Heroes Uprising Thread 7

"Lets hit the town" Katy said. It was alright if Nick wanted to go easy on the drinking, she didn't plan on getting wasted herself either. But the opportunity to head out, have a few drinks and see more of her new surroundings was always a welcome suggestion.

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Everybody danced as the music was fun, a good mood lifter.

Anthony reflexively thought about getting a drink, but wanted to avoid getting shitfaced in front of a teenager. He sighed and took a few moments to remember when he last saw Glory. "Last Tuesday actually. She wanted me to look into a small street gang here and to see if it was connected with any criminal activities out of state."

As he spoke Anthony held up his right index finger. Fire began to swirl around it revealing his mutant power, but there was no danger here. In fact he began writing a message in flames in front of him as he spoke.

"They are listening. Glory is already dead. Leave this city tonight."

"She never told me her real mission, so I assumed she was already done here."

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Sheriha read the report from Wichita on what she did with the other team. Bounded fields were something she was completely unfamiliar with, but from what Tabitha just told them it sounds like this one was worse. She looked at Yasuri's face when he heard the explanation and he looked a little excited. He began to walk to the door with a smile on his face.

"Where are you going so late at night? I hope you aren't up to no good." Sheriha jokingly questioned, but the hawk like eyes almost glaring at him gave away the gravity of those words.

"I'm assuming you were told to keep an eye on me. Don't worry, I may enjoy the occasional fight I won't jeopardize the mission. I just need to stretch that's all." He waved goodbye as he left out the door leaving a concerned Sheriha who was finishing unpacking everything. While his history as a Assassin was a concern she mainly hoped he didn't run into their target. More often than not that kind of thing happened during a operation like this.

Scott leaned forward to listen to what Anthony had to say. He was a bit surprised that Glory would be interested in something that sounded so small time. No evil was to be taken lightly, but Emmett's children usually went after bigger prizes. Scott watched as Anthony held up a finger and fire swirled around it.
So he's a pyromancer.
Alan had been a pyromancer while he was mortal, as well, so this gave them a slight connection.

The message that he wrote out shocked Scott to the core. His eyes widened as the officer told him that Glory was dead and that someone was listening. He wasn't initially sure how to handle this, having never lost a friend if Anthony was telling the truth. Scott took a deep breath, determined not to lose it until he had proven to himself that his friend was truly dead. Using Quick Armor, his right Arm of Valor appeared and the index finger glowed. Scott began writing a reply.

If what you say is true, then I won't rest until her killers are brought to justice.
Scott's eyes burned with intense determination. There was no talking him out of this.
Who is listening? Who killed Glory?
"Do you have any idea where she might have went?" Scott asked, playing along with the ruse.

---

"Sounds good," Nick replied with a smile.
Walking with Katy, they reached his car parked in a staff parking lot near the residential building. After they were in, he started it and they left the Shadowgreen campus. Nick casually leaned his left arm on the door and steered with his right hand.
"So, how are you liking Shadowgreen so far?"

"The place seems nice enough" Katy said in response as they traveled. "The school is impressive, the students are a lot more competitive then SXM, but at least the place is a lot less hmm, lets say wild, if you catch my drift, then what the Code:Breakers are." Code:Breakers where prone to random musicals, drunken parties and a lot of sex. It was different, to put it lightly, then most places.

As Scott pressed Anthony visibly sighed and thought seriously for a moment about whether or not he should seriously answer him. It was clear he wasn't going to give this up.

"Hmm maybe try Chicago. My department's still investigating illegal drugs and cybernetics arriving from Chicago. We're pretty sure it's coming from them, but we don't know the supplier." his finger danced through the air writing a name in the flames he was producing.

Denise Walters

The same person the heroes were after was the culprit. Anthony almost reflexively frowned as he wrote her name. "Unfortunately I don't have too much more information. She wasn't willing to tell me too many details about her investigation, but if anything else comes to me I'll let you know tomorrow."


I can speak frankly then.

It was a obvious push to get them out. Whether it was out of fear for himself or them it was hard to tell. "I'm sorry you had to see my place in this state. Heroes probably should have a better looking home. Shit this is actually embarrassing."

Scott was not surprised when Anthony told him that Denise Walters was supposedly Glory's killer and listening in on them. She was a logical suspect, but that made it all the clearer that this needed looked into.
"Hmm, I see. The Hero Association probably has some contacts there, so I'll check with them."
Anthony then seemed to be wanting them out, and that made him wonder. Was he afraid of Denise, or was he not wanting to give them time to press him on his story?

"We'll be back tomorrow."
I will look into this. If I have further questions, I'll be back.
Scott stood up and looked around.
"Don't worry about it. I've seen worse places."

Scott left Anthony's house with Eliza and returned to the vehicle. He waited until he was a safe distance away before he felt safe to talk.
"We need to look into his allegation that Denise Walters killed Glory. I want to make sure he's telling us the truth and not just handing us a gift-wrapped set-up."
When the returned to the safehouse, he took out his cell phone to call Sheriha. The other team needed to be aware of what they had uncovered.

---

Nick chuckled.
"Yeah, the students here are pretty competitive, but for the most part it's positive. I've seen friends train together and become very strong. I've seen leaders be born in that battle arena. For most students, it's a great outlet for their passions."
He smiled knowingly as she mentioned the Code:Breakers.

"Yeah, Scott told me a little about them. They're wild and indulgent, but they mean well. He has particular affection for Emmett and Sandra, saying he'd fight with them anytime. Scott doesn't say that about just anybody, so they must have really earned his trust."
Nick gently took Katy's hand.
"I can understand how he feels when I think about what you mean to me."

Nick pulled up to the bar and turned off the car.
"Alright, here we are. This is the best bar in Nice."
Putting his arm around Katy's waist, he walked inside with her. The bartender greeted him and Nick introduced Katy as he ordered a beer for himself and whatever Katy wanted. There was music to dance to, a pool game in progress, and a different sport on every TV, providing entertainment for everyone.

Katy appreciated Nick's words. As long as he stayed loyal to her she would be loyal to him as well. Everything between them had been going very well so far, hopefully it kept up. Katy ordered a Sapporo, a Japanese beer brand that was expanding worldwide. She greeted the Bartender with a quick bit of Japanese before speaking in English. Taking in her surroundings she spoke up to Nick "I dare say it wasn't yesterday I played a game of pool, care to have a few rounds?" Overall the place is what Katy would of expected from any respectable bar, clean, good lighting, sports on the TV, classic bar games like pool. It seemed like a nice place to hang out.

