[Battle] Must be a Monday. (Danika & Khaldun) -Fin

[Lady Mist]

Danika had pleasantly discovered that the night wasn't as cold as the previous nights had been. She had left her plush jacket at home in favor of a light sweater, slipping out as she had every night to patrol the city. The past few nights had been relatively free of commotion, but Danika had long ago decided not to tempt fate.

Despite the pleasant evening, Danika was in a fairly poor mood. Her grades had been in a slump for years now, but ever since her parents divorced she noticed her father making casual comments asking about how school and classes were going, leading up to today's dreaded conversation on how he knows she's intelligent, and wishes she might apply herself a bit more. With a sigh, Danika consoled herself that it was a parent's perogative to guilt their children.

Pausing in her step, Danika listened to what she thought was a cry of alarm. It was a bit distant, but she wasn't going to take any chances. Another mugging, she supposed. Darting into a well protected cove of an ally, the girl gripped her pendant, her voice almost like a strong, dark whisper, "Tisiphone power, make up."

Her body began to glow, the feeling of becoming connected to that otherworldly power manifested in the shape of a uniform, a senshi fuku. Feeling the void inside, Sailor Tisiphone was prepared for battle. She ran down the alley, following the trails of the plea for help.  

[Molten Tigrex]

Lieutenant Hematite was 'patrolling'.

Dark circles under his eyes accentuated the fact that he hadn't slept since his fateful meeting with the General-King, well over 24 hours before. His victim was pinned against the wall of a nearby alley, watch-chain looped around their neck in an attempt to stifle their screaming. It was a girl, not much different in age than the senshi. The student had bright orange hair and fear in her eyes. Hematite himself had the look of a feral beast, a creature that was always hungry and never satisfied. He'd been standing there for a whole minute, preparing to pull the star seed from her and somehow being unable to muster enough focus or willpower to do so. His uniform was dirty, ragged around the edges, from spending the evening wandering the city; he doubted anyone at Hillworth would mourn his temporary absence should they find him missing.

He didn't know what he was doing here, really. It all started with needing to get a senshi's star seed. Just one. It was supposed to be easy, if even Charonite thought he was able to do so. But senshi didn't appear out of nowhere. No. Senshi needed to be baited. Senshi needed something that could draw them like moths to a flame. The evening had been spent looking for ways to do this and never succeeding. He couldn't think clearly enough to plan something, and meanwhile this girl's starseed wasn't going to pull itself out.

The tapping of feet on the paved ground forced him to turn and look. He gave a gutteral growl at the sight - it was a senshi.  

[Lady Mist]

Sailor Tisiphone stopped short when she realized the gutteral growl belonged to a man staring right at her. Her eyes followed the dull glimmer of a gold chain, wrapped none too gently around a neck where those strangled calls came from. The very aura around the black haired man screamed of that negative energy, the kind that one could sense in a youma, though this form was much more concentrated and sentient, dangerous.

"Let the girl go." It was time to pay him back in kind for the violence he was committing against the civilian in front of him, "Your sins have created a void that calls for retribution," She took a step forward, showing she meant business, "I am Sailor Tisiphone. In the name of the void, I will rise to that call."  

[Molten Tigrex]

"Let her go? Or what? You'll have to let me off with a stern warning not to do it again?" Hematite laughed, a low chuckle. A few dreadlocks fell over his shoulder as he turned back to his potential victim. The chain didn't slack an inch from her neck. Inwardly, he was in turmoil, realizing that for all he knew the General-King could be watching here and now, but so long without sleep and in the face of one of the monsters who'd hurt him before, he couldn't stop himself from taking a verbal stab back. It was so easy, because there was no end to the amount of hate and loathing and venom that welled up in him at the idea of being ordered around by a senshi. "God. I'm glad one of you is finally here. And I'm also not, because the only void around here seems to be your enthusiasm for fighting me. You need to work on your act."

"But you know what? We're probably not so different, Sailor Tisiphone. We've got to do things we don't feel like doing, because something bad happens when we don't. For instance." The plan struck him instantly, as his entire focus of the evening had been on star seeds anyway. One hand suddenly plunged magically into the victim's sternum in a burst of light, the source of which congealed into a glowing stone as it was removed. The victim gave a gasp and their eyes fluttered closed. No longer needing to keep her pinned to the wall, Hematite loosed the chain and let her fall to the ground. "For instance, I've got to get one of these star seeds. And you've got to save this piece of insolent human garbage."

