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Nemesis was on the hunt (these days she wondered if she ever WASN’T on the prowl for Negaversers and youma alike). She had powered up earlier in the evening, waiting for some power source to reach her, tell her which direction to head in and who’s a** to kick. Needless to say, Nemesis’ confidence level knew no boundaries. She had been doing well in her previous scuffles. She had kicked another senshi’s a** and had humiliated her completely, and she had held her own against some Negaversers. All in all, it had been a good few nights. Nemesis was at the top of her game, and from then on she imagined she would only be able to get better.

She stepped through the alleyways, long ago having learned that walking down the middle of the street wasn’t the brightest of ideas. The police still did not like to play nice with senshi, and Nemesis didn’t want to be running away from them when she had other things to do - like killing Negaversers (she had yet to actually kill one, but it was probably the next step she should take.) She was yet to sense any youma, but at this time of night they were bound to come crawling out of the depths, begging to be put out of their misery by an aptly-placed senshi. It was Nemesis duty to save them! …Save them by killing them, that is.

Turning around a corner, she heard the faintest sound of bells ringing. The tone struck at her with familiarity, though she couldn’t quite place it. Her eyes narrowed, trying to discern where the sound was coming from. It wasn’t all that hard for her to see him. And by ******** god, it really was him again. The little b*****d had run from her the last time! While she was in half a mind to do something about him now, but it was probably better to wait and see what he was up to.. So, for now she trailed behind him a few yards back. She stuck close to the buildings, doing her best to remain silent. If he noticed her, well, no problem, she’d just kick his a**.


Spinel was not aware he was being hunted; in fact, he was only aware of the fact that he, himself, was hunting. The girl in front of him had headphones on, her hands in the pocket of a black jacket. Mature, he acknowledged, intelligent and pretty. Certainly a worthwhile catch, even if she wasn't exactly a senshi starseed. He'd like to get his hands on one of those one day, just to hand it over to the Queen. To prove his worth, as it were; to prove that he was loyal to Beryl of the Dark Kingdom.

If he'd known there was a senshi behind him, doubtless he would have turned to attack her; instead, he simply dropped down to approach the girl in front of him, a hand held out, very genteel and calm. She turned towards him, of course; he was an attractive man, and her dark eyes held interest. Spinel almost pitied her.

Not enough to save her. She was shaking her head at his offer to walk her home--after all, the streets were dangerous, and she was alone on them after dark--when he simply shoved his hand in her chest and yanked. The brunette barely had time to scream, and then he was tucking away the brilliantly glittering starseed.

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Had she gotten a little distracted by another power source in the distance (weaker, granted, but it was enough to catch her attention for a few seconds). It seemed that in that amount of time Spinel had moved in for the kill. ******** she was slacking! s**t s**t s**t, she was so ******** dead. Well, she wasn't dead, but that poor girl was doomed to be. Maybe there was a lesson in this, but she had to act now, just in case she could get that starseed back for the poor girl. <******** ********, this was just not her day. "Decay of breath!" Nemesis had skipped the introductions, instead getting right down to the nitty gritty and impending battle. She thrust her arms out in front of her, hoping the paralysis set in quickly. If she couldn't save the girl, she was certainly going to avenge the loss of her star seed. It was the least Nemesis could do for... uh... letting this happen to her.

"Give her her goddamned starseed back, or in the name of Nemesis, I will break you apart, piece by piece!" Okay, it was never too late to introduce herself. She wasn't sure she had particularly gotten the chance to the last time they battled. She was making up for it now, and quickly moving into action. She rushed the corrupted senshi, balling her hand into a fist to aim a punch at his face.


Spinel was very, very surprised to hear someone clattering down nearby. Had he been caught? The starseed still in hand, he turned to peer into the darkness--

s**t. It was the loud senshi from the night after Halloween. And he could already feel the paralysis setting in, locking his fingers around the starseed, which wasn't good--wasn't good at all. He could trigger the teleportation at any time but he had to hide the body of the girl. She'd introduced herself--Tate Konstantin?--and he'd had a vague idea of actually ending her life before throwing her into the bay with the rest of his victims. Simply as a manner of mercy. But at this rate, he'd have to throw himself in with her--after the last fight, he knew that he'd not have the time nor the power to get himself free from that paralysis in time to survive himself.

