Operation: Reality Check
A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic
By Roehl Sybing
Episode 21: Unfinished Business
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Lost Horizons
Gin Blossoms
(lyrics edited)
The lost horizons I can see are filled with bars and factories
And in them all we fight to stay alive
I'll drink enough of anything to make this world look new again
I'm drunk, drunk, drunk in the gardens and the graves
She had nothing left to say, so she said she loved me
And I stood there grateful for the lie
I'll drink enough of anything to make this girl look new again
I'm drunk, drunk, drunk in the gardens and the graves
Turn summer trees to bones and ice
Turning sad songs against the night
With words we build and words we break
I'm drunk, drunk, drunk in the gardens and the graves
Maybe I could use you to reassure myself
I wouldn't wish this indecision on anybody else
I'd drink enough of anything to make this us both look new again
And when the sin smiles, how could it be wrong?
The lost horizons I could see are now resigned to memories
I never thought I'd still be here today....
I'd drink enough of anything to make myself look new again
I'm drunk, drunk, drunk in the gardens and the graves
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"That was Lost Horizons here on 98.9 FM. Good evening, I'm Dan Westwood, I'll be starting off another 45 minutes of the best music on the radio. But first, tonight's weather. Clear skies, slight chance of rain, but don't bet on it....high 84 and low 72, a perfect quiet night out in the city, and if you're listening on the car radio, you know what I mean as you drive by...."
Those were the were spoken on the radio just before people within half a mile of the FRC building could hear a small explosion ring out.
So much for the quiet evening.
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Two hours later....
"Excuse me, coming through, out of the way!" Hacker One shouted as he walked past the crowds surrounding the FRC building. A giant hole occupied one side of the building where the main command centre was supposed to stand. Five bodies lay inside the blackened room, either dead or just critically injured. The night shift's complement was forty-one.
Hacker walked up to a man in an FRC uniform and asked, "So much for my day off tomorrow. What happened?"
"Concussion to the room's fusion power system," the man replied.
"I know that, you idiot! HOW did it happen?"
"Well, our best guess is that something blocked the systematic pathways of the fusion core. The blockage built up fusion energy in one area, went into overload."
"Look around, Johnson. Does this look like an accident?"
The man Hacker called Johnson observed the room. It was a total disaster. The only two colors that filled the room were gray and black. Fire had touched every part of the room. One of the fallen employees was missing his right hand.
"No, sir. But who could've caused this?"
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"It's a terrorist group called Free California," Johnson said as he tossed a folder onto Hacker's desk. It was late morning at the time. "We caught one of our agents trying to escape through the gateway, but we caught him in time. He said to us the group offered him $100 million dollars to blow a hole into the building."
"Yeah, well," Hacker replied. "We're lucky this building's still standing." He then talked into the intercom, "Get Tyler for me. I need to talk to him."
"What for, sir?" Johnson interrupted.
"He hasn't given me this month's reports yet."
"Forgive me, sir, but isn't this an awkward time to handle this situation?"
"Look, if Free California IS a terrorist group, the last thing they'd expect is for the FRC to get things up and running around here."
"Good point, sir."
Another officer, holding a red binder, walked into Hacker's office, "Here's the logs from last night. Shows everyone that walked into the building. I checked it three times."
"Thanks," Hacker said. He talked into the intercom again, "Get Tyler for me, please!"
"Tyler? Jake Tyler?" the officer said.
"Yeah. Why?"
"His name's in the logs!"
"WHAT!?" Hacker filed through the logs and saw the name, "Tyler, Jake" in the logs.
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"I got good news and bad news," Johnson said as he held a scanner in hand. He and Hacker One were searching the damaged Command Center. "Good news is I haven't found Tyler's DNA signature, so he's not dead, I hope."
"I'm going to hate the bad news, right?" Hacker asked.
"Well, maybe. Someone must've tripped the emergency gateway. He could be anywhere!"
