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Europa tasted bile at the back of her throat and bit down on her tongue to quell it. Now was hardly the time to be getting sick to her stomach, but the truth was she'd never been in a tighter scrape. She'd always avoided conflict with actual human beings where she could, but she could tell these were far from empty threats. Senshi had already fallen in droves at the hands of the Negaverse, and that sword was sharp.

What Europa really needed was time to think, and it at least seemed like she had that. If the general was going to kill Valhalla (Which he probably had no qualms about, lets be realistic), then he could have just sliced through the page then and there. No, the look on his face made it clear: he was playing with her. (Or, at least, she hoped he was. It was a five-second hasty pudding conclusion. Val would just have to forgive her if she was wrong.)

Fortunately for Europa, her entire battle style had evolved based around putting more time on the play clock. Unfortunately, senshi attacks lacked in the way of subtlety and if she tried any huge gestures she was going to get Valhalla decapitated. This was going to be tricky - too much and he'd die, too little and he'd die. Subtle and fast.

She drew a breath in through her gritted teeth. This was going to be the most important attack she'd ever cast. Europa inched a hand up her side, just enough to aim the palm at the pair of negaversers in front of her. "Europa deep ocean pressure!" she said, rushed and meaningful. And luckily enough, it seemed to work.

Europa launched herself forward, wrapped her gloved hands around the sword - one around a curlicue on the blade, one around the grip - and pulled. The sharp edges of the sword sliced through he thin fabric in an instant and cut into her palms. Europa winced and braced her feet against the pavement. She just needed to buy a few inches, just enough for the knight to slip his head out - and hopefully that would happen before she sliced her fingers off.

"Move it!" she practically cried at the page, and shifted her strength to the hand on the sword's handle. With a final wrench, it came free. Europa released her bloody hand from the blade and tumbled backwards, dropping the sword in surprise. It skittered across the concrete, coming to a halt several feet away.

Well, that had worked about as well as expected.

"Almost out of time, Val!" she yelled.

She made a move to open her mouth, and spew something out that MIGHT have sounded like something she was told when she fire came to after the corruption. She was going to mention about how she was bad and brought over to repent for her crimes... how she wanted to help the people of earth remove the senshi from the planet they plagued...

But then it all sped up so quickly. Snapping her jaws shut with a annoying clank of her teeth, she grinded them together for a second. So She was a mistake after all eh... Some Senshi SHE was.

It was over in what felt like second, while she stood there... Amazed. She had never.... Now they were trapped in a pressured feeling or some sort. Made moving difficult. She was only a few feet away from Hematite...

"....Oh screw this." She mumbled to herself, not even sure if he could hear her. She was tired of just WATCHING this happen. Some agent she was, huh? She figured Hematite was probably growing weak from all of the teleporting he had jsut done. So, as they stood there with their motions semi limited... she started to reach out towards the General. It was roughly 5 seconds before the two actually got full movement back, which put some distance between the senshi and themselves. THIS time though, She grabbed the other generals arm and teleported HIM.

Right back in front of Europa and Valhalla's Pathway.

"NEBULA SCATTER." She cried out, flinging her arms out as the area with the 4 powered characters was suddenly covered in a sort of mist... of floating, rainbow like particles. It was a move that would hide their movements... but it would sting the eyes of their opponents as well. The stinging effect would bounce off any with nega corrupted seeds. Slinking around, Lyra made a move to try and pinpoint the enemies location... Spotting a shadow in the mist, She made a run for it... fist pulled back to attempt a punch.

Ganymede wasn't prepared for the fist coming at his face. He'd expected to have to dodge the knives again, had been tensing for it, ready to move whichever way he had to in order to get out of the way. He could have blocked the punch of he'd realized. His hands were raised high enough to allow it. It would have been quick. Easy, even. But the physical attack surprised him, caught him off guard, and he had a fist in the side of his face before he'd even begun to move one hand to grab it.

He stumbled back but didn't fall, lifting a hand to his face to gently touch his abused cheek. That was going to bruise. A little voice in his head chided him for allowing such a visible injury -- minor as it was -- when he had a date to attend, so long as he came out of this alive. He ignored it, decided that was something to be worried about later, and turned back to Wolframite with a disgusted frown.

"You don't have any idea what I fight for," he said, watching closely, prepared to dodge or block the next attack, whatever it would be. "I don't represent anything more than myself. I don't kill anybody, I protect kids, which is more than I can say for your people. One of your gal pals doesn't seem against using innocent kids for a quick and easy supply of energy, or using them as hostages, or attacking them when they get in the way. The only reason I'm here right now is to prevent normal people from getting hurt, and to help a scared little girl."

Ganymede wasn't all that interested in what the rest of the senshi wanted. He wasn't even sure they all wanted the same thing. Nothing had ever seemed very cohesive to him. He didn't expect someone on the other side to understand that, especially not someone who seemed so intent on committing careless murder, but he refused to be lumped in with the rest of them simply because he happened to be standing here today.

