David Jones dozed. His wheelchair sat next his bed. Clutched in one hand
was a octagon crystal. On the crystal, was a crescent moon. The points of
the crystal pointed to centraheadon crystal bound to one side.
"DAVID GET UP! YOU'RE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"
David snorted and shifted. In his dream, his girlfriend Mina was about to remove the top of her swimsuit then she stopped and screamed at him.
"DAVID JONES GET UP!"
"Mrghf." His eyes fluttered open. Oh yeah. School. Ugh.
"DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!"
"OKAY MOM!"
Hiya, squirt."
"Hello Thad." You mongoid.
Thad Jones, David's older brother, fulfilled all the requirements for being a dumb jock. To David, Thad was the sort of person who had to be reminded to breathe. Unfortunutly, Thad was all muscle, ego, and no brain. A dangerous combination.
He snatched the crystal from David's hand.
"What's this? A new bauble? You want it back, Baby?" David's mind raced. He doubled as the Crystal Knight. Superhero and comedian. There were multiple warrents out for the Knight on varying degrees of destruction of property. The Knight was responsible for bringing the city to lead the rest of the world in property damage. Ever since he had first used the crystal to become the Knight, he had taken joy in wrecking stuff. He tried to limit the desruction to the slums and abandoned tenement buildings. They were ready to come down anyway.
To David, it was saving the city money. He was also indirectly responsible for bringing every loony out of the woodwork. As turned out, most them were children of the Moon Kingdom. The servants, apprentices and others. Not to mention the others. Queen Serenity had not only sent the children, but as many of their Parents as she could. Unfortunutly, some Negaverse soldiers had been sent as well. They were the problem. Like the Scouts, They had acquired superpowers and were using them to wreck havoc. It had gotten so bad, that at least one Scout was on patrol at all times. Who was on? He racked his memory. Oh yeah. Nephrite and Bertie. While technically they weren't scouts, they didn't need to sleep either. There are some advantages to not being human.
Speaking of not being Human, Thad still had his crystal.
"Give it back Thaddy."
"My name is not Thaddy dweeb." David screwed up his face to yell. Thad threw the crystal at him. David made a face and hauled himself out of bed and into his chair. Sticking the Crystal in his lap he rolled out of his room to take his shower.
-------------------------------- "Hi Lita, Hi David. You wanna hear the latest about the shuttle? I can tell you exactly what's in the fuel."
"Blow it, Melvin. Lita wouldn't know, and I don't care." It was lunch. David and Lita were seated on a concrete rise at the back of the school. Through the Chain link fence they could look out over downtown. David was slouched in his chair, legs crossed, his head propped up by one hand as he contemplated his half eaten apple. Lita was busily rummaging in her food sack looking for any extra cookies.
"What about the astronauts? I can tell you all the latest gossip about the astronauts." Melvin thrust the front page in David's face. On the front page was a huge, full color photo of the astronauts. David sat up a little straighter and snatched the paper out of Melvin's hand. He then slouched down and started to read. As he read, Molly joined them.
"Hi, Lita. Wha'cha doing?"
"I dunno. Melvin was bugging us about the shuttle and thrust the paper in David's face. David snatched the paper out of Melvin's hand and he's been reading it." David looked up. His face had a thoughtful expression. Pitching the apple over the fence, he folded the paper to show the photo then pulled out a pen and circled four of the astronauts.
"Molly, send word to Maxsfield. Lita and I have to get to the Launch. As fast as possible."
"Why?"
"None of your bisnuess Melvin. Beat it." Muttering words that aren't repeatable, Melvin stalked off towards the main building. Lunch forgotten, Lita got up to stand next to David. She hadn't known him long. But his cool head and quick thinking had gotten the Scouts out of more than one scrape. He also had an uncanny ability to plan out every contingency. Molly cocked her head.
"What's going on?" She asked
David pointed to the four astronauts he had circled. Lita leaned closer. They looked different. But Lita would know them anywhere. The Black Lady, Malachite, Rubius, and Bertie.
"How-" Lita began only to have David cut her off..
"The Black Lady is up to something. With Beryl dead, The Negaverse is almost dead. The Negamoon is our only concern. But without Rubius and the Sisters, The wiseman-Jadeite, is powerless." Lita nodded. Only months ago, the Scouts had battled alternate versions of their enemies.
Far and away more Evil then anything the scouts had encountered. Only the Timely resurrection of Sailor Moon, or rather, the alternate Sailor Moon had managed to avert disaster. But some of the Alternate Nega-villains had escaped Crystal Tokyo and slipped back into past, or the present, or whatever.
The upshot was, if the Scouts had thought The Black Lady, Malachite, Rubius and Bertie they had battled over the past year and half were bad, these four were far, far, worse. To make matters worse, Lita was the only Scout available. The others were on a school trip. There was no way they would be available to get away. She turned to Molly.
"Tell Nephrite to meet me and David in my loft this afternoon after school." Molly nodded.
-------------------------------- Lita twisted the key in the lock. With a hum, the elevator dropped down to the floor below her. With a smile, she removed the key. Until she used that key again, the elevator was barred from coming up to her floor. She shoved the heavy sliding door into place and locked it. Whistling a show tune, she rolled the Harley to it's place next to the door.
Lita lived alone. Paul, her Guardian, lived in the apartment beneath her. She hated Paul's Guts and vice versa. Hence the arrangement. Paul was available if nessacary, but she pretty much lived on her own. He paid her rent and gave her money for food, gas, and insurance for the Harley.
She dumped her bag on the couch and walked into the bedroom. The previous tenant had erected ten foot partitions in one corner of the loft. They had also added a door. It was in this walled off area that she had her bed and dresser. The only actual room was the bathroom Boasting a combination shower/bath, it was just the thing for a quick wake-up if she was late for school.
The ceiling had lighting-okay naked bulbs suspended from the ceiling. But at least she didn't have to rely on the halogen floor lamps.
Dressed in her exercise leotard she walked over to the stereo and put on the soundtrack to The Crow. Then, after the warm up, she started on the punching bag. After that, she lifted weights. Then she showered and dressed in a pair of faded jeans and an old angora sweater she had picked up at a garage sale. She packed an overnight duffel and then flopped on the couch to await Nephrite and David. She picked up the remote and switched on the TV.
She was laughing at Bugs Bunny when they arrived. David looked at the TV.
"Seen it five times." Lita looked at him askance. Then switched the TV off and picked up the duffel.
"Lita, it's just you and me on this one. Maxsfield Stanton has an reservation at a business dinner he can't get out of. The Sisters have to get ready for tax time. Mina, Raye, Amy and Serena are on that inter-school trip. They're too closely supervised. All Neffy is gonna do is get us there. After that, we're on our own."
"What about your parents?" David smiled sardonically.
"They're out of town for the weekend, and Thad is planning a Rave. I know he's planning to throw me in the pool house. I live there most of the time anyways. All my valuable stuff is there." He pulled out a key on a chain from under his shirt. "I'm the only one with a key. He'll use the guest house for his harem of girlfriends anyway" He tucked the key back into his shirt. "Besides, it's bigger than the guest house."
"You live in the poolhouse?" David shrugged
"I don't mind. Thad plays his heavy metal at ear-blasting volume anyway. Out in the poolhouse, it's nice and quiet. When I realized what Thad was up to, Mina and I moved my computer, coin collection, and other valuable stuff. Then I swiped the poolhouse keys, buried one, and I wear the other one around my neck. I even changed the code on the security system."
"But what if Thad tries to break in?" David steepled his fingers.
"Thad and I have a. . .understanding. I keep my mouth shut about his raves, and he stays out of the poolhouse. Which is a good thing. Because there's evidence that will arrive on Dad's desk that has pictures from Thad's Raves. I also took a few precautions. Because there's enough notes and junk in there that can be put together and reveal the identity of the scouts."
Nephrite cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow at David. David nodded, and with a lurch (and a brief warp of the scenery, overlaid with the brief hallucination of a iguana, and Lita blushing bright red at something she saw, but later absolutely refused to discuss, but occasionally caused her to mutter, "They have rings for THAT!?! And I thought navel rings were as far down as you could go!"), the loft vanished to be replaced by an expanse of grass. On the horizon, they could see the fence which surrounded the base, beyond that, the shuttle itself.
"It's good thing tomorrow is Sunday and neither of us has school." Lita shaded her eyes and squinted to see the shuttle better.
