THE PRICE OF FREEDOM,
Part Eight: "The Bid For Freedom"
By Bill K.
Jolted from her place of power so violently, Sailor Saturn for a time bordered between consciousness and unconsciousness. Her vision was cloudy, her mind jumbled and her stomach threatening to pour its contents out from self-protection. She was face down on the ground, but that fact didn't register immediately. Sounds could be heard, but what they were and who was making them couldn't penetrate her disconnected senses. It was as if her body was sending her imput, but there was no brain to receive it.
She clenched her fists and forced down the nausea. Blinking three times, her vision restored enough to see what was going on. Her back was stinging like a colony of wasps were doing a victory dance on it. Saturn looked down at the ground and recognized the dirt as the floor of the mineshaft she'd been in. There was something else, though, that she didn't immediately recognize.
"Chains?" she thought to herself because she hadn't connected with her voice just yet. "Who chained me? Aren't these what . . .?"
Recalling that thought made her think of her Michiru-mama. With that the entire missing period of her memory came flooding back: finding a broken and degraded Sailor Neptune laboring in chains in a mine, her desperate attempt to heal the woman enough to escape the guards, and the sudden jolt in her back that sent everything black.
"Mama!" she whispered, frantically looking around. Sailor Pallas was on her right, unconscious and wearing the same collar and chains the slaves wore. Beside her were two of the guards. One had horrible slashes across her face. Both were unconscious.
She forced her eyes to scan the rest of the area. A third guard was convulsing on the floor of the tunnel, a gruesome welt on her cheek. The fourth guard was advancing on - - was it Sailor Vesta - - her shock club poised to strike as the senshi struggled to get up and failed. Vesta was in a bad way and couldn't defend herself.
Back Saturn went to her place of power, trying to summon a mind bolt. It was hard. She was still worn from healing Michiru. The electric jolt still jumbled her nervous system, making it difficult to calm her thoughts and at the same time suppressing her adrenal function. Saturn strained desperately as the guard prepared to strike Vesta. She could feel something coming, but sensed it was too weak and too slow.
"NUHHHH!" the shriek echoed through the shaft. It barely registered in Saturn's ears before she witnessed the blade of her own glaive plunge through the back of the guard about waist high. At first Saturn wondered if somehow she'd done it. Then she spotted the filthy hands fall away. Following them, she spotted Michiru falling back against the tunnel wall, clutching her head in agony. Her hands shook from whatever was hurting her. The collar around her neck glowed blue in the darkness.
Vesta had recovered enough to crawl over to Pallas. The senshi turned her sister over, fear and anxiety coloring her features. Pallas slept like Sleeping Beauty. She seemed even more innocent asleep than when she was awake.
"Pallas?" Vesta whispered, gently caressing the girl's cheek in an attempt to rouse her.
"Vesta," Saturn gasped out. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," the other senshi wheezed. "Just kind of overdid it - - too many transformations in too short a time." She looked down at Pallas again. "Saturn, what happened to her?"
"Don't know," Saturn sighed. Why did she feel so weak? Did the electrical jolt hurt her that much? "Vesta, we have to get out of here. There's no telling how soon more guards will come!"
"Right," nodded Vesta. She pulled Pallas up, ready to carry the girl on her back. "Can you walk?"
Saturn tried to get up.
"I feel so weak," Saturn said. "It's like something's sapping my strength."
"Yuh," Michiru grunted. They both turned to the wretch, still leaning against the tunnel wall. "Yuh. Colluh . . ."
"The collars?" Saturn whispered, feeling around her throat. She felt the unyielding metal and knew she was in the same fix as Pallas, Michiru and all the other slaves in the mine.
"Who's that?" Vesta asked.
"M-Michiru-mama," Saturn choked out. Vesta's gasp of alarm made her wince. "Vesta, can you transform into a horse or something and carry us out? I'm not very steady right now and Mama and Pallas are worse off than I am."
"Nothing big enough to carry three people," Vesta told her. "All those transformations took a lot out of me. The most I could carry is one right now and I'm not even sure I could do that."
Saturn looked down. What, she wondered to herself, would Queen Serenity do in a spot like this?
