Setsuna kept herself close to Dallas, waiting until the crowd of people ran away from Jaeger. What surprised her was that Adonis gave them a distraction, not hesitating to put his life on the line for them and distracted the tall cheetah. Once things were all clear, her garnet eyes focused on the brunette.
"Are you ready Dallas-chan?" Setsuna asked as her gaze was focused on Dallas.
Dallas pulled down her designer shades, still keeping them around her forehead. She was about to answer, but her lavender eyes peeked to see Adonis switch from his civilian to armored form. "Sure… let's make sure Adonis doesn't lose his head," she stated in a firm tone. "I have some questions for him."
Jaeger growled at the stranger in front of him, but once he saw Adonis wear a familiar suit of armor it caused him to smirk. "Ah, if it isn't the mercenary… here to capture me again?" he asked, preparing himself for a fight.
"No, I'm here to kill you Jaeger," Adonis said in a serious tone, taking out what appeared to be a small stick and pressed a button where both sides extended. "You're nothing more than scum that deserves to die."
The humanoid cheetah chuckled, charging at the red haired knight and used one of his new blades to attack him. "I will make sure you will meet a swift end my friend," he licked his teeth with anticipation. "After all… I'm sure your 'boss' wouldn't mind if I took your spot."
Adonis tensed at this idea. Would Virgil even allow such a thing? "Like hell I will!" he yelled, lifting his leg and kicked Jaeger in the gut.
Jaeger stumbled backwards, chuckling to himself. It seemed he struck at nerve. "Oh, this will be fun." He said.
"Hey ugly, turn around!"
Hearing the sound of a female's voice, Jaeger swiftly turned around and used his blades in order to slice his target. Yet somehow he missed, seeing that she must've planned to evade in advance.
"Looks like your 'upgrade' didn't cover that area," A familiar raven haired senshi said as she quickly dodged Jaeger's attack.
Jaeger looked to see it was Mars, chuckling in amusement as he took in her appearance. "So it's the little girl scout," he said in a mocking tone and winced from his sneak attack. "Here to try and stop me as well? Turn me into the law?"
"I think you have me confused with someone else," Mars said as she crossed her arms. She wished it were that simple but it wasn't. This feline alien had no problem with killing people at all.
Jaeger sneered, about to use his lightning fast speed to get the job done. However, he was caught off guard when he felt something wrap around his legs and fall to the side.
"Not so fast, pussy cat," Venus quipped, using her Love Me Chain to wrap the speedy assassin's legs up.
The humanoid cheetah smirked, turning his attention to Venus and used the end of his new cybernetic tail to aim at the blonde woman. "Nice trick, but I've got my own." He said with arrogance in his voice.
"Dead Scream!" A familiar voice whispered her attack, aiming her attack at the tail.
Jaeger growled in annoyance, his only advantage being taken away. He was ready to break free until he felt liquidized metal coat his entire body. Struggling to move, he turned to see who his aggressor was and saw it was the brunette. "Ah, it's the little brunette," he said, smirking at her slightly. "You came prepared… Will you defend me like last time?"
"No," Andromeda spoke up, walking up to Jaeger and pressed his foot onto his chest. "I made the mistake of sparing your life… I realized you're an alien refugee and if I remember correctly, you said you were from the galaxy… So who are you exactly? And why are you here on Earth?"
Adonis tensed at this, knowing he would be screwed if Jaeger talked. Still, there was the part of him wanted to see Andromeda take down Virgil and free him from his immortal curse. Taking off his mask, he glared at Jaeger. "You heard her… talk or I'll make you talk." He stated, pressing a different button on his staff and electricity at the end of it sparked.
Jaeger saw the sparks at the end of Adonis' staff and looked up at the redhead. Narrowing his eyes at him, he sighed in defeat. "My name is Jaeger… I am, how you Earthlings use the term… an assassin," he began to reveal his identity and looked at all of them. "I came here to spy and study you sailor senshi."
Mars suddenly tensed at this information. Her eyes landed on Adonis, wondering if he had a hand in this. With the way the redhead was right now, it seemed like Jaeger put him on edge.
"Who sent you to spy on us?" Venus demanded, thinking this was something their Moon Princess should know.
"Like I'd tell a girl scout like you my intentions," Jaeger said with disgust and then felt him self get electrocuted by Adonis' staff. Recoiling in pain, he groaned and looked up at the goddess of love. "Alright, the man who sent me was Virgil!"
Andromeda's eyebrows furrowed, lavender eyes focused on the humanoid cheetah. The name echoed in her mind, like she heard it before but couldn't remember where. "Virgil?" she whispered. Was that the name of the knight with the copper markings? "What do you know about Virgil?"
Jaeger looked at the brunette, studying her with intent. Was this the girl Virgil wanted to suffer? Yes, it all made sense now. "No one knows what Virgil looks like," he was telling the truth. All he could remember was his voice when he was getting his cybernetic implants through his surgery. "However, he is a very smart and calculating man… Always making plans or pulling strings from behind the scenes."
Pluto took in this information, knowing that she could finally pass this onto Michiru. At least she finally had something to follow up on.
"In fact, your friend with the red hair knows more than he lets on," Jaeger said, his predator-like eyes landing on Adonis and smirked. He just ousted Adonis' secret, revealing that he and the Steel Knights knew than they let on.
Mars glared at Adonis, knowing there was something fishy about the red haired knight.
Venus looked at the redhead with blue eyes, filled with a mixture of hurt and disappointment. She wanted to think he was different from his mission hardened comrades.
