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Magellan had a new objective. Sure, her objective was still pretty much the same as her old objective, except this time it was aimed pretty specifically at Not Being Killed. She was tired of getting battered and beaten, even more tired of her parents' drawn faces and paranoia whenever she left the house. Magellan stiff-upper lipped it, because that was who she was, but she was also tired of her own nightmares; tired of feeling powerless, tired of jumping at shadows, and tired of looking at her own hands and wondering if they were ever going to bring about any kind of change.

In short, she was damn tired of being the weakest link.

To date, she'd lived her senshi career reactively. She'd gone out and looked for fights and she'd won some, lost many more. She'd tried to take on the Negaverse, and for her efforts she'd gotten broken limbs, hospital stays, and more near-death experiences than someone her age should be able to boast of. She'd lost friends and her schoolwork had begun to suffer; her relationship had fallen apart, and she was beginning to realize that was because this life was changing her as a person. Parker, too, obviously -- and she was finally getting to the point where just thinking his name didn't make her heart vise -- Parker had never struck her as the type who would try to rush into marriage.

But Dani had almost died, several times. And Parker didn't have a lot, so he was afraid to lose her. Destiny City and its dark inhabitants were changing everyone, and she was tired of just reacting to it. So, she was going to be proactive.

Her patrols lately had been brief because of that. If she happened to encounter a Negaverse officer, she ran. Magellan was taking no chances at the moment; her aim wasn't for the officers, but the youma. She wanted to draw out the dark creatures and figure out more about them, find a way to crush them and cut the Negaverse off at the knees. Well, that was her plan, anyway. It was a lofty one, but Magellan believed that if you didn't dream big you never accomplished anything big.

Still, it was easier said than done.

Facing off against her current foe, a mid-sized youma that was getting more and more frustrated the more she hopped and dodged it, Magellan considered her options. She'd already suffered a few blows due to playing with the thing instead of dusting it, and she hadn't actually learned much about it except that it favored attacking with its tail -- which was prehensile, by the way -- and it didn't like playing with its food.

Clearly, information gathering was not as easy as she'd originally concluded. Damn.

She leapt backward, arms coming in a cross in front of her as the spade tip of the youma's tail flicked against her forearms, and swore. Her gloves ripped, blood welling and staining pale blue fabric, and she stumbled backward. God damn it, she hadn't meant to be close enough to be in range!

Her heel caught on a groove in the pavement and she went down, eyes going wide and startled. s**t s**t s**t, she thought, pain exploding as she hit the gravel and it bit into sensitive, exposed skin (and damn her fuku anyway, she wanted a Haz-Mat suit or something).

The youma rolled back on its heels, making a horrible clicking noise, and lunged at her as she began to scramble backwards.

While Magellan was grateful for the distraction, she was also a little annoyed to have someone budging in on her time with the youma. Sure, it would have sucked to get her a** handed to her, and there was the potential for a life-threatening situation if she didn't pick up her game, but she wasn't going to get any information by pounding the hell out of the youma and moving on. That was what she'd been doing thus far, and she was pretty sure she didn't have anything above the average senshi's sphere of knowledge on them. That was just pitiful. Annoying.

And damn it, this guy was probably going to go all macho on her and try to kill it.

"Don't kill lit!" She barked, rising and hopping back a few steps, just to be safe and out of the tail's range. Well aware that she probably looked (and sounded!) like a lunatic, she cupped her hands in front of her face and said, "C'meeeere, big boy!"

It was, apparently, a contest to see who could get the youma's attention.

For its part, it seemed momentarily confused, teeth chattering as it looked between the two powered individuals and struggled to determine which to attack.

This was the problem with people jumping recklessly into battles that weren't their own! They had no idea what was going on, and they just messed things up! Temper bubbled at the back of her mind, but Magellan struggled to subdue it, keeping her eyes trained intently on the youma. Her goal here was to figure out more about it, and if she allowed herself to get distracted and start a shouting match with Mr. White Knight, she was going to end up no better off for the scrapes on her thighs, and that would really piss her off.

Still, if she didn't at least partially explain what was going on, this guy was probably going to think she was legally insane or something and try to subdue her for her own good. Ugh, men.

"I'm trying to see what it does!" She darted to the right, arms tucked up close to her, and when the youma lunged at her this time, the very tip of its tail flicked her arm. Her glove tore and blood blossomed, a sharp, hot pain reverberating up her arm, she she swore loudly.

"Like your tail, do you," she muttered, launching herself up and onto the youma's back. One gloved hand closed around the wound on the other, and her heels dug in sharply into the youma's back while it screamed and reared back.

Uh, not exactly her smartest move, either. She went to leap off the youma, and all would have gone exactly according to plan had it not jerked abruptly to the side, throwing off her balance. While it might have been smarter to eject, Magellan reacted purely on instinct, clamping her hands tightly around its neck and holding on.

s**t, s**t, s**t.

