Twenty minutes till midnight, and like the times before Kazenite was early; though this time she opted to not wait around for several hours. The time for them to meet was finite and exact, there was no wiggle room for delay.
High up in one of the several oak trees scattered throughout the park in the business district, the General Queen sat atop one of the thick branches with her back pressed against the base. In her lap lay Xyla in high concentration as she dampened their signatures completely. Why so far up off the ground? One may wonder. The answer was a simple one, rarely anyone thought to look up, plus it provided adequate coverage yet still allowed her to both see and feel if anyone, powered at least, came near.
There was a secretive smile on those glossed lips of hers for Sherwood had proved quite useful after her little spying escapade. It was the address she gave that was the biggest prize of all. The home Deman visited Monday evening nearly 6 o’clock sharp; the one that belonged to Ms. Delilah White.
Rounded nails combed through the guardian cat’s soft fur eliciting a soft purr from the little feline. ”What’s your plan? Are you going to let her know you found out who she is?” The lazy question was punctuated by a drawn out yawn yet those piercing yellow eyes didn’t even so much as peek out from behind those closed lids.
“No, there’s no point in letting her know right now, it will only cause her to fly away. Or give our Dove reason to doubt me.” Kazenite shifted so one leg now dangled freely over the side of the tree limb “I merely wish to find out what she learned from Deman before I present the information to Kadavadite”
“Sounds boring” an honest statement that elicited a slight chuckle from the teal haired woman.
“Perhaps just a bit. But don’t worry, things will be picking up soon enough.” true enough no matter what information the senshi brought. Her hopes were that it was that last bit of information she’d need before bringing the files to the chief of police for his review. However if it proved to be a dead end… well, Phact would learn what it means to fail and the consequences of wasting Kazenite’s time on frivolous goose chases.
Twenty minutes to midnight and Delilah white stood just down the road gazing in the direction of the business park. Her eyes were locked on the trees having quickly learned that Kazenite and Mari enjoyed the higher places as much as she did. As she was still in her human form, Delilah did not know if they were there yet but she had a hunch.
As she sat in the empty chair of a closed cafe, Delilah turned the small recorder over in her hands. This information would seal the fate of a man she had shared her bed with. Not that the last part mattered muched. He had been talented in bed and Delilah had to admit that another round would have been nice but it wasn’t important. As soon as Kazenite had this information, his fate was out of her hands.
Finally, she grabbed the item tightly in her right hand and pulled her pen out in her left. ”Sorry. But at least you got something out of it too.” Delilah chuckled as a light surrounded her.
When she stood, Sailor Phact walked strongly towards the park, recorder in hand. What she wondered now was how Kazenite planned to greet her this time. A noose?
There, a brush against the edge of her senses was an order aurora walking towards her. “She’s early this time.” Kazenite mused, pleased to not have another repeat of last time. Seems the senshi learned quick enough that increased force or persuasion would not be necessary.
Trailing her finger along the outer shell of Xyla’s ear the feline opened her eyes and let out a rather big yawn then nuzzled the side of her face against Kaze’s hand. Not wanting to jar the cat too much the General Queen teleported to the base of the tree so she sat upon one of the roots and her back pressed against the rough bark, still sitting in roughly the same position as she had been up above.
Once the white feathered outfit came into view, graced by the yellow glow of the midnight street lamps the teal haired woman spoke quietly. “You can lift it now, no need to dampen my signature completely; she sees us.” It to no ushering as the veil lifted just enough for the senshi to feel the signature of a general, someone who for all intensive purposes felt to be her level at least.
A p***k in the back of her neck. Kazenite was there and waiting for her.
The feeling of different auras had always caused her hair to stand on end. The stronger the aura, the worse the feeling was. In the long run, the general kings and queens even caused her to have chills run up and down her back. Phact didn’t make a habit of sticking around long when one of those came into the area. This was something that had never changed about her through the years. It was odd at first but she learned to listen to her body’s reactions and it had done well to keep her alive.
Phact did not slow or change her pace until she stood several steps in front of Kazenite and the cat. Her eyes dropped to the pair as the hand lifting upward fingered with the tape recorder. “What? No choke hold? Should I walk away and come back?”
Kazenite tilted her head back and looked up at the senshi of doves clad in a white outfit decorated with red beads and feathers. Her expression remained fairly neutral to the comment, in part she may have deserved it but it mattered little in the long run for she learned something far better, a bit of knowledge she planned to hold onto Ms. Delilah White. A knowing smile that could be confused with one of a greeting lifted the corners of her lips and with a nod of her head she regarded Phact. “I suggest not leaving unless you have nothing to share so I may proceed with my evening. There are still plenty of things I must finish by the time the sun rises.”
However if she were indeed to walk away there would be dire consequences especially since the General Queen knew the Senshi had information to share especially after what Sherwood brought to her earlier that day. Yes there were things to discuss and now was not the time to play this game of dominance; now was time for business.
