Super Nova Genesis - Evolution of the Phoenix

Diana finally explained the situation. Earlier on she went scouting around town. She discovered a base by the docs where Annabelle is being held captive. Diana intends to sneak in and Phoenix is the one who can help her.

“I dove below and discovered a hatch that enters inside to an escape trunk,” Diana explained. “Of course the water pressure made it too difficult to pry open myself. As for my fire, well, there are conditions where a flame can still burn underwater but I'm afraid those conditions aren't met at this moment. I tried, my fire didn't extinguish, but it couldn't burn through. Well, not that it matters, we wouldn't want to damage the hatch anyway to end of flooding the compartment.

"So, I need you, someone who can breathe underwater, swim incredibly fast and has significant grip strength to assist me.”

Phoenix was gaping from that explanation.

“Queries?”

“A-a-are they the same people who attacked the camp?”

“No, this is a different organization.”

“W-w-won't we need back up!?”

“Two is enough, the less people the more stealthy this mission will be.”

Phoenix wasn’t at all on board with this plan. There could be dozens of guards inside, how would they plan on taking them all.

“Commence operations.”

Diana jumped in the water, equipment and all. Phoenix looked around in a panic before eventually joining her. She swam behind her. Diana wore a wet suit and she carried her quiver and bow which were kept in a bag.

Diana stopped and pointed up. They made it to the hatch, Phoenix wasn’t sure how much Diana could see underwater, but Phoenix had good vision here. She wrapped her tentacles around the operating shaft, turned and with her octopus strength, it loosened. The hatch opened and they quickly swam in. Phoenix then closed it again and Diana turned a hand wheel of a valve which proceeded to drain the water. Diana took a deep breathe, set herself ablaze and she was dry again. She removed her wet suit, Phoenix instinctively looked away but still stuck a peak because Diana Archer in her underwear must be a million dollar sight. Diana took her stuff out of her bags. She equipped her quiver with arrows, attached her foldable bow to a placeholder by her hips, wrapped a utility belt around her waist and to top it off she placed her ballroom mask over her eyes. As for her outfit, it looked like a motorcyclist suit than a superhero costume.

“I know it doesn’t seem like the time, but I always where this mask on missions.”

“I-I-I wasn’t judging.”

“Here, take these,” Diana handed Phoenix some comms.

Phoenix put it in her ear.

“And here, in case things get out of hand.”

“A g-g-g-gun?!”

“Not with regular bullets though, it has tranquilizer darts.”

Phoenix shakingly took the gun.

“Let us proceed.”

Not a second later they encounter the first guard. His back was turned so Diana instantly knocked him out with a judo chop to a pressure point.

“One down, several hundred to go.”

One after the other she knocked out each and every guard as well as tying and gagging them with their own clothing materials so as to not to warn the others or sound the alarms when they regain consciousness. Diana had already taken out five of them by herself. Suddenly she stopped.

“There's the first CCTV,” she said as she gestured towards the security camera in the top corner. “Obscuring it or leaving bodies around will alert everyone else.”

“W-what can we do?”

“Easy, hack it.”

"Easy?" muttered Phoenix.

She took out a device, attached it to the wall and typed on it.

“There, the camera is now stuck in a loop.”

They continued, she did the same to all the other cameras along with taking out more guards on the way. Now comes the real challenge, getting through lasers.

"So, how do we get past this?" asked Phoenix. "Are you going to hack the system as well."

"I'll try."

Diana did the same method but after a while nothing happened.

"As I thought, these lasers aren't connected to the computer and are controlled manually by remote."

"Now what?"

"The question is, how you'll be able to get through."

"Huh?"

"Upon saying that, Diana pressed her fingers against the wall and smoke steamed. She began climbing while leaving holes behind until she reached the ceiling. Without any problems, she climbed over the lasers, it helped that they were only coming out from the sides

"I think I'm going to have to disable them, I'll go look for the person who has the controller."

