2304/Politics are a Cold Game

Politics are a Cold Game
Date of Scene:	06 February 2025
Location:	Juuban Public Library
Synopsis:	An unnatural blizzard has shut down Juuban Ward in the area around the Public Library, just as National Diet Member, Representative Koyomi Tomioka is giving a talk. Unfortunately for her, Berthier of the Black Moon Clan is on the attack. In the chaos that follows, Koji, Amy, Usagi, Mamoru, Catra, and Norie give it their all - but while they're relieved to see Ice Water Berthier fall, Norie's father, Ken Okana, falls before she does. Catra swipes Chibiusa out from under her parents, driven to carry the Smol Princess from the scene of such terrible violence, and Koji risks his life - and his guts - to keep the civilians safe. CW: Graphic Description of Violence, NPC Death.
Cast of Characters:	280, Koji Silvia, Chibiusa Tsukino, Norie Okana, Mamoru Chiba, Amanda Faust, Usagi Tsukino, Catra, Sugata Shindo
Tinyplot:	Black Moon Clan
Tinyplot2:	BMC: Rabbit Hunt

---

Berthier (280) has posed:
It's late afternoon on a Thursday, and while snow in February isn't unusual, it is unusual for there to be a blizzard, in February. A regular snowfall has become ice and snow hurtling from the sky, sending traffic to a standstill on multiple streets across Juuban, and totally isolating the Juuban Public Library from any outside assistance.
The library, which had been hosting a talk with recently re-elected House of Representatives member Koyomi Tomioka, is now in a state of barely controlled panic, with many people fretting about how on Earth they'll get home, with ice and snow piling up so high.

"Everyone, everyone, please remain calm," Representative Tomioka calls, gesturing - all the guests of the library have gathered on the ground floor, all the better to eye the entrances and streets.

"The Library has central heating, so we'll be able to stay warm while we wait out the storm. Additionally, I've been on the phone with emergency services, and while they can't escort us out until the storm ends, my office has been able to convince them to clear a path so we can have food and water brought in, to better let us wait out the storm. They'll be bringing us a back-up generator as well, just in case we start to lose power. I know this isn't how any of us planned to spend our afternoon, but let's hold together and maintain our composure, okay?"

Koji Silvia has posed:
Text: How's it going, Koji-chan?

Text: Are you seeing this blizzard outside?

Text: Yes, or I would be there. My boss is interested in Rep Tomioka. But he likes to watch all the up and comers.

Text: Okay, stay safe out there.

Text: Who are you talking to, KOJIRO?

Text: BYE MOM.

Koji puts Hanzo back away in his pocket and looks around at the feeling in the air. Shaking his head once, he exhales. His mother wanted him here so they could 'do something' together. Which was supposed to be listening to a speech, and getting to know something about what his pink-haired mother really does for a living.

Instead, he's looking out at the blizzard with one eye, and then shaking his head, "Hanzo..."

    << PLEASE RETREAT TO SET UP. I CAN BEGIN A SCAN THEN. >>

Moving off and away from the crowd, he just says to someone pleasantly, "I'm just going to use the bathroom before it gets too crowded..."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa is here, not so much because of the meeting, but because it's a library and she wanted to pick out a book to read.

    However, that doesn't stop her from gawking at the somewhat younger version of Koyomi Tomioka. It's always a bit weird to her to see alternate versions of important figures from her world, especially people who by all rights would end up knowing her personally. Like having a friend who doesn't remember you.

    The cold sets in, and Chibiusa glances outside a window to watch the snow fall. Well, at least there's no thunder.

    She holds Luna-P a little tighter, and starts watching the legs and feet of those standing near to her. Small Lady is not looking forward to getting trampled today.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana is here. She hates it here. Why is she in a library? Because her father insisted. Ken Okana is a big Pharma Worker! He was INVITED to the talk, personally, and her father wanted to show off his daughter who for once had the strands of idol-hood in her grasp.

She hates this, but she's here. Playing the part. Never smiling. Doing her best to keep the straightest of faces.

Then a blizzard picked up. She looked to the window as it picked up. Ah...

This was not natural weather. Something is wrong. She listens to the politician.

'You're all going to die down here.' she thinks. Then her eyes go wide as she looks to her dad. 'Oh no'... as dread sets in.

"Dad..." she tugs. Worry still a feeling she can feel well. "Why don't we go further in where it's warmer..."

Dad does not budge. He needs to be in the limelight of the politician's glow.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'd say let's just sneak out," murmurs Mamoru, arm still publically in a sling, as he's bending down to where Usagi can hear him, "but there are going to be problems. There are enough conference rooms and things that we can herd people inside the building, right? If we can sort of... reverse-kettle them? Once it starts."

But his eyes are also on Chibiusa, and he squeezes Usagi's elbow and then moves over to smol pink. "Here, climb up on the chair--" he says, bending and reaching to help her up, "and then climb up on me, Chibiusa-chan!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    A freak blizzard? Centered around an event bunch of people are at? That's suspicious as hell...

    Amy flies through the sky from a Radiant Heart rooftop and into the blizzard, having just summoned a rocket big enough for her to ride on top of. This isn't a Witch... what is it?!

    She sends a text out to her mahou friends:

Headed to library blizzard what is going on?

    Thank goodness for predictive keyboard.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sensing Dark Energy is, on the one hand, a pretty good strategic advantage, all things considered. Being able to feel it around her, to notice that something's not right before she's getting sick and lashing out - that's amazingly useful.

On the other hand, as the blizzard sets in and the snow comes down and comes down hard, the whole world feels like it's being surrounded by darkness, and it sucks, actually. Literally, sucks, like she can feel it, just waiting to take energy, life, everything.

She'd naturally come to the library because Chibiusa wanted to come, more than anything, figuring that maybe she'd check out one of the romance novels on her list, but now...

"I would be so in favor of that," she murmurs to Mamoru, and squeezes around with him and Chibiusa, standing in front of her to help block the view of their Smol Pink. "But I get a feeling this is so about to be our circus, our monkeys..."

TXT to Amy: idk we're snowed in but its def bad news

Berthier (280) has posed:
Koji slips away, largely unnoticed save for a few concerned citizens who nod at his excuse and think oh that's a good idea, maybe I should hit the bathroom too.

Mamoru, Chibiusa, and Usagi, half-hidden by bookshelves at the back, are likewise unnoticed.

Norie Okana, standing up in the limelight with her father - is definitely about to be in the middle of everything.

"Okana-san, I apologize that the discussion's been interrupted, but until we've got some supplies, I believe the best thing any of us can do is stay calm and keep together -" Representative Tomioka is familiar with Okana-san's sort, and while she's not necessarily a huge fan of corporate executives, she's familiar with ego. She's also familiar with the idea that they don't have time to cater to it today.

She's about the encourage the man to take his daughter to pick out a book and settle in for a while, when there's a thud against the doors to the library.

A loud one, that causes them to quake. Library patrons jump and whisper and turn, and some hopeful soul calls, "Maybe the fire department made it early -"

Just before the doors are blasted open by a stream of ice and water. Everyone in the center pathway from the library entrance to the center hallways Tomioka-san is standing in is soaked with icy, tainted water, that threatens to sap at their strength.

