The chapters get longer towards the end, so I'll send just one
at a time. This one contains tons of gratuitous action, thaumobabble,
and Matrix references. Also the title amuses me...you can take that as
sort of the theme music.
[] is thought, ** is emphasis.
http://bloodgod.res.cmu.edu/smgray/index.html for all related stuff.
C&C, as always, highly appreciated.
Chapter Thirteen
Salva Nos.
The mansion clung to the darkened hilltop like some kind of massive
insect, afraid of being uprooted by the wind. It was the kind of
building that looks like it needs a rock to crouch underneath, three
stories hunched along a ridge and surrounded by a wrought-iron fence at
least ten feet high. With spikes.
Rei shivered as the wind picked up, driving the rain almost
horizontally. Shard seemed almost unaffected, surveying the place with
a mixture of professionalism and an odd excitement.
"You know the way, right?" Rei was doing her best to focus on the
moment. [Kind of necessary if I plan on living through this.]
"Sort of."
"Sort of?"
"I've been escorted up to Iylitrio's room often enough. I don't
know the rest of the place, though."
"And we don't know where Resh is hiding."
"That too."
She shook her head. "So what's the plan?"
The bounty hunter grinned like a wolf. "We're a bit short on time,
so I think we'll skip straight to plan B."
"Which is..."
He shrugged. "Charge in the front gate and shoot everybody."
Rei sighed. "Is there ever a plan A?"
"I find that plan B is usually sufficient."
"Great."
"Come on. They'll never expect it."
"That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence." [But whatever.]
She stared at the manor and gritted her teeth. [This time I'm coming
for you, Resh.]
Shard shrugged out of his coat and started a last-minute check on
his weapons. "You need a gun?"
"I wouldn't know how to use one."
"Time to do your thing, then."
Rei took a deep breath. "Mars Crystal Power, Make Up!"
The swirling light quickly rose and subsided. Shard watched
appreciatively.
"Did you know that while you're doing that, all your clothes kind
of turn to mist and you're--"
"Don't make me cook you." Rei found, oddly, that she almost
appreciated the bounty hunter's banter. The knot in her chest had
hardened, somehow, and left her cold and determined. [If I'm going to
do this, I'm not going to do it halfway.]
"So how do we get in?"
"You want to climb over that thing?"
"Not really."
"Then you can do the honors." He stood back, watching, and Rei
shook her head again. [Stupidest plan I ever heard...]
"Mars Burning Mandala!"
The force of the wash of flame was too much for the section of
fence it was aimed at. Wrought iron screamed, then gave at the points,
and the whole section toppled inward. Lights started to go on at the
manor.
"We'd better move quickly." Shard pulled his sunglasses out of a
pocket and snapped them open with one hand.
[Minako...]
Five men in black suits negotiated the hillside, lethal-looking
weapons cradled in their arms. They moved as a group, as they'd been
trained to do, with the last member always looking out behind them. It
was he who caught sight of the solitary figure, apparently just waiting
in the rain on the boulder-strewn hillside.
"Hey!"
The squad turned around and started trudging back up. Instead of
running, the figure waited for them; when they'd approached close
enough, a slash of lighting lit up her features. Rei's uniform was
already sodden with rain, her hair still a mess. She barely moved as
they approached.
"It's a girl!" The lead thug walked over to her, curious, while
his companions fanned out. "What are you doing here?"
Rei shrugged. "I got lost."
"What should we do with her?"
The leader, after a moment's consideration, shook his head. "Kill
her. The boss said to deal with any intruders."
The goon shrugged and held his gun to her face. "Sorry, kid.
Nothing personal."
Three gunshots followed, so close together they almost sounded like
one. The three closest thugs dropped like stones, and Rei was already
moving on the last pair before they could swing their guns around.
"Burning Mandala!"
Another wave of flame picked the two up and tossed them down the
hillside. Rei glanced after them, ruthlessly quashing a flicker of
feeling. [They'll live. Probably.]
"Rei!"
[Right now I have other problems.] The flash of fire had
pinpointed her to the gunmen on the house, and they were
enthusiastically hosing down the hillside. She started running, keeping
track of the shadowy figure of Shard on her right; he'd risen from his
boulder hiding place and switched to explosive rounds. A volley of
mini-fireballs shattered the battlements and made the snipers keep their
heads down long enough for the two of them to charge up the slope to
level ground. Rei came over the crest of the hill shooting.
"Mars Flame Sniper!"
There were three black cars in the driveway, and the main doors
were crowded with armed men. Rei aimed for one of the former--[full
power this time--]and the fire cut through the sedan and left a
substantial crater in the wall of the house. The thing burned merrily
for a moment before the gas tank ignited, catapulting the flaming wreck
into the air to land on top of one of the others.
Shard came past a second later, before the gunmen could get their
bearings, and fired another volley of explosive rounds into the
doorways. Shrapnel scythed through the black-suited goons, and they
retreated rapidly.
Rei paused a moment, staring at the smoldering wreckage. Shard
took a few more steps and turned.
"Come on! We have to get inside before they can get anyone at the
windows."
She shook her head and followed him. "Lead the way."
"We're headed up to the third floor."
"How many stairways are there?"
"Just one."
"They'll be waiting there, then."
"We'll think of something."
The crystal city was under siege.
