Heroes Uprising: Alternate Universe (Thread 2)

Kiya gave Scott a cheerful smile as he mentioned the festival, playing up the angle of a young girl excited to have to have some fun after a long day. "I'd love to Scott, I've been dying to have some fun." The two got up from the couch, Scott being the gentlemen he is offered to hook arms with Kiya which she accepted. Noticing his physique Kiya threw him a compliment. "Oh my, such a big strong man and such a gentlemen to boot. Will you protect me if any demons attack the school?" Kiya wsn't sure if Scott was away of the recent demon attack against Tesla and Emmet or not, if he was then Kiya's question automatically made sense. If not then she would explain her supposed fears, but Kiya would let Scott ask her about it first.

As they left the lounge Scott was a bit surprised by how normal and delicate Kiya felt walking beside him, he felt like if she acted out of line then Scott could easily overpower her. If this cybernetic girl was hiding her true strength from him, then she was certainly doing one hell of a job at it. Scott had to give that.

Emmet was completely taken by suprise as Tiffany knocked him out of his chair and onto the floor, he glared at her as she made a second round and vanished, the ground scorching where she'd just been. Garfield helped him to his feet as the others crowded around him to see if he was ok " Thank you Garfield, dawlings I'm perfect fine, merely annoyed by that immbeciles sudden appearance "

It appeared that Tiffany had ran off and found Katy. Victoria sighed, walked over and lifted Tiffany off of Katy while Tanesha helped her to up.

" Now behave " Victoria told Tiffany sternly as she set her on the ground


Once seated and supplied with new drinks, Emmet sipped his hot cocoa, savoring the flavor, the best he'd ever had but it was decent " Sandra, Im finding it difficult to grasp on my newly awakened telepathic abilities, such as sensing when that trogladyte jumped me, how was it for you when your powers awakened? "

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

Eva was currently touring the festival with Jericho, that was not something she'd been expecting to do. Jericho had been ignoring the festivities all day, but a part of him, buried deep, deep, deep, deep down wanted to experience. So he decided to spend the week at the festival, if only to permanently get rid of this desire. He'd just purchased some cotton candy and was staring intently at it.

Eva leaned against a pillar and watched him " I dont think it's going to eat you "

The necromancer glared at her " I'm well aware of this fact " he pulled off a piece and slowly placed it in his mouth. He shuddered as it touched his tounge and brought up long suppressed memories. After that he started eating it with gusto, moments like this reminded her that Jericho was a fourteen year old boy, easy to forget given his personality and the ease he wielded magic.

She looked back at the people enjoying the festiva and felt nothing, she'd gotten used to it and it didnt bother her as much anymore. Before this, she'd had Troy or rather her obsession with him, she was content to bask in his present and go along with whatever terrible act he wanted committed. But he was gone and with him that last shreds of......herself? Hadnt she lost that the moment she'd been reanimated by Jericho? Who was Evangeline anymore?

Jericho paused in eating his treat as the air thrummed with magic, he smiled excitedly and beckoned Eva, they briskly walked away from the festival, towards the outer edge of the academy where there was nobody around. Eva was confused " What are we doing? "

" Getting ready for a battle "

Jericho had brought a bag with him that he'd filled with various potions and other such items of his craft. He'd been in his graveyard, honing his skills and amassing more power, but what was the point if it didnt get some use. He was fully aware of all the conflicts that popped up in the school, but they had nothing to do with him, so he left it up to that glee club to deal with. But lately he'd been sensing some powerful magics, other mages were starting to move and that piqued his interest.

" Why dont you make the first move " he said, seemingly speaking to no one, but in the next instant, they two of them were surrounded by card men " Hmm, I've seen these before, I know you've been watching me, well since I left my domain, doubtless you could see through all the bounded fields I have set up. If you'd like to play then i'm happy to oblige you " he pulled what appeared to be human finger bones out of his bags and pointed them at the card men " En garde! "

Sandra thought about Emmet's question in relation to her own experiences thus far. "Hmm well back at the beginning of the year I wasn't very skilled with telepathy at all, in fact the strain of using the power would hurt me even doing simple tasks so I mainly focused on my telekinetic skills. Though my training sessions, battles with the Mafia, and especially when the Phoenix started showing up my powers started making large jumps and became much easier to wield. It could be normal size your new to it, your not adopt to using it. Maybe just give it some time and ease into it, and it should come to you."

