Heroes Uprising Part 6

Nick didn't immediately place who Emmett and Sandra were when Katy talked about training with them.
"Emmett and Sandra?"
He thought back to the battles in Nirvana and remembered a guy launching very showy, almost theatrical attacks and a woman attacking demons with fiery attacks.
"Oh, I think I remember them now."
She gently chided him about being hard to find.
"Sorry, I didn't think you'd want to hang out again so soon."

Nick gave her a joking look when she called him by the female version of his name, but he smiled because he knew she was messing with him. His face became serious again, though, as she had asked about what he was up to.
"Some time ago, I had a fight with Hans Holbrook, also known as Cybernator. He defeated me, rather easily too, and I wasn't about to let that go. Maybe he sensed that while we were fighting together in Nirvana, and so he challenged me to a rematch. This time I'm going to win, and so I've started training with Chiang to make my powers stronger."

Nick turned his head so that he seemed to be staring off into the distance.
"But, winning against Hans isn't the only reason I'm doing this. When Tiffany amplified my powers and I destroyed two Generals with just two blasts, it really made me realize that I was capable of so much more power than I was settling for. I also want to be able to handle major threats, so that Scott doesn't have to bear that burden alone. If he wasn't there and someone incredibly powerful attacked Earth 1, I want the people to know that they can depend on me to protect them. That's why I'm trying so hard to get stronger."

Nick chuckled and turned to Katy.
"Anyway, I'm glad you came to see me. I had a lot of fun hanging out with you at the party and was hoping that we could do it again."
It was right then that Chiang reappeared.
"The tea is ready, so please follow me."
Chiang led Nick and Katy through the main gate and into the center temple, where they took a right into the Tea Room across from the Meditation Room.

Chiang sat down at the head of the table and had Nick and Katy sit on either side of him. He poured tea for both of them and then bowed his head in prayer before taking a sip. Nick did the same, not wanting to disrespect the people that had been so kind and taken him in. After he had taken his first sip, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Wow, this tea is as great as Scott said it was!"
"Yes, he was always quite fond of my tea," Chiang replied with a pleased smile.

Katy listened as Scott explained his motives. "Well I wish you the best of luck. However I caution you, don't use Tiffany for a benchmark on what you can do. Grow at your own natural pace. Tiffany might not necessarily be the brightest bulb in the shed, but she's powerful when she needs to be. Manipulation or boost powers even if you was at the peak of your abilities, could still push you beyond your limits. It could even kill you if say Tiffany was to boost your powers to a point beyond what your body can even handle, with a explosive power like yours I could imagine Tiffany could make you go off like a bomb if she wanted to."

Katy was sure Nick could grow immensely powerful, however she didn't like the idea of him using a artificial boost as a benchmark. Who knows what Tiffany did, she could of boosted him to the peak of his potential, she could of boosted him beyond his limits, that woman was a nut and there was no telling she did. Chiang would return and lead the two back to the tea room, in Chiang's case she bowed her head in respect, there was a time for jokes but as somebody who's had a long standing interesting in various forms of combat, Katy understood the importance of the student master relationship, and showing respect. Katy took a sip of the tea "this is quite nice."

"Street Level Combatants Prepared. Weapons, non lethal." Hatches in the floor opened up and 4 large 10 ft tall two legged walkers arose from the floor. Their legs looked similar to frog legs, but they were clearly made out of synthetic material while the top half was blocky and carried two large machine guns. All four ran forward causing the floor to shake. Two jumped into the air and over Eliza in order to flank her.

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Roberta's eyes lit up when the possibility of training was brought up. "Let's do it! I mean we can do it whenever we're ready. ooh you can show us what Emmet taught you Sandra!"

Sandra couldn't help but smile, Roberta's excitement was rather quite. Thinking about it now maybe one of these days she should introduce Roberta properly to Katy, the two of them might hit it off and become friends. Actually didn't Katy join them in a 4-way that one night, how did both them go a full night without mentioning fighting or sparring? Questions for later, right now they had company. "Trust me I still have a long way to go, but I can show you what I know so far. Still it's early, we have no need to rush off and abandon Eva just yet."

As Nick thought back over his conversation with Katy, he couldn't help but chuckle a little. It seems he had another person in his life who was worried about him and always wanted to lecture him, but that was okay. Everyone who had ever really cared about him had done this, and so while it may have annoyed him a tiny bit, it endeared him even more to Katy. Nick knew that Tiffany had boosted his powers quite a bit, maybe even to a level he'd never be able to reach on his own. He had every intention of growing his power at a natural pace, and hoped someday that he would be able to stand next to Scott as an equal. Nick would never know where his limits were if he never tried to reach them, though he was glad Katy was there to help keep him grounded.

