H'lo,
Okay, since Barba-san's e-mail is seriously out of whack with the
ML, he asked me to send out the most recent chapter of SMAX. Hopefully I
don't get the same errors he did. ^_^;;
Any replies can be sent to yogipigs@egroups.com . Previous chapters
can be seen at the SMAX homepage:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/2314/sailormoon_ax/ . Let him know
what you think, hmm?
Anyways, that's it for me. Oh, other than the new SMAX webpages
will be at http://yogipigs.megami.net/sailormoonax/ in the next week or
so (shameless plug for megami.net ^_^). So until I actually have a fic
to put on the list, Lasha and ja ne. ^_^
Lany
-----
Chapter Ten: Raye's Plight
Pain swam in her eyes as Raye forced them open. As her blurred vision
began to gather into clearer, sitinging shafts of sight, she knew that she
was still alive, that Subspace had not carried out his final plan. Despite
that, she felt a bit of dread, of the fact that her life was not much
longer. Still, she fought off tears--her grandfather had always told her
that she was strong enough to survive what her parents had put her through,
so she was certainly strong enough to get out of this. She would find a
way to survive, then initiate a little payback action on Subspace.
At first, she began to use as much of her flagged strength as she could
muster to try to break the manacles that she was in. Pulling at them with
all her strength, she found, however, that she couldn't do it--the
restraints were made of some unusual, marble-looking green metal that she'd
never seen before. It was clearly a strong metal, and she wondered if she
sat around long enough to begin to refocus and rechannel that energy, she
could....
"I wouldn't bother, if I were you, Mars," a voice announced from the
darkness, as though on cue. "The shackles holding you in place are made of
preacher's iron, a metal that would be as valuable as fool's gold except
for the fact that it's an energy nullifier. The more that you struggle
against your bonds, the more that you waste your energy. Even if you tried
to power up to your full abilities, the energy would simply bleed back into
nature. I'm sorry, but you'll simply have to wait until I kill you." His
tone of voice indicated that he was in no means in the mood to hurry.
((Well, looks I'm stuck for the moment,)) Raye finally admitted to
herself. ((Best conserve what's left of my strength until I figure a way
out of this mess.)) Thinking about that, she pushed aside her pain as she
stood up as much as the chains allowed her to--though the chains allowed
her some play, they were embedded in the floor and thus didn't allow her
much movement--and examined the room. Since her movement did not trigger
any alarms, nor did the fact that she was making noise, she concluded that
there had to be energy sensors in the shackles. That information would
prove invaluable once Serena and the others rushed to her aid--of that, she
was certain.
Although the room was dim, there was at least some light in the form of
an overhead lamp with a dying light bulb; from what she could see, the room
she was in had at one time been an office; this was confirmed by the worn
coffee table and equally ratty wooden chair that sat in an otherwise barren
room. Sitting on the table, as tantalizing as a triple fudge sundae, lay
Raye's wristwatch and her old high school ring. The light shone on the
item, giving it a photographic, still-image look. The rest of the room
looked equally trashed, and if Raye guessed right, this was probably some
abandoned building. ((How clich�,)) she thought.
That, however, was not the important thing. The important thing was
the pair of items that sat on the table. Well, one of them, at any rate;
though the wristwatch was her pager device, it was nothing more than that.
No, the important thing was her ring, or more importantly, the fact amongst
its many functions was probably the most important of all--the distress
beacon.
Of course, the first thing to do was get the ring, and then figure out
how to set it off. The first part would be easy. Stretching as far as she
could, she managed to just barely snag the table's closest leg with her
own. She initially pulled it close to her, then with some effort and a
sharp stab of pain, executed a foot sweep, knocking the table on its side
and dropping the ruby ring to the floor. With some effort, Raye managed to
push it with her foot, right where she was. Once settled, she dropped back
down to the floor to contemplate the ring and how to activate it.
When Cathy and Molly designed the rings, it was agreed up that an
exclusive method of activating the ring would be used: vocals could be
disguised, DNA supplanted, visuals doctored. So, it was decided with a
little help from Raye that each person's own willpower, channeled into
their superpowers--what the Japanese called ki--would be the catalyst for
the distress signal. It would be perfect, as each person, like snowflakes,
fingerprints or retinal patterns, had their own individual ki
"frequency"--even identical twins had separate frequencies. And, unlike
snowflakes or other such individualistic patterns, ki auras could not be
doctored or duplicated.
Of course, the only problem was how to activate it. She was very
fortunate that Subspace had removed it from her finger (though he was
stupid enough to have left it in the room), so that solved the problem of
the shackles blocking its transmission or her powers activating it.
However, she'd been left with the new problem of how to activate it. After
all, she'd trained for a lifetime to channel her attacks through her hands,
and the most she could do otherwise was a small heat field around her when
it was needed. But said heat field wasn't focused enough to provide the
signal prerequisite for the ring. To do that, she would need a small,
tight energy beam, like one fired from a single finger--her original plan
for setting it off.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there before the answer came to her.
Certainly, it was born out of desperation; no one in their right mind would
try something that insane. But Subspace certainly wasn't in his right mind
(assuming he had one), and if Raye was going to pull this off, reality
would definitely have to be scheduled for that backseat. And she had an
idea. It was insane, but it was an idea.
She sat herself down and relaxed. Breathed, meditated, letting herself
flow with the Force. Not the mythical thing of Lucas' designs, but the
lifeforce of nature, the very thing that aided in her being who she was.
Who she was was not entirely a happy person, but she'd long since managed
to survive that little factoid of life. Life had never been easy for her.
Not the least bit for Raye Hino, the oldest child of Daniel and Bonnie
Hino; a father who was a senior VP for Microsoft and a mother who was a
famous author. Not for Raye Hino, who, along with her twin sister, Kaye,
was expected to have inherited the latent rage that was normally in the
male members of the Hino clan. Not for Raye Hino, who at five years old,
was the first of the Sailors to manifest her powers; the fire that she'd
inadvertently set off destroyed the household and killed Kaye. Not Raye
Hino, who had been abandoned by her parents, then humiliated as her parents
refused to even acknowledge her grandfather for taking her in. Not Raye
Hino, who had suffered through a life of directionless rage and hatred
against a world apparently hell-bent against her. Not Raye Hino, who only
managed to gain some control over her life at the loss of her child and the
near-loss of Darien. All that was Raye Hino.
All of that was immaterial, now. She focused, trying to feel nature
through the linoleum floor tiling and the stucco of the walls. Somewhere,
there was an outside. Somewhere outside, there was nature. All part of
the circle of life, all feeding energy into her, and still calling more.
She felt at peace as she began to swim deep into her wellspring of power.
