Disclaimer: This is a fan work and I own none of the 'verses that it's wandering through. I am totally not worth suing over this.

-Chapter 14 -

Voyager shuddered as one of the Galor-class cruisers landed a volley of phaser fire. They'd gotten their wish – the lead ship of the two-ship force attacking them was commanded by Seska. She was a Gul here, and when she'd realized that the command crew of Voyager recognized her, she'd laughed before cutting the circuit.

Unable to outrun their foes, Voyager had been forced on the defensive. Tom was working the helm like a virtuoso, fingers flying across his controls and making the ship fairly dance around their foe's fire. They were giving back almost as good as they got, but Galors were tough ships and Voyager herself was hardly in the best of shape. Nothing important had failed yet – B'Elanna was working miracles down in Engineering – but it was only a matter of time.

At his post in the back of the Bridge, Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise; a long honed warning of imminent danger. He ducked as one of the panels behind him died in a shower of sparks, one hand covering the back of his neck. A few sparks hit that protecting hand and he thought a brief prayer of thanks to any beneficent deity who might have been listening.

Across the Bridge, Tuvok spoke in his unshakeably calm Vulcan tones. "Shields down to forty-three percent, Captain. I am also encountering difficulties in targeting, we seem to have taken sensor damage."

"Damn," Janeway swore quietly. Harry fought down a rising sense of panic at that. The Captain punched the comm on her armrest. "Bridge to Engineering. B'Elanna, I need the sensors back up, now."

The response was not Torres' angry growl, but Commander Worf's basso rumble. "The Chief is working on the impulse regulators, Captain. I will direct a team to the sensors as quickly as possible."

Janeway blinked. "Where's Carey?"

"Lieutenant Carey is working on the inertial compensators, Captain." The sound of a console being worked was all that came over the link for a moment. "I am rerouting targeting sensors through the navigation systems to compensate."

Janeway glanced behind her. "Tuvok?"

"The rerouted sensors appear to be functioning properly."

"Mister Paris?"

"The view just got a bit fuzzy, but we've got lots of open sky to play with here. We should be fine."

"Thank you Mister Worf. Tell B'Elanna that I'll want an update as soon as possible."

"Of course, Captain."

"Mister Paris, evasive pattern delta. Tuvok, concentrate fire on the lead Cardassian."

A chorus of 'Aye, Captain' sounded around the bridge. Harry gritted his teeth and concentrated on his job. And wished he hadn't put Holodeck credits down on Seska being a shipdriver in the here and now – The irony of the situation was several degrees past merely uncomfortable.

-------------

Gul Seska smiled. She'd always found the tales of the Mirror Universe fascinating as a youngster. Emperor Spock had a fascinating history once one got past the official versions of the past and into the real stuff, ruthless and deadly as they came. He'd been corrupted by the philosophies of the Mirror Universe and had tried to change the system here to match it. Growing up, Seska had been taught that he was a fool with no understanding of what he was trying to do. But a fool whose actions had given the Cardassians a chance to rise. That they rose alongside the Kingons was less than ideal, but they were, in fact if not in name, the senior partners of the Alliance. They were happy enough to humor the grunting, smelly bastards who made up the Klingon Empire. Let those neo-barbarians think they were in charge. History would show the truth, for the Cardassians intended to write it.

She'd read everything she could find about that universe; and it made for fascinating reading indeed. Sadly, there was little of it, even after using her connections within the Obsidian Order to learn more. Her fathers connections, truth to tell. He'd wanted her to follow him into Intelligence. She had found the navy more interesting, and her skills had helped her rise quickly. She wasn't the youngest Gul in the Forth Order, but she owed her position far less to patronage than the handful who were younger. No, her rise had been a combination of talent and tenacity.

As well, truth be told, along with one engineered scandal and some minor blackmail. Her father's attempts to groom her for Intelligence work had born fruit, though not the fruit he had intended.

Power she had, and a respected position. Being told to patrol for a Mirror Universe Starfleet ship that was moving this way had been an assignment she welcomed. Partially because by all reports, for all their trusting and benevolent natures, Starfleet crews were well trained and well equipped, making them a fine challenge. Partially because it would get her away from headquarters and give her an alibi while the start of her next little scandal was put in motion; her ambitions weren't quite satisfied with the rank of Gul, after all. And in no small part because they would, naturally, have all sorts of information about their homes. Information Seska intended to copy for her own study and amusement before transmitting to HQ for analysis.

