Version 1.0 - 13th Jul 1998
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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. It is obvious
that Usagi still feels a sense of shame in not having died with her
family, and is taking it out that shame on Luna.
Meanwhile, overlooking the scene of Jade's gathering are the
AMAZONESS QUARTET.... Four rogues within the Republic's operative
network. Luna tells the Death Sailors about the Quartet, and they
are less than impressed by the thought that they may have to work
alongside, or worse, in opposition to the four, in the effort to
kill Jade.
But before Luna can say more....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Rei stared up at her grandfather as they watched, from the top
of the Marques Building, the bonfires and fireworks that signified
the end of the Festival of Ephis for another year.
"Ojichan...." Rei tugged on his coat tail. He looked down at
her, raising an eyebrow, quizzically.
"What is it, child?"
"Why do we go out and destroy so much?"
"Hmm?"
"Our expeditions.... Into the streets. We blow up things and
such.... Why do we do this?"
Her grandfather smiled and knelt down to the five year old,
thinking deeply about how he would answer this question. "Rei-
chan... Being so young, you may not understand. We only get so
many years of life, into which we must pack a myriad of experiences,
and make some kind of impact on the world. And yet, there are so
many voices, crying out to be heard...."
Rei nodded, still not quite understanding his words, but
willing to listen. He nodded, knowingly.
"All these voices, Rei-chan. All of them, trying to make a
statement.... Of belief. Of ideology. But most of all, trying to
get people to LISTEN. What better way to make people listen than to
impose yourself upon them in as dramatic a manner as possible...."
"But would they listen to us?"
"Eh?"
"It just sorta seems that.... Y'know.... If we do bad
things, then they'd be too angry to listen."
He chuckled and put his hands on her shoulders. "Oh, my
child. You speak with the voice of guiless youth.... You don't
understand the complexity of the adult mind, yet.... One day, you
shall see that what I say is the truth."
"The truth?"
He picked her up and sat her on his shoulder, standing tall as
fireworks exploded above them. Rei stared at the glimmering lights,
set upon the black veil of night.
"That is what this festival is about, Rei-chan. To celebrate
the thoughts and feelings of Montxo Ephis.... The founder of the
ideology by which we follow." Her grandfather shouted over the
explosions. "One day, you shall make as great an impact, in your
own way...."
----o
"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?"
----o
Part Four
Open Invitation
----o
"It's a car bomb." Ami gasped. "At the base of the
building."
"They're trying to draw the local authorities into our
battle?" Luna stared, disbelievingly at the smoking wreck, sitting
on a grass verge on the southern side of the old school building.
"So?" Rei blinked, not understanding as she pushed Ami aside
to get a better look through the window.
"Baka! The authorities shall search the building for the
perpetrators. It's standard procedure." Luna replied, haughtily.
"And they'll find the safe house.... Or its security system."
Ami nodded, grimly.
Rei's mouth hung open. "And if the security system goes
off.... killing members of the constabulary..."
"They'll certainly think we were involved." Luna finished.
"And if we shut off the security system, this shall, no
longer, be a safe house. Not for us, anyway." Usagi turned from
the window and ran over to where her backpack and coat were sitting,
against the far wall of the room. Luna watched her.
"What are you thinking of doing?"
"Scuttling the safe house. It's the only way to make sure the
constabulary who arrive aren't hurt." Usagi threw on her overcoat
and started to hitch some of her weaponry to their attachments
underneath. Luna spun to her and stepped forward.
"Scuttle the safe house? You must be mad. That's just what
the assassins are hoping we'd do.... Burn our nest and run."
"Then I don't intend to disappoint them." Usagi shot Luna a
withering look. "Anyway, we can't allow the constabulary and the
local authorities to get mixed up in our activities, and I'm damned
if I'm going to allow the Amazons to have Jade."
"She's right." Ami nodded. "It's the most logical thing to
do." And with that, Ami started following Usagi's example, readying
her own equipment for a quick evacuation.
