So, got no response to the last one.  Oh well.  I'm still here, swamped
by final papers.  Here's second-to-last chapter.  Horribly cheesy quote
by Eridu.  Gah.  It looked better when I wrote it.

C&C, as always, appreciated.  General rather than specific line-by-line
is fine, as I already have a good prereader/editor.

http://bloodgod.res.cmu.edu/smgray/index.html for complete fic.

[] is character thought, ** is emphasis.

Random question, for those if any who have been reading this: do I need
a glossary or a cast of characters or something?

Chapter Fourteen
     In which matters come to a head.


     Hotaru sat on the edge of the narrow metal walkway, swinging her
legs out over the infinite void and listening to the rain drum down on
the tower and hiss into steam a few feet over their heads.  Jahara was
watching the entrance, far below.  The rain had culled the normal crowds
of tourists down to a dedicated few, and with the late hour even these
die-hards had abandoned it.

     She could feel the force of the place, what he'd called the
'supernexus', flowing and jumping in response to every flash of
lightning.  Up close, the bolts were edged with odd colors, purple and
orange and green fire dancing around the sides of the pure-white
strokes.

     "Will you be able to see him from up here?"

     The Unforgiven shrugged.  "Possibly."

     "And you're sure he'll be here."

     "Reasonably certain.  If he doesn't come, we will have to seek him
elsewhere.  But when Resh is feeling threatened, he generally runs to
wherever he feels most powerful.  The supernexus will accomplish that."

     "Will you still be able to beat him?"

     "Of course."  Hotaru tried to detect the hint of a smile and
failed.  She shook her head.

     "Any idea when?"

     "If I had to guess..."  He glanced up at the clouds.  "At the
height of the storm.  Not long, now."

     Hotaru nodded, deep in thought and staring off into the storm.

     [I have to ask.]  She shivered.  [He might not like it, though.  He
might make me leave.]

     [But...]

     "Jahara?"

     He turned his head towards her with a vaguely interrogative sound.


     "Can I ask you something?"

     The Unforgiven shrugged.  Hotaru's mouth was dry.

     "Why did you bring me here?"

     There was a long pause before he spoke, without looking at her.
"You asked to come along.  Who am I to impede a guardian in the
execution of her duty?"

     "But..."  She stopped and shook her head.  [If he doesn't want to
tell me, I can't make him.]  "Okay."

     Another, even longer pause.  Jahara shifted on the metal beam and
sighed.

     "I suppose there are...other reasons."

     She barely found her voice.  "Go on."

     "I might as well admit it.  Even I occasionally feel some need for
company."  Jahara stretched, as though admission pained him.  "I have
been chasing Resh for a long time, and fighting before that.  A long
time."

     "Does anyone live with you?  Back on your ship?"

     "Not anymore.  I have a Harbinger named Third, but he is a servant
and not very suitable for conversation."

     [Harbinger?]  Hotaru let it pass.  "So why me?"

     "I sensed you, from the moment I stepped on to this world.  Despite
the interference that this place puts out."

     "How?"

     "Resonance.  We are similar, you and I."

     [Similar?  He's twice my height and three times my weight, with
bright green hair and power I can barely comprehend.  He's older then I
can imagine, and spends his time flying around and hunting *vampires*.
I, on the other hand, go to school and occasionally try not to get
killed by some monster.  How are we similar?]

     [But...]

     "We are, aren't we."  Hotaru looked down at herself and shook her
head.  "How?"

     Jahara was looking away, out into the storm.  "I used to be one of
you."

     "A...a Senshi?"  A sudden image of the seven-foot Unforgiven in a
sailor uniform was almost irresistible, and Hotaru did her best to
suppress her laughter.  Jahara didn't appear to notice.

     "Approximately.  I was a guardian on another world, a long way from
here.  In another universe."

     "But why *me*?"

     He shrugged.  "You share my function."

     Hotaru shook her head.  [He's right, of course.]  She could feel
the Saturn persona, just below her own consciousness.  The resemblance
was unmistakable: the same casual arrogance, the disregard for
everything they considered unimportant.  [So is that how I end up?]  It
had been more then a year since she'd thought of her Senshi self as a
truly different personality.  Now it was hard to do anything else.  [And
sooner or later, it wins out.]

     She had hazy memories, too, of something even farther back.  A
different life, accompanied by such a colossal conceit and disdain for
existence that even vague flashes of it were frightening.  It just
flickered out, at the end, like a reel of film whose end was tattered
and broken.

