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SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION
CHAPTER FOURTEEN

By Doctor-T

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"Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow!"

What the heck? The road worker in the helmet and overalls thought to himself as he wrestled the cover off the manhole and stared down into the depths of the drainpipe underneath him. It was 8:30 am on Sunday morning, and he would have much rather still been in bed than being called out to check the storm drains for a reported blockage after last Friday nights rainstorms. That sounds like a cat? How the heck did it manage to get stuck down here?

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty?" he called out loudly as he lowered himself down into the rainwater drain. "Come on! Puss, puss, puss, puss!"

"Meowwwww!" Diana squawked out gratefully as she scampered along the pipe above the water level towards the kindly man's outstretched hand, Usagi's lost locket banging against her tiny chest as she ran. At Last! She thought to herself. I'm finally saved!

Scooping Diana up in his hand, the man carefully climbed back up the ladder and set her down carefully on the pavement beside the manhole, before staring at her, half of his body still below ground, his feet still planted firmly on the access ladder.

"Man, you're a tiny little kitten! How on earth did you manage to get yourself down there, little fella?"

"Meow!" Diana replied gratefully, giving the man's hand a hug and a lick. Then, after one last rub, she turned and darted off down the kerb in the direction of the Hikawa shrine.

"Good luck!" the road worker called after her as he started his descent back down to below road level once again.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Rei's visit in the guise of a nurse to the National Medical Clinic in Minami-Azabu, where she had seen Makoto during her fire reading last night, had been fruitless. Makoto wasn't there after all – not now, anyway. When Rei managed to get safely back to their new base of operations in the basement of the Crown Game Center, she lost no time in informing the two waiting cats as to her findings.

After Rei had given her report on what she had managed to see, Luna and Artemis exchanged a worried look with each other and then turned back to the no less alarmed looking Rei.

"So you were told that there was an explosion in her room, and that Makoto's not at the hospital any more?" Luna asked. "Do you believe the nurse who told you that?"

"I don't know. The police and Hospital Security Guards wouldn't let me up to that floor to see for myself. But from outside, it sure looks like the window was blown, not in, but out! The explosion came from the inside, I'm positive of that."

"So you think…?"

"My best guess is that Mako-chan saw something outside her window, so she blew whatever it was away. Then she must have gone out the window herself and escaped from the hospital, even though she was injured."

"Then we've got to find her, and fast," Luna told them, red eyes wide with hope. "She's obviously on the run from someone or something and could be badly hurt!"

"Finding Makoto would be a lot easier if our communicators were working," Artemis said with annoyance. "That static swamping every frequency puts a real cramp on our tactics. The only scout that we can contact long range is Sailor V."

"So they're still out of commission?" Luna sighed.

"Afraid so. And the longer that they're off line, the more sure I am that they're being jammed by someone – or something."

"Well, we'll just have to hoof it on foot in a search pattern," Luna decided. "Makoto now knows that something is definitely up, but if she can't contact us, where would she go?"

"The Shrine?" Rei suggested.

"Her apartment?" Artemis added.

"And she was really worried about Usagi, so her house is on the list as well. I suggest that we take one each. I'll take Usagi's house, Rei, you go back to the Hikawa shrine and I'll ask Yuichiro to stay here and keep watch, just on the off-chance that Makoto comes here. Artemis, you take her apartment. We'll meet back here in two hours, if that's all right with you two?"

"Yes, that's fine, Luna," Artemis agreed. "But we'd best be very, very careful out there. We have at least two – and maybe three - separate groups of enemies on the lookout for us. Luna and I should be fine, but you'd best be extra careful, Rei…all three of these places could possibly be under yakuza surveillance by now. Luna and I don't stick out too much, but you sure do!"

"I've got it all covered, Artemis," Rei grinned, holding up her disguise pen. "Tah-daaah! I'm going as a fire inspector!"

"Good thinking," Luna praised her. "Alright, let's get going. I'll see you both in two hours time."

