--------------------------------------------------------------------
S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon and Silent Mobius are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Kia
Asamiya, Michitaka Kikuchi, Bandai, Studio Tron, Kadokawa and
Kodansya. All other characters were thought up by me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A smile is nothing more than the mask of sadness.
Saturn touched the rain-soaked leaves of the tree, allowing
the water to run onto her fingers. She lifted that hand to her
nose, sniffing the water. Any thought of comparing the rain with
tears ended there for her. It was without the honest saltiness that
she wished to partake, and flicked it away without a second thought.
She turned and stared up at the window of the hospital room in
which she lay. The dichotomy of being in two places at the same
time didn't feel all that foreign to her, but then, in her short
experience of being Saturn, that was not a surprise.... There had
always been a divide between the girl named Tomoe Hotaru and the
being who dwelled within.
It was a good thing that nobody could see her. The sailorfuku
she wore was something of an overdramatic symbol of the power she
contained, being singularly flashy and mundane in the context of
modern Japan, as much a symbol of lolita complex fantasies as it was
a vague recall of the girls' school uniform. It was fortunate that
her particular fuku was more subdued than those of the others.
Walking around in these kinds of clothes, carrying a big, dangerous
looking weapon on a stick, was likely to get her arrested.
Clothing had never been all that important to Saturn. Pluto
sometimes understood, but then, the both of them existed on a form
of higher intellectual plane than the other senshi.... Like Gods,
or spirits of destiny.... A contemptuous eye for the weakness of
the physical, yet understanding of its importance to others. The
entrapment of flesh being the acceptable facade by which to
interrelate.
She closed her eyes and raised her face to the sky, silently
whispering enchantments she'd thought she'd forgotten, long ago.
The hushing, soporific nature of the words calmed her spirit and
allowed her vision and sense of vision to gain a greater clarity.
She could see whisps of consciousness, fleeing and moving through
the city, seemingly uncaring of its own fragility. She smiled....
She had, long ago, come to accept the weaknesses of mortality as a
given.... That was why the smile was the mask of sadness.... It
tries to hide the inevitability of the end, and reminds all of the
secret garden in which they wish to play.
The philosophy had to wait, however, much as she enjoyed the
brief moments of divine reflection. There were things she had to
do. Things that could only bring tears to her eyes.
----o
Part Thirtyfour
Ghost Lighter
----o
"What do you want?" Mercury confronted the strange individual
who had emerged from the limousine, a man, dressed in a full dinner
suit. The car had first pulled alongside her, then across her path,
up onto the footpath, as she wandered along the quiet street in a
contemplative mood. Actually, she was contemplating whether she
should raid the Japanese Reserve Bank at the time, so it was no
great loss, and considering Japan was in recession, there probably
wouldn't have been a hell of a lot for her to raid....
Anyway, the car blocked her path, which angered her a little,
as she hated it when cars blocked her path. She'd always been too
polite to say anything about it, but this time she ran around to the
driver's door, wrenched it off the side of the car, pulled out the
car's chauffeur and started laying into him with the kinds of
attacks that would have done a professional wrestler proud.
Before she could do too much damage to him, the strange
passenger of the vehicle stepped out from the back, and interrupted
her effort at chastising the transgressor of Mercury's unwritten
laws. "Do you mind.... Drivers like he are extremely hard to
find." The passenger placed a hand on her shoulder. She slapped
the hand away and stood back several paces. From there, she
interrogated him with the aforementioned question.
"What do I want?" The passenger helped the hapless chauffeur
to his feet. "Why, I want you, Sailormercury.... Or, let me put it
this way.... I have been interested in employing you and your
Sailor friends for quite some time.... I have need of your powers."
"Need of MY powers, or the powers of my so-called friends?"
She sniffed contemptuously. "They all think I'm weaker than they.
Well, you know what I've done, tonight? You see all the destruction
I've wreaked? They won't be calling THIS Sailorsenshi the weak link
in the chain anymore." She put her hands on her hips and laughed
maniacally.
"Ano.... I didn't mean to express doubt in your abilities,
Sailormercury. You are obviously VERY powerful.... But I have been
keeping tabs on your activities, tonight.... And I wanted to say...
I have NEED of someone like you...."
"What for?" Mercury ranged up on the passenger and his
chauffeur. The chauffeur cringed at her presence. "And who are
you, anyway?"
"I...." The passenger swallowed, using up as much of his
reserves of bravery as charm. "I am Manakuto.... A highly esteemed
member of the Diet Assembly, and of an organisation called the Coven
of Atrocity...."
"Coven of Atrocity?" Mercury rubbed her chin. "Sounds cool.
Do you kill and maim lots of people for fun and profit?"
"Ano...." There were times in Manakuto's career, as a master
manipulator, where he genuinely began to worry about the things he
would get himself into, most especially the people he had to
associate with. "It has not been.... unknown, for our group to be
involved in such... activities."
"Ah, so you are a corrupt politician, who manipulates the
hallowed halls of power in the name of the secret society you work
for.... I have to say, you're a villain if ever I saw one.... I
don't like villains." And with that, Mercury swatted the poor
chauffeur aside and gripped Manakuto by the collar of his suit,
lifting him off the ground. "Of course, I'll work for you if there
is something in it for me...."