"Ya know, from here it doesn't look that big."
"Distance does wonderful things to human eyesight" David said dryly. "Speaking of which. . . ." He dug a cell phone out of his bag and dialed a number.
-------------------------------- Mina picked up the phone with one hand and continued brushing Serena's hair with the other.
"Hello?"
"Hi ya sweet lips!"
"David?" Mina cradled the handset between her shoulder and cheek. "how are you?"
"Absolutely smashing! Lita and I are Florida."
"Florida? What the hell are you doing there?"
"The Black Lady and three of her cronies have invaded the crew. Darien just can't get away, Neffy, has an appointment he can't ditch and the Sisters have to get ready for the tax man.
"So it's just you two"
"Duh huh." Quipped David in his best hillbilly accent. "Anyhoo, put Amy on would you?" Mina handed the receiver to Amy.
"Yes?"
"Ames. Listen up. I need to know the exact location of the abort button on the shuttle."
"It would be center on the dashboard somewhere, probably underneath a clear plastic case or lid. It has to be pushed before ignition."
"Cool. Thanks. Put Mina back on."
"David?"
"No, the Loch Ness monster. I gotta scoot luv. Love you."
"Ditto." The phone clicked. Mina replaced the phone. Serena twisted around to look at her.
"Mina? What was that all about?" Raye crossed the room.
"Yes. What did he want to know about the abort button for?" Mina licked her lips before replying.
"Lita and David are in Florida. The Black Lady and three of her cronies are on the shuttle crew. They're going to try and stop them."
-------------------------------- Jupiter stood on the edge of the control tower roof. Two miles away, the shuttle waited by the assembly building. The sun was just peeking over the horizon. In 24 hours, the shuttle would launch.
According to David, in that cargo bay was the world's only cold fusion reactor. It had a date with the engineering module of United. The nations of the world had put aside their differences to build the first fully- functional Space Platform in preparation for the Mars Mission. Japan supplied the tech, Russia supplied the construction crew and their massive boosters. Canada and the rest supplied station crew. America was supplying it's fleet of reusable craft. It's shuttles. Which was why they were here in Florida.
"Man, when you think about all the effort we're putting into this, it really boggles the mind." Crystal Knight picked up her up around the waist and with a boost from his rocket pack, they landed on the mobile gantry that would carry the shuttle all the way to the launch site. "Maybe, just maybe, this could end all the wars and stuff."
"Jupiter, I couldn't garuntee that."
"Why not?"
"Human nature."
"Oh. So what's the plan?"
"Get into the prep rooms for the astronauts, remove the Negascum, and be out before you can say Jack Rabbit."
"They're gonna resist."
"If we can get them out to the swamps, it won't matter."
"Huh?"
"The swamps are ripe with strange magic. Wild and untamed. Neffy and I tangled with a Bayou Voodoo Queen while trying to capture Demando. We lost him and had to extract ourselves from the swamp." He paused. "I will never look at an alligator the same way again."
"So you're planning to dump them in the heart of the swamps?"
"Yep. Let the wild magic deal with them. I know one old lady that would love to make Negaverse Stew."
"David? Are you still in control?"
"Of Course. Why?"
"That last part sounded kind of, well, crazy." Lita found herself inching away from the Knight. If David ever lost control of the rage and anger that was the real Crystal Knight, a few feet wouldn't save her.
"Sorry. I don't think it's possible to kill them by Magic."
"Why?"
"Magic is a form of energy. When Nephrite died, it was from the vines through his shoulder. Not the blasts that they hurled at him."
"But Serena's crescent Moon Wand..."
"I don't know Jupiter, I honestly don't know. Perhaps it's the type of energy used."
"You eggheads are all alike."
"I won't dignify that with a response. However, Amy and I have been trying to figure out a way to Artificially re-create the energy that the wand uses."
"Why?"
"In case Sailor Moon ever becomes........incapacitated." The visor glowed red briefly.
-------------------------------- Jupiter bounded from building to building. As a Sailor Scout, her energy and endurance were increased. She also had a high level of resistance to injury and heightened agility. All were useful when making leaps sometimes as much as twenty feet. All the scouts had those abilities, in addition to their own powers.
She pondered David and Mina. Normally she wasn't given to introspection but she had the entire width of the base to cover and her mind was wandering.
David was a bigger mystery than Mina. His uncanny ability to plan bugged her. Where did he come from? Wales obviously, she knew that much. But he had always been rather closemouthed about his past. Witness protection? Now that was a thought. Actually it was too good a thought. Too close to the truth really. Could the Jones family be from Witness Protection? That made sense, in a twisted way. Except both Mina and David had made references to a guy named Conrad. From the looks on their faces when they talked about him, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to meet this guy.
Then there was Mina. She had been after the Negaverse longer than any of the scouts except maybe Pluto. Why was she the first Scout when Serena was the Chosen One? Oy. She decided to leave it to the others, and give Artemis a going over. He had to have answers. He had too. There was too much going on here. Why had Venus waited until She, Mercury, Mars and Sailor Moon gotten together before showing up? Finally finding them didn't wash. After finding them, She had no trouble getting to the fight. Artemis was handing Luna assignments well before Mars had joined so he had to know where they were headed, he could have sent Mina there. Something just didn't add up.
Jupiter landed on a truck that was headed in the right direction. Mina and David were mysteries. Jupiter hated mysteries.
As the truck turned down an alleyway, Jupiter leapt upwards onto an office and caught a Van headed for the shuttle itself. First things first. Stop the Black Lady and her cronies. Then, deal with David.
She leapt off the truck and bounded back on to the rooftops. David and other mysteries would have to wait. She had to get into position.
-------------------------------- The Knight crouched in the shadow of the launch gantry. Something had pulled him here. A force. The Imperium crystal was answering a call too powerful too ignore. He had to know.
"Curiosity killed the cat." His mom's voice washed through his head.
"Meow." He chuckled softly and leapt up the side of the Gantry. Whatever it was, it was calling the Imperium Crystal from somewhere on the gantry.
The grubby man in mechanic's coveralls watched the Knight. In a flash, the Knight was fifty feet up the Gantry.
"You were correct mistress. He is here."
"Of course Martin, don't you know I'm always right. You do know that, don't you?"
"Yes mistress. Of course Mistress." The pink-haired woman patted the mechanic on his head.
"I know you do. Now go to your job." The mechanic scurried away. The woman smiled. A single night of passion and he was hers. Heart and soul. She hadn't realized the full. . .potential of a frayed, scratchy rope until then. He had proven that humans did have potential if certain base instincts were given free reign. A shame he had to die. When it came to the other uses of a table knife, Martin had been rather inventive. And what he could do with that candle . . .
With a flicker, she vanished.
-------------------------------- Jupiter arrived at the gantry and made her way up the side of the shuttle. After all the problems with Tomoe, she had thought their problems were over. When the others from the Moon Kingdom appeared she had thought them easy. But they hadn't. Then Pluto had yanked them to Crystal Tokyo where they had faced those duplicates, and Amy had nearly died. They all had scars from that. Mercury's right eye had trouble focusing and her speech slurred slightly if she wasn't careful. Venus had a limp. Mars came out smelling like a rose. All she had was a web-shaped scar above her left eye. Jupiter paused on a gantry arm to rub her shoulder. Her arm had been yanked from it's socket. She had trouble throwing punches because the shoulder bones rubbed against each other. After a while, the soreness became unbearable. She took 30 seconds for a breather. Time was of the essence. She resumed bounding up the side of the shuttle.
The Knight paused at the cargo bay. The call was coming from within. He searched the hull. Finally he found the exterior access. A small keypad. So what was the code? How many digits? On a hunch he punched in the date of the first manned space flight. The massive doors slid open. The call was stronger, it was coming from the reactor. No, not the reactor, between it and the side of the bay. A few minutes searching bought him a locket. A single leap put him back outside the shuttle. A few minutes work got him the code that closed the cargo doors. Then he took off to join Jupiter.
-------------------------------- Jupiter stood at the top of the launch gantry. She could see for miles from up here. The wind blew through her hair. She could smell the salt air in the wind. Without a sound, the Knight arrived next to her.
"Anything?"
"Nope, nothing. Except this." Jupiter turned and studied the locket that the Knight held in one hand.
"What is it?"