The fact that this bunch seemed to know her personally was just icing on the cake. She was rather looking forward to seeing what she was like where they came from. It would be ever so interesting – persistent rumor stated that Emperor Worf was a nobody who had been stripped of his honour over there, she wanted to see how her own position compared.

"Target their port nacel for another volley. I want them crippled; this ship is a new design and taking it would be a coup for us all."

--------------

Another hit shook the Voyager, marked by one of the consoles in the engine room disintegrating in a flash of sparks and shrapnel and punctuated by a burst of profanity from Torres. The cold mathematics of the situation was turning the odds against them. Worf strangled a snarl and checked the readouts. The shields were stressed almost to the failing point and damage was piling up in a dozen systems. Every single engineer was working on something. There was too much damage to go around.

Worf wished desperately he was on the bridge. Repairs were not his forte. Chief Torres had put him to work as a glorified traffic director, freeing up all the engineers to fix things. He knew it was useful and important but he felt so helpless. He wanted to be contributing to something directly, not stuck down here.

He wondered how Geordie could stand it. Mark that, he wondered how anyone could stand it. His thoughts wandered to the various Klingon engineers he had met in his interactions with that service. The instinct to maintain a weapon for another's hand but not wield it himself... it was alien to him. A moment of black humor touched him as he directed a more able engineer to a ruptured EPS conduit: no wonder Torres swore constantly in battle.

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Harry winced as Voyager shuddered around them. "Shields down to twenty-three percent; partial breach in the port shield." Without asking, Tom rolled the ship, presenting the marginally-more-intact starboard shields to their foes.

Tuvok's calm voice cut through his rising panic like a blade. "The lead Galor is showing signs of engine damage. Shall I concentrate fire on their drive systems?"

The Captain's response was immediate, decisive. "Do it. Tom, try to get us some distance. We need to get clear."

For a moment, the only sound was the klaxons, then Harry noticed something on sensors. "Captain! Additional ship decloaking to starboard!"

"On screen. Identify, Mister Kim."

His fingers danced across the console. "It's – I think it's a heavily modified Constellation-class starship, but it's not broadcasting identification."

On the screen they saw the mystery ship. It had indeed started life as a Constellation-class starship, the old-style saucer section married to a secondary hull that was little more than an armature to support its four Warp nacelles. It was battered and scarred, but even that alone did not show the full extent of its changes. On the underside of the saucer had been grafted eight Klingon Bird-of-Prey disruptor cannons, mounted in turreted pairs. At the bow was what looked like a Cardassian-style shield array. The remainder of its phaser banks were not matching up according to his sensors. Harry was used to thinking of Constellations as peaceful explorer vessels and transports. Seeing one retrofitted into a warship was unnerving.

The mystery ship set on a long, looping course around the two Galors, her portside phasers and disrupters loosing a heavy rain of weaponsfire into the second ship of the formation. The rust-coloured Cardassian ship broke away from its pursuit of Voyager and sent a volley of Photon Torpedoes towards its tormentor.

For a moment the Constellation seemed not to react, then suddenly it was gone.

"Did they recloak?" Asked the Captain.

"I'm not – wait, there they are." He refocused the screen on the ship, which was firing again, most of a light-minute ahead of them. He pieced the readings together. "They made a short Warp jump, less than two seconds."

"In battle?" Chakotay's response was incredulous. "Are they insane?" Common wisdom was that using the warp drive in battle tended to cause one to overrun one's own fire.

There was a hint of admiration in Tuvok's tone; though it was so slight only someone who had worked with him for years could catch it. "Given that their weaponsfire is not in a direct line with their course, the manuver would seem to be safe enough. This seems to be an interesting adaptation of the Picard Manuver."

The ship took another hit as Seska's Galor continued in pursuit. Jolted back into action, Tom started them dancing away from the Cardassian fire as Tuvok returned it. The upgunned Constellation was doing well with its opponent, giving better than it got and throwing the occasional volley at Voyager's opponent. It engaged in those little warp jumps a few more times, using them to dodge photons and bollix the enemy's phaser targeting.