"The longer she goes without it, the sooner she'll die. Or we can just forget the stupid girl and fight, although I'm sure that's too much effort for the both of us. Tick-tock, Sailor Tisiphone." The watch weapon swung loosely from his good hand, practically skating against the concrete, while he tossed the star seed in his injured hand once, twice, always landing in his palm. Then, without warning, he tossed it straight up into the air. It was a glittering star shooting into the heavens, and there was no certainty that when it came back down it wouldn't shatter into a million pieces as it hit. "CATCH!"  

[Lady Mist]

Despite all the openings for witty banter, Danika never did have much of a mind for chit chat. An act? She mentally snorted to herself. It was a duty, and she had never put in any useless flair. Crimes were too serious a matter for such frivolous things. She wondered briefly what he meant by 'bad things'. It was noted that he referred to himself as well, so she could only assume that he was kept under the thumb of a fearful leader. How alike were they? It didn't matter, she told herself. What was the goal of the negaverse, anyways? With their constant assaults on humans, she decided not to give them much integrity to work with.

Sailor Tisiphone watched the star seed rise to the sky, her dark eyes narrowed. It was surprising, but only for an instant. When one held low expectations of others, not much was surprising anymore. Somewhere in the back of her head she counted the seconds of it rising, giving a rough estimate of how much time she had.

"A demonstration, then." She said, holding out her hands and with a fluid motion a dark hole appeared before her chest, defying gravity just inches between her palms, "Void's Rescind." Tisiphone waved her whole arm forward, the ball shooting out and hitting the wall right next to her opponent. The wall bore a deep hole now, almost the size of a basketball, with not even a bit of dust left to flutter away.

What was his attack? She was uncomfortable not knowing his capabilities, but she wasn't going to waste what time she had left. The girl darted forward the moment her attack made an impact, a warning and distraction. Her legs coiled and she gave a cat like leap, her heeled boots kicking off the wall to give her leverage as she reached out for the shining seed.  

[Molten Tigrex]

"s**t!" Hematite swore, stumbling back from the impact site. He'd been stupid; that ******** ball could have put a hole in him. But he'd learned something, at the same time - she was afraid to deal a killing blow when she had the opportunity. It was a bit of a reality check all the same, though.

Hematite had moments to act. There was still a chance to run, and simply stake out another senshi another time. But what were the odds he'd find another before Charonite's patience wore too thin? And what would he do if Charonite was around here, saw him run away, wouldn't he be dead on the spot? It was a mental shove in the direction of staying. At least the senshi had a merciful side he could exploit if things ended up difficult.

She was chasing the seed into the air, taking the bait he'd offered. Hematite began to whirl the watch, faster and faster, and took off toward the wall. His boot slammed, he shot to the other side, zigzagging upward with inhuman ability in order to gain momentum and reach the senshi. He didn't know a whole lot about senshi, but in his fight against Pegasus he'd learned a nice new way to stop them attacking. The watch-chain whirred and then snapped forward, and with a final leap right into space, Hematite launched himself at the senshi, the grappling weapon aimed at whatever of her it could possibly try to catch.  

[Lady Mist]

Sailor Tisiphone looked over with wide eyes, having underestimated his speed. The chain wound itself around her ankle, and she gave a short yelp of surprise, but quickly curled her knee to her chest, grabbed the chain and gave it a good yank - not to make it come off her ankle, for she could tell it was wound too tight (and would probably have left a bruise by now), but to try and throw off his trajectory. She arched over backwards, grabbing the falling seed in one hand and curling back in on herself as her body slammed into the wall, her own direction having been pulled off by the weight of the dread locked villain.

Tisiphone landed in an ungraceful heap, quickly trying to untangle her legs. The girl lying prone on the ground was too far to run before her chained ankle would cause a problem. Her body had a dull ache throughout it, coping with the impact from the fall, but she kept her face a neutral mask. How much time did the girl have left? It worried her, she hadn't exactly timed a life span before. Only seconds had passed with their speed, yet her hyper awareness of time made it feel all the longer.