The outside towers had already fallen under the relentless
bombardment, ultra-dense material shattering like glass and raining to
the ground in deadly shards. Most of the civilians had long ago been
evacuated, or fled into the wilderness and been captured by the Sa'an
Empire as more fodder for their war machine. What defenders were left
had retreated to the inner sanctums or secreted themselves in hidden
alcoves of the listing towers, a thousand tiny ambushes exacting their
toll on the attackers. The streets were covered in black goo, all that
remained of the first wave of Imperial troops and mecha, intermixed with
the wreckage of their attack drones and the thin, silver-armored bodies
of the defenders.
Ami stared mournfully out the heavily-armored window of the
citadel, one of the last bastions of the city's defense. Laser fire
still flickered sporadically on the outskirts, but it was beginning to
slacken off; the spherical Imperial drones, held up by the glowing
purple of contragravity rings, had started going window to window and
blasting the insides of already devastated buildings. They were
supported from above; even as she watched, black beams stabbed down from
one of the Imperial starships that hovered over the edges of the city
like a great dark moon. The blasts impacted at street level, and one of
the spindly towers began its slow, awful collapse. Ami closed her eyes,
trying not to hear the screams.
"They've stopped sending troops into the grinder. Now they'll just
let the drones clear out what we have left."
She turned back into the room. Jahara stood at the map table,
staring down as though he didn't already know what it held, and Zaya sat
slumped in a corner, playing with one of her knives. The others were
gone, somewhere in the fortress she assumed. Trying to bolster what was
left of the troop's morale.
"Jahara. The snipers won't stop them for long. Or they may decide
to risk what's left of our defense guns and bring those cruisers close
enough to blast this place to rubble." [What?] Ami heard herself
speak, without meaning to. [But the voice--]
"I know." The other kept his voice low.
"We don't have enough left to withstand another assault, even if
they just rush the walls. One company of assault mecha could--"
"I know!"
Zaya leaned back against the wall, carefully retying her braid.
"Let them come." She looked almost excited. "I've always wanted to
fight an Imperial assault mech."
"You'd die."
She shrugged. "That's the risk one takes."
Ami looked at Jahara, who shook his head firmly.
[All right. What exactly the hell is going on here?]
She'd meant to say it out loud, but her body wouldn't respond to
her orders. Instead, she turned angrily and took up her position at the
window again, watching the distant laser flashes and the periodic roar
of an explosion.
[I can't move. I can't do *anything*. ]Claustrophobic fear
crashed over her in a wave, and Ami struggled to remain calm. Her eyes
remained fixed on the battle. [Okay. Think for a second. Think.
What's going on here?]
Still moving like a puppet, Ami raised one of her hands and stared
at it intently. [My hand? That's not--]
A sudden shift in vision cut her off; the scene flipped to the
magical plane, showing the elaborate tracery of brilliant lines that ran
under the surface of her skin. [Not my skin.] The viewpoint dived
inward, moving far more adeptly than Ami had been able to, following a
single thread of white that burned so brightly it was nearly impossible
to see. Down it spiraled, under the surface of the world, until it
merged into a river of brilliant power that obliterated any sense of
anything else. She reached out, slowly, into the shimmering mass. Its
power was immense, but somehow it beat in time with her heart. It would
be so easy to drink it all--
"Eridu!" Jahara's voice cracked like a whip, and her viewpoint
hurriedly shifted back to the physical. "Remember what you agreed to."
"We're all going to *die*, Jahara. What does it matter one way or
the other?"
"It's too dangerous."
"More dangerous than that?" She waved a hand at the window, and
Jahara paused.
[Eridu! That's it. This is a dream.]
[Not really a dream, though. More like a memory. Something he
gave me...] The sense of identification was palpable. Though the
events progressed like something on a movie screen, she had to keep
reminding herself that the memory didn't actually belong to her.
Eridu--[not me]-- turned back to the window, shaking his head. "It
doesn't matter."
[When is this?] The city was the same one Eridu had showed her,
the one he'd described as his home. ['The world it was on no longer
exists.' Is this what happened to it?] Eridu-in-the-dream certainly
didn't carry the same aura of power he did now. [So a long time ago.]
Realization hit. [He was a guardian, wasn't he? That thread was the
same as mine. And he knows how to get down below, to what he called the
source of the guardian's power...]
[Something's wrong here. Who are these other people? More
guardians?] She frowned, or tried to. [More importantly, what happened
to the city? Obviously Eridu survived--]
The scene suddenly went flat and gray, then vanished entirely.
Suspended for a moment in a field of endless darkness, Ami cursed. [I
need to know what happens!]
"Ami?"
She opened her eyes, slowly, and squinted in the hospital waiting
room's flickering fluorescents. Usagi sat in the seat next to her,
poking her gently in the side.
"Ami?"
"I'm awake." She stretched and yawned.
"Good." Usagi sighed and gently stroked Luna, who was asleep on
her lap. "It's your turn, I think."
[Minako.] The news still had her kind of stunned; somehow, she
couldn't really believe that it was her friend in there, behind the
glass wall of the operating room. They'd been sleeping in shifts,
taking turns waiting behind the partition and watching.
"How is she?"
"About the same." Usagi's eyes were red, but dry for the moment.
"The doctor said that no change is a good thing."
"That's good, at least."
