An Eye For An Eye
Chapter 9: "Got Your Back"
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
Sailor Pallas crouched behind an empty chemical drum across the street from the multiple use building Vesta had said was where Marcelino Acosta was. She stared at the building in a light trance, oblivious to everything around her. Her concentration was occupied monitoring Vesta's thoughts for signs of trouble.
Two young street kids, returning from an evening's work in the entertainment district, spotted Pallas as they passed by. One pointed.
["Look at her,"] he said in Portugese, a boy of eleven with bare feet, ragged beige twill pants and a dirty polo shirt. ["What do you think?"]
["Maybe she's hiding from the police,"] his companion, a girl of twelve in a faded sleeveless top, frayed shorts and sandals, said.
["Look at the way she's dressed,"] he persisted. ["Why is she wearing that sailor suit, you suppose?"]
["Who knows,"] his companion shrugged.
["Don't you want to find out?"]
["Stupid! If she is hiding from the police and we get involved, we could get caught! We're holding, remember?"]
["Yeah,"] he nodded. The pair hurried off. Pallas only noticed them peripherally.
Suddenly she tensed. Without a word, Pallas rose up and scurried across the street. Once she was in the building perimeter, the two observation drones trained in on her.
"Beautiful Incantation," she said distantly and waved her hands at the two drones. Each one exploded as if penetrated by an invisible projectile.
Pallas got to the edge of the building. Her eyes rolled up into her head. An invisible hand scooped her up and levitated Pallas to the roof of the building. The observation camera mounted on the roof turned to her movement. A wave of her hand dispatched it, too. Quickly Pallas ran across the roof to a certain point, then stopped. She looked down. Gesturing with her hand, she began to telekinetically tear roofing material from a certain spot.
"Is killing me going to end this?" Vesta asked. "Are you going to leave them alone once I'm gone?"
"Maybe," Acosta replied, the barrel of his laser pistol pressed into Vesta's forehead. "Maybe I'll let them go. And maybe I'll kill them anyway, just because they're witnesses. Or just because the thought that all of your efforts were for nothing will make your death that much more painful for you."
"So which is it?" Vesta snarled in frustration.
Acosta's finger tightened on the trigger.
"Worry about it," he said with sadistic satisfaction.
He had no functioning eyes to gleam with satisfaction, but the light seemed to dance off of his prosthetic visor the same way. Vesta's eyes shifted to Sancha. Sancha sat tied to a chair, her head between the hands of a cybernetically enhanced thug who would twist and break Sancha's neck at the first flinch Vesta made. Sancha stared back at Vesta in abject terror, this just the latest in a series of trials she had undergone in the last few days. She was terrified for Vesta and terrified for her family, but most of all she was terrified that she and her old friend were about to depart this world within seconds of each other. Her husband Martin sat tied to another chair, staring helplessly at his wife. And their baby lay on the table before them, so still.
Vesta steeled herself. If this was her time, she would face it bravely. She wouldn't give Marcelino the satisfaction of showing him fear.
Suddenly Acosta cried out in pain and surprise. His hand flinched back and the laser pistol fell to the floor. Everyone looked down at it, unable to comprehend what had just happened.. The pistol was crumpled and useless, like an invisible hand had crushed it. Just then, without warning, an invisible force slammed into the thug holding Sancha and pitched him backwards. Ever quick to take advantage of a situation, Vesta delivered a savage knee to Acosta's mid-section, then floored him with a spinning roundhouse kick. She would have delivered more, but a rush of confusion in the room drew her attention. Looking up, she saw Pallas levitating down from a hole in the ceiling.
"YOU WERE GOING TO KILL VESTA!" Pallas roared angrily as she eased to the ground. Her eyes were rolled up into her head. "PALLAS IS GOING TO MAKE YOU SORRY!"
The other cyborgs in the room charged forward. Several had augmented speed and leaping ability from prosthetic legs. One had heightened vision and hearing from implants in his eyes and ears. The others had prosthetic arms that could rend steel or which concealed projectile firearms. They were all converging on Vesta and Pallas.
But Pallas stuck her arms out from her sides and swept the room in a semi-circle. A powerful telekinetic force rippled out from her in a circular wave. It slammed into the cyborgs and threw them against the walls, then rattled the walls of the building with their force. Most of the cyborgs lay stunned. Two began to rise, though haltingly.
One with cybernetic legs charged forward again at a high rate of speed. Unsure if Pallas could catch him in time, Vesta acted.
"Fauna Assimilation - - Cheetah!" Vesta called out.
The fastest animal on Earth charged forward and intercepted the cyborg with an impressive leap. She fell on top of the man and began mauling the side of his neck and shoulder with her teeth. Just then projectile shots from another of the cyborgs ricocheted next to Vesta. Avoiding a second shot, Vesta sprang away.
