(continued from part 2)
****************
The fight was not going well. This vitrimorph was big and frighteningly
quick, and their attacks were having little effect on it. The indoor
setting did not help; the mall had five levels, and the creature could
leap from floor to floor to dodge anything they threw at it.
It was massive and very heavy, so its leaps were causing a lot of
damage. Railings were torn away, shopfronts smashed open and
merchandise strewn everywhere. Shattered glass and rubble littered the
floors. Here and there, sparking electric cables dangled from broken
ceiling tiles. There were fires breaking out in a few places, but the
sprinklers had them under control. The wail of alarms filled the air.
Fortunately, most of the shoppers had fled when the attack began.
The vitrimorph itself was of glittering crystal, its shape something
half-way between a bear and an ape. It moved on four legs, but there
was another pair of limbs, arm-like, emerging from its back. The Senshi
had already seen that its hands could crush stone.
It was tough, too. Mercury had managed to hit it in the shoulder once;
the creature was knocked down by the impact, but it got up again
immediately without visible damage. Uranus' sonic beam seemed to bother
it more, but it jumped away effortlessly whenever she caught it. Venus'
chain and Mars' Burning Mandala seemed to have no effect.
They needed a plan.
Sailor Venus paused for a moment to take stock. Mercury was talking on
her communicator, as Uranus gave covering fire; Mars was nowhere to be
seen ... and the vitrimorph was coming far too close for comfort. Venus
decided to take some of the heat off the others.
As it approached, she darted out and sprinted across its path. It
wheeled in her direction instantly, much faster than she had expected.
Venus ducked frantically as it swung a massive crystalline fist at her
head, missing her by a hair. The next blow followed a fraction of a
second later. She dodged back, then leaped for safety. There was an
open balcony a level up; she caught hold of the railing and flipped
herself over. The floor was slippery with water from the sprinklers,
and she skidded as she landed.
The monster followed her. Even as she caught her balance, she heard the
thunder of its legs, and then a sudden silence. She dodged again,
instinctively. The vitrimorph landed where she had been standing, with
an impact that made the floor shake. Faux-marble tiles shattered under
its feet.
Venus was already moving away. She vaulted over a twisted pile of
clothes racks and headed down a nearby corridor. Behind her, she
heard the racks smashed aside. The sound of the vitrimorph's feet did
not falter.
The corridor led into a multi-level switchback. Cursing under her
breath, she ran up the first two zig-zags, then leaped from level to
level up the rest. The pounding footsteps followed. They sounded as if
they were coming closer.
At the top, the switchback opened out into a long, straight hall lined
with shops. Venus' heart sank. Getting caught in a shop would be
suicide; but there was no cover at all in the hallway. She was going
to be an open target. And the vitrimorph was right behind.
She accelerated into a sprint. Speed was her only hope now.
A pair of frightened eyes watched from within a shop as she passed. Not
everybody had fled. Venus could only hope that the vitrimorph did not
notice the watcher. She ran on.
Perhaps the footfalls behind her grew too regular. Some instinct warned
her, and she ducked to the left. A pale golden bolt of energy shot past
her ear, passing through the spot where she had just been. She yelped
out loud. From somewhere she found a little extra speed.
She had not realised that this one could fire energy bolts. Another
problem to juggle.
The bolt hit something up ahead with a burst of glass and rubble. Venus
rolled head-over-heels, letting the worst of the splinters pass
overhead, and came to her feet once more. She was running for her life,
she realised.
Just ahead, to her relief, the hall opened out again. She covered the
last few metres at an all-out dash, and burst out into a giant
five-level concourse. She had no time to slow; instead, as she reached
the railing, she jumped out into open space. And realised, too late,
that the gap was very deep -- and far too wide for her to reach the
other side.
She spun in mid-air, shouting words of power. Her Love-Me Chain shot
upward and wrapped itself around a girder in the roof, high above. Her
fall became a swoop.
She had just enough time to remember the last time she had done this:
swinging from an Opal, it had been. This time was not as much fun. A
second ball of energy sizzled past her, leaving a long, painful burn
down her right arm. Then she was on the other side, dropping clumsily
to the floor on the fourth level. Her chain vanished as she released
it.
There was a moment of silence. Venus caught her breath and looked
around, clutching her burned arm. On the far side of the gap, the
vitrimorph was looking back at her. She could almost think that its
face had a frustrated expression. Then it lifted its head slightly.
Its open mouth glowed pale gold, and another lambent burst of energy
spat across the gap.
[Gross,] Venus thought vaguely. She did not try to dodge; the bolt was
going well over her head. She wondered why it had even bothered. A fit
of pique, perhaps.
Then the roof fell on top of her.
--**--
Uranus wiped a strand of wet hair from her eyes, sagging back and
watching for a moment as the enemy monster followed Venus away. She was
bone-weary. Her attack was draining, and she had fired a lot of them
today. All too few had hit.
She heard the click of a footstep nearby, and glanced up. Sailor
Mercury had finished her call for help and was pulling herself out from
cover. There was a thin smear of blood down her left arm, remnant of a
flying splinter. She looked tired, too; nearly as tired as Uranus felt.
"You okay?" Mercury asked.
"Give me ... a minute." Uranus leaned back on the wall. It felt
deliciously cool.
"Sure." Mercury glanced away, in the direction Venus had gone. "Quite
the mover, isn't she?" She grinned suddenly. "Makes you wonder."
"Wonder ... what?"
"If you'd been trained by Bendis too, would you be jumping around that
way?"
Uranus closed her eyes and tried to imagine this. It was disturbingly
easy. With a grunt, she pushed herself upright once more. "I think we
have other things to worry about right now," she said primly.
"I suppose so. Have you seen -- oh, there she is." A little distance
away, Sailor Mars was picking her way toward them. "You okay,
Mars-chan?" Mercury called.
The girl opened her mouth, then closed it again, shrugging helplessly.
She was dirty and bedraggled, and looked as weary as the others. But
there was a hopeless, defeated look in her eyes.
Uranus felt a brief moment of sympathy for her. Mars was no fighter,
that much was clear. She fled when the vitrimorph came near; when faced
with a physical challenge, she froze up or backed off, every time. What
must it be like, to be constantly so afraid?
But she kept trying. Uranus had seen her concentrating so hard on her
Burning Mandala that it glowed sun-bright, and left her half-fainting
from the strain ... and all to no avail. A slight singeing was all she
could manage. You could see it in her eyes; she was beaten before she
started, and she knew it. And she kept trying anyway.
Yet for all her sympathy, Uranus could not help but feel a dull
resentment. They were facing a serious challenge, and one of their
number was simply not up to the job. What a sad irony, that they were
stuck with Iku here, while back at the Olympus was one of the most
powerful women who had ever lived -- if she could only use her power
again.
They had traded a warrior of fire for a wet squib. The only thing this
new Mars was good for was a distraction.
She squelched the dark thought before it could go any further. As she
herself had said, just a few moments ago, right now they had other
things to worry about.
"Come on," she said. "Let's get after Venus."
Mercury and Mars nodded. Uranus took a deep breath, glanced about
quickly, and set off. The other two fell in just behind her. She did
not try to repeat Venus' jump to the balcony; there was a upward walkway
nearby and she aimed for it without hesitation.
The next level was empty, but it was easy to tell which way Venus and
the vitrimorph had gone. The trail of rubble and broken floor tiles
made the path clear. Twisted metal fragments that might once have been
clothes racks were strewn across the floor. The girls ran past them
without pausing, Mars lagging behind the other two. Faint and far off,
the sound of sirens could be heard.
As she reached the switchback leading up, Uranus paused for a moment.
A nearby wall-board showed a directory of the mall, and the map gave her
an idea.
She waited impatiently for Mars to catch up. Then she indicated their
position on the board, and the long hallway at the top of the
switchback. "I'll follow Venus," she said to the other two. "But look;
there's another way up, here." She pointed on the map. "If you two go
straight ahead, through _here_, then down the gallery and up this other
walkway --"
"We'll be able to catch the monster between us!" finished Mercury, her
eyes lighting up. Then her face fell. "But we'll have to time it just
right, to attack at the same moment --"
"Use your computer," said Uranus impatiently. "Shouldn't you be able
to track where I am?"