     "So what happened to you?"  The words came out as a whisper.
Hotaru hugged her arms to her chest, shivering even in the field of
warmth carved out by the Unforgiven's power.  "What are you doing here?"

     "The guardians on my world were somewhat different from you.
Different from any other place I've been to, actually.  We had..."  He
hesitated.  "We had a much closer identification with our archetypes.  I
was--I still am--an embodiment of a function."

     "And..."

     "It caused problems."  Jahara got to his feet with a sudden, fluid
motion.  "He's here."

     "Resh?"

     The Unforgiven nodded and smiled, green lightning crackling along
his hands as they curled into fists.

     

     Ami pounded up the last of the stairs and nearly ran into the
guardrail, panting desperately for breath as invisible enemies thrust
burning hot spears into her stomach and her legs.  Sweat still poured
from her face, melding with the omnipresent rainwater.

     "A bit of a waste of effort, isn't it?"  Eridu stepped away from
the rail himself with a vague gesture.  The pair were on a kind of
catwalk, an observation level raised a few dozen feet over the main
deck.  All the legitimate customers of the Tower had gone by now, and
Ami had seen no sign of any security guards or janitors.  [Eridu
probably got rid of them.]  She didn't want to think about how.

     He stepped under one of the scattered light bulbs, white suit still
immaculate despite the rain and the wind.  Dark glasses flashed a dull
white every time lightning jumped from the clouds and hit the tower.
Ami could feel the magical surges that caused the extroverted display,
great masses of disparate power drawn to the supernexus.  They spiraled
around it like foam castles in a bubble bath, going faster and faster as
they whirled down the drain.

     [The paradox inherent in a place like this.  ]The magical glare of
the place was immense, extending far beyond the city.  But at the same
time it tended to draw in drifting power.  [Both source and sink.]

     She had to pause, for a moment, trying to regain some semblance of
breath.  Eridu continued, oblivious.  

     "Surely you realize I gave you the means to cross a city with the
snap of your fingers?  Particularly to a place like this."  He rolled
his eyes.  "But you're here at last, which is what counts, I suppose.  I
had to take some pains delaying the vampire so that he wouldn't arrive
too soon.  It wouldn't do to have our little show disrupted, would it?"

     "You..."

     "Did you like my little history lesson?"

     [He knows.]  Ami kept silent, watching his eyes.  [I don't get it.
I know what he wants--I *think* I know what he wants.  But if he wants
me to take the guardian's power, why show off the consequences?  Why
give me those memories in the first place, when it would be so easy for
him to keep silent?  I thought it was a mistake--that he'd given me more
the he realized.  But--]

     "I take it by your expression that you're not ready to accept it
yet.  I'd almost hoped you would be, although it would certainly make me
look like a fool.  All these elaborate plans for nothing."  He smiled.
"But so far, it's just as predicted.  So, on to the next step--"

     She stared at him, shaking her head slowly.  "You really did it,
didn't you?  Even though you knew what would happen."

     "--you get to call me a monster."  He finished his earlier
sentence.  "Yes, yes.  I knew exactly what I was doing."

     "You killed--"

     "Not killed.  I wouldn't say that."

     "All those people certainly aren't around any more!"  [A whole
god-damned world.]  She remembered her first view of the crystal city,
proud and serene.  [But it's more than that.  The city, the planet it
was on, the space they were in...]  Her mind refused to expand far
enough, to contemplate the enormity of it.

     "No, they aren't.  But in a sense, they never were.  That causality
self-destructed, collapsed to a point.  So in a sense what's left
over--namely me--is metacausal, without a clear origin."  He chuckled.
"Is that a good enough rationalization for you?  It wasn't a very big
universe, if that helps any.  Just the one planet.  That might explain
why the guardians were so *concentrated.*"

     "You...how could you?"  [It shouldn't have been *possible*.]

     "They were all dead anyway.  Only a matter of time.  So is it so
bad that I chose survival?"

     "They were still fighting."

     "Fighting the Sa'an has always been a losing proposition.  Did I
leave you the knowledge of how their little scheme worked?  No?"  Eridu
shook his head.  "They have these gates that they carry around with
them, big black goopy things.  Any living creature that gets shoved
through turns into another perfect Imperial soldier, complete with armor
and weapons.  They don't surrender, and they don't take prisoners.  Or,
rather, they do.  Just not for long."

     Ami stared, not quite sure how to answer.  Exhaustion started to
worm its way in, burning along her limbs as adrenalin faded.  

