As soon as the medic materialized, the group rushed her, plowing the poor girl over and throwing themselves into the portal. The dimension door lead them to the healer's chamber, where all medics were dispatched from. The room was nothing like how a healer's chamber should look, all white and clean and sterile like a hospital back on Earth. The room was dark and glowed unnaturally from the red lamps along the walls and ceiling. At the heart of the chamber was the healing device.

The healing machine had the general shape of a scorpion mixed with a crab and was the size of a sofa. Though the way it seemed to scuttle around made it's obvious mass seem like nothing. At it's front and center was a retractable flatbed, which currently occupied Waya. It was holding her down and running various scans, but having some trouble. It was said she was injured, but the machine could find no injury. Tubes arched over her body, beaming a light over her limbs slowly, double checking for something to heal. At the mid-curve of the machine's scorpion-like tail was a face. Surely not a human face but the look of it, but the features defiantly resembled one. The face was upside-down and looked ahead in a dead stare. Black, soul-less eyes looked off to nothingness as the machine's arms tried to work on their subject.

"Waya!" the twins shouted and rushed forward to meet her.

Phinagin let out a groan as he opened his eyes and felt his ribs. "That sucked."

Veronica felt rather neglected as the twins rushed to see Waya, leaving her behind. She moved over to Phinagin, "Sorry about that, bonehead...The healers don't come unless there is adequate injury."

Rhydian couldn't help but stare at the machine that cradled Waya so delicately. His eyes fell on the semblance of a face and he tilted his head in curiosity.

Phinagin waved off her concern, "It's ok. I've done worse to myself when I was younger." he added as he stood up and massaged his chest a bit as it still felt sore.

The twins and Rhydian felt themselves freeze as they loomed over Waya. Their minds were suddenly occupied, no thought could translate movement as they watched her. Don't react. her voice told them. I'm ok... The video was an act to escape the arena... Mojo doesn't know I'm alive.

The twins fell to their knees and cried a dramatic, "Nooooo!" whilst shaking their fists at the air. One of them placed a hand on their forehead, "Oh how awful! Mojo truly IS a monster!" Needless to say, the twins were shitty actors.

Oh my god you two are idiots. Waya told them specifically.

The twins stifled laughing or breaking character...this was JUST too perfect. They got up and approached the bed side of the healing machine and gently caressed Waya's cheeks with the back of their hands. "I'm so sorry we were too late, Petal. Please forgive us, my darling..." one of them began, laying it on thick.
The other added with, "Let us cherish what little we have of her and leave Waya rest in an eternal bed of roses with one last kiss."
"Oh yes brother! Let us..." replied the other dramatically as they clasped hands and slowly leaned in with their lips puckering.
Sure Waya had denied them recently, but the twins would snatch up any moment to kiss a pretty girl...even if she didn't like them back in that way.

The twins found themselves unable to move any further. Telepathically, as she had when she told them not to react, she had taken away their function to move. Waya then reached out to Rhydian, Help me. Make them stop.

Rhydian stepped forward to the platform swiftly, moving in between the twins and Waya. He stooped and clasped her hand softly. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you, Waya..." He couldn't think of any other way to stop the twins rather than simply getting there before them.

"Would you like me to give you a massage?" Veronica offered him, sliding up beside him. "I'm very good with my hands..." She purred into his ear softly

It's ok. Waya told Rhydian. I think this was actually a good thing. Despite getting my legs cut off... Mojo doesn't know I'm alive and Junior is around somewhere, believed to be dead. We need to find George, they took him for repairs after the fight. I was trying to find out what happened with Jeremy, Eliza and Maribel when you guys came in.

The twins rolled their eyes and gave the two lovebirds room. "So-" they said, interrupting Phin and Veronica, "Does this plan of your have a part 2?"

You don't think that was too much, do you? Rhydian asked her with a mental smirk. He dare not allow the smirk to reveal itself on his face, he kept his emotions very well under control. He sighed and lowered his head, still holding her hand, appearing to be in mourning.

"Well...I got us out of the arena. That was basically it. It's easy to move from here to other arenas and locations though. There's a central portal hub here somewhere." Veronica explained, pouting slightly that the twins had interrupted her with Phinagin.

What? No... whatever. Look. We gotta get to work on getting out of here. Waya told him. I wanna bring Kale with us.

"Kale?" Rhydian asked, he couldn't help but let the question slip out audibly, rather than mentally. He looked up at the tail of the healing machine curiously. He had to make it look that way at least. He did think he recognized the face there however...

It's Kale. Waya told him. Mojo took him some how when he took Veronica... He... did this to him. There's consciousness left in him somewhere, but it's being suppressed. I can't find what it is... I'm not a good enough telepath...

Never before had Phinagin been glad of the twin's presence. Veronica's sudden "interest" in him had caught him off guard and kinda left him flabbergasted.

"Alright then- Piece of cake." Jayden said.
"Well, then we have to get off of this damn satellite." his brother added.
"Oh...that's right."

Veronica's face blanched and she turned sharply towards Rhydian. "D..did..did he say Kale???"

"What?" the twins asked, looking over, "Don't know."

Waya froze Veronica and Phinagin, but spoke to everyone. Don't react, Mojo doesn't know I'm alive... but yes, it's Kale... What's left of him any way. when she was certain Ver and Phin wouldn't react, she let them go.

