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 Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 7:32 pm
[** Note: This is set shortly after the Negaverse Meetings and before the current events at the carnival **]
The youma's screech was blood-curdling.
Its victim, a fashionable, well-off young woman, had finally been cornered at a street's a dead end, a chain link fence cutting off her escape into one of Destiny City's many parks. Parks that served as frequent patrol grounds for good guys after night fall.
Deep breaths, Avery, she reminded herself, flinching as the creature hissed and prowled closer. It was some disgusting combination of cat and reptile, but the size of a small mule. Everything is under control. Why the ******** had they chosen such a big monster?
"Is that necessary?" She snapped back at the beast, covering the tremble in her legs with an irritable tone and a hand that pushed the strap of her dress back onto her shoulder. It was nerve-wracking, running away from the creature they'd loosed without the ability to detect power signatures and therefore, her back up.
How had she gotten into this, again?
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Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 7:55 pm
The calls no longer churned her blood. Instead, it sent her heart beating, rabid, blood boosted into action and entire body ready to act.
Liberty had finished dropping off a pair of boots for a re-sole when she'd heard it shake the windows. The atmosphere in the southern city blocks went still, terror freezing limbs, making eyes duck to the ground, and others search the air for incoming assaults.
Unnoticed and unobtrusive, the redhead had darted into the nearest sheltered alcove and emerged at a run as Pandora.
The path took her around a corner, down one street, and then it turned into a full out sprint.
AVERY, burned the back of her throat. The redhead nearly went into a panic.
Pandora didn't slow down. She and the youma collided with a complete lack of mercy and apology. Pandora was determined to get her arm around its neck, pin it to the ground.
She preferred fights to go quickly, but in this instance, she wanted to kill this youma instantaneously.
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Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 8:17 pm
Her prayers were answered as the youma crouched to leap - only to be slammed into from behind. It tumbled to the ground, tangled up in strong arms and white attire. Avery's heart slammed against her ribcage.
Senshi
It was impressive, but Avery didn't have time to watch, instead, she backed up further until she hit the fence, hitting a button on the phone clenched in her hand to signal that things were underway. She forced herself to sob a bit.
They wouldn't be filming just yet.
Then came the sound of the creature's pain. The brunette wished there was a way to do this without it coming to harm, but they'd told her it was necessary....
There was a flash of green out of the corner of her eyes, and her mouth went dry.
"No," it was a soft, scared sound. Denial.
Not Pandora.
Suddenly, things got a little more real for Avery.
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Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 8:28 pm
Crocodilian rows of teeth raked along her arm, grazing, scraping skin, but unable to draw blood.
They made a cracking sound as they snapped closed; a crunching sound as Pandora's fist followed after it. Her boot.
A pearly black tooth popped loose under her spur, rolled towards Avery, dropping dust as it went.
The youma's body gave a sigh, bloating and filling like a balloon and then collapsed in a mushroom of dust.
Pandora stepped back, ignoring her nicked arm, an inky black starting to spread along a single point. Extra pain, even after the teeth had receded from the flesh.
"Are you okay?" Pandora was coughing out, her bright eyes still too full of dust to really catch a good look at Avery. Strong legs and arms brought the senshi back to her feet.
Was Avery hurt?
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Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 8:38 pm
Keep it together, Keep it together--
A small part of her wished it had been Pandora that had turned to dust. Small, but much larger than she wanted to admit. "I-" The broken sound of her voice wasn't fake as the senshi got to her feet. Avery's fingers found the chain-link, clenched, stopped herself from running away. Her eyes were wide.
Her fear would look great on camera. The pretty girl in her dirtied, torn sundress. A broken heel. Facing yet another monster.
"D-don't," She mumbled, before her voice raised. "Please-" She took another shaking breath. "-Just let me go, okay?"
Where the ******** was Linarite?
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Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 9:00 pm
Pandora took a quick, short-lived step towards Avery.
The girl was quaking. Jaw hardening, Pandora straightened, mouth hanging slightly agape, brows furrowed and green eyes fixed unblinking on Avery Hollister.
A brief flicked of eye-movement revealed hands clenching tight to chain-links, pushing a feeling of terror around the hollow cavity of Pandora's ears long before the words reached them.
You can go she wanted to whisper, but Pandora couldn't let her go yet.
