Shattered Ice: Super Sailor Mercury

Chapter 50

"This is VERY annoying," Sailor Lead Crow growled out as she chucked several papers across the room.

"Now now," Aluminum Siren chided gently.

Organizing the 'Top Students in Tokyo' event was proving more troublesome than expected. They had already had to reset the date twice due to other city based events, as well as issues with permits and so on. Staying under-cover was a PAIN. It would be so much easier just going out and kidnapping people...

"We WILL have the event ready soon," Siren reassured her. "Besides, we HAVE been going out searching for heart crystals too. Galaxia-sama has no reason to be angry with us."

"True," Crow admitted. Besides, the other Animates weren't doing so well either...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"You did WHAT?" Sailor Tin Nyanko yelped.

Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon looked sheepish. "I kind of.. destroyed the Nega Moon and killed everyone there on my mission."

"Galaxia told you to recruit them!" Tin Nyanko groaned, shaking her head.

"One of them insulted Galaxia-sama! I couldn't help myself!" Heavy Metal Papillon quickly defended herself.

"How did they insult her?" Tin Nyanko asked warily.

"They called Galaxia a piker and said she should get in line behind them to destroy the Sailors," Heavy Metal Papillon admitted.

"All right, I can see that...," Tin Nyanko conceded reluctantly. She then asked, "Have you told Galaxia yet?"

"Yes," Heavy Metal Papillon admitted, "she's... rather cross."

'She can't be THAT angry, as you're still alive,' Tin Nyanko thought to herself. Aloud she said to her, "Well, out of sight, out of mind. You can assist me in my duties, and also stay away from Galaxia for a while."

Heavy Metal Papillon puffed out a sigh, "Thank you."

She didn't mention the OTHER odd thing that happened: the four 'Amazons' who somehow escaped her. After defeating the majority of the servants, the four had glowed brightly, changed uniforms than... just burst through the ceiling and flew off. It was all very strange, and she had been too tied up in battle to chase them down.

Curiously Heavy Metal Papillon asked, "How is your mission recruiting soldiers for Galaxia?"

Tin Nyanko rolled her eyes. "Rather mixed. I've gathered some high level but mindjess creatures as canon fodder, but..."

"And that Dark Kingdom warrior, Jadite?" Heavy Metal Papillon asked.

"Well... he's having some issues coming to grips with everything that happened," Tin Nyanko conceded.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jadite teleported into the wreckage of the old Nega-Kingdom, hidden below icy wastes of Earth's polar regions. It had been distressingly easy to get in: the defences were down and he could easily follow the conduits they had left into Tokyo.

The tunnels were crowded with ice and water, the rooms soggy and wrecked. There were bodies scattered around, drained entirely of energy. He walked through the wreckage of what had been his world, piecing together what happened.

'Sailor Moon fought Beryl here,' Jadite thought as he looked at the wreckage of the throne room, 'and Beryl lost.' He touched the wreckage of the negaforce container, 'Desperate she drained this... then everyone who was left here.'

"You... bitch!" Jadite cursed, punching the container and shattering it.

He hadn't had many friends here.. but there HAD been some. And as much as he had hated his fellow generals at times, they had been comrades. And now, all of it was gone.

In a swirl of fire, Jadite teleported out.

The public library was a fascinating place, Jadite decided. A staffer showed him how to log on to an internet equipped computer, gave him some pointers and he went to work.

Appearances of himself and the other Generals stopped about three years ago. (He had had to upload a pic of himself and do a photo search. Enough people had cameras with them that images made it online.) There was also a related news article about a massive quake, roughly near where their base had been. So he felt that was enough confirmation.

What happened to the Sailor Scounts he had fought was nearly as confusing. The group had just... stopped appearing about a year and a half ago. Roughly. Not long after Sailor Mercury operated on her own, while three other Sailors worked as a separate group. More recently, they had united...

'So what happened to Prince Endymion? Is he dead?' Jadite wondered. In a few of the images he could have sworn Mercury had his sword...

"Sir?" one of the librarians tapped his shoulder. "It's nearly closing time."

"Ah, thank you," Jadite smiled charmingly. He got up and said, "Thank you for your help. What do I owe?"

"It's a free service," the young man noted, amused slightly.

"Well, thank you anyway," Jadite bowed slightly. "I may come to use it again."

"I'll look forward to it," the other man seemed rather charmed by his good manners and shook his hand.

As Jadite left, he wondered why the young man had given him a piece of paper with a phone number on it. Oh well.

In another burst of fire, Jadite teleported again.

"Could you stop that! You set of fire alarms," Tin Nyanko complained.

"Sorry, ma'am," Jadite shrugged slightly. "It seems to be how my teleporting works, now." he explained.

"Hmph," Tin Nyanko frowned but accepted that. She looked at him thoughtfully, "I have given you enough time to think, hmm? Have you decided if you will assist me?"

Jadite smiled a bit sadly. "Everything I knew is gone, Tin Nyanko. Where else can I go?" he shrugged eloquently.

"That's not exactly a ringing statement of support," Tin Nyanko noted, though her voice had a twinge of sympathy in it.

Jadite nodded slightly. "I will assist you as we have similar goals," Jadite explained, "you see, I want Sailor Mercury defeated as well. For my own reasons."

"Fair enough," Tin Nyanko nodded.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sailor Iron Mouse smiled as her white hair was combed back. "Ah, that's nice...," she murmured.

"That is the cutest hair," one of Usagi's classmates noted.

After shadowing Usagi and Hotaru at various points, Mouse had gotten smart and with help had arranged to volunteer at the school. The two girls were nearby, and in a emergency she could respond very quickly. Plus, kids liked her oddly enough.

"Chuuko Nezu, please stop playing with the children!" the teacher called. "I could use some help."

"Sorry, sir," Iron Mouse said, hurrying over. She was the older woman's assistant, which mostly boiled down to keeping the kids entertained while she did paperwork.

Assuming the 'Chuuko Nezu' alias was a bit of a gamble, but Iron Mouse wasn't that worried. While Galaxia was powerful, she was very remote to the world itself. She likely wouldn't think to look for the 'human' identity Iron Mouse established while working for her.

"Sorry," the older woman sighed, "the paperwork for this 'Top Students' even is such a pain."

Iron Mouse didn't let herself react to that, tho it was hard. Knowing that Galaxy TV was sponsoring it almost certainly meant it was a trap, but other than the Sailors they couldn't really tell anyone. Who'd believe it?

"Are many students here going?" Iron Mouse asked.

"Well, Hotaru of course," the teacher noted, "and we have several others who probably qualify..."

Looking over the list, Iron Mouse noted that with all her tutoring, even Usagi probably qualified to go. It seemed Ami's hard work with Usagi was paying off.

'Somehow I don't think Ami will be happy about this,' Iron Mouse thought glumly.

To be continued...

Notes: As I may have said before, this is not set in the original time Sailor Moon was. Both because it would be a royal pain being consistant with all the details, and because modern technology in the story makes writing it easier.

Sailor Animates & Jadite chapter. What can I say, I like writing villain POV chapters. I need to decide if I'm gonna use the manga or anime origin for Jadite. In the manga he was one of Endymion's generals who was corrupted... which would make a interesting complication later. We'll have to see.

Thanks for reading!