NOVOSTE
(Information)





"WASHU!!!!!"

The banging came on the door so hard, Kiyone nearly broke through it.

"WHAT?!"
"Let me in!!"
"Why?"
"Trust me!" The policewoman shouted through the door. "You want to see this, I swear!!"

As soon as the door opened, Kiyone was in the room, thrusting papers into Washu's face.

"Hmph." Ryoko rolled her eyes. "You're pretty desperate, aren't you?"
"Have a look at this."

Kiyone promptly presented the papers to Washu. With a little confused smirk on her face, Washu accepted the papers. After several moment, her eyes began to widen.

"Weeeell!!!" She whistled. "Someone likes to paint with red, don't they?"
"The name is .Dien Tsun Nyung." Kiyone folded her arms. "He was a Vietnamese scientist who was brutally murdered in 2000. He was killed in London."
"So..?"
"Look. He was killed almost exactly like Locke was. And there was a note with his body as well, according to the report I dug up on him on the Crystal Palace database."
"Hmmm…"

Washu rubbed her chin. She was not one to be highly emotional, but she was deep down surprised that they had found a similar murder so quickly.

"Ok…." Washu looked at Kiyone. "I trust you know to look for anyone else killed in a similar fashion, and to find out whatever link they might have had to each other. Maybe then we might be able to get something out of this."
"Of course."
"How'd you get this, Kiyone?"
"I…" Kiyone shook her head. "It somehow just….appeared."
"Okie." Washu pat her shoulder. "Then make more of them appear."

With a nod, Kiyone left, leaving Washu with Ryoko. The demon simply crimped her eyebrow.

"Another day for the big bad scientist, huh?"
"……Dien Tsun Nyung…." Washu muttered. "The name is very familiar…..I'm going to look it up on my personal file."

With that, Washu fired up her computer and tapped her fingers as the computer quietly loaded up the name. As it completed, her eyes widened.

"Well!!….this is unexpected…."

----------------------------

It was the beginning of a dreary day for Lara-Su.

"Come on, lazy!" Connor stomped his foot. "What good is hide and seek if you don't hide!!"
"I don't wanna play."

Lara-Su simply scraped her foot on the grass in front of her. It was her fault, and when it was her fault she didn't feel like playing.

"Whatever." Connor mumbled. "At least pretend to hide."

Lara-Su sighed. Looking over, her eyes caught a bush that was slightly blocking the road..

"Ok! I'm counting!!" Connor turned around. "One….two…..three…."

Lara-Su didn't even attempt to make herself hidden. She simply crawled under the bush, separating the branches and making noise as she did.

"Five….six…" Connor rolled his eyes. It was too easy. "Seven, eight…"

The bush rustled harder, as Lara-Su attempted to get Connor's attention as to her location. She didn't want to play games. She wanted her daddy.

"Nine…" Suddenly, the rustling stopped. "TEN!! HERE……I…."

Connor's voice trailed off, but only for an instant. He suddenly screamed, only his scream was much more desperate and no longer playful.

"MOM!!!!! AUNT JULIE-SU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He only had his back turned for a moment, but it was all it took. Lara-Su was gone.

-------------------------

"….And so now he's in custody."

Pluto looked at Uranus and Mercury before leaving the room.

"What about you?"
"I am going to go look for Knuckles."

Pluto left just as Washu barged in, her face with her crooked smile.

"Oh, soldiers…."
"Hmm?"
"I'd like to ask you a question."

The way Washu said it made everyone uncomfortable. The smile didn't help either.

"What do you want?" Uranus looked at the pink-haired scientist uneasily.
"Oh…nothing…" Washu looked up. "I would just like to inquire upon anything having to do with anything called 'Infinity' that you might have knowledge of?"

The uneasiness increased, and Washu could tell. She gave a smile; it was a start.

"You know all about Tokyo; you've lived here all your lives. I'm sure you know something."


"Hmph." Uranus looked at Mercury. "I guess we have no choice

"The Infinity Delta Zone. Ten kilometers at maximum distance. A triangular-shaped piece of land, artificially made in the Tokyo Bay." Mercury handed the computer over to Washu. "In 1977, when it was first filled, the group of scientists working on building up the land requested that they be allowed to break the Delta off of the rest of Tokyo and obtain an autonomous condition. Their grant was refused for years until 1988, when their motion was finally granted by the Japanese government after a money amount that could only have been in the trillions was spent on behalf of the Delta Project by its supporters. In 2000, the Delta's autonomy was dissolved due to the fact that it had been destroyed. That, and the government failed to recieve certain amneties it had been promised."
"It was a little island of democracy within the city, or so its 'ruler' called it. Its leader compared it to West Berlin in East Germany."
"Leader?"
"Professor Soichi Tomoe."

