Disclaimers/Author's Notes: Yep, yep. I own nothing on page 1.

Reivew Replies:
Princess Ren: Glad to see you're still enjoying the story. I hope all your questions are answered here ^,^
JadesRose: Yes there are five main inner senshi, but there are seven if you include Rini and Chibi-chibi, maybe eight if you class Tuxedo Mask as a senshi. Either way I was wrong by saying there were six. Gomen.

Chapter XV: Dark Flame.

"You look glad to see me again." The Mars Knight started to laugh with extreme relief as he realised that it was Sailor Mars that had just kissed.
"How did you get out of there so soon? I mean, it's almost a miracle you're back here!" Sailor Mars held him closer as she sat down on his lap.
"Well, they untied me from my restraints when they gave me some food that tasted like crap, so I used the opportunity to transform and break out." The Mars Knight hugged her tightly before looking to his left.
"Hey Venus, she's -" Sailor Venus was unconscious, the golden hair on the back of her head bloodstained. "What the hell?!" The Mars Knight looked back at Sailor Mars, who had an evil grin on her face.
"Surprise!" The Mars Knight was taken completely by surprise as Sailor Mars headbutted him directly on the forehead, knocking him out instantly. She kissed him one last time before standing up, taking the crystal portal beacon away with her.

"Sweet dreams, my love."

Int. Moon Kingdom Central, Tokyo Base - October 24th 2002, 4:30 am.

It was half four, and a very tired Artemis was still searching through the many large files, looking for clues as to what the Dark Kingdom could be planning once they had reached Earth through the portal beacons, as well as monitoring the activity of the portal beacon at the Hiwaka shrine.
"Ten hours through a thirty-six hour shift... This is gonna be a long day..." the white cat yawned to himself as he called up the stats of the Hiwaka shrine portal beacon.
Current status: Unknown
Current Energy Reading: 0.0.0.0

Log for past 30 minutes:
0420 // Status: Unknown // Reading: 0.0.0.0
0410 // Status: Active // Reading: -149.69.201.41
0400 // Status: Active // Reading: -149.69.201.41

"What the?..." Artemis seemed very worried by the figures as he called up some more stats.
Lifeform Scanners // Hiwaka 1:
Filters In Place: Humanoid only.
0430 [SCAN IN PROGRESS] // 2 matches in past 1 minute 24 seconds
225.62.77.56 Identified as Mars Knight
225.83.125.77 Identified as Sailor Venus

0420 // 3 matches in past 10 minutes:
225.62.77.56 Identified as Mars Knight
225.83.125.77 Identified as Sailor Venus
!!! -225.62.77.77 Unidentified Dark Kingdom Fighter.

0410 // 2 matches in past 10 minutes:
225.62.77.56 Identified as Mars Knight
225.83.125.77 Identified as Sailor Venus

"Wait a minute! That signiature looks like Sailor Mars' signiature!" Tapping a few more buttons, the cat tried to contact the Venus senshi. "Venus! Come in!" There was no reply. All he could hear was the static from the communicators. "Venus! Are you there?! Come in!" Still there was no reply from the senshi of love. Starting to panic, the white cat opened a link to Luna's communicator.

Int. Chiba residence - October 24th 2002, 4:32 am.

All was silent in the home of Darien and Serena, all except the snoring of Serena echoing throughout the first floor. In a cosy corner of the kitchen below slept the small black figure of Luna in a small basket, worn out by the worry of earlier events. However, that silence was soon to be rudely shattered as an alarm sounded from the small communicator inside a pouch in the basket. The black cat nearly lept up to the ceiling as she answered the call.

"Who's is it?" Luna sounded very displeased with such a rude awakening.
"It's Artemis. I need you to get down to Central and send Serena and Darien to the Hiwaka shrine. We've got a level three situation. The sensors have picked up a Dark Kingdom signiature that looks similar to Sailor Mars' within the past twenty minutes. The portal beacon's gone as well." Luna made her way to her feet as Artemis alerted her of the shocking news.
"You're kidding me, right?"
"I'm not joking. I'm not getting any replies from Venus or the Mars Knight, so I'm getting a bit worried. Just get here ASAP."
"Will do. Luna out." As the white cat's face disappeared from the screen, Luna dashed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to get to Serena and Darien's bedroom.

