Heroes Uprising: Alternate Universe (Thread 3)

Scott nodded, not surprised that the US government would be behind something like this. Decades ago, when Solaris was still Earth's number one hero, the government had instituted a radical anti-mutant program that would use their powers as an alternative energy source. The project was called M-300, Mutant-300, as they projected that it would take sapping the powers of three hundred mutants to have a viable sample of alternative energy. It was a horrible project that led to the creation of Energon, and in trying to stop him, hundreds of people lost their lives. After such a fiasco, it was no surprise that the secret government agencies turned their attention to something different, though equally as dangerous. Kiya's own personal story was more disturbing to him.

Admittedly, there was a part of him that wanted to backhand her after she had said her piece. Not because she had chosen the life of a mercenary over the life of a crack whore, as no one could blame her for making that choice. It was rather that she didn't regret going the way of the crack whore, didn't regret not trying to do something, anything, better with her life. But, she hadn't been out of the business long and she was still young, so there was still time to better herself and learn from the mistakes of the past.
"Well, thank you for being so honest with me."
Scott folded his hands on the table.

"It seems clear what my next move is. If there are three other cyborg assassins like you running around, then I must go back to your world and stop them, as well as the government people producing them. If I leave them be, they'll just make more and I'll be back to square one. A new group of people making cyborg assassins might come along after that at some point, but hopefully I can delay that for as long as possible."
He smiled.
"Besides, you should be able to go home when you want to without having to worry about being killed."

Scott began eating his pasta again.
"We'll spend the night here just relaxing as normal. Tomorrow morning, we'll take a Fire Path back to Earth 616 and begin tracking your former colleagues."
Kiya technically didn't have to come with him, but he had a hard time seeing her not wanting to be part of this.

Scott thanked her for being honest. "There is no reason not to be" Kiya responded with. What Scott said afterwards surprised Kiya though. "Wait so after dragging me here to keep a eye on me so I don't go back to mercenary work, not not only are you willing to send me back to 616, but you desire to wipe out the only people that had any semblance of control over me?" It wasn't taking out Unit X that got to her, Kiya herself would indeed love to see them wiped out and this kind of organization was the type of thing Scott would be against. Instead it was the "go home whenever you like" line.

Scott nodded at her first statement.
"Fair enough."
Scott chuckled at her sort of surprised next statement.
"Well, it's your choice if you want to come back or not. I also don't desire to wipe out anybody, only to stop a dangerous organization."
He leaned forward a bit.

"The thing is, I also can't keep you a prisoner. I don't want to stop you from visiting home if that's what you want to do, I just don't want you stealing things and killing people for a living. It's hard to keep a balance of freedom and control, but I'm genuinely trying to."
Scott leaned back in his chair.
"So, are you going to help me stop these guys? Or are you going to sit this one out?"

Kiya was a bit annoyed she'd wasted so much time here when Scott had no rights to hold her as a prisoner, Kiya had assumed she'd been under some kind of arrest this entire time due to her involvement in the Phoenix job. This revelation that she'd been free this whole time kinda made her want to retake mercenary work out of spite. Well whatever, Kiya couldn't be sure what her future held, she wouldn't be surprised if Unit X had ruined her reputation by now making it impossible for her to get back into that line of work regardless. She'd have to see at a later date what kind of work she could get. As of right now though. "I'm in. I've been a pawn in these guys games for to long anyway."

Kiya would go over the other 3 cyborgs with Scott, the first one Bill was fully mechanical not unlike a T-800 terminator, he was built with harden medals and while a tank, he was of no real threat to Kiya. His ballistic would do little to hinder Kiya and his frame was not nearly as strong as her own. The second Ledge seemed to be a modern day Wolverine, being a mutant that went though a similar operation as logan himself Unit X was able to recreate Wolverine's abilit's quite well. But while this one did have Adamantium, he was still no real threat compared to Kiya. Kiya would explain she was #3 on the list, first of the really high tech models. Then #4, the model called Melina. It sounded like this one was just as durable as Kiya, if not more so. And the high tech laser weapons she packed seemed to concern Kiya. Kiya was generally confident in her ability to withstand next to anything, but it almost seemed like this Melina was purposely built for destroying rouge units. Kiya's strength (as strong as she was), speed, toughness (as though as she was) and weaponry (which Kiya didn't even have on her as it was left back in 616), everything Kiya has from a combat aspect paled in comparison to Melina's capabilities on that front.

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Comparing Kiya's capabilities to what Melina was said to be capable of, Scott could understand why Kiya considered herself all but a dead woman. It wasn't exactly like Kiya could train and grow stronger, she was mostly machine. She had her stats, and those stats was not as good as her enemies stats. But after seeing everything Scott had done, while it was a mathematical certainty Kiya would lose to Melina, Scott was a whole different ball game. As much as she hated to admit it, she was forced to reply on someone else. Accepting this job meant Kiya was putting her life in Scott's hands.

"Lets also not forget that the base is likely armed to hell as well." Kiya added.

Scot saw the look change in her eyes.
"But don't think that you can go back to mercenary work just because you're not a prisoner. I still have the power to place you under arrest at any time if you try something like that."
He listened as she told him about Bill, Ledge, and Melina, the other three cyborgs in the Unit X arsenal. Bill and Ledge didn't sound like they would be that hard to deal with, but Melina could be a legitimate challenge. They also had the challenge of trying to find a base that didn't want to be found, and as Kiya said, it was likely crawling with guards and automated defenses.

"It's definitely going to be a challenge. Let's head to Earth 616 and start working."
Using a Fire Path, they traveled there, landing in its New York City. Scott turned to Kiya after giving her a moment to get her bearings.
"Do you remember anything about where the Unit X facility is? Any landmarks or other signs of what country it was?"

