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Throughout the night, the various patrol shifts of the Blood Moon Court made their rounds and then came back to check in with the appointed Patrol Captain for the night. On this particular evening, Super Sailor Ares was working, clipboard in hand. She stood in a wide storm pipe beneath a busy overpass, her silver boots two inches deep in mud. It was not the ideal location, but it did its job.

The time was almost three in the morning. Ares was waiting on the last group to come back. It should be in about twenty minutes. If anyone was more than ten minutes later, an alert went out. The Senshi of Smoke wasn't worried though. There was still time.

To pass the silent minutes, Ares had drawn up some battle formations on the sheet of paper beneath her roster. The BMC had gone up against Negas in three major battles now. They had lost one cadet, and since that loss, they had gotten better. Ares was proud of that progress, but she knew that they would need more. For her part, the Senshi of Smoke planned to have every possible escape scenario imaginable written up and ready to be drilled into the heads of their faction.

Never could be too careful.

Before Ares saw Requiem, she smelled her. An acrid bite on the wind, and the unmistakable copper warmth of blood tickling her nose. She set her clipboard down on the cement ledge beside her, reaching instead for the torch that was holstered at her side. She prepared to attack whatever was coming, but then stopped suddenly.

The dim aura of light energy read senshi all over it.

When the Senshi of Burials rounded the corner, Ares felt her eyes widen. The girl looked positively wrecked, and she was murmuring fast and frantic. The Senshi of Smoke caught most of it, but she understood nothing. Then her eyes fell to the wound on Requiem's breast. It was a bite mark etched in black, and Ares had one exactly like it hidden beneath her bracer -- a gift from General Tanzanite.

An arm shot out and pulled Requiem into the dank storm tunnel and out of sight. "Were you followed?" she said harshly. Gray eyes closed to try to focus on any dark energy nearby, but she felt nothing, not even a blip.

Dance studio. Interesting. Ares had fought her own battle with Tanzanite there. Was this a message for her? Had Tanzanite received the gift of a dead Nega body with her name carved in it and decided to strike back? Ares had expected it. She just hadn't expected the General to go after Requiem.

Ares placed both hands on Requiem's shoulders and forced her to meet her eye. "Tanzanite," she said. "Tanzanite did this." She drew in a breath. "Cadet Requiem, it is okay. I need you to calm down so that you can speak clearly with me. If this is a situation that could affect our entire faction, then I need to know." The young girl had given something away, had she? She was only a cadet so her knowledge was limited, but still... it could be dangerous.

"I need to know what you said. And what she said to you."

Ares could feel her heart slow down, each beat a labored and strenuous process. Of course Requiem protected her family. The Senshi of Burial felt guilty for bringing torture on her parents? Ares felt the same. She had brought pain on her family, on the Blood Moon Court. She knew by the location, by the increased reaction from Tanzanite, that this violence against Requiem and her family was tied to Ares herself. She had taunted the lion, and now she was suffering its bite.

But not her. Requiem. Requiem was suffering now, just as Rota had. It was war. This was a necessary loss, but it still hurt her. The pain was as real and immediate as a broken bone in her chest.

The senshi let her eyes fall to the ground. It had already grown red with the oozing blood from Requiem's face. There were many questions to be asked, many more details to be ironed out. Requiem had a long road ahead of her, but the time was not now. Even Ares in all her hardness understood that.

"Requiem," she said, finding the girl's eyes. "You did what you had to do. Tanzanite is a monster."

The shorter senshi still cried. Ares wished that Birhan Isat was here, or Laocoon. Even Gaia, Gunn too -- Zirconia. Any of them would be better at this than she was. Ares was all strategy. She relied heavily on the rest of the ISS for team morale and comrade communication. She was more comfortable dealing out punishment than comfort.

Slowly, Ares let her hands fall away. She gripped her wrist and unclasped the metal bracer. There, long healed, with a black crescent moon -- a bite mark. She held it out for Requiem to see. "It could have been any of us. She can reach any of us." Ares turned her wrist so that it caught the moonlight. The wound had already begun to fade into a scar, but it was black and twisted.

She pulled her arm back and put the bracer back on, straightening up. Out of tragedy, the Blood Moon Court would find victory. Ares would accept nothing less. Her head was already ticking with strategy, the threads of plan coming together little by little. Again, she reached out to touch Requiem's shoulder. "We were born to be victorious, Requiem. I promise you, cadet -- I will deliver you your vengeance." And with it, Ares would get her vengeance too.

The cadet seemed a little less upset, and Ares let out a sigh of relief. See! She could totally be comforting. Totally.

For her part, the Senshi of Smoke smiled to hear Requiem pleased at the thought of revenge. That was what Ares wanted. She needed her faction to feel the blood in their mouths. They needed to seek death with every fiber of their being. Even with a beaten face and spirit, Requiem saw that. Ares could feel the pride filling her chest. She remembered how frail the Senshi of Burials had once been. But now? Now, she was speaking of revenge, even as the blood poured down her chin.

Ares drew the girl closer. "We will call a meeting with the Sanctum," she said. "Requiem, we will heal you, but I must ask that you keep your mind sharp. There are more questions we will need answered." One arm curled across the girl's shoulders. "Soon, Tanzanite will kneel before you. You will watch her suffer as she has made you suffer." Without asking, Ares scooped her other arm behind the senshi. She picked the girl up, cradling her in her arms.

"For now, I want you to be calm. Let us take care of you." There was a mirror propped up against the side of the tunnel. Ares had more or less bought out the full-length mirrors in every major department store in the area. She carried Requiem to it. "We are your family. With us, you are safe. Through us, you will taste victory."

With that, Ares stepped through the mirror.