Retracing her steps cautiously, Sailor Venus made her way back to the mine entrance. However, near her old position, she stopped short. Crouching behind a rock, Venus peered out. Several women in black guard uniforms occupied the spot where she and Vesta had once crouched.
"I'm not going to get in that way," Venus thought. She absently rubbed the wound on her stomach when it began to itch. "And I don't want to tangle with those blasters again. Guess I'll have to try to circle around to the side."
Backtracking, Venus began heading to her left when she was out of sight. There was a small collection of rocks near her on her left that would give her some cover in the otherwise open, barren terrain.
"Wonder if I could burrow into the mine shaft from the side with my Crescent Beam?" mused Venus as she scurried along. "It's a lot stronger than it was in my teen years."
Just then she felt her senshi communicator vibrate in warning. Venus knelt to the ground and cupped her hand around it to shield the holographic image that was about to display from being seen by anyone else.
She expected a picture of one of the other inner senshi. Instead, she got a holographic printed message telling her that Mercury was sending out a distress call.
"Damn it!" Venus cursed softly. "Who do I help first?" Venus shook her head. "Ah, the price of popularity."
Venus gazed over to where the mine was, agonizing on her decision.
"Sorry, kid," Venus thought, reversing her course and following the communicator homing signal. "I hope you know what you're doing down there, because I've got to help the senshi I KNOW is in trouble."
Mercury's hand surreptitiously moved away from the send button on her wrist communicator. As she did, she noticed the sudden discomfort she was in.
"It must be the collar," she thought, bending down to help Sailor Jupiter. Jupiter was just now recovering from a taser strike.
"What's going on?" Jupiter rumbled. "Who hit me? And-and what are these chains. . .?"
"Are you all right?" Mercury asked with more than just a doctor or a teammate's concern.
"Stand at attention!" roared a guard. Her foot lashed out and the boot caught Mercury in the chest, shoving her to the ground.
"You . . .!" snarled Jupiter. She rose up, lunging at the guard, but just as suddenly crumpled to the ground in pain. Her collar was glowing a deep blue.
"Jupiter, don't!" shrieked Mercury. "The collars are neural inhibitors! They sap the will and any act of aggression or disobedience causes pain in the person wearing them!"
Jupiter looked over at her sluggishly. The collar was ravishing her strength and will, but Jupiter was fighting it. Another guard came over, seized Jupiter's chains up by her throat and hauled the senshi to her feet.
"This one giving you trouble?" sneered the guard.
"Take this collar off," Jupiter hissed through clenched teeth, "and I'll kick your fat tail."
"Jupiter, don't fight it!" Mercury pleaded. "You'll only make it worse! We have to cooperate for now!"
"Please, Sensei Jupiter-sama!" Juno added to the chorus. "We-we can't fight it! Listen to Sensei Mercury-sama!"
"Didn't - - teach you kids - - to give up," Jupiter gasped out, her body being ravaged by the collar's effect.
"That's because they're good little slaves," the guard holding her said. "Give me a few weeks and I could make you a good little slave, too."
Jupiter tried to lunge at the woman, but all it accomplished was wrenching a loud groan of agony from her.
"Jupiter, please!" Mercury cried. "The more you fight, the more it will drain you! You must stop!"
But Jupiter doggedly fought on until she roared out another impotent groan of pain and frustration, then collapsed, hanging limply from the chains the guard held.
"Sensei!" gasped Juno.
"She's all right," Mercury said, her face twisted with worry. "It looks like it's just exhaustion. Oh, Jupiter, you can be so stubborn sometimes."
"Did you see the head of hair on her?" the guard said to her partner, letting Jupiter crumple to the ground. "Too bad she's destined for the queen's harem."
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind hanging on to her," the partner replied with a grin.
"A month, tops, and she'd be licking my hand," the guard smirked. She turned and slowly walked toward Mercury. As she did, the woman unholstered her energy pistol. "This traitor, however, doesn't even have to dirty the Cloud City with her presence."
"Traitor?" Mercury asked warily. "Please explain."
"You attacked your own," the guard said with a disgusted sneer, "to defend THIS!" She jabbed an accusing finger at Sailor Juno. "This - - lowborn green hair! You turn on your own kind to side with that!"
