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Sailor Ares had been in a different plane of existence when then-lieutenant Nealite had enacted a similar plan against the senshi. She had only heard about it in whispers -- a senshi that had gone around causing bad press -- and now adopted that idea to the purposes of the Blood Moon Court. There were many things that the faction planned to accomplish. The easiest was simply to show the citizens of Destiny City just who the enemy was: the Negaverse. It could only be a help to them. In time, they would show citizens that the only senshi worth their weight were the Blood Moon senshi, too, but that part could wait.

The senshi of smoke smoothed two hands down her paintsuit. "I could get used to this suit," she mused lightly, tracing a finger along the sewn-on purple racing stripe that ran the length of the pants. Her eyes moved back to the target. He had not been part of their plan, but a Blood Moon senshi never passed up an opportunity to make a tactical strike. "It's a lieutenant -- and a stupid one from what it seems," she whispered. The girls kept an easy distance, running the formations they had practiced endlessly with the rest of the faction over the past month.

She held a hand to stop Gunn. "We don't need him for the video. I doubt he'll cooperate on film." Her boots clicked on the ground a touch too loudly. The Nega stopped, glanced over his shoulder, and then turned back around. He seemed wary and darted quickly into the cracked window of a small clothing shop. Ares propped a hand on each side. "He can't teleport," she said flatly. It was common knowledge in BMC that only highly powered Negas had this nasty trait.

Slowly, Ares turned to regard Gunn. "We can go in after him, and risk losing him," she began, raising an eyebrow, "...or?" The question was rhetorical. Gunn knew what Ares would want, always did when it came to situations like this.

Sailor Ares never complained about the weather outside, even though her fuku was barely a set of lingerie at best. She got goosebumps, shivered sometimes, but she refused to complain. It was a sort of silent vow to herself that she could be stronger than nature itself. Or, perhaps, she saw it as an unacceptable form of weakness. If the Ares before was militant, then the Ares that had been born after Tartaros was a world dictator.

There was no reaction from Ares as the building began to burn. She simply lifted the camera and filmed Gunn from behind. To the uniformed eye, she looked every bit like a Nega who had just committed this crime. It would be a vital piece of their new propaganda campaign. The senshi in Intel would be responsible for editing the video and diffusing it out to the media.

After months of planning, the Blood Moon Court was coming together.

Ares leaned out from behind the camera. "Say something Negaversey," she said. "Say something about wanting to kill every single senshi and civilian or something." The senshi of smoke was not the creative type. She could leave that up to Gunn.

Ares angled the camera so that it looked amateurish. It was a technique that one of the girls in PR had suggested. In her mind, this would be the last time the Senshi of Smoke engaged in these counterterrorism measures. Once the Blood Moon Court was in full swing, there would be a fully stated task force on this. She could see it now: senshi of every size and shape parading around the streets of Destiny City with the red crescent burned into their flesh.

Our blood is our bond, she thought. We are reborn as a family.

Even Gunn had developed in ways that were unexpected to the false queen. In many ways, she looked at the Super Senshi of Wildfire as a sister -- or at least a kindred spirit. Gunn never balked at any plot, no matter how devious, that Ares bounced around with the ISS. She held a determination and dedication that Ares believed should be the example that the rest of the BMC lived by. Even now, she was performing spectacularly.

"Yes, give us a cackle," Ares said, adjusting the angle of the shot again. "Make it good. I'll have them edit it if it's not loud enough, but try to make my lens rattle."

The camera remained fixed on Gunn as she gave her own version of a Negaverse cackle. For all intents and purposes, Ares thought it was A+++. It certainly sounded evil to her, at least. "Well done, that should do--" Her voice was cut off by the whistle of approaching sirens.

The Senshi of Wildfire had heard it too and began to move away. Ares flashed a hand out and grabbed her wrist. "Go?" she said sharply, shooting Gunn a confused look. "Why would we go?" The camera disappeared beneath the folds of her Nega garb. Ares squared her shoulders to the source of the noise, keeping the flaming building to her back.

"Pictures speak louder than words, Gunn -- but the real thing?" She glanced sidelong over her shoulder. "The real thing can change your whole worldview."

Her boots clacked against the pavement as she stepped forward. The police had guns. The police had shot at senshi before. Despite this threat, Ares seemed nonplussed. She looked back to front. "We need to show them how the Negaverse has been setting all those buildings on fire. Don't run until we make them certain." Taking a page from Super Van, Ares had brought a crowbar with her. It was her Nega weapon for the night.

She shifted into an aggressive stance and let the crowbar trail across the ground just as the first cop car swerved onto the scene.

Ares knew that Gunn was afraid of the police, and it was for perhaps that reason that she refused to let her fellow ISS go. There could be no fear of anything in the Blood Moon -- except failure. The police were human. They were lesser. Gunn did not need to fear them any more than she feared the stray neighborhood dogs or a colony of ants scrambling up the sandy side of a mound.