Despite her pain, despite the fact that the power would be moving through
veins already pained with power overload, she had to try. Her freedom
depended on the one chance.
Raye's closed eyes began to glow with an angry red energy, even though
her eyelids were shut, the energy bleed escaped between her eyelashes. She
began to feel a burning sensation, as though her eyeballs were drying.
This was sheer madness; she shouldn't be trying to channel her energy
through her eyes. It had taken years for her to handle channeling it
through her hands, and now to try it through another method for the first
time was insane at best. But, the alternative was death, an alternative
that was simply unacceptable. She continued to channel the power into her
eyes, though it was now clearly hurting her.
((Only one chance...*NOW*!)) With that, she opened her eyes, and
stared straight at her ring. She screamed in blinding pain as her vision
was awash in red, pain in a blast of energy that lanced forward, slapping
the ring hard. She kept this up for nearly a full minute before the pain
became completely and utterly unbearable. Finally, spent and whimpering in
pain, Raye pitched forward and collapsed.
Still trying to stay conscious, she noted that she'd been blinded by
that stunt, and hoped that it was only temporary--*prayed* that it was only
temporary. Certainly the migraine that was now beating the insides of her
head like Chad's drummer during an extended drum solo was excruciatingly
painful. Scooting like an inchworm to where she knew the ring was, she
maneuvered her face to be right beside where it was. She could hear a
barely audible beep--the trick had worked, and the signal had been
activated! Now, she could only hope that one of the other Sailors would be
able to mount a rescue in time. She had to believe that.
She believed in Sailor Moon.
She believed in Serena.
Calling upon reserves of inner strength she never knew she had, she
rasped out a barely audible hiss, a tone to match the muted beeping of the
ruby ring: "Serena...'s Raye...help me...."
=<+>=
In a strip mall in Garden Grove's Little Saigon neighborhood, there was
nothing really going on. It was slightly past midnight, and most of the
people in the community were off on other diversions. Out of the stores in
the facility, the only ones currently open were the 7-11, and the arcade
which was going to be closing within the hour. The people who owned the
Vietnamese-specialty video store were just leaving for the night, and that
would be it. However, unbeknownst to the owners of the video store, they
weren't the only ones burning the midnight candle. The store two facades
down from them was populated as well.
The store was a small, family-owned computer dealership, and though it
made enough to get by and break even, there was no chance that it would
become a growing electronics chain anytime soon. In truth, it had a
decidedly restricted clientele, as it not only catered to the PC crowd, but
to those Apple, Amiga, and Be owners as well. Molly's Microchip Mansion
was just a simple little store, trying to survive against the Software
Etc.s and the CompUSAs of the world. Mainly, it got by due to the sheer
knowledge and know-how of its owner, Molly Baker.
From time to time, she'd been offered substantial amounts to sell the
business; once or twice, the big chains attempted to put pressure on her to
sell out. It was too cutthroat a business for a mom-and-pop business like
hers to survive, they said; she would never be able to compete with them.
Wouldn't be easier to give up and start another business? She could have,
easily: the knowledge she had could have made her a success in any industry
there was, and she could easily have sold her store. But she never did,
and so she continued to hold on to her business, fighting on against the
giants of the computer sales world like a female David combating a Goliath.
What made her hold on? Some said it was the fact that she was a
friendly face, a person that went against the facelessness of corporations.
Some said she was trying to foster a sense of community in a place where
community was relatively nonexistent. Some said that she was a bored rich
kid, having the store only to avoid real work. Some even said that it was
a sibling rivalry between herself and her sister, the sister known to own a
store of her own not too far away.
Of course, the real answer might have to do with the pneumatic tube at
the back of the store, a tunnel that led down 20 feet or so into a hidden
facility filled with technology, intelligence, and analysis equipment
usually found only under the control of the government. The location, a
few hundred square yards in size, also contained a training dojo down there
that was designed to look like the "danger room" of a fictitious bunch of
superheroes; a massive computer mainframe painted to look like a marble
tablet with "carvings" on it that said the terminal's name: ORACLE. The
room also had a sleeping quarters, a trophy room, a small research and law
library, a flight simulator, a shooting range, a lounge, and other such
knick-knacks. This, of course was the real reason that Molly Baker refused
to sell.
This was the operations center of the Sailors, a place with no real
name but jokingly labeled as SUBASE; meaning Submerged Base vice the Navy's
Submarine Base. Tonight, it was Cathy's turn to stand watch at the
sensorgrid, and so she sat, with the screen showing an overlay of their
AOR, with datafeeds provided via small monitor in the corner of the control
console. Tonight was proving to be a quiet night so far, as though the
world somehow knew of Raye's loss and respected that. It was small comfort
to her--very small, indeed.
She took a swig from her bottle of water, continuing to sit at the
board, too depressed to do much other than stare at the screen. The
majority of the gang had went out to a bar to remember Raye. Cathy,
feeling a need to be relatively alone tonight, reported to the facility for
the watch; Serena, who was supposed to have it tonight, would do better
with her family right now. Frankly, although she felt that she could use a
few wine coolers...for starters, she also knew that such an act was not a
great solution, and that Raye wouldn't have approved of Cathy's drowning of
her sorrows with Misters Beam, Daniels, or Walker. And if that wasn't
enough, Serena would probably have chewed her ass out over it, then
immediately begin commiseration with her.
Cathy felt that her misery was hers and hers alone. In the end, no
matter what Amy or the others said, it was her fault that Raye was dead,
that everyone was suffering tonight's loss. The rules said she wasn't to
blame, that there was no way she could have interpreted the attack, that
Raye should have been able to get out of it and at least call for help.
Lastly was the immutable fact that they were in a business that could get
them killed--as the death of Fusion in San Diego proved two months ago.
There was a clear fact that they faced death every time they went out
there; this was the point where luck simply ran out for Raye.
But that wasn't good enough. It would never be good enough.
Moody, she hit the EJECT button for the K:\drive, opening up the access
door to the sizable CD tower. She took out the CD module assigned to her
and placed in a nice little musical number. It blared for a second before
she turned it down; Johnny was asleep in the living quarters, and this
wasn't the kind of music meant to be played loud, anyway. The CD started
up, a jazz album that Chad had privately made for his friends; Cathy sat
back and tried to relax to the bright music. In actuality, it was closer
to brooding than anything else. But there was really nothing that could be
done.
"Cathy," a voice called out behind her, "are you going to sit there all
night and brood? Get some sleep in the female quarters."
Without looking back, Cathy responded, "I can't sleep, Johnny. Too..."
she paused for a second, searching for a word, before adding, "restless.
Not really in a mood to sleep."
Jonathan Cortayo, undeclared major, would-be interior designer and
all-around slacker, looked at the woman with a kindly smile etched on his
face. "Look, Cath, we've been through a lot, you and I. I know you better
than anyone."
