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Parker was in charge of quarters and had been since their first visit. He watched Tate kick the machine until the toe of her shoe nearly split before finally stepping into to finesse it. Kind of like Fonzi with the jukebox.

When she barked the order, Parker hopped off of the dryer he was sitting on and set his book down on top of it. It was The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera -- fiction, for a change, even if it was packed with philosophy and political theory. He usually burned through books, but given his new late night job, Parker had less and less time for himself. He used to stay up late reading in bed. Now he stayed up late destroying monsters into a fine dust and saving the civilians.

An ego. He had it.

Snatching the bill from Tate, he shoved a thumb through his belt loop and made for the door. The change machine was in the lobby, but Parker was thirsty. "I think I'm going to hop next door for a soda. You want anything?" The cycle had more time on it anyway. He didn't need to come right back.

Parker went to the convenience store first, grabbing a Sobe for himself and the nasty black cherry mess for Tate. He paid the clerk with Tate's bill, no use risking losing a bigger bill to the coin machine if it was possible.

By the time he got back to the lobby, the water had already leaked out, but he hadn't noticed. Setting the two drinks on top of the machine, he popped the first bill into the machine. It came back out. He pushed it back in. It came back out. He pushed it back in.

The loud slam of change falling into the metal coin catch drown out the first crack from the other room. Parker struggled to get them quarters free, stuffing them into his pocket. One lone quarter rolled away. "s**t," he said, chasing after it.

It came to a stop just at the entrance to the laundry room, trapped in a puddle of water. "What the...?" Parker barely had time to register the oddity when the wall split, and the distinct sound of something ripping out like the Chestburster from Alien filled the small laundromat. <********. s**t. b***h. a**. Tits. Damn.

He heard Tate hit the floor, and as much as he would love to believe it was just a plumbing problem, Parker had been in Destiny City long enough to know better. Being a senshi helped. Being a pessimist helped more.

A hand darted into his pocket for his henshin pen, and within moments, Sailor Taranis was bursting into the room in a cloud of glowing air.

Erm. Now what?

He narrowed his eyes. "Get away from it... civilian!" Right... helpful.

The fact that Tate was holding on to his book made Sailor Taranis almost smile. The fact that she was getting lippy with him when he was trying to save her was not.

The ground was wet, and Taranis's heavy boots gave away his location. The monster that hung halfway in and halfway out of the wall was quick enough to notice it. Apparently, senshi starseeds taste a little better than civilians because the monster moved its ooze in his direction. A ball of mottled black mess came flying at Taranis, and he dodge-rolled out of the way. The ball sailed past his head and shattered the large front window.

Taranis was on his feet and moving toward Tate. The monster threw again, and Taranis ducked again. Hm. Maybe going toward Tate was a bad idea. It would only draw the monster to her.

Straightening up, Sailor Taranis squared his hands over his tiara and shouted, "Taranis Sand Blast!" The laundry monster might be big and icky, but at least it was slow. His hands swooped around him as the spinning ball formed. Taranis could see the monster gearing up for another throw.

He launched his sand, the monster launched its ooze. The two connected, but instead of bursting outward, his sand blast glued itself to the stickiness and went flying back toward the youma, connecting with what Taranis assumed was its torso region.

"TA--YOU. YOU GIRL." Taranis pointed at her. "Get out of here!"

It would take some time before he could launch another sand blast. It seemed like the first one had hurt the youma, but it also appeared to have really pissed it off. The youma let out a bellow, and electricity filled the air.

Slowly, Parker's shaggy hair lifted up as if someone had been rubbing a balloon on his head.

The sludgey monster was one of the most disgusting Taranis had faced in his fledgling senshi career. He preferred the ones that seemed like bizarre animals. At least then they were mildly familiar.

The youma groaned, slapping an oily hand on either side of the exposed crack. Bright eyes flickered over to Tate. "I know it doesn't conduct. I know that," he said, sharply. "Sand is my thing." He was annoyed, but not at her. Just the situation. He had done plenty of Google searches upon learning his power sphere was sand. He knew many random, useless facts about it. But what could he do with that information? Experience told him he wouldn't be able to summon enough sand to smother the creature.

Tate was moving toward the door. The youma made a gurgling sound, and Taranis realized too late that it was aiming itself at her. "DOWN!" he shouted, leaping over a line of washers. The ooze was in the air, and Taranis only made it to Tate in enough time for both of them to be hit, even if he took the brunt of it. The force knocked him to the ground, and he took Tate with him, cursing.

Ooze coated Sailor Taranis's arm. The smell was absolutely putrid, like rotted meat that had marinated in motor oil. He groaned when he pushed himself back up to his arms and off of Tate. She wasn't moving. "Tate," he said, grabbing her jaw. She didn't react. "Tate, come on." Taranis shook her, and again she didn't move. <********.

One of the first non-senshi skills that he had learned after finding out that he was Sailor Taranis was how to check a pulse. With starseeds being snatched, it was important to know who was dead and who was unconscious. Taranis pressed two fingers to Tate's throat. There was a pulse, a strong one. This was just a little black-out, good. There was no time to fret over it then; there was still a youma that needed to be dusted.

When Taranis got to his feet from behind the row of washers, he saw that the youma was nearly out of its hidey-hole. It was much smaller than he expected and twice as ugly. It was like the Blob had sex with a can of motor oil, and this was the result. The youma moved slowly and left an inky trail.

Where the sand blast had hit it the first time, all of the sand had stuck in a grainy jacket. Most of it appeared to have been sucked into the thing's body. Grains of sand were suspended like fruit in a jello mold, and though Taranis couldn't quite explain why, this seemed to be slowly killing the thing.

It looked at Taranis (he thought... it was hard to tell) and summoned up another ooze ball. This time, the Senshi of Sand was ready. He moved out of the way, and it made contact with a dryer. Before the thing could reload, Sailor Taranis swung his hands into their offensive position and said, "Taranis Sand Blast!" The ball appeared, spun, and was thrown.

The laundry youma was much too slow to avoid it. It took the full force of the hit, let out a gurgling squeal, and then dissolved into a pile of dust. Taranis's moment of triumph was short-lived. He hopped back over to Tate. s**t, what to do? He needed to call for help, but he couldn't be in fuku when the cops arrived.

Slipping behind a dryer, Taranis transformed back into Parker. He stooped to his knees beside Tate, took out his cellphone, and called the police. He could just tell her he heard the commotion from next door and came back just in time to see the exceptionally masculine and life-saving senshi leaving, right? Totally believable.

A 911 operator answered the phone. Parker began to relate the details of the incident: "Yes, there's been a monster attack at A1 Laundry in East Heights. A senshi killed the creature -- yes, the senshi helped. What do you mean did it unleash the creature? NO. The senshi SAVED -- look, I'm not debating this with you. There is an unconscious girl, okay? Does that matter to you?" He rattled off the address and promised to stay on the line, all the while watching Tate.

s**t, he'd been the reason she was unconscious. He landed on her too hard. Senshi strength was still new to him. It wasn't like him to apologize, but Tate was unconscious. Parker whispered a near silent, "I'm sorry..." and then waited patiently for the police to arrive.