Andromeda looked at Adonis and then down to Jaeger. "If that's the case," she said, pulling her foot away from Jaeger.
Jaeger looked at Andromeda with confusion, and then felt her foot make contact where the sun didn't shine. In response, he made an exaggerated face and howled in pain that was a mixture of comical and hurtful at the same time.
Venus cringed at the mere sight of the brunette's 'assault' on the feline assassin.
"That's for causing everyone so much pain and trouble you pesky cat!" Andromeda accused Jaeger of all the conflict that started at the mall. Turning away from him, she turned to face the others and sighed. "So, what do we do with him now?"
"I'll take care of him," Adonis spoke up, gaining everyone's attention as he walked over to Jaeger. However, he was met with a fiery arrow from Mars' Flame Sniper, along with Andromeda's armored gauntlet that emitted sound vibrations. "Whoa, easy with the-"
"You don't get to make that call," Mars said in a serious tone, doing her best to control her temper.
Andromeda stayed quiet, her gaze narrowed at the redhead before her and studied him with great intent. "What did Jaeger mean by you knew more than you let on?" she asked in a deathly calm tone. She was tired of these secrets, being regarded as this princess, getting memories of a past life she had no idea about, and the Steel Knights hiding their true agenda. "And you better choose your words carefully."
Adonis looked at the two with a serious expression, remaining wary of them. 'I don't want to attack anyone, especially my princess,' he thought, swallowing the lump in his throat as he gulped.
"Halt your attacks girls."
Adonis was surprised when Venus commanded them to do so, breathing a sigh of relief. "Venus… I thank you for your reasoning." He said and then saw she got serious. "But I suppose that's not going to be easy, is it?"
"Zip it Adonis," Venus said in a sharp tone in her voice, walking over to him and looked into his green eyes. "It's obvious you know this cheetah, so start talking… how do you know him?"
"I suppose the cats out of the bag," Adonis mumbled under his breath and looked at Venus with a calm expression on his face. "After Andromeda fell… my comrades and I discarded out noble rankings and took on the lives of mercenaries. Over the years, we've come across some nasty criminals with hefty bounties on their heads." He remembered all the various faces of the bad guys he and his friends captured. It was a means to an end in order to survive. "We took each one down over the years, and our group became well known throughout the cosmos… With our growing reputation, we took on jobs that no one else could handle. The dangerous the baddie, the more money was involved."
"So you ran away like a coward when your planet needed you the most," Mars shot out towards the red haired knight, the fire within her arrow flaring up that reflected her emotions. It angered her, at how this man and his friends could abandon their planet, their kingdom, and loyalty to not just their home but their princess as well. "That's unforgiveable! You make me sick!"
"Our planet was sucked into… God knows what plane of existence!" Adonis shouted in anger, clenching his fist and looked at Mars with anger in his eyes. He couldn't blame the senshi of fire and passion, she was right. However, she wouldn't understand. None of them would. "You don't think I have regrets? I try not to think about abandoning everything and having to start over from scratch!"
Andromeda studied his facial expression, the vibrations within his emotional aura was a mixture of anger and guilt. There were some things that Adonis wasn't spilling but in regards to how he talked to Mars, it was obvious that he was in emotional pain. This was something she related to, having lost everything in the past and being a shell of her former self. Still, she needed answers about some things, before tempers started to flare and she'd lose her chance about who she was to Adonis.
"It's not easy," Andromeda inquired, lowering her armored gauntlet to show that she wasn't going to attack him. "You lost not only your home, but your friends and loved ones as well. All the while you're trying to figure out what do… I bet it's not real easy."
Adonis looked at Andromeda with a surprised look on his face, seeing the brunette was reaching out to him. It reminded him of his princess, where she wanted to help not just her friends, but her people as well. She cared about their needs and well being in order to make sure they were happy and content.
"No, it was scary." Adonis answered before he let out a sad sigh.
"But you had your friends," Andromeda reminded him, knowing his situation was the complete opposite from hers but that wasn't important right now.
"Yes, but we were all going through the process of what happened to our planet," Adonis said, reflecting how he and each of his friends were in their own world of trying to connect the dots on how it went bad and down hill with their leader's 'revolution' to recreate order and start anew. "It was so bad that we didn't talk to each other until someone was brave enough to bring it up."
Pluto listened to Adonis open up about what happened. Clearly he seemed to know what happened, but there were details that were kept close to him.
"I see you cared about your… our home," Andromeda said, slowly walking over to Adonis and kept it that way as a means to not startle him. Out of all the knights, he seemed to be the most civil and to see him like this made her see a different side to him. One that was full of anger and regret. "When I get flashbacks from my previous life, I see you in there… Who was I…? I mean, who was Princess Destiny to you?"
Adonis looked at Andromeda, studying her eyes to learn of her intentions. He might as well tell her the truth, of how the princess was important to him. "The princess was like a little sister to me and very similar to you, she had a dry sense of humor and sarcasm, but she was also whimsical in order to make her people or her friends smile."
Andromeda was surprised by this piece of information. So she and her Silver Millennium counterpart had the same sense of humor. 'I always used my humor to help me mask my fear or put into a situation where I wasn't comfortable in,' she thought, as she felt some flashbacks kick in. She saw herself within a room where she confined in Adonis about how Zhane was possessive and needed to take the hint of needing to give her some space, along with the Outer Senshi under her leadership to be battle hardened in order to face outside threats.
"We were friends…" the brown-haired senshi's voice trailed off, making sense of it as more memories came flooding back in. There was a humorous moment where Destiny pulled a prank on Adonis and he let out a shrill of a scream when Destiny scared him. Then there were times when the two pulled pranks on the Steel Knights where the highlights of their armor were turned to pink and Zhane threw a fit. "… Oh my God, she was a prankster just like me."
