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Sugilite paused at a corner, breathing heavily. She leaned against the grimy brick wall and tucked an errant strand of hair back. That had been unexpected. When she had seen the man, so drunk he couldn't walk straight and so overweight that his collar was cutting into his expansive neck, despite being loosened, she had marked him down as so easy she could drain him in her sleep. Not worried about him seeing, she had jumped down from her usual vantage of a nearby rooftop and began menacing him, rather theatrically. The standard stuff really. And then, the man had turned on his heels and shot off down the street at a speed that would have put greyhound dogs to shame. She really hadn't seen it coming at all.

Now she pushed off the wall again and looked ahead. He was there, rapidly accelerating down the block. But there was no place to run to, and she was certain that he was slowing down. He had to be. Wincing a little, the bruises having not yet faded from her recent escapades as a false senshi during the city council meeting, she hurried on down the street after her large target.

The man had stopped. It was hard to see, as the street was barely lit by the moon, but she was pretty certain he had stopped. Sugilite pushed her glasses further up her nose and hurried towards him, until a young male voice cut through the noise of her targets ragged panting. Gotten lucky? Gotten lucky?? Was that a senshi up ahead? She slowed down as she approached, slightly cautious. No, it didn't feel like a senshi, it felt like her. Like another grunt for the negaverse, out doing his duty. Well he could just keep on waking, because this was her catch.

"Sorry dear, but I've already got this one."

She strode up and paused behind the civillian, the same distance away as Benitoite. Sugilite was thankful that she had caught a breather at the corner, it wouldn't have done to be seen running after a target, out of breath, by another officer. Stepping to the side a little, so she could see around the cornered man, she took in the other Lieutenant. Nothing impressive, as far as she could see. A skinny young man in a coat. If Sugilite had been a different person, she would have sneered. Instead, she smiled.

Sugilite frowned for the blink of an eye, before the disarming smile returned. She'd be damned if she admitted the fact that this pudgy human had been able to outrun her, beside he hadn't really gotten away. It would just have been a matter of time before she cornered him, if this ... whatever his name was, hadn't butted in. She chose to outwardly ignore that comment as a point of pride, while inwardly it cut her with annoyance.

And what was this? A tavern? For a second she bristled, thinking it some sort of clumsy pickup line, then she suddenly realized that he was talking about that place. A lance of pain shot up through her stomach, pure muscle memory of the indignities it had to suffer in the name of the Negaverse. She had drunk so much vinegar that day that she had nearly thrown up the next time she passed by a hot dog vendor and smelt the familiar acidic scent.

"Is that so? I don't say I can remember you from then, but the whole place was quite crowded and loud and full of ... rather inebriated people and, here, this won't do at all! Do stop trying to run, you'll only put more strain on your heart."

The last part of the comment was addressed to the terrified man who had again tried to dash off. This time though, she darted forward and gripped his arm in an iron grasp. Then, without much struggle as he was already on his last legs from the mad dash, she began to drain him. In a few seconds he had sunk to his knees and his breathing had slowed, eventually slumping forward onto the ground as she released the now-limp arm. Pushing her glasses up her nose again, in a practised gesture, she looked up at the other Lieutenant.

"Perhaps your suggestion that we team up might be practical. After all, right now, gathering is quite top priority thanks to that blasted .. whatever it is .. that's being put up in space by the Zodiac. So I put myself in your hands, ah, I don't think I caught your name?"

Sugilite wrinkled her nose scornfully at the mention of senshis. After the loss of face they sustained at the press conference, she was skeptical that they'd be patrolling. It didn't occur to her that they might be working twice as hard to hunt down Negaverse agents, only that they'd hide in shame and embarrassment. They'd failed and a dozen or more civilians had died. It was enough in her mind to send them cowering back to their holes. Or in this case, planets. A dismissive hand waved away the notion of encountering any serious resistance from a senshi.

"I don't think we need to worry ourselves too much about the ribbon brigade tonight, those meddling dears are probably off licking their wounds and messing about on their little space ring."

Her glasses clicked up her nose again as she stepped around the collapsed civilian, not giving him further thought. She rarely did, once they were down. Leave the body where it dropped, she didn't care what happened to the person afterwards. If they were mugged, well, it wasn't her fault that they decided to go out with their wallet on them, was it? As for any attractive young woman she drained and left unconscious in a bad part of town, it had been her choice to go out alone at night in such a dangerous city. Choices had consequences.

"Lieutenant Sugilite. I don't suppose you had any plans after this man? It seems such a waste to go hunt down one or two people now, perhaps we could try a larger operation."

Sugilite watched the other lieutenant drag the man off into the shadows. She raised an eyebrow curiously, but didn't go so far as to offer help. Why he would waste time with something as pointless as hiding the victims was beyond her. It wasn't as though they had anything to cover up. When he returned, she was fixing her hair, the last strands that had flew loose from the chase tucked back into their proper spot. At his question however, she dropped her hands from her head and gestured down the street, the way she had come.

"There's a small bus stop three blocks down that way. It's one of those quaint little enclosed shelters with the heating for winter, and the lights and camera for 'security'."

She scoffed loudly at the security comment, not bothering to hold back her contempt. If the police and city council of Destiny City honestly thought that the Negaverse could be deterred by being caught on camera, they were even more naive than those delirious senshi.

"I intercepted this man on his way there, I think people come from bars all around to wait at that stop, rather than the unprotected benches. They seem to have the oddest notion that they're safe if they're waiting together. There are two entrances. If we both take one, they'll be unable to escape, and pinned in like rats."

