[FFML] [Sailor Moon] Double Exposure 1 [Dark/Comedy]

[Paul Durant]

Author's Notes:

   I posted this a year ago or so for a "what would happen if someone other than 
the Outer Senshi got Hotaru after the end of season 3" challenge. I am reposting 
it now because A: I have revised it and added scenes as well as super-special-
awesome bonus content, and B: I know nobody saved or remembered it from a 
year ago and nobody would read chapter 2 through 5 if they never read chapter 1. 
So here you go.


   This is a crossover between Sailor Moon and the DARK.MATTER campaign
setting for the Alternity science-fiction roleplaying game. If you don't know what 
that is, and I know you don't, I will explain.


   The world of DARK.MATTER resembles our own superficially, but only
because shadowy powers are working to hide everything that would make it
seem unusual. A world where aliens secretly influence human society,
mysterious cyborgs plot to infect and replace humanity in secret, people
born with strange psychic powers are whisked away to clandestine
government labs under cover of darkness never to be seen again, demons
walk the shadows sowing fear and unrest, the Freemasons and the UN plot
to instutite a New World Order, and Lee Harvey Oswald most certainly did
not act alone. It's a world of paranoia and conspiracy straight out of
the dreams of the most fevered Usenet kook.


   The incidences of strange, unexplainable phenomena such as telepathy,
magic, extradimensional visitors, and Chupacabras are tied to a
phenomenon known as the "Dark Tide", or the density of dark matter in
the galaxy. A rising Dark Tide, as there is currently, results in an
increase in the strange and unexplainable all over the world, but
especially around mysterious subterranean phenomena known as "dark
matter gateways", things that, when the Dark Tide is high enough to
activate them, are the nexus for all kinds of strange phenomena.


   The player characters in the setting are assumed to be members of the
Hoffmann Institute, a private agency run by a man named Itohiro Nakami
and tasked with researching, understanding, and combating threats to
humankind caused by the rising Dark Tide. Think of them as being kind of
like the "X-Files", but not working for the government, and with nowhere
near the budget. The four Hoffmann Institute agents seen here are four
of the six sample characters provided for the introductory adventure at
the front of the book, "Exit 23", in which a random group of people are
trapped at an Idaho truck stop in the midst of a hellish snowstorm and
are besieged by a mysterious ice-demon.


   Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi, and the DARK.MATTER
setting was written by Wolfgang Baur and Monte Cook. I own neither of
these things, and expect that if either of those last two people Google
their own names they are going to be incredibly confused.



* * * * *



   "I take it you are the people sent from the Institute?" said the
thin, nervous looking Japanese man as he pulled open the sliding glass
door.


   "You'd be correct. Doctor Phillip Akens, Hoffmann Institute." He was
a tall, dignified-looking African-American, around forty, his hair just
starting to grey at the edges. He extended an opened hand, which the
Japanese man stared at for a few seconds before Akens retracted it with
a nervous cough. "These are my colleagues, Doctor Nadine Neary, Doctor
Donna Truitt, and Mister William Wheeler." He gestured behind him and
pointed to, in turn, a small, slender woman of mixed Asian descent with
an unfocused, genial smile, a taller woman with long, dark hair and a
tank top to show off her well-toned arms, and a broad-shouldered man
with unkempt shoulder-length red hair, camo-patterned pants, and a
jacket that went down to his knees.


   The Japanese man bowed. "Doctor Akito. I thank you for coming on such
short notice, and only wish we could have met under better
circumstances." He ushered the four foreigners through the door, then
slid it shut and locked it behind them. "I have heard of your expertise
in these matters -- I trust you will be able to deal with this situation
quickly and quietly?"


   "Discretion is our watchword, Doctor. If you could show us to the
site of the most recent incident?"


   "Ah, of course! Otoyo-sensei's office is -- was -- this way. Please,
follow me, I will explain what we know on the way."


   Behind Akito's back, the red-haired man whispered to the tall woman
next to him. "Doctor Truitt? Why do you get to be a doctor and I only
get to be a 'mister'?"


   She elbowed him in the ribs, but said nothing.


   "We've been experiencing problems with the electrical systems for
about a month," said Akito, unable to hear what was going on behind him,
"but the first fatality was a week and a half ago -- a student working
overnight in one of the labs was found Friday morning, covered in what
looked to be severe electrical burns. At first we thought it was some
sort of power surge; much of the equipment was damaged as well --"


   "--But the maintenance staff said the power surge came from a
different machine in a different room entirely, right? One that had no
signs of damage -- the cyclotron?"


   "Ah, yes, that is correct, Akens-sensei. We were concerned, of
course, but we examined the cyclotron and found nothing wrong with it.
We hadn't really had a chance to progress much further when the second
body was discovered, five days later. This time it was one of our
custodial personnel, in the middle of a hallway, with a similar pattern
of burns. Again, there was a power spike from the cyclotron.  We shut it
down, even though there was again nothing wrong  with it --"


   Akens interrupted again. "--But two days ago you went into Doctor
Otoyo's office, saw the good doctor's remains, at which point you closed
off the department and called us?"


   "Ah, yes, correct. My assistant must have given you this information
over the phone. This is... was Otoyo-sensei's office, and I have kept it
locked since that day. I hope you can make something of it, I find it
most disturbing."


   Akito opened the door and winced at the sight within. Akens' eyebrow
arched, Neary looked queasy, and Wheeler let out a slow whistle. The
office was a shambles; papers and lab equipment lay strewn all over. The
doctor's large oaken desk had been overturned and splintered in several
places. Most notably, what appeared to be Dr. Otoyo hung upside-down
from the ceiling, covered in electrical burns, his legs below the knee
fused into the plaster above them with no visible means of entry.


   "Doctor Akito, you've come to the right people."


