A Double Edged Sword Part 8

Deadly Intentions

By

Sailor Janus

Setsuna, busy preparing the green tea was about to pour the hot water into the cups when suddenly a loud explosion rocked the mansion as several windows shattered and screams filled the air.

       The green haired woman dropped the kettle on the floor, which fell with a clanking noise as shards of glass flew through the room, one piece embedding itself in her left arm as she was thrown to floor.

       She cried out in pain from both the glass and the boiling water that she was now lying in and quickly rolled away, careful to make sure there was no glass in her path.

       Her first conceivable words were "What the hell is going on?!" Painfully, she got on her knees and tried to ignore her injury when suddenly one terrifying thought occurred to her, "Where are Haruka and Michiru?"

       With a gasp she stumbled to her feet and raced for the door, pleading that they were all right and somehow managed to escape. Almost as if in slow motion, the senshi of time, pulled open the door and found pieces of Haruka's sports car in ruins around the yard, streets, and even poking out of the walls of the mansion. Grimly she looked at the crumpled piece of metal that once was the blonde's license plate, when she suddenly felt her heart stop.

       "No. Oh, Please, gods no," Setsuna whispered as she stepped out of the doorway and carefully walked to where she could swear she saw a crimson liquid on the driveway. Her garnet eyes flooded with tears as she picked up her pace then suddenly Setsuna let out a blood curdling scream as she approached the body of the aqua haired girl and sunk to her knees.

       Michiru was lying crumpled on the ground with a small puddle of blood around her. "SOMEONE! PLEASE GET HELP! CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Setsuna shouted as she carefully grabbed the other girl's hand. 'No, this can't be happening. Why didn't I know that this would happen! Wait, where's Haruka?!'

       Weakly she stood up and searched the wreckage with her eyes until she found blonde race car driver. She too was coated in blood, even worse than Michiru.

       Setsuna sank back to her knees and screamed as tears rushed from her eyes. Within moments, an ambulance came and she was escorted away.

*~*~*~*

       The other sailor senshi were in shock by Setsuna's report and quickly rushed to the hospital. They still didn't know quite what happened since the older woman was being treated still, after having the shard of glass pulled out of her arm. Instead they sat in the waiting wrong, worrying about their friends and speculating why Haruka's car had blown up.

       "Who could do such a thing?!" Usagi cried out as she buried her head into Mamoru's chest.

       "I don't know, Usako. I just don't know" Mamoru softly said, holding the blonde girl in his arms.

       Hotaru sat against the wall on the floor with her knees drawn to her chest. 'It's all my fault. If I hadn't been such a brat about everything then none of this would have ever happened,' she thought as tears stained her violet eyes. 'Once again, something good happens and then something horrible happens. Why does this always happen to me?'

       "Do you think someone had something against them or something?" Minako thoughtfully asked. Talking seemed to be her only way to deal with the fact that she was scared for the two outer senshi. No one answered her. Each of the group members were trying to remain calm in their own way. However, some were more successful than others.

       Rei wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her. Instead she was trying with all her might to meditate in hope that a vision would explain what was going on. Of course nothing came to her.

       Makoto on the other hand, was sitting quietly on the couch with her fists balled up doing some deep breathing. It was either that or punch out the next person that annoyed her.

       Sitting on the opposite side of the couch was Ami, typing madly away at her Mercury Computer, in hopes of finding an explanation to what had happened. But she too came up empty.

       "Hello everyone," Setsuna sadly said as she walked into the waiting room. Her arm was wrapped up and in a sling. Her eyes also looked swollen from crying, and there were a few apparent bumps and bruises. However, other than that, she looked okay.

       Everyone quickly rose their feet and looked wide eyed at the woman, not really knowing what to say except Ami who commented on her being glad that Setsuna was alright.

       The senshi of time took a deep breath and calmly said, "They are in intensive care right now and in critical condition. There was a lot of blood loss due to the explosion not to mention the fact that they could have been ripped to shreds by all the debris."

