Chapter 10
"Mars nearly killed Sean?"
The tone in Neo-Queen Serenity's voice was a mixture of surprise, sadness and most noticeably disappointment. She had sat and silently listened to Sailor Saturn's account of the events that had occurred after she and the other Sailors had left the throne room to engage Carnage as he terrorized the citizens of one of the northern districts of Crystal Tokyo. Her body's posture had continued to shift and became restless as she grew more and more uncomfortable upon hearing the gruesome fates of the young military officers first and then the near fatal injuries Sailors Venus and Jupiter had suffered before finally hearing about the unknown fate of Sailor Neptune as she had taken on Carnage all by herself to allow Sailor Saturn and Mercury to get Venus successfully to the hospital.
Sailor Saturn had chosen to return to the throne room once Sailor Venus had been successfully passed over to Sailor Mercury and her medical team. She had come back mainly to ensure that Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon were protected in case Sailor Neptune failed in her valiant attempt to contain Carnage.
"Yes, my queen. If it wasn't for Jupiter's unexpected confession the threat of Carnage would have surely been eliminated permanently."
"I can't believe that Mars would even be capable of such an act."
Sailor Saturn decided against speaking out against her friend and Queen in defence of her other friend. She could sense that Neo-Queen Serenity was in an intense emotional spiral after just hearing that one of her closest friends almost killed someone who was a former friend of both of them for that matter, in cold blood. It was clear that she felt unbelievably betrayed by someone that she trusted completely and had fought beside dozens of times in the trenches of their many intense battles of the past years.
In addition to that was that in her current position as Queen of Crystal Tokyo she had formally and expressly forbidden any form of activity or tactic that would result in the death of another person. Sailor Mars' offensive action against Carnage could technically be considered an act of treason which was something that was simply unfathomable to anyone who personally knew her or any of the other members of the Sailor team.
"Where is Carnage now?"
King Endyimon leaned forward as he directly asked his question to Sailor Saturn. He too was deeply troubled by the actions of Sailor Mars but he was aware that now was not the time to worry about that. Not while Carnage was still out there and could continue to murder the innocent people that had entrusted their lives to the protection that his kingdom had promised to provide to them. He maintained his gentle grip on his wife's hand and he felt her grasp tighten as she awaited Sailor Saturn's response as well.
"I honestly do not know my king. Sailor Uranus and Mars left after passing Jupiter off to the medical personnel with the intent to return to the spot where Carnage had been. I have not seen or heard from them since that point."
"Your kingdom is falling apart all around you. Your own soldiers are defying you as your subjects continue to be slaughtered like pigs. You were foolish to think that you could change this world from what it really is."
"Silence. We will hear no more of your verbal garbage."
Sailor Saturn and Neo-Queen Serenity turned their heads to look at the person King Endyimon was addressing with the harsh tone of voice. Aldrich Reid was still chained to the shackles bolted to the floor of the throne room. He was standing up and leaning as far forward as the slack in his restraints would allow. He smiled evilly at the three of them as he proceeded to sit back down cross-legged on the white stone floor of the grand chamber. He had been listening to Sailor Saturn's debriefing and couldn't help showing his pleasure in what was going on. He was not intimidated in the slightest by King Endyimon's verbal command and the following intense stare from the monarch's brown eyes as they 'drilled' holes into him. He lowered his head and returned to his 'meditation' state as the effects of his verbal outburst continued to linger in the air of the throne room a little longer.
King Endyimon broke his stare down with Aldrich and leaned back on his throne. Neo-Queen Serenity did the same and tried to re-focus her thoughts on what their next course of action should be. It was clear to Sailor Saturn that they were both trying to make sense of everything that had happened thus far since this crisis had begun.
With Sailor Venus and Jupiter now in the hospital with severe injuries and Sailor Mercury solely devoted to watching over them in case either of their conditions suddenly worsened they were three Sailors down. Sailor Saturn had made the solemn vow to protect the king and queen and would thus remain at their side until Carnage's threat was over. She would go if they ordered her too but having her with them would allow them to maintain a third option in case things went bad. That left only Sailors Uranus, Mars and Neptune to carry out the tasks of tracking down, fighting and hopefully defeating Carnage. However Sailor Mars' recent actions and Sailor Uranus' verbal encouragement of them made their overall current situation even more perplexing.