Eliza's hands went to her mouth as she saw Anthony's message about Glory. She ended up staying silent for the rest of the conversation and until they were a safe distance away " Agreed, I dont want to think that Glory's been killed, especially with no evidence to clarify it, it could be some kind of trap "

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30 days later

Milo Ventro, the name of the fallen hero had suddenly started trending over the last month, this was do to the massive increase in crime. Humans and mutants alike were commiting more and more crimes, robbery, kidnapping, murder, destruction of property. Marcus Wayne and his team soon found their hands full along with their jail cells. The Shadow Xmen and Avengers were active, seeing many of their old enemies starting to act up. Even the Code:Breakers were stepping up to help kil-stop all of the criminals. Not just in America, but random cities all over the world were reporting a spike in criminal activity.

Amidst all of this, the name Milo Ventro appeared on the lips of the worlds citizens, many taking to social media to lament the loss of the hero and their wishes for his return. Thousands to millions of post all saying the same thing " Save us fusion "

The church of fusion seemed to pop up overknight, a religion based entirely around Milo Ventro, preaching of his past good deeds and how he was the worlds true savior and how all other hero's were frauds. The church had gained a massive following, having been operating outside of the public eye for several weeks prior. Seeings its rooms filled to capacity with each sermon, the leader of this church was said to be a man named Cain, but so far no one had snapped a photo or recorded him.

Riku, as to be expected was less then pleased with this church, finding it more annoying then the increase in crime. But as president he was incredibly active, working semi close with the heroes association, shadow xmen, and avengers. Even going out to break up a few crimes when the moment allowed for it, which was nearly all the time. His approval rating was gradually climbing, since he was competing with the church of Fushion.

Cain had taken to doing live video sermons, to better reach all of his flock, there was no one church of fusion, more so several large building with monitors fitted in, trying to track him was proving fruitless, with telepathy and magic, Cain seemed to be completely hidden. Both his presence and his intentions.

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" Alright dawling I beleive for today we'll work on elemental control"

Emmet had been training Sandra in the use of the phoenix for the last month, for every few days he'd randomly spring it on her, learn to anticipate that which cant be. As with their first training, Emmet didnt pull his punches, and was quick with sharp critisim, but Sandra could certainly say she'd learned a lot, so much she hadnt even dreamed of considering before.

They were currently sitting in Emmets office, a tea set arranged on his desk, with cookies and biscuits " The four primary elements are fire, earth, water, and wind, for the most part. Depending on whom you ask they'll say something different and wouldnt be incorrect "

He held up a hand and a ball of fire flared to life, then changed to a ball of water, wind, and finally earth before reverting back to fire " The element of fire is linked with phoenix's, my affinity for fire comes more from divine blood and yours from your deep connection to the phoenix force. But as i've said before, cosmic fire is simply energy that mimics fire to an incredible degree. But theres no reason it cant be shaped to other elements or anything else really, but lets focus on elements for now "

He lifted his tea cup and took a gentle sip, without a hint of slurping  " Hmm, the tea is excellent today, with advanced useage of telekinesis, you can manipulate molecules and thus shift through whichever element you wish, most telekinetic lack the forte for such applications, obviously I differ from that norm and you can too if you so chose. For now pick an element other then fire and we can go from there "

Cassandra and Abby had since settled into their new home at the Heroes Association over the past month. Things had really be getting busy lately as crime was spiking, everyone who was afraid of Milo had now started coming out of hiding with there being no slow down in sight. Cassandra had just arrived back with a knocked out criminal, prison space was getting to be maxed out. Cassandra laid this guy in temporary containment, this guy among others would likely end up getting transferred maybe to Genosha, or across seas. God forbid these poor fools get shipped off to the Code:Breakers, they'd probably never be seen again. Even Asgard had agreed to offer up their prisons things was getting so bad.

Cass sighed, it seems Abby was out on her job. "Well, may as well grab a sandwich then head back out."

-----

This was all so interesting, things like elemental control Sandra never would of considered on her own. Proper guidance to try learn and grow was something she'd been missing for so many years now, which is ironic seeing her previous place of employment was a god damn school for mutants. However outside a small few like Milo there probably wasn't many that could of gave much Phoenix guidance anyway. Emmet wasn't a gentle teacher, but he was effective and Sandra understood he only meant well. "A element other then fire, alright wind seems useful. How about we focus on that?"

-----

(After the 30 day skip)

Katy stepped out of area to a roaring crowd, which was probably all that was that was giving her the energy to stand right. She'd just finished the second of two back to back straight fights. The first one was the real challenge, he was one of those dudes that completely nullified all his opponents powers, more or less rendering Katy to just being a regular human. On top of that he was good at martial arts, like really really good, like really damn good. This was by far Katy's most grueling battle since joining Shadowgreen, this guy had a counter for every move Katy made and took his time dismantling Katy bit by bit, attacking joints all over Katy's body. Through pure grit and preservation Katy refused to stay down. About 30 minutes into the fight and Katy had a tweaked knee, bum arm, kinked back, sore neck, you name it. This was when her opponent finally made his first and only mistake, he assumed Katy was done. As he moved in for the finishing blow Katy managed to parry the attack and slip behind her opponent. Katy swiftly locked in the sleeper hold which has become a signature attack for her over the past month, at least in regards to hand to hand combat.

Katy locked the hold in tight, she knew there was absolutely no way she could allow this guy to escape or her win streak was over. Despite her opponents best efforts to shake her off Katy held firm, her opponent started struggling to breath before dropping to his knee's, Katy then took the guy down to the ground locking in the hold even tighter. Her opponent passed out and Katy just rolled onto her back, hurting all over and breathing heavily. This was one of the schools higher rank students and Katy could see why, he damn well deserved it. Nick said not all fights would be easy, he wasn't lying. In the end though Katy had still managed to secure the win.

A crowd gathered for this fighting, who Katy was had spread the school quickly and many people was waiting for this match, the women who defeated the ice queen vs one of the schools top ranked. Even with Katy's accolades many had bet against her in this fight, but once again to much shock and awe she continued to prevail.

Katy could barely manage to pick herself up off the floor and started gingerly making her way to the exist when challenger 2 arrived, another new student much like herself that looked to make a name for himself at Katy's expense. Katy wanted to rest up a bit before taking on the next challenge but after words was exchanged Katy would change her mind and the next fight would start immediately. This new challenger would take the early lead, taking advantage of Katy while she was already beaten down and worn out. This was actually meant with a great deal of booing, as well as the crowd calling this new challenger a coward. Being inexperienced he let this get under his skin, that provided Katy a opening and she quickly took the new challenger down with a swift, and hard, roundhouse kick square to the jaw that knocked the guy out cold.

