Heroes Uprising: Alternate Universe (Thread 3)

Scott thought about it.
"I'm not so sure about that. He only did it once that we know of, and that was several years ago. I'm not sure we can count on him doing that again."
He got up from the bed.
"If Blood Wolf is indeed after us, then I have a plan that we can use."

Scott exited the bed and breakfast with Kiya and headed into the woods. They soon found a clearing where they could see attacks coming from all around them.
"Our foes will be after us soon, so the best option is to face them head-on."
Scott formed his Armor of Valor around him and got into his Muay Thai stance.
"Watch my back. I can sense the enemy isn't far off."

Kiya got into position watching Scott's back and the treeline from the opposite direction. "A frontal attack is a ballsy move seeing we're already taken down two of these werewolves." It wouldn't be long until Kiya's sensors could detect movement just behind the treeline, the enemy was stalking them, hiding in the darkness as they circled the two looking for a opening at which to strike. "On guard, the enemy has arrived Crusader."

Scott nodded as Kiya told him that the enemy had arrived.
"Yeah, seems that way."
Suddenly, five werewolves jumped from the trees and came at them. Scott unleashed his Million Punches of Valor, defeating three of them while the other two were left to Kiya. Once all five were down and were turning back into humans, Scott noticed one had some kind of paper taped to his chest.
"What's this?" he asked, taking it off of him.

The paper was a folded over note, and so Scott unfolded it. It read 'come see me in Whittier, Alaska'.
"Hmm, looks like we know where he's hiding out. Pretty gutsy to issue a personal challenge like that."
However, since Blood Wolf was likely to be joined by perhaps hundreds of werewolves, he thought it might be a bit too much for just him and Kiya. Taking a Fire Path, they arrived back at Shadowgreen.

Scott and Kiya took the elevator down to the Shadow Force headquarters. There they met with Madame Shadow and the other members, discussing how they would need to take this on as a joint mission with so many potential opponents.
"You can count on us to do our part," Nick said.
With a plan of action, they made their way to the jet that would take them to Whittier. After they were all strapped in, there was liftoff and they were in the air. Scott's eyes hardened, prepared for the showdown with Blood Wolf.

The werewolves that attacked wasn't the strongest, Kiya was able to read their movements and take down two of them without much effort. When Scott found the note it became all to clear, this pack of werewolves was meant to be fodder. They was meant to be defeated easily to provide Scott or Kiya the note, and no doubt lead them into a deathtrap. They returned to shadowgreen for reinforcements before boarding a jet to set off for Alaska. "Be prepared, who knows what tricks this Blood Wolf has in store for us."

Scott nodded at Kiya's words. They were walking into the enemy's territory, so guaranteed there would be trouble waiting for them. The jet touched down and they all changed into cold weather gear to brave the blizzard outside. Once they were properly suited up, the ramp opened and they all stepped off. Trudging in snow up to their waists, they slowly made their way to what looked like an abandoned mine shaft. This made a suitable secret hideout for Blood Wolf, and was also a dangerous location for any intruders, since it was likely one way in and one way out.

They entered the abandoned mine single file and made their way further down. There was no sign of any enemies yet, but the whole place had an air of hostility.
"Be careful," Yvette said, "We never know when we might be attacked."
Scott had Kiya take up the rear because her adamantium body would be the safest shield if they were unexpectedly attacked from behind. Nick's arm glowed to light the way, since the lights in this place had burned out long ago. As they proceeded deeper in, Scott felt a greater sense of foreboding for what was ahead.

As the group followed the main shaft, once though the entrance tunnel they could see many shafts and tunnels diverging off to either side. This was common, many mines where like mazes once you got deeper in and if you got lost you might never get back out. Kiya was tracking their route exactly though, so as long as they all stayed in a group Kiya could easily lea them back out. More worrying is Blood Wolf and whatever other werewolves resided down here likely knew all these tunnels, shafts, maintenance exits, dump/waste sites, supply bunkers, etc to heart. They could attack from anywhere and disappear again just as fast. Kiya also understood Scott's group could easily be surrounded and swarmed from all angles. This was far from a ideal situation to be in.

Scott noticed all of the side passages that were around them, thinking that they would be perfect for an ambush. However, it seemed that their enemy was not going to attack them just yet. They went deeper down until they reached the bottom of the shaft. It was very dark, but they suddenly heard footsteps and a man clapping. All of a sudden torches flared up and Gregori was standing there in his black suit and red tie. He had the most smug smile on his face and seemed completely at ease.

"Welcome, Crusader and others. I'm so glad you got my invitation."
"Cut the crap, Gregori! What's your plan?"
"Just a little world takeover. I always thought that the civilized world could use a bit of a return to its wild roots."

Scott clenched his fists.
"Before I beat your face into the ground, I'm curious about something. How did you gain your lycanthropy?"
"Since you're going to die here anyway, I don't see any harm in telling you."
Gregori lit a cigarette and puffed on it for a moment.
"It happened when I went on vacation to Brazil."

