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S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon and Silent Mobius are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Kia
Asamiya, Michitaka Kikuchi, Bandai, Studio Tron, Kadokawa and
Kodansya. All other characters were thought up by me.
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"Unit Three to Control Central.... Confirmation that the
Security System is down. Over."
"Control Central to Unit Three, what is the status of the
ground troops? Over."
"Ground troops are minimal.... It's total chaos in there,
sir. Over."
"Control Central to Unit Three, begin your move into the
grounds.... Eliminate all within your allotted sector. Over."
----o
A dimness had entered the eyes of Gigelf Liqueur.... Not the
dimness of age, for that was yet to come.... But a dimness brought
upon by those eyes seeing more than their owner had wanted to
see.... Horrors, not even possible to imagine.... Deeds, committed
in the name of belief.... As the Grand Mage of the Coven of
Atrocity, Gigelf Liqueur had long learned that there was no such
thing as right and wrong choices in life.... Merely varying, and
sometimes frightening, shades of gray.
Choices. They seem so simple, yet, can have terrifying
consequences. When the High Council of the Coven had met, so many
years ago, in an emergency meeting to decide the actions that should
be taken, upon facing a second potential group of rivals in the form
of the Sailorsenshi, he had made the choice to eliminate them....
And it seemed like such an easy choice to make, for they were an
enemy whose bias in the affairs of the Coven could not be predicted.
No matter, it still came as a shock when the news arrived upon
the death of the first of those senshi.... A young woman, perhaps
younger than he. As he stood before the ceremonial altar in the
Grand Hall, the thought of the young woman's terrifying last moments
weighed heavily upon him.... For it had been several years since he
had made that decision, and he no longer felt as sure about what it
was the Coven stood for. Did freedom for his kind, from all forms
of oppression, really justify the killing of someone who was, at the
time of her death, no longer capable of being a threat....
Political manipulation had seen the foundation of the SIU, as
a cover for the Coven's activities. It had failed to uncover very
much, other than a great deal of information about what the
Sailorsenshi could do.... That was not what the Coven wanted. They
required identities.... And the Sailorsenshi had been very good at
concealing those.... So it came as a gift from Heaven, when the
senshi made their first big error....
In attempting to bring down a particularly heinous Yakuza
family, the Shiranui, they had made connections, and exposed
themselves to the scrutiny of the paranoid criminal scene.... It
wasn't long before elements within the Diet, the Japanese
parliament, had made connections with Shiranui Midan.... It wasn't
only the Coven that was concerned by the activities of the
Sailorsenshi....
Power meant financial security, and the possibility that they
could lose this power to a group of young women with paranormal
abilities was well fomented in the minds of the doddering old fools
by the Coven's insider, Dietman Manakuto....
"Master...." Gigelf turned as the crisp tones of Lysithea
Caprice echoed through the Grand Hall, disturbing his train of
thought. He stepped back from the altar, pushing aside his
voluminous ceremonial robes. He looked down from the dais at his
light-haired servant, standing in the middle of the dark and empty
hall, holding the unconscious form of Carey West. He shivered at
what her presence meant.
"I see you were.... successful..." He took a breath and
started to make his way down from the dais, via a small set of steps
set to one side. Lysithea watched him, smiling.
"It took... some time.... The distraction... you set up...
worked. But I'm afraid Nobuhiro and Michelle have been captured in
the process...."
"And shall be subjected to the psychological manipulation of
the House.... It is a pity to waste the talents of two such as
they. But our plans cannot be stopped...." It was a pity to
waste the life of one like Carey West, too, he thought to himself.
Another body to add to his growing collection....
It was amazing, how easy it had been to convince Shiranui
Midan, to allow the Sailorsenshi access to his organisation.
Manakuto was a master diplomat, and protection for Midan, even at
the cost of his wife and daughter, had been arranged. Allow the
Sailorsenshi to complete the task which they had begun.... Then
ensnare them within the organisation, enough to give someone reason
to want to kill them.... That way, the finger of blame would not
point at the Coven, the Diet or even the Shiranui Yakuza.... It
would be.... just one of those things....
