"Hm?"

It was only for a brief moment, a quick flicker that disappeared as quickly as it came, but Setsuna Meioh definitely sensed it. An enormous spirit energy, comparable to the Princess herself, that came and went as a quick blip. But enough that although it was only a quick moment, she could differentiate it. It didn't belong to the Princess, nor did it belong to a decisively evil entity as it lacked malicious intent.

The blip was just enough to tell Setsuna that it was someone who let his or her guard down, just a moment, because she was trying to mask that power from others.

Setsuna scanned the metro car to see if she could perhaps identify where it came from. It was the late evening in Tokyo, so the car was as packed as it always was at this time of day. Teenagers on their cell phones, mothers and fathers tending to their children, adults checking their watches: it wasn't exactly noisy, but there was enough background noise from the speeding train along with all of the smaller noises to allow Setsuna's mysterious quarry to blend in and get lost in the veil.

There was nothing unusual, and Setsuna was about to chalk the blip as something she imagined, but then the next stop came, and that same energy signature flashed in her brain. Her eyes darted to the car, now certain that whoever triggered it had reached their stop...and finally, she caught a glimpse of who it was. It was one of the teenagers on her cell phone, with a peculiarly dark shade of lavender hair going down to her waist, flowing through the air as she rode the wave of humanity out of the car.

The energy she gave off was not malicious, and in fact was somewhere on the opposite end. It was a power of light, similar to what Setsuna's comrades would give off when they were forced to show their colors. Because of this, Setsuna did not classify her as an enemy and did not make a serious effort to pursue her, but took note of the name on her identification card she had clipped to her school uniform in case the girl was someone that she'd have to encounter later. The door closed, and Setsuna was again racing to her own stop, and she allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts once more.

As a doctor, Setsuna was already sworn to an oath of confidentiality, so being the primary physician of Princess Serenity's infant daughter was something that she kept as a secret along with her other patients' privacy. In addition, she also took great care in making sure that no one knew of what she did when she was off work, where she could have the freedom to engage in her real job. So when someone slipped a note in her purse at one of the nearby bars, calling her by her nighttime alias, Setsuna took it upon herself to meet the problem head-on, as she would an enemy.

For the first time since her days in med school, Setsuna Meioh was dressed to go on a blind date.
As her stop came up, Setsuna stepped out of the metro car as quickly as she could in her high heels and party dress and made her way to the nearby restaurant that was listed on the note. She had been to this restaurant before, as med school had reserved it for her class' graduation ceremony. It was a Greek establishment, with a great deal of Mediterranean dishes and drinks to choose from. The food wasn't terrible, but it wasn't a place that she would frequent alone, and so she hadn't returned to it until that evening. As Setsuna arrived and walked through the revolving doors, she reminded herself that she would have to make sure her host paid for her drinks as well as her food.

"...yes, Dr. Meioh, he's been expecting you. Right this way."

After stating her name and mentioning the reservation listed in the note, Setsuna was led to her host's table where one of the waiters graciously pulled a seat for her and allowed her to sit down. With a polite bow of her head, Setsuna watched the waiter leave before turning to her host and finally catching an uninterrupted glimpse of the man who knew her secret. Physically he was quite attractive, with very soft features and pale skin, along with soft lavender hair tied back in a ponytail, two dark birthmarks on his forehead, and teashade glasses with frames that seemed as expensive as his pinstriped shirt and vest.

"...the Bacchus."

Setsuna raised an eyebrow as her host's sudden statement. "I...beg your pardon?"

"It's the best wine they offer here," the man explained with a voice as soft as his features, lacking the malicious intent that Setsuna expected someone who knew her true name would have. Perhaps he was not an enemy, but an ally that she might have had in a previous life, which was certainly not uncommon for a Sailor Senshi to have. "When I worked out of Greece, I was stationed close to its distillery. After they bottle the wine, they store it in a secret locker for exactly one hundred years, and then that generation removes it to be shipped. It's a family business, run by centuries of honest, kind folk."

"Mmm...I think that sounds delicious," Setsuna replied with a smile. "Since you're buying me a drink, I suppose I owe you a proper introduction. I'm Dr. Setsuna Meioh...to whom do I owe the pleasure of being treated to such an expensive dinner?"

"My answer...is a bit of a multiple choice. When I'm signing my checks and making press conferences at my company, I'm Mutsuki Zeto...the founder and CEO of Zamir Industries."

