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Another night, another unfortunate person pushed up against a wall.

One might think that after a while Tanzanite might get bored with ripping the starseeds out of poor, unfortunate humans who stood very little chance against an agent of the Negaverse. However, if one thought that, one would be horribly, horribly wrong. She never got tired of it, and the wicked grin upon her lips was evidence of that. The man screamed something; words that Tanzanite had no desire to listen to. It was all background noise, a chorus to the verse where she pulled out his ******** starseed and watched him slip into the coma that would ultimately lead him to death.

For Tanzanite, this was a good night.

“Such a fuss, such a fuss,” she murmured as her hand slipped through his chest, groping blindly for that small speck of life, “You should be honored. You will die to serve the Negaverse. This is the best death someone like you could hope for.”

Not another one.

Tanzanite turned her head slowly towards the voice, her features emotionless. There as no hint of surprised, no twitch of annoyance. Christ, these girls were like a plague. Tanzanite could barely recall the last time she'd been able to enjoy a nice, relaxing evening of killing people without being interrupted by these... children. Still, there was a certain thrill, a shiver that raced along her spine each and every time one of them issued a challenge.

“This..” Tanzanite's voice was low and monotone, her head tilting slightly to one side, “poor man? Tch.” She clicked her tongue in disgust. Without so much as looking at the man, she ripped her hand from his chest, and his starseed along with it. She let his body drop like a sack of potatoes, useless now that she'd taken what she needed. It was clear in the way she stepped over his body, moving towards Alkaid, that she had no regard for human life; they were a crop to her, something to be harvest and discarded when they were no longer of use. Like any crop, they were expendable, nothing but a source of energy to feed the Negaverse.

“You poor, deceived little girl,” the Lieutenant said, her expression almost pity as she regarded Alkaid, “I freed that man.”

It was unfortunate for Alkaid that she had come across this particular Lieutenant to pop her combat cherry. Tanzanite had spent the time since corruption doing little other than having run-ins with the less than approving sailor scouts, and the result of all that fighting was one long, thin burn scar that circled her throat like a choker and a decent amount of combat experience. Not to mention that she gunned for senshi like a foxhound on the first day of the hunt.

The second she set those cold grey eyes on Alkaid, she was out for blood.

“And now I'll free you too.”

“I want you to know before I kill you,” Tanzanite began, her tone untouched by the joy her words expressed, “That the look on your face is something I will cherish forever.”

And it was. That horrified, wide-eyed stare. The way it melted away into that terribly predictable outrage. The way sadness and sympathy turned so quickly, replaced by righteous fury and the desire to punish. It was the latter that brought their souls into such close proximity; punishment. To punish Alkaid for her naivety, her foolishness. To punish Tanzanite for her inhumanity and cruelty. A common goal that both sides shared, both thinking themselves on the right side of the battle.

Then, not so suddenly, that ball of light was flying at her. Ah, their magic. It was something which Tanzanite found fascinating. Not just smoke and mirrors, not some useless weapon, but true power. She made no move to jump out of the way, a maneuver that would have been easy enough to do, but instead spread her arms to embrace the attack. It hit her square in the chest, and while there was a small bit of pain, it did exactly what Alkaid expected; it bought her only a few seconds of time while Tanzanite shook it off.

Now she knew what the girl was capable of, and the way her lips twisted into a terrible grin said that she didn't fear it.

Alkaid wouldn't have long to search, for as soon as the effect wore off, Tanzanite was rushing forward. Those long legs carried her at an impressive speed. If she reached Alkaid, there would be no fancy footwork or cheap tricks; she would throw herself at the girl, aiming to tackle her right at the waist like a football player.

That fist collided with Tanzanite's cheekbone, her head snapping hard to one side from the force of the blow. A fellow beginner might have brought their hands up to their face to stifle the blood that dripped from the corner of her mouth, or perhaps even rolled sideway to prevent another attack. However, Tanzanite seemed calm and collected even with the taste of blood blossoming across the inside of her cheek. After all, once you'd been smashed in the face by Obsidian, other blows just didn't tend to seem like such a big deal.

Lips parted as her face split into a grin that was not so much amused as malicious, half of her teeth stained with red. She wrapped her hands around Alkaid's wrist, wrestling the senhi into a position where she could sit upon her stomach and press the girls wrists hard into the pavement.

If successful, it would leave Tanzanite straddling Alkaid's midsection, her wrists pinned to the pavement above her head. A swipe of her tongue cleared the small stream of blood that trickled from the corner of her mouth, and Tanzanite let loose a low, mirthless laugh.