* * * SAILOR.MOON: DOUBLE EXPOSURE


CHAPTER 1: DOUBLE VISION * * *


UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO DEPT. OF HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICS OFFICE OF OTOYO
SHINICHIRO TOKYO, JAPAN
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 16, 1995, 4:08 PM


   "I still don't see why we have to hang around in here. We got all the
information we needed over the phone." William Wheeler picked one of
those clicking-ball devices off the floor -- Newton's Cradle, that's
what those things were called -- and started to play with it. "We could
be out right now looking for this thing instead of wasting our time
here."


   "As much as I hate to say it, I agree with Bill on this one," said
Donna Truitt, standing by the door. "We already know how this guy died
and why, not like it had anything to do with what he was working on. And
the dead guy hanging out of the ceiling is really starting to freak me
out."


   Philip Akens didn't look up from the stack of papers he was leafing
through. "I know we're not doing anything, but we have to anyway. It's
all about appearances, about keeping face."


   Donna rolled her eyes. "Phil, with you everything is about keeping
face."


   He sighed, a 'why-Lord-must you-test-me-so' gesture. "Yes, okay,
Doctor Akito is one of the few experts in his field who would actually
give my theories on dark energy a second glance, so I would appreciate
it if we could solve this problem in such a manner that we don't look
like a pack of wild animals. Just this once, perhaps?"


   Wheeler grunted. "I promise nothing."


   Another sigh. "Anyway," Akens continued, "We give it another ten
minutes or so in here, convince him we're touching all the bases. Then
we can get down to the real business." He paused, flipping back and
forth between a few pages. "No wonder he had to pull an allnighter, this
guy had no control over his department. Labs cancelled, tests lost,
professors missing, had to be a lot of work if he's doing the work of
six or more professors by himself. Hell, he's got a Doctor Tomoe here
who hasn't shown up in over two weeks -- that's two weeks worth of three
classes a week, labs to run, papers to grade, equipment to schedule..."


   "Vanished over two weeks ago?" asked Dr. Neary. "Didn't Akito say
that the bodies have been turning up about every five days? Could be,
the first victim they found wasn't the first victim it made."


   "Exactly what I was thinking, Nadine," Akens said as he folded the
papers in half to place in his pocket. "And here you thought we were
wasting our time."


* * *


   After a thorough review of Dr. Tomoe's office in the physics
department, the agents of the Hoffmann Institute came to the conclusion
that he was indeed somehow involved in the summoning of the Fader. His
office had no papers to grade and no pictures of his daughter anywhere,
but what it did have were cursory notes on the summoning of extra-
dimensional beings, probably ones he forgot to take with him when he
cleared the incriminating material out of this office.


   The agents suspect that he summoned a Fader, and they are right. The
Fader is a creature not native to our reality but from a plane of mostly
energy, who take the form of human bodies that were sent into its home
plane of existence. Most, perhaps all of these bodies the Faders take,
were left in their world after the disastrous failure of the US
military's "Project Rainbow", also known as the Philadelphia Experiment,
in which the Navy attempted to teleport the USS Eldridge from one
location to another by passing it through the dimension the Faders come
from. Many of the crew were killed, some of them phased through the
walls and floors by the massive distortions of energy, and some of the
crew that came out on the other side weren't really the crew at all.


   Dr. Tomoe did summon such a creature, a being of warped, insane
energy straddling between our world and theirs, but this was not his
intention. Indeed, he's not even aware that it arrived in our world at
all via the open portal he was using to test for the arrival of Pharaoh
90. The Fader simply saw a gate to our world, took it, and traveled
toward the nearest source of energy it could find. Luckily for Dr. Tomoe
and unluckily for us, he was not testing the gateway in his own backyard
or the monster would have fed on the equipment in his basement; instead
the closest source was the cyclotron at Tokyo University.


   The Hoffmann agents do not have access to this information and do not
yet know that the monster Tomoe is attempting to summon is much, much
worse than any mere Fader. But they did learn some things, and by the
time the sun was setting they figured they had enough time to check on
his house, or the private school he was teaching at, but not both. They
chose to search his house, and if they had not, they would have been
witness to far stranger events.


   Events like Ami, Minako, Usagi, Rei, and Makoto are witnessing right
now, when the students of the Mugen Academy are walking in like a great
shambling pack of zombies, faces clouded in unnatural shadow, to have
their pure hearts sucked out from their chests to fuel the Messiah of
Silence's power. The five Sailor Senshi are scared, they'd be foolish
not to be, but they press on because they know they are the only ones
who can stop this evil from coming to pass.


   And they're right, but they're not the only ones who would try.


* * *


   Glancing from mirror to mirror and back again, Dr. Neary backed a
Hertz rental van into the driveway of the missing doctor's rather
impressive two-story home. Nobody expects any trouble -- they don't
expect to meet anybody, as a matter of fact -- but she's learned the
hard way to always, always park for a quick getaway.


   "Akito said that Tomoe had a daughter," Akens said as Neary struggled
to get the aging manual transmission into 'neutral' without snapping the
gearshift off. "If he's vanished, and I bet he has, she may still be
around. Wheeler, can you give us your friendly uncle act?"


   "I don't know how well it will work if she can't speak any English,
but I'll give 'er a shot." Wheeler heaved the sliding door on the side
open, and it reached the end of its track with a muffled WHUMP. "Wish I
brought a gun, though."


   Truitt rolled her eyes in the seat next to him. "Yes, I'm sure his
daughter would be so much more easily amused if you had a shooting iron
to show her. I know I ask this a lot, Bill, but just what the hell is
wrong with your brain?" Wheeler shot her a scowl set on 'vaporize'.


   "Get a room, you two." Neary spun the keychain around her index
finger a few times and then stuffed the keys into her pocket.


   "All right, here we go." Akens slowly, deliberately pressed his thumb
into the doorbell, greeted by a harsh buzz muffled through the front
door. He waited a few moments, then held down the button for ten seconds
solid. "Looks like nobody's home. Donna, could you--"


   Truitt shoved him aside with a hand curled around a locksmith's pick
set. "--Get the door? Why gee, I hadn't thought of that. It isn't like
it's my job or anything." She knelt over and glanced at the doorknob,
selected a pick from the fold-out set, and started to line it up with
the keyhole before she stopped and just turned the doorknob. Met with no
resistance, the front doors of the Tomoe residence swung open.