Adonis didn't react at all to that, only acknowledging that the young girl finally started to see how she and her counterpart weren't so different.
"So what happened to the planet?" Mars demanded, wanting to get back onto the subject at hand. It was for Andromeda's sake to know what happened to her planet and she didn't have the time to go down memory lane. "Why did you leave it?"
"Mars, calm down," Venus placed her hand on her fiery lover's shoulder gently. She understood the ravenette's fury but she couldn't allow her to do something that would jeopardize their mission.
"I want this bastard gone," Mars hissed, wanting so badly to take out both Adonis and Jaeger. Not only did this redhead come to this planet, seeking a senshi they didn't know about, but attracted a criminal that he and his comrades fought, along with various other criminals that would come to Earth for some unknown purpose by this Virgil. "He and his friends are threat to this planet."
Pluto continued to stand back, watching as both senshi of Mars and Venus try to reason their actions. She would step in if she had to but she knew her friends well enough to not cross the line. Yet, this whole ordeal with the Steel Knights did become unpredictable.
Adonis looked back at Mars, nostrils flaring and narrowed his eyes at her. It was clear that the Marsian senshi didn't have patience for this type of thing. Also, it was too painful to remember, seeing those that he cared about to be consumed by the darkness.
"We need to know what happened," Andromeda said, knowing her voice would calm the emotionally guarded redhead. If they were connected somehow, she needed his help in order to understand what happened and gain insight of how to bring their home back. "Please, if I am your princess, I want to help you… we need to understand each other in order to work together."
"I don't know how it happened, but the planet was ravaged by war," Adonis began to know into the knowledge of what he knew and revealed it to the senshi. "However, the people were infected by dark energy and became possessed… only those who remained uninfected were lucky."
Pluto's mind started to get flashbacks, starting to remember a tale so many years ago about what happened on Saturn. Then it happened on the planet Andromeda and battled along side her fellow Outer Senshi in order to help whatever was left of the Andromedian society fight off the infected. "If you knew what happened, why didn't you come to one of the other planets of the outer solar system?" she asked.
"We didn't want to take the chance of us possibly being infected and have it spread like wildfire," Adonis expressed it like it was the honest truth, but the guilt of not being by his princess' side was enough to make him be angry at himself.
"Do you know… what happened to your princess?" Andromeda asked, knowing she was going into a territory that she didn't want to explore.
Adonis closed his eyes shut, flashing his teeth in anger. "I don't know what happened per say… all I know is that I was told you… I mean she fought off the infected valiantly in order to make sure they didn't leave your planet." He said, picking up Jaeger and looked at the wanted fugitive.
Andromeda's lavender eyes moved to look at the floor, sensing that something devastating happened to the redhead's princess. No, her past self making the choice to stay behind and sacrifice her life in order to make sure her friends weren't infected. "Hold on, I need you to answer one more thing for me," she spoke up before anything else could happen. "When I first came to Japan, I've had this dream, of a man in armor and markings similar to your's but his were copper… do you know that person and if he was from the same group as you?"
Pluto looked at Andromeda, just finding out about this now. Whoever this person was seemed to be at the center of it all.
This caused a surprise look to appear on Adonis' features, but he slowly frowned at the mention of the descriptions of this person. "The person you speak of is General Invictus… he wasn't just my leader, but a friend and father figure to those that knew him."
"General Invictus…" the name rolled off the time guardian's tongue as she whispered it. Memories started to pour into her mind, seeing a man with black hair and silver bangs, being around each of the planet's royal families for private gatherings to discuss some manners about the 'dark energy' and where it originated from. "What happened to him?" Pluto asked, needing to know if this person was behind Andromeda's downfall.
"He died when the infection manifested itself," Adonis answered in a bitter tone, looking at the emerald haired senshi with a cold look in his eyes. He let a sigh escape, knowing it wasn't Pluto's fault but there were some demons that couldn't be let go so easily. "If anything, he died from his own madness."
Venus regarded Adonis' words calmly, taking in what he said. She never knew what happened in the outer senshi's solar system. Still, she couldn't help but get a feel on why Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto had to hardened themselves in battle. Turning to Mars, she pointed to her to get Adonis' jacket and she walked over to him. "I'm very sorry about what happened to your planet Adonis," she said, approaching him cautiously and pulled her fist back as she decked him hard in the face. "However, if you and your comrades get the idea of double crossing the senshi… Consider yourself toast."
Adonis felt a fist make contact with his right eye, shocked at how strong the senshi of love was. Then felt a fabric be thrown onto his head and pulled it off to see a deathly calm Mars with a pissed off look in her eyes.
"I'd take the warning to heart if I were you." Mars said, crossing her arms under her breasts and already she gave off the vibe that she wanted Adonis gone.
Adonis took the words to heart, holding Jaeger and his jacket in one arm. Turning his attention to Andromeda he said, "I'm sorry things couldn't turn out better… my princess," while regarding her with a sad look.
"Yeah, I'm sorry too," Andromeda muttered in a low voice, watching him teleport away and sighed. Since the night had come to an end, she took in this information and knew she had to keep her guardian up to date. "Well, so much for having a quiet evening." She added while detransforming
"Hey, I snuck the tracer in his jacket, that's not a total waste," Rei said as she also returned to her civilian form as well. If anything, the night wasn't a total bust. "It was a mission first and having fun came second."
