Chapter 14

The clock chimed out eight times and Kevin sipped slowly at his coffee. The fluorescent lighting still gave him headaches, worse than ever, but he accepted them as a consequence of his research.

So far, it had not been all that fruitful. He and the good professor had spent the past few months retracing the steps of other researchers, who had grappled with the questions they struggled to answer. They hadn't even begun the necessary rounds of interviews to better understand why the Japanese youth preferred text messaging to actual conversation, instant messaging programs, and email.

He paged through a journal quickly, skimming one of the articles and then tossing it onto the table in disgust. Kevin moved over to fire up the ancient computer in the room. 'Better to work on interview questions than retrace the same steps over and over again.'

He checked his watch and then gazed unnecessarily at the clock on the wall. 'Late again.'

That his professor had not been the most responsible research advisor was a large understatement. The man preferred to spend more time with geisha girls than in the office, and Kevin was quickly becoming frustrated with the lack of progress they had made.

Kevin opened up the word document they had composed and hit the print button.

His pocket beeped insistently, and he pulled out his cellphone. Kevin flipped it open and scanned the message quickly.

'A text message,' he thought with no small sense of irony.

Kevin glanced at his watch, then grabbed his coat on the way out.

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The leaves had just begun to change colors, giving the land a wonderful reddish-orange glow. The morning sun had not yet taken the chill out of the air, and Kevin smiled. It reminded him a little of Massachusetts in the fall.

The sun had barely begun to peak out from behind the massive skyscrapers on the skyline, sending streams of light down through the trees. Kevin followed the speckled sidewalk to a familiar breakfast shop, where a cheerful blond waved at him happily.

"You're late!"

"I had to walk from the other side of campus. You should be more patient."

Minako giggled and pushed through the swinging door. The smell of warm coffee assaulted his senses, and Kevin shivered with barely controlled anticipation.

It was a weakness. He had already had two cups earlier and looked forward to another of the warm, bitter liquid. He shivered again and tossed himself into the booth seat which Minako had chosen.

She smiled brightly. "What's up?"

Kevin motioned to a waitress before answering. "I should ask the same of you. Isn't this campus a little out of the way of Juuban?"

Minako shrugged easily. "Class field trip. Get to visit the wonderful campus of Tokyo University and learn why we should go here."

"Where's your tour group?"

She waved her hand with an artless grace. "Ditched them. I'd rather spend the morning with you."

Kevin grinned back and took a sip of his newly arrived coffee. "While I do appreciate the gesture, I don't think that your teachers would appreciate your noble sentiments. When they notice you're missing, they might get a little worried."

"Oh come on. Unless you take forever to eat, I'll be gone for less than 45 minutes. And if my calculations are correct, they'll be hitting the social science buildings by then. I can slip in without any significant problems."

"How do you figure?"

She pulled out a slip of paper from her bag. "Well, the schedule says that in fifteen minutes we're supposed to be at the botanical gardens. My teacher is obsessed with Casablanca lilies, so I figure that they're going to spend lots of time there. Long story short, they're going to be late and I'm going to have plenty of time to get there before them. Satisfied?"

"You know, if you put this much effort into your school work..." Kevin trailed off as he stirred more cream and sugar into his drink.

Minako rolled her eyes as if she had heard the argument a million times before. "Blah blah blah. I can take care of myself, Kevin."

"And yet you need my tutoring?" Kevin responded smoothly with just the faintest hint of a smile.

"Of course. Unlike men, women know when they can learn from other people. Even when they can take care of themselves."

His forehead furrowed with amusement. "Which is why they are the superior gender, of course."

She made a face at him. "Are you mocking me? I think you're mocking me."

Kevin laughed heartily and Minako waved her spoon at him threateningly. "Don't make me come over there."

That just made him chuckle harder, until a goofy grin crossed her face.

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At his request, she did go back to her tour group. As she expected, they were still at the botanical gardens when she arrived.

Minako slipped through a side door to join the back of her group. Ami, ever the responsible student, greeted her with a careful grin and a chastising gesture.

"And where were you?"

"Getting breakfast."

Ami raised her eyebrows. "With Kevin?"

Minako grinned sheepishly. "Who else? I mean, he's the only person I know here."

"Ah."

The blond glanced at her friend suspiciously. "Uh oh. I've heard that before. What are you thinking now?"

Ami chuckled softly. "Why are my actions so suspicious to you?"

"You're thinking something. I know that grin, that tone of voice. If you have something to say, say it!"

The blue haired girl shrugged. "It is unimportant."

"Right. Out with it."

Ami spoke slowly. "If I didn't know better, I might think that you liked him."

Minako laughed loudly, drawing a glare from her teacher. She's clapped her hand over her mouth and waited until the teacher was looking away before whispering. "No, I'm not really interested. He's just a really fun guy to be with."