Kiya wasn't surprised Scott gave her that warning, though it did make her curious how he'd know what she was doing if they was in 2 different universes. Still wasn't of concern right now. Answering Scott's next question. "The facility is well hidden to most. The Rocky Mountains is a cluster of mountain ranges stretching at least 3000 miles from Mexico, though the States and up into Canada. That's just straight line distance as well, not counting all the time one would spend going up and down various mountains looking for some sort of entrance. Yes you would be hiking, the facility will not be found via air."

Kiya hailed for a taxi cab. "Luckily I know where the facility is, all us cyborgs do. If we ever run into any unexpected issues, the Unit X facility is really the only place equip to handle the complexity of our designs. So in cases of dire unseen circumstances, all us cyborgs remembers our way back for repairs. That said I am not authorized to give you the exact location, and due to the programming in the cybernetics attached to my brain, if I do return I must do so alone."

It would seem the minds behind Kiya's creation had some hardwired defenses programmed in that even Kiya couldn't crack. "This basically means that whatever I tell you about a exact location cannot be trusted, as I'll just keep endlessly stringing you around in circles. So you need a way to find the facility yourself." A cab pulled up and the two got in, Kiya giving directions to her apartment complex. During the ride there was a second option creeping across Scott's mind that Kiya hadn't suggested. If Kiya was made to think she was alone, that Scott had abandoned or betrayed her. Knowing Unit X was coming for her regardless, Kiya might just decide to just charge the facility and take out as many as she can before they destroy her. This would allow Scott to trail Kiya in secrecy. This however does meaning doing something to hurt Kiya after all this time being nice to her, and it's a gamble as Kiya might decide to lay in wait and not even charge the facility at all."

Tie, Tyrone and Roberta arrived to the forest clearing making them the final group of TN members to make it.

Victoria arrived with Tyrone and the others, completing the group. Emmet smiled, 10:30 on the dot, just as forseen " Thank you all for coming, your presence here is proof of your resolve and commitment, I'm proud to call you all my precious friends. Now lets get down to business " his tone became more serious and brisk " Currently we have two antagonistic groups aiming at us, fear factor and this mysterious group "

Riku raised a group " You can skip the second group for now, I dont forsee them coming for us again any time soon and when they do, they'll be dealt with "

Emmet nodded " Very well, Fear Factor's goal seems to be annihilating anyone with a connection to the phoenix force. They mean business, seeing how they killed Sandra and attempted the same with me. In that regard there not much different then Troy and his mafia, a band of lowly thugs. From what we know, their members consist of Karen, the vampire Nina, a person with the ability to seal powers, a shadow user, and someone with an affinity for Alice in Wonderland "

He'd confirmed this earlier with Riku and his mage group, they'd been trying to scy and divine the groups location and identity but far factor had it's own formidable group spellcasters. They could only get vague answers to their questions, but it had been enough to tell that the cardmen attack was because of fear factor.

" I think....one of them can control dreams " Tanesha said quietly and explained the nightmare she'd had the night Sandra had been seized " Thinking back, it didnt feel natural, do you think it was them too? "

" It's hightly possible " Emmet said, going over it rapidly in his mind " Their a highly formidable group, but we are not week either. This group is overflowing with endless potential and it is time we tapped into it, that is why I have summoned you all here. To strengthen ourselves for the battles to come, not only against Fear Factor but also any other future threats, for too long we have been pushed around, I believe a change in strategy is in order "

" Here here wise Emmet! " Kano declared punching a tree for emphasis " Simply staying on the defensive will not win you the battle, but it is foolhardy to charge foolishly into battle, a lesson I have learned well "

Emmet smiled " Well said prince of Asgard, to that ends we need to increase our power and skill in our natural abilities, but there is more we can do, Kaiser if you will "

Kaiser hopped off of the rock he'd been sitting on and raised his hand, making a fist " Many of you here know how to fight, to varying degree's, but you can always approve on them, martial arts and weaponry skills can be used to turn the tides in a battle even powers are used, depending on the power and fighting skill, they can compliment each other. I'm mastered in several martial arts and well versed, close to mastering countless others, I'm training in nearly every kind of weapon, the sword is my art. I can teach you how to fight, but more then that "

He slammed his hand down on the rock, shattering it " I can teach you how to unlock another power within. Chi.....Ki.....Nen....all of them refer to the life force coursing through your veins. Everything living possess it, but few far and in between have learned to channel and use it. Controlling chi allows for the increase of physical condition, emproved strength, endurance, stamina. Further control allows you to reinforce and improve tools, increasing the sharpness and durability of a sword, even a piece of paper can be turned into a deadly sword that can slice through steel with ease "

Garfield whistled " Wow, that sounds cool, so like in DBZ? "

Riku shot him a dirty look " Do you people not watch any other anime?! "

" Would HunterXHunter be more preferable ? " Suprisingly this came from Victoria " What? I may have watched a couple hundred episodes, Hisoka "

Riku grinned broadly " Aww, I take back none of the bad things I've said about you, but thanks! "

Victoria shook her head, all jokes aside this did sound intruiging. She was already strong and tough, but if she could push it further....especially if she couldnt use THAT.

" Using chi takes years of grueling physical training and conditioning, what i'll work on is the basics of it, for those who seem like they have an aptitude for it, theres something i'll be able to do for them, i'll save that for later " Kaiser said as he looked around the group "

" Annnd not only that! " Riku hopped over to stand beside Kaiser " Not all of you bitches will have a knack for chi, but you may be able to Mageek! Nothing really special, but for those of you not hopeless, we could do some defensive based spells to help you not get one shotted, maybe. But like with chi, not all of you will have the ability for it, it's not just saying funny words like abstinence, it has to be inside you and im going to be honest, the bulk of you dont have a chance at learning magic. But for the few of you that do, i'll beat some lessons into you "

Adrian was leaning back against a tree, learning magic from Riku was really appealing to him, even if he couldnt fully understand it or why learning it from Riku in particular was pleasing to him. It seemed like it would be more his speed then chi.