"True, but who would think the guy had a laundry list of secrets," Minako shook her head in disgust. She may have wanted to know about his life on Andromeda, but after tonight it left her not wanting to know. "Anyway, the mood's gone and to be honest I'm ready to call in for the night."
"I wouldn't be so hasty Minako-chan," Setsuna spoke up, thinking her friends shouldn't let their battle get their mood down. "Even though we may have insight of what happened to Dallas-chan's planet, we shouldn't let that bring us down."
"Than what do you suggest?" Minako asked with curiosity, wondering what Setsuna was insinuating.
"How about we do something together," Setsuna suggested with an all knowing look in her eyes. Just because she was a senshi and had a duty to fulfill, didn't mean she was allowed to have fun. "It doesn't need to be extravagant in order to have a good time."
The curious blonde took Setsuna's 'cryptic message' to thought and a light bulb clicked within her brain. "Oh, I know, how about we all meet up at Rei-chan's place to watch a movie!" she exclaimed as excitement renewed her faith in salvaging the night. "And Dallas-chan gets to pick the movie!"
"Oh, I know just the movie to introduce you gals to." Dallas said with a smirk, turning her attention to the time guardian. She regarded her as a friend and felt like she should be included. "Do you want to join us Setsuna-san? I don't know if you like movies or watching anything in general, but it'd be nice if you came."
Normally the older woman would politely decline, but something was different in the air. Clearly she and Dallas had been spending time getting to know one another. When she wasn't guarding the gates, she found time to herself in reading a good book in her bedroom or tagging along with Haruka and Michiru in whatever endeavors one of them had planned. "I don't see why not," she said with a polite smile that formed on her dark lips. "I will need to go back to my place and pick up a change of clothes though." She added. Still, a movie night is what the group needed. It would help take their minds off of what happened and enjoy each other's company.
…
Back within the Steel Knights penthouse, Adonis was already finishing the job and electrocuted Jaeger to a crisp with the electricity from his staff. 'We should have killed you and the many criminals we've encountered throughout the galaxy,' he thought. Feeling anger take over, he turned the energy from his staff up to the max and blasted the feline assassin's corpse into oblivion.
"Whoa," a familiar silver-haired knight walked in, seeing Adonis looking rather pissed and looked him over. "I thought I was the one who only did the 'over killing it' routine."
The redhead turned his attention to see it was Zhane. As he took a deep breath, he walked over to him and pulled him into his arms. "I'm sorry… I should've been there for you when we weren't just in the knights, but also when we were out in the galaxy as well." He muttered under his breath.
Zhane was surprised by the sudden regret in Adonis' voice, pulling back but kept him at arms left. He noticed the black eye his friend had gotten which instantly put him in a concerned mood. "Who did this to you? How did you get that?" he asked with a hint of anger in his voice.
Flinching at the sudden hint of anger that Zhane expressed, Adonis sighed and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's no big deal," he answered with a sigh. "My date with… Venus… didn't go so well and I ended up getting a shiner from her."
Zhane shook his head, knowing he probably should've told him not to go on a date with one of the senshi. Still, he was curious what caused the incident. "Did anything else happen?" he asked.
"Yeah, I had to tell the senshi the truth about what we did… and I told our princess the truth about the infection," Adonis answered when he saw the tense look on Zhane's face.
Zhane didn't like being reminded of the infection. The mere thought of his people being possessed by the dark energy and losing their humanity. It wasn't something he didn't want to live through again.
As a frown was shown on his features, Adonis walked over to Zhane and pulled him into a tight embrace and rubbed his back to sooth his nerves. "It's okay Z… I'm here," he said in a low voice.
"What's the matter Zhane? Having bad thoughts of what happened to Andromeda?"
Adonis' body tensed, turning his head sideways to give Virgil a glare. He kept his arms around Zhane, not wanting his commander to feel like he was abandoned. "Why did you send Jaeger to where I was? Was it to 'teach me a lesson' or 'to kill our princess'?" he demanded.
Virgil raised an eyebrow, as he found it fascinating that Jaeger went to the same location where Adonis and Dallas were. Still, it didn't matter to him as long as the feline assassin did his job. "Calm yourself, I didn't give Jaeger any orders," he reassured him.
"Well good, because he ratted out your name to the senshi," Adonis said, watching the dual-eyed male suddenly tense and this caused the older man to smile. "That's right. Your real name is out in the open now. And I told the princess about the infection." He explained as he watched Virgil get angry.
Zhane looked at Adonis with surprise, not knowing this had happened while his comrade was out on a date.
Virgil couldn't help but allow the anger to consume his mind. Whenever he was like this, things weren't pretty. His hands and eyes started to glow, displaying a familiar purple aura of dark energy. All he could think about was how he wanted to make the sailor senshi suffer, for their existence. Along with the Outer Senshi for wanting to kill Hotaru, including any trace of the senshi that came from the Plutonian and Andromedian royal families.
"You're going to suffer Adonis," Virgil said in a voice that expressed such hatred and anger.
Zhane growled as he stepped away from Adonis and stood in front of him. "Calm down Virgil!" he barked, amber eyes narrowed at the younger male. "Your tantrum of getting your name exposed isn't going to solve anything."
"But it means Hotaru will know what I did!" Virgil yelled at the silver haired Andromedian, taking a step towards him. "She's the same as me, an outcast!"
Zhane cringed at Virgil's words, but he knew what the younger man meant. "That's not true," he said, thinking he should try a different approach. "You were always regarded as part of the Steel Knights. Your father made sure of that."
