"I can take down one, two... Five, if I caught the small fry off guard. I was only able to push my body to the brink of human limits, not beyond it, miss. I created a retro-virus, that when it bonded with my DNA... Changed me." He let his hand snap forward, mongoose quick, and had the card back in his coat likely faster than her eyes could track. "The virus has made it so my tellemeres do not shorten as I age. I introduced it to my system as of genetic age thirty..." He pondered. "I do not know if what happened during my last encounter with the Senshi made it so I could be augmented, or if I made the secret to evolution. And frankly. I am terrified to test it, and see another human die because of my hubris."

"My name is Peter. There is a Senshi and a Knight for each planet, one or two dwarf planets, and the Moon. There may also be one for the Sun. It depends on what elements are present in the War. Healthy living will keep you young if you are nor augmented, but if you do... Augment yourself, you'll experience a heightened metabolic intake like I do, and need to eat like this. Also, the alcohol stops working on you. I could have been drinking vodka, and it would do about as much as milk to my system." He chuckled. "I had intended to play the role of the hangover fairy today. You however, are far more interesting. Most people run by now."

"And... I do not have all the answers to what happened to me. Not without opening far more questions. I could write an encyclopedia about the things I have experienced, and not have them all documented." His fingers drifted up to his temples, rubbing them. "I suppose the most apt description for what I -am- however, would be 'Co-Ordinator'. Since Super-Soldier would imply supernatural, not preternatural abilities."

“So you decided to make yourself immortal? An interesting choice, and one I’m not sure I would make. Slow my own aging, maybe. But I don’t really want to be around to the world ends, I think. It would probably make me insane,” Taika says. There is still skepticism in her voice, but she is curious about the possibility of that being true. Either way, she is sure being around forever would alienate someone from the world around them, and things would maybe cease to be enjoyable if you had done and seen everything. “While I would like knowledge of what such a virus would look like and how it would work, it does sound like a Pandora’s jar of problems.”


She tilts her head and asks, “Why would I run? You are either insane and don’t pose a real threat. Or you are saying the complete truth and doing anything here would be to your detriment. After all, other players would take notice of your existence, which I get the feeling is something you don’t want. Besides, you’re paying for my drinks right now, meaning you could still play hangover fairy.”


Leaning back, as the food arrives, Taika thinks up more questions. She waits for the server to leave going to the next round of interrogation. “Alright, the senshi are born with their abilities. But what exactly gives it to them and how do they work? The senshi and the covenant, why do they fight? They appear to have more in common with each other than anything else. What are their goals in the end?”

“Given my past... I refuse to be held to the whim of Death. When I and Thanatos meet, it will be with sword in hand.” He had promised himself that. Death would never have him. “Judgement Day is a long ways away, and I will see a seven headed beast before then. I intend to kill it.” She spoke of the world's end, and Peter could not stop himself from outing his religion. Former, in any case. “More than you could know, Taika.”

He chuckled at her saying he could still play Hangover Fairy. “I am not sure I want to. You strike me as being the sort of person I should be merciful too. You have a mind that could one day catch mine, given the time.” His eyes had a distinct look of sadness in them when he said that. “I had an IQ in the four hundreds by the time I turned thirteen. By fifteen, I had achieved six hundred.” Resting his chin on his interlaced fingers, elbows resting on the table before the food got here, malachite eyes closed, and deep bags were seen as one finger slipped up, and slid his glasses off, resting them on the table beside him.

“I have not bothered to get it measured since I came to Japan. I do not want to lead the sheep. I am not their shepherd, and I do not lay with any, let alone a flock. They are so innocent...” Chuckling sadly, he leaned back as the food arrived, and was invigorated by the smell of food, digging into his burger. She was forming her thoughts. Good. He liked that. Once he had swallowed, and pounded back a pint, he set his food down, looked her in the eye, and formed his answer.

