Chapter Thirty Three

Kayura didn't like the look of the testing facility at night. It loomed above the warlords and Kayura, Hoshi and Raleigh were checking out the back of the building. Sekh rattled, "Wolf on the east side."

"Raleigh or Leah, it gets sort of confusing," Kay she knelt down. There was a large security fence between them and the building.

She heard Kale short out the power box to the fence as Sekh answered with a fanged grin, "the golden one."

Kay realized something, "oh, something did happen in Morocco?"

Sekh rattled happily and Dais shushed them, "for now, we'll call Raleigh, Red."

Kale saw movement, "well, her and Kitten are in the castle."

"Ugh, not a castle Kale," she complained.

"Oh, before we go in, I have something for you," Dais said reaching into his leather coat and pulling out a blade. "I know you don't do guns..."

She took it, "thanks, no armors too."

"Figured as much," Dais said he pushed apart the fence.

Kayura went through first followed by the other three. They quietly found a window to go through and Kayura found that everything felt weird within the place but she couldn't place a finger as to why. It looked like any other building at night, dark, mostly empty except for the occasional security guard with a flash light or tech that was left on. Kale asked, "what's that word..."

Sekh sighed, "here we go again."

Kay looked at Dais with a questioning brow and he answered, "Kale is having a hard time remembering colloquialisms."

"Heebeejeebees," he finally said.

Kayura shook her head.

This is what being a warlord was.

Goofing off until someone needed to be dead.

She knocked out a guard as they saw Hoshi down the hall. Her hair glowed in the dark night and she came over, "there's a unmarked lab in the east wing. Red and Gold are already heading there."

Kay rolled her eyes, "let's get this done. I've been up for an extraordinary amount of hours now and I would hate to lose my edge."

Hoshi saw her walking away, "she just misses, Steve."

Kale yawned and followed after her, "no, I think she's got the right idea."

Hoshi walked with Dais, "I don't like this. There's something not right."

Sekh rattled, "it's unnerving."

"The day you guys are unnerved, is the day I should be worried," Hoshi said.

Dais said, "this is what pure human hatred feels like, Hoshi."

"Excuse me," she said looking at him.

"It's the energy that Talpa thrived on so much,"

Hoshi looked at him, "thanks for making feel better, Dais. You always knew how to."

Kayura was waiting for them at the end of the wing, "I thought you said Red and Gold were here?"

Hoshi nodded but her face turned hard, "yeah..."

Kayura pulled out her new dagger and Hoshi unsheathed the small sword against her spine. She saw all three men reveal their blades: Dais had a curved blade, Kale a long thin straight blade, and Sekh a Kodatchi that she was certain was covered in poison. Hoshi moved to the door, "I guess its now or never."

"I don't like parties," Kayura complained under her breath.

Hoshi touched the monitor next to the door expecting it to alert security but it turned green and read, "Welcome Miss Nakano."

Kayura growled, "someone was expecting us."

Kale cracked his neck, "we've had people expect us before."

Sekh just grinned.

Dais sighed, "well, they know we're here."

Hoshi slowly stepped through with Kayura and the warlords not far behind. There was a long hall to walk down and they came to an large elevator. They entered the elevator but it seemed to go down forever. Dais asked, "so when is the wedding?"

Kayura felt her cheeks flush, "is this really appropriate?"

"It's not like you talk to us anymore," said Kale.

Hoshi nodded, "you're pretty smitten with blondie."

Kayura crossed her arms carefully while still holding the knife, "we've been really wrapped up lately."

Sekh smiled, "I didn't need to know that much."

"Not like that," she hissed at him and he laughed.

The elevator started to slow and they brandished their weapons. The elevator opened to a dark lab. Their was soft green glow in the room from some containers on the other side and several large screens loomed in front of a computer. They walked in and Hoshi said, "anyone smell trap?"

"You know from experience, don't you Kitten," said a soft male voice. A man rolled out of an adjacent hallway in a wheelchair. He wore slacks and a button up shirt with a gray tie. Had Hoshi not seen the young man once before, she would have said he looked like a tech for 'Geek Squad' but he wasn't. As for features, his hair was mousy and cut in a buzz cut with very run of the mill face. Hoshi held up her sword, "Allistair Smythe son of Spencer Smythe."

"I never even realized that you noticed me," he smiled as he rolled along. "The perks of looking like an average Joe."

She asked, "you walked the last time I saw you?"

"Hm. You can blame Fisk for that one," he said softly. "Oh and your friends are fine, those two crazy women are are currently locked up. Your husband was a bit more of a nuisance."

"You shot Kento?"

"No, I don't get my hands dirty Miss Nakano," he said. "I leave that to my men..."

"Men," she asked as the green container opened and out stepped a man. He was wearing head to toe dark green body armor that both looked liked it was bionic and inspired by Iron man. Along his back there was a long green tail.

"Well, before he completed my experiment, he was in the army. The beserker research was really helpful, this is Scorpion."

