Gamble The Night Away

[Serenity Nashimura]

Serenity glared at the man, mocking her attack. That was the best thing she had up her sleeves, besides going under full shadow control and there was no way she was doing that. She looked at her still shaking arms and worked to get them to still, flexing her fingers and rubbing at the raw skin. Raven threw up the shield but Serenity didn't feel any safer. She looked to her forming portal, estimating that it would take another few minutes. Thankfully, Raven asked the perfect question to distract Mr. Sinister.

While the man was talking, Serenity closed her eyes and forced her mind to relax. When they went through the portal, she was going to have to make sure to close it before Sinister followed them. The process of breaking down the portal took far less time than actually building it, but there was still time for someone to follow. Serenity couldn't have that happen. Once they went through the portal, her overall strength was going to go down and she didn't want to be left in that position.

Sinister glared and snarled blame at Raven and Serenity opened her eyes, confused. 'What is he talking about, Raven?'[/i] she thought to her friend. 'He's talking as if he knew you before the hospital.'[/i] Serenity obviously didn't know everything about Raven; she'd never read her memories and never wanted to. But she figured that if Raven had met Mr. Sinister before, the shorter girl wouldn't have forgotten. So what was the red-eyed man talking about?

When Sinister attacked, Serenity's eyes widened, especially when crack lines began to run over the barrier, blooming out from the middle. "Raven!" she screamed, knowing that the portal wasn't going to be finished in time.[/color]

OOC: Grace said it was okay for the barrier to break.

[Rachel Roth]

Raven's stared at the mad man on the other side of the wall in growing disbelief. He was definitely mad, of this she was sure. She could practically smell the crazy coming off of him in waves, it showed in his eyes and rang through his words. Crazy, but still dangerous. Extremely so. The amount of power he had, and that he had managed to escape a prison made specifically for him... Raven knew prison's like that. People didn't break out. Dread grew in the pit of her stomach. The feeling spiked, though, when he said her - she - was a part of his plan. Involuntarily, she stepped back.

In response to Serenity's telepathic question, Raven answer - almost frantically - I don't know! I've never seen him before! I..." She got no further before the maniac before her slammed into the shield. It hit Raven like a physical blow and she stumbled back, clutching her gut. At the same time, Serenity shouted her name and she looked up. Tiny cracks were spreading from the impact point and through it all she could see his grin. The short girl looked frantically around, the porthole wasn't ready yet, but she couldn't hold the shield after another hit like that.

In her mind, she made a split second decision. The last thing she wanted to risk was letting Kerry out of her newly made prison, and so with that in mind, Raven took a deep breath - and attacked. "Keep that porthole going!" She yelled to Serenity. Shoving one fist forward, the shield shattered along the cracks, turning into tiny deadly missiles and hurling themselves at Mr. Sinister. A second later, the girl followed them, launching into the air with an enhanced jump. Building another shield around her, much like the one Sinister had made before against the alcohol bomb, she crashed into him with all the force of meta-linebacker. She would stop him!

[Nathaniel Essex]

Even through the distortion of the barrier Sinister could tell he was getting to her...Raven was worried, and rightly so. The syringe he had hidden in his body wasn't filled with a simple numbing agent, or tranquilizer, or anything simple like that. No, there was something special in there he had created just for Rachel, and the effects would be downright frightening. But, right now did not look like the most opportune moment to use it.

The shield shattered like glass, but then it started shooting at him like missiles. The first one hit him, knocking his right shoulder back a bit, and doing what looked like some good damage, but the wound vanished nearly as fast as it appeared. He chuckled darkly at the oncoming attacks, allowing a few more to hit him just for the sake of intimidation before trowing up a telekinetic shield to guard against the rest. The attacks were actually quite strong, but he couldn't let on that he was having trouble, that would only fuel Raven's determination.