"My --" Mercury froze for a moment. Was she flushing? On her face it
was hard to tell. "Um, right. That'd work."
"All right. Get moving, then. Don't be late."
Wasting no more time, Uranus ran toward the switchback. She heard
Mercury and Mars hurrying away behind her. As she started up the first
ramp, she realised that Mercury had never even thought of her computer
until now. Typical.
The top of the switchback opened out into a long, open hallway. She
started down it, not moving too fast. Mercury and Mars had farther to
go, and she did not want to arrive before they did. She tried to reckon
in her head how long it would take them. Why couldn't she have had a
computer like Mercury's?
From far up ahead, there came a drawn-out, grinding crash. It sounded
like half the building was falling in. Uranus slowed for an instant.
Then she started to run for all she was worth.
--**--
Mercury dropped her visor over her eyes as she ran. Interestingly, her
vision became much clearer at once. The device was filtering out the
smoke and the constant shower of water from the sprinklers. A neat
trick, that.
She pulled her computer out and opened it as she ran, hoping that it was
water-proof. The screen lit up with displays. And, yes, there was a
tracking function. This might actually work ...
But there was a sound that was missing from her side. She stopped to
look around, and saw how far behind Mars had already fallen.
It must have shown in her expression. As Mars caught up, Mercury could
read the resignation in the other girl's face.
"Just go," Mars said quietly. "Sailor Uranus needs you. I'll ... I'll
catch up." Something twisted in her face; she fell to her knees,
staring down at the floor, and waited.
A thousand thoughts raced through Mercury's mind. The impulse to say
something funny, instantly suppressed. The urgency of the situation.
Uranus, who was depending on them. Venus, who might already be in
trouble. And Mars ... Mars, who was waiting for Mercury to run off
and leave her.
[How many times has someone left her already?]
The idea left a peculiar, hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Sailor Mercury thought about it, thought about going ahead. It was the
rational thing to do; it was the best way to help Venus and Uranus. And
yet ... and yet. She made a decision.
She knelt down at Mars' side and took her hand gently. The other girl
looked up, startled.
"Come on," Mercury said. She smiled. "You're one of us now. You're a
Sailor Senshi. And we don't leave other Senshi behind."
Mars' eyes widened. For a moment, something bloomed, deep behind them.
Something glorious.
"I'll slow you down," she whispered.
"Have a little faith in yourself," said Mercury. And then, because
somehow it seemed required: "I believe in you."
She stood up, still holding Mars' hand, and waited. After a moment,
Mars rose from her knees. They stood in silence for an instant more.
Then they ran.
For a few seconds Mercury thought it was not going to work. Mars' pace
was ragged, clumsy; she could not keep up. Then, almost magically, it
happened. The girl's footfalls found a rhythm. Her breathing steadied
and her body began to move in harmony at last. Mercury could almost
hear her relaxing, even as her speed increased. Side by side, they ran.
They rounded a corner and started through the broad gallery that Uranus
had indicated. It was wide and roomy; the ceiling was higher here, and
far off at the opposite end it vanished altogether as the gallery
expanded into a giant multi-level concourse.
They ran. Here and there, a few bewildered-looking mall staff, dressed
in yellow emergency jackets, turned to watch them pass. The sirens they
had heard earlier were closer. There was another sound, too, like the
irregular beating of a drum, coming from above. But the walkway to the
upper levels was not far ahead --
Then the roof came tumbling down.
The two Senshi skidded to a halt, just in time. With a sound of
thunder, hundreds of tons of wreckage plummeted down out of the
concourse at the end of the gallery. Beams and girders, crumbling
sections of walkway, stone and wooden panels, sheets of disintegrating
glass and, everywhere, thick, billowing clouds of dust; a torrent of
ruin, descending from on high. The air was filled with alarms, sirens,
shouts and screams of terror and pain, and, overwhelming all, the roar
of destruction. It seemed to go on forever; whenever it began to slow,
it suddenly picked up again as more sections of the mall, damaged by the
avalanche, gave way.
At last the onslaught began to truly subside. The rumble of falling
wreckage slowed to a trickle. The air was thick with dust and grit,
leaving a foul taste in Mercury's mouth. At least she could still see
through her visor. There was a hiss of water, gushing from broken
pipes. More fires had broken out. Up ahead, the pile of wreckage
overflowed the edges of the concourse. Walls had been crushed aside,
and most of the pillars around the edge were buckled or broken. With a
sudden chill, Mercury realised that they might give way at any moment.
She began to turn to Mars, to tell her to go back to the emergency staff
and get them out of the mall. Before she could complete the motion, one
more object came down from above, not tumbling but clearly jumping, to
land with an ear-splitting crash in the midst of the rubble. Something
large and glittering.
The vitrimorph did not appear to be damaged at all.
It pulled itself out of the wreckage, two arms and four legs moving
smoothly, and looked around. The bear-like head turned in Mercury's
direction. It started toward her.
There was no more possibility of retreat. She and Mars were the only
things between it and the emergency staff. Mercury took a deep breath,
coughed on dust, and prepared to cast another Ice Spear.
Beside her, she heard Mars shout out, "Burning Mandala!"
The lines of fire tracked themselves crazily across the wreckage,
spiralling in upon the vitrimorph. They met in the centre, and a few
sparks danced off its crystal body. Useless, as always.
But Mercury saw the attack, for the first time, through her visor. She
saw the lines of analysis that her computer obligingly displayed. And
she thought: [Well, what do you know?]
--**--
Venus tried to dive for cover as the roof collapsed, but there was
simply no time. A heavy ceiling tile struck her on the shoulder in
mid-air, knocking her sprawling. Before she could recover, something
heavy smashed her in the small of the back. Her chin hit the floor,
hard, and the world became scarlet with pain.
More debris hammered into her. She cried out, but the sound was lost in
the falling wreckage. She was pinned in place, helpless. More and more
fell, each new blow fresh agony; the thunder of ruin was all around her,
and the weight mounted endlessly ... And then, miraculously, the
onslaught began to die away. A few last chunks fell, and no more.
After a long time, she managed to open her eyes. It was dark; she was
completely buried. The pain in her back was immense. A strong taste of
salt was in her mouth. She could not breathe through her nose; she
could barely breathe at all. There was no air. The weight pressing
down on her was almost overwhelming.
She was alive.
More than that; she was a Senshi. She was a hero. And she was damned
if some crystal bugbear was going to bring her down.
The pressure on her left arm was a fraction less than on the rest of her
body. With some difficulty -- ignoring the pain in her back and her
mouth -- she forced the arm to move. Leverage was what she needed. Get
the palm on the floor. Slide it in, toward her body. Press hard. She
groaned with the effort, with the renewed agony, and pushed harder.
Something shifted; the weight on her shoulders seemed to lessen. She
pushed again. And then she heard the rubble sliding; something that
felt like a brick landed on her fingers and she groaned again; but
suddenly there was enough room for her to turn her head, and a distant
light filtering through the wreckage; and when she inhaled, she had all
the air she wanted.
With a little more room to move in, she managed to work her shoulders
free of the beam that lay across them. That gave her the use of both
arms. Little by little, she worked her way out of the pile of wreckage.
It seemed to take forever. When she finally managed to sit up, she
realised that it could not have been more than thirty seconds.
She coughed, spat blood, and felt her nose gingerly. It did not seem to
be broken. Then she stood up and looked out across the concourse once
more.
The vitrimorph was staring back at her.
As she watched, dismayed, it spat more bolts of energy. They were aimed
successively higher and higher. With a sudden, cold horror, Venus
realised that it was going to bring the whole building down on her.
There was a drawn-out scream of tearing metal and disintegrating stone
from above, and hundreds of tons more wreckage began to fall toward her.
She looked around wildly. All around her, she was surrounded by the
debris from the first shot. There was nowhere to run.
Well, one place.
She fired her Love-Me Chain across the concourse, and swung out across
the gap once more. Straight back toward the vitrimorph.
She ought to have made for another floor, above or below, but the angles
were tricky and she simply had no time. The first new fragments from
above struck her shoulders, hard enough to sting, as she swung out. She
paid them no heed. Her eyes were fixed on the enemy.