Damnit! At least the paralysis wasn't spreading as fast as he remembered; he managed to throw up a decent block in time to prevent any severe damage to his face. "Nemesis, so good to see you again! I'd love to give her starseed back but as you can tell, I can't even open my fingers, so I'm afraid you're a bit out of luck!"

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"I'll wrench it from your fingers, and if I'm lucky maybe they'll break!" She was frustrated that he had managed to defend himself against her punch, but her focus now was on retrieving that starseed. If she could just get it back, and somehow stick it back in the girl's chest, she could run off before Spinel managed to hurt her. It was a cowardly plan, but it was the only one she could think of to save the girl's life. This was the only plan that had even the slightest of chances of doing the civilian any good. If she couldn't do this, she'd have to resort to getting revenge for the loss of the girl's life.

"Give it up, cockbite!" she growled, her hand lashing out to grab Spinel's wrist, to try and pry the starseed out from behind his fingers. She had never been in this sort of situation, with the starseed in her grasp, bruising against her fingertips. Nemesis had always come in before the act, or even after the act, but never during it. She had no idea if the girl could be saved now, but she was sure as hell going to try. "******** hell, give it over!"


Paralysis. Damnit, damnit all to hell, he could feel it spreading up his arms. He wasn't even going to bother trying to move--the senshi had to come to him to get the civilian's starseed. Attempts to shake out his wrists, get a few more seconds of mobility, were met with very little success. "Damnit," he hissed through clenched teeth. But he could get to his bells; it was awkward, with the senshi tugging on his other wrist and the paralysis making it difficult to hold his stance, but he managed to wrap freezing fingers around the mahogany handle.

"It's mine," he said, "try not to be so terribly vulgar, it's incredibly vexing!" She yanked again, and this time he did lose his balance, toppling forward. Her nails were working under his fingertips--and oh, he'd be so pissed if she did break his fingers. For now, though, the starseed was safe, and he just had to ring the bell one more time…

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"Don't you ever ******** think that's ******** WHY I'm 'so terribly vulgar'?" she asked, pulling on his fingers again when she felt them give way. Soon they be trapped in a full paralysis, and Nemesis had to get a hold of that starseed. A young civilian's life depended on Nemesis getting it back. She hardly knew the girl, but she felt at fault for letting this happen to begin with. The civilian was her responsibility, and Nemesis would not fail in this. She had to win!

"s**t, stay up and give me the god-be-damned starseed!" Spinel was beginning to topple over, and Nemesis' hands lashed out to push him back. If he was going to fall, like hell she'd let him fall on top of her. If he wasn't going to give the starseed up, she would force it out of his hands. Raising a fist, she aimed a punch at his face, figuring that her best hope was to beat him down now and then wrench the starseed from his immobile fingers.


s**t, no. He couldn't move to dodge the punch; his head snapped back, effectively reversing his momentum. Later, he'd be humiliated--right now, he was pissed, because the change in direction allowed her fingers to slip under his, around the starseed--just in time for him to finally manage to move the bell enough to ring it the third time. She was thrown back, back, back--and the starseed with her.

"Damnit!" No way to pursue, no way to win--he could take the civilian with him, rob her of that at least, but even that--he could barely move, and either way the damn senshi had won. He could taste defeat--or maybe that was just blood. Maybe. Damnit!

He vanished with a pop, leaving Nemesis alone with the civilian's corpse.

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With satisfaction she felt her fist make contact with her face, and though the echo of her punch shook her arm, the small pain was worth it. Spinel was falling over, and with how she was trying to wrench the starseed from his fingers, she was inevitably falling with him... that was until she heard the indistinct ring of a bell. Her fingers had just lighted upon the trapped starseed, curling around the small object as she felt herself thrown back hard by an invisible force. The senshi was sent flying back down onto the pavement, the starseed now in her hand.

By the time she had managed to get back onto her feet, her opponent was gone. "COWARD!" she cried out, though she really didn't want to incite the corrupted senshi into coming back. Nemesis doubted that he could actually hear her anyways. It was a victory, an undeniable victory. The starseed was warm again her palm, still thriving, and that was enough for her. She had gotten back what she had almost lost.

Walking back to the civilian, she knelt down on the cold cement of the sidewalk, gingerly returning to the girl what had been stolen from her. The starseed found its place back inside of the girl's chest, and Nemesis released a sigh of relief. It was done, thank god.