Disclaimer: I don't own Tenchi Muyo or any Marvel-related stuff.
Note: This is an AU-storyline that occurs after the 13 main OAV episodes. It uses elements from the manga.
Warning: The intro scenes are more in the R category than in the PG-13 category.
His name is Terrence Matthews, a member of the prestigious Hellfire Club. A man with a heart as black as the black business suit he wears.
While most of the other passengers were panicking, he was content sitting in his chair while reading a Terran newspaper.
"Oh Tsunami! They're boarding us!"
This was uttered from one of his co-passengers, a wealthy countess from Jurai wearing a kimono so detailed, decorated and luxurious that he was filled with disgust over the Juraian's display of her immense wealth.
He frowned a little and continued trying to read the article about Senator Robert Kelly's anti-mutant rants while gritting his teeth in frustration over the distracting noises emitted from the others. He had just finished the Daily Bugle's article about Spider-Man's latest escapade while ignoring Jameson's subjective stances towards the wall-crawler.
The luxury passenger liner the Star of Ryuten was one of the most popular star cruisers in the galaxy. It was built on the planet Ryuten by the sculptor Tatesuki for a minor noble possessing enough wealth to order such a ship without being economically ruined. Since it was forbidden for non-Juraians to purchase Tree ships manufactured on Ryuten for Jurai, Tatesuki had to make do with making a luxurious ship out of metal. Not that he had anything against it since he enjoyed variation in his work and was skilled in both constructing ships out of metal and Juraian trees, unlike Nomori Takebe who was only skilled in the construction of tree ships. The Star of Ryuten resembled the more numerous modern starships constructed of non-biological materials, but its exterior and interior rivalled the magnificence of many of the Juraian Tree ships.
Like all luxury liners, the Star of Ryuten was also very vulnerable to space pirate attacks lusting after the wealth and beautiful women inside it.
While travelling through one of ships most popular routes, a well-armed pirate ship awaited them after exiting light speed, taking out the two powerful escort ships meant to deal with such threats.
Since the Star of Ryuten wasn't equipped with any defensive weaponry, the captain tried to make a run for it, hoping that they would enter light speed in time before the pirates caught up with them.
Unfortunately for the captain, the pirates fired a salvo of missiles, targeting the ships rear engines.
The captain for all his skills and experience, managed to evade all the missiles - save one.
The missile struck the ship with incredible force, hitting the engines dead on. The damage was so severe that the engines shut down.
The passengers knowing what space pirates usually would do to them panicked in fear.
But there were exceptions.
One of them was a young man of seemingly Asian descent wearing a black business suit sitting in the chair and reading a foreign newspaper as if nothing had happened at all.
Another was scarred, black-bearded Juraian wearing the robes of an officer, fingering the handle of his energy sword in silence.
There were others who remained calm, but the two men were the most noticeable of them all. They wished at least to die with dignity.
The escape pods were out of the question. Most of the planets inhabited in this system were havens for space pirates who bore little love to people different to them.
The had heard the horror stories of families and people in escape pods landing on hostile planets inhabited by space pirates or being "rescued" by pirates. The men were lucky if they died quickly or were at least taken as prisoners in use for hostage situations or slaves. Most of the women would beg for death quickly than being violated by pirates and kept as their pets and sex-slaves.
After a while the pirate ship docked with the space cruiser, and seconds later it was boarded by space pirates.
They were a mixed group of scum from all the corners of the galaxy, all dressed in dirty clothes, their faces unkempt and course.
They slayed any man that tried to stop them while some of them dragged screaming women by their hair, clothes, arms, legs or neck.
When they arrived the ships main room reserved for passengers, they saw and felt the fear emitted from the majority of the passengers.
Except two.
One a Juraian holding a glowing sword of energy; the other one a man in a black business suit reading a newspaper, sitting comfortable in a luxurious chair.
"Lookie here!" laughed the leader of the pirates. "Two 'heroes' trying to stop us!"