"Yeah." She sniffed. "Mako went to get some food for us. She
should be back soon."
Ami nodded, slipping off into thought again as she walked into the
other room. Minako lay still in the bed, chest barely moving under the
covers, accompanied by the constant whir and ping of machinery. A nurse
was fussing around somewhere nearby, and Ami closed her eyes again,
leaning against the wall.
[One of my best friends may be dying in there, and I'm thinking
about stuff like this. Does that make my callous?]
[Eridu's message had everyone's real name and address. That has to
be how they tracked us down. And that means that Eridu is involved,
somehow. ]
[We could still be in danger. I have to do *something*.]
The guard's radio crackled urgently, and he raised it to his ear,
weapon drawn. Behind him, another trio of black-suited goons watched
the third-floor corridor in both directions.
"This is team three-A. What the hell is going on?"
"Some kind of attack--we don't know who. They're packing a lot of
firepower." The voice on the other end of the radio sounded out of
breath.
"Where are they?"
"They just broke past two-B, headed in your direction. Be
careful--"
"Flame Sniper!"
The voice came from one level down the switchback staircase, and
the bolt of flame, aimed from the landing below, knocked a hole in the
third floor and continued on into the ceiling, raining plaster down on
the surprised guards.
At the same time, Shard barreled around the edge of the stairway,
spraying indiscriminate fire. The guard leader ducked sideways, but the
men behind him weren't quite as astute, and they hit the floor in rapid
succession. The bounty hunter could hear the leader shouting into his
radio for reinforcements as Rei came up to join him. He shook his head,
out of breath.
"You know, this would be a lot of easier if you would just *shoot*
some of them."
Rei paused. "I'm sorry. I can't just--"
"I know, I know." He ejected the still-smoking clips from each gun
and slammed a new pair home. "Top of the staircase, there's a door
directly across from us. You clear the room, I'll jump across the
hallway and see what's up there."
"Got it." Rei scrambled to the top of the stairs with Shard right
behind her, sighting on the heavy wooden door. [This I can shoot.]
"Flame Sniper!"
The bounty hunter was moving before the fire had subsided and the
broken bits of door had stopped bouncing off the walls in the other
room. The pair of technicians inside certainly hadn't expected anyone
to come through the door so quickly; they barely had time to reach for
their sidearms before he shot them down. Another couple of shots into
the expensive-looking communications equipment that lined the walls
turned most of the blinking lights off, and he returned to the doorway
to see what was further down the corridor.
"Flame Sniper!" Another dull roar answered Rei's call. "Shard,
there's more of them coming up the steps.
"See if you can collapse a section of staircase. The throne room
is just down the hall."
"Right. Flame Sniper!"
A heavy crash indicated that Rei had succeeded in her goal; he
could hear automatic weapons fire thudding uselessly into the underside
of the stairway. [Although if they bring up something heavier, they
could probably punch through the floor. A cheery thought.] He leaned
out into the corridor and ducked back quickly as bullets whined past
like a sudden swarm of gnats.
"Another squad at the end of the hall. I'm running low on
explosives, you want to handle it?"
Rei smiled tightly and waited for the firing to stop before leaning
out from the stairway entrance. "Mars Burning Mandala!" The roar and
the shouts of the men at the end of the hall--[only lightly burned,
more's the pity]--told Shard he had the opening he needed. Twin machine
pistols chattered through the smoke until the clips were dry; the bounty
hunter loaded another pair. [These things chew ammo like there's no
tomorrow. We'd better wrap this up quickly.]
"Is it clear?" Rei called out from across the hall. Shard ducked
out again, this time for longer; no standing figures were visible
through the smoke. He nodded.
"Should be." He stepped out from his hiding place, staying close
to the wall on his side; Rei did the same on the other side, edging
further down the corridor. They made it almost halfway down before the
big double doors at the other end opened, two small shapes blocking the
doorway.
Rei froze against the wall. "Who are they?"
"Damned if I know." Shard pushed off from the wall, running across
the corridor as he fired. Bullets pock-marked the floor behind the
pair, but any that hit them ricocheted away with a whine and a spark.
Before he could react, the pair started sprinting forward through
the smoke. Rei raised a hand.
"Burning Mandala!"
The wave of fire engulfed them, but to no apparent effect. Rei
backed away, hurriedly. The things were now easily recognizable: they
had the shape of young women, and the weight and color of marble. The
floorboards crunched under their feet as they ran, and both of them were
covered with tiny chips and pockmarks from the bounty hunter's bullets.
"What do we do now?"
Rei looked at Shard incredulously. "You're asking me?"
"This is more your department."
"Duck!"
The first statue had reached them, swinging its fist around in an
arc that passed just over Rei's head as she threw herself desperately to
the floor. The other edged towards Shard, feinting high and then
turning into a sweeping low kick that sent him sprawling across the
floor. He rolled to the side before its fist came down, smashing a
sizable hole in the floor.
"Shard! Do something!"
"Give me a second!"
The bounty hunter backed away from the statue, ducking first left,
then right as it swung. [Statues, statues...going to have to just blow
them to bits. Explosive rounds are no good, they'd just detonate on the
surface. Something stronger...] He ducked low under a roundhouse
swing, took a step back, and felt his heel come up against the wall.
[Uh-oh.]