     "So, Miss Mizuno.  'And what's he, then, that says I play the
villain?  When this advice is free I give and honest.'  I gave you what
you always wanted.  I'm helping your friend Rei track down Resh--it's
about time that particular pest was dealt with.  And I've shown you the
means to a power unlike anything your world has ever seen."

     "Let me finish the speech."

     Eridu nodded, amused, and she continued.

     "'Divinity of hell!  When devils will the blackest sins put on,
they do suggest at first with heavenly shows, as I do now.'"

     "'So will I turn her virtue into pitch; And out of her own goodness
make the net that shall enmesh them all.'"  He shrugged.  "Iago was
always a clear thinker."

     She looked at him, her limbs suddenly feeling like weights.  It
felt as though her mind were fogged, somehow, uncomprehending.  "It's
over, Eridu.  I'm not going to do it."

     "Of course.  And my mentioning that I could atomize you where you
stand is not a determining factor."

     [All that power...]  She hadn't thought, up until now, about that
consequence of absorbing the guardian stream.  [I'll bet he could.  Not
that it matters.]   "No."

     "I'd be a fool to expect otherwise.  Guardians never seem to have
enough of a sense of self-preservation."

     "So now what?"  She shook her head, tired.  "Are you going to blast
me?"

     "I don't think so.  We're just getting started."  With his usual
perfect timing, Eridu turned and held out a hand as a mismatched pair of
figures loomed from the darkness.

     "Eridu."  The air around Jahara crackled green.  Hotaru was almost
invisible beside him, a half-sized shadow in the glare.  Eridu met
Jahara's stare head-on with such vehemence that Ami was surprised the
space between them didn't burst into flames.  


     Neither even flinched at the sudden burst of gunfire from the main
observation deck, or looked over at the hoarse half-shout.  

     "Mars Flame Sniper!"

     

     They'd been waiting, as soon as the elevator doors opened.

     The elevator wasn't supposed to work at all, and the main doors had
of course been locked.  Neither had posed much of a problem for the
clever little devices Shard pulled from his seemingly bottomless
toolbelt.  They passed the ride up in silence, the bounty hunter
carefully checking over his equipment one last time while Rei stared at
the gunmetal-gray of the doors.

     [How should I prepare?  Say a prayer, or something.]  Somehow it
didn't seem appropriate; the reason clicked after a moment.  [I've
prayed for my survival before, or for victory.  I've never prayed for
death.]

     Resh's grin flickered, fangs like two ivory needles.

     ['Just fucking kill them all.']

     [Somehow I can't bring myself to feel any remorse.]

     *Ding.*

     The elevator stopped with a lurch, and Rei glanced at Shard.  The
bounty hunter nodded, just slightly, and raised a weapon in each hand.

     The vampires were packed almost shoulder to shoulder in the
doorway, a disparate wall of humanity ranging from security guards to
late-night pedestrians to a businessman who'd stepped onto the street at
just the wrong time.  Resh and his minions had cut a swathe through the
city and dragged the leavings with them.  Now they charged, fangs bared.
Rei felt the chill stench of their breath in the moment before Shard
opened fire.

     In the confined space, the noise of the machine pistols was
deafening, like twin jackhammers.  The effect was even more
spectacular--where the bullets hit, the undead simply melted into
nothing, shattering into motes of gray dust that scattered in the storm
winds.  The wave of creatures literally vanished in an instant, a few
diving to either side of the doorway rather than facing annihilation.
Most of the kept coming, and Shard kept firing until the path was clear
and both pistols clicked empty.

     There was a moment of silence as he ejected the clips, interrupted
by the double clink of the smoking shells on the floor.  Rei took a
cautious step forward as he reloaded.

     "Rei."

     "Hmm?"  She peered around one of the corners, staring off into the
darkness.

     "I only have one more silver clip, and I'm saving it for Resh."

     "My turn, then."

     

     Hotaru glanced up at Jahara.  The Unforgiven had gone rigid, losing
his usual careful slowness and moving with a hint of his real speed.  He
opened his fists and let his arms fall to his sides, flickering like a
piece of bad stop-motion photography.

     The thin man in the white suit--[Eridu, he called him]--was much
more relaxed.  He reached up and swept the dark glasses from his eyes
with a grand gesture, holding out his arms as though ready to embrace an
old friend.  Hotaru was taken aback by his expression, but most of all
by his eyes.  Under the glasses they were white from edge to edge, not
the pale fish-belly white of the blind but brilliant, glowing white that
shone with its own inner fire.  The effect was disconcerting, as though
his face were nothing but a mask over the interior of some sun, which
shone out through the eye-holes.