"We can... talk about... the terms of... your employment... in
the... car... Can we not?" Manakuto said through a half-choked
throat. Mercury smiled at him.
"Well, now, I don't know if a cute, sexy young thing like me
really wants to get into a car with a big, mean, nasty old man like
you.... I mean, who knows what unimaginable things you might do to
me...." She chuckled and let Manakuto go, allowing him to fall to
his feet.
As he sat on his haunches, leaning against the side of the
limousine for support, rubbing his sore throat, he watched as she
walked along the car, running a hand along the bonnet, swaying in an
almost seductive fashion. "Power.... Money.... Sex.... That's
all you bigwigs ever seem to concern yourselves over.... What is it
that you really want from me, Manakuto-san? After killing my
comrade, Jupiter, why would you bother to make such an offer to me?"
She turned to him, smiling. "Oh yes, Dietman.... I have heard of
your name in passing.... With my family connections, how could I
not? I never would have thought I'd meet you like this....
Strange, the way destiny shapes things, is it not?"
Manakuto stood, using the front door to the limo as support.
"What do you know? About the death of Jupiter?"
"That she deserved what she got, stupid bitch that she was."
Mercury sidled back to him. "Death can be nothing but a pleasure
for someone whose life no longer followed the path of destiny.
Don't you agree, Dietman?"
As she started to finger the front of his shirt, the first
few spots of yet another rainshower started to fall from the dark
sky. Manakuto looked up with annoyance. "Don't you think we should
get into the car, now? I think we're about to have a downpour at
any moment...." He looked aside at his unconscious chauffeur, lying
in the middle of the road. "I don't think we'll be going anywhere
fast, though."
"Why? Are you afraid of a little water?" Mercury giggled
cutely, then threw her arms over Manakuto's shoulders, staring into
his eyes. "I love water. The sound of it.... The feel of it....
The very first sound I remember hearing, as a child, was the pelting
of rain on the roof of my house.... It is a constant companion....
Water.... It lives with me and within me.... Does it frighten you,
Dietman, to allow yourself to become just a little wet?"
"I really don't see the poi...." He began, before she placed
a hand over his mouth, looking from side to side in a conspiratorial
manner.
"Shhhh.... Even though I am a senshi of water, there is
another who is also adept with such things.... Whilst hers knows
only the depths of the oceans, these droplets that fall from the sky
can be her ears and eyes as well as mine.... And she is a danger to
you and your people.... Let us not talk here, where she can listen
in to what we have to say."
And with a snap of her fingers, she, Manakuto, the chauffeur
and the limousine, disappeared into thin air....
----o
Kaji sat upright in his seat as rain started to pelt against
the roof of the car. "It's close to 24 hours since we left that
damned hotel.... Things have just got worse since then...." He
turned to Aoi. "So where do you want to go? Home?"
Aoi lifted her hand from over her eyes and blinked at Kaji.
"Home? What for?"
"Where else can you go? Our office has been totally trashed
and it is unlikely that you'll find a friendly reception at
Central.... Especially after what happened with Watanabe-san."
Aoi sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry about that, okay?
It's not my fault that the Jupiter heart crystal decided to explode
in your vicinity." She drooped forward, banging her head on the
dashboard. "Baka! Baka! Baka!"
"What's wrong now?"
She lifted her head up again and looked at him, smiling sadly.
"It's nothing.... I'm just feeling extremely down on myself just
now."
"So you should."
"Thanks for the sympathy." Aoi huffed, puffing up her cheeks.
"And anyway, I can't go home.... Those psycho Sacred House girls
might still be there."
"Not to mention half of the Sacred House operations team....
Well, that doesn't leave us with much, does it?" Kaji did up his
belt and started the car. Aoi watched him, suspiciously.
"What are you doing?"
"You wanted to go after that Pagan Lacey guy.... According to
what you've told me, he and the Meehan woman should be on their way
to the Coven headquarters right now, if they haven't already broken
in."
"What? You've got to be kidding, right? We just walk
straight into the headquarters of the Coven of Atrocity?"
"Why not? I've done it before." Kaji smiled sweetly at Aoi,
and hit the accelerator pedal before she could question him any
further.
----o
"Would you please remind me what the purpose of bringing me
here is, exactly?" Pagan crossed his arms, staring around the dimly
lit and musty room that comprised one of the Coven's launderettes.
"To think I send my clothes here to be washed. Must get myself a
washing machine of my own."
"It's no different in the House." Mhaere opened up one of the
large, industrial-strength machines that sat along the walls,
imposing in their bulk and tarnished surfaces. "There are still
clothes in this one.... Sodden, too.... Efficient your washmaids
aren't."
"Just answer the question." Pagan huffed as he stared at
Mhaere's rear end, sticking up as she leaned over the tub. She
looked back and him and rolled her eyes.
"You have absolutely no sense of modesty, do you."
"Not really. Not when someone has transported me halfway
across the city into a dirty and dingy little hole like this. Now,
are you going to answer my question or not?"
