor for a few moments before moving on when it can't find him.

The blast from Wiccan sends the ninja staggering back...with a gaping hole in its chest. The ninja stumbles back towards Wiccan before collapsing into a pile of dust. Luckily enough for him there's plenty more around. They're chasing and attacking people, knocking over games and stands. General chaos.

"Ninjas R Us? Man that plas is a p-p-pain," Axiom calls, flipping his ninja over his shoulder. When he hears a yell, his eyes widen and he takes off running. Danny's been cornered by a ninja that's lunging with a short sword. Axiom gets there first, knocking the young student away only to end up stabbed himself. He shoves the ninja away and presses a hand to cut across his shoulder. The ninja recovers quickly enough though, already advancing for another attacking. Danny meanwhile moves to hide under the refreshments table.

"Got it," Jocelyn says into the earpiece that gets shoved into her ear. That's...a little creepy. She slams the leg down, hoping it turns to dust, and starts following those lines, building her strength up as she moves. And there's the energy signature. "Hallway. Moving in," Jocelyn says as she starts dodging and weaving past various ninja and whoever else is around. Wiccan...he looks like he can take care of himself. Axiom is noted, and she speaks into her piece. "Vic. Axiom is having a time of it over here". She just thought Vic would like to know.

Then she's out, moving quickly to try and find the puppetmaster.

Peppered with shuriken! Shift snarls at the glancing blows, which do indeed hurt him, but do not draw blood. Powder is strewn across the uniform, which tracks the changes in his body and has solidified as well. In addition to his two X-Students, his eyes have taken notice of two others who seem to be fighting back against the ninjas. Perhaps, if they push the assault, they can draw the construct's eyes away from those retreating citizens.

And so, with a ferocious roar that is more show than anything, Shift slams his foot into the floor, causing it to crack and shatter. Then, he starts grabbing any object in his vicinity, while following Jocelyn at a steadily increasing distance. A poker table is upended and flung, then a roulette wheel, then a pair of chairs, aimed at any ninja who takes notice of him or the tall girl he's guarding. If they can't hurt him and he's not as fast as them, then he'll make a damned fine show of it all, and hopefully, they will come to think it is -him- going after the source, rather than Jocelyn.

Now it was Victor's turn to play Ninja. He takes a moment to take stock and look around. His eyes are drawn then to Axiom the same moment as Jocelyn gives her heads up.

"On it."

He moves along the ceiling with great alacrity, before he drops like a sack of bricks on the Ninja coming to attack his boyfriend. One big, clawed hand swiping as he lands. He'll then fade into reality, offering a hand towards Axiom. "Need a hand, handsome?" He asks, complete with roguish grin.

Chaperone. It's connotations are a double edged sword. It's not like no one should look out for the kids, but the way these things usually go? Yeh. Color Logan bored as hell. He drops some sucker's bets and loses a good chunk of change for charity in record time; no one around is surprised when the stumpy Canucklehead trundles off for a /real/ drink. General consensus? He needs one. They're right, too, and then about ten more-- just not for the reasons any of the patrons are thinking. That bit about taking his role as guardian on the side o' the angels seriously, though? Logan didn't go far.

Wearing a pair of worn jeans, old motorcycle boots, a red flannel shirt, and a leather jacket that's scuffed more than a few times, Wolverine adds a few more scars to his vintage duds as he crashes full bore through one of the gymnasium windows, crashing in a snowfall of steel and glass onto the vacated basketball court near the outside corner of the gym. The ninjas trying to corral people there, prepping their throwing stars and blades? *SNIKTSNIKT* There's one cursory sniff, and they get attempted bisection, one at neck level, the other around his hips. Adamantium don't give a #$*&.

Wiccan backs up quick as he blows a hole in a ninja and it starts to come towards him again...before falling into a pile of black dust. "That, is totally...just eww." Hearing the same yell as Axiom he turns the direction that way but while doing it spots a group of Ninjas that are just too close together to not make a good target. Besides, Axiom can take care of himself and if things get really interesting he can always copy someone's powers.

Wiccan waves his left hand in a semi-arcane looking manner while waving his staff in a semicircle at the group of ninja and chanting, "Iwanttheninjastogodown, Iwanttheninjastogodown, Iwanttheninjastogodown!" As he finishes his speed chanting and the arc of his staff a blue wave of energy flows outwards to strike the ninjas it hits with a hammer like blow...and hopefully only them if his powers don't decide right then to do something 'interesting.'

Once the wave of energy is away Wiccan starts to pepper the ninjas he can see, and hit with little chance of accidently hitting a panicked running civilian, with bolts of electricity trying to cover the retreat of as many people as possible.