Sandra was confident that if she could grow the ability, then somebody as skillful as Emmet could. "Are you feeling any side effects or is it just trying to understand your new ability?"

-----

Katy greeted Tanesha who helped her up, Katy had hit her head with Tiffany knocked her down but confirmation from Tani confirmed there was no blood, at most Katy was just in for a bruise. "Thank you Tanesha. I figured you guys would be going for launch as well, but I didn't think we'd both end up choosing the same location." A little annoyed and in a small bit of pain Katy turned to Tiffany. "Hey you, don't you know you shouldn't jump on people? You'll end up hurting someone."

Katy didn't speak all that angerly per-say, but again out of annoyance. Yet Tiffany still frowned like a child that was just scorned by it's mother. Hanging her head down low Tiffany muttered that she was sorry in a almost crying voice and turned to somberly walk away, bumping into Victoria who she forgot was right beside her.

Scott got up to escort Kiya to the festival grounds, pleased when she hooked arms with him and they began heading for the door. She complimented his strength, and he smiled a bit as she asked if he would protect her from demon attacks. Scott had no idea what she was talking about, which was bad if he was going to maintain his cover as a student at Xavier. Thankfully, Alan quickly filled him in on what had happened and he turned to Kiya.
"Of course. I won't let demons or anyone else hurt you while I'm around."

They had reached the festival grounds, and Scott was struck by how normal Kiya felt walking next to him. She seemed delicate and almost waif-like, not consistent with someone who had cybernetic enhancements.
She's hiding her true strength from me, but the question is why?
Perhaps she thinks you'll find her more attractive that way?
Maybe, but I doubt it. Scan her and give me a rundown of her cybernetic enhancements.

Valor's spiritual aura invisibly and imperceptibly scanned Kiya, recording everything Scott had asked for before they returned to the source inside Scott's body.
She has a cybernetic enhancement to her brain to speed up her mental activity, an adamantium skeleton, and a nanotech generator within that skeleton that deposits the healing machines directly into her bloodstream.
So she has superhuman durability and healing factors on top of the ability to think really fast. This is not the kind of person who would be frightened of demon attacks, but those abilities would be a major help in bypassing security and kidnapping someone. I have no doubt that she is the culprit I was sent here to stop now.
Yes, but since we have no proof, it's best to play it cool for now and put her under surveillance after you part ways.

Scott acted as if he was believing Kiya's act and guided her through the festival, appreciating a beautiful woman on his arm even if she was most likely his enemy. When they passed the face painting tent, the face painter saw them together and began to boil over with jealous rage.
That bastard! No wonder he didn't want my number, he had a girlfriend all along!
Picking up the stuffed bear, she stomped over to the two and jumped in front of them.
"I thought your girlfriend might like to have this instead of me!" she said angrily as she shoved it into Kiya's arms.

"Girlfriend? Wait a minute, you've got the wrong-"
The face painter slapped him across the face loud enough to be heard a block away and then stormed off back to her tent before she started crying in front of them. Scott rubbed his cheek where she had slapped him and looked sadly in her direction before turning back to Kiya.
"I'm sorry about that, I forgot that this way was by the face painters and didn't consider how she would feel seeing us together like this. She tried to ask me out earlier and I politely turned her down, so..."

Scott sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. He hated that he had made the face painter feel bad, though he wished that she would have given him a chance to explain.
"You can keep the bear if you want or we can return it to the tent where I won it. No sense in such a nice prize going to waste."
You know, it's hard to tell sometimes whether you are really good with women or really bad with women.
Tell me about it, Valor.

Kiya put up a shocked and confused front at the events that just transpired with the face painter, as any normal girl being confronted in such a way. Normally the face painter would have made a bad judgement call approaching Kiya like that, but Kiya was more interested in this new mystery arrival, the painter was lucky. Kiya listened as Scott explained the situation. She appeared to show the girl sympathy for a moment until Scott off offered her the bear. Kiya looked at the teddy and hugged it with a smile. "It's beautiful Scott, I love it!" It seemed Kiya was happy to keep Scott's offering. Kiya would however soon give Scott a concerning look. "So is there going to be any other ex's I should watch out for?" Kiya used the phase ex to be polite, she didn't want to come off as accusing him of being a player, using a dumping women. That would go against her objective here to upset him.

