Fly Me To The Moon

In another part of town, Julia & Naomi hadn't run in to any new Revenants. They'd decided to have lunch at a local restaurant. Naomi's phone vibrated, and she took it quick.

"Sorry, it was Serena. She's alright." said Naomi. "But go ahead."

"Well, I was saying that I, surprisingly, had q-quite the good reception t-to my poetry that night. Now granted, it might've been because I-I was a student, because I never got that good a reception without the badge, ever. There's a quote by Woody Allen t-that I find generally true: expect a middling r-response to your best work, because anything of actual depth and nuance can never appeal to everyone.

But, this certainly made this other lady very upset with me. I-I mean, she comes over and she starts pissing on me, trying to point out flaws in it that weren't really there. And she was one of the worst ones, o-of course, with a few mediocre quatrains about menstruation."

"Why would anyone write a poem about that?"

"You don't know any lesbian poets besides me, do you?" Julia glanced off the side. She was grinning: just a little.

"Well, I suppose not. I just don't see anything beautiful in it."

Julia shrugged. "Because you're an intelligent woman. But, a-anyway, this lady was jealous of me. But envy is the general rule with artists. I mean, w-what do you think all the crap about a work being *important* is all about? It's this attempt to sunder talent and skill from the w-worth of a work, because they know their own a-art is lacking from any realm but activism. But, I-I do believe art has an end in and of itself, that doesn't need to be tied to the social issue of the day."

"I agree with you, but I still haven't been able to quite shed that feeling that I should be doing something more important with my life. Maybe she felt that way, too."

"Right, but you're not a missionary or Superwoman. You're a student. You wanna do mankind a real service? Kill criminals faster."

"At least I have plenty of that." she muttered. "And from the texts Serena's been sending me, it looks like they've run into plenty of hosts today."

Julia's tablet vibrated, and she took it quick. "O-Oh great, a bank robbery. Let's wait f-five minutes on this one."

Naomi stood up and readied to rush out, and Julia groaned as she followed her, showing her the location. "Y-You sure you don't -- y'know, this could be a modern day Robin Hood, i-it could be one of those -- who's the student with that father who robbed a bank?"

"Julia, it already says it's lethal."

"W-Well, lethal entails killing humans, I-I just don't think bankers pass that threshold of-"

"JULIA!"

Julia snickered.

The two-floor bank had its own block near the center of the city, lobby & teller's windows at the center of the building, offices right, second lobby that led to the vault at the left & back, alarm already running.

"Well, they're a-already in the vault, anyhow." muttered Julia. "Three guys, one with orange hair."

Once they arrived, the two peeled left & around the building, coming up to one spot at the back-left. Stone arm readied, Naomi threw one punch in to the wall -

- and the two laughed as the barrier started buckling. Another three punches shattered a jagged hole through the sheet of steel, and in to the vault swept the women, three aisles of collection boxes & the vault door ahead -

- to see their first foe in the middle aisle ahead, drawers of money burning black as they peeled suddenly open; his eyes caught the two -

" - Pauly!" he shouted back to the lobby, electrical whip forming - " - students are here!"

" - fucking fine by me!" shouted a voice back from the lobby, thirty feet separating the women from their foe. He turned to face them, black flames disappearing as his electrical lasso went taut, and as he struck one of the drawers -

- the next scene was instant.

[Fly Me To The Moon - Bayonetta version extended, baby.]

"Manufacture!" "Avalanche!"

Manufacture's rods sparked; the vault door rumbled behind the man, and in the next instant -

- it flew off its hinges and towards him; Naomi stomped for a wall of asphalt ahead -

- and the vault door crushed him right in to it in a mist of gore&blood, man not even shrieking as his bones split a hundred ways and his whips popped out of the meat of the stone & metal sandwich -

" - try your fucking whips now!" shouted Julia, Manufacture's rods flashing -

" - not today, bitch!" shouted Naomi -

- and with no time to waste, the women peeled in to the right aisle and ran across the room, and as they came up to the vault's exit -

- an orange stream of liquid sprayed at them from ahead, liquid solidifying in to a solid & jagged white door, blocking their sight and path. Arm readied, Naomi punched right through it -

- but felt with aghast Avalanche her arm suddenly trapped, jagged white edges growing and starting to stab at her stone; beside, Julia bashed it with a Manufacture rod -

- but winced at no electric current coming - " - I - isn't conductive, isn't conductive - glass, sugar, what - what else isn't conductive -"

" - still trapped -" winced Naomi, and in the next instant -

- she felt her stone fingers burst in to flames -

- but the next scene was instant. Manufacture's rods sparked as Julia held them up to the steel doorframe -

