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The world was a cold, cruel and uncaring place, and few had known this more than Nyasa Freeman. If you missed a single payment, even with the best of excuses, you were booted out on the street, left in the hands of the cut throats, schemers, and whoever else felt like doing someone less fortunate than them that day. Nyasa had known this fact and accepted it as truth, and she felt that she was prepared to defend herself from the worse that the streets had to offer, both human and non-human.

Admittedly, she had been out of the game for months. The whole Negaverse life was one that she had willingly left behind, and it wasn’t just because she needed the time to get her real life in order, though a lot of good that did her. This Negaverse was not her Negaverse. Not even close. Things had changed, gradual at first, and for the most part, Nyasa understood them. No more taking starseeds- something she wasn’t too happy with, but she followed that rule as best as possible. If they wanted to improve their standing with the citizens of Destiny City and outright killing civilians wouldn’t have helped with that image. Nyasa was willing to play along.

Then they were forbidden to take energy, and that had bothered Nyasa. They could not kill. They could not take energy. They had muzzled the great bite of the Negaverse and in turn, made it all the easier for the White Moon Court and their allies to gain ground in this war. And the worst part of all was that the Negaverse was willingly giving up their fangs and claws, and the audacity that they truly thought this could work. What fools they were, Nyasa thought, and this was something she could not follow. She hadn’t powered up in months and went cold turkey. Like the Negaverse, she gave up her Amber crystal, her powers, and simply let things run their course, just as the Negaverse had wanted. Part of her wanted to see it crumble to pieces under the new rules, all so that she could return someday and rub it in their faces.

And she had been doing a good job, thus far. She ignored the curiosity, the pull, the beckoning chaos and was doing well. Until recently, she hadn’t felt the urge to transform, but just as the Negaverse had changed, so did Nyasa, and she found herself wondering what was going on with that part of her life. She didn’t care if anyone missed her- why should she? She didn’t need them, and it seemed clear that they didn’t need her as well given that not a single one had sought her out. But the pull was maddening, and seeing how she was more or less evicted from her apartment and no ‘errands’ to run, she had nothing but time on her hands to see what was going on in this city beyond her usual routes and away from the gang.

She could have powered up to make the trip easier, but something told her to refrain for now. Call it a sixth sense, but Nyasa wasn’t quite ready to become Captain Mica tonight. And it seemed that she had a good reason not to, as she hadn’t gotten too far into the business district when she spotted the first signs that her night was going to become very interesting. The sound of a dog barking hardly bothered Nyasa- dogs would be dogs and whenever there was another dog around, or human, or anything that moved, for that matter, a dog would bark to try and either alert its master or chase the threat away. Nyasa didn’t care much for the dog, but it sounded angry, and scared. If dogs could know fear, anyway. This caused the former EMT to investigate the barking dog, and that’s what lead her to see the poor human that was being chased by the partially visible Mirror Wraith.

It was a humorous sight, to say the least, to see a full grown man being dragged away by his incredibly large dog, and she did the smart thing, which was to allow nature to run its course. Poor, unfortunate civilian, to be left at the fate of a Mirror Wraith, though it did make the captain in disguise wonder where its Senshi was. It wasn’t often that a Mirror Wraith worked without its master, which would have been troublesome and always keep the Dark Mirror Court in their place, as far as Nyasa was concerned. You didn’t see youma needing a leash all of the time, now did you?

She wanted to pity the poor man, but it was a dog-eat-dog world, and the worst thing that could possibly happen to him at the hands of a seemingly rogue Mirror Wraith was his precious energy being drained and wasted on the likes of the Dark Mirror Court instead of the Negaverse. “Oh well. A good, long nap will do you wonders.”

