Michelle "Shelly" Diggby
Location: Patio
Skills: Stamina
Ayita's in the passenger seat of the bear mech? Who else was 'controlled'?
The idea that some of them were being manipulated was highly disturbing. Was she under control? If she was, it certainly wasn't like earlier when she punched herself in the face but Old Spice didn't say 'made to dance like a marionette' she said 'under control'. Whats to say her emotions weren't being played with in order to subtly force her to comply with the puppeteer's grand scheme? Shelly thought about her actions up until this point, had she done anything particularly out of character? Nothing stood out, could she continue safe in the knowledge she wasn't controlled? Maybe she could assume so for now.
Could she even trust the psychic? She was the one delivering the information, but what was part of the ruse? What if its intention was to destroy any remaining faith in X-men? What if its intention was to revive any remaining faith in X-men? Source or not, she'd been really inconsistent when it came to violence, punishing thoughtcrime, insisting on non-violence afterwards and now, after she'd come to a decent plan to sate the Ayita's rage without injury then informs her violence was the only solution? It was fucking with her head. If it weren't for the fact she'd gained some small respite from fighting due to their intervention, she wouldn't have even considered she was telling the truth. The story did add up though. It was a good explanation for the violence escalating in the sitting room also, Shelly's running theory up until this point was that other muties had gotten involved in the Irony vs Speed punch up, rival factions had been drawn up and they'd been duking it out, mutant-style, ever since. Instead some people, maybe even Mister Irony himself, were chosen to do some unknown force's bidding, thus fighting. Made sense.
With everyone fighting, whether they be the instigators or in self defence, Shelly had absolutely no way to verify who was controlled and who wasn't. It meant that she couldn't, in good conscious, go round knocking people senseless, or did it? Because atleast if Shelly did it she could be relied on not take it any further than that and no permanent damage would be the result. Or could she? Shelly had no idea at this point.
Out of the darkness, Ayita charged. It was terrifying to watch, and must have been even worse to be on the recieving end. The apex predator wasn't anywhere to be seen one moment, and pounding, full pelt, towards the couple/siblings the next. It was tough to tell initially if she'd had gotten the upperhand on them, it didn't seem so as the bear was beamed to the ground, but Ayita wasn't the only one. As the beam caught Jean, Shelly watched the man's goggles slide across the patio. She had to get those back to him, Shelly couldn't fight the bear, but it looked lik-
A familiar pain seared across Shelly's back as the beam swept across her. But there were more important issues at hand, if Shelly could take one of those Ayita wouldn't be out for long either and Shelly was down a convienent ally or two. Shelly grit her teeth and scrambled up with impressive vigor, fighting through all the pain, snatching up the visor in her left hand and making a break for the only other standing silhouette outside.
Ignoring the pain was not outside Shelly's capacity, she'd fought rough slugging matches before, but the reality of the totality of her injuries couldn't be. The numbness down her left side, the broken rib, the face shot and the recent blast to her back; she'd overstretched getting up so fast and in her hubris, Shelly'd stumbled and her grip on the visor was lost. It was closer than before, maybe even the rattling and bouncing noise it made as it scraped across the floor would help him locate it, but it was still going to take a miracle for him to get it back on his face, eyes closed, despite Shelly's efforts. It was mortifying, and the embarassment would have killed her then and there if it weren't for the presence of a bloody polar bear.
The mound of fur and muscle stirred slightly in the dim light radiating from the house.
"What the fuck are you going to do Shelly? You going to go toe to toe with a fucking bear? In your condition?" It was a terrifying thought, but maybe bear baiting, even for an instant, would give the other two a gnat's dick of a chance at subduing Ayita, because if they went down first Shelly was pretty fucked anyway, and they were already kinda down. Inside, Shelly was trembling. Outside though, Shelly was fucking trembling. "Was I really going to do this?" Shelly was running out of time before the bear would be active again, this was probably her only chance to say some meaningful last words. She drew in a deep breath.
"FUCK OFF MUTIES!"