The Acubens the captain had faced in the past had been bold, a feisty, scrappy thing that had spat sass and rebellion with every word. The girl who stood before her, rooted to the pavement in fear, was someone new. The same body, certainly, but experience had changed her, morphed her, made her into something new, and that thing was little better then a frightened bird. Where had her boldness run to? Where was her spine?
Pale features had slide into thoughtful contemplation as she'd circled the girl, and the painted tips of her nails slid along that scar kissed skin, drifting, almost absently, towards her throat.
Bischofite.
It was his words that echoed in her ears now. His lessons, his ultimatums. His desires. They drowned out lingering morality, chased away compassion with gnashing teeth. She would kill for him, to keep him in her life. Prove her worth, her loyalty, her absolute resolve. She would be flawless.
Acubens' death would be her gift to him.
Fingers graced that slender throat and silver eyes were as cold as the metal they resembled.
BIschofite.
The blurted name stilled her hand, those empty eyes blinked, focusing on the young woman's face as she repeated herself. No explanation, no expansion, only the name. And it
did speak volumes. "Oh my." Her thumb rolled up, the tip of her nail pressing into the side of the senshi's jaw. "And you survived?" Why had she survived? "How very curious." Was it luck? Had she slipped away by some fluke? "Did he let you live?"
To what end? Did her general have plans for the trembling senshi in her hands? Some grande design that she was not yet privy? Possibly. It wouldn't surprise the captain.
It did, however, complicate things. If Bischofite
had let the girl go then there was likely a reason. Be it nothing more then a drawn out scheme to reduce Acubens to something broken and fractured, it meant the raptor was off limits.