"Wake up you two! We've got a level three going on!" The cat lept up onto the bed and started to tap Darien's face, knowing she would get a more civilised responce from him.
"Unh... Luna?" Darien sat up slowly as he tried to free his arm from underneath Serena.
"The portal beacon's gone from the Hiwaka shrine. Artemis also thinks that Sailor Mars is back. Sailor Venus and the Mars Knight aren't responding, so we need you two to check it out as soon as possible. I'm going back to central to help him." Finally managing to free his arm, Darien nudged his meatball-hair senshi girlfriend awake before searching for his own transformation pen, a small crystal rose.

"Darien..." Serena pulled the covers over her head, too tired to get up.
"Serena, you've gotta get up. There's something going on at the Hiwaka shrine and Sailor Venus and the Mars Knight aren't responding. Artemis thinks Raye's back as well. Luna says she's going back to Central to help Artemis." Upon hearing her best friend being mentioned, Serena lept out of bed and grabbed the crystal locket from her bedside table.
"What're we waiting for then? Let's go!"

Ext. Hiwaka shrine - October 24th 2002, 4:50 am

The air was filled with an uneasy silence as the faint red glow of the morning sunrise filled the clear sky. At the foot of the large steps to the magnificent Hiwaka shrine, Serena and Darien raced towards the summit, desperate to find out exactly what had happened.
"Almost there..." The anxiety was apparant on Serena's face as she approached the summit.
"Yeah. We've just got to get to the top of these steps." The crystal transformation rose in his hands, Darien picked up speed as he reached the top and dashed to the temple door, waiting for his trailing girlfriend before continuing. As he opened the large panel door, he made his way to the lounge as Serena checked out the prayer room.

"Oh my god... DARIEN!" cried Serena at the top of her voice as she slid open the large door at the entrance to the prayer room. As the tall man of honour appeared at her side, they both raced over to the two injured senshi by the great fire, Darien tending to the Mars Knight while Serena checked out Sailor Venus.
"He's out cold, but he's breathing." Darien took a closer look at the Mars Knight's forehead, intreagued by the strangely familiar shape of the bruise in the centre. "Hey Serena, what d'ya reckon this bruise looks -"
"Oh god... Darien! Get me the first aid kit! She's got a massive gash down the back of her head!" Starting to panic, Serena grabbed her communicator as Darien left to search for the first aid kit. "Luna! Get sickbay ready! They're both unconscious, and Sailor Venus has been struck pretty hard on the back of the head! She's bleeding!"

"Serena. Just keep calm. I'll get Artemis to set up the emergency transporter in a moment. What's the extent of the Mars Knight's injuries?" Serena rushed over to the Mars Knight as Darien returned with a fair amount of bandages.
"Erm, let me see... He's got a large red mark on his forehead. Looks like he's been headbutted." As Serena moved closer to the Mars Knight's face, she noticed a certain area had become redder than the rest of his forehead. "What the?... He's got a mark on his head that looks like our tiaras!"
"Mars... Artemis was right..." Luna looked anxiously away from the screen before continuing. "The only other person I can think of that would hit him would be Jupiter, and she didn't turn up on the scans." To Serena's right, Darien tended to Sailor Venus' injuries.

"If she's knocked her boyfriend out cold, she's definately not going to show any mercy for anyone." Looking at the Mars Knight's calm face, she faintly heard Artemis' voice in the background calling Luna.
"Artemis says he's got the transporter ready to take Sailor Venus. Tell Darien to stand five feet back otherwise it'll take him up as well." Serena looked back up at Darien, who was securing Sailor Venus' head bandage into place.
"Darien! Stand back! Artemis is ready to transport." The tall man walked away from the injured venus senshi as she slowly disappeared in a large orange ball of light.
"Okay. We've got her. Look after the Mars Knight at the temple. His injuries don't seem too serious so he might come back around soon, plus you'll need him to help find what weapon was used to attack Sailor Venus."
"What does Mars intend to do now that she's here?"