" I can assist with that " Noah said " I'm versed in manipulating chi as well as spiritual energy "

Kaiser accepted his assistance easily " Out of this group, Myself, Riku, Noah, Lilia, and Kano have the most experience with raw combat...killing, i'm not going to mince words here or bring morals into play. Do what feels right to you, but dont expect your enemies to return this gesture in kind "

" Come on Kaiser, the kiddies dont need to worry about stuff like that, there all good upstanding people. I on the other hand am not and arent pretending to be. At the end of the day, when your enemie wields violent against you, then you just have to wield even greater violence against them. Crush their legs so they can run, tear off their arms so they cant fight fight, destroy any ounce of hope that they may have of standing against you, savor the sweet sounds of their screams and watch the lights flicker out of their eyes " Riku's voice was becoming distorted, his bloodlust starting to ooze out.

Kaiser swiftly smacked him on the back of his bed, knocking him out of his frenzy. The demon blinked a couple times " Uhh, or whatever, shall we get started "

Emmet smiled amused " Thats a way to look at it, but lets focus on defending ourselves for the moment for we have the right of it, aside, speak and voice your questions, concerns, and ideas dawlings.

Sandra was feeling good about learning chi, she wasn't sure if the Phoenix was pushing her towards that direction, but she was feeling like she could take to that perhaps even with surprising quickness. After all Phoenix wasn't just fire, it was energy. Telekinesis is really a form of energy as well that Sandra has lived with much of her life, and with her telepathic she's probably already a step ahead of most others when it comes to mental conditioning. "I'll be honest, I like the sound of the Dragon Ball training. I'm feeling like chi is something I might be able to take to, certainly much more so then magic."

Katy was surprised. "Sandra are you actually excited about learning combat related?" Katy recalled giving Sandra and Tanesha some basic combat prior to the tournament, at least enough so they understood how to throw some proper punches and kicks. That said she could tell Sandra's heart really wasn't into it. But while martial arts wasn't her thing, chi training seems to have sparked something in her. Sandra replied back with "well I'm at least intrigued, and I think chi would compliment my current abilities quite well."

Tesla was interested in the chi as well. She was already durable and strong, and while chi could push that further Tesla was thinking of something else. Her diamond form was basically a tank in a sense, hard to break and hits strong. But like a tank speed and mobility be's lacking. So Tesla was thinking if she could learn chi, but instead of focusing into boosting strength maybe she could focus it into speed, closing up one of her biggest weaknesses.

Katy was also considering chi. Chi was life energy, and water was the substance of life, most creatures could not survive without it. Learning about chi might actually help Katy get in tune with her own mutant abilities and bring them out. She also took a interest in sword training. She could already imagine forming bladed weapons out of ice, empowering herself with chi and with Kaiser training, it would be so beautiful, and so very very deadly.

" I cannot believe the disrespect, you bitches are cancelled! " Riku ranted as most everyone was leaning more on learning chi over magic " This is what we doin, really?! "

" I'd like to learn magic "

Riku turned to see Adrian was raising a hand and smiling, making the demon nearly orgasm right then and there " Uhhh, great, finally someone with some mothafuckin sense, who else? "

Garfield was started to walk over so he could ask Kaiser a question when Riku grabbed him by the back of his shirt " Oh Garfield, so glad you decided to volunteer "

" What?! I wanna learn chi and how to fly and shoot energy blast " Garfield protested

" Bitch please, you can do that with magic and so much more. Besides you cant just fly and be bootleg Goku with chi....right? " he asked Kaiser not entirely sure.

Kaiser shrugged " If you have an affinity for it, you can project your chi in a way that allows flight and generating it for certain kind of attacks, like chi bullets, but other exaggerated feats are incredibly rare "

HA! You see, you can totally do all kinds of exaggerated bullshit with magic, so come on "

Garfield sighed " Alright, this better be good though "

Riku ruffled his hair " It'll be so good, hopefully you dont die or get mutilated "

" Da fuq!? "

Dave considered his options, both sounded like they could be useful, but what would be best. He definetly wanted to learn how to use a sword as a baseball bat was not gonna cut it anymore.

Emmet floated over to Sandra " Dawling, you and I will also be working on controlling this mysterious power of ours, we've been going at it as it comes, but that method wont work forever and could prove our downfall "

Donovan was down to learn chi as well, asking rapid and kinda stupid questions about it that Noah answered as best he could.

" Ok, for starters, in this first hour were going to do work on your abilities, i'll gouge your capacity for chi as you do it. Riku can do the same for those that wish to learn magic. Think about what you can do now, think of your limit and hit it, keep hitting it till it till the line is pushed back " Kaiser explains " from then we'll go into combat/chi/magic "

When Emmet came over and explained they'd be learning about their mysterious Phoenix powers as well, it reminded Sandra. "Oh about that, I don't think I ever talked to really in-depth about my experience that week I was "dead", didn't I? While I still have a lot to learn, I can give you at least a vague idea of what we're dealing with when it comes to the Phoenix." Far as Sandra was aware Emmet had never met the Phoenix entity itself like she had. She'd been meaning to sit down and talk with him one on one for while, not just about Phoenix either but to also check on him and see how his mental abilities was coming along. Things was just so crazy with the tournament, Kiya and Cassandra that Sandra just never found herself having the time.

