Lose-Lose Makes A Happy Lucy

"Oooh the sting. I'm crying on the inside, I really am," Were the words snickered in response to Cypris' turned back. The demi-god gritted her teeth for a moment before realizing what she was doing and stopped immediately, a move like that could damage her enamel and thus hurt her career in a moment of aggravation. Groaning to herself she clenched her fists instead, ignoring the sweaty sensation building in her palms from the dank humidity of the raining LA. As much as Prissy didn't want to admit it, she and the poorly dressed southern belle were likely going to have to work together to solve this mystery, at least she assumed that's what both their goals were despite their differences, which could only mean she'd have to hold her tongue...for now.

Suddenly, as the self-claimed heroine with the nostalgic title, Aphrodite, was about to turn and release some sort of snide remark to try and stick a foot in the mouth of the mocking girl, a monitor hanging conveniently over their head clicked to life. Cypris noticed at that time that there were several other screens mounted on the outside of the building, they probably circumvented commercials regularly, but now they did no such thing. An older man with a receding hairline and thin grey hairs brushed in a comb over across a noticeable bald spot, stared into the camera on the other end. His cold, dark eyes were sagged in hundreds of tiny wrinkles, and the somber expression he wore caused a deep hurt to arise in her heart. She could sense when someone felt no love, no happiness, when someone has felt lonely for so long they forgot the meaning of both of these things; it was more than just good observation, it was as though she could feel their sorrow down to the pits of her inner most core, a sensation like butterflies but wrought with stabbing pain in her chest, like a knife. This was their villain, of this she had no doubt, but something didn't quite seem right...however telling Grace that she could sense this man's heart would sound ridiculous especially because it was not her power, it was simply the godly intuition of the daughter of Aphrodite.

"Hello there girls. I see you have begun playing the game I created. Now that you've started, I need to let you know the stakes." Cypris dug her manicured nails into her sweaty palms, opening and closing her fists restlessly as she wondered if the man was trying to be funny by mimicking the Saw movies. She didn't want to play his twisted city-sized game, but there was little choice when he turned the camera to an conscientious hostage, tied up and sprawled out on the concrete ground. When his face returned to the receiving end of the monitors she felt so enraged that her mind completely forgot about the pain in her chest, this creep forgot about love because he did not know how to! Growling under her breathe she bit her lip until the screens went black and it was just her and Grace standing there alone again in the rain.

"Andree when I get my hands on you..." Grace said before anything could get from Cypris' mouth, it was probably for the best that way, the other Super seemed much calmer about the situation than she felt. In fact she could have run through acid rain just to knock the lights out of that man at that point. Taking in a deep breathe she tried to relieve the stress building up inside her like a corkscrew ready to pop, when that didn't work she chanted for a moment until the knot forming at the nape of her sanity uncoiled and she could think properly again. Another lovely gift from her godly mother, her terrible temper...she could have done with out that as well.

"Have you ever disarmed a bomb before?" She asked, suddenly. Thankfully before she could answer she followed up her question with several others. "Now don't go getting all happy over it, but I don't want to leave you alone. It's pretty shitty out there. Do you have powers? Or skills? Not just anyone could grab Andree so whoever this is, isn't stupid. They'll have something waiting at this place they're holding her. It could be a trap. I can bend energy, I take it from anything," Cypris had to admit her power was pretty cool, she imagined all the thing she could do with a power like that and smiled. Suddenly she comprehended what she was doing and immediately returned to a scowl, she could think about all the guns and cars she manifest with that sort of energy on a later date, for now it was time to woman up and take out the bad guy.

"I don't think splitting up is a good idea either, that's obviously what he wants us to do! Together we're strong but separated we're weak and he knows that...you did say he was smart after all." She eyed her skeptically for a moment before continuing "I can't disarm a bomb, our chances are better if you leave the hostage to me...but isn't there another way? I mean one that doesn't involve martyrdom..." To finish off she stared at the small blue ball of energy and smirked, "Shoot that at me." She ordered, raising a brow. It was time to show this country bumpkin that she was no dumb Yankee...