"My own kind?" Mercury asked, perplexed. Then the light went on. "My hair color? This planet's entire social strata's basis is hair color? You can't be serious!"
The guard's response was a jaw-rattling backhand that flung Mercury to the ground. Her attacker stood over her, the pistol pointed directly at her.
"Sensei Mercury-sama!" Juno cried. She took a step forward, then instantly sank to her knees with nausea.
"Ami!" Jupiter bellowed. She lunged forward from her knees, but sank to the ground again, tremors overtaking her long form.
Mercury looked up into the barrel of the energy pistol. She knew she had to move or she would die in a single moment. But the collar kept her pinned down, robbed her of the strength to move out of the way. She strained to push her will past the neural inhibitor in the collar, but couldn't do it. And if she couldn't move fast enough to avoid the blast, logically . . .
"Makoto," she whispered. Makoto will be devastated by this - - that thought ran through her mind.
"Crescent Beam!" echoed through the plain. The guard didn't manage to look up in time and felt the energy force slam into her chest high. The woman was flung backwards. She hit the ground hard and sagged into unconsciousness.
Her partner crouched as the beam tracked toward her, drawing a concussion grenade from her belt. She studied the beam's movement and prepared to dive under it, then heave the grenade in the direction of her attacker. But when she tried to move, she found Sailor Jupiter's arms clamped around her ankle, rooting her in place. Despite the blue glow of the collar, Jupiter doggedly held on. The guard looked up just in time to see the beam strike her. The force hammered her into the ground and she groaned softly as she embraced oblivion.
Two more guards ran up from their sentry posts near the group, but Venus made short work of them with her beam. Juno, Jupiter and Mercury pulled themselves up with some difficulty as Venus ran up.
"Got your message," Venus grinned in relief. She lightly grasped the chain running from Mercury's neck to her wrists. "Hey, I believe in accessorizing, but isn't this a pretty bold statement?"
"Joke all you want, I don't care!" beamed Mercury. "I'm just glad you got here when you did!"
"Yeah, Blondie," Jupiter panted loudly, rising to wobbly feet. "Your timing is excellent."
"What's wrong with you?" Venus asked. "You look like you just fought the Tokyo gravity ball team and lost."
"It's the collars," Mercury explained. "They suppress resistance. The more violent the resistance, the more damaging the suppression."
"So I suppose you want me to get them off, huh?" Venus smirked. Mercury and Jupiter glared at her. "Only because I'm in a hurry." She gave Mercury's collar a close look.
"Sensei Venus-sama, where's Vesta?" Juno asked.
"One crisis at a time," Venus scowled. "Where's the release mechanism on this thing?"
"I imagine it's an electromagnetic seal," Mercury said impatiently. "There's probably a key control mechanism in or on one of those belts the guards wear."
"Right," Venus nodded. She pulled off a guard's belt. "How's those uniforms for a fashion statement, huh? Neo-classic Gestapo." She looked at the belt. "There's three buttons. Which one?"
"I don't know," Mercury said.
"OK, I'll choose one."
"NO, DON'T!" gasped Mercury. Then the collar and shackles popped off of her.
"Hey, first time!" smiled Venus.
"Venus!" roared Mercury. "You had no idea what that button was for! It could have been an alarm of some sort - - or - - or a self-destruct signal for the collars in case of insurrection!"
"But it wasn't!" huffed Venus. She pointed the belt at Jupiter and Juno and popped their shackles off. "A little credit, huh?"
"Absolutely reckless!" Mercury fumed.
"I prefer to think of it as skill," Venus sniffed haughtily. "Come on! Vesta and maybe the others are stuck down in a mineshaft. They may need our help!"
Queen Serenity, Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon and Sailor Ceres were marched down the hall toward the royal court. Their collars dug into the flesh of their throats and their shackled wrists hung limply in front of them. Due to the chains running down to their shackled ankles, the quartet was forced to take small, mincing steps. The eyes of the three senshi darted from side to side, vainly searching for some opportunity for escape to present itself. All they saw were their booted, black uniformed escorts. Serenity's eyes were cast downward.
"Nice going, Mom," muttered Sailor Moon.
"They were going to kill you three," Serenity whispered. "What was I supposed to do?"
