Operation: Reality Check
A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic
By Roehl Sybing
Episode 20: Terror in the Tower
(Author's note: Consider this my rendition of Day of Destiny, if you know what I mean; this time, there's a really good and hopefully credible reason why things get back to status quo!)
"OK," Serena said. "I'll have a number two, an extra fries, an extra soda..."
Rei shouted, "How can you eat at a time like this!? We have an emergency!!"
"I hadn't eaten all day! Give me a break!"
Night had just fallen over the city. The streets outside were considerably less crowded. The team of eleven all sat down at one table at the restaurant. Serena was the only one eating what she ordered.
Mina asked, "What do we do now!?"
Jake replied, "What are we allowed to do? We trapped in--what year is this--1995!"
"Well," Rei said. "I'm not gonna sit here and do nothing! We gotta find a way back!"
At that moment, Chris' pager went off. He looked at the message and became worried. The message was garbled, but it was readable:
"HACK ONE
LEVL 1O EMURGNCI
FUL SCALE ATAACK"
-------------------------------------------------------------
"It was a dark and stormy night," people could now say. For a part of the city that never sleeps, Fifth and Main was dead quiet. The FRC building never looked so frightening in the nighttime. The outward look had an evil appearance to it, though it looked exactly the same as if it was in complete daytime. Dark clouds circled directly above the building. Pieces of glass that fell from the windows were now on the ground. The now-unusually-empty streets made the FRC headquarters look all the more dangerous.
With no one around, the Sailor Scouts transformed,
"MOON STAR POWER!"
"MERCURY STAR POWER!"
"JUPITER STAR POWER!"
"MARS STAR POWER!"
"VENUS STAR POWER!"
....while Darien transformed into Tuxedo Mask as they entered the building. The team of eleven had no problem with security measures. The guards at the front desk were, in fact, dead or at least in critical condition, which meant they will be dead in a few hours anyway. Everything else was in pieces. Metal beams fell from the ceiling. The sprinklers, being on the floor when it fell from the ceiling, were spraying water upwards. Sparks flew from every bare wire on the first floor. In short, the lobby was a wreck.
"W-w-what happened here?" Mike asked.
Just then, they heard someone shout, "Someone's there!?"
The voice came from under a pile of wreckage. Jake and Sailor Jupiter helped remove the heavy pieces of metal that weighed down on the victim. They soon realized the victim was Hacker One. His face was slightly burned, his lab coat had been torn in several places, and his glasses had cracks in it.
"T-thanks, Jake..." Hacker said. "Thanks, um...."
"Sailor Jupiter," she said, remembering he didn't know who the Scouts were
"Whatever."
Jake was the first to ask, "What happened here, Hacker?"
Hacker was trying to get some air, "Full-scale attack.....said her name....Queen....B-B...."
"Queen Beryl!?" Sailor Moon said shockingly.
"Yeah, that was her name.....tore the entire building up...I tried to turn on the emergency gateway....collapsed right here....just when the ceiling right above me....fell apart."
"Where is she now?"
"Still here I hope.....in the building....I can tell....I've gotten used to that cold snap of air...." Hacker opened his wallet and handed Jake his access card, "Here, you need this...."
"Your card? What for?"
"It's to access....the self-destruct area...."
"WHAT!?" they all shouted.
"On the 100th floor.....she's there, I know it....activate the panel there.....the whole building explodes in matter of ten minutes..."
"We'll never get there," Sailor Mercury said. "If she did all this to the first floor, who knows what she did to the rest of the building."
"It's the only way you're gonna get rid of her....I've enabled alot of emergency backups so....nobody can escape by teleport...but it's going to make your trip a lot more difficult...."
"Thanks, Hacker," Kim said.
"Dont mention it....oh, in the small chance you get out of here alive...you go and tell...my son....that I was sorry....and that I'm proud of him....go, get out of here...."
At that, Hacker One took his last breath of air and closed his eyes. The team stood silent for a moment, but Jake looked up and said, "C'mon, we have a job to do!" He and the others ran down the hallway to follow their instructions.