" Mild headaches and unpredictability, it's like trying to hold something slippery, it slips through my fingers and I hear random thoughts, flashing images. It's maneagable for the moment I do worry about if it grows past my control " It is anothering thing fascet of myself to master and master it I shall "

Victoria sighed in annoyance " Enough, if you can behave like something close to a mature adult...then I suppose you can eat with us "

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

charging the fingers with magical energy, Jericho let them loose, functioning like homing missiles, they tore through the card men " My minion, make yourself useful and fight! "

Eva rolled her eyes, but stepped in front of Jericho as more card men rushed them, tendrils of blood swifty lashed out from her stiched skin and formed a shield around them. Eva leaped at them and began fighting them off, her already great strength had recently been augmented for moments such as this. Hiking up her dress, she kicked one of the card men into another group and jumped on another, grabbing a good junk of what passed for it's skin and tearing it in half.

She doing well when suddenly the landscape started to melt away and Eva felt as if she was falling down a tunnel, surrounded by clocks. She thrashed about as she tried too find her out, but couldnt. Jericho watched she screamed nonesence and stumbled about till her crazed eyes fell on him and blood tendrils started to move. Jericho sighed in annoyance " You still have a long way to go to actually be useful "

He snapped his fingers and Eva fell to the ground, her own blood tendrils restraining her body. Meanwhile the card men were starting to swarm Jericho, he knelt down and touched the ground, chanting a spell, the ground opened up beneath him, allowing him to fall through, but as he did he reached into his bag and through something up. The ground closed back and the object Jericho had thrown now hit the ground in the middle of the card men, making a wet sound. It appeared to be a human heart, but one Jericho had applied necromantic practices too and packed with human teeth.


The heart rapidly expanded till it exploded with great magical force, the teeth serving as shrapnel. Alice was watching this via her crystal ball, shuffling a deck of cards, she'd been watching Jericho ever since he'd left his little graveyard. Immediately she'd made preparations to see what he was capable and so far she wasnt dissapointed, he was crafty and cunning.

For a solid minute she couldnt find him, his undead minion was still on the ground, trapped in her madness maze, but Jericho was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the ground shook as tomb stones began springing up, from them a horde of undead began crawling out and fighting with the card men. Jericho was sitting on one of the tomb stones, book in hand.

" The transference spell is a success, I should thank you for helping me test out my magic, now what else will you bring to the table? "

Alice smiled big " Oh something special "

From a flurry of cards came an impossibly tall man, wearing a white apron and brandishing a large knife and fork, he stood atop a pile of empty muscle shells.

" The carpenter it seems, missing his friend the walrus, though I suppose thats best for both of them " Jericho mused as he flipped through his tome " Well if your bringing a special friend, allow me to respond in kind " he pressed his hand to a page and behind him, a large black coffin rose out of the ground and opened slightly, releasing a black fog and revealing glowing, red eyes "

Sandra understood those headaches well. "Yea I've had more then one of those headaches myself. Hell the Phoenix boost my mental abilities so much I usually end up passing out from the sheer strain of it. But I have faith in you Emmet, I'm sure you'll grasp this soon enough and if you ever need help with this, I'll be here for you. Night or day I don't care, anytime you need a helping hand you come to me. Your one of my closest friends Emmet and you've already helped me so many times, I'm more then happy to start returning the favor."

-----

"Really?" Tiffany's eyes lite up with joy on Victoria's offer, she gave Victoria a nod and responded. "OK! I'll do my super duperiest besty." Katy shared a glance with Tanesha. "Well, this ought to be interesting." Dinner with Tiffany, Katy certainly didn't imagine herself being in this situation tonight. This will either go surprisingly well or completely disastrous, Katy doubted there was a middle ground with Tiffany.

Scott smiled as she accepted the teddy bear, glad that she loved it even though it hadn't been originally intended for her. He planned to win Kiya her own prize, though when he would do that he was not yet sure. Even if she was his enemy, it was against his nature to not show kindness in circumstances such as these. His smile faded a little bit when she asked if there were other exes, but he brushed it off with a chuckle.
"No other exes, I promise. We can have fun without worrying about that."

Scott walked with Kiya over to a food tent and got some cotton candy while Kiya got what she wanted. They walked around for a bit, enjoying the festive atmosphere and chatting casually. After Scott was done with his cotton candy, he tossed the stick in the garbage.
"So, I just got here, but I'm already noticing that those True Notes seem to run the school. Who are they, and what can you tell me about them?"
This question was asked not only out of genuine curiosity, but he also wanted to see how much Kiya knew about Sandra and if she would let anything slip.

