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It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Leda didn't know how it happened; normally the bus arrived every day at the same time: 7:48 AM. She arrived at the stop at 7:45 AM, as a means to minimize the time she spent freezing out in the open. However, even as she stood waiting for the familiar rumbling of its tires, the soothing groans of its engine, the chipped yellow of its frame, she was met with disappointment. Even as she waited a full ten minutes, there were no signs of her bus.

Did it arrive early that day, of all days?

Leda didn't know, and she wasn't willing to stick around and wait. She didn't know how the idea came to fruition, but even the most desperate plan seemed more plausible than simply walking into school late. She only had fifteen minutes to get there, and it took a solid half hour by foot. She had only one means to arrive on time.

And so she transformed. She took to the rooftops, bounding across with practiced grace, paying little heed to those who spotted her from below. She couldn't spare the time to divert her course to the less prominent buildings, and she didn't want to spare the effort of constantly changing from second story houses to singles to multistory businesses. However, as she approached the business zones of Destiny City, the aforementioned was about to happen.

And only as she leapt onto the roof of a florist shop did she realize her mistake.

Leda shrieked as she felt the roof give beneath her, letting out an unearthly scream. She felt the surface shift under her foot and shrugged her off towards the corner of the building. As she sat up and dusted herself off, she saw what she had landed on: an agent.

Space pirate?! "How insulting!" Leda huffed with displeasure. "Do you know how... how tacky that would look? I am not tacky!" If there was one thing she prided herself on, it was her impeccable fashion sense. And judging by the attire of this underhanded cretin before her, he hadn't the slightest idea what proper fashion was, even if it bit him in the arse. Yet there he stood, plainly accusing her of dressing in horrid clichés and apparently ruining his breakfast? "You insult my sense of fashion, but you're worried about your breakfast? Ugh! You should be happy you aren't wearing it!"

Hastily Leda straightened out her outfit and combed her hair back behind her shoulders. Though she'd spent many a time escaping from these agents, she was determined to make her stand. This man, this... terrorist insulted the one thing she held sacred. She wasn't about to let him get away with this, not without a scalding welt.

"Ooh... That's it! I'm not gonna let you stand around here and... eat breakfast in peace!" That's the spirit, Sirsce! Inwardly, she applauded herself. Show him who's boss! With ample concentration, she conjured up and arc of steam and sent it toward her enemy, praying that it might connect. Though she hasn't had any luck hitting agents in the past, she's managed to strike a youma with it... Once.

However, even after sending the steam toward her foe, she realized she'd missed some critical information. The boy before her didn't seem like the average agent she'd run across lately. No; he felt a little more powerful. Maybe it was a trick of the mind, or maybe she was being paranoid. She couldn't be sure, but her instincts immediately warned her to run. Still, how was she to simply turn tail and escape after the man so obviously insulted her taste in fashion?

No. She'd make her stand.

He'll pay for his transgressions against her fashion sense.

Leda jumped for joy when her attack finally connected. With a squeak of pride, she thrust her fists in the air and jumped once more, nearly slipping off the edge of the building and plummeting to her doom (or a dumpster) below. After wobbling and flailing back onto her feet, she regarded her enemy curiously. Had he grown some heritage within the past five seconds? What else could possibly explain the sudden plumage he was calling hair?

Oh right, the humidity of her attack. Go figure.

"Um..." Her pride was replaced by nervousness. "Well, at least your hair looks better now... You've got some style! Or, um, it suits you... I think." Okay, that was a complete lie, and anyone with two braincells to rub together could figure that out. Leda didn't have the ability to lie with any conviction, but she didn't want to further agitate the agent before her. However, it looks as though her intentions only landed her in an even worse predicament than before. Not only had she landed on him, terminated his lunch, and ruined his hair, but she practically insulted him on top of that.

She wouldn't be surprised if she was chased to school at this rate, especially with his new shuriken. They looked deadly. Sharp. Accurate. His ultimatum only served to intensify her apprehension. "Um, please don't do that..." Despite his afro hair, the boy looked increasingly formidable as he began his countdown. "Look, I, uh, I didn't mean to mess up your hair. But it really does look nice, really..."

