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The next day was tough on Merida. She had to go to work and face Hiccup. It was hard to act strictly business with him. Not when she wanted to plant a kiss on his cheek or his lips. And then while they worked she swore that she could see him looking at her from out of the corner of her eyes. But when she looked his eyes were on a document.

After what seemed like an eternity they were finished for the day. With a tight smile she said goodbye before immediately heading to her condo. When she got there she went straight to her room and collapsed on her bed. Feeling drained and emotionally exhausted.

Bored she picked up the communicator Fury gave her. It was quite interesting. It was touch screen and almost like a mini computer. It could access the web, stream videos, send texts, make calls, and it even had a gps feature.

It was later on that she noticed that Rapunzel wasn't there. She checked her phone and saw a message from her saying she headed out and was going to be at HQ that night. Merida frowned at this. Rapunzel already seem very cozy at Fury and Frost's base.

But with a sigh and the sun going down Merida decided to head there as well. In a few minutes she dressed in her costume and was in the parking garage. Getting on her bike she started it and headed to the home base. Surprisingly the wisps actually lead her there.

Stupid spirits, Merida thought to herself. She'd tried using them to lead them to Fury during the day so she could discover who he was but they didn't listen to her. They would do that sometimes. Apparently they didn't think it was an adequate enough reason to help her.

After about an hour of driving she drew near the ship yard. As she got nearer she heard a beep from her communicator and suddenly the front door of the building opened, allowing her to drive right in. She drove onto the platform and waited. And after a moment the platform descended, bringing her into the cove.

But when it stopped it was at a different level than last night. A trail of lights lit the path and she followed it until she came to a garage. She gaped, impressed by all the different vehicles. It was mainly motorcycles. Placing her bike in an empty spot she got off and found an exit.

Since she didn't take the tour the other day she didn't know her way around. So she summoned up a wisp and asked it to lead her to Rapunzel. The spirit complied and floated in front of her, drifting through the air and down twisting and turning tunnels before it disappeared in front of a door. She stood there for a moment before the door automatically opened.

Stepping inside she looked around the room before her gaze stopped on Rapunzel and Frost. She walked forward and noticed that Rapunzel seemed to be in some kind of ring.

Rapunzel was currently working on her hand to hand skills inside a training ring. The training room was a large room with a large circular ring with gridded blocks that could rise and fall to create a simulated environment to simulate multiple situations. Rapunzel was in her normal form as she blocked and threw punches against a programmable training robot. Fury had suggested she practice in her regular form so that when she was Limelight her experience would help her skills shoot up drastically.

Frost was standing at a console as he adjusted the difficulty and manipulated the environment. Making sure to force her to keep track on her surroundings and use it to her advantage. The robot was fighting at an average level of a common street fighter. Something simple enough for Rapunzel to handle that would help her reflexes improve.

The robot could however be programmed to higher levels mimicking martial arts masters and even using weaponry. There were also more robots that could be added to simulate an ambush and engaging multiple opponents.

Rapunzel was working up quite a sweat as she sparred against the bot. She was so used to her reflexes being faster when she was Limelight that she was having a little bit of difficulty keeping up. But it felt good to train. She felt herself getting a little bit better and was sure this would help her in the future.

As the robot threw a right hook Rapunzel lifted her left arms up to block before throwing a jab with her right. The robot stumbled back a step and Rapunzel advanced before kneeing it in the stomach. It doubled over before pushing her back. Rapunzel's backside bumped against a large square block Frost had raised up to surprise her. But overcoming her surprise she kept her eyes on her opponent.

The robot advanced and threw a left cross that she ducked and then threw a punch to its middle. Then she immediately grabbed it by the back of its head before slamming it into the top of the block. The robot gave beep in defeat, indicating she used enough force to knock out the average person. It went slack and fell to the ground.

"Congrats Limelight you just won the match," Frost said impressed. Rapunzel smiled and wiped the sweat off her brow. She took steady breaths and looked over to him and smiled. Then she glanced passed him to see Merida standing there.

"Hey Mer," she said in greeting as she walked out of the ring.

"Hey Punz. Nice job with the robot," she said in praise.

"Thanks," she said as she grabbed a towel and some water off the console before taking a swig. "Oh man that was the fourth one I fought. I am exhausted," she panted out.

"You did a pretty good job blondie. Maybe we should try multiple opponents next," Frost suggested.

"Nah. I think I've had enough," Rapunzel said in rejection.

"How about me then?" Merida piped in.

Frost looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" Merida nodded. "Alright. Go find some underarmour in that back room and I'll start setting up a new robot," Frost said jerking a thumb to a door in the corner of the room. Merida nodded and handed off her bow, arrows, and cloak to Rapunzel. Then she made her way over to the door.