Fuses shorted out with the surge of electricity shooting out from Grace's hands. While static crashed across the screen like waves of discourse, Lucy centered in on the small bits of information she could still obtain from the duo. Firing electricity would come in handy for the girl if she controlled the situations, but Lucy began thinking of a way to use her own power against her. As she dug through her bag and listened in on the continuing dialogue between the bickering heroines, the blond one became more emboldened. Just the thought of her requisitioning not just a blow, but a jolt of electricity sparked her interest.

Lucy dropped the two pairs of jumper cables on top of Mockingbird's lap as she gazed into the barely audible television. If she could only see the attack she could see what made this other girl so special. Knowledge is half the battle, and anything Lucy could gain to level the field worked for her. Perhaps this spectacle would truly be worth remembering. If not she could always just off her hostage and leave the cheap trick of death to give her something of a catharsis, no matter how weak and forced.

With the two girls giving each other a run down of the situation the girl, who only moments before found herself in a deadly situation, began to removed the Mockingbird suit. Lucy pulled the thing over her regular clothes, so struggling against the material took her sometime to fully remove. Once Grace started shooting electricity and Cypris began asking for a demonstration, the girl gracefully placed the suit on the counter of the registrar's desk and stepped out of the office lobby. Getting back to her dorm would not take long, and the campus remained safe from any trespassers of the normal variety.

Acting off of the flow of motion in the city, gangs began moving further into the business district. Within the hour they would position themselves to cut a clear wedge in between the dummy building Lucy picked out to act as a decoy and the sewage treatment plant. Chaos created the boundaries she needed to shape the city how she wanted. Maybe this super villain thing could work, she thought, looking down to the incapacitated Andree. "But first I need to put you in a better position to not ruin everything."

Cypris was preparing herself for the throw of the bolt at her, it wasn't her intention on taking the hit, she wasn't a very fast runner but years of training in the way of martial arts taught her many a cunning trick; including how to draw a bow and arrow in a moment's notice -meaning she was waiting for the movement of the girl's arm in the motion of a throw- and shoot accurately. It would have been quite the show, the idea was to catch the sleeve of her biker cloves by the fabric with a well placed arrow, and knock her hand out of the way along with the blast into the stratosphere, it didn't show her regeneration abilities but it certainly gave Grace a look into the skills she possessed. Unfortunately she was too possum to play along; did she really think Prissy was dumb enough to tell someone to lob something of that amplitude at her unless she knew what she was doing?

Rolling her eyes the vigilante relaxed her tensed muscles and crossed her arms, staring blindly at Luka who was still nuzzled up on Grace's shoulder like she was her new best friend. Cyrpis muttered something like "traitor" but other than that said nothing to the annoyance of the situation, honestly she was more concerned with the circumstances facing their decisions. If they split up they were not as strong and risked full out attack from the enemy, but if they stayed together the hostage, who the other girl called by many names -making it clear that this was personal business- was in serious danger; who knew what could happen to even a tough girl in the hands of a maniac, if they were incapacitated...Prissy tried hard not to think about too much, she was a very visual person and the lingering thoughts of the man's heart she felt earlier still dragged her down.

She wasn't good at plans like this and massive scale attacks that required strategical brilliancy was something of a puzzling nightmare to her, Grace would have to serve as the brains in this escapade and she would serve as the brawn, as much as she hated to admit it she was in over her head a good few leagues. Besides, solving the mystery behind a city-wide gang war and several kidnappings was not exactly what she thought she would be doing in LA when she agreed to do a photo shoot for Covergirl. It sounded to her like her temporary partner had settled for both of them going to the bomb site, hopefully this bomb wasn't more complicated than the last one that was disarmed because blowing up wasn't really in her schedule either, that would just completely ruin her whole week; but naturally she just went along with it.

