He woke up to the sound of his alarm, he was well rested, but something didn't feel right.
He took a moment to search his feelings. Was it because Rei's sad mood yesterday? Or a psychological hangover following the alcohol induced one?
No, it was neither. He felt bad for Rei and hoped she'd be better by today. And it was not a psychological hangover. He didn't feel bad or sad. He just felt that something bad was about to happen.
He got ready and waited for Ami to text him that she was on her way. He checked his pistol and remembered that he just had one magazine left. He needed to get some more Ammo at the base. And he needed to find out what this premonition meant and the Force or his guts or whatever it was tried to warn him about.
He went outside in time and waited for Ami, closely scanning his surroundings.
When she rolled up, he checked again and got in.
"Good Morning, slept well?" she greeted him with a smile. "Hey what's wrong?"
"Good Morning. Hey, did you encounter anything strange or unusual this morning?" He asked her in a distinct tone.
"Err no… why?" She responded with a questioning face.
He took another look around.
"Ami, if something happens, you still have your gun around?"
She looked at him. "In the glove box as always? What's going on?"
"I don't know, to be honest but I have this premonition that something bad will happen today." He told her with a grim look
She started the car and they set out for the base.
"Hm, Rei had a premonition too yesterday. That's why Pluto, Saturn and Chibi-Moon were on that mission yesterday evening. They were out, scouting the city. I haven't heard anything from them yet tho."
"Do me a favor and keep your eyes up today." He urged her.
"Of course. You rather wanna cancel our afternoon coffee then?"
He was thinking for a moment.
"No. It's safer if it's two of us. At least for us. Is it okay for your husband?"
"Oh trust me. Nobody wants to mess with my husband when I'm around." she told him with confidence.
They rolled up at the palace and got out for breakfast at the dining hall.
Afterwards Ami left for her office in the HQ and promised she'd check on any info about things being off.
He left for the armory and stocked up on Ammo, at least for his pistol and the rifle in AICA.
A motor pool vehicle and it's driver brought him over to the airfield and he went to AICA's Hangar.
He greeted her and asked for anything unusual. The Fighter didn't report anything unusual. He told her to keep her sensor open while he put the spare ammo into the compartment where he stowed the rifle.
When he was finished he walked over to the AirCenter and got ready. Today's schedule was a training flight in the morning and the he was off. Terra Squadron was already gone when he got there.
His two female wingmen showed up soon afterwards and got ready too.
On the way to their Starfighters he told them to take extra care today.
"What's wrong? Did something happen? Michiru asked.
"I got this feeling, don't know why but something bad is about to happen. I can sense it." He told them. "Do me a favor and double check everything today."
"I'm touched by your concern but everything is okay. Don't worry, really." Haruka tried to convince him. "Maybe your premonition is wrong."
"No, it's like in that asteroid field. I can really feel it." he explained to the two woman as they entered the Voyager's Hangar.
Haruka thought for a second and then looked over to Michiru. She nodded.
They looked around if somebody was around and when they were sure it was just the three of them, Michiru summoned a hand mirror and grabbed it out of the air.
"This is my talisman, the Deep Aqua Mirror. It can detect enemies." Michiru told him and asked the Mirror about the Presence of
Enemies but the mirror didn't show anything." Michiru frowned.
"It can't detect anything." Michiru told him.
"See, everything's good Mate. Nothing to worry about. Maybe the force just plays a trick on you." Haruka chimed in.
SunTzu wheezed not really convinced.
But maybe the girls were right and everything was okay. Maybe the bad feeling had other reasons.
The two Senshi began their preflight check up and SunTzu got back to AICA.
On the way he pulled out his mobile phone and thought about to ask Rei if she was feeling better today. Maybe it really was this what made him feel so strange. As he wasn't sure how she would take it, he decided against it in the end.
Before he entered the cockpit he did a thorough check on the outside of the Spacefighter. He climbed in and did the preflight checks on his own. After that he let AICA, who got annoyed by his exactness already, double check it.
Everything was in order.
He tried to relax a bit and shut out that strange feeling.
After they got permission they took off and head for the training area in the North Pacific again.
