"Mirror Image, Part 2"

The Dark Kingdom

Jadeite was in a bad mood. The clone was nearly complete, but that was 
of little consequence. The plan was good, though perhaps not perfect. 
The clone would insure the destruction of the Sailor Senshi once and for 
all, through its careful use. Yet something was... missing.

What was missing was his revenge.

Jadeite cared nothing for genetic experiments. He cared only about raw 
power, and magic. His magic, through meditation and isolation, had 
reached its fullest potential, and should be enough to defeat Sailor 
Moon, if she was alone or with Tuxedo Mask. Those two deserved his 
fullest wrath. Yet he could never defeat them and the rest of the Senshi 
by himself. That was why he founded the Dark Senshi, his own hand-picked 
warriors.

The clone was intended to serve as the leader of this group, once it had 
been fully trained. The clone was to use the Silver Empyrean Crystal to 
command the forces of darkness. With the power of that crystal, the 
bearer would be able to annihilate all enemies. The Crystal's power was 
one that Jadeite hesitated to use for himself, but he had little choice. 
If he allowed this clone to possess the Crystal, he himself would be 
powerless, and, furthermore, useless. His position would be compromised.

More than that, he wanted to destroy Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask 
personally. He would make them suffer dearly.

Frost had shown promise in his first battle. He was certainly strong 
enough to delay the other Senshi long enough for him to deal with Tuxedo 
Mask personally, and then finish Sailor Moon off. He had great 
confidence in his own abilities. Too much? he wondered sometimes. No, he 
decided. This was to be his operation. For that, he hardly needed the 
clone.

Such a waste. But it was not _his_ waste. He would triumph, and no one 
would stop him.

---

A Tokyo Suburb

The sun had risen high in the East on this beautiful morning. There was 
scarcely a cloud in the sky. Yet the figure walking alone down the 
walkway was not at peace. His hands in his pockets, his eyes lowered, 
and his hair blowing in the light breeze, Darien was worried. The pieces 
of the puzzle didn't fit.

Serena had been attacked out of nowhere by a machine that was after 
_her_, specifially, and no one else. The machine did not seem to want to 
kill her, or steal her energy, or any such thing. It was also a decoy, 
and someone else - likely the warrior Frost he had fought - obtained a 
sample of Serena's blood and skin tissue. It was not reassuring. But why 
her...

Amy and Rei had been targeted by Frost and his latest war machine. They 
had been placed under some sort of spell that forced them to turn 
against their friends. Fortunately, the effects hadn't lasted long, but 
there was a problem. Neither was transformed when they were targeted. 
Frost must have known their identities as well. But how?

There were too many unanswered questions. Darien took a right turn, 
walking into the breeze, the sun's warmth on the left of his face.

How would this creep know their identities? How would he know where to 
look? What were his motives? The picture didn't fit.

---

The clone was fully formed. Frost thought her rather beautiful, lying 
within the capsule, her face innately calm and gentle. The room was a 
mixture of his own advanced technology and the organic, dark green and 
black branches of this dark place. The organic portion acted as a 
conductor for the energy that provided the inital power for the 
equipment, and hid it from the outside world. The capsule was glass 
covered with the dark green tendrils, like twisted vines. Frost had 
covered the naked clone with a shroud of darkness up to her neck. Though 
he was not shy of such sights, he had no interest in them, and could 
afford no distractions.

He sensed the presence of another. He turned away from the console 
towards the shadow that was approaching. As the figure stepped into the 
dim light of the room, he could tell that this was his mentor, Jadeite. 
His master began to speak.

"Is the clone ready?" he asked.
"I am preparing to activate it now," Frost replied.
"Terminate the project."
WHAT?!
"But..."
Jadeite was enraged. "You DARE question my orders!"

