I do not own Sailor Moon or the Matrix. Actually, this fic isn't supposed
to be like the Matrix, but now that someone's mentioned it ^.^…
However, I do own your puny lives and the existence of this entire
universe so you can bow down to me and worship my greatness.
Eevee muse: (BASH!)
**********************************
Last time:
(1.55 Auto hours, 12.43 Network time)
And so, leaving the happily torn shreds of decapitated blank-
eyed heads and chunks of fingers and intestines to the other creatures of
the night, she leapt to her destination.
******************************************
Now:
(4.36 Auto hours, 9.17 Network time)
The empty corridors of the stark white hallways in the Diet
Building reflected a stature of hidden secrecy. And, as Setsuna and
Hotaru ran down the stairways, their fleeting shadowy figures defied the
very laws of security. For no one ever dared to intrude such a shrouded
sector that it was uncalled for. Therefore, no one had noticed.
This might have also been because of the two Cybervampire's
holograms, or maybe even the temporary virus that a very dutiful hacker
had released upon the security system. But whatever the case, those two
figures now leapt and glided gracefully, their fully attuned senses and
connection with the Networking sensing all the traps the Building had
set. After all, it was stupid to send a force such as the Network to do
intricate top-secret security measures when other Network-using forces
could easily infiltrate it. Well, maybe not easily, but good enough. Good
enough to show that the Network did not belong to the Diet Building.
Not at all.
Hotaru panted as she stopped around the next bend, eyes scanning
for any people while Setsuna's senses were fully in tune with the
Network.
"How much longer do we have?" The black-haired girl asked,
wary of any wandering building faculty.
Setsuna looked around once more. "I'd say at least 2 Auto
hours after we find the main database in this building."
"TWO?" Hotaru hissed. "We don't have that amount of time.
I'd say that they'll sense our presence in about less than 0.8 Auto hours,
even less if they have an Anti-Virus configuration."
"Which I bet they do." Setsuna nodded. "However, remember,
Haruka will provide a distraction in cover for us. So, we're just going to
have to count on her for now."
Both former senshi turned another corner, faces and muscles
tense and wary of every single action and movement. One, just one slip
up would cost the both of them at least their lives.
Suddenly, Setsuna spotted it. Or rather, she felt it. The direct
humming chord within her mind that seemed to feed off the energy of
the Network.
"There." The older woman said, pointing to what seemed just
like any whitewashed wall, not any more different. She gestured for
Hotaru to follow, and brought a hand up to the smooth unyielding wall.
Hotaru watched in surprise as the wall suddenly jerked open, to
review a hidden corridor, which seemed to trail off into darkness. Well,
it would have, it she had not had the nocturnal eyes of all vampire kin.
Inside, there was a small dank room, crammed with different wires,
switches, panels, screens – enough to keep the pair busy all day.
The black-haired girl whistled in appreciation.
"Amazing." She mused. "Their playground makes mine look like a
child's toy."
Setsuna nodded in reply, garnet eyes glancing and analyzing all
the equipment and machinery. "This is exactly as I remember it."
"What? You've been here before?" Hotaru asked, thoroughly
shocked.
The garnet-eyed vampiress nodded, although it was a rather
distant nod. "Back then, I used to keep a good connection with this
place, and this place helped run Tokyo until the time of Crystal Tokyo
and even until the Fall."
Hotaru fell silent, then spoke up again. "But… if this place was
around for that long, how come I never heard of its name?"
"You have." Setsuna responded. "It changed its name just
slightly."
At the name, the violet-eyed girl drew in an intake of breath.
"Then… this Diet Force really was-"
"- Yes", Setsuna interrupted, eyes stern and almost dismal at
the same time. "The Diet Force used to be the government of Tokyo, the
Diet Building."
*************************************************
By the time Haruka finally got into the sub-basement layer of
the building, Michiru was already waiting, arms crossed in front of her
with an impatient look on her face.
"Distracted again?" Michiru commented, voice disapproving.
Haruka shook her head. "You wouldn't believe the type of
security this building hires."
"What? Are they too rich for your cultured taste?" The teal-
haired woman teased.
Haruka rolled her eyes. "As if that was my least concern."
