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 Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:34 pm
Cat tried to see this as a positive sign. She really did. At least her blood wasn't acid... right? Although... that would have meant death. From the look on the woman's face, the acid option was probably preferable after all. But... even with that aside, it was incredibly unnerving. She couldn't even move her eyes. Couldn't blink, couldn't swallow... Helpless. She was completely, completely--
Something made a funny snapping sound inside her head.
... And a chunk of concrete the size of a small car came loose over Allure's head with a thunderous crack, followed by about a ton of more concrete and rocks.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:42 pm
Allure froze at the sound. Much of the group behind her took some wide steps back away from the hall to try and avoid what was coming down.
Xion's attention snapped towards the threat. Cat was once again able to move, just as a large bubble formed around Allure. The tons of concrete and boulders bounced off of it and slid harmlessly to the side as the bubble flashed with each heavy hit.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:47 pm
Cat, unsure about what had just happened (although she did have her suspicions), tried to look unfazed. "So there," she said quietly. Because that was totally me. Right? ... Right. Never mind that Doctor Strange got rid of that, or at least locked it. It was me. So... I will totally take the building down around them if they mess with me. ... And probably crush myself in the process. Again, assuming that was me. This was further undercut by the way that she took several, nervous steps backward.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:07 pm
When the rubble finally stopped, the bubble disappeared. Allure stood still for a moment and just stared.
"What...was that?" she said quietly.
"Her, I believe." Xion replied.
Allure grew angry again, letting out a low growl. "Let Blackstone down. Make sure his instincts are focused on the woman."
"Very well." he replied.
Reaper dropped from the wall, and was very still for a moment. Then he looked over at Cat. A strange look in his eyes...full of ill-intent.
He spun on his feet, and sprung towards her.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:12 pm
Cat's eyes widened in sudden, stunned horror. ...No... Then they narrowed, and suddenly she was in the air, arching over the woman's head in a graceful backflip. Now Allure was in between her and Reaper... and she didn't stop there. She continued on through the small crowd of gathered super villains, her movements a smoother, less erratic echo of Spider-mans gymnastics. Dodging a metal tentacle here, an elbow there... Talk about human shields; she had a whole little group of them to choose from.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:24 pm
Allure's eyes widened and she dove to the side as Reaper sprang forward. He paused briefly to look at Allure, but turned and continued forward.
In the crowd, Lori put both of her fists up, ready to blast the creature away before he got there. Fortunately, her mother wasn't having any of it. Not with this thing. The mother's arm came down and bat both of the girls arms down towards the ground. Lori opened her mouth, but she was jerked off her feet and shoved against the wall as far as she and her mother could possibly get.
Herman brought both of his blasters up and started moving towards the wall as well. He didn't fire, but he would if he had to.
The little red heads that had been brought with the group squealed and tried to huddle against the walls.
Both versions of Octavious began moving towards the walls as well. Their tentacles curled in front of themselves to try and block Reaper should he come towards them.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:27 pm
Oh, hell. She resisted the urge to kick Octavious on her way past--old habits and all that--and booked it down the hallway instead. She was not getting torn apart by someone that she'd tried to save. It was just too screwed up. NO. WAY.
Without any conscious input from her, the ceiling continued to crumble in fairly random areas, making keeping up with her both difficult and dangerous.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:40 pm
Reaper tore past the others, set on catching Black Cat, and Cat only. Part of him wasn't seeing her as Cat. He was just seeing prey. Someone he needed to kill. Or...another woman with green eyes. One with much shorter blond hair.
As the ceiling crumbled, Reaper tried to keep his attention on the path as well as the girl. Dodging what he could, stopping in his tracks for what he wouldn't be able to, and digging through what was blocking his path. The farther she got from him, the angrier he became. Fire licking his hands as he dug through rubble.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:48 pm
She was actually doing pretty well, all things considered...
And then the hallway ended.
Oh, it didn't really end, but it was blocked by a security door, which was securely locked down. She'd chosen the wrong direction to go, because the crowd of supervillains had to have come from somewhere... A little late to worry about it right then, though.
Breathing in fast, desperate little gasps, she turned around to face the way she'd come, watching as Reaper sprinted after her, avoiding the ever-increasing stream of concrete and stone. Either he was going to rip her to pieces, or she was going to bury herself alive with an ability she'd tried desperately to get rid of.
