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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2007 9:16:43 GMT -5
Seeing his struggle, Shade made the chain a very little bit thinner, easing his choking. Not from pity, but because she did not want him to die like this, not yet, not so passively. He was to witness what he had done, turning her into this mindless, destructive demon. The almost non existant part of real Shade let out an inward sob of relief when the creature decided to spare his life for now.
Her attention however, was distracted and in the next moment her right wing was hit by something that felt like an electric bolt. With a scream of rage and pain, she fluttered helplessly, falling from midair to hit the bar top hard. The fall was abrupt, the bar counter was littered with what little glasses she had not sweeped off with her wings yet and she could feel hot blood somewhere near her ribs when one of the glasses splintered and pierced into her flesh through the flimsy costume. Reaching for the Doctor´s powers which she had not used up to that point, she set the healing process into motion and the smoldering on her feathers stopped as the wound on her side closed slowly. The battle howver, raged on and she attempted another leap into the air, slowly becoming the prey, not the hunter. The creature within was furious, ready to kill to escape.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 2, 2007 9:29:15 GMT -5
The security people shot some more into her, as most of the people had already escaped the bar, and those remaining that wanted a piece of the powerful girl used whatever they had on her - empathy, electricity, some had control over glass that she shattered, others were simply fast and strong enough to dare to fight.
Gambit fell on his knees, choking as he grasped his throat. He didn't attempt to check if he still had his powers - the mere thought of finding something against Shade seemed blasphemous, but he couldn't help her, either, with his head still spinning from lack of air.
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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2007 9:36:55 GMT -5
Her wings pierced once more, this time with an energy blast, Shade somehow managed not to fall again. She made a desperate leap and reached the banister of the level of the balustrade above, using her strength and wings to pull herself up and spun around, a lot less elegantly than she had moved moments ago. There were too many attackers, she was not used to those new powers and her own, as she found, were inaccessible. Invisibility had been so much a part of Shade´s old self and personality that it was inseperable from her, stored away with her usual set of emotions and not of any use now.
She used all her force to chase off half of the remaining fighters with metal manipulation and telepathy, feeling at the same time her own mind tempered with the powers of empaths and telepaths around her. Not much more, the creature growled at her, when something hit her leg, making her reach for her healing powers in a somewhat feeble, more slow, attempts as the massive use of multiple powers was starting to wear her out. Not much more and you will be out and free. Free to do whatever you want. The world will be at your feet. She healed her wings once more, but was a target for the attackers. Things were starting to look bad.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 2, 2007 15:17:28 GMT -5
Shade would have never handled all that alone, but it seemed that her telepathy - borrowed from Night - influenced some of those around her, and several mutants switched sides, turning onto those they had just been helping to fight Shade a second ago. The fight divided, some still attacking Shade, and others fighting off those whose minds Shade was holding under control.
Gambit scrambled to his feel finally, watching everything in some kind of helpless freeze, not even sure what he was more shocked about - Shade being attacked by several dozen people, or his Club being ruined.
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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2007 15:27:24 GMT -5
Noticing that her mind tricks worked, Shade managed a triumphant chuckle. The dark creature she had become had wanted to kill and hurt, not instantly thinking about simply turning some of the mutants around to fight the others with her. Maybe it was too late for that strategy to take hold. With her metal powers she ripped some of the lighting from the ceiling and used it as a defence against two mutants running up to her. One of them had been shooting beams at her and given her a hard time. When he was hit, he was knocked over and did not move any more.
One of the mutants she had influenced could fly by whatever means and with his own will switched off flew right into the line of an electricity bolt aimed at Shade. She turned around with an angry growl, attacked him and knocked him over with her wings. Trying to ascend again and finally get out of there, towards the door, she suddenly felt cold pain in her left side. At the same moment she needed her telepathy to distract a mutant with superstrength into joining her side as he was charging at her. It cost all her concentration, so activating her healing powers was temporary. The club was emptying more and more. Only about one and a half dozen were still fighting, among each other partly, not just against her any longer as she kept a firm grip on their minds. Raising her hand in disbelief, she saw blood, noticing with bewilderment that it was her own. Pressing her hand to the side she tried her healing powers, but they were tormentingly slow and the blood loss cost her some strength. Breathing heavily, she swayed, fighting hard and finally dropped to her knees, her hand still pressed to her side, the other outstretched, fending of an attacker with something metal.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 2, 2007 15:39:43 GMT -5
Gambit saw her stagger, and saw blood on her hands and the way she looked at them. He ran towards her, not knowing what to do but just wanting to at least get to her first and maybe protect her... he was very incapable at the moment.