And she was content to abandon him right then and there, until he had transformed before her very eyes, and suddenly, she felt more compelled to stay and watch. So, the Mirror Wraith was attacking one of their own officers? A new one at that, given that she didn’t immediately recognize the gentleman in the grey and red soldat steel attire, and the fact that his first response, besides running, was to transform and try to take it out. What a foolish, newbish thing to do, Nyasa thought, and she remained as she was, neither lifting a finger to help him in his endeavor nor did she abandon him entirely. After all, this was her kin, and though she didn’t know him, the least she could do was ensure that this Mirror Wraith didn’t completely kill him (not without evidence... she was certain that General-King Zinkenite would have been tickled to see Ares’ creations brutally attacking their own kind, and by tickled, I mean, ensure that their petty alliance would go down the drain quicker than a pound of cocaine went down the toilet when the police were knocking on the door). But like hell she was going to get herself caught in the middle of this when she didn’t have to. For now, she’d remain the observer, and observe she did.

As if what she was witnessing wasn’t enough, it seemed that she would be blessed with another spectacle, and though she could not sense the White Moon Senshi’s arrival, she spotted her quickly enough. So much white and grey on her attire and her monochromatic hair made it impossible for Nyasa not to see her, and by this time, the Mirror Wraith was in the process of passing through the unfortunate lieutenant, too distracted by its meal for either of them to notice her presence. Nyasa had no idea who this little one was, and at first glance, she had a love-hate relationship with her. Her scars and tattered clothes told her that this one was a fighter, but her colors and rank made the captain sneer. Would the little scrapper take both the Mirror Wraith and the weakened lieutenant down? Would she have to step in to save the lieutenant’s life? Nyasa was considering it- she was content to leave her kind to the Mirror Wraith as all it could do was drain his energy and leave him weak, but she wasn’t so willing to leave him at the hands of an Eternal ranked senshi.

That would have been unforgiveable to not give him a fighting chance. Even someone as street-savvy as Nyasa knew that.

She was mere moments of transforming when the senshi turned her attack to the Mirror Wraith and shattered it into a hundred pieces. She wasn’t fooled. That could have just been the warm up, but Nyasa refrained and observed. She was too far away to hear their conversation, if there was one, but she suspected that he was now pleading with her to not harm his dog, as she walked past him and towards the very still but very confused Irish wolfhound that had been doing exactly what she was. He wouldn’t have lasted much longer, but it seemed that the senshi had no intention of striking against the lieutenant, much to his and Nyasa’s relief, as she gave the dog a loving pat on the head. Seconds later, the lieutenant slipped into unconsciousness, and something else had caught the senshi’s attention, as she was on her way. The show was over, and this was the part where the audience should have gotten up and applauded as the actors took a bow.

But there was no applause, only a confused and silent Nyasa. By this time, the lieutenant’s strength had given out and his attire faded back into his normal clothes, and once the aura of deception had faded, the dog trotted back to its owner’s side, his rapid sniffing, prodding and whimpers actually causing a worm of pity to make its way into Nyasa’s heart. Though mostly for herself, to have to be subjected to that insufferable display. Finally, Nyasa emerged from her hiding place and approached the dog, and while she was expecting it to become defensive over its injured owner, the great, big Irish wolfhound looked to her and trotted over without hesitation, giving her hand a sniff and looking to try and nudge her over to his master’s aid. Nyasa did no such thing, not yet, and though she wasn’t much of an animal person, she would tolerate the dog’s affection for the time being, if only to get close enough to look at the information on his collar.

“Baldwin. Stupid name. Your owner must hate you.” Nyasa said to Baldwin, keeping her tone sullen and mellow, nothing at all like the cheerful tone she heard from the senshi nor the patronal tone she heard from his owner. Baldwin didn’t seem to care, as he continued to look up at her with soulful brown eyes and wagging his whip-like tail. He was a dog. What could he understand from her words? She turned the tag around, looking over his vaccination information, and, most importantly, a name, phone number and address to where he could be returned. “But, seeing that you’re a purebred, he must have paid a pretty penny for you. And, seeing the effort he went to to keep you safe, he must care an awful lot for you.”