And through the blasted open doors comes the light, high-heeled steps of a young woman only a few here have seen - pale hair that's been gathered in a single thick braid past her shoulders, dressed in thigh-high heeled boots and a leotard like a one-piece swimsuit, with a collar, all in the same matching pale blue color. A black crescent moon mark is on her forehead, and from forearms to fingertips is covered in pale, bandage like gloves.

"Tomioka-san," she calls in a chill but light-hearted tone, "Do you have a moment to speak with a big fan of yours?"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa is invited to being picked up by Mamoru, but alt-dad needs some help with his current injuries, so she looks behind her for the chair, considers how tall it is, and then just wishes she could turn Luna-P into a stepladder. With so many people around, that might actually be a bad idea.

    So she pulls herself onto the chair, and the ever-loyal-yet-secretly-bloodthirsty catball gives her a bit of a boost, and then starts climbing onto Mamoru's good arm so that she can enjoy the relative safety of borrowed tollness.

    Which gives her a very good view of what happens next.

    Did it suddenly get cold in here? Because Chibiusa is now frozen in her tracks.

    "Tomoiko-san..." she says in a low voice, loud enough for Usagi and Mamoru to hear. "She's after Tomoiko-san!"

    As if that wasn't terribly obvious already.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana is begging, pleading with her father to get somewhere else. But he's too far up Tomioka's buttcrack. "Dad..." and she's shoo'ed away finally. "We'll be fine, see help is here already." he says as the door makes sounds and---

There's a wave of angry water. Well dark energy icy water that washes over her. Over he father, over lots of people. Her father falls to a knee, unable to handle the sapping attack.

Norie is unphased. For a moment, before she realizes she has to play the part.

She also falls to her knees quickly, but flashes her father a worried look.

Look, she doesn't like her father. He's a horrible dad.

But he's still her dad. Right? She then tries to look pained. Ohhh lord, yes this water is so sapping and not at all feels great to her. Luckily. This woman seems to be after the politician. Good. Kill him and leave, Norie, thinks. She doesn't care even a little about this dork.

Koji Silvia has posed:
When Koji comes back out from where he turned, and a quick (not shown because really, this episode needs to squeeze every new second it can in) henshin later, he's under Illusion and coming back out in his nice slate suit and black tie, black gloves on and Hanzo hidden well away under his sleeve. Where others might be panicking and staring at the sudden burst of the doors and the entrance of the azure-(barely)clad woman with white hair.

To those words and to Chibiusa's warning, his glasses seem to just gain a permanent and mask-like flash.

    << SPEED BOOST. >>

The young man moves like a flash and is standing suddenly about three feet in front of the Representative and holding up his left gloved hand towards where the newcomer has appeared.

    "Ma'am, I apologize sincerely, but I am afraid that the Representative is very busy, and if you would like, you can make an appointment if you have a topic to discuss."

...which is entirely what one of her in-shock assistants might have said, but in his case, there's this odd 'Step Off' aura to his words.

With the glove blocking it from anyone behind him seeing, a small blue-light magical circle appears on his palm and he whispers, 'Disruptor.'

    << DISRUPTOR - DEGRADE. >>

Behind Berthier, several shield-like circles come to life in front of the onrush of water and against the windows, the intent to begin causing the draining effect to be blocked or bled off in other directions, like a sandbag dam against the flood.

    "I am sure we can sit you down in one of the conference rooms... before this has to get worse."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's phone is buzzing but he's busy, first with getting Chibiusa to where she can see, and then abruptly with sitting down holding Chibiusa because Berthier, and, "She may be after Tomoiko-san, but she's always after you," he whispers firmly, setting the little girl swiftly on his lap so he can sleight-of-hand his top hat and plunk it on her head and tuck her hair again. "Don't worry, we'll take care of it. My arm is secretly okay now."

And then sitting right there in the chair with tiny pink, cold wet air blasting through and chilling them even back in the corner, Mamoru takes his pocket watch out of his jacket pocket and whispers, "Earth Prism Power, make up," and that's a line of crackling gold energy that traverses him like self-lighting charcoal, leaving Tuxedo Mask's formalwear in place of Mamoru Chiba's everyday clothes.

With a baby on his lap.

And then he gets up, half crouched, carrying Chibusa in both arms, and he brings her to an especially cornery corner and gives her a rose, then another. "Do you know how close I almost came to putting like ten thousand yen in your swear jar?" he whispers.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy flies into view of the library just in time to see the doors busted open by a human figure -- and as she closes in, she sees someone who is clearly the dark general, probably responsible for this, and, well, this giant rocket has to go somewhere, preferably without blowing up the library. She touches the rocket as she screams towards the entrance, magic making a last-second adjustment to the warhead before leaping off!

    From the perspective inside the library, there is maybe a split-second's glimpse of a giant rocket flying out of the blizzard towards the door -- it's like something out of a cartoon, a big white cylinder with red nosecone and fins, a bit short and fat for its overall size -- and then it explodes just outside, but instead of the huge cloud of fire and flame one would expect... there IS still an explosion, but it's like that of a much smaller bomb, as a much larger version of that lance-of-orange-light effect Sailor Chalcopyrite is so fond of spamming is visible for an instant, aimed to pierce Berthier's back before magically disappearing (so as not to burn the library or bystanders), the power of Amy's 'DG-girl-killer' attack concentrated in one BIG blast instead of a grid of little ones!

    Not that she expects it to actually be a kill shot against someone powerful enough to make this blizzard who hasn't been weakened yet, but it's a hell of an opening shot!

    A red-haired figure in a white hooded cloak lands just outside the library's main door. "How dare you attack people in these halls of knowledge!" She shouts, not yet having had a chance to hear the others or what this is about.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Of course she's after the politician. Of course Chibiusa-chan knows her. Usagi Tsukino is used to knowing just about everyone, but this is starting to feel just a little bit ridiculous, a little bit scary. Targets all over the city, and they can't just ask Chibiusa to name every person she knows, they don't have time to try and track down and find everyone she knows, this is too much -

But they're here now.

"We won't let her get what she wants," she whispers to Chibiusa firmly, and grabs her broach, emitting a spark of light that flashes over her phone, replacing her everyday clothes with her sailor fuku. "Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Sailor Moon has the Spiral Heart Moon Rod in hand, and while it's not dripping with Koan's blood, it like it ought to be, watching her sister approach another innocent person, ready to kill her for future good deeds -

She darts out from behind the bookshelves, ready to draw attention away from Chibiusa and Tuxedo Kamen's corner.

"Tomioka-san's never done anything wrong, so you back off, Spectre Sister! You - you should have learned from what happened to your sister!"

With the Spiral Heart Moon Rod in hand, she draws a perfect circle of light in the air - giving Norie more than enough time to recognize the attack and scramble away.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Catra has posed:
What kind of madman rides a motorcycle in this weather?

Someone with balance and agility well beyond an ordinary human's, apparently, but it seems even Catra has her limits. The feline parked the (brand new..!!) Honda Rebel with a stealth black paint job (That she totally acquired with Obsidian's money) outside the library and left it once the snow started coming down like this, and put her illusory disguise up as she made her way into the library just before things started getting entirely... unacceptable.