"Why not take a second look at what you represent and ask yourself if the way you do things is as right as you think it is. I'm not the one hurting and chasing after little kids. I'm not the one flinging knives at complete strangers without even bothering to try and find some common ground. I'm protecting myself, and my friends, and my family, and any other innocent person who happens to be stuck in the crossfire. That's my goal. It doesn't matter where I come from. I was born here. I have a normal life here. Protecting that is all I care about. I have nothing against you, unless you insist on harming people who shouldn't be harmed."

He could hear Callisto behind him, shouting for the cat. He could see the cat just beyond Wolframite, and another little girl, even younger than Callisto, drawing closer and closer to danger. He held one of his hands out to the side, directing Callisto to keep back, swallowing a lump of fear and hoping Wolframite wouldn't notice the other little girl approaching from behind. He didn't know what to do except to keep talking. If he fought back, he thought he'd only be proving Wolframite right; but if talking only enraged Wolframite further, and he didn't fight back, there was a good chance someone was going to get hurt, and that someone would undoubtedly be him.

Someone was calling behind him, such a very young voice, and Tomlin risked a glance behind at the little girl who was chasing him, happy smile and summer dress, like something from an entirely different universe to the strung-out battle she was wandering into. He swore softly to himself as he ran. Callisto was young – this child was tiny. Of all the times to attract an audience!

Ahead, Callisto was coming for him, running towards the danger. Sunlight glinted off the twin blades, blinding. Tomlin focused on the pavement, away from his senshi’s desperate face. The chain snaked at its owner’s feet, and he fought down the very feline urge to pounce that – even though the wielder was small, he doubted he had enough weight to hold it down or disarm him. Going round wasn’t going to be an option. The chain was just too long, one good swipe could cut him in half. He skidded to another ungainly stop.

Close enough to hear what the boy was saying. Kill? Slaughter kids? His tail lashed angrily at the lies.

“Keep out of his range!” he called to Callisto.

Too late, he remembered the civilian tailing him. Kids traditionally took a pretty relaxed attitude to talking animals, didn’t they? He took up a guarding position, hissing softly, though more for the child’s benefit than the Negaverser’s. Yes, he was a magical talking cat! He was scary, run away, little girl! Run back to your mother and be safe.

Only, not that way either, he thought, sensing the play of energy behind him, though the combatants were out of sight now. He’d thought little pockets of fighting was better than a pitched battle. Less like a war. More like a chance. Now he was beginning to doubt that too. With Kallichore's sudden arrival, they might just be able to get past the knife-wielder, but Europa and those other senshi were still cut off. There wasn't any safe place to send the child. There wasn't a safe place for any of them.

The further the fight moved from it's start point, the weaker Themis' shield was becoming.

It was both a good thing and a bad thing, really. Good thing because it meant the others were getting to safety.

Bad thing because he still had the angry midget of a captain and general spearhappy going at it.

"Well, I hate to be rude, ladies, but I really can't stay tonight ! Ciao !"

And that was when he threw it. It was in too weak a state to do damage - would knock them back, hopefully - and then he hightailed the hell out of dodge.

There were more important things than revenge.

He had people to protect. "Cora, come on !"

There he was! Tomlin, her cat. "Thank you, Hesperis," she said, gratefully. She wasn't going to let her cat be in danger! She wouldn't. He was such a small kitty, and what would happen if someone stepped on her poor hungry cat? No, not when he was hers. She let go of Hesperis and ducked under Ganymede's arm, ran around the dark-haired Negaverser and swept up Tomlin in her arms. Her cat! She cuddled him up in her arms, kissed the top of his furry head. The orange-haired little girl… if she was a senshi, didn't she have to protect her? "Stay behind me, little girl," she said, a little desperately. In trying to get to Tomlin, she'd essentially blocked herself in; there was no way to get around the Negaverser who had just punched Ganymede in the face.

Maybe…

There was a place not far from here, wasn't there? That she could hide the little girl, and Tomlin too. A ladder? "Tomlin, what do I do," she whispered, glad she had the orange cat to hold on to.

Under normal circumstances, Tomlin hated being picked up. Hated it and detested it and fought it with all his might. It led to cages and never anything good. Except this time, when apparently it led to cuddles. It was clearly relief that she was safe that caused him to be so unusually relaxed in her arms.

“Just keep being brave. You’ve got magic, you know. I didn’t get a chance to tell you.”

He approved of the way Hesperis was sticking with Callisto, clearly protecting her. He would definitely need to find out more about who and what she was. To the page, he said, “Up is good, I like up. If it’s looking really bad, I’ve got something that should delay them a little.”

The star on his forehead tingled at the thought, but weakly. It would have to be a last resort, and an iffy one at that, assuming he even had enough energy to work up the beam. And then he could very heroically keel over, he thought, because he definitely didn’t have enough left to walk away from it.