Star Light at Night (Muse)

Dar laid on his back, looking up through a hole in the ceiling. This abandoned observatory was serving as his home tonight. He liked looking up at the stars, but he didn't want to stay here for much longer. Winter was on its way, and it was only going to get colder. Dar didn't want to resort to anything so common as getting a job, but he had to find a way to get shelter and food.

Perhaps he could work as a bodyguard?

In any case, he would worry about making a living tomorrow. He had heard rumors about something called the HIVE. He knew nothing about it, but apparently a bunch of metahumans were forming a sort of gang. The word on the street was that it was the rival gang to something called the Titans.

Dar signed. Gangs? He wasn't sure if he wanted to get involved in one of those. Perhaps if they allowed him to fight to his heart's content, he would consider joining one. But for right now, he decided that the cold night wasn't so bad. He covered himself with his heavy winter cloak. Even homeless, he could survive the harsh winter. He had done it before.

Gilda sat in the rafters of the observatory. She didn't like staying in H.I.V.E. It wasn't big enough for her wings and it made her connection to the Nth metal weaker. After going years and years and years without being separated from the metal for even a second, it was weird to not feel it at her side. so she stayed out and about.

Tonight she had chosen this place to rest. At least she had until this guy came in. Now she had to deal with this. She didn't really trust him. No one normal would come this far out of the way just to sleep. For her it was just a quick flight. For a regular homeless man it was probably half an hour up, 2 hours from the middle of the city, half of that hour being uphill, all on foot. No, this man definitely wasn't just some guy. Of course he could just be crazy, but that didn't make her any less suspicious.

"Hey big guy, vamoose, this place is mine." she called out, floating down. "Name's Gilda, Thanagarian warrior. Don't mess with me, got it?" she sad, her arms crossed, a scowl on her face. If only he had come earlier, when she was bored, now she was just tired and irritated.

A rather strange individual appeared, floating down from the rafters. Her white hair and amber eyes caught Dar's attention. She was no ordinary human. Although, since she was flying that was already obvious. She told Dar that the place belonged to her, and that he better get out. As a Thanagarian warrior, she assured Dar that she could stand her ground in a fight.

There were two problems with that, though: Dar didn't know what a Thanagarian was, and Dar loved fights.

"You have as much claim to this land as any other," he said, still lying peacefully on his back. "It is impossible to truly own land, or to own anything. We assign ownership to things because we become attached to them, but they are never truly ours. Property, government borders, territories, they're all imaginary." Dar stared up at the stars, impressed with the clear view he had of the night sky.

"Why not watch the stars with me? There is plenty of room for both of us, and I don't bite...not without cause anyway."

As a precaution, Dar activated his rage-fueled powers. If Gilda had a strong sense of empathy, or an innate sense of energy, she would notice his personal aura growing incredibly powerful. He was the embodiment of rage, and if cause was given, he would bite very hard. "Of course, if you do wish to fight, I will not deny you that. Either way, I can enjoy the pleasure of your company."

"Imaginary, my mace isn't imaginary when it knocks you into next week is it?" Gilda said flatly. Owning things is imaginary. What a load of bull. This guy was obviously one of those crazy hippies that had been kicked out on the streets. She didn't need him around and so she quickly decided to get rid of him and keep the observatory to her self.

"Alright, here's how this can go. Option 1 is you leaving, period. Option 2 is you fighting and losing and then leaving with a bunch of broken bones. Option 3 is how you somehow convince me not to kick your butt, or prove that I can't. That one will probably also leave you with some broken bones. Capeche?" she said with a smile, "Now, as much as I'd usually enjoy options 2 and 3 I'd also really love to get to sleep."

Gilda walked up so she was standing just out of arm's reach with a sleepy scowl on her face. "So, how about you enjoy the pleasure of my company down at the bottom of the hill and buzz off. You're stinkin' the place up."

Gilda gave Dar three options. Two of them involved fighting. Dar grinned. Gilda said that even in defeat, she would make sure to break at least some of Dar's bones. Most people would find such words intimidating.

Dar found them invigorating.

Dar stood up, unzipped the long, narrow bag next to him, and pulled out his massive claymore. Despite the size and obvious weight of the weapon, Dar held it in one hand with ease. That should tell Gilda something about who she was about to fight.

