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"You're leaving your back completely open," said a voice in disgust.

Standing only a few feet behind Fluorite was a large tomcat. He'd seen better days, was no doubt the first opinion others had of him. One ear torn, one eye missing - those was the obvious things. But people who knew how to look would also notice that his coat was glossy and well groomed, and he had the sleekness of a well fed yet well exercised cat. He also possessed an orange coat with black stripes - the markings of a tiger, an expensive breed of housecat. Not the stray his scars made him seem.

There was also, of course, the fact that he was talking which made it obvious he wasn't your run-of-the-mill kitty.

"You must be prety new to this, huh," he said. It wasn't a question. Though if it turned out he was wrong, he would be less than impressed. "What if I were a senshi? You crouching there with your back to the alley entrance. Open target! Sheesh."

Masahiro rolled his one eye. In a graceful arc, he leapt from the ground to the lid of a nearby trashcan. It afforded him a better view of the victim and Fluorite's actions.

"Well, carry on," he said, waving one paw. Might as well see what else she was doing wrong.

"Y'know, if you want introductions, you could introduce yourself first," Masahiro pointed out, one ear flattening. Rude, but he supposed she had just been startled after all. At least she'd managed to keep hold of the energy she'd leeched. For that, he let her have his name. "Masahiro. Hiro, if that's easier for you."

It beat what could happen if it didn't give out his name. Mister Kitty, Fluffy, Stripey, Tigger... There was no end to the amount of horrible 'cat' names he could be given if he didn't provide his own first. And then the Generals and above got upset if he scratched up their Lieutenants for the insult. Hmph.

He wondered just what the new recruits were being taught these days if they didn't even know to keep their backs to walls when distracted with energy gathering. "Yes," he agreed, expression no doubt revealing his thoughts. "Unlike battle or starseed retrieval, gathering energy takes time and a lot of focus," at least at this base level. "You don't want to be attacked while all your attention is on the victim, right?"

He paused. A pointed stare said she'd better not disgree on that.

"So you want to be facing the most likely direction of an attack - in this case, where the alley meets the street. If someone does arrive, you'll see movement from the corner of your eye and you've got a better chance of acting before you get hit."

His head titled to one side. "Though some senshi do tend to announce themselves first... but I wouldn't risk my life on it if I were you."

Hiro noted down Fluorite's name as he continued to inspect her. Under his watchful gaze, she moved the body, arranging things so that the scene appeared natural. Even the man himself might assume he'd only been drunk when he awoke surrounded by empty bottles. A very nice method of covering her tracks, indeed.

He preened as Fluorite thanked him - literally, licking a paw and smoothing it over his scarred eye. "You're welcome," he said. Appreciative humans were always preferred. Even if they couldn't quite measure up to corrupt senshi, in Hiro's books, manners and good sense could raise a corrupt human's value to being fairly close.

"It's not your fault," he added. "Shouldn't you have a Captain teaching you the ropes? A soldier's mistakes reflect only poor training or leadership."

A proper feudal lord would never send untrained troops out into the field. Hiro couldn't approve of whoever had let Fluorite out on her so quickly. The girl was going to get herself hurt because someone else had been slacking off. That didn't reflect well on the Negaverse, and therefore on Hiro, a member of the Negaverse.

One ear flattened as Fluorite admitted this was her first time gathering energy. "S'a bad system," the cat said flatly, addressing no one in particular. "Alone for your first energy retrieval. Someone should've demonstrated or watched your back."

Was the Destiny City branch of the Negaverse trying to lose new recruits? With the information he'd overheard about the recent kidnapping of officers by a particular senshi group, Hiro would have thought the place would be on high alert.

Fluorite did have good results to show for her solo adventure, however. Hiro's eye widened as he took in the small group of orbs already gathered.

"Maa, you're doing pretty well on your own, aren't you?" he said. It might be worth sticking with this one for the night, see her in action. She could be promising (and Hiro could get some more information on the process of gathering energy - it wasn't something corrupted senshi tended to do, after all).

The energy level or aura of a cat was tiny compared to even a Lieutenant. One of the few advantages of feline form was a natural aura suppressant, allowing the cats to be mistaken for ordinary for by both sides, if they didn't spy the stars on their foreheads. The downside was that those cats who could take human form were blazing beacons when they shifted to it.

"It does seem to be amplifying your own energy level." Hiro tilted his head to one side, considering. His readings might be off considering she'd already had so much gathered by the time he arrived. "Nothing too serious, not like a General or a corrupted senshi, but more noticable, yes."

He wondered if Fluorite had to return to the Negaverse to personally turn over the energy, or if she could simply send it there from where she was. Hiro sat at attention, watching closely.

Hiro was mildly relieved. At least they weren't throwing the recruits straight into the deep end and waiting to see who drowned and who used someone else's corpses for a raft. The look he gave Fluorite was tolerant and amused. First time nerves, how cute. If he wasn't so much smaller than Fluorite he would have given her a pat on the head. (As it was, he was the one danger of headpats.)

"Well, if you've got your traps and luring downpat, that's half your job done." The other half, as mentioned before, was anticipating and protecting against enemy strikes while draining the target.

Both ears pricked up as Fluorite mentioned getting just one more orb before calling it a night. Hiro leapt off his trashcan, landing by the Lieutenant. With a flick of his tail, he said, "I'll tag along. Let you know if I see any openings in your technique."

It wasn't a question. Like any cat, it would be an impossible task to tell Hiro where to go, or not go. The feline mind of course thought that anyone and everyone should be delighted and honoured to have his company. So this kitty was going with Fluorite, and that was that.

Fluorite scaled the side of the building like a cat burglar. Hiro approved. After a few moments of watching her movements, he decided the only things he could critique there were things that would improve with time. If the girl asked, he'd just suggest she practice the climbing more often. Maybe timed drills or something...

Realising that Fluorite was almost at the top, Hiro broke off his musing and followed. He used the same path she had, several of the leaps easier for a cat, some of them harder since he couldn't reach so high and then pull himself up. Still, he made it up in good time.

The night air ruffled his fur as he sat on the edge of the roof. One teal eye turned to Fluorite. "Where to?" he asked.

Hiro let his eyes drift to half-mast and gave an approving rumble as Fluorite explained their move in location. For all that his first impression had been a girl without much of a clue, it seemed that Fluorite really did have her head together. Hiro could help her out with a few pointers, like not leaving her back unguarded, but he was quite pleased to discover the young woman was no stranger to logic and consequences.

Not to mention, a knack for picking locations and victims where her energy draining activities would cause the least amount of concern. No one would think twice to see a figure passed out behind a bar. Even the victims might pass it off as alcohol-induced, if they didn't get a good look at Fluorite before she began her work.

Destiny City's branch of the Negaverse was looking quite promising, he decided.

Or perhaps not, he winced, watching Fluorite's ungainly descent. "That was terrible," he said, leaping gracefully down to the next roof. "We are definitely working on that! Scaling up the building was fine, but you need to practice the down part. Preferrably before you twist an ankle doing that."

See, Hiro cared. In his own, strange, cat fashion. His focus on the flaws of others was solely for their own benefit. People should be happy he took the time to insult critique them.

Of course, he also gave praise when praise was due. "I like the way you think," he said, slinking forward along the roof. "A very sneaky plot. I approve."

He looked over his shoulder at Fluorite. "Come on, then. You're leading this operation."