Heroes Uprising: Alternate Universe (Thread 3)

"I've been good as well.    Definitely some ups and downs this semester.    But the True Notes has helped pull me though all the bad times, especially Tanesha and Emmet both.    I can't possibly be thankful enough to have those two in my life."      Sandra knew she didn't have to go into detail as Dave was well aware of the year she's had so far.     Their orders arrived and Sandra took a sip of her tea.    "So what about you, seeing anybody?     I hope holding in your feelings all this time hasn't stopped you from finding love elsewhere."

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Jet agreed with Alice assessment, everybody seemed to be after Sandra Fuller but he could only see two reasons as to why.    Firstly she could be a easier target.    Although secondly it was possible Emmet was relatively unknown.     Either way Troy and their own focus has clearly been on the wrong person all this time.    The tournament showed Emmet clearly has a lot more understanding and skill with his power then Sandra.      Nina wasn't worth mentioning at this time, if she could get control over her abilities then maybe she could get welcomed back.    But right now she's a hazard and a threat.    If she was to cross them now in her current condition, termination order was given.

It seemed Luther was onboard, though there was a feeling he had his own motives for doing so.    "Troy said you are supposed to be good, his recommendation is the only reason I entrusted you with what we know so quickly."

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Tesla was impressed "Well well, looks like there is a person behind all that macho man toughness after all."

Lone Wolf could certainly tell Tesla had lightened up since earlier.

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Katy listened on, these guys was here mere minutes and already had a interesting, to put it lightly, story to tell.

" My, You certainly have a colorful family life, Lithuel " Emmet said with a polite laugh

Riku snorted, but otherwise focused on eating his food. Tabitha was standing behind him, an oak wand pressed against his back. As the teams support specialist, she always inspected her teammates after every mission, checking for injuries or lasting damage. This wasnt a mission from the mages association, but it was still a habit.

It was as she suspected, Riku's entire body was seized in agony, suffering from a type of holy poisoning, though you wouldnt know it given the way he was sitting there calmly stuffing his face. She shook her head, remembering that one of the most terrifying things about the demon was his sheer will power. She sighed softly, never admitting that it was one of her favorite things about him.

He was fighting it off on his own and left to his own devices would have it gone in about three days. But again she was the team medic, normal healing arts wouldnt do anything to him, but she'd been studying unholy healing arts and negative magics. Partly in the small chance that he needed help and also just to see if she could. She muttered a spell under breath and sent waves of negative energy through Riku's body. She could feel his body relax a little in grattitude.

She was listening to the current coversation with mild interest, trying to remember the last time she'd talked to a straight guy and if his mothers bra had entered the conversation. Some of the others were listening to Lithuels story too as they ate their dessert.

" Oh " Emmet said suddenly " I dont believe you've been introduced, this is Tabitha, Shizuka, and Gat, mage associates of Riku's "

" Sup " Gat said

" Arigatou " Shizuka put in

" Yo " Tabitha said distractedly.

" Wow dude thats pretty cool " Garfield said " I think theres a mod in this game i'm playing with Dave and Donnie where you can use a bra to fire nukes " he was a little confused at the mention of Succubus " Isnt that what you are? " he asked Riku

The demon shrugged " I'm an incubus with succubus tendencies, so either is fine..oh that reminds me " he reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace he snack from Agnes " Hey Em, I picked this up recently and thought you might like it " the necklace composed of golden beads with a pendent that showeda disc with rays emanating from a central boss " I think it's supposed to inspired by a piece of babylonian stuff, thats sun

" Shamash, the sun god " Emmet said, big brother Sham, he blinked not sure where that had come from " Um dawling are you sure you want to give that away, you could fetch a lot of money for it "

Riku shook his head " Nope, I have a bunch of other crap to sell, but this, I want you to have it "

Emmet seemed a little reluctant, but he had to admit he felt a certain pull to it " Then I thank you "

Kaiser helped him put it on.

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Noah had run quite a distance, appearing at his distination a few minutes aftr he left Emmets place. Near a town on the other side of Genosha, a fog had set in as he walked towards an old church. He had a lot weighing on his mind, what was he doing? He'd been tasked by the director to come to Genosha and monitor it's demonic activity. Father Anderson had encouraged him to get out around people his own age, one of the reasons he'd signed up for the school.

He didnt hate it, there was a certain enjoyment he received from going to classes, doing homework, and hanging out with the true notes. But was it the right thing? He was in the constant presence of a demon and one of the mages association at that, not to mention protestants, what would Father Anderson say?

He paused and rubbed his forehead, it wasnt like he was a catholic himself, he read the bible and went to services even now, because it made him feel closer, not to god but to the man who had taken him in, raised him, helped him to be strong. Father Anderson was his father, his everything. The man had an enourmass amount of faith and considered himself an instrument of divine punishment. But he was always so kind and gentle, even now when Noah called to report, more often then not Anderson would ask how his school work was going, was he getting along with his classmates?

He had called him a few days ago to report he'd retrieved the stolen holy arms, the amount of pride Anderson seemed to radiate, was made even stronger when Noah told him about the rest of the festival. He started walking again, as he got closer he could see a man drunkenly yelling obsenities and throwing eggs at the church.

" FUCK THE CATHOLIC CHURCH!! " the man screamed

Noah felt like something was missing in his life, something so big and tangible. He didnt know what it was or if it mattered, all he knew was that he was Noah Anderson, an execution of the holy church, or Iscariot and the Judas, he did not follow the church or god, he followed the paladin Alexander Anderson and that was all that mattered.

As he passed the yelling man, his fist lashed out and obliterated his skull " Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Hail Mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee "

" HA, wel said you little brat "

The voice belong to a tall and broad elderly nun with an eyepath over her left eye and a silver pistal in her right hand " You saved me a bullet, Girls get out here and clean up this mess!! "

Several young nuns rushed out of the church and began disposing of the body. Noah nodded at the woman " Mother superior, Mary-Clarence "

" Yeah yeah inside now, we have much to discuss " she went back inside, Noah following after.

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Your mistake Luthor thought to himself, all it took was Troys word and spilled all of this information, were they that short sighted, either way they were useful to him, somewhat " Troy always understates things, I'm sure it seems like I have ulterior motives, it's best to always assume people have ulterior motives because for the most part they do. Whatever my motives may be, their not detrimental to you or your own. I'm here to assist you, anything else isnt your concern " he flicked a card at Jet " My contact information "

A sleek, black limo pulled up, the driver got out and rushed over to ope the door for Luthor " I look forward to working with you all, I'm sure this whole thing will be beneficial for all of us " he climbed in, the driver got back in and drove off.

" He's certainly a dangerous one " Alice mused " I wouldnt say he's necessarily on our side or anyones side but his own and his eyes are those of an appraisers, he measured estimated our worth in a single glance, like a butch deciding which piece of meat would sell best. But I sensed he was being geniune about helping us and not necessarily being detrimental. I'd take it all with a grain of salt, especially since he didnt disclose what his power is "

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Dave blushed deeply when Sandra asked if he'd been seeing anyone. Truthfully his feelings for her had stopped him from thinking about other girls romantically, he hadnt been living as a monk of course, but it hadnt gone past simple hookups, then Emmet came into the picture, and Adrian, Garfield, Donovan, Noah " Uh, it's been kinda strange " he gradually started opening up about his bisexuality and hooking up with Emmet and most of the other guys, on multiple occasions " I dont really know where my feelings are right now, it's all just casual fun but with Emmet.... I kinda feel stuff but then I kinda feel it with Garfield and Donnie too, this all still really new to me "

"That looks good on you" Katy commented as Kaiser put the necklace on Emmet. "You wear a dead old hags leftovers quite well" Tesla chimed in with.

-----

Sandra could relate "I know the feeling, I was confused and scared myself when I started having feelings for Tanesha. I always thought of myself a straight but then seeming out of nowhere this girl comes along and takes my heart. I honestly didn't know what to make of it at first." She smiled as Dave focused more on Emmet, Garfield and Donnie, it seemed Dave had found interest in someone. "Emmet certainly has a charm to him. He's a good man and not a bad pick as long as you don't mind the open relationship."

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"I agree Alice, he's one to keep a eye on. Usually we'd play a longer get to know game before giving out so much info so quickly. Those blasted True Notes are pushing us into a corner though, like cockroaches more and more of them just keep coming. Lets just hope this Luther doesn't come back to bite us in the end." The man felt like he had dark intent to him, Jet doubted he was interested in Adrian's whereabouts just so he could catch up on old times. Luther having a enemy on the other side certainly gave motivation for to stick to his arrangement. Still, it was not a guarantee.

Lone Wolf nodded at Tesla's comment as he ate.
"There always was, I'm just not real open with strangers. Even if I have feelings, I'm cautious."
Scott nodded.
"Yeah, you'll almost never see him have emotional extremes. His mental discipline is off the charts."

Lone Wolf nodded and finished his meal.
"It takes a huge amount of discipline to master All-Fist. As the heir to the style, I had even more responsibility."
Scott smiled as he thought back.
"You'll see the most emotion out of Lone Wolf during a fight. We pushed each other to the limit."

"It sucks that I missed that fight," Eric said.
"I'll telepathically stream it to you later," Marcus said.
"Cool."
Lithuel turned to Emmett as he commented.
"It didn't stay colorful long."
As a teenager the first time, Lithuel had endured a Hell impossible to imagine, and his tone showed it.

Scott could sense the mood darkening and intercepted.
"But things are getting better. Your mom and dad aren't on your back anymore and neither are the Archangels."
"Mom still pushes it every now and then..."
"Just keep saying no."
Lithuel nodded, and Scott held out his fist, which Lithuel bumped with his own.

All five greeted Shizuka, Gat, and Tabitha, introducing themselves.
"Scott Young, codename Crusader, future Defender of Earth 1 and Destroyer."
"Marcus Trelawney, codename Existence, future Professor at the Shadowgreen Institute."
"Lithuel, future Angel and Demon King, as well as future Abolisher of Armageddon."
"Eric Coverdale, codename Spirit Rider, future Guardian of the Wind."
"Codename Lone Wolf, future Grandmaster of the All-Fist martial arts association."

Lithuel turned to Garfield and smiled.
"Is that right? Show me."
"Say, Lithuel," Eric began, "what happened to the nukes you fired?"
"Hm? Oh, they exploded and 'killed' a bunch of Fire Hell soldiers and New Demons, which meant that they had to nap for a few years, no big deal."

