1654/An Ice Intervention

An Ice Intervention
Date of Scene:	12 June 2024
Location:	A Remote Hospital
Synopsis:	Gaito wants to make an example of Hinoiri, but Double Trouble shows they can bring out the claws for the occasion.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Double Trouble, Coco Kiumi

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara had won! ALL OF THE WORLD WOULD BOW BEFORE HER! MWA HA HA HA! Sora trotted out, lightly patting her on the head, giving her a little affectionate kiss on the forehead. "I'm so proud of you, Hinoiri, and I have been watching you all this time and definitely not ignoring you. I knew you'd rise to the occasion if given the chance."

YAYYY! Hinoiri was loved, and wanted, and champion, and...

Meanwhile, in reality, Hinoiri was curled up on her side, her little hands moving occasionally as she slept. "Yayyyy... sovereign... party..." she mumbled in her sleep, before very lightly snoring again. Unaware that danger was approaching...

Double Trouble has posed:
    Shiori Ishii had taken up residence at the hospital at the same time as Hinoiri. After nearly losing their girlfriend twice, now, Double Trouble was not about to miss out on any moments. And besides, it's not like Hinoiri could protect herself from a housecat right now, let alone someone from Obsidian. Agera had said there were people gunning for her, and they couldn't let that happen. At least they could shapeshift again, everything was easier when they looked human.

    She sat in her chair by the side of Hinoiri's hospital bed and just watched Hinoiri sleeping. She was so cute the way she curled up. It was so adorable the way she moved with whatever she was dreaming. Shiori giggled quietly, and then her tummy rumbled. She looked at a clock and blinked. "Has it really been that long?"

    Rising up from the chair she walked to the door, pausing before she left to look over her shoulder, "I'll be back, darling. I'm going to go get some food. Don't go anywhere!"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
It has not been that long after the conclusion of the fight with the Sunset of Sora. Conclusion which has left Gaito quite angry, for no other reasons that the King of the Deep Seas was hoping Sunbreaker would finally do something useful after all the problems she had caused him. But alas, Tokyo was still standing, and with it the array of relics Aqua Regina had placed there to block out his powers, concealing his other half from him. They would have to go back to the old plan of searching through the city manually.

But first there is something else, because if Sunbreaker was going to fail so spectacularly, he was going to give her the right consequences of her actions. And he really had no other choice than Maria, considering the amount of hurt she could deliver especially considering the memories his chosen method would awaken in Sunbreaker. Because he had chosen to send Maria, with one simple task: ice the unicorn for good, disposing of her permanently.

That would certainly remind her of when she was Beryl's little decoration in her last moments, and of course that was even more than Sunbreaker deserved. He certainly did not want her as his decoration. She is nowhere near important enough for that. A pity finding her took a disproportionate amount of effort, but in the end, things could get moving, just in time before Gaito started losing his patience. And that meant Maria was now just outside the hospital. In a few moments she will be walking through the building's main door, and then up the stairs, towards the unruly freelancer's room.

Double Trouble has posed:
    Shiori reached the end of Hinoiri's corridor and glanced out the window as she walked toward the elevators to go down to the floor with the cafeteria. She was glad she did because she saw a familiar face amongst the people coming and going from the hospital. None other than Gaito's enforcer, Maria. They knew who she was well enough to know that the game was afoot.
    So much for food.
    Double Trouble was fast, but there was no way they could get outside before Maria got inside. They wanted to keep this fight as far away from Hinoiri as possible, so their only real option was the stairwell. They turned around and ran to the stairwell they expected Maria would be coming up.
    Shiori Ishii was not a person who could fight against someone in a henshin. That wasn't that girl's identity. And besides, she didn't have any weapons. No, Double Trouble needed someone else. They needed someone fierce. They needed someone to take the blame. As they burst through the door to the stairwell they fluidly shifted into a form they'd taken so many times before. They ran down the stairs a couple of floors, stopping just in time to get positioned.
    Catra stood in the stairwell, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed across her chest. When she saw Maria coming up the stairs she stepped into the middle of the stairwell and and said, "Hey, Maria."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Maria's visage frowns when she sees Catra up the stairs like that. That is the girl from the Beryl Holdings division, isn't she? What is she even doing here? Last she checked there was no good blood between Beryl and Sunbreaker, either, not after Lord Gaito had explained why he had given her the honour to sate her master's thirst for Sunbreaker's punishment. And she certainly didn't look like she was on her way to offing Sunbreaker herself. Something was wrong.