Michiru glanced down at her Cyberwatch. "We've got about
0.6 Autohours before the Network is going to be able to notify the Diet
Force of our presence, and then another 0.2 Autohours before they
actually will be able to spot us."
"I don't get this." Haruka complained. "I thought that this
mission was supposed to be an all out bloodfest, not some lets-sneak-
into-the-back-door-and-wait-for-Setsuna-and-Hotaru-to-give-us-
leftovers thing."
Michiru sighed. "Look, we provide a distraction so that they'll
be able to find a way to get us past the security and into the Conference
room. No breaching Conference security, no nice clean kills."
Haruka saluted smartly. "Fine by me." She took out a
Cyberlaser, fondling it with one hand. "Hmm.. this suspense is really
killing me… may I please hasten things up a bit?"
Her partner responded by tsk-tsking. "Really, Haruka, all
brawns and no patience."
Haruka grinned. "I don't need patience." And with that, she
fired a perfect shot at the security panel that they had hidden so well
from. Immediately, a piercing alarm rang out, followed by a pulse of
data that only the two Cyber-infiltrators could feel.
Michiru watched as suddenly, the basement wasn't so empty
anymore, loaded with Amplifiers and other Guards. She even noted
warily that some of them were well equipped with Network-tracking
devices, expecting a full-fledged battle. Well, she didn't really want to
disappoint them.
"All right." Michiru nodded at the oncoming attackers. "Looks
like we're gonna need some power from the Network. After all, we
don't want to be at a disadvantage, ne?"
"If you say so." Haruka complied, and invoked her Network
senses to maximum possible power. Immediately, the world changed
around her, and everything became a mess of black. From that mess of
black rose millions of billions of linear data streams, changing into
eerie-green illuminated etches of figures and shapes under will. And,
viewing through the Network's eyes, Haruka saw and knew everything.
At least, everything there was to know.
One of the more impatient guards immediately attacked, firing
with his Cyber-cannon at Haruka.
Haruka's eyes narrowed, and she focused on the stream of
intense plasma-white light that fired from the cannon. It was nothing but
data – just bytes of numbered information.
Haruka
commanded within her mind, viewing the moves and actions of the
others through her enhanced vision.
Immediately, the attack simply collapsed upon itself, and the
attacker screamed in horror as his weapon fused and exploded onto him,
the flying shrapnel impaling his arms, head, thighs, and prone body
before shattering into a million of deleted Cyber-bits.
Haruka smiled. This was just too easy. Sure, she couldn't kill
the people directly on, but these humans were relying so much on their
own weaponry and power that they forgot that they had gotten it from
the very source she was now manipulating. The Network.
Michiru noticed Haruka's cockiness, but her mind was at
unease. Something, a small pulsating warning within the Network was
telling her of something Haruka chose to ignore. This was just the
beginning – something greater was coming. And it had enough power to
simply wipe them out of their Network existence with a single
execution.
Was she scared? Not really. More…. Excited. Thrilled to have
actually met a challenge. And, enjoying the moments where she easily
watched the bodies of the low-level Amplifiers and guards rip into
chunks of flesh under simply will power, she waited. Waited to be
hunted.
****************************************
Setsuna jerked her head up from the Fireshield she was trying
to navigate around. Her eyes seemed to go out of focus for a few
moments, before returning to their harsh and centered gaze.
"What's wrong?" Hotaru had noticed the older woman's shift
in gestures.
"Not good news anyway," Setsuna shook her head. "Looks like
the Diet Force has found out about Haruka and Michiru."
Hotaru's eyes widened. "How much trouble are they in right
now?"
"Eventually enough to kill them." Setsuna replied coolly.
Noticing Hotaru's panicked expression, she stood up. "I'm going after
those two. You stay here and try to figure out how to hack through this
security. If you can get us in, then notify me before doing anything
else."
Hotaru nodded. "You know, this is really insane. Haruka's in
trouble with the security of the Diet Force already, and here I am trying
to figure out how to breach part of its security at the same time so that
we can get into an even more high-security area."
"What else were you expecting?" Was the older woman's only
reply. "By the way, I'm taking Cyberos with me."
Hotaru looked amused. "Not that piece of junk that you were
assembling the other day, is it?"
"The very same." Setsuna replied, "Although its best not to
underestimate anything for junk."