Gregori smiled, as if he were remembering a first love.
"While I was seeing the sights, I ran across a small village that had an intriguing legend. A child born under a 'cursed moon' had gone savage on his thirteenth birthday and fled into the Brazilian jungle. Curious about this child, I paid a man to take me into the jungle and show me the boy. He led me to a cave but would not go inside. So, it fell to me to climb a rope ladder and go inside."

Gregori took another long drag on his cigarette.
"When I went inside, the little savage attacked me. He bit into my wrist before I escaped back to the village, and my curiosity was thoroughly satiated. I returned to New York a few days later and thought no more about it. However, soon after I started having blackouts, long gaps in my memory. After a week of symptoms, I realized that I had become a werewolf, and a very special one at that."

"So you plotted to take over the world?"
"Not right away, but after some time I began to dream of ruling the world with my army of underlings. I almost got captured by Solaris early on, but escaped and now have come a long way toward accomplishing my goal. The only things standing in the way now are you and the people from Shadowgreen."
"This world will never be yours," Scott said while taking a fighting stance.
"We'll see about that."

Gregori suddenly began to change before their eyes. He grew into a massively tall and muscular seven foot werewolf, his eyes gleaming with malice.
"Let's have some fun, Scott!"
Grabbing him by the throat, he leaped up a shaft with his powerful legs and disappeared. At the same time, an army of werewolves came pouring out of the tunnels all around them. The Shadow Force immediately went on the offensive, and it had become a massive battle.

Kiya went on offense as well, while the werewolves best Kiya in speed she bested them in awareness and tactics. Her sensors kept her aware to approaching enemies and her ability to make judgements almost instantaneously kept her one step ahead. As a werewolf charged her from behind Kiya was able to whip around last second connecting with a vicious clothline flooring the best with a yelp. Two werewolves attacked from both sides of Kiya, she let them close in and the exact second they jumped at her Kiya back stepped causing both wolves to crash into each other. A wolf charged from the front, leaping over his stunned allies and descended down upon Kiya. Kiya side stepped, balled up her fist and gave the wolf a serious punch to the gut. Her fist hit with so much force it penetrated clear through the wolf's body. The first wolf was down, passing out from the pain and hole in it's body, it reverted to human as Kiya pulled her bloody hand and arm back, letting the defeated wolf fall to the ground.

This display caused the wolves around her to momentarily pause and rethink their approach, they all knew the metal girl was strong but didn't realize she was that strong. Kiya's gaze was deadlocked on the rest of her opponents, no words needed to be exchanged, the wolves understood all to well Kiya was just daring them to attack. Realizing they couldn't catch Kiya by surprise, the other 3 werewolves spread out to surround Kiya, they would instead attack her as a pack.

" Good Afternoon, Sensei Minato "

Kaiser had just entered the dojo and found a short and stocky japanese man sitting on a bean bag chair in front of a large plasma TV, he looked up from his bowl of noodles as Kaiser greeted him " Ahh, Kaiser-Kun, it's been awhile, how's my favorite pupil doing? "

Kaiser scoffed " You say that every one of your pupils is your favorite "

" Yes, but I mean it with you " he grinned and sat his bowl down, hopping to his feet with agility that didnt fit a man his age " I was suprised to discover you were on Genosha, but I am glad to see you "

Minato was a swordsman who'd made quite a name for himself in his earlier days as the Azure samurai, but in his later years he'd taken to teaching. Suguro Nanaya was an old friend of his, so it wasnt a problem to teach his sons the way of the sword, though it went against the grain seeing as neither boy had an interest in Bushido and simply wanted to kill. Kaiser, his skills were transcendent, a prodigy of the sword that only appeared once every generation, it was the greatest shame that he'd been born into a family of Assassins and not samurai.

" I'm glad to see you as well sensei " he looked around the dojo and noted there seemed to be some damage that been recently fixed " Problems? "

Minato shrugged " One of the frequent visitors here had an altercation, though I assume you already knew that "

It was Kaisers turn to shrug, which could be translated as a yes " Sensei, I have need of them now "

Minato starred at him for a good while before nodding he turned and walked over to a far wall and tapped a certain part " The tale of muramasa and masamune "

" Rival sword makers, they had a competition one day to test the quality of the others swords. They placed the swords in the middle of a stream. Leaves floating down the river passed safely around the blade. But the leaves would be drawn to the muramasa blade and sliced in half. Muramasa bragged that this proved the quality of his sword was superior while Masamune called it inferior due to it cutting indiscriminately " Kaiser recited easily

" I'm happy you remember, I told this story to you and your brother over a thousand times and while Iko showed a slight interest in the Masamune blade, you both chose Muramasa in the end, but you didnt waver in your choice of the Muramas, the Masamune might as well not even exist "

Kaiser nodded " Yes, a sword that can cut through anything sounds the most useful "

Minato laughed as the wall split open, revealing several swords hung up on the wall " I admit, at the time I worried I was training a great evil, but you were simply a blossoming shinobi. Speaking of great evil, how is that foul mouthed demon of yours? "

Kaiser approached the wall to get a closer look " Riku has joined the mages association, he's on the island for a mission " he could feel goosebumps spreading across his body, a miasma seemed to be seeping from each sword " These are it ? "

" Indeed favored pupil, Masamunes cursed blades, i've rounded up as many as I could. Partly for you and partly to keep out of the hands of the weak willed and foolish, but I believe you are ready for them "

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After making there way through a few more games, the group decided to give Cassandra a tour of the school.