"Flame SNIPER!"
Rei had evaded her statue for a moment, slipping behind Shard's and
placing her hand flat on its back. The full impact of the flame blew
the thing's torso to bits; the bounty hunter had the presence of mind to
close his eyes before he was pelted by fragments of flaming marble. He
lunged blindly to the side, hand dropping to the explosives at his belt.
"Shard, use--" The sentence cut off in muffled shriek. Shard
regained his feet immediately to find that the second statue had grabbed
Rei's shoulder from behind, running her into one of the walls hard
enough to crack the plaster. She stumbled backwards, dazed, and the
thing stepped behind her.
[Go for a weak spot. One of the joints.] Shard stumbled forward,
and the statue turned to face him. Instead of going directly for it, he
turned the run into a roll past its legs, pulling the device from his
belt and letting it adhere neatly to the things knee. As it turned to
follow him, his hand darted into another pocket. [Let it get away from
Rei. Two steps.]
The statue took two steps, and he smiled behind his dark glasses as
he clicked the switch home. The little charge detonated, focused
inward; it took off the statues leg at the knee, sending more chips of
marble flying across the hall. Unable to support its weight, the thing
toppled, flailing in a vain attempt to get to him.
Rei had regained her senses by this time, and pointed a shaking
hand at the thrashing statue. "Flame Sniper." When the roar died down,
all that were left were pieces.
She shook her head. "What the hell was that?"
"Some guardian of Iylitrio's, I imagine. I told you, he's got a
lot of magic up his sleeve. I know he has at least a couple of pet
wizards."
"Great. So what else can we expect?"
"Hopefully not much. His office is just past those doors."
Rei wiped one of her cheeks, spreading blood over it from a minor
cut from when the statue had rammed her into the wall. Shard couldn't
help staring at her, slightly in awe.
[God. She's smart, cute, self-reliant, *and* she throws
fireballs.] Any lingering doubts he'd been entertaining about this
course of action vanished. [If killing Iylitrio is what it takes to
keep her safe, so be it.]
"Gentlemen."
They looked up, almost in unison. Another man waited just inside
the open doors, standing in front of the second set that marked the
boundary between the anteroom and Iylitrio's office. He was
immaculately dressed, with short dark hair and a gaunt, hungry look. A
pair of swords, one long and one short, hung at his side.
Shard groaned, softly. "Seiron."
"I'm afraid Iylitrio is not receiving visitors at this time." He
took a step forward. "You're going to have to leave."
"I'm not here for Iylitrio." Rei spoke up from behind the bounty
hunter. "Where's Resh?"
"Lord Resh is with Iylitrio and cannot be disturbed." The
black-clad servant drew his katana with a silky metallic sound. "I note
that you will most likely attempt to see Iylitrio by force. I ask you
to reconsider. This course will result in your personal injury, up to
and including your deaths, and I cannot be held responsible."
Rei glanced at Shard. "I don't think he's going to move."
The bounty hunter shrugged. "I figured."
"Ami?"
Ami opened her eyes with a sigh at the sound of Makoto's voice.
"What?"
The other girl seemed a bit taken aback by the harsh tone. "I just
got back from the store." She held up a steaming plastic cup. "Want
some ramen? You look kind of worn out."
"I..." The smell of the ramen worked its siren song, and Ami
relented. "Sure. Thanks, Mako." She took the bowl and started
slurping down the noodles, speaking in between bites. "You don't look
so hot yourself."
It was true. Transforming back into Makoto from Sailor Jupiter had
gotten rid of the bloodstains, but she still carried some less obvious
marks. Her eyes were red and ringed by dark circles, as though she
hadn't slept in weeks. She ate sparingly from her own bowl of ramen,
while Usagi's lay unopened. The blonde girl was sleeping on two chairs
pushed together.
"Still nothing?"
Ami nodded wearily. "No news is good news, though. The doctors
sounded more hopeful."
"I can't believe there's nothing else we can do." Makoto finished
her noodles, drained the bowl, then crushed it in her fist. "No magic
or anything..."
"Luna said best not to interfere. If things look really bad, we'll
do what we can, but it's dangerous." [And I'd have to be a lunatic to
try something on my own.] She'd looked into the operating room with her
new second sight, and what she saw repulsed her; the careful fabric of a
living being shredded by a smaller, simpler object. Repairing that by
magic would be close to impossible. "She's a Senshi, though." Ami kept
her voice low. "So as long as she's alive, there shouldn't be any
permanent damage."
"That's something, anyway." Makoto sighed. "I don't even know who
those guys with Resh were. Or why he wants us dead."
"Neither do I."
They sat in silence for a moment before Makoto spoke again.
"Can I ask you something, Ami?"
"Go ahead." She slurped the last of the ramen and, aiming
carefully, shot the plastic bowl into the trash.
"Where have you been recently? I saw a bit of you at the shopping
mall, but that was it. We were worried sick about you. When Resh
attacked downtown, we tried to contact you, but didn't get anything."
"When was this?"
"Yesterday, around six. Just before we went in against Resh. But
you were out all night."
[That must have been when Eridu put me under.] "I was..." [What
can I tell her?]
[Wait a minute. Why am I lying to her?] Ami blinked, sudden aware
of the alien memories sitting like a lead weight in her mind. [What
have they been doing to me?]