And with that, she left, a large crome-black shadow following
in the green-haired woman's wake.
*******************
Michiru, ever on guard, was, however, not cautious enough to
avoid a wave of kinetic energy that swept her from behind, with enough
force to crumble an ordinary human to dust. Yet, Michiru wasn't human,
and with lightning reflexes, she leapt into the air, agilely avoiding the
second invisible blast of energy.
"Haruka!" Michiru warned, scanning the scene of battle and
carnage for the familiar face of her partner.
A muffled reply was all that she got.
The teal-haired woman narrowed her eyes, focusing hard on the
data-streams of the Network, to try and track her invisible stalker. Yet, it
left no presence – absolutely nothing.
Suddenly, a blast of hot-white plasma flew in her direction, and
Michiru immediately called upon the Network, unable to dodge it in
time.
She commanded,
feeling the Network react immediately by ripping the very fabric of the
attack apart.
Yet, nothing happened. And, it was then, as the datastream-
lacking missile was seconds away from shattering her prone body, did
she realize exactly WHAT she was facing.
Haruka froze dead in her melee of carnage and turned to see the
figure of Michiru slam towards the wall, crimson blood and the
blackened sizzling of metallic wire trickle slowly down her body. The
blonde's eyes widened in both fear and anger, and with a powerful leap,
she jumped clear of her opponents to her partner. Yet, it wasn't enough.
It seemed as if an invisible glass cage had surrounded the injured
Michiru, and as hard as Haruka clawed at the glass shield, she got no
entry. Invoking her Network-sight, she saw that the shield was actually a
series of impenetrable data, which wavered in the Network-vision like
millions of green wires tangled into each other. Haruka cursed, and
began to fire with her Cyber-laser, but to no avail. She was so absorbed
in her task that it was too late when a blast hit her from behind,
slamming the blonde vampire into the very solid invisible shield, and
locking another barrier around the unconscious blonde.
Oblivious to the pair, a dark voice seemed to chuckle within the
confinements of the Network, growing louder and increasing in intensity
until even reality could hear its artificial sound.
The leader of the Diet Force had finally entered the battle.
For a moment, the very fabric of the air shimmered with a
strange twisting ripple, revealing a shrouded figure, which landed down
on the battle-torn basement with deliberate ease. Taking purposeful
steps, he walked towards the still figures of Haruka and Michiru, dark
cloak trailing behind him, concealing a handsome and emotionless face,
intelligent and strangely youthful. With the cloak still covering his
vision, he placed on icy-cold hand on the side of the glass shield that had
trapped the unconscious sandy-blonde vampiress, stroking the shield
softly. And then, the hand balled into a firm fist, smashing past the
shield, which broke into a million streaming green fragments of data
under his command.
"We meet again, Cybervampire." He whispered, believing that
no one could hear his low purr. For a moment, he hesitated, as if unsure
what to do next. Then, turning to Michiru, he smiled, as if noticing her
for the first time.
"And you." The master of the Diet Force bowed mockingly to
the fallen form of Michiru. "Yes, you helped me immensely. I must
thank you for your idiocy."
His hand shot through the barrier, fingers gripping the frail
form of the teal-haired vampiress's neck. He smiled, pulling her out of
the shield by the neck and propping Michiru down by her partner, one
unconscious body slumped over the other.
And he stepped back, as if admiring his little setup like a quick
masterpiece. "Ahh… yes. The way it should be." A smirk rose from
under his cloak. "Such a pity, really. Such a pity."
Suddenly, there was a click from behind, and the Master of the
Network, the leader of the Diet Force, found himself face to face with
the metal muzzle of a Cyberlaser.
Cold penetrating garnet eyes glared at the Master, voice calmly
concealing hidden emotions. "Touch them again and you might just not
live past this day, Apollo."
Without even blinking at the mention of his name, he seemed to
shrug in indifference, bringing his hands up in mock defeat. "I see
you've been busy these days, Setsuna-san…."
Setsuna too shrugged the formality off, mildly surprised that he
still remembered her, given that he wasn't an immortal like she was. In
fact, she was quite astonished that he knew her name, since he had risen
to power as the leader of the Diet Force only about a few decades ago,
after his well-known father had died.