Grace gestured towards another window then moved towards it's metal framework and opened it, leaning out over the pane she seemed to calculate the distance then swung herself up and out as though it was only a few feet and not at least 15! Luka immediately flew off her shoulder at the mighty leap and danced around Cypris' head, "Meyers-Levy and co-author Rui Zhu, assistant professor of marketing at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia and a Carlson doctoral alum, found that, depending on the situation, ceiling height will benefit or impair consumer responses-" She chirped, pulling some random factual off her internal web browser and spitting it at her.

Prissy growled and took a step onto the window sill, batting the air agitatedly, "Yeah..,I know it does from this angle at least! Totally not buying..." She muttered in response as Luka continued, "...The research demonstrates that variations in ceiling height can evoke concepts that, in turn, affect how consumers process information. The authors theorized that when reasonably salient, a higher versus a lower ceiling can stimulate the concepts of freedom versus confinement, respectively. " Cypris rolled her eyes and told Luka to shut up then jumped from the sill and landed with surprising ease, only rather than curving her knees she hit the ground and rolled till she was back on her feet and jogging a bit behind Grace who was faster than she was already. Unfortunately she had many skills but speed was not one of them. Luka tooted along between the two of them chirping and whistling as she performed joyful loopty-loops and somersaults in the air and Prissy just ignored her as she usually did, Hephaestus had given her one hell of a perky attitude that was for sure.

Before long the two girls reached a silver Lotus Elise and Prissy's eyes grew large, she had one of those back in London but this one was a brand new model. She grinned and nearly giggled at the sight of its sleek silver design but caught herself and instead slipped into the scooping black leather seats. "The Lotus Elise...it's good to know you country folk have still got style, nice choice! Remind me to take a look under the hood of this thing when this is all over, huh?" It wasn't typically like her to admit her love of machinery to another woman but this girl seemed to be different than the big wings she hung out with as her job. When the engine reared up she could feel her heart race and couldn't help herself, "This beauty's engine is incredible! It's the K4 with 16 valves with multi-point fuel injection but it's light as a feather!" She laughed excitedly as the rubber meant cement and they careened down the road at 100 in less than 20 seconds.

With the way the girls made their plan sound, Lucy began to think she baited her plan wrong. If she left now it would her about ten minutes to get over to the financial building, but if she got to the building too late she could get caught up in the first wave of explosives she set for the attempted rescue. Lucy rubbed the loose skin of the elderly skin. Reusing tricks felt stale and boring, but in this case it would do her some good. The one thing you can always count on with chaos is ruined plans.

The first floor of the financial building contained three bombs set within good proximity of initial eye sight. Members of the bomb squad fell off of their primary duties to take care of crowd control within the rest of the city, leaving explosives as a fine deterrent to gangs smart enough to know not to mess with armed explosives. After bluffing about the location of Andree within the financial building Lucy could expect at least one of the heroines to try and save Andree. Lucy left the wiring on the bombs simple enough to disarm for a simple reason. By disarming the primary wiring from the explosives to the detonator, a wire would pull detonate a cluster of explosives Lucy set around the two primary support structure of the front of the building. Once the two front beams collapse the front of the building would collapse causing the building to buckle under and cause a complete destabilization of the building.

Not liking the results in relation to what could happen to her, Lucy decided to remain behind in the sewage plant to watch over Andree and monitor the explosion from the traffic cams on top of the traffic lights. In the chaos of the explosion Lucy could make a shot to grab one of the heroines in the ensuing crisis, but she needed to stay focused on her final goal and let the events just play out. She needed to gain advantages and not allow something to slip through her fingers just to make up the same ground.