A mental attack from one of the empaths around them made his mind go blank, since he had been weakened by the ritual; when he recovered (or, rather, when the empath lost his strength, trying to influence Gambit through the latter's psychic shields), he found himself standing above Shade with his hand raised, ready to strike her with half a broken bottle that he had unknowingly picked up from the floor.
"Dieu..." he gasped at his own actions, dropping it. He was... ready to kill Shade... he realized how stripped he had become of his defences.
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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2007 15:53:28 GMT -5
Her attention was distracted again and she had only closed one third of the wound by now. It was not enough. She was getting weaker constantly and in the struggle to try and make out where the priorities lay she sensed the empath who had influenced Gambit. Digging into his mind was easy and in a split second she had seen what he had done. In another second he was hit across the head with a metal bar, the attack fuelled by her old self who valued Gambit´s sanity higher than her own. The creature did not approve.
She sensed another empath and a telepath and why the wound took away more of her strength got rid of them too, erasing the memories of what was happening in both their minds which made them run off confused like chicken. The creature got weaker as well as her body did, realising dimly that she had not much to give anymore, wailing for the deaths of those she had just sent running. Her strength was not enough for that as her old self put up tremendous efforts and changed the creature´s bloodthirst to an extent that just cruelly influenced the remaining mutants minds so they bolted in fear. Only then she slowly tilted her head to the side slightly, seeing Gambit stand next to her with a shocked look on his face. Her eyes were as hard and cruel as they had always been, but as more and more bloodloss was taking its toll on her body and mind, the dark, voodoo bewitched creature was weakened as well and something new entered her gaze: fear confusion. Shade´s true self, starting to shine through the madness when the creature started to discard her body as too weak to act out the power fantasies it had indulged in earlier.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 2, 2007 15:57:07 GMT -5
Gambit fell to his knees in front of her - he seemed to have been doing it a lot that day - wanting to take care of her somehow. For a moment, he didn't know what to do, where to begin, she was wounded and he didn't dare do anything unless she told him to, that still counted and he hesitated. A chair flew in downwards from the gallery above, aiming to strike Shade on the head. Gambit bolted forward, trying to protect her.
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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2007 16:09:51 GMT -5
Shade more sensed the action than saw the chair. In the last second her telepathy had picked up on the intentions of the mutant on the balustrade, seeing what he was up to. However, it was to late to avoice the chair from falling. The creature did not want to die and Shade who was struggling her way to the surface of her mind did not want Gambit to get hurt. Both had to work together for a moment, causing her to scream in agony as the metal bar she had used a moment ago as a bat to push the chair away from them beforeit could hit her head or Gambit, crashing down on one of her half spread wings instead, breaking it.
Shade barely noticed the pain. She felt more drenched, in a way she had never felt drenched before. Breathing hard, she supported her body with a hand, the other still pressing to the bleeding wound at her side. Evil was trying to encompass her mind, make her leap up and kill everybody left, but all she could handle was a meek attempt of flapping her uninjured wing. The creature lost more strength and her expression softened from the mask of madness and hatred to one of somebody who does not understand what was going on. Cruelly as it was, Shade´s old self was starting to win the battle against evil, knowing that it was too late anyways. She scowled slightly in utter bewilderment and with some of the power she still had in her, losened and discarded the chain around Gambit´s neck.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 2, 2007 16:34:31 GMT -5
Gambit nearly fell on top of her, balancing himself out in the last second, and then he felt the chain slip off his neck. What did it mean? That the old Shade was back? That the evil Shade didn't care whether he was under her command anymore? Or that she was losing her power over metal?