"….Or, should I say – Sailor Pluto?" The taunting voice
continued, waiting for the appropriate response.
Setsuna's gun dropped out of her hands, clanging noisily to the
floor. The room around them seemed to waver and revolve as the green-
haired woman stared in shock. "H-how…" She began, stuttering and
trying to make reason of this sudden taboo. No one had known about
their senshi identities for centuries now, lest this person, with no
connection to the Crystal Tokyo of the legends long ago.
He allowed the older woman to pick up her Cyberlaser before
continuing. "If I tell you, will you listen to me?"
The former timekeeper contemplated that. "Depends what you
want."
And the master of the Network snorted, a derisive sort of
laughter. "Depends what you get."
"A promise then." Setsuna began, "A pact."
"Fine, a pact. After all, you just might want to listen to this
because it will benefit you and your Cyber-friends the most."
It seemed for a moment as if the conversation was done, as
Setsuna began to carry the prone figure of Michiru while the leader of
the Diet force moved to help Haruka. At that gesture, Setsuna bristled, as
if unsure of what to do. She knew she couldn't carry both of them, but
she didn't want to trust that _man_ to Haruka.
"By the way, Pluto, I can handle your friend her fine. And you
might want to call off that pet of yours – you know we don't allow pets
into this building."
Setsuna, for once, found herself speechless to that comment.
*******************************
Author's notes:
By the way, Myst_Lady… Michiru hasn't died ^^… not yet anyways.
Unless you want her to die? Nah… the long drawn out process is much
more interesting. After all, you gotta know the character before you do
anything (painful) to them.
Zoo says:
Guess what? I have discovered the best way to battle depression! Its
insanity! I would know cause I have first-hand experience! Come on,
you too can have a free trial at no expense of mine :)
Eevee Muse: Ara…. (sweatdrops)
Ooh! Let's have a little voting session! Who do you think Apollo should
be:
1) Mr. Timmons
2) A former Dark Kingdom general
3) Mamoru
4) One of the Sailor Starlights (haha.. you wish!)
How about 5) I'm not telling you! ;p
Go figure out yourself! I'll give you hints later…. ^_^
to be like the Matrix, but now that someone's mentioned it ^.^…
However, I do own your puny lives and the existence of this entire
universe so you can bow down to me and worship my greatness.
Eevee muse: (BASH!)
**********************************
Last time:
(1.55 Auto hours, 12.43 Network time)
And so, leaving the happily torn shreds of decapitated blank-
eyed heads and chunks of fingers and intestines to the other creatures of
the night, she leapt to her destination.
******************************************
Now:
(4.36 Auto hours, 9.17 Network time)
The empty corridors of the stark white hallways in the Diet
Building reflected a stature of hidden secrecy. And, as Setsuna and
Hotaru ran down the stairways, their fleeting shadowy figures defied the
very laws of security. For no one ever dared to intrude such a shrouded
sector that it was uncalled for. Therefore, no one had noticed.
This might have also been because of the two Cybervampire's
holograms, or maybe even the temporary virus that a very dutiful hacker
had released upon the security system. But whatever the case, those two
figures now leapt and glided gracefully, their fully attuned senses and
connection with the Networking sensing all the traps the Building had
set. After all, it was stupid to send a force such as the Network to do
intricate top-secret security measures when other Network-using forces
could easily infiltrate it. Well, maybe not easily, but good enough. Good
enough to show that the Network did not belong to the Diet Building.
Not at all.
Hotaru panted as she stopped around the next bend, eyes scanning
for any people while Setsuna's senses were fully in tune with the
Network.
"How much longer do we have?" The black-haired girl asked,
wary of any wandering building faculty.
Setsuna looked around once more. "I'd say at least 2 Auto
hours after we find the main database in this building."
"TWO?" Hotaru hissed. "We don't have that amount of time.
I'd say that they'll sense our presence in about less than 0.8 Auto hours,
even less if they have an Anti-Virus configuration."
"Which I bet they do." Setsuna nodded. "However, remember,
Haruka will provide a distraction in cover for us. So, we're just going to
have to count on her for now."
Both former senshi turned another corner, faces and muscles
tense and wary of every single action and movement. One, just one slip
up would cost the both of them at least their lives.
