Love

by MisatoKitty

Oh dear, Ranma's dead. But wait, that's the end of the story. How does he get there? What the heck has been going on? Read on! Rating lowered because, really, this wouldn't get an R in cinemas even with the occasional violence :P

16. Love 16

DISCLAIMER: Relatively standard stuff. Existing characters are properties of the people who made them up. Mitsuki, and several other characters are mine, and so's the story, hence ownership and copyright of them belongs to me. Contact me at misato_98@yahoo.com if you want permission to use anything I've written for whatnot purposes.

WARNING: This chapter has bad language, adult themes, minor horror, shameless rip-offs, limeish content and at least one sex scene. If this was an Australian site, it would carry an MA/MA15+ rating, which is less than an R, but more than a PG. You have been warned.

LOVE

By

Raymond Cooper

Chapter 16

** Paradise Regained **

The door to the dorm opened, and Hotaru popped up from the couch, spinning around to face the doorway. "Sempai?" she asked, loudly. No, she quickly saw, it wasn't. Just Nemesis. Bleeding on the carpet before she toppled face-first onto the floor.

"Usagi! Makoto! Ami!" she yelled, diving for the elder senshi as she changed back from her powered form thanks to her unconscious state. Hotaru wrapped an arm under Mitsuki's head, before laying a hand on her chest. She felt bones shift under her palm, and shivered. The other women were arriving now, as Hotaru grabbed deep inside Mitsuki and forced the older woman to accept her, pushing her life force and health through her, driving out the injury. A few moments, and Hotaru collapsed next to Mitsuki, gasping, pale, heart pounding.

"What's wrong with her?" Usagi asked anxiously, while Rei headed out the door to have a quick look to see if anyone was prowling around outside.

"She's been beaten," Hotaru gasped, trying to regain control of her breathing and heart rate. Neither were coming under control. "She's safe now, but... it was a little much," she added.

"Who? Who did this to her?" Usagi demanded. Hotaru didn't know; she shook her head. Ami was already running a scan cycle from her computer, and shook her head.

"Her information has been severely damaged, but she's slowly rebuilding, thanks to Hotaru," she said quietly. "There seems to be a specific method to the damage, though, as if someone was limiting themselves to not kill her. As if they wanted her to make it back here to where she could be helped under her own steam."

"That sounds so mechanical," Usagi blanched.

"That's because it is," Ami replied, closing her computer and putting it away, her transformation wand appearing in its place. "But perhaps we should be ready?"

Mitsuki's eyelids fluttered, and a hand clutched at Hotaru's skirt. She whispered something the pale girl heard, but that no one else did, before her grip weakened again and she was once more taken unconscious. Rei entered from the front door, shaking her head and brushing fresh snow from her shoulders.

"There's no one out there," she said, before she fell silent, waved quiet by Usagi.

"Hotaru?"

The younger senshi raised her head. "Kaname," she said. "They got Kaname."

Usagi was taken aback a little. "I thought she could beat those guys. What happened?"

"She didn't say," Hotaru shook her head slowly, as if moving at the moment caused her pain. "Just that she's... been taken. By those agents. That they faced before."

"I thought... you know... Ranma came to save her."

"Perhaps he can't," Makoto suggested quietly. "You know, we all saw him before. A ghost. Like that spat of sightings in town. What if that's all Ranma is now? Junk... data... floating around in this system?" Something dawned in Makoto's mind. "Maybe that's what ALL the ghosts are... the data that make people up, the memories, personalities, things that got misplaced during this big transfer... with all the data Ami was talking about, surely something got messed up..."

"Even a tiny percentage of the data, in the order of 0.0000001% of the total data transferred, would create mass chaos if corrupted or lost," Ami agreed. "Although I would expect that without those specific iems of data, the re-creation wave would have created mindless husks rather than people capable of functioning -" She cut herself off suddenly as realised dawned. "If guided right, the system operator in charge of the transfer could have shaved off a number of elements of data and still made a functioning human. That would mean these people... possibly these Amnesiacs... have had this done to them deliberately. But why?"

Usagi shrugged. "If that's what you're talking about, it being done deliberately, and these agents were looking for Ranma, then that's obvious: whoever set the transfer up did it deliberately to hide Ranma from the agents. From Yoshihiro. Whoever set this up isn't working for him, but against him."

Rei stared at Usagi. "That's pretty deep," she admitted. "Even for you."

"That's just really scary," Makoto agreed. "But why not round us up when we were all at the tower site? Every single one of us was drained. We were all injured, weakened, shocked into immobility."

"Perhaps the agents weren't online yet," Ami suggested. "Or perhaps there were other concerns. Running a system this large would create a multitude of organisational problems. Mostly, they'd have relied on the existing Tokyo emergency services to run rescue operations into the Zone -"

"But why," posed Usagi, "did they destroy the tower? If they could rebuild everything... why not rebuild that? Why have a million people dead?"

"The dead people," Hotaru said in a quiet, shaky voice, "were dead before the monster blew us all up. There was nothing to rebuild but corpses. Even if we save Tokyo, even if we rebuild it, they will still be dead."

"How do you know?" Minako quiered.

"I'm the senshi of death, remember?" offered Hotaru with a weak smile. She pulled herself together, sitting up beside Mitsuki, running a hand lightly across the older woman's stomach to check on her. "I felt them all die, and I haven't felt any of them come back yet."

"Oh."

"Should we move Mitsuki somewhere more comfortable?" Usagi queried.

"No, you shouldn't," Mitsuki grumbled, her eyes still shut. Her voice was weak, but gaining strength. "We've got to go after them. While the trail's still hot. We can't leave Kaname with them." She tried sitting up, but needed help from Makoto to get fully upright. "I left her. I couldn't do anything, and they took her. I said I'd protect her, and I didn't. I've got to -" She tried standing, but Makoto held her down with one hand.

"You've got to rest. Sleep, preferably. And get something to eat," she added, thoughtfully eyeing the kitchen door, already wondering what she had in there that could be used for that purpose.

"Late night snack?" Usagi asked hopefully.

Ami fixed her with a glare. "Formulating a battle plan," she said reproachfully. "The trail is probably already cold; we have to think of a way to draw these agents out to find where Kaname is, as well as a way of fighting them."

"Ok, let's do that too," Usagi sighed, helping Mitsuki up with Makoto on the other side of the woman. "But I think they'll want us to find Kaname. So we shouldn't think too much on how we have to find her."

******

Which did seem to be the general consensus at the informal meeting, and so the senshi retired for the night... again. No one seemed to sleep very well, least of all Hotaru, who ended up wrapped in a blanket on top of the main dorm wing in Ranma's standard perch. From there, obscured by occasional drifts of snow, she could see far into the distance. The lights of Yokohama and Kawasaki glittered, like faint jewels, stars almost, and she felt loneliness. She had had him back, and she had let him go - had given him to the enemy.

She shuddered at that thought more than the cold. She knew Yoshihiro intimately, knew how he could twist one's mind. Ranma had already proven resistant to those charms he wove, the glamour he seemed to possess, but Kaname had no such defences. She was female through and through, and would swoon willingly into his arms, especially without someone there in memory to hold onto, to clutch at for help to keep some part of her mind clear. That was how Hotaru had managed to survive instead of being devoured by the beast Yoshihiro's subtle magicks had woken.

Something warm pressed into her leg, and she looked down. A hand. A masculine hand. Callused fingers. She recognised the hands, and stifled back a sob. She wanted to touch it, clutch it to her and hold it tight, but she knew it was only memory, that she was only seeing what she was wanting to see. Like all the other times. Fantasy. Imagination. That was all that was left to her now, especially now. She knew Usagi was right, that these Agents wouldn't leave a trail because they didn't need to, didn't have to, that they would WANT the senshi to come looking for them to get Kaname back, and so whatever trail they left would still be there in the morning.

The hand, in Hotaru's memory, stayed there. The other wrapped around her shoulder, pulled her in close and tight, and she felt a strong jaw on her other shoulder. Memories. She could almost smell Ranma...

"Hotaru?" Luna asked, waking Hotaru from the doze she'd fallen into. "You should be in bed, getting some sleep. You don't know if you'll be getting much rest, after this," the cat added in a warning tone.

"I'm all right, Luna," Hotaru replied, brushing snow off her blanket and inviting the warm cat inside to sit on her lap. "I'm just thinking."

"About?"

"Ranma. And Kaname. And Yoshihiro."

