"You know, you're not very good at being stealthy~"
Ryoko nearly jumped as Ruby snuck up behind her.
"Well, I couldn't get you to follow me if I was being completely secretive. You figured out we're on the same side fast enough."
The rod began wiggling about. "Of course, any idiot with half a brain could figure that out~ You couldn't be sneaking towards anything else but that golem the way you were headed~ Unless you were really stupid and trying to give that thing back up of course~ But your eyes give you away, you know~"
Ryoko raised an eyebrow at the double entendre. She expected Ruby to figure out her connection to Rin sooner or later, just not this fast.
"You that desperate to get some action in, huh?"
"Of course~ Arguing with Snake Woman was getting boring~ I'd even pair up with an over muscled amazon like you to get some excitement in~"
Ryoko grinned. "Sister, you have a low threshold for 'over-muscled' if I'm what it takes to flip your trigger. But hey, if you weren't enchanted to hell and back, I could break you in half with a bit of reinforcement. Hell, I wouldn't even need you right now if that thing weren't pretty much punch proof."
"But you do need me~ Not that I see someone who has muscles for brains like you getting much use out of me~"
Ryoko's grin widened. There was something... a touch devilish, to that grin. "Oh ho, we'll see about that~"
She grabbed hold of Ruby, and one transformation sequence later, she was already in the air, and already had an idea of what to do from what she saw before her.
"You say I don't know what to do with you, huh? 100% to offense~"
Ruby's wings dipped as she complied. "Ugh, you're the bossy type, aren't you?"
"You'd better believe it~ This meat head is going to work you to the ground."
Ryoko then positioned Ruby in front of her and began to focus quite hard, her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes, she whirled and sent an orb hurtling towards the machine gun arm with lightning speed, and whirled around again to send a differently colored one hurtling a bit more slowly towards the core.
It was perhaps a trick of the light, but it almost seemed as if Ruby's inset ruby eyes were blinking. "Phew, boy, are you a slave master. But do you really think those will be enough?"
Ryoko's eyes glinted with a sinister light as she watched her special orbs take off towards the golem. "Oh, you'll see. You'll see."
***
"Lass, come on. Fires aren't put out with a bit of doubt."
Mille drew back, rather reluctantly, her senses finally making some semblance of returning. She was still shaking, the tears still coming down in torrents. But now she had her mind back enough to feel ashamed, and it ate away inside her, along with everything else. Still, she tried to appear stronger, vainly trying to bat some of her tears away, not quite able to look Lancer in the eye.
"W-what do you want me to do?" She asked. She remembered what he had said about the vampire vaguely, and noticed Rider was gone. A tiny flame of anger began to grow inside her. She desperately grasped onto it, trying to regain focus. "Do you want me to take the girl back? I don't know if I could carry her that well, I'm pretty low on prana... B-but I could try."