"Wait...lasers pass through invisible objects right?"

"Most of them, yes, why do you ask?"

"Well," said Phoenix who then pressed up against the wall, closed her eyes tightly and her body started disappearing. She now looked like a walking pile of clothes. She then stripped and had completely vanished. After a minute she appeared on the other side...completely naked.

"Hmm, seems these laser aren't that high tech," said Diana.

"Seriously, I'm standing here completely nude and that's all you have to say?!"

"Here," Diana handed her a bag. "I'm not sure if what I have will fit but it's better than going commando."

Phoenix wore an extra pair of clothing Diana had stashed. It was a cargo pants, T-shirt and combat boots. It wasn't too bad based on the sizes, thankfully Diana is only like 4 inches shorter than her and they both have a muscular build.

"I guess you left the tranquilizer gun," said Diana.

"Actually," Phoenix pointed down, the gun was on the floor. "I slid it across first, I'm surprised you didn't notice.”

"My apologies, I was too busy seeing my partner vanish in to thin air."

This time Phoenix actually puffed up her cheeks in annoyance rather than frantically apologize. She could at least complement her presence of mind, that’s a rare feat for Phoenix of all people.

“By the way, how do you know where we’re going?” asked Phoenix.

“I snatched this device from one of the guards that had a blue print of this entire base,” Diana showed it to her. “Right now we’re here and we need to go there.”

She pointed at the spot called Detainment, they just had one more floor to go up. They went up a staircase, it was quiet for a while until they got to the Detainment area which probably had the most guards of all the other sections.

“Keep your gun pointed,” said Diana.

“What?”

She rushed right in, she took out the first guard in an instant. Of course, she couldn’t get away without being seen this time. Many came after her, but her combat capabilities were extraordinary. Despite being outnumbered she still fought valiantly. Once all her attackers were knocked out the last guy decided to go for the alarm, Diana was too far to stop him, but suddenly he collapsed, he had a dart sticking out of him. Diana looked at Phoenix who held up the tranquilizer, her arms were shaking.

The two of them open a door to a chamber. It was a long room that had many cells, there were a few captives, most of which looked more like criminals themselves, probably spies, snitches, traitors or enemies. But the one that stood out was a beautiful girl that had a similar appearance as Diana.

Annabelle was sitting down while holding her legs, rocking back and forth. Her face was covered by her knees but they could imagine a look of anguish and misery on it. Phoenix and Diana stood in front of her.

“It's okay now,” said Diana sternly. “We are here to get you out, how are you feeling, cousin Anna.”

“C-c-c-cousin!?” said a surprised Phoenix.

Annabelle looked up, her make up splattered all over her eyes likely from crying, but then it changed to excitement.

“Dia!”

Whoa, even Diana Archer has an affectionate nickname thought Phoenix.

Without any trouble, Diana caused the lock to melt when she gripped on it. Annabelle sprung out of the cell and gave Diana a big hug and kiss on the cheek. If anyone else did that, they’d probably leave with a few first-degree burns.

“Oh, your hair,” Diana placed a finger to a strand of Annabelle’s hair.

White roots were sticking atop her head, wait, she’s not a natural red head, then does that mean…

“Is your hair dyed as well,” asked Phoenix.

“Yes, we both have white hair and after I dyed mine scarlet, she decided to join me so that we’d still look alike.

White hair, just like the lady from the bus, thought Phoenix.

When last did you reapply?” said Diana.

“About a week ago,” said Annabelle.

Wow, her hair grows fast, thought Phoenix.

But enough of that, Let’s go, we’re done here,“ said Diana.

“Really? Because I think we’ve only begun.”

Phoenix jumped back in fear from the unmanned voice, Diana took a fighting stance, but, nobody was around. It was at that moment, someone dropped from the ceiling. It was dark so that’s why nobody noticed them. The person came into the light, it was a gorgeous woman with bright pink hair and the most beautiful blue eyes, hold on, that combination seems familiar.

