For you speed readers... and besides that, "Face to Face" is really the
first part of a two-part story. This is part 2. After this I'll lay off for
a while and wait for C&C. Thanks to the people who responded already.

This is the chilling trap of Frost and the introduction of a new Senshi in
heated battle. (Pun intended)

JB

"Cold Comfort"

The door to the little shop opened, and Mina entered, saying, "Hi!" to her
date. Alex was waiting for her, sitting back lazily on his padded bench,
behind a table. Two scrumptuous milkshakes awaited. Mina strolled in,
leaving Artemis outside (no pets allowed). She was dressed in a nice white
skirt, with a white shirt and a yellow jacket, with her regular schoolgirl
shoes. She gave special attention to her hair, and wore little, gold-colored
earrings. Mina sat down on the other side of the table, made herself
comfortable, and said, "Hi," again.

Alex was laid back, his right arm laying on the top of the dark
beige-colored bench.  He hadn't been on a date since... well, since things
started getting interesting. He had a lot on his mind, but this was a good
idea, since it let him relax. He had his glasses off, in his leather
jacket's front pocket, over his left breast. He was well-dressed, of a sort.
He had that western "bad guy" look, a look that Mina seemed to like. From
Mina's point of view, that was an understatement.

So they smiled at each other and began drinking their milkshakes.

Mina suddenly noticed that Alex was wearing a ring on his right hand. She
thought to herself, "Oh no, he isn't... no, wrong finger." The ring seemed
to be made of gold, and looked expensive. But Mina wasn't thinking about
that. The ring had been crafted into a symbol...

The symbol of Mars.

Mina put down her milkshake, and asked in an innocent voice, "Alex, what's
that ring?" Alex stopped drinking, too, and put down his milkshake, which he
held right-handed. Alex thought about that for a moment, then gave her an
answer. "It's in the family - goes way back, way before the Edo era." Mina
wasn't a history expert, but she knew enough to ask, "You mean Samurai
times? I mean when they fought in wars?" Alex nodded. "They say it's the
ring of a strong warrior, blessed by the Gods. That's just superstition,
though. It's not even Japanese; it might have been brought over by
missionaries. I don't know. It's just a thought." Mina asked him, "So you
got the ring from your family?" Alex said, "Yeah. I kind of like it."

Alex lifted his drink and began to slurp.

Mina looked down, somewhat embarassed. Then she asked, "Alex, do you have a
girlfriend?"

Alex stopped drinking. He took the straw out of his mouth, swallowed, and
said, "No way. Been kinda busy lately. I'm not the kind of bird that stays
in one nest too long, if you know what I mean. So, no," he told her, "I'm
not with anyone right now." He asked, "How about you?" Mina blushed, and
smiled, and then answered, "No, not me, either. I'm free at the moment."

At that moment, her communicator started beeping. Alex was staring at his
drink; he looked up at her, and casually said, "Maybe you're not free at
_this_ moment. You should check to see what that is." Mina thought, okay, he
thinks it's a pager. Good. I'll just go to a phone booth nearby. I'll step
outside. She asked him, "You'll stay, here, right?" He gave a thumbs-up. She
went outside and checked her communicator.

Ami's face appeared. "Hi, Mina," she said. Mina said in a hushed and
not-particularly-pleased voice, "_Ami_, what's the big deal? Don't you know
I'm on a date?" Ami blushed slightly, and in an embarassed tone replied,
"No, I didn't know. Oh, I must be interrupting. I'm so sorry." Mina asked
her, "Okay, so what's up?" Ami replied, "I'm getting some strange readings
in the city. I'm trying to narrow down the location, and I wanted to know if
you were close to where I think the readings are coming from. I called Lita,
but she isn't close by. Could you meet me at" and then she specified a
particular hobby shop. Mina frowned, but said, "Okay, I guess I can manage
that. But this is the last time!" Amy said, "Thanks, I'll meet you there,"
and signed off. Mina, growling, walked back into the shop. Artemis had the
good sense not to say anything.

Mina said to Alex, "Look, I have to go. I'm really sorry..." Well, Alex
thought, that was fast. Well, it must be important, so he said, "That's OK
with me. We'll have to do this again sometimes. Go ahead. I'll meet you some
other time." Mina asked him if he had her phone number; he said no, so she
gave him her number so he could call her. Then, in a more cheerful mood, she
left.

