#armourevent

Kitty took a couple of seconds to stir, the blaring of the alarm - at first - seeming like it was part of whatever dream she'd been dreaming. Yet, as soon as her brain woke and realised it was reality, she sat up bolt in her bed with her eyes instantly looking over to Lockheed. A few more seconds and she was out of bed, her katana strapped to her back as she exited her bedroom into time to see her front door fly open and a few HYDRA agents file in, guns training on her. She was already intangible, the alarm having triggered her natural instinct to phase and remain that way so as they pulled their triggers, the bullets went straight through her and she charged at them during their second of bafflement and within minutes, they were unconscious on the ground - giving her enough time to reach her laptop. By now, the alarm would have woken everyone but she could give them an idea of what they were up against and so she hacked into the alarm system and changed the siren to a mechanical voice repeating "HYDRA" on a loop. Then she was out of the door, phasing through the wall and floating to the ground and landing by the entrance of Stoner Hall, still in just a t-shirt and underwear because there was no time for uniform. Without further hesitation, her katana was unsheathed and she was charging towards the agents with a battle cry roaring from her lips.

Bran hadn't been asleep yet, pacing his small living room with evident frustration. SHIELD wasn't taking him and Kitty seriously over their concern of a HYDRA attack, and he knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. In preparation, they'd set up alarms with all the teachers, to ensure all would be aware of what happened -- if anything did happen. But even so, when his phone first went off, the Irishman ignored it, believing it to be a simple message, from Cassie or Lu, or any number of friends. Yet, steadily and swiftly, the unusual tone bore through his mind, telling him what it really was, and panic surged hot and thick through his body. Without further thought, he was grabbing knives and different blades, shoving them into the holsters still along his thigh, having been on edge and needing to be prepared. Once he was equipped, Bran wasted no time in sprinting off towards Armour, with only the sole thought of protecting the students and school. His approach was more subtle than Kitty's, although he saw her, and he knew he could only stay hidden for so long. HYDRA was intelligent, they would be expecting teachers from outside more likely than not -- but perhaps not as many as would be there. One was slashed quickly across the throat, aiming at a student, before Bran slunk out into the melee happening on the grounds.

Remy jolted awake at the alarm that sounded, his eyes opening wide, completely startled. But he was still a bit dazed, nothing really getting through until the metallic blaring of "HYDRA" over and over. Scrambling to get up, the Cajun grabbed his staff, and his long jacket, not bothering with anything else as he raced out the door. The pockets of his coat were filled with decks of cards, just so he always had some on hand, meaning that he was ready for anything. Running out shirtless into the New York winter was possibly not a good idea, but this was an emergency, so Remy would deal with it. "Ready for a fight, Kitten?" He called out to Kitty, grimace on his face and dark humor in his voice. Staff sparking with energy, he advanced towards one of the agents, body tensed to spring.

Cassie had been hard at work in the gym, numbing her mind with the routines of her exercises, wings strapped to her back and holding her in the air when the alarm sounded. Her eyes went wide and she turned to fly towards the roof of the gym, looking out one of the windows only to see the chaos unfolding, her eyes growing wide. It took her only a few seconds to connect the dots of the color of the uniforms, and only moments after, it was confirmed by the repeated 'HYDRA' over the alarm system. She was frozen, save her wings beating furiously to keep her in the air. Her knuckles were white as they gripped the window until she made the decision without any doubt. She would fight. It took her less than a few minutes to return to the ground, secure the wings in their place, slip on her gauntlets and helmet before she was running out of the gym and towards the exit, shooting two stings at guards who decided to point guns and shout something at her. She hesitated only a moment before sprinting through the doors and onto the grounds.

Natasha's eyes opened the moment the alarm began blaring through the room, her fingers wrapping tightly around the knife underneath her pillow as she sat up on the bed quickly, looking around for Bucky. Panic flared up her chest when she realised he wasn't there but she couldn't put further thought into it, two HYDRA agents kicking down the door of the bedroom and aiming their guns at her. The knife embedded itself in a throat, blood quickly leaving the already falling body, and she ducked when the other agent fired, her body rolling forward so she could drive her shoulder into the attacker's abdomen. As he fell backwards she took the gun and shot him square in the head, her chest rising and falling rapidly as adrenaline rushed through her body. She took a minute to look around a second time and take back her knife before running out to the hallways, finding more agents and students already fighting. She could see casualties, both students and HYDRA but she couldn't dwell on that, not yet. A part of her appreciated the silencer on the guns she had acquired in her wake, making for easier covert attacks on agents with their backs turned. Natasha took down any agent she could as she made her way to the entrance of the dorms, discarding empty guns and picking up others from the hands of HYDRA's men. When she got to the ground she realized maybe some pants or even a pair of shoes would have been a good idea but here was no time to worry about getting sick when there were bullets raining down all around campus. Taking out as many agents as possible she began helping the students that seemed to be having trouble first and then helping the ones that she knew were more skilled. What the hell was going on?

Bran didn't notice at first when Cassie came out, too busy on making sure he didn't get shot or stabbed. It was harder than it usually was, since the enemy knew where he was, was incredibly skilled themselves, and had advanced weapons on their side. But he was holding his own well enough, a small trail of dead bodies following him, dealt with as quickly as possible. But when he did notice her, Bran's blood went cold, then red hot, a change of emotions occurring so quickly that it gave him whiplash. Pride, of course, for her being so resilient and being back in the fight, but also worry, that she would get hurt, and this would be that moment -- the moment he lost another person he loved. Steeling himself, Bran firmly reminded himself that Cassie was a big girl, an X-man in her own right, she could handle herself. Even with that in mind, when the assassin saw a HYDRA agent raise his gun at her from behind, he didn't think, didn't even recall moving; no, it was as easy as breathing, muscles moving as easily as some breathed. Reaching into his side holster, he pulled out two wickedly sharp, curved throwing blades, whipping them forward, straight past Cassie, and directly into the man's throat. It took all of ten seconds to transpire, and then Bran was moving forward, retrieving said knife and shoving it back into his holster along with the others, not caring about the man whose life he had just taken; Cassie's was far more important, and he looked her over critically for a moment, assessing and reassuring himself that she was alright. And then he gave her the softest smile he could manage, letting pride bleed into it, but never losing his razor focus on the fight. "Good luck, Stinger," Bran told her, before heading back to where Kitty was, shoulders set and pace quick, his footing sure. There were others who needed more help than Cassie.

Remy was back in a familiar place, most of his team out fighting (even if some key pieces were missing, like Claws and Jean), but he wasn't blind -- students who weren't mutants, or weren't in any combat classes, were easily being picked off, HYDRA taking them down before they got in the way. Kitty was doing fine on her own, though Remy had no doubt about that, so instead he headed inside of Stoner hall, determined to find safe hiding places for the girls too terrified to move. Finding one girl cornered by a group of three agents, leaves growing around her shoulders protectively, Remy immediately knocked one down with his staff, using it to maneuver himself around the other and send a blast of his energy out, letting it burn a hole through the fabric of the agent's shirt with its heat. But the last one already had his gun out aimed steadily at Remy's head, staring him down. Calculations started going off a mile a minute, different ways he could get out of this situation. He was charging up a card, preparing to send it out at his throat and duck as quickly as possible, when the man dropped suddenly. Looking up, Remy grudgingly had to admit his ass had just been saved from a close call. "Danks," he grumbled reluctantly, but this wasn't the time, and he knew it.

Betsy had been sitting on her couch, having just brewed a fresh pot of tea, sipping it gingerly. She only wanted to cool down, to ease her mind after a vigorious workout. Meditate perhaps. But those ideas were quickly shot down the minute she heard that alarm. Confused, she went to stand up, peer outside, when her windows shattered, two agents landing inside her dorm. Rolling quickly, she managed to hide behind a counter, out of their sight. She pulled her knees up to her chest, exhaling softly, not wanting to be seen or heard. She could hear them running through her dorm, pushing furniture over, flipping her mattress. Yelling something between each other, before going back to the living room. She had no room to think, to stragetgize. Before they could turn around to find her, she stood. One hand extended, she pushed forward, her mind straining against the air. An invisible force made one fly outside, back through the window he crashed through. The second one turned, opening fire. Betsy ducked down behind the counter, and the man stopped, immediately going around to go into her kitchen. Before he could pull the trigger again, Betsy jumped forward, wrapping her legs around the man's torso as she swung at him. He flug her back, growling as he pinned her back to the wall, struggling to grab for another weapon to finish her. Quickly, she locked her eyes on the door and, with a feat of strength, used her telekinesis to rip it off of it's hinges. It hit him in the back of his neck, and she absorbed the rest of the shock. He slumped down and she crumbled underneath him, pushing him off in order to stand up. She was panting, near hyperventaliating, her lungs felt constricted. She took an uneasy breath, stepping away from the agent just as two others ran down the hall, not bothering to look in. The alarm going off seem to ring in her ears. And she began to hear gunshots, and screaming. She hurried to her room, going into her closet, trying to find the equipment she borrowed from the gym. It was just like Japan. Running, under seize, fighting for her life. All over again. She felt a wave of hopelessness run through her. She came to Armour to be safe, but would she ever be? She finally gripped onto twin sai knives, balancing them between her hands before she snuck out into the hallway, keeping low to avoid detection. First, she'd find Jackie. Then, she'd assess the situation.

Peter had been on his ship when the commotion began. Hands supporting his weight as he loomed over the desk and papers sprawled out over it all in different alien dialects. Maybe he should have taken a language class, although most of it was stuff he knew there was the odd Skrull text he struggled to interpret. Normally he would have been asleep or amusing himself with something small and simple, but his interaction with Anna had given his spare time meaning - or at least fed his curiosity. But the distant noises of alarm coming from the school not far below where his ship hovered drew his attention away from the alien texts, causing the outlaw to move to the front windshield of his ship; peering out down over the school. He couldn't see what was happening but there was something, like a nag in his bones that things weren't right. His first instinct told him to get the hell out of the place; take off and leave the school and it's troubles behind. And he almost did. A glance back at the table loaded with papers and then to his pilot's seat made the man stall in his movements. He thought of people; of Pepper, of Kate and even of Anna. He could run - or he could go down and see what the hell was going on and if he could help. It sounded like a stupid idea but Peter wasn't the brightest star in the galaxy.

Strange had been studying once more when the alarm sounded and snapped him out of the scroll he had been translating as if he was splashed with an ice-cold glass of water. Flashbacks of the party that happened months ago - how it was crashed, and all of the damage it had caused the school, specifically - sprang to life when the alarm changed to blaring out Hydra, and he teleported the scroll he was hiding and the rest of his documents back to the Sanctum Sanctorum. They couldn't get their hands on any of it, and at least Stephen wasn't going to be utterly useless this time around. The Cloak and the Eye of Agamotto were soon placed around his back and neck respectively, Stephen was ready when a Hydra agent kicked down his door. "Winds of Watoomb!" He called out seconds before a portal to a dimension opened behind them. The force of the gust of wind blew them into a portal that the Eye had opened, which promptly closed after they passed through. He knew what Hydra was like, and that this method was the same as killing them, but at least there was no way for them to come back soon. He threw shields around fellow students and professors, bound Hydra agents as quick as he could with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, and tried not to think about the people that were too far gone. By the Hoary Hosts... He thought as he flew above the damage as soon as he was out of the male dorms. His eyes swept the chaos for Lu or anyone else that possibly needed his help.

Natasha could feel sweat trickling down her neck and making her hair stick to her skin despite the cold but her palms remained dry as they held onto the guns. Her hands felt at home as they held the weapons, firing round after round with ease. She was glad for HYDRA's ridiculous uniforms, they made easy targets of themselves even in the middle of the night. No wonder their assets had to be so skilled, with those colors they would be spotted in a minute. It was that thought that made her stomach knot up with worry, Yasha coming back into her mind. She comforted herself by thinking he could stand his ground, though, because it was true. He had beat them before. He would always beat them. She thought of Clint and Kate as well, but they were the best archers she had met in her life, they would be fine. They had to be. Her psychiatrist would have a long couple of sessions after this, she mused to herself, picking up a new gun. That was if SHIELD was still standing after this whole thing was over, because at that moment it wasn't looking good. There were people dropping to the ground in every direction and she couldn't get everywhere in time, making frustration grow heavy in her chest, and more and more agents kept on flooding the school grounds, surrounding them and holding them back. All she wanted to do was to find her friends, make sure they were okay.

Lu was fast asleep when the alarms went off. Until she heard the loud "HYDRA" blaring, she had thought it was just one of Pepper's alarms or something. Just as she had rolled out of bed and was struggling into the nearest pair of pants, her door was kicked in and two soldiers came storming into her room, guns pointed at her. With one hand she sent out a bolt of electricity that was strong enough to knock them both out. After handling them, she slipped out the dorm and made her way outside only to see Remy held at gunpoint by a Hydra agent. Without a second thought, Lu targeted the metal in his gun, sending a shock through him that made him go down. "Not a problem." She grinned. Noticing his state of dress, she couldn't help but laugh, even given the circumstances. " Is it cold enough for you?" She asked him as she looked over her shoulder, still on the defensive despite her casual joking.

Alt couldn't sleep once he had woken up that morning. Something didn't feel quite right, and at first, he opened up the origami kit and began to fold, then he paced until sundown after folding several swans and a number of other origami objects as an attempt to relieve. None of them eased his nerves, or even made a dent in his mental state. At a loss for anything else to do to calm his building anxiety, Alt went to the gym and started to train with the objective to knock it out of him in some way or another. He hadn't noticed the hours pass, nor the pain or vivid red in and of his knuckles until the alarm sounded off, and changed to a warning of who was attacking the school. He waited for them to enter, curled like a proverbial snake amongst the weights when the door closest to him was knocked down. He thought nothing of it when his blood took the form of a throwing knife and was aimed at their throats. The blood shifted and became a serrated edge that hit at an angle, with the intention to sever carotid arteries. Once the threat was neutralized, Alt searched the soldiers' carcasses for weapons, ammunition, and anything else useful and took them with him as he exited the gym and headed towards the dorms. First order of business was finding the ones he cared about and if they were in ... <i>​understandable</i>​ shape. The rest he would make up as he went along.