Scott finished his meal.
"True, those guys are always killing each other, anyway. Every now and then a few will venture into Earth 1 and get massacred by one of its champions."
This was saying something as combat demons often had thousands, if not millions, of years of fighting experience, yet still got wiped out by non-demons more often than not. As they all chilled in the same room, one could feel the same amount of power felt when they came through the portal, the power that ravaged nature. It wasn't the power of just one individual, but rather the collective power of Earth 1's greatest mortal champions.

Emmet nodded " I see " he sense Lithuel had certainly gone through a lot with his family. His own family life was relatively nice, he adored his mother...........did he? He couldnt explain why, but that didnt seem right to him, Samantha Jones was indeed a wonderful mother....but there was an image forming in his mind, but it couldnt seem to hold form and fell apart, leaving a lingering feeling of resentment . He absentmindedly rubbed his necklace, thanking Katy and Tesla for their compliments

Riku polished off his fourth plate and stretched out a little " Thanks pinky-chan " he told Tabitha once she was finished " Ok think i'm ready for the dessert now "

" I'm a little suprised that your still hungry, given all that you ate earlier " Adrian commented, he'd been relatively quiet, taking in everything the newcomers were saying before losing interest.

" I have ten stomaches " Riku responded in a deadpan tone then grinned at the expression Adrian found himself making " I'm kidding, kinda, I mean I can shift ten stomaches but it would be weird, I just burned a lot of callories is all " he found they were starring at each other a little too long " Careful, shouldnt stare into the abyss for too long "

" Because if you stare for too long the abyss stares back " Adrian said " Do your eyes have some magical effect too them? "

Riku considered his answer " Hmm, something like that,eyes are the windows into the soul as they say and i'm lacking in that department " he smirked at the boy

" Oh, can you see souls? " Adrian was reminded of their conversation earlier, the questions kept coming up, he found himself utterly captivated by the demon.

Riku nodded " Yep, in a way, if I focus then it's like a light coats people, depending on the type of person you can see hints of corruption that varies depending on the person " he dug into his cheesecake happily

Adrian felt tempted to ask him about his parentage, given the conversation with Lithuel, but figured Riku wasnt likely to actually answer about it.

" Sure, no problem " Garfield told Lithuel " I actually need to check for new updates, been having a bad problem with glitches "

" Interesting titles " Tabitha commented as the five introduced themselves, she could practically feel Riku rolling his eyes.

" Whats shadowgreen? " Gat asked Scott " That like a school

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Sister Mary-Clarence led Noah to the back of the church, to a room where the walls were filled with guns, blade, amunition, and holy water. Mary-Clarence took a seat at a table where a large crate was sitting " You know, i've always been very weary of you boy, who wouldt be, a warrior of the church who doesnt even believe in the glory of god. Dont try to deny " she pulled a cigar from her habit and lit it " Alexander can vouch for you all he wants, but it doesnt make up for anything "

Noah stood there and listened, impassioned. This was nothing new, he'd been hearing it since he was young, many of the higher ups in the church were against him based entirely on that fact, it did not matter to him that he excelled in combat, could tap into holy energy as well as any of ther warrior of the church, that he was broke records. It wasnt as if he hadnt tried, he read the bible, memorized them and other sacred text. But it could not force him to have faith in this god that they all worshipped and revered.

It had caused him much pain, mainly because he felt like he was letting his adoptive father down, but father Anderson sat him down one day and asked if he believed in the churches work, in his work and Noah had said yes, thinking back to that, the wording seemed off. But it didnt matter now " My work speaks for itself, I'm commited to the church and helping spread the catholic faith by protecting it, my own faith need not enter into the equation, I am the weapon of a weapon of god "

Mary-Clarence took a long drag from her cigar, the smoke filling the room " So a mere attack dog is it, HA, getting to bussiness. Alexander had this sent for you " she gestured for him to open the crate.

He pried the lid off and gasped....bayonets....blessed bayonets, the crate was filled with them. They were Alexander Andersons main weapons, what he was known for. Growing up Noah had seen them used countless times and was always in awe. Was he to have his own now? He was given black keys, they were more or less the same and had added effects, but this wasnt about simply what was more useful, not this was so much more.

" Alexander wanted these given to you as a present, but you see I argued that you werent worthy of them, so he left to my discretion to offer a test you see "

Noahs head snapped up, his expression manic for a moment before slipping back into a calm mask " What is the test "

Mad dog, Mary-Clarence thought to herself " A vampire and his human lover have taken over one of our churches, their preaching and holding sermons, drawing people to them and poisoning their minds. Go to the church and deliver judgement upon everyone in the building, destroy and burn the building to the ground so that it may be cleansed, do you accept this test? "

Noah nodded without hesitation " I do "

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Dave wondered if he'd be ok with an open relationship, he'd never thought about it before. Whenever relationships did cross his mind, it was one of monogamy, getting married, having kids, that whole thing. But now that his world had been turned upside down, he wasnt sure anymore " Yeah, he's a great guy, I just dont know where my mind is or his for that matter. Emmet doesnt really seem like he wants a romantic relationship, almost like he kinda hates them for some reason but I'm not sure if I wanna ask why "

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After venuring around the festival a bit longer Tanesha asked Cassandra if she was ready to head back yet.

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" These newcomers are bothering me " Alice to Jet " Specifically the lack of information we have. They were ready to take on Karen without knowing what she can do, that suggest a great confidence or simple stupidity. Either way I think we need to be weary, even the best laid plan can be overturn with sudden intrusions "

Sandra thought about Dave's words "I suppose it's always possible he had prior relations that went sour." It was hard to say, any troubles Emmet did have he wore close to his sleeve, rarely did Emmet let slip that he wasn't in control or that something bothered him. "Regardless, whatever Emmets issues is are his own, he'll inquire to own help when or if he needs it. For now we should probably swing this conversation in new direction, after all it isn't polite to talk about our friends behind their backs right?" Sandra gave a pleasant smile, and he willingness to move on to a new subject suggested she wasn't worried about Emmet and that he'd be alright. "So Dave how about this weeks festival? You have any favorite attractions from this past week?"

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There was so much to see and do but Cassandra realized due to her late arrival she'd have to wait until next year to do a lot of it. When asked if she wanted to head back Cass gave Tanesha a nod "sure. I hope everything went alright today on their end."

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"I understand your concern, one unknown X Factor is bad enough, and we have four to contend with." Jet said in response.

Lithuel didn't fully understand what Garfield was talking about, but he went with it. Sitting down, he examined the game console that was supposed to run this game. It seemed to be similar in function to a computer but much more portable. Video games weren't a thing in the part of Hell he came from, and he didn't know any demons who were 'gamers'. Sitting down in a chair, he let Garfield start the game up. While most of his past was worth leaving there, this childhood shenanigan was worth a revisit.

Scott looked over at Tabitha after her comment.
"Yeah, being time warped is a weird thing."
"Especially going from being elderly to being back to your teenage self," Marcus added.
"Look at it this way, Marcus," Eric said, " You get to enjoy technology as a young man that they didn't have in the '50's."
Marcus gave a head tilt that said 'maybe so' while Lone Wolf finished eating. At Gat's question, Marcus let Scott take it.

"Shadowgreen is a haven for mutants and enhanced humans. It is its own nation state, a school, a workplace, and home to many who cannot or will not live in regular human society. It exists within the country of France by treaty with that government and has UN representation. Shadowgreen was founded in 1950 as a response to extreme bigotry toward mutants and has grown and thrived over the decades. Today Shadowgreen seeks to create a world where mutants and humans coexist in harmony, but that is easier said than done. We also have an alliance with a sister school for mages called the Wintergreen Institute, which moves around a lot but is often across the Channel in England."

Scott picked up another bowl.
"There's a lot more to it, of course, but that's a short version."
"Lone Wolf, Lithuel, and I don't come from Shadowgreen but we have our own schools," Eric added, "in my case, my father was a Guardian of the Water and wanted me to go to Guardian School."
"I was raised within All-Fist and knew from a young age that I would be its Grandmaster someday."
Lithuel elected not to share his background, not being eager to discuss it.
"We all took different paths in life, and we're just doing our best every day," Scott said before eating.

" The games called Saints Row 5: The Sainting, the name sucks but the games pretty solid " Garfield gave Lithuel a minor breakdown of the games plot, basically the leader of a global street gang on a time trave adventure.

Emmet sipped the sparking cider one of the caterers poured for him " Hmm, this shadowgreen doesnt sound much different then our Genosha. It was founded for similar reasons and while the island is predominantly mutant, humans are welcomed and allowed to live here. The world as a whole appears to be in a state of something close to peace between humans and mutants or at the least not excessively aggressive towards the others "

Riku snorted " So it seems, it's all a farce, if you really think about it. Historically humanity hasnt been known to be the kindest of species, nor the most willing to be accepting of those that are different, even among their own. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, it's all pretty abundant, unless you fit in a specific race that is. Mutants arent much better in that regard, their just shaking hands and smiling at each other because being cordial is usually the best policy for people you dont like, opposing each other but tied together through violence " he spoke as if he thought the whole thing was a riot, a spectator waiting for a show.

" Ah, wintergreen sounds like our school kinda " Gat said after the explanation.

" It does " Tabitha agreed, she was a little curious as to what it must be like.

Suddenly Rikus phone started ringing, he checked and saw it was Tanesha " Hey bitch, whatchu want? "

" Emmet texted me that you were back from the mission, were finished at the festival "

Riku raised an eyebrow " Ok, what the fuck am I supposed to do with this information? "

" Hooker just bring us back to Emmets place "

" You hoes better call a damn uber, do I like a taxi to you? "

" The way you let niggas into that bussy, yes bitch you are a damn taxi "

" Look here hood rat, your absolutely right! "

A void opened up in the kitchen, Tanesha, Cassandra, Tyrone, Victoria, and Kano walking through it "Thanks you basic bitch " Tanesha told Riku

" Your welcome you jealous cunt, that'll be fifty bucks " He held up a hand and Tanesha slapped him five.

" You'll get it Febuary 31st " she told him " So i'm guessing your ratchet ass succeeded in the thing did "

" Naturally bitch, naturally " Riku said with a grin "

" Good show my friend, you must regail of your conquest " Kano said, taking a seat at the table.

" I'll spill the tea later " he said easily

Tanesha looked around the kitchen " Where's Sandra "

" She and Dave went out to get some tea " Emmet informed her " They are rekindling their friendship " he found this idea very pleasing and on the verge of actually admitting his full reasoning.