The giant wooden doors of the throne room suddenly swung open and Sailor Uranus and Mars appeared as they entered the grand and open royal chamber. They each wore a grim expression on their face that was noticed by everyone present in the room. It was the look of someone that had failed in their assigned job and now feared the consequences of their unsuccessful endeavour by their superiors.
Sailor Mars gave a brief glance upwards at Neo-Queen Serenity but the stare that she received back only made her feel even worse inside. She had willingly made the choice to go against her queen's orders to not kill under any circumstances and it was clear that Neo-Queen Serenity was aware of what she had almost done. The unmistakable feeling of betrayal that was radiating off her like ocean waves hitting a sandy beach only made the tension inside the throne room all the more unbearable for Sailor Mars.
"Were you able to find Carnage, Sailor Mars?"
"We are sorry my king. We hurried back to the scene as fast as we could but we were too late. Carnage was no longer there and we were unable to find any sign or direction as to where he could have gone."
"Where's Neptune?"
Sailor Uranus' question cut through the tomb-like atmosphere of the royal chamber and the exchange between Sailor Mars and King Endyimon. It's sudden and unexpected abruptness was also enough to break through the emotional wall that Sailor Mars and Neo-Queen Serenity had become encased in. Sailor Saturn looked first up at King Endyimon before turning back to gaze at her tall blonde friend. She remained silent as she understood that he wanted to be the one to inform their Sailor Uranus about Sailor Neptune's unknown fate.
"She woke up and sensed Carnage's evil getting stronger. She left to assist you in the battle despite our reservations as to her combat readiness."
"You didn't stop her? She almost died by that monster's hand the first time." Sailor Mars exclaimed.
"It doesn't matter now. She is out there now and I am going to go and find her."
Sailor Uranus quickly turned around and began to head towards the main doors of the throne room. She did not attempt to make any eye contact with Sailor Mars or Saturn as she passed by them. Her attention was focused solely on finding Sailor Neptune and dealing with any obstacles that she encountered as she went about in completing that task. She got to the bottom of the first set of stairs and prepared herself to break into a sprint to get out of the Crystal Palace quickly so she could begin her search of the city.
"Sailor Uranus, stop. We need you to stay here and guard the King and myself."
Sailor Uranus stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to look over her shoulder and up at Neo-Queen Serenity. Sailor Mars was the only one that was close enough to her to clearly see her facial expression. The look in her eyes was one of great frustration with more than a hint of anger. It un-nerved Sailor Mars more than she would be willing to admit to see her friend and team mate reacting like this. It would seem that the continued presence of Carnage's evil influence was causing every single one of them to act out of character and do things that were usually considered unthinkable for any of them.
"My queen, I cannot do that. I cannot stay here with the knowledge that she is out there facing that sadistic creature all by herself."
Sailor Uranus turned her head back around and began to quickly walk towards the doors of the royal chamber again. Behind her Neo-Queen Serenity tried and was failing to hide her look of shock at being openly defied by one of her kingdom's central defenders. A metallic jingle let everyone know that Aldrich had also heard Sailor Uranus's response and was taking full enjoyment in the apparent fracturing of the seemingly unbeatable Sailor team.
"Sailor Uranus. Your most important duty is to protect the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo. If any harm comes to us this kingdom and the peace that it provides to the planet Earth will be lost forever. I don't like it at all either that she is out there but she made a choice. If Carnage somehow makes it to the Palace we will need you here to stop him."
Sailor Uranus stopped again in her attempt to leave the throne room and her head visibly dropped down slightly. Even though she did not verbally say it she knew the true meaning behind her queen's choice in words. Her mind recalled the time when she and Neo-Queen Serenity back when she had been Sailor Moon, had been hand-cuffed together by one of the Death Busters' daimons. Sailor Neptune had just been thrown over a cliff and disappeared into the churning waters of the nearby waterfall right after they had been banded together. Sailor Moon had wanted to go back and rescue Neptune while she had opted to flee to safety and preserve their primary mission to find the three sacred talismans. It was at that point that she revealed to Sailor Moon about the pact between her and Neptune to not endanger their chances of completing their assigned task by rescuing or worrying about the other. The irony of their current situation with the roles of Neo-Queen Serenity and her being reversed was not lost on her.