It stood there, waiting for her. Massive arms reached forward, those
hands which could crush stone ready to receive her. It could have fired
again -- she was an easy mid-air target -- but it did not have to
bother. She was going to land right by it. She braced herself, ready
to flip out of reach the moment she landed ... and knowing that she did
not have a chance.
And then something dim and shimmering struck the vitrimorph from behind.
There was a faint singing in the air; a tingling on her skin. Like
music, Venus thought, entranced. The music of the spheres.
The vitrimorph stiffened; it seemed to shudder at the touch of the beam.
Then, in a movement that was almost too fast to follow, it leaped away.
Venus did not have time to see where it went. The balcony was coming up
to meet her, fast. She released her chain, letting it wink out of
existence, and landed sprawling on the spot where the creature had
stood.
A slim figure stepped out of the hallway to meet her. "Invited by a new
millennium," it intoned gravely, "Sailor Uranus ... acting gracefully."
Venus raised a bloody face to her saviour. "You betcher ass," she said.
--**--
"Ice Spear!"
The bolt of ice hit the vitrimorph in the neck, flipping the monster
backward to land, upside-down, in the mountain of wreckage that filled
what had once been a bright, open concourse. There were scattered
cheers from the mall staff who still remained in the gallery, watching.
Mercury tried to ignore them. She knew that it was far from over.
Sure enough, there was a sudden explosion of movement from the rubble.
The vitrimorph burst out of the heap, sending splinters of stone and
shattered glass flying in all directions. From behind Mercury came a
hoarse scream of pain. She ignored that, too.
Once upon a time, the monsters just stole your life energy, or your
heart crystal, or whatever. They didn't try to tear you limb from limb.
They searched for beautiful dreams; they didn't go around killing
innocent people. Above all, Mercury was pretty sure that they went down
a lot more easily than this.
Of course, there was a Sailor Moon in those days. That probably made a
difference.
The vitrimorph stalked closer. Mercury watched, narrow-eyed. It could
move a lot faster than you'd expect, when it wanted to. She braced
herself to get out of the way.
It did not rush her. Instead it opened its mouth and spat out a pale
golden bolt of energy at her.
The only thing that saved Mercury was that she'd seen a vitrimorph do
it once before. The one back in the theatre; that had fired energy
bolts, too. She saw the glow in its mouth and had a fraction of a
second to dodge to one side.
And that moment, once she was committed, caught in mid-move, was when it
charged.
It hit her like an express train, a massive blow that knocked the breath
out of her and sent her flying as effortlessly as if it were swatting a
fly. It did not even hurt; the shock was too great for her to feel a
thing. Then she hit a wall, and that hurt a very great deal.
She staggered to her feet, gasping with the pain, and looked around
wildly. Somebody screamed a warning -- Mars' voice -- and she started
to turn, but before she could complete the motion it was on her from
behind. Glittering crystal filled her eyes; there was a sudden hot, wet
feeling, and the world went black.
She opened her eyes a second later, half-surprised to find that she
still could. It was standing over her, looking down. One glassy fist
was raised to strike -- this blow would be the end, she knew -- but for
one instant it was motionless. [It's waiting for me to see it coming,]
she realised. [It's playing with me.]
[No. Somebody is playing with me ... through it.]
Sparks danced across its body. Somewhere, Sailor Mars was making one
last desperate attempt to save her. Mercury could have told her not to
bother. The fist began to descend.
Then a voice cried out, and the thunder answered.
Mercury's eyes were filled with light. The vitrimorph flew backward,
rolling end-over-end. Its body was lit up with a blue, electric glow.
It hit the floor once, bounced, and again. The sound it made as it
struck was like breaking glass. Mercury managed to get up on one elbow
to watch as it ground to a stop. For a second, she dared hope.
Then, once again, it started to get up.
There were hands at her elbows, helping her up. Mars ... and Jupiter,
Jupiter, of course. "Took your time getting here, Hayashi," she managed
to say.
Sailor Jupiter grinned through the concern that was plain on her face.
"You know how traffic gets," she said.
"Excuses. Always excuses." Mercury coughed. Her ribs hurt.
Jupiter nodded toward the vitrimorph. It was motionless for the moment,
possibly sizing them up. It still glowed; but otherwise, if Jupiter's
lightning bolt had hurt it, the damage was not visible. "What's the
story?" she asked.
"Nothing affects it," said Mars quietly.
"Uranus' music thingy seems to bother it," Mercury corrected. "But it's
too fast; she can't hit it for long enough to do the damage."
Jupiter nodded, frowning. "Then if --"
"However," Mercury said, unable to restrain a grin, "I do have a plan.
And those --" she pointed -- "are just the people I need to do it."
Mars and Jupiter looked around. Uranus and Venus were coming toward
them from a nearby staircase. Venus looked as bad as Mercury felt; her
fuku was stained, her nose and upper lip were bleeding and she was
limping. Her expression was undaunted, though. Uranus appeared ...
stern, but at the same time, oddly satisfied. Both of them looked glad
to see Jupiter.
In the distance, the vitrimorph stirred; then, with a prodigious leap,
it bounded away and was lost to view.
"So let's hear it," said Jupiter.
Mercury's grin widened. It hurt her mouth; she probably had a smashed
lip herself. But it was worth it. She continued to grin as she told
them all what they were going to do.
--**--
Five minutes later, Jupiter scouted through the hallways of the mall,
keeping a wary eye open for the enemy. She had a giddy feeling of
unreality as she went; it was like walking through a dreamworld. This
mall should be a familiar place; she had been here dozens of times
before. Some parts of it still looked the way she remembered. But so
much of it was reduced to wreckage and rubble, half-lit, fire-damaged
and streaming with water. Even places where the vitrimorph had never
come were damaged, torn apart by the stress as the roof over the grand
concourse had been torn down.
Off to her left, something grated. Her distracted, almost fugue-like
state vanished; her head snapped around, her hands rising, ready to
throw lightning. After a second, she stepped gingerly in the direction
of the sound.
The grating noise came again, and this time she saw it: a broken length
of wood, hanging from a cable that dangled from a gaping hole in the
ceiling. As it swung to and fro, the cable rubbed against the edges of
the hole, making the sound she had heard. Relieved, she started to turn
away.
Then she froze. It must have been hanging there for some time now. Why
was it still swinging?
The vitrimorph burst out through a broken shop window just ahead,
thundering toward her at full speed. It was no longer glowing. Its
arms were outstretched to grab her; its mouth was open, ready to fire
another energy bolt. Floor tiles burst under its feet as it charged.
Jupiter was already moving. She called out, "Supreme Thunder!" and felt
the power collect on her tiara, then leap out at the monster. The
vitrimorph tried to dodge but the lightning clipped its left shoulder,
knocking it to the floor with a crash. It glowed blue once more.
Before it could get up, Jupiter started to run. She tapped frantically
on her communicator and yelled out, "It's here! I'm on my way!" In
another moment she had ducked around a corner, just in time to avoid the
monster's own returning fire.
She was on the third floor of the mall, two levels up from where their
rendezvous point. The quick way down would have been to jump from a
balcony into the concourse; but that would have landed her in the
massive pile of wreckage below. Instead she had to take the long path,
with an enemy dogging her heels every step of the way. For a brief,
insane moment she wished she were a runner like Haruka.
The corridors and halls of Zarigani Mall became a nightmare, full of
dim, flickering lights, the stench of smoke and the certainty of
imminent death. Somehow she made it to a flight of emergency stairs
and leaped down them eight at a time. The stairwell was narrow enough
to slow the vitrimorph, but the lights was even worse than in the main
corridors and she nearly broke her neck three times. Finally, chest
heaving, she flung herself out on the ground level and sprinted across
the gallery. An arm reached out and Sailor Uranus pulled her into cover
behind a pile of broken boxes.
A second later, there was an explosion from the direction she had come.
Jupiter peeked through a gap between two boxes and saw the vitrimorph
burst out of the stairwell. It came to a halt, the bear-like head
turning this way and that. Looking for her.