While she might get past the ninja easily enough, Jocelyn gets some trailing after her. The energy trails meanwhile lead to the mens' restroom. She'll find the door locked and something braced against it if she tries it though. If her senses allow her to see humans, she'll notice three in there. One of them happens to be generating the energy she's following. There are two ninja coming down the hall at her though.

Axiom scowls at the ninja coming his way. His eyes start to glow bright blue as he prepares to boost and copy Wiccan but suddenly he doesn't have to. He stares as the ninja gets slashed and collapses into a pile of dust. When Anole appears, Axiom grins and reaches up to take the offered hand. "Thanks," he says, blushing. He leans in for a moment. "You um...you looked r-really hot right there," he says before turning attention to the battle.

Those items thrown by Shift cause some ninja to burst into black dust and others to lose limbs. The lost limbs don't slow the ninja down, them crawling towards Shift. He'll have bigger problems though as a chain comes whipping around to wrap around his torso.

There are many unexpected things happening tonight. The appearance of Wolverine among them. The ninja he slices are cut right in half. The top halves fall and collapse into dust piles. The legs keep moving though, trying to kick Logan.

Six ninja find themselves the target of Wiccan's spell. They each fly backwards when struck and shatter into clouds of staining dust. People cough and scream as another ninja flies at Wiccan with a kick aimed at his chest.

A locked door. Jocelyn hates locked doors. Normally, she'd just pick the lock, but she doesn't have time to be subtle tonight. Of course, she's got a bunch of ninja tailing her. "Target located. 3 people. Men's bathroom," she states into her earbud. "Got some tails. Keep clear". The girl then turns, pulling in some kinetic energy and letting loose a blast directly at the ninja in an attempt to send them scattering, pulling it as much as she can to avoid extra damage to happy things like walls or people. After all, it wasn't like there was any crowd following her, right?

She points her other hand at the restroom door and lets out another hard blast, attempting to blast it down and knock out whoever is back there, along with their ninjas.

"Knock Knock," the teen comments, those who have earbuds able to hear her statement.

Suddenly, Shift's arms are pinned against his body with the striking of that chain. He's put so much effort into the solidification of his body that, for a few moments, he's utterly stuck. It's the call from Jocelyn over his earcomm that queues his next move.

Keep clear? No way.

Relaxing, the mutant's skin begins to soften. He closes his eyes for one and a half seconds, settling his rage down to effect his mutagene. When he opens his eyes, there is now a mirthful expression in them. He looks right at the ninja advancing on him, and grins.

-POOF!-

The chain falls to the ground as Shift turns to smoke. He reforms two meters back toward the hallway door, with his arm already extended and middle finger shooting up into the air. Then, he's on the move! Spinning on his heel, he goes racing down the hallway after Jocelyn, hoping to gain on those ninja tailing her before its too late. Once again, he lifts his voice into a ferocious battle cry, hoping it might draw their attention and distract them from her quarry.

"Thanks." Vic said with a grin, giving Eddie a quick hug after helping him stand. "Sounds like our good friend found something. You ready to rock this?" he asks Eddie before he's off and running. Haymakers and jabs, along with a few kicks for good measure. He uses that huge clawed hand to cut a swath of destruction through black, dusty similacra.

Kicked is better than stabbed or shot in the Book of Logan any day of the week. Flesh bruises over unyielding adamantium bone; but only for a moment. Logan's pummeled back-- but only a couple inches. Diminutive, perhaps, but the Canucklehead is denser than he looks; and not (just) in the cranium. The result as the ninja are split doesn't seem to faze Wolverine.. almost like he expected it. One set of claws seeks to split the first set of legs vertically, while the other mirrors the image, descending on either side in reaving triplicate.

"They smell like... drawings!!" He calls out over the gymnasium, to his fighting allies. He's scented graphite sketches a million times before. Sometimes, it's impossible to get Piotr to -stop- making them. It comes out over his teammates comms: No time for a costume, but time enough for that. As the others fend off their positions, and fight towards their embattled comrades, Wolverine does the same: wordless claws and fury, nothing but a kiai in the form of snarl and bared teeth to announce his passing as he lashes in at the suddenly exposed flank of their seemingly limitless enemy.

It's funny that Wiccan should invoke the Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu-- suddenly, the other team has their own. But only one. Wolverine works around the perimeter, lunging for a ninja stalking around Anole and Axiom before pulling a large hunting knife out from within his jacket, and hurling it on down the line for the next. Like a predator, striking before the prey adjusts to his vector.

