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There were a few people that Kairatos knew in powered form, and felt concern for. A very few, but that small handful... after the things they'd seen he was very concerned about them.

He didn't speak a word of Italian, but he'd understood enough from Castor's previous behavior in the park, and from Pollux's rough translations. Pollux had proved to be, best case, a disinterested handler to an rabid dog, worst case... he didn't want to really think about the worst case, what would prompt someone to deliberately allow their own unstable sibling, unbound in time in ways that the only other royal he knew was not, to declare war and threaten death on the people he should have been looking to ally with.

They were a mighty army of two against an entire planet, but they were an unpredictable army with no scruples, and had already found a couple dedicated followers willing to shut their eyes and ears to the signs that there was something deeply, deeply wrong.

"Last time I saw him it was down that way, near the biker bar. That was... also kind of when he broke my shoulder and threw motorcycles at me, but he didn't talk like someone who was fully invested in the Nega-Koolaide and buying it by the case. It was before we really talked. No idea if you two have met..."

He kind of hoped they had. He had the feeling she'd be a much more positive influence on the situation.

"He wasn't a Lieutenent, so he'd have been able to teleport out of that trap but I still gotta make sure... you know?"

He was pretty sure Hver did know, but he had to know that Castor hadn't gotten there anyway. One of his short list. The one he thought might be the hardest to track down.

He was a Knight and Castor had been able to throw him bodily against a wall. Titanlavenite might have been larger, physically more powerful, but he just didn't know.

Ignorance was bliss, or at least the ignorant Captain Titanlåvenite was feeling in the realm of pleased. Bliss was too strong a word for most days. It had taken a while before he was willing to risk returning to the place- who could fathom the hunting habits of the enemy, really. Running into a Knight again, in combat, alone...it was too risky. But the place was really too perfect for filling quota to abandon wholesale on the mere chance the Bull of Mars would put it on a patrol rotation.

So it was, Titan was at Michigan Jack's, settling down a finished water chaser and turning to leave with a pocket full of a large energy ball when he noticed nearing auric disturbance.

Way out there.
A knight. No, two knights. But only one knight-knight . Titan moved to the door, bending to exit. He didn't wait in the open or to summon his hammer. A few jumps brought him to the top of the telephone pole that flanked the parking line of bikes. He looked to the road, brow furrowed with concern- It must be him. And he brought help? To end me? Corner? Why. He knows I can leave with focus. Gods, what stupidity was at the last showing. How could he even think to need help after I proved so ill matched to even stand ground.

Although, for obvious reasons, most people did not occasion standing atop a telephone pole, it actually made for a pretty good place to be, if there was a street lamp attached to it. From a practical standpoint, it offered a simple and straightforward advantage: you could see everything beneath you really really clearly, while the people on the ground looked up and got the best part of an eyeful of peach-white lamplight.

Kairatos pointed out the man atop the pole, and Hvergelmir dutifully looked up, seeing him too: but it was little more than a pale, distorted silhouette behind a bright light. She couldn't make out a person, just the shape of one.

A big shape, though. A really big one.

Which, she decided, was either great news or was going to be the worst disaster.

Hvergelmir put an arm up over her face to try and block out some of the light as she stared up. "Titan? Is that you?"

Kairatos flinched, shoulders tensing as Titan hefted that massive hammer, all too easily imagining the damage it could cause but tried to hold his ground steadily, hands in sight, and make no move that could be readily interpreted as aggressive.

"She's here because I asked her to come. I swear I'm not here to fight. I was... well... we were worried. Consider me to be under her oath for the night."

He didn't know how else to convince Titan that he really wasn't here to hurt him, but the fact that they knew each other was something. And it was a hopeful sign, he thought.

"Hver, you want to explain this one? I think he likes you better anyway..." He joked weakly, glancing over his shoulder to her with an anxious smile.

Bull of Mars. He liked that at least, though it kind of sounded like something he'd heard in one of the nightmares that seemed to be so common lately.

He was also praying that Titan wouldn't decide that the 'treat me like I'm under her vow' thing didn't sound like 'perfect time to mash into a red spot on the pavement.'

The Bull deferred to Hvergelmir, which Titan could identify with himself. She was a fair, high lady built for diplomacy. For talking in tense situations. So much so she was doing exactly the right things with the right words. More than 'I swear', since that was not swearing on anything at all. Swearing on some god? On his wonder? What.

But a personal word was something, and something that she had proven worthy of trust so far. She enacted a disarmament to back it up. "Slaughter is a powerful word. "

Not one usual to Senshi and Knights, but not impossible either. Not from Ladon's experience. It sounds like something worth hearing. She didn't send word on note, like that other poor one- there's something behind that. She knows I would have retrieved the bodies to give to their families as much as we are able and allowed.

The hammer was incrementally lowered. Shifted to haft in one and head supported in the other hand before Titan carried it forward to the distaff and set it down beside it. He kept his eyes on Kairatos. Did this one understand this ritual for what it was? For hallowed as it was? I shouldn't be nervous- I can summon my hammer to my hand. And I don't really need it. They cannot touch starseeds as I can. Their hands never seem so deadly as ours, even disarmed...

But not having the weapon to hand still fluttered in his gut anywhere near the knight who had seemed so completely terrifying the last they'd met. Titan straightened and backed away from the two arms.

Well, that at least would be an icebreaker. Introductions. I can do introductions.