Finally, the second Galor broke away from the Constellation, her flanks bleeding air and her starboard nacell leaking plasma. The smaller ship followed relentlessly, fire raining down and tearing into the rust-coloured hull. The Cardassian ship was well built, a spaceframe designed to weather abuse. It could not hold for long against the pounding it was taking. On his display, Harry watched as the ship seemed to shiver, then snap in half just aft of center. Harry suppressed an appreciative whistle.

Gul Seska, seeing her comrade in arms fall, apparently decided that it was time to exercise the better part of valor. Her ship broke off its attack on Voyager, clawed for safe distance. With a predatory grin, Tom looped the ship around and lined them up on the Galor. Tuvok concentrated his fire on the Cardassian's engines. The mystery ship opened fire on it from its distance, then blurred into warp, popping out at a bare fifteen-thousand kilometers distance ahead and to port of her, Another volley flashed into the Galor, hitting it almost simultaneously with the volley fired at greater range. The rust-coloured ship's shields collapsed. Two torpedoes from Voyager slammed home, detonating against naked hull. Seska's ship tore itself apart in a series of secondary explosions, culimating in her reactor core going off.

For a long, satisfying moment, the ship was at the heart of a miniature sun. Harry glanced around the bridge, meeting glances from Tom, Chakotay, and Tuvok. Chakotay looked a bit troubled, but seemed to have control. Tom looked satisfied, as did Tuvok, though as usual with the Vulcan, you had to look close to see it. They made a far better team than either would admit.

Janeway brought things back to order. "Hail that ship, Mister Kim."

"Chanel open, Captain."

Her voice was strong and clear, undertones of thanks mixed with wariness. "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager to Constelation class vessel. Thank you for your assistance."

The screen flickered – they weren't transmitting in the same format Voyager used – but quickly resolved into a face everyone on the bridge recognized. A few scars crossed that face, long and thin, but the face, and the voice of the man who wore it, were unmistakable. "This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Terran Resistance Warship Stargazer." He paused for a moment. "We were happy to assist. Welcome to our little corner of space-time."

A smile quirked Janeways lips. More relaxed, she replied, "We didn't intend to wind up here, but we are very happy to see you. Is there a... safer place nearby where we could make repairs?"

"Naturally. I'll have my astrogator transmit a course."

-----------------------------

It had been a steady day thus far at the Neko Han Ten. Shampoo had alternated between serving customers and making deliveries for hours. The lunch rush had given way now, and it would be a few hours yet before the supper rush replaced it. She was enjoying this bit of relative leisure, sweeping the floor of the main room. There was a young couple sharing a special in the corner of the room, but other than that the restaurant was empty of customers. Shampoo hummed to herself as she worked, feeling rather cheerful.

Glancing at the couple brought her to thinking of Ranma. Her Arien had been away for a while now. According to Mercenary Girl he was off with some Magical Girls tracking down Ryoga. He'd been promised a cure in exchange for the aid, news that had... unnerved Cologne when she had told her great grandmother the news. The promise of a cure was one of the few bits of leverage they had on Ranma. Though she seldom used it – like Shampoo, Cologne enjoyed staying in Nerima. All the modern conveniences and plenty of entertaining mayhem to watch.

For herself, Shampoo didn't fear the possibility of Ranma choosing Violent Girl or Spatula Girl over her. She was the only one who was truly a martial artist, and they were, after all, already married. Ranma was like a hooked fish. They would let him strain at the line until he tired himself out, then draw him in. His own sense of honour would, she was sure, bring him to her side in the end.

As well as the thought of what he'd be ensuring himself and his offspring by surrendering to Shampoo – all the secret techniques of the Joketsuzoku. His devotion to the Art would, Shampoo was certain, override his other concerns. In the balance, the tribe would gain the techniques of the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū – the only thing they were certain of regarding that school was that they had yet to see its full extent. The Joketsuzoku would be nigh-unstopable with that much power, and the Phoenix or Musk tribes would rise against them at their peril.

It was a good dream. If Ranma got a cure independantly, it probably would take longer to come true, but it was entirely possible that these magical girls wouldn't be able to cure him. Shampoo didn't know the details herself, but she knew it was supposed to be complicated.