Bruce had been working at the hospital that night, a late shift in the ER. He was exhausted both physically and emotionally after hours of accident victims and gun shot wounds. He'd lost two patients that night; although they'd been just shy of lost before even making it to the hospital, it was no less disheartening to watch them die and be able to do nothing. Still, as his shift ended, Bruce knew Tony and Steve would be back on campus, either or both ready to help him forget the awful ache those deaths had left him with. It was more than enough to look forward to and enough to have him making his way back to campus as quickly as he could. He wasn't far off, however, when the sound of sirens blaring and gunshots destroyed all hope he'd had. He picked up his pace, now running towards the school and as it came into sight, it became clear what was happening. Despite all he had been through, he still didn't trust the Hulk to be able to handle something like this, but he also wasn't sure he had much other choice. The thought of Steve and Tony trapped in there while the campus was under attack was enough that, even were he to have tried, Bruce couldn't have controlled himself. The anger and fear took over and his shirt was left in ribbons on the ground along with destroyed shoes and most of his pants. The massive green beast now standing where Bruce had been took one sniff of the air and bounded for campus, intent on smashing the hell out of whatever was threatening his home.

Kebira was fortunate enough to have been awake when the infiltration began. There was no surprise jump from her bed or overly startled reaction as the alarm blared and men kicked their ways into the buildings. That's not to say she wasn't startled though. The sound of gunfire and screams were muffled every few seconds by the blaring that shook the campus. The noise localized and reverberated throughout her chest, like an overwhelming bass that made her head dizzy. She was nauseous from it all before the events even reached her, even before she was able to even pull herself from the couch. Maybe it wasn't fortunate that she had been awake; with some sleep she might have been a bit more alert. She was standing and halfway to her bedroom when her own door was slammed open. Without missing a beat, her hands rose, as if to surrender. Conditioning from COPS, she supposed. They commanded her to hail HYDRA with guns drawn. She retorted, "Not really big on hailing things -- thanks." Kebira was always stupid with authority, especially when they had guns. Consider it a habit picked up from class. When the barrels raised to her, the need to make remarks ceased. Thank god she had a will to live. With a firm 'no', her arms jutted forward and from them, a heat haze. It blurred the area before her and struck the soldiers. The wave delved past their uniforms and into the men. They fell, as people always do and she hovered over them for a moment, contemplating. Killing them was the right move, she knew it was. It was best to limit their numbers and take the threat out. Kebira knew a lot of things, the problem was that she rarely did what she knew was right. So she spent another moment assuring the agents were overheated before rushing to her room. A knapsack was grabbed and things she needed, wanted, were tossed in the bag. After grabbing her gun and securing it in her waistband, she retrieved Spice to lock away in the bathroom. It was the best she could do for now before hurrying to the hallway and calling out for others in the dorm, dodging HYDRA agents where she could.

Kitty had been dealing out calculated blows to the HYDRA agents that had been swarming around her, phasing at the right moments, becoming tangible at the right moments. X-Men don't kill but they sure as hell could leave people disposed on the ground clutching their wounds and wishing they hadn't dared come up against such a formidable force. When she heard Remy’s voice, the faintest of smirks tugged at the corner of her lip. “Always, mon cher,” she replied at the same time her open and straight hand came to meet a fist that was being thrown her way. It was intangible until it was within the fist itself and at that precise moment, she became solid causing the HYDRA agent’s fist to explode and for him to scream out in agony. With a kick, she pushed him out of her way, leaving him writhing on the floor as she progressed forward. “Lockheed, circle the sky and fry any snipers you can find,” she instructed the purple dragon who had been flying alongside her the entire time. Once she’d watched him fly off, her eyes returned to ground level in time to see Bran stalking towards her and she began to jog to meet him half way, phasing through HYDRA agents as she did so, making sure to hit every sensitive nerve on her way through so that they were out of commission – even for a few minutes. ”We called it but SHIELD listen? Nooooo,” she grumbled as she came face to face with Bran.

Cassie felt the knife fly past her and she froze for a moment, hearing the thunk behind her and turning with it. The appearance of Bran made Cassie give him a nod, unable to dish out any sort of smile at the moment. Her mind emptied of any hesitation of any weapon around her, and quickly sank into the routine of adrenaline, training, and the battle in front of her, "Be careful, got it?" she called back, turning and running into the fray. Her head turned quickly, looking to find anyone familiar. Flying at the moment would only end in her crashing to the ground, wings full of bullet holes. No, she'd have to be smarter than that, and her stings would only last her so long by herself, not to mention the fact she was in leggings and a tanktop from training didn't boost her confidence. She looked around desperately for Kate, Billy, Harry, anyone she recognized. Her eyes landed on the hulking green figure a ways away, and her heart dropped. She only knew rumors of the Hulk, but she desperately hoped that this would help them more than harm them. After all, Cassie wasn't unfamiliar with how destructive an angry person that didn't know their own strength could be. She shrunk down to around six inches and let her wings carry her over the fray, shooting towards the agents who had also caught sight of the green mass. Without hesitation, she stuck her tiny arms out and shot stings at any agent she could, dropping them before they could shoot at him too much. She wasn't sure what all he could handle, but she hoped they at least had the Hulk on their side. She circled around, shooting more stings at them before growing slightly bigger, enough for her to be hopefully seen by the Hulk, "Man, please don't squish me," she muttered to herself, circling around the back of his head and firing stings at HYDRA as she once more came around.

Mystique clutched the knife that Destiny had given her tight in her hands as the alarm rang out, going instantly to the window and looking out. It didn't take much brain power to recognize the tacky uniforms HYDRA wore, and she growled aloud as the door in the other room was slammed open. In a moment, she appeared as another HYDRA agent, just before her bedroom door was kicked open. "Hail HYDRA! Clear!" the man's voice shouted as she ran out with them, rolling her eyes at the fact that that they didn't even stop to question why this agent had no gun. This was why she hated government organizations. Stupid. As she kept pace with them, she spotted Kebira running through the dorms towards them and acted in a split second. She shoved the agent next to her against the wall hard, grabbing his gun and whaling it around in a circle, knocking another agent to the ground before shooting the pinned one. Mystique didn't take a second to look if she'd killed him or not, morphing into her blue form, white dress flowing and skull belt clattering as she lashed a kick out to the remaining guard. Once down, she didn't hesitate a moment picking up one of their guns and plenty of ammo before turning towards Kebira, "Come on. We don't want to be indoors when they swarm too much," she called out, loud enough for anyone in any surrounding rooms to hear before she turned heel and drew Destiny's knife once more, running to make the way clear towards the stairs for Kebira. If there was one thing Raven knew, it was that any of these pigs would hurt a moment before killing them after along hours of torture, most times, so between the knife and the gun, Raven was more than determined to get as many students out of here as she could. She hope Kebira was smart enough to follow her.

Emma Frost wasn't woken as much by the alarms, as by the suddenly panicked and excited thoughts that buzzed in her head. Some people loved this kind of "excitement", she knew that. Herself, she didn't think that the children here deserved this because even if some of them are wicked and cruel and astronomically stupid, they're still only children. She could run, hide. It isn't hard to blend in. This time though, she would win back some of her soul. Emma searched for the closest agent to her, and probed his mind. Within a few moments she knew his plan, and she had her own. She knew where agents would be most concentrated, if she could get there she could take out a good chunk of them. She made her way out of the buildings, knocking on doors as she did telling the girls around her to fight or stay behind her. No HYDRA agent would touch them without Emma's permission or death first.

Kate had been reading when the alarm sounded, though it was late she couldn't sleep. When the alarms sounded her mind jumped to her friends. To Cassie, Clint, Billy, Natasha, Peter, Bucky. Natasha and Bucky would be fine, she knew that. Still as she dressed she sent out a group text to them anyway, hoping one of them would pick up so she'd know they were okay. She didn't want to lose anyone tonight. She dressed in her old Hawkeye gear, it was quick to pull on and practical, and it made a statement that said "Fuck you, assholes." She grabbed her bow, her quiver and some arrows as well as a sword and a gun, putting them on various straps on her. It took her under a minute to do this, and she managed it before an agent made it to her room. She easily stepped up to him and kicked him in the balls, before quickly punching him in the face right after. It left her knuckles sore but her heart pounding as she ran right out of the building to the fire escape and out into the courtyard of the school. "Hey!" She called out to a familiar face she saw there.

Strange continued to fire off spells left and right as he circled the male dorm, both to incapacitate what felt like an endless amount of soldiers and shielded the students and professors that he could, but there were too many of them. Stephen wasn't making a good dent in either side, but he kept going, kept trying to cut paths through HYDRA and minimize casualties, and tried not to think of how many the student body and faculty were going to lose when it was all said and done. He spotted Natasha and recognized her almost instantly. He landed close by while the Cloak left his back to wrap itself around the face of the HYDRA agent behind her. After a second's struggle, the cloak wrestled the weapon away, and Stephen gave them a good hit from a Bolt of Belthakk. They dropped like a load of bricks. "How are you doing on ammo?" Seemed like an okay question to ask as the Cloak carried the weapon back to them and hovered it close to her hand while Stephen readied another Bolt to fire from his fingers once again.

X-23 was jerked from sleep when the alarms went off, out of bed and the other side of her room before most people would have even had time to sit up. It was, in a way, a familiar scenario before her. She'd gone through simulations like this in the Facility: let loose into a sound stage and attacked by mercenaries playing the parts of her targets. It was in fact so familiar that Laura's mind immediately jerks back to that time, sliding into the role of X-23 easily. She skulks through the girls dorms, claws out and nose twitching as she sniffs out enemies. The first HYDRA agent she encounters doesn't even get to scream, his throat slit in a flick of her wrist. After dragging the body out of the hallway into the nearest side room, X takes his handgun and pushes it into the back of her jeans before moving on, leaving a trail of corpses behind her.

Bran grimaced at Kitty, though he completely agreed with what she said. As she walked towards him, the assassin glanced around, checking for eyes trained on them, guns or even just attention, not trusting any of it at the moment. "Sounds jus' like SHIELD," he muttered back to her, before lunging forward to lodge his knife in an agent's neck, right in a small gap that exposed where their spinal cord met the skull. "Should have listened to us, shouldn' t'ey?" Bran growled bitterly. Could anyone blame him, really, when his students and friends were now in mortal danger, all due to SHIELD not listening to him and Kitty when they'd told them such a thing was no more than a few clicks away. Looking back at Kitty, face set, he gestured around with his eyes. "See anyone in need of immediate assistance?"

Remy looked Lu dead in the eye at her question, answering with honesty and a resonating tone of desolation. "I'm so cold righ' now, I dink my nipples are gonna fall off, and dey could cut diamonds righ' now." It was true, but the silliness quickly dissipated, replaced with the reminder that they were in danger. He spotted Emma walking down the hall, away from them, and thought about going after her, but instead looked out the window, seeing Laura. Affection won over, and Remy gestured for Lu to follow him outside. "C'mon, cher, we'd be more help outside."

Luke had heard the alarms and got outside as fast as he could. Agents shot at him, but it barely even stung. It wasn't something he thought he would ever get used to, and he made a note to think about the political implications of the black guy being bulletproof later on. Still, he made his way outside, acting kind of like a human shield for kids to get them to cover as they ran past. Some were running, but a lot of them were staying to fight. He was keeping his eyes out for Illyana in particular, which is how he found himself next to the girls dorms. He was looking for Illyana when he saw Laura, gun in hand looking as dangerous as he thought a kid like her could. "Laura!" He yelled, waving to catch her attention as he made his way over to her. It was good to see a familiar face. He didn't have loads of friends, but the ones he did have he cared about more than anyone realized. "You okay?"

Loki had not been asleep when the alarm came. It jerked her from her stupor though; a ringing noise followed by the sensation of panic on the air that made her turn towards the screams that rang through the air, and with the instinctive thought that came with centuries of training, a twitch of the magical energy around her changed her current straight of dress to the Asgardian armour. Another twitch, and she was gone, teleporting from the relative peace of her dorm right into the midst of the chaos. A glance around told her all she needed to know; humans attacking the ones she had come to live with… and she would have simply let it continue, because the chaos was delightful… until she noticed a figure in white with a group behind her, and a HYDRA agent in black approaching the telepath from behind. Without a second thought, the goddess summoned a blade and through it with deadly accuracy, striking down the agent in the back… and then she turned towards Emma before the body of the human hit the ground. ”Well this seems fun,” she drawled, casting a glance behind the other woman, ”Is there room for one more in your party?”

Emma had been aware of the HYDRA agent vaguely, she was scouring his mind for intel that she could use to help this, to stop the pain of the children. Emma wasn't naturally protective, but she was maternal. Children evoked something fierce in her that she would do anything for, it reminded her of her own innocence and what used to be. She took a moment to smirk at Loki. "There's certainly room for you." She agreed, continuing to walk. She couldn't blame Loki for killing her intel. "As long as you don't kill people who know what they're doing while they're in my telepathic range. I'm going to find their general and I'm going to put him in a coma as well as any other agent who gets too close with nothing of value in their minds." Emma told Loki firmly. She was taking charge, this is what the girls behind her needed. "HYDRA can grow back as many heads as they want to while I'm around, they're no use to them." She said, before appraising the armour Loki was wearing. "I do like the battle gear, darling. Though if you're coming with us it'll be a tactical take down." She noted, she herself was still in a nightgown though it was probably worth more than a few people's houses.

