HEY! I finally have another chapter for y'all! So sorry it took so long to make but i was focused on other stories and had to rewrite this chapter twice due to the computer not saving it-stupid computer. But anyway, enjoy!

Iliya awoke, eyes opening blurrily. She picked her head up off the console that she had been using as a pillow. Standing up she began to look around and as she stepped the pod creaked in protest. She walked out of the pod and into a darkening, sunset; the cool, dry air gently blowing in her face. She looked around the canyon she was in and saw a glow in the distance that suggested a city. Making up her mind, she set off for the city.

She arrived at the outer city edge half-hour before nightfall. It was bustling even at that hour, cars and people rushing here and there.

Iliya groaned at the volume of all the noise, holding her head for a moment. She shook away the fuzziness and continued into the heart of the city. As she walked people stared at her, why she didn't know, she thought they looked the same…maybe the people in this city knew each other well and I'm a new face?

She was passing a small shop when she heard laughing, she thought nothing of it until a boy waved at her. Confused she paused and looked at him, blinking questioningly.

He walked over to her, "Hey, nice costume…but it's a bit wrong to be Max Steel."

Iliya blinked, "Max, steel?"

Two others came up to the boy and her, another boy placing his hand on his shoulder, "Kirbs, who's your friend?"

"Oh I don't know. I was just complimenting her costume."

A girl walked up to Iliya with a grin, "Awesome cosplay! So that's what a female Max Steel would look like."

The second boy rolled his eyes with a groan and turned to her, "Sorry to bother you, their just Max Steel fans."

"Huge Max Steel fans!" The first boy, Kirbs?, said.

Iliya scrunched her brow confused, "Who is this Max, steel you keep speaking of?"

The girl laughed, "You're funny, how can you not know of him and dress like him."

Iliya frowned and said flatly, "I always look like this. At least I think I do. I don't know." She grabbed her head as the world began to become fuzzy again.

Max had been out hanging with his friends Sidney and Kirby when they ran into her. He had pretty much let Sidney and Kirby talk, letting them have their fangirl moment, when Steel suddenly pipped up. "Max, I'm detecting TURBO energy."

"Really? I'm leaking!?"

"No, not you, her."

Max blinked and looked back at the girl. She looked to be increasingly confused and suddenly grabbed her head lightly. Instinctively Max reached forward, "Hey, are you ok?"

"I-I, don't know…"

"Do you want to call your parents? You honestly look kind of lost."

"I am but I don't—my parents…"

Iliya felt something surge through her as the second boy caught her and pulled away, he also looking at her wide eyed. He quickly brushed aside his shock and said, "Uh, my mom should be home by now. If you need help finding your parents or way back home she can defiantly help."

She breathed deeply for a moment, mind reeling, before nodding, "Y-yes please."

"I'm Max."

The girl smiled, "Sidney."

"And I'm Kirby!" The first boy grinned.

"I'm, Iliya."

Max turned to the other two, "You guys can head back."

Sidney frowned slightly, "Are you sure, it wouldn't be any trouble…"

Max shook his head, "I'm sure Sid, see you tomorrow."

Max watched his friends leave before turning back to Iliya, "So you good walking?"

Iliya nodded, "I'll be fine. Thank you again."

"Not a problem." Max grinned.

Half hour ago

Star woke up on the floor of the escape pod, processor ringing. "Uh, Iliya are you ok?"

When she didn't receive a response her eye snapped open and searched around the capsule, "Iliya? Iliya?!"

She hovered up to typical head-height and searched wildly before flying out to be met with a startled face.

A darker skinned man's eyes widened and shouted, "Ultralink!"

He brought a gun up to rear and fired.

Star dodged with a shout, "Wait, stop!"

She flew out of the death trap of an escape pod, only to be thrown in the fire; surrounding her was an army–tanks, men, guns, and aerial craft. Instantly she put her arms up, desperate to show them that she meant no harm. "Please! I mean no harm."

An older man with peppered hair stepped forward and glared, "You're an Ultralink, how can you possibly mean that you mean no harm?"

"Because I don't. I don't agree with Makino. I am fighting against him, both me and my link-"

"Your link?!" The older man roared.