"But there isn't another safe house ready for us." Rei
gestured, helplessly. "And anyway, this kind of thing has happened
before...."
"This is different, Rei." Usagi pulled the collars of her
overcoat firmly, assuring herself everything was in place.
"In what way?" Rei stepped past Luna, seemingly keen to argue
the point with Usagi.
"It's because of the festival." Usagi turned and picked up
her backpack, throwing the restraints over her shoulder.
"What festival?" Luna frowned.
"Of course!" Rei punched a fist in her other hand. "The
Festival of Ephis.... It's within the parkland border of Vermion
Lock.... There will be constabulary on alert throughout the city."
"Their reaction time to this will be halved, if not quartered.
Often, this kind of thing is seen by the authorities as a form of
artistic expression.... That's how a lot of terrorist activity has
been given a free reign.... Artistic expressionism through
bombings, riots and lootings." Usagi tightened the straps of her
backpack. "But not during the Festival of Ephis.... It represents
all aspects of counter culture, some of it quite violent and
reprehensible."
"I understand that well enough." Rei nodded, now following
her partners' examples with her own equipment. "I was brought up
within such groups."
"And as such, you'll understand how keen, during the weeks of
the festival, the authorities will be to keep things under wraps."
Usagi smiled, grimly.
Luna put a hand to her forehead. "The cheers that rose up
when you detonated the mines on top of this building...." She
sighed, looking up at Usagi. "There wasn't the smoking remains for
the constabulary to home in on, so they wouldn't have been able to
track down the source of the blast...."
"But the burning remains of a car bomb is a very different
matter." Usagi put her hands on her hips. "Don't you think you
should get yourself prepared to run or die, LADY Luna?" Usagi threw
her nose in the air, arrogantly.
"That's not really the point...." Luna protested. "It's one
thing to cut and run, but we have no set destination to run to.
Nowhere that is safe, anyway."
"Oh yes we have." Rei smiled as she helped Ami secure her
backpack.
"What?" Luna blinked. "Where?"
"The parkland border of Vermion Lock."
"You must be joking.... We won't be able to reach that far by
foot.... Not in safety, anyway. And besides, the festivities that
are occuring there.... There could be any number of terrorists
amongst the crowd."
"Listen.... Firstly, there IS a way we can reach the border
without the necessity to traverse the city streets.... Well, not
ALL of the streets, anyway." Rei swallowed, her mind rapidly
mapping out an evacuation plan, and attempting to make it sound
convincing to the others. "Secondly, the parkland border IS full of
people, right now.... Full of people in DISGUISE.... Costumes and
such are a major facet of the festivities...."
"We can disguise ourselves, in an attempt to cross the
border." Ami nodded.
"But first, we still have to get there." Luna crossed her
arms, then jumped as Usagi threw her overcoat over her shoulders.
"Well, why don't you just shutup and listen to Rei's plan,
there's a good kitty...." Usagi sneered at Luna's expression of
contempt.
----o
Detern, the leader of the Realist force's 34th operations
squad, crouched in the small room within the apartment block, some
short distance south of the safe house in the old school building.
Placed on watch duty, again. Punishment from on high for not
always following the orders of THEY WHO MUST BE OBEYED. There were
times when even he questioned whether the Realists really had all
that much going for them.
But then, Detern was neither the brightest, nor the most
imaginative, person within the Realist forces. He was unlikely to
change his lifestyle, rapidly.
He watched the movement within the safe house through the
large window, and listened to the crackle of information, beamed
through his radio, from his comrades, who were moving in on the safe
house through the lower levels of the school building. After
watching them place and set off the car bomb, he wondered when he
would get his chance to have some fun.
It started a lot sooner than he expected. The safe house
exploded in an immense ball of flame, blasting debris across the gap
between the buildings. Detern only just managed to duck in time as
the force of the blast shattered the window, through which he was
watching, into tiny fragments, scattering across the room.
As he lifted his head, he heard cries of distress and calls
for backup coming from those within the lower levels of the
school.... It seemed the Death Sailors had chosen to make their
move a lot sooner than the Realists had expected.
