B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.
Handle it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
W H A T H A S G O N E B E F O R E
The DEATH SAILORS, Tsukino Usagi III, Hino Rei Jnr and Professor
Mizuno Ami, operatives of President Serenity and the Republic
of Surrealism, have survived what is, for them, a dangerous trek
through their capital city, even if a very short one. Enemies lie
in wait at every turn, ready to kill them, and their only hope is to
reach the prepared safe houses that dot the capital.
Surving this ordeal, they began a debriefing session with their
President when the Lady Luna de Sade makes an appearance. Luna is
to be their guide throughout the region known as Nemesis Gate, where
their next target, the Reality Extremist leader, Adam Jade, is
planning to gather together all the terrorist groups dedicated to
the cause of reality.
The relationship between Lady Luna and Usagi is exposed to be less
than friendly, even though Luna had saved Usagi from death in the
past after a terrorist bomb had killed her family....
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Perhaps Usagi might have looked upon her a little more kindly
if Shingo had lived. He was already dead. A corpse, hanging over
Luna's shoulder, on that day. As dead as the Lord and Lady
Tsukino...
But Usagi didn't want to admit that. She already KNEW Shingo
was dead. As dead as she wanted to be.
Usagi wasn't the only one to lose those she cared for. They
never did find Azentor's body after they put out the conflagration
that had gutted Luna's ancestral home. Somehow, she felt
responsible for that. But what she did had been important to ONE
individual.
She found, at the very least, some solace and redemption in
that fact. But not very much.
----o
Part Three
Insanity Takes Care of Its Own
----o
Lady Luna stepped back into the main room some five minutes
later, dressed in a similar bodysuit to that of the Death Sailors,
with dark blue trim to match the black.
She was somewhat disappointed at the lack of attention the
others were giving her. They were continuing to discuss the
operation with Serenity, sitting on the dais like they were the
moment she first entered the main room.
She did note that Usagi glanced at her, momentarily, then
turned away. Luna sighed, dropping her face. She knew Usagi was
going to be frosty with her, but the drama displayed by the girl
was more than she expected. Sighing, she quietly made her way up
to the dais.
"I take it the three of you have heard of Nemesis Gate?"
Serenity looked at them, questioningly.
"Indeed, I have." Ami nodded. "It is the border post region
with the neighbouring kingdom of Queen Beryl, is it not?"
"Last bastion of the aristocratic regime that once ruled this
land." Luna spoke up, smiling. Serenity lifted her eyebrows.
"I take it you are versed in the affairs of the neighbouring
kingdom, Lady Luna?"
"How could I not be? There are members of my family living
there. They chose to leave, rather than become citizens of the new
republic."
"Was this how you garnered your information about the
gathering, Lady Luna?" Usagi looked aside at her, archly.
"It might have been." Luna smiled.
"Enough of this." Serenity barked, then turned aside as she
was handed a brief from one of her advisors. After a few seconds of
reading, she handed it back. "This most certainly confirms your
suspicions. There is a gathering taking place within that
district."
"My connection are rarely wrong." Luna nodded with
satisfaction.
"Indeed, Lady Luna. You warn us about this quite a while
ago." Serenity sighed. "We should have listened to your reports a
lot sooner."
"Blame it on your staff." Luna smiled, waving a hand at the
screen, dismissively. Rei was furious at the action.
"You can't speak to the President in such a cavalier manner."
"It might very well have been my manner that made them ignore
my reports in the first place." Luna chuckled. "I can live with
that. But it doesn't change the fact that there is more to this
than merely a gathering of the forces of reality."
Luna paced the floor, now with the collective gaze of Serenity
and the trio firmly fixed on her. She smiled to herself, used to
being the centre of attention.
"The reason that Adam Jade has planned this gathering within
the Nemesis Gate district has a lot to do with the fact that it IS
the border post between the Republic and Beryl's Monarchy. We all
know that Beryl has had territorial designs on the Republic for some
time, now. There could be no more effective weapon to use against
us than an organised uprising by those disaffected with out
philosophies."
"So, Adam Jade is merely a means to an end?" Ami questioned.
Luna nodded.
"It would not surprise me at all if Jade is part of Beryl's
forces. He wouldn't be the first to try and infiltrate our
society."
"I seem to remember that the last one to cause damage to the
Republic was a member of the aristocracy...." Usagi sneered at
Luna. "At least, that was what everybody thought."
Luna scowled. "His actions brought down the aristocracy,
reducing our power and influence."
"Something that you have been trying to make up for ever
since." Usagi shook her head. "I wouldn't put it beyond you, Luna
De Sade, to have arranged this entire gathering, yourself."
"Usagi!" Rei and Ami chorused. Usagi turned away,
unrepentant. Serenity decided it was time to step in.
"Tsukino Usagi the Third!" Usagi turned and stood to
attention at the stern tone of her President. "I do not care what
bitterness has passed between yourself and the Lady, but you shall
not allow it to affect this mission, do you understand?"