It opened automatically and she stepped inside to see a small locker room. There were two rows of lockers. And on each one was a symbol. On the left were two lockers, one having a dragon on it and one having a snowflake. Merida guessed the dragon indicated it was Fury's while the snowflake indicated Frost's.

Glancing at the other row she saw three lockers with symbols on it. One was a sun. She guessed that was for Limelight. One was a bow and arrow. Obviously hers. She furrowed her brows at the last one. It looked like…a bat was on it. She guessed it must have belonged to the former team member Fury and Frost mentioned.

Shrugging it off she opened her locker to find some workout clothes. It was some simple dark green underarmour and a pair of green sweat pants. She shed her clothes before slipping them on. She was surprised they fit so well. A perfect fit actually.

Stepping back out, she walked over to Frost and Rapunzel. "Hey Archer. You ready? How do the clothes fit?" he asked.

"Very well actually. Are they custom made?"

"Yep. Fury designed them himself." Frost informed her.

She rolled her eyes a little at the mention of Fury. But then she walked passed Frost and into the ring. She stood in the middle and looked to Frost.

"Alright Archer what will it be? You want one opponent?" he asked.

"Give me ten," she said as she began tying her hair back.

Frost raised an eyebrow and hesitated. But Rapunzel placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her and she had a smile. "She's got this," she said with a nod.

Frost shrugged and started activating the bots. She activated ten of them with varying level of strength, below superhuman and putting their skills at the level of a common person. But one he increased to the level of an amateur boxer. As a little surprise.

Merida smiled as the robots surrounded her. She needed to vent a little.

Fury walked out of the lab of the base. He smiled proudly underneath his helmet. He'd just put some finishing touches on come new high tech arrows for Merida along with a new costume for her and Rapunzel. He hoped she would like them.

He shook his head. Not because he wanted her to like him. She just needed the right tools for the job. He sighed to himself. Today had been hard for him. He'd spent most of the day staring at Merida. And he was sure she probably caught him staring a few times. Being around her was hard.

He walked towards the training room. Opening the door he could make out someone practicing in the ring. He assumed it was Rapunzel at first but he noticed her standing next to Frost. He walked up beside them and looked into the ring to see Merida fighting against ten robots.

"Hot damn," he said in amazement. She was destroying them.

Merida had been taught to fight by her father for self-defense purposes as a child. And as she got older she had taken more lessons in various style and received advanced training from a personal friend from china. All in all…she was a very good hand to hand combatant.

Merida knocked down a robot with a spin kick and then raised her arm up to block a kick from and advancing robot. Grabbing its leg she swept the other leg out from under it and knocked it to the floor. Still holding the leg she gave it a sharp jerk. In a person she would have just dislocated or broken a leg.

As more robots advanced she back flipped away to gain breathing room. One nearest to her attempted to blindside her from behind. But she dropped low and elbowed it in the middle before grabbing its head and flipping it onto it back. Before it could retaliate she slammed her palm into the middle of its face. It gave a beep in defeat, indicating a knockout.

Fury gaped open mouth underneath his helmet. He had now become even more attracted to Merida then he'd ever been. She was incredible. Her hair was tied up and her face was flushed slightly from exertion. She just looked so alive, so vibrant.

She was like some kind of Scottish warrior princess.

He continued to watch in amazement as she defeated the remaining robots quite easily. When she was done she smirked proudly.

"Woohoo! Yeah, go Mer!" Rapunzel shouted enthusiastically. Merida put her hands on her hips proudly and 'hmphed' in satisfaction.

"Yeah. She totally needs protection," Frost muttered sarcastically just loud enough for his partner to hear. Fury glared at him as Merida walked out of the ring. She took some water from her friend and a towel.

"Nice job Ms. Dunbroch," Fury said politely. She scowled at him before taking another swig of water. He felt a sting in his heart. Her look said 'drop dead'.

"Yeah Red, you totally kicked ass!" Frost added.

"Anyway. Rapunzel there was something I wanted to ask you," Fury said looking to the girl. She cocked her head to the side. "How strong are you?"

Rapunzel thought it over. She pursed her lips and tapped her chin in thought. "I'm not sure. I've never really tested myself," she said with a shrug.

"Hmmm," Fury said thoughtfully. "Well what's the heaviest thing you've lifted?"

"An 18 wheeler I guess," Rapunzel replied.

"Hmmmm. Come with me please," he said leading the way. Rapunzel complied and followed after him. Frost and Merida having nothing better to do went along with them.

A few minutes later Rapunzel was in a room while her teammates were behind a glass screen. She was blindfolded and in her Limelight form as she lifted a 1 ton weight above her head. Fury wanted to see what the upper limits of her strength were. He used the same machine to test the strength of his armors. Her hands were on a bar that she could take her hands off of if she felt she was overwhelmed and the weight would immediately be lifted off her.