Alex pulled out a coin and flipped it. "Well, maybe my luck is turning
around," he said.

---

The red-hot fire swayed back and forth.

Rei's hands were clapped together as she tried to concentrate. Her eyes were
shut and her facial expression was strained. She was close... she knew it.
Very close. And then... just as a picture was forming...

Lita's voice boomed into the room, "HI, REI!"

Ooh! Rei jumped up and turned around. "Did you HAVE to do that?" Lita's
smile faded away. "What do you mean? Oh... oh no. I messed up a fire
reading, didn't I?" Lita was saddened by this. Rei scolded her just a little
more, "I thought Chad would have told you that I was in here reading the
sacred flame." Lita said, "Nope, he said you were studying strange facial
expressions for a school project." Rei's expression changed, sure enough, to
one of real surprise. Her eyes opened wide, her lips turned inward, and her
cheeks were shallower. Lita laughed loudly, saying, "Something like that!"
Rei smiled and started laughing, too.

Rei said, "Lita, maybe you can help me with my fire reading. You could learn
fire-reading, too." That left Lita very surprised, her eyes wide, blinking,
in somewhat mild shock. She said in an unusually meek and confused voice,
"Me?" Rei said, "Well, yes. It takes a lot of discipline, but I think you
might have what it takes." Lita was still quite surprised at this, and
asked, immediately after, "But why?" Rei answered, "Well, it takes a lot of
patience and.." but that wasn't what Lita meant. "No," Lita interrputed,
"why me?" Rei told her why, saying, "You're good at a lot of things that
take patience and discipline, like martial arts, cooking (I know I don't
have enough patience for that!), and ice skating. I was hoping that someday
you could teach me more about ice skating, and I wanted to teach you
something. Maybe this is it. Anyway," she said, "you can help be with my
next fire reading, seeing how you interrupted it." Lita said again that she
was sorry about that, but Rei said it was nothing as long as the next one
was a success.

So both girls sat across each other, facing each other, to begin. Rei told
Lita to relax and to concentrate on the flame. Lita asked, "So, what are we
looking for?" Rei said, "We are trying to discover what the enemy's plans
are so we can react sooner. We must not be taken by surprise." Then, Rei
began the ceremony, and both began to concentrate, to reach out to the spirits.

After what seemed like a long time of concentration, a vision began to form.
Rei could see it clearly; Lita could see some of it, but felt overwhelmed by
the experience, and had difficulty keeping the image clear. First was a
small restauraunt. Lita imagined maybe she would cook in a place like that
someday. It was something she would like to do. Yet the restauraunt turned
black, and dark clouds formed overhead. Inside the restauraunt they could
see many people... yet they seemed to be shadows, transparent. At first Rei
thought that the picture wasn't strong enough, but that wasn't it. They
really were shadows. They saw Darien sitting behind a table, and as they
looked closer, the outlines changed... as they looked at the face, it
changed... into a face entirely different.

Frost!

Both girls broke from the trance. Lita said right away, "This must be a
trap. But for who?" Rei answered, "Serena!" They had to get in touch with
her before it was too late..

---

But it was.

Serena was in a very cheerful mood as she was just outside the restauraunt.
She scolded Luna, saying, "See, not ONE bad thing happened the whole way!
You're just overreacting." Luna wasn't convinced, saying, "I still have a
bad feeling about this." Serena said back, "Oh, you're just jealous!" and
stormed into the restauraunt. Luna was taken back by that remark. Jealous?!
That was a laugh.

Serena stepped through the door. The place was packed with people. She
looked to her right, seeing nothing, but saw Darien sitting behind a nice
round wooden table to the left. Serena went to sit down.

---

Lita was struggling with the communicator, saying, "I can't get through!"
Rei said, "There must be interference. We'd better find the others right
away." Lita asked, "What about Darien? Shouldn't we get in touch with him?"
Rei said, "He'll come, don't worry."

---

Amy answered her communicator's signal, and saw Rei's face. She asked,
"What's up, Rei?" Rei told her the story. Amy said that she was already
tracking the enemy and gave Rei some general coordinates. Then, Amy took
Mina and Artemis and ran off in the direction of her computer's signals.
They had to hurry...

---

As he was walking along the sidewalk, the sun setting in the distance, Alex
felt a strong burning sensation on his right hand. He thought he knew what
it was. He pulled his right hand out of his pocket, and the Mars symbol was
glowing. Time for action.

