Chapter 34: Rage

Dan unhooked himself from the harness and laid Sailor Jupiter on the ground. Taking the wire cutters from his pocket again he cut the bonds off her hands. He started to see a small pooling of blood under her making him check her pulse. One wasn't present, "Oh, shit! No!" He immediately started mouth-to-mouth. After a few breaths he began chest compressions, pleading with her to wake up, "Come on! Please, don't go on me!"

Setting altered, Egon handed the thrower back to Ray and called out to Sailor Mercury, "We need to even the odds. Can you provide cover?" Sailor Mercury was still present before Egon, her still unsure of the plan. She was trying to think of a better way to handle this situation, but ultimately she concluded the physicist was correct in his assessment; anything would be just as much a death sentence. She nodded with reluctance and began her offense, "Mercury Bubbles…" She spun on her heels as bubbles began to float around her. She faced the center of the roof and crossed her forearms across her face before throwing her arms out, "Blast!"

The bubbles sprayed outward and burst causing a cold fog to envelop the roof. She quickly broke stance, activated her visor to see through the fog, and called out to the other Scouts, "Everyone, pull back!" The other Sailor Scouts heard the Proton Packs fire up. Through the fog they turned and saw the Ghostbusters emerge, their throwers drawn. Sailor Moon was awe-struck at the sight, "Wow, they are so awesome!" "Winston," Egon began doling out instructions, "Whatever demon Ray is firing at, you also fire at it simultaneously. Peter, you do the same with me. The dual frequencies will destabilize both the ectoplasmic structure and release the protoplasmic energy. Ready?"

Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore all answered in unison, "Ready!"

"Alright, boys," Ray called out, lowering his thrower and taking aim, "Let's party!"

Egon and Ray opened fire. As soon as they struck a demon each, Peter and Winston followed their instructed partner's lead. The creatures screamed in agony as they started to vibrate violently. The beams - each beam running on a different wavelength - pulled the two energies apart and exposed the demons' weakness causing their clay bodies to once again solidify and become blown apart. With each demon destroyed, more and more of the demons attempted to bumrush the men, making the Scouts again engage in hand-to-hand. They barely had time to take a breather and it showed in their slowing fighting response.

Dan was still doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation with no response. Her heart still wouldn't start beating on its own causing him to begin panicking. The pool of blood only grew in size with each compression. He hoped - prayed - he could save her. He could feel something was still there - that she wasn't lost yet. He did the only thing left he could think of and that was getting atop of her and start hitting her in the chest right where her heart was. One hit… two… three…

Sailor Jupiter twitched and her eyes fluttered open. She took a gasp and faintly put her hand on her chest as Dan quickly scrambled off of her and got to her side. She looked up and saw the man that had protected her all night beside her. He backed away further to give her air, "Lita!" Sailor Jupiter made a face of pain clenching her body. Dan held his breath as she slowly tried to relax enough to speak in fragments, her moans of discomfort subsiding briefly allowing her to do so, "Dan, Jedite… hurt me bad. I don't… have… anymore strength," tears started to form in her eyes, "Darien said… you were… our last hope."

"What are you saying?" Dan was watching her face as she started to tear up more, but it wasn't from pain. His eyes went wide as the understanding hit him, "No. Oh dear God, no!" She raised her hands up slowly and went for her earrings. He watched her, trying to understand what it was she was doing… no, he understood. He was trying to deny what was happening before him. She reached down and grabbed Dan's wrist gently, taking the earrings and placing it in his hand before closing his fingers around them. She looked back up into his eyes, her green eyes apologetic as she raised her hand to caress the side of his face. She smiled as she said her last words…

"We'll meet on the Dark Side of the Moon. My knight…"

The light faded from her eyes as they slowly closed. Her hand became limp and fell to the floor as her head rolled to the side. He felt as her warm, radiant soul had left her now cold and pale body.

Dan was beside himself. His eyes welled with tears as he lifted her up to cradle her in his arms, her blood covering his suit. In his old life back in the Silver Millennium he didn't see what had happened outside of his connection with her. The cold hard disconnect he felt then happened again, and once again it felt isolating; empty. It felt like part of his soul was cast into a deep dark pit over the edge of a great precipice, never to be heard from again. He held her up and put his head onto her shoulder and he began to cry and he whispered, "I love you. Please, God, no."