The smile on his face grew ever wider. "Who needs sleep when there is a fight on our hands? I've traveled to this city for three reasons: to fight, to kill, and to conquer. Your eagerness is appreciated, and I will enjoy shedding your blood. Thank you. Of course, I cannot say which of us will be victorious. It doesn't really matter, I suppose."

Life was, for Dar, about challenging death. The greater the threat, the better the sensation was when you survived and walked away. Bloodlust started coursing through Dar's veins as he studied Gilda. He took a defensive strike, waiting for her to make a move. According to his personal code of honor, he would not fight an opponent who had not attacked him. But once Gilda did make her move, she was dead.

Gilda couldn't believe this man. She almost wished that she had never come down from the rafters. She was glad though. She was glad that she would be the one to give this giant the lesson of his life. She was Glad that she would be the one rubbing a 6 foot hole in the ground with his face and most of all, she was glad to have someone who looked like they might at least try to get a hit in.

Even with all this conviction Gilda's eyes widened. They did not widen in surprise though. They widened in wonder. They widened in greed. Most people would just assume that this behemoth monster had extreme strength, Gilda knew better though. She had other suspicions, based off her own experiences which included herself swinging a mace that could knock cars into the air as if it was a feather.

She wondered if that sword was Nth metal. She would just need to touch it to find out. Easier said than done though. She would have to get the weapon from him, which could really suck if he knew how to use it well. "You won't be conquering jack once I show you how far out of your league you are!!" she said, spreading her wings and raising into the air to circle the man, faster and faster, then suddenly bolt towards him and heave a sparking mace down at the crook of his neck on his sword arm's shoulder.

Gilda was going to fight him. Good. Dar stood his ground as she literally flew circles around him. Her mace looked like it could cause some serious harm, but Dar's sword definitely had the longer reach. He was going to need that extra reach, because she was now flying really fast.

Gilda came swooping in for the kill, swinging her mace between Dar's neck and shoulder. He swiveled to face her and held the flat of his blade up to act as a shield. With his empowered strength, he was able to stop her mace dead in its tracks.

But the metal of the mace wasn't the only threat. Electricity crackled as the two weapons met, flowing down Dar's blade and sizzling into his hands. Dar grunted and jumped twenty feet away in a single bound. He glanced down at his hands for a moment. They were a little charred. His body felt strange after being electrocuted, and he was glad that his sword wasn't a better conductor.

Still, that electricity was going to be a problem. Dar scooped a hand down and grabbed the black leather sheath for his sword out of the big bag, slipping it over the blade. With only the handle exposed, Dar grinned at Gilda. He had given up the cutting edge of his sword, but now it wouldn't conduct electricity so easily, if at all. Dar hadn't paid too much attention in physics. He had spent that time planning how to take over the world.

"Your mace is certainly not imaginary. I think I'm going to enjoy this." Dar took a defensive stance again. Even without the cutting edge of his sword, he wasn't worried about his ability to hurt his enemy. He could break this girl's ribs with a solid blow.

Well...that hadn't gone as expected. She had planned for this guy to already be in horrible, agonizing, broken bone caused pain. Instead he just seemed a bit shaken. That didn't bode well for her earlier statements. There was only one solution, she would have to hit him harder. Gilda glared at the large man, now completely sure she didn't want to be sleeping in the same building as him. No one that tough was gonna be near her in her sleep.

She would have to send him far away from here or to his grave!

"I assure you, you will not!" she said, dashing forward and swooping so she was low to the ground to swing her mace at his ankles at full strength then turning around to swing at his back, her mace sparking with each blow, "How about you enjoy some of that!" she said angrily, not holding back her rage. She could take some big guy with a big sword!

Gilda seemed upset. Dar wondered why she wanted him out of here so badly. Maybe he really did have an odor.

He put the tip of his sword to the ground and blocked her first attack. Sparks flew, but Dar's sheath protected him. He saw her bring her arms around for another attack and spun around, barely managing to block the second attack. He felt a strain in his wrists. The attack had apparently had more force behind it than the previous ones. Sparks continued to fly as their weapons pressed against each other, but Dar grinned. She had attacked him three times, but now it was his turn to fight back.

"I admire your arrogance. Many people say it's a flaw, but that's only true if you are undeserving."

