An Eye For An Eye
Chapter 7: "Vengeance Is Mine"
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
How long had it been?
Sancha Bravo pressed her son to her, rubbing her hand along his back to try to get him to stop crying. The sound irritated her as it irritated everybody. She cooed in his ear, trying to ease his mind. Of course Jaime was crying. He was tired and hungry and he wanted to go home and sleep in his own bed. She understood all too well.
"Can't you shut that kid up!" snapped one of the thugs holding them prisoner. The man went back to searching the vid-streams for entertainment.
Sancha looked over to Martin. He returned her gaze and she didn't like what she saw. Martin was humiliated by all of this. He was helpless to protect his wife and daughter and it ate at his pride. Sure he was scared for himself, but he was more scared that he couldn't protect the ones he loved. It always seemed to be a hard life for them, living by their wits on the outskirts of the law, two mice in a world of predators just trying to survive until their lucky break came. This only seemed to reinforce just how helpless they were against the big, uncaring world. Sancha wanted to hold him and tell Martin that she didn't blame him for this. But her hands were full trying to calm little Jaime.
And then a shadow loomed over them. Sancha looked up and found the man with the dark glasses standing over them. Jaime continued to cry. Sancha tensed.
"Is he hungry?" the man asked. There was no menace to his question, but little compassion either.
"N-no," Sancha mumbled, averting her eyes. "He's just scared."
"Not much we can do about that," he replied and moved off. The breath shuddered out of Sancha.
"Well I'm sick of listening to it," rumbled the other thug, the one with the prosthetic augmentation to his arm. He walked over to them with a deliberate pace. Then he pointed his projectile cannon at Sancha and Jaime. "Shut him up."
"Leave her alone," Dark Glasses grunted. "It's just a baby."
"I don't give a damn!" he snapped. "Shut him up! NOW!"
With that, Martin bolted forward. He threw his entire weight against the prosthetic-toting hood, sending them both crashing to the floor. But Martin's forte in this life was not fighting. The wild blows he landed were mostly ineffectual. Then a blow to his abdomen with the barrel of the projectile cannon doubled him over. The cannon, used like a club, sent him to the floor amid the terrified shrieks of Sancha.
"Stupid move, pig!" fumed the hood. He rose up over Martin, bringing his cannon arm to bear. "Boss says we have to keep you alive! Didn't say anything about you being in one piece!"
Martin only groaned helplessly on the floor.
"Please don't do it!" Sancha pleaded. "He was only trying to protect me! Please!"
And Jaime howled even louder.
The projectile cannon took aim at Martin's right leg, right at the knee. Then a hand closed onto the shoulder of the cannon arm. The wielder looked and found Dark Glasses gripping his shoulder.
"Sit down," Dark Glasses said with weary disgust. "Stop trying to show everybody what a big shot you think that cannon makes you. You're only embarrassing yourself."
"Yeah? Kiss my . . .!" the thug began.
Dark Glasses struck him once in the face with a closed fist. It was as fast a blow as Sancha had ever - - barely - - saw. The prosthetic-augmented hood stiffened and dropped to the floor, unconscious. He turned to Martin.
"I know why you did that," he said. "Don't really blame you. But learn to fight first." He glanced at Sancha. "Try to shut that kid up. He's getting on everybody's nerves."
"Let us go and you won't have to worry about it," Sancha said irritably. It was an act she immediately regretted.
But Dark Glasses only snorted. "Yeah, that would solve everything." And he stepped over his partner to go back to the vid-stream.
"Fine, we'll do it the hard way," sighed Sailor Moon. Her hand went up and summoned the Moon Tier.
And in the moment she raised her hand, both of Elena Rodriguez's arms peeled back, revealing the high-velocity projectile guns underneath. Another, smaller gun appeared from a hatch at her waist, while two more smaller guns sprang up from behind her, out of her shoulder blades, these mounted on mechanical arms. The guns cocked in unison.
"SILENCE WALL!" Saturn shouted frantically, hoping she could erect her force field before the guns fired.
She need not have worried. The guns were only a show of force to convince Sailor Moon to stop her advance. In that respect, they worked perfectly.
"Is she even human?" Ceres asked in awe.
"Yes, she's a people," Pallas answered with a nod. "But she does have a lot of dolly parts."
"You," gasped Sailor Moon, "actually let someone do this to you?"
Elena didn't answer. Her weapons didn't waver, either.
"Did Marcelino force you to do this?" demanded Vesta. "Did he make you carve yourself up into his personal toy?"
"Mr. Acosta pulled me out of the streets," Elena replied at last. "He gave me a job that pays well and a future that I didn't have growing up in poverty in the slums. Yeah, he made me take on these prosthetics - - but what did I have before? Nothing!" Her mouth hardened. "It was a small price to pay."
