Dire Straights (Row)

"Wanna be?" Insults usually came Bliss' way, but most people knew directed them personally towards her. Of course, there would always be those who just came back. "I was pretty sure you kidnapped Ashley as a way to get to me. Oh, and I have no clue who that guy is. I was stepping over him. I'm sure he's fine, but I'm here for her."

A high whisper brushed into her ear. "Yeah, I know who Ashley is. She ordered the plane tickets and got the hotel reservations set up." Just what would come from this woman's arsenal still remained to be seen, but at least Bliss knew her own capabilities- even if the room would offer her very little in the means of opportunity. "Trust me, after the night I've had with Ashley, I'm pretty sure it's her and not just someone pretending to be Ashley."

Bliss cracked her knuckles as the lights went out. Ice dangled from the tips of her nails, prepping her for the first strike to levy against whomever came close enough to her. She wanted to telekinetically pull the tape from Ashley's mouth, but the lack of sight complicated the plan. Probably should have done that rather than talk. Oh well, she could make up for that mistake later.

"They never take my offer do they," Lunetta sighed, wonder why she continued to try.

Lunetta's eyes glowed as she adjusted herself and placed her feet on the floor.
"If you don't mind, I would like to move Ashely into a corner. I wish to remind her of her crimes, before I fix the mistake and I would hate for her to get knocked out from your recklessness. Princess... or would it be knight."
Lunetta stood up and her eyes ceased glowing. She grabbed Ashely's dressed and dragged the woman to the closest corner of the room.

Behind Bliss, The black girl was walking up with the black that was in Dr. K's chest. She would attempt to stab it in the Bliss's back.

"This sounds like one big mistake, with a lot of other assorted mistakes all around. Some just as big, some slightly smaller, a few I could even overlook, but for the more part, I have to deal with the mistakes you are making." With slight telekinetic pulls, Bliss made a survey of the room, trying to fish out the location of Ashley, but always somehow falling short.

One stray pull did net a small advantage to Bliss' peripheral in the darkened room. When she entered the room, she did not remember anything or anyone being behind her, now something small floated in the air towards her location. But, it did not give way to Bliss' pull. Something must be holding it. A weapon of sorts. Before Bliss could anything other than turn slightly, the dagger pressed forward, impacting between Bliss' arm and her torso. While the blade did not cut into her meat of her torso, it did slice the side of her arm.

Pushed back on her heels, Bliss put a solid bolt of ice directly in the direction the knife came from, hoping to create enough distance between herself and her attacker. Grabbing her purse, Bliss ran her hand in to pull out her cell phone, then with a quick tap of the sides, Bliss activated the flash light and tossed it to the ground, hoping to illuminate enough of the room to show her a light switch.

If she could locate the whereabouts of the flashlight, she could easily use telekinesis to level the playing field. But first, she needed to keep the sneak attacks more easy to detect. A small layer of ice began to form around the ground beside Bliss. With the limited amount of time she could foster, Bliss focused on putting a thin layer with no give, hoping the cracking of the ice would alert her to whomever would accost her.

The black girl vanished after getting struck by the block of ice into a mist like substances which faded into the darkness. Lunetta giggled as she finished moving Ashely. While the knife was not a fatal hit, it was a hit. This was Lunetta's element and the woman did not show signs of being able to see in the dark. Lunetta knew she had time to teach this girl why you don't play hero.

She sashayed towards the girl spawning a black short sword in her hand. The sword spun in her hand as she tested her dexterity. She wanted to be ready to hit a more important spot with her next thrust. However the girl did something unexpected. She turned on the light on her phone and tossed it on the floor.

"Argh"
The immediate flash stunned Lunetta, causing her sword to disperse into black mist. She stepped back to cover her eyes which burned from taking in too much light. She stumbled back and rubbed her eyes.
"Stay focus Lunetta" whispered Gia.

The phone was not big enough to light up the room but it did raise the visibility of that side of the room. While Ashely was not revealed to be in that area of the room, a light switch next to the door was barely visible. The floors under the phone would be revealed to be polished wood thought he light did not give the ability to see color or those who lacked night vision.

With the room better illuminated, it gave Bliss a better ability to plan out her next move. If you can see five feet in the dark, you can move miles. But, Bliss wanted a little more than five feet. She needed to take down whomever those purple eyes belonged to, and in order to land a perfect ice lance, Bliss would need some vision.