Mhaere stood up and turned, subconsciously placing her hands
behind her. "You said you wanted proof that your friend, Lysithea
Caprice, was involved in activities that you consider to be against
the charter of the Coven."
"Not in those words, I'm sure." Pagan sniffed haughtily.
"The real reason, I suspect, is that you wanted me away from Aoi."
He chuckled. "Want me all for yourself. Not that I can blame you.
A lot of people feel that way about me."
"You really think a lot of yourself, don't you?" Mhaere
sneered. "If I really wanted to just fuck the living shit out of
you, I could do it, here and now.... And there wouldn't be a thing
you could do in your little repertoire of powers that would stop
me."
Pagan looked at her, dubiously. "So what's stopping you,
hmmm? Modesty?" He laughed out loud. "Face it, red.... I
wouldn't MIND it.... Just don't expect any lasting relationship to
come from it."
"I'm not looking for lasting relationships. I'd just add you
to my harem of mildly attractive men to be chained around my bed."
Mhaere shrugged and walked over to the only door that lead out of
the room. "As it is, if we landed in any other part of the Coven's
complex, we'd have set off a myriad of alarms. The House is not the
only establishment that is guarded by the most up-to-date security."
"Oh come on. I'm sure anyone who came running to see who it
was would be intimidated by your mere physical presence." Pagan
smiled as Mhaere glanced fleetingly, and painfully, in his direction.
"That never stopped them trying to make a mess of me the last
time I was on this world." She turned away, placing a hand on the
back of the door, wiping away some of the moisture that clung to it.
"Of course, there was a time when everyone wanted me dead, one way
or another, so I've become a little nihilistic in my view of
allegiances. Excuse me if I sneer in contempt at your cloying view
of the Coven as the saving grace of all mankind."
"Well, yes, I suppose having everyone you know want to kill
you can skew your view of society." Pagan stepped up behind her.
"Doesn't look like it did much physical damage to you, though."
"I was killed.... My body splattered and torn like a hunk of
meat. I had been hunted down like an animal, and was butchered like
one." She turned to him as she placed her hand against the door
handle, gently. "Unfortunately, for everyone, it's a lot harder
than that to rid them of my presence. Nemesis is a world that
doesn't apply to the traditional forces of nature. There, the
concept of a body is anathema to existence. And so, I was cast from
this world and into that one."
"So, you have seen the world of our forbears.... What was it
like?" Mhaere's eyes went distant at Pagan's question. He studied
the expression with interest.
"It's both heaven and hell in one. If that is, at all,
possible."
"A form of purgatory?"
"Nothing is purged by going there. You just learn to be like
one of them. One of the Lucifer Folk. And all I ever did when I
was there was look for a way out." She returned from whatever place
her mind had taken her, gazing at Pagan directly. "I left signposts
for those who might have followed me there.... Directing them here.
It was the least I could do. You arrive there with nothing more
than the desire to return. After a while, you start to like the
pleasures and the pains that it has to offer. If I had not left
when I did, it is likely that I would have suicided myself to its
distractions."
"Suicided?" Pagan frowned, but Mhaere ignored the question
and opened the door, continuing.
"When I ended up back in this world, I suddenly found myself
back in an approximation of my former body, only stronger, and more
immune to the genetic mutations that had occured to me the first
time, thus I do not progress out of this form, although I could if I
wished to. If there is one thing you learn by going to Nemesis,
it's the true extent of your powers, and how to manage them. One of
the reasons why, if I really wanted to, I could do to you whatever I
wanted, here and now."
"So why can't I?" Pagan huffed. "What is wrong with me, as I
am, that is stopping me from achieving this so-called state of
perfection?" Mhaere was surprised by his insistent tone.
"Oh no, I'm not telling you the secret THAT easily." She
waved a hand at him, dismissively, as she stepped through the
doorway into the ironing room beyond, equally as vacated as the
laundry had been upon their arrival. She stepped into the middle of
the room, hands on hips. "Look at this.... One would think they
were on strike."
"Why?" Pagan followed her through.
"Hmm?" Mhaere feigned distraction. "Why won't I tell you
what?" She smiled wickedly, making Pagan furious.
"The secret.... Of perfecting one's own powers.... Is it
part of the process, of going to Nemesis.... Of losing one's body
as part of the event?"
"Pagan...." Mhaere took a breath. "Perfecting yourself, as a
Lucifer Folk, is as much a curse as it is a catharsis of being. And
it hurts like hell." She wagged a finger at him. "Don't allow
yourself to fall prey to the philosophies that the Coven espouses,
and your own desire to become something more than you are, now."
"That's easy for YOU to say. You're already there."
"Yes. A bitch, isn't it?" Mhaere gave him a toothy grin.
"But...." Pagan looked around for the words. "That was....
That was one of the reasons I joined the Coven.... I became
fascinated.... With this thing that I was.... I wanted to see how
far I could take myself, but I was afraid of the consequences, to
myself and to others." He clenched his fists. "If there IS a way
of achieving this without those consequences...."
"Oh, there are consequences. You haven't been listening to
what I've been telling you." She paused, dramatically. "And if we
don't stop your friend, and those who are working with him, those
consequences shall be borne out upon this city, and perhaps the rest
of the world."