They didn't notice the other contents inside Hacker's wallet, including the driver's license that read, "Harry Crawford."
-------------------------------------------------------------
"I trust this is a suicide mission?" Sailor Mars asked as they all raced down the hallway and into the elevator.
"Let's worry about dying after we turn on the self-destructs, OK?" Jake replied.
"It's not the self-destruct part I'm not worried about, it's the part about getting there! Look, the elevator!"
Sure enough, the elevator was just ahead of them. For some reason, it looked fully operational, unlike everything which was in pieces. It didn't matter, they all thought. As soon as the doors closed, Jake pressed the button for the top floor, the 100th floor.
The trip up the building was expected to be a long while. "At least four minutes," Chris said, who had carefully looked at all the blueprints and specifications that came with FRC building.
But the trip was only a minute and a half, for the elevator took a quick stop just when the monitor above them read "35" for the 35th floor. The stop brought the team to the ground and dimmed the lights of the elevator car's ceiling.
"What happened?" one of them said, no one was sure who.
"The elevator's stalled," Tuxedo Mask replied. That voice they all recognized.
Suddenly they heard a loud snap as the elevator car dipped half a foot.
"What now?"
Chris calmly replied, "I believe that's....the elevator cable....one of eight that's keeping us from falling 30 stories."
"WHAT!?" they all shouted.
Another cable broke loose. The elevator car fell further into the shaft.
"Yeah....if we don't move fast, we're gonna go into freefall!"
Jake had a pocket flashlight in his hand. Light filled the room, revealing everyone's fearful faces.
"What do we do now?" Sailor Moon asked. "We have to get out of here!"
Another loud snap. Actually, two.
Chris, after quickly recovering from another dip into the vertical elevator shaft, said, "We can't. The doors are electromagnetically welded. Wait....THAT'S IT! Jackie?"
But Jackie was also quick to react, "Yeah, yeah, I got it," she said as she reached for her electric gun. Powerful bursts of electricity shot from the gun and towards the door. A second of electrocution was all it took before the doors opened. Jake and Mike stepped out first, but then another cable lost its' grip, causing the elevator car to fall considerably. The opening was now only half the elevator car's height.
"C'mon," Mike encouraged while holding out his hand. "It's alright."
Mike and Jake helped the Sailor Scouts up from the elevator car. As they helped Tuxedo Mask and Chris out, two more cables snapped, leaving only one intact cable that was keeping the elevator car up.
"C'mon, Jackie," Mike said as he continued to hold out his hand. "Jackie, c'mon!"
But Jackie was busy lifting Kim up to the opening. Kim looked below her, "Jackie....you don't look too sure about this!"
"I wish I was!" Jackie replied as she continued to hold Kim up. "But it's either you or me, OK?"
Once Kim was on stable ground, Jake said fearfully, "We're not going to leave you here, Jackie!"
But Jackie said, "Go, get out of here! There's only one cable left, you expect to do something before it--"
She was suddenly cut off when the final cable gave way, causing the elevator to fall through the shaft. After half a minute, the team could hear a faint crash coming from the bottom of the shaft. At that moment, Jake was filled with sadness and anger, as did the rest of the team. He said, "When I get Queen Beryl, she's going to pay!"
-------------------------------------------------------------
Nevertheless, they continued their climb up the tower. The stairs were considered safer than the elevator in an emergency, but were no more stable in this situation. Pieces of concrete had fallen from the steps and were continuing to crumble. A tired yet angered team of ten had gone several flights up the stairs. The last number they had seen painted on the wall was "49."
As they walked up the stairs, Sailor Venus asked, "Isn't there any other elevator? Sorry to complain, but I hate the stairs!"
Kim replied, "If I'm right, there's an emergency elevator on the far end of the 51st floor, but it's a long way from here."
Unfortunately, they didn't notice the security camera equipped on the wall as they progressed through another flight of stairs. As soon as the camera sensed their motion, the overhead lights glowed red while a voice said, "SECURITY BREACH....SECURITY BREACH...." It was obvious the stairway was no longer safe.