Suddenly, Setsuna spotted it. Or rather, she felt it. The direct
humming chord within her mind that seemed to feed off the energy of
the Network.
"There." The older woman said, pointing to what seemed just
like any whitewashed wall, not any more different. She gestured for
Hotaru to follow, and brought a hand up to the smooth unyielding wall.
Hotaru watched in surprise as the wall suddenly jerked open, to
review a hidden corridor, which seemed to trail off into darkness. Well,
it would have, it she had not had the nocturnal eyes of all vampire kin.
Inside, there was a small dank room, crammed with different wires,
switches, panels, screens – enough to keep the pair busy all day.
The black-haired girl whistled in appreciation.
"Amazing." She mused. "Their playground makes mine look like a
child's toy."
Setsuna nodded in reply, garnet eyes glancing and analyzing all
the equipment and machinery. "This is exactly as I remember it."
"What? You've been here before?" Hotaru asked, thoroughly
shocked.
The garnet-eyed vampiress nodded, although it was a rather
distant nod. "Back then, I used to keep a good connection with this
place, and this place helped run Tokyo until the time of Crystal Tokyo
and even until the Fall."
Hotaru fell silent, then spoke up again. "But… if this place was
around for that long, how come I never heard of its name?"
"You have." Setsuna responded. "It changed its name just
slightly."
At the name, the violet-eyed girl drew in an intake of breath.
"Then… this Diet Force really was-"
"- Yes", Setsuna interrupted, eyes stern and almost dismal at
the same time. "The Diet Force used to be the government of Tokyo, the
Diet Building."
*************************************************
By the time Haruka finally got into the sub-basement layer of
the building, Michiru was already waiting, arms crossed in front of her
with an impatient look on her face.
"Distracted again?" Michiru commented, voice disapproving.
Haruka shook her head. "You wouldn't believe the type of
security this building hires."
"What? Are they too rich for your cultured taste?" The teal-
haired woman teased.
Haruka rolled her eyes. "As if that was my least concern."
Michiru glanced down at her Cyberwatch. "We've got about
0.6 Autohours before the Network is going to be able to notify the Diet
Force of our presence, and then another 0.2 Autohours before they
actually will be able to spot us."
"I don't get this." Haruka complained. "I thought that this
mission was supposed to be an all out bloodfest, not some lets-sneak-
into-the-back-door-and-wait-for-Setsuna-and-Hotaru-to-give-us-
leftovers thing."
Michiru sighed. "Look, we provide a distraction so that they'll
be able to find a way to get us past the security and into the Conference
room. No breaching Conference security, no nice clean kills."
Haruka saluted smartly. "Fine by me." She took out a
Cyberlaser, fondling it with one hand. "Hmm.. this suspense is really
killing me… may I please hasten things up a bit?"
Her partner responded by tsk-tsking. "Really, Haruka, all
brawns and no patience."
Haruka grinned. "I don't need patience." And with that, she
fired a perfect shot at the security panel that they had hidden so well
from. Immediately, a piercing alarm rang out, followed by a pulse of
data that only the two Cyber-infiltrators could feel.
Michiru watched as suddenly, the basement wasn't so empty
anymore, loaded with Amplifiers and other Guards. She even noted
warily that some of them were well equipped with Network-tracking
devices, expecting a full-fledged battle. Well, she didn't really want to
disappoint them.
"All right." Michiru nodded at the oncoming attackers. "Looks
like we're gonna need some power from the Network. After all, we
don't want to be at a disadvantage, ne?"
"If you say so." Haruka complied, and invoked her Network
senses to maximum possible power. Immediately, the world changed
around her, and everything became a mess of black. From that mess of
black rose millions of billions of linear data streams, changing into
eerie-green illuminated etches of figures and shapes under will. And,
viewing through the Network's eyes, Haruka saw and knew everything.
At least, everything there was to know.
One of the more impatient guards immediately attacked, firing
with his Cyber-cannon at Haruka.
Haruka's eyes narrowed, and she focused on the stream of
intense plasma-white light that fired from the cannon. It was nothing but
data – just bytes of numbered information.
Haruka
commanded within her mind, viewing the moves and actions of the
others through her enhanced vision.