That, at least, elicited a smile from her. "I s'pose it does. And if
it does, then you know how I--"
"Yes, I do," he said, nodding his head. "Cathy, I'm your boyfriend--"
"*Ex-*boyfriend," she retorted venomously.
"Whatever," he said in a resigned tone that indicated that this was not
the first time the subject had arisen. "What I'm trying to explain is that
you and I have been though a lot, Catherine. Maybe we weren't as perfect
as Lita and Bobby, or Chad and Raye, or Darien and Serena. But we weren't
as bad as Darien and Raye, and--"
Cathy leapt out of her chair and tackled him violently, punching him
not with the super-strength of Sailor Earth, but of the anger and grief of
a woman in deep emotional pain. "You bastard!" she snarled. "How can you
say that about Raye! She's dead, and all you are doing is belittling her,
damn you!"
"I'm at least doing something, rather than sitting there, dark and
broody!" he said calmly, wincing as he felt the merest hints of her
super-strength behind the blows. "What happened to that cheerful woman
that I care about?"
Cathy looked up at him, her reddish eyes now even more so from the
tears. "She failed to protect one of her closest friends. She doesn't
deserve love of any kind."
Johnny pulled her into an embrace. "Yes you do." He held her for a
second, letting her cry against his wiry frame, his long, flowing sandy
brown hair a clear contrast to Cathy's own rose-colored follicles. He held
her there for a number of minutes, knowing that she wanted to cry, to
scream, to do something for Raye, something that she couldn't do.
In her mind, the same thought that had crossed minds of all the Sailors
and their allies echoed in hers: ((I have incredible powers, but I could do
nothing to save Raye. What good am I?)) After a minute or two, she looked
up at Johnny. "Why?"
He looked down at her, his eyes already answering what was on his lips:
"Because I love you, Cathy. I always have. But I want you to stop blaming
yourself. If you don't you'll only make yourself a total wreck."
Try as she could, she couldn't think of a reason to indent him into the
nearest wall. "You know, Jonathan Cortayo, you can be such a wonderful guy
sometimes, when you're not being a total and utter asshole, you realize."
"Yeah, I know," he sighed in a teasing tone. "Well, if we're going to
be up all night, I s'pose that we should get something to eat. There's
that little 24-hour diner down the street, if you feel up to it. That,
is," he smiled roguishly, "if you can stand to be seen with your
boyfriend," he commented.
"Ex," she said, sans heat. He let go of her, and she backed off in a
dreamy, slightly disappointed manner; that which spoke of unfinished
business in their relationship. As he walked over to the access elevator,
she reached over and grabbed the DELPHI's pager system, a average beeper
tied into the system's remote alarm should a crisis occur on the streets of
southern California.
"You sure you're going to need that?" Johnny ventured, as both squeezed
into the small elevator.
"Doesn't hurt to have it, though you're right; it has been a quiet
night so far. Hopefully, nothing will happen."
=<+>=
It has been said so many times that the life of a Senshi is one of
coincidence; that nothing done by them is deliberate, and that anything
done under their banner, from the crossing of enemies' paths to recruitment
of new members is not a calculated and well-thought out plan, but rather,
the whimsy of the universe itself, the mere dance of destiny. It was thus
that the way of miracles and salvation, discovery and truth combined all in
a typical human need.
At 1:30 in the morning, Ami stumbled to her feet, feeling the need for
a drink of water. After initially thumping into a wall because of the lack
of adjustment to the room--while Amy's guest room did look like hers, it
certainly wasn't *designed* the same--and swore softly as she stepped out
of the room, headed towards the kitchen. Truthfully, thirst was probably
something that she could have taken care of through her magic, but Ami felt
it was far safer to get up and raid the refrigerator for Evian than to have
to explain the blue glow of Mercurian magic to Amy. While Amy did seem the
understanding sort, there were of course limits to everyone's sense of
understanding, and Ami was not ready to push the limits of her host's
tolerance levels just yet.
So, here she was in a nightgown, rounding the corner past the storage
closet and heading through the living room on the way to the kitchen. If
she hadn't run into the wall, she'd have been just that little bit more
asleep and would have mistaken it for the light of the answering machine,
thus missing fate. As it was, though, she was just that much awake, and as
she walked into the living room, her attention was caught by a soft
flashing light.
Heading over to the counter where the phone was, Ami noted Amy's beeper
sitting there, looking quiet and unassuming for nothing to care about.
Also sitting there was one of Amy's rings...
...which was softly glowing in an occulting phase, as though it were a
beacon of some sort. Ami had never seen anything of the like, so a second
later, she ran back into her room to grab her compact computer, now
redesigned to look like an unassuming, everyday palm PC that was apparently
so common here. As the HUD visor appreared over her face, she looked at
the ring once more, now noticing the ultra-sophisticated electronics and
higher-than-usual technology that was running the ring. Normal
blue-diamond rings didn't have a need for a piezo-energy power backup, or
for a microchip better than anything that was on the market.
A second later, her computer had discovered the operating frequency of
the ring--a type of energy that the computer could simulate, though could
not give a data reference--and began to simulate it. As she did so, she
picked up the ring, to inspect it with her own eyes.
To her shock, the ring began to glow red, and began to emanate a faint,
tinny voice.
=<+>=
Somewhere else, a ruby ring began to glow a soft, light blue color,
though Raye couldn't see it--she only heard the beeping tone that indicated
Sailor Mercury had responded. Painfully turning herself so she could
shield the light from any hidden sensors that Subspace might have in the
room, she began to cry, her tears a mixture of pain and joy as she
whispered, "Good old Amy. Always...knew I could count...on you...."
=<+>=
"Amy...need your help," the voice on the other end murmured, and Ami
was stunned when she realized it was none other than Raye. The scarier
part was, it sounded alive, but in serious pain, like someone at the very
threshold. "Can't...hold on...much longer. Get help, fast! Don't know
where...I am...." There was a pause for a torturous second or two more
before she continued, her voice straining, her very demeanor not sounding
like the cheery girl she'd seen this morning. "Amy, you're my last hope!
I can't use my Mars abilites...and...Subspace...he has me, he's going...to
kill...me! Help me, please!" With that, the ring stopped its
communications feed, and began to receive what her compact computer
reported as a tracer signal. Additionally, a hologram began to emanate
from the ring. The hologram read:
CODE 04 (SAILOR MARS) -
STATUS: EMERGENCY BEACON ACTIVATED
LOCATION: TRACKING INITIATED. STANDBY FOR TRIANGULATION.
MEDICAL SCAN: UNABLE TO INDICATE DUE TO LACK OF SENSORY INPUT.
