Riruki was grabbed immediately by the shadow people. Not that it mattered, she didn't need to have her hands free. She knew her powers wouldn't hurt the shadow soldiers, they weren't human but their controller was.


She concentrated again until a large sphere formed in front of her. A soccer ball size it glowed a fiery red-a fire blast- to hit Kaine and give him a burning sensation. she sent it in his direction.

*Dominic felt the strong grip of the shadow people and fought violently to get free, but it was rather pointless. He put his fingertips together and released them again to reveal the wires trying to wrap them around the shadows. They simply went through the forms without damage. He instead, wrapped the wires around the guards that were still unconscious, and hurled them with the chairs, at Kaine. 'There's no way he's going to dodge Ruki's blast along with the two bodies!'. The shadows knocked him to the ground. He fell on his stomach and they pulled his hands behind his back.*
"GET OFF!!"

*Setsuna looked over the gray haired man and took him in. 'So, this is the man everyone's afraid of.' Whitmore and Cassiel exchanged words about a previous encounter, but Kilala was unfortunately not there for it. She would have gladly killed him on the spot. Tricity was too forgiving for letting him live...some people didn't deserve the luxury.*

"Blackcat, kill Cassiel."

*'Uh, oh. This isn't good...' Kilala created another field in front of the men on the lower steps in case they began firing again. Not that she wanted to, but she ran up the rest of the steps, charging at Daria.*

"Worry about the soldiers, I have her!" Mike managed as Daria attacked him, claws extended. Escrima bastons of telekinetic force formed in his hands, and he parried her thrusts.

Daria and Mike had always been fairly evenly matched, but whenever they'd sparred, they had only been sparring... not trying to kill each other. This gave Daria a ferocity that put Mike on the defensive, though honestly he didn't want to be on the offensive against her.

He could feel her mind beneath the controlling presence of the stone, and knew that it wasn't her attacking him. But he remembered one thing he'd seen in the files she'd gotten in Arizona...

"Daria, you can fight this!"[/color] he thought to her as he parried her blows, jump to the side and rolling to his feet. "Your body's been trying to reject the stone for weeks! You can beat this, if anyone can, it's you!"[/color]

He dodged another swipe of her claws, just barely in time, as they scratched against the protective padding in his uniform, not QUITE close enough to get the force to tear through. "Daria, please... don't make me fight you...[/color]

Daria's emerald eyes narrowed and what ever had always been human about them slowly faded away. She looked vacant now and her full lips curled back to reveal her sharp pointed canines.

No it wasn't Daria fighting Mike and it wasn't BlackCat fighting Cass, it was that damn stone. There was a throbbingi n her back and it soon turned to a sharp searing, burning pain that drove Daria quickly into her frenzy mode. She no longer saw faces and details she just saw heat and figures...and smelled human flesh.


She lunged mercilessly at Cassiel, kicking as he deflected her blows and swiping out with her claws soon after each kick.

She could feel his mind pressing against hers and trying to get in but her mental block was up against her will-as if the real Daria was tied up and held hostage.

Mike could feel the pushing back, the anger; he was was being treated as an intrusion and he was never treated that way before.

She was fast before but now she was using her full speed the need to destroy Cass was stronger than any other urge she'd ever had before him. She flipped back out of the way of his bastons and teleported behind him. Immediately after teleporting the stone in her back sent shockwaves of pain up her spine.

She let out an inhuman howl of pain before snap- kicking Mike hard in the center of his back. He tumbled forward and stood up, quickly turning to face her again, she was already lunging once more, claws outstretched to rip apart his face.

Whitmore held his hands out, preventing his men from helping Daria. "Just watch the show, boys... and keep her from interfering in it," he added, pointing at Setsuna. Four soldiers leveled their weapons at her, a clear message for her to stand down.

Atticus used his powers to make a wall of solid shadow which ther fire and the bodys hit turning around atticus walked out the room with the shasdow men following holding the hostages he headed down the stairs towards whitmore

Riruki was panicking now, she wasn't expecting him to be able to block. She struggled twisting and turning in the shadow's grasp until she freed her one of her arms, and then the other. She focused again, this time aiming a brown colored sphere at the back of Kaine's head-the earth sphere would only exert pressure and at least knock him down. She sent it silently towards him.