"Thank you, Ms. Karma," Chiang said as he turned to her.
The Chinese have a proud tradition of applying tea to many sacred ceremonies, and Chiang believed it essential to deep emotional stability and cleansing.
"This particular recipe uses natural herbal mood elevators to combat depression and other mental ills. Scott would drink it if he was having emotional distress during his training, and it always helped for him."
Nick grimaced a bit, knowing that he had been responsible for some of his friend's problems back when they had a bitter rivalry.
"Thank you for allowing Katy to join us, Master Chiang."

"There's no need to thank me. I owe her a great deal for venturing into Hell with Scott and helping to save my realm. She is welcome here anytime."
Chiang finished his tea and stood up.
"You may have the rest of today to do what you want. However, tomorrow must be a day totally devoted to serious training if you don't want to fall behind Mr. Holbrook."

Chiang then left the room, leaving Nick and Katy to drink their tea and enjoy each other's company. Nick finished his tea and stood up.
"Why don't I show you around? This is only my first day here, but it's a cool place."
After Katy had finished her tea, he showed her the meditation room where he had started his training. He then led her outside so that they could explore more of the world, which Nick had not seen much of yet.

"Sure, lets go" Katy said in response to Nicks question. Truthfully Katy ended up feeling a little bad that she had interrupted Nick's training, she was thinking she'd meet with Nick, chat for a bit and then maybe see if she could hang around and watch to see what Nick was going through, maybe even help out if she could. It wasn't really her intention to put Nick a day behind. However, Katy did also have the feeling she'd back at this place again so getting to know her way around might not be a bad idea.

Nick and Katy exited the temple and began taking a white stone path further into the city. The place seemed like an idyllic paradise, with well-manicured grass and impressive stone statues. Each temple in the city was devoted to a sect of Buddhism, and many monks could be seen coming and going from them. Some of the temples were damaged during the demon attack, and other monks were hard at work repairing them. Nick pointed to a deck with red fencing around it in the back of the first temple.
"I fired a massive energy blast from that deck, bigger than anything I've ever shot before."

The excitement spread over Nick's face, looking cute like a kid in a candy store.
"Master Chiang has this sweet meditation method that's really helping to bring out more of my power. I didn't really get the hang of it today, but I know I will if I keep working at it."
Nick had always had a fierce determination to him, and it had seen him overcome his limitations time and time again to triumph over opponents much stronger than him. He suddenly turned to Katy with a sweet smile and a gentler voice.
"I'm really glad you came to see me today."

As they walked, Nick gently reached out and took Katy's hand. He didn't lace his fingers with hers, but he did hold her hand in a gentle grip. Warmth spread through his entire body as he touched the woman he was developing deep affection for. The rest of the day was his to do as he wanted, and he was going to make the most of it.
"I'd like to take you out tonight? Is there anywhere you'd really like to go?"

Katy seemed slightly surprised about going on a date so soon, but thinking about it, it did seem to make sense. "I'd love to go out Nick. I don't really know all the differences between Earth's 1 and 616, so I'll leave the decision as to where up to you. However in terms of preference, may I suggest we grab a pizza and see a movie?" While Katy wouldn't object to going to a fancy place and all, it wasn't really her #1 thing. Places like that was really expensive and honestly sometimes got kinda boring. Nick was also getting a feeling about Katy as well, there was just something telling him that in terms of movies, a sappy romantic chick flick was not what Katy had in mind.

Katy would then respond to Nick's training. "I'm glade to hear your training is going well. If you are interested, we can go a round in a quick sparring match." Between her going into hell and not just fighting but concurring generals, then her mentioning her own training with the Phoenix's, now her offering to go a round, Nick was getting a pretty clear idea about at least one of Katy's interests. Seems Katy wasn't the delicate flower type, she seemed to be the furthest thing from it in fact.

Aziza was enjoying the morning air on top of the Code:Breaker mansions roof. After the last two action packed days, it was nice to get a break, it was a reminder of her age. Times were she'd have to fight for a week straight and had no choice but to be fine at the end of it, those were certainly good times. But now here she was, on a new team with people that could only be called monsters and she couldnt be happier " Is there something I can help you with? "

Grimm suddenly phased into sight " Wow, not many people notice me when i'm around like that....well nearly everyone here can"

" I've always been able to tell when death is around,being an old soldier " said Aziza kindly " It's not suprising that the others here can as well. Did you need something? "

Grimm, floating cross legged, upside down was silent for a moment then pointed at Aziza's sniper rifle.

" Oh do you like guns? " Aziza asked curiously

Grimm nodded " Yes, ever since mankind first invented them, they captured my attention, such beautiful instruments of finality, especially those "

Aziza picked up her gun and held it up for Grimm to inspect. The reaper started to reach out for it, but stopped " Um I shouldnt, I wouldnt want to ruin such a device "

" Hmm, would you like to learn how to shoot? "

Grimm was taken aback by his question " Weeeeeelllll yes please "

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Emmet teleported into his office where he found Jonathan sitting on his desk, naked.