Detern peered through the now-empty window ledge at the ground
below, and spotted some figures, fleeing the building at great
speed.
"Damn bitches...." He muttered to himself, and picked up his
rifle, which had been sitting next to him. He watched as they
opened up a manhole in the ground, not far from where the burning
wreckage of the carbomb was sitting. "Dammit.... They're making
for the sewer system...." Detern jumped to his feet and ran from
the room.
----o
"This is, like, totally uncouth." Luna landed at the base of
the metal stairs on the brick-lined floor of the sewer. The large
tunnel that she had found herself in seemed to go on forever,
disappearing into the darkness in both directions. It was big
enough to run a vehicle through, which was what had happened in days
gone past, during the sewer network's construction. "What, in the
name of the republic, made you think of using the sewers as a viable
method of escape?"
"Lateral thinking." Rei peered down as she pulled the manhole
cover back into place, attaching something to it before handing
Luna's backpack down the ladder to Ami. "The sewers were there, so
I thought to myself 'let's use them'."
"The smell in here is godawful..." Usagi turned up her nose.
"We'll probably be on antibiotics for months after wading through
this sludge."
"Suffer, pleb." Rei and Ami stepped down from the ladder and
reattached their backpacks, removed in an effort to get through the
manhole. "I know my way through these tunnels like the back of my
hand."
"Yes.... I can see it's just the kind of place you'd hand
around." Usagi's eyebrows jerked in Rei's direction, who stuck out
her tongue at her partner.
"We better get moving." Ami said, quietly, as she helped Luna
with her backpack. "Some of the operatives will have seen us come
down here."
Usagi wiped her hand on the side of her overcoat when she
noticed it was covered in blood. "Fortunately, not those within the
safe house building."
"Feeling happy about tearing that soldier's skull open with
your bare hand, Usagi?" Luna sniffed contemptuously, taking note of
Usagi's almost unconcious action.
"I do what I have to do, LADY Luna. This isn't a game."
Usagi pulled a large torch from her jacket and shone it along the
tunnel.
"No. To you, I suppose it isn't." Luna replied, softly as
they started to make their way along the sewer, Rei taking the lead.
----o
Detern was at the main doorway to the apartment block when he
saw three of his comrades, attempting to open the manhole cover.
"WAIT! DON'T DO THA...." His cry came a few seconds too late
as the manhole exploded in a ball of flame, enveloping the soldiers.
Detern fell flat on his back as he felt the warmth of the blast rush
over him....
----o
The explosion echoed through the tunnels, followed by a gust
of warm wind that gave the four cause to grab hold of the brickwork
on the sides of the sewer.
"Great, Rei.... You could have at least warned us about that
mine you planted on the manhole cover." Usagi gritted her teeth.
"I'm gonna be deaf for weeks, now...."
"You SAW me put the bloody thing on, you fool...." Rei
growled, grabbing her partner by the collar. "Come on.... That
won't hold off those bastards for long...."
----o
Detern wandered, almost emotionlessly, up to the large hole in
the ground where his comrades once stood. He could clearly see into
the sewer below, although much of the brickwork and earth that had
once sat there was now piled on the floor.
He looked around, hoping at least one of his comrades were
still alive, and making their way to join him right now. he saw
nobody. Either the rest had taken flight, or they really were all
dead.
With a sigh, he clutched his rifle with both of his hands and
leapt onto the pile of rubble on the floor of the sewer. Not the
smartest move he could have made, as his foot slipped on a rock.
With a short cry of surprise, he pitched forward and rolled
down the mound of rubble, coming to a quick stop at the base as his
chin hit the tunnel floor.
Ouch, he thought, as he picked himself up.
----o
The tunnel eventually reached a larger passage.... Newer and
cleaner, with smooth cement walls. At the floor of the new passage
was a gentle stream of relatively clean water, about half a foot
deep. Rei stepped into the stream and stared along the passage,
both ways.
