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The Last Officers

Chapter 4: Zero Visibility

By JagdPanther

"Well, I can see you take your duties ever so seriously," chided Chris as he walked up to the woman gawking at a dress in the window. "Window shopping when you should be guarding the Gates of Time? Sheesh. Do you get paid for this?"

Setsuna put on a wry grin as she turned around and hugged Chris. "Oh, if only I did." She released her friend and sized him up. "And apparently they're starting to make you wear a suit. I wonder if they know they're making you angry."

"Probably not. They won't get it until I start having live-fire drills with SAT recruits as the targets," replied Chris, shrugging. "I can't wait to get home and get out of this torture suit."

"If it's any consolation, I think you look good in it." Setsuna rolled her eyes and turned to walk down the sidewalk past more shops. "But, you, of course, still hate wearing anything vaguely 'dressy' because you have this odd notion that the rules of royalty don't apply to you."

Falling in step aside her, Chris grumbled back, "Because I hate these kinds of clothes! Gawd, do you know how much I hated having to wear full dress uniform for every function my parents held at the Castle Miranda? Good Lord, I thought I was going to have to slit my wrists some nights when the things went on for hours and hours and hours." He ended his little tirade with a shudder.

"Ah, but Haruka enjoyed it. She always looked very pretty all dressed up. Much more proper than you."

"Which oddly enough she's nothing like now. I mean, when she does dress in feminine clothes she's still breathtakingly beautiful, but the amount of people who mistake her for a guy because of the clothes she wears, sometimes, is laughable. And she's anything but the girl she was back then. Growing up with her again was so much different than last time."

"Just as beautiful as a man as she is as a woman, really? I think that's rather cute," Setsuna mused, gazing at another dress in a shop window. "Do you think she'd look good in something like that?"

"What, that?" he asked, nodding towards the dress. "Um, I guess so. Why ask? Still harboring dreams of being a fashion designer? You, physics girl, being a fashion designer? Lord, have mercy on us. She'll be making dresses featuring Kepler's Law tattooed down the side," Chris said, waving his hands at the sky in mock fear.

Setsuna laughed and slapped her friend on the arm. "I hate you."

"No, you love me," he said from behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders and shaking them back and forth. "You loooovveee me. Come on, you know you do; you loooovveee me."

"Stop it!" giggled Setsuna as she sped up and pulled out of his grip. She continued smiling as Chris pulled up alongside of her again, hands in pockets, whistling lightly. "Besides, you know it'd never work between us."

Caught off-guard by the suddenness of her comment, Chris took a moment to respond. "You don't know that."

"Chris, you know I have my duties."

"Duties that you've, essentially, forsaken, to come down here and be a fashion designer and a closet-case physics nut? I'm sure."

Setsuna's smile was gone as she bore a "thousand-yard stare" down the street. "You know why I'm here. I might as well enjoy myself while I'm here. I wouldn't have left the Gates if I didn't feel there was some terrible matter at hand, one so dangerous that I couldn't just sit back and assume everyone else would be able to fix it. Whatever is happening is something far bigger than the incidents before it. I've watched idly before, but not this time." She sighed deeply and cracked a small smile at her only real friend in her lifetime. "And besides, I know you too well. You don't love me."

"Of course I do. What are you talking about?"

"You love me as a friend and a compatriot, not as a woman. I'll never be able to compete with whom you really love."

"And who, pray tell, do I really love?"

"You don't know who you love? You poor, poor child," quipped Setsuna.

For a while they continued talking and walking down the rows of shops, occasionally entering one. Setsuna scanned the clothes while Chris uncomfortably followed her around like a little child. Back out on the street, Chris posed the question. "So when are you going to let everyone know you're here?"

"Depends on when you do," she idly replied.

"Oh, so I'm controlling the tempo?"

"Possibly." Fiddling with something in her purse, she asked, "So? When are you going to do it?"

"I figured within the next few days. I might do it while they're in battle. Not sure. Got to make a flashy entrance, you know."

"Hah, I can just picture that. I almost want to be around to see how much of a fool you come off as."

"Such the supportive one, you are." Sighing, Chris continued, "I am going to do it soon, though. I have a bone to pick with my sister about how she and Neptune are handling this. I really don't like it."

"Oh?"