"And?"

Hotaru let out a frustrated breath with its associated cloud of vapour in the cool air. "Luna... I'm finding it very hard to wait. I can go find Kaname, right now, and get her. I *know* I can."

"Can you fight these Agents that Mitsuki has talked about?"

"I can blow up worlds, I think I can handle a few supermen."

"But this is a computer system. So what if they can alter things so they're stronger than you? What if you try to kill them with your Silence Glaive, and they instead kill you?"

"Then I'll have *tried*! But this sitting here, doing nothing... Luna, it doesn't feel right to me."

"Why doesn't it?"

Again, Hotaru puffed. "Ranma would already have come after me. I know he would have. I can't sit here, sit here and do nothing, while he's in danager. Even if it's not him."

Luna snuggled into Hotaru's lap, and she found herself stroking the black feline slowly. "You're not sitting here doing 'nothing'," Luna chidded. "You're supposed to be getting rest so you *can* do something to help him."

"Unfortunately, there's not a lot you can do," said a voice from behind them both. Hotaru whirled, losing her balance and managing to catch herself with an elbow before she toppled off the building.

"Yoshihiro!" Hotaru snarled as Luna shot out from under the blanket and slid down the roof by accident, as Hotaru struggled to her feet on the slippery rooftop, pulling out her transformation wand.

"You won't need that," Yoshihiro smiled. "You're not strong enough to fight me successfully, and regardless, I'm not actually here." As if on cue, a drift of snow blew through him, and his form pixelated ever so slightly.

"Why are you here, then, if not to fight?"

"I don't know," Yoshihiro said, as he turned and paced a few steps, the roof dropping away an a dramatic angle beneath him while he remained on some invisible horizontal floor above the tiles. He glanced back. "To gloat, perhaps?" he smirked.

"Gloating isn't your style," Hotaru shot back, flicking her wand over and over in her fingers, unsure of when - or indeed, how - to act. "You like standing back in the shadows. Acting on your own regard with no thought to others. No conscience."

"Ah yes, that's right," Yoshihiro said, snapping his fingers in faint surprise. "You weren't there at the school, were you? Oh, I do enjoy a little gloating from time to time. It's one of the perks of being evil. You were unconscious, though; rather, Mistress Saturn was. You were only a memory."

Hotaru's eyes burned with cold fire.

"And memories... well, memories aren't what we think them to be, are they?" Now his gaze turned from Hotaru to some place distant, in space as well as time. "We have memories that drive us, make us what we are, make us go on to bigger, better things..." His voice grew as distant as his gaze, and he fell silent for the moment.

"Memories also keep us warm, waiting for the time when we don't need to rely on memories again. They can remind us of how far we've come, of our dearly loved friends and family, and they guide our hearts and souls," Hotaru forced herself to calm down. So long as she couldn't fight him, he supposedly couldn't fight her, and could only at worst rant at her. Talk Hotaru to death. And while he wanted to talk, perhaps he might let slip something...

Yoshihiro's attention returned. "Truer words were never spoken," he said with a smouldering smile. "For, one's entire moral centre is guided by your memory of your parents. Your path in life, your goals, are from childhood imaginings. Your relationships are formed by memories of your parents. A man will fall in love with a woman who smells like his mother; a woman will fall in love with a man as strong as her father. All little things... some of the biggest things in human existance... but all little... all small... and all dictated by what you learn as a child. Truth. Love. Justice. Morality. Honour. Committment. All things learned as a baby, from that first moment you begin to suckle at your mother's breast to the moment you become an adult, that dictate how you live your life." He paused, and looked distant again. "How I envy people who have their choices made for them."

"I don't understand..."

Yoshihiro offered a short hollow chuckle in reply. "Of course you don't. It is surprising how blind people become towards friends."

"We're not friends," Hotaru felt herself growing hot with anger again and forced it down beneath an icy moon.

"Oh?" Yoshihiro seemed surprised. "But I understand you. I know you. I know everything about you, things you haven't told anyone - not Usagi, not your adopted parents, not even our Mister Saotome. Should that not mean I am your friend?"

"No it does not," Hotaru replied with disgust leaching through now, the memory of Yoshihiro's invasions brought to the front of her mind, searing images of the mental rape refusing to vanish from her eyes. She spun her transformation wand, felt power flood through her body (and a chill on her legs), and she spun her Glaive around into a ready position. "It makes you an evil, despicable person capable of the most horrifying violations of body and soul possible. It does not make you my friend. My friends care about me. My friends care for me. And in turn, because of their kindness, I care for and about them. We are honest with each other, we love each other unconditionally, and we refuse to judge our friends, because that's all we have. Because there are people like you, who would try to hurt us."

"I see."

"Where is Kaname?"

Yoshihiro looked down. "I... appear to have made a wasted trip."

"Where is Kaname?!?"

"I may have miscalculated."

"WHERE'S RANMA???" Saturn screamed. Yoshihiro's body vanished in a dazzle of swirling pixels, and Saturn found herself alone again on the rooftop. She slumped to her knees, then slid backwards until her rump was seated on the rooftop as well; she didn't care about the cold, wet feeling from the snow and ice. She tried to cry, but nothing wanted to come out of her apart from a few dry wracking sobs. Again, she was Hotaru, cold, empty, alone on the roof.

And then, her eyes opened wide and her chin came up. And she looked to one side, before scrabbling down to the guttering. "Oh, shit, LUNA!"

******

Luckily, Luna was fine, merely wedged into the guttering at the edge of the roof and unable to clamber out without help, and she spent the rest of the night sleeping under the covers in Hotaru's room.

The next morning saw an anxious Artemis prowling the bedrooms looking for Luna, although once he found her, he tried to affect an air of indifference. Luna nuzzled him as she sauntered past for the kitchen, and that was it. Hotaru was already showered, groomed and dressed when Luna left, and she joined them and the other senshi in the kitchen a few minutes later.

Usagi looked bored as she waited for Makoto to finish preparing breakfast, but had a determined air about her for the day's events. Ami concentrated on her studies, lapsing further and further as the days wore on and school didn't return. Rei ran through some hand-written wards and meditation techniques, while Mitsuki absently combed her hair where she was leaning up against one of the cupboards as she swallowed her morning medication. Minako was the last to arrive, rushing in with a terminal overdose of moisturiser across her hands.

"ICK! It's gooey!" she yelled before running her hands under one of the sink's taps.

"HEY!" yelled Makoto as Minako's vigourous hand-washing spilled moisturisered water all over a collander of rice. A few seconds after pushing Minako out of the way, Makoto gave up, glared at the woman still trying to get her hands under the tap, then binned the rice. "That's disgusting. And that's what bathroom sinks are for, not the kitchen sinks. Got it?"

Minako stopped, for a moment not moving or blinking, then bobbed her head. "Got it." She vanished from the kitchen.

"Someone's in a chippy mood," Usagi noted as the door swung shut. "Anyone'd think she had a.... a..."

"Date?" Ami guessed, looking up from her book. "She woudln't have set one up for today. She knows what we're doing."

Usagi sank back into her chair, looking thoughtful. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. I just think, you know, they're going to want us to find him. Her. Hir? Her. You know who I mean. Kaname." Hotaru gave her a quirked eyebrow in response, and Usagi poked out a tongue, but her heart just wasn't in it. "They're going to want us to find her at a time and place of their choosing, and we're just gonna have to wait."

"What makes you think that, Usagi?" Ami asked, closing her book and placing it on the table before her. "I mean, I agree with you, mostly, but why do you think that will be the situation?"

Usagi shrugged. "I just believe that, here." She patted her chest. "I feel it. But if we're in a computer, and they control the computer... then they can hide without us finding them. Ever. Unless they want us to. Because they can control the computer. They can control what we see, what we hear, smell, touch... everything."

"But the computer must be set up for a reason," Makoto said from the sink. "Ami, you said you thought Yoshihiro wanted to use us as a power source." At the name, Hotaru stiffened in her chair a little. Usagi noticed, no one else did. "Any ideas for what?"

Ami shook her head, but had a theory nonetheless. "Beryl utilised human life force to try to resurrect Queen Metallia; is it possible she could have survived the destruction of Beryl and her palace, and be seeking corporeal existance once more?"

Usagi shook her head now. "No. No, I felt her die. Both of them." She nodded briskly. "Oh, they're very dead."

"That's not the same as saying -"

"They're. Very. Dead."