X-23 whips around with her gun raised when she hears her second name called, then lowers the weapon when she recognizes him. "Luke. Yes, I have not been injured yet." Laura seems even less sociable than she did when they met, if possible; her eyes are hard and cold like chips of green glass. She holds the Glock in her hand as naturally as someone else would hold a pencil; after all, she'd been raised with weapons, been raised AS a weapon. The gun was as familiar to her as her own fingers. Her nose wrinkles when she catches the scent of another team of HYDRA agents that come around the corner of the dorm building, opening fire at Laura and Luke immediately. Laura grunts in pain when she catches half a dozen bullets to the chest and stomach, but it doesn't keep her from raising the Glock again. She shoots two HYDRA members in the head in quick succession before tossing the now ammo-less weapon aside and launching herself at the agents with her claws out and a low growl in her mouth. X kills the remaining three without breaking a sweat; one is stabbed through the heart, another is stabbed through the skull, and the last is decapitated in a high kick with the claw in her right foot. Her wounds have all healed by the time their bodies hit the ground save for one, and Laura makes a face as she has to dig the crumpled bullet out before the entry wound can fully heal, fishing around with her pointer finger 'til she finds the bit of metal and drops it onto the grass.

Luke barely even feels the bullets, again. He runs towards the HYDRA agents, ready to take them town with a punch or six but before he can do so Laura has already shot them down. If he didn't feel a tug at his heart that she was just a kid and already so used to the brutal violence he'd be impressed. It was definitely faster than his route. When he turned around he watched her fish a bullet out of herself with a sympathetic grimace, he can imagine that's not fun. "The gun is faster." He agrees with her. "But how 'bout I cover you so you don't get shot while you do that scary precise shooting thing? Yeah?" He asked her, looking down at her face. His knuckles were covered in other people's blood and Laura was covered in what he imagined is hers and other people's. They looked quite the state, but they could do this. "If you wanna help me, that is."

X-23 is surprised at his suggestion, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Do not cover me. That is not necessary. As you just saw, I can heal from injuries quickly." Laura tells him, shaking her head. "You should focus on protecting yourself and others. Do you know how to use a firearm?" she asks, looting another handgun from one of the bodies and holding the Glock out to him. After all, she technically had six razors on her at all times. Guns were fast and convenient, yes, but unnecessary for her. "...Yes. I will help you. Do you want me to kill everyone wearing their symbol?" Laura questions, tearing a patch with the HYDRA logo off one of the soldiers and squinting at it. "I know this. They bought my services, when I worked for the Facility. They paid my creators nine hundred thousand dollars to kill a presidential candidate named Alfred Wicks and his close family."

Luke didn't know what to do with this. He didn't give orders. He's followed them but the thought of giving them, of being responsible for what Laura did kind of terrified him. "You telling me you're okay with pulling bullets out of yourself?" He asked disbelievingly. "In case you ain't noticed, I don't need to worry about guns. If you're helping me then what we're doing ain't about killing. It's about saving. We're gonna help people who can't fight get somewhere safe, and we're gonna help people who can get to weapons. Then we're gonna find Kitty and we're gonna do what she says." He told her. "Nobodies making you do anything, but if you wanna come with me then that's what I want to do." He also wanted to find Illyana, he was sure she would be okay but he can't help but worry about his friends.

Illyana had been in Limbo during the sound of the alarms going off but seeing as she had a looking glass in her room that let her keep an eye on her friend’s while she was away, it didn’t take her long to notice the mayhem that was unravelling. ”Got to go!” she yelled over her shoulder to Barney, disappearing into one of her portals and coming out the other side, already in her uniform and sword drawn. She remained half in a portal in mid-air, overlooking the field as much as she could. The beauty of the Soulsword was that it could not kill those of non-magical origin but a good stab with it could render a human unconscious and the beauty of her portals was that she could catch a bullet with them and redirect it into the head of a HYDRA agent opposed to a stupid. That’s what she did; around the battlefield there were suddenly small portals – no bigger than her hand – opening and reopening behind the men in those atrocious bug eyed suits. Of course, that was only the odd bullet that she could see being fired, not all of them. Her eyes scanned the area and the second she spotted Luke she was appearing by his side. ”Are you alright?” She asked, concern evident in her voice as she noticed the blood upon his hands.

Luke turned from Laura to Illyana, relieved to see his friend. He hadn't realized how much he'd been worried about her until he felt the relief. He noticed her eyes flick down to his fists, he wasn't the type for guns and he wasn't the type to let a HYDRA agent hurt people without at least giving them a nosebleed either. He'd just been punching through whoever got in his way so far, it'd been working too. He gave her a look that read <i>​we'll talk about it later</i>​ and replied calmly. "Yeah, I'm good. We're good." He corrected, looking at Laura who had held out the Glock towards him. "They're taking prisoners, trying to convert people and all that. We're gonna try and regroup with who we can, beat these guys down bit by bit."

Kitty nodded her head, smiling wryly at his reply. It was exactly like SHIELD. Too little, too late and now it was up to them to protect the students because they weren’t just students; they were friends, they were family and Kitty and Bran had taken on the responsibility of HYDRA together. “I always tell them that I’m never wrong but they just call me arrogant,” she snorted in response, hand reaching out to Bran to grab hold of his wrist and phase the pair of them as a barrage of bullets hailed their way – alerted to it by Lockheed screeching in Flockian above her. “Everyone’s grouped off but I want to get to Emma, I need to get her to open up a telepathic commlink but I can’t telepathically communicate with her easily while I’m phased. It needs to be face to face,” Kitty explained, releasing Bran’s wrist so that she could twirl her blade and ram it into another agent who was coming up behind her – thank you Lockheed for the second heads up.

Loki tipped her head, acknowledging her faux par without a hint of irritation upon her features as she fell into pace beside Emma. ”Their minds are not open to me as they are to you, darling, but I will endeavour to give some the benefit of the doubt should they come near.” It would be difficult; Loki was strung and ready to fight now, and centuries of training were unable to get rid of the sharp and brutal need to eliminate an opponent when a weakness was shown. But she was not her brother, and she was never one to charge blindly into battle. That had always been more Thor’s area of expertise. She stretched slightly, feeling the familiar heavy weight of the leather fall over her limbs (admittedly in a slightly strange way for her female form), before cocking her head to the side and glancing around once more. ”I was wearing next to nothing when the alarm came; venturing out where the enemy strides is all well and good, but only if you have your vulnerable parts covered. Speaking of cover… I can provide that to you and your girls. You guide, I will make sure non approach whom you do not wish to have near. You can’t go wasting your talents on every little moron after all… can you? And my sweet Lady Frost, I have to say, that little detail you are wearing is absolutely stunning.” Nightwear it may have been, but Loki could see a pretty thing when it came.

X-23 simply shrugs in response to his first question. "I have felt more pain. Removing a bullet is nothing." She looks confused by his decision to not take the gun, but doesn't push it, just tucking the gun into the back of her jeans again. Her eyes flicker over to Ilyana immediately, noting the odd sword first. The girl smelled... strange. Not just a mutant, but something she'd never scented before. It made Laura suspicious, to say the least, but if Luke trusted her... "I will focus on killing the soldiers who are capturing the other students." While she'd never say it, the idea of HYDRA capturing and converting people made her skin crawl, mostly because she didn't realize their conditioning wouldn't be anything like hers; the Facility had focused on breaking a child into unquestioning obedience, and due to her healing factor, hadn't shied away from using pain to reinforce it. Laura could still very clearly remember the sound of her own bones being snapped whenever she answered a question incorrectly.

Luke nodded at Laura. He didn't judge her for killing, he knew it was programmed into her and not only that but she's incredibly good at it. He felt guilty, for not being able to stop this. He didn't want her to have to fight, not for anything. It wasn't him who forced her into this situation, but he worried that killing too many might hurt her. He knew that she thought of herself as merely a weapon and he'd have to remind her that's not true later. "Okay. If that's what you think you need to do." He told her. She was just a kid, but he couldn't stop her. Especially not when they really need all the help they can get against the co-ordinated attack.

Billy had been cooking - of all things - when the attack hit. The alarms echoing through his dorm as he peered away from the stove and around his room as if something within it would tell him what was going on. The sounds of feet running down the halls outside however was all the young man needed - his soup long forgotten as he moved to grab a pair of pants and a shirt in a hurried rush. Fumbling to do up his belt, the noirette snatched up a pair of shoes and tugged them on before he made his way into the corridor; gaze darting from person to person before he took to running with them. He was slow on the uptake however and a fist grabbed the back of his shirt, tugging him to the ground and looming over him; weapon in his face. It was instinctual and for the moment Billy had never been prouder of his reflexes, his hand shooting up in front of him as he spoke. "I want you to back the fuck off." Eyes glowing along with his hand, the agent looming over him shot backwards into a wall with a jolt of blue light. It gave Billy enough time to scramble to his feet and run, his lanky frame awkwardly fleeing down the hallway and out into the courtyard, searching the masses for someone, anyone who he could stick with. And in that moment he was glad for the years they spent together, his eyes zeroing in on Kate as she seemed to notice him too. "Kate! What's going on? Are you okay?"

Illyana's eyes flicked from Luke to Laura when he said we're good. She'd been so focused on making sure he was alright that she hadn't truly registered someone had been beside him. "Nice to finally meet you in person, X-23," Illyana greeted her, "but you never did tell me your real name." There was a small smile on Illyana's lip, indicating that she was being playful - but she did mean it, it was nice to finally meet the other girl in person. Her eyes went back to Luke and quickly her blue's shifted to pure whites, her sword beginning to glow as angrily as her eyes. Much like Laura, the idea of HYDRA capturing anyone was one she did not like, she knew the horrors of being tortured and molded into something she was not - not so much a weapon but something just as dark nonetheless. "Point me in the right direction and I can drop you right at the front door of where they're taking the prisoners," Illyana offered.

Emma nodded in gratitude. "That would be good, if you would cover me." Emma admitted. "I'm going to be using a lot of power to try and get in touch with people. Work out some kind of order in the chaos as well as figuring out who it is who needs to be taken out. While I'm able to multitask, having your protection would allow me to focus on a further reach." She told her. Working with Loki like this felt almost natural instantly, which is strange since Emma had always really preferred solitude. "Thank you, it's Chanel. Being a diamond is useful in that I won't be needing armour."

Kate breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Billy, alive and relatively well. He looked out of breath so she ran to him, putting her hands on his shoulders to check he was really okay before responding. "I'm fine, don't you worry about me." Kate told him, taking a moment to smile at him reassuringly before turning to look at the battle going on in front of them. "HYDRA, you know? The evil organisation that Cap fough- Who am I kidding? Of course you know them you're a nerd anyway... It looks like they've taken over. By the lack of SHIELD uniforms I'd guess they're already down." Kate told him. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to fight." She said firmly. It was crunch time now, her blood was pumping and her senses were sharp enough to hit any target right now she just needed to get closer to the action.

Billy tried his best to catch his breath as he listened to Kate, nodding his head. Of course! He should have seen the insignia on the agent's uniform in the hallway before - although in his defence he was too busy having a weapon shoved into his face. It seemed to Billy only murphy's law that he'd been there little more than a week and already the place was under attack; a safe haven that clearly wasn't. Standing up straighter now his breathing was steady, Billy looked around the masses and noted, as Kate pointed out, the lack of SHIELD uniforms among them. "I'll come with you, I'm not running away from a fight - what's the point of trying to be a hero if you run. If we stick together it'll be safer." He nodded his head towards the woman to his side as he looked back out over the chaos. "Lets do this."

Jamie was late to the whole shindig. He'd been off campus, looking at the destruction that had formerly been SHIELD's main headquarters in the city. There was nothing much to see, so he had eventually turned away and had every intention of going to his office in Armour to get some late night grading in but as he drew closer to the campus, he could hear the carnage and his casual walk turned into a sprint as he rushed through, pulling his guns out of the holsters beneath his trench coat and open firing on any HYDRA agent that came into view. He'd had enough of HYDRA for a lifetime but as they said, their heads always grew back. As he dodged through the crowds, he made sure to deliberately bump into people so that he could create as many duplicates as possible to try and even out the HYDRA:Armour ratio. He could overhear snippets of conversations as he ran passed and he came to a halt beside Kate. "Don't expect SHIELD reinforcements either, the entire organisation has shattered. All agents got a message telling them to scatter to safe houses," he informed her, lifting up his phone to indicate he had gotten the same message but evidently had ignored it.

Loki grinned; a wicked little smirk which seemed rather out of place in the current situation, as at the tips of her fingers another blade appeared in a shimmer of green (or perhaps it was the same one; it was hard to tell, with Loki). ”Consider it done, Sweet Lady Frost.” If there was someone that she was going to lend her skills to, it would be Emma. The fact that she was helping at all was something of a record. ”You don’t need armour, and you look good without it.” With the diamond form, it was possible that Emma was as strong as she was in her natural form (or not her natural form, because Big and Blue was not something that would be happening), but the form she was wearing now. ”Do you have a location already? Considering this just my opinion, but getting out of the building might be a good first move. No general moves in with the pawns, for certain.”

Natasha kept dropping gun after gun, the ammo running out too quickly. SHIELD should have give her back her guns, but she knew that the chances of that happening when she first arrived were slim and after the stint in the psych ward they were almost nonexistent. At least they had open firing ranges at any time during the day and so her aim had never faltered. A man landed near her, Stephen, and she heard a man struggling behind her before dropping to the ground behind her. A ...cloak? brought a gun near to her hand and she dropped the empty gun to pick it up, barely registering the bizarre image. There were much more important things to worry about at the moment, like the three agents charging at them from her left. "Ammo's good as long as they keep bringing guns when they approach," she called out, ducking before knocking down an agent that was close enough to save her a few bullets.

Lu laughed at Remy's answer. It was a nice moment in the midst of all the chaos going on around them. Seeing him made her really grateful that she managed to get a pair of pants on before stepping out into this warzone. Lu followed Remy outside without hesitation. She was beginning to have flashbacks to when the sentinels attacked, and she told herself that she would be more careful this time around. Since then her skills and stamina had significantly improved, so she was sure that making a better impact wouldn't be a difficult as it was in the past.