“You really made tough work of my older brother, big girl.”

“B-b-b-brother?”

“Oh, should I jog your memories.”

Suddenly, liquid metal formed out of her body. She now had a pair of bladed wings protruding from her back. She flew back up.

“T-t-the man from the shopping center!”

“Jackpot.”

“S-she’s the one who kidnapped me,” revealed Annabelle.

“So, there was more than one,” said Diana.

“Correct, and not just me and my brother.”

Upon saying that, the door swung open, several more people entered, but they weren’t dressed as guards. There was a large man carrying a…Stop sign? A woman with a Burmese python and another man with a trench coat and spectacles.

“They were at the mall as well, though, dressed a lot differently since you never noticed them, we of course retreated immediately with my unconscious bother and the spoiled brat. So, Diana Archer, what will you do now?”

Diana stepped forward and held out her hand in Phoenix and Annabelle’s way. “Stand back.”

“Going to take us on all alone, as expected. Though, I wonder about that. Hypnos!”

The man with the glasses stepped forward, the collar of his coat covered his mouth and nose, it made him look like Shino Aburame from Naruto. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers together. “Summoning Asphodel.”

A mist covered the ar3a around them, Phoenix felt something strange, it wasn’t pain nor discomfort but it was definitely something.

“This fight is all ready over,” said the pink haired lady. “Your Enigma has been put to sleep.”

Phoenix couldn’t believe what she just heard, no, she’s just bluffing, right? She looked at Annabelle, she was petrified. No, it can’t be, does that mean it’s over, they’re going to be captured and possibly receive other forms of torture.

Diana, without hesitation shot three arrows in quick succession at all three standing ahead. But one arrow just broke when it hit the big man, another was snatched by the snake’s mouth mid-air and the third was caught by the woman with incredible reflexes.

“Looks like you're out of options." said the woman. "Hyperion, you take Archer, we’ll handle the rest.”

The big man came forward, he was about to grab a hold of Diana but she simply clicked her tongue.

“Imbeciles, I’ve got more than that.”

Diana pulled out something she was carrying, it looked like a baton but when she swung it a spear grew out.

“That’s futile, Hyperion is impervious to all strikes!”

In just a couple of seconds, Diana had taken down Hyperion. It seemed as if she used a style of Eastern Martial Arts. Phoenix just stood there gaping and wide-eyed. She was so fast, she struck his head with the handle over 10 times I just a few seconds.

“What!?” yelled the pink haired woman.

“His skin is impenetrable but it seems blunt force still had an effect.”

“Lamia!”

The woman with the snake sprung forward at speed. She pulled out daggers and not only did she strike but so did the Python. Diana used her spear to parry each attack. While they fought, Hypnos was pulling out something from his coat. It were a pair of battalion Tasers. Soon, he joined Lamia, but despite the two, no, three on one battle, Diana kept at it.

“Come on, this shouldn’t take all day! Do you need me to come down there or what!?”

But before anything else could happen, Diana successfully disarmed both Lamia and Hypnos. The python was the only thing attacking her that was until while evading, she grabbed Lamia’s dagger from the floor and stabbed it through the head.

“Sisyphus?” said Lamia upon the death of her snake.

Diana then knocked out the two of them easily. She pointed her spear up at the pink haired woman.

“You can’t do this, you shouldn’t be able to do this, you’re powers are not working for crying out loud!”

Diana simply beckoned her.

“Argh!”

She leapt from the ceiling. Diana spun her spear, held it in a javelin thrower stance and thrust it at her. The spear collides with the woman's shoulder. She shrieked in pain and hit the floor hard. Diana walked over to her, she actually started crawling away.

“Stay back, don’t come near me, you bitch!”

“Oh, how bold of use to use such a derogatory term considering yourself.”

Diana jerked her arm and a blade came out from her sleeve. She went over to the woman and pulled her by the hair, tight. She held the blade to her neck.