Silence fell. The vitrimorph took a step forward, then paused once
more. A heap of burning books, spilled from the shattered facade of a
nearby shop, cast ruddy glints from its body.
On opposite sides of the gallery, Mercury and Venus stepped out of
hiding.
The vitrimorph saw them; it turned, very quickly, and then paused. Its
head tracked from one girl to the other, then back again. The two
Senshi were standing a good twenty meters apart; there was no way for it
to face them both. It seemed to hesitate.
Behind the boxes, Jupiter stirred: wanting to move, wanting to help,
wanting to do anything but watch her friends in danger. Uranus' hand on
her shoulder tightened, and she held still.
Then, slowly and deliberately, Mercury took one step to her left. The
vitrimorph shifted again, almost imperceptibly.
Another step. And the vitrimorph _moved_, leaping toward her with
terrifying speed ... and came to a halt once more, as Venus took a step
of her own, to the right. Widening the gap between the girls. It
looked at Venus, and then back to Mercury.
Sailor Mercury had frozen when Venus moved. Her body was stiff, tense.
Now, she took another step to her left.
At the same time, Venus stepped right. The vitrimorph's head turned
from one side to the other. It moved a few metres toward Venus, then
paused once more.
"Just a little further," Uranus whispered.
Mercury stepped left. The vitrimorph followed.
Venus stepped right. The vitrimorph froze, then followed her.
They were leading it on a zig-zag path, Jupiter saw: left to right,
to and fro, but always forward. Just a little further ...
Together, Mercury and Venus stepped directly back. The vitrimorph
surged forward, paused, and took one more step. Its foot came down,
oblivious, in the pile of burning books.
Mercury shouted, "_Now_!"
And Sailor Mars stepped out of the bookstore.
"Burning Mandala!"
--**--
A wink of light, like a flash from a giant searchlight. A circular
pattern of fire that etched itself across the floor of the gallery. It
rotated, the lines shifting, wheeling, sweeping in toward the centre,
faster and faster ... and then, as it passed over the burning books, its
colour changed, took on a darker cast. The air above it seemed to
shimmer. The books flared up with a roar, and were gone.
And the vitrimorph's leg began to glow a cherry-red.
--**--
Uranus could feel the heat radiating from the circle. Even from this
distance, it was like putting her face to an oven door. She blinked
twice, her eyes suddenly dry.
She had no idea why Mars' attack had suddenly become so powerful ... but
suddenly she began to see what Mercury had planned.
Across the gallery, Venus was sprinting to help. But the vitrimorph was
still moving; its leg shone red-hot, leaving glossy, liquid-looking
marks on the floor tiles, but it continued to advance. Sailor Mercury
took a few steps back, sudden apprehension on her face.
Then Venus was at her side, and Mercury came to a halt. The two girls
shared one quick, resolute glance. Mercury lifted her hands and
shouted. At the same moment, Venus cried out words of her own.
"Ice Spear!"
"Venus Chain Thing!"
Mercury's attack shot toward the vitrimorph -- and in mid-flight, it was
struck by Venus' chain.
With an ear-splitting _crack_, the spear shattered.
The vitrimorph was showered with countless tiny fragments of ice.
Steam bellowed up with a roar. The vitrimorph groaned: not a vocal
sound at all, but the sound of material stressed to the breaking point.
Irregular white patches appeared across its leg. It took one more step
forward, and Uranus could see the white patches splitting and reforming
with a fragile grinding sound.
At Uranus' side, Jupiter stood up. "Supreme Thunder!" she shouted; and
a bolt of lightning struck the vitrimorph. There was a dull ringing
sound, and its leg was blown completely off. Fragments of dark,
semi-molten crystal sprayed across the floor, starting new fires of
their own.
The vitrimorph staggered, but still did not fall. Its arms reached
vainly toward Mars.
Uranus stepped out into the open. "Music of the Spheres," she said
clearly.
Her sonic beam caught the vitrimorph squarely between the shoulders and
shattered it into a million pieces.
****************
A long, sullen hush descended upon the mall. Outside, the clouds
thickened. It would rain by nightfall.
Crowds of people were gathered around the twelve mall gates. Most of
them had been inside when the attack began, but an increasing number
were coming to watch the show. The police hovered nearby, but so far
the people were well-behaved.
As if on some unseen signal, the crowds stirred. Sirens wailed, and the
emergency vehicles began to move in. Police began ordering the
spectators to disperse. An Opal that had been hovering nearby veered
off and began to move rapidly away.
Over the next two days, fire crews from 'C' Division and ambulance teams
from 'O' Division, police units from 'P' and civil defence squads from
'W' combed the mall, inspecting the damage and searching for survivors.
In all, only seven people died. Another sixty-eight received medical
treatment; nineteen of them needed temporary hospitalisation.
If it occurred to anybody that so many emergency services, drawn from
four separate divisions, had been on hand very quickly -- almost as if
they had already been prepared -- then at least nobody said a word.
A full fifth of the mall structure would ultimately need repairs or
total reconstruction. The process would take fourteen months. Dozens
of retailers suffered damage to stock or fittings; some of the insurance
claims would still be in arbitration four years later. The stock price
of Yamada Holdings, who owned Zarigani Mall, dropped to a twenty-nine
year low, though it eventually rebounded.
Two hundred and fifty-three people saw the five Senshi leave the
building and run off. Some of the watchers applauded; some did not.
Two weeks later, the number of those claiming to have seen the girls
depart was over a thousand.
****************
"Inventive of them," said the chairman.
Number Twelve grimaced. "If you say so," she said.
"You don't approve?"
"They didn't fight as well as I'd expected. I had to hold it back, or
it would have killed one or two of them."
"Mm. Still, they do improve."
"They have a long way to go. We need to push them harder yet. In the
end, they'll have no alternative but to --" Twelve broke off, and
smiled. "Give us what we want," she finished.
The chairman hid a frown. "Very well," he said. "In the meantime,
you've destroyed a mall, done billions of yen worth of damage ... You
told me this was some kind of final test. I trust it was successful, at
least?"
"Indeed. I'm waiting confirmation of that now. In fact --" The
commset on the desk buzzed, and Twelve smiled. "Here it is now, I
suspect."
The chairman watched as she touched a control in the commset. How had
she known it was going to sound at that moment?
"Araki here," she said.
"Ah, Araki-sama," said a nervous voice from the desk speaker. "This is
Iwahashi Toru. You had asked me to verify that --"
"Of course," she said. Her voice had none of the colder tones it had
held moments before. She sounded ... human. "And your findings?"
"Uh ..." Iwahashi, whoever he was, sounded flustered. "Well, I didn't
find anything, really. I'm very, very sor--"
"You _what_?" Twelve's face darkened. The chairman shied away from her
imperceptibly. He had a feeling that the luckless Iwahashi was about to
very luckless indeed.
"I'm sorry, Araki-sama! But there just wasn't anything to see. She
didn't do anything at all, honestly! The girl wasn't there at all, and
Pappadopoulos just sat in her office the whole time!"
"Ah." Suddenly the anger in Twelve's voice was gone. "Very well,
Iwahashi-san. In that case, I'm sure you did your best. Good-bye."
She switched the commset off again and turned back to the chairman.
"You see?" she said.
His brow furrowed in thought. "He said Pappadopoulos never left her
office. But --"
"But Sailor Mars was just fighting at Zarigani Mall. You see? Either
Pappadopoulos isn't really Hino Rei, or --"
"Or she isn't Sailor Mars any more," he said.
Twelve grinned. "Indeed. Either way, there is no longer any need to
hold back, don't you think?"
"Of course. I'll tell Takeda he can send his team in to arrest --"
She held up a hand. "Not now," she said. "Tomorrow morning, I think."
"Oh? Why?"
"Haven't you studied the security reports?" Her voice was mocking.
"Pappadopoulos has taken in a guest. A teenage girl who she only met
two weeks ago. But out of the blue, she took this Hayashi Miyo in and
seems to be treating her like a daughter. Don't you think that's
interesting?"
"Another Senshi," he breathed.
"Almost certainly. This girl, by the way, was _not_ at home during the
attack at the mall."
"Which one is she?" he asked. "Shouldn't we arrest her as well?"