"They're exercising a little bit too much bravado. That they can figure this out and defeat whomever is behind this on their own. They're flat refusing to work alongside the others and even worse they are just disregarding everyone's lives but their own. I mean, when I tested them the other day, my sister, pretty much, sacrificed me to find out if Makoto had the right crystal."

Setsuna pushed her sunglasses up onto her forehead and looked at Chris's form in the evening sunlight. "However ironic that may be, you know as well as I do that this situation is far too dire to adopt the other girls' methods of innocents first. We're talking about the destruction of the entire planet. Not just one or two people, everyone. Big difference between six and a half billion people and a few people unlucky enough to be targeted."

"Sets, I just can't think like that. Maybe I'm too idealistic, like the others, but all the years of combat, death, and destruction I've seen in this life and my previous life are too much for me to think I can just easily trade in a few lives for the lives of many. I can't do it."

"You're not always presented with a choice, you know. Sometimes you can't save everyone."

Chris scratched the back of his neck. "Hell, I know. And for as much as I don't like the guy, Jimmy Carter made statement back in '80 after we (he means "we" as in the United States Army) failed to rescue the hostages in Iran. He said the greatest failure is the failure to try. I couldn't agree more. Yeah, maybe we can't always save everyone, but God, you have to try. And neither of them are even doing that. It's just 'oh well, we've got a mission, sucks for you.'"

"When push comes to shove, I'm confident that Uranus and Neptune, you, and the other senshi will make the right choice."

"And what about you?" Setsuna gave Chris a look that said 'Have I ever been wrong?' "Yeah, I forgot. It's you."

It wasn't a Nathan's All-Beef hot dog, but it'd suffice as a small lunch before heading back to the outskirts of Tokyo where the Metropolitan Police had a live-fire mock-up house for training urban assault units. Chris fired down the cheap hot dog and a few chips as he walked back to the parking deck where his car was located.

He'd been in the area to drop off some papers for the training facility at a city office, so stopping for a quick lunch seemed like a logical move. Walking down the sidewalk, he noted a girl running down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road holding a glowing object. He studied the girl as she approached the parking deck his car was parked in, and was suddenly hit with the realization that the girl was Minako. 'What the hell is she doing?' Right behind her steamed a white station-wagon-like vehicle, almost as if it was chasing Minako. She took a turn into the garage, followed closely by the vehicle.

Sensing something was amiss, Chris checked the street for other traffic before sprinting across the street. Pressing his body against the concrete, he peered around the corner to see if anyone was there. The pseudo-police officer ducked inside the doorway and began moving forward quickly in a crouch, keeping himself hidden behind vehicles parked along the leading wall. As he approached one car, he saw Minako lying in the middle of the floor, her heart crystal floating above her unconscious form. 'Oh, not good.' Just about to scuttle across the floor to Minako, Chris froze and looked around. 'Where's that car that was following her?'

On cue, Eudial came into view and approached Minako. Chris immediately placed his right hand in front of his body, cupping it towards the ceiling, and began whispering the words to conjure up a wind-elemental attack when he heard a family voice yell at Eudial to stop. Stopping and looking to the left, he saw Usagi, not transformed, standing across from Eudial. 'What's she thinking going in here unprepared?' Eudial immediately ordered her daimon to seal off the garage, nothing in and nothing out.

It didn't even occur to him that there may be other people inside the garage, like himself, that could see Usagi. For example, Haruka and Michiru were also there, and they could plainly see the Princess. Usagi hesitated, seeing Haruka and Michiru. It was a simple choice for her, though. Either transform and save Minako or do nothing and everyone loses, some more than others.

'I wonder if Haruka and Michiru already know that she's…' thought Chris, observing Usagi's hesitation. Suddenly, the short blonde girl was surrounded by a bright pink light and was quickly transformed into the heroine of the hour. '…er, never mind, I guess.' Sailor Moon made her token ultimatum to Eudial, but the witch scoffed at her and ordered the daimon to dispatch the girl while she took Minako's heart crystal. Quickly, the daimon trapped the Princess. 'Perfect. And I guess those two are just going to sacrifice them to find out of Minako has the correct heart crystal.' Chris once again started to attack Eudial to ward her off of Minako, but once again he was interrupted by the bright lights that came from his left. Whipping his head around he saw Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune there.