“H-h-h-hold on a minute!” cried Phoenix.

“P-p-p-please no,” the woman pleaded, tears in her eyes.

“In that case, tell me everything.”

The woman sang like a canary.

She never told her their real names, not that anyone cares, but her brother and herself are referred to as Kratos and Nike. Other information included what their plans were. There wasn’t anything else they could provide since she says she and her brother don’t work for this organization but were actually hired, they don’t know the identity of their client.

“Seriously? Not even a hint of hesitation?” said Annabelle. “Remind me never to recruit you for espionage.”

All of a sudden the alarms sounded. This place was going to be surrounded by back up, all with high grade weaponry.

“That’s enough for now,” Diana left Nike, she picked up her bag and other things. “Time to go, you’ll be utilizing another feature of your powers, Lilywhite.”

“C-c-come again?”

“I hate to break it you but our Enigmas are still neutralized,” reminded Annabelle.

Diana took out a device and threw it to the wall. “Cover your ears.”

It exploded leaving a large hole.

“Your tentacles still work, right?”

Phoenix checked her back surprised to find her tentacles can still move.

“Wrap them around the two of us.”

She did so.

“Now jump.”

“W-what?” said Phoenix.

“I said jump!”

“You can’t be seri…hya!” Annabelle got pulled forward and they sprung out the hole and in to the freezing cold water.

In that moment, their powers returned to normal. Without hanging around, Phoenix, while holding on to the other two, swam at full speed. They made it to shore in no time.

As they inhaled and exhaled repeatedly for air, Diana had an important question.

"Why didn't you use the tranquilizer gun?”

Phoenix didn’t answer she just lied there thankful they got out of there in one piece. She pulled the comm out of her ear. “We never used these.”

“It was only in case of emergencies if we got separated.”

“Oh “

“And Anna, remember when your top was ripped, well, it completely tore off when we swam here.”

Annabelle looked down to see she was in her bra.

She turned bright red. “Don’t look!”

“We're all girls.”

“I said don’t look!”

She must still be traumatized from her experience so much so that she’s not thinking straight, they’ve bathed together many times.

Diana gave her the wet suit so long and warmed her up so as not to catch a fever, or suffer from hypothermia. Diana proceeded to light herself up to avoid similar health risks. She wasn’t going to ask Phoenix if she’s cold because she had the feeling the latter didn’t even know that octopuses have a blue pigment in their blood to help survive sub-zero temperatures.

After a while they all went back to camp. Nobody else knew about the mission except of course a few adults who had approved which surprised Phoenix that they’d even allow it.

Since it was dark out, the three of them entered camp unnoticed by the others. But it will eventually come to everyone’s attention because Annabelle couldn’t just appear out of nowhere, she isn’t a teleporter after all. The people in her dorm will be in for quite a surprise. They drop off Annabelle by the infirmary, Diana wants to discuss something with Phoenix.

“You went to see Carpenter yesterday, correct?”

“Y-y-y-yes!”

“And did it have something to do with your sudden outburst against Kratos.”

“H-h-how did you know about that?”

“I got information from a few witnesses.”

“W-well, you see,” Phoenix told Diana about Active-8.

“I see, and this other conscious resides within you and can come out at any time.”

Phoenix nodded quickly.

“I suggest continue visiting Rider, if we can discover more, then your other persona can be of use in battle.”

“I-i-if you say so.”

“By the way, does she hear what we’re talking about now?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure.”

“Hmm, very well,” Diana held out her hand. “I appreciate the assist.”

The two shook hands.

“Nobody is going to know what we did, Anna's rescue will be covered up as done by other people, maybe heroes or the police.”

“I-it's okay, I don’t like attention anyway.”

“Good.”

Diana began taking off, she then stood in her tracks without looking back.

“No matter what happened between us, that doesn’t make us friends.”

After she left Phoenix stood there still. She sighed and smiled .

“Oh well.”