The young man looked sourly at them, still holding the newspaper in his hands. "Why don't you do something useful for a change. Like stuffing the barrels of your blasters in your mouth and pulling the trigger." he said in an irritated manner.
Suddenly, as if possessed, the band of space pirates dropped most of the things they were carrying, gripping their blasters and placing the barrels of their energy weapons inside their mouthsand pulling the triggers.
The sound of synchronized blaster fire ceased, and on the floor lay men with scorched holes through their back heads.
The passengers were shocked over this display of suicide, none of them believing their eyes over what had just happened.
The man placed the newspaper on the table. "Time to get rid of the rest of the rabble," he sighed in irritation. "I certainly hope they aren't trying to plunder the storage room. Crimson Phantom's been itching for some practice for days."
"What the hell is happening inside there!"
It had seemed like an easy picking for the pirate crew of the Chaos Rider. The boss and his men had boarded the ship and were heading for the main room while another group headed for the storeroom where most of the valuables lay in high-security safes.
They had lost contact with the captain and the main boarding crew a few minutes ago. Any attempts to reach them by com-link were unsuccessful.
Suddenly screams were erupting from the ship's computer as the men in the storeroom began to die. They heard the sound of blaster fire and the hum of an energy sword as it cut the men down.
"I don't want to d - AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Kill it!"
"YIAEARRGH!"
"Where is it!"
"It's over there!"
"NOOOOOOOO"
"Fire! Fire!"
"It's too fast!"
"Look out! He's holding a - "
Then came the sound of projectile weapons being fired. The sound of bullets piercing flesh and blowing off limbs as the roars continued. The agonized screams of the wounded and the dying.
The remaining crew of the Chaos Rider could only listen in horror at the massacre occurring in the Star of Ryuten's storeroom.
And then they were assaulted by a powerful telepathic force bolt attack that made them feel as if their brains were on fire and turned inside-out at the same time.
Many of them screamed in pain.
Must feel as if someone's drenched your minds in napalm, doesn't it, boys?
Something was speaking to them inside their minds. They could feel cruelty and evil bred from darkness that made them seem like rank amateurs when it came to committing acts of evil.
From the shadows came a figure dressed in black and with a wicked smile.
"Time to die!" he whispered, and then the slaughter began.
It was as if in a living nightmare.
The stranger had forced several crewmembers into killing each other as brutally as possible.
One of them was banging the bloodied head of another against one of the control panel, even if he screamed at the stranger to make him stop.
Another was slowly skewering his best friend slowly with a vibroblade, both of them screaming in horror and pain.
Others he killed in a different manner.
Somehow he managed to project living nightmares into the heads of some of them.
One was slamming his head against the wall, seemingly to his death.
Another chose to shoot himself in the head with his blaster pistol, trying to burn out the images going through his agonized mind.
Another was squealing in pain as he had finished clawing out his very own eyes.
Moments later there were only two pirates alive.
"Now whatever shall I do with you two?" he said in cruel mockery as he sat in one of the command chairs, his legs placed on top the command panel.
He contemplated for a few seconds, then grinned and began pressing a few buttons.
One of the display monitors showed that he had opened one of the airlock hatches. The coldness of space was clearly displayed, revealing stars and more stars.
Then one of pirates began laughing hysterically and began running down the ship corridors. The remaining pirate could only stare in horror at the monitor as he saw his friend running towards the opened hatch, taking a running dive as he continued to laugh and laugh and laugh as he began dying.
The last pirate was certain that he was going to die as the stranger began to prance before him like a predator playing with its prey.
"That's enough!" the pirate heard someone cry out. It was a Juraian officer. "Stop this manslaughter this instant!"
"You know that these people would have killed all of us without any remorse," retorted the stranger calmly. "I just gave them a taste of their own 'medicine', sir. And by the way, you're rather calm for someone who's just witnessed what I'm capable of."
"I survived a skirmish with Ryoko 750 years ago!" the officer grumbled while pointing at the scars decorating his face, "And I met the Shi'ar Imperial Guard Oracle on some occasions, so I know a goddamn telepath when I see one!"