The solution to her vision was close. And off for the moment. With a flip of her telekinetic power, Bliss would flip the lights on, keeping her back to the ice shield in case anyone tried stabbing her again. Each one of her steps cracked down on the shallow ice, beginning a puddle around the wooden floors until a new wave of ice froze it over.

Once the lights came on, Bliss would want to identify the exact identity of Lunetta while also finding where in the room Ashley disappeared. If she could locate Ashley, she would hope to use her telekinesis to pull the tape from over her mouth. And, if she found Lunetta first, she would throw an icy trident towards her foe, hoping to pin her against the wall.

The light hummed as power coursed though the wires and illuminated the room. For a brief moment everything was revealed. In front of Bliss was a black 3 seat couch. She she turn left, she would see Dr K. Lying against a wall not moving. Should she turn right, she would see Lunetta  with most of her face covered by a matching color hood and recovering from her lost of balance with Ashely tied up behind her unharmed. However, Bliss only had enough time to turn and look in one direction because the power would quickly overload the light above and blow out the bulb spewing glass everywhere.

Lunetta grunted as the sudden flash of light drained her further and forced her to a knee. Even though it was a brief moment, she was ill prepared for the effects. Her body struggled to fight through the exhausting and her powers rushed to renew some energy from the darkness. Still blinded, she would be unable to dodge any attacks and all of her constructs and shadow clones that could reside in the room would have vaporize under the light leaving her only her short sword and pistol.

For a split second Bliss set her eyes on a hooded girl, staggering back and forth in the fully illuminated room. If Bliss hoped on making her statement on this fight and save Ashley, she needed to deal with Lunette. The light helped Bliss, but not as much as it hurt Lunette. Bliss flung the frozen trident towards Lunette, manipulating it in air with her telekinesis to ensure it found its target. The trajectory lined up for what would look like a perfect impact to pin Lunette, but Bliss a problem overcame Bliss.

Glass shattered about the room. Again.

The room turned black. The sound of Bliss' trident hitting the wall let her know of the success in flight path. But, whether or not it hit and captured Lunette still needed to be seen. Bliss pushed another sheet of ice over the floor to keep her senses alert to any movement in the room. Floating the phone up to her hand, Bliss turned the light of the phone over to the wall with Lunette.

Lunetta stood up with only Gia's voice screaming in her head.
"Wake up! She saw you."
Lunetta opened her eyes only for a giant fork to pin her against the wall right over Ashely. Lunetta grunted but pushed through the pain so she could spawn a knife. She tossed it behind the couch before seeing Bliss moving to pick up her phone. She knew she did not have a lot of time. So she swapped places with her knife and rolled behind the couch.

As the light flashed over the wall. Bliss would see the trident pinned to the wall with a black mist dissolving into the air over Ashely lying helpless on the cold floor. Lunetta stayed on the ground grabbing her stomach. The girl was a super and already discovered her weakness. That or she just couldn't see. Going with the later, she had to find a way to get rid of the phone.

She spawned 5 more knifes in her hand and prepared for her next move. She still had the home field advantage. All she had to do was wait for the girl to let her guard down or the pain in her stomach to go away, because she felt like she was going to throw up.

A flicker of light caught the reflection of the ice trident. Tiny particles of water glistened to no surprise, but the trace elements of someone who once stood their and the shadows darting away gave Bliss an uneasy feeling. Her path to the door would come with a very difficult route, and she still needed Ashley- Ashley!

Turning her attention to her captured friend, Bliss would pull the tape off of her mouth with a quick pull of telekinesis. No audible words came from Ashley, but a red device to shine from inside of her mouth. "What is that?" Bliss tried to put enough finesse into a telekinetic pull to remove the ball from Ashley's mouth. "We need to get out of her Ash. I'm not sure where shadow girl is."

Bliss stepped back, facing the door, and tried to shed some literal light on the situation. She spent enough time getting Ashley's ability to speak taken care of, but she needed to ice over the duct tape so it could break. Splitting too much time away from focusing on Lunetta would probably be a great way to end up with a knife in her back though.

"Bliss! I have no clue what she is talking about!" Ashley tried pulling her hands out of the tape, but could barely budge them at all.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure telling me the truth isn't in the best interest of this lady to begin with." Bliss would keep surveying the room while trying to edge closer to the wall near Ashley, gliding over ice in her path.