"Where are we?" Ami asked as she stopped at the junction.
"This is the main waterway that leads from the eastern
districts to the water processing plant at Mulwin Head. It used to
be an underground stream."
"The eastern districts including Vermion Lock and Nemesis
Gate...." Ami chuckled. "I had an inkling that might have been
your intention...."
"You seem to know a lot about these tunnels." Luna raised an
eyebrow, appreciatively.
"I told you, I know them like the back of my hand."
"How?" Luna followed Rei into the stream, looking down at the
water with distaste.
"When I was young, and still living with my grandfather, the
groups we were a part of used the sewer systems as a method of
escape from the constabulary, after we would make some
pseudopolitical statement.... Usually involving much violence."
"Montxo Ephis.... He was a founding member of the group you
were brought up in, wasn't he?" Usagi flashed her torch along the
passage.
"Yes.... Yes, he was."
"And he espoused the philosophy of extreme violence as an
artistic statement...." Usagi chuckled. "You know, it just occured
to me.... If Jade was a true artist, in the style of Ephis, then
this whole idea, of rounding up the reality militias into one
cohesive group, then setting them on the republic, could be his
greatest artistic statement...."
"My God...." Rei put a hand to her mouth. "The Festival of
Ephis reaches its high point in four days.... Absolution Day...."
"Indeed." Usagi nodded. "There would be no more symbolic an
occasion for the reality militias to make their move than on that
day...."
"Shh..." Ami put up a hand to silence the others. They
looked at her, quizzically.
"What is...." Usagi began, but Ami simply hushed her again.
After a few seconds of silence, they could hear footsteps, coming
down the tunnel.
Ami snapped her fingers and pointed upstream of the new
passage. Rei nodded and gripped Luna's arm. The pair quickly put
some distance between themselves and the junction.
Ami pulled out a small device from her backpack, like a pair
of disks, connected via a string. Usagi kept watch, nervously, as
Ami attached one of the disks to one side of the tunnel.
"Do you really think a tripwire mine is going to work?" Usagi
whispered. "They surely won't be that stupid."
"That's why I'm expecting you to shoot them if it doesn't."
Ami replied as she pulled out the wire far enough to be taut, across
the exit of the tunnel, and attached the other disk to the opposite
wall.
"Great. Great plan. I'm glad you're the brains of our little
party."
"And don't you forget it." Ami stood and smiled at Usagi,
grabbing her partner by the arm and pointing at a small depression
in the passage wall, some distance away.
The pair waded their way towards the depression, removing
their backpacks so they could press themselves back against the wall
as much as possible, to present as little a target as they could.
They waited, nervously peering around the corner as the sound
of the footsteps came closer and closer.
Whoever it was HAD to have reached the junction, because the
footsteps came to a dead stop. There was an almost intolerable
pause, in which all that could be heard was the sound of running
water. Usagi pulled out her double barrelled revolver from within
her overcoat as Ami fidgeted with a small device she pulled from her
pocket.
"You must think I'm stupid..." Came Detern's voice, as he
leaned against the wall of the tunnel, glancing down at the tripwire
mine. "A trap that obvious.... Even I could see it coming."
Usagi swallowed and ducked out from the depression, firing a
double round into the opposite wall of the tunnel. The shot
ricocheted off the wall and missed Detern's head my inches. He
nervously stared at the mark in the wall where the bullet had
struck, swallowing.
"That didn't work either...."
"This will, though..." Ami smiled and pressed a button on the
device.
The mines went off, blowing Detern back along the tunnel for
some distance, stunned, with shrapnel wounds in his legs. The roof
caved in on the junction, and dust filled the passage.
As it cleared, Usagi looked back at Ami, who was pocketing the
small device with a smile on her face.
"Don't tell me.... The trip wire was a dummy, right?"
"Oh come on.... You know me better than that." Ami picked up
her backpack and started after Rei and Luna, her back receiving dark
looks from Usagi....