"Maybe we can talk about it tomorrow, just you and me. I've been meaning to check in with you anyway to see how your telepathy was coming along, but while we're at that we can go over the Phoenix as well." Truthfully Sandra felt a little guilty, when Emmet's telepathy first started coming in Sandra was the one he turned to for help with it. While she had been helping him out initially, she felt like she had neglected him lately. As someone Sandra consider basically as her unofficial brother, someone who's helped her though so many trying times. She just felt bad that she really hasn't been paying him back much for all he's done. So she wanted to sorta make a mince, to give back at least something to Emmet for all he'd done for her.


Kaiser would go on to explain that to start they where testing the limit of their abilities. "So hit the limit of our abilities? Sounds like a simply enough concept."

Scott sighed a bit. That was a lot of ground to cover, and apparently he would have to do it while hiking. A glimmer of hope existed when Kiya said that she knew where the Unix X facility was, although apparently she could not tell him and would be closely monitored. It made sense that the creators would hardwire such safeguards into their creations just in case a rival group got hold of one and did some tinkering. They got into a cab and Scott thought over their options as they headed back to her apartment. Since Unix X was onto them, they would have to work alone, at least for the first part of the operation.

"Okay, here's the plan. Go to the Unit X facility alone and convince them that there's been a mistake. Tell them that your program was scrambled during our fight and that I was keeping you prisoner, but then you escaped and made your way back. They might not believe you, but at least it will be a distraction. Meanwhile, I'll try to get in from a back way and maybe we can get them in a pincer maneuver. If we can just get inside the facility, our combined strength should be more than adequate to take them down."

Scott turned to Kiya as they arrived at her apartment. It was a risky maneuver, but he felt that they could pull it off.
"Well? Think we can pull it off, partner?"

Once inside the apartment Kiya locked the door behind them so neighbors or potentially a landlord wouldn't barge in unannounced. "You see there lies the problem. I cannot return to base with you with me. Even I know you are following me from a distance, the cybernetics in my mind will not allow me to return. Only if you are outside a detectable range, can I return. Since I know that you know about Unit X, that complicates things. If I had not told you about them, I would not of gotten your help. The catch now though is my defense protocols will not allow me to return to base unless I am 100% certain that you've lost track of me."

Kiya removed a bit of fake flooring revealing a hidden compartment, inside was two pistols and a sword. "Been a while since I've used these things." The primary combat weapon was the sword, pure Adamantium the blade was next to indestructible, and the edge was razor shape. The guns was just ordinary weapons, they where for either distraction or with Kiya's extreme accuracy and precision, hitting far off targets. After loading up with the weaponry she had on hard she slipped the fake floor back into place and turned to Scott.

"Believe me I'm sorry this isn't all easier, but do understand it took a lot of money and effort to build a hidden base. They had to blast and dig out a whole facility completely undetected by the public, ship in supplies undetected, get staff undetected. The public knows absolutely nothing about all this, and the good old U.S government wants to keep it that way. I wish I could just pull a Arnold, reboot myself, then be able to just ignore my programming. But the reality of the situation is that simply doesn't work. I can only return to base, if I do so alone."

Truth be told Kiya was a little hopeful that Scott was still holding out on her, that he had a way to track her without her knowing. This defense protocol was just as annoying for Kiya as it was for Scott. If Kiya did infiltrate the Unit X Facility on her own, due to this protocol she'd be unable to put out any type of signal, her programming would stop her from doing anything to leak the base location. Generally Kiya's actions where her own, her human mind allowed her to keep a sense of free will and it was not generally impeded. However in this case her cybernetics was in fact overriding her free will, stopping her from doing anything to leak Unit X location.

Emmet was already aware that Sandra didnt recall anything from her time being dead, but he nodded " I see, no need to worry dawling. It's still new to me, but i'm one who works at something till I have it at my feet, this will be no different then any other facet of my life " he smiled assuredly at her " Taking a breather tomorrow would be good, give us time to come together and go over recent events "

Gradually everyone started to break away and begin their training, some opting to go off on their own while others teaming up. Donovan took a breath and shifted over to his saphire form. Victoria frowned, he'd done it so easily, just like always.

Similar to Tanesha's family, Victoria and Donovans family also had secondary mutations, but while the Mack families secondary mutations rarely had a connection to their first power, the Duvals were different. Super strength and durability were the abilities that all Duvals held, but their secondary mutation was something different. They were able to transform their bodies to a type of crystal gem. Donovans form was saphire, their mother was pearl, and their father Onyx.

Victoria always felt inferior next to the rest of her family, her crystal powers had yet to manifest, meanwhile Donova was seen as a protege, his crystal powers had manifested instantly with his strength and durability, he could shift between forms so easily. Their parents didnt flat out say it, but she knew that they favored Donovan over her. Victoria conceded that all of that led a role in why she'd initially took up with Troy.

But things were different now and she had a lot to make up for. She moved into a fighting stance " Dont hold back "

" You sure Vicky? " Donovan sounded worried, their strength was twice it's normal level when their crystal form was active " I dont wanna hurt yo-! "

Victoria launched herself forward, punching Donovan in the stomache as hard as she could and biting back on the yell of pain that wanted to come out " I said dont hold back! "

Donovan jumped back and after a moment nodded, running towards his sister.

Tanesh was tossing stones into the air and attempting to slow their descent. She was happy she'd finally unlocked her second power, difficult as it was to get a grasp on, but it was better to work on it here then her poison powers. She could hear Victoria and Donovan sparring off in the distance, she knew how Vctoria felt, it was one of the things they'd bonded over. For her to get her power and Victoria to still be left behind, it hadnt felt good. But Victoria had been nothing but happy for her and Tanesha was rooting for Victoria.

Dave was rapidly teleporting all over the area, he had decent distance, but could push it farther, not to mention the speed of his teleportation could use work. Garfield was swing was tree branch to tree branch and twirling through air, landing perfectly then going to punching the last tree with all his might, he was working on improving his strength and dexterity.

