[FFML] [SM] Sailor Moon 4200: Chapter 13 - Part B

[Angus MacSpon]

(Continued from Part A)

                                  --**--

A little later they were ready to leave, and gathered back in the
office.  Makoto had filled two bags with clothes and books; she had,
regretfully, bid her plants goodbye.  Seki had a pair of massive,
heavy-duty suitcases.

All the girls except Ochiyo changed back to their Senshi forms, ready to
leave.  (Dhiti ducked into the bathroom to remove her borrowed yukata,
and changed in private.  The rest of them pretended not to notice, and
exchanged grins.)

When it came to Makoto's turn, she hesitated, looking uneasy.  Seki shot
her a curious glance, and the girl grimaced.  Seki suddenly realised
what the problem was; but before she could speak, Makoto produced her
henshin wand and spoke her transformation phrase.  The change to Senshi
form left her pale and shaken all over again, and Seki hurried to
support her, cursing herself for not thinking.  Sailor Jupiter waved her
away, though.  Now that she had changed, the colour did seem to be
coming back to her face faster, and she stood more confidently.

Once they were all finished, Seki looked around the office, made a wry
face, and said, "So.  One last thing to do."

She pulled the secret door wide open and started to go through.  Then
she paused and looked back at the girls.  "You can come in, if you want.
I don't think that --"  She broke off suddenly.  "Dhiti-chan, you're a
Hindu?  And --"  Her eyes rested for a moment on Sailor Venus, then
Uranus, and then moved away.  Mercury nodded, her eyebrows raised;
Uranus remained utterly still.  Venus only looked confused.  Seki paused
a moment longer, then said, "All right.  Come in, if you wish.  Be
careful; it will be rather cramped."

The Senshi followed her curiously.  The hidden room was small, no more
than two by three metres, and panelled with dark wood.  Heavy straw
ropes, shimenawa, lined the tops of the walls; from them hung gohei,
zigzag paper streamers.  A narrow shelf inside the door held a
neatly-folded pile of clothing: chihaya and hibakama, the traditional
garments of a miko.  Seki hesitated as she passed, reaching out to touch
them, and then shook her head and moved on.  Another shelf held a
pitcher of water and a bowl.  She washed her hands and rinsed her mouth
using a little wooden dipper, then dried her hands carefully.

At the end of the room was the altar and the sacred fire.  The altar was
low and broad, perhaps fifty centimetres high; it was built of a rich,
light-coloured wood, set on a base of dark, polished stone.  Slender
wooden wands stood upright at the four corners of the altar; from them
hung more gohei.  And in the centre was a shallow depression in which
danced the fire itself, small but bright.

Seki knelt before the altar in one smooth, flowing movement.  She bowed
deeply, then sat upright, breathing slowly and regularly.  Then she
began the kuji-in, the ritual to focus the mind, the will and the
psychic senses: the recitation of the nine sacred syllables, with their
accompanying inzou, or gestures.  "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu,
zai, zen!"

For a moment the room was utterly silent.  Then, with a sudden rushing
sound, the fire blazed higher.  The colour of the flames changed,
becoming a rich gold.  Again, Seki bowed low.

She rose quietly and went to the rear of the room.  The Senshi clustered
back out of her way as she picked up a ceramic firepot and placed three
sticks of dense, slow-burning fuel in the bottom.  Then she returned to
the altar, bowed a third time, and lit a taper from the sacred fire.
She used this to light the fuel in the firepot.

When she was satisfied that it was burning steadily, she laid the pot
down and sat facing the altar for a moment, eyes closed.  Then she
leaned forward and blew softly.

It should not have been enough to do more than make the flames gutter.
But at the touch of her breath, the fire went out -- instantly.

The room became very dark, lit only by the light coming from the door to
the office, and a faint glow from the firepot.  In the shadows, the
Senshi dimly saw Seki half-rise and reach behind the altar for a moment.
A faint hissing sound, so soft that it was unnoticeable until it ended,
suddenly stopped.  Seki picked up the firepot, stood, and turned toward
the exit.  There was a jam at the door as everyone tried to get out at
once, but a few seconds later they were all standing in the office once
more, blinking.

Seki set the firepot down, stifling a yawn.  It was very late, and she'd
had almost no sleep the night before, either.  And now she had to
install the sacred fire at her new house, and that would take some time,
with the necessary ritual purifications on top of everything else ...
But that could wait until morning.  The fuel in her firepot would last
that long.  She could afford to relax a little now.

"All right," she said, and yawned again.  "I'm finished.  Thank you all
-- thank you very much, and not just for saving me.  We will have to
talk again, soon, about what comes next, now that we have our new Moon
Princess."  She glanced at Ochiyo and saw the girl colour faintly.  "But
right now ... I think we could all use some sleep, hmm?"  Several of the
Senshi nodded, and the group began to break apart as they said quiet
good-byes.  "Mako-chan, I left the car a couple of blocks away -- unless
you'd rather go on foot."

Jupiter shook her head with a wry grin.  In a low voice she said, "My
legs still feel like toffee, to be honest.  Sitting down on the way home
sounds good ..."

"All right.  Let's head down, then.  Oh -- wait a moment."  Seki looked
around, then walked across the room.  A twisted, crumpled metallic
object lay on the floor near the outer door.  She picked it up and
returned to Jupiter's side, tossing the object to the girl.  "Souvenir,"
she said with a wry smile.

Jupiter stared at it, uncomprehending, for a few seconds.  Then her eyes
widened.  "It's that ... thing they hit me with, isn't it?  I never did
see it; just a cold touch on my neck, before --"  She broke off, her lip
curling.  "What _is_ it?  What happened to it?"

Seki's smile faded.  "They never gave it a name.  That man Hiiro said it
was a prototype from 'M' Division -- though I'm not sure why a
maintenance and supply office would be making anti-Senshi devices."  She
frowned.  "That _is_ odd, now I think of it.  One of those vitrimorphs
took it off the agent woman and crushed it.  That's odd, too ..."

"'M' Division?  Again?"  Jupiter rubbed her chin.  "Huh.  It was an 'M'
Division Opal at the warehouse yard, a couple of weeks ago.  Or, well,
they said they were Sankaku in disguise, but --  This doesn't make any
sense."  She turned the ruined device over in her hands idly, then
paused, looking more closely.  "There _is_ an 'M' Division logo on it."

"So?  Hiiro was telling the truth."  But Seki's voice trailed off
uncertainly.  Jupiter was right; there _was_ something strange about
what had happened.  Sankaku masquerading as 'M' Division agents was one
thing, but now an actual 'M' Division link?

Jupiter had her eyes closed in concentration.  "Why would they even make
something like this, anyway?  I'd have thought it would come from 'K'
Division; after all, they fund all the research institutes."  She rubbed
her temple.  "Why does that sound so ...?  Damn it, I _know_ I'm
forgetting something --

"Oh."

Her eyes snapped open.  At last, after so long, she had it -- and it was
worse than she could ever have dreamed.  "Oh, _no_," she said.  "DHITI!"

Across the room, Sailor Mercury was chatting amiably with Mars -- or
rather, she was talking, and Mars was listening, as usual.  They both
looked up at Jupiter's call, and Mercury jogged over.  "What's up?"

"Your computer -- it has a network link, right?  You can access the
public net?"

"Well ... sure.  But what --"

"I need you to run a search for me.  See if you can find a picture of
someone, will you?  A woman named -- oh, what was it?  Araki.  Araki ...
Mamiko, I think."

"Um.  Okay."  Mercury opened her computer obediently and started to
type, occasionally cursing under her breath.  "What's this about,
Hayashi?  She owe you money?"

"She owes me," said Jupiter grimly.  "But not that."

"Hmph.  Someone needs a hug.  Ah, here we are ...  Oh, shit."

The tiny screen lit up with a picture.  The woman in the news photograph
was standing in the middle of a group of men, smiling and shaking hands.
She wore a smart, expensive suit that did nothing to hide her
femininity.  She looked every inch the successful businesswoman.  She
also looked very familiar.

"Lady Blue," Mercury whispered.  "Well, well, well."

"Lady Blue, hell," snapped Jupiter.  "That's Araki Mamiko.  Don't you
know who she is?  Only Number Twelve of the goddamn _Serenity Council_!"

The other Senshi, attracted by the sudden commotion, had begun to drift
over to see what was happening.  At Jupiter's pronouncement they froze,
suddenly silent.  Then there was a rush to look over Mercury's shoulder;
and an almost universal gasp as Jupiter explained what they had worked
out.

Ochiyo's voice cut through the babble of voices.  "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Jupiter confirmed, her words and her expression bitter.  "Damn
it, I _knew_ I recognised her from somewhere.  The damn viddy!"

"But this means --"  Venus broke off.  "What does this mean?"

"Trouble, that's what," answered Uranus grimly.  "She cannot possibly be
doing this alone."

"No," said Jupiter with a sigh.  "No, I'm afraid you're probably right."

"Well, you've lost _me_," complained Venus.

"They've infiltrated the government," said Uranus.  "They must have.
Think about it: 'M' Division, secretly making anti-Senshi devices and
doing whatever they were doing at the warehouse.  'S' Division,
attacking us here tonight ... bringing _vitrimorphs_ with them!"

"And even that Opal that followed us through the city, a while back,"
said Venus thoughtfully.  "I'd almost forgotten about that ... hey, wait
a minute.  Those 'S' Division guys didn't bring the vitrimorphs tonight.
They were _fighting_ them."

"That's true," said Jupiter thoughtfully.  "One of them actually told me
to stay down, and he'd defend me.  Strange ... hey, Seki, did they say
anything?  Anything that might give us a clue?"

Seki had listened as they put the pieces together.  Sadako had made her
promise not to tell the girls everything, and intellectually, she even
agreed.  In her heart, it was another story.  It was time the girls
started to realise who they were facing; but they did need to work it
out for themselves, Sadako was right about that.  So Seki had given them
a little nudge ... and now she was surprised in return.  It seemed that
even Sadako did not know everything.  The involvement of Number Twelve,
neither of them had suspected.

Meanwhile, how much to answer?  "No," she said truthfully.  But then she
remembered.  "No, wait.  Those men, the vitrimorphs.  Before they
changed, they showed Hiiro some kind of ID, and it surprised him.  He
... he said it was government ID."

There was a long, chilled silence.  Mercury said, "I'm getting a bad
feeling about this."

"You, too?" asked Jupiter dryly.  "How much of the government are we
fighting here?!"

Uranus rubbed her forehead, closing her eyes for a moment.  "Let me
think.  We know the enemy has connections to 'M' Division.  And 'K'
Division, of course.  They don't seem to control 'S' Division, though.
There may be two factions here."

"Hold on," said Ochiyo.  "My head is spinning.  _'K'_ Division?"

Jupiter said, "'K' Division -- the Science and Technology department of
the government -- is the portfolio of Number Twelve of the Serenity
Council."  Her face twisted, and she almost spat out, "In other words,
Lady Blue is running it."

"And who is Lady Blue?"

They told Ochiyo who Lady Blue was.

"So," said Ochiyo thoughtfully as she took it all in.  "An interesting
task we're left with, yes?"

Seki snorted.  "That's putting it mildly.  You could be right about
those two factions, Suzue-chan.  That might be why that vitrimorph took
the anti-Senshi device from the 'S' Division woman.  They'd borrowed it
from 'M' Division, and of course the enemy wanted their anti-Senshi
prototype back."

A little reluctantly, Uranus said, "It almost looks like 'S' Division
didn't know what they were up against.  Perhaps the lower-downs aren't
privy to what's really going on ..."

"No, wait," said Mercury suddenly.  Her computer was still open, and she
was tapping quickly at the little keyboard.  "You're all missing
something."

Jupiter looked around quickly.  "What?"

"You were talking about how this Araki runs 'K' Division.  But we know
that 'M' Division is involved too -- probably even more so.  Hayashi ...
who runs 'M' Division?"

"Uh ... well --"

Her voice toneless, almost completely flat, Uranus said, "'M' Division
is a very minor government portfolio.  Normally it would be given to a
junior council member -- say, Number Fourteen or Fifteen.  But instead,
because he has so many responsibilities that he doesn't have the time to
run a major department as well ... 'M' Division is held by Doctor
Fukuda."

"Fukuda Ikemoto," echoed Jupiter.  "Number One himself.  The chairman of
the Serenity Council!"

"Yeah," said Mercury, looking up from the screen of her computer.
"That's what it says here, too.  So if Lady Blue links to 'K' Division,
we have to assume that 'M' Division links to the chairman.  In which
case --"

"In which case, the enemy hasn't infiltrated the government," Uranus
finished.  "The enemy _is_ the government."

A long silence fell.

"Then ... then what can we do?" said Sailor Mars timidly.  That brought
a new silence.  They all looked at one other uncertainly, none of them
knowing what to say.  Until --

"We strike back," said Ochiyo.

Jupiter stared at her.  "Uh ... what?"

"We strike back, I said.  We go on the offensive."  Ochiyo returned her
look with a calm expression.  "I'm really not seeing the problem here."

"But -- but we can't just go attacking the government," protested Venus.
"I mean ... can we?"