Katy made her way out of the area to a great deal of fan support. Tallying the numbers in her heard Katy figured she had to be nearing her 300th fight by now. She should break that milestone by the time the day is finished.

" Ah, the element of freedom, excellent choice " as Emmet spoke a gentle breeze blew through the room " An invisible and versatile weapon, very difficult to block and dodge, one can do a lot with it " the breeze gradually grew stronger, Sandra noted that while her hair was whipped back and forth, Emmets remained in place and immaculate " Much like telekinesis, as the two powers share similar traits and applications, moving and restraining, if your feeling particularly cruel you can pull the very air from a persons lungs and deny them "

Suddenly Christian appeared in the room, Sandra wasnt suprised, Emmet had called in various members of the code:breakers, depending on what they were working on.

" Thank you for joining us dawling " Emmet told him as Christian took a seat next to Sandra

" No problem Em, so I take it you guys are talking about wind? " Emmet nodded and invited Christian to take over.

" Alright, one of the lesser talked about things with wind is how it can be used in tangent with your senses. For example you could hear a conservation from a good distance away using the wind, same with taste, touch, etc. You probably wouldnt have much need for this with telepathy, its a good skill set to fall back on if you usual ones arent an option "

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Asgard

Riku entered the realm through a portal, accompanied by agent Morrison and two other secret service agents. In front of them was Kano, dressed fairly casual with a white tank top and blue jeans. Three women were arranged around him, all decked out in armor.

" Greetings Riku Darkholme, welcome to Asgard! " he enxted a hand, to which Riku walked over and shook it.

" Thanx dude, appreciate you accepting my request to meet, oh this is agent Morrison and I dont remember who these other three are but part of the secret service and basically wanna go everywhere I go "

Over the last month Had more or less listened to Morrisons complaints that he never informed them when he was coming or going, so Riku started taking agents with him more often, this included bathhouses, hookups, torture sessions. Many of the agents had started putting in request that they not have to accompany him, but Morrison was a man of his job and thus denied most of these request. He'd been more then a little shocked to hear that they would be accompanying Riku as he went to Asgard to meet with King Kano, that was rather tame.

Kano nodded at the agents " Greetings, these are the Valkyries, some of Asgards greatest warriors, they insisted on being here as well "

Riku shrugged " Thats neat " he looked around " So wheres sewer rat-I mean your worst half- I mean the queef, Queen, yes queen "

" Um Tanya is currently overseeing the construction of a new building, but sends her regards " Kano had thought it best she not be here, given the last time " In any event, I believe you wanted to discuss a renewed partnership between earth and Asgard correct? Then let us move to a more comfortable location "

Sandra took note of what Emmet and Cristian was saying. There do indeed be times where telepathy may not always be a option, so knowing wind could be used in that way may prove useful at some point. "I see, that is indeed good to know Christian. It may someday prove more useful then you might expect."

-----

Tanya was overseeing the construction of new grand arena, while contests to the death wasn't a thing, people still did like to test their might and combat ability. The old arena had housed many battles though they have started to take their toll. It was time for a new, bigger and stronger battleground.

" Indeed if one avenue is closed, you have others you can go by, theres a level of unpredictability to it that is a great advantage in battle, especially from foes youve face before " Emmet said continueing with the lecture " For defense, wind allows you to rebound certain kinds of attack, conventional wind of course "

Emmet summoned a torrent of cosmic fire to swirl around the ceiling then seemingly with no effort, shifted it into wind, keeping it visible " With this wind there is nearly nothing that you cant rebount back " he dispelled the wind " Now for offense there is the popular wind blade, embodying the invisible and unblockable attribute, sharped into a fine blade "

Emmet summoned a statue of a greek warrior behind them. He extended his right arm and swiped it, a moment later it was cleaved in half.

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Kano led the group to a dining room in his castle, decorated beautifully with a long table dominating the room " This room has a lot of history, my grandfather Odin has met with many important people in it and I continue that tradition "

Riku gave the room an appraising look, a lot of bold choices in it, but it worked " Pretty sweet digs, oh that reminds me " he opened a small void and reached into it, noting that the Valkyries reacted slightly, but ignoring them. He pulled out a bottle and handed it to Kano " The Code:Breakers Elven wine, just a little present. Be thankful "

Kano took the bottle and looked it over, ornately decorated with the code:breakers crest labeled on it " Ah I assume this is from your victory over the elves of the thousand forest? "

" Sure is, you heard about that? " Riku asked as they each took a seat at the opposite ends of the table, their " security " standing behind them

" Yes, i've kept the occasional glance at Earth, some of my people stationed there informed me about the elf king Naejor declaring his intentions to seize earth, but that Emmet stated his team would deal with him. I had no doubts you code:breakers would be victorious, might you recount the battle? "

Riku shrugged " Sure "

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Klause stood in front of the super computer, looking over the data it compiled. The rapid increase in crimes and their link to the name Milo Ventro, it wasnt looking good, so far they'd been dealing with small names, but based on what he was seeing it wouldnt be long before more dangerous sorts started coming out. He'd recently gotten word that Mishi Chang was showing signs of being active again, thankfully the team had plenty of non mutants to deal with her.

Then there was the matter of this church of Fusion, he'd encountered many fenatically religion based organizations before, but nothing quite like it before, on the surface it seemed benevolent enough, but if you listened long enough you'd see this Cain was condeming all heroes and praising only Milo Ventro as the one true hero and far to many people were eating it up.

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Fenrir was sitting in the rec room reading a book, he was waiting to hear his next assignment, having finished his last one relatively quickly and with no casualties. He reached into the lunch box at his side and pulled out an egg sandwhich. His mother had started packing his lunch for him and while he'd half heartedly protested that he could make his own, he was very happy to eat his mothers cooking again.

Sandra was quite pleased with all this new information "wow who realized wind so so destructive, outside of the obvious way I mean. This really is shaping up to be quite the versatile tool." She couldn't lie, she was getting a bit excited to start trying out some of this for herself.

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As Fenrir started eating Cassandra walked into the rec room "Oh hi" she said greeting him in passing as she went to get her own lunch. She took a seat taking out a simple sliced ham and cheese sandwich. "It's certainly been busy since that Fusion Church popped up, hasn't it?" she commented, trying to at least say something to start a dialog.