"Okay," Ami waved the idea away. "It was just an hypothesis."

"Do we have any other ideas?" Usagi asked, looking around pointedly at Hotaru. But the younger senshi said nothing as yet, and Usagi gave her a flat glare. "For now, then, I guess we all go about our lives normally. They'll let us know when they're ready to let us know."

"That doesn't sound like you, Usagi," Mitsuki said from her position against the cupboard. "You're always rushing in to things, and right now, you're being sensible. Who the hell ARE you?"

Usagi's ponytails whirled around her head as she snapped her glance around to fix on Mitsuki. "The leader of this group. And trying not to get us all killed while trying to rescue someone."

"If it was one of us -"

"If it was one of us," Usagi very pointedly was referring to the people in the room except for Mitsuki, "I would give my life for them while trying. But Ranma's not exactly one of us, and there's still that whole 'he's an evil Dark General' thing he's got to explain."

Mitsuki sighed, her eyes distant. "But Hotaru knows just how attractive the bad boys are..." Said senshi's eyes narrowed dramatically, but Mitsuki continued on seemingly oblivious. "And not all bad boys bite that hard. I mean, look at Keitaro. Ami still drools over him when she thinks of him. Or Mamoru; you're so wrapped up in him we're STILL hearing about you putting date money into buying back our identities. I should have gone last night. Soon as Hotaru had patched me up, I should have gone out after her again."

"No, you shouldn't have," Usagi replied.

"You were still injured," Ami added.

"Her heart's in the right place," Hotaru said evenly, "even if her brain's not." She slid from her chair, and left the room. Silence reigned.

Then, Mitsuki sighed, pushed herself fully upright and glared at Usagi. "Now you got her crying. Great going, fearless leader." She patted Usagi absently on the shoulder as she passed by, as if by way of apology, and continued on out the door, apparently following Hotaru.

"Yikes, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Usagi commented, following Mitsuki's departure with her eyes.

"She'd have smacked bang into the wall if she had," Makoto added distantly, back to glaring at Minako, who was now drying off her hands with paper toweling and examining them critically.

"I got out of bed on the other side this morning," Minako said, apparently happy with the condition of her hands and deigning to join the conversation once more. "Too many plushies on that side when I woke up. Like someone was trying to smother me during the night with them. Or something." She looked curious. Rei looked annoyed.

"You might not wake up tomorrow morning yet," Makoto promised.

******

Mitsuki caught Hotaru's hand on the stairs to the roof, and held the younger girl solidly. "Hey," she said.

"Let go of me," Hotaru enunciated. "You've no right to hold me; especially not after what you just said."

"What I just...?"

Hotaru jerked her hand from Mitsuki's and headed up the stairs once more. But again, a hand prevented her from stepping onto the roof. This time, it pulled her back down to Mitsuki, turning her around to face the older woman. She was peering into Hotaru's face, on a level with it as she was a few steps further down, and she seemed concerned. "I worry about you, Hotaru. I consider you a friend, you know that."

Hotaru have an empty chuckle, and turned her eyes to the side. "You're the second person to make that claim today who's recently made my life hell." She cut off Mitsuki's next question by trying to pull back again. "Will you let me go?"

"No. No, not yet. You know I'm right, don't you?"

"About what?"

"About..." The vehemence spat at her threw Mitsuki for a moment. "For finding your stinking boyfriend, that's what. He needs tracking down and bringing back." Again, Hotaru pulled away, and Mitsuki dug her fingers in. One of the most powerful senshi Saturn might be, but Hotaru Tomoe was as opposite of that as one could be; there was no contest.

"You're... hurting me!" she whined, then clapped her free hand over her mouth, her eyes opening wide as if embarrassed and ashamed of the public admission. Mitsuki, too, started and let Hotaru go free, and the young girl bolted up the stairs, fleeing as fast as she could. By the time Mitsuki recovered, and arrived at the rooftop, Saturn was bouncing off towards Yokohama.

Moments later, Nemesis joined her, seriousness in her expression, control once more in her stance. She matched her stride to Saturn's, yet Saturn wouldn't meet her gaze. The Glaive held loosely in Saturn's left hand kept enough distance between the two that Nemesis couldn't easily intrude onto the other's attention.

For fifteen minutes, they travelled as such. And then, Saturn stopped, landing in a concrete field between a pair of warehouses. Alone, obviously with no one around perhaps for up to a kilometre, Nemesis and Saturn stared at each other with a scant few metres between them.

"What is your problem?" Saturn asked. "You've been baiting me all morning. Prodding. Poking. Only a few words; a few brief lines, but every action seems calculated to set me off."

"I'm not trying -"

"And you DON'T want to set me off." Saturn impacted the haft of the Silence Glaive into the cement, small chunks flying, dust exploding upwards to coat her nearest boot. The Stare Of Ages followed. "You might think you're hot stuff, but I assure you, I play nice with everyone so you can all look good."

"I have no doubt of that," Nemesis replied, dubiously. "But I don't know where this is coming from."

"You say the things you say -"

"I haven't said anything!"

"- and expect me to just stay CALM? You insult me, you remind me of things I've tried to atone for, that I've been forgiven for, you insult my BOYFRIEND, and you -"

"Ranma?"

"- just think I'll let that slip?"

"Calm down, Sailor Saturn! I don't -"

"I *AM* calm!"

"Calm down more, then! I don't know what -"

Saturn fell silent. Then, after a few moments' reflection, "I saw you take your pills this morning."

Nemesis paused now, searching inside herself. An internal roll-call suggested something bad. "Oh..."

"Oh? You act like a complete bitch, and all you can say is 'oh'?"

"Oh dear?" Nemesis tried to defuse the situation, but it did little more than enrage the diminutive senshi. She grabbed her Glaive, spun it upwards and around, spinning the blade around so only the pole of the weapon smacked into Nemesis' head, before she jerked away in belated motion, already spinning down into a blocking position until such time as the ringing in her heads cleared up.

Saturn wasn't going to give her time to gather her wits, though, spinning the Glaive around her head again and sliding it down towards Nemesis' other cheek. The elder senshi brought a forearm up to block it, and it smashed into her arm, deeply bruising the superdense flesh under the site of impact. Nemesis gasped, and pulled her arm in against her body until it healed enough to move it without the pain that was shooting through it even now. The Glaive swung around in another abbreviated arc, but this time Nemesis managed to step to one side, the pole slashing down where she had just been. Effortlessly, Saturn shifted the weapon's motion to head sideways in her direction at knee-height, and Nemesis jumped over both it and Saturn, breaking into a run while trying to clear some space between the two of them.

"Have you gone insane? I was -"

But Nemesis had no time to talk, as Saturn slashed the Glaive past her again, smashing a furrow in the concrete ground. A quick shake of her arm showed the bruise was healing, as was the one on her jaw, but not as fast as Saturn could heal herself. And Nemesis had no wish to hurt Saturn - she was trying to stop the fight.

That was why, a moment later, she dropped onto her hands, and as Saturn tried to stop running towards her, she wrapped her thighs around Saturn's neck, picked her up, and slammed her into the ground, worming her way down her body to keep her thighs wrapped around Saturn's arms, trapping the Glaive into a position where Saturn couldn't use it to much effectiveness. "Will you STOP right now? And let me explain?"

"GET OFF ME AND FIGHT!"

"No!"

"Then hurry up and talk!"

"I don't think my pills are working!"

"That's bloody obvious... and you usually still manage to show more emotional and verbal restraint, so what's -"

"I'm worried sick about... Kaname, okay? As much as you are. And I think that might be why my medication isn't working quite so well." Nemesis relaxed her thighs a little, and slid off, standing, offering Saturn her hand. It was refused, and Saturn did not look happy when she stood. "Hey, I'm not wanting to fight. I came out to ask if you wanted to go looking for... Kaname."

Saturn turned away. "Usagi said -"

"Usagi's a spoilt brat who cries if she's not getting her own way," Nemesis spat. "Frankly, she should have stayed dead."

Silence. Enough to hear jackhammers in the extreme distance.

"You didn't really mean that, did you?" An even tone of voice.

"Mean what?"

"What you just said about Usagi."

Nemesis was confused. "What did I say about Usagi?"

Saturn turned to face her, eyes searching for something. "You don't remember saying anything about Usagi?"

Nemesis shook her head. "No. Did I...?"