Still, whatever happened, Shampoo was confident that Ranma would be hers eventually. And that Mousse would be deflected from his pursuit of her eventually. Though not, she thought as she glanced into the kitchen where the near-blind youth was doing dishes, anytime soon. She shrugged. One battle at a time.

A jangle of bells brought her attention to the door. A dark haired man in his mid twenties entered. "Nia Hao!" she said cheerily, "Welcome to the Neko Han Ten!" Looking him over, she quickly decided that he wasn't Japanese, though he did bow slightly in response to her words.

"Good afternoon, miss."

"What Shampoo get for you?" She couldn't quite place his accent, but put the thought aside as she lead him to a table.

"Just some water for now. And, if possible, I'd like to speak to the manager. I believe her name is Cologne?"

Professionalism kept the smile on Shampoo's face. She pushed her ki outwards, trying to get a feel for the stranger. Her eyes widened, he smiled slightly in response. A very powerful mage. Beyond that power, she could sense nothing; his passive defenses were... thorough. What in the world could he want with great-grandmother?

"I mean no harm. I just want to have a word with her."

There was a familiar tap-tap-tapping noise. Shampoo turned, saw Cologne hopping into the room atop her staff. "Great Granddaughter, where are your manners? Get the man his drink." She hopped to the table, gave the stranger a measuring look. "Greetings stranger. I am Cologne of the Joketsuzoku. What brings you to my humble establishment?"

"My name is Chrono Harlaown. As you've probably guessed, I'm a mage." he kept his voice quiet, pitched so that it wouldn't carry as far as the dining couple. "I'm here for information."

Cologne gave him a long look. Shampoo set down drinks for them both, returned to her sweeping. But she kept an ear towards their conversation.

At length, Cologne replied to the foreign mage. "You are not one of the Mahora. You are not local, and I daresay you are not even from this planet. By the feel of your power I would guess you work with the Mages who took Son in Law on his latest adventure."

The stranger needed a moment to parse Cologne's statement, then quirked a smile in amusement before returning to the business at hand. "Nanoha and Fate?" At Cologne's nod, the stranger continued. "You are quite correct. The three of us are members of an organization called the Time-Space Administration Bureau. Initially, we recruited Ranma specifically to trace one person, but his ki abilities have proven rather interesting."

"And how does this concern me, wizard?"

"It was hoped that we could learn about Ki from you. Saotome felt he would be a poor teacher, but recommended you as a source of information and possibly training."

Cologne's smile was a thin one. "He presumes much. What would be in it for us?"

"I'm sure we could come up with something of interest to you. Gold, perhaps, or whatever local currency you'd like."

"And devices like the one you wear on your belt?"

Chrono blinked, glanced down. "That would be.. difficult. These devices are very powerful. Very dangerous."

"Not the sort of thing you would entrust to a stranger?"

Chrono smiled ruefully. "No. And I suspect that you're about to say the same thing about your knowledge of ki."

"You are highly perceptive for a male."

If the stranger noticed the slight, he gave no reaction. "It comes with the territory." He finished his glass of water, spent a moment in thought. "Well. I get the distinct impression that I'll not get very far trying to convince you to change your mind." A pause. "Even if I did agree to exchange one of our Devices."

"Again, most perceptive. I do appreciate that a mage would find ki a fascinating thing. Most of your kind dismiss the martial arts."

"The TSAB is always interested in learning. Though some of our politicians and bureaucrats seem to forget that at times."

"Their kind tend to." The two shared a slight smile. "No, I will not share our secrets with you, mage. They are our most valuable resource and only to be entrusted to those we believe worthy of such trust, who will not use it against us or pass our secrets to those who might. And we simply do not know you."

"I understand. Well." He stood. "I did, of course, have to ask. Your honesty is appreciated, ma'am. Good afternoon."

"May you as well have a good afternoon."

As the mage turned to the door, Shampoo found her voice once more. "Chrono? How Ranma?"

The dark haired mage smiled. "He's fine. He got into a fight with some natives, but he's recovering quickly."

Briefly, Shampoo tried to imagine natives who could give Ranma trouble in a fight. Must have been quite the place. "Thank you."