"There are too many possibilities at this moment, but judging by the fact that the beacon at the shrine's gone missing I presume that she's changing the locations of the beacons. I've already sent the outers on a search for the other four beacons, which we hope to beat Sailor Mars to. I'm reluctant to send Sailor Jupiter out, so she's still at home cooling down after earlier. After that we've got no choice but to keep the beacons in Central's armoured vaccuum chamber so that any attacker couldn't survive should they transport there." Serena nodded in agreement with the black cat's idea.
"Sounds good to me. Keep us informed and I'll tell you when the Mars Knight comes back around."
"Understood. Luna out."

Ext. Television Tower, Central Tokyo - 5:00 am, October 24th 2002.

"I hate early mornings, and I hate climbing up large towers at five a.m. even more! And of all days for the elevators to be out of order!" Sailor Uranus was clearly unimpressed with her early wake-up call. Her girlfriend was one to always rise early, but she enjoyed her rest. The situation was even worse for Sailor Saturn, who had school in just under four hours. The trio made their way up the steps at a pace as they reached the 30th level.
"Tell me about it! I've got exams next week, so I need my rest! Anyway, these boots are killing me on these steps!"
"Come on girls, we're here now, and we're on a mission. Anyway, we've got to save our strength for these steps. We've still got another sixty levels to go."
"What?! We've already been climbing these steps for nearly twenty minutes! We've still gotta keep going for another forty minutes?!"
"Stop complaining Saturn! Anyway, it's not often we get a job more important than the inners." The green-haired senshi of the sea tried to look on the bright side as the other two continued to grumble.
"What inner senshi? Mercury's in Germany, Mars has been captured, Chibi-Moon's in the thirtieth century and Chibi-Chibi-Moon gone to goodness knows where." Saturn seemed very pained and unusually red in the face with the rigourous exercise.
"And Venus has been whacked on the head as well, so she's out." Saturn and Neptune stopped and looked back at Uranus in disbelief.
"What did you say?"
"About forty minutes ago, about ten minutes before we got the callout. They're saying Sailor Mars came back through the portal beacon at the shrine and whacked her on the back of the head with an unknown weapon." Saturn and Neptune's jaws dropped in shock as Uranus continued to tell the story. "She then went and headbutted the Mars Knight, knocking him out cold." The green-haired senshi of the sea jogged ahead of the other two before looking back in slight worry.
"All the more reason why we've got to get up there soon. Let's keep going."

Int. Hiwaka Shrine - October 24th 2002, 5:10 am.

"Hey Darien! He's waking up!" The Mars Knight's arms began to twitch as Serena rushed towards him. As he slowly began to regain consciousness, he reached behind his sunglasses and transformed back into Mark, a very pained and tired look on his face.
"Unh... My head..." His vision was slightly blurred at first, but he instantly recognised the blonde meatball-head figure of Serena before him.
"Mark, don't speak. You need rest." Mark raised hand and held his forehead, but instantly jolted in pain.
"Ow! This just isn't my day. Having the energy sapped out of me, scorching my hand in a raging fire and now being headbutted by my own girlfriend." Darien entered the room and instantly ran up to Mark.
"What do you know? What happened to Sailor Venus?"
"Do I know you? I'm sure I've seen you somewhere before." Serena, realising Darien and Mark had never met in civilian form before, thought it would introduce them to each other.
"Oh, I don't think you've met Darien like this before. Mark, this is Darien Chiba, my boyfriend. Darien, this is Mark Davison. Mark, Darien is Tuxedo Mask." Mark slowly raised his hand, which Darien didn't hesitate to shake.

"Pleased to meet you, Mark."
"No, the pleasure's all mine."
"So what did you see?" Mark closed his eyes upon hearing Darien's question, trying to remeber what happened.
"The last thing I remember, me and Venus were talking about stuff. I closed my eyes as I told her a story about something that happened a few years ago, and when I opened them Sailor Mars was sitting on my lap. When I looked over at Sailor Venus she was unconscious with blood down the back of her head. When I looked back at Sailor Mars, she was grinning. Before I got chance to say anything else, she gave me the old Glasgow kiss, and now I'm here with a bloody big headache." Looking out through the open door leading to the wooden walkway, he noticed that the sky was a bloody shade of crimson above the sunrise. "By the way, what time is it?"

