Dire Straights (Row)

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

Across town, a phone lit up with an ominous ring tone. A set of maintained, but not ornate nails reached over and took the phone up to a slender cheek with a strand of hair loosely hanging by her eye. "Bliss what do you want? I'm kinda busy right-" Danny's attention changed from simple annoyance to a butt-dial to the realization everything was going wrong for Bliss. "Getting ready."

The situation took a more troubling turn when Dr. K decided against Bliss' arguments with a more physical approach. "Calling people to let them know you're alright is just considerate. Way more considerate than what you're about to do with that tape."

Bliss pressed her lips together as Dr. K pushed the strip over her mouth, keeping the only talkative member of the fight in the same quiet state as the other two. Her eyes narrowed as her comments now fell into a more quiet state. The time for her escape would soon be at hand, but Bliss needed to know how this guy operated- and where he operated. With only some strips of duct tape keeping her bound, Bliss knew she could easily freeze those over and burst them to free herself, but she did not need to let Dr. K know any of that. Not yet.

With her hands restrained behind her back, Bliss could only hold one position while K dragged her and Lunetta out to his van. The box he placed her in looked more stylish and than just a simple crate. The hinges looked reinforced from the outside and the inner lining looked sealed enough to allow air in, but soften enough blows to keep the crate from breaking. Bliss tucked her legs closer to her body, trying to press her hands close to the heels of her boots. Lunetta fell on top of Bliss. It would not be a comfortable ride, but Bliss liked the lack of eyes on her right now.

Ice began to form around the inside of Bliss' wrists. Once her wrists iced over enough, Bliss would begin to build up ice around the ankle of her boots. Once she could figure out where she was, Bliss could make her break out.

Danny rolled up to the Gala, stepping out in a pair of jeans with a green sweatshirt. Before the cell phone gave out, it gave Danny a GPS location to investigate. That, and Bliss explicitly told her about the Gala, now she just needed to make sure she did not arrive too late. No one really paid any attention to the casually dressed college student strolling along the sides of the gala, letting Danny get up the stairs very easily. Her eyes dotted left, then right, then she managed to hear a very muffled voice coming from the end of the hall.

Following her intuition, Danny began to move towards what sounded like a gagged distress call. She turned the corner, looked down to Ashley, and pulled the tape off her mouth. "Do you know where they went?" A turquoise blade formed out of Danny's bracelet, ready to cut the tape around Ashley's torso.

As he entered the car, he deactivated the creatures inside of Lunetta. He did not want the girl dying yet. To his surprise, the other girl was well behaved. It was a little worrying given how easily she fought off the shadow girl. Then he though back to the phone call. Who did she call? The man continued driving and until he arrived at an abandoned warehouse.

The paint was peeling off. The windows were broken. A rusted fork lift lied with broken tongs along the entrance of a door-less garage. Inside everything was dirty. The floor, walls, not broken windows, broken windows, even the doors were just plastered with dirt. As Dr. K drugged the chest through the building, one area seemed a bit cleaner. A small square in the ground lifted and  revealed a stair well.

Down the stairs was his lab. Their were tubes, green goo, candles, and grime. It was not clean in the slightest but science waits for no janitor.
"After I succeed in my studies, I could afford a janitor." He set the chest against the walls and opened it.
Behind him was a couple of beds with straps. The white sheets were covered by a blanket of dirt. The man planned to strap the girls onto the beds but first he had to prepare some things.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lunetta breathing slowed as the creatures inside her body ceased their torture. She trembled, afraid to resist but also nervous for being so close to her enemy. She could not remember how she gotten here but she knew her body was sore and her head ached to the point were she could barely think.
"Girl, Can you hear me," whispered a eerie voice, "Nodded your head if you can. I think we can come to an arrangement if we collaborate "

Bliss had ridden in less comfortable vans before. The lining of the crate actually cut down on some of the road noise, but did little to soften the occasional whines and whimpers coming from her enemy turned compatriot in kidnapping. She could break the bonds around her hands and ankles anytime she wanted, but if she could not getting the lid to this crate open, she would be in a terrible spot. Freeing her fellow prisoner would not benefit her if Lunetta just stabbed Bliss at the first instance. Whatever this guy had planned, it would not take place in this crate, so Bliss just needed to wait for him to remove her, hoping he would need to go back for Lunetta, then Bliss could escape and begin her winter aggression.

Danny walked down the stairs with a quickness Ashley did not have the shoes to keep up with. "Do you know where they are going?"

"He didn't say anything." Ashley kept her hand on the railing as she watched to make sure her heels impacted just right. "Just something about science, and he smashed Bliss' phone, so we can't track it that way."

"Does she have her communicator or anything we can track?" Getting out of the gala did not take much effort at all in its waning hours. Most of the party goers had broken off into smaller groups, leaving large swathes of the floor open for moving.