"I'm not sure. But it called the Imperium Crystal. So it's important." Jupiter put one hand out.
"I-I have to touch it." Her hand snapped out and closed around the locket itself. Instantly, energy arced out from the locket and up her arm. She glowed green for a moment, then it vanished.
She was now wearing armor. It was a metallic version of her usual outfit, except that all the bows and stuff were gone. Where she used to have bare skin, it was now covered in green metal.
She fumbled with the catches to the helmet. With a slight sucking sound, the helmet came off. She stared at it.
"If there is one, then there must be others." She looked up at the Knight.
"What makes you so sure?"
"A hunch, and a memory." Jupiter looked at him incredulously. Unlike the other scouts, David had no memories of the moon, no dreams. Luna couldn't figure out if she had seen him before. Then again, Luna had said that the Crystal Knight had been just a legend for the people of the Moon.
"A memory?" The Knight didn't answer. His attention was riveted on the prep building at the other end of the launch site. Jupiter followed his gaze. A van with the NASA logo on it was pulling in. Techs ran up with a plastic tunnel, used to keep germs out. From where she stood, she couldn't see the astronauts as they got out, but one of them had pinkish hair.
In the Prep building the astronauts were laughing and joking. Except for Renee, "The american astronaut with cotton candy for hair." At least that's what they called her in the papers. Her real name was Rini, and she had the power to flatten the entire Cape Canaveral Complex. Even now she could feel the Negaforce twisting within her, begging to be used. She squashed it down. There were more important things to worry about. She looked out the window at the launch pad. Two glints shined from the top of the gantry. Even from here, she knew what they were. Sailor Jupiter, and that thrice- cursed Crystal Knight. There was something different about Jupiter. Something powerful. The lockets! They had found one of the lockets! With one activated she could feel the others. Except for the one belonging to Moon. It was silent.
She made her way to a chair and sat down. She stretched her senses out. She could feel the strange magic of the bayou, the ancient power of the druids in England, the wily and tricky magic of Ireland, the softer, yet rugged, magic of Scotland, the coiled power of the Ninja in Japan, and the mind- magic of the aborigines in Australia. The powers flowed and coalesced at various points. Ayer's Rock, Stonhedge, San Francisco, L.A., The Pacific Northwest, New York, the north and south poles, and. . .from two points in Tokyo and. . .interesting, another place in northern Japan . . .She pushed past it all, seeking the power of the moon, her moon, from her universe. There, the thread that united the lockets. Dad had been stupid to bring them here. But he was dead now, and there was no point in worrying about it.
She ran her mental fingers through the thread following it to each locket. There. Jupiter, out on the gantry, and as she sensed it, her link to it through it's origin in her world snapped. She cursed softly, the armor must have finished fusing to the locket from this world. Well, there was always the other ones . . . Mercury, buried in the artic wastes. Mars, a volcano in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Venus, buried in England somewhere near the first Stonhedge. Uranus and Neptune were both in the same place, buried at the foot of a tree in a L.A. cemetery. Saturn was somewhere on the grounds of the Vietnam memorial. Pluto was in Big Ben somewhere, close to the gears, and all seven were slowly fusing with their counterparts. But Moon's was silent, the thread that connected it to Mercury was snapped. That meant the locket was disguised and in use.
She smiled. After they had the reactor, she would personally hunt down each locket and destroy it. Whoever had the moon locket was in for a nasty surprise.
-------------------------------- Jupiter looked down and swallowed, the astronauts were right below them, entering the shuttle. The Black Lady passed beneath them. Jupiter kept herself as still as she could, calling upon all her martial Arts training, to keep herself calm, still, and silent.
Beside her, the Knight Crouched with an inhuman stillness. It still amazed her how reptilian he could be at times. There were still powers to the crystal that were being discovered. The last of the astronauts entered and the door swung closed.
The Knight's fingers closed around the beam, making a slight impression in the steel. Jupiter looked over at him.
"They'll be launching soon. We have to stop them." The Knight nodded.
"Tell me something I don't know." Lita rolled her eyes.
"Great. Now tell me David. Just how do we stop a multi-ton steel plane that is about spew a sun out of it's ass?!
"A Sun?"
"Large Bonfire?"
"Better."
"Thanks."
"We Move." With that statement, the Knight leaped from his perch and bounded down the gantry and into the cargo bay. Jupiter followed, sliding right through the hole he had made. The Alarms finally noticed that there was a hole in the shuttle's skin and began screaming.
Then that the Negaverse burst in, howling like demons. Jupiter glimpsed the terrified faces of the other 3 Astronauts before Rubius and Malachite slammed her against the reactor. She wasn't the brightest of the scouts but she knew better then to puncture the Reactor. Running on experience, she kicked Rubius in the crotch as he was the more dangerous of the two and then snapped Malachite's head with a right cross.
Rubius jumped her, pinning one arm behind her. She cursed under her breath, "How the fuck did he recover so damn fast!" and focused on him, stomping his shin, which loosened his grip enough for her to pull her arm free which she jabbed into his ribs and Judo threw him into the shuttle wall. Dazed, he staggered, and she turned to deal with Malachite, who was already charging.
-------------------------------- He stood there in the crowd, near to the outer edges. Something was wrong. He started edge away, to find somewhere where he could make the change. She laid a hand on his arm, demanding to know where he was going. The lie flowed from his lips and he vanished into the crowd before she could reply.
-------------------------------- The Knight was wrestling two ladies. On any other occasion, he would be enjoying this, but these two were trying to kill him, which put a damper on things.
-------------------------------- Jupiter slammed Rubius in the nose, attempting to drive it into his brain. Malachite hissed and lunged. She ducked, using Rubius as a shield, even so, the impact drove them back smashing her against the reactor. She needed a weapon. Before her eyes a display appeared. Charge 000 The numbers began to climb. She didn't know what the hell was going on, but it was something. She could hear The Knight swearing vehemently. She elbowed Rubius in the ear and Slammed Malachite in the throat with her arm.
The Knight's hands glowed and an energy blast blew out the side of the shuttle causing more alarms to go off. It also caused the shuttle to lurch dangerously. Lita almost lost her balance. She swore in three different languages at the same time. Then they all fell out of the hole, as she plummeted, something flashed past her, running up the side of the shuttle. The Knight caught her and set her down.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Did you see who was running up the side of the shuttle?"
"Huh?"
At that moment, a third person landed in their midst. Lita gaped. It was a sight to behold. The creature stood eight feet tall. Golden chest armor was sculpted around massive chest and upper arm muscles. Black leather fingerless gloves fitted around Five-fingered hands. Green pants of some material wrapped around muscular legs. It wore no shoes....no, it was wearing sandals of some kind. What skin she could see was golden brown, and looked scaly. It's silver hair was tied into dreadlocks, and the helmet was some kind of futuristic, flattened, full faced gas mask. It had an Astronaut under each arm and a third hanging on it's neck. It set them all down and they ran for it.
Rubius snarled and gave the newcomer both barrels. The creature didn't even flinch. Jupiter blinked and the creature had moved the distance between it and Rubius and Rubius was flat on his back, both hands covering his face.
Oh Bhudda, how fast was this thing? The Knight was less astonished.
"And you are......."
"I am Hunter." It's voice was a raspy whisper. Lita's eyes narrowed as the name sparked a childhood memory.
"Hunter? Then you are real."
"You have heard of me then."
"Who?" The Knight was staring at her and none of them noticed The Negaverse listening intently.
"According to that my Sensai told me, the Hunter is the Champion of the Red Dragon Ninja clan. No Mortal can stand against him in combat. As the story goes," She paused to run the story through and come up with the modern terms. "700 years ago an Alien ship crashed into Feudal Japan. A Samurai warrior witnessed the landing and watched the alien stagger out. Thinking it a demon, the Samurai killed it in cold blood. As the body lay bleeding on the ground, his comrades came running, as did the Clan Shaman. The Samurai by now had realized his mistake, and was prepared to commit Seppuku to regain his honor. For he had killed being that had been unable to defend itself.
The Shaman had other ideas. He cursed the Samurai, his children and his children's children."
"What was the curse?" The Knight by now was very interested.
"To assume the Alien's form." The Hunter stepped closer to them. "300 years ago, one of the Hunters sought out a powerful Sorcerer, hoping to free himself from the curse. He failed. The Sorcerer did manage to alter the curse allowing the Hunter resume his human form. Since then The Hunter has continued to serve the interests of the Red Dragon Ninja Clan." The Knight absently made a note to work out the physics of this.