"Yes, my President. I apologise." Usagi bowed, slightly.
"There is no need to chastise her, President Serenity. Her
feelings towards me are valid." Luna stepped forward, crossing her
hands in front of her. "We have been involved, in the past, in
some.... For want of a better name, messy operations. She is upset
at having lost some of her friends in those operations."
"Accepted, Lady Luna. However, since it was MY decision to
put the pair of you together on this mission, you shall both push
past hostilities aside for the sake of the Republic."
"Yes, my President." Usagi and Luna said in unison.
"Now, then...." Serenity continued. "I have planned a route
by which you should be able to traverse in safety. It shall take
you three days to get to Nemesis Gate. I suggest you all try to
rest as much as possible, in which time you can study the map of the
region and define the best possible way out of the district when you
have completed the task...."
----o
Adam Jade sat in the small office he had commandeered for the
gathering. Sunk into the deep folds of the vast black leather
chair, fingers of both hands intertwined in front of his mouth in an
expression of deep thought, he contemplated those who were passing
his field of view, through the large open window that looked down
upon the quadrangle below.
He sighed. He hated what he was doing. At least, he hated
these kind of people. Militarists.... Easy to manipulate.
Stupidity made flesh. They would follow any moron for any cause.
He just happened to be the latest model. And that was what he
really hated about it all.
They weren't following him because they were following HIM.
Anybody with the gift of the gab could have worked them up as well
as he had. No, he was not that important to these people. At
least, not in his mind. But he never strayed very far down those
lines of thought. Not that he didn't want to, but too much of that
form of introspection created the kind of madness he found
particularly distasteful, and he had always prided himself on his
immense self-control.
He stood from the chair and stared down at the rows of
soldiers, hands now crossed behind his back. Hundreds of men and
women, and not a neuron between them all.... No imagination. No
imagination whatsoever! What a horrible fate for them to suffer.
Instead of being artists, they were to suffer the indignity of
being art. HIS art. At least, the kind of art that he now found
himself to be a master....
He shook his head. He had to learn to put aside his days as a
member of the art set in the Republic. He had spent much of his
life, trying to make it as a painter, and failed. What else was
there for him to do but become a fascist dictator? He chuckled at
his own black humour. Perhaps he should have been a comedian.
There was still an opportunity.... To back out. To cease
this stupidity, here and now. To try and finish a career that had
struggled up to now.... A smile crossed his face. A dark smile
that understood the private joke he was sharing with himself. Turn
back? What a hopeless individual he was. It would mean admitting
to himself that he was afraid of what he was doing, what he had
created. No artiste should ever be afraid of their work. And he'd
enjoyed, far far too much, the creation of this work. The little
deals and compromises he'd had to make in the underworld of this
society were something he had revelled in.
And that was the crux of it all. He LIKED the idea of playing
the political mastermind and dictator. He LIKED the shadowy worlds
in which he'd travelled these past few years. He wanted for it to
go on forever. But there was no real likelihood of that happening.
For he knew the destiny of all dictators. It was because of
people like that that the Republic had been formed. Artistes who
had been equally proud in their tearing-down of the aristocracy.
They weren't going to allow him to do the same.
"Sir..." He turned to the woman's voice, with deliberate
slowness. His secretary, Titus, stood in the doorway to the office,
saluting him. He swallowed and nodded at her deference, feeling a
nervous tightness building up in his chest at her presence. "It is
time to address the first arrivals."
"I'll be ready in a couple of minutes." Jade waved at her.
He never liked the silky tone with which she would address him.
Titus was different from all the others he had gathered. She DID
have imagination. That was why he had made her his secretary, so he
could keep a close eye on her activities. One never knew when one
might become the victim of a less than supportive critic....
"Yes sir." Titus nodded, sly smile on her face, and left the
office, closing the door behind her. He let out a long sigh,
relaxing slightly, picked up the cap that sat on his desk, put it
on, steeled himself, reciting the words he would say to the gathering
in his mind and stepped up to the office door....
----o
Four figures crouched on top of a building, overlooking the
quadrangle within which the gathering of reality forces was taking
place. The Republican operatives that went by the name of the
Amazoness Quartet.
All were dressed and kitted in much the same manner as the
Death Sailors. However, the Amazoness Quartet weren't even close in
attitude when it came to their work. In fact, they were the
Republic's wild cards. It was visible even in the hairstyles they
chose for themselves, and the adornments that they would attach to
the bodysuits, overcoats and backpacks in their posession. They
were as close to insane as anyone allowed to run around, free of
authority, could be. And there were very good reasons for that.
Reasons that only a very few knew or understood.
Just the way they carried themselves whilst watching the
quadrangle said everything about their attitude to their work.
VesVes, the readheaded firebrand with her hair up in a standing
tail, like a flare that had only just been fired, kept watch over
the events.