     Ami stood next to him, looking wet, bedraggled, and confused.
There was something new in her as well, though, a faint tickle to
Hotaru's newfound senses.  Drowned as they were by the storm and the
supernexus, she could feel Eridu's presence as easily as Jahara's.  

     "Jahara.  I'm glad you could make it."  Ami gave a little gasp at
the name, as though in recognition.  [But how could she?  Jahara's been
with me.]  "And you've brought your friend along, just like I wanted."

     The Unforgiven finally spoke again, in such grating tones that
Hotaru wasn't sure he'd even opened his mouth.  "Don't think I haven't
been aware of you."

     "Since I haven't been trying to hide, I'm not surprised.  But you
sound angry.  Don't you find my game amusing?"

     "I don't care."  He snapped it off.  "I'm here to kill Resh.
That's all.  So you can do what you like."

     "The vampire's use to me is rapidly running out, but I'm afraid he
has one more purpose to serve.  You'll have to wait, just a little
while."

     A spark of green crackled along Jahara's arm.  "How exactly do you
propose to stop me?"

     "You want to fight me?  Here?"  Eridu meticulously dusted the arms
of his coat.  "You know what will happen."

     "You'll lose."

     "I'm sure.  But do you think there will be anything left of this
place afterwards?  This fragile mortal city?"  He snorted.  "Not much."

     "Why should that matter to me?"

     Hotaru looked up at Jahara, reflexively.  His green-on-green eyes
never wavered, and for a moment she felt the [alien]ness of him very
strongly.  [He's so old.  And he's gone so far beyond any kind of fear,
or doubt.]  But to another facet of herself, it felt terrifyingly
familiar.  

     [He wouldn't destroy the city, just to get the vampire.]

     [Would he?]

     [Would *I*?]

     Saturn stirred, sluggishly, trying to work her way to the surface.
Hotaru shook her head desperately.  [He wouldn't.  I know...]

     "I think it does."  Eridu was still smiling.  It wasn't a nice
smile, stretched too far on his bony face, almost a grimace.  "You like
them.  You like her, for example.  You persist in thinking about humans
as though they were creatures of any consequence, and you couldn't
participate in their wholesale destruction.  I know you too well,
Jahara.  You're nothing if not consistent."

     There was a long pause.

     "What are you going to do?"

     "Nothing.  I'm going to do precisely nothing."

     "And Resh..."

     "Once I'm done, you can feel free to kill him."

     "Very well."  The Unforgiven's hands were once again tightening
into fists, but he kept his voice calm.  "I'll wait."

     A chorus of snarls echoed from the floor below, and another faint
repetition of the battle cry.

     "Mars Flame Sniper!  Mars--"

     It was cut off, suddenly.  Hotaru took a step towards the railing
before remembering to look at Eridu, but the white-suited figure looked
more amused then anything else.

     "Go help her, by all means."  Eridu seemed to have his attention
focused on Ami, ignoring his erstwhile adversary.  "The more the
merrier."

     Hotaru caught Ami's eye, just for a moment, and the blue-haired
Senshi nodded.  She was already shouting as she hit the barrier.

     "Saturn Crystal Power Make Up!"

     

     Rei turned the corner, away from the bank of elevators.  The
vampires hadn't mounted a serious attack since their initial rush, and
she'd finished off a couple of stragglers before signaling that the
coast was clear to Shard.  The bounty hunter's presence behind her was
reassuringly large and threatening.  [A strange comfort.]

     A comfort which went out the window as she noticed the figure at
the other end of the hall, silhouetted for a moment in the darkness by a
flash of lightning behind him.  The light faded, just for a moment, and
his eyes glowed a horrible crimson among the ringing afterimages.
Thunder growled a counterpoint as Resh walked forward, unhurried.

     She heard Shard snort derisively behind her.  "He's got everything
but the John Williams soundtrack, doesn't he?  Remember, it's all part
of the trick.  Don't be fooled."

     [He's right.]  She could feel the power that lay at the root of the
master vampire's existence working on her mind and trying to inspire it
to terror, to flight.  It was stronger then she remembered, strong
enough that despite her active resistance the mere sight of him set her
to shivering.  [How can he be that strong?]  Rei tried to focus on her
anger, the white-hot rage that had driven her through the night.
[Minako.]  The terror receded, just barely.  [I'm going to kill him.]