Immediately, the attack simply collapsed upon itself, and the
attacker screamed in horror as his weapon fused and exploded onto him,
the flying shrapnel impaling his arms, head, thighs, and prone body
before shattering into a million of deleted Cyber-bits.
Haruka smiled. This was just too easy. Sure, she couldn't kill
the people directly on, but these humans were relying so much on their
own weaponry and power that they forgot that they had gotten it from
the very source she was now manipulating. The Network.
Michiru noticed Haruka's cockiness, but her mind was at
unease. Something, a small pulsating warning within the Network was
telling her of something Haruka chose to ignore. This was just the
beginning – something greater was coming. And it had enough power to
simply wipe them out of their Network existence with a single
execution.
Was she scared? Not really. More…. Excited. Thrilled to have
actually met a challenge. And, enjoying the moments where she easily
watched the bodies of the low-level Amplifiers and guards rip into
chunks of flesh under simply will power, she waited. Waited to be
hunted.
****************************************
Setsuna jerked her head up from the Fireshield she was trying
to navigate around. Her eyes seemed to go out of focus for a few
moments, before returning to their harsh and centered gaze.
"What's wrong?" Hotaru had noticed the older woman's shift
in gestures.
"Not good news anyway," Setsuna shook her head. "Looks like
the Diet Force has found out about Haruka and Michiru."
Hotaru's eyes widened. "How much trouble are they in right
now?"
"Eventually enough to kill them." Setsuna replied coolly.
Noticing Hotaru's panicked expression, she stood up. "I'm going after
those two. You stay here and try to figure out how to hack through this
security. If you can get us in, then notify me before doing anything
else."
Hotaru nodded. "You know, this is really insane. Haruka's in
trouble with the security of the Diet Force already, and here I am trying
to figure out how to breach part of its security at the same time so that
we can get into an even more high-security area."
"What else were you expecting?" Was the older woman's only
reply. "By the way, I'm taking Cyberos with me."
Hotaru looked amused. "Not that piece of junk that you were
assembling the other day, is it?"
"The very same." Setsuna replied, "Although its best not to
underestimate anything for junk."
And with that, she left, a large crome-black shadow following
in the green-haired woman's wake.
*******************
Michiru, ever on guard, was, however, not cautious enough to
avoid a wave of kinetic energy that swept her from behind, with enough
force to crumble an ordinary human to dust. Yet, Michiru wasn't human,
and with lightning reflexes, she leapt into the air, agilely avoiding the
second invisible blast of energy.
"Haruka!" Michiru warned, scanning the scene of battle and
carnage for the familiar face of her partner.
A muffled reply was all that she got.
The teal-haired woman narrowed her eyes, focusing hard on the
data-streams of the Network, to try and track her invisible stalker. Yet, it
left no presence – absolutely nothing.
Suddenly, a blast of hot-white plasma flew in her direction, and
Michiru immediately called upon the Network, unable to dodge it in
time.
She commanded,
feeling the Network react immediately by ripping the very fabric of the
attack apart.
Yet, nothing happened. And, it was then, as the datastream-
lacking missile was seconds away from shattering her prone body, did
she realize exactly WHAT she was facing.
Haruka froze dead in her melee of carnage and turned to see the
figure of Michiru slam towards the wall, crimson blood and the
blackened sizzling of metallic wire trickle slowly down her body. The
blonde's eyes widened in both fear and anger, and with a powerful leap,
she jumped clear of her opponents to her partner. Yet, it wasn't enough.
It seemed as if an invisible glass cage had surrounded the injured
Michiru, and as hard as Haruka clawed at the glass shield, she got no
entry. Invoking her Network-sight, she saw that the shield was actually a
series of impenetrable data, which wavered in the Network-vision like
millions of green wires tangled into each other. Haruka cursed, and
began to fire with her Cyber-laser, but to no avail. She was so absorbed
in her task that it was too late when a blast hit her from behind,
slamming the blonde vampire into the very solid invisible shield, and
locking another barrier around the unconscious blonde.
Oblivious to the pair, a dark voice seemed to chuckle within the
confinements of the Network, growing louder and increasing in intensity
until even reality could hear its artificial sound.
The leader of the Diet Force had finally entered the battle.