Betsy moved quickly through the campus, trying her best not to be detected. She kept low, kept quiet, kept out of sight. If she was spotted, she would dispose of them humanely. Her sais never saw human flesh, Betsy would use the self-defense techniques or simply trap them with her telekinesis until they passed out. She somehow found her way outside the dorms only to be greeted with chaos. Gunfire, bloodied bodies scattered left and right. [In her mind, the butterfly that hindered her, the insect that held onto her most precious memories, lifted it's lavender wing but a moment. There was a flash of something, the sky falling. Fire. Smoke. Then the burning of ocean water in her lungs, feeling it on the way up her esophagus as she threw it up. A flash. Somebody was standing over her. Somebody was bleeding over her. Somebody was holding onto her, kissing her, whispering in her ear. That same voice she heard gargled, blocked with blood.] When she snapped back to reality, she realized she'd been shot. It took her a while to notice that standing in plain sight in front of the girls dorm had made her an easy target. The bullet only grazed her shoulder, but it was enough to get her attention. She moved quickly, diving into the bushes as a hail of gunfire followed her. As she ran, she heard those voices echoing all around her. 'Hail Hydra. Hail Hydra. Hail Hydra.' (Was this happening around her, or was it simply in her mind?) It was at this moment, she spotted a fammilar face, a welcomed face. She nearly sobbed with joy, leaping out of the bushes towards them. "Jackie-chan!" she screamed, feeling another bullet tear through her left elbow. She cried out in anguish, but somehow managed to push forward, towards him. "[Go! Run!]" she called out, slipping back into her Japanese tongue. The pain was too intense for her to think about anything other than her goal of reaching him and getting out.

Cassie spotted her former teammates in the chaos with ease and, just after clearing out some guys for the Hulk, she shot over as quickly as she could, taking ay clear shots she could. Drawing closer, she beat her wings back furious to slow her down, simultaneously growing and landing next to Jamie, eyes wide and face alert, "SHIELD's down?" her voice was hollow with the surprise, but she gulped it down, looking at all three people in turn as she absorbed the impact of Jamie's words, "Well. Billy's right. Let's kick some multi-headed butt," she said with as much brightness she could. It wasn't much, but if they were going to fight at least she would do it by Kate and Billy again, alongside Jamie. Her eyes scanned the crowd almost desperately for Kitty, but she saw nothing. She thought of that for only a moment almost violently pushing the thought from her mind. If anyone could take care of themselves, it was Kitty.

Strange twisted to avoid a bullet and fired yet another bolt of concentrated energy at another HYDRA agent before he uttered more shielding spells, and another portal opened that behind a group of soldiers via the Eye of Agamotto, and Stephen conjured another gust of wind to send them through, with the Cloak picking up as much ammo and guns as it could carry at a time back to Natasha. "I'll make sure to send them your way, then," He replied as he swung a fist at one of them that got a little too close to both of them. He regretted it a little bit when sparks of pain raced from his hands when he made contact, but it did nothing to dampen the relief he felt when they went down, and the cloak carried them into the portal before it returned to its previous job. He was grateful for the time he spent training hard, for days on end with the Ancient One - and not just as far as magic was concerned.

Kebira was quick to abandon her room and the third floor once she'd sent another handful of agents into heat shock. She made way to the second floor but not a moment into her run through the hall, she stumbled to a halt. There were bodies headed her way -- she could feel them. Their body heat, before she saw them, she felt them. Kebira's hands rose but before the small licks of flames that twisted around her spread fingers could even feed off the air around them, a blue form was birthed from the crowd that had emerged and as quickly as they had appeared, they were dealt with -- maybe killed. "Raven?" Kebira's ears rang from the gunfire and her chest rose and fell at a heightened speed as she tried to process the scene that had just played out. She'd yet to see the older woman morph so it took a moment to grasp. When she spoke though, Kebira nodded. "Yeah, right." She verbalized her agreeance and hurried to the taller woman's side, an arm wrapping to the small of her back. The gun she'd tucked away was withdrawn and tightly gripped to match Raven's. It wasn't a necessary tool for Kebira to fight or kill with but she felt she should hold it nonetheless, maybe to show the other woman she was serious about her own survival and this situation. As Raven made way to the stairs, Kebira trailed, hands tightening on the firearm, as if to assure herself it was really in her hands and she was capable of using it. "Upstairs is a graveyard," she offered dryly. "I think the whole building is compromised, more or less." It seemed Raven was aware of this though by her quick pace and frantic glances for familiar faces. "But there's a plan right?" Kebira was desperate to seem calm, though her hands somehow continued to tighten on the grip of the gun and her senses drifted, concentrating on bodies in rooms not far from them, all whose bodies were dropping in heat. At least they were dead, not alive and headed their way. "The professors and SHIELD all have a plan for this kind of shit right? Somebody had to have thought out a plan for something like this."

Hulk moved through the campus with purpose, each step shaking everything nearby just a little. As agents near him began to drop, however, before they could turn their weapons on him, he raised a massive brow stopping just long enough to spot the very tiny woman. Normally, his first thought would have been 'puny' but so small and she still took out all those agents? Hulk had to appreciate that. He waved and grunted Cassie's way. "Thanks fairy lady, but Hulk got this," his deep voice rumbled. He continued then, specifically targeting Hydra agents and though there was most certainly collateral damage as far as the building, furniture and other inanimate objects went, his massive frame managed to avoid so much as grazing a single student or even the SHIELD agents who eyed him with terror and mistrust (if not their bullets.) Hydra agents, however, found their way into his massive clutches before being smashed against walls and the ground, at least to the point of unconsciousness, if not death. He kept a particular watch out for the "tiny fairy lady" though and made sure to return the favor, taking out more than a few of the Hydra agents who got near her.

Dani was hardly conscious when the agents kicked their way into her room, having slept through the majority of the alarm. As it shifted and blared 'HYDRA', Dani was slowly coming to. Her mutation spared her from the agents kicking in and brought unsightly terrors to life in the confines of her room. Unidentifiable horrors conjoined and crafted together, fueled by the fears of multiple agents and Dani had no time nor will to pity the men and their wails. She dragged herself from the folds of her sheets, dizzied by her suddenness and unintentional use of her powers, and by the sounds of everything happening around her. She was confused and panicked, to say the least, but knew she needed to dress and so she did, paying the uniformed men little heed. They were locked in a reality of their own and would be unable to break from it, so she took her time, once dressed, to decorate herself with an array of firearms she'd collected from the equipment room. At the time, she felt guilty for taking them without permission but it seemed to have paid off. A hand gun, two tactical rifles, a string of grenades, and a plethora of ammo were wrapped around her waist and back - she was set. Needless to say Dani gripped a bow in her hand to use as her primary weapon, a cluster of arrows holstered to her thigh. Better than her back, she'd learned. The screaming agents were silenced on her way out with crunching stomps to the face, which the woman found oddly soothing. Hell, they deserved it. Once she fled her room, the building was abandoned entirely and she ran to the center of campus, calling out for any students or colleagues as she ran. Arrows were fired as quickly as HYDRA agents came into view and she gave little thought as to where she aimed. Chests, arms, legs, necks, they all blurred and meant the same thing in the heat of it all. As long as they were down, that's what mattered. She'd deal with the aftermath of it all once the people she loved were confirmed as safe. Illyana, Laura, Emma, Leah, even Clint.. they'd all surely be okay. They were anything but defenseless. For a moment though Pepper came to mind, right as Dani pulled the string of her bow to her lips and sent an arrow streaking across the bloodied sidewalk, striking an agent down who had sent a sea of bullets out across the open path. The girl was fine in the gym but she wasn't suited for combat, not for this. Many students weren't, Dani realized and a wave of dread hit her as she pulled another arrow from her quiver as she considered Peppers well being and many others. How many lives would be lost tonight during this.. whatever this was. What even was this exactly? A HYDRA attack, clearly but why?

Emma was working to push the boundaries of her telepathic range now, trying to push through the rabble and find someone whether they be friend or foe who would be of use. She was only half concentrating on what Loki was saying. Of course she was right, if Emma's prime objective had been taking down HYDRA she would have been outside in seconds, searching by the exits for whoever may be in charge. One thing came before all of that, though. The girls. The girls behind her who could barely protect themselves needed to be helped. She wasn't an affectionate woman and nor was she a hero, but she was not going to leave children behind. "We will make our way out, I just needed to find who I could in the rubble." Emma said. She hoped that was obvious enough that she wasn't going to leave any of them behind. "The lifts are out and the indoor stairwells are blocked we are best to take the fire escapes." She said, and side by side with Loki they lead their gathering outside into the courtyard to join the battle.

Kate nodded at what Jamie said in agreement. She figured SHIELD must be down if this was happening right under what used to be their noses. "Well, they didn't tell the level 1 agents." She remarked quietly, almost under her breath. Now wasn't the time for that, now was the time to prove herself. Her business head was on, she was formulating a plan already. "I need a vantage point, if I can get somewhere high then I can shoot easier. You guys stay in view of me and I'll cover you and anyone I can. I think I saw Kitty over there, we should probably help her. Looks like they were going for them in particular." Kate suggested. It was a suggestion merely out of politeness, it felt natural to be formulating a plan like this again. Cassie was so ready to fight again and Kate felt like she couldn't let this just happen, not after everything Cassie had been through. She grabbed her wrist lightly, just enough to take her attention and looked as sincere as she could. "Are you sure?" She asked. Kate asked Cassie specifically. It was quiet enough that though they were stood with friends it was clear that it was meant to be private. Cassie could go, if she needed to. Kate wouldn't judge her, she'd gotten over that a while ago now, she just wanted her friends to be safe. Sure, she could shoot anyone who came close to them, maybe even set off a few explosions to scare off the HYDRA agents if she was sure there wouldn't be collateral from their side but if Cassie didn't want to be here, she didn't have to be. Nothing, not even this whole school, is worth a friends life to Kate.

Cassie paused, looking at Kate and softening her expression. She swallowed hard. The image of Bran's knife flying past her, jolting her into the reality again, all of the chaos around. It was exactly the thing Cassie had tried to avoid in the past month. She'd been scared, there was no sugar coating it. But Cassie had also been fighting much longer than she'd been hiding, and the familiar commanding voice of Kate's brought her back to normalcy. Cassie turned fully to Kate, moving her hand into her friend's with a smile, "I have wings. I have my stings. I can't go all giant girl on them, too many guns, but I can stun people and hopefully fly people out, soon," she paused, thinking for a moment, swallowing hard, "We have to get to Xavier's. Once we do that, we can all regroup, all of us," she gestured around them, "Right now, let's just make sure as many people live as we can," her voice was softer, still only to Kate, because Cassie wasn't ordering. She was explaining, both for her sanity and Kate's. If nothing else, she had wings, she could get herself out of here if she panicked too much, but she had to help everyone around here. There was no possible way she couldn't.

Luke nodded. Laura and him could go do their own thing, kill agents and save prisoners. Or they could go find Kitty, they could work as part of a team and Luke felt strong as part of a team. Kitty equally wouldn't want him to waste time asking her what to do when he could be helping, so he thought on his feet. Rejoin his team or do something useful? He chose the latter after only a few moments. "Can you drop us by the back gates, Yana? From what I could see that's where they were all headed so drop us there and we can stop any HYDRA agents getting in or out with prisoners or not." He said. Looking at Laura to check she was okay with that decision as he did so. He had friends here to protect, he wasn't going to waste any time if he could help it.

Kate listened, she did that occasionally when the mood took her. It was Cassie's choice it had to be, so she nodded. This all came so easily to her, she didn't feel scared in situations like this, she just felt driven. Maybe that was awful, a terrible way to feel in the face of danger and destruction but it was what made her able to hit targets so much better in a real situation than a simulation. It's why in training she wouldn't ever be as good as in the field, because in training she didn't ever feel the adrenaline. Kate took one more searching look to Cassie's face before she agreed. She kept her hand in Cassie's but she turned to face Billy and Jamie again, satisfied that they could do this. "You got that? We're making our way to Xaviers, save who you can, take out all the HYDRA you can. I'll keep within shooting distance but I need to get somewhere I can actually shoot from." She said, as easily as she'd made plans all those years ago when they were kids. Easier now, because she knew a little bit more of what she was doing. "Divide and conquer." She proclaimed, personally very proud of her pun seeing as they were working with multiple man. Then, with one final squeeze of Cassie's hand and a pat on the shoulders of both Billy and Jamie, she started at a jog towards the crowd. She shot at the agents, taking out their gun arms and legs from a distance.

Mystique kept her face blank as they made their way down the stairs, but she grunted in agreement to Kebira, "I figured. Everywhere's going to be a grace yard soon," her voice was hard, even angry, though not at Kebira. She was angry at whatever shit show had happened, and especially at the fact that it was affecting the students. At Kebira's question, Raven shoved a knife into the newest agent's throat, quickly took it out, and proceeded to throw him down without a second thought as she looked dead on at Kebira. Her tone was hard, but not mean. She was well aware just how much something like this could fuck someone up, she was just lucky she was always far too fucked up from these things, "SHIELD's probably either already burning or close to it. HYDRA wouldn't take the school and leave the organization, they'd be attacked within a week. No, if they came here, SHIELD's in a bad place and isn't going to waste a breath helping any mutants around here," she turned, beckoning Kebira to keep moving as she descended the stairs, "Just keep alert. And don't over squeeze that gun. If anything, your mutation's going to help you more than anything," she finished just as they got to the bottom floor, an emergency exit at the base of the stairwell. Voices called down from above, hailing HYDRA from several floors up. Mystique paused and looked once more at Kebira, preparing herself to kick through the door, "Stay close to me. I'll get you out of here. Welcome to the real world Kebira, where governments tend to attack 'freaks' like us," she said wrly, growling under her breath as she kicked the door open, lifting up a gun and firing at HYDRA agents just outdoors in the fray. She may take it too personally, but you could hardly blame her.