"No, everything was in my purse. We need your magic or whatever to-"

"On it." Very little of Danny's expertise with magic came up- even Danny did not quite know how she would ask ghosts where to find Bliss. But, still she rubbed one of the gems in the bracelet. She continued to picture Bliss' face in her mind. It was an angry face most of the time. Sometimes yelling. Then, she began to get a vision of a van. It moved. Stopped. Waited for traffic, then continued on it's path. She could see the route, but she needed to wait for the entire route to materialize, taking a very long time, but giving Danny the knowledge of where they went. "We need to get there fast."

With the offer to team up ignored, Gia had no choice but to rely on her weaken host. She could feel Lunetta holding on to the tiny treads provided by the darkness which kept her awake. It was time they they acted.
"My child, do you hear me," Gia whispered. Only Lunetta could here her words, "My child, you must use me. Set me free. Call my name."
Lunetta's weakness blinded her senses. Even Gia's voice was hard to here.
"My child call my name. Remember the teachings."
Lunetta shifted her head trying to find the voice.
"Call my name, did you forget me? Did you forget who you are?"
Lunetta mumbled something unintelligible. Her breathing intensified. She started squirming and moaning as she remembered the pain.
"My child, remember the teachings."
Lunetta started to panic, struggling to break free.
"Remember the traitors, use..."

A bright light flooded the chest, and Gia's voice was muted. Lunetta froze as her strength was sapped. Then a hand reached in and grabbed her.
"Good morning, shadow girl. Did you enjoy your box?"
Lunetta's eyes turned away from the man as she struggled to conserve energy.
"Good to see you too. Without all your black weaponry."
He dragged her over to one of the beds and slammed her down into the restraints.
"Now for your Frozen friend"

Apart of Bliss' plan finally landed in the crucible. K removed Lunetta from the box first. The girl looked like the light punched her in the face with all the subtlety of a concrete block. The blunt pain to her did not cause Bliss to get overly concerned about Lunetta's well being. Bliss planned on being able to pull Lunetta out of this entire debacle, but she did not want her to get away too clean.

Bliss pulled her wrists as far apart as she could, allowing her to make the tape more taut. Once Bliss pushed it as far as she could, a minor telekinetic blast forced the shattered ice through the tape, releasing Bliss. Outside of the crate, she could hear the sound of straps tightening. A class track on the villain playlist. Bliss reached down and ripped the tape around her ankles, trying to keep it from creaking too loudly. It felt good to have her hands in front of her again, but it would feel better when she put them to use.

Pulling herself up, Bliss hopped out of the box, pointing at Dr. K. "Mouw ure en fo-" Bliss reached up and ripped the tape from her mouth. "Better. Now, you're in for a massive beatdown!" Bliss popped her fingers, throwing a little bit of ice from her tips. She let a small patch of ice grow in front of her, hoping to cut off a direct charge.

Danny sat in the back of a taxi with Ashley next to her. The instructions Danny gave came from a less than conventional place, but she could still lead the girl well enough. The count of street lights grew in the distant counting of Ashley's mind. They just needed Bliss to hold on a little longer.

"What the!" Shouted a startled Dr. K. The girl broke free of her bounds somehow? To think she was only pretending to be caught. It had to be a trap, no, a bait to lure her friends here. He noticed ice forming around the girl and decided to analyze the event later.
"Bravo... is what i would say except you forgot about my Corpuscula."  
Dr K would them reach in his pocket and try and press the button on his remote. Should he succeed, A wave of pain would swim through Bliss's body. Following the wave, her body would heat up as if she was having a fever and every muscle would feel like tiny needles were being thread though the fibers. Her skin would turn pink as her blood pressure increased and she would grow physically weaker.  

With this creature working he would then grab the nearest pipe lying down on a table in all of its rusted glory and cautiously move towards the girl. In his mind the device would make her weak enough to take down, even though he was just a normal man. However, should all of this fail, he did have one more trump card. Something he would do to make sure nobody got away. After all, this was the broken man's final attempt to become successful.

When making her plan, Bliss put a heavy bet on the corpuscala. It would all come down to could she take this guy out before he recaptured her. A sense of discomfort ran through her muscles. She expected the worst. But, she expected it in a slow dose. This could speed her up a little. "It feels a little hot in here." Ice began to pour through every crack and crevice in the room. While Bliss could feel herself growing weaker, she could feel the room dropping lower in temperature. "Don't worry, I'll deal with the air conditioning."

The bag of tricks Bliss pulled from did not typically change, mainly because her ice set her up for so many different attacks and techniques, but one of the most dangerous ones always came from the mere temperature drop within the room. If K wanted the attack Bliss' muscles, Bliss would launch a similar attack with a severe drop in the temperature.