---

"Oh, Darien," Serena mused, "it's so nice of you to take me out like this."
Yes, Frost thought. Very nice. He said, mimicing his voice as Darien's,
"Serena, I'm glad we have this opportunity to get to know each other better.
You're a very sweet girl." Serena didn't know what he meant, but said, "Why,
thank you." Darien's left hand reached out to touch Serena's. Serena sighed,
and looked down at the hand. There was a ring there, a ring she had never
seen before. The ring was a deep blue, and had the sign of...

Mercury?

"Darien, what's that ring for?"

Then she heard cold laughter.

The ring began to glow. Then light blue particles of magical dust floated in
the air, and began to stream up Darien's arm. His hand changed to a white
glove, not as white as Tuxedo Mask's... his suit began to turn... blue!...
and when Serena looked at his face, it was not the face of Darien, but the
ice-cold glasses of their devious and diabolical enemy, Frost.

Serena gasped and pulled her hand back, and tried to get up. Frost crossed
his arms and laughed, saying as he did so, "You are such an idiot. You fell
for this trap so easily all I had to do was wait here." Then, he stopped
laughing, and looked her straight in the eye, and said, "Now give me that
crystal, or you will never leave alive."

Serena screamed and tried to open the door. It was locked...

Outside, Luna could see Serena trying to get out the door, which was mainly
glass. Serena pounded on the door. Luna could see what was going on. She
yelled to Serena to transform into Sailor Moon. Serena didn't hear Luna, but
saw her and understood.

"Moon Crystal Power!" Serena transformed, and turned to face her enemy.

The other people in the room, who were so loud before, laughing, chatting,
arguing, had vanished, and only the laughing Frost remained. He waved his
left hand, as the ring glowed, and the table before him flew up into the
air. A flick of his hand and it smashed against the wall on the far side of
the room. Frost said, "That's what's going to happen to you if you don't
surrended."

Serena was in no mood to fight... she just needed to buy time.

Meanwhile, dark clouds formed overhead, and an eerie dark grey mist blocked
out much of the setting sun's light.

---

Rei and Lita met Amy and Mina outside. Luna told them the story. Amy was
busy trying to find a good way in, while Mina was rather impatient. Artemis
said that they should transform...

"Mercury Star Power!"
"Mars Star Power!"
"Venus Star Power!"
"Jupiter Star Power!"

Transformed, they proclaimed as one, "SAILOR POWER!!"

Amy used her visor to try to find a way in. Sailor Jupiter had a better way,
though, and was ready to use her Sparkling Wide Pressure attack when she
saw... a FIREBALL approaching! It was sailing through the sky right at
them!! The Senshi scattered, and the fireball left a fair-sized crater in
the pavement.

Though the restauraunt was still surrounded by black fog, the fog in front
of them cleared. Standing there was an armored warrior...
was fairly tall, dressed in bronze armor. His breastplate was meticulously
crafted to conform to his very muscled chest. He had no armor for his upper
arms or thighs, but wore forearm guards and greaves for his forearms and
shins. He wore red boots, and black metal gloves.

His eyes were a hard dark brown, with a tint of red showing. He had fairly
short black hair, and a flowing red cape attached to the front of his armor
around the collarbone.

He stood tall, and stopped advancing. The Sailor Senshi picked themselves up
off the pavement. The warrior spoke in a deep, hard voice, which left no
doubt as to his intent: "I.. am.. Prometheus! You shall not enter this
place, or you shall be destroyed!" He held out his right hand, palm upward,
and then an instantaneously created flame burned upon it. The Senshi looked on.

---

Another blast of arctic cold froze the ground where Serena had stood just a
moment before.

"Um," Serena muttered, "exactly _why_ are you doing this?" Frost, who was
levitating a few feet in the air, could hardly contain his amusement. He was
actually enjoying this, though perhaps he shouldn't be. Okay, Serena
thought, maybe that was why he's doing this. So she asked, "What's with the
ring?" Frost explained this in a cold, detatched tone. "The ring provides me
with my elemental powers. I have learned more magical powers from Jadeite,
before his untimely demise." Serena asked, trying to delay him further, "But
_why_ did you do that?" He replied, "He would have destroyed you, and the
Crystal. The Crystal is the most important thing. You should give it over
now, so that I do not kill you myself, in a cleaner manner so that the
Crystal is the only thing left of you." His tone sent a chill up Serena's
spine - it had nothing to do with the temperature.