And found herself in a land of books. Just books, nothing but books. Well, some newspapers and magazines and books and maybe there's videos and stuff but mostly it's just books. What is this, nerdville?! Boredom town? She walks around getting more and more interested in leaving while the blizzard gets worse and worse, until the commotion starts up at the front doors and she can hear the tell-tale sounds of Sparkles getting ready for battle. She moves through the crowd, pulling the hilt for Powersend out of her hoodie and manifesting the weapon in full, scabbard and all, holding it loosely in her left hand as she comes to see what's going on--

And is just in time to see Amy's rocket come flying in to blow stuff up. She could get involved, but for the moment she just stands there, watching what's going and as a late-comer, doing her best to work out just who's on who's side and what's going on and if there's anyone from Obsidian of if she's just free to beat up whomever she pleases.

Berthier (280) has posed:
There's confusion on Koyomi Tomioka's face, even as she staggers from the energy drain. Of course there's confusion. It's not every day that once encounters a beautiful young woman in thigh highs and a swimsuit in a blizzard - or that one experiences energy drain for the first time, for that matter.

"What... did you want from me, C-constituent?"

A true public servant! Even to the end!

Luckily though, it's not the end, because there's speed-boosted Koji, in his barrier jacket and a slick suit, standing defensively at the ready, reading out orders like one of her trained professional aides.

And his disruptor is cutting off the flow of draining water, causing the ambient drain effect to die down - the energy that was lost, is lost, but there's no more continual effect.

Berthier just scowls.

"I am Berthier of the Black Moon Clan, loveliest of the Spectre Sisters, and I'll speak with whoever I damn well please -"

This is when Amy's bomb goes off, a loud, bright explosion that throws Berthier forward, just as Sailor Moon's voice is ringing out, with that challenge, and bright, purifying light -

Berthier, as it turns out, can move pretty damn fast, because she channels her launched momentum into a flip up, over the purifying beam, and brings her hands together -

"Dark Water!"

Tendrils of the icy water rise up, spiraling, around her in unpredictable motions, before lashing out - some at Tomioka, but even more at the rest of the on-lookers.

"Free ze!"

And then, mid-way through the motion, they freeze into deadly spears.

"If you're so proud of killing my sister, Sailor Moon, you can be proud of letting these bystanders die on your watch!"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    The news that Mamoru's arm is okay now gives Small Lady some relief, but Berthier presents a whole new problem, and Chibiusa does not want the enemy to know that the Rabbit trapped in here with all these people. Because Mamoru is right, Chibiusa is the key target.

    She adjusts the top hat so that she can see, and has Luna-P turn into a cape. While it may not be henshin armor, it still provides her a little bit of protection from the cold air as she wraps it around her.

    When she's taken to a corner and given a couple of roses, she grasps them tightly in her hands and holds them close to her chest. At the mention of the swear jar, she shakes her head and smiles slightly, but the affectionate grin doesn't erase the worry in her eyes.

    Alt-mom is also moving, as well as several other magicals, and Chibiusa can only watch and hide.

    Icy spears are launched at the crowd. Chibiusa covers her mouth to stifle a yelp. Mamoru can possibly hear her tiny heart racing, depending on how close he is. Yet as much as she doesn't want to see this, she can't force herself to look away.

Catra has posed:
Catra wasn't really planning on getting involved, but...

Okay, for real. This Berthier person is just unacceptable. Catra can respect villainy, certainly, and she can respect someone showing up for a good fight, but pointing ice spears at a bunch of unarmed dorks and demanding that the heroes give you what you want or you'll let them have it? Alright for real though, that's just weak and shows poor strategy.

And Catra can't respect that one bit.

The feline keeps hold of her sword as she drops her disguise, revealing herself in all her feline glory -- not that anyone is likely looking at her, as people are getting drained and anyone still awake is probably looking at the ice spears. She keeps her other hand in her pocket, touching the Spirit Ember she has concealed there (yes she's carrying a magical runestone of vast power in her pocket, what of it, where do you keep your runestone of vast magical power, hunh?) as she focuses her gaze and her thoughts on the ice spears.

"...Right then, think... firey thoughts," she mutters, as her eyes flash with a brilliant glow, just for a second, and a couple of the ice spears crack and evaporate entirely into clouds of now harmless steam.

Koji Silvia has posed:
With a flick of his left hand, Koji's Device slides out into his hand and is caught and then flipped into a backhand grip. But once again, his hand comes up, balancing the grip with his thumb, and this time a larger circle appears against his hand, glowing and rotating slowly as his eyes flick over where the spears are coming down upon Koyomi Tomioka, "I have this, you stop her!"

Yes, he definitely heard the voice of his long-time partner in busting, the one named Sailor Moon!

Thankfully his eyes were shaded from Amy's entrance, he does still lower his pinky and ring finger to catch the grip, and then spread his thumb, "Disruptor!"

    << DISRUPTOR - DISPERSAL. >>

This time it appears as what looks like a shield against the assault, but once more is meant that when the attack passes through it, the magic will be at least somewhat, if not fully, diffused out of the magical ice and turned back into just harmless splashes of dirty street water...

...most of which will get on Koji and his fake-of-his-real suit. Oh well. Fake clothes come, and fake clothes go...

Hearing her go off on Usagi over something he hasn't been filled in on, the mahou-boy known as Hanzo says in reply, "Then let me speak for her. You get this one chance. Turn around. Walk away. You have no literal clue about what you're dealing with here. We stop gods. You're just an ice skater throwing a diva tantrum."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana has to retreat, she falls backwards and scoots away from the purifying light. She has to shield her eyes. She can feel the sear this close, but she's far away enough now. Good. She quickly moves back to try to grab onto her dad's arm.

"Freeze!"

Two things happen at the same time, one is that an icy spear pierces her hand. This isn't a big deal to her. It looks ghastly for the moment, black ichor seeps. Ruining the Norie Illusion. She doesn't care.

The second thing thought, is many spears piercing into the chest of Ken Okana. He father. And her eyes go wide as the world appears to slow. She doesn't have a heart, technically, but she can feel it beat as her dad hits the ground, splashing into the icy water that flooded earlier. The color red starting to pool around him slowly.

She reaches a hand out, icy spear still stuck in it. ".....Dad......?" she whispers. She suddenly starts pushing against him. 'Wake up...!' Calling out a name she hasn't used in forever. Tone more human than it's been in the past year. "Daddy....!"

Nothing...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy catches a faceful of purification and is fine!

    What is less fine is ice spears aimed at civilians! Amy can only trust that someone's got shield spells or is very fast...

    "HEY!" She shouts, stepping forward, pink sparkles under her cloak fading into the Sailor Chalcopyrite uniform in hopes Berthier will aggro on her instead of civilians. "We don't want to kill anybody!" She shouts, pistols in her hands possibly undermining her words slightly and suddenly shooting tiny little rocket-propelled bullets that curve to home in on Bertthier and unsummon if they miss, poofing into harmless pink sparkles before hitting any innocent civilians or innocent books!

