--Been a while since I wrote. Thought I'd do something with Angel Raye's Crystal Senshi. -- Ravyn
M.I.B. and One G.By – Ravyn Knyght
--The Last Job--
"This is how I pictured it, Loki." Gemma contentedly admitted as the two leaned back against the bar. "You said it. Just think, when this job's over, this will be the norm." Loki agreed. "Say, where's Kisaragi at?" Gemma said taking a sip of his drink. "Trying out her new system…as if it will be any different from all her other 'systems'." Loki chuckled. "She'll perfect that half baked spell of hers' before she comes up with the perfect system to win at cards." Gemma laughed. Just then their pagers went off. "It's Makata." Loki sighed as he pulled out his cell phone. "Yeah boss, what's up? Okay. We'll be there.". "New plan?" Gemma asked. "Doubt it will work though." Loki said tossing a few bills on the counter to pay for their drinks. "Let's save Kisaragi from herself and head out." he sighed.
"I was this close!" Kisaragi whined as the three met with their boss. "To what? Bankruptcy?" Makata angrily scolded. "You can socialize all you want after our contract is up. Got it?" their leader reminded. "Party pooper!" Kisaragi retorted, sticking her tongue out at him. "Come on! No fighting children! It's our last job!" Loki cheered. "So what's the plan?" Gemma said as he tuned up his plasma rifle. "Head on attack. We're on point." Makata said as he turned his laptop around to show his co-workers the devised plan of their contractor. "How many is Yolei committing?" Kisaragi asked. "Sixty-five air support and four hundred ground support." Makata informed them. "Brawn over brains." Loki pointed out. "Simple and to the point." Gemma simply stated. "Doomed to fail. Good stuff!" Kisaragi added. "Finished?" Makata said glancing around at them. "Whether we like it or not, it's an order. Let's just get it done. It's our last one so let's do it up." Makata said plainly before he left. "Maybe retirement will do him some good. He's been too depressed lately." Kisaragi said worrying about their leaders' mood lately. Gemma and Loki nodded in agreement.
"Hey! Give that back!" Melody growled as her great grandmother pulled her laptop away from her. "You're supposed to be resting. Staring at that screen isn't any good for you concussion." Amy warned. Melody just sighed. "I know but these MIB guys are giving us so much trouble. It's hard to come up with strategies to counter them." Melody said lying back down. "Well from what we gathered so far, these MIB characters are the best of the best. They've helped take over many worlds." Amy recalled. "Knock! Knock!" Rayna called as she came into her teammates' hospital room. "You doing alright?" she asked as she looked over some of the files scattered across Melody's bed. "This guy is soo hot!" she exclaimed, holding up a picture of Loki. Amy and Melody groaned. "I'm fine. Just a little headache that's all." Melody said taking back the photo. Rayna then started playing with Melody's laptop. "Well then pop a couple of aspirin already! There's this new nightclub we're checking out tonight. Chess! Would it kill you to throw a couple have half decent games on this thing?" Rayna whined. Amy leaned close to her great granddaughter, "I thought her great grandmother was a flake!" she whispered in her ear, Melody giggled. "Huh? Am I missing something?" Rayna asked, with a blank look on her face. "Nothing!" Melody answered.
"Hey! Airhead!" Ashley called as she clamped a chokehold on her friend. "Clear off, BRAT!" Rayna gagged as she struggled to free herself. "Enough!" Amy yelled as she grabbed the two by their ears, separating them. Melody laughed at first but then moaned in pain as her headache flared up. "Out!" Amy ordered, dragging them out of the room. 'Did this generation go though a time loop?' Amy wondered thinking about Serenity and Raye. As she was dealing with the two, several loud explosions shook the palace as an alarm sounded. "We're under attack!" Elysian Venus said running past them. "Oh yeah!" Ashley squealed as she transformed. "This better not take long!" Crystal Moon growled as she ran off to catch up with the others.
