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It had been impossible for Eilian to not hear the various sounds of what was clearly a damsel-in-distress. Eyes narrowed before she thought about it for a long moment, wondering if perhaps it wasn't her duty as a woman with power to use that power and prevent something horrible from happening. It wasn't until she'd muttered darkly the words "Abali Star Power, Make-Up" beneath her breath that the senshi realized there were actual power signatures involved on both sides: one Order, one Chaos.

Well of course her mind jumped to the most natural, rational, somewhat brainwashed conclusion that the female being dragged away beneath the bridge was of Order, the male of Chaos. Coming to the scene, seeing the black star that clearly crowned the brow of the chocolate-skinned woman with the long hair and the appeal for help in her eyes was not at all what had been expected. For a moment, a rather long moment in fact, the Senshi of Echoes did not know what to do. Thankfully, common sense was telling her two things:

1) It didn't matter what side you were on, sexual assault was not something that you should ever allow to happen.
2) This woman was in the position to say that Albali had helped her. Albali had saved her.

What better copy than that?

"Excuse me." Upper-crust British intonation worked with icy chill, breaking through the haze of idiotic violence covering that of the senshi in front of the pair. He was first rank but tall enough, muscular enough to make the power of a senshi work in his favor for apparently nefarious deeds. It was proof-positive that you didn't need Chaos lurking in your heart to be a horrible person. To do horrible things. "I think you ought to leave the 'Chaos b***h' and go home." There was no way to look menacing, not in the clothing she'd been magically assigned, but she could perhaps reason with the fool.

Hope on that front died entirely when the man did not desist his pulling on Thyone's wine-colored fuku, trying to grapple her into submission. "What, want a piece of her too?" Grey eyes leered appreciatively. "Never seen two chicks make out in person before but I can share when I'm done." Had he lost his damned mind?

Incredulity was now the vocal flavor as teal eyes widened slightly. "Have you lost your mind? Clearly you have. Release her. Now."

[posting the rest of this log so folks know it's complete, while ness and i take our time doing pretty back and forth transfer posts]

There was more than enough room for the corrupt senshi to run her way past Albali, though the risk was being taken that the Super senshi might decide to get in a hit of her own when Thyone's back was turned. Instead, golden heels took a few steps closer into the darkness so that she was closer to the...well to use the word 'man' or 'senshi' was degrading to both. Arms folded in deceptive casualness, a slim eyebrow rose above her bangs to disappear slightly.

"Wouldn't you rather help me tear him in two? It's one thing to use your power to manipulate someone into doing what you want; superior intelligence is to be rewarded. Taking what you want with brute strength, however, is abhorrent." It didn't sound very good but that was how the Senshi of Echoes saw it; if he'd talked her into bed rather than dragging her off to be brutally manhandled, she would not have interfered. The stupid often reaped what they sowed, the fruits of their own callous ignorance.

Perhaps victim-blaming wasn't a good thing to do either, but Albali found herself rather disappointed that Thyone wasn't interested in assisting in assailing her assailant. Realizing he was potentially in for a very bad time, the male senshi himself narrowed his eyes, holding up his hands. "Hey. There's no need for that. I get it, you have a thing for Chaos bitches, but we're on the same side."

Big mistake.

----

If Thyone had some sassy comeback [which she usually did], the clever girl kept it to herself, letting the male senshi do the talking for her. After all, he was doing a wonderful job digging his grave deeper, all on his own, and the brunette, instead, was an opportunist.

He, of course, was an a*****e, and despite the words he'd offered to the newcomer, his raised hands soon clapped together as he shouted, "Himeros' grasp!" The attack was one of constriction, binding Albali's arms to her side as if she was wrapped up in strong arms. Such an ability probably made his 'work' a little easier for him. His focus was apparent as he stepped forward, Thyone seemingly forgotten in his eagerness.

Thyone, who, as previously mentioned, was an opportunist.

The brunette didn't run away, disappearing down the opposite end of the tunnel, no. Instead, she clasped her hands, and swung her double fist hard at the back of his head.

---

Damn it all! Damn it all to religion! Of course he was going to attack the bigger threat first but that was where this incredible idiot had made his second-biggest mistake. The biggest had been, of course, not running away when he'd had the chance. Not that Albali would have let him get very far but that wasn't the point. If he'd shown enough sense to run instead of holding his ground and trying to fight not only a very pissed off woman that he'd assaulted, but the Super senshi who looked like she was going to eviscerate him. Slowly.

So instead of struggling against her bonds, Albali just impassively watched Thyone clock Himeros over the head with enough force to send him to his knees. Thirty seconds, she surmised, would be about as long as a first-rank senshi could have bound anything stronger than he was. Struggling might have broken them early but the 'Chaos b***h' could handle herself at least that long. "Nice hit." The count in her head expired, arms flexing themselves to break the bounds around her with little more than basic strength.