Twelve shrugged. "Why?" she responded. "I don't know which one she is,
but really, what does it matter? If we leave her alone, and arrest Hino
while the girl is at school tomorrow ... it may just spur her on a
little. Don't you think?"
She smiled, and the chairman was no longer able to restrain a shudder.
****************
There was a small park six blocks east of Zarigani Mall. A sheltered
area in one corner, bordered by low hedges, held a children's
playground. It was almost empty, even at this hour; three small boys
were playing disspiritedly on the carousel, supervised by a
bored-looking woman, but the evening was too hot and sticky for most.
At one side of the playground, on a low, grassy bank, five girls sat
speaking quietly among themselves.
"It was a lot tougher than the ones we've fought before," said Miyo
thoughtfully.
"I thought it was never going to go down," said Beth.
"But it did," said Suzue. "Though I'm still not sure why."
Three heads turned to the fourth girl.
The fourth girl shrank back a little from the sudden attention. "I -- I
didn't do anything special," Iku said nervously. "I just ... attacked
when Dhiti-san said ..."
Four pairs of eyes converged on the fifth girl.
Dhiti buffed her fingernails on her shirt and inspected them with
elaborate casualness. "I thought you'd never ask," she said. There was
more than a hint of smugness in her tone.
"What, do you want us to go down on our knees and beg for the answer?"
snapped Suzue.
Dhiti's eyes widened. "Would you really?" she asked hopefully.
With a sigh, Miyo reached across and rapped her on the head with her
knuckles, not gently. "Get on with it," she said.
"Spoilsport." Dhiti leaned back and stretched, then coughed delicately.
"Sorry; all that dust in my throat," she explained. "You know, maybe we
could go somewhere and get a drink --? Oh, all _right_, Hayashi. Don't
get your panties in a knot. What I did was, I worked out what
Iku-chan's attack does." She stopped and beamed around at the other
four.
"That's all?" said Beth.
"'That's all?'" Dhiti raised a supercilious eyebrow -- somehow giving
the impression that this was exactly what she had wanted someone to ask
-- and said loftily, "My dear cat-girl, not to blow my own trumpet, but
I seem to recall that Itsuko-san herself was baffled by this very
question, just last week -- Ow! Hayashi, stop _doing_ that!"
Suzue said, in a weary voice, "What she means is, she finally remembered
to use her computer."
"Geez, you take all the fun out of it, Suzue-chan --"
"I might, if you'd said anything funny."
Dhiti stared at her. "Now, _that_ hurt."
"Iku-chan's attack," said Beth thoughtfully. "It must be some kind of
electric pulse, right? The way it made that Opal drop out of the sky
last week --"
"Aha! You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Dhiti's wounded look vanished in
an instant. "Except that Sailor Mars uses fire, not electricity. Now
if Hayashi had zapped that thing, it might make sense. Not Iku-chan."
"So what did I do?" asked Iku in a soft voice. Her eyes were wide; she
did not look nervous at all now.
"Well you might ask." Dhiti beamed at her, and patted her hand. "What
your attack does, my dear, is to _concentrate_ heat. It pulls in
everything within its circle and focuses it toward the centre. On a
cold floor, that doesn't do much. But when there was a pile of burning
books for it to draw on --"
"It felt like a furnace, even from a distance," said Miyo thoughtfully.
"Right! You should have felt it close up." Dhiti glanced at Beth, who
nodded. "As for that Opal ... well, I don't exactly know how they work,
of course. But it's not hard to guess that their engines must put out
some heat."
"It just burned itself out," murmured Beth.
Suzue turned an incredulous look on Iku. "You'd better be _very_
careful with that attack," she said. "You could burn down the city if
you weren't careful!"
Iku shrank back. "Sorry," she said meekly.
"You haven't done anything to be sorry for," said Miyo, giving Suzue a
reproving stare.
"No, but --" Suzue hesitated, then shook her head. "Never mind," she
muttered.
"You _will_ have to be careful how you use it, Iku-chan," Beth said
judiciously. "But ... well, I suppose most of our attacks are pretty
dangerous, aren't they? When you think about it."
"Maybe we should ask Bendis to train her," suggested Dhiti with a glint
in her eye.
"What, are you _insane_?" demanded Beth, sitting bolt-upright. "Wait.
Don't answer that."
The two laughed, and Miyo joined in. Even Iku smiled. Suzue rolled her
eyes at the four of them, but leaned back in the grass, relaxed once
more.
Down in the playground, two of the boys had left the carousel and moved
on to the swings. One of them was drifting back and forth in the usual
way, but the other was standing on his seat and trying to get the swing
to move with jerks of his body. He was not succeeding very well.
"Actually, speaking of training," said Miyo slowly, "I have a message
for you, Iku-chan. Itsuko says she'd like you to start going to the
Olympus for some sessions there."
Iku stiffened slightly at the news. Her face lost all expression. She
said, "Do I have to?"
"What?" Miyo looked taken aback. "Well, I --"
"Don't you think Iku-chan's already got that covered?" interrupted
Dhiti. "You didn't see her today, Hayashi. She's ... she just needs a
little encouragement. Right?" She winked at Iku, and after a moment
Iku smiled back.
"Um ... well, I can talk to Itsuko," said Miyo uncertainly. "Is there
some kind of problem, Iku-chan?" But Iku only shook her head, refusing
to answer.
"We're missing something about today's attack," said Suzue suddenly.
Beth looked up, startled at the sudden turn. "What?" she asked.
"It was too hard. It did too much damage." Suzue frowned, shaking her
head. "Don't you see? If this vitrimorph was so tough, what about the
other ones we've fought? Why were they so weak?"
"It could just be a ... natural variation," said Beth tentatively.
"Or somebody's holding them back," said Dhiti. She scowled. "I'd
almost forgotten ... there was one point today where that thing could
have gotten me. Easily. But it just stood there, waiting, until
Hayashi hit it."
There was a short silence. "So," said Miyo. "We already knew they were
stronger than they looked. Now ... it looks like the person in charge
has decided to ramp things up a bit. Make us work harder."
"Training us," said Iku.
Miyo stared at her. "Maybe," she said. "That's a nasty thought."
"So what do we do about it?" mused Suzue.
Beth gave a cynical laugh. "Do? We play along. What else can we do?
Until we can find out who the 'person in charge' is."
"Lady Blue," said Miyo. "If we could find her ... damn it, I _know_
I've seen her somewhere before. Somewhere outside these attacks."
"We didn't see her today," said Beth. "I wonder if she was there at
all."
"And if not," added Suzue, "what she was up to instead."
They lapsed into silence again. Below them, the woman who had been
supervising the children in the playground rounded them up, over their
protests, and led them away. A hush fell, broken by the distant wail of
sirens.
Beth stirred at the sound. "Maybe we should move on," she said.
"Probably," agreed Miyo. "It's been a long day." She stood up and
stretched.
The other four joined her and they started north from the park. Behind
them, a column of smoke rose into the sky; but it was fading quickly.
The streets were filling with rush-hour traffic.
As they passed a viddy store Dhiti glanced in and saw that most of the
screens were showing news stories about the mall. She looked around,
and her eyes met Beth's. They exchanged nods and kept silent as the
group walked on.
It was a little past five o'clock. The air was still and close. The
five paused and bought drinks in a little square that held a statue of
Okwu Jan, the first man to circumnavigate the globe after the Fall.
"Hayashi," said Dhiti as she finished her juice, "I meant to say. We
called you away from your, um, meeting, didn't we? Sorry 'bout that."
She glanced quickly up at Miyo, and then away again. "Did it ...?"
Miyo shook her head. "It's okay," she said. "I think ... we'd said
everything that needed saying."
"Mm." Dhiti stared down at the paper cup in her hand. Her hand closed,
crushing it, and she tossed the remains into a rubbish bin. She said,
"Maybe it's time I went to a meeting myself."
"Eh? What are you -- oh!" Miyo's eyebrows shot up. "Are you sure?"
Dhiti returned her look steadily. "Are you saying no?"
Miyo did not answer at once. At last she said, "It's your decision."
