Well I finally got chapter two ready. Sorry it took so long to post but I only get limited net access. I've got some major points to cover in a disclaimer.
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is a work of fiction. The story may contain violence or strong language in parts.
I hope that's everything.
A Second Destiny
Chapter 2: First Contact
"Amy! Please will you wait up and just listen to me?" Serena begged. She had to half jog in order to match the determined pace that her friend was setting. Despite all her protests Amy was marching along with a determination Serena had only seen once or twice before. Desperately Serena tried once more. "Come on Amy! Why do we need to sneak into a police station to see some dead bodies? Why would you even want to for that matter?"
Amy finally stopped just outside the entrance to the police station and looked back at Serena. Although she was the leader of the Sailor Scouts and had proven herself on several occasions, she still had a tendency to let he fear get in the way of her duty. "Serena, several people have died already and we need to know if it's related to the Negaverse or not. The energy readings I got back in the Ally suggest that it wasn't a normal turf war that led to those people getting killed. We have to try and make sure one way or the other."
Serena bowed her head in defeat. "I know." She says, a little resentfully. "But that doesn't mean I've got to like it." The pair look at the doors for a few moments. Finally Serena asks "So how are we going to get in anyway? It's not like we can just stroll past the front desk."
"I think the best way would for you to disguise yourself as a police officer. Then you lead me through those doors to the left of the desk. Once we're into the office we can find our way to the morgue."
"Fine, I'll do it but you owe me big for this." Quickly checking that no one is paying them any attention Serena pulls the Luna pen from her pocket and holds it aloft. "Disguise Power! Turn me into a police sergeant." There's a flash of light as the pen works its magic. Lowering the new shades that she is suddenly wearing Serena looks herself over. The uniform doesn't look that bad. Her hair is a little shorter than se would have liked but at least she looked old enough to be in the police force. She leans over speaking out of the side of her mouth "Ok Amy now what do I do?"
Amy looks through the glass door for a few moments taking note of the layout of the front desk. "With that woman in there making a complaint you might be able to get in without having to answer any questions. Walk in like you own the place. Don't stop for anything and go straight for the door on the left."
"Right." Serena takes hold of Amy's upper arm and guides her into the building.
Inside an overweight woman yells at an obviously frustrated officer. "But my wall was taken down by some crazy overgrown plant. You can see the holes for yourself. I'm telling you it had some thing to do with those strange people on the top floor."
"Madam I can assure you that when we were called out to investigate a disturbance, we checked the building and there were no signs of any people or trees on the top floor."
Serena and Amy quickly slip past the desk and through the door unnoticed by either the guard or the woman who was now explaining exactly what she thought of the police investigations so far. Beyond the door was a cluttered hallway with notice boards and people rushing about on all manor of different errands. Amy leans a little closer to Serena. "We need to try to get to the basement. It's most likely that's where the merge is located"
Hugging the walls and trying hard not to be noticed the pair head slowly along the corridors and down the stairwell. Amazingly none of the officers seems to pay them any attention as the finally descend into the basement.
All is quiet at the foot of the stairs. Amy checks the signs on the wall and gestures to Serena. "Ok I'm pretty sure the morgue is this way. Once we get there all we'll need to do is find the victims from the ally way and hopefully find some clues as to what happened." They stop at a stainless steel door helpfully marked morgue. Amy looks at Serena, to see her apparently frozen ten feet back down the passage.
"I can't do it." Serena whispers quietly. "I'm sorry Amy but I just can't" Her eyes are rimmed with tears as she looks up pleading.
"It's ok Serena. You can just keep watch for me then." Amy starts forward. If she had had ten, maybe twenty minutes she might have been able to talk Serena around. But time was not on their side. A lookout certainly couldn't hurt at any rate.
As she opens the door Amy can't help but shiver. It's not just that the room is cold, she has doesn't want to do this any more than Serena. "Get a grip Amy" She chastises herself. "If you're going to be a doctor you should be able to handle being around dead people. Besides you have to set an example for Serena." Grim faced, she opens the files and begins her search.
"Ok guys let's do it." Lita commands. "Jupiter Power Transform!"
"Mars Power Transform!"
"Venus Power Transform"
The three scouts leap as one up onto the rooftops and begin a rapid journey toward the shopping district. Even from here they can see the rising plumes of black smoke. "C'mon guys move it." Mars yells as she pushes the pace.
The screams from below bring them to an abrupt halt. "No! Please! Get away from me!" They race over in the direction of the last scream. Looking over the edge of the building they can see two smouldering figures lying on the ground. One female and one male. The scouts drop lightly down and rush over to check on the victims.
"There's no breathing and I can't find her pulse." Venus announces desperately moments later from the position of the fallen woman. Up close both Venus and Jupiter can see the blackened flesh that was once the right side of the woman's face, her position indicates that her neck is clearly broken. With her eyes closed Jupiter calls over "Mars! Is that other guy alive over there?"
The dark haired man groans and mumbles something that sounds like "Give me…. give me" Mars leans in close, trying to catch the words. "What do you need? I couldn't hear you. Don't worry we're here to help." She suddenly lets out a cry of shock as his hand clamps painfully on her wrist. The man's eyes flash red as the shadows themselves warp around his body. He stands slowly as Raie grabs at his hand trying to pull free from his grasp.
"Give me yourself." He hisses in a raspy voice while tightening his grip. Raie struggles desperately to free herself but the creature's grip is like iron.