" Hey, been waiting for you, hope you dont mind ass prints on your desk " Jonathan said casually. Emmet instanly appeared in front of him, licking his lips.

" The desk is mahogany love, having your bare form on it only increases its value " he carressed Jonathans scruffy cheek before leaning for a kiss. Time ceased to mean anything in the room as the two made love. Awhile later, Emmet was buttoning his shirt as Jonathan lounged in a chair.

" Your leaving " it wasnt a question " Godric did something to you, didnt he? "

Emmet nodded, he hadnt said anything, but knew Jonathan would be able to sense it " In th final moment before ID exploded, Godric infected me with the Goblin force, with it's nature as an all comsuming entity. I can feel its influence, ive been able to suppress it, but not for much longer. It will corrupt me in ways i've never experienced. I'll be consumed and everything around me will go too. Which is why I have to leave for a spell, to deal with this inconvience "

" How long? Time is different for you, a thousand years could go by before you notice, I dont think I could stand not seeing you that long, or anyone else here " he pulled Emmet to him and hugged him tightly. Emmet carressed his hair and produced a locket

" Hold this and think of me, no matter where I am or what time, I will come back " with one final kiss, he vanished.

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" A skeleton, is it another reaper like Grimm? " Garfield wondered

Eva shook her head " No, it's a lich, undead sorcerer. Jericho must be thrilled considering how much he hates liches. Anyway just the type of person he is, maybe some hobbies, though I might pick Katies brain for that info "

Tanesha raised an eyebrow " You already got the dick bitch, dont tell me you trying to date now "

" Hell no, I just find him interesting, doesnt hurt to get info, especially to make sure he doesnt catch feelings or any nonsense " Eva replied easily " Anyway, what are you sister wives planning? "

Tanesha laughed " Just make sure he doesnt get sick from spoiled potatoe salad " turning to Sandra and Roberta " Girl im down, all the bullshit and crazyness hasnt really given us time to do stuff together "

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Eliza took a breath, calming herself and falling into her usual two handed stance. As the robots got closer, she shot forward at blinding speed . The robots instantly opened fire on her, but Eliza's sword flashed cut through the spray of bullets. A wave of heat swept through the room as Eliza swung her sword. With a burst of speed, she sliced through one of the front robots legs, causing it to lose balance and fall against the other.

Eliza jumped and kicked off against the robots, launching herself into the air, she hadnt forgotten about the the flanking robots. She landed on one of them and drove her sword downward, piercing it. The fourth robot opened fire, but Eliza removed her sword and jumped away, the two robots firing on each other.

Eliza was in a position where she was behind the four robots, itsnt quite noon yet, but the sun shone brightly in the sky. She raised her sword " Before this brilliance that sets aside the night, pay your ostentation to the holy sword of the stars! Excalibur Galatine! "

She slashed down and unleashed a wave of scorching heat. The four robots were engulfed, as was the room. Everyone in the safe room were forced to cover their eyes. After a few second the light dimmed down and they could see the state the room was in. Suprisingly there wasnt much damage. The four robots were completely obliterated and a large cut dominated the ground now. It appeared as if a giant sword had been drove into the ground and dragged, but a closer look showed signs of the ground being melted.

Tabitha muttered a quick spell and scanned Eliza's sword " I thought so, that name isnt well known, the Excalibur generally overshadows it "

" U-um what exactly just happened?! " Asked a bewildered Chihiro, using this as another chance to cling to Klause.

" That girls sword belongs from the legend of King Arthur and his round table, the knight Gawain wielded it, legend has it that it received the blessings of the sun and can annihilate a whole army, i'll give the girl credit, she has amazing control, that attack could have possibly taken the building out, but she measured the necessary power needed for it "

Tabitha didnt think she'd see someone throwing around things in the league of conceptual weapons, but now she was really glad that she'd opted to come to this little team.

Eliza relaxed and turned to the others, smiling politely " I hope that was a passable display of skill " she was far more nervous then she was letting on.

"That's great!" Sandra exclaimed, excited to be spending some real quality time with her girls. "To be honest Eva Katy wouldn't know what Luke's interests are, the people that knows him best are either Jim or code name Metallic of the SXM. Luke can be a pretty goal driven, if not sometimes even stubborn, once he's set on something it can be difficult to turn him off it. At heart he's a pretty stereotypical good guy type though. As for hobbies who knows, he's also somewhat of a secluded type, he was usually around when SXM held parties and stuff, but as for what he does in his alone time, I'm not really sure if anybody knows."

Scott watched as Eliza began her combat test. Her control of her sword was impressive, working around the enemy to prevent being surrounded. When she unleashed a very powerful attack, he covered his eyes and hoped that there wouldn't be too much destruction. When the blinding light died down, the robots had been incinerated and a large cut had melted the floor. Her control of such a powerful attack was impressive, and he nodded in approval.
"Not bad."