Pushing his sword away from him as hard as he could, Dar slashed the flat of his blade out, despite Gilda's resistance. In a battle of pure strength, Dar would win, and send Gilda flying (without the use of her wings) into the far wall. Of course, she could avoid being pushed away so forcefully, but Dar doubted she would. By the way she talked, he thought she was the kind of person who never backed down. If she was as confident in herself as Dar imagined, then she would try to match or beat his strength, only to fail and be sent into the wall.

Gilda growled at him. The electricity wasn't having the same affect as before. It wasn't having the same effect at all. She looked at his sword, it was covered now. She would just have to get rid of that cover at some point. That may or may not be easier said than done though. He looked pretty strong. She knew she was stronger.

She was wrong.

Gilda went to block the swing but found herself being quickly overpowered. Her defense slowed it down a bit, but not nearly enough. Her eyes widened as her arms quickly collapsed to her chest and she was thrown off into the air by the behemoth strike. She spun around in the air for a few seconds but recovered before running into one of the walls. She was close though, as she tried to flap her wings she fell to the ground as the contacted the wall.

"Well...that was surprising." she said, a bit winded. "Alright, wanna play hard ball? We'll play hard ball." she said with a smile. It was time to take this to the next level. First rule, no blocking the sword, only parries. Second rule, get that bag away from his sword. She had more than her mace to play with.

She floated in the air, out of the sword's reach, then jumped up and forward, swinging her mace downwards! Forseeing a block she also took out her knife and slashed at Dar, hoping he would block with that giant sword of his. The knife was also electric, but not nearly as strong. "You're gonna leave one way or the other!" she yelled.

Gilda was sent flying away from Dar, but she was able to regain control of herself before hitting the wall, just before hitting the wall. Her wings actually touched it, dropping her to the ground. Obviously shaken, Gilda seemed to be studying Dar. She would probably try to find a way to get rid of the sheath on his sword. That was what Dar would do, though he wasn't sure how.

Retaking the sky, the winged combatant closed in on Dar again and attacked with her mace. Dar noticed, though, that she was also attacking with a second weapon, a knife. She yelled that he wasn't going to get away. Dar was a risk-taker, but only when it was called for in his eyes. This seemed to be one of Gilda's more powerful attacks, and it was probably best not to meet it head on.

Dar moved like a blur, dashing to the side and then getting behind Gilda. He was moving at over 100 miles per hour. Since she could fly, Gilda could probably move at those speeds, but Dar was hoping she wouldn't be able to react to him moving so fast, especially since she wouldn't be expecting it.

"Bases loaded."

Picking up a stray rock, Dar threw it after Gilda. The rock was nothing special, but with about 15 tons of force behind it, the simple projectile would be a threat to almost anyone. He watched, wanting to see how she defended herself with such offensively based weapons.

Well, he sure was fast, quite fast. At least for running he was, one couldn't expect someone running on the ground to match her top moving speed too easily. It did cause a problem though. It meant staying close to the ground might not be as valid an option as it seemed before. She would need to take to the skies more often than she thought, but first.

Gilda turned as he left her vision. Quickly turning around but she was only just in time for the rock to impact her mace! It staggered her as bits of rock dug into the sides of her face and a few nicked at her stomach. "You're fast, but not as fast as The Great Robin's arrows. ...more like...half speed." she smiled "You should have used that surprise better!" she shouted, the marks on her stomach were starting, "Now that I know about it, you surprise me again."

She took a step forward then leaped, blurring through the air to Dar's side, his sword arm's side, to make it more difficult for him to attack. "Right here." she said before swinging her mace at his shoulder, trying to make him put down that freaking sword. She then flapped her wings once more, making a rush of air and swung her leg at Dar's chin, planning to kick him into the air and stab him with her knife.

The rock missed Gilda, but hit her mace and shattered. The effect was still satisfactory, as the broken shards of the rock stabbed into her face and stomach. Dar actually wished that had been intentional.

Gilda didn't seem too hurt, however. She said that he was fast, but not as fast as the Great Robin's arrows. The Great Robin? Did she mean Robin Hood? Dar had no idea where that had come from, and he honestly had nothing to reply with. Gilda went on to say that he had wasted his surprise. Logically, of course, it made sense to hurt your enemy as much as possible when their back was turned. But it seemed dishonorable to stab someone in the back. Dar had no personal problem with Gilda, or any reason to want her dead. He just enjoyed the fight.

