OSTANOVKA DVA
(Intermission Two)




"Power is chaos. Technology is power. The strength of one, the power of one. That is all."


Upon the threshold of departure the echidna had stood, hearing these words from his father, a man much like himself. Before his family was destroyed, he had been warned.


"One day, the true bringer of power and chaos will grace this world. Maybe, we shall not live to see it. But I, the King of Death, that which they call me, will see it happen. See the bringer with my own eyes. See the destruction of the civilization!"





Resin gave an angry growl. It had been long ago. There was no such thing. His father was a liar.

There is no such thing…I told him so….

The doors of the old cathedral lay before him, waiting to open. With considerable force, Resin took those memories back into the depths of forgetfulness, where they belonged.

But it wasn't easy. He had the child with him. Yet he had been told that they would not exist in the future.

I must keep my composure…..I must….

No one said anything to the echidna as he passed them; he was second only to the Death Natron, and his position was both admired and feared. He was a Machiavelli to them, someone not to mess with. Someone with a shady past.

The girl was beginning to stir as he quietly knocked on the door of Natron's reception room. For a moment, he hesitated. He was not sure how useful the child would be, and he didn't even know why he was bothering to bring the child. Yet, deep down, he felt connected to the child, almost felt an impulse to protect it.

Finally, after a moment, his hand pounded on the door.

"Death Natron." He called hoarsely. "I must see you…"
"Come in." The voice was as it always was when placated – calm and collected.
"….Yes, madam."

With a small curse on his lips as to what she would say, he entered, his booty on his shoulders. Indeed, the moment the Death Natron's eyes came upon Lara-Su, they seemed to become incensed.

"What is this?"
"Mada-"
"Silence." Resin wished to simply twist the woman's neck at the harsh reproach, but he knew it would do him little good. "What child do you have there? Is it the guardian's?"

Resin was slightly stunned. He hadn't looked at the face for his similarities.

"Let me see the child."

At that moment, Resin could feel the child's body move in a waking position. With a gasp, he dropped the girl to the floor. A cry later, and she was awake.

"No!!" She screamed when she saw him, and drew back. "Get away from me!"

As a guardian breed, she had the ability to sense others who were of the same mind as the strange echidna. With that in her thoughts, fear overcame her, and before the Death Natron could catch her, she shut her eyes tight, swung towards the origin of her senses….and felt the mask crack in her hands.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHR!!"

She opened her eyes, saw the robotic face, and screamed. She had thought that they were of the past. Of her father's books.

Her screaming was then ceased by a sudden crack on her own neck. She fell, her horrified expression still on her face.

"Natron…!"
"Take this brat out of my sight."

The fury in the Death Natron's heart for the family of her enemy once again attacking her caused her eyes to turn blood red. Resin had seen her fury boil over several times, so it was not that he was nervous about. It was what she was angry over which made him feel, strangely enough, fearful for the life he brought to her. It was a first and he realized that it was his memories that were to blame.

….What have I done….

"She screams too much." Controlling her rage as best as she could, she turned around. "Take that child away. Kill her at the first chance you have."

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

"…..You have something?"

The group stared at Washu. It seemed too perfect, that the scientist could have something so quickly. But she poke, and everyone listened.

"Perhaps I should explain….and show you."

With that, the scientist's hand went into her pocket, producing a small clasp which she stuck to the wall. Upon contact with the plaster, the clasp opened, shining a bright light onto the other side of the room. Within the light were green and blue colors, shaped in such a way that it struck all who looked at it that the projection was familiar.

"Earth." Everyone let their breath out. "Here. The little red dots that will appear are what I like to call atomic 'pockets' - places on earth where, in contrast to any known theories, have an atomic misalignment. Most of these places are pretty much dead, uninhabited, uncared for. Except for one."

The group watched as one spot fell upon a chain of islands near one of the continents.

"Japan...."
"Mmmhmm." Washu nodded. "The Infinity Delta."
"How?"
"Well, I certainly can't say for certain. But a variety of factors can come into play." Washu replied. "Normally, a weakened atomic structure isn't something to really get all worked about - unless it becomes a black hole. However, that only occurs where stars are, because the atoms are so heated. Here, however, there has to be another explanation for this type of portal opening."
"And you have it?"
"Yup. Drastic abuse of the pocket's already weak atomic structure."
"Ok, Ms. Washu...."

Mercury stood up before the pink-haired girl. Washu's eyes, in return, widened at the soldier.

