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It had taken him a while to follow the echoes down the maze of back alleys, the frantic footsteps were coming from all directions and the string of panicking swears sounded like an army of voices.

Gehenna had really only been hoping to dip his toes back in the water but instead he was dashing down alleys as fast as his mass would go, the metal of his armor answering the echoes that taunted him. He knew the sound of panic. There were things in this city that made the bravest people he'd ever met cower at night.

The first time he saw them was through a glimpse of a building window. First just her, running, the mouth synced up more-or-less to the rebounding echoes. It was only a split second before the yeti-youma blurred past in pursuit and he bit his lip against a curse that would surely give him away. He twisted down a side alley and tried to use his years old knowledge of an only semi-familiar alley system. He missed his first chance to catch them.

Then he saw an intersecting alley up ahead. He pushed himself as hard as he could after he rounded that corner, only halfway down as he watched her whip past the open end with a string of curses in her wake. His teeth grit as he pushed himself, barreling with all the force he had. As the youma passed the end of the alley, all two hundred-plus pounds of Gehenna plowed into its shoulder. His teeth jarred on impact but he earned a groan as the yeti-thing's other shoulder knocked into the opposite wall. For a breath, he was pleased.

Then a well placed back hand from a super-ape youma sent him whirling into a nearby set of garbage cans. His armor clattered loudly against the sides, but as the metallic ringing died out he was laughing to fill the silence. He pushed himself up onto his feet slowly, granted a small reprieve as the youma reeled from the second stun. <********," Gehenna breathed, the thrill of taking the hit already setting his veins to a buzz.

The dizziness from his head smash was clearing right as she called out her praise. He'd leaned one hand against the brick of the building at his side, shaking his head back and forth to convince his eyes they were still alive and had a job to do. He glanced up just in time to see her whack it one more time, thankful for the distraction.

"Good of you to come back," he muttered, pushing himself all the wall and crouching with his spiked gauntlet held chest level before him. He could maybe take it if he could initiate his rage, but the last time he'd done that he ended up slugging Nemesis in the head as well. He didn't want to hurt the page - he somehow doubted her skull was as thick as the Senshi of Decay's. His eyes flashed up around them as she bounded back over, trying to get a sense of where they were.

"There's an old warehouse a couple blocks west," he said quickly, stepping up to her side, "if we could lure him that way, they've got an open elevator shaft that I think we could knock him into." It wasn't actually something he had thought of himself - Cimmerian, his first partner, had. "We just have to get him there."

He reached to his side where the trash cans lay scatted, grabbing one by the handle. As the yeti dashed towards them like a mad man, he rushed forward and swung the metal cylinder as his jaw. The creature stumbled back and Gehenna recoiled, bracing himself with a half-dented garbage can.

"Well?" He shot back over his shoulder.

"Good one," he called out of the dark above her, trailing off into a soft chuckle.

He'd let her lead the youma to the warehouse in favor of darting down a different path and arrived at the back entrance instead. He'd slid quickly under the half-raised garage door and double-checked the boobie-trapped elevator shaft. At this point he was confident the crumbled, decaying elevator at the bottom left enough dagger-size points to kill a t-rex.

"It's pretty much straight back," he dropped down beside her after lowering himself through a hole in a metal floor above. He could hear it's footsteps now, the grunting snarls as it ran. "Let it chase you as far as you can, I'll follow behind and knock him in." He didn't stop and wait for questions or give her time to object, he just finished what he had to say and took off at a jog towards the elevator shaft across the maze of catwalks spanning the second story.

He slowed his pace as he neared the end closest to the shaft, choosing his vantage point in the spare seconds he probably had before she led the beast down the wide corridor below. He stopped next to an opening for a ladder - or what was left of one with only a couple of rungs and jagged, rusted points. The rest of it was below, in barely-attached sections.

He crouched here and listened, waiting for his cue to save the day.

Gehenna did his best to zone out any noises around him except the haphazard gallop of the yeti-like creature - foot, knuckle, foot, knuckle. He only distantly registered the sound of her collapse into the crates, waiting as the vibration of the beast's weight made the metal beneath his fingertips buzz stronger and stronger.