"Hello, Catra", Maria smiles waving with a hand at the catgirl she thinks she is facing before preparing a series of ice darts with the hand she had just casually moved behind her back. "What have you been doing, skulking around here? Queen Beryl not having enough work to assign you to at her offices?"

Step after step after step, Maria keps walking up the staircase, keeping her course on its opposite side, sticking close to the handrail on the opposite side from Catra, eyeing her closely in case she tried anything.

Double Trouble has posed:
    Double Trouble is a sharp observer, especially of people. They're expecting an attack, and they know a bit about how Maria fights. People don't generally reach behind their backs for no reason. This was about to be a fight, and Double Trouble was at a disadvantage because Maria could fight at range. They were going to have to be quick, when the time came.

    Catra was an easy choice to make for this encounter because she had the claws and was very athletic. More importantly, though, she put on like she didn't care what other people thought. So nosy questions like Maria's were so easy to deal with. "It's none of your business why I'm here. In fact, you know what? Here is none of your business." She lifts up one hand and makes a brushing motion. "So shoo."

    Then she leaps toward the wall opposite Maria only to rebound off of it immediately, claws bared in an attack.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Queen Beryl didn't send you here", Maria smirks, expressing that as a statement, as she tries to deliver the impression that she is in the know of many things. "Which means you have no business being here, unlike me, so scram unless you want to be admitted into this hospital."

A yelp of surprise escapes her lips as Catra lunges at her with a precise attack, having to stop to find a defense to protect against Beryl's employee. Maria reasons quickly, her darts flying out to meet Catra midair while the Dark Lover moves out of the the attack, just in time to avoid her should the rail gets in the way. "Get out of here, and don't interfere", Maria growls, trying to assert they matter the most here.

Double Trouble has posed:
    Catra was lithe and nimble. It wasn't hard at all for her to dodge the ice darts, especially since she was expecting the attack. Maria dodged her, of course, but her feet hit the railing and her knees bent and legs flexed as she slowly coiled into the railing.

    "You got me. I'm actually just here because I don't like you. You remind me of my least favorite princess," she said and then launched back off toward Maria a split-second later, claws out. "So go on and leave."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Your least favourite princess?", Maria repeats puzzled, trying to determine which one it was and how she came to have a beef with one of the princesses Maria knew. The Dark Lover of ice had not read much about Catra, mostly limiting herself to "she existed". "Who would that be? They are all various flavours of annoying with that torturous song."

Unlike Double Trouble, Maria is not ready at all for the second attack from Catra, not playing well at all with physical confrontations, grimacing as she gets clawed at on her side, a grunt of pain easily heard as a result. "Enough! Lord Gaito sent me here, so unless you want to incur his wrath like Sunbreaker did. Stop with this futile behaviour. There is nothing you can do. I will end this mission and send Gaito's way this sign of my adoration", she replies, 5 more darts flying fast at Double Trouble.

Double Trouble has posed:
    Catra knew the ice darts were coming before her attack even landed. She knew she could not afford to let a single one touch her. But she was counting on Maria responding quickly. Flying past to claw her up, the catgirl rebounded again off the wall and leapt back toward Maria, up and over the ice darts and over Maria, landing below her on the stairwell.

    Double Trouble was at a disadvantage. Maria didn't even have to engage. She could just turn and pursue her actual target. They could attack her from behind, but the claws weren't going to cut it. The real Catra had a sword these days. She'd upgraded. They didn't have that. But they did have Sunny. Whatever. This was about saving Hinoiri, not pinning it on Catra. If somebody figures it out, that's a problem for future Double Trouble.