"Fight back. You can do just about anything, Mom. You could have changed those nets into lace doilies."
"Maybe. Maybe not; I couldn't take the risk."
"Wouldn't take the risk," Sailor Moon corrected her.
"Usa," Mars said, in a patient, knowing voice, "your mother won't risk another person's safety. It can be - - inconvenient sometimes, but it's part of who she is and you just have to accept it."
Sailor Moon scowled.
"So, tell me somebody has a plan," Ceres inquired. "I mean, begging your pardon Your Majesty, but can't you just make these chains go away?"
"Something's interfering," Serenity said. "The power is there, within me. I - - just can't seem to focus on it."
"I think these collars have something to do with it," Sailor Moon told her. "They're doing something - - affecting our minds." She glanced over at her mother. "I told you that you should have fought back."
"Brat," Serenity mumbled under her breath.
The door opened and the prisoners were led in before Queen Desiree. Desiree sat on her throne, curled up like a relaxing feline, eyeing the prisoners like a feline would eye a mouse. Harem slaves sat on either side of her. Her gaze seemed predatory when focused on Sailor Moon and Sailor Ceres, but changed to contempt when it moved to Serenity and Sailor Mars. Almost as a reflex, she preened on the thrown, absently running a jeweled hand over her shiny black hair. The hand trailed across her throat and down her breastbone.
The prisoners were halted fifteen feet from her.
"Kneel," snarled one of the guards. Serenity obeyed. The others had to be forced.
"So, Queen Serenity," Desiree said with a calm voice, though her eyes flashed anything but calm, "trespassing, assaulting my guards and trying to steal my property? This is a different side of you, far different than the 'diplomatic' side I saw earlier."
"Haruka is not your property," Serenity said, her tone sad and weary. "She is a free woman and my friend."
"She resides on my planet," Desiree said, eyes flashing and her lips pulling into a fierce grin, "and she wears my chains. That makes her my property."
"And am I now your property?" Serenity asked.
"If I so choose," Desiree volleyed back. "I welcomed you as an equal due to your station. You disrespected that gesture by skulking behind my back and any consideration your station demands is now gone." Desiree slid off her throne and walked down to the kneeling prisoners. Her hand sought out Serenity's face. "You are a comely woman. You have a pleasant face and such beautiful hair." Her hand glided over Serenity's scalp. "But I have so many golden hairs already. Another one would just bore me."
Desiree turned and began caressing Sailor Moon's face and hair.
"But you," Desiree gasped, her eyes dancing with excitement as her fingers ran through Sailor Moon's pink hair. "Never have I witnessed a creature as lovely as you. You are like nothing I have ever seen before! You will make a splendid addition, as will this one," and she nodded at Ceres.
"Please, leave my daughter out of this!" Serenity cried. "Your quarrel is with me! She has nothing to do with it!"
"Daughter?" Desiree smiled in wonder, turning back to Serenity. She looked at Sailor Moon again. "Yes! I see the resemblance now! Perhaps I was wrong to dismiss you." Desiree looked back at Serenity, the gears of thought turning in her head in a way that made both mother and daughter uneasy. "Perhaps I do have a use for you after all."
Desiree walked over to where Mars knelt. Instantly her mouth hardened and her gaze began to smolder.
"Why?" she asked Mars. "Why do you turn upon your own kind? Does it mean nothing to you?"
"You're not 'my kind'," Mars replied, communicating as much contempt and loathing as she could with every syllable she spoke. "And if you were, I'd seriously consider slitting my throat!"
Desiree glared silently at her. Mars didn't shy away, despite her inferior position. Finally Desiree broke eye contact.
"The traitor will, of course, be executed," Desiree pronounced. "Captain, see to it."
Upon a signal from the captain of the guards, two guards seized Mars under her arms and dragged her away from the others. Mars offered some resistance, but couldn't mount anything effective due to the influence of the collar.
"REI!" shrieked Serenity, turning and watching with horror her friend being dragged away. She turned back to Desiree. "No, you can't! You mustn't do it! Please! Please spare her, I beg you!"
Desiree raised an eyebrow. "I like the way you beg. I was definitely too hasty in my judgment of you."