-:-:-:-:-:-

Almost a whole day had now passed since her kindly visitor had departed and Usagi was beginning to fret. So far nothing had happened with regards to her rescue, nothing at all.

Unfortunately the same couldn't be said with regards to her unwelcome customers – two more rich clients had visited her that day. Both had been handpicked by the manager and were pleasant enough people, though neither of the men had been as young or as good looking as her first. Luckily, both of them also had relatively normal tastes when it came to having sex. Once again, she had held back her tears of shame and forced herself to carry out their wishes and do what she had to do with them – and had hated herself for doing so, even though she knew that she had absolutely no choice in the matter. After each well-satisfied, smiling man had departed, she had surrendered to her tears once again.

When, oh, when will my suffering end?!

Usagi also couldn't help thinking about Minako. Had her dear friend got away safely? And if she had, would her friends be able to find her in this hidden place? And – after what she and Minako had both experienced together – what would their relationship be like when they finally saw each other again? Would they be merely close friends like before, or would it develop into... something more?

Her eyes wandered to the clock on the wall, she saw that it was now almost six o'clock in the evening, which meant that she would be getting fed soon. At least she had that to look forward to! At home, Usagi had been used to snacking as frequently as she wished to (at least when her mother wasn't there!) and such a long period as a whole six hours without food was almost a form of torture to the starving teen.

Then the door opened and a man whom she recognised as being one of her hated guards stepped into the room, carrying a large, heavy-looking paper bag. An exquisite aroma wafted from it, setting her mouth to watering with anticipation.

"Here's your dinner, girlie," he informed her, smiling roughly as his eyes roamed over her curvaceous shape, barely hidden underneath the diaphanous white robe. "Enjoy!" Placing the paper bag down on the floor at his feet, he reluctantly backed away and exited the room, locking the door again behind him.

"Forty thousand yen for a half hour," she heard him mutter to himself before the soundproof door had closed. "Boy, she's worth it…! I gotta ask for a pay raise."

Usagi had stayed frozen in place against the far wall until her guard had left, then she scooted across the floor to snatch up her welcome repast. Grabbing the dinner box out of the bag with a loud, "Yum!!", she licked her lips and opened it.

"Greetings, Usagi-sama," said the tiny voice of the small grey kitten inside, her delicate face with the golden crescent on her forehead smiling up at the dumbfounded looking Usagi!

"WAAAAH? Diana!" Usagi exclaimed in delight, recovering her jaw from the floor, blue eyes as wide as saucers. "How did you get in there? Oh, it's so good to see you!" Scooping up the purring kitten, she hugged her tightly against her chest, heedless of the food stains soiling her white robe, tears of joy beginning to flow from her eyes. "I thought that I'd be locked in here alone forever and never see any of my friends ever again!"

"It wasn't too hard, Usagi-sama," Diana squeaked. "Once I knew where you were, I got into this building through a drainpipe, then hid in the kitchen until I heard someone mention your name – I knew that even if you were a prisoner, you'd still be requiring lots of food! The person was calling for another to take this dinner box to you so I managed to hide inside it while they were talking – but I had to eat most of the ramen noodles in it before I would fit." She licked her lips and added with relish, "They were delicious, by the way."

"My dinner!" Usagi wailed, then sighed in resignation. "Oh, well, I can always get some more when I get out of this horrible place. What about our friends? Have they a plan to get us out of here?"

"Actually, no," the tiny grey kitten informed her. "As far as I know, I'm the only one who even knows that you are in here, and I don't even know where the others are. I've been stuck down in a stormwater drain for the last two days and nights! When a city workman finally rescued me this morning, I ran back to Rei's shrine, but no one was there, not even Yuichiro or Grandpa. But there had been a fire there, some of the main complex had been burnt down and there were quite a few bullet holes in the walls."

"Whaaat?!" Usagi cried out in shock. "What could have happened? Diana, we've got to get out of here, now, and go find them to see if they're all right!" But then a sudden thought struck her. "But, Diana, how did you ever manage to find out where I was?"

