If the bandit had been somewhat surprised to find himself faced with two people wearing the armour of the Crimson Lance when he met them at the waterhole, he didn't let it show; he just looked at them fearfully, the helmets keeping their faces from view, neither of them saying anything when he approached them, the smaller only acknowledging him by holding out one hand for the trinket.

"You're not gonna kill me, are you", he fearfully asked, unable to hide his relief when the taller one shook their head in response; he handed the trinket over, then nervously wiped his hands on his pants, looking awkward, clearly having no idea if anything else was expected of him.

"Just go", the taller one told him, and he was quite sure that an eyeroll accompanied those words, even though he couldn't see the person's face; he cleared his throat, then turned and marched off, his stiff back telling them both that he was expecting them to shoot him now.

Instead of getting out her gun and doing just that, Michiru pocketed the piece of the key, waiting until the bandit was out of sight before she removed the helmet, not looking forward to putting it on again, not much fancying the weight of the thing, but knowing that she'd have to put it back on soon enough.

"Well, that worked like a charm", she stated, while Haruka pulled her helmet off, as well, Michiru involuntarily smiling at how wearing it had flattened her normally tousled, somewhat scruffy hair, "to be honest, I wasn't quite sure it would when you suggested it, but apparently, you were right about how loyal these men are to their boss once someone starts picking them off one by one."

"They're loyal as long as they think it's useful for them", Haruka shrugged in response, clearly not offended by Michiru's doubts in her plan, "at least, that's how it goes with regular bandits, and I doubted those of Big Boris would be any different."

"Good thing I have someone along who knows about the psychology of bandits", Michiru smiled, briefly fighting the urge to hug her, telling herself that it wouldn't do much good in the bulky armour they both were wearing; she still stepped closer to kiss her briefly though, then gestured at the crimson vehicle Haruka had fixed, a hint of mischief in her eyes when she went on.

"So", she stated, "now that your plan worked out so fine, ready to try mine?"

"Yes", the blonde replied at once, not really surprising her – she had looked a bit sceptical when she had outlined her plan, rough as it was, but she trusted her, and thus figured that it would be okay, even if it'd be quite risky.

Smiling again, Michiru replied by making her way to the passenger side of the car and getting into it; Haruka took the driver seat, handing her helmet to Michiru before she started the engine, telling herself that the way her plan had worked out was a good omen and that surely, Michiru's plan would work just as fine, as well.

Unlike when they had escaped from Old Haven after their capture there, they did run into soldiers this time, two of them, positioned at the town's main entrance; they took one look at the vehicle and the two passengers within and waved them through at once, making them both wonder if nobody else ever had had this idea before.

"Apparently not", Michiru murmured after Haruka had been the one to voice that thought, keeping her voice low just in case, "or they are simply careless. Either way, good for us."

Nodding her agreement, Haruka kept her gaze on the road as she drove, Michiru directing her back to the building where they had been held captive; they both were sure that this was the Lance's headquarters in this town, and figured that, if Steele was in town and hadn't left to search for the third piece, they'd have the best chance to find her there.

It didn't take them long to reach the building, Haruka parking the car right in front of it; they both put on the helmets, figuring that, while it might look suspicious, it would be downright suicidal to walk around with their faces exposed, then got out of the vehicle, approaching the building with fast, secure steps, knowing that acting as if they belonged there would make them much less noticeable.

Apparently, it worked with the man standing guard at the front door; he only reacted to them with a brief nod of his head, a gesture Michiru and Haruka both returned as they entered, the sniper quietly wondering to herself who the men she had killed for the car and their armours had been – if they had been some sort of team sent out by Steele to do God knew what, and the guard didn't know them well enough to realize it wasn't them coming back.

Shrugging it off, she took the lead, even though she wasn't quite sure where they had to go; she hadn't seen much of the building when she had been held captive, and it was quite big, but she figured that sooner or later, they'd find out where Steele was, if necessary by dragging one of her men into a secluded room and questioning him.

Footsteps came up ahead, and she took in a deep breath, telling herself that she'd have to act quickly the moment whoever was approaching them would appear as if they suspected something; it was another soldier, she learned seconds later as the armoured man rounded the corner, briefly making her feel relieved with the fact that he, too, was wearing a helmet, something apparently not all too uncommon for the Crimson Lance even when they were inside their very own headquarter.

Good for us, she thought to herself, or this would go very wrong very fast

The man's footsteps faded away as he kept walking, and she let out the breath she hadn't even noticed she had been holding; behind her, Haruka relaxed a bit, as well, keeping her guard up though, not wanting to end up in the hands of the Crimson Lance again, the torture she had gone through in this very building still fresh on her mind.

Idly, she wondered if the man who had tortured her was somewhere in this building while she followed Michiru through the corridors; she made a mental note to put a bullet in his head, should they run into him, then realized that it would be a bad idea – nobody seemed to suspect them of not being actual Crimson Lance members so far, but gunshots surely would be noticed, and a whole bunch of soldiers would come running.

She nearly bumped into Michiru as the smaller woman stopped walking without warning in front of her; quickly, before Haruka had the chance to ask what was going on, Michiru raised a hand to silence her, then, in one fluid motion, turned, took hold of her arm and pulled her into the next room, pulling the door shut just as Haruka heard footsteps approach them, the people talking quietly to each other, her heart skipping a beat when she recognized one of the voices as Steele's.