She had to end it quickly. With one hand protectively on the seed, she used the other to hover in front of her chest as she attempted to stand, hoping she could aim before he yanked the cursed chain, a smaller hole forming with her will, "If this girl dies," Tisiphone warned, "I will kill you in an instant. As you beat her earlier, my goal in this fight was to beat you down. If you bring her to death, then death is what you shall receive."

Her attack was ready, whether it be to shoot off the chain, or to shoot out his heart. He would have to let go of the chain to avoid her attack, so either way she would be able to get loose. At least, so long as he kept to the walls. She didn't like shooting out in the open where random passerbys might walk in on their waltz, but she certainly wasn't going to tell him that.  

[Molten Tigrex]

Hematite's aim was true, and the watch snagged a leg. Even flying forward with his momentum he pulled back on the chain to equalize things. Senshi and Negaverse plummeted back to earth. Hematite managed to get his legs the right way to stop himself hitting a wall unprepared, but still crashed to the ground and rolled some feet away. He'd hit his shoulder, which had already taken a hard hit recently in another fight. The whole arm was now uncooperative, searing with pain, from shoulder to broken finger. The lieutenant was very nearly ready to run as it was, but the danger was too great. Die now, at the hands of a self-righteous little girl, or die later, at the hands of his own superior officer. If only the former option had a little more beauty to it.

Why was he running himself into the ground here, though? It had started as a fear for his life, but hearing the words the girl spoke churned Hematite's inner fury. Base instinct and testosterone were quite certain that his life was not going to be at the mercy of a little senshi b***h. How dare she! What started as orders from the top was quickly turning into a personal vendetta, revenge for being put in the weaker position.

The victim's star seed had hardly crossed his mind again till he saw her holding it. He was lying there on the concrete still, his hand tightly wrapped around the watch-chain. Teeth bared in his pain and anger, his eyes followed the senshi's movements. She was up already, attack trained on him, but in the face of madness he had to be mad as well.

Hematite yanked the watch-chain as hard as he could and rolled backward.  

[Lady Mist]

The pull was half expected, though somewhere inside she had hoped that he might see reason and withdraw. Tisiphone's knees bent, catching herself in the same instant that she threw her hand towards the chain, "Void's Rescind!"

A chunk of the chain no long existed, though she rolled forward, grabbed the chain, and pulled it with her whole body to bring him closer, fist at ready for a good, proper sucker punch if he chose not to release the rest of his weapon.  

[Molten Tigrex]

With a cold feeling fleeing to every extremity, Lieutenant Hematite realized he was unarmed and quite possibly outmatched.

This was a thing Hematite hadn't taken into account. Other Lieutenants had managed, somehow or another, to keep their weapons intact, or so he'd seen. And from the handful of previous fights Hematite had been in, his watch had take a beating, nothing he couldn't fix. There wasn't even a sound as the section of chain vanished and he was suddenly the one being pulled in, but he managed a surprised set of expletives before he let go. The watch and a decent length of its chain was still wrapped around the girl's ankle, and he'd simply dropped a useless piece of chain in his haste to avoid a punch to the face. In the darkness and grime he sought a means to get to his feet before she had the chance to shoot that hole puncher at him. He was becoming exhausted already, tired and injured and overexerted in a short space of time. His left arm was still practically useless after the fall, and the bruises on his leg had been rudely reawakened by all the running and jumping off walls.

Hematite hung back, inching along the wall toward the open streets, unsure of what the senshi planned to do next and afraid to expose his back to her if he ran now on the increasingly high chance the victim was deader than a doornail already.  

[Lady Mist]

Watching him, Tisiphone was becoming more certain that she wasn't his first battle of the day. They hadn't had many contacts yet, and the worst beating she had given him was probably more self inflicted from just hitting the ground from their fall. She stared at his eyes for a few seconds, guaging her next few actions. Watching him, she decided that she easily had the upper hand here, considering his previous wounds and the range of her attack, especially being in an alley where it was safe for her to attack in the first place. Well, she had been doing this for years, after all.