"A quarter past five in the morning. Why d'ya ask?"
"Oh, nothing. Just wondering how long I've been unconscious." The thought of the five portal beacons suddenly crossed his mind as he felt for his datapad. "What about the four other portals though? Mars already took the first one. We need to beat her to the other four."
"We've got that covered. We've sent the outers to television tower to find the beacon there." He looked back up at Serena in slight confusion as he loaded the stolen files.
"But why only go after one beacon at a time? We're outnumbering her five-to-one at the moment, so why don't we split to get the other three beacons?" Serena glanced at Darien, not sure what logical thing to say.

"I don't think it's safe to work in pairs anymore after earlier, plus we don't know if she's working alone, nor do we know if that's the first beacon she's moved or not. I'll ask Lita to snoop around the University later to see if she can find the beacon."
"I'll go as well." Serena looked down at Mark slightly puzzled as he sat up straight.
"Are you sure that's wise? You two aren't exactly the best of friends, are you? I mean, she came close to completely losing her temper earlier."
"I know. I don't find her the friendliest of people, but we've gotta work together if we're to get that beacon before Sailor Mars." Another thought crossed his mind as he thought of Raye and the University. "Wait, it's Thursday. Half day for Music M1. She'll be at the Uni later."
"So if she has any sense she'll turn up as usual to her classes." Serena was beginning to get an idea of what was going on. "Everyone else won't suspect a thing, and if she stays amongst people, the Scouts can't do a thing. The sneaky cow can do whatever she wants, and play the victim if she does come under attack."

Mark slowly stood up and walked towards the exit of the prayer room before Serena confronted him.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
"To get ready for Uni. If I get back before half five, no-one'll in the apartment would suspect I've been gone. If anyone asks about my head, I'll just say I walked into a wall when I wasn't concentrating. We need to play her at her own game and let her make the first move. I'll call Lita's communicator myself and tell her everything and pray that she doesn't hang up."
"Is that wise?"
"It's the only realistic plan can think of if we're to beat her to the beacon at the University. If Sailor Mars knows the exact location me and Lita can follow her and snatch it from her." Realising his point, Serena stepped aside.
"Go ahead then. Good luck to you, you'll need it against Lita." Looking over his shoulder at Serena with a grin, he soon disappeared out of the main door. "Darien, get your Tux on. We're going to the mall."

Int. Top level, Tokyo Television Tower, Central Tokyo - 5:30 am.

"Finally... Now we can look for this little bastard..." The three outer senshi had finally reached the top of the Television Tower and the transmitters and look for the portal beacon. They were very worn out after the long hike, but seemed victorious by their achivement. Sailor Uranus wasted no time in looking for their target.
"I'm kinda glad this glaive can double up as a walking stick. I thought we'd never get up here." The young senshi of death knelt down and rubbed her aching legs, wishing she could just take off her high-heeled purple boots.
"I'll search round the other side. You two look around here." Sailor Neptune carefully made her way around the circular platform, the winds blowing at an increadable rate. As she approached the opposite side, she saw the edge of a young woman around the corner. As she slowed down and carefully made her way around, she noticed the woman had raven hair and was wearing a fuku like hers, her small skirt as crimson red as the morning sky. It was Sailor Mars.

"Mars! Hold it right there!" The posessed senshi slowly turned around to face Sailor Neptune, a large crystal pyramid in her left hand. In her right hand was a pole covered in a red textile; It was uncertain to tell what it was.
"Neptune, my dear friend. It's a suprise to see you here." Sailor Mars menacingly approached Sailor Neptune, who was backing off cautiously.
"Don't try and kid yourself Mars. There's no escape. Just come with us and you'll be safe."
"No. The number one rule when approaching an enemy is to know exactly what you're dealing with." Without warning Sailor Mars struck Sailor Neptune in the stomach with the pole and pushed her over the edge of the platform's safety rails.

Upon hearing the screams of Sailor Neptune, the other two immediately ran to her aid, but she was no longer there. Only Sailor Mars stood on the platform, still with the beacon and pole in her hands. Sailor Uranus started to panic, fearing her love had just been knocked off the top of the tower, while Sailor Saturn held her glaive threateningly at the renegade Scout.
"Where is she? Tell me!"
"By my calculations, she's just passing the 50th floor about now and will be at the fortieth floor in about five seconds." Realising what Sailor Mars was talking about, she swiped at the rebel scout with her glaive of death. Sailor Mars swiftly deflected this with the pole before striking the senshi of death on the back of head, knocking her to the floor.