Adrian was floating in the air, generating electricity between his hands, working on his abilities was a fairly simple thing for him to do, since he had a perfect understanding of them, it was mostly the application and seeing how he could improve more. using more then one power at once drained him quickly, so that definetly something to work on, yes that and not paying attention to Riku.

Riku was seemingly sitting on a rock eating funnions, but if you looked at the ground around him, a large pool of darkness had formed, magic circles forming in mid air and dissapearing in rapid succession. Noah's shadow boxing had become more extreme as he was garbed in light and going various fighting techniques.

Emmet held out his hands and conjured two fire balls, one made of regular fire and the other phoenix fire. They seemed almost identicle, but the feeling from both was worlds apart. He started working on making them bigger, focusing on the regular fire and taking the cosmic fire at a slower pace. Kano was sitting cross legged on the ground, palms pressed securely to the ground and sensing the earth. Kaiser watched everyone work closely, Emmet was right, he could see a lot of potential here.

Tesla was in her diamond form punching fists though a boulder when not long after Katy approached her wanting to spar. Unlike Victoria Katy did not have super strength, and she could barely even use her powers. Even covering the ring in a layer of ice at the tournament took Katy a long time and pretty much drained her. So what was the blue haired girl possibly hoping to achieve here? "I think you've been knocked around by one to many enemies Katy. You should see the doctor again, you might have a concussion." Katy smirked "Funny. Listen solo sparring obviously hasn't been working, and getting one shot by enemies currently out of my league isn't helping. Look I need somebody to push me, push me to the brink if you have to. I want to unlock my powers properly. I've fought Nina 3 times now and she owned me in every battle, fuck they aren't even battles, she squashed me like a bug. I don't think I can really unlock my powers by myself, I need someone to help me do it."

It was true, Katy was severely lacking in her capabilities. "If you insist. I own you one for that kick anyway. But if you get hurt that's on you." Katy nodded in understanding as the two prepared for battle.

Meanwhile Sandra was sat cross legged in a mediation pose, but she was floating a few feet off the ground in the air. Exerting her telekinetic powers she wanted to see how far she could actually push them. The ground would soon start rumbling around her before a number of large rocks and builders would break though the grounds surface and raise into the air. Rock was not at all light and the weight of 3 of these large stones at ones was clearly stressing Sandra. She still wasn't as in tune with the Phoenix like Emmet was so she was focusing on just her own strength. Tanesha spotted what Sandra was doing, it was clear now why Sandra could levitate both them with ease. Just one of those boulders probably weighed more then the entire group combined, they where massive. So to be levitating 3, Goodman's training was clearly paying off.

Sandra keep the massive stones suspended for several minutes before the weight started to overcome her. Beginning to falter under the pressure Sandra let loose a burst of telekinetic pressure that broke the 3 heavy stones into dozens of smaller pieces. Now Sandra was stressing herself in a different way, it was no longer weight that was pushing her, it was now trying to multitask dozens of targets at once.

Scott listened as Kiya explained how she would have to be fooled into thinking that Scott had lost her before she could return to Unit X. After she got her weapons, she explained that she was unable to reboot herself to overcome the programming.
"It's okay. I have a way to track you through dimensions even, but I'm not going to tell you what that is until after we stop Unit X."
Scott sat down in a chair.
"So go, and I'll find your location in two hours so that Unit X is convinced that you're not being followed."

Kiya was annoyed. "Scott why the hell would you tell me that, about being able to track me even through dimensions. For a man as smart as you are, your acting rather dumb. How hard is it to get through your thick head that I can't know that you are able to find me?" Kiya had been trying to reason this calmly to Scott, but at this point he was getting on her nerves. Taking down Unit X was the first thing in a long time that actually meant something to Kiya, yet she swear Scott was doing his best to fuck it up. "Look, I'm going to call your bluff on what you just said and assume you are full of it, as well as take some evasive maneuvers when I leave just so I don't feel followed, and hopefully that will be enough for my defense protocols to deactivate. Now I'm going to leave, and please do me one favor."

Kiya reached for the door knob opening the door and said to Scott in a sweet voice "shut the hell up." She left closing the door behind her not wanting to wait for Scott's reaction just encase he would say something else that would jeopardize this mission. Kiya didn't know why it was so hard for Scott to just tell her leave, and just let her trust that he would find her. Why would he say he can track her when she just finished explaining that she had to have no idea about any way he could locate her? "humans" Kiya muttered to herself as she exited the building to start her long journey, hopefully back to the Unit X facility.

Emmet was impressed with Sandra's display of power, she'd certainly come a long way from the shy girl that bumped into him in the hallway when he first got to the island. She was certainly not lacking in power, but simple brute force was not always enough to win a battle, skill and technique played a part, but Sandra was well on her way.

He smiled, proud of her, but his own pride in his abilities would not allow him to be left behind or outdone. He looked at the two massive fireballs he was holding, the one made of regular fire was much larger, then the one made from cosmic energy, but it was still more taxing to maintain. Emmet was trying to simaultaneously improve his personal abilities and that of the phoenix force.

A difficult task to be sure, but he thrived on this kind of situation, he as ever mindful of the power of the phoenix force and not taking it too far, yet where was the fun in not taking risk? Kano was sitting cross legged on the ground, a fire ball in his right hand and a ball of ice in his left, electricity coursed over his body and pieces of rock floated around him.

" Son of asgard, your dominion over the elements in impressive " Emmet complimented " Hope i'm not interupting, but i'd like to request a sparring match with you "

" You honor me wise Emmet, but I would argue your flames are more beautiful " Kano hopped to his feet, ready to go " Gladly, i've been desiring to face you in battle "

" Now I feel honored, though I doubt I could give you much of a match, i'd like you to help me improve the power of my flames "

Kano nodded in understanding " I do not think you trully believe that, but I shall gladly assist you " with that, they jumped away from each other and launched large flames at each other.