"My father was a lot of things, but he knew my heart always belonged to the planet Saturn," Virgil said out loud, revealing a part of himself like he always did. He wasn't like the other Andromedians. He was a half-breed, being the son of an Andromedian general and a Saturnian who betrayed her planet. "He told me my godmother was going to be the princess of Saturn… I was born on that planet as well!"
"What's going on here?" Derrick barged in. He then saw what was going on, as he kept his mouth shut. 'This isn't good,' he thought as he remembered the last time Virgil was like this. "Virgil, you need to calm down."
Virgil whipped around, about to speak his mind until he saw it was Derrick. "D-Derrick… I'm sorry," he apologized, looking down at the ground and forcibly closed his eyes. "I didn't mean to lose control…"
"It's alright," Derrick said, placing his hand on Virgil's shoulder. He knew that with Invictus gone, the muscular Andromedian had to step up and be the father figure Virgil needed. Being born with his mother's powers was a curse, so only those from Invictus' inner circle knew of Virgil's secret. "How about you go and get some rest… it'll help ease your mind."
Virgil nodded his head, running a hand through his white bangs as he walked out of the room they were in. He couldn't help but allow a smirk to cross his lips. 'They shouldn't underestimate my power…In fact, I'll make sure the Moon princess and her friends know what terror is,' he thought with a twisted smirk. 'Not only that, but I'll make sure Hotaru reclaims her place as the one true heir.' He added. After all, he was the only one who knew how to get the planet Andromeda out of the dimension it was stuck in. He needed the proper leverage.
Derrick watched Virgil leave and turned to look at his commander. Even if he was older than him, he knew when to step in and be the role model the Steel Knights needed. "Virgil is getting worse," he said to Zhane, inwardly biting his lower lip. "I'm concerned for your brother."
"He's not my brother when you consider Invictus adopting me into his life," Zhane let out a sigh, going to lean against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. After he was saved by the previous Outer Senshi from the dark energy experiments within a hidden laboratory on the planet Uranus, Virgil's father adopted him and treated him like he was apart of the family. "Virgil despises my existence, that's all there is to it."
"Regardless, Invictus wanted to make sure you had a home," Derrick reminded his commander, knowing the journey Zhane took in order to recover and how Invictus gave the silver haired male purpose.
"He made me his second-in-command of the Steel Knights instead of you or Virgil," Zhane said as he looked at the brown haired man with a calm expression. He knew that when he was assigned the position, Virgil's disdain for the silver haired Andromedian increased. "Even if I worked hard like the rest of the knights… it felt wrong."
"I know, but Invictus saw what was in you and he helped shape you into the soldier you could be," Derrick said, thinking Zhane was being too hard on himself. If anything, he knew his commander fought with valiant and honor, wanting to make his people and kingdom proud for the right reasons, and wanted to be apart of the planet's history as a brave soldier. "You want to make sure your planet is remembered for not it's fighting prowess, but how the planet was loyal to both solar systems."
"But how can we prove that when no one remembers our planet?" Zhane challenged Derrick with that question, amber eyes meeting with the chestnut ones. "And if they did, they'll remember what happened… all because Invictus wanted to start a 'revolution' and he got it!"
Adonis watched his friend leave the room, turning his attention to Derrick. "He doesn't mean it," he reassured the large man with a wink. "Have a good night big guy!" he added before he left the room. Once he did, his friendly expression changed to a frown. It wasn't easy to change Zhane's mind and he couldn't blame him. Despite Invictus' 'noble intentions', the man was consumed with revenge for wanting to avenge the death of his wife and unit, and held a lot of people responsible for what happened on Saturn. He didn't know what happened in Invictus' early years as a solider but Derrick did. His comrade remained tight lipped about it for many years, and Adonis knew in his gut that some secrets were about to be revealed regardless of its intentions.
…
The group of females gathered at Rei's temple within her room, watching a movie that Dallas picked out. It was one of those superhero movies created by Marvel Studios, and so far Dallas and Minako were very engrossed in it. The way the actress who portrayed Carol Danvers didn't allow people to put her down and fought back against enemies with raw strength.
"Brie Larson certainly knows how to portray a good Carol," Dallas commented with a smile, her lavender eyes focused at how Captain Marvel fought against the Kree Empire and defeated Yon-Rogg. "Seriously, she is one strong powerhouse."
"True, but I think that cat… Goose… really is adorable," Minako smiled, grinning as a thought popped into her head. "You know, she is a fan of Sailor V." she added.
This caught Dallas' attention, looking at Minako with intrigue. She waited until the movie was over and turned her attention to the older blonde. "Really, Brie likes Sailor V, I mean your other alter ego?" she asked with a surprised look on her friend.
"Well, I follow interviews that are centered about Sailor V," Minako explained, thinking she'd let the young girl in on her secret. "After all, I do have action figures, manga, anime, and other merchandise modeled after my old alter ego."
Dallas was surprised that she didn't follow this. Now she had something to look forward to while staying in Japan. "Seriously, how did I not know about this? Now I have to add this to my list of what manga to shop for." She said with a smile.
"Oh, I thought you liked comic books!" Minako was surprised the young brunette was interested in such things.
A smile formed on Dallas' mouth, rubbing the back of her head. "Well, there are a few exceptions like Frank Miller's Daredevil, Chris Claremont's X-Men, and Stan Lee's Spider-Man," she told Minako which books she liked. "But if I had to choose some personal favorites for manga, I'd go with Cardcaptor Sakura, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Inu-Yasha, and the one I'm currently reading is My Hero Academia."
Koda and Artemis stared at the two females talking, with the canine guardian smiling to him self. 'Now this is what I like to see,' he thought, glad that Dallas was bonding with the senshi and finding some common interests with them.