When the villain saw the petite superhuman flying toward him, intent on colliding with him, he decided to give her exactly what she wanted. "Let's see which is stronger--your shield or my body."[/color] He said, telepathically, to his opponent. Mister Sinister cocked his right fist back, and then launched it at Raven when she drew almost too close for comfort. He threw everything he had into that punch--every ounce of superhuman strength he had, hoping to not only break the shield but send the tiny woman flying backward in a world of hurt. As for Serenity, he was not concerned. What good was the portal if neither woman could walk to it?

[Serenity Nashimura]

Serenity was pretty sure that if there was anyone close enough to her, they'd be throwing soap at her, telling her to clean out the demonic tongue of hers that refused to stop uttering curse after curse. She didn't even know where she was pulling half of them from but it was helping her from just booking it out of the room and jumping through the unfinished portal. At Raven's command, Serenity had turned away from the fight. She needed to be fully concentrated on her task and couldn't be if she was watching Raven (hopefully) kick Sinister's butt into the ground. So, she stared at her portal, focusing all of her mental power on it. The shadows forming picked up speed a bit but it wasn't fast enough in her opinion.

'Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,'[/i] Serenity repeated over and over in her mind. She stripped off the tattered gloves on her arms, seeing as they weren't doing much now that they were just rags. She sank down to one knee and placed her hands against the ground, willing the shadows to move it! They flew faster but it still felt like they were slowly creeping over each other. She wondered if she should decrease the distance she was aiming for but decided against it. The portal forming would take them ten miles away, almost her full limit. That much distance should be enough to give them a head-start against Sinister. And, if her memory of the map of the city was correct, it would also put them near Raven's hospital, a hopeful safe haven. Serenity went back to cursing under her breath.[/color]

[Rachel Roth]

"Get out of my head!" Raven roared telepathically at him. That was one place no one was welcome. She was already in flight when she saw the fist coming at her. Rather that try to dodge, she moved the shield she had created, concentrating it on where he was like to hit. When he did, the force itself was enough to blast her backwards. However, thanks to the shield, the only damage done was a violent bruise spreading across half her face, colored with blood seeping from ruined skin. This only fueled her determination more, though. If he could do this to her at her best, what could he do to the rest of the world? Rolling with the momentum of his attack she landed on the other side of the room and grimaced. She hadn't even touched him.

Gesturing with one hand, she threw another wave of doctored shrapnel at him. It all seemed to pass through him without causing any harm, but she knew that she needed every advantage, and it caused her little effort to do. It would bother him like fleas or midges while she attacked in full.

Just like before, she gathered her power to her, making a shield and boosting her physical, launching herself through the air towards him like a black bullet of death. She knew full well what she risked by attacking outright, but she was uninterested with the facts and the odds. She just kept going.

[Nathaniel Essex]

The time was drawing nigh--Sinister could feel it. Raven was putting up as much fight as she could muster, but even she knew it was not enough to best this god-like mutant. There was a reason the name Mister Sinister was feared by not only the X-Men, but by heroes around the world, and that was because anyone who had ever faced him knew making enemies with this mutant meant having to battle a force like Hell itself with a mind like Stephen Hawking and no morality. Soon, Raven would understand that completely... Soon she would fall victim to the formula within Nathaniel's secret syringe.

More attacks came at him as he slowly walked toward the downed Rachel Roth. He smirked at the weak assault, his body healing in seconds after each wound was inflicted. "You want me out of your head? Try to stop me."[/color] He replied menacingly as he approached her in a likewise manner.

The girl was persistent, and shot herself at Sinister again like a big bullet. "My turn." With a combination of his telekinesis and his super strength he mimicked Raven's attack, launching his hulking body at Raven's petite one, a tight telekinetic shield in front of him. He hoped to end the fight with this attack, and strike her hard enough to allow him to inject her with the content of his syringe.

[Serenity Nashimura]

Serenity shuddered from the intense feeling of blood-lust and anger that radiated behind her. She grit her teeth and forced the shadows to keep moving, connecting and growing. She could feel the darkness flying over the distance, reaching for the desired destination.