In the lower right hand corner of the display, two other bits of data
gave away critical information:
DUTY CODES: 03 (SAILOR EARTH), 15 (MAGICIAN) -
HLO CROSS-REFERENCE: SAILORS ELEMENT 3/POWER FORCE ELEMENT 5
CODES ON RAPID STANDBY: 03, 07 (SAILOR NEPTUNE), 08 (SAILOR URANUS), 09
(SAILOR PLUTO), 15
HLO FORCES ON DUTY (LAW ENFORCEMENT): PLATOON F (REGION 1), PLATOON K
(REGION 2), PLATOON S (REGION 3), PLATOON Y (REGION 4).
HLO FORCES ON DUTY (SUPERTEAM): JUSTICE CHASERS ELEMENT 2 (SLIDER),
MEGAGUARDIANS ELEMENT 7 (INDIGO), DA CREW-LA ELEMENT 8 (THE PLAYER),
ULTRADYNAMICS ELEMENT 5 (VIGILANCE)
HLO FORCES ON DUTY (SUPERHERO): THE RAM, EL VIENTO, STORMHAWK, SILK
But most telltale of all, and perhaps most frightening of all, was the
last line of information, located at the very bottom of the "screen":
TIME ELAPSED: 8 MIN, 26 SECONDS
FORCES NOTIFIED: 01 (SAILOR MERCURY)
FORCES RESPONDING: NONE
She knew, without fail, that she was at a crossroads. This was,
without a doubt, the proof she needed that Amy and the others were the
Sailors. But something that was both hard to believe, and at the same time
blindingly obvious was that Amy was Sailor Mercury. Hard to believe
because of the coincidence, and yet blazingly obvious because of the way
fate had seemed to recreate the senshi here in America, able for the
challenges here.
But that wasn't a problem. The problem wasn't even approaching them,
and beginning a liaison with them. No, nothing like that was a problem at
all. The problem was that of Raye. She was in trouble, and Ami was
obligated to help her. Not only because she was a senshi but more
importantly, because in such a short time, Raye had become a friend, one of
the ones that would be integral to her life here so far away from home.
Firm in her decision, she snapped her fingers, and a light blue pen
suddenly appeared in her hands. Looking to all the world like something
made by those �ber-kawaii folks at Sanrio, the truth was that it was
something a bit older and certainly *not* just a writing utensil. She
paused for a second, readying herself for what had to be the most original
battle that she'd ever had to have faced as Sera Maakyuri. Then, as she
had done so many times in her life, she raised the pen to the air, softly
calling out, "Mercury Star Powe--"
Much to Ami's surprise, the next few seconds were covered in a blaze of
light blue, her henshin wand forcefully ripped from her hand, then the
jarring sensation of a blow to her chest that dropped her to the floor in a
heartbeat. Ignoring the pain, she looked forward, and noticed Amy standing
there in T-shirt and shorts, a look on her face that was a mixture of fury,
shock and sorrow. Holding light blue balls of energy in her hands, she
softly thundered, "Cathy *was* right about you, and I didn't believe it. I
let a snake into my home." Steeling herself, she snarled, "Well, that's
one problem I'm gonna rectify!"
"Wait, Amy-san, you do not understand," Ami pleaded. While she still
had her magic, she would rather explain things to her host before they got--
*"SONIC BOOM!"*
--out of hand.
As the blasts of energy came towards, her, Ami's survival instinct
kicked in. Pointing her hand forward, she shouted, "Shabon Shield!" A
massive bubble appeared out of nowhere, and the twin energy blasts slammed
into it, canceling out each other; the only visible sign of the attack was
the small shockwave that pulsed out, knocking things over within a radius
of a foot. While Ami was surprised that something was able to have enough
force to do so, she didn't last long as Amy rushed in with her blinding
speed, initiating a high-speed punch attack. With the faster than normal
reflexes given to her by her Senshi abilities, she was able to dodge a
number of Amy's strikes, though quite a few of them got through. Ami took
a cue from all the training Makoto had given them and dropped to the
ground, executing a footsweep that would have knocked the other woman flat
on her butt...
...if it wasn't for Amy's speed. She leapt back a respectable four
feet, charging up for another attack. Knowing that physical attacks
weren't going to help, Ami readied to loose her Shabon Spray Freezing, in
the hopes that she could distract Amy long enough to try to talk some sense
into her. She was feeling bruises all over, and she was getting the
distinct feeling that Amy was not using her full strength or speed on
her--though that could change if things got worse.
Indeed, that was the truth. As the azure-haired American got into
another offensive position, she blurted, "Why, Ami? Who are you working
for? Destructor? Evil Inc.? Or are you some new player on the scene?
Are you behind Raye's death? We trusted you, damn you!"
Ami saw the pain in Amy's eyes and decided, ((It's now or never,
Ami-chan.)) She tossed Amy's ring to her and said, "Raye is alive,
Amy-san, but not for much longer if Sailor Mercury doesn't do something
about it." To her credit, Amy didn't bother with a stupid question of "You
know?" but instead focused her attention on the holoscreen the ring was
projecting for her.
After a few seconds of absorbing the data, she turned and looked at
Ami. Her face still had that reserved look on it, but at least she'd
dissipated her energy. "Who-who are you?" Amy blurted out.
Ami couldn't not give Amy a comforting smile. "I am Ami Mizuno, your
guest and hopefully still your friend. And just as you are also Sailor
Mercury, I am Sera Maakyuri, a--" Ami struggled for a second to find the
right word, before Amy supplied it.
"Superhero?"
For lack of a better word, Ami nodded in the affirmative. "My group is
called the Sera Senshi, and as to why I am here, well, that is already
known to you. I will not deny that I am interested in your group, but we
Senshi have only discovered your presence in the last few days. However, I
came here for my college education, and not to search for you. If I had
met Sandra Ochoa at the hotel instead of you, I would probably be still
searching.
"Amy-san, I promise you that once this is over, I will answer every
question I can. But Raye is in danger, and we are the only ones who can
save her." The look in Ami's eyes now was absolutely pleading. "Please."
Amy's mind was confused, to say the least. Despite being perhaps the
smartest of the Sailors, her world had come crashing down in the last 24
hours. She met a new girl that looked exactly like a twin of herself, then
got into an unplanned fight against an adversary that she hadn't planned.
She made it through that, only to find out that one of her closest friends
had been killed. The sorrow of losing Raye had been brought out at the
gathering, and nearly resulted in a scuffle. Physically, mentally, and
emotionally drained, she had arrived home and planned to get a full night's
sleep, only to be interrupted by her guest, who'd discovered her greatest
secret. Now, after a break in a scuffle against a possibly dangerous foe,
said foe informed her that Raye was still alive but in serious danger, and
that they were the only ones who could save her?