"You seem pretty happy," Artemis noted when he looked at Koda's expression.
"Well, it's kind of nice to see my girl find some friends," the German Shepherd said, gold eyes turning to the white tomcat now. "Listen, I'm sorry about shaking your basket while you were in it… I was frustrated on how I couldn't be there for Dallas and afraid of what she could become. When she saw the sight of that dinosaur being… vanquished… it left her unsettled. She thought Sailor Moon killed it."
Artemis sighed, seeing that the canine guardian and the American senshi did things differently. While they did share about what adversaries Dallas and Minako faced in their countries, it was clear that the two needed to talk about the evils they faced.
"Believe me, it's not easy with what they do," The white tomcat spoke up, closing his eyes and remembered when Minako as Sailor V had faced her first enemy and it left her unsettled. "Minako was… very devastated with what she did."
"How did she cope with it?" Koda asked, being serious about Minako's experience as a sailor senshi.
Artemis remained unfazed, reopening them and focused on Koda. There was no snarky or sarcastic comments, just genuine concern and curiosity on how to relate to the older woman. "Minako had to focus on what was important, protecting the lives of those she knew and innocent people," he answered as he laid down the truth as it was plain and simple. "It was them or her, so she chose to live for herself and do what's right."
Koda knew Artemis told the truth and he had to acknowledge that protecting those important to someone came first. "I can imagine," he muttered in a low voice, then refocused back onto the white cat. "But again, Dallas is used to facing more grounded stuff and criminals that are human."
"Minako used to face criminals as well," Artemis countered, remembering how his mistress used to help Katarina catch a few bad guys here and there when nothing major was going on. "But she made the decision to fulfill her destiny by uniting with the other senshi and face the evil from the Dark Kingdom."
"Well, 'destiny' or 'no destiny', I hope Dallas doesn't get screwed," Koda said in a somewhat cynical way, and his eyes focused on Setsuna. He really did start to get his memories back, thinking that she was important to Dallas and respected that. However, the last thing he wanted was for her to get involved with the Steel Knights and hoped that Setsuna would protect her.
Setsuna watched Dallas and Minako converse, thinking it was nice to see the young girl slowly open up to her sisters in arms.
"It must be fun watching other people converse."
Setsuna turned to look at Rei, regarding her young friend with a nod. "I merely enjoy being in the company of others," she admitted, giving the fire senshi her full attention. "I heard Dallas-chan had fun with you and Minako-chan last night."
"Yeah, she's actually pretty easy going," Rei said, remembering she bonded with the brunette and got to know the young girl. "In fact, she told me why she was really here… Her best friend's dad is the cause of it."
"I know," Setsuna said, looking at Rei with a serious look on her face and surprised the ravenette about this knowledge. "However, I'd like to hear it from Dallas-chan though… it doesn't hurt to do some research on what goes on in her country."
Rei's features went to being calm now and nodded in understanding. She supposed that it didn't hurt to look into what things went down in Dallas' neighborhood in Philadelphia. "You might want to check with her first though," she suggested and amethyst eyes focused on the time guardian. "I know you, Haruka, and Michiru are privy at times."
Setsuna's features didn't falter. Rei's words rung true, knowing that the Outer Senshi were very secretive when it came to their mission when they faced the Death Busters. 'I know we're all united now as a team…if the Steel Knights have any intention of forcing Dallas-chan onto their side, I need to make sure she stays with the senshi,' she thought, knowing Adonis' back story of what happened to Dallas' planet made her determined to look into it now.
"However, we respect you and your family's personal space when it comes to your lives," Rei smiled at the older woman, placing a hand on the time guardian's hand. "Don't forget that we're your friends too."
Setsuna's garnet eyes softened at Rei's kind words. Looking at her watch, she closed her eyes and knew she was needed elsewhere.
Dallas continued talking to Minako, but turned her head to see Setsuna talking with Rei and watched her friend stand up. "Setsuna-san, you're leaving so soon?" she asked, confused as to why she was leaving.
"Unfortunately yes… I must tell Haruka and Michiru of what I've discovered tonight," Setsuna informed her young friend, knowing that both her sisters in arms needed to be kept in the loop about what happened.
"Are you sure you can't stay?" Dallas asked, knowing she wasn't emotionally attached to the older woman in anyway. "I… I don't want you to feel like you're being left out or anything."
Setsuna couldn't help but express a small smile, seeing the brunette was kind to make her feel included. "Why, do you not enjoy the company of your new friends?" she asked with a hint of teasing.
Lavender eyes widened in surprise, making the brunette think she'd offended Rei and Minako somehow. "Oh, no, it's just…" her voice trailed off, seeing the look in the time guardian's eyes and caused Dallas to sweat drop. "You sneaky little devil." She said as she couldn't believe she fell for it.
"Just don't get into too much mischief," Setsuna said, walking over to Dallas and gazed at her. "I'm glad we got to work together."
Dallas took in the time guardian's words, showing a small smile and dipped her head in respect. "Thank you… It was good getting to work with you too Setsuna-san," she said in a genuine tone.
Setsuna nodded her head in acknowledgement, saying good night to the others as she left. Despite circumstances, she would've liked to have stayed over. However, it was important to let Michiru know that her quest to get questions out of Jaeger wasn't all for naught.
As she walked out of Rei's home, she looked up at the night sky. Memories of the past life started to come back to her, getting several of them.
She was in a throne room, taking a vow to protect not just her planet and duty as a senshi, but to protect the Moon Kingdom from outside threats. Next came what appeared to be a younger version of herself and her senshi in arms when they were kids, in a class room on the planet Andromeda learning about the history of the planet Saturn. Another was a training session that was interrupted when Andromeda and Uranus got themselves into trouble.
