Breaking Bones in the City of Angels.

The snap of restraints on her ankles caused her to yelp in alarm, falling backwards before being caught and bound by the grip of the unknown assailant. It all happened so fast, she barely had any time to react, only enough to have her cries muffled by a foreign, vile hand. Her muscles went taught before she felt her face heat up; the sweat on her enemies palm burned her skin and made her whole body ache, causing her tense limbs to slacken without even unleashing a single blow. Something dug its way into her veins, hot and unyielding, crawling around her muscles like ants, stinging away her strength and power. She winced, then regretted the decision when the room around her began to get fuzzy.

As her head lolled forward and into the support of the attacker, her vision tunneled, but she focused it on Bliss as best she could. Only one thought repeated through her mind like the chatter of gunfire. Save her, save her, save her... Nina tried to call out, flail an arm, alert her associate in some way, but it was all for naught; not a single part of her body would obey. Her companion went sprawling forward from the single blast of saliva, sending a tendril of anger snaking cold and fast into Nina's hot, drugged blood. Once her captor began to move, Nina's hair fell forward and blocked her sight, causing her otherwise keen vision to be reduced to a swaying vortex of blonde and the tiles beneath the villain's feet.

A thick layer of acid tore into Bliss's skin. Bubbling and searing she could hardly fight back the clenching of teeth to turn around and view her opponent. The absence left her with a feeling of alleviation and dread. Working on her ever changing physiology from the night in L.A. before, Bliss began to ice over her wound to prevent the acid from going any deeper. While she felt slight relief come from the ice spreading across her back, she knew whatever attacked her took Nina.

Bliss filled the noise machine with ice until it crystallized before her. The sound began to die off as the ice overflowed from ever crevice of the machine. The rapid abuse of her power felt cathartic in the few seconds that she needed to destroy the machine, but whatever came after her had more than enough opportunity to take Bliss down, so she could only assume this building would present just as much of a weapon to the creature as her acid and webs.

The trail of breadcrumbs leading Bliss to this spot put her in the middle of a maze with deadly results at the end of each mistake. She looked to the ceiling and saw the holes dotted along the fixture. Any walls or any other subspace between rooms would give the creature room to ambush once she turned her attention back to Bliss. Taking an elevator would be a mistake, but stairs would hold areas for the creature to hide. Bliss thought about the elevators and hatched an alternative means of getting upstairs.

As she stood before an elevator, Bliss pressed a thin sheet of ice under the sliding door and pressed the ice to either side of the shaft. Metal creaked as the elevator shaft slowly rose up under the ice's lifting power. Lifting it too high could still give the creature room to attack, but she needed to at least make it to the second floor of the four story building. Her ice held the elevator cart up under a thick wall of ice encapsulating from the flanking walls of ice darting up the back and sides of the elevator. Acting as a support beam and a spiral staircase, a large pillar of ice ran the course from the floor to the bottom of the cart. Bliss strided the rough stairs to get up to the floor before her. With the machine knocked out she could begin solidifying structures again without fear of them breaking and causing all the ruckus.

Behind the metal doors lay the vacant second floor, shrouded in the darkness of sun blocked office structures. The gray scales along the wall grew darker down the hall until only the light of an exit sign could make out the flanking doors set beside it. Surely some noise must give Bliss a clue as to where she should look for Nina, and more importantly, guard herself from the creature.

Within the confines of a dimly lit room the creature disposed of Nina by completely wrapping her arms and lower legs in thick webbing. In between the pillar she remained attached to stood two webbed sacks on both sides of her. Slow movement pulsated from the sacks in a foreboding manner. Her hands were trapped by webbing down around her waist by a just as thick a layer of webbing as her arms and legs. Nothing about the room appeared out of the ordinary, except for a large opening in the side of the wall. "Time to pass on your genes to those deserving." From behind the pillar came a shrill voice and a thin layer of webbing in front of Nina. "My children will thank you for your strength." The thick strand moved closer to Nina's neck while the other four arms made sure the webbing remained tight around the girl. "As they devour your insides for their first meal." Webbing pressed against her throat with a sharpness that dug into her skin. The spider creature stepped in front of her after the webbing finished the job. "They will give you a heroes funeral for trying to stop that evil ice girl, and she will be given a death sentence after being tried for murder." In the lighting of the room shadows fell over the face of the creature, but her sinister smile still shined through. "It will all be over for you soon, but for your friend, the system is slow but cruel to those guilty."