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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 - "Delicate Dance of Death"
_________
/ @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)
/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@internode.on.net
/\
\/ \/
\___________/
/_/ \_\ PU
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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. It is obvious
that Usagi still feels a sense of shame in not having died with her
family, and is taking it out that shame on Luna.
Meanwhile, overlooking the scene of Jade's gathering are the
AMAZONESS QUARTET.... Four rogues within the Republic's operative
network. Luna tells the Death Sailors about the Quartet, and they
are less than impressed by the thought that they may have to work
alongside, or worse, in opposition to the four, in the effort to
kill Jade.
But before Luna can say more....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Rei stared up at her grandfather as they watched, from the top
of the Marques Building, the bonfires and fireworks that signified
the end of the Festival of Ephis for another year.
"Ojichan...." Rei tugged on his coat tail. He looked down at
her, raising an eyebrow, quizzically.
"What is it, child?"
"Why do we go out and destroy so much?"
"Hmm?"
"Our expeditions.... Into the streets. We blow up things and
such.... Why do we do this?"
Her grandfather smiled and knelt down to the five year old,
thinking deeply about how he would answer this question. "Rei-
chan... Being so young, you may not understand. We only get so
many years of life, into which we must pack a myriad of experiences,
and make some kind of impact on the world. And yet, there are so
many voices, crying out to be heard...."
Rei nodded, still not quite understanding his words, but
willing to listen. He nodded, knowingly.
"All these voices, Rei-chan. All of them, trying to make a
statement.... Of belief. Of ideology. But most of all, trying to
get people to LISTEN. What better way to make people listen than to
impose yourself upon them in as dramatic a manner as possible...."
"But would they listen to us?"
"Eh?"
"It just sorta seems that.... Y'know.... If we do bad
things, then they'd be too angry to listen."
He chuckled and put his hands on her shoulders. "Oh, my
child. You speak with the voice of guiless youth.... You don't
understand the complexity of the adult mind, yet.... One day, you
shall see that what I say is the truth."
"The truth?"
He picked her up and sat her on his shoulder, standing tall as
fireworks exploded above them. Rei stared at the glimmering lights,
set upon the black veil of night.
"That is what this festival is about, Rei-chan. To celebrate
the thoughts and feelings of Montxo Ephis.... The founder of the
ideology by which we follow." Her grandfather shouted over the
explosions. "One day, you shall make as great an impact, in your
own way...."
----o
"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?"
----o
Part Four
Open Invitation
----o
"It's a car bomb." Ami gasped. "At the base of the
building."
"They're trying to draw the local authorities into our
battle?" Luna stared, disbelievingly at the smoking wreck, sitting
on a grass verge on the southern side of the old school building.
"So?" Rei blinked, not understanding as she pushed Ami aside
to get a better look through the window.
"Baka! The authorities shall search the building for the
perpetrators. It's standard procedure." Luna replied, haughtily.
"And they'll find the safe house.... Or its security system."
Ami nodded, grimly.
Rei's mouth hung open. "And if the security system goes
off.... killing members of the constabulary..."
"They'll certainly think we were involved." Luna finished.
"And if we shut off the security system, this shall, no
longer, be a safe house. Not for us, anyway." Usagi turned from
the window and ran over to where her backpack and coat were sitting,
against the far wall of the room. Luna watched her.
"What are you thinking of doing?"
"Scuttling the safe house. It's the only way to make sure the
constabulary who arrive aren't hurt." Usagi threw on her overcoat
and started to hitch some of her weaponry to their attachments
underneath. Luna spun to her and stepped forward.
"Scuttle the safe house? You must be mad. That's just what
the assassins are hoping we'd do.... Burn our nest and run."
"Then I don't intend to disappoint them." Usagi shot Luna a
withering look. "Anyway, we can't allow the constabulary and the
local authorities to get mixed up in our activities, and I'm damned
if I'm going to allow the Amazons to have Jade."
"She's right." Ami nodded. "It's the most logical thing to
do." And with that, Ami started following Usagi's example, readying
her own equipment for a quick evacuation.
