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Make that, then, two of them: Sisyphus's own mind stuck rather often, these days, on a late-night swim with the self-same lady. Today it had him seated on the edge of a building with knees hugged to his chest, staring absently off into the distance and ignoring much of the world around him -- not the best way to patrol.

The Negaverse moved under his nose without Sisyphus even noticing. Bornite wasn't the first, perhaps, but he was the one who finally rattled him out of confusing daydreams and uncertainties, making him blink and focus. The signature wasn't literally beneath him, but two blocks away.

Close enough that a couple hops would get him there, to watch the Lieutenant drain the girl, to gather courage, and finally to clamor down.

"Hey!" Good. Strong. Laoise would be proud of him. He cleared his throat against potential weakness. "Hey, stop that!"

His comment struck home, at least; Sisyphus's eyes going down to the knobby knees that showed below the pink-striped cuffs of his pants, to the shoes on his feet, to the woeful lack of socks peeping out of his shoes. It was not, in his opinion, the getup that he would have designed. But it wasn't that bad, was it?

He frowned as he looked back up to Bornite, swallowing hard. "And what, you're any better? Where's your airplane?"

Zing.

Sisyphus puffed out a breath at that, his eyebrows pulling together into a look of disapproval that was more suited to someone thirty or forty than a boy of seventeen. It fueled him, made him jaw in a breath and twitch his chin up, to try and look down his nose at Bornite. It wasn't terribly successful. He just wasn't that tall.

"Is that how you draw girls in to drain them?" Fighting words. As Bornite eased back a step, Sisyphus eased in closer, trying to gain the courage to take the first swing.

For a bet, Sisyphus hesitated, maybe willing to let the young man go -- but then a voice spoke, soft, at his ankles.

"Get him, you stupid child." Laoise was still out of sight, mostly huddled behind the bulk of a dumpster, her eyes like luminous green lamps in the murky darkness. This was his fight, so for now, she was watching -- quietly impressed that he'd even done this much. It was a step up. The trick was the follow through, and so she gestured impatiently with her chin for him to go, tail trashing.

He mindlessly obeyed, well trained to follow her orders. Her rooftop running had done him well enough that he could catch up, and then throw himself at Bornite, grabbing at his ankles to bring them both to the ground.

It struck, but off-center; the heel of his boot skidding over Sisyphus's shoulder as he scrambled to get on top of Bornite, instead of colliding solidly. Not, of course, that he knew what to do now. Hopefully he'd figure it out soon.

"Reasonable like hurting innocent people?" It came out panting, shaky, hands raised like he didn't know what to do now. Most of Sisyphus's experience was in distracting and running, or getting rescued. Not in picking a proper fight. He swung, but it was clumsy.

Behind him, Lee skidded her way from one dumpster to the next, beads clacking together quietly as she did. A better view from her, seated in the shadows with her tail wound around her fore paws, her head cocked thoughtfully to the side. This was an improvement, she thought. Not good, but an improvement. Give it time, and he might be workable.

Winded indeed; he didn't know how to dodge, how to crumple properly, so Sisyphus took it hard and crumpled under the force. Struggling to catch his breath, it as no difficult task to knock him off, backwards, clutching at the tender spot and trying to pull himself together enough to fight back.

He swung, weakly, with one hand. No chance of colliding. And while he did, Lee circled around behind the young Lieutenant to watch, tail tip twitching easily and her own footsteps silent against the pavement. A mess, definitely, and one she watched with amusement. Maybe she enjoyed this bit more than actually winning.

The resulting blow was hard enough to make Laoise wince and to wipe the look of somewhat-smug satisfaction off her face. So, then, her pupil wasn't as well put together as she'd hoped, wasn't learning as fast as she'd thought. She could take consolation in the fact that he hadn't run, but not much else. She watched him wobble, eyes not quite focused as he tried to pull himself together, watched his hands come up weakly around Bornite's wrists -- and, impatient, she made a sound, stepping in to help out.

"Hey, Bomber." Her tone, though, was cocky. Her tone would always be cocky. It didn't matter who was winning and who was losing, Laoise was alwaysi on top.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Was the implication that she could take him? If a cat could smirk, she did, her tail thrashing as she waited for Bornite to turn and look at her. Of course, there wasn't much she could actually do once he did. Her only weapon was one that about crippled her, and would leave her hopeless, at Sisyphus's mercy. The lieutenant seemed fresh-faced, though, if he hesitated over attacking and worried about right and wrong. Maybe he didn't know as much as she did. Maybe a good bluff could get them through this.

Not that Laoise planned that much in advance. she just mocked.