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Ganymede might have been right, on some level. Europa was talking big game partly because if she didn't, she was fully aware she ran the risk of chickening out at any second, and the shame of that would be too much to bear. Additionally, she knew that logically this was the only option, even if her silly, idealistic side fervently wished that there was some other way. She was glad for the support, and the hand under the table - it was good to know that even if Ganymede didn't agree with her, she still had her support.

"Believe me," she whispered. "I think about those things every day." But the time for intervention had been years ago, before Leto ever corrupted, when Europa still had the chance to steer her to a better peer group. One that didn't flirt more than casually with darkness.

She squeezed Ganymede's hand.

The news about Ares being gone was, well, news. But Europa supposed that much could happen when you took a year and a half of personal leave. The war didn't just freeze because she wasn't an active participant for all that time. "What can you tell us about the new royalty?" she asked Zirconia. "Who are the strongest among them? Their movers and shakers? What should be be prepared to face?"

In his opinion, Labyrinthite viewed the DMC worse off than the WMC if only because Ares had abandoned her subjects while the moon princess simply hadn't shown. He didn't count Chibimoon. What he had been unaware of was the fact that new royalty had stepped up in the smoke senshi's place. His teeth gritted together and his fingers curled his hand into fists as he stood. He didn't know who claimed the title of prince or princess in the DMC but he had an idea.

Likely the co-captains.

The thought of them made his mouth taste sour.

He didn't like that Zirconia had left out this information. Royals had devastating amounts of power to them, he'd tussled with one princess more times than he would've liked. But the cat had said royals that meant more than one and it was enough information to churn his stomach.

He'd fought above his weight-class before and was confident he could do it again but he knew he couldn't take more than one. If he could take the one. An eternal would be no matter, prince or princess was a different matter entirely. Even if he couldn't, he'd be damned if he didn't try.

"There's more than one," the comment came out dryly, a clear statement rather than a question and his face turned towards Eurpoa as she spoke. She voiced the question he wanted to ask. "Do you have an idea of how many there are?" The game of war always dealt heavy with numbers.

He moved toward Zirconia brushing past Alkaid without thought or glance. "Could we test it? You taking me into mirrorspace?" He asked. "Do you think she was alerted because she was familiar with your energy signal? Because you used to be the same type of 'parallel?"

"Remarque's a busy little bee. I don't know how many of them there are, I know Leto's his co-captain," The guardian said with a shrug to Europa. "But I also know Leto's a brawler and a knight killer. Remarque's a liar and a corrupter. I would peg him as the more dangerous of the two. I know a senshi named Avior was seeking him out for corruption."

It didn't need repeating that she thought one who could draw out loyalty strong enough to make someone throw their life away was more dangerous than someone who was just out for blood.

"I've heard of him swaying senshi towards corruption, awakening, forcing upgrades on dissenting members. He keeps the war machine well oiled. There's another violent one with a blonde mohawk that's a decent fighter with offensive magic and a taste for knight blood; She should probably be eliminated as soon as possible if sighted but the last time I saw her she was only at super stage. Since their corruption has the potential to kill me I try not to engage in direct battle with them, and their politics are simplistic in nature. They were created for tea parties so Ares didn't have to feel alone, not full scale invasions. That is simply a side effect from having no home."

She looked to Sessrumnir and gave him an absolutely saccharine smile. "Where am I from? Well, I, Zirconia, am from the other side of the mirror. Obviously. I was guardian to Ares' queen, and Ares herself. Unless you mean where is this body from; I'm pretty sure this girl I stole was a Destiny City native, but whatever."

Man it felt weird s**t talking Zia, who was herself, really. But all of the deep issues that spoke to could be sorted out later.

The point was she wasn't going to hide her origins or her nature. If anything she felt like they gave her information more credibility.

"If it helps I want them as gone as you would want zombie versions of your own species gone and I can promise you my motivations for helping are entirely selfish," She cooed at him with patronizing mock affection and a blown kiss.

His distrust was a sign of intelligence, but she was still going to give him a hard time for it. She even chastised his quip to poor Falias. "Oh leave him alone," Because he's not in my index yet. It was hard to put the index aside when there were so many undocumented knights and Negas in the room she was getting goosebumps just thinking of all the information going unrecorded for politics.

She specifically hesitated and left Labyrinthite for last and looked at him with a taught grimace on her features as she recalled the exhaustion from pulling Camelot through, and the though of having to not just pull his body through, but linger in the space between with him.

"Possibly. I've had to walk through since then for mirrorwalking but only in quick instances. But most of them don't seem to even be aware I exist. I'm not entirely sure, because i haven't lingered there since her corruption."

She looked him up and down, obviously uncertain as her tail flicked back and forth in thought.

"We... could..."