----o
Usagi landed on her butt. Hard. Hard enough for a fit of the
wails to build up inside her, if it weren't for the fact that she
didn't know where the hell she was, and was too frightened to make
any noise, just in case someone nasty appeared to remonstrate with
her.
She had landed on the tiled surrounds of a large swimming
pool.... Even larger than the public pool she had often gone to in
her younger days. The pool was set in a large, covered hall, but
alas, there were no windows so she could get a bearing on her
surrounds.
The hall was lit by a simple exit sign above a door at the
other end, giving it a fairly ghostly atmosphere. The only relief
was the gentle buzz of the pool filter in the background.
Usagi got to her feet, rubbing her tailbone and performing a
little dance as she tried to recover movement against the pain she
felt. She stopped when she realised she was alone.
"S... Setsuna-san? Pluto, where are you?" Her voice,
regardless of its deliberate softness, echoed around the hall,
coming back to her as a confirmation that she was, indeed, sans
Setsuna. She shivered for a second. "C... Cthulu-san? Are you
there?"
"Blurkle snorkle...." Came the bubbling reply from the bottom
of the pool. Usagi ran to the side, dropping to her knees as she
stared into the deep end.
"Cthulu-san.... What are you doing down there?"
"Norgle norgle slorkle glrgle...." The large, round thing
said as he sat at the bottom. Usagi rubbed the back of her head.
"Ano.... Can't you swim? I thought you were able to levitate
your body...."
"Bworkle!" Cthulu rumbled, annoyedly. "Blurkle slorkle
bwarkle sloogle."
"Don't tell me.... Water takes away your powers, right?"
Usagi sat back and crossed her arms as Cthulu went quiet with
embarrassment. "That's just great. How long does it take for you
to drown?"
"Blurkle."
"Yeah, I forgot about our little communication difficulty....
It would be SOOOO much easier if Pluto were here.... Damn her....
Just when I need her, she goes and disappears on me."
----o
Setsuna was pissed off, and that didn't happen too often.
This time, though, she had cause to be angry....
She was sitting, neck deep, in a large tub of green paint,
staring out of the tub's open top at the white, almost sterile
surrounds of the storeroom. After a few moments of contemplative,
steaming anger, she lifted herself over the side of the tub, and
promptly slipped, falling to the floor with a squishing thud that
sprayed green in every direction, messing up the room's cleanliness,
good and proper.
She managed to get herself to her feet before she slipped
again, falling hard on her back and winding herself, and came to the
ultimate conclusion that walking was going to be a great deal harder
than she expected. So, she got to her hands and knees, still
slipping and sliding over the surface of the floor, and crawled her
way across to the sole door that lead out of the room.
Managing to lift herself up against the door, she clasped at
the handle. It was round, and with the paint on her hands, it
slipped from her grasp repeatedly. She clenched her teeth and let
out a frustrated growl as she managed to get it to turn, far enough
that she could feel it reach its maximum.
She then leaned back, allowing herself to fall on her back as
the door swung open, revealing the darkness of a hall outside. She
lay there, listening, for a few seconds. She could hear movement in
the hallway.... Footsteps.... But nothing definite. She wondered
at first if they were Usagi's cautious footsteps, since Usagi had
been gated away with her....
Damn that Cthulu Kanzaki, she thought to herself.... The
unpredictability of where that creature's powers may take them
evaded even her foresight....
A flash... Merely the briefest image, came to her mind....
An image of immense horror.... Of death on a scale she had not seen
for a very long time.... Death that was descending upon her, and
her Princess, at this very moment.
With all her effort, she managed to get to her feet, the paint
becoming sticky as it started to dry on her. Despite the
discomfort, she stepped up to the doorway and peered out, retracting
said head before a rain of bullets struck the door frame.
"There's another one.... In the room up ahead. A mutant
freak...." She heard a shout from down the corridor.
"How can you tell?" Came a reply.
"This one was all green.... All over.... Even her hair...."
The original voice answered.
"No...." Setsuna muttered to herself. "I can't allow
this.... I can't allow this to happen...." She clenched a fist and
closed her eyes, allowing her powers to take over as she faded from
the room.
Seconds later, green paint sprayed the walls as a succession
of grenades, thrown into the room, did their work, dowsing the feet
of the soldiers who stormed in after the explosions had subsided.
"Aww shit...." The Unit Leader spat as he looked down at his
boots. "Good one, Abe.... Now anyone in this shithouse joint will
know where we've been.... Just great."
Abe turned to his commanding officer, and back at the four
other soldiers who stood behind him, staring at him. "But the door
was closed, I tell, you, then it opened and this green thing popped
its head out...."
"Tell that to the General when we're finished...." The Unit
Leader slung his service rifle over his shoulder. "They don't pay
us any more for killing civvies. Move out.... This is bound to
bring someone or something out of the woodwork...."