"I'll let him know you asked after his health." He bowed slightly to Cologne and Shampoo, nodded at Mousse, who had come out of the kitchen during the conversation, then left.

The happy couple were still seated at a corner table, so absorbed with each other that they had ignored the whole thing.

-----------------------------------------

Ryoga adjusted the straps on his pack again. Normally he was fine with long distance walks, but the events of the last few days had left him tired and vaguely sore. There was a decent-sized bruise spreading on his lower back, probably from the concussion grenade that had blasted him down that corridor. It made letting the pack rest normally against his back send twinges of pain up and down his spine. Not serious, but... enough that he didn't want to deal with it long if he could help it. He'd been paying attention to where he was going and was reasonably sure that he hadn't jumped.

Those took a fair bit out of him, lately. He wondered for a moment what had changed. It was annoying, both that something had so radically altered to throw his life into even more chaos than usual, and that he couldn't figure out the who, what, where, or how. It... rankled him some. He much preferred an opponent he could see and face. Fighting a shadow like this... seemed fruitless.

For now at least he would endure. If who- or whatever was messing with him figured it could screw with him and get away with it, it was in for a rude shock some dark night.

Musing on the topic of inventive revenge held him for a while as he wandered along the forested path. He was paying enough attention to keep himself in the here and now, but mostly he just put one foot in front of the other and didn't think about it.

He was brought out of his musings a few hours later about thirty yards short of a bridge when a bunch of folk stepped out of the woods all around him. They held weapons in their hands, but unlike the thugs back in Chicago, these guys moved like they knew how to fight. A smile came unbidden to his face as the largest member of the group, a man about a foot taller than he was, built solid like a tree and holding a pair of hammers, stepped directly into his path and spoke. "Hi friend. This is a toll bridge. We're going to get whatever money and goods you have; your choice is to give 'em to us, or get hammer'd on until you change your mind."

Ryoga looked over the group, a smile growing from ear to ear. They all wore some variant on grey pants and green shirts or vests. They were armed with a mix of weaponry, polearms, maces, hammers, one with something that looked like a kusari-gama. This was gonna be fun. He pulled his umbrella from the straps holding it atop his pack, opened it. "I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying you guys can beat me up?"

The thugs threw glances around the group. Ryoga just stood there, umbrella leaning against his shoulder as he stood with a lazy smile. He wasn't about to give these idiots anything but a beating. It would be very cathartic to get into things with someone who could put up a decent fight. After a long moment, they raised their weapons. Good.

At that point, things got very fast and complicated. All but one of the thugs was in that initial rush, coming in with the kind of co-ordinated movements that whispered of a unit that had trained together long and well. Blades he parried with his umbrella, maces with bare hands. The polearms he carefully grabbed below the blades and pushed aside. Several he just snapped. This bunch was damned good, and he dumped his backpack to keep up with the pace he needed. The one with the kusari-gama wrapped a chain around his umbrella, managed to get it out of his hands with a well timed yank. They kept up the pressure, pressing in with weapons and fists. He started destroying the former with the breaking point – they were skilled enough that he couldn't let them keep such an advantage.

He was starting to turn the tide against the thugs when he glanced back to where he'd dumped his backpack. The thug who hadn't jumped into the fray was picking it off the road and shouldering it. He let out a shout and his men started to fall back. "Thanks for the donation, friend. Time for you to die now." He made a series of quick gestures, looking to be using some kind of Kung Fu as he did. Suddenly, the ground below Ryoga's feet seemed to turn to tar, sucking him down to his waist and then solidifying.

The man in green smiled at his incredulous expression. "You thought we were just stupid bandits? Hell no! You think these guys'd be stupid enough to be highwaymen in this country without an Earthbender?" His men were smiling, several of them nursing injuries, but still happy. They began to file away.

The man who called himself an Earthbender stayed behind the others for a moment, smirked. "You ain't bad for someone who can't Bend, but you just ain't good enough. Think I'll sink you all the way." He began to gesture again. Ryoga felt the rock around him start to shift. He wasted no time in jabbing a finger into the stone, shattering a large chunk of it out of his way.