That snapped her back as she looked around, hoping Iliya was here. "Yes! I am linked with Iliya, a Takion and-"

"A Takion?!" He asked again.

Star looked at him flatly, "Yes and I could explain much better if you would stop interrupting."

The man thought before he finally said, "Come with us, but if you make any move to even suggest hostility…"

Star nodded, "Got it."

They loaded up into a tank and she was greeted by a younger Latino man, "Who's this boss?"

Star flew closer a bit, "I am N'Barro Akstarxe378."

His brow twitched, "Do all Ultralinks have a long name?"

Star shrugged, "They're not really names, more of identification codes but I go by Star."

"Berto." He said after a minute and turned to the older man who had just been watching Star closely with a wary eye. "She looks a lot like Steel."

Star's eye widened, "You know N'Barro Aksteelx377?"

The both turned to her and the older one asked, "Yes…how do you know him?"

Star rolled her eye, "Well besides the obvious we were, I suppose you could call it, friends before the invasion of Takion. I have not seen anyone since. Both Iliya and I were knocked into stasis after our primary drives were hit." There was silence for a minute before Star spoke again, "Do you have a name because I'm tired of thinking of you as 'the old one'?"

'The old one' frowned deeply but said, "Farus. So Steel convinced you to switch sides?"

"Well, he didn't really convince me, not even he was sure at the time but it was a thought. You know Steel? Is he here?"

Farus remained silent as they drove and Star looked down, worried.

When the doors finally opened again Star was becoming increasingly worried no one had said anything after the mention of Steel and she could feel Iliya's heart rate raising. She about blasted out of the, moving gun? She'd have to browse through several databases to properly understand this new world. But before she did her heart slowed again.

Farus stepped out and watched her closely as she exited. At this point she knew they had been invaded at some point, though obviously by a scouting party. That only begged the question of just how long did they have left to prepare?

"How long?"

Farus blinked, "What?"

Star turned to him again, "How long ago were the scouts sent?"

"You really don't know?" Farus asked.

If she knew what a sigh was, she would have sighed, Star could tell that he was testing her. "No, I honestly don't know. Our pod was damaged, I have no idea how long we've been out."

Farus took a moment to answer, like he was judging the answer, "Almost seventeen and half years."

Star stopped abruptly, "That long? How did you manage to fend them off?"

Berto blinked, "You know, that's a good question. I don't even think I really know the answer."

The two, a blond female and the dark skinned male, walking besides him glanced at each other but said nothing. He continued on anyway, "All most of us know is that Jim McGrath helped to stop them, him and Steel."

Star looked down, that name sounded familiar—but from where?

Presently they were in a command room and Farus turned to look at her, "Before we continue this discussion, we should find your link."

She nodded, "That would be best."

Berto frowned, "Oh no, you said something about Takion. Does your link make that stuff too?"

Star glared, "Her name is Iliya and yes, she does. Why do you look worried?"

The dark skinned man paled, "Do you know how long ago you were separated?"

Star glanced at her TURBO energy meter, "I'd say about two hours ago."

"So we have six hours left." He replied.

"Glad to know you care so much about me."

Farus glared at her, "I don't care about you, what I care about right now is making sure that we don't lose half of Coper Cannon to a TURBO explosion."

Star's eye dipped into a frowning look, "What would cause that?"

The blond lady answered with a slight attitude, "Your link."

"Why would Iliya do that? I'm, not understanding. She may have been a warrior but she fought to defend, she won't attack your city."

"You really don't know much about TURBO energy." Berto said. Star looked at him to continue with an annoyed look. "Well, if, Iliya, goes more than eight hours without you then, well the TURBO energy builds up in her and-" he made an explosion with his hands.

"Where have you gotten your facts from?"

"Well, Max and Steel are a pretty good source." He answered.

She shook her main body, "I don't know what Steel linked up with but, Iliya won't explode—I'll just shut down."

Farus banged a fist on the table, "Enough of this discussion, I want this, Iliya, found so we can start piecing some of this together. Jefferson, call Max for me please, we could use Steel's help."

"Welcome to my house." Max grinned.

"Max? You home?" A woman shouted.

"Yeah mom!"

A woman came out from around the corner, "Oh, I didn't know we were expecting company."