"You're not even human anymore!" Vesta shot back. "You're just one more of Marcelino's puppets!"
"You're one to talk. You turn into animals! I would be dead now if I was still in the old neighborhood!" argued Elena. "Or working the streets for enough credits to scrape by! Or struggling to feed half a dozen babies on charity handouts!" She gathered in her temper. "Turn around and leave. You're not going in that office."
"Not until I find out where Sancha is," Vesta growled. "You tell me and we're gone. You don't and I find out whether there's blood in your veins or hydraulic fluid."
"Vesta," Sailor Moon said as a warning. She turned to Elena. "I realize your loyalty to your employer has brought about this choice. But this situation is going to boil over beyond the point that he can handle it and he could end up getting seriously hurt by it. I'm trying to end this before it boils over. If you help us, you'll be doing him a favor, whether he realizes it or not."
"Leave or I open fire," Elena replied.
The Moon Tier appeared in Sailor Moon's hand. Elena's chest guns opened up, but the projectiles she fired ricocheted off of Saturn's wall and tore up the office to the right and left of them.
"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss," Sailor Moon said.
Waves of pink energy radiated out from the Moon Tier and blanketed Elena. Her face went blank. Her weapons stopped firing. She stood motionless for a moment. Then her ability to stand seemed to wash out of her. Elena slid back into her chair. She stared out at nothing in particular, a haunted look on her face. Everyone stared at her curiously. Even Sailor Moon was surprised by the reaction her attack had elicited.
"So that's what bliss is like," Elena mumbled.
"Come on," Sailor Moon said, moving to the inner office. "Let's see what we can find."
The senshi headed into the office, Vesta taking the precaution of bringing up the rear and watching Elena the entire time. But as she passed the executive assistant, Elena reached out and caught the senshi's hand.
"The last place you met," Elena said. "Mr. Acosta said to tell you that if you got past me." She gripped Vesta's hand tighter. "Don't go. Death is the only thing waiting for you there. It's not worth it."
"Abandon Sancha?" Vesta replied, jerking her hand from the woman's grip. "No chance."
"Then go alone," Elena warned. "If they come with you, Mr. Acosta and your friends will disappear."
Vesta stared at her, trying to judge whether she could trust the woman's warning. Finally Vesta nodded and headed into the office. For her part, Elena gathered up her personal belongings from the desk, collected some ready cash she knew to be stashed in the outer office for emergencies, then headed for the exit. Sailor Moon had shown her that the bliss she thought she had was a lie she'd told herself. This was her resignation.
"Find anything?" Vesta asked as she entered the room.
"Plenty," Juno replied, leafing through the contents of a wall safe. "Nothing that would trace where your friend is."
"Pallas doesn't get any sense of anyone who was your friend," Pallas said. "She's picking up feelings about you, Vesta, but they're mean feelings. Mr. Acosta-Sir didn't like you."
"Feeling's mutual," grunted Vesta.
"I'm downloading Acosta's computer files," Sailor Moon added. "Maybe we can find something in them."
"Maybe," Vesta scowled.
"Look, don't give up," Ceres cautioned Vesta. "Say, how about we go to our hotel, get something to eat, get some rest, maybe look through these computer files? It's got to be better than just running around blindly."
"It's not a bad idea," suggested Sailor Moon. "I know you want to keep looking, Vesta, because you're worried about your friend. But we need to rest and rethink this - - especially you. You've been through more than any of us and you're about to drop."
"Yeah, all right," Vesta relented. "I just - - I hate to think of me sitting around while that sick bastard Marcelino might be killing Sancha and her family at the same time." She looked down. "But if you say so, we'll break it off - - for now."
The senshi settled into their hotel rooms, procured by Garcia from the consulate. Each were in adjoining rooms: Usa and Hotaru doubling up, Ves pairing with Palla-Palla at the blue haired senshi's insistence, and Cere bunking with Jun. As they walked down the hall to their rooms, everyone noticed the deep depression that had hold of Ves.
"Hey, how about we get some dinner?" Jun suggested. "I know I haven't eaten since we got here."
"Nah," Ves grunted. "I'm going to sack out for a while."
"Come on, Ves! You need to keep up your strength!" Jun protested.
"And is Sancha going to have a nice hot meal to sit down to?" snapped Ves. "Bad enough I'm sleeping while she's going through God knows what! I'm only doing that because I'm ready to cave!" She got to her room and the computer lock retina-scanned her, then opened the door. "If I feel hungry, I'll have something sent up. In the mean time, don't bother me unless you find her."
The door hissed shut. Palla-Palla looked at the others anxiously, then followed her in.
"She's taking it well," huffed Cere.