Garfield jumped down from the tree he'd been climbing at the same moment Emmet and Kano started sparring. He gulped, feeling the heat all the from where he was at, moments like this really made him wonder what he had to offer. He was strong, but not as strong as Victoria or Roberta or Riku. Agile, fast, seems like everyone else outstripped him too, some spiderman he wa-

He heard a rush of air behind him and his spider sense went off, he quickly leaped out of the way as something went zooming past him and smashed into a tree, knocking it over. Garfield looked down and saw that the object was a....funnion? "

" Nice dodge there "

Riku was walking over,  still holding a bag of funnions " I sensed angst over here and wanted stop it at all cost, I see it's you "

" Uh and if I hadnt dodge that " Garfield asked wearily

" But you did dodge it and thats all that matters, I assume thats the famous spidey sense, isnt that also what allowed you to notice the sneak attack last night? " Riku asked, ignoring Garfields first question " Thats impressive, I hadnt sensed anything and its rare I dont notice things, why dont you try working on it "

Garfield looked down " It's not that easy, it's a danger sense, so it mostly kicks in when I feel im in dan- Why are you looking at me like that? "

Riku had a sinister smile on his face, emphasised by razor sharp teeth " Need to feel like your in danger, I can help with you with that "

Feeling she had fair control of so many items in a stationary state Sandra next proceeded to moving all the rock pieces around. She kept increasing speed until the dozen's of rock fragments spinning around Sandra in a funnel formation almost resembled as if Sandra was in the middle of a tornado. Keep track of so many fast moving items was a lot harder then just keeping them stationary and every so often a fragment would start to veer off, luckily Sandra was always able to catch them and pull them back in before any fragments shot off like bullets. Multitasking to this degree was certainly pushing Sandra to her limits, for those who was in position to see the Sandra's face the look of strain would be quite obvious.

Now Sandra wasn't a fool, she'd stop this before she lost control. The last thing she wanted to do was to risking impaling Tanesha, Emma, Victoria or any of her friends with a high speed rock shard, which considering the rocks was just broken up, the shards are no doubt quite sharp. Sandra wasn't going to be reckless like that. It's just for now she wanted to see how far she could push her abilities, to see how much her mind and powers could take. That was after all what was asked of them. As for how much her body could take, well Sandra's been though enough kidnappings and beatings since the school year started to already have a pretty clear idea on that front.


Tesla and Katy was ready to square off when Tesla would ask "So how far do you want to take this?" Katy's response was stern and her words was just a tad slow, making her impossible to be misheard. "As far as you have to." Tesla was concerned by that response "Are... you sure? What if your powers doesn't trigger in the way you want them to? One wrong move in this state and I could kill you Katy." Katy looked confident that whatever she was scheming would work and finally trigger her powers fully. "I'm well aware."

As the two started Katy would skillful avoid Tesla's initial attack and counter with a strike of her own, nearly breaking her own fist against Tesla's diamond skin with no effect at all to Tesla herself. In this state Tesla was stronger then normal, her body having to adapt to the massive weight to even move in this form. Combine that with how much mass and momentum her strikes carried, and she could hit pretty damn hard, maybe not as hard as others who had dedicated super strength as their core power, but Tesla's strength still wasn't nothing to take lightly.

Tesla was able to take control of the fight in short order as Katy simply couldn't hurt her, and Tesla was seriously pulling back her strikes trying not to punch a hole straight though Katy's flesh and bone body. The fight would proceed on in pretty one sided favor. As Katy got more and more beat up Tesla would make several attempts to stop, but Katy wasn't having it. Any time Tesla would try to put a stop to things and shift back to normal, Katy could take the opportunity to lay in some cheap licks, taught, and demand to keep going. This was quickly going beyond simple training as every time Katy would take a cheap shot and mock,it made Tesla that little bit more annoyed and eventually angry, leading to each round of beatings being just that little bit harder then before.

Eventually Tesla got Katy into a bearhug, it seemed like the only way the other girl was going to let this this go was if Tesla put an end to this fight. What started as a sparring match had quite frankly turned into a brawl with no doubt many keeping a watching eye for if this started to go to far. As Tesla squeezed it put Katy into a desperate situation, and this was exactly where Katy wanted to be. On the brink of passing out Katy treated this as a fight or die battle, mentally convincing herself that she had to escape this hold no matter what. Katy would slap both her hands onto Tesla's diamond chest, within seconds Tesla would start feeling weakness, dizziness and confusion, common symptoms of dehydration. As Tesla released the hold she reverted back to her human form, stumbling backwards in a daze with blurry vision. Katy feel to the ground, she was pretty beat up and sure more then one rib was cracked if not broke. Though the pain however Katy stood, smiling.

Katy moved a hand down to her injured ribs and pressed in making her winch in pain for a second until a cooling sensation numbed the pain a lot. We can see Katy had frosted the injured area. She smiled, she knew how to exert water and ice as seen at the tournament, now however she's finally realized how to also draw it in and take from her surroundings. She was finally starting to realize how to manipulate her powers, things where at last falling into place. Katy focus on her powers managing to cover her ring fist in ice, and took one last shot at Tesla knocking the stunned girl out.

While Katy was one of the last people on the team to start grasping her powers, now that she was finally starting to understand, now she needed practice.

Scott watched as Kiya left and sat back to wait patiently for his time to go. He dozed off for a bit, and when he woke up, it had been about three hours. Getting up, he stretched and locked on to Kiya's signature using Valor. It was a bit fainter because of her cybernetics, but nothing that would impede tracking her. Leaving the apartment, he put on his armor and began following the signal. It was a long journey, but eventually he made it to the Rocky Mountains, where he started searching for the Unit X facility.