"C'mon, let's go!" Mike shouted.
Quickly, they all rushed up the stairs, looking for a doorway to the next floor. In their haste, another important object went unnoticed, a small security laser beam. With the input supplied by the security camera, the weapon turned itself on and aimed its' cannon at Sailor Mercury. It went through the necessary 2-second charge before firing, and thus emitted a faint humming sound. Chris was right behind Sailor Mercury, noticed the faint sound, and quickly became aware of where it was coming from. He was quick to react; he pushed Sailor Mercury out of the way and fired his own water cannon towards the beam, but before the laser delivered a direct and lethal hit to Chris' body.
Two things were clear among the team: the unnoticed laser cannon was shorted out, along with the entire defense system for the stairway, and Chris was lying on the ground in need of critical medical care, something MedLab can no longer provide.
Jake rushed to Chris' side, "Chris! Not you too!"
Chris gave a faint smile as he replied very weakly, "I'm sorry, Jake...I acted before I thought...heh, first time I ever did that....I'll bet you it'll be my last..."
"Don't you die on me, Chris. We need you here!"
"Yeah, well....we're a bit late now, don't you think? Ami....you there?"
Sailor Mercury leaned closer, "Yes?"
"You know when I said I only wanted us....to just be friends?"
"Yeah..."
Chris' last words became, "I'm sorry....I lied..."
As he closed his eyes, he gave the most peaceful and innocent look anyone could give. But it was not enough to keep Jake and Sailor Mercury from weeping over Chris' lifeless body.
Sailor Mars said, "Ooh....if anyone else dies here today, IT'LL BE QUEEN BERYL!"
-------------------------------------------------------------
Transcript from Action 4 News, special report edition, 7/13/95
THIS TRANSCRIPT MAY NOT BE RELEASED, RETRANSMITTED, OR REPRODUCED TO THE PUBLIC WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF ACTION 8 NEWS
Visual: Special Report Intro.
Announce: This is an update from Action 4 News.
Visual: Mark Leyton sitting behind Action 4 News desk.
Leyton: We are continuing coverage of the highly-mysterious FRC incident down on Fifth and Main. Just one and a half hours ago all transmissions originating from the building, audio AND video, were mysteriously cut off. For over an hour, there has been no known activity within the building at all. There are no known threats towards the organization the past week, but it is clear someone is out to destroy the headquarters here in New York City. Eyewitness reports show that a group of kids, the number unknown, entering the building. It is apparent they have not exited the building; the building and the immediate perimeter seems to be protected by a force field, preventing anyone to enter the area. The specifications of any field generator that could cause this are unknown to the New York Police Department, nor is that their main priority at this time. Jill Foster is live with us right now. Jill?
Visual: A close-up skyview of the Federal Reality Commission Headquarters, previously recorded minutes ago before Action 4 lost feedback from A4NYC Copter.
Visual: Jillian Foster with microphone facing camera, background is Fifth Street leading to FRC building, now covered with yellow police tape.
Audio: Police and ambulance sirens. SWAT team alarm. Planetary defense systems activated.
Foster: Thanks, Mark. What you just saw was brief footage of the FRC building from the News Helicopter right before it was apparently shot down. If you look carefully, you'll see what appears to be a person on the rooftop, and that person is definitely responsible for the attack on our helicopter. I must regretfully report that our pilot and sky-camera man, Joe Porter, is dead. Porter has been with us at WATV for three years, and we are INDEED angered at the person or persons responsible for his quick death. The police are looking in on the entire situation now, their first priority is to break the outer defenses. Along with a protective force field, security is obviously tightened around the building's exterior, so it is absolutely dangerous to even try to attack the building. The police's other priority is to find out what has happened in there, and if there is anything they can do to help any hostages within the building. We will continue coverage throughout tonight's broadcast and will eventually get to the bottom of this situation. For now, I'm Jill Foster, Action 4, Fifth and Main.
