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Holding an ornate wooden frame, currently empty, Hybris felt he was getting a lot smarter about setting up mirrors here and there around the city. Well, the smartest-smart move would be to ask someone strong and mighty like Lenka or Hela to help him. Or maybe the Big Bro with the Nice Shoulders. But in the absence of a qualified labor force, Hybris felt that carrying the frame over separately and then the glass was the a solid game plan.

Right up until he was in the shadow of that gross burned out building they really needed to demolish at some point and realized he should, in fact, have started by moving the glass first. And then mirror walked the frame through the waiting glass right onto a location. "I am," he sighed gustily up at the moon, "both a genius and a fool." Ah well, at least the result would still be the nicely dramatic, emerging from a beautiful mirror amidst the dark wreckage of humanity, a mystical being steps forth.

He noted a chaos aura, which felt stronger than him, so that would be a general right? Were generals nice? Would they help him carry things was also of real concern here. Peering around the area, the wooden frame in front of him like a uselessly large viewfinder, Hybris noticed a light in the shadows.

And froze, because he'd only seen it once before, but it had been a very memorable sort of brilliance.

Oh no.

Trying not to breathe, not to move, not to exist within the periphery of that fiery presence, Hybris heard an old echo in his head. Childish and playful in its solemnity, a voice whispered: There's a raptor in the kitchen. The light shifted. A moment later it was suddenly moving toward him, fast and full of purpose.

He wasted a moment to gently set the frame against a deteriorating brick wall, the habit of a lifetime replacing his several months worth of barely used survival instinct. And then he was running, as he should have been at the first glimpse of fire in the distance.

It wasn't in the direction of the closest mirror. It wasn't in any direction other than away.

There was a certain sort of success in failure, that found Hybris of the Dark Mirror running away from youma with regularity. A combination of both bad luck and his own, stubborn insistence that he could get them to like him. With enough time and treats. Acting as if they were strays rather than creatures just as purpose driven as his wraiths, and without their indifferent obedience. So he spent quite a few of his nights running, dodging, and finding a way out that didn't involve hitting an animal. And where Lenka hadn't managed to get him, forever lazy and playful, to start improving himself with regular running and exercise, the youma actually had.

If it was a regular super or captain behind him, Hybris might have actually stood a chance.

He felt the heat before those hands, but before the heat at his back, there was the light and the way his own shadow rapidly turned sharp and vivid as it lengthened before him. The clawed hand, gripping his hair and jerking him to an abrupt stop, brought with it clarity. It was a tolerable pain, and even more, a familiar one. It wasn't talons tearing into his abdomen, or his flesh searing and warping under magical flames. It wasn't even being eaten alive.

For a moment, a very brief one, Hybris thought, I can work with this.

"Fire Dah-" That thought and the pleading little whine that accompanied it were abruptly cut off in groan. Pain exploded along his side, his body first arcing back dramatically with the hit, and then trying to curl into the pain and protect his body from the next hit. He didn't fall. At first. But suddenly his legs gave way, knees painfully hitting the ground in a counter point to the sharp tug against his scalp.

With another, louder groan he tilted his head back to stare up at the being behind him. With hair a mess, eyes wide and teary, shirt torn, and a thin line of blood dripping down the side of his hard bitten mouth, Hybris looked like he'd been through a lot more than a brief chase an a punch to his side.

Voice gasping and catching with pain, he stared up at the General in confusion, as if he'd never experienced this kind of violence before and never thought he would, "That hurt so much?"

He wrapped his hands around his torso, several blood caps still held lightly in one palm. Just in case he needed some extra special effects. Had he used them too early? Rookie question. It was never too early to use the blood caps.

No more punches or anything worse, which meant that the I'm Already So Beaten Up By You strategy was a huge success. Of course he was still in pain, in danger of future pain, uncomfortably hot, and inhaling what he assumed was the General's rather stinky fumes.

But he could work with this!

Hearing the questions, his head being forced back and back, threatened and towered over, Hybris was absolutely sure he could work with this. Tears spilling down his face, voice thick and gasping...yet still extremely clear, he answered, "Lete and I...we saw the fire, and all the order signatures and were going to stay away. The white moon would just blame us for..." a cough, "...anyway, when all the chaos signatures suddenly arrived, we figured it was a trap your guys had set up. It seemed safe to go take a look? It was just for fun, to watch them get beaten for once." Some pleasant, not-quite lies with a slice of truth.

Adams apple rolling, the pain a lot more real than he'd really like right now, Hybris continued, "I don't know why Murikabushi was there, probably just trying to be a do-gooder and save any civs still in the building?" This, at least, was a wholly honest answer. From everything Lete had said, he seemed to be really intent about that sort of thing.

"Or maybe he was there to find you? He looked..." Another cough, this one real.

That smell was growing stronger. Why was it growing stronger?

A new sort of dread stirred in Hybris's stomach at the accusation. The one wholly true thing he'd said was singled out as a lie. "Wait! He just looked at you like he'd found," the you was cut off in a wheeze as a fist, once more, slammed into his side.

And this time he didn't bother playing up the histrionics because he suddenly felt he knew, how this was supposed to go. No matter what question was asked or how he answered, the result would be a lie. And then a fist. Or worse. Until ...what?

Hybris didn't bother trying to think of the answer, because at that moment he felt the grip on his hair give way. And then, instead of a soft, heavy fall of hair, he felt a breeze cross the side of his neck and realized what had been happening. A spike of hot, black rage sliced through the fog of fear, focused and utterly sober. He didn't want to die. Let alone die slowly or painfully. But <******** you if he was supposed to meekly be mutilated on someone else's whim.

"The only thing I have to show for that night is a scar on my a**," he complained pathetically, and then he was surging forward. Hybris smoothly rolled and sprung back up with the skill of years' worth of stage fighting. "And, ********, you didn't ask nicely," Faustite's own voice snarled back at him. The light in the area suddenly doubled as fiery general looked down at fiery general, though only one emitted any heat.

Hybris wasn't sure if he'd caught the other off guard nearly enough, couldn't waste the half second to check before throwing a large handful of glitter at the general's face.

Ok now run run run run run run!

s**t! s**t! s**t s**t! s**t!

Hybris tightened his jaw seeing that there were now two fire generals after him. It was, unexpected to say the least, and while he couldn't say he minded being as weak as (or actually weaker than) a youma, the laughter was. Well.

If he survived, Hybris had a feeling he'd be hearing it for a long time.

He knew this area now, and he knew where the nearest mirror was, but getting to it was nothing close to a certainty. Pulling out his compact as he ran, Hybris held it in front of him, and began to record a message for every dark mirror member in the area.

Those who chose to open the message would be treated to the sight of General Faustite, sneering with disdain as he announced in the third person, "Fire Daddy is out and about at Park Hill Cemetery!" Well, they would be in half a minute hopefully. "And he is so mad right now! Watch your asses and come save this one!"

Message sent.