Her eyes were too busy wandering over the torn dress, broken heel, looking for blood, signs of damage.
"I just want to make sure you're alright. I'm not going to hurt you." A deep breath. "I promise."
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 8:35 am
Lena was keyed up. For whatever reason that had gone through the head of whatever superior that was in charge of putting this mission together it was decided that she, Captain Linarite, was going to be a hero. A Big Damn Hero. It was going to be an overall simple task; find a youma, drop it in a part of town where the goodie-goodies were said to roam frequently, and let it snarl at Avery until someone came by to kill it. All things considered it was also one of the weaker youma, because they had to make sure that the senshi that could kill it was not one that Linarite, Bischofite, and Leucite couldn't handle. If an Eternal senshi showed up to save Avery they were all boned. Thankfully for them all, Avery's diva-glorious voice pulled a senshi that looked and felt to be nothing more than a super. It was somewhat embarrassing to have to ask for the confirmation of the power signature they felt, creeping across rooftops for a better vantage point, but it was part of what had been lost. Signatures were always going to be muddled, hard to differentiate, though the major ones were clear enough. Peering through the binoculars she'd so cleverly stolen borrowed for the occasion, the captain watched the youma die. Watched the green and white Super approach Avery and try to soothe her, which only served to make the chocolate-skinned songstress look even more upset. "Perfect." Turning to the two lieutenants, instructions were succinct. "Follow me but stay low along the rooftops. Remember the signal I gave you? When I use it, drop down and look concerned about an unfair fight. Like you're worried Avery is about to be hurt, that I am about to be hurt by a bully. Basically pull her aggro off my a** so I can get Avery out." You could take the girl out of Warcraft, but you couldn't take the Warcraft out of the girl. Stepping up to the roof on the pads of her feet so that heels didn't click and alert Pandora to her presence, she grinned. It was nostalgic almost, the way that she was supposed to play Hero against the Villainous Senshi. 'Sailor Nea, this one's for you.' came the mental dedication. Remembering a last detail, she turned one more time to address her duo of lieutenants. "And remember where the cameras are. Keep your faces away from them and Bischofite," She addressed the more savage-looking of the two. "Keep that mark from the cameras as often as possible." Another wide grin. "I'd hate to see you mistaken for a gang member or anything." Dropping down, sealing off the escape, Lina's voice came high. "Hey!! What's going on down there?! Ohmigosh get away from her!" It made her sound years younger than she was, rushing forward to get between the Senshi of Jealousy and their 'civilian'. Lena might not have been a born actress but it wasn't going to take much. Not when they were done with it.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 8:53 am
Avery had steeled herself as Pandora took a step forward, then paused, speaking to her in a voice too soft to be picked up by the "surveillance cameras" that were "coincidentally" picking up the scene, even if they had been equiped with microphones. They weren't, but it was important to maintain a proper dialogue. Lips could be read, and it would be incredibly dangerous of Pandora realized that Avery was implicit in what was about to happen.
"I don't know you," Lifting her chin to flash Pandora a fiery look from scared, hazel eyes, Avery played the role of brave, if outmatched, victim that couldn't trust what appeared to be another attacker. "People aren't that strong. Your hands-" She swallowed. Her job was to help make Pandora desperate - but she knew how dangerous that could be.
Captain Linarite appeared before she could say more, and Avery's knees buckled in relief, holding herself steady against the fence, she raised her voice in fear and warning. "No!" She forced herself away from the chainlink, reaching out a hand in an effort to protect this stranger, "She's not human," Her voice quaked, "She just killed something."
Linarite's uniform looked amazingly normal. Stylish, but not as strange as a senshi fuku. Leucite had been chosen for a similar reason. He looked like a proper officer, clean cut and heroic. Bischofite, well, his design was a little more ferocious, but Avery trusted that Osumilite would edit the film to remove shots where the mark on his face could be seen.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 9:40 am
"I know." Pandora's voice had gone soft. A quiet, easy sound that was unfortunately tinged with her own fear and the crack of heartache. The hardset jaw had relaxed, and clenched further forwards, brows furrowed more up than down, and the Senshi tried to control her breathing.
It's okay, Avery. You're safe. Please don't look so scared.
Pandora looked at her as if she could show Avery Liberty just with the concern in her eyes. They could just take a trip to the hospital, easy. Quiet. Thyone flickered through her mind, and Pandora felt a strange, unhappy tinge at the idea of their last, brief encounter.