"Hey! Leave her alone right now if you know what's good for you!" Jupiter yells. She charges forward fearlessly, intent on freeing Raie from the thing's grasp. As she reaches out there is a loud crackle and a scream of pain from Jupiter before she is thrown back by a surge of dark energy that comes from the aura itself. Badly burned she lands in a heap a few feet away.
"What the hell are you?" Raie gasps in pain as the creature's monstrous grip on her forearm tightens still further. The pressure is now all but unbearable and as hard as she struggles, she is completely unable to free herself she is sure that it is only a matter of moments before something breaks.
Jupiter staggers upright and throws herself forward. "I said let go of her right now or I'm gonna…"
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!"
The beam of energy overtakes Jupiter and catches the creature in the shoulder. Knocked off balance it releases its grip on Raie, but before anyone can react it jumps a full thirty feet straight up landing on the rooftop of the nearest building.
"Sailor Mars! Are you ok?" Jupiter asks crouching over her injured friend.
"I'll be fine." Raie looks at the others her expression determined. "Now get after that thing before it gets away. I'll call the others on the communicator and catch up."
Sensing that this is no time to argue Jupiter nods "Alright then. Let's go Venus." The two of them leap up onto the building in pursuit of their opponent.
In the morgue Amy runs her computer over the only body from the crime scene still on the premises. It's not fun and it's not pretty. As near as she could figure out, this man had died from a combination of burns and massive physical trauma. His neck and back are broken in at least six different places, his left leg was severed and his eyes appear to have been burned out by an intense concentrated heat. Every bit as disturbing was the fact that she had scanned the body three times now and was still unable to detect any energy whatever. "This is bad. The human body stores at least a small charge energy which takes months to fully dissipate even after death. The only explanation is that his energy was stolen as he died." As she reaches over to zip up the bag and close the drawer the body speaks.
"Amy!"
Amy jumps violently and stumbles backward tripping as she does. A hand lands on her shoulder and she lets out a scream. Startled, Serena screams too.
"Amy come in already. It's me Raie" Still shaken, Amy approaches the table and grabs her communicator from the table. "You guys need to get here right away. We're half a mile south of the shopping district. Venus and Jupiter are chasing the monster now but I don't think they can do this alone.
"We're on our way now." Amy calls into the communicator. She looks up at Serena. "Are you ready?"
With a nod Serena grabs her locket. "Moon Crystal Power Transform!"
"Mercury Power Transform!" The two of them transform and race through the basement in the direction of the car park.
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" The creature ducks under the beam with incredible speed. The returned energy blast from the creature causes Jupiter and Venus to separate as they dive to escape the blast.
"Ok pal! Let's see you dodge this." The antenna extends from Jupiter's tiara and electrical energy gathers. "Jupiter Thunder Cra..."
Another bolt of dark energy hits Jupiter's barely formed attack inches away from her face. The explosion throws her back into the concrete structure of the roof entrance. Her ears ringing Jupiter, rolls to her knees and tries to force her body to react as another final attack heads towards her. Her body responds slowly, painfully and she knows there's no hope of avoiding this one. She closes her eyes and feels the breath knocked out of her as something hits her hard in the side.
Venus, seeing the danger, charges forward and shoves Jupiter as hard as she can away from her. The blast hits Venus full force and she let's out a scream as she is thrown like a rag doll into the roof entrance. Her head strikes the corner and she falls to the ground, transforming back into Mina and collapsing in a rapidly spreading pool of blood.
"MINA! NO!" Jupiter finds new strength in her desperation and anger and manages to struggle to her feet. "I'm going to kill you for this you filthy bastard!" Her voice carries a cold fury as she gathers her strength and screams "JUPITER THUNDER DRAGON!"
A massive burst of lightning flies forward, taking on the form of a great dragon as it goes. It descends on the creature with the full force of a storm, cutting its scream short tearing a large chunk off of the edge of the building. Jupiter throws herself over Mina's prone body as shrapnel flies in all directions.
"Jupiter! Venus! We're here!" Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury race over to the bleeding forms of Jupiter and Mina. Mars walks over more slowly, nursing her right arm.
"What happened here Jupiter?" Mercury asks.
Jupiter looks up tears running down her face. "Mina, she jumped in front of that thing's attack to save me. We've got to get her some help now."
Sailor Moon nods. "I'm on it." She jumps from the side of the building in search of a phone.
Everyone else transforms back into their normal selves. "We have to get Mina down to the ally before the medical teams arrive." Raie points out. "We'll have a hard enough time explaining how she got hurt without having to explain what she was doing up on the roof too."
"You're right." Amy says pulling of her shirt and stemming the flow of blood from mina's head. "We can tell the truth about the monster attack and say that Mina was hit by stray rubble." With Lita's help she lifts Mina and they move slowly to the fire escape. "What about you Lita? Or you Raie? You both got hurt too."
"I'll be fine" Raie says. She pulls up her sleeve with a wince revealing the severe bruising around her wrist. "Nothing broken but I'm going to be in long sleeves for a while."
The trip down the fire escape was slow and awkward but luckily there were steps instead of ladders and they soon met with Serena in the deserted side street to await the ambulance.
The scouts would have to go. That much was already certain. The man on the rooftop watches carefully as bitch with the energy beam, the one named Mina was loaded into the back of the ambulance. Those girls must have found her on the rooftop and called for help. It didn't matter. He noted the name of the hospital and grinned. He already knew what to do about his first target. This was going to be fun.
That's it for chapter 2. Chapter three is underway and if you look carefully you might even see the plot in there somewhere. Feel free to review the story or send comments. It encourages me to keep writing and helps me improve. Till next time then.