Her nervous tension was almost at breaking point as she
variously peered through the binoculars and put them down to roll
her fingers with anticipation, licking her lips. VesVes was already
plotting a course of action, to take out the entire gathering in one
fell swoop, in her mind. This was her area of expertise....
Operational assessment and planning. Oh, and of course, she was a
mean hand with a razored whip....
After giggling inanely for a few moments, thinking of all the
heads she'd lopped off with that whip, she glanced back at her
compatriots.
JunJun, who sat behind her, staring at the clouds as they flew
by, her green hair tied up in a three-tail pattern, one up two down,
with the top knot in triple braids, was completely unfazed by the
situation. In fact, she looked a little bored. There was nothing
she could have done to annoy VesVes more.
"Mooouuuu! What is wrong with you?" She pointed at JunJun
with the binoculars. JunJun gave her an imperious gaze, then lay
her head back once more, a slight smile on her face. "You just
can't appreciate the importance of these moments, you know that?"
VesVes crossed her arms and huffed.
"Has there been any change in what the extremists are doing?
Any sign that they've detected our presence, or are about to launch
some attack on helpless civilians?" JunJun sniffed with patent
disinterest, her tone when describing the 'helpless civilians'
tinged with anything but concern. VesVes decided to brief her on
what she was seeing, even though she knew JunJun could have given a
stuff, anyway.
"I think Jade is getting ready to make his first declaration."
She shook her head, making the large pigtail jiggle about. She
simply couldn't understand her partner's lack of enthusiasm for what
was about to happen. "You know, big historical speech and all.
We're about to witness a moment that will go down in all the record
books as a turning point in the history of the Republic and all.
Not that that matters, and all...."
"Ho hum." JunJun turned and looked at VesVes. "Does that
mean we'll have an opportunity to take him out before those Death
Sailors get to him?"
"I do not think that that would be a very wise decision. At
least, not being as close to the gathering as we are." VesVes and
JunJun turned and looked up at the standing figure of CereCere, her
pink hair turned into circular tubing that smacked of spaghetti
architecture, something that she was justifiably proud of. It
encircled her head like a decorative crown that spoke volumes of her
personality.
In some ways, she was the leader of the Quartet, but she was
without the air of authority that it required to lead such a group.
When she spoke, her hands were crossed in front of her, and her
voice was soft and delicate, her words measured and well thought
out. Indeed, she seemed completely unsuited to the lifestyle in
which the Quartet found themselves. A mistake more than one of her
victims had discovered altogether too late.
"PallaPalla wanna throw a grenade at them." The last of the
four pulled a large object from her backpack, which she then
proceeded to detach from its casing. Her short blue hair, lined
with bolas that bore astrange resemblance to a merry go round, shook
as she excitedly held up the grenade to the others, her eyes
sparkling with love for this most treasured of toys. A large
sweatdrop ran down the side of CereCere's head as she watched
PallaPalla run her hands across the egg-shaped object.
"I do not think that would be a very wise decision, either."
CereCere wagged a finger at PallaPalla, who screwed up her nose in
disappointment.
"Aww.... PallaPalla wanna blow up people. PallaPalla likes
blowing up people. It's fun." There was no doubt, in her words,
the game-like attitude to which she considered their occupation.
Something the others had long clued about her and equally tried to
stop. There simply was no point, PallaPalla was not going to get
any better.
"You can play your games later." JunJun sniffed and turned
back to VesVes, who was gesticulating wildly as she peered through
her binoculars. "Now what's up with you? Not getting enough
caffeine in our diet, or something?"
"He's there! He's there, I tell you!" VesVes whispered
excitedly. "Jade's taking his place on the central platform." They
could hear the distant roar of the gathering as they gave a cheer
for Jade's appearance. VesVes gave her own brand of non-verbal
salute to him as he waved to the crowd.
The other three almost bundled her out of the way to get a
glimpse, much to her annoyance as she landed on her butt, pulling
their own binoculars from their backpacks.
"Hmm.... He doesn't look like much to me." JunJun shrugged.
"I can't see what Serenity is so worked up about."
"He is very handsome, and he has an excellent speaking voice.
It is the mastery of the two elements that makes him such a threat."
CereCere pointed out, waving a finger in the air.
"PallaPalla wanna blow him up." She juggled the grenade in
one of her hands, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
"Ano... I don't think that's a very good idea..." VesVes,
afyter having lifted herself to her knees, grabbed the grenade in
mid-air and very carefully placed it back in its carry case, much
to PallaPalla's discontent.
"Aww... VesVes is being cruel to me." PallaPalla started to
cry, volumes of tears flying out of the corners of her eyes.
JunJun and CereCere facefaulted, dropping their binoculars.
"Honestly...." JunJun shook her head. "Here, play with this."
JunJun handed PallaPalla a small, well punctured cotton doll.
"Wai! My Daddy Doll.... PallaPalla loves her Daddy Doll."