Something suddenly bubbled to surface from inside those borrowed
memories. [Eridu was a guardian on his world. Guardian of Knowledge
and Deceit. Lying is as natural to him as breathing...]
[Why did he give me this?]
"Ami?"
Ami shook her head. "Sorry. Just remembered something." [I have
to tell her the truth.] "I met someone."
"You..." Makoto looked taken aback. "Not a guy."
"No! Well...he's a guy, I suppose, but it's not like that." [What
he wanted to the contrary.] "He's...something. I don't know.
Powerful."
"Powerful?"
"Magically powerful."
"You didn't tell the rest of us? What if he'd turned out to be
evil?"
"He..." She stopped, unsure of the answer to that question. "I'd
been working on some magical theory in my spare time, but there was
something about it I didn't get. Some trick. And then he showed up."
"Why would he do that?" The other sounded suspicious.
"I did some work for him. Computer hacking." [And found our real
names in someone's data. I still don't know what to think about that.]
"And he agreed to teach you..."
"He did it!" Ami held out one hand, proudly. "I can do it now."
"Do *what*?"
"Magic." She pointed at Usagi's ramen cup. [This is reckless. I
haven't really studied how to make this work.] Another side of her just
smiled. [I've done this a thousand times. All you have to do is beckon
like this.]
The plastic bowl jumped off the end-table as though it had been
kicked by some unseen force, zipping sideways to smack solidly into her
hand. Makoto's jaw dropped open, and Ami herself felt a tremendous
surge of elation. [It worked! It actually works!]
"A...Ami..."
"Don't you get it? This is what I've always wanted." [To see how
it all works, not just stumble along shouting some activation phrase and
letting it all happen. I need to know...]
"I can understand that, but..." She pointed at the ramen cup.
"Are you sure this is safe?"
"Of course it's safe."
"How do you know?"
"I just..." She stopped again. [I remember it. Like everything
else.] "I figured a lot of it out. My equations were almost there, and
he showed me the last little piece. I should show them to you, Mako.
It's beautiful how it all falls into place." [That last term was a real
stroke of genius. In fact...]
Makoto looked embarrassed. "I don't think I could follow them, so
I'll take your word for it. But I'm still kind of amazed. What else
can you..." She trailed off as it became clear Ami wasn't paying
attention to her anymore, staring off into space with her mouth open.
[Oh. Oh, gods.]
She could almost see the numbers dancing behind her eyes. [That
last term describes how the lines of force tend to spiral inward to form
focal points. But if that applies to all three layers...]
Memories spiraled.
[Eridu was a guardian.]
['The world it was on no longer exists.']
['It's too dangerous.']
['More dangerous than ]that[?']
[A chain reaction. If the forces are perturbed past a critical
point, it spreads through the force lines in a positive feedback loop.
] She closed her eyes, unconsciously, watching the equations march
past; everything made a kind of terrifying sense. [All the terms go to
zero.]
"Eridu!"
Jahara screamed as the walls of the inner sanctum shattered under
the heavy fists of the Imperial mecha. Assault mecha--black faceplates
like masks, weapons blazing from each of four arms--climbed through the
gap. Zaya led what was left of the guard to meet them, crimson energy
flashing brilliantly and crashing against the protective wardings of the
Imperial Dark Adepts in a shower of sparks. Outgunned both magically
and physically, the defenders fell back, leaving the floor covered with
bodies.
Ami watched the red-haired Zaya go down under a pair of assault
mecha, watched Jahara rush to her side. More defenders appeared, blue
and orange energy to replace the red, but the Imperial defenses were
still too strong.
She felt herself reach out, in a way that was well-remembered.
Jahara spun, halfway to the fight.
"Eridu! Don't--"
[All the terms go to zero.]
Her eyes popped open to find Makoto standing over her. "Ami! Are
you okay? Ami?"
"I'm fine." She shook her head, one hand already grabbing her coat
from where it hung over the back of a nearby chair. "But we have to
*go*, Makoto."
"Go? What are you talking about?"
"I figured it out. He did it, Mako. Eridu did it."
"Did *what*? Who's Eridu? Ami, what are you *talking* about--"
"I'll explain on the way. We have to get to the nexus, now."
"We can't leave Minako. And Usagi's still asleep."
"Minako will be okay." She paused. "Probably. And the rest of us
won't."
"Let me get Usagi up, and explain--"
"I'll go on ahead."
"Where?"
The blue-haired Senshi was already halfway out the door, too
distracted to note that it once again slammed open at her very approach.
"Tokyo Tower!"
"This is your last chance to surrender peacefully. Iylitrio can be
quite merciful."
Rei eyed Seiron's drawn katana. The metal shimmered like liquid
under the lights; the servant had slipped into a martial stance almost
reflexively as he drew the thing. [I'm sure he knows how to use it.
Does he really think he can stop us, though?]
She chided herself. [Apparently. Don't get too cocky here.]
"Rei." Shard spoke quietly enough that the swordsman at the other
end of the hall couldn't hear. "When I move, get down."
Rei nodded, an instant picture of what was about to happen forming
in her mind. [Not again...]
"I take it by your silence that you intend to resist. At this
point--"
The bounty hunter moved so fast his weapon was a blur, leaping from
his side to a firing position. At the same time, he pulled a black
sphere from his belt, thumbing a switch and tossing it towards the
anteroom door. Rei had tensed in expectation, flattening herself
against the wall.