Setsuna's smile faded as she looked to her menu as the waiter came back to check on what they wanted. Zamir Industries was a company that was on the surface a technology firm that had its hand in several different markets, but was usually in the news because they had a new weapon to show off to the public. Even though her day job didn't necessitate looking into its activities, Setsuna always kept tabs on Zamir in case her enemy decided to use human technology to wreak havoc. How very typical that a handsome man who bought her dinner was the mastermind of an outfit like that.

Mutsuki grinned as Setsuna buried her head into the menu. "If you think I'm offended, don't worry. I know my company's innovations need to be moved back towards the humanitarian causes rather than military, but I think we've made some good progress. Like the wine we'll be ordering this evening, my tribe's origins are humble and our intentions pure. We were the best blacksmiths in Europe, and I'm trying to keep my tribe's traditions alive with my work."

Setsuna lowered her menu and looked back at Mutsuki. She checked for that flicker of bad intentions, but again it was absent. She couldn't tell if he was a fool or not, but she did sense that he was hiding something from her. He had to have been if he knew her true name. "I can certainly respect an obligation towards tradition, Mr. Zeto...especially considering my occupation as Sailor Pluto."

He chuckled once before turning to Setsuna's wrist and seeing a very peculiar bracelet. It was a dark black, with a deep crimson jewel embedded in its heart-shaped crest. "The craftsmanship in that morpher is exquisite. Whoever made it clearly put a great deal of care into making it so that it had a sense of market value, but not enough that it would make a stranger think you were someone to keep tabs on...not that you aren't, Dr. Meioh."

"Enough flattery," Setsuna placed her hand her the table cloth and hardened her expression. "How do you know about my duties, and how much do you know? What do you want with me?"

The waiter placed the complimentary bowl of pita bread on their table, along with a garlic-brewed dip, before Mutsuki finally gave his response. "Before I answer that, let me prove to you that I am not here to hurt you...in fact, I think you'll find my offer quite tantalizing." Mutsuki lifted his hand and allowed his sleeve to roll down slightly to reveal a small gold rectangular box with two ram-like horns wrapping in the front, and prepared his fingers for a snap. "Now, when I lift the veil, you must promise me not to react poorly, or we could both be in serious trouble."

"What are you talking-"

"Reveal."

With a snap of his fingers, the peaceful music was suddenly drowned out by the massive outpouring of malicious intent that bombarded Setsuna on all sides. Visually, the room had not changed and its patrons were still going about their business, but Setsuna could now sense the multiple of extremely powerful spirit energies that were located in this room...and one of them came from her host. Thankfully for her, Mutsuki's spirit energy was clean and pure, which meant that he was most likely not an enemy...unfortunately it didn't account for the other malicious energies.

"I've removed the illusion that prevented you from sensing the other people of interest in this room...but only you and I know that we can sense them now. As I'm talking to you, I'm using my abilities of misdirection to make them think that I'm confessing how incredibly beautiful you are. They'll be plenty of time for that afterwards, anyway," Mutsuki turned his head towards the bar where two women sat next to one another looking in their direction. The first woman had short bleached hair, wearing a black leather jacket, and the other woman had black hair going down to her neck, wearing a high-neck sleeveless skirt with a scarf. "I take it you know who those two are?"

"Yes...Haruka Tenou and Michiru Kaioh. They used to be very close friends," Setsuna nodded her head before turning away from them, worried that they'll realize they're being watched even with Mutsuki's supposed illusion. "The three of us together are called the 'Outer Senshi:' we protect Earth from threats that the Inner Senshi cannot handle...but we have a secret mission, as well. Because of this secret mission, we had a disagreement and now they work for the enemy. They're probably here to ambush me and take my morpher so that I can't interfere with them."

"Interesting...we have much more in common than I initially suspected," Mutsuki nodded his head before turning to the grand piano at the center of the room, where a medium-built man with wild hair and a goatee played gleefully. "That pianist and I have a very similar history. You see, he and I are supposed to be comrades who work towards preserving our lady Athena, but our organization has become deeply corrupted to a point where I can no longer do my duty and follow orders at the same time. Unfortunately, he sees the corruption as an opportunity to act as savagely as he wants."

The name "Athena" finally triggered a memory that left Setsuna to finally digest the situation she found herself in while Mutsuki snacked on one of the pita bread pieces left at their table. Athena was the Greek goddess of war and wisdom, a justice-loving deity that provided guidance to those who prayed to her. Those who followed Athena's teachings focused on honing their body into the ultimate weapon, making weapons redundant, and called themselves Saints. Even in the era of the Moon Kingdom, the order of Saints existed, and thanks to Setsuna's continuous tuning into the flow of time, she knew that they kept a secret order even as the name of Athena became lost in myth.