"... Thanks, Hayashi." Dhiti's lips twitched in something close to a
smile. Then she looked around at the other three girls, who were
listening with varying expressions of incomprehension. "I've got to go,
you guys," she said. "See you later, 'kay?" With a brisk wave, she
started away from the group in a brisk jog.
"What," said Suzue, "was that all about?"
--**--
Kin's music club met after school on Wednesdays. When she came out of
the building, carrying the long leather case that held her instrument,
she found Dhiti waiting for her.
She eyed the dark-skinned girl warily. "Something on your mind?" she
asked.
"Sort of." Dhiti stared at her, looking oddly uncertain. At last she
said, "Can we talk? In private?"
Kin took her time answering. Something about Dhiti had changed, but it
was impossible to tell what. As always, the girl was maddeningly
elusive. But there was always the chance ...
Making up her mind, she said, "Sure."
Turning, she led Dhiti back into the school building. She had an excuse
to be in the music room, and it would be empty by now, so she headed for
there. Dhiti followed silently.
Inside the music room, Kin laid her instrument case down carefully and
said, "So?"
"Yeah." Dhiti bit her lip, then said, "There's something I haven't been
telling you."
Dryly, Kin said, "I'd noticed."
"It's ... kind of private. But I ... can trust you, can't I?" Dhiti
broke off suddenly, then said, "No. Don't answer that. I _can_ trust
you. And you deserve to know."
"Gee, thanks," said Kin. "So, what then?"
Her friend brought her hand out of her pocket. She held a short rod,
looking rather like a pen. One end was marked with a curious symbol: a
western astrological sign, Kin thought.
Dhiti glanced quickly over her shoulder. The room door was closed.
Then, quietly, she said, "Mercury power, make-up."
--**--
Beth, Suzue and Iku listened quietly as Miyo told them about the
situation. When she had finished, none of them spoke for a few seconds.
Miyo was glad of that. At least they weren't condemning Dhiti's
decision outright.
"Do you think she made the right choice?" Suzue asked at last.
Miyo thought about it and said, "I don't think she made the _wrong_
choice. Kin-chan can be trusted." Then she added, "Within reason,
anyway. I'm not suggesting we tell her who all of _you_ are."
Although, she remembered a moment later, Kin had already heard their
names. But it had only be a casual reference; she could easily have
forgotten ...
"So," said Suzue cautiously, "if the rest of us have the same kind of
problem, you think we can --"
Miyo held up a hand. "Just ... be sure," she said. "Be very sure that
you can trust your friends. You can guess how much depends on it."
"Not a problem for me," said Beth cheerfully. "Nana-chan and Eitoku-kun
don't suspect a thing ... right, Iku-chan?"
Iku gave her a hooded look, and said nothing.
Suzue said, "I ... might have to tell my boyfriend. Not yet; it's not a
problem yet. But I think he's noticed something."
"Just let us know if you do," said Miyo. "Artemis and Itsuko may scream
blue murder, but --" She shrugged.
"This Naru must have been a good friend," said Beth.
"Mm." Miyo smiled. "She was a nice girl. I wasn't so close to her
myself, but ... she was Usagi-chan's best friend, once."
Suzue nodded.
"So," Beth said suddenly, "how do you think Dhiti-chan's friend will
take it? Will she be mad, do you think?"
Miyo's face took on a curious expression. "Actually," she said slowly,
"I think Dhiti-chan may be in for a bit of a surprise."
--**--
"_What_?" Sailor Mercury demanded furiously. "What do you _mean_,
Hayashi already told you?"
--**--
Suzue's eyes widened. Beth burst out laughing. Iku smiled.
"It was at lunchtime today," Miyo confessed. "The really ironic thing
is, Dhiti came along just after we'd finished talking about it ... and
she was, well, you know how Dhiti is. So Kin got mad and stormed off,
and then the bell went, and ... it just didn't seem the moment to tell
Dhiti about it."
Beth continued to laugh. "If only I could see her face ..."
--**--
"I'm going to kill her," vowed Dhiti. She had changed back, more
quickly than usual, when Kin started laughing. "Something slow and
lingering."
Kin smiled blissfully. "If only you could see your face," she said.
"I don't want to see my face," Dhiti grumped.
"That swirly bit when you change is kind of neat. A bit ecchi, though."
"Don't make me hurt you, Kin-chan."
"It must be quite a sight when you all change at once."
Dhiti paused to think about that. The mental image was ... disturbing.
"Seriously, though," she said after a while. "You okay with this,
Kin-chan?"
"Did you know you're blushing?" asked Kin cheerfully. She ducked a
swat. "Be that way, then. -- Yes, I'm okay, you idiot! What did you
expect, I'm going to slit my wrists over it?"
"Well, not unless you really want to," Dhiti said generously.
Kin made a rude noise. "In your dreams. It's not my fault if your
talking cat chooses to overlook real quality in favour of -- You, uh,
do have talking cats, right?"
"The trick is to get them to stop talking," Dhiti said with feeling.
She had a sudden mental image of Artemis. He would probably have heard
about the incident at the mall by the time she got home. The blasted
cat was going to be unbearable tonight.
"Cool. So, then -- I have two important questions." Kin was starting
to smile again. Actually, it was more like a smirk. "First: can I have
your autograph?"
"You couldn't afford my signing fee," said Dhiti loftily. "Next
question."
"What's it like to be a historic figure?"
Dhiti raised her eyebrows. "Kin-chan. What are you thinking? I've
_always_ been a historic figure."
"Hmm. Point. How do you explain Miyo, then?"
With a sigh, Dhiti said, "Sometimes, you just have to take the rough
with the smooth."
"Funny. That's what she says about you."
"Yeah, well, what does she know?" Dhiti broke off and gave Kin a look.
"You _sure_ you're okay with this, Kin-chan?
This time Kin did not answer immediately. At last she said, "I will be,
Dhiti-chan. Give it time. At least ... at least now I know why."
Dhiti nodded. "Thanks," she said simply. Then she cocked an eye at her
friend. "Actually, while you're thinking that over, there's something
else you could be helping me with."
Kin raised her eyebrows. "Oh? What's that?"
"Concocting a suitable revenge on Hayashi."
"Oh." She began to smile. "I think I can handle that."
--**--
Miyo sneezed.
****************
Night rolled in, and the rain came with it in a torrential downpour.
Across the city, gutters overflowed and pedestrians hurried along under
their umbrellas, cursing their wet feet. Minor landslips were reported
in hilly areas.
In an apparently-unremarkable van parked a few blocks from the Olympus
building, Captain Hiiro received an unwelcome signal from headquarters.
He had been expecting it, and had planned accordingly, but this did not
stop him from uttering a few curses of his own. Then he began to issue
orders.
Several kilometres away, the hacker known as Trio muttered under his
breath as another lead petered out on his computer screen. His fingers
danced furiously over his keyboard.
In a suite above the Olympus, Hayashi Miyo briefed Pappadopoulos Itsuko
on the fight at the mall. When told about Sailor Mars' new power,
Itsuko was surprised. She had never heard of a Mars power like that,
never. It was strange ...
And far, far down, in a place where the sun had never shone, a dim light
pulsed. Faded. Pulsed.
****************
Iku went to bed that night jubilant. For once, nothing could drown her
happiness. She was a Senshi, and she was, at last, worth something.
She was needed. She had a place.
Her elation lasted until the moment, as she finally fell asleep, when
the dry, cold voice spoke in her mind. [This is not for you,] it
whispered. [You do not belong here. Your true future lies elsewhere.]
And, just for an instant, she saw her path clearly; the long, long road
she must follow, and the battlefield at sunset where it inevitably led.
She awoke, and found her pillow wet with tears.
--**--
Artemis dreamed of Crystal Tokyo. He walked the shining streets again,
accepted the respectful looks from passers-by, and was content. The air
was sweet and crisp, spring air. And when he looked up, he could see, a
little distance ahead, a familiar figure waiting for him. The face most
treasured, most loved. The eternal, cheerful smile. The long blonde
hair. He started to run to Minako's side --
The scene changed in mid-bound, and then, terribly, he was there at the
end. Once more, unable to act, he saw her fall before the throne. Saw
the king fall in his turn. Saw the queen's final transfiguration.
