Shattered Ice: Super Sailor Mercury.
Chapter 56
"NO STAR SEEDS?!" Galaxia yelled.
The assembled Sailor Animates plus one all flinched. The students that they had snatched from the contest had all been duds. Worse, the best possibilities had slipped away in the chaos of the huge monster attack.
The only good side was the event had been a hit, rating wise. There were already requests to do it AGAIN... not that Galaxia cared.
"Aluminum Siren, this was your plan" Galaxia said coldly, "step forward."
Lead Crow quickly said, "Please, I beg you st spare her."
Galaxia narrowed her gaze, "Oh?"
Lead Crow continued bravely, "Mistress, we are gravely outnumbered. We are stronger one on one, but..."
Galaxia considered that. "All right," she nodded, "but your chances are running out."
"Thank you," Lead Crow bowed.
"Get back to work," Galaxia ordered, "and find me the Star Seeds."
"Yes, Mistress!" they chorused and hurried out.
"Thank you," Aluminum Siren told Lead Crow quietly.
"You were very lucky," Jadite noted dryly.
"YOU, shut up," Lead Crow snapped at him.
"Hey, he's MY minion. Only I get to scold him," Tin Nyanko noted.
"Sure, sure," Lead Crow sighed. She added, "Considering it was YOUR monsters that rampaged, you're lucky you weren't punished."
Tin Nyanko scowled but didn't reply.
"We need to snuff out the traitor Iron Mouse too," Heavy Metal Papillion added.
"She'll turn up if we endanger the other planet senshi," Aluminum Siren noted.
Lead Crow nodded, once more surprised by her partner's occassional insights. "I wonder what the Senshi are doing...," she muttered.
"No doubt celebrating their victory," Tin Nyanko hissed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Miss Mizuno, you are in SO much trouble," the vice-principal growled.
Ami sighed. Her and the others 'disappearing' from the event had come back to haunt them.
"Do you know how badly the staff reacted to you vanishing in the middle of a monster attack?" he added, sighing.
"I really am sorry," Ami bowed slightly.
Setsuna Meiou, school nurse and secret Sailor Senshi, smiled wryly from her seat nearby. "We were caught up in the crowds fleeing the stadium, but I assure you I was keeping a close eye on them," she reassured him.
The official wilted a bit. There were VERY few people on staff who would oppose Setsuna. She had such a powerful 'do not screw with me' aura.
"All right," the VP conceded, "just... please try not to scare the staff like this again?"
"Of course," Ami said, then they quickly ducked out.
"Ami! I was so worried!" several classmates called as she finally returned to class.
"Ami," Seiya, Taiki and Yaten all brightened as she came in.
Haruka and Michiru weren't back yet, though they had called in sick. In actuality, they were hunting down a few scattered monsters from the event the day before...
"I see your manager calmed down?" Ami noted to Seiya as she sat nearby them.
"We WERE right in the middle of a monster attack," Seiya nodded towards Taiki.
Ritsuko Takahata had, bluntly, freaked right out and had grabbed Seiya and Taiki, stuffed them in a limo and fled the area. Worse, she couldn't get Yaten on the phone, aggravating her even more.
"I got lectured when I turned up later," Yaten pouted. As Star Healer they had been fighting the monsters, but they couldn't tell their agent that...
"Ahem," the teacher cleared his throat.
"Sorry, sir," Seiya apologized charmingly, making fangirls in the class sigh dreamily.
Ami hid an amused smile at that. Then, as usual, focused on her class work...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"I'm glad you weren't hurt yesterday," Nicole Mizuno noted as they worked on paperwork.
Kakyuu was in her office, working as her secretary. Nicole had used her privileges as a chief surgeon to hire her, and Kakyuu was doing surprisingly well. As a planetary ruler, paperwork had been a regular thing too, after all.
"With everyone else there, I was perfectly safe," Kakyuu reassured her.
Nicole looked dubious.
"Mostly," Kakyuu conceded.
"Chibi, chibi CHIBI," Chibi Chibi remarked as the odd redhead played nearby.
"I'm sorry you had to brought in yesterday," Kakyuu added mildly.
While the Sailors had been able to minimize the damage, there had been a lot of injuries. Nicole and other off-duty doctors had been called in to assist the overflowing emergency rooms. And in the aftermath, paperwork.
"It's part of the job," Nicole shrugged. She assessed the papers, "All right, I think we're caught up. Let's get out of here before something else happens."
"Chibi!" the little girl agreed.
"Right!" Kakyuu agreed as they all escaped the hospital.
"I'd like to check in with Ami," Nicole admitted as they walked together.
"That's fine," Kakyuu said cheerfully. She made a face, "My starlights had to call me last night and fret over me."
"I think it's cute," Nicole teased.
"YOU aren't being wakened at midnight over concerned calls," Kakyuu pouted.
"Chibi," the little girl noted.
They reached Ami's apartment, and rang the buzzer. "Come in!" Ami called.
Kakyuu watched as Nicole rushed over to Ami and started checking her over.
"Mom!" Ami complained.
"I'm just glad you're alright," Nicole sighed. She added, "Watching you on the news was very stressful..."
"News?" Ami blinked.
"You made the news as a top contestant at the Galaxy contest, and as Sailor Mercury," Nicole told her.
"Ugh," Ami made a face.
"There there," Setsuna noted mildly as she emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray of drinks.
"No Usagi?" Kakyuu asked.
"She's having a play date with Hotaru," Ami noted. "Ideally, Haruka and Michiru can keep them out of trouble."
"It'll be fine," Setsuna reassured her.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Naru Osaka and Umino were in the computer lab, searching for info.
"Is this legal?" Naru had to ask.
"Mostly," Umino answered briskly.
"Oh joy," Naru sighed.
"All the websites I'm accessing are legal," he reassured her, "just not the way I'm doing it."
"Well, thank you," Naru sighed.
"All right, here's Nicole Mizuno's address," he copied that information down, "and apparently Ami is at a seperate address."
"Really?" Naru noted, surprised.
"And according to this, she's taking care of a kid?" Umino noted, surprised.
"What." Naru blinked.
To be continued...
Notes: I like the Sailor Animates. So I've been resisting having Galaxia off any of them. I may have to do it eventually.
I can't remember if canon actually says what kind of doctor Nicole Mizuno is. I'm just generally leaving it vague.
