It's well past any respectable girl's bedtime in the Neon District. But it might be occasionally hard to respect one Usagi Tsukino.
Thank goodness it's Sailor Moon that's leaping from rooftop to rooftop tonight. The magical girl is out on patrol, watching the small crowds of late-night bar-and-kareoke goers as they move to and fro. So far, it's been a quiet night, and so she pauses atop a water tower to catch her breath.
Which is exactly when she hears a scream coming from a back alleyway.
Leaping down, and after a minute or two, she arrives in the cramped, littered alleyway. At a dead end, three office workers have been tied up by a spider-like youma. The spider-woman laughs, and crosses her arms across her human torso.
"Just stay there and let me steal your delicious energy, humans!" She gloats, and fangs in her mouth glisten.
Landing atop a closed dumpster, Sailor Moon points a finger!
"Tieing up others and stealing their energy is wrong! You should go and sleep in your dirty web! In the name of the Moon, I'll punish yo..."
She doesn't get to finish her justice speech, as she's soon tumbling off the dumpster and into the open half as she barely dodges a burst of black webbing with a cry of fear!
It might also be hard to respect Runealy, who prowls the streets at night for the same reasons Sailor Moon /and/ the spider monster are out. She searches for people to target for magic draining, and knowing full well this makes things easier for monsters... she hunts for those same beasts, bizarrely serving as everyone's enemy.
Leaping from roof to roof, she's not the first to respond to the spider monster. Sailor Moon beats her there. And when Runealy spots her atop that water tower, just before Moon jumped off to go confront the threat, the alien princess paused to consider the situation. Does she want to attack Moon? On one hand, yes; it's a good opportunity. On the other, her mind drifts back to her secret arrangement with one of Moon's friends... one that offered some compelling benefits if she doesn't attack that specific one of Tokyo's protectors.
Yet she can at least find out /why/ Moon is making sudden moves like that. And so Runealy vaults over toward the battle, landing near the dumpster just after Sailor Moon's outburst. "Webs tend to get pretty dirty anyway... they catch all kinds of things in them." It's a low, ashamed comment from Rune.
Then she brings her wand in hand, aiming at the spider-beast and launching a gem-tip at it! It flies with intent to 'explode' into sparkles on impact, should it connect. The attack probably won't be enough to outright destroy this monster even if it hits, but it is intended to be a significant blow.
It thankfully doesn't take long to clambor out of the dumpster, only Mahou Shielding keeping her relatively clean. She does have to chuck away a bannana peel though from one of her odangos.
"IT'S YOU!" Comes Moon more in surprise than any real malice. There's definite, sudden conflict in her face. This woman and her allies hurt her friends.
But she can't find it in her heart to hate the woman. Indeed, the whole situation bothers her on a unique level. Unlike the youma, she doesn't seem inherently /evil/ or greedy. She seems desperate.
But then Runealy is firing on the youma.
"Be careful! Don't hit the people that are tied up!" She makes a snap decision, and despite it all, decides to trust Runealy for now.
She runs towards the youma as that ball explodes into glittery punishment, only for Sailor Moon to give something that's both clumsy, and painful. A double heel-booted drop-kick to the face. She lands in a heap from it, but the combined strikes from the pair send the youma flying into a wall!
It smashes into it, and seems pinned there.
"Let's finish it off!" Calls out Moon, before that Tiara of hers appears!
"Mooon Tiara Action!" With her legendary throwing arm, Sailor Moon tosses her tiara before ducking out of the way to give Runealy room to shoot with her wand!
Moonlight crashes into the youma, but it's not quite enough!
Recognition stings. Even something as simple as 'you!' is enough to make Runealy wince. All she can manage in response is a lame "That's right," voice flat. Yet calls for the alien princess to mind her fire are met with something more concrete: "I know. 'I'm sorry' won't be enough for whoever cares about them." Still speaking in a very low voice, but this time there is some real tone to it; something 'hurt.'
Rune is glad to fade back a few steps and let Moon take the charge with a... drop kick? Unorthodox, and perhaps lacking in some elegance, but it apparently worked quite well!
'Finish it!' Runealy hesitates, thinking back to what happened the last time she tried to deliver a final blow... Rune had collapsed into a choking fit that could very well have killed her. Would that happen again? It would be quite the quirk of outcomes if she wound up like that again, in front of someone she tried to hurt recently.
Yet light shines against the spider-beast, light struggling to pierce through and put an end to it. Some of that light shines on Rune's face, demanding her attention even in the dark of the night. She decides to chance it. "Wardliiiight...!"
