I don't _think_ I posted this here before.  If I did, feel free to ignore it...


Continuity note: I'm using a few elements from the 1990's manga series.  The
H is drastically toned down, though.
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    My name is Honey Kisaragi.  Secretly the fighter for justice Cutey Honey.
I defeated the Panther Claw twice, survived their dark dimension, and
eventually returned.  And I'm not human.

    My "father", Dr. Kisaragi, had an amazing array of inventions, which I've
been patenting and licensing once every decade or so.  Artificial
intelligence.  New, indestructible, fabrics.  The Elemental Materializing
Device--I don't think I'm ever going to release that one; an invention that
could let me make any outfit or equipment I want could also be used to make a
few tons of critical-mass uranium.  Even without Honey Towers, I could support
myself until the 22nd century with those inventions.

    Which is appropriate, because those inventions are part of me.

    I read a comic book long ago, where a man's wife turned out to be a clone
of his old flame.  An explanation given long after the fact, written to relieve
him of his guilt when he walked away from her.  Readers wondered, just how
could she have really been a clone?  Just what do you do to give someone who
was just created the skills to act like an adult and completely fit in to the
world?

    I knew the answer.  I was created as a high school student, and few high
school students ever fit in anyway.  If anything I said seemed exceptionally
wrong because I was an android still learning how to be human, it completely
passed over everyone's heads.  They would assume I was unused to the strictness
of a Catholic school, or they would just ignore everything and stare at my
body.  It's what happens when you're constructed to look like an adult and
everyone else around you is a 16 year old.

    There was a knock on the door.  "Come in" I replied.

    "Hi, Detective Todoroki", I said, recognizing the man.  He and I had worked
together during my last fight against the Panther Claw, even if he did need to
be rescued more than once.  There was a desperate expression on his face.
"Honey-chan..." he said.

    I smiled at him.  Men often melted when I did that.  "Did you...  well, did
you want something?"

    "Yes, I do.  How about dinner Friday?"  But there was something else in
his voice, I noticed, and he continued.  "That's what I came here to ask you...
but Honey-chan, there's a b-- big spaceship floating over the building.  I
don't know if it's hostile, but the lovely warrior, Cutey Honey, is probably
the best one to check it out."

    "A spaceship?" I asked.  "Around _here_?"  It was so science-fictiony...
of course, so were androids.  And there _had_ been one invasion in the
Earth's history, by those aliens from Oniboshi, so the idea was completely
plausible.  I looked out the window, and saw the large round shadow far below,
lazily circling my building.  From this angle, if I squinted, I could just see
the edge of a silvery object moving in circles overhead.

    "It's as big as this building!", said Todoroki, apprehension still on his
face.

    "Okay", I responded.  "Let's go up to the roof and see--"  At that moment,
the eardrum-bursting sound of a burglar alarm shrieked out.  "Let's go up and
find out what's wrong", I shouted over its noise.

    "You can do that, Honey-chan.  I think I'll see you later.  I just
remembered something I have to do."

    I thought of teasing him by dragging him to the top floor, but this
spaceship problem, if it wasn't just panic (and with the alarm I didn't think
it was) could be serious.  We left the room and headed for the staircase.

    "You go up", he said.  "I'm going down."  That's what I was _planning_,
anyway.  But I let him think it was his idea as I scrambled for the entrance
to the stairs.

    "Hold it right there", said a woman's voice when I opened the door at the
entrance.  In front of me was a cleaning lady, still wearing a Honey Towers
uniform, but her hands held a strange streamlined gun.

    "What...?" said Todoroki in astonishment.

    "I'm Kador, Second Lieutenant of the Fellani.  The future belongs to us,
and your planet, with or without your help, will be the start of our people's
rebirth."

    Under his breath, Todoroki muttered "Like I said, what?"

    "I have already explained who we are", she said.  I was starting to get
Panther Claw flashbacks from the tone of her voice.  Only the Panther Claw
didn't usually control more than one or two human minions at a time.  The
woman put her left hand on Todoroki's shoulder and added "My son needs that
body."

    Todoroki's leg muscles twitched, as if he was about to run despite the gun
trained on him, but he collapsed instead.  A white column of light surrounded
him.  His eyes opened, and he slowly rose to his feet, but the mind behind
those eyes didn't seem to even know me.

    "You're next", said the woman, motioning her gun towards me.  I'm a lot
harder to kill than a human, but I didn't know what that alien weapon could do.
She put her hand on my shoulder and I saw a white column of light.  Suddenly
I felt a stabbing pain in my head--yes, I do feel pain, it's a defense
mechanism to let the body know when it's hurt, and even androids need it--
and green sparks filled the field.  They grew into miniature crackling bolts
and the woman yelled out as several struck her.  I hit her over the head with
my fist, and she fell to the floor.  The column vanished.

    "Todoroki, are you okay?" I asked.  "If you want me to transform to Nurse
Honey...."

    "It is useless to resist the Fellani...."  Oh, damn.  He was taken over.
That's what the beam was for.  It would have gotten me too, but it was
obviously meant for humans, and something in it must have short-circuited on
my synthetic physiology.

    I had to get out of here.  If there was a building full of people in this
situation, it could be very bad.  I transformed with a "Honey FLASH!"

    If you've seen Sailor Moon, you know what it's like, except for the lack
of anatomical white-out.  Todoroki, under the alien's control, didn't even
react; I was hoping for at least a nosebleed.  He just reached for the fallen
woman's gun.

    My hair was still golden, but much shorter.  I had picked a costume from
any of a zillion 1930's Flash Gordon serials--quite appropriate, considering
the threat--and I had a jetpack and my own blaster.  I said "Sorry, Todoroki",
set the blaster to stun, and shot him.  I hoped that I hadn't hurt him--it's
impossible to make a weapon that'll always stun.  But when I checked his pulse,
it was okay.

    I retreated back into my office and opened the window, then activated my
jetpack.  It worked like a charm, and soon I was zooming through the window.
The spaceship, silhouetted against the clouds, made for an impressive presence,
but it was attacking my building, and my city.  A takeover by aliens would be
a huge danger, more than one Lovely Warrior could handle.  I landed on the
sidewalk and transformed back to Honey Kisaragi, wondering who to turn to for
assistance.