Kiya and Scott walked around the festival for a while, chatting and eating before Scott asked about the True Notes. Kiya knew this would come and there was no way she could deny her own involvement without blowing her cover wide open. Kiya smiled and responded "Oooh the True Notes are amazing, such great singers. When they get on the mic they seem to capture the hearts of the entire school. It's such a honor they allowed somebody like myself to be part of their class. I try my best to match up, but to be honest nobody can match up to Emmet."

Kiya realized Scott suspected her, they was both playing the same game and this wasn't Kiya's first rodeo. However if Kiya lied here only for Scott to see her in the class later, then it would turn out much worse then Kiya just admitting the truth. So that's what she did and just admitted to being a member of the True Notes.

Emmet smiled warmly at Sandra " Thank you Sandra, hearing that means so much to me. I will certainly call uon you for guidance, i'd have to be a fool not too "

Tanesha agreed with Katy, it was going to be an interesting dinner. Once everyone was seated, a waiter came by and handed out another round of drinks and took everyones orders.

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

Riku and Noah were currently out demon hunting, Noah having dragged Riku off after the True Notes show, despite the demon mages protest, citing that they needed to deal with this problem. The mages and executioners, plus Kano and Kaiser had all met up made a plan, which was basically to split up and hunt for demons possessing or attempting to possess humans.

Somehow Riku and Noah had both ended up on the roof where a group of demons were attempting to turn it into a nest, as Noah stood over their charred remains and read scriptures while Riku was leaning over the edge of the roof with Gats enchanted syglass and watched the magical battle taking place off in the distance. It was cloaked by a bounded field, so only people with magical awareness could even notice it.

He had to admit, it was pretty interesting and making him itch to bust out some major magical action himself, the demons they were taking care of didnt count, especially since he was letting Noah do most of the work, psychotic church bastard. It was also a good opportunity to get a good look at Jericho's magecraft, the bounded fields around his domain were one thing, but seeing him in combat really let Riku get a feel for his power.

Noah had finished and wandered over to watch as well, his training with the church allowing him to perceive the battle as well, his eyes narrowed as he saw Jericho's horde of undead, he turned to Riku " Who would win between the two of you "

" I'd kick his ass all over the island " Riku said without hesitation, then a moment later " Ehhhh, it's up in the air. Magical power wise, I have waaaay more. But his application of it is....not better then mine, not exactly, but its not worse either. He's a better necromancer then I am and he seems like a crafty moddafucka, he's got some nice mystic codes and strategy. Im more direct and bury bitches type of fighter, I can be sneaky and stuff, but I wanna see blood "

Noah was rather surprised that Riku was being somewhat honest " I see " was all he said

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

The carpenter slashed wildly at the coffin, but Jericho was keeping its defense high, the coffin lin opened slightly and shadowy tendrils oozed out and formed blades and began clashing with the Carpenters knife. Jericho's zombies were gradually starting to overpower the card men, his added bonuses on them were turning the tide and Alice was beginning to get annoyed.

" Arg it feels like he's always a step ahead! Heh little brother is as troublesome as ever. But i'll show you that im a better mage! "

Alice closed her eyes and focused immensely, her magical power pulsated as she reached deep inside herself. It wasnt time to use the Tatari again, but she had her own reality marble. Jericho was beginning to grow bored when he felt a shift in the air, reality was beginning to melt away a green, hedge maze was rising up from the ground.

" Hmm reality marble, thats very advanced magecraft, too advanced for you. This pitiful attempt at a reality marble is unstable and draining an immense amount of magical power from you. You had my interest, but it appears your little more then a hack "

He snapped his fingers, the coffin opened even wider, and sucked the carpenter inside,spitting out the apron. Jericho rapidly incanted a series of spells and drew a large rune " Decay "

The beginning of the reality marble " rotted " away. Eva suddenly jumped up screamed in anger, she lashed out and tore through the cardmen with ferocity. Alice glared at the crystal ball, ignoring the blood dripping from her nose. She was aher limit and loosing control of the body " You win this round, but the next one will be mine "

Jericho recalled his minions, save for Eva who was stomping out the last of the cardmen " I hope next time your better prepared, who knows, I may just show you my reality marble "

Sandra returned Emmet's smile and gave him a friendly hug before telling him it was time she got back to the girls. Sandra was serious about her offer, if Emmet had any more trouble all he had to do was ask and she'd come running. Sandra then left Emmet to return to her table with Victoria and Tanesha, now seeing Katy and Tiffany there as well. After asking the girls all took a seat and explained to Sandra what happened as they looked over the menu. Tiffany was constantly amazed by seeing better and better meals and seemingly wanted everything on the menu. The waiter would soon come around passing out a round of drinks and asking for the girls orders. Sandra, Tanesha, Katy and Victoria ordered quickly, Tiffany seemed almost ready to cry upon the soul crushing realization she could only choose one meal, but eventually they got a pick from her.