"I see. Then you will complain against getting rid of the last of the lot?"
"Of course! He's just a kid!"
The pirate appeared approximately somewhere between 16 and 17 when it came to judging age in a Terran perspective. His eyes filled with fear as he watched the two men argue.
"If he's old enough to be a pirate, then he's old enough to bleed!"
"And I refuse to let you murder a youth in cold blood."
They began to stare daggers at each other. Both filled with anger for different reasons. Until one of them relented.
"Very well," sighed Terrence Matthews, "I'll let him live under one condition: that you lock him up good somewhere he can't escape and cause any more mischief."
"Accepted," replied the officer.
The pirate lying on the cold floor stared at the Juraian. "Thank yo - "
He didn't get to finish as the officer kicked him square in the face, his boots impacting with full force, causing the young man to black out.
"I thought you said we weren't going to kill him?"
"I never said anything about not roughening him up," the Juraian replied bluntly while dragging the unconscious by one of his legs.
"I was actually planning to make him believe that I made him chop of his own manhood with that vibroknife in his belt there."
"Ouch." Was the humoured reply coming from the officer, "I hope I never get the chance to piss you off."
"Pray that no one ever makes me mad."
The passengers were surprised as the man in the business suit returned. He sat down on the chair he had vacated earlier as if nothing had ever happened at all. He simply took the newspaper again and continued were he was so abruptly interrupted. If any of the passengers had known English, they would have read the headlines about mutant activity around the Earth.
Another person entered the vast hall. A stranger wearing what appeared to be black leather combat armour, and wearing a red hood on his head, the lower parts of his face except the eyes covered by a red veil as well. Part of his clothes were covered in blood, and the passengers had a hunch from who that blood came from. From what everyone could see of his face, they discovered that he had a giant scar that began a few centimetres over his left eyebrow going downwards. The passengers couldn't see where the scar ended due to the veil.
"You're late," Terrence Matthews said flatly as the stranger took a seat beside him.
"When has that ever bothered you?" the stranger shrugged, a few droplets of blood dripping on the floor and forming a few puddles.
"Never, but it took you quite a while to kill the remaining pirates."
"Wouldn't be that much fun if I killed them all at once. Not much entertainment and real exercise in here if you know what I mean; especially since I wrecked all the training droids set to kill modus a few hours ago."
"You're a sadistic monster." Terrence said simply.
"What a coincidence." The stranger said in mock surprise, his hands waving in a melodramatic manner. "So are you."
"Touche." Terrence smiled. He called a waiter to him with a simple wave.
"Yes, my good sir?" the waiter said while looking quizzically at him and his companion sitting beside him.
"Tell the good captain to fetch his technicians and mechanics. The engines in the pirate ship can easily be taken apart and used for the repair of our ship's engines."
"I'll do it right away, sir!" he said, heading for the captain's bridge.
The waiter appeared a few minutes later. "Excuse me, but we've got an important transmission from someone who seems to know you very well. Says her name is Frost."
A while later in the private communications room of the ship.
"So how fares your travel to the meeting , boys?" Emma Frost asked them, while sitting on comfortable chair and wearing the costume that displayed her title as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club.
The screen transmitting the image of the White Queen was clear and without any static as it communicated with an equally powerful communication device in the private chamber of the headmistress of the Massachusetts Academy.
"Quite well, actually. We only had to deal with a few space pirates a few moments ago. Nothing serious." Terrence Matthew replied smiling sadistically. "Crimson Phantom and me had a jolly merry time in getting rid of them in quite gruesome and deliberately cruel manners."
"That's right." Crimson Phantom said, standing beside him, still wearing his red hood and veil. "It was an amusing past-time entertainment for the two of us. But let's cut the pleasantries, Emma, what did you want to tell us?"
"Maybe she wishes to thank me for helping her recover from the psychic wounds she got from her battle with Phoenix? As I remember she was drooling like a bucket and wetting herself for quite a while." Terrence answered his voice filled with slight spite and arrogance.