"I don't see why not."  Ochiyo shrugged.  "They attacked us tonight, and
nearly killed Miyo-san.  I mean, Makoto-san.  From what you've all said,
they've attacked you several times before, too.  All the evidence says
they're in league with the enemy who destroyed Crystal Tokyo.  How much
more do you need?"

"Now, wait," said Seki, alarmed.  "A lot of this is supposition,
remember.  You can't just go declaring war on the Serenity Council
without evidence."

"But we have evidence."  Ochiyo pointed to the twisted metal device that
Jupiter still held.  "Right there.  'M' Division have been designing
weapons to use against us.  I'd call that a hostile act."

Seki was inclined to agree, but she felt compelled to play devil's
advocate all the same.  Couldn't this girl see the implications of what
she was about to do?  "Some might say it's merely pragmatic," she
argued.  "Even a perfectly honest government would want to be able to
deal with super-powered criminals, if necessary.  It's not enough --"

"Wait, you're saying we're _criminals_?" demanded Uranus furiously.

"You might be, if you go attacking the government.  It's a big step,
Suzue-chan.  Be sure that you've thought it through.  The evidence may
seem convincing right now, but you need to be certain!  After all, if it
weren't for what we've heard tonight, I'd have thought the government
was actually doing a pretty good job --"

"That's what _you_ think," Uranus snarled.  "If you knew some of the
things they --"  She broke off suddenly.  "No.  Never mind that now.
I'm with you, Aizawa-san; let's attack.  Tonight."

Hating herself a little, Seki tried one last time.  "Ochiyo-chan -- you
do realise that you could order the Serenity Council to step down in
your favour, and legally they'd have to do it?"

Ochiyo blinked.  "Hmm.  That might be fun."  Then she smiled.  "Maybe
next week."

"Ochiyo-chan --"

"It wouldn't work," put in Jupiter.  "Itsuko, if they _are_ the enemy,
she'd just be playing into their hands.  They'd be able to lock us up in
endless legal battles while they fired more monsters at us behind the
scenes, and we'd be exactly where we are now -- or worse.  You and I
both played Serenity's ambassadors -- you must remember how it works."
She hesitated, and then said, "Anyway, you didn't feel what that thing
of theirs does to you."  She rubbed her neck and winced.  "I think
Ochiyo-chan's right.  We should strike back."

There was a chorus of agreement from the other Senshi.  Knowing she had
lost, Seki said, "But where?  How?  You don't have a target!"

"I think we do," said Ochiyo.  She pointed again to the device in
Jupiter's hands.  "'M' Division.  Sailor Mercury, where would that most
likely have been made?"

"Huh?"  Mercury stared at Moon, then down at her computer.  "That's --
umm.  Give me a minute."  She tried typing a few tentative commands.
Then a few more.  After a little she admitted, "Uh ... this may take me
a while."  She added, under her breath, but quite audibly, "And why does
everyone think I'm supposed to be a computer expert, anyway?"

"Shinmei district," said Sailor Mars in a quiet voice.  Mercury looked
up at her, surprised, and she added, "It -- it's the main office.  And
the research and development sections are there.  I walk past it, on my
way to the botanical gardens sometimes ..."

Then, suddenly, she noticed that everyone was looking at her.  She let
out a gasp and shrank back.  "I -- I'm sorry!  I didn't mean to
interrupt --"

Half the Senshi started to speak at once, reassuring her, but they fell
silent as Mercury cleared her throat loudly.  Mercury stared around at
them, as if daring them to speak, before returning her eyes to Mars.
Then she smiled.  "Shinmei, huh?  Let's have a look."

She looked back to her computer, glared at it, and tried a new command.
That did not work; she tried again, cursing under her breath, and
finally the screen lit up with a reply.  "Ah!  There it is.  Um, let's
see.  Three linked buildings ... offices, workshops ... and -- huh.
Research and development section.  What do you know?"

Uranus and Jupiter peered over her shoulder.  "It makes sense," Uranus
said.  "Head office ... if Fukuda-san _is_ working for the Enemy, he'd
want to keep this kind of project close at hand."  Jupiter nodded.

Mercury looked over at Sailor Mars, grinning.  "Nice work," she said,
and winked.  Mars flushed scarlet; her mouth opened and closed, but she
did not make a sound.

"So," said Ochiyo.  "Are we agreed, then?"  She glanced around the
group, seeing them all nod.  "All right."

With a sharp gesture, she raised one hand into the air.  It held a
small, glittering object: a brooch, with a circular emblem on the front.
"MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE-UP!"

It was then, really, that any lingering doubt in the others' minds was
removed.  Ochiyo was immersed in glittering energy; her pyjamas melted
away, replaced by a blue and white seifuku with red bows.  For a moment,
a golden full moon glowed brightly on her forehead, before it was
covered by a gleaming tiara.  High red boots formed on her legs.  Then
the power faded and Sailor Moon was with them once more.

She gave a brisk glance around the circle of Senshi.  "Are we ready?"
she said.  They all nodded.  "Then let's go."

Six Senshi ran to the window and leaped out into the night.

                                  --**--

Hiyama Seki -- formerly Pappadopoulos Itsuko and many other names, nee
Hino Rei -- watched them go and felt old.

It was not merely that she was no longer one of them, or that they were
going into action and she had to stay behind.  It was their attitudes,
as much as anything.  They were young; they acted young and they still
_thought_ young.  They still knew they could do anything, where Seki had
learned differently.  They learned of an enemy base -- or, at least,
somewhere that _might_ be an enemy base -- and immediately they went on
the attack, with no thought for consequences.

Even Jupiter, whose memories were old but whose body was young once
more, was ready to go along with them.  Jupiter, who had admitted that
she still felt weak and ill after the attack by 'S' Division.  Makoto
should have known better; she had had centuries to _learn_ better, and
just a few moments ago she had shown that she still remembered subtlety,
when she wanted to.  But no; she too was ready to drop everything and
throw caution to the winds.

Worse still, Seki herself, she who had once been the fiery one, the
dynamic go-getter Sailor Mars -- she had argued for caution.  She had
acted old.

She remembered Sadako again, and wondered whether it was this way for
the enigmatic Pluto.  Seki had told her once that she thought she could
understand the older woman's perspective.  Now, just three weeks later,
she knew better.

She sighed, and shook herself.  Standing here feeling sorry for herself;
_that_ was mature.  And it was two-thirty in the morning, and she was
desperately short of sleep from the previous night; and she still had so
many things to do.  She looked down at the little firepot on the floor,
beside the suitcases, and smiled to herself at the smouldering red glow
inside.  Events might not have gone the way she'd intended tonight, but
she had managed the important thing.

Then her eyes snapped back to the suitcases.  Two of them: massive and
sturdy, and packed very full.  Beside them, Makoto's two bags, lighter
but nearly as large.  All of them waiting to be carried down to Seki's
car ... which was parked a couple of blocks away.  She groaned aloud.

She sighed again, picked up the firepot, and got to work.


                             ****************


Sailor Mercury kept pace with Mars as they ran.  Mars had improved a lot
since she had first seen the girl, cowering at the foot of a warehouse
building, unable to jump to the top to escape from the vitrimorph that
was about to kill her.  She was still awkward, her movements unsure, but
she could get to the top of a building, at least; and given a little
encouragement, she could run.  Quite well, actually.

They were not going over the rooftops now, though.  Why bother?  The
roads were almost empty at this hour.  Side by side, they sped through
the streets of Crystal Tokyo, Venus and Jupiter a little behind them,
Moon and Uranus a little ahead.  Now and then a car would pass them, and
twice, a driver jammed on his or her brakes at the sight of them.  The
first time, Mercury ignored it; but the second time, she gave a cheery
wave and a grin as she ran past.  For a fraction of a second she saw the
driver staring back, his eyes huge and his mouth hanging open; and then
he was gone, receding in the night. Something for him to tell his
grandchildren, perhaps.

She stole a glance at her companion.  Mars really had changed since the
battle at Zarigani Mall; she was keeping pace smoothly, her breath quick
but steady, her limbs moving with an easy rhythm.  How she managed it in
those high heels, Mercury had no idea; though of course Mercury's own
boots were little better.  Perhaps it was just one of the perks of being
a Senshi.

Ten or fifteen minutes after leaving the Olympus, they came to a halt in
a dark, narrow alley near a building in Shinmei.  It was not all that
large, only four stories, but they could see two other buildings -- no
higher, but much larger -- behind it, linked to it by walkways.  An
illuminated signboard at the front proclaimed:

                                M DIVISION
                               HEAD OFFICE
                                - - - - -
                         RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

The building was mostly darkened, but the lobby was well-lit.  Two men
in security guards' uniforms sat at the reception desk.

"Okay," said Uranus.  She had sounded confident enough back at the
Olympus, but now her voice was nervous.  "How do we handle this?"

"There's pretty good security on those doors, if you look closely," said
Jupiter.  She was breathing heavily after the run, her forehead dotted
with sweat, but her voice was level and clear.  "Palm-print readers,
cameras, probably more we can't see.  And the guards.  If we try to just
break in the door, we'll have the police here in five minutes."

"Mercury, can you get anything?" asked Moon.

Uh-oh.  Mercury winced.  She had been afraid of this: Sailor Moon still
thought she could do anything at all with her computer.  Still, she
obediently pulled the device out again and told it to check the
building.  The results did not surprise her.  "No good," she reported in
a low voice.  "The scan's given me a better floor plan, but that's about
all.  Their security system is locked down pretty tight.  I can't see
any way to connect to it from outside."

"Uh --" Sailor Venus spoke up unexpectedly.  She was looking at the
building with a vague expression, as if trying to remember something.
"Try the fire control system," she said.

"You want to set off the fire alarm?"  Uranus gave her a startled look.
"We're trying to keep quiet, not attract more attention!"

"No, no.  Look, the fire control system uses the building's internal
network.  It's a standard system called BACnet -- Building Automation
and Control.  And security probably uses the same physical network!  So
if you can tap into the fire system --"

"-- She might be able to use it to get into building security, too,"
finished Uranus, nodding.  "That's not bad."  She blinked at Venus,
bemused.  "How did you --?"

Venus flushed.  "I -- I was reading a book about building design, a
while back --"  She broke off, shaking her head.  "Well, anyway.  There
should be an external indicator panel for the fire system, somewhere
outside ... probably near the main doors.  Sailor Mercury, you might be
able to get access through that."

It only took them a few seconds to find the panel: a board showing an
outline of the building, with tiny green status lights for each floor.
As Venus had suggested, it was not far from the main door -- but,
thankfully, out of sight of it, just around the corner in a narrow side
street.

The Senshi stood in a huddle, watching as Mercury studied the board.
There was no way to physically connect to it, but her computer claimed
that it could do something called an 'inductance link' -- whatever that
meant.  [Close proximity required,] it said.  Well, okay.  Gingerly, she
held the computer close to the board and pecked out a new command,
one-fingered, on the tiny keypad.

And then, to her considerable surprise, the screen lit up with an
acknowledgement message.  "I'll be damned," she said.  "I'm in."

Hurriedly, she scanned through the building's security control.  There
was a test mode that looked just what they needed: the security system
would continue to register alarms, but it would no longer report them.
She activated the mode and started to disconnect her computer again --
and then paused as she noticed what else it was showing her.  The
automation systems shared the building's internal data network, as Venus
had said.  By cracking into one, she had gained access to both.

More passwords, more security protocols; but whoever had programmed her
computer, long ago, knew what they were doing.  It broke through the
layers of protection effortlessly; and just like that, 'M' Division's
records opened themselves up for her.  Mercury gave herself a gloating
smile, and started searching for information.  Her computer could
analyse data unthinkably fast; the only real limit was the connection
speed.

She started by looking for lists of research projects, but there didn't
seem to be any central, master index.  Then, in a flash of inspiration,
she searched the personnel records for timesheets.  Everyone would have
to list what they were working on, right?  This was a government
bureaucracy.  She cross-checked the records, and in another minute she
had it.  'Interdiction Controller' ... cute.

"Found it," she announced.  She pulled up the building records -- much
easier to find -- and a moment later, she had a floor plan showing the
research lab they wanted.  "South end of the building, third floor, room
3J."

Moon raised her eyebrows.  "Not bad," she said, and grinned.  "For
someone who isn't a computer expert."

Mercury smirked back.  "It's my natural style and flair.  Well, that and
the adoration of my millions of fans."

"Can we get on with this?" asked Uranus, pained.

Sailor Moon glanced at her, and chuckled.  "Right."  She looked back at
the building.  "Up the fire escapes, I suppose, and in the windows."

"No problem," said Venus.  She looked up at the fire escape gantries,
high above.  Then she took a step back, and launched herself forward:
leaping up the building's wall and rebounding back across the street to
the building opposite, propelling herself higher, then bouncing back
again, doing a preposterous back-flip in midair -- and landing neatly
and effortlessly on the fire escape, her hands by her side.  She beamed
down at them.

Uranus gaped up at her.  "That ... that one wasn't a cat manoeuvre, was
it?" she asked the others in a low voice.

Moon coughed, still staring up at Venus.  "Well, I know _I've_ never
seen a cat do that."