"Back at the shrine, I intercepted a message for Rei," the kitten answered. "It was just a lucky coincidence that that the phone was still working and that I happened to hear it ringing. It was a man I didn't know, and he told me where to find you."

My Customer! He kept his word! Usagi whooped silently to herself, despite her worry about what had happened to Rei and the others. I sure hope that I get to see him again to thank him for his kindness?

"Lucky! I didn't even know that you were missing," Diana continued. "Anyway, since I couldn't find the others, I thought that I'd better get over here to Kabukicho District straight away, even if it did mean hitching a ride on a train halfway across Tokyo. I almost got lost twice after I left Shinjuku Station, but here I am, finally."

At her words, Usagi's head slumped back down again. "So it's just the two of us, then? And we have no plan of escape either…!"

"Yes, we do," the tiny kitten contradicted her. "I almost forgot – I found this when I was searching for Artemis-papa on Friday night. It was laying in a pile of rubbish outside a broken window at the 'Happy Hour' bar. Have a look in the dinner box."

Usagi bent forward, then her eyes flew open with astonished delight at what she saw. At last she was saved!

"It's my transformation Locket! I've got it back at last, and it's all thanks to you, Diana-chan!"

"I had to carry it all over Tokyo with me because I haven't leant to dematerialize and rematerialize things yet, like Artemis-papa and Luna-mama can. But it wasn't too heavy."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Come on, Diana, we're getting out of here, right now!!"

"After you, Usagi-sama," Diana deferred politely.

"MOON CRYSTAL POWER MAKE UP!!" Usagi screamed with joy!

"What the fuck?! Something strange is happening down there in the new girl's room!" the man behind the banks of surveillance monitors shouted into the microphone on his headset. "Get some men down there, right now!"

Of course, by then it was too late…

-:-:-:-:-:-

The guard in the hallway had lasted approximately five seconds. As he had rushed towards Usagi, arms spread open wide to grab her, her sailor moon kick to his stomach had folded him over like a staple and flung him the length of the hallway into the far wall! Her hard flung tiara had taken out the reinforced doorway that led into the main part of the building, and the two yakuza unlucky enough to be barring Sailor Moon's way to the front office had been dispatched in a similar manner to that of a wrestler clothes-lining two opponents simultaneously. A third guard received an uppercut of such power that it had put his head through the ceiling, as he had dropped back down again, the angry Sailor Moon had seized him by his muscular left leg, swung him around in several, ever more rapid circles, and then thrown the hapless yakuza headlong into the closed door to the managers office! Unable to withstand such an impact, the door had caved in like an eggshell, leaving both man and door in a twisted heap on the previously spotless floor.

"What the hell's going on out there?!" The manager roared out, sticking his head out through the frame of the destroyed door, and attracting Sailor Moon's immediate attention.

"What? Sailor Moon? Stay back, I'm warning you!" The manager quickly produced a small handgun from his right pocket and a grenade from his left, and brandished them threateningly at her as she stalked in his direction.

"I'm armed, see?" he told the now wary Usagi, whom had come to an immediate halt as soon as she saw that he was carrying lethal weapons. "Now put your hands up over your head and lie down on the floor, girl. If you don't-?!" He pulled out the pin of the grenade with the thumb of his hand holding the pistol, keeping his other hand firmly holding down the lever of the explosive device to keep it from exploding prematurely. "Well, I think that you get the message, sailor girl?"

"How dare you kidnap me and force me to satisfy the urges of paying customers?! I am the Sailor Scout of Love and Justice, but – err…ah? – Not that kind of love!" Usagi declared, blushing a little as she struck up her pose. "But I will bring you to justice! I am Sailor Moon! And in the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

"Quite the little speech," the manager declared. "I hope that you are that long winded under the sheets, because I can think of a number of customers who're going to jump at the chance of having the famous Sailor Moon in bed with them. Hmm? But what do you mean, 'kidnap you, and force you to' – oh? I see! You're Usagi! So Usagi is Sailor Moon?! Who would have thought it?"