Could she trust Ami? Earlier today, yes. But that was before all of
this.
((But am I walking into a trap? And am I willing to put Raye's life at
stake to back it up?)) Amy stood there, looking at the ring, as it
continued to flash the info. The clock was ticking at 24 minutes, and so
far, none of the others had responded to it. Was there something else that
had diverted their attention? Some of them, like the Davenports, were
going to be emotionally crippled, so having them on watch would be counter
productive. But Michelle, Alex, Suzanna, Cathy, and Joh--
((Damn. Cathy....)) That was the problem. Cathy, who was taking
Raye's death as a personal failure, must have fallen apart, and Johnny was
probably so absorbed in picking up the pieces, they probably didn't even
notice the alert flashes. ((Probably more so if they broke down again;
Molly's certainly moaned about fixing them enough times.))
The thought was called, the decision made. Raye was a teammate, but
more important, a friend. ((This might be a trap I'm walking into, but the
chance that it's not isn't something I can live with.)) Looking at Ami,
she briefly nodded her head, then slipped on her ring. She then tossed Ami
her pen. "This is yours, I believe."
Ami caught it and said, "Arigato, Amy-san," before raising it to the air.
Two voices called out, battlecries against the darkness:
"Mercury Star Power--"
"In the name of Hermes, I call upon my birthright--"
The room began to be bathed in a symphony of blue light as two women
began to glow like a pair of azure beacons of hope, raging against the
dying of the light.
*"MAKE UP!"*
*"POWER OF MERCURY, ARISE!"*
As the light died down, Sera Maakyuri and Sailor Mercury stood there,
sizing each other up. Both of them felt the power that radiated from the
other; knew of the professionalism and courage that shone in their eyes.
Both stood there for a second transfixed by the similarities in the two
costumes, differentiated only by the whims of fashion and practical needs.
Finally, they felt the need to speak:
"Ano...that is a very...*interesting*...costume, Amy-san...."
"You wear *THAT* into battle?"
Maakyuri was the first to shrug off the sarcasm, though she blushed
from Mercury's comment. "Has your ring received the location of where Raye
is?"
Mercury stared once again at her prism ring's hologram display.
"Triangulation's completed, yeah, but...." The Sailor of Speed trailed
off, looking at the Senshi of Water Magic. "Oh, this is *not* going to be
pretty." Tapping her ring once, the screen died down as Mercury began to
move towards the door. "C'mon. Time's flying, and we don't have much time
to spare. It's a bit of a trip, but we'll get there." Going to the door,
she stuck her head out. ((Good. No one watching. I'm not sure which
would be worse right now--one of my neighbors finding out that Amelia
Andersen is Sailor Mercury, or someone seeing Ami in that getup!)) She
ushered the Senshi out of the apartment, then locked the door. She then
reached behind her and shoved the key into a small, hidden pocket that Ami
guessed might have some tie to subspace, since it left no bulk.
"Um, Mercury-san," Maakyuri ventured, as she stood in her fuku,
readying to face her first fight on American soil, "Where exactly is there?"
"Trust me," Mercury said as without warning, she scooped up the Senshi
in her arms, and bolted off at high speeds, headed for the 22 freeway.
Ten minutes later, as they blasted up the Northbound 57, just past
Edison Stadium and Arrowhead Pond, Maakyuri still felt the rush of
something that she never thought that she would ever experience. She'd
seen fast before; both Mina-chan and Mako-chan were sprinters, and
occasionally raced each other to see who was the faster. Well, when she
got back home, she could honestly say she was the Senshi who had traveled
the fastest. As an added bonus, she didn't have to do the actual running.
The experience for her was simply exhilarating. It was as though she was
flying, or sitting in a room watching a movie blur by at more than double
the speed.
"Wow..." she felt herself whisper.
As though it was a dreamy, willowy speech in Ami's mind, Mercury
replied, "It's amazing, isn't it? I've been able to do this since I was
14, and I've yet to ever stop being impressed by it." Taking a second
more, she then added, "Give us another ten minutes more, and we'll be out
in the Anaheim/Puente Hills. Once there, things get sparse, so I can then
pick up the pace."
"You can run faster?" Maakyuri exclaimed, astonished.
"Of course, though I can't do the light-speed thing--no one can. I
usually top out at Mach 8, but that would be dangerous to do on the freeway
at ground zero. Once we get clear of the majority of towns, I'll have
enough open space that I can at least bump up a few more multiples of the
speed limit."
As she bolted her way down the freeway, Amy had the feeling that this
was probably going to be the most important battle of her life. One of her
best friends was in clear danger, no one but she had responded to the call,
the amount of opposition she was about to face was unknown, and worst of
all, she was dragging a relatively unknown stranger into this mess. ((God,
Serena's gonna kill me for this!)) was pretty much the thought pattern
running through her head. As she neared Diamond Bar, aiming for the ramp
that would lead to the 57 South/60 West interchange, she couldn't help but
wonder if this was preordained, as though this was fated to happen, and
that maybe it was natural for Ami to have entered their lives like that.
After blasting by a few more cars at speeds they could only dream about,
she finally reached the Westbound 60, aiming for something--anything--that
would bring up something from her memory. ((I hope to hell I memorized the
Thomas Guide right, because Raye's life's depending on it!))
Finally, as she bolted into the city limits of South El Monte, things
looked vaguely familiar as she raced through the town where Bobby lived.
Unfortunately, every second counted, and considering what shape Lita was in
tonight, he probably wasn't home anyway. The second she reached the
vicinity of Rosemead Blvd, she stormed on to the off ramp, made a left and
nearly clipped a car in her haste--at the speed she was travelling, the
driver was in more danger than she was--then nearly set some of the scrub
brush aflame as she burned down the streets of the sleepy little town of
Pico Rivera, California. Finally, a few seconds later, as she reached
Washington Boulevard, she hit the brakes, decelerating in order to stop in
time at what she hoped was the destination.
As for Sera Maakyuri, everything was a nauseating blur once Mercury had
begun the rapid changes in direction. The minute the Sailor of Speed
stopped, she gently set her passenger down on her feet. The Senshi did the
only natural thing one does when travelling at mind-wrenching speeds for
such an extended time: she stumbled on her feet, walking around in erractic
circles like a drunken sailor heading back to her ship. At last the
sensory overcompensation proved a little too much for her, but with a
Senshi's determination, she forced herself to master her situation...
"Ami, um, are you okay? You don't look so good."
"I aM fInE. THaNk YoU fOr YoUr CoNcErN." The dizzy Senshi looked
around for a second, appearing as mentally blonde as Mina before she said,
"WoW."
