If you think about it, she'd made the choice before the day had even started. Like, nobody bought it when she decided to go out for a run [i]today[/i], right? Not even her! Like, even if you swallowed the line about the weather being good for it (what?), the second she started preparing the jig just had to be up. Right?

A light jog never saw her pack a full bag of snacks to maintain peak operational efficiency immediately post-exercise. She'd bring water, or at most a protein shake, so she could go home and cook herself better instead. And setting [i]that[/i] argument aside, she'd never so much as glanced at her swords before a run until now. Today she'd actually packed one. But you could still chalk those up to paranoia. Or preparedness, to be nicer about it. You'd be an idiot not to feel the tension in the air, what if you got stuck outside? What if... uh, well it was an edgeless weapon right? What if she'd decided to practice her forms in the park? Stupid, but not impossible.

Fine. Fine. Grant her that. But she put a mask on before stepping out. She'd put on a blindfold instead of her sunglasses (note to self: see doctor later about re-calibrating these new eyes). Her top today was a hooded crop jacket and full leggings. All identifying markings covered up, but in the dumbest sort of punk aesthetic sort of way. And she'd left her phone at home. And neither Cinders or Sara had been allowed to come with her today, or know her route. She'd broken all the basic safety rules and she'd shown up looking like the alternative costume on a blind ninja fighting game character on a day where the safest thing she could try to be is "normal".

No. She'd made the decision already. If there were going to be fights she was going to find them, and she'd be the one to end them. As many as she could. In as many places as she could reach. She had plenty of students down in those crowds, if she needed the extra motivation. So if she'd made the choice, then why? Why was she just standing there? What was the point of doing this much prep just to watch?

...Because it was against the rules. Fuck, that still meant so much to her. This wasn't like other times where she'd been able to tell herself the fight was isolated or anonymous. And she definitely couldn't wait to be the one to throw the second punch. Also she'd be punching this time instead of just sweeping a leg and awing some jackass into submission. This was illegal. Very, very illegal. And that had her wound tight enough to snap. Her hands seek out her hair, but the hood's in the way. She groans in frustration, instead.

There'd be consequences for this. Big consequences. Her gym might burn down before she even got to see it again. And if it stayed standing they'd be waiting with lawyers to pluck the deed from her safe in any case. To go down there meant jail time. It also meant throwing her dream away. It. She was. Could it really be that she's a?

Stop it, Euna. It's not cowardly to put the battle ahead of the fight. There were vanishingly few people are good as she was at rehabilitating people with cybernetic augs. Even fewer with experience and enthusiasm for people with aesthetic mods that needed help learning how to move in completely different ways. But then, there was nobody, and she'd die on this hill god damn [i]nobody[/i] in all of Aevum who could fight as well as she could. Yet. 

Well. Then teach. Right? She didn't need the glory. She needed to stay stable, keep her head above the water for as long as she could so hers could be the hand that pulled others' up out of the waves. Police protocol would have the train lines locked down by now and she hadn't exactly left herself close to home, but that just meant a night camping. Go buy a big bowl of katsudon or something and chill inside a restaurant. Let it blow over. 

Or, no, she could set up a rally point, couldn't she? A safe place for people to rest that would -- that would bring the aggression over here, instead. Neutral ground in a riot, really Euna? Coward. Dumbass. Stick in the mud, prissy little paladin wannabe. Her gym was [i]already/i] forfeit, even November hadn't unearthed any particularly useful information she could use to fight the realignment. It was over on that front. And Sara? Sara wasn't gonna leave her. Actually, the only way she lost her wife to this is if she [i]didn't[/i] break anybody's jaw. Maybe. Probably, anyway. It sounded like her. But more importantly, she. It. Wait. More importantly? Yes. More important than any of that.

She grins underneath her mask.

"I mean. I did always wanna be a superhero. Was there ever a point to all the training if it wasn't for right now?"

She laughs, in spite of all the horror spilling everywhere around her. Her body feels lighter than it has all day. She's sharper, faster, inhuman and fluid. Down toward the loudest shouting, down into a melee already in progress, squeezing against a wall of riot shields. Her first target doesn't even see her coming.

But like, it's his fault for going to war wearing khakis isn't it?