"No, I mean --"  Uranus was interrupted as, above them, Venus released
the fire-escape ladder, letting it down hand-over-hand so that it came
quietly.  "Oh, never mind."

They climbed up the ladder, one by one, and stood for a moment, looking
along the building.  All the windows were closed.  At last Sailor Moon
said, "You said the alarms are off, right?"  Mercury nodded.  Moon
smiled, clenched her fist, and casually smashed the glass of the nearest
window.

Then she cursed, rubbed her fist and looked at it ruefully.  "Ow.  I
don't think that was normal glass.  Lucky we've got these gloves ..."

She cleared most of the broken glass out of the window frame and climbed
inside.  The others followed her.  As Mercury entered, she muttered to
herself, "I know I was thinking about being a burglar, but this _isn't_
what I had in mind."

They stood in a darkened room.  Mercury looked around, interested.  It
was very large and well-furnished: definitely an executive office.  She
itched to try out the big, plush leather chair behind the massive desk,
but controlled herself.  Maybe there was something to the management
life after all.

Someone was speaking to her.  "Oh.  Right."  She shook her head to clear
it, then pulled out her computer -- again! -- and laid it down on the
desk so they could all see it, then pulled up the building floor plans
she'd found earlier.  "Okay" -- she pointed -- "we're here.  Our clever
inventor's in office 3J, which is up one floor, _here_.  He's also
registered in the laboratory _here_, and the workshop _here_."

"Three rooms," said Moon cheerfully.  "Okay.  We split in three groups,
then, one each.  Find anything connected to the device and --"

"No, wait," said Jupiter.  "Just one man?  He probably wasn't working
alone, you know."

"He might have been," said Mercury.  "That thing was a prototype, right?
The records call it an 'Interdiction Controller' ... and Egami Shosuke
was the only one listed against the project."

"One genius."  Moon made a sour face.  "Right.  Well, let's see if we
can put a little setback in Egami-san's research, shall we?"

They split into three groups.  Mercury was only a little surprised when
Mars moved immediately to her side, but the others eyed each other
uncertainly, Uranus and Venus both clearly wanting to go with Sailor
Moon.  At last Jupiter stepped firmly to the new Senshi's side and said,
"Let's go, huh?"  She opened the office door and walked out, Moon close
behind her.

Venus and Uranus exchanged wry looks and followed them.  Privately,
Mercury spent a delicious moment wondering how long Venus' cat antics
would take to drive Uranus mad.  Then she and Mars stepped out into
the corridor as well.

As she went through the door, Mercury froze, then called out to the
other in a low voice.  "Hey!  Look at this!"  Jupiter turned back
impatiently, but her eyes widened as she saw what Mercury was pointing
to.

The nameplate on the door said clearly, "DIRECTOR."

"Fukuda-san's own office," breathed Jupiter.

"Well, his division office," said Mercury.  "I suppose he has another
one downtown in the Council Chambers."

"This one will do."  A look passed over Jupiter's face that was
something close to satanic.  "Give me a moment, will you?"  She stepped
back into the office and closed the door behind her.

It was a good, heavy door.  They all saw the sudden flare of light
around the edges, but they could hardly hear any noise at all.

As the door opened once more and Jupiter reemerged, followed by a cloud
of smoke, Mercury mimed applause.  She sneaked a quick look inside
before Jupiter closed the door again.  The office looked as though a
typhoon had hit it.  In a certain sense, perhaps one had.  There had
certainly been a great deal of thunder and lightning ...

Jupiter's face, she noticed, had a curious expression, as if something
odd had happened.  She was walking carefully, too; in fact, she almost
looked ... giddy.  Belatedly, Mercury remembered that she was still
recovering from whatever Egami's invention had done to her.  But here
she was, using her powers again so soon!  She stepped up to Jupiter and
murmured, "You all right, Hayashi?"

Jupiter glanced at her and shook her head, as if to clear it.  Then she
winked.  "Me?  I'm fine," she said -- and laughed.  She went up to join
the others, moving more confidently now.  Mercury watched her for a
moment, puzzled.  But Jupiter was the experienced one, she reminded
herself.  And she did _seem_ okay.

They moved on once more.  Venus and Uranus were in the lead now: Uranus
calm but determined, Venus almost bouncing in excitement.  They moved
down the corridor quickly, and disappeared through the stairwell door at
the end.  Jupiter and Moon were close behind them.  Mercury and Mars
followed, and were halfway along the corridor when Mercury paused once
more.  Something was nagging at her memory, something she had seen just
a minute ago --

She snapped her fingers, and checked her computer yet again.  When she
had scanned the building from outside, it had built up a new floor plan.
But from this close, it had picked up something new: a very interesting
feature that wasn't on the official maps.

Silently, she pointed it out to Mars.  The elevator back near the
Director's office, the one that went down to the car park -- it didn't
just go up.  It also went down, underground.  A long way down.

Mercury could not restrain a triumphant smirk.  "Someone's got a
secret," she sang in an undertone.  "I wonder what they're hiding down
there?"  The scan showed the elevator shaft plunging below ground level
-- and then faded out, too deep for her computer to follow.

She gave Mars a cheeky grin and said, "Shall we?"

Mars' eyes widened, and she looked at the map again.  "But ... but
Sailor Moon said we were supposed to --"

"Oh, come on!  That lot can take care of trashing a lab or two.  You saw
what Sailor Jupiter did in the office!  But this is something the bad
guys _really_ want to hide.  We can't just let this go, Mars-chan!"

Sailor Mars seemed to shrink back a little -- but there was no fear in
her face, for once; only uncertainty.  "Maybe we should tell the others
first?" she ventured.

"Party pooper."  Mercury made a face at her.  "Oh, all right.  Just a
minute."  She could not call Moon; the new Senshi did not have a
communicator yet.  Artemis had not been at the Olympus to give her one.
She tapped her wrist, and the tiny screen lit up with Sailor Jupiter's
face.

"Mercury?"  Jupiter's voice was thin but clear.  "What is it?  Problem?"

"No, no.  Look, Mars-chan and I found a hidden room, and we're going to
check it out.  Okay?"

"Hidden?"  Jupiter paused.  Then, suddenly excited, she said, "Hold on.
We'll come with you."

"Nah, don't worry, obaachan.  We can handle it.  Hey, I'll give you a
call if we find anything good, okay?"

"What?  Look, this isn't a game, you idi--"

Mercury touched her communicator again and Jupiter's voice cut off in
mid-squawk.  She beamed at Sailor Mars.  "There!  Okay?"  She winked,
then turned and jogged back down the corridor to the elevator doors near
the Director's office.  After a few seconds she heard Mars follow her,
and smiled to herself.

She touched the _down_ button and a few seconds later the doors slid
open.  She stepped in and examined the control panel.  There were
buttons for every visible floor -- but nothing for anything below ground
level.  Even better!  They really _were_ hiding something.  She started
to look around the elevator car for hidden controls.

Mars tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the control panel again.
There was a narrow slot at the bottom of the panel: a standard port for
a maintenance key.  Mercury stared at it for a moment, then realised
what Mars meant.  She threw the girl a big grin, and held her computer
up to the slot.

The elevator started to move.  It went down a long way.

                                  --**--

Jupiter stared incredulously at her communicator.  "That -- that -- I
don't believe this.  That _idiot_!"

"I don't get it," said Sailor Moon.  "Why did she call you 'obaachan'?"

"Don't ask," said Jupiter sourly.  Then she sighed.  "Oh, Dhiti ... I
should have known you couldn't take this seriously."

Moon gave her a quizzical look.  "You're really worried about her,
aren't you?  Why?  Don't you think she can handle it?"

"I --"  Jupiter looked torn.  "Yes," she said reluctantly, "she probably
can.  It's just that ... she _isn't_ an idiot; Dhiti-chan is the
smartest person I know, when she wants to be.  But that's the problem,
sometimes.  Everything comes too easily for her, so she ... she plays
with it.  She always has to stand out, you know?  And she's never been
afraid of paying the price ..."

"We can go after her, if you want," offered Sailor Moon.

Jupiter hesitated a moment longer, then shook her head.  "No," she said.
"I'm overreacting.  I mean -- a hidden room?  How much trouble can that
be?  It'll turn out to be a switching room or a broom closet or
something, and she'll be back here in two minutes."

"Sure."  Moon nodded.  "And she can always call for help if there's
trouble.  Anyway, she's got Mars with her; two Senshi ought to be able
to handle anything we're going to find here!"

Sailor Jupiter gave her a flat, unreadable look.  "Unfortunately," she
said, "you have a lot to learn about Sailor Mars."

                                  --**--

Uranus looked around the workshop.  "You know," she said thoughtfully to
Venus, "I can't help thinking that you and I don't have the right power
set for this sort of thing."

Venus paused from where she was trying to push over a massive drill
press.  Unfortunately, it was bolted to the floor.  "How's that?" she
asked, a little out of breath.

"Well, your Chain Thing is ... just a chain, mostly.  And my Music is an
ultrasonic beam, and that's just not very good at destroying things."

"Huh?  But it works on vitrimorphs," Venus protested.

"Mm.  But they're crystal, and I can tune the pitch to hit their
resonant frequency.  All this stuff is pretty inhomogeneous, though; it
doesn't _have_ any one resonant frequency."

"Uhh ... I have no idea what that means."

"Oh, never mind.  I don't suppose you know any cat methods of mass
destruction?"  Uranus looked over at Venus hopefully.

Venus considered for a moment.  "Shedding on things?" she suggested.

Uranus gave her a look filled with horrified fascination.  "You ... you
can _do_ that?"

"Well, not _personally_," Venus answered, completely oblivious to her
partner's expression, as she tried the drill press again.  "But you
wouldn't believe what my bedroom gets like sometimes, when Bendis has
been cooped up in there for a while."

"Ye-es.  Not actually all that useful right now."  Uranus rubbed her
brow.  She seemed to be getting a headache.  "Actually, Sailor Mercury
might be the most effective one on this mission.  She can just erase
their computer systems, and that'd probably hurt them worse than
anything --"  She paused suddenly.  "Hold on.  Electromagnetic flux.
That gives me an idea."

"Oh."  Venus blinked.  "I'm happy for you."

"Come over here for a minute."  Uranus went to the other side of the
workshop, to a massive piece of electronic equipment that she suspected
was a chip-etching unit.  She'd already put a few Musics of the Spheres
into it, but she wasn't sure that she'd hurt it at all.  "Can you wrap
your Chain Thing around this a few times?"

"Sure.  VENUS CHAIN THING!"

A dozen loops of glittering chain settled around the unit, sparking and
cracking.  Uranus watched them, ignoring with morbid resignation the
name of Venus' attack, and reflected wryly that the sparks alone might
hurt it more than any of her attacks had.  "Okay," she said. "Now, give
me a second."  She lifted the end of the chain away, and started looking
around the walls of the workshop.  The chain seemed to tingle and
vibrate in her hand, and she had an uncomfortable feeling that if she
hadn't been wearing gloves, it might be doing a lot more.

"Uh ... what are you doing?" asked Venus nervously.

"Put a current through a loop of wire, and you make an electric field.
The more loops, the stronger the field.  If you vary the current, you
get electromagnetic flux.  That can induce another current within
something inside the loop.  So --"  Uranus tried to remember more
details from a physics class a year ago, and failed.  "Well, anyway,
with luck it might just fry this thing."

"A current?  Uh, Sailor Uranus, you --"

"Here we are.  Alternating current varies sixty times a second.  Lots of
flux," Uranus said happily.  She flipped up the lid on an industrial
power terminal and pushed the end of the chain in, then stepped well
back and gingerly flipped the switch on.

There was a sharp crack, and a sudden yell.  Uranus looked around and
saw that the unit was smoking.  "Great!" she said happily.  "We should
be able to fry most of the stuff in here with --"  She broke off as she
looked around still further, and saw Sailor Venus.  The girl was lying
on the floor.  She, too, was smoking.

"Ah," said Uranus.

Venus stood up gingerly.  She shot Uranus an accusing look, opened her
mouth, and exhaled a perfect smoke ring.

"All _right_.  You were still holding the chain.  I'm sorry --"

"If I let go of the chain," said Venus coldly, "it disappears."

Uranus took a deep breath, and released it.  "I _am_ sorry.  I just ...
don't think we're doing a lot of good here, you know?"

Venus glared at her a moment longer, then subsided.  She looked around
the room.  "We could set fire to the building," she suggested.  Her hair
was standing on end, but Uranus decided not to mention it.

"If there's anyone else inside here, they could get killed.  We shut off
the alarms, remember?"  Uranus sighed.  "I think I was right before.  We
should just get Mercury to erase their computers."

"They've probably got off-site backups."  Venus' brow creased in
thought.  "Actually, when it comes to that thing they used on Jupiter,
the guy who made it probably just _remembers_ how it works."

Uranus stared at her.  "That's true.  There's -- dammit, there's nothing
_vital_ we can attack, is there?  Nothing they _need_, like ... oh, a
Death Busters' laboratory.  Anything we do here is going to be a
setback, that's all.  An inconvenience."

"So?"  Venus raised her eyebrows.