"So...you're a Saint, Mutsuki?"

"Please...call me 'Mu,' Dr. Meioh," Mu said with a smile as the pianist stood up and soaked in the light applause from the other patrons. "Mutsuki is just an alias I picked until it was time to serve our Lady Athena...and I hope that with the cooperation of you and the other Senshi, we can work together to serve our mutual goals."

"You just told me that your organization suffers from severe corruption. How do I know you're not leading me along into a trap?" Setsuna asked warily as Mu stood up and helped her to her feet. "It seems very strange that Uranus, Neptune, and your comrade are all here waiting to start an ambush."

"They're not working together: I'm sure if your friends knew what kind of man Deathmask is, they would want to hurt him as much as I do," Mu said with a grin before leading her towards the piano. "They likely followed you here, unaware that Deathmask already intended to use this place to ambush me. I'm going to talk him into conducting a duel elsewhere, please stay close to me so that you don't get ambushed and everything goes south from there."

Reaching into his pocket, Mu pulled out some coins and placed them in the pianist's tip jar. Setsuna wasn't kidding about this "Deathmask" being repulsive. Even if he was dressed in a nice suit, he clearly reeked of the scent of blood and death. If this was at one time Mu's comrade, Setsuna could only imagine what Mu might have done when he and Deathmask were on the same side. "See how much love you can get if you used your hands for something other than murder, Deathmask?" Mu said with a soft smile.

"'Musicmask' doesn't have the same ring to it," Deathmask deadpanned before turning to Setsuna. With a whistle, he looked her from the legs up and stroked his chin. "Still, I might consider changing it to 'Sexymask' if it meant getting arm candy like this lovely thing. I don't suppose after I kill you, I could have her to myself, could I?"

"Women are sacred, just like our Lady Athena. You would do well to remember that," Mu retorted while subtly tightening his hold around Setsuna's waist, reminding her that a direct confrontation could potentially lead to civilian casualties. "Besides, if you wish to kill me, I will not hold any objections to a duel...but let me finish my business with the lady. As Gold Saints, we need to be careful in revealing the presence of Sanctuary to the common populace. I imagine the Pope wouldn't take kindly to it becoming a tourist trap."

As the two Saints discussed "business," Setsuna turned her head back to Haruka and Michiru and was troubled to see that they had left their seats and were now walking towards her. Unlike Mu, Haruka and Michiru had zero qualms in starting matters of business with complete disregard for those who might get caught in the crossfire. Whether her host wanted it or not, very soon there was going to be a confrontation, and Setsuna wasn't about to let someone else be the one to draw first blood.

"Come on, Mu, you know I wouldn't really kill you before I got the information I want out of you," Deathmask said with a cruel smirk. "Just tell me where you've been hiding Saori Kido the past few weeks, and THEN we can play outside!"

Setsuna's eyes lit up as she eavesdropped on the conversation. Saori Kido was the teenager on the metro car with the immense spirit energy! This Deathmask must have not only been an enemy of peace, but an enemy to women, stalking girls and then taking their lives. And this, in Setsuna's eyes, could not be forgiven. Turning back around, Setsuna pulled away from Mu and grabbed Deathmask by his collar before pushing him against the grand piano, much to the surprise of the other patrons.

"When I let you go, you're going to quietly step outside and head to the alley a block north," Setsuna hissed, staring into Deathmask's fiery windows of Hell he dared to call his eyes. "You want bloodshed? I'll be more than happy to give it to you…"

But Deathmask's expression of shock soon turned to one of intrigue. "Ooooh...I didn't sense it before because of Mu's trickery, but now that I get to feel your touch, I can see why he's got the hots for you. That's quite a cosmo you've got, lady…"

On the note of cosmo, Mu felt the powerful cosmos of Haruka and Michiru rapidly approaching, prompting him to turn around and face them. "I'm afraid this is a private engagement," Mu stated calmly as he realized that their murderous intents were beating down upon him. "When the lady is finished with her business, I'll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, I suggest you try the Bacchus on the wine menu. When I was stationed in-"

"Step aside if you don't want your arm broken," the one called Haruka growled as she clenched her fist. "You have until the count of 3. One…"

"It would be a shame if I…"

"Two…"

"...CUT IT FROM YOUR CHEST!"

