Jack POV

Jack felt a subtle release of tension in the back of his head as Wanda strode out to meet her father and his associates. His thoughts cleared fractionally, and he assessed the situation he found himself in with a slight frown.

What had he been thinking bringing them here?

Jack dismissed the unhelpful thought and took stock of what he had available to work with.

On the plus side Magneto's group had their attention firmly on the witches as they approached so he had a moment to act.

On the negative side he didn't have many moves to make.

All metal was essentially a liability in this fight which left him nothing but the changing chopsticks as a usable tool. The real problem was the ring of the nine dragons, everything else he could remove but he would vanish without the ring. The only way around this was for his clone to remove his ring first which would leave Jack uncomfortably vulnerable.

Next issue, how would the witches match up against the mutants?

Wanda would no doubt go directly for her father leaving Wuya to deal with everyone else.

Eric had come prepared to deal with Wanda so Jack couldn't count on a victory for the volatile witch.

He would have to step in to help, if he could tip the odds in Wanda's favor and let her take down her father then the factory's defenses would be free to mop up the rest of them.

Plan made, and with no eyes upon him, Jack shrunk down and sent his copy an emergency text to remove his ring.

Tiny Jack striped himself of all metal and steeled himself to wait for an influx of memory, until then Jack settled in to watch the action.

Wuya's hands glowed green as she sauntered forward with a bloodthirsty smile that would have been terrifying if she hadn't been walking next to Wanda who was radiating such ill intent that she overshadowed the more skilled woman.

Wanda's hands glowed red and she wore a stern frown as her sight locked on her father. He met her gaze unflinchingly with his own and Jack couldn't help but notice that they had the same eyes.

The fight between father and daughter that Jack expected failed to materialize as Magneto glided back putting distance between himself and the fray, gathering balls of metal that orbited around him ominously.

Wanda tried to pursue but was intercepted by the bald man who said something Jack could not hear.

Wanda faltered and in that moment the shapeshifter maneuvered herself into Wanda's blind spot and went in for a strike only to be blocked by a stone arm that sprouted from the ground between them. The shapeshifter elegantly danced away from the brutish grasp of what Jack recognized as one of Wuya's stone golems which towered over everyone there.

With a scowl Wanda tried to blast the shapeshifter with a hex bolt but once more the bald man did something that made her falter her aim going wide and missing her target who was busy weaving in between the clumsy strikes of the rock monster and striking at its eyes which surprisingly chipped away under her fists but did not truly hinder the golem resulting in a stalemate that was quickly broken as a glowing card impacted the back of Wuya's monster which promptly exploded taking off a good chunk of its left arm.

The card had been thrown by the Cajun man who prepared another only to jump back, dodging a clawed swipe from Wuya. He threw the prepared card at her only for the ancient witch to casually bat it to the side and charge him, he made a scrambling retreat while she cheerfully pursued.

The biggest threat was obviously Eric who seemed content to observe the battlefield much as Jack was doing. He could picture the orbiting metal balls raining down on the weakened combatants at the worst possible moment.

It was a scary thought.

However.

The most urgent problem was the bald man who seemed to be hindering Wanda, Jack needed to neutralize him and get Wanda back in the game.

Jack needed a way to attack him and all he had were the chopsticks, hopefully they would be enough.

Jack busied himself preparing his counterstrike.

Time stretched for what seemed an eternity but had to be less that a minute before an influx of memories flooded his mind with his alternate's experience.

Jack found a spot behind a tree that would block him from vision, removed the ring, took a calming breath and returned to full size.

In his hand Jack held a series of miniature objects, rocks, wood and assorted debris.

Maneuvering a tiny pebble between his thumb and forefinger so that he could flick it towards his target, Jack gripped the chopsticks in his other hand.

Wanda seemed dazed as she attempted to fend off a strike from the bald man who seemed to have the upper hand in their fight despite not seeming particularly skilled.

Jack flicked the pebble towards the enemy and as it left his hand the tiny speck began to grow.