Afterward, he walked with Serenity for a little, spoke with her, before
she sent him away. In his dream he saw again how pale and unwell she
looked, after months of inactivity; how clumsy, heavy on her feet. Her
skin so pale it was almost translucent. And yet, the steel and the
determination in her eyes; and, yes, the love.
He saw her die again; and he saw what he had told nobody else, ever: how
he had buried her, working alone in human form, the tears running down
his cheeks. Lifted her fragile body, the weight more than he had
expected, and laid her in the shallow grave.
Lastly, most terribly: how he had returned, long afterward, to move her
to somewhere more fitting. And found the grave empty.
He awoke.
It was past midnight. The rain was still beating hard against the
windows, but otherwise the house was silent. He started to lie back
down, but found he could not bear to do so. The memory of his dream was
still too vivid. He had not thought of it in a long time; had avoided
it whenever possible.
Which meant, perhaps -- as the new Sailor Venus had once said -- that
in truth, he had been thinking of little else.
He got up from the cushion Dhiti had found him and prowled for a while,
his feet silent on the wooden floors. This house was still full of
unfamiliar smells; he let them distract him. At last, tired once
more, he returned to Dhiti's room.
He was drifting off to sleep again, warm and comfortable, when a voice
jerked him wide-awake. He leaped to his feet, looking wildly around the
darkened room. All was silent, and he wondered if he had imagined
things. Then it came again: Dhiti's voice, and he realised that she was
talking in her sleep.
"No ... it's not like that," she mumbled. "I'm not ..."
The words trained off into an incoherent tangle. He heard her give an
odd half-gasp, almost like a sob. Then she turned over, and there was
nothing but the sound of her breathing.
He listened for another half an hour, but she said nothing more. At
last he settled down once more and fell into an uneasy doze.
--**--
And elsewhere in Third Tokyo, not that far from where a moon cat lay
pondering his lot, a girl -- or perhaps a young woman -- knelt on the
floor and stared up at the ghostly form that hung in the air above her.
It was a figure of light and shadow, this apparition, its features
misty, half-unseen. The girl found it hard to focus on. At times it
was nearly solid; moments later it would almost vanish in the light from
the wall lamp.
But there were certain details about it that were hard to miss. It was
unmistakably the figure of a woman. And it had wings ... and two long
pony-tails hanging from buns on either side of its head.
The girl watched the phantom for a moment longer, her face absorbed,
almost as if she were listening to it. Then she said, "So let me get
this straight. You're the ghost of the old dead queen, and I'm the
reborn soul of your daughter ... and now you want me to go into the old
family business. Is that it?"
The ghostly figure seemed to incline its head gravely. There might have
been a smile on its face.
With a slight clatter, something rolled across the floor, stopping a few
centimetres from the girl's knee. It was a small object: a brooch,
with a circular emblem on the front.
"All right," the girl whispered. "I understand. I'll do what you
want."
A shadowy hand reached out and rested for a moment, intangibly, on her
head. Then, still silent, the ghost began to fade out of sight.
Just before it was gone, the girl lifted a hand to touch her hair and
said thoughtfully, "But there's going to have to be one important change
made."
Outside her window, there was a faint scuffling sound.
****************
"I hate this," said Hiiro.
"I know," said Kuroi.
Masao remained silent. He wanted to agree with Captain Hiiro, but
saying anything right now felt like a bad idea.
The rain had lifted off during the night and the morning was bright and
clear. That made it all feel worse, Masao thought. Dirty deeds should
be done in the dark.
They walked in through the main entrance of the Olympus building. Hiiro
checked his watch, and Masao automatically looked down at his own. Ten
fifteen; they were right on schedule.
"She's supposed to be one of the good guys," said Hiiro.
"Then why's she been playing with the Sankaku?" asked Kuroi.
Hiiro sighed. "Yeah. I know."
"If it comes to that, why's she even alive? After all, they say the
queen and all the other Senshi got slaughtered in the Fall. But here's
Hino, alive and well, not a mark on her ..." Kuroi shrugged. "You have
to wonder."
Hiiro stared at him. "You think we should have reported this weeks ago,
don't you? Back when we first saw Artemis."
"Yes."
"You didn't say anything."
Kuroi gave him a quick glance. "I didn't have to," he said. "You knew
what I thought. But you're the boss."
Masao listened to them as the three walked up the stairs to the second
floor. He wished he were somewhere else; anywhere. Even back in the
old insurance office, before he'd been activated.
A middle-aged woman wearing glasses looked up as they approached the
gymnasium reception desk. "Can I help you gentlemen?" she asked.
Hiiro pulled out a slim wallet from his jacket pocket and showed her the
contents. "We're from 'P' Division," he said calmly. "We'd like to
speak with Pappadopoulos-san, please."
The woman was startled, then frightened. "Oh, dear," she said. She
dithered for a moment, looking lost, then said, "I'll just call her.
Won't you take a seat, please?"
The three of them obeyed. As he sat, Masao tried to convince himself
that everything was going to go smoothly, and failed. He thought about
Mitsukai, waiting back at the doors with her taser. He thought about
Aoiro, down in the underground car-park. He shuddered.
Kuroi must have noticed. The burly man glanced at him and said under
his breath, "Calm down, idiot."
The woman at reception put down her commset and waved at them. She no
longer looked worried. "Just go on up, then turn left," she said,
pointing toward the stairs to the third floor. "Pappadopoulos-san will
see you."
Hiiro thanked her politely, and the three of them walked upstairs. At
the top, a corridor to the right ran down the centre of the building.
To the left, it took a sharp turn and ended in a door labelled with
Pappadopoulos' name. Hiiro knocked briskly.
A young-looking woman with short white hair, wearing a well-tailored
business suit, opened the door. "Come in," she said pleasantly. "I'm
glad to see you. I'm Pappadopoulos Itsuko."
Hiiro and Kuroi exchanged surprised glances as they followed her into
her office. Pappadopoulos did not notice; she continued, "I'd almost
given up hope of hearing anything. It's been weeks since the break-in."
Masao could not help himself. "Break-in?" he asked.
That got her attention. She had been about to sit down at her desk;
now, she turned and studied them all carefully. "You're not here about
the break-in?" she said slowly. "I was burgled on the twenty-fourth;
nearly a month ago now. But -- Who are you people?"
Hiiro shot Masao an angry look. Then he stepped forward and handed
Pappadopoulos an identification wallet: not the same one he had shown
downstairs.
She studied it for a few seconds. "'S' Division?" she said. If she was
not genuinely puzzled, she was an excellent actress. "What do you want
with me, then?"
Captain Hiiro took a deep breath. "There are two things I need to say
to you," he said. "First, we know who you are." She showed no
reaction, and he added, "We know that you are Hino Rei."
Now she did react. Her body became quite still; all expression drained
from her face. "And the second thing?" she asked levelly.
"The second thing is that ... by the authority vested in me as an
officer of the security forces of Third Tokyo and of Japan, I am placing
you under arrest."
--**--
When Artemis awoke, his dream of the night before was still with him.
He brooded about it for hours, prowling around the house until, driven
to distraction, Dhiti's mother threw a wet sponge at him. His dignity
mortally offended, he went outside; but even the sight and smell of the
Sharmas' impeccable flower garden, alive in summer blossoms, could not
drive the mental images away. He needed to talk to someone.
Miyo would have been perfect; but she was in school, and he did not care
to run a gauntlet of students. The same applied to all the others ...
except Itsuko. And going to see Itsuko, with the renewed danger at the
Olympus, would be mad.
He thought about doing it anyway.
The answer was pretty obvious, he realised after a while. He could call
Itsuko on her communicator, she could pick him up, and they could go
somewhere and talk things over. They had a fair bit to discuss, even
besides his dream. The previous day's attack, for example.
He snaked his way through the city streets, heading for a convenient
alley he knew; close to the Olympus, with plenty of privacy. He could
call her from there, and wait to be collected.
He had almost reached the alley when he started to get a bad feeling.
It was hard to say what caught his eye about the little group of people
climbing out of a van on the other side of the road. Four men and a
woman; nothing exceptional about any of them. The van was completely
nondescript. But something made him shrink back into the shadows.