Hinting at an oddity in the air the creature turned her ear to the ground. "That's not expected. She's acting sooner than I wanted. No matter; I just won't get to watch as my children spring forth from your stomach." Instead of returning to her hind legs the creature skittered across the floor on her six arms, using her back legs to propel her forward. She climbed across the wall and left Nina's eye sight before entering the hole in the wall.

Throbbing from the bags grew stronger with each push. With each push the webbing stretched under the force. A small tendril leg pierced through the bag and stretched out. Sweeping against the air around the bag, the leg prodded against the bag to tear against the webbing. In a few minutes five eight legged creatures would tear through the sacks and would look for their first meal. Following the sight their blood red eyes saw the hairy creatures wobbled out of the bags and took interest in the sacrifice before them. They took great interest, but held to get their bearings.

Nina's mind reeled as she was adjusted and shifted repeatedly, arms and legs spun about and bound together, both confusing and frustrating the subdued heroine. Her brow furrowed as she was finally set down, her head slowly rolling over so that she might take in the sights before her, but what she saw caused her to wince and pucker her lips in disgust. She had always hated spiders, and now she was in ones home. It would have been almost poetic to her if she wasn't so out of it. Her vision swam, but in time she realized that the throb of life beneath the thin layers of web wasn't just her mind playing tricks, but actual pulses of conscious life. With each passing moment, the world became progressively clearer, her body fighting to regain equilibrium, iota by iota. This was a battle that she would win in time, but she worried that that was the one thing she wouldn't have. Meanwhile, her enemy spoke on, voice droning and grating. Nina took in each word before she gave her blunt reply.

''Get fucked, you blood-sucking cu-''

Her words were cut short by the strand of web that latched to her throat, practically cutting at her windpipe and making her gasp. Her eyes welled, and a lone tear traced its way down her flushed cheek. Every muscle burnt, making it a chore to try and see what lay before her. The form of the enemy had just barely disappeared beyond her vision before adrenaline shot through her, bringing a sharpness to her otherwise blurred sight. A leg had freed itself from deep within the cocoon to her left, and no doubt, the body would soon follow. Nina's heart thudded against her chest, working in her favor by shooting blood in massive pulses through her organ systems, slowly but surely clearing it of the organic toxin that had invaded her earlier. The spur of fear aided the endeavor, causing panic to worm its way into her brain, and as the spastic leg of the newborn felt its way around the outer layer of its previous prison, Nina began to will whatever strength she could into her right hand, feeling deep satisfaction as her fingers began to flex and curl against their bonds.

Seconds passed like hours, her left hand peeling away from the sticky webs. By the time she had freed her arm up to her elbow, more legs had begun to force their way out, followed by grotesque, subhuman hands and vile, unnatural bodies that wiggled and writhed their way to freedom. Nina lifted her arm and scraped and tore at the bindings around her waist, beginning to whimper as her tendons screamed in protest at the sudden strain. Her other arm pried itself out, and as her hands began to pull on the thread at her neck, the horrific, crimson eyed face of the newborn arachnid stared at her, innocent and primal. The line at her throat gave way, and in one last show of faith, she bent down to yank at the restraints on her legs as the first spider child fully exited its macerated silk home. "You nasty little shits won't be eating my guts, no-sir-e-bob." she muttered like a mad woman, letting out a woosh of air as she fell over and onto her side, still frantically attempting to free her legs.

Her whole body shuddered and balked at the overuse, but as her heart beat, strength eked back into her. A second and third child had appeared, and she met their empty gazes with a look that would make a mother wolf back away from her young.