"Don't overestimate yourself, Matthews." Emma Frost responded proudly and coldly. "Your assistance was merely a tiny bonus which helped me regain my sanity.
"You should thank Shaw's secretary as well, Emma. I wouldn't have done it without Tessa's guidance." Terrence rubbed it in. It had been taxing trying to heal the damage Phoenix had inflicted on her and the strain of breaking through her psychic defences almost killed him. It left him bed-ridden during that entire Black Queen fiasco where Jason Wyngarde lost control over Phoenix and the X-Men managed to escape and defeat the Inner Circle who had earlier subdued and captured them.
"You are testing my patience, Matthews." Emma said to him with a frown. "I recovered through my own strength and will."
"I still think it was a mistake of Shaw to appoint me as a representative in our newly established intergalactic counterpart of the Inner Circle." Matthews reacted quickly, knowing that he had to switch subject or suffer the White Queen's wrath.
"You're the one who suggested we make a wider approach towards our goals by establishing a new Hellfire Club faction in space." White Queen reminded him. "And the Black King has faith in you and your 'abilities'."
"Wyngarde, Pierce, or even the Black King's own son Shinobi would have been better candidates."
"Wyngarde's in an asylum, courtesy of Phoenix; and Pierce and Shinobi are too unreliable at times. Besides, Shaw and I know how much you have coveted the empty seat of the White King."
"It wasn't as if I was planning a coup, Miss Frost. While I have my own goals and ambitions, I still hold some loyalty to the ones who 'saved' my life."
"That's good to hear, Matthews," another voice said. The screen then split the display in two sections to allow the communication between three, revealing Sebastian Shaw."
"I take it you overheard most of the conversation, Sebastian" Terrence asked.
"Certainly. I wouldn't still be the Inner Circle's Black King if I hadn't been taking measures to protect my seat of power."
"I've managed to form a new Inner Circle by the way."
"I know, but how on Earth do you keep the Skrull and the Kree from killing each other?"
"The two are exceptions to the prejudice and grudges of their own people. They get along quite well actually? It's the others I worry about. All of them are partly uncontrollable, each of them having their own agenda."
"Welcome to the life of politics, dear." the White Queen commented in an amused manner, smiling mysteriously at him.
It had taken a while and a lot of resources to finally establish an intergalactic counterpart to the Hellfire Club in space. It had taken a while to get accustomed to the people hailing from various cultures around the galaxy, but his telepathy gave him an edge that slowly helped tilt the scales in his favour.
The Hellfire Club had become quite a success around the galaxy.
Where a magnificent temple used to be before Kagato destroyed it, reducing to a pile of rubble and murdering the clergy residing inside it, a new and magnificent mansion building stood in its place.
The richest and most powerful men and women in the galaxy had begun to attend here, gathering around the new and intriguing establishment to do business with other associates or attend the exclusive parties there.
All in all the perfect cover for a conspiracy to rule the galaxy from the shadows without people even knowing, using whatever means to acquire the power sought.
(Soon, Tenchi Masaki - revenge will be mine!) Terrence thought, knowing that soon the time to strike would come…
Seygram 13 presents: Tenchi Muyo: Hellfire and Earth
Dark Shadows Rising
Okayama prefecture:
"Oh, Tenchi!" Ryoko Hakubi said in a sing-song voice, looking for the man that she loved as she flew around the forest around the Masaki shrine.
Tenchi sighed as he looked up from the comic he was reading and raised himself from the spot he sat near the shade of a tree.
(So much for privacy today.)
It had gotten quite harder to maintain the status quo now.
Ryoko loved him. Ayeka, First Princess of Jurai loved him. Mihoshi loved him even if she stood more in the background compared to the other two. Washu had shown an interest in him, even if he didn't know if it was romantic or purely for scientific reasons. Luckily Sasami didn't harbour any romantic notions for him, he hoped.
Each day he had to maintain a balance, taking great care not to overstep the boundaries placed by himself. If he showed any traces of romantic attention on either of them, the rest would probably be heart-broken.