In the thick of the fog the Ghostbusters kept firing, destroying several demons at a time as a problem began to rear its ugly face as Ray started to take notice that his particle stream was starting to narrow, "Uh, oh. Uh, Egon? We're running out of power! And fast!" "The power alterations changed the acceleration speed of our packs," Egon explained, "It's draining what's left of the batteries!"

Sailor Mars was holding a demon at bay by holding its wrists and pointing its palms away from her as she strained to ask shortly before throwing the demon off her, "What does that mean?" "That means we're in big trouble!" Winston translated as he continued his assault, "I'm sure me and Dan burning our power at the front doors didn't help much. How you girls holdin' up?"

Sailor Venus continued to throw punches and kicks, but was starting to miss due to her slowing down. She answered candidly, "We can't keep this up!" Sailor Moon was stumbling over herself trying to avoid getting hit, eventually ending up on her knees in exhaustion. She moaned as he fell onto her hands to hold herself up, "I can't go any further!"

Peter turned to shoot the demons approaching the girl and fired, but it wasn't long until his proton gun started sputtering as he beam narrowed like Ray's. The beam cut abruptly as the sound of his cyclotron winding down could be heard. He smacked the barrel of the gun and pushed the trigger again to find nothing happening. He stated bluntly, following Sailor Moon's sentiment, "Neither can I! My pack's dead!" The sound of several more Proton Packs powering down could be heard, Winston quickly flicking the switch on his pack on and off to hope it'll do something, but it was pointless. He spoke with a dire voice, "That's not good!"

"What's the matter?" Jedite's amused voice asked in the thick of the fog, "Are we tired? Are your little toys out of batteries?" His evil laugh echoed off the structures on the roof as the fog began to dissipate revealing his glowing ectoplasmic form walking through a parted column of his constructs. There were still several of his demons standing at the ready to attack. Sailor Mercury's attack had completely faded, but there was an eerie green glowing smoke still lingering in the air. It seemed to surround the whole roof of the building, ever faint but clearly present. It made Jedite's glow more menacing as he walked forward. Sailor Mars saw an opportunity to try something as another sutra appeared in between her fingers. She quickly lept toward him and she started her move, "Mars… Fireballs…"

Jedite teleported before her and grabbed her throat, lifting her off her feet and into the air. As his grip tightened Sailor Mars had difficulty keeping hold of the sutra, her free hand trying to pull the General's ethereal hand off her neck. Jedite reached up, grabbed the parchment from the girl's hand, and crumpled it up slowly as he spoke, "Don't you get it, you little harlot? Those stupid little papers don't work on me in this form!"

Winston, like everyone, was surprised at what Sailor Mars had attempted to do, but he immediately ran toward the General in an attempt to force him to release her, "Let the girl go, you dirty mother…" Jedite held up his free hand and after a weak pulse of light Winston was sent flying backwards, colliding with Sailor Mercury and Egon knocking them both down with him. Sailor Mars choked out Winston's name in concern only for Jedite to concentrate his attention on her again by squeezing his hand around her neck even tighter. His sense of amusement was now lost after calling the Ghostbuster's name. He became angry, "Even after all of it, you'd still side with the human? After everything we had?"

Sailor Mars pulled at the man's ghostly translucent hands enough to speak, "What… are you… talking… about?"

After a moment the look of anger started to leave the man's face. He closed his eyes and started to smile again as a chuckle escaped his lips, "Just like the other one; no memory," he looked back into her frightened violet-colored eyes, "I knew there was something about you when I went to your shrine. I had forgotten all about you. Forgot how beautiful you were. It's a cruel fate what both our Queens did to us, but it had to be destiny we'd come back together. It just saddens me - if only a bit - that I have to destroy you."