Shadows took away the easiest way to spot oncoming dangers. Bliss really wanted to use those senses when dealing with something like this, especially when it came to those damn holes lining the ceiling tiles. When Bliss first encountered them Bliss took it upon herself to freeze them shut, then she thought any creature stalking up there could merely come out through the other tiles. Taking the option into her mind lead Bliss to walking down halls completely tunneled in ice. Permafrost as her guide instead of light, Bliss sought out her detained associate from whatever manner of beast sought to entrap them in this place.

Drops of acidic based saliva began to eat through the ice. While Bliss hoped for a loud expulsion from above to alarm her to any danger facing her, but the pitter patter of droplets behind her felt like ambient noise. Dropping in from behind came the venomous creature with intentions as wicked as the grin she wore. Webs pun across the icy terrain of Bliss's tunnel to keep the footsteps from coming into contact with her prey's ear. While twenty feet away from Bliss, urges to make the sneak attack matter ran across her mind. A line of acidic saliva could truly incapacitate the girl, but could also leave too much evidence for what transpired. The fly needed to be wrapped up for safe keeping.

The search brought Bliss to a turn down a crossing hallway. Acoustics in offices never struck her as selling points, but the distressed banter coming from down the hall caught her attention. Wherever the creature happened to store her friend, she was not alone. With more expedience, Bliss turned to begin making her way to come to the aid of Nina.

Just as Bliss turned to begin her path she caught the visage of the accosting creature. A powerful fist struck through the ice barrier, cutting Bliss off from making her turn. Stumbling back from the shock of the attack, Bliss summoned up enough ice to give her a cushion from the six armed creatures savagery. Fists rained down to press against Bliss, shattering the conjured ice without even a full flurry from four of the arms. Water dropped down on the creature's head prophesying the unraveling event. An icicle shot down from above the creature only for the creature to halt the aggression with four of her arms. While the creature struggled against the ever encroaching ice, Bliss threw a short, albeit vicious, ice dagger towards the lower torso of her adversary.

Turning the odds on Bliss, four arms released the ice and moved backwards. Her dagger clanged against the ice, but left the spider unharmed from either attack. Bliss moved to her feet and began to scamper away to a more defensible position. Pillars of ice began erupting from the tunnel to crush her opponent in an icy death. Before the villain could launch her escape plan, beams of ice filled the tunnel solid, assuring Bliss nothing could survive. "I hate spiders."

Under the weight of the filled tunnel, the support beams of the buildings framework gave way. An eerie squeal came from the metal of the floor's support as the aching of concrete gave foresight into the event about to unfold. "Oh shit." Bliss darted back while the floor collapsed entirely, swallowing up the tunnel and destroying the majority of the adjacent offices to the hall. Her route to the office holding her friend prisoner needed some adjustments if she wanted to get to her, but breaking things with ice was just proven to not be difficult.

Bliss took her eyes off of the hallway to focus on her next task too soon. Out of the debris of the ceiling flew a wad of acid to burn through Bliss. It exploded on her shirt with a hissing assault. Ice began to form up to defend her from allowing the substance to burn deep into her skin. Webs fired forth from the limbs of the creature to capture her prey as she closed the distance on the cornered Bliss. With her back literally against the wall she could feel the sticky substance of the web make contact with her wrist. A shield of ice cut the substance short, and reprieved Bliss from any immediate assaults. She needed to get through the wall behind her, while defending herself from the unfavorable situation before her. Powerful blows began tearing through the ice barrier surrounding Bliss, while the wall began to give way under the piercing penetration of the ice.

Finally she could feel her weight shift back while the wall caved, but a crack in her defenses ended her hope. With a sizable hole now present, webs exploded into the nook Bliss tried escaping from. Webs wrapped around her arms and held her from getting back from the sticking grip holding her. "The little fly lost her wings." Bliss gritted her teeth as she attempted to move her arms under the duress, but could only feel the movement of her arms under the constriction of the web.