For a moment, the very fabric of the air shimmered with a
strange twisting ripple, revealing a shrouded figure, which landed down
on the battle-torn basement with deliberate ease. Taking purposeful
steps, he walked towards the still figures of Haruka and Michiru, dark
cloak trailing behind him, concealing a handsome and emotionless face,
intelligent and strangely youthful. With the cloak still covering his
vision, he placed on icy-cold hand on the side of the glass shield that had
trapped the unconscious sandy-blonde vampiress, stroking the shield
softly. And then, the hand balled into a firm fist, smashing past the
shield, which broke into a million streaming green fragments of data
under his command.
"We meet again, Cybervampire." He whispered, believing that
no one could hear his low purr. For a moment, he hesitated, as if unsure
what to do next. Then, turning to Michiru, he smiled, as if noticing her
for the first time.
"And you." The master of the Diet Force bowed mockingly to
the fallen form of Michiru. "Yes, you helped me immensely. I must
thank you for your idiocy."
His hand shot through the barrier, fingers gripping the frail
form of the teal-haired vampiress's neck. He smiled, pulling her out of
the shield by the neck and propping Michiru down by her partner, one
unconscious body slumped over the other.
And he stepped back, as if admiring his little setup like a quick
masterpiece. "Ahh… yes. The way it should be." A smirk rose from
under his cloak. "Such a pity, really. Such a pity."
Suddenly, there was a click from behind, and the Master of the
Network, the leader of the Diet Force, found himself face to face with
the metal muzzle of a Cyberlaser.
Cold penetrating garnet eyes glared at the Master, voice calmly
concealing hidden emotions. "Touch them again and you might just not
live past this day, Apollo."
Without even blinking at the mention of his name, he seemed to
shrug in indifference, bringing his hands up in mock defeat. "I see
you've been busy these days, Setsuna-san…."
Setsuna too shrugged the formality off, mildly surprised that he
still remembered her, given that he wasn't an immortal like she was. In
fact, she was quite astonished that he knew her name, since he had risen
to power as the leader of the Diet Force only about a few decades ago,
after his well-known father had died.
"….Or, should I say – Sailor Pluto?" The taunting voice
continued, waiting for the appropriate response.
Setsuna's gun dropped out of her hands, clanging noisily to the
floor. The room around them seemed to waver and revolve as the green-
haired woman stared in shock. "H-how…" She began, stuttering and
trying to make reason of this sudden taboo. No one had known about
their senshi identities for centuries now, lest this person, with no
connection to the Crystal Tokyo of the legends long ago.
He allowed the older woman to pick up her Cyberlaser before
continuing. "If I tell you, will you listen to me?"
The former timekeeper contemplated that. "Depends what you
want."
And the master of the Network snorted, a derisive sort of
laughter. "Depends what you get."
"A promise then." Setsuna began, "A pact."
"Fine, a pact. After all, you just might want to listen to this
because it will benefit you and your Cyber-friends the most."
It seemed for a moment as if the conversation was done, as
Setsuna began to carry the prone figure of Michiru while the leader of
the Diet force moved to help Haruka. At that gesture, Setsuna bristled, as
if unsure of what to do. She knew she couldn't carry both of them, but
she didn't want to trust that _man_ to Haruka.
"By the way, Pluto, I can handle your friend her fine. And you
might want to call off that pet of yours – you know we don't allow pets
into this building."
Setsuna, for once, found herself speechless to that comment.
*******************************
Author's notes:
By the way, Myst_Lady… Michiru hasn't died ^^… not yet anyways.
Unless you want her to die? Nah… the long drawn out process is much
more interesting. After all, you gotta know the character before you do
anything (painful) to them.
Zoo says:
Guess what? I have discovered the best way to battle depression! Its
insanity! I would know cause I have first-hand experience! Come on,
you too can have a free trial at no expense of mine :)
Eevee Muse: Ara…. (sweatdrops)
Ooh! Let's have a little voting session! Who do you think Apollo should
be:
1) Mr. Timmons
2) A former Dark Kingdom general
3) Mamoru
4) One of the Sailor Starlights (haha.. you wish!)
How about 5) I'm not telling you! ;p
Go figure out yourself! I'll give you hints later…. ^_^