Veronica brought her hands to cover her mouth. "Kale..." She couldn't help but rush forward to the machine and look for herself. "Oh my god...M...Mo...Mojo said I was the only one he saved...."

Kale's face was partially recognizable and upside-down, a good two feet over Veronica's head. His black eyes were open and in a dead stare while his skin was no longer the usual Hawaiian tan, but the color of a victim to drowning. His cheeks were somewhat sunken and his lips closed, as if glued that way.

She couldn't stop herself, Veronica reached forward and softly placed her hand to the remains of his cheek. "M...my dear...sweet Kale...what has he done to you...."

The medic's eyes just stared forward, as if the lights were on but no one was home. He didn't even react upon hearing his own name for the first time in ages. Pulling away, it scuttled on crab-like legs and brought Waya's body to a drawer in the wall. One of it's arms pulled it open to reveal a long bed with a half circle shell over it's top. Opening it, the machine gently laid Waya's body down.

"Kale..." Veronica whispered, watching the machine that used to be the boy she cared for scuttle around

We have to find Junior and the others. Waya told them, trying to snap them back to the real task at hand. Junior managed to escape the sand girl, but they've taken George somewhere and I can't read the minds of machines. We need to regroup and get out of here... The pink one who killed me is willing to help.

So...how do we get out of here when your stuck in a drawer? asked Jayden with a flare of attitude..

Phinagin was more than ready to leave this place. He didn't like the idea of being forced to perform for some hideous creature like some sort of gladiator.

I was trying to figure out how to run the control room by exploring Spiral's mind. Waya explained to the twins. But I'm not exactly an expert at this. I don't have anyone to help me develop my telepathy...

Veronica collapsed onto the floor and stared at the machine as it moved around the room. "Oh...Kale..." She mumbled weakly

"Veronica." Jaden placed a hand on her shoulder, "We need to get going."

"Bu..but Kale..." Veronica mumbled. She looked up at Jaden with tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms around his legs

Rhydian... Can you do anything for him? Waya asked. Maybe condense him into a smaller shell so we can take him with us?

Condense him? I work with the inanimate, Waya...Whatever is left of Kale...it's very much animated. Rhydian tried to explain, shaking his head sadly. If we're taking him with us, it'll have to be as he is, unless we can convince someone in the Body Shop to transplant him.

Can Eliza do it? Waya asked him. Wait... everyone get down, hide. They're coming.

Thankfully the things that came were parts of whatever Kale was. Bots that had retrieved Eliza, Maribel and Jeremy, all presumably unconscious.

The twins' attention went to the new group that was moved in. "Well that's helpful." one of them said.

Eliza wasn't completely unconscious. She was battered, bruised, shaken and a little disturbed, but she was still alive. They'd found the access panel that they'd been told about, but when they'd tried to leave through it, the robots beyond had been waiting.

Jeremy had decided, since being stunned by the robots, that he would use this opportunity to look around a bit. He was ghosting around, secretly of course, looking for anything that could be helpful. In any way. He got so excited when he saw the others.

Why not ask her? Rhydian asked her as the others suddenly showed up

Just ask her. Waya told him. I'm not explaining this shit again.

Rhydian sighed and turned to Eliza. He tapped her gently on the leg. "Hey, El...think you can save Kale?" He asked her simply.

Eliza's head snapped up, then she groaned at the sensation. She rubbed her forehead, frowning, the world spinning. "Kale? Kale's here?"

"And Veronica." Rhydian pointed out, gesturing to both the strange machine that held Kale's upside down face, and Veronica down on the floor clutching Jaden's leg.

"Oh... jesus, is he built into that thing?" Eliza said, once Rhydian had pointed out the upside down face of Kale sticking out of the machine. She wasn't a miracle worker...


The process of extracting Kale would prove as difficult as Eliza imagined and it was around this that they had to plan their escape. Waya managed to find Junior and he informed them that while he couldn't effectively save George from being augmented, he had indeed found him. She also managed to find the pink girl, Penelope, but she had no knowledge of how to remove their control collars. Everyone seemed to be in agreement that along with collecting her and the other dancers, this was high priority. If their escape became public and knowing them it would, all Mojo would have to do is push a button and effectively neuter them all.

Eliza wanted to take up smoking, just to have something to relax while doing this. Since she couldn't have that, she chewed her nails. "Alright... the control booth of Mojo's should have ways to release the collars... and maybe Kale as well..." she said gently "We can't just ask George to try and take them apart, even if he's augmented now, if one collar is removed then Mojo would probably blow the rest."

Phinagin stood apart from the others, observing the situation and hoping for some sort of inspiration. They had a hell of task ahead of them and he knew very little that could be useful.

"So we have to take them off all the same time." Rhydian said simply. It was a bit of stating the obvious, but somebody had to do it. "Computer virus would probably do the trick."

"The dressing rooms aren't far from here. Maybe that's where Berry and Yalala headed?" Penelope said, "We should get moving though before Mojo finds out that I'm still hanging out in the medical ward."

"I thought you were supposed to be doing publicity for killing me?" Waya asked, sitting on her gurney. Thanks to Liz finding a way to block signals to and from the medical ward she didn't have to communicate telepathically and keep hidden.

"I had.... it's done now. Yalala and Berry had their sessions after me. They will most likely head to the dressing rooms." Pen explained. "I knew you were down here, so I came."