   The lights were off, and Donna slapped her hand against the wall a
few times before finding the lightswitches -- she flicked them back and
forth, to no effect. "Lights probably burned out," Wheeler said from a
distance that sounded like he was right in Donna's ear, likely because
he was, and she instinctively spun around and took a few steps backward,
nearly stepping on a table. "Car isn't in the driveway, though, so if he
left them on he was expecting to be right back."


   "Or maybe he was too busy thinking about quarks and bosons to
remember to turn them off before he went to work. Whatever it is, we
need to check around for anything indicating where he was going or if he
was doing anything to attract outside attention. Probably best if we
split up."


   And at Dr. Neary's suggestion, they split up. They would remain split
up for no more than twenty-five seconds, which is how long it took for
Donna Truitt to go into the basement and find the lab. Once she did, it
was pretty clear that nothing else in the house was going to matter.


*


   "Holy shit! It's like he's building a Goddamn Frankenstein down
here!"


   "Donna, that's absurd. I mean, Tomoe's field was physics, not
biology, and, and none of these things look like... I mean, if this
stuff has something to do with the Fader's appearance, that's still
something that would require... it'd need a totally..."


   Tubes and beakers filled with unidentifiable substances littered the
several tables in the room. A mesh of copper wiring coated the walls and
ceiling. The far wall was cluttered with machinery of various ages and
applications. There was a Jacob's ladder, arcing electricity up its twin
antenna to no apparent purpose, a Kenmore refridgerator, and a boxy
device, painted with a star, that was either an autoclave that looked
like an Easy-Bake oven, or an Easy-Bake oven that looked like an
autoclave. A beige Hewlett-Packard was hooked up to most of the devices,
its monitor displaying a series of multicolored tubes snaking around
each other.


   Donna didn't look away from the lab. "What? What would it require,
Phil?"


   Phil didn't look away either. "...It really looks like he's building
a Goddamn Frankenstein down here."


   Dr. Neary pushed them aside. "Well, whatever he was shooting for, we
know what he got. We'd better get an inventory of what he had, maybe if
we can figure out how he got the Fader over here, we can figure out how
to kill it or drive it off."


   They nodded in odd synchronicity and fanned out to begin looting the
lab of anything that could either provide insight into the doctor's
dimension-crossing ventures, or at least be sold. Dr. Akens moved to the
computer and began to tap at the keyboard. A few moments later, Wheeler
piped up.


   "Try 'Hotaru'."


   "Huh?"


   "His daughter's name. It's probably the password."


   Akens let out a long sigh. "There wasn't a password, it was just his
screen saver. And that only ever works in the movies anyway."


   Wheeler sniffed the contents of the flask he was holding and
grimaced. "Oh, you mean the movies, like the ones where crazy mad
scientists have labs in their basements with those little widgets that
look like rabbit ears with bolts of lightning zapping up them?"


   Akens would have greatly loved to have a withering put-down to
respond to this, but damn if Bill wasn't right.


* * *


   Upstairs, a black magic woman breathes a sigh of relief as she sees
the four strangers walking back out to the car, carrying Dr. Tomoe's
computer and several components of the lab. She was afraid that they
might be some as-yet-unknown allies of the Sailor Senshi, but luckily
they were just there to rob the place. They left behind the daimon
incubator, by far the most valuable piece of equipment, and nothing they
did take didn't already have four or five backups at the Mugen site.


   It took all her restraint to keep silent when she heard them come in,
but she was pretty sure it was the right decision. If she killed them
and anyone saw or heard it, then Chibi-Usa might be scared off and never
come seeking her little friend. The doctor's personal computer wasn't
important, but Hotaru's little playmate was vital. She was certain to
have the purest heart of them all, and that's why Kaolinite sent her a
dream about her friend, being torn asunder and screaming Chibi-Usa's
name. She'd even thrown in some meaningless Christian symbolism and had
Hotaru bound to the cross; that kind of stuff always got the kids riled
up.


   When Kaolinite captured the girl and secured her pure heart for the
Pharaoh, it would be clear to all who was the greatest servant the
Pharaoh had. And it would especially be clear to that bitch Cyprine, who
was going to be demoted to rinsing out the centrifuge so fast it would
make her head spin.


* * *


   "Okay, so we got the doc's research data. What now?"


   "Well, there's a bunch of data on there about trying to bridge the
way to a sub-dimension of our own, and bring something over that's been
straddling between two planes. We know that the Faders are probably from
outside our dimension, and they need enormous amounts of energy to
maintain their existence, but nobody knows what would happen if one were
to be brought all the way into our reality rather than existing halfway
between here and there. As far as I know, nobody's ever tried before Dr.
Tomoe. Problem is, I couldn't find any actual schematics on there,
nothing about a device to actually accomplish it. I may be able to--"


   "God DAMN it will you jackasses just let me TURN, or am I going to
sithere with my blinker on until I die of old age?" Donna slammed the
base of her palm on the steering wheel in frustration. "You don't get a
prize for 'winning' at traffic, so it's okay if you let someone in front
of you once in a while!" She paused. "I'm sorry, you were saying
something that I wasn't at all interested in?"


   Dr. Akens cleared his throat. "Erm, yes. Anyway, I know of someone
back in Arizona who may be able to take the data and help us make
something to disrupt the Fader and drive it back to its home dimension.
If we can get in touch with him, we might be able to stop the creature's
next feeding cycle."


   "If? Well, what do you mean, if?"


   "Yeah... apparently, when I last talked to him, his financial
situation was less than optimal. His last few paychecks from the
Institute had bounced, and he suggested he'd flip a coin to decide if he
paid for his phone or his cable television. I think he was joking. I
hope."