Frost quickly backed down. "No, of course not, Master. Your wish shall 
be obeyed." Jadeite responded, "Make sure that it is. I have a mission 
for you." Frost felt an inner dread creeping into his cold heart. "I," 
Jadeite began, "will approach Sailor Moon, and deal with Tuxedo Mask 
when he arrives. You will delay the other four Sailor Senshi while I 
deal with Sailor Moon personally." He continued without delay, "If you 
do not believe you can accomplish this mission, I will have Prometheus 
do it for you." Frost scowled at the very notion. Prometheus was a 
brute, completely unfit for such a job, one requiring finesse, not 
force. Jadeite finished by making clear that "I will deal with the other 
Senshi personally once I have obtained the Silver Crystal." 

"The clone is no longer of use to me. You will dispose of it." Then 
Jadeite left.

For several moments, Frost had no reaction. Then, he clenched his left 
fist, hard. The scowl on his face was unmistakable. This was 
unforgivable. His greatest creation, and he had been ordered to 
terminate it. This was unbearable.

"I told you."

Frost pivoted around on his right foot with blinding speed, an ice shard 
held in his left hand, his palm facing downward, his arm poised to 
strike at an unseen enemy. But this was no enemy. Perhaps. Perhaps not. 
He was in no mood for idle discussion.

The shadow at the other end of the room, a room with no door there, had 
the voice of a beautiful woman. This mattered little to Frost. No 
stranger to illusions, he trusted no appearances, including voices, 
which could be faked. He knew that this woman could be anyone or 
anything.

Which did not change the truth of her statement.

"Jadeite is a fool," she continued. Frost relaxed his weapon arm. His 
ice shard dissolved into cold vapor. "No appreciation for true art. 
Perhaps you have reconsidered my offer."

The woman stepped slowly into the light. Today she wore her high heel 
boots, which made a distinctive sound upon the hard floor. Her shapely 
legs, which appeared first into the light, were covered completely by 
very attractive pitch black leather, which had a strange shine in the 
light. The rest of her suit was similar, though made of black cloth, not 
leather. The woman had long auburn hair, and hazel eyes. She wore a 
black veil to hide her face, and carried a sword on her belt. Frost was 
reminded of the tales of ancient ninja.

The thought revolted him. His ancestors were samurai.

"If you desire," she continued, "I will use the power of my master to 
instill a soul into this shell that you have created. You do realize, of 
course, that she will require a spirit." Which he had not considered at 
all, and she knew it. He was a scientist, but no expert in spirits. She, 
however, was a servant of the Demon Lord that Jadeite was associated 
with; that much he did not doubt. Without a spirit, would his creation 
survive? It was a chance that he, pressed for time now, could not risk.

---

Midmorning, a Walkway

The pieces didn't fit. The question was wrong, Darien decided. The 
question was simpler: who knew Sailor Moon's identity? He had no 
indication - yet - that Frost knew the identities of Sailor Venus and 
Sailor Jupiter. If not, they would probably have been attacked by now, 
too. So who had discovered Sailor Moon's identity?

This took some thinking, way back. None of the Weird Sisteds knew her 
identity. They were out of the picture now, long gone. What about... the 
four generals. Nephlyte. He discovered Sailor Moon's identity, but that 
was just before he died. Zoicite discovered his identity, but that was 
his, and his alone. Zoicite was gone, too. Malachite was killed by 
Sailor Moon when he was... under the control of Queen Beryl. That 
brought back bad memories.

Then who?

Unless... no. He was gone, too.

Darien had to think very hard, to when he first became Tuxedo Mask, 
before he even knew he was Tuxedo Mask himself. What about the first 
general, Jadeite?

He had discovered Sailor Moon's identity. Well, no, only her appearance.

And the appearances of Sailor Mercury. And Sailor Mars.

It had to be him.

There was no one else. But how?

"I have to tell the others."

---

A Little Later

"Ooh! Can I have one? Ooh! Ooh!!" Serena was jumping up and down.

"Sure... you can have it." Serena bit into Lita's home-cooked muffin. 
Lita didn't really mind; she really liked cooking, and enjoyed watching 
other people enjoy her cooking. She was just a little tired from this 
morning's English test. Lita thought she did a fairly good job, she 
hoped. It was hard, though, and took a lot out of her. She would have 
rather spent an hour training in karate then spend ten minutes with 
English vocabulary. Well, there was nothing she could do about that, but 
she wanted to relax. Which was not easy to do with Serena around.