The Earthbender froze for a split second in shock as Ryoga lept out of the shattered hole. He was barely able to dodge the lost boy's rush. Hammers in hands, he started his kung fu mojo and swung. Each swing pulled a head-sized rock out of the earth and sent it flying towards Ryoga. He was shattering them as they came, but the Earthbender was ramping up his rate of fire. Ryoga tried to close in while shattering the rocks, but wasn't making much headway. Frustrated, he shattered a final stone and just charged, arms raised in a blocking position. The stones ricocheted off him, hitting hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to stop him.

The Earthbender's expression went from concentration to disbelief to 'oh shit' as Ryoga raced to within arms reach and slammed a punch into the taller man's midsection. The Earthbender was folded in half around his fist, lifted from the ground and flying a good thirty feet. He landed in an awkward sprawl near his fellow bandits, who had stayed to watch the fight. The Earthbender rolled to his knees and started trying to puke up his anklebones.

Ryoga advanced, an expression of pure malice on his features. The thugs were looking back and forth from him to their champion, clearly weighing the pros and cons of staying. Ryoga cracked his knuckles loudly, lips twisting into a cruel smirk. They were so very brave when they thought they had the advantage. Against an opponent who could beat their master, they were timid as frightened girls. This was going to be so very satisfying.

Then the Earthbender, having apparently puked up everything available, raised a fist and brought it down into the ground. A blunt spear of solid rock shot up between Ryoga's legs, drawing a high pitched 'eep' out of him as it found its mark. The Earthbender pushed himself to his feet. Before Ryoga could recover, another spit of rock erupted from the ground slamming into him from behind. It was Ryoga's turn to go flying. The stunned martial artist tried to right himself in midair, but couldn't get his feet under himself in time. Still twisting around, the back of his head slammed into the stone rail of the bridge, causing him to black out moments before hitting the icy water of the river.

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Ami had already been chatting on her phone with Rei when the youma detector went off, which made getting the rest of the Inners moving in the right direction a quick and reasonably painless process. This one was around the average they'd been getting lately.

The Senshi assembled on a rooftop about a block away. The youma had a group of civilians at a sidewalk cafe cornered. It was a feral looking thing, vaguely feline and moving on all fours. Wicked looking claws curved from its pawlike hands and feet, short bladelike bones jutted from its spine and shoulders, and a scythelike blade lashed the air at the end of its long, serpentine tail. As they watched, it took an almost playful swipe at one of the onlookers who was trying to edge away. The man jumped back.

Ami chewed her lower lip thoughtfully as she scanned it with the Mercury Computer. "It looks like it's a lot, well, tougher than I'd first thought. I'm getting a really weird reading off its skin."

Rei frowned at it. "It's awfully close to those people... I don't think we can hit it from here safely."

Usagi nodded. "Hopefully it'll try and come after us when we get down there. Then we can deal with it the regular way."

Minako smiled. "I have an idea or two about making it move if it doesn't want to."

The group exchanged nods. This would work. They leapt down and raced in, Usagi in the lead. She came to a stop about thirty feet from the youma, which turned away from the crowd and snarled. Usagi gestured at the youma and, In her most authoritarian tone, declared, "Foul monster and harmer of innocents! In the name of the Moon I will not let you hurt these people!"

The youma's response was to hunch itself up and growl menacingly. It did not move from its position near just ahead of the crowd. The Senshi fanned out, moved in a few feet closer. The beast glared at them all, but did not move to attack. Rather, it backed closer to the crowd, keeping them directly behind it. One of the civilians tried to edge past it; without looking towards her the creature growled, its blade-tipped tail whipping out, missing the young woman by inches. She 'eep'd and scrambled back into the group.
Ami sized up the situation. Where the thing was, any missed attack would hit the civilians. Even a hit would be dangerous, for several of their attacks had a fairly wide area of effect. They needed to give the crowd a chance to get away. "Shine Aqua Illusion!" she shouted as she cast, enveloping the youma in ice. There was a moment of quiet, then the youma's form seemed to convulse; the icy shell shattering into shards and mist. It shook for a moment like a wet dog, then turned an almost mocking look towards her.