They trained till noon, sparring against Terra Squadron and Marvin and the three wingmen especially trained covering each other.
Around 12:30pm they landed back at the base. SunTzu told AICA to Inform him immediately if she stumbled on anything unusual, before they went to lunch.
SunTzu felt relieved that everything went right but the feeling was still there.
Ami texted him, that she also couldn't find anything unusual somewhere, and that it was the same for the nightly patrol of Saturn, Chibi-Moon and Pluto.
She also told him, that they'll be meeting at 3pm in the Juban Arcades.
He got back to AirCenter and they had a short debrief before Marvin dismissed them. The two Senshi would stay at the Palace and train this afternoon they told.
He left the base and took a taxi back to his apartment, where he got ready and hurried out into the Arcades. He had a few minutes left and decided to visit a branch of the bank his account was and deposit most of the Galactic Credits he was having in cash.
On time he was waiting for Ami and her husband, the weather was nice, with temperatures hitting up to twenty degrees.
Ami, finally clothed casually for once, and her Husband Ryu. He was a dark haired slender guy, around the same age as Ami.
He remembered that the dossier about Ami told, that she took his last name Urawa and that both of them had a doctor title.
He walked over to them and Ami introduced them to each other. Ryu made a sympathetic impression although he seemed to be rather quiet guy. The two of them made a beautiful couple.
They went for a nearby coffee shop and ordered.
"Found out what your premonition meant yet?" Ami asked SunTzu
He looked at her questioningly and she looked over to Ryu and told him.
"Oh, it's okay. Ryu knows about me being a Senshi of course, actually he has premonitions too. He also has Top Secret clearance."
"Oh, okay. No, I couldn't find out what it's about. Maybe it's just my mind playing tricks on me." SunTzu told her. He looked at Ryu.
"Top Secret Clearance, what do you do? If you're allowed to talk about it Doctor."
"Please, Ryu is more than enough. I'm a scientist and develop and examine the new technologies our discovery by the rest of the Galaxy gave us access too."
"He's actually the head scientist of the Crystal Tokio Technological Science University. World's leading Lab for the new Technology that were brought to us. My Husbando has an IQ of 280." She said with a proud look at him. SunTzu let out a smile whistle when she mentioned that. He was having coffee with the two most intelligent humans on the planet if not the Galaxy.
He smiled sheepish and grabbed her hand.
"Right now we're working mostly on combining our technology with the GA Technologies." he explained. "I heard you have quite an interesting starship."
"I do, although she can be very stubborn sometimes." he told with a smile. "You should come over one day. I'll introduce you to her."
The waitress came with their drinks and the couple told him where they met when suddenly a tall, broad strange looking man appeared at their table. He was at least 2 metres high.
He stood there for a second looking for SunTzu and the three of them on the table wondered what was happening right now, when the face of the guy seem to melt and uncovered a mutilated grimace as it oozed down, the man reached for something under his clothes and pulled out something looking like a whip .
"Oh Shit!"
In a split second Yuuzhan Vong whipped his Amphistaff back and forth directing the venom spitting mouth into SunTzu's direction.
In the same split second, SunTzu jumped up, grabbed the table and pushed it against the Vong Warrior. Hello Force, there you are again.
The Amphistaff just hit the tabletop and gouged deep inside it.
"Ami, Ryu, get out! He said still pushing the table at the huge Alien.
Ami jumped up and grabbed Ryu's hand leading him out of the cafe.
The Vong finally pushed the table aside and threw it away a few metres.
He gave SunTzu a hard right hook that pushed him back and put his gigantic left hand around his throat and lifted him up.
The smaller human angrily tried to kick the Vong's Upper body and rattled insult at the towering Warrior.
In an alley next to the cafe, Ami told Ryu to stay put and straighted up.
"Mercury Crystal Power, Make Up!"
SunTzu tried to rip the Vong's hands off his throat but it's hand was like a iron vice around it.
He spat in the Vong's Face and the Alien threw him away disgusted. SunTzu flew through the cafe's bane behind him and landed on the street, the impact knocking the air out of his lungs.
Thank god for safety glass.
He needed a moment till the stars he saw left and got up, drawing his pistol. Now he was really pissed and started curseing in German into towards the Vong.
