Captured by Shade

Clayton took a quick look into the room through the hole he made in the wall and caught a glimpse of a white haired man rushing straight towards him in an attempt to take him down. If he peered in a second later, the man, probably this Phil he heard so much about, would have likely taken his head clean off; luckily, Clayton had more than enough time to pull himself out of the way, reach into his pocket and remove another jawbreaker-like grenade, and throw it directly at Malice. This one was different from the last; it was smoother, with a glassy feel to it, and a deep purple in color. On impact it would explode into a cloud of purple smoke. The burst of the capsule would be unlikely to damage Malice much at all, but that was not the goal; the goal was just to keep him confused and out of the way for as long as possible.

With one of the guards out of the way, Clayton was free to slip inside and get everyone’s favorite Asian cowgirl out of the warehouse. Thanks to Malice, Clayton didn’t notice the woman standing near the doorway on his first glance into the room, but there she was; the woman called Huntress standing there in her all her dazed glory. Not wanting to waste any time, Clayton drew the pistol he kept holstered on his shoulder with his right hand while he unsheathed a knife from the back of his waist with his left. The knife was to cut Elaine free and the pistol was to send a message to Huntress. He could hear Elaine muttering what sounded like a plea for help, but with the ringing in his ears from the back to back explosions he couldn’t quite make out the specifics, “One thing at a time, girl.” He responded to assure her that she’d be free soon, and then fired three shots at Huntress. One shot was aimed straight at her, and the other two on either side. If any connected they wouldn’t be lethal, but they’d hurt enough to make her think twice about trying anything.

Confident that one of the shots would connect, Clayton was practically a blur of motion as he rushed to the back of the chair Elaine was kept tied to, and frantically began sawing at the ropes with the serrated blade.

He didn't feel his attack come anywhere close to landing on the guy. It pissed Malcie off greatly. he wanted to turn his head into a nice mushy pulp, yet that would have to wait for now unfortunatly. As a thick cloud of purple smoke clouded his vision further. So pretty much he was a blind ,raging brute at this point. Lashing around as he aimed to strike down Clayton with one blow. Till his mind finally registered an important fact that slipped from it. He still had his neat little gift at his disposal. Which he planned to use at its full capacity. Tendrils of shadow forming around him in a swirling formation. Knocking away the smoke for the most part. Onyx eyes looking at the man who was aiming to free the little hostage. Brow scrunching into a look of pure anger."This one is going to die slowly." He mused slowly to himself. As the shadows took the form of many writhing ,and lashing static snakes. Hissing as they shot through the hole in the wall at high speed. Aiming to take his head off in a quick motion.

Slowly vision came back to her. Through the veil of white pain, it came back slowly. Which was a sort of relief in itself. Yet oh the fun was nowhere close to done. White hot pain like fire coursed through her left shoulder. It hurt pretty bad, but nothing she couldn't walk off. Still trying to look throught he blurry excuse for sight. Tears pretty much blinding her. Somewhat suprised that he didn't go with a real gun, something with bullets atleast. This was just balefully disapointing. Now she had the chance to get a little revenge against that asshole. No one fucked with the Huntress, and walked away. Nose breathing in the air deeply. It was saturated with many scents that overpowered her nose. Yet one held her attention above them all. It was the scent of the little cowgirl,along with an unfamilar one she couldn't quite place. Blur finally clearing as she quickly glanced over to her shoulder. Moving the jacket to see a big ugly bruise, as well as some bleeding. Theresa frowned at it, sneering over at Clayton balefully.As her right index finger drifted over to a button on a metallic box clinging to her wrist A fully functional crossbow popping out."Little fucker." She sneered as she reached for a crossbolt. Notching it, and quickly aiming at Clayton. Letting it fly with a twing.

Phil watched with curiosity at the car that crashed through the wall of the warehouse. Making a good bit of ruckus that seemed unnoticed by the others. Approaching the younger looking girl with a confident stride."I suppose i'll be the one who fights you. Not exactly my favorite thing to do, hitting a girl ,and all. Still your one of those hero people ,and all so I have to kill you I suppose. No hard feelings though." With the end of that sentence he rushed Gracie full speed. Aiming to crush her skull in with one well placed punch to the face.