Oh, darn, Sailor Moon gulped to herself, mentally kicking herself in the butt for her mistake. Me and my big mouth! Why don't I just write it on the wall outside my house so that everyone knows who I really am?!

"Okay, down on the floor, now!"

"Is everything all right out there?" a second voice suddenly called out from behind him, causing the manager to instinctively turn his head to look behind him. And for Sailor Moon, that was enough!

"Moon Tiara Action!"

Realizing his mistake, the manager whirled back to face his incredibly cute but dangerous antagonist, but Sailor Moon had moved even faster. As the glowing tiara vaporized his pistol, she followed up her first attack with a springing sidekick! Her red booted right foot smashed into his chest, flinging him violently back through the office doorway behind him, to land with an almighty crash onto his desk. Remembering the live grenade that he had been carrying, Sailor Moon immediately dived for the hall doorway behind her, calling out an urgent warning to Diana as the kitten poked her head around the camouflaged doorframe with nervous curiosity.

"Get back, Diana! He's got a grenad-!"

A thunderous detonation to her rear chopped of Sailor Moon's words! The entire building shook and dust and small fragments of plaster rained down upon her pigtailed head as Usagi lay curled up into a protective ball around Diana, safely back on the floor of the hidden passageway.

"Wow, that was close, Sailor Moon-sama," Diana gasped out to her as both of them made it back to their feet again. "I think that you got him that time?"

"You said it, Diana," Sailor Moon agreed, dusting herself off. "And it couldn't have happened to a nicer person."

As she stepped carefully back into the shattered remains of the managers office, Sailor Moon only needed a quick glance in the manager's direction to see that he wasn't going to be a problem for her – or anyone else, for that matter – ever again. But, apart from the motionless body of the guard, there was a third man sprawled out on the floor in the room as well. He was laying on his side with his previously well made garments torn and blackened by the fierce blast. His face was turned away from her, but she could tell by his laborious movements that he was injured, but still alive.

After asking Diana to find a phone and call for the police and an ambulance, Sailor Moon cautiously moved forward to the injured man's side.

"Hello? I'm Sailor Moon, and I'm here to help you. How badly are you hurt?"

"Heh," the man answered, turning over onto his back on the floor to face her. "Quite badly, I'm afraid? Here, see for yourself?"

The man hadn't been lying; the piece of metal chair leg embedded deep into the front of his chest was visible proof of that, as was the splattering of blood on his lips. But it wasn't the terrible wound that caused Sailor Moon to gasp out with wide-eyed shock and her face to go a pasty white. It was the fact that she knew him!

"Customer, Sir!! What are you doing back here? Ohmygod! You've been seriously hurt…!"

"Sailor Moon? No, I recognize that voice…Bunny-chan? Bunny! You're Sailor Moon?!"

"Yes," Usagi shakily admitted, dropping to the floor at his side, her slender legs now feeling so weak at the sight of his injury that she felt quite unable to stand any longer. "Please don't try to move, you've been seriously hurt! I've got help coming for you. Just lie back and rest, okay?"

"Little Bunny-chan is Sailor Moon! Well, there's a turn up for the books? But – but if you're really Sailor Moon, then how come you didn't just transform and free yourself long before this?" He coughed, and a spray of blood flew from his mouth. "It doesn't make sense…?"

Usagi opened her mouth, and then bit her lip as she tried to think of what to say to him. "I…can't tell you why. But I just couldn't, okay?"

The man managed a smile at her hesitancy, understanding the reason why. "Doesn't matter. But now that you are free, I'd go out with you for a celebratory drink, but…but somehow I think that it's closing time for me, now…for good."

"Don't talk like that," Sailor Moon begged him. "Just lie still! But why were you back here, now? Your message saved me, you had no reason to return!"

"You think so? You…really don't know? I came back to see...to see you, dear little Bunny-chan…!"

Usagi felt her eyes begin to blur with emotion. "But why?" She choked out. "Why put yourself at risk just to see me? You saved me, you had already carried out your part of the deal?"

"Because I…cared about you. I wanted to see if I…could help you more, to make sure you would be safe."