Around him people were screaming and running away from the scene. SunTzu made sure, that he couldn't hit any bystanders as the Vong appeared in the opening of the window and took aim. He let the magazine off in the Alien Warriro, but his armor didn't even make him flinch. I need a bigger weapon, SunTzu thought as he reloaded.
The Vong jumped out of the window and stormed towards SunTzu.
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"
A stream of water hit the Vong and knocked him over.
"Mercury!" SunTzu said and both nodded at each other.
The Vong jumped to his feet again, growling at the two of them. He rushed forward again, but this time they were ready. He tried to hit SunTzu with his fist again but the pilot ducked and slammed his right fist into the side of the Alien's face. The alien's head turned but it probably hurted SunTzu's Hand more than the Vong's face. SunTzu shook his hand in pain.
Mercury slid down and straddled the Vong's legs making him fall down again. The Vong answered with a kick Mercury could barely protect from and was pushed back.
SunTzu saw his chance and tried to jump onto the Vong's face with both of his feet. The Vong Warrior rolled out of the way and grabbed his feet, taking him down to him. He gave SunTzu an uppercut and kneeled down above him, closing his hands around his neck.
Think, SunTzu, think. Where was the soft spot of a Vong's Armor.
The Vong chocked him and tried to crush his neck with his iron hard grip.
Ami a few meters away, had trouble getting up and was on her knees and held her side. That guy was strong, she thought.
His vision begin to blurr, why SunTzu still tried to remember the soft spot of Vonduun Armor.
The armpit. It was the armpit. Focusing all the energy he still had he raised the pistol in his hand and shoved into the Vong's armpit, with his last bit of strength he pulled the trigger. The iron grip on his neck loosened a bit and he could shoot again. He took another two shots and the grip finally loosened up completely. The Vong fell down from him, dead, the shots penetrated his ins innards.
He leaned back and took some deep, deep breaths.
Mercury came over with clenched teeth, holding her arm on her side.
She slumped down next to him.
"Turned out your premonition was right."
"I hate when I'm right." he responded and sighed, laying his head on the floor
Ryu helped both of them up and carried them to back of their car, where Mercury detransformed, before he sped off to the hospital. On the way Ami called the other Senshi and told them what just happened and that they were on the way to the hospital.
Makoto answered that she'll rush over to Juban with Team 1.
Police cars with flashing lights and sirens were racing to where they just came from.
They arrived at the hospital and Ryu helped Ami out of the car. She had pain on ribs and couldn't stand up straight.
SunTzu felt like he got hit by a truck, his face was bruised and he had marks on his neck as well a small cut on the back of his head from the glass of the window he bursted through.
They got to the reception and the clerk told them where the Entrance for the ER was and the started to move.
A female doctor came around the corner, reading some patient's data. She had the same hair color as Ami.
"Ami?" she asked.
"Mom?" Ami answered.
"Hello Dr. Mizuno, we need help." Ryu told.
Turned out, that Ami's Mom was the chief physician of the internal medicine department of the hospital.
She examined both, beginning with Ami. The two boys had to wait outside of the room.
Ten minutes later Ami left the examination room, stating that she got a bruised rib and got a Bacta patch and some painkillers.
SunTzu was next and although he wasn't hurt serious, Doctor Mizuno decided that he'd spent the next two Hours in a Bacta Tank, because how got roughed up pretty good, with bruises all over him. He wasn't the type to start debating with a friend's mom, so he was okay with it.
He told Ami and Ryu to go home and relax, he was okay. After all it was Ami's Mom.
"Thanks for saving me out there Ami. And get well soon." he told the Senshi.
"You're more than welcome." She took on a wry smile. "Guess it never gets boring around us. Don't worry Ryu will take care of me. Have a speedy recovery."
The next two hours he spent sleeping in a tank of Bacta. And it felt like heaven. For a brief moment before falling asleep he was thinking about a black haired blue eyed angel but then exhaustion overmanned him.
He woke up to the sound of giggles, and after struggling to open his eyes actually he saw two persons in front of the tank. The Bacta made everything outside blurry but he could identify one as short haired blond and one as teal haired.