Her fingertips had relaxed, but she could feel Gunn there still. "Show them what the Negaverse has done, Gunn. Convince them you are not a senshi. Make it count." Was this a test? It sort of sounded like one.

There was no more time for talking. The first car slammed into view, and two police officers got out, each one crouching behind an open door with weapon drawn. The darker skinned of the officers shouted, "HANDS IN THE AIR! DROP THAT CROWBAR!" Ares stared coldly at him. He shouted again, this time adding, "We WILL shoot if necessary." To this, Ares laughed, long and low.

A second cop car rolled up. Two more officers got out and assumed the same position. "The NEGAVERSE does not take orders from scum," she said, spitting. Ares did not take a step forward. She did not lift the crowbar. It was possible that she had realized the danger in that single action. Or perhaps she was just biding her time.

"We serve Queen Beryl and her laws -- not the laws of you people. You are nothing to us. Go cry to your senshi. Go cry to the Blood Moon Court. Only they will hear your wailing." It sounded like this speech had been practiced countless times, something about the bounce and cadence of it. One of the officers was muttering into his walkie-talkie. Ares heard him call for a 'bus' just in case. A bus? Oh right. He meant an ambulance.

Very slowly, Ares moved the crowbar. Every officer began to shout. "DROP THE WEAPON! WE WILL SHOOT. THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING." The crowbar was angled across her now. It didn't seem threatening, but the police were clearly taking no chances.

Ares did not take her eyes away from the police, but she called to Gunn. "Captain," she said sharply. "Do you think these police officers understand the might of the Negaverse?" And then she waited.

When the first bullet flew, Ares dove into action. She muttered her incantation, calling forth a choking column of smoke. Instead of shooting it at a target, she broke her hands outward, purposely dispersing the cloud just as it collided with the first cop car. The result was a thin, hazy blanket of smoke slowly rising from the pavement toward the sky.

The crowbar came sailing after it, lodging firmly in the windshield of the second car.

Bullets began fly, pinging off the pavement, but in the haze of smoke, the officers could barely see. Ares dove behind a metal trashcan, pulling Gunn with her. The thud of boots on pavement chased after them. The Senshi of Smoke turned to Gunn and shouted, "NOW!" But it was too late. More bullets rang out.

Ares got back to her feet, dragging Gunn alongside her. "LONG LIVE QUEEN BERYL! DESTINY CITY WILL BE DESTROYED AT HER HANDS! WE WILL DESTROY THE SENSHI, AND THEN WE WILL COME AFTER YOU!" The words tasted sour, but Ares knew she had to say them. She kept moving, half-pulling, half-dragging Gunn. The police were in hot pursuit. Walkie-talkies echoed as more back-up was called for. There was no time left.

Around the next corner, the Senshi of Smoke saw her intended target -- a full-length mirror on the side of an outdoor photobooth. She sprinted towards it, ignoring the burning hiss of something on her left arm. Gunn had mere moments to do something as Ares had already wrapped one arm around her waist and was forcibly cartwheeling them both backwards toward the glimmering surface of the mirror.

Ares knew when she sat up that a bullet had grazed her. Her fingers found the angry red burn on her forearm. It wasn't bad, not bad at all -- especially considering the risk that they took. Senshi might be magical, but they were not bulletproof.

The room was strange to Gunn -- but not to Fallon. They were sprawled on the floor of her mother's condo, a condo that had sat empty for the past three weeks. Her mother still planned on moving to Destiny City, so she claimed, but after nearly losing their daughter again, Fallon's parents had stopped all talk of divorce and went on a long lovers' vacation to Greece. It was just as well. They always did better when they weren't worrying about their daughter all the time, and Fallon did much better when she didn't have to worry about them either. Though she loved her parents, it had become increasingly obvious to her that they got along much better when the relationship was long-distance. If Fallon had it her way, her mother would be back in France within the month.

Until then, though, the full length mirror in the condo's bedroom served as an excellent escape route during battles.

Sailor Ares got to her feet, immediately peeling out of the false Negaverse costume and folding it into a neat square. She stacked it on the edge of the bed and then crossed to the table against the far wall, pouring herself a glass of water and then another for Gunn. She didn't say anything until she had finished this and passed off the glass to her comrade.

"You could be better," she said at last, sitting neatly on the edge of the bed. "We have to instill terror in the civilians. I know it goes against your better judgement -- it gives me pause too -- but what we do, we do for a reason. The Negaverse will never play by the rules. So either should we."

But how long would it take her to get the rotten taste of long live Queen Beryl off of her tongue? If Nehelenia could see her now, what would she say? No, she would be proud. She would see that Ares was carrying the mantle. Of this, Ares felt sure -- or perhaps it was simply the most pleasant to believe this to be true. Either way, Ares felt more sure of her actions with each passing day.

Sailor Ares took a long sip of water. "You didn't hurt anyone. We didn't hurt any civilians. We just scared them. As long as we toe that line, it will be fine." Yes, so long as no civilian died at their hands, then there was no loss -- just gain.