trans_9 | Her Flight [semi-open]

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Her Flight [semi-open]

Somewhere inside the vast dome of the City, Signum floated, transformed into her battle gear, eyes closed and mind reaching out to the ship for magical reactions. The presence of Stacy's mind - not magic per se, but still psychically loud - was a constant buzz, but her senses floated to smaller, brighter sparks, aided by what she held in her hands - the "Book of Darkness" that she had taken up last week. She'd been confused, then, but now that the Administration Program was back in her proper place, it was time to start filling the pages again. She'd dawdled too long on this ship, trusting 'Stacy' to keep Hayate safe (ha!), even socializing with the time-displaced Bureau mages who had been trying to stop her before all this...

She reaches out for magical reactions. People she knew - Nanoha and Testarossa (avoid at all costs), Aibghalien (noted), Hayate (...) - and others she didn't, or whom she was merely acquainted with through the Magic Department.

Ha. A Wolkenritter joining such an organization. That was possibly her least thought-out bit of subterfuge here. They had nothing to offer her, unless some bleeding hearts were willing to sacrifice mana...but that clearly wouldn't happen. No, no, it's definitely time to go back to doing this the old-fashioned way. The very old-fashioned way, since her comrades were all still in the pods.

Yes, she'd have to be careful, but the danger was worth it. To live quietly with her Master, even in this besieged cave of a starship...that was what mattered.

She focuses in on a magical signature and swoops quietly towards it, preparing a Barrier to isolate herself with the victim. Hopefully, they'd fall quickly and painlessly...

((Okay friends, reply to this post if you a) have magical powers and want to have a fight with Signum over them or b) spot Signum and want to stop her. Threads will probably take place in skewed pocket dimensions called Barriers for privacy, but these can be broken into if you like. Expect fighting! Signum isn't in the mood to talk. Further details can be found here. If you signed up to get mugged and want to do it in another post, just let me know.))

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"Training...? But I can't do anything, I'm-"

And then the book is brought out, and it's like an ice cube has slipped into her gut. The thing....does not look nice, at all, and the conjunction of its appearance with Signum's words are giving Madoka a very bad feeling.

Hold still.

Don't struggle.

Madoka is not an idiot, and now begins to take a couple more steps back.

"M-Miss...?"

The heavy Book floats in their air in front of Signum on its own, almost...eager, as it begins to pull on Madoka's magical potential like a magnet on a pile of iron filings.

"I mean it!" Signum commands, hoping this girl wouldn't hurt herself trying to get away from the pull. "Honestly, I should learn a proper bind spell if I'm going to have to do this anymore..." she adds, muttering to herself.

The authority in that voice makes Madoka pause.

For a moment.

"P-Please, don't-" Don't what? What is even going on? Madoka has no idea, but she feels threatened and gives into the panicky, primal instinct of fear. Her hands come up to cover her chest, as if the gesture can stop the pull, can keep inside whatever it's trying to pull out.

It's a painful, violating feeling. Tears prick her eyes and her breathing becomes a heavy gasp; make it stop, please- whatever she did to provoke this, she's sorry.

"Please..."

It had been pure chance that Mami was in the City. She was still fairly new to life on the ship, which meant she still had to get her bearings in the vast network of abandoned apartments, office buildings, and shops that occupied this level of the ship. So she would spend time here every day, going a little further each trip as she tried to add more to her mental map of the area.

It had also been chance that Mami was so close to the scene of the confrontation. But really, it would be impossible to miss the flash of light, that surge of magical energy... it was unlike anything she'd felt before, even on the ship. It also gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, so she turned on her heel and headed in the direction of that surge, the ring on her finger glowing and reshaping into her Soul Gem. She couldn't look at it; she knew there were more dark patches in the gem, and looking at it would only increase the dread of the unknown - what would happen when the gem went completely dark - so she kept her gaze firmly on the road ahead of her. She rounded the corner of the block she was sure the surge came from...

... And froze in her tracks. For a moment, her mind went blank when she took in the scene before her: a familiar, sword-wielding woman standing in front of her best friend, who was hunched over and obviously in pain.

"Kaname-san!"

In the blink of an eye Mami transformed, summoned a rifle in each hand, aimed, and fired straight at Signum. She was moving before she could even confirm if the shots hit, and placed herself between her friend and the mage.

"I don't know what's going on, but if you know what's good for you, you'll leave this girl alone."