"Go for its knees!" she screamed, wrapping her legs around the beast's neck for good measure; now that she was on here and (mostly) safe from being attacked by it, she wasn't going to get thrown and stomped on.

Unfortunately, the more it writhed and twisted to remove her, the more abuse her body suffered for her effort to hold on. She was going to be damn sore in the morning -- and that was only if the thing didn't figure out how to twist enough to use its tail to pluck her from its neck. What she could see so far showed her that the tail wasn't quite long enough, but with a little bit of ingenuity, it could probably work it.

She could only hope that her partner-in-crime for the time being wouldn't let that happen.

Since the knight had been so kind as to take the youma's legs out from under it, even temporarily, Magellan had a slight advantage. Well, "advantage" might have been a strong word -- anyway, she was on top of the dog pile and that meant she was in a position to get a good, solid hit in if she timed it right. Had the dumb knight just left her alone this would have all gone a lot better, but he'd had to shove his nose into her business and now it had all gone to hell in about three seconds.

Rearing back, she balled her good hand into a fist and slammed it as hard as she could into the back of the youma's head. Distracted from the person below it, it reared back, clearing free of the knight and tossing Magellan from its back. No longer anchored, she was helpless to do anything by fly off, tucking her arms around herself to at least try to brace for the hit.

Slamming into the ground, she bit off an oath and rolled three times, shoulders digging into the gravel. From her position, she glanced over to make sure the knight was okay -- still moving and breathing meant alive and that was okay in her books -- and thrust her arms out, gasping out the name of her attack.

A sphere of powder formed between her hands and shot toward the youma, expanding into a bright, glittering ball around it. The creature let out a startled shriek, but the sphere of powder was too thick for it to be seen by any but Magellan; it sidestepped rapidly, trying to get away, and in its panic began to breathe in the powder and choke.

Sitting up on the ground, well aware it was going to start rampaging again soon, she tried to ignore the stinging in her shoulders. Though she was hardly in any position to be casting stones, she barked, "Get out of here before you get yourself even more hurt!"

Yeah. Because she was obviously in pristine shape.

Right.

Had Magellan not been so annoyed in general by her plans getting messed up, she would have probably respected the knight's no-nonsense, a**-kicking approach to the youma. Being someone who used her magic as a weapon when it wasn't intended as a weapon, she'd gotten used to supplementing her attacks with a good deal of brute force and taking her knocks and bruises for her efforts. She was well used to not feeling adequate or powerful, which was probably why she was so fiercely annoyed to have her plans interrupted; she was trying to find a way for herself to be more effective. Having someone else jump in to save the day all the time made her feel impotent and useless.

She was a goddamn super senshi. She ought to be able to handle these things by herself!

And yet, she had to adapt to the situation and deal with what she had. For a brief moment, her annoyance faded to satisfaction, watching the knight plunge headlong into the youma. It was something she would have done, and showed a fearlessness and a determination that she could respect. She didn't appreciate being barked at, but didn't have time to be more than passingly annoyed; he suggested that she use its tail against it, and in the next moment, she was shaking off her injuries and launching herself at the youma again.

Grabbing ahold of its tail was easier said than done, and her efforts rewarded her with a deep cut across the face just below her eye. Blood poured down her cheek and she jerked her head back, nearly losing her hold on the tail itself, but in the next moment she forced herself to hold on. At least it hadn't carved her eye out. Goddamn spade tip of the --

Slamming her heeled boot down as hard as she could on the base of the tail, she startled and injured the youma enough for it to fling its tail wide. Still holding on, she used her weight to turned the tip down, guiding it toward the creature's own back and shimmying her hands down the base as she did.

Jesus Christ, it was not easy to stab this thing with its own tail!

"Will you do something?" she demanded, still gripping the tail as the youma thrashed again and forced her back onto the pavement. No, wait, if she--

She took a deep breath, braced herself, and then kicked off from the ground as hard as she could. Still holding the tail, she flung it forward, forcing the tip toward the youma's back and -- success! It was in the back, but it wasn't deep.

Unfortunately, Magellan had fallen back to the pavement.

Knowing that they weren't going to get another opportunity like this without considerable struggle, she screamed, "Jump on its damn tail!"

Though Magellan's heart was still racing from the adrenaline rush of the battle, she began to calm once the youma turned into dust and was no longer a threat. Still, as she gripped his hand tightly and used it to hoist herself up, she couldn't help but press one gloved hand below her eye and swear mightily. Man, that hurt. That really hurt a lot, actually.

Tears gathering, she forced herself to take a deep, calming breath, not wanting to burst into hysterics now that the creature was dead. She was a damn professional, and she wasn't going to start sobbing over a few bumps and cuts now that the danger was passed. She'd already given enough of an impression of herself as a crazy woman during the battle; there was really no need to take it to the next level.