"So why ur ye so curious abit how strong she is," Merida asked beside Fury as he sat at a control panel.

"Because I noticed something strange when I fought Limelight," he explained.

"Strange how?" she asked.

"Rapunzel says she's only ever lifted about 40 tons, which is the average weight of an 18 wheeler," he began. Merida nodded. "My suit allows me to lift approximately 50 tons. But when we were grappling I could see how difficult it was for her to overpower me at first. But then her hair glowed and she did," he explained.

"And?"

"It was weird. One moment she was weaker than me and the next moment she wasn't. The fact that she overpowered me in my suit meant she became stronger than me. Which meant she was lifting more than 50 tons at that moment," he elaborated.

"So you wanna see exactly how strong she is?" Frost asked. Fury nodded.

"And the blindfold?" Merida inquired.

"I have a theory. Mind over matter," he said. Then he pressed a button to speak to Rapunzel. "Alright Rapunzel we're going up to 3 tons," he said.

"Ok," she called back. Fury pressed a button, increasing the weight to 5 tons. He watched as Rapunzel's legs buckled for only an instance before she stood up straight and held the weight. If she could tell the difference she didn't say anything.

"Ok Rapunzel, now 7 tons," he said. She nodded and he increased the weight to 10 tons. Once again she supported it and held it above her head.

Fury smiled. His experiment and theory working out so far.

"Ah dinnae believe it," Merida said in a gasp.

"Whoa!" Frost said in wonder.

Underneath his helmet Fury's mouth was openin shock. He almost couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"I've ne'er seen 'er lift so much weight," Merida breathed out.

"Frost…dude," Fury said to his partner.

"Yes Fury," Frost said still staring wide eyed at the blonde.

"I suggest you never piss her off again. Unless you want to end up a stain," Fury suggested. Frost gulped ad nodded. He considered himself lucky he wasn't dead.

Rapunzel was sweating slightly. She was at 100 tons right now. She was impressed with herself. She had no idea she was this strong. And she felt like she could keep going.

"Fury, I'm ready for more weight," she called out.

"…uhm…Rapunzel, I don't have any more weight. You've reached the maximum limit," he told her.

"So only 100 tons?" she asked.

"Rapunzel…you're lifting double that."

Rapunzel's head shot up in surprise. She immediately took her hands off the bar. The weight was lifted off her. She took the blindfold off and turned around to see the several story tall of stacked weights she had just been holding.

"Rapunzel, I'm not sure what the upper limits of your strength are…You may not have one," he said thoughtfully.

Rapunzel looked down at herself in wonder. She could hardly believe how strong she was. All this time she'd barely scratched the surface of her power. She wondered just what she was really capable of.

"Alright Rapunzel. How about you clean up?" Fury suggested. She nodded and left the room.

She joined her team in the control room. "Alight Frost. How about you show Rapunzel to her quarters. I'll take Merida," he said. Frost nodded and led Rapunzel out of the room and down the tunnel systems to her quarters leaving Merida with Fury.

"This way Ms. Dunbroch," he said motioning with his hand. Merida narrowed her eyes at him with a hard glare. "What?" he asked nervously.

"Why do ye keep callin' me that?" she asked in annoyance.

"Calling you what?"

"Ms. Dunbroch. Just call me Merida."

"Well…I just thought that we don't know each other—"

"Oh quit yer babbling ye ninny. Just call me Merida," she said firmly. Fury nodded in acceptance. Then he led her out of the room. She followed him, taking note of the turns so she could find her way on her own.

During their walk they ran into Toothless who immediately perked up when he saw her. She smiled as he walked beside her, nudging her hand with his nose. She petted him, earning happy whines from the wolf.

"Here you are then," Fury said stopping at a door. "These are your personal quarters. You get in with this panel right here," he said pointing out a panel beside the door. "And I'll leave you to it," he said before walking away. Toothless gave her hand a lick before following after him.

She watched him go before opening her door and stepping inside her room.

"Wow!" she said in wonder. Her room was huge. It had a large circular bed, a plasma screen TV, and a couch in the center of the room. And on the right side of the room there was even a shooting range with targets set up. She smiled, she had to admit it. This was amazing.

After exploring the room she found a private bathroom. She smiled, happy to get in a wash and shed her sweaty clothes.

A few minutes later Merida stepped out in a clean bath robe. She was feeling refreshed and in a very good mood. She noticed a bundle on her bed but ignored it to plop down on her couch. Suddenly the floor opened up in front of her and a small table came out. On it was a remote. She picked it up and turned on the TV.

"Limelight requesting entry. Grant or deny?" Suddenly came a computer voice.

Merida looked around. "Uhm…granted," she said unsure. Suddenly the door to her room slid open to reveal her friend. She walked in and took a look around the room.

