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Very few things could make Lieutenant Tanzanite nervous.

However, as she was suddenly yanked out of her makeshift bedroom beneath the Hillworth bleachers and into the Negaverse subspace, she felt a familiar knot forming in the pit of her stomach. It was a sensation she hadn't felt since the day the man had reached into her heart and corrupted what small bit of humanity there was to be found there. Since that day, Aree Cadence had been nothing more than the rough equivalent of Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne. A name, an alias behind which a far greater self hid until called into play. A self which desperately yearned for the day when she would no longer need to hide behind a human mask. When she wouldn't be forced to stand amongst the ranks of the pitiful and desolate, people who walked through life as though living was something they were entitled to. The day when she could strip off her weak human skin and emerge once and forever as Tanzanite.

On that day, Aree Cadence would die. Until then, she would do what she must to get by.

It was that doomed girl who stood in the Negaverse subspace now, trying to quell the nausea that came along with the teleportation. If there was a downside to the Negaverse, it was that you didn't have a choice about when the General-King called you. You played the role of b***h and you responded when he tugged on your leash. Hell, you didn't have a choice in the mater. Her stomach knotted and flipped like some Cirque du Soleil acrobat, but Aree pushed back the urge to vomit by sheer force of will. It took only a moment for her to pull back all of her restraints, to cut the cables and break the bridges that held Lieutenant Tanzanite back in some dark corner of her mind. For her, it was not so much a matter of calling upon her power as it was keeping some kind of hungry monster locked away. Every second was a battle where Tanzanite clawed at the inside of Aree's skull, fists beating upon her temples as though she could break out by force. The extremely limited Negaverse power rushed out of her, and the dark-haired Lieutenant dropped to one knee immediately, a fist over her heart.

“General-King.” She said flatly.

It was that man who had pulled her out of nothingness, saving her from mediocrity and humanity. He had freed her of fickle things like heartache and emotion. And while Tanzanite was utterly alone in her newfound life, it was a small price to pay for escaping. It was Charonite who had given her the power to do something other than strive for excellence amidst mediocrity. For this, she owed the Negaverse far more than her loyalty and servitude. She owed her life.

Still, she had no idea why the General-King would be calling upon her, but it was not her place to question it. Tanzanite simply held her position on one knee, eyes fixated upon the floor as she waited for the ******** to start rolling.

It was that stillness that made the knot in Tanzanite's stomach twist tighter.

She had endured a hell of a lot in her brief time as an agent of the Negaverse. Twice in the past two weeks she had taken on two senshi pairs and made it out alive. She had fought Iris nearly to her own death, coming out of it with the thin, pale scar that would forever circle her neck as a reminder of her own arrogance and weakness. Her body showed a dozen bruises that ranged from pale yellow-green to a deep purple that was echoed in the wide circles beneath her eyes; there were half a dozen scars to complete the set. Yet even as she knelt there with her ribs bandaged and every aching muscle reminding her that she was a soldier of the ******** Negaverse before all else, there was one thing that still scared the ******** out of Tanzanite.

That one thing was staring at her now, silent and still in such a manner that it made her skin crawl. She could handle screaming. She could handle violence. She could handle having the ever loving hell beaten out of her. What she could not handle was that uncharacteristic stillness. No <********>, no <********>, no <******** ******** ******** ********>. Nothing but a thick silence that made Tanzanite's throat itch, just begging to cough if only to break it.

She swallowed hard and dared only a brief glance up at the man who was her General-King. The changes she saw in him caused her eyes to widen. It was not her fear which prompted the reaction, but worry. Her brow furrowed and, thinking it better not to interject a poorly-placed 'You look like s**t' just yet, she returned her gaze to the floor.

It was Charonite who finally broke that nerve-wracking stillness with an wild accusation that was... not so wild. It should have been a relief. Perhaps it would been if he had been accusing her of some minor incompetency. Of all the things Tanzanite would have guessed she might be called here for, that had not been on the list. In fact, that had been nearly forgotten in the aftermath of nausea and shame that followed the next morning. She'd forgotten the graffiti, the balloon animals, and the utter absurdity of her attempt to play nice and normal and human. She'd pushed it out of her mind and reduced it to nothing more than some horrible, fever-induced nightmare brought on by one too many senshi attacks to the head.

Tanzanite was as composed as ever as Charonite paced out of view, but her mind raced with how to answer his question. She could lie. Hell, she might even get away with it if she played her part well enough, but the option never really came to mind. What she had done, what she had tried to forget she had done was nothing sort of treason and flat out stupidity. Even with her nearly masterful control over her emotions, Tanzanite could not hide a touch of shame from showing through her tone.

“I won't lie to you, sir,” she said, closing her eyes in order to escape her shameful reflection in the floor as she did so, “So I can't tell you that.”