Wiccan has had training from two gods of war and combat, but he is by no means the best at it. Heck, good chance in a hand to hand fight most of the students at the Xavier School could take him down. Which is why the flying ninja kick hits, and hits hard. The red cloaked teen mage gets knocked off his feet and into the ground, probably lucky he did not get hit lower or it would have knocked the wind out of him enough to prevent his next action.

Laying here on the ground his eyes glow blue briefly before pure energy lashes out from him at the Ninja that hit him and any others that are close by. The effects of the energy, probably would not be pretty if the ninjas were not constructs that simply turned to dust, except for the one on the edge of the small area around Wiccan that ends up wearing a straw hat, and a god awful Hawaiian shirt over its shozoko, and ends up with its' weapon turning into a drink served in a coconut shell with a little pink paper umbrella. Probably a good indication Wiccan should listen to less Jimmy Buffet before going on patrols.

While she may have been expecting to scatter the ninja, Jocelyn will find her blasts have another effect. Namely scattering pieces of the ninja as it punches holes through them. Of course her blasting alerts whoevers in that bathroom and there's some panicked voices before a loud crashing sound along with a fourth voice...and a new energy signature like the ninjas'. The door goes down easily enough along with the chair that was being used to keep it closed. Inside the bathroom? Well there's no one anymore. The gaping hole in the far wall must be where they went but there's something new blocking the path.

Big...round...filled with some nasty looking gray liquid...

"OH YEAH!" it bellows as it steps back into the bathroom. Yes, Jocelyn. Your new opponent is the Kool-Aid man. Of course her energy senses will see the source of this all running away but there's a new source too. Just beyond her...unusual opponent among the broken wall debris is a folder with several pages of paper spilling out. Two of those papers are glowing with the same energy as the constructs.

The sudden smokey shifting frees Shift and saves him from seeing if he can withstand a sword that ends up slicing into the ground instead. The ninja that survived Jocelyn's attack...all three of them, one missing half it's body while the rest is slowly collapsing into dust...seem to ignore his cry though. They're determined to get to Jocelyn. This leaves them open to attack though.

The energy wave buys Wiccan a lot of room as ninjas shatter into nasty black clouds of dust. The one that ends up Buffet-ed doesn't seem slowed down. Nope, it charges at Wiccan and...throws the drink at him. Only then does it see what it did and pause to look at itself. Wiccan will then feel something familiar. A surge of power he's felt many times before as Axiom boosts him.

The results of Wolverine and Anole's flurry of attacks is the same. Ninja are stuck by claws of adamantium and big old lizard fist alike. Some end up shattered into dust and others just lose portions of their bodies. Either way, they're both going to need showers and dry cleaning after this thanks to all that graphite dust getting all over them. Axiom meanwhile isn't done with just a boost. His costume shifts into a combo of his own and Wiccan's as he mimicks his friend and joins in the ninja destruction with some lightning bolts. Thankfully enough the ninja have abandoned their wrecking of school property and chasing of civillians. Instead they're focusing on the heroes.

Jocelyn peers. "They have a kool-aid man. They're making an escape". Jocelyn takes aim with another blast and attempts to knock down Kool-Aid man while slipping around him. Something like that should have no balance, right? She then tries to follow after the puppetmasters. Come back here!

Charging down the hallway, Shift halts his battle cry when he sees that it is not working. Instead, he lifts a hand to his ear and says over the intercom, "Bathroom, south hallway!" Hopefully the comm will draw the attention of the other X-Men toward their ultimate target.

Releasing the earcomm, he goes about the business of hardening his body once more. A certain adrenaline pumps through him as they are, he hopes, close to nailing their target. This time, instead of wasting time attacking those constructs, he means to simply barrel through them. His past experience with them has taught him that, in his hardened state, it tends to work. And so, much like a linebacker (oh how he -hates- American football) he goes charging through them and into the bathroom.

She wasn't lying. They do, indeed, have a Kool-Aid man.

And beyond that monstrosity? A folder with papers.

If they aren't able to catch the puppetmasters, those papers may be their only lead. And so, Shift dives forward, tucking himself into a roll across the ground, and then with a -poof!-, the mutant turns into his gaseous state again. His mind is bent on slipping beneath the Kool-Aid man, with just enough density in his smokey form to grapple those papers and carry them with him. His training has prepared him for this... if he can carry small objects, such as earcomms and small cameras in this state, what's a folder with papers?

"Bathroom, South Hallway." Vic says toward axiom and Wiccan both, before he tears ass down the hall to try and fin the danger. "Lets go, get the lead out and lets try to finish this thing!" Vic slides to a stop, grinning as he balls his big green hand into a big green fist. "Hey, KOOL-AIDE! How about you come over here and give me something nice to drink?"

