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Chaos had overtaken the battlefield. Or at least the small area surrounding the civilian and the many hands trying to tug him one way or another. The gas cloud had Birhan pausing. She'd been through enough 'friendly fire' with Ares during battles to be wary of jumping into smoke-like attacks.

As she watched, a black-clad senshi (Lyra!?) was dragging another senshi out. Birhan wasn't crazy enough to take on two corrupted senshi. But the lowered numbers of the Negaverse within the gassed area meant an advantage for Birhan's side... Birhan just had to follow through.

A curse and deep breath and the invisible senshi was charging through the cloud, one gloved hand over her mouth, the other reaching out to grab Ilmenite and pull him through to the other side. Another senshi came with her - Sirius or Kallichore, she couldn't quite make out who through streaming eyes and coughing fits.

"Where's Gunn?" she demanded. Birhan blinked frantically, trying to clear her eyes to determine what was happening elsewhere on the battlefield, but it was still all a grey blur. Gunn had been one-on-one against Zinkenite. It was too much to hope that they could take him out at this stage, but Birhan wasn't enough to leave a man (uh, girl?) behind.

Another couch wracked her body. Birhan almost let go of the hold she had on the civilian - no, wait. Eyes out of commission, her energy-detecting senses had kicked up a notch. This was a Negaverse officer, not a civilian.

... So, a trap from the very start. Birhan's heart plummeted further. Her grip tightened painfully on Ilmenite. It was a small mercy that he'd also been in the gas cloud, so they were on even footing as far as suffering the side-effects went.

"Someone else grab a hold of this sneak," she growled out, voice scratchy from the tear gas. "We can't let him get away. He's no Zinkenite, but we might at least be able to discover how they knew we were coming."

Alunite's stolen attack had definitely worn off by this stage. Originally, Ilmenite might have felt he was being grabbed by an invisible figure - maybe he was even reassured, thinking it was the corrupted senshi. Too bad for him, once the effect passed and his eyesight recovered from the tear gas, it was not a black senshi that would meet his eyes.

The swing was a surprise. Vague colours and shapes were beginning to return, so Birhan had the impression of something approaching, but was unprepared for the fist hitting her face. She stumbled, momentarily losing her grip on Ilmenite. A glove raised to her mouth came away bloody - a combination of Ilmenite's split knuckles and her own split ********," she managed to clearly enunciate.

And then she was returning the swing, with interest. Her vision was still slightly blurry, but clearing by the second. A trained fighter's fist collided with the side of Ilmenite's head.

Well, that was satisfying. Birhan smirked - still dripping blood from her split lip. The not-a-civilian Captain lay draped over one arm. She said a silent prayer of thanks for senshi strength. This would be far more difficult if she weren't transformed.

"Alright, everyone out of here now," she yelled. Those who'd been helpfully occupying the Nega reserves could now withdraw themselves from their skirmishes. "And where the hell is Gunn?"

Zinkenite was still a noticable blue figure up above. To Birhan's unease, there was no accompanying white-and-red figure.

Sirius had been pretty damn useless. She hadn't been able to use her attack because it wasn't exactly practical and Kallichore had saved her from the corrupt senshi. She hadn't let go of the civi until Birhan let them know he wasn't a civi.

Sirius heard what Birhan said and Kallichore and then smiled, at last she had a reason to be useful.

Keeping her voice as low as possible.

"They trapped us right? If we don't know where Gunn is they might have her. Once the smoke is cleared leave him in the middle of the path and hide. I can use my attack - it's an invisible force field they won't get to him till I let go of the attack. It would give us time to rethink everything and find Gunn as they will want him back." Okay so it probably wasn't the best idea and she spoke so quickly in between coughing she wasn't sure if they would have even heard what she was saying but it was an idea. They couldn't just leave a senshi and this way all the negas would be focused on Sirius - which would lead her to faint quickly if they all attacked her attack but she didn't mention that.

Dahlia was beyond thankful that the senshi had actually.. thought to set her down before pressing into the gas. It wasn't logic, it took time, it was nothing but kindness and compassion for her teammates, both her AND Alunite.

Even as her eyes began to tingle a little, she kept her eyes open and carefully on the two senshi. She'd been given orders but... after such a show.. the corrupted guardian was not going to hesitate to use her laser to protect the thoughtful eternal senshi if the situation arose.

She had been protected for the most part from the gas near the edge, his eyes and breath only tingling and tickling uncomfortably. But nonetheless her paw lifted to cover her maw as best she could, trying to keep the fumes away.

As soon as Alunite was back she would use her plush tail to cover his nose and mouth for him. She hadn't quite realize yet that.. something was wrong, and her help may very well herself chucked.