" That better be all he's trying to do " Tanesha said as she accepted the bowl of ice cream. She didnt have anything against Dave, but his crush bordered on creepy sometimes, Sandra of course could take care of herself, but she was ready to throw hands if need be.

" I can assure that Daves intents with Sandra are nothing but friendship and his romantic feelings have been put to rest " Emmet explained to her " You need not worry dawling “

“ Newcomers, have you had any success in contacting your home “ Kano asked Scott and the others.
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A bad previous relationship? That made sense, but what happened in this relationship?

" The festival was pretty fun, most exciting one i've been too. I liked the rollercoaster, fastest one they've had yet, the tournament was awesome, watching you guys perform on the first day, the food was pretty good overall "

"Oh yea the tournament. I still can't believe both myself and Tanesha lost 2v1 against Nina. That girl hits freaking hard, and is fast to. I dunno if Ms. Goodmen will sign us up for next years tournament, but if we ever have a rematch I definitely intend to be more ready." Sandra raised a hand to rub the side of her neck, was she ever thankful she was already passed out when Nina had bite into her. Hearing about it after the fact was scary enough, going though it first hand would of been horrifying. Still, it would of been nothing in comparison to that one. Karen, the name alone is enough to make Sandra's blood boil. She snapped out of her thoughts when she felt something, seeing Dave had reached out to place his hand on hers in a comforting fashion. He asked if she was alright, saying Sandra had zoned out for a few seconds. "Oh, yea I'm fine. Just em, memories, you know how it is."

Going by Sandra's expression he doubted she was recalling good memories, but considering everything she went though and her PTSD reaction to Riku's slaughter, Dave wondered if it wasn't for the best to just move on and not reopen old wounds. Sandra would speak up again trying to steer things back in the direction of the festival. "I agree with you though, the rollercoaster was wild."

Sandra smiled remembering how scared they was when they first found Cassandra clinging to life on the beach. That girl turned out to be so innocent and sweet, looking back on it now it gave Sandra such a warm feeling that she and Tani actually helped save a life. She looked at Dave, maybe it was time to get this out of the way. "Dave you remember that I wanted to ask you something right? While it's been fun catching up, I just have to know. How do you feel about Cassandra? It seems like you really started going out of your way to avoid after she showed up. If she makes you uncomfortable I'm going to need to know as there is a high possibility she'll be hanging around with us a lot."

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Cassandra still found it so strange how Tanesha and Riku spoke to each other, they where friends but insulted each other? Life outside the lab was strange. She seen Scott and his friends had joined. She hadn't noticed until Tani spoke up that Sandra wasn't in the room. She sounded worried about Sandra being gone out with Dave though Emmet seemed to reassure them everything was alright. As they found a seat Cassandra found herself having to ask "So Tanesha what's the story between Sandra and Dave? You don't sound like you trust him."

Lithuel listened as Garfield explained the game. He agreed that the subtitle sucked, but the game sounded interesting. Scott listened to Emmett's words and nodded.
"It's great that this dimension has something similar to Shadowgreen. Not too many humans have ever come to Shadowgreen, and we are still working toward better relations. Unfortunately, there are still humans within my own world that want a complete genocide of mutants in the name of 'purifying' humanity."

Scott patiently listened to Riku's rant, knowing he had some valid points but not ascribing to that viewpoint. Everyone was entitled to their own opinion, and for his part, Scott would do his best to promote positivity. When Gat spoke up, Scott turned to him.
"That's cool. I've only been to Wintergreen a few times but it's a good school. Some of their mages are insanely powerful and their school kind of has a friendly rivalry with us, but we've always worked together to oppose those that hate us for whatever reason."

As Riku did his thing, Eric decided to take up the conversation.
"As I said, I'm a Guardian, specifically of the Wind. Every element has a God, and that God needs somebody to handle legwork. My family have been Guardians going back centuries, and so it was never a question that I would go to the Guardian Academy, which is in a different dimension from Earth 1. After I graduated, I became Guardian of the Wind under the Wind God, and so I spend most of my time dimension hopping to make sure that no one abuses the wind. It's the best job ever, really."

"Except that it doesn't leave much time for video games," Scott said with a grin.
"True, but I make bank, so I can buy all the games I want."
As Eric kicked back, Kano would ask his question. Scott let Marcus field that one, as he knew the most about it.
"Unfortunately, we have not been able to. It seems that a powerful enemy has trapped us here."

Marcus crossed his arms.
"I still do not know how we came to be here, but a young man of power incalculable is keeping us from even contacting anyone. I am unable to discern his name or intentions."
Scott's face darkned.
"Something about him feels very...disturbing."
Even Lithuel's face seemed grave at the mention of their mysterious enemy.

---

Scott crossed his arms as he thought about Kiya's question.
"Admittedly, it's outside of what I usually deal with."
He lowered his arms.
"However, my teacher Chiang has dealt with many vengeful and demonic spirits. Perhaps we could ask him for guidance on what kind of spirit we are dealing with."
Scott knew that spirits could be incredibly dangerous, so he wanted to handle it in the safest way possible.

" Dave has always had a thing for Sandra, though she wasnt feeling him that way, then me and Sandra started dating, he never seemed to have anything againstme, but he was always around and just the way he reacted to stuff about her just seemed weird. Overall I dont hate the guy and if he's moved on then yeah we'll be cool " Tanesha explained to Cassandra

Some of the others listened as Eric explained his job as wind guardian "Wow,you must have seen a lot of interesting things " Victoria commented " Whats the best place you've been too so far? "

Kano listened to Marcus's explanation, his expression becoming serious " That is forboding news indeed, it would take immense power over dimentional planes to achieve "

" It also comes down to motives " Emmet said " What does this person stand to gain by keeping you trapped here? Perhaps an archnemesis of yours "

Riku yawned and stretched out " Well that sounds like a personal problem, good luck with that " He hopped out of his chair " Thanks for the grub, but my people and I will get going, autobots roll out! "

" Just a moment dawling " Emmet said just as Riku was about to open a void " Do you think you could help me with something in my room before you leave? "

" Sure " Riku said automatically

A few moments later Emmet was sitting on his bed, watching Riku stand in the middle of the room and working a spell, mythical energy bathing the room in a dark blue sheen for a moment " There you go, room is now soundproof, I extended it to your bathroom and super closet too "

" You have my thanks, though i'll still use my dorm room at the school, i'll primarily be here, seems prudent to have the sound covered with the company i'm hosting "

Riku grinned " Oh yeah, dont want the breeders hearing all that raunchy, wall banging, gay sex "

" Dawling, now dont be vulgar " Emmet said with a slight smirk on his face.

Riku threw himself into a chair " Thats like asking Tesla not to be simple minded, not really gonna happen " he relaxed in the chair, it felt really comfy to his ass.

Emmet watched him for a moment before speaking " Since we have the privacy now, allow me to thank you for your hard work today, you were marvelous, simply amazing "

Riku's grin grew " Wasnt I just, dont be shy with the praise now "

" I wouldnt dream of it, you certainly deserve it, from navigating your way through the festival as Sandra, helping Dave with his problems, getting captured, and then carving a bloody path through the tower, I must say your certainly a virtuoso of violence, demonstrated further in your battle against the fallen paladin "

Riku, who's head had literally swollen up, just bobbed it " Virtuoso of violence, Nice I gotta start using that "

" May I ask you something? " Emmet moved to sit in the chair opposite of the demon.

" Shoot " Riku said, poking his head and making it deflate

" Hmm, why did you pose that option or rather question to Sandra? " Emmet could already deduce the answer, but still wanted to hear Riku's thoughts.

Riku shrugged " Mostly just to mess with her, though I have to say she genuinely suprised me with her answer. I was all ready to hear a bunch of blubbering about not wanting to stoop to the old broads level and being better and all that other bilge. But then she said completely different and I got a real laugh out of it. Obviously the decision was never trully hers, but Sandra's not really the type to figure that out "

" No, your certainly an unpredictable fellow " Emmet agreed

" Well I have to keep these bitches guessing dont I? I already had a good idea of how I wanted to go abut things from the start of the mission and I wasnt about to deviate from it too much, but something does occur to me.....maybe I posed this question to the wrong person " Riku smiled darkly as he trained his gaze on Emmet " This mission was for Sandra, but she's not the one who ordered it, that would be the leader, you "

Emmet noted that room had become darker, more foreboding, out the corner of his eye he could see something large and red slithering across the wall " I dont know how much of a leader i'd consider myself, when it comes to our glee activities then yes, but for things like this..." he trailed off for a moment

" Your the leader, everyone basically accepts it, you have all the authority of it, but theres also the consequences as well " his smile grew bigger, showing his rows of razor sharp teeth " You willingly called on me, for this specific kind of mission and let me loose on all those poor unsuspecting people. Obviously all of them werent innocent, they took this job knowing it entailed, except.....do you think it was the same for all of them? "

Emmet shook his head " I dont, given how sloppy the whole set up was, it wouldnt be suprising if not everyone had the full story, let alone the bare minimum, I'd been considering this when Adrian first brought us the information, this was a rush job and it showed. Large eyes had appeared within the red and darkness that now filled the room, there was a pressure now.

" Oh I know for sure, but it didnt matter to me, I slaughtered them all, laughed at the please for mercy, the assinine mentions of family and loved ones, I killed them all, without a hint of hesitation or an ounce of regret, because i'm a monster. But as for you, who ordered me there, where does that put you? "

" I'm certainly not innocent dawling, I took no pleasure in massacre " is that true? he thought back to Riku's rampage and he'd been invested, interested, intriuged " I know your methods and and that you would enjoy yourself, that could be said to be part of the reason I pushed forward with the plan "

Riku cocked his head to the side " How sweet of you, I certainly did enjoy myself, thank you. Question is, could you do it again, send me out to smite whoever would oppose the group, could you shoulder that all crushing weight on your wittle conscience? Not just today or with me, but that island and Darren Sheets little excuse of an army, you could have just gone with the others and made sure Sandra was fine. But you stayed behind for the battle, you were glorious, but can you keep it up or will you falter, everything you need is ready and waiting, i'm right here, but will you pull the trigger? answer me Emmet Alexander Jones! "

Riku's words echoed through the room that had been completely taken over the darkness, the eyes were all looking at Emmet, expectantly, he took a breath, the pressure bearing down on him, but he kept his gaze on Riku, the demons blackened eyes glowing red. It occured to him what this was really about for Riku, what it meant for Emmet, he wouldnt dissapapoint. He slowly raised a hand then slammed it down on the table.