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"Here's the latest report about the tropical storm from the National Weather Bureau as of 12 noon. Heavy rains have fallen down over Tokyo and the surrounding area since early this morning. Winds have picked up considerably, making it extremely dangerous to travel outside. Fortunately, the storm will be on its' way out north-northeast by early tonight."
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The storm was violent, to say the least. The winds and the rains came down and swept through the city to wreak havoc among the buildings and the people that stayed within them. The windows that shattered and the trees that fell could not be heard as its' noise was lost in the storm. The minute people heard of the warning, the shops, the schools, and other businesses closed long before anyone began their daily routine, a routine now crushed because of the tropical storm.
Speaking of which, Serena didn't seem to mind.
"Yeah, Molly! Now I have an extra day to study for that test! Well, I'm not ACTUALLY going to study for it, I'm just..."
Serena spent half the day in her room, talking on the phone. Luna watched and did nothing about it. The cat thought she might as well spend the day in inactivity as well.
With the storm making most of the noise as it is and with Serena's door shut, she couldn't hear the loud knock on the door. Fortunately, Serena's mom was downstairs and could hear it loud and clear, though she said out loud, "Who could be outside in a storm like this?"
Sammy, Serena's brother, was also concerned about who was at the door, but didn't actually care enough to open the door. He was, though, suddenly surprised when he heard his mom scream, then a loud thud onto the floor. He rushed to the front door as fast as he could. Sammy was going to ask, "What happened, mom?" But he forgot those words when he saw a body of a teenager lying on the floor. The unconscious boy had a jacket, now completely soaked, on him. On that jacket were three letters, "FRC."
Serena's mom turned the body face up to see was she was looking at. There was an ID card just hanging on to the front side of the boy's jacket. The family could barely read English, but it read, "Tyler, Jake."
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It had turned midnight over New York City. The staff was short-handed for the night, so Jake decided to take an extra shift. As he walked down the corridor leading to the command centre, a man ran down the hallway and bumped into Jake. Jake shouted, "Hey! Watch it!"
The second Jake walked into the room, the fusion core at the opposite end of the command centre burst into flames. The fire turned the entire room into an inferno. As the tech staff scrambled in a failing effort to put the fire out, the doors closed shut, keeping air out and the fire in.
The flames quickly consumed all but Jake, who stood in terror. But he was quick to react; he pulled the red lever marked "EMERGENCY." To Jake's surprise, nothing happened. He pulled the lever again; again, nothing happened.
The flames were getting closer. "C'mon, open already!" Jake said to himself as he pulled the lever several times. The smoke and the flames were so great, Jake almost passed out before he could shout.....
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"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Jake shouted as he jumped out of bed. After hitting his head on the floor, he looked around the room. He noticed a boy sitting at one end of the room.
Sammy said, "Hey, you almost scared me there!"
"W-where am I?" Jake replied weakly. He was a bit relieved his wrist translator was still working.
"You're in my room. My name's Sammy." It was funny to him that an American spoke Japanese.
"H-hi. How did I get here?"
"We found you on our front door. Heh, I thought you were dead!"
All of a sudden, the rain finally stopped. "Hey!" Sammy said. "The storm is gone!"
"There was a storm here today?"
Sammy didn't get an opportunity to answer, because her sister called out, "Hey, Sammy, give me my video game back!"
Jake recognized that voice, "I-Is that Serena?"
"Yeah," Serena's brother replied. "Why?"
With no response, Jake rushed out of the room and into the hallway, while Sammy followed. There, they saw Serena, who also had a extremely surprised look on her face.
"Jake?" Serena asked. "How did you get here?"
Sammy answered that one, not knowing the importance of that question. "He passed out on our doorway, but I guess you're too lazy to figure THAT out."
Jake and Serena ignored what the little kid said. They just stood there, surprised but a bit happy to see each other again.
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With the storm gone and the clouds disappearing, the two got out of the house and walked around for a bit.
"Never thought I'd see you again," Serena said as they walked.
"Yeah, me too," Jake replied. But that was all the conversation they could get out for the next two minutes. After that, Jake's communicator beeped. He turned it on and said, "Hacker??"