About 3 hours after leaving the apartment Kiya was seen hiking up a mountain, she'd stolen a small plane to get from the city to the mountain range but had to leave it at a certain point as it wasn't a stealth craft. After hours of what would dangerous hiking for any normal person, Kiya eventually reached a certain landmark. The landmark kinda looks like someone drilled a giant hole though the middle of the rock, though the formation was natural.

(Example pic)
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Standing in the center of the ring Kiya said "Relay 619302475" A electrical discharge shot down from the top of the ring formation and seemed to strike Kiya, though not do any damage. A flash of light later and Kiya had vanished. Instantaneously another flash happened at the same exact time inside the facility, when it faded Kiya was seen. She was now standing inside another ring, however this was was metal and connected to a platform.

Now things was starting to clear up, a entrance to the Unit X facility was never found simply because there is no exit. Instead a form of teleportation was used. Kiya didn't know exactly how Scott was getting in here, but she was hoping he had something up his sleeve. Kiya stepped off the platform and was immediately greeted with a female voice. "Welcome home Kiya." Kiya looked to her side to see Melina, they had been expecting her. "Did you think the people who built you would be unable to exact data from your cybernetic mind? We've been listening to your every word since the moment your tracker pinged. Mistakes are bound to happen though, what was it you said "humans". Melina added a irritated sound to her voice when she said humans, referring to Kiya's human mind while also mocking her earlier comment towards Scott.

"Well so much for the element of surprise" Kiya drew her sword preparing to face Melina. The odds of Kiya winning this fight was very slim at best. The other cyborg was stronger, lighter, faster, tougher, had better weapons, it was all around a better built killing machine. Kiya was not expecting to walk into a ambush, the plan to bid time until Scott's arrival has instead turned into a matter of survival. The scene fades with Kiya launching the first attack, sword drawn as she charges towards Melina.

Scott scoured every part of the Rocky Mountains around Kiya's signature, but could find no entrance to the Unit X facility. Unknowingly, he had passed by the same transporter that Kiya had used at least three times, though because he didn't know the password, it was useless to him. He could feel Kiya's energy signature nearby, but there just didn't seem to be a way to get to her. With no alternative, Scott was left with no choice but to implore Alan for help.
Master Alan, I must get to where Kiya is. Please help me.

A Fire Path opened in the gap where the transporter was located, and Scott smiled.
Thank you, Master Alan.
Jumping through the Fire Path, he was shocked to see Kiya engaged in battle with another cyborg. Although Kiya was putting up a good fight, she didn't seem to be a match for her opponent. Scott charged up his Fist of Valor and rushed toward them. When he was in range, he caught her opponent by surprise with a Fist of Valor to the face, launching her backwards and off of Kiya.

Scott took a fighting stance, his armor now in place.
"You're not an easy woman to track down, you know that?"
Given that this cyborg was made out of the same adamantium that Kiya was made of, he knew his attack had done very little actual damage to her. However, with the two of them together, they could win against this foe.
"I don't want to have to hurt you if I don't have to. Please, if you can resist your programming, abandon the way of the assassin and find happiness elsewhere."

Kiya's body was able to repair any damage she'd taken relatively quickly, Melina's laser weapons was could destroy Kiya's nanotech, which would eventually leave Kiya without any way to repair, which would then enable her to be destroyed. Fortunately Melina had not used such weapons yet. "Save your breath Scott, unlike me this ones mechanical. She may be a learning machine, but ultimately she's still wires and computer chips." Sure enough Melina stood from the attack with no physical damage, behind them a large sliding door opened as another cyborg walked out.

Kiya and Scott found themselves back to back as they readied or battle when Kiya spoke while they still had a few seconds. "Alright tag time. You handle her, I'll take him. Look I'm pretty confident you can take her, I would not of inquired about your help otherwise. Just, don't get careless and take her likely OK. She's the newest model they have, her Adtanmantium is more dense and stronger then my own, not to mention she's stronger and faster then me in general. She's a lot more deadly then those tankbots you faced at Darrel's facility."

Scott could see Melina raise her left arm and point towards him, her hand deformed revealing what looked like the barrel of a laser canon, a red glow indicated a shot was ready to fire. Meanwhile Kiya's opponent was carrying a minigun in his hands, and the iconic sound of that weapons barrel spinning up to unleash a hell storm of bullets could clearly be heard. "Looks like times up."

Melina unleashed a laser shot at Scott that wasn't necessarily huge in size, but had massive destructive power behind it. Scott remembered Kiya telling him before Melina had a sniper, and this was the sniper shot. Which meant hidden in her other arm was the Gatling laser gun. Meanwhile Kiya with sword in had charged at the other man, who going by the weaponry must have been Bill. Bill opened fire on Kiya the high speed minigun completely shredding Kiya's cloth and flesh, quickly leaving her in rags and leaving the front of her body almost completely bare metal. However Kiya's Adamantium easily withstood the assault. While it seemed the minigun wasn't going to kill Kiya as bullets bounced off her not even leaving a scratch or dent, what the hailstorm of bullets did do was slow Kiya down. While she made forward progress it was slow.

As Kiya pushed forward another man fell down from the ceiling landing on his feet behind Kiya, spawning a set of wolverine like metal claws from his right hand he drove them into Kiya's back with great effect, it would seem with a shape enough blade Adamantium could even cut Adamantium, letting this new opponents claws dig deep into Kiya's back, momentarily immobilizing her. Aware of Kiya's regenerative abilities Bill quickly dropped the minigun and reached over his shoulder getting a weapon strapped to his back, a loaded RPG launcher. Bracing for impact the 3rd opponent who at this point could only be Ledge, used the immobilized Kiya as a shield as Bill aimed and took his shot, hitting Kiya dead on point and causing a large explosion.