That was something he could not allow.
While he cared greatly for them, he felt he wasn't ready for any relationship now.
He then remembered his old friend Hiwa Takahashi, who had also loved him and had moved away when her parents got jobs in another city. She would be shocked to find out that he had aliens in his house.
Maybe this balancing on a knife's edge would sooner or later cause the girls to leave in the end, sad over his indecision.
He knew that no one would wait forever, despite what trashy romance novels said.
Maybe it was for the best. Maybe it was better to end it like this, making the girls feel that no one had actually been favoured and leaving, and not breaking the other's hearts if he actually managed to gather enough courage to choose any of them.
He felt he couldn't bear any of them looking at with sad looks and making him feel guilty for not choosing them.
His thoughts were interrupted as he was glomped by a certain space pirate, who snuggled him to her chest, making blood stream from his nose.
"Get away from him, Ryoko!" was Ayeka's standard response to this
"No can do, princess!" she responded haughtily and strengthened her hold on the poor man named Tenchi, making him look a little blue in the face.
"Release him this instant!" Ayeka's voice rose a few octaves higher. The air around her began to crackle as small wooden objects appeared around her.
Then the fight began.
Tenchi felt the air entering his nostrils and throat as he huffed for breath, savouring it as much as he could.
He knew that Ryoko cared a lot about him; but boy did she have muscles. Ayeka and Mihoshi were no slouches either, both going through combat training that would have most people die of exhaustion.
(Speak of the devil.) Tenchi thought as he heard the familiar sounds of Mihoshi's small patrol ship entering the atmosphere, and crashing into the lake as usual, resulting in a big splash and a lot of waves.
He went the lake and helped a dripping Galaxy Police officer out of the water.
One thing he respected about Mihoshi was that she was a hard-working woman compared to most of the girls, doing her duty and making the galaxy a little bit safer for most civilians around the stars. The problem was that she was a walking catastrophe.
He didn't mean to be disrespectful but even though Ayeka was trained in diplomacy and other political skills needed in the Juraian courts, she rarely had to work since she was in fact stinking rich. Ryoko on the other hand preferred drinking and having as much fun as possible. Washu could make most of the things she needed without almost any problems. At least Ayeka and… sometimes Ryoko helped clean the house.
Sasami, the young sister of Ayeka worked as the household's chef at least. While he, his father and Katsuhito, his enstranged grandfather could cook good enough to make something tasteful, the young alien girl outdid them, making them seem as rank amateurs compared to her.
Mihoshi was crying and apologizing to him as usual for her klutziness, but Tenchi just smiled and handed her a towel he carried with him since he had a small hunch that today was the GP officer's day off.
"Thanks, Tenchi," was the grateful words coming a smiling Mihoshi as she began wiping herself.
"You're welcome, Mihoshi."
In the background he heard the usual sounds made when Ayeka and Ryoko were duking it out.
Tenchi sighed in defeat. "It's days like these that make me wish to become a hermit on a tropical island or better yet, a planet."
"Why is that?" Mihoshi asked him in her usual innocent manner.
"Gee, Mihoshi, I think it has to do with those two fighting in the background and the fact that I've become one of the most powerful beings in the universe without even asking for such a power." Sometimes he hated the Light Hawk Wings, feeling that no one should ever possess such power at all. He hated the feeling when he transformed; the euphoria and rush of power; how it seemed to suppress his humanity every time he used it. He feared the day he would crave to feel the sensation of his powers and lose his last shreds of himself, becoming an aloof deity-like thing that viewed living beings as humans viewed insects. They were however useful when it came to beat every villain that came for him and the others, but in the end they would probably end up attracting more attention than helping him in any way.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
It was something he had learned in the past about power in all forms.
What he feared most was if he was forced to make a choice between the girls and the heartbreak that would erupt. All of them had both good qualities and bad qualities that balanced each other without giving any of them a distinct advantage over the others.