"Thank you," Sailor Moon gasped out, "Thank you for everything! But you've got a foot-long chunk of metal sticking out of your chest. Please, just hold on!"

"You…don't say? I…thought that there was something wrong with me…! Hah! Ha, ha!" He coughed up a gob of blood. "Never mind, too late for regrets. I'm dying, Bunny-chan, and I deserve it… deserve it for what…what I did to you…in that room…!"

"No!!" Sailor Moon screamed out in denial, cradling his head in her arms, seeing that he was growing noticeably weaker by the second. "Don't die! It wasn't your fault! We had no choice! We had no choice!"

"Yeah…well, Bunny-chan…I'm still sorry, I'm so sorry for what I did to you…! Forgive me…?"

"I forgive you, I do! Just hang in there and breathe, help will be here soon. Don't die on me! Kami-sama, I don't even know your name…!"

Her customer coughed again, and the spray of blood from his mouth became a trickle. "You're a good girl, Bunny-chan. Wish I'd known you before…before this happened?" He managed a weak smile as her tears flowed unashamedly down her cheeks to splash down upon his face. "You want…my name? You…should…know, now, anyway? My...name…is-oh! Bunny! I - gggahhh!" Before Usagi's horrified gaze, the kind man's breath choked out one final time. His body jerked once, twice, then his head rolled limply in her frantic grasp and his eyes began to glaze over as he began his final rest.

"Oh, no, no, no, don't die on me, no don't, please…?! You were so kind to me, and…and…I didn't even know your name…!"

"Sailor Moon-sama?" Diana's soft voice spoke to her gently through her tears of grief. "I found a phone and the police and an ambulance are on their way here right now… The other girls are safe too; I found the master door lock control and released them from their rooms. Come on, we have to go before the police get here."

"Thank you, Diana," Usagi sniffed, lowering the head of her benefactor gently down onto the wooden floor. She bent forward and kissed his pale cheek. "Goodbye, Customer, Sir. And thank you for my life. I'll never, ever forget you and your kindness."

Sailor Moon arose back to her feet, scooped up Diana and ran out through the shattered doorway towards their freedom.

-:-:-:-:-:-

At about this time, in the back of a truck parked up in a shipping depot in Chuo-ku, Sailor V was just beginning to stir. She had been knocked unconscious by her fall from the pedestrian overbridge for a full sixteen hours, and had lain unnoticed in the back of the now parked up truck for all of that time. The sun was just beginning to set again below the skyline of the city, casting lengthening shadows across her place of refuge.

Sailor V rolled over onto her side and rubbed at the back of her throbbing head, momentarily confused as to why she was laying there on this hard, canvas covered metal surface, out under the open, steadily darkening sky, nursing a splitting headache. Then, as the shocking events of last night burst back into her memory, she leapt back up onto her feet in a single bound, frightened eyes darting in all directions, frantically seeking the no-doubt rapidly approaching legions of yakuza enemies from last night.

But of the persistent yakuza, nothing could be seen. However, things were anything but quiet and still, for all around her arose the clamour of people talking and shouting, the roar of traffic from the nearby roads – all except one, which for some obscure reason was closed to motor traffic - and the whining and clanging of machinery from the nearby workshops. Ducking back down again behind the cover of the truck's tray before any curious, prying eyes could notice her, Sailor V realised with an overwhelming sense of relief that her involuntary fall had been a blessing as well as a curse. The truck that she had fallen into had driven her unnoticed from out of the encircling arms of the yakuza to a place of momentary safety.

But what to do, now? At the moment, Sailor V had no idea as to where she even was; let alone how to make it back to the Hikawa Shrine. She then tried using her Crescent compact communicator to contact Artemis or Luna back at the shrine, but this time only the unbroken sound of static greeted her ears.

Nothing. So I'm obviously out of range of the shrine again. Damn it! And I don't even know where I am…?