"That's what she said." Jayden snickered.

"Not the time guys." Eliza said with a small frown "Computer virus would work wonders. Don't suppose you've got one in your pants, hmm? Cause I don't happen to keep Y2K around on me at all times." She huffed, running her hands through her hair "We'd need George."

Jeremy shifted uncomfortably "And he's in... the modifying place, right? That's what they said?"

"Junior is keeping an eye on him." Waya said. "He says they seem very intent on preserving his consciousness and just giving him a better body. He was pretty messed up after his fight with the Berry girl."

"No, I don't keep a computer virus in my pants, Liz." Rhydian told her with a smirk. "But if you get me computer access, I can write one up in a snap."

"Well, George might do for that." Jeremy said with a little half shrug, not really sure how the robot worked.

"Junior is gonna bring him here when he can." Waya said "Till then," She looked at Penelope. "Is there any way we can contact the other dancers? Maybe get them down here so we can all just escape at once?"

"Hold on." Penelope said and stepped away from Waya a moment, "No one speak." she wanted and hit a button on her collar, "Ladiieessss~" she called in a flirty, singing tune. "Congratulations in your wins! Where are you girlies at?"

"Penelope?" Yalala asked. "They were looking for you for press earlier, did you get caught up with the photographer's? I thought we were all going together...."

"Yeah... got a little side tracked. You know how it is...camera loves me and all." Penelope said in a casual way, understanding what Yalala was really talking about. "You think I could catch you gals now? Or is it not a good time?" She really hoped that Mojo wasn't around the two of them right now.

Veronica stood hovering by the remains of Kale, reluctant to speak or even move from his side. All this time...Mojo had told her she was the only one he could save. She couldn't believe she had trusted that monstrous blob...

"We're in our dressing room." Yalala told her. "Done for the day, but I guess we could meet you at the photographers..."

Eliza scowled down at the floor, then glanced towards Kale again. What the hell could she do for the boy? What state would he be in once they got him out of there?

"Too right." Penelope said with a smirk. "When arrive, we can patch everything up and head out together." She really hoped Yalala would take that as a hint that they were in the medical basement.

"We'll have to see how things develop." Yalala told her.

"Sounds like a plan, lady. Over and out." Pen said in her usual way and took her finger off of the button. "They are both with Mojo."

"How long will it take them to get here?" Waya asked.

"Not long." Penelope replied, "If they headed this way now... seven...eight minutes?"

"How are you doing with Kale?" Waya asked Eliza.

"I don't have a clue how to get him out of this thing. I'm working with space and time anomaly equipment back at the mansion, not anything like this." Eliza said, waving a hand towards the robotics holding Kale in place.

"What about when you get your powers back?" Waya asked. "Would it click then?"

"Well I'd be able to carry him out of here, sure, but I that doesn't effect my intelligence." Eliza said glumly "We could get the machine out, but he'd still be in there for a little while longer."

"Uh.... he doesn't even look like he has a body... just a face." Jayden pointed out.

"Rhydian." Waya said. "Do you have any ideas? I know he's not inanimate but you're good with machines."

"We..we could remove as much of the machine as possible. Maybe there's more to him inside it?" Rhydian offered with a grimace, finding the words difficult to find. He wanted to save their friends as much as anyone else did, but Jayden had a point. This machine only seemed to have Kale's face...but to be able of healing with his powers, there had to be more of him in there, somewhere.

Jeremy scratched his chin. "I could... go in there and look, when I have my powers back? See if there's anything that we shouldn't remove from him? See if his body is in there?"

"Soo.... we cool from earlier?" Penelope asked, holding out her fist to Waya to give knuckles. "You know... the whole 'me chopping off your legs' bit?"

"It can walk... why not just ask it to follow?" Jaden suggested regarding Kale.

"It has a name you insensitive bastard!" Veronica shouted at him and threw a bedpan at the boy. "My dear sweet Kale..." She said softly, looking at the monstrosity he had become.

Jaden flinched but because of power loss, got smacked in the head, "Ow!" he shouted, grabbing his head.

"Don't refer to him like that. Please..." Veronica pleaded, glancing over at Jaden only vaguely. She only had eyes for Kale now that she knew he was still alive.

"We're fine." Waya said, ignoring the bickering. "If you hadn't killed me my collar wouldn't have come off... it's the only advantage we have right now..."

"Oh okay, good." Penelope said, still holding her fist out, "Uh...don't leave me hanging, here."

"We won't." Waya said. "We'd free everyone here if we could... maybe when we bust out of here we can find a way... You're sure about everything being run by Spiral's control room right?"

That's not at all what she meant. "Uhh..." Penelope trailed, "No, this." she said and grabbed her wrist and forced her hand to bump knuckles with hers. "I always thought that was something you people did in the states."

"Well... my idea... good or... not?" Jeremy said with a weak shrug the others. He had no idea if that would even work.

"Maybe ten or fifteen years ago." Waya said looking at the 'bones' Penelope gave her.

"It's a good idea, Jeremy." Rhydian told him with a nod. "But we're still having the same dilemma. You can't check until you have your powers, but none of us have our powers as long as the collars are still on."

"Veronica... can you tear them off without taking our heads off?" Waya asked.