-----

Construction of the area looked to be coming around nicely. Of course she knew why she was out here, and had to wonder how things where going between Kano and Riku. It was still unbelievable to her that America somehow elected him as their president.

Nick smiled as Katy suggested playing a game of pool.
"That sounds great. I haven't played pool in a while."
Nick went over to the pool table and inserted money into the machine. Once the balls were racked up, he decided to let Katy break. After that, he would see how rusty he was or if his skills were still sharp.

(After the timeskip)

Nick watched through the security camera as Katy racked up two more victories. That first fight had been very close, but he was proud to see her come out on top. After word had got out that she had gone into Hell with Scott, her number of fight requests had exploded. As the new school celebrity, she would be facing a number of competitors looking to make a name for themselves by defeating her. All the while, the shadow of the school's strongest student, Zane, would be looming over her. Nick would have to make sure she didn't overdo it or she might get hurt from fighting too much.

" It all comes down to imagination at the end of the day " Emmet explained " Your only as limited by what you can imagine " he waved a hand and they found themselves in Emmets colisseum " Lets start with some application "

A thousand stone statues suddenly appearred " Sandra, destroy each of these only using wind "

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As Riku talked about the Code:Breakers battle against the thousand forest elves, servants brought in plates of food and jugs of drink. Riku told the tale with incredible graphic detail, seemingly not holding anything back.

It was common knowledge within the white house staff that Riku was a member of the Code:Breakers, a shadow organization headed by the international celebrity Emmet. It went without saving that this was very high class information and not to be leaked to the public. That being said Morrison wasnt particularly suprised about to learn what happened, seemed par for the course with the code:breakers, a threat to the planet had been halted, thats all that mattered.

Kano listened to Riku, enraptured by his recounting. The Code:Breakers were certainly...thourough in their methods. He noted that the Valkyries, particularly Brunhilde were not particularly happy to hear what the Code:Breakers did to the elves, but Kano couldnt fault them, if you were going to do something, you might as well enjoy it and from the way Riku told things, it was less of a war as it was an afternoon of fun for the group.

He could admit that he hadnt initially paid the group any mind, Emmet being another host of the phoenix force had garnered some attention, but the rest of his group were unremarakable. That opinion had since changed, Not only had Sandra joined it's ranks, but may of the group were revealing themselves to be incredibly powerful combatants. Even as he sat across from Riku he was aware of the power the demon possessed, what he'd displayed and what he was doubtlessly keeping hidden. It wasnt wise to underestimate any of them.

Emmet was quite the shrewd one, it had taken Kano quite some time to even notice he was a dive being, a god as well. The phoenix force seemed to be cloaking it, his interest in the immortal had certainly grown as his name came up more and more. He'd revealed himself to the world and firmly established himself as a figure of great importance. Music, fashion, film, business, he had his hand in it all and it expanded not only globally but dimentionally.

It was difficult not to be in awe of him, to respect him, based on Riku's tone as he recounted Emmets battle into the elf king, he certainly respected him and based on the demons personality that was a miraculous feat. Kano suddenly realized he was gripping the table a tad too hard, his heart was beating fast in his chest. His senses as a war god were practically salivating for the chance to face Emmet now. He relaxed and took another sip of wine, Riku was right, it was incredible.

He took note of another thing, Emmet was a true ruler, he'd not only defeated his opponents, but he'd seized the elven kingdom, swayed its crown prince over to his side and himself been crowned the new king of the elves. Kano had heard about the elf settlement Emmet had fostered on what amounted as his vast front lawn, he'd also claimed the dimentional prison that housed the elves castle, their wealth, etc. Kano felt a little small in comparison, then again he was trying to measure up to someone millenia old and had reportedly fought his grandfather Odin to a stalemate.

" Then we had another kick ass part in celebration " Riku said finishing his story " Your impressed, I can tell and you should be, were pretty amazing " without a hint of modesty

Kano chuckled " Indeed, I feel as if I owe you an apology for how I originally perceived you, I've been with the Shadow Xmen and Avengers, worked with them extensively, but I cant say I've met a team quite like yours and this elf wine is quite delicious, you should taste some asgardian drink " a bottle appeared in his hands and casually tossed it to Riku who uncorked it and chugged the bottle.

" Mhmm damn thats pretty bitchin "

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Fenrir nodded " Yes it had, and it doesnt appear to be slowing down, more people are coming out to commit crimes and their power scale is gradually increasing. Whats more this church is gaining a lot of attention and membership. I heard certain heroes have started turning up there and theirs rumors that Milo Ventros family is supporting the church as well " he was aware that Cassandra was dating a clone of Milo and wondered what his stance was.

Sandra nodded, so it was all in the mind. Going by Emmet's words Sandra's biggest roadblock this far has been herself, what she perceives as possible. Sandra took her first attempt at generating a element outside energy or fire, and to her delight took out the first stature with a gust of wind. Being already used to the Phoenix and controlling it's energy, it all seemed to just be down to a matter of the mind. Sandra quickly followed up with a much larger scale attack that made quick work of the other 999 statues.

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"Yea me and Nick had quite the extensive talk after he told me his family was supporting the church. He doesn't seem to be fully convinced though and suspects someone might just be using his fathers name for their own gain, whatever those are. Of course he has to support his family, who wouldn't? If he did ever hear about anything however, he promised to tell me."

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After celebrating her recent victories with the spectators Katy made her way back to her room and just fell back on her bed. "Damn a nap would be so good right now" As she laid back steering at the roof she wondered how things was going in her world, she'd gotten some idea of things though Code:Breakers sending her messages or calls, but it wasn't the same with being to see matters unfolding first hand. Between the increased number of people wanting to battle her, having to do her school studies, and spending time with Nick, Katy hadn't really been back to her own world much over the past month.

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Tesla was current with Lone Wolf, he had been subtly making suggestions she look into expanding her skills, and with this Fusion Church on the rise now it seemed like a good idea to take Lone Wolf up his offer. Tesla had been back and forth between Earth's 1 and 616 much more frequently then Katy who seemed to have pretty much settled in at Shawdowgreen for the time being. So Tesla was well aware of how things going back home.

Lone Wolf was with Tesla in the dojo, having had his new student change into a white Gi with white belt for the occasion. He knew about her combat skill and experience, but he felt that she could really round out her skills by mastering martial arts. With her friends Sandra and Katy undergoing training of their own, there was no reason for the beautiful blonde not to get in on the action.
"The most basic building blocks of any martial art is in the forms known as kata. These are a series of combat techniques that will teach you new moves, polish your skills, and increase your overall balance."
Lone Wolf got into a ready position and had Tesla imitate him.