Continued in chapter 9
Part Eight: "The Bid For Freedom"
By Bill K.
Jolted from her place of power so violently, Sailor Saturn for a time bordered between consciousness and unconsciousness. Her vision was cloudy, her mind jumbled and her stomach threatening to pour its contents out from self-protection. She was face down on the ground, but that fact didn't register immediately. Sounds could be heard, but what they were and who was making them couldn't penetrate her disconnected senses. It was as if her body was sending her imput, but there was no brain to receive it.
She clenched her fists and forced down the nausea. Blinking three times, her vision restored enough to see what was going on. Her back was stinging like a colony of wasps were doing a victory dance on it. Saturn looked down at the ground and recognized the dirt as the floor of the mineshaft she'd been in. There was something else, though, that she didn't immediately recognize.
"Chains?" she thought to herself because she hadn't connected with her voice just yet. "Who chained me? Aren't these what . . .?"
Recalling that thought made her think of her Michiru-mama. With that the entire missing period of her memory came flooding back: finding a broken and degraded Sailor Neptune laboring in chains in a mine, her desperate attempt to heal the woman enough to escape the guards, and the sudden jolt in her back that sent everything black.
"Mama!" she whispered, frantically looking around. Sailor Pallas was on her right, unconscious and wearing the same collar and chains the slaves wore. Beside her were two of the guards. One had horrible slashes across her face. Both were unconscious.
She forced her eyes to scan the rest of the area. A third guard was convulsing on the floor of the tunnel, a gruesome welt on her cheek. The fourth guard was advancing on - - was it Sailor Vesta - - her shock club poised to strike as the senshi struggled to get up and failed. Vesta was in a bad way and couldn't defend herself.
Back Saturn went to her place of power, trying to summon a mind bolt. It was hard. She was still worn from healing Michiru. The electric jolt still jumbled her nervous system, making it difficult to calm her thoughts and at the same time suppressing her adrenal function. Saturn strained desperately as the guard prepared to strike Vesta. She could feel something coming, but sensed it was too weak and too slow.
"NUHHHH!" the shriek echoed through the shaft. It barely registered in Saturn's ears before she witnessed the blade of her own glaive plunge through the back of the guard about waist high. At first Saturn wondered if somehow she'd done it. Then she spotted the filthy hands fall away. Following them, she spotted Michiru falling back against the tunnel wall, clutching her head in agony. Her hands shook from whatever was hurting her. The collar around her neck glowed blue in the darkness.
Vesta had recovered enough to crawl over to Pallas. The senshi turned her sister over, fear and anxiety coloring her features. Pallas slept like Sleeping Beauty. She seemed even more innocent asleep than when she was awake.
"Pallas?" Vesta whispered, gently caressing the girl's cheek in an attempt to rouse her.
"Vesta," Saturn gasped out. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," the other senshi wheezed. "Just kind of overdid it - - too many transformations in too short a time." She looked down at Pallas again. "Saturn, what happened to her?"
"Don't know," Saturn sighed. Why did she feel so weak? Did the electrical jolt hurt her that much? "Vesta, we have to get out of here. There's no telling how soon more guards will come!"
"Right," nodded Vesta. She pulled Pallas up, ready to carry the girl on her back. "Can you walk?"
Saturn tried to get up.
"I feel so weak," Saturn said. "It's like something's sapping my strength."
"Yuh," Michiru grunted. They both turned to the wretch, still leaning against the tunnel wall. "Yuh. Colluh . . ."
"The collars?" Saturn whispered, feeling around her throat. She felt the unyielding metal and knew she was in the same fix as Pallas, Michiru and all the other slaves in the mine.
"Who's that?" Vesta asked.
"M-Michiru-mama," Saturn choked out. Vesta's gasp of alarm made her wince. "Vesta, can you transform into a horse or something and carry us out? I'm not very steady right now and Mama and Pallas are worse off than I am."
"Nothing big enough to carry three people," Vesta told her. "All those transformations took a lot out of me. The most I could carry is one right now and I'm not even sure I could do that."
Saturn looked down. What, she wondered to herself, would Queen Serenity do in a spot like this?