"I could try...but the control collars are really designed to prevent unauthorized removal...Electrical interference usually is the method of deterrent." Veronica explained and walked over to the group. "Who wants to try first?"

Not having anything to lose, the twins looked at one another and raised their hands.

Veronica looked at them in disbelief, had they grown spines while she was away? "You guys sure? I mean...it's gonna hurt."

"Just don't decapitate us...." Jayden said.
"They don't ... blow up or anything if you try to get them off, will they?" Jaden asked.

"I could try to slice them off?" Penelope offered, not sure which way would be best.

Veronica looked over at Pen, "I don't know...do they explode? It's been so long since I had one on, I don't remember. I remember the shock of trying to take it off, not enough to kill, but enough to make sure you don't try it again..."

"Too bad the cute ones volunteered." Penelope admitted with a shrug, looking over at the twins. "But we have to try it."

"You wanna slice one and I tear the other off?" Veronica suggested and moved towards Jayden. She had hit Jaden in the head, she figured he wouldn't want her near him right now. She looked at the twin carefully, "You've gotten taller."

Jayden smiled in his usual way, showing his little side fangs, "Aw thanks babe. Nice to see you too. We're going to have to throw you a party when we get back home." He lifted his neck, hoping to make it easier.
Jaden lifted his as well and asked, "Be gentle?"

Penelope smirked and caressed his cheek with her hand, "Don't you worry, handsome." She backed up and readied herself with Veronica. "It'll be quick if I miss." she added and began humming. The invisible whisps of energy emerged from her person.

Veronica tentatively slid her hand along Jayden's neck. "Oh? That would be nice..." She told him softly and slipped her fingers around the collar. There was a hinge in the back, so the best place to try to pull would be directly across from the hinge, the weakest point in the ring. She licked her lips and looked at him. "I do hope this doesn't kill you, Jay..." She glanced over at Pen, indicating they should do it simultaneously.

"Just... don't kill anyone." Waya said, feeling very nervous all of a sudden. Perhaps it was because the twins had volunteered... or maybe just she was afraid of her friends getting hurt.

Eliza chewed her lips as she watched the others getting ready to... possibly kill Jayden and Jaden. "Guys... if you don't come out of this..." she said gently, watching the collars intently "Well... you're brave, you know that? Real brave..."

"Thanks Eliza." Jaden said with a grin.
"Really? No one wants to give us a goodbye kiss? Come on...no takers at all?" Jayden joked, his voice cracked a little, showing his nerves.

Veronica pulled Jayden down by the collar and kissed him deeply, her tongue forcing its way into his mouth. She slid her hands up from the collar and ran them through his hair and then released his mouth. She leaned back and smiled. "How's that for a goodbye?" She told him and grabbed the collar and began to pull apart.

Jayden had a happy, lovestruck expression on his face when the kiss parted. He was completely overwhelmed and dumbfounded by that. "Oi! No fair!" Penelope snapped. Being a very competitive person, she didn't like Ver showing her up in front of these new people. Grabbing Jaden's collar, she yanked him down and forced a powerful french kiss onto his lips as well. Her tongue also ventured in and tasted a sample of the alien twin. She smiled onto the boy's lips and pulled away with a loud smacking sound. Jaden shared the exact same expression as his brother after the kiss. Penelope's energy arms grabbed hold of the collar and began to split it apart in a similar manner. She hummed and sang a chord as she did so.

As soon as the girls started to try and remove the collars, the self defense mechanisms kicked in and sent hundreds of volts of electricity charging through the metal ring of the collar. The ensuing current surged through the twins' bodies, sending their hair straight up on end and setting their bodies to twitching.

Veronica grimaced as the collar began to defend itself. The electrical surge traveled from the collar to the wearer, and also her because of her contact with it. She gritted her teeth as her hair started to stand on end. It burned horribly, she could only imagine how bad it had to have been for Jayden...being the wearer, he was attacked with more vigor than she was...

The twins didn't start screaming at first as their bodies went stiff from the volts that shot through their bones. They felt agony from behind their eyes to underneath their toenails. Their teeth were clamped together, unable to open but as the collar sides began to separate, the screaming came.
Penelope wasn't electrocuted because she was using her energy arm wisps to split apart the collar. Then, almost in sync, the twins' collars snapped and fell to the ground. The boys fell with and clutched their necks, rolling around and writhing in pain.

As soon as the twins dropped, Veronica threw the collar away and gasped for breath. She knelt down beside Jayden and placed a steadying hand on his chest. She pushed down and stabilized his thrashing. "There there, tiger. It's off. You held up extremely well, you know." She told him and smooth his hair back down.

Jeremy seemed to have been getting ready to do something before the girls had grabbed the twins, merely shrugging his shoulders and stepping bak a bit one they'd been grabbed so violently. He then winced as the attempts to break the collars started to shock the twins and those trying to free them. He hoped to god that they didn't need to do it to him.

Waya, who had been sitting on her gurney the whole time, was now on her knees between both boys. She pushed Veronica away, lifting eyelids, checking pulses. "Guys..." She said from the floor between them. "Guys come on..."

Maribel gasped and turned her face into her hands, unable to watch as the boys were shouting. She held her collar, terrified that she would have to go through that agony.