    "You're starting it, by going after people who've done nothing to you, just because alternate universe versions of them helped people! It's demented! How can you think we wouldn't do everything we can to stop you! These people never directly hurt you, anyway! Their other selves have never been to Nemesis! They couldn't have known Black Death or whatever was gonna have kids, and they didn't give Sailor Moon the power to banish him!"

    She doesn't think the Spectre Sisters are whatsisname's kids, though it's a possibility that's occured to her, but maybe saying it will prompt a correction?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Not good enough not good enough -- Mamoru takes off his cape and bundles it around Chibiusa, it's armor and also warm, and this is an enclosed space and with all the dark energy around he's not just thinking: why don't we just leave. If it sux hit da bricks, as it were.

Tuxedo Kamen hears Chibiusa stifling a yelp and looks up at her, then back -- it's happening too fast, and it's too crowded, and Chibiusa's as safe as she can be made here without one of them damning more civilians to die. "Please, baby pink, just hide this time? It's such close quarters," he practically begs, then bends to kiss her cheek before jumping up to get away from her, from the whole corner, before acting.

And when he acts: there's a rose in one hand, and his other is glowing, charging. He starts calling his attack and throws the rose right before it discharges-- throws it at her earring-- and then the blazing white-gold punchy laser BZZAKTs at Berthier's head. He's not playing, he's not bothering to talk, they want Chibiusa dead and won't stop, they won't stop. "Tuxedo la Smoking Bomber!!"

And he hears 'daddy!' and his heart forgets how to beat for a full second.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's a flash of activity - there's Berthier's ice, now ice spears, there's some of the spears dissipating into puffs of steam, there's the ones aimed at Tomioka becoming nothing more than splashes of dirty water on Koji and Sailor Moon is running, calling, "You've got it -" to Hanzo, a reliable partner in crime-fighting, especially when it comes to an escort mission, and she's closing in on Berthier, hand pulled back to throw the tiara, because it's the best of her attacks when Berthier is so close to so many people -

And then there's sick thud and sluice. A number of them, all at once.

And it's because there are spears of ice through Norie and a man who must be her father. Norie's bleeding darkness from the hand, speared through, but her father is worse off -

Worse, because he's not like Norie, Dark Energy in a human shape. Worse, because as his body hits the floor and doesn't move, a puddle of red starts to spread and her tiara tumbles from her hand, and she freezes, horrified, but only for a moment.

Chibiusa-chan needs someone with her, needs to be protected, these monsters are after her, but if there's a chance, a single chance -

"Kamen-kun! See if there's - if you can help him!"

In her broach, the Silver Crystal glows and dims, in bursts and spurts, light to dark light to dark light to dark as anger and guilt and horror and protective love and desperate need fight for domination in her heart.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Purification will weaken her, will let her fall, please let her fall!

Berthier (280) has posed:
As Ken Okana falls, piercing from many spears, the civilians at the library - civic-minded citizens. parents with small children, teenagers looking for a free pace to bum around - scream in horror, some of the parents covering their children's eyes as they run for cover. A young man with a badge identifying him as library staff runs for Norie, trying to pull her away from her father and the danger.

All the while, Berthier tsks, and then smiles. The person she wanted to kill is just fine, splashed with only the water that doesn't strike her protector, because of course that's how things go. Most of the spears from the attack are destroyed through the dispersal, rendered to so much water or steam -

But some of them strike home, and though Berthier didn't mean to kill that one, its not like she cares about killing the wrong past human.

In fact, as a piteous voice cries out daddy, she smiles.

ansi(#DFFFFF,")]Dark Water!"

Even as she raises a wall of water to block many of Amy's shots - not all, some of them strike her, leaving her bruised along her arms and thighs - she's still smiling. She only stops when the rose flying for her earring collides with her watery barrier, causing all the water to fall in a sluice of liquid to the ground, and she eats Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber full in the face.

Berthier goes lying back, right into the path of the Moon Healing Escalation, and she screams as the purification tries to eat away at her, smoking in patches as the purifying light devours and destroys, but can't quite win.

"I will not shout Refresh! I will not be one of your cleansed puppets!" Her voice is a riotous screech, her cheekbone cratered from taking the attack, the skin of her face and arms beginning to blister from purification. "You future will never be! I WILL BLAST ITS FOUNDATIONS AND SEE YOU ALL DEAD FIRST!"

Her earrings are chipped, her body is visibly weakened, and maybe Amy is right, that they didn't want to kill anyone - but its clear that she's not going to walk away from this, or allow them too.

"HOWLING BLIZZARD - DARK FLOOD!"

And from the burst in doors - and from the windows, shattering one after the other, provoking more screams - ice and water flood in a wave of darkness-infested water, seeking to drain and freeze and corrupt any caught in the wave.

And oh, there are still so many civilians in the way.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa hears a girl call out to her father, and her tiny red eyes go to look. That... that doesn't look good.

    Actually, it looks really bad.

    Small Lady squeezes her eyes shut and whimpers, "I'm sorry..." in a very low voice. She's far enough away that probably no one but Tuxedo Kamen can hear her, but... it really hurts knowing that the Black Moon Clan is only here because of her.

    He was alive. Arrogant, maybe. A bit too full of himself. A lot of them were, when the end came, whether it was by bravado or arrogance. So many fallen who never saw it coming.

    Tuxedo Kamen is asking her to just hide this time, and she sees the sense of it, and she promised herself that she wouldn't give into the darkness and do something dumb this time. Small Lady nods and tries to be brave, or at least put on a brave face...

    ... but the moment her AU dad's attention is elsewhere she shuts her eyes, hides her face against a book shelf and tries to convince herself that her parents are here and everything's going to be okay. She tries to believe it with all her heart because if she actually allows herself to face this reality then she's going to lose it and the entire Black Moon Clan will know exactly where she is.

    ... And this is a very tight spot to be trapped in.

    At least the cape is warm.

    Chibiusa looks at a nearby window. She thinks that maybe it's not too late to run away, because it's not like her parents want her to be in danger here, but then the glass shatters and an evil chill blows in. Yikes... There goes that idea.

Catra has posed:
Ice spears just... killed someone. The wrong someone, even. Catra's eyes narrow as she glares at Berthier. "You're garbage," she declares, "you show up and all you can think to do is hurl ice spears at defenseless morons while the actual heroes are right here? Your strategy is a bucket of slime, you should be FIGHTING YOUR ENEMIES." The feline puts thumb to tsuba, and is right about to push her sword out of its scabbard to go and cut this woman a lesson she won't soon forget.

But then, her ears hear Norie calling out 'Daddy!' and even her own cold, villainous heart has to melt. Someone who actually had a parental figure they loved and cared about when they died? if Shadow Weaver had died, she'd have just cheered and thrown a party, with tastey drinks and those little kazoo things with inflatable... whatever they are.

And then, her mismatched eyes alight on Chibiusa, wimpering something that even she can't quite hear, over all the din of battle going on. Norie's being taken care of, but... is anyone actually taking care of that kid there?

Now, in this moment while Catra's heart is (very temporarily) melted, she can't help but think back to her own childhood wrought of horrors, and think...

