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When Maggie Lawrence had first become Sailor Auriga, she hadn't really taken the job seriously. That wasn't entirely her fault! Derp wasn't the most informative guardian cat, and she had no idea if anyone else she knew was a senshi. She investigated it for a time, but then her mother moved her out of the city. Outside of Destiny City, the gang violence of schoolgirls are not exactly a thing. Plus, the normal teenager stuff was distracting.

The big spark in her had really been the Boot Camps run by Gunn. Now she would actually go on patrol sometimes. She had begun working out for a reason other than to Feel Adult. And that night, she was trying out some attack strategies on the top floor of a darkened mattress store. It was a great situation for her. It was mostly secluded so she was never bothered. There were no security cameras inside, just on the front door, and the ventilation shaft from the roof had a loose cover. She just had to slip inside and BAM -- her own senshi gym.

Auriga also liked jumping dramatically from bed to bed.

That night, she had her cellphone perched on a shelf on the far wall of the main showroom recording video. Auriga herself was practicing vaulting over stacked mattresses. One was stacked 10 high -- she liked adding one each time for more challenge. The move was simply: she ran, leapt over, and then either safely rolled out or attempted to land while striking a blow.

Then, later, she would review the video to give herself notes. It was a perfect system! She had already been practicing for an hour. Sweat prickled on her skin. Maybe 30 more minutes and then she would head home.

Sailor Auriga was not coming out anytime soon, at least as long as it was SUPER FUN to bounce and cartwheel around on the mattresses. She took a running leap toward one, bounced, arced, and landed on another, laughing hysterically. Above her, she heard a metallic scrape. "Hello?" she ventured once.

When no one responded, she continued her running and leaping. Her last pass was not as good, and Auriga landed hard against the side of a metal bedframe, letting out an audible oof!. "That seems like a sign to take a break," she said, crossing to where her camera was resting on the far wall.

Picking it up, she played the latest video, watching her acrobatic antics. "Nice," she said, lifting up a water bottle with her free hand, using her teeth to uncork it, and drinking deeply. The bottle tipped to her lips when she suddenly became aware of the Chaos presence looming nearby. Auriga stilled, capping the bottle slowly and setting it down.

Nothing to worry about, right? Just someone passing by?

Auriga froze, waiting for the aura to disappear and thinking through a million ways to escape.

The voice made Auriga stiffen. She fell to the floor behind the mattress, leaving her water bottle in plain sight. Her phone was still clutched to her chest, and she contemplated texting for help. Closing her eyes, the teenager tried to feel out the power level of this attacker. With a gulp, she noted the energy pulsed much stronger than hers... meaning, yikes.

WELL.

Maybe if she just stayed really, really, really still, the corrupt person would just... leave.

It wasn't a good plan, but it was her plan.

Was this a trap? This felt like a trap.

Auriga scrolled through her mental rolodex of pop culture references that could give her advice in this situation. Maybe if she spoke up, they would be able to banter long enough for her to make her way to the exit? She was pretty confident she could kick down the front door to get out, though she didn't love the idea of being shown on the news destroyed private property. The vent that she had used to come into the store was way too close to the Dark Mirror intruder for her liking.

What to do?

"GO AWAY," she said loudly, scrambling as quietly as she could to another mattress to try and leave the spot where she had called out from. Auriga army crawled her way to the other side of a fat, king-sized mattress, curling her knees to her chest.

Taking a few deep breaths, she peered around the side of the mattress, trying to spot her enemy's location.

Auriga was 99% sure this was a scene from a horror movie that she just couldn't remember.

When a mattress nearby began bouncing, she jumped, letting out the tiniest of squeaks before clapping her arms over her mouth. No, no, no -- this was too much. Auriga tucked the phone into her pocket, eyeballed the door on the far opposite end of the store, and drew down into a running position. She drew in one deep breath.

Auriga hopped out of her hiding place suddenly, sparing one glance back -- a girl in black and gray with pure blond hair in a scary style -- before sprinting as fast as her little senshi legs could carry her toward the looming exit.

Auriga was running, but not quite fast enough. The girl let out a harsh squawk, which made her jump out of her skin. Then there was a sudden flapping all around her, and she stumbled over a display of bed lifts. Leaping up, Auriga wheeled around to face her attacker. "What are you, Evil Senshi of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds?" she snapped.

A hand shot out to grab a pillow, which she threw at the other girl's head, eyes flickering around for more ramifications from the attack. They had some distance between them, but Auriga didn't make any sudden moves. She didn't want to inspire this girl to attack again.

The pillow came flying back, but Auriga sidestepped the bulk of it, taking a thud to the shoulder instead. It bounced off a mattress behind her and rolled to the floor. "Hardly evil?" she echoed, then stopped when Chariklo continued. Oh, she was gay? Under normal circumstances, Auriga would sprint to her side about how cool it was that she was gay and how she just loved gay people and how she had like so many gay friends.

Unfortunately, this was neither the time nor place. She blinked several times and then continued, "Can you not feel your own aura? It's darkness, 100%. You have that same inky ick that all the people you run with do." A hand waved in the air vaguely moving up and down the Dark Mirror senshi's body, as if she were a mean girl insulting someone else's dress at prom. "Think of the most evil person you know who is magical or whatever like we are. Are you picturing one of your own? I bet you are." An accusatory finger poked out across the room at Chariklo.

"Oh, the Senshi of Lost Puppies now," Auriga said, slow-clapping. "I. Don't. Buy. It."

When Chariklo took to the bed, the Senshi of Pestilence tried to hold her place. Sure, get closer. Closer was where she needed her, even if her knees felt like they were about to turn to jelly. It was unclear what filled her with this sudden burst of confidence, but whatever it was, Auriga had considered her flight or fight response and chosen a side.

Gritting her teeth, Auriga took the full blow of the punch, sputtering slightly as the wind moved out of her. She doubled over, still clutching the Dark Mirror senshi's arm tightly. As Chariklo spoke, she might have been aware of the faint push of hot breath near the bare skin at her hands.

And then Auriga bit her. Hard. Twice.

Two hands raised up to the other senshi's shoulders, shoving her backward as Auriga took off at a dead run toward the exit. "I'm the Senshi of Pestilence, by the way!" she shouted, the thrum of success a drug running hot in her veins. She threw a display of small wheels for the bottoms of bed frames to the floor, catapulting over a mattress just like she had been practicing and landing on her feet. Auriga gave a little cheer, wishing the cellphone were still recording.

Her hands clapped against the push bar that led out of the front door of the store, but then her body came flying after it, hitting the door with the full force of her acceleration -- and not budging an inch. Auriga froze, her arms pained from the impact. In her time here, she had not realized that a large metal gate was pulled down across the front of the store. Why should she? She never used the front door. In her mind, she had run to this exact spot, kicked the door wide open by snapping the lock, and then sprinted to safety. Now, her choice of exit was like an impenetrable fortress.

With a grunt, she slammed her boot against the metal handle, denting it and shattering the glass. An alarm went off, high and whining. She kicked again, but the metal grate meant the door was not budging. Auriga might have senshi strength, but that didn't mean she could peel steel like it was a banana. She spent a minute tugging and pulling, her heart fluttering like a bird in her chest.