"Wow. Your room is huge. It's even bigger than mine," she said amazed.

"Hey Punz," Merida greeted.

"Hey Mer. You got to admit this is cool right?"

Merida frowned slightly but sighed as she conceded. "Ok ah admit. This is very cool," she admitted.

"My room is pretty awesome. It even has sun lamps in the ceiling so I can absorb energy," she told her. "Oh and Fury made me a new costume," she added.

Merida cocked her head to the side. She glanced over to the bundle on the bed. Rapunzel glanced over as well. "I bet he made you one too," she said excitedly. "Oh I'm gonna go put mine on. You put yours on," she said before running out of the room.

Merida watched her go. She hesitated for a moment as she looked to the bundle on the bed. But then she got up and walked over to it. With a shrug she shed her bath robe and began putting it on.

A few minutes later Rapunzel came into the room in her new uniform. It looked much like her old one but it had splashes of gold on along with a golden sun on her chest. She loved it. She looked to Merida with a wide smile and saw her in her new outfit.

It was a lot like her old one too. But on the back of the cloak was a large red arrow. At her waist was a utility belt. And she could tell the leather jacket was different, as were her combat pants.

"You look awesome Mer," Rapunzel said as she clapped in amazement. Merida smiled. Then she picked up a new quiver of arrows. And in a pocket of her new cloak was a miniature crossbow. She had to admit it. They were pretty cool.

"Wow! He even made you new arrows," Rapunzel pointed out. Then she took a second glance around the room. And her mouth formed into a wicked grin.

"What?" Merida asked raising an eyebrow.

"I think he likes you," Rapunzel said with smirk.

Merida's face flushed in embarrassment. "What!? Ye think Fury likes me?" she sputtered.

"Well yeah… new arrows," she said as she paused to gesture to the room. "A large room. He totally likes you."

"Well Ah don't like him," Merida said as she crossed her arms and looked away. But she could still feel the heat in her cheeks betraying her embarrassment.

"Are you sure?" Rapunzel asked holding her smirk.

"Of course not Punz. Ah don't even ken what he looks like. He might be hideous for all Ah ken."

"Or he could be devilishly handsome," Rapunzel pointed out.

"Ugh. Let's just go," Merida said with a huff before stomping to the door. Rapunzel giggled and followed after her.

Merida didn't care if Fury liked her, because she still liked Hiccup.

"You're still totally into her," Frost said with a smug grin. He and Fury were at the computer as Fury was still looking for clues on the whereabouts of their enemies.

"I don't know what you mean," Fury replied.

"Oh sure you don't. I bet it was totally coincidence that you gave her the biggest room and spent all night making her a new high tech quiver of arrows. And don't think I didn't see those plans for upgrades for her bike."

"We're a team. I just want to make sure she's fully prepared," Fury replied casually.

But Frost didn't buy it. Fury had gone the extra mile for Merida. He still totally had a thing for her.

"So by the way…me and Rapunzel went on a date today," he threw out there.

"What?" Fury asked turning in his chair to look at him.

"I like her man. We went to see a movie," he said shrugging his arm.

"Dude. You can't date her. What about your identity?"

"I've been keeping it a secret my whole life man. I kind of got a lot of practice hiding it," Frost said rolling his eyes.

"Frost you can't keep seeing her. It's too risky," Fury said firmly.

"Watch it partner. I may follow your lead in costume but you don't get a say in my personal life," Frost said narrowing his eyes at him.

Fury held his gaze. But with a sigh he backed off. He was right. He couldn't tell his friend what to do with his personal life. He could only trust that he'd be careful.

Suddenly both men turned to see the girls walking up to them. And in their new costumes.

"OMG Fury. I love my new outfit," Rapunzel said with a wide smile.

"Thanks. The new material offers increased durability and the golden parts are solar panels that absorb energy," he said as he gestured to the sun on her chest and the golden parts on her knees and elbows.

"Cool," she said as she looked her suit over once again.

"And I hope you like yours too Archer. The cloak is a titanium Kevlar synthetic combination and is incredibly resistant, fire retardant, and nearly indestructible," he explained.

She listened but kept her face straight. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was thoroughly impressed.

"So anyway, I was thinking now would be a good night for patrol. So I was thinking Frost and Archer would team up while I go with Limelight."

"Why do we have tae listen tae ye?" Merida demanded.

"I simply thought tonight would be a good night to learn about each other. You're used to Limelight so I though teaming you up with Frost while I go with Limelight would help us get to know each other," he explained.

"That sounds fine to me," Limelight said with a shrug.

Merida grumbled in acceptance.

"Excellent. Shall we?" Fury said standing up. The others all nodded and followed him as he led the way out of the base.

New chapter. Hope you like.