END OF PART 34
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Next Chapter - "The Inheritance of Lucifer"
_________
/ @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)
/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@internode.on.net
/\
\/ \/
\___________/
/_/ \_\ PU
Version 1.0 - Sunday, November 29th 1998
S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon and Silent Mobius are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Kia
Asamiya, Michitaka Kikuchi, Bandai, Studio Tron, Kadokawa and
Kodansya. All other characters were thought up by me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A smile is nothing more than the mask of sadness.
Saturn touched the rain-soaked leaves of the tree, allowing
the water to run onto her fingers. She lifted that hand to her
nose, sniffing the water. Any thought of comparing the rain with
tears ended there for her. It was without the honest saltiness that
she wished to partake, and flicked it away without a second thought.
She turned and stared up at the window of the hospital room in
which she lay. The dichotomy of being in two places at the same
time didn't feel all that foreign to her, but then, in her short
experience of being Saturn, that was not a surprise.... There had
always been a divide between the girl named Tomoe Hotaru and the
being who dwelled within.
It was a good thing that nobody could see her. The sailorfuku
she wore was something of an overdramatic symbol of the power she
contained, being singularly flashy and mundane in the context of
modern Japan, as much a symbol of lolita complex fantasies as it was
a vague recall of the girls' school uniform. It was fortunate that
her particular fuku was more subdued than those of the others.
Walking around in these kinds of clothes, carrying a big, dangerous
looking weapon on a stick, was likely to get her arrested.
Clothing had never been all that important to Saturn. Pluto
sometimes understood, but then, the both of them existed on a form
of higher intellectual plane than the other senshi.... Like Gods,
or spirits of destiny.... A contemptuous eye for the weakness of
the physical, yet understanding of its importance to others. The
entrapment of flesh being the acceptable facade by which to
interrelate.
She closed her eyes and raised her face to the sky, silently
whispering enchantments she'd thought she'd forgotten, long ago.
The hushing, soporific nature of the words calmed her spirit and
allowed her vision and sense of vision to gain a greater clarity.
She could see whisps of consciousness, fleeing and moving through
the city, seemingly uncaring of its own fragility. She smiled....
She had, long ago, come to accept the weaknesses of mortality as a
given.... That was why the smile was the mask of sadness.... It
tries to hide the inevitability of the end, and reminds all of the
secret garden in which they wish to play.
The philosophy had to wait, however, much as she enjoyed the
brief moments of divine reflection. There were things she had to
do. Things that could only bring tears to her eyes.
----o
Part Thirtyfour
Ghost Lighter
----o
"What do you want?" Mercury confronted the strange individual
who had emerged from the limousine, a man, dressed in a full dinner
suit. The car had first pulled alongside her, then across her path,
up onto the footpath, as she wandered along the quiet street in a
contemplative mood. Actually, she was contemplating whether she
should raid the Japanese Reserve Bank at the time, so it was no
great loss, and considering Japan was in recession, there probably
wouldn't have been a hell of a lot for her to raid....
Anyway, the car blocked her path, which angered her a little,
as she hated it when cars blocked her path. She'd always been too
polite to say anything about it, but this time she ran around to the
driver's door, wrenched it off the side of the car, pulled out the
car's chauffeur and started laying into him with the kinds of
attacks that would have done a professional wrestler proud.
Before she could do too much damage to him, the strange
passenger of the vehicle stepped out from the back, and interrupted
her effort at chastising the transgressor of Mercury's unwritten
laws. "Do you mind.... Drivers like he are extremely hard to
find." The passenger placed a hand on her shoulder. She slapped
the hand away and stood back several paces. From there, she
interrogated him with the aforementioned question.
"What do I want?" The passenger helped the hapless chauffeur
to his feet. "Why, I want you, Sailormercury.... Or, let me put it
this way.... I have been interested in employing you and your
Sailor friends for quite some time.... I have need of your powers."
"Need of MY powers, or the powers of my so-called friends?"
She sniffed contemptuously. "They all think I'm weaker than they.
Well, you know what I've done, tonight? You see all the destruction
I've wreaked? They won't be calling THIS Sailorsenshi the weak link
in the chain anymore." She put her hands on her hips and laughed
maniacally.
"Ano.... I didn't mean to express doubt in your abilities,
Sailormercury. You are obviously VERY powerful.... But I have been
keeping tabs on your activities, tonight.... And I wanted to say...
I have NEED of someone like you...."
"What for?" Mercury ranged up on the passenger and his
chauffeur. The chauffeur cringed at her presence. "And who are
you, anyway?"
"I...." The passenger swallowed, using up as much of his
reserves of bravery as charm. "I am Manakuto.... A highly esteemed
member of the Diet Assembly, and of an organisation called the Coven
of Atrocity...."
"Coven of Atrocity?" Mercury rubbed her chin. "Sounds cool.
Do you kill and maim lots of people for fun and profit?"
"Ano...." There were times in Manakuto's career, as a master
manipulator, where he genuinely began to worry about the things he
would get himself into, most especially the people he had to
associate with. "It has not been.... unknown, for our group to be
involved in such... activities."
"Ah, so you are a corrupt politician, who manipulates the
hallowed halls of power in the name of the secret society you work
for.... I have to say, you're a villain if ever I saw one.... I
don't like villains." And with that, Mercury swatted the poor
chauffeur aside and gripped Manakuto by the collar of his suit,
lifting him off the ground. "Of course, I'll work for you if there
is something in it for me...."