Phoenix went back to her dorm to meet her friends.

Diana finally explained the situation. Earlier on she went scouting around town. She discovered a base by the docs where Annabelle is being held captive. Diana intends to sneak in and Phoenix is the one who can help her.

“I dove below and discovered a hatch that enters inside to an escape trunk,” Diana explained. “Of course the water pressure made it too difficult to pry open myself. As for my fire, well, there are conditions where a flame can still burn underwater but I'm afraid those conditions aren't met at this moment. I tried, my fire didn't extinguish, but it couldn't burn through. Well, not that it matters, we wouldn't want to damage the hatch anyway to end of flooding the compartment.

"So, I need you, someone who can breathe underwater, swim incredibly fast and has significant grip strength to assist me.”

Phoenix was gaping from that explanation.

“Queries?”

“A-a-are they the same people who attacked the camp?”

“No, this is a different organization.”

“W-w-won't we need back up!?”

“Two is enough, the less people the more stealthy this mission will be.”

Phoenix wasn’t at all on board with this plan. There could be dozens of guards inside, how would they plan on taking them all.

“Commence operations.”

Diana jumped in the water, equipment and all. Phoenix looked around in a panic before eventually joining her. She swam behind her. Diana wore a wet suit and she carried her quiver and bow which were kept in a bag.

Diana stopped and pointed up. They made it to the hatch, Phoenix wasn’t sure how much Diana could see underwater, but Phoenix had good vision here. She wrapped her tentacles around the operating shaft, turned and with her octopus strength, it loosened. The hatch opened and they quickly swam in. Phoenix then closed it again and Diana turned a hand wheel of a valve which proceeded to drain the water. Diana took a deep breathe, set herself ablaze and she was dry again. She removed her wet suit, Phoenix instinctively looked away but still stuck a peak because Diana Archer in her underwear must be a million dollar sight. Diana took her stuff out of her bags. She equipped her quiver with arrows, attached her foldable bow to a placeholder by her hips, wrapped a utility belt around her waist and to top it off she placed her ballroom mask over her eyes. As for her outfit, it looked like a motorcyclist suit than a superhero costume.

“I know it doesn’t seem like the time, but I always where this mask on missions.”

“I-I-I wasn’t judging.”

“Here, take these,” Diana handed Phoenix some comms.

Phoenix put it in her ear.

“And here, in case things get out of hand.”

“A g-g-g-gun?!”

“Not with regular bullets though, it has tranquilizer darts.”

Phoenix shakingly took the gun.

“Let us proceed.”

Not a second later they encounter the first guard. His back was turned so Diana instantly knocked him out with a judo chop to a pressure point.

“One down, several hundred to go.”

One after the other she knocked out each and every guard as well as tying and gagging them with their own clothing materials so as to not to warn the others or sound the alarms when they regain consciousness. Diana had already taken out five of them by herself. Suddenly she stopped.

“There's the first CCTV,” she said as she gestured towards the security camera in the top corner. “Obscuring it or leaving bodies around will alert everyone else.”

“W-what can we do?”

“Easy, hack it.”

"Easy?" muttered Phoenix.

She took out a device, attached it to the wall and typed on it.

“There, the camera is now stuck in a loop.”

They continued, she did the same to all the other cameras along with taking out more guards on the way. Now comes the real challenge, getting through lasers.

"So, how do we get past this?" asked Phoenix. "Are you going to hack the system as well."

"I'll try."

Diana did the same method but after a while nothing happened.

"As I thought, these lasers aren't connected to the computer and are controlled manually by remote."

"Now what?"

"The question is, how you'll be able to get through."

"Huh?"

"Upon saying that, Diana pressed her fingers against the wall and smoke steamed. She began climbing while leaving holes behind until she reached the ceiling. Without any problems, she climbed over the lasers, it helped that they were only coming out from the sides

"I think I'm going to have to disable them, I'll go look for the person who has the controller."

"Wait...lasers pass through invisible objects right?"

