Super Nova Genesis - Evolution of the Phoenix

“Lilywhite? I hope you’re not losing your sanity on us,” said Andy as she saw what happened to Ralph and how Phoenix reacted.

“Ooh, I’m perfectly fine,” her manner of speech was nothing like her usual self, it was almost, seductive and her voice was lower pitched. “But, for now, just call me Active-8.”

“Come again?”

Phoenix stood up, she walked, just walked. Her face was looking down but her sinister grin was still noticeable. She approached the man who was currently going at it with Eden. Phoenix did not even keep her distance, she went straight for him and when she was just at arms reached she put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hmm,” the man turned his head to look back. “Oh, it’s just you, Red, so I presume you…”

Phoenix actually punched him in the face.

“Holy shit!” exclaimed Andy.

He had quick reflexes to react by forming a shield but she still got him good.

“Ow, damn, I’m actually bleeding,” he said as he spat out a tooth. “Only few people have got a hit on my money maker, but none were as inexperienced as yours…”

She went for him again, but this time he evaded.

“Ah, that’s right, this body has no fighting capabilities,“ said Phoenix. “Guess, I’ll use the powers instead.”

She let her tentacles free, they tore through her shirt and attached themselves to the man. Andy looked back and forth from Phoenix, the man and at Eden who was now hurt herself, which meant she had to do something.

“Eden, shrink down again!” yelled Andy.

While Phoenix and the man were occupied, the other two quickly conversed.

“Here's the plan, take those who are injured to safety and I’ll call reinforcements,” explained Andy.

“You'd think Logan and Vivy would have heard the commotion by now,” said Eden.

“Yeeeeaaahhh, maybe,” Andy shrugged. “But for now, I think Phoenix and, umm, let me think, liquid metal, but only a quarter of his body, let’s just call him T-250 for now. Anyway, Phoenix and T-250 seem to be duking it out. Whoa, just saying her name in a sentence like that just sounds off.”

Eden looked at her roommate fighting, rubbed her eyes and checked again. “Freaky.”

“We can contemplate later, move it!”

They split up, Eden grew in size again and picked up the injured. Phoenix continued her unexpected rampage. Her tentacles attacked at great speeds, but Mr. T-250 still dodged, most of the time. Some time later, Vivy finally arrived.

"Whoa, what the hell is going on here!?"

Eden explained as much as she could while helping the people.

"I see, and hat did you mean Phoenix isn't herself?"

"Take a look," said Eden.

“Where'd…this…sudden…burst...of…energy…appear?” he said through evasions, he took a long leap back. He formed a sword from his right arm while the other was a shield “You were just a stuttering, shrinking mushroom a moment ago.”

“Ooh, you mean the other one?” said Phoenix.

“Other one?”

“She's me, I am her, we are one and the same, but not similar, “

“Uhh…”

“I guess it’s hard to describe, but I don’t know the true answer either.”

"Yo Phoenix, is something up with you? Your voice sounds a bit deeper too!" Vivy called out.

"Another nuisance has arrived, just great,"said Mr T-250.

"All right," said Vivy as she put on her goggles and cracked her fingers. "Time to..."

She stopped talking, she saw the dead body of Ralph. She wasn't here to witness it but opon seeing a lifeless corpse Vivy seemed to lose focus. Her entire body tensed, she grabbed her head and then screamed. Sne stomped on the ground and there was a noticeable shake.

She ran towards the two in battle, she wasn't at ful speed now but she stil covered a lot of ground. She leapt and planted her fist towards the man's face as well. He blocked it out with his shield but there was a bad dent left in it. He quicke used his blade on Vivy, he sliced a her but the blade only left a scratch despite the force he put in.

Phoenix took a chance to hit but the man's reflexes hadn't wavered and still kept toe to toe with the two of them. Vivy went for another punch, but the man did something unexpected. He liqufied his metal the moment she made contatc with the shield then let it soldify again, she was stuck.

Eventually, Mr. T-250 got accustomed to the attacks of Phoenix. He slowly crept close to her while keeping Vivy restrained which was a task due to her sudden strength she was punching at the shield with her free arm and he had to manage avoiding the tentacles.

To shake off Vivy he formed a hammer with his other up and bashed Vivy on the head. He di this a few times until she began dozing off. She finally lost conciousness and he let her out of his shield.

Turning his gihts back to Phoenix. Soon, he was just a meter apart from her. Once in stabbing range, he swung his sword and jabbed Phoenix through the abdomen, but she didn’t give in.