The skin around their necks was bright red and already starting to bruise. "FUCK! That hurt!" Jayden cussed, clutching onto himself as he stayed huddled on the floor.
"Don't do that to anyone else! There has to be a different way!" Jaden coughed from the floor on the other side of Waya. It was so hard to breath now... it felt like his throat had been crushed with electricity.

Veronica brought her hand to her chest when Waya pushed her away. She didn't have to take that anymore, she wasn't a pushover...but Waya...Waya had been a friend. She moved back to Jayden's side and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Guess that makes the kiss a hello, doesn't it?" She asked him with a smile.

Phinagin was wondering if the face-sucking was actually necessary. When he saw how painful the removal was, he realized it was merely a distraction. "Would my bones be able to remove them without hurting anyone?" He wondered out loud.

"No." Waya said. "No one else needs to get hurt... The boys are half Azrentian, stronger... I don't wanna risk anyone else getting hurt. If we can ground the electrical current maybe, but not like that again."

Jayden was struggling but managed a grin to Veronica. He offered his hand for help up.
"Definitely not." Jaden said as he was helped up by Penelope.

"I hope no one heard that." Penelope said, patting Jaden on the shoulder as he righted himself. She then went to the door, opened it and peeked out.

"It's the medical wing, screams are normal here." Veronica offered and helped Jayden to his feet. She reached up and softly touched the singed ring on his neck. "Want me to kiss it and make it better?" She asked with a smirk.

Rhydian knelt and picked up one of the discarded collars and turned it over in his hands, looking at it curiously. He thought for a moment, then turned and looked at the others. "If we took off Junior's, do you think you he could phase the rest off? I don't think there'd be much risk of electrocution if the collar remains intact..."

Maribel stepped forward after a long while of being on the side lines. 'Is Junior with your friends?' she signed to Penelope and Veronica. After being around the students with the chip update, she wasn't used to people not knowing sign language.

Pen curled her lip and looked oddly at the spider girl, taking a step back. "Uhhh...."

Veronica stared at the girl curiously. She knew what sign language was when she saw it, but she hadn't a clue how to read it. "Sorry, I don't speak ASL..." She looked at Jayden curiously, "You guys got a translation update, didn't you?"

"She wants to know if Junior is with your friends... he and George are the only ones we are missing." Jayden said.
"Why weren't they brought to the medical ward like us?" Jaden asked.

Veronica looked at Penelope, "Are they with the others? Your guess is as good as mine..."

"Beats me... but the girls should be here any minute now." Penelope said, closing the door.

Waya sighed. She swore she had explained all this already. "Junior is with George. His collar came off when they announced him dead. He's using his powers to keep an eye on George."

"Ok, well that makes it easier." Rhydian said with a nod. "Once we get to Junior, we can easily get the rest of the collars off. I mean, figuratively speaking that is."

"The moment they're done with George he'll bring him here." Waya said. "He was too damaged... he said they're giving him a... a smaller casing."

"Well that would be nice..." Rhydian offered with a nervous grin. He knew that Waya had found being around George difficult, though she hadn't confided in him as to the why.

"I am glad the collar didn't kill you." Veronica told Jayden gently and touched his neck again. "You never did answer my question, tiger."

Jayden pulled back, not that he didn't want her touching him, but more so because it stung like a bitch. "Raincheck." he said and moved to check on his twin. They exchanged some words and were relieved their counterparts were okay.

Eliza was frowning slightly, pressing her chin into her hand as she thought. "I hope that's the only thing they're doing to George..." she whispered gently. He was as fragile as any human after all. More so, in fact, since it took less effort to rewrite a human...

"Junior said they're putting a lot of emphasis on the fact that they don't want his... consciousness damaged." Waya said. "Apparently Mojo had plans for him..."

"That... worries me even more." Eliza said with a frown, crossing her arms in front of herself and staring at the wall.

"All the more reason for us to regroup." Rhydian said with a nod. "The sooner we meet up with Junior, the sooner we can all be free of these collars."

Penelope heard something from the hall and walked to it. She opened it and peeked, then spotted Yalala and Berry approaching in a hurried jog. "Well it's about time you blokes showed up."

"Not my fault the cameras love me!" Strawberry said with a smile as she entered the room. "So, do we have a plan?"

"We're waiting for Junior and George." Waya told her. "We think Junior could unlock the remaining collars and we can storm out of here."

"Can I have the collar we removed please?" Eliza said, holding her hand out for the collar. She wondered if she could take it apart some more...

Rhydian passed the collar over to Eliza. "It looks a lot like the old Genoshian control collars from Earth, wouldn't be surprised if that's where Mojo ripped the idea from in the first place."

"Well, it's a start..." Eliza said, carefully attempting to pull apart the electronics.

The medic formally known as Kale turned 'on' from the twin's screams and scuttled over to the them.
"Ah!" Jayden shouted, "What the ffff-?!" It grabbed the boys by the arms and insisted they sit on the flat table in front of itself.

"Woah!" Waya said, starting at Kale as he grabbed the boys. Worried she stood, "They're fine." She said, moving around to the portion that held his face. "They're ok..."

Kale, as it were, looked at Waya with dead looking eyes. He was expression-less and was froze for a moment. Then, it's arms released the boys and it's flatbed folded back in.

Waya was surprised that he actually let go. "Thank you..." she said softly, felling extremely sad at seeing him like this. "We're gonna get you out of here Kale." She said determinedly. "Do you understand? We're gonna get you out of here."