All the while the room began to freeze over, Bliss set into action her own cleansing process. Ice began to form around her, trapping her inside of a block of her own ice, lowering her body temperature. If the little bastard inside of her wanted to mooch off of her vital signs, it could pay a rental fee. The temperature of the room would not reach quite as low as the temperature Bliss planned on lowering her body.

It was risky as Bliss could only survive in her own subzero temperatures for so long, but she took the bet she could outlast the creature Dr. K injected into her.

Dr. K watched as the room temperature dropped. The girl obviously was just to scare him but as long as his Corpuscula were inside of her, he won the game. The girl would eventually kill herself from exhausting. A sad fate but one he was prepared for. Well maybe not. More subjects meant a higher probably of success. So he grudging marched through the cold with his pipe to the girl. She was growing weaker so he knew he won. Until the unthinkable happened.

As he went to swing, a block of ice encased the girl. The pipe shattered, cutting his hand and sending him back as he slipped. He fell on his side, crushing his remote and losing the ability to control the Corpuscula. "NOOO!" he screamed as he tried dug up the broken device. "YOU BITCH!" He tried to stand up but slipped again.

Inside the girl's body, the Corpuscula slowly ceased functioning and died from the cold temperatures.  They were not designed to survive such an environment. The girl had ruined everything. He had to escape. Even though he wanted to kill the girl, the block of ice and frozen temperature would halt his secret weapon from working. It was probably frozen by now. So he did the only logical thing.

He made his escape. The effects of the Corpuscula would not immediately wear off as the stronger one fought to survive and continue their last order and the shadow girl was stuck on the table. With a bleeding hand, he crawled to the stairwell and closed the door. Then he ran to his van to drive off. It was his only chance to get away.

More ice began to form until she could no longer feel the foreign sting of an alien invader. Just the chilly sting of her own ice icy over her nerves. The culmination of ice stopped. In its wake, Bliss began to generate kinetic energy with her telekinesis until she finally let it all break in a powerful wake of shattered ice. "Now, who's-"

It took a quick glance around the room to see no one actively attacking Bliss. "Oh. I guess I won." No direct celebrations of parades for Bliss. It did leave her with an odd dilemma. But, first, Bliss needed to get rid of the icy resolution she filled the room with.

Telekinesis shattered the rest of the ice, leaving cold puddles around the room. Bliss walked over to Lunetta, looked the girl in the eyes, then reached down to her cheek. "You and I have some things to talk about." Bliss tore the tape off of Lunetta's mouth. "Starting with why were you trying to kill Ashley? Then, who was that guy. But, first, if there is a voice talking to you and telling you to kill people, maybe ignore it."

Lunetta turned her had as the man screamed in anger. The girl broke free, not surprising. The man was angry too. Seemed he failed, served him right. Lunetta closed her eyes to blink but when they opened up, the room was freezing. The air nipped at her skin like ants over a gumdrop. Now the man was running away. Blood trailed behind him like bread crumbs. The girl on the other hand was in a block of ice.

Lunetta exhaled and watched her breath float freely. She tugged on her arm, but the straps did not grow weaker. That or she lacked the strength to fight back. The lamp above her was making her body 3 times heavier and her flesh raved in agony from what ever sorcery the doctor did to her. At least the back of her head did not hurt anymore.

Before she could comprehend her next feeling, her mouth burned. Her lips were not sealed anymore and she could breathe out her mouth. Another lapse in consciousness she had to assume. It was the only explanation for the room feeling warmer, the most air, and the ice girl standing over her. She needed no words for Lunetta to understand the situation. Unable to face defeat, Lunetta moved to the side. Her hands trembled with weakness and rage.

Once again, she failed. She let the target get away despite being in her own element. She was strucked in the back because she messed around. Now she had to face the Hero and reap the reward for defeat. The same reward she granted her brothers and sisters. It was only fair. To underestimate your opponent and... Oh the girl was talking.

Lunetta did not bother to face her. She had no mask, no hood, nor the darkness to hid anything about herself. This girl could see who she was and knew exactly what she could do. Still, Lunetta remained silent. Two questions and a sly comment floated above Lunetta's head.
With a deep breath, Lunetta forced out some words in a raspy voice.
"It is my job to take down the traitors in mi famiglia."
Despite sounding like a dying old grandma, Lunetta felt like she was shouting off the top of her lungs. It would take a moment of catching her breath to make another sentence. She did not have time for that.
"The man... I don't know him. He stuck a knife to back. So I made the mistake of using him."

With the last comment, Lunetta did not know how to respond. Gia was not just a voice in her head. She was a spirit, a founder, the reason Lunetta had a reason to exist and was still alive now. However, even that did not seem to be much of a secret anymore.
"She is not a voice..."
Lunetta returned to staring at Bliss. Normally Lunetta would be fuming but she did not have the energy to lash out at the girl for insulting Gia. It as another disgrace she would be force to wear. In her head, she apologized to the spirit, not that she would respond in this light. Even Lunetta was starting to have a hard time staying awake. Her eyes closed as she gave in to temptation. If the girl was going to kill her, at least she did not have to watch.