Seiron was apparently not caught by surprise. The black-clad
swordsman ducked under the stream of bullets, dashing sideways as Shard
shifted his aim. The bounty hunter had been ready for that, though, and
the grenade landed in just the right spot, practically at Seiron's feet.
[Got him!] Rei closed her eyes just before the flash and opened
them when the thunder stopped. The end of the corridor was filled by a
cloud of billowing smoke. "Shard--"
"Down!"
The bounty hunter hit the deck, and Rei followed a moment later.
Seiron came flying out of the dust horizontally, at about head height;
his katana slashed down towards Shard, who rolled against the wall
desperately. Wood chips flew as the blade dragged a trail into the
floor without apparent effort, and Seiron twisted in mid-air, absorbed
the impact with the corridor wall with a bend of his legs, and landed in
a roll.
Shard came up shooting, one gun in each hand, but the swordsman
zigzagged between the bullets. Explosive rounds tore a series of holes
in the floor behind him, getting closer, but before they could connect
Seiron leapt into a spin that brought his sword around in a circle of
flashing steel. Shard ducked underneath it, barely, but got caught on
the ear with a kick and went sprawling. Seiron landed in a skid and
turned, ready to strike again.
"Mars Flame Sniper!"
The swordsman hadn't even so much as glanced in her direction, but
he dodged the fiery blast with fluid grace, stepping out of the way as
it scored the wall behind him and spinning back through the doorway as
Shard drew a bead again. Another burst chewed into the big double doors
that led to the office itself, but Seiron was already out of sight
behind the anteroom walls. Shard stepped back and reloaded, motioning
Rei away from the doorway.
"Who *is* that guy?" She kept her voice to a frantic hiss.
"Iylitrio's personal bodyguard. Nobody knows who he really is."
"He can't be human! No person can move like that."
"Since he can dodge bullets, I kind of figured." The bounty hunter
smiled grimly. "When he comes back out, hit him with some wide-angle.
That should throw him off balance, and then--"
"There! Fire!"
The shout came from behind them, accompanied by the sound of
running feet. Shard spun and dropped to one knee, gun blazing in a
rapid-fire burst that sent two of the gunmen flopping to the floor and
sent the rest diving for cover in the doorways. Rei turned a bit more
slowly. This ended up saving her life; she threw herself flat at a
flicker of movement in her peripheral vision, feeling the wind as
Seiron's sword whistled just over her head. Rei dodged again before it
came down vertically, halving more of the floorboards in its path, and
then Seiron was past her and running towards Shard. The bounty hunter
fired a final shot to keep the black suits behind him occupied, then
spun and tried to draw a bead on the swordsman. Seiron covered the gap
too fast, and Shard frantically thrust his weapon into the path of
oncoming razor-edged death, the clash of metal throwing sparks. Seiron
let them lock a moment before confidently twisting his sword sideways
and bringing his other hand around onto Shard's wrist, forcing the
bounty hunter to fire uselessly into the ceiling. With his opponent's
sword free, Shard had to let go of the gun and jump backwards to avoid
losing his arm.
Rei had just gotten back to her feet, trying to get a bead on the
black-clad servant. Seiron moved so fast he blurred, ducking as she
pointed and turning the move into a sweeping kick that knocked the
bounty hunter off his feet. Rei had to back up without firing as he
swung the katana in vicious horizontal arcs to keep her off balance, and
she found herself retreating towards the anteroom doors. Past Seiron,
the black suits had regained their courage and were closing in, looking
for a clear shot. Rei ducked first left, the right, as Seiron pressed
her back, his expression one of mild amusement.
[This is bad. Shard almost has his gun back...] The swordsman
knew it too, and feinted her to the left just as they got to the
doorway, pushing her into one corner. With nowhere left to run, Rei
ducked under the next sweep, at head-height, and tried to dodge past
him. Seiron turned, stuck out a foot, and sent her sprawling across the
floor as he brought his sword around in as low an arc as he could
manage. The best Rei could do was turn sideways, and she felt the blade
bite--a shock more then actual pain. Before he could reverse the
stroke, she aimed right at his chest.
"Flame SNIPER!"
Seiron twisted as though he had no bones in his body, moving
liquidly out of the path of the flame; plaster dust scattered as it
bored into the ceiling. The swordsman moved in a circle around her,
lowering his blade as she tried to get up and letting the tip of his
sword keep her down. Rei tried to focus on the point of the katana as
it hovered an inch or so from her face. Seiron's smile twisted,
ironically.
"Just a guardian, I suppose."
The click as Shard snapped the safety off one of his backup pistols
seemed to fill the world; he had the barrel pressed to the side of the
swordsman's head.
"Dodge this."
Seiron's smile, if anything, widened. The impact of the round
tossed him sideways like a rag doll, crashing into one of the corridor
walls with a spray of blood. Shard started to reach down before Rei had
time to shout.
"Shard, get down!"
The bounty hunter's reflexes were nothing if not well-trained, and
he dropped on top of her with a thud that knocked the wind from her.
Bullets cracked overhead as the black-suited goons advanced again; Rei
pointed over his head.
"Mars Burning Mandala!"