The voice of Hacker One was on the other line. "Jake! You're still alive!"
"Yeah, just barely. You going to pick me up?"
"We have problems ourselves here at the FRC. Going to have to give us a few hours. We'll track you down after that. Just stay calm, we'll get you."
Jake looked at Serena and smiled, "Don't worry about me, Hacker. I'll be fine. Take your time. Tyler out."
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It took a few hours for the people of Tokyo to get things up and running again. When the tropical storm ended, business and store owners re-opened their businesses to the public again. It was starting to get dark by that time, and by then, Jake and Serena were spending their time at a fast-food restaurant that had re-opened its' doors to the people.
As they had their lunch, Serena was curious enough to ask, "So, what have you been doing lately?"
Jake replied, "Aw, just thinking."
"Hmm....of me?"
"Yeah, sometimes. But...."
Serena didn't like that last word. "But....what?"
Jake didn't want to say it, but it was too late now. "I applied for the space colonies."
Serena choked on her food. "T-the colonies? Where L-lisa is?"
"Well, yeah....thought I was never going to see you again, so..."
"But...even if you're accepted...you're not going to go, are you?"
Jake didn't get the time to answer, because someone they both knew had just stepped through the door.
"Hi Serena!" Darien said as he just walked in.
"Hi," Serena replied plainly.
Darien didn't know the other person that was with Serena. "So, who's your friend?"
Jake reacted quickly. He stood up and shook hands, "Hi, you must be Darien. I'm Jake, Serena's tutor."
"Tutor?"
"Yeah, well, she happens to be...below average in a few subjects."
"A few!? You're not in all of her classes, are you?"
They both laughed, but it was Serena's silence that quieted the two.
Darien smiled, "Well, I have to go pick up a friend here. I'll see you tonight, OK Serena? It was nice meeting you, Jake."
Jake smiled as well, but he felt quite the opposite, "Same here, Darien."
After a while, Darien was out of their view, so it was safe for Jake and Serena to talk again. But by then, Serena was filled with sadness.
"What's wrong, Serena?" Jake asked softly, though he probably knew the answer.
Serena said, "Hmm? Oh, nothing....I-I'll be right back..."
She left the table and walked outside, leaving a few teardrops on the floor. Jake sighed and followed.
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Jake walked around the block, looking for Serena. At last, he found her sitting on a bench.
"C'mon!" Jake said. "What's up?"
Serena sighed. "Jake, we can't go on like this."
"Hmm?"
"I mean, you and me. I already have someone."
Jake almost ignored that remark. He got closer to Serena and gave her a kiss. "Now tell me the truth. If that didn't mean anything at all, I'll just walk out and leave."
Serena smiled, "Of course that meant something! But..."
At that moment, Jake's communicator sounded. He turned it on and said, "Yeah?"
It was Chris' voice, "Stay where you are! We'll pick you up!"
"All right. Thanks."
Jake turned it off and added, "You'd better go."
"Yeah..."
They smiled at each other and Serena started to walk away. She looked back and said, "You know....if I never met Darien....I would've picked you."
For a second, Jake was happy. He smiled, "Thanks."
Serena walked away and out of Jake's view. Jake almost had a tear in his eye, but he took a deep breath and sat down on the bench.
A few minutes later, someone tapped Jake on the shoulder. Jake looked up. It was Chris. Beside him were Jackie, Mike, and Kim.
"Hey there!" Chris said. "Remember us?"
Jake laughed a bit. "Of course! Ready to go?"
"Yeah!"
Jake stood up and followed the rest of his team.
Mike added, "You know, the second we got here, I met someone."
"Oh really?" Jake replied. "Who?"
"Well, she gave me a picture of herself."
Mike handed Jake a photograph. It was a picture of Mina. Jake smiled at Mike. "C'mon, let's get out of here."
Jackie activated the track-and-return device. A portal opened in front of them. The team of five jumped in and disappeared.
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It was silent in Tokyo....
THE END