Word Count: 1551
As a doctor, Bloodstone was given some leeway with his quota collection. He helped tend to wounded officers, and even managed to take starseeds from dying or dead patients when he knew he could get away with it. But that didn’t mean he was purposefully trying to slack off or neglect his duties.
He’d been a lieutenant for far too long, and although he was certain he could ask for more power, he knew he would have to prove himself worthy of promotion before that would be allowed to happen.
Collecting more energy was an easy enough way to show he should be allowed the rank of Captain, and hopefully General soon after. So he waited down darkened alleys for passersby, then cornered them long enough to drain them of energy. The homeless were easy targets, of course. Most of them were already asleep when he walked through their makeshift camps, keeping to the shadows and sucking their energy dry.
He made sure to keep clear of senshi and knights as well. Whenever he could feel their auras closing in, he slipped away and powered down before they could reach him. How anyone managed to get into fights with Order was beyond him — they could be felt coming from a distance away.
It was unfortunate that he found out how that was possible one night while he was out collecting energy. He’d cornered a drunk man in an alley and had finished forming their energy into an orb in his hand, when energy like a sudden storm enveloped all of his senses.
Quite literally, in fact. It was no sooner than his senses picked up the knight aura that a thunderstorm erupted around him, blocking out everything else. The rush of wind and heavy cracks of lightning and thunder around him was obviously meant to overwhelm him, but Bloodstone was used to being able to keep his composure in otherwise stressful situations. It was a requirement of his job as a surgeon.
“Drop it,” Bloodstone heard a voice like a growl say through the tempest. The orb of energy was still in Bloodstone’s hand as wind and rain whipped through his hair and around him. The voice, and aura, felt like it was some yards away. Perhaps this knight’s magic didn’t allow him to get any closer without compromising the effectiveness. Not that it was affecting Bloodstone the way he was sure it was supposed to. Maybe if he was afraid of a little thunder, but he most certainly was not.
Weighing his odds, he knew he probably should release the orb of energy. This was a knight, and he was a Lieutenant, not yet able to teleport. One of the reasons he desperately wanted to gain extra power. It would make things like this so much easier to deal with.
Still, out of all the senshi and knights he’d met, there were very few that actually knew how to fight. Bloodstone, on the other hand, kept up with his kickboxing between work and sleeping in order to keep himself in shape and prepared for situations like this.
“Making demands without introducing yourself?” Bloodstone asked into the wind, stalling. From what he’d learned, knight magic only lasted so long. Once it was out, he would be open to a fair fight.
This knight was apparently not one of the overly dumb ones, because as soon as Bloodstone finished his question, the storm began to dissipate, and he was barely able to jump back in time as metal and glass came crashing down where he’d just been standing. Shards of glass and an unknown liquid flew up from the impact, and Bloodstone was forced to throw his arms up over his face to protect it.
In doing so, the orb fell from his hand.
The debris of metal and glass disappeared shortly after, reappearing in the hand of what must have been a knight of Jupiter, given the symbols and colors of his outfit. Bloodstone concluded that he must have powered up from a civilian shortly before confronting him, otherwise it wouldn’t have been possible for the knight to sneak up on him as he had. Perhaps the knight had been careless and Bloodstone could request the cameras of local businesses be reviewed. As Dr. de Rais, of course. He didn’t want it obvious that he was associated with the Negaverse.
No longer with his prize, Bloodstone put his fists up in a position that clearly welcomed a fight.
“You’d be wise not to underestimate me,” Bloodstone offered as his only warning. He was a trained fighter and knew he could handle his own in hand-to-hand fights. This knight seemed to have used up a good amount of his magic, and although he looked physically built for a fight, Bloodstone often found that extra muscle often meant it was mostly for show and slower response time. As a trained kickboxer, Bloodstone made up for speed where he lacked in physical prowess.
As expected, the knight clearly thought little of Bloodstone because he smirked and adjusted his stance, but not necessarily to fight.
A fatal error in judgment, Bloodstone thought to himself as he prepared to face off against the knight. Just because he was a Lieutenant and this other man was a Knight didn’t mean he couldn’t hold his own in a fight.
“Thanks for the heads up,” the knight said as he reached down to his side, taking hold of something attached to his belt.
It only took a moment for Bloodstone to realize this knight had no intention of following through with fighting him one-on-one. He had other magic up his sleeve, and Bloodstone was once again left shielding his face as an enormous, snarling, illusion of a wolf seemed to form out of thin air from smoke that suddenly appeared. It was still translucent, so Bloodstone had his doubts that it was anything but meant for a distraction.
Regardless of the intention, Bloodstone was clearly outnumbered and needed a quick escape. Being able to teleport would have been incredibly helpful at that moment.
The wolf lunged for him, and Bloodstone reacted to defend himself, turning to kick the wolf across the muzzle. He was expecting his leg to go right through the figure, which would have surely allowed the Knight to try and take advantage of the situation, but Bloodstone was surprised when his foot made contact with a solid object, and the wolf reared back in pain, rubbing at its snout with a giant paw.
Bloodstone took that opportunity to make a run for it. He would cut his losses and try again another day.
He didn’t get far when he heard the sound of the wolf catching up to him, and barely turned around in time to see its giant fangs open and bite down on his leg hard enough to break bone.
A pained hiss escaped from between his teeth as he used his other leg to kick hard at the snarling creature. He’d been brought down on his back, which ached from the sudden impact, and he could already see the blood soaking into the fabric of his uniform.
By some miracle, the wolf disappeared, leaving Bloodstone scrambling to get himself back on his feet. It appeared as though the knight’s magic had run out, but not before it was able to cause serious damage. As Bloodstone made another attempt to retreat, he could see the knight move forward and crouch down as if to inspect the blood that had been left behind on the ground.
“You should probably have a hospital look at that,” he knight said, but in such a way that it still sounded like a threat. “Such a… unique wound. I’m sure all the doctors will be talking about it.”
The knight didn’t follow further, but instead seemed to be more interested in helping the civilian that had been left unconscious, allowing Bloodstone to quickly make his way around a corner, and then power down once he was positive he was out of sight.
He hissed at the pain in his leg, feeling sweat bead along his brow. Going to the hospital probably was the best course of action, but the way the knight spoke made it sound like he would be checking to see if there were any patients with large bite wounds that night. Perhaps this knight was another doctor, or knew someone at the hospitals?
The pain in August’s leg and loss of blood had him shaking too much to carry on without assistance in less than a few blocks, so he carefully made himself as comfortable as possible next to one of the alley dumpsters as he worked on at least stopping the wounds from bleeding as best he could. He knew he couldn’t stay there long because the knight would surely be looking for a bloodtrail, but he’d at least had some time for his jeans to soak everything up from when he first powered down.
Still, he couldn’t be too sure when the blood started dripping down his leg and onto the ground again. He would keep moving in just a few minutes.
He just needed to rest a little while.
Just a little…