How long had it been? A minute? Her eyes flicked to the moon high above the sky as she darted towards the still girl, leaving the man be for now. Tisiphone's hand hovered over the girl's chest, watching the seed as it began to hover on its own, like a train finding its rails. The seed sunk back in, and seconds passed in silence before some of the girl's color began to return. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief, standing and turning, "Looks like you got lucky this time."

It had been a bit close for comfort, she felt. Tisiphone glowered at him, wondering if she should ask for his name, then deciding it probably wasn't worth it. With luck he'd be too scared to approach anyone next time. Wasn't that how all the criminals had been? She knelt and unwound the chain from her ankle, dropping the watch there beside her.  

[Molten Tigrex]

Hematite was partially slumped against the alley wall, trying to ignore the cacophony of aches and pains from all over his body. Her words hit him like a mace. He was the lucky one? No, it wasn't over! That senshi's star seed had to be his! He couldn't leave here without it, what if - what if -

He locked eyes with the senshi, a silent challenge. Hematite had no weapon, no advantage, no hope should he fail now. All he had was sheer ferocity and fear to go on. How fast could the b***h call up one of those balls of nothingness? Did it matter, in the end? As soon as she had begun to bend down to rid herself of the chain on her ankle, he bolted straight for her. He had no plan; he just had to get that star seed.  

[Lady Mist]

Sailor Tisiphone was expecting a dirty shot, but she wasn't expecting him to charge her. Somehow she was expecting another.. well, weapon, or power ball, or something. All that negative energy she felt emanating from him, but all he did was bull ram her?

Tisiphone was knocked down, and the two rolled across the cement. Untagling herself from him, she kicked herself a step back, raising her hands to shoot the creep's foot off. Until, that is, she realized she was in the middle of the street. It was empty, but Tisiphone wasn't one to take chances.

That was fine with her. From what she could tell from his desperate, animalistic state, she could handle him fine without her attack. Still, she kept underestimating him, thinking he'd give up when he learned he was out powered, but Tisiphone decided he was past reasoning now. He was dangerous.

"Fine, be that way." Tisiphone didn't want to drag it out too long in the street, so this time she took the charge. She darted forward, bent slightly over with her knees bent to change course, her arm drawn back for a punch.  

[Molten Tigrex]

Hematite scrambled to his feet, breathing heavily. His injured left arm was hanging limply, uselessly, and while he COULD use it he was almost certain it would drop off as though it were leprous should it be injured any further. Somewhere during their rolling he'd lost or broke his hairtie, and the pile of dreadlocks went everywhere. He really did look like an animal now.

But like an animal, his focus was not what it ought to be. As she came at him he began to move as well, the pair crossing clear to the other side of the street in their parrying, and reached out his right hand just below her clavicle. Maybe she would recognize it as the beginning of the same thing he had done to the girl in the alleyway, or maybe it would just seem a confusing attempt at trying to grab her by the bow at the front of her outfit. But just before he could sink his hand in to take hold of her star seed, he was knocked out of position by a well-aimed punch to the side of his face. He hit the ground again, hard, with blood trickling from his busted lip and mouth. Lying on his side and gazing at the senshi's shoes, he seemed temporarily stunned.

Finally, Hematite spat blood onto the concrete. He looked up at the girl, expression inscrutable through his pain, but his voice was full of morbid humor (and more blood). "What a rejection, Sailor Tisiphone. All this time I just wanted to steal your heart away."

His head moved slightly, dreadlocks pooling around him. Damn good thing that dumb de-starseeded girl hadn't died after all; maybe this senshi did have a killer's instincts. As it was, Hematite was stuck on the ground in case she shot one of those magic holes through him. Well, if he was going to die, he wasn't going to do so without running his mouth off. "Can I at least get a little something to remember you by?"  

[Lady Mist]

"Sorry, I don't give anything away on first dates." The soldier spoke with that neutral tone of her, in a poor enough mood to actually jest back, though her dark eyes were narrowed down onto him, "I have nothing to give you."

She knelt down, poised to either jump back or slap him silly, "Perhaps you could share a few things with me first. You have a lot of dark energy flowing through you and you have knowledge of the star seeds, so I can assume you know of the Negaverse." Tisiphone knew nothing about it other than its name, and if its members were more active here, she wanted to know her enemy, "What is the goal of your little group? What could be so great that you would lower yourself so far as to attack the innocent?"