It worked, but in a messier way than had been forseen.... For
several members of the Sailorsenshi had seen through the plan, and
had aligned themselves with the Shiranui.... Not as part of the
plan to bring the Shiranui down, but true alignment.... And to
prove their worth, they offered to help Midan's daughter, Kimi, in
killing their one-time comrades.... It made Gigelf sick to the
stomach to think that the petty internal politics and powerplays
that existed within the Coven, also existed within a group that had
traditionally fought to preserve what was, essentially, good, and
right, and pure.... If such concepts were really, truly workable.
As he stepped away from the dais, he took a breath and clapped
his hands together. "Did you manage to throw their security system
into chaos in the process of taking West?" At this question,
Lysithea began a long, soft chuckle. Gigelf found the sound rather
displeasing. "What is so funny?"
Lysithea shook his head, smiling, and gently lowered Carey to
the cold stone floor. After considering Carey's face for a few
seconds, he stood, facing Gigelf, clasping his hands in front of him
in an effeminate manner. "You should have seen it.... So simple,
so easy.... As soon as I removed her from the grounds, the alarms
went into full panic mode.... There were people, running everywhere
across the grounds.... And I managed to leave Sailormoon and
Sailorpluto in the middle of that Chaos.... It was just
marvelous..."
"They relied too much on West...." Gigelf swallowed. "You
know, of course, of our plans to deal with the House, as soon as she
was removed...."
Lysithea nodded. "Of course, master.... There could be no
better time...."
No better time, thought Gigelf.... No better time to forever
go down in history as a butcher of one's own kind. A butcher or a
savior.... Depending on who lives to write the history books....
----o
"Unit Three to Control Central, we have secured our allotted
sector. Fifteen dead, no casualties from our side. Over."
"Control Central to Unit Two, are you in sight of the Sacred
House Compound main building? Over."
"Unit Two.... We have the main building in sight....
Everything looks open from here. Over."
"Control Central to all Units, begin moving into the Compound
in five minutes. Eliminate all in your way. Over."
----o
Part Thirtytwo
Conjoining Truths and Untruths
----o
"G.... Go is dead?" Aoi sat in the front passenger seat of
Kaji's car, as stunned as he.
"That's what.... Ariamu told me.... Shimazaki went to his
house not that long ago after he'd gone missing from the station....
They think Katarin might have had something to do with the murder of
Mizuno's mother. He might have even killed her, himself, and ran
afterwards."
Aoi swallowed as Kaji slammed his door shut, more forcefully
than was really necessary. He leaned back in his seat, staring at
the roof.
"The links that this case has.... It's getting more
complicated by the moment.... This whole thing is more than just a
murder of a Sailorsenshi.... If the information that Shimazaki was
given by Katarin before his death, then this whole mess involves the
Shiranui Yakuza...."
"So where do the Sacred House and the Coven of Atrocity fit
in?" Aoi asked, quietly. Kaji thought this over for a few moments.
"We're talking about a Yakuza family, here.... A group that
has a network of connections to business, government and a variety
of other organisations that can operate as effective forms of money
gathering. Both the House and the Coven would be registered as
religious movements in Japan, and therefore nominally immune from
the scrutiny of the tax department.... The Yakuza and various other
criminal organisations have been using religion as a tax dodge for
years, and there is little, if anything, that the authorities can do
about it as long as they keep up the front of being official
religions.... Hell, I've investigated money laundering schemes that
have involved cults that worship nothing more substantial than a
lump of rock discovered in the founder's front garden...."
"Are you trying to say that organisations as old and powerful
enough to hide themselves completely from public view, despite their
size, are nothing more than fake cults founded for financial
purposes?"
"I don't know if the average member thinks of them in this
capacity. Someone who is dedicated to what appears to be a worthy
cause can blind themselves to the truth of the organisation's
management.... And if an arm of that organisation is attacked, in
any way, by an extraneous force, then the reaction of such a
powerful body would be to hunt down and destroy that force.... In
this case, the Sailorsenshi."
"So the Shiranui Yakuza is just an arm of something greater?"
"Hmm.... Not so much an arm, considering the size of the
Shiranui. By taking on the Shiranui Yakuza, the Sailorsenshi
attacked a fairly central part of a larger body. Shimazaki was sent
a message, by Katarin, that Shiranui Kimi was somehow involved in
the murder of Kino Makoto...."