Calamity rang out from the sounds of gunfire and structural damage. She never remembered any of the people holding her as the gun wielding type, so the racket from behind the door sounded very promising to her. Inch by inch she pushed the chair along the floor away from the direct path of the door to ensure any sudden opening would avoid striking her. The throbbing in her head gained momentum from the outburst of gun fire that riddled the outside hallway. "I'm not feeling good! So cut it out and save me already!" Curt yelling pushed back against her brain and caused her to wince from the agony.

Rubbing against the blistered skin of her forearm, Elaine pushed her wrist down to expand the circling around her wrist. She pulled her adjacent hand off to the side to try and bring the knot over, while placing her thumb on the opposite side of her bound hand. If she could muster enough of a gap between her left and right hand, it would give her more of a chance to escape. She forced her proximal hand under her her with enough of an angle to intensify the force that she could exert on the hand. Her force broke down on the hand dislodging the triquetral and pisiform bones from the hand, thus smoothing out her wrist.

The pain shot an adrenaline boost into her body that pushed back the pain from the poison and gave her more of an instinctual chance of escape. Her thumb remained as the place holder of her knot, and Elaine felt the throbbing of her head displace into the pain in her hand. The body only contains a limited number of pain receptors in the body, so this little stunt should by her a little clarity. She felt her hand squeeze through the gap and could feel an alleviation of pressure leave from around her hand. With one of her hands freed from the cords she could begin to pick away at the know that once held her hands together. In spite of her recent liberation, she still faced a large obstacle with cords still binding her tightly to the chair.

In the span of a few seconds Clayton was nearly through the rope. Elaine was telling him to speed it up, but he was going as fast as humanly possible. Given a few more seconds the ropes would be cut and the hostage would be free; unfortunately, Clayton didn’t even have that. “Working on it … You’ll be out of here in no t--” Clayton stopped himself midsentence. He could hear what sounded like the whistle of a spear cutting through the air coming directly towards him, and in corner of his eye he could make out what looked to be pitch-black tendrils jetting out of the darkness. Clayton was in the air and avoiding the shadow tendrils in an instant. He dodged them in a rolling motion, dropped his pistol, and landed to the ground. Upon landing there was the familiar thwip! of a crossbow being fired from Huntress’ direction behind him. In one rapid, fluid spinning motion he was facing her now with the crossbow bolt clutched in his now bleeding hand; it didn’t cut him deeply, but enough to sting. Normally, he would have simply dodged the bolt, but there was no way he could risk it hitting Elaine instead. The mixture of fear and adrenaline created a buzz which resonated through his rib cage. He was in over his head and he knew it. Were he on his own he would have fled. He wasn’t on his own, though; there were other people’s lives depending on him here.

Clayton began laughing as he stared Huntress down with bolt in hand. The laughter was completely involuntary, but it was probably all he could do to keep himself from being paralyzed with panic. He couldn’t let them know he was scared. He refused to give them any more edge than they already had.

Both attacks didn't hit the intended target, yet something came out of this. Huntress could just feel it. Especially since she put one of her special poisons along the head of that bolt. It was one of her most wonderful poisons. Judging from how he laughed at her the poison was taking its effect wonderfully. She had to try ,and rein in the urge to laugh at this turn of fortune. Not wasting time to let him get used to the effects of the poison. Tounge excitedly running over her lips as she advanced on the two menacingly." That was a pretty good catch. Your boyfriend must be really proud when you "catch" for him" She snikered, raising an eyebrow, Pulling a small katana from a small pocket in her boot. Brandishing it in a slightly menacing way. Blade tip pointing at Clayton. While Malice stayed in the shadows curious of what the warrior planned.

While Phil had to deal with this annoying girl. She wasn't crushed by his fist like hoped. In fact it collided with a pretty tough car. Though it was nothing against his hard skin."Weak car you got." A nice sized dent was left in it. Though the attack thrown at him was an interesting one indeed. All Phil could think to do was leap back with arms crossed. As the energy collided with his arms hard, pain coursing through his body. Leaving decent burns over his forearms. It hurt, but he could deal with it." Well that hurt, but now its my turn." He moved forward. Gripping on the bottom of the front of the car. With a quick powerful motion, he flipped the car. Aiming to crush her under the weight of it.