Jeremy stared at Kale. Maybe, when he got his powers back, he could get into his mind, see how much of him remained? "Do you think... you could try removing my collar?" he asked, a little nervously.

"No." Jayden said to Jeremy. "No one is going through that again unless it's Junior." He was still rubbing the sore spot on his neck.

"It's probably not even in his prog-..." Waya paused in mid sentence and closed her eyes. "They're done with George..." She said. "Junior says they're reactivating him now..."

"Well, what will happen if I use my powers while it's being taken off?" Jeremy asked, rubbing his collar slightly, uncertain what to do "I'd be able to leave my body, so it didn't hurt."

"Or you could just calm the heck down and wait til Junior gets here." Jaden said wisely. They didn't need anyone trying to be a hero.

"SShhhhh..." Waya said, lifting a finger to quiet them. "I can't hear..." She listened to Junior and whatever it was he was communicating to her. "He's confused..." She said. "God... he's... Ok well as soon as we get home he's getting a paint job..." She opened her eyes. "He's a lot more humanoid now, but as soon as they move him out of the repair shop Junior's gonna bring him. They've gotta be careful since Junior can't phase him."

"You think one of us should go look for them?" Penelope offered.

"I can transmit directions how to get here, but I was kind of out of it at the time." Waya said.

"Well... ummm..." Jeremy stood there, uncertain about anything. He decided just to be silent, just to let the others decide what to do.

A rough hour passed with Waya trying to direct Junior and the newly formed George through the network of passages without getting caught. Finally both arrived in the hospital. Junior looked rather exhausted, but otherwise unscathed.

"Are we set to get a move on now?" Pen asked, very impatient as usual, "Mojo is going to start wondering where everyone went."

Maribel put a hand on Junior's shoulder. He seemed awfully tired. She then signed, 'Are you able to phase these collars off?'

"Gime a minute Doll Face." Junior said, panting a little. "I had to phase him through a few walls... it was murder trying without frying his new systems.

Waya stood looking at George's new, more humanoid body. He seemed so small in comparison to his old body. "Are you ok?" she asked, keeping a bit of distance. He'd been painted yellow and blue in the classic x-men colors.

"Aw. Is my poor wittle crimson boy worn out?" Strawberry said as she moved over to him and brushed Maribel's hand away so she could start rubbing his shoulders. "Here, let me rub out some of that tension."

Junior rolled his shoulders, shrugging Berry off. "I'm fine." He said, preferring Maribel's concerned touch over the sand queens.

"As soon as Junior gets his sea legs back we'll see what he can do about the collars." Waya said. "Till then, we have to come up with a plan to distract Mojo and Spiral enough to get to the control room and open a dimensional portal back to Earth... Our Earth, I don't wanna end up fighting bear guys in mid evil England."

"I can distract them." Yalala told Waya. "It might give you eleven time to escape. I'm not from your dimension any way. I doubt many people in your plane are green."

"You'd be surprised." Junior told her.

Rhydian looked at George's new form in surprise. He couldn't believe they had taken him down to such a height so quickly. "Are you alright, George?" He asked him, back home he figured to get to this size they'd have to transition or risk damage to his programming because of shock...

"If we make some sort of distraction.... that person or persons needs to be able to get to the portal as well." Jaden said wisely. To be honest, this was a good time for their mother's powers.

Maribel scowled a bit at Berry, then gave her attention to the group for a plan.

"I'm... suffocating in this..." George replied weakly, sounding as if he was heavily restrained somehow "This body... so small... they... they cut out so much..." He trembled, an arm moving carefully towards his stomach plate, where he pressed the flat palm.

"We should get you a wig when we get back." Jayden joked, "But hey...bright side, you can go sledding with us."

Waya gently backhanded the Jayden's arm with the back of her hand in a 'Shut up' sort of way. "It'll be ok." She said. "We'll figure something out when we get home. Maybe download you into the danger room so you can breath a little..." It was odd thinking of letting a robot breath, but he had gone from being so large to this, something that probably at best was only eight feet tall. "Rhydian, do you think Tony Stark might be able to give him a face?" She hadn't thought about whether or not George even knew his highly expressive face was gone or not. He looked very emotionless and despite how they had met and how he had come into this world, it was hard to see him like this.

"F-face?" George's hand reached out, stroking across the smooth plastic where his face had once been "I... I thought I was running my facial protocols... They... they took parts of me out... and left the systems there? I..." There was shock in his voice, or as much as he could manage "They took... more than I thought."

"Easy, easy." Waya said, pulling his hand from his face. "We'll fix it. For now you need to concentrate on helping us get out of here. Did they give you guns or lasers in that fancy new body?"

"Maybe Tony Stark could get you a digital face." Jaden pondered aloud.

Eliza watched on in worry, gazing at the squirming and obviously distressed George. "We'll do our best to fix you up." she told him gently.

"We'll have to look into who to talk to about that...Someone in the Richards family might be a better pick..." Rhydian cautioned with a grimace. "Tony Stark would just put his own face on him..."

"Well the bloke is pretty handsome." Penelope added with a smug grin.

"I want... my own face..." George said slowly, running his hands over his face slowly, eventually actually seeming to scratch at the plastic, as if trying to strip the cover off.