"But there isn't another safe house ready for us." Rei
gestured, helplessly. "And anyway, this kind of thing has happened
before...."
"This is different, Rei." Usagi pulled the collars of her
overcoat firmly, assuring herself everything was in place.
"In what way?" Rei stepped past Luna, seemingly keen to argue
the point with Usagi.
"It's because of the festival." Usagi turned and picked up
her backpack, throwing the restraints over her shoulder.
"What festival?" Luna frowned.
"Of course!" Rei punched a fist in her other hand. "The
Festival of Ephis.... It's within the parkland border of Vermion
Lock.... There will be constabulary on alert throughout the city."
"Their reaction time to this will be halved, if not quartered.
Often, this kind of thing is seen by the authorities as a form of
artistic expression.... That's how a lot of terrorist activity has
been given a free reign.... Artistic expressionism through
bombings, riots and lootings." Usagi tightened the straps of her
backpack. "But not during the Festival of Ephis.... It represents
all aspects of counter culture, some of it quite violent and
reprehensible."
"I understand that well enough." Rei nodded, now following
her partners' examples with her own equipment. "I was brought up
within such groups."
"And as such, you'll understand how keen, during the weeks of
the festival, the authorities will be to keep things under wraps."
Usagi smiled, grimly.
Luna put a hand to her forehead. "The cheers that rose up
when you detonated the mines on top of this building...." She
sighed, looking up at Usagi. "There wasn't the smoking remains for
the constabulary to home in on, so they wouldn't have been able to
track down the source of the blast...."
"But the burning remains of a car bomb is a very different
matter." Usagi put her hands on her hips. "Don't you think you
should get yourself prepared to run or die, LADY Luna?" Usagi threw
her nose in the air, arrogantly.
"That's not really the point...." Luna protested. "It's one
thing to cut and run, but we have no set destination to run to.
Nowhere that is safe, anyway."
"Oh yes we have." Rei smiled as she helped Ami secure her
backpack.
"What?" Luna blinked. "Where?"
"The parkland border of Vermion Lock."
"You must be joking.... We won't be able to reach that far by
foot.... Not in safety, anyway. And besides, the festivities that
are occuring there.... There could be any number of terrorists
amongst the crowd."
"Listen.... Firstly, there IS a way we can reach the border
without the necessity to traverse the city streets.... Well, not
ALL of the streets, anyway." Rei swallowed, her mind rapidly
mapping out an evacuation plan, and attempting to make it sound
convincing to the others. "Secondly, the parkland border IS full of
people, right now.... Full of people in DISGUISE.... Costumes and
such are a major facet of the festivities...."
"We can disguise ourselves, in an attempt to cross the
border." Ami nodded.
"But first, we still have to get there." Luna crossed her
arms, then jumped as Usagi threw her overcoat over her shoulders.
"Well, why don't you just shutup and listen to Rei's plan,
there's a good kitty...." Usagi sneered at Luna's expression of
contempt.
----o
Detern, the leader of the Realist force's 34th operations
squad, crouched in the small room within the apartment block, some
short distance south of the safe house in the old school building.
Placed on watch duty, again. Punishment from on high for not
always following the orders of THEY WHO MUST BE OBEYED. There were
times when even he questioned whether the Realists really had all
that much going for them.
But then, Detern was neither the brightest, nor the most
imaginative, person within the Realist forces. He was unlikely to
change his lifestyle, rapidly.
He watched the movement within the safe house through the
large window, and listened to the crackle of information, beamed
through his radio, from his comrades, who were moving in on the safe
house through the lower levels of the school building. After
watching them place and set off the car bomb, he wondered when he
would get his chance to have some fun.
It started a lot sooner than he expected. The safe house
exploded in an immense ball of flame, blasting debris across the gap
between the buildings. Detern only just managed to duck in time as
the force of the blast shattered the window, through which he was
watching, into tiny fragments, scattering across the room.