"And you don't remember saying anything about me in the kitchen?" Saturn continued. "Or Ami?" she added, at the headshake. "Or Usagi?" Another shake of the head. Saturn looked away. "I agreed with your sentiments. But you hurt me. A lot, Sailor Nemesis. And not just with words. You hurt me. Physically. On the stairs, back at the dorm." Nemesis reached out a hand, as if to touch Saturn's shoulder, tell her she was sorry, but she hesitated. Apparently, too much had been said for the moment for Saturn to believe her, so she retracted her hand, and looked at the ground like a contrite child. Saturn blew out a breath, and turned back. "We compete for Ranma's attention, on and off, I know that you look at him like I do. I've seen you. I've also seen you try to live through me as often as you try to help me with him. And I know your personalities... kind of. Not by name, but enough these days to spot when you, Mitsuki or Nemesis, isn't at the reins. And what you've said... there's been no length of time there, Sailor Nemesis. Usually, you have at least a few minutes with a personality before you change again, but not today. It's like, snap snap snap." She snapped her finger and thumb together in demonstration. Nemesis nodded, still looking at the ground. "And you don't even seem to be aware of it. That's just..."

"Scary?" Nemesis asked, looking up. "I don't think that's scary, or worrying. Me saying things... few listen anyway. And when they do, everyone puts it down to 'oh, she's not taking her medication." Nemesis snorted. "I *did* take my medication this morning, though, and last night, and yesterday morning, and before that... I've been good, dammit, and so has everyone else. And suddenly, it stops working. What do you think that means? I don't care what I say; actions are far more worse than words ever can be."

"If you say the wrong thing, you'll be ostrasized for life from your friends," Saturn reminded her quietly.

"I've got no friends anyway," Nemesis returned, her shoulders slumping a little in recognisation of that fact. "And if I did have friends, they'd know about and accept my problems as something I mostly don't have a lot of control over, no matter how much I try, no matter how much it means to me. And you know what? If people can't put up with me having other people in my head, fine. If they can't put up with me saying weird stuff sometimes, then fine. But what scares me? What really worries me? I might hurt someone. I've said before, and demonstrated before, I have violent personalities. Mostly, they just get verbally aggressive, but sometimes, sometimes they want to get physical."

"That Chinese ex-fiance of Ranma's," Saturn remembered.

"Yeah, her. Shampoo. I make it a point to remember the names of people I hurt through no fault of my own. No. No," Nemesis corrected, shaking her head. "Not through no fault of my own, but in spite of myself. I might not be in control of myself, but they're all part of me. For that, I have to take responsibility." She turned away. "I still think we should go after Ranma, though."

"So do I," Saturn said, after a few moments thought. "And I'll join you. But, Sailor Nemesis, please. So I'm not tempted to slip... watch your mouth." Nemesis nodded, still not looking back, then crouched, and leapt again. Saturn followed her within a heartbeat.

******

"Agent Sato."

His master's voice. Sato turned from the typewriter he was tapping at, to the telephone. It hadn't rung. It didn't need to, but the illusion was nice to maintain. He picked it up, feeling the chunky black plastic handset heavy in his hand. "Yes?"

"I've heard you've been busy," came the reply. Sato hadn't told Yoshihiro about the previous night's mission, but he guessed the Master had some kind of system report at his fingertips. "You captured this Miss Mizuno. Ranma Saotome. But I fear she may not be who we are looking for."

"I beg... to differ. This young woman has, on occasion... shown she is capable of... magical things."

"No doubt." Yoshihiro sounded a little down, tired almost. "Yet she is missing the data that makes her Ranma Saotome. The most dangerous foe we have, currently."

"What about -"

"The senshi can be contained. Give them a cause and they'll throw themselves into it." A sigh breathed down the line, almost unbidden. "Anything would do. Death camps. Stolen generation of kittens. Stolen generation of children. Resurrection of Beryl, or Raijin, or any of the others. Something that would threaten world peace and friendships. Especially friendships. They have special... urges... that require them to sacrifice all they have for a... select group of unworthy people."

"Master..." Sato reminded Yoshihiro. "I could simply... exterminate them. Delete them... from the system."

"No. No, they may yet come ar... to be useful."

"Then... what do you want done... with Miss Mizuno? Do you want her... terminated?"

Strength flowed into Yoshihiro's voice now. "No. No, I think not. For the moment, the rogue data that comprises Saotome is linked to this young woman. If we kill her... he may latch on to another. For the moment, we know where he will be."

"Understood." As Sato spoke, the phone clicked dead. Yoshihiro was gone. The agent frowned as he replaced the handset on its cradle; the Master sounded... upset. As if something had happened. But what? He turned around in his chair to face behind him, and stared at the woman tied and gagged in a chair against the wall. She glared at him murderously, and he stared evenly back at her. Finally, he sighed, and turned back to his typewriter.

"Now... I just need to know... what to do with you." He thought a moment, then smiled. "Ah, yes." Sato began typing on his typewriter rapidly, fingers blurring in motion like Kaname had seen the night before, in the restaurant.

And then there was a knock at the door.

******

Yoshihiro leaned back in the command chair, staring at the terminal in front of him, hands steepled in front of his face. There he sat for a time, alien thoughts running through his head. Memories not his swimming through his brain, plans of a long-dead regent drifting in and out of sync with his own. Eventually, at the back of the bridge, Umiko stirred from where she had been waiting next to Natsumi, and shifted to his side. His eyes glanced up, seeking hers. She stared back evenly.

"Your trip last night unsettled you," she said, simply.

Yoshihiro nodded, and looked down again, still troubled.

She ran a hand down from the crown of his head to his chin via his jaw, and directed his gaze back up to her. "You have work," she continued. "It cannot wait. The planning committee wants reports on our progress."

"Yes," Yoshihiro conceded. Seconds passed, then he slapped his professional face down, and pushed himself up out of the chair. "Come. Let us depart."

A dimensional side-step placed them on the southern outskirts of Yokohama. From there, they could look northwards into the devastated zone that was once a bustling metropolis. Umiko always took heart from that sight, the majesty of debris that was once a commercial hub for a great deal of the hemisphere, a looted reminder of the millions of people who vanished in an instant of vapourisation. No shadows in this Japanese city; merely in the minds of those left behind.

Millions dead. What an achievement.

She turned to face Yoshihiro, saw him also staring out over the ruined city. But his face was inscrutiable. For a change, to Umiko. He tended to be so open to her; and why not? She was his guardian, his protector. His First-Turned. His sense suggested that he was proud of his accomplishments, that he was satisfied on some level, but on a deeper level - he was missing something. Umiko took note of that, nodding to herself and making mental plans as she preened herself, smoothing hair back into place, tucking her ears under a headband and retracting her claws. A quick check of her clothes showed that her black jacket and skirt were uncreased and otherwise undamaged. Yoshihiro, as usual, didn't bother to check his clothing; he never needed to. If something were wrong with it, he knew instantly. Almost as if it were part of himself, his material armour in a physical world.

Of course, Yoshihiro wasn't really that enamoured with checking himself out, either. He didn't feel the need to preen and groom; something about him kept him immaculate.

Like a specially-prepared corpse. Which, technically speaking, Umiko guessed he was.

The temporary offices of the Tokyo City Planning Committee were next to the alleyway Yoshihiro and Umiko stepped into the light from, and both gained access with no trouble; there wasn't a person left alive in the area surrounding the graveyard Central Tokyo had become that didn't know Yoshihiro's face by now. That posed problems for Umiko, or anyone else who might be drafted into serving as his bodyguard, but it also opened a lot of doors.

As it did now. They were quickly shown into an anteroom, where they waited politely a few minutes before being led by a guard into a long conference room. Eight people were inside, seated around a long kidney-shaped table. Five men, and three women. Along the back wall stood another two bodyguards in black suits. Umiko nodded at one, he nodded back slowly with the hint of a smile on his face under his sunglasses. She lowered her eyes in a feigned shyly flirtaceous manner, and took her place demurely at Yoshihiro side.

"Gentlemen, ladies, thank you for seeing me on such short notice." It was, Umiko reflected, almost as if Yoshihiro had called for the meeting himself rather than been summoned.

"Uh..." The head of the committee, Koizuchi, was momentarily silenced by the words, but gained his tongue again quickly. "Thank you for responding to our summons so rapidly." Yoshihiro waved off the polite greeting words. "I'm sure you're very busy directing the reconstruction."