PallaPalla grabbed the doll and stepped aside, pulling a large, evil
looking needle from her overcoat. "PallaPalla stab Daddy Doll."
And thus she began to skewer the doll with much joy.
CereCere and VesVes looked at JunJun strangely. She just
shrugged. "Don't blame me. It's a kind of Oedipus Complex. Her
father used to nail her to the kitchen wall as a statement of
individuality...."
The irony of the statement was not lost on them. Father?
None of them had such a person.
After several moments, the remaining three stepped away from
the side of the building, growing tired of watching Jade mouthing
his speech without hearing what he had to say.
"Damn, I wish we had the high tech equipment some of the other
operatives have." VesVes punched a fist in the palm of her other
hand.
"They wouldn't trust is with it, dearie." JunJun shrugged.
"So, what do we do?"
"I dare suggest...." CereCere began. "That we wait and see
what the Death Sailors have up their sleeve before we make our
move."
"PallaPalla stab and stab and stab her daddy doll. PallaPalla
loves stabbing her daddy doll...." PallaPalla held the doll up in
the air as the other three facefaulted.
"Maybe we should just send her in instead?" JunJun shook her
head and rested herself back against her backpack.
----o
"So, the Amazoness Quartet are in on this as well...." Rei
rubbed her chin, smiling thoughtfully as she sat on the middle of
the safe house floor, opposite Luna.
"Indeed. With something this big, that group of lunatics were
bound to be attracted." Luna nodded and turned to Ami and Usagi,
who were pouring over the diagram of the Nemesis Gate and
surrounding districts. "Like flies to a carcass...."
"We could do without them." Usagi muttered, grumpily. "We'll
have a hard enough time traversing some of the gullies between the
Vermion Lock and Nemesis Gate without their butting into our
business."
Ami nodded. "The parkland gully between the eastern border of
Vermion Lock and Nemesis Gate is immense. We'd never be able to get
across that without being spotted."
"Then I dare suggest we disguise ourselves as part of the
festival celebrations that are going on there at the time." Luna
wagged a finger at the pair. "I'm sure you're all quite capable of
fitting in with the arts set again. It might even bring back old
memories...."
"Thanks but no thanks. Old memories are something I'd rather
do without." Usagi huffed and threw her nose in the air, obviously
ending the discussion there. Luna shook her head and turned back to
Rei.
"How are they allowed to just run around the way they do?"
Rei scratched her head. "And they get away with it with their
lives, too. It's almost inhuman."
"Who?" Luna blinked.
"The Quartet. That pack of psycho bitches." Rei crossed her
arms, closing her eyes with annoyance.
"Well, it has a lot to do with their backgrounds...." Luna
cleared her throat. "They're.... not quite the same as the rest of
us...."
"What do you mean by that?" Rei gave Luna a strange
expression. Luna cleared her throat and wondered how she could
explain what she knew about the Quartet....
"Well.... It's hard to say.... You were quite right by
describing them as inhuman. They're not, so to speak."
"They're not what?"
"Human. Not as you or I would understand the term...."
"What do you mean by that?" Rei frowned as Luna fumbled for
words. Within seconds, all were lying on the floor after the
building had shaken. The rumbling noise of an explosion echoing
throughout the city.
Rei was the first to her feet. "What in hell was that?"
END OF PART 3
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ACROSS THE BORDER
In the heat of the day
Many miles away when the
Sun is beating downthe main street.
I'll be waiting at the station,
I gotta move down the line.
They'll be dancing and singin'
And doin' their thing
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'
Until the day is done.
You know I've got to
Make the deadline-
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.
The Mardis Gras
Will be blowing strong
And the people dancing
All across the city
I'm leavin' here tonight
I gotta move down the line.
I'm gonna catch a ride
On the 9.05
I'm gonna ride the rails
Until we reach the morning,
Maybe three or four
Hundred miles.
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.
When the wind is blowing
Softly throught the streets
of a little town
And the music's playin',
You're waitin' somewhere
Over the horizon.
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.
-Jeff Lynne-
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Next Chapter - "Open Invitation"
I thought it best to rewrite the original chapter 2 of AtB....
There were many elements that my friend and sometime co-writer, who
prefers to go by the title of "Night Rider" (for no visibly apparent
reason. Well, not visible to me, anyway) wanted to see put into
this story that seemed to be workable that I decided it prudent to
do so. Of course, this virtually doubled the length of chapter 2,
so it is now chapters 2 and 3.
This makes the story a tad more wordy, with less in the way of
action, but I'm a writer who tends to dwell on the little things
that make each character what they are.
Anyway, enough of these notes. PallaPalla is tugging on my sleeve,
wanting to know when she gets to blow someone up. I should get on
with chapter 4.... ^_^
DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page) ayanami@internode.on.net
Version 2.0 - 22nd Jun 1998
A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created
by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko.