Nina was outside to get away from the party, she scuffed at the sun. So bright, always glaring in your eyes, how can anybody like this? She eventually found a large tree and sat under the shape. Yesterday's session with Alice was informative, unfortunately actually dealing with this demon presence was still up to Nina herself. To learn more about this demon essence she knew she'd have to call it forward to interact with it. Not much scared her, but considering she lost all sense of herself when this happened back at the tournament, the thought of bringing that to the surface once again did in fact worry her. But, maybe that was the problem. Maybe if Nina did not show fear and asserted herself as the dominate personality, maybe the demon would not consume her, maybe she could instead wield it's strength... maybe. Nina sighed, she hated this, the doubt and frustration. She was not accustomed to feeling this way. "Snap out of it Nina, you are already a undead super powerful being, what can possibly go wrong?"

She stopped leaning against the tree and sat upright, folding her legs "Alright, time to do this."

-----

As they toured around the school, they came by the True Notes choir room. Tesla was surprisingly still there, reflecting after the fight with Katy. Her mood actually lightened quite a bit by this point, she was excited when Emmet came in and was about to tell Emmet how she found to take her signing to next level, when she noticed the two Sandra's. Wary of this new development Tesla was ready to take her diamond forum at a moments notice. "OK, what the hell is all this?" she asked, clearly referring to the two Sandra's.

-----

Juliet and Tenshi was both in the dojo since there was no classes during the festival. The students where getting ready for training, doing their stretching and warm up's. "A pretty nice turn out, we got at least 10 here today" Juliet said, pretty happy to see the class was slowly growing and more people was getting interested.

Tesla was quickly brought up to speed on recent events and introduced to Cassandra " And thats where were at " Emmet explained " Were showing Cassandra around the school while Principle Goodman gets things in order to take her in " he said everything so casually and matter of factly, like this was a daily occurance.

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Minato went back to his bowl of noodles while he watched Kaiser inspect/fawn over the swords, from outside the room in another part of the dojo he could hear Juliet and the young man she was working with preparing to teach a class. It warmed his heart to see people taking up the sword, in a world where guns and laser beams were so favored, it was good to see blades still had a place.

Kaiser carefully reached out and took a katana down, he unsheathed the blade and inspected it, it was long and covered in blood stains, a common design of Muramasa's sword, along with the evil aura that seemed to permeate from it, making Minato's skin crawl, but Kaiser carressed the sword almost lovingly.

" These blades lack names and are simply the Muramasa's, that one though is said to be one of his greatest and imbodies the concept of cutting, legend says it can cut through anything. It is not an easy sword to wield and it refuses to go back to it's sheath until it's tasted blood. I assume you want to test it out " he pulled out a remote and hit a button. a portion of the floor opened, six sword wielding robots walked out " You like them? The robotics club set them up for me, I intend to incorperate them into my lessons soon, but for you I think the highest setting...probably wont be enough but work with it "

The robots eyes glowed a bright red as they entered combot mode and rushed Kaiser. Minato hit another button on the remote and music started playing, one of his favorites.




Kaiser whirled around intercepted one of the robots, his finely tuned reflexes allowing him to go from that stance and into slicing the robot clear in half. The remaining five circled him and darted in to attack. But Kaiser was faster and seemed to dissapear. The muramasa blade vibrated in his hand like a wild beast, it wanted to cut into flesh, not metal. Kaiser quelled it's bloodlust with his will and continued fighting.

Minato watched the display, pride nearly bursting out of him, it was always enjoyable to watch Kaiser wield a sword, though the boy probably couldnt see it himself, the mere act brought out a lot of emotion in him, even as his face remained emotionless, his eyes danced with glee. Soon the ground was littered with the dismembered robot parts.

"Uh huh, so we're all just OK with Sandra having this thing around?" Sandra spoke "Hey now that's not fair, Cassandra is still. I admit me and Tani was a little freaked out when we found her this morning, but she's been checked out by Spayde, she's a real living person. Besides the lab that engineered her is gone, so we don't have to worry about being a spy or anything, she's her own free person now."

"Is that so?" Tesla decided not to keep pushing, the others seemed alright with this artificial fake person being around. "Alright then, what does Goodman want with her? She seems to be more of the center of attention type, I never figured her as one to adopt the homeless.