The feline clips Powersend to her belt, hanging in its scabbard curve up over her left hip, as she pushes her way through the crowds of people who are all running this way and that. Who is this small child? No idea. Should they be here, witnissing all of this?

No.

"Come on let's get out of here," she hisses as she snatches up Chibiusa, cape and all, and hugs her against her chest as she bolts for the door...

Which would take her past Belthier, but she has a plan for that too. Making illusions doesn't require her to think firey thoughts; and so abruptly, there are three Catras running in different directions with Chibiusas, one on either side of Berthier and another one back into the library.

But the real Catra is heading outside. If she can just make it to her motorcycle...

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana is tried to be pulled away and for a moment she relents. She doesn't mean to. But she's in shock, horror and suddenly she stops. She can't be pulled. She won't be pulled. She doesn't touch the man back but she pushes him away backwards, away from the attacks with a great force. What force?

Well the force of a transformation as more horrid dark, icy water floods the world again, and she isn't bothered. The cold never bothered her, anyways. She just lets it wash over her as she starts to float upwards and away from it.

"...you don't survive this. Whoever the fuck you think you are. Oh. You can run away. To your dark places. Where you think you're safe. But you're not. I'll follow you. I thrive there. I'll kill you. I'll kill ALL of you one. By. Fucking One."

One time. Sayaka Miki attacked Riventon. In front of her. And it made her so unbelievably angry she forged anger into a laser and drove Sayaka through like three walls. By accident.

She grips her right side and makes a motion like she's flourish a cape that isn't there, and for a moment there's just the faintest red outline of one.... before she forges pure grief, pure rage into a bright purple laser, shooting from inside the 'cape' into a laser that's two times as wide as she is and just incomprehensible. Like if there was a reverse to purification? This may be it. Maybe.

The attack has no name, but it doesn't need one.

It's only then she she starts to emit her namesake, black ichor leaking from her eyes. Rage, Grief, all these things just make her glow in an awful aura. Things Riventon told her to never channel.

"The things I'll do when I find you, when I get my hands on you, You'll beg for me to stop. I won't listen. You're dead. You just haven't realized it yet. Let these others kill you with kindness. I have none for you!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    People falling near-dead around her no longer feels as shocking as it once did -- but even trying to keep mentally distant and make triage plans can only do so much when she's hearing emotion in Norie's voice for the first time in... ever? and it's that same emotion she felt seeing Molly, that please-don't-let-this-be-the-end pleading...

    She flings the first-aid kit from under her cloak in Norie's direction. << Use the clotting bandages! Buy him time! >> Thank goodness she could obtain such things and add them to the kit. People bleeding out is happening... concerningly often, around her.

    But there's no time to dwell on that. The fight is ongoing, and--

    Glass breaks

    ice floods

    draining

    no time

    KILL NOW

    Amy assumes that draining effect will stop when the dark general is gone.

    She doesn't call her attack, she just thrusts out her hand imperiously, and Communal Blazer (sans some of the wider-area explosives most likely to accidentally hit civilians) fires, mini missiles and rocket-bullets and more mini-missiles of all levels of apparent technological sophistication, frag and incendiary grenades (shrapnel or phosphorus that gets too far from Berthier just sparkles out of existence like any bullets that miss), even a couple of molotov cocktails, Amy just throws everything at Berthier, things appearing in the air around the Puella Magi and launching at her, and then more appearing and launching, for continuous seconds, the source has to die NOW before people are killed!

    And on the back of her other hand, her soul gem is already more than a third full of black corruption, more seeping in as the water rushing past her legs drains her...

Koji Silvia has posed:
    "...Daddy..?"

That single word cuts like a knife and causes Koji to look down towards where the icicles he missed... so many that went around his protective layer, or didn't get disperse enough or... or...

He's not seeing Ken Okana. He's seeing what might have been, his father on the ground at the Thanksgiving event, nearly being eaten by one of those skull-faced beast-things, just barely saving in him time...

Then the sound of the glass shattering... the water coming flooding in from all around. He's not an area specialist. He's already straining his limits with what he'd done before, but his eyes go up towards Berthier and then back to the girl and her father.

Today isn't his day to fight, to be throwing shots at the bad. She's focused on her goal, on her revenge, on the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen.

    << DRAIN CALCULATED FOR SPACE AND MASS OF INCOMING WATER, YOUNG MASTER. >>

    "Lock On."

    << YES, ALL PERCEIVED TARGETS ACCOUNTED FOR, YOUNG MASTER.>>

    "Do we have enough?"

    << SPELL READY.>>

That's all the answer Koji needs. Too many other lives are at stake and already he's failed one person here. The blade just attaches to the underside of his wrist, and he goes through a focusing Mudra.

    Retsu.

     Rin.

    Jin.

    Sha.

On the last one his hands go wide, pointer fingers and thumbs pressed together as he pours everything he has left into a single defensive maneuver.

    << HEX SHIELD - SPREAD.>>

    Hexagonal Shield-forms appear in-between every person that Hanzo can sense and he can try to get to before it's too late. They appear flush to the floor, to try and instead of blocking the magic, it's just more walls, trying to force the water to sluice around people and away, using them almost like a pachinko to bounce water from person to bookshelves off another shield and so on. He's just HOLDING IT. Body trembling, sweat beading his brow, jaw set... waiting to see what breaks first... his magic or his resolve...

There's even one shield beside Norie and her father's body, to run around so it only touches his shoes...

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Abruptly Tuxedo Kamen -- yeah, that guy, you know, the one in the white tie and tails and the mask, darting swiftly between horrified people -- is being called to, and there's nobody close to Chibiusa. He looks where Usagi's looking, and sees a gap in the people and Norie?! being pulled away by a librarian, and his stomach twists.

(He tries for another rose to a Berthier earring.)

They may not see eye-to-eye anymore, but he still likes her even if she literally backstabbed Nephrite that one time when it was really inconvenient. And besides, nobody deserves that.

One last half-glance back, enough to check on Chibiusa's corner again, and Mamoru's on his knees in the icy slush next to Ken Okana, biting off his glove and ostensibly taking his pulse, but more checking to see with his power whether there's anyone left in there, any life, anything to stop-- but he can't be resuscitated like this.

And there's nobody home and the windows blow in and Mamoru looks up in alarm and sees.

Chibiusa in the arms of some strange woman.

Some strange woman literally just--

Mamoru's already moving, Ken Okana's body abandoned, the other fighters, the other civilians, everything abandoned in favor of having a Very Particular Set Of Skills He Has Acquired Over A Long Career. He's running-- and there are copies and the place is flooding with dark energy and he will not take the easy way when the hard way means he can always find Chibiusa. He runs after one of the Chibiusa and Catra pairs, not calling out.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon has asked Tuxedo Kamen to heal, if he can, and because she can't do anything else - because though her friends chastened her for thinking it, in this moment all she really can do is fight - she throws herself into the greatest attack she can manage, spinning in place, as a swirl of pink hearts burst into being around her, more and more and more and more of them, and as Koji's hexagonal shield appears in front of her, keeping the water off of her as she cries out the attack, and the giant heart appears in front of her -

"Moon Spiral"

And the giant heart, reaching nearly to the ceiling of the library, pink and not translucent at all, a solid battering ram of energy begins to spin, faster and faster, winds whipping about it -

"Heart Attack!"

