The characters of Sailormoon are the
creation and possession of the brilliant Takeuchi
Naoko. They belong to Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai, Toei
Animation, DIC, and all others associated with rights.
No copyright infringement is intended
I would like to thank all the people who have commented so
favorably about Sukeban. Thank You.
C&C is always appreciated. Especially on Plot, dialogue, etc.
What did you like(or dis-like, and why?)
Pre-readers wanted. ^_^
Chapter 6 of Sukeban in progress. (I'm in the middle
of replacing research on Tokyo night life lost when
my HD crashed.)
Chapter 4.
"Nephrite!"
"Yes, Lord Kunzite?"
Kunzite smiled thinly . "What progress have you made in finding the
Tokens of Power?"
Nephrite swallowed the bitter gall of his anger and presented a bland
face to his superior. "Excellent progress My Lord. My servants have
established secure bases and are ready to move against the White
Moon traitiors."
"That is not what I asked Nephrite. The pitiful remnants of
the White Moon are of no consequence. The Tokens of Power are
another matter entirely."
"My Lord," The title was poison on Nephrites tongue. "We
have found no sign of the Tokens. It is our belief that they were lost
or destroyed . . ." A bolt of force slammed Nephrite to his belly,
smashing his nose into the stones in a spray of blood.
"Your thoughts . . .your beliefs . . ." Kunzite rose from his
seat on a wave of power and settled beside the supine body of
Nephrite. "These are of no concern. YOU . . ." Nephrite groaned as
an invisible force crushed him against the floor. " . . .are of no
concern. The Tokens were not destroyed . . .they are eternal. They
were not lost . . . their power resonates through the aether even now,
to any one that is not mind-blind." Nephrite writhed under the
stinging tone of rebuke but had no ready answer.
"These are your orders Nephrite . . . go to the bright world
with what forces you think necessary and capture one of the White
Moon Traitors."
"C . . .capture My Lord?"
"Yes. From her we will rip the secret of the lost Tokens. And
if not she will provide the bait to secure the Princess."
"But My Lord, the Princess has never been found. Even the
Traitors have abandoned all hope of finding her. They feel that she is
lost . . ."
"Idiot." Kunzite peered down at his supine subordinate. "The
Princess lives . . .she must live else the Traitors would not. She is the
source and foundation of the White Moon; the key to the Tokens.
Fortunately the Traitors are much diminished. But we must find the
Tokens or the Princess before they grow in power."
"It will not be easy to capture one. They are formidable . . .at
least sufficiently so that capturing one is much more difficult than
simply kill . . ." The breath was forced from Kunzite's body with an
explosive grunt.
"Alive." Kunzite's voice echoed inside Nephrite's skull. "
Alive and intact . . .at least enough to withstand questioning."
*******************************************************
"You owe some more money Jun."
"What!" The thin pimply faced boy in the cheap shiny suit
glared at Soban. "What the fuck are you taklin' 'bout! I've paid you
what I owe you."
Soban stared calmly back and he shrank nervously under the gaze of
her blind eye. "You rented that gun for two days Jun . . ."
"An' I paid you for it . . . 40,000 Yen." He spat on the ground
at her feet. "Hell, I coulda' bought . . ."
"Nothing. Not even a piece of shit Tokarov. For an American
gun . . .a Colt .45 . . ." She indicated the weapon stuffed in Jun's
waistband. "That would cost you five times that amount . . . more
during these . . .troubled times." Soban said, obliquely indicating
recent gang warfare.
"Well . . .maybe." Jun tried to sound tough but came off more
petulant than predatory. "Anyway I paid you for the two days."
"Cartridges are extra. You owe for the rounds you fired."
"Huh?"
Soban sighed heavily. "Bullets Jun. You have to pay for the bullets
you shot."
"You ain't even seen the gun. What makes you think I shot
it."
Soban rubbed a weary hand across her brow. "Because, when you
fire a gun you get residue around the muzzle and ejection port."
"Huh?"