------------

The Youma regarded its opponents for a long moment, eyes gleaming with a feral cunning. It was unique, an experiment by an increasingly desperate foe that had thrown monster after monster at the Senshi to no avail. Its masters had noticed a few constants of the Senshi's behavior in battle and had tailored a Youma very specifically and at great expense in energy and raw material.

They wanted a patient hunter, one that would close with a target carefully and engineer any battle to maximize its own chances, both of victory and survival. They had noted the Senshi's proclivity for protecting the wretches too weak to protect themselves. They didn't – couldn't – understand why anything would feel such a motivation, but they were more than happy to take advantage of it. As a template, they looked to the beasts of Earth.

They found inspiration in the common housecat.

Cats, they saw, were natural hunters. Very patient, very agile, very aware of what they could and could not do, and possessing a great measure of stealth. When it came to raw cruelty, they could find no match for a cat with a mouse at its mercy. With no need to hunt for food, they hunted for sport and took great pleasure in tormenting and terrifying their victims. Fear could be a great source of power for a Youma. So they engineered a demonic cat and invested it with the requisite size, power, and fortitude to accomplish their goals.

They had barely managed to create one – there were many factions within the dark kindom and several opposed the creation of so specialized a creature. Approval had come only at great concession of treasure, and they would have only one chance. It had to work the first time, so its crafters had spent a great deal of time and effort to give it the ability to do so. It would feed on fear – indeed, the arrival of the Senshi had greatly increased the crowd's fear when they saw it break free – and when it reached a point where its existence was threatened, it would retreat and find another target. Perhaps it would just feed on that new target's fear, perhaps it would have the leisure to sup of the more filling feast of life energy.

Either way, it would feed, and feed the hopes and dreams of its makers.

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For a long moment, the Senshi and the Youma were locked into a battle of wills, staring at each other across the breadth of the street. Every move the Senshi made to close on the creature or get a better firing angle it countered with a move of its own, seeming very aware of their possible fire arcs. The stalemate was maddening.

Minako broke it. "Venus Love-Me Chain!" she shouted as she cast, whipping the string of hearts with considerable skill towards the creature. It looped around the youma's torso and then wrapped around itself to close the loop. The monster looked at it with an uncomprehending expression for a moment, then Minako yanked hard on her end of the chain.
The creature's mass kept her first pull from moving it much, then it dug its claws into the sidewalk as Makoto and Rei lent her a hand. It snarled and growled, refusing to be moved. After a moment, feeling a moment of slack on the chain as the trio tried to catch their breath, its claws swept into the chain, jarring it loose. It looked at her with a magnificent sneer, whipped its tail at the crowd and removed a lock of hair from one of the civilians.

"Now what?" asked Rei.

"Uh, that was my idea." Minako sounded subdued.

"Let me try something," said Makoto, as she took up a martial arts stance and started moving in.

The youma turned its attention to her, growling low. When she got to within ten feet of it, it struck, forelimb stretching instantly and smacking her hard across the street. Her fuku had prevented her from getting cut, but she'd felt the points of its claws trying to dig in. She breathed a silent prayer of thanks to any deity who happened to be listening as she stood, gasping for breath.

The small crowd still cowered between the youma and the building. One member of the crowd edged away from the group; tried to make a break for it. Without looking the youma stretched another limb and smacked the poor man back into the herd.

Usagi's heart leapt into her throat at the sight, one hand going for her tiara by instinct. She stopped herself - she could control the tiara in flight fairly well, but from the way it just... stayed in front of those poor people, the odds were far too good that the tiara's carry-through would put it into a civilian after ripping into the monster. She shook with fury. "Coward! Beast! Fight us! Come on! Come and get us!" She finished with a shriek. "MOVE!"

The youma's mostly-humanoid face twisted in a magnificent sneer. It edged closer to the huddled crowd.

A glance made the rounds among the Senshi. They were drawing a blank for ideas. With that thing refusing to move, the chance of hurting an innocent was just too high for them to start blasting. Even a clean hit would likely throw the heavy, bladed body into the very people they were trying to defend.

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They look like they're out of ideas, thought Subaru to Teana. I know we wanted to get a good read on these people's powers, but those civies are gonna get hurt if this keeps up.