Sayaka was in a similar situation to Mami. Not really doing much in the city, only she already knew where stuff in the city was before, so she was just hanging around. But that surge of magical energy wasn't something she could comfortably ignore, at all.

She had summoned her Soul Gem, and did the same thing that Mami did. But she got here after Mami did, seeing Mami between a strange woman with a sword and-

Madoka.

Madoka was lying on the ground. Hurt. It was obvious what had happened. That woman had to be responsible.

Sayaka quickly transformed, forming a sword as she charged towards the woman. "How dare you!?" she shouted, slashing with her blade.

It's hard to breathe, hard to think; there's only the pain and the sickening memory of some deep and crucial essence being drawn away, slipping through her trembling fingers. It drowns out everything else, mutes the colors and sounds of what's around her.

Distantly, Madoka can hear the voices of her friends- sense their presence. But the tears falling down her face now are apologetic, because Madoka just can't fight this swallowing darkness any longer. She can't help Mami and Sayaka, and that hurts even worse that what Signum's responsible for.

Full of self-loathing in these last moments, Madoka slips into an exhausted unconsciousness.

Signum doesn't even open her eyes. She can't. If she does, she's not going to be able to fight. Using only her ears, and Laevatein's well-programmed reactions, a magical shield appears in front of her to stop Mami's bullets, and her sword comes out of its sheath and blocks Sayaka's incoming blow in one smooth motion. To an old knight like Signum, following someone by the wind of their movement and the sound of their battlecries was second nature.

The attacks thus delayed, Signum has a split second to take a deep breath and steel her mind. The Book of Darkness closes, done with its gruesome work, and her eyes open, taking in the new arrivals and doing their best to ignore the girl she just...

After another tense half a second, Signum pushes Sayaka back off with her sword long enough to drop down and collect the Book with her left hand, moving with equal quickness to keep a shield between her and the girl with those mass weapons. Her movements are precise and instinctive, a cornered predator who has forced everything out of her mind except escaping to find her next meal. She doesn't pause to talk to Sayaka and Mami because her only concern is getting herself and this Book elsewhere before fatigue or remorse catch up to her.

In any other situation, Mami would have let Signum leave. The woman's target is safe, sill alive, and should be the two Puella Magi's priority right now. But it was who the mage had hurt that made it impossible for Mami to just let her go. She was angry; angrier than she had been upon learning of the fate of her world, angrier than she could ever remember being during her time as a Puella Magi, or even before.

This woman hurt her best friend. She had to pay.

Discarding the used rifles in her hands, Mami instead reached up and tugged on the yellow bow at her neck. The ribbon came alive in her hand, and she lashed out with it. It elongated and honed in on her target, quick as a whip. This wasn't an attack, though; should it get close enough to the pink-haired swordswoman, it would coil around her, effectively binding her and leaving her open for Sayaka's attacks.

"You're not going to get away that easily!"

Okay, Sayaka was definitely in the same position that Mami was in regard to her feelings. This woman was going to pay. She jumped back from Signum's shove with her blade that was blocked easily... and makes another sword out of magic before she starts flying forward towards her again, slashing with both blades before Mami's ribbon can get around Signum.

They were definitely going to have to talk tactics and start training together once this was over, so they could know what they were each doing with their attacks next time.

Bind spell. Two swords. Exhaustion. Emotional overload. Lack of Cartridges. Lots of things to check off as Signum puts herself fully into the flow of combat with no external thought for the first time in this long arc of her mission.

Signum's blade whips around to one side to slice at the ribbon, hopefully either cutting it or diverting its path. One of Sayaka's blades is blocked by Signum's scabbard which suddenly appears in her left hand with a practiced motion - at this point in the day, she was so not holding back her best defense at all.

The other blade, however, Signum has no hand to block, and she lets it connect solidly with her left forearm, protected only by her Armor - the sword draws blood, though the magical outfit dampens its impact to a simple flesh wound. Signum grunts, but does not waver, kicking out with her left foot at Sayaka's midsection to get her to back off or fall over.

Even if it was only a flesh wound, that attack was successful in Mami's book. She didn't know the full extent of Signum's abilities, but at least now she knew that her unsteady teamwork with Sayaka was enough to fend her off. For now, at least.

"Miki-san, get back!"