"We can... talk about... the terms of... your employment... in
the... car... Can we not?" Manakuto said through a half-choked
throat. Mercury smiled at him.
"Well, now, I don't know if a cute, sexy young thing like me
really wants to get into a car with a big, mean, nasty old man like
you.... I mean, who knows what unimaginable things you might do to
me...." She chuckled and let Manakuto go, allowing him to fall to
his feet.
As he sat on his haunches, leaning against the side of the
limousine for support, rubbing his sore throat, he watched as she
walked along the car, running a hand along the bonnet, swaying in an
almost seductive fashion. "Power.... Money.... Sex.... That's
all you bigwigs ever seem to concern yourselves over.... What is it
that you really want from me, Manakuto-san? After killing my
comrade, Jupiter, why would you bother to make such an offer to me?"
She turned to him, smiling. "Oh yes, Dietman.... I have heard of
your name in passing.... With my family connections, how could I
not? I never would have thought I'd meet you like this....
Strange, the way destiny shapes things, is it not?"
Manakuto stood, using the front door to the limo as support.
"What do you know? About the death of Jupiter?"
"That she deserved what she got, stupid bitch that she was."
Mercury sidled back to him. "Death can be nothing but a pleasure
for someone whose life no longer followed the path of destiny.
Don't you agree, Dietman?"
As she started to finger the front of his shirt, the first
few spots of yet another rainshower started to fall from the dark
sky. Manakuto looked up with annoyance. "Don't you think we should
get into the car, now? I think we're about to have a downpour at
any moment...." He looked aside at his unconscious chauffeur, lying
in the middle of the road. "I don't think we'll be going anywhere
fast, though."
"Why? Are you afraid of a little water?" Mercury giggled
cutely, then threw her arms over Manakuto's shoulders, staring into
his eyes. "I love water. The sound of it.... The feel of it....
The very first sound I remember hearing, as a child, was the pelting
of rain on the roof of my house.... It is a constant companion....
Water.... It lives with me and within me.... Does it frighten you,
Dietman, to allow yourself to become just a little wet?"
"I really don't see the poi...." He began, before she placed
a hand over his mouth, looking from side to side in a conspiratorial
manner.
"Shhhh.... Even though I am a senshi of water, there is
another who is also adept with such things.... Whilst hers knows
only the depths of the oceans, these droplets that fall from the sky
can be her ears and eyes as well as mine.... And she is a danger to
you and your people.... Let us not talk here, where she can listen
in to what we have to say."
And with a snap of her fingers, she, Manakuto, the chauffeur
and the limousine, disappeared into thin air....
----o
Kaji sat upright in his seat as rain started to pelt against
the roof of the car. "It's close to 24 hours since we left that
damned hotel.... Things have just got worse since then...." He
turned to Aoi. "So where do you want to go? Home?"
Aoi lifted her hand from over her eyes and blinked at Kaji.
"Home? What for?"
"Where else can you go? Our office has been totally trashed
and it is unlikely that you'll find a friendly reception at
Central.... Especially after what happened with Watanabe-san."
Aoi sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry about that, okay?
It's not my fault that the Jupiter heart crystal decided to explode
in your vicinity." She drooped forward, banging her head on the
dashboard. "Baka! Baka! Baka!"
"What's wrong now?"
She lifted her head up again and looked at him, smiling sadly.
"It's nothing.... I'm just feeling extremely down on myself just
now."
"So you should."
"Thanks for the sympathy." Aoi huffed, puffing up her cheeks.
"And anyway, I can't go home.... Those psycho Sacred House girls
might still be there."
"Not to mention half of the Sacred House operations team....
Well, that doesn't leave us with much, does it?" Kaji did up his
belt and started the car. Aoi watched him, suspiciously.
"What are you doing?"
"You wanted to go after that Pagan Lacey guy.... According to
what you've told me, he and the Meehan woman should be on their way
to the Coven headquarters right now, if they haven't already broken
in."
"What? You've got to be kidding, right? We just walk
straight into the headquarters of the Coven of Atrocity?"
"Why not? I've done it before." Kaji smiled sweetly at Aoi,
and hit the accelerator pedal before she could question him any
further.
----o
"Would you please remind me what the purpose of bringing me
here is, exactly?" Pagan crossed his arms, staring around the dimly
lit and musty room that comprised one of the Coven's launderettes.
"To think I send my clothes here to be washed. Must get myself a
washing machine of my own."
"It's no different in the House." Mhaere opened up one of the
large, industrial-strength machines that sat along the walls,
imposing in their bulk and tarnished surfaces. "There are still
clothes in this one.... Sodden, too.... Efficient your washmaids
aren't."
"Just answer the question." Pagan huffed as he stared at
Mhaere's rear end, sticking up as she leaned over the tub. She
looked back and him and rolled her eyes.
"You have absolutely no sense of modesty, do you."
"Not really. Not when someone has transported me halfway
across the city into a dirty and dingy little hole like this. Now,
are you going to answer my question or not?"