Finally, Deathmask showed his true colors and focused his pink cosmo into a pincer of energy that jutted out of his wrist and came dangerously close to impaling Setsuna. Setsuna quickly backed off, but evading Deathmask's thrust and causing him to stumble towards their former comrades. Mu quickly stepped to the side, and allowed Deathmask to fall into the chest of Michiru. Whether it was an accident or not was up for debate, but Deathmask tightly grabbed onto Michiru's chest in an effort to keep his balance, but he soon learned that he would have been better off falling on his face.

Michiru quickly put all of her spirit energy into her palm and slapped Deathmask across the face as hard as she could. If Deathmask had been an ordinary man, his entire cheek would have imploded upon himself and he'd spend the next few weeks in a coma. But Deathmask, no ordinary man, only stumbled backwards before looking to the Senshi only a small red mark where he had been hit. "Heh...sorry about that. How about I buy you a drink and we'll just move with your lives?"

"First you try and take our prey, and now you cop a feel?" Michiru hissed as she and Haruka stood in an aggressive stance. "You must have a death wish…"

"Not 'DeathWISH,' it's 'DeathMASK,'" the corrupt Saint retorted as he lifted his hands and parried the simultaneous punch from Haruka and kick from Michiru. With the momentum of both attacks fading through his hands, Deathmask crouched and delivered twin punches to his two assailants, forcing them to back off while he assumed his own stance. "You two have quite the cosmo on you, as well. Pleased to make your acquaintance, girls!"

"Believe me, the pleasure isn't ours, creep," Haruka snapped back as Michiru looked around to see that the patrons were now running for cover in the wake of Deathmask's previous display of his powers. "Still, thanks for scaring off the commoners. Now we don't have to worry about the press showing up at our doorsteps when we don't want them to."

"That was the idea, baby," Deathmask replied with a wink before pulling up the sleeve of his tuxedo to reveal a crab-shaped gold device, which was now glowing with his dark pink cosmo. "Now when the press talks about you, it'll be in your obituary!"

While Haruka and Michiru didn't have the constant awareness of the past, present, and future that Setsuna possessed, they had enough experience in their particular field to know that the device Deathmask possessed was probably something similar in nature to their morphing bracelets. As such, they brandished theirs and the three found themselves in a stand-off that would be broken as soon as they summoned the power bestowed upon them.

It would be a fourth entrant that would break the stand-off and attempt to diffuse the situation, appearing in a flash of white electricity between the combatants and turning towards the two women. While Haruka, Michiru, and Deathmask had yet to assume a form that would be out of the ordinary, the newcomer seemed incapable of blending into the general polulace. He was clad in white body armor, being worn over an orange bodysuit that covered the rest of his body. Masking his face was a white helmet, with a black visor that hide a pair of glowing red eyes. "How about before you two give our cause even more difficulties than it already has," the stranger stated with a metallic tinge in his voice thanks to his mask, "we turn it down a notch and consider that your quarry got away while you two were bickering."

"We're well aware of that, Gesen," Michiru responded bitterly before pointing at Deathmask, "but you can blame this idiot for that. We could have quietly removed Sailor Pluto to a place where no one would bother us, but he had to make too much noise and ruin the ambush."

"Hey, for your information, baby, I LIKE making too much noise when I'm about to kill someone," Deathmask shouted back as Gesen turned to him. "So, buddy, are you going to play with me, too? Three-on-one is a little bit unfair, but I bet we could completely rock this city to its core if we got into a battle royale with all of that cosmo shooting around!"

But rather than enter his own fighting stance, Gesen instead fell onto one knee and bowed his head, as if to show servitude to the stranger. But the confusion was only on Deathmask's side, as Haruka and Michiru folded their arms and waited for the crimson core in Gesen's chest to flash white before his own eyes turned white and his voice changed into one that didn't belong to him. "Please, forgive my subordinates' zeal, sir. We have been dealing with very stressful times and have been planning this sting on Sailor Pluto for a few days. We were not aware that your organization also had designs here."

"Hmmm...using your goon to telepathically project yourself? I'd be more willing to give you the benefit of the doubt if you showed yourself in person," Deathmask finally lowered his sleeve to hide his device and folded his arms. "Still, it's not my call to decide if you're next in line to be a victim. There's a lot of unfamiliar strong cosmos here tonight, so maybe we can talk this over, y'know?"

"Quite right. Gesen is my trusted associate, and Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune are my allies. It is my sincerest hope that we can include your group into our loving circle," the voice stated before Gesen lifted his head and stared at Deathmask. "So, if you would be so kind...take us to your leader."