Once they finished eating and Tiffany wandered off to do whatever, the group called a lyft on over to the first location. At the door, Victoria turned to face them " Alright everyone, heres the first stop, The quartrbacks party, Donny always insist that we spent a lot of time at his parties, so i've scheduled us for one hour and fifty nine minutes. Also, i've got some bottles of water in my purse and medicine, come to me if at any point in the night you dont feel well "

She knocked on the door and Trevor Morrison, the foot ball teams tight end and person who'd let Donovan use his hous for the party, opened the door and immediately let them in. He winked at Emmet as he passed by , who smiled and touched his cheek. Garfield was suprised, Trevor always came off as being the straightest guy he knew, but then again it was Emmet after all.

The Morrison house was a pretty big, with more then enough room for all the guest, including a second floor that was off limits, but the basement was fair game and had a game system set up on the large TV. Music was playing so loud that the house was nearly vibrating, you wouldnt had known it from the outside, but thanks to a few sound manipulators, they wouldnt have any issues from the neigbors. Donovan was holding court in the living room, peole all around him listening avidly as he regailed them about the teams last game.

He paused in mid sentence as he saw the grou come in and immediately charged over to them, pulling Victoria, Tanesha, and Emmet into a hug then doing the same to Garfield, Sandra, and Katy, while nodding at Tyrone. Dave had been standing with Donovan while Donovan was telling his story and watched as his best friend ran over to the new arrivals. He nearly choked on his drink when he noticed Sandra and Emmet.

He walked over to greet the group, fist bumping with Garfield " I was wondering where you are, usually your here at the start with Donovan helping with the set up "

Garfield shrugged " I'm a cheerleader now dude, gotta run with the crew. Wheres the drinks and stuff at? "

Dave pointed him in the direction to go then finally turned to greet Sandra " Hey Sandra, uh welcome to the party "

Sandra gave Dave a warm smile as she greeted him. "Thank you Dave. So your here for the party as well, I'm excited to see what this is all about." Sandra was pretty sure she hadn't been to a party quite like this before, she remembered drinking a lot earlier in the year when the True Notes had that formal performance thing held by the principle, but this seemed like a entirely different beast. When Victoria mentioned she had water and meds in her bag, that made Sandra wonder just what she was if for tonight. "Have you been to something like this before?" Sandra asked Dave.

Katy appreciated the welcome from Donovan and was the first to ask the question to the cheerleaders. "Well then, where do ya'll feel like starting?"

Scott nodded as Kiya explained about the True Notes and how she was linked to them.
"So they're like a glee club, then? This is the first school I've been to where that kind of group was this popular. I guess things are different here from the regular world."
Now that Kiya had revealed her connection to the True Notes, he understood how she knew about Sandra and her special powers. He knew from their first encounter that it was not easy to penetrate the inner circle of the True Notes, so he knew that Kiya had to be a good operative in order to get this close to Sandra and not be suspected.

That definitely provided her the opportunity, and the organization that was after Sandra could more than afford quality agents, so that covered the motive part. Was Kiya truly so heartless that she would really condemn thousands to death just for money? Or was she truly aware of what her employers planned to do with Sandra's powers? Either way, he had to stop her from completing her mission. Leading her over to a a tent where he could win a prize for shooting down targets, he smiled at her.
"Pick the prize that you want and I'll win it for you."

" Yeah, Garfield and I get dragged to these things all the time, helps being best friends with the football quarterback and stuff " he took a sip from his cup, sprite as he was trying to cut back on the alchohal. This was nice, Dave always felt hapy when he was around Sandra, not even her being with Tanesha was enough to dampen it. But out the corner of his eye he could see Emmet and like a magnet force he turned to him " Hey Emmet "

The other boy gave him a dazzling smile that made Daves pants feel tighter " Good Evening Mr.Hudson. It's nice to see you "

" Uh, yeah same to you " he smiled back just as big.

