Chapter 7

"Delay is the deadliest form of denial."

- British historian C. Northcote Parkinson

The streets are strangely desolate , barren and lonely like a desert lost to the sands of time. Occasionally, the girls catch a glimpse of someone, or something, peeking out at them through broken blinds or a door ajar. The dry breeze toys with scraps of metal and torn curtains, deceiving and tempting them towards situations that could be most treacherous. The people who live here are barely clinging to life.

And the girls, sequestered by their optimism and privileged upbringing, feel utterly alone.

"This place gives me the creeps," Sailor Juno mutters.

Sailor Pallas grips tightly to Sailor Ceres's hand, wishing she had brought along a stuffed animal to cuddle against her chest. Usagi and Tera take point while Sailor Vesta brings up the rear, keeping her right fist around the vine coiled over her shoulder. Shells of ancient vehicles line the curbs, sitting in unsalvageable shambles. The wind whistles through their remains.

Curiosity gets the best of Usagi as she skirts aside to peer into one of the windows of a burned Chevy. The window pane is dusty and cracked, but by wiping her hand across the film on the glass she creates a smudge wide enough to display what waits inside. Usagi recoils, nearly tripping over her own feet as she stumbles backwards with a shriek. Two charred skeletons sit in the backseat of the car, huddled together with their stick-like, boney arms wrapped around each other.

Tera places her hand on Usagi's trembling shoulder. They press onward. Sailor Ceres is careful to steer Sailor Pallas away from the cars and their unpredictable unseemly contents. The farther in they venture into the city, the remains of Old New York look like a warzone. And it would be telling an untruth to say that some of the damage does not look recent.

"What happened here?" Usagi breathes, lacing her fingers together and holding her grasp against her lips. The terror in her eyes suggests that she has never seen carnage of this magnitude.

None of them have.

"Your parents King Endymion and Neo-Queen Serenity don't have full control here, princess," Sailor Juno explains.

"That's right. This place is governed by-" Sailor Vesta starts to add before a heavily graffitied wall stops her in her tracks. "Other forces." She finishes her thought, though the interest of her audience is strictly occupied by the graffiti.

The girl's frightened eyes track over the wall and the multitude of layered symbols written on it. Some are merely painted over. Others are scratched through or x-ed out. Tera's mind reels through her history lessons. The word "gang" comes to mind, but she is not certain of its significance.

"Come on. We have to keep moving," Sailor Vesta reminds them.

Tera lingers in place. Sailor Vesta gingerly takes her by the wrist and leads her back to join the group. The sun has set by the time they cross the parking lot leading to the OSCORP building. The street lamps flicker unreliably, casting strange shadows across the asphalt. Sailor Pallas whimpers.

"Sh!" Sailor Juno snaps.

Sailor Ceres gasps softly and she and Tera pull the rest of the girls behind a planter just as a familiar reptilian creature slinks around the corner of the towering structure. It looks like he is patrolling the building, like a guard dog might. They seem to have stumbled on to the right place after all. Luck is on their side. But this is no time to celebrate.

The girls hold their breath. Sailor Ceres clamps her hand over Sailor Pallas' mouth when she notices her companion is at risk of opening her mouth, possibly to sigh. The enormous lizard lifts his slitted snout and sniffs the air. It would not do to confront him now and give away their presence. He would sound the alarm and a multitude of other opponents could be upon them in seconds. They have to find out where Doctor Octavius is keeping the older Sailors first. And that means infiltrating the building and climbing what are surely thousands of stairs, assuming there is no other way to reach them.

This reminds Usagi of a storybook her mother used to read to her: fairy tales about princes who had to rescue princesses or fair maidens—damsels of importance—from the clutches of some atrocious villain. And the princesses were always in the highest room of the tallest tower.

Figures…

The building bearing the OSCORP insignia is one of the tallest structures for miles. Their heads snap upwards at the shrill cackling call of a winged beast. They recognize the vulturous felon, from the fight back in the shopping district, circling the upper sections of the building. His glistening black wings were able to deflect Sailor Venus' light attacks. Tera has to wonder if they are made of metal. But if that is the case, how is he capable of flight?

She shudders.

The mere idea of flying gives her the chills. She draws strength from the solid ground under her feet to keep her knees from liquefying beneath her.