"Sayonara, suckers!" With Saturn clutching her head, Sailor Mars unfolded the metal pole into a frame and stretched the red material into place to make a hang glider. Harnessing herself in, she lept from the platform and sailed in the direction of Cherry Hill. Sailor Uranus had not noticed Sailor Saturn sprawled on the floor, instead mourning the fact that her girlfriend had plummeted to her death.
"Michelle... This isn't possible... You can't be dead..." The tomboyish blonde fell to her knees in tears as reality sunk in.
"Uranus! HELP!" Not sure whether she was imagining her girlfriend's voice or not, she looked around to see if she had miraculously survived.
"Neptune? Where are you?!"
"Right below you! Pull me up now or you're not getting any tonight!" Sailor Uranus looked at the floor below her to see two white-gloved hands gripping the meshed platform. Without hesitation she dragged the senshi of the sea back up to the platform and held her tightly.

"You're alive! I can't believe it!"
"Thanks... I've never see you like this before. I thought you were supposed to be tough one out of us two."
"I thought Sailor Mars had sent you falling to your death! Wouldn't you be crying if I fell off the top of this tower?!" Sailor Uranus sounded angry, but Sailor Netune knew that she was just very upset.
"I dunno..." Sailor Uranus looked up at her girlfriend with a deeply hurt look on her face before Sailor Neptune giggled. "Of course I would, hun. D'ya really think I'd think nothing of you? I love you, and if you go, I'd take my own life just to be with - SATURN!!" Realising that the senshi of death was sprawled on the floor, the pair dashed over to her side.

"Saturn! Are you alright?" The young senshi slowly opened her eyes to see the senshi of Neptune and Uranus kneeling over her.
"Ow... My head... Mars whacked me with some kind of pole." Sailor Neptune grabbed her communicator as Uranus questioned Saturn further.
"Where's Mars? Did you see her?"
"Yeah. That pole unfolded into a hang glider and she flew off towards Cherry Hill." Neptune quickly turned around and addressed Saturn and Uranus.
"We're gonna have to go back down the long way. Artemis says there's too much interference from the transmitters."
"Do you feel alright to get down by foot?" Saturn grabbed the rail to her side and made her way to her feet.
"A litle dizzy, but I think I can get down." Neptune lead the way as they began the long decent back to the ground.

"Lets just hope the others have got the other beacons covered..."

Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka View Apartments - October 24th 2002, 5:45 am.

"Time to call the wicked witch of the East..." In the fifteen minutes in which Mark had made it back to the apartment, he had managed to shut down the laptop he had left on all night, get changed and get an ice pack for his head. Now it was time to talk to Lita, something that Mark was not looking forward to at all. He opened his communicator program, selected Sailor Jupiter from the list and patiently waited as Lita picked up at the other end.

"Hi. Lita here." Her half smile turened into shock as she realised who had called her. "What the hell are you calling me for?!"
"Lita! Don't hang up! We need your help!" Lita seemed very unimpressed.
"No-one needs my help anymore. Not after last night. You and Mina looking after that beacon when you knew you were too weak. By the way, did everything go well between you two?" At that point Mark knew Lita was going to have a field day once he told her what happened and he knew that her foul insults would fly, but he had to tell her the whole truth.

"Sailor Mars took it. She severely injured Venus and headbutted me before leaving with the portal beacon."
"I knew it! You're just a simple-minded weakling who can't even stand up to your own girlfriend! You truely are pathetic!"
"Lay off it Lita. She's already got one beacon, she might be racing the outers to the one at the top of TV tower and she's probably going to get the University portal beacon as a civilian. That's why I need your help." The tough senshi of the forest gave a sarcastic laugh.

"What kind of crazy, implausable, weed-induced plan have you got in mind?" Mark was becomming seriously angered by Lita's arrogance, but he knew he had to keep his cool.
"We follow Raye around all day and let her lead us to the portal beacon. Once she has, we grab it from her before she lays her hands on it. Music M1's a half day today, so we've got until 1 pm to find it." A small smile emerged on Lita's smug face.
"Hmm... Not bad. It'll do."
"We'll have to stick together though. No arguments. Do you promise?" Lita thought it over for a while before reaching a decision.

"Whatever. See ya there. Lita out."

End of Chapter 15