Nick was glad that Katy agreed to go on a date with him.
"Well, I haven't been to other places on Earth 1 for quite a long time, so it would be good to reconnect with my own world."
Katy suggested pizza and a movie for their date, and Nick smiled.
"That sounds great. I really love pizza, and it would be cool to see if there's a good action movie playing."
Katy didn't strike him as the romantic chick flick kind of woman, definitely more the kind that would like The Terminator over The Notebook.

Nick thought about his training.
"Yeah, it's off to a good start."
He chuckled as she challenged him to a sparring match. With the way Katy always seemed to be thinking about fighting, she fit right in within Nick's world.
"Sure, a quick sparring match would be fine. I'd like to see how strong I am against you now and compare it to later on."

They reached the largest temple at the end of the path, and there was a large fenced-in area inside. It resembled an arena, and would be perfect for a quick sparring match with Katy. Nick could feel some kind of energy here, and an image of Scott popped into his mind.
Was Scott training here?
Nick turned to Katy and assumed a Muay Thai stance, having learned the powerful martial art from Scott.
"Let's have some fun, Katy."

Katy nodded falling into her own stance. She was happy Nick accepted this friendly little match, while to the naked eye it may of looked like Emmet simply beat the snort of herself and Sandra earlier this morning using his thousands of years of combat experience, there was actually more to it then meets the eye. What Emmet had actually done was reveal flaws Katy had in her movements and defense, openings she never even knew she had. It was a true learning experience and she still remembered every mistake, now she hoped to put a lot of those lessons into play. "Before we start, how do you wish to play this? Do you want a straight up fight, or are we to go all out even using our powers if it means getting a advantage?" Katy just wanted to set some ground rules as this was just a sparring match, she was also interested if Nick wanted to test just his combat skills, or his powers as well.

Nick saw that Katy was also fluent in the martial arts, taking her own stance and looking like she knew what she was doing.
"Well, we'd better not break anything or Chiang might get pissed at us. Why don't we just do martial arts for now, and later on, we can find a more suitable place to go all out?"
Nick was interested in getting an idea of how good he was with Muay Thai, since he knew he was better at martial arts than Hans. He was thinking about training with Alan, and before he did that, he wanted to know where he stood.
"Don't hold back with your martial arts, though," Nick said with a smile, ready and willing to put his martial arts skills to the test.

Katy gave a nod and launched forward with the first attack. She looked to be readying for a punch but it was just a feint, as Nick readied to defend Katy shifted her body weight suddenly to go for a kick instead, Nick was able to readjust quick enough to parry which kicked off a furry of strikes, locks and counters between the two. The two seemed to be pretty evenly neither really finding a opening on the other. However Katy wasn't a person of just one style of combat and when Nick went for his neck strike Katy shifted styles suddenly, catching Nick's strike mid punch Katy used Nicks own forward momentum against him, redirecting his attack into a arm drag. With Nick on the ground Katy went into more of a wrestling format, quickly transiting into a armbar as she still had a hold of Nicks arm. Instead of wrenching back on the arm itself Katy targeted the more the much more vulnerable fingers instead. Katy forced Nicks fingers to bend backwards in a very painful way, clearly looking for a submission victory in this contest.

"I can tell you have skills Nicky, but a opponent won't always use the same style as you, so you must be prepared for anything." Regardless of Emmet's training, Katy had years of sparring at SXM under her belt, both solo and with others. So even though Emmet's vast knowledge outshined her, Katy to her own right was no slouch. She hoped Nick didn't take offense to her giving him pointers along the way, assuming the situation presented itself at any point to allow her to do so.

"Damn might have took the wrong option" Chu said in a joking manner as he took a few more hits from the backwood as the girl began dancing on Tesla. After the craziness with Zach, the chaos virus, and the strange attacker it was good to just have some fun out at the club with Tesla.
.................
With the final attack it seemed as though Razon would emerge victirous but he was seen slammed into the ground with an open wound and he groaned looking up to curse at Tanya but passed out succumbing to his wonds. Shila hovered over to the fallen soldier and reached for his neck.

"He's not dead just unconscious...it seems you won Tanya, we need to detain this man, find out everything we can, anything you have in Asgard to restrict his powers use it." Shila was overwhelmed with joy that they won but knew they needed to keep Razon subdued and without access to his power at all costs.
...............
As they kept moving through the chambers Logan led them to the control room where some escaped prisoners were slayed by some armed guards. Fusion charged forward into the fray getting blasted back by security guards and hitting the ground seemlingly dead.

"Foolish prisoner" One of the guards spoke only for Logsan to lunge forward plunging his claws through one of the man's necks, then turning to use the guard's body to defend himself from shots from the remaining three guards. Blasted back the guards lowered their weapons only for Logan to emerge from behind the bloodied soldier armed and shooting one of the guard's in the head.

