Operation: Reality Check
A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic
By Roehl Sybing
Epsiode 6: "Love in New York City"
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NewsNetLink
Subj: Battle in the Sky
by Johnathan Crawford
The Federal Reality Commission - the main defense for the dimensional continuum - was the center of a major battle that started at six o'clock last night. An unknown group of entities (or so the FRC would like to classify us good people as) stormed the main lobby of the building, but was pushed back toward the West Coast Island Chains with the use of the building's emergency portal. This terrorist group left a bloody trail across the United States, literally. Moving at an estimated speed of about three to four thousand miles per hour, they killed everyone and everything in their way, and their way included major points such as the northern part of Phoenix and the southern part of Chicago. Casualties have not been counted as of yet, but obviously the body count is very high. This unknown force was stopped in our New York region by over fifteen attack teams supplied by the FRC, including a specialized team who the FRC would like to remain secret.
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"Hey Hacker, do you plan on mentioning us on the news any day now? '...who the FRC would like to remain secret'?!?" Jake said. He was entering Hacker One's laboratory in the FRC building, holding up a printout of the article on NewsNetLink's front page.
"Sorry Jake," Hacker replied. "I would like to keep you kids at a low profile. Who knows what the media might do if they found you were working for the FRC. Besides, national security and all that junk."
"Oh, that ain't fair...."
"Ah, it's just a news report. Don't worry about it. Oh, I just finished examining what Chris gave to me yesterday."
"Oh, you must mean Serena's tiara, right? You had time to examine it?"
"I stayed up all night working on it. Very interesting piece your friend uses."
They both walked over to the table where the tiara was set on.
"As you can see, it doesn't look very impressive. But watch this." Hacker got a lighter from his pocket and let its flame touch the tiara. The head piece lighted up and was on fire.
"Hacker, what are you doing?"
"Don't worry Jake. It's not going to melt. But watch as it is on fire. I timed it, and my watch showed that the flame on the head piece burns for a long time until it makes contact with an object. Then, the tiara rechannels its energy, or in other words, it transfers the flame onto the object. Very effective attack, I might add. I wonder what happens if we use other elements. I'm not sure." Hacker put out the flame and gave the tiara to Jake. "Great thing about the head piece is that it goes back down to a normal temperature immediately after it is used. Here, give this back to Serena."
"Thanks."
"You gonna do any missions today?"
"No, of course not, it's Sunday! Someone 'round here's gotta take a weekend off."
"Very well, then. Oh! Almost forgot. You dropped your pager on the floor in the command center last night." Hacker reached into his pocket and got Jake's pager. "A few people, um, accidentally tripped on it before I noticed it."
"Oh, gee, thanks. Clip's broken, and I got no pockets to put it in!"
"Yeah, and the alarm doesn't go off either, you might as well put it in silent mode."
Jake stared at the barely functional pager, as Hacker added, "C'mon, don't worry. I'll have a replacement by the end of the day."
"Thanks, Hacker."
"No prob. See ya later."
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Jake left the building, with his pager turned on and in his hand, as he had no place else to put it. He headed to the fast food place the whole group went to the night before. Once there, he placed his order to go. He paid for the food and had it put in a bag. He carried both the pager and the bag in his left hand.
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Back in the lab, Hacker noticed something on his table, "Hey, Jake left the tiara here!" He got the phone and called the number for his pager.
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On Jake's way out of the restaurant, he met up with Serena, Kim and Mina, who were just coming in.
"Hey Jake!" Serena said.
Jake looked up and replied, "Oh, h-hi Serena." He stared at her blankly for a second and thought, "Man, she's so fine!"
Kim said to Jake, "Jake. Jake! You OK?"
Jake snapped out of it and said, "Oh, um, yeah. Well, gotta go. Meeting up with Chris and Mike for lunch."
Just then, the pager, in silent mode, began to vibrate, as did Jake's hand. A little bit nervous, Jake said, "Um, excuse me...." He then quickly left the restaurant.
All three girls laughed a little and placed their order. They all sat down for lunch. While they were eating, Kim said, "You know what? I think Jake likes you...."
Serena spit her drink out while she was drinking. "Oops, um, sorry," she said. She turned to Kim and said, "What are you crazy?"