Of course though Thyone could hit, a senshi could take damage, even a first-rank one. He was already struggling to his feet when the violet-haired Order senshi grinned. "My turn. Albali Total Recall!" It wasn't called out too loudly, for fear of perhaps someone else finding their group and misunderstanding, but it was loud enough to be heard by everyone present. The same bindings that had snapped around her beribboned body now snapped around the one who had initiated that attack, just in time for him to receive a sharp kick to the stomach.

"Fun, isn't it?"

---

He crumpled before either woman could react, and Thyone's jaw clenched at the sound of his face hitting the concrete, a far more sickening crunch than that of her knees only minutes before. Already, though, she could see him struggling against... His own attack? He was almost free, curses pouring as freely from his mouth as the blood from his noise.

As he began to get up, she reacted, that same heel slamming down with panicked force into his shoulder, adrenaline shot through her as he screamed and began actively struggling, finally scared. So was Thyone, and she dropped a knee onto his lower back, a hand gripping the back of his neck and pushing his bruised face into bits of gravel and glass dusting the cold, dry ground.

"Maenad's kiss," she whispered, urgent, in an appeal to make him compliant, leaning down to blow the gold light of her magic across his ear, his cheekbones.

He began to relax, even as Thyone's "rescuer" closed in.

---

Something that you never really paid much attention to, when you were in the heat of the moment, was how very strong you were as a senshi. You could rip the door off of a car with the strength contained in your frame. It'd take some work, some strain, but you could do it. Punching through walls was something you did fairly often when you missed. But it wasn't all about how hard you were hit, it was also how hard you went down. A human hitting the ground like this would have hurt but never would it have been this damaging yet both women were so gone with adrenaline and rage that neither quite understood what was happening.

That was, however, until the grisly crunch of a skull collapsing beneath the golden boot of Sailor Albali shocked them both right out of their individual moments. It was then that all sound stopped, that the movement stopped as fluid and other matter coalescing around her shoe as it penetrated down. Shifting her weight even slightly had his limbs twitching with the responding electrical energy that remained in a body shortly after death, neurons firing when the Welsh woman pushed her heel against the stem of his brain.

Sailor Albali had killed a man. Not only had she killed a man (filthy rapist) he was a senshi. One of her own and yet she felt nothing inside staring down at the ruin of his skill. Nothing at all, only a vast empty space and then...satisfaction. Lifting her foot free of his brain, it scuffed against the grass, voice detached with the shock she would certainly feel later. "That's not going to come out. Damn."

---

He wasn't moving anymore. The knowledge was laced with a dread that chilled her to the bone, as Thyone slowly released his neck, sitting up as her hazel eyes focused on the concrete next to his shoulder.

It was wet.

Her face was wet.

She reached up to touch her cheekbones, feeling a smear, and pulled away her hand.

Red.

Maybe he didn't feel it, she tried to tell herself. It had happened so quickly, and Thyone's attack still glowed on his blood flecked skin. Maybe, maybe it had been so sudden that there was nothing. Just pain and then nothing.

Should she hope it was painless? Or did he deserve it? Did anyone? Thyone wasn't sure. All she knew was that her heart was too loud in her ears, and it was a welcome sound the second it replaced a sick, wet, suctioning noise. Albali's heel, pulled free.

Thyone forced her eyes to the carnage of his skull, the dip in it, matted, wet hair, clumps of something. They shifted to a shoe, and slowly climbed a leg, moving up until they found Albali's cold stare.

"What do we do?"

She wanted to scream.

--

Scuff, scuff, scuff. "Damn it."

It seemed that Sailor Albali was more concerned about the fact that she was ankle-deep in bodily fluids rather than the fact she had just killed a man (rapist). Her mind kept attaching that descriptor on at the end, reminding her what he had been, what he had been trying to do to someone just because...what? They were on opposing sides? Knowing that it had nothing to do with the Order, that most of the Kumbaya senshi and knights would have been just as horrified by his actions than her own, did not lessen her disgust.

Why wasn't she throwing up right now? Why didn't she care? Shouldn't she care? Yet she'd seen worse things. Flesh melting off of bones, reattaching itself when the power was taken away. What was one crushed skull to that? It wasn't until she saw the blood on Thyone's face that it hit her what had happened. Fingers reached down to brush a dark-skinned cheek, blood now on white gloves, staining her fuku even more. Like it was surreal, out of a movie, the Senshi of Echoes took in the whole scene.

Stored it. Catalogued it. Stepped back.

"What do you mean? It's Destiny City. Just walk away, power down, go home. Pay more attention to power signatures around you so that you don't need to be saved again." Her voice was cold, clipped, almost robotic as the Super Senshi turned her back on Thyone. "Nobody's going to miss him."