-----

Shawkun was in the room with Goodman as she was going over all the paperwork to legally adopt Cassandra and bring her into the school. "What devilish little game are you playing at my queen? This clone isn't any Phoenix, it's just a subpar telepath. What plan are you concocting to warrant going through all this paperwork?" Shawkun knew Goodman was not doing this without something in return, he always did love her plans as sometimes she could get downright wicked. This was certainly not being done out of the kindness of her heart.

-----

Back at the festival things had taken a turn for the worse as Garfield, Katy, Riku and Tie noticed crowds of people running and screaming. Someone ran up to the counter in a panic "Hey you 4, you need to get out of here, hurry!" Katy quickly spoke up "Wait wait wait! Just what's going on out there?" The young man spoke "Some thing has lost complete control of itself and has gone utterly mad, it's tearing shit up and trying to kill people." Katy grabbed the guys wrist before he ran off. "What thing?" The guy yanked his arm away then responded "That crazy red thing from the tournament." He then ran off and Katy turned to the rest "Well looks like Nina has lost her mind again. We should put a stop to this before she hurts somebody, also she's scaring away our customers." Katy added in that last bit for Riku, not really being sure if he cared about hurt students, but a loss of customers might get to him.

Katy seemed to be the first one out of the door and heading towards the chaos. It seems the fact that Katy has never actually beaten Nina did nothing to make her hesitate to jumping in for round 3. It was a quick run from the food courts to the rides area, but even so when Katy got there everything was already destroyed. Katy caught something in the corner of her eye and back stepped barely in time as something big went flying past her face and crashing into a nearby wall. After a second the rubble started moving and this massive man comprised of all metal stood up. He noticed Katy "You, blue lady from the tournament right? You should leave, it's not safe here." Katy responded quickly "Yea no, I'm here to help big guy."

Scott and Blood Wolf erupted out of the mine and were soon in a snowy field. Scott used Quick Armor as his foe howled with such force that the ground shook. The sun overhead turned into a red full moon, a Blood Moon that would further amplify Blood Wolf's power. Scott had never seen anything like it, but he knew that this was one foe that he had to defeat at all costs. Charging at his enemy, he got in close and began hitting him with Muay Thai strikes. Blood Wolf tried to counter with claw strikes and bites, which glanced off of the armor as his thick muscles absorbed the strikes.

It seemed that neither one had done any damage to the other in this first salvo, so Scott knew that he had to up the ante. Charging up a Fist of Valor, he got on close and landed it directly to his nose. The force of the attack blew Blood Wolf back, where he rolled head over heels before finally stopping. However, any hope that this had finished him was dashed when he got to his feet a moment later without so much as a bloody nose.
"Not a bad attack, but you'll have to do better than that!"
All of a sudden Blood Wolf was gone, moving like a blur.

As an Alpha-class werewolf, Blood Wolf's abilities were significantly boosted compared to his pack. His strength and speed were leaps and bounds beyond them, and his endurance and healing factor were also much higher. Under the light of this Blood Moon, his powers were boosted even further. There was no doubt that he was the embodiment of wild nature, a beast with the intelligence of a man and the best body of an animal. He struck Scott from the side, which launched him to the side, though he recovered with a roll. Blood Wolf was soon on him again, striking at great speed from different angles.

Scott adjusted to his attacking pattern and countered his attacks when he came in. On the last attack, he launched a flying forward front kick to send him flying back. Blood Wolf rolled backwards with it and was back on his feet in a moment. Seeing that his current strategy wasn't working, he changed it and for the first time took a stance that resembled a Jujitsu stance.
"I don't just call myself Blood Wolf because it sounds cool, Crusader."
His claws turned a bright red, looking more dangerous than ever.

Scott knew something was coming, and prepared himself as best he could. Blood Wolf moved forward at great speed, and Scott launched a kick at him. However, his foe had anticipated this and moved to the side, clawing upward at his chest. Scott jumped back, but the claws grazed him and some of his armor disappeared on his chest. Scott was in shock, realizing that Blood Wolf's claws had a power similar to Blood Magic. Now that his foe could get through his armor, the battle had become much more dangerous.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Force and Kiya were battling the werewolf army. Nick blasted any that came within range, able to keep back many with his controlled bursts of energy. Rocky had coated himself in rock armor and was punching them back with great force. Siren was keeping behind Rocky and using her powers to render as many unconscious as she could. Madame Shadow used her power to punch out any and avoid taking damage. Mike used his sand powers to force them back and protect his team, creating a sandstorm around them to keep the numbers manageable. Everyone was fighting intently, but their foes just seemed to keep on coming.

Kiya had yet another body on the ground when one of the werewolves got a little careless. However the more they took down the more that seemed to come back in. This wasn't looking like a winnable situation, the flesh lights would eventually burn out and run out out of energy, and when the Shadow Force feel then this overwhelming abundance of werewolves would even bring Kiya herself down eventually. The best they could hope for was to hold out and hope Scott beat Blood Wolf. Maybe taking him down would put a end to these attacks.