Fusion rose up again himself moving at super human speeds to disarm a guard and blast through his neck with the weapon then using teleknesis flung the remaining guard out of awindow. "Perfect" Fusion groaned as his wounds were slow to heal tapping into Logan's powers as he sliced through the door handle and opened it from inside. Walking outside he grabbed the keys and walked over to Cassandra to unlock her anti mugen cuffs.

"Alright so now that should be everywhere, we need to head to the flight wing and get out of here..before Apocalypse' big boys get here."

Tesla replied with a joking smile. "Well, you know what they say about hindsight" Tesla laid back in her seat to just enjoy the dance and the woman do her thing.

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Tanya collapsed to her hands and knees after the final attack, breathing heavily as sweat could final start flowing freely, no longer being wiped away instantly by intense power. It was a bloody good thing that last attack did it, because Tanya wouldn't of had a second chance. Asgardian soldiers would run over to their queen, Tanya would sit on the ground just to regain some stamina and would instruct her men to take Razon to the lockups, and turn all power dampeners on full.

As they dragged Razon away the still resting Tanya would speak to Shila. "Shila if you ever meet that man again on your own, try to avoid a fight at all cost. That man has some kind of immunity to damage, even me in what some has coined the Goddess Rage state, which basically turns me into Milo for a few minutes to put things simply, giving me access to all powers without needing clones. Even then, I barely took Razon down before my strength ran out. So access to magic, reality warping, all that good stuff and you see the struggle I still had. You Nova Force soldiers are strong, but you'll never beat him. You may as well not even try and instead just hope to avoid the conflict."

While using the peak of her power drained her, it did not take long for Tanya's stamina to recover as the energy of being a goddess flowed though her. By the time she was done giving Shila a warning on just how dangerous Razon was, she was already ready to stand once again. "Razon has done a lot of damage here, many dead need to be buried. Lets check on Monel."

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Cassandra's energy surged back through her body full force once the cuffs was removed, it felt so good to be back at full strength once again. "Lets go." Logan began running through the halls, followed by Fusion and then Cassandra who now took flight instead of walking. They made their way though the halls much faster now, Cassandra flinging guards away like they was trash and any time they came to a barrier Cass powerful telekinese was able to just shred through it. Cassandra powerful tekekinese remained Logan of Jean Grey, most notably the Phoenix version of her, yet this girl didn't seem to be a cosmic entity. They got to the flight deck and Logan with Fusion headed to a aircraft however a sentinel landed in front of Cassandra.

Fusion turned back but both he and Logan heard Cass voice in their head via telepathy Get the ship ready, I'll handle this The Sentinel fired a rye beam laser at Cass, who used a telekinetic barrier to shield herself. The sentinel then went to slam it's mighty fist into Cass, only for it to phase through her and hit the ground as she took a form of pure energy (a skill she learned in her Goblin days, and skill retained even now). Cass flew above the bent over sentinel and used a quick telekinetic blast to knock it off balance and sent it falling to the ground. With the sentinel down it gave Cassandra the time she needed to channel her strength into the killing blow. Grabbing the massive sentinel in her telekinetic grasp, she channeled her strength and a second later the sentinel was ripped apart into several pieces, head, body, arms, and legs all being ripped and disconnected from each other.

Cassandra let all the pieces fall ito a gigantic trash pile, and she landed in the ship Logan had ready to take off. As she stepped forward her energy form shifted back into her normal body and she spoke "Logan, get us out of here, now."

Nick used his martial arts skills to fend off Katy's attacks and strike at any openings he could see. He was a seasoned and experienced fighter, a hot-blooded warrior that fought his way into the top five of Shadowgreen's best fighters. He wasn't a master in the strict sense of the word, but he had a great practical knowledge of combat that had seen him through many fights. He also had great flexibility and adaptability, traits he shared with Scott. Nick was not expecting Katy's sudden switch from striking to grappling, but despite the pain, he kept his focus. This was where his training and experience came into play, not giving in to pain or panic.

This whole situation actually reminded him of a previous sparring match he had with Scott. He was teaching him Muay Thai when he all of a sudden switched to wrestling and got him in a chokehold.
Remember, Nick, it's not uncommon for most fighters to know at least two styles nowadays. Don't assume your opponent will always use your same style, and watch out for surprise attacks.
"You sure you and Scott aren't reading from the same script?"
Nick's eyes sharpened, indicating he was getting serious.

Grabbing hold of the hand that was wrenching his fingers back, he pulled himself to his feet and in the same moment tossed Katy to the ground. Transitioning to a perfect armbar, he locked her elbow into place.
"I may be better at striking than grappling, but I won't lose to just one little submission hold."
Nick let go of Katy's arm and then kicked her away so that she could return to her feet. They exchanged blows again and again, blocking and dodging as they were before. At the height of the battle, they both threw a punch and their fists collided with great force.

After a few moments, Nick smiled and lowered his fist, signaling the end of the sparring.
"You're one hell of a woman, Katy. I can exchange fists with you as easily as I can exchange kisses."
He turned to look around the temple, impressed by how big it was. There was a large statue of the Buddha here, indicating that this was where the citizens of Nirvana performed their most important religious rituals.
"So, pick you up tonight at seven?"