"Really."

"Really!" Minako opened her mouth to answer before a loud noise jolted her from her comfortable reverie.

It took her a moment to identify the sound as one she had only heard before in movies.

The loud chatter of gunfire tore through the air and her entire class froze before her teacher screamed out for everyone to drop to the ground.

Minako quickly appraised the situation and then looked to Ami. She sensed fear in her friend's eyes, but Ami nodded quickly.

The blond glanced at her classmates for a moment, then scrambled on all fours to the door with Ami close behind.

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It was pure instinct. The metal wand appeared on its own accord and Kevin wrapped his hand around it, grasping it in a white knuckled grip.

The words flowed easily, said this time in a whisper instead of a scream. White light curved about him, infusing the powers of a Lunar mage into Kevin's body.

When he opened his eyes again, he was almost overwhelmed with the information that flooded his senses. When on patrol, Kevin had learned to suppress his heightened abilities, to better cope with the sensory data that surrounded him. Yet, he knew instinctively that those bits of information might be the difference between life and death. To ignore them now would be insane.

He whispered a half forgotten teleportation spell and appeared at the scene with a pop of displaced air.

Three men with red armbands and automatic weapons riddled the walls of a local bank with bullets. Most bystanders had already vanished from the scene. No doubt the goal was the robbing of the bank. All in all, it seemed rather simple.

Of course, on an intellectual level, it was significantly more interesting. The red armbands of the gunmen in question identified them as members of the Japanese Red Army, a holdover of student radicals from the Cold War. Kevin had assumed they had disappeared with the fall of the USSR, but he was obviously wrong.

Whoever they were, they would be stopped. Kevin prepared to hurl himself into the nearest attacker, only to see an orange beam slice through the air. It converged with the farthest gunman, burning through his shoulder and dropping him to the ground with the smell of burnt flesh. The other two gunmen turned towards their assailant, peppering Sailor Venus with sprays of steel jacketed bullets.

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The metal hail slammed into her, knocking her over onto the ground. Minako ducked instinctively behind a concrete outpost, trying to catch her breath. Ami moved quickly to her side, checking for wounds.

The blond shook her head. "Nothing big. Those bullets pack a punch though. I think there will be bruises on my chest tomorrow."

"It could be far worse."

"True." Minako doubled over in pain. "It's like getting punched. Really, really hard."

"I can imagine." Ami peeked over the barrier then ducked back down as a spray of bullets whizzed over her head. "Well, unless you want to brave those shots again, it seems like we're at a slight stalemate."

"Ugh." Sailor Venus rubbed her stomach. "Is there any way to get around them? A covered path, something?"

"I'm not sure-" Sailor Mercury stopped and cocked her head curiously. "Strange, the bullet fire isn't coming towards us anymore."

"What?" Minako craned to see above the barrier. An armored figure held his hand up high, watching carefully as bullets splintered off of a barely visible force shield in front of him. The style of the clothing and the crescent moon sigil on his jacket betrayed his origins as Lunarian. The pattering sound of bullets let up slightly as one of the gunmen fluidly replaced a spent magazine in his rifle. A slight strain crossed the Lunarian's face as he struggled to maintain the protective shield in front of him.

The attacker which her Venus Crescent Beam had downed shifted slightly, bringing his loaded gun to bear on the warrior's unprotected side. She was about to scream out a warning, when he waved his hand dismissively, bending the steel barrel back with less effort than she would brush a few errant grains of sand from her fingers.

Sailor Mercury touched her earring, activating the supercomputer that accompanied her into battle. She murmured softly, "Lunar magic."

Sardonically, "I can see that, yes."

"And powerful too. According to my historical records, the spells he is using are consistent with a high level Lunar mage."

Minako stood up quickly. "The details can wait. He needs help and we can't afford to wait."

"Agreed. Mercury Aqua Mirage!" A massive ball of water issued forth from the blue senshi's hands. The attack smashed into a second gunman and threw him against the wall. He groaned softly then slumped over into unconsciousness.

The last attacker decided discretion was the better part of valor and began to retreat from a clearly losing situation.

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Kevin lowered his shield wearily as his opponent fled from him. A sly smile crossed his face. At this range, a psionic assault would be the most appropriate move to use. An easy spell that would disable or kill most enemies with consummate ease. Simple, powerful, and fitting.

'Like a bug.' Kevin lifted his hand in a strangely elegant fashion, to cut back down in a vicious movement.

And then he froze. Kevin trembled softly before lowering his hand to his side. The attacker continued to run, until a mob of police converged on him. The gunman fired off another shot, dropping an officer to the ground before being battered into unconsciousness with a billy club.

He let out a broken breath and looked around before disappearing with a teleportation spell.