As she called out, a large array of identical silver rifles appeared behind Mami, each one pointed directly at Signum. Her may not have worked, but Sayaka's attack stalled Signum's retreat for at least a few seconds, and that's all she needed. She didn't attack just yet; Sayaka needed to recover, and possibly counterattack before she pulled back.

As soon as her blue-haired friend was out of the range of her attack, she would fire, each and every bullet focused on blasting through any shield her enemy might try to pull up. If she was lucky, one of them might blast right through Signum as well.

Sayaka was about to slash with her blade again, knowing that Signum couldn't block both of them at the same time, but Mami's shout interrupted her from doing that, even with her attack drawing blood.

She jumped back, following Mami's suggestion... and then she smirked as she realized why Mami wanted her to do that. Well, good. Let's see Signum try to avoid all of those.

The knight is backing off even though she had the advantage. That means bait or a bombardment attack. A quick look over Signum's right shoulder confirms the latter. These girls were powerful and had a knack for outmaneuvering, but their moves were very obviously telegraphed. While Signum is glad for this, a small almost-forgotten part of her wonders what they're teaching kids these days.

The pause between the warning and the rifle fire is all Signum needs to begin a flight upward and away from the battleground. She doesn't turn her back on the unlimited firearm works, though, instead focusing her eyes and both halves of her weapon on where the attack was going to come from. For a normal human, even an average mage, dodging or parrying one bullet was impossible, let alone a hail of them. Signum was, however, far from an average mage.

Rifle after rifle clattered to the ground, and those in her barrage that hadn't yet been fired turned in an attempt to track Signum's movements. She didn't summon any more, though; an attack like that took quite a bit of energy, and she was dangerously low as it was.

So she was grateful, in a way, when Signum took to the air. Mami could be quite the acrobat in battle, and in the bizarre, twisting architecture of the witch mazes she would have no problem following the pink-haired woman. But a wide, open city block was much different, and since she refused to move more than a few feet away from her unconscious friend, there wasn't much she could do.

But still, Mami refused to let the woman escape. Even if she couldn't catch up with the woman, there was still a chance for Sayaka to land a few more hits. So, whether or not any of her remaining shots hit the mage, she brought out her ribbon again.

Instead of using it to attack, this time she aimed for the roof of a nearby building, just around the height Signum's currently flying at. The cloth twisted and grew, forming a bridge between the ground and the building. Hopefully Sayaka would be fast enough to catch up with the woman before she could fly any higher...

Sayaka frowned, noticing that Signum was actually able to block all of those bullets. Just what exactly were they fighting anyway?

She shook her head, seeing what Mami was doing with the ribbon. That was pretty cool, making a bridge like that, and Sayaka was already running up as fast as she could, which considering she could actually fly, was pretty fast, both blades drawn and ready to slash at Signum once again as soon as she made it closer to the attacking woman.

Normally, Signum would somewhat enjoy fighting a pair of mages who were this dedicated and coordinated in spite of the fact that they were obviously winging it. As it is, however, Signum is exhausted on many levels, and doesn't have time or desire to enjoy herself. As such, with escape the only thing on her mind, she swings her sword out, blade forming into its chain-whip mode with a robotic cry of "Schlangenform!" and coming out in a wide arc to hopefully surprise Sayaka and knock her off the path of her upward charge.

Well, Signum lucked out, because that attack, did in fact, surprise Sayaka, knocking her off course and into a nearby building. The blue-haired girl let out a curse as she moved away from the wall and started to fly back towards Signum, but it was probably too late for that to do much good.

Signum isn't the fastest mage in the air - she's not even the fastest sword-using mage she knows - but with a head start, it's a simple matter to dart between the buildings of the city in the air. She was in plain sight, having not even set up a barrier this time, but it's not hard to stay in the emptier sections, run...

...and hide, sword still ready if Sayaka was still following.

Sayaka kept flying after Signum, darting around in between the buildings to make sure that she stayed on Signum's trail... except for the part where that didn't work. At all.

"Where are you!?" Sayaka shouted, wishing she had a bit more experience in the whole fighting thing as she realized that between all that darting around the buildings, she had lost Signum.

Signum stands still, holds still, and tries not to breathe too hard. She could try ambushing the swordswoman now that she'd separated them, but...no. No more today.

Ears and eyes wide open to track the less experienced mage's position, Signum releases her spells and quietly, mundanely, creeps down out of the abandoned building after Sayaka's moved on.

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Her Flight [semi-open]

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