Seemed Katy and Nick was on pretty even footing in a fist fight, and going by Nick's comments it seemed Katy's demeanor apparently wasn't to different from Scott's. Katy guessed this wasn't the first time somebody has tried to help Nick out during battle. Katy also really enjoyed the dynamic the two had while fighting, Katy being a bit more technical to take advantage of her smaller frame while Nick was a bit more powerful. The differences in how both used their respective armbar was the best case to show this.

Nick would suggest at date at seven. "That sounds perfect. I'll let you get back to your business Nick, and I'll meet you at the portal at seven." Katy was still learning her way around Earth 1 and Nick hasn't been to 616, so meeting at the portal seemed most ideal.

Before the fight Marcus was in his office on a conference call with several politicians. There were three monitors on his desk showing the faces of one senator and two house representatives from Kansas. Marcus in face expected a call like this, but didn't think it would be happening so soon. As the heroes were speaking with each other it looked like a terrorist attack was occurring in Wichita, Kansas.

"So far most of the media has been held back, but recording of the attack is already on social media. I don't understand how things deteriorated so far." Senator Adams explained the attack which didn't surprise Marcus too much. A demon worshiping cult apparently infiltrated the police force in Wichita and took over the farming platforms there. This should've taken several months, but with the right abilities they could have done this in a couple weeks maybe less. At least that is what Marcus was thinking as he listened to the summary. Considering how much food that were being produced there it made this a rather interesting situation. "What's worse is that they're doing this for their lord Riku Darkholme."

"Don't you mean President Riku Darkholme?" Marcus asked only being greeted by silence and then a grumbled "Yes" as a response.

"It was their words, but there is clearly a connection here. Even if he isn't directly responsible his presence may inspire more attacks."

"What about the current situation? Why not send the military or ask the Avengers?"

"Their is a forcefield around the area that's preventing the military from entering. Even government telepaths are being blocked from gathering information. You don't have any connections with the President or even his associates unlike the Avengers. If you assist here your organization will be of great help."

Marcus took a moment to take in the information. Mostly he was guessing their real motives for asking him for help. These people were incredibly prepared for this and is attempting to frame the President. His organization doesn't have enough successes under their belt to be asked to deal with this and expect to win. No, Supers Unite was expected to fail.

"We would be happy to. I can send a team to deal with them. What are their demands?"

"In three days they will destroy all the farming platforms along with any hostages they have. At the moment they're planning on executing people periodically. They're considering them sacrifices. They'll try and depopulate the area within three days."

"Which means we need this dealt with by midnight correct. Sounds easy."

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Yasuri watched the swordswoman and seemed to study her movements and attacks. A small smirk was raised on his face "60 points" he said to himself. Rory was silent the entire time. His own magic was able to detect the immense power hidden within Eliza's sword. It was different than Avery's which seemed to always hide it's potential, but this sword's strength was barely concealed.

"Arena repair activated. Please stay clear of nanites." the robotic voice advised as a grey goo seeped out of the floor and flowed around Eliza to the damaged areas. It only took a few minutes for it to repair the damage to the floor and dissolve the robotic enemies. Marcus watched from his office and was quite pleased by the display. He thought about using cheaper simulated enemies, but didn't mind shelling out some money just to see how much real damage these people could cause.

"Wow that was more than satisfactory! We probably should've used a higher setting for you." Sheriha came out of the safe room with the others. She walked up to Eliza to eagerly shake her hand. "I would consider it a honor to work with you Eliza. In fact, I kind of want to try this out-"

"HEY I'M UP NEXT!" Pink Devil leapt over both of them and landed in the middle of the room. "I'm doing Stage 5." Eliza's display seemed to inspire certain members of the team to try out as well.

"Actually what about the real thing?" A hologram of Marcus Wayne appeared before them. "Hello everyone, some of you have spoken to me but for the others my name is Marcus Wayne CEO of Wayne Industries and founder of Supers Unite. I apologize for interrupting, but looks like we have until midnight to to deal with a hostage situation."

"How many hostages?" Sheriha asked, standing at attention immediately switching to a more military and disciplined demeanor.

"The entire population of Wichita Kansas. So, for everyone here I understand if you don't want to be drafted into a life or death battle just yet. You can and we'll call you back later. For the rest Alfred will escort you to the command center. There you will meet another member of the team who will accompany you here." Marcus was aware of how rushed this was, but he wanted to get there fast. Riku would be informed of the situation soon, and he wasn't sure if the President would sit this one out or not. He'd prefer the former since it was obvious they wanted his attention.

Aziza returned from her roof with an extra rifle, she directed Grimm to set up a few tin cans some distance away from the mansion. She was glad there was no one else living in the immediate area. As Grimm returned she offered him the rifle, again he seemed apprehensive about taking it, but upon her saying she had plenty of spares, he carefully took it, suppressing his nature as a taker of life as much as possible.