The fast-growing rock flew towards Wanda's assailant whose focus was entirely on her. With a satisfying smack the now basketball sized stone hit the man in the side rocketing him away from Wanda and likely breaking a rib as he was thrown violently to the ground.

Jack did not pause to savor his victory or even check to see if Wanda had snapped out of whatever it was the bald man had done to her, instead dashing from his hiding spot and scanning for his next target.

This turned out to be wise as a sphere of metal impacted right where Jack had been standing blasting a chunk out of the tree he had been hiding behind.

Target decided for him, Jack began flinging his shrunken projectiles towards the master of magnetism who dodged easily and returned fire. Jack scrambled to avoid the onslaught of metal while occasionally diverting some of the projectiles with his own when it was clear he would not dodge in time.

Jack's cumulative fighting experience mostly consisted of trying not to get hit so, while his frantic jumping and weaving was inelegant, Eric and he seemed almost at a stalemate.

Except Jack was running out of things to throw.

If he didn't do something fast, he was going to lose but even as he blocked a metal sphere with a thrown tree no inspiration struck him.

Jack felt his hope dwindle as Magneto drew all his orbs around himself again preparing to fire a fresh wave of metal at Jack who had just tossed his last shrunken object.

A wave of red struck Eric from behind and he faltered. His metal balls fell from the sky each hitting the earth with a solid thud and for moment it seemed like the man would follow, but he caught himself after dropping only a few feet.

A scowl transformed what was visible of Magneto's face from stern to terrifying. The orbs that had fallen to the ground shattered into pieces and rocketed through the field striking Wanda. The shrapnel stuck to her and warped into bands that wrapped around her and dragging her to the ground bound and injured from the strike.

Jack had no time to spare as the smaller chunks of metal flew around the field targeted not just him but his allies as well. Wuya was forced to abandon pursuit of her opponent in order to doge a jagged hunk of iron and her rock monster was being riddled with holes and looked like it was about to collapse.

With Magnetos attention no longer solely on Jack he found dodging to be more manageable than before and he twisted through the hail of metal making his way towards Wanda.

They were being overwhelmed.

It was an unwelcome thought and it had no place for the middle of a fight but it was true. The fight was all but over without Wanda to counter Eric's power he simply didn't have a way to win. Maybe Wuya could pull something of but the way she was dodging metal and the Cajun man's attacks didn't bode well.

Jack could bail.

He could shrink escape regroup invent something and attack again.

Wuya would be fine but, he would have to abandon Wanda.

He scrambled closer to Wanda but was forced to jump back to avoid a projectile.

He could run.

He didn't want to run. He wanted to win.

Jack was just full of bad decisions today.

The sky grew dark matching his mood as the first light drops of rain hit the ground.

Shit, if the ground turned muddy he wouldn't be able to dodge anymore. This was the last moment either he fled or he was crushed.

Magneto was not likely to be merciful to the beaten human.

Jack stood still for a single moment, a dangerous sin on the battlefield, his gaze caught on his foe.

Their eyes met and Magneto's glare sharpened, his attacks now focused entirely on Jack.

He gripped the chopsticks hoping they would be enough to live through this when lightning struck.

A bolt from the sky lanced into Magneto and he plummeted to the ground.

He did not remain still for even a moment rocketing into the forest dragging the Cajun the hypnotist and Wanda, still bound in metal, with him through the cover of the canopy expertly moving at high speeds without ramming any of them into a tree. Unfortunately for him Wanda did not agree to his plan and the metal binding her turned bright red before exploding outward leaving her to tumble awkwardly into the ground at a sprinter's pace.

A furious roar could be heard faintly in the distance as Magneto made his retreat.

Ororo Munroe drifted from the sky looking unruffled by the storm that arrived with her. Magneto was not fool enough to engage the weather witch in open sky and had made a snap decision to retreat with his prize.

Fortunately, Wanda was no easy target.

The shapeshifter had vanished, and Jack felt chasing her was a waste of time.

Okay everyone was safe, they had all been saved by Ororo in the nick of time.

He owed her big time, which meant he owed Xavier big time.

Wow, Professor X just rocketed to the top of Jack's evil hero list, he had really played this whole thing perfectly.