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Acubens was irate. Her mind has reached its limit for information retention and now it was buzzing with conflicting ideals. Protection was her first and only concern regarding her choice. How could Acubens best protect the ones she loved. The answer was there somewhere. It was in her brain, and she only had to tease it out of the mass of information she had collected. It was that process, however, that was starting to irritate her. Acubens had never been the kind of girl to sit around for hours and contemplate meanings. She was more the type of girl to beat the problem with a stick until it worked itself out or bled to death. This problem wasn’t dying, however, and it sure wasn’t working itself out.

That was what had the senshi twitching on her lonely patrol, searching for a youma to fight. Or, perhaps, one of those mythical “agents” she’d learned about from her mentor. Those beings which her not dark mirror, and there for held no allegiance with Acubens. Something breathing to fight with seemed like a blessing. And a real fight, not the sparring match she got up to with Lesath earlier. Those fights held nothing at stake, nothing real, at least. A way to blow off steam. But Micah wanted a real fight, and not one with a mindless Youma. One with someone who could think and really, truly, wanted her dead.

Acubens shivered with the idea. She’d never fought like that before, what had her thinking like that now? Had the desperation of her situation made her mad? Had being caught between two worlds so damaged her sanity? Acubens would not doubt it. In this horrible stasis she found herself in, Acubens was surprised it took her this long to go insane.

A twinge caught her attention. It was different from the feeling she got when a Dark Mirro Senshi was around. Yet… it had the same underlying vibration. Chaos. As far as Acubens knew there were two agents of Chaos. Dark Mirror and Negaverse. With Dark Mirror eliminated, that left only one. It was like someone was answering Acubens’ prayers.

Acubens started when she was addressed from above. Her teeth immediately clenched at the familiarity of the situation. That damned cat that ruined her life came from above. Her temper roared to life as she looked up at the girl, suited in green and black. She was trying to intimidated Acubens. Why else would she be above her? A show of dominance. I am superior. And she’d snuck up on Micah. I can get you whenever and wherever I like. She didn’t lean down to Acubens. I will not bow to you. Acubens analyzed all of this form the girl’s body language in a moment before she braced herself for attack.

“Children play,” she hissed, golden eyes locked on the slate of the other girl’s. “And I am not a child.” Acubens looked the other up and down with a curled lip, the way girls did to one another as a show of intimidation in the halls of school everywhere. “I have no interest in your games. Go back to hiding on roof tops and leave me alone, coward.” Only cowards had to exhibit their dominance through such elaborate tricks. Someone with real power let that power speak for itself. And those without real power bluffed. They bluffed until their faces turned blue and hoped to god no one found out.

And that was what Acubens was doing. She took back her wish. She didn’t want to fight like that. Maybe her insult delivered through chattering teeth would send the girl off in tears, or at least stun her enough for Acubens to escape and safely power down. This girl would never find her as Micah. Micah would just be out on a stroll, unable to soothe her feverish mind.

Acubens moved one step backwards carefully. For her final trick she would turn her back. I am not afraid of you. You have nothing you can hurt me with. She turned on her heel and fixed her eyes on the horizon. Her legs begged her to break into a run, but no. She would not show fear. To show fear was to show weakness. And she would never do that.

If Xenotime could have seen Acubens' face, she would have seen the wince at the barbs. Acubens was under no delusions about her strength. Two training sessions in boxing and a mentor, albeit eternal, was still only teaching her the basics of being a Senshi. She knew she could not win against someone serious about fighting, as this girl was. Lesath never wanted her dead, or even seriously injured, Acubens didn't think. This girl was out for blood. But her bluff had been called. Acubens was terrified. And who could really blame her, so completely out of her element as she was. But she had to own the situation. Her cover may have been blown, but there was time to salvage her retreat. She turned back to Xenotime, only half way. I will not give you my full attention.

“I am an adult,” Acubens delivered slowly, tossing her wild curls from her eyes. “I will not engage in the fancies of a child such as yourself. I’m leaving because I do not wish to waste my energy on you and your silly games.”

As Acubens spoke, she could feel her temper rising. So the girl had dropped to the ground. I’ll stoop to your level to afford you a handicap. Acubens bore her teeth in aggression as she watched Xenotime. “Only children instigate fights with strangers. Only children speak like that.” And yet Acubens herself was thirty seconds from lashing out, screaming her own insults and flinging her fists around in a comically untrained fashion that would one day get her killed.

But that was thirty seconds from now.

“I’m leaving you to your own devices. I don’t much care what they are.” Acubens’ eyes drifted over to the abandoned civilian, lying on the ground. Dead or unconscious, Acubens could not be sure until she got a closer look.

“You insinuate that you are so much more adult, and yet you won’t let me on my way. A child.”

And then Acubens thirty seconds were up. The temper she'd been trying to keep under control roared to life like a monster in her stomach, it's cry of rage leaving it's flaming lips and reaching Acubens tongue. The shout was wrenched form her thorat as the whirled, wild curls onscuring her vision on the sudden motion. "I am not a coward," she growled, teeth born in agression as she answered the challenge. Fine. This girl wnated a fight then fine. Acubens would give her a fight. Never mind that she had all of four boxing lessons under her belt. Acubens would punch and kick and bite until she couldn't anymore and she would win.

She would win.

She would finally do some good as a senshi. Not just fighting mindless Youma and asking stupid questions about what she was and what she was supposed to be doing. A good fight where there would be a winner and a loser and reprecussions. The thrill of it whispered along her nerves like electricity.

"Velociraptor Dash," she cried, legs humming with power as the magic worked on her body. Slamming into Youma had worked before. Even as she moved in just a straight line, they were hit and usually easily beaten. This fight was in the bag. Acubens smirked as she ran at the nega, reaching olympic speeds as she did so. One hit.