At Katy's question of where to go, Donovon immediately spoke up " This way! It's where the food and booze is! " he ran off, tugging Garfield with him.Victoria shook her head at her brothers antics and followed after him, holding hands with Tyrone. The table was really five tables pressed together with and covered with bowls of food and bottles. A girl was mixing drinks at one part of the table while another was fixing plates.

Sandra was suddenly dragged away from the conversation when Tani took her hand and ran after the others with Sandra in tow. Sharing a look with her girlfriend Sandra asked "well we just ate so... I guess we're checking out the drinks?"

Katy had already gone up to the girl serving drinks, seeing this was a party and all Katy figured why not challenge herself. "Hello miss, I want to request a shot of the absolute strongest drink you've got."

-----

Kiya scanned over the shelf before settling on a terminator modeled prize. "That one" Kiya pointed out. "It kinda resembles you, your a big strong hunk of a man, just like Arnold especially during his body building days."

The girl grinned at Katy " Bold move, I like that " the, who's name was Tabitha, commenced to mixing drinks, her hands a blur making it nearly impossible to tell what drinks she mixed. She handed Katy a cup with light blue liquid " I call it the ice queens demise, a new one i've been toying with, let me know what you think "

Emmet scanned the selection, it wasnt bad, but didnt really meet his standards, but when in rome " Dawling, I dont suppose you could whip up a cosmopolitan? "

Tabitha laughed as her hands started blurring again " First drink I wanted to learn how to make " she vanished for a moment then came back with a martini glass " Something this special cant be served in a common cup, especially to a queen " she winked at Emmet and handed him his glass. He took a sip and was immensely surised at how good it was.

" My compliments to you " he smiled, taking a like to the girl. She gave an exaggerated bow that got a round of laughs.

" Ok, who's next? "

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

As Riku and Noah were in search of more demon possessions, the demon mage paused in mid step and turned to the west as wind blew his trench coat dramatically " A big strong hunk of a man, the troll gods have spoken and shade must be thrown! "

Noah starred at him, but opted not to say anything.

"The ice queens demise huh, well guys, wish me luck." Katy didn't tackle the strongest drink just to go in half assed on it, with jeering and cheers from the crowd Katy went full in and chugged the full cups in one go to the party goers delight. The drink certainly seemed to live up to it's name as Katy felt immediate effects right away, the crowd was egging Katy on chanting "again" and Katy laid her cup on the counter. "Looks like the name of the game is How Far Can I Go?" Catching a look at the bartenders name tag. "Tabitha, hit me up with another one."

Sandra and Tanesha joined the bar group. Looking over the selection Sandra wasn't sure what to get, so when asked for her order Sandra replied with "surprise me."

Tabitha's entire was a blur as she got to work, mixing another drink for Katy and getting drinks for Sandra, Tanesha, Garfield, victoria, and Tyrone. Everyone instantly had drinks in their hands " For the lovely miss blue, another ice queens demise, tweaked it a litte for you. Red here wanted a surise, so you get Pandora's box. Tani I made you your favorite, " purple koolaid ", for garfy here's a web slinger, Cheer queen Vicky I got a triple axel on a pin, and for dark chocolate I got your tool box. Enjoy! "

Tanesha sipped her drink and started dancing " Oooh girl, you always make the best drinks! " Victoria nodded in agreement

" Yeah, yoour dad still teaching you stuff? "

" You know it, figure living over a bar, might as well learn the tricks of the trade " Tabitha said as she made five more drinks for people that came up.

Katy thanked Tabitha and held the cup up "#2 guys" Katy downed the second drink again in one go to cheers of more coming from people around her. Katy laid the cup down with a smile. "Well the crowd demands it, hit me up again Tabitha."

Sandra took a cautious first sip of her drink, while she drank before it wasn't exactly like she was a regular drinker, but this cocktail seemed rather pleasant. "I have to agree with Tani, you do mix a amazing drink" Sandra said to Tabitha, starting to sip away at the drink more casually now.

Scott chuckled as she pointed out the Terminator plushie and compared him to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor famous for playing the legendary role. She was certainly playing up the flatter, and while he wasn't going to let it go to his head or distract him, he couldn't say that he really disliked it.
"One Terminator prize, coming right up."
He approached the counter and handed the attendant a couple bills to pay for the game. Scott then picked up the air rifle and took aim. Immediately, the attendant started jabbering at him, warning him not to miss in the old carnival trick of trying to distract him so that his aim would be off.