Aziza lectured Grimm on gun use then went with a demonstration, swifty shooting ten of the cans. Grimms own attempts were not particularly good, but he didnt give up and kept at it, managing to shoot two of the cans before the rifle broke and dissolved in his hands.

" Perhaps I can be of assistance "

Aziza and Grimm looked up as Ulbert approached them, the grandiose robes were gone in a much more simple night robe " Emmet showed me this spot earlier and I thought it would be a good place to relax, my name is Ulbert "

" Ah, good to meet you Ulbert, i'm Aziza and this is Grimm, new too the Code:Breakers as well "

" Lich! Another affront to her greatness " Grimm hissed

Ulbert reached into his robe and pulled out a pair of black, leather gloves " My dear Reaper, I have nothing but respect for your kind as we are cut from the same cloth, so too speak and we are teammates, I hope you will be able to overlook any slights my kind might present to you "

Grimm stared at Ulbert for a long minute before taking the gloves and enthuisastically shaking the lich's hand " Ok thanks! "

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Emmet appeared in front of Zargos Mountains, the entrance to the underworld. He walked forward towards the first of the seven gates where one of the Annuunaki stood waiting, to pass through the gates an article of clothing must first be removed. He removed the hat he was wearing and continued on, till he passed through the last gate and was left naked. He now stood in the underworld, before a woman with long blonde hair in a black, gothic style dress. In her hand was a spear that also had the impression of a cage, Ereshkigal, the Sumerian goddess of the underworld.

Emmet " It's been so long, Aunt Eresh "

The womans cold mask broke, smiled warmly and embraced her nephew in a tight hug. When she pulled back, Emmet was wearing back clothing he hadnt seen since the time of his youth. He smiled at the familiarity and followed Ereshkigal to a table with two cups set aside.

" Please, sit and talk to me, my sweet nephew, what news of the above world? " it was a familiar routine for them, as Ereshkigal was cut off from the world above, only able to get glimpses and snippets of things, so she enjoyed hearing about it and the exploits of her nephew. Emmet sat and took a sip of his tea, he then launched into everything that had occured in the world in the last century. Ereshkigal sat enraptured by everything she heard, from mankinds latest leap, their creation, the appearance of mutants.

He told her of wars, growth, decay, love, hatred, of his adventures, the Code:Breakers and their adventures. He spoke of Godric and his fall, not to mention the loss of his children, and Godrics final act.

" I see, i'm sorry for your great loss, tis a terrible thing when a sibling wounds you in such a way " she spoke with a wealth of experience " They are al here of course "she gestured and a glowing cage floated down. Emmet could see the souls of his fallen children, grief clutched his heart and tears poured down his cheeks. Ereshkigal reached out and gently wiped them away.

" You have other things you must focus on now, your attrocious brother dealt a great blow at the end, one you have concealed but wont be able to for much longer. But I know you nephew, you have a plan in motion, you always did. It's one of the many things i've always loved about you, for it comes from and not from HER " the goddess's tone became darker " Have you heard from her? "

Emmet's expression soured as well " No, but I suppose I can expect to hear from her soon. All the more reason to get this issue taken care of, if comes upon me like this.....I wouldnt survive it "

Ereshkigal nodded solemnly " Indeed, take this "

A crown appeared on Emmets head " This should help, somewhat "

Emmet adjusted it on his head for a bit till it was at a good angle.

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" So basically this guy is basic as all get out, Eva he's perfect for you " said Tanesha

Eva rolled her eyes, but she was already planning something, maybe it wouldnt be a bad idea to look up this Jim guy. Why was she doing all this? Boredom? Yeah boredom was always a good reason to do something. She was sure it wouldnt be long till Jericho sent her off on some mission " He does sound basic, but he has good dick so it evens out just fine "

" Did you get any pics?, i'm uh asking for a friend " said Garfield innocently. Eva flashed her phone at him and Garfield's fangs poked out of his mouth a little from arousal " Not bad, you did good "

" I'll be the judge of that " said Tanesha taking a look as well " Aight it's not bad gurl, you go on with your human vibrator "

" Hey, I aint gotta change batteries or nothin right ? " Eva grinned and slapped five with Tanesha " You know a new mall opened up not far from here, maybe the sister wives could take their act on the road " suggested Eva.

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New of the hostage situation took everyone by suprise and the fact that they had a chance to take part in diffusing the situation. Now it all came down to who would be willing to go on what would be a dangerous situation. Klause had been meaning to talk to Marcus about about the possibility of giving the recruits such a mission, to weed out those who had the grit for the job.

" I'll go " said Eliza " I wont stand by while innocent people are in danger, I came here to do good and make a difference, I intend too " she spoke with conviction and confidence, her mind set.