Hvergelmir looked at Titan, raised both hands, and indicated the Mars knight. "Yonder knight of Mars is called Kairatos. Like 'chiropractor,' but.... 'toast.'" Then, switching her arms around and facing Kairatos: "And this strapping captain of the Negaverse is called Titanlåvenite. Like 'titan,' but..." She gave a helpless shrug. "...longer."

It would've been nice to leave it at that. Slightly goofy introductions, they'd all shake hands and go home, job well done, Hvergelmir! But blood still stained the hem of her skirt, still mussed her shoes, and they had come here because Titan deserved to be warned of a very real threat.

"Knights can't communicate very easily," she began, looking for a starting point. "But senshi have these cell phonesthey can use to call or text each other even when they're powered up. Kairatos and I only turned up to the warehouse because of all the auras in the area, but -- these two brothers, they -- apparently they sent out a fake distress call to all the senshi in the area. They wanted to show off their handiwork."

She shuffled her feet back and forth, finding one of the long strands of hair that hung loose from her updo and twisting it around her finger. This was hard to talk about. It was brutal and shameful.

"When we got there, the brothers, they were talking about how we should all be targeting the Negaverse's weakest officers and -- torturing and killing them wholesale, to send a message to the Negaverse's higher ranks that we're merciless and they should be afraid. They claim this is their declaration of war on Earth. According to their philosophy, true war has no rules. And at least one of the brothers had severe hallucinations, too."

She wrapped her other arm around her midsection, remembering the scene, and with it, her flashbacks to Mistral. She felt cold all of a sudden.

"Kairatos had met them before -- I hadn't. He could tell you more."

"I'll point out they haven't gathered much of a following, especially when they said they'd do the same anyone who tried to stop them." He let his eyes deliberately drift to Hvergelmer, hoped it sunk in that not only would people that Titan didn't care so much about be in danger, so would people he did seem to. Not that he blamed him. Hver just had that kind of soothing effect on people. Most people.

And she'd SERIOUSLY kicked a** in that conversation.

"They're Castor and Pollux. There's something... wrong with Castor. He was... confusing the past and now. Pollux was basically playing... I don't know... interpreter? Worlds crappiest handler?"

He didn't know how to describe it.

"Castor is unpredictable and dangerous. A few weeks ago I ran into him alone. He thought he knew me, from before, so he threw me against a wall so hard I thought he'd broken something. Just for not answering fast enough. Told me I was not absolved of my sins and I'd pay for them... then the next minute he's all smiles and buddy time and offered me the name of a..." He turned a bit red as he glanced toward Hver again. "...A brothel. He told me I could use a brothel he knew as a safe house. Didn't tell him I didn't need it."

Blame it on the white hair and sparkles but mentioning brothels in front of Hver was sort of like swearing at a Nun. You weren't sure if they actually cared or not, but you were pretty sure you were doing something wrong.

Maybe he should have someone look up the place though. If Castor was a regular enough customer that they knew 'Cassie' by name... he had to wonder if he'd snapped at one of them. His senshi powers could...

...They'd already seen what he could do. He wasn't going to dwell on that right now. He'd talk to Themiscara later. And tell her about the amusing introduction. It... was a decent way to explain how to pronounce his name.

Mention of a brothel at all was a little confusing in how it was supposed to be taken as a piece of 'knowing more' information. How someone found such a thing, why they'd want to, why they'd even bother going to one, was just more mysteries. Maybe their nobility had trouble finding someone willing to sleep with them without being paid for the 'honor'? Being crazy could have something to do with that.

It is unpleasant. This does not sound a noble of any sort that I would see throned in any capacity over the Earth. And if the other is of the same mind... "The actions of the two will speak louder than words from other nobles who are already trespassing, I think. All the senshi and the knights here had not asked leave or pardon from our throne. The Konge ...I don't know. "


Hvergelmir's panic looked genuine. Considering how little success either side of the war had seen so far in eliminating the other, it seemed premature. What she said in the panic was just more strangeness. It can't be a lie if it just happened, can it? Why call it a lie? More importantly, how does she know Metallia's name? I have not said it to her, and it didn't seem like we were to speak of the Queen specifically to enemies. I ...guess if I've spent time with her, what is to say other agents haven't. Maybe others that have looser lips or loyalty? Another failing of the Spec Ops. Maybe I'm too far myself.

Titan sobered still, considering both his own actions and those of prospective others he'd never even considered before. A neutral party was certainly something, but he'd not heard of any recognitions of her neutrality the way there were with Switzerland for all the regular countries of the world. And if a name was out, how much more information was being given to their enemies, maybe even through Hvergelmir's sweet manners. She WAS with 'Realgar'. She was standing by a traitor who could be a very source of leaked information. A Man who had left the service of the Earth to swear to Mars somehow and some-why. "There's been a war this whole time, Lady. Before Castor and Pollux. People have been dying. If there wasn't, we wouldn't have to set our weapons aside at truce. "

Maybe news of all this was already reaching the Generals and Konge. He wasn't sure what to do. "The difference to me is my first time hearing of one powerful enough to take a royal title making any formal declarations of intention against the Earth itself. Maybe the Konge will not be surprised, or have heard these before. One senshi can be enough to cause a problem once their magic is involved- all those lieutenants lost..."

"Lesser nobles always bow to greater in searching for favors and offering fealty. It probably won't be two for long. Promises of new titles, lands, money, or...I guess... brothels...whatever a noble who wants to be a war chief can bring to buy others to his cause. "

"If so many of the other nobles do not agree with him, such as yourself and ....Kairatos, why don't they silence his declaration themselves?"

"And why does it worry an outlaw what another outlaw does?"