   Donna slammed on the brakes and drove her hand into the horn like she
was trying to tear through a human skull. "The light is GREEN you idiot!
Does everyone cross against the light here in Bizarro-Land, or are you
just retarded?"


   The short, pink-haired girl that had nearly been flattened by the van
looked up at her as if in a trance, her red eyes distant and troubled.
"Yes, I am talking to you!" Donna continued. "Go! Move! Motivate!
Vamanos!" She began making wide hand gestures to illustrate the point.
"MOOOOOOOOVE IT!"


   Nadine slapped her on the back of the hand. "Jesus, Donna, will you
give it a rest? I think everyone's got the point by now that you're,
ooh," she put her hands up near her head and wiggled her fingers a bit,
"big scary lady with big important things nobody ever better cross!"


   Donna gritted her teeth and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel
as the light turned red and the little girl snapped out of her momentary
trance to continue off down the street. "Shut up, Nadine."


   "Run off, little pink-haired girl," Nadine continued as if she hadn't
heard, "Run off and tell all your friends of this day, the day that you
met the mighty Donna Truitt, the mysterious stranger, the erotic
assassin who can kill with a glance, and lived to tell the tale! Go! And
warn the others of what may befall them if she is not afforded her
proper respect!"


   Donna blew a strand of hair out of her face. "I just... don't
appreciate it when I've got the right of way and someone decides that
their time is more important than mine. I don't think that's really all
that unusual."A pause. The light turned green again and they continued
on down the  road. "And besides, if I did want her to go warn everyone,
she could just make a sign and stick it in that hairdo of hers."


* * *


   Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity woke with a start, yelling
Hotaru's name. She was panting, sweating, exhausted, and she had to take
a moment to get her bearings and realize that she was awake now, she'd
been having a nightmare. Hotaru was screaming her name as a thousand
grasping hands dragged her down into the unfathomable darkness. She was
nailed to a crucifix, for she was a Messiah, but hers was not an act of
redemption. The Christians say the Messiah died to wash away the sins of
man and grant them eternal life, but the Messiah of Silence would come
to wash away the virtue and goodness of mankind and usher in utter
annihilation.


   Chibi-Usa took a moment to be grateful she wasn't a Christian and
didn't have to follow that line of symbolism down to its conclusion.


   She took a look around the room but Usagi and Mamoru were gone, and
who knew when they'd be back. Chibi-Usa still couldn't believe that
those two could ever grow up into her parents. Ikuko and Kenji, Usagi's
parents, were probably still here, but what Chibi-Usa needed wasn't
something that came from two people who are awakened at 11:30 at night
by a kid who had a nightmare.


   It was just a nightmare, after all. Sailor Mars was the one with
visions of the future, not her. This wasn't any more a vision of the
future than her dream last week where she and Black Lady were both
contestants on "Takeshi's Castle" and Black Lady kept tripping on her
dress and falling in the water. Still... it couldn't hurt to check. If
Hotaru wasn't in trouble, then she'd feel a bit silly. If she was,
Chibi-Usa might save her life. It was just a dream -- she hoped it was
just a dream -- but she just needed to make sure.


   She had already grabbed her compact, put on her shoes, and was
halfway down the block by the time she made this conscious decision.


   But it was only right, wasn't it, that Chibi-Usa do everything in her
power to save Hotaru? Even if, Chibi-Usa shuddered, the powers of Sailor
Chibi-Moon might not be able to do a whole lot to a forest of pallid
white arms stretching out of the maw of the Abyss. Chibi-Usa was a
princess, after all, and -- no. No, Chibi-Usa corrected herself, this
had nothing to do with being a princess. She was Hotaru's friend and
that's what mattered, and she'd be Hotaru's friend whether she were a
princess or a pauper. She had to do everything she could to make sure
Hotaru was safe and she was happy, because she knew Hotaru would do the
same for her.


   Everyone deserves to have friends, to have people that love and care
about them, and if Hotaru only had one, then that just meant Chibi-Usa
would have to be as kind to her as ten friends would. Hotaru was a
sweet, kind girl, and someone like her should be cheerful, not sad.
Hotaru always seemed sad before Chibi-Usa befriended her, and too often
afterwards. They played, they laughed, they had fun, but sometimes
Chibi-Usa got the impression that Hotaru's happiness wasn't replacing
her sorrow, but just laying on top of it. Covering it up. She never
talked about the past without regret, she always feared the worst would
happen to her, and seemed a bit suprised whenever she was shown
kindness. Always afraid, of being hurt, of being rejected, of failing,
of herself.


   Hotaru would never say these things out loud, of course, because she
cared about Chibi-Usa's feelings and didn't want her to worry, so she
just kept her bad feelings on the inside where she thought nobody could
see them. It was tragic, thought Chibi-Usa, that if she could open
herself up a little more to the world she'd find so many new reasons to
be happy, but until she was happier she couldn't open herself up to the
world.


   That's what Chibi-Usa's job was. Not just to save her from being
pulled into a physical darkness -- something that she still hoped was
just a metaphor -- but to pull her out of an emotional darkness. If
Chibi-Usa could be her ray of light and let her see things the way they
really are, she knew Hotaru would be happy. And that would make her
happy, too.


   Chibi-Usa stopped when she heard a car horn, not so much startled as
confused. She looked around and realized she was in the middle of the
street, blocking the path of the van that was now honking at her. The
driver was a dark-haired woman, American or European, and she was
screaming loudly and animatedly in a language Chibi-Usa didn't
understand. She looked at the woman, shouting and waving her arms, for a
long and morose moment. She was so angry, impatient. She was probably
unhappy too. Did this screaming woman have friends when she was young,
people to show her the goodness of the world? Chibi-Usa didn't think so,
and when she walked away from the van the thought of it almost made her
cry. People deserve to be better than that. Hotaru deserves to be better
than that.


   When Chibi-Usa got to the house, she decided that for safety's sake
it was best if she transformed into Sailor Chibi-Moon. She went to open
the front door, but it opened to beckon her in...