Releasing his hand after a moment, she sighed, drawing her glove back. There was blood literally all over it, skirting down her fingers and staining the palm of it, and she felt a little sick to her stomach looking at it. Damn it, why did the small cuts always the bleed the most? It hurt like nothing else, but she was pretty sure it was shallow.

Fisting her hand against her cheek, she applied pressure, blinking furiously. Nope, she wasn't going to cry. "I'll be fine. I've had way worse than this. Don't even have any broken bones."

Though her voice was a little tremulous, her eyes were sharp on his face when she looked at him, assessing him for wounds. "You okay? You didn't actually do too badly," she added generously, wincing when she pushed down on her cheek again. Come on, accelerated healing power. Do your damn job. "For, you know, someone who wasn't invited to the action."

Yeah, her pride was hurting a little too much to give a compliment that wasn't backhanded and full of knuckle.

Magellan might have been in pain, pain that was becoming more evident as her adrenaline rush wore off and she realized exactly how many places she was injured in, but that didn't mean she was going to start bawling all over the place. No, she took a few deep, shaky breaths, and she swiped the fingers of her clean glove under her eye, and she was fine. If there was one thing she'd learned about getting her a** kicked from here to Sunday just about every time she entered a fight, it was how to keep herself from crying at every little nick and cut.

But her face really hurt. Thankfully, she had accelerated healing... her parents would flip out if she ended up with scars from every wound she sustained while she was fighting youma. They had already freaked out enough over all the broken limbs and, um, bruises that were everywhere. At least most of the bruises she got tonight she'd be able to hide.

One hand straying to her upper thigh, she pressed down lightly and winced. Yeah, a bruise right below her butt. Well, she just wouldn't wear a skirt for a little--

But then she was distracted by the knight's offer.

Looking incredulous, she dropped her hand, red-fingered glove curling into a fist at her side. After a few beats, she asked, "Are you completely insane? How do you know I'm not like, some horrible enemy of yours? You really shouldn't invite people back to your civilian home when you've just met them. Sure, we toasted a youma together, but that's like... that's not even nearly enough to trust a stranger."

Sure, her bodice was (blue) white and she'd clearly ranked up, and she'd worked with him to defeat the youma, but that didn't really mean all that much. And maybe, sure, Magellan was a little paranoid about giving out her own identity -- but she'd known senshi who died. She'd almost died plenty of times. It just wasn't smart.

This guy must have been a total rookie.

Her forbidding expression relaxed a bit into lines of pity. "I mean, you can trust me, I'm a good guy. But... you should really be more careful. Who knows if you can trust me when I say you can trust me, you know? I'll be okay, anyway," she said, stomach rolling as the pain set in more. Had she hit her head? She didn't remember hitting her head. Did she?

She was holding her hand out in front of her, examining the fingers of her gloves with great interest, when he asked the next question, and she forgot all about her injuries. Temper flaring back into her face, she curled her hand into a fist and pointed it at him, an accusing red finger. "I was trying to observe its behavior and its attack patterns! I'm documenting youma, so I was staying out if its reach -- mostly -- and taunting it to figure out its level of intelligence, strategy, and capability of reasoning through frustration and impulses."

Yeah, that all sounded really scientific and professional. She was such a badass, she thought, expression clearing a moment. However, the frown was back in place seconds later as she added sullenly, "And then you had to run in and White Knight it. What's your name, anyway?"

Magellan was a bit mollified when he apologized, and the tense set of her shoulders relaxed to show that she wasn't really angry anymore. It was pretty stupid to just be inviting people back to your place willy-nilly, and even though Magellan knew she didn't mean him any harm, she couldn't help but wonder who'd given this kid his crash course in crime fighting. He had no idea what he was doing. Okay, well, he'd handled himself pretty well in the crisis -- she could grudgingly admit that -- but his after-the-face performance was really wide-eyed, naive doe.

"You're going to get yourself killed that way," she muttered, stripping off her glove and wadding it up so that she could hold it against her cheek. The bleeding was slowing, thankfully, but the cold air biting against her open wound hurt a lot. "But... Damn it, I don't live -- close. So..."

She expelled a breath, giving him a long look, and extended her gloved hand. "Super Sailor Magellan," she said, eyes sharp on his face. After a moment, she admitted, "I'd appreciate a little patching up."

For now, she chose to ignore his comments on whether or not he'd intervene next time. She had to prioritize, and in the end, it wasn't really that big of a deal... this time. She'd probably gathered all the information she could from that youma anyway.

If this guy was legit, he might actually be useful to make an ally of... maybe. Well, Magellan's current stance on allies was that they were better to have than enemies, so if she could get a handle on him and impress upon him the supreme idiocy of being so cavalier with details on his civilian life, he could prove useful. He handled himself well under pressure and wasn't afraid of taking his knocks, anyway, and that was something she could respect.