"Lunetta"

"I want you. I told you to keep her out of this until I dealt with you." Lunetta's voice spoke through the darkness as if she was everywhere. The ice around Bliss cracked started from the outer ring and moving in. This came not from Lunetta's foot steps but from small spikes growing out of the floor.
"Lunetta!"

"I played with you long enough hero. If you wish to suffer the same faith of the traitor, then we will be happy to oblige. I WILL PURGE ALL IMPURITY THAT SULLY OUR REPUTATION."
A the giggling bounced across the room, each second spawning from a different area. Now black tendrils spawned around the the two woman, thrashing about only to evaporate under the strong light of Bliss's phone.

"LUNETTA!" This time the voice could be heard by all parties in the room. A voice that could freeze the noise off a polar bear. A voice empty, yet filled with fear. However it would get engulfed in Lunetta's emotions.

Then the couch rose from the ground and seemingly floated in the air, "You underestimate us. You think you are the only one with magic. You think just because you play Hero you will be able to beat us. IL PHANTASMA will not allow those who break The Teachings to go unpunished. DISAP.... "
There was a loud thump. The shadow constructs vanished filling the room in a black mist which evaporated only went struck by the light. Two balls rolled underneath Bliss and Ashely's feet with the same glowing red light that was on the ball in Ashely's mouth.
"Don't move or else every crazy mutant freak in this room blows up, or should i say implode. Ordered Dr. K.
A strange smell of bloody roses filled the air. The smell was gentle like a scented candle but once you smelled it, your noise would become more sensitive to it. Ashely would also now be able to taste the smell in her mouth like a very potent mint.

After a couple more thumps Lunetta's body flew into the wall next to Bliss. Blood dripped down her face and from her shoulder which still had a knife in it.  Meanwhile a red light appeared in the darkness which revealed an arm and a hand covering a bleeding chest should the light been flashed over it.

"I am sick of these games ladies. Lets end this game."

The shining light matched Bliss' conviction in scope. If she could keep her cell phone going, it would be enough to drive this fight into her favor. With 15% battery life left, Bliss might need to push the fight a little faster, but still had more time to make some plans. Keeping her ice up helped, but Bliss began to think about going to the next level and detonating the ice with telekinesis. With Ashley behind her, it would seem safe- but things turned on their head.

The fight reached the fever pitch where the villain began yelling at Bliss. From here it could go either way, but with the success Bliss used, it gave her confidence to carry out detonating the ice. The yells grew a little louder, then more frantic. The, it gave way to another voice.

This voice did not register with Bliss, but it did give her a good option of who it might be. Before Bliss could say or do anything, two red balls moved towards her and Ashley. Bliss put up a small barrier of ice to block the balls from getting under them, fearing they could detonate. Again, Bliss found her speech cut off when her nemesis flew across the room, impacted next to her, then slunk down next to Ashley- with a knife in her shoulder. "Can we stop the stabbings?"

Bliss caught the flashing red light coming from Dr. K. Then she looked to the balls at her feet. Bliss knew what Lunetta looked like right now. So, she put her hands up. "What's the post game look like?"

"An eye for an eye Ma'am." He grunted, as he moved towards the door.

"Like I told Ms. Ashely, I am looking for funds. Or at least I was. That freak as taught me how bad of an idea that was. So instead, oh wait. Before I start. I need you to do me a favor dear," he threw a pair of duct tape at Bliss, "Tie up the shadow freak and your little girl friend why your at it."
Then he opened the door to the hallway which still had working lights.
"I wonder why these didn't break... not important," He pressed the button two times and Lunetta's body went into a deep sweat. Her skin became warm and pink. She started to moan and tremble, "If anything else does not go my way, your girl friend will end up like the shadow freak. Too bad she is asleep or else she would be screaming and crying in pain."

The light crawled into the room revealing until it managed to grab everything. Then the man turned back to Bliss reading his hand to press the button again. "I would move fast, because I would hate to put poor Ashley through any more trouble. I kinda feel sorry that such a pyscho was after her."