Pallas pointed at the cyborg using his projectile cannon, the fingers on her hand splayed. The same invisible telekinetic force that crushed the laser pistol earlier seized the projectile cannon. The barrel crumpled and the electric feedback from the damaged circuitry sent a charge through the cyborg's human parts. He screamed in pain and fainted. By now the other thugs were starting to move in.
"FIERY INCANTATION!" Pallas bellowed out angrily.
A wall of flame sprang up from the floor, cutting the thugs off and driving them back. Giving up the mission, they collected the wounded and headed for the exits. The threat neutralized, Vesta looked around for Acosta.
"Where is he?" she shouted. "Where'd he go?"
"Out the back," Sancha said vacantly. She was staring at her baby, still lying on the table. Vesta started to pursue. "Vanessa, please! Jaime! Help Jaime! He's so still!"
Vesta came over and examined the six-month-old child. Pallas circled around and untied Sancha and Martin. Once she was free, Sancha lunged for her baby.
"Sancha, what did they do?" Vesta asked.
"He kept crying," Sancha wept, caressing the child's head. "He wouldn't stop crying. He was scared. He was just scared and tired and hungry - - and he wanted to go home. He just wanted to go home."
"Sancha, what did they do?" Vesta demanded urgently. But Sancha would just cry. Martin held her shoulders and peered down at his son.
"The bad men gave him Caina," Pallas squeaked, reading the thoughts of the parents. "They did it so he would stop crying."
"Shit!" Vesta gasped. She looked down at the child. "Sancha, he's still breathing!"
"We've got to get him to a doctor!" Sancha cried. Hysterically she looked up at Vesta. "Vanessa, you've got to get him to a doctor!"
"Fauna Assimilation - - Pegasus!" Vesta shouted and transformed into a winged horse. "Get Jaime! Get on my back! I'll get you to a hospital!"
Sancha and Martin, with Jaime in Martin's arms, climbed onto Vesta's back. Vesta looked to Pallas.
"Pallas," she began.
"Help your friend," Pallas said. "Pallas will find you."
"Right," she nodded and started to go. Then she turned back. "Thanks for having my back."
Thrusting into the air, Vesta flew out through the hole in the roof, Sancha and Martin astride her. Pallas watched them go.
"Pallas always will, Vesta." Noticing the smoke from the fire, Pallas snuffed out her fire attack and walked out the exit. An air car was landing in the street in front of the building. Pallas walked up just as Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn were exiting the craft.
"Pallas, what's going on?" Sailor Moon demanded. "We just saw a winged horse fly two people out of here. Was that Vesta?"
"Yes, Princess," Pallas said contritely. "Vesta had to take her friend and her friend's little baby to the doctor because her friend's little baby was very sick."
"What about in there?" Sailor Moon asked, pointing to the building.
"Nobody's in there now," Pallas answered. "Princess, may Pallas please tell you what happened on the way to the doctor? She wants to see if she can help Vesta's friend's little baby."
"Yeah. OK," nodded Sailor Moon. They returned inside the air car. "Whatever the nearest hospital east of here is, Juno."
"Plotting course," Juno replied. The craft lifted off and headed into the night.
At the hospital, Vesta waited outside of the emergency room door while a medical team worked on little Jaime. The hallway was choked with fear and apprehension, each person thinking the worst, fearing the worst, but unwilling to voice the thought for fear they would bring it to pass.
"Please, Jesus, please," Sancha murmured to herself while Martin and Vesta lingered nearby. "Please help my baby. Please don't take him from me."
"Sancha, if he," Vesta began, "if your little Jaime - - well, I'll get Marcelino for this. I'll hunt him down myself. I'll . . ."
"Just stay out of it!" snapped Martin. "The only reason my son is in there is because we got dragged into your war with Acosta!"
Vesta looked at Martin in shock and anger.
"If my son dies, I'LL hunt down Acosta!" Martin fumed. "YOU stay out of it!"
"Martin," Sancha said. "Don't blame Vanessa for this. She didn't want this. She didn't want any of it. Blame Acosta. He started it all."
Martin looked away. Vesta touched Sancha's arm.
"IF I could do anything more, I would," Vesta said. "This shouldn't have happened. It wouldn't have happened if I had just done Marcelino six years ago."
"Acosta is just a symptom of where we live, Vanessa," Sancha said dully. "Even if you had killed Acosta six years ago, someone else would have replaced him. It's the nature of The Bottoms. We all take a risk just stepping out of our door each day."
An eerie silence draped over the area. Vesta stared uncomprehendingly.
"How do you do that?" Vesta asked.
"See the big picture?" Sancha asked back. "I had to. You never could."
Everybody looked up and saw Sailor Moon and the Asteroid Senshi approaching. They all gathered around Vesta, Sancha and Martin. Sancha looked up at the senshi, visibly awed.
"How's the child?" Sailor Moon asked. Vesta shrugged helplessly.
"Vanessa, is that the big shot Princess you work for?" Sancha asked.
"Yeah," Vesta replied. "Princess Usagi, this is my friend Sancha and her husband Martin."