Retracing her steps cautiously, Sailor Venus made her way back to the mine entrance. However, near her old position, she stopped short. Crouching behind a rock, Venus peered out. Several women in black guard uniforms occupied the spot where she and Vesta had once crouched.
"I'm not going to get in that way," Venus thought. She absently rubbed the wound on her stomach when it began to itch. "And I don't want to tangle with those blasters again. Guess I'll have to try to circle around to the side."
Backtracking, Venus began heading to her left when she was out of sight. There was a small collection of rocks near her on her left that would give her some cover in the otherwise open, barren terrain.
"Wonder if I could burrow into the mine shaft from the side with my Crescent Beam?" mused Venus as she scurried along. "It's a lot stronger than it was in my teen years."
Just then she felt her senshi communicator vibrate in warning. Venus knelt to the ground and cupped her hand around it to shield the holographic image that was about to display from being seen by anyone else.
She expected a picture of one of the other inner senshi. Instead, she got a holographic printed message telling her that Mercury was sending out a distress call.
"Damn it!" Venus cursed softly. "Who do I help first?" Venus shook her head. "Ah, the price of popularity."
Venus gazed over to where the mine was, agonizing on her decision.
"Sorry, kid," Venus thought, reversing her course and following the communicator homing signal. "I hope you know what you're doing down there, because I've got to help the senshi I KNOW is in trouble."
Mercury's hand surreptitiously moved away from the send button on her wrist communicator. As she did, she noticed the sudden discomfort she was in.
"It must be the collar," she thought, bending down to help Sailor Jupiter. Jupiter was just now recovering from a taser strike.
"What's going on?" Jupiter rumbled. "Who hit me? And-and what are these chains. . .?"
"Are you all right?" Mercury asked with more than just a doctor or a teammate's concern.
"Stand at attention!" roared a guard. Her foot lashed out and the boot caught Mercury in the chest, shoving her to the ground.
"You . . .!" snarled Jupiter. She rose up, lunging at the guard, but just as suddenly crumpled to the ground in pain. Her collar was glowing a deep blue.
"Jupiter, don't!" shrieked Mercury. "The collars are neural inhibitors! They sap the will and any act of aggression or disobedience causes pain in the person wearing them!"
Jupiter looked over at her sluggishly. The collar was ravishing her strength and will, but Jupiter was fighting it. Another guard came over, seized Jupiter's chains up by her throat and hauled the senshi to her feet.
"This one giving you trouble?" sneered the guard.
"Take this collar off," Jupiter hissed through clenched teeth, "and I'll kick your fat tail."
"Jupiter, don't fight it!" Mercury pleaded. "You'll only make it worse! We have to cooperate for now!"
"Please, Sensei Jupiter-sama!" Juno added to the chorus. "We-we can't fight it! Listen to Sensei Mercury-sama!"
"Didn't - - teach you kids - - to give up," Jupiter gasped out, her body being ravaged by the collar's effect.
"That's because they're good little slaves," the guard holding her said. "Give me a few weeks and I could make you a good little slave, too."
Jupiter tried to lunge at the woman, but all it accomplished was wrenching a loud groan of agony from her.
"Jupiter, please!" Mercury cried. "The more you fight, the more it will drain you! You must stop!"
But Jupiter doggedly fought on until she roared out another impotent groan of pain and frustration, then collapsed, hanging limply from the chains the guard held.
"Sensei!" gasped Juno.
"She's all right," Mercury said, her face twisted with worry. "It looks like it's just exhaustion. Oh, Jupiter, you can be so stubborn sometimes."
"Did you see the head of hair on her?" the guard said to her partner, letting Jupiter crumple to the ground. "Too bad she's destined for the queen's harem."
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind hanging on to her," the partner replied with a grin.
"A month, tops, and she'd be licking my hand," the guard smirked. She turned and slowly walked toward Mercury. As she did, the woman unholstered her energy pistol. "This traitor, however, doesn't even have to dirty the Cloud City with her presence."
"Traitor?" Mercury asked warily. "Please explain."
"You attacked your own," the guard said with a disgusted sneer, "to defend THIS!" She jabbed an accusing finger at Sailor Juno. "This - - lowborn green hair! You turn on your own kind to side with that!"