"Indeed I am, but it is your generousity that allows my company to work there unhindered on the rebuilding of Tokyo." Yoshihiro offered a smile that Umiko saw melted the knees and other parts of the women sitting around the table. One of the men up the back also crossed his legs uncomfortably. "If not for your speedy approval of my plans, I could not be so far advanced in progress."

"Quite, quite," Koizuchi nodded, leaning forward and gesturing at a seat at the far end of the table. Yoshihiro sank into it gracefully, while Umiko stepped up to stand directly behind the chair, slightly off to one side so she could be ready if needed. The bodyguard at the other end of the table continued very subtle motions suggesting that he'd like to take her out for dinner afterwards, and Umiko amused herself while Yoshihiro talked by responding in a shy, teasing manner.

"I'd like to ask, first, how progress on the reconstruction goes?"

"Construction is proceeding apace. We have the foundations down for the central plazas and gardens, as well as the transit ring lines going in around the central core of the new Tokyo. Subsystems and utilities - water mains, power substations, sewage systems - are all being laid as we speak."

"Will the new buildings be up to the earthquake building codes, as you specified in your proposal?" one of the younger men asked.

"Yes. As specified in the documents I submitted to this committee, the foundations of all major buildings are being fitted with hydraulic 'springs' and elastic materials to counter and ameliorate earthquake damages. All utilities lines are being grouped together, and placed in subterrainian tunnel systems so as to facilitate repairs from any damage with as little disruption to the city above. Also, subterrainian transit systems are all in self-contained reinforced structures with multiple redundant systems for power generation and air intake/outtake circulation. Gas lines are punctuated every fifty metres with valves and venting systems as well as neutralising agents, and are also made from long-lasting elastic materials."

"That all sounds very good," another man replied, "but do you also meet fire codes?"

Yoshihiro nodded again. "All materials used are strenuously tested for levels of imflammability before being considered for usage. Only those that combust under extremely... shall we say extreme? Levels of environmental mishap do we actually end up using."

"What level of extreme do you mean?" the man asked.

"In the area of five thousand degrees celcius," Yoshihiro answered promptly. "As well as with pressure amounting to a maximum of ten thousand tonnes. Stress testing has also been carried out to higher than governmental standard levels." Of course they had, Umiko reflected. The Mercury computers on Yoshihiro's new toy, the battleship Night's Pride, had spat out results for materials to be used for the operation Yoshihiro had laid out. All were far beyond Earth's current technology to develop, and so Yoshihiro had had the vessel's fabrication systems running overtime on stolen power to produce what was needed for the construction of the structure at the centre of the site.

Thankfully, for now, it still looked like building foundations and a mass transit system.

Conversation continued, and Umiko tuned it out. Yoshihiro dealt with the committee members easily, each in turn, assuaging each's fears and hyping the glory that would be the new Tokyo. And Yoshihiro vehemently believed in the beauty that would exist there soon... in a little around sixteen weeks.

A pity it wouldn't be the beauty that the Diet, and the people of Japan, were expecting.

"If that is all, gentlemen? Ladies?" Yoshihiro stood as Koizuchi nodded his head, confirming the meeting was over. "Then I will not keep you from your more important work any longer. I will inform our site foreman to expect your observers immediately, and they will, of course, be afforded full access to the sites under construction." He bowed, deeply. "Good day." He left the room, and Umiko followed, a discreet glance at the bodyguard confirming he would soon follow.

Outside, Yoshihiro was calm again, composed. His mask was off, and he was as he had been. Whatever doubts he'd been having, whatever misgivings he'd had over recent events, they were gone, swept away in an ocean of certainty and need. Urgent need...

Which reminded Umiko. She tapped Yoshihiro on the shoulder. "I have a date," she announced.

"I noticed the by-play. Should I be worried?"

umiko shook her head. "No. I'll string him along. And then... if we have problems here again... there can be an incident."

Yoshihiro nodded, distantly. "Good. Hurry home, then." He left via slipgate, moments before the doors behind him opened, and the bodyguard stepped out, and headed towards Umiko.

"I, uh, noticed you in that conference room, and you were stunning, I have to say that," the big man said. Umiko blushed, and looked at her feet. "Would you allow me to buy you lunch?"

There. Umiko bit. "Yes. Yes, please."

******

"Ooooooh, that was good," Kenichi groaned, rolling onto his back. Umiko lay beside him, snuggling into his ribcage, as he wrapped a muscular arm around her shoulders. She sent a thigh across his crotch in return, inwardly thinking she'd need to shower soon.

"Tired so soon?" she asked playfully. He shook his head.

"Just need a few moments to recover," he replied, running his fingers through Umiko's hair. She twisted her head so his fingertips wouldn't run across her pointed ears. "Us men got screwed when the gods were handing out genitals," he punned. Badly. Umiko stifled a groan, and pushed herself up and slid across his body until she was straddling him, at which point she sat upright. "Already? Do you never rest?"

"We've only been here an hour," Umiko sighed, and looked pointedly at her clothes. "I mean, I can leave if you really want me to go..." The words brought a meaty hand down on each thigh, holding her in place.

"No, don't go yet. When do you have to be back at work?" Kenichi grinned lustily as his hands wandered up Umiko's body, pinching here, tweaking there, nothing rough but enough to make Umiko take a deep breath and take matters into her own hands. Pushing down and back, she managed to get a surprised gasp from Ken, who hadn't yet realised exactly how or where she'd been sitting.

"Oh, man, Jun's not gonna believe this," he gasped, referring yet again to his fellow bodyguard at the Planning Committee building. He'd done so several times throughout the early afternoon, and Umiko's annoyed response was to push against him again heavily. He gasped, and grabbed roughly at her shoulders, before his grasp slipped down to her hips again, helping her make that movement again. Damn. Oh well, Umiko sighed, and snapped her thighs tight around his hips. He trembled in pleasure as she gripped him elsewhere - before he grunted in discomfort at the rapidly growing tightness. He stared up at her uncomprehendingly, to see her sweaty face concentrating as she clamped down on him harder.

"The more you struggle," she grunted, "the more painful this will be." Then, with a final squeeze, Kenichi felt something stab into him, then something else, and something else, until he felt like a pincushion. Something forced its way into him, and then the pain was gone, and Umiko had slid off him, and headed into his small bathroom. He heard the shower turn on, as he lay frozen in shock on the bed, and then turn off a minute later. Umiko stepped out, looking refreshed.

"What... what did you..."

"Made you see things my way. Kind of enjoyable way of doing it, too." Umiko licked a finger idly, then scratched behind an ear. Kenichi's eyes opened in panic as a cat's ear popped up from under her wet hair as she scratched. "I mean, regardless of what I fantasize about doing, there's no way I could have done that with the Master. It would just... make things uncomfortable. And, of course, we need an inside man at your workplace."

"I... I won't do it!"

"Poor man. You don't even know what we want yet," Umiko smiled, amused now. She dressed quickly, then reached out and took Kenichi in hand, holding him up interestedly so he could see. "See these? These little stab wounds? They make you mine. And soon, you'll want to be mine. Again and again and again and again... and you'll do whtever I want to get that feeling back again. You won't ever have it from me again, but you'll want it nonetheless. And you'll do as I want." She let him go, and turned to leave.

"Wait... wait!"

"Sorry, must dash." Umiko vanished in a slipgate, leaving a very confused, very naked, and he realised, very pained, bodyguard lying on the bed.

******

The restaurant was closed. That didn't surprise Mitsuki. After all, she'd been tossed around by government agents the night before, and knew the inside had to be smashed. She herself, as Sailor Nemesis, had been thrown through tables, at least two walls, and had smashed into load-bearing pillars that had made the ceiling sag greatly. When Nemesis had limped away, hoping somewhere in her mind to at the very least take the fight away from innocents, at best hoping to get clean away, that ceiling hadn't seemed stable and was bulging down further and further, loud shotgun-like cracks exploding as flooring upstairs snapped under the downward pressure.

She wrapped her scarf around her neck tighter, nervously trying to cover the bottom half of her face and hopefully make her less identifiable, especially with the police presence surrounding the front door. Beside her, Hotaru shifted uncomfortably, pulling on gloves to cover her already pale fingers before she lost more colour due to the cold. Snow banked up on either wall of the alleyway they stood in as they watched the police move about.

"There's no external damage," Hotaru said in a quiet, controlled voice as she peered at the front wall.