" Principle Goodman, tawdry as she may seem, has elected to adopt Cassandra, I believe it may have come from a good place, especially when other options were sparse " said Emmet " It's possible there may be more to it and I see where your coming from Tesla, I have certain misgivings as well but for now Cassandra is doing fine "

" Yeah, she's a nice girl " said Tanesha a little defensively, after hearing all the stuff about the girl, she was feeling a little protective of her " Believe me, being a spy is the first that came to mind as I would know, but I dont get that vibe here "

" But there are still many questions that need to be answered and short sources we can call upon " Emmet put in " Cassandra's creator was apparently moved off island and turned over to the international police, so the story I was told. I do wish i'd thought to speak with him. The information we retrieved from the computers is good, but theres still so much more, this all ties back into the phoenix force, this great power we barely understand and is drawing attention from all over, it's possible we may have another uninvited guest coming to call about it "

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Cordelia was at her mini bar sipping scotch when Shawkun came in, at her desk was a man typing away on her computer, his expression blank under the midn controlling. He was busy falcifying Cassandra's documents. She smiled at Shawkun and took another sip " HA, of course I have a plan. For a long time the Hellfire club has considered cloning, but our scientist have claimed over and over again that the potential for the phoenix force isnt that easily copied. The criteria is guess work still, but only a powerful being can host it, an omega level mutant for example. But getting the entities attention is another matter, that idiot scientist at least helped us clarify things "

She poured him a drink then fixed herself another one " I've relayed all of this information to the white king, as well as Cassandra. The general consensus was she was irrelevant, but I see more, Sandra Fuller has massive potential as a possible omega level telepath and telekinetic, so it's hardly a stretch to say that Cassandra has the same, with the proper guidance and training, who would throw away such a weapon " she sipped her drink again, running her tongue over the rim " The girl is basically a blank slate, begging for an artiste to come and turn her into a masterpiece and thats what I intend to do, there's other things, but I think i'll keep you guessing for now " she smiled wickedly


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The cafe was in a state of panic as word of something attacking the festival had reached them. Victoria and Garfield were trying to calm people down and prevent them from stampeding and wrecking the place. Riku sighed in annoyance, while he'd didnt shit about people getting attacked or that boot leg ass bitch, Katy had a point, this was affecting their smoney. As Katy ran off, Riku and Tie followed at a leisurely pace, throwing shady comments back and forth.

They soon reached the section where the rides had been, but were now heaps of metal " Well this is a pretty picture and because she's white, there wont be any jail time or a fine " Riku said as he surveyed the area " Get a bit of demon in her and the bitch thinks she's somebody, ha "

Garfield had joined the group " Victoria and Nate are keeping people safe back at the cafe, but this seems bad, where are the teachers or security?! "

Riku shrugged " Where are they ever? Nice lampshade btw "

Cassandra had been quiet while the others was talk, her head hung down a bit as it didn't seem this Tesla lady had taken a liking to her, she felt bad about it and was sorry to have disturbed the girl. Though it did make her feel a little better when Emmet, Sandra and Tanesha all stood up for her. While she knew what friendship was she never knew what it felt like until now, knowing people have your back in times of need is a amazing feeling.

Tesla listened on as everybody explained and pleaded their case. "It seems everything ties back to the Phoenix Force these days. Well if you all trust this thing and Goodman, then I guess I'll at least give it a try." It was kinda annoying Sandra how Tesla kept referring to Cassandra as some type object. "Can you stop call her "this thing"? Her name is Cassandra." Tesla shot Sandra a serious glare. "This girls name is whatever I want it to be until I feel like I can trust her, if you have a problem with that Sandra then you three can take your play toy back there and buzz off."

-----

"So you want to mold her to your liking, making her a weapon, a Harold so to speak. I see how that can be useful." Shawkun took a taste of drink, all the cards was falling into place and Shawkun looked forward to what hand Cordelia would deal next.

-----

Katy was still with the metal man with the others caught up. It seemed Nina had made a fine mess of things but after tossing the metal man like baseball, it seemed they'd lost sight of her. They heard a scream from a room not to far away and rushed there beating in a locked door to see Nina had found a woman that failed to escape and was trying to hide. The crimson skinned vampire stood from her feeding position, the bleeding girl being dragged via a handful of hair, she turned around to reveal to the others her fangs dripping with fresh blood. "Katy, you just don't learn do you?" Her voice was different from usual, more raspy and devilish sounding.

She started walking forward dragging the girl with her when Nina suddenly stopped and dropped her. Something seemed to be wrong with her as a sudden pain seemed to have befallen her. "YOU FOOL THEY ARE RIGHT THERE!!" Nina's normal voice seemed to come though just long enough for her to scream out "Help!!" Katy was confused, but Riku could tell Nina was fighting back desperately trying not to let this demonic essence consume her own essence.