Gilda moved like a blur, a very fast blur, up to Dar's side. Dar tensed. He had guessed she could move that fast, but only when given time to build up speed. Apparently, with a big effort, she could move extremely fast on the spot. He hadn't been prepared for that.

The mace hit his shoulder, and electrocuted him. His arm froze up and he released his grip on his sword. It fell to the ground with a heavy slam. He growled in anger. His lack of mastery over his own weapon was showing. He hadn't been able to block the attack in time because his arm didn't know how to react fluidly. Now he had dropped his weapon.

Gilda's wings flapped, her leg came up, and her foot connected with Dar's chin.

Dar's body was lifted two feet up into the air from the force of the kick. A moment later, she stabbed at him with the knife. The sharp blade stopped when it touched his skin, however, unable to pierce it. Like the mace, the weapon itself wasn't much of a threat to him. The electricity the knife carried was a different story. Dar felt the shock and bit his teeth down hard. He had no defense against electricity, and it hurt.

Dropping to the ground, Dar tumbled to the side and got back on his feet. He had dropped his sword and was a little off balance now, but he had a little victory, too. His shoulder stung, but wasn't broken. His stomach stung, but wasn't bleeding. He could feel that her attacks used considerably more force than a normal person, but even her strength wasn't enough to pose a real threat to Dar. The electricity of her weapons was probably what was keeping her alive right now, and it was what might end up killing Dar.

Now they had both caught each other by surprise. Dar needed to get his weapon back, but Gilda was right behind it. He smiled and pulled off his winter cloak. Throwing it at Gilda, he then jumped after it, throwing his weight at her with full force. If she moved to the side to avoid the harmless cloak, then he would roll and grab his sword off the floor. If she tried to block or attack the cloak, then he would slam into her, hopefully doing more damage to her than to himself.

Gilda's stomach ached but the much more distracting part of her injuries was her face. Nothing had gone into her eyes thanks to the head of the mace but her cheeks burned as some sweat dripped into them. At least her attack seemed pretty successful! Even before it was over she smiled. Gilda was no combat expert but she did have some experience in mock fighting thanks to her circus days, the same reason she knew The Great Robin. Their mock fighting gave her good reason to believe it was hard to bring up a weapon on the side you used it from. It also gave her the rather unique ability to catch an arrow coming from 35 degrees below her and 23 and a half feet away. Anything other than that and...well, there had been a reason to use practice arrows. All Gilda knew was that the reason apparently hadn't been avoiding bruises all over her sternum and collar bone, because she had gotten plenty of that.

Back to the fight. Gilda's kick connected like a wrecking ball, but probably only to her. He was heavy and moving him that quick and hard had actually hurt. She only noticed after the stab with her knife, but her leg was almost definitely going to have a bruise on it within the hour, if the skin hadn't already split. She didn't have the time to look now though. She had a giant man without a sword to worry about.

Dar threw the cloak he was wearing. Unexpected. Gilda had no choice but to retreat. She couldn't deal with her wings getting all tangled up by some cloak while in the middle of a fight. She flapped her wings and glided back a good 15 feet before stopping. "Is that why you have the cloak?" she sneered "Well, you've got your big scary sword now. Bring it on."

Dar's shoulder and stomach still stung from the electricity, but at least he had gotten his sword back. Gilda asked if he carried his cloak around specifically to use as a distraction. Dar chuckled. "The cloak is just to stay warm, but I don't need it right now. The sight of your beauty warms my heart."

While he was hoping this would distract his opponent, Dar did mean it. He thought Gilda was attractive, and her fighting prowess only made her more enjoyable. He wished that he could get her to join him in his quest to conquer Jump City. All the best fighters were also the best opponents, though, so Dar felt sure that he would never raise an army, not that he needed one, of course.

Gilda told him to 'bring it on,' and he did not want to keep her waiting too long, but he had time for another remark. "The stars that shine so peacefully in the night sky are actually burning violently. It's kind of like a fight, I think. I see art in this moment, in a battle between two warriors." He laughed, and then dashed forward at 80 miles per hour to bring an overhead smashing attack down at Gilda's head. It was time to let his sword to the talking, to let it paint in many shades of red.