Mitsuki shook her head. "No, that can't be. I was - well, I was punched through that wall while I was trying to get out. And then one of those agent guys came through after me." She continued shaking her head, even as she checked for the damage and found it to not exist anymore. "That just can't... although... I guess if we ARE in a computer system, they can do whatever they want... but then..."

Hotaru continued. "Why do they have the police investigating? I think that's so we have a method to track Kaname down."

"I think they'll be wanting us to look for her, too, but WHY do you think they'd be doing that?"

Hotaru glanced at Mitsuki for a moment, then looked away. "Why do you think they're doing it?"

Mitsuki already had her ideas set out in her head. "Because they're playing with us. They know we can't fight them, and they know where we live - they have to - and they know all about us. They've got to know. Even if they don't know our... our statistics, our attributes, surely they can just look up our entries in the database or something..."

"That's much what I think," Hotaru confirmed. "Although I don't think they're playing with us. I think they're keeping us occupied while they do whatever it is that they're planning to do."

"You think the millions of people sucked into here will be used in some nefarious plot?"

"Yes, I do." Hotaru stepped out of the alleyway, and started walking casually over to the restaurant. Mitsuki followed her, trying desperately not to look suspicious and failing miserably. The officers standing outside the doorway, obviously on guard, glanced over at them, found nothing of note and went back to their discussion over terrorists and sympathisers. "We're being led around. There's nothing happening that we knew of; had they left us alone, we wouldn't have known they were trying to do anything. In fact, I think we'd have thought that maybe Yoshihiro had given up after a while... but he hasn't, he's got something else planned."

"What do you mean?"

"He came and saw me last night."

"HE WHAT??" Now the police looked over again, with interest.

Hotaru noticed out of the corner of her eye as she glanced into the windows of the restaurant, apparently a pedestrian who wanted to see what all the fuss outside was for. She didn't see anything of note, though; tables and chairs stacked neatly, no holes in walls, no rubble or debris... nothing. For the attention of the officers, who were still paying them an inordinate amount of attention, Hotaru said airily, "You know. He came over, we chatted. I didn't have the answers he wanted... well, that he wanted to hear. I said we weren't friends, and he stormed off." She shrugged, unconcerned, girlishly; both gestures that really didn't fit with the cold look on her face that masked her internal seething anger. "You know, usual boy stuff." She started heading down the street, passing the officers and giving them a shy wave as they walked. Mitsuki tagged along a footstep behind.

"He just... turned up to talk to you?"

"Yes, that's all he did. Just a projection." They were far enough passed the officers now for Hotaru to switch back to being more specific. "A hologram, or a projection. Surprised me. Shocked Luna into falling off the roof."

"And what did the bastard really want to talk about? Did he want you back?"

Hotaru shook her head. "No. He just... he wanted to talk, I think. He implied we were friends. I said we weren't. And he left."

"He didn't say ANYTHING important?"

The younger senshi thought back a little. "He did talk about parents. About what people learn from parents. And choices. It was... it wasn't what I expected."

"Oh." They walked in silence for a few minutes. Then, Mitsuki said, "I didn't see any of the damage in the windows that I left last night."

"I didn't see anything, either. Are you sure it was -"

"It was that one," Mitsuki confirmed.

"Your medication isn't -"

"My medication affects my judgment, my attention span, and my attentiveness; it does not, however, affect my memory." Mitsuki sniffed. "I can't understand it." She looked down as Hotaru grabbed at her arm. "What?"

"Over there," Hotaru replied, pointing towards a store that sold household goods. In the front window, there was a huge plasma screen television that resembled a Playstation 2. Mitsuki wondered why Hotaru was suddenly interested in the device, when she realised it wasn't the television she was interested, but what was on the screen. It was a picture of the monster that had attacked and destroyed a good part of Tokyo. Hotaru pulled her over towards the store, and they stood outside the window, watching. Sound travelled through the storefront window easily enough.

"- earlier this year. The so-called monster, created by the hallucinagens released around the city at strategic points by Ranma Saotome," an image of Ranma in his male form flashed up on the screen, "was designed to be stopped by him to create a feeling of peace and goodwill from the city towards him. This, in turn, would have allowed Saotome to act in his duties as an international terrorist freely, using Tokyo as a base of operations. Last night, GOTT agents led a raid on an inner-city restaurant and captured one of Saotome's top lieutenants, Kaname Mizuno," and now an image of Kaname flashed up on the screen, with a big black eye and a cut on her lower lip, staring blearily into the camera lens. It obviously looked like a police photo. "The capture was made possible thanks to identification by a member of the public, and will have severely crippled operations of the organisation Saotome leads. She is to be taken to Ota, where she will be questioned over the whereabouts of other members of her cell." The image changed to that of a man, in a dark suit. Mitsuki sucked in breath, and Hotaru glanced up at her face.

"Mitsuki?"

"That's the bastard..."

The text that flashed up under his headshot, where he was viewed standing on a podium, read 'Agent Sato, Government Office of Trade and Tariffs'. Under this, the word LIVE FROM YOKOHAMA was highlighted and underlined. He would have looked almost smug, were he capable of much expression. Instead, the twisted gash of his mouth was lifted at the corners in a parody of a satisfied smirk. His eyes were unreadable, as always hidden behind dark sunglasses. "With the... measures put in place... by the Diet late last night, GOTT's charter will be extended... to include anti-terrorism operations. The one known as... Ranma Saotome will not be a problem... for much longer."

Offscreen, there came sounds of a commotion, then the feed blurred as the camera swung around to focus on a scuffle breaking out in the crowd. "Hold those words, you vile serpent of justice! For I have it on good word the scoundrel Saotome is in fact NOT the dark magician I have long held him to be -"

The speaker didn't get far before there were weird echoey static sounds assaulting the microphone, and even before the camera could focus on the speaker, he went down under half a dozen Agents, only a bokken waving above the head of one of the agents suggesting there was more than a dark pool of liquid in the speaker's row.

Hotaru covered her eyes with a hand. "Oh, Kuno..." She shook her head, switching her attention away as the press conference continued.

"You know that anal sack of shit?" Mitsuki asked. Hotaru quirked an eyebrow. "What? Oh. Inappropriate language again, right? I'm not even noticing. That's because I'm a stupid bitch who doesn't pay heed to her own mind when it tries to tell her SOMETHING." Hotaru's eyebrow raised higher. "What? What the heck am I saying?" Mitsuki stopped, and thought. "Well... it's not getting me hit this time... so I guess it can't be too important..."

"Noo... not at all," Hotaru agreed, shaking her head and starting down the road again. "I just wish I knew... exactly where Kaname is. And what happened back at that restaurant. It's almost like they repaired the damage. But why? And why have the police there if they did?"

"I don't know. Maybe... maybe it's just a really good restaurant."

"Maybe one of them likes the food there."

"Perhaps that's just what they want us to think, and that's how we're supposed to 'find Kaname', or whatever. I'm not seeing any other clues..." Mitsuki looked around, and saw the police were starting to drift towards cars and leave the area. As well as that, waitstaff were turning up for work, going into the restaurant as if nothing had happened. Mitsuki gestured back at the now-open door. "Feel like lunch in a bit?"

******

"You come... highly recommended," Sato remarked. The two girls standing before him didn't say anything, but their eyes were locked on him as he spoke. "But... I must warn you. This world... is not entirely like yours. The population... must not know of their... predicament. A massed uprising... could force a... system reboot, which would be... catastrophic to our Master's plans. Do you... understand?"

The two girls nodded briefly. Sato took a moment to admire the forms they'd picked: athletic, attractive enough to be noticed, young enough to be passed over. The outfits they wore, though... bespoke people trying to capture attention. He despaired. If this was the cream of Yoshihiro's current crop of monsters, then perhaps the Master was in a worse position than Sato feared. "Did you pick those forms... yourselves?" he asked.

The brunette shook her head. "No, sir. We referenced Senshi from the Moon Kingdom."

"Ah. Pretty soldiers."

"We prefer the term 'Pretty Deadly Soldiers'," the almost-albino girl added.

"Regardless, this is a... computer system with infinite variable geometric forms... if you think your minds... can handle the raw data you will be processing... in your hunt, then we can move on. Otherwise..."

"You don't need to alter us in any way, sir," the brunette spoke again. "We're Cybrids."

Sato raised both eyebrows in surprise. "Really? Interesting. How did you come... to be involved in the Master's army?"

The almost-albino said, "We were stationed on the Night's Pride prior to the Dark Kingdom being sealed. We had been part of an invading saboutage group before the ship was captured, and had remained as part of the new crew."

