The soldiers had one second to bring their weapons up, and they made use of that time; Michiru didn't give them more than that though, and before any of them had the chance to pull the trigger, she brought up one hand, almost casually, and shot a blast of energy right into the middle of the small group, some of them screaming when the impact sent them flying, but all of them silent by the time they hit the ground.

She more sensed than saw another group, to her right, their focus shifting from a few Fyrestone people who had taken cover in one of the rickety houses to her; without even properly looking at them, she made a brief, sharp gesture, and they screamed as the energy hit them, then cocooned them, until they all were quiet.

"Oh shit", she heard Haruka whisper somewhere behind her, her ears suddenly sensitive enough to pick up the soft sound despite the gunfire and screams all around her; she had a second to worry if that meant that she would go deaf if someone fired a gun close to her, then one of the soldiers did just that, and the smallest thought was enough to form a shield around her, the bullet slamming into it before it harmlessly fell down to the ground.

"It's her!" she heard Steele yell, and her anger flared up, only fuelling her power further, "take her down now!"

Her anger, impossibly, grew even more at hearing that, but at least, the soldiers left the people of Fyrestone alone now, focusing on her, none of their bullets even coming close to her as her easily brought up shield stopped them all.

She smiled, a terrifying, cruel smile, one which made some of the Crimson Lance men and women reconsider; none of them turned and ran though, not for a few seconds, and she wasn't willing to give them more than that, her eyes narrowing as she focused her power, all at once just knowing how she had to use it, her smile widening when her shield at first grew spikes, then fired them off, taking men and women down left and right as they hit.

"Steele!" Michiru called out, and her voice was impossibly loud, soldiers dropping their weapons so they could reach up for their ears out of pure reflex, too late realizing that their helmets kept them from covering them, anyway, "shall we not settle this woman against woman? Siren against Siren?"

"Perhaps in a few minutes", Steele called back, somehow managing to make her voice echo from all around the sniper, so she couldn't pinpoint her location, "once you burned yourself out."

In response, Michiru just smiled again, then focused, searching for the essence of the other Siren; thanks to what Steele herself had told her, she knew it was possible for them to sense each other, and all she needed was to find the right wavelength, so she could…

She found it, so quick and with such force that it almost made her stagger; briefly, she wondered what Steele had meant when she had spoken of her burning out, then the power roared again within her and pushed those concerns aside, and she told herself that surely, the Commander had been bluffing, power like this wouldn't run out anytime soon, not if it felt so good and pure and right to use it.

She could tell with ease where Steele was hiding, and she made use of that new knowledge, carelessly blasting men and women out of the way as she walked closer to the Commander's location; as it was proper for the head of the army, Steele had been taken to Fyrestone in the biggest car they had had, and she stood on top of it as Michiru approached, the helmet hiding her features, keeping Michiru from seeing if she was worried or perhaps even frightened.

"Commander", she called out, with a mocking little curtsy, a skill she had been taught what seemed like a lifetime ago, back on her home planet, "good to see you again."

In response, Steele brought up her machine gun and fired, several controlled bursts in quick succession; her shield caught all the bullets effortlessly, and from how Steele's body language changed at the sight, Michiru now could tell that she was afraid, even without seeing her face.

"This was what you wanted, wasn't it", she realized, not quite sure if that realization had come on its own or if this tremendous power somehow had let her read Steele's mind on some subconscious level, and not really caring either way, "you wanted me here, so you could kill me and take the key. That is why you attacked this town. And all these innocent people."

"Nobody of them is innocent", Steele shot back, of all things, "how do you think they make a living here? They are barely better than bandits. That girl you love so much, do you know how often she has stolen from my army and me? Or do you not even care that you share your bed with a dirty thief!"

"No", Michiru simply replied, a spike of energy forming again; Steele hurriedly tried to whip up a shield similar to the one of the sniper, but Michiru was fuelled by the key, and her spike easily penetrated the flimsy shield the Commander had conjured up, hitting her right in the chest, a hoarse cry coming from her as she got thrown off the vehicle and hit the road behind it, a small cloud of dust rising from her point of impact, and black smoke curling from where the spike had hit her armour.

At the sight of seeing their Commander down, the soldiers lost what little resolve they still had had, dropped their weapons and ran; a few of them even made it past the car Haruka still sat in, then Michiru had noticed what they were doing and turned to look at them, a casual gesture of one hand sending spikes after them and taking several of them down, her goal of taking out Steele and ending the assault accomplished, but forgotten as the power roared within her, demanding to be used, and not even letting her notice how, inch by inch, it was taking control of her very being.

At first, Haruka had been impressed by how easily Michiru dealt with the soldiers, and how effectively she took care of the raid on her hometown; by the time Michiru had confronted Steele though, she had started to get worried, not sure it was healthy to use so much power, and when, after she had taken Steele down, Michiru had begun to attack soldiers who were already fleeing, Haruka had begun to get scared, realizing that something was going dreadfully wrong.

Stop her!

The voice came out of nowhere, making her jump wide-eyed; it took her a second to realize that no one around her had spoken, but that the words had sounded right in her head, and just when that frightened her all anew, the voice came again, crackling and weak, as if blocked by static.

Stop her, it repeated, the urgency getting through despite what she only could call bad reception, can't… too much… destroy her…

Haruka didn't quite know what to do, not quite sure if Michiru would even realize who she was – now that the sniper had turned, the blonde could see her face, and her eyes were filled with bright blue light, but still strangely empty, all emotion gone from them as she fired her spikes at one soldier after the other, taking them down with frightening efficiency.

