Shattered Ice: Super Sailor Mercury

Chapter 43

Galaxia sat on her throne, the golden armored woman feeling faintly troubled by recent events. The burst of power she had felt from the performance just a few days ago... concerned her. She wasn't frightened, exactly, but it did worry her. Her power was supreme, she had been sure of that, but those combined energies nearly rivalled her power.

But if she could control that power... ah, yes. Galaxia smiled to herself as she sat back, her thoughts racing pleasurably. It would be better than any human Star Seed or one stolen Sailor Soldier. Such power might let her finally achieve everything she wanted.

A more troubling feeling was the odd sense of familiarity Galaxia felt, watching these Sailor Soldiers. It was almost as if she should know them, or at least know of them. The bravery, camaraderie, the pure kindness of them... it itched at the back at her mind like a scar that she couldn't reach. Why did it all bother her so much?

Shaking her head Galaxia banished those thoughts, trying to focus on what she had to do now. Her servants were proving to be disappointing in their encounters with these Sailors. Iron Mouse had defected, while Aluminium Siren and Lead Crow had no success in gathering Star Seeds so far. On the other hand their latest attempt to use the Three Lights had revealed this new power, so she was inclined to forgive them.

This time.

But that didn't mean she couldn't start other plans. Galaxia gestured, "Sailor Tin Nyanko, I command you to come forth!"

The black clad young woman slinked from the shadows, the golden bells adorning the zipper of her costume chiming slightly as she moved. Her black hair was tied up in twin braids coming from her black, cat-eared headdress and the star symbol of Galaxia was on her forehead, marking her as one of her servants.

"You summoned me, mistress?" Nyanko purred.

Galaxia nodded as she waited, letting the girl fidget nervously before she finally told her, "I have a special treat for you, my servant."

"Oh?" Nyanko looked eager.

"As you know, Iron Mouse has betrayed us," Galaxia said flatly, the white haired girl's image appearing in mid-air, both in costume and in her human form. She smiled coldly as the beautiful woman added, "I want you to track her down for me."

"And kill her?" Nyanko asked eagerly.

"No, bring her back alive," Galaxia ordered.

Nyanko looked disappointed as she said, "But mistress..."

"Alive," Galaxia ordered, her voice taking on a dangerous rumble. She leaned forward as she continued, "Bring her to me. I want her punishment to be long and lingering..."

Nyanko shivered slightly, wilting under her mistress' gaze. "Of course, mistress. I live to serve you," she said submissively.

Galaxia waved calmly, "Go, then. Find her and bring her back to me, so that I can punish her for her many misdeeds."

Galaxia watched Nyanko leave, knowing that this would serve multiple goals. First, she needed Iron Mouse back, if only to find out how Sailor Mercury had freed her from her control. Second it would test Nyanko, if she did well she would be rewarded, while failure would be punished. And finally she could test Nyanko's loyalty... see if these women could take another of her soldiers

No matter what happened, things would ultimately benefit Galaxia. And that was as things should always be.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Outside in the corridors of Galaxy Television Sailor Tin Nyanko took on her hated human form, shimmering as her form shifted. Dressed in a stylish suit Nyanko Suzu hurried down the hall, her long black hair streaming behind her.

First Nyanko visited the office that Iron Mouse had used here, searching it with calm efficiency. There wasn't much to find there though, only some teen idol magazines and a spare change of clothes. No data on where she might go, or who she might be hiding with now.

"So, Galaxia has sent you out hunting, little kitty cat?" the voice asked from the doorway, filled with contempt.

Nyanko scowled as she saw Lead Crow standing in the doorway in her human form Akane. She hated the other woman, for Lead Crow held the position of leader of the Sailor Animates, a role she wanted for herself. Besides, the other woman was a bird... and cats hunted birds.

"Don't call me that," Nyanko said flatly, "bird brain."

Akane scowled back, pissed at the casual taunt. "I'm surprised that our mistress hasn't got you out chasing Star Seeds," she said then smiled coldly as she added, "I guess she decided that all you can handle are mice."

"A mouse that defeated you," Nyanko sneered.

"I would have had her if those damn Starlights hadn't interfered," Akane sniffed. She turned to go but added, "Good luck catching her all alone..."

Nyanko sniffed as the other woman left, but as she went back to searching the office she realized Akane might have a point. Iron Mouse appeared to have the protection of the Sailor Soldiers of this world, which meant capturing her would be complicated. She would have to rely on Phages to keep them busy, and they were notoriously limited.

Nyanko frowned as she recalled something that fool Akane had reported. Apparently previous adversaries of this world's sailors had left servants scattered about, awakening randomly. Possibly she could find some useful servants among them? It certainly couldn't hurt to look. She shook her head, then Nyanko focused on her existing task.