"Holy crap!" Crystal Jupiter exclaimed as she stared in disbelief at the security monitors. "We're surrounded!" Cosmic Uranus remarked as palace security teams and automated defenses were being quickly over run. "All remaining security teams fall back to the palace! I repeat! All remaining security teams fall back to the palace!" Sailor Venus announced over all radio channels while wondering how such a large attack force went so unnoticed. "Deploy all security bots to cover them! Once they're in, activate the barriers!" she informed her daughter. "Barriers are off line! That last blast overloaded our power systems, we're running on back ups." Cosmic Venus reported back. "Damn it! We're up then!" Venus ordered as she and the others headed for the outside only to be blocked by Sailor Saturn. "That won't be necessary." she informed them. "We're being over run! Radar has forty-five carrier ships converging on us on top of the twenty battle cruisers that are on top of us!" Venus roared, Sailor Saturn refused to move. "Just wait a little longer. That's what I was told to tell everyone." "I gave no such order!" Serenity declared. "No you didn't. Alexander did." Saturn told them, then teleported out of the control room. "Has she gone mad?" Cosmic Venus questioned, "He died over sixty years ago!"
"Come on! That all you got?" Gemma yelled as he took out another squad of sentry bots. "Dibs on the throne room goodies!" Kisaragi hollered back as she headed for the main doors, frying any and all opponents in her way with lightning spells. "You will go no further." Sailor Saturn warned, blocking the young sorceress' path. "As if!" Kisaragi scoffed. "Believe it!" Sailor Mars shot back as both her pendant and Saturn's began to glow. "You old crows need to chill out! Blades of Ice!" Kisaragi conceitedly replied as she sent a barrage of ice shards towards the two scouts. "They'll be killed!" Cosmic Mars cried as she and several other scouts left the control room to join the fight.
As the ice shards were about to strike, a wall of fire swirled around both Mars and Saturn, quickly destroying the ice projectiles, then fanned out towards the on coming attackers. "What the – Multi Wall!" Kisaragi exclaimed as she quickly cast a barrier around herself and her comrades to guard against the wall of flame. She dropped the barrier to attack after the fire passed them, only to come face to face with a large monster. "Well that was effective." Makata commented as the wall of fire incinerated the majority of their ground support. "So is this!" Gemma added as he opened fire on the creature, Kisaragi barely getting out of the way of the incoming plasma rounds. The shots struck their target, knocking the creature back. "You were saying?" Kisaragi questioned as the creature was charging towards them. "My turn!" Loki shouted as he rushed the creature, landing several sword strikes that took it down and severely wounded the creature. "Wanna play with fire, huh? Scorching Inferno!" Kisaragi's attack struck the creature full force, but instead of finishing it off, the spell healed the creature. "Back off and let the air support deal with this thing!" Makata ordered, 'Where did they get that thing!' he wondered as he signaled the warships to fire on both the palace and the creature.
"Now your gonna get it!" Kisaragi warned as she raised another barrier to protect herself and her comrades from the impending bombardment. "No." Saturn murmured as the ground began to shake. "Protect us!" she yelled as the warships weapons began firing. As the artillery rounds closed in, a huge pair of wings shrouded the palace. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Loki asked in amazement. "If it's a big machine with wings then, yes." Gemma replied. "Business just picked up." Makata commented as both they and the palace were sheltered from the impact.
"Keep firing!" Yolei ordered as her orbiting flagship positioned itself directly above the defending creature. "Main plasma cannon online!" an operator reported. "Do it." Yolei ordered in a cold voice. "But what about the M.I.B.? They're still in there!" the operator reported. "Do as your told!" Yolei demanded. 'I will not fail!' she thought as the operator carried out the order. "She's firing on us!" Kisaragi exclaimed. "Isn't that a breach of contract?" Gemma wondered aloud. "Brace yourself Kisaragi." Makata warned as the immense energy blast came down on them engulfing the creature and everything it was shielding.
"What's happening?" Cosmic Mars asked her mother only to get no response. "Grandma! Are you alright?" Elysian Saturn asked, trying to shake her grandmother out of her daze. "Everyone evacuate to the Time Gate!" Crystal Pluto ordered. "Too late!" Uranus shouted as the entire palace shook from the impact.
"That did it!" Yolei laughed as she watched the ensuing explosion destroy everything. Her blood ran cold, however, as the blast waves subsided. "That's impossible! They should have been vaporized!" she screamed as the outline of the winged creature emerged. "Report!" she ordered. "Creature is still there and we're sitting ducks! All our defensive and offensive systems are down!" one of her bridge crew replied in a panicked voice.
"We're alive?" Cosmic Moon astounded as she looked around to see everyone still alive. "Now's our chance!" Crystal Mars shouted as she and the other Crystal Scouts headed out to finish off the remaining attackers. "What the hell is going on out there!" Amy called in on her communicator. "I wouldn't know where to start!" Cosmic Mercury responded back, but get all available medical teams out to retrieve the wounded!" she finished as she herself headed out to assist them.