"It gets dirty." Soban pointed to black smudges plainly visible
on the shiny nickel frame. "So just tell me how many times you went
bang-bang and we can settle up."
Maybe it was Soban's tone of voice, plainly indicating she thought
Jun was an idiot, maybe it was the weight of the heavy .45 in his belt
or maybe he'd been sampling the drugs he was supposed to be
selling.
"Settle this up, bitch."
Soban looked at the pistol Jun had fumbled from his belt, then back at
Jun. "You have to take the safety off first."
Jun glanced involuntarily at the pistol. As his attention wavered
Soban stepped forward slapping the pistol aside with her left hand
while simultaneously a small hard right fist smashed his Adams apple.
Jun dropped the .45 and clutched at his ruined throat with both
hands. His gagging futile struggles for air were mercifully ended by a
spin kick that snapped his neck like a rotten stick. Jun's gang stood
stunned at the suddenness of his death.
"You killed him . . .you fucking bitch. You killed Junsan." His
second in command, Ryo, started forward aggressively , then stopped
at the sight of the gun in Soban's hands. "You wouldn't be so tough
if you didn't have that gun." Ryou blustered, conveniently forgetting
that Soban had just relieved the late Junsan of this weapon.
Soban looked down at the weapon she'd snatched out of the air while
dispatching Jun. Ignoring Ryo she dropped the magazine into her
hand, racked the slide and caught the ejecting round. "I'm not going
to shoot you. American cartridges are going for better than 6,000
Yen apiece right now. The whole bunch of you piss-ants aren't
worth that." She pushed the cartridges out of the magazine, counting
them, before reloading the pistol. "He fired two rounds." Soban
spoke conversationally over her shoulder as she squatted by the
cooling body of Jun. Methodically she stripped off his jacket
revealing a shoulder holster with two spare magazines. The idiot
probably got the idea of sticking the gun in his pants from TV. She
pulled off the holster, counting the remaining rounds in the magazines
before emptying Jun's pockets.
"H . . .hey. That's robbery."
Soban glanced over her shoulder. "Well I killed him." Calmly she
continued to empty his pockets. "OK, two rounds . . .12,000
Yen."Soban counted off bills from a thick roll. "Aggravation fee . .
.50,000" Soban made a quick mental calculation. ". . . no 75,000
Yen. Stupidity fine." Soban appeared to make another calculation."
100,000 . . .no . . .ah hell." Soban stuffed the remaining bills in her
pocket before turning to Ryo. "What did he . . ." Soban pointed to
Jun's body. " . . .shoot. And is there going to be any trouble?"
Ryo wanted to do something . . .anything to avenge Jun. He felt it
was his duty . . .that honor demanded it. But in the face of Soban's
calm, casual execution he felt paralyzed.
"Uh . . .he . . .that is . . .he didn't shoot anything."
"There are two . .. "
"Wait . . .wait . . .Jun . . .he didn't shoot anything . . .he just .
. .shot. He wanted to see what it was like."
Soban glanced at the sprawled body. "I hope it was worth it."
Stuffing the holstered .45 in her shoulder bag Soban turned to go,
then paused. "Listen . . .pour sake over him. Put a bottle in his pocket
and leave him at the bottom of the stairs." She pointed to a staircase
descending to a lower level of the parking garage. Waiting for a
moment to see if her advice had been understood Soban turned and
left the remnants of Jun's gang standing in the shadowed recesses of
the building.
*******************************************************
Soban hummed a little tune as she walked along. This had been a good
night. She checked the contents of her bag, by feel, her head
constantly moving . . .checking the crowed. She had almost ten
million Yen, plus two hand-guns. None of which belonged to her.
Well, she did get a percentage from the local kumi-cho for her efforts.
She wasn't a tsukaiipa; the local yakuza were a little old fashioned
about employing women, even as "errand boys". She was free-lance;
even more unusual among the notoriously clannish yakuza. But she'd
impressed the oyabun as a child, when she' lived more or less
permanently on the streets. He'd vouched for her when she come
looking for work when she was older. And now she did what
amounted to temp-work for the yakuza. This night she was collecting
money. Mostly gambling, but a little drug money to sweeten the pot.