- and the metal warped just enough to peel back the white barrier as Naomi yanked her stone arm out, quick unsummon before she lost control of her stone arm. Another spark peeled open the white barrier further as Naomi stepped aside -

- and the keen end of a orange stream of liquid pierced through Julia's chest & out her back; shrieking as she staggered back, white crystals started forming at her wound -

" - Manufacture!" she shouted, tapping one rod on her wound -

- and a geyser of blood burst out of her wound & in to Manufacture's rod, poet stumbling back behind the wall as her blood dissolved the crystals, Naomi left & her right. "It's - sugars - sugars hardening - probably the soda, soda can guy -"

" - got it." nodded Naomi -

" - wouldn't be the first student I've killed!" shouted a man's voice ahead - " - don't think anyone else is going to be coming for you, either!"

Naomi stomped, and the floor started to shudder -

- and she nodded as she heard two men staggering in the next room ahead, gesturing to Julia as the poet winced nodding. "Other guy is the fire one."

"Got it." said Julia. Blindly, she threw one of her rods out the door, and something started beeping in the next room. "Metal detectors. Think, think I saw that - got something."

One rod left, she bashed the door's steelframe; Manufacture's rod sparked, electrical arc shooting to its sister in the next room -

- and they heard one of their foes screaming in agony, something smelling like charred flesh in the next room - " - Infernal!"

- and Avalanche's arm reformed as Julia lost control over her second rod, arc fading as she yanked her first rod back; she nodded to Naomi, and in the next instant -

- something popped in the other room; one of the drawers flew with the speed of a hundred at them -

- but a quicker spark of Manufacture blasted it right back the way it'd come & out the hole they had entered in from the start -

" - Avalanche!" shouted Naomi; one punch broke the wall in to a storm of rubble -

- that smashed both of their foes' skulls in as the women swept out and in to the other room, metal detectors still beeping behind their foes standing thirty feet away. Another door was at the women's left; one man had a flaming black hand, and the other had orange-hair & a beard, soda can that read "S.P.C.".

Naomi rushed left and punched through the door as Julia followed her behind, orange streams of soda catching only air behind as they came out behind the row of teller's windows, televisions still on up above & a balcony overlooking the glass as they ran. Behind, they heard one of the men shouting to the other, and as they turned, saw their flaming black foe rushing after them & carrying Manufacture's possessed rod.

"It works like THIS, doesn't it?!" he shouted; his stolen rod sparked -

- and blasted one of the television off its hinge & towards them -

- but Julia's own sparked & blasted it back, and as he raised his to dodge -

- the next scene was instant. Julia threw her rod left & over the glass as it sparked again -

- and the arc yanked its excommunicated sister back to it just in time for the television to smash through the man's ribs; he folded to the ground, electrical current entering his body as he twitched, Naomi leaping up to climb on the balcony as he gurgled, starting her rush towards him.

Below, Julia resummoned her first rod -

" - important lesson!" shouted Julia - " - when you can't beat someone with your own Revenant, don't try to use someone else's -"

" - yeah, bitch!" shouted Naomi, wondering what Serena would've said -

" - I-Infernal!" shouted the man. Manufacture's second rod had hit the lobby's floor to Julia's left, and as its electrical arc sparked -

- she laughed as it hit the glass and did nothing at all - " - exactly what I'm -"

" - Soda Pop Coke!" shouted a voice to her left; an orange stream broke through the glass -

- and a hundred sugary shards crucified her right to the wall in a mess of blood; she shrieked as the next volley flew towards her -

" - Avalanche -" panted Naomi as she stomped; behind Julia, the wall collapsed and she fell on her back -

- just in time for the orange stream to fly over her -

- which hardened; sugary spikes grew as it started to fall upon her -

- but one Manufacture spark yanked them right in to her rod, magnetic sugar saving Julia -

- but starting to drip down as it hit her fingers; it hardened and grew thorns -

- that sliced every finger on her right hand clear off; she screamed again as she crawled back in to the back meeting room & behind a wall. Above, Naomi had the high ground on their burning-black foe staggering to his feet below, and she leaped down -

- for one stomp that crushed his skull down in to his lungs and turned him in to red paste, as another stone wall covered Julia's retreat. Their orange-hair foe was in the lobby ahead with bags of money on his back. Naomi punched the wall behind herself and met up with Julia, another stone wall covering her retreat, poet staggering and heavily bloodied.

"I -" - Naomi panted - " - Julia -"

" - really - really not doing good -" she winced, stuffing her fingerless hand in her pocket " god-damnit, that little shit is getting this shoved up his dick -"

" - go see Serena - I can handle - I got the other guy, it's just him -"

" - are you sure?"

