Chapter 7:

Setsuna and Haruka emerged from Makoto's country home, pacing about twenty meters through pitch darkness across a neatly-trimmed lawn until the greenish-haired young woman suddenly halted. "This should be sufficiently far from the house" she decided. "We'll wait here."

Her companion's keen senses revealed nothing out of the ordinary as the tall blonde carefully scanned the grounds around them. "I can't see much of anything through this pea soup, Setsuna-san. Are you sure we've gone far enough?"

"We have. Be patient, Haruka-san."

It was then that Haruka noticed it, a low-frequency hum that was barely audible to the concert pianist's well-trained ear. She tipped her head back and peered upward, only to find the frustratingly thick mist completely blocking her view of its source.

"There is an odd noise, but it's difficult to tell exactly where its originating from. I think it's above us... nani?"

"Ah, here's our package now" Setsuna calmly spoke, as from out of the swirling fog above the girls a long metallic box slowly drifted into view. It continued its slow descent until finally coming to rest, settling on the grass near their feet with a muted thump.

"Did that just come from where I think it did?" the stunned blonde murmured in disbelief.

"If you're referring to a spacecraft, Haruka-san" her companion smiled, "then... your assumption would be quite correct."

The humming noise suddenly raised to a slightly higher pitch and began to fade away until it could no longer be heard.

Haruka found herself grinning in the darkness. "Sets, you have got to write those memoirs!" she chuckled.

. . . . .

Inside Minako's car...

"Ohh...minna, I think I drank too much soda" Usagi groaned while gently patting her stomach. "I'll need to go to the ladies' room real soon."

Minako momentarily glanced away from her post at the open window. "You can't, Usagi-chan! Not until the time is right. If we enter Mako-chan's house now we'll spoil the big surprise we're going to give that hussy!"

"But... if I don't... I'm going to explode!" the second blonde fretted.

"What a pleasant thought" Makoto muttered in the darkness. "Usagi-chan, we aren't going to sit out here much longer. Do your best to hold on, ok?"

"I'll try, Mako-chan. But no promises!"

Minako continued sweeping the house with her binoculars. "I still don't see our boys anywhere, Mako-chan. They haven't gone upstairs yet, which is good. But Haruka and Setsuna have disappeared too." She scowled, "What is that wicked woman playing at?"

"Maybe the guys are in the kitchen" the brunette suggested.

"The kitchen light is off, so they can't possibly be there. Hmm..." Minako pondered a moment before asking, "Mako-chan, is there another way upstairs?"

"It's just an ordinary house, Minako-chan, not a creepy old mansion" Makoto chuckled. "There aren't any secret passages or hidden doors or anything like that. At least none that I've ever noticed."

"Ami and Ryo are still standing around in the living room. Ami is holding something in her hands... maybe it's her Mercury computer, there's too much stupid mist between us and them to tell for sure. Where is everybody else hiding?" the suspicious blonde groaned in frustration. "I hate not knowing what's going on! It's so annoying!"

"Welcome to my world, Minako-chan" Usagi grumbled from the back seat.

. . . . .

"This thing is a lot heavier than it looks" Haruka grunted as she tried lifting one end of the over two-meter-long package. "No chance we can lug it upstairs by ourselves, Setsuna-san."

"Wait here, Haruka-san. I'll enlist Taro and Yuji to help us carry it inside." Setsuna disappeared into the dense mist, returning soon after with the two teenage Ito boys in tow.

"Where did that come from?" Yuji wondered when he spied the large silvery metal box.

Grasping a corner each, the foursome eventually hoisted the heavy container from the lawn and carefully made their way back to Makoto's house.

When they entered the living room, Ami immediately hurried over, her inquisitive blue eyes closely examining the otherworldly package as it was slowly carried past her and Ryo. "There doesn't appear to be any labels or markings on it" she mused. "In fact, it looks rather plain and nondescript."

"That is intentional, Ami-chan" Setsuna said. "Join us upstairs with your computer. We'll place the box on one of the beds and open it there."

"Hai" the blue-haired girl nodded. She asked the blonde holding the rear of the box, unable to hide the excitement in her voice, "Haruka-san, did you actually see it?"