     "You followed me all the way here.  I'm--"

     She cut him off with a growl.  "Let me guess.  You're impressed
with our cleverness, so now you're going to have to demonstrate the true
extent of your power.  After that, you give a little speech explaining
how our peaceful ideology is fundamentally flawed and only the strong
survive, which is pretty appropriate for a predator.  I've heard it
before, so let's cut to the chase."  She took a threatening step
forward.  "You shot my friend, and I'm going to kill you.  Can we fight
now?"

     Even the vampire was a little taken aback; she could almost hear
Shard's jaw drop.  Resh recovered quickly, though.

     "And I suppose you demand I face you myself, honorably, without any
help from my...friends?"

     Rei shrugged.  "Whatever."

     The vampire's eyes glittered.  "Excellent.  Let's get started,
then."

     Mars tried to keep her cool demeanor while tensing at the same
time, waiting for the vampires to spring from the recesses of the
platform and swarm over her in a wave of razor-fanged death.  It was
something of a surprise, then, when absolutely nothing happened.

     Resh looked as surprised as anyone else when two more uniformed
Senshi appeared, practically materializing from the darkness.  Michiru
was limping a bit, favoring one leg, but Uranus looked more bored then
anything else.  Her smile was cocky, as always.

     "We got here early and cleaned up a little bit, Rei.  I hope you
don't mind."

     Relieved as she was, Rei found she was even happier to see the
vampire's composure disturbed.  His face twisted as he tried to find
some excuse to laugh off the newcomers, but before he could answer his
attention was drawn buy yet another clicking of high-heeled boots on the
metal floor.  Saturn looked miniature beside the length of the Silence
Glaive, but her expression was no less cold for that.

     "Is everyone okay?"

     Rei nodded, not taking her eyes from Resh.  The vampire's eyes
flickered from one Senshi to another, indecisive.  [If he tries to
run...]

     Then he smiled again, and she could feel the dark energy around him
surge.  Rei raised her hands.

     [Finally.]

     

     Ami had recovered somewhat while Eridu watched what was going on
below with interest.  The newcomer Jahara was in turn watching Eridu,
and Ami couldn't help but stare at him.

     [Jahara was in Eridu's memories, back on his home world.  The one
he...destroyed.  Could this be the same person?  Eridu's lived this long
because of all the power he absorbed, but what is Jahara doing here?]

     Eridu turned from his show to fix her with a superior stare.  [He
knows that I know.  There's some conclusion I'm supposed to draw from
this.  Think for a second...]

     Equations flickered in a new way, and Ami blinked.  [Got it.]

     "When you absorbed the guardian stream, the chain reaction merged
all the other guardians with their source powers."

     "Got it in one.  I knew you wouldn't take my word for it, but
Jahara was kind enough to show up and provide living proof."

     "I still don't understand.  What do Rei and the others fighting
Resh have to do with...me..."  She trailed off at the end as her
thoughts raced ahead along familiar trails, arriving at an inevitable
conclusion.  "No."

     Eridu's brilliant white eyes flickered.  "You see?"

     "They can beat Resh."

     "Not here, they can't.  Resh is a true mage.  He sees the world
like I taught you to see it, and here at the supernexus there is power
to spare.  Your friends might be able to beat him normally, but--"

     "I'm not going to do it!"

     "I think you will."  His voice took on a distant, lecturing tone.
"Self-sacrifice is a strong imperative in guardians.  But sacrificing
your friends?  Never."  He leaned closer.  "I'm sure you'd give up your
life for the good of the world, or even just to save one of them.  Like
that"--he snapped his fingers--"without ever considering the larger
consequences.  But it's not so easy this way, is it?"

     He glanced at her hands, which seemed to have clenched of their own
accord.  "And don't bother attacking me.  You know the end result will
be the same.  In fact..."  His face lit up, as though he had just
thought of something.  "Let me sweeten the deal.  Suppose you do
nothing.  Once your friends are dead, I'll let Jahara kill Resh.  Then
I'll kill you.  Then Jahara and I will probably fight, and no matter
what happens there won't be much left of your world afterwards."
Eridu's voice dropped to a whisper.  "You know the power I've taken, so
you know I can do it.  So think about the choice.  On the one hand, you
have you and your friends all dead and your planet in ruins.  People
dying horribly and so forth.  On the other, everything is just gone.
Poof!  Like snuffing out a candle.  Except, of course, for the
guardians, who in the process gain ultimate power and eternal life."

     He straightened up.  "Now then.  You've heard the phrase, 'The
lesser of two evils?'  Choose wisely, Miss Mizuno."