With a sudden pang of inspiration, Leda dug into her socks. As she searched their soft confines, they wrinkled into her shoes, but she managed to locate what she knew might save her from his wrath. Carefully she pulled out a small green wad and smoothed it out in her grasp, then held it up for the agent to see. "Look!" She commanded. "You wanted your breakfast back, right? Fine! Here's your money!" She threw the five dollar bill weakly before turning around to escape. Once she leapt onto the opposite building, she began her race toward the school.

She didn't dare look back; she knew the agents were plenty fast enough to catch her if she stalled long enough to look over her shoulder. She had schooling to attend to, and if she didn't flat-out sprint onto the campus, she was going to be late.

And she'd be damned if she received her first tardy due to a Negaverse agent.

Apparently the wind held little love for the boy as well, since it threatened to carry the bill into the streets below.

Her footsteps resounded on the pavement as she distanced herself from the agent. "I'm not a space pirate!" She yelled back. "And I'm not dirty! I took a shower!" Leda stilled her tongue for the remainder of her flight; she hadn't the energy to keep yelling and maintain her clip. This bizarre Negaverse agent could yell all he wanted, but he wouldn't bait her into wasting her breath.

A nonverbal retort zipped past her head in the form of a shuriken. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything.

Was the five dollars not enough?! She thought angrily, pushing herself to increase her pace. Come on! You can get like, five crunchy tacos for that price! Or like, a happy meal! Or even, um... something from Wendy's! How much does a Negaverse agent need to eat?! Even as she mentally ranted to save energy, the agent was closing in on her.

However, she knew she had one small advantage: he had to react to her movements. Even as the shuriken flew past her, she still had the ability to drop off the rooftops. The edge of the next building loomed ahead of her, and floor-length windows bore a glimpse of the office workers inside. She knew it was her best opportunity to drop to street level, unless she wanted to break through the glass and traumatize a dozen pencil-pushers.

With a breathless leap, she fell onto the lid of a dumpster below. She quickly slid off its slightly slimy surface and resumed her race towards Meadowview High. She spared a moment to glance at her watch, and gasped in horror as she read the time. 8:08. That meant she'd be tardy if she couldn't reach the campus, lose the agent, find a place to power down, and run to class in the next seven minutes, she'd receive her first damnable tardy slip. She couldn't risk it. She couldn't tarnish her perfect attendance record just because of some hapless oaf of an agent.

Leda darted down the alleys, zigzagging her way through the interlacing corridors. Luckily she'd managed to escape most of the shuriken lobbed in her direction, but she needed to lose him, and fast.

As she happened upon another garbage can, she tipped it over to slow her pursuer. The can clattered across the ground, and the unmistakeable sloshing of its contents occurred soon after. She only hoped this was enough to slow him. Meadowview High's campus grounds were within her sights, and she desperately needed to claim some distance if she intended to escape.

She about-faced and summoned the last of her energy to land an attack on the bluenette. After aiming the arc of steam towards him, she bought herself precious seconds of time. She fled into the mostly emptied campus, dodging disconcerted and agitated teens as she made a break for the building. She needed to reach the locker halls if her plan was to work, and she couldn't spare any time for apologies or soothing words for her fellow students. She had a Negaverser on her tail, and that took priority.

The steel blue doors groaned as she pushed past them. The cliques of students scattered in confusion, allowing her to forge a small path through the chaos and make a beeline for the locker halls. She didn't bother looking over her shoulder; if she did that, it was game over. Breathing heavily now, her heart pounding, her thoughts racing, she braced herself for impact and slammed into the lockers lining the wall. She located her locker quickly, sped through the combination, and threw herself inside as soon as she could. She powered down while she caught her breath, and peeked through the slats to watch the frazzled students migrate to their classes.

When she thought it was safe, and precariously close to 8:15, she leapt out of her locker and raced to class.