Unsure of what else to do, she met the inhuman black eyes that were so murderously fixated on her, and mumbled, "I'm sorry. I really..." I tried so hard. It was my fault, I know, but I tried; I don't even know why. God, this was a stupid way to die. Peter had been absolutely, frustratingly right; she'd gotten herself in over her head, and... "I'm sorry." She closed her eyes.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:05 pm
Reaper continued through. The woman had come to a dead end. She was trapped now. Sooo easy to kill now. He'd only have to decide on how he was going to do it. With the ceiling collapsing in on him, he'd have to do something quick. Perhaps grab her and try to take her up through one of the other walls. He still had other powers, right? He could leave this place and find one that wasn't falling apart. Then he'd be free to do what he wanted.
He got closer. Much closer. Only a few feet left. He sprang forward, claws outstretched, and prepared to latch onto her. Before he got close enough to do so...he heard the woman say something.
Sorry...? Why would she be...wait. He knew that voice.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:14 pm
Cat waited for a long beat, eyes squeezed shut... and nothing happened. She could hear him, less than a foot away, so... She was absolutely terrified that she was going to open her eyes just in time to see him put a spike of that green rock through her skull, or something... But another second dragged by, and she was still breathing, and the tension was just too much. Hesitantly, she opened one eye, more than ready to slam it shut again.
And he was just standing there. ...What was he doing? "Um..." she said. Her voice sounded shaky to the extreme, and she swallowed before continuing. "If you're... still in there, at all... I would really prefer that this not be dragged out too much. I would say that I'd prefer not to die, period, but now that I'm thinking about it, that honestly seems like one of the more pleasant options on the table, so... if you could just..." She swallowed again. "Uh... hurry it up?" I can't believe I just said that.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:33 pm
Reaper just stood there and stared at her. She was terrified. What had...what had he been doing? He'd been so eager to kill...and here was Cat. Did he black out again? Or was this...that X being?
"...hurry it up?" he said quietly, in his own voice. She wanted him to...kill her? But he...he didn't want to. He didn't want to even hurt her. Let alone...
Footsteps clattered down the hall against the mounds of rubble that blocked the better part of the way. They were coming back.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:43 pm
Cat's eyes widened, and she suddenly felt like she was about to burst into tears. "OhthankGod," she breathed, and before she could even think about what she was doing, she was hugging him. She didn't even care that he was still spiky and skeletal (and therefore very difficult and uncomfortable to hug); he was talking again, and he sounded like himself, and it was such a profound relief that she didn't even register the fact that people were coming down the hallway towards her, or the fact that this hadn't actually improved her situation one bit. Dying quickly probably would have been the better option, and her rational mind was aware of this, but her rational mind was currently missing in action. He had been an animalistic... thing for the past ten or fifteen minutes, and had been trying to kill her for two of those; now he was acting like the person that she knew. Somehow, that realization had left no room for anything but relief.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:58 pm
Reaper's mouth dropped open a bit and he continued to just...stand there. His heart hammering away in his chest.
What on earth did....why...he...what? He was...he was in that room with Cat. That's the last thing he really remembered. He knew there were other things that had happened between that time, but it was all so hazy. The room was the only clear memory he had.
He'd been trying to block her. Then he wanted to kill something, badly. He snapped out of it and was standing in front of Cat...who was terrified....and wanted him to kill her quickly.
...and now she was hugging him.
....so confused.
He really didn't know what to do with this...situation. So he just tried to do what felt right. She was hugging him, very relieved now. So...
Carefully, he brought his hands up and gently placed them on the back of her shoulders. A bit of a small hug back. As his brain began making its way back to reality a bit, he finally noticed what his hands looked like.
Oh. Well...now her being so frightened made more sense. And now he just felt...ashamed for some reason.
Carefully, he forced the Blood to subside, leaving him in his human form once more.
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 12:09 am
Cat relaxed even further when he returned to the form that she was used to, the claws resting tentatively on her shoulders morphing back into human hands.
This was insane. This was stupid. What was she even doing there? Black Cat was supposed to be the savvy criminal, always one step ahead, never a casualty of the stupid battles that Spider-man always seemed to get himself involved with, because she rarely allowed herself to get caught up in them to begin with. And yet... here she was, her eyes stinging as she tried not to cry into the shoulder of a surprisingly human super-powered psychopath (whom she'd known for less than two weeks) in the bowels of a hostile underground base.
The footsteps grew louder, breaking through the haze of relief for the first time, and she tensed again, drawing abruptly back from Reaper. Something told her that she didn't want anyone--but that a*****e with the blood in particular--to see her hugging him.
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