John had not been in his room at all when the alarm came. Sleeping in the room when Illyana was not there was still something he was unsure about doing, and despite the strict orders to be on bed rest, he had slipped away almost as soon as she had. Which was a good thing; it meant that when the alarms came, he was sat in a small alcove outside, bundled up warm and playing with his fire in his hands. He jumped to his feet as the soldiers came, hiding the flame with his hands, and barely a moment passed before he set off at a run. Hail HYDRA. Hydra was a bad thing; human bad, very bad, bad that Sir had always talked about and… and he was not so sure whether that was a good argument anymore, and so stopped that thought in the tracks. It did not matter. The fact that they were bad was enough. With the chaos around him, the screams and the sound of gunfire and the ache that he was refusing to pay attention to in his bones, John switched to the Brotherhood psycho Pyro; his flames leapt from where they had danced over his hands to send the nearest man in black right up in flames. An almost gleeful grin danced to his lips as he did not look back, just continued to run back towards the building, towards where people he suddenly felt the need to find might be (because Illyana was here somewhere, she might have come back; Illyana and Cassie and Raven and other’s, but he did not truly care about those others). The flames were only too happy to burn those humans who tried to stop him.

Loki cast a glance back at the girls, and then looked ahead without comment. She supposed that she could respect Emma’s wishes, really… but in a school like this, who couldn’t take care of themselves? She knew better than to say such a thing, to say that she did not see the point in bringing along the useless; Loki’s culture may have been one which disposed of the weakest before they turned their first century, and just made those who remained even stronger still so they could survive, but she had been on this realm long enough to know that such a thing was not the case here. Secretly, she was glad. As idiotic as the humans could be, they did seem to have the tendency to stir the maternal aspect of her. For a moment she focused on the rear of their group, before with barely a breath of air an invisible barrier erected around the back of the moving girls. It would not be enough to destroy a mortal who tried to break through… but it would be enough to alert the goddess who then would. ”My, this does look like fun,” she appraised as they stepped out into the courtyard, raising a hand to deflect a spray of bullets while throwing her knife with a smooth motion to end the life of the gunman with the other.

Emma was glad to have the Goddess beside her. Emma didn't usually trust or like many people, and to find both traits in one person was even more rare but still, Loki had done nothing to prove her wrong so far. Her strong defenses against the bullets only proved to Emma that she was right to trust. She sent out a psychic surge which sent the closest agents wailing in pain and clutching their heads with the force of it. They would pass out from the imagined pain within a few moments, and moments like this reminded Emma of her days with the Hellfire Club. It was how she learned how to inflict maximum damage with her powers. She could be far more cruel leaving lasting damage, but for a battle situation this would more than suffice. At least now she was hurting people for good, or she hoped she was on the right side now anyway. "Quite the party." Emma drawled as the agents began to fall. "Really, HYDRA should not have under estimated this place. If they think they can win, they are sorely mistaken." She commented, as casually as if she were talking about the weather but loud enough so that the girls behind them could hear. She knew hearing the confidence would calm them down, possibly more so than watching the agents starting to fire at each other thanks to her manipulation.

Bran shuddered as the bullets passed through them, mouth slightly agape at the sensation and sight. It was one of the weirdest things he'd experienced, that was for sure. "They should listen to you more often," he agreed with her, shaking his head. "But I don't think there will be much left after this. Not of SHIELD, anyway." It was a deep certainty that made him say this, a resonating ring that traveled through his bones like a super sonic shock. When Kitty spoke of getting Emma, Bran merely nodded, understanding the need and importance. "Can you find her on your own, or d'you want me along with you?" He asked glancing up just in time to see the Hulk destroying agents around him. It was scarily impressive, as was Loki's show of magic; all around him, students were fighting for their freedom, and it had him stuck for a moment, before he took out a fan knife and sent it flying towards a man attempting to sneak up on Kitty while her back was turned, watching his black uniform become darker as blood from the jugular flowed freely.

Remy quickly led Lu outside, making a beeline for Luke, Illyana, and Laura. He heard the last part of their plan and stopped when he was close enough, nodding at Illyana. "Mind if we hitch along? It would be a lot easier." Remy questioned, fingering a few cards while sparks of light surrounded his hands, shooting off his staff as he looked around. If they refused their help, it was fine, he'd go find Kitty and fight alongside her, as he was used to doing. Even though he was feeling antsy and alert, adrenaline coursing through his veins and making everything sharper in focus, but less clear when it came to decisions.

Illyana nodded and she was about to lift her sword to summon a portal when she heard Remy's voice. "Keep your hands inside the magic bus at all times," was her sole reply as a portal formed at their feet and around the edges of it was blue flames that crackled into what looked like electricity towards the top. Within a second, they were reappearing at the front gates, the portal disappearing and leaving them on the solid, bloodstained ground. As her eyes scanned where they now were, she noticed a man on fire not so far off and her brows knitted into a frown. John. She had to get to John. Her head instantly tilted backwards so she could look up at Luke, even with her eyes being completely white there was still a semblance of worry within them. "If you need me, yell for me. I have to go find John," she announced and without waiting for a reply, she was levitating into the air, eyes scouring the grounds in search for the pyrokinetic. When she spotted him, she teleported to come out above him. "Lyubov, are you alright?" She asked, her sword going through the top of an agent's head as she levitated down to the ground beside him.

Kitty's facial expression turned into one that could only be described as 'I know, right?'. Nonetheless, her primary focus was not SHIELD's foolishness, it was the agents and students around her. Eyes scanned the area, looking for the rest of the X-Men, looking at who had branched off with who. Kate, Cassie, Billy and Jamie. Good. Emma and Loki. Good. Luke, Illyana, Laura, Remy and Lu. Good. She continued making a mental checklist of who she could see and who they were with so if worst came to worst and they had to retreat away from campus, she knew no-one would be alone. The entire time she was doing her head count, she was phased or using her powers to explode body parts on agents so that they'd up on sprawling on the ground and unable to draw their own weapons. As Bran's knife flew passed her, her eyes widened in shock. "Come along with me." That move had made her decision, she could count on Bran to help cover her back just as much as she was willing to cover his. "Take my hand, we'll phase through, it'll be quicker to beeline," she instructed, hand held out in Bran's direction.

Natasha kept an eye trained on the man fighting alongside her, glad that she didn't need to worry about him too much. His spells, or whatever he was doing, were good to keep agents back but she knew they would barely make a dent in their offense, even with half of the student body fighting with them. She didn't want to think of all the casualties and how they would deal with them in the aftermath. There were all innocent, they didn't deserve this and if she could do anything to stop any harm coming to them she would try her best, even if that meant getting beat up herself. Their lives were worth more than her own. Natasha took the ammo from the cloak without a second glance now, having no time to wonder about why a piece of floating fabric was killing men and carrying things, the bullets flying towards them were a much more important matter. She could laugh at the absurdity later. Tilting her head to the side with a tight smile in Stephen's way when a new gun was brought to her. "Thanks," she called out, ducking before taking down two men that were getting to close to a student that was cowering near a tree. She shouted at him to stay out of the way before turning back to the agents.

Loki laughed, twirling the knife between her fingers again before teleporting off, reappearing directly behind a soldier, slicing his throat and then returning to Emma’s side before the body hit the ground. ”The organisation which ran this institute was one I considered to be a fool,” she commented, just as casually, casting a quick scan over the girls, and then with lightning speed throwing a blade over their heads to intercept someone attempting to get through her barrier, ”These are just a group of mindless oafs. They give their serpent title a bad name.” Except they were probably organised… Loki was able to see that, at least, but if Emma wished to keep the morale up for the ones who weren’t fighting, then so be it. The goddess could not understand it, but she liked Emma enough to respect it. Besides, the display of power Emma had shown was enough to demonstrate that there was little worry about such a thing at all.

John pulled his fire back to his side; the burning tendrils curling up his arm (but not burning his skin, no, fire never burnt John unless he let it or if he was rude to it), just before the sound of Illyana’s voice above him made him snap his gaze upwards. He visibly relaxed at the sight of her, sagging slightly even as the grass at his feet started to burn, spreading out from the rolling remains of his last victim. “Yana… I was looking for you,” he stepped closer to her, kicking the beheaded corpse away without a single glance. “I’m okay.” He was not going to mention the ache, not at all. “What’s going on? Why are these humans attacking us?” Was this the same as the last time he had been at this building? The lack of giant robots indicated otherwise, but John would not put it past them.

Alt had taken too much time to get close to the dormitories; between cutting and shooting down more prey opponents and moving over corpses of colleagues and foes alike, he had wasted so much precious time. He didn't feel much of anything when he glanced at their faces. They lost this game, and there would be several more before it was all said and done, but he wouldn't be one of them. He had just finished taking down yet another soldier and was scavenging their corpse when someone yelled out a name; not theirs, he thought. He recognized the name but didn't really look at who said it as he was far too lost in the almost mechanical natured haze for the time being, though he caught where and whom the shot came from. What an odd thing to say in the middle of a battleground. But, before he could write it off any further, it clicked what they meant, and, more importantly, who it was that yelled out. He couldn't understand what she was yelling, but he heard her cry out in pain seconds before, and assumed it was something along the lines for them to run. They had no intention of metaphorically (or physically, for that matter) walking away, especially when his prey had injured someone so precious to them without retaliation on both their parts. Jackie didn't have to say a word - Alt was on the attack in seconds. "Picked the wrong one to shoot, proie." Make them pay make them pay make them pay, was repeated over and over in his thoughts - was it all Alt, or was it Jackie's? Did it even matter who's it was in the end when the result would have been the same? He shot down two with a stolen gun, and saved the one that had successfully hit Betsy for last. He set off at a dead run, and there was no shard of glass in his hands this time, but it would end all the same. Fingertips ended in long, dark red claws while Alt launched himself at the last one standing. This one would face the full force of his nigh-unleashed wrath. Wicked claws tore through cloth and flesh on both arms, one tasked with giving the soldier an approximation of the wound on the same arm Betsy was given, and the other on rendering them helpless. "[Eye for an eye.]" He hissed low into his prey's ear with a volume that was hardly above a growl. Once the task was done, Alt ripped into their ribcage and slung viscera out until the loser stopped moving and more so stopped struggling against their fate. Attention turned back to Betsy as he returned to her side in seconds flat. Alt took off his hoodie and threw it around her to try to keep her warm, then ripped off pieces of his shirt to try to bandage elbow and think of where safety could have been in the midst of this war... And he's five years old again for moments at a time, and he knows now like he knew then that he can't truly fix this mess. That he can't make it all end or go away for her or anyone else, but he was going to try his damnedest to fix it regardless. Neither he or Jackie will let her lose this game.

Betsy wasn't even sure how badly the bullet had hit her, all she knew was that her left arm was numb from the elbow down, that she needed to hide, to heal, to recover. By the time she got low into the bushes and turned to face Jackie (no, Alt, this had to have been Alt), all the enemies had been...taken care of. She was amazed, how quickly they had been disposed of, how horrifying it was to see all the dead bodies lying around, scattered around like (butterfly wings were discarded around the concrete room. He has his back to her, they, The Hand, were looking at them with contempt. "[Kwannon.]" he whispers, and she can't see, it's too blurry and she's not supposed to cry. She can't bring him shame. She can't show them weakness. "[Kwannon. Stand up. Stand up. Kwa--]")She comes to when she feels Alt tightening a torn shirt around her elbow, and she winces in pain. It's then she realizes that she feels...warmer, than before. Fabric around her shoulders, is this...a jacket? She looked up to him, trying her best to hide whatever it was she saw. "Thank you." she whispered, trying not to be spotted. "How did you do that so....?" she started but stopped, pursing her lips. She instead used her teeth to tighten the bonds, flexing her left hand with some effort. "I can feel it, I can move it, but it hurts. I can move on." She turned to him, using her right hand to caress his cheek, softly (with the knowledge that this was a dangerous situation, one they both may narrowly survive). "Are you alright...?" she asked before pausing, looking over his shoulder. A HYDRA assassin had two guns extended, firing into the open air like a mad man. Just before she could tell him to duck, he was shot down by what appeared to be an...arrow? She sat up, recognizing the woman across the way immediately. She looked down to Alt, nodding her head. "This woman can be trusted. I'll go first, okay? Follow me." Before he could protest or try to reason with her, she stepped out of the bushes, waving her hand at him. "Dani-sama!" she yelled over the destruction around her. "Dani-sama, here!" Just as she was about to turn and face Alt, she heard bullets hit her by her feet, hit the trees around her. She ducked, rolling back into the bushes. There were 5 of them this time, and they were approaching, fast. She waited until one of them was close before growling, leaping up to tackle one of the agent.

Gunshots, screaming, fighting hand to hand in ways that some students never thought they'd really have to. People were dying left and right. If any student had never seen death before, they have now. It was very clear to HYDRA that the school was not going to be as easy as they expected, but it only drove them more. These students were not a force to be trifled with in the slightest. For a few minutes, it may have seemed as if the students would fend off the attackers, but of course no one had had enough time since the attack had begun to really sweep any buildings. HYDRA Agents swarmed, and somewhere along the way within the building that held administration offices, teacher's offices, and lecture halls among other things, a small package was thrown into a garbage can. It seemed precise, all HYDRA agents began to run out of the building simultaneously, leaving students and teachers confused inside, but none would complain at the sudden retreat. All were caught off guard when the explosion sounded from the left wing of the building. It wasn't big enough to immediately deteriorate the building, but there was no shortage of fuel for the flames. One explosion caused another in the building, and in less than ten seconds, a shockwave rocks the school grounds and part of the building can be seen collapsing, flames billowing into the sky. At the explosion, HYDRA agents give no leeway, and push forward harder. This is all going according to plan, and those close enough to the bombs cannot even hear the chants of 'Hail HYDRA' echoing through the grounds.

