Fluttershy

Quinn

My throat caught my air and kept it inside a bubble in my chest. I sat there with complete shock as I watched Nathan pull back Gideon's arm from my face and pushed him to the ground. As he did this, he grabbed the knife from his hand and turned back to me, cutting my left wrist free of the strap.

"Untie yourself." He said. I immediately obeyed and reached for my right hand. I watched him as I untied the strap.

"Nathan?" Gideon asked as he massaged his jaw where Nathan had punched him on the way down.

"Surprise." He said cooly and he grabbed Gideon's shirt and pulled him up. When he did, he again punched him in the jaw. I looked over at Zoe, who didn't move her eyes off of the fight, her mouth agape. 

Gideon crawled away and grabbed his pistol again, pointing it at Nathan again, but Nathan's fingers swiped across him as his eyes glowed, sending the gun from Gideon's grasp. Gideon ran around the metal tables and grabbed another knife, but Nathan flicked that away too. All the while that this was happening, Nathan was charging Gideon, and I was on my left ankle.

Finally, when my limbs were free from the table, Nathan had chased Gideon to one side of the cave while I met Nathan on the other. I reached back and took the metal contraption that Gideon had injected into my neck out and flexed my fingers with ease. Dust swirled around my fingers like it was water.

"How did you..." Gideon asked, but he never finished. He didn't have to though. Nathan already started to talk.

"Maybe next time you might want to aim a little better. What you shot through was the black web's heart, killing the thing that you put inside me. Once that was killed, the wound that you made with the bullet healed and I recovered." Nathan said sternly, full of rage. I saw Zoe look at me with expectancy, wanting to get out of the straps. It was safer for her to stay in them. Who knows was Gideon would do if she was out.

Gideon looked like he didn't know what to do, but he grabbed something from the table near him. Nathan put his fingers up to swipe it away, but I knew what it was. Gideon pressed a button and Zoe's eyes glowed. I put Nathan's hand down for him.

"Don't. He can control Zoe. You'd be fighting Zoe." I said to him. Gideon smiled, probably feeling like he was back in control.

"Good choice, Quinn." Gideon said, letting go of the button. Zoe's eyes stopped glowing and she relaxed. "Now, come over here."

I started to walk over, but Nathan grabbed my arm. I pushed it off, giving him an assuring look. A few more steps and I'd be on Gideon's side of the cave, along with Zoe. Nathan would be alone.

"Good, good, now get over here." Gideon pointed to the side of him and I faced my body there, but I stopped. "Get over here now, Quinn." 

"Never." I whispered. I suddenly had my fingers out and released Zoe from her straps. I knew it was even more unsafe if she had the contraption in her neck. I had to get it out. Before Gideon could grab my arm from where he stood, I unfolded my wings and flew backwards to Nathan, who put himself behind me. Zoe tried to fly out to us, but Gideon grabbed her and held her close to him. Her arms were at her sides because Gideon was holding on to her so hard, so she couldn't get to the thing in her neck.

"We both are equals now, Nathan. You can't beat me." Gideon said. "Surrender her to me, and you may walk away unharmed."

"It's not me I want to walk out of here unharmed." Nathan replied.

"Wrong answer." Gideon said. He pressed the button again, and Zoe's eyes glowed. She raised her hand and pointed her fingers toward Nathan.

"Quinn," Nathan said, putting his hand on my shoulder closest to him, "Run."

"No. I started this, and I'm going to finish it." I said, brushing his hand off of my shoulder. Zoe shot her magic at us. Both Nathan and I darted away in different directions and stood back up with our hands posed toward Gideon. "You get Zoe, I'll handle Gideon."

"No way. You're getting Zoe." Nathan said, already charging for Gideon. It was too late to protest, because Zoe was coming toward me.

I grabbed her arms and pushed her away from me, but Zoe quickly recovered and charged again, this time running. I ducked and flipped her body over mine, sending her to her back on the ground. She pushed herself up by jumping off of her shoulders and flipping her feet, landing on them. I tried to swipe at her feet but Zoe jumped over mine and grabbed my hair. I put my hands on my hair so the pulling wasn't as hard.

"Zoe! It's me!" I said. She didn't reply. Her eyes were still glowing, like a robot. With the hand on my hair, she threw me to the ground and flexed her fingers, sending blue dust over the top of me like a dome of a prison. I let loose my own magic, my eyes glowing as well. I broke through the dome and stood to my feet.

"Nathan! It doesn't sound like anything's going on over there!" I yelled. I looked over for a slight second as I caught Zoe in a wave of my blue dust.

"Kinda busy!" Nathan shouted, fighting Gideon off of his stomach as he laid on the ground. In one hand, Gideon held the controller that kept Zoe fighting me, and in the other he held a knife very close to Nathan's neck.

As I looked over at Nathan, Zoe struck me hard on the back with her magic, strangling me in the dust's vines around my body. With half of my powers and half of the brute strength of my wings, I burst out of the vines and flew upward to attack from the sky. Zoe seemed to have the same idea. Now, the battle was in the sky of the cave.

I tackled Zoe in her middle, sending both of us forward into the wall. Zoe screamed out as she hit the rocks, but she seemed to recover quickly and flipped me off of her into the middle of the room. Zoe pushed off the wall and charged at me, but at the last second, I went to the side and grabbed her arm, holding her body from behind. There, as I held her still with my left arm, I tried to grab at her contraption in her neck, but she got one hand free and punched me in the face. I stumbled back, letting her loose by accident.

Her eyes still in a full glow, Zoe grabbed me and forced me into the wall face-first. With one arm locked behind me, and the other useless pressed against the wall, Zoe had me cornered. But I refused to give up. I kicked her in the knee, which sent her away from me in pain, and I took that opportunity to grab her again like I had her, but I wrapped around my legs so she wouldn't break free. I grabbed the contraption and yanked.

Zoe fell limp as I tossed her off of me, not sure if I had finished the fight. I had.

She landed somewhere near Gideon and Nathan, almost like she was dead. I knew that she wasn't since I was still alive. Blood tricked down my mouth and nose from where Zoe had punched me, but that was sure to heal soon.

From where I landed myself, I flicked my finger at Gideon, the knife in his hand flying away. Nathan grabbed the controller from his other hand and kicked him off of himself, getting up and coming over to me.

"Your welcome." I said.

"I got him started for you." Nathan replied manly-like.

"FOOLS!" Gideon yelled, getting up and approaching Zoe, lifeless on the ground. "I still have her!"

"But you can't do anything with her." I said, holding up the contraption. "I think your missing something for that."

Gideon grabbed her up from the ground. She could barely stand, but with his hand on her shoulder, it looked like she was forcing herself to.

"But I can do this." Gideon said, putting his free fingers on Zoe's forehead.

"NO!" Nathan and I both screamed, but it was too late.

Gideon had pulled her jewel out. 

The last thing I saw before I fell to the ground, was Gideon letting go of Zoe's dead body, and now, I was the second.