    Catra reaches for a gemstone that's embedded in her belt buckle and an inky black youma seems to almost pour out of it. Looking at first like a big boa constrictor, it draws the shadows in the stairwell to it, growing in size until it looks more like a small wyrm dragon. "Sic 'er, Sunny!"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The inky gemstone just makes Maria drop everything, never having seen it before. Not that she knew what would make this specific familiar summoning memorable. Still, she is soon constricted by the unknown youma, and all she can do is try and explode ice at it, the point blank vicinity the only advantage she can be offered from her own powers and this unexpected familiar she'd never heard about Catra having.

Double Trouble has posed:
    The shadowy wyrm wraps around Maria and starts to squeeze and drain. Catra acts fast. She's sure she only has seconds to gain a long-term advantage. Maria will surely only be slowed down by Sunny. It's not really a tanky sort of minion.
    And then there's an explosion of ice, and with it an explosion of youma. The shadowy serpent familiar gets splattered against the walls of the stairwell, dripping down and fading into wisps of shadow and then nothingness. Gone. The gemstone in Catra's palm audibly cracks.
    "You BITCH!" Catra hurls the gemstone at Maria just a second after the explosion, and leaps right after it with claws out, hoping it'll be too soon for her to be prepared with anything more. Should she land one attack, she'll try to grapple, and land so many more.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The explosion of ice wasn't any calculated move on Maria's part, just a reflexive desperate move, that was only making use of a resource that was depleting more and more with the prolonged contact with Sunny. It was to Maria's vindictive relief that ice explosion actually worked and even better when she had heard the gemstone crack. Getting it tossed at her complete with the fact she dealt her some payback was almost paradise.

But it was still payback for a reason. Between all the claw strikes and the energy drain, her situation was less ideal than desired. "Your toy breaking is just the start", Maria forces a smile on her face despite not feeling it at all. "Lord Gaito will hear of this." And with that, she wisps away from Catra's presence, leaving only the layers of ice when the ice darts impacted the wall as a reminder of her presence.

Double Trouble has posed:
    Catra landed in the stairwell again after failing to grapple, but succeeding to make several more swipes with her claws. Ready to keep going she turned around to see Maria smile. "That's right! Run off to your master!" She shouts as the girl departs.

    Exactly 3.2 seconds later she is on her knees on the floor where the crystal landed after she threw it. The crystal in her hands, and she's crying. As she sobs, she shimmers into inky blackness and coalesces once again as Shiori Ishii. She sniffles *hard*, and then blinkblinkblinks away any tears. Shiori Ishii didn't cry.

    "Suneku, you devil. You deserved better," she says, looking at the cracked gem in her palm. Then she looks up to where the last ice is melting away. In a mocking voice, she says, "Lord Gaito will hear of this," as she bobbles her head back and forth. "I'm sure he'll be so proud, Maria. Best of luck with your performance reviews."

    She snorts, and then turns to head back up to Hinoiri's room. Her stomach rumbled. She still needed food. She could get them to bring it to the room, probably. But for now, she had to make sure her girl was okay. Make sure they didn't send two. So she rushes up the stairs and down the hall and calms down just before entering the room, so that she enters calmly.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was... still there. Safe. She wasn't sleep running anymore, at least. She looked so peaceful, a little smile on her face. She'd likely be getting out of here in a few days, the burns were healing nicely.

Completely unaware that someone had tried to kill her, yet. That she'd pissed anyone off. That she'd been helpless and could have been put on ice.

That the person who loved her, who she'd betrayed, who she had been so sure would one day betray her, was now her protector and had done her job well. Had sacrificed the first thing Hinoiri had ever given her, to keep her safe...

Had given up what Hinoiri could no longer replace for her, either way. Instead, she slept...

And, if Shiori came closer... close enough to touch? Hinoiri would even snuggle her. Even if Shiori didn't cry, Hinoiri did. And lately? She'd been doing it quite often. But having her girlfriend close helped her do it less.