...before her body decided it was a much better idea to shut power from the
synapses to damage control. With that, the woman in the fuku fell
backwards, flat as a board, on the grass with a quality usually only found
in early Warner Bros. cartoons.
Sailor Mercury looked at the fallen Sera Maakyuri on the floor, and
came to an earth shattering-conclusion: ((Okay, maybe the girls are right
when they say I decelerate too fast.)) With that, Mercury bent down to
help her associate up; it was clearly going to be one of those nights.
=<+>=
In her room in her aunt's house in Newport Beach, Suzanna Montebello
sat and wept. One of her friends was dead now, and she did all her tears
in private, holding off in public for the sake of the others. She'd looked
up to Raye like an older sister, maybe because it seemed that sometimes
only Raye understood what it was like for her.
Like Raye, she was also being raised by her grandparent. When her
family was killed in southern Italy by a bunch of thugs who thought nothing
of murdering Romanies--God, she hated the term "gypsies"--her grandmother
felt that the only way to give young Concepccione a life was to move to
another country. And since Lucia Montebello's oldest daughter Maria had
married an American marine and moved to the states, off they went.
In the nearly ten years since that had happened, Suzanna--no one called
her Concepccione anymore, except for her grandmother--was a child of
multiple worlds. On one hand, she was Suzanna Montebello, a Italian-born
student who didn't have the most shining of reputations through her school
years and wasn't well liked at UCI, either--the most charitable thing
usually said about her was "geek"; on the other hand, she always felt that
there were few people she knew who actually cared about her as a person.
Her life had improved drastically when her Shadow skills appeared.
During the terrorist threat in San Diego back in 94, her powers manifested
as she attacked a man with a gun who threatened her family; she didn't know
what happened, other than out of nowhere a black aura erupted around her
and as she punched forward, a dark explosion hit the man as he fired upon
her. The bullets passed harmlessly *through* her body, not even leaving a
scratch, but the blast she hit him with put him under. No one in her
family had seen it except for her uncle Brendan, who started training her
in Marine combat skills; should Suzanna ever have to resort to violence
again, she at least now had the option of physical impact as well as her
powers. Eventually, she was approached by one Raye Hino on behalf of a
crime-fighting organization. A day later, the ninth member of the Sailors,
Sailor Pluto, faced the world for the first time. In the years since,
Suzanna as Sailor Pluto proved to live up to her moniker of "Sailor of
Shadows," (unfortunately) having almost as high a fatality count as the
Sailor of War (Mars).
At the thought of Raye, she broke down and cried again. She really
looked up to Raye, and now she was gone. She wished that either Brenda or
Heather, her best friends in the world, were here, if just someone to talk
to, someone to say, "We're still here for ya, Sue." Her aunt and
grandmother had simply said, "She's in God's hands now," and the only one
in her family she could really talk to, her Uncle Brendan, was on
deployment in the Libyan crisis with his Marine Battalion. The tears
followed down her olive skin, falling onto the bed sheets where her hands
were, splashing against the surface of her prism ring...
...which was now glowing with a faint gray light. In a heartbeat,
Suzanna knew what it meant. Without thinking to even change out of the
tanktop and too-short shorts she was dressed in, she opened her window,
climbed onto the ledge, and shut the window behind her. Climbing onto the
roof, still in her night gear, she raised her palm to the sky and chanted,
"In the name of Hades, I call upon my birthright--*POWER OF PLUTO,
ARISE*!"
Indigo light exploded around the young woman, encircling her, caressing
her more tenderly and gently than any lover could. When the light had died
away, a second blast of light--golden, this time--surrounded the white,
indigo, and black-clad Sailor, lifting her into the nocturne sky.
A split second later, she found herself next to Sailor Neptune, also
encased in a similar looking orb of light. Above them, flying with the
ease and agility of someone born to it, glowing like a golden beacon and
generating the orbs--more familiarly known in the Sailor's jargon as "Air
Pockets"--was the Sailor of the Skies, Sailor Uranus. Her face held a grim
look, a look that didn't bode well for whomever she opposed.
Pluto turned to Neptune. "What's going on, Michelle? Obviously,
someone triggered the emergency beacon, but why didn't Cathy or Johnny
notify us?"
It was Uranus that answered. "I'll bet anything that Johnny has his
hands full with a broken-spirited Sailor Earth at the moment. It wasn't
her fault, but Cathy's taking it as a personal problem." Uranus sighed, a
half-voiced note of sorrow and frustration.
"I think we all are," Michelle admitted, noting Pluto's tear-stained
face. "How are you holding up, Suzanna?"
In an instant, the tears were gone, and whatever sort of personality
that Suzanna Montebello projected when she was her normal self fell behind
the personality that was that of Sailor Pluto. "I'll be fine, Neptune,"
she said, her voice one step above a whisper. "I'll be fine."
Suzanna only wished she were as positive as she was pretending to be.
=<+>=
((Why am I doing this?)) Cathy asked herself for the umpteenth time.
((This is soooo, sooo wrong!)) As she began to kiss him once again, she
knew she'd fallen under his spell again...and not his magical ones, either.
She told herself a dozen times why he and she were so bad for each other:
she was an accomplished programmer, he was a starving artist; she was going
to college, while he was lucky enough to have finished high school and only
in college through some fluke of luck; she was interested in a familiy and
the works, while he just wanted to have fun, not to mention that he was one
of her older brother's best friends. There were a billion reasons why he
wasn't right for her...
...and as they continued to kiss, they really failed to matter.
Then decorum set in, as she realized why she was standing duty tonight.
Breaking it off with Johnny, she rapidly answered, "It's not the time.
And I'm not pushing you away because of the differences in our feelings--"
That comment was met with a look in his eyes that showed he wasn't even
paying attention to a single thing she was saying. She was about to
comment again when suddenly she heard the beeping of...
"The alarm!" she cried, tearing herself out of his grasp and making a
beeline for the terminal. As she reached it, the video display began to
read the following:
CODE 04 (SAILOR MARS) -
STATUS: EMERGENCY BEACON ACTIVATED
LOCATION: NORTHROP-GRUMMAN FACTORY, 8900 WASHINGTON BLVD, PICO RIVERA, LOS
ANGELES COUNTY (REGION 2: LOS ANGELES/ORANGE/VENTURA/INLAND EMPIRE)
MEDICAL SCAN: UNABLE TO INDICATE DUE TO LACK OF SENSORY INPUT.
DUTY CODES: 03 (SAILOR EARTH), 15 (MAGICIAN) -
HLO CROSS-REFERENCE: SAILORS ELEMENT 3/POWER FORCE ELEMENT 5
CODES ON RAPID STANDBY: 03, 07 (SAILOR NEPTUNE), 08 (SAILOR URANUS), 09
(SAILOR PLUTO), 15
HLO FORCES ON DUTY (LAW ENFORCEMENT): PLATOON F (REGION 1), PLATOON K
(REGION 2), PLATOON S (REGION 3), PLATOON Y (REGION 4).