Later, she'd try and convince herself it was because her eyes finally saw the Chaos she hadn't known she'd been feeling.
"Don't touch her!" It was a snapped, high-pitched sound. This time, not directed towards Linarite.
All the hesitation that had slowed Pandora's muscles was suddenly gone, throbbing with adrenaline. Her head pounded and she air she sucked in as she lunged nearly sounded like a snarl.
"She's not normal, either!" The redhead's voice had grown much deeper, a purpose grinding it thick, and heavy. Please believe me, Avery. Please. You have to. You can't trust these people!
Maybe Pandora would have even said them, had she not been tossing herself, shoulder low at Linarite's gut. Knock the wind out of her, knock her down, anything.
What if they took her.
"Don't even look at her." There was no high-pitch to her voice. It was directed towards Linarite, along with the beginning of desperate kicks, punches, shoves anything that would send the other girl in a direction away from Avery.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:19 am
Not cool. What sort of self-respecting senshi power charged her opponent rather than standing around making fluffy speeches while trying to nail them with a magical attack of ridiculousness? It was hard to keep up enthusiasm for playing a Big Damn Hero when you were forced to allow your aggressor to tackle you into the pavement, unable to plant your feet and try to fight back for fear of messing up a well-planned piece of propaganda. Wrapping arms around Pandora so that when the bluenette fell, the senshi would be going with her, it allowed the captain to slide a few ill-intentioned smears into the ears of her opponent. "Normal is overrated. A fantastic looking girl like that? We could have a lot of fun with her. All sorts of touching." Clearly this woman was unhinged, Lina was about to get the s**t beaten out of her, but it was for a good cause! Not to mention the bruises would mean patrols and sparring would be on backburner for at least a week. There was a silver lining to this cloud! It also meant that Pandora was close enough to be herself touched by the power of the Negaverse. Linarite could feel that if she just could get a hand between them, into the chest of the redheaded bully...but no. Not on camera. That hand which would have ripped out Pandora's starseed without remorse lifted above her head, a hi-sign to the watching lieutenants. If they didn't get their asses down there to pull this b***h off of Linarite in under thirty seconds, they were doomed. As it was the bluenette did little more than flail, looking like a useless fighter, a petite young Samaritan being aggressed by a beribboned gang member of Destiny City.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:56 am
"Stop it!" Avery's scream was strong, feminine, and full of terrified anger. It echoed in the small space as Pandora took Linarite down, and jolted the brunette into action. The senshi of jealousy was dangerous in a way that most weren't. Her anger was terrible, and once she got started, it was hard to stop her.
The bruised young woman hurried forward to where Lina was pinned to the ground and attempted to hold the arm that Pandora lifted to punch the captain in the face. "Leave her alone!"
On the camera, of course, it would appear that a petite girl had tried to stop whatever Pandora was going to do to Avery, and the senshi had retaliated in anger. Now, Avery played the role of hero, trying to pull her off.
Where the ******** were those lieutenants?
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 11:04 am
Perhaps Thyone would have been proud. The word touching was retaliated with a cottony, thick, biley spit at Linarite's exposed face.
"If you hurt her, I will kill you." Pandora had never been so sure of anything in her whole life. The hatred, disgust, malice, pulsed through her entire body. The words were hissed out, loud, sounding more animal, more feral than any youma.
Her fist found resistance, then, and Avery's voice took the wind out of her body like an exploded tire.
The deep breathing, heavy sounds, fell short and came out as a whine. Like someone had kicked an old wound.
Pandora's fingers went slack. She let Avery pull her from Linarite.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 11:13 am
They said timing was everything - Leucite had been waiting for the signal, and was already on his way down as Avery had made her rush for Linarite and Pandora. However, what he hadn't expected was the Senshi to let the captain go!.... Oh well, doing it live! He made every effort to keep his face out of the cameras. to keep his flag as visible as possible. Yep, Negaverse was pro America - who knew! Beating feet as fast as he could, he quickly put himself between Avery and the senshi. "I've got the villain, we'll take it from here." He said to Avery, trying his best to sound, well, like a cop. It actually wasn't as hard as he thought - to emulate what he thought his dad would sound like busting some sod. He quickly made a grab for the Senshi, anything to keep her away from Avery and Linarite. If he took a few licks when the Senshi realized what was going on? So be it! For the greater good right? "You okay Captain?" Leucite did his best to sound concerned, he was sure Linarite was made of stern enough stuff a few hits form the senshi hadn't wrecked her too much.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 11:50 am
Their plot was beautifully nefarious, almost as tantalizing as some of the women involved. How could he refuse an offer to become a part of it, especially when he had the opportunity to rough up a senshi on more even grounds?