Once her legs were freed, Nina dared to take a moments rest. Her breath came in shallow, shuddering gasps as her eyes teared and her blood boiled. Her entire body rejected the intrusion of the spider woman's venom, and she began to wonder if it wasn't eating up her insides at this very moment. When the first spider child took it's cautious step forward, she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, joints quaking from both fear and exhaustion. ''Go... away...'' she warned it, knowing full well it didn't understand a word. Perhaps her tone would be enough to ward it off for a moment, but she doubted it. More of them advanced further into the open, and she managed to pull herself together enough to stand, but the trembling of her legs wasn't very promising. Any physical act she was about to do would have to be fast and propel her pretty damn far.


The child closed the gap between them even more as its siblings spilled out into the open, one by one, each pair of horrific eyes quickly seeking out their target. Nina leaned against the pillar she was previously attached to for support as she tried to get the air in her lungs to catch. Her fingers pressed against the structure, barely leaving dents in it's surface. For a moment, her heart took pause. Nina Wynowski felt truly mortal and helpless, and she didn't like it one bit. Without another second callously wasted, she took off at a full run, slamming her forearms into the newborns as she passed. They had surged together to meet her, but many were tossed aside from her assault, only one managing to get a grip on her arm before being thrown aside like a used tissue. This attack was met with a furious chase, and the sound of scampering legs made Nina's pulse throb faster as she thudded out of the room and down the hall. Her brain pinched and ached, her legs prickled with pins and needles before going numb, making her feet feel like blocks of cement. This did little to help the unnecessary strength she was already forcing into each stride. The floor splintered beneath her tread, but she couldn't find it in herself to care as the enemies offspring clattered after her, all of them communicating with shrill shrieks and calls. All Valkyrie could muster was ''Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck...!''

It took a great amount of scrambling back and swearing for Nina to not fall head-first into the large hole that was once a hallway, but she didn't dare slow down. Instead, she simply backed up as much as she would allow herself to and jumped across, barely catching the lip of the great chasm before pulling herself up onto her stomach. The children weren't far behind when she managed to get on her feet again, and a wayward backhand barely kept one of them from leaping onto her back. She felt it's claw-like digits try to rake her skin, and as she surged forward into the thorax of their parent, she yelped out in alarm before falling onto the ground. As she fell, she could barely make out the image of Bliss being bound just beyond the outline of the adversary before she struck the tile violently. All at once, she knew she had to save her.

In seconds, the children would be upon her, so her timing would have to be used wisely. In a sweep of her leg, two of the limbs supporting the creature were swept out from under her as another leg struck it's rear violently, sending it's head sprawling forward before it began to cling to the walls. Another spastic blow from her leg smeared it above her companion before it fell to the ground in a hissing pile, limbs flailing for purchase as her offspring descended into the madness. In a last ditch effort, Nina managed to yank off one of her heavy duty combat boots and hurl it at a child, crushing it's skull before it's remains, and her footwear, skittered off a few yards away. The mother let out a feral caterwaul at the demise of her child, attention now fully on the blonde. ''Can you give me a hand?'' she asked Bliss, voice barely more than a grunt as she slammed a bare foot into the flailing arm of the mother.

Repercussions from the violent hit would soon shake with a terrible resolve. Gifting herself with some means of escape from the web, Bliss went to work applying a layer of ice from her waist to the bottom of her neck. Webbing fell down around her waist as she remained in her prone position along the ground. The full view of battle opened up before her and with a boot flying past her, it took place to her side as well. The creature struck out with sharp tendrils to jab into Nina's neck. The dose of poison would kill her in a painful and incapacitating manner over the course of a few hours. With the death of her children a certainty, the mother sought to take revenge by devouring the superheroine herself with a savage longing for flesh. The first wavering assault came under repose by Nina's barefoot, but the next three jabs sought to take advantage of the appendage advantage the creature controlled over Nina.

Nina called for Bliss to lend her a hand, and within the confines of her hands resting upon the ground she intended to. Ice began to form within the crevices between her fingers, hardening into a blunt gauntlet, perfect for letting the spider know she needed to focus on fighting two supers. To keep the venom from penetrating the creature's hands Bliss made contact with her fists. While the initial hit sought to divert her attention as a blunt attack, the real attack came as her hand began to merge into the skin of the spider. Ice shot through the thick carapace and with precision Bliss began to freeze the inner systems of the spider's venom.