Setsuna closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and felt the impact of these memories to place a hand on her forehead. "Hmmm, it seems my memories are slowly turning," she says to herself in a low voice.
However, another memory popped in. This one was different, as she saw her self being confronted by General Invictus, but Princess Destiny was there to prevent whatever it was from the general of having his way.
The emerald haired time keeper's body tensed now. Whoever this General Invictus was, he seemed to be connected to Dallas' past self and the Outer Senshi somehow. For all she knew, he seemed to be a threat. Was Adonis' tale about him a lie and he could be alive? She would have to ask Dallas if she felt any change within his emotions, and if he was lying.
As the morning pulled by at Rei's home, Dallas had gotten up extra early and wore her armored gauntlets. Seeing the sight of a sleeping Rei and Minako, cuddling under the sheets of Rei's bed brought a grin to the brunette's face.
'Oh, sleep the peaceful sleep you two,' she thought in a mischievous way, tip toeing to the bed like a ninja on a stealth mission.
Minako steered a bit, causing her to groan in her sleep in a cute way.
Having stopped at the sound of the blonde idol's voice, Dallas breathed out a quiet sigh of relief. She would be screwed if Minako woke up and have to explain why she was up so early. As she made her way to Rei's bed, her hands reached out and touched the top and bottom of the bed, prepared to pull her prank.
Rei pulled Minako close to her, her hand digging through the long locks of pale blonde hair. However, she felt her bed shake and yelped in surprise.
"Ah! Earthquake! Earthquake! Earthquake!"
Minako suddenly woke up, wailing in a comical way and clutched onto her dark haired lover. "Ah, Reiko, it's an earthquake! We're all gonna die!" she shouted while using her lover's pet name.
Body shooting up fast, Rei's eyes had a dizzy look to them and shook her head. Turning to see a familiar mischievous brunette caused the hot headed miko to grow. "Dallas-chan!" she gave Dallas the most deadly glare, one to scare anyone that dared cross her. "What's the big idea waking us up?!"
Dallas snorted, covering her mouth with her hand and couldn't help but look at Rei's face. It was so funny, the way her hair was all messed up, her expression filled with comical anger, and eyes narrowed at her. "Oh nothing," she began to talk, trying to contain her laughter. "I just wanted to see the looks on your faces when I pulled my prank on you." She finished as she laughed.
Rei couldn't help but stare at Dallas, wanting to strangle her but she couldn't. Due to Minako clinging onto her, she begrudgingly complied.
"Reiko, come back to bed," Minako groaned in a low voice, nuzzling into her shoulder. Turning her gaze to Dallas, she gave her a slight glare. "You're extremely lucky I'm keeping Rei-chan from killing you Dallas-chan."
"I'm sorry Minako-san, I didn't mean to wake you up but like I said I couldn't resist," Dallas said, her hand reaching out and ruffled the blonde's hair. "You're expression was worth it though. 'Ah! We're all gonna die!'" she imitated Minako and the way she said it and laughed again.
Minako in particular wasn't amused, scowling slightly and turned her head away from Dallas.
"Keep it down you kids," Koda spoke up, covering his ears from all the talking. "The adults are trying to sleep."
Artemis cracked one eye open, knowing full well how much his blonde mistress enjoyed her sleep. Yet he spotted two white and purple armored gauntlets on Dallas' arms, hoping he wasn't seeing things.
"Say, are those your… gauntlets?" the white tomcat asked with grogginess in his voice.
"Yep!" Dallas answered with pride, looking at her gauntlets she made way back at the beginning of her first year in high school. "These babies are my pride and joy."
Koda's eyes shot open at that, not having an amused expression on his face. "Oh no, don't tell me you the 'earthquake' prank on them." He grumbled.
Rei picked this up, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes and looked at Dallas' guardian. "Wait, you're telling me she's done this before?" she asked.
"Yes, sometimes I'm the victim of her pranks," Koda answered, as the words he spoke seemed to bring back flashbacks from his past life.
He was teaching the Outer Senshi about the history of the inner and outer solar systems, but was interrupted by princesses of Andromeda and Uranus' spit ball war. Then there was a prank that Destiny had planned for Uranus, with a bucket of water at the edge of the door, and instead Koda ended up being the victim. Finally, Destiny was offering Uranus something as a gift, but Koda took it anyway and ended up freaking at when it was confetti and a note that sign 'Gotcha Uranus!' on it.
"In fact, I think Dallas' past self was a prankster, and somehow she and Uranus of the past life were pranksters… In fact, it's coming back now… the two of you were trouble makers."
Dallas blinked, suddenly the memories started to fall in. It was mostly amusing ones, but she ended up having a guilty smile on her face and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, it's not my fault I like seeing peoples' reactions… I mean, I noticed how Reinako reacted and they are a gold mine for being highly animated." She explained.
Rei didn't know how to respond to that. In fact, she didn't care as she got out of bed and sighed. She was up, so she might as well see if her grandfather needed her to do some chores.
Minako groaned in a cute way, not liking how her cuddle time with Rei was interrupted. Still, she supposed she could help her lover around the temple. It was one way to spend the day with her and Rei's grandfather let her volunteer sometimes.
"Anyway, how come you're wearing your gauntlets?" Rei asked, not out of curiosity but something to keep her mind off of wanting to strangle the young girl. "And not for pranks. I thought they were only part of your senshi form."