The two had spent the day collating data they'd gathered on the Senshi thus far, both their own and some information forwarded to them by Hellsing, who had gained it from 'other contacts.' They'd been relaxing and preparing for a bit of recreation when Subaru's Wide Area Search picked up the Youma revealing itself. They'd arrived on the scene shortly after the Senshi squared off against it and had set up to recon the situation.

I know. Teana paused a moment, weighing the mission objectives against the situation. You're right. Lets get down there and help.

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The stalemate was abruptly broken as some kind of band of blue energy zipped down from a nearby rooftop to behind the youma. It whirled towards the band as someone else - Usagi belatedly recognized her as one of the foreign magical girls Makoto had met - raced down the band on rollerblades. She hopped over a swing from the youma and skidded to a halt between monster and crowd; a barrier of rippling energy blossoming to life before her as puffs of smoke erupted from the strange glove on her right hand. The youma's claws slammed into the shield, which held fast. From the same rooftop, the other foreign magical girl leapt to the street, energy charging at the tip of her weapon.
For a long moment, the Senshi were at a loss, then Ami and the purple-haired stranger shouted over each-other, Ami's "That shield is wide enough to cover the crowd!" almost lost under the stranger's "Fire away! I have these people covered!"

Rei recovered from the surprise first. "Burning Mandala!" The fiery blast splashed against the rippling shield as it enveloped the youma, which shrieked in pain, turning away from where it had been beating on the shield. Minako's Crescent Beam struck the creature squarely, bouncing it against the shield just as Ami cut loose with a Mercury Aqua Rhapsody. She'd taken a moment to get a read on how much power was in that protective spell and had been satisfied that it would block just about anything they could throw. Most of her blast hit the youma, the excess chewed concrete. Close enough on its heels to flashboil excess water was Makoto's Jupiter Thunder Crash.

The inhumanly tough youma shook off the impacts and bounded out of the small crater, which began to fill with water from a cracked pipe below. It was looking ragged but still ready to fight. It gathered itself for a leap into the Senshi's midst. Before it could, the other stranger planted her feet and fired. "Crossfire shoot!" A dozen magical projectiles spewed from her weapon, spiraling towards the youma and striking it in the flank with sufficient force to knock the already off-balance creature clear of the shield's edge. The purple-haired one turned to make sure the shield still covered the crowd.

Showing greater intelligence and self-preservation instincts than was common for its kind, the youma tried to run, leaping onto a rooftop. Before it could take so much as a single step further, Usagi's attack flew. "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" The flashing wave of multicoloured energy crashed over the creature. The monster had time for a mournful wail as it disintegrated into dust.

The purple haired stranger dropped her shield. "HA!" The shattered pavement before her ended at a clear line marking the shield's edge. Behind her, the crowd stood, began to applaud both Senshi and strangers.

Usagi bowed to her. "Thank you for the timely assistance."

"Our pleasure." She hopped the crater, landing deftly. "It looked like you could use a hand."

"We'd have figured something out," said Makoto. She was looking at the crater - mostly her handiwork - and thinking furiously. She knew how much power she could throw around. To be able to block it, even after a youma absorbed the brunt... was impressive.

Usagi moved around the crater, seeking the man the youma had struck. It was the work of moments to heal him. She helped him back to his feet and he started to bow. She caught his shoulders, head shaking. At his confused look, she said, "I should have found a way to stop it from hurting you. I'm so sorry you were hurt." She bowed to him, very low.

"I thank you," he replied. "I am grateful you were able to save us, Sailor Moon." Looking over her shoulder, he continued. "And I am grateful to you, stranger, for aiding her."

The orange haired girl's reply was a simple nod. To Usagi she said, "Sorry it took us so long." She cocked her head a moment, listening.

Usagi concentrated a moment: sirens. The other Senshi heard them as well. "Perhaps we should continue this discussion somewhere else," suggested Ami.

"Sounds like a plan to me," said the purple haired stranger. The two groups took off into the night.

"Teana and Subaru, right?" asked Makoto as they roof-hopped. "Or are those some kind of cover?"

"No," said the purple-haired one, "They're our real names. I'm Subaru." A pause. "The 'canadian' part was the cover."

"Anything you want to tell us now?" asked Rei, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"Do you have a safe place to talk?" asked Teana.

"We do," said Usagi. "Why don't we head there now?"