If they decided to split up Lucy would prepare to recycle one of her old tricks. After she tied Andree's arms and knees to cut off any movement so she could squirm out, Lucy placed a vest resembling an explosive device on her. Wires ran from a timed device to several packed devices circling the straps. Each pack held a potent knockout gas with a thick texture limiting sight. Which ever wire someone removed would not matter. Once any wire stopped sending pulses all eight packets would release their content within a ten foot area and remain in the poorly ventilated room for several minutes.

Lucy kept the mask Andree used on her new suit. With a few applications of a sealant it would do its job. Once the gas went off Lucy would step out from the mirror in the guise of the older man and make her move against whomever came alone. If she faced off against two people in this situation she would need to change her plans to make sure she didn't loose her hostage without gaining at least one more. Each step in her plan began to give her as much joy as she planned on accumulating from her final situation she hoped to place the trio in at the end.

Cypris purred over the car, she basically loved every nice vehicle, machine, or otherwise mechanical mechanism money could buy, and with her money she could buy just about anything she wanted. However, this Lotus must have belonged to someone who worked somewhere where they could get these high priced models before they were even released, this made her wonder if they weren't driving a spies car. Shaking the thought from her mind she realized she would lose her focus quickly thinking about all the gadgets they could have been sitting on, and of course...the good looking man who probably drove it at one point before it was stolen. Daydreaming was not something they odd duet could afford, so instead she grabbed Luka from out of the air and examined her nonchalantly as Grace actually complimented her...sort of.

"It's also my passion; my father was a mechanic in New York, so I've been working on machines since I could hold a wrench..." She mused, twirling her fingers idly through Luka's soft fibrous fur and staring out the passenger side window. Obviously the subject was still tender, and so she didn't continue, but her puff ball "friend" chirruped and flew out of her laxed fingers onto the wheel of the speeding car. "Olympus News 2012! ...Ares shares his latest endeavors as the mighty God of War!! "Lots of things blowing up in Afghanistan; oil crises in Europe and America is still getting people pissed off so expect more prayers." Says Ares. He also wishes to send a shout out to our local beauty Aphrodite! "I took care of your mistake in New York, look for it in the mortal paper." Interesting codes! In other news, Zeus declares Monday as the official Meatball Day! Come by for delicious Olympian sized meatballs, and relax with the vibratos sounds of the Satyr Cyclops band, Laurel Steel!" Luka finished, spun around and landed in Cypris' lap nuzzling the crease in her legs. Prissy wanted to throw the stupid thing out the window and had to restrain her hands to keep her from doing so. Thank god they pulled up at the plant, saved by the bomb...that was an interesting statement.

Prissy stepped out of the car, scrutinizing all the cops in the area. Her intention was to act as a body guard for Grace until she could disarm the explosives, but to do that she needed an idea of the potential number of enemies she would have to face if they chose to attack for whatever reason. Usually she worked closely with the police in London -she was known as the Masked Cupid there, lame sounding as it was- but here there was no telling what potential spies there could have been in the area. She kept an eye out for suspicious behavior from any of them and attempted to look as menacing as possible, whenever she was cast in a movie she always played the gorgeous damsel in distress so acting the stern type was a bit more difficult when she looked so...fragile? An officer nudged his buddy in the side and nodded his head in her direction, grinning condescendingly "Hey the strip club is down the road to your left, Beautiful!" One chortled at her.

"I would wipe that smirk off your face before I wipe it off for you..." She snarled at them, but of course the only response was laughter. It was frustrating that no one knew who she was here, if they had come to London they would have seen her hero title and face all over the papers as the heroine of England, then they would have been begging for an autograph by now.

Flustered she tried to ignore the united laughter of the officers as she and Grace entered the building and focus on the mission at hand. Propped up in the open was the bomb, its countless wires and buttons intimidating, this mechanism was beyond her understanding and as such she wanted nothing more to do with it. Granted she would eventually regenerate if the explosion went off, getting blown up was not really on her agenda, besides the fact that anyone at the scene who saw her enter this building and then walk out still alive would have been pretty freaked out...