Telling herself that she had to try though, no matter what might happen to her, she got out of the car; and immediately, Michiru focused on her, and there was nothing in her eyes, none of the warmth she normally looked at her with, not even a hint of recognition.

"Michiru", she still called out, hoping that her voice would help, that Michiru would remember, remember how she had said her name when they had made love, "it's okay, you can stop, you won!"

Perhaps, this wasn't the smartest thing to say, but it was the only thing which came to Haruka's mind; Michiru raised an eyebrow in response, then laughed, while behind her, Steele crawled to the nearest cover, flopping down onto the ground and pulling off her helmet, letting Haruka see that her face was deathly pale and contorted with pain.

"No use", she rasped, somehow loud enough to let Haruka hear, Michiru briefly glancing at her as she spoke, then dismissing her as no threat, "she's gone. Thought… we could take her down. Didn't think… she'd have so much."

"Michiru", Haruka tried again, deciding to ignore what Steele had said, "don't listen to her. I know this is still you, you just… got a bit carried away. You can stop now, come on…"

"Why should I", Michiru demanded to know in reply, "so they can come back and try to kill all these people again? I don't think so."

"They're not gonna come back", Haruka gave back at once, holding back the urge to run both hands through her hair, telling herself that she couldn't let Michiru see how upsetting this was, that she had to keep her calm, "they lost, and they know it. They'll leave us alone. Isn't that right, Steele!"

"Whatever", Steele rasped, her voice weak, making the blonde wonder if the Commander was at death's door, "tell her whatever. She's not gonna stop. She's gonna overload and die."

"Shut up!" Haruka snapped at her, both angry and afraid now, "don't listen to her, Michiru, you're not gonna die. You'll stop now, won't you?"

"I don't think so", Michiru replied, causing the blonde's blood to run cold, "all this power… it'd be a shame to not use it. Don't you agree?"

"It's going to hurt you", Haruka tried to make her see reason, even though her fear outweighed the anger again as she wondered if she could accomplish that, "all this power, it's too much, it's going to—"

Michiru made a brief movement at her, just a short gesture, but it was more than enough; the blast which hit her wasn't as strong a the one which had taken down Steele and most of her soldiers, but it was strong enough to throw her backwards, until her feet got caught on some soldier's corpse and she fell, hitting the ground with a low grunt.

"Lies", Michiru hissed, her eyes narrowing, the power still filling them with an eerie pale blue glow, "you're a liar. You don't want me to have that power. You're like Steele!"

"You know I'm not", Haruka pressed out as she struggled back to her feet; her chest hurt where she had been hit, but at least, she told herself, there was no blood, skilfully ignoring the fact that broken ribs wouldn't bleed, "I just want you to be safe. So we can find the vault together and get the treasure, and then we can be together!"

"We can't", Michiru told her, for the first time showing some emotion other than disdain, her voice wavering just the tiniest bit, but enough to give Haruka hope, only for said hope to be shattered again moments later as the sniper went on, "as you well know! You know I have to leave! Liar!"

She brought her hand up and hit Haruka again, putting more force into the blast this time; it was hard enough to send her flying, and her breath got knocked out of her as she hit the ground, leaving her wheezing for air while Michiru clenched her fists, a tremble running through her as the power within her warred with the realization of what she just had done.

"We can find a way", Haruka gasped, struggling back to her feet yet again, "I promise, we can find a way… just stop… Michiru, please!"

She took a step forward, and to her relief, Michiru didn't react by attacking her again; instead, the sniper's shoulder slumped, the anger fading from her features, replaced by deep sadness and resignation, an overwhelming tiredness in her voice when she replied.

"How", she asked, looking at Haruka so hopelessly that it hurt more than the hits the blonde had taken, "I can't stay here, and you can't come with me…"

"We'll find a way", Haruka reassured her once more, taking a few more steps closer as she spoke, relieved when Michiru didn't get angry again, "somehow, once we've had time to think, you're so smart, we can figure something out. We'll be together, you and I, I promise…"

She heard Steele let out a breathless, small laugh, and from the corner of her eye noticed that the people of Fyrestone were peering out from behind their various covers, eager to see how this would unfold; then, one of them called out "We'll help!", Haruka recognizing the voice as Minako, and others agreed, honest surprise on Michiru's face when she looked around and saw all the nodding and smiling faces.

"See", Haruka immediately latched on to that new emotion, "people here care about you. About us. We can do this, together…"

There was one more thing she had to say, she realized, as the shield was still up, and kept her from getting closer to Michiru and from touching her; it wasn't easy for her to say it, but she knew that it was the truth, and hoped that Michiru would see this, too.

"We can do it, together", she repeated once more, just to be on the safe side, taking another step closer, "I'll do whatever to be with you. You mean so much to me Michiru, I… I love you…"

Michiru's eyes briefly widened at hearing those words, her breath hitching noticeably… and then, the shield vanished, and immediately, Haruka stepped closer to her, as close as she could, not caring about the power still crackling around her as she pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her deeply, trying to show her that she had meant every word through the kiss, putting all her feelings out there in the open for Michiru and everyone else to see.

And after a second, Michiru kissed her back, clinging to her the way a drowning person might cling to a piece of driftwood; the power died down around her as she focused on the kiss and on Haruka and on how good this felt, her heart soaring, all her anger forgotten.

"I love you too", she whispered breathlessly after the kiss, suddenly feeling close to tears; she still didn't know how they would solve the dilemma of her having to go back home, but now she believed that they could, that they would find a way, just like Haruka had said…

…and just then, Steele let out another laugh behind her and, with the last bit of strength she had left, brought up her gun, a shot echoing and destroying the peaceful moment as blood spattered to the dusty ground.