Illyana gave him a soft smile but soon enough it vanished as she wrinkled her nose as the smell of burning flesh filled her senses. She was used to the smell of it but that didn't make it any less unpleasant. "I was in Limbo then when I got here, I spotted Luke so I went to help him," she informed him, her free hand whipping up a bolt of magic and throwing it at a nearby HYDRA agent as they made to chase after a student who was fleeing in their fear. "This is not a mutant hate attack, this is HYDRA overthrowing the school; killing both humans and muta-." She was cut off by the sound of the explosion, instinct making her lurch forwards towards John and grab hold of him, a magical protective forcefield surrounding them as rubble and debris flew across the courtyard.

Anna noticed the agents retreating, and all at once she had called out at the top of her lungs to do the same. She wasted no time. Anna was far from selfish in the midst of a battle, but she could tell a planned retreat when she saw one. She cut through a classroom, sent an energy shot at a larger window, and hopped on a disc before flying out of the building. She got away enough to not get caught in the fire, but the shockwave sent her flying off her disc, landing and sliding in the dirt to a stop. She laid there a moment, groaning as she turned onto her back before sitting up an staring at the building that was now half rubble. She let out a choked breath, as Armour has been her home for the past three years. She may not like it the best in the world, but it was still a home that had been blown up in front of her. After another moment, her jaw set, her hand white-fisted her soul dagger, and she was on another disc, now hurtling towards the familiar force field. She hopped off her disc as it was still moving, jogging to a halt just outside of Illyana's force field, all but ignoring John as the anger at what was happening grew and grew. The soul dagger in her hand seemed to burn, but it could have been the energy that was certainly crackling around her vicinity as well. Her anger had morphed into a dark fury, and as two HYDRA agents attempted to catch the new group off guard, Anna listed a hand, blasting them both yards back with a blue crack, "These bastards need to die," she growled at Illyana, shaking, looking to her not only to help her end these agents, but to channel Anna's anger before something else surfaced to channel it.

Jamie had already worked out that heading to Xavier's would be the best move to make but they needed to get that information out to everyone. As he looked around, he noticed Kitty making her way towards Emma with Bran in tow and he assumed that was what she intended to do. That meant they could focus on keeping the more defenseless students safe - although, no-one at Armour was truly defense. Why would they be attending spy school if they were? At Kate's pun, Jamie suppressed a grin and quickly held his finger up as if to make a wisdomful proclamation. "Multiple and conquer, I think you'll find," he replied in a playful matter-of-fact tone before turning to Billy and Cassie and indicating for them to follow him and stick with him. Sure, they could look after themselves but that didn't make the Multiple Man any less willing to leave them by themselves. He refilled his gun with ammo quickly, making direct shots into the heads of agents or their throats. "We search for the injured first," he instructed. The injured may have been the slowest people to move but they were the one's in need of help the most and that was their priority. He had been midstride when the explosion had gone off and for a second, he stood stark still, eyes widening in horror as he looked towards the offices but the next second, he was letting out a scream of agony and dropping down onto his knees. His hands came up to clasp his head, his eyes scrunching shut and nails digging into his scalp. It felt like his skin was on fire, the mixture of pain from feeling a dupe meet it's death in the explosion. Tears of unadulterated pain began to roll down his cheeks; there was really nothing worse than physically feeling an extension of yourself burning to death among the rubble and flames.

John had opened his mouth to respond to Illyana when the explosion rocked through the air. John yelped, ducking into Illyana’s protective hold even as the forcefield came up to surround them. His flames flared where they burned at the ground, feeding off the fading sensation of shock as he lifted his head, looking around with wide eyes. Chaos. Non mutant haters… but humans who wanted to kill everyone. He watched as first Illyana, and then Anna (who he managed not to glare at when she arrived; instead looking at her as if she was of no importance at all to him… which was accurate) took down agents around them, before clenching his fingers into a fist, pulling some flames from the ground to burn around his fist. ”She’s right,” he said softly, for as much as it burned to agree with Anna, the anger that she was feeling and showing was almost able to be felt through the forcefield around him… and she was right. Fire burned through his mind as the explosions caused more spots of flame to flare into life, and John welcomed it's whispery embrace in his head, and he reached up with other hand to brush against Illyana’s arm (just to reassure himself that she was there, more than anything). ”They have to burn.” He could kill humans. Killing humans was what he did, and what his flames loved to do… and at the mere thought, the flames spread out around them, burning in a circle on the grass until they reached the inside edge of the forcefield.

Cassie took the chance to follow Jamie, beckoning Billy to do the same. Jamie was not only her teacher, but one of her current teammates. If she could do anything right now, it would be with the two of them, with Kate having her back from afar. She was actually starting to gain confidence when the explosion knocked her off her feet and sent her head reeling. She had to physically grip the grass in her hands, gasping a moment. Jamie's screams jolted her back to reality, and she stumbled over to his side, eyes searching his form for the injury as her hands did what they could to find it. Cassie screamed his name desperately, finding nothing before it clicked. Dupes. There was no way the explosion blew his ear drums, and she knew how he was affected by them. She dropped her hands, fearing she may hurt him more, but held them out with a lost expression. She could do nothing for a ghost pain, except shoot off any agents that came near with her stings, all while being ready to catch him if he fell.

Kebira felt dread root in her chest as Raven spoke. Her words did more damage that her actions, Kebira opting to duck around agents as they approached and then again as her professor tossed their limpening bodies away. SHIELD was down. It made sense, that would explain the severity of this attack and the lack of backup the campus was receiving. Briefly Kebira remembered clutching the acceptance letter to the school, blind with hope and new found faith in her future and wished nothing more than to go back and rip that silly paper from her hands. As blood spritzed from an agents throat, she brought her focus back, grimacing as her arm and the better part of her neck became coated in the warm liquid. "Gross," she swallowed as she shook her arm to relieve what she could of from the red coating. It wasn't apparent to Kebira now but amidst it all she was shutting down, a coping mechanism if nothing else. In the thick of battle, it was the easiest thing to do. It made what she knew she'd need to do eventually easier and when Raven kicked the door open, Kebira tucked her gun away and rose her palms, forearms coating in a low, even fire that spouted forth behind the blue woman. Uniforms were lit, the ground around the agents, headwear, weapons -- whatever was effective enough to target, was. Gunfire, screams, the crackling of fire, and Raven's advice conjoined into a deafening roar that only dimmed away as soldiers eventually began to flee. Her arms dropped but her eyes remained wary as she looked to Raven before asking, "This is outta place, right?" It was too easy, despite the casualties both sides had suffered and before Kebira could begin again, ready to remark on the stupidity of running, a thunderous boom flooded the campus and rocked the ground. Caught off guard, Kebira stumbled and fell to her knees and as she looked out across the blood stained fields and buildings, her breathing hitched and she choked and coughed against it. A fire, larger than she could even possibly contain, was roaring and reaching up to taste the sky. "Oh," was all she could offer as she stumbled to return to her feet.

Mystique narrowed her eyes as the agents ran, stepping back and grasping Kebira's arm. She was at a loss as to what was happening, but given the fact that she was much more likely to survive instead of Kebira, she'd do what she could, because at this point she was hardly going to get out of there. Besides, the whole guilt thing that came with these things was something she hated, she enjoyed Kebira as a student too much. She was promising. At the explosion, Raven too fell to her knees with a gasp. She, however, recovered quicker than Kebira and stumbled up immediately, scanning for any approaching threat. When there was none, she collected herself a moment before once more grasping Kebira's arm, this time aiding her in standing and turning to look at her, "Try focusing on my face. Blink," her tone was flat, free hands gripping her gun and keeping half an eye on the doorway in front of them, "That was good. When you get your balance back, keep downing them and we'll take the nearest exit and get the hell out of here. Got it?" she turned her head to glance at the flames rising, thinking a moment, and turning back to Kebira, "Can you put the flames out?"

Illyana made sure to keep the forcefield up for as long as necessary, waiting until any flying debris had settled onto the ground, piling itself upon the ever growing numbers of bodies that were scattered across the once spotless campus. When she saw Anna approaching with her souldagger in her hand, she could not help the faint smirk that tugged at the corner of her lip. "Nice to see you putting your lessons to use, Little Dove," she commented, her hand moving to take hold of John's and giving his a squeeze before dropping to her side again. "Light them up," She turned her head towards John as she spoke, a cruel, distant smile forming upon her lips that showed she was anything but human. If HYDRA wished to attack the place she called home then she would show them the side of herself that both she and SHIELD has so desperately tried to prevent from surfacing. There were many in this school that Illyana had never spoken to and probably never would speak to but that did not mean they deserved to die, to have their home and their future ripped out from underneath them. She made her sword vanish for the time being, her hand extending towards Anna as her white demonic eyes glowed with a certain amount of mischief. "Together?" She suggested for she had told Anna multiple times, magic was stronger in numbers.

Strange was too ingrained into using his spells to take in what was happening around him fully... though they were starting to take its toll on the young sorcerer - or more specifically, his hands. They ached in pain, and trembled ever so slightly, but Stephen kept pushing through it, kept his hands as still as he could will them to be. He caught sight of something... odd from the corner of his eyes. He shot one last Bolt of Balthakk at the soldier's on his side, and narrowed his eyes at the... retreat? It didn't make sense. "Why are they leaving that building?" The moment the words left his lips, it hit him all at once, and a little fear crept in his otherwise fairly clear-headed mental state. What if there's more? That single thought shook him to the core, and more so, he wouldn't have put it past them to do such a thing. Stephen threw as many protective barriers and shielding spells as he could muster around them and the students who were still alive and in their vicinity to try to avoid as much damage to them as possible. Then the ground tremored and nearly brought him to his knees and interrupted his spells for a brief moment. and fire erupted from the same building that the HYDRA agents had previously retreated from. Beads of sweat began to pepper his forehead as he exhaled sharply and uttered under his breath, "I don't know how long I can hold this."

Kebira grimaced at the contact and briefly tried to pull from Raven's touch. It was just an instinctual response - resisting physical contact, that is - so after a moment she eased on her resistance and slowly drew her eyes to the yellow ones peering against. She complied and blinked. Once, twice, then three times. It didn't seem to help with anything though. There was an echo of the explosion playing out in her ears and her head now hosted a vibration that ached her mind. "I'll do what I can," she offered with a hard breath, in response to Raven's first demand. But at her inquiry involving the fire, Kebira's lips thinned. "I don't know." She admitted with a quivering voice, eyes pulling from Raven and back to the engorged fire. "I've never.." Kebira swallowed, dragging a hard hand across her features, the other reaching to tighten on the strap of her bag. "I've never dealt with anything that size. The training rooms only do so much, ya know?" Fuck, what good was she if she couldn't even do the very thing she was supposed to be able to? "I've put out a house fire. Once. That's as extreme as I've gone and that's like.. 10, maybe 15 house fires, in one wh-" She cut her words short at the sight of a rising gun to the far left of them both. The explosion had distracted Kebira from his approach and with her head swimming and unhinged from adrenaline, she acted with little conscious. "Shit, no!" She grabbed the front of Raven's shoulder and pulling her back and behind her while her other arm rose to match the rising of the soldiers gun. Kill or be killed, right? That's how the world worked so nobody could blame somebody in this situation, could they? Not even Kitty. It was easy to preach peace and whatever the hell else but when you're on the battle field, you do things you told yourself you never would, that you never could. That's how it worked, but when you needed to, you did. So as the soldiers finger tightened around his trigger, Kebira's arm muscles contracted as a blast of concentrated heat jutted forward and localized in his direction. It took no effort for it to concentrate in the mans skull and there wasn't even a scream to accompany the gush of blood that spurted from his orifices. He crumpled to the ground and Kebira frozen, suddenly feeling very, very cold. Oh, shit, she thought, unaware of having verbalized the words as well. "Oh, shit," she repeated.

Jamie couldn't concentrate. Get up, get up, get up. It was all he could think but the agony that coursed through his veins kept him knelt upon the ground and it would not stop until a while after the dupe was dead. For all Jamie knew, the dupe was already dead but pain always lingered a while after it had settled; gnawing at the back of your mind. He could have duped out, spread out the pain and thinned it enough so that he could stand but he couldn't bring himself to snap his fingers, to make the kinetic energy he needed in order to make the duplicate in the first place. There won't even be a body to bury was his next thought. He always buried his dupes, they deserved proper burials because it was his fault most of them died. He let them out in the world to do his bidding, to look after the people he cared about...He had felt Cassie's hands upon him, his name met his ears but it was hazy, blurry like it was far, far away in the distance. "G-get...other...dupe...​" he managed to murmur, gesturing in a vague direction in hopes there was another him in sight but he was unsure if Cassie would be able to hear him over the chaos of battle cries, screams of pain and fear, crying and the roar of fire as it spread skywards that surrounded them.

Steve didn't know how long he'd been on campus, fighting through Hydra soldiers and trying to usher the few students he'd come across to safety. Around him, it was chaos and he had to fight the urge to snarl as he killed a soldier with their own weapon, his shield secured firmly to his back as he cleared hallway after hallway. He should have trusted his instincts, especially after that conversation with Kitty. There was no time to waste now though every moment was another where the enemy he thought had been destroyed in the war took another life. The anger that this was happening here, and now, to his students decades after everyone had thought them eradicated was a craw in his throat and he took out that anger on every passing soldier leaving a wake of bodies in his path. He had to find the rest of the faculty and students, get everyone away from here and to safety, and he knew undoubtedly that he was meeting with only token resistance right now. Which meant the real fight was elsewhere.

Anna was driven by her fury at the current point. Anna was no demon, Illyana had them both more than covered in that department, but her fury was still something to behold. Had her bond with Illyana not been so strong, the Tesseract may have chosen to make an appearance, but at the moment there was very little that could deny her presence. The air around her heated, only aided by John's fire. Her eyes were a piercing blue, and she took on her own cruel smile. For HYDRA, she held her own special hatred. She vaguely wondered if her parents were on campus right now, before dropping her thought, instead taking the hand of one of the closest things to family Anna had left, "Together," she agreed, finding only comfort in the strength of Illyana's power, aided by her own. It was a different sort of power she wasn't used to, different than this other being inside her, and it was comforting, "Lead on, Little Starling," she offered, looking at her friend, squeezing her hand and steeling herself with what was about to be a huge deal of magic, she was sure.

