Walking Towards Light: Ami Redux
Act 2: A Journey of 6000 Miles
Chapter 10: You Can't Always Get What You Want - wherein Ami struggles with what she wants, and Minako steps up in a big way
Minako's eyes widened in shock. Did Ami just straight up murder someone?
More shots rang out. Ami kept firing. Wait...what was happening? Why were there flower petals coming out of the gun? She didn't know Ami could do that. This was surreal.
Now Ami was kicking the kneeling man in the head. He fell over, hopefully unconscious and not dead as well.
What the bloody fuck? None of this made any sense.
Impossible. Ami just killed someone. In cold blood. This wasn't happening.
Good, this wasn't real. This wasn't happening. Her friend wasn't a murderer. Corpses didn't get up and start laughing. They didn't grow new faces out of bloody hamburger mess...they didn't grow antennas either. She was just imagining everything. This shit didn't happen in real life. Maybe it was mind control? Maybe she was finally having a long overdue psychotic break?
Bloody hell! Fuck her life! What was she thinking? This was her life. She was Aino Minako! The pretty sailor suited senshi Sailor Venus.
Weird shit happened all the time. Minako snapped out of shock the instant she understood the situation.
Ami. Shot a youma. In the face. With a gun.
A youma. That was so reassuring that Minako laughed out loud as she called to her power.
"Venus Crystal Power! Make Up!"
Venus felt Mercury's familiar power ripple out beside her simultaneously.
When the lightshow was over, the two senshi stood back to back, watching the youma literally regroup.
When its mouth grew back. It only had one thing to say.
"WHHHHHAAAAAT!"
No point in introductions then, time to get to work.
"Shine Aqua...Illlusion!"
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"
The heavy boardroom table flew up in response. The attacks shattered the table that now shielded the youma. The broken pieces of the table came flying back at Venus and Mercury.
Venus heard the hiss of the wooden shrapnel flying by her face. Goddamit. It wasn't wood anymore?! The shattered table bits were now all jagged metal pieces. The youma had transformed the broken table into a bloody frag grenade. What kind of a power was this?
Years of experience sent Venus ducking for cover behind a wall. She who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day. The youma transformed a bunch of crates into rocks and them flying around the room now. A whirlwind of fucking boulders a pretty damn good reason to go to ground. She dragged one of the unconscious bad guys out of the crossfire for good measure. Katarina would want them all alive for the trial.
She needed a situation report ASAP. Instinct had her looking for Sailor Mercury.
Venus peered around the corner carefully. The youma was standing in the middle of the room, hurling projectiles at random hoping to end the battle with sheer firepower. Mercury was behind a pillar, she had her ice sword out and...went running straight at the youma.
Kami-sama. The girl was going to get herself killed.
She had to do something to take control of the situation. Mercury was doing well, considering, but this was the single dumbest assault plan she'd ever seen. Too high risk. There had to be a better way. Mercury was fighting like she was alone when they should be fighting as a unit.
Fuck!
"VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!"
The golden chain whipped around Mercury and pulled her out of the path of a flying boulder.
"Mercury! What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Venus pulled her down out of the line of fire.
"The youma, I scanned it. There's some serious damage at the back of its head where the exit wound is. One shot, that's all I need."
"Baka. Stop trying to fight alone. We're a team. Are you with me?"
Mercury nodded. Venus had her trust for now.
"Good. We fight smart then. Lay down some cover. I'm going to circle around and ambush the son of a bitch from behind. Draw it's fire as soon as you see me in position on top of that catwalk. I need the youma distracted long enough to hit it with a Love and Beauty Shock. Understood?
A freezing fog immediately obscured the area. Venus stealthily crawled out of her impromptu staging area and made her way to the elevated catwalk behind the youma.
She got there with no difficulties and flashed a quick V sign at Mercury. The operation was a go.
Mercury stepped out from behind the wall, firing off fast jets of water as she ran across the room.
The youma turned to track it's new target. Venus saw the opening on the back of its head.
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"
One shot, one kill. The youma didn't stand a chance.