"Andree!" Grace remarked, turning to her as Prissy looked in the direction she had been staring at. A girl lay slumped against the wall, with nothing around her it seemed but the explosives. Her partner gestured for her to stand down and she pulled out a spray can and doused the area calmly while Prissy made a mental note to remember to bring a can of paint with her from now on, it was an ingenious idea! When the cost was clear Grace spoke to her again, "Can you check to see if she's okay while I deal with the bomb? Her name's Andree. She might need a little slap to wake up,"

Prissy nodded her agreement and made her way over the gap between them and the unconscious hero. When she got there she laid a hand on the girl's head and checked her vitals, she was alive so that was good but her wrists and ankles were tied tightly with zip ties that appeared to have severed into her skin. She wished, for the umpteenth time that she could heal others and not just herself, but wishing wasn't going to get Andree out of this mess or the bomb deactivated. "Andree? Wake up it's time to go!" She started out softly, but when that didn't work she bit her lip and slapped her across the face. "LETS GO WAKE UP!" Her New York accent came in full force as she yelled.

They came together. Her hopes of dividing fell just short, but her chances of gathering two more superheroes felt thrust upon her. Grace sprayed a chemical to check for hidden dangers, smart move, but a little out of the element for Lucy. While her special "clean up" squad intrigued Lucy, the vaguely familiar, oddly dressed woman demanded her attention. Any woman who would dress in this manner could give Lucy a perfect show. Two girls took down the probability of the surprise attack, but Lucy knew just how to even the odds. But, the nagging feeling of knowing the pink masked woman bit at her. She needed to focus as the two girls began their approach to Andree and move to the level just above them.

A small package of C4 would create a collapse of the ceiling above the trio, not enough to seriously injure any of them, but just enough to keep them in place for the gas attack. Chairs triangulated a desk flanked by bookshelves in a pale room with decades old furniture. A stair well adjacent to the room the girls began their trek into would lead up to a reception area and beyond that room laid the office now holding Lucy. Like threading a needle, Lucy pressed the ignition wire into the electric signifier. One jolt from a cell phone and this would erupt with the force to bring down the roof.

Luckily for Lucy disarming a bomb makes people take their time. Even if the bomb is rigged no one needs to know that. Still in the disguise as her villain, Lucy crept through her mirror world, moving concealed as to not raise attention. With two girls Lucy knew she would overkill would only work if it worked without the word "kill." She looked into her bag of goodies and removed a small canister she melded together to contain a highly pressurized gas. Nothing special about the gas, but the level of pressure within the canister would create a massive wave of force within a small compact area.

Still wearing her stolen gas mask, and lurking just beneath the bottom pane of the mirror, Lucy waited for the sounds of erupting gas to spill from the vest before she detonated the device over head and threw the canister into the group of girls.

The toxins that had entered her lungs through the crack in her mask has rendered Andree unconscious but still slightly aware of her surroundings. Well, aware enough to know somewhat what was happening. Everything was distorted, sounds, vision, smell, everything. It was a weird feeling, as if all her senses were working against her. Sounds echoed through her ear canals and she heard them as distorted mumbles, having to concentrate to figure out what was being said. Though, due to the toxins, she was practically unable to think and unable to completely understand what was happening. Her ears could hear some distorted sounds coming from a blurry figure but she was unable to tell what was said. Slowly, she allowed herself to slip away into unconsciousness.

The gassed Andree's sleep was uneventful. Neither her body nor mind stirred. Her body remained limp, shackled to the chair. Her mind remained empty as she slept, offering her no dreams this time around. As she slept, a few groans and moans escaped her lips but nothing more.