Sailor Elara sniffed, all her senses focused on the drip that hung to the end of her nose. She sniffed again, then seeing as she had no other choice, reached up and wiped it off on the back of her hand. Ewwww.

She stomped her feet and huffed a little, trying to warm up. It wasn't too cold, but her short shorts and chest binding weren't exactly the best insulating gear ever. The bronze breastplate, shin guards and arm guards didn't hold the heat in either, and dug in uncomfortable ways when she tried to sit down.

Glancing around through the dark, she wished her uniform had come with a watch. Perhaps she should be getting home soon, the last time she had been out she had barely closed her eyes before she had heard her mother's door open. The last thing she needed was to get caught sneaking back in at 4am. There was a heated bus stop nearby, and she powered down before heading off to wait in the warm shelter, for the bus that would bring her home.

As she set off down the street in the direction of the shelter, expecting Benitoite to fall in beside her, Sugilite laughed at the first comment offered up by her fellow officer. Surely he didn't really think that? If people really left their houses to go drinking every night, knowing that there was a possibility they would die, then the citizens of Destiny City were more battle hardened than most soldiers. And since one of the things that at least thirty percent of her victims did was scream and/or wet themselves, they didn't seem to show any of that fearlessness.

"I doubt they're all clustering at the shelter with the hopes that the other falling bodies will shield their own. If someone is foolish enough to be out on these streets at night, wouldn't you say that indicates a certain refusal to admit that it's a stupid and dangerous thing to do? Most likely none of these people even believe the 'terrorists' from the news are real. Won't it be nice to educate them on the reality of things?"

She nodded at one of the buildings they passed by, already working out the best way to spring the impromptu trap of her and her newly acquired companion. The back door sounded fine for him, and the front door was only fitting for her. She would gladly take centre stage, and relish it.

"The building has large windows, we'll be seen if we come up from the sides. If we take the roofs and jump down in front of the doors, no one will have time to react. It's unlikely any of them would run from us, as we aren't decked out in sailor gear, but better to be safe than sorry, wouldn't you agree?"

Elara stood in the center of the shelter, directly under the heat lamps. It felt good. Raising her hands, she felt the warmth seep into them. Now that she was in her human form she was warming up already, but the pleasant tingle of warmth was nothing to be sneezed at. Automatically, she reached up again and wiped her nose with the back of her hoodie. Talking about sneezing ... she hoped she wasn't coming down with a cold.

Glancing about the shelter, she wondered when the buss would come. Probably soon, judging by the amount of people waiting. It wasn't spectacularly crowded, only seven other people stood in the place, but it was a large enough crowd for 2am. She shivered again, this time not from the cold but from the company. A bunch of red face, dull eyed drinkers. Sometimes, on bad days, she wondered really why she was fighting with her life to save people like these.

Sugilite had been right behind the Lieutenant. Rooftops were here favourite locations when she was out on a hunt, and she felt the tension that had been in her shoulders ease out as she reached the top. So far, she'd never seen a senshi up on the roofs, so her brain filed them under 'safe ground'.

"Well it certainly is a lovely night to go rattle up some civvies, isn't it? One doesn't want to bear considering what it will be like when winter really hits the city."

Why was she talking about the weather of all things? Sugilite inwardly frowned. She never could figure out what to talk about when she was with men. What was it they liked? Sports drinks and running shoes? She really couldn't think of anything to say about either subject, but she always felt responsible for keeping the flow of conversation going. Picking up her pace, she hurried along the roof, hoping they'd arrive before she had to throw out another conversation starter. Thankfully, they were barely half a block away.

As the two figures pulled up to the edge of the roof, she pointed at the flat roof of the lower building that sat out from the sidewalk. It was a one story concrete bunker-like thing, painted bright red and white in an attempt to match the city buses and look cheerful. It didn't work. The only thing preventing the people inside from having a claustrophobic breakdown was the large, thick windows that held the roof up instead of traditional walls. It made the shelter feel more like a roof hovering over the ground than an actual building. The only reason Sugilite was daring enough to try and raid the place was the fact that the streets were so deserted, the chances of anyone actually being there to see it happen were negligible. Taking a step back, she jumped easily down onto the roof of the building. Her heels clicked as she touched down and turned to look up at Benitoite.

"Oh, I think i'll probably freeze to death."

Was her flippant reply to the last question, though the laugh afterwards had marked it as a joke rather than her serious plan. She hadn't thought much about what she would do when winter came. Perhaps she'd have to hunt in civilian form, powering up only when she spotted a suitable target. Or she would take her search indoors. Only time would tell.

Walking across the roof, Sugilite paused at the edge, standing directly over the front. She turned back, noticing her ally had already jumped down to street level. Well, at least he was enthusiastic, so much for taking a moment to scan the area. Jumping down as well, she turned and looked into the startled face of a man who had been standing right at the front door, and had not been expecting it to start raining girls.

"Now."

She didn't yell, but her voice rung out loud enough to be heard by Benitoite, standing at the other side of the building. Then she reached forward and yanked open the door, shoving the confused man farther into the shelter with her free hand. Stepping into his the building, she shut the door firmly behind her and looked up at the bleary faces. Perhaps it had been the fact that they were all drunk that made the group huddled in the shelter not give her much thought. Another teenager, dressed funny, but whatever. Kids these days. The only one who was eyeing her with any concern was the middle-aged man who had seen her jump down from the roof. Standing as she was, surrounded by taller people, Sugilite didn't notice the messy redheaded girl in the middle of the room, and for now, the girl didn't notice her either.