B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)
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Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.
Handle it.
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W H A T H A S G O N E B E F O R E
The DEATH SAILORS, Tsukino Usagi III, Hino Rei Jnr and Professor
Mizuno Ami, operatives of President Serenity and the Republic
of Surrealism, have survived what is, for them, a dangerous trek
through their capital city, even if a very short one. Enemies lie
in wait at every turn, ready to kill them, and their only hope is to
reach the prepared safe houses that dot the capital.
Having survived this ordeal, they now take orders from their
President, unaware that their operation to kill the leader of the
Masters of Reality, Adam Jade, is to be joined....
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The tiny figure flitted across the roof of the damaged
building, doing its best to ignore the human remains that lay there,
and prevent its fur and paws from being soiled. It would not do to
make her arrival a messy one.
It seemed that the Death Sailors had met with some resistance.
Not particularly intelligent resistance, either. After all, they
had plenty of opportunities to kill the Death Sailors during their
traversal of the gap between the two buildings.
Instead, they chose to sit and wait. That was their mistake.
The Death Sailors weren't the sort to be so easily taken.... Not
that the figure wanted to admit she was impressed with their
efforts. She'd never been able to rid herself of the sense of
selfish pride that had come from her upbringing.
She stepped over to one of the dead assassins and studied the
uniform with much distaste. She was well used to the casualties of
the underground war (and sometimes not even that) to control the
Republic. She'd seen such bodies during the painful years of change
between the rule of the aristocracy and the current regime. She
prayed that this battle did not end up the same way....
Definitely members of the Truth Militia. Not particularly
well organised, but certainly NOT lacking in firepower. Minor
revolutionaries with no real understanding of the import of their
actions, merely a desire to wage war on whomever was in power.
Throwbacks to the bloodlines that preceded even the aristocracy.
They couldn't be blamed for what they did, it was in their genes.
She shook her head and chuckled. As if people could be
excused for their actions so easily. She mused on her thoughts for
a while, taking in the sounds of the capital. The sounds of
operatic and theatrical performances, concerts and fairs. The city
had become a party town, devoid of the kind of industry of other
nations. Their industry was thought, something they exported with
much gusto.
That was why there were those willing to fight against it.
She pitied those without imagination.
She took a breath and turned back to the door which lead to
the safe house. Time to meet with them. Time to reunite herself
with the child....
----o
Part Two
Nemesis Gate
----o
Within the safe house, President Serenity, viewed via a large
communications screen, had started to debrief her trio of
operatives. Crossing her slender fingers in front of her, she
studied Usagi. The similarity in their appearances had even made
both Rei and Ami glance between them. With deference to their Madam
President, of course.
She thought it time to allow them to relax a little. The
Death Sailors were her best operatives and she didn't want them to
exhaust themselves just by being in her presence. Well, quasi-
presence, anyway. She considered the artistic ramifications of this
dichotomy.
"So, we better get down to business. At ease." Serenity
nodded at the Death Sailors. The trio almost immediately went into
a state of physical meltdown, relaxing their stiffened postures and
attitudes. Usagi moved her neck from side to side, trying to loosen
up her muscles before sitting, cross legged, on the dais. Rei
stretched her arms and yawned, following suit. Ami was the last to
sit, if only because she'd crossed her arms in front of her and
waited for her partners to do something.
It was amazing, thought Serenity, the various interpretations
placed upon her words when she would tell her operatives to be "at
ease". She wished they were all as easygoing as these three.
Probably one of the reasons why they were so successful. Of course,
she could think of other groups who were even more easygoing, or
even laissez-faire, whose actions were something of an embarassment
to the Republic....
After a sigh, Serenity continued. "This man is to be your
next target."
The image changed to a still shot of a handsome-looking
individual, with short blond hair and piercing eyes. The hearts of
the trio fluttered momentarily as they gazed into those eyes, then
settled as they remembered the situation.