"Fine, I will stay but heaven help that abomination if Neptune falls by his hands."
The anger and almost hateful tone in Sailor Uranus' voice sent chills through everyone. Neo-Queen Serenity tightened her lips into a thin line and King Endyimon rolled his shoulders as he felt his body tense up at the sound of Uranus' statement. Sailor Mars and Saturn tried and failed to hide their surprise and sudden loss of comfortableness about where this situation was quickly heading.
Sailor Mars had almost killed Carnage a couple of hours earlier and she couldn't deny that she was relieved that she hadn't been successful as she wouldn't have been able to live with the resulting shame and guilt. However if Sailor Uranus did indeed act on her vow to destroy Carnage either in defence of the royal couple or in anger if he did kill Neptune, Sailor Mars was absolutely certain the resulting consequences of that single act would tear the Sailor team completely apart.
"I can smell the fear seeping out of all of you like the sweet aroma of ambrosia. You are afraid of what I have unleashed on your kingdom and what he is capable of. You have battled my servant twice now and each time he has nearly killed one or more of you. Surely you are not foolish enough to believe that you will all escape with your lives intact after the inevitable next encounter."
"Shut your mouth or I will make you eat your teeth."
"I do not fear you Uranus so please don't insult me with your meaningless threats. Your queen has forbidden any extreme acts of violence so even if you wanted too you could not hurt me the way I know you want too. However go ahead and prove me wrong. Strike a helpless prisoner in front of your queen and king. Show them the dark side that I can sense creeping up inside you. Sailor Mars almost committed murder today. Let's see if you can do better."
Sailor Uranus gritted her teeth and tightly clenched her fists at her sides as she internally fought the urge to punch Aldrich across his smug face. Her hands visibly shook as the mental struggle raged inside her. All the pain and misery that they had suffered had been a result of this man and she would love nothing more than to repay him back for some of that.
After several tense seconds she was successful in suppressing that impulse as it would not make her feel any better about Neptune and would only increase the almost unbearable level of tension that was hanging thick inside the throne room. She chose instead to turn her back on Aldrich as a demonstration that she was not going to listen to his mind games or let him get her under her skin any longer. She paused for a second or two to calm down before looking up at King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity.
"He does have a point thou. How are we going to stop Carnage when the only thing that is effective against him is something that could also kill him?"
"If we could only separate Sean from the symbiote it might be easier to contain the alien and either re-curse it or destroy it completely."
"The symbiote lives inside Sean's blood right? That is what he said to Mercury and me after he recovered from Mars' attack. What about a blood transfusion? We could have Mercury take out the symbiote-infected blood and replace it with normal human blood. It would ultimately mean the end of Carnage but not the death of Sean."
"I really don't think that would work Saturn. We would have to make sure ALL of Sean's blood was out of his body or else any remaining symbiotic particles would just re-infect the new blood as its being put into Sean and completely defeat the entire purpose of the procedure. My medical knowledge is not as excessive as Mercury's but I am almost positive that Sean wouldn't survive the process of us draining his entire body's blood volume."
"Let's also not forget that the symbiote will not just let us separate it from its host. It will be fighting us with everything it's got. We would first need to think of a way to contain Carnage for longer than a few seconds. Only then can we worry about separating the alien from Sean. Any ideas on how we could do that Sailor Uranus?"
Sailor Uranus did not have a chance to respond as the sound of metal clanging loudly together suddenly appeared from somewhere just outside the throne room. The sounds of the metallic objects hitting each other were quickly joined with loud grunts and shrieks of men and women and the obvious sounds of their individual bodies hitting the ground or surrounding walls. The additional bangs and crashes of fragile objects such as vases and fine china being smashed apart and pieces of furniture being destroyed or thrown around gave everyone inside the royal chamber a very clear idea of what was going on the other side.
"He is here."
As if to emphasize Aldrich's simple and chilling announcement the tall wooden doors of the room's main entrance exploded inward as timber splinters, pieces of cast iron from the doors' hinges and other forms of debris flew through the air like small missiles. The unexpected and explosive disturbance caused the Sailors to shield their faces by either by turning their heads away from the doors or throwing their arms up in front of them in the common form of instinctive protection. Dust, dirt and small pebble debris were also kicked up as a result but not nearly enough to completely obscure the visual scene before them.
