And here's where it all started (we hope)

[Will Stanton]

"Victoria, can you disrupt this...whatever it is?"

[Victoria Valentine]

Victoria blinked up, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. No...

"Will," she said. "I need you to do something for me." Her avatar solidified next to her, mirroring her gaze at the colossal shape. "Half the things in my room need to be burned and doused with holy water instead of thrown out. Make sure they do that when this doesn't work." She swallowed, then took to the air. "Now blend in before my illusion fails."

I need you to guard me. They'll resist.
Mistress of understatement.
Shut up. You know what those things are, you know what they can do.
The sons are calling. I suppose we don't want daddy to make his entrance.
Exactly. Now guard me while I try to pull this off.

Victoria focused on the spatial distortion that the Mindless ones appeared to be forming, while the avatar started circling in midair. A shield began to form between them and the Mindless Ones as Victoria herself began chanting, trying to disrupt the summoning.

"Called you are and called you come,
To heed your people's call,
But the door shall close before you,
'Fore this city to you fall,
By earth and sea, by wind and fire,
By moon and star and sun,
With two steps along the winding path,
This calling shall be undone!"

[Narrator]

There's a link between all the Mindless ones, swirling around the outline that keeps wavering in and out of existence. They're channeling energy up towards it each time they drone, and Victoria is able to disrupt that momentarily but it quickly becomes evident that she's got a tiger by the tail.

However they're not the source of the flow of energy. Not entirely. They're adding their energy to it, but they all have a link to something that they're drawing energy from.

It's small, and hard to spot.

A wretched, trembling figure crouched in the middle of it all.

Meanwhile, the Mindless Ones seem to have been roused from their ritual and several concussive blasts batter at Victoria's shield.

[Will Stanton]

Will, having shifted to blend in a little better, hesitated, making sure Victoria's shield was absorbing the shots. If it was, he'd dash for the figure in the center.

[Narrator]

The Mindless Ones are well and truly distracted, being as one might expect a bit mindless. Victoria's shield is holding for the moment but it's obvious it's taking quite a beating.

The trembling figure is about man-sized, covered in what looks like perhaps a moth-eaten blanket. If it's noticed Will, it gives no indication as of yet.

[Will Stanton]

Will dashed over and tried to grab the figure--preferably running with him out of the clearing without breaking stride.

[Victoria Valentine]

That... would have been useful to notice beforehand.

Victoria could feel the strain on one side of her mind from keeping up the defense. They were all linked, all acting as one... Someone was going to die for all this trouble.

At the moment? She highly suspected it would be her.

She gathered her will and focused on forming a banishing spell, hoping that if she could just take one link out of their circle, it would shatter the summoning and at the very least force it to be started over.

[Narrator]

Will does manage to snag the figure. He's still squirming a bit but he doesn't seem to have much strength to resist. As the blanket slips off the figure's head, Will can tell that he might almost look... handsome, if he wasn't so haggard at the moment.

[Ignacio Magana]

"Can't... can't control them," the man mumbles.

"The sons of the mountain. They call... the father answers."

[Will Stanton]

"Alright, you're going to go night-night while I help the competent wizard."

Will sized the man up, to see what shape he was in. Once he got him a decent safe way away from the action, he would tie him to a tree and go back to help Vickie.

[Ignacio Magana]

He looks like he hasn't slept in a good long while, his eyes bloodshot, a day or more's stubble on his face. He's been battered about, his limbs bruised, but he's stable enough. Will manages to tie him up easily.

"I didn't know... I didn't know..."

[Will Stanton]

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. The good guys have this one now; we'll see to you shortly."

Will dashed back as far as his legs could take him, hoping he was not too late to help Victoria.

[Victoria Valentine]

Victoria-plural managed to make their way down to where Will was, maintaining the shield as she looked to see what Will had found. "Ah, Ignatio," she sighed, looking down at him. "I was really hoping that I wasn't going to find you at the middle of this, darling. Literally in this case." She drew out her dagger and, after scorching the ground to strip it of grass and other things to prevent it, carved a circle into the ground around them, slashing her palm with it to use her blood to draw sigils around it. "I'm going to try to cut his tie to this summoning. That is, if they don't come smashing us down before I can," she said, distractedly, as she worked her way around it.