And the two guns. The .45 from Jun and a very nice .44 magnum
Smith & Wesson. The .44 she could understand. A Korean gang was
trying to move into the dock area controlled by the yakuza; another
family than the one Soban currently worked for but still yakuza. Soban
always thought it amusing that the yakuza were more open minded
about inducting gajin than the population at large. There were
Korean's and Tai's and others working for the yakuza . . .people that
a regular, "law abiding" Japanese wouldn't spit on. But even the
yakuza had limits. And this Korean gang was over the limit. Well, they
had been. Soban noticed that the .44 had been fired and seven rounds
were missing from the cartridge box. She wondered briefly how many
Koreans were missing from the docks, then dismissed the thought as
unproductive. Though it would be amusing to know how many shots
it had taken to hit any single Korean. Or perhaps they had all missed
and the effort alone had been enough to convince them that the time
had not come for Koreans in Japan. Soban passed a street stall and
realized she had not yet eaten. She purchased a pork bun and a flask of
tea to eat on her way to deliver her bag. As she walked and ate she
idly thought about Jun. Now Jun didn't make any sense. Anyone with
the money could get a gun in Japan. But what use was it? Even the
police used their guns merely as a badge of office. The only time a
policeman fired a gun was in a Godzilla movie; and then the monster
always ate him. Occasionally Guns were used in gang wars, but Soban
would have known if there were a shooting war going on. For one
thing gun and ammunition prices always went up. And you had to pay
a little extra to get the police to look the other way. Plus the yakuza
were always careful to notify the police so they could be else where.
Shooting a police man was bad for business. The rest would want
more money. Soban thought some more as she walked. Jun wouldn't
need it to make collections. Not at his level. If a salary-man owed you
money you just went and knocked him around. He wouldn't fight
back. Mostly they just cried. It was always embarrassing having to
knock around someone old enough to be your father. Soban was
proud of the fact that she never had to beat up a salary-man. In fact
she never had to go to them. Her reputation (and her looks, she knew)
were enough to send them to her . . .money in hand. But while it was
understood that you could get knocked around if you didn't pay, some
things were against the rules. And shooting a salary-man was against
the rules. That would be like shooting your milk cow. And they were
so much like sheep that just SHOWING the gun might cause a heart
attack. So no gun to collect gambling depts. A bank robbery? That
was a little ambitious for a little shit like Jun. Possible, but those were
mostly smash and grab. Not in the bank, but outside; attacking the
bank messenger. There were armed bank robberies, but rarely. Not
worth the effort. Much easier to just smash the messenger over the
head while he or she was picking-up or delivering. Of course that
didn't always work. She chuckled to herself remembering a botched
robbery four years ago in Osaka. Some idiot had tried to rob three
bank couriers of almost 140 million Yen. He'd been armed with a
crossbow, an axe, stun gun, smoke grenade and a can of mace.
Unfortunately, for him, he had so much stuff that his pants fell down
while he was escaping and some passerby's mobbed him. Soban
chuckled to herself remembering how stupid everyone thought he'd
been. Then she thought about Jun and almost laughed aloud
remembering his look of surprise as she crushed his throat. The idiot
thought just having a weapon made you dangerous. As if holding a
sword made you a samurai. It was what was inside you that counted.
No, Jun probably wanted to impress his girlfriend . . . or maybe gang
members; his own or a rival. Soban finished her simple meal and put
her trash neatly into a curb side receptacle. It was then she noticed
her thoughtless wandering had taken her well out of her way. She
cursed silently to herself and checked her watch, heaving a sigh of
relief as she saw she still had a good hour before she was due to
deliver her bag. As she turned to retrace her steps she heard the first
explosion.
*******************************************************
"It's a trap." Sailormercury looked up from her computer with
a sick look on her face. "Please forgive me. It's my fault. I should have
. . ." She ducked as an explosion nearby showered the four senshi with
dirt and debris. "I'm sorry. I thought it was too easy to follow
Nephrite here but . . ." Another explosion, closer this time, forced her
down again.