Immediately, Uranus went on the offensive to draw off Eudial while Neptune skirted the open area and captured Minako's heart crystal. To her disappointment, the heart crystal was not exactly what they were looking for. From outside, there was a terrible bang and the main garage door began to glow. Another two crashes and the door blew in, revealing the remaining senshi. Chris shook his head and though, 'Aren't we just one big happy family now. Oh, well. Might as well add myself into the mix, now.'

Neptune blasted the daimon with her Deep Submerge attack as the other senshi ran in to the battle. The daimon, better suited for tanking damage than doling it out, retreated to Eudial and complained that it couldn't ward off the senshi. Eudial, disgusted at the worthlessness of her toy, smacked the daimon away and prepared to attack Sailor Moon herself.

Chris rose from his hiding spot and broke towards the daimon that was trying to sneak away from the battle. He ran right past Sailor Mars, who jumped back in surprise at his presence. Before she could say anything to Chris he had produced a rapier. A quick chant and it began to glow a bright red which turned to a gushing orange flame as the sword sliced through the air. The daimon barely had time to notice Chris charging it, and just as it was beginning to turn to block Chris's attack with its door-like shield, the rapier pierced the daimon's back, exiting through the chest. The daimon let out a high-pitched scream, crumpling to the ground in a thunk, before it rapidly decomposed to dust as was blown away by the draft along the floor.

The scream was just enough to cause Eudial to slow down her own attack enough to look back and allow Sailor Moon to catch up with hers. The two let their attacks go at the exact moment. Meeting in the air, the Moon Spiral Heart Attack and Eudial's Fire Buster compressed each other down to a pin-point before rapidly expanding outwards, blowing everyone back. Chris pressed his feet down as tightly as possible, skidding back. Looking up, he saw Eudial waving her gun back and forth over the group.

"All right, no more playing around. All of you move together. Move it!" screamed the witch. Realizing that they should've attacked Eudial in unison with their Princess, the senshi gritted their teeth and pooled together as Chris tried to tiptoe out of view. "You, too! I don't know who the hell you are, but you're going to pay for killing off my creation!"

Chris rolled his eyes and turned around, shuffling towards the senshi. Approaching them, he nodded to Uranus and quipped, "Hey sis. How've you been recently?"

"No talking!" warned the witch, right as a horde of UFO catcher dolls cascaded down on her. "What the…" she barked, turning to see Minako standing a few meters away. Before she could react, the blonde girl was engulfed in a bright orange glow, which stripped away to reveal the senshi of love and beauty, Sailor Venus. Without hesitating a bit, Venus called out "Venus Love Me Chain!" and used her attack to smack the gun out of Eudial's hand. The witch, discovering her position to be untenable, retreated to her vehicle before any more attacks came and burned rubber out of the garage.

Watching the vehicle disappear around the corner and out of the garage, Chris remarked to no one in particular, "You know, I think you were all inconspicuous enough. She probably doesn't know who any of you are, really." He shrugged as the senshi all gave him befuddled glances. "What? You thought I didn't know?"

Uranus simply shook her head at her brother and spun on her heels, followed closely by Neptune, to leave the garage. Behind them, Usagi called out, "Wait. Haruka, Michiru, please tell me what you are after. Why do you want the talisman even if it would sacrifice one's life?"

"Don't investigate it," called Uranus, without even turning around.

Michiru at least even bothered to face Usagi. "You shouldn't get involved."

The other senshi wordlessly watched Uranus and Neptune leave. Shaking his head, Chris walked over to Venus and put his hand on her shoulder. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, looking down at the floor. "Why didn't you say who you…"

Backpedaling away from the Princess of Venus and cutting her off, Chris said, "I'll explain it later. I have to chat with those two." He turned on the move and ran out of the garage, leaving the others doubly confused, having just learned the identities of Uranus and Neptune, whom they had believed to be cold people, in direct contrast to their normal identities, and confused about who Chris really was.

Mars looked at the dusty remains of the daimon and the burned rubber from Eudial's car on the ground. "Are they the enemy?"

"Who?" asked Mercury.

"Uranus and Neptune."

"Possibly," replied Jupiter. "But what about Chris? He just flattened that daimon without breaking a sweat. He's much more powerful than any single person we've seen recently."

The others nodded, except for Venus, who was looking out the garage door, watching Chris's form disappear from sight. 'Who are you?'