The silence that followed the wash of flame felt so good she was
almost hesitant to break it. [I don't have to get up if it never ends.]
She blinked, slowly. [I can just lie here...]
Shard climbed wearily to his feet, and Rei sighed, clapping one
hand to her side at the sudden stab of pain. He held out a hand, which
she accepted gratefully.
"Thanks." The bounty hunter looked down the corridor at the
unconscious thugs, then at the body in the corner, already atop a
spreading pool of blood. "Are you okay? You're bleeding."
[Thanks for noticing.] Rei grimaced as she pulled her hand away;
both it and the side of her uniform were stained a deep crimson. She
shook her head, a bit painfully. "It's not bad. Just a cut." Rei let
out a long breath. "I'll be fine."
"Good." Shard was already retrieving his dropped weapon. "I sure
as hell couldn't carry you out of here."
"Shard..."
"What?"
"If Resh was here, shouldn't we have seen him by now?"
"That's bothering you too?"
She nodded, silently.
"Iylitrio may have him stashed somewhere, I don't know. We can ask
him." Shard smiled. "Politely."
"What's your hurry, Miss Mizuno?"
Ami pounded along the street, clothes already a soaking mess. Her
feet were getting numb, chilled from a puddle she'd tried to jump
without thinking and hadn't quite cleared. Eridu's voice sounded right
in her ear; she shook her head as though she could be rid of him like
some kind of irritating bug.
"I figured it out." She forced it out through halting breaths as
she paused for a moment at a traffic light, bouncing from one leg to
another impatiently as the cars swished past. "I almost fell for it,
but I figured it out."
"Of course you did." She could almost see his smile in the
darkness, perfect white teeth and opaque lenses. "I gave you the answer
practically gift-wrapped."
"It's not going to work."
"Enough with the bravado. It'll work, and there's nothing you can
do. You're already part of the plan." His voice moved in closer.
"Unless you surprise me by taking me up on the offer."
The light changed, and Ami was running again, saving her breath.
"Come on, Miss Mizuno. It's not too late yet. A lot of people
have killed for a fraction of what I'm offering you."
"You're...offering...the end of the world." She panted it out as
she rounded a corner and took the subway steps three at a time.
"How long do you think worlds last anyway? Not forever."
"Long...enough."
"On my scale, Miss Mizuno, there's infinity, and there's everything
else."
"How can I help--" The desk clerk pulled back in surprise as she
slammed down a bill on his counter without looking and kept running. He
picked it up carefully and waved after her. "Miss, your change..."
The turnstile that guarded the subway entrance beeped of its own accord,
just as she arrived, and Ami barely had to slow down. She heard the
signal ahead as the train prepared to pull away from the station, the
doors sliding shut; she tried to sprint, but her legs felt like lengths
of rubber. Desperately, Ami threw out her hand, and the doors stopped
as though someone had stuck a girder between them. She barreled through
and let them close behind her, sagging against one of the polls. Breath
came hard.
[Not...enough monsters...lately.] She panted. [ And too many
late-night coding binges.]
"Life eternal. Don't say I never gave you anything."
"Would you shut up!"
She clapped her hand over her mouth and the few other passengers on
the car stared in her direction. Ami blushed furiously and took a seat
as far from them as possible; after a moment they returned to their
separate activities, a couple discretely edging away.
[There has to be a way out.] The supernexus, as always, pulsed
just under her vision. Waves of power flowed outward, getting stronger
as she approached. She could feel the storm, too, connected to the
nexus by flaring arcs of electricity and magic, circling around it in
the same helpless way as water circling around a drain. [A natural
convergence point.] Anything magical homed in on the nexus unerringly,
iron filings glomming on to the end of the magnet. [There has to be a
way out!] Eridu's influence was almost palpable, and she could feel him
gloating. [If I had power like that...]
That vision was so attractive that she pulled back from it,
frightened. [Think, Ami! Something he overlooked...]
Two sailor-uniformed figures leaned against the plate glass in
front of a closed convenience store, the rain flowing off the overhang
into a nearly solid curtain in front of them.
Neptune shivered. Just a little, but Haruka was sensitive to her
mood.
"What's wrong?"
"The rain." She closed her eyes.
"Water is normally more your thing than mine."
"Something's wrong."
Haruka could feel it too. The air had an odd feel to it, a sort of
stretched feeling, and there was an occasional whiff of the
scorched-metal tang of ozone. The storm looked to be building to a
climax, lightning in nearly constant display around the tower and
spreading out over the city.
"We should be up there."
Michiru smiled. "We will be. This is just a diversion."
Uranus paused. "Are you still sure about this?"
"Setsuna's never been wrong before."
"She seemed..."
"What else can we do?"
"Nothing." Haruka gritted her teeth. "We're in the dark, and
there's nothing we can do."
"Trust Pluto." Michiru slipped her hand into her partner's. "Now.
Are you ready?"
"Ready." Uranus nodded.
The big double doors to the office weren't even locked; they swung
open at Rei's touch.
[Shard was right. This *is* a throne room.]
The room was almost empty, massive picture windows behind the
single desk giving a spectacular view of the storm that was lighting up
Tokyo's night sky. The desk itself was heavy, baroque, ancient, and
covered in neat stacks of paper. The chair behind it creaked as its
occupant resettled his massive bulk, treating his visitors to a rare
smile.