Marrying them all was out of the question. He was raised as a guy who believed in monogamy, not a sick pervert wanting a polygamous harem filled with exotic women from outer space. Sure it was tempting as hell and an easy way out that could be used as a compromise if needed, but his feelings told him in the end that it was wrong.
Deep inside her laboratory Washu Hakubi was conducting another experiment. This time she was trying to create a replica of the Skrull Empire's infamous Cosmic Cube which had enabled them to carve a vast galactic empire before it mysteriously malfunctioned. So far despite being the greatest genius in the universe, Washu was somehow unable to successfully duplicate one of the greatest inventions the Skrulls had ever devised in history.
Despite all her efforts and skill in translating old computer files containing a few puzzles to the construction of such device, she was getting nowhere. She decided to postpone it until she somehow could procure sources of old information concerning the ancient Skrull Empire.
In her academy days several millennia ago she had met a few Skrulls. Not all of them fit the bill as megalomaniacal and totally obsessed with blowing the Kree into oblivion and destroying any atomic traces of them whatsoever. They had been somewhat secretive about most of their dangerous inventions, but once they managed to open up they could be as talkative as most other people. She also remembered a political scandal concerning espionage between the Kree and the Skrulls attending the academy, and the murder of a teacher suspected of working with the Skrulls, which caused most Kree and Skrulls to withdraw from the academy to avoid reprisals.
(Maybe it's time to try to get that 'sample' from Tenchi again.) she mentally sighed to herself, parts of her mind solving topics regarding while another one discussed biology and another philosophy and mathematics at the same time along with other parts of her mind busying themselves with other topics regarding science and knowledge.
It was one of the few things which prevented painful memories to resurface again. She had gotten over it; at least she believed that she had recovered from the trauma she went through. She remembered how she told Tenchi about her painful past nonchalantly as if simply shrugging it off during the period when Tenchi's baby cousin Taro had to be looked after. It had almost become instinctive to block out the pain transmitted every time images of her husband and firstborn child being torn out of her life as if they had never existed at all, filling the void with her other passion: Science. At least science didn't leave you like people leave each other. It became the crutch which kept her from going completely mad throughout the millennia. She could depend on it more than she could depend on any other thing.
She began to muse about how long it had been since she had rejected her form as an adult woman, preferring to hide her true form in the body of a child-like woman. She had revealed her old form to Tenchi during Taro's stay, but had quickly discarded it like a pile of unwanted clothes. Her mind became alert of a part of her thinking about the time back then when she had believed in something other than science and quickly suppressed them by concentrating on other subjects.
"You're as ravishing as ever, my dear White Queen," said Terrence Matthews as he kissed Yume's hand.
"Charming as ever, eh, 'Black King'?" she answered in a formal tone. Being one of the top researchers of the academy she even rivalled Washu when it came to science. She had even made her own personal bodyguards. The three robot brothers - Mushima, Takashima, and finally her ultimate warrior Hishima. While Takashima and Mushima were capable fighters, all their knowledge, skill and raw power paled before those displayed by Hishima. Even his Black Bishop lacked her experience even if he had been studying hard under Washu with Kagato and had created his own variant of Washu's infamous Ryoko project.
The Inner Sanctum of the Inner Circle was the black heart of the Hellfire Club, where the cabal met and directed their minions to do their bidding.
(How interesting…) mused Terrence. (All of us working together; but at the same time devising plots and counterplots against one another. All of us having our own agenda.)
He had no illusions about it all. While they were united as a group, most of them resented one another. His White Bishop hated him with all his heart, seeing him as a primitive ape who had no place as their leader. He wasn't the arrogant monarch trying to keep a dying planet who had outlived its days alive. And his White Bishop knew that it was his usefulness which kept him from being turned into a human vegetable placed in an intergalactic asylum.
His White Rook and Black Rook got along quite well for some reason. Despite the fact that one was a Skrull and the other one a Kree.
He seated himself on the throne of the Black King. "And once again our Inner Circle is gathered at last." He simply said while smirking as if he was the one knowing everything.