"Aren't we lucky", Michiru whispered once the footsteps had passed the door and were fading away, "now we just have to follow her and try to catch her alone."

Nodding, Haruka tried to remain as calm as Michiru appeared to be while the sniper pushed the door open again, just in time to see Steele and the two soldiers she was with round a corner up ahead; hurriedly, she stepped outside, giving her best to move soundlessly though as she walked after them, the blonde doing the same, a task which wasn't exactly made easier by the bulky armour they both were wearing.

To her relief though, they apparently did well enough to avoid Steele noticing them; they heard her give commands to the two men, then they parted ways, Michiru making sure to keep some distance between the Commander and her as they kept following her through the building, her heart speeding up when she realized that any moment now, they'd have the chance to get the key pieces back.

Briefly, she hoped that Steele had them with her and hadn't hidden them away in a safe somewhere; then, the Commander entered one of the rooms lining the hallway, closing the door behind herself, Michiru still making sure to be quiet as she snuck up to it, then pressed her ear against it, trying to figure out if Steele was alone while Haruka waited close behind her, her hand already on the machine gun, ready to pull it out any second.

Having convinced herself that Steele was alone, Michiru turned to look at Haruka, with the intention to tell her that they had to hit now if they wanted to have any success; and just when she opened her mouth, the door was blasted outside and slammed into her, hard enough to knock her back against the opposite wall, her head harshly colliding with the wall, only the helmet protecting her from her skull splitting open, stars exploding in front of her eyes.

It just took Haruka a second to pull the machine gun from the holster, a precious moment during which Steele, smirking confidently, stepped out into the hallway; the blonde's finger began to squeeze the trigger, the machine gun spitting bullets seconds later, Steele bringing up one hand in the same instant, Haruka's eyes going wide when the bullets stopped inches from the Commander's armoured body and hung harmlessly in the air, like some sort of bizarre fruit ready for harvest.

"I'm surprised you came back", Steele addressed Michiru, apparently having decided that Haruka wasn't a threat, while the sniper was struggling to stay on her feet, the world blurring in front of her eyes, "and with armour of my army, too. Quite clever, I have to say, but you forgot one rather important detail."

She smiled, her focus still on Michiru; later, Haruka would wonder why she had been disregarded so completely, but then would decide that it had been a good thing, indeed, the way Steele was keeping her eyes on the sniper making it possible for her to slowly reach for the knife the Crimson Lance soldier had been carrying when Michiru had killed him.

"You see", Steele was still talking, unaware of what the blonde was doing a few steps away from her, "I knew that you are here the moment you entered the town. You might not be aware of this yet, with your powers just active for such a short while, but once a Siren lives long enough… Well, we can always detect others like us whenever they are near."

This casual revelation boggled Haruka's mind, but she didn't let that stop her; she took another moment to make sure Steele's focus was completely on Michiru – before she, with a hoarse cry, launched herself forward, the knife finding a gap the armour between the torso and the hip plates with deadly precision, a shout which was both surprise and pain coming from Steele when the blade dug into her flesh.

She fought to stay on her feet, but thanks to her momentum, the height difference and the added weight of the bulky armour, Haruka managed to throw her over after a bit of grappling; they crashed to the floor, then started rolling this way and that as they fought, Steele simultaneously trying to keep the knife from stabbing her again and to get it out of Haruka's grasp.

The sight of Haruka fighting the Commander helped Michiru to regain her senses at last, and even though she still felt a bit dazed, she forced herself to get moving, pulling the handgun from the holster as she did so; she took aim, but the way Haruka and Steele kept changing positons as they rolled over the floor made it impossible for her to get a clear shot, and she grit her teeth in frustration, knowing that the risk of hitting Haruka on accident was too high, even for someone with her skill.

Briefly, she hesitated, not quite sure how to help the blonde; and just when she decided that she had to get right into the middle of that fight to accomplish anything, Steele let out a hoarse cry, and with another blast of her power, sent Haruka flying, her eyes going wide seconds later as she saw that now, the blonde not only held the knife, but also a pouch Michiru knew very well.

"How…!" she started, then apparently thought better of it, and pulled out her gun; before she could even take aim though, Michiru shot twice without hesitation, already moving while Steele was still falling, not bothering to check if the Commander was dead, figuring that, even if she wasn't, they had what they had come here for, hurried footsteps in the distance only adding to her decision that it would be smarter to leave their enemy behind injured so they could get out before more soldiers would join the fight.

"Run!" she half snapped, half yelled at Haruka as she hurried to her side, glad when the taller woman practically shot to her feet, clearly not all too perturbed by the hit Steele had landed; and together, they ran, Haruka clutching pouch and knife while Michiru kept her gun in hand, glancing back over her shoulder every now and then as shocked shouts echoed through the building when the soldiers found their Commander down on the floor, ready to fire the second another soldier would appear behind them.

"Stop them!" she heard someone yell, but by now, quite the distance had been put between where they had fought Steele and themselves; and they kept running, pushing themselves to the limit and not allowing themselves to slow down, until they had made it to one of the exits and burst out into the inappropriately sunny day.

Next to the door, a guard had been positioned, turning in surprise at their forceful exit; before he could do more than that though, Haruka brought up one arm and, without slowing down, smacked him right across the throat as she ran past him, and he went down with a surprised gurgle, clutching at his throat, the two women running on without looking back, Michiru fighting the urge to yell in triumph as she fully realized how well her plan had worked out.