The Black Lady got to her feet. "MARTIN!" She screamed and a Mechanic, his hair and thick mustache everywhere came out of the crowd.
"Yes Mistress?" The Black Lady smiled and patted his head.
"Kill them."
"Yes Mistress." Martin bulged everywhere then his clothes seem to explode as Martin tripled in size. Jupiter took a step back.
"He's a Freakin werewolf!" The Hunter lunged forward.
"I'll take him! You take the others!" As Hunter and Martin began to trade punches, Jupiter tackled the Black Lady. The Knight whipped out his spear and jammed Bertie in the eye, yanking it out and delivering a snap kick right into Rubius's face. Malachite started to charge but was yanked back by Nephrite.
"Going somewhere?" Asked Nephrite, Sword at the ready. Malachite drew his own blade. "Only for your throat traitor!"
Jupiter's hands crackled with electricity and The Black Lady screamed and convulsed as thousands of volts invaded her. So that's how it works. Bitchin.
Jupiter concentrated and delivered another electric shock. This was fun! The Black Lady smiled.
"I can Deliver electric bolts too Sailor Bitch!" Her hands crackled with energy and every muscle in Jupiter's body contracted at once. But the pain was minimal. Then she noticed that the power bar had reduced to nearly half. Right, she had to watch it, and the armor had it's limits.....and so does the person wearing it....maybe they were connected. She would have to ask Amy. She flipped to her feet. That would be if they survived. The Lady came in swinging with a shotokhan style low punch. Jupiter knocked it aside with a Low block of her own and Brought up her forearm intending to slam it into her throat. That's when it sprouted spikes and the Lady ran right into them. Reflexively, Jupiter stepped back and stared as the green blood bubbled out of the Lady's mouth as she collapsed. She felt very queasy then the world went topsy turvy as Bertie tackled her and started tearing at her. For her part, the gaping green gore-seeping crater where Bertie's eye had been fascinated her. Focus girl! she snapped at herself and cracked Bertie under the jaw.
The Knight's judgment was beginning to fade from an constantly building wave of psychotic bloodlust. He was fighting it as best he could, but he was losing. Then all judgment faded as Rubius gave him both barrels. The world went red and David found himself back on the Volcanic hellhole. SHIT!
Jupiter and the Hunter found themselves back to back when the Knight let out bestial snarl and started tearing at Rubius.
"I assume from the way you tense that that snarl is not a good thing."
"No, it means he's gone psycho and will attack anything not Moon Kingdom."
"In that case I believe me and my dancing partner shall change to something more down-tempo." Hunter grabbed Martin and dragged him behind the launch pad. Then a horrible metallic shriek ripped the air and the shuttle tilted dangerously.
Her brain leaped into high gear. A plan leapt into her head. She didn't stop to think it through or question where it came from. She acted.
"Nephrite! Teleport the shuttle off the boosters!" To his credit, Nephrite disengaged and did as she said. "Now! Launch the boosters and the external tank! Get them into space! Green energy crackled from Nephrite's hands and surrounded the external tank and boosters. With a thunderous roar, they launched into the air. They didn't quite make it into space and curved back down towards the ocean. The explosion sent a huge Tsunami towards them. Nephrite sent a huge wall of energy forth and the wave broke against it. Jupiter let out a sigh of relief as the energy wall fell. Luckily, the Coast Gaurd had cleared out the sea-going watchers when the fight had started. and the Tsunami hadn't reached shore. The she was slammed to the ground as Bertie leapt on her back. Enough was enough! Jupiter whipped around and boxed Bertie on the side of the head. She tumbled to the floor. That's when the Knight leapt onto Malachite. The wet sounds of ripping flesh reached her ears. Her stomach twisted. Oh Bhudda, she was going to barf. Then everyone vanished. Slowly, the Knight seemed to grow saner.
"I did it again....didn't I?" Jupiter nodded.
"Yeah, but under the circumstances, I don't think it matters." Hunter stepped up to them.
"Everyone okay?"
"No." Jupiter tore off her helmet and heaved into a convenient bucket. "Now, I'm okay." A Nervous NASA official handed her a canteen. She drank gratefully, swished the water around in her mouth and spit. Then she took a look around at the carnage that had been wrought and let out a low whistle of astonishment. "Daaaaaammmm" Nephrite materialized next to them and nodded his agreement.
"Most destructive, but the reactor is safe. I must get back, I will return at 5PM Japan time." He vanished. Hunter nodded.
"I too must go." Then he was gone, bounding over the buildings. Jupiter looked at the Knight.
"I think we'd better go." She said quietly as she put her helmet back on.
"Agreed." He scooped her up and they flew away.
--------------------------------
Somewhere Else........
Rini, known to her enemies as The Black Lady, examined her throat in the mirror. The wound was almost healed and there would be no scar. The others had similarly healed their wounds. Martin had returned with them and seemed much happier in his new form. She walked to the window and looked out over what she knew as Charwar. This was this universe's version of Earth....and it was dying. Her father had told her the tale. Of how the inhabitants of Charwar mastered the hidden powers of the brain quickly and exploded forward technologically at an incredible rate.
Now Charwar was dying, the sun was dying and the inhabitants needed new sources of Energy.
So they turned to the other dimensions, found Earth, and the Senshi. It had been so easy to defeat them. Charwar had gone forth and raped that Earth. They were still doing it.
Then Seekay had appeared.
At first they thought he was just been a wanderer from the other Charwar. Then he had quietly convinced Father that he should rule. Father had killed Beryl. Then she had killed Father, not realizing that her father had set Seekay up as Regent. Seekay had been quick to seize power. He consolidated his power very quickly and killed any who spoke out against him. Seekay was very fond of killing. He had a wall in his personal quarters. Mounted on it were the heads of those who opposed him. He talked to them.
Now she served him, because she knew what would happen to her if she failed him. He had proof of what would happen.
So she served him, but she didn't have to like it.
An Aide came up to her and handed her a piece of paper. Ah, the results of the scanners she had left at Cape Canaveral for the purpose of recording the results on the crowd when the planned sabotage of the reactor went off. But they had served a another purpose. Albeit an unintentional one. They had scanned the Armor of Jupiter, The Knight, and that Hunter.
Now what did they discover? Oh my, that was interesting. She scanned the graphs again, just to be sure.
Oh yes, that was interesting.
That was very interesting.
-------------------------------- Epilogue
Lita bit into the Cheeseburger.
"Oh, this is good."
"Yeah." David bit into his own meal with gusto. "Good old Artery-hardening American food." Lita shoved a few more French fries into her mouth. This was great. Bad as Hell for her, but good nonetheless. She glanced around and two more people entered. Two teenagers. One was a guy, short, a bit thick around the middle, but bright, intelligent eyes. The other was a girl, extremely attractive. His face held a hint of Asian blood, while she was all anglo-saxon.
"Come on Max, you disappeared and missed all the craziness. It was battle. I saw a Senshi!" The girl really seemed earnest.
"The Senshi are an Urban Legend Janet." The guy dug some money out of his pocket. "There is no proof that they exist. All you have is some Newspaper clippings from your cousins about some sightings." He looked at the Cashier. "Two number fours."
"Then how do you explain monsters, the destruction of the top levels of Tokyo's Starlight Tower, and the wreckage of an Apartment building?"
"Mass Hallucination and Terrorists."
"Terrorists? It was the Sailor Senshi! You saw that News footage of Sailor Moon."
"A Stunt by some movie company."
"I don't understand you Maxwell," He flinched. "You seem perfectly willing to believe in the Hunter," she continued, "but not the Senshi. Why?"
"It's not that I don't believe in them, I just don't really accept your explanation for their existence. Aliens fighting extradimesional superpowered terrorists who are after our energy? No. I love you dearly, but that answer belongs in an Anime series, not real life."
Lita and David hid smiles behind their cheeseburgers. She made a frustrated sound and stalked off to the bathrooms. The guy let his gaze drift around the room and for an instant his eyes locked with her and David's, then moved on. The Cashier handed him the tray of food and he made his way to a table. As he passed by them, he nodded to each of them. Lita winked back and he smiled.
"You look better out of that armor." He said in a low voice. Lita just smiled.