A short distance away, Molly was speaking with Melvin, who wanted to 
know where Serena was. Well, that was because Molly wasn't interested in 
what Melvin had to say; he'd already told her. Molly told Melvin where 
to find Serena, and Melvin found her soon enough. Melvin said, "Hi there 
Serena" and tip-toed closer. He didn't want to get pounded by Lita; she 
scared him.

So Melvin went on trying to talk to Serena. "Hey Serena, you wanna know 
something?" Serena replied sarcastically, "Will it hurt?" Lita 
snickered. Melvin went on, "Ha ha, very funny.  For your information, I 
found out over the weekend about a scientific discovery in Antarctica. A 
frozen man was brought back to Sweden for study." Serena was finishing 
her muffin, barely listening. Lita was only slightly more attentive. 
Melvin went on, "They say something really weird happened, and someone 
stole the body, and several scientists disappeared.

Lita asked Melvin sceptically where he had read this. Melvin showed her 
the magazine it appeared in, with a picture of the frozen man. "Hey, he 
doesn't look like a cave man." "He's not," Melvin told her. "They don't 
know where he came from." Lita went on, "Looks Japanese to me, but I 
don't like the hair. He's not my type. What do you think, Serena?" 
Serena just swallowed the rest of her muffin before she peeked over 
Lita's shoulder. Then her eyes went REALLY wide, and Serena started 
coughing, and coughing, with muffin flying all over Lita's skirt and 
Melvin's magazine. "HEY!" Lita yelled. "STOP THAT!" Serena turned to her 
side and kept on coughing. After several more seconds of uncontrollable 
coughing, she looked at Lita and said, in a sincere (though choked) 
voice, "We've got to (cough) find Amy right away." Lita asked, "What 
for?"

---

Frost's Lab

Frost was alone now. The room was unusually dark, his main computer 
banks silent. Frost activated his console with simple press of a button. 
Frost entered a 11-digit combination code activating the program 
designed for this special purpose. The instruments on the main panel 
illuminated with glowing lights, constantly shifting with the whining 
and beeping sounds of a properly functionning piece of advanced 
electronics.

He surveyed the situation. He looked one last time before beginning at 
the clone. She had not moved. It was beyond him to refer to his creation 
as "it", though he felt nothing for her personally. She was a tool, a 
tool crafted by his own tools, tools of technology. She would be his 
finest creation yet, a creation of flesh.

Frost turned to his machine. The lever was a horizontal crossbar, like 
that of the throttle of a jet aircraft. This was the main power switch. 
Frost grasped the lever firmly, and slowly, gradually, pushed the lever 
forward.

The instruments on the console began to fluctuate. The readings began to 
rise. A low humming filled the room. Above the capsule, supported from 
the top of the chamber, was a small sphere, covered with the same 
vine-like growths as the capsule, which now began to glow, and 
illuminate the entire chamber.

Frost pushed the lever further. The instruments indicated 50% power. 
Then the entire room began to glow.

The organic growths all around the chamber began to gain a bright green 
luminosity. The sphere above the chamber was now clouded with sparks of 
electricity within it. Then electricity was all around the sphere, 
dancing wildly, casting rapidly moving shadows all over the chamber. 
Small ammounts of energy began to flow into the capsule, surrounding it.

The lever moved further.

The indicators were frantic. The limits of the machinery were finally 
being tested. Frost showed no reaction on his illuminated face, its 
image dancing in the light. Wild lightning now surrounded the sphere, 
which glowed ever more brightly. The walls glowed bright, so bright that 
a single drop of sweat appeared on the forehead of the patient 
scientist. Vast ammounts of energy now flowed into the capsule. The body 
of the clone grew bright with the soft light that now encircled the 
figure. The head moved to the side lightly, the mouth opening 
ever-so-slightly.

The lever reached the 100% mark.