*Seeing Ruki get freed made the other shadow men desperately reach out for her once more. Wire riggled and kicked violently until he was finally free of the shadows. He bolted for Ruki while putting his fingertips together and releasing them once more. Dominic pressed the receiver down in his ear to talk to her as quietly as possible, ensuring Kaine couldn't hear and ruin the plan of knocking him out with the earth sphere.*
"Ruki, grab on to me!"
*He commanded as he came up to her. The shadow men turned their attention to him, but he dodged out of the way and released the wires around a chandelier that hung over the balcony. All that was needed was the right time and hopefully, Ruki wouldn't miss grabbing on to him as he ran for the edge. He was definitely about to pull a 'Tarzan and Jane'.*

*Setsuna raised her hands up slowly watching Daria fight with Mike. 'This is so not good,' she thought, looking around to try and figure out what to do. A second later the jingling of the chandelier made the soldiers, Whitmore, and Kilala look up toward the second floor. Small bits of the ceiling and dust began falling to the floor and she wasn't going to let this moment pass for anything. She reached behind her and pulled two kunais from her back belt, tossing them at the gunmen. They both fell down instantly as one pierced a neck and the other a lung. She ran full speed across the floor, diving to the ground, as the last two men opened fire with their assault rifles. Because of the linoleum floor and the material of her uniform, Kilala slid most of the way and stopped herself behind a foundation pillar. She pulled her body in to keep from any ligiment being shot. Her heart was pumping rapidly and she turned her head to the left, seeing her two teammates still having at it.*
"Come on, snap out of it, girl."
*Kilala carefully stood erect, pulling her katana from the sheath. The men stopped firing and she heard their footsteps across the floor, despite the struggles of what was happening upstairs as well as down. The crunching of the broken museum items and debris on the floor indicated they were trying to come on both sides of her, to trap her. She quickly thought of what to do next.*

Oh sh-

Mike's staves disappeared as he threw up his telekinetic defenses in desperation, barely deflecting Daria's claws from tearing his face off, but still earning three deep gashes from above his ear down his cheek.

He didn't have time to worry about his bleeding, though, he threw his legs up, tossing Daria into the air over him, then drove his feet up into her stomach to knock her away as he rolled back to his feet.

I'm not going to win this with force. Force only hurts Daria, it's the mind behind the attacks I need to hurt.

Rather than his telekinetic staves, he summoned his telepathic sword. Squaring off with Daria, he dodged another vicious attack, then came in hard behind her.

"I'm so sorry, Love... this is going to hurt." he thought as he stabbed the psychic blade into the spot on her back where he could feel the stone.

Daria's eyes widened as she felt the sword pierce her very spine. But it was deeper than that, she could feel the weapon in her mind. She snarled and writhed, trying to avoid the blade as it bore deeper. Images of blood and gore flashed through her consciousness as hr tongue itched for the taste of blood.

Slowly though, the need to destroy fadded from her being.

And Daria was herself again. She dropped her telepathic sheild, aware that it was Mike's mind that wished to get through.

And when she realized he had stabbed her her confusion lasted only a moment. She knew he only did it to get her to pay attention, the real her to pay attention. She could feel the stone strongly now, and was aware of exactly where it was in her back.

No pain no gain. she mused as she connected with the stone and teleported it from her body. She fell to the floor on all fours, gasping for breath, the stone in her hands.

There was one more thing she had to do. She glared down at the green gem and it faded from view.

She was free.

General Whitmore frowned, obviously not pleased by this turn of events. "Such a shame, you'd have been an excellent soldier," he said, shaking his head as he looked at the now freed Daria.

"They're of no more use to us. Kill them, and find their friend as well."

As the soldiers leveled their guns at Mike and Daria, he pulled a radio from his belt. "Bring him in."

*A solider from inside one of the few vans parked in the surrounding area of the museum, received the General's request and confirmed understanding. He walked over to a semi-conscious hulk of a mutant who they had strapped down to a gurney from the facility till here. But after the request of bringing him inside the mansion, the mutant became fully awake and his eyes turned blood red, his hands smoking. The soldier moved to remove the several restraints on the mutant's body, but it was already too late. The mutant snapped the cuffs on his wrists, chest, ankles, and thighs, grabbing the throat of the soldier and throwing him through the back doors of the van. The other two soldiers quickly stepped out of the driver and passenger seat of the van, watching the mutant exit the vehicle and cross the street to the museum.*

*As Johnathon made it inside of the front doors of the museum, a sudden crash made him turn around. A familiar recognition washed over his face and he went running to the mutant.*
john: "ORION! God, you're alive?!"
*The young man stopped in his tracks and saw the other two soldiers coming from the van.*
john: "ORION, look out!!"
*The soldiers had fixed their guns on Johnathon, but it was unnecessary. Orion grabbed John around the throat and held him high in the air, his legs kicking wildly in the air.*
john: "O...Orion...it's me, Johnathon..."
*He choked out, but there was no recognition of the boy in Orion's eyes. Orion held on a few moments longer and slowly tightened his grip, as if toying with John. But before killing him and close to passing out, Orion tossed Johnathon across the street and he went rolling in the grass before a tree finally stopped him. Orion continued forward up the steps and kicked open the door to the museum, knocking if off its hinges.*

*Whitmore tapped his foot on the ground and waited impatiently for his trump card to enter the building. Suddenly, the sight of his experiment came into the hall and he smiled wickedly.*
whitmore: "About time!"
*The General sighed and looked at the red stone in his hand with triumph. He then spoke to Orion matter-of-factly, giving him a very simple command.*
whitmore: "Kill them all."

(OOC: Because Kaine hasn't posted yet, Ruki you may go. Kaine you can post unless she does before you.)