"Pretty snazzy New-blood." he said through thought as his mind control continued to work its way up Hope's finger, now engulfing her hand. "Now since you don't want me to go easy on you I'll bump things up a notch." suddenly Hope's hand's muscles all flexed in different directions, causing a lot more pain for Hope.

The mental assault caused her hand to spasm and lock up, but Hope remained firm with her arms across her chest. The pain was intense, like being electrocuted how it worked up her body like it did. Her injured hand didn't take kindly to moving at all, let alone flexing and cramping as it did like the Devil was in control of it. She tucked her chin lower as her breath began to heave and she shook in the air, but she stayed floating like a ghost. This was just the start. She wasn't going to waver yet.

It isn't going to work, she thought through her haze, projecting her thoughts for The Room to read. I barely even feel it. It won't even matter if you control me or not, I can move my body with my mind. It's useless. Give up the games and come fight me. You're wasting both of our time.

Hopefully her bluff would work. She put up a good front, but it wasn't that bad yet. He could easily make it much worse. He was trying to psych her out, she knew it. Two could play that game. All she needed was for him to get aggressive, then the ball was in her court.

[Hope continues to Levitate using 10 POWER. She makes no mental resistance to eject The Room from her mind in an attempt to bluff him out instead.]

The Room suddenly appeared as the illusion went down as he leapt into the air in the attempt to drop kick Hope to the ground. He wasn't known for his fighting skill but The Room is known to be a more than capable fighter as opposed to most of the lower grade heroes. It was clear that The Room's power was beginning to wane as now he could not keep up his illusion and continue to work his way through Hope via mind control.

She could feel the grip on her begin to slip and fade. The gnawing, dripping poison on her mind drifted off to leave the pools of pain and determination she built up to protect herself. Her muscles ached and seized, but they were hers now. Her own body, her own mind. It was a refreshing, sickening feeling, the kind of feeling you get after binge eating greasy food and needing something healthy and pure but being unable to eat another bite, and all you feel is disgusting and your skin crawls. She was free now, free from the mental assault, but the walls of pain she built around herself made her stomach heave and lurch.

And then it hit her. Well, he hit her. The Room. Her eyes were still closed, so she couldn't see him coming until he thumped his feet into her gut. With a gasp her eyes flew open... but this is what she was waiting for. Hope had been baiting him, testing him, luring him into getting close again but she didn't expect herself to be so fortunate to see him right in front of her. Hope was going to push everything away from her and expect him to drop his illusion for a follow-up, but that was if he attacked her from behind and she couldn't see it. She could see him now. So this was going to hurt.
"GuhHAAAAAAAH!" came her shrieking gasp, and as Hope was knocked backward onto the floor she made sure that The Room would fly even further. The rookie took her determination, her pain, her feelings of desperation and her agitation and impatience and channeled them into a powerful psychic push.

With her focus she hadn't caught herself, and so she slid across the smooth floor with the wind knocked out of her, but she couldn't take it easy just yet. Hope made an attempt to stand, and stumbled a bit before rising to a knee and pursuing her aggressor at a limping gait. Her muscles didn't want to cooperate, but her mind was sharp and pointed on her goal. She had the advantage, and she was going to take it! With a feeling of anticipation and surging spirit, she manifested her goal with psychic force:
She put her focus into pushing The Room into the floor where he landed.

[Hope uses a whopping 25 POWER in a counterattacking push against The Room as he dropkicks her. Reacting as quickly as her body is able, Hope is also spending 5 POWER to push down on The Room to keep him from moving.]

Hope had done quite a number on the Room, sending him flying backwards and into the floor but all the energy she had used to counter the man left her powers burnt out for the time being. The room struggled to his feet and got in a ready position "your strong but you've got to know your limits lady" Room said out loud and in an odd accent. Without giving Hope time to react, he leapt once more at Hope with a barrage of punches but many of them were fairly weak by this point as it appeared The Room was getting tired, even the progression of the mind control was slowling down to a crawl.

Hope could nearly feel the recoil from sending The Room careening across the ground as she did, though there was none. What she did feel were spiky metal caterpillars crawling on the insides of her scalp, and the familiar throbbing pressure against her skull. It was an intense kind of dull throb growing into a crescendo of a loud sort of pain that made her ears ring and her stomach flip. Blew a gasket, at least that's what she called it. The young heroine had felt it a handful of times before, and always in situations like these. She would become determined, focused, intense, and she would overextend her abilities. The doctors had warned her that it could potentially cause her brain damage if she happened to tax her mind like that too often, and she even had medication prescribed for it and professional visits twice a year. It never slowed her down, though. The more it happened, the less intense the pain. Hope couldn't remember the first time she blacked out from trying a stunt like that... or about a week before and afterward either. She got lucky this time.

A copper taste entered her mouth as she limped on. The Room got up. Well that was a twist, but Hope shouldn't have been as surprised as she was. He was tough, he could last, and she hadn't really touched him until just now. The amateur hero was more shocked that she'd blown a gasket and couldn't keep him on the floor. A fog surrounded her as he charged her, and the surroundings became fuzzy when she tried to access her power again. But it wouldn't come. It was like a car engine struggling to turn over when the starter was broken. Except it felt like someone was driving nails into her skull with their thumbs. She winced and lost the vision in her left eye just before The Room struck her with a flurry of quick blows. Hope was in no condition to defend herself and could only pathetically attempt to shield her body with her arms, but she took a couple shots in the face anyway. He was throwing his punches without any weight behind them, he was probably just as tired as she was. But at least he could still fight, could still move his body on his own. Hope was only now still standing due to sheer stubbornness and a refusal to stay on the floor. If she couldn't get her powers back soon, he'd overtake her. And then she'd fail.

Hope wouldn't allow that to happen.

[Hope takes the barrage of punches, unable to defend herself effectively after having her hand injured, brain fried, and muscles cramped like they are. She attempts to use 10 POWER to defend herself, but fails from BURNOUT]

The Room's grasp on Hope's mind was now nothing more then a few wisps of something strange here and there but nothing debilitating. As The Room's influence lifted from Hope, it gave her a sudden boost in her power though her 'gasket' was still blown so at the moment it didn't do her much good other then giving her more energy then before. The Room stumbled backwards as his appearance began to ripple and shift. Something was defiantly up with The Room.