" Dont you dare question my resolve!! I dispatched you and i'll do it again as the situation requires, bear this now your orders, search and destroy, search and destroy!! any resistance you encounter is to be crushed, we do not run from our enemies, kill them all!! I order you to leave nothing but bloody stains in your wake!! "

Riku was absolutely floored, he was grinning like a fool and soon burst into a bout of psychotic laughter " HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, Yes! even now, even this you, you still possess it, that all encompassing and all consuming force! Well then as you order, I shall do as such, please enjoy the show "

Emmet nodded " I shall, bring the curtains down with the blood of many "

The darkness receded back and the room returned to normal, Emmet and Riku sat back in their seats for a moment before both burst into laughter.

" Thanx for that " Riku said after the laughter had died down

" No problem dawling, I love a good scene and that was excellent " Emmet had figured out that Riku wanted a big theatrical, and dramatic moment, of which he was happy to supply " It's nice to know I can count on you for such things "

" Well me, Kaiser, pedo priest, mutated bird, Kano, and Adrian, but yeah I'm definetly the main one, but given the new additions, that just might not be necessary anymore " Riku said idly as he inspected his nails.

Emmet could see who he was referring too " Which is your take on them? "

Riku thought for a moment, or pretended too " Theres no danger in them trying something shady like backstabbing or betraying or anything cool like that. Doesnt mean we should handout decoder rings or the password to the club house mind you. They'll get along with the people in the group, not me of course "

Emmet smiled " You dont seem too fond of them "

Riku returned the smile " Absolutely not, i'm pretty good at reading people what i've read so far is enough for me to not hate them because their not relevant enough for hatred, but simply not like, dislike you might say, anyway i'm not going out of my way to hangout or be nice to them "

" Dawling I would think you were losing your touch if you did that " Emmet giggled, then a thought came to him, he pulled out his phone and made a few text messages " I think another reward is do, can you take us to my friend Chic's club? "

Riku raised an eyebrow, but opened a void " Sure, am I gonna like this reward? "

" Your going to love it! "

A moment later the two of them were standing on the stage inside club ecstacy, music blaring as they stepped up to the two mikes set up, three drag queens stood behind them for backup vocals. The dj yelled out an announcement for them

" We got a special treat here folks, THE Emmet Alexander Jones is here to slay us with his sick vocals, but he didnt come alone, be brought along his budy Riku " Virtuoso of violence " Darkholme, get ready cause they didnt come to play. A beat started, running in the vein of acid jazz

Emmet, Riku, backup singers:
No more heroes, it's kill or be killed

Look after nobody but yourself - nothin' else to do

No more heroes, no time to stand still

If you are gonna be the number 1 (Riku it's kill or be killed!)


Emmet:
He's just another kid, gonna try and go test his luck girl

I know Christel, what it is you're thinkin'

The boy is there for you, use him up and then throw him out

He'll do what it is you're wanting


Riku and backup singers:
You got a sexy body, LB Dollar power

You got the people giving, always your own way

You got a sexy body, LB Dollar power

Don't look now that boy could take it away (Don't let go)



What are you really feeling (or lose control) when your own at night?

If i could get inside your head

Emmet:
Do you really wanna go on living, without knowing love?

Is it too late?


Emmet, Riku, backup singers:
No more heroes, it's kill or be killed

Look after nobody but yourself - nothin' else to do

No more heroes, no time to stand still

If you are gonna be the number 1.


Riku:
Don't think that he can't see, with his boots and his dirty jeans now

The kind of trick that I know you're pulling

He's got that cheeky smile, arrogance out of every seam

Is this somethin more than business?


Emmet and backup singers:
You got a sexy body, LB Dollar power

You gotta keep on fighting, where others never stay

You got a sexy body, LB Dollar power

Don't look now that boy could take it away (Don't let go)



What are you really feeling (or lose control) when your own at night?

If i could get inside your head

Riku:
Do you really wanna go on living, without knowing love?

Is it too late?


Emmet, Riku, backup singers:
No more heroes, it's kill or be killed

Look after nobody but yourself - nothin' else to do

No more heroes, no time to stand still

If you are gonna be the number 1.



Riku:
Christel she got it all, the looks, the spice, the un-meltable ice,

and those false compliments with her French accent

No love for this Otaku assassin, pulls me up just to send me crashin

Indifference is easy, if it doesn't bother you

Take what you can - then leave

Cos there's no more heroes, yeah, there's no more heroes

Nowhere to go for your Jedi-minded egos

No more heroes, yeah, no more heroes

There's nowhere to go, for your Jedi-minded egos


Emmet and backup singers:
Don't let go, or lose control

Don't let go, or lose control, inside your head.


Emmet, Riku, and backup singers:
No more heroes, it's kill or be killed

Look after nobody but yourself - nothin' else to do

No more heroes, no time to stand still

If you are gonna be the number 1 (3x)




The crowd went crazy as the two put on a killer show, their vocals were amazing, but their dancing was really pulling the crowd in, it was a perfect combination. At the end they joined hands and took a bow. A moment later a void opened in Emmets kitchen, the two walking out of it.

" Uh, did you guys go somewhere? " Victoria, referring to what sounded like a crowd cheering as Riku's void closed.

" Well dawling we were having a pleasant converation and we somehow found ourselves performing on a stage for an enthuisastic audience " Emmet said matter o factly. The True Notes more less accepted this, it made perfect sense.

" Well continuing on from what I was saying before, autobots roll out " he left with Tabitha, Gat, and Shizuka through another void.

-----------------------------------------------

Dave was a little taken aback when Cassandra was brought up, given all the events of the day, he'd honestly forgotten all about the girl. But bringing her up now, he remembered the first time he'd seen her, it had been jarring seeing a second girl who looked exactly like Sandra. But it wasnt the girl herself he'd been unnerved by, more so the vision that had hit him. Of the two identical girls, locked in deadly combat. But they appeared to be older and so much stronger.

" I dont have anything against her, I was just shocked and didnt really know how to react, I hope I didnt hurt her feelings or anything " Dave answered, he couldnt bring this up, not yet, he still neded to figure out what was going on.

"Oh I see. Must suck having somebody else have feelings for your girl, I can understand how you'd be worried." Knowing that Cass hoped everything was going well with Sandra.

-----

Sandra could tell Dave was still hiding something, truthfully she wanted to take a look for herself. At the same time though she and Dave had just started mending their relationship and Sandra feared taking liberties with her powers would only distance him from her once again, so because of that she made the effort to say out of Dave's thoughts. "Considering how far back we go you know for sure I don't have a twin sister, I don't even have a regular sister. I'm a only child. So yea, I imagine it was fairly jarring to suddenly see two of me. I do hope you are willing to get past that though. Casandra has lived the bulk of her life in pods and test tubes, she'd never been outside the lab before we destroyed it and she washed up on Genosha. She's new to the world and is experiencing many things for the first time.

The bulk of us is stuck here on Genosha. Sure we have Riku but you know how it is, Riku is going to be Riku. Scott and his friends while they seem nice, they are still new to us. But you Dave, your both a good soul and a proven loyal friend. If you'd ever be up for it, imagine what you could show Cassandra that maybe many of us can't? You are obligated to nothing by any means, but if I had first pick of somebody for Cassandra to go on a adventure with, Dave there is nobody I'd put more trust and faith in then you."

-----

During the time Riku and Emmet had been gone Katy had found her way over by Lone Wolf. "So big man your some kind of super martial arts master right? I like to fancy myself a bit of fighter also, would you care to elaborate on this All-Fist style you practice?" Katy could not recall ever hearing of such a style, she assumed it must be something exclusive to back on Scott's world. If it ever did exist in this world then Katy was pretty sure nobody still alive knew it. So it was rather intriguing what this All-Fist stuff was all about.

-----

"Sounds like as good plan as any" Kiya slammed the hood down insuring the latch was secure and she got into the passenger seat. "You drive. With any luck this I presume Master Chiang can help us solve this. So far this spirit has not physically attacked, relying instead on ghostly illusions. However with how it was able to disrupt anything electronic that was near it, the spirit itself is no illusion and is most certainly real."

Eric smiled at Victoria's question.
"That is a hard question, as I've seen many beautiful and incredible places."
He thought it over.
"The best place would probably be this dimension where these humanoids had advanced far enough to solidify clouds and build cities out of them. They desalinated the oceans to get drinking water that will last, converted all land into farmland to have food that will last, and produced no pollution from their cloud cities. I couldn't speak their language, so I don't know what their dimension is called, so I nicknamed it Cloudtopia and charted it as being 263 million dimensions northeast of Earth 1."

Marcus nodded at Kano's words.
"Exactly. We do know that he isn't mortal, as no mortal could keep out our combined power for this long. That means at the very least we are dealing with a god, though I am unable to contact allied gods in order to verify this. What concerns me greatly is the precision of this attack, as we were caught unaware and stranded here to perfection. A mysterious enemy that could pull that off is highly dangerous and could be doing irrevocable damage to Earth 1 as we speak."

Scott responded after Emmett's contribution.
"Unfortunately, he stands to gain everything. We are the five strongest defenders of Earth 1, and so removing us makes it much easier to conquer our world. The gods are forbidden from interfering directly with our world, so a strong enough enemy wins our world with minimum struggle. It's definitely an archnemesis move, but the problem is that we don't know him. Not knowing who our enemy is means that we can't yet overcome him."

It was during this sense of frustration that Katy lightened the mood. Lone Wolf's eyes lit up, always pleased to share knowledge with those who wanted to learn.
"Super martial arts master is grandiose but accurate. Put simply, All-Fist is every martial art that has ever existed on Earth 1, from Karate to Capoiera and everything in between. Every martial art was founded by an ancestor, who passed those teachings down the family line. My great grandfather, Wise Wolf, founded the All-Fist Dojo to spread my family's arts to the world."

Eric took a sip of soda.
"Basically, Lone Wolf here is the top martial artist of Earth 1. Everyone who practices martial arts there is his student since he is the Grandmaster of All-Fist. The Wolf family is the Royal Family of martial arts, with an unbroken line of succession going back to the very dawn of humanity. Anyone who wants to learn martial arts hits the jackpot when meeting Lone Wolf."
Scott gave a smirk warning that he was about to troll Lone Wolf.

"Yeah, but I'm a master of All-Fist, too...and beat you."
Lone Wolf's face became like stone.
"That kick was pure luck."
"Still knocked your ass out," Scott mouthed.
"It won't work a second time. I'm kicking your ass in a rematch, so just know that."