“Senshi have a duty. The word mean Soldier in Japanese, but it's more than that. They have a calling. I could compare what they experience to the call of Paladinhood, but that reference might be lost on you, since the word has been corrupted so deeply. They are channeling the power of the planet they are tied to, through themselves, using a henshin item of sorts. At last check, Mau cats grant them those, or at least that was how it worked when I still was involved in the war.”

They had never come for him. Forced him to be Charon, but refused to grant him his birthright. And so he had ripped that wretched power from himself, and held on to the power that WAS his by right of blood. “I can not answer as to the Covenant. As I said, they were called Chaos Agents when I was involved in the war. They work for a fel goddess, Chaos, but these are not ones I am familiar with...” Nor would they know who I am. Perhaps for the better, for I am indeed their better. And I judge them unworthy. “But I would imagine they want to harvest the life energy of humans, like last time, and channel it into their Goddess. Their final goal is the birth of Sailor Chaos, and from that, the end of the world.” He seemed unperturbed, and went back to eating, allowing her to absorb that.

“I’d argue the point of existence when one has alienated themselves from the world and lost some touch with reality, but I’m not in the mood for that kind of philosophical debate,” Taika says a little absentmindedly. “However, if you are willing to provide such a thing, I would be interesting in modifying it. Youthful for longer but still with an expiration date.”


“So the only success, huh?” Taika raises a glass, “Here is to hoping you don’t accidently give yourself cancer by artificially reversing telomere shortening.” And the downs half of her glass after the toast.


Taika rolls her eyes a little as he boosts his IQ, “Roughly 33 standard deviations about average? You do realize that is over the 99th percentile, right? Now, you are pulling my leg.” Intelligent, maybe. Superhumanly so, doubtful.


Taika grimaces a little at the explanation, “Sorry. I don’t really get. This is starting to sound too mystical for my tastes.” God, she hated mystical, magical explanations. It almost seemed like her name was a joke. “What kind of power, energy, whatever could a planet hold? Why those individuals and no one else? And how are they able to utilize that power? And what is a Mau cat?”


The appetizer ends up being chili cheese fries. She was so picky about chili, but that’s what happens when you simply ask for the most popular item. She takes a taste, but it isn’t really to her liking. “Well, I already anticipated the end of the world. All life will die if the eternal winter lasts like this for much longer. The Sailor Chaos thing hardly seems necessary. But they are cult-like, so them wanting to do that doesn’t surprise me much. By the way, can I trade some these fries for even 1/4th of those nachos?”

Peter did everything in his power not to laugh at her talking about alienation from the world. He was a former agent of Chaos, and after that the Knight of the Void. The world had precious little in common with him. “That all depends on the person. I do not need anything in common with the world to study it, and to follow the hypocratic oath. Granted, I am not a Doctor, one of the few fields I have little taste for, despite my studies in virology, but the oath is viable enough for my purposes.”

His glass clinked hers at the toast, and he smirked then. “I have been monitoring myself for an malignant growths, since you mention it. Working in a hospital has perks.” The level of medical care he could likely call on, from a combination of his funding, and his insurance, set him at ease whenever he was worried about possible side effects.

“3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679.” He cracked his neck, taking a drink, before he shifted his shoulder back. “I can keep going as long as you want, and can check.” There was an impish smirk there. “Unfortunately, that's the eidetic memory that played into my IQ. Not a real measure of creativity, and research capability, nor of implementation of theory into practice.”

Peter shrugged. “I accept the existence of magic. It is the fifth force, the one through which gravity is tied to the forces of nuclear weak, nuclear strong, and electromagnetism. It simply is impossible to measure until you are dealing with orders of energy on the scale of planetoids. Any use of magic, from what I have observed, effects the entire universe in some infinitesimal way, whereas the other four forces, when manipulated, affect small portions of it, but do not ripple out any further. To put it simply, magic is more strongly tied to consciousness than the other forces. If everything was dead, and I mean everything capable of concious thought. There would be no magic. As to anything but your last question, the Mau cats, I can not answer. I did not study them closely enough, and never had the ability to use that power.”