       "Setsuna, what exactly happened? You only mentioned that there was an accident on the phone," Mamoru asked the woman who was walking carefully to one of the chairs.

       Slowly the woman gingerly took a seat. "I don't really know but it appears that someone placed a bomb in Haruka's car and blew it up. The car is completely destroyed as well as most of the mansion. There is glass and metal and blood everywhere," she said with a shaky voice as tears  rushed down her streaked cheeks once again.  

       "They'll pull through. I know they will!" Minako softly said as she pushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face.

       "Minako's right. They are two of the strongest women I know!" Makoto agreed hoping it'll give a little hope to senshi of Pluto.

       "Thank you. But now where am I going to live? There is yellow tape, metal and glass everywhere in and around that house." Setsuna said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

       "You can stay with me!" Makoto cheerfully said. "My apartment is small but it should work in a pinch."

       "Yeah, I'm sure Mako will even cook for you if you want," Usagi smiled as the green haired woman finally let out a small laugh.

       "Thank you, everyone. You have really given me the much-needed support. I really appreciate it." Setsuna softly said.

       "You'd do the same for us." Ami replied as the others nodded.

       "I still find this rather disturbing." Rei cryptically said as she brought her hand up to her face in deep thought.

       "What do you mean, Rei?" Minako asked as she looked at the dark haired girl.

       Rei shook her head as she tried to explain what she was thinking, 'Well, first the whole thing with Deidera and how she practically went psycho then ended up here, and now this with Haruka and Michiru. Something doesn't quite add up."

       The others fell silent as they thought about what had been happening lately, first with the newest senshi and enemy followed by the tragic occurrences. Ami was the first to break this silence.

       "Wait! Deidera is a sailor senshi correct, as are Haruka and Michiru. Do you suppose that our newest nemesis is hunting us down?" Ami said as the others gasped in response. Only Rei seemed unfazed by the girl's speculation.

       "That's what I am afraid is going on. As scary as it sounds. It does make sense. The question is who are we dealing with?" the senshi of fire sighed as she looked urgently at her friends.

       "We better watch our backs and keep our eyes open then. Who knows what they are planning next," Mamoru said as Usagi clutched onto to his arm as he looked gravely at the other girls.

       While they continued to discuss the accident further, Hotaru sat silently, not really listening as tears slipped quietly from her eyes, unnoticed to the others. 'This is just the beginning,' she thought. 'Soon, everything we know is about to unravel as disaster takes over.'

*~*~*~*

       Deidera gasped out loud as she found herself back in bed. For some reason she could not put any thought into anything. It was like she existed, but had no control. Suddenly she felt very ill.

       Her stomach felt like it was being ripped open from the inside out, as she cringed from the pain. 'Why am I feeling sick all the time?!' she thought as she clumsily got out of bed, stumbling to her feet and to the bathroom.

       Deidera practically ripped the medicine cabinet off its hinges, searching for some painkillers but never gained access to them when she suddenly collapsed on the floor.

       Suddenly a very dim light appeared and took the image of Sailor Janus. "I'm sorry I had to do it Deidera, but I had no choice. What have they done to you? You are practically being split into two! Does Lord Cacus not know that you'll end up dead if this continues on for too long?  I guess sleep is the only safe place for you now. There must be some way to put an end to all this madness, but how?"

*~*~*~*

       Chimaera glared at the man who was mixing up another batch of the Dark Light serum for the object of his obsession, Deidera. Ever since he found that girl, he seemed to pay even less attention to her.

       "Chimaera, I know you are standing there. Come in if you have anything to say," Lord Cacus said sounding slightly annoyed.

       With a huff, the woman crossed her arms and entered the dimly lit room. "I just don't see why that silly girl is so vital for this plan!"