"You'll get it." Waya told him, pulling his hand away again. "We'll get you a new face, a whole new body if you want. I promise George... but we have to get out of here."

"I might be able to help with that..." Junior said, sliding off the table and putting his arm on Rhydian's shoulder to keep from sliding into the floor. "Ok... who's first... Some of you might wanna back up... in case it does explode..."

Strawberry frowned when she was brushed off. She didn't quite like being brushed off like that. She let out a little huff before moving away and back over with her friends.

Phinagin verbally scoffed when Stark's name was mentioned. "Sure, let's go to the washed up has been instead of our friend and classmate who's father is the modern day miracle worker and can get one free." He mumbled under his breath.

"No one likes a dick Phin." Junior said, still waiting for a volunteer. "We have more experience with Tony than we do with your dad."

"Only one way to get experience Junior." Phinagin countered as he moved towards him. "I guess I'll be the guinea pig here."

"I'm not being... a guinea pig... for your dad..." George said, pointing a thick finger at Phinagin in an accusing way "Don't care if you think... he works miracles. This is my face. This is my body. We go to people we trust."

Jeremy watched the other as they got ready to... possibly kill themselves. This might not turn out so great.

Maribel frowned and clasped her hands in fea as she watched her friends argue. This wasn't the time and she didn't have the voice to stop them.

"Guys- let's bitch about this later. First we should work on getting out of here, okay? George- we'll do something for you, but you need to shut the fuck up about it, alright? Deal with it for now." Jayden spoke up.
"Let's get those collars off before they trigger something. Everybody else- back up." Jaden instructed.

"Don't yell at him like that." Waya told Jayden. "You get sucked out of your body and jammed into a new one and see if you don't get a little irate." But they were right, now wasn't the time to argue and she could hardly believe that she had to defend a robot for his own emotions. "Just, step back everyone, Jaden's right."

"Alright." Junior said and though Phinagin wasn't his most favorite person in the world, he didn't want to blow his head off. "Usually all I do is phase through stuff and it shorts out... thankfully George seems resistant to that..." He took his finger and phased it through Phinagin's collar and a second later a red light began to flash and a sudden beeping began to sound and escalate. "Shit..."

"We'll, that doesn't sound too promising." Phinagin said as the beeps got more urgent. He wanted to try encasing the thing in bone, but didn't think it would do a bit of good once it went boom.

"Oh crap... just phase him out of it!" Jaden ordered urgently above the siren.
"Don't even fuck with that thing." Jayden added.

Junior put his hand on Phinagin's shoulder and one hand on the collar and tried what the twins suggested, but contact with Phinagin's body seemed to negate his ability to phase. "It's not working!" he exclaimed and looked at Phinagin with apologetic alarm. He tried phasing the collar again and the beeping only continued.

As the beeping picked up speed, Maribel grew panicked and started jumping up and down for someone to do something.

"We need to rip it off." Penelope said, stepping in front of Phinagin, "I got this-" She swiped her hand for everyone to back up....just in case.

Just as Penelope prepared to ether kill Phinagin or save him, the beeping suddenly peeked to an ear piercing tone, then suddenly stopped and a harmless spark ran down his neck. All the lights on the outside of the collar went dead.

A large wall of flesh that was Eliza moved suddenly, shrinking down and allowing some of those around her that she had attempted to shield from the explosion. "Is it dead?" she asked.

"In mechanical language, it was screaming." George said from his bed.

"Well that's not creepy at all..." Waya said... "Is it de... deactivated George?"

Phinagin had squeezed his eyes shut as the collar's alarm had reached its apex, figuring his head was about to time turned into a fine mist. He felt the spark in his neck, but then nothing happened. He opened his eyes and looked around the room. "Either we all died and are sitting in Limbo, or I'm fine." He looked at the others for confirmation.

Rhydian looked worriedly at Phinagin and grimaced. "Well...your head's still attached...Try using your powers." He told him, looking at the collar curiously.

Phinagin nodded before trying to encase his hand in bone.

Phinagin's had did just as he bade it to. His hand appeared as bone a second later.

"Good." Waya said. "Keep it up Junior."

"Next." Junior said, glad to know that this was as simple as phasing through the collars.

Jeremy stepped forward, showing his neck to Junior. "Be careful." he said gently "I might die as a power, but that doesn't mean I want to do it permanently."

Junior nodded. "I'll be careful." And phased his hand through the collar with the same result as before.

Rhydian patiently waited his turn. There was no sense in forming a line, it was fairly easy to see who needed the collars removed, after all.

Maribel stayed nearby too. Despite the positive result on Phinagin, it still made her anxious to hear the frantic beeping of the collars. Her fear was that when she got her collar phased, the result would differ.

Jeremy winced, and almost activated his powers out of fear, but held out and let out a sigh as the collar was removed. "There... that's better..." he said, rubbing his neck slowly.

"Alright, Ver, you think you can rip these off?" Junior asked, beckoning forward the next contestant.

"The dead ones? No problem." Veronica replied and looked at Phinagin, "Bet you can do it yourself though, right killer?"

Phinagin didnt respond to her comment. Instead he simply snapped the the front of the collar and slipped it off his neck.

'Are you okay?' Maribel signed to Phinagin, looking very concerned.

Phinagin just waved away the question. They needed to focus on getting out of here.

