[b][i]"You're not dead. In fact, you could say you've never been better!"[/i][/b]

Stella would beg to differ with the pink-haired woman. She would say that this was the worst thing imaginable. Slowly, but surely the lights stopped and the uptake in her heartbeat evened out. Stella arched an eyebrow as the scientist clicked her pen, jotted down notes, and spoke words that made her heart drop.

[b][i]"You're in the deeper levels of HiveMind's facility. You're under my care until your father comes by."[/i]
[/b]

[i]No, no, no! I need to get out of here. I refuse to be a test subject again.[/i] The snow-haired woman thought as she began to look around for any option to release herself from the table. Flashbacks of her mother arguing with someone, who wasn't in view that Stella was too young for all the augmentations that were recommended for her. However, her mother didn't have a choice. 

A younger version of Stella, hugging her mother's pantleg tight, shivering with fear as who she had assumed was her father, yelled at them. Saying that [b][i]'he'[/i][/b] wasn't going to like her mother delaying things and if it continued, [b][i]'he'[/i][/b] would take care of Stella's augmentations himself. This happened every time a tall figure would observe Stella's training from the observation booths and whenever she surpassed her augmentation levels. It wouldn't be until her mother 'accidentally' left codes to unlock the doors to the outside world when Stella was a teen that she would be free.  The other woman addressed Stella again, breaking her from the flashbacks.

[b][i]"There's a lot to do to make sure you're ready for that, though. Absorbing a DCE, a Heart of Hearts, a nexus of energy, is like having a nuclear bomb tucked under your ribcage. I'm sure it feels... interesting. Tell me, do you notice anything different? Any murderous tendencies? Anything I should be worried about? You're one of the first of your kind. We've tried many, many times, but all of our experiments were failures. It seems it's just your destiny to be your father's perfect daughter, no?"[/i][/b]

Stella moved her head away from the pink-haired woman's leaning face. [b]"Besides wanting to gut my father like a fish for destroying not only my life but multiple others? And wanting to shove a peppermint down your throat for that awful artificial cherry lollipop smell? No, not really."[/b] She retorted as she lied a little. At the mention of murderous tendencies, she couldn't help but want to feel the warmth of watching the light fade from someone's eyes. But Stella couldn't admit that, because she knew that wasn't truly her. It was whatever energy she absorbed from that dragon.

[hr]

[b]"DAMN IT!"[/b] Dragon shouted as his fists smashed against the desk, denting the metal frame. Julia tugged at the collar of her shirt as the temperature in the room increased significantly and the news of Nova's submarine was sinking back down. Dragon stood up went to the closet doors of his office and swung it open. 

[b]"What would you like me to tell Star, sir?" [/b]Julia asked with a timid tone. Dragon's fiery furious gaze snapped to his assistant who shrunk back. 

[b]"Tell her that I'm on my way,"[/b] Dragon retorted and Julia nodded, quickly leaving the office. The fired-up young man shed his work attire before wearing blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and his blue jacket with utility pockets. He tugged on his gloves and rolled his sleeves to show his forearms before sliding on his necklace. 

Kai Stoick wasted no time making his way to Voidlight's teleportation pad. He gritted his teeth as there would be barely enough dark matter energy to get himself and the two girls home. Dragon was forced to leave Ghost behind. He pulled the large switch down to fire up the machine as an older male figure entered the lab where the pad was housed. 

[b]"Are you sure about this?" [/b]The older man asked as Kai rolled his eyes. 

[b]"You know as well as I do that we need to do this. We were contracted to save the girl, we will follow through. We just so happened to have an agent with the girl and we lost contact with Ghost,"[/b] Kai replied as he put his pistol harness under his jacket. Dragon preferred to fight hand-to-hand combat but sometimes a little firepower was necessary. He hoped he wouldn't have to use it. 

He quickly typed Nova and 3's location into the computer. [b]"I will save Agent Star and the girl. We will have to go back for Ghost later,"[/b] Kai added before he grabbed the return teleportation pad and button remote. The return pad folded out like a Dance-Dance Revolution mat with a long wire and button remote to it. He stepped into the middle of the teleportation machine and nodded at the older man. The man gave Kai a salute before throwing the switch. 

The shock wave of teleportation rocked the submarine that Nova and 3 were in, creating a loud thud. Suddenly, the sound of sparks going off could be heard in the submarine as well as a bright orb of light getting increasingly bigger in front of the woman and the girl. Then a flash occurred and there stood Dragon for a moment before he hunched over a bit. 

[b]"Fuck, I will never get used to that,"[/b] he commented as he realized how cold it was in the submarine. They didn't have much time. Dragon quickly spotted Nova and 3, relief washed over him as he was glad that they hadn't sunk any deeper. He could've missed them. He quickly laid out the return pad and turned it on to warm up. 

Dragon wasted no time in pulling Nova close when she stood up, his left arm wrapped around her waist while his right hand gently grasped her chin. His amber eyes narrowed at the sight of blood on Nova's forehead and cursed under his breath as he neared the two. 
[b]"You had to go and get yourself hurt. Now, I won't be able to stop myself from worrying about you,"[/b] Dragon clicked his tongue disapprovingly at Star but mostly at himself. He unwillingly let Nova go to assess 3 as well, she after all had been the target this entire time. 

[b]"How about we go back on land, hm?"[/b] Kai suggested as he gestured to the return pad that was ready to go. He grabbed a hold of the button, [b]"Now, little lady, would you be so kind as to stand here for me?"[/b] Dragon asked 3 as there wasn't much room for three people, but they'd make it work. He pulled Nova close with his left arm, gave her a wink, and then looked at 3. [b]"Teleportation is a bitch, and you may feel woozy and light-headed afterward. However, that's completely normal, paramedics are waiting for us,"[/b]
Dragon explained as he handed 3 the remote and pulled her close as well to keep everyone towards the middle of the pad. [b]"Go ahead and hit that button, please,"[/b] he added.

Once 3 hit the button, they would be consumed by the brightest light imaginable as if they were in the middle of the sun. A dull electrifying feeling would rack through the three people, followed by swirling around and around. Suddenly, they would find themselves in Voidlight's teleportation room. Kai kept his hold on Nora and 3 to prevent the girls from collapsing since it was their first time going through a teleportation unit. He let go of them once the paramedics took over and sat down himself, two teleportation visits in a week were hard on the body.