Hey! Me back! So, starting from this chapter, we're gonna' meet some new characters! I'm sure you'll realise immediately who they are! Ok, I'm giving you a hint: this is a senshi-shitennou fic, though set in an alternative universe. Anyways, enjoy!

Escape

A sharp and constant noise woke Darien up from his thoughts. Unwillingly he had taken a very old picture out from a drawer inside his large and expensive desk. The photo showed himslef and Rei, both held in their mother's arms. The photo had been taken when the twins were two, less than a year before his mother's and sister's short disappearance. They were all in some kind of theme-park, having the times of their lifes. Even if Darien couldn't remember that day, for he was too young, he could tell by everyone's expression that they were having a blast. Maybe if he were five again he would smile at the sight of that picture, but now he looked at it with a frown and with nothing inside of him. After the third ring, he picked up the buzzing phone and answered.

"Boss, I have bad news!"

"What is it Zack?" he asked, almost anticipating what the young man was about to announce him.

"Two hours ago she escaped from the faicility. She somehow managed to catch off-guard the employers and ran away. Boss, are you still there?" the man on the other side of the line asked, not even hearing a breath.

"So… my dillusional sister finally managed to brake out of that place, huh?" he asked and sounded rather amused. If Zack had been in the same room as his boss, he would have seen a sadistic grin on his face. Still, even though he wasn't, the man "felt" that grin and shivered unconsciously. He knew very well exactly how dangerous and powerful Darien could be on such occassions. It scared him, but also made him proud that he was capable enough to be accpted by such a man.

"We're starting the search as we speak."

"No need to. This time, I'll find her myself and take care of the problem she became lately. She needs to be stopped… one way or another." He said and placed the phone back in it's place. Rising from his seat, Darien Shields buttoned up his jacket and left his office without further notice.

Twenty minutes later he was driving faster than normal to the place his sister had barely escaped from. In order to find her, he had to check out that place and find out exactly what she had done in order to set herself free. Yes, that was the best expression that could define Rei. Ever since she had lived two years into a temple, she had picked up traditional and annoying customs, like the fire readings and purifying the place she lived. There was nothing wrong with it, it was just her paranoia.

Soon after she and her mother had come back, he realised how different had grown and the void that was created between them. Even nowadays he was told how he and Rei used to act when alone or together when they were very young: they missed each other a lot, felt if something wrong and good had happened to one other and seemed to depend on each other for almost anything. Just like several other pairs of twins would react. But, in time, they became so different in comparison to others. They learned to gain a certain independence, which soon led to dispise and on to hate.

He did not know if he hated her or not. After all, she was his sister, but they way they had been concepted, their lifes so far and her stubborn faith in her sacred way and habits made her unstandable in his eyes. He couldn't stand being near her, to hear her speak of her ways and beliefs… maybe he did hate her after all. And now, he had to find her before words got out of her whereabouts in the past months and in the present.

Half a day later, in the evening, he got at the clinic where he left his sister about six months earlier. He got out of the car and motioned to the entrance, just where his loyal employee, the man named Zack waited. In spite of his look, Zack was pretty much the smartest man in his company. The young man was pretty tall, but not as tall as Darien, had green emerald eyes and curly, dirty-blonde hair. His nose seemed to belong to a royal person and his whole face held something girlish in the features, but not in the way he kept his fashionable glasses, just below his eyes, not as a high as a geek, but not as low as an old man. Just in the right place, enough to attract all the females around him, up until a fifty yard range. He didn't like official suites, so he refused to wear anything else except for baggy jeans, long shirts and leather jackets. It did make him look desirable and he knew it. With a somewhat reserved look, he welcomed his boss.

"Hey, Darien…" Zack was indeed the only employee who was allowed to call Mr. Shields Darien, for they were pretty close, almost would say some, considering that Darien Shields held everyone around him as far as possible.

"So, what happened?" he asked as they walked to the scene.

"Apparently she did it this time. She managed to free herself of the usual strains, hit the guards and grabbed the keys to the outside door. When she got out in the field, she climbed the spiked fence and ran into the woods. Ialready checked the fence for blood and there was plenty of it."

"So she's wounded. That couldn't have got her far. Unfortunately my sister is very resistent, especially when it comes to a way to freedom. Not to mention that my dear mother made sure to hide a large enough sum of money into a secret account, that no one, except for Rei can access it."

"Yes, those do represent a problem…" Zack spoke as he already formed a plan inside his mind. That was what Darien liked about him: he was smart and fast enough to adapt to any change of situation, he could never be caught off-guard and he always had a million back-plans, so that he would always be able to get out alive of any deadly situation. That was why he had kept Zack close over the years. He was the mind behind the plan.

"If you want I can start searching for that account and at least block it!" the blonde offered.

"Don't bother!" Darien shook his head in denial. "My dearest mother made sure that no one could find those money and, even if they did, that they couldn't get to them. It would be a dead lead anyway!"

"Ok, so how do we find her?"

"We don't!" he announced and walked towards the exit. "I do! And Zack…"

"Yeah…" the blonde stopped behind his boss and waited for his command, understanding that he wasn't supposed to follow him.

"Take of things here and then head back to the city after you're done! I'll check up with you in a few days. With a bit of luck, I'll find her by then…" Darien ended as he got out of the building and headed to his car. Getting inside it, he drove away from that place which had once given him the assurance that his sister would safe and away from everyone's eyes and ears.