"My own kind?" Mercury asked, perplexed. Then the light went on. "My hair color? This planet's entire social strata's basis is hair color? You can't be serious!"
The guard's response was a jaw-rattling backhand that flung Mercury to the ground. Her attacker stood over her, the pistol pointed directly at her.
"Sensei Mercury-sama!" Juno cried. She took a step forward, then instantly sank to her knees with nausea.
"Ami!" Jupiter bellowed. She lunged forward from her knees, but sank to the ground again, tremors overtaking her long form.
Mercury looked up into the barrel of the energy pistol. She knew she had to move or she would die in a single moment. But the collar kept her pinned down, robbed her of the strength to move out of the way. She strained to push her will past the neural inhibitor in the collar, but couldn't do it. And if she couldn't move fast enough to avoid the blast, logically . . .
"Makoto," she whispered. Makoto will be devastated by this - - that thought ran through her mind.
"Crescent Beam!" echoed through the plain. The guard didn't manage to look up in time and felt the energy force slam into her chest high. The woman was flung backwards. She hit the ground hard and sagged into unconsciousness.
Her partner crouched as the beam tracked toward her, drawing a concussion grenade from her belt. She studied the beam's movement and prepared to dive under it, then heave the grenade in the direction of her attacker. But when she tried to move, she found Sailor Jupiter's arms clamped around her ankle, rooting her in place. Despite the blue glow of the collar, Jupiter doggedly held on. The guard looked up just in time to see the beam strike her. The force hammered her into the ground and she groaned softly as she embraced oblivion.
Two more guards ran up from their sentry posts near the group, but Venus made short work of them with her beam. Juno, Jupiter and Mercury pulled themselves up with some difficulty as Venus ran up.
"Got your message," Venus grinned in relief. She lightly grasped the chain running from Mercury's neck to her wrists. "Hey, I believe in accessorizing, but isn't this a pretty bold statement?"
"Joke all you want, I don't care!" beamed Mercury. "I'm just glad you got here when you did!"
"Yeah, Blondie," Jupiter panted loudly, rising to wobbly feet. "Your timing is excellent."
"What's wrong with you?" Venus asked. "You look like you just fought the Tokyo gravity ball team and lost."
"It's the collars," Mercury explained. "They suppress resistance. The more violent the resistance, the more damaging the suppression."
"So I suppose you want me to get them off, huh?" Venus smirked. Mercury and Jupiter glared at her. "Only because I'm in a hurry." She gave Mercury's collar a close look.
"Sensei Venus-sama, where's Vesta?" Juno asked.
"One crisis at a time," Venus scowled. "Where's the release mechanism on this thing?"
"I imagine it's an electromagnetic seal," Mercury said impatiently. "There's probably a key control mechanism in or on one of those belts the guards wear."
"Right," Venus nodded. She pulled off a guard's belt. "How's those uniforms for a fashion statement, huh? Neo-classic Gestapo." She looked at the belt. "There's three buttons. Which one?"
"I don't know," Mercury said.
"OK, I'll choose one."
"NO, DON'T!" gasped Mercury. Then the collar and shackles popped off of her.
"Hey, first time!" smiled Venus.
"Venus!" roared Mercury. "You had no idea what that button was for! It could have been an alarm of some sort - - or - - or a self-destruct signal for the collars in case of insurrection!"
"But it wasn't!" huffed Venus. She pointed the belt at Jupiter and Juno and popped their shackles off. "A little credit, huh?"
"Absolutely reckless!" Mercury fumed.
"I prefer to think of it as skill," Venus sniffed haughtily. "Come on! Vesta and maybe the others are stuck down in a mineshaft. They may need our help!"
Queen Serenity, Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon and Sailor Ceres were marched down the hall toward the royal court. Their collars dug into the flesh of their throats and their shackled wrists hung limply in front of them. Due to the chains running down to their shackled ankles, the quartet was forced to take small, mincing steps. The eyes of the three senshi darted from side to side, vainly searching for some opportunity for escape to present itself. All they saw were their booted, black uniformed escorts. Serenity's eyes were cast downward.
"Nice going, Mom," muttered Sailor Moon.
"They were going to kill you three," Serenity whispered. "What was I supposed to do?"