Just as she called out to him he leaped, falling through the hole and grasping the metal rungs of the ladder with his fingers. He swung behind the youma just as it was turning to look for her, ramming two hard-booted feet into its face. One struck it in the center, obstructing its vision and throwing it off balance. The other hit him in the back of the skull, whirling it as it stumbled.

For a second it was almost comedic - it whirled, reached with over-sized hands for anything to grasp. One rock wobble back and then another before its inferior legs gave in and collapsed him backwards, tipping slowly into the gaping mouth of the elevator.

..then he was gone, swallowed by the darkness.

A roar echoed up behind him as he fell, until it ended in a yelp and the squishy, wet sound of something being impaled by jagged, rough edges. At that exact moment the rusted ladder Ghen was clinging to collapsed and he fell unceremoniously to the floor, landing in a panting heap of armor. As he groaned and rolled onto his side, his eyes looked around him for a glance of the other knight.

Yet words escaped him as he drew deeps breaths and did his best to recover from the strike to his still-tender ribs. One day he'd learn to save the day without wrecking himself every time.

It was some time before Gehenna could find the air to speak, though he was aware of the Page's fretting and her rambling compliments. In silence he reached out and took her arm, letting her be the anchor he used to at least pull himself into a sitting-up position.

"Probably," he said slowly, though he had managed a small smile despite the way his ribs felt like someone was using them for a xylophone. "One part awesome and one part reckless," he poked a hand gingerly at the ribs on his right side, trying not to grimace openly when they protested. Right. No more swinging from ladders for a while. "These would have healed weeks ago if I didn't have to keep so many people from smear-status."

He laughed then to show that it wasn't as much of a burden as he implied and slowly pushed himself back up onto his feet. Despite the lingering grimace any time he moved too quickly, he seemed to be alright. There were only a few scratches - the majority of his pain seemed to be from old injuries. Gehenna's recklessness didn't always end so well.

"I'm Gehenna, Squire of Mars," he held out a broad, dark hand as he spoke, "I know it's not as convenient as those fancy shmancy cell phones the frilly skirts carry around, but if you need me just send a letter." She was spunky enough that it would take her far, but he doubted her ability to do anything as she was now - he doubted most Pages.

"Is there no one teaching you greenies anything?"

He sighed and turned back the way they had come, toward the entrance of the abandoned factory where soft light gleamed lazily through the open door. He shouldn't have been as harsh on her as he was acting, really. When he'd found his ring it had been by pure chance, he only knew what it could do because he'd seen himself do it.

"You should go to your planet more and learn things from yourself." With one hand plastered against his ribs, he swung his feet into a lazy gait and started toward the exit - she could keep up or be left behind. There were very few things in his life that he'd taken the time to learn about and he felt like he was still only beginning to understand what it meant to be a Knight. Yet here she was, reminding him of everything he had already learned.

Resigned to helping her, he held up his free left hand as he walked and showed her the gleaming golden ring on his middle finger. "Write something and put the seal to the paper, any type you want. It can be sent to any ally. They've got those little cell phones, we're just classier." And a little out dated, but he worked with what he had. They reached the doorway after a short, dusty walk down the old corridor and he paused to look at her as they stood beneath the threshold.

"You can send them without even having to be Megiddo, it's pretty useful. You probably shouldn't do it if you're under attack though, just saying." He added a small grin to the end of his words, managing despite the obvious discomfort he was in. He wasn't going to be patrolling much longer.

He had to admit that she was a spunky thing, she certainly didn't let her lack of knowledge slow her down. It was like a younger, less neurotic version of Penny. The thought made him smile. He brought up one hand as he did, waving her away as he turned to head in the direction of his apartment.

"Yeah, get out of here. I'll take care of it." He was probably going to end up in an ice bath before the night was through, but he'd be damned if he told anyone he was as weak as he felt. As soon as he could find suitable cover he intended to power down and draw less attention to himself. Just in case. He paused before he was even ten steps away and turned to look back at her.

"Hey," he called back, "when you figure out how to use that thing, let me know." There, he was promising to be involved in something. Nemesis and Vulcan could stop giving him those worried glances now. He turned again and gave her one last back-handed wave, then dwindled into the distance down the long walkway.