"Thank you."
--------------------------------
"Contact with the Immortal One has been made."
"Continue Monitoring."
"DAVID GET UP! YOU'RE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"
David snorted and shifted. In his dream, his girlfriend Mina was about to remove the top of her swimsuit then she stopped and screamed at him.
"DAVID JONES GET UP!"
"Mrghf." His eyes fluttered open. Oh yeah. School. Ugh.
"DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!"
"OKAY MOM!"
Hiya, squirt."
"Hello Thad." You mongoid.
Thad Jones, David's older brother, fulfilled all the requirements for being a dumb jock. To David, Thad was the sort of person who had to be reminded to breathe. Unfortunutly, Thad was all muscle, ego, and no brain. A dangerous combination.
He snatched the crystal from David's hand.
"What's this? A new bauble? You want it back, Baby?" David's mind raced. He doubled as the Crystal Knight. Superhero and comedian. There were multiple warrents out for the Knight on varying degrees of destruction of property. The Knight was responsible for bringing the city to lead the rest of the world in property damage. Ever since he had first used the crystal to become the Knight, he had taken joy in wrecking stuff. He tried to limit the desruction to the slums and abandoned tenement buildings. They were ready to come down anyway.
To David, it was saving the city money. He was also indirectly responsible for bringing every loony out of the woodwork. As turned out, most them were children of the Moon Kingdom. The servants, apprentices and others. Not to mention the others. Queen Serenity had not only sent the children, but as many of their Parents as she could. Unfortunutly, some Negaverse soldiers had been sent as well. They were the problem. Like the Scouts, They had acquired superpowers and were using them to wreck havoc. It had gotten so bad, that at least one Scout was on patrol at all times. Who was on? He racked his memory. Oh yeah. Nephrite and Bertie. While technically they weren't scouts, they didn't need to sleep either. There are some advantages to not being human.
Speaking of not being Human, Thad still had his crystal.
"Give it back Thaddy."
"My name is not Thaddy dweeb." David screwed up his face to yell. Thad threw the crystal at him. David made a face and hauled himself out of bed and into his chair. Sticking the Crystal in his lap he rolled out of his room to take his shower.
-------------------------------- "Hi Lita, Hi David. You wanna hear the latest about the shuttle? I can tell you exactly what's in the fuel."
"Blow it, Melvin. Lita wouldn't know, and I don't care." It was lunch. David and Lita were seated on a concrete rise at the back of the school. Through the Chain link fence they could look out over downtown. David was slouched in his chair, legs crossed, his head propped up by one hand as he contemplated his half eaten apple. Lita was busily rummaging in her food sack looking for any extra cookies.
"What about the astronauts? I can tell you all the latest gossip about the astronauts." Melvin thrust the front page in David's face. On the front page was a huge, full color photo of the astronauts. David sat up a little straighter and snatched the paper out of Melvin's hand. He then slouched down and started to read. As he read, Molly joined them.
"Hi, Lita. Wha'cha doing?"
"I dunno. Melvin was bugging us about the shuttle and thrust the paper in David's face. David snatched the paper out of Melvin's hand and he's been reading it." David looked up. His face had a thoughtful expression. Pitching the apple over the fence, he folded the paper to show the photo then pulled out a pen and circled four of the astronauts.
"Molly, send word to Maxsfield. Lita and I have to get to the Launch. As fast as possible."
"Why?"
"None of your bisnuess Melvin. Beat it." Muttering words that aren't repeatable, Melvin stalked off towards the main building. Lunch forgotten, Lita got up to stand next to David. She hadn't known him long. But his cool head and quick thinking had gotten the Scouts out of more than one scrape. He also had an uncanny ability to plan out every contingency. Molly cocked her head.
"What's going on?" She asked
David pointed to the four astronauts he had circled. Lita leaned closer. They looked different. But Lita would know them anywhere. The Black Lady, Malachite, Rubius, and Bertie.
"How-" Lita began only to have David cut her off..
"The Black Lady is up to something. With Beryl dead, The Negaverse is almost dead. The Negamoon is our only concern. But without Rubius and the Sisters, The wiseman-Jadeite, is powerless." Lita nodded. Only months ago, the Scouts had battled alternate versions of their enemies.
Far and away more Evil then anything the scouts had encountered. Only the Timely resurrection of Sailor Moon, or rather, the alternate Sailor Moon had managed to avert disaster. But some of the Alternate Nega-villains had escaped Crystal Tokyo and slipped back into past, or the present, or whatever.
The upshot was, if the Scouts had thought The Black Lady, Malachite, Rubius and Bertie they had battled over the past year and half were bad, these four were far, far, worse. To make matters worse, Lita was the only Scout available. The others were on a school trip. There was no way they would be available to get away. She turned to Molly.
"Tell Nephrite to meet me and David in my loft this afternoon after school." Molly nodded.
-------------------------------- Lita twisted the key in the lock. With a hum, the elevator dropped down to the floor below her. With a smile, she removed the key. Until she used that key again, the elevator was barred from coming up to her floor. She shoved the heavy sliding door into place and locked it. Whistling a show tune, she rolled the Harley to it's place next to the door.
Lita lived alone. Paul, her Guardian, lived in the apartment beneath her. She hated Paul's Guts and vice versa. Hence the arrangement. Paul was available if nessacary, but she pretty much lived on her own. He paid her rent and gave her money for food, gas, and insurance for the Harley.
She dumped her bag on the couch and walked into the bedroom. The previous tenant had erected ten foot partitions in one corner of the loft. They had also added a door. It was in this walled off area that she had her bed and dresser. The only actual room was the bathroom Boasting a combination shower/bath, it was just the thing for a quick wake-up if she was late for school.
The ceiling had lighting-okay naked bulbs suspended from the ceiling. But at least she didn't have to rely on the halogen floor lamps.
Dressed in her exercise leotard she walked over to the stereo and put on the soundtrack to The Crow. Then, after the warm up, she started on the punching bag. After that, she lifted weights. Then she showered and dressed in a pair of faded jeans and an old angora sweater she had picked up at a garage sale. She packed an overnight duffel and then flopped on the couch to await Nephrite and David. She picked up the remote and switched on the TV.
She was laughing at Bugs Bunny when they arrived. David looked at the TV.
"Seen it five times." Lita looked at him askance. Then switched the TV off and picked up the duffel.
"Lita, it's just you and me on this one. Maxsfield Stanton has an reservation at a business dinner he can't get out of. The Sisters have to get ready for tax time. Mina, Raye, Amy and Serena are on that inter-school trip. They're too closely supervised. All Neffy is gonna do is get us there. After that, we're on our own."
"What about your parents?" David smiled sardonically.
"They're out of town for the weekend, and Thad is planning a Rave. I know he's planning to throw me in the pool house. I live there most of the time anyways. All my valuable stuff is there." He pulled out a key on a chain from under his shirt. "I'm the only one with a key. He'll use the guest house for his harem of girlfriends anyway" He tucked the key back into his shirt. "Besides, it's bigger than the guest house."
"You live in the poolhouse?" David shrugged
"I don't mind. Thad plays his heavy metal at ear-blasting volume anyway. Out in the poolhouse, it's nice and quiet. When I realized what Thad was up to, Mina and I moved my computer, coin collection, and other valuable stuff. Then I swiped the poolhouse keys, buried one, and I wear the other one around my neck. I even changed the code on the security system."
"But what if Thad tries to break in?" David steepled his fingers.
"Thad and I have a. . .understanding. I keep my mouth shut about his raves, and he stays out of the poolhouse. Which is a good thing. Because there's evidence that will arrive on Dad's desk that has pictures from Thad's Raves. I also took a few precautions. Because there's enough notes and junk in there that can be put together and reveal the identity of the scouts."
Nephrite cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow at David. David nodded, and with a lurch (and a brief warp of the scenery, overlaid with the brief hallucination of a iguana, and Lita blushing bright red at something she saw, but later absolutely refused to discuss, but occasionally caused her to mutter, "They have rings for THAT!?! And I thought navel rings were as far down as you could go!"), the loft vanished to be replaced by an expanse of grass. On the horizon, they could see the fence which surrounded the base, beyond that, the shuttle itself.
"It's good thing tomorrow is Sunday and neither of us has school." Lita shaded her eyes and squinted to see the shuttle better.
"Ya know, from here it doesn't look that big."