"Karate is arguably the most famous of all Japanese martial arts, and is my specialty. I will teach you the first kata of my style, and then we shall practice individual moves on a heavy bag. After that, we will do a light sparring session with emphasis on the moves you have practiced."
Lone Wolf allowed himself a small smile, having looked forward to teaching martial arts to Tesla ever since they started dating seriously. His face then grew serious again as he began doing the movements slowly enough that Tesla could follow along. Learning kata was always a challenging step for a beginner, so he was trying to make it as easy as possible for her to get started.

Emmet applauded as Sandra did away with the statues " Excellent work dawling. Christian would you like to try? "

" Sure " he summoned a gust of wind to lift him up and float him into the arena as Sandra took his spot next to Emmet. A thousand more statues appeared in the arena, Christians fingers moved as if he was playing a piano. The wind responded with each " not he hit, shearing through a hundred. As his fingers moved more rapidly, the wind whipped up into a hurricane that swept all of the statues into the air and bashed them into one another before a tornado formed and destroyed them all.

Christian softly touched down on the ground and took a bow.

Emmet and Sandra applaused " Great work dawling, now for next I think some light sparring between you two, using only wind of course, how does that sound? "

" Uh sounds good " Christian said, getting into place.

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Riku and Kano were enjoying the food and drink when Kano spoke up " I suppose we got down to the matter of your reason for visiting "

Riku took a sip of wine and nodded " Yeah might as well. Heres how it is, earth wants to enter into and alliance with Asgard. Why I got elected to be the fucking spokesperson I dunno, but thats the score. If you have any concerns or inquiries, i'll pretend like I care and listen "

Kano thought for a moment " You may or may not know this, but I grew up on earth thinking I was a mutant, unaware of my true parentage, a demon known as Abbadon, infected my mother when she was pregnant with me, it was necessary to place me in the womb of a woman on earth for my safety. Eventually I learned of my true birthplace,but ive never forgotten about earth. I've been apart of the sxm, the avengers, fought many threats to the planet.... "

" Then became one of the threats to the planet " Riku bluntly pointed out " Like that time to helped earth and hell merge together, I have nothing against you for that as I had a blast. But people have been trying to pin the blame on me for that " he raised a hand as Kano started to say something " It's cool, big hit with the devil worshipper part of my fan base, go on "

Kano sighed " Yes and that is not the only incident, but it is enough that I have been at odds with many of my past friends, Yamaro, Felipe, Aaron, the latter of which helped rescue my dear wife from Hel "

Riku smirked around his wine glass " Yeah I heard about that, real pity and all. You know the two of you are kinda coming off as being major fuck ups, beginning to question earths end of the alliance "

" That is enough! "

The valkyrie Brynhildr was shaking with rage " I wont stand here and listen to this foul demon insult our king and queen! "

" Your welcome to have a seat and listen to me insult your king and queen " Riku said conversationally, holding a hand up to stop Agent Morrison and others from reacting " Pettyness aside, I'm pointing out facts, you dont like it then take it up with your royalty. Were discussing an alliance here and we need to make sure both sides benefit equally and there wont be to many negative parts. Your king did help earth and hell merge together and sided with really shady bitches, Im aware of all of this even if the public is not, also your king here has plenty of demon in him "

Brynhildr was fighting for something to say but coming up empty " My king, surely you'll defend yourself "

Kano shook his head " I will not, as he said before he is speaking the truth and holding me acountable, many have tried in the past, but I was not in the mindset to listen to them. But this demon here who is leading a country has managed in his own way to make me. I see earth now, still embroiled in conflict, but it is gradually declining, the human and mutant wars that I found beneath Asgard as starting to dwindle as new leader such as you and Emmet take the forefront on the issue "

" Sounds like im doing a better job then you, but Im not going to sit up here and claim some pointless moral highground or virtue signal. You care about your people, I can tell sewer rat does too but im still keeping my foot on her neck. You have the incredibly rare ability, to change and learn from your bullshit as opposed to other morons. Even Sandra's basic ass has FINALLY started to move out of her female milo/woman child bullshit and for that I give you props, something I dont give many people outside of the code:breakers, so what do you say? "

Kano chuckled " Your certainly have a way with words, I assume papers will need to be drawn up and signatures signed, but I Kano, king of Asgard, hereby declare on this day forth that Asgard has entered into an alliance with Earth. Should you have need of anything, do not hesitate to call on us "

" Likewise bro " Riku stretched his right arm across the table " I think a simplee handy will do for now "

Kano shook Rikus hand without hesitation.

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

" Hmm I see " Fenrir said contemplatively " It is definetly possible someone is using the name of Milo Ventro for their own gains, whatever that may be. But the situation feels rather....personal, this Cain preaches about Milo Ventro from the bottom of his heart and pours that onto his followers. Not a simple fan, he sounds like a family member. Are you very familiar with the Ventro family? "

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

" Alright Minnie I think that'll be enough for today, excellent work! "

Minverva stood up and whiped the sweat from her brow, she turned from the forge and excepted the bottle of water from Ku-Chan " Thank you and thank you Miss Daja "

Daja Traade, an older and muscular black woman clapped Minerva on the back " No problem and again drop the Miss, just Daja will do girl, till next time "

Minerva's training over the last month had been an intense and arduous experience. Riku didnt hold back on anything, teaching and criticism. He taught her the absolute basics of mage craft and from there he went into various theoriesand practices, stopping every so often to let her catch up on her note taking and ask questions. She had multiple4 notebooks crammed with all of her notes.

They went over her elemental affinities, she was equally combatibal with all the main ones, her purification passive ability, bounded fields, reinforcement magecraft, potion making, and etc. He got her in touch with the mage Tabitha for lessons in white magic as Minerva had a bit of talent for healing. It didnt just stop at magic either, since the nature of her magic revolved around swords and archery, he had her take lessons with Kaiser, who he claimed was one of earths greatest swordsmen.

Kaiser was much like Riku in the sense that he didnt pull her punches, she walked away from a lot of their training bouts bruised, but defintly feeling like she'd learned a lot. Kaiser was the type of swordsmen who was loved by the blade, he needed only to hold a sword and you could feel his power and skill, he showed her various techniques that she could incorperate with her magic.