"I think we're in over our heads on this one." Gemma said, reloading his weapon. "Uh, guys? A little help over here!" Kisaragi shrieked as the first monster was chasing her. "I'll deal with it." Makata said as he struck the creature with a powerful energy beam. As the creature shook off the effects of the blast, Makata rushed in and fought the creature hand to hand. ""We've got company!" Loki reported as he dodged Crystal Uranus' attacks. "Gemma! Take out those wings!" Makata ordered. Gemma took aim, and was charging his weapon when Crystal Saturn's scythe cut through it. "Well!" Gemma exclaimed as he pulled out a back up rifle from under his coat. "Take your best shot!" Crystal Saturn challenged, just then the wings of the other creature parted revealing the surrounding fleet. "Don't mind if I do little girl!" Gemma laughed, taking aim at her.
"All ships! Fire!" Yolei ordered, seeing the opening. "Now what?" Crystal Moon wondered as she stared skyward. Once the creatures' wings were fully withdrawn, several large compartments opened up on it revealing a multitude of cannons. With out warning the creature fired on all of the surrounding ships, destroying them instantaneously. "Ka-Boom!" Crystal Mars excitedly remarked as she watched the battle fleet be completely eradicated. After the creature's weapons struck their targets, it vanished along with the other creature that Makata was fighting. Both Sailor Mars and Saturn collapsed to the ground unconscious. "You're next! Jupiter Chain Lightning!" Crystal Jupiter declared as she blasted Loki. "Didn't feel a thing…" Loki muttered as he fell to his knees.
"This ends now." Makata told Crystal Moon as he landed several blows that sent her to the ground. Just as he was about to finish her off with an energy attack, his watch started beeping. "Does that mean what I think it means?" Gemma asked as he held both Crystal Venus and Elysian Venus upside down by their ankles. Makata let out a heavy sigh as he canceled out his attack and walked away. "Let's go." He ordered. "Woo-hoo! Party time!" Kisaragi cheered, "That frog spell will wear off in a few hours…I think." she told Crystal Jupiter. "Here's my card, call me." Loki flirted with Crystal Neptune. Crystal Moon let out a huge sigh, 'I thought I was a goner!'. Gemma promptly dropped both Venus scouts and joined up with his team. "Excuse me? What just happened here?" Crystal Pluto asked as she and the other scouts watched the four just walked away. "We're not finished!" Crystal Mars stated as she ran after them. "Kisaragi." Makata said while giving her a familiar look. "One stop spell coming up!" she happily complied and snapped her fingers. All but the Pluto Scouts and Crystal Moon were affected by the spell. "Wait just a minute!" Crystal Moon ordered as she, Elysian Pluto, Cosmic Pluto and Crystal Pluto jumped in front of them and prepared to attack. The four stopped and stared at the scouts for a moment. "Hmph! Damn warmongers." Makata uttered, then pushed his way past them, his comrades following behind him. 'Warmongers? Us?' Crystal Moon wondered as she watched M.I.B. make their way across the decimated landscape. Only then as she watched them leave did she look around to see the battles' end result.
Several days later…
"Both Hotaru and Raye are doing fine but they don't remember a thing about what happened." Amy told the other scouts in a meeting. "Any idea how such a large attack force appeared from nowhere?" Sailor Venus questioned. "None. All our satellite surveillance systems checked out fine. We have engineer crews recovering some of the wreckage. They might have used some new stealth technology to evade our satellites." Uranus said looking over some reports. "As soon as they're able too, Amy, I want to question both Raye and Hotaru myself on those two creatures that defended us." Rini informed her. "Of course. Now if this is all, I have a hospital full of wounded to attend to." Amy reminded everyone. "Very well. This meeting is adjourned." Serenity stated.
"There you are!" Ashley said, joining Rayna, who was deep in thought, on one of the higher balconies. "Geez! Good thing there's a five mile border around the palace!" Ashley commented in amazement as she took in the damage caused by Yolei's flagship. "Oh yeah…" Ashley remembered, "Way to drop the ball! Just letting them walk away like that!" she scolded. Rayna just glared at her. "If that's all you came here for, I'd like to be left alone." Ashley just made a sour face at her. "Shouldn't we be having a meeting or something about what happened?" Ashley pointed out. "I suppose." Rayna sighed staring out across the scorched landscape. "You suppose?" Ashley said staring wide eyed at her friend as she leaned back against the railing, "So what's up?" she inquired. "Ever get the feeling you're a fifth wheel?" Rayna asked then walked back inside, "Let's have that all important meeting.".