The man stepped forward and crossed his arms as the tail part of the suit moved independently. Sekh hissed and Allistair laughed, "well...so now that you're here. I can continue with my experiments. Go on then..."

"No, armor," Kayura hissed quietly as the man named scorpion charged them.

The broke their formation, Kayura dashing left with Sekh. Hoshi split with Kale to the left as Dais found himself to the shadows. The man swung his tail with a smirk and Kayura asked Sekh, "cousin of yours?"

"Possible son though," he teased dodging the blade on it.

Hoshi jumped at him but tail whipped forward and slammed her into Kale. It didn't take long to knock all four to the floor, without their armors, they were abnormally strong but not super villain strong. Allistair rolled over, "like him, he's been the product of some research."

Kayura lifted herself up and the Scorpion grabbed her, "this one, sir."

"Yes, I thought I recognized you," Allistair said with a smile. "You're the woman masquerading as the sister for Mr. Stark, but you know me, don't you? Of course your hair was much longer then."

The man squeezed and she squeaked as he threw down again. She tumbled into Kale, and she wondered Dais disappeared to. She sat up, "you're the one who's still collecting artifacts."

He smiled again, "I see you liked my gift. Surprised you took down the beast though. Scorpion take them to the cells."

Kale kicked Scorpion in the leg making him fall to one knee. Him and Sekh dashed out with Kayura cursing, "you traitors!"

Scorpion grabbed both girls and slammed them into a small cell nearby, Hoshi looked at her, "well, that hurt less than I thought it was going to."

Kayura rubbed her neck, "I don't appreciate being beat up by super villains."

They heard a yell and saw the Scorpion drag a small blonde woman in. Hoshi grabbed the bars, "Felicia!"

Allistair smiled at her, "there were so many things my Dad was interested in that Mr. Hashiba would never let me test it. Scorpion here is the results of one of the many. Isn't he great. Do you know what I'm trying to recreate, Miss Nakano?"

Hoshi bit her lip, she knew. She mumbled, "the super soldier serum."

"Precisely, but you know what's nice is that with her big news story all over, its obvious who's going to come charging in," he said with a laugh. "So I might not need to use all those pretty little things that the little Ogre got for Fisk."

Kay realized it was a set up and hissed, "you bastard."

"For not knowing who you really were, you were surprisingly easy to manipulate," he said as he typed on the computer. "I poked the right places and you guys scurried to another spot."

He went quiet as Scorpion helped him strap the blonde to the table, she yelled and thrashed but it didn't help much. Kayura hissed under her breath to Hoshi, "we have to get out of here."

"You have any brilliant ideas, we use our skill we might as well announce ourselves as Iron Man to the whole world," Hoshi hissed back.

"Better than letting that girl be a science project."

"You know Kale and Sekh didn't abandon us, I hope," she said as she caught the girls eyes. She cursed as memories came flooding back about Strucker and she felt her stomach churn.

Kayura rolled her eyes, "sometimes they're more like weasels."

Kay heard a rumbling above them and the sound of bullets echoed through the walls. Hoshi smiled, "I love cavalry. More than that, I love Raleigh."

Kayura saw the wall explode through and Scorpion stood to attention. Raleigh smiled as she broke in holding a gun that was almost as large as a small child. She held it up as she walked through with the three warlords, "I'm not sure what this does, but it seemed to make your guards run for their lives."

Kayura raised an eyebrow, "is this what you two were like in the old days?"

"It just worked out better if I was bait, I sort of look like the bait type," she answered. "I should feel insulted about that."

Allistair held up his hands, "scorpion, show them the other equipment."

Kayura said the tail flick and and it squirted a viscous green glowing goo. The four dodged the goo as it ate through whatever it touched. Kayura saw Sekh grin, "of course he's excited..."

Dais appeared near them and popped the lock, "don't do the bait and distract again, My Queen."

Kayura ignored them and slid past scorpion while Raleigh shot at him. She went to the stretcher and started yanking open the straps, Allistair pulled out a hand gun, "Oni, I'd recognize your cold face anywhere."

She wasn't scared of guns and pulled the blonde free, shoving her behind, "you really want to go down this path Allistair? It's not one you're likely to come back from."

"You're not in a position to threaten me."

"I like doing it though," she grinned even though her heart was starting to race.

Felicia whimpered, "you're the Ogre?"

Kay glanced at her, "how do you even know that name?"

"I talk to my Dad occasionally you know," the blonde girl hissed.

Allistair squeezed the trigger and Kay grabbed Felicia and rolled. The bullet grazed her leg as she dugged down near the stretcher. She shoved Felicia to her feet as Kale knocked back the Scorpion. The group stood together and Allistair laughed, "you think that's the only monster I have?"

A wall slid up and out came a large beast that looked a little like a rhino and the hulk had a kid. Kayura gulped, "yeah, no armors."

Hoshi nodded, "no way, no how. This is inspiration from Cap? Hell, we don't want to give him more inspiration."

Raleigh pulled the reload cartridge on her gun and grinned, "let's lock and load. Kay get Felicia out of here."