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The arrival of a second pawn brought an eerie, spine chilling laugh from the depths of the cracked vessel of Alkaid's body. Where most would have begun to consider their escape routes, the broken china doll only seemed spurred forward by her own hunger for power and bloodshed. Two bright, wild amber eyes swiveled from her first target to the second, fresh meat that had crawled unknowingly into her web.

Midas, however, didn't look nearly so thrilled.

She pushed herself up from where she had fallen to her knees, not even bothering to brush the bit of dusty asphalt that was caked into the scrapes across her kneecaps. There was no use - her ripped veil and dirty fuku suggested that it wasn't the first time she had picked herself up from the ground. She felt like she was being tossed around in an enormous wave out at sea, pulled down by the undertow and spit up again on the beach - but never far enough to crawl out of the trap. What was worse was that this wasn't even the first time she'd needed a savior in the last few months.

While part of her was glad to see the new, mysterious stranger, her pride still felt deeply injured. When would she be strong enough to stand alone?

"I don't ******** know what she is," she mumbled through a panting breath. Salty or not, she took a few steps back into the safety his aura provided, hoping that his distraction was enough to keep her from getting killed. A single hand raised to a long, shallow gash across her dark cheek - it was bleeding, she could feel, but she was pretty certain there wasn't any lasting damage. The nightmare in front of her seemed to be playing with her more than anything. "But she can shoot you with that ball of light, I can't dodge it.."

They weren't far enough to quite be out of earshot and the more Midas mumbled about her unfortunate battle, the more that leering smile grew on Alkaid's face.

"If you just leave her to die, prince charming, I'll let you run away.."

Because Alkaid always did like to see what people were made of, what they stood for. What was a human if not foolish and passionate?

Wrassle?

Alkaid narrowed her eyes on the newcomer with a look that could only have been disgust. Was that even a word? The narrowed eyes were accompanied by her smile turning into a sneer and as she took a single, threatening step forward the white moon senshi's eyes widened in panic.

The first of another missile was beginning to peel away from her ball of light.

"Get down!"

Her cry was almost panicked as she ducked down behind a dumpster, pressing her back against the cool, grimy metal without hesitance and trying to fold herself as deeply into the shadow as she could. Several of those had already hit her in the face, in the torso, all across her body - she could feel the bruises forming under her skin, waiting to make her look like an impressionist's painting once she powered down. How the hell was she supposed to explain this to Ryan?

But the ball of light didn't crash after her - the new Knight, with his boldness and bravery, was Alkaid's target. As she took another step forward, a second bolt of light went soaring after the first - and then another. He could charge or he could hide, but only breaking her sight would save him from the force of the blow.

Midas watched, terrified, as the first couple of missiles landed. She had never felt so immediately loyal to other people as she did when they were down on their luck together, at risk of dying from the next manic monster the negaverse had to throw at them.

What even was this woman?

Both of her dark hands reached out and caught him by the shirt of his uniform, trying to pull him quicker into the darkness as he scrambled to get out of sight with her. Behind them, she heard the pale-haired senshi release a chilling laugh and had seen just enough of her to know what her face probably looked like. Smug, pleased and proud of herself no doubt.

Another missile peeled away and crashed into the side of the dumpster, jostling it behind Midas' shoulders and making her wince at the impact.

"No, well -" she paused and frowned, looking at his face with consideration, "I can steal her magic from her if you can distract her long enough for me to touch her." She brought both of her hands up and wiggled the fingers in the space between them. It was asking a lot, for him to walk out and be the target of something she knew was painful but she didn't really want to have to get that close to the woman, either. Getting out alive was going to take teamwork.

The sound of Alkaid's heels as she walked closer to them echoed lightly between the walls of the surrounding buildings. She was swinging out in an arc, keeping space between them but repositioning herself to see them on the other side of the dumpster. They had seconds to decide.

Alkaid's eyes snapped up to follow Triumphalis the moment he jumped out from behind the dumpster, grabbing her attention as easily as a reptile watching a meal come to life. There was no pleasure in hunting the lifeless, after all.

"Brave little Knight," she said with a laugh, letting it escalate as both eyes narrowed on his figure. There was something manic there, something not quite human. There was little time to decide, as she raised her hands and the ball hovering over them, aiming the first missile and letting it fly in an arc toward his chest -

but Midas was already moving.

She slipped from behind the dumpster as carefully as she could manage, doing her best not draw Alkaid's attention away from her first target. It felt impossible as she closed the space between them quickly and caught the broken woman by the elbow - she nearly paused over how hard the flesh felt beneath her fingertips but remembered herself and breathed the words instead: "Touch of Greed."

The light Alkaid had been holding went out abruptly and she thrust her arm back out of annoyance, catching the ginger woman in the chest and knocking the wind from her lungs. Midas stuttered and stepped backward, but her fists were curled and a strange shimmering veil seemed to be crawling along her skin, golden and thin but obviously present. There was some annoyance in trying to contain the Ascended's power - it rebelled against its cage and pounded in her ears, but she refused to release it. It was nothing compared to containing Castor's magic.

Midas buckled and tried to regain her breath as Alkaid advanced on her - but her back was to the Knight, now. She hoped the man made use of the time.