"So --"  Lips tight, Uranus glanced around the workshop.  Then she let
out a breath and made herself relax.  If this was all they could do,
then ...  She looked back at Venus, and slowly, she started to smile.
"Let's make it a really _impressive_ setback, shall we?  One that sends
them a message.  What do you think?"

"Yeah!"  Suddenly jubilant, Venus launched herself at the drill press
again.

Uranus groaned.  "Lady's sake, that thing is bolted down!  You're never
going to shif--"  She broke off as, with a grating, tearing sound, the
bolts ripped free and the drill press toppled to the floor.  "I'll be
damned.  You know, Venus ..."

"Hmm?" Venus said, panting a little.

"Sometimes you scare me a little ... no, forget I said that."  Uranus
looked at the drill press again.  "They can probably repair that thing,
though.  Why not make it a little harder for them, and pour it full of
glue or something?"

"Glue?  Where am I going to get glue?"

"Improvise!"

Uranus went to the far wall and yanked down a fire extinguisher.  She
took it over the chip-etcher and started to fill the machine with
powder.  Behind her, she heard exuberant smashing noises start up, but
paid them no mind.  Really, when she thought about it, wanton
destruction in a good cause could be ... quite soothing.

When the extinguisher rattled empty, she put it down and touched her
communicator.  As long as they were out to make an impression, it
couldn't hurt to ask Mercury to wipe the computers after all.

There was no response for several seconds.  Then she heard Mercury say,
"Hello?"

"Uranus here," she said.  "I was thinking -- do you suppose you could
erase all the computer systems in this place?  It might help, um, get
our message across."

Again Mercury did not reply for some time.  At last she said evasively,
"Um ... I'm sort of busy here.  But I'll see what I can do."

"Great.  Bye!"  Uranus switched off her communicator and started looking
around for something else to destroy.  Sailor Venus had a good lead built
up, and Uranus didn't want the girl to think she was slacking.

She noticed a welding torch on an equipment rack.  Hmm.

                                  --**--

"They sound like they're having fun," said Sailor Moon.  Another loud
crash came from the other side of the wall as she spoke, followed by a
long sliding noise and another bang.

Jupiter winced at the sound.  "Maybe I ought to tell them to tone it
down.  There _are_ still guards downstairs."

"Yes," said Moon, nodding thoughtfully, "and none of them would have
heard, oh, say, multiple lightning bolts going off."

Jupiter bristled.  "Are you implying something?!"

Moon started to reply, but then appeared to think better of it.  Instead
she looked around the office and said, "I'd say we're pretty much done
here, don't you think?"

Indeed, the room looked as if multiple cyclones had blown through it.
There was little left that had not been damaged or wrecked in some way.
Jupiter was particularly struck by the fate of the desk computer, which
lay in pieces all over the office.  She had not blown it apart with her
lightning; instead Sailor Moon had used her tiara to -- as she put it --
slice and dice the unlucky computer into a large number of very small
cubes.

The two of them had also spent some time going through all the papers
they could find, hoping to uncover some further link to the Serenity
Council and the Enemy.  But there was nothing.  The computer might have
held the details they wanted, but they had thought of that a little too
late.

However they had, rather to Jupiter's relief, found definite proof that
they had come to the right place.  Another Interdiction Controller, this
one only semi-complete, had been lying a locked cupboard to one side of
the office.  Jupiter took grim pleasure in destroying it personally.

When Egami Shosuke came in to work on Monday morning, he was going to be
a very unhappy man.

Best of all, Jupiter was feeling almost her old self once more.  The
Interdiction Controller had almost killed her; and using her power again
so soon, transforming to her Senshi form back in the Olympus, had left
her weak and trembling.  But the run through the streets, while tiring,
had also helped; the purely physical activity had steadied her, gotten
her on an even keel once again.

Later, when she had called down her lightning in the director's office,
it had felt for a moment as if the power were not going to come.  Even
worse, she had dreaded it, feared feeling the touch of electricity
again.  But when it did come, it had felt like ... like a long, cool
drink of crystal-clear water.  It cleansed her; the true, unwarped power
seemed to wash away all her ills.  It left her feeling tired and
light-headed, but nothing more.  All she really needed now was a little
rest ...

"I suppose so," she said.  "Maybe we should take a look next door, see
how the others are doing.  There's that laboratory still to check, too."
As she spoke, the lights flickered for a moment, then steadied.  She
glanced up, surprised.

Moon nodded, not appearing to notice.  "Okay.  Let's go."

As they left, Moon leading the way, Jupiter found herself studying her
companion.  In some ways, working with the girl was ... difficult.
Every time she saw her, she kept expecting long golden tresses, or
shorter pink hair.  Her heart would leap, and then fall again as she saw
an unfamiliar face.

It was hard to see someone new in the uniform; harder than it had been
with any of the other new girls.  Ochiyo was very different from her
mother -- though there had been that one moment of all-too-familiar
gawkiness during the battle earlier.  And yet, thus far at least,
Jupiter rather thought she approved of this Moon.  She had certainly
taken charge easily enough when she decided to come here.  It was going
to be interesting, seeing how things changed --

"What are you staring at?" said Moon, interrupting her wool-gathering.
Then, outraged: "Are you looking at my butt?"

"Er --"  Jupiter followed her out of the office hastily.  "No.  Sorry."

"You were, weren't you?"  Moon gave an indignant sniff as she opened the
door to the workshop.  "What, you think there's something wrong with it?
Let me tell you, I have it on the highest authority that my butt is
_excellent_."

"Your butt is fine!" Jupiter shouted, just as exasperated.  "And I was
not looking at it!"

Then she froze.  She was standing in the door of the workshop.  Within
the room, Uranus and Venus were ... staring at her.

"Um," she said.

Uranus exchanged glances with Venus.  Then she shook her head.  "I _so_
do not want to know," she said.

"I do," said Venus brightly.

"No, you _don't_," said Jupiter, glaring at her.  Then, still scowling,
she looked around the workshop.  In spite of herself, she whistled.
"You two have been busy."

The workshop had been well-equipped with tools, machinery and electronic
equipment.  Now, what it mostly seemed to be equipped with was junk.
Lathes and milling machines had been turned on each other, reducing each
to twisted ruin.  A heavy drill press lay on the floor with a sticky,
vile-smelling substance oozing out of its case.  Racks of electronic
instruments -- multimeters, signal generators, oscilloscopes and other
devices she could not name -- had simply been smashed.  A pile of power
supplies that had been hooked up to each other was smoking gently.
Still further appliances had been literally welded together into a huge,
ungainly mass.  Sailor Uranus, she saw, was still holding the guilty
welding torch.  She was using it --

She was using it to etch a message into the wall.  Jupiter had to admire
the idea.  The message in question -- a simple "SAILOR SENSHI" in
letters more than a metre high -- gave her a sudden flashback to an old
twentieth-century anime, and she chuckled.

Uranus saw what she was looking at and cleared her throat, reddening.
"I, ah, just thought that --" she began.

"That's such a great idea!" Moon interrupted her, beaming.  "Maybe we
should do that in the other rooms as well."  Uranus's head lifted and
she started to smile in return.  The lights flickered again.

"Yeah, about that," said Jupiter, glancing up suspiciously.  "We should
probably move on to the laboratory.  It looks like you're about finished
here."

Venus said, "I thought Mercury and Mars were doing the laboratory?"

Moon and Jupiter exchanged a look.  "Sailor Mercury said she'd found a
hidden room," said Jupiter.  "I assumed she -- wait.  You haven't heard
anything from her either?"

Uranus sighed, and made an irritated gesture with her welding torch.
"What's she up to now?"

"It has been a while," said Moon with a frown.

"Um.  Let me check if she went to --"  Jupiter ducked out of the
workshop and ran to the laboratory nearby.  The others followed her.

The lab lights were off.  Jupiter flicked them on and looked around.
There was no sign of Mercury or Mars.  She started inside to look more
closely --

The lights went out.

She froze.  It was not just the laboratory lights; the corridor behind
her was suddenly dark as well.  She heard the other Senshi exclaiming in
surprise behind her, and for a moment she had a panicky flashback to the
Olympus office.  Then she took hold of herself.  This was not like then,
waking up surrounded by the din of battle.  There was no sound at all,
except for --

She heard Uranus growl, "Venus, did you _touch_ something?"

"No!  Honestly!  I didn't do anything!"

Moon's voice cut through the chatter.  "Shouldn't the emergency lights
have come on?"  Nobody answered.  If there were emergency lights, they
remained dark.  The only illumination came through the windows, and as
the lab did not face the street, it was vanishingly weak.

Jupiter spoke up.  "I don't suppose anyone has a torch?"

"Oh."  Uranus again.  "I think I did see one, in the workshop.  Just a
moment --" They heard quick footsteps, followed by a sudden heavy
clatter and a yelp of pain.  Then more deliberate footsteps, and the
sound of rummaging.  It seemed to last forever, but at last Uranus made
a pleased sound and they saw a dim light filtering back through the
corridor.  It brightened as Uranus returned.

"There was an emergency kit," she explained, passing a second torch to
Sailor Moon.  "Everyone okay?  Any sign of Mercury and Mars?"

"I didn't see them," replied Jupiter.  Uranus stepped past her and shone
her light around the laboratory.  The two Senshi were not there.

"Try your communicator," ordered Moon.

"Oh, yeah."  Jupiter touched the device on her wrist.  "Mercury?" she
called.  "Sailor Mercury?  Sailor Mars?  Come in!"

There was no answer.

"All right," said Moon, her voice crisp and sharp.  "We need to search
the building.  Spread out and see if you can find any sign of them.
Uranus, Venus, try that way.  Sailor Jupiter and I will --"

She was interrupted by a sudden voice from behind.  It said, "What are
you doing?"

                                  --**--

The elevator went down a long way.  Mercury shot Sailor Mars a
triumphant grin as they began, but the grin faded after a little as they
continued to descend.  Just how far down could they go, anyway?

Then the elevator slowed and came to a halt.  Mercury's computer showed
that they were sixty metres underground.  What could be so important
that it needed to be hidden this far down?  And how had 'M' Division
ever dug so deep without anyone noticing?

The doors slid open and they stepped out into a dimly-lit passage.  The
elevator doors rumbled shut behind them as they looked around.  Two or
three metres ahead, the passage opened out into a room with stark white
walls.  A desk stood against one wall, holding a computer and other
equipment.  At the far end of the room was a closed door.

Standing on either side of the door was an armed security guard.

Mercury had just enough time to say, "Uh-oh."

The guards looked up as the elevator doors closed, and the flat, bored
look vanished from their faces.  For a moment, their eyes widened.  Then
they reached for their weapons.

The two Senshi reacted without thinking.  Mercury dropped to the floor
and rolled to one side; opposite her, Mars vanished back against the
darkened side of the passage.  An instant later a sharp chatter of
gunfire filled the air and bullets peppered the rear wall.

Mercury glanced up at Mars.  Rather to her surprise, the other girl was
not cowering in fear; instead, she returned Mercury's look with a
determined one of her own.  They shared a quick nod.  Then they _moved_.

"ICE SPEAR!"
"BURNING MANDALA!"

Even as the glowing tracery of Mars' attack began to sweep across the
floor, Mercury's spear struck the wall just over the guards' heads.  It
shattered in a spray of freezing white powder and splinters, and both
guards ducked instinctively.

Behind them, as Mars' Mandala passed over the computer, it suddenly made
a hissing noise and spat out a cloud of smoke.  The screen crazed, then
went dark.

Two Senshi hurtled into the room toward the guards.

And it was so _easy_.  They were upon the guards before they could
straighten up once more.  The two men were much bigger than either girl,
but they did not have a Senshi's strength or speed.  Mercury started low
and leaped up at the nearest man, hitting him at chest level and sending
him staggering back to hit the far wall with an agonised grunt.  He
started to straighten back up and she hit him again, catching him under
the jaw and spinning him back into the wall again.  He slumped to the
floor, motionless.

[Wow,] Mercury thought.  [Why can't the vitrimorphs go down this fast?]

Then she remembered Mars, and hastily looked around.  She was just in
time to see the other Senshi grab the second guard by the arm and toss
him over her shoulder in a perfect flip.  There was something familiar
about the move, and after a moment she remembered: it was one that she'd
seen Itsuko teaching the girl, back at their training session in the
meadow.  [Way to go, Mars-chan!]

While the second guard still lay winded, flat on his back, Mars stood
over him and held one hand out, pointing at his face.  "Don't move," she
said quietly, "or I'll blow your fucking head right off."

Mercury stared at her in admiration, and almost applauded.  She'd never
suspected that Iku had it in her!  Then she paused.  There was something
very familiar about that speech, too.  Abruptly she remembered why, and
had to turn away to hide a sudden laugh.

And she saw the third guard.

The rear door was open, and he stood in the doorway.  His weapon was
raised, aimed squarely at Mars.  His eyes met hers.  As if in slow
motion, she saw his finger tighten on the trigger.

There was no time for thought.  She moved, shouting.  The gun fired.

With a cry of shock, Sailor Mars spun and fell.

The third guard slammed backward, a spear of ice ripping through his
shoulder.  He struck the floor, twitched once, and lay still.