Recoiling in pain, the spider withdrew her attack and threw an open hand to grab Bliss by the throat. She lifted the girl into the air with the strength and grip of a titan. Had she needed air to breathe, Bliss would find herself in a death grip, but given her physiology, this would only act as a diversion to allow Nina a full attack against several areas hardened by the physical constructs of ice to the sensitive areas.

The sharp strikes made her squeak in protest, hands only smearing the wounds for a second to confirm her suspicion of their nature; blood and a mysterious, pale amber fluid that stung her skin and seemed to cauterize her veins rested on her palms, but was quickly smeared on the floor as she threw a child far across the room to its demise on the wall. The remaining three retreated to the back to feed on the remains of their fallen siblings, which was all well and good, but that did little for the considerable problem that was their mother. She had met Nina's already compromised attacks with a organic ferocity that literally left her in ruin. As the fight progressed, and her companion threw herself back into the mix, she made a groggy vow to never again scoop up a spider on a piece of paper and put it outside if she should find it in her home. ''Gaw... damn...'' she groaned, ''Yer a reeeeal piece a' work.''

As the common enemy distracted itself with the throat of Bliss, Nina took this opportunity to rise and fling herself onto the arachnid, wrapping her arms around the creatures middle before giving a half-hearted squeeze. The remaining limbs pushed at her, seeking release as another fruitless jab to her forearm strengthened her resolve to crush this creature in the most primal way possible. The spider pushed, scraped, and tried in a variety of ways to peel off the heroine, but in the end, Nina felt her exoskeleton give way with a sickening crunch and a slough of hot entrails.

Entrails splattered across Bliss's face in the wake of the catastrophic force Nina exerted. Flesh collapsed and fell under its own weight while fractured muscle reformed and slivered in an unnerving manner. In rapid succession the lower two arms the spider possessed slid into place adjoining to get her more leverage as legs. Hinged vertebrae allowed the creature an unnatural range of motion to compensate for the catastrophic damage Nina inflicted upon it. Even with the lower portion of the creature now laying tattered on the floor, the creature anchored its legs on the ground and prepared to turn the tables.

Swinging Bliss with her hand, the spider used the girl as a club to attempt to take Nina to the ground. The might of the spider still expunged itself through her arms and released Bliss after she turned the girl into an unwilling weapon. "I was thinking of keeping you two around to try a hybrid." Tiny skittering legs continued to make their way to the duo. "But perhaps you are both too weak to be of any real use. We can still see if your powers are better suited..." Jagged teeth sharpened the severity of her words like a whet stone. "With those who can properly exercise them."

Overarching Nina and Bliss, the creature stood at a reduced height, but a more centered ground to spar. The two sets of arms made themselves ready to counter any of Nina's grapples by focusing on her wrists, while working around to snare her elbows. Sinew dripped from the spinal column still visible from the expulsion the spider committed, but the pain failed to show itself through the creature's painted smile. The hairy arms waited for the next move to test out just how strong this supergirl really was.

The body of her counterpart crushing into her blew the air from her lungs as she slammed into the ground, heaving like a bellows before she groaned and brought herself up onto her elbows. It was alarming enough that this arachnid had the strength and power to puncture her skin, but her ability to toss her aside like a toy was either a testament to her power, or a foreboding note as to the potency of her venom. Her vision was becoming foggier by the second, and her mind equally cottony. This fight had to end fast, and then... what? Hopefully someone could cure her blood of its toxicity, but if not... well, she didn't want to think about that.

''Godda sdop 'er... zumhow... man, e'rythings gone fluffy...'' Nina rose to her feet, her limbs quivering like leaves on a blustery autumn day. ''Why din't she bite-choo...?'' she complained at Bliss, giving her head a clarifying shake before holding up her hands in two tight fists, like a stunned boxer reentering the ring. ''Guh... I'mma give ya an op'ning... take it, or I'll kick... kick yer ass.''