"You guys go ahead inside," Sailor Vesta suggests, keeping her voice to a harsh whisper as not to be overheard.

"But Vesta!" Sailor Pallas tries, her eyes shimmering with worry.

Sailor Vesta holds up her hand. "I'll keep an eye on Scaly and Feather-brains. You girls find the others and radio me when you do."

She holds up her hand to indicate that she means the small watch on her wrist. Sailor Mercury had given each of them a communication device when they turned eighteen, many centuries ago, just in case they needed to or someone else needed to contact them.

The other Sailors nod their heads silently in acknowledgement. Sailor Vesta flashes a wink and a thumbs-up. Tera gives Usagi an uncertain glance. She has a bad feeling welling in her gut. Sailor Juno does not look too thrilled with this plan either.

"Maybe we shouldn't split up," Tera suggests.

"No," Usagi corrects, validating Sailor Vesta's first impulse. "Vesta is right. We'll need a lookout." She flashes Sailor Vesta a confident grin. "We'll check our com-links once we're inside." She glances around, meeting everyone's eyes in turn to emphasize the importance of her next sentence. "If anything goes wrong, anything at all, we meet back at the forest, by the plaque reading Central Park. Okay?"

The young Sailors nod their regards and goodbyes to Sailor Vesta. Usagi leads them into the building. The remaining three of the amazon quartet use their tumbling skills to roll across the walkway towards the main door, unseen. They enter OSCORP through a revolving door and are careful to stop its spin when they are all through. Just in time too. The reptilian villain is creeping around the corner. Luckily, the windows are tinted. He does not see them.

Usagi leads the troop onward, towards the stairs. They creep up quietly, staying on their toes for stealth. Sailor Juno brings up the rear, constantly checking over her shoulder to make sure they are not being followed. When they reach the first floor, the girls are confronted by a laser lattice matrix. The ruby red beams reflect off of seven seamless mirrors, made from the finest glass. The angles are so precise that Sailor Ceres could swear their victims would emerge in a pile of perfectly rectangular pieces, capable of being used for levelers.

There is a keypad to the right. Sailor Ceres approaches it, activates Mini Crystal, and starts scanning for the appropriate code using a series of combinations generated by the computer. The girls grit their teeth together in anticipation.

"Vesta," Sailor Moon says into her communication link. "Can you hear me?"

Static answers from the other end of the line for a fraction of a second before Sailor Vesta's quiet reply comes through. "Loud and clear, princess. Looking good out here."

Meanwhile, Sailor Juno is constantly scanning their surroundings. "Something isn't right," she mutters. She spots a shadow from the corner of her eye - a blur of darkness that might as well have been a breeze, or the bat of an eyelash. Just then, Mini Crystal finds the correct combination for Sailor Ceres. The lasers disengage, leaving the pathway clear for them to cross unharmed. Usagi, Tera, and Sailor Ceres proceed down the corridor.

Behind them, Sailor Pallas tugs on Sailor Juno's arm.

"Come on," she whispers, nervously looking about. But Sailor Juno's instincts rarely fail her. They are not alone. She knows that much. She suddenly shoves Sailor Pallas backwards. The second oldest member of the Sailor Quartet lets a loud gasp of surprise escape her lips as she is forced backwards. She slides across the glossy floor and zips down the corridor at the heels of the others. She barely clears the hall of mirrors before the lasers reactivate.

"Juno!" Sailor Ceres shrieks out her warning just before a chalky figure barrels into Sailor Juno, knocking her aside. She flips over her shoulder, skidding to a stop on her feet, poised in a defensive crouch. She is ready to spring at her attacker.

His stark shock of long black hair whips around him like tendrils of smoke, or a dozen black snakes. He bares his teeth in a fanged smile. Sailor Juno's blood runs cold, chilled to the bone by the harrowing sight. There is something unnatural about his movements and the cat-like claws adorning his hands. His skin is a one shade away from being white His eyes leer at her, glowing ruby red in the dim light, like the lasers in the hall of mirrors. But this is no time to get cold feet .

"Go!" Sailor Juno commands her reluctant team mates from the other side of the laser grid. "I'll handle this." She fists her hands defiantly.