"Lets say we believe you and that something drastic...did happen." Mercury pointed to the map. "Not that I doubt you. But there isn't anything short of an atomic explosion that would probably do that, and even then I don't think that's to blame. Care to theorize on that?"
"Glad you asked, soldier." The crooked smile reappeared. "This is where we have the good Professor Tomoe appear."

With a snap of her fingers, Kiyone appeared in the room a photo.

"Thanks." Back towards the audience, "This is a picture taken in 1984, found in the National Archives. I thought you might want to take a look at this..."

Each person looked at the picture as it was passed around. After looking at it, a voice suddenly piped up:

"Locke's not in here."
"I know." Washu took the photo back. "But almost everyone else in this photo was killed in the fashion that Locke was. All of the people in this photo are dead….except for two."

With that, the photo appeared on Washu's projector, with two figures circled. One was of a young girl. The other was a young man.

"Those two. The only ones unaccounted for."
"Who are they?"
"Well, the guy…." Washu paused. "His name is Aaron Sabre. He was an assistant of sorts to Tomoe and George Wesyche. According to the papers, he was an experiment volunteer for Project Superhuman."
"Project…" Everyone slowly gasped.
"The avatism project!"
"Indeed….I guess." Washu crimped eye, then shrugged. "His whereabouts after 1984 were never known."
"He could have died, being reverted into daimon form."
"A possibility. But no one can confirm it, since diamons didn't seem to start appearing until ten years later."
"And the woman…?" The Queen asked.
"…..Rania Googolov." The name caused most of the soldiers to stiffen. "She was Tomoe's personal assistant from 1977, when she was seventeen, until 1984 as well, when she supposedly died in an explosion at Tomoe Labs. Nothing was ever found of her either."
"So which one is it?"
"Don't know. It could be either one of them."

The group looked down at their places. It seemed strange to all of them, that they, the queen's protectors, couldn't figure this out. It was a precarious time, and they all knew that identifying the murderer would allow them to stop a possible assassination against the queen.
The queen, meanwhile, was holding her head. She gave a moan, but no one heard her.

"So no one knows for sure?"

The spontaneous thought came to Mars.

"Perhaps there is someone who knows."
"Who?"
"The….Grandmaster."
"Is it safe to trust him?" Uranus stepped forward. "I'm sorry, but if he is the prince of the Acorn kingdom, or at least a member of the royal family, his speaking in his current condition would be slightly detrimental. We don't know if we can trust this scum."
"But, Haruka…" Mars turned to Washu. "You heard him. He spoke of a mortal enemy who was fighting with him to obtain Deowainsta, the planet in the portal. If Pluto speaks truthfully, and the assassin went through the same portal as Knuckles did…the one the prince came out of…"
"Hmm….Washu looked up at Mars. "There's a chance that we might be able to solve this. Go get him."


He is not here…


The sudden voice had everyone up in surprise. Washu looked over at Mars, then over at the queen.

"Well……not here?….Whoever said that, he's in the prison. I'll go-"


No.


This time, everyone looked. The strange voice was coming from the queen.


He…..is not here……


Suddenly, the queen stood up, her body glowing a bright white color. The blue irises of her eyes seemed to swallow the pupils until they became a steely blue, even as she looked upon the soldiers.


The prince is no longer here….


"Queen?!"

With a outward lift of her hand, the queen reached out, a glowing light appearing in the palm. A small wisp of energy filled the room as the Silver Crystal formulated in her hand.

"Serenity?!"
"Highness?" Washu cocked her head. "What's she doing?"


…..Scientist……


The steel blue eyes turned to Washu now. Within the queen's new eyes, there was a strange new power that seemed to dance in the blue eyes. Power, and another being.

A child.

"What….?"

The eyes flashed.


Danger…..there is danger…..to tell…


The Crystal appeared, flashed brilliantly, blinding everyone. Washu struggled to look upon the queen, but found that the queen no longer stood – in her place was something else, something that was feeding off from the queen. Back from the grave, with a task.

Before she could identify the spirit, the crystal let out another blast of light. This time, the scientist struggled against the power, even as the soldiers and Kiyone fell. In the end she lost, the power too great to withstand, and she finally fell unconscious to the floor.

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

The light could be seen for miles in the large city, but it was of no consequence to the Grandmaster.

He simply shrugged it off as he approached the ruins again, his head going down as he did. It was to conceal his eyes, which burned with determination. To kill.

Death Natron was his greatest enemy. He was jailed because of her. And now, she would pay dearly for it