With a crushed hand and a little freedom, Elaine began to formulate the odds of the situation. They did not look good. "Cut my ankles free, moron!" If she wanted a rescue, she would just need to do it herself. She already broke part of her wrist, so why not keep inflicting pain in the hopes of escape. Prior to his escapades and acrobatics, Clayton managed to loosen up her bonds a little around her chest. Forcing her shoulder down and then against the natural rotation, she dislodged the shoulder muscle. With the muscle out of socket, she could manage to pull her shoulder up over her head, and wiggle her hand out with a little help from her other hand. A little breathing room came to her chest, as a crossbow bolt shot over towards Clayton. "I need an antidote from that girl. She poisoned me."

Elaine slipped down and gripped the side of the chair with her right arm. Acrobatics and contorting hips brought her out of the grip of the chair, but her feet still remained bound. Without her feet escape looked far too distant. Decisions needed her immediate attention as her shoulder redirected the pain from her broken wrist. At least the horrible poison now ranked third on her list of what hurt.

Rolling into against the ground and towards Clayton, she flipped her feet into the air in hopes that Clayton would cut through the ropes so they could begin focusing on other problems.

Clayton shook his head and sighed at Huntress’ attempt at a joke. “Is that really the best you could come up with? You’re gonna have to work on that.” The last words of his sentence seemed to trail awkwardly long to him in his head even though, in reality, they came out regularly; something was not right here. Clayton aimed to throw the crossbow dart back at huntress; it was a task he accomplished, but his arm seemed to stretch on longer than it should have. He shook his head, Bitch probably poisoned the dart. Pull yourself together, this is no different from that time in Mexico. he tried to keep himself grounded; if this poison were anything similar to what he was mentally comparing it to, he would need to keep his head on straight. Reality was about to become very different to him than it was to everyone else.

Elaine fell to the floor in a tangled mess in front of him. “Jesus, girl. What the hell are you doing?” Clayton was astonished at the way she sacrificed her bones in an attempt to free herself. He bent down and complied with her request without taking his eyes off Huntress whether the bolt hit her or not. “I think she poisoned us both.” His pupils were starting to dilate and his voice was echoing in his head. “But don’t worry. I’ll get that antidote. Can you walk?”

She watched with a bemused expression as he threw the bolt right back at her. Which was a pointless move anyway. Theresa smiled as she sidestepped it, hand reaching out quickly to grab it by the shaft of the bolt. Letting it go as it clattered to the floor slowly. Eyes returning to the two heroes that she knew she would have to fight, but something could make this more interesting."Cuties right, i poisoned both you little heroes. Though lucky for him that little poison will only him trip him out for a few hours. While we both know you'll die little girl without this." She pulled a small clear vial from the pouch on her thigh. Holding it up to glimmer in a faint beam of sunlight." If you don't give this to her within the next nine hours she will die. No other antidotes can be made that quickly either, since this is a little blend I made myself. Though seeing that you didn't bring Elena like you could've done. We will have to do this the hard way. I think i'll pay you back for that little flashbang you used on me." She returned the little vial to the pouch. Pulling out two of what can only be described a earplugs. Placing them into her ears.Then holding up her left hand to show an odd ring that adorned it. Tip of one of the claws pressing onto a button, then moving as the ring twisted. A loud peircing frequency emmiting from it. Malice held his hands over his ears, yet the sound still reached them. Now she was on a hunt, and they were the prey.

" You could help us? Wow thats great!" Phil said with a big goofy seeming grin. Jumping for joy a bit higher than expected. Swingign from an overhead rafter like a swing somewhat. Then turning upside down to hang from his legs, before falling back to the floor. Landing silently on his feet." Theresa really didn't want all this stupid shit happening anyway. All we wanted was Elena back, then you could have the little cowgirl, and the antidote. Though i guess this makes things easier." He had let down his guard for the briefest moment. Which was deadly for even the most skilled assassin. Yet he was just a little too excited about seeing Elena again.

"Do more than walking; try not to get in my way." Emanating from a ring in the hand of huntress,a high pitched noise invaded her brain. She felt as though she could feel every crevice and chasm within her brain, exacerbating the pains the poison gave her. Clayton looked as though he saw something that probably did not exist, but given Elaine's frequent spirit visitors she really stood in no place to judge.

That did not stop her though. "What are you looking at?" Elaine brought her hand across Clayton's face to bring him back to this world. "I'm going to borrow this. You're welcome." Elaine reached into Clayton's jacket and pulled out a smoke grenade before taking a step forward to jump into the hallway. She threw her legs towards Huntress's lower shoulders. As her legs moved into the air Elaine dislodge the pin from the smoke grenade and rolled it on the ground in between Malice and Huntress.