Oh no, that was too much now.
Someone let out the Bacta and he slowly descended to the pools floor and when all the blue liquid was drained a nurse helped him out the tank and gave him a towel to dry himself.
"Hey Wingman, nice briefs." Hotaru greeted him with a comment about the underwear the hospital gave him for his dive In the tank. Michiru tried to surprise a laugh.
He sighed and looked at them.
"I hope your visit is just a thing of imagination based around the lack of oxygen earlier on"
"Oh, come on. We just wanted to visit our favorite wingman in the hospital, when we heard what happened. Dr Mizuno told us, you were here and we couldn't resist to be there for when you wake up." Haruka defended them with a grin.
"Fine, thanks then I guess." SunTzu responded. At least he was feeling better.
"You guys mind to wait outside while I change." he asked them ironically.
Uranus shrugged and turned around.
"Ohh, too bad." Michiru stated with a sad face earning her a shocked expression from Haruka. She was pretty good at that game too, her better half was running on every female they encountered.
A few minutes later, feeling way better, almost painless and without having any bruises and marks anymore, SunTzu came out the room, being received by Ami's Mom, telling him, that everything was fine and to keep it easy the next few days nonetheless. Haruka asked if flying was okay and Dr. Mizuno told it was alright if he wouldn't go too crazy.
He thanked Ami's Mom and they said their goodbyes. Thanks the Job as Royal Guardian came with an all-inclusive health insurance. The employee benefits of the job were definitely a plus. The expectation of an addiction to painkillers in the foreseeable future weren't, though.
They went outside and SunTzu was about say Bye, when Haruka chimed in.
"I can imagine you could use a drink tonight. I'll be around your place in an hour."
"Actually I just need some rest. How about I see you tomorrow."
"Hogwash. Are you a man or a mouse? It's just a few beers not drinking with a bunch of elite soldiers." Haruka said in a welcoming tone.
"Okay, but just one single beer."
"Of course, we're not crazy." Haruka assured.
"I'll drop out, seeing SunTzu float in that tank made me want to have nice hot bubble bath." Michiru said. "Don't wake me up when you come home. And if, be prepared for the echo," she told in a seductive way to Haruka. Haruka gave her the car keys and she disappeared after wishing the both pilots a nice evening.
Haruka waved over a taxi and they headed to SunTzu's place, where SunTzu took a shower and changed his clothes.
Haruka was at his fridge and what she saw, discouraged her.
"Mate, you're a German and you don't have beer in the fridge. What's wrong with you?"
"Bavarian! I am a Bavarian! And if you happen to remember I'm here for just a week and was deployed most of the time." SunTzu informed her.
"Whatever. Can we go?"
"Just a sec." He checked his phone and it was actually exploding with mails ranging from asking if he was okay (Mina), over to asking if he really killed a Vong that was choking him to death (Rudy) to Ami asking if he was home safe again.
While Michiru was urging to go and complaining that he needed more time to get ready then the whole Sailor Senshi he answered the Mails.
He even got a message from an unknown number, asking if he was okay. The message was signed with a bunny Emoji. He asked Haruka and showed her the message.
"Oh, that's the Queen. Usagi. Get it?" She said.
Wow, he didn't expect that. Even the boss seemed to care, that was a bit embarrassing for him.
He also got a message from Rei, beginning with "Dude, what the fuck are you doing again. I'll keep you out of sight for one afternoon and you almost get killed again."
Charming as ever.
"Either we go now or I'll go alone." Haruka chimed in.
"Okay, let's go."
"Finally", the short haired Blonde sighed.
They left and took a cab back to a pub in Azabujuban.
They had a hearty dinner and a pint to start off the night. One beer only of course. As SunTzu insisted.
Three pints later they decided to head to the next place and Haruka told she knew a place near the Train station, they could walk there. To not arrive there thirsty each of them grabbed a can of beer in a nearby Convenience Store.
As they walked on SunTzu asked about the place they were heading to.
"Am I even allowed in there as man?" He mocked her.
"Might have to pretend you're into boys. If you aren't anyway." She answered, mocking him back.
"If I tell you that I like girls, would you blush?" He looked at her.