And the heart goes flying towards Berthier, striking her with all the force of concrete wall, leaving an outline of her body as it flies past and dissipates harmlessly against the wall.

Sailor Moon breathes heavy from the exertion, having put as much as she could manage in -

And then she sees Tuxedo Kamen racing away, as Catra runs by with Chibiusa in her arms, and she whips around, only to see a second Catra, and a third, each running in different directions, and she screams, in inarticulate confusion, anger, and frustration -

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Unfortunately, given what's just happened, that probably won't be a clue to Catra that she's just snatched up the wrong kid.

And she goes chasing after Tuxedo Kamen, trusting him of all people to know where their daughter is.

Berthier (280) has posed:
The Dark Flood smashes over the heroes and civilians - or it would, if not for Koji giving it everything he's got to defend them, leaving it so the water can only flood over their ankles and feet, tainting but not brutalizing.

Out of thirty civilians and five mahoujin in his sight, including the deceased, all are shielded from the crushing, brutal force of the flood, from the ice flows and snow melt that try to cling and freeze and drain, the literal tons of water forced away from their forms.

If one considered the terrible force of nature that is a flood, one would be in awe at what's managed, here.

But there's a cost to such heavy defensive power, and it's being vulnerable.

Tuxedo Kamen lashes out with a rose tossed her way, and this one strikes true, shattering one earring, Berthier's dark power warping and twisting out of control, her strength abruptly weakening -

And then she's blasted by the Moon Spiral Heart Attack, her blistered form clearly breaking apart from the force, and there's Amy's barrage of attacks, relentless, burning, singing, tearing, and if they could see through the rating protecting explosions they might see pieces of her flying away or burning as they fall but luckily, there are those rating protecting explosions -

And Norie strikes, with all the hate and grief and loss in her heart, and it pummels Berthier through the bookshelves at her back, through the library's inner wall, revealing the book sorting room, through outer wall, revealing the blizzard-stricken streets of Juuban -

Into the wall of the neighboring building.

From the inside of the building, the flood fizzles out, the force vanishing, the water still present, still tainted, not longer pouring in with force, and though they're all forced to stand in a puddle of the stuff, and though many of these first floor books and computers are thoroughly ruined, everything seems like it could be over.

Like they could count their injured and mourn their dead.

And then there's the shifting of stone, in the distance, and a ripple of wind, and then through the storm, through the hole, the other hole, over the collapsed and destroyed bookshelves, comes Berthier -

And her body is a reck, a weeping mass of sores and revealed muscle and glistening bone cracked and sundered, clearly her chest cratered, her face like a broken vase, her limbs twisted, as though they have too many joints, dark energy over her skin in purple and black, almost hiding the burns from her purification, from the explosives, and she shouldn't be capable of moving.

She shouldn't be capable of moving.

But she is.

Before they can fully process the horror before their eyes, she's there, thrusting her arm forward, her eyes fixed only on her target - on Koyomi Tomioka, sheltered behind Koji.

Her arm, broken and blasted, strikes forth with all the hateful thrust of a spear.

The illusion of protection, of a nice suit, breaks.

His barrier jacket, meant to take the hit, meant to keep him safe, breaks.

Her hand and arm plummet through his flesh, impaling him in the lower left side, tearing through skin, muscle, intestines -

And stops, mere inches from Tomioka's horrified face.

Through it all, there are no final words - only a strangled, hateful gasp, before Berthier's body slumps, her dead weight adding to the pressure of Koji's wound, her arm fully lodged in his lower abdomen, the only thing keeping the contents of his intestines - not to mention his torn arteries and veins - from seeping into the rest of his body.

Koyomi Tomioka screams in horror, blood spattered over her face, and hurriedly stands, water sloshing everywhere as she grasps Koji's shoulders, trying to brace him before he can collapse under the weight of injury and the dead woman impaling him.

Koji Silvia has posed:
The worst part of it is the shock... the coldness... the lack of feeling. He should be feeling pain, but all he's feeling is cold. He tries to speak, to say something, but instead Koji just coughs up a spray of blood that covers Berthier's cheek as it lands in the water.

Why can't be move... why won't anything move... why is he just...

Cold...

Berthier slumps, and he feels the brief tug forwards, and even in the registered surprise in his expression at the fact that there's an ARM going through him... it would just be so easy... just like falling into bed after a hard day...

But it's so... darn... cold...

His mouth, just quirks into a strange little smile as he whispers, steam coming from his breath as if some freak aftereffect of her mere presence, 'That's what I get for not staying in the background...'

And it's the hands he can't feel at the moment, the person who's panting and scream he can only just barely hear, keeping him from being worse than cold...

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Suddenly a catgirl is stealing Chibiusa.

    Small Lady really did not see that one coming. Especially since Koan is dead already.

    Nor does she really know what to think about the several illusory copies that are now running around the Library. Even though Chibs is doing all she can to keep her identity hidden, she's not really protected by henshin magic in that way. Surely if Berthier got close enough to one of them she'd notice the terrified red eyes and the pink hair...

    ... Maybe the distraction would work in their favor?

    A part of her wants to call out to her parents, but... she clenches her teeth instead. Mamoru can feel her, can know where she is. As long as she's not dead or something, he'll find her. She holds the pair of roses in her hands and waves them at Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon when their eyes make contact. The small pink probably shouldn't be this cooperative about being stolen by a random stranger, but what else should she do? Throw a tantrum and tell Catra that no, she'd rather be brutally murdered by Berthier instead?

    Chibiusa waits until they actually get outside; waits until she sees the spectre sister's final, horrible act; without yet making a move.

    No child should be forced to see such things, but Chibiusa has seen worse. It's not the graphicness that bothers her. It's the finality, and the fear that others might have died because of her.

    Poor Koji. Poor Tomioka. She might have dwelled on their pain longer if she actually had the time.

    "Abracadabra Pon! Become a rocket pack!"

    Between Luna-P and Tuxedo Kamen's gifts, Chibiusa is actually wearing two capes right now, and one of them has just turned into a jetpack that is currently trying to blast her upwards. Small Lady is slippery, but Catra has catlike reflexes and might not be so easy to shake. Even if she can't escape on her own, the future princess knows that her papa and momma are nearby, so delaying her would be rescuer-kidnapper might actually be enough.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima watches Berthier eat absolute shit through a wall...

-And she can't smile about it. That's okay. She's dead. She has to be. She ate so much purification then was sent through a wall. Die. Run away. Go be...someone elses god damn living nightmare for a bit.

But she doesn't give up. She watches Hanzo... no... some boy she doesn't know, eat that attack for that politician. She doesn't understand. She can't understand.

She can't help that. She can't heal. She can't even touch the boy without making things worse. With her draining contact problem.

Everything else doesn't matter, suddenly as she is suddenly replaced with her quickly flying down to her father. And tries shaking him. Touching only the fancy suit he was wearing. "Daddy....please..." she says. Sailor Moon told Tuxedo Kamen to tend to him. Did he manage to do anything?

