A/N: Thank you for the reviews. Anyway, as for why Irwin wasn't introduced to Usagi, well... the only reasoning I can give is that, since he was in contact with his cousin, he would probably have been introduced to her at some point. I'm sorry, I can't think of a good way to address this issue... Thanks for pointing it out though. I will try to avoid issues like that in the future.
Anyway, I don't know if I mentioned it, but the Metallix Knight will have a lot of ideas drawn from various geniuses, such as Eggman and Dr. Wily from Megaman.
In addition, expect there to be more to Irwin than meets the eye.
I'll try to post a better description when Metallix reappears.
Irwin tried on one of the male uniforms of the high school, critically analyzing how it looked.
Mamoru silently watched his cousin looking over himself in a mirror.
"I don't know. I guess it fits alright, but I don't like the feel of it. Seems a little stuffy, really." Irwin commented, pulling slightly at the neck.
Mamoru chuckled, amused by his reaction.
"Well, you'll only have to wear them at school, so you can always change after classes." he suggested.
Irwin nodded, before going back in, changing into a simple white polo and denim jeans.
"Well, I think that's all the clothes shopping I can handle today." Irwin sighed, flopping down onto a nearby chair, exhausted.
Mamoru raised an eyebrow. "Really? Maybe I should take you along when I'm with Usagi." he shuddered.
Irwin let out a small laugh in response.
"There is worse, cousin. Imagine what it would have been like if my sister survived. She had an entire room dedicated to shoes alone."
Both men shuddered at the idea.
When they returned to his apartment, Mamoru noticed something odd.
"Hey, Irwin-kun. There's a package here from America for you."
Irwin smiled, and picked up the very large package.
"Well, Mamo-senpai, it seems that my first package of materials has arrived." he replied, eager to open the box.
Mamoru raised an eyebrow. "Materials? First?" he asked.
Irwin nodded. "Yes, it's part of what I'm going to do in my spare time. You see, I still have an obligation to keep a close eye on my family's company, Beltone Enterprises, since I am it's largest stockholder still."
He placed the box upon the table inside.
"The first part is to establish a very secure connection between here, and the server farm at the business HQ."
Irwin sliced open the packaging, pulling out a small laptop, seemingly new.
"I see Dr. Osmodius has supplied me with a new laptop for the situation. How courteous of him." he commented, starting it up.
He logged into the computer, and whistled.
"And an international aircard, too. That man does think of everything."
After several minutes, Irwin shut the laptop down.
Mamoru looked at him.
"I guess things will work out fine, then?" he asked.
Irwin nodded.
"Yeah, assuming I don't have any issues with your group of friends."
Mamoru chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair.
"Well, just remember: Usagi-chan will probably pester you about any news from me, Ami-san will try to study with you. You did mention your books after all. Rei-san, I wouldn't worry too much about. She usually keeps to herself more than anyone else. Minako-san... She'll probably try playing a game or something on your laptop, just to warn you."
Mamoru smirked. "And, most importantly, watch out for Mako-san. She's probably already thinking that you look like her old boyfriend."
Irwin let out a small laugh as well.
"I doubt it, unless her old flame was a pirate!"
Both boys chuckled over this for several minutes, until the door rang.
Mamoru immediately jumped up, and answered the door.
Usagi burst in, laughing as she practically leaped into Mamoru's arms.
"Oh, Mamo-chan. I missed you so much!" she squealed.
Irwin looked up, and sighed.
"You only saw him yesterday..." he pointed out.
Usagi stuck her tongue out. "Oh, Irwin-kun! Don't be so mean! You would never understand, of course. Mamo-chan and I are special!"
Irwin rolled his eyes, and said, without even turning towards the door.
"You two have a good date."
Mamoru nodded.
"Have a good night, Irwin."
As soon as the door closed, Irwin cautiously looked up, noting that they were gone.
"Good.." he thought, as he reached into the box, pulling out a small police scanner.