"We can assign blame later." Venus fired a quick Crescent
Beam into the trees where she thought she saw a Youma hiding. "We
were all together on this. We ALL walked into it with our eyes open."
She said this last with a hard stare at Sailormars. Mars pressed her
lips together but refrained from saying anything else. Venus held her
eyes for a moment more then turned back to Sailormercury. "What
can you tell us?"
"We're surrounded . . ."
"Something we don't know?" Mars cut in sarcastically. Venus
turned on her with an angry frown and Mercury shrank a little, then
seemed to pull courage from somewhere. She straightened and faced
Mars squarely.
"I screwed up." She said flatly. Both the tone and the language
caused Mars to jerk with surprise that would have been comical under
other circumstances.
"I screwed up." Mercury repeated flatly. "And when we get
out of here you're welcome to a piece of me. But we need to get out
first. And I think there may be a way."
"Wha . . ." Jupiter swore as a series of detonations rocked the
earth and showered them with earth, almost scalding from the heat of
the explosions. She launched a Thunder Dragon and had the
satisfaction of hearing a Youma death scream. "What way is that?"
Jupiter spat dirt from her mouth as she finished her question.
"They're not trying to kill us . . ."
"You could have fooled me." Mars said darkly.
"They did." Mercury put in sourly. "Fool you." She added.
"And me. This is a trap. They want to capture one of us." She could
feel the temperature in the air drop at her words. Captured by Beryl.
The fate worse that death that books talked about. Usually cheap
books on bad paper with lurid covers and sillyplots. But there were
fates worse that death. Much worse. Death was clean, quick . .
.comforting. Beryl was none of these things. They had seen to much of
her work . . .seen the terror in the faces of too many of her minions to
whom death was a mere inconvenience compared to facing Beryl's
anger. Mercury tapped a function key and a schematic of the park
appeared. Another key and a series of white and red icons appeared.
There were four white icons; there were a lot of red icons. And more
red icons appeared as they watched the screen, a sea of red crawling
across the map.
"They're trying to pin us down."
"Doin' a pretty good job too." Jupiter added.
"Not quite." Mercury moved a cursor over a point slightly
north east of their position and zoomed in. Another function key
overlaid a schematic over the area. "This is a city services map . . .it
shows all the underground services . . .electric, phone, water, sewer . .
." She glanced up at her friends with a faint grin. "I don't think Youma
are big on requesting information from the planning office, so they
probably don't know about this."
Rei snickered."Yeah . . .A Dark General MIGHT be a bit
conspicuous at City Hall."
Venus peered at the map. "You think we can drop down a man-hole
and escape through the sewers?"
"Ummm . . .not exactly. There's not an access at this point.
We'll have to make our own. But the sewer pipes are big enough to
crawl through . . .we can follow the pipes . . . come up behind these
Youma and escape." Mercury paused and looked up from her
computer. "Or counterattack."
Sailorvenus's eyebrows disappeared into her bangs. "When we get
back home . . .you and I have got to have a little talk . . .TIGER."
Venus grinned briefly at Mercury's blushing face then shook her head
regretfully. "NO . . .nice idea. And I'd really like to chance it. But this
trap is too good . . .and the numbers are too much against us. They
can afford to loose a hundred Youma. We can't loose anyone. Let's
just break out of here. We'll wait for a better chance to strike back."
Venus sneaked a look around the wall they were crouched behind and
fired a Crescent Beam into the trees. Jupiter copied her actions from
the opposite side. Then the two withdrew to the center of the slight
depression. "All right. Mercury I want you to lay down a Shabon
Spray from here to those trees." Venus pointed in a direction almost
directly away from the buried sewer line."
"There?" Rei sounded bewildered. "But we want to go . . ."
