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No matter how much time passed, Parker hated crossing through the parks of Destiny City late at night. That exact behavior had gotten him abducted and beaten by a collection of negaversers and senshi several weeks ago. It was the reason his arm was still in a cast, too. He itched at it with the thought, sliding his finger under the hard outer shell. Part of Parker should have felt lucky. In Destiny City, people were dying. And not sporadically. What at first appeared to be random had now become epidemic. People disappeared, bodies showed up. To survive an attack with a few cuts and a broken arm should have made him thankful.

It didn't.

That night, Parker was hurrying to the subway. He refused to cut through the parks, but instead stuck to small side streets that he had memorized. Parker lived in Destiny City all of his life and had no trouble navigating it. As per usual, he was coming back from a job on the other side of town where the wealthier families lived. Once a few of them hired him, his business boomed, each client telling another friend that he could be trusted. It was almost too much, to be honest, but Parker could not bring himself to turn down money. Even when it meant he was stuck walking home at 11:00PM.

The subway entrance was still a few streets away, but Parker kept a steady pace, messenger bag slapping against his leg. The money he made that day would be enough to pay back his medical bills from the broken arm. That thought alone brought a smile to his face, the promise of a warm bed waiting just ahead.

Parker could see the entrance to the subway up ahead, the familiar glow of the fluorescent lighting casting an eerie aura. Not quite gold, more like the shade of yellowed teeth or day old pasta. It was familiar though, and Parker did not hesitate to approach. From a distance, he thought he saw something standing near -- was it a girl?

At first, he did not stir to fear. Plenty of people used the subway. It was public transportation after all. But it was late at night, and ever since the disappearances had sprung up all over the city, people were going home earlier and earlier. Children had strict curfews, and their parents did too. Six months ago, Parker would have seen plenty of other people heading to the subway at 11:00PM.

But it wasn't six months ago.

Parker slowed, but did not stop, trying to make out the girl from thirty feet away. He remembered the purple-haired Negaverse girl and the red-headed boy. They had been in uniforms, though not the same one. The third attacker -- they called her Nova -- had been in an outfit similar to the senshi Polaris and Walkure that he had met. What was this girl wearing? And why was she hanging out by the entrance to the subway?

Being a distinctly Worst Case Scenario kind of guy, Parker could smell the unrest in the air. He suddenly wanted nothing to do with the subway, even if it meant taking the 45 minute walk back to Hillworth. From where he stood, he could see only her red hair, but it was her lounging against the wall at 11:00pm at night that bothered him. Parker stopped (casually, he thought) and pretended to check the time on his wrist.

If he walked, Hillworth was in the opposite direction, and he had all of five minutes to make that decision. He stared at his watch and tried to weigh the options.

When the girl approached him, Parker stiffened. It wasn't because she seemed to emanate bad energy (if she did, Parker did not pick up on it), and it wasn't because he thought she might be dangerous. Parker just didn't like strangers. He didn't like getting involved in other people's problems, and when this girl pulled her innocent routine, he could have given two shits. What did she expect him to do about her friend?

Pulling his messenger bag up higher on his arm, Parker glanced down to the little bow and arrow the girl held. Archery? Didn't archery stop being popular in the middle ages? It was the kind of snobby "sport" for girls that Parker hated. Only rich people had time for sports like archery. Great. "It's 11:07. Call the police if you are worried about your friend," he said, no trace of sympathy in his voice. "They can help you." In fact, it was their job to help this girl. Not Parker's. He wanted nothing to do with it.

Stepping around her, Parker made his way to the subway entrance. He did not plan to stick around to see if the girl actually bothered to take his advice. It wasn't his problem. Parker reached the top of the stairs and began to walk slowly down them, careful to keep his cast close to his body so he did not whack it against the cement walls of the subway entrance.

Parker did not want to be manhandled by a strange girl. Well. Not this girl. He jerked to a halt when she grabbed his arm much harder than he expected. When her hand darted toward his chest, Parker lifted his hand and swung to knock it away. "Hey!" he shouted, stumbling backward toward the exit. "Get away from me." The girl was behaving oddly, but Parker had no idea what a starseed was, nor the implications of what having a stranger with a weapon try to reach at your chest might mean.

Was she hitting on him?

Stepping backward, Parker sneered. "I'm not interested," he said, still not entirely understanding the situation. When he had last been attacked, a psycho beat the s**t out of him first and asked questions... never. The boy never thought that other Negaverse agents might have alternative strategies. In fact, he still had no idea this stranger was anything other than some weird horny girl trying to lure men to her. "No one will miss him," she had said. Oh, did she think that was some great pick-up line? Pfft.

Sassolite was doing little to convince Parker that she was not just some weirdo looking for a boy to claim for the night. "Yeah, I'm going need you to back off of me and whatever I have in me," he said, taking long strides away from her. His eyes flickered across his surroundings. There was no one in sight, and Parker was 99% sure that he was about to be an unwilling victim of some bizarre sukkubus. Sure, he wasn't really the type to attract every girl in the world, but this was the kind of girl who hung out at subway entrances and hit on random passerby.