"More intimated than explicit." Aoi rubbed her forehead.
"All this is giving me a headache."
"Yes, well, I sincerely doubt that Kino's murder was the
preserve of the Shiranui Leader's daughter. Shiranui Midan is not
beyond using his own child as a vehicle for the needs of whatever
power it is that has kept his family in control for this long...."
----o
"What do you want?" Mercury confronted the strange individual
who had emerged from the limousine, a man, dressed in a full dinner
suit. The car had first pulled alongside her, then across her path,
up onto the footpath, as she wandered along the quiet street in a
contemplative mood. Actually, she was contemplating whether she
should raid the Japanese Reserve Bank at the time, so it was no
great loss, and considering Japan was in recession, there probably
wouldn't have been a hell of a lot for her to raid....
Anyway, the car blocked her path, which angered her a little,
as she hated it when cars blocked her path. She'd always been too
polite to say anything about it, but this time she ran around to the
driver's door, wrenched it off the side of the car, pulled out the
car's chauffeur and started laying into him with the kinds of
attacks that would have done a professional wrestler proud.
Before she could do too much damage to him, the strange
passenger of the vehicle stepped out from the back, and interrupted
her effort at chastising the transgressor of Mercury's unwritten
laws. "Do you mind.... Drivers like he are extremely hard to
find." The passenger placed a hand on her shoulder. She slapped
the hand away and stood back several paces. From there, she
interrogated him with the aforementioned question.
"What do I want?" The passenger helped the hapless chauffeur
to his feet. "Why, I want you, Sailormercury.... Or, let me put it
this way.... I have been interested in employing you and your
Sailor friends for quite some time.... I have need of your powers."
"Need of MY powers, or the powers of my so-called friends?"
She sniffed contemptuously. "They all think I'm weaker than they.
Well, you know what I've done, tonight? You see all the destruction
I've wreaked? They won't be calling THIS Sailorsenshi the weak link
in the chain anymore." She put her hands on her hips and laughed
maniacally.
"Ano.... I didn't mean to express doubt in your abilities,
Sailormercury. You are obviously VERY powerful.... But I have been
keeping tabs on your activities, tonight.... And I wanted to say...
I have NEED of someone like you...."
"What for?" Mercury ranged up on the passenger and his
chauffeur. The chauffeur cringed at her presence. "And who are
you, anyway?"
"I...." The passenger swallowed, using up as much of his
reserves of bravery as charm. "I am Manakuto.... A highly esteemed
member of the Diet Assembly, and of an organisation called the Coven
of Atrocity...."
"Coven of Atrocity?" Mercury rubbed her chin. "Sounds cool.
Do you kill and maim lots of people for fun and profit?"
"Ano...." There were times in Manakuto's career, as a master
manipulator, where he genuinely began to worry about the things his
masters would get him to do. "It has not been.... unknown, for our
group to be involved in such... activities."
"Ah, so you are a corrupt politician, who manipulates the
hallowed halls of power in the name of the secret society you work
for.... I have to say, you're a villain if ever I saw one.... I
don't like villains." And with that, Mercury swatted the poor
chauffeur aside and gripped Manakuto by the collar of his suit,
lifting him off the ground. "Of course, I'll work for you if there
is something in it for me...."
"We can... talk about... the terms of... your employment... in
the... car... Can we not?" Manakuto said through a half-choked
throat. Mercury smiled at him.
"Well, now, I don't know if a cute, sexy young thing like me
really wants to get into a car with a big, mean, nasty old man like
you.... I mean, who knows what unimaginable things you might do to
me...." She chuckled and let Manakuto go, allowing him to fall to
his feet.
As he sat on his haunches, leaning against the side of the
limousine for support, rubbing his sore throat, he watched as she
walked along the car, running a hand along the bonnet, swaying in an
almost seductive fashion. "Power.... Money.... Sex.... That's
all you bigwigs ever seem to concern yourselves over.... What is it
that you really want from me, Manakuto-san? After killing my
comrade, Jupiter, why would you bother to make such an offer to me?"
She turned to him, smiling. "Oh yes, Dietman.... I have heard of
your name in passing.... With my family connections, how could I
not? I never would have thought I'd meet you like this....