And from the looks of it, as he peered over the edge of the precipice, this senshi was fiery, vigorous. How inspiring.
Upon heeding her commanding tone, he lifted his gaze from the somewhat staged scene to Captain Linarite. She stood strong, commanding. Like she'd had far too much experience commanding grunts than her youthful face and curvy features portrayed. Her uniform wrapped around her tightly, almost constricting her, almost highlighting her assets. As much as he preferred to watch her hair whisper in the breeze, her uniform protest quietly to her movements, he listened to her speak. He only nodded in his silent evaluation of her to show that he'd understood.
Bischofite knew the gist, save for one peculiar word she used: aggro. He considered himself rather adept with the English language, but never once had he heard the word aggro in conversation. What the hell did it mean?
He was about to question her over it when she addressed him directly. He couldn't conceal his surprise; he'd never been good at masking facial expression. At least now he received the order to hide his face altogether; that made his part in this insidious little play all the easier.
Bischofite followed at Linarite's behest, keeping to the outskirts of the alley whenever possible. Since he'd been briefed on where the cameras were located, he had a vague idea of where to make his descent, how to make his entrance. He contemplated his phrasing during the rooftop dash. He'd need to conceal his accent; most Americans found it too harsh and borderline angry. But speaking from the mouth was so hard compared to the guttural quality of his native language... Still, he didn't want to disappoint his sultry superior officer.
The fight ensuing below was composed mostly of roiling limbs and scathing words. Their fervency was tangible. Their words, though forced, evoked hidden veins of passion lying just beneath the surface, threatening to seep into their contrived little play. What exactly did he volunteer for? This wasn't a simple staged effort for a documentary. This was something else, something deeper. Something older.
Something thrilling.
Finally, upon spotting Linarite's signal, he roused himself from his tangential thoughts and stepped onto the scene, careful to maintain his anonymity. "Hey, let go of her!" He called to the senshi, as Americanized as he could muster. His tongue felt tired just forming the words. That other lieutenant better back him up too; this ferocious senshi was most certainly above him in power. "You terrorists are a scourge on this city; just look what you're doing to that poor girl!" Damn that felt unnatural.
Luckily Leucite seized the opportunity to put himself between Avery and her assailant. Bischofite stepped in as well, in an attempt to help Linarite to her feet. "Go," he whispered, almost inaudibly.((Hope this works. If not, let me know.))
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 12:14 pm
If her backside wasn't entirely purple and blue tomorrow morning Linarite was going to be colored shocked instead. For a long moment she resented, deeply, that she had to care about something more than herself. Care more about staging this demonstration for the Negaverse rather than killing Pandora and absorbing her life's essence. Inquiries from the two men who were taller than her, yet counting on her to follwo through and be the captain that Zinkenite had always sworn she was, snapped her from that feral moment of selfishness. Knowing her back was to the camera as she rose, Linarite's grin was wide and effusive. They were going to have perfect footage for this, especially if she could rouse Pandora into attacking her lieutenants. They'd come out of it a little worse for wear but it'd be alright in the end. Their response time had been excellent; if things went according to plan she would be able to give reports to Howlite that would make them both proud to be officers. Hell, she probably would anyway, unless they did something like get her leg broken. Linarite hated broken legs. They had their instructions, knowing to engage Pandora and hold her off while Linarite got Avery to safety, but she couldn't help adding a little more into the mix. Putting a tremor in her voice, hobbling towards Avery like she was more seriously injured than she was, her voice rang out to be caught by the cameras. "Oh thank goodness! You have to help us! I think she's one of those terrorists, she..she..." Turning her head away, it was so that Linarite did not laugh rather than the tears she knew should have been displaying. "I think she was going to kill us!" Grabbing Avery's hand in her own, that was the signal for them to leave, to get out so that the captain could teleport them out. Yet they couldn't move. Not until Pandora was distracted!
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