George stared at the collars that had been discarded, carefully reaching out to take hold of one on the floor. He paused however when Eliza took it just before he did.

"Sorry george, I need to look at the technology." Eliza said gently to the robot, nodding slightly and starting to twist the collars around in her hand. She hated mojo's tech, but she needed to learn it quickly.

By the time the last collar came off, there had been enough beeping to give half of them, especially Waya a splitting headache. Finally the last of the collars fell and the group as a whole were reunited with their abilities. "Alright guys." She said. "We need to figure out how this is going to go down. I can spy on the control room from the shadow realm, even fix it so we can all go at the same time, but transporting so many people is gonna be rough... I'd hazard a guess that it might even knock me out."

"I don't need to go to the control room." Jeremy said, walking over to the machine holding Kale and carefully pressing his hand against it "I need to see if there's anything more of our friend in here."

Maribel's heart had doubled in speed when her collar had beeped, but was relieved when it didn't blow up. That sure was a relief. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself and gave Waya her complete attention.

"What about splitting into two teams?" suggested Jayden nonchalantly, lifting his two fingers.
"One team goes to the control room while the other lead Kale and head on over to the docking bay." added Jaden. "Or...wherever ships are kept in this place. Once the control room is taken care off, we can shadow port to the docks and bolt the heck out of here?"

'Do you think if it was honestly that bloody easy we would have done it by now?" Penelope asked the group, then looked over to Yalala. As much as she hated to admit it, the girl did have several years on her and knew the facility more. "What do you think?"

Eliza grimaced "I think I should go with Waya. I might be able to help with the computer." This was a little difficult, splitting up again so soon.

"We won't be escaping back to our world with a spacecraft, guys. This is a different dimension." Rhydian explained, "It's a good idea, but it won't work under these circumstances. Our only way out is the woman who runs the control room."

"Spiral." Veronica said with a nod. "She brought us all here, she's the only one who can send us home. Unless you guys brought a different dimensional hopper with you?"

"That's where Jeremy comes in." Waya said. "I know you want to focus on Kale, but we need you to hijack Spiral so we can use her power to get out of here." She turned to Eliza. "You find a way to salvage Kale. We'll carry him out of here if we have to."

Jeremy looked worried. "You know that I don't just get in there right? It's... difficult." He took a deep breath, then nodded "But I can... try I guess. But don't put all your hopes on it."

"You might not have to hijack her, Jer." Veronica replied with a bit of a strange grin on her face. "She's only got 6 arms. We can out muscle her and try force her to open the portal home."

"I think this one has the way out." Yalala said, nodding at Waya. "If you wish to see your Earth again it will be with her and her friends."

"The medic can move on it's own." Penelope said, gesturing to Kale, "We just need to instruct the thing and it obeys."

"That thing is our friend." Waya told her. "And the smaller he is the easier I can transport him."

"Well he gets smaller when turned off." Penelope said, "Unless any of you have the power to shrink matter, we're kinda screwed in that department otherwise."

"No, I have the power to get bigger." Eliza said with a little shrug "and we can... take the machine apart a bit."

"Can you get rid of some of the bulk?" Junior asked her. "Maybe keep his ability to walk and move but get rid of the rest? George could probably help. That is if you feel up to it big guy."

"Woah woah... is that a good idea? Maybe we should wait til we get him home... not to mention, he is a healer. Something our team definitely lacks right now." Jayden said, looking at Waya to make sure he didn't get hit again.

"I can't take him like he is." Waya tried telling him, speaking slowly as if he hadn't been listening. "Counting him there are thirteen of us. I can't move that many people Jayden. It's too much. We're already going to have to chill out in the shadow realm before we move on to the control room. I can't just dump people in there one at a time ether, they'll get lost. Unless you want your new favorite pastime to be looking for my grandmother, fine, but Kale is too big for me to take along with the rest of you."

"Is the control room really far from here? We could carry him and meet you there if it's close enough." Jayden offered.

"Between here and there it is a great distance." Yalala said, speaking up from the back of the room. "Security measures, personnel. Unless you can all go unseen and undetected, you will be dead before you reach the dome floor."

"I could... try to reduce the weight." Eliza said with a soft sigh, shaking his head and looking up at Kale with a small frown "It'll... be difficult, but you know... I could try." She was just... worried she would cut the wrong thing and there would be no more Kale.

"I can... attempt... assistance." George said gently "But... it would be like you trying to read Spanish... with one glass eye." he was in a new body, and this tech was completely different from his knowledge.

"What about multiple trips, Waya?" Rhydian offered carefully. If she couldn't take them all, what if she split the group? "You take the powerhouses in first, they hold off Spiral and then bring in the rest of us?"

"I don't want to give them time to muster their security." Waya told Rhydian. "Smash and grab. Like Logan taught us."

"All the more reason for the heavy hitters to go in first." Veronica agreed, giving Rhydian a nod of approval.

"Who... are the big hitters?" jeremy asked, raising his eyebrows at the others and looking a bit uncertain. He hoped he wasn't in that group.

Rhydian was glad someone else was actually agreeing with him. "Veronica, George, Phinagin, and Eliza all have super strength." He pointed to each of them in turn. "Penelope or Berry could go along as well, but it would probably be best for at least one of them to remain behind to bolster the secondary force."

"I potentially have super strength." Junior said. "But I'm pretty wiped right now."