Even as he landed, Mercury was running toward Mars.  Distantly, she had
a vague thought that this was yet another all-too-familiar scene; but
then she stopped caring.  Mars was lying on her face, one leg folded
under her body, not moving.  In a moment, Mercury was kneeling by her,
holding her shoulder and anxiously asking how bad it was.

And ... actually, it didn't look too bad at all.  There was no sign of
blood.  [What, are we bullet-proof, too?] she thought crazily.  Then
Mars stirred and pushed herself upright.  She let out a faint hiss from
between her teeth.

"Are you all right?" asked Mercury in a low voice.

 From the corner of her eye, she saw the second guard -- the one Mars had
been threatening -- make a slow, cautious motion.  She looked around
sharply and said, "Stop right there, asshole, or you'll get what your
friend got."  He stopped moving, and she stopped thinking about him.

Mars said, "My foot hurts."

"What?"  Mercury looked down.  "Oh, I don't believe it."

She had fired her ice spear in time after all.  She had not been able to
stop the guard firing, but she had deflected his aim -- just barely
enough.  The shot had blown the heel off Mars' left shoe, probably given
her whole left leg a severe wrench ... and nothing more.

She looked up again and said, "You are one lucky girl."

To her surprise, Mars flinched away from the words; her eyes closed, and
her face twisted in a grimace.  "No, I'm not," she said in a low voice.
"I'm not lucky at all."

"What, are you kidding?"  Mercury shook her head, and grinned.  Suddenly
she wanted to laugh out loud.  Perhaps it was the sense of relief.  She
rose, and held out a hand for Mars.  "Can you stand on it?"

Mars got up gingerly.  She winced when she tried to put weight on her
foot, and had to hold onto the edge of the desk.  The two of them looked
around, taking stock.

Three guards: one stunned, one thoroughly cowed, and the third
unconscious and bleeding.  With a scowl, Mercury found a first-aid kit
in the desk and did what she could for the third man, drawing on a
first-aid evening class she'd taken a few months before.  He had a deep
gash across his shoulder, but it was not spurting blood, so she decided
he would live.  In the end she could only pack the wound with sterile
gauze and hope for the best; under the circumstances, she was not
inclined to be too sympathetic.  He _had_ been about to kill them
without warning, after all.

They tied the other guards up, using more bandages from the first-aid
kit.  Sailor Mars turned out to be good at knots.  They disabled their
guns as well, just in case.

Then, at last, they looked at the rear door, and the dark corridor
beyond it leading away from the guard-room they stood in.  They
exchanged a glance.  Mercury gestured toward the desk and said, "That
thing next to the computer -- I think it's a retina scanner.  With that,
and the guards ... it all kind of makes you wonder what they're trying
to hide, hmm?"

Mars nodded.

"Let's find out."  She held out an arm for Mars to lean on -- the girl
still could not put any weight on her left foot -- and the two of them
started forward.

The corridor was not long: no more than six metres.  At the end, it
opened into a massive, dimly-lit chamber.  At first it was hard to make
out any more than that, for the room was filled with such a collection
of dark, unidentifiable shapes that their eyes registered only a
confused jumble.  Then, as they slowly became accustomed to the light,
details started to become clearer.

Dark banks of equipment lined most of the walls.  Much of it seemed to
be electronic -- here and there Mercury could make out computer screens,
glowing dimly -- but elsewhere she could see other shadows, less
familiar, unidentifiable in the gloom.  In the centre of the room was a
great, disorderly heap of strangely-shaped objects.  From somewhere
nearby came a sharp, chemical smell that reminded her of hospitals.

They stood for a moment longer, staring around the room.  Then Mercury
finally remembered her computer visor.  She raised a hand to activate
it, and at once her surroundings seemed to light up, as clear as day.
She started to look around again --

They heard a gasp, from somewhere nearby.  Instinctively, Mercury spun
to face the sound.  Mars, her hand shaken loose, staggered and nearly
fell.  She cried out.  As if in reply, there was an audible click.

Without warning, accompanied by a low hum that faded away again almost
instantly, the lights came on.

They froze, blinking rapidly, as the room and its contents suddenly
became clearer.  Stacks of computers and other electronic boxes were
everywhere, interspersed with machine tools and other equipment, less
easy to identify.  Here was a cluster of tall cylinders that looked like
oxygen tanks; there a long table holding a line of heavy upright rings,
carefully aligned, with a massive attachment at one end that resembled a
futuristic cannon; in one corner, a silvery vat that looked almost big
enough to swim in; and opposite it, projecting out from the wall, a
tank-like chamber with a heavy glass window and what appeared to be an
air-tight door.  The nearest corner held a well-equipped chemical
laboratory; and the muddled heap in the centre of the room became, to
their surprise, a disassembled Opal.

Not far away from the two of them, hand still raised to a light switch
on the wall, was a woman.

She was middle-aged, perhaps older.  Her face was lined and pale, as if
she did not get enough sun; her hair lank and grey, tied back in an
untidy bun.  She wore a rumpled white coat that appeared to have been
slept in.  She stared at them in utter shock.

A beeping sound came from Mercury's wrist.

Mercury froze, then cursed under her breath.  She turned her visor off
again and touched her wrist.  "Hello?"

"Uranus here," said the tiny face on her communicator screen.  "I was
thinking -- do you suppose you could erase all the computer systems in
this place?  It might help, um, get our message across."

 From the corner of her eye, Mercury saw the old woman stiffen.  Very
carefully, she said, "Um ... I'm sort of busy here.  But I'll see what I
can do."

"Great," said Uranus.  "Bye!"  The communicator screen went blank, and
Mercury briefly fantasised about throttling Suzue the next time she saw
her.  She looked back to the woman and tried to think what to say.

The old woman said, "You ... you're Sailor Senshi."  Her eyes were
still wide in astonishment.  Her hands trembled a little.

"Sure," said Mercury, giving her a false smile.  "I'm Sailor Mercury,
and she's Sailor Mars."  She resisted the temptation to add, "Who were
you expecting?  The three bears?"  For all she knew, this woman could
summon a dozen more armed guards.  Just what had she gotten herself into
this time?

"I -- forgive me," the woman said shakily.  "I never knew -- I never
even dreamed --  It's you.  Oh, heavens, it's really you, isn't it?"  To
Mercury's astonishment, she was crying.

"Uh ... hey," she said.  "It's okay.  Yeah, sure, it's us.  Why, who
were you expecting?"

"I heard the noise outside, the gunshots, and I thought ... no, I didn't
know what to think.  I never ... never imagined that the Senshi had come
back at last ..."  The old woman rubbed her eyes.  "I should have
guessed.  It explains so many things ..."

"You never --?"  Mercury raised her eyebrows.  "Wow.  I thought everyone
in Third Tokyo knew by now."

"Oh, I ... I don't get out much."  The woman pulled out a clean white
handkerchief and blew her nose.  She was still shaken, Mercury could
see, but was getting control of herself.  "Forgive me, dear.  You caught
me by surprise."

"That's okay.  Uh --"  Mercury gestured around the chamber.  "Who are
you, anyway?  What is this place?"

"Oh!"  The old woman was startled.  "This is 'M' Division's research
department, of course.  And I'm ... oh, just call me Emma.  I work
here."

Mars spoke up for the first time.  "I thought the building upstairs was
the research and development department."

Emma wiped her eyes again, and gave her a faint smile.  "This is the
_real_ research department, dear."

Mercury glanced at the disassembled Opal again, and wondered what kind
of research it was being used for.  For a moment, she remembered being
chased through the streets of the city by an Opal, a few weeks before.
Was there a connection?

Emma noticed what she was looking at and said, "Yes, we work on those,
too.  They were invented here, did you know?  Omni-Purpose Aerial Link.
But that one was --"  She broke off as Mars shifted restlessly, taking
Mercury's arm again for balance.  Emma's expression sharpened.  "You're
hurt!"

"Oh ... no ... it's --"

"Sprained ankle, probably," said Mercury.  "But don't you worry.
Mars-chan is tough."  She gave Mars' arm a quick squeeze, and was
delighted to see the girl flush in response.

"Don't be silly," said Emma.  "Let me see ... come over here."  She
indicated a table and chairs nearby, close to the chemical laboratory,
and started toward it without looking back.  Mercury and Mars exchanged
glances and followed her.  Mars was limping more heavily now.

The old woman ordered Mars to sit, and spent some time carefully
examining her foot.  Her hands must have been gentle, for Mars barely
winced.  Mercury watched the process, trying to restrain a glower.  She
could not put her finger on it, but something was wrong here; something
about Emma that set her on edge.  The more innocuous the woman seemed,
the more her misgivings grew ...

At length, with a nod of satisfaction, Emma lowered the injured foot and
said, "Well.  It's a nasty sprain, all right.  Ordinarily I'd wrap it
well and tell you to use an ice bath to reduce the swelling, and stay
off it for at least a few days -- but somehow I don't think that's going
to be an option for you, is it, dear?"  She gave Mars a wry smile.
"Still, the old stories say a Senshi heals fast."

Mercury could take it no longer.  "Look, why are you being so helpful?"
she demanded.  "We break in here, beat up your guards -- who are you,
really?  And what _is_ this place?"

Emma threw her a sharp look.  "I already told you," she snapped as she
rose.  "I'm a researcher, and this is my research lab."  She sniffed,
and turned to open a nearby cupboard, pulling out a first-aid kit.  She
began to wrap Mars' ankle tightly with an elastic bandage.  "As for why
I'm helping you -- well, why wouldn't I?  I'm not inhuman.  Even if your
friend _does_ want you to erase all my work."  Her eyes met Mercury's
with a challenge.

Aha.  Now, at last, they came to it.  "Your work?" repeated Mercury,
refusing to look away.  "You mean _you_ invented the Interdiction
Controller?"

Emma paused.  "The what?"

Mercury smirked at her.  "Yeah," she said.  "Right."

The old woman frowned, and turned suddenly to a computer terminal on one
of the lab desks.  She typed amazingly quickly, her fingers flying
across the keyboard.  The screen flashed up a page of information and
she stopped, her eyes flicking over the screen.

"Let's see," she said.  "There's only notes here ... oh.  Yes, I see
what he was working on.  Oh, dear."  She sighed.  "That _is_ rather
nasty, isn't it?  I didn't think Egami-san had it in him."  A moment
later she added, "Did ... anyone get hurt?"

"Sailor Jupiter," said Mars.  "She was almost killed."

Emma nodded, turning to face them once more.  "Yes.  Now I know why
you're here.  And why your friend wanted you to erase the computer
systems."  As if to herself, she murmured, "Suddenly everything's
starting to make sense ..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Mercury.

"Hm.  Nothing you need to concern yourself with, dear."  Emma studied
her briefly, and murmured again, "A Claver Senshi.  That's unexpected --
but after all, why not?"

Louder, she said, "I think I'm going to help you after all, dear.  Some
scientists do have ethics, despite what you may have heard."  Her lips
curled for an instant; then she became serious once more, her brow
wrinkling in thought.  "Let me see.  Clearing the records here won't
work; they'll have backups of everything.  Hmm.  Yes, that will do ..."

She began to type again, fingers flying moving and faster.  After a
moment she remarked, "I've actually had a little data bomb prepared for
some time now -- against a rainy day, you might say.  It just needs a
few tweaks to fit the circumstances ..."  She finished typing with a
flourish.  "And there!  That's that."  She stood up from the computer,
flexing her fingers.

"What have you done?" asked Mercury suspiciously.

"What your friend asked for, dear."  Emma gave her a slightly mocking
smile, and indicated the computer.  "Check, if you like."

Distrustful, Mercury produced her own computer (Emma raised her eyebrows
at the sight, and smiled again) and repeated her earlier query.  In an
instant, it told her that the data she wanted was missing.

It told her something else.  Her link to the building's internal network
was still up, but it was behaving strangely.  Something was surging
through the network: short bursts of data in an odd pattern, building
and multiplying in a curious kind of cascade ...

She stared at Emma.  "What have you _done_?" she repeated.

Emma nodded.  "You two had better leave now," she said.  "Some of the,
ah, amenities here might prove unreliable in a few minutes."  She looked
at them both for a moment, her eyes moving from girl to girl and back
again, and then said in a low voice, "I'm glad I met you, this once.
But you should go back to your friends.  There's nothing more for you
here."

Mercury glanced at her screen again, then shut it off with a shudder.
"I think she's right," she said to Mars uneasily.  "She isn't just
erasing the computers; she's going to bring everything down ...  Come
on.  Let's get out of here."

She held out a hand, and helped Mars up.  They started back toward the
elevators, and Emma followed them politely.  As they left the huge
chamber, the lights flickered, just for an instant.

When they came to the guardroom, Emma paused and looked down at the
bound guards, tutting to herself.  She knelt down by the man Mercury had
shot.  "You didn't say you'd _hurt_ them," she said to Mercury, giving
the girl an accusing look.

"Hey, they tried to kill us!" Mercury protested.  Behind her, the
elevator doors slid open.

Emma waved her silent.  "Never mind," she said severely.  "Just go.
I'll take care of things here."

Mercury gave her a mutinous look, but Mars pulled at her arm gently.
With an irritated sigh, she helped the girl into the elevator and
pressed the third-floor button.