The chant conjures up a white, somewhat transparent dome of energy. One that expands wide enough to encase the youma within. "Epilogue!" This time the chant completes, the dome flies forth, and if it connects it will trap the monster within. It would provide a place for Moon's tiara-energy to grow within and focus, even as it's joined by an expanding gold light within the dome... one that will cause the entire assembly to burst once it's full!
Regardless of the outcome, Runealy has a sharp cough after the demon-sealing magic is launched. Not nearly as bad as her choking fit, but apparently that stung all the same.
The combined attacks reduce the youma to dust, and the wall to bits. The webbing on the trio of hostages dissappears, and they fall unconscious. Sailor Moon is already moving to try to get them at least to the other end of the alleyway where they'd be easy to find.
Then she hears that horrid cough from Runealy.
"Are you okay? Did the youma hurt you?" Comes Moon, worried. Then she's taking out her cell phone, dialing emergency services, even as she doesn't keep her eyes off of Rune.
She's not the brightest, but she's definitely wary tonight.
She also has her Tiara in hand. Maybe she's not as dumb as she so often seems.
"...Why did you help?" She asks, simply enough.
Runealy's free hand begins digging in the bow of her dress, producing a phone as well. She's a few moments behind Sailor Moon in making the call however, and notices it. "You're already on that, aren't you. Alright." Rune stows her own phone, then lowers her gaze to the ground.
"No, that was my own fault. Entirely mine. It's probably going to keep happening, but that's... that's okay." There was a few seconds of silent hesitation before Runealy finished that sentence. Moon's tiara is 'aimed at' her, kept ready at least, and Runealy responds by keeping her own wand pointed at Moon. She 'answers' the question with a question. "Why did you tell me to be careful not to hit them?" Rune's free hand gestures to the three on the floor.
The two seem to be at a mexican standoff, similarly defensive. Moon nervously shuffles a foot. She's still not used to fighting. She's clumsy. But she's not backing down here.
"I didn't want them to be hurt. I don't want anyone to be hurt." She looks into the Princess' eyes meaningfully, pouring emphasis on 'anyone'.
"It's what all of us should be using our powers for. You hate it, don't you? What you're doing?" Moon is sharp when it comes to matters of the heart.
"Stop it. Please. Whatever you and your friends are doing this all for, there's people in this city who'll help. Smart people too." She implores. In the back of her mind, she can't help but question why the woman hasn't attacked her. But there's more important things afoot.
Runealy's own posture in this potential fight is a little more experienced; when you grow up knowing you exist for three jobs, and one of them is 'destroy demons', you learn how to do it. She's tense and ready to move if this does erupt into a battle. "You understand, then. I'll tell you. Imagine if, moments ago, you died. If that monster struck you down and finished you off. Imagine if Sailor Jupiter," the name is chosen at random from Sailor Moon's friends, it could have just as easily been Mars or Mercury or any other, "found you afterward. Not talking anymore. Not moving, not thinking, not breathing... just gone. Imagine if she found out I sat there and let it happen, that I did nothing when a monster tried to take you away from her forever. Tell me..."
Words stop for a few seconds, as Rune's throat tightens; she's having emotional trouble talking now. Yet she does force it out eventually: "If she found out about that and confronted me, if she... if she demanded to know why I just let that happen... do you think I could ever have an acceptable answer for that?"
Perhaps it's a rhetorical question, as a headshake follows. "And I can't stop. Not yet. Once I have enough, I will. When our work is finished, we will come back and hold ourselves accountable. Until then..." Tone shaken, she finishes, "You can't help. You can't know why we're doing this. It will be a disaster if anyone else gets involved, no matter how kind or smart they are. Even though they're better people than I am, even though I hardly deserve the support my friends have shown."
Sailor Moon's face slowly withdraws as she imagines the horrified faces of her dearest friends. And the anger, and hatred that would follow. Hurt, useless hurt, that would only reflect back on more people. It tears at her heart, and tears well up in her eyes.
She sniffles loudly.
"...Then all that's going to happen is more people will get hurt!" She mutters, voice sad, and a little hurt at such rejection.
"But I can't believe that. I can't believe that there's not another way than working together! There /has/ to be a way! But we can't do that until you want help."
Sailor Moon stands a little taller.
"...So until you realize that there are people who want to help you, I'll keep stopping you from hurting people. The sailor senshi won't allow it!"
She pauses, and leaps up to a building, before turning back around.
"I just hope you realize that the only thing you're doing is spreading misery when we could all find a solution together. If people do their best and work together, then there's never only one way! The answer's never in hurting another person!" And with that, she's leaping off, heart heavy. She needs to see her friends.
What could she do for this woman?