Outside, Chris ran up to the now-returned-to-normal Haruka and Michiru quietly walking down the street. He slowed to a walk directly behind them. Placing his left hand on Michiru's left shoulder and his right hand on Haruka's right shoulder, he stopped them and spun them around. "What the hell is wrong with you two?"

"How about you explain what the hell that was that you just did? Who are you?" shot back Haruka.

Glaring at his sister, Chris growled, "I'm your older brother, that's who, and I asked you a question first. What is wrong with you two? My God, are you two even aware that you're senshi?"

Calmly, but with a faint hint of venom in her voice, Michiru pointed to a restaurant across the street. "How about we discuss things in there?"

Still staring each other down, the siblings nodded their heads and followed the wavy-haired woman across the street. Inside, they were seated by the hostess in a secluded part of the restaurant, and the theatrics resumed.

"We have nothing to explain to you," replied Michiru. "You obviously know who we are, but we don't know who you are. Until we do, you'll never deserve any sort of explanation from us."

"Oh, is that so, Princess Neptune? I didn't realize you were such a fabulous negotiator. Maybe I should rethink my strategy and get the information out of you some other way." Before he could say anything else, a waitress approached and prompted them for their drink orders. "Coffee. No cream, no sugar," Chris idly replied, not taking his eyes off of the pair seated across from them.

"Green tea," added Michiru, not taking her eyes off of Chris.

Haruka ordered the same before telling the waitress that none of them would be ordering any food. As the waitress shuffled off to fill the order, Haruka resumed fire. "Just answer the damn question. I want to know how the hell you know who we, and the others, are and who exactly you are. How do I know if you're even my brother? That Usagi has a brother, but I'm sure he doesn't share in the powers she has."

"Oh, offended by a little sarcasm directed at someone else? Boo-hoo. No, you two sorry excuses for soldiers are going to tell me what your game is. You're flagrantly disregarding the lives of others to complete your so-called 'mission,' and that is absolutely unacceptable to me."

Michiru coolly replied, "I'm not regretting any of it. What we just did we had to to save our lives. Also I wanted to save those girls."

Chris flicked his hand in Michiru's direction, "Oh, so the one time you do, in fact, think of someone else makes up for all the other times that you nearly got someone else killed because you couldn't be bothered with protecting them and capturing heart crystals for yourselves? Oh, yeah, I'll just write all those other times off, sure." As the waitress returned with their drinks, Chris stalled his comments. Nodding politely to her, Chris waited until she had retreated away from the feud. "I mean come on. How dare you way the life of one or two people against the lives of the world? The only thing you're comparing is the weight. Other than that, you have absolutely no right to pass on their lives just because you're too engrossed in finding these all-important talismans."

Looking at the two, Chris could tell he wasn't going to get any sort of response. "Okay, fine." He took a sip of his coffee and cleared his throat. "It's very simple. Whereas Shingo, Usagi's brother, is not the reincarnation of someone from the Moon Kingdom, I am. What does that mean? Well, he's blood-related to Usagi, but not to Princess Serenity. So he's only her brother half the time. I, on the other hand, am, in fact, the reincarnation of someone from the Moon Kingdom. I am the Prince of Uranus, your brother," he said, pointing at Haruka. "So no matter what form you are in, I am still your brother, combat officer extraordinaire of the 9th Infantry Division of the White Moon Kingdom."

Haruka looked uneasily at her tea before replying. "Why did you keep this from me until now if you already knew who I was?"

"Because I wasn't ready for everyone to know, let alone you. My job during the time of the Moon Kingdom was to run the administrative duties behind the Sailor senshi. You were a formal military unit in the White Moon Kingdom Military, but it seemed rather stupid for Princess Venus to be bogged down in paperwork and other glorious administrative work while she was supposed to be protecting the Princess. So I was brought in to run the unit's administrative section. I was also an advisor. Having seen much combat in my time, I was well versed in the tactics of our enemies. But more importantly, I was to protect you all. At that, I, admittedly, failed miserably."

"But why hide yourself?" asked Michiru, not satisfied with the side-step Chris had performed.

