The others hadn't moved an inch when we had returned. Hotaru was asleep again and I was really worried for her safety. What if something got hold of her? There would be no way that she could defend herself. We all took the time to relax and chatted about what had happened to each of us. Hotaru and Michiru both quivered with fear when we mentioned the G-Plant and were far too kind to those of us who'd had the misfortune to be grabbed (ie all five of us) which was nice but also annoying as anybody would think that we'd been raped or something.
"What do we do now?" Haruka asked nobody in particular. I looked at my watch. It was getting late.
"Sleep." Usagi and me replied in unison.
"We can't, it's too dangerous." Michiru replied. "What if that Nemesis thing finds us whilst we're asleep?"
"Can't we take turns in doing guard duty?" Rei suggested. Haruka sighed.
"That seems to be the only way any of us are going to have some peace around here." She said. "Whose going when?"
"Not Hotaru." I said. "She's in no fit state."
"Neither are you, you're pooped." Artemis told me. He was right, I felt as if I'd just run six miles and somebody had told me I had to run six more.
"I'll go first, with Michiru-chan." Haruka announced. We all nodded in agreement. I didn't know about the others but as we settled down that night in as comfortable positions as we could I couldn't help wondering why all this was happening. One thing still bugged me though, and that was that the people who worked here knew our secret identities. I doubted that we would ever find out how they knew, but I wanted to get out of here alive with all of my friends.
The shift change was undertaken at around two in the morning and saw Setsuna and Ami on duty. Interestingly enough, I was the first one awake out of the remainder of the group. Understandably Haruka and Michiru were still out cold and whether or not Usagi would wake up before the next week was still unknown.
"Ami-chan, what time is it?" I groggily asked. She turned around and smiled at me.
"Morning, Minako-chan!" She happily replied and looked at her watch. "It's half-past eight. Are you okay?"
"Fine, I think. Got any ideas on what we could eat for breakfast?"
"No, maybe someone should go and have a look."
"I'll go." I told them, peeling myself off of the floor next to Rei. "I could do with some getting some stale hospital air into my lungs."
"Go as Sailor Venus," Setsuna told me. "You'll have a better chance of survival if you go as yourself."
"Okay, Setsuna-chan." I replied. I took a deep breath. "VENUS CRYSTAL POWER MAKE UP!"
The token light show followed as I transformed into my other self. Nodding to Ami and Setsuna I wandered off into the depths of the hospital.
Five minutes later saw me running away from a hunter, like you do. I didn't have time to use an attack and I wasn't too happy about that. I spotted an open door just ahead of me and dived through, badly landing on the floor. I quickly rolled over and kicked the door shut just as the hunter jumped. It smacked into the door, which nearly gave way under the impact, and crashed onto the floor. Under normal circumstances it would have been funny. But these weren't normal circumstances and I wasn't exactly going to stick around to laugh.
I scrambled to my feet and tore off down the corridor. The door behind me crashed down as the hunter came through. I'd had enough. I spun round and lost my temper.
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" I yelled, unleashing an attack that I must admit was probably overkill in this situation. Crescent beam or a decent kick in the head could have done the job this time. However, the hunter didn't care, as it no longer existed.
With that minor inconvenience dealt with I returned to the task in hand – find some breakfast. I somehow found myself in the hospital kitchens – or was it the laboratory kitchen? As far as I was concerned, the hospital and lab were one and the same, each as unpleasant as the other.
"Where do they keep the food in this place?" I said aloud as I rummaged around the assortment of cupboards dotted around the place. I spotted a door with a sign saying 'storeroom' on it. Perfect! A storeroom in a kitchen must be where they kept all the food.
I gingerly opened the door. I didn't know what to expect any more, after all that had happened. I flicked the light on. The bulb lit, flickered, went out, came back on again, flickered some more and finally shorted and blew up.
"Damn. This does not help me." I fumed. I tiptoed down the stairs, which disappeared into the gloom. Nearly slipping twice on the wet stairs I finally reached the bottom – and found myself in ankle deep water.
"Oh boy." I muttered. "Can anything else possibly go wrong?"
There was a splash as a large object dropped down from the ceiling and filled the passage.
"Of course it could." I muttered to myself and tried to creep backwards. I slipped and fell backwards into the water, knocking something as I did so. There was the sound of hydraulics and a door on my right hand side opened up. It led into a reasonable well-lit passageway. Seeing no other alternative I scrambled up and ran down it, the creature that had caused me to panic followed.
I found a ladder and started to climb, the creature close behind me. I forced myself to turn my head and see what it was. The creature's skin reflected the light and I saw that it was because it was wet. It looked like al living version of a muscle diagram – you know, the ones where they don't draw the skin, just the stuff underneath. It was one of the most frightening things I had ever seen. It also had a long tongue, which it flicked in and out like a snake does.