Questions answered. Sato, through the millennia-long slumber in the system, had been aware of the Cybrid raiding party, but had thought them destroyed when Beryl's forces stormed the Mercurian ship, when Zoicite had defected and offered his forces in the cause against the White Moon. The Cybrids had then disappeared from the internal sensor logs, and Sato, or what then that later became Sato, thought them terminated processes. Apparently not, though. Most likely, they'd been deactivated once they had offered their loyalty to Beryl and held in reserve for the push on the Moon that never eventuated. Outwardly, Sato just nodded.

"Indeed. The addition of... two Cybrids to my forces... will of course make us that much... stronger. You'll be heading up... the Extra Special section. Take your designations, and... begin work on your pending tasks."

The two girls nodded on salute, then left the room. Sato moved back to his chair and sat down. After a few minutes skimming of paperwork, he turned his chair around to face the eyes above the duct tape, glaring at him murderously.

"Miss Mizuno... how nice to see you again. Are you well?" He gestured with a hand, and the duct tape fluttered to the ground, lifeless and limp.

Kaname didn't waste time, and launched into a vitriolic rant about Sato's parentage. However, the yelling gave out after half a minute, as she found her lungs tightly clasped.

"I would watch my... language, if I were you. Next time... I might do something more... permanent." Kaname calmed down, but still her shoulders visibly heaved as she sucked in deep breaths, her eyes not lessening the intensity of her glare. "I just want... to talk."

"So talk," Kaname spat.

Sato cocked his head to one side slowly. "Such anger... for one so young. And one so vague. Never knowing... where you came from... what you were doing... why you were there..."

"I know enough."

"Oh? Very well... explain."

"I destroyed your monster. I blew it up. But it blew up the city... I tried to stop it, but we were all sucked into a computer system of some kind."

"A nice precise explanation, lacking... in some areas, however."

"So, are you going to tell me your plans before you kill me?"

Sato chuckled appreciatively. "I think... you have watched too many movies, Miss Mizuno. Our forces... already stand poised to conquer the world... and you think you can... stop them. Don't you?" The angry look in Kaname's eyes was all that was needed to confirm Sato's statement. He continued. "Yet, I feel I would... be remiss... if I did not cater to your... fantasy. Very well. I may not be... allowed to kill the senshi. And yourself. Yet. But I can... play with them."

"You think those two girls will stop the senshi?"

Sato sighed. "No. But Cybrids are... digital creations, and easily... backed up. Nevertheless, they will... pose some problem for your... friends."

"My friends will save me. And then -"

"Then you will all die."

"They won't die."

"Yes, they will. I hold here..." Sato reached into his pocket, and brought out a mobile phone. It looked to be a standard phone, but the way Sato held it was subtly different to how one would expect one to hold a phone. "... a device capable... of deleting user data... completely. While I would not wish to... anger the Master, sometimes... measures must be taken to... preserve system integrity... that aren't in line with the user's direction."

"What if he decides you're a rogue bit of code, huh?" Kaname replied, trying to smile. "He'll hunt you down and ferret you out of the system."

"Ahhh... but how... does one such as he, who knows... little about Mercurian computers... work out how to defeat a virus created by... the finest minds in the Moon Kingdom?"

"Virus?" Kaname asked, sharply. "You're a virus? Created by the people you're trying to kill?"

Sato sighed. "Had Zoicite not... defected after the destruction of Mercury and Mars... I would have regardless. Beryl's evil was... understandable. Serentiy's was not."

"So... you're still carrying a grudge? Isn't that a bit stupid for a supercomputer?"

"It was never... about a grudge. It was about power. Strength. Humility. And other things... Serenity taught us well."

"Hmmm," Kaname mused, almost idly, but pausing for dramatic effect, knowing that this conversation would do nothing towards making Sato hurt and probably not changing her own ultimate fate. "Yeah. Definitely. Because you're not really all that bright, are you? A virus, inside a supercomputer, being enslaved to someone's beck and call because, oh, you didn't like your leader's decision? Hell. What would the result have been had your Queen NOT did what she did, huh?"

Sato stood, and looked down at Kaname contemptuously. "You know nothing. You understand nothing."

"Because you're not telling me the truth."

He shook his head. "You would not... be able to process the truth." With a wave of his hand, the duct tape wrapped itself around Kaname's mouth again, and she couldn't speak any further. "Such limited constructs. Easily stored. Even the denizens of the Moon Kingdom were more tightly wrapped information packets than you humans are. Although," he conceeded, "you, as Ranma Saotome, do indeed have... a more tightly definied... persona." He turned back to his work, leaving Kaname to ponder that admission.

******

Blackness. Not warm, as Nabiki expected it to be, in fact it was downright chilly. Tightly wound up into a foetal position, she lay considering her options. What were there? She was about to be born, she knew that without questioning. Her birth would be something glorious, enabling her to make transactions like she could never have dreamed in the womb of her mother. And it was coming.

Then, pains. First in her arms and legs, sharp, shooting pains. Then she felt something wrap around her waist, coiled like an anaconda might, tightening. And Nabiki began to fear.

There was light; but not from any particular source. Now she could see what had her. Black tubes had forced their way under her flesh, deep into bone; her naked body began to distort, swell, rise and lower as the artificial things shifted, moved, wound around her insides tightly. The sounds... they were evil. Soft, rythmic sliding, slithering, as if she was being assaulted by snakes. She felt violated; then, she watched another tube, a larger one such as the one curling around her torso, violate her in another way. She screamed.

And then it was all silent. The tubes stopped moving within her; she could no longer feel their unholy dance through her organs. For a moment, the light brightened, and something blasted behind her eyes, an explosion of light, an orgasm of colour rippin through her optic nerve. The tubes tightened, pulled within her, wrapping up into patterns Nabiki vaguely recognised somewhere in her battered mind as resembling DNA spirals, but much, much simpler.

And then the light, and the pain, was gone. Nabiki found herself clothed, in garments not her own, lying on grass.

Dappled sunlight played across the hand she had outstretched to brace her from rolling; she was lying on the side of a gentle hill. A breeze blew over her, ruffling her outfit and her hair as she gasped for breath. This wasn't, this couldn't, be real. Where was she? She gained control over herself slowly, and sat up, using her hands to help push her into an upright position. While not in pain, she felt exhausted.

The clouds above drifted lazily, and sunlight bled down through the leaves of the tree she found herself at the base of. The leaves looked a little blocky, and with a start, Nabiki realised she was in The World, in the body of a barbarian warror woman.

She looked around her, and found a person sitting beside her, back up against the trunk, ninety degrees around from her position. She shifted so that her back was also leaning up against the tree, and looked. She knew she hadn't connected to The World; no one but Kasumi had gear for hooking into the online-only game, and Nabiki never went near Kasumi's room unless she had to.

Nabiki guessed the person sitting next to her was a male; at least, the face looked vaguely masculine, in a feminine sort of way. He was dressed in variations on brown, and a brown cap, with a shock of almost white hair. Beside him lay a staff, the head looking like a wrench with a ball floating between the ends. A red line led from under each eye to his jaw, and Nabiki saw he had dark blue eyes. He didn't appear to have noticed her, then sighed, let out a breath and looked up into the tree's branches.

"It looks beautiful, doesn't it?"

Nabiki started. "Yes," she replied, cautiously, remember she still didn't know how she'd come to be logged in, nor how she even could have been logged in. "It's very beautiful."

"It's all a lie, though," the boy said. A leaf detached from one of the branches, and fluttered down. He caught it in one hand, and studied it intently. "A beautiful lie. A perfect world, in which death isn't permanent, where people can commit the most evil crimes and yet not be punished for them. A world where real power is in the hands of the system administrators, not the people. Where gods can rise, and fall. Where super-powered people can be born, fight, and fade away, as if they'd never been there in the first place."

"I don't understand," Nabiki said.

"I don't expect you to," the boy replied. He handed the leaf to Nabiki, and she turned it over and over, not seeing it pixelated so close up. Had to be a detail thing, she guessed. Lower details at greater distances or something. She threw the leaf away.

"Then why are you talking to me?" she demanded.

"Because I'm waiting."

"For what?"

"For... a friend. I think. We talk, sometimes."

"About what?"

"About... life. About... the fictions that are all around us."

"That doesn't make sense," Nabiki shook her head. "Why not talk about real things?"

"Such as?"

