Oleg grunted, and went down to one knee. At the voice, he turned his head, vision swimming as the potentially deadly radiation of that green stone began to sap his powers. How strange that something so small could bring a being such as him to his knees. A sweat broke out, causing his flesh to glisten. His muscles began to tense and cramp, and waves of nausea rolled over Oleg as he fought not to vomit all. This sort of feeling was entirely new to Oleg, he had never been so close to so much of that green stone, and he had never in his brief life felt so weak and so powerless. It would be easy to give in to despair and let the rock sap away his life. Did he not deserve it, for failing Chloe so badly? What good was he, anyway, if he could not even protect her? He bit down on the inside of his mouth to keep from crying out, but he was not going to give in.<br/><br/>But then the woman locked eyes with him, and Oleg saw Chloe dying before his eyes. When something pierced her heart, Oleg muttered a soft, almost inaudible, "no."<br/><br/>What followed was a much more audible, incoherent cry of defiance as the woman disappeared.<br/><br/>With great difficulty, the big man managed to reach out and grab the fragment of green stone around Chloe's neck. He yanked, pulling on the chain, knowing it would snap. But it was the rock that was his main goal: he squeezed down with all of the might in his trembling, sweating body, gritting his teeth with the exertion of calling upon the might of his heritage to grind the fragment of rock into nothing. It was not an easy thing to do; the veins bulging on his hand and arm began to glow green with the proximity of the Kryptonite radiation. The stone shattered, and the effects of the green rock abated somewhat. As it shattered, Oleg bit back a cry of pain: to touch the Kryptonite was agony, to exert the force necessary to destroy it doubly torturous.<br/><br/>But there was a second piece. Oleg swayed as he looked at it, seeing multiple shards as the lethal radiation did its work on him. He moved forward, coming up halfway to his feet but stumbling. He lost his balance, and almost fell, but his big hands slapped to the ground to catch him. Oleg coughed, bringing the back of his arm up to his mouth. It was not vomit, as he drew his arm away, but blood. His head pounded, and he shut his eyes as he could hear nothing but the painful hammering inside his skull, the torturous beat of some mad drummer inflicting such horrible pain every second. It would be easy to stop now. So much easier. It was so hard to see. He could not feel anything except for pain, nausea, and weakness. His muscles felt starved for oxygen. They trembled just as holding him.<br/><br/>Then he remembered the vision.<br/><br/>Tensing his right hand, Oleg formed a fist. He drew it back, although it shook and wavered, and then brought it down like a hammer upon the second piece of Kryptonite. It took shattered underneath his strength, and this time Oleg could not keep himself from crying out in pain. But the two pieces of his home planet, now poison to him, were gone. He could breathe somewhat more easily. Sweat dripped down his face, and into his eyes. It stung, and he tried to blink it away, wiping with his clean arm but not really succeeding. Drawing every breath was a battle, hard-fought. But necessary.<br/><br/>"Chloe . . . ?" Oleg muttered, turning to try and find her again, though his vision was impaired by the sweat and after-effects of Kryptonite poisoning. The veins on his arms still shone with a dull green, though that was rapidly fading as his body worked to fight off and reverse the effects of the poisonous mineral.<br/><br/>OOC: Hopefully this post does the green K justice.<br/><br/>Rolling to resist the effects of Green Kryptonite, using Chloe (d8), Duty (d10), and Invulnerability (d12): 16<br/>1d8,1d10,1d12 → ([8], [5], [8])<br/>http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3172344/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3172344/)<br/><br/>Rolling to break the shard on Chloe's necklace, using Chloe (d8), Power (d10), and Super-Strength (d12): 18<br/>1d8,1d10,1d12 → ([6], [6], [12])<br/>http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3172352/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3172352/)<br/><br/>Rolling to break the shard on the ground, using Chloe (d8), Power (d10), and Super-Strength (d12): 17<br/>1d8,1d10,1d12 → ([6], [8], [9])<br/>http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3172369/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3172369/)