       The silver and gold haired man turned around to face the distraught woman and laughed. "Chimaera, how could you forget. It's very simple. Kalika is the ultimate weapon against the sailor senshi. She is basically unknown to them, which makes  her the best one for the job. Now go fetch Hypnosia so she can inject more Dark Light elixir into that one girl who is Sailor Janus. She is the only senshi I truly am worried about. As long as we keep her out of commission, she won't be a threat to us. Go now."

       The magenta haired woman stood and abruptly spun away from the man who was growing more irritating every day. With one flip of her head she strode to the door and slammed it shut.

       "She'll get over it," Lord Cacus sighed as he returned to the liquid of pure evil.

*~*~*~*

       Usagi slowly walked to her front door. Mamoru was kind enough to drop her off at home and after a long embrace and a few tears, due to the events that had occurred they parted and she found herself walking to her house alone.

       With a deep sigh, she took her key out of her bag and began to unlock the door when she suddenly noticed a basket of baked goods on the porch.

       "Huh? Hmm, wonder who these are for? Well, can't let baked goods go to waste!" she said as a smile appeared on her face. 'Maybe eating something would make me feel better,'  The blonde thought as she picked up the basket and brought it inside.

       "Hello?! Hmm, I guess no one is home. Oh well. I don't think they'd mind if I had a few cupcakes!" Usagi said as she set the basket down on the kitchen table. She picked out a small cake and took a bite as she opened the small envelope that was taped to the pale cream-colored wicker basket.

       "To Usagi. I hope these goodies brighten your day. Kalika." She read while she chewed the sweet miniature cake. "Wait? Who is Kalika? Hmm, maybe it's one of my brother's friends playing a practical joke. Either that or they have a crush on me or something."

       As Usagi was busy thinking about where the basket came from, she unknowingly ate almost everything in the basket except for a couple of cookies. This however was not a very good idea.

       "Ugh, I think I too much. Now I don't feel so good," she softly said as she bent over, holding her stomach.  Just then there was a knock on the door.

       Groaning, Usagi got up from the table and stiffly walked to the door and opened it only to find Minako on the other side.

       "Hi, Usa! Wow, you don't look so good," The usually perky blonde said as she took one look at the other girl.

       "Well, she did eat all those sweets," Luna announced from the table as peered into the basket. "She made a glutton of herself if you ask me!"

       "Luna, can you please not be so mean to me, It's been a really awful day," Usagi said as her eyes started to tear up.

       "Wait happened?" the black cat asked as she stared at the two girls who looked rather worried.

       "Something really bad," Artemis said as he walked in the house from behind the senshi of Venus.

       "Is that true? What?!"

       Minako softly shut the door behind her as Usagi dragged herself to the couch. "There was a really bad accident. Someone put a bomb in Haruka's car and it blew up injuring Michiru, Haruka, and Setsuna. Setsuna is okay, but the other two aren't," the senshi of love explained as she stared at the floor.

       "Yeah, and now, everyone is freaking out," Usagi gasped as she started to slightly rock back and forth.

       "Usa, are you sure it's just a stomachache?" Minako asked, her blue eyes shone with concern as the other girl winced in pain.

       "I.... don't ...think so... Mmmm, I ...feel.... really.... strange," the moon princess strained when she suddenly passed out.

       "Usa?" Minako said as she lightly poked the pig-tailed blonde. "Usagi? Usagi! Wake up!" The volleyball player then began to shake the other girl as the two cats stared with shock. "USAGI!"

       The senshi of love then began hyperventilating as panic took over. "Oh no. NO! USAGI, WAKE UP! Please wake up!" she screamed then covered her face with her hands as Luna and Artemis finally got a hold of themselves.

       "USAGI!" Luna shouted as tears welled up in her eyes. Turning to the panicking blonde she screamed out, "Minako! Call the hospital!"

       Minako continued to stare at her unconscious friend as she nodded her head and backed away to find the phone. She seemed to dial the emergency number almost mechanically.

*~*~*~*