Next to last chapter, folks. Sorry for the wait. I
have been so busy of late and these last two chapters
have been really hard to write.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I really do appreciate
it. I will also be writing a sequel (so don't kill me
after the next/last chapter).

As always, I don't own Sailor Moon and the Green and Irony
are December originals. Please get permission before you
use them.
~December

10 years ago
The most hated group among the outcosts and forgottens
of Toyko society was LMS. Into drug dealing, forced prosetution,
lawbreaking for money, and senseless violence, this gang was
given a wide berth. The Green hated this group as well, each member
for their own reasons. Satire hated them because they were the
worst scum in Toyko, reported to be behind many acts of arson. Con
hated them because they fought without reason, much less honor.
Adversity hated them for her own reason. She would only say that they
were the reason she was aptly named. Irony hated them for their
weapon of choice...guns.

One thing the Green and LMS had in common was the value they
placed upon respect. Respect meant vastly different things to the
two groups, however. To the Green, respect meant looking people in
the eye, treating everyone like a human being, calling people by name
(or at least what they wished to be called), and treating people as
one would like to be treated his or herself.

To the members of LMS, respect basically meant fear. They
wanted people to practically bow in their presence, to allow LMS members
to do whatever they wished. But above all, LMS wanted fear.

So the confrontation that happpened that May day came as no
surprize to anyone who was told the whole story. A member of LMS had
seen a woman he wanted the day before. In the process of taking her,
against her will, he was stopped by a Green knife and a daring dark
haired young man. This member of the Green dared to look this LMS
member staight in the eye and went further to demand that the woman
be left alone. On top of all of these "insults" the young man had
the audasicity to look angry, not scared. All the members of LMS agreed
that such disrespect could not go unpunished...so the next day they
rode their motorcyles into Green territory...

...And surrounded the young man in question, cutting off
the young man from all the other members of the Green that were around.

The young man looked at the LMS member her had confronted
yesterday, again in the eye, and said, "Will you let me pass?"

"You don't fear us?! You won't quake in our presence?!
You aren't shitting in your pants at the sight of us?! You should
be begging us for mercy, boy!"

The young man still looked unfazed. "Will you let me pass?"

In anger, the "wronged" member of LMS pulled out his gun and
shot into the air. That started a chaing of events.

First the Green members cut off from one of their own, rushed
to the circle, only to have LMS members pull guns on them. Second, the
LMS member who fired the gun in the air then pointed it at the person
who had so insulted him. Just a few seconds later, Irony, Satire, Con,
and Adversity rush out of a nearby building toward the circle.

Irony pushed her way into the circle...and almost lost both
her composure and her lunch at the sight that greeted her. Angry
and a little scared, Irony looked at the members of LMS that surrounded
her and Dare and said, "Leave. Get off our turf. NOW. Or I won't be
responsible for my actions."

"Big talk, little girl. You do realize I have a loaded gun, right?
I could just shoot you dead now."

"But I don't think you're that stupid." A murmer of shock went
through the LMS members. "Please. You know where you are, who now
surrounds, and that I'm their leader. Kill me, and you kill the one
thing that is holding them in check at the moment. If my safety isn't
an issue, they would probably kill you. And feel justified in doing so."
Irony's eyes narrowed, "Whatever Dare did to 'offend' you, he's not sorry
about it. We are proud of him for it. And all your threats against me
show just how weak you are. So, go slink back into the sewer you came
from."

The members of LMS looked extremely angry at this point. The
man who held the gun on Irony paused and then said, "Killing you may be
stupid...but if I get rid of the prick beside you, we teach the lesson."
Then the young man fired.

Screaming, "NO!!" Irony flung herself at Dare, knocking him to
the ground, and taking the shot in her own shoulder. The pain of the
gunshot rendered Irony unconsious. The fall did the same thing to the
young man underneath her...so both missed the following chaos. Which
included Con firing a machine gun in the air, LMS members scattering,
dodging flying knives and rocks, and a nearby child being killed by
stray gunfire from the departing LMS.

The Present

Irony stood in an alley near the Crown Arcade. Yes, it was
about 9 in the morning and she had had no sleep before. But she was
out...waiting for Dare. She figured she'd stop him on the street
after he came out of the Arcade where his friend worked. Somehow she
just didn't think that it would be a good idea to go in to see "Chiba-san"
in a public place. The only way he could help was to seem as if he
had no connections to any association at all. He wasn't going to like
that idea, but he'd be able to help. And she finally understood that
helping was all he wanted.

Shortly after Dare left last night, her contact came in...with
the reason for the crackdown. It had taken a lot of stealth and struggle
on the part of the Green to move the Prime Minister's daughter to a
safe place where Dare could point police. It had taken longer to pull
together the information he'd need, which Irony now carried in a white
envelope.

Irony paused as she heard a sound from the other end of the
alley. Slinking back into the shadows, she looked in the direction the
sound was coming from, and to her surprise, saw Dare's girl coming up the
alley from the other way. "Okay, that's odd. I thought good girls didn't
do alleys," Irony thought to herself. She made a mental note to tell
Dare about it later.

"Well, well, well. Lookie here."

At that sound Irony's head whipped to the other side of the alley,
where she saw a member of LMS advancing on Tsukino-san, who looked
worried for the first time since Irony had seen her in the alley. In a
matter of minutes, but not without struggle on her part, the gang member
had Usagi in a tight hold from behind. "I guess it's time we had a little
fun girlie." Usagi screamed.

At this point, Irony made a decision. Staying silent and passing
on her information may have been for the greater good...but she always
had problems understanding the greater good when she watched the lesser
suffering because of it. She stepped out of the shadows and threw her
knife at the gang member. It caught him in the hand causing him to let
go of the young blond he was holding...who began screaming anew at the
blood shooting out of the wound onto her and the pavement.

As the hurt gang member began to shout profanity at Irony,
Mamoru and Motoki appeared at the top of the alley. Still screaming,
crying, and shaking Usagi ran right to Mamoru, who caught her in his arms
and tried to calm her down. Between Motoki's shouts, demanding to know what
happened, to the cursing gang member and Usagi's cries, the alley was
total confusion...the sirens only added to it.

Before she could really react, much less disappear, Irony was
surrounded by police. They grabbed her slammed her against the nearest
wall and proceed to cuff her...after a rather rough pat down and the
removal of her other two knives...and the white envelope she had with
her.

Seeing Irony slammed against the wall, Mamoru made a move to help
her, but by then the crying Usagi had looked to see what was happening in
the alley and had turned back to Mamoru, trying desperately to tell him
something. So he and Motoki had to turn their attention to his Usako,
as he was helpless to help Irony in any way.

In the end Irony didn't really feel the pain of the wall, or the
police sticks, or the hits she took before losing consciousness in the
police car. Her only concern was that she failed to protect those who
needed her...who now had no one to fight for them.

- to be continued -

Not the happiest chapter in the world, is it? This chapter was probably
the hardest to write for a variety of reasons. That may be because I
don't write violence well. Anyway, the story will soon be over. Thanks
for reading.