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It was not the senshi Vulcan hunted, but the youma that lurked beyond the wrought-iron gates. She moved quickly, head held high, the soles of her sandals flexible underneath her feet. They were more practical than heels, and lent themselves both to speed and silence. Not that it mattered. As much as Vulcan would have liked to imagine herself capable of ninja stealth, there was no hiding her energy signature.

And she wasn't much inclined to sneaking around behind shadows anyways.

Vulcan stepped into view, rounding the corner of a quiet street nearby just in time see Astarte muttering to herself, and lifted a hand in greeting.

"Over here," she said, smiling, and gesturing at herself, "I'm Sailor Vulcan."

It was hard to believe that she had been a senshi as long as she had, and still not met all of her brethren. Past experiences with the Blood Moon Court had taught Vulcan important lessons about heroics and loyalty. She was not as quick to trust comrades of Order as she once was, but still inherently friendly. And Astarte, pressed up against the gate behind her like a cat backed into a corner, looked as though she could use a... hand, or something.

'What brings you here?'

Vulcan paused.

"Uh," she said, "killing things, mostly."

Preventing the deaths of good people. Generally ******** up Negaverse agendas. Looking for Kam's little brother. Staying alive.

"Who are you?"

'Batty' wasn't a word Vanessa would have figured anyone for. Partly because it was stretching the limits of her vocabulary. Mostly because she wasn't inclined to judge. Vanessa had never been especially picky about the sort of company she kept, and tended to like everyone as long as they were kind to her. She cocked an eyebrow at Astarte, and was surprised by the amount of things another person could say in one go for the first time in her life.

Vanessa had never met someone who talked more than she did before. She wasn't sure whether she wanted Astarte to stop or not, and bristled when the other senshi implied that she had been skulking anywhere. Vanessa didn't need to understand the word to dislike the way that it sounded, and pursed her lips at Astarte, who was somehow both irritating and interesting, as she prepared to clear the fence.

Her expression quickly transformed into one of alarm when it looked like Astarte might stick herself with a piece of fence. Vulcan gasped, arms outstretched, and moved to try and prevent disaster-- but Astarte was safe on the other side of the fence before she had a chance to do anything, looking a little bit ruffled, but whole.

Heart rate returning to normal, Vulcan moved to examine the gate, fingers curling thoughtfully around one of the chains that held it closed. There was a padlock too, but Vulcan didn't need to break that to get inside. She smiled at Astarte, and pulled until the chain snapped. The padlock landed on the ground with a hard clunk.

"I'm not."

New, that was.

The gate was stiff on rusted hinges. It creaked when Vulcan pushed her way inside, dragging the broken chain through the bars on the fence as she went. Her attention returned to the mansion, and the energy of the youma she could feel creeping around inside. Golden eyes narrowing, Vulcan wrapped the chain around her hand.

"What's the occult?" she asked, genuinely interested, lingering near the fence to give Astarte whatever time she needed to prepare for battle.

Vulcan didn't know whether or not the occult had anything to do with the existence of senshi on earth, but she heard the things that Astarte said, and figured it was as likely as any other possibility. No one had ever told her otherwise, and Astarte had plenty of evidence for her hypothesis. Vulcan herself had magic. Demons were not unlike youma. The Senshi of Volcanoes shrugged, because she was less concerned with how she existed and more interested in kicking faces in.

"Let's go," she agreed, smiling at Astarte's enthusiasm, glad to have found herself a partner who seemed unafraid of things that went bump in the night. Vulcan was used to fighting alone-- even preferred it. Fewer allies, especially those as fresh as Astarte appeared to be, meant fewer casualties of consequence in war. And she'd had a thing about taking orders ever since the catastrophe that had given birth to Tanzanite the Youma.

Vulcan was mostly patient where they stood outside the door, and allowed Astarte her try on the chain that barred them from the mansion. She laughed when the other senshi's boot went through the door, but the mirth in her bright eyes vanished the moment Astarte managed to pull her foot back. Inside the youma growled.

"Here," Vulcan said, thrusting the chain from the gate into Astarte's hands. "You take this one."

If it happened that Vulcan could not manage to pull the other chain free before the beast crawled out of its hole, it would be better for Astarte to have the weapon.

"Get ready," Vulcan spoke to Astarte without looking at her, too busy trying to get a good look at the size of the thing on the other side of the punctured door. She stood in-between the youma and Astarte, so that it would have to go through her first, and then curled her fingers around the second chain.

When she pulled this time it did not break so easily. The wood of the door creaked under the strain of Vulcan's power, and the handle busted off. She leaped backwards with the new chain in her hands, anticipating an attack that did not come.