He put one of his arms under ner arm and around her back and the other one - under her knees to pick her up and carry her away. The attackers paused for a second, hesitating over the fact that Gambit was now helping the evil mutant girl; obviously he knew what he was doing. Or even if he didn't, they still waited for what was going to happen next.
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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2007 16:49:03 GMT -5
Shade gasped from pain when he picked her up, her left arm losely dropping to the side when Gambit carried her, not enough strength left to stop the bleeding any more. It was senseles anyways and even her optimism, - her typical optimism that had always been a part of her old self which was slowly coming back to the surface now, banning the evil that had possessed her, - had to admit the defeat.
She watched him in silence. She was dying, she could feel it and her mind focussed on him. Whatever had happened made no sense to her even though her memory was now back, the memory of everything that had happened since they had come here. She did not understand the reason behind it, the only thing she could comprehend was the helplessness in his eyes. Once more, he was trying to save her, as he had done so often before. Save her after what he had done to her. It didn´t matter, no now, not in the remaining moments she felt were left to her. Her right hand was losely draped across her stomach and she used conscious effort to raise it and touch Gambit´s cheek, everything inside her wanting him to know that it was Shade he was carrying, not some monster she had become. The wings disappeared, her control over metal, healing and everything else was already gone. "Gambit..." she whispered, calling his name as she had done before she had lost her sanity. Only now, there was no confusion in her voice. Just weakness, affection and a strange sort of fear she could not name. But it was no fear of him.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 2, 2007 17:11:26 GMT -5
She was getting weaker by the second, even without his empathy now he could sense it, as her body was going limp in his hands. His thoughts were racing, fear of what was happening almost completely replacing everything else he was capable of feeling at the moment. He had gone through a severe ordeal back then during the ritual, both his mind and his body had been grated through, ruining most of his powers and creating a shock in his mind, and he couldn't muster enough strength now to react fact, to think straight, to act like normal Gambit would have, making quick and reasonable decisions in a matter of seconds and calculating things with precision.
All he could come up with was to carry her to the nearest sofa, laying her down there as he knelt nearby. "Emily..." he whispered desperately, raising his hand to touch hers that was covering her wound, half-consciously using her real name as a means of communicating on the most intimate level.
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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2007 17:26:09 GMT -5
Never, not once, had he used her given name. There had been several reasons for that and it was telling Shade more clearly than anything that she looked every bit as hopeless as she knew she was. Seeing him like this, kneeling next to her helplessly was worse than her physical pain and the smile she tried looked off when she started to cry soundlessly. What was happening to her scared her, because she could feel her senses darknening, knowing it was final, no unconsciousness that would retreat. She did not even have to try, she knew that she had no longer any commands over her mutation by now and inwardly she was glad at that, because if she had been, they might have made her vanish in those last moments from irritated instincts kicking in in a useless attempt to have her survive.
She closed her eyes and opened them again, taking a shallow, shaky breath. There were so many things she wanted to say, so much she wanted to do, but her body did not obey her any longer. Her senses dulled further, blinding out the pain and allowing her mind a little more clarity for a moment. "I love you, Remy..." she whispered back, her other hand attempting to cover his, but failing.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 2, 2007 17:37:45 GMT -5
Gambit's voice made an unclear sound - part gasp, part choked outcry that he couldn't suppress. He meant to yell for someone to call the ambulance, but could hear that somebody was already talking to 911, so he returned his attention to Shade immediately.
His hand kept stroking her cheek as he leaned closer, wrapping his other hand around her in a soft embrace. "It's gonna be okay..." he said, swallowing hard. "We'll get ya help..."
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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2007 17:47:53 GMT -5
His words were soothing, sounded so good, but Shade had to take some effort not to shake her head. Gambit´s words rooted in helplessness and fear, not in hope. He knew that as well, she was sure of that. The world around her didn´t matter any longer, she did not hear the other person calling an ambulance, as everything seemed to fade into nothingness. Still, she did not close her eyes. She did not want to take her eyes off him - never. She knew he did not reply to her words because that made it final. The thought of Gambit´s dispair almost choked her and she wished for nothing more than to ease his fear. But she didn´t know how.
"Kiss me." she whispered, taking another breath, more shallow. "Please."
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