Strange, the way destiny shapes things, is it not?"
Manakuto stood, using the front door to the limo as support.
"What do you know? About the death of Jupiter?"
"That she deserved what she got, stupid bitch that she was."
Mercury sidled back to him. "Death can be nothing but a pleasure
for someone whose life no longer followed the path of destiny.
Don't you agree, Dietman?"
As she started to finger the front of his shirt, the first
few spots of yet another rainshower started to fall from the dark
sky. Manakuto looked up with annoyance. "Don't you think we should
get into the car, now? I think we're about to have a downpour at
any moment...." He looked aside at his unconscious chauffeur, lying
in the middle of the road. "I don't think we'll be going anywhere
fast, though."
"Why? Are you afraid of a little water?" Mercury giggled
cutely, then threw her arms over Manakuto's shoulders, staring into
his eyes. "I love water. The sound of it.... The feel of it....
The very first sound I remember hearing, as a child, was the pelting
of rain on the roof of my house.... It is a constant companion....
Water.... It lives with me and within me.... Does it frighten you,
Dietman, to allow yourself to become just a little wet?"
"I really don't see the poi...." He began, before she placed
a hand over his mouth, looking from side to side in a conspiratorial
manner.
"Shhhh.... Even though I am a senshi of water, there is
another who is also adept with such things.... Whilst hers knows
only the depths of the oceans, these droplets that fall from the sky
can be her ears and eyes as well as mine.... And she is a danger to
you and your people.... Let us not talk here, where she can listen
in to what we have to say."
And with a snap of her fingers, she, Manakuto, the chauffeur
and the limousine, disappeared into thin air....
----o
Kaji sat upright in his seat as rain started to pelt against
the roof of the car. "It's close to 24 hours since we left that
damned hotel.... Things have just got worse since then...." He
turned to Aoi. "So where do you want to go? Home?"
Aoi lifted her hand from over her eyes and blinked at Kaji.
"Home? What for?"
"Where else can you go? Our office has been totally trashed
and it is unlikely that you'll find a friendly reception at
Central.... Especially after what happened with Watanabe-san."
Aoi sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry about that, okay?
It's not my fault that the Jupiter heart crystal decided to explode
in your vicinity." She drooped forward, banging her head on the
dashboard. "Baka! Baka! Baka!"
"What's wrong now?"
She lifted her head up again and looked at him, smiling sadly.
"It's nothing.... I'm just feeling extremely down on myself just
now."
"So you should."
"Thanks for the sympathy." Aoi huffed, puffing up her cheeks.
"And anyway, I can't go home.... Those psycho Sacred House girls
might still be there."
"Not to mention half of the Sacred House operations team....
Well, that doesn't leave us with much, does it?" Kaji did up his
belt and started the car. Aoi watched him, suspiciously.
"What are you doing?"
"You wanted to go after that Pagan Lacey guy.... According to
what you've told me, he and the Meehan woman should be on their way
to the Coven headquarters right now, if they haven't already broken
in."
"What? You've got to be kidding, right? We just walk
straight into the headquarters of the Coven of Atrocity?"
"Why not? I've done it before." Kaji smiled sweetly at Aoi,
and hit the accelerator pedal before she could question him any
further.
----o
Usagi landed on her butt. Hard. Hard enough for a fit of the
wails to build up inside her, if it weren't for the fact that she
didn't know where the hell she was, and was too frightened to make
any noise, just in case someone nasty appeared to remonstrate with
her.
She had landed on the tiled surrounds of a large swimming
pool.... Even larger than the public pool she had often gone to in
her younger days. The pool was set in a large, covered hall, but
alas, there were no windows so she could get a bearing on her
surrounds.
The hall was lit by a simple exit sign above a door at the
other end, giving it a fairly ghostly atmosphere. The only relief
was the gentle buzz of the pool filter in the background.
Usagi got to her feet, rubbing her tailbone and performing a
little dance as she tried to recover movement against the pain she
felt. She stopped when she realised she was alone.
"S... Setsuna-san? Pluto, where are you?" Her voice,
regardless of its deliberate softness, echoed around the hall,
coming back to her as a confirmation that she was, indeed, sans
Setsuna. She shivered for a second. "C... Cthulu-san? Are you
there?"