As he lifted his head, he heard cries of distress and calls
for backup coming from those within the lower levels of the
school.... It seemed the Death Sailors had chosen to make their
move a lot sooner than the Realists had expected.
Detern peered through the now-empty window ledge at the ground
below, and spotted some figures, fleeing the building at great
speed.
"Damn bitches...." He muttered to himself, and picked up his
rifle, which had been sitting next to him. He watched as they
opened up a manhole in the ground, not far from where the burning
wreckage of the carbomb was sitting. "Dammit.... They're making
for the sewer system...." Detern jumped to his feet and ran from
the room.
----o
"This is, like, totally uncouth." Luna landed at the base of
the metal stairs on the brick-lined floor of the sewer. The large
tunnel that she had found herself in seemed to go on forever,
disappearing into the darkness in both directions. It was big
enough to run a vehicle through, which was what had happened in days
gone past, during the sewer network's construction. "What, in the
name of the republic, made you think of using the sewers as a viable
method of escape?"
"Lateral thinking." Rei peered down as she pulled the manhole
cover back into place, attaching something to it before handing
Luna's backpack down the ladder to Ami. "The sewers were there, so
I thought to myself 'let's use them'."
"The smell in here is godawful..." Usagi turned up her nose.
"We'll probably be on antibiotics for months after wading through
this sludge."
"Suffer, pleb." Rei and Ami stepped down from the ladder and
reattached their backpacks, removed in an effort to get through the
manhole. "I know my way through these tunnels like the back of my
hand."
"Yes.... I can see it's just the kind of place you'd hand
around." Usagi's eyebrows jerked in Rei's direction, who stuck out
her tongue at her partner.
"We better get moving." Ami said, quietly, as she helped Luna
with her backpack. "Some of the operatives will have seen us come
down here."
Usagi wiped her hand on the side of her overcoat when she
noticed it was covered in blood. "Fortunately, not those within the
safe house building."
"Feeling happy about tearing that soldier's skull open with
your bare hand, Usagi?" Luna sniffed contemptuously, taking note of
Usagi's almost unconcious action.
"I do what I have to do, LADY Luna. This isn't a game."
Usagi pulled a large torch from her jacket and shone it along the
tunnel.
"No. To you, I suppose it isn't." Luna replied, softly as
they started to make their way along the sewer, Rei taking the lead.
----o
Detern was at the main doorway to the apartment block when he
saw three of his comrades, attempting to open the manhole cover.
"WAIT! DON'T DO THA...." His cry came a few seconds too late
as the manhole exploded in a ball of flame, enveloping the soldiers.
Detern fell flat on his back as he felt the warmth of the blast rush
over him....
----o
The explosion echoed through the tunnels, followed by a gust
of warm wind that gave the four cause to grab hold of the brickwork
on the sides of the sewer.
"Great, Rei.... You could have at least warned us about that
mine you planted on the manhole cover." Usagi gritted her teeth.
"I'm gonna be deaf for weeks, now...."
"You SAW me put the bloody thing on, you fool...." Rei
growled, grabbing her partner by the collar. "Come on.... That
won't hold off those bastards for long...."
----o
Detern wandered, almost emotionlessly, up to the large hole in
the ground where his comrades once stood. He could clearly see into
the sewer below, although much of the brickwork and earth that had
once sat there was now piled on the floor.
He looked around, hoping at least one of his comrades were
still alive, and making their way to join him right now. he saw
nobody. Either the rest had taken flight, or they really were all
dead.
With a sigh, he clutched his rifle with both of his hands and
leapt onto the pile of rubble on the floor of the sewer. Not the
smartest move he could have made, as his foot slipped on a rock.
With a short cry of surprise, he pitched forward and rolled
down the mound of rubble, coming to a quick stop at the base as his
chin hit the tunnel floor.
Ouch, he thought, as he picked himself up.
----o
The tunnel eventually reached a larger passage.... Newer and
cleaner, with smooth cement walls. At the floor of the new passage
was a gentle stream of relatively clean water, about half a foot
deep. Rei stepped into the stream and stared along the passage,
both ways.