"Oh, I was going to see Mizuno-san if she was available today and if she wanted to help me out in making adjustments to my gear." Dallas answered, feeling like she wanted to neglect she the other senshi and have a chance to get to know them. "I know she was curious on how my gadgets worked, so I figure why not show her while I'm still here."
"Hmmm, it'll certainly keep Ami-chan preoccupied," Rei mused, running a hand through her long raven hair. Especially when the blue-haired genius was taking courses in medical to be a doctor. "But I think you'll have fun with her."
"Yeah, if there's one person that can solve it, it's Ami alright," Artemis chimed in, thinking he could help in some way. "In fact, we have a hidden base within the Game Center Crown if you need an area to work in."
"Really? That's awesome!" Dallas felt like she owed the sailor senshi for their help. Even though she had just met them a week ago, the young brunette couldn't help but find others that were just like her. "I really appreciate the help Artemis."
"It's no big deal," Artemis was modest when he said this, thinking it was the least he could do. "In fact, I'll show you around when we get there."
"Sweet, I'll text Ami and see if she wants to meet up today."
"Anything to get you out of the temple." Rei said, feeling like she was dealing with a kid and needed some time to herself
The brunette looked at Rei with a confused look, rubbing the back of her head. Then it dawned on her quickly and she had a silly grin on her face. "Is it because I woke you and Minako-san up?" she asked and playfully stuck out her tongue.
Rei had an expression that was a mixture of deadpan and annoyed, narrowing her gaze at the brunette that came off as comical.
"Just do what she says Dallas-chan," Minako said as she gave the two females a sideways glance while she was still in bed. "Rei-chan is trying really hard to keep her temper under control, so please don't do anything that involves mischief, alright?"
Dallas could tell Minako was being serious, even when she was trying to get some sleep, was enough to make her see that she needed to reel in her mischievous side and chill out. "Alright, I promise to go easy on the pranks." She said in a defeated tone.
Rei couldn't help but smile, crossing her arms under her breasts.
"For now at least," Dallas said with a sly grin on her lips.
Minako couldn't take it anymore and her body shot up. Someone needed to keep Rei from exploding and it might as well be her. "Alright, I'm up!" she exclaimed, swinging her legs like an anchor and planted her feet to the ground. "I might as well help out too. Seeing how the idea of sleep is out the window."
Artemis couldn't help but sweat drop, letting out a nervous chuckle.
An exasperated sigh escaped from Rei's mouth. She had a feeling Dallas was going to work every emotional nerve in her mind. Not in a mean way, but she knew she was going to have her hands full with a young girl that was spray and full of energy. "Let me find Ojii-san first and see what's on today's list." She said before stopping at the door. "And one more thing Dallas-chan."
"Yes Rei-san?" Dallas asked with an 'oh so innocent' smile.
"Try not to cause trouble, other wise I'll chastise you into oblivion." Rei said in an almost threatening tone that was enough to spend chills down a person's spine.
Yet the brunette before Rei remained unfazed by the threatening tone or the look that Rei gave Dallas. Instead, she walked over to her and hugged the older woman. "Sorry I riled you up… I'll try to go easy on the pranks." she apologized.
Rei was taken aback by the young girl's apology. Still, she returned the hug and ruffled her hair gently. "You're a real trouble maker," she said softly and tightened her embrace around her. "However, it did help get Minako-chan out of bed."
Dallas chuckled, turning her attention to Minako now. "I guess I'll see you around Minako-san," she said with a wink.
Minako managed to form a smile, seeing the brunette walk over to her now to hug her and the blonde idol returned the gesture. "Yeah, I guess so," she said, leaning close to Dallas' ear and whispered, "But now you've given me ideas of how to get back at you." With a sultry tone in her voice.
This caused the brunette to shiver, quickly pulling away and gathered her things as quick as possible. "Come on Koda, let's get out of here!" Dallas made a mad dash out of the temple, not wanting to know what Minako had planned for her.
Rei was surprised at how quickly Dallas moved, trying to comprehend what happened and looked at Minako. "What did you say to her?" she asked.
"I told her that her prank gave me ideas on how to get back at her," Minako answered as she playfully stuck out her tongue.
Rei gave her girlfriend a wary look, hoping it wasn't true.
"Oh relax, I'm not going to do anything to her!" Minako reassured her wary lover. If anything, she only wanted to see how the young girl reacted and didn't expect her to run so fast. Still, it made the blonde idol think back to her school days when she used to run late and had to run like a mad woman in order to get there. "Now come on, what's on today's criteria?"
Rei couldn't help but let out an exaggerated sigh. The day was certainly going to be long. Still, she was glad that she had a lover and friends that were there for her. It made her reflect on Adonis' words, about having to start over. No, she would always be a sailor senshi and would stay loyal to her princess till the end of time itself.
…
Notes: I was debating on how long the action would be in chapter 10, but I decided to make it short because I wanted to fit in the character driven moments. Anyway, it was nice to get the Steel Knights back into the spotlight. Not everything within the group isn't as tightly knit and I wanted to work on the 'brother' reference Virgil mentioned to Hotaru. However, I decided to reel back on my comment about focusing on Dallas and Setsuna, but to focus on her and the rest of the Outer Senshi. The Inner Senshi will still be around and the conclusion to Dallas' time with Rei and Minako comes to a close. Next will be Ami, Makoto, and Hotaru. Also I decided to throw in a reference of Brie Larson being a fan of Sailor Moon and alter it to being Sailor V. :D For now, I will be taking a small break from the story to focus on a one-shot as a means to keep my mental batteries charged for Sailor Moon. Anyway, please read, review, and comment!