As she continued to sit in the chair, unconscious, her head began to slowly roll a bit. The gas was wearing off. The distortion was leaving. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, eyelashes brushing against her cheeks. It was a relief to be able to see and hear clearly once more but Andree did not dare to move too much so that she did not alert Lucy to the fact the toxin was wearing off. It was good timing that her eyes were peeking past her dark eyelashes to see a man giving a speech to the camera. Hey, look it's Janitorman. Picking up all your disgusting trash since he couldn't pass high school. She joked to herself, silently, in an attempt to make the mood a bit lighter. Her body involuntarily shuddered when she felt the hand on her shoulder. Hopefully she was convincing in her fake sleeping. Hearing the disguised Lucy's next comment, Andree groaned on the inside. But I like messing things up.

As time passed, Andree drifted back off to sleep. Unfortunately, she was deep into her slumber when Gracie and Cypris arrived at her location. Due to her being deep into her sleep, she didn't hear Prissy's first comment. But the slap, she felt. Not knowing what was going on or who slapped her, her first reaction was "Fuck you!" After exclaiming this, she settled down a little a the sight of the girl over her and noticed Gracie. "Uh, sorry. Wasn't expecting the rescue committee to be the ones to slap me awake." She told the girl in front of her. It was the truth, she was expecting Lucy or Janitorman. "Situation, quickly." Came her order to the girl, wanting to know exactly what was going on, in case she slept through some important detail. She could feel the zip ties around her ankles and wrists digging into her skin. They stung immensely but she had no time for pain right now.

“Fuck you”

Cypris was a bit taken aback by the crass response and for a moment she was happy that the girl’s hands were tied or she suspected there would have been a reflex slap back at her. The hero’s brows furrowed as Andree continued and the first impression she got out of her was controlling and arrogant, but she just gritted her teeth and smiled through it.

“Yeah...ok. I’m Aphrodite, I partnered up with your friend here a while back…you were slapped because you snore obnoxiously…oh yeah and there’s a bomb over there. Any questions?” She stated sarcastically. Just as she finished speaking Luka came barreling into Prissy’s head from around the corner, and was chirping wildly. “Ouch!”

“Baddy! Mirror! Gas! Gas! Error-” The tiny robot fluff ball spazzed for a moment then short circuited and fell into Cypris’s waiting hand. The demi-god felt around her friend’s fiber fur and and felt a good sized dent in her framework over the control panel, she would have to fix her later when there was more time. “Gas?” She said out loud, looking at the girls who no doubt heard Luka’s meltdown as well. Like clockwork, Prissy turned towards the direction Luka had come from and noticed the canister just as it exploded and the room was shrouded in the gasses fumes.

Cypris herself was fine, her abilities made staying in the toxins relatively simply, however her partners were a different story. Instinctually, she pulled off her bow and knocked an arrow, standing in a slightly crouched position as she took several steps forwards. Luka had said something about a mirror, so she made her way around the corner slowly until she could see her silvery reflection. “What was so weird about this old thing?” She wondered.

And the trap sprung open. The lose-lose situation Lucy put in place almost went off without a hitch. Before the wire snapped and the gas erupted, the tiny little hunk of metal began relaying a message to alert the team of the trap. At first the masked woman disregarded the warnings and continued on her way, but after the gas began filling the room her fingers quickly readied an arrow to address the problem head on. The gas would create a hazardous area for visibility, but only for so long with the plan Lucy began to put into action.

Moving against the alert awareness of Priss, Lucy moved to a mirror placing her in between Grace and Priss. In her current state Andree would not present any real obstacle to Lucy's plan, but the girl trying to rescue her could. Holding onto the gas canister in her hand, Lucy tossed the small canister out into the hallway, landing in between Grace and Priss. With the gas covering the detailed scope of the girls, she could not see just how Grace responded, or if she even remained conscious, but she knew the masked woman remained upright in the gas.

The narrow hallway contained the main door they entered through as well as a locked door next to where Andree laid down. Adjacent to the entrance Priss closed upon entry a small break room opened from the hallway. Within the small room rested a table with five chairs scattered around the center, but no doors leading to any other part of the building. Lucy placed the bombs above Andree, but wanted to hold off on using them to keep this more quiet of a transgression.