"I know where we want to go. I don't want the Youma to
know. As soon as Mercury lays down the Shabon Spray Jupiter and I
will advance into the trees under it's cover. We'll lay down covering
fire. That should draw most of the Youma in that direction. As soon
as it looks clear Mercury and Mars will make their way to the buried
pipes. Once there, signal. One click on the communicators. Jupiter will
join you. Mars and Jupiter blow a hole into the sewers. Then you all
go down and out."
"And what about you?" Mercury asked quietly.
"I'm going to keep the Youma occupied."
"NO! You come with us. You have to . . ."
Venus grinned a Jupiter. "Someone has to keep the Youma occupied.
Otherwise they'll suspect. I'm used to working solo. Once you guys
are in the sewer give me two clicks on the communicator and I'm out
of here. I'll loose these guys." She jerked a thumb in the direction of
the trees hiding the encircling Youma "and meet you back at he
shrine."
"Venus . . .Minakochan . . ." Mars turned a pleading face to
Sailorvenus. "Come with us. We can all leave together."
"Mercury." Venus ignored Mars. "Start the Shabon Spray
now." Mercury closed her eyes against threatening tears, then
summoned her power. . .
*******************************************************
"Crap . . .crap . . .crap . . ." Soban muttered softly to herself as
she worked her way through the trees, trying to find a way clear of the
fighting. Another explosion shook the ground. Twin thunderbolts split
the sky and a heavy grey mist rolled through the park. Soban shrank
back against a tree as a chittering nightmare shape ghosted through
fog passing within centimeters of her. She thought for a moment.
She'd seen . . .or almost seen . . . five of those . . .things . . .in the
last
few moments. All headed in the same direction. What she wanted to
do was head away from wherever . . .they . .. were headed. But that
might run her into more of them. And she knew from long experience
with the police that running AWAY from the scene of a crime was the
surest way to attract attention. The smartest thing was probably to
stay in one place and wait for the . . .battle? . . .to blow over. But she
couldn't do that either. There weren't any good choices . . .just less
deadly ones.
*******************************************************
Sailormercury was running hard . . .chest burning legs aching
as she zig-zagged desperately through the growing twilight. She'd lost
Mars in the gloom. Or rather Mars had shoved her away when they'd
been surprised by a Youma . . .screamed for her to run just before
she'd launched a Burning Mandela, then closed for hand-to-hand
combat with the monster. And she'd run. She couldn't help Mars in
that kind of fight. Not yet. She made a vow that this was the last time
she would have to run from a fight. The very last time . . .But now she
ran. She was the only one who could find the buried sewer pipes. The
senshi's road out of this trap. She had to find the spot. Then she could
signal Jupiter. They would join up and could go back . . . .
A lance of force smashed Sailormercury into the ground and a Youma
dropped from the trees onto her prone body. Hooks of black fire
slashed into her body and her transformation dissolved as energy was
ripped from her body. Mizuno Ami screamed in pain and fear, her
body convulsing under the Youma's mind rape.
*******************************************************
Soban's head came up at the first scream. She knew that voice. Before
the second scream had died out she was running hard through the
mist, her crippled legs protesting each step with sharp spikes of agony.
Soban broke out of the mist with a shocking suddenness. On the
ground she could see a small dark haired figure convulsing in pain. A
huge misshapen creature knelt atop her lashing her with whips of dark
fire.
*******************************************************
Thorough pain dimmed eyes Ami saw the misshapen arm draw back
for another strike. This one would finish her . . .she wept inside for her
family . . .her friends . . .and the princess who would never be found
now. The princess who would be re-born in a world controlled by . . .
The Youma's head exploded in a grey-green mist and Ami could
breath again as the heavy weight toppled off of her.
"Amichan . . .Amichan . . .are you all right? Is anything
broken?"
Gentle hand moved anxiously over her battered form . . .a frantic voice
hammered questions . . .that voice . . .she knew that voice.
"S . . .soban? What . . .are . . .you" Ami paused to draw air
into her abused lungs. "W . .what are you doing here."
"That's my question. There ain't a library for miles." Ami
chuckled . . .then winced in pain.
"C'mon. We gotta get you outta here." Strong hands lifted
Ami to her feet. She closed her eyes against a sudden wave of nausea.
