|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 1:59 am
They always said that death should be quick, easy and painless. When Kaatje van der Weydin attended the funeral of Adelaide Rijnder, her body showed every moment of the battle that had taken her life. The Mr. and Mrs. Rijnder were stunned at the turnout; Adelaide had, apparently, been quite the quiet little nerd. Kaatje wouldn't have guessed. Her memory of Cadet Rota from the moments before her death made her out to be... well... a fighter. Like all of the Blood Moon.
The image of that body, though, stuck in Gunn's head as no other did. She disposed of bodies in her own way, doing the work of Special Forces as commanded by Ares--destroy the evidence of Tanzanite's work. Hide the criminalization of Ares and wait, wait for the day they'd avenge all these lives and Rota--Adelaide--a senshi who had really deserved better than a glass vial to the eye. Bismuthite, she thought as she struck matches and dropped them on a civilian corpse she'd covered in oil, was going to die. It was going to be slow and painful, as befitted his crimes... Gunn would do it herself.
"--Propagation," she finished, flicking her fingers towards the fire. It exploded upwards with a faint roar, and crackled. What would Zephyr say, seeing her burning a civilian corpse? Europa?
...who cared. She didn't. Then a sound behind her caught her attention, interrupted the violence of her thoughts, and Gunn turned. The figure was shrouded in shadows, and she peered a bit closer. "Negaverser, right? Come to finish the job? Too late. She bled to death. 'Fraid the starseed's already gone."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 9:28 pm
It had been happening for weeks now. Dozens of bodies, each with Ares name carefully carved across their sternum, never made it into the papers. Their families were never shown grieving on the nightly news, where they reported yet another in a series of killings. The name came up here and there, when on rare occasion the party responsible missed one or two along the way. However, most had been reduced to ash, and the headline stories had become nothing more than brief mentions in the paper's crime log.
It was, well... infuriating.
The woman who had corrupted the boy that occupied Sailor Gunn's thoughts had been waiting for hours for the senshi to catch up to her, leaning against the brick wall that cut the alley off. It had been Sailor Requiem who had given her Gunn's name, and it didn't take long to get information from the rest of the Negaverse. Once she found out, well... it wasn't hard to put two and two together to realize who had been leaving ashes instead of corpses in Tanzanite's wake.
Now, it was time to send a message to Ares about letting her lackeys do her dirty work.
“I suppose you could say that,” her two-tone voice floated over the crackling flames. A single step carried her forward, pale features suddenly illuminated by the flames, “But for you, Sailor Gunn?” Her laughter was mirthless, and it bounced off of the brick and evaporated into a night just as cold as her voice, “Tanzanite will be just fine.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 11:51 pm
Gunn missed fighting youma; most of her patrol time was now concerned with exactly this, the detail of the Special Forces. She did not miss fighting monsters that were half-woman and half-youma, mostly because their brush in Elysion had been just that, a brush--just one senshi thrown into the other, really. And a couple other things but mostly just a thrown Albali.
She really did think the senshi of echoes needed to work out more.
Still, Ares had warned her of Tanzanite. The warnings hadn't been pretty, and Gunn was just stupid enough to believe that this wasn't going to end badly. "You're the one who leapt to defend Rota's murderer," she said after a moment, and then she shrugged. All the other things that Tanzanite had done, Gunn figured she'd remember. That was probably negligible to a monster like this. "Are you done with all this name-carving bullshit? I'd like to get back to doing more than cleaning up your temper tantrums." Bravado: Gunn's number one response to fight or flight. She'd fight alright, but the words pulsing in the back of her head with her heartbeat were run run run.
Unfortunately, this was not the general modus operandi of the Blood Moon Court. Gunn was nowhere near as experienced as Tanzanite, but she certainly looked ready enough to take the General on if she had to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2011 12:57 pm
Tanzanite wasn't certain who was doing it, but there must have been someone slipping some Crazy Juice into whatever beverage these senshi served at their Sunday meetings. Whoever or whatever was responsible, she had faced half a dozen senshi in the past week who had stood tall and proud and talked some nonsense down to her. Nemesis, Lyra, and now Sailor Gunn. They all stood proudly, members of the senshi's most combative court, and spewed whatever insults came to their mind.
Apparently Ares hadn't yet taught them the valuable lesson of running away.
While Gunn talked, Tanzanite was distracted by deciding where she'd leave the bite mark this time. Or if she'd even be leaving this one alive. The words rolled off of her like water on wax paper, and Tanzanite could only smile at the girl's boldness.
If nothing else, she had to give the Blood Moon Court some credit for bravery. Even if they simultaneously lost points for being reckless with their lives.
“Tsk,” Tanzanite clicked her tongue as she rolled the dead woman's starseed around in her palm, “I'm the one who corrupted Rota's liberator,” Tanzanite said, pride evident in her tone. Bismuthite had been, thus far, an exemplary Lieutenant. His defeat of a Blood Moon senshi had just been an added perk, “And I can assure you, any senshi that targets him will only earn my attention.