"But-!" Sailor Pallas chokes.

Usagi takes Sailor Pallas by the hand. "Come on! They'll know we're here now."

"We have to move quickly," Tera agrees.

The Sailors turn and dash down the corridor. Sailor Ceres chances one last glance over her shoulder before Sailor Juno and her ghostly opponent are out of sight. They round the corner together, but just as quickly, Sailor Pallas is yanked back by a plated green tail that coils around her midsection, tearing her from Usagi's nurturing grasp.

The scorpion-like accessory of their new adversary is further accentuated by his pincer claw, located in place of his right hand. He emits something like a hiss, bearing an alarming set of pointed teeth, dripping with what is either saliva or venom. He walks on two legs, but that is the extent of his human characteristics.

Raptors were bipedal too, but that did not make them any less horrifying.

The three other Sailors double back.

"Pallas!" Tera calls out.

"You should always ask before snatching something for yourself!' Sailor Pallas chastises, squirming in the scorpion-man's grasp. She eventually wriggles her way out of his grip with the help of her own illusion. Sailor Ceres is the master in that area, but she taught her a thing or two during their time together. Sailor Pallas raises her gloved hands, conjures a score of small blue spheres, and propels them towards her opponent's face. The scorpion recoils, dropping her and swinging his arms wildly. Sailor Pallas lands on her feet and narrowly avoids the backlash from his tail by leaping up into the air.

The armored tail smashes into the wall, creating the perfect smokescreen of drywall dust and debris for Sailor Pallas to conjure more illusions and have a little fun with her enemy.

"Find the others!" Sailor Pallas exclaims to her teammates, who stand and stare at her, slack jawed. "I'll distract this guy." She grins. "Come on, you overgrown lobster. Let's dance!"

Sailor Pallas, while timid in everyday life, has her moments of bravery. In order to cope with the stress and fear of battling monsters, she uses humor and pithy lines to turn the fight into a game when the moment comes. She adopts a personality rarely shown to her friends, in so doing becoming someone they are much less familiar with. She's right.

Usagi, Tera, and Sailor Ceres tear themselves away from the spectacle and make a beeline for the elevator at the end of the corridor.

"Vesta, do you copy?" Sailor Ceres calls into her communicator.

"Roger that, Pinky. What seems to be the problem?" Sailor Vesta banters back.

"We've been spotted," Sailor Ceres replies. "Juno and Pallas are battling two of the monsters we saw by the ice cream parlor. Think you can handle those two outside?" They all hope she can. Still, it seems unfair to expect one sailor to fend off two assailants.

Hidden beside the planter, Sailor Vesta glances up at the circling bird who emits a shrill cackling sound as though he can sense something is amiss. The lizard man flicks his tongue through the air, tasting and testing the many scents.

If she can hear the commotion coming from inside, they probably can too.

"Vesta?" Ceres prompts. Sweat beads on Sailor Vesta's brow. She steels herself. The lizard turns his head in Sailor Vesta's direction. He has detected her presence. It is now or never.

"They don't call me the beast tamer for nothing," Sailor Vesta says into her com-link. "No worries, Ceres. Just take care of the princess and rescue our friends! I can take care of myself."

"Right!" the three of them exclaim simultaneously. Sailor Vesta's confidence reassures them.

The girls hurry onto the elevator. It is carpeted in garnet, though the color has faded and the fabric is worn down to the nubs. The mirrors lining the elevator walls were probably spotless once, but now they are faded and feathered with black around the edges and warped at the bottom, presenting more of a fun-house mirror image than a normal reflection to anyone who looks into them. Sailor Ceres remembers something similar from her carnival days.

Usagi all but screams at her reflection, poking and pinching her sides as she turns around and around to take inventory of her unfortunate, blobby figure. "When did I get fat?!"

Tera's forehead sinks into her palm and she groans.

Sailor Pallas thrusts another wave of blue balls at the scorpion; quickly dodging the tail when it juts out to spear her with the foreboding needle-like tip. Her chest heaves. He is gigantic. She fears she will not be able to beat him. Taking their size difference into account, she is sure to tire out considerably sooner than he will. Sailor Pallas sets her teeth, but her faith in her own abilities is steadily dwindling.