As the doors had been busted open two figures had instantly appeared through the exploding hole being made in the entrance way. It was clear that they were the cause of it. They both landed with a pair of painful thuds on the white tiled floor several feet in front of the nearest occupants of the throne room. They were barely conscious and their torn and blood-splattered clothing showed that they had been fighting for their very lives and were almost at the point of physical exhaustion. Everyone in the throne room recognized them and called out to both of them with concern and fear rampant in their voices.
"Sailor Neptune."
"Sailor Pluto."
Sailor Mars rushed forward and knelt down beside Sailor Pluto who the closest to her so that she could offer assistance to her friend. The dust cloud caused by their intense and unanticipated entrance quickly cleared and allowed the Sailors to clearly see the final result of their friends' bodies bursting through the solid wood doors. The hole in the entrance way was about seven feet tall and six feet wide. It was jagged and the broken timbers of the door panels were jagged and sharp like the blade of a sword. The size of the hole in the doors permitted the occupants of the grand chamber to see out into the room outside.
They all peered out into the vast open hallway on the other side as they did not move from their current spots. From each of their individual vantage points they could see several bodies of royal guards scattered among the battle damaged tables and tapestries that furnished the grand space just outside the throne room. They could also see a couple of badly maimed bodies of some of the Crystal Palace's servants which would explain the female screams that they had all heard. Blood could also be seen in several places as it dripped from the pieces of broken furniture and formed puddles on the ground or further stained the walls of the once elaborate hallway.
They all knew exactly who was responsible for those dead guards and servants as well as Neptune and Pluto's current physical conditions and they were not going to recklessly move outside the throne room without knowing exactly where he was first. They all remembered that Carnage was and probably remained a brilliant tactician. There was only one way out of the throne room which meant that they would be sitting ducks as they passed through the threshold if he was indeed waiting for them. The smart thing to do was wait him out and let him reveal himself to them.
They didn't have to wait long for that to happen as it turned out. A pair of red feet suddenly became visible as they appeared from somewhere above the hole in the twin wooden doors. A second later the rest of the red fiend's body dropped down and stood in full view of everyone. The Sailors noticed that Carnage had a tendril wrapped around the neck of a young male servant they all knew as Randolph. He had been a young man that was a few years older than them. His experience in his former life as a hotel room cleaner had allowed him to get a position as a member of the Crystal Palace's domestic help which was a rare occurrence for a male. Each of the Sailors had many past interactions with him and they all thought that he had been one of the nicest people they had ever met.
The way his head and arms hung limply either to the side or underneath him made it clear that he was dead as a result of his neck likely being snapped. The sight of yet another innocent person and someone that they had all personally seen and interacted with on a daily basis falling before this disgusting aberration of nature was the final straw for the Sailors. The threat of Carnage was going to end now regardless of how many of them he took down in the process.
"What cheap materials they make doors out of these days. The people who sell them should be flayed alive and fed to rats but that's only my opinion."
Not one of the Sailors uttered any sort of verbal response to his disturbing and sickening quip. They only continued their cold and focused stares at him and watched for even the slightest hint of movement from his symbiote. The intensity of their glowers could be compared to a high intensity laser beam and would have rivalled Sailor Venus' Crescent Beam attack in terms of raw power if she had been with them. Sailor Neptune and Pluto slowly picked themselves up from their spots on the floor and took quickly positions alongside their comrades.
An unnerving amused grin spread across Carnage's wide mouth as he saw the angry and icy demeanours of the young women standing before him and were completely fixated on him. He dropped the body of Randolph to the ground and took a small step forward. Almost instantly the Sailors dropped down into their individual battle stances and began to power up their attacks which was indicated by the air around them rippling and the surrounding temperature inside the throne room noticeably changing.
"My, aren't we inhospitable."
"Carnage. This is your final chance. Cease your attack and surrender yourself over to us."
"Ummm, you idiots. There is no surrender for me. I'm Carnage. That's who I am."
Before the Sailors or the royal couple could form a reply Carnage threw himself completely through the hole in the doorway as tendrils flung in all directions and symbiotic darts shot towards the group of young people standing in front of him. The Sailors all readied themselves as they all felt that this would indeed be the deciding final battle between the deadliest enemy they had ever faced and the last rays of hope for planet Earth.
End of Chapter 10