Pray this is not just another X-Men wedding!

[Omega Red]

Omega Red scowled and dodged additional razor-like feathers. He turned to Jubilee and Beast. ''It's not murder if it's self defense. It's not murder if I'm protecting Harley.'' Coils writhed for a few moments. He yearned to use coils on the winged zombie again, but it was too far from him.

Omega Red's scowl remained. He faced Harley. He shook his head in disbelief. ''A certain doctor will blame us for this, Harley.''

[Sasha Sadovsky]

Sasha gasped the minute he viewed Isabella holding a helpless Craig. Although the other man was cruel during the past, he couldn't just let Isabella end his life. He glanced at Alison. ''I'll return as soon as possible. Please be careful. There's something I must do,'' he said.

Sasha ran to Isabella. ''Release Craig this instant!'' he said. He placed his hand on the bottom of his mask. Sasha was prepared to attack Isabella.
''Step far from Craig. If you don't, this place will become your grave, Isabella Dragotti.''

[Captain James Hook]

''A sobbing baby shouldn't be a pirate captain. I'm a weak Englishman. My lies harmed the woman I almost married.'' Captain Hook trembled as his decaying mother's spirit touched his wet face another time. ''I suppose I'm not your baby any longer. You're enjoying tormenting your youngest son.'' 

Other tears ran down Captain Hook's face. ''I thought you would be happy if I became a pirate. I thought you wished for me to be a pirate. You are enraged no matter what.'' Captain Hook turned to the Cecilia illusion. He mouthed about how sorry he was, but there weren't any sounds.

[Shadowmage]

Branan did his best to push thoughts of Jadzia and the next Praxus host Ezri from his mind as all hell broke loose before him. "Leonard, whatever you do, do not get in Kari's way in this fight now. And..." he started to say as his brother Ewan zipped past him in a cloud of emerald vapor, "make sure not to get in Ewan's way either."

"What the hell is it with your family these days?" the vampire asked as he tossed another zombie protester into Branan's portal. "And, how's Maeve? She still want to toss me out the window of a moving train?"

"I am not getting into that right now," Branan replied as he turned to see Ewan moving into position near Jessie. "We might have to pull Ewan back."

"What in the name of heaven is that?" Leonard asked as he saw Jessie going after Selene. "Is that the Phoenix you were telling me about?"

"The one who saved Kari's neck? Yes. She's the one," Branan said with a sigh as he watched more of the zombified protesters sprout the wings of the Purifier-created group called The Choir. "Any X-Men within range, we have The Choir in play," he said as he tapped his commlink. "Leonard, those demons with angels' wings do not play nice. Dispatch with extreme prejudice."

 

[Harley]

"I do not care what Doctor Crankenstein says, Arkady!" Harley shouted as she dodged a razor-sharp blade from the flying zombie freak show that was hovering overhead. "And I don't care what you say, Sparkles or Meow Mix! These guys are bad news, and they deserve to be toasted or dusted or whatever the Winchesters do on Supernatural!"

"Buffy says dusted, yeesh!" Jubilee said as she let off a PAF at the flying attacker. "And I have no clue what the Winchesters say! I just want these things to go away!"

"As do I, but please, refrain from calling me the name of a common variety cat food. I at least rate Fancy Feast!" Beast joked as he leapt into the air and used a decorative light pole as a launching pad for his own attack.

"What did we do to deserve being at this nut job wedding from hell, Omega Red?" Harley asked as she picked up some steak knives from the waiters' serving station nearby. "Time to take target practice!" she shouted as she flung knife at the flying zombie and hit him in the shoulder. "Crap! I was aiming for his pea brain!"

 

 

[Omega Red]

Omega Red's eyes were wide the minute Harley dodged a blade. *How long will Harley and I be able to dodge blades? Do I wish to know the answer?* he thought. Omega Red faced Harley for a few moments. ''We were born, Harley. That's why we're suffering. We're being punished for the kind of people we are.'' Omega Red was impressed after one of the knives Harley threw struck a flying zombie's shoulder.