     Jahara cut in before she could speak.  "Do you realize what you're
doing, Eridu?"

     "Of course I do.  Don't I always?"

     "This isn't some tiny sphere of space with one little planet.  This
universe is too big.  There are hundreds of guardians here.  Thousands.
Do you want to unleash that many Unforgiven on the worlds?"

     "Obviously I do.  Why are you so worried about the humans?"  He
turned on the spot and pointed at her with a questioning digit.  "You!
Guardian of goodness and love and so forth.  If presented with a choice
between saving a child and an old man, who would you help?"

     Ami shook her head, remaining silent, but Eridu continued without
her.

     "The child, of course.  He's young!  So many possibilities ahead of
him.  So much life left to live, while the old man's lifespan is all but
spent.  But by the same logic, look at us!"  He waved his hand in a
grand gesture.  "We live forever, preserved in perfection.  So how can
you compare us to humans?  It's as if you were to decide that mayflies
deserved citizenship.  Ludicrous."

     "I am not going to do it."  Her mouth was dry.  "Never."

     "We'll see, Miss Mizuno.  Just watch."

 

     "Mars Flame Sniper!"

     Something told her playing all her cards at the beginning of the
fight would be unwise, but her usual attack barely had any effect; the
vampire simply held up a hand crawling with dark lightning and the
burning line of flame shattered before it reached him.  Before he could
respond, though, the others were already unleashing their powers.

     "Deep Submerge!"

     "World Shaking!"

     Twin spheres of energy from the Outer Senshi whipped past, slamming
against the vampire's invisible barrier and splashing outwards.  Rei
cringed automatically from the heat and ducked sideways, hearing Uranus
and Neptune launch themselves into the air moments before Resh's
counterattack.  The black beams that slashed from his hands went through
the heavy metal of the floor and the support pillars like it wasn't
there, leaving gaps whose edges dripped molten metal.  He swept the
attacks sideways, forcing Haruka to jump away again and Rei to throw
herself flat under the bolt.

     A rapid sequence of shots announced Shard's entrance, back at the
elevator bank that was quickly acquiring the consistency of swiss
cheese.  This time Resh deigned to move, twisting out of the way of a
long burst; before he could regain his footing, Shard raised his other
weapon and fired a single shot.  The silver round caught the vampire in
the shoulder, carving a deep groove in his flesh and provoking a roar of
pain.  The bounty hunter quickly squeezed off a burst from his silver
clip, but this one didn't even get close; a wave of Resh's hand burned
the projectiles in mid air.  Shard jumped aside as another volley of
dark fire took out the corner he'd been hiding behind.

     [He's stronger than when we fought him before.  In the office
building, he was at least trying to dodge, but now he doesn't even
bother.  We can't touch him...]  She stood and quietly slipped to the
side as another set of earth and water attacks slid off the vampire's
seemingly invincible defense.  Shard stuck his head up but ducked
hurriedly as a black lance nearly took it off.  Luckily for the Senshi,
the support structure of the tower provided plenty of cover, and Resh,
after his initial surprise, seemed to be enjoying playing with his foes,
blasting away at the slightest sign of movement.  [Can we even wear him
down?  He looks like he's having *fun*.]

     "Mars."

     Hearing her name whispered from such close quarters practically
stopped her heart; power was already concentrating at her hands before
she recognized Hotaru's diminutive silhouette.  The battle was lit only
sporadically by the lightning outside and the fireball bursts of energy
blasts.

     "Hotaru!"  The girl cocked her head to one side, and Rei forced
herself to remember that Sailor Saturn was a bit more than the little
girl in a new costume.  "What are you doing here?"

     "It's a long story, and we're short on time."  She gestured to the
battle with the tip of the Silence Glaive.  "Any ideas?"

     Rei shook her head wearily.  "I don't understand where his power
comes from.  If he'd had this kind of firepower the last time, you'd
think he would have used it."

     "Maybe he was holding back."

     [That doesn't sound like the Resh Shard described.]  "Not him.
He's a grandstander."

     "Then maybe..."  Hotaru's eyes opened wide.  "The nexus."

     "What?"

     "Can't you feel the power here?  Look at the clouds.  He isn't even
going to get tired, when there's energy all around just for the asking."

     "So what the hell do we do?"

     She shook her head grimly.  "I don't know.  But we should try it
soon.  I think those two are running out of ideas."

     As though the girl's words had been a prophecy, the sounds of
battle suddenly stopped.  Rei went cold.  [Did he finally get lucky?]
She poked her head up, cautiously.