In a frigid, crystalline moment, Nina saw her own mortality in the eyes of her foe. She had always hoped she would go out in some sort of blaze of glory, perhaps somehow getting gunned down in an epic conflict overseas, or burnt to a crisp in an explosion that would, by extension, save thousands, not be punch-drunk and drugged by some malformed mutant woman with a penchant for kidnapping and cannibalism. But, if this was how it had to be, she would damn well make sure it was on her own terms. Life could take away anything it wanted from Nina Wynowski, but not her death. With an inebriated lurch, she flung her body into the waiting limbs of her adversary, feeling the crushing grip of her humanoid hands around her wrists, and another set of digits being to probe and attach to her elbows, pressing their fingertips roughly into her flesh. In the back of her congested mind, she hoped that Bliss would strike hard enough to destroy the spider woman, but the thought was quickly pushed back when she dimly watched a pair of glimmering teeth become bared, blinding her sensitive eyes before they buried themselves in the flesh of her shoulder. Without really thinking, Nina simply emulated the attack and bit into the hairy carapace of her enemy, her stomach twisting in disgust as she felt it's alien texture press against her tongue. She tasted foul, and even fouler after a rush of fluid burst into her mouth as the exoskeleton yielded underneath her teeth.

They stood like that, bound by the mutual need to destroy one another, for what seemed like an eternity. Nina wondered what transpired around her, but every individual thought in her brain was washed out by an overpowering need to sleep. Her muscles no longer burned, her wounds didn't sting, and the fuzziness in her head faded like mist in the sunlight. Was this what death felt like? An all-consuming wash of nothingness? There was no tunnel, no gathering of loved ones in robes, and certainly no light to move towards. The emptiness that hollowed out her skull and body scared her, making her whimper pathetically. Had she actually made a sound, or was she only imagining it? Cutting the fear like a knife, a single phrase echoing out in her mind like a friendly call in a dark cavern; ''It’s alright to be scared. It’s just a matter of finding the courage to face it.'' The words of her mentor, Pain, sounded strangely loud between her ears, like she was back in that moment when he had taken her under his wing. Suddenly, as her body went limp, and before her mind shut down into blackness, she felt... alright.

Pain throbbed throughout her entire head. After impacting into the ground Bliss looked around to see the familiar form of the blonde woman grappling with the arachnid. Light peered in from outside casting the two figures in a glorifying illumination while ice tingled from Bliss's fingers. With the pressure of force coming from the entangled duo Bliss began making her way to the side to avoid any harsh contact with any changes in their struggle. As she began making decisions on culmination in this struggle, Bliss heard the drugged Nina make a series of statements placing her outside of her normal frequencies. While not giving her a show of confidence in her resolve, she muttered one final response about taking an opening.

Ice crept between the crevices in her fingers. While the opening she brought only gave Bliss a little room to work with, she could deal with it. A coldness swept through the air between them and pierced the fluid filled abdomen of the creature. Venom burst forward and poured down the long blade still attached to Bliss's arm. Before she could muster a follow up attack the viscosity of the liquid burned the upper layer of her skin. Together the two shared a similar pain, but the same resolve.

During the clash her companion slumped into the grips of the creature. Twisting around to face Bliss caused her blade to sever several tendons within her abdomen. Both of her left arms pushed forward against a barrage of ice sent by Bliss. While shards tore through the skin on her upper hand the lower limb pressed Bliss against the ground. The two armed assault continued with the venomous blood erupting with each shot. Painfully, Bliss felt the rough hand press into her chest. If not for Bliss's physiology no longer requiring her to breathe the collapse of her lung surely would have claimed her life.

In the grasp of her right side hung Nina, incapacitated but in good shape. "Had enough?" Her wicked smile leaned forward towards Bliss.

"You make it easy." A spike struck from inside of Bliss's chest and ran through the creature's hand. In preparation for the venomous spill, Bliss covered the hand in a thick coating of ice. Quickly it expanded with a rapid growth slicing away at the creature. After destroying the arm ice tore into the neck of the creature and burst from its chest. Venom drained through an ice appendage stabbing out the spider's back. Finally the creature fell to the ground with no level of regeneration able to save her now.