The post game started pretty bad for the losing team. While Dr. K continued his tirade against Lunetta, Bliss taped her enemies hands behind her back before wrapping up her ankles and knees. Bliss tore off a long strip with her teeth and pressed it over Lunetta's mouth, before doing the same to Ashley. "Sorry, but you know, dudes kinda crazy." Bliss met eyes with Ashley and saw a much more caring face than she did a few minutes ago at the bar.

The smell of roses began to permeate around Bliss. While Dr. K walked about the area, Bliss began to think of what the other aroma around her was. "Blood?" Whether it came from Lunetta still remained to be seen, but something about those balls also smelled like blood. Bliss finished taping Lunetta up by wrapping her torso in tape before standing back up again.

"Oh you smell it. Excellent!"
Dr. K chuckled chuckled,
"It took me several months to get the scent just right. I call them Corpuscula, Little Bodies for the uneducated. It's a special micro organism which can take orders and alter the body of their host. Right now I am having them overrunning Lunetta's system. It takes a wow for the effects to permanently damage the body but I have found it to be the most painful option. "

He walked over to Bliss, snatching the tape from her hand. If he resisted, he would activate the Corpuscula in both their bodies with the press of a button. Then he proceeded to restrain Bliss's hand and feet but he did not cover her mouth. "Ever wondered how you freaks work? I plan to unlock that code and eventually be able to remove. Then after further research I will be able to modify it to my own desires and sell it to the highest bidder."

He turned around, "I am sure you understand rich that will make me." The man continue to ramble about how he planed to use the 3 in his research and the results of his previous experiments which ended poorly...

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Meanwhile, Lunetta's eyes pried opened. Her eyes darted across the room as she searched for the source of her suffering. Tears rolled down her face as her mind slowly lost all reason to pain. She attempted to scream and move but the tape robbed her of her movement. Then her body began to overheat under the light from the hallway. While it did not completely cover her, it was enough to exhaust her. Her muffled screams tuned to moans and then whimpers. Snot rolled down her nose forcing her to cough until she lacked the energy for that. Her eyes dilated as she lost the ability to focus on anything. She slowly stopped squirming, only barely staying conscious by the will of Dr. K's creatures.

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The losing team took another 'L'. Little Bliss could do as Dr. K stepped towards her, taking the tape from her hand, then forcing her hands behind her back. The tape wrapped over her wrists a few times, securing her hands would not be doing anything of the powerful sorts, then once he sat her down between Ashley and Lunetta, he wrapped her ankles and feet in tape.

Looking to her side, Bliss could see Ashley give her a tired look devoid of any movement from her tape hidden mouth. She then looked over to Lunetta, currently trying to escape from the confines of the tape and from the discomfort of what looked like a panic attack. "Well, this was a great way for everyone to lose."

Bliss looked over to Dr. K as he began to monologue. She gazed over to the tape over Ashley's and Lunetta's mouth, wondering when he would give her the same confinement. It never came. "You plan on unlocking code? With these little plants?" Bliss tried pulling her hands out from the tape, but the friction worked too well against her. Dr. K left her fairly loose, but Bliss still needed to make sure her escape would be able to get Ashley out of harm's way. And, possibly Lunetta.

"You aren't going to find anything out you couldn't have read in a book you know?" Bliss continued to try and pull her ankles free, but the wrapping around her feet gave her no leverage. "Serums and DNA modification are all old news. I'm not even sure who would buy any of it. Your plan might have some flaws to it." Bliss unlocked her cell phone with a quick rub of her fingers. She slowly looked back to make sure she scrolled through the log until she came across the number of Danny Tamamoa. If anyone could save her skin, it would be Danny. "So, you came down to Atlanta just to attend the Humanitarian Gala in hopes of capturing Ashley, this other shadow lady, and myself? What exactly do you have planned?"

"You talk a whole lot, must be why you do not listen well."
He walked over to her with the tape unrolled. He was done with her persistent talking. Then he noticed her phone light was on.
"Hah, I forgot about your phone. Can't let you call for help."
He snatched the phone and smashed it against the ground. Then he taped up her mouth.
"I came her for funding, but now I am just hear for Science."
He then grabbed Bliss and hiked her onto his shoulders. Then he grabbed Lunetta's hair and dragged her out the door. His vehicle was just outside in the alley. It was a black van with tinted windows. He planed to put them inside of a specially made chest which was durable enough to withstand most attempts to break out. Then he would drive them to his lab where all the fun science would take place.