Disclaimer: Ok people, same as on the other chapters. I don't own Sailor Moon or it's characters.
Chapter Five:
Andrew lay quietly in the back of a van; Diamond's henchmen had thrown him in, still tied to the chair. They had driven for what seemed like hours but it was probably not quite so long. He was now alone; the others had exited the vehicle the moment it came to a stop, armed with sniper rifles, stun guns, and explosives. Andrew thought about his friends, about what was happening to them and what would happen if Diamond captured them. He struggled against his bonds and yelped when he cut himself on a protruding screw, the result of his fall earlier. Sparked with an idea he cut away at his rope with the screw, giving one final tug as the rope gave way. Rapidly, in case the guards returned, he untied his feet and searched for a weapon. All he could find however was one of the stun guns the guards had left behind.
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"Mr. Diamond, Andrew is escaping. Should we stop him Sir?"
"No, let him go...this may work out even better than I had planned. Instead of him knowing we are using him as bait, he will do all the work for us. Give this to the guard outside the van, now hurry up!" Diamond shoved a detailed map, with instructions at the henchman who quickly ran off.
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Andrew silently counted to ten, calming his nerves and planning his attack. He kicked open the back doors to the van and stunned the guard. He was about to run off when he noticed something in the guard's hand, a map. He scooped it up and ran to hide in some nearby bushes. He examined the map, taking careful note of the bomb shelter like building circled in red. The instructions stated:
"Darien will hide the girls here, the only way to get in is if someone on the inside opens the door, the girls must be stopped before they enter."
"If the girls get there in time they will open the door for me, then I can rush them to the van and escape."
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"Darien Sir..." panted an out of breath guard, "Sir, the side gate is under attack, it is Diamond, and he has a small army with explosives. What should we do?"
"Put the mansion on high alert and release the dogs, all of them." Suddenly the entire mansion went black and a few moments later the emergency generator kicked in, only to be shut off by a loud explosion that could only be a bomb.
"They must be in the basement Sir."
"Or we have traitors in the building," growled Darien, "this means many of the defense systems will fail, they should have gone into lockdown mode the moment the power failed but I have a feeling someone has prevented that. Get the girls together; they must be moved to the lockdown shelter. I want at least two guards per girl, they must be moved by the underground tunnels. Go!"
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"Mr. Diamond, your loyal members still inside have done their jobs but Darien and his men as well as the targets are no where to be found."
"Good, this means that the girls are in the bunker, I don't want a single guard interfering with Andrew or the girls until he has them in that van."
"What if he drives off?"
"Do you think I'm an idiot!?! That van won't start no matter how hard he tries, spark plugs are a good thing." Diamond grinned as he pulled out a handful of dirty car parts from his pocket. "Once he has the girls inside another van will pull up, the girls will be pulled out and Andrew disposed of. After that we pull back home taking only back roads."
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The girls had all been startled by the power failure and loud explosions. They almost forgot their fear however when they were brought together for the first time since their capture. Ami was the first to realize their danger.
"It must be Diamond; he has come for us."
"But where are we going?" cried Mina.
"I don't care, anywhere is better than being with that horrible Darien!" exclaimed Serena.
They did not have long to talk, the guards surrounding them silenced them with a wave of their guns as they were ushered through a secret door. They wandered through maze after maze of underground tunnels until they finally reached a door. The lead guard opened the door carefully, checking everywhere for the enemy. Satisfied he motioned for the others, they were inside a strange room.
"Boss says we're supposed to leave," the head guard said with a wink. The others grinned and walked back the way they had come, leaving the girls. The door opened again to the face of a guard, "Oh by the way, that other door leads outside, it can only be opened from in here." He chuckled and was gone again, locking the door behind him.
"That was strange," said Lita, still staring at the door they had come through.
"Ya really, we're under attack and they seemed happy about it." added Rei.
"I'm just glad to be away from that horrible man," Serena declared triumphantly crossing her arms over the large jacket she wore.
"Umm, Serena? Why are you wearing such a big coat?" asked Mina.
"No reason," she replied hesitantly as a small whimper came from the large jacket.
"Are you hiding something?" asked Rei, always suspicious of Serena.
"NO!" insisted Serena as this time a sharp bark was heard. Lita grabbed her in a tight hold as Rei pulled open the coat with a smile. Inside a very squirmy puppy peered out of a large pocket.
"PUPPY!" cried Mina, rushing forward to pick it up.
"NO! It's my puppy!" yelped Serena, pulling out of Lita's grasp and claiming her treasure. "Her name is Rose and Darien gave her to me. I had to bring her though, he tried to hurt her. I just couldn't leave her behind."
The girls were in the midst of 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over the small puppy when they heard a loud knock at the outside door.
"Girls?" a familiar voice called, "Girls, it's me, Andrew, you have to open this door!"
"It's Andrew," Mina yelled, rushing to open the large door but before she could Ami had grabbed her.
"It could be a trick, remember? Andrew is dead."
"No, that's him, I'd know his voice anywhere." She wrestled out of Ami's arms before she could react and had flung open the large lock. Andrew pushed open the door and Mina threw her arms around him.
"We don't have much time, c'mon, I have a van waiting!"
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"Something is wrong..." thought Andrew as he rushed the girls to the van, "there aren't any guards here, no one is stopping us."
They reached the waiting vehicle and the five scared girls piled into the back, throwing out the broken chair, Serena hugged her puppy ever closer. Andrew noticed the key still in the ignition and with increasing apprehension he turned it, nothing. Again he turned the key, giving it a little gas but still the engine refused to turn over. He turned to his friends, "lock the doors, now!"