There was a loud crash. All of the flying boulders dropped like rocks as the youma disintegrated. When the dust had settled, they were crates again. The warehouse was a disaster zone. Katarina would have to sort all this out. Venus was out of here. She released her Senshi powers, becoming Aino Minako once again.
Minako looked around for her fellow senshi. Last she saw, Mercury was diving behind a pillar. They needed to talk.
Ami was standing amidst the rubble. She called to Minako in a strained voice.
"Minako. I need your help here..."
An unconscious man lay on the ground. The same man that was begging for mercy just before the youma revealed itself. Ami was looking at him with a strange expression.
"If I counted correctly, there should be one more bullet left..."
Minako noticed the gun in her hand then. Her eyes widened briefly before she managed to squash down her rising panic. Focus. Stay calm. Don't escalate. Talk Ami down. Ami didn't want to do this right? She asked for help. Talk her down.
"Ami. Are you alright? I'm here to help you. You can tell me what's going on. I'm listening."
Ami hesitated. Minako held her hands in a gesture of openness. She needed Ami to keep talking.
"This man. This is Dr. Edward Smith. He lured my mother to London. That's how she was possessed by Queen Metaria. This is where it all began. I made a vow. I would destroy the Dark Kingdom, or die trying. This man is Dark Kingdom."
Minako needed Ami to make eye contact with her, anything to break her downward spiral. Ami's hands started shaking. Even an accidental gun discharge now would take her past the point of no return.
"Look at me Ami. I understand. We did that already. We destroyed a youma together just now. You didn't do anything wrong. You haven't hurt him yet Ami. That counts for a lot. We can all walk away from this together ok?"
"I have to do this. I promised I would."
"You don't Ami. I understand why you feel this way, but I need you to put the gun down and slide it over to me slowly. You also promised Usagi that you'd come back."
Ami was staring at the gun now. She turned it over, looking at it like it was something she'd never seen before. Her hands were shaking even harder now. Minako's eyes widened in horror. There was no way she'd be able to get to Ami in time.
"I...can't... do this...anymore."
clink
Ami suddenly slid the rack back and emptied the last bullet from the chamber. She dropped the gun and fell to her knees.
Minako ran over at once and kicked the gun away. She had Ami now.
"Oh gods...if you weren't here...I'm sorry Minako. I need to get out of here right now. I can't do this."
"It's ok...I got you. You're not alone. You've got back up. Katarina is in the car. The local police are on their way. She can take care of things here."
The senshi left the area quietly. Minako felt some guilt that once again, Sailor V had left a half destroyed warehouse behind for Katarina to deal with. She made a mental note to pick up the Mercury Computer from her later and have Ami give her a copy of all the evidence they had on the Blackstone Group. Taking down an organized cabal of criminal financiers...that ought to help make things up to Katarina for all the trouble they just caused.
Back at the hotel, Ami seemed determined to ignore absolutely everything but the data she got from the Blackstone server.
Minako watched her with concern. Her senshi's emotional state was incredibly fragile right now. Justified perhaps, given the circumstances...but also terrifying. The amount of power they each carried... the consequences of just one mistake were dire. Senshi were meant to protect people, not to kill. Ami almost murdered a man today in cold blood. That was a slippery slope that led to a freefall from which there was no return.
There really was no safety net really, except for Usagi. They all believed in the Princess, and she believed unwavering in them. None of the senshi would never do anything to break that trust. Except now possibly for Ami...
Sure, there were times when Minako herself was frustrated with the human world. She was a police officer. There were absolutely nights when she wanted to just jump ahead and crescent beam the drunk driver that just killed a family of 4, or the rapist that was stalking women at the bus station. There was a clear line between wishing and doing. Minako knew that everyone had these types of thoughts at some point or another, but having actual power made that line even harder to walk.
Tonight was too close for comfort. Minako was at a loss as to how to handle a rogue Senshi. She had very deliberately never considered this scenario. It was her worst nightmare.
One step forward, two steps back. At least Ami was focusing on something sort of productive now rather than staring blankly space the way she was before she got her computer back from Katarina.