No movement. No groaning. Lacrima fades away back into Norie. She shakingly takes one of his hands... there's no drain. No shock of dark energy. It feels like licking a dead battery.

"I'm s-sorry...I..." she says kneeling in icy water.

Catra has posed:
There's a lot going on. People are attacking, people are screaming, people are defending. People are dieing.

Catra is entirely focused on making sure that the small child in her arms doens't get mixed up in any of that, even if she is squirming and screaming. Who wouldn't be, with everything she's just witnessed? Of course she's upset! That makes perfect sense. As to Sailor Moon screaming 'What the hell' she hasn't really clued in what that's all about. Nor has she noticed that Tuxedo Kamen is chasing her, and very specifically chasing her and not one of her doubles.

Why would she notice, really? If anything she's focused on the flood of dark water that should be crushing her and everyone else -- and is also a personal, private terror of hers -- but isn't, thanks to someone's shielding. (It's Koji's, but she doesn't know that either.)

She's just entirely focused on one goal.

Motorcycle.

Wait hold up "What the--!!" Chibiusa gains a couple feet of altitude, before the cat trying to kidnap/rescue her leaps up to grab hold and pull her back down. The jetpack strains, trying to left Catra as well as its owner, and then it goes spfft-pt-pt-pt-puff and abruptly quits working, with a little belch of noxious smoke. "What the heck child?! I'm trying to get you outta here before you get hurt!" Or see something horrible.

Or end up turning into a nasty little monster like me because you're around nothing but violence.

Somehow, Catra hasn't put two and two together, that Tuxedo Kamen is chasing her, Sailor Moon is here, and this is their kid. But then she's their kid from the future so maybe she can be forgiven for that one. Maybe.

Entirely heedless of what's going on behind her, and entirely ignoring that Tuxedo Kamen is chasing her -- if he had a good reason he'd have said something, and besides Catra's never seen him in his Tuxedo outfit before -- she just runs for her motorcycle, hopping on and hitting the kickstand with one foot while she plops Chibiusa down between her and handlebars.

"Okay hold on this is gonna be fast!" she declares, as the Honda Rebel's engine roars to life and she guns it, taking off so fast she pops a wheely for a good five seconds. As the front wheel comes back down, Catra once again tries thinking those fiery thoughts, and the motorcyle's wheels erupt into flames; just enough to melt the snow on the ground arou nd the tires as the feline races off with her 'rescue'.

And of coruse, she splits into three Catras with flaming motorcyles, just to be safe.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Huh, Catra's getting Chibiusa to safety, odd choice but OK, guess she's with the good guys now maybe, Amy has bigger concerns--

    Tuxedo Mask left Norie's Dad, something must be pressing, is Chibiusa hurt??

    Amy glances at her soul gem. About a quarter left. Fine.

    She runs over to Ken Okana's side, and--

    The witch, whose name Amy doesn't even know, is back, apparently in zombie puppet mode like a Puella Magi!

    Staring, shocked, Amy sweeps her hand that way, a salvo of minimissiles launching to try and get her attention, make her focus on Amy, the other one who can take that much damage and fight like that, and live--

    --and it doesn't matter, the ice witch keeps going, and then she stops.

    She stops.

    Did she really pull a goddamn Crocomire?, thinks some part of Amy's brain.

    But most of it is already wondering if she has enough clotting bandage to even try to stop two people from bleeding out. Koji's situation is clear. Ken's...

    Oh. Oh, now that she has a second to really look at him, see the multiple icicles...

    The bleeding is too fast. Mamoru left, is it because this is too much bleeding for him to stop? Norie is here. Screaming, begging, desperate. And Ken is not, technically, dead yet, not by how Amy measures such things.

    They're not dead until they're warm and dead. the words float through her mind. That is a ridiculous plan, they don't have the technology or magic to--

    --Amy looks at Norie. Puts a hand on Norie's shoulder. "Call Obsidian. If there's anything they can do... they'd help you, right?" Red eyes look into Norie's to judge her reaction to that. Impossible for everyone here doesn't mean impossible for Riventon, or for Tomoe LifeSciences, right? It's not time to give up on Mr. Okana without checking, right?

    But that's all Amy can do unless Riventon shouts instructions on the phone or something. Giving Norie an apologetic look, she picks up her kit and walks over to Tomioka and Koji. "Keep holding him. Help will come soon."

    She inspects the wound, opens the box of clotting bandages and stuffs a little in around the arm. Hopefully this buys the healers time. Speaking of which...

    << Usagi, Mamoru, where are you?! What happened with Chibiusa? Does Catra know the fight's over? Koji's... Not good. >>

    Wait, can kyuulepathy reach Catra? << Catra? Fight's over, is Chibiusa okay?? >>

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's Sailor Moon, sprinting out of the library, slipping across ice and water and definitely twisting her ankle a bit and not caring at all, because there's her daughter, with two capes, and they're both tucked around her, and she gets a little lift, maybe she'll get away, she's chasing -

"CATRA!"

But the motorcycle kicks to life and the engine and tires screech loud enough that her voice is lost, and the motorcycle goes driving away, as the snow melts enough to clear a path in front of her.

"NO!" Sailor Moon screams, and she's ready to chase after them, when there's Amy's voice, pinging in her mind, and she's about to scream bloody murder, when the words register.

Koji's ... not good.

Koji was fine, she wants to say, but there's hesitation in Amy's voice, and Amy is calling them, and Chibiusa is gone, is vanishing into the distance, but Mamoru can find her and Catra is many messed up things, is the girl who broke Adora's heart and broke the world, but she's also the girl who nearly killed herself getting energy to save Rashmi, and the girl who thinks she's a monster and doesn't want to be, and Usagi -

Usagi can't turn her back on a friend, even for her daughter, not when deep in her heart she doesn't think Catra will hurt Chibiusa.

"Mamochan," she says, anguished. "We've got to help Koji-kun. And then - and then we'll get her back, because I know you can find her."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana is squeezing her father's hand. She wants a spark, even a moment of life. But there's none. She tries... tries to imagine the reverse of energy drain, starts to try to pump energy into him. But all this does is make a dark aura around her hand as she pumps energy into that area. None of it passes the barrier of the hand, luckily.

Amy says some things. "...There's nothing there." she says quietly. "Amy...g...go help... him. Go help. Sailor Moon. Literarily anything else right now. You'd be more help there." she says quietly, as cold unfeeling logic settles into place.

"That upside down black moon symbol... marks you as a dead person." she says bluntly as she hesitantly stands back up. She looks around. She looks at her hands.

She doesn't have her gloves. She can't touch any injured people. She'd make things worse. She finds a soak and wet chair and just sits. Just wraps her arms around herself, and keeps her head down.

She doesn't say anything. This is her helping. It's all she can do at the moment.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Fffffffffuck," says Tuxedo Kamen to Sailor Moon with raw feeling, jogging to an incredibly unwilling stop.

His expression is so, so complicated. His feelings are complicated, when he leans down and kisses Usagi's cheek. Then he's walking back, because-- a horrible gut anxiety over Chibiusa-- he needs to deal wth 'Koji's not good'.

