Erica Tenoh leapt off the top of the crystal tower, her pulse racing as the black haired woman fell. Her casual clothes shimmered, darkness swirling around her, then Tuxedo Kamen fell in her place. With a astonishing ease she bounded off a wall then onto a lower roof, leaping from building to building at great speed. 'This is SO much fun,' Erica had to admit to herself from behind her simple white mask, the black tuxedo clinging to her body. 'I wonder if this is what it was like for my parents when they first started out?' Some extra sense seemed to guide Tuxedo Kamen to a certain street even as a alarmed cry rang out, "Help, thief!" Without thinking Tuxedo Kamen was off, leaping down over a busy street as passerby watched her in surprise. With a simple move she tripped her foe, retreived the package and knocked out the lady thief with one blow. "Oh thank you..." the redheaded woman started to say as she rushed up, only to trail off as she met Erica's eyes beneath the mask. "Are you all right, miss?" Erica asked as she handed back the box with a smile. "I'm fine," the slightly older woman managed, a bit of red coloring her cheeks as her breathing seemed to speed up. "That's good," Erica smiled charmingly as she picked up the thief. "Excuse me, I must be going," and with that she was off. "Thank you!" the woman waved, stars in her eyes. Watching Tuxedo Kamen go she sighed happily, "What a hunk!" First Tuxedo Kamen dropped the thief off at the police station and swore out a complaint, then she headed out to try and complete the errand she had went out for in the first place. The training center for hardsuits took her only a few more minutes to reach, despite being miles away on the outer edge of sprawling Crystal Tokyo. "About time you got here," Ran Mizuno called from where she stood at the armored main gate of the facility, the dark blue haired young woman dressed in the simple one-piece jumpsuit of the Earth Self Defense Force. "I ran into a mugger on the way here," Erica shrugged. She frowned as they did the check in then went inside, "I don't understand why someone would want to be a thief, work is always available if they want it..." Ran gave her friend a wry smile as they passed the front desk, several officers nodding hello as well as staring at the tuxedo clad woman covertly, "Sadly, some people just don't want to do real work." A pause, "And you have to admit, the city sponsored gardening and public works jobs aren't thrilling." "Better than going to jail for stealing," Erica said with a shake of her head. She looked over at Ran, "So, what's the surprise you said you had for me?" Ran gave her friend a sly look as they turned down a long hallway, the walls a soft metallic green, "You were interested in trying some combat training?" "Yeah?" Erica looked at her friend warily. Ran laughed impishly, "Not THAT bad. I just got some volunteers together to put you through your paces." "Live weapons?" Erica asked after a moment's thought. "Just stun charges," Ran said seriously, "though they will hurt like hell if they hit you." "Huh," a slow smile spread across her lips as Erica said, "sounds like fun." "Occasionally," Ran remarked as they reached the end of the hallway and the armored door of a training enclosure, "you remind me a bit too much of Sailor Uranus." Erica grinned, "I'll take that as a compliment." Inside the room was a simulated field, the ground rough and uneven and providing little cover. Three hardsuits waited for her, visors down concealing the pilots faces and the markings on the suits marking them as trainees. Despite being trainer suits they looked sleek and deadly, with fully functioning strength augmentation, flight and onboard weapons systems. "You ready?" Ran called to her pilots a she walked over to a elevator in the wall, leading up to a observation bubble above them. "Yes ma'am," the male voice came from a red striped, blue colored suit, while women chimed in from the green and gold suit and the black and silver one. From within her cape Erica drew forth an opera cane, spinning it casually as she called up the training she had been doing the last while with Makoto. "So," she asked with a false sort of casualness, "is there a surrender phrase?" "Let's keep it traditional," Ran said with a chuckle as she opened the elevator and stepped inside, "you cry Uncle, you're done." "You won't hear that coming from us," the blue hardsuit pilot purred, crouching down a bit in readiness. "Never say never," Erica flashed a charming smile. "Recorders on," Ran announced from the observation bubble, "go!" Erica moved like a shot, cane swinging faster than the eye could see as she struck the cocky young man first. He flew back in a explosion of force, the outer shell of his hardsuit actually cracking under the power of her strike. "Holy..." the black hardsuit hissed in shock. Before her other two foes could react Erica spun around and leapt at them, rolling beneath a hastily fired off shot to drive her foot into the mid-section of the green and gold suit and hammering it up against the outer wall with a loud clang. Surprisingly the pilot shook off the blow as she hissed, "Not bad." "Thank you," Erica smiled as she saw the other suit take to the air to try to gain the advantage of the high ground, so to speak. 'Too bad it isn't going to help,' she grinned as she extended the length of her cane. "What the...?" the black hardsuit exclaimed as Erica pole vaulted up to her and delivered a devastating hit. The suit crashed to the ground as Erica landed lightly, cane back to normal size once more. Her cape swirled around her as she smiled, looking at the two standing figures and the one now stunned on the ground. "Well," she took up a battle stance, "shall we continue?" Later that afternoon Ran was grinning as a visibly sore Erica got out of the shower. "Regretting getting cocky?" Ran asked as she handed her a towel. "Thanks," Erica took the towel, wincing a bit as she dried off. "Considering it was three against one, I think I did pretty well," she smiled with some satisfaction. Ran smiled wryly, "To be honest I expected them to do a bit better, considering they're my top three students right now." "So who were they?" Erica asked as she pulled on a spare jumpsuit, the dark green cloth clinging to her slightly damp body. "Come on, they'll want to see you," Ran paused, "Tuxedo Kamen." "Oh, right," Erica paused before willing the transformation to take place, her formally soiled costume reappearing spotlessly clean. They strode down the hallway together, Ran leading the way to the door to the break room. "Brace yourself," she warned. "Huh?" Erica blinked as the door opened. Two strangers looked up from where they were resting while very familiar eyes looked up to meet Erica's gaze. "Hello, Kamen-sama," Catrine smiled sweetly, still dressed in the one-piece under suit for her armor. "Ran..." Erica growled on realizing she had made her unknowingly fight her girlfriend.
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