A technical truth. He had been the Knight of Pluto, but had never henshined... Not until he had used a black crystal on his Henshin item, and impaled himself with both. But that had made him a Youma, not a Knight. “A Mau cat is an average feline with some sort of mystical bond to the Senshi. I never had the displeasure of seeing one, so I can not draw you one, unfortunately. My afiliates in the war gave me a warning about them, so I pass it to you. If they hand you an artifact, game over, you're a Senshi. And then you and I have a long conversation ahead of us.” The way he used conversation, led to the meaning interrogation. His eyes showed a deep, molten anger there. And then it was gone.

“Oh, of course. Dig in. I'll finish off the Chili if you're not enjoying it.”

“No, you can probably function at a job just fine. I just imagine that if you were to take a psychological evaluation for your global functioning and answered truthfully, you would be failing in other regards,” Taika clarifies, “Life is more than just one can accomplish at a job. I aim to enjoy it, which is actually easier when time is limited.”


As Peter rattles off a string of Pi digits, Taika looks unimpressed. “Memory doesn’t equate to intelligence. I believe the world record is something in the 60000 digits? That doesn’t make the record keeper any more or less intelligent. And yes, IQ is only one type of intelligence. However, don’t be offended by this, you seem the kind of arrogant bastard to boast them all.”


Magic… that was the worst explanation. “I feel as if to say that is to give up on all potential study on the matter. While I am willing to accept the possibility they are able to tap into something unknown, I am reluctant to accept the explanation of magic. Also, I doubt I will ever run into these cat creatures, and the idea of a magic-granting cat seems a bit silly. All that aside, why teenagers? I’ll admit that is a lot of power to give a person in probably one of the emotionally volatile stages of their life. Even if they are the world’s most mature teenagers, they still have a lot brain development ahead of them and lack the experience that age would give them. If they were able to fulfill that job, they must be sociopathic. And I don’t imagine that power goes to just the first person a mau cat can find and give a henshin item. There has to be some quality in these kids.”


"Chili isn't my thing," she says, moving the fries closer to Peter.  She takes a few nachos instead.  "These don't look bad even if I can feel my arteries clogging by looking at them."

"I would, but I enjoy my work, and more importantly, I enjoy getting to make a nuisance of myself to others. Such as yourself, the woman who fervently believes her paramour is thoughtful enough to get her flowers every week, and a co-worker of mine who is certain that he is the luckiest man alive, since he mysteriously seems to find petty cash whenever he needs it." Peter shrugged, the glint in his eyes revealing more about himself than he cared to be forthright about. "And yes, those who are threatened by age are more likely to leap on opprutunity, but I am capable of taking the long view. I also am aware I can die by violence, so I am still filled with the Zest for knowledge that you yourself have."

When she responded about different types of intelligence? "Nothing I can say can convince you, just like nothing you an say could properly disprove my claim. You also would be hard pressed to bring the military down on me, even if they could find out much about me, based on what are effectively insane ramblings in the eyes of anyone who is not hearing this information first hand. I am safe to be blatantly truthful, and not be taken at face value." He chuckled softly. "Which means that unless it matters, in which case I will come armed with documentation, I can say pretty much whatever I desire."

"Magic exists, Taika. It is a miserable, chaotic force that infuriates me with it's very existence, powered by conciousness and belief, but I assure you, it exists." He left out some of the information he knew, instead offering this. "If you were a teenager, would you have believed me?" He smiled, taking the Chili fries, and moving to make short work of them, before he took a draught of his Rickards, and leaned back. "There is other aspects, I am sure, to the Senshi. I do not know them. I was not privy to all of their secrets, Taika." No, I had been privy to all of the Chaos Organizations. And you would cal your friends on me, and then I would need to kill you all, if I told you that.

"Belief fuels the magic. Less belief, less power. I know it is hard to accept, but that is just how it is. And I have seen Senshi suffer psychotic breakdowns from the stress. I caused one, when they realized that I was not going to be the salvation they wanted from me." His dark chuckle was a call back to another life. Another man he had been. "I was not going to be someone's lover, and their father-figure."