There was pain all right, but Phoenix took it like awful tasting medicine. He went again, but Phoenix used her free arms to hold onto him.

“Gotcha.”

“Y-you let me stab you on purpose the first time.”

“Of course, I can heal “

The would slowly closed up.

“I just needed you to get closer to grab onto.”

He tried changing his arm into extremely sharp objects to shake her off, she just would not budge.

“I just need to keep you here for a few seconds until…” there was a sudden gust of wind. “Aah, seems like backup has arrived “

Logan swooped in, she landed just behind Mr. T-250.

“Aah crap.”

Logan cracked her knuckles, held out her arm, spun it which caused the winds to form in her direction. Mr. T-250 struggled even more to free himself but Phoenix had all ready latched on with her tentacles.

Logan stood face to face with him and put a hand on his shoulder. “I'm a be real with you chief, you don’t even gotta be cute.”

Logan brought down her fist and with immaculate timing Phoenix let go at the last second, Logan finished off with a wind blown uppercut. Mr. T-250 flew 30 feet in the air, sailing over a building to the other side with a loud crash . At that exact moment, Phoenix's vision went blurry until eventually she collapsed as well.

$$$

When Phoenix came to, she was lying on a paramedic bed at the back of an ambulance.

“Hey, you’re finally awake,” Andy was sitting by her. “I think it’s time we had a little talk.”

Andy explained what had happened. Phoenix on the other was completely confused.

“So you’re telling me you have no memory of all that?”

“Not a clue, I mean, a different personality, come on.”

“Trust me, it’s all real.”

Phoenix got up and they both got out of the van. The police searched for Mr. T-250 but shockingly he was already gone, medics checked on the injured folks. Eden was sitting by another ambulance, her foot was bandaged up, Vivy was didn't have much injuries bu a few scratches and a bruise on the head and Logan was talking with the detectives. But, the sight that Phoenix could not bear to witness was that of Ralph’s corpse being carried away. She hurriedly went by his side, Andy along with her.

“What could he have meant?”

“Come again?”

“The last thing he said, “save her”.”

“I think I might know the answer,” said a voice, it was one of the paramedics. “Ralph Marshall, age 38, US Military. His wife passed away a few years ago and his only daughter is in the hospital. She has a serious ailment and requires a lot of medical attention. She has been there for over a year now.”

Upon hearing this, Phoenix begrudgingly placed her hands on her head and crouched down, it’s too much too handle.

“I know what you’re thinking,” said the paramedic. “But there wasn’t much you could do to save him in the moment without medical assistance. Although his heart was not hit, there was a blood vessel that ruptured so he would have suffered from serious internal bleeding regardless if you closed up the wounds.”

The paramedic left to check on everyone else. Andy patted Phoenix on the back.

“Don’t fret about it, kiddo,” she assured. “If it makes you feel any better, your actions did save a lot more people, even if you don’t remember. Besides, I couldn’t even do much in the situation myself, totally sucks.”

Phoenix wasn’t even in the mood to protest.

“However, there is one more thing we need to discuss and that involves that villain's plan.”

Phoenix looked up.

“It’s kind of fishy, if people are going after Diana, you’d think they’d have a bigger army. That guy was good, but I doubt he could have taken her on by himself regardless of how confident he is and him just vanishing moments after taking a blow to the chin.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“There must have been more, and you know what, I haven’t seen Hannabelle Lector throughout this entire endeavour. She may be a stuck-up bitch, but she did come to be a hero.”

“You don’t think…”

“Best case scenario, she cowered in fear and hid away; worst case scenario…”

“Oh my, oh no…” Phoenix gripped her head tight.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

Logan, Vivy and Eden joined up with them later. Eden had a noticeable limp. Feeling conflicted, Phoenix didn’t even offer to carry her like she would. All for of them went back to camp.

$$$

Word of the girl’s heroics spread like wildfire. They were given a special presentation in the hall. But there was only one thing on Phoenix's mind. It was revealed Annabelle is missing. The news broke to the media soon after. Despite the fact that she wasn’t the person the villains were after, there was still no news of a ransom or anything. Have they still not realized she’s not Diana and have they not seen the news?

Phoenix and Eden were now in their room. Eden was asleep of course and Vivy was there too but Phoenix had some important information to get out of friends and family back home. She dialed on the video chat and Dorothy picked up.

“Fawkes! Are you all right? I heard everything.”