John felt his lips move up into a smirk; the feral, dangerous smirk of the known Brotherhood mutant, and not the boy who had been swallowed up by a life that he had not been ready for. Light them up. Illyana had not needed to say so, but it was a good thing to hear, and John inclined his head before he stepped forward, and lifted his hands before him. Fire leapt from the ground to burn in the air above his hands; guided by his mind as the whispers of the infernos that burned all around them grew louder within his mind. With a twitch of his fingers, the fire above his hands rose, then followed the motions of his hands as he brought them together before him, joining in a ball above their heads. The ball burned and twisted and then seemed to shrink in on itself, just for a moment, before it burst outwards in burning tendrils that joined the litany of songs coming from the buildings that continued to burn. From the fire that burned in the air, a shape formed. A giant bird, stretching wings out above their heads before it turned and it dived through the air, away from them; flames condensing into solid talons as the creature of fire was directed by the mutant to consume a group of men in black who had been shooting at some who were running… and who then could do nothing but scream. The fires all around him increased in temperature and increased in ferociousness as the smell of burnt flesh grew thicker on the air; men and woman who screamed HYDRA burning like they deserved. Illyana and Anna could do what they wished, for now John was content just seeing those black forms die, and using the fire that surrounded them to make it happen. Light them up, Illyana had said… and so light them up, he did. Burn them all.

Kate was too close to the explosion. She'd been too stupid and giddy with putting into practice speed archery, hitting agents as they fled, to think that maybe they were moving away for a reason. Of course she didn't though, she was a Hawkeye after all... The explosion hit her in a flash of light and smoke, she felt the ground shake and suddenly she was on the floor. Time didn't move slowly like it did in movies, it all happened so fast that she was disorientated. The noise of it left her ears ringing so loudly that she couldn't hear the screams of those who had also been caught in it. She blearily opened her eyes and came to her senses, feeling numb to everything. It took her a few seconds to come around enough to realise that she needed to move and fast. She pushed herself into a sitting position with her arms easily, but when she tried to move her legs she was met with a searing pain. She hadn't even noticed thanks to the adrenaline, but there was a shard of glass from the explosion wedged into her thigh. Her suit was red with blood already and she had to pause then, take deep breaths. She shut her eyes tightly and clasped the glass while trying to ignore the cutting into her palms she counted to three in her head before pulling it out in one sharp movement. Her scream was barely audible over everyone else around her. The wound was bleeding now, and she had nothing to tie over it. She looked around her and spotted her bow, arrows were scattered but it had miraculously remained intact so she pushed herself backwards towards it using her hands and tried to keep herself useful by shooting as best as she could from an awkward seated position.

Natasha tried not to worry too much about the rest of the people fighting alongside her, if they weren't skilled enough they shouldn't be out in the middle of the battle. But he was trained well enough and his magic were certainly a big help on staving off their attackers. Still she couldn't help but notice how he winced with every new spell, as if it pained him to cast them. The attention was drawn away from his hands soon enough, though, noticing the mass of retreating agents from one of the buildings farther from them. She let a small flicker of hope rise up in her chest at the sight; she was tired and worried and not in the mood to be chasing off HYDRA agents off the school grounds. Much more important things were going on in her life that required her attention. She walked a little closer to Stephen as she picked up another gun. b"Maybe the defense is better on that side of the campus," she offered, shrugging a single shoulder as she changed the magazine. It wasn't a good explanation, but the alternative made her body tense further in anticipation. HYDRA didn't take prisoners, they took probable assets and that was it. She saw him cast spells a little more hurriedly now and she knew she wasn't alone in her thoughts about something bigger. Their answer came soon enough, the ground shaking. She stood her ground and kept firing, her brow furrowed as she tried to protect the students around them. How many people were there in that building? The fire seemed ominous as it grew and reached for the sky. Putting a few more bullets between enemy eyes she turned to her ally, lips pursed. "I'll try to shoot them before they get too close to the rest of the kids. You're no good passed out." They weren't reassuring words, but it was not the time to sugarcoat things.

Billy stuck with Cassie and Jamie, his attention only diverting when he watched Kate surge off. This was like the old times, the times the magic user had tried to tell himself were over. But...once a hero always a hero, and it seemed like no matter where half these kids went; evil would follow. Nodding at the plan to get to Xavier's, Billy stayed close; unconsciously keeping a closer eye on Cassie more so than usual (partly due to the wings on her back he was uncertain about). They'd lost her once, and he was still mad at her for not telling him she was back, but he couldn't let it happen again. He felt like they were getting somewhere, like they could do this together until the explosion rolled out; sending the noirette to the ground from the shockwaves. He managed to land on his knees but it took a few moments to steady himself before he heard screams just a bit ahead; looking up to see Cassie over Jamie looking lost. Rushing over to her the minute he got to his feet, the magic user looked around them. "Is he alright?"

Dani hadn't taken kindly to Betsy's haste reveal. She'd seeded herself in a hypnotic concentration, playing the words 'observe, listen, aim, fire' like a track through her mind. That chant nearly cost the other woman her life, Dani having drawn her bow on her in a startle. It was dropped quickly and after snapping at her, advising to better consider her actions in a full out battle, retreated with her into the shrubbery. The bow, Leah's bow, was wrapped around her and stored. With the approach of more agents, faster fire weapons were going to prove more optimum - and they did. "They're all filtering out," Dani had remarked between her own gunfire. "Its just -- it looks like they're trying to leave the area!" She hadn't been wrong, and as the braided woman skipped over a now downed HYDRA agent, dislodging her second hand gun to offer to Betsy, the school trembled. A horrid roar broke out and sounds, sounds of shattering glass, rumbling walls, wails, faltering structures, and fire burning to life, fused and rang across the area. Dani stumbled in her run to the other woman and shot a look back to the stranger whom they were paired with, assuring he was alright. It was hard to tell though, under the coat of blood. Her eyes then drew to the fire that brought the darkened sky to life, cascading shadows across the campus. It brightened the scene and allowed Dani to fully see the costs of this. Across the way, maybe 1 to 200 feet out, she swore she saw the sprawled body of one of her own students -- Gabriel had been his name. A terrible brat, but a kid, her kid, nonetheless. It dazed her to see him and it took a few moments to pull her focus back to the present situation. "The administration building..," she swallowed, voice hallowing. "They took out the campus center. Gods, they-- they've.. they must have.. just planned this, all of it. To the tee, they planned this, Betsy." The severity of this all quickly weighed on her and her voice trembled as she continued speaking, but she worked to contain it. "We don't stand a chance, we've gotta get out of here, that's all we've got. It's our only real option." She looked back to Alt, clearly unfamiliar with him but hopeful he saw the reality of what was playing out. "If we stay here, we die, and I'm not doing that today. Not for some bootleg Nazi gang. We get out, stay in the blind spots of the school - whats left of it, that is - and get to the outskirts of campus. Well take a car or something, anything."

Mystique was about to speak when she saw Kebira's eyes go wide. Raven moved to catch the girl, thinking she was about to pass out. She grunted as she was pushed behind the girl, and from instinct, Raven rose the gun she clutched, but she was too slow. She saw his finger squeezing.... and then there was blood. Her finger pulled her own trigger, striking the man in the arm as the older mutant's focus wavered. He was already dead, and yellow eyes turned to Kebira a moment, quickly realizing that this was probably not a thing that Kebira did every day. In the back of her head, Mystique wanted nothing more than to drag the girl out, because now this was getting emotional. At the same time, she was not about to ruin the girl's mental state by belittling this. She moved to the side, out of sight of the door, grabbing both of Kebira's arms to pull her with, "Look at me. He would have killed you, or missed and you'd be in agony right now," she said quickly, deciding now was not the time to reveal that she could survive a gunshot easily. No, that would come later, when they really had the chance to talk, "We're getting the hell out of here. Stay behind me. Down people, you don't have to do anything else than that, but we're getting the hell out of here, got it? Cut behind the building, steal a car, whatever. This isn't the worst I've been in," her voice was hard, and the next moment she moved to take the submachine gun the agent was carrying, along with his automatic pistol. They could cut around the back of the building and slip out, hopefully. She'd steal them a car, and get the hell out of here. Collect themselves somewhere, and go from there. Christ, why had she agreed to this fucking job? Just further proof that sentimentality got her no where. Moving back to Kebira, she looked at her again, "Can you do this?" she asked, not willing to say that this was indeed Kebira's last chance to come with her. She could only care so much before her own hide was seriously at stake.

Illyana smirked as Anna's hand became linked with hers and slowly, they were lifted off the ground to levitate a few feet over where John was stood. She refused to leave him by himself and so they would stay right above him, able to watch over him should anyone try get passed the flames that scorched the earth around where they'd been standing just moments ago. Her white eyes began to glow brighter than before, her hair beginning to whip in the wind like there was a storm raging around her, ready to be unleashed unto the masses of HYDRA agents that continued their efforts to either kill or capture the faculty and students of Armour. While she had hated her upbringing, hated all the things Belasco had done to her, she had to thank him for the things he had taught her and the fact she now practiced her magic more frequently alongside Stephen meant she had slowly begun to be able to call her powers from Limbo to Earth. It was still a weak channel but with Anna at her side, it was stronger than when she tried by herself and she utilised that. "Focus on channelling your power into me, Little Dove," she instructed and after a minute or two more of focus, Illyana's white eyes went as orange as fire and there were even small trails of fire coming from the outer corners of her eyes. HYDRA agents began turning on each other, guns that had once been pointed at students, at teachers, at civilians were now pointed at their comrades and no matter how much they struggled to turn their hands away, they were paralyzed. "Boom," she whispered into the air, her cold and cruel smile returning as in synchronisation, multiple HYDRA agents pulled their triggers at one another - all pointed directly between the eyes.

Bran nodded his head in acceptance, willing to follow Kitty's lead. She was level headed and incredibly strong, he had complete faith in her judgement. Though he did grimace at the idea of phasing once more; it was painful or even uncomfortable, strictly seeing, but it was a shock to see things that should injure him pass through his skin without so much as a mark left behind. "Lead the way, Shadowcat," Bran replied, twirling another knife around his finger, just to be safe. As they moved, the assassin glanced around, checking the status of all the others. Anna and Illyana were easy to find and it was... Well, Bran definitely wasn't going to be worried about those two anytime soon, that was for sure.

Kebira had grown so soft over the past few months. Everything from the past 4 to 5 months had beaten against her until her edges had softened. Who the hell was she anymore? Whoever she was, she hated her; she knew that. But with this, with the loss of a soul tied to her own and their blood on her hands, she felt hardened. Weirdly fixed almost, from this wary and depression-hitched woman she was morphing into - if just for the moment. Blood drizzled from the mans nasal cavities and bubbled out between his lips and she watched keenly, feeling absolved of something. Terrified as well, but absolved. Accomplished, even. It was done and it couldn't be taken back; from this moment on, it didn't matter how she acted or what she did. Survive. She had to survive and now, with this out of the way, the ever growing fear of taking a life no longer pulsed like a cancerous warning in the back of her mind. She could just work making it out, by any means necessary. The consequences of whatever actions followed for the evening would be dealt with when the time came, but her humanity and conscious were the least of her concerns for the moment. Did it matter how many people you killed once you started? Especially in a situation like this? When Raven began to console her, speaking to her as if she had to correct this or maintain Kebira, the mutant detracted. "Don't fuckin' talk down to me," she snapped, ripping from Raven's grip. "I know what he would have done, that's why I did what I did! Fuck, I'm not an idiot," Kebira's dipped and her eyes locked in the corners, keeping from Raven's. "But yeah, thanks for thinking otherwise, I'm loving that vote of confidence." Raven wanted to get out, that was clear. So did Kebira. Neither of them were stupid enough to think this could be salvaged so as Raven detailed her loose plan, Kebira eased her shoulder, dropping her knapsack from it. She shuffled through it for a second before pulling her keys from one of the inner pockets, holding them up for Raven to see. "Here," she offered. "Had a feeling when a group of men pointed their guns at me, that this wasn't gonna go well. Grabbed what I needed, just in case." Being a pessimist was finally paying off. "So here, let this be some mild proof I'm not a fuckin' kid to be doted over because, yes, I can't do everything you asked. Same as I've been doing. Nothings changed," she insisted with a hardening look. "Just lead and I'll do whatever I've gotta."

John felt his breath catch within his chest as he pulled the burning bird around in another swoop once more, and happened to glance up as he did so; up at Illyana and Anna, but mainly at Illyana (of course at Illyana; to John, Anna was nothing after all). “Yana…” The power she was exerting was almost tangible in the air, and for a moment all he could do was watch… and then he was jerked back to earth and the chaos. The fire continued to burn around him, creeping towards each of the bodies that fell from Illyana’s strike (for these were bodies he was allowed to burn, of that John was sure); the longer the flames ate at the ground, the hotter his mind seemed to burn, and the inferno that was the main building was not helping matters. He could feel it, but he tried not to, try to focus on the bird and the flames which ate the bodies and filled the air with the stench of burning flesh, because those flames were closer… those were good. The building that was burning? He could feel it burn, feel the tendrils of fire curl and consume and could feel the hunger that longed for something, anything, to fill the gap. It was bad, and he instinctively knew that he could not end it. “Yana, the fire…it’s not going to stop.” No, he was fairly sure that if the fire grew any bigger, or if he got any closer, he would just end up helping it burn.