"This is.... Adam Jade." Serenity's voice wavered at the
mention of Jade's name. Usagi and Rei glanced at each other for a
second, then shrugged. "He is the leader of the group known as the
Masters of Reality. I'm sure you have heard of them. They were
involved in the assassination of Ambassador Osaka."
"The father of the young arts tycoon, Osaka Naru?" Ami
queried. Rei spat contempt.
"Damn bitch sold out is what she did." Rei leaned back on her
arms, staring at the ceiling.
"This isn't an argument about artistic ethics, Rei." Usagi
huffed, puffing up her face.
"Easy for someone as removed as you have been from society to
say such things. In the circles I had frequented, she was looked
upon as the spawn of the devil.... An AKUMA of the highest order."
"I understand your feelings, Operative Hino, but she is still
a citizen of this nation, and her feelings at the loss of her father
are genuine." Serenity chided her wayward charge. Rei's face
softened and she sat up again.
"I know, madam President. I am sorry."
"Now, shall we continue?" Serenity made a brief reappearance
on the screen, her eyes stern despite her smile.
"Hai." The trio chorused, suitably chastised. Serenity
nodded, her smile widening before images started to flash across the
screen, Serenity narrating over each and every one.
The images showed various events in Jade's rise to power....
One of Jade addressing a small gathering, another of Jade in a
severely-cut but decorative grey uniform, making an inspection of
similarly-dressed soldiers.
"He intends to unite several powerful reality factions in the
hope of creating an army capable of taking on the forces of the
Republic. Death Sailors, he must NOT succeed. You must kill him at
ALL costs, for the lives of all who exist are at risk if he is to
succeed...."
----o
ADAM JADE - THE FIRST NEMESIS GATE RALLY - 5TH LOK
Brothers and Sisters, I just don't know what this world is
coming to.
People accepting dreams, fantasy and surreality over the truth!
The truth that goes by the name of REALITY! And thus they suppress
those of us who choose to believe in this truth.
For it is a truth greater than all of us put together. A HOLY
truth. It is written into the constitution, the Right to Believe
whatever we wish to believe, and the Right to Bear Arms in defense
of those beliefs.
We have struggled, for many years, since the foundation of the
Republic, to have our collective voices heard, without fear of
suppression or retribution.
It is our RIGHT by LAW to have these beliefs. Yet, we have to
struggle to be heard, and this struggle has met with the harshest
punishment....
The murder of our number, in the multitudes. MURDER, my
fellow believers, by the Government that is supposed to serve US.
Why? Why do this to us? What have we done that deserves such
punishment? Nothing, that is what. Nothing that is not allowed by
our constitution. Nothing that is not within our rights to do.
And yet, because of this, we are branded as criminals and
terrorists. We are portrayed as the villains by a corrupt regime
who have, in a machiavellian fashion, taken away the rights of the
people to express themselves as they see fit.
Only those who live by the orthodoxy of the regime are free do
do as they please. And we have to question this concept of freedom.
Why do we threaten them so? Perhaps they see, within our
ways, our attitude, something that shall be more appealing to
the masses?
Yes, more than ever, they fear the attraction by the people to
our ways. They fear its intrinsic RIGHTEOUSNESS. Within it lies
the power to change society, and make it so much more than the mess
we see, today.
Yes, my brothers and sisters. Truth and Reality are the codes
by which we all live, and together, we shall bring down the powers
that be, and show the people the truth of our holy cause!
TRANSCRIPT WRITTEN BY HYLDUEN LORCANO - 7TH LOK
----o
"The enemy we encountered on our way here...." Ami rubbed her
chin, pondering the nature of their enemies. "Were they possibly
involved with Jade's group? They seemed awfully prepared for our
arrival, and would point to the fact that Jade already has his eyes
on us...."
Serenity reappeared on the screen and nodded, thoughtfully.