However, Scott had developed absolute discipline under Alan and Chiang's tough training, and this allowed him to easily tune out the attendant and focus on his targets. Three pulls of the trigger later, he had knocked down one revolving plate in each row to win the prize.
"Good shooting, Tex," the attendant said with a smile, "Which prize do you want?"
"That one," Scott replied, pointing to the Terminator plushie.
The attendant got it down for him and handed it to him.
"Come back again sometime and I'll make it more of a challenge for you."

Scott nodded and walked away from the kiosk before turning to Kiya.
"Here you go," he said as he handed it to her, "Now you don't have to settle for just a second-hand prize, even if it is adorable."
He looped his arm in hers and walked forward in the carnival, finding Kiya to be pleasant company. Scott turned his head as he heard engines and saw go-karts whipping around the track with smiling students in them.
"Hey, that looks like fun. You think you could beat me in a race?"

Kiya cuddled the prize Scott handed her and the two walked along to check out more events. They came by the go-kart races and Scott offered up a challenge to her. Kiya smirked and replied "Can I beat you? Big man, I'm about to take you to school." Kiya seemed to be excited by the prospect of racing, and seemed pretty sure of her skills to boot.

Scott arched an eyebrow at her cocky attitude, happy that she was in the mood to accept his challenge.
"We'll see about that," he said with a smile.
They went over to the go-kart area and stowed Kiya's prizes before the attendant gave them a brief safety lecture on operating a go-kart. Once that was done, Scott got into a go-kart while Kiya got into hers.
"Let's go three laps around the track and whoever crosses under that line of ribbons first is the winner."
Once they were both pulled up to the ribbons, he did silent countdown and then opened up the throttle, shooting ahead with a thrill running through his blood.

Kiya had cybernetic enhancements, so she would be able to think and strategize faster than him, which would give her some advantages in this contest. However, Scott had peak human mental abilities, and the adaptability that had served him so well his whole life would give him the capabilities to keep up with her. Since he was currently in the lead, he moved back and forth at regular intervals to keep her from slipping past him. It would not be easy to slip through this pattern, so Kiya would have to time it just right if she wanted to. Racing past the other go-kart users, his eyes were focused on the track ahead as he rounded the corners. As they were coming up on the ribbons to end the first lap, Scott was still one length ahead of her.

On a more advanced system like a car Kiya would normally be able to tweak things and give herself more power, but this simpleton go-kart was mechanical in nature with no computer systems so this was a even battle. Kiya trailed behind Scott going into the second lap. He watched his moves and studied his patterns. Scott was focused a little to much on keeping his speed up and Kiya noticed he was failing to adopt new strategy's, racing the same tight line thinking he couldn't get past. Going into the lap 3 Kiya kept her distance making Scott feel comfortable. About half way through the lap Kiya made her move taking advantage of the flaw in Scott's pattern, getting right up beside him. Scott and Kiya raced side by side for the last half lap, each of their bumpers occasionally nudging past the other. Timing it perfectly Kiya made sure her kart crossed the finished at the exact same time as Scott's, leading to a photo finish draw.

As the drinks flowed, everyone was gradually getting a fine buzz going and conversating. Donovan had launched into another story about a past game that he only halfway remembered, with other members of the team and Victoria chiming in with the correct information. Dave was talking with Garfied, but his focus was divided, mainly by Sandra and Emmet, who were chatting with Tyrone and Tanesha. This was getting complicated, oh so very complicated.

" Rejoice, for I have arrived! "

Barbie, with a few other cheerleaders in toe had just arrived and immediately headed over to Victoria and " accidentally " bumping into Sandra " Oops, sorry "

She smiled broadly at Victoria " My captain, you look amazing, best person in the room! " Emmet coughed politely into his hand at that comment " Sorry were late, had a little trouble deciding what to wear "

" As long as your all here, thats what matters " Victoria responded back " Thanks, I love this dress myself, well food and drinks are here, have fun, but not too much fun " she had zero tolerance policy on getting excessively drunk or pregnant.

" Oh of course! " Barbie said solemnly, hand on her chest as she turned to the table, Katy was being handed her fifth drink, a small group of football players watching her.

" Damn girl, you can handle your drinks "

" Ha! bet twenty bucks she cant toss back twenty of em! "