"COME ON!" shouted Naomi, and her voice shoved Julia back across the room, left hand taking her tablet off her back.

"Going to leave this - it tracks location -"

" - okay." Naomi rushed back and grabbed it, more orange streams entering her stone wall and starting to corrode it. She ran back and to her stone wall, readying to solo -

" - uh, can you break this?" said Julia at the back wall, and Naomi laughed nervously as her stone fingers snapped and crumbled the wall, Julia running out behind. Naomi ran up to the right wall, and another barrage of punches shattered her way back in to the vault, then in the right-lobby again.

An arch led to the main lobby where her foe was still standing, and she swept against the wall for cover as the alarm started groaning again.

"Orange isn't the only flavor, you know!" shouted the man from the other room, and in the next instant -

- the wall behind her corroded away; she stomped instantly -

- but a pink stream hit her foot just as a stone wall blocked the next green stream coming from his can; twitching and unable to move, she felt the sticky liquid glue her feet to the ground. More orange streams started hitting through her wall, one piercing through and hitting her right leg, and as the sugars started to stick -

- the next scene was instant. One of Avalanche's stone fingers sharpened -

- and she scraped the sugar off of her right leg before it could grow, part of her skin coming along for the ride as she winced; more orange streams broke through the barrier -

- for another instant scene. A pillar of stone burst up at her feet, launching her up and in to the ceiling; a stone punch shattered her way out -

- to land right on the flat roof with stone boots breaking her fall. With no time to waste, she started her rush across the roof, stalactites forming on the ceiling underneath, quick stomps causing them to stagger and fall as she ran. Once she reached the end of the roof and vicious rain, she frowned as no scream of pain, and as she turned -

- she dodged with the speed of light left & away from the green stream ahead -

- just in time to see the man climbing out of the hole in the roof ahead, ladder made of white sugar melting as he swept up to the roof - " - did you think you could run?!"

" - no, but this works!" laughed Naomi; one titanic stomp down -

- and the roof started to rumble. Rafters and beams started collapsing as the two staggered; a stone cocoon formed over Naomi as the ceiling shattered, walls with sudden weight lost and stone fingers snapping as the entire bank collapsed around the two, concrete spikes growing from the rain of rubble & smoke whispering out of the ruins as the entire building shuddered & buckled -

- and inside her cocoon, Naomi felt one chunk of rubble hit her cocoon's lower half -

- and launch her with the strength of a thousand away; she winced as she gripped tight with her stone arm, extra casing forming over her egg as she flew; she felt it hit the ground outside, but in the next instant -

- something honked -

- and launched her with the strength of a hundred away again; groaning with cheeks tinting, her eyes shut as she hit something again -

- and a car's alarm started up below & around her. No time to waste, she snapped her fingers, and her cocoon dissolved as she stood -

- right on a parked car in the avenue she'd landed on, thankfully driverless but broken in half. Ahead and to her right, the ruins to the bank were a hundred feet away.

"…fucking kidding me?" she muttered, seeing carbonation rise out of the rubble.

Now, Julia shall be the one writing this next section of what was happening from her perspective, back there, as she can best put it herself:

So I started running out of the bank, my decapitated right fingers flopping around in my pocket and my left hand on Manufacture's rod. I always think it's vaguely phallic; running with it causes it to bob very fellatiously. I wasn't too worried about Naomi, as she had the advantage over Markus by having a better Revenant and having four limbs remaining. I wouldn't say I viewed Naomi as a replacement for him, but I won't say there aren't elements there.

But Christ, she couldn't have picked a better time to make me do this? A better mentor for me to run to? I mean, here's my thoughts on Serena: what type of grown woman watches cartoons for kids? Evangelion's got some good art, but is she going to pull out a copy of that crap Henry Potter or The Hunger Goons next? Every time she talks about manga, I make my distaste known; not so much through what I say but how my face registers. It's anti-social, certainly, but life has snipped at me enough I feel it's right to snip it back harder.

I considered just cauterizing my fingers back on myself rather than deal with the little shit. And to my surprise, when I do go back to her and explain where Naomi is: she started yelling at me. When I say she yelled at me, let me be clear: I have never before had such a stream of invective thrown at me. Words and sentences exited her mouth with such frequency and vitriol that I cannot say I have ever had anyone come at me in any capacity even close to this before. My god, she acted like I had murdered Naomi. I have no clue what I could have possibly ever done that put me so far up this little punk's asshole.

Thank you, Julia Bates. While Serena was annoyed (and mostly concerned for Naomi), this was what Naomi Eskel was doing:

"Avalanche!" shouted Naomi as she chased after him on the sidewalk; her stone-arm dug underneath another parked car, and threw it forward -

- and as it had for the last six, a swift stream of green dissolved it as she kept her pursuit going, man with three stalactites coming out of his spine but still living.