Then the door opened.

Frost spun around. When he saw who had entered, he asked fiercely, "How did
YOU get in here?" Serena looked, and her spirits rose. It was Tuxedo Mask.

The two warriors stared at each other.

A moment of dead silence was broken when Tuxedo Mask said, "Go ahead. Make
my day."

Frost continued staring straight into his mask-covered eyes. "I'm going to
put you on ice - permanently." Tux said, "We'll just see about that."

Frost moved his cloak back on his right side, his ring glowing slightly,
revealing the hilt of a sword. Tuxedo Mask moved his own cape back,
revealing the red flower of a rose. They continued staring at each other.

---

The Love-Me Chain ripped through the air. Prometheus drew a sword hilt, long
enough for two hands, and a blade of the same shining bronze emerged from it
magically. Moving to the side to dodge the chain, the warrior swung the
blade and cut the chain in half.

Sailor Mars used her Burning Mandala attack to send many rings of fire
streaming towards Prometheus. His sword was set ablaze by magic. He held the
sword high, leaped into the air, and swung the blade downward in a great
arc. A wave of magic fire cut across the ground, high into the air, yet
quite thin as a true blade of energy. This cut through all of the rings and
Mars barely got out of the way. Then he advanced towards her...

Sailor Mercury yelled, "You stay away from her!" Then she used her Shining
Aqua Illusion attack to surround Prometheus in water and ice. A ball of
flame erupted from within, pushing the cold away, emanating from Prometheus'
right hand. He was unprepared, though, for Jupiter's attack, which connected
with full force right on his chest...

... and failed to have any effect on him. The power bounced off of his
armor. Prometheus crossed his arms, and laughed aloud, taunting: "Is that
the best you can do?"

---

Meanwhile, Tuxedo Mask and Frost were engaged in a furious battle.

Frost flew across the room. He swung around and his cape flew wide as his
extended hands fired shard upon shard of ice at his enemy. Tuxedo Mask
leaped back and countered with a handful of roses. Frost used his magic to
encase the roses in ice. They fell to the ground, and shattered into
hundreds of tiny pieces.

Sailor Moon, for her part, was simply watching. Everything was moving too
fast for her to get a handle on anything.

Tuxedo Mask leapt to the side and used his cane to attack. Frost dodged it,
but touched the shaft with his hand. Ice extended from his chilling touch to
Tuxedo Mask's hands, forcing him to let go. Sensing an advantage, Frost drew
his ice blade and charged. Tuxedo Mask dodged the attack and kicked Frost
hard in the nose, turning his glasses aside. Frost turned around, though,
dropping his blade but his hands extended. His ring glowed and a ball of
blue energy slammed Tuxedo Mask in the stomach, knocking him back. Sailor
Moon yelled for him.

Frost picked up his blade and approached.

A dagger implanted itself in the floor before his feet.

He looked up.

Standing on a grey statue of an Indian elephant was Bishoujo Mask. She was
quick and to the point, leaping down and saying to Frost, "Leave him and get
the crystal." Frost's blade vanished into thin air. He turned, and Sailor
Moon was trapped... he used his power to lift her off the ground by the
throat. She was gasping for air. He then ripped her brooch from her sailor
suit, forcing her to de-transform into her regular clothes. Serena was
helpless, and powerless. Frost flung her against the wall, and she crumpled.

The brooch opened. The Silver Moon Crystal emerged, floating in the air,
shining bright.

Tuxedo Mask was trying to get up, and had mostly recovered, but Bishoujo
Mask had her blade drawn, and there was no way he was going to get anywhere
in time.

Frost walked towards the crystal. Then, with his left, ring-bearing hand, as
he was left-handed, he grasped the Crystal and raised it in the air, in
triumph. He could feel the power pulsating within his grasp.

Light still emanated from the Crystal. It reached out between the cracks of
his fingers. Serena watched in disbelief as the light grew stronger, as if
it accepted Frost's grasp. The light grew brighter... the Crystal began
pulsating, making a strange sound. Frost's smile evaporated. Something was
wrong...

Then the light exploded.

A great circle of light emanated from Frost's hand, yet it was not between
it - it was _through_ it - the searing pain forced Frost to scream in agony.
Yet it had simply begun.

The light grew greater still, and the Crystal's power did not wane... still
he did not let go, screaming though he was. Then his hand was enveloped by
fire, a searing white flame hotter than anything he could possibly imagine.
The fire burned his hand thoroughly, and only then did he let go... the fire
would not stop. His left arm was fully ablaze.