Without the lock to keep them closed, the doors to the mansion grated open. Vulcan narrowed her eyes, heart beating in her throat, and wondered where their youma had gone. She could feel it still, lurking inside.

And then out of the darkness there glimmered a set of teeth. Yellowed and sharp, they dripped something viscous that hissed when it hit the floor.

It crept closer.

"Stay close to me," Vulcan said, not knowing if that was good battle strategy or not, but needing to be able to protect Astarte regardless.

"Watch your back!"

Vulcan shouted, leaping to put herself between Astarte and the beast that hunted her. She was flushed in the face, furious with herself for the way the youma had outsmarted them, and felt the claw marks carved into Astartee's chest as though they were her own.

"Extreme Vulcan Shield!" The Senshi of Volcanoes bellowed, slamming the bracers on her wrists together before the beast had a chance to mount a second attack. Underneath them the ground shook, and then started to crack. Jets of steam erupted at Vulcan's feet, cutting through the grass in a wide circle to envelop Astarte in a wall of protective heat.

The youma swiped at Vulcan's face with a hairy paw, but was stopped by the burn of her shield. It roared pain, globs of acid spittle flying through the air, snake tongue flickering inside a black moth, glowering at her through a dozen bloodshot eyes. Vulcan sneered back, pretty face a mask of defiance.

"Eyes on your target," she said to Astarte, exhilirated, bright eyes shining with battle fire, "Always."

The youma was massive. Roughly the size of a black bear. Larger than she was. Quite possibly stronger. It had backed off, away from Vulcan's shield, and was circling all over again, limping on it's injured limb. Vulcan pursed her lips and ordered Astarte to prepare herself, not knowing whether or not the senshi would listen.

They could kill it together, but fighting alongside a stranger was about as straightforward as making love to one. For the first time in her fuku career Sailor Vulcan understood what it was to fear the unpredictability of another person.

The shield dropped. Vulcan's heart leapt back into her throat.

"Let's choke it," she said, fingers still coiled tightly around the chain that she had wrested from the front of the house. She pulled it taut with both hands.

The youma roared and charged again, from the side. Vulcan shoved Astarte out of the way, and then slapped it across the face with her chain, slicing into skin. Acid blood oozed from the wound, and made the ground hiss.

Vulcan was sorry when Astarted stumbled away from her, but too busy contending with their adversary to spare her an apology. Promising herself she'd make it up to the other girl later, hopefully by making sure neither of them died, the Senshi of Volcanoes focused on keeping the beast distracted long enough for Astarte to creep closer.

The youma hissed and snarled, swiping at Vulcan with it's good paw in the brief moments before Astarte tried to wrap her chain around it's neck. Vulcan leapt out of reach, her own weapon pulled tight in her hands, and then struck again at her comrade's instruction. The chain cut first through the air and then through monster skin, and more of the youma's acid blood leaked onto the ground.

Astarte made an impressive picture above the youma, digging the heel of her boot into it's ugly head. Vulcan could see the reflection of the chain she held glistening in it's yellow eyes. There was fear in them too. Shame curled around her heart. Suddenly feeling cruel, Vulcan let the chain she held go slack.

She surged forwards with her hands outstretched. The youma roared, jaws opening wide, acid spittle flying everywhere. It burned through the fabric of her fuku, and into the flesh of her hand when she reached inside it's mouth to rip out it's snake tongue.

Vulcan could not help the tears that sprung to her eyes, but grit her teeth against the pain. The tongue came free with a sickening rip. She flung it away from herself, hands bleeding, and watched as the youma started to drown in it's own fluids.

"Make it quick," she pleaded with Astarte while the beast howled, "******** choke it."

Her hands bled and pulsed with a fiery pain where the youma's spit had burned into her skin. Tears streamed down tanned cheeks, unchecked until the moment the youma burst into dust under Astarte's boots. Vulcan heaved a great sob of relief, and tried to shake the agony from her crimson fingertips.

"Some of them are harder than others," she said through clenched teeth, making an effort to remain friendly despite the pain in her hands.

As a civilian wielding a crowbar Super Van had dusted a youma on her own-- well, sort of. Fallon had been there too, and the thing was actually hit by a semi truck, but the point was that they'd survived and it hadn't.

"It's no big," Vulcan managed a smile for Astarte, heart swelling with sudden pride. As far as victory's went, this was a small one, and the kill had ended up being Astarte's. They were both injured, but they were alive. They had won. There were worse things in life than bleeding fingers and torn glovers. "It's important for us to work together."

She reached out to the younger senshi and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.