The jarringly familiar tongues in which Thraen spoke received a nod from the black-haired general, emphatic enough to coax a chime out of his earrings. Gold eyes focused between WP and Zirconia as the two exchanged necessary information to the gathering present. Inwardly he wondered if such a plan would succeed - from his experience, convoluting instructions given to a mass often led to disaster: the simpler the better. However, WP appeared quite confident in his tactics, and if they resulted in utter chaos... Well, Bischofite would have his rancor in spades.

To hide in the rafters and await the filtered arrival of the Dark Mirror... And then what? Shatter their sole exit and slaughter them wholesale? Bischofite himself preferred rigging the majority of the warehouse with enough explosives to bring the roof atop the petulant wretches, but such tactics involved intimate knowledge of demolitions - something he wagered no one present possessed. No matter; what came of such measures was absolution, and the feathered general accepted this strange invitation for the cacophony resulting from half-measures, not the silence given my corpses abound.

To simply strand themselves in this paltry housing as a means to fight some carefully contained battle... How meek.

"Sraen will go," Bischofite offered as soon as WP requested hostages. Of the White Moon present, the blonde proved most capable of death among their ranks - and thusly capable of Machiavellian tactics. "He has ze stomach for such deeds, more zan ze whole of ze White Moon present." As he spoke, the general offered a sweeping gesture to the remaining senshi, most bearing wings at equal rank. Lastly his eyes settled on Ganymede, whom appeared utterly revolted by his presence.

Good. Let her suffer.

"How rude," Alkaid had simply quipped back at the stubborn Captain, though seemed rather unaffected despite it. She'd known his feelings.

Instead her eyes drifted down to the giant cat as the conversation struck up around her. She stared back at it for a moment before she raised one delicate brow, obviously confused about this reaction. It certainly wasn't horror or sympathy. It was actually kind of confusing. As the Captain at her side stood and walked towards Zirconia, she leaned down and pulled the over-sized cat up into her lap. She wasn't sure what was going on with him, but her adoration of Hiro made her feel inclined to take pick him up (just in case he'd had a seizure).

She ran hardened fingers through his fur with a surprising delicacy, then let her gaze slide back up to the conversation at hand. Royalty, mirrors and hostages. If she'd still had properly functioning organs, her stomach would have rolled at the familiarity of the idea. The past always seemed to repeat itself, especially the violent parts.

"I could come with you, my basic attack can hypnotize quite well. I'm also quite shocking, if that kind of flair is the thing you're going for." She paused here, rethinking her words with a small purse of her lips. It made the cracks on her face widen just a fraction, shifting the planes of her cheeks at unsettling angles. "Of course, it depends on how much surprise you want to have behind this. Are you going to show up with all members of one faction to steal the hostage, or a mix? Do you want them to know just how much power you have, or surprise them?"

She smiled then and glanced back down at her newly acquired fluffball. "It's a tricky question."

Lellouch provided a welcome distraction from Alkaid, whom Pen was actually fairly certain she might have nightmares about. The redhead crossed her legs, hands resting on her thighs, and leaned forward. She was fairly certain she knew exactly who the blonde corrupt spoke of, and if so...well.

"I think I know who she's referrin' to, and if I'm right, he comes in a pair with another one of them parasites. Sort of a two-for-one deal - either an extra hostage or someone who'll get out and bring more back." She volunteered, and she was fairly confident she was correct. Her relationship, whatever it was, with Damocles was the reason she'd left Lellouch alive, after all.

It was remarkable, really, that after everything just thinking about the Dark Mirror no longer caused a well of hatred to coil in her gut. She'd taken her revenge, and she was mostly done with this little vendetta. "Either way, dependin' on how many you need and what you're lookin' for, I wouldn't mind bein' on the ambush team."

"If that's what's needed, if that's where people think I'll fit best then sure I have no problems playing the lure to draw a Dark Mirror person" Falias said calmly in response to the The Jupiter knight's (Sessrumnir) quip that he could be the one to volunteer. As a Page he had no magic and weapon-wise, his 'weapon' if you could call it that was useless so if that made him the ideal choice to be the lure then so be it, otherwise he was happy enough to sit on the ambush team.

He hadn't actually known that this Leto was a known Knight-killer, his experience with the DMC limited to his one encounter with Al-Janah - but he'd just known that the red-haired dark senshi couldn't have been the only out there from the court attacking knights and the Jupiter knight had just confirmed it.

As did the one who had turned up as a talking cat before shifting into a cat-woman and then back again who had identified herself as Zirconia and had an aura that he'd not come across before. He'd noted that Zirconia seemed to have a lot of information on the DMC and that there seemed to be at least three members out for Knight blood and given that one of the three seemed to be one of the leaders for the whole group Falias was certain that there was more - most likely a whole organisation full.

It seemed that he wasn't the only one willing to volunteer though. others also volunteering or as in one case - the case of the blond super senshi - was volunteered.