Disclaimer: Not with the owning of anything but the characters & situations I create blah blah. You get the point.

A/N: To all my readers, you have no idea how sorry I am about how late this chapter has come.
Everything's been so hectic with school and someone very close to me passing away. But I got it done eventually...

Please review this if you make it to the bottom, every word you say really does make a difference and I thank you all for taking the time to read what I write.
It means alot to me when I can open my emails and see that someone's taken the time to review my story.

Once again, so sorry, I hope that it doesn't happen again.
Without further ado, enjoy.

Quinn squirmed about as David limped closer to her. He dabbed at her bloody face with the cloth in his hand, his hand moving slowly down her neckline, lower, lower.

“Leave her alone!” commanded the figure that walked through the door.

Quinn’s eyes peeled away from David’s disfigured face, towards the doorway and she was suddenly overcome by a wave of anger that swept through her. “No!” she cried, “You have no right to be here like that! Get out!”

David, who seemed to have been surprised at the initial command, but took no notice of it now, moved back towards Quinn. The person stepped closer, with a menacing presence, “Are you deaf? I said leave her alone!”

He reached out and shoved David hard against the wall. David snarled, cowering in the corner before moving out of the door.

Quinn turned to the stranger, livid at the nerve these people had. She opened her mouth to yell again.

“Shhh, Quinn. It’s me.”

“Why should I listen to a word you say?!” Quinn spat.

“Because...” he paused as he freed her from her restraints. Quinn rubbed her wrists, now raw and tinged red. He looked up into Quinn’s face as she stood up, grinning, “Justice always prevails, right?”

Quinn almost collapsed from joy the moment those words escaped his lips. She threw herself into his arms, “Lash! You have no idea how...” the words caught in Quinn’s throat as she buried herself in his shoulder. “Wait,” she pulled away, looking at him, her words coming out slowly, “how did you get here?”

“Lash looked away for a split second, before meeting Quinn’s eye, “Your backpack was still at school, and I hadn’t seen you... The principal, well, I followed her and-“ Quinn cut him off, wrapping her arms around him again, she wanted to hold onto him forever.

“Come on,” he said softly, “We’ve got to go.” She looked up into his dark eyes and nodded.

They walked out of the room, quickly, down the deserted corridor. Everything was eerily silent. A beeping noise caught Quinn’s ear and she stopped. She listened for it again and there it was, a pulsing beep. Gushing air could be heard beneath the beeping and Quinn turned her head to the origins of the noise. “Come on, we have to keep going!” Lash hissed, but Quinn was already at the door. She pushed it open and gasped, “Mum!”

The room was filled with large canisters of a greenish fluid. Suspended in them were the bodies of her mother, Mr. Boy, and what looked like the real Principal Powers and Nurse Spex.

Quinn took a running step forward but immediately felt strong arms pull her back down onto the floor. “No!” Lash said in a hoarse whisper, “We have to move. We’ll come back for them.” Quinn looked into his face, full of reassurance, “Look. You have to trust me, no matter what happens, you have to trust that I’m doing this for you.” Quinn smiled weakly and nodded, she trusted him. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. They hurried down the hallway, taking turn after turn before they came to a door. Quinn stole a glance at Lash to find his face was etched in fear. He looked at her, pained expression and muttered a barely coherent, “Sorry,” before they burst through the door.

--

The back of her neck prickled as a shiver ran down her spine. She could feel eyes on her, watching her every move. Quinn picked up the bowl and hurried out of the room. A cold monotonous voice could be heard drifting out of the living room into the kitchen, though Quinn could only hear snippets of the conversation taking place. “We are getting weaker.”

“We’ll find a way to sustain you,” came another voice, this time strong and warm. Her mother’s.

“There is no time. We would only be using what does not belong,” said another voice, different to the first, yet still as cold and dark, as though there were a driving force behind the sound not belonging to the speaker.

“Who are you to decide what does not belong?” Quinn’s mother spoke up again, her temper could be heard rising. A deep man’s voice spoke up, “It is the decision of the council that you will not pursue this matter any further. We will use all our resources to find you a source that does not drain.”

The man continued to talk but Quinn had tuned out. She made her way to her room, climbing the stairs by two, and made her way to her bedroom. Sitting down on the floor, Quinn couldn’t help but wonder exactly what it is that the group downstairs were talking about. ‘You’re too young to understand’ her mother had reiterated every time she asked, so Quinn had just given up trying to get information out of her.

There was a noise at her door and she jumped. Glancing up, Quinn wished she had kept her eyes down. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“I can feel your power radiating.” Her skin was so pale is seemed translucent.

Quinn stood up, “Go away. You’re not meant to be up here.”