"Highest room of the tallest tower?" Usagi suggests, eyeing the innumerable buttons of the elevator.

"What?" Sailor Ceres and Sailor Earth ask in unison.

"Oh, never mind," Usagi dismisses, flitting her hands through the air. "Aha!" She punches the button indicating the top floor, and highest number. Usagi faces her teammates. "Going up!" She winks and gives them a thumbs up. They manage to smile back.

Meanwhile, back in the lobby, Juno is wondering just how far she can press her luck with her ghoulish opponent. He is frighteningly fast, even for her. Fast like lightning, and as untouchable as a cloud.

She lashes out with a kick. He dodges her foot before she can land it. He slashes at her face with a swipe of his claws. She ducks just in time. Sailor Juno drops to the floor, landing in a crouch that allows her to shift her weight and sweep her leg in a wide arc, hoping it will knock the pale creature off his feet. He springs up and away too quickly.

It is as though he can see inside her head, predicting her moves like a fortune teller predicts the future. But she cannot give up!

Sailor Juno rights herself and dashes at him. She throws a punch. He moves aside. He plants one foot behind himself and makes to drive his heel into her chin. The attack comes with bruising force. She will not survive it, should it sail true.

Sailor Juno flips backwards, narrowly avoiding the blow. He follows through with a spin, reaching out to slash at her with his curled nails. She feels his claws catch the flesh of her stomach and rip into her. Sailor Juno staggers backwards and sets her teeth in a painful cringe, pressing her hand against the wound. She can feel liquid heat bubbling up under her palm.

The cuts are not deep enough to endanger her life, but they are enough to whet her opponent's appetite. The pale man's eyes flash vibrantly. He starts to salivate.

"Let's hurry this along, guys," she mutters into her com-link. "This thing is looking at me like an all-you-can-eat buffet."

"Hang in there, Juno!" Usagi encourages. "We're almost-" Just then, the elevator comes to a halt with a shrill metallic shriek. The girls lose their balance, toppling on top of each other.

"Dog pile on Tera?" The brunette growls through gritted teeth with both Ceres and Usagi's weight bearing down on her.

"I'm sorry!" Sailor Ceres chirps, rolling off of her and jumping to her feet.

The elevator doors creak. Suddenly, a metal pair of pincers jut out from their seam. It whirls around and gnashes together nefariously before it is wrenched back. The pincers open, forcing the elevator doors to part. Another claw joins the first pair, and together, they pry the doors apart, squishing and bending them into irreparable scraps. The gapping opening is wide enough to reveal the face of the master of the wicked pincers.

"Peeka-boo! I see you!" Proclaims a man in a white coat.

The Sailors gasp. "Doctor Octavius!" Sailor Ceres identifies.

Usagi leaps to her feet and strikes a defensive pose. "We're not here to play hide and seek with you, Octopus! What have you done with our friends?" She demands.

"Oh. You mean the new lab rats?" He spits back through a maniacal grin. "Don't worry. They're quite comfortable... in their cages!" His four mechanical arms tipped with nefarious pincers rear back like a four headed snake, preparing to strike.

Sailor Ceres takes this opportunity to create an illusion. She has to save her friends!

She conjures two mirrors in front of her palms and brings them together, creating a larger circular mirror, emitting pink and white light. Doctor Octavius and his four mechanical limbs recoil, shrinking away from the brilliant, blistering, blinding brightness. He thrusts his real arms out to shield his eyes. He groans, as though he is in pain. Sailor Ceres steps out of the elevator, brandishing the mirror before her to ward him off, radiating the illustrious beams towards the felon. It is the perfect distraction.

"Go!" she exclaims to Tera and Usagi. "Free the others! I got this!"

Usagi darts forward, as though she means to stop her. Tera seizes her by the wrist and yanks her backwards in the nick of time.

"No! She's right," Tera insists, her eyes brimming with conviction.

Usagi glances over her shoulder reluctantly. Her eyes shimmer uncertainly. The determination in Tera's stern leer calms the storm of worry roiling in her soul. She nods. Tera interprets this as permission to proceed and slams her fist into the elevator keypad. The panel erupts in a spray of sparks, sizzling as it short-circuits and bypasses the failsafe. The elevator rockets upwards. Usagi and Tera struggle to keep themselves upright as the compartment rattles and rumbles precariously. They hold on to each other.