Handle it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
W H A T H A S G O N E B E F O R E
The DEATH SAILORS, Tsukino Usagi III, Hino Rei Jnr and Professor
Mizuno Ami, operatives of President Serenity and the Republic
of Surrealism, have survived what is, for them, a dangerous trek
through their capital city, even if a very short one. Enemies lie
in wait at every turn, ready to kill them, and their only hope is to
reach the prepared safe houses that dot the capital.
Surving this ordeal, they began a debriefing session with their
President when the Lady Luna de Sade makes an appearance. Luna is
to be their guide throughout the region known as Nemesis Gate, where
their next target, the Reality Extremist leader, Adam Jade, is
planning to gather together all the terrorist groups dedicated to
the cause of reality.
The relationship between Lady Luna and Usagi is exposed to be less
than friendly, even though Luna had saved Usagi from death in the
past after a terrorist bomb had killed her family....
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Perhaps Usagi might have looked upon her a little more kindly
if Shingo had lived. He was already dead. A corpse, hanging over
Luna's shoulder, on that day. As dead as the Lord and Lady
Tsukino...
But Usagi didn't want to admit that. She already KNEW Shingo
was dead. As dead as she wanted to be.
Usagi wasn't the only one to lose those she cared for. They
never did find Azentor's body after they put out the conflagration
that had gutted Luna's ancestral home. Somehow, she felt
responsible for that. But what she did had been important to ONE
individual.
She found, at the very least, some solace and redemption in
that fact. But not very much.
----o
Part Three
Insanity Takes Care of Its Own
----o
Lady Luna stepped back into the main room some five minutes
later, dressed in a similar bodysuit to that of the Death Sailors,
with dark blue trim to match the black.
She was somewhat disappointed at the lack of attention the
others were giving her. They were continuing to discuss the
operation with Serenity, sitting on the dais like they were the
moment she first entered the main room.
She did note that Usagi glanced at her, momentarily, then
turned away. Luna sighed, dropping her face. She knew Usagi was
going to be frosty with her, but the drama displayed by the girl
was more than she expected. Sighing, she quietly made her way up
to the dais.
"I take it the three of you have heard of Nemesis Gate?"
Serenity looked at them, questioningly.
"Indeed, I have." Ami nodded. "It is the border post region
with the neighbouring kingdom of Queen Beryl, is it not?"
"Last bastion of the aristocratic regime that once ruled this
land." Luna spoke up, smiling. Serenity lifted her eyebrows.
"I take it you are versed in the affairs of the neighbouring
kingdom, Lady Luna?"
"How could I not be? There are members of my family living
there. They chose to leave, rather than become citizens of the new
republic."
"Was this how you garnered your information about the
gathering, Lady Luna?" Usagi looked aside at her, archly.
"It might have been." Luna smiled.
"Enough of this." Serenity barked, then turned aside as she
was handed a brief from one of her advisors. After a few seconds of
reading, she handed it back. "This most certainly confirms your
suspicions. There is a gathering taking place within that
district."
"My connection are rarely wrong." Luna nodded with
satisfaction.
"Indeed, Lady Luna. You warn us about this quite a while
ago." Serenity sighed. "We should have listened to your reports a
lot sooner."
"Blame it on your staff." Luna smiled, waving a hand at the
screen, dismissively. Rei was furious at the action.
"You can't speak to the President in such a cavalier manner."
"It might very well have been my manner that made them ignore
my reports in the first place." Luna chuckled. "I can live with
that. But it doesn't change the fact that there is more to this
than merely a gathering of the forces of reality."
Luna paced the floor, now with the collective gaze of Serenity
and the trio firmly fixed on her. She smiled to herself, used to
being the centre of attention.
"The reason that Adam Jade has planned this gathering within
the Nemesis Gate district has a lot to do with the fact that it IS
the border post between the Republic and Beryl's Monarchy. We all
know that Beryl has had territorial designs on the Republic for some
time, now. There could be no more effective weapon to use against
us than an organised uprising by those disaffected with out
philosophies."
"So, Adam Jade is merely a means to an end?" Ami questioned.
Luna nodded.
"It would not surprise me at all if Jade is part of Beryl's
forces. He wouldn't be the first to try and infiltrate our
society."
"I seem to remember that the last one to cause damage to the
Republic was a member of the aristocracy...." Usagi sneered at
Luna. "At least, that was what everybody thought."
Luna scowled. "His actions brought down the aristocracy,
reducing our power and influence."
"Something that you have been trying to make up for ever
since." Usagi shook her head. "I wouldn't put it beyond you, Luna
De Sade, to have arranged this entire gathering, yourself."
"Usagi!" Rei and Ami chorused. Usagi turned away,
unrepentant. Serenity decided it was time to step in.
"Tsukino Usagi the Third!" Usagi turned and stood to
attention at the stern tone of her President. "I do not care what
bitterness has passed between yourself and the Lady, but you shall
not allow it to affect this mission, do you understand?"