Her snide remark made Tanzanite grin widely, “Oh, Gunn,” the General laughed, “I've not yet begun to take my vengeance upon your little court.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 1:16 pm
Liberator? Liberator, what, did this--Gunn didn't even know words for what she thought of Tanzanite--Rota wasn't liberated. Rota was murdered. "Liberated. Is that what's going to happen to Bismuthite when I get ahold of him?" Sure, she'd liberate the little monster. From life, living, everything. For the civilians he'd kill and for Rota--Adelaide--she'd string the little b*****d's intestines up and burn them while he watched.
A thrill of fear ran down Gunn's spine. She forced it to the back of her mind, the stance that had momentarily weakened firming. The starseed was of no consequence anymore; the woman's body was little more than brittle bones and ash. She wasn't afraid of Tanzanite. It was a mantra in the back of her head: she wasn't afraid. If she said it often enough, it'd become true. Right? ...
Right.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 7:41 pm
Tanzanite threw her head back and laughed aloud, a gesture of disrespect if ever there was one. She seemed largely unphased by the senshi's threat, though her brows did narrow as the laughter tapered down into a low sigh of amusement.
“No, Sailor Gunn,” Tanzanite spoke softly as she took a step towards the senshi, “When you lay a hand on Lieutenant Bismuthite, I will lay a hand on you. Guess which one?”
With a flick of her wrist, the starseed vanished into the center of her palm, energy signature spiking. An open hand thrust out towards Gunn, claws surging forward like rapidly extending lances. They grew from her fingertips with lightning speed, trying to skewer the senshi and pin her to the alley wall.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:39 pm
The energy signature's spike was something that startled Gunn. She didn't know that Negaversers could eat starseeds; her encounters were mainly youma. Youma or cleanup patrol or getting chased by cops, and she'd never hoped so hard for an interruption of the legal kind. This shock was what saved her from being completely pinned; in her shock, she'd fallen back a few steps and to the ground. What happened, instead of being completely pinned, was one claw slipped right through the bones in the palm of her hand. Another scraped the top of her skull, drawing blood. It was alarmingly apparent against the orange of her hair, a deep red that made the orange more like flames.
No more banter, now; this was a fight, and if she'd learned anything it was that talk wasted valuable air. There was a short scream--more shock, because the pain hadn't quite sunk in. The look on her face was more quizzical than frightened. More of a 'did that just happen' than anything else: But Gunn's reaction was quick, one heeled foot kicking upward from her place on the ground, trying to break the claw.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:10 pm
Which Chronos' tiara had sliced cleanly through that arm, it was highly resistant to physical attacks. Magic had stripped it nearly to the bone, but knives and bats and a plethora of other physical attempts had done little more than agitated the General to whom it was attached. The claw, though, was thinner than the rest of the arm, and it responded to the kick with a soft crack that drew an angered snarl from the woman. A flick of her wrist pulled the claws back, her human hand wrenching the bone back into place with a wince.
“You are wasting your energy, Sailor Gunn,” Tanzanite said, as she felt the youma draw from her own energy, knitting the bone in a way that would not have worked had the damage been pure magic, “You're weak. Like the rest of them. If it's of any consolation, I have no intentions of killing you, so sit down and take your beating like a smart girl.”
Teleportation brought her quickly to Gunn's side, an armored boot aiming a swift, hard kick at the girl's rib cage.
“If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead by now.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:30 pm
Gunn was examining the hole in her hand, pulling off the glove to see the gape in the light from the burning body. It looked bad, but maybe that was just the light? It was really poor and flickering, not exactly the kind of light she'd need to give her palm a good inspection--she shuddered, because she thought she could see--
She looked over at the general from her place crouched on the ground. Weak? Sure, some of the Cadets, but not Gunn--she straightened up, tucking her right hand into as much of a fist as she could manage.
Tanzanite disappeared, and a moment later Gunn crashed to the ground. What the ********? What the <********> even was that--god, it ******** hurt to breathe--"Yeah, because you've been--" God, she couldn't even catch a good enough breath to insult Tanzanite. Not while clawing to stand up, her arms shaking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:28 pm
Tanzanite watched the girl stand, any sympathy or mercy absent from her cold grey eyes. Some might have felt sorry for the girl as she clawed her way up the wall, and while Tanzanite felt a twinge of respect with each bloody handprint the girl left on the brick, she felt no pity. Like the rest of the Blood Moon Court – hell, like the rest of the senshi – Gunn had chosen this fate each and every time she had henshined up.
“I admire your tenacity, Sailor Gunn, but there comes a time when a warrior must admit she is outmatched. You're wasting precious energy trying to fight an opponent you can not – and never will be able to – defeat.”
It was not arrogance that filled Tanzanite's voice, but simple confidence. She was stronger. She was faster. Hell, she was part of the Negaverse, and for Tanzanite that just meant she had a reason to be fighting. One that was not going to end in the slavery of all mankind. For her, that alone would have been enough to win the fight.
The black hand lashed out, claws wrapping around the girl's pale skin. Sharp teeth clamped down, like dozens of thick needles pressing in until they hit the bone. Like Lyra and Ares before her, Gunn was thus marked for death by the General who fully intended to one day deliver on those promises.
“Do not think for a moment that I spare your life out of mercy. You're a messenger, and when your usefulness to me has run out? You will join Sailor Rota in hell.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