HLO FORCES ON DUTY (SUPERTEAM): JUSTICE CHASERS ELEMENT 2 (SLIDER),
MEGAGUARDIANS ELEMENT 7 (INDIGO), DA CREW-LA ELEMENT 8 (THE PLAYER),
ULTRADYNAMICS ELEMENT 5 (VIGILANCE)
HLO FORCES ON DUTY (SUPERHERO): THE RAM, EL VIENTO, STORMHAWK, SILK
TIME ELAPSED: 47 MIN, 12 SECONDS
FORCES NOTIFIED: 01 (SAILOR MERCURY)
FORCES RESPONDING: 01 (SAILOR MERCURY), UNK (UNIDENTIFIED COMBATANT)
Both stared at the system in shock before Johnny whispered something in
a language that sounded vaguely like Celtic or maybe Latin. A swirl of a
thousands stars enveloped him, dancing around him like a squadron of
daredevil fireflies. When the energy transformation was done, he stood in
clothing that looked more akin to a young man in a Tolkein story than
anything else. His tunic was an indigo blue, his pants a plain brown and
his boots and cloak unremarkable. Only the constant dancing of motes of
light around him and the fact that his eyes glowed like twin furnaces gave
any indication that he was not normal. Cathy, as always, turned away from
that look. She knew it was only the effects of his magic, that there was
nothing more to it than that, but still it looked too eerie.
On instinct, she raced towards the elevator, slipping on her ring and
screaming as she ran, "In the name of Demeter, I call upon my
birthright--*POWER OF EARTH, ARISE*!" A blast of pink energy enveloped the
young woman, and out of the wrap came Sailor Earth, the Sailor of Strength.
With no time to waste, the salmon-accented Sailor raced for the lift, her
ally not far behind. Once back on the ground level, and using the back
exit behind the store, the pair took to the sky, almost plowing into the
others in the process.
"Well you sure took your sweet time, you two," Uranus cooed. Concerned
that she may have misspoken, she added, "Hey, you okay, Cathy?"
Earth's honey-brown skin looked a bit more ashen in color, as though
she was transmitting her worry into her melanin. "I'm fine, Alex," she
responded as she rose into the air, defying gravity as she raced into the
sky. "I'm more worried about Raye and Amy! You saw where the alert came
from, right?"
"Yeah. The Northrop factory in Pico Rivera," the Magician commented as
he reached the group in the air as they sped off towards their destination.
"That's where they build the Stealth Bombers, right?"
"Yeah, but what el--" Uranus stopped instantly as realization dawned
on her. "That's where they're working on the NASA impulse engines!"
Pluto was non-plused, belying her age. "Did I miss something?"
"Suzanna, the new impulse engines that NASA has been planning to
install on the space shuttle for next year's Mars mission," Earth
clarified. "They're being built in that Northrop factory, even though
they'll be tested out at March AFB."
Neptune nodded. "People have been protesting in front of the place for
the past few weeks, because even the government isn't sure about the
effects of it. On one hand, it could be harmless. On the other hand, it
could have a worse effect than a nuclear device."
"Worse?" Pluto squeaked.
"One of the worst case scenarios that NASA predicted was a forced tear
in the substrata of the plasma layer. In short, it could open a gateway to
another dimension--and we'd have no idea what might be on the other side."
The Magician paused before adding the obvious: "Worse, our friends are
right in the middle of that mess, and to top it off, we have no idea what
we're up against!"
"I don't care," Earth said in dangerous tones as they continued onward.
"Raye's in trouble, and we gotta save her. That's the important thing."
Nothing more to be said, the five heroes continued through the nighttime
skies for their destination, still thirty-odd miles away.
=<+>=
Serena stood over the open refrigerator, milk carton in hand. The
kitchen was dark and silent, save for the soft hum of the fridge, and the
light from its internal compartment, splashing its radiance on the blonde.
It was the earliest hours of the morning, and for Serena, it was still one
of the longest nights of her life.
((God, I just can't sleep. We're hurting.)) No lie, that. She and
Darien had fallen asleep in each other's arms while holding each other for
comfort. Heather was probably sleeping fitfully as well; even Molly didn't
want to go home alone tonight--she was crashed out on Serena's couch. No
one was in a good condition tonight.
Of course not, and why should they? Serena had lost another sibling
tonight. Oh sure, Raye had been no relation to Serena, not even adoptive
as Molly was. But the three of them had been best friends since they were
four, an inseparable trio for their whole lives, through thick and thin,
and certainly there had been tons of those times. She was very much a part
of Serena's family; Raye even referred to Diana and Justin Davenport as her
aunt and uncle, and Samantha had referred to Raye as an older sister on
plenty of occasions. Raye was more of a sibling to the three Davenport
sisters than their actual, long-deceased brother, Samuel.
((Another sibling lost. Worst part about it is that Raye never got to
make up with her parents, those bastards.)) Serena quickly bit off the
latent anger that she felt for Raye's plight in that case; anger flared in
her so strongly she began to shake from it, and her aura burst into life,
unintentionally willed by the young woman. In her mind, Raye's parents
were total scum, and would probably be ballsy enough to piss on her grave,
assuming they cared about their daughter even that much. Serena made a
vow, even as she clenched her fists: no way in hell was Serena going to let
that ever happen. No. Way. In. He--
*CRACK*
The paper container burst open in Serena's hand, splashing white liquid
all over the place and a wet noise hit the floor, the fluid illuminated by
the light of the open fridge door.
A voice in the darkness said, "I guess we're not going to have milk for
breakfast in the morning, are we?"
Serena, despite the relative darkness, continued to shake in anger even
as she rasped, "I'll send Heather for some milk in the morning, sis.
7-11's only three blocks away."
Molly went over to Serena and gave her a hug. Serena fought off her
rage long enough to return her sister's embrace. "You couldn't sleep
either, I see," Molly noted sadly. "You always were the emotional one.
You take after Dad too much in that respect."
Serena laughed softly, before those peals of laughter turned to sobs of
pain. "I don't know if I can take this, Molly."
Molly looked into her sister's eyes. "Yes you can, Serena. You're the
tower of strength, remember? The glue that holds us all together. Raye
was something of the combative one, but there's a spiritual depth to you
that makes you a born leader, Serena." Still holding on tightly and tears
coming to her own face, the young woman added, "Sometimes, you're so
strong, you don't know when to be weak. Let others shoulder this burden,
Serena."
"I can't," she whispered. "I don't do weak and weepy. Someone's gotta
care about everything, and in lieu of an actual election, I appointed
myself, okay?"
