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After that whole board game fiasco Mara had eased up on going out hunting but she still had quotas to meet so even if she would prefer to be home in her pajamas sipping on a glass of red wine while binging something mind numbing like Love Island she was out here. Out in the chilly night. Out in the dark, where who knew what was right around the corner because of course she still didn’t understand why her magic was messed up. Even though she had tested it after being released from the game, there hadn’t been any change from what she could tell. It was still screwy, and she had new burns to prove it.

Mentally muttering to herself, the senshi visually swept the empty parking lot for any person who might interfere with her heading to a particularly nasty alleyway and rundown building she had spotted several days before. It would be simple to get not only energy from there but also starseeds if she was quick about it. Apparently still conscious ‘cattle’ tended to spook when they saw a hand in the chest of their friends and she would prefer to avoid that if at all possible. It made her hitting her quota much harder that way.

Seeing, and sensing, no one the corrupt hopped down from her hiding space on a roof and started to make her way across the cracked and pitted pavement, not really registering the oddly melted quality of the asphalt. She was focused on the darkness across the way, keeping an eye for anyone who might make a break for it. She had no intention of letting any of her prey escape. Not if she could avoid it that is.

Mara was more than halfway across the lot when an aura that practically hurt, bloody ‘order’ auras, had her looking away from her intended target. There was a senshi approaching from the darkness. One that was in some silly school type uniform although judging by her bright hair she likely wasn’t an actual child, what school would allow that? Mara had no idea, nor did she care to learn, that ‘kids these days’ weren’t kept in such a strict household where rainbow hair was taboo as she was. Let alone what school clothes looked like. Not that she really had any room to talk since her own outfit was not one she would have picked for herself in a million years.

But that was neither here nor there. She had a decision to make… go after the chattel she knew was in the building she had been aiming for or turn her attention to the senshi. One had a much higher target value but it would also be harder to attain that was for sure. And yet, you didn’t make the big bucks by going for the low hanging fruit.

The corrupt senshi took off running, sprinting really, towards the building that was her original target. NOT towards the senshi. Not towards the person who could in theory stop her from rampaging through the people that were sheltering inside. It made no sense, and yet she did just that.

Now the only question was, what would the senshi do? Would she pursue Mara? Or let her do as she pleased?

Perfect!

Mara grinned rather viciously as she heard the distinct sound of footsteps racing towards her. The other senshi took the bait. As she got closer to the building she ‘stumbled’ or more accurately the corrupt senshi dug her heels into the asphalt and performed an abrupt about face before rocketing towards the incoming senshi with her arm out stretched. If she had timed it perfectly, the other female wouldn’t have the time to dodge let alone stop, leading to the order freak being clothes-lined rather viciously. Mara might not be as strong or as fast as the woman she was facing, the strength of the aura proved that, but Mara believed she was much more cunning. She could use the stronger forces against them. Physics at its best!

Mara overshot herself just a bit but that was ok since the other senshi did a picture perfect fall on her a**, just like they do on TV. Now all Mara had to do was follow up her attack with another one, something she was more than ready to do when she got smacked by a book which instantly erupted in a mess of flying paper. The corrupt waved her hand at the annoying paper floating around her, only to find that they were rather intangible and were quickly replaced by numbers. So many numbers. All of the numbers. Numbers growing bigger and bigger as her own heartrate started to spike and her anxiety hit levels she hadn’t felt since her finals.

Desperation, anger, anxiety, worry. They all swamped her. Overwhelmed her. Even as the numbers joined together to form large and complex streams numerals. “Little Apple of Pain,” Mara hissed out as she swatted at the imaginary numbers, finding it doing absolutely no good against them. Nothing ever did any good against numbers. Not even the strong surge of magic that ripped through her as the attack reacted violently to her emotions. Never!

But the numbers were not the only thing in the area, nor was the order senshi… A relatively small creature was also in the line of fire and did not appreciate the rather unwelcome taste of Mara’s particular brand of twisted magic. The black lizard looking creature let out a screech of pain before rearing back some, revealing it’s bright red belly, and spitting out fire several times at the duo that had been fighting near it before it turned tail, literally, and raced towards the dilapidated building that Mara had been heading towards earlier, trailing fire as it went.

By the time the numbers faded and Mara was able to regain her composure her arms were burning where her own magical attack had landed. She hissed in pain even as a soul deep exhaustion had her staggering a few steps away. She was in pain, physically and emotionally since she did not appreciate the reminder of that particular hell. Whoever said going into finance was easy needed to be shot!

Mara was also tired. Drop dead exhausted and so over with the night. And yet there was still the other senshi to deal with. She still needed to fight. Or at least that is what one would think, all Mara did was take in the rapidly brightening surroundings and grin while holding her burning arms close to her. She had missed the creature that had started the fire, didn't realize that ultimately she was the one that drove the little arson into the building, but she sure as hell didn’t miss the building that was rapidly becoming a beacon to all as flames started to sprout into the night air.

“Best be a good little senshi and help,” She tilted her head towards the burning building, gritting her teeth as the ground seemed to tilt along with her head. “Enjoy,” Knowing it was dangerous but also knowing there wasn’t a damn thing she could do either way, Mara turned her back to the senshi and walked away. She should have run, would have, but she wasn’t entirely sure she had the energy. Nor did she know if her footing was sure enough to survive the horribly pitted ground. As the area rapidly brightened it revealed quite a few telling signs, various metal bits melted and not a lick of living plants. Every weed that had grown through the cracks in the pavement had been blackened and burned. Apparently there had been a real firebug nesting in the area. Good… maybe the little senshi would have more on her hands to worry about then Mara leaving.

It was all Mara could hope for, she definitely wasn’t stable enough to continue fighting that was for sure. Was this what civilians felt like when they were drained?