The night was growing old and the harvest was lackluster this night. The people had been on the street less and less to purchase his wares, and the tricks that had once gotten him much praise from Lady Aquarius were quickly beginning to fail him. To disappoint the lady is a sin, and his desperation to fulfill his end of the bargain was growing moment by moment. The lady had already given her two frowns in the past week, a third might spell a...reassignment.

Reassignment to fodder.

No, no, no. He would not give it up that easily. To have to go to the Americas and deal with Leo's barking orders while running up against armed combatants, that's no fun.

The wiry humanoid wanders the streets looking for promising marks. The eye of Aquarius would reveal much to him, as all of her servants would have the blessing. The power of the soul was as clear as the clothing on the backs of a mortal. When the man approaches the bar district, his eyes fixate on a strong surge in an area nearby. He had never felt such potent energy! It was odd though...not the normal type of human energy.

It didn't matter. Aquarius would be pleased with this mass of odd energy. The figure, garbed in a brown coat and black pants with a bald head would stare through the door of the building, momentarily observing the odd man conversing with a woman, presumably for basic reasons. A scowl grimaces his face, but he decides discretion is the better part of things: too many bodies, too big of a scene for the direct method.

The figure steps around to the alley alongside the wall of the building briskly. The snow crunches under each step as he looks for a central point in the wall. A tap of the hand along the side of the building later, a glyph appears upon the cold stone. Lines seep into the building as the power of chaos permeates throughout the structure.

The lights inside darken and turn purple, and all living beings inside would feel tired suddenly. The figure begins to take in the spiritual energy of the unknowing humans inside, caring not for life or danger to any. The overworked bartender leans on a counter and soon dozes off, as some others begin to.

Taika makes a face as Peter continues about magic being a force in the universe. Curse her parents for giving her this name. “Ok. Names for the force that they hold aside, which I refuse to call or acknowledge as magic. There must be rules to it. It can’t be limitless. That would make them gods in a way. Adolescent gods… I really don’t like that idea. They don’t seem omniscient yet either.”


She takes a few of the nachos, not nearly eating as fast as Peter. “I really don’t want to hear about a kid’s Electra complex. But how does psychological state play into this?”


As the lights dim and change color, Taika looks at the ceiling. “That is weird. Do they you know if they always do this?” she asks, yawning at the last part of her sentence. “Sorry… god… I didn’t drink that much. Why am I so tired right now…” She is suddenly finding it harder and harder to stay awake. Swaying a little, she sees the bartender and everyone else falling asleep. Something was going on. She really didn't feel like dying in some weird American bar.  That would be a terrible end.  “Peter.  I might believe you on some of this right now.   Do you have an EpiPen?  Please, help me out of here,” she says, getting out of her seat before crumbling to the ground in exhaustion.  Should nothing prevent her from falling asleep, she will join the others in slumber.  

"Deny or believe. Thomas did much the same, touching Christ's wounds. Doubter or Believer, all kneel before God in the end, and so all will accept Magic." It was that memory that caused him to turn, and stare at the man who was in the bar, looking at him... Peter's eyes, and the Man's locked. But for the hair, that man was the spitting image of Tereph. And Tereph was long dead.

Peter knew an ambush when he saw one. That was an agent. That coat was not a fashion statement in times this paranoid. He would be answering to... Peter could feel it waking up. The Sun was not here to hurt him. The Sun was not here to control him.

"Because when I shatter the psychology of my enemy, I win, truly and fully." He gave a dark chuckle. "And then I can conquer." The lights dimmed. His darkness was roaring. It was not going to be denied. His hands shook. He ripped a chunk out of the table, wood splintering in his hand, and his irises became laser-thin, as his pupils began absorbing all available light.