"Most of them, yes, why do you ask?"

"Well," said Phoenix who then pressed up against the wall, closed her eyes tightly and her body started disappearing. She now looked like a walking pile of clothes. She then stripped and had completely vanished. After a minute she appeared on the other side...completely naked.

"Hmm, seems these laser aren't that high tech," said Diana.

"Seriously, I'm standing here completely nude and that's all you have to say?!"

"Here," Diana handed her a bag. "I'm not sure if what I have will fit but it's better than going commando."

Phoenix wore an extra pair of clothing Diana had stashed. It was a cargo pants, T-shirt and combat boots. It wasn't too bad based on the sizes, thankfully Diana is only like 4 inches shorter than her and they both have a muscular build.

"I guess you left the tranquilizer gun," said Diana.

"Actually," Phoenix pointed down, the gun was on the floor. "I slid it across first, I'm surprised you didn't notice.”

"My apologies, I was too busy seeing my partner vanish in to thin air."

This time Phoenix actually puffed up her cheeks in annoyance rather than frantically apologize. She could at least complement her presence of mind, that’s a rare feat for Phoenix of all people.

“By the way, how do you know where we’re going?” asked Phoenix.

“I snatched this device from one of the guards that had a blue print of this entire base,” Diana showed it to her. “Right now we’re here and we need to go there.”

She pointed at the spot called Detainment, they just had one more floor to go up. They went up a staircase, it was quiet for a while until they got to the Detainment area which probably had the most guards of all the other sections.

“Keep your gun pointed,” said Diana.

“What?”

She rushed right in, she took out the first guard in an instant. Of course, she couldn’t get away without being seen this time. Many came after her, but her combat capabilities were extraordinary. Despite being outnumbered she still fought valiantly. Once all her attackers were knocked out the last guy decided to go for the alarm, Diana was too far to stop him, but suddenly he collapsed, he had a dart sticking out of him. Diana looked at Phoenix who held up the tranquilizer, her arms were shaking.

The two of them open a door to a chamber. It was a long room that had many cells, there were a few captives, most of which looked more like criminals themselves, probably spies, snitches, traitors or enemies. But the one that stood out was a beautiful girl that had a similar appearance as Diana.

Annabelle was sitting down while holding her legs, rocking back and forth. Her face was covered by her knees but they could imagine a look of anguish and misery on it. Phoenix and Diana stood in front of her.

“It's okay now,” said Diana sternly. “We are here to get you out, how are you feeling, cousin Anna.”

“C-c-c-cousin!?” said a surprised Phoenix.

Annabelle looked up, her make up splattered all over her eyes likely from crying, but then it changed to excitement.

“Dia!”

Whoa, even Diana Archer has an affectionate nickname thought Phoenix.

Without any trouble, Diana caused the lock to melt when she gripped on it. Annabelle sprung out of the cell and gave Diana a big hug and kiss on the cheek. If anyone else did that, they’d probably leave with a few first-degree burns.

“Oh, your hair,” Diana placed a finger to a strand of Annabelle’s hair.

White roots were sticking atop her head, wait, she’s not a natural red head, then does that mean…

“Is your hair dyed as well,” asked Phoenix.

“Yes, we both have white hair and after I dyed mine scarlet, she decided to join me so that we’d still look alike.

White hair, just like the lady from the bus, thought Phoenix.

When last did you reapply?” said Diana.

“About a week ago,” said Annabelle.

Wow, her hair grows fast, thought Phoenix.

But enough of that, Let’s go, we’re done here,“ said Diana.

“Really? Because I think we’ve only begun.”

Phoenix jumped back in fear from the unmanned voice, Diana took a fighting stance, but, nobody was around. It was at that moment, someone dropped from the ceiling. It was dark so that’s why nobody noticed them. The person came into the light, it was a gorgeous woman with bright pink hair and the most beautiful blue eyes, hold on, that combination seems familiar.