Tanesha glared at Tesla, damn she wanted to read this heffa so bad " Bitch you know wha- "

Suddenly everyone could hear a comotion coming from outside, people were running away from the part of the festival where the rides were, yelling about a red monster. Emmet sagged against a wall as his mind was assaulted with images and emotions, fear was begining to dominate him. Tanesha touched his arm, making him jump " I-I'm ok, it seems that Nina is going on a rampage "

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Cordelia laughed " A harold? Mhmm I think I rather like that, it's fitting " she turned to the man at her desk " Once your finished with that, get a designer over immediately, I need to have her room set up, anything would be better then living in a tank, so I really have to make sure she's dazzled " the manipulation was already in place, taking the girl in, from there it was simply lavishing her with possessions and attention. She needed to make sure that she was the center figure in her life.

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Garfield darted forward and grabbed the girl Nina had just dropped, getting her to safety " What the hell is going on, did she just say help? "

" The demonic essense is trying to overtake her body, it's really fucking pathetic " Riku explained as he inspected his nails " I'm not in the habit of helping enemies but the longer this bowl of rotten potato salad continues this, the more money we stem to lose and I still wanna see that culinary abortion " that last bit thrown at Tie, he cracked his knuckles " Alright, I can subjugate the demonic essence and force it to calm the fuck down, but it's gonna take a sec, so keep her in check till im done " he pressed his hands together and began chanting a spell in what sounded like latin, symbols began spreading from his hands and over the rest of his body.

Sandra was able to better manage telepathy not allowing herself to get overwhelmed by the panicking crowd. "It's that weird red Satan-ish thing again. I guess you guys was right, she really can't control it. We've dealt with the Fear Factor before, they like to isolate, divide and conquer. Attacking a public place like them putting all eyes upon themselves is not a move I think they'd make." Tesla scuffed, she seemed bitchier then usual today. "So what, your some kind of Fear Factor expert now?" Sandra had to agree with Tanesha, Tesla's attitude was getting really annoying. "Well if you recall those assholes kidnapped me in the middle of the night and tortured me to death. I think I have a invested interest on watching how they operate, don't you?" Tesla shrugged off the response not wanting to admit that made sense. "Sure whatever. So are we going to go and kick She-Devil's ass then?"

-----

"I WON'T BE SUBDUED!!" the raspy voice shouted as it seemed to have overpowered Nina herself once once again and made a b-line towards Riku at near instantaneous speeds. Reaching out to grab Riku something suddenly blindsided Nina sending both crashing in the distance. When things settled everybody could see Tiffany make one of her random appearance. "Yay Red, I like you, you look like a firetruck (despite the shape being way off), let's be fri-(bloody cough)" We can see Nina had stabbed straight through Tiffany's body, her arm going through Tiffany's stomach and protruding out the girls back. She stood up pushing Tiffany aside, somehow the girl seemed to still be alive which seemed to disgust Nina. "Vile creature." Katy was already approaching for a attack, but Nina seemed to simply backhand slap Katy aside with no effort sending the girl skidding and tumbling across the floor. The big metal man attacked next throwing a mighty punch at Nina that she blocked merely using one finger. "Haven't you realized yet you are powerless against me, you hunk of scrap." Nina in a flash extended her claws and stabbed metal man through the gut, causing him to revert into his human form as his injuries took hold.

In a matter of seconds three heroes had attacked the crimson Nina and three heroes have fallen. Nina turned to Tie and Riku as they where the only two left standing. "Now that the fodder is dealt with, the real fun can start." Nina shot off again at blinding speed again going straight for Riku.

Nina slammed into a wall of wind and was flung backwards, a tornado swirling around her. Tie stepped forward, one hand on her hip and other pointing a finger at Nina " Wither, Force, Spark, Mimic, Shroud, Bleed, AfflictionMiasmaNether,sdajidwajiosldkikawfiodjaw " Nina was assaulted by over a hundred different spells taking effect and damaging her " Abomination are finished yet or do I need to settle things? "

Riku pulled his hands apart, a red haze rising from his body " No way cunt, this heffa is mine " he pointed his open palm at Nina " Chains of Artery! "

chains, horrifyingly made from human entrails, with hooks at the end of them, manifested from darkness and swarmed Nina the hooks snatching her skin and yanking her in the air. The demonized vampire thrashed wildly, but to no avail " Refresh my memory, what was that talk about not being subdued, keep that same energy you tacky knockoff! "

Pain shot through Nina's body, eliciting an agony wracked scream from her and the demon and making them struggle even more. Riku narrowed his eyes in annoyance, this demonic essence was some serious shit, who the fuck gave it to her? He was attempting to suppress it, but the essence was fighting back hard " Ok I see you wanna be special, bet " his hand morphed into a demonic claw, long black horns jutted out of his forehead, and his mouth expanded for his shark like teeth to grow.