Rei reached to bolt the door but before she could it was flung open, a crowd of menacing men stood there, all with guns, and hand cuffs.
"DAMN YOU! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!" Andrew screamed.
"Oh, I quite agree," a smooth voice replied as Diamond stepped from behind the van door, "looking for these?" he motioned to the spark plugs in his hand, slowly dropping them to the ground. "Thank you so much for you help Andrew, really, I do appreciate it. Now I will take what is rightfully mine and you will die."
One of Diamond's henchmen reached to rip Andrew from the front seat but as he did a flash of fur and teeth escaped from Serena's coat. With a cry of pain the man dropped his gun and clutched his bleeding hand.
"RUN!" screamed the girls in unison and Andrew, too stunned to argue took his chance. He sprinted to the iron gate he had not long before hated, now praying just to reach. With gunshots behind him he dove and made it under a hole in the fence, the very one Rose's roaming father had dug and used for his late night endeavors. Andrew scrambled under and ran once more for the door, landing, unconscious, at the feet of Darien.
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The girls stood clustered together in the center of a rather bare room. They jumped as the only door opened, only to reveal a rather timid looking red head.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Did I startle you? Oh dear..."
"I-it's ok," stammered Lita, "what's your name?"
"Oh how rude of me, my name is Molly, I'm Mr. Diamond's personal servant." The group of frightened girls shifted uncomfortably at the statement, Rei rather audibly expressing her doubt. "No really," Molly insisted, "I'm his cousin, I work hard here but Mr. Diamond takes care of me, well, at least he hasn't let any of his men touch me. In fact," she continued, holding her head higher with pride, "I am unmarked!"
The girls continued with their looks of shock and once again Rei mumbled, something akin to an apology.
"So, what are you here for?" asked Mina.
"I'm so sorry about this, really, but uhhh... Mr. Diamond has ordered me to inspect you, for marks that is."
"But we haven't been!" exclaimed Serena, piping up for the first time since she lost her beloved puppy.
"I believe you, but Mr. Diamond doesn't. I won't make you take off your clothes or anything, I don't think it's necessary but I do just have to make sure." The girls relented and the timid servant began checking all of them for tattoos, tattoos that would bind them to a man and to a gang.
"Very well," Molly said as she finished looking between Ami's toes, "I can go tell Mr. Diamond you are all clean."
"Did you really have to look between our toes?" asked Mina, still struggling with a sock.
"You'd be surprised where gangs will hide their marks, I think they like it because if another gang marks one of their girls or touches her, her real gang has the right to take land from the offending gang."
"Are you serious? Diamond doesn't think that Darien and the other guys would mark us somewhere obscure just so that they could get more land does he?" asked Lita.
"I'm not allowed to comment on anything I hear from Mr. Diamond," replied Molly. She quickly walked to the door but before she left she turned to the girls, "Oh, I almost forgot, he asked me to tell you to look in that wardrobe over there and pick out something sexy to wear, he will be marking you in about an hour and then you will be taken to his chambers."
"All of us?" Serena whimpered.
"Yes," Molly replied distantly as she turned and left the room.
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Zoicite stared intently at Andrew's unconscious face. Occasionally he would stand and pace the room, punching walls if the urge hit him. 'This guy has to wake up, he might know where Ami is, I have to get her back,' he thought as he broke open yet another knuckle.
Andrew began to stir, surprised to find no chains holding him down. "Where am I this time?" he asked.
The startled Zoicite turned to see Andrew sitting up in the guest bed. "You are in the guestroom of Red Rose Mansion. You just barely escaped from Diamond and you've been unconscious for twenty minutes."
"Oh God," Andrew moaned, "I can't believe I just left the girls, I'm never going to get them back...never."
Suddenly the door was flung open, slamming against the already fist damaged plaster. Darien stormed in, his face pale and eyes burning. Andrew stood, knowing his place, and bowed very low to the most powerful gang leader in the entire country.
"Rise," Darien commanded, "it has been a long time since we have met Andrew. I only wish our meeting were not on such unpleasant terms."
"Sir, if I may ask, where are my girls?" Andrew ventured.
Zoicite coughed nervously as Darien turned. Before he could answer Kunzite entered the room, having just heard the question, "Our girls you mean, have been taken by Diamond to a very well guarded location."
Forgetting to whom he was speaking Andrew shot back, "YOUR girls! They are not yours, they are MY friends, they will never show allegiance to you. I was the one that took them from their first gangs where they would have been sold off for more land, where they were only kept pure so they would be worth more. I was the one that saved them from that, took them in by selling off my own territory!"
Darien's face became dark despite it's still ashen tone, "You think you can stand there and tell me that you didn't take them in for their very purpose, that you were not going to mark them yourself!"
"They were just children, they were so frightened. I never once put a hand on them and neither did my men, they are my friends!"
"In the end none of that really matters though, you know why? Because you didn't follow the chain of command. I am the leader of this entire country, and I own everything in it. If I see something I want, I get it."
"You can never have their love! That is something you can not take from them. I can see it too, you love one of them but I am willing to bet my life that she doesn't love you," Andrew stood tall, staring at the most powerful man he had ever met, "What's more, I know why she doesn't love you, because you think you can just take her love and as long as you keep trying to take it she is going to hate you more and more. Darien, Sir, I respect you and I can see that my girls were well taken care of here. I am willing to help you gain their love if you can get them back."
Darien stared at him angrily through his speech, realizing where Serena got her fire. "I am willing to do anything for Serena, I do love her," he admitted.
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