Suddenly, Serenity felt the shadows connect and opened her eyes, letting out a excited laugh. "It's ready," she mumbled. Then she yelled, "Raven! Come on! It's ready!" She looked over her shoulder at the fight and cursed. Things were looking intense over there. Her cursing continued but she sent her shadow out anyway. If she could stop Mr. Sinister just long enough for Raven to get over and through the portal. Her shadow captured his, bracing for whatever attack came her way.

[Rachel Roth]

For Raven, everything suddenly happened at once. She was already flying through the air when Sinister launched himself at her in a similar manner. The only difference was, he was a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more intimidating. He was coming at her with that evil grin on his face and then, she heard Serenity shout. The dark girl tore her eyes away from the villain before her to look at saw that the porthole was done!

All her plans for stopping Sinister faded away and all she wanted - needed - was to get to that porthole. Without thinking about what she was doing, she tried to change the direction of her flight so she could speed to the way out. However, her momentum and too great and the power she had used was too out of control. She only succeeded in throwing herself painfully of target and summarily loosing control of her flight. She crashed into a wall at the side with a shout. For a moment, everything was black. When she came to and tried to get up, she found she could not and slid back down to the floor, groaning. From that position, she peered at the battle to see that Serenity was attempting to hold Sinister for her.

A sort of wild panic too hold of Raven's gut and she screamed out, "Serenity! Get out of here!" With wild eyes and hair every which way, she gestured at the porthole. There was not way Serenity could hold him, they already knew what came of that. The short girl wasn't even thinking, she just knew that S. had to get out of there.

[Nathaniel Essex]

Sinister watched gleefully as his foe soared into the wall and then collapsed to the floor. He hovered in the air a brief moment, just smirking at Raven as she struggled to rise. Then suddenly he found himself distracted by the shouts of another female. His red eyes fell upon Serenity, a far more grim expression on his stone white face. "That shall soon be rectified." He said to the shadowmancer as he lowered himself to the floor and began walking in the most menacing manner toward her.

Raven shrieked as Serenity gripped his shadow again. She was telling her ally to run away... Flee. Noble, but stupid. She was wounded, and without little-Miss-portal she was without a prayer.
As Nathaniel felt his mobility hindered by Serenity's power he grinned evilly, and chuckled confidently and sadistically.

"Oh my..." He said mockingly. "Whatever shall I do?"[/color] He added telepathically before sending a full force telepathic attack at Serenity. The kid gloves were off now, he intended to cripple this girl--her only hope would be to jump through the portal and leave her friend. The assault that Mister Sinister was unleashing in Serenity's direction would not only cause physical pain like white hot spikes being shoved into her brain, but it would also distort, twist, fracture, and even destroy some of her memories. If she didn't escape quickly she could lose her mind completely and be left with only her most basic functions like breathing, blinking, and et cetera.

[Serenity Nashimura]

Honesty wasn't a constant trait of Serenity's. She was constantly lying, teasing, oozing sarcasm to hide the truth, to avoid it and to run from it. She hated telling the truth because it always hurt, no matter what. So she told white lies and jokes and laughed everything off in an attempt to run from the truth that refused to stop whispering in her ear. Such as the fact that she was a coward, all the way down to her core. The cocky attitude and fights were nothing more than a mask, a show to proclaim that she was no coward, had no fear, would never step down from a challenge. That is, until something bigger and stronger and more terrifying than herself came along. Then, that little constant reminder, oh yeah, she was a coward and a liar and so goddamn weak, came back in one big rush.

Take the current moment for example. Standing before a fully formed, ready to close portal, friend across the room and looking incapable of movement, screaming at her to leave, and a big, bad, terrible attack heading right for her. Though she couldn't see it, Serenity could already feel it and knew that if it hit...