"Let's see if there's anything of interest going on with Tokyo's Finest right now." he mumbled to himself, tuning the device to Tokyo Police's radio frequencies.
In another part of Tokyo, a grizzled old man wearing a black military uniform looked at his two subordinates: a gangly man with frizzled blonde hair, and a woman with medium-length orange hair.
"Tell me..." the leader calmly began, "Why did our latest weapon fail?"
The blonde man thought for several minutes, his bloodshot eyes having difficulty focusing.
"Um... because this Metallix Knight dude appeared?" he asked.
The old man chuckled, calmly patting the blonde on the back.
"Oh, no..." he said calmly, then suddenly picked up the larger man and threw him across the small dark room, slamming the blonde into the wall with enough force to leave an imprint of his body.
"NO!" he shouted. "IT'S BECAUSE YOU IDIOTS DIDN'T ENGINEER IT CORRECTLY! IF IT WAS TRULY INVINCIBLE IT WOULD HAVE FLATTENED ANY OPPOSING FORCE! AND IT LOST TO SOME MORON IN A MACHINE!"
The man panted heavily, regaining his composure, smoothing his unruly hair.
"Sir... If I may." the orange haired woman began.
Receiving a nod, she continued,
"It was a prototype, and, as such, was only the first experiment. What we had built was designed to combat the Sailor Senshi, not some loose cannon in a suit. I assure you that we are already building the next prototype Youma to unleash upon them."
The old man sighed.
"How long until you are finished?"
The woman was silent a moment, before replying.
"Assuming no delays, we should be able to run it without a hitch in five months." Amused, she added, "Just in time for Christmas."
The man shook his head.
"No, that's too long. We need results now!" he demanded.
The woman smiled.
"Oh, don't worry your cunning mind on that, my Lord. We have already created a series of Youma to unleash upon this dingy little city. Using them, we will be able to continue our research, letting these pawns be test subjects of our experimental weapons, ultimately refining everything for the creation of our ultimate little beast."
The woman continued, after a moment of silence.
"In addition, these prototypes could gather the organic energy we require to fuel our ultimate weapon. Already, our energy draw from this pathetic town's power grid is at maximum capacity."
The man chuckled.
"Oh, Vipera. You are a devious little soul. Good thing I'm not against you."
The woman bowed before leaving.
"Yes, my Lord."
Rei was with Ami, inside the Hikawa Shrine. Rei, once again, was trying to perform fire-reading, to see the true nature of Metallix Knight.
As she cast the last chant, a shadowy image flickered in the flames.
Ami gasped, seeing a young man with unruly brown hair, a headset in one ear, and a glowing red cybernetic eye in place of his right.
"That's him!" she exclaimed.
Rei nodded, and concentrated more.
"Tell us... who exactly is he? Why does he appear now?"
However, the flames muddled, removing the image. Rei sat back, sighing.
"It's no use. The fire simply won't tell us anything more about Metallix Knight." she looked down at her hands, discouraged.
Ami stood up, a new idea reaching into her mind.
"Perhaps not, but don't you think it's a little bit of a coincidence that when Irwin-san came to live here, this Knight appeared on the same night?"
Rei nodded, deep in thought.
"There may be a connection. However, there is one problem with your theory: Irwin-san only came here with a small amount of clothing, nothing large enough to carry a machine of that size."
The blue-haired genius looked down, thinking.
"Then... perhaps, it's not Irwin-san, but, rather, someone else?"
Rei shrugged.
"I don't know."
Irwin began dozing off, listening to the static on his scanner.
Truthfully, there was nothing of interest right now, just fires, a robbery, and some other small problems Tokyo's Finest could handle just fine.
No, he was looking for information on...
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Irwin groaned, stretched, and placed his laptop down, shutting off the scanner in the process.
He opened the door, only to see Makoto and Minako standing there, smiling.
"Hello, Irwin-kun! We brought you some dinner!" the tall brunette explained, presenting a bag with a sweet-smelling aroma.