For archery they went to Iko who was very gifted with a bow, he was a far gently teacher then the others, which honestly came off as unnerving based on the empty vibe he gave off, but still she was learning much from him. Riku took it another step and had her take lessons in smithing. His reasoning was because of her reality marble, unlimited blade works basically worked as a forge, crafting blades for her to use. Getting some actually experience with smithing could possibly help with getting a handle on the reality marble.

Thus she'd been working with Daja, a mage whose spells revolved around heat and metal, she was somewhere in between being stern and gentle, but always fun.

" AWESOME JOB Min, if being a hero mage doesnt work out, youve got a great future ahead in metalwork " he opened a portal back to Minervas room in the Avengers tower/

She giggled " Thanks "

Christian's attack was certainly fore flashy then Sandra's with the tornado and all, while Sandra just opted at blowing the statues away. Emmet then suggested a wind only sparring match to which Christian quickly accepted. "Sounds good to me as well." Sandra took her position across from Christian. "Well Christian, do you want to start us off or should I?"

-----

"Yea we worked together in SXM for time. However I've never heard of anybody named Cain" Cassandra said. Soon they heard footsteps approaching and turning towards the doorway Cass smiled "Hey Abby your finally back!" Abby entered the room looking a little ruffled but ultimately unharmed. "Sorry for being late, I ended up walking into a ambush. Wasn't anything I couldn't handle, but added some time to the mission." Abby grabbed her own lunch that consisted of a fruit pack and a kitkat. She sat down with the others and asked "so what are we discussing?" to which Cass responded "we're just trying to figure out this Cain fellow."

-----

Tesla starting off looking promising enough being able to follow along with all of Lone Wolf's demonstrations. She had good balance, good strength was flexible and her agility wasn't looking to bad. Physically she had the tools, but Lone Wolf was already aware of this.

" I'll start "

Again Christians fingers began to move, whipping up a strong gust of wind around them, he cupped his hands together in front of his mouth like he was playing a trumpet and blew, Sandra suddenly felt a concentrated blast of wind knock her into the air. Christian was levitated upward where he continued playing his " trumpet and sending canon ball blast of wind towards Sandra.

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

Once they were done with the food, Kano moved the group to another, more relaxed room, with a smaller table surrounded by large pillows and holding a hookah device. The two took seats around the table. The hvalkyrie remained standing behind Kano, but the secret service agents were ordered by Riku to finally sit down.

Kano took a puff on the pipe and blew out smoke that took the form of a hammer. He handed the pipe to Riku took a full three minutes to suck on the pipe before opening his mouth unnaturally wide and smoked billowed out and formed a city above them.

" Impressive " Kano said as he took the pipe back.

" Well sucking is in the top ten of my many, many, many, many talents " Riku said with a smirk. They passed the pipe around for a bit before Kano asked if Riku would regale them with a code:breaker pasttime of singing.

" Dafuq? You think my presidential ass is just gonna break out in song for you....your absolutely right! " music suddenly came to life in the room.

Riku:
Day to night to morning, keep with me in the moment
I'd let you had I known it, why don't you say so?
Didn't even notice, no punches left to roll with
You got to keep me focused; you want it? Say so
Day to night to morning, keep with me in the moment
I'd let you had I known it, why don't you say so?
Didn't even notice, no punches left to roll with
You got to keep me focused; you want it? Say so


It's been a long time since you fell in love
You ain't coming out your shell, you ain't really been yourself
Tell me, what must I do? (Do tell, my love)
'Cause luckily I'm good at reading
I wouldn't bug him, but he won't stop cheesin'
And we can dance all day around it
If you frontin', I'll be bouncing
If you want it, scream it, shout it, babe
Before I leave you dry

Day to night to morning, keep with me in the moment
I'd let you had I known it, why don't you say so?
Didn't even notice, no punches left to roll with
You got to keep me focused; you want it? Say so
Day to night to morning, keep with me in the moment
I'd let you had I known it, why don't you say so?
Didn't even notice, no punches left to roll with
You got to keep me focused; you want it? Say so (Yeah)


Let me check my chest, my breath right quick (Ha)
He ain't ever seen it in a dress like this (Ah)
He ain't ever even been impressed like this
Prolly why I got him quiet on the set like zip
Like it, love it, need it, bad
Take it, own it, steal it, fast
Boy, stop playing, grab my ass
Why you actin' like you shy? (Hot)
Shut it, save it, keep it pushin'
Why you beating 'round the bush?
Knowin' you want all this woman
Never knock it 'til you try (Yah, yah)
All of them bitches hating I have you with me
All of my niggas sayin' you mad committed
Realer than anybody you had, and pretty
All of the body-ody, the ass and titties


Day to night to morning, keep with me in the moment
I'd let you had I known it, why don't you say so?
Didn't even notice, no punches left to roll with
You got to keep me focused; you want it? Say so
Day to night to morning, keep with me in the moment
I'd let you had I known it, why don't you say so?
Didn't even notice, no punches left to roll with
You got to keep me focused; you want it? Say so


Riku was joined by a few of the agents and valkyries for backup as he belted out the lyrics to the song. Agent Morrison and Brynhildr remained in place, but each tapped their foot to the beat of the music. Riku dragged Kano into the performance at one point, magically transforming everyones clothes to a 70's theme. As the performance ended, everyone sat down and applauded Riku, who took a bow

" Thanx, that was fun, but I noticed something, you need a haircut " he said to Kano who ran his hands through his long locks.

" It has gotten rather long, theres been so much conflict over the last year that I kinda forgot about it, Tanya did make a comment about how much she liked it-

He realized too late that it was the wrong thing to say based on how Riku was smirking, he sighed good naturedly " Alright, go for it "

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

" Hello Abby " Fenrir said in greeting " Yes, this is the main topic all of the major groups are trying to figure out. His goal cant be simply causing unrest and chaos, theres a distinctive feel to this whole situation. One of the first things everyone came to agreement on is he wants to somehow ressurect Milo Ventro, even if that were the case and he did it, then what? The world wouldnt magically fall into order, despite what many of that church seem to believe "

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

" Once again I must thank you for all that you have done for the sake of our church "

Cain was sitting across from a very well dressed and buff african american man, they were at the top of a very tall building in Los Angeles. The man simply shrugged at Cains words, he pushed a folder across the table to him

" Thats nice, in any event our partnership has so far been mutually beneficial and as long as that remains the case you'll continue to enjoy my financial benefit "

" Not to mention your incredible network for information " Cain pointed out " She's been a hard one to find, but thanks to you I have the necessary clues, till next time Luthor " Cain vanished from the room.