Ami had been reasonably quiet throughout the debriefing, unlike
Usagi and Rei, who had been firing pointed remarks and rebukes at
each other all the way through. At least she could rely on Ami to
put in some deep thought, even if it did, on occasions, appear out
of some strange theoretical tangents.
"I wouldn't discount the possibility.... Jade is quite a
paranoid individual and would have many of his assassin groups
watching out for republican operatives."
Usagi shrugged. "We are under threat, constantly, from a
multitude of groups. Those commandos we encountered could have
belonged to anyone." Usagi looked aside at Ami, who was not
prepared to enter into the kind of argument Usagi wanted to have.
She merely shot Usagi a pained expression and turned away.
This left Usagi hanging out on a limb. Of all the responses
likely to fluster her, the silent treatment worked the best. It was
not as if Usagi wanted to throw a spanner into Ami's theory.... She
was just having one of those moments.... The desire to be
obstructive for no visibly apparent reason. She had felt,
instinctively, that something different was going to happen on this
mission....
"Is that your judgement, Tsukino Usagi the third?" Said the
soft, feminine voice from behind the Death Sailors. Instantly, they
spun and got to their feet, hand revolvers whipped from where they
had been clipped, on their belts. They relaxed as soon as they saw
who they were facing. Mostly. "Really, Usagi.... A double-
barrelled revolver.... I'm amazed you're capable of withstanding
the kick of such a weapon. What is it, a .22 or a .357?"
Usagi huffed and turned away, reattaching her weapon to her
belt. "I've trained with this weapon my entire life. I made it,
myself! I am a gunsmith, remember? I don't need you to judge my
capacity to use it."
"Ah. Lady Luna de Sade. It is nice to see you made it here,
safely." President Serenity smiled behind them, crossing her hands
over her lap, ignoring the grumblings of Usagi. Of course, she had
fully expected Usagi to grumble when she had chosen to team Lady
Luna with the Death Sailors.
The dark blue-black cat was sitting, front feet aligned with
snobbish feline poise, gazing at the weapons that had been pointed
at her with total disdain. "I see your paranoia has not passed with
time, Tsukino Usagi the third." The cat smiled, her eyes squinting
with amusement.
Ami decided to break the ice with the new arrival "With good
reason, Lady de Sade. Do you normally travel in the form of a cat?"
"It is the best way to get around the city without being
attacked. Very few of the enemy believe, or even understand, the
powers of the old nobles." Luna chuckled, putting a paw up to her
mouth. "On top of that, I happen to find the feline form more
comfortable. Do any of you have a problem with this? Don't answer
that, Usagi, I know what your answer shall be."
Usagi continued to grumble, Rei stepping alongside her, trying
to calm her down. "Now now, we don't want any trouble in the
presence of the madam President, do we?"
"I'll give that overblown feral trouble if she's not careful."
Usagi mumbled....
"What's your problem with her?" Rei gripped Usagi by the
shoulder, and immediately let go, taking a few nervous steps back as
Usagi wheeled on her, gritting her teeth. But the blond merely
shook her head and looked away.
"Are you here for a reason, Lady de Sade?" Ami looked between
Luna and Serenity, nervously. "To be our guide in this mission?"
Serenity answered. "Indeed. She has been spying on the
activities of the Masters of Reality for some time now."
"Great. We get the counsel of the cat." Usagi sat back down
on the dais, roughly, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. Rei
shook her head and stepped over beside Ami, looking at Luna.
"I have to say...." Rei sniffed. "Usagi's reaction is rather
extreme." Usagi shot a glance at Rei, looking daggers so fierce Rei
could feel them striking her. She did her best to ignore them.
"Let's just say we've never had the best of working
relationships. I'm afraid there are a few things in our past that
she might just be holding against me." Luna chuckled softly and
stood, stretching her front legs. "I guess I better assume a more
human posture. Being a cat seems to bring out Usagi's worst."
"Not likely to change, either way." Usagi mumbled to herself.
