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The vague sounds of puking behind her would have cheered Sailor Auriga quite a bit, were she not currently trapped inside a store with a maniac and an alarm going off. She had never succeeded in making someone puke before! Yay! It was, like, a really gross milestone. Unfortunately, she would not be able to make any more milestones if she didn't get the hell out of dodge -- and quick.

The sound of heels on carpet had Auriga spinning around. She saw the other girl stand, heard her say something -- ooh, not again! Before the Senshi of Pestilence could even turn back to the door, the side of her head was smacked hard by what appeared to be... nothing? Nothing. Something shimmering caught her eye, but she couldn't stop it.

When she tried to flee, it kept following her, batting her head around until her headache was splitting. It stopped suddenly, and Auriga peeked one eye open, waiting for the impending kick to the face or some other fresh horror. But there was... nothing? She looked left, then right. There was a smattering of bruises around her collarbone, and coupled with the siren, her head felt like it was about to explode.

Nothing prepared her for the icy pinch that hit her stomach when she heard the wail of police sirens stopping just in front of the door, and a car door slamming. A walkie talkie crackled on the other side of the broken door, outside of the metal grate. "Looks like some interior damage. Shattered door, looks to be done from the inside -- wait, a minute..." Auriga was standing, dumbly, and staring through the broken door, trying to get a glimpse of the police officer who spoke.

Suddenly, he took a step forward, glancing through the metal square cut out of the grate. "Jesus, it's one of them gangmembers!" he shouted suddenly, head bobbing out of the way.

"No wait," Auriga called out. "I'm one of the good guys!"

She heard the rustle of plastic, then the snap of something metal. Something small and circular slipped through the windowed peephole. It took her far too long to realize that she was staring at a gun. With a cry, Auriga threw herself to the side, narrowly dodging the first bullet. "I SAID THAT I AM A GOOD GUY, YOU JERK!" she shouted, running back toward the ventilation shaft.

With a running leap, she bounced up on a mattress, gripping the edges of the shaft hard and pulling herself up onto its ledge. Her head was so messed up from Chariklo's attack that she lost her grip almost instantly and fell to the floor in a heap. In took her three tries to actually get inside the shaft, and by then, Auriga was crawling as fast as she could, jumping at the sound of the metal grate going up, the police entering the store. She realized too late that she had left her water bottle behind, the one that said HORIZON INSTITUTE across the side.

Auriga made it back to the loose cover, pushed it free, and leapt out onto the brisk air of the roof. Wasting no time, she ran to the fire escape in the back alley, narrowly avoiding the next cop car as it zoomed past. She knew she needed to get out of her uniform, but first thing was first:




Now, Auriga could go home and celebrate. It wouldn't be until the next morning at breakfast, when the morning news came on, that she would realize anyone knew about her little run-in, nor that they wouldn't approve. The newscaster spoke under the blazing white headline: HITS STUDENT VANDALIZES MATTRESS STORE. They detailed the puke found on scene, the used mattresses, the broken door -- and ruled it a small incident of teens getting drunk and having sex that had gotten out of hand.

Oh. Weird.