"Oh come on, did you see how nervous he was when we saw him a few minutes ago?"
"So?" At that Serena turned red.
Mina and Kim both said, "Wow, look at her blush!"
"What does it matter? I'm already taken..."
Mina said, "She's talking about Darien...."
"Darien, is it? Well, I bet Jake figures as long as he's missing, well, maybe he'll get to know you A LOT better..."
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"You know, I thought I'd get to know her better..." Jake said.
"You're crazy," Mike replied.
Chris added, "Yeah, Jake. Didn't you mention someone named Darien to us? Remember? One of those that we have to find?"
"But we haven't found him yet, have we?"
Chris looked at Mike, "Is he thinking what I know he's thinking?"
Jake jumped up, "Chris, it's not like that! I mean, we WILL find everyone. I'm not suggesting we stop looking for this guy, but how long will it take until we find him?"
Mike commented, "Yep, he's thinking what we know he's thinking."
Jake still looked surprised, "No I am not! I'm just saying it might be a while until we find this Darien. But until then, someone's gotta keep Serena company, right?"
"Jake," Mike added, "Do you realize how long you've know Serena? Only 48 hours. Such a small time before the start of a relationship, don't you think?"
"So?"
"Well, what do you know about her anyways?"
Jake gave a blank face for a moment.
"Yeah, thought so."
Chris said, "Jake, I doubt anyone like Serena would fall for you."
"Yep, you are obviously not her type."
Jake added, "Oh, so I suppose YOU two know about her?"
Chris and Mike both gave a blank face.
"Um....well, never mind..." Chris said.
"Thought so too. Look, I'm going out." Jake took his jacket and left Mike's house.
"Hey, where you going?!?" Mike replied. "C'mon, let's go after him."
"Right!" And at that they both ran out the door.
Chris and Mike both followed Jake out into the street as he walked into the nearest Mag-Lev station. Once they caught up with him, Chris said, "Where are YOU going?"
"I have to get back to Hacker's lab. I left Serena's tiara there."
"Why are you using the train? You always walk."
"Cause it's about a mile to the building and I just need a place to sit and think for a few more minutes."
Mike looked at Jake, "I could tell you that you could be embarrassed in front of the entire team if you continue."
"You just did. And what am I continuing?"
"Jake, I could hear it now. I could hear Serena saying that she already has someone else."
"I'll take the risk. Since when did you have to worry about me?"
A train bearing the name "MagLev 4" on its side stopped right in front of the waiting passengers, including Jake, Chris, and Mike. They all paid the fare as they entered the train and took a seat. The next minute the train started moving toward its next destination: "Fifth and Main: FRC HQ."
Chris continued the conversation, "Look, I advise you to get to know Serena a bit more before you ask her out."
Jake sighed, "I did that last time, remember?"
Mike said, "Jake, Lisa had to move away, that was all there was to it!"
"Lisa....she didn't even know I was alive. You know, the day she moved to the space colonies....it was the day I finally got the nerve to say 'I love you.'"
Jake continued, "Besides, I only have so much time with this mission. After that, Serena and her friends have to go back to their own reality."
"Yeah, emphasis on 'back to their own reality'. Even if you do make it with Serena, how do you figure that you two will stay together?"
"Mike, I just need to know if someone was really out there for me. You know, someone who cared about me."
The train stopped in front of the FRC headquarters. At that the three disembarked from the train.
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Serena, Kim, and Mina were out walking on the street, continuing their conversation.
Kim said, "Look, I never said I was entirely sure, I just said I think he likes you."
Serena replied, "Well, we don't know yet, do we?"
"You know Kim, maybe we should just ask him," Mina added.
"Yeah right. We're talking about Jake here. There is almost no way you could get really personal information about him."
"Well, chances are he might have told one of your other friends..."
"Oh, you mean Mike or Chris, right? Like we'd get it from them..."
"Then I guess we'll have to wait and see, right?"
Serena looked up, "Yeah, that's right! Just let him make the first move..."
"OK, if you're willing to wait that long..."
They all laughed a little as they walked by the FRC building.
Mina said, "What are we doing here today?"