* * *


   Daniel Banks, the engineer to which Dr. Akens had earlier referred,
was not joking. But this time, his coin flip had resulted in another
month of payment to the phone company; any deviations in this tangent
ultimately can be attributed to the results of this coin flip. It is why
all night and into the early morning of February 17th, 1995, as the
dwindling remains of a cabal of sorcerers in the Mugen Academy for
Gifted Students work the mechanism of Armageddon, as eight Senshi
struggle to halt its great turning gears, four underpaid agents are
sitting in a circle on the floor of the office of Dr. Mitsumo Akito,
surrounded by various electronic parts and components, one of them
alternating betweenlistening intently to the phone cradled between his
ear and shoulder, tapping something into the keyboard of a beige
Hewlett-Packard laying on the floor next to him, and shouting commands
to a loose assortment of undergraduates to fetch for him the next part
he will need. Four undergraduates are missing, not that anyone notices,
and those would be the four of Dr. Akito's students that had taken part-
time tutoring jobs at the downtown Mugen Academy. When morning came, the
rest of the students found the entire building closed off by order of
the department chair.


   The long-distance bill alone from this night will be over one
thousand American dollars, not to mention the costs of rescheduling a
day's worth of classes. The Hoffmann Institute will never see an invoice
for this, because every party involved is about to have much bigger
problems.


   Inside the Mugen Academy, Dr. Tomoe spoke softly, reverently, to his
own daughter. "It is all ready now. Now we need only to put the chalice
into the device, and the light of darkness will illuminate our world.
That illumination is what is needed to show the way to our great Master
Pharaoh Ninety. And when he arrives in our space, all will be destroyed
and the Earth will fall into Silence. The era ruled by the light of lies
will end and the era ruled by the darkness of truth will begin. "


   She smiled, a dark smile that portended nothing but suffering and
sorrow. Her master would have smiled too, had he mouth or form. He was
in the same room as his mad servitor, and yet was an entire world away.
But soon, his nightmare would end, and he would surge into the existence
denied him thousands of years ago. Soon, he would enact his hellish
retribution on the world that had been his prison.


   The time of the Silent One was soon at hand.


* * *


   "So that's it?"


   "That's it."


   Wheeler picked up the device and gingerly turned it over in his
hands, then placed it back on the table. "It looks like a hot dog
rotisserie."


   It did.


   "It's a rotating magnetic resonance disruptor. It cycles magentic
fields on a certain frequency, attuned to the dimension the Faders are
from. If Dr. Tomoe's research was accurate, it'll force our Fader into
one dimension or another."


   "And what will that mean?"


   Akens shrugged. "Depends. If it is more in its dimension at the time,
it just gets driven back. It vanishes. If it's more in ours, it's forced
all the way in, and it should be unable to teleport or make use of the
energy it's been storing up."


   Wheeler pulled the Colt Python out of his jacket and made a show of
twirling it back and forth between his hands. "At which point, I put
bullets into it until it falls down. I knew you guys kept me around for
something."


   "Don't get too trigger-happy. If we didn't get the frequency right,
it could end up affecting a dimension the Fader isn't even in. Shoot it
when it's at normal power and you'll just end up angering it."


   "Phil, I don't know if you've noticed this, but generally when I
shoot things they aren't happy about it." He slid the gun back into its
holster, just so he could make a show of drawing it again. "So, I
noddedoff at about four, what time did you guys end up going to bed?"


   "Didn't. I drank about three pots of coffee, and plus the grad
students give me like twenty boxes of those little candy pretzel stick
things with chocolate on them."


   "Pocky?"


   "Oh no thanks, I'll just put on a jacket."


* * *


   Sailor Uranus, Sailor Pluto, and Sailor Neptune approached the Mugen
Academy in a helicopter. The sky was grey and overcast, turning day into
twilight. The weathermen at the channel from which the helicopter was
stolen had predicted today would be sunny and clear, and for once this
inaccuracy was not their fault. These clouds didn't foretell rain. They
foretold death.


   "We have no time left," said Sailor Uranus. "We have to strike before
she completely awakens." Neptune looked straight ahead, but put her hand
around Uranus's, for support. "So there was no Messiah after all... we
have to save the world with our own hands." She started to choke up,
though with anger or sorrow she could not tell. "No matter what
sacrifice we may have to make..."


   In the backseat, Pluto stared off to the side, in silent
contemplation. Neptune and Uranus were willing to make the ultimate
sacrifice. So was she. But Usagi wasn't. No, Usagi had said "I won't let
anyone be sacrificed," and she said it with the same conviction that
they'd said they would die to stop the Silence. Neptune and Uranus think
that means she's weak, naive, foolishly optimistic. That she'd be dead
if not for cynical people like them willing to do ugly things so she can
keep herself pretty.


   Pluto can't help but wonder, though. Sailor Moon has already fought
the Dark Kingdom and the Black Moon Clan without the help of the Outer
Senshi and without sacrificing any of her friends. Is the Silence simply
a different threat, one that can't be fought the way Sailor Moon is
confortable with? Or would Neptune and Uranus have thought that the only
way to defeat Queen Beryl was to sacrifice themselves and leave nobody
to stop Wiseman? They say that Hotaru is the Messiah of Silence. Isn't
the Messiah supposed to bear off the burdens of others, so they no
longer need to make these sacrifices?


   She thinks she should know the answers to these questions. She's the
guardian of the Gates of Time. She should know what's going to happen.
And she does, doesn't she? Small Lady is here from a thousand years in
the future, and she certainly couldn't be born if all life on Earth was
Silenced. And Pluto sent her here, so she knows she doesn't give her own
life. And she could look into the Gates of Time to know exactly how it
will happen, she's done that kind of thing before...