The computer made a beeping sound. Minako heard Ami mutter something under her breath.
"Ami, what is it?"
"We need to go to Zurich. I sorted through all of Blackstone's shell companies. Their money all traces back to one source. An account with Credit Suisse. If I can get to their physical server, I should be able track where the account is being administered from. That could lead us to whoever this Pandora is."
Ami wanted to hack a Swiss Bank account? Minako was too tired to argue. She was just going to go along with this increasingly fucked up ride. Someone had to ride shotgun with Ami right now. She was in no fit state to take care of herself. She noticed that Ami hadn't eaten or slept since the plane ride to London yesterday. Ugh. Did all that shit really happen in just one day? The jet-lag was throwing her off.
For all the craziness, she still considered Ami one of her best friends, and it killed her to see how much Ami had suffered since the night that her mother died. Minako would never forgive herself if anything happened to Ami under her watch.
Ami reminded Minako of herself after her first kill. She was so young back then, barely a teenager. She didn't fully grasp the implications of the act until much later.
She was thankful that she had Artemis guiding her though everything. On her own, she would have cracked long ago. Ami isolated herself after her first kill – and she had killed her own mother to boot. That had to leave some scars.
Thinking about her early days as Sailor V triggered a memory.
"Pandora... Funny. One of the first villains I faced as Sailor V was named Pandora as well.
"Think there's a connection?"
"Doubt it. I killed her. Melted her with a Crescent Beam."
"Oh..I see...Can I ask you a personal question Minako-chan?"
"Of course. But I get one in return."
Ami accepted those terms.
"How did you deal with things? You've killed before."
Minako nodded slowly, taking her time to resist the urge to make a joke or change the topic. This was clearly important to Ami right now.. She considered her words carefully.
"Many times. More than I care to count. I told myself it had to be done. There were innocent people I had to save, and that given my powers at the time, there wasn't anything else I could have done to save everyone."
"Rei told me that it still bothers you."
"It does...I try hard to move on from where I thought being Sailor V meant that my life would be about fighting and death. Usagi showed me there was a different way. I think that's why I became a cop. I need to keep believing that there are good people in the world to protect, and that I can make a difference. That's not so bad, because then it'll all have been worthwhile...and I'm not alone now. I have all of you fighting at my side. You are all so important to me."
Minako smiled gently at Ami. The smaller girl seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Ok. My question now. Ami...how are you?"
"I'm not sure. I'm still trying to process everything, but I think I worked something out. I didn't pull the trigger. Thank you Minako. I owe you. I'll make it up to you somehow. Thank you."
A solid step forward then. Minako smiled widely at Ami's progress and tossed her a sandwich from her bag.
"You can start by eating this sarnie I got you and then getting some sleep. Cheese and pickle. It's an English thing. Trust me. You look like you need it. I need you alert in case we run into more Dark Kingdom. I got the travel arrangements this time. We should be able to get to Zurich by the end of the week."
A.N.
Continuity notes: Minako kills quite a few Dark Kingdom agents in Codename Sailor V...that can't be good for the mental state of a 13 year old girl...but alas, this is not her story right now :(.
Alternate chapter title- "Another One Bites the Dust"...So long youma What. We hardly knew ye!
I really did want to make a Queen/Freddy Mercury reference in the chapter title (because you know, Sailor Mercury har har), but in the end, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was a better title I think to capture the essence of the chapter.
British song titles...golf clap to any one that noticed the references I slipped into the London based chapter titles. For the record:
West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys
Happiness is a Warm Gun - The Beatles
You Can't Always Get What You Want - The Rolling Stones
It wasn't intentional, but the lyrics of the song "West End Girls" actually had a surprising amount of foreshadowing for this part of the fanfic. How weird is that?
Thus concludes our little trip to London. Ami and Minako's excellent European adventure continues on to Switzerland.
But first, a quick trip back to Tokyo to see how Rei, Mako and Usagi are doing.
Onto Chapter 11!
Thank you for reading! PM/Reviews always appreciated.