"Pleased to meet you," Sailor Moon smiled, grasping Sancha's hand.
"Wow," Sancha exclaimed. "You're so impressive."
"I'm sure you're just as impressive under better circumstances," Sailor Moon told her. Just then, the doctor emerged from the exam room and came up to Sancha and Martin. He was of Portuguese and Incan descent, in his fifties with a pencil mustache.
"How is he?" whimpered Sancha.
"The child will live," the doctor told her cautiously. "We don't know the extent of damage the drug may have done to the child's neural receptors. There's a potential for paralysis or brain damage." An audible gasp went up through the assembled. "And given the nature of the drug administered, the child will have to undergo addiction diversion treatments. It's a common procedure for babies of Caina addicts. We're - - optimistic about its success."
Sancha folded onto Martin's chest and began weeping.
"That poor little kid," Ceres whispered, haunted by what she heard.
"Doctor," Sailor Moon said, leaning forward. "May we go in?"
"The child's condition is too delicate for visitors," cautioned the doctor.
"Doctor, we have," Sailor Moon persisted, "certain abilities that can sometimes succeed where science and technology fails. I'd like to try to help."
At first he wanted to say 'no'. But there was something in the way this statuesque, pink-haired foreigner looked at him that suddenly made it impossible for him to say it.
"I want to be on hand," he said as firmly as he could manage. "And it stops the moment I think you're adversely affecting the patient."
"Agreed," nodded Sailor Moon.
The doctor, Sailor Moon, her five senshi, and Jaime's parents all crowded into the small examination room, Sailor Moon having to turn sideways to enter because the doorway wouldn't accommodate her wings. Inside, Sancha gasped audibly. Jaime was in the bed, medical scanners displaying his every frail life sign, while intravenous feeds pumped chemicals into him to keep him alive. The boy looked so fragile.
"Let's do this," Sailor Moon said resolutely. She turned to her best friend and extended her hand. "Saturn?"
Saturn clasped Sailor Moon's hand without hesitation. As Sailor Moon summoned the Moon Tier, the two senshi began to glow. Sailor Moon's aura was pink, while Saturn's was closer to purple. As their auras flared, the pair took on a different expression. There was a giddy nature to their expressions. It was their power, joining and multiplying, but it was more. Their spirits were touching and the strength and intimacy of two inseparable friends was fanning their power to new heights. Sailor Moon brought the Moon Tier over Jaime and just its presence seemed to strengthen his vital signs.
"Silver Moon," Sailor Moon sighed happily, "Crystal Power Kiss." Saturn sighed as well. Pink energy flecked with violet blanketed the young child. Immediately he began to breathe easier. The doctor leaned in and examined the sensor telemetry, then began pulling up scans on his computer station.
"U-Unbelievable," the doctor exclaimed softly. "Neural receptors are repairing. Brain chemistry is balancing out." He looked up. "How did you do that? This doesn't happen in real life."
"You mean Jaime's going to be all right?" Sancha asked amid her tears.
"Well," the doctor began, dumbfounded. "We won't know for certain until the child begins learning to speak and walk. But," and he paused to try to convince himself it had happened, "well, the prognosis is a lot better than it was a minute ago. Significantly better."
With that, Sancha lunged for Sailor Moon. She caught the senshi around the waist, falling to her knees in the process and hugged her as tight as she could. Sancha began crying all over again, her face pressed to Sailor Moon's abdomen. Sailor Moon turned to Saturn and beamed her friend a smile.
"Kind of makes everything all worthwhile, doesn't it?" Saturn asked.
"This is one of the reasons I became Sailor Moon," the Princess replied.
The doctor moved to Martin, who was tenderly caressing his son.
"You and your wife look like you've been through a lot, too," he said to Martin. "You both should get some treatment also."
"It can wait," Martin replied, his eyes fixed on his son.
While everybody else was fixed on the baby, on Sailor Moon and on the parents of little Jaime, Pallas looked around and noticed Vesta was gone. Surreptitiously she eased out the door and into the hall. Vesta was leaned up against a wall, staring at nothing in particular. Pallas walked over to her.
"The little baby is going to be just fine, Vesta," Pallas told her sister. "The Princess and Miss Saturn-Ma'am made him all better."
"Yeah," Vesta exhaled. "Good thing. But Marcelino got away. He's still out there. That means they're not safe. Nobody who's close to me is safe as long as he's still gunning for me. I got to run this guy down before somebody gets hurt so bad that even the Princess can't help them."
Pallas looked on sympathetically. She could sense the rage coming from her sister, but also a budding sense of guilt. Suddenly her eyes widened in shock.
"But Vesta," Pallas said anxiously, "Queen Serenity says killing is wrong."
"Maybe," Vesta shot back, not looking at Pallas for she knew Pallas had read her mind again. "But I don't know any other way out of this? Do you? Because this has to end."
Continued in Chapter 10