"So is that it?" Rayna said going over all the topics that were to be covered. As she silently went over the reports, adding her own notes, the other Crystal scouts used their laptops to send messages to each other:
Heartbreaker: What's her prob?
Snowcone: Not sure.
Hotmama83: Can't handle the pressure of being in charge.
Windwalker: What pressure?
Hotmama83: o LOL
Gothyka: Lay off! She almost bought it!
Shakenbreak: I don't think that's it.
Lostsoul234: Then what?
Ticktock: Think it has something to do with what M.I.B. said.
Hotmama83: What? What'd they say?
Bigcheese: Drop it.
The group slowly looked up to see Rayna glaring at them. "Well if we have nothing better to talk about then I guess we're done here?" Rayna asked getting up. The others just cleared their throats and promptly closed their laptops. "Meeting adjourned." Rayna called and left. "What did they say?" Ashley demanded. "I wanna know too!" both Chasity and Tiffany chimed in. "They called US warmongers! Can you believe that?" Jasmine scoffed. "A group of people that go from planet to planet fighting wars and profiting from them, call us warmongers?" Sydney questioned in a laugh. "Why would something so ridiculous bother Rayna?" Tiffany wondered. "She flakes out about any negative comments people make about her, nothing new." Ashley complained. "I suppose…but why did M.I.B. leave like that? I mean they were totally kicking our butts!" Gisselle questioned. "Don't you mean tad poles?" Ashley laughed while dodging a swipe from Lily. "You wanna find out?" Chasity grinned holding up the business card Loki gave her. "Let's prank call him!" Ashley piped up, pulling out her cell phone. "I have a better idea…" Melody started, "Hey Tiff, go catch up with Rayna. Let's get a plan together.". "Okay!" Tiffany replied and went after her friend.
Tiffany found Rayna out in the decimated palace grounds talking to some of the clean up crew. "Rayna! Melody has a plan to get M.I.B.! Let's go hear her out!" Tiffany called. "This place will never be the same." Rayna sadly commented as she watched the workers go about the long task of restoring the palace grounds. She walked over to where the main gates used to stand. She giggled at a trio of muddy sentry bots that were standing guard. ""What's wrong?" Tiffany asked, Rayna ignored her as she knelt down and brushed off some of the dirt and mud from them. "Can't have you guys looking like that now can we?" she softly told the little machines. "Don't do that! You could disconnect something and they might go haywire!" Tiffany nervously warned as Rayna continued to clean them off. 'Why did Snow ever create those things!' Tiffany pondered. "There!" she stated as she used the sleeve of her blouse to wipe off the last of the mud spots from they're optical lenses. "You treat them as if they were real people. Why?" Tiffany questioned. "They work just as hard at protecting this place as we do." Rayna said picking one up to dislodge some debris that was preventing it from walking right. "They deserve the same treatment and respect as everyone else around here. Off you go now." Rayna laughed as she put it back down. "You still upset about those M.I.B. losers calling you a warmonger?" Tiffany said getting to the point.
"It's just not that." Rayna sighed, scooping up a fistful of dirt as she looked out across the barren area surrounding the palace. "Is it Ashley and Sydney? What they said back there?" Tiffany asked trying to find the cause of her friend's problem. "It's not what was said. It's because it was all true." Rayna admitted as she let the dried earth slowly fall through her fingers. "What?" Tiffany cried in shock, not believing what she was hearing, "You can't be serious?" she stammered, wondering what brought about this change in her. "Look around you. All this is my fault. If I was a better leader we would have wiped out this commander Yolei and M.I.B. would have been beat long ago. People were dead and dying and all we thought about was fighting, even among all this destruction. Besides, what real purpose do I serve here anyway?" Rayna pointed out as she walked towards town. "Wait! Where are you going?" Tiffany asked following her. "Just hear out Melody's plan, okay? If you don't like it, just say so and we won't do it." Tiffany offered. "Alright." Rayna reluctantly agreed as they turned around and headed back to the palace.
--Next: On Common Ground—
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