[Rubeus Hagrid]

Rubeus had run clear to the other side of the event area before finding Acting Headmistress Piper MacLeod of the Buckland Academy. Severus Snape had to take a sabbatical to recuperate after the attack on the Mystic Council, so Piper stepped in to take care of things until he returned.

"Alastair, I found her!" Rubeus shouted as he ran through the crowd carrying the second oldest MacLeod sister over his shoulder. He could not risk having her injured by one of those flying demons that were attacking the party now, so picked her up and had her put up a force field as they ran. He set her down next to Blackwell before taking off to find another witch.

"Wait!" Alastair shouted as he ran after Hagrid. "Piper and I might be able to right this, but we will need help keeping those things off our backs."

Hagrid nodded as he looked at poor James Hook. "Should I just go bowl over the brother?" he asked Alastair as both men looked at Jasper Hook.

"If you want to end up flat on your back, sure, why not?" Alastair replied as he kept watching the brothers, waving his arms as he thought more about Hagrid's suggestion. "I am not sure how much power is being drawn from that woman they are working with and how much Jasper has on his own. Better not to test it."

"Didn't think of that," Hagrid replied as he watched Piper and Alastair hold hands and begin to chant to try to break the illusion spell Jasper was using. "Maybe I can flag down another witch," he said as he saw the very scary Fachtna DalCais run past him. "Not her. She'd likely join up with the bad guys if given the chance."

[Captain Jasper Hook]

Jasper enjoyed hearing all of his younger brother's current words. His smile stretched. He glanced from Cecilia to his mother. Jasper's smile disappeared the minute he heard Alastair and Hagrid's voices. His eyes were wide for a moment. He turned to Alastair and Hagrid.

Glowering, Jasper trembled. ''Don't ruin my fun! I never invited you to the Hook family reunion.'' Jasper still scowled. ''My younger brother should suffer for harming me.'' Jasper considered ordering Cecilia and his mother to attack his other enemies.

*Mum and Cecilia should be with James. I'll attack my younger brother's nosy companions if I have to.* Jasper's eyes narrowed at Alastair and Hagrid. ''Why do you care about the sobbing baby? He's a pirate just like me. Jamie Hook harmed the woman he loved with false words. What makes you think he'll continue to be your companion?''

That was when Jasper saw a blonde man near Isabella. He frowned as one eye became bigger. ''Madame Isabella? You may wish to look back.'' 

 

[Isabella Dragotti]

Isabella's eyes widened the minute she heard a very unfamiliar man's voice. *Hm?* she thought. She looked back. Her eyes were still wide as she viewed a man wearing a white mask. The fire on Isabella's hand disappeared. She released Craig.

Isabella shrugged. ''I can end your life with my ex-spouse's.'' Isabella glanced at Jasper. One eye became bigger after she saw others near him. *I guess I can aid my pirate companion.* She turned to Sasha. *I'll aid Jasper after I defeat my ex-spouse's associate.*

 

[Craig Dragotti]

Craig gasped after Isabella released him. He shook his head in disbelief the minute he saw Sasha. *Why is my ex-button man aiding me? I wasn't always nice. I forced Sasha to hear my karaoke performances!* He struggled and broke out of the vines.

Craig stood. After nodding at Sasha, he frowned. A tear ran down his face. *We were reunited, Isabella. Are we destined to be apart again?* He sobbed for a few seconds.

Fire began to form around Craig's fist. He hesitated. *Am I able to harm the woman I still love? Perhaps I should still try to reason with her.*

 

[Kendra Athonlea]

Kendra kept hearing the words that sicko freak Jackson Rydenborne had said to her before, and they made no damned sense. "What did that lunatic mean?" she kept muttering to herself as she looked at Joshua, Bethany and Major Domo. "That crackpot can't be your dad!" she spouted as she kept pulling the demented vines from her feet. "And I am not the Angel of Death. I am not!"

"Whoa, slow down there," Joshua said as he looked back at Erinyes and Major Domo. "Please, watch over my sister until I get Kendra calmed down. Bethany, we'll have Hank McCoy run tests. He'll get to the bottom of this..."