Pure adrenaline. He carried it as a recreational drug of sorts. Into her chest as his hand caught her by the shirt at her stomach, and he injected. It would set her into an almost instant adrenaline rush. He lifted her off the ground, and set her to be sitting on the table, before he placed ten more in her hand. That was all but three of his supply. "Pick your salvations, get them out of here. Drag the rest." And then he turned. With a single blow, he snapped both the sides of a table off around the metal pole that was supporting it, and then moved into a punch to the ground, unmooring it. He now had a fairly heavy bludgeon.

And then he tossed his wallet to Taika. "Pay the good barkeep for the damages." And he was moving for the door, his impromptu club over the shoulder, before he kicked the doors clean off their hinges, and moved for the nearest alley. And there was his prey. For eighteen years, they have not known my lash.

"Explain your attack on an Agent of Chaos. I am Lorekeeper-Inquisitor, Servant of the Dark Lady. You will submit to my authority, or die for your insubordination." He would give this Youma a single chance. "You have tried my already thin patience. I would suggest you not try it any further."

Whilst Taika and Peter were having discussions on the senshi, the monsters, the meaning of life, and the number of digits within the term of Pi, Kurio was boredly enduring the company of his squad and the captain. The subjects conveyed many things from cars to women to guns back to women once more. He began to space out and wonder how Kasei was in the hospital and what she was feeling before something snaps him out of his stupor.

The lights in the place changed and people began to get sluggish, a few falling asleep. Before time went on, his squad-mates would droop, slip, and doze off as a chorus of snores would be heard. Kurio himself began to feel slower and duller but staggers. Another man speaks with the girl Taika whom was at the bar before running outside, and Kurio follows suit, assuming Taika could take care of himself.

Captain Shikamaru meanwhile comes back from a restroom visit he had departed to at some point during Taika and Peter's senshi philosophy meeting and yawns a little.

"Man...I feel sleepy...what's going on..." he thinks aloud before he notices the rapidly falling asleep crowd.

"Oh...well. This isn't good." he says, casually slapping his own face to keep awake.



Outside, Kurio looks about for signs of something unusual, feeling somewhat less sluggish being outside. He hears shouting and cursing from the alley, reaching into his coat for the heavy revolver he always carried. Popping out in the alley, he stares down both the man in the bar whom had been talking with Taika and another unknown male. A glowing circle in the wall would cue to Kurio immediately that there was Covenant activity afoot here.

"Military Police! On the ground. NOW" he shouts holding his weapon up, demanding the two stand down. In this situation it was standard procedure to arrest all involved and sort out the details later in a dangerous situation. His eyes watched the two, ready to open fire if needed. An enemy operative was here: all bets were off.

Such energy...this was an adequate harvest. Flavored by the unusual energy of the stranger, the man with the glyph would grin knowing it would please Aquarius to bring in this much. There was so much more risk of making a scene, but the payoff would be worth it to know that he was safe to continue as planned.

Then the odd energy holder ran out and shouted nonsense about an inquisitor, the dark lady, and a false sense of superiority. A crooked smile appeared on the face of the man whom had started the energy drain.

"If you worked for the Dark Lady, as you call her, then you would know that the objective is to harvest as much energy as possible for the Last Judgment." he says as he holds his hands out before a MP showed up.

"The works of humanity are naught but chaff in the wind before the might of the old ones..." he says as he disappears into a cloud of mist. Several large spikes of ice would launch at both Peter and Kurio, the speed and sharpness of the six chunks lethal enough.

The man reappears on top of a fire escape, his eyes aglow purple as a visible mass of dark energy manifests in his right hand. He begins to chant, the mass of energy wavering and contorting.

"Ir Va...Shiyuk Andren...Valsana..."[/b] he says as the glow on the wall begins to intensify. The people inside would feel a stronger drain on energy and any whom were previously awake aside from the adrenalized Taika and the Captain would fall over unconscious.