She opened them to see Soban anxiously watching her with her one
good eye.
"You good to walk . . .or should I carry you?"
"I'm all . . ." Ami stopped suddenly as she noticed the pistol in
Soban's hand. "Where did you get THAT." Ami whispered in horror.
"You can get in a lot of trouble . . ."
Soban looked at her as if she were crazy, then looked pointedly at the
ground. Ami followed her gaze to see the headless Youma and had the
grace to blush in apology. Soban gave her a twisted grin and pressed
the magazine release which dropped the empty magazine from the .45.
She inserted a fresh magazine and let the slide run forward,
chambering a round. Putting the pistol on safe she re-holstered the
weapon and grabbed Ami under the arm.
"WAIT . . .wait. My friend . . .my friends are still back there.
Makato, Minako . . .Rei . . ." Ami twisted in Soban's grasp.
"There ain't nuthin' you can do for them. They're pro'ly dead
now anyway." Soban said brutally.
"NO . . .no. Let me go. LET ME . . ." Ami struggled
frantically in Soban's grasp. Soban's fist came back for a blow that
would render Ami unconscious. She paused, looking at Ami's bruised
and dirty face; Tears etched tracks through the blood caked dirt. Her
fist dropped to her side and she sighed heavily.
"I'm gonna regret this . . .but I'll go look for them."
Ami's face lit with a joy that was painful . . .then dimmed suddenly.
"No, it's too dangerous for you. I have to . . ."
Soban put a finger to Ami's lips. "YOU . . .SIT. . .STAY."
"I am not a dog . . ." Ami began indignantly.
"No. Dog's got sense." Ami glared, then gasped as Soban
swung her up in her arms and limped over to a cluster of bushes.
"You're hurt." Ami worried noticing Soban's awkward gait.
"Old stuff." Soban said dismissively as she stuffed Ami under
the bushes. "Now stay here . . .and keep still." She pulled a second
pistol and a cartridge box out of her bag. Hesitating she stuffed the
bag in beside Ami. "Watch this for me, will ya?" Soban started to turn
away then hesitated. "You know anything about guns?"
Ami stared, bewildered for a moment. Then shrank back as she
realized what Soban was asking.
"N . . .n . . .no. And I don't want to learn." She added hastily.
"Suit yourself. Better not have it if you're scared of it."
Ami watched as Soban disappeared into the mist. Then she hurriedly
brought out what looked like a girls compact and began speaking
frantically into it.
*******************************************************
Sailormars was not happy. She'd lost Mercury in the fog. And she
hadn't lost the Youma. In fact more were showing up all the time. She
fired a Burning Mandela at the two closest Youma then dove
frantically aside as a third, fourth and FIFTH Youma charged her from
different directions. If they were a little smarter . . .or she a little
slower . . .they would have her. As they would eventually. She was
tiring . . .and dammit here came some more through the mist. She
brought her hands up in firing position as . . ."
"'Scuse me. Have you seen three school girls? One's real big,
auburn hair in a pony tail? One blond with a red hair-ribbon. And one
with long dark hair?"
Rei's mouth dropped open in shock. So stunned that she was slow to
react as a Youma rose from the ground and lunged for Soban. Who
spun aside, placed the muzzle of the .45 INSIDE the creatures
mouth . . . Rei flung up her hands as bits of still twitching Youma
spattered her face and hair. There was a continuous roll of thunder as
Soban blasted two more Youma, then changed magazines. Sailormars
finished the stunned remainder before they could recover from the
stunning and completely unexpected assault.
"Anyway . . ."Soban continued speaking as she wiped the
pistol clean. "If ya see 'em, tell 'em their friend Ami is waiting for
them over there." Soban jerked her thumb back the way she had come.
"An' she's real worried 'bout them."
Sailormars stared openmouthed at the spot where Soban disappeared
into the mist until called back to reality by the buzz of her
communicator.
*******************************************************
"Watch your six."