-------------------------------------------------------------
The 72nd floor. The nearest office clock had just turned "21:00." Jake looked around the corner very closely. He sighed, "It's clear, guys." He became very cautious, he didn't want to lose anyone else, but it was Sailor Moon that knew it was happening all over again.
On their way to the next elevator - hopefully all the way up to the 100th floor - the team of nine noticed smoke coming from one of the intersections. Mike quickly stopped the rest of the team and noticed what was there: a fire broke out behind one of the security desks. It didn't take long for the building's computer to respond, "FIRE ON 72ND FLOOR.....FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM DISABLED......"
Sailor Venus pointed straight ahead and shouted, "Look!"
They all did so. The doors were sealing themselves shut and a sealed wall appeared in front of the elevator. The computer announced, "SECONDARY FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS DISABLED.....ACTIVATING OXYGEN DEPLETION SYSTEM....." The air ducts above started removing oxygen from the room's atmosphere in order to put out the fire.
"We'll run out of air in minutes!" Tuxedo Mask said. "We have to do something!"
Everyone looked around for a solution. Suddenly, Kim noticed a room-sized window at one end of the hallway, just fifteen feet away from where they all stood. At the top of the window peeked out two metal bars that lead to the emergency escape ladder.
"That's our way out!" Kim said as she pointed towards the window. When she was close enough, she used her own body to run into the window. She was partly successful; the window shattered into pieces on the floor, but there was a layer of glass remaining.
"D*mn!" Kim shouted as she looked at her arm, being bruised from the impact. "Should've known this was double-layered!"
"I'll try this," Tuxedo Mask said. He quickly took a rose from thin air and threw it towards the window. Unfortunately, to everyone's surprise, the rose did nothing to penetrate the glass as it fell to the ground.
Mike's attention wasn't on the window anymore as he tried to breathe for air, "I'm getting dizzy, guys..."
Everyone else noticed the air was getting extremely thin.
Kim moved further away from the window and said, "We don't have any time for this!" She tried again to break the window by running into it.
As Kim charged towards the glass, she acquired a loss of consciousness from lack of air. At that same moment, she quickly forgot what she was doing, but continued to run towards the window. At last, the glass broke, but only when the quick rush of oxygen did she remember what she was doing. To her misfortune, she was slow to react; instead of stopping right at the edge of the building floor, she fell through the opening and down over 70 stories to the ground to the concrete sidewalk.
It only took a few seconds for everyone else to regain full consciousness, but then Kim had already fallen to her death. Instead of crying, Jake pounded the wall. "Why is this happening!?" he said as put a dent into the wall.
Sailor Moon tried to pull Jake away from the wall, "C'mon, Jake....we gotta stop Queen Beryl!"
But to her surprise, even Jake sounded discouraged as the tears formed in his eyes, "I can't, Serena....don't ya see? We'll never make it!"
"We're almost there, Jake!" Mike replied. "We can't give up now! It's either us or the entire city!"
Jake looked outside. Dark skies had extended all over the entire skyline. New York City was consumed in darkness. They had no choice. Queen Beryl had to be stopped. Jake wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "You're right....let's go....."
-------------------------------------------------------------
The emergency ladder took them only as far as the 99th floor. Within twenty minutes, they were walking along the next-to-last floor, heading for the only elevator that connected people to the top floor.
As soon as the remaining eight approached the elevator doors, they could see a force field cover the door, preventing their progress.
"Great," Sailor Moon said. "Now what?"
Sailor Jupiter replied, "I got this one." Everyone stood a couple of feet away from the door as Sailor Jupiter shouted,
"JUPITER THUNDER.....CRASH!"
Electricity lighted up the entire floor as hit against the energy field. Unfortunately, the bolt of lightning was absorbed by the field.
"Oops," she said to her surprise.
Just then, Mike noticed a control panel opposite the elevator. "I think this is it," he said as he walked towards it.
Jake held him back, not wanting to take any more chances, "Mike, got a bad feeling about this?"
"Yeah, of course. But how do you expect us all to get upstairs?"
"OK, just be careful."
"Always am, Jake," he said with confidence.