Garfield was screaming for his life as he ran through the forest, he leaped and grabbed onto a tree branch, swinging himself upward. His spider sense was going crazy, he could feel everythig around him now, specifically the walking ball of danger bhind him. He leaped backwards and looked down to see Riku following him at a leisurely pace. He wasnt attacking at all, but that menacing aura he was giving off. Bloodlust, pure killing intent. Garfield had never felt it so strong before.

He wanted to think that Riku wouldnt hurt him.....badly, but what he knew and what he felt were at war with each. But couldnt help but notice how aware he was of the world now.

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

Emmet and Kano's flames pushed against the other fiercely, it was fairly obvious to Emmet that Kano had an edge in terms of power, it was taking all he had to keep them at a stalemate. He wondered if the young Asgardian was really giving it his all or not, both boys were using one hand.

" Wise Emmet, your flames are quite beautiful and hold much power, but what of the flames of the phoenix? If your worried about harming me then dispell such thoughts, I'm hardy and ready for anything "

Suddenly Kano's flames became even more intense, forcing Emmet to exert even more power, his flames pushed back further and further Kano's threatened to overwhelm him. Truthfully he knew that Kano was durable, one of the reasons he'd sought him out for this, that he'd been calculating, building up his mental strength. But now was the time to strike!

" I would never dishonor an opponent by holding back, that I can assure you Young Kano! "

Emmet flexed his right hand and drew on the power of the phoenix force, it's immense power immediately surging through his body. He brought his right hand up and unleashed the flames, once again clashing with Kano's own. The Asgardian gave a battle cry, divine power coursing through his body and fuelin his flames.

Kaiser watched the two with a bit of concern, the amount of power they were giving off was getting to be a bit much, if need be he'd step in and stop them, but a part of him didnt want too, so he stood by and watched.

Emmet felt exhilarated, the phoenixes power was draining him, but he could feel himself taking a step further, however small, in his path. He snapped his wrist and dispelled both flames instantly. He immediately zoomed backwards as Kano barrled towards him at incredible speed.

" HAHA, wise Emmet you've set my blood afire!! Shall we take this further!? "

Flames surged around Emmets body " Yes young prince, bring to me all you can bare!! "

They charged each other, resulting in a large explosion. Emmet found himself exersizing his flight abilities as well, focusing on evasing and finding himself gaining more speed as he dodged Kano's attack, not so lost in the battle that he thought he could match the asgardian in terms of physical strength. Kano aimed punches, fire, ice, and electricity all at Emmet who danced around all his attack. Emmet waved his arms in graceful arcs, sending his flames out in all directions and manipulating them to follow Kano.

The Asgardian prince raised a pillar of earth, sending him upward, he leaped and manipulated the pillar to crumble apart and sent the debris flying around Emmet, attacking from all directions.

" Careful young one "

The flames dispersed and changed shape, becoming feathers and destroying each piece of rock individually.

Kano gasped, Emmets words were in a language he didnt understand, but the tone of them reminded him of his grandfather Odin, ancient. Kano charged up, something was coming and wanted to be prepared, he wanted to face it. He roared and charged down, gathering as much power as possible. Emmet smiled and raised his right arm, cosmic energy gathering there.

He really owed Kano a debt of gratitude, pushing him this far, he'd helped him to learn something about this power. A moment later an explosion shook the area, Kaiser rushed over and looked through the wreckage. He found a badly injured Kano laying unconscious on he ground, standing over him was Emmet, unconscious on his feet.

Kaiser frowned, he hated seeing his mother like this, so weak and dimmed down when he was meant to shine so brghtly, those people would not get away with this....He took a breath to calm himself and carefully picked up Emmet and went to place him down in another place, knowing he'd wake up any moment.

About ten minutes later, everyone gathered in the clearing again for a break, Riku handing out potions to heal anyone that needed it and replenish stamina.

Once their stamina and health was restored Tesla went over and took a seat by Katy. "Alright, explanation, now." Katy looked over before realizing Tesla meant about their fight. "Oh, well your form is diamond skin, a diamond coating layered over your body. So what I did was I pulled moisture from your body, leaving you in state of server dehydration. That left you weak and confused." Tesla looked back at the girl. "When the hell did you learn to do that?" Katy figured it was time to reveal her plan. "During out fight. You did exactly what I wanted you do." Tesla looked on questioning "what? Beat the shit out of you?" Katy smiled "Exactly. I know what being pushed to your limit done for the likes of Sandra and others, and I wanted that. I wanted my back to the wall. From there my only way out would be to fully unlock my powers." Tesla scoffed. "What made you think I wouldn't do what Nina does and just knock your lights out in a matter of seconds?" Katy grinned "It was a gamble, but I figured you was more the get pissed and make me suffer type. And I was right."

"So what now?" Tesla asked, curious about the girls next step. "Now it's time to refine it. If I can pull water from a body, then it stands to reason I can pull water from other sources. This planet is full of water, not just ponds, lakes and oceans, but the grass we stand on, the tree's around us, the air we breath, as you've seen other people around me. There is pretty much endless water sources all around. Now that I know not only how to expel water, but also draw it in. It's only a matter of time before I can draw from all sources. From there I can start shaping and refining it, making weapons and such. I can already shift water from it's liquid state to a solid, ice. So at this stage, it's only a matter of practice and refinement, and I'll be able to launch ice balls like Emmet trows out fireballs."

-----

Sandra had a bit of a headache by the time they reached break time, nothing nearly as server as a Phoenix headache, but still pushing your mental capacity to it's limits was also not without it's drawbacks. Luckily Riku's healing potions quickly dealt with that issue. Feeling better Sandra went over to her girlfriend giving her a quick kiss when she approached then asked "so babe, how's the training going?"