Rei found herself even hours after her escape, in the middle of the day still running through the woods. In some way it was good, because the trees would offer her safety in case of a helicopter flying somewhere above, but it was also bad, because she was starting to starve and soon she was sure that she'd lose consciousness. But she had to keep on running so that she could get as far away from her borther as possbile. She knew that he was probably already searching for her and that he wasn't going to stop until he found her… maybe this time he would even consider killing her. 'Dammit, how did we end up like this? Where has all this hatred come from? Why us? Why us, Darien?' she thought, almost desperate at the thought of her twin trying and even managing to kill her. She felt a serie of shivers down her spine and then, her feet just betrayed her. The last thing she saw as she fell down was a car driving through the woods and coming right in her way. But she was too exhausted to keep going.

"Hey, Nick!" a voice was heared through the speaker. "Nick! You there man?"

"Yeah, where else would I be at three in the morning?" a sleepy voice answered, while the young man called Nick sat down at the small desk in his room and picked up the comlink.

"Hey, I'm coming faster than planned… and I'm not alone!"

"Jade, I thought you were supposed to check out that new residence, not go out on your own!" Nick argued, both angry for having been woken up at that hour and for not being asked to join his friend.

"Not that king of "I'm not alone"!" Jade shouted back. "On the way back, I found a girl…"

"Not surprised!"

"In the woods!" the voice argued.

"Well, at your rate I'm sure you could find one even in the middle of Sahara!"

"Stop interrupting me and listen! I found her badly wounded and dressed weird!"

"Define "weird"!" Nick asked just before yawning.

"We're more than thirty miled away from any town, village, even gas station and she's dressed in hospital clothes: something that used to be white shirt and pants and the remainings of a robe. Explain that!"

"Can you tell me her name? Maybe I could find her in the database!" Nick said, suddenly woken up and ready to start the job.

"She was already down when I found her and I doubt she's gonna' wake up anytime soon…"

"Ok, than start speeding! I'm gonna' ask Amy to get up and get ready for a check-up. But, I'm warning you! She's not going to like it!" Nick advised with a huge grin on his face.

"It's not like your asking Lita to wake up!" Jade scowled and Nick's grin suddenly faded away.

"Don't say that!"

"Ahaaaaaaaa, so you do like her!"

"You're paranoid!"

"And you're in love! Oh, come on, Nick! Just admit it! You like our tall, strong and incredible amazonian cook and fighter!"

"Jade, Jade are you still there? Jade, I'm loosing you!" Nick spoke in the microphone in a mcokery tone and closed the line afterwards. Yes, he did like Lita… a lot. But he wasn't going to listen some bachelor's advice. Lita was the kind of person who could fall head-over-heels extremely fast, considering that she was the strong girl in their team. She had long brown hair and pair of emerald eyes in which Nick could just drown. If it were up to him, he could spend hours, days, weeks just staring into those eyes and not get bored even for a second. But he was afraid that she might either refuse or, worse, he would end up hurting her. Despite of being phisicly strong, Lita was spiritually weak. Yes, she could be a great leader and be stubborn as a virus in a very old computer, but, when it came to love, she was the one to fall and to get hurt. It was true that lately she had refused to allow herself to be charmed so easily and that she didn't go out as much as she used to, but she remained what she had always been. Nick agreed with her schedule changes and hoped to stay around her as much as possbile, but in the end she would remain home to cook or train even more and he would be dragged into some club by Jade… the demon!

"Hey, Ames!" the man whispered as he entered a dark room and motioned himself to the large bed. In the right part of the bed, covering little space, slept a girl, not short, but not tall either. Nick ended next to the bed and shook her shoulder easily, so that he wouldn't scare her.

"Hmm…" she moaned slightly and rubbed her eyes. "Ouch!" she said, when her fragile hands touched a pair of glasses instead of her sleepy eyes.

"Ames! You've been reading until late again…" Nick said on a fatherly tone and pointed a finger at her, while he turned on her lamp with the other hand.

"Sorry!" she smiled shily and took off the glasses when the light went on. "I've had a lot to learn for the exams and I wanted to get back to my reading… so… I kind of fell asleep… Sorry!"

"No need to apologize! Just, next time try to take off your glasses… we wouldn't want something bad to happen to our smart doctor, now would we?" he spoke on a funny tone and made her smile and blush. Yep, that was Ames, or Amy. Each of them called her either way and she accepted it. She was the smartest of the gang by far. Intelligent, pretty and shy, she was like a small child. Due to her age and fragility, she was the most protected of all and the most valued of the girls. Yes, she wasn't one of the leaders, like Serena, but when it came to some impossible area of knowledge or to certain information, Amy was the one everyone went to. She wasn't a bookworm because the others wouldn't let her become one, but she wasn't far of it either. The reason for which she had accepted to join the team and became friends with everyone so fast, was that her ackward skills as a doctor and her level of intelligence were accepted here by everyone. There was no limit and she could always learn something new.

"So, what did you wake me up for?"

"Umm, oh yeah! Jade's coming fast! Apparently he found some girl…"

"Nick!" she objected, looked away and tried to hide the crimson blush which had already covered her pale face, with record speed.

"Not that kind of girl!" he objected and smiled sheepishly. "He found her in the woods severly wounded.

"In the woods? At this time? But we're so far from any settlement…" Amy tried to argue.

"I know! That's why he found it so weird and took the girl with him."

"Oh, right! I'll prepair the infirmery immediately!" she said with wide opened eyes, jumped from the bed and, before Nick could know it, she was out the door, heading to the medical part of their hide-out.

Let me know what you think! The review button is right below!