"Where are we?" Ami asked as she stopped at the junction.
"This is the main waterway that leads from the eastern
districts to the water processing plant at Mulwin Head. It used to
be an underground stream."
"The eastern districts including Vermion Lock and Nemesis
Gate...." Ami chuckled. "I had an inkling that might have been
your intention...."
"You seem to know a lot about these tunnels." Luna raised an
eyebrow, appreciatively.
"I told you, I know them like the back of my hand."
"How?" Luna followed Rei into the stream, looking down at the
water with distaste.
"When I was young, and still living with my grandfather, the
groups we were a part of used the sewer systems as a method of
escape from the constabulary, after we would make some
pseudopolitical statement.... Usually involving much violence."
"Montxo Ephis.... He was a founding member of the group you
were brought up in, wasn't he?" Usagi flashed her torch along the
passage.
"Yes.... Yes, he was."
"And he espoused the philosophy of extreme violence as an
artistic statement...." Usagi chuckled. "You know, it just occured
to me.... If Jade was a true artist, in the style of Ephis, then
this whole idea, of rounding up the reality militias into one
cohesive group, then setting them on the republic, could be his
greatest artistic statement...."
"My God...." Rei put a hand to her mouth. "The Festival of
Ephis reaches its high point in four days.... Absolution Day...."
"Indeed." Usagi nodded. "There would be no more symbolic an
occasion for the reality militias to make their move than on that
day...."
"Shh..." Ami put up a hand to silence the others. They
looked at her, quizzically.
"What is...." Usagi began, but Ami simply hushed her again.
After a few seconds of silence, they could hear footsteps, coming
down the tunnel.
Ami snapped her fingers and pointed upstream of the new
passage. Rei nodded and gripped Luna's arm. The pair quickly put
some distance between themselves and the junction.
Ami pulled out a small device from her backpack, like a pair
of disks, connected via a string. Usagi kept watch, nervously, as
Ami attached one of the disks to one side of the tunnel.
"Do you really think a tripwire mine is going to work?" Usagi
whispered. "They surely won't be that stupid."
"That's why I'm expecting you to shoot them if it doesn't."
Ami replied as she pulled out the wire far enough to be taut, across
the exit of the tunnel, and attached the other disk to the opposite
wall.
"Great. Great plan. I'm glad you're the brains of our little
party."
"And don't you forget it." Ami stood and smiled at Usagi,
grabbing her partner by the arm and pointing at a small depression
in the passage wall, some distance away.
The pair waded their way towards the depression, removing
their backpacks so they could press themselves back against the wall
as much as possible, to present as little a target as they could.
They waited, nervously peering around the corner as the sound
of the footsteps came closer and closer.
Whoever it was HAD to have reached the junction, because the
footsteps came to a dead stop. There was an almost intolerable
pause, in which all that could be heard was the sound of running
water. Usagi pulled out her double barrelled revolver from within
her overcoat as Ami fidgeted with a small device she pulled from her
pocket.
"You must think I'm stupid..." Came Detern's voice, as he
leaned against the wall of the tunnel, glancing down at the tripwire
mine. "A trap that obvious.... Even I could see it coming."
Usagi swallowed and ducked out from the depression, firing a
double round into the opposite wall of the tunnel. The shot
ricocheted off the wall and missed Detern's head my inches. He
nervously stared at the mark in the wall where the bullet had
struck, swallowing.
"That didn't work either...."
"This will, though..." Ami smiled and pressed a button on the
device.
The mines went off, blowing Detern back along the tunnel for
some distance, stunned, with shrapnel wounds in his legs. The roof
caved in on the junction, and dust filled the passage.
As it cleared, Usagi looked back at Ami, who was pocketing the
small device with a smile on her face.
"Don't tell me.... The trip wire was a dummy, right?"
"Oh come on.... You know me better than that." Ami picked up
her backpack and started after Rei and Luna, her back receiving dark
looks from Usagi....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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 - "Delicate Dance of Death"
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