By the house of Darkholme, herders of hell and callers of catastrophy, by my chains and rope, submit, by this collar become my tool, my sword, my sacrifice. To disobey is to know pain, fall to oblivion!

A violent wind picked up and the screaming of the demon essence increased. Gradually it began to recede back into Nina, the red skin and other demonic features fading till she was back to normal. The chains vanished and Nina fell to the ground.

" Well, take notes bitches, thats how a bad bitch does it " said Riku preening, Tie smirked

" 4/10 "

" What?!! "

" Spell took to long to get off the ground, I had to step in and help you, you were clearly having an issue with restraining her, shall I continue "

" Bitch, you know what! "

que petty argument

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

The horrible scream that had filled the air was ceased and the atmosphere seemed to become calmer now " Emmet pressed his fingers to his forehead and tried to see what was happening, getting some flashes and a headache " It seems the situation was taken care of " which seemed for the best, he wasnt sure how well they would have fared against the demonized Nina. Recent events were making him realize something needed to be done about their combat capabilities and soon " I suggest we take a moment to rest, elsewhere. Tesla " he nodded at her and left the room, the others trailing after him.

As they left and continued down the hallway, Cass spoke up.    "Sandra, did I hear right that you said you was killed.   How is that possible, you are walking right here with us?"   Sandra was so caught up in her emotion with Tesla that she hadn't even realized she'd let that slip, now it was fresh in her mind again being bound to the table, everything Karen did.      She could start to feel that pain again just thinking about it.     It was still to this day the most suffering she'd ever had gone though.     Sandra's silence worried Cass, and seeing the other girls eyes starting to water just from what must be some nightmarish memories, Cassandra realized she'd screwed up.   "Oh um... I-I'm sorry Sandra, I didn't mean..."

Cass hung her head again, saddened she'd just upset a friend.    Sandra wiped her eyes and spoke softly to Cass.   "It's alright Cassandra, you didn't or couldn't have known.     I'll spare you the graphic details as one of us living with these memories is enough.     But simply put, yes I died.    A member of the Fear Factor group, Karen.   She tortured me, making endure a very slow, and extremely agonizing death.     I still see red whenever her name comes up, what she put me through, it was barbaric.     As for how I'm alive, it's because of the Phoenix Force.    The power you was meant to attract.     The entity revived me from the dead.     Had it not been for Phoenix, I wouldn't be here today."

Cass had some level of awareness of the Phoenix Force as she was built as a vessel that was supposed to contain it, but she didn't know it could bring the dead back to life.     It was really that powerful?    She spoke up "Thank you.   I can tell it pushed you to the brink to relive that just for me, you really didn't have to put yourself though that again.   I'm so sorry you suffered so much."     Tanesha was obvious at Sandra's side during this, she knew how hard all that was on her girlfriend and the lasting scars it must have left.     "Again it's alright Cass, you didn't know any better.    And thank you, I appreciate your concern but I'll be fine."

-----

Katy was one of the first downed heroes to start to recovery "fucking hell, anybody get the number of that mack truck?"   Katy knew Nina had strength behind her hits, she didn't realize the vampire was that god damn strong though.     Clearly charging her head on was right up in contention for stupidest decision of the century.     At least she'd fared better in this this then metal man or Tiffany who showed up wrong place, wrong time trying to joke around with the wrong person.      Being the only one here that seemed to care about anybody else Katy went to each of them to check their injuries.    Both was bleeding out pretty bad, but Tiffany by all rights should have been dead.     The girl must have some degree of a healing factor that's at least letting her cling to life.    Speaking up to Tie and Riku "Um guys, shouldn't we be getting these two some medical attention?"

Gradually Nina groggly started coming around, she was sure at first what had happened but would soon realize she's herself again.    Although she realized the demon was still within her, but at least it had been pushed back.    Standing up she turned to Riku and Tie, while it disgusted her to say this to a True Note and a angel, for what they did they deserved gratitude.      "Thank yo-"   Before she could finish that sentence darkness seeped out from the floors and walls, it quickly wrapped Nina in a type of cocoon then dissipated, whisking Nina away with it.      It would seem somebody in the Fear Factor wasn't a fan of Nina possibly buddying up with the True Notes.

Riku and Tie broke off from throwing insults to see what Katy was talking about, having completely forgotten about not colossus and Tiffany, just as Nina was whisked away before she could offer a thank you that would have gotten her cussed out. Riku reached out and snagged a small tendril of darkness " Oh look at that, someone's playing with shadows, how quaint " he swallowed the tendrils and forced his mouth and hand back to their regular state, but opted to keep the horns a little longer.

He opened a void " Alright ladies, and I use that term loosely, lets get out of dodge, the popo will probably be here soona and try to blame the innocent black man that I am of this " Garfield arrived back in time and helped with the transfer. Soon they were all at the medic wing, watching Tiffany and the metal man get wheeled away to get looked at.