Getting dirty is familiar; the graphite draws a sneeze, but in the end? It's a sight better than the typical viscera, or exploding chunks of robot bits. Wolverine keeps to the outskirts, lunging from ninja to ninja. He seeks to remove legs, split forms: not as lethal as he might be in the conventional force, but likely far more debhilitating to the artificial sketchmen.

At the least, it keeps the attention of more than a couple off his allies, and off the backs of those fleeing civilians. It's not that he doesn't notice Kool-Aid, just that he gives the behemoth another moment: Shift's getting in behind, and there's a good angle on a ninja to spring off, and back towards the bathroom hallway.

Wiccan would so be mocking the graphite flavored Kool-aid man if he knew about him at all. Instead he feels that rush of energy from getting a boost and pulls the clasic vampire straight from the ground too standing up. The rum filled drink in the coconut cup hits him, but is not enough to do any real damage except for making him smell like alcohol. The pumped up teen tosses a hand in the direction of the ninja that he had turned into a parrothead and tosses a bolt of lighting at it.

With most of the ninjas taken care of, or at leas tnot going after the civillians any more, Wiccan nods at Vic when he tells them where to go. He follows behind both him and Axiom flying through the air standing straight up and tossing electricity at any of the ninjas that get close. When they get to the bathroom though, he just wants to face palm. "Really? Did you really just say that?"

Correct, the Kool-aid Man has terrible balance but that's the least of its worries. Those blasts punch right through his glass shell. The liquid contents spill out and end up turning into piles of black dust as they hit the floor. The monster makes a slow grab for Kwabena and misses. This leaves it lumbering for Victor blindly since Jocelyn blasted its eyes out. Really, this thing won't be hard to beat.

The folder is easy enough to grab. And if Shift has sharp eyes, he'll see that the two top drawings are of the kool-aid man and a lot of ninja. Ninja that look just like the ones they were fighting.

Axiom's mimicking Wiccan's actions as well as his powers. Ninjas fall in their wake and the power booster just blinks when they arrive. "What's wrong with what he said?"

One thing that's very true - Shift doesn't like to fail. Feeling the folder and papers in his smokey grasp, he flies through the dust half blind, only to reform into human shape outside the building. Jocelyn and their puppetmasters are nowhere to be found, and as he comes to a rolling stop, he's hacking and coughing up dust.

However, the papers are firmly in the grasp of two very real and very human hands.

Scampering away and into cover, he examines those top two drawings, and his eyes go wide. "What... the... hell...?" A single brush of his thumb against the top most drawing, and as suspected, the drawing is disturbed. Logan's words echo in his mind.

. o O (They smell like... drawings!)

While he's far from mastering his liquid state, he knew exactly what brought it to pass; grief. There was much grief to be had in recent times... all he has to think about are all of the children who were mowed down by the Sentinels at that remote island where the X-Men were vacationing. As he sets the drawings of ninja and Kool-Aid alike onto the broken asphalt outside, a single tear drips down his face. Then, the mutant melts into a pile of blackened liquid... which begins to wash over those drawings in full.

Victor grins towards Wiccan. "How many chances do you have to say something like that to the Kool-aide dude?" he wonders, "That's one less thing on my bucket list." He offers with a grin, before he leaps forward and brings his Big Green Fist down to the 'Forehead' of the sloshy liquid filled creature. "WAHTAAAAAAH!" Vic's best Bruce Lee impression.

"Everyone whole?" Logan calls out, shifting in around the falling waves of ninja and picking off a straggler with a graphite-splitting dual stroke of his claws. Kool-Aid looks well in hand, so Wolverine just notes, "Knock that bastard over!" with some supportive enthusiasm, something a sports fan might recognize. Wolverine doesn't know the potential sad truth behind the source of the threat: for a moment, he just wants to see the Kool-Aid Man shatter, and maybe spill weirdass koolaid on the floor. A wriggling chunk of ninja is stomped out under one heel, ground like a spent cigar.

Wiccan blinks and just stares at Axiom for a second. "Ok, the lead pun was decent but the bit about giving him something good to drink?" He asks as he takes a pot shot at a Ninja that has so far managed to avoid lightning, claws, the green hand of doom, and everythign else thrown at it. "Don't get me wrong Anole, I like you but anything you could not say to your boyfriend in front of adults without being emberassed is not the best battle banter." victor's response only makes Wiccan laugh. "So far? Twice."

Go go ninja lizard! When that fist comes down, Kool-Aid man shatters. The shards of glass break apart into dust before the rest of Kool-aid man follows. Apparently he wasn't meant to be a combat construct.