Jupiter spun and blasted the Youma that had been coming up behind
her. "You think they ran into trouble?"
Venus answered without taking her eyes from the surrounding trees.
"Must have. They should have been there . . . CRESCENT
BEAM . . .should have been there fifteen minutes ago." She watched
the half seen shadow fall from the trees and disappear into the mist
covered ground.
"We should go check."
"HOW!!" Venus sagged in grief and weariness. "I'm open to
suggestions . . .I'm sorry Makato. I really thought this would . . ."
Venus pressed her lips closed as despair threatened to overwhelm her.
A large hand came down on her shoulder and squeezed warmly.
"Hey, not your fault. We did the best . . .:"
"Scuse me . . ."
"AAAAAAAAAA!" Jupiter screamed at the unexpected voice
and whirled around hands up in a defensive position. Looking
frantically around she saw nothing until she glanced down and saw . . .
"S . . .S . . .S o. . ."
"Should you be here?" Venus covered quickly if clumsily.
"This is a dangerous place."
"Oh Yeah? Well I just gotta ask you a question." Soban
answered from under a bush. "I'm looking for three school girls." She
quickly described the senshi's civilian persona's. " . . .an' their friend
Ami is waiting for them." She finished. "So have you seen them?"
Numbly Venus shook her head no. Soban glanced at Jupiter who also
answered in the negative. Shrugging Soban began a low crawl away
from the site, then paused, looking back over her shoulder. "You guys
comin' or what?" Not waiting for an answer Soban continued
wiggling through the dirt, then abruptly disappeared from view. Venus
stayed frozen for a moment then abruptly . . . CRESCENT BEAM!!!"
Scything the golden beam around the blasted the tree line in front of
her before dropping to her belly. "Well . . .come ON!" She whispered
harshly to her team-mate as she scrambled after Soban.
*******************************************************
"How did you know this was here?" Venus asked pointing at
the man-hole they had just climbed out of. "It's not on the city maps."
Soban shrugged. "Lot's o' stuff ain't on the maps. They're always
addin' stuff an' it takes a while before they update maps an' stuff. An'
I make it my business to know stuff . . .all sorts of stuff. Stuff people
will pay for."
"You want MONEY . . ." Jupiter started indignantly.
"Nah . . .but I figger you owe me now . . ."
What ever Jupiter might have replied was cut off by a cruelly sneering
voice.
"Very appropriate . . .crawling out of the sewer . . .like rats."
"NEPHRITE! You stinking . . ." A blast of energy from a
hidden Youma smashed Jupiter in the back. Venus whirled to meet
this new attack taking her eyes off Nephrite. She paid for this lapse as
Nephrite sent a dark-crystal shard deep into her side. Venus screamed
as the black energy burned into her flesh. She fell to her knees, hands
scrabbling futilely at the burning wound.
"Now . . .YOU . . .ARE . . .MINE!"
Gliding forward several feet above the ground Nephrite reached down
and grasping Venus by the throat pulled her into the air. "It burns
doesn't it?" He whispered in her ear. "It burns and will keep on
burning . . .until you tell me what I want to know." Nephrite shifted
his grip, grabbing Venus's dangling right hand with his free hand. He
tightened his grip, squeezing until he could feel the delicate bones in
her hand pop and shift as the joints separated. "Where are the Tokens?
Where is the Princess?" Nephrite wasn't really interested in the
answer. He wanted to kill Venus . . .tear her into small screaming
pieces. With all the shit he had to take from Kunzite he deserved a
treat. After all, he had another senshi to question. And it wasn't his
fault if he . . .broke . . .one during the capture. " TELL . . .ME . .
.WHERE IS THE PRIN . . ." Nephrite had the ability to fly, teleport,
fire bolts of black energy and generate a very impressive force field .
Unfortunately he couldn't do them all at the same time.
"I bet this is gonna' hurt."