Louise was at war with himself, it was already a herculean effort for him to be here, to be back out in the world. He was taking it slow, this was too much.....but there were people in danger, who needed help. He'd been hiding in the shadows for so long, that he was afraid to step into the light. No more....." I will go too " he spoke louder then he had in a long time, feeling a little self conscience of how his voice sounded.

" I wanna go too " Chihiro put in " If there are people in danger, then I cant sit back either and not do anything. I've been practicising with my power and I wanna feel like it's for a good purpose " I hope this speech is impressing Klause.

Tabitha rubbed her chin as she mulled it over " Hmm alright i'm in, do you know what these guys motives are for this? "

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Riku was in the middle of lecturing Minerva when his phone started ringing " Whats the Tea bitch? uh uh uh, oh my devil worshipers are trying to sacrifice a town in my name? Thats just terrible and not at all flattering, we must do something immediately! Whats that you say? A new team of super heros is it? Well then I think we can leave the situation in their hands, tell them they hav the presidents blessing and to do a good job, okey dokey i'll be by the white house in a bit to install the new staff, ok yeah byeeeee "

He put his phone away, smirking " Well looks like things are going according to plan, now to sit back and wait for the real game to start "

"Really if all your in the marker for is a fuck buddy, then a basic personality isn't all that bad." Sandra said this are basic guys are usually the more honest and don't have alternative motives, making them a pretty consistent hookup for when your in the mood. Would you live with one? Some might, but not everyone would. Some girls needed more excitement in their lives, but as a hookup those guys was pretty reliable, especially if you dangled a carrot in front them so to say, to keep them interested in you.

Onto news of a new mall, this peaked Sandra's interest a bit. "Oh, I feel like I haven't been shopping in ages. Hey if you guys are happy to check this place out, then so am I."

Scott was surprised as a hologram of Marcus suddenly appeared and said that they had little time to resolve a hostage crisis. He didn't give too many details, but the lives of an entire town were at risk. Whatever was going on, Scott would have to do something to stop it.
"I'll do whatever I can to save the lives of the innocent."
He had no idea who would threaten an entire town or why, but they had to be stopped. Had he known that this incident was connected to Riku, he would have been just as concerned for Minerva's safety.

Nick nodded at Katy's plan.
"Alright, sounds good."
The two parted ways at that point, and he returned to Shadowgreen to prepare for his date. However, before he could head to his room, he was slapped in the back of the head.
"Hey!" he said, turning around with clenched fists.
However, it was only his brother Richard.

"Who gave you permission to just go off training?"
Nick lowered his fists and looked a bit ashamed.
"I'm sorry, but I have my reasons."
"I know, and that's why I'm letting you do it. However, if I send word that Earth 1 needs help, you better get here. You're still one of the Shadow Force, after all."

Nick looked at his older brother and smiled.
"Of course."
He turned and headed to his room, wanting to pick out something appropriate to wear on a date. Once inside, he opened his closet and looked through his clothing options. After picking out blue jeans and a white collared shirt, he set them out on his bed and headed to the bathroom. He would shower first, and then make his way to his meeting with Katy in style.

Garfield stood up " Well i'm gonna go fuck Ashe, later " he walked off. Eva drained the last of her cup

" I'll go too, enjoy the mall girls " she dissolved away in a red mist.

Tanesha shook her head " This place better not be ghetto as hell, anyway wanna go now? "

"That would be just like a Code:Breaker wouldn't it? Well, we'll see what the place it like when we get there." Sandra took both her girls and teleported the 3 of them to the location of the mall.

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Katy would return to her residence at SXM, James could inform her upon arrival of Marie's revival. He told her she'd be on alert but didn't yet give her full details of the situation. Reading her thoughts he learned Katy had a date lined up, and after the breakup with Troy this would be good for her. There wasn't much Katy could help with currently so James opted not to force her to cancel any plans, he just wanted to put her on notice. This simply meant that if they ever needed her, she could be called away from her date at a moments notice.

Katy understood and made her way to her quarters. She opted to go with a leather theme, some snug fitted black leather jeans, a blue cropped tank top that matched her hair and exposed her belly, a black leather jacket, and finally some black leather high heel boots as it fit the theme. Katy would shower and after getting out would wrap up her hair in a towel turban to start drying. Katy would start getting ready for her date, doing her toenails blue (again matching her hair) then her fingernails the same color, and would start at makeup and lipstick and such. Katy would eventually get around to finally starting to put some cloths on.

The girls showered and changed clothes, before Sandra teleported them into the middle of a beautiful parisian city. In front of them was the mall, a large three story building with a nice dark blue paint job. People were streaming in and out of the building, talking animately, carrying bags, etc.

" Ok, were not in the projects so thats a point, another is this place looks bombs " Tanesha said, impressed with the location, she took both of her girlsfriends hands and steered them in. The inside was very impressive, each floor had stores neatly set up against each other, and promising something different. At the center of the bottom floor was a waterfall where people could toss coins in and make wishes.