"Yes, my President. I apologise." Usagi bowed, slightly.
"There is no need to chastise her, President Serenity. Her
feelings towards me are valid." Luna stepped forward, crossing her
hands in front of her. "We have been involved, in the past, in
some.... For want of a better name, messy operations. She is upset
at having lost some of her friends in those operations."
"Accepted, Lady Luna. However, since it was MY decision to
put the pair of you together on this mission, you shall both push
past hostilities aside for the sake of the Republic."
"Yes, my President." Usagi and Luna said in unison.
"Now, then...." Serenity continued. "I have planned a route
by which you should be able to traverse in safety. It shall take
you three days to get to Nemesis Gate. I suggest you all try to
rest as much as possible, in which time you can study the map of the
region and define the best possible way out of the district when you
have completed the task...."
----o
Adam Jade sat in the small office he had commandeered for the
gathering. Sunk into the deep folds of the vast black leather
chair, fingers of both hands intertwined in front of his mouth in an
expression of deep thought, he contemplated those who were passing
his field of view, through the large open window that looked down
upon the quadrangle below.
He sighed. He hated what he was doing. At least, he hated
these kind of people. Militarists.... Easy to manipulate.
Stupidity made flesh. They would follow any moron for any cause.
He just happened to be the latest model. And that was what he
really hated about it all.
They weren't following him because they were following HIM.
Anybody with the gift of the gab could have worked them up as well
as he had. No, he was not that important to these people. At
least, not in his mind. But he never strayed very far down those
lines of thought. Not that he didn't want to, but too much of that
form of introspection created the kind of madness he found
particularly distasteful, and he had always prided himself on his
immense self-control.
He stood from the chair and stared down at the rows of
soldiers, hands now crossed behind his back. Hundreds of men and
women, and not a neuron between them all.... No imagination. No
imagination whatsoever! What a horrible fate for them to suffer.
Instead of being artists, they were to suffer the indignity of
being art. HIS art. At least, the kind of art that he now found
himself to be a master....
He shook his head. He had to learn to put aside his days as a
member of the art set in the Republic. He had spent much of his
life, trying to make it as a painter, and failed. What else was
there for him to do but become a fascist dictator? He chuckled at
his own black humour. Perhaps he should have been a comedian.
There was still an opportunity.... To back out. To cease
this stupidity, here and now. To try and finish a career that had
struggled up to now.... A smile crossed his face. A dark smile
that understood the private joke he was sharing with himself. Turn
back? What a hopeless individual he was. It would mean admitting
to himself that he was afraid of what he was doing, what he had
created. No artiste should ever be afraid of their work. And he'd
enjoyed, far far too much, the creation of this work. The little
deals and compromises he'd had to make in the underworld of this
society were something he had revelled in.
And that was the crux of it all. He LIKED the idea of playing
the political mastermind and dictator. He LIKED the shadowy worlds
in which he'd travelled these past few years. He wanted for it to
go on forever. But there was no real likelihood of that happening.
For he knew the destiny of all dictators. It was because of
people like that that the Republic had been formed. Artistes who
had been equally proud in their tearing-down of the aristocracy.
They weren't going to allow him to do the same.
"Sir..." He turned to the woman's voice, with deliberate
slowness. His secretary, Titus, stood in the doorway to the office,
saluting him. He swallowed and nodded at her deference, feeling a
nervous tightness building up in his chest at her presence. "It is
time to address the first arrivals."
"I'll be ready in a couple of minutes." Jade waved at her.
He never liked the silky tone with which she would address him.
Titus was different from all the others he had gathered. She DID
have imagination. That was why he had made her his secretary, so he
could keep a close eye on her activities. One never knew when one
might become the victim of a less than supportive critic....
"Yes sir." Titus nodded, sly smile on her face, and left the
office, closing the door behind her. He let out a long sigh,
relaxing slightly, picked up the cap that sat on his desk, put it
on, steeled himself, reciting the words he would say to the gathering
in his mind and stepped up to the office door....
----o
Four figures crouched on top of a building, overlooking the
quadrangle within which the gathering of reality forces was taking
place. The Republican operatives that went by the name of the
Amazoness Quartet.
All were dressed and kitted in much the same manner as the
Death Sailors. However, the Amazoness Quartet weren't even close in
attitude when it came to their work. In fact, they were the
Republic's wild cards. It was visible even in the hairstyles they
chose for themselves, and the adornments that they would attach to
the bodysuits, overcoats and backpacks in their posession. They
were as close to insane as anyone allowed to run around, free of
authority, could be. And there were very good reasons for that.
Reasons that only a very few knew or understood.
Just the way they carried themselves whilst watching the
quadrangle said everything about their attitude to their work.
VesVes, the readheaded firebrand with her hair up in a standing
tail, like a flare that had only just been fired, kept watch over
the events.