The girls reach the floor just below the peak of the building before the elevator finally gives up.

Usagi and Tera carefully toe their way out of the elevator, their eyes scanning their surroundings for more opponents. The elevator groans and moans behind them, as though it will collapse with the touch of a feather, or a breath of wind. Their path appears clear for the moment. They are just beginning to relax when the fluorescent lights above them, lining the hallway, start to flicker unreliably.

An enormous shape rounds the corner and looms at the end of the hall, like a massive thunderhead. He lumbers forward, placing one gigantic foot in front of the other. His steps sound thunderous in the otherwise empty corridor. The girls shiver in anticipation. He has grey, rough skin, marred by a horn protruding from the center of his head. He digs one foot into the faded carpet, pawing the ground.

"Move!" Tera exclaims, shoving Usagi aside only instants before the beast charges.

Usagi screams. They scamper out of the way just as the beast barrels into what remains of the elevator doors. The force of the impact sends them sprawling. Tera and Usagi groan, rousing just as the beast finds its feet and garners his whereabouts. He rounds on them and charges again. Usagi and Tera dive aside, unable to formulate an effective attack before he reaches them.

Just then, a black blur from the other side of the hall catches Tera's attention. Her blood runs cold and her skin crawls, prickling and leaving her stomach in knots. She recalls the chilling vision she witnessed at the ice cream parlor… and the black symbiote who nearly destroyed her father, the same one that haunts her dreams. Her nightmares. That is Tera's greatest fear. Out of all her opponents, and possibly their leader as well, the villain she fears to face the most is the one that resembles herself. She remembers her surprise-party-gone-wrong too well.

The sight of her own alien face haunts her.

The sight and sound of her nightmare incarnate stills her breath. It hovers like a demon at the end of the hall. Tera freezes under the thumb of terror. Its dominion dwarfs her, silhouetting her in her isolation, in spite of Usagi's presence. Will she be able to control herself in that form? Will she be human at all? The two monsters approach from opposite ends of the hall, stalking and prowling like predators. Tera can hear Usagi's voice. She can feel the princess tugging on her arm. But Tera is unable to respond.

Outside, Sailor Vesta is battling the double team of the lizard and vulture. She uses a vine from the forest as a whip, fending them off with loud lashes and snaps.

Sailor Juno dodges another swipe from the vampire's jagged claws. She tumbles into a summersault, leaping up to drive a hard roundhouse kick into his jaw. He reels backwards, his arms pin-wheeling. Juno capitalizes on the opportunity. She spins again and drives her heel into his gut. He sails backwards into the wall, forming a dent the size of his body. Sailor Juno, out of breath, clutches her bleeding stomach, willing the gashes to heal faster.

She expects him to cough and sputter, perhaps struggle to find his feet... but the pale adversary starts laughing, as though this whole thing is a game to him. As though he is enjoying himself.

As though… it all means nothing.

This is bad, she thinks to herself.

Sailor Pallas cartwheels through the air, toppling head over heels as the scorpion fiend comes at her again. He is relentless, swiping and jabbing and trying to sweep his tail beneath her feet. She cannot seem to land an attack. His great claw snaps at her ankle. His tail lashes at her face. Her illusions are losing their effectiveness, as though he is getting smarter, analyzing her attacks as they come at him. He is able to decipher between what is real and what is contrived. Her punches produce little to no effect.

The battle is not favoring her.

Sailor Pallas is tiring. She hopes the princess and her teammates will find the others soon. She hopes they are having better luck than she is. Surely, with the help of the older Sailors, they can defeat these monsters. She just has to hold out until they get here… Just a little longer. Just a little longer!

The man mountain-sized opponent bearing a god-awful resemblance to a rhinoceros has zeroed in on Usagi. He seems to ignore Tera entirely. Usagi raises her hands and thrusts them forward to call an attack, but he is too fast. He backs her into the elevator, dashing headlong into the treacherous machine with no concern for his own safety, and even less for Usagi's.

Tera awakens from her stupor just in time to hear a blood curdling scream rip from Usagi's throat. The metallic links suspending the elevator snap. Down it plunges, with Usagi and the rhinoceros creature stuffed inside.