<< Catra? That was CATRA? ... Catra if you can hear us you bring her back RIGHT NOW. >> Mamoru's mental voice is measured and very clearly and cleanly defined. And then sharp. << I can find you-- >>

He stalks back into the library, ice cold, sloshing through ice cold water, past injured and dead and crying and cold. wet. people. "If you can get to the second floor," he says, some teenager in a mask and a white tie and tails, "then do it, get out of this water before you get hypothermia."

On his way, he pushes some chairs together and helps someone move somebody onto them, getting them out of the dirty icy water, and he stalks through the water and rips his gloves off and throws them over his shoulder and he sloshes and he doesn't shove, he doesn't let it get to him, he doesn't--

He keeps his temper.

<< Please don't make me. >>

Finally he gets to Koji and smiles at Tomioka. "I've got him," he says, and his fingers press against the side of the wound, and the teenaged boy's hand glows.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Koji coughs. More blood trickles off the sides of his mouth, but his eyes refocus as he sees the vague outline of a certain Kamen...

And for some Godoka-ly stupid reason, he mutters out in a voice that sounds vaguely amused... and vaguely conscious, 'Oh hey... I moved. J-just two doors down... even put up posters. They're m-my dad's... don't tell him, okay?'

Berthier (280) has posed:
The civilians, wanting already to be away from the sight of death, of gruesome injury, follow orders - at least, aside from Tomioka-san, who stubbornly remains with Tuxedo Kamen and Koji, bracing him.
"I don't know what you're doing," Tomioka says, "But he knows you, and you're helping him. He got this injury for me. I'm staying with him, until he's well."

Well, there's no faulting her courage - even with blood on her face, she's found the strength to stand and support the boy who saved her life so directly, and nearly at the cost of his own.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Bitterly torn with the desire to chase after Chibiusa - and with her cheek chill, because Tuxedo Kamen's kiss was warm and only reminds her that Chibiusa-chan isn't getting warm cheek kisses, right now - Sailor Moon returns to the library.

She's not able to lock in, the way her fiancé does. Her eyes take in the devastation that is Koji's injury, and they blow wide with horror and refused grief, and she follows with Mamoru's footsteps, opening her compact to let the Silver Crystal's glow as she, without hesitation, presses her hands to Mamoru's shoulders and lets her power flow from herself to him.

They've lost someone to the Black Moon Clan. They will not make it two.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Tuxedo Mask is here. Did Usagi, Catra, and Chibiusa decide to stay away? She nods to Tomioka after Tuxedo Mask's command. Oh, there's Usagi...

    Sailor Chalcopyrite speaks to Tomioki: "Go. Stay warm. ...And maybe stay away from the windows 'till this is over."

    Her boots are waterproof, clearly heavier-duty than the other Sailor Senshi -- that and her cloak being the obvious differences from the standard costume.

    She helps hold Koji, watching Tuxedo Mask work, awaiting any other instructions.

    There isn't much on her mind for conversation. "The other one... He was bleeding too much for you to stop?" She looks away. "...I might need to know things like that, to... to triage and prioritize. In the future."

    It's an unpleasant thought to have to admit, that this could happen again.

    But after the last few weeks...

Blue Saphir (280) has posed:
It's in the chaos of bodies moving, as Tuxedo Kamen is preoccupied with healing, as Norie Okana is preoccupied with mourning and helping, as Sailor Moon jogs up to offer her power, as everyone else is busy, that another person simply - appears in the room with them.

Inches, not feet, from Koji, from Tuxedo Kamen, from Sailor Moon and her silver crystal, from Amy, hands preoccupied with Koji - from Berthier's broken body.

He's a tall man with pale skin, and sapphire blue hair, cut short hair parted to one side, bangs falling into his face not long enough to cover the black crescent moon on his forehead. He's wearing a deep blue coat with steel, rod-shaped ornaments over white pants, and he looks upon the scene dispassionately.

"So this is what the fabled Neo Queen and King looked like in their youth," he says, calm, reaching down - for Berthier, where her arm is embedded into Koji. "You're lucky it's someone's job to deal with you. He wouldn't like it if I handled it."

And then, with a shift of his hand, Berthier's arm, just above the elbow - is removed from the rest of her body, leaving just the arm.

"I'll need the rest of this, but I'll leave you with a reminder."

And then he's gone.

...at least with the rest of Berthier's body gone, there's no dead weight pulling down against the rest of the wound?

Berthier (280) has posed:
It's only with so many people around, helping, that Tomioka is willing to depart. "Alright... alright, I'll leave this in your capable hands, and I'll -"

She yelps, a little, as the strange man appears, only to disappear with the body, leaving them with the arm still hanging out of the body - the now disembodied arm impaling the poor boy -

It's a good thing she stepped away, because she has to vomit in the nearest trash can, finally.

Only then does she go upstairs, to try and calm the constituents, and get emergency services here as fast as they can.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana can feel the sensation of someone else appearing and she looks up.

Her eyes go straight to the forehead. She's just racing towards the man. He's too close to the healing couple to risk firing a burst of any energy.

She just leaps into the air and----she splashes into cold water as he vanishes again. No words. Just action. It's like a reflex. She wasn't kidding about that mark.

She did hear those words. She crosseyes a little as she looks over to Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. She frowns but doesn't say anything right now. She's not dumb. Now isn't the time to spout a bunch of nonsense questions. She just. Pads back to her chair. Soak and wet now more than she was before. Back to staying out of the way of actual help.

She'll no doubt get one of those emergency blankets soon and rushed away into an ambulance. She'll hate it.

What does she tell her mom? Her brother?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"That's fine, Tomioka-san," Tuxedo Kamen says absently but kindly. "Thank you for being a good person."

"Worse than telling him, I'll tell him I'm loaded, too, buddy. But you need to shut up and let me fix this because Catra stole our kid and we have to go GET her, okay?" he tells Koji, and there they are above him, Usagi's white-gloved shoulders and pretty face above Mamoru, her power haloing him, his power mixing with hers to make it stop--"KUSO!!" Mamoru yelps, instantly moving to shield Koji with-- what, exactly? His arm. Part of his torso.

But uh-- uh.

He just stares. "Thanks for... for uh. Giving us a hand."

The laugh that comes out of him when Saphir vanishes is a little sick, half a sob, and then he has both hands on Koji and he says, "Amy I need you to pull it out. Fast as you can, straight as you can. And then. We'll just. GET THIS. If we could heal the whole hospital, if, we could help Junichi-kun, we can do this, right? She didn't get bone, it's all--"

CHIBIUSA.

She waved the roses at them instead of struggling. It's Catra, who he healed once. Rashmi's her friend.

There's such a flooding rush of energy concentrated on Koji's midsection then, and no pain, no pain at all, and anyone watching can see it re-knitting.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Being 'left hanging'... especially by the BIG BAD EVIL GUY... stings. Not as much as the arm still impaling him, but it stings a little in the barely conscious mind of one Koji Silvia.

And then comes that itching... that abominable itching that only healing can do to a body, and it makes the younger young man cough again, and wince even harder before he just gasps out, 'That was horrible. N-not fair...'

And then his eyes dilate, 'Wait... pull... what..?'