   ...and yet, for this, she hasn't. She doesn't know what happens here
today because every single time she's tried to look, she's stopped
herself at the last moment. She's not concerned about breaking rules, or
about knowing too much about her own future... she's afraid. She's
afraid she will open the Gates of Time and look inside to this day and
she will see the Pharaoh tearing his way into our space and laying waste
to all humanity. And she will try to call Small Lady and warn her but
she will be dead, worse, she will never have been born. And she will
turn and look around her and see fire and wreckage and know there is
nothing she can do about it.


   "What's that?" asked Uranus from the front of the cockpit, pointing
at what appeared to be a dome of energy around the Mugen building.


   "It doesn't look like a normal barrier," said Neptune.


   "There's an opening on the top. Maybe we can get in through there."
Uranus didn't mention that this was probably a trap, because they all
knew that. And if the only way in was to walk into a trap, that's what
they had to do. Because they were willing to sacrifice themselves,
right?


   Uranus pulled in closer to land and saw that it was indeed not a
normal barrier, it was a barrier made of hundreds and hundreds of red,
gelatinous daimons. They had been dormant until the helicopter as in
range, and then a great mass of them attacked in unison, leaping at all
parts of the aircraft. They were each weak and had no weapons to speak
of but neither of that really mattered because they didn't have to
attack the three Senshi, they had to attack the far more fragile
aircraft they were riding in. Uranus tried to pull back, to get away,
but there was no time to escape the daimons. They wrapped aroudn the
craft like cords, pulling it in, breaking it to pieces, and showering it
with dark energy. Sparks and smoke shot from the intrument panel, the
rotors were jammed, the intakes were clogged, and the helicopter would
have exploded before it even finished falling like a stone. What Pluto
did next, she didn't even have time to think about, but after all the
consideration in the world she would have done it anyway.


   She was outside the helicopter now, hanging in midair, holding the
Key with the Garnet Orb aloft. The helicopter, the daimons, everything
around them were frozen in time. Pieces of shrapnel hung in the air as
if supported by wires, clouds of smoke and flame froze and looked like
wads of cotton, flares of blue electricity became blue paint.


   "Pluto?" shouted Neptune, her voice echoing unnaturally.


   "What have you done?" asked Uranus.


   Pluto winced, feeling the tidal strain this was putting on her body.
"I've stopped time!" she said. Her vision was starting to blur and
different parts of her were being pulled in vastly different directions.
"You've got a chance, now take it! You need to escape, now!"


   "You never told us you had this kind of power!"


   "I don't!" she said back, and already she tasted blood in her mouth.
"For a Guardian of Time, this is absolutely forbidden."


   "Absolutely forbidden?" asked Uranus, trying to understand.


   "What's going to happen to you?" Neptune asked.


   Pluto smiled and retained her composure even as she felt like she was
being stretched on the 'rack' in a dimension she couldn't even see. "If
you ever find the real Messiah..."


   Neptune and Uranus vanished, teleported away into the building for
the final confrontation. A second later, Pluto was gone too.


* * *


   "You're sure it's coming."


   "Positive. It feeds like clockwork, every five days. According to the
power usage logs, yhe feeding times get a few hours later each time, so
it should be here around eight, eight-thirty. Unless it's moved on, and
there's no reason for it to have done so, it'll be here this morning."


   Dr. Otoyo's office was silent for a few moments.


   "I'm bored."


   "We're all bored, Bill. We're not all annoying."


   More silence.


   "Bill, animals of North America, seven letters."


   "Nadine, we're supposed to be on a stakeout! We're making too much
noise as it is already!"


   Ten seconds of silence, unblinking, unmoving, as inviolate as the
utter darkness they found themselves shrouded in.


   "Gimme an 'E'."


   "No 'E'. You've got the guy's head."


   Truitt grabbed her temples and exhaled, slowly.


   "Wait, you don't just start with the guy's head! You have to draw the
gallows first."


   "Bill. Nadine. Stakeout. Talking. Stop doing it."


   "I never played it like that. You always start with the guy's head.
Otherwise you'd get, like, twenty guesses!"


   "Well, there's 26 letters in the English language, you can't just
make me lose after six wr--"


   Truitt jammed a hand over Wheeler's mouth and pointed a finger up in
the air. He began to protest, but then he heard it too, the sound she
was indicating. A low buzz, a hum, permeated by the occasional
crackling. Quiet, but getting louder. The flourescent lights in the
office started to flicker to life, even though they were turned off.


   "Showtime." Akens grinned before ducking his head slightly out the
doorway. "Wait for my signal, then activate the device."


   He peered down into the hallway and spied a bluish glow coming down
another hall toward the cyclotron room. In a few seconds, he saw its
source: a man, or what appeared to be one, faintly luminescent, dressed
exactly like a Naval crewman, of the USS Eldridge on October 28, 1943 --
though his plane of origin was nothing so mundane as that. It moved with
a quick, determined gait toward the cyclotron.


   Akens pointed toward the decice without looking away. "Hit it."


*


   "Sailor Moon! Are you satisfied now? Answer me!" There was no
response, there could be none. Sailor Moon stared in mute shock at the
end of the world coalescing before her. Sailor Uranus fell to her knees
and wept.


   Another voice, gentle yet strong. It was familiar and yet it was not.
"Thank you, Sailor Moon. Thank you for protecting me. I am here, thanks
to you."


   "Hotaru!" the doctor called to his daughter.


   "I am not Hotaru any more. I am now the only one who can save this
world from the Silent One. Just leave the rest to me."


   It didn't speak, for it couldn't. It emanated forth its hatred
directly, and its thoughts touched the minds of all in the room like
being splashed with cold, black oil.


   YOU FOOLISH CHILD. I AM OLDER THAN THE PLANETS FROM WHENCE YOU TAKE
YOUR NAME AND I WAS ANCIENT WHEN THE FRAAL FOSTERED THE LUNAR KINGDOM
FROM WHENCE YOU DRAW POWER. WHEN FIRST THEY ARRIVED ON THIS WORLD, I WAS
HERE, WAITING TO CONSUME THEM. THEY DESTROYED THOUSANDS OF THEIR OWN AND
STILL COULD NOT STOP ME. WHAT CAN ONE MORTAL HUMAN CHILD EVER HOPE TO
ACCOMPLISH?