Tera whirls around, extending her hand as though she means to stop the plummeting elevator. Her voice seems to be lodged in her throat, hoarse and ragged. She can see the entrance, yawning open like the mouth of an abyss. She scrambles towards the elevator shaft. Tera finds the edge just in time to see the shrinking cube collide with the unforgiving slab of the first floor. Bile rises in the back of her throat. She croaks out something that sounds like Usagi's name.

Tera glances over her shoulder, only to find the corridor empty. Did she imagine the symbiote?

Her breath comes in ragged gasps. Her stomach knots up. Her knees buckle. Dust and fire erupt from the elevator shaft. "No!" she cries. Tera scrambles down the stairs, running until her lungs burn. What she might see when she reaches the bottom floor absolutely terrifies her.

It's your fault, she hears in the far recesses of her mind. Tera gulps, whimpering, remembering the exchange upstairs in violent, jarring flashes. She froze. After three centuries of training, she... froze. At the landing of the first floor, the elevator shaft is a tangled mess of melting, molten metal. There is no sign of Usagi. But she's overreacting. Usagi can't be dead.

Usagi can't be… dead!

The sun is rising. The rest of the Sailors use this chance to escape. The diversion of the resulting explosion from the elevator's collision with the ground provides the perfect opportunity. It is a losing battle for all of them. They race out of the building bearing the OSCORP insignia ahead of the villains.

By the time Sailor Earth reaches the Central Park plaque, just like Usagi said, the other four Sailors are already waiting for her. She walks as one damned, dragging her feet, feeling numb, almost as though she is looking down on her body from some distant plane. She swallows hard, choking on another wave of nausea.

The young Sailors see her emerge from the morning haze. Sailor Pallas and Sailor Vesta jump to their feet. Sailor Ceres is patching up the four gashes in Sailor Juno's side with a measure of spare cloth. The hope in their eyes wanes with the sobering sight of Tera's pale face. None of them dare to breathe. Something is wrong.

Something is so, so terribly wrong.

Sailor Pallas starts searching first, her young eyes darting about frantically for any sign of their princess. "Where… Where is Usagi-chan?"She asks Tera.

Tera cannot muster a reply. She merely shakes her head. Her vision starts to swim as tears brim in her vacant eyes. The other Sailors gawk in horror, the realization registering on their faces. Sailor Juno turns away to hide her tears. Sailor Pallas starts weeping. Sailor Ceres immediately scoops her up in her arms, clutching her tightly to allay her own anguish.

Sailor Vesta stammers, searching for something to say, grasping at straws for a solution that eludes her.

They all managed to escape their foes alive. But it means nothing now... not without Usagi. Not without their princess.

The girls flounder in their grief. How will they go home? How can they show their faces? How will they report not only their failure to rescue the older Sailors to their King and Queen, but the loss of their beloved daughter as well? Their defeat is so sound, so undeniable, and so absolute. It even comes complete with the loss of their leader.

And what are they to do without the glue keeping them together? Without the adhesive, preventing them from falling into the maddening grief hovering at the edge of their hearts? They are splintered – fractured – separated on a level that none of them can remedy.

Usagi's death means the demise of their fellowship, though none of them had fully realized this fact until now.

The Sailors wade into the woods that are now Central Park, sick with grief and suffocated by a shadow they cannot escape. None of them have spoken since the mutual understanding that their princess will not be coming back. The shards of their friendship hang suspended in the air, abandoned and neglected in their sadness.

They are broken.

There is nothing to buoy their sinking morale or failing confidence. And Tera can blame no one but herself. She stays as far away from the others as she possibly can, folding into herself like a flower blooming in reverse. She cannot accept the bitter reality. She swore to herself - to all of them - that the next time she faced the fiends: they would fear her... not the other way around.

She has failed them. She has failed in her one and only dream, her livelihood, her passion as a protector and defender of justice. She cannot suffer the truth, ripe with her own fear.

She fails to realize that they all feel that way, holed up in the tunnel vision of her own guilt. Sitting against a thick root of a tree, she hugs her knees as tight as she can. She shivers uncontrollably.

What has she done?

End of Chapter 7