"I'm," Usa began. Hotaru glanced at her sympathetically. "I should get on these computer files. Ves may not be very diplomatic about it, but she is right: It's urgent we find her friend as soon as possible, for everyone's sake." She grimaced for a moment. "But I think I will have something sent up."
"I'll join you, Usa," Hotaru offered. "Two heads, you know?"
"Great! I wonder if this place makes a good pizza." And the two disappeared into their room.
"Well I'm eating in the restaurant," Cere declared. Jun sighed. "Don't give me that look, Jun!" she scowled, glaring at her sister. "There's nothing either of us can do to find Ves's friend right now, so until we've got a place to look we may as well hang loose. And I'd much rather hang loose in the restaurant. I've heard a lot of good things about this hotel's restaurant."
"Yeah, I know," Jun frowned. "But I feel so - - disloyal. Ves is worried sick about her friend. I should be trying to comfort her."
"Jun, you know as well as I do that Ves would just tell us to get lost," Cere said. "The best thing we can do is recharge and be ready to move. Besides, the way this Acosta guy is playing it, he'll probably come to us. He seems to want Ves bad."
"OK," sighed Jun. "Hey, you're not going to change? You've been wearing that outfit all day."
"We traveled light, remember," Cere said with disappointment. "I'll just have to wow people with my natural beauty." She grew a wicked grin. "Unless you want to go shopping with me for a new outfit?"
"I think we're just going to have to rough it," Jun replied cynically.
"Only out of respect for Ves," Cere conceded.
An hour later, inside the hotel room of the Princess Usagi, she and Hotaru were combing through the records on Acosta's computer.
"None of this makes any sense, Usa!" Hotaru exclaimed as she looked at the record display on her work station screen. Beside her, an empty plate sat. The hotel didn't have pizza on their menu, so the two girls settled for a traditional Brasilia dish consisting of beef, beans and rice.
"It's encrypted," Usa said distantly, studying the readout on her screen. "Naturally it would be. A guy like Acosta wouldn't leave his computer records unencrypted, in case they fell into the wrong hands."
"Can you decode it?"
"I'm sure I could," Usa nodded confidently. Then she deflated a little. "I just don't know how long it would take."
"Maybe your father's computer could do it," Hotaru suggested.
"It's not a question of 'if', Hotaru. It's a question of 'when'," Usa replied. "Breaking encryptions takes time. Now if the life of Ves and her friend weren't under immediate threat, I could take the time to decode it and give it to the police and they could probably nail this Acosta with what's on it." She glanced jauntily at Hotaru. "Because I'm almost as sure as Ves is that this guy isn't a saint."
"But her friend's life IS in the balance," Hotaru nodded. "And he could make another attempt on Ves at any time." She blew out air in frustration. "This isn't getting us anywhere!"
"I haven't given up yet," Usa countered.
"Well you keep at it," Hotaru said, and rose from her seat. "I'm going to try calling Utaka. I don't think he's started morning classes yet in Crystal Tokyo. I'll be in the bathroom if you find something."
"Why are you going in there?" needled Usa. "Afraid you'll say something incriminating?"
"I'm afraid my gossipy best friend will spread everything I say all over the palace," Hotaru huffed, but couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Usa, smirking herself, returned to studying the encrypted files.
At the same time, two rooms down, Ves slid quietly out of bed. Palla-Palla was in the bathroom of their suite, bathing. Mindful not to make any noise, Ves slipped on her clothing and buckled her boots. As a precaution, Ves tried to keep her mind as blank as possible, so as not to risk Palla-Palla sensing her plans.
Fully dressed, Ves crept to the door as lightly as a cat stalking prey. Motioning to the door's sensors, Ves heard the hiss of the door and saw the sudden flood of light from the hall, and bolted out. The door's sound was an unavoidable sign. Listening for signs that Palla-Palla was giving chase, Ves heard none. Nodding, she turned and hurried for the lift.
Sure, she was walking straight into Acosta's hands. Ves knew that the moment Elena had given her the information. It was Acosta's invitation, as if it had been engraved on linen. There was no more need for striking from a distance. Acosta was tired of it and wanted an end.
Ves wanted an end, too. She would walk into his hands. If he was man enough, it would be a showdown between the two of them. If he was a coward and hid behind his augmented thugs, so be it. She would wade through them all to get to him.
And it would end. Sancha and her husband and her baby boy would go free. If it meant Acosta's death, that was preferable. If it meant her death, that was fine. But she wasn't about to let Sancha suffer the same fate at Acosta's hands that Rudolfo had. She was willing to die if it set Sancha free and it meant that she felt the life ebb from Acosta even as she died.
Ves entered the hotel lobby and headed out the door and into the dusk of evening in Sao Paulo. This was going to end.
Continued in Chapter 8