Tears suddenly pricked at her eyes as that little reminder in her head told her gravely that she was going to run, to leave her best friend behind. She was going to be the coward she really was and just leave, just go and run. She suddenly felt very tired, all the fight leaving her. Serenity didn't want to do this, to leave and run and not come back and abandon her friend but the attack was getting closer and she only had a few heartbeats more to make her choice.

"Move, girl."

Serenity stiffened at the voice. No...

"You may have trapped me but I will not allow you to destroy yourself. Only I will have the pleasure of ridding you of your sanity."

In another situation, Serenity would have laughed. Here was Kerry, her inner demon and darker half telling her to get a grip and get up and fight. And, for the first and maybe last time, Serenity found herself agreeing with Kerry. She tightened her hands into fists and thought as loud as she could to Raven, with as much conviction as she could project:

'I'll be back for you. Don't go dying on me just yet.'[/i]

Then, smirking and teary-eyed, Serenity turned and hurled herself into the portal, releasing Sinister's shadow as she did so. The portal closed just as the attack hit where she was previously standing. Her whole decision had been made in mere seconds but it had felt like hours. She flew through the portal and rolled out of the other end, ten miles away from her friend, standing in an alley. Behind her, the shadow portal was closed, as if it had never existed. The shadow girl stayed where she had landed for a few moments, mind whirling from her actions. She swallowed and took a deep breath. Time to make a plan.[/color]

[Rachel Roth]

Everything was going in slow motion for Raven. She saw the hesitation in Serenity's eyes, and the death in Mr. Sinister's. Blind terror rose up like bile, burning her from the inside out. Why wasn't Serenity running? There wasn't time!

Every good crime fighter knows that you should never corner your enemy. If they can't find an escape, if they see that they're going to die no matter what, they will find inhuman strength within them and try to take down as many as possible with them. Raven knew that, had been in those situations before, but had never been the trapped one before. Now she found a well of power within her that - a sober reflection said - was probably keeping her alive. She turned it into raw black energy and threw it at the man, binding his hands and feet to her like puppet strings.

"You will not touch her!" She roared. In that second she looked at Serenity and knew. Her friend was going through to porthole. She was leaving. And then... she was gone. The hole snapped shut and Raven was alone with the monster. There was an empty feeling in her gut as the bindings flickered. She had told her friend to run, to save her skin, but now Raven realized entirely what that meant, and she shuddered. No one was coming for her this time.

[Nathaniel Essex]

Sinister was shocked to find Raven binding him as well, but could not turn to look at her. These women, though small and seemingly frail, were beyond persistent... They had courage, and were surprisingly strong. But, courage only goes so far.
Serenity fled, just as Raven had told her to. Her courage had been overpowered by her common sense and survival instincts. Now, there was only Rachel.

Mr. Sinister smirked in the most frightening way, and then turned to look at his opponent. "How sad... Looks like you're all alone now, Rachel." He looked at the bonds on his wrists, and fired a highly concentrated blast at each of them from the gem on his forehead, releasing him from their clutches. He then fired two more blasts from his palms at his ankle shackles, and freed himself completely. "Don't fret, though. Once I am through with you, you won't be able to tell the difference."

The villain raised his arms and aimed his fingertips at Raven. Small red blasts of concussive energy began firing at her rapidly from his fingers, and after a moment, if she was not incapacitated, he would move on to telekinetic attacks using the broken objects scattered about as projectiles.

[Rachel Roth]

Raven didn't even fight back as Sinister destroyed her binding. Even if she did have the strength left, she didn't have the heart. Not anymore. Her vision was starting to get hazy and sounds echoed oddly in her ears. It took a while for her to completely decipher his words. Having done so, she shook her head wearily. "It wasn't supposed to be like this," She thought vaguely, "I'm just a healer.

The attack turned to her and she weakly threw up a shield but it was quickly shattered and red concussive blasts tore into her. Crying out loud, she fell back against the wall, curling up into fetal position and counting down the seconds until she passed out, fading into blissful silence.