Nephrite looked down in surprise. He had little interest in humans,
except as food for his Youma . The small crippled human had escaped
his notice. And normally a single human girl would have been no more
dangerous to the Dark General than a butterfly. However Nephrite
was entirely concentrated on the attack . . .his force field was at
minimum strength. And Soban had Smith & Wesson's finest product
pressed between his legs. Even at minimum strength his force field
could not be penetrated by a handgun . . .not completely. But the 240
grain .44 caliber slug left the barrel at 1100 feet/second and only had
to travel about 3cm before impact . . .
Screaming in a voice only dogs could hear Nephrite dropped Venus
and fell to the ground curled in a foetal position.
Gagging and gasping Venus felt herself lifted from the ground.
"Just a thought . . .but we might want to leave now."
Blurrily Venus looked at the small scarred face that faded in and out of
view in front of her.
"Jup . . .ter. Have to help . . ."
"Awww Jezzzz." Soban grumbled. "She must weigh a TON."
Even as she spoke Soban bent, grasped Sailorjupiter around the waist
and heaved her to her feet.
"Can ya' walk? 'Cause I'm not gonna' haul your sorry . .
.HEAVY butt all the way . . ." Sailorjupiter flopped forward limply
like a broken doll. "HELL!" Soban shifted her grip so that she had a
senshi in each arm. "Ahhh . .shit. . .shit . . .shit." Her crippled legs
protested the overwhelming burden with blinding waves of agony. "All
right lard butt . . ."Soban wheezed in Jupiter's ear. "Wake up . .
.c'mon wake up. I can't . .. "
A big fist caught Soban across the temple as Jupiter came awake
fighting.
"NEPHRITE!!! YOU . . ."
"SHIT! That hurt. Watch what you're doin'"
"Huh. . . .What . . .Where's Nephrite?" Jupiter pulled free of
Soban's grip. "VENUS! Is she all right . . . What's . . ."
"Here!" Soban thrust Venus into Jupiters arms. "You carry
her." She turned and headed back the way she had come. "An you
guys owe me BIG . . ."
It was a glancing blow and not full strength. But Soban was human . .
.not senshi. She could feel bones break, flesh tear . . .then she couldn't
feel anything at all."
"I'll kill you . . .you filthy little . . ." Nephrite sprayed the air
with curses and flecks of foam as he raged at the crumpled form. "I'll
rip the flesh from your bones . . .you'll live ten thousand years in
torment . . ." Nephrite repeated Venus's mistake. He let himself be
distracted while he had an enemy at his back. In his defense, neither
Venus nor Jupiter looked very dangerous at the moment.
"CRESCENT . . ."
Nephrite twisted, his hands coming up to fire a black bolt.
"SUPREME . . ."
Nephrite's eyes widened in shock as he heard Jupiter from his other
side. Again his attention was split . . .
"BEAM!!"
"THUNDER!!!"
Nephrite's force field flared into the high ultar-violet under the double
blow. Screaming in pain and frustration Nephrite teleported away.
Venus limped over to Jupiter and sagged against her.
"That went well, don't you think?"
Jupiter stared wide eyed then started chuckling as she realized she
wasn't going to die. Their systems awash in adrenalin both senshi
started feeling light headed and giddy. Their chuckles grew until they
fell together on the ground in helpless laughter.
"What the hell are you two doing!"
Jupiter wiped streaming eyes and looked up to see Sailormars glaring
down at them.
"S . .sh . .she . . ."Venus pointed at Jupiter.
"No . .no . . .it was . . .was . . ." Jupiter tried and failed to
force a coherent sentence through her almost hysterical laughter.
"Look, Ami's on the communicator. She wants to come to us
but she's afraid we won't be able to find the escape route without her.
She's almost hysterical . . .says that Soban is in the park looking for us
. . .the other us" Sailormars stuttered to a confused stop. "You know
what I mean. I told her the last time I saw her she was alright. Better
than all right. But we better find her and get out of here."
"OH SHIT!" Jupiter sprang to her feet and dashed over to the
crumpled forgotten form. Bending down she lay two fingers against
Soban's throat. "She's got a pulse!" Jupiter felt weak with relief. "But
I think. . .Tell Mercury to get here�fast!"