Emma knew now in the chaos and the ashes in the flames, exactly what she needed to do. HYDRA had the advantage of planning, of communication and of order and Emma knew that with those, the students and teachers of Armour would be able to beat them with little difficulty. Emma shut her eyes and concentrated, seeking out the minds of her allies and sorting through who is friend and foe. She connected to their minds, and put them in contact with each other. Kitty kept phasing so Emma couldn't connect her although Emma knew Kitty was the leader of the X-Men and therefore the most important person to connect to. "Pryde!" Emma shouted, she hoped that it was loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the battle. "I'm trying to connect everyone, stop phasing." She called, before completing the psychic link between them all. It took a lot of her power and concentration, she barely had enough energy left to take out the nearby agents. This is invasive, I know. We need order though, or they'll slaughter us. Emma projected to them once the link was open. They could all hear her, and each other. Most people had some kind of telepathic training, certainly all of the X-Men did, so the link didn't need to be filtered by Emma too much. If you're new to this, think loudly anything you wish for us to hear. If you need help, use this to call for it. Otherwise, listen to the professors.

Strange was still straining, but he did not budge; he would not lose so many today, not when he could save more. Do more than this, surely. The events of the party what felt like years ago (and in some cases, was) became unearthed the longer it went on. Stephen Strange, once a brilliant but shitty asshole of a surgeon, now the novice of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme had made great progress in what he was capable of doing... but there was still a lingering thread of doubt in the back of his mind. Should do better. Could have done better. But at her statement, he could lie and say that he was fine, but the strain was too great for him to try to do so. She was trustworthy enough at any rate, so Stephen exhaled slow, changed his finger's positions to allow for more offensive spells. "...You're right. Lowering shields now." He could focus on thinking up a better plan than what they were doing now. It would have been a perfect opportunity to test his astral projection once more to see where he could take them or where they could go until a better plan was made, but he wouldn't dare to leave her - not when HYDRA seemed to surge even more.

Kitty skidded to a halt beside Emma, dropping Bran's hand and becoming tangible again when Emma told her to. "I was coming over here to ask you to do just that," she shouted back over the battle sounds. She made sure to help Loki cover Emma while the link was open, using her blade opposed to her powers to keep the nearby agents at bay. Of course, it was nowhere near as impressive as Loki's magic but she had the capability to be just as deadly. As much as Kitty despised having people inside her head, it gave her some form of relief to know she was linked to everyone who could be linked to - she knew Illyana had resistance even against the likes of Charles but she was sure the message would be passed on by Anna or John. Thankfully, she'd long ago mastered the ability to keep fighting while communicating telepathically and so she had no problems with keeping agents at bay while passing commands through the link. No matter how hard we fight, they've had us beat from the start. This has all been planned and executed from the inside out. HYDRA integrated themselves into SHIELD and we don't stand a chance unless we want a higher body count than we already have. Everyone head for Xavier's Institute. 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, Westchester County. That's the address, get there by any means. Walking, car, teleporting. Whatever it takes, get there.

Natasha walked a little farther from Stephen to take out the agents farther back, swinging blows and firing bullets that landed right between the enemy's eyes. It was satisfying seeing them fall back onto the ground but it wasn't enough. It was never going to be enough, this was too well planned. This was an inside job. Natasha relaxed a little when he seemed to accept her words, she knew people got proud while fighting and insisted they were fine even when they obviously were not. She thought of herself, mostly. She gave him a nod when he let her know the shields were going down and she shot down as many agents are possible. The sudden telepathic link took her by surprise, a rush of panic coursing through her at the thought that her owners were still in her mind but Emma's voice soothed the thoughts quickly. It was definitely strange, but she could deal with it even as more voices came into her head. Kitty confirmed her suspicions and even if the order of retreat wasn't completely welcomed she accepted the fact that they had a slim chance at winning this. Just as she was going to reply that she had gotten the message she felt a searing pain shot through her body, leaving her gasping for air for a moment as she took cover behind a tree. She was too distracted. Gunshot wound. Her fingers reaching for the stomach to feel the position of the wound. She would live. She always did. She pushed through the pain and went out of cover to keep shooting the agents that got too close, there was nothing to tie around the wound to put pressure on it. Hopefully she could get out of there soon enough. "Do you have a way to get to Xavier's?" She shouted back at Stephen, making her way clser.

Alt cocked his head to the right for a second when Betsy thanked him before he returned to his self-imposed task of fixing the damage done to her elbow with what little he had on him. His face was the usual expressionless mask when she began to ask how he was, even if she didn't finish it. "Made for this," Was all he could reply to that. It was true to an extent. It was louder than then, certainly, more people (and the difference in the amount of corpses between the two times were debatable from where he had been) but the end result was ultimately the same... And perhaps it always would be. However, at the touch of her hand, he flinched. Visibly. What was going around them he understood intimately and could work adequately with it, but he would never get used to her touch. Furthermore, she was Jackie's... whatever (but that didn't stop him from leaning into her touch - just a tad). After a second or two, Alt began to ask her, "Do I look like a normal --" Person? He shook his head before he could breathe the last word to life - or perhaps the gunfire did it for him, and dismissed the subject with another shake of his head and uttered under his breath, "It doesn't matter. Forget it," before he turned to the gunman, teeth bare when they were already hit by arrows. His mind flicked through archers that he recognized when Betsy said something about trusting someone, and she stood up. Most of what she said was discarded as he reached out to pull her back, still shrouded in the bushes. "[GET DOWN.]" He snapped in French as English became an afterthought when he suddenly found himself on ice again. She was going to fall and that was going to be the end of it. When she came back, he recognized the stranger hiding with them. Professor. Wrongfully imprisoned. None of that mattered now, and he gave credence to Betsy's opinion. However, much of what she said was largely dismissed when he noticed the HYDRA soldiers running out of what seemed to be Admissions. "That doesn't make sense. They're winning." He muttered under his breath. The admission's building exploded, and instinct took over. Alt reached for them to steady them, but stopped himself before he could make contact - but he couldn't stop himself from inspecting Betsy's elbow. The lightened battlefield told him more than he had already guessed at that point. SHIELD was losing. They were losing. Perhaps their efforts to cheat death ever since that day lead them to this end, and neither minded the prophecy from the start. However, Alt stole a glance at Betsy, and it sealed his decision. If they had to, he'd fight (what choices did Jackie and he have to begin with since twenty or so years ago, anyway?), but his priority was keeping Betsy alive. Dani shook him out of their collective trance and blurred visions of snow and the stench of death. "Agreed. I know several ins and outs, buildings wise. Which ones wouldn't be as profitable for them to search. Unsure of which parking lot would be safest. Can pick locks and hotwire if necessary -- " He held his breath and froze when he felt the telepathic link connect, an image of a boy he once knew sparked hope, then sadness and fear... and all faded into the calm, self-imposed nothing seconds after. Shot. Not us. Betsy. Elbow, unsure of extent. Bandaged. Alt replied just as soon as help was offered. He used short and to the point sentences as he was still trying to seperate memory from the present while keeping an eye out for more enemies.

Anna realized that it was not difficult to send her energy to Yana, as their link grew stronger just by the touch. Anna could feel the power swell inside of her, her own eyes turning white with veins of crackling electric blue visible up close. She found comfort in the link between the two, though it was highly overrun with adrenaline and fury and a whole slew of other emotions, hatred perhaps most relevant. Her hatred burned deep as she watched this organization tear down everything she loved. Her hatred burned deep. She wanted nothing more than to see HYDRA burn to the ground, and as her magic-filled gaze scanned below, she yearned to be the cause of that... when an idea sprung to her mind. All at once, after the gunshots rang out, she used their power to guide them both back to the ground, giving Yana reassurance at the sudden change. They'd done enough damage though, giving a chance to plenty of students to get further away. When they landed she broke their connection and looked at her seriously, "Meet me in Limbo tonight. I'll explain everything, but whatever you do do not stop me from what I'm about to do," and with that, she turned on her heel and ran, wildly searching for Bran. She screamed his name, both first and last separately, knowing her time was running out. It was then that she saw Clint on a rooftop, picking people off with his arrows, and her heard simultaneously broke and leapt. It would work perfectly. The next few seconds, she was floating in front of him on one of her discs, face set and determined. He'd hate the idea, but it was thier best option for information, "I need to go double," she said flatly, no time for the sentimentality they'd gotten this morning. Horrible timing, but necessary, "They'll believe me, I know they will, don't question me, my parents will believe me. I need you to take me down. They need to know I'm with them," she finished, hating herself for saying it, but knowing with a grim hole in her stomach that HYDRA may indeed succeed in taking over the world if they didn't do something to get information. No one had seen this coming, especially not these two upper-level SHIELD agents.

Clint felt sick. But good agents don't feel sick in the middle of a fight. They don't feel nauseated or angry or desperate and he was a damn good agent. So he took off where no one could take him down. He perched himself in the western clocktower's rooftop, in the highest spot, with the best view from a distance and started picking Hydra agents like they were flies. It was a all about senseless motion, the cold way he felt arrows against his archer's mark, the soft tips on his lips and the way they slid down and ended lives like they had never meant anything to begin with - seconds and they had enough agents littering the surroundings of the tower, other rooftops, other locations and no one could really tell where he was. Anyone who spotted him and he saw back, as dead within moments. For someone who'd spent so long moping in his couch and crying about God knows so many reasons, he compartimentalized particularly well, apparently, leaving behind the flur of motion beneath. He wanted to join his friends, protect everyone he could but he was better here. The sounds and explosions would render him useless if down there and then...then he wouldn't be helping anyone. At least taking off those Hydra vermin, whom by the motions and fight movements he knew, he could keep more people from getting hurt. More good people from dying. He wanted to be a hero. He pulled another arrow on the string and almost - almost pierced it through Anna's heart when she appeared in front of him, jolting back, he cursed under his breath before even understanding her words. He blinked, lowering his bow and arching one eyebrow at her. "I'm not gonna beat your ass!" He almost shouts back, the idea sounding preposterous - he's an agent and he knows those things are necessary but he can't just beat his girlfriend senseless. "Are you insane? I could kill you." He says with a frown.

Anna shook her head firmly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. At least no agent could hear her from up here to hear her plan. She understood his hesitance but they had no time. She floated her disc over the roof and hopped down next to him, reaching for his arms and holding them tightly. Partly to reassure him, and partly because this could very well be one of the last times she'd see him for a while. The thought ached, and she so shoved it down. This was serious. This was about helping the dying students down there, "You won't kill me. I promise you. My powers can catch me but we need to convince them," she continued without pausing, not letting him shoot her down. This was non negotiable, and if he didn't, she'd blast herself and jump. She'd figure something out, "Tell Bran that I'm going double. I'll find a way to get intel out. It's our only chance. We had no idea how powerful they were and we won't win this clueless," she sighed, still holding onto his arms, "Now do it before I lose my bloody nerve."

Strange was thinking of something, anything, to pull them out of this alive. He could use more magic, but how much energy did he have left? How many would be left behind (and knowing himself, he would sooner send the other students first before himself, consequences be damned on his end)? Emma's link was a little bit of a shock to Stephen - he was used to one person communicating with him at a time (the Ancient One did that when he was out of his monastery), so many voices and thoughts that were not his was a bit of a stretch for him to take all at once. He was about to answer when he heard a gun go off too close for comfort and jerked him away from the conversation to check up on Natasha's wound, but nodded when he got closer, firing more bolts at a time. "Could try a teleportation spell or the Cloak. Teleportation spell would be quicker, and likely safer..." He didn't finish the rest of that sentence before he moved his hands into position to take out what HYDRA he could, and gathered up as much will as he could to keep his hands from shaking. A Seal of the Vishanti appeared underneath them both, and a good chunk of the students around them as Stephen began to chant the incantation.

Natasha let her conditioning take over as she ignore the pain that bloomed from her abdomen, more agents dropping as even more stormed the campus. How many students would HYDRA take? Mold them into weapons like she had been? Like they had molded Yasha? The thought terrified her but she had to shake it off, noticing a few agents getting closer than she was comfortable with. Some students were cowered against the walls of the dorm building and she hoped they weren't making big targets out of themselves. "Do whatever will get the most people out of here as possible. You can send them first, if you want," she said, taking in a deep breath to focus. The blood loss wasn't massive and she could still be competent, but it made her body feel a little heavier than usual. She watched as markings appeared on the ground, and as he began to work she shot down all of the agents in the vicinity, trying to keep them safe.

Clint listened and the words only made him set his jaw angrily. Would his life ever stop being a succession of hard decisions one after the other?! Hardly. He set his arms free from her grip and put his bow on the quiver with a swift movment. "Fight back, if I'm unscathed when I'm out, it'll look odd." He warned, before spinning on his heels and blowing a kick to her stomach but calculating enough so he wouldn't get any vital points. Or at least put too much strength. It was so hard. So much for a valentines day that he'd gotten a girlfriend. He looked at blond and looked around, well. He sighed and set his gear aside. "Get up, you pretty bird, I think if we have relationship problems, we should solve them now." He offered a weak smile and flexed his wrists, chasing after Anna to grab her arm and throw her on the floor of the rooftop. It wasn't a real fight, he was aware, but each blow felt like he was doing it to himself.7

HYDRA had won. Though a vast number of agents were slain by magic, and scores more were fought off by various students and teachers. The school was by no means weak, but HYDRA was stronger. The agents killed only spared them the work of running from the school as the next part of the plan advanced. Students and teachers alike poured out of various exits within the school, but many were slain in their attempts to escape. HYDRA had had enough by this point, and agents parts ways for a large, armored vehicle tore through the main courtyard. Though no one outside could see, the tank was full of powerful explosives. They were bored of the fight back at the school. SHIELD was theirs, and the school was theirs. In just a few hours, SHIELD's new PR representative, who trained with HYDRA since she was a small girl, will release a statement of hope for repair. A new future to serve the world. The small tank turned directly towards the building that was the home of the Carter School of Espionage within Armour, and it drove. Anyone or anything that was in the way of the vehicle was not enough for it to matter in the short distance, and the moment the vehicle collided with the building, a huge explosion errupted.