As Joshua turned around to see where Kendra was, she was no longer tethered by the enchanted plant life. She had sprouted wings and was flying overhead toward one of the members of The Choir. There was one slight problem. Kendra didn't look or act quite the same.

"Uhm, Kendra, babe, what is going on?" Joshua shouted up to her, but she wasn't able to hear him. All she heard was a war cry from a distant land as she hit the flying attacker with her mace and tore off his head. The severed head landed near Erinyes feet.

[Erinyes]

Erinyes screamed as the head rolled near her feet, and she held onto Major Domo as she turned her gaze toward Kendra. "Since when did she sprout black feather wings? Joshua, I thought she had demon's wings?"

"She did, and I am not sure what is going on to make her look like that! I mean, her wings started to go feather a few weeks back, and she never asked Hank why. But the armor and the super strength have got me stumped!" he shouted as another head landed at his feet.

"Major Domo, I may have to figure out how to shut her down if she keeps beheading people. She could be so blinded by rage that she won't stop any other way," Erinyes said to her friend. "I may need to get very angry so I can cast the right spell. I won't be crazy enough to go flying after her. I promise!"

[Major Domo]

              Major Domo kept trying to step far from the vines. That was when he noticed Kendra. One eye became bigger than the other. Major Domo gasped after Kendra used her weapon to behead one enemy. His eyes settled on the head landing near Erinyes. Major Domo trembled after he gasped again.

       ''I saw many strange things in Mojo's dimension. Spiral's six arms. Mojo himself. A severed head is my limit!''

             Worry filled Major Domo's eyes for a moment. He nodded at Erinyes. ''How are you going to be enraged this time?''

[Karenza]

Once Kari felt Jean, Emma and, of all people, Maddie hit the astral plane, Kari backed off a bit. The combined might of those three and Jessie would likely be enough to push Selene back if not shut her down entirely. The arrival of zombified members of The Choir was something Kari could actually take better care of at this point.

"To borrow a phrase from my favorite Scottish space engineer, this is totally banjaxed!" Kari shouted to Logan as she prepared to take flight after a member of The Choir. "I know. Remy and I were binge watching Star Trek the other night when you had to take care of your business in Tokyo. He drove Rogue nuts, so I took Gambit off her hands for a night. At least I am not saying 'I'm a doctor and not a moon shuttle conductor!' at the moment, or any of Bones' other pithy quotes!"

As she lifted off, Kari stopped short as she hovered in the air. She saw a head flying at her before she saw who lobbed it, but then her heart sank a tiny bit. {{Logan, looping you in to what I'm seeing. Kendra...something isn't right...}}

Kari didn't have long to think before another Choir member flew straight at her and met his demise at the end of her spear. {{They must have infiltrated the group of protesters, Logan. No other explanation for it}}

 

[Madelyne Pryor]

As the only "parent" physically at the wedding, Maddie knew she had to help pull Jessie back from the abyss in the real world while Emma and Jean worked their psionic magic on the astral plane alongside Claire. Maddie would ask later about who Claire was in this whole tableau of Phoenix-related players.

"Ewan, for God's sake, get over here!" Maddie screamed as Selene and Jessie remained locked in battle. "Do what you need to do! Be her balance!"

Maddie could tell Ewan was actually a bit terrified, but his fear was not because of Jessie. It was, most definitely, for Jessie's safety.

"Emma and Jean and, well, someone else, are helping on the astral plane, but she needs you to anchor her here!" Maddie shouted back to Ewan as he ran closer to Jessie's side once more. Some idiotic zombies had pushed him back during this most recent turn in the fighting. Maddie would have loved to vaporize all of them, but she was not certain if they were all Choir members or if some were pathetic souls caught in the crossfire by Selene's spell.

"Jessie, we are all here for you!" Maddie shouted as a head landed at the feet of the Black Queen. "Oh, another one of the MacFeorais has gone native!" she said as she saw the now very bird-like Kendra moving in for another kill.

"Yes, Jessie, I am here for you," Ewan said as he stood next to his love once more. "We can take Selene down together. All of us. You need not fight her alone."