[Will Stanton]

"I'll give you cover," Will said, enlarging himself a little bit and standing between Victoria and the shambling things.

[Narrator]

The Mindless Ones are quite agitated at this point, converging on where Will and Victoria have taken their special friend. Blasts are flying fast and furious now, some more aimed than others, and a few trees come crashing down.

[Will Stanton]

Will curved himself up and over Victoria, serving as an awning, as he shifted to steel.

"Ow, ow, ow," he said, as branches slammed down onto him.

[Victoria Valentine]

"Just a few more... throw those away from here and I'll buy Robin a pony." Victoria smeared the last bloody rune onto the ground triumphantly. She began chanting, then slapped her bloody hand onto his skin to activate the circle and try to cut the ties. I really hope I don't have to kill him to end this...

[Ignacio Magana]

Victoria manages to cut the ties, and Ignacio slumps forward, finally falling unconscious after being kept unnaturally awake for so long.

[Narrator]

The Mindless Ones howl in despair, cut off from their power source. Frantically they rush back into the circle formation, droning in unison. The giant figure starts to become more solid but Victoria can tell they're spending their own life force to try to complete the summoning. Bright cracks appear in their rocky forms, something Will might recall having happened once before.

[Will Stanton]

"This is not going to be pretty. Whatever you do Victoria, do NOT get into their line of sight. Stay. Behind. Cover."

Will winced, closing his eyes.

[Victoria Valentine]

"Future reference, darling? Something like 'they're about to go berserk' or 'they're about to explode' or 'they're about to create a localized tiny black hole' tend to help me do something about it." She braced for whatever was about to happen. Which, she figured, she probably didn't have time to figure out a counter for before it happened.

[Narrator]

The Mindless Ones pour all of their life force into the summoning, and for a frightful instant Will and Victoria see a giant made of stone looming over the treeline, its head and shoulders like a miniature mountain range, and seven lights in the center of it glowing with the same baleful energy as the Mindless Ones.

Then, the image flickers and fades away. The Mindless Ones start to crumble, first just one or two of them, but the momentum builds to all of them as they falter. They're left empty shells, their legs still intact but their upper bodies tumbling to pieces.

[Will Stanton]

Will shifted down, exposing Victoria and Nacho to the open air again, and took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Everyone alright back there?"

[Victoria Valentine]

"You just rest, darling," Victoria said, "We're both fine." Then she seemed to be struggling with some other thing, an obvious 'should I, shouldn't I' battle going on in her head. "Thank you," she added.

She looked at Nacho, then sighed. "All right. Let's get everyone back to recover and then..." She scowled, then punched Nacho in the stomach, "Be thoroughly interrogated, you great bloody idiot."

[Ignacio Magana]

Ignacio, for his part, doesn't exactly wake up.

He does however evacuate the whole contents of his stomach in an ungodly hurry.

[Will Stanton]

"Ah, the glorious world of the traveling magician.

You know this joker?"

[Victoria Valentine]

"Sadly, yes. In passing, at least. He's another protege of my Mistress, only obviously OUT OF HIS DAMN LEAGUE!" she answered, this last part shouted at Nacho's prone form. She took a deep breath, then looked at Will. "How are you doing, darling?"

[Will Stanton]

"I'm gonna feel sore in the morning, but I'll live.

Your mistress?"

[Victoria Valentine]

"Magical instruction is very... formal," Victoria elaborated. "Let's get him back to heal up a little before I kill him. I have to be a little sporting."

[Will Stanton]

"I assume by kill, you are speaking metaphorically," Will said, hauling Nacho to his feet.

[Victoria Valentine]

Victoria helped haul him toward the front of the park where her car is parked. "...I hope so. Let's leave it at that."

[Will Stanton]

"Do you think this is over? Somehow, I doubt this is over..."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Oh, I'm sure this isn't over. But until he wakes up, I won't have a real idea of what the hell's going on. I have to find out what he did before we can find out what to do to undo it."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, Hotel Xaviers is always open for jerks like this. A little good cop, bad cop, and he'll be spilling his guts all over the floor."