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Post by Gambit on Feb 22, 2011 14:43:11 GMT -5
Gambit could hear her breathing somewhere across the room. She sounded a bit raspy, he thought she must have been really cold these past few hours. It meant she was probably tired, too. Probably put everything she had into this running and into her invisibility. Still, as much as he entertained a thought of chasing her until she would collapse from fatigue, his primary interest was to intercept her as quickly as possible and take her away.
Running right now to catch her would be no use, he decided. Although he had some space in the shadow and he could be stealthy to some extent, so much that he could crawl up on some people unexpectedly. He tried to do just that - not to catch Shade but to get closer to her.
As the distance between them closed, he realized - by combined hearing and empathy - that she was moving, probably making her way to either of the exits from the room. There was little time.
He had a pack of cigarettes in his pocket and carefully opened it, grabbing the entire handful of them. Charging them with his powers - not to explode but to go off in a burst of light - he threw them in the direction to close the exits from Shade and to lock her inside the small ring of bright flashes to disorient her. Wherever she was, she'd probably give some reaction for him to locate her.
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Post by Shade on Feb 22, 2011 14:55:57 GMT -5
A near soundless blaze of light erupted not far from her and Shade ducked instinctively, her overtaxed senses unable to sort in the meaning or source of the small explosion. She shielded her head with her arms, ducking, disoriented. Just like Gambit´s sudden disappearance, his ability to follow her despite the little noise she made and him knowing her name, the display of his powers made no sense to her and didn´t trigger any memory. In the moment the air ahead of her seemed to miraculously light up it flashed through her mind: he was still there, trying to blick her way. He had to be somewhere ahead or to the side of her.
Following her immediate reflexes and without thinking, just fixed on getting out and escaping, she changed directions once more, not slowly any more, but bolting, determined to get back through the door she had come through, breaking again abruptly as she found that door blocked by another burst of light, backing away from it and ducking even lower before taking the only direction that was left - towards the windows. There was another direction, towards the wall, but that lay in darkness and she instinctively knew he had to be there, somewhere, hiding, lurking for her.
Leaping towards a group of desk booths, Shade hastily jumped over a desk that had fallen over, ages ago telling from the dust that was covering it, kicking her foot against a metal bin as she landed, making it clatter away noisily.
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Post by Gambit on Feb 22, 2011 15:18:08 GMT -5
The burst went smoothly and quietly, and Gambit was watching the space between them for Shade to give herself away. He heard the noise and he saw the movement of some object she must have pushed. She was going for the windows!
He leapt after her, using his bo staff for support as he kicked himself off the floor in a fast motion towards the windows. There were piles of furniture and other stuff there, so unless she jumped (which he doubted, again), she'd be cornered at last.
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Post by Shade on Feb 22, 2011 15:25:36 GMT -5
Again, Shade ran. Ran as fast as she could, avoiding desks and shelves in a zig zag line as she did so, glancing over her shoulder. Already when she had heart the racket she had caused by accidentally knocking over the bin she had known he would catch up on that and there he was, literally jumping after her, making her panically push her last efforts, run even fast even though she knew she was running herself into a trap.
Desperately she grasped a thick, dust cluttered folder as she ran past and whirled it towards him. She knew she was cornered, this was merely an act of dispair, just like the chair she knocked over, deliberately this time as she ran past. He knew where she was, she was certain of that, so now she was starting another stragety just as desperate as running: fighting back.
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Post by Gambit on Feb 22, 2011 15:36:24 GMT -5
As he ran, Gambit saw more objects dropped and thrown. He dodged them, not too carefully, he wasn't worried about some files dropping on his head when he was this close to catching her.
It seemed she was making desperate attempts to kick back at him. One more proof of the fact that she was acting weird, as if he needed any more proofs. Whatever happened to her in the context of that murder, must have snapped something in her if she viewed him as an enemy.
He slowed down and just walked until there was some dozen feet between him and the window. She was somewhere in between. Gambit wondered how much more energy she had left from all this running invisible - her breathing sounded pretty heavy by now. He slowly reached for his belt, taking off the grapple gun.
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Post by Shade on Feb 22, 2011 15:49:49 GMT -5
Shade had nearly reached the window and he had been keeping closing in. When there was nowhere else to run she turned, facing him directly. He wasn´t more than a few feet away and she was still trying to keep her breath quiet even though she was no longer able to. She was panting from the combined exhaustion of running and using her powers. Before he had arrived she had only had a short time to let them slip and that had not been at all enough for recovery. And now that she stood, cornered, the exhaustion swapped over her, nearly like a wave, making her feel like she had run faster and longer than she actually had.
She looked around wildly, but there was nothing around that she could have used to defend herself, nothing but her invisibility and she could tell that if he was about to just wait it out, he would have her soon, because sooner or later, she would have to reveal herself. Well, definitely sooner. So she abandoned her search. Stood still, just looking at him, once more wondering who he was. Everything inside her screamed at her. Run. But there was another voice starting to become louder, one that told her she had lost. Whoever he was, he had tracked her down. Maybe it was easier to just give up.
Then she saw him reach for his belt slowly and in the near darkness of the hall, she instantly took it for some kind of gun. Her eyes widened and even though she knew it was a useless attempt, even though she knew there was no way to do this without drawing attention, she mustered her last efforts and strengths to dash sidewards. Both sides were cluttered with an array of broken furniture and other things but one side was a little less cluttered than the other and she made for that, attempting for a last time, to get away, attempting to jump over the table but noticing even when she wanted to make the leap that she was so weak she wouldn´t even make it across.