Mhaere stood up and turned, subconsciously placing her hands
behind her. "You said you wanted proof that your friend, Lysithea
Caprice, was involved in activities that you consider to be against
the charter of the Coven."
"Not in those words, I'm sure." Pagan sniffed haughtily.
"The real reason, I suspect, is that you wanted me away from Aoi."
He chuckled. "Want me all for yourself. Not that I can blame you.
A lot of people feel that way about me."
"You really think a lot of yourself, don't you?" Mhaere
sneered. "If I really wanted to just fuck the living shit out of
you, I could do it, here and now.... And there wouldn't be a thing
you could do in your little repertoire of powers that would stop
me."
Pagan looked at her, dubiously. "So what's stopping you,
hmmm? Modesty?" He laughed out loud. "Face it, red.... I
wouldn't MIND it.... Just don't expect any lasting relationship to
come from it."
"I'm not looking for lasting relationships. I'd just add you
to my harem of mildly attractive men to be chained around my bed."
Mhaere shrugged and walked over to the only door that lead out of
the room. "As it is, if we landed in any other part of the Coven's
complex, we'd have set off a myriad of alarms. The House is not the
only establishment that is guarded by the most up-to-date security."
"Oh come on. I'm sure anyone who came running to see who it
was would be intimidated by your mere physical presence." Pagan
smiled as Mhaere glanced fleetingly, and painfully, in his direction.
"That never stopped them trying to make a mess of me the last
time I was on this world." She turned away, placing a hand on the
back of the door, wiping away some of the moisture that clung to it.
"Of course, there was a time when everyone wanted me dead, one way
or another, so I've become a little nihilistic in my view of
allegiances. Excuse me if I sneer in contempt at your cloying view
of the Coven as the saving grace of all mankind."
"Well, yes, I suppose having everyone you know want to kill
you can skew your view of society." Pagan stepped up behind her.
"Doesn't look like it did much physical damage to you, though."
"I was killed.... My body splattered and torn like a hunk of
meat. I had been hunted down like an animal, and was butchered like
one." She turned to him as she placed her hand against the door
handle, gently. "Unfortunately, for everyone, it's a lot harder
than that to rid them of my presence. Nemesis is a world that
doesn't apply to the traditional forces of nature. There, the
concept of a body is anathema to existence. And so, I was cast from
this world and into that one."
"So, you have seen the world of our forbears.... What was it
like?" Mhaere's eyes went distant at Pagan's question. He studied
the expression with interest.
"It's both heaven and hell in one. If that is, at all,
possible."
"A form of purgatory?"
"Nothing is purged by going there. You just learn to be like
one of them. One of the Lucifer Folk. And all I ever did when I
was there was look for a way out." She returned from whatever place
her mind had taken her, gazing at Pagan directly. "I left signposts
for those who might have followed me there.... Directing them here.
It was the least I could do. You arrive there with nothing more
than the desire to return. After a while, you start to like the
pleasures and the pains that it has to offer. If I had not left
when I did, it is likely that I would have suicided myself to its
distractions."
"Suicided?" Pagan frowned, but Mhaere ignored the question
and opened the door, continuing.
"When I ended up back in this world, I suddenly found myself
back in an approximation of my former body, only stronger, and more
immune to the genetic mutations that had occured to me the first
time, thus I do not progress out of this form, although I could if I
wished to. If there is one thing you learn by going to Nemesis,
it's the true extent of your powers, and how to manage them. One of
the reasons why, if I really wanted to, I could do to you whatever I
wanted, here and now."
"So why can't I?" Pagan huffed. "What is wrong with me, as I
am, that is stopping me from achieving this so-called state of
perfection?" Mhaere was surprised by his insistent tone.
"Oh no, I'm not telling you the secret THAT easily." She
waved a hand at him, dismissively, as she stepped through the
doorway into the ironing room beyond, equally as vacated as the
laundry had been upon their arrival. She stepped into the middle of
the room, hands on hips. "Look at this.... One would think they
were on strike."
"Why?" Pagan followed her through.
"Hmm?" Mhaere feigned distraction. "Why won't I tell you
what?" She smiled wickedly, making Pagan furious.
"The secret.... Of perfecting one's own powers.... Is it
part of the process, of going to Nemesis.... Of losing one's body
as part of the event?"
"Pagan...." Mhaere took a breath. "Perfecting yourself, as a
Lucifer Folk, is as much a curse as it is a catharsis of being. And
it hurts like hell." She wagged a finger at him. "Don't allow
yourself to fall prey to the philosophies that the Coven espouses,
and your own desire to become something more than you are, now."
"That's easy for YOU to say. You're already there."
"Yes. A bitch, isn't it?" Mhaere gave him a toothy grin.
"But...." Pagan looked around for the words. "That was....
That was one of the reasons I joined the Coven.... I became
fascinated.... With this thing that I was.... I wanted to see how
far I could take myself, but I was afraid of the consequences, to
myself and to others." He clenched his fists. "If there IS a way
of achieving this without those consequences...."
"Oh, there are consequences. You haven't been listening to
what I've been telling you." She paused, dramatically. "And if we
don't stop your friend, and those who are working with him, those
consequences shall be borne out upon this city, and perhaps the rest
of the world."