[Nathaniel Essex]

This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for. There his opponent lied, unable to fight back, hardly able to stay awake. She had finally realized the might of Mister Sinister, and had fallen victim to it. Now, there was only one thing left to do.
He stopped his assault, and put his hands at his sides. His left hand called forth an object from within his left thigh, which had remained hidden up until now. Raven was more than likely utterly oblivious to it, and even more so to its content. It was with these two things, the object and what it held, that Sinister would bring about an end to all his enemies...provided everything went as planned. But what object could this villain have hidden within him that could be so powerful? The syringe... Yes, the mysterious syringe Dr. Essex had brought with him from the hospital.

Sinister brought the item to his hand using his telekinesis, and then brought it up to eye level. He grinned darkly as he realized how close he was to his goal. ~The downfall of heroes around the world...in my hands.~[/color]

He lowered the syringe again as he began walking over to Rachel. His pace was steady and confident, as though victory was already in his tight grip. Nothing could stop him now. Nothing. He knelt down by his defeated foe, and then took her tiny arm in his big hand. He then went to inject her arm with the content of the syringe. It wouldn't hurt, just a little discomfort from the needle, but not long after she would begin to feel lethargic and gradually have less and less control over her powers until they disappeared altogether. The next thing to be effected would be her senses. First her vision would go, and then her hearing, and then...paralysis. The effects of Sinister's prison cell captured in a bottle. It would take about a week for the serum to take full effect, but he was banking on a different outcome.

Now, being entirely aware of Raven's healing abilities and medical knowledge, Nathaniel specially designed the serum to attack her special abilities first, that way she wouldn't have a chance to even try to rid herself of it. Although, Sinister wasn't even sure she could get it out of her system using her powers--all his data showed that the serum was invulnerable with the exception of the antidote he had made. As for attacking it medicinally, he was quite sure no one short of Reed Richards would be able to figure out the key to curing it.

[Rachel Roth]

~ SUPER LONG TIME LATER ~

~ roughly translating to an hour or two at most ~

There was fire in Raven's head and needles in her body as she came to. There were sirens everywhere and alarms were wailing in her ears. She felt broken, and though she was awake, could do nothing but lay there. A heavy layer of plaster dust had settled over her and her surroundings, camouflaging her. Everything hurt, her bones had cracks, her muscles were torn and soar. Blood seeped from hundreds of tiny rips in her skin, caking and drying painfully. What she could see of herself was a mass of violent bruises, discolored skin practically matching her dark colored shirt. She knew she had to stand, to move, to go before she was found, but she couldn't

Everything hurt so much, and she was so tired. She had fought battles all her life, and when she had tried to leave it all behind, they had come for her anyways, and for her ideals she had gotten the shit beaten out of her. What was the point, anymore? Medical knowledge flitted through her head, all the things she had to do, arranging themselves by importance and flashing brightly in her mind. And yet, she just lay there.

In different circumstances she might have thought this sudden lethargy odd, if she weren't already in so much pain, she might have noticed the telltale ache in her right arm from a hypodermic needle. However, she was in no condition to make these distinctions, and it was only when a firefighter stopped beside her that she opened her eyes.

"We've got a live one here!" He shouted. Distractedly, she noticed the wedding ring on his finger as he tore off a glove to check her pulse. He had nice eyes and gray streaking his temples. It was enough. One thing even stronger than her lethargy rose up, her instinct to protect. She was finding it very difficult to think, but she was pretty sure Sinister had admitted to targeting her. Anyone who touched her could be in danger. She had to leave, leave her hospital, leave her city.

Making eye contact with the fireman she smiled wearily, and then gathering what strength she could, phased through the floor to topple into the basement.

It took her another hour or so to get herself conscious enough and driven enough to stumble out of the ruined building and onto the street. Keeping to the allies and the shadows, she made it only a couple blocks. Something was terrible wrong, and she had no clue what.