“I’m fine…physically,” Phoenix muttered the last word. “But there is something I want to ask you. At any time in the past, have I ever seemed, well, different for like a short period of time?”

“Huh?”

“Like, did I seem at all like a completely different person ever?”

“I don’t…wait, there was one time.”

“What!?”

“Well, back when we were kids, we encountered a group of bullies on the playground. It was a brief moment but I remember after they hurt me you just snapped and pulverized them. I mean your powers were that strong even then. Afterwards, you had no memory of the incident.”

“I-i-it's exactly as Andy described.”

“What now?”

“I’ll call you back,” Phoenix hung up and dialed again, her mom picked up this time.

“Nixie honey! I’m so glad you’re all right,” Mrs. Lilywhite said.

“Mama, I’ve got to ask, do I have any type of mental disorder?”

Her mom was visibly confused. “I'm sorry?”

“Has there been a time when I wasn’t myself, like for just a brief moment I wasn’t the timid girl you know but suddenly confident and aggressive.”

Her mom was in thought, her eyes widened.

“Yes, now that you mention it, there was that one time when you were 10. You encountered an unfriendly dog which injured a little puppy. I’d expect you’d be the last person to retaliate but you took on the dog head on. You came out unscathed but the dog was actually emotionally traumatized that it never went wild again.”

Phoenix put a hand to her head, she had no memory of that happening either.

“Anyway dear, how are you feeling?”

“I'll talk later mom, there is somebody I need to see.”

Phoenix hung up and quickly left her room.

“Oh my, where are you off to in such a hurry?” said Ms. Nightshade.

“Can't talk now!” she called out as she continued forward.

Phoenix left the building and went straight to Dorm 7. She asked for Tessa and was directed to room 42. There, she knocked and another girl answered, she was African-American.

“Oh, you’re the one everyone is talking about,” she said.

“I’m looking for Miss Carpenter.”

“I see, Tessa!”

Tessa came to the door.

“Ah, Miss Lilywhite and who is that behind you?”

"Behind me?"

"Hey!"

"Kya! Vivy, you followed me!?"

"I was interested since those conversations with your friend and mom and I'm also curious about your certain rampage that day."

"Is there something I'm missing?" said Tessa

“Yes, can you do a diagnostics on me?”

“Uhh, that’s fine, but it’s not like I’ll find anything, your wounds heal after all.”

“There is something I want to confirm.”

“Well, okay then.”

Tessa placed her hand on her forehead, she removed it not long after.

“You’re completely clean.”

“Are you sure, wait, does your ability only check physical conditions.”

“That is how it should seem from the onset.”

“Then I guess you can’t read any mental…discrepancies.”

“Uhh, no,” said Tessa. “What is this all about?”

Phoenix sighed, she did her best to explain the situation.

“So that’s it, well, I’m afraid I won’t be of any use “

Phoenix dropped her head feeling disgruntled.

“But, I think I know someone who can.”

After telling her who she should meet both Phoenix and Vivy had to the Athena/Artemis class dorm.

"You seriously haven't met this person?" Phoenix asked vivy. "You both live in the same dorm."

"Heh heh," Vivy rubbed the back of her head nervously.

Tessa explained there is someone with an Athena class enigma that can project their subconscious in to others. She wasn’t sure if it will help, but it’s worth a try. Phoenix and Vivy arrive at building five. There, they were directed to the person she was looking for, he was in the lobby while reading. He had a pompadour hairstyle and wore a leather jacket and jeans instead of the camp outfit making them look like a Greaser.

Phoenix stood in front of him. “Z-Zachary Rider?”

Zachary looked up from his book to see who called him. His eyes observed Phoenix thoroughly as if reading her mind and without anyone saying anything his eyes widened. He unexpectedly grabbed Phoenix's hand which made her turn red.

“My dear Lilywhite, I know why you’re here, please, take a seat.”

Phoenix sat down on the sofa. Zachary brought a chair and sat in front of her, Vivy stood close by and watched.

“So, you believe there is another mind living inside your subconscious?”

Phoenix was surprised that he knew, but she nodded.

“Well, let me be frank, you’re theory is correct, I got a quick glimpse of her.”

“So it is true.”

“Yes, now, with your permission, do you suppose I pay this person a visit?”

"You can enter a person's brain, can I come too?!" said Vivy.

"Why yes, Miss O'Hara, it is possible."

It did seem scary to think about at first but she had to know and just nodded in agreement.

“Very well, both of you, give me your hands.”