"Anyone ever tell you that you care too much despite yourself, Serena?"
"Yeah, I hear that a lot." A pause, followed up by, "and that argument
still doesn't get him laid." She flashed a conspiratorial grin at Molly.
Molly giggled at that, followed by Serena. The sound of soft laughter
was a catharsis, easily bringing a little light into the darkened hearts of
both women.
Finally, Serena yawned and said, "Well, that really helped. I think
I'm going back to bed." Quickly stretching, she yawned out, "Maybe going
out to breakfast in the morning would be a better idea."
Molly nodded. "Might be a good idea. Go to bed; I'll clean this mess
up."
Serena grinned. "Thanks, Molly. For everything."
"Hey, I'm your sister, right--what are siblings for? Besides, you can
show your appreciation by paying for my breakfast tomorrow...and you can be
sure I'm going to order the most expensive thing on the menu, too."
Either Serena didn't hear it or she didn't bother, she walked on to her
bedroom. Molly grabbed a rag and soaked up the mess before flinging it
into the sink. Still feeling a bit antsy, she grabbed a Coke out of the
fridge, and stepped out of the condo, onto the small backyard. Staring
into the moonlit night, she plopped onto the wooden bench and watched the
stars twinkle their endless patterns of light, never ending. Somewhere out
there was a lucky star, Molly thought, somewhere out there was a star that
was the fabled Starlight, star bright, the first star that most see on nights.
Somehow, Molly ended up mouthing the last words of the old nursery
rhyme. "...wish I may, wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight." Molly
stared at the stars for a minute before leaping to her feet and shaking her
fist at them and snarling, "Damn you! Bring Raye back!" She threatened the
nighttime sky for a few more seconds before she slumped back into the
house. After all, dreams were only for kids. Miracles never happened, did
they?
=<+>=
"So," Mercury said as she looked at the door and its surroundings via
her minicomputer, "it seems that conventional security has been turned off,
so we're in the clear regarding that. What have you got?"
Maakyuri looked at her own screen. The two had shown each other their
minicomputers, and although Ami's was of course far more powerful than that
of Amy's, there were some practical additions on Amy's that Ami hadn't
thought of, but would have to see about integrating at a later date. As
the Japanese characters flashed on the visor lens, Ami was getting the same
readings that Amy was: basically that all was clear, and that it should be
a milk run at least inside.
"Well, shall we?" Mercury commented to her Japanese counterpart.
Maakyuri placed her computer into its dimensional pocket, while the Sailor
of Speed deposited hers in the subspace niche. With that, the pair opened
the door, and walked right into a trap.
There was a burst of light, and the world instantly swirled around
them. "What the hell?" Mercury shouted out.
Maakyuri was quicker on the draw. "It's a subspace vortex, a sort of
stargate. Wherever we are being pulled to, it is not where we thought we
were going to be, Mercury-san!"
The spinning and dancing of lights grew tighter and tighter, riotous in
color and effect, almost blinding and deafening. Both women began to feel
a disorientation effect, an extreme case of vertigo that would easily put
them under. Soon it became a major display of will just to stay conscious.
And as it reached the pair's breaking point...
...both were slammed onto the ground, hard and painfully.
A gruff, southern-tinged accent said, "Lookit what we got here. A
couple of them superskirts."
A second voice chimed in. "And looks like one of the split tails
already came with her own peekaboo skirt, too. An' she's one of those
Chinese geisha gals, too." He bent down towards the unconscious girl,
reaching for her skirt, saying, "I heard their tuna box smells like bamboo.
Lemme check." Said gentleman bent down to lift the skirt of the Senshi.
Said gentleman received a nasty kick in the face for that, followed by
three punches, two elbows, and a palm strike to the nose--all in a second.
Pushing him aside after her strike, Sailor Mercury faced the other.
"You ready to play?"
"I'll say," he said, turning and hitting a switch behind him. Suddenly
alarms went off, and alert lights flashed. "Now, you ain't got a change of
escaping." He gave her a nasty grin, which immediately turned to one of
shock as he became neck deep in a block of ice.
"Who says that we wish to escape?" Maakyuri said in the toughest voice
she could muster.
Mercury turned to Maakyuri. "We've got company coming, and we still
have to find our mark." Indeed, a dozen footsteps began to sound at the
other end of the hall. "You used to fighting?"
"Youma, yes, but not people."
"Get used to it!" Racing forward, Mercury snarled and met her
opponents head on, screaming, "You want a fight, you got one! Sailor
Mercury's on the scene!" As she approached them, she screamed out *"SONIC
BOOM!"* and released the twin balls of energy at the small army
approaching. As the first couple of people crashed to the ground, she was
already wading into the remainder, landing punches and kicks with speed and
precision.
In the interim, Maakyuri had followed behind just a bit, racing down
the corridor. Out of the corner of her eye, she sensed movement, and
turned her head to note that panels in the walls were sliding away, and
coming out of them were nasty looking protrusions--obviously weapons.
((Amy said she's not capable of light speed, and I *know* I'm not,)) Ami
thought as she watched the guns begin to charge up primers, as little
lights began to dance in front of the weapons arrays. As the lights grew
larger, and Amy was distracted by the small army she was fighting, Ami went
into action. Leaping into the air, she called out, "Shimobashira Shuriken
Flurry!" and flung her hands forward. A swarm of icy throwing stars lashed
out and slammed into the guns, freezing them solid on impact. As the guns
fired, the blazing hot energy contrasted with the biting cold of the metal,
and the result was that the weapons shattered into useless fragments, but
just as important, causing a backwash that fried the weapons systems and
several other electronics and personnel.
Mercury dusted off her hands as she threw the last of the thugs to the
ground. Behind her, there was a huge explosion. With her high-speed
reflexes, she turned to see Maakyuri standing in the center of piles of
steaming metal and melting ice.
Amy smiled. "Didja do that?" Ami's answer was to merely nod. Amy
grinned again and said, "Well, Sera Maakyuri, we're not out of the woods
yet. We have a job to do, and time's running short." With no further
comments, she grabbed the other girl's hand and barreled down the corridor,
ready to face whatever came their way. And woe be to whomever stood
between Amy and saving Raye.
______________________________________________________________________
Delany Brittain
turtyl@montana.com , turtyl@selway.umt.edu , turtyl@otaking.org
turtyll @ AIM, 19152118 @ ICQ
http://www.otaking.org/~turtyl/
Student, Uni. of Montana; Member, Studio YOGIPIGS; Aspiring, Author
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"Bow before me!!"
--Steven M. Strong, "The Giri Fairy", 13 November, 1998
The Megami Project -- http://www.otaking.org/~turtyl/Megami/