"Distance does wonderful things to human eyesight" David said dryly. "Speaking of which. . . ." He dug a cell phone out of his bag and dialed a number.
-------------------------------- Mina picked up the phone with one hand and continued brushing Serena's hair with the other.
"Hello?"
"Hi ya sweet lips!"
"David?" Mina cradled the handset between her shoulder and cheek. "how are you?"
"Absolutely smashing! Lita and I are Florida."
"Florida? What the hell are you doing there?"
"The Black Lady and three of her cronies have invaded the crew. Darien just can't get away, Neffy, has an appointment he can't ditch and the Sisters have to get ready for the tax man.
"So it's just you two"
"Duh huh." Quipped David in his best hillbilly accent. "Anyhoo, put Amy on would you?" Mina handed the receiver to Amy.
"Yes?"
"Ames. Listen up. I need to know the exact location of the abort button on the shuttle."
"It would be center on the dashboard somewhere, probably underneath a clear plastic case or lid. It has to be pushed before ignition."
"Cool. Thanks. Put Mina back on."
"David?"
"No, the Loch Ness monster. I gotta scoot luv. Love you."
"Ditto." The phone clicked. Mina replaced the phone. Serena twisted around to look at her.
"Mina? What was that all about?" Raye crossed the room.
"Yes. What did he want to know about the abort button for?" Mina licked her lips before replying.
"Lita and David are in Florida. The Black Lady and three of her cronies are on the shuttle crew. They're going to try and stop them."
-------------------------------- Jupiter stood on the edge of the control tower roof. Two miles away, the shuttle waited by the assembly building. The sun was just peeking over the horizon. In 24 hours, the shuttle would launch.
According to David, in that cargo bay was the world's only cold fusion reactor. It had a date with the engineering module of United. The nations of the world had put aside their differences to build the first fully- functional Space Platform in preparation for the Mars Mission. Japan supplied the tech, Russia supplied the construction crew and their massive boosters. Canada and the rest supplied station crew. America was supplying it's fleet of reusable craft. It's shuttles. Which was why they were here in Florida.
"Man, when you think about all the effort we're putting into this, it really boggles the mind." Crystal Knight picked up her up around the waist and with a boost from his rocket pack, they landed on the mobile gantry that would carry the shuttle all the way to the launch site. "Maybe, just maybe, this could end all the wars and stuff."
"Jupiter, I couldn't garuntee that."
"Why not?"
"Human nature."
"Oh. So what's the plan?"
"Get into the prep rooms for the astronauts, remove the Negascum, and be out before you can say Jack Rabbit."
"They're gonna resist."
"If we can get them out to the swamps, it won't matter."
"Huh?"
"The swamps are ripe with strange magic. Wild and untamed. Neffy and I tangled with a Bayou Voodoo Queen while trying to capture Demando. We lost him and had to extract ourselves from the swamp." He paused. "I will never look at an alligator the same way again."
"So you're planning to dump them in the heart of the swamps?"
"Yep. Let the wild magic deal with them. I know one old lady that would love to make Negaverse Stew."
"David? Are you still in control?"
"Of Course. Why?"
"That last part sounded kind of, well, crazy." Lita found herself inching away from the Knight. If David ever lost control of the rage and anger that was the real Crystal Knight, a few feet wouldn't save her.
"Sorry. I don't think it's possible to kill them by Magic."
"Why?"
"Magic is a form of energy. When Nephrite died, it was from the vines through his shoulder. Not the blasts that they hurled at him."
"But Serena's crescent Moon Wand..."
"I don't know Jupiter, I honestly don't know. Perhaps it's the type of energy used."
"You eggheads are all alike."
"I won't dignify that with a response. However, Amy and I have been trying to figure out a way to Artificially re-create the energy that the wand uses."
"Why?"
"In case Sailor Moon ever becomes........incapacitated." The visor glowed red briefly.
-------------------------------- Jupiter bounded from building to building. As a Sailor Scout, her energy and endurance were increased. She also had a high level of resistance to injury and heightened agility. All were useful when making leaps sometimes as much as twenty feet. All the scouts had those abilities, in addition to their own powers.
She pondered David and Mina. Normally she wasn't given to introspection but she had the entire width of the base to cover and her mind was wandering.
David was a bigger mystery than Mina. His uncanny ability to plan bugged her. Where did he come from? Wales obviously, she knew that much. But he had always been rather closemouthed about his past. Witness protection? Now that was a thought. Actually it was too good a thought. Too close to the truth really. Could the Jones family be from Witness Protection? That made sense, in a twisted way. Except both Mina and David had made references to a guy named Conrad. From the looks on their faces when they talked about him, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to meet this guy.
Then there was Mina. She had been after the Negaverse longer than any of the scouts except maybe Pluto. Why was she the first Scout when Serena was the Chosen One? Oy. She decided to leave it to the others, and give Artemis a going over. He had to have answers. He had too. There was too much going on here. Why had Venus waited until She, Mercury, Mars and Sailor Moon gotten together before showing up? Finally finding them didn't wash. After finding them, She had no trouble getting to the fight. Artemis was handing Luna assignments well before Mars had joined so he had to know where they were headed, he could have sent Mina there. Something just didn't add up.
Jupiter landed on a truck that was headed in the right direction. Mina and David were mysteries. Jupiter hated mysteries.
As the truck turned down an alleyway, Jupiter leapt upwards onto an office and caught a Van headed for the shuttle itself. First things first. Stop the Black Lady and her cronies. Then, deal with David.
She leapt off the truck and bounded back on to the rooftops. David and other mysteries would have to wait. She had to get into position.
-------------------------------- The Knight crouched in the shadow of the launch gantry. Something had pulled him here. A force. The Imperium crystal was answering a call too powerful too ignore. He had to know.
"Curiosity killed the cat." His mom's voice washed through his head.
"Meow." He chuckled softly and leapt up the side of the Gantry. Whatever it was, it was calling the Imperium Crystal from somewhere on the gantry.
The grubby man in mechanic's coveralls watched the Knight. In a flash, the Knight was fifty feet up the Gantry.
"You were correct mistress. He is here."
"Of course Martin, don't you know I'm always right. You do know that, don't you?"
"Yes mistress. Of course Mistress." The pink-haired woman patted the mechanic on his head.
"I know you do. Now go to your job." The mechanic scurried away. The woman smiled. A single night of passion and he was hers. Heart and soul. She hadn't realized the full. . .potential of a frayed, scratchy rope until then. He had proven that humans did have potential if certain base instincts were given free reign. A shame he had to die. When it came to the other uses of a table knife, Martin had been rather inventive. And what he could do with that candle . . .
With a flicker, she vanished.
-------------------------------- Jupiter arrived at the gantry and made her way up the side of the shuttle. After all the problems with Tomoe, she had thought their problems were over. When the others from the Moon Kingdom appeared she had thought them easy. But they hadn't. Then Pluto had yanked them to Crystal Tokyo where they had faced those duplicates, and Amy had nearly died. They all had scars from that. Mercury's right eye had trouble focusing and her speech slurred slightly if she wasn't careful. Venus had a limp. Mars came out smelling like a rose. All she had was a web-shaped scar above her left eye. Jupiter paused on a gantry arm to rub her shoulder. Her arm had been yanked from it's socket. She had trouble throwing punches because the shoulder bones rubbed against each other. After a while, the soreness became unbearable. She took 30 seconds for a breather. Time was of the essence. She resumed bounding up the side of the shuttle.
The Knight paused at the cargo bay. The call was coming from within. He searched the hull. Finally he found the exterior access. A small keypad. So what was the code? How many digits? On a hunch he punched in the date of the first manned space flight. The massive doors slid open. The call was stronger, it was coming from the reactor. No, not the reactor, between it and the side of the bay. A few minutes searching bought him a locket. A single leap put him back outside the shuttle. A few minutes work got him the code that closed the cargo doors. Then he took off to join Jupiter.
-------------------------------- Jupiter stood at the top of the launch gantry. She could see for miles from up here. The wind blew through her hair. She could smell the salt air in the wind. Without a sound, the Knight arrived next to her.
"Anything?"
"Nope, nothing. Except this." Jupiter turned and studied the locket that the Knight held in one hand.
"What is it?"
"I'm not sure. But it called the Imperium Crystal. So it's important." Jupiter put one hand out.