   Sailor Saturn gritted her teeth and stood resolute.


   I HAVE BEEN CALLED COUNTLESS NAMES IN THE LIFE OF YOUR PLANET. YOUR
FATHER CALLED ME PHARAOH. THE FRAAL CALLED ME THE SILENT ONE, ISCI BA
FAN. I HAVE CARED LITTLE FOR THE TITLES GIVEN BY MORTALS. BUT NOW, I
SHALL REVEAL MY IDENTITY TO YOUR SPECIES.


   MY NAME IS DEATH.


*


   The device that looked remarkably like a hot dog rotisserie spun
slowly, emitting a light squeak every quarter-turn.


   "What's happening? Let me see!" Truitt and Wheeler both moved toward
the doorway. Wheeler shoved her aside and peeked his head around the
doorway, just under the head of Dr. Akens. He saw a bluish, luminescent
man in outdated clothing walking up the hallway, in no visible distress.



   "Phil. It's not working."


   "I am acutely aware of the fact that it's not working, William!"


   "I think we've found a problem in the plan, the plan requires your
thing to be working!"


   The Fader stopped next to the locked door to the cyclotron, and arcs
of blue-white lightning began leaping through it, into his body. The
flourescent lights all over the hallway began flaring and sparking.
Behind them, they heard a muffled voice say, "I am the only one who can
save this world from the Silent One. Just leave the rest to me."


   Truitt and Neary turned to each other and said, in unison, "Did you
just say something?"


*


   Nacreous black tendrils lashed out at Sailor Saturn, each parried
with a brilliant strike of her blade. The gateway was a pulsing sphere
of dark energy, slowly growing wider. The Pharaoh struck at her with
these black tentacles, but these were just his fingertips. The aperture
was not yet wide enough to allow his real form entry into the world, and
when it was, not even the Senshi of Ruin would be able to stop him.


   Sailor Saturn struck, slashed, parried with her Silence Glaive at
dizzying speed. The weapon was almost weightless, incredibly easy to
wield and control. Though it weighed no more than gossamer, the blade
was rigid, unbreakable, and the edge sharp enough to cut anything with
the slightest pressure. She twirled and swept around with it, stopping
attacks that were coming at her almost too fast to see, hacking off
little chunks of tentacle that evaporated into black mist before they
hit the ground. She was, in truth, actually a bit suprised at how
skilled she was with this weapon; she was thankful that it was Sailor
Saturn whom the fate of the world rested on, because Tomoe Hotaru would
have failed everyone by now.


   Sailor Moon howled in frustration and despair, throwing herself
uselessly against a barrier of dark energy. The Chalice was gone, she no
longer had the power to break down the wall. She had vowed nobody would
be sacrificed, and she was going to be tragically, horrifyingly wrong
unless she somehow found the strength the Chalice would have lent her.


   USELESS. FOOLISH. ALL YOU HAVE DONE WILL DELAY MY RETURN BY A SCANT
FEW SECONDS. I THINK THAT IN RETURN, I SHALL PEEL YOUR MIND FROM ITS
MORTAL SHELL. I WILL USE YOUR PSYCHE AS THE CHALICE FROM WHICH I DRINK
YOUR EXQUISITE SUFFERING.


   Sailor Saturn scowled. Sailor Moon screamed the magic words again and
again, but nothing happened.


   Then behind her, she distinctly heard someone say, "I am acutely
aware of the fact that it's not working, William!"


   Then another voice, "I think we've found a problem in the plan, the
plan requires your thing to be working!"


   Sailor Saturn and the Pharaoh, locked in mortal combat, heard nothing
but the sound of blades striking.


*


   "Okay. Okay. Stay calm. It doesn't see us. We just let it feed and
let it leave."


   This time, everyone heard it, though only Dr. Akens and Dr. Neary
could understand the Japanese in which it was spoken. "Moon crisis make
up!" howled a disembodied voice, "Moon Crisis Make Up! MOON CRISIS MAKE
UP!" with each repetition becoming more desperate and hoarse.


   The Fader stopped and turned toward the source of the noise, and saw
the heads of Wheeler and Akens poking from the doorway. It emitted a
crackle that could have been its species' equivalent of a snarl and
began to walk toward them.


   Akens ran his fingers into his hair and held them there. "It must, it
must be picking up radio signals or something--"


   "Okay, time for plan B!" Wheeler pushed Akens back, then ducked into
the doorway himself for just long enough to draw his Colt Python
revolver, and then leaned back out, exposing only his face and weapon
arm. He fired six times in quick succession, emptying the cylinder into
the advancing creature. It flinched slightly at the first hit, but the
rest seemed to pass right through.


   "Will, what did I say about pissing it off? You didn't listen to me,
why does no-one LISTEN to me!" Panic was rising audibly in Akens' voice.


   "Well if you have any other bright ideas, I'm all ears!"


   "I, I don't know! The device was on his frequency, it should have--"


   "That's it! The DEVICE!" William shouted in a moment of revalation,
and yanked the device away from its wall socket.


   Donna realized what he was doing and dove to stop him, but was too
slow, and she only got as far as "What are you doing you id--" before
Wheeler threw the rotating magnetic resonance disruptor at the
creature's head.


*


   "I am known as the Soldier of Destruction because I have been given
the power to destroy whole worlds. But when I use that power... even I
have no escape."


   "No!" cried Sailor Moon, and she ran toward her ally, her friend, in
the hopes she could stop her from sacrificing her own life. Sailor
Saturn pointed the glaive at her, and she stopped short. The blade was
so sharp she thought it could cut space itself.


   "Goodbye." Sailor Saturn took a deep breath, to steel herself for
what she knew must be done, in anticipation of the fate for which she'd
secretly hoped. She was scared, terrified and yet for the first time in
a great while she felt content. Maybe even happy.