Serena watched in horror. Tuxedo Mask was stunned by the power of the
Crystal, how it had rejected Frost's touch. Even Bishoujo Mask, that
heartless being, was awestruck at the sight before her. She watched in
morbid fascination.

---

The light broke all of the windows of the restauraunt, and flung a shattered
and broken door forward. They could all hear Frost's screams. Prometheus
stopped in the midst of battle, looking back... then he ran towards the
scene. The Sailor Senshi followed, carefully, but swiftly. Luna and Artemis
were not far behind.

---

Frost tried desperately to use frost and ice to put the fire out. He was
beyond agony. He simply tried to stop the fire from spreading. His ring
still pulsating. he went as far as to encase his own arm in ice to stop the
fire. The effort was too much, and he fell unconcious.

Prometheus burst into the room, and saw Frost lying on the floor. He saw the
Silver Crystal, still pulsating, still quite bright, but not in the same way
as before. He guessed what had happened, and went for Frost.

Bishoujo Mask was furious. "Forget him, GET THE CRYSTAL!" Prometheus turned
to her, with a look that would at any other time and place have marked her
for death. "You saw what the Crystal did - I see the results. The mission is
over, Lady Mask." Without another word, he raised his right hand high.
Serena could see that he, too, had a ring - a ring of the Mars symbol. A
hemisphere of fire was spawned by the magic of the ring, encircling both
men. Then, beginning from the top to the bottom, the fire disappeared, and
the two had vanished.

The Senshi had entered. Bishoujo Mask, outnumbered and deserted, vanished in
a puff of smoke.

---

Serena left her brooch and the Crystal lying down. The Crystal's power had
waned, and it was now inert. She was lying with Tuxedo Mask, who had taken
his mask off. He wasn't hurt seriously, but Serena still gently held him in
her arms.

Luna said to her, "You should have never went off alone like that..." but
Darien would have none of it. "She's had a rough day," he said. "She
deserves a break. We all make mistakes." Serena thanked Darien for his kind
words. Darien had made a similar mistake once, although he was the only one
who remembered. He moved to get up, and everyone made some effort to get
things back to normal, trying to make sense of what had happened.

---

Serenity was very concerned. "Will he be alright?" she asked Prometheus. He
said, "I don't know. Zeus should be..." the third Senshi, the one called
Zeus because he wore the ring of Jupiter, tall, with his green eyes and
greenish-grey hair, a massive yet normally gentle man, opened the doors to
the medical chamber. He closed the doors, and took off his white mask. He
was no doctor, but he was by far the most knowledgeable of them in matters
of healing. He told them, "He'll live... that's certain. He's still
unconcious. However, he'll lose the hand." Serenity gasped. "This is
terrible," she said, "I should have been there... I should have known that
I'd be the only one who can properly use the Crystal..." a tear appeared in
one her eyes. Zeus told her, "It's not your fault. We need to concentrate on
how to deal with this now."

Bishoujo Mask entered the room, walking rather and uncharacteristcally
loudly. She said, "If we cannot obtain the Crystal by present means, then we
must use this" and placed a large, black gem on the table in the meeting
room where they were, "and create our own Crystal." Serenity asked her how
she could think of such things at a time like this. Bishoujo Mask deviously
offered, "The power of this crystal can help to heal Frost. Would you deny
him that?" Serenity could not say anything to that.

Prometheus, though, asked where its power would come from. Zeus knew the
answer: "From the soul of a human being." He reflected, "Even one will be
enough for what we need. More, and even our greater mission can be
accomplished..."

The fourth Senshi walked into the room. All turned to him.

He said, "I'll do it."

They all nodded.

---

Rays of sunlight lazily penetrated into Serena's bedroom early in the
morning. Serena had slept very well that night, and awoke right away when
her alarm clock went off. She turned the clock on, and yawned lazily. She
fluttered her eyes. She turned to Luna, who was sleeping on the bed, and
asked her what time it was. Luna told her: just after 8:00am.

Serena said that was too early and flopped back onto her pillow.

Luna, in a very sweet, soothing voice, asked her, "Serena, do you remember
what this day is?" Serena said, "It's a school day. So?" Luna asked her, "Do
you remember what you're doing at school today?" Serena said, "I don't
remember." Luna said, "What about that science test?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"