The last thing she saw, as the doors closed, was Emma, examining the
guard's shoulder with gentle fingers.  The guard-room lights dimmed,
almost imperceptibly; and then the doors were shut and the elevator
began to rise.

                                  --**--

M looked up as the elevator doors closed, and shook her head.  She left
the guard -- that girl had done a reasonably competent job on his
shoulder -- and hurried back toward her lab.

"Too soon," she muttered to herself.  Why did they have to come here
_now_?  She wasn't ready yet!

Then she shook her head.  Sailor Senshi, back in Japan!  She had not
even imagined _this_ possibility.  Seeing the two girls, young and naive
and yet somehow unmistakable, had been a shock.

Yet it explained so much.  Many of the little tasks the chairman had
been giving her lately, the random-seeming, almost meaningless
requirements, all fitted.  The sensor upgrade to the Opals, for example.
Of course the Serenity Council would want to be able to track a Senshi.

She wondered what had prompted their return, though.  Some new enemy?
And what on Earth had induced Egami to create an obscenity like the
Interdiction Controller?  There had been only fragmentary working notes
on the computer, but the intent had been clear.  She had seem the man's
personnel records, and really, she had never thought he was that bright.
Well, she supposed anyone was entitled to one moment of genius ...

If only she had a better idea of what was happening, up in the surface
world.

Well, perhaps she would find out.  She checked a readout on one of the
lab's computer screens, tutted to herself, and started to work rapidly.
She had a lot to do, and far too little time.

                                  --**--

"Something about her bothers me," Mercury grouched.  "She wouldn't say
who she was -- and then she was ... almost _too_ helpful, at the end.
And what did she mean, that was the _real_ research department?"

Mars was leaning back against the elevator wall, bracing herself on the
rail.  She listened to Mercury grumble for a while, thought, and then
said, "Did she really erase everything?"

"Oh, yes, and more than that.  She did something to the building network
as well.  But I'm, er, not quite sure what," Mercury finished lamely.

Mars nodded.  Then she said, "She looked at that design on the computer,
and worked out what it was for -- instantly."

"What?"  Mercury stared at her, uncomprehending.  Then her expression
changed.  "The Controller thingummy?  You think that she --"

Mars flushed.  "I just wondered," she said meekly, "if maybe she already
knew all about it."

Mercury thought about this for perhaps half a second.  Her fists
clenched, and she said, quietly but intensely, "Damn!"  Then she reached
out and pressed the emergency-stop button on the control panel.

The elevator ground to a halt.  Mercury looked over at Mars, and saw no
disagreement in the girl's face.  She held her computer up to the panel
again, and entered in a command.  After a second, the elevator began to
descend once more.

"The old bitch really played me for a fool, didn't she?" she growled.
"When I see her again ..."  She broke off with a snort.

Then a sudden thought occurred to her, and she looked back at Mars.
Sailor Mars, who had just chimed in with an intelligent suggestion.  Who
had, in fact, done so three or four times now tonight.  And who hadn't
hesitated to attack those guards, either.  Mars was getting unexpectedly
bold.

Well, about time.

The doors opened with a subdued rumble, breaking her chain of thought,
and the two left the elevator cautiously.  To Mercury's surprise, Emma
was no longer in the guardroom.

She looked down at the three bound guards warily.  Two of them looked
back at her, their expressions unreadable.  The third was still
unconscious.  Their bonds looked tight ...

"Come on," she said, making up her mind.  "Hurry!"  She ran on into the
cavernous laboratory.  The lights were still on; everything looked as it
had when she had left.  Except ... there was no sign of Emma.

She advanced further into the chamber.  There was a sizable alcove off
to one side that she had not noticed earlier.  She ran over and looked
inside, and saw a disappointingly normal kitchen.  A heavy shelf of
rather battered books stood to one side; by it, on the floor, was an
unrolled futon and a pillow.

Still no sign of Emma.

She opened the only door in sight.  Bathroom and toilet.  Both empty.
Where had the blasted woman gone?

She went back into the main chamber, noticing for the first time that
Mars was not behind her.  Then she remembered that Mars could barely
walk, and cursed herself.  The lights flickered again and she glanced
up, startled.

As she looked back around the room, she noticed that all the computer
screens had gone dark.  All of them, except for one.  [Crazy old woman
has a flair for the dramatic,] she thought, amused in spite of herself.
She crossed to look at the screen, wondering distractedly if it would be
showing a countdown.

It was.

She stared at it, startled.  What, was she supposed to think that a bomb
was about to go off, or something?  But then she remembered the data
cascade building in the networks ... and that the building automation
systems shared the same network.  What had Emma said?  [Some of the, ah,
amenities here might prove unreliable in a few minutes.] She glanced up
at the lights, which flickered again.  Then her eyes returned to the
countdown.

Less than a minute to go.

With a snarl of fury, she spun and raced back toward the guardroom.
Sailor Mars was standing at the entrance, holding onto the wall.
Mercury barely broke stride; she picked Mars up bodily and carried her
back through the guardroom.  The elevator doors were still open.  She
sprinted inside and slapped the third-floor button.  Thirty seconds left,
at the most, and they had a long way up to go ...

They had nearly reached ground level when the power failed.  The lights
went out and the elevator ground to a halt.

Mercury heard Mars' frightened gasp, and reached out to give her arm a
comforting squeeze.  Then she activated her visor and looked up at the
emergency hatch in the ceiling.  This was not going to be fun.

                                  --**--

Sailor Moon gave a quick nod, then looked around at the others.  "All
right," she said.  ""We need to search the building.  Spread out and see
if you can find any sign of them.  Uranus, Venus, try that way.  Sailor
Jupiter and I will --"

She was interrupted by a voice from behind.  It said, "What are you
doing?"

She spun about, flicking the torch up.  It picked out two figures not
far away in the corridor.  They were both liberally coated with grease
and grime, and one of them was helping the other to stand ... but the
voice had been unmistakable.

"Sailor Mercury," she said with relief.  "Sailor Mars.  We were about to
go looking for you.  Where have you been?"  She eyed them and made a
face.  "What _happened_ to you?"

Mercury hesitated.  "I don't suppose you've seen a bath anywhere around
this place ...?"

"Don't make me come over there and smack you," growled Jupiter.

"Okay, okay.  I did _tell_ you what we were doing, obaachan."  Mercury
quickly told them what she and Mars had found -- and what had happened
to the lights.  "We had to climb the rest of the way up the elevator
shaft," she finished at length.  "I did hear you calling, a couple of
minutes ago, but I had to hold up Mars-chan and I didn't really have a
hand to spare.  Sorry."

"A crazy old scientist in an underground laboratory?" said Uranus
sceptically.  "This isn't one of your stupid stories, is it?"

"Hey!" said Mercury, looking hurt.  "I don't lie."  She paused.  "Okay,
I may make things up, but I don't actually _lie_."

"And just what exactly is the diff--"

"Never mind that now," cut in Sailor Moon, wondering if the two were
always at each other's throats like this.  "This Emma ... she said she'd
erased all the computer systems?"

"Yes," said Mercury.  "That, I did check.  They were gone."

Moon made a quick decision.  "Then I'd say we're finished here.  We've
done enough for one night."  After a moment she added, "And I think I
hear sirens.  The power cut may have triggered some kind of alarm."

"There were security guards downstairs, remember?" put in Venus.  "They
could have done something."

"Right.  Let's go, everyone, before we're caught in the act.  Sailor
Mars ... can you make it?"

"I'm all right," said Mars steadily.  "Sailor Mercury will help me."

                                  --**--

The six of them scattered as they left the building.  Jupiter and Venus
went in their own directions, and Mercury carried Mars away on her back.
Sailor Uranus followed them for a little way, but then paused in a side
street a block away from the 'M' Division building, crouching down in a
pool of shadow.  A few seconds later, the emergency vehicles began to
arrive: fire trucks first, followed by 'P' Division Opals.

She paid them little attention.  Her eyes remained fixed on another
figure, a little way in front of her in the side street.  A girl in
white, red and blue who stood in a shadow of her own, watching the
men and women who raced into the darkened building.

After a little, suddenly impatient, Uranus rose and approached the girl.
She moved slowly and carefully, making no sound; but somehow the girl
knew she was there anyway.  As Uranus had expected she would.

"Sailor Uranus," said Sailor Moon quietly.

"I needed to speak to you," said Uranus, her voice just as low.

"Yes, I thought you might.  I was surprised you left it this long,
actually."  Moon turned toward Uranus, and the motion brought her face
into the light.  Her expression was serene, her eyes a piercing blue.

"I couldn't, before.  Not while the others were around."  Uranus bit her
lip, struggling with herself. Ever since she had become a Senshi, she
had known that this moment would come.  Until tonight, though, she had
never dreamed that it would be with someone she knew.  It made it so
much harder.

"You know me from school," she said.  "You know ... what I am."

"Yes," Moon answered, and waited.

Uranus stalled for a moment longer.  Indecision and fear warred within
her.  In her mind's eye she saw again the day, years before, when she
had stood before her class at school and told them what she believed in.
She remembered once more what had followed: the mockery, the bullying,
the alienation.  Ever since then, it had followed her.  Whenever she
moved up a class -- or even when she transferred from middle to high
school -- there was always someone ready to warn all the others about
what they had in their midst.  Always someone to make sure she remained
the pariah.  The few friends she did make were the ones who never cared
about the opinions of others anyway -- people like Keiko and Minoru --
and even they always had to make it publicly clear that there were
certain things she could never discuss with them.

And yet.  This was the day; this was the moment she had waited for.  And
she had promised the Blessed Lady that she would have the courage.

Deliberately, she knelt before Sailor Moon, traced the crescent sign on
her brow, and touched her forehead to the pavement.  "Holy daughter,
Sailor Moon," she said, her voice rough.  "I greet you in the name of
the faithful, and I pledge myself to your service.  Command me as you
will."

The other girl was silent for a long time.  Uranus remained kneeling,
not looking up.  She waited for laughter, or insults; she waited, a lump
in her throat, until she could hardly restrain her trembling; until she
wanted to scream at Moon to say something -- anything.

And then Moon said, "This must be so hard for you."

Uranus looked up ... into a pair of bright blue eyes.  Moon was looking
down at her, and there was nothing in her face but sympathy.

"Stand up," said Moon.  "You don't need to kneel to me."

Uranus stood.  She said, "I --" and then broke off.  She honestly could
not think of anything else to say.

"We're teammates," said Moon, "and we're classmates.  You don't have to
give me any titles.  I don't need a servant right now ... but I could
use a fellow Senshi.  And maybe even a friend.  That's the only service
I want for now.  Is that all right?"

"I ... yes, of course."  Uranus stumbled over the words, not quite sure
that she believed what she was hearing.  "Uh.  Really?"

Moon chuckled.  "Really."  The smile on her face fading, she said,
"Look, Itagaki-san, I know what you believe.  But the truth is, I don't
_know_.  Okay?  A week ago I'd have said it was nonsense.  But then
_she_ came, and -- well, you saw her tonight!  And she's supposed to be
my mother?"  She shook her head.  "I already have a mother.  I don't
know what _she_ is.  Not yet."

She fixed Uranus with a clear, unwavering gaze.  "I'm not trying to
humour you, or put you off.  I just.  Don't.  Know.  Do you understand?"

Oddly, Uranus found that she did understood.  It was all too similar to
how she felt herself, at times.  Realising that Moon found the situation
just as confusing was somehow comforting.

"Yes," she said, nodding.  "It hasn't been easy -- to know that I'm a
part of Her plan.  I can only guess what it must be like for you."

"Plan.  Right."  Moon made a face.  "I'd rather not think about that, to
tell the truth."  With a shrug, she changed the subject.  "What do the
others think?  The other Senshi?"

"Uh.  I, well ... I haven't told them, actually.  Except for Itsuko-sama
-- um, I mean, Seki-sama.  She ..."  Uranus paused.  "She wasn't happy."

Seeing her expression, Moon grinned.  "She does have a temper, doesn't
she?  I remember at work one time, she -- no, never mind.  Why was she
upset?"

"She thinks I'm a blasphemer," said Uranus shortly.

Moon raised her eyebrows.  "Oh.  Wow.  I could talk to her, if you
like."

"No.  She and I have already talked about it.  I think we've come to an
understanding ..."

But at that, quite suddenly, the surreality of the moment caught up with
her, and she fumbled to a halt.  Here she was, standing out in the
street, in the middle of the night ... talking about Saint Hino, _the_
Sailor Mars ... to Sailor Moon, the daughter of the Blessed Lady
herself!  Talking perfectly familiarly, no less.  It was enough to make
her head swim.

More than that, this was a girl she had known for a long time -- a girl
she went to _school_ with.  True, they had never been very close; they
only shared one class, and to be honest she hadn't spoken to the girl
that often before.  All the same, they shared a connection that was
undeniably informal.

All at once, the contradiction was too much to bear.  She looked away,
clenching her fists.  "I -- I can't do this," she said, frustrated.  "I
can't!"

And again, somehow, Moon seemed to understand.  "Yes, you can," she told
her, and smiled.  Her eyes were warm.  "Everything will be all right,
Itagaki-san.  You'll see."

She winked at Uranus, and touched her arm lightly.  "Now go home and
get some sleep," she said.  "And I'll see you at school on Monday."