Which gave her an idea. An evil, nasty, wicked idea, and one that she didn’t regret thinking. Pet owners, or rather, pet ‘parents’ these days cared more for their dogs or cats than they did for other human beings, and given the lengths that this man, Richard Moreau, gave to safeguard his precious Baldwin, she was certain that he would have done anything to get him back. She knew that it was a cruel thing to do, to take the dog and hold it for ransom, especially after what she’s seen this man endure just for the sake of his dog, but was this world not cruel enough? She took the leash into her hands and tugged at it until the dog gave in, and she got just as much resistance as she thought she would as she led Baldwin away. Periodically, the dog would stop and look back and where his master still laid, but Nyasa wouldn’t allow him to go back, not a single inch. She wasn’t completely heartless as to leave the poor creature in the dark, however, and while he was too stupid to understand her words, she knew that it could understand the tone of voice she took, which was very calm and authoritative. “Don’t worry, Baldwin. You and I are merely going back home, and there we will wait for your owner to come back. Any further plans between us will be discussed there- you two will be reunited after the two of us work out some sort of deal. Then we’ll see how much your owner really loves you.”

In Nyasa’s eyes, this was her meal ticket until she got back on her feet. She’d take everything from this lieutenant- money, food, a place to stay, and get filled in on the happenings of the Negaverse. Nyasa Freeman, Captain Mica, would make her comeback, but one step at a time. She could only hope that the lieutenant wouldn’t do anything too foolish and get himself killed before ever making his way home, but she was certain that if it came to that, she could at least pawn items in his house and then pawn off the dog. A purebred like this could fetch her quite a bargain... enough to keep them off her tail for a long, long time and make her comeback.

(Word Count: 2145)

**Met Merlinite

**Met Lassell Page

Captain Mica wasn’t the type to be shown up for anything, regardless of the task or what was the prize. When she found the starseed that her roommate had been cherishing, Mica felt a tinge of anger burning within her heart, and the thought of a little screamish tart like Buddingtonite having the nerve to pull a starseed of his very own, with minimal guidance from Benitoite, made the seeds of jealousy grow within the out-of-date captain. Outwardly, she appeared uninterested in his feat when he brought it up that night. And with good reason. After all, she had taken her share of starseeds in the past, but he reminded her that it was in the past and therefore didn’t count. Outwardly, she scoffed and let him carry on with his childish prattle, but inwardly?

Inwardly, Mica would not allow this slight to go unavenged, and while her fingers longed to plunge into his chest and rip his cold, black, corrupted starseed from his chest, she knew that she could not act against another officer. Not without serious repercussions, and Mica felt she had long since lost favor with the new ‘management’ to get away with murdering one of her own kind for a petty cause. So, his starseed was safe for now.

Though, if he kept up his shenanigans or if she was given the order from another higher up, she wouldn’t hesitate to do him in. For now, she needed a place to stay, and though unwillingly and complaining the entire time, he was offering her that.

Which meant that someone else’s starseed was about to be abducted from their chest, and that was what brought Mica to the streets tonight. She was well aware of the new turn in the Negaverse and her orders were clear. Civilians weren’t to be harmed. No starseed pulling, and not energy collecting on a civilian. This aroused all sorts of negative emotions in Mica, but one couldn’t tell by outward appearances alone. How soft her Negaverse had become? How was she expected to be welcomed if she returned with ‘innocent’ blood on her hands?

She had to work for this one, for the sake of her Negaverse. It took her awhile to find a senshi, which still struck Mica as odd considering how much they outnumbered them. The pickings were rather bare, or perhaps she was simply so out of date that her senses were rusty. That had to have been it- if the Negaverse’s new ruling extended to not killing their enemy, then there should have been many to chose from. It would figure that of all the senshi she’d hunt down, she picked one that not only knew how to fight, but would give her a run for her money, but in the end, there were few things that could withstand enough blows from her weapon and the sharp crystal embedded at the end. Eventually, the senshi was weak enough for Mica to go in for the starseed, and even then, he struggled. He struggled hard. But in the end, he succumbed, and by the time she pulled the starseed, she was an unholy mess herself. Strands of hair stuck to her sweaty face, and she had almost dropped the starseed on the ground, but she let the body fall so that she could grasp it with both hands.

She worked long and hard for this starseed, and it reflected in its beauty. This was a starseed worth bragging about, and she’d make sure to shove it all up in her roommate’s face after a bath and a long nap...

(Word Count: 601)

**Met Sailor Chaldene