In absolute pain, Bliss brought her hand up to her chest. Surveying the pain left her with the inability to move. This wound would take some time to heal, if it even spared her life at all. Right now she could feel nothing other than the horrible pain brought on by the broken ribs and collapse of the left side of her chest. Nina still laid on the ground after the destruction of the creature, wrapped in webbing but saved from the venom by Bliss's allowance of a flow through the back of the creature.

Slowly her hand tapped against the ground as she tried to move onto her right side to lessen the pressure on the collapse of her left side. Under the poor leverage of her right side she failed to pull herself up. Her left arm sat limp on the floor, failing to answer the call she tried to bring to it. Finally she tried mending herself in what became her new nature. Ice began setting the bones and pulling her chest back together. While the pain stung through her body, she no longer felt the imminent doom of death. She just felt cold. It was her savior and her curse.

Nina was jerked violently back into consciousness by a sharp, quick pain at her temple. She hadn't died, just passed out. The thought was strange to her, since she had never really just lost consciousness, so she pondered over it a moment before her mind just gave up and sat down, preferring the comfortable nothingness of spacing out and taking notes on her surroundings.

Her existence was suddenly a very real thing now, and the more she processed, the more she felt that it was a bit of a nuisance. Her vision was still just as messed up, her thought process a muddled collection of observations, and her body an unresponsive pile. An experimental opening of her eyes revealed that she was now laying on the floor, blood trickling from her wounds ever so slowly. That was what she chose to focus on, since it was a pretty rare event. Slowly, her gaze rolled downward to the wounds on her arm. Sure enough, there were punctures that pushed out a mixture of blood and venom, a metallic and acidic smelling combination that was just pooling quietly on the floor. Bleeding was a weird feeling for Nina, just as weird as feeling pain below her skin. She hated it, so it was now time to focus on something else. Was Bliss alive? Was the enemy dead?

No amount of concentration from her clouded mind could get her to move, so she simply exhaled, the hair in front of her face fluffing up into the air before falling back to rest against her nose and brow. She wanted to call out to Bliss, but couldn't find a voice in her throat, or any sort of force to move her lips. ''Rrrrnnnngh...'' That was good, she could still breathe and make noise. Sure, it didn't make sense, but it clearly conveyed that she wasn't dead. Hopefully the grunt was loud enough, and lucky enough, to fall on living ears. The effort it required made her face hurt. ''Buh...Bluss....nnng...'' Nina's nose scrunched up from the energy she was using, energy she couldn't afford to waste on hopeless tasks. Every cell in her body just wanted to lay in bed and sleep, not lay on a cold floor in an ever-growing pool of it's own fluids. A single finger on her left hand gave an almost unnoticeable twitch. The recuperation period for this battle was going to suck, but at least she survived.

With crushing death averted, Bliss felt her arm beginning to come back to life. No more pins and needles for her extremities, but the swell of pain inside of her barely acted as compensation. She groaned while she finally conceded to the fact she wouldn't get up on her own. From behind her a support shelf of ice pushed her forward. Slowly she lifted herself off of her back while the ice held her lung in place. Time would only tell how long it would take her to recover from this injury, and how she would reform her vitals would come as a surprise about her new body, but how her companion would fare looked better.

Nina looked like she would recover, and most likely got used to recovering, from this fight. Bliss held her arms in suspension with the ice like a puppet. A little ice would probably feel good on the brawler, but she really couldn't see where she needed it. Sparingly the ice crawled under the prone body of Nina to relax her back. Small pockets of ice began to crawl up her arms to cover the bleeding wounds and slow down the amount of blood pouring from her sides. "I'm here." Bliss answered the downed Valkyrie while tending to her wounds. "I don't know what we're going to do about the damage we've done so far. We can't really move that well, and a story about a spider lady won't sit well with authorities when they have record of two superpowered people fighting on record." While recounting the situation Bliss moaned from the aches all over her body.