                             ****************


Sailor Mercury came to a halt on the grass beneath her bedroom window,
and set Mars down.  Mars' own house was still some distance off, but for
some time now she had been hearing the quiet gasps of pain in her ear as
each movement jarred Mars' ankle, and she could not bear it any longer.

"Look, spend the rest of the night at my place," she whispered to the
other girl.  "Get your foot a chance to rest.  I'll take you home in the
morning, before anyone notices.  Okay?"

Mars' face twisted, and she thought she saw a flash of something dark
and anxious there for an instant.  Then the girl said, "Okay."

She lifted Mars through the window, and then followed her.  They were
met inside by a furiously anxious, and rather startled, white cat.

"Later," she whispered to Artemis.  "We have to get cleaned up, and
Mars-chan needs to rest her foot.  And it's only an hour or so until
dawn!  I'll tell you what happened later, I promise ..."

Artemis clearly wanted to argue, but he said only, "Just change back.
All the dirt should disappear with your uniforms."

"Really?  That's handy."  Mercury made a mental note of the trick, and
tried it.  Then she wondered why the cat hastily turned away -- and why
Mars made a sudden choking noise.

Oh.  Right.  That was _twice_ she'd done that now.  Artemis didn't
count, of course, but Mars might be getting the wrong idea.  Maybe she
ought to start wearing pyjamas, if this sort of thing was going to keep
happening.

Back as a normal girl again, though, she was suddenly too tired to care.
She pulled on a T-shirt and underwear, then ducked out of her room to
grab a spare futon and pillow.  By the time she got back Mars had become
Iku again and was curled up on Dhiti's own bed, fast asleep.  Dhiti
groaned to herself, laid out the futon, and collapsed onto it.  She was
asleep almost instantly.

And she dreamed.

She saw a young girl, no more than ten years old, holding a puppy.  The
puppy was squirming and trying to lick her face; the girl held it away,
but was trying just as hard to pet it in return.  Her expression was
serious, absorbed, but Dhiti almost thought she saw a hint of a smile.
With a start, she realised that the girl was Iku.

Then suddenly, the scene shifted; it seemed to melt and dissolve away
and Dhiti was looking at an older girl.  Still Iku, but this time she
was in her Senshi form, as Sailor Mars.  She was on her knees, looking
up at Dhiti, and there was something magnificent in her eyes: hope,
trust, and other things Dhiti could not name.  Distantly, she seemed to
hear the echo of a voice: "I believe in you."

Another shift, and Iku changed again.  This time, absurdly, she was
dressed as Sailor Mercury.  Her head was thrown back, and she was
laughing.  Her face was more alive than Dhiti had ever seen it.  Was
this some kind of costume party?  And why was --

Then one last shift and Iku was alone once more.  She wore a deep blue
robe, its hood thrown back, and her unbound hair -- shorter than it
should have been -- hung down about her face.  A dark wooden staff was
in the crook of her arm.  Dense mists swirled around her.  She stared at
Dhiti with a look of anguish, and lifted her hands as if to grab hold of
her before Dhiti could be snatched away --

Dhiti woke up.  She was lying on her futon.  The room was dark.  Not far
away she could hear the real Iku thrashing about in her bed and moaning,
as if she were having a bad dream.  Dhiti started to sit up, but even as
she moved, Iku quietened.  After a second the room was silent once more,
except for the sound of gentle, regular breathing.

"Well, _that_ was weird," Dhiti said aloud, and promptly fell asleep
again.  She passed the rest of the night in peaceful, dreamless slumber.

                                  --**--

Far away, in her own bed, Suzue also dreamed.

She stood, or perhaps hung, in a vast, deep blue void.  Her cheek
tingled, as if at the touch of a ghostly hand, but she was alone.  For a
timeless period, nothing happened.  Then, suddenly, the void flickered,
and before her was another person: tall, slender, a tousle-haired
blonde.  She could easily have mistaken the newcomer for male ... if she
hadn't known better.

"So," said Haruka, "you're my successor."  She sounded rather amused by
the idea.  Her voice was lighter than Suzue had expected.

"Lady Ten'ou," Suzue breathed.  Even as she spoke, she knew that this
was a dream; but it hardly seemed to matter.  She tried to bow, but it
didn't work very well in this place.

"None of that," said Haruka sharply.  "Haven't you worked it out yet,
kid?  You don't need to bow or scrape to any of us.  Why do you think
you have to do that, anyway?"

"Because ... because I'm not worthy," Suzue admitted.

Haruka chuckled.  "Still don't get it, do you?  Kiddo, you're a Senshi.
You have been chosen!  That _makes_ you worthy.  Understand?"  Suzue
started to answer, but Haruka cut her off.  "Or, at least, it means that
you'd _better_ be worthy.  Understand _that_?"

"... I think so."  Suzue hoped she did not sound as daunted as she felt.

"Good.  Then where's your sword?"

"My --?"

"Damn it, don't try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."
The elder Senshi frowned at her.  "The Space Sword.  Where is it?"

"I -- I'm sorry."  Definitely daunted, now.  "I don't know."  Suzue's
head was whirling; there was a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
To be found wanting by her predecessor --!

Haruka stared at her mercilessly; there was a hard glint in her eye.
"No?" she challenged.  "And here I thought you were the one who knew
everything about the old days.  Isn't it your religious duty?"

At that, something seemed to break inside Suzue.  She found that she was
tired of people speaking down to her.  "No," she snapped back. "My duty
is to serve the Blessed Lady.  Turning myself into ... into some kind of
walking encyclopaedia is strictly optional!"

To her surprise, Haruka burst out laughing.  "So," the older woman said,
"you do have a spark in you.  That's good.  All the same --"  She
sobered, and went on, "That sword is your birthright.  It's your
talisman; it's the ultimate expression of your power -- and you're going
to need it.  I think you know that, really."

Suzue did not answer for a moment, collecting herself.  To her surprise,
she found that she did know.  "... Yes.  But how do I find it?"

"That's the trick, isn't it?"  Haruka's grin became something more
contemplative.  "I was never really very good at this, but ... true
strength comes from within," she said slowly.  "You have to look for it
inside yourself.  Search for a way to tap the passion of your pure
heart."  She paused.  "Even that may not be enough. But when you need
it, the sword will answer."

"All right."  Suzue did not really understand, but it seemed the safest
answer.  "I'll try."

"Good.  In that case -- huh?"  Haruka broke off suddenly and looked over
her shoulder, as if hearing something that Suzue could not.  Then she
turned back with a wry look.  "Sorry.  Time's up; I have to go.  I'd
give you some last-minute advice, but ... hell, you'll find your own
answers.  That's probably for the best, anyway."

She hesitated for an instant, then said, "One last thing, though.  Go
easy on Michiru, will you?"

"Michiru?  ... You mean Lady Kaiou?"

"Yeah.  Try not to give her too hard a time, when you meet her.  She
couldn't accept how things ended, you see.  It'll be hard for her, when
she realises I haven't come back."  She shook her head ... then gave
Suzue a wicked smirk.  "Give her a hug from me -- but no kissing!"

Then, without warning, she was gone.  Moments later, the blue void
vanished too, and Suzue found herself lying in bed.  She wondered for a
while if any of it had been real, but then her eyes closed and she
passed the nest of the night in peaceful sleep.

                                  --**--

Beth dreamed, and knew that she was dreaming.  Her forehead tingled, as
if someone had touched it, but nobody was there.

She was standing by the seashore, wearing a rather daring bathing suit
that she was sure she had never seen before, but which she decided
instantly that she loved.  The sun was bright and warm, the sand golden,
the sea a pure, rich blue, and there was just a hint of breeze.  Best of
all, she had the beach to herself.  She stood ankle-deep in foaming
water as a wave rolled up the beach, breathed the fresh salt air, and
decided that she had never felt so happy.

Then a shadow fell across her, and she looked up into a pair of dazzling
blue eyes and a wide smile.

"Hi!" said Aino Minako.  She stood next to Beth on the sand, wearing a
jaunty gold-coloured bikini.  The sun shone brightly on her hair, and
her crimson ribbon bobbed in the breeze.

"Oh," said Beth, startled.  "I thought I was --"

"Yeah."  Minako looked out along the beach, and sighed in contentment.
"But it's too nice a day to be alone in a place like this, don't you
think?  And I wanted to say hello."

"Um, okay."  Beth cocked her head to one side, suddenly uncertain.  "It
... it is you, isn't it?  You look different in the anime."

Minako's eyes went very wide.  "There's an anime?" she said.  "They
finally made an anime about us?  That's so great!"  She blinked.  "And I
can't see it!  That's so unfair!"  A heartbeat later, before Beth could
even open her mouth to answer, she added, "So what's it like?  Am I any
good?"

"Oh.  Well --"  They ambled along the beach, and Beth started to tell
her all about 'Queen Serenity and her Senshi.'  Minako stopped her when
she got to the evil Queen Ryoko and her space pirates.

"Okay," she said, her face perfectly straight.  "So it sounds like
they've changed one or two tiny details."  She gave a melodramatic sigh.
"All the same.  An anime about us, and I can't even see it.  That is so
_unfair_!"

"Well, maybe you can," said Beth cautiously, remembering what Serenity
had told her earlier.  "I mean, if I'm really you, or you're really me,
then when I watch it, you watch it too."

"Ooh, deep.  I'm just going to pretend I understood that, okay?"  Minako
grinned at her.  "But let's be serious for a moment, huh?  Tell me ...
how are things going for you?  I heard something about a boyfriend."

"What?"  Beth stared at her in dismay.  "They're talking about that in
the _afterlife_?"

"Aha!  Tell me all!"

"Oh --"  Beth opened her mouth, then shook her head.  "No," she said.
"That's over.  He never liked me in the first place; and anyway, he's
got Nana-chan."

Minako nodded wisely.  "The classic love triangle," she said gravely.
"All that's missing is for one of you to commit suicide."

"I, ahh ... I don't think we're going to do that."  Beth sneaked a look
at the other girl from the corner of her eye, and tried desperately to
think of a way to change the subject.  Inspiration struck her.  "Anyway,
it's not like I'm the only one with troubles.  Just a little while ago,
I saw Ochiyo-san -- that's, er, the new Sailor Moon -- deep-kissing her
own _father_!  With _tongue_!"

"Ew."  Minako gave her a dubious look of her own.  "You know what?  The
Senshi of Love is _so_ not going to touch that one."

Beth nodded, satisfied.  Cautiously, she said, "Aino-sama ... why are
you here?"

"Oh, you know."  The other girl tossed her hair carelessly.  "I wanted
to say hello, see what the new me is like.  That sort of thing.  After
all, there's no reason we can't get along, is there?  You know what they
say: 'The grasshopper and the eagle can never be more than friends.'"

"Um.  I don't think they do say that, do they?"

"Oh, whatever.  Why is everyone always so nitpicky?  You know what I
meant!"

"Actually ... no, I don't think I --"

"Anyway, I just wanted to say ... ah.  Now, what was it I wanted to say?"
Minako pondered -- and then suddenly looked around, startled, as if she
had heard something.  "Oh, damn.  I don't have much time left.  Look, I
remember now.  You know how the Queen told you you might be me, reborn?"

Abruptly, Beth was all ears.  "Yes?"

"Well, just remember this --"

And then, without warning, she was gone.  Beth stood alone on a golden
beach, under a glorious summer sun.  She looked back behind her, and saw
to her dismay that there was only one set of footprints in the sand.

"Bother," she said.

Then the beach, too, was gone, and she realised that she was lying in
bed, Bendis at her side.  The cat was snoring again.  She thought about
waking Bendis up; but it was still dark outside, and in the end she
simply turned over onto her side and closed her eyes again.

                                  --**--

Ochiyo stood in Itsuko's office in the Olympus; but somehow, it was an
office restored.  The desk was upright again; the filing cabinets were
closed, and all the papers that had littered the floor were gone.  All
the disorder and chaos from the night before had vanished, as if it had
never been.  She realised that she was dreaming.  Her cheek seemed to
tingle for a moment, as if at the memory of a touch.

The window stood open, and a cool, gentle breeze stirred her hair.
Outside the window ... something was different.  She went over to look.

There was a city outside the window, one she had never seen before.  It
was a glittering metropolis of arches and spires, gardens and fountains,
one more beautiful than anything she had ever seen before, and it shone
in the sun as if it had been built out of glass.  She looked down, and
realised that her window was improbably high up in a vast tower of some
kind.  Far below, she could see things moving, and after a moment she
realised that they were vehicles.  They were flying through the air like
Opals, rather than crawling along city streets.

She looked up again, out across the broad expanse of the crystal city,
and said in wonder, "I know this place."

Behind her, an unfamiliar voice said, "Of course you do."

She whirled about, and saw a young woman seated at Itsuko's desk.  She
was even wearing one of Itsuko's business suits, but there any
resemblance ended.  Her face was rounder, broader than Itsuko's; her
eyes were an unusual reddish colour; and her hair ... her hair was done
up in long, tapered odango, and it was pink.

Ochiyo said, "You're --"

The other held up a hand.  "Word of warning.  Call me 'Chibi-Usa' or
'Small Lady' and I will hurt you.  Got it?"