The two glared hard at each other, then bust out laughing together. Eric rolled his eyes with a smile.
"They always roast each other like that," he explained.
Scott turned to Katy.
"I learned All-Fist from the Fire God to save my planet from an alien invasion, so that's how a second All-Fist master came to be. The 21st century is the first time that two All-Fist masters have existed at the same time."

Marcus snapped his fingers and two spotlights illuminated Lone Wolf and Scott.
"Lo, and so a fight to the death loomed on the horizon, for there could be only one!"
Lone Wolf and Scott face-palmed.
"Too much?"
They both nodded. Marcus shrugged and turned off the spotlight.

Lone Wolf turned to Katy, his eyes noting her body.
"Yes, I see ten styles just at first glance that your body type could accommodate and master. Right now I see you performing masterful Kickboxing combos and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu locks."
"I was thinking Muay Thai and Wrestling," Scott said.
"I feel sorry for any future opponents you have if those two train you," Lithuel said.
Katy had basically found an all-she-could-eat in terms of learning to fight.

Emmett and Riku then disappeared, only to reappear later. The boys all recognized the look of joy after a performance and were happy for them. They gave pleasant goodbyes to Riku, Tabitha, Gat, and Shizuka as they left. Lithuel began talking about the game with Garfield. Lone Wolf told Tesla that he had an aggressive style called Wing Chun that she could use, obviously fully willing to augment everyone with badass martial arts skill. Marcus found it entirely in character that Scott and Lone Wolf would still work combat into anything, since they seemed to live and breathe fighting.

----

Scott nodded.
"Yes, this spirit is definitely real and potentially dangerous. That's why we need an expert in these matters."
Scott began driving, mentally contacting Chiang to open a portal to Nirvana. A white portal burst into view and Scott drove through it before it closed behind him. Looking around, Kiya would feel like they were in ancient China.

"This is Nirvana, the Buddhist afterlife. Every soul here has attained Enlightenment and only seek to live in peace. However, Chiang Kaishu is a special Bodhisattva, or teacher, authorized by Buddha to assist in worldly affairs. I spent a lot of time here as a young man learning martial arts, mediation, and philosophy. However, I also recently learned that Chiang is an Exorcist in the Eastern style and can deal with spirits. He will be along in a minute to greet us."

In the surroundings, Scott's SUV looked extremely out of place. The land was unspoiled and harmonious, nature undisturbed. The temple, in fact, seemed to be one with it. The smell of incense was heavy in the air. Such purity had a calming effect, and Scott seemed at ease. Pleasant memories filled his mind, particularly long talks with Chiang over tea that lifted the soul to transcendent heights.

Katy was really expecting both of them to offer up their services just like that, she didn't even really ask for their help and was just trying to start conversation so it took her a bit by surprise. "Oh um thanks. Muay Thai and Wrestling sounds like a nice combination, that's generally what the fighters of MMA use isn't it?" She had to admit she wasn't really sure, she didn't didn't really follow MMA as much as she'd like to.

-----

Kiya took in the surroundings, it was nice. "It's a shame really, my soul will never find a place like this. I could work with you for the next hundred years and it won't atone for what I've done over my life as a mercenary. Oh well all choices in life has their due consequences, I'll face mine eventually." Kiya opened the door and got out of the vehicle taking a better look around as they waited for Chiang"

Scott could tell that Katy was a bit surprised and smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, I got a bit carried away with my love of martial arts. If you don't want training, you don't have to have it."
"Right," Lone Wolf added, "We don't want to push anything on you."
Eric smiled, as well, trying to further smooth things over.
"Fighting and training is a big part of our lifestyle, so sometimes the excitement to do it gets the better of us."

Scott let Lone Wolf field Katy's question, since this was technically his family they were talking about.
"Yes, MMA fighters generally use Muay Thai and Wrestling, though Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is also very popular. Muay Thai and Wrestling are generally offensive, while BJJ is generally defensive."
Scott took a seat to relax as Lone Wolf continued.
"Those styles are good for MMA and self-defense in a real-world situation. Admittedly, they're not my specialty."

Scott took his cue.
"Lone Wolf specializes in Japanese martial arts, so he primarily uses Kyokushinkai Karate and Judo. I primarily use both Muay Thai and BJJ, since I don't actively take my opponents to the ground like a pure grappler, so I might be better suited to teach them to you. If you want to learn Wrestling, I can teach you, but I wouldn't focus on it unless you plan to take your opponent to the ground like a pure grappler. If you prefer to strike, BJJ is better since you'll use it to defend yourself from an opponent taking you to the ground and use it to stand back up and keep striking, keep them on the ground and strike, or submit them on the ground."
Although Scott had never fought professionally, BJJ had won him many fights at Shadowgreen when he was younger, so he knew it inside and out.

Lone Wolf nodded.
"There are many martial arts and you have plenty of time to learn. Although practicality advocates knowing both a striking and grappling style, I advise learning one style at a time. Every martial art is complicated and very few people truly master even one style in a single lifetime. You'll have your hands full with training, so don't bite off more than you can chew."
Lone Wolf spoke wisely, as even true masters of the martial arts like he and Scott could learn more in their lifetimes, particularly the immortal Scott, who might see new martial arts developed by Lone Wolf's great grandson.

----

Scott also got out of the car.
"Why do you think that? Because good people get a good afterlife and bad people get a bad afterlife? That's a human lie and not true at all. There's an afterlife for everybody and it's good no matter who you are. From the perspective of a truly bad person, even Hell is like Heaven because they can kill and do whatever to their heart's content. Atheists create their own good afterlife since they believed in no deity. God doesn't decide your afterlife, you do, so if you want a place like Nirvana, create one for yourself if you pass on."

As a Destroyer in service to God, Scott knew things that no living mortal did. While they debated the existence of God and Heaven, he strode its streets and talked to Him. While organized religion screamed damnation for the homosexual, Scott knew that no deity actually cared about human sexuality at all. While organized religion advocated for prayer, Scott knew that the deities could not act directly and used champions like him instead. While organized religion used books to claim to speak for deities, Scott knew that their books were lies. No one had been witness to the true creation of the world, only knowing a scant few bits of the actual truth that they filled in with misinformation and passed off as the actual truth.

However, no deity would interfere with human beliefs. Doing so in the past flooded the world accidentally and led to the tragic death of most of mankind. Forced to start over, they created a Cosmic Order that outlawed Gods from setting foot on a mortal plane. Demigods had a heyday but ultimately died out and were eventually outlawed by the Cosmic Order, as well. In the modern era, only those who are not Gods or a blood relation to them are allowed on Earth 1. In a case of there being an exception to every rule, Alan the Fire God is allowed on Earth 1 because he was born a mortal with no blood relation to a God.

So it was that in a world without Gods, mutants and enhanced humans were poised to be humanity's saviors. However, bigotry prevented that and forced the creation of Shadowgreen. In a mixed blessing, this created the new champions of the people, mortals who stood at the top of Earth 1's hierarchy: Marcus Trelawney (Existence), Alan Arnan (Solaris), and Scott Young (Crusader), amongst others not affiliated with Shadowgreen or on the level of these three. Rather than saviors, they became heroes and either Gods or champions of Gods. Thus, now what lay before them was the challenge to end bigotry, not an easy task with people like the Mutant-Free Movement calling for a mutant genocide and an end to enhanced humans. Thankfully, the world was becoming more open-minded, so much so that even Mages, also long hated and misunderstood, were beginning to consider contact with regular humans.

"Wow hey now, I never said I wasn't interested. I just wasn't expecting you guys to offer up your services so easily." Katy thought about the advice the two was giving out and what would best improve on her current skills. "While Scott's offer sounds very tempting, I think I'll have to go with Lone Wolf's proposal of learning kickboxing and some Jiu-Jitsu."

-----

What Scott said was certainly interesting. "Well, luckily I still have lots of time to figure out what kind of afterlife I want." While Kiya's life was artificially extended, she was not immortal. She may last centuries, or many more decades at the least. But at the end of the day human technology and medical science has it's limit, and while Kiya is mostly mechanical she still retains one human organ and when that goes, so does Kiya. Some scientists do think Kiya is immortal, in theory the nano-tech will constantly undo all ill effects aging may cost, keeping Kiya in prime condition forever. But Kiya kinda had her doubts. Who to say the nano-tech itself someday won't wear out? "Well morality and afterlife aside, how long are we going to have to wait?"

As the Vatican jet neared the town, Noah jumped from it and free falled. As he neared the ground his light aura flared up and fired a few blast to propell him upward, allowing him to flip through the air and land on his feet. He sped to the town in question and found it it was empty, save for the church that was lit up. He ran to the church, pausing at the door before throwing the doors open.

Noah quickly surveyed the room and found that entire town had been crammed into the church, the pews were jam packed with people, while any remaining ones were lined up against the walls. No one took any notice of Noah, they all had their eyes glewed to the person at the stadium, a woman who appeared to be in her mid thirties, her long black auburn hair was pulled up into a bun and she wore ornate robes with obvious religious origins. She was beautiful and seemed to raidiate life,but it was all a lie.

He looked around the room and focused his chi around his eyes and applied holy energy. As he suspected, she was feeding off the entire town, he could tree how they were all linked to her. Some vampires had the ability to forge links with the victims they drink from, this vampire had drank from the entire town and as such, they were her minions, the draining was now more spiritual. He frowned, this situation wasnt good. Looking deeper he coud see that most of them were rotting from the inside out, there was no saving them, but 2....8 people people could still be saved.

He tried to feel some relief at this fact, but nothing came. It never did, even as he saved people, he couldnt feel a sense of happiness that he had prevented peope from going through what he had.

" It seems we have a visitor, hello lost soul, have you come to join my flock? " the woman spoke in a melodious tone " My name is Mary and I speak the word of god, delivering his people to salvation, isnt that right my sweet ones? "

The entire church turned as one to face Noah " Yes great mother! " they all spoke as one person. Upon closer inspection Noah could see that they were all incredibly filthym a pungeant eroma was somewhat covered up by the all the candles. How many days had she kept them all here? A little ways behind her he coul see a bald man starring at Mary with deep reverence, the former father Franklin of this church. He turned to look at Noah, his eyes widened as he recognized the young man.

