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 Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:03 pm
The blood and viscera was gone from her pitcher when she next summoned it, and Megiddo was left disappointed by this development. She’d wanted the physical evidence of her actions to remain, longed for permanent proof of what she’d done, of the man who’d lain dead in that alley with his face smashed in. The bloody streak she’d wrought with her own hand and the girl whose life she’d saved. And she had no proof save for her memories, but those were vivid enough. The crunch of bone. The smell of blood. The thrill of the kill. These were things Megiddo would keep with her the rest of her life. She found Gunn near their usual meeting place, although they hadn’t arranged a meeting, and ran after the senshi while breathlessly calling her name. Once caught up, Megiddo exclaimed, “I did it! I killed a lieutenant. I found him behind a bar with a girl and I smashed his brain in. He begged me to stop, but I didn’t. Because I knew - if I killed him, I’d be saving everyone he ever would have killed.” Megiddo grinned at the senshi. “I can’t wait to do it again,” she said.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:52 pm
Gunn had been wandering, with the goal of discovering a newbie senshi to educate--she didn’t know how many of them were out there, but she knew there were, and she didn’t exactly trust her senshiphone. Only a fool didn’t use the technology available to him or her, but in this case she’d rather have a surefire safe contact and be a little foolish than get lured into a trap by one of those goddamn cats.
“So, hey,” said Gunn, when she heard Megiddo, and she was going to launch into a few questions, but--instead, she was treated to a deluge of words. “Good job, Page,” she said, tousling Megiddo’s hair condescendingly. “No cookies for doing your job, but I’ll make an exception just this once for speedy reporting.”
She altered course, and then stopped.
Listened.
“Hold on,” she said.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:53 pm
If Gunn had meant condescension, her intent was lost on Megiddo. The page practically preened as the senshi patted her hair, and her grin grew three sizes. No cookies? Well, whatever, she’d had a good dinner. At least Gunn was pleased with her, and she’d take whatever mild compliments she could get… and blow them way out of proportion.
Megiddo stopped a few paces behind Gunn, trying to hear whatever it was the senshi was listening for. She couldn’t hear anything, but - there. She felt it. “Dark Mirror Senshi,” she said to Gunn, and pointed out the direction. “Weak,” she added, once she’d discerned the power level. Megiddo imagined the taste of blood in her mouth. Her grip on her pitcher tightened.
“We’re going to go take them out, right?” she asked the senshi.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:53 pm
“I’m going to take them out,” said Gunn, very specifically, and she brushed a hand over her hair, grabbed her hood and yanked it up. “You’re welcome to watch.” The blocks of sidewalk seemed to zip by as she focused on that one aberrant goddamn power signature, a Chaos mote that was a personal affront, proof that Gunn had never been enough for the one person she’d wanted to be--and then she found the girl, laughing and talking to another dark mirror court senshi. She could smell the hot iron of blood, the tang at the back of her throat.
Yes, she thought. Yes. This was what she wanted, what she needed, what she had chosen to come back for. She crossed the square, slowly now, her footsteps quiet. The girls’ laughter faded as one lifted a hand and pointed to the approaching Eternal.
In the end, the fight wasn’t even long enough to be satisfying. She broke the first’s neck before the Dark senshi even realized Gunn was there, and the other one-- the other one--
The savage side of Gunn, the side of her that made her wonder if she wasn’t as much a monster as any Chaos-corrupted senshi, frightened her. This was the part that brought calm, civilized Kaatje to be Gunn, to catch a frightened, fleeing girl about the shoulders and slam her down on the side of a fountain, to hold her head under the water as she screamed and flailed and fought, nails breaking and bleeding on the concrete molding, blood pinking the water just barely when she finally went still.
Gunn exhaled. Inhaled. Exhaled. In. And out.
For good measure, she decided, she would burn them. “Help me move the bodies,” she said, “do you want to see my magic?”
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:54 pm
Megiddo hung back, watching Gunn take both dark mirror senshi. She’s beautiful, the page thought, as the first girl hit the ground. Such brutality! Such efficiency! Such grace! There was only one person Megiddo wanted to be like when she grew up, and that person was Eternal Sailor Gunn.
When the second girl went still, Megiddo rejoined Gunn and hauled the corpse up, grabbing it beneath the armpits. “Okay,” she said, still feeling the adrenaline rush keenly, in every muscle fiber in her body. And she hadn’t even fought! She kind of wished she had - but then she would have missed seeing Gunn kill so cleanly, so beautifully… It was a hard trade-off. Megiddo would just have to be satisfied.
“I would love to see your magic,” she said. Gunn was the senshi of wildfires, and it didn’t take a genius to figure what they were going to do with the bodies. “Where are we taking these?”
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:54 pm
“Out of the eyesight of random passersby,” said Gunn, “because you should not dispose of a body where a casual observer could see. Remember that, Megiddo.” She turned down an alley, hoping to find--and yes, there, a metal dumpster. Gunn opened it one-handed and tossed her burden in. “Have you got anything that could start a fire,” asked Gunn, who did not much fancy dumpster diving for matches that would likely be too wet with whatever was in the dumpster to get any use out of them. “Unfortunately, when senshi God was passing out powers, mine were a little deficient. I need a source of flame.”
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:55 pm
Well, that was an excellent way to start out tonight’s lesson, thought Megiddo, as she tossed the dead girl into the dumpster behind Gunn’s. “I have a lighter in my school bag,” she said - and exactly no way to get to it short of powering down. Did she trust Gunn that much? Well, yes, but powering down in front Gunn seemed like it would earn her a lecture. So did walking away just to get a damn lighter. She could practically hear the reprimand: What the ******** are you doing, page? Wasting my time? I haven’t got all night.
She pushed her glamour away, grabbed the lighter out of her bag and tossed it to Gunn, and pulled her frills back around her. “It’s for science things,” she said, shrugging.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:55 pm
Uh-huh. Science things. She accepted the lighter and ignored all the little details she registered about Megiddo in her civilian form; she had no reason to remember, she told herself, except that she had to admit that she was curious. “Well, I’ll buy you a new one,” she said, “for science things.” Then she, very carefully, removed the striker casing from the plastic, poured about half the lighter fluid over the shimmering black fabric of the DMC senshi’s bodice. She reassembled the lighter, lit it, and touched the flame to the hem of the body’s clothing. It caught, and Gunn dropped the lighter.
Her home planet had taught her the beauty of fire, she thought. It’d taken a while to clear the flames, but once she’d burned away all the debris, the place had become quite livable. But this wasn’t the time to ruminate over it. “Gunn Wildfire Voracious Propagation,” she said, flicking her fingers at the flames. With a roar, the flames doubled in size, flaring a bright gold-white, consuming the flesh and fabric with a hungry crackle. And, because she was not satisfied: “Gunn Wildfire Propagation.” And again, the flames doubled--and the odor of burning trash and flesh and hair filled the air--and Gunn slammed the lid of the dumpster shut.
“Time to go,” she said. “Coffee?”
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:56 pm
Megiddo watched the flames climb higher with each incantation Gunn called, completely awestruck, until she slammed the the dumpster. At which point it was time to get back to business and also realize that burning trash and flesh and hair smelled exactly as bad as everyone always said it did - maybe worse.
“Absolutely,” she said, falling into line behind Gunn. She brushed her hands together. All in a day’s work she considered.
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