Mike took his ID card and dropped it into the slot. He then started giving the commands to drop the force field. Tuxedo Mask had his attention on the elevator door, when he saw the force field getting brighter when it started gathering energy - probably from Sailor Jupiter's lightning bolt. He also noticed an electrical cord connecting an outlet adjacent the elevator to the access panel. He said in fear, "Mike, you'd better hurry up!"
They could all hear a faint humming sound getting louder. Jake shouted, "Mike, hurry up!"
Mike could hear the sound too, but continued to operate the panel, "I can drop the field from here!"
With luck, the streaks of light that represented the force field disappeared, but not before channeling its' energy through the electrical cord and into the control panel. The panel exploded right in front of Mike as he was thrown backwards a considerable distance.
"D*mn!" they could hear him all shout.
The other seven ran to Mike, who was obviously injured and, just like the other three, prepared to die.
Jake had tears in his eyes again, "Y-ya knew this was going to happen..."
Mike whispered, "Y-yeah..."
"Didn't have to do that, you know."
"Yeah, trust me, I did. Listen...Mina?"
Sailor Venus bent down and asked, "What is it?"
Mike smiled, "If...if I told you...I loved you...would you believe me?"
Sailor Venus smiled as well. Bits of light reflected off the tears in her eyes.
"Look," Mike continued, "Just go....get Queen Beryl for me. I'm not going to die for nothing....ya know!"
He closed his eyes and died in Sailor Venus' arms very peacefully. Silence overcame all of them for what seemed to be a long while, until the elevator doors opened themselves.
Jake sighed. He had revenge in mind, "That's it! Let's go finish up what they started!"
-------------------------------------------------------------
The 100th floor, just like every other floor, was dead quiet. Seven people searched for what they were looking for. After walking down the dark and winding hallways for over ten minutes, Sailor Jupiter was the first to notice a sign on a metal-reinforced door that read, "WARNING: COMMAND CENTRE."
"I think this is it, guys," she said. "How do we get in?"
Jake pried the door open and replied, "Like that."
It was a large room. There was not enough light to illuminate everything. Some parts of the area were barely covered with light, others left in complete darkness. Because of a contruction error, the large self-destruct panel was placed conveniently next to the door on the inside, leaving it an open target for any intruders. The Sailor Scouts along with the only Reality Jumper left should be fortunate that the construction workers that had created the FRC building long ago had made this error.
Sailor Moon watched Jake enter Hacker's ID card into the panel while the rest of the team watched if anyone was there, but the room was too dark for anyone to look carefully.
"So this is it, eh?" Sailor Moon asked.
Jake replied, "Yeah."
"How do we get out of here?"
No response from Jake, but Sailor Moon got the picture.
After a minute, Jake said, "That's it! The thing's set at ten minutes."
All of a sudden, they heard a laugh. It was Queen Beryl! The lights got brighter, obviously not damaged. Queen Beryl was standing on the other side of the room smiling wickedly. "Just as I planned! I've never been this fortunate since I destroyed the Moon Kingdom!"
Tuxedo Mask shouted, "You can't stop us! This place'll blow up in twenty minutes!"
Queen Beryl leaned closer, "Are you brave enough to sacrifice your own lives?"
They all replied, "You bet!"
"Even....these lives?" A large panel opened behind Queen Beryl revealing a room-sized compartment. In that compartment were ten people the team was very shocked to see. The ten people unconscious on the floor behind Queen Beryl were the Reality Jumpers and the Sailor Scouts.
"She's," Sailor Moon said while she pointed at the person that looked like her. "She's...me!"
Sailor Mercury looked at them all, "You killed them!"
Queen Beryl continued, "No, not yet, dear. See, you forgot you're here in the past. I should know, my time twister brought you here. These are your counterparts of THIS time, 1995. If they were dead, all of YOU would cease to exist! And if anyone is going to kill them, it's you! Now, turn off the self-destruct."
But Sailor Mars stepped forward, "Never!"
"Very well," Queen Beryl said. "Either way I win. If this building blows up, you will never be here to stop my counterpart. The NegaVerse WILL prevail!"
