Chapter 21

Mamoru's car at last turned off the road and up a driveway, and Leanne brought her car to a halt and followed the strange procession on foot. Still carrying Diana's bed between them, Mamoru and the girls were heading for a featureless cuboidal building directly in front of them. It was two storeys high and about a hundred metres wide. The procession disappeared through a small doorway in the front wall, and Leanne and Helen heard the sound of the door being locked after them.

"What do we do now?" Helen whispered.

"No problem," said Leanne. "Leave it to me."

A standard part of the training all the girls had to go through before being admitted to the Sisterhood was the Covert Entry test, so she was experienced at gaining entry to guarded buildings. Indeed, this one turned out to be a little too easy for her tastes; after prowling round the outside of the building, she found a window that was only loosely fastened, and she and Helen easily managed to slip inside.

They seemed to be in some sort of warehouse; it was all one large room, but there were so many boxes and crates around that there was no danger of the girls having seen them. Leanne and Helen crept forward until they could look around the corner of a giant stack of crates and get a look at the ceremony that was taking place.

"What are they doing?" asked Helen.

"I don't know," said Leanne, "but we're going to stop it."

The girls had placed Diana's bed in the centre of a large open space, and were standing around it in a circle. The blonde-haired girl who seemed to be in charge of operations was taking something out of a pocket, and Leanne's grip tightened on the tranquilliser gun at her side. But she did not need it; not yet. The girl had not made a move towards Diana, but was merely holding some object up.

To Leanne's intense astonishment, she shouted out some nonsensical words in English. "Moon prism power, make up!"

Leanne's eyes opened wide as she watched the transformation. Swirls of light flowed around Usagi as she spun, and in a flash she was changed into the costume of Sailor Moon. Helen nudged Leanne with her elbow.

"Did that just… I mean, what was that?" she whispered.

"I don't know," Leanne said again, less confidently this time.

Then Usagi moved her hand in a wide circle, and chanted, "Moon Healing Escalation!"

The two girls watching had to shut their eyes for a second as a chasm of intense light opened up around Usagi. It shone directly down onto Diana as she lay unmoving on the bed, and, as Usagi concentrated intensely on the light flowing out of her, the girls could see Diana turn over and shake as she struggled to wake herself.

In the darkness of the shadows, Leanne's mouth dropped silently open.

The light faded, and Ami rushed over and held Diana's hand, pressing some warmth into her to help bring her back to life. Rei was kneeling by the bed and chanting. Naru was weeping quietly, and Minako stepped up close to her and kept a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Can you hear me?" said Ami. "Are you awake?"

Diana groaned, and one eye opened slightly.

"Huh?" she said. "What… who…?"

"My name is Ami Mizuno. We're here to help you."

Diana suddenly jerked into a sitting position, looked round and screamed. "Krotera!" she cried. "You've got to help Ruby! He's going to kill her!"

"Stay calm," Ami said in her best bedside manner. "It's all right. Krotera's not here. You're safe now."

"Are you?" said a voice. "Krotera may not be here, but I am."

Ami whirled around, desperately trying to locate the source of the voice. "Who's that?"

The sound of quiet laughter echoed dimly around the room. It sounded smooth, cold as steel, and menacing.

"I am Asha the Assassin. We have met, though you won't remember me."

Helen tugged Leanne's sleeve. "If those girls are trying to help Ruby," she said, "then that means…."

Leanne nodded. She had lifted up her gun now, and was peering around into the shadows, trying to find where Asha's voice was coming from.

Diana grabbed onto Ami's arm. "You've got to hurry to Ruby," she said. "They're keeping her in the –

She gulped as the breath was struck out of her, and then looked down at the small red knife that had appeared from out of nowhere in her chest. "I should have known," she said calmly.

"Diana!" Ami cried. "You can't die –"

Diana, knowing she had just time for a few words, tightened her pressure on Ami's arm to signal her to be silent. "Military research, Sector Nine, unlock… the four terminals…." Then she collapsed back on the bedclothes and lay still.

Rei let out a roar of pain and desperation. "Burning Mandala!" she cried; and sheets of flame billowed towards where Asha's voice had last been heard.

The sound of Asha's laughter came from directly behind her.

"Show yourself!" cried Mamoru, swinging his cane towards the sound. "Asha the Assassin, I will be your opponent!"

"Come and get me, if you can," the voice replied.

It was Minako's turn to send an attack flying towards him. "Venus Love-me Chain!" she cried. A chain of light flew out into the darkness, and there was a cry and a thump, like the sound of a heavy object dropping to the ground.

"I've got something!" Minako cried, hauling on the chain. There was the sound of shoes scraping on the floor as her prisoner tried desperately to resist, and Leanne found herself being dragged into the middle of the room.