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Super Birhan Isat was waiting on a rooftop as the sun slowly sank behind her, painting the sky in colours that matched her fuku. She checked her cellphone once, noted the time with a nod and then put it away. She'd arrived early - very early. The other senshi wasn't late yet, so Birhan was content to wait.

Even if Serpentarius had been late, Birhan would have kept waiting. When she'd started making calls for former allies, she'd honestly expected changed numbers or to find her own blocked. Answered calls that were quickly hung up on. To find some were still willing to talk, to meet... well, it was exactly what she'd hoped for, all the while telling herself she was being far too optimistic.

They'd agreed to meet, set a time and place. Ostensibly it was to catch up, but there was nothing wrong with combining talking with a patrol. Birhan hadn't missed Destiny City while she was away, but the moment she was back, it was like a physical itch to be using her senshi powers again. It felt wrong to walk the familiar streets as a civilian, knowing she could be leaping the rooftops instead. She figured her conscience had finally caught up with her and had brought along a hefty amount of interest.

Movement across the roofs on her left had Birhan snapping to attention. Her eyes narrowed in on the approaching figure. Was that Serpentarius now?

Serpentarius smiled and Birhan couldn't help but return it. She felt a little giddy to be on the receiving end of such a warm greeting - nerves, probably, and now that things were going well all that adrenaline had to go somewhere.

"Just you and me," she replied. "I wasn't sure how many of us were still around. Some of the others might have changed their numbers, or just be taking longer to get back to me. Things didn't end very well for our group, so I get having cold feet over meeting up again."

It left a block of ice in Birhan's stomach, actually. A worrying thought coiling around her mind, squeezing tighter and tighter: if ex-BMC members meet up, were they just painting a giant target on their backs for Ares?

"I'm trying to check in with as many of the old group as possible, see who's still fighting," she smiled, pushing away her nerves and worries. She didn't mention part of the check-ins was also to see who might have fallen to Ares - Birhan truly hoped no one had, that the remaining uncorrupted of the BMC were giving Ares' new court a proper smack down.

"Have you been in touch with any of them since we... disbanded?"

Hearing about Serpentarius' injury was a blow to the gut. Birhan tensed, fists clenching uselessly. It was far in the past by now, nothing she could do to change it. It wasn't the first time since buying a ticket back to the US that she'd blamed herself for leaving, and for whatever went wrong in her absence, and it wouldn't be the last.

The remnants of the BMC had been dying, that much had been plain. But even if there'd been no hope for the group, Birhan wondered if she shouldn't have stayed anyway. At least Serpentarius would have had someone to watch her back. Who knew what had happened to others, as well.

Birhan nodded along in the right places, letting Serpentarius talk. When the other senshi was finished, Birhan finally replied. "I'm glad you're safe, and well again. I'm sorry I wasn't here to help."

It would be hypocritical to demand to know just what the rest of the ex-BMC had been doing while Serpentarius was being taken out of commission for so long. That didn't really stop Birhan from twitching in irritation towards them. They'd always been too quick to fall apart without Ares - so many had abandoned ship without even trying. No wonder Serpentarius hadn't had a support network when she needed one.

Still, if she was teaming up every so often, she wasn't suffering from a complete lack of help.

"Good to hear you've got some allies. You've got my number if you ever want a hand," she offered. "I won't be ducking out again anytime soon."

Birhan huffed a sigh, staring out at the city's skyline. "The war's been going downhill for a long time, since before Ares fell. We keep losing the best of us and for every major player we take down on the enemy side, there's always a handful of power-hungry Negas ready to take their place."

The biggest weakness of the senshi's side had always been a lack of leadership and teamwork. Everyone did what they wanted, when they wanted - and then judged the hell out of those who were actually doing what needed to be done. Bitter, who Birhan?

"At least we can be fairly sure they don't have any more of ours," she reassured Serpentarius. By 'ours', she of course meant the BMC. "There's no way anyone would miss our powerhouses suddenly swapping sides."

And no way that Ares or the Negaverse leaders wouldn't be throwing a corrupt Nemesis or Gunn, or other former BMC soldier, in their faces. Birhan was quite certain that if any BMC members had gone darkside, Serpentarius would know about it. Quiet deaths, not so much. Birhan had faith in her former teammates, though. She knew what they were capable of.

She shook her head. "So, the Moon, huh?"

It seemed there was no escape from the ghost of the Moon Princess, no matter how determined they'd once been to make their way without her. Birhan still was. It didn't sound like the mythical princess had returned. Teleportation was all well and good, but even the Negaverse could do that trick.

"Were you there? Anything interesting?"

There may not have been a Blood Moon Court anymore, but Birhan couldn't help smiling as Serpentarius spoke about her wakeup call. Getting up and fighting back harder had been a trait the BMC had prized highly. It was good to see that Serpentarius still possessed an unbreakable fighting spirit.

Birhan's smile strained at the mention of being the reason Serpentarius had joined the BMC. She'd been a good recruit - clearly still a senshi with a good head on her shoulders, not like those who'd turned coward and fled the Court when Ares turned. At least Serpentarius wasn't blaming Birhan for leading her down such a bloody path - at least, not to her face. She had no way of knowing what Serpentarius thought.

"It's unfortunate that things didn't go as planned," she said. An understatement, considering all that had gone wrong, but it was better not to dwell in the past overly much, just to learn from mistakes and move forward. "You were a great addition to a powerful team."

But the team had shattered. It seemed to be a common trait among the senshi as a whole - the Negaverse united, while the senshi splintered further and further apart.

Maybe that was part of the reason behind Serpentarius seeing fewer of their number these days. Less senshi pulling together meant not seeing the full picture. It also made them easier pickings for the Negaverse.

"What if we can't defeat them?"

Birhan's eyes narrowed as she stared at Serpentarius. Birhan was disappointed - and just a touch angry - to hear Serpentarius sound so defeated. There were so few ex-BMC senshi left, so to hear one almost giving up made her want to hit something. (That didn't seem like the most conducive way of reassuring the other senshi, though.)

"We defeat them or we die trying," she said, voice flat. "And if we go down, we take a whole bunch of them with us."

The team might no exist anymore, but they were still senshi who'd been at home in the Blood Moon Court. That still said something about who they were. They weren't easy targets. They certainly didn't let unfavourable odds stop them from trying.

"We're already on our second chances, Serpentarius. I doubt the universe will let us have a third. We stop them here on Earth, or they win. And you've seen what they've done to civilians. You know what they're like. However low they've been lying lately, you can't imagine they'd just sit back and let normal people lead happy, peaceful lives if they won the war."

No matter what had happened in the past or may happen in the future, there was a brand on Birhan Isat's thigh that was echoed on her heart.

"We stop them. Here and now. With our own power. Or everyone loses. That's it."

It was just the whole universe at stake. Terrifying odds - she couldn't blame Serpentarius for worrying. But they didn't have the luxury of thinking they might lose, either.