It might have been the way the five carried themselves, or the way none
of them spoke as they moved off. Their faces were serious; one or two
of them almost looked grim. And his fur was standing on end.
Then he took another look at the van. It seemed familiar.
He stared at it for a minute, trying to place the memory. Then, with a
cold shock, he got it. The wheels were in place now, and all the side
panels were there; the windscreen was clean. But it was still the same
van that he had seen, several times, parked behind the Olympus. It was
still the van that Bendis had jumped into, just a few days before, and
nearly been captured.
And those five people had been walking in the direction of --
He threw caution to the winds and started to run. By the time he
reached the Olympus only the woman was in sight: standing outside the
main entrance, as if waiting. He cursed and ran down the side of the
building; jumped up onto a low wall, and from there to the fire escape.
He raced up to the third floor and paused for a moment, panting, under
the window to Itsuko's office.
He heard voices from inside.
--**--
Her mind raced. She had always had to live with the possibility of
being discovered; she had run through countless scenarios, time and
time again. Being put under arrest had featured in lamentably few of
them.
Keep control. That was her only chance.
"My name is Pappadopoulos Itsuko," she said to the three men. "You've
made a mistake."
The tall one who'd given her his ID shook his head. "No, Hino-san." He
looked uncomfortable saying the name. "I don't think we have."
He stepped forward and spread a sheaf of documents on her desk. She
started to leaf through them; did not have to look far. They had been
very thorough. The photographs of her past identities on their own were
damning enough.
At least, she thought distantly, he had not called her 'Lady Hino.'
"Very clever of you," she said coolly. "Well, what of it? Why this
nonsense about arrest? Is it some kind of crime to be thousands of
years old?"
The question ruffled him, as she had hoped. His mouth opened and
closed; for the first time, he looked unsure of himself. But then the
third man, the burly one with the unshaven stubble, opened his mouth.
"No, that's not a crime," he said. There was a subdued anger, a danger,
in his voice. He would be a bad one to cross. "But how about forgery?
How about fraud? Are they enough for you?"
"Forgery!"
"Is that your real name on your ID? How about on this building's
ownership papers? There are probably tax charges there, too, if it
comes to that."
She stared at him. "You can't be serious."
He shook his head; but the hardness in his eyes did not diminish. His
voice remained cold, matter-of-fact. "No. Those are just the icing on
the cake. The real charge is conspiracy against the government of
Japan."
Never, never in her maddest nightmares of discovery had she dreamed of
this. She had expected an invasion of newsies; questions, cameras, the
full weight of the world's attention. Or perhaps a slyer approach: the
knowing smile; blackmail; even the suggestion of sexual favours in
return for silence. Or finding the Loonies camped out on her doorstep;
or public revilement, or death threats; or a hundred other variations.
But never --
"Conspiracy? Are you out of your mind?!"
The first man, Hiiro, had recovered his poise. He shook his head at
her, and she realised belatedly that the same look of danger was in his
own eyes, though in him it was better-hidden.
"You shouldn't have done it, Hino-san," he said. "For someone with your
record, your stature ... you shouldn't have started working with the
Sankaku."
"The Sankaku! But I --"
"Please," he said impatiently. "I'm not here to discuss the evidence.
All I want to know is: are you coming peacefully, or not?"
She stared at him, her mind churning, close to panic. If they thought
she was Sankaku they would be merciless. She saw visions of prison
cells, of star chambers. Endless interrogations; perhaps worse things.
Even if she could persuade them she was no Sankaku, there were still the
other charges, and more that they had not mentioned; and of those she
was undeniably guilty.
In the end, there was no alternative. She could not afford to be
imprisoned. Not when the enemy was at work.
"You're making a mistake," she said. "And I can't come with you." As
she spoke, she slipped the drawer of her desk open.
They saw the movement; of course they would. Suddenly there were
weapons pointed at her. Her heart froze. It came to her, in that
moment, that she knew this scene; she had dreamed it, long ago.
"Relax, gentlemen," she said mildly. "It isn't a gun."
And she pulled out her henshin stick -- holding it so they could see
what it was -- and then raised it up and cried out, "Mars Crystal Power,
Make-Up!"
They flinched back.
That was her only chance: that they would know what to expect. It gave
her a fraction of a second to act. She ducked down, put her shoulder
under the desk, and heaved it at them. They reeled at the impact, and
she leaped past them to the other door, the door into her suite, and ran
for her life.
But they were trained men. They recovered too fast. She was half-way
down the corridor when she heard a voice shout, "Hold it!"
She stumbled to a halt, barely three metres from safety. One last
glance at the door ahead of her, just out of reach. Then she turned
back. The tall one, Hiiro, was pointing a gun at her. She knew he
would not miss. She raised her hands.
A voice shouted, "_Nooooooo_!"
Something hit Hiiro in the face. He staggered, shouting in surprise;
his gun went flying. A white cat clung to him, clawing and spitting and
biting. He yelled again, this time in pain, trying to shield his face.
Then, with a heave, he flung the cat away from him. It landed on the
floor between him and Itsuko.
Artemis stared at her for an instant. There were crimson flecks on his
muzzle. "What are you waiting for?" he shouted. "Run!"
He whirled and darted back through the office door, headed for the
window and safety. There was a strange _chuff_ing sound. Behind him,
Captain Hiiro wiped blood from his eyes and turned a maimed face back to
Itsuko. Then he dove for his gun.
Itsuko turned, opened the door, and ran.
It was the door to her private staircase -- the same one Miyo had used
to get in, weeks before. Itsuko had had it built when she first moved
into the Olympus, decades before. Always have an escape exit; a lesson
she had learned well. As she hurtled down the stairs, two or three at a
time, she could hear Hiiro pounding after her, not far behind, and she
knew she had not escaped yet.
Four floors down, another door opened into the underground car park.
She flung it open and sprinted toward her car.
Another figure stepped out of the shadows: blond, lantern-jawed. She
had seen him before, in the gym. Behind her, Hiiro shouted, "Aoiro!
Stop her!"
He moved toward her smoothly, competently. Another agent, no doubt
well-trained in subduing escaping prisoners. Another dangerous man.
Itsuko ducked her head, stuck her shoulder out, and hit him at
waist-height. He folded over her with a strangled wheeze. She flipped
him over her shoulder, into the path of Hiiro, and ran on.
She might not be a Senshi any more. But she had been a survivor for
centuries.
There was no hope of using her car now. By the time she got the door
open they would be on her, and she had little chance against two trained
men at once. She sprinted up the exit ramp. Behind her, too quickly
and far too close, came two sets of footsteps.
Two flights of concrete ramp; an up-hill running race, against armed
men. She staggered out into the street, gasping for breath, knowing
they were catching up, and looked around wildly.
Nowhere to hide. Off to one side, from the direction of the building's
main entrance, another figure was sprinting toward her: a woman, this
time. More reinforcements. She was lost.
Then, suddenly, the furious whine of an engine. A deep blue car roared
around the corner, its horn buzzing, and screeched to a halt directly in
front of her. The door opened and a well-known voice shouted, "Get in!"
Itsuko's eyes widened. "Setsuna ...?"
But there was no time. Even as she spoke, she raced forward and threw
herself into the vehicle. The green-haired woman at the wheel floored
the accelerator and they surged away.
Hiiro and Aoiro ran out of the car-park, just too late. The car
disappeared around a corner and was gone.
--**--
And in Itsuko's office, two men looked down at the tiny bundle on the
floor. "Not a bad shot, if I say so myself," Kuroi said with some
satisfaction.
From between the strands of netting, Artemis stared back at them.
Masao swallowed. "Right," he said. "Only ... now what do we do with
him?"
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S A I L O R M O O N 4 2 0 0
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E N D O F C H A P T E R E L E V E N
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NEXT: Two escapes, some questions answered, a new life, and a quest for
the ashes of the old.
Sincere thanks to the pre-readers who helped improve this chapter: David
McMillan, Jed Hagen, Aaron Nowack, Helmut Ott, Elsa Bibat, Bert Miller,
Chris Angelini, AnimeJanai, and Steve "Komodo" T.
Draft version: 18 September, 2004.
Release version: 14 November, 2004.