Max scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, uhm, she got lost. We were hoping to get some help finding her parents or house."

She frowned, "Who are your parents?"

Iliya shook her head, "I don't remember."

She looked her up and down, like she was inspecting her clothing choice, before shrugging and sticking out her hand, "I'm Molly McGrath."

Iliya took it hesitantly, "My name's Iliya."

Molly turned to the kitchen, "Dinner will be ready in a minute. After that we can get started on finding your parents."

"Thank you Mrs. McGrath."

She and Max set plates of spaghetti on the table and they began eating. Molly asking questions to help identify where she might be from, "So, where do you live?"

"I don't remember."

"Do you know you last name?"

Iliya sighed and shook her head, "No, I can't remember anything."

Molly nodded, "Well, maybe you'll see something that will trigger a memory."

The meal went on until Max perked up, looking to where Steel was silently trying to get his attention. "'Scuse me." He closed his bedroom door, "What?"

"I got a call from Jefferson, N-Tech needs us. Something about another Ultralink."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but that's not the weirdest part. He mentioned needing help finding her link-"

"Wait, you guys have genders?" Max asked, baffled.

Steel glared flatly, "We're autonomous, robots Max. I don't think we do. But back to the topic at hand. Jefferson said the link, to quote, 'needs you to find her missing link Iliya.'"

"Iliya?" Max asked incredulously.

Steel peeked out the door to look at Molly and Iliya who were talking. "Think Max, it makes sense. I'm reading TURBO energy on, or from, her; she doesn't remember where she's from-"

"Wait, you think that she's the link?"

"Yes Max. I do."

"But how could she produce TURBO energy? It's something my dad made and accidentally got passed to me."

"Do I look like I know?"

Max suddenly paled, "Wait, if she makes TURBO energy…how long has she been without her link?"

Steel's eye grew wide, "Oh dear."

Max grabbed his hair in frustration, "This is not good, we have to get her to N-Tech."

"Well how do you suppose we do that? Just walk up to her and say 'hi! I'm Steel and this is my link Max and, well, you have one too that if you don't get back to soon will make you lose control of your TURBO energy and cause half the city to explode.' Yeah, that'll go over well."

"Well…"

Steel's eye widened again, "Oh no! That's an awful idea!"

"What other idea do we have? If she has a link then maybe he-she-it? Whatever, can help her remember. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? She freaks out throws a fork at you?"

Steel sighed, "Me and my big mouth. If she does, I blame you."

Max laughed.

He walked out of the room, Steel hiding behind his back, "Hey, Iliya?"

She turned to him questioningly.

Max choked on something invisible, "I think we might have found someone who knows you."

Molly frowned, "Who Max, we haven't even contacted the police."

"Yeah, e—N-Tech."

"N-Tech? What could they know?"

"Jefferson said they found an Ultralink."

Iliya frowned as an image formed in her mind, several more falling rapidly suit—all of them accompanied with sadness, fear, screams. She groaned and gripped her head.

Max reached down and grabbed her arm, feeling the surge again and again, Iliya pulled away. "Do you, know them?"

She shook her head, "N-no, I don't think so. I just—I don't know."

"Iliya, they said that they found one that knows you." Max said gently.

She shook her head again, "No, no that doesn't seem right…what's an Ultralink? There's images but…"

Suddenly a new, mechanicalzed voice spoke up, "I can't say I really know either but their asking for you in particular. And no offense, you have a weird name, one I don't think is common."

Iliya screamed as Steel suddenly came into view, more images—no, memories—flashed through her mind. All of destruction, all of them accompanied by hatred. Faster than normally possible, and faster than she could think straight—or maybe she was thinking straight—she grabbed the steak knife laying on the table and launched at Steel.

He let out a surprised yelp by the time she had him pinned the wall, the knife cutting through a spot of softer, flexible armor/mesh that protected a joint. Her eyes boring into his with so much malice and hatred it would have made Dredd and Elementor back off, one word escaping her mouth in a seething hiss, "Murder."

Haha, so I left you at another cliffy. don't know how soon i'll get this updated again but i'd love to hear feedback, what you like and don't like, what may have just been awful, all helps make me a better writer. thanks!

~DP