Zachary held each of their hands, he closed his eyes and immediately opened them to show they were completely blank, so was Vivy's. The two of them found themselves underwater, before them appeared the lost city of Atlantis. They took a step and found they could easily walk the ocean floor.

"This so freaking insane!" cried Vivy. "I never imagined being under the ocean before!"

There was nobody else, not even marine life. They entered the castle entrance and found themselves by a throne room. The luxurious Hall was as any one would imagine. Up front, somebody sat on the throne. Their legs were crossed and chin resting on the back of their hand. The person looked exactly like Phoenix, she was dressed in a toga and wore ancient Greek sandals. She had a vicious smile.

“Well well, I’ve never had visitors since I came into existence.”

"Hey hey, it's me, you remeber, right!?" said Vivy.

"Of course my dear, Vivy," she said. "You fought valiantly."

Zachary kept his cool. “And how long have you been...alive?”

“Since the day this body was born, I guess.”

“Yeah, that makes sense, I think” said Zachary then cleared his throat. “So, I presume you’re also Phoenix Lilywhite.”

“Yes, we're the same but at the same time, different. In any case, to avoid confusion, you may call me Active-8, I came up with it myself.”

“You mean based on the playing card game?”said Vivy.

“Well, yes. But moving on, what is it that you two came here for?”

"If Phoenix looked in the mirror would you suddenly possess her reflection!?" Vivy asked excitedly.

"..."

"..."

Zachary cleared his throat.

“Tell me, how many times have you seen the outside world.”

“Exactly seven times,” Active-8 responded immediately. “First when I was four, then five, then seven, then eight, then ten, then twelve and now, just recently again.”

“Are you the result of split personality?”

“I presume it might be that way, but alas, I’m not entirely certain.”

“Hmm,” Zachary walked all the way to Active-8.

“H-hey now, don’t get any ideas,” she said as she blushed. “You boys would take any opportunity to get with a pretty lady. I’m warning you now, I have complete control over this entire domain.”

“No need to concern yourself milady,” Zachary actually bowed. “I’d like to ask permission to view your own subconscious.”

Active-8 regained her composure. “Very well.”

Zachary offered his hand, she held on to it. Zachary got a glimpse into Phoenix’s past. But only few events showed up. These must be the times Active-8 had awoken. His mind came back to the throne room in no time.

“Each and every time you emerged, it was triggered by a strong emotion from Miss Phoenix, all of which involved the suffering of others.”

“Yeah, it pisses me off that bastards who hurt others exist.”

"I know right, it drives me crazy!" said Vivy.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, but we should take our leave,” Zachary bowed again. “But this won’t be the last we’ll meet.”

“Oh, before you go, I at least owe you something for your assistance.”

She stood up, she towered over the man with an imposing height just as the Phoenix outside would.

“Really, what would that be…”

All of a sudden, Active-8 shot out her tentacles, pulled Zachary towards her and gave him a long kiss.

"Kya!" Vivy shrieked in excitedly.

Zachary might be there mentally, but it still felt amazing. She let go.

“The girl upstairs won’t do that for you.”

“Huh?” said Zachary in a dazed state.

"Your damn right she won't!"said Vivy.

“In fact, neither will she do this.”

Without warning, Active-8 lifted up her toga to reveal she’s in a bikini. Zachary's blood vessels nearly exploded as his nose gushed out blood like a pipe that burst. Vivy lost control of herself.

“Now be gone, before you spoil my floor…”

Active-8 vanished from their sight and evaporated back outside. Zachary shook out of his dizziness, Vivy remained in her dreamlike state.

“Well?” said Phoenix when he finally came to.

When he retained his composure, he looked at her and a certain image of her appeared back in his mind, his nose bled for real.

“Are you okay, are you bleeding because your ability took a toll on you?”

“Uhh, yeah, let’s go with that.”

Zachary stuffed his nose with tissues, he then explained everything to Phoenix.

“Really, all of that is in my brain.”

“Well, it could just be an illusion created by your subconscious.”

“B-but regardless, I guess that’s all I need to know, is there any way I could thank you?”

Zachary grabbed his nose and shook his head. “N-nope, I’m just happy to help.”

“Okay, well thanks.”

Phoenix left the dorm. Vivy stayed behind, she seemed out of it for some reason. So, she has another person living in her brain. She really had no idea how to feel about that. But, what she did know is, if Active-8 appeared again she could suddenly have a burst of confidence to fight.