----o
Usagi landed on her butt. Hard. Hard enough for a fit of the
wails to build up inside her, if it weren't for the fact that she
didn't know where the hell she was, and was too frightened to make
any noise, just in case someone nasty appeared to remonstrate with
her.
She had landed on the tiled surrounds of a large swimming
pool.... Even larger than the public pool she had often gone to in
her younger days. The pool was set in a large, covered hall, but
alas, there were no windows so she could get a bearing on her
surrounds.
The hall was lit by a simple exit sign above a door at the
other end, giving it a fairly ghostly atmosphere. The only relief
was the gentle buzz of the pool filter in the background.
Usagi got to her feet, rubbing her tailbone and performing a
little dance as she tried to recover movement against the pain she
felt. She stopped when she realised she was alone.
"S... Setsuna-san? Pluto, where are you?" Her voice,
regardless of its deliberate softness, echoed around the hall,
coming back to her as a confirmation that she was, indeed, sans
Setsuna. She shivered for a second. "C... Cthulu-san? Are you
there?"
"Blurkle snorkle...." Came the bubbling reply from the bottom
of the pool. Usagi ran to the side, dropping to her knees as she
stared into the deep end.
"Cthulu-san.... What are you doing down there?"
"Norgle norgle slorkle glrgle...." The large, round thing
said as he sat at the bottom. Usagi rubbed the back of her head.
"Ano.... Can't you swim? I thought you were able to levitate
your body...."
"Bworkle!" Cthulu rumbled, annoyedly. "Blurkle slorkle
bwarkle sloogle."
"Don't tell me.... Water takes away your powers, right?"
Usagi sat back and crossed her arms as Cthulu went quiet with
embarrassment. "That's just great. How long does it take for you
to drown?"
"Blurkle."
"Yeah, I forgot about our little communication difficulty....
It would be SOOOO much easier if Pluto were here.... Damn her....
Just when I need her, she goes and disappears on me."
----o
Setsuna was pissed off, and that didn't happen too often.
This time, though, she had cause to be angry....
She was sitting, neck deep, in a large tub of green paint,
staring out of the tub's open top at the white, almost sterile
surrounds of the storeroom. After a few moments of contemplative,
steaming anger, she lifted herself over the side of the tub, and
promptly slipped, falling to the floor with a squishing thud that
sprayed green in every direction, messing up the room's cleanliness,
good and proper.
She managed to get herself to her feet before she slipped
again, falling hard on her back and winding herself, and came to the
ultimate conclusion that walking was going to be a great deal harder
than she expected. So, she got to her hands and knees, still
slipping and sliding over the surface of the floor, and crawled her
way across to the sole door that lead out of the room.
Managing to lift herself up against the door, she clasped at
the handle. It was round, and with the paint on her hands, it
slipped from her grasp repeatedly. She clenched her teeth and let
out a frustrated growl as she managed to get it to turn, far enough
that she could feel it reach its maximum.
She then leaned back, allowing herself to fall on her back as
the door swung open, revealing the darkness of a hall outside. She
lay there, listening, for a few seconds. She could hear movement in
the hallway.... Footsteps.... But nothing definite. She wondered
at first if they were Usagi's cautious footsteps, since Usagi had
been gated away with her....
Damn that Cthulu Kanzaki, she thought to herself.... The
unpredictability of where that creature's powers may take them
evaded even her foresight....
A flash... Merely the briefest image, came to her mind....
An image of immense horror.... Of death on a scale she had not seen
for a very long time.... Death that was descending upon her, and
her Princess, at this very moment.
With all her effort, she managed to get to her feet, the paint
becoming sticky as it started to dry on her. Despite the
discomfort, she stepped up to the doorway and peered out, retracting
said head before a rain of bullets struck the door frame.
"There's another one.... In the room up ahead. A mutant
freak...." She heard a shout from down the corridor.
"How can you tell?" Came a reply.
"This one was all green.... All over.... Even her hair...."
The original voice answered.
"No...." Setsuna muttered to herself. "I can't allow
this.... I can't allow this to happen...." She clenched a fist and
closed her eyes, allowing her powers to take over as she faded from
the room.
Seconds later, green paint sprayed the walls as a succession
of grenades, thrown into the room, did their work, dowsing the feet
of the soldiers who stormed in after the explosions had subsided.
"Aww shit...." The Unit Leader spat as he looked down at his
boots. "Good one, Abe.... Now anyone in this shithouse joint will
know where we've been.... Just great."
Abe turned to his commanding officer, and back at the four
other soldiers who stood behind him, staring at him. "But the door
was closed, I tell, you, then it opened and this green thing popped
its head out...."
"Tell that to the General when we're finished...." The Unit
Leader slung his service rifle over his shoulder. "They don't pay
us any more for killing civvies. Move out.... This is bound to
bring someone or something out of the woodwork...."
END OF PART 34
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Next Chapter - "The Inheritance of Lucifer"
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/ @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)
/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@internode.on.net
/\
\/ \/
\___________/
/_/ \_\ PU
Version 1.0 - Sunday, November 29th 1998