"He pulled a knife on you, and your initial thought was 'I can use this guy'? This is how plans begin that wind up with you strapped to a table." Pulling the restraints off of Lunetta probably needed to come into Bliss' planning in the near future, but for now, she could do just fine with the girl not being able to attack her. "She's not a voice. Hmmm. So, she's the reason you are morally compromised. Again, maybe you just stop talking to her."

Dr. K suffered a defeat, but his retreat might not be permanent- or even that long. If he stalked around and took the element of surprise, he would not fall for not knowing the capacities of Bliss' powers next time. For all she knew, Dr. K had some anti-freeze ability he merely went to get. At any rate, he would most likely begin working on some for the next time. Maybe frost resistant duct tape as well.

"If I let you go, what makes me think you aren't going to go off and try to kill some other poor person because your crazy ghost friend wants to take care of the family?" Bliss levitated a roll of tape over to her hand. "Because this can go one of two ways, and I am not opposed to putting this back and leaving you here."

Lunetta continued to focus on not falling asleep. The girl's first words, seemed meaningless except to just add insult to injury. IT was obvious now that it was a bad idea... no, letting him live was a bad idea. She still needed him to get into the event. The only other alternative was to just sneak in through the back but that would have forced her to operate in the light. Thus the mission would have ended up in a failure... not that it already hasn't.

"I wonder..."
Morals were something that changed culture to culture. In her world, killing the innocent unneeded only brought attention. Killing the family was the worst thing you could do period. However, people did it anyway and that is why people like her existed.
"The people we target broke law, tradition, the teachings. We do not judge nor label their actions. We are simply the executioner."

Lunetta took another deep breath. Her face felt like it was in front of an oven. She questioned if she should share this information. Clearly the light was getting to her head. Her heart was too exhausted to panic. Her brain was too numb to see right and wrong. Her mind had gave up on living.

"I trusted my guardians to not leave me behind. I trusted brothers to protect me. I trusted my family to have my back. What I got was a dagger in my back and blood of the only person who cared on my hands," Lunetta chuckled, "Mi dispiace, I am not, how you say, qualified to talk about trusting. However, we are bound by our word. If you wish to see this Ashley live. we will forget her."

She took another deep breath, "If you are going to leave us here, at least grant us freedom from that man. My heart is on the left... My left. Then all those you consider innocent. All those who took everything from me. All those who would further taint Her name. They will be free from our wraith."

With her request out, she finally came the her exhaustion and fainted.

"Yeah, that would be just super if you didn't kill Ashley." Bliss shook her head as her eyes rolled back. When she came back to focus on Lunetta, she noticed the girl knocked out. "Maybe you won't be too bad if I give you a chance..."

A little ice and telekinesis broke Lunetta loose from the restraints keeping her latched to the table. Probably not comfortable, but still probably nicer than duct tape. Bliss pulled Lunetta off the table, letting her ankles strike the tile first with enough impact to not damage her heels. A man abducted her already tonight, she did not need to lose a pair of shoes in the process too.

Lifting and pulling did not accompany Bliss as strengths, but she did manage to pull Lunetta out of the lab and into the alleyway. The roll of tape remained around her wrist just in case something bad happened, but Bliss liked to think she would not be needing problems solved in such a shady manner. "I should probably leave you somewhere shady, but I need to make sure that guy is gone for good." Bliss lowered Lunetta in the shadow of a trashcan. "At least gone for tonight. I'll be dealing with him shortly."

As Lunetta entered the shade of the trash, her expression relaxed. Her body slowly rejuvenated, returning the energy lost from bathing in the light. Her skin cooled and her body followed shortly after. She took a deep breath, as the shadows further nursed her body. Then her powers, Gia's influence returned.

"You survived... somehow, your not died." stated the voice inside of Lunetta's head
Lunetta could not responded though she would not. She failed and now promised not to kill the traitor. She failed Gia, all so that she could live. A coward's way out and thus she was too now a traitor... unless she broke her word.
"I saw the target... we had the wrong girl."

Lunetta gasped and opened her eyes. They were outside. She was not dead. But worst, Gia's words. Lunetta looked up and standing above her was the girl. She reached for her hood only to see it was down. She sighed and recovered her head. The girl beaten her, got a promise out of her, and knew her face. Lunetta truly failed to remain hidden. Her only saving grace was that she did not exist in the eyes of the public. Still, she was surprised the girl saved her. Gia knows she would not have done the same if their positions were switched.

"Why... why did you help us. I could have lied... and you don't know me?"