"Why you--" Jake said as he started walking towards Queen Beryl, in some kind of effort that he might surprise her. But she waved her hand towards Jake and an energy beam came shooting towards him. But Jake was quick to react as he reached for his mirror and shouted,
"MIRROR.....REFLECT!"
His mirror attempted to shield the group, but the beam was too powerful to be stopped. The beam went through the mirror shield and hit Jake, but it didn't stop there. As Jake dealt with the pain, Sailor Moon, being directly behind him, was hit by the powerful beam as well.
Then, something happened with Jake and Sailor Moon. Neither of them could describe it, but it seemed they were somehow connected by the energy beam. In a split second, both of them could look into each other's thoughts, feel what each other felt, know what each other knew....the possibilities were almost endless. But it was only there for a split second. The strain that they both endured rendered them weak but still conscious as they were thrown towards the back wall.
Queen Beryl said, "You will give me the access card. NOW!"
Sailor Venus stared at Jake and Sailor Moon. In a way, they looked like a couple; now, she thinks, it will never be that way. "You'll never win, Queen Beryl!"
"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM.....SMASH!"
A ray of light streaked across the room, but never made it all the way to Queen Beryl. The invisible dark energy that the wicked being possessed prevented the beam from ever touching Beryl. Instead, she rechanneled that same beam to work against Sailor Venus. Being surprised, the Sailor Scout was unable to dodge the beam when it hit her. She screamed before she was knocked to the ground.
Sailor Mars knew it was her turn, "We'll get you for this!"
A word said by Queen Beryl stuck in Jake's mind: counterpart. He whispered to Sailor Moon, who was right next to him, "Y-you still there, Serena?"
"O-ow," Sailor Moon replied. "Yeah..."
"I got a plan..."
"MARS FIRE.....IGNITE!"
The temperature in the room went up very quickly as a great amount of fire filled the room. The flames were so high that Sailor Mars could not see her adversary. The fire quickly died out though, to her misfortune, as soon as she saw Queen Beryl, who had managed to survive. In the evil woman's hand was a ball of smoke, obviously collected from the fire. "Nice try," she said before she threw it towards Sailor Mars. The ball of smoke dispersed into the air around the Sailor Scout. The black mist filled her lungs, preventing Sailor Mars to breathe. She turned unconscious before she hit the ground.
The fate of the team fell in Sailor Jupiter's hands. "You're going to pay for all this, Queen Beryl! Mercury, give me a hand!"
Sailor Mercury nodded and shouted,
"MERCURY ICE BUBBLES....FREEZE!"
This time, the temperature dropped as fast as it rose when tiny bubbles shot through the air and made contact with Queen Beryl. She dropped to the ground as soon as the bubbles turned into ice, but not before Sailor Jupiter jumped up and dealt a good kick.
Queen Beryl was somewhat weak. She felt the cut from her face that Sailor Jupiter gave to her. Angered, she said, "You'll never defeat me! NEVER!" She waved her hand again, and another energy beam came and attacked the remaining two Scouts so fast they never realized what Queen Beryl was up to.
Behind Queen Beryl was Jake's counterpart as he woke up suddenly from the noise that Beryl's enemies made. He also thought he was dreaming, he saw himself crawl across the floor to try to reach the access panel on the left wall. "I look like hell," he commented about himself. He also saw a beautiful girl limping across the floor as well, trying to reach the access panel on the right wall. The counterpart looked beside him; that same girl was lying next to him on the floor! "Oh man...." he said as he fainted.
"It's just you and me, Beryl!" Tuxedo Mask said.
Queen Beryl replied, "I suppose you don't want to...rule by my side again?"
The man in the cape threw a rose towards the wicked creature and managed to hit her right shoulder. Blood started to appear where the puncture was made as Queen Beryl cried out. But the cry didn't last long. She said, "Nothing will stand in the way of my plans! Take this!" Yet another energy beam sparked across the room. It held the same result as the rest; Tuxedo Mask fell to the ground, left injured from the blast.