I started to climb the ladder towards the light I could see at the top. I had to make it - I just had to. Only in open space could I deal with this creature – I wish I'd brought the gun. I had almost reached the top rung when the creature shot out its tongue and wrapped it around my leg. It was horrible. Wet and sticky and smelly and…I can't go on. It pulled hard but somehow I managed to hold on to the ladder. I screamed.
Looking back, I saw that the creature was starting to climb the ladder, it's tongue holding me in place as it advanced. I tried to kick the tongue with my free foot, but to no avail. The thing didn't even wince. I screamed again and suddenly a long pole with something shiny on the end flew down past me and struck the creature right in the head. There was a sickening crunch and squelch as it penetrated almost half its body. The thing fell limp and its tongue unwound itself from my leg as the creature fell back to the bottom. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and offered up a silent prayer to my saviour.
I climbed up to the top and was grabbed by about three pairs of arms who pulled me up. It was Haruka, Michiru and…Hotaru! I put two and two together, the long pole had to have been the Silence Glaive – but how did Hotaru get here? I looked quickly at her leg and saw that it had completely healed. What was going on? I couldn't contain myself any longer and fell into Haruka's arms, crying my eyes out.
"It's okay, Minako-chan." I heard Michiru say. "You're safe now."
I slowly stood up, managing to control myself and tried to focus. I failed, felt my knees sag and collapsed to the floor, passing out on the way.
Hotaru
Okay, I'm Hotaru and I'm going to tell you about what happened before and after we found Minako. I woke up just in time to see Minako transform into Sailor Venus. She ran off down the corridor.
"Where's she going?" I asked Ami, who was nearby.
"She's just going to get some food. Are you okay, Hotaru-chan?"
"Yeah, my leg feels stiff, though."
"Hey!" Came a voice. It was Haruka.
"Where've you been?" All three of us asked.
"You'll never guess what I found."
"Probably not." Ami replied. "So we won't bother. What is it?"
"According to the label it's a vial of special enzymes that digest dead cells, cleaning a wound essentially and catalysing the growth of new ones to cover it – all in the space of minutes."
"Are you saying that what you've got there is an instant healing mixture? Sounds like something from a fantasy game." I told her.
"Well, I don't care what you think, but I reckon that in your case it's exactly what the doctor ordered."
"Meaning?"
"If we put it on your leg, it should heal very quickly, thus enabling you to fight again."
"I don't know…"
"C'mon, what have you got to lose?"
"My life, the ability to move, any number of things." I replied. "We don't know exactly what that stuff does."
"It's for your own safety, Hotaru-chan." Haruka replied.
"What's going on?" Luna asked, jumping onto my chest and sitting down. She accepted the stroke that I gave her as she joined in the conversation.
"We want to help Hotaru-chan." Haruka told her. She explained to Luna what was going on.
"I don't know…" Luna sighed. "It's risky."
"Thank you," I told her. "I knew you were on my side!"
"Let me finish. It's risky but like Haruka said, it's for your own good."
I sighed. If Luna thought it was okay, then it probably was.
"Okay." I sighed. "Do what you must. I won't hate you – much."
Ami sighed. "I'll do it."
I braced myself as Ami unwound the bandage around my leg. Luckily it hadn't stuck to anything and therefore this would be over quickly. As clean air touched it, it stung and I winced slightly.
Haruka and Setsuna sat beside me and held my hands. Ami took a deep breath and emptied the contents of the vial over the wound. It stung like hell and I bit my lip until the blood ran to prevent myself from crying with the pain. But I lost all sense of time as to my amazement all the scabs from the clotted blood disintegrated and my leg started to heal rather quickly.
"Wow!" Was all we could say. In about a minute, it was over and my leg felt as if it had never been hurt.
"It worked!" I whispered. "Haruka-chan, I'm so sorry that I doubted you."
"It's okay Hotaru-chan. You were right to be apprehensive. I didn't like the idea either, but I felt it had to be done."
"Why don't you try and walk on it?" Ami suggested.
I got up, shakily because I hadn't walked properly on my own for a considerable time and took a step forward. No problem. I steadily walked across the floor, which was cold under my bare feet. I felt cold, which was understandable considering that I was still wearing the dress that I'd worn the previous evening, minus the shoes of course.
"It's incredible!" I said. "I feel wonderful! It's as if I was never injured."
I went back to the others and sat down beside Haruka just as the others were waking up.
"Wha…what time is it?" Usagi asked. She shook her head as she looked at my leg. "Hotaru-chan, I thought that you were injured? What happened? Have I been asleep for two months or something?"
"No." I replied. "We found this stuff which healed my leg instantly. It was fantastic!"
"Really?" Usagi replied. "That means that you're back with us."
"Yes. Ready to fight again."
"Where's Minako-chan?"
"She's gone to find some breakfast."
After a few minutes we realised that there was no sign of Minako and she'd been gone quite a while. Everybody was awake by now and the room was filled with the murmur of quiet conversation. Artemis was looking flustered, and I didn't blame him at all. A couple of us had worried looks.