"I-I have to touch it." Her hand snapped out and closed around the locket itself. Instantly, energy arced out from the locket and up her arm. She glowed green for a moment, then it vanished.
She was now wearing armor. It was a metallic version of her usual outfit, except that all the bows and stuff were gone. Where she used to have bare skin, it was now covered in green metal.
She fumbled with the catches to the helmet. With a slight sucking sound, the helmet came off. She stared at it.
"If there is one, then there must be others." She looked up at the Knight.
"What makes you so sure?"
"A hunch, and a memory." Jupiter looked at him incredulously. Unlike the other scouts, David had no memories of the moon, no dreams. Luna couldn't figure out if she had seen him before. Then again, Luna had said that the Crystal Knight had been just a legend for the people of the Moon.
"A memory?" The Knight didn't answer. His attention was riveted on the prep building at the other end of the launch site. Jupiter followed his gaze. A van with the NASA logo on it was pulling in. Techs ran up with a plastic tunnel, used to keep germs out. From where she stood, she couldn't see the astronauts as they got out, but one of them had pinkish hair.
In the Prep building the astronauts were laughing and joking. Except for Renee, "The american astronaut with cotton candy for hair." At least that's what they called her in the papers. Her real name was Rini, and she had the power to flatten the entire Cape Canaveral Complex. Even now she could feel the Negaforce twisting within her, begging to be used. She squashed it down. There were more important things to worry about. She looked out the window at the launch pad. Two glints shined from the top of the gantry. Even from here, she knew what they were. Sailor Jupiter, and that thrice- cursed Crystal Knight. There was something different about Jupiter. Something powerful. The lockets! They had found one of the lockets! With one activated she could feel the others. Except for the one belonging to Moon. It was silent.
She made her way to a chair and sat down. She stretched her senses out. She could feel the strange magic of the bayou, the ancient power of the druids in England, the wily and tricky magic of Ireland, the softer, yet rugged, magic of Scotland, the coiled power of the Ninja in Japan, and the mind- magic of the aborigines in Australia. The powers flowed and coalesced at various points. Ayer's Rock, Stonhedge, San Francisco, L.A., The Pacific Northwest, New York, the north and south poles, and. . .from two points in Tokyo and. . .interesting, another place in northern Japan . . .She pushed past it all, seeking the power of the moon, her moon, from her universe. There, the thread that united the lockets. Dad had been stupid to bring them here. But he was dead now, and there was no point in worrying about it.
She ran her mental fingers through the thread following it to each locket. There. Jupiter, out on the gantry, and as she sensed it, her link to it through it's origin in her world snapped. She cursed softly, the armor must have finished fusing to the locket from this world. Well, there was always the other ones . . . Mercury, buried in the artic wastes. Mars, a volcano in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Venus, buried in England somewhere near the first Stonhedge. Uranus and Neptune were both in the same place, buried at the foot of a tree in a L.A. cemetery. Saturn was somewhere on the grounds of the Vietnam memorial. Pluto was in Big Ben somewhere, close to the gears, and all seven were slowly fusing with their counterparts. But Moon's was silent, the thread that connected it to Mercury was snapped. That meant the locket was disguised and in use.
She smiled. After they had the reactor, she would personally hunt down each locket and destroy it. Whoever had the moon locket was in for a nasty surprise.
-------------------------------- Jupiter looked down and swallowed, the astronauts were right below them, entering the shuttle. The Black Lady passed beneath them. Jupiter kept herself as still as she could, calling upon all her martial Arts training, to keep herself calm, still, and silent.
Beside her, the Knight Crouched with an inhuman stillness. It still amazed her how reptilian he could be at times. There were still powers to the crystal that were being discovered. The last of the astronauts entered and the door swung closed.
The Knight's fingers closed around the beam, making a slight impression in the steel. Jupiter looked over at him.
"They'll be launching soon. We have to stop them." The Knight nodded.
"Tell me something I don't know." Lita rolled her eyes.
"Great. Now tell me David. Just how do we stop a multi-ton steel plane that is about spew a sun out of it's ass?!
"A Sun?"
"Large Bonfire?"
"Better."
"Thanks."
"We Move." With that statement, the Knight leaped from his perch and bounded down the gantry and into the cargo bay. Jupiter followed, sliding right through the hole he had made. The Alarms finally noticed that there was a hole in the shuttle's skin and began screaming.
Then that the Negaverse burst in, howling like demons. Jupiter glimpsed the terrified faces of the other 3 Astronauts before Rubius and Malachite slammed her against the reactor. She wasn't the brightest of the scouts but she knew better then to puncture the Reactor. Running on experience, she kicked Rubius in the crotch as he was the more dangerous of the two and then snapped Malachite's head with a right cross.
Rubius jumped her, pinning one arm behind her. She cursed under her breath, "How the fuck did he recover so damn fast!" and focused on him, stomping his shin, which loosened his grip enough for her to pull her arm free which she jabbed into his ribs and Judo threw him into the shuttle wall. Dazed, he staggered, and she turned to deal with Malachite, who was already charging.
-------------------------------- He stood there in the crowd, near to the outer edges. Something was wrong. He started edge away, to find somewhere where he could make the change. She laid a hand on his arm, demanding to know where he was going. The lie flowed from his lips and he vanished into the crowd before she could reply.
-------------------------------- The Knight was wrestling two ladies. On any other occasion, he would be enjoying this, but these two were trying to kill him, which put a damper on things.
-------------------------------- Jupiter slammed Rubius in the nose, attempting to drive it into his brain. Malachite hissed and lunged. She ducked, using Rubius as a shield, even so, the impact drove them back smashing her against the reactor. She needed a weapon. Before her eyes a display appeared. Charge 000 The numbers began to climb. She didn't know what the hell was going on, but it was something. She could hear The Knight swearing vehemently. She elbowed Rubius in the ear and Slammed Malachite in the throat with her arm.
The Knight's hands glowed and an energy blast blew out the side of the shuttle causing more alarms to go off. It also caused the shuttle to lurch dangerously. Lita almost lost her balance. She swore in three different languages at the same time. Then they all fell out of the hole, as she plummeted, something flashed past her, running up the side of the shuttle. The Knight caught her and set her down.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Did you see who was running up the side of the shuttle?"
"Huh?"
At that moment, a third person landed in their midst. Lita gaped. It was a sight to behold. The creature stood eight feet tall. Golden chest armor was sculpted around massive chest and upper arm muscles. Black leather fingerless gloves fitted around Five-fingered hands. Green pants of some material wrapped around muscular legs. It wore no shoes....no, it was wearing sandals of some kind. What skin she could see was golden brown, and looked scaly. It's silver hair was tied into dreadlocks, and the helmet was some kind of futuristic, flattened, full faced gas mask. It had an Astronaut under each arm and a third hanging on it's neck. It set them all down and they ran for it.
Rubius snarled and gave the newcomer both barrels. The creature didn't even flinch. Jupiter blinked and the creature had moved the distance between it and Rubius and Rubius was flat on his back, both hands covering his face.
Oh Bhudda, how fast was this thing? The Knight was less astonished.
"And you are......."
"I am Hunter." It's voice was a raspy whisper. Lita's eyes narrowed as the name sparked a childhood memory.
"Hunter? Then you are real."
"You have heard of me then."
"Who?" The Knight was staring at her and none of them noticed The Negaverse listening intently.
"According to that my Sensai told me, the Hunter is the Champion of the Red Dragon Ninja clan. No Mortal can stand against him in combat. As the story goes," She paused to run the story through and come up with the modern terms. "700 years ago an Alien ship crashed into Feudal Japan. A Samurai warrior witnessed the landing and watched the alien stagger out. Thinking it a demon, the Samurai killed it in cold blood. As the body lay bleeding on the ground, his comrades came running, as did the Clan Shaman. The Samurai by now had realized his mistake, and was prepared to commit Seppuku to regain his honor. For he had killed being that had been unable to defend itself.
The Shaman had other ideas. He cursed the Samurai, his children and his children's children."
"What was the curse?" The Knight by now was very interested.
"To assume the Alien's form." The Hunter stepped closer to them. "300 years ago, one of the Hunters sought out a powerful Sorcerer, hoping to free himself from the curse. He failed. The Sorcerer did manage to alter the curse allowing the Hunter resume his human form. Since then The Hunter has continued to serve the interests of the Red Dragon Ninja Clan." The Knight absently made a note to work out the physics of this.
