Fashionista

"So you choose violence? An interesting choice." The witch kept her eyes focused on the blade looming towards her. "I was planning on a sacrifice, it's true. One of them even has powers to make it a little more special. Not that it helped her when she tried snooping around, but you would be something even more special. Now, I know you aren't going to accept my offer willingly-"

The shadow creatures behind Siren lunged towards her, trying to trap her arms at her sides and her knees in conjunction with each other. The drip of shadows from the witch's fingers only further powered the loss of mass from the apparitions, making their girth and power more than it once was.

"But, I have means of persuasion. What if in exchange for you, I allow the girls with no powers to leave unharmed?"

When the shadow creatures went on the attack, Siren was actually prepared this time and swung her mace hand around to bat them away before turning her blade so it faced them and hopefully serving as an incentive not to try the same act again. She listened to the lady's words and although at first she wanted to tell her to take her offer and shove it...she then got an idea, but it would involve a bit of acting.

"An offer?" Siren lowered her mace arm just a little and tilted her head, "You would let them go in exchange for me, huh?...How do I know you'll keep your word though and it won't just be another trick?" After thinking for a second, she decided to put her plan into motion, "I want to see them...the REAL ones..including the one with powers...show me that they're unharmed and I will consider your offer."

"The deal is struck." Shadows from behind Siren began to slither away into the walls. No strand of hair or bolt of cloth hanging from the woman moved in the slightest as she turned for the hallway. "Follow me."

Every passageway they stepped through found itself barred from behind by shadows once Siren passed. "You should know we are no longer in the city you were previously walking in. You stepped into my world when you kicked that door in." Only small traces of light existed in the hallway, just enough to create the shadows hiding in the absence of the light. "I hope you know not all sacrifices are painful, or fatal- just permanent. But, always worth it."

Clad in the shadows of the room, the witch stepped towards the altar, a jagged spike pilfering the surrounding area is a crimson red glow. "And, now for my part of the deal." The witch waved her hand over to the location of Bliss, Erica, Mitsuko, and Nancy against the wall in a very deep state of slumber. "I let three of them go, and then you are mine."

Siren followed the woman into the dark depths, her way being closed off by what looked like walls made from shadows. The whole place had a eerie, unsettling vibe to it, as if it were saying you shouldn't have come here. When the woman mentioned that they were no longer in the city, she believed her, and to her dismay she did find herself agreeing with her views on "sacrifice". Sure, nobody always needed to die...but once you went through with it, you couldn't take it back.

I really hope we know what we're doing, Aurora. Alan mentioned in their shared mind.

Me too, partner. Aurora admitted.

They followed the woman into what seemed to be the actual altar room where they saw Bliss and the others against the wall. Before they could even think of running to them, she heard the woman speak again and then remembered the plan, "...I have a couple more questions first...who are you and why are you doing all this? What exactly is this "sacrifice" you need anyways?" A small part of Siren hoped that maybe they could talk some sense into this lady and get her to stop all this.

If not though...they were ready to fight.

A little bit of Bliss' eye opened. She grimaced, holding her right eye closed for long enough to try and remember the terrible dream she just had run through her head. Then she looked to Erica and Nancy next to her. Not a terrible dream. But, now someone else managed to get captured by the witch as well. Was this just bait for her, or did this witch just launch a kidnapping spree?

"Now that you have seen the girls in all their splendor, I believe we have a deal." The witch gestured to the altar as her shadow minions walked towards the wall with Mitsuko, Nancy, and Erica. "They can go back to their little boutique, and you can become an avatar of real strength and power. Just think of the vast knowledge contained in the essence of shadow. All the interlocking bits and-"

A shard of ice impacted into the witch's side. The sudden incision caused a slew of shadows to burst forth from her side. A howl of pain and irritation coursed through the gritted teeth of the witch seconds before the lance burst with a telekinetic blast.

"Keep it down!" Bliss stood to her feet, manifesting a shield of ice between her and the shadow minions. "I didn't sleep well."

By this point, Siren was getting tired of hearing this lady flap her gums and was wondering if she had a mute button on her. Not helping was when said jailer started going on about how she would make Siren into an "avatar of great knowledge and power" or some nonsense like that. The alien was about to reply when suddenly, Bliss woke up and planted an ice shard in the witch's body, surprising Siren.

Huh, not quite the plan I was going for but I'll take it. She quickly made her way over to Bliss' side, using her telekinesis to lift the destroyed ice shards into the air, "Hey there. Name's Siren. I'm sure you got a lot of questions but right now my main priority is getting you and your friends out of here, and something tells me we gotta take this lady down before we can leave." With those words spoken, she hurled the massive barrage of ice shards at the shadow woman.

A forceful fist punched its arm through Bliss' ice shield. The savage swipe of fingers thick with darkness and malice clawed a divot into the ice, shaving shards to  fall to the ground. Acting as a deterrent no longer suited this wall of ice. Bliss knew it, but from the reckless assault rallying against her, the shadow fiends did not. None of Bliss' visage made it through the thickness of the shadowed ice wall, leaving the fiends to merely claw at their best general guess of where the girl hid.

Lowered by the base of the wall, Bliss began charging telekinesis into her hands. Once she pulled enough for a major blast, Bliss hopped up, avoiding the blind swipes, and threw her hands into the wall. Every particle holding the wall together shattered towards the fiends, cutting them to ribbons, and scattering those ribbons to the wind.

The crack of the wall drew the attention of the witch for long enough for the shards to once again penetrate the witch's abdomen. Flinching from the flanking attack, the witch conjured up a bolt of pure shadow, looking at Siren. The woman before her would no doubt deal with this easily, but the former captive Bliss might not be so skilled at a defensive measure. With her decision made, the witch flung a bolt of shadow towards Bliss, banging into the front face of a new ice wall.

The divot in the wall sank deep, compromising the structure. The hidden figure of Bliss began to show from behind the wall. Bringing forth shadow into both hands, the witch eyed the point of contact where her first bolt fell. Two bolts blasted through the wall.

Siren saw the dark bolt incoming and ducked down to avoid it. Before she could launch a sonic scream at her target, she saw more dark bolts going towards Bliss,"Watch out!" She ran towards where Bliss was and morphed her arm into a shield to block the bolts as they came through.