----------------------------------------
Tanesha squeezed Sandra's hand gently, she knew how hard it was for Sandra to think about, it hurt her heart so much to think of Sandra alone and in pain at Karens hands. She could remember waking up to Sandra's mutilated body and the horror of it. She was so happy to have Sandra back with her. Emmet smiled, Tanesha's emotional climate seemed to be helping with his headache, was he developing empathy as well? for some reason he felt less thrilled about that.

" It was a terrible time, finding out about the loss of our friend, then having her completely removed from our memories. But somehow we got through, we've certainly had a lot of adventures together and I can see more on the horizon " Emmet said quietly, he seemed lost in thought for a moment. He pulled out his phone typed rapidly for a minute, once he was finished he put his phone away and looked around, suprisingly there was a food stand that seemed untouched by the chaos. People were sitting at tables calmly and happily enjoying their food.

The group took a seat at an empty table, soon a man large man in his early fifty's was there " Good day to you my guest, tell uncle Vino what you would like " Emmet ordered a pink lemonade while Tanesha got an ice tea. stand seemed to cator to all taste, the menu full of common and rather bizarre choices, from pizza to hot dogs, and crab to crocodile burgers and venison.

Sandra ordered a regular tea, while it was a odd choice on a warm day, something about a cup of tea was just soothing and that's what Sandra wanted right now more then anything. Cassandra felt like trying a juice of some sort, so ordered some orange juice. As the man left to get the drinks the 4 discussed what was next. "Well we've been through the festival, and showed Cass the music room. Is there anything else of note? Maybe us gals can go have ourselves a mini little impromptu cheerleading session? I am curious to see what kind of physical shape Cass is in. Sure she's health, but can she keep pace with us when we push her? You'd think she'd be lacking in stamina never having been let out to exercise or do anything really to keep fit. But she's been walking around all this time with us just fine. So who knows, just thought it'd be something fun to do to pass some time."

-----

Watching them two get carted away, Katy had been there before and realized that could of been her again. She was lacking, not in terms of knowing how to fight, but she's been largely neglecting her abilities. Everybody around her was growing into super being levels of strength while Katy was stagnating, it was time to fix that and really crunch down hard on developing her water and ice abilities. In this world of crazy super powers being able to throw a punch or kick was only going to go so far, and that limit had come and gone. "Well I guess it's up to Spayde to take care of them now. I'm assuming you guys want to finish what we started earlier?"

Scott jumped away and dodged as Blood Wolf launched a savage assault with his boosted claws. He countered with martial arts strikes, but they were doing little to slow his foe down. There seemed to be only one way that he could win this fight, but doing so would mean going within range of Blood Wolf's claws. He would have to have absolute focus if he was going to win, and his foe wasn't giving him much space to work with. Scott began charging up his arms, doing his best to dodge away from the lightning quick assault. When his arms were fully charged, he decided to lure Blood Wolf to him and stood his ground.

When Blood Wolf came in close, he began another whirling assault with his claws, moving at great speed. However, Scott saw an opening and took it.
"Million Punches of Valor!"
Scott unleashed an incredible amount of charged up punches, nailing Blood Wolf from his face down. Even his enhanced muscles and strength could not stand up to this assault, and he went flying back on the last punch. Rolling backwards, he hit a tree and then laid still.

Scott carefully approached, on guard for a sudden attack from Blood Wolf, who may have been playing possum. However, when he started to turn back into his human form, he realized that he was truly defeated. In the mines below, the werewolves suddenly collapsed and began to return to their human forms, as well. The Shadow Force were all relieved, and Madame Shadow began leading them out to rendezvous with Scott. He picked up Sergio and carried him back to the jet, where the others met him there.
"We need to make sure that he stays unconscious."

Nick took Sergio and strapped him into restraints before hooking him up to an IV that would keep him sedated. Scott was relieved to see everyone alive and unhurt.
"We'll need to transport all of those people back to Shadowgreen and get them returned to their homes from there, but for now, we'll take Gregori back and get him locked up."
Everyone boarded the jet and it lifted off into the air bound for Shadowgreen. Scott turned to Kiya with a smile.
"I'm glad we finally stopped him and put an end to the suffering that he caused."

"His plans would of gotten in the way of our job, so he had to be stopped." Kiya still seemed reluctant to genuinely express towards others, she was even fairly certain that by the time they arranged transport for the other wolves, they was going to be finding a few corpses from the ones she fought. "I'll give credit where it's due though, your Shadow Force friends fought admirably. I doubt I would of survived that death trap had you and me come alone."

An hour later, Emmet, Sandra, Tanesha, and Cassandra were walking around when a limo pulled up in front of them, A tall man with short, neat grey hair stepped out and bowed " Greetings, i've been sent by Mistress Goodman to pick up a young Cassandra and bring her to mistress Goodmans home "

Emmet gave the limo an appraising look " An excellent automobile, well Cassandra this seems to be where we part for the time being "

Tanesha hugged the girl " Good luck girl, hit us up as soon as you get settled "