The Black Lady got to her feet. "MARTIN!" She screamed and a Mechanic, his hair and thick mustache everywhere came out of the crowd.
"Yes Mistress?" The Black Lady smiled and patted his head.
"Kill them."
"Yes Mistress." Martin bulged everywhere then his clothes seem to explode as Martin tripled in size. Jupiter took a step back.
"He's a Freakin werewolf!" The Hunter lunged forward.
"I'll take him! You take the others!" As Hunter and Martin began to trade punches, Jupiter tackled the Black Lady. The Knight whipped out his spear and jammed Bertie in the eye, yanking it out and delivering a snap kick right into Rubius's face. Malachite started to charge but was yanked back by Nephrite.
"Going somewhere?" Asked Nephrite, Sword at the ready. Malachite drew his own blade. "Only for your throat traitor!"
Jupiter's hands crackled with electricity and The Black Lady screamed and convulsed as thousands of volts invaded her. So that's how it works. Bitchin.
Jupiter concentrated and delivered another electric shock. This was fun! The Black Lady smiled.
"I can Deliver electric bolts too Sailor Bitch!" Her hands crackled with energy and every muscle in Jupiter's body contracted at once. But the pain was minimal. Then she noticed that the power bar had reduced to nearly half. Right, she had to watch it, and the armor had it's limits.....and so does the person wearing it....maybe they were connected. She would have to ask Amy. She flipped to her feet. That would be if they survived. The Lady came in swinging with a shotokhan style low punch. Jupiter knocked it aside with a Low block of her own and Brought up her forearm intending to slam it into her throat. That's when it sprouted spikes and the Lady ran right into them. Reflexively, Jupiter stepped back and stared as the green blood bubbled out of the Lady's mouth as she collapsed. She felt very queasy then the world went topsy turvy as Bertie tackled her and started tearing at her. For her part, the gaping green gore-seeping crater where Bertie's eye had been fascinated her. Focus girl! she snapped at herself and cracked Bertie under the jaw.
The Knight's judgment was beginning to fade from an constantly building wave of psychotic bloodlust. He was fighting it as best he could, but he was losing. Then all judgment faded as Rubius gave him both barrels. The world went red and David found himself back on the Volcanic hellhole. SHIT!
Jupiter and the Hunter found themselves back to back when the Knight let out bestial snarl and started tearing at Rubius.
"I assume from the way you tense that that snarl is not a good thing."
"No, it means he's gone psycho and will attack anything not Moon Kingdom."
"In that case I believe me and my dancing partner shall change to something more down-tempo." Hunter grabbed Martin and dragged him behind the launch pad. Then a horrible metallic shriek ripped the air and the shuttle tilted dangerously.
Her brain leaped into high gear. A plan leapt into her head. She didn't stop to think it through or question where it came from. She acted.
"Nephrite! Teleport the shuttle off the boosters!" To his credit, Nephrite disengaged and did as she said. "Now! Launch the boosters and the external tank! Get them into space! Green energy crackled from Nephrite's hands and surrounded the external tank and boosters. With a thunderous roar, they launched into the air. They didn't quite make it into space and curved back down towards the ocean. The explosion sent a huge Tsunami towards them. Nephrite sent a huge wall of energy forth and the wave broke against it. Jupiter let out a sigh of relief as the energy wall fell. Luckily, the Coast Gaurd had cleared out the sea-going watchers when the fight had started. and the Tsunami hadn't reached shore. The she was slammed to the ground as Bertie leapt on her back. Enough was enough! Jupiter whipped around and boxed Bertie on the side of the head. She tumbled to the floor. That's when the Knight leapt onto Malachite. The wet sounds of ripping flesh reached her ears. Her stomach twisted. Oh Bhudda, she was going to barf. Then everyone vanished. Slowly, the Knight seemed to grow saner.
"I did it again....didn't I?" Jupiter nodded.
"Yeah, but under the circumstances, I don't think it matters." Hunter stepped up to them.
"Everyone okay?"
"No." Jupiter tore off her helmet and heaved into a convenient bucket. "Now, I'm okay." A Nervous NASA official handed her a canteen. She drank gratefully, swished the water around in her mouth and spit. Then she took a look around at the carnage that had been wrought and let out a low whistle of astonishment. "Daaaaaammmm" Nephrite materialized next to them and nodded his agreement.
"Most destructive, but the reactor is safe. I must get back, I will return at 5PM Japan time." He vanished. Hunter nodded.
"I too must go." Then he was gone, bounding over the buildings. Jupiter looked at the Knight.
"I think we'd better go." She said quietly as she put her helmet back on.
"Agreed." He scooped her up and they flew away.
--------------------------------
Somewhere Else........
Rini, known to her enemies as The Black Lady, examined her throat in the mirror. The wound was almost healed and there would be no scar. The others had similarly healed their wounds. Martin had returned with them and seemed much happier in his new form. She walked to the window and looked out over what she knew as Charwar. This was this universe's version of Earth....and it was dying. Her father had told her the tale. Of how the inhabitants of Charwar mastered the hidden powers of the brain quickly and exploded forward technologically at an incredible rate.
Now Charwar was dying, the sun was dying and the inhabitants needed new sources of Energy.
So they turned to the other dimensions, found Earth, and the Senshi. It had been so easy to defeat them. Charwar had gone forth and raped that Earth. They were still doing it.
Then Seekay had appeared.
At first they thought he was just been a wanderer from the other Charwar. Then he had quietly convinced Father that he should rule. Father had killed Beryl. Then she had killed Father, not realizing that her father had set Seekay up as Regent. Seekay had been quick to seize power. He consolidated his power very quickly and killed any who spoke out against him. Seekay was very fond of killing. He had a wall in his personal quarters. Mounted on it were the heads of those who opposed him. He talked to them.
Now she served him, because she knew what would happen to her if she failed him. He had proof of what would happen.
So she served him, but she didn't have to like it.
An Aide came up to her and handed her a piece of paper. Ah, the results of the scanners she had left at Cape Canaveral for the purpose of recording the results on the crowd when the planned sabotage of the reactor went off. But they had served a another purpose. Albeit an unintentional one. They had scanned the Armor of Jupiter, The Knight, and that Hunter.
Now what did they discover? Oh my, that was interesting. She scanned the graphs again, just to be sure.
Oh yes, that was interesting.
That was very interesting.
-------------------------------- Epilogue
Lita bit into the Cheeseburger.
"Oh, this is good."
"Yeah." David bit into his own meal with gusto. "Good old Artery-hardening American food." Lita shoved a few more French fries into her mouth. This was great. Bad as Hell for her, but good nonetheless. She glanced around and two more people entered. Two teenagers. One was a guy, short, a bit thick around the middle, but bright, intelligent eyes. The other was a girl, extremely attractive. His face held a hint of Asian blood, while she was all anglo-saxon.
"Come on Max, you disappeared and missed all the craziness. It was battle. I saw a Senshi!" The girl really seemed earnest.
"The Senshi are an Urban Legend Janet." The guy dug some money out of his pocket. "There is no proof that they exist. All you have is some Newspaper clippings from your cousins about some sightings." He looked at the Cashier. "Two number fours."
"Then how do you explain monsters, the destruction of the top levels of Tokyo's Starlight Tower, and the wreckage of an Apartment building?"
"Mass Hallucination and Terrorists."
"Terrorists? It was the Sailor Senshi! You saw that News footage of Sailor Moon."
"A Stunt by some movie company."
"I don't understand you Maxwell," He flinched. "You seem perfectly willing to believe in the Hunter," she continued, "but not the Senshi. Why?"
"It's not that I don't believe in them, I just don't really accept your explanation for their existence. Aliens fighting extradimesional superpowered terrorists who are after our energy? No. I love you dearly, but that answer belongs in an Anime series, not real life."
Lita and David hid smiles behind their cheeseburgers. She made a frustrated sound and stalked off to the bathrooms. The guy let his gaze drift around the room and for an instant his eyes locked with her and David's, then moved on. The Cashier handed him the tray of food and he made his way to a table. As he passed by them, he nodded to each of them. Lita winked back and he smiled.
"You look better out of that armor." He said in a low voice. Lita just smiled.
"Thank you."
--------------------------------
"Contact with the Immortal One has been made."
"Continue Monitoring."