And Phact herself still had several things to attend to before the sun rose. While these days, it would have been easy to just give up on the entire pretense of being a Watcher for the White Moon, there was a comfort in it as well. Not to mention it was under the pretenses that she would use all information gathered to help the resistance. A smile appeared on her lips, timed to meet that of the General on the ground before her. But the truth was that it was brought on by the thought of what others would think if they knew she held little loyal to matters at hand. She had spent years feeling useless, without a purpose. Why now would that change in their minds?
Without missing another beat, Phact lifted the recorder up into view and pressed play. The tape shifted and then a male voice sounded Yes. I am getting them out of this mess. For the past two years I have been helping them see that the course of action…
Delilah hit the pause button once more and threw the recorder towards the feet of the general.
Xyla’s eyes snapped open at the sound of the recorder hitting the ground. Sharp claws curled, piercing through Kazenite’s pants into her skin yet she seemed unphased as teal blue eyes glanced over at the piece of equipment. Clicking her tongue the General Queen leaned forward and carefully ran her index finger under the guardian cats paw to remove those tiny weapons from her own flesh. “Rude,” she tutted “the least you could do is hand it to me.”
Arms crossing under her chest, Sailor Phact visibly shifted her weight so that she was leaning on her left leg. “I worry that if I get to close, I might not leave with everything I came with.” Her response was dull as she looked towards the feline she had scared. Honestly, she had not realized how asleep the cat was. ”Though I am sorry for waking you Mari.” Her voice softened slightly as her eyes fell on the cat. No matter how human like they were, they were still felines.
“I do not have the ability to access the names of the partner’s he once had but I figured you might have your own connections there. Might seem off if I start asking around about those. After all, I am just a normal human woman.” Red eyes cast back at Kazenite and nodded. “But you have a time frame and also that his most recent will turn up as ‘having not been able to cut it’ by Monday.”
The teal haired woman raised an eyebrow “You realize that how close you get to me makes little difference right?” she felt the need to point out. Had she not demonstrated enough times that distance was a relative thing for someone who could teleport at will. No matter, Kazenite instead patted Xyla’s backside ushering the feline off her lap and leaned forward to pick up the recorder.
‘Mari’ as the senshi had so benevolently nicknamed her, just rolled her eyes and jumped back into the tree to sit up on a higher perch. She was tired and wanted to be left alone and thus offered no sort of recognition to Phact; such a typical cat response.
“Getting the names of his partners is easy, who they became if they did indeed purify as that little snippet you shared suggests might prove to be a bit more difficult.” Unless their powered identities before corruption was known, finding out who they are now might lead to several dead ends. Sherwood for one was a prime example of this, if she were to ever seek purification… a thought that made Kazenaite sneer inwardly, they at least knew who she was on the other side, a former knight of Earth, and thus would be significantly easier to locate her should she not seek shelter in one of those camps the Order seemed to have scattered around outside the city limits.
Ignoring the woman’s comment about distance was easy enough. She knew the woman could teleport, a gift those in the chaos aligned had. Phact also knew that Kazenite could travel quite a distance. But the way she was sitting, something told the senshi that the woman watching didn’t really want to move. Oh the hazards of being awake so late.
Shaking her raven hair slowly at the cat, Phact returned her attention to the general. “And that is where I am going to draw the line.” Her voice was calm, never changing. “Leaving out the fact that unless they go around announcing things or it is found to be important to our cause, most of us in the city are not pillaged with such information. So those that have already left might be out of your reach by this time. But what is a handful if you can stop a mass exodus?”
She had some strange loyalties and one of them was to the camps. So many lives were there that had nothing to do with this war, she wasn’t going to endanger them. Silly Order Honor Code. Made Phact feel like a girl scout at times.
“Hmm” was all Kazenite said. Seemed as if their little dove had her tail feathers all in a bunch. For once the General Queen was not looking for a fight and yet it seemed the senshi was determined to start one. Pity…
“They are of little consequence to me once they purify. Aside from knowing who my enemies are, my care ends there. Like I said before, I’m only concerned with those on my side. Anything else is extra.” Which was true to a point. Once someone left the negaverse and joined the Resistance they no longer fell under her division. Instead they moved onto Shadite’s area of expertise and she then gets to go on the hunt for traitors and little white moon senshi.
Those words caused Phact’s shoulders to relax and a breath to be exhaled in a slow sigh. Honestly she had been worried about the extent of information Kazenite would be wanting. Details and the such for members already on her side were one thing. Turning in others that would endanger far more than one or two was not something Phact could bring herself to do. Stupid Girl Scout code. Stupid Catholic Guilt. That would out weigh anything and everything.
“Is there anything else then I can be of assistance with on this case?” In a passing thought, she asked and gave a shrug not knowing what else she could do besides brean into police HQ or flirt with some guards.
