StudioPC wrote:

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is the creation if Naoko Takeuchi. Other  
characters are the property of Marvel Comics Inc. No money is being  
made from this and no such intent should be inferred.

* * * *

Bored.

Usagi leaned her chair back on two legs and attempted to balance a  
pencil on the tip of her nose as she listened to the student  
president drone on about some upcoming festival. It was one of the  
big meetings, with not only class reps, but the club presidents as  
well. Fortunately, most of the class reps were also club presidents,  
so the room wasn't as packed as it could have been.

Bored. Bored bored boredey bored bored.

"Representative Tsukino!"

Usagi's chair came down and she came to her feet. "Yes, my liege!"  
she said, saluting. "The warriors of Nan-Jahar stand ready. The  
barbarian hordes of Al-Amherac shall die on the plains of Nagahla  
under the hooves of our horses! We will slaughter them like pigs,  
loot their houses and amuse ourselves with their women! For the glory  
of Nan-Jahar!"

The president nodded, deciding that he probably shouldn't think about  
that too hard. "Er, thank you, Miss Tsukino, but I was wondering  
about your homeroom's plans for the Spring Festival."

"Oh." Usagi looked thoughtful. "You sure you wouldn't rather have Al- 
Amherac slaughtered? Wouldn't be any trouble. We'd be done by lunch."

"Ah, no. Perhaps after the festival."

"Oh." Usagi looked down at the notebook in front of her and began to  
outline plans for a food booth serving Western cuisine.

* * * *

"Nan-Jahar?" Flash asked as she, Ami, and Usagi stood in the front  
entrance way, putting on their street shoes. "The Barbarian Hordes of  
Al-Amherwhatever?"

"Al-Amerhac," Usagi said. "And what about it? I had to say something."

You know what I'm reminded of?  There's this British cartoon called 
Bromwell High which had a scene where for absolutely no reason a masked 
man smashes through the window into a staff meeting and attacks the 
venal headmaster with a sword.  Iqbal fights him off with an umbrella 
unmasks him to reveal that he's the gym teacher and then compliments him 
for livening things up.

"All right . . ." Flash said, shifting the text book on her lap.  
"Question Five."

"Zombie Monkey Buttsex," Usagi responded and clacked her chopsticks  
in Flash's general direction before returning to her bento.

Flash rolled her eyes. "Usagi, this is algebra. How the hell does  
that have anything to do with . . . what you just said?"

"Easy. Z over M times B equals six," Usagi replied smugly.

Flash stared at her and then decided not to ask. Instead, she looked  
down at Question 5, which was . . . Z over M times B equals six,  
provided M equaled two and B equaled one. 

Ordinarily math questions don't do a lot of multiplying by one.

Flash shrugged. "Look, just pay Usagi five thousand yen to call you  
over some made-up emergency at an hour or so into the date. You duck  
out saying you gotta help a friend, then got to the cemetery and do  
whatever is you do. Then you just tell your aunt you hated it, won't  
go near him ever again, and viola! Everybody's happy."

Is that deliberate?

"I am," she said, but it came out in a squeak. She coughed and  
managed a bow. "I am," she said more normally.

He returned the bow. "Makato Wantanabe. M.J. to my friends. Pleased  
to meet you."

And the "j" stands for what?

"Anyways," Fury said. "The university here in Tokyo was working with  
Stark Enterprises on deep space research. There was a pound of  
Vibranium on loan to the university as part of it. This lump Mobou is  
holding was in storage and under S.H.I.E.L.D. guard. My people  
managed to get it out of the lab and away from the . . ." he made a  
face. "Youma." Fury clearly didn't care for the supernatural.

He has no sense of youma about it?

"I'll need the testing data from the adamantium and vibranium to be  
sure, but rough estimate says kiss Tokyo goodbye, possibly even this  
entire prefecture. They could easily build one half the size of the  
prototype and three times as powerful with the adamantium alone. The  
Vibranium easily makes it ten times more powerful and that could set  
off a chain reaction that ends God knows where."