The sound of electricity and thunder filled the air. Frost could smell 
ozone everywhere from the passage of these individually insignificant 
yet massively important electrons. He now turned to observe his 
handiwork, with the sounds of wild instruments behind him, drowned out 
by the noise of the machinery.

The capsule glowed further. The head moved to the other side, now, and 
the eyelids twitched.

A bolt of lightning coursed down through the air with a great crash of 
thunder, penetrating the capsule. The energy surged directly into the 
clone's body. Now the clone glowed a bright white, so bright that even 
the green from the walls seemed insignificant. That color was fading, 
though, and so was the color of the capsule. It was clear that the 
energy was now being drained into the clone.

The activity of the instruments slowed down. They did not make any noise 
now.

The light in the room faded. The light radiated by the body now faded. 
Now, Frost knew that his experiment was a success.

Frost pressed a button, and the capsue opened before him, revealing the 
naked body of the young woman. This was a _woman_ now, he knew. The 
clone's eyes fluttered open. Staring into space, the clone slowly began 
to sit up, gradually lifting her head, the long tails of her hair 
lagging behind.

She blinked. Then, she turned her head to the direction of the nearest 
living being, and her eyes came into focus.

"Welcome, my pretty. You have much to learn."

---

"Serena? Calm down!" Amy was always the calm, rational one, while Serena 
was neither of those things right now. Finally, after a while, Serena 
calmed down enough to explain whose picture she had seen.

"It was Jadeite!" she exclaimed.

Lita asked innocently, "Who's that? I've never seen him before." Amy's 
expression was one of great surprise. Composing herself, she explained, 
"Jadeite was the first of the Dark Kingdom's generals, before you became 
a Senshi. We defeated him, and we never saw him again. But if this story 
is true, it explains what's been going on. Jadeite also knew my 
identity, Serena's, and Rei's, in our final battle. I thought he was 
dead." Lita finished the thought. "Well, it doesn't look like it."

Darien came running to the group. Serena spotted him and saw the look on 
his face, and immediately became worried. She said to Darien, "We've 
just heard some news! We know who's behind what's been going on." Darien 
stopped a few feet in front of the girls and caught his breath, 
surprised. "It's Jadeite. I don't know how, but he's behind this." 
Darien blinked twice, and said, "I know, I was going to tell you. I came 
here to tell you, Serena, that there's another robot that's been sighted 
closeby. We have to get there right away!" Serena went, "Right!"

Darien said, "You two (the other Senshi) should go get the others 
together while we'll check it out. We'll call you if we need help." Amy 
and Lita quickly agreed. Darien took Serena's hand and led her off, both 
of them running as fast as they could. (Well, almost: Serena's not a 
world-class runner, as everyone knows.) The other girls headed off in 
another direction, also running, soon to link up with the other Senshi.

A little ways further, with Amy about to take out her communicator and 
call Rei and Mina, they both stopped. Darien was running towards them, 
just ahead, without Serena. Darien slowed down and walked a short ways 
to both of the girls, seemingly in a hurry. He asked Amy, "Have you seen 
Serena?" Amy was puzzled, and blinked. "Darien, she was with you a 
moment ago. You should know." Now Darien seemed puzzled. Lita added, 
"She ran off with you after some Dark Kingdom robot." Darien just 
blinked. Then he said, in a low, but firm, voice, "No I didn't. I was 
coming here to warn her that... wait, did you say she left with ME?" 
Darien said. Lita was totally lost. "She left just a few minutes ago." 
Amy's eyes popped wide and her mouth dropped completely. "If she's not 
with you..."

---

Serena seemed to be outpacing Darien, amazingly, or he was holding back 
for some reason. Maybe he was just being careful. They had entered into 
a construction zone, except there wasn't anyone here. There were a few 
piles of wood around, and unfinished buildings, but no people, no tools, 
and no robot. Serena slowed down to a walk, then she asked, "Darien, 
where's this robot?"

Then she heard Darien laugh.

The laugh changed somehow... into a different voice.

Then she turned around, and took a step back in horror, her expression 
one of outright fear.

Jadeite was standing before her, arms crossed, hideously laughing.