[Iylitrio.]
"Sailor Mars, isn't it?" The crime-lord waved a hand, setting the
rolls of skin on his arms to jiggling. "I'm happy to finally get a
chance to meet one of the vaunted Senshi. Though I'm less than pleased
with the manner of your entrance."
"Iylitrio--" Shard started to speak but was cut off by his
employer's raised palm.
"Before you think of doing something rash with that weapon of
yours, bounty hunter, keep in mind I have a couple of men behind me with
nothing better to do then keep an eye on you. I assure you they have
very good aim."
Lightning flashed, and Rei could see another pair of figures,
kneeling to either side of Iylitrio's desk with rifles raised. Shard
saw them too, and let his hand slip away from his pistol.
"I'll keep this short." Rei tried to keep any quiver out of her
voice. "Where's Resh?"
"Resh is nearby. I think that he will not be needed."
"Just show me to the vampire and stay out of my way."
"I think not." Iylitrio leaned back in his chair. "I know who you
are, Rei Hino. I know where you live, where your friends live. And
much as I hate to make crude threats..." He smiled. "I think we
understand each other, yes?"
"I understand." [Grandfather and Yuuchiro should already be on
their way; there's no way he can find them. As for the rest...] "Take
me to Resh, or I'm going to take my anger out on you."
"Rei..." Shard started to whisper, but she silenced him with a
glance. Iylitrio held her stare without blinking.
"I see. You don't believe me."
"I--"
"You know it was my men who killed your friend? Resh has become
unnecessary. And you still don't believe me?"
"I believe you." [Minako.] Rei raised her palm.
"Then you don't care about your family." Iylitrio shrugged. "I
suppose that's not out of the ordinary. Shard, take her."
Rei didn't even glance sideways, holding the crime-lord's gaze as
his eyes flickered to the motionless bounty hunter.
"So it's true." Skin folded around his mouth as Iylitrio's smile
widened. "You've fallen for her. Or is there someone out there who you
think can outbid me?"
"Keep smiling." Shard shrugged. "You just keep smiling."
"And why not?" He spread his arms. "I've been waiting for you.
Do you really think there's anything you can do to harm me, here? My
men will drop you if you so much as take a step, and more of my forces
are on their way. You've lost, Mars. And now you get to die on your
knees, begging for mercy."
Rei watched his eyes. [He wasn't waiting for us here. He didn't
even know Shard had turned against him, and his security certainly
wasn't prepared.] Iylitrio held her gaze steadily. [Is there something
between us? Some kind of force shield, maybe?]
[Now what?]
"Iylitrio..." She lowered her hand and shook her head, her eyes
never leaving his face. The crime-lord's expression didn't change, but
something about him relaxed; the folds of skin around his jaw shifted
slightly. Just for a moment, Rei saw a bead of sweat on his forehead,
running down the side of his face until it got lost in a crevice. She
smiled, inwardly.
"Giving up already? So sad." Iylitrio gestured. "Take them--"
"Mars Plasma LANCE!" Her shout and the gunshots were almost
simultaneous.
The beam that stabbed out had gone beyond angry crimson flame. A
spike of pure white slashed through the desk and into the wall behind
it. It didn't even *burn* anything, just blew it out of the way in a
shower of splinters and sparks. The fire lasted for less then a second,
then vanished in a wash of heat that spread out through the room. Rei
rapidly tried to blink away the shining after-image on her retina.
Shard held a pistol in each hand, the barrels still smoking, and
the crime-lord's two guards slumped to the floor. Of Iylitrio himself,
there was nothing left but a long, greasy black smear on the ground.
The desk had been sawed in half, and the window behind it was still
intact except where the beam had melted a neat hole. A fine ash was
gradually settling on top of everything.
"Jesus." Shard slipped his guns back into their holsters in an
almost unconscious reflex. "Try and give me a bit of warning next time
you do that. One of those guys nearly got a shot off."
Rei hardly dared to let out her breath. "I figured you'd think of
something." She couldn't take her eyes off the charred and sticky
floor. [He's just...gone. Just like that. Like turning off a light.
I just killed him.]
She closed her eyes. [Good fucking riddance.]
Shard put a hand on her shoulder. For once, it felt comfortable.
"Are you..."
"I'm fine." Rei smiled, blankly. "We're not done, though."
"Rei..."
"And don't tell me you only signed up for dealing with Iylitrio."
[I swear, if he does that...] "We still have to find Resh, and--"
Shard leaned down and silenced her with a kiss. Rei started for a
moment, then relaxed.
"Relax, Rei." The bounty hunter straightened up. "We'll find
him."
"Resh has gone to Tokyo Tower."
They both spun to face the corner of the office, still cloaked deep
in shadow even from the near-constant lightning. The bolts glinted off
someone's face, eyes covered by black-on-black sunglasses and skin
nearly chalk white in the flickering lighting.
Shard had his gun drawn before he could even think. "Who are you?"
"Someone who's tired of that vampire. Just being helpful." The
face glided back into the darkness. "Go find him."
"Wait--" Rei took a step forward before lightning flared again;
the figure was gone.
Django Wexler (khaine)
khaine@mindless.com
"Liberals are an easy target. They're so soft and furry, and they make
lovely pleading noises when trod on."
Patrick Carroll
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