With the lid unscrewed from the top of the canister air began to release a quick surge of air. Once the air hit a volatile state the case erupted with a blast of pure force in the vicinity of the trio. While Lucy stepped out with her mask in place she prepared to take advantage of the chaos to take the girls by surprise. Knowing a surprise guest with tilt the odds greatly in her favor, Lucy tried to pin Grace down to keep her in the vicinity of the gas and place her in a more manageable position.

Prissy had thought correctly. Had Andree's hands not been restrained, she would have received a slap right back. Just by instinct, not one she would do purposefully. So, it would be followed by an apology. But, unfortunately, for now her hands were restrained. She tried to look a bit more relaxed as she didn't want to seem like she was ungrateful for this. "Bomb, you say? How original." She said, sarcastically in an attempt to defuse the tense situation a bit. "Wait! I don't snore!" She exclaimed, not yelling, just saying it a bit more firmly than was probably necessary. Andree's eyebrows were knit with confusion as the demi goddess' companion began to have a meltdown. "Is that normal?" At the exclamation about gas, she groaned and added to her question. "Not more gas." An obviously annoyed look was placed on her face.

Gas expelled from the canisters. Oh, well that's just bad luck. She thought to herself as she made an odd face, trying to make sure the gas didn't find it's way into mouth or nose. Though, when your hands were tied, there's only so much you can do to keep it from coming up your nose. The gas was slowly beginning to find it's way into her, bit by bit. A smile crossed her face when Gracie came over. "No shit, Sherlock." She mumbled in reply. A shriek erupted from her when Gracie decided to send electricity into her. "Shit! Was that really necessary? I'd take the slapper over there." She told her.

Hands and feet now free from captivity, Andree slowly got to her feet as Lucy flew through the mirror and tackled Gracie. Despite Gracie's attempt to order her to run away, Andree quickly dived for Gracie's gun. She hadn't used a gun before so the feeling of the cold metal was foreign to her. Well, that was a lie, she had a stun gun. But this gun, unlike hers, could kill. With the gun in hand, she aimed it at Lucy. Her other hand used her shirt to cover the bottom of her face. With the gun aimed at Lucy, Andree wasn't sure if she could actually fire it and possibly kill her. "Get away from my friend, bitch.' She threatened, firing just past Lucy and Gracie but close enough to make her message clear. "And get the fuck out of my mask." Not wanting her friend to die or get caught as she had, Andree finally worked up the courage and fired the gun at Lucy's legs.

"I liked her better when she couldn't use her hands." Lucy reached down to feel her leg. A stream of blood slowly came out, but it only cut the skin and passed through without going into the leg. A room filled with gas always took a toll on the accuracy of any sharpshooter. It did however leave brawling a little more precise and personal. Just the way Lucy liked it.

Gracie swung her arm in an attempt to dislodge the doppleganger and allowed the hit to strike her in the face. The gas mask stayed tight over her face with a loud thud ringing through the plastic amphitheater covering her face. The maneuverer let Lucy take advantage of Gracie's back by wrapping Lucy's arm in between Gracie's arm and her back. With the grapple in place she could pinion the arm behind her and wrap her hand around Gracie's mouth to keep her from giving Andree any orders on whether or not to shoot through the smoke and around her.

Once she applied the hold on Gracie she knew the gas forming up in the room would only take a few more moments to incapacitate any normal heroes, and placed her hope in most of them passing out to keep her from getting out numbered. While she held onto Gracie she would remain in close proximity to push the button to detonate the explosives in the ceiling should she need them, but she really wanted to keep this caper as quiet as she could.

Keeping Gracie quiet also would give Lucy some leeway with the smoke screen making it harder for Prissy to navigate her way to assist in the takedown. If the situation took a turn for the worst Lucy could always make her way back into the mirror, but just like the explosives she wanted this trap wrapped up as quickly as she could.