(I'm not sure if you checked out her profile, but Xenotime has plenty of time to dodge and can easily. Like when the Roadrunner just sort of stepped out of the way of Wile E Coyote. xD)

It took Acubens a moment to realize what had happened. One second she was barreling towards the nega and the next she was staring up at her. It took her a moment longer to realize she wasn't breathing. The impact witht he hard ground had shocked her lungs into paralysis. Acubens felt her eyes widening as she fought for breath through clenched teeth. Her chest rose off the ground sparatically, head extending back in panic. God she couldn't breath.

Even when she found her lungs working again, taking air was painful. She struggled for breath again, face contorted in pain as Xenotime pulled her arm the wrong direction. What was she saying? Acubens tried to focus on the woman's face instead of the lack of air she was getting and the pretty prominent sprain in her shoulder, if not a full on break. Though Acubens was betting on another dislocation at the least.

Xenotime. So that was her name. Acubens spat in her face at the request for her own. "I do not give my name to the likes of you." She yanked her knee up, driving the bony joint into Xenotime's rear to try and knock her off of her. If Acubens hypothesis was right, then she would at least fall forward. If that was the case, Acuben truth her head up, ready to meet the girl with a headbutt. Gratned, she wasn't totally sure how this was going to turn out. But Acubens was all about gambles and challenges.

Acubens rubbed her abdomen, wincing as slight touches incited pain that blossomed from her chest. Fantastic. The fall must have messed up her ribs. She screwed up her face, not even trying to hide the wince. Hiding it would suggest that she cared what the other woman thought. She didn't. She'd been hurt, and hiding it would do no good for anyone. She rolled onto her side, pushing herself up to her feet, groaning as her ribs protested the motion. But she didn't have a choice. To idle would be her doom. The strange, evil woman wanted blood, and no doubt she would bleed Acubens dry if given half the chance.

And Acubens would not give her that chance.

As the girl looked around, her wild mess of red tangles formed mats in front of her eyes, limiting her vision. Impatiently she shoved the locks aside, trying to find a way out. There was none. If she ran, Acubens suspected Xenotime would follow. Even with her Dash, she could only go in a straight line, and Xenotime would have no trouble catching up to her when the spell wore off. If she leapt, Xenotime might be able to chase her either up to the roof. Even if she couldn't, she'd chase her through the maze of streets until Acubens was forced to descend. And Acubens had no idea how stubborn this woman was.

Acubens had no illusions about voctory being an option either.

The way Acubens saw it, she had two options. Create her own out and make a break for it at the first sight, or stop fighting and wait for Xenotime to get bored. The smart option would be to give up. Xenotime can't have that much fun fighting a rag doll who only took punches. And for a moment Acubens almost considered it. It was her own pride that had her braced against the ground again, ignoring the pain in her chest as best she could.

"I'd like to remind you," she growled through clenched teeth, "That I tried to walk away. I had no delusions about how this will turn out. I will lose either through my fleeing this fight, or losing and you draining me." She flexed her fists. "So just come after me and finish this. I'm bored, tired, and in pain, and I just want to go to bed."

This woman was a far better fighter than Acubens, and an even better strategist than that. She'd backed the senshi into a corner and now all Acubens could do was take her beating. And that was what she intended to do. The fist connected with her chin, sending Acubens stumbling back against the brick wall behind her. Blood spilled over Acubens' tongue, probably from the space her moler had once occupied. She spat out the tooth along with a mouthful of blood.

"Nope. In fact I'm fairly certain I'll probably end up lying here for a good long time after you've finished with me." A pinched smile spread over her split lips. "So why don't you do us both a favor sweetie, and get your jollies out so we can both move on with our lives. I'm looking forward to the nap I'm going to take after this." She slid down the bricks to sit down, eyes lolling shut. "I'm done, so just get it out of your system."

From second to second in a fight, Acubens was discovering more and more, convictions and strategies changed. Having not been big into fighting before now, she was still getting used to this information. She would stroke her wounded pride later, but now was the time to submit to her fate. Xenotime was way better, bigger, and smarter than her. Later she would swear up and down that she didn't give up. That she knew Xenotime was looking for a toy and Acubens valiantly and ingeniously took that option away from her. She would claim there were at least five agents who tried to toy with her. But right now she was just waiting for Xenotime to beat the tar out of her so she could just go home.

So this agent really was just a kid. Take away the fun and she lost interest. Acubens had sort of wished that taking away the fun didn't involve bleeding so much but in the end it was worth it. Maybe. Acubens wasn't dead was she? So there was something there. Oh, but she wanted to be. Everything hurt and blood was gushing out of every orifice. If she felt a constant undercurrent of injustice over her fate as a senshi, then now it raged into a whirlwind of defiance. She was just a kid. And so was that nega. And here they were trying to kill each other and for what? To win a war? What war? What did winning even entail? Was there ever going to be someone who would explain all of this to everyone? Or hell, put a stop to it, that would be nice too.

Realistically, Acubens knew there was no one. It was just her and every other beaten soul against each other. As she picked herself up off the ground, she understood this very suddenly and very painfully. Her chest ripped itself open and she wanted to cry. Or scream. Hell, even laugh, which was odd. All she had the energy to do, however, was power down and stumble home. Her first aid kit would get rid of the worst of her injuries, but she'd have to explain all of them once she faced her parents. Mugging maybe? Gang jump? If Micah her way she'd just let it slide and never explain any of it.

Limping down the alley, Micah tried to focus only on a hot shower and her warm bed. Those were her goals right at this second.