Pointing out problems she couldn't actively fix proved only so useful. With any luck her companion would soon regain the strength needed to carry both of them from the crime scene without passing out. Lounging back against the ice, supported by the ice holding her feet and knees close to the ice backing, Bliss could only wait until Nina regained enough composure to move. Before long footsteps sounded from behind her.

Steps echoed loudly as the form of a lizard like woman approached. A wide mouth and far reaching eyes made her face uncomfortably wide to look upon. Between her fingers rested intertwined webbing brdging across her fingers. Hardly acknowledging either of the downed girls, the woman went straight for where the remains of the spider lay. "You're strong to defeat such a harsh creature." A line began to form around the destroyed mass formerly belonging to the spider. "We'll be keeping an eye on you two." Slowly the form of a geometric rune began to take place around the spider's disposed form. "We may have to recruit you instead of merely taking your powers from you in such a crass way."

Light began to illuminate the circle and the remains of the spider disintegrated into nothingness. With a crude nail looming over Nina's head, the lizard made a gesture inscribing a marking onto her forehead. As the lizard stood to leave the mark began to fade from sight. "We'll be seeing you very soon." Her smooth movements ushered her quickly towards the crashed out window left in that manner after the altercation turned more heated with the spider. As quickly as she entered she left by skittering down the side of the building and into the shadows.

"Why can't these things ever be something cute. And not try to kill me."

She closed her eyes to the distant voice of her companion, disliking the way it seemed to bounce around inside her head. A moment passed, and suddently, her body felt cold, but it was welcome on her infected skin. The soothing chill of the ice stopped the progression of her sudden expulsion of blood, and even though she felt a bit light headed, the feeling was sure to dissipate within a few hours, once all of the venom got worked out of her system. Nina hoped that no permanent damage would be left behind, but thought it would be kind of cool if she had a few scars. Scars were a way of telling a story, highlighting the victories while smudging out the less appealing details. She could remember the victory, but forget the fact that she had taken a life.

The logic Bliss used, though, was hard to ignore. How could she explain what happened here? She barely knew herself. Maybe some sort of escaped genetic experiment searching for food, or just a really unfortunate looking mutant human. If the latter was the case, Nina didn't feel nearly as bad for killing her. It was mercy, really, plus, the disgusting spider bitch had attacked first, right? She would have killed Bliss and Nina, it was just self defense, didn't that make it ok? The sound of footsteps shook her from her internal goings on, making her sigh; help must have arrived, which would be a very welcome distraction.

The words spoken, though, were far from friendly. She listened intently to each one, hanging on to their meaning like a drowning man to a life preserver. What the hell was this newcomer even talking about? The strides closed in, stopping just behind her head. Nina mustered the strength to get her neck to turn her slitted gaze upward, just in time to see the subtle movements of the woman's disfigured hand before her forehead began to burn. Once the strange woman left, her discomfort ceased, but she felt... different. Deep within her core, something had been added. An intrusive piece of whatever-the-hell that was barely hanging onto her, almost like her soul had something stuck to its shoe, barely big enough to register to her. Nina felt... off, but that was the least of her worries. She had to get the hell out of this building and just go home.

''We gotta get tha fuck outta here, man...'' she groaned to her companion, ''This shit's fuckin' crazy... I can't be killing people...''

"You and me both sister." Bliss could barely feel her legs, but she still kept a few plans to herself. Momentum from her ice carried her over to Nina. "I'll get us out of here through a secret tunnel I'm about to make." It only took a few minutes for her ice to pierce down into the lower levels of the building, with each crack within the structure her advantage over the concrete grew stronger. Once completed Bliss would simply slide the two of them out of the building and to safety.

The structural damage Bliss inflicted on the building would mean the building would probably need a complete demolition team and a contractor before anyone did any work in this building again. Traction between the ice would come from small ledges within the ice that would pass the ice blocked heroes slowly down the ramp and into the under belly of the basement.

Once the ice reached the lower level Bliss felt strength in her back reach the level where she could prop herself up and begin to walk. A deep soreness wrapped around from her spine to her left kidney, leaving her limping along. "So what are your plans now? You look like you could be pretty useful in the event I need use."