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The nice thing about 5:30am is that everybody who was staying up late have finally gone to bed, and most of the morning shift crowd were still asleep for at least another hour. It left the city streets with a pretty wholesome crowd of health nuts and elderly insomniacs. Sometimes it felt even safer walking home in the pitch black morning than the bright and sunny afternoon.

Still, Todd was on guard walking home from work. He was always on guard when walking alone. Destiny City was a weird place. Sometimes he wondered if it was something in the water, and just every so once in awhile a citizen could expect to be treated to some unlikely, fluoride-induced hallucination. Case in point: there are two green, glowing orbs in the nearby alleyway. There could, in fact should, be some sort of reasonable explanation for them. The problem with reasonable explanations, though, is that they take time.

And time takes lives.

Or at least hospital trips and missed shifts.

It didn't take Todd much time at all to react. Pitching his plastic bag of stale corndogs and taquitos into the alley, he started sprinting away toward a (hopefully) more populated intersection. There was a loud clatter behind him and he sped up, eyes darting back and forth. Maybe sheltering in place would be the better option.

Maybe there was nothing in the alley anyway, and what he heard was just some sleepless octogenarian on their way to McDonald's.

Todd wasn't gonna be looking back, though.

Todd, chest fit to bursting and regretting all the cardio he skipped out on, nearly ran into somebody and while he didn't pause right away, his eyes managed to catch the distinct flare of costume.

"s**t, s**t, s**t..." he gasped through panic clenched teeth. Good costume or bad costume? Good costume or bad costume?! It was the difference between a body in between him and Potentially Scary Thing and having Two Scary Things at his back. Against his better judgement, Todd couldn't help turning back, and then he did skid to a stop.

Catching is breath in confusion and cautious relief, he scanned the street for something other than the guy in the costume. And it was empty, blessedly empty. Until what he thought was a street sign opened it's glowing green eyes. The figure seemed just thin at first, and then a long spindly leg emerged from its shadowed form. And then more legs appeared until something reassembly a very tall, very narrow daddy long legs was skittering forward at speed.

Todd screamed like the weenie he was and fell back. Please be a good costume please please please be good....

"Ah huuuhhhhuuhh?!" Todd managed to get out, scooching back on his a**, eyes darting around for cover. It roughly translated to: Thank you kind warrior, I will get out of your way. Good luck and good day!

The youma, tall and spindly, went still seeing Osiris move in front of its prey. It gave a small, skittering backward motion as if reconsidering. One leg lifted and then suddenly extended out, growing longer and thinner as it stabbed toward the senshi.

Emily had been up in the early hours as usual, and was just on the way back from her morning run when she sensed another senshi nearby and, underneath that, a youma. Feeling energized by the crisp morning air and accompanying endorphins, she slipped into an alley and emerged a few moments as Hestia. Running toward the power signatures, she navigated another alley, popping her head out to see 7eleven guy, getting attacked again, and another senshi, standing in front of him.

The thin figure of shadow blended in too well with the dark morning hour. It took several moments and the youma attacking, for her eyes to be able to pick it out.

The creature began to shift, possibly hoping to find another shadowy place to blend in and find another opportunity to attack later. Moving with a terrible swiftness it...awkwardly was jolted to half stop, part of it caught in the magical cuffs, the rest of it flailing in a mass of thin limbs.

Watching the battle begin, Hestia moved to action, picking up a hefty pot of dead flowers sitting near the alley exit. She couldn't even tell if the youma had eyes for her to blind, and it locked like the other senshi had its movements locked down for the moment. So her role should be...brute force. her favorite!

"Hestia Beam!" The maid senshi shouted, as she hurled the pot at (what was to be hoped) the youma's head in a grand explosion of dry dirt and broken terra cotta.

Youma dust swiftly joined the mess of dirt in the street. "A solid strike yourself." Brushing her hands off, the maid senshi approached and introduced herself, "I'm Hestia, senshi of Housekeeping. Pleased to meet you."

It was, in fact a hella nice kick. Glancing down the street, she noticed that telltale 7eleven green cowering behind a car.

Peeking out, Todd saw that not only was his savior in caution tape armor still standing just fine and dandy, but he'd been joined by Miss Maid Costume who had also saved him a few times before. Shw'd even helped clean up the store afterward.

Relieved, he held out a shaky thumb's up to show he was fine.

Justice. Hestia's eyebrows rose. What a powerful sounding sphere! Seeing the other senshi off with a small bow, she began walking toward the unimpressive but still whole-looking 7eleven employee. When she gestured for him to stand up, he did so obediently and then, without being asked, spun in a little circle, arms out.

Clearly they had been through this more than once.

"You should start a running habit," she intoned when he was facing her again.

"I like my hiding habit a lot more?"

Hestia stared up at him for an awkwardly long silence, and just as he was about to break she finally relented with a stern, "I will walk you home."

"Thanks!" Todd accepted the escort without hesitation or the least bit of manful pride. "Uh, just let me go grab something first."

Jogging back toward the alley he first noticed something wrong, he picked up the plastic bag that had been tossed, only part of its content having spilled out. Hestia, who had followed him, once again treated to him a long, silent stare.

Holding out the bag, Todd generously offered, "Do you want any? They aren't bad or anything? And they crisp up ok in an air fryer?"

Turning her head, Hestia chose to pretend she didn't see or hear anything just now.

"Let's go."

"Are you gonna?"

With a sigh, Hestia gestured to him, muttering, "The Sparkling Finish."

The blinding part kind of sucked to be honest, and he had to stay really, really still for a half minute that felt way longer than a half minute. But as the light and polish faded, Todd walked out of the alley with an extra spring in his step, feeling fresher and cleaner than he had even before he'd started work last night.

If only all the costumed people of Destiny City were tall handsome hero types or full service maids...