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Cinder
Cinder clumsily dodged out of the way of Thorne's charge, just barely missing the knife's deadly edge. She reached out for his mind, trying to break Levana's hold on him, but it was like trying to bend solid steel with her bare hands. No matter how much she strained, she couldn't break it.
"Now then girl, did you really think that would work?" Levana's smile carried in her voice. "I've had much more experience controlling minds than you. It's only natural that I'd be stronger."
Cinder ignored her, jumping out of the way of another of Thorne's strikes as she continued to try and break Levana's hold. She found one bond that seemed weaker than the others. She tugged at it, pulled at it, broke it.
She dashed to the side as Thorne slashed at her chest. Well. That hadn't worked.
"Sorry!" He called over to her, "This isn't me!"
Well, he could talk again at least.
"I know." Cinder replied, "Just try to fight it as best as you can."
"What do you think I've been doing this whole time?"
Suddenly, he sped forward, a blur of colour in the air. Cinder could only fall to the floor in an effort to evade his strike. Something hit her in the side, hard, and she gasped in pain. Somewhere above her, Thorne yelped in surprise as he tripped over her body and fell to the floor. Cinder hurriedly pushed herself to her feet and tensed her muscles, in case Levana wanted to risk another speed boost. Sure enough, with remarkable speed Thorne pushed himself to his feet and charged her again, knife steady ready to stab her straight in the heart. She held out her metal fist, and he ran into it face first. He stumbled back with a gasp of pain, and Cinder flinched to see a trickled of blood running down his forehead.
"Sorry."
He waved off her apology. "I'm being forced to murder you. Pretty sure that gives you the right to bang me up a bit. Though I seriously wish someone would stop trying to use my speed because they can't control it, and I keep getting hurt!" He added, yelling up at Levana.
The Queen simply narrowed her eyes and Thorne flashed forward again.
Cinder dropped to a roll to avoid him. He swerved out of the way to avoid tripping over her again, but accidentally ran into the wall. He stumbled back, growling in frustration as he rubbed his nose. He was panting heavily, and his muscles were shaking. Thorne hadn't really talked much about the limits of his powers, but apparently using them too much really tired him out. Not that Cinder could blame him, and in this case, it actually worked to their advantage. Levana could only force Thorne's body to do what it was physically capable of. And right then, it didn't look like Thorne was fit to take much more of this. Cinder just had to hope that Levana wouldn't dispose of him because of it.
Unless…
Cinder quickly activated her gun finger and took aim at The Queen. All she needed was one shot, one shot to end this whole thing. One shot to free Thorne, to stop the Lunars, and finally win this stupid battle.
One shot.
But before Cinder could fire, Levana saw what she was doing. He onyx eyes widened with shock before her gaze flicked to Thorne. He turned the knife over in his hand and held it up to his own throat, just below his chin.
"Lower that gun." Levana said coldly, "Or your friend will die."
"Don't bother." Thorne called over to her, "Just pull the trigger, there's no way she'll have time to force me to kill myself if you do."
"You are underestimating the speed of thought." Levana told him, "If I wanted it, you'd be dead in less than a second."
"She's bluffing." Thorne assured Cinder, "Trust me, I am the master of bluffing. I know when someone's telling the truth or just bragging. It's kind of like a sixth sense."
Cinder hesitated. She was inclined to agree with Thorne, based on her own experience using her powers. But then again, Levana had more practice. She was more skilled, stronger. Could it be possible that she was telling the truth?
In her moment of hesitation, Levana made her move.
Suddenly, Thorne lowered his knife and ran forward. He wasn't using his super speed this time, though he was still moving faster than the average person. Cinder tried to sidestep, but Thorne quickly corrected himself, just enough for the knife to finally sink into flesh.
"Sorry!" Thorne yelled.
Cinder didn't respond, focusing instead on biting back a scream of pain from the knife stabbing her shoulder. She kicked Thorne in the stomach with her metal leg, sending him stumbling back, tearing the knife out of her shoulder.
The clack, clack, clack of shoes on stone made Cinder turn to see The Queen hurrying towards the exit.
"Oh no you don't." she muttered, forcing Levana to stop in her tracks.
She was so focused on making sure the Lunar Queen didn't escape, she forgot about Thorne.
"Cinder move!" He yelled, charging forward, knife at the ready.
Cinder tried to dodge out of the way, but she could already tell she was moving too slow. She wasn't going to be able to avoid the knife, and finally, the blade would find its mark.
A loud bang rang through the air and Thorne screamed in pain, dropping the knife to clutch at his suddenly bloody hand.
Cinder stared at him wide-eyed. What just happened.
"I'm sorry!"
She whipped her head around to see a familiar small blonde wearing a black and blue suit, holding a gun in her shaking hand. "I'm sorry Captain!"
Thorne turned to look at Cress, forcing a smile. "Nice shot."
Something tugged on Cinder's brain, like a dog trying to break free of its leash, and she was reminded that they weren't alone.
"Cress!" She yelled, already readying her gun finger. "Shoot The Queen!"
Cress tried to adjust her aim and point the gun at the Lunar leader, but Levana was faster.
Thorne suddenly lunged for the knife on the ground, gasping in pain as he picked it up with his injured hand. His gaze flicked to Cress and his eyes widened with horror.
"Cress, get out of the way!" he screamed, but his feet were already moving. Cress looked at him. She stumbled back in an attempt to get away. But it was all for nothing as Thorne drove the knife straight into her stomach.
Thorne screamed in horror as Cress fell to the ground, desperately clutching at the steadily bleeding hole in her stomach. He raised the knife again, tears spilling freely from his eyes, to finish her off. But she reached up and grabbed his wrist. The blue lights on her suit glowed painfully bright, and the air fizzed and crackled with electricity. There was a sharp crack like lightning, and Thorne let out a short cry of pain before his eyes rolled back into his head, briefly exposing the whites, and he fell back, unconscious. Cress, the blue lights on her suit now gone, dazedly tried to loop his arm around her shoulders to drag him away, but she quickly slumped over next to him.
Cinder narrowed her eyes and glared at The Queen, still frozen in place. "Looks like you've run out of puppets."
Levana sneered at her. "Not quite."
Cinder's arm jerked upward, and her finger gun slowly pointed towards her head. She could feel a force, tugging at her finger, ordering it to pull the trigger. She gritted her teeth, exerting all of her will into fighting the order. No-way was she going down that easy. No. Way!
With a cry of rage, she brough her arm back under control and took aim. The Queen's eyes widened. Cinder could feel her, struggling to get a grip on her mind.
But she wasn't going to let her get away this time.
She fired.
A/N: There it is, the final showdown. In a few weeks, this story will be all done. Wow.
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