"The space ship? Gomen. All I saw was fog, Ami-chan."

"Oh... that's most disappointing" the blue-haired girl frowned.

"Also by intent" Setsuna interjected with a surreptitious smile.

. . . . .

In the rear of the orange Toyota, Usagi fidgited restlessly in her seat. "Minna, I really really need to go-"

"Hush, Usagi-chan! I can see them now!" Minako hissed. The girl blurted in shock, "I can't believe it! How could Setsuna do this to me?"

"What's going on?"

"She's headed upstairs where that other girl went earlier, Mako-chan! And my honey muffin is with her!"

"So?" Makoto shrugged. "Maybe they're just-"

"I think they're carrying something... either that or they're holding hands!"

"Nani?"

And Haruka is following her up!" Minako added with a gasp. "Right beside your Yuji!"

"That's all I needed to hear!" Makoto growled, clenching her fingers into fists as Minako's ongoing paranoia finally took hold of the tall brunette's usually pragmatic mind. "I'm getting to the bottom of this right now!"

"Hai! It's time for us to expose that house full of cheating hussys as the wicked women they truly are, and save our boys from a night of unspeakable debauchery!" Minako agreed with a vigorous nod. "I won't be needing these anymore!" She carelessly tossed the binoculars over her shoulder.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Gomen, Usagi-chan!"

The blonde driver sprang from her vehicle and fumbled with the front of her makeshift plastic cover, dragging it back onto the roof to expose the Toyota's windshield. She leapt behind the wheel. "Minna, we're going in! It's rescue time!"

Minako twisted the ignition key and furiously pumped the accelerator pedal in her haste to save her beloved Taro, but to her dismay her car stubbornly refused to cooperate. "What's wrong with this silly thing?" she fumed above the whine of the starter. She tried again, but the engine gave only a weak sputter in return.

"Noo!" the exasperated girl groaned in abject horror. "Not now! My man needs me!"

"What's the problem with your car?" Makoto snapped, her patience reaching its limit.

"I think I flooded it, Mako-chan!"

"I'm not sitting here waiting for you to unflood it!" the brunette growled. She flung her door wide open, ripped a massive hole in the shroud of garbage bags blocking her way and began sprinting down the lane towards her house.

A few seconds later, Usagi caught up to the running teen, her legs a blur of frantic motion. "I really have to go, Mako-chan! I can't hold it in any longer!"

Minako tried cranking her car one final time. "Come on! Start, will you?" Just as she was about to give up and chase after her friends on foot, the Toyota's engine reluctantly wheezed to life.

. . . . .

"We're almost there" Rei sighed as her red convertible neared the house. "And about time, too. That trip took forever!"

"I've honestly never seen fog this thick before, darling" her fiancee remarked from the passenger seat of the Mercedes. He chuckled, "And I've never seen you drive so slowly before either. Which is a big relief!"

"I didn't have much choice in this awful weather, Yuuichirou-chan" the miko grumbled. "We've probably arrived far too late to help Setsu- nani? What on Earth...?"

As the house came into view, Yuuichirou burst into laughter at the comically strange sight before his disbelieving eyes. Usagi and Makoto were tearing down the road like two girls possessed, also headed toward the old house. Rei abruptly jammed on her brakes as out of the gloom and mist, a small orange hatchback shot onto the street directly in front of her, its engine screaming. Trailing behind the car was what appeared to the miko to be a gigantic black flag that drooped down from its radio antenna.

"This isn't anything like what I expected!" Yuuichirou chortled.

"Baka Minako nearly hit us!" Rei fumed. "Why is she chasing after Usagi and Mako-chan? Has she finally gone completely insane?" She followed the speeding Toyota to the edge of the driveway and lurched to a stop the same moment the two running girls neared the front door.

. . . . .

Inside an upstairs bedroom, Setsuna examined the package for a moment before finding and pressing a concealed panel at one end of the case. Its lid hissed open, rising slowly to expose Sailor Saturn's legendary glaive to the assembled teens. "Oh my!" Ami gasped as the ancient weapon was finally revealed, a long slender ebony-black shaft topped by a large two-pronged blade, its gleaming curved edge and razor-sharp point glistening lethally in the room's subdued light.

. . . . .