He wound up and threw her across the roof toward the other Sailor Scouts, Sailor Venus and Peter rushing toward her to check on the Scout of Fire after hitting the ground. After throwing the Sailor Scout he commanded his sub-demons, "Restrain them." The demons fanned out and grabbed each of them, some of them being lifted up from the floor. Getting them in a line with their hands behind their backs, the demons holding them began to liquify and envelop part of their bodies, mainly their hands and legs leaving their torsos exposed. The Scouts screamed in terror, Sailor Moon being both scared and disturbed by the clay, "Ewewewew, this is super gross!" The clay that made up the demons' bodies began to harden as the demons that were holding them became their bonds. The Ghostbusters tried to pull free from the clay to find their bonds were tight. They were arranged like they were about to face a firing squad.

Peter looked to Egon, "Egon, please tell me you have an idea." After another few pulls on his bonds Egon looked to the man he considered his best friend with a defeated look. From behind his friend's bispeckled eyes Peter saw the look on Egon's face as he very lightly shook it. That was it; it was the end of the road.

Sailor Moon saw and heard the conversation between Peter and Egon and couldn't hold it in anymore. The panic became so strong she started screaming for help, "Someone, Help!" Sailor Mars couldn't hold back anymore either, "Help us!"

Dan heard the screams for help. He raised his head away from Sailor Jupiter's shoulder as he turned to hear the screams more clearly. He knew what was happening. Tonight had been one of the worst of his life, if not the worst. Some people in the position he was in would have gone insane, but he had one thing most others didn't. While still holding her in his arms he opened his hand and saw her earrings; the piece of her parents that was left to her; the things that reminded her to be strong. He knew what he had to do and he knew the potential outcome. He gently put her body back to the floor and laid her down. He pulled her arms across her chest to put her in the proper rest position. He reached into his pocket and grabbed something, pulling it out and putting it in Sailor Jupiter's hand. He pulled back and tilted his head.

After a moment Dan crossed himself and stood. He watched as she laid there. He looked to the earrings in his hand again as his anger started to grow. After everything he had been through, he was starting to feel himself no longer wanting to hold back. His hand began to shake as what was left of his adrenaline started to kick in as he looked at her rose earrings. His blood stained hand gripped around them as he felt nothing but rage. The cries for help finally made him decide what he was going to do, him reaching for the collar of his suit to grab something under his clothes. He pulled his transformation necklace from under his t-shirt and pulled it off his neck. He looked at the chain in his hand as he spoke, "I'm not running this time. I'm going to avenge you." He held the necklace out as lightning flashed and thunder crashed. He growled the phrase, "Jupiter… Knight… Supremacy!"

Sharp banging and crackling noises accompanied by flashes of green light made Jedite turn his attention from the eight hostages bound before him. Smoke started pouring out of the space behind the base of the array making the floodlight's beams that were behind it visible. He turned to two of his demons and instructed them to check out the noises. Leaping toward the disturbance the demons disappeared behind the array only for cracking noises to emanate from behind the structure. Shortly after the two demons sent to investigate flew out from behind the array to hit the floor as two clay splats.

Jedite was both confounded and at a loss as to what just happened. That was when he realized one of the humans was missing: the one he attempted to destroy the whole night. He heard a voice ring out from where the demons were thrown from as a being was seen as a silhouette from in front of the floodlight, "JEDITE!" Jedite turned to where his name was being called to see the figure with a look of surprise. He watched as the figure walked forward out of the shadows.

Dan had transformed into Jupiter Knight in full battle armor.

Over the armor was a leather long coat colored the same as the armor; hunter green. On the right shoulder was the symbol of Jupiter in magenta stitch. On the collars of his sleeves were Sailor Jupiter's rose earrings like cufflinks. Jupiter Knight stopped in front of the discarded Chicago Blackhawks hat and bent to grab it. Getting ahold of the hat he struck the hat on the shin guard of his armor to dust it off before rising up. He placed the hat on his head slowly, the bill of the hat facing forward, the shadow of the spotlights of the roof covering his eyes. A green glow emanated from under the bill of the hat making Sailor Mars gasp in horror. Now she understood what he meant by him being Sailor Jupiter's protector. She saw the glow from his eyes and knew what it meant.

Peter and Winston recoiled in alarm as Jupiter Knight - as Dan - put on his hat in that way, knowing what it meant when he wore his hat bill-forward as he did. The green glow they saw from under the bill only added to the symbolic menace they knew had overtaken the man who was their rookie member…

Jupiter Knight was pissed.