'Fuck.' thought Naomi. 'Gotta just - gotta be something, gotta be something - maybe - that has to be pretty short range, right?'

The corner was up ahead. The sodaman glanced back as he ran past it -

- just in time for one civilian to tackle him from the side; and the two hit the ground fighting -

- for one green soda-stream that melted his face to his skull. Grunting as he stood, the orange-haired man threw his corpse back to Naomi as he kept his run going, Naomi wincing as she leaped over it. There was a lesson about good Samaritans there, and someday she'd reason it out. She glanced back and noticed the carcass's mouth was still open, lips safe from the corrosive drink.

As she ran, she dodged underneath another spray of orange from ahead, and the two were coming up to another sidewalk of buildings; the man turned right & disappeared past -

- and Naomi stopped herself right before she ran after him, one-floor store at her right; with no time to waste, she leaped up and grabbed the ledge with Avalanche's arm -

- and shrieked as the entire store started to collapse -

" - A-Avalanche! You're - you're safe!" she panted, swift concrete reforming to keep the civilians inside safe as she landed -

' - god - stop - STOP! Stop and - stop and think for a second. Stop.'

She took another breath, shaking her head, remembering her pull-up performance from earlier in the year. She stomped, and a pillar of stone brought her up to the roof. She started running across it and saw her foe still on the sidewalk below, two combatants pursuing side-by-side.

'Got an idea.' she thought. Something made of stone formed in her right hand.

The traffic was sparse below, but she saw him run on to the road as one car started to pass by -

- and a stream of green melted the driver to goo in an instant; and in to the car he swept, engine already running as he veered and turned -

' - got an idea.' thought Naomi; she leaped down and on to the road, seeing her foe's vehicle turn to her ahead, starting to scream towards her. His can rose at the wheel as he came twenty feet within range; a green stream shot towards her out of the windshield -

- but the next scene was instant. Her right hand rose up -

- and her stone bendy straw funneled the green liquid right in to itself, more stone growing as Naomi swept out of the way of the vicious vehicle, stone tubes blasting green liquid all over of the road ahead of him -

- and carving a clear fissure through the road; she stomped as he tried to brake -

- and slammed right in to the fissure at forty miles an hour, launching his car in to the air, vehicle flipping and screeching as it hit the road back first, concrete scraping and windows breaking as it rolled for hundreds & hundreds of feet down -

- and with no time to waste, Naomi rushed after it as she heard him screaming in agony as his car scraped another four parked cars just before it slammed right through a glass storefront. Something gurgled as she came up to the shattered store. His totaled car was upsidedown on the floor, and out of the shattered windows crawled the orange-haired man -

- his arms having been torn clear off by the glass & accident, gurgling as he spit blood with no fingers to use SPC. Naomi laughed as she came up, bags of money flooding out of the backseat.

"…y-you…" gagged the man. "You - you can keep a quarter of it -"

- and one smack with Avalanche crashed his skull back down in to his neck, bones & blood bursting out of his head just in time for Naomi to stomp & shout "Avalanche!" -

- and the ground opened to swallow the man alive; in to the sudden hole he fell -

- right on to a bed of spikes that impaled through him in a hundred ways and left his body with a hundred holes, gasping out a geyser of blood as Naomi laughed & he fell rigid below.

"Fatality!" she chimed, having picked it up from Serena. She stomped, and the ground brought his corpse up to her.

She turned and saw Kate swinging over to her, then landed ahead of her. "Got him?"

"Yeah, I got him." she grinned. "Got him good." She sat down against a nearby wall and let Kate stitch her wounds. "Didn't run in to any more Revenants, either. Might've been the last one."

Kate nodded. "Serena should be showing up with Julia, soon. If she's stopped yelling at her."

Naomi frowned. "Julia was yelling at Serena?"

"No, Serena was yelling at Julia." Kate shrugged. "To be honest, I would've liked Serena to act a bit more professionally than that, but I can't say I don't understand her. Julia thinks Serena's too stupid to pick up on how she acts whenever Serena talks about something she likes. She's just giving back to Julia what she got on the ride over."

Naomi sighed, but did not feel strongly towards Julia's elitism or not. The other two soon arrived and Naomi bragged about her solo fight on the way to the coroner, which reminded Serena of her solo fight with Oddity. Maybe it had taken her longer to trust Naomi like Mia had her, & she still wasn't sure if Naomi could handle mentorship yet - but there was still the rest of the year, and that shoved away the nagging wonder of why he'd had a eel tattoo & disappearing right arm and Naomi had a stone left arm.