The surge of adrenaline wakes Taika up from the magical drowsiness. However, now she feels on edge, and almost hyper aware. The fog of alcohol clears entirely, and her mind is racing. Her heart feels just about ready to beat out of her chest. She catches the wallet, and frowns as he says to get all the people out of here. That was a lot of people. Where the hell would she put all these people? It’s not like outside was safe, and she hardly felt like going out there unarmed. They might be safer inside where there wasn’t a covenant member ready to murder them. Also, how much would the damages cost, and she got the feeling there would be more to come. She decides to just put the wallet on the counter.

She pulls a fire alarm and that ear piercing alarm noise goes off. Noises that loud would get most people awake if they were sleeping.  After all, that was kind of the point.  If they had altered responsiveness, then what these people needed was a hospital trip. She jumps behind the bar and starts grabbing high alcohol content liquor, dish rags, and lighters. With her arms full, she pops back over the counter and sees the captain. “Oh. Hello. Covenant member outside. Not the redhead though. I would suggest trying the gun first and then heaving explosives at it if that plan doesn’t cut out. It might not be completely flame retardant. Also if you have pepper spray, you can give yourself a makeshift flamethrower. Here, have a lighter,” she says, speaking at a million miles a second.

Running upstairs, she calls, “I’m going to attack from above. Let’s hope we survive this!” She ducks below window close to the action and starts making preparations for her attack.

“Rebellious little beast, no better than a hound...” He felt it rousing instincts, commands. Entire sub-routines in computer terminology. Peter shifted, keeping Kurio in his sight with a twist, and one on the creature, but paused, and glared at the creature. “You brought this war to my feet, lesser one. You brought me into it. I want you to realize that, what you have wrought.” And then he stared at the ice. To others it was fast. But Peter's entire physiology had something to say about speed. His hand opened, the bludgeon dropping, before the Inquisitor moved in a sinuous, mongoose like dance, weaving in between two icicles, and grabbing them in gloved hands, before hurling them at the wall, two points, easy anchors for his next move.

“Mankind is destined for higher things than you demon. Mankind is the foundation upon which my world shall be built.” And then he exploded into motion, landing on the first of the icicles, and springing off of it, kicking off the wall, before twisting through the air, landing on the second, and backflipping off of that, catching the fire escape rail next to the Youma, before he flipped upwards, jerking his legs up over his head, and attempted to lock the Youma's neck between his knees, and squeeze. Muscles that could snap handcuffs, shatter wooden walls, knock steel doors off their hinges, propel a man ten feet in the air from a standing start, all came to life, as the Inquisitor made a choice. An easy one.

His hands were bleeding from contact with the icicles, but he was unconcerned. What was blood, except for arousal to a monster. Malachite eyes pierced the purple of the creature, and Peter looked... Hungry. Desirous. “You should be proud. You awoke me.” Lorekeeper smiled. “Flesh that tried to resist, flesh of the once Knight of Pluto... Now the man is no more, only the Dragon. The Serpent.” His voice was quiet, given only for his audience. “Who knows, maybe Chaos will reward you when I send you back to her for this.”

Kurio fires a shot the second the Covenant operative launched a spell but had to fall back onto the ground to dodge the ice based attack, watching the spears launched at him fly into a parked vehicle nearby. Poor guy...hope his insurance covers random acts of magic.

As Kurio evaded the attack, he was stunned with the strength and agility that the other man had just displayed intercepting a magical attack, deflecting them, then using them as steps to press a physical attack on the cultist.

What the fuck.

Those three words resonated in his mind constantly. The babble that the man had gone on about made no sense, but it was clear this guy was insane to begin with. He thought he was in top physical condition but this guy...he looked like a vampire from a movie or something.

Getting back up, Kurio raises his revolver again. He takes consideration: the cultist was the obvious threat, but the other one seemed to be just as bad potentially. Chances are he was also a cultist or he was one of the vigilantes that he had multiple run-ins with already. Regardless...the cultist put a hex on the bar and there were lives in danger.

Two more shots ring out at the cultist's midsection from an angle that Peter wasn't covering, though if Peter got hit it was less of a concern. Chances are they would just bounce off his skin anyway for spite...