"Blurkle snorkle...." Came the bubbling reply from the bottom
of the pool. Usagi ran to the side, dropping to her knees as she
stared into the deep end.
"Cthulu-san.... What are you doing down there?"
"Norgle norgle slorkle glrgle...." The large, round thing
said as he sat at the bottom. Usagi rubbed the back of her head.
"Ano.... Can't you swim? I thought you were able to levitate
your body...."
"Bworkle!" Cthulu rumbled, annoyedly. "Blurkle slorkle
bwarkle sloogle."
"Don't tell me.... Water takes away your powers, right?"
Usagi sat back and crossed her arms as Cthulu went quiet with
embarrassment. "That's just great. How long does it take for you
to drown?"
"Blurkle."
"Yeah, I forgot about our little communication difficulty....
It would be SOOOO much easier if Pluto were here.... Damn her....
Just when I need her, she goes and disappears on me."
----o
Setsuna was pissed off, and that didn't happen too often.
This time, though, she had cause to be angry....
She was sitting, neck deep, in a large tub of green paint,
staring out of the tub's open top at the white, almost sterile
surrounds of the storeroom. After a few moments of contemplative,
steaming anger, she lifted herself over the side of the tub, and
promptly slipped, falling to the floor with a squishing thud that
sprayed green in every direction, messing up the room's cleanliness,
good and proper.
She managed to get herself to her feet before she slipped
again, falling hard on her back and winding herself, and came to the
ultimate conclusion that walking was going to be a great deal harder
than she expected. So, she got to her hands and knees, still
slipping and sliding over the surface of the floor, and crawled her
way across to the sole door that lead out of the room.
Managing to lift herself up against the door, she clasped at
the handle. It was round, and with the paint on her hands, it
slipped from her grasp repeatedly. She clenched her teeth and let
out a frustrated growl as she managed to get it to turn, far enough
that she could feel it reach its maximum.
She then leaned back, allowing herself to fall on her back as
the door swung open, revealing the darkness of a hall outside. She
lay there, listening, for a few seconds. She could hear movement in
the hallway.... Footsteps.... But nothing definite. She wondered
at first if they were Usagi's cautious footsteps, since Usagi had
been gated away with her....
Damn that Cthulu Kanzaki, she thought to herself.... The
unpredictability of where that creature's powers may take them
evaded even her foresight....
A flash... Merely the briefest image, came to her mind....
An image of immense horror.... Of death on a scale she had not seen
for a very long time.... Death that was descending upon her, and
her Princess, at this very moment.
With all her effort, she managed to get to her feet, the paint
becoming sticky as it started to dry on her. Despite the
discomfort, she stepped up to the doorway and peered out, retracting
said head before a rain of bullets struck the door frame.
"There's another one.... In the room up ahead. A mutant
freak...." She heard a shout from down the corridor.
"How can you tell?" Came a reply.
"This one was all green.... All over.... Even her hair...."
The original voice answered.
"No...." Setsuna muttered to herself. "I can't allow
this.... I can't allow this to happen...." She clenched a fist and
closed her eyes, allowing her powers to take over as she faded from
the room.
Seconds later, green paint sprayed the walls as a succession
of grenades, thrown into the room, did their work, dowsing the feet
of the soldiers who stormed in after the explosions had subsided.
"Aww shit...." The Unit Leader spat as he looked down at his
boots. "Good one, Abe.... Now anyone in this shithouse joint will
know where we've been.... Just great."
Abe turned to his commanding officer, and back at the four
other soldiers who stood behind him, staring at him. "But the door
was closed, I tell, you, then it opened and this green thing popped
its head out...."
"Tell that to the General when we're finished...." The Unit
Leader slung his service rifle over his shoulder. "They don't pay
us any more for killing civvies. Move out.... This is bound to
bring someone or something out of the woodwork...."
END OF PART 32
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Next Chapter - "Purity of Blood"
_________
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/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@merlin.net.au
/</ w \>\ Chief Propoganda Officer, Keeper of
\/ \/ the Tapes and Co-Founder of the Saitou-chan
\___________/ Appreciation Society - Adelaide Japanese
/_/ \_\ PU Animation Society
Version 1.0 - Saturday October 24th 1998