"Fight back. You can do just about anything, Mom. You could have changed those nets into lace doilies."
"Maybe. Maybe not; I couldn't take the risk."
"Wouldn't take the risk," Sailor Moon corrected her.
"Usa," Mars said, in a patient, knowing voice, "your mother won't risk another person's safety. It can be - - inconvenient sometimes, but it's part of who she is and you just have to accept it."
Sailor Moon scowled.
"So, tell me somebody has a plan," Ceres inquired. "I mean, begging your pardon Your Majesty, but can't you just make these chains go away?"
"Something's interfering," Serenity said. "The power is there, within me. I - - just can't seem to focus on it."
"I think these collars have something to do with it," Sailor Moon told her. "They're doing something - - affecting our minds." She glanced over at her mother. "I told you that you should have fought back."
"Brat," Serenity mumbled under her breath.
The door opened and the prisoners were led in before Queen Desiree. Desiree sat on her throne, curled up like a relaxing feline, eyeing the prisoners like a feline would eye a mouse. Harem slaves sat on either side of her. Her gaze seemed predatory when focused on Sailor Moon and Sailor Ceres, but changed to contempt when it moved to Serenity and Sailor Mars. Almost as a reflex, she preened on the thrown, absently running a jeweled hand over her shiny black hair. The hand trailed across her throat and down her breastbone.
The prisoners were halted fifteen feet from her.
"Kneel," snarled one of the guards. Serenity obeyed. The others had to be forced.
"So, Queen Serenity," Desiree said with a calm voice, though her eyes flashed anything but calm, "trespassing, assaulting my guards and trying to steal my property? This is a different side of you, far different than the 'diplomatic' side I saw earlier."
"Haruka is not your property," Serenity said, her tone sad and weary. "She is a free woman and my friend."
"She resides on my planet," Desiree said, eyes flashing and her lips pulling into a fierce grin, "and she wears my chains. That makes her my property."
"And am I now your property?" Serenity asked.
"If I so choose," Desiree volleyed back. "I welcomed you as an equal due to your station. You disrespected that gesture by skulking behind my back and any consideration your station demands is now gone." Desiree slid off her throne and walked down to the kneeling prisoners. Her hand sought out Serenity's face. "You are a comely woman. You have a pleasant face and such beautiful hair." Her hand glided over Serenity's scalp. "But I have so many golden hairs already. Another one would just bore me."
Desiree turned and began caressing Sailor Moon's face and hair.
"But you," Desiree gasped, her eyes dancing with excitement as her fingers ran through Sailor Moon's pink hair. "Never have I witnessed a creature as lovely as you. You are like nothing I have ever seen before! You will make a splendid addition, as will this one," and she nodded at Ceres.
"Please, leave my daughter out of this!" Serenity cried. "Your quarrel is with me! She has nothing to do with it!"
"Daughter?" Desiree smiled in wonder, turning back to Serenity. She looked at Sailor Moon again. "Yes! I see the resemblance now! Perhaps I was wrong to dismiss you." Desiree looked back at Serenity, the gears of thought turning in her head in a way that made both mother and daughter uneasy. "Perhaps I do have a use for you after all."
Desiree walked over to where Mars knelt. Instantly her mouth hardened and her gaze began to smolder.
"Why?" she asked Mars. "Why do you turn upon your own kind? Does it mean nothing to you?"
"You're not 'my kind'," Mars replied, communicating as much contempt and loathing as she could with every syllable she spoke. "And if you were, I'd seriously consider slitting my throat!"
Desiree glared silently at her. Mars didn't shy away, despite her inferior position. Finally Desiree broke eye contact.
"The traitor will, of course, be executed," Desiree pronounced. "Captain, see to it."
Upon a signal from the captain of the guards, two guards seized Mars under her arms and dragged her away from the others. Mars offered some resistance, but couldn't mount anything effective due to the influence of the collar.
"REI!" shrieked Serenity, turning and watching with horror her friend being dragged away. She turned back to Desiree. "No, you can't! You mustn't do it! Please! Please spare her, I beg you!"
Desiree raised an eyebrow. "I like the way you beg. I was definitely too hasty in my judgment of you."
Continued in chapter 9