Noah took a step forward " Cease this farce, vampire, you haven taken over this town and it's people, you preach a bastardized word of the lord all with help of you FATHER FRANKLIN! " Noah yelled out, he swiftly wrapped his rosary beads around both of his hands " Escariot had come to deliver divine punishment! "

Father Franklin gasped and took a step back " Not Judas Escariot! "

Mary put a hand on his arm " Be at peace, we've done nothing wrong. Dont you see, the lord is speaking through me and I deliver his word-

Noah, using shundo, appeared on Mary's right " Enough! I've heard enough about people literally hearing the voice of god! " he aimed his fist straight for her head, but Mary got him by his wrist and flung him back into the aisle. Noah deftly landed on his feat, he moved into a stance of Baji Quan.

Mary smiled, showing her fangs, she raised a hand and everyone seated stood up " Foolish little boy, do you really believe you can set foot in my domain and lay a hand on me? My flock to me, show this non believer our rightous fury! "

The inhabitants of the church surged forward, converging on Noah, a man and a woman grabbed onto his arms from either side as some children latched onto his legs. None of them could be saved, in the next instant all four were struck, their heads exploding. Noah leaped into the air and laired up his light aura, he fired off shot gun blast down into the crowd, dispursing them.

The moment he landed back on the ground, he took off, bright blur that raced through the church, his fist and feet in constant movement as he brutally mowed everyone down, he shut off his aura and whirled around with a swift kick, but paused, when he saw it was one of the people who could be saved. Suddenly a large man knocked him over and began scratching at his face.

With a mighty heave, he forced the man off of him blew his chest out with a punch, he quickly pulled out a few black keys and sent them flying, piercing through several targets. A few minutes later and the church was in complete shambles, bodies of men, women, and childred were strewn every in terrible conditions. Noah was covered in blood, but his breathing was steady, barely breaking a sweat. Amidst the chaos he'd managed to secure the eight people who could still be cured of the vampires influnce, he'd knocked them out and threw them out of the church.

During all of this Mary had watched with her expression not changing from an indulgent smile. That meant that things had progressed too far, she didnt need them alive to draw strength, this building had been tainted by her and most likely turned into a psuedo reality marble. Noah glared at her as she stepped from around her podium, revealing a swelled stomache.

Mary noticed his gaze and rubbed her stomache " Like the virgin Mary before me, god has impregnated me with his child, the next coming "

Noah was completely shocked, for the most part vampired as undead creatures could not conceive children, the natural way, but he'd heard reports of hybrids, terrible creatures. But something was off, she'd said a virgin birth, did that mean that she wasnt impregnated by Franklin? No this was something else, the concept of the virgin birth was a powerful thing, had she willed this child into existene by the power of her belief? It wasnt unlike what Fancois had done, this child was no second coming or even a child at all, it was the product of taboo and insanity, her twisted faith and the lives of this town had grown a monster, he could not allow this creature to live.

" What you hold inside you has nothing to do with god, you damned undead! Do not speak of the lord as such "

Noah leaped back, missing a bullet. Father Franklin had pulled out a rifle and had it trained on Noah.

" You dont understand, we've had it all wrong, Mary is the truth! Dont you see it, she will lead the way of the truth faith!! "

He prepared to fire again, but Noah was much quicker and shot a blast, knocking Franklin into a wall. Mary attacked in the next moment, fist catching Noah in the stomache and sending him flying into the pews, breaking them. Mary was on, not giving him anytime to counterattack, he blocked his face with his arms, her claws raking across them. The shirt he was wearing was a special creation of the church, durable as steel, but Mary's increased power was making the shirt falter.

On reflex his light aura flared and forced Mary back, Noah was instantly on his feet and rushing her, firing multiple blast that Mary danced around, Noah got too her then paused

" Look in my eyes child and see salvation "

Noah instantly shut his eyes and shundo'd too the other side of the room. Dammit! She had mystic eyes, paralysing ones it seemed. He steadied his breath and focused, he'd been trained for scenarios like this, other senses sharpened for his lack of sight physical sight, but that didnt mean he was completely blind. Behind his eye lids he could see the outline of mary's body by his dark energy.

" A smart one I see, but that wont save you....what was that? Ah my little one, your hungry, let me feed you "

Noah could hear sounded like rushing water, Mary was calling all of the blood that had been spilled to her mouth, that would only make her stronger. He needed to act fast, this building was tainted, but it still represented something. His own abysmal faith aside, these rosary beads were made to be at there strongest in such places. He muttered a prayer and felt the beads grown hot in his hands. Drew on his training in Baji Quan, just close the distance.

His body relaxed and moved, in the next instant he was on the otherside of the building. He heard something splatter on the ground. Opening his eyes, he turned around and saw Mary's body on the ground, the right side of her body had been destroyed. She screamed and thrashed, slapping at remained of her stomache, No turned away, what was falling from her was not a child.

He whipped around and sped over to Franklin, forcing him into the wall and renching the gun from his hand. Franklin screamed at Noah, calling him every filthy name he could think of demanding to know why he'd did that to his precious Mary. Noah ignored the man and pressed the tip of the rifle to the other mans chest and slowly started pressing. Soon Frankling screams of rage turned to agony as Noah slowly forced the rifle through Franklins chest and into the wall behind him, effectivly pinning him in place.

A few moments later, Noah was standing outside, watching as the church burned, he'd just called Sister Mary-Clarence and informed her of the situation, the jet would be here soon, along with a dispatch to help the surivors. Noah looked down at the unconscious people, they had a difficult road ahead of them, getting over Mary's influence and the fact of what happened to their families, their town. Again Noah tried to muster up some sympathy, but found their was none. God, if it existed, was cruel.

A smile started forming on his face and as he turned back to watch the church burn, he allowed it to stay.

----------------------------------

Luthor was relaxing in his hotel room, going over all the information that had been compiled on the True Notes. Most of them were fairyly normal, meaning the data had been easy to obtain. But for those like Noah Anderson, Riku Darkholme, and Lilia Ashford, it was either nonexistant, fabricated, or too protected. He'd expected as much, chuckling a little with how honest and detailed Kano Thorson's bio was, did no one question why an Asgardian was present.

Even more interesting was Emmet Elizabeth Jone, the guy was something else, all these awards and recognitions. But something seemed of to him, even more then the demon, executioner, and heiress. It all seemed so fragulent, he had to meet this guy to get a better idea.

He'd saved Adrian for last, he already knew everything listed, but what set his blood aboil was what they listed his power as. Electrokinesis with a high chance of evolving to electro magnetism. Luthor gripped the arm of his chair so hard that it tore " That's not your fucking power, it her!! " he screamed, then quickly composed himself. Now that he had the information, it was time to move, he'd already gotten in contact with a few people, but why not take it up a notch.

" I havent hired the four horsemen of the apocalypse in awhile, lets see what they can do these high school kids " it would take about a month for them to get mobilized, but that was plenty of time.


-------------------------------------------------

And so time marched on......one month later

The passing month had been without incident, meaning no one had been kidnapped or nearly killed. Classes resumed and the group continued their school life, their five new friends being a welcome addition. During the month, the weekly training continued with Kaiser and Noah teaching chi control and martial arts while Riku taught magic. The group learning chi was progessin with varied results, mostly learning how to increasing their endurance however slightly and showing how to improve their senses. The group quickly learned that Neither Kaiser or Noah were perticularly kind in their methods, most nights ending with bruises, though it couldnt be denied that results were being seen.

Riku, once you got past the shade and pettyness, was actually a great teacher. His explanations were clear and easy to follow, even for Donovan. The group went through basic magic detection and tapping into magic circuits they didnt even know they had, from their he tested them on what type of magic they may be best suited for, like how Donovan had a decent talent for support magic. Suprising Garfield had the greatest talent, Riku explained he had a decent amount of magic circuits and their quality was excellent, meaning he got a lot of attention, good and bad from Riku.

Kano moved between both groups, taking lessons from both teachings and throwing in some Asgardian lessons. Emmet and Sandra had their own lessons together in how to use the phoenix force, otherwise Emmet preferred to train alone, what he was doing in this time was anybodies guess. Sandra continued her lessons with Cordelia, only now they included Cassandra from time to time. Anything she learned on telepathy she passed on to Emmet to help him with his own.

The group saw much growth in their abilities and skills, knowing they would need them for any upcoming problems.

With Emmet's help Sandra was able to progress the Phoenix Force enough to where it wasn't quite so taxing as before and more usable in battle.    Maybe it just the act of summoning forth the power more often that her body was finally starting to adopt to using it.     Like Emmet she was still far from being able to use it indefinitely, but if she had this level of control say back in the tournament, Sandra feels she definitely could of fared better.     Not only could she go longer without feeling headaches or passing out, but her abilities with the Phoenix had grown thanks to Emmet.     She certainly wasn't at his level, but she was able to form some straight forward attacks with the phoenix energy itself.    It  had become more to Sandra then a simple boost to her mutant powers.     It was almost like a new third mutation to her, a new fiery cosmic energy she could call upon.

Of course Emmet's help was not going unrepayed.   As Emmet helped Sandra come to grips with the Phoenix, Sandra returned the favor by helping her friend with his telepathic abilities, even passing on much of what she was learning from Cordelia.     While Emmet was going to help her regardless, it just made Sandra feel good that was able to offer something to Emmet in return.

Over the past month Katy really worked hard, not just with Lone Wolf but on her powers as well.   She could summon water and shift it's form to ice so much easier then a month ago, she'd even taken to forming weapons starting out easy with spear like stabbing tools, but where now even getting into forming other weapons like swords.    She was practicing with forming walls/shields and mentioned to Sandra she was even interested in exploring her own form of flight, motivated no doubt by how Sandra could use her telekinese to lift herself and fly.    What's stopping Katy from doing something in the same vain?

Sandra was quite happy with Tanesha's progress, the girl was certainly determined not to get left behind. Sandra was well aware she was a big part of Tani's motivation, Tanesha would do anything to protect her from harm. But it wasn't just her powers she was coming along as a fighter as well. Being thought to fight in these lessons Tani and Sandra would sometimes spar to test each other, and Tanesha was keeping up with her every step of the way. Sandra hoped she was making equally as impressive progress in Tani's mind.

Sandra was quite happy to see Cass join her sessions with Cordelia, Sandra unfortunately was aware that Cass was going to need to know how to defend herself.    It's a shame things could stay like this, but Troy had returned a month ago and seemed to join forces with the Fear Factor.    Troy and Karen being back on the same team again literally gave Sandra nightmares, there was definitely a few nights where Tani had awoken her in the middle of the night.     Luckily Sandra was able to get over it without to much trouble and Troy's return turned from scary to kinda motivating in a way, after all it was all the more reason to be ready.   They was planning something and Sandra wasn't going though all that hell again, she wasn't going to be the victim, not this time.