     Resh turned in a circle, looking for movement, and she contrived to
stay almost perfectly still.  Halfway through his arc, he spotted a
flash of color at the other end of the observation deck, white cloth
pinned under some fallen debris.

     [Uranus?  Neptune?  Or...]

     Resh stalked over, relish clear in his face and hands crackling
with power.  One blast was enough to incinerate the beam blocking his
way, and he raised his palm--

     To take aim at a piece of cloth, fluttering away.  The two Outer
Senshi spoke as one, energy spheres bursting from nearby hiding spots.

     "Deep Submerge!"  The detonation was deafening.  "World Shaking!"

     With coordination professional athletes would have envied, Shard
was right behind them, blazing away with both guns into the maelstrom of
flame.  Once they both clicked empty, he stepped back, reaching down for
a backup weapon.

     [A nice trick, but it's not going to work.]  Rei wasn't at all
surprised when the smoke and flame cleared to reveal the vampire still
standing, a bit singed but otherwise unharmed.  His eyes blazed a
brilliant vermillion; Resh brought his hands together, deliberately, and
smiled even wider.

     "That's about as good as you can do, isn't it?"  Black energy
flickered and blazed into the form of a weapon, a simple bar of darkness
the length of a sword.  The vampire held it easily in one hand and swung
it as though it weighed nothing at all; Uranus and Neptune backed away.
"So let me tell you what I'm going to do.  I'm going to cut you two into
little bits, and peg the bounty hunter to the wall with a sharp stake.
Then"--he took a step forward--"I'm going to find the little
fire-throwing girl and make her into one of my friends.  And then I'm
getting the *fuck* off this lousy planet."  With his off hand, he wiped
some of the char from his cheek.  "I've had it with this place.  I'll
find someplace fun and lead old green-eyes on a merry chase."  His laugh
had more of an animal's snarl in it than anything else, now.

     Hotaru turned to Rei.  "I'm going to try and keep him busy.  Think
of something."

     

     "They're doing well, aren't they?"  Eridu murmured softly, voice
soft and slick.  "But not well enough, I'm afraid.  The power of the
supernexus makes Resh's sorcery unstoppable."

     Ami watched the battle with conflicting feelings, trying to show
nothing on her face.  Her eyes kept flickering to Jahara, who stood at
the edge of the catwalk like some green-tinged statue, arms crossed over
his chest, waiting for who-knows-what.

     "How long are you going to wait, Miss Mizuno?  Until the first one
dies?  How many have to fall before you see sense?"

     She closed her eyes.

     [I could just do it.]

     She rejected the thought almost as soon as it occurred to her,
pushing the traitorous feelings away.  They returned, slowly at first
but increasing with every burst of dark power from below.  Ami's breath
caught every time she lost sight of Rei or one of the Outer Senshi in a
blaze of black lightning.

     [If one of them dies...what could I possibly do afterwards?]

     [But what's the use of being a god with a universe full of murders
on my conscience?]

     "You've felt it, I'm sure.  You look out on the city, and all these
little people, and you feel superior.  Privileged.  And why not?  The
fabric of the universe provides you with power they can only dream of,
and all you have to do is reach out and *take* it."

     "We get the powers for a reason."

     "Who cares why you get them?  Power is power.  What matters is what
one does with it."  His serious expression became a smirk.  "I'll tell
you what.  If it makes you feel better, spend a few thousand years
traveling from world to world righting wrongs.  Think of what you could
do with that kind of power."  He spread his hands.  "You respect logic,
Miss Mizuno.  If you can do a finite amount of good in a given timespan,
and you live forever, doesn't the potential for helping an infinite
number of people justify any sacrifice?"

     [I wish he'd shut up while I'm trying to think.]

     [It would be so easy.  ]

     [Just a touch, reaching out to grab...]

     She closed her eyes, shook her head.  [Who am I kidding?  I can't.]

     [Rei...]

     Even with her eyes shut she could see the battle as streams of
magic warred against one another, the sink that Resh had generated
drawing in power from every direction and finding it everywhere.  The
Senshi were lit up like Christmas trees, connected to the tower and the
clouds by invisible arcs of power as energy flowed inward to earth
itself.  It was drawn to the discharges, the energy balls that burst
again and again on the dark shields the vampire had erected.

     [Resh has no idea what he's doing.]  She could see it, even from
her uneducated perspective.  Some of Eridu's cynicism had crept in.  [He
meets every attack with brute force, expending far more energy than
necessary.  If only he didn't have so much power...]