“You really made tough work of my older brother, big girl.”

“B-b-b-brother?”

“Oh, should I jog your memories.”

Suddenly, liquid metal formed out of her body. She now had a pair of bladed wings protruding from her back. She flew back up.

“T-t-the man from the shopping center!”

“Jackpot.”

“S-she’s the one who kidnapped me,” revealed Annabelle.

“So, there was more than one,” said Diana.

“Correct, and not just me and my brother.”

Upon saying that, the door swung open, several more people entered, but they weren’t dressed as guards. There was a large man carrying a…Stop sign? A woman with a Burmese python and another man with a trench coat and spectacles.

“They were at the mall as well, though, dressed a lot differently since you never noticed them, we of course retreated immediately with my unconscious bother and the spoiled brat. So, Diana Archer, what will you do now?”

Diana stepped forward and held out her hand in Phoenix and Annabelle’s way. “Stand back.”

“Going to take us on all alone, as expected. Though, I wonder about that. Hypnos!”

The man with the glasses stepped forward, the collar of his coat covered his mouth and nose, it made him look like Shino Aburame from Naruto. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers together. “Summoning Asphodel.”

A mist covered the ar3a around them, Phoenix felt something strange, it wasn’t pain nor discomfort but it was definitely something.

“This fight is all ready over,” said the pink haired lady. “Your Enigma has been put to sleep.”

Phoenix couldn’t believe what she just heard, no, she’s just bluffing, right? She looked at Annabelle, she was petrified. No, it can’t be, does that mean it’s over, they’re going to be captured and possibly receive other forms of torture.

Diana, without hesitation shot three arrows in quick succession at all three standing ahead. But one arrow just broke when it hit the big man, another was snatched by the snake’s mouth mid-air and the third was caught by the woman with incredible reflexes.

“Looks like you're out of options." said the woman. "Hyperion, you take Archer, we’ll handle the rest.”

The big man came forward, he was about to grab a hold of Diana but she simply clicked her tongue.

“Imbeciles, I’ve got more than that.”

Diana pulled out something she was carrying, it looked like a baton but when she swung it a spear grew out.

“That’s futile, Hyperion is impervious to all strikes!”

In just a couple of seconds, Diana had taken down Hyperion. It seemed as if she used a style of Eastern Martial Arts. Phoenix just stood there gaping and wide-eyed. She was so fast, she struck his head with the handle over 10 times I just a few seconds.

“What!?” yelled the pink haired woman.

“His skin is impenetrable but it seems blunt force still had an effect.”

“Lamia!”

The woman with the snake sprung forward at speed. She pulled out daggers and not only did she strike but so did the Python. Diana used her spear to parry each attack. While they fought, Hypnos was pulling out something from his coat. It were a pair of battalion Tasers. Soon, he joined Lamia, but despite the two, no, three on one battle, Diana kept at it.

“Come on, this shouldn’t take all day! Do you need me to come down there or what!?”

But before anything else could happen, Diana successfully disarmed both Lamia and Hypnos. The python was the only thing attacking her that was until while evading, she grabbed Lamia’s dagger from the floor and stabbed it through the head.

“Sisyphus?” said Lamia upon the death of her snake.

Diana then knocked out the two of them easily. She pointed her spear up at the pink haired woman.

“You can’t do this, you shouldn’t be able to do this, you’re powers are not working for crying out loud!”

Diana simply beckoned her.

“Argh!”

She leapt from the ceiling. Diana spun her spear, held it in a javelin thrower stance and thrust it at her. The spear collides with the woman's shoulder. She shrieked in pain and hit the floor hard. Diana walked over to her, she actually started crawling away.

“Stay back, don’t come near me, you bitch!”

“Oh, how bold of use to use such a derogatory term considering yourself.”

Diana jerked her arm and a blade came out from her sleeve. She went over to the woman and pulled her by the hair, tight. She held the blade to her neck.