“You have so much power, you should join us. Join us and we can make something of you.” A smile appeared on her drawn back face as she advanced forward. But it was not one of kindness, no. There was madness behind those blank eyes. Madness, greed, evil. She reached out, her long nails brushing against Quinn’s face. Her hands were so cold. Quinn tried to avoid looking into her eyes, but they were so enticing. “Come with us.”

Quinn knew not what she was doing. She nodded and started out of the room, in a trancelike fashion.

“Quinn! Can you help me with the dinner?!” Her mother’s voice snapped her out of the daze she was in. White hot rage flashed on the woman’s face, but was gone in an instant. Quinn opened her mouth to scream but before she could the woman had her hand drawn back. She raked Quinn’s face, drawing blood and swiftly kicking her backwards before turning around and making a break for it. And just like that, she was gone. Quinn stumbled backwards, her foot clipping the edge of the top stair. She tried to move her arms up to grab at something, but they wouldn’t budge. They were glued at her sides as she fell.

--

They were ready. Waiting to pounce the moment the two passed through the door. They were ready for them. Like predator to prey they were on them, pinning Quinn’s arms behind her as they threw her and Lash to the ground, hard. Quinn readied herself for the impact, but it never came. Instead of the stone cold floor upon her face she felt warmth underneath her. A grunt was heard amongst the scuffle and Quinn looked to the source of it.

Lash’s face was bloodied; his outstretched arms that kept Quinn mere inches from the clod impact left him unable to soften his own fall. “Lash..? Quinn whimpered. He didn’t stir. Panic lit up in her at the sight of his motionless body. Against her will, she imagined the worst. The men standing on either of their backs had been called to the center of the room and were in deep converse. Quinn glanced around, but there were still men standing guard at the doors. There was no escape.

Quinn shuffled her body towards Lash’s. No one noticed. “Lash?” she whispered in his ear. He groaned softly. Quinn could feel her eyes stinging. “Lash! I thought you were... and you weren’t moving... and, oh god! I’m sorry!”

His face twitched into as much of a smile as the agony he was in would allow. Quinn shifted her body and entwined her fingers in his.

“I need you to trust me,” a whisper managed to escape from his lips, “No matter what.”

“No matter what,” Quinn restated, gripping is hand tighter in hers. She never wanted to let go. “It’s okay,” she breathed into his ear, “We’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.”
“Get them off the floor you incompetent fool!” commanded a voice. Quinn recognized it from before ‘The shape shifter’ she thought, moments before she was abruptly pulled from the floor. Lash’s hand weakly slipped from hers as he was yanked away from her, towards the center of the room. The shape shifting woman stepped out of the crowd of the ten or twelve people surrounding a silver operation table, producing a syringe filled with a murky thick liquid from inside her figure hugging suit. Quinn would have wondered how on earth that woman could have kept anything hidden in those pockets if she wasn’t so busy yelling as the woman made for Lash’s arm.

“What are you doing to him?!” she screamed the pointless question as she struggled to return to Lash’s side. She knew what they were doing. What else? Quinn waited for the worst as she writhed in the arms of her captors. Any minute now he would surely start to sprout growths and morph into something hideous and inhumane. Quinn couldn’t watch. She looked away as he started to groan. She stole a glance, long enough to see Lash standing up straight, agony vanished & his face no longer mangled.

“Thanks.” He said, grimacing.

Quinn stood speechless, too weak to struggle anymore as Lash was allowed to stand free.

“Thank you for bring her here,” started a voice. “We couldn’t have done it without you,” finished another. ‘Those voices... so familiar’ thought Quinn, as she searched for their owners, amongst the many people huddled in the middle of the room.

“What are you talking about?!” she demanded, her eyes darting back and forth from the mouths of the people.

“Dear girl, did you really think” said one, “that he was here to rescue you?” said the other. “He brought you here of course,”

“And a good little helper he is.”

Quinn’s brow crinkled, “You’re lying. Lash would never do that!” Quinn kicked herself internally as she remembered back to their study of those ‘oh-so-cliché’ hero lines. ‘No, Lash wouldn’t...’

“Go on,” said one. “Tell her,” finished the other. Quinn looked pleadingly at him, begging silently for him to say it was all a lie. For him to tell her this was all a stupid ploy to... ‘To what? What possible use could lying to her about it have?’

“I... they don’t lie.” He said flatly.

“No! I don’t believe it! You brainwashed him with that... thing you gave him!!” The laugh that followed sent shivers down Quinn’s spine. It was so familiar, yet Quinn couldn’t think. Her eyes burnt as she could feel an onset of tears forming, but she fought to keep them back.

“Well, he might just be a shape shifter! It’s not Lash.” Quinn knew deep down that there was no way that this wasn’t Lash, but she just could not bring herself to accept it, because that would mean she would have to accept that she had been played. That she’d opened herself up to trust, that she’d been betrayed and that everything was a lie. But worst of all, she would have to accept that she had fallen for it.

No. Quinn just couldn’t do that.

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