From the looks and the emotions radiating from the others he knew that they hated that he did that. He smiled as his eyes fell on his White Bishop, sensing the fury and anger boiling inside of him and then giving him a challenging look.
White Bishop met his stare, and after seconds that seemed like minutes where two wills faced each other, the White Bishop relented.
(And once again I have proven my right as the Black King.) Matthews thought darkly to himself. Shaw and Frost had been his mentors, taught him scraps of what he needed to know and how he should act among others. While Emma Frost had been the one who had been his primary teacher, his dark nature drew him to the Black King of the NY Hellfire Club - Sebastian Shaw. A man who had through numerous hardships earned his position as the Black King after ridding himself of his predecessor with the help of the talents of the one who would become the White Queen. He had also admired the talents and ambitions of the man to known to him as Jason Wyngarde, also known as Mastermind, the master of illusions. He knew that Shaw was aware of Wyngarde's plot to overthrow him with his Black Queen and Wyngarde was aware that Shaw knew as well. It had been a sinister game of wits and moves that would make chess seem like a game for children, but in the end Jason Wyngarde's sealed his own fate as his chess piece turned on him and left him in an asylum.
How ironic that Wyngarde's folly led to the death of billions of the peaceful green-skinned D'Bari as their sun exploded and their planet was destroyed after Dark Phoenix fed on their sun and speeding up its eventual death..
So many surviving D'Bari on other planets and colonies shocked to find their friends and loved ones gone as their planet ceased to exist.
Dark Phoenix's crime rivalled those of Ryoko's when it came to this dark act of inhuman cruelty, even though Crimson Phantom commented that Phoenix's deed paled in comparison to what Ryoko and her master Kagato had done through millennia.
Crimson Phantom's mind was like a labyrinth of emotions and thoughts which made him hard to read, but also made him a useful bodyguard against telepaths like himself. He noted that every time he uttered out Ryoko's name, it was filled with hatred and contempt.
How fortunate for him that he could utilize this hatred for his own benefit. All Crimson Phantom ever asked of him was the right to kill Ryoko with his bare hands. And without any interference from anyone - even him.
"Black Bishop, how goes our progress?"
"Quite well, Black King." His most trusted scientist informed him. "Everything is ready for Operation Mindflayer."
"What about interference from the outside?" his White Bishop questioned scornfully.
"As if the Fantastic Four or the Avengers can do something when they don't even have a clue about us even existing." Terrence snorted in reply. "And as for our main adversaries… let's say that Crimson Phantom is quite unlike any enemy they've ever encountered so far."
"You're sending one man against the ones who took out Kagato, the Ruin Buster himself?" Exclaimed White Bishop in shock.
"What about it?" an amused voice behind him answered. From the shadows exited Crimson Phantom as if he was a ghost. "For your information, 'Garyu', I've done my homework when it came to my targets."
Lord Garyu growled as Crimson Phantom continued: "I've studied all combat footages and deciphered reports found in Juraian memory banks and devised several countermeasures against them."
"The termination of Tenchi Masaki is our prime objective. With him out of the way the others are as good as dead."
"What about interference from Washu, Ryoko, or that brat who is assimilated with a goddess-like being."
"Relax, Yume." He answered her with an amused smile. "As always I've devised several plans to take out everyone and counterplans to counter their counterplans."
"What about the fact that Ryoko's bonded with Clay's android assassin Zero?" White Bishop countered.
"What about it? It seems that Ryoko has seemingly purged every trace of Zero from her, even if she displayed higher empathy after her assimilation but later on returned to her old self."
"Ryoko will not bother us anymore when I'm done with her." Interrupted Crimson Phantom, tired of the bantering between the man who brought him back from the dead and turned him into his personal killing machine and his scheming lackeys. "I swear by all the gods in hell that she will die!"
Four days have passed since Mihoshi's return.
Sasami was out shopping for groceries.
That was not something new.
The only difference was that today she was accompanied by Ryoko who carried a few bags for her.