   And then she heard someone scream "What are you doing you id--".


   And then everything exploded.


* * *


   Dr. Neary was suprised that such a flashy, catastrophic explosion
would be utterly silent. Then after a second she realized that it had
completely deafened her. She pushed a chunk of burnt acoustical tile off
herself and slowly rose to her feet to inspect the damage. The spot
where the fader had stood was now a radial scorch mark; there was no
sign of the creature or the device remaining. The wall that previously
obscured her vision of that spot had been blown to bits, as had several
other walls around the hallway, the cyclotron itself, and a large part
of the ceiling. She turned around to see which of her teammates would
need medical attention, and saw something unexpected.


   Lying next to her, unconscious, in the middle of a pile of debris
that seemed to indicate she'd been thrown bodily into the wall behind
her, was a small, frail little Japanese girl. Her plain black shirt was
tattered, revealing all manner of cuts and abrasions underneath, blood
was oozing down her face, and both her hands were locked in a death-grip
on a long, wicked polearm that still held a perfect mirror sheen even as
everything around it was coated in a film of plaster dust.





---





* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* B O N U S   C O N T E N T *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


HOFFMANN INSTITUTE AGENT NUMBER S-0014405
NAME: WHEELER, WILLIAM SCOTT


AGE: 28
PREV. ASSOCIATION: US Army (Governmental, Military), New Patriot Church
of Liberty (Civilian, Military)
ASSIGNMENT: Investigation & Response Team Rho


HISTORY: William Wheeler joined the US Army directly after his
graduation from high school in Moscow, Idaho. He served a four year tour
of duty, three months of which was combat duty as part of UN
peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan, and declined to re-enlist. Upon
his return home he found that his father's farm had been siezed by the
IRS for nonpayment of taxes, and this caused William to believe the
government was out to harm its citizens. He joined a fringe militia
group called the "New Patriot Church of Liberty", and stockpiled weapons
as he preached to his neighbors about the imminent peril the government
had placed them in.


Mr. Wheeler joined the Institute after being involved in an October 1992
incident that concerned the summoning of an ice-demon at a rural Idaho
truck stop, where he was distributing antigovernment leaflets.


PSYCHOLOGY: William hates and mistrusts government of all types, but
that is not what drives him. William needs to help people, to protect
them from harm and wrongdoing, and unlike his teammate Donna Truitt he
is not covert about this need -- he craves recognition for it. While a
lofty and noble goal, it is marred somewhat by William's tendency to act
well in advance of thought, misidentifying factors such as who needs
"protection" in the first place, and from whom, and what exactly the
best course of action to "protect" them would be. William is a very
competent grunt-level field agent when he has others around to rein in
his impulsive behavior.


William exhibits a fascination with firearms of all types that in any
other occupation would be disturbing and unhealthy but here may be the
most sensible habit of any of his teammates. When informed that, of the
many conspiracies existing within the US government, the IRS was exactly
as it claimed to be and had no plans to spirit away tax dissenters in
the night or to sell citizens' true names to foreign banks, he was
actually a bit disappointed.


SPECIES: Human
PROFESSION: Combat Spec
ACHIEVMENT LEVEL: 5


STR 11 [+1]  INT 09 [+0]
DEX 11 [+1]  WIL 08 [+1]
CON 12       PER 09



Second Sight     [4]: After an aggravating fiasco in Spokane, Washington
involving a warlock making heavy use of 'glamours', William has been
trained in the ability to see through illusions. He recieves a -1 step
bonus on any skill roll to pierce an illusion, and is always entitled to
a WIL feat check to pierce illusion even if the skill normally allows
none.
Willpower        [4]: What William lacks in good sense he makes up in
gumption. He adds +1 to his WIL resistance modifier.
Criminal Record [+4]: William has a record on file with the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and if he is seen or leaves evidence of
his committing crimes in the United States the ATF may take an interest.
Rebellious      [+2]: William does not trust government or police
officials in any capacity and recieves a +2 step penalty to any PER-
based skill checks involving governmental agents. He has no problem with
authority figures that are not associated with the government, or
pretending to be one himself, he has even posed as an FBI agent using a
novelty badge purchased at a Spencer Gifts.


Combat Information:
Weapon:       Score:         Range:    Damage (O/G/A): Type:
Unarmed       12/6/3       Personal  d4+1s/d4+2s/d4+3s LI/O
.357 Revolver 13/6/3        6/12/50  d4+1w/d4+2w/d4+1m HI/O
Mosin-Nagant  14/7/3 -2 200/400/800 d6+1w/2d4+1w/d4+1m HI/O
M16           14/7/3 -1  60/120/300  d4+2w/d6+3w/d4+1m HI/O
RPG-7         12/6/3 +1   30/60/150      d6w/d4+3w/d4m En/G


Action Check: 14+/13/6/3
Durability: 12 / 12 / 06 / 06
Actions Per Round: 2
Last Resort Points: 1


Athletics             [11/5/2]
> Climb 1             [12/6/3]
> Throw 1             [12/6/3]
Heavy Weapons         [11/5/2]
> Direct Fire 1       [12/6/3]
Unarmed Attack        [11/5/2]
> Brawl 1             [12/6/3]
Modern Ranged Weapons [11/5/2]
> Pistol 2            [13/6/3]
> Rifle 3             [14/7/3 -1]
Vehicle Operation     [11/5/2]
Stamina               [12/6/3]
> Endurance 1         [13/6/3]
Survival              [12/6/3]
> Mountain 1          [13/6/3]
> Winter 1            [13/6/3]
Knowledge             [09/4/2]
> First Aid 1         [10/5/2]
> Language (Russian) 3
Awareness             [08/4/2]
> Intuition 1         [09/4/2]
Investigate           [08/4/2]
Deception             [09/4/2]
Interaction           [09/4/2]
> Intimidate 1        [10/5/2]

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