Emmet floated onto the terrace of his home and entered his room, over the course of the last month he'd discovered a number of new things about himself, one being that he required little sleep to function, about an hour or two and he was perfectly fine. This certainly helped with the new activites he'd chosen to indugle in. He showered and dressed for school, taking time to inspect/admire himself in the mirror before he was out the door and in the air. Arriving at the school in no time, he soared straight into the choir room " Good Morning dawling! "

The people currently in the choir room were Riku, Roberta, Garfield, Dave, and Victoria.

" Good Morning Em " Victoria greeted him

" Good morning " Garfield and Dave accidentally said at the same time

" Yo, morning " Riku said, looking up from his switch

" Riku, I see your back, how your mission this time? "

" Eh, pretty ok, just this jackass couple that was using this ancient magical bridal gown to force people too care about their bullshit relationship, managed to get the gown back in perfect condition and " take care " of said couple " he said this last part with a toothy smile.

Emmet smiled " Well I'm happy you enjoyed yourself and to have you back with us "

" Yeah, groups definetly missed its resident psychopath " Dave said, not unkindly

Emmet set his satchel down and turned to Dave " I see your finally ready to join this part of the group "

Dave blushed and nodded, over the month he'd started taking singing lessons with Emmet, on top of his magic lessons with Riku and the swordsmanship lessons with Kaiser.

" Fuck yeah, my boys gonna do great! " Garfield said, confident in his friend. He leaned very closely on Dave, the two having become even closer and Dave growing more comfortable, all the gay sex wasnt hurting this.

Sandra's line of thought was suddenly interrupted as a vice said "all done babe". Sandra sat on the bed already dressed in her school uniform, Tanesha was behind her dressed as well. The other girl had a brush and had just finished up tidying up Sandra's hair, making sure everything was perfect and the had no early morning fizzies or split ends. The two was almost ready to head out, it was time for Sandra to brush Tani's hair and they was on their way. They'd already eaten, showered, all that good stuff. Tani asked why Sandra went quiet there for a bit, the girl turned to Tanesha with a smile as she took the brush. "Oh it was nothing babe, just thinking back about the past month and all the progress we've made."

Sandra brushed out Tani's hair with a lot of care and tenderness. When she was done the girls gave each other a final look over to make sure everything was in order. "Wow girl, your looking as perfect as ever, absolutely stunning." Tanesha was always giving Sandra compliments, but sometimes Sandra wondered if her girlfriend realized just how stunning and beautiful she was in her own right. "Well babe we better get a move on before we're late."

Sandra and Tanesha headed out. As they made their way though the halls towards the choir room they met up with Katy along the way. The 3 traveled together arriving at the same time. As they entered the choir room they seen Emmet and several others already there. "Hey Vic" Sandra said greeting Victoria. Their friend had only grown stronger over the past month, with Sandra making more of a effort to hang out with the girl, especially seeing she was Tanesha's BFF. Troy was a while ago and it was definitely past due time to bury the hatchet, and since they performed together a little over a month ago, Sandra felt like the two had really come a long way.

Katy addressed the group in general with a "hey guys, sup ya'll?" Looking around it seemed Lilia, Cassandra, Tesla, Roberta and others still wasn't here yet. Well they still had some time "I see we have several members planning on doing the whole "last minute entrance" type deal today?"

A plane pulled into Genosha's main airport and docked. A few moments later, several people were escorted off the plane in handcuffs, the other passengers were buzzing with conversation as they were allowed off the plane. Fights had randomly started breaking out on the plane one after another, starting with yelling but quickly escalating to violence. Thankfully the people were restrained till the plane landed.

Soon everyone was off the plane, save for one woman. She saved her place in the book she was reading, grabbed her carryon, exited the plane. She appeared to be in her early thirties, her hair was black with red highlights and was cut short just above her ears. She was wearing a black t-shirt, jean shorts, and flip flops. She walkd over to the baggage claim and waited for her bag to appear.

" Excuse me, I dont mean to be a bother, but could you grab my bag for me " the woman asked the man standing next to her, lowering her shades and flashing him a smile.

" No problem maam " he reached out and grabbed her large, red leather suitcase when another man shoved him from behind angrily

" Hurry the fuck up asshole! "

The man holding the womans bag, whirled around and used it to strike his assailant " Fuck off, cant you see i'm trying to help someone "

The woman eased her bag out of his hands just as he started fighting with the other man. She set her bag down and pulled the handle up, allowing her to to wheel it down the terminal, all along the way, arguments and fist fights starting breaking out, but she just smiled and enjoyed the nice weather.

----------------------------------------

" I know what you mean, we been putting in work " Tanesha said in agreement.

The group had been working hard over the last month and were gradually seeing some results. Even Tanesha could say she was feeling more confident in her powers. Not just her primary one, but her newly awakened secondary power. She was also leaning some judo and karate and debating capoeira.

The two soon headed for the choir room where they found Emmet, Riku, Roberta, Dave, Garfield, and Victoria " Morning Sandy, Tani " Victoria said greeting her friends. Riku gave a half wave, not looking up from his game

" Morning bitches "

" Good morning cunt " Tanesha greeted him " I see your trifflin ass is back "

" Dont act like you didnt miss my petty ass "

" I didnt say all that "

" Good morning " Dave said, he and Sandra had been able to mend their friendship and make it stronger over the last month, Dave and Tanesha had even managed to become closer friends as well

Emmet was already on stage, trying to decide what song he should start the morning off with " Good morning ladies " Emmet greeted " Well we still have a few more minutes till the class starts if people feel like being somewhat fashionably late "

Kaiser and Tie walked in not long after that, Tyrone trailing after them. Noah appeared to still be out as well.

Over the next month, Lone Wolf worked with Katy, teaching her Kickboxing and BJJ. While not as brutal as Kaiser or Noah, he was not inclined to go easy on his students. During the free sparring, he exploited every opening and sometimes hit with enough power to knock Katy on her ass. They worked conditioning of the arms and legs until Katy bled and couldn't stand. During stomach conditioning, he sometimes made her puke with the power of his attacks. All-Fist did not go softly on women, and whenever Katy complained, Lone Wolf would tell her how he trained.

The methods he had endured were brutal. He once had to hammer a jagged rock into a perfect sphere using only his hands and feet. This was called The Great Hitting Stone, and to say that he bled extensively while completing this task was an understatement. Lone Wolf had also once been made to meditate on the ocean during a vicious hurricane. There he was forced to take stinging spray, vicious wind, stones, silt, and even wooden crates to the body without defending himself. His focus had been absolute, and his toughened flesh shrugged off Mother Nature's fury.

Of course, even learning a single technique could be brutal. The Spear Hand, or nukite, was an advanced Karate technique that he was called upon to learn.  He first had to pierce a soft cushion, and after that gradually harder substances. When steel, concrete, and even diamond could no longer stop his strike, his greatest challenge was given. A simple sheet of notebook paper took a year to pierce, but one he could, his Spear Hand had become a terrifying weapon. Even beings that ate diamonds for breakfast died when Lone Wolf's Spear Hand impaled their vital organs.

There were many more stories where those came from, but the point was made. Though Katy's training was rough at times, she had no legacy to live up to and was thus spared these cruel but effective tests. Scott helped out by acting as an assistant instructor, which was welcome given that he never got rough with Katy. Alan had not taught All-Fist the old-fashioned way, and instead Scott endured pain through thousands of real fights at Shadowgreen. Both were extensively scarred on their bodies, but their minds, hearts, and souls bore not a single one. The weak becoming strong was the core of martial arts, and this core belief would pass to all who trained with Lone Wolf and Scott.

On this day, Lone Wolf taught the back kick, an excellent counter to most any strike. By throwing a kick aimed at an opponent's solar plexus, it would exploit a gap in the opponent's guard and stop their attack.  A simple follow-up lift kick to the chin could end the fight from there. Once Katy had this combo down, they moved on to BJJ. Lone Wolf taught Katy the Triangle Choke, an excellent submission technique that could defeat rapists and experienced wrestlers alike. After that lesson, Scott and friends could be found chilling at Emmett's house.


----

"Not long now."
A moment later, Chiang showed up, his presence calming and serene.
"Scott, it is good to see you again."
Chiang was introduced to Kiya and given a brief rundown on their problem.
"Let us discuss it at length over tea," Chiang replied before leading them into the temple complex. Kiya would get to see many beautiful temples as they headed for the main temple.

Sandra greeted Dave's welcome with a polite smile and wave. Sandra opted she and Tani sit with Victoria today. Finding their seats Sandra spoke up "Alright girls, I don't have a song in mind quite yet, but I'm feeling like we do a trio today. What do you think, interested?" The past month seen a lot of duets with Sandra doing more songs with Victoria, as well as Tanesha, Cassandra and even a few with Dave. There was also other combinations like Tanesha and Victoria, Dave and Katy, etc. So she was thinking it was time to change it up.

Over the past month Tesla was forced to reluctantly accept Cassandra as she joined the team officially. Early on a few fights almost broke out between Tani and Tesla over Cassandra, but things gradually settled down. Tesla clearly didn't trust Cass, it seemed like the fact was created in a lab by what she call evil scientist was all the reason she needed to think Cass was simply biding her time until the moment was right to stab them in the back. Seems she never got over Kiya and was holding Cassandra in the same regard. But with the majority being against her, Tesla had little choice but to suck it up and deal with it. But even though Tesla had to accept Cass as a True Note, she didn't have to like it. Cassandra was the 1 person in the group Tesla refused to perform with, applaud, or compliment. Oh the plus side her insults died down a lot as Tani took issue any time Tesla opened her mouth to speak ill of Cass, so for the most part Tesla just ignores Cassandra now.

Entering the choir room it seemed the place was starting to fill up. She gave a general greeting to the class and took a seat next to Katy. "So hows your other training with Scott and Wolf going?" Katy thought about her response "Well it's absolutely brutal on one hand, but on the other it's effective." Tesla gave Katy a look before responding "Well can't say I'm surprised you've stuck with it. You never was one to shy away from being on the wrong end of a ass kicking." Katy smiled confidently, she could really dispute that her tack record so far hasn't exactly been great. However that was the past "yea but, I feel like that's going to change soon." Between after school lessons with Lone Wolf and Scott to learn how to fight and night time lessons with the team to grow her powers, Katy was feeling way more confident in herself then a month ago.