"Fuck you!" She laughed.
He made puckered lips and kissing sound in her direction and she laughed more and flipped him off.
Few moments later a group of five young women, out for the night, walked passed them and Haruka turned around looking after them, asking how they're feeling tonight, proofing her Ladykiller Image again.
While she was flirting with the girls, SunTzu stepped over to the display window of a boutique. He pulled out his cigarettes and lighted one up.
Someone walked down his way, coming from the other side of the way. He was dressed in dark clothes and hooded. The guy stopped a few steps away from SunTzu, who was still looking at the displayed clothes and smoked his cigarette. SunTzu turned around to see what Haruka was doing when he saw the guy, easily a head taller than him, standing there watching him. The big guy put down his hood and revealed a tattooed and disfigured face.
Not again…
SunTzu immediately sobbered up and grabbed for his pistol but the second Vong Warrior jumped forwards and slammed into SunTzu, pushing him through the window and making him land in between some mannequins.
Why every Motherfucker with an issue on this planet had to throw or blow him through something.
He was gone for a second and the Yuuzhan Vong pulled out a Coufee Dagger and was about to enter through the broken window and finish his work when suddenly an angry Haruka jumped with both feet's toward into his side, making him stumble. He tried to hit her with the Coufee's Blade but the Senshi was already out of his range.
SunTzu got back up, his back sending jolts of pain through his body.
He was pissed the first time, this time he was beyond furious, getting up just out of pure Anger he jumped out of the destroyed shop display as the Vong just recovered from the hit Haruka scored.
Fist first he jumped into the Vong's Face and hit him. This time it hurted again, but not as much as it did for the Vong. Something definitely broke in the Alien's face and the alien let go off his coufee.
The alien countered with an uppercut into SunTzu's stomach sending him flying back, and he hit the floor but Haruka was ready again and thrusted her knee into the Vong's stomach. That didn't showed much effect and the Vong grabbed her, swang around with her and threw her away in swift move.
She landed hard on her back.
"Only chance we have is to get to his soft spot in the armpit!" SunTzu yelled over to here as she struggled to get up.
"Why didn't you start with this!" She yelled.
SunTzu rose, drew his Pistol and let off. A hit in the knee penetrated the armor and let the Alien Warrior stagger to a knee fall under a loud hiss. SunTzu took this time to run up to to the Vong, he wanted to shoot him from close quarter and end it.
I'm gonna shove my fucking pistol in your fucking mouth you freak. I hope you don't like the upper part of your head, he thought.
As he got to the Vong, the Alien suddenly straddled him and SunTzu feel, loosing his pistol in the process. The Vong got up under a scream and towered above him, picking up his coufee.
Suddenly Haruka slammed into the Vong, spinning his arm up and shoved a scimitar into his armpit as far as she could and then turned around. The Vong dropped to his knees again and she shoved the dagger up again. When she pulled it out the Yuuzhan Vong dropped dead. Leaving a sweating, heavy breathing Haruka Tenou as the winner.
SunTzu got up and took a look at the dead Alien.
"That was close! I'd be Kebab now without you."
"We're Wingman, after all," Haruka replied with a s wry smile. "Looks like someone wants to see you dead."
"Suppose so. " He sat down and fiddled out his cigarettes, putting one in his mouth. As he was about to put them away again, Harukas Hand reached for it and fished one out too. He gave her fire and then lighted his own cigarette. They looked at each other and then at the dead Vong, that almost killed them both and started laughing out loud, releasing the rest of the adrenaline that rushed through their veins.
Haruka called Sailor Saturn, who was out patrolling with Chibi-Moon again and then informed the Palace. A Group of the guard was on it's way as well as the two Teenage Senshi.
The two Sailor Guardians were the first to arrive, with Saturn landing nearly soundless next to them, making SunTzu twitch from the surprise. A few moments later the Princess landed on the other side of them. They came over the rooftops.
"Are you two okay?" Chibi-Moon asked while Saturn scanned the surroundings.
"Better than that motherfucker!" Haruka said, making SunTzu grin and nod, and flipped her cigarette butt at the dead Vong. "God, my back kills me. How you do that all the time?" She glanced to SunTzu.