"If Minako hadn't found any food, she'd be back by now." Artemis commented. "And she wouldn't wander too far. I think she's in trouble."
"We can't be sure of that, Artemis." Luna replied. "We don't want to go gallivanting off into the unknown when we have no idea where she is."
"I don't care. I think Minako's in trouble, and I have a sixth sense about this."
"I agree." I said aloud. "I'm going after her. SATURN PLANET POWER MAKE UP!"
"Oh for God's sake." I heard Haruka mutter, before she too transformed. Michiru looked uneasy, but transformed as well.
Not one of us stuck around. We tore off down the corridor without any notion of where we where going. Holding my glaive in one hand, I bashed open a door with the other. We found ourselves in a kitchen. There was still no sign of Minako.
"Where can she be?" Haruka asked. "She's not exactly quiet when moving around."
"I don't know." Michiru replied. "Maybe she went that way?"
She gestured towards a small doorway with some stairs leading down. They didn't look safe and the place they were leading too was grimy. Plus, I'm sure I heard something unfriendly down there.
"I don't like this." I whispered. "I don't feel safe."
"Who said doing this would be safe?" Haruka asked me.
I shrugged my shoulders and swished the glaive around, bored. I looked around absently at the room we where in, whilst Haruka and Michiru looked around elsewhere. I found myself wondering about exactly what had happened here, what they had been doing – and what had gone wrong. It frightened me, to say the least. I think we all knew, or rather suspected that Umbrella was behind this. They'd built the town and therefore they must have built the lab. Nobody could have attached a large laboratory to a hospital in a large place like Fujima and expect nobody to notice.
What really confused me was not that Umbrella were behind this, but what it was that they were actually doing. What were all these creatures? What was this T-Virus that had been mentioned in the diary that Usagi and company found? And more so, how were we going to get out of this mess?
It was then we heard the scream.
"MINAKO-CHAN!" I practically screamed.
We tore off in what we thought was the direction of the scream. We charged down a nearby corridor and found what can only be described as a drain. The whole was open and I could hear groaning, the sound someone makes when they are fighting against something.
I peered into the hole and what I saw almost made me fall in. Minako was on a ladder not too far below, struggling against a creature that had its…tongue…wrapped around her leg. Minako seemed to be fighting a losing battle. I took a long shot.
I threw my glaive like a javelin into the hole, narrowly missing Minako, but striking the hideous creature full on. Needless to say, I killed it. Well, come on, if you had half a glaive inserted in you, you'd probably die.
Minako clambered up to the top of the ladder and the three of us helped her out. She looked around at us, surprised, especially when she looked at me. She promptly started crying and fell into Haruka's arms. Michiru whispered something to her, but Minako didn't care. She passed out and collapsed to the floor. Haruka cradled her and let her gently down onto the floor. Michiru sighed as she looked at the unconscious form of Minako.
"Excuse me a minute." I said to them. "I'm just going to get my glaive back."
"No probs." Haruka replied. "Just be careful, Hotaru-chan."
I could see that neither of them were happy. I don't think that any of us were happy with what we'd landed ourselves in. The whole town was in chaos, one of us was unconscious, and none of us knew what we were doing or what we had to do.
I cautiously descended the ladder, keeping a constant eye out for any unwelcome guests, I forcefully removed my glaive from the carcass of the creature lying in the water below. The stench of the creature mixed with the smell of the water around nearly prompted me to throw up violently. Holding the glaive in one hand, I clambered back up the ladder to the waiting Haruka and Michiru. Minako was still on the floor, totally out of it.
"We need to get her back to the others." Michiru said. "We're not safe here."
"Would you mind telling me where we are safe?" I asked. "Nowhere is exactly home sweet home around here."
"That's enough." Haruka sternly said. "We all feel the same way, but the sooner we move, the sooner we get out of this, okay?"
I nodded. We were currently getting nowhere fast and we had to take some positive steps to resolve the situation. The others, the inner senshi, had looked decisively upset after they came back from their wander the previous day. They told us about the vine plant that had nearly eaten Usagi, Rei, Makoto and Ami, and of the giant walking death dealer, the Nemesis.
None of the outer senshi, myself included, had seen this 'Nemesis' and personally, and I'm sure that the others would have agreed with me, I didn't want to. What we all wanted to do right now was simply survive and go home. Haruka gently picked Minako up and moved off down the corridor. Michiru and I exchanged glances and followed her.
Some time later we found ourselves totally lost. Minako had eventually come round and decided to walk on her own feet rather than relying on Haruka to carry her. She was still a little limp, probably from pure exhaustion and so I lent her the Silence Glaive to use a some sort of walking stick.
The room we found ourselves in could only be described as some form of control room. Having no idea where we were we decided to take a break and work out our next course of action. All of us had come to the definite conclusion that the facility was larger than it seemed. There were probably miles of criss-crossing corridors under the hospital and we seemed to be right in the middle of them with no clear way out. The only thing for it was to wait and see what would happen.