Elaine would try to shift her weight to land on her dislodged left shoulder to prepare for her next course of action. The ever sounding siren of the ring still splitting at her ears, Elaine felt like she came back into the fold of action.

“9 hours? Lady, it isn’t even gonna take ten seconds to knock you out and take the antidote. So why don’t you just hand it over already?” like the venoms in the veins of the heroes, there was venom in Clayton’s voice as he spoke to Huntress. As he stared huntress down her features began to warp into something not entirely human. She took on a feral appearance that was something like a jackal: hideous and malevolent in nature. It’s not real you idiot, pull yourself together before you get yourself and your friends killed. some inner voice seemed to call out to him and Clayton shook his head in attempt to dispel the illusion. It did not entirely work, but it was enough to get him atleast somewhat grounded before the sonic assault on his eardrums began. He futilely covered his ears; the high pitched sound was deafening and made for a minor throbbing pain in the front of his brain. After the initial shock of pain he removed his hands to find he was temporarily deafened. Elaine spoke something to him that he could not hear at all before she reached into his pocket and attempted an assault on the huntress. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” he called out to her louder than he intended to. Her motions seemed staccato, and happened before him as individual panels of a comic book. The hallucinations weren’t fazing him as well as huntress would have hoped; Clayton was still very ready to fight.

With Elaine assault coming at Huntress from the front, Clayton decided to move into the smoke of the grenade the cowgirl borrowed from him with hopes that should the jackal woman avoid the attack that she would be foolish enough to seek refuge in it.

He actually thought that 9 hours was the time she would get? How naive the heroes proved to be, over and over again. The kick that was aimed at her, came clearly in the fields of her vision. Huntress as able to figure out the trajectory of the kick as the smoke came. Quickly reaching into the pouch to pull out a syringe. Holding it precariously between her index, and middle fingers. Sniffing out as she moved to where the kick only brushed against her shoulder. Pulling the jacket off, as it flitted to the dirty ground. Moving at full speed, as she aimed to inject her with the accelerator. A lovely little injection that would turn the tides of the battle to their favor. If it worked, the effects of the poison would greatly increase. Lowering her time left to only 54 minutes. Though that was only if the needle sunk in anyway."Knock me out in ten seconds you say? Well thats a cocky attitude for such an insignifigant little man. Try to worry more about yourself. The worst of the little hallucinations have yet to begin." What she meant was that it was known to even dredge up painful memories.

Malice saw the man move into the smoke faintly. So he took that as a sign to get moving. Though he could barely see as the smoke covered his feild of vision. Growling lowly as he looked for the man. Him and his toys ere beggining to annoy him greatly. A claymore of shadows formed in his hand, statice in construct. As he swung it around in a circle, hoping to hit something.

Phil was humming pleased to himself. He thought he was one step closer to having Elena set free. Which was why eh was suprised whent he attack came. Though a small part of him wasn't suprised one bit. The cynical part that cursed him as the attack sailed towards his face, Trying to vainly dodge it full speed. Muscles moving overtime, though it was no good. As the blinding light was replaced with the darkness.

Elaine dropped onto her shoulder and swung her body back so she could perform a quick shove maneuver. She thrust her elbow against the ground, using her right hand as a brace to control the flow of force into the elbow socket. Her arm popped back into the slot, but the pain lingered from the previous escape attempt. "Do some hero stuff, idiot." She called out to Clayton regardless of what happened to distract at him at that moment. "Or throw me your gun."

Elaine kept her newly acquired arm under herself to give her leverage on her right leg. With her right arm tucked into her left bicep, she threw her right leg towards the side of the syringe to dislodge it from her hand. After the spin of the kick, Elaine would thrust herself forward to try interlocking her elbow with Huntress's arm. "Time for us to take a dose of each other's medicines." Elaine spotted an opportunity that she could not pass up on.

Malice grabbed some odd metaphysical properties and swung them in a circle. Elaine needed to grab Huntress and get her motion to move towards the blade long enough for the impact to do the work that needed doing. After the sequence of events resolved themselves, Elaine would reach down to grab the jacket and make a jump towards Clayton. "Your turn." Elaine hoped that the skirmish that she accomplished would give her rescue party time to think up how to end this circumstantial could end.