Her nervous tension was almost at breaking point as she
variously peered through the binoculars and put them down to roll
her fingers with anticipation, licking her lips. VesVes was already
plotting a course of action, to take out the entire gathering in one
fell swoop, in her mind. This was her area of expertise....
Operational assessment and planning. Oh, and of course, she was a
mean hand with a razored whip....
After giggling inanely for a few moments, thinking of all the
heads she'd lopped off with that whip, she glanced back at her
compatriots.
JunJun, who sat behind her, staring at the clouds as they flew
by, her green hair tied up in a three-tail pattern, one up two down,
with the top knot in triple braids, was completely unfazed by the
situation. In fact, she looked a little bored. There was nothing
she could have done to annoy VesVes more.
"Mooouuuu! What is wrong with you?" She pointed at JunJun
with the binoculars. JunJun gave her an imperious gaze, then lay
her head back once more, a slight smile on her face. "You just
can't appreciate the importance of these moments, you know that?"
VesVes crossed her arms and huffed.
"Has there been any change in what the extremists are doing?
Any sign that they've detected our presence, or are about to launch
some attack on helpless civilians?" JunJun sniffed with patent
disinterest, her tone when describing the 'helpless civilians'
tinged with anything but concern. VesVes decided to brief her on
what she was seeing, even though she knew JunJun could have given a
stuff, anyway.
"I think Jade is getting ready to make his first declaration."
She shook her head, making the large pigtail jiggle about. She
simply couldn't understand her partner's lack of enthusiasm for what
was about to happen. "You know, big historical speech and all.
We're about to witness a moment that will go down in all the record
books as a turning point in the history of the Republic and all.
Not that that matters, and all...."
"Ho hum." JunJun turned and looked at VesVes. "Does that
mean we'll have an opportunity to take him out before those Death
Sailors get to him?"
"I do not think that that would be a very wise decision. At
least, not being as close to the gathering as we are." VesVes and
JunJun turned and looked up at the standing figure of CereCere, her
pink hair turned into circular tubing that smacked of spaghetti
architecture, something that she was justifiably proud of. It
encircled her head like a decorative crown that spoke volumes of her
personality.
In some ways, she was the leader of the Quartet, but she was
without the air of authority that it required to lead such a group.
When she spoke, her hands were crossed in front of her, and her
voice was soft and delicate, her words measured and well thought
out. Indeed, she seemed completely unsuited to the lifestyle in
which the Quartet found themselves. A mistake more than one of her
victims had discovered altogether too late.
"PallaPalla wanna throw a grenade at them." The last of the
four pulled a large object from her backpack, which she then
proceeded to detach from its casing. Her short blue hair, lined
with bolas that bore astrange resemblance to a merry go round, shook
as she excitedly held up the grenade to the others, her eyes
sparkling with love for this most treasured of toys. A large
sweatdrop ran down the side of CereCere's head as she watched
PallaPalla run her hands across the egg-shaped object.
"I do not think that would be a very wise decision, either."
CereCere wagged a finger at PallaPalla, who screwed up her nose in
disappointment.
"Aww.... PallaPalla wanna blow up people. PallaPalla likes
blowing up people. It's fun." There was no doubt, in her words,
the game-like attitude to which she considered their occupation.
Something the others had long clued about her and equally tried to
stop. There simply was no point, PallaPalla was not going to get
any better.
"You can play your games later." JunJun sniffed and turned
back to VesVes, who was gesticulating wildly as she peered through
her binoculars. "Now what's up with you? Not getting enough
caffeine in our diet, or something?"
"He's there! He's there, I tell you!" VesVes whispered
excitedly. "Jade's taking his place on the central platform." They
could hear the distant roar of the gathering as they gave a cheer
for Jade's appearance. VesVes gave her own brand of non-verbal
salute to him as he waved to the crowd.
The other three almost bundled her out of the way to get a
glimpse, much to her annoyance as she landed on her butt, pulling
their own binoculars from their backpacks.
"Hmm.... He doesn't look like much to me." JunJun shrugged.
"I can't see what Serenity is so worked up about."
"He is very handsome, and he has an excellent speaking voice.
It is the mastery of the two elements that makes him such a threat."
CereCere pointed out, waving a finger in the air.
"PallaPalla wanna blow him up." She juggled the grenade in
one of her hands, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
"Ano... I don't think that's a very good idea..." VesVes,
afyter having lifted herself to her knees, grabbed the grenade in
mid-air and very carefully placed it back in its carry case, much
to PallaPalla's discontent.
"Aww... VesVes is being cruel to me." PallaPalla started to
cry, volumes of tears flying out of the corners of her eyes.
JunJun and CereCere facefaulted, dropping their binoculars.
"Honestly...." JunJun shook her head. "Here, play with this."
JunJun handed PallaPalla a small, well punctured cotton doll.
"Wai! My Daddy Doll.... PallaPalla loves her Daddy Doll."