     [Wait a minute.]

     Ami reached outwards, ever so slightly, feeling towards the cluster
of lights and sparks that she vaguely recognized as Rei.  [If she...]

     "That's far enough, Miss Mizuno."  Eridu's tone carried a warning.
"Let's not interfere."

     She thought desperately.  [If I can reach her...]

     

     The Outer Senshi leapt aside as the vampire's sword carved through
a leaning steel beam, sending a huge section crashing to the floor.  He
swiped it back and forth in the air, calling a challenge.

     "Who's first?  Hmm?"  The blade crackled just slightly as it moved,
giving a desperate edge to Resh's words.  "Come on!"

     [Oh no.]

     Hotaru felt herself walking forward.  Her hand on the haft of the
Silence Glaive was slick with sweat.

     [What am I ]doing[?]

     [Buying time.]

     [It's going to get us *killed!*]  The vampire fixed her with a gaze
and turned to meet her, raising the sword in front of him.

     [Us?]

     [Me!]  She felt like screaming.  [Sailor Saturn.  Me.]

     Her hands moved in a complicated twist, setting the long weapon to
spinning.  The vampire grinned and approached, sword twitching from
right to left.

     [Too late now, Hotaru.  Time to fight.]

     [I...]

     Resh lunged, a straightforward attack with all the vampire's
strength behind it.  Hotaru caught the blade on her weapon and turned
the stroke in a shower of black sparks.  Her recovery was slow, though,
and Resh easily stepped out of the way of her clumsy return stroke and
began to circle.

     [I can't beat him.]

     [We can.]

     Another moment passed, and Resh was surging forward again, not
attempting to feint but simply hammering at her parries.  Hotaru took
one step back, then another, blocking clumsily.  Her fingers went numb
as the Glaive was nearly jarred from her hands.

     Saturn was waiting.  Hotaru sighed in surrender.

     [If it saves the others...]

     [Now.  Fight.]

     Feeling surged back along her arms, and Saturn spun to the side as
Resh thrust again, leaving the vampire off-balance.  The butt end of the
Glaive whipped around, catching him in the side and pushing him further.
He spun around, inhumanly fast, and caught her downward stroke on his
sword.  She didn't press that attack.  [Saturn or not, he's still
stronger then I am.]  Instead, she shifted gears and lashed at his
sides, feinting first left, then right.  The vampire over-responded,
slapping the weapon away with his own and leaving himself no time to
counterattack.  Soon it was Resh who was being driven backwards,
stepping out of her way of her lunge with a clumsy dodge.

     [I can beat him.  I *can* beat him.]  The Glaive whirled and
flashed, and the vampire was driven back step by step, parrying
desperately.  He raised a hand, calling power from the storm, but before
he could act she attacked again and he was again forced to parry.

     She caught site of Rei out of the corner of her eye.  "Mars, I've
got him...you guys have too..."

     The vampire's eyes blazed with sudden fury, glimmers of hidden red
coming to the front.  He knocked her blade to the side in a too-wide
sweep, spreading his arms wide.  His own sword shattered, dissolving
back into its component energies.

     Combat instincts flared.  [There's my opening.]

     [But...]

     There was a bare moment of hesitation.

     [He's a *vampire*.]

     Hotaru thrust the Glaive home.  The blade caught Resh in the chest,
parting his flesh as though it was mist and embedding itself nearly to
the haft.  Hotaru kept her hands on it, not quite believing.

     [I got him.]

     Resh stood for a moment, transfixed by Saturn's weapon.  He put one
of his own hands on the shaft, staring down as though he didn't quite
believe it, then looked up at her.

     Looked up at Saturn and...grinned, even wider.

     Something clicked inside her just before Resh twisted violently,
tearing the shaft from her hands; his own grip wrenched the blade out,
dripping with a thick black liquid, and tossed it aside.  She barely had
time to take a step back before he surged forward, bringing one fist
around with the force of a jackhammer.  

     Hotaru felt no pain, just a vague sensation of something giving
way.  She realized, absently, that she was flying; it was only a moment
more before she impacted heavily against one of the support pillars and
fell into darkness.

     

     Ami's eyes went wide.  "Hotaru."

     "There, you see?"  Eridu put his hand on her shoulder.  "She may be
alive a few seconds more.  There's still time..."

     Ami was no longer listening to him.  She reached, calling out.

     [Rei...listen to me...]


Django Wexler (khaine)
khaine@mindless.com

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
                        Douglas Adams


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