It was a horrible fact of life that no matter where you where, at any time you could be wrenched out of normality and into the Negaverse. Be it at the movies, in class, in the shower, anywhere. Thankfully for her cover identity, Audrey had been doing none of these. But it didn't stop her from taking a moment to assess everything that the General King had been saying to her.

And it took a few moments more, an incredibly long silence, to get a handle on her emotions. At the forefront, riding hell for leather, was an insurmountable, ironic anger. When all this time she'd been holding herself back with Khal, mooning over his stupid a**, Castor'd been out nearly ******** Tanzanite?! Hard amber eyes raked over the lush form of the other lieutenant, fury easy to read.

Nobody made a god damn fool over Linarite! She'd even been so ready to step back a bit from Khal and rethink everything. Certainly she'd never leave the Negaverse, but that didn't mean they couldn't corrupt him! But upon hearing everything listed in a long line, it was over. Never again would she stare at a pile of daisies wistfully, and sigh over forbidden fruit.

That ******** b*****d! And go figure, yet another Negaverse tramp! And to think that Lina'd wanted to get to know this one better, convinced that Tanzanite had promise! It was laughable! At least she'd had the nerve to screw around with...with him! ******** b*****d!

Deep breaths were needed. One, two, three. Fists clenched and unclenched and she nearly delivered a death sentence before a thought struck her. Nealite. Nealite must have told him. Was this all a setup? If she was too kind, would he blast her? If she was too harsh, would he mete out her judgment back upon herself? Did he know?!

Frozen, she could only think of one thing. "Sir, if she can't be trusted around senshi, she should not be around senshi. At least, not alone. Perhaps Obsidian or Hematite could aid her in keeping her hands to herself." Certainly they'd helped her. And it was true, she hadn't seen much of the senshi since her little talk with ******** were way too much goddamn trouble.

"All right, let me try to <******** PARSE what you just said," said the General-King. "You've been fraternizing with the goddamned enemy, and for this you... want to get a special mission to take him out? What the <********>" He was paused in front of her; she was privileged with the view of his boots. "You give everything to the Negaverse and you expect me to give you a ******** -- Christmas present, that's what it's called?" (This was an odd little blip.) "You should always be giving your all to the Negaverse. The Negaverse is your life."

The boots strode away from her. "Yes, you're talented. Relentless," he said. "You're devoted. And you're a loose goddamn cannon, Tanzanite. You pursue, with no discipline. You're flak -- you ******** up everything around you. Negaverse has no use for a goddamned bear. I already have that s**t with Nova and Tisiphone."

He sounded cold, not furious. "Yes, you know you're talented. That's your goddamn problem. You're not Lieutenant Scheelite? You don't act like you just swallowed a pound of ******** Pop Rocks? Do you want a ******** award for industry?"

The boots were stomping now. "You'll be making up for this. Throne room needs cleaning," he said. "Hasn't seen a broom since 1982. Any plan to kill Castor, I'll lay out."

Beat.

"Lieutenant Linarite."

At least it was her turn now, for reward or --

"You're now attached to Lieutenant Tanzanite. Hematite and Obsidian are on other duties. Have goddamn fun; it's babysitting detail."

Tanzanite didn't flinch as the ******** went flying. She didn't remove her gaze from his boots – they were really nice boots - as he dressed her down. Her refusal to look at him was apparent while her cheeks grew redder by the minute with a mix of shame and outrage. There was a small bit of pride to be found in what he was saying, but it was difficult to dig through all of the shame and self-loathing to find those small, sparkling bits of praise among the insult. Unfortunately, all of that insult reeked of truth. She had been overzealous, careless, and above all foolish.

It was a mistake which, like most of her mistakes, she would not make twice.

“Yes, General-King.” The words were clipped, bitten off before any of her anger could leak into that carefully controlled tone. She rose stiffly and turned to the blue-haired Lieutenant. Tanzanite would take her punishment gracefully, if with extreme contempt, and she showed as much by offering Linarite a low bow.

“Lieutenant Linarite,” she addressed her formally, her tone cold enough to freeze the a** of Satan himself.

"I'll leave this to both of you," the General-King said shortly. "I have better ******** things to do. --

" -- And Tanzanite, make sure you dust."

And with that, they were all three blinked out of the Negaverse subspace. Charonite did not stick around, for small talk or otherwise.

Linarite stared in shock at the young woman, before she too powered down in a quick flash. Blue hair was once again shocking pink, and held back to fall in curly pigtails down her back. A massive orange sweatshirt, declaring proudly the name KANSAS dwarfed her already tiny form. The only subdued part of her dress were the dark woolen stockings tucked into massively ugly slippers.

Being short and skinny came with a price, and Audrey was almost perpetually cold in the winter months. Tonight was no exception. "What, you mean you didn't? I mean...hm..." Biting her lip to catch in the rest of her flood of questions, the girl hugged arms around herself for warmth. "Listen..uhm...I'm Audrey?" As quickly as they'd folded, arms unwrapped and a slim hand was held out, sleeve falling down over it.