PallaPalla grabbed the doll and stepped aside, pulling a large, evil
looking needle from her overcoat. "PallaPalla stab Daddy Doll."
And thus she began to skewer the doll with much joy.
CereCere and VesVes looked at JunJun strangely. She just
shrugged. "Don't blame me. It's a kind of Oedipus Complex. Her
father used to nail her to the kitchen wall as a statement of
individuality...."
The irony of the statement was not lost on them. Father?
None of them had such a person.
After several moments, the remaining three stepped away from
the side of the building, growing tired of watching Jade mouthing
his speech without hearing what he had to say.
"Damn, I wish we had the high tech equipment some of the other
operatives have." VesVes punched a fist in the palm of her other
hand.
"They wouldn't trust is with it, dearie." JunJun shrugged.
"So, what do we do?"
"I dare suggest...." CereCere began. "That we wait and see
what the Death Sailors have up their sleeve before we make our
move."
"PallaPalla stab and stab and stab her daddy doll. PallaPalla
loves stabbing her daddy doll...." PallaPalla held the doll up in
the air as the other three facefaulted.
"Maybe we should just send her in instead?" JunJun shook her
head and rested herself back against her backpack.
----o
"So, the Amazoness Quartet are in on this as well...." Rei
rubbed her chin, smiling thoughtfully as she sat on the middle of
the safe house floor, opposite Luna.
"Indeed. With something this big, that group of lunatics were
bound to be attracted." Luna nodded and turned to Ami and Usagi,
who were pouring over the diagram of the Nemesis Gate and
surrounding districts. "Like flies to a carcass...."
"We could do without them." Usagi muttered, grumpily. "We'll
have a hard enough time traversing some of the gullies between the
Vermion Lock and Nemesis Gate without their butting into our
business."
Ami nodded. "The parkland gully between the eastern border of
Vermion Lock and Nemesis Gate is immense. We'd never be able to get
across that without being spotted."
"Then I dare suggest we disguise ourselves as part of the
festival celebrations that are going on there at the time." Luna
wagged a finger at the pair. "I'm sure you're all quite capable of
fitting in with the arts set again. It might even bring back old
memories...."
"Thanks but no thanks. Old memories are something I'd rather
do without." Usagi huffed and threw her nose in the air, obviously
ending the discussion there. Luna shook her head and turned back to
Rei.
"How are they allowed to just run around the way they do?"
Rei scratched her head. "And they get away with it with their
lives, too. It's almost inhuman."
"Who?" Luna blinked.
"The Quartet. That pack of psycho bitches." Rei crossed her
arms, closing her eyes with annoyance.
"Well, it has a lot to do with their backgrounds...." Luna
cleared her throat. "They're.... not quite the same as the rest of
us...."
"What do you mean by that?" Rei gave Luna a strange
expression. Luna cleared her throat and wondered how she could
explain what she knew about the Quartet....
"Well.... It's hard to say.... You were quite right by
describing them as inhuman. They're not, so to speak."
"They're not what?"
"Human. Not as you or I would understand the term...."
"What do you mean by that?" Rei frowned as Luna fumbled for
words. Within seconds, all were lying on the floor after the
building had shaken. The rumbling noise of an explosion echoing
throughout the city.
Rei was the first to her feet. "What in hell was that?"
END OF PART 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ACROSS THE BORDER
In the heat of the day
Many miles away when the
Sun is beating downthe main street.
I'll be waiting at the station,
I gotta move down the line.
They'll be dancing and singin'
And doin' their thing
And they'll be rockin' and rollin'
Until the day is done.
You know I've got to
Make the deadline-
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.
The Mardis Gras
Will be blowing strong
And the people dancing
All across the city
I'm leavin' here tonight
I gotta move down the line.
I'm gonna catch a ride
On the 9.05
I'm gonna ride the rails
Until we reach the morning,
Maybe three or four
Hundred miles.
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.
When the wind is blowing
Softly throught the streets
of a little town
And the music's playin',
You're waitin' somewhere
Over the horizon.
I gotta get that southbound train tonight-
If I don't get to the border then I'll write.
-Jeff Lynne-
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Chapter - "Open Invitation"
I thought it best to rewrite the original chapter 2 of AtB....
There were many elements that my friend and sometime co-writer, who
prefers to go by the title of "Night Rider" (for no visibly apparent
reason. Well, not visible to me, anyway) wanted to see put into
this story that seemed to be workable that I decided it prudent to
do so. Of course, this virtually doubled the length of chapter 2,
so it is now chapters 2 and 3.
This makes the story a tad more wordy, with less in the way of
action, but I'm a writer who tends to dwell on the little things
that make each character what they are.
Anyway, enough of these notes. PallaPalla is tugging on my sleeve,
wanting to know when she gets to blow someone up. I should get on
with chapter 4.... ^_^
DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page) ayanami@internode.on.net
Version 2.0 - 22nd Jun 1998