Weak from the attacks of the Sailors Scouts and Tuxedo Mask, Queen Beryl still managed to laugh, "I did it! At last, I beat them all!"
"Not so fast, Queen Beryl!" Jake shouted. He was barely touching the controls of the access panel.
"What is this!?"
"Serena, HIT IT!"
Queen Beryl looked across the room where Sailor Moon was. She too was at the controls of a panel. At the same time, both Jake and Sailor Moon pressed a button and machinery noise filled the room. Beryl closed her eyes, waiting for another attack to come upon her. But nothing happened to her. She opened her eyes to see her view unchanged; Jake and Sailor Moon were still at the controls, but they gave a relieving smile. "What is going on?" she demanded.
"I want to know that as well!" a voice said behind Queen Beryl. What was so shocking was that it sounded just like her! In fact, it was her! Queen Beryl turned around. To her ultimate surprise, she saw herself standing where the abducted Reality Jumpers and the kidnapped Sailor Scouts used to be. They were gone, and Queen Beryl's counterpart took their place when she was pulled into the room by a portal. Queen Beryl faced Jake and Sailor Moon and shouted, "Don't you realize what you've done!?"
The remaining two didn't get the chance to say anything, because the timer for the self-destruct sequence hit double-zero. The blast was silent but lethal to everyone in the room. Fortunately, the electronic pathways leading to the rest of the building were blocked off thanks to the extensive damage, so the explosion spared the rest of the FRC headquarters. But there was no doubt about it, everyone in the top floor was dead.
-------------------------------------------------------------
So, with the Queen Beryl of 1995 dead, how could she live during 1996 and cause this entire mess? That was Jake's theory all along.
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Is she OK?"
"She'll be alright."
"Wake up, Serena!"
Sailor Moon quickly got to her feet the second she woke up. She looked around and saw the other Sailor Scouts, along with Tuxedo Mask, Luna, and Artemis. "What happened, guys?" she asked weakly.
"You fainted," Sailor Venus said.
"W-where's Jake? O-or Queen Beryl!?"
Tuxedo Mask replied, "Who?"
Sailor Mercury added, "Well, one thing's for certain. I scanned it. There's nothing in that portal over there, including Queen Beryl. Just one big false alarm."
Sailor Moon was confused, "Portal? What's going on!?"
Sailor Mars shouted, "That's why we're here in the first place! What's up with you, Serena!?"
-------------------------------------------------------------
"He's not dead, is he?"
"No he's not. He'll be fine."
"Jake! Come back to us!"
Jake opened his eyes very slowly and saw the rest of his team. At first he was relieved, but then he became worried, "Where are we?"
Chris replied, "Los Angeles, or what's left of it."
"FRC gave us a false alarm, Jake. There's no girl here!" Mike added.
Jackie said, "Man, and I thought this was going to be good!"
Chris continued, "You dropped right in front of us, Jake. The heat's getting to you!"
-------------------------------------------------------------
Jake took the rest of the day off. Down the street, he looked at a building clock. It flashed the date as well: 02-05-96. In a way, Jake became depressed.
He stopped by the restaurant, where "Serena used to go." As soon as he made his order, he grabbed his tray and went looking for a table. As he walked past the crowd in the restaurant, Jake bumped into someone.
"Hey!" that person said. That person sounded like Serena. Jake looked at her, hoping she was it. It was a girl, all right, but it wasn't Serena. Discouraged, he said, "Sorry. Excuse me."
-------------------------------------------------------------
"You OK, Serena?" Lita said as they walked home.
"Not really," Serena said very softly. She was not in the best of moods.
"Want to talk about it?"
"Not really..."
Then, they heard something drop on the ground behind them. Actually, Lita heard it; Serena was too much lost in thought.
"Hey, Serena, you dropped this." Lita handed Serena the object that fell on the ground. It was a small pocket mirror. Obviously it was in her pocket.
A tear formed in her eye. She looked up at the starry sky and said to herself, "Oh, Jake...."
TO BE CONTINUED.....
(Author's note: Yeah, there's more! But I promise, Episode 21 finishes
it all!)