"I said, I wasn't ready. I wanted to observe you all for a while, see if you have changed. And, I must say, some changes have taken place. Like you, missy," he again pointed at Haruka, "have changed more than I can believe. I'm almost unsure if you really are reincarnate of my sister. She was the happiest, most wonderful little sister in history. What happened to you? Your entire life you've seemed aloof. You used to be overjoyed to see me. Now what? And she was such a great soldier. She would never, ever think about tasks the way you do. Nor would your former self, Michiru. Neither of your former selves would ever have weighed one life against any others, no matter how great the number." He shook his head and sighed. "What is wrong with you two?"

Shaking her head, Haruka responded, "You of all people should know, Chris. This is something far too great. We're talking the destruction of the entire world. Every life gone. It's imperative that we find these sacred talismans as soon as possible, and far more importantly, that we get them before the other side can. Can you imagine the destruction they could wield?"

"Yes, I can. My country dropped two things of similar power here back in 1945. I am well aware of the destruction they could rain down on the world if they got the talismans."

"Then how can you not understand what we're doing?" prompted Michiru.

"Because I look at you two and I see two misguided teenage girls who all of the sudden have been thrown into a very desperate situation and they are acting on impulse, that's why."

Haruka had to restrain herself from slamming her fist on the table. "Impulse? You think I want to give a ruling on someone else's life? You think I want to say 'so sorry, but I have a job to do' to someone I don't even know because if I don't, not only that person, but a whole lot more will die? We're going about this the only way we can, with the utmost speed and precision. It's a terrible thing to say, but it wouldn't only be just 'waste of time' if we helped first and then went for heart crystals."

"Haruka," he quietly said, "you're far too young and inexperienced for me to expect you to understand why you're wrong, but I look at the other senshi and I realize that they 'get it.' They know just as well as you two do the danger this situation poses all of the world, but they can't possibly let even one life be wasted away making sure that a heart crystal is the right one or not."

"Youth and inexperience? You think we're too young and inexperienced?" replied Michiru, icily. "Don't lecture me on how to do my job. When the world goes out without even a whimper because those other girls and you are too busy looking at the microscopic to see the big picture, I guess we won't be around to say 'we told you so,' will we?"

"Michiru…" Haruka said, gingerly placing her hand on top of Michiru's.

The other woman recoiled. "No, Haruka. I'm not listening to this. I like those girls, but I cannot do things as they do. This is a situation bigger than any one person. If I have to, I am willing to make sacrifice someone to help save this world. I won't let anything get in my way, and I am not going to be lectured by you, Chris. I know my duty. Maybe you're forgetting that you swore to protect the Kingdom, too. Don't talk to me like its 'easy' to make that decision that I have to sacrifice someone."

"Oh come off it. The other senshi have proven to you that you don't have to sacrifice anyone. They continually clean up not only the mess created by the enemy but inflammation of it all that you two cause. Why not help sometime?" A silence befell the table as Chris drank his coffee, looking out the window at the setting sun. "Back during Malden, I made a very impulsive decision. Maybe I didn't have to do it, but I just acted on anger, rage, hatred, and a little impulse that said it was 'my duty.'" Swirling the remaining coffee around in his cup, Chris looked up at the two women seated across from him. "Every day I think about the look on the guy's face. Every day I wonder if it made any difference at all, if he would've died later on, if he would've lived, if he would've killed one of my guys someday, or he would've done nothing at all. But I didn't think about that, I just 'did my duty,' acted on that impulse, and made the world safe for everyone. I just pulled that trigger and I executed him. Five shots to the chest, his eyes wide in horror, fixated on my face." Chris finished the last bit of his coffee and stood, grabbing his jacket and putting it on after dropping a few money notes on the table. "Right now, you're just how I was at that moment. Maybe someday you'll understand that feeling and learn to overcome it. Sooner, rather than later, I hope."

The two women sat stunned in silence, not even watching Chris leave the restaurant. After a while, Haruka managed to say, "Don't listen to him, Mich. I'm not letting him scare me like that."

"I know. It's hard, but we have to keep going," she replied, leaning on her companion.

"He just doesn't understand it." Haruka couldn't shake the feeling, though, that maybe there was even just a little bit of truth to what he had said. Maybe they didn't have to… 'No. We're doing the right thing. I know it.' Quietly, the two paid for their drinks and returned to their apartment for the night, unaware that they'd have to sacrifice no one's lives but their own to find the talismans that they had been searching for so hard.

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