Wait -- was she a prostitute?

All of those delusions of overly-aggressive prostitute were washed away when the red-haired girl started spouting crazy talk. Over sexualized women were one thing. A street-lurking crazy? They were the kind to whip out a knife. "I don't have this magical starseed you are looking for, but I saw a fairy fly by not more than one minute ago carrying it. She went that way." He pointed, nodding as if he were talking to a three-year-old. "If you run, you could still catch her." Yeah, he could play along -- if only to get this deranged woman to leave him be. If he pretended to go along with this make believe nonsense, then maybe her warped mind would believe him. Maybe she would go chase the mythical fairy.

One could only hope.

(( I'm not sure if she actually slapped him, or if you were just saying that she intended to slap him in her head. If my interpretation is wrong, please let me know, and I will edit this post accordingly! ^^ ))


What was this girl's issue?

Being crazy was semi-excusable, but this girl was issuing a lot of thinly veiled death threats for the average street crazy. The girl didn't look like the average one either. Parker took another step backward. "I said stay away from me," he said again, voice low and uncertain. He was trying to put the pieces together in his head, but none of this was adding up. Despite his previous attack, Parker did not go around believing that every weirdo was a Negaverse agent. The last ones that he had met attacked him first. The strange redhead was just being menacing. And people menaced in Parker's direction all the time, though mostly at Hillworth.

Despite her overall demeanor, Parker did not think it to be anything other than your average unpleasant encounter with someone who spends the majority of their time on the streets. But he was over it. "I'm not going to hit some crazy person," he said, narrowing his eyes as he continued to backpedal. Parker had no intention of turning his back on her unless there was a little distance between them first. "Go to the shelter. They'll give you food and a bed and starseeds, or whatever." With that, Parker spun on his heel and attempted to make a quick retreat in the opposite direction.

The redhead was quick and stronger than expected -- just like the last Negaverse girl. At least this one wasn't wearing stilettos. Actually... Parker hadn't checked. Oh damnit, please don't let her be wearing stilettos! He still had a scar from where the purple-haired girl wielding jumper cables had speared his shoulder with one.

Parker tried to shrug out of his jacket, but then the girl turned him around and slapped him. OUCH. It hurt and it was degrading. Terrible. Then her fingers reached out, and Parker felt a coolness seep into his chest. No... He had seen the strange evil senshi do that. She reached in and pulled something out. Whatever was in his chest, he wanted it to stay there.

Without thinking, Parker pulled his knee up as hard as he could, essentially kneeing the redhead in the crotch. His hands reached blindly forward, scratching at whatever he could. "NO!" he shouted. It wasn't just at her; it was at the world. Parker refused to end this way. He had escaped it once.

Maybe he could do it again?

Of course, last time, others showed up to act as distractions. In this empty stretch, there were no others, no one to save him. Parker only had himself to rely on now. At least he was used to that.

It had been a good night for Magellan. Not only had she managed to discover and defeat a youma, but she was sporting only minimal injuries from the encounter, which could obviously only mean that she was getting better. It wasn't as powerful as some youma that she had faced, sure, but she'd take any victory these days. The only way she was going to get better was by gaining experience, right?

So she hurried along the dimly lit streets, rubbing her gloved hands together for warmth as she went. This whole senshi thing was all well and good, but it was damn chilly to be running around the city in a skirt in winter. She would just be glad for summertime, because it would make fighting easier... or something.

Whatever.

She almost turned away from the subway, mostly because she tried to avoid well-lit places if at all possible. It wasn't like the subway was particularly active at this time of night, but you never knew. The last thing Magellan wanted was some overzealous citizen attacking her, as that would force her to either kick their a** or run away, and neither option appealed to her. She was a good guy, so she shouldn't have to do either, but... ugh.

She was pushing her hair back from her face when she heard sounds of a struggle, someone screaming NO!, and her expression darkened. Of course. Of course someone was getting in trouble.

"This had better be good," she breathed, sprinting toward the (ugh) reasonably well-lit subway station. It didn't take her long to see the two people struggling, and she dove right in, grabbing a fistful of gorgeous red hair and yanking back on it as hard as she could.

"Listen, b***h-" And in a moment, all the wind left her, the adrenaline that had begun to pump through her at the prospect of a battle abandoning her all at once. That guy - the - PARKER?

Fingers still tangled in the girl's, hair, she shook herslef mentally, head reeling. Parker was getting in trouble, and... Holy s**t, this had to be someone from the Negaverse, and she was just standing there, gripping her hair as tightly as she could.

Without thinking, she shouted, "Run!" to Parker, well aware that she was entirely open for attack. It was different this time, though -- had it been anyone else, Magellan would have been able to ignore them, focus on the fight at hand. But this wasn't anyone else. This was Parker.