"Nothing. It's Sunday, and this is just on the way to my house."
Just then, Kim noticed Jackie on the other side of the street. Walking beside her was Luna. Kim waved her hand and shouted, "Hey, Jackie!"
Both Jackie and Luna noticed the other three and crossed the street. Once they were on the other side, Jackie said, "Hey, what are you doing here?"
Kim replied, "Oh, just going over to my house."
Serena looked down at Luna and asked, "So, what did you do today?"
"Walking around with Jackie for the past hour."
Jackie commented, "Yeah, this cat here didn't like anything I fed her. 'Let's go get some chocolate,' she says."
"Hey, I'm picky, OK?"
At that moment, Jake, Mike, and Chris walked out of the FRC building, with Jake holding Serena's tiara. They met up with the five that were already there. Jake looked surprised as he said, "Uh...what are you doing here?!?"
"Nothing, what are YOU doing here?" Kim replied.
Serena pointed at what Jake was holding, "Hey, isn't that my tiara?"
Jake turned red, "Yeah, um...it is. Here," as he handed to Serena.
Remembering to what Kim and Mina were saying, Serena also turned red as she got back her headpiece. Together, they both looked down on the ground. Luna said to Mina, "Something I should know?"
"Yes, you should..."
Mike whispered to Kim, "You're thinking what I'm thinking, right?"
"Yep, exactly what you're thinking..."
Jackie asked Chris, "Why are they both blushing?"
"Oh, you don't know yet?"
Just then, a car stopped in the middle of the street. The driver seat's window opened, and out of it came a hand holding a gun, and it was pointing at the FRC building. More specifically, it happened to be aiming at the eight Jumpers. It could have been Mike who was the first to notice the weapon pointing at them, because he said with surprise, "Oh sh*t..."
They all looked at what Mike was looking at. At the sound of the first shot that was fired from the gun, Jake shouted, "GET DOWN!"
Everybody on the street either hit the floor, as the Jumpers did, or ran towards the nearest building. Either way, everyone was screaming. The man in the car fired ten shots at the FRC building and drove away.
Kim, who was still on the ground like the others, asked, "W-what was that all about?"
"Uh, Jake," Serena said while face down, "You can stop holding me now..."
Jake quickly realized what he was doing and quickly let go. But by then the rest of the Jumpers were giggling. They all stood up and continued walking to Kim's house. For a little fun, Mike asked, "So Jake, um, what were you doing on the floor while holding Serena?"
Again, both Jake and Serena turned red in the face. Jake thought about it for a minute. He had no choice. He had to lie. "Nothing, Mike. Absolutely nothing."
Kim spoke up, "What Jake means..."
"I didn't mean anything. Nothing happened."
That surprised everyone, including himself, when he said that with a straight face.
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All eight arrived at Kim's house and had dinner. Everyone was quiet while they were eating. After dinner, they all talked for awhile, but Jake was outside, sitting on the step leading to the front door. He was lost in thought, thinking he could have let Serena know he was fond of her, and how close he got to saying it.
"Is this step taken?" Serena asked.
"Uh...no. Here, sit down," Jake replied.
She sat down on the step, next to Jake. Again, silence fell upon the two. It was just Serena, Jake, and the stars above them. After a minute, Serena said, "Look, about before..."
"You don't have to say it...I embarassed myself."
"No you didn't. You...you actually saved my life."
"I-I did?"
"Yeah. I didn't even know what was going on until you pulled me to the ground. Before, I just forgot to say.....thanks."
Jake smiled, "Sure, no problem...I'm just worrying what the others think."
"Oh, so you don't...."
Once again, Jake was pressured into lying again, "N-no, of course not. I mean, we're only friends, right?"
Serena was surprised, "Uh, yeah....right. Just...friends."
Jake's smile faded quickly as he said, "Look, I'm going home. I'll meet you back there later."
"O-OK."
Quietly, Jake quickly walked out of the walkway and into the street and disappeared. Like Jake said, "Nothing happened," but if you could watch both Jake and Serena at exactly the same time, you could hear them say in unison, "...doesn't care about me after all...." And maybe you could catch a few tears fall from both of their faces.
TO BE CONTINUED....