His lips curled in a snark behind the thick mask fabric, breathing was easier behind it, as it was intended for the wielder of the lightly acidic fumes. Behind his goggles he could watch without watering eyes as the chaos took over careful planning. He knew that was the way of battles but it vexed him to no end, nails that weren't covered by the partial gloves sank into his palms, no doubt leaving small bloody half moons like a tiny tribute to his adversaries.

He had not.. underestimated, he had simply... miscalculated the order of events. It didn't make him feel one iota better.

He teleported to stand beside Wolfram, lead from the front, sometimes it was absolutely necessary.

"Wolfram... good a good hold on her..." He said glancing at the other man, but paused, weighing the -look- in the wild green eye. He made a small sound, the gears turning behind cold blue eyes before he turned back towards the majority of the Blood Moon Court.

"I DO BELIEVE..." He called loud and clearly. "We have reached an impasse. WE... have your Sailor Gunn... I think Wolframite would be happy to return some of your little Favors..."

He didn't feel the need to elaborate on just how...creative that might turn out to be. Likely some rather painful end involving a slow consumption by 'arm'... prolonged perhaps over several days.

"You... have one of my Captains, delightful symmetry that they are even... of comparatively equal rank."

A pause... this was a dreadful risk, it might mark him forever, it might get him killed... but they were his people, -his, if he must risk it, it should be for them, they risked everything to face this 'blood moon court' by his side.

"I'd like to make a proposal...."

Thankfully for Dahlia, it looked like the senshi's magic was nearing the end of it's effect, so she didn't end up chucked like a small, furry projectile.

But now there were cat hair right over his nose. What had to happen happened - through at least Alunite managed to turn his head away before sneezing.

Slowly, slowly the voices were going away, one by one. The shapes in his vision were fading, leaving only one thing, reality.

Through it didn't make the sing of his eyes any better, or his throat less raw. "They have Ilmenite..." He managed to rasp out, to the senshi and the cat.

Too little. Too late. Eyes narrowed to try to make out what what ahead, but he was still under the effect of Kallichore's power. Should he go, try to get him again ? No... No, they knew what his magic did now. One of them knew all too well, too.

It made him sick. Or maybe it was just the tear gas and the flaring pain from his broken rib speaking. But he refused to teleport out, not as long as he could be of some use.

Or rather, not as long as he wasn't ordered to.

"...Feel like someone tossed my brain... in a blender."

One hand started to pet Dahlia, perhaps more so for his own comfort than her own.

Fighting a few senshi to get them to let Ilmentite go was what he was expecting. A few kicks, punhes, and magical attacks, sure. He was waiting for it. One out of the freakin, invisible blue - that was a surprise. Having not seen it, he had half wondered if they had just came up alongside his blind spot, and he hit the ground hard which instantly dismissed his weapon. The back of his head hit the hard ground painfully and he was blinded by stars - at first. While he struggled to get back to his feet and fight off the daze that was shooting a headache that wouldn't let up, he was then welcomed with the sweet reward of blinding tear gas. It seemed all attacks were being bent on keeping him seeing anything, but before the teargas really took hold, he looked up to see that he had been hit by nothing. Thin air. It was the reminder that he had been captured by an invisible force that made him panic. "WATCH OUT! They have magic that can turn them invisib-!" And then he inhaled a good lung-full of the tear gas and was left gasping and couching as he tried to pull himself up to his feet.

Like many big battles, hearing anything was nearly impossible. Shouted. Calls. Orders. Panic Gibberish. All of it mixed together that even the most familiar voice was lost to him unless it was right against your ear. Luckily he had been in enough big battles that he wasn't disoriented, but the tear gas had done him in. While he took a stance to keep his guard up to anyone who might see him in distress and take advantage of it, he couldn't see a thing. The only eye that did work was so full of tears that he was trying to wipe them away and also keep the sleeve up to his noise to keep from coughing. It was the fact it was gas and not smoke that assured him it wasn't Ares. If he had seen that, then he really would have been in a panic.

When he finally managed some semblance of sight, he was surprised by the stunning reward that was being dragged over to him. Zink didn't need to repeat his words twice. Wolframite was more than grinning when he saw her, abet coughing a bit still. Gunn. Here. He wanted to just slit her throat and watch her bleed out in front of all the BMC right here and now, and he summoned his weapon quickly. Wiping his eye, he pulled the unconscious senshi into his arms and grabbed the slender blade in his hands. As it had no handle, it dug into his palm, leeking fresh blood from the cut, but he held it firm and was happy to hold the blade up close to her throat. So close. He wondered if Zink would feel suspicious if Wolframite let it slip and she died now? However, the fact was that in the confusion, Ilmentite, the Nega-in-disguise, HIS responsibility, was captured on the other side. It wasn't time for butchering up senshi just yet.

He stayed firm, looking at the BMC and letting his smile drop into a serious scowl of hatred. There was no question that he wouldn't kill the girl here and now if they didn't listen.