“You do know the rules of the game when it comes to being a hero, don't you?” Tanzanite whispered, her voice little more than a low hiss as she leaned in, “Heroes die.” With that, she would slam her head forward in a well-aimed head butt that would bring her forehead into hard, painful contact with Alkaid's nose.

Tanzanite would give the girl her trophy as she spat in her face, clearing her mouth of the blood that had begun to collect there. She could feel the pain of a nasty gash inside of her cheek where the fist had connected the soft flesh with a row of teeth, but it was little more than a pinprick to Tanzanite. Negligible beneath a tidal wave of anger and hatred that overwhelmed thought and reason. Her

The girl screamed, and Tanzanite felt a chill run up her spine that had nothing at all to do with the cold. That sound was sweeter than any symphony to Tanzanite's ears, more poetic than any words would ever be. It was a sound that told her she was doing something very, very right. There was a rush of adrenaline, a quickening of her heartbeat as she shifted one hand to hold Alkaid's wrists in place, and brought the other down in a hard punch to that oh so pretty face. She would break the girl bit by bit, until there was absolutely nothing left but bones and flesh scattered along the pavement.

Tanzanite would teach her what it felt like to be a hero.

Alkaid grimaced as the spray of blood spattered her pale face, and instantly wished she hadn't as the motion made her all too aware of the throbbing pain in the center of her face. In fact, any small movement of her facial muscles felt like she was deliberately prodding the break.

Her vision was a little blurred from the blow to the back of her head combined with the pain blossoming from her nose, but she saw the fist as the negaverser raised it above her head in preparation for another blow. She was helpless, weakened and in pain, and all she could do was watch as it came down straight towards her. She felt the pain as her fist collided against her cheekbone and eye socket, instinctively knowing that she'd be sporting a beautiful shiner if she managed to live through this. She cried on impact, but it was short lived and chopped mid-scream as she realized that the motion hurt her face almost as much as the blows had.

Amidst the pain, Alkaid became vaguely aware of someone approaching them, someone that sounded very angry. There was a ringing in her ears from the blow that hadn't quite cleared, but she heard something that sounded like a mumble and then a shout that was just as garbled to her hearing. Suddenly her eyes, complete with blurry vision, were filled with a glow that was approaching quickly. She couldn't make a damn bit of sense out of it from her current predicament. Once it was directly upon her and the girl above her, she felt her body rocked with a weight and hit with something hard that nearly knocked the breath out of her lungs. She grimaced from the pressure put on already existing wounds, and between that and the disorienting glow, she had absolutely no idea what was going on with the purple-haired witch anymore.

In the few breaths she had before the purple haired woman began to move, Saiph was already in front of the pale girl, shielding her. Turning her head slightly, she gave the girl a brief apologetic smile before speaking quietly.

"Sorry about that, if you can move, get out. I think things are going to get uglier in here real quick."

Turnign back to fully face the other, she couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration for the woman's ability to even move after crashing into the wall like that. But it was slow movement. Narrowing her eyes, Saiph tried to calculate how much this woman'd be able to do after taking the full force of a tail thrash attack. If she didn't have broken bones, there should at least be some deep and rather painful bone and muscle bruises. Logic screamed at her to grab the pale girl and run, but she wasn't about to turn her back on Ms. Purple Hair and hope that she would politely let them go. So, instead, she gave a feral grin, braced herself and got ready for a fight.

Everything about Tanzanite screamed that she was made for moments like this. From the long, thin scar that circled her neck like a choker to the multitude of small bruises and scars found on her pale skin. The muscles in her back screamed in protest, her ribcage burning with the pain of at least one cracked rib. However, Tanzanite had no regard for life. Not that of the man she'd killed nor that of the two girls that stood before her. Not even for her own.

Saiph's comment brought a twisted grin to her lips, tongue tracing the contour of her upper lip to remove the blood that soaked it. There was very little about Tanzanite's expression that could be considered sane, or even fully human. The way her lips pulled back over her teeth seemed more like a snarl than a smile, her narrowed eyes soulless and without mercy. It took only a though for her to summon the jumper cables. They materialized in her grasp as Tanzanite leapt from the pavement, calling upon the power of the Negaverse to launch her a few stories up.

When she came down, it would be swinging. Her ribcage burned as she twisted, wielding the cables like a baseball bat, the metal clamps aimed for Saiph's skull. She knew that if they ran now she would have no hope of chasing them down, and she refused to suffer such failure.