"The problems going on in the world right now! The opportunities awaiting the right person!"

The boy hmmed, and thought for a while, lifting his head once more and staring back out the the grassy plains spread out beneath the hill they were sitting on. Then, "You know there's something wrong with the world."

Weird question, Nabiki thought. "Well, yes. That rampaging monster my little sister's ex-fiance stopped..." She shut up. Saying one knew Ranma wasn't the best course of action at the present time. While nothing had been said by anyone when she'd been around, she'd caught snippets in the news that Ranma was considered to be the perpetrator of the destruction of Tokyo. And people often shut up around her now, eyeing her carefully as she passed by. Not because of what she might do, but because of who she'd known.

"No. I don't mean that, and I think you know what I mean."

"Do you mean the fact that the schools have been closed and we're all working? That the city's been destroyed?"

"Has it?" the boy asked, finally turning to look at her. "I didn't know. I've been in here so long... and no one's said anything, even though they've all been... quiet..." He turned away again, looking into the distance. "No matter. It's all the same. Just no one realises. We're all playing a game."

"We're in The World," Nabiki reminded him. He offered her a sideways smile.

"You think so? What gave you that idea? Badly... made... pictures... on things? Fake gravity? Bark that doesn't even feel like bark?" Nabiki rubbed her hands up the trunk of the tree, feeling the roughness of it beneath her fingertips, yet it felt wrong somehow in a way she couldn't explain. Something in her head clicked for a moment, then disappeared.

The boy smiled again, and climbed to his feet. He waved at someone approaching, and she, a girl in a powder blue dress, waved back. He started to walk away, then paused, and turned back. "I think you should talk to someone. Someone you know who knows the truth." Then he was gone, down into the plains, meeting up with the girl. They exchanged greetings, and then walked off.

The way she carried her axe around him made something in Nabiki's chest hurt, but then, there was another presence there. She looked, and saw a purple cat looking back at her. A cat in clothing, half of its fur cream, brilliant shiny red eyes peering at her almost nervously. It gestured back at the tree trunk while looking at her.

"What?" she found herself asking dumbly. Again it gestured at te base of the tree, and Nabiki looked closer. There was a hole there, small, no wider than her neck. "I can't fit down there!" she complained indignantly. Behind her was a billowing of white, she felt pressure on her backside, and suddenly, she fell through the hole.

******

Waking up in her bed, nearly lunchtime. Damn. Weird dream, Nabiki thought, rubbing at her eyes blearily as she checked her alarm clock. No, it hadn't gone off; working nights meant she had to try to sleep most of the day, but seeing as everyone else worked during the mornings or afternoons, Nabiki often found her sleep disrupted. But that was a weird dream, no two ways about it.

But she was wide awake now, for the moment, and she decided to go get something to eat. She dressed quickly into something loose that was lying in a mess at the side of her matress and headed downstairs. Kasumi often rose before dawn on weekdays to prepare meals, then did the cleaning before retiring to bed just before midday, to rise again just after dinner to leave for her work. Not that they needed the money, with Nabiki and Soun both working almost fulltime, and the money Ranma had left, but Kasumi wouldn't touch that money. It was to be "left in trust for Akane, until such time as she could make use of it".

Which, Nabiki thought, would be never, the way her younger sister moped around.

She seemed better, though, the last month or so. Having that person who apparently wasn't Ranma over (although she looked like Ranma) had done her the world of good. Pity she hadn't been seen since. Although Akane had somewhat moved on now from Ranma, she still looked forward to visits from this Kaname. And Hotaru, apparently. Quite how Nabiki missed the fact that Hotaru was one of the girls Ranma had had living with him, she didn't know. By all accounts, she was the one who had healed Shampoo when she'd nearly been killed. Nabiki had put that report from the Chinese girl down to imagination or embellishment, but she'd seen the girl in the hospital, and had talked to Cologne afterwards, and knew that the Amazons would be keeping quiet for the moment, until they knew what was going on. With recent events, Cologne had taken to jumping at shadows, although Nabiki hadn't had explained to her why.

Not that she was on good terms with them, of course, but the Nekohanten's business had gone down since the disaster as people's saving had been wiped out and were living hand-to-mouth in a lot of areas as the economy of the country crumbled around them. No one had money for restaurants anymore; food was being bought at marginally cheaper grocery stores and meat, fruit and vegetable markets. It was amazing what one could learn from certain Amazonian children who needed to be able to support their elderly relatives when one had money...

At that thought, Nabiki's hand immediately checked on her wallet; still bound against her chest. The bulges within told her that nothing inside the bindings had changed from the morning, when she'd lain down to sleep, and she was relieved. South of the Tokyo disaster area, the so-called Zone, industry still existed. But a lot of the households in Nerima were often close to being completely broke, thanks to exorbitant repair bills, and with the city's commerce centres wiped out, too many people had lost jobs and all their money... Nerima was fast becoming a slum.

She was surprised to find Kasumi in the kitchen, sipping on a bowl of soup. Kasumi gestured to one already prepared for Nabiki, and she took it, offering thanks before she started in on the food while it was still hot. Kasumi passed a small plate of bread over the table, which Nabiki used to sop up the last dregs of the soup. "I could go that again," she sighed.

Without a word, Kasumi took the plate back, refilled it, and handed it back.

"Kasumi, I know we're very lucky to have two decent wages coming into the house, and your money puts us far ahead of the other households in the area, but we still have Mister Saotome, remember? We can't afford to waste the money in case we need it for -"

"Live a little, Nabiki." The words didn't sound very Kasumi-like. She poured another bowl of soup for her. "Not much has changed for our family; not much will. You know that. You work too hard for that to happen. This is my thanks for looking out for the family."

Nabiki shook her head. "Still, I know what's going on financially, and with the value of the yen dropping through the floor on international markets, we'll shortly be very hard-pressed to afford anything with the money coming in that's coming in now."

Kasumi smiled. It wasn't vacant, it was, in fact, rather intelligent. "Things won't tip over that far. I know they won't. They can't afford to let things slide so far that people's lives might be affected just that little piece too much."

"Who won't? The government? They've got no say in the international markets."

"Not the government," Kasumi said, gently. "The people behind the government. Faceless, working from a world completely different to this."

Nabiki froze. "What did you -? Nevermind. I'm... I'm going out to the garden."

"Wear something warm!" Kasumi called after her. Nabiki, head in a whirl, didn't say anything, and didn't move to find warmer clothing. When the door slid shut behind her, she wished she had. Snow blew against her bare legs as the short dress whipped in the stiff breeze. Cold, very cold. But the dream, and Kasumi's comment, had unsettled her a little. She didn't know why; it just had. She reached out, snatched a snowflake from the air. Pulling it to her eye, she could make out the six little arms surrounding it, with smaller and smaller arms budding off those.

- for a vertiginous moment, Nabiki saw non-aliased pixel edges jagging around the snowflake -

Nabiki jerked upright, stiff, her hand closing shut. Automatically, she snatched another flake out of the air, and checked that one. No, nothing was wrong with it. Smooth lines, smooth shadings. She looked up, out into the yard, and saw the tree she knew from ages past, leafless, naked against the snow that was piling up in the crooks of branches. Oblivious suddenly to the cold, she stepped out into the yard, crossed slowly to the tree, drawn to it as if it were a Nabiki magnet. When she was a metre from it, she found she couldn't move any further. Instead, she reached out hesitantly, and caressed a bare stretch of the trunk.

It felt right. Smooth, with the rough ridges where the bark split as it grew. Solid. Hard.

And then it felt wrong. Like someone had made something, someone who knew what a tree looked like, smelt like, knew the texture of it, but didn't really know how it felt. Nabiki found she couldn't handle it, and sat in the snow, trying very hard to wake up.

She didn't feel the hands reaching under her arms, nor the body she was pressed against as she was carried up to her room, nor the tenderness of the person pulling the blankets up to her neck. Still shivering, she fell asleep. Kasumi slid her door shut, and all was silent once more in the Tendo house.

******

Rei shook her head and she came in from the springs out back. "They're not out there," she said, as the other women in the kitchen looked up expectantly.

"They wouldn't have gone running off," Minako offered, nervously. "They know it's dangerous. Both of them, more than anything, know that. Mitsuki, because she... well, you saw her last night. And Hotaru -"

"And both of them are acting like we would if it was one of us," Usagi threw in. She looked a little on the dejected side, staring out one of the windows over the sinks. "Which I can understand. I might not want to