Finishing up her search Nyanko sighed. Nothing. Or at least nothing terribly substantial, just a few fan club notices, some sketchy pictures and the previously mentioned magazines. Still, they were leads, and Nyanko would pursue them and her prey. And who knew, she might get lucky.

Akane left the cat to her fruitless hunting, besides she had more important things to do. The men and women working at the station nodded to her in respect and a bit of fear, even as she mostly ignored them. In a few minutes she reached the suite she used, attached to the station for easy access, and looked in at the now sleeping Aluminium Siren.

Reiko had been shocked by the burst of power at the Three Light's concert, and had fainted. Worse she had struck her head, and in her human form she was as vulnerable to injury as anyone else. Akane had been horrified at seeing her hurt, and for a moment had been torn between serving Galaxia and helping her. Thankfully Reiko was showing signs of recovery, and the few times she had been awake she seemed mostly lucid.

'She'll be all right soon enough,' Akane reassured herself, wanting to go in there and gently push back her slightly messy hair. Deciding to just let the woman sleep she reluctantly turned and left, knowing she had work to do.

Ritsuko Takahata was waiting in the waiting room outside Akane's office, the agent for the Three Lights looking understandably peeved. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting," Akane said, shaking her hand briskly.

Ritsuko frowned back at her as she said, "It had better have been important, I've been waiting here ten minutes."

"My fellow producer Reiko was hurt in the riot a few days ago," Akane said as she led Ritsuko into her office, "I was visiting her and lost track of time."

"I see," Ritsuko answered a bit uncomfortably, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Akane said, glad to see the agent thrown off balance a bit. "I'm very sorry the even turned out so badly," she said, meaning it. Mind you, her 'turned out badly' probably wasn't what Ritsuko would have thought, since her plan had been to take he entire crowd's Star Seeds. And the Three Lights too, if she could have managed it.

"As are we," Ritsuko nodded. "I hate to bring up business with everything that must be going on here right now, but..."

"Perfectly understandable," Akane nodded, waving Ritsuko over to a chair in front of her desk. As the other woman sat she took a cheque from her desk drawer and handed it over, "The Three Light's fee, along with a bonus for the trouble they experienced."

Ritsuko swiftly scanned the paper with her eyes, confirming it had the fees and a sizable bonus attached. Akane had to fight to hold back her amusement at the woman's obvious greed, especially considering how foolish it was. When Galaxia finally took over this world, all the money this fool collected would be worth nothing.

"This is very generous of you," Ritsuko noted as she carefully put the cheque away.

"We at Galaxy want to maintain a good relationship with you and the Three Lights," Akane smiled engagingly, "not to mention we would still like to reach out to a younger demographic, one we think the Lights can help us connect to."

Quickly Ritsuko added, "As long as it's not like this week's event."

Akane patted her on the shoulder, "We'll do our best to make sure something like that doesn't happen again." Mentally she added, 'After all, our last attempt ended in failure.'

They talked for a bit longer, then Ritsuko excused herself. Akane walked her out of the office and watched her go, then with a sigh returned to her work: scouting out possibilities for real Star Seeds. The problem was, finding the real Star Seeds were enormously difficult.

The Star Seeds Galaxia needed were contained in a planet's Sailor Soldiers. But these individuals were almost impossible to find in their civilian forms. The only 'leads' they had were that these people were usually exceptional in one or more areas, and that some of them were not terribly good at hiding how good they were in real life.

'Iron Mouse chased famous people...,' Akane mused, while she had mostly tried volume. Converting large groups, gambling one would be a true Star Seed. Clearly that wasn't working, but chasing actresses wouldn't do it either.

"Are you going to work all night?" Reiko asked, wearing her robe over pyjamas, swaying a bit as she stood in the doorway.

Akane practically leaped to her feet, hurrying over as she said, "You shouldn't be up."

Reiko smiled slightly as she answered, "I'm not made of glass you know."She shrugged, "And I don't want you doing all our work alone."

"Sit down at least," Akane ordered, guiding her partner to the chair opposite her desk. As she sat down she added, "All I'm doing is trying to think of new ways to find Star Seeds."

Reiko sat down, clearly relieved to be off her feet. "Well, we need to find Sailor Mercury and her friends, then," she said casually.

"Which is easier said than done," Akane noted dryly.

"Well, they're not as old as we are," Reiko mused, looking off into the distance. "Do you think they're cute in their school uniforms?" she mused in her random way.

There was a beat of silence as Akane sat there stunned. "School uniforms...," she murmured.

"Yes?" Reiko asked.

"They're in school," Akane grinned, "all we need is to look into the school records! Clearly, the best students are probably the Sailor Soldiers!"

To be continued...

Notes: Taking another look into Galaxia's camp, trying to establish them as characters more or less. I should note that while I'm using Sailor Stars as a basis for this story, I will be skipping over some of the bits that I think are stupid or silly. (Like Rei's guardian crows really being aliens, in the manga. Or that Nyanko is the same race as Luna and Artemis.)