"Oh.  Right.  Okay."  Ochiyo cocked an eyebrow at her.  "What _should_ I
call you, then?"

Princess Usagi smiled.  "'Oneesan' might be nice."

Ochiyo took a moment to consider this.  "I'll have to think about that,"
she said.  "It's funny; I already had this discussion with the queen."

"The queen our mother," said Usagi.  She was not smiling now.

"_Your_ mother.  I wonder if she's mine, in any meaningful way?"

"That is what I wanted to talk to you about," Usagi said, nodding.
"And, well, I suppose I wanted to see what my sister is like, too.
Because, little sister of mine, you might be unwilling to acknowledge
the relationship, but _I'm_ not."

Ochiyo stared at her.  Then she laughed.  "All right," she said.  "I
won't argue -- for now.  But ... word of warning.  Call me 'Hikari' and
I will hurt _you_.  Got it?"

Usagi grinned back at her.  "Got it."

Ochiyo turned and looked out the window again.  After a moment she felt
Usagi join her.  "It's so beautiful.  Is this really what Crystal Tokyo
looked like?"

"Pretty much," said her sister.  "It's the view from my bedroom window,
actually."

"Wow.  You lived a long way up."  Ochiyo looked down again, and then
back at the horizon.  Almost afraid of what she would hear, she asked,
"What was it like, living here?  What ... what were _they_ like?  The
Queen?  And the King?"

Usagi did not answer at once.  She stood at the window, her eyes closed,
leaning out a little.  The breeze stirred her hair.  Very softly, she
said, "I don't need to tell you about our parents.  You've met them
both; you'll make up your own mind.  But this place?"  She nodded to
herself, slowly.  "It was like a dream.  A perfect dream, of a perfect
day; a dream that you don't have to wake up from.  Every day."  Opening
her eyes, she gazed at Ochiyo.  "That's what the others have lost, you
know -- the ones who remember."

Ochiyo tried to look back into those reddish eyes, but after a few
seconds she had to look away.  "A perfect dream," she repeated, and
something made her shudder.  To lose perfection --

"I've been worrying," she admitted, and gestured out the window.
"Sailor Uranus told me I'm a part of a plan.  Is _this_ it?  Am I
supposed to rebuild all this?"

Usagi raised her eyebrows and laughed suddenly, and the stillness of the
moment was broken.  "Rebuild Crystal Tokyo?  You've got a long way to go
before you can think of that."

"Yes, but you know what I mean!  Assuming we win ... I'm supposed to be
the heir to all this, right?  Do I have a responsibility to bring it all
back again?"  After a heartbeat Ochiyo added, "Is it a good idea to even
try?"

The pink princess grew thoughtful once more.  "You don't have to choose
right now, you know.  You'll have years, probably.  All the time you
want."  She stepped back from the window and leaned against the edge of
Itsuko's desk.  "It's different for you.  Mother _knew_ what she was
supposed to do.  She'd seen it; she'd actually visited this time.  Not
that I think she had any regrets!  But you ... you can choose your own
path.  In a way, you're far freer than she ever was."

"Free to be queen ... or not."  And the princess had not exactly
answered her question, Ochiyo noticed.

"Right."  Usagi nodded.  "As I said, you have time.  Talk to the others;
don't rush it.  After all, you have things to do before you can even
start!"

"Destroying the enemy."

"Well, that too.  I was thinking, finding the Ginzuishou."

"Oh."  Ochiyo's eyes narrowed.

"It is your inheritance, you know," Usagi said.  "Just like the Golden
Crystal was Father's, and the Pink -- no, that's another story."  She
shook her head.  "But you do need to find the Ginzuishou.  You must know
that!  Of all the Sailor Crystals, it's the oldest, and the most
powerful.  _That_'s your real inheritance."

"Crystals," said Ochiyo.  "Why does it always come down to crystals?"

Usagi smiled.  "It's a mystery."

"All right, then.  Where _is_ the Ginzuishou?"

"I can't -- oh, bother."  Usagi glanced over her shoulder abruptly, as
if someone had called her.  "I don't have much time left.  Look --

"Little sister, I can't tell you where the Ginzuishou is; I don't know.
Puu might be able to help you; ask her."  She reached out, without
warning, and took Ochiyo's hand.  Her fingers felt warm, human ... real.
"But you don't need to be told," she said, and there was a sudden fierce
intensity in her voice.  "You already have everything you need, within
you.  Because you are my sister.  You are the heir to the Moon Kingdom,
and you are a Sailor Senshi.  You are Sailor Mo--"

She was gone.  Ochiyo stood alone in the office, and outside the window
it was night, and the lights of Third Tokyo shone.  Then even the office
vanished, and she opened her eyes in her borrowed bed in Miyo's room.

She rose and padded down the corridor of Itsuko's apartment, through to
the office -- the real office.  It was still a wreck.  The door to the
secret room still stood open, but inside now there was only darkness.

Oddly troubled, she went back to bed, and slept restlessly for the
remainder of the night.

                                  --**--

In a small room in her new house, Seki knelt down and bowed her head.
Flames warmed her face: a dancing, flickering heat, from a renewed
sacred fire.

The altar here was rough and rather makeshift, but in some indefinable
way it almost seemed better for that.  Less polished, less ancient, but
perhaps more in touch with the world of today.  She thought of Queen
Serenity's words -- 'Look ahead of you, instead of behind' -- and felt a
quiet satisfaction.

The air was rich with wood-smoke.  For the first time in many years she
had actually been able to feed the sacred fire with real fuel, instead
of the careful gas feed at the Olympus.  The flames danced merrily, and
she felt, looking into them, that they even _looked_ happier.

With an entirely unconscious smile, she closed her eyes, her head still
bowed.  She would meditate here for a few minutes more, and then finally
get some sleep.  All was well: the fire had been preserved; Makoto was
home at last, asleep and dreaming in her own room; and here and now, in
this moment, all was right with the world.

She opened her eyes again, for an instant -- and in that moment she saw
a new vision in the flames, and recoiled from it in horror.  It was the
future, she knew, absolute and inevitable.  Blood and battle; a figure
with glowing red eyes ... and a fireball that blossomed in the darkness,
and grew until it swallowed the heart of the city.


                             ****************


Sunrise at this time of year was a little before five o'clock.  Dhiti
woke at around half past, and stifled a groan.  She felt groggy, her
eyes hot and prickly ... and it did not matter.  Tired or not, she
needed to get moving.

She was also, she found, both stiff and sore.  It had been a while since
she'd slept on a futon.

Sourly, she eyed Iku, still sound asleep, and poked out her tongue at
the girl for stealing her bed.  Then she grinned at herself, and pulled
on a pair of jeans before waking the other girl.

Iku came awake with a start and a little cry of fear.  Dhiti held up a
finger to her lips, and she relaxed.  "Time to get you home," Dhiti
whispered.  Iku winced, then silently nodded.

Iku's ankle seemed noticeably improved since the night before, but it
was still too sore for her to walk on for long.  Dhiti sighed to herself
and changed to Sailor Mercury, then helped Iku out the window once more.
She waved to Artemis, enjoying his irritated look in return, then lifted
Iku onto her back and set out.

She could not move quite as fast with the girl on her back, and she did
not want to try going over rooftops, so the trip took ten minutes or so.
Iku murmured directions in her ear as they went.  They took back
streets, and it was early on a Sunday morning, but even so, twice she
saw someone watching them from a window, and three cars slowed as they
passed.  Mercury could not quite decide whether to feel embarrassed or
pleased at the spectacle she must be making.

As they neared Iku's house, she found a secluded spot and paused to let
Iku down, then changed back to Dhiti again.  She helped Iku to walk the
last hundred metres, her arm about the girl's waist, Iku's arm looped
around her neck.

"Okay," whispered Dhiti as they reached the door of the house.  "Will
you be all right, or do you want me to come --"

Before she could finish, the door suddenly opened.  A woman stood
looking out at them: middle-aged, with a touch of grey at her temples,
she was lean like Iku and had the same deep brown eyes.  Dhiti felt Iku
stiffen at the sight of her.

"Iku!" the woman exclaimed.  "Where have you _been_?  I was about to
call the police!"  She stepped out and took Iku by the shoulders,
pulling her close.  "What in heaven's name have you been _doing_?  And
who's this?"

Dhiti cleared her throat, hoping to defuse the situation.  "Excuse me,
Kodama-san," she said, bowing.  "My name is Sharma.  I'm a friend of
Iku-chan's from school."  She looked up at the woman with what she hoped
was the right hint of nervousness.  "We, ah, we were having a sort of
... impromptu sleepover last night, and I kind of persuaded Iku-chan to
come out and ... I'm sorry."  She bowed again.  "It was all my fault.
We started dancing and she twisted her foot, and I had to help her home.
I'm sorry," she repeated.

"Hm."  Iku's mother looked at her for rather a long time, and Dhiti
started to feel genuinely nervous.  Then the woman sighed, shaking her
head.  "Very well, Sharma-san," she said.  "Thank you for your honesty.
I can't say I'm pleased, but ... well, we'll say no more about it this
time.  I suppose you two are hardly the first girls to get into a
midnight scrape, are you?"

"Er, no," said Dhiti fervently.

The woman glanced at her watch.  "It's still very early," she said.
"Sharma-san, have you had breakfast?  Would you like to come in?"

"Um.  Thank you, but I'd better not," Dhiti said.  "I'd better get back
home before my own parents -- um."

Iku's mother raised her eyebrows, and laughed.  "All right, then," she
said.  "Another time, perhaps.  Good-bye, Sharma-san."  She drew Iku
inside the house and closed the door.

Dhiti grinned to herself and started to jog back down the street.  [Not
a bad lady,] she thought absently.  [Iku-chan's lucky.]

Then she glanced at her own watch and saw what time it was, and muttered
an oath.  She really did have to hurry, or her excuse would turn all too
real.  She started to run.

                                  --**--

Inside the house, Iku's mother released her suddenly and the girl
stumbled, almost falling.  It hurt her ankle and she winced, but she
made no sound.  Head lowered and one hand on the wall to hold herself
up, she started meekly down the corridor for her room.

A hand fell heavily on her shoulder and the fingers tightened, digging
in painfully.  A moment later she was slammed back against the wall,
brutally hard.  She could not restrain a whimper of fear.

"Iku, Iku, Iku," said her mother.  All the warmth was gone from her
voice.  Her eyes were cold, and there was an ugly smile on her face.

"What _are_ we going to do with you?"


                             ****************


"So," said Twelve.  "Very enterprising of them.  They got away clean?"

"Yes," said the chairman, laying down his commset.  It had been a busy
half hour, trying to find out exactly what had happened.  "The main
building's security cameras show nothing.  The underground lab cameras
show two intruders, but --"  He shrugged.  "There's the usual problem.
We can't even make out which Senshi they were."

"But you say your pet _didn't_ escape with them?"

"Apparently not; but she's gone all the same.  We still don't know how
-- or where."

"More and more interesting."  Twelve give him a vulpine grin.  "I'm sure
I'll enjoy the cover story you come up with, to explain all the damage
they did.  In the meantime ... what about the computer systems?"

"Wiped clean."  The chairman studied his gloved hands.  "We still don't
know how they did that, either.  Our techs have tried to restore the
system from off-site backups, but when the backup volume was mounted,
_it_ got erased too.  They say they're investigating."

"The Senshi did us a favour, then.  Your little project is gone."  She
gave him a scornful look.  "Don't think the inventor is off the hook,
though.  I still want that name.

"For now --"  She shook her head, and started to laugh: that horrible,
grating laugh that was like fingernails on a blackboard.  "I wonder if
they even realise how little damage they did?  A trashed laboratory and
a few lost files -- how very heroic of them!"  She snorted.  "The
computers will be repaired soon enough.  They can just be _replaced_, if
need be.  The most significant thing that happened last night was the
loss of your pet, and that wasn't even their doing!  And even that may
help us, in the long run."

She shot the chairman a vicious grin.  "So I wonder.  Do they know how
futile their little expedition was?  Do you think they have any idea
just how _ineffectual_ they were?"

The chairman shrugged, but Twelve was no longer paying any attention to
him.  Her eyes were far-off.  "No ... I think we have nothing to
complain about.  They've destroyed nothing vital.  More importantly --"

She looked down at him again, and the jewel on her forehead gave a pulse
of baleful light.  She started to laugh once more.  "They have accepted
the Master's gauntlet!  And now -- now it will be war between us!"


------------------------------------------------------------------------
      S   A   I   L   O   R       M   O   O   N       4   2   0   0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
              E N D   O F   C H A P T E R   T H I R T E E N
------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEXT:  The breaking and forging of relationships; happy families; a new
beginning for a masked man; and the first battle of the war.


Sincere thanks to the pre-readers who helped improve this chapter: Chris
Angelini, Chester Castenada, Jed Hagen, Amanda Lange, David McMillan,
Bert Miller, Aaron Nowack, Helmut Ott, Jamie Smith, Joshua Stratton,
Steve "Komodo" T.
Final draft: 11 August, 2007.

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angus MacSpon                                    Email: macspon at ihug.co.nz
ICQ: 65719513                            http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/