The liquid form flowing over those papers has a bad effect on them. Namely it ruins them. Picture and paper alike break apart until they're just soggy messes. This results in bright flashes of light. Inside the gym, the few remaining ninja all go rigid. For a moment they stand completely still...and then fall apart into nothing but piles of graphite dust. Seems like things went pretty well.

Axiom just pauses as what Wiccan says is processed. Blushing, he coughs and starts to mutter a healing spell for himself to heal his sword wound.

"My parents are weird, Wiccan." Vic offers back as the coolaide man tops over. "That, and we XMen gotta jet before the cops get here." He gives Axiom a hug. "Hey, I'll see you later, okay? I know a lot of folks saw me fighting in there, and they might claim I had something to do with it." Anole starts to fade out, camouflaged so perfectly not even Logan's legendary nose would know him. "I'll meet you guys back at school." He states into his com, "I'll catch a ride on one of the trains."

Wiccan grins at Anole and shrugs. "Sure, but if anyone says anything down't worry we will set the record straight. Can't let a friend be slandered now can we Axiom?" Of course wth anole fadng out of existance, most of the other people that Wiccan saw fighting along side of them gone chasing after the people that started this or outside in a puddle Wiccan has no fears of hte one geting left behidn to do the after incident report for the police. Wiccan does glance at Axiom and say, "Ok, moral conundrum. since this is not like most of the high property damage fights we, or at least I have had do we go with the fix everythign now spell...or wiat and let the CSI guys look for clues? Cause other than the black dust and someone obviously having a thing against Casino night I got nothing..." Although, an idea does strike him. a few seconds muttering under his breath and he summons up a small paper envalope that he uses to scoop up some of the graphite dust.

Axiom returns the hug and sneaks a quick kiss to a green cheek before Victor fades. "R-right! We'll let them know who really did it," he says, smiling. Still mimicking Wiccan, Axiom shrugs. "We c-c-could leave things for them. C-c-can you do a repair spell on a delay?" Axiom suggests. He watches as Wiccan scoops up some dust and finishes his spell. "W-we should still get out there to help anyone that g-g-got hurt."

"Hope they got insurance." Unlike the others, Wolverine isn't super concerned about who gets blamed. At least not outwardly. Even so, he waits until he's fished a cigarette out of his coat and lit it with an antique zippo bearing a detailed crest. "I don't think this is one for the cops." There's a measured tone to the words, perhaps surprisingly pensive for those who've only seen Logan fight. "Cover it up, help the school out... we'll handle the collar." He has a sneaking suspicion or two. The gossip? It's like the ears that don't miss a thing don't even pick it up, at the moment.

Wiccan nods at Axiom with a grin. "Right, check for wounded, help anyoen out first. I...have never done a time delay spell before. Could work..." Or there is what Wolverine says. His eyes go tot he small amount of graphite he collected and pockets the envalope in hopes that he can use it to track down the person, or people, at fault here. "Or there is that...I...if you want to help axiom I think we can put everything together really quick..."

Axiom jumps slightly when Wolverine speaks, nodding. "He's probably r-right," he says. Turning to Wiccan, Axiom smiles. "Right. Let's do it. It w-was good seeing you again, Wolverine. T-tell Nightcrawler and Angel I s-said hi please," he requests heading for the door to get to work and thinking Wiccan will follow.

Long distance to Logan: Axiom chuckles. "Anyone is welcome to investigate things. @mail away with what/where exactly you'd like to investigate and see where it leads :)

It's not often he wastes many words, and when he does.. well, they're not always the most patient ones. "Good." There's a long pause, enough for a haul off the smoke, Wolverine stepping back to take a long look around the gym, as if memorizing the layout. He draws a deep breath, and then another. "Do that, but keep your heads low."

There's a nod towards Axiom and Wiccan, the latter receiving just a moment's longer consideration. Most wouldn't notice it, but there's that slight narrowing of one eye, the subtle sniff. Something he can't quite place; a priority for another time. Attention shifts intently back to Eddie. "Yea, you too kid. Watch each others' backs. I'm gonna follow my nose." Logan notes without irony, turning to pursue that scent of graphite on its escape vector.

Wiccan nods and gives Wolverine a shy smile before following after Axiom. "If we pick a nice big space we can start the spell and get it going...although we should hurry if we are going to do it before the cops show up." Wiccan nods at Wolverine and gives him araised eyebrow look at the mention of keeping his head low. Nope, not gonna make the argument about how sticking his head up and out there is a good thing for mutant kind...not with someone that rows very scary metal claws out of his hands.