Rei and Ami watched, with fascination born from never having
experienced the magic of the Aristocrats, as Luna closed her eyes
and shivered. Her fur rose and fell in waves along her back as a
gentle glow enveloped her.
She rose to her hind paws, like a cat attempting to walk like
a human. Before either Rei or Ami could remark on this, her form
began to extend, both fore and hind legs growing out into long,
slender limbs, her head widening, her trunk developing to scale and
her fur retreating to her head, retaining its dark, blue-black sheen
and cascading well past her shoulders in gentle waves. Slowly, this
new form lowered itself to the floor, to her knees, as the glow
dissipated.
Where the feline Lady Luna had stood, the naked form of a
noble young lady, knelt. She opened her eyes, covering her body
with her arms, and smiled at her audience with an imperious
arrogance. At least, that is what it seemed like to Rei, who wasn't
too enamoured of that expression.
"The powers of the nobles are strange, are they not?" Lady
Luna chuckled. "All I need now are some clothes." She looked down
at her naked form, expectantly.
"Perhaps you can magically conjure some up." Usagi muttered.
"You shall find some in the antechamber, Lady Luna."
President Serenity nodded. Lady Luna smiled and stood, turning
quickly and padding towards the door at the far end of the main
room.
"Sugoiii." Rei blinked, holding her hands up to her mouth.
"I've never seen anything like it."
"Lycanthropy, or a form of such. Fascinating. I must study
this phenomenon." Ami rubbed her chin.
"She won't let you, Ami. She's not that kind of person." Rei
and Ami turned to Usagi, who had now stood, staring away from them.
"You've seen one noble change, you've seen them all." Usagi threw
her nose into the air, haughtily. "Anyway, we are being
disrespectful in the presence of our President."
"You can talk." Rei growled.
----o
The fire that was consuming the house almost did the same to
the Lady Luna's flowing dress, as she attempted to make her way
through the main hallway.
"My Lady, it is too dangerous. Stop, before you get yourself
killed!" The voice of her servant, Azentor, a short, tubby and
balding middle-aged man, echoed through the roar of the flames. She
momentarily looked back at him, standing helplessly in the door to
the hallway, his hands in front of his face.
"I can't. I must find the Lord and Lady Tsukino and their
children. They were in the guest rooms when the explosions went
off." Luna shook her head, holding a hand to her mouth as she took
a lungful of smoke.
"They must be dead, my Lady. Come back, before you suffer a
similar fate."
Luna coughed and gave him a helpless expression, then gripped
the train of her dress and tore it away as sparks started to set it
alight. She then continued her staggering path through the flames.
Within seconds, she arrived at the door of the guest room in
which the Tsukinos had been staying. Or what was left of the door.
Within seconds, she evaluated the scene. There was no doubt that
the Lord and Lady were dead, their bodies reduced to a gut-wrenching
mess on the other side of the room.
Obviously, the bomb had been triggered when one or the other
had tried to open the door. She swallowed and continued on into the
room, which was almost devoid of flames but not of smoke.... A
thick mist, descending from the ceiling.
Luna made her way from the main room to the bedroom. Once
more, she was greeted to a gruesome sight. The young Usagi lay
across the floor, bleeding heavily from her lower gut. Lying beside
her was a long portion of wood, blood tipped at one sharp end. A
portion of the main door that had been blown into Usagi, removed by
her own hand.
Usagi stirred and looked over at Luna, trying to mouth
something. Seeing that Luna couldn't understand, she gestured to
the corner of the room, to Luna's right.
Luna turned and could see the figure of Usagi's younger
brother. He was hideously burnt across his back. Luna coughed as
the mist of smoke wafted through the doorway, then made for the
unfortunate young boy.
She reached down and managed to haul him over her shoulder, an
effort that took a great deal more than she had expected. She then
staggered over to Usagi and placed her brother beside her.
"Can you move?"
Usagi's mouth opened to speak, her words coming in a choke.