Luthor starred at the spot for a moment then stood up and stretched out, he still had another hour till his next business meeting and pondered how to spend it.

Sandra summoned a funnel of wind around her to deflect Christian's attacks, using a updraft to keep her suspended in the air as per the rules. Sandra turned the funnel into a massive wave of wind that she shot at Christian managing to catch him just enough to bump him back a bit.

-----

Fenrir had a good point. Cass spoke up "yes you are right. Criminals still acted out when Milo was around, main difference was instead of trying to fight they usually ran if Milo showed up in person. One thing Milo's presence did do was attract large amounts of ungodly evil to this world. Milo processed the complete power of everybody he ever met. Demi-gods, full gods, power cosmic, goblin force, phoenix force and so many other powers, far to numerous to list them all. He seemed to have no limitations on any of them. Even compared to Kano, Sandra, who knows probably even Emmet. It's like you had the top tier, then Milo stood alone on a tier even higher then that. And despite all that power, he still attracted evil that was able to give him trouble."

Abby took over "point is as much as Milo was a friend and we hate that he's gone, reviving him could do so much more harm to this world then good. Relatively speaking of course, things have actually calmed down quite a lot since Milo's death. If Cain thinks reviving Milo will solve the worlds problems, it won't. All it'll do is attract the most vile darkness from deepest edges of the universe to target Earth. That man always had a target on his back, and was a constant magnet for trouble. Either some felt he was growing to strong and needed to be destroyed, or others wanted to claim his power for themselves, making them a god."

Abby and Cass had lived though this themselves, besides Godric who had came after Emmet, the threats to this world have all been much more manageable since Milo has been gone. So why does this Cain want him back? Does he want to plunge the world into chaos again?

Nick had left Shadowgreen on a brief sabbatical, going into Death Valley in California to settle the score with Hans. Using a Fire Path to jump continents, he stepped onto the sandy ground and saw his opponent. His armor looked the same as before, but he could bet that it was a lot stronger than the last time they had fought. Nick had trained hard with Chiang, and his power was much, much greater than last time, as well. He just had to have confidence in that power, as his belief in himself could see him through to victory. The two men stared each other down, both ready to settle things between them.

Hans struck first, firing a barrage of missiles from the back of his armor. Without batting an eye, Nick shot them down with short stun blasts. His hand speed was impressive, making moving at that kind of speed look easy.
"You have improved," Hans said.
Nick did not reply, only taking a boxing fighting stance. To his surprise, Hans also took a fighting stance, this one looking like Karate.

"Since when did you know martial arts?"
"Since Lone Wolf taught me Karate two weeks ago."
Nick's eyebrows shot up, being surprised that his friend would teach a man like that. Whatever he had said to him must have convinced him that he was a worthy student.
"Well, I was taught by the man who beat Lone Wolf. Let's see your skills!"

Nick rushed at him, his speed mind-boggling. The two were soon in a close-quarters fight, punches and kicks flying everywhere. Nick definitely had the greater skill, but Hans was holding his own. Surprisingly, it was Hans that pushed Nick back with a snap kick first. Nick looked at him as he held his stomach.
"I see that Lone Wolf taught you well."

Hans smirked behind his helmet.
"Or maybe you're just not as good as you thought."
Nick let that remark slide, only going back into his stance.
"Come get some and see."
Hans threw a side underhand chop, which led to a new exchange of blows. This time, Nick got the better of him and dropped him with a high kick to the face.

"I perfected my martial arts, too."
While he was training with Chiang, the two had worked on his martial arts prowess. His Karate and Muay Thai were even better now, and Chiang had taught him some Wushu to help round him out. Hans grinned, seeing that his opponent was vulnerable. A heavy machine gun popped up from his right shoulder and started opening fire. This gun was strong enough to tear him to pieces at close-range, and they were practically point blank.

Nick stayed calm, holding out both hands and creating a white energy shield in front of him. The bullets were disintegrated on impact, making this weapon useless. He then fired two quick energy blasts that destroyed the heavy machine gun and struck Hans in the face. If not for his armored helmet, that blast would have scored an instant knockout. Hans, however, had a trick of his own waiting. Clenching his fist, he activated a sonic boom that blew Nick back and stirred up the sand around them.

When Nick hit the ground on his back, he rolled to his feet and stood up, a technique known as ukemi. He took a Karate stance as the dust settled, expecting an immediate follow-up attack. However, Hans was nowhere to be seen. He had used the sand to mask his movements and moved to a different position. With the arsenal that he had, there was no question that he could pick him off from long-range. Nick created an energy force field around himself to ward off such an attack as he looked for signs of Hans' presence.

---

After Lone Wolf finished the kata with Tesla, he turned to her.
"Okay, now go through it again on your own. If I see you make a mistake, I'll stop and correct you."
Tesla was doing well so far, but now was the most important part. Her technique had to be just right so that she could build on it. Once she got through the whole kata with no mistakes, they would start on the heavy bag.

Christian was initially overwhelmed by Sandras attack, but he remembered some advice Emmet had given him when facing a large scale attack like this, dont try to match power for power, instead focus on one specific point. He switched from trumpet to a saxophone and compressed a gust of wind that tore a whole through Sandra's assault. Christian was propelled through it, four miniture tornados surrounding him, Sandra found herself being dragged towards the ground.

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

Tanya was still overseeing the construction of the arena when she felt an odd sensation in the air, in the next moment the ground started shaking. The arena started becoming distorted and warping, flesh and blood spilled out of it as the structure suddenly grew into a massive four armed monstrosity that stood on two well defined legs, it's head was dominated by a single blood shot eye.

" Well you certainly have an eye for architecture ,my dear queen "

Tanya looked up, her asgardian vision allowing her to see all the way to the top of the arena turned monster. A black hair man in a blood red suit was standing on it's head, radiating an immense amount of power, demonic power.

" Oh I dont suppose you know who I am, You stand in the presence of the great Blackheart, surely my reputation proceeds me " he grinned darkly

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

" And there we go, see you look waaaaaay better now " Riku held up a mirror for Kano to look into.