Shortly after Cassandra would enter as well, greeting the team with a lot more joy and comfort compared to a month ago. Seeing Victoria, Sandra and Tanesha, Cassandra joyfully skipped over to join the huddle. "Tani, Sandy, Vicky, hows it going girls?"

-----

The wait was long but hopefully would be worth it. Chiang insisted they go into detail over tea so Kiya followed Scott and Chiang's lead. Dealing with vengeful spirits was definitely outside Kiya's area of expertise. But if anybody did know she figured it should be this man going by what's been said and seen.

" Morning  Cass " Tanesha greeted her, she was still impressed with how much Cassandra had grown assimilated into her new life. She was still learning stuff, but the group, sans Tesla and Riku to an extent, was happy to help her. Professor Goodman was being very good to her as well, Cassandra was constantly telling them something or other about something she did with her mother and the group had been invited her to her house for dinner and movies a few times.

" That sounds like a plan to me " Victoria said in agreement to Sandra's idea for a trio performance. Sandra had certainly become more sociable when it came to music, performing with different members of the group and making some good performances. It was good that they had finally been able to move past their differences and become friends. Troys return was very troubling and had been her on edge for the first week, but Troy had basically ignored them. He was surely up to something, that was a given, but she couldnt say what. Tanesha had a similar reaction and the two of them had many conversations on the topic. For now all they could do was wait for Troy to make his move.

" Katy I hope you realize how much your breaking Kaisers heart by taking lessons on combat from someone else! " Riku said, sparring a glance from his game " Just look at those wounded eyes "

Kaiser, who was watching Emmet and waiting for his performance, rolled his eyes " Having more then one teacher is a good thing, you can learn more that way, as you know " this last point was at Riku " It's also better then trying to learn martial arts from manga "

Riku smirked " IS IT thought? "

".....some manga can teach yes.... "

" Damn right, well Crabiana I just hope your ready when the fighting starts up again, I'd just hate to think all this outside training didnt amount to a pyramid scheme and you got layed out, again " Riku said " But you seem confident and thats not a bad thing, you could very well be on your way to leaving the basic bitch seats you've been warming up, I have some hopes for you, mostly that you'll keep entertaining me but  keep up the good work " he put his game away finally and waited for Emmet to start.

His body started heating up a little and a moment later Adrian walked in. He greeted everyone and took a seat. The two of them had secretly been fucking like crazy for the last month, amidst private magic lesson. Neither one of them wanted this information out for various reasons, but when around each other they acted pleasantly enough, usually with Adrian asking Riku multiple questions about magic, demons, and hell, to which Riku was half close to being nice about.

Adrian was the last member to enter, which seemed to be what Emmet had been waiting for. A song suddenly came to mind and the music started playing. Emmet turned to face the group, a strange expression passing over his face before he started singing.

Emmet:
Take me away
Oh how I long for the day
Hey
Now can you hear me?
I am the wind calling your name
Hey
Take me away
I go wherever you stay
Feels like for a lifetime
My heart's been wondering why
I can almost see the sunlight
I'm reaching, it's fading
Been wandering 'round for some time
My memory is hazy
But then I smell the flowers
And everything
Comes back to me
Serenity
Now tell me is it worth it if I keep on believing
I can't seem to shake this feeling
Tell me not to worry
I'm sorry
My head's a mess
I've been putting all my faith in all the seasons
Forever and a day I've almost lost the reason
All of my dreams end with you
And I hate to leave you so soon
Take me away
Oh how I long for the day
Hey
Now can you hear me?
I am the wind calling your name
Hey
Take me away
I go wherever you stay
Feels like for a lifetime
My heart's been wondering why
Some nights I close my eyes and
I try to listen closely
I travel back in time and
It sounds like you're near me
The wind chimes in to wake me
It's time to see another day
My heart, it aches...
And still I keep believing in the words that you left me
How long will
You keep me waiting?
Tell me not to worry
Is there a happy ending?
I've been putting all my faith in all the seasons
Forever and a day I've almost lost the reason
All of my dreams end with you
And I hate to leave you so soon
Take me away
Oh how I long for the day
Hey
Now can you hear me?
I am the wind calling your name
Hey
Take me away
I go wherever you stay
Feels like for a lifetime
My heart's been wondering why


Emmet hadnt been idle in his musical training as he worked on his powers and combat and it showed. But something seemed different, his voice was strong and smooth, his range and expansion was excellent, his voice filling the whole room. But it was the raw emotion he was putting into the song that drew everyone in, Emmet was always good at " telling a story " as he put it, with his performances, putting his feelings and acting out whatever the song. The song in question had heavy romantic tones, something Emmet had been coming to terms with over the last month.

But the depths of the emotions, the feelings of love were so strong and intense. Even for those in relationships, what Emmet was prjecting felt deep, his power of empathy making it stronger. As he sang, the image of a man was conjured in his mind, he couldnt make out his face, but his heart ached so deeply for him.

Emmet ended the song and stood there, the group was about to start applauding him when they noticed he had tears pouring from his eyes. Before anyone started to rise, Kaiser was instantly at his side. Emmet leaned against him as the others gathered around him, he was gradually getting his emotions under control.

" Girl you ok? " Tanesha asked in concern

" Yeah, seen you get into a song, but that was something else " Victoria added.

"I-I'm fine dawlings, thank you for your concern, I dont mean to worry you, it was just " he had no words for it, but he felt like something in his heart had been awakened.

------------------------------------------

Luthor was riding in his limo, listening to the latest news report about a riot at the airport. He sighed, well she had certainly arrived safely. The limo pulled into a mall parking garage. He got out and looked around, spotting the woman with red highlights.

" As always, you make a needlessly grand entrance, Harmonia " Luthor said " Thats close enough "

Harmonia smiled " Thank you Mr.Belcourt, as complimentary as always, shall we dispence with the pleasantries and get down to business. The contract says you hired all four of us, as is our way I have come first. What am I doing? "

" Your testing, as each of you arrives your going to attack a group of young mutants and see what their made of. Once the last has arrived  we'll go from there " Luthor explained.

Harmonia pressed her lips together " young mutants? "

" Yes, they attend Genosha High school "

" I can handle a group of school kids, why wait for the others when I'm more then enough " she complained

" Theres more going on then you know, its not just mutants, but angels, demons, mages things that make the situation more complicated " Luthor said, leaning against his limo, even from this distance, he could feel the edges of Harmonia's power " Best to be safe and sure "

" What? Magic and demons and angels, oh my! " Harmonia laughed " I dont believe in crap like that, but your signing the very generous checks, so i'll do as you say. When should I start? "

Luthor texted the necessary information to Harmonia and got back into his limo. Harmonia looked over the info and smiled " Well not my usual, but I think I can have some fun with this "

"Awesome!" Sandra exclaimed, actually quite excited at the prospect of a triplet performance. "Question is though what should we preform?" Sandra thought about it for a minute. "Hmm I do remember hearing this song God's Country, might be something we can work with." Sandra usually tried to come up with a country song when working with Victoria, it was a nice change every once in a while and a good challenge trying to perform something they wasn't necessarily all that apt at.

Katy smiled playing along with the joke, Riku always found ways to have some interesting banter. "Wait so if you can learn from reading manga, does the same apply to watching anime?"

Emmet started off with the first song, it was quite moving and by the end left Emmet in tears. Everybody gathered around him. Sandra could just feel some deep sense of longing from Emmet, something very important to him was missing in his life. She couldn't tell what it was Emmet was missing, and it seemed he didn't know either. Everyone gave Emmet all the time he needed to gather himself however it wasn't to long before Emmet was insisting the class resumed.

While many was obviously concerned for Emmet, eventually the show had to go on and if besides if something was bothering Emmet, overcrowding him probably wasn't helping. What might help ease the mode though would be some music. Sandra, Tanesha and Victoria got on the stage next, after that mishap with Emmet they where kinda just flying by the seat of their pants and just running with Sandra's suggestion. They agreed relatively quickly on all 3 singing the song together instead of sharing verses. It was a different way to go about a performance but one Sandra was thinking had potential, all 3 girls brought a little something different to the table and with all 3 working together, Sandra was hopeful it'd help elevate their strengths while also helping to cover up their respective weaknesses. However it was going to be hard, Sandra, Tanesha and Victoria all had to be in perfect harmony with each other to pull this off. There was quite literally no room for error.

Sandra took middle position, Tanesha was to her left and Victoria was to her right. She shared a glance and a nod with both girls confirming they was ready and the song started.

(Sandra, Tanesha & Victoria)

Right outside of this one church town
There's a gold dirt road to a whole lot of nothing
Got a deed to the land but it ain't my ground
This is God's country

We pray for rain and thank Him when it's fallin'
'Cause it brings a grain and a little bit of money
We put it back in a plate, I guess that's why they call it
God's country

I saw the light in a sunrise
Sittin' back in a 40 on the muddy river side
Gettin' baptized in holy water and shine with the dogs runnin'
Saved by the sound of the been found
Dixie whistle in the wind, that'll get you Heaven bound
The devil went down to Georgia but he didn't stick around
This is God's country

We turn the dirt and work until the week's done
We take a break and break bread on Sunday
Then do it all again 'cause we're proud to be
From God's country (Yeah)

I saw the light in a sunrise
Sittin' back in a 40 on the muddy river side
Gettin' baptized in holy water and shine with the dogs runnin'
Saved by the sound of the been found
Dixie whistle in the wind, that'll get you Heaven bound
The devil went down to Georgia but he didn't stick around
This is God's country

(Yeah, this is God's country)
(This is God's country) God's country

I don't care what my headstone reads
Or what kind of pine wood box I end up in
When it's my time lay me six feet deep in
God's country

I saw the light in a sunrise
Sittin' back in a 40 on the muddy river side
Gettin' baptized in holy water and shine with the dogs runnin'
Saved by the sound of the been found
Dixie whistle in the wind, that'll get you Heaven bound
The devil went down to Georgia but he didn't stick around
This is God's country

Yeah, I saw the light in a sunrise
Sittin' back in a 40 on the muddy river side
Gettin' baptized in holy water and shine with the dogs runnin'
Saved by the sound of the been found
Dixie whistle in the wind, that'll get you Heaven bound
The devil went down to Georgia but he didn't stick around
This is God's country



From the first note until the last the girls gave it everything they had, they harmonized so well with each other that they almost sounded like 1 person singing which was no easy feat. They all used their individual strengths to compliment each other perfectly. You really had to trust your co-signers to have a performance like this as any sense of doubt was undoubtable going to show though.