[hr][CENTER][color=silver][h1][b]Natalie Ellis[/b][/h1][/color][/CENTER][hr] [color=silver][i]Location:[/i][/color] Scrapyard Garage, Industrial District [color=silver][i]Time of Day:[/i][/color] Night [hr] Natalie woke up, and immediately, before even opening eye eyes, knew several things were wrong. Everything came back to her. The fight, losing her phone, and letting herself get knocked out. Her body was chained to a support beam, upright, and everything was sore and stiff. Natalie's head was pounding, and her face, specifically around one of her eyes, was hot and throbbing. She correctly assumed she had one shiner of a black eye. But nothing was broken. Of course nothing was broken. Not even Bianca's metal punches were strong enough to break her dense bones. She tried struggling, just to test how much give her chains had, and where she was secured. This got the attention of Monty and Vinnie, who were guarding her. Monty chuckled and sat up straight, looking at her mockingly. "You won't break them," he jeered at her. "Not even your strength could break steel chains that thick." Natalie didn't even dignify that with an answer. Of course she couldn't break them. She'd have been insulted if they'd tried to lock her up in ordinary chains. She noticed Vinnie staring at her semi-naked body and glared back in a challenging manner. She tried to convey in a glance she she knew the reason he hadn't tried anything while she was helpless, was because he was terrified of her. He averted his eyes, so there was probably some truth in that. After a while of silence, Bianca came in, and this time it was Natalie's turn to look away. After so long of being afraid of herself, somebody had faced her while she'd lost control, and they had won. For the first time since Project Lion, Natalie was scared of another person. She no longer wanted to hide away and pretend to be normal. There could be more people like them. There were stories cropping up over the news, and until now she'd never really equated them to her own life. For the first time, the idea that she'd have to get stronger to stay safe occurred to her. Luckily she only had to contemplate this for mere minutes before a familiar sound echoed through the garage. It was the sound that had changed her life one day ago. It was Archie! Natalie immediately broke into a grin and looked around for the source of the noise. It was getting closer. Natalie suddenly remembered how little she was wearing, and actually felt a little embarrassed for the first time since she woke up. Bianca had turned metal, Vinnie was heading to the far end of the room to grab a weapon, and Monty had gotten out of there. The doors into the room flew off the hinges, and the sounds of gunfire were ringing in Natalie's ears as the door was flying straight twards her. No. Wait. It wasn't moving right. Archie must be holding it to use as a shield! Which means his first move was to make a beeline straight for Natalie! That, despite this absurd and dangerous situation, made her heart flutter. Archie, in his reptilian form, had smashed the support beam and was was now standing over her as she fell to the floor, free. Her first order of business was to get the cuffs off her aching wrists, which was easy now she could reach them with the other hand. Yanking them off and freeing herself of the chains, she heard the groan of the roof collapsing, and braced herself as she saw it coming down. She shut her eyes tight and held out her arms to try and catch it and lessen the impact. Between her strength and her bones, it might not kill her. She opened her eyes, and saw that Archie was standing above her, and had sheltered her from the roof falling. It then offered her a scaly hand. Natalie gladly took it and got to her feet with his help, before smiling and planting a kiss on his nose. She then turned to Bianca and the smile disappeared in seconds. That's right. She was still here. Archie was squaring up with her, and roared at her, and Natalie...she didn't feel afraid for Bianca's life. In fact, right now, she, the un-snapped rational Natalie, wanted to see Bianca get hurt, if for no other reason that to prove to herself that it was possible. In fact, Natalie looked into Bianca's eyes and saw that she was scared. This gave Natalie courage and she stepped forward. This time, she was in complete control, wasn't trying to protect anyone, wasn't in any danger of causing collateral, and had backup. Plus, Bianca was shaken. This time, Natalie would win. She stepped in front of Archie, and put her hand on his arm. [color=silver][b]"Let me do this. I need this,"[/b][/color] she said to him quietly. That clearly wasn't a question. This time, Natalie had a clear head, and confidence in her eyes. Bianca looked from her to Archie, and realised that unless she beat them both, she wasn't getting out of this the winner. She had to retreat And retreat she did, by turning around and busting through the wall. Natalie tried to give chase but in the dark scrapyard at night, she couldn't see her. She had vanished, and more than likely, she'd be back. Inside the building, there was no sign of Vinny either.