The city was bustling with activity as usual. Despite that the technological level of this planet was very primitive, according to Juraian standards, Sasami liked it here. True it was filled with pollution and other bad things, but the galaxy was crammed with social problems, poverty, crime and numerous wars and atrocities, so this was nothing new.
A few days had passed after Mihoshi got some days off from GP HQ after apprehending a gang of smugglers who were transporting drugs to a few dozen planets with several colleagues and co-officers. The damage caused by Mihoshi and the smugglers were pretty intense and her superiors were most likely tearing out hair by the roots in frustration. Repairing that half-destroyed space station would cost a fortune and take months to fix.
Sasami enjoyed the freedom she had on Earth. On Jurai she had been pampered too the point of absurdness since she was the second daughter of the emperor of Jurai and his wife Misaki. She had been taught the skills of how to cook by several renowned chefs but was unable to practice her skills since she was of royalty and was treated as if she was the most important person in the galaxy. She was glad that Ayeka had finally accepted her after her tearful confession. As a little girl she had died and was somehow miraculously resurrected from the dead by the Juraian Goddess Tsunami when she assimilated herself with her broken and battered corpse, turning her into some sort of avatar who would in the end become one with Tsunami herself. Despite being brought back from death and possessing her old memories she hadn't felt like Sasami at all. It was as if someone had stuffed the dead princess' memories into the body of another young girl who was then forced to play the role of Sasami, the Second Princess of Jurai, using memories that felt alien to her. Ayeka had assured her that she was the real McCoy and that the feeling of alienation was the psychological side effect of dying and being brought back from the dead and becoming part of a deity and that she had nothing to fear from her or anyone else.
Still she feared the day when her entire being would become one with Tsunami; feeling that her entire being would be erased in the process of total assimilation. Despite the temptation of being a part of a goddess thrilled her, she still wished that she had been only Sasami. Just plain and simple Sasami without any worries about the heavy burden of the ascension of deityhood and the responsibilities that came with it.
With great power comes great responsibility.
A responsibility she would rather decline than accept.
In the last days she had nightmares filled with unimaginable horror that made her wake up screaming as if the fabric of reality was torn asunder by the careless hands of a sculptor remoulding it in his image: a world that could only be fabricated by nightmares itself.
It wasn't her usual apocalyptic nightmares in which Tokimi was the centre of this chaos. The shadowy but slightly form in her nightmares was weaker than Tsunami and Tokimi at their weakest, but it didn't lessen his cruelty and immense evil in any way. An evil which could disrupt the true timeline which Tsunami had foreseen and plunge it into chaos.
For all his evil Kagato the Ruin Buster had seemed more like a dark force of nature than a man. This evil was like a spider that lurked in the shadows and spun its webs of deceit there. A spider which could feel almost everything which came in contact with its web - be it friend or foe. Sasami knew that raw power was not the true way to power in itself; and she knew about many tyrants in the past that had used guile to amass power and ruled planets with an iron fist without the populace even noticing them.
"Somethin' botherin' ya, Sas?" Ryoko asked her while she held several shopping bags filled with groceries and other foodstuffs.
"No, it's nothing." Sasami answered. She felt a slight pang of guilt for lying to her, but she didn't want Ryoko to become involved with something she had to handle on her own.
Somehow she felt that this day would be the last day she would ever know true peace.
From the top of a skyscraper stood a red-clad, veiled figure.
He stared at the targets through his binoculars.
"The day of reckoning is at hand…" he whispered.
He traced a finger over the scar on his face, reminiscing over the past he had; the man he had been.
Matthews had supplied him with an upgraded version of his black combat armour. It was a beautiful piece of art in itself. It was both light and durable and could withstand heavy damage without cracking a single dent. The blood-like colour even fitted his taste.
This day all the training and hardships he went through would bear fruit.
He was an angel.
A blood-red angel of death.
In the next chapter Ryoko will fight a battle of life and death. Confronted with her dark past as Kagato's assassin she will face one of her worst adversaries ever.
Next: The Wrath of the Crimson Phantom