There was such anger emphasized in Uranus' words that Washu could almost feel the animosity tingling in his pores.

"I take it you had a history..."
"You can say that." Uranus' eyes flashed. "He was an insane criminal, a man who was one of our greatest enemies. He was Hotaru's beloved father."
"Hotaru..."
"Sailor Saturn."
"Sailor Saturn?!"
"Yes."
"Well..."Washu looked at Uranus. "I don't see any reason why this murderer would leave the words 'INFINITY DELTA' with Locke, seeing I didn't even know what that meant until you told me."
"Indeed, it doesn't make sense." Uranus poindered. "Unless it is Tomoe from the dead telling us our queen is in danger. But we would have known.....and he wouldn't have murdered Locke.....wasn't ever involved with that battle. He didn't even know Earth existed at that time!"
"I....see......" Washu's eyes slit in thought. "What exactly was in this Delta?"
"Many things. An amusement park, a renknowned research lab..."
"But," At this point, even Neptune's voice was slightly lower. "It most famous attraction was the Infinity Academy."
"A school?"
"For the gifted and famous. Everyone who was anyone was enticed to go to the school. World-famous athletes, musicians, scientists, students, all were given offers to attend. Anyone from outside the exclusive circle who could beat the average grade of attendance could also get into the school, with free tuition, room and board." Uranus closed her eyes. "It was the school everyone wanted to go to....."

At this, Mercury looked down at her computer and typed in several more items. At that, a hologram appeared in front of Ryoko, one which took the demon by surprise.

"What the-"
"A daimon." Mercury typed into her computer. "This type is an avatistic construct. They were the results of Tomoe's experiments. His dream was to create a fusion superspecies of alien and human DNA, and he experimented on anything that moved within an inch of its life with daimon seeds. But almost all of his constructs were unable to take the massive drug onslaught, alterations and alien seed. Not only that, but daimons are soul suckers - once anyone is germinated with a daimon seed, their soul is slowly deteriorated so that the daimon might be able to live within the body host, as Earth was not the daimon's true habitat. It was very rare for someone whos soul was completely destroyed to not revert into this form."
"There was a five percent success rate with daimon seed germination." Uranus muttered. "Thousands died from merely being implanted with the seed."
"For once someone is reverted into an avatisitc form, there is no way to cure it. All the people we fought - even innocent civilians - were killed."
"I see…" Washu seemed incredibly interested. "Soichi Tomoe…."
"And now we have to figure out why Locke is connected to this madman...."
"Madams."

Suddenly, a guard appeared. He bowed, then spoke:

"The....Grandmaster.......wishes to talk to they who have imprisoned him."

------------------------------

"The Spectre,
upon gazing,
towards his body,
learns the truth,
as hysteria,
in the form of a friend,
showers his former self."


Look upon the bodies
See that which they incur!
This is the fate of the Miracle Men
Their bodies to the vulture!

The names were changed in the song
To fit her hellish design
With a truth so twisted and obsessive
Yet to her addled mind, benign….

Stop this, we must
And learn the truth…
That which was my father's destruction
Was your father's victory…..

Victory……
A word so bitter to those who know the price!!




"I have something, madam."

The middle-aged face looked up from its place at the table to the echidna, a small, calm smile on its face.

"He finds the door?"
"He finds it."
"Excellent."

The woman, a human, motioned for the echidna to come closer. In the cavernous, Gothic dining hall, any who dined here would feel a chill even as they toasted their salvation. This one, however, slinging his prize on his back, had no fear of her; he had seen his share of death.

"But you failed to get her."
"This ass stopped me." The echidna patted the lump that was Knuckles. "And you were right. She is heavily guarded. We must be more careful next time. Send a feeler that is more prone to dying but not befo-"
"That is my decision, Resin, as to do that or not."

The streaked hair, black then green, black then green, made the woman seem almost ridiculous on first glance. With a chuckle, she set down a knife upon the food before her, stabbing it and drawing blood. With an imperative nick of her tongue, she licked it off.

"I trust you can give him to them."
"I will give him to them."
"And remember. No messing up this time. And…..find the seed while you're at it."
"Seed?"
"Yes. Kill them as well."

That was the end of the conversation. Without another word, the woman left, and Resin, the echidna, was left with the body of Knuckles to give to them. He almost could have been upset about it.

His way of disposing the Guardian would have been much more merciful.