"Shin....go...." Luna shook her head in frustration.
"Damn Shingo right at this moment. I can get him out. Can
YOU move?" Luna put a hand down to Usagi. "Enough to at least lean
on me?"
"Save.... Shingo. Don't care.... about me...."
"Oh, for Picasso's sake...." Luna gripped Usagi by the arm
and sat her up against the side of the nearest bed, then managed to
haul Shingo back over her shoulder. "Even if I succeed in this
feat, I'm going to throw my back out, I can see it now...." She
gasped as she managed to kneel down beside Usagi.
Taking the girl's arms, against Usagi's will, she stood,
hauling the injured girl to her feet. Well, at least Usagi had
enough energy to stand.
Usagi looked at her with annoyance. "Not... going to live...
Don't bother... with me..."
"Excuse me for a few moments, but would would you mind
shutting up, there's a good girl." Luna lifted her right arm up a
little, balancing Shingo. "Yessiree, I missed my calling. I should
have been a member of a circus troupe. And now for our next act, we
present the amazing Lady Luna de Sade, balance supremo
extrodinaire." She shouted this as she dragged Usagi across the
bedroom to the main window door, which was, fortunately, open.
They continued through the door, onto the landing, where she
could see the emergency vehicles arriving, and the many guests that
had been staying in her palacial mansion, after the dinner she had
held in honour of her late father, milling about on the large front
lawn in fear.
"Now comes the real trick. Getting off the landing in one
piece...." Luna turned and smiled at Usagi, but the girl wasn't
looking, too concerned with her own pains to take in what was going
on around her, now.
----o
Perhaps Usagi might have looked upon her a little more kindly
if Shingo had lived. He was already dead. A corpse, hanging over
Luna's shoulder, on that day. As dead as the Lord and Lady
Tsukino...
But Usagi didn't want to admit that. She already KNEW Shingo
was dead. As dead as she wanted to be.
Usagi wasn't the only one to lose those she cared for. They
never did find Azentor's body after they put out the conflagration
that had gutted Luna's ancestral home. Somehow, she felt
responsible for that. But what she did had been important to ONE
individual.
She found, at the very least, some solace and redemption in
that fact. But not very much.
END OF PART 2
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ACROSS THE BORDER
In the heat of the day
Many miles away when the
Sun is beating downthe main street.
I'll be waiting at the station,
I gotta move down the line.
They'll be dancing and singin'
And doin' their thing
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'
Until the day is done.
You know I've got to
Make the deadline-
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.
The Mardis Gras
Will be blowing strong
And the people dancing
All across the city
I'm leavin' here tonight
I gotta move down the line.
I'm gonna catch a ride
On the 9.05
I'm gonna ride the rails
Until we reach the morning,
Maybe three or four
Hundred miles.
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.
When the wind is blowing
Softly throught the streets
of a little town
And the music's playin',
You're waitin' somewhere
Over the horizon.
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.
-Jeff Lynne-
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Next Chapter - "Insanity Takes Care of Its Own"
I thought it best to rewrite the original chapter 2 of AtB....
There were many elements that my friend and sometime co-writer, who
prefers to go by the title of "Night Rider" (for no visibly apparent
reason. Well, not visible to me, anyway) wanted to see put into
this story that seemed to be workable that I decided it prudent to
do so. Of course, this virtually doubled the length of chapter 2,
so it is now chapters 2 and 3.
This makes the story a tad more wordy, with less in the way of
action, but I'm a writer who tends to dwell on the little things
that make each character what they are.
Anyway, enough of these notes. PallaPalla is tugging on my sleeve,
wanting to know when she gets to blow someone up. I should get on
with chapter 4.... ^_^
DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page) ayanami@merlin.net.au
Chief Propoganda Officer, Keeper of the Tapes, Co-Founder of the
Saitou-chan Fan Club and Compulsive Rabies-san Shit-Stirrer. ^_^
Version 2.0 - 22nd Jun 1998