Coming to a decision, Sailor V quickly transformed back into Minako Aino. The yakuza were out looking for Sailor V, and the female crime fighter in her distinctive sailor suit was a far more visible target that the casually dressed Minako was. She knew that she would still attract a certain degree of attention even as Minako Aino because of her long blonde hair and her extreme good looks, but nothing to untoward should happen to her on a busy street like that one in front of her, especially as it wasn't quite dark yet. In her civilian identity, Minako hoped that she could just stroll out of the trucking company's parking lot, down the road, and ask the first person that she met as to exactly where she now was. Once she knew that important fact, Minako figured that it would be easy enough to make it back to the Hikawa Shrine on a bus. At least she still had enough money left for a fare – she hoped.

Minako's hastily thought up plan worked well – at first. After swinging herself down from the tray of the big truck, the cautious blonde girl then made it back out onto the street that was closed to motor traffic outside the parking lot easily enough. Upon asking a bookstall attendant for directions, she then learnt that she was in Ginza, in Chuo-ku ward.

So I'm not too far away from Juuban? Lucky! The way that my luck has been going recently, I guess that I'm fortunate not to have ended up in Hokkaido!

That also explained why this particular road today was closed to vehicles. Sunday in Ginza was 'Pedestrians Paradise' day, and this main street, Chuo-dori, was for pedestrians only. Blending in with the colorful crowd of shoppers on the sidewalk, Minako then walked at a brisk pace along through the bustling shopping centre until she reached the first bus stop on a nearby side street. After a quick check of the schedule, she learnt to her disappointment that the bus she wanted to take had departed only a couple of minutes before her arrival there, and the next one wasn't due for another half an hour.

"Darn! My luck just isn't with me, today. But at least my sore head is starting to feel a little better, so at least that's something, I guess…?"

Swallowing her disappointment, Minako then decided that she might as well grab a bite to eat and find a women's room while she was waiting for her ride. After first locating and using the aforementioned facilities, the hungry teenager then wandered into a small café and ordered a Melon pan and a coke. Minako loved the delicious, honey melon flavoured, round buns – even more so since she hadn't eaten or drank anything at all since she had been held prisoner in the upstairs room of the 'Happy Hour' bar last Friday night.

After she had finished her refreshing meal, Minako asked the owners very politely if she could use their phone. Upon receiving their permission, she then put in a call to the Hikawa shrine, but to her dismay, no one was answering, not even Yuichiro. And that made her very worried. Something must have happened back there in her absence, but what?

I can't stay here in Ginza any longer, I have to get back to Juuban and find my friends…! Oh, Kami-sama, I hope that nothing bad has happened to them while I've been out for the count?

After thanking the shop owners again for their curtesy, Minako hurried back out onto the street, intending to return straight to the bus stop and catch her ride. So worried was she by what could have happened at the Hikawa shrine during her enforced absence, the preoccupied Minako accidentally walked directly into a pair of big men as she and they turned the corner of the side street simultaneously, from different directions! Bouncing off the burly, tattooed strangers, Minako looked up at them with contrition and started to offer an apology, only to freeze in her tracks, her mouth frozen half open with shock. Standing there, right in front of her, was two of the yakuza from the 'Happy Hour' bar, both of whom had taken a turn with her in the upstairs room last Friday night!

"I'm sorry, Sirs, I-! Oh, no?!"

"Just watch where you're going next time, sexy, or – hey! I know you?! Look, Naoto-san, its Minako! We've found her!"

"Quick, grab her, Yuuta-san! Don't let her escape!"

Oh, crap! Minako screamed silently to herself, leaping backwards and starting to run back the way that she had come. Whipping out her Crescent compact again, she hurriedly transformed back once more into Sailor V as she dodged back and forth through the now scattering throng of confused and startled pedestrians. What are the odds…!?

"She's getting away!"

"Get on the radio and call up the other search teams, Naoto-san! You were right after all when you said that you thought you saw her fall into that truck with 'Ginza Transport Company' written on it! We'll catch her this time!"

So I'm not going home just yet, am I? Sailor V told herself bitterly, leaping through an open window and then starting up a winding flight of stairs towards the rooftop. Damn! Damn! Damn!