But then again, the rampaging mutants will distract everyone from that.

Dead silence.

"We must evacuate the city," Strange said.

"Evacuate Tokyo?" Fury exclaimed, "Strange, have you been snorting  
incense? It would take weeks to do that. We don't have that kind of  
time!"

"We cannot sit here and wait for Beryl to set off the bomb!"

"Wakanda must get the Vibranium back!" Mobou shouted, wading into the  
fray.

Banner joined Strange in the shouting and this left the Senshi to  
look at each other.

Sailor Moon closed her eyes and began to laugh quietly. "I can't  
escape it, can I?" She took a teacup from the remains of the table  
and hurled it at Fury's head.

Reflexively, he ducked and it was enough to cause a break in the  
shouting as they all looked to see where it had come from.

Slowly, Sailor Moon stood. "We're not waiting, and we're not  
evacuating. We're going after them. Beryl wants a fight, she'll get  
it." Sailor Moon's eyes were cold, hard, and perhaps most  
frightening; sane. "And now," she said in a flat voice, "I'll tell  
you how."

* * * *

According to Banner, the only things Beryl needed to complete the  
bomb was a supply of cobalt, and some uranium. The beauty of the  
gamma bomb was that it needed uranium. It could be enriched, which  
gave better performance, but raw would work just as well.

S.H.I.E.L.D had no idea where Beryl intended to get the cobalt, but  
there was a shipment of uranium fuel rods arriving in Tokyo in two  
weeks by ship.

The plan (with some refinement since Usagi was in favor of shooting  
tactical nukes through the portal) was simple; Sailor Moon, Sailor  
Jupiter and Spiderwoman, along with Banner, Strange, and  several  
squads of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would sail out to the cargo ship before  
it arrived in the bay. Disguised as officers in the military and  
nuclear techs, they would board the ship for "an inspection" and then  
wait for Beryl to strike. When they did, Strange would force their  
portal to stay open while they launched a counter attack.

Mobou and his Wakandans (at Mobou's insistence) would be accompanying  
them in order to retrieve or destroy the vibranium, but the primary  
objective was to get the Senshi to Beryl and take her down.

The hard part was Ami. Usagi came and went as she pleased and Flash  
answered to no one but herself. But Ami had Aunt Mai, who would  
hardly approve of her niece running off to another dimension and  
possibly get killed.

In the end, it was Usagi who fast talked Mai into believing that she,  
Ami, and a few friends were taking a trip by boat to a private island  
resort.

Once that was out of the way, all that was left to do was wait and by  
unspoken agreement, they did most of their waiting at Flash's and  
even Usagi was nervous. Ami could tell because the blonde wasn't  
cracking very many jokes. At times, entire hours went by without  
Usagi making some comment, or holding one-sided conversations with  
the TV.

Two days before the ship arrived, Ami packed a bag and prepared to  
leave for the island. Underneath the clothes and swimsuits were  
refills for web-fluid, her laptop, and a tool set. The plan was to  
head for Banterman's and lie low until it was go time.

Usagi and Flash knocked on the door just after ten and Usagi swore  
all sorts of promises to Aunt Mai about safety, keeping in touch and  
the dangers of excessive tanning. All of which she fully intended to  
break, Ami knew.

"You're going to hell, you realize that," Flash said to Usagi as they  
walked down the walk and out the gate.

"I'll be in good company," Usagi said, making a gesture of dismissal.  
"Besides, ruling the dead is a career goal anyone can aspire too."

"Oh, I see. Realistic ambition."

"Career goals, Flash. I have career goals."

"You have mental problems, you mean."

"I prefer the term 'psychiatric issues'."

"You're insane."

"Sanity challenged."

Creativity enhanced!

"So it's Senshi business then. Well, be careful," M.J. replied, not  
taking his eyes off Ami. "I hate losing friends."

Three jaws dropped in sheer shock. "Buh?" Usagi asked. "I say buh?"

"Damn," M.J. cursed. "Look, its not what you think. 

Oh come on.  Don't explain now.  Give them a reason to come back.



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