The blonde giggled, as she added, "We also figured we could keep you some company, since Mamoru-kun is occupied with Usagi-chan."
Irwin smirked, before moving out of the way.
"Of course, ladies. Feel free to seat yourselves." he said, slowly returning to his laptop.
"Unfortunately, I'm having to review a few products for my company. It's part of my duty as acting Chairman." he apologized, indicating his laptop.
"The work is incredibly demanding, despite appearances, so I'm afraid I can't stop for much hospitality at the moment."
Makoto just waved the whole issue off.
"Oh, don't worry, Irwin-kun. I'm fine with that." she replied, taking off for the kitchen.
Minako sat down on the couch and curiously asked, "What exactly does your company do?"
Irwin smirked, and replied,
"Well, Minako-san, if you wish to really know, Beltone Enterprises is actually oriented around innovations. We take a concept, like the wheel, and improve upon it. In fact, one division has been experimenting with a new concept engine powered off of a mixture of petroleum and compressed hydrogen."
He tapped a few keys, bringing up a schematic of a car engine.
"If our tests prove the effective efficiency of such a device, we can move onto the next phase of transitioning the engine to pure, renewable hydrogen fuel, instead of toxic, dangerous petroleum. But, that's a ways off." He finished, closing the data.
The blonde just sat there, staring blank-eyed.
"Wow, you're smart..." she complimented, "I bet you'd be a great match for Ami-san."
Irwin chuckled, then shook his head.
"Oh, no... just because I have the intellect to understand these simple concepts and drawings, it doesn't mean that I have the same smarts as she does." He sighed.
"I'm not really a bookworm. I'm kind of a 'build the darn thing' kind of guy." He looked down at his hands.
"Well, you never know, Irwin-kun. She might..." Minako stopped as she noticed an odd device.
"Isn't that a police scanner?"
The American looked up in shock, amazed that such a ditzy blonde could know of such an item.
"Y-yes. I sometimes like listening to the police. Nice to hear them doing their job." he replied, as Minako turned the scanner on.
"Cool! I used to live in England for a while myself, and I loved listening to the police reports." she commented, tuning to the Tokyo Police band.
Irwin smirked, silently amazed that Minako was more than she seemed.
Makoto entered the room, setting down on a couch.
"Say, it's strange, but you remind me of my old boyfriend." the brunette noted, reclining.
The American shrugged. "Eh, he must have been a pirate or something. One eye, you know..." he said, pointing to his patch.
The blonde giggled at the idea of Makoto with a pirate, while the brunette simply glared at her friend.
"It's not that funny, Mina-san." she replied.
Minako was about to reply, when the scanner crackled to life.
"...Unknown entity has engaged our unit. Requesting backup! Requesting-" the scanner frizzled to static.
Confused, Irwin triangulated the signal's source, in the Tokyo Mall.
"Odd..." he commented, seemingly tuning out the two girls in the room as he hacked into the mall's security cameras.
A strange beast, wielding two massive crab-like claws, each with a large pipe connecting it to the main humanoid body, threw a police cruiser, roaring.
"Isn't that where Usagi-chan and Mamoru went?" Minako asked, peering over the American's shoulder.
Silence permeated the room, as the two girls nodded, heading to the door.
"We're sorry to do this, Irwin-kun, but I'm afraid we have something we need to do." Makoto said, pulling her blonde companion behind her.
"Uh, yeah. That thing!" Minako said, catching on.
Irwin merely nodded, watching them leave. Once they were gone, he walked over to the balcony, looking out at the darkening sky.
"So, the die is cast. I still do not know what you're plotting, but I won't allow you to harm innocent individuals in the process."
He clenched his fist, noting the faint scars where skin had to be replaced after what happened.
"Life is too precious to waste like that. In the name of my dead father, the esteemed Dr. Edwin Beltone, I will put an end to this monstrosity."