“Maintain your facade if at all possible. Last thing I want is for him to feel like something is amiss.” That would put a damper on things if he caught wind of his impending punishment. “I’ll be able to take it from here unless he gives you something else to build this case against him. Otherwise do what you do best and see if there is any other potential traitors you can find.” Easy enough, the senshi had performed her role quite wonderfully. It was indeed a pity she chose to save the identity of the knight but no matter, however it made little difference anyway; he, or she, was not the intended target.
Kazenite eyed the recorder in her hand then looked back up to Phact with a half smile. “I would however like to listen to it before you go.” It was not a request it was a simple fact that held with it a lot of weight. Even though the General Queen already knew what she would hear, her bird was to stay put. For as much as she wanted to know what parts Ms Delilah White decided to omit from the tape when compared to Sherwoods version, ultimately she wanted to get a better read on the woman before her.
There was a smile on her face as Kazenite expressed interest in both matters of her keeping her cover and of playing her part in this. It would not be hard to pick up a few more loose ends around this crazy city after all.
But just as she was about to wish the woman a pleasant evening, Phact caught sight of the tape recorder. This did not surprise her in the least. The general was cautious and would most likely know if any editing had been done. Which of course, it had not. Okay, maybe a bit of a lie. She had gone back in and erased the part where her personal name had been said. While Delilah or White might not give away too much, Kazenite did not need any form of a bone to follow. Phact knew her personality well enough already to know that that bone would be enough to keep her going until she found a moose or something bigger ”Be my guest. Though I warn you. The last part might not be PG - 13 rated.”
Xyla’s ears swiveled back and forth listening to the two women’s verbal jousting and only opened those piercing yellow eyes when it seemed things might finally get interesting. Not that she needed the senshi’s permission to hit play, Kazenite did however give her the courtesy of offering Phact the ‘go ahead’ voice in all of this before jumping the gun. With two sets of eyes now focused intently on the Senshi of Doves, the teal haired woman smiled and hit play.
Smiling back at the woman, Phact looked off towards the side as she listened to Monday evening play over again. Once she heard her voice on the recorder, the senshi of doves winced. There were things in the world Phact did not enjoy hearing. Her own voice was one of them.
There was an ever widening grin that spread across Kazenite’s face as she hit the start button and let the conversation begin. At a certain point, a few minutes in, and she was sure he was all the way inside the ‘general’ voiced an off the cuff comment “Rude fellow, can’t even properly greet a woman at the door.” she mused though she knew for a fact he had indeed said something that was clearly missing.
“Some people never learned manners” Phact said off the cuff as she gave a shrug. In her mind, she replied the night and realized what Kazenite was missing. Sometimes, that’s what had to happen though. “Maybe that should be added in new recruit manuals? How to win people over with a well placed ‘Please’ rather than force.”
Minutes passed as the two listened to the evening progress. Certain parts she fast forwarded through when there seemed to be a lull; or rather when she knew there was one however she timed her ‘impatience’ in such a way it seemed coincidental. However when things started to heat up, oh… she listened. “Well, seems like you took my suggestion literally.” Definitely seemed like she had some fun with a night full of pleasurable activities.
A white gloved hand slid up the side of Phact’s face, resting to cover half of her amused and slightly embarrassed smile. Though one eye, and cracks in her fingers, she could watch Kazenite’s reactions to the events of the evening. Oh she had enjoyed. Traitor or not, the man knew how to handle a woman. Not mention her alter-ego was one woman that had learned how to handle a man. What was it her ex had told her? They he wanted to get her a trophy? Sadly, she had not gotten it but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use it to her advantage.
“Are you going to listen to all of that?” She finally asked dropping her arm to grab onto her elbow with a sigh. “Because there are certain parts in there that may….” Her words were timed with a well placed crash followed by a pair of thuds. “I think that was the coffee table….”
Now that was something Kazenite expected to have been omitted. Seeing her reaction however coupled with the loud sound made this moment priceless. Unable to contain her amusement the teal haired woman started laughing only to wipe a non existent tear from her rather dry eyes. Had she not been expecting the crash, her own reaction would have been well… more lively perhaps; filled with more mirth at the very least. “I suppose I shall save the rest for later.”
Rising to her feet she put the recorder away inside one of her hip pouches and snapped the button closed “I thank you for this. I have a bit more digging around to do before any action may or may not be taken. Your call for our next meeting” Seems only fair that the switch who sets the dates and times.
Grateful for the recorder to be off, Phact could finally feel the red leaving her cheeks. Of course that was what most would erase but she had chosen not to because in a way, allowing herself to be embarrassed meant she was not afraid to get all the truth out. Besides, there were whispers during that romp that might hold more clues. There was another copy of that tape sitting on her desk back home to go over with the sound increased. Deman had made some mumbling sounds that she had been too busy to worry about before.
“Sunday evening say 10pm. The old church building at Westbro. I have some things to handle between now and then.”
“Sunday it is. I will see you then.” Recognizing it was time to go Xyla jumped from her perch and landed on Kazenites shoulder before the two of them teleported away without another word uttered. They had what they had come for; the ball was now in their court and heads were about to start rolling.