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Post by Gambit on Feb 22, 2011 16:04:59 GMT -5
Gambit knew that when people are cornered they sometimes act completely irrationally (as if this had been rational up until now, right), so he didn't have much time. He grabbed the gun, shot inside the pile of furniture - the grapple hooks would hold against something there for sure - and just as Shade started moving, he swung the gun to throw it at a small height above the ground. Making a swing as it flew, it could catch Shade's legs by the string and make her stumble or even fall. It was a wild shot but it had some chances of success.
Just then he heard her crush into some piece of furniture, not knowing whether she just kicked it or he actually managed to bind her lower legs.
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Post by Shade on Feb 22, 2011 16:12:45 GMT -5
Shade´s feeble, powerless jump was inhibited by something that she first could make no sense of and that she could not make out in the dark chaos of clustered things, but it made her stumble against one of the piled desks before she noticed there was something around her legs. It had a similar effect like a snare to her, hindering her, making her tumble and tumble she did, her right knee giving way, hitting something, making her go to the ground with a dull grunt.
Her powers were working on her last strengths and her body decided consciousness to be a priority so when she fell , her invisibility slipped, making her shape flicker a few times before revealing her completely, kicking legs, hands grabbing for her ankles, trying desperately to get off her whatever had taken hold of her and at the same time trying to get back to her feet and run, but not managing to so. Her heart was hammering madly, her fear was nearly overboarding.
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Post by Gambit on Feb 22, 2011 16:24:41 GMT -5
"Dere you are," Gambit said with some relief as he finally saw Shade appear in the room and quickly walked over to her. So the gun plan worked. He swung his bo staff and pointed it at her chest to keep her down and steady.
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Post by Shade on Feb 22, 2011 16:29:16 GMT -5
There was something utterly confusing about the way he said this. There was no threat like she had expected yet there he was, almost holding her down. Even if she had wanted, Shade would not have been able to get up and run, not now. She was so dizzy for a moment that she feared to just pass out from exhaustion, but she didn´t. She had no idea whether that was good or bad. Or whether that made any difference. She made no attempt to move.
Looking up, she once more noticed the stranger´s red eyes. He was very obviously was a mutant, that her mind noticed as if this was the situation for any sort of rational observation. What she said next summed up what had been racing through her mind ever since he had started to follow her, her voice sounding raspy from the cold and stained with fear even though she tried to sound brave. "Why are you following me? Who are you?"
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Post by Gambit on Feb 22, 2011 16:41:59 GMT -5
Upon hearing her question, Gambit felt it kind of fitted the general picture. He had even half-expected that. She looked very bad, tired, panting, drained, scared - when was the last time he'd seen her like this? In Tunisia? After the bike accident? Never?
He took the bo staff away from her and flicked it closed before hanging it to his belt again. It was obvious she wouldn't struggle anymore, at least not right now.
"Alors, chere," he said finally and crouched down to untangle the gun from her feet. "I think we're off t' a bad start. Lemme buy you a hot drink an' when ya get s'me rest we'll talk."
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Post by Shade on Feb 22, 2011 16:50:25 GMT -5
Shade didn´t know what she had expected him to do. To grab her and drag her off? To knock her out once he got hold of her? She had no idea, but she certainly hadn´t expected a reaction like this. He was obviously intent to show that he was not threatening her, or maybe he just knew she stood no chance against him? But then again, why would he say what he just said. She watched him untangle the rope from her leg, catching herself at the thought of how good his offer sounded. ´Rest´ probably didn´t involve a cold and windy place like this and a hot drink sounded like one of the many things she needed right now. But still, this was all so confusing and strange, how could she even trust him.
"How do you know my name?" she asked, still watching him alertly. There was no sense in denying this. He had called her name, little sense as this made. She didn´t even notice she was shaking all over.
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Post by Gambit on Feb 22, 2011 16:57:58 GMT -5
"Dat's a long story better suited for tellin' over a cup o' coffee, chere," Gambit remarked, sounding just so convincing and calm. He got up and offered her his hand. "For now I'll jus' say I know it from someone ya trust." Well, it was true, after all - she told him herself.
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Post by Shade on Feb 22, 2011 17:05:19 GMT -5
His voice was soothing, calm. It made her want to believe him. She looked at his hand, considering what other options she had. She had arrived here and since then things had gone terribly downhill. She still couldn´t remember how she had made it to that hotel, but that didn´t seem to be of importance anyways. After two days of constant cold, near constant hunger and ever-present anxiety, a stranger coming along offering what could be help didn´t sound bad. Especially if the alternative was the streets. Or the cops. Or worse.
She wondered what his name was but pushed that question back for later, her mind racing with other issues now. She didn´t know who he was referring to, but decided that it had to do for now. There were no other options. So after hesitating a few seconds, she reached out and took his hand.
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Post by Gambit on Feb 22, 2011 17:12:12 GMT -5
Gambit held her hand firmly - not so much out of fear she might try to escape, but rather so as not to let her fall if she was weak. Just in case. As they walked by the place where the grapple hook was stuck, he pressed a button on the gun, releasing the hooks, and fished it out of the pile of furniture. With a soft hiss, the string retracted back into the gun. He placed the small but trustworthy thing onto his belt and lead Shade down the stairs. His car was parked not far from the building.
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