"I wanted to stay home. You wanted to go out." He said with an ironic tone in his voice.
They waited for the Palace Guard to show up and Chibi-Moon and Saturn told them, that they'll stay around and look for anything suspicious. Why kids never want to sleep?
A SUV from the Palace Guard brought them to the Hospital. It was better to get checked after the amount of beating they took.
Haruka called Michiru on the way, telling her what happened. She was worried but Haruka told her that everything was fine and they were just going to the hospital for precautionary measures.
When they arrived at the hospital they entered through the regular ER. As it was nearly midnight it was very quiet.
A nurse told them that a doctor will see them soon.
After a few minutes the doctor attended them. To her own disbelief their Doctor actually was Setsuna and she was surprised to see the two.
"What are you two doing here? Please don't tell me you guys are here because you're drunk and bored." She sighed, seeming annoyed.
The Pilots glanced at each other and then turned their heads around, displaying their bruises.
"Bar brawl?" The dark haired woman asked them
"No, but it had the same elegance." Haruka answered.
"Follow me, I'll have a look at it?"
Haruka was examined first, and why she wasn't hurt bad, she was about to take a dive in a Bacta tank.
SunTzu followed next, Setsuna told him to take off
"If I wouldn't know firsthand how dangerous it is to be around Sailor Senshi, I'd get the impression you're just doing this to take off your shirt in front of me Lieutenant." She told him.
"Is this a warning that this madness is not just gonna stop after a certain time?"
She actually had to smile at that one.
"I'm afraid not. But don't worry, we still got Bacta around." She said with a way to big smile.
"Talking about that, can too much Bacta be harmful in any way? Or get me addicted or something?" He asked, a bit worried.
"What? No. No, I don't think so. But maybe you try to not end up in the hospital twice a day I suppose." She answered.
Haruka and SunTzu both ended up in the Bacta Tank and spent another two hours in there. At least they weren't injured seriously.
After getting out of the tanks, and thankfully feeling better, they redressed and met with Setsuna.
"It's very quiet tonight, so I'm able to drop out early today and can take you home. She told them.
"Hotaru is heading over here too, they patrolled the city but didn't find anything. The guard already took Chibiusa home with them."
"You're crashing our couch tonight SunTzu, it's not safe enough for you to stay alone. Setsuna, I wouldn't mind if you two stay over too. Maybe we need all the Warriors we can get." Haruka stated in honest.
A detransformed Saturn appeared soon after in the hospital. As usual she was very tight-lipped. Setsuna gave a notice of her departure and they headed to Hiro-o, where Michiru and Haruka had their luxurious apartment. SunTzu let out a whistle when he saw the extravagant building.
Setsuna parked in the underground garage and they took the elevator to the top floor where the two lovers lived in the penthouse.
Haruka opened the door to be greeted by a worried looking Michiru, wearing a teal silk robe.
"Are you okay Baby?" She asked and hugged her Girlfriend. "I was worried!" The two shared an passionate kiss.
"I'm good, the Bacta helped immensely. But I really need sleep. I brought the girls and SunTzu. It's safer in numbers I suppose."
Michiru hugged Haruka again and then turned over to SunTzu. To his surprise she hugged him too.
"Im glad you're okay." Then she hugged Hotaru and Setsuna.
They got ready for bed and Michiru arranged some pillows and a blanket for the living room's big sofa, where SunTzu was about to sleep.
Setsuna just disbanded with a Good Night to him and Saturn wasn't seen at all but Michiru wished him a good night and asked if he needed anything more. She also brought him a bottle of water.
"No more painkillers for you tho", she told with small smile.
Haruka, was the last in the room.
"Hey Haruka. I'm sorry i got you into this." He apologized to her.
"I'm not. We're comrades, wingmen. You got our six, we got yours. Don't forget that you saved us in that asteroid field."
"Thanks. I really appreciate it."
Haruka smiled and they shared a fist bump.
"Sleep well wingman. And if something feels unusual don't be shy to wake us up. You can crash on my couch but please don't die here." Haruka said with irony.
"Not intending too. He smiled. "Good night Haruka." She turned the light off on her way out.
He laid down and immediately fell asleep.