The Asgardian ran his hands through his now much shorter hair " I must admit you do good work " truth be told managing longer hair had always been an annoyance that he put up with

" Your welcome, oh right Em wanted me to bring up setting up one of his clothing stores her-

Riku halted his sentence as he, Kano, and the Valkyries all sensed a great shift in the dimention. An asgardian warrior suddenly burst into the room, looking disheveled

" My king! An arena that had been under construction has been transmogrified into some sort of monster! Not only that but a pack of Draugar is attacking from the north, all of them are in their enlarged states! "

Kano was shocked, Draugar were undead that have super strength and the ability to increase their size " How can this be? Our barriers are intact are they not? "

The warrior nodded " Yes, were not sure how they slipped in, but the sages are reading a great amount of demonic energy at work "

Riku rolled his eyes as he predictably found a spear pointed at his throat courtesy of Brynhildr.

" My king, surely this is no coincidene that you allow a demon into our realm and we are attacked! " she snarled the words out, her spear flaring with energy.

Kano grabbed the spear and wrenched it away from Riku " Brynhildr think, what would Riku have to gain from this, especially after we have agreed to an alliance "

" Exactly dumbass, dont forget your danmn king has demonic energy, I have more reason to think i've been lured into a sloppy ass trap, now how about you put away that hate boner and use your fucking brain "

Brynhildr wince at the berating, he had a point and she loathed to admit it, but it was true. She lowered her spear and asked " What shall we do my king? "

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

Fenrir considered their words, it certainly made a good degree of since. Milo Ventro was not only a beacon of hope to some, but a beacon of chaos and discord as well. Power such as the sort Milo Ventro wielded only served to attract attention and most of it not good, how many villains opperating today could claim that he somehow caused their rise and set them on the path. Either intentionally or through some occurence that led back to him, it didnt matter in the end.

Whether he's here or not there is trouble, things had already been heating up once word got out that Milo was dead, but the rise of the churce of Ventro had only served to exaserbate the situation. What did Cain hope to gain with all this chaos " We cant rule that out, but I dont believe this madness is lacking in method. As the current situation stands, he's simply preaching and growing his flock, But beneath all of that he's slowly discrediting heroes "

Everything was going normally when the new arena started to distort and grow, morphing into a giant monster. A man stood on top of the creature and introduced himself as Blackheart. Tanya took note of the immense power coming from but put on a strong front and and smirked. "Ah yes Blackheart. I remember that name. You got your ass handed to you by Sandra, correct? Shoot, at the time she didn't even understand how to use her newly acquired Phoenix powers, and you still lost." It was obvious Blackheart, like Sandra herself had grown far stronger over the years. "Tell you what, put my arena back exactly how it was, and maybe I'll consider letting you leave unharmed."

Tanya did not underestimate the power she was feeling, but villains always loved to monologue. Asgards response time was fast, no doubt word has already gotten to Kano. It should not take long for backup to arrive.

-----

"That's worrying as well" Cass said. "Mutants and humans was already at odds once despite SXM best efforts. Things only started to smooth over recently as Emmet drew people back to our side. Now Cain is trying to undermine all Emmet has done for mutant/human relation."

-----

"Right" Tesla said with a nod. She started reciting all the moves she and Lone Wolf had just gone though.

-----

Sandra seemed a bit uneasy, of course there was plenty she could do in a real fight to get out of this. However the goal here was to only use wind, and her inexperience in using the element in combat was starting to show. Sandra decided to meet Christian's four tornado's head on with a tornado of her own.

As Nick moved forward, he looked in all directions for any sign of Hans. This kind of situation could be very psychologically damaging, so Nick did his best to stay under control. Panicking over a possible unseen attack would play right into his opponent's hands. Nick would have to fight smart and wait. Taking cover behind a rock, he let down his force field so that he wouldn't use too much energy. However, it seemed like this was the opportunity that Hans was waiting for.

Hans was over a mile away, using an infrared scope built into his helmet to target Nick. This meant that he would be able to see him no matter where he was.
"You can't hide from me."
He had a variety of weapons to attack with, but he decided on a trickier weapon. Adjusting his aim for a rock formation behind Nick, he readied a silenced tactical high-powered rifle built into his armored right arm that fired bullets specially designed to ricochet. Even if he missed, Nick would think the attack came from behind him, drawing his attention and making him vulnerable to a follow-up attack.

After adjusting the angle of impact so that the ricocheting bullet would strike Nick's head, Hans fired a shot. Even though a high-powered rifle couldn't be completely silenced, the distance between them made it a completely silent shot. Luckily for Nick, he had his eyes closed and heard the bullet strike the stone behind him. He moved his head just as the bullet struck where it had been. Realizing that the bullet had ricocheted, he fired an energy blast around the rock. It went well wide of its intended target, but it did prove to Hans that plan A had failed.

"Your hearing is much better than I expected. Guess it's time for plan B."
Aiming the high-powered rifle directly at the rock Nick was taking cover behind, he changed out the magazine and hit a selector switch that he had installed on it. The rifle could not go full-auto, but he had converted it into being capable of three round bursts. Big game hunters would kill for this kind of rifle. Pulling the trigger once, three bullets rocketed from the barrel and headed straight for Nick.

Due to the distance, Nick did not hear the shots and was completely unprepared for them. His cover exploded in front of him and threw him back. A second volley of shots nearly took his head off before he got to his feet. A third salvo was stopped by Nick's force field. Hans smiled, having waited patiently for this moment.
"Gotcha."

Hans quickly switched to a laser rifle, which fired a continuous red beam that slammed into the force field with unparalleled force. Nick had to increase the power that he was putting out to hold it back. His opponent detached it from his forearm, causing it to extend a tripod from the magazine holder that speared itself deep into the ground. Moving quickly, he detached three more laser rifles that fired successive beams into the force field. With lasers coming from all four cardinal directions, Nick was sweating as he tried to hold them off. Hans approached him and smiled sadistically behind his helmet.

"The weakness of a force field is that it only holds up for so long. Continuous pressure will eventually take it down. I'm betting that you won't last ten minutes under this onslaught..."
A heavy machine gun popped out of his left forearm armor.
"...But I'm not a betting man. I prefer a sure thing."
Hans began firing into the force field, adding to the agonizing pressure that Nick was feeling.

---

Lone Wolf let her go until he spotted two mistakes.
"Hold on."
He stepped forward and tilted her head up.
"Always face forward when doing kata. You never want to take your eyes off the enemy."
He lifted her punching arm slightly higher.

"On a mid-level forward punch, always punch to your height. You're aiming for your own solar plexus while you train the technique. That way, if you have to adjust in battle, your technique will be just as good. Your power depends entirely on your technique, so don't ever let it fall short."
Lone Wolf stepped back.
"Continue the kata from there."