“H-h-h-hold on a minute!” cried Phoenix.

“P-p-p-please no,” the woman pleaded, tears in her eyes.

“In that case, tell me everything.”

The woman sang like a canary.

She never told her their real names, not that anyone cares, but her brother and herself are referred to as Kratos and Nike. Other information included what their plans were. There wasn’t anything else they could provide since she says she and her brother don’t work for this organization but were actually hired, they don’t know the identity of their client.

“Seriously? Not even a hint of hesitation?” said Annabelle. “Remind me never to recruit you for espionage.”

All of a sudden the alarms sounded. This place was going to be surrounded by back up, all with high grade weaponry.

“That’s enough for now,” Diana left Nike, she picked up her bag and other things. “Time to go, you’ll be utilizing another feature of your powers, Lilywhite.”

“C-c-come again?”

“I hate to break it you but our Enigmas are still neutralized,” reminded Annabelle.

Diana took out a device and threw it to the wall. “Cover your ears.”

It exploded leaving a large hole.

“Your tentacles still work, right?”

Phoenix checked her back surprised to find her tentacles can still move.

“Wrap them around the two of us.”

She did so.

“Now jump.”

“W-what?” said Phoenix.

“I said jump!”

“You can’t be seri…hya!” Annabelle got pulled forward and they sprung out the hole and in to the freezing cold water.

In that moment, their powers returned to normal. Without hanging around, Phoenix, while holding on to the other two, swam at full speed. They made it to shore in no time.

As they inhaled and exhaled repeatedly for air, Diana had an important question.

"Why didn't you use the tranquilizer gun?”

Phoenix didn’t answer she just lied there thankful they got out of there in one piece. She pulled the comm out of her ear. “We never used these.”

“It was only in case of emergencies if we got separated.”

“Oh “

“And Anna, remember when your top was ripped, well, it completely tore off when we swam here.”

Annabelle looked down to see she was in her bra.

She turned bright red. “Don’t look!”

“We're all girls.”

“I said don’t look!”

She must still be traumatized from her experience so much so that she’s not thinking straight, they’ve bathed together many times.

Diana gave her the wet suit so long and warmed her up so as not to catch a fever, or suffer from hypothermia. Diana proceeded to light herself up to avoid similar health risks. She wasn’t going to ask Phoenix if she’s cold because she had the feeling the latter didn’t even know that octopuses have a blue pigment in their blood to help survive sub-zero temperatures.

After a while they all went back to camp. Nobody else knew about the mission except of course a few adults who had approved which surprised Phoenix that they’d even allow it.

Since it was dark out, the three of them entered camp unnoticed by the others. But it will eventually come to everyone’s attention because Annabelle couldn’t just appear out of nowhere, she isn’t a teleporter after all. The people in her dorm will be in for quite a surprise. They drop off Annabelle by the infirmary, Diana wants to discuss something with Phoenix.

“You went to see Carpenter yesterday, correct?”

“Y-y-y-yes!”

“And did it have something to do with your sudden outburst against Kratos.”

“H-h-how did you know about that?”

“I got information from a few witnesses.”

“W-well, you see,” Phoenix told Diana about Active-8.

“I see, and this other conscious resides within you and can come out at any time.”

Phoenix nodded quickly.

“I suggest continue visiting Rider, if we can discover more, then your other persona can be of use in battle.”

“I-i-if you say so.”

“By the way, does she hear what we’re talking about now?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure.”

“Hmm, very well,” Diana held out her hand. “I appreciate the assist.”

The two shook hands.

“Nobody is going to know what we did, Anna's rescue will be covered up as done by other people, maybe heroes or the police.”

“I-it's okay, I don’t like attention anyway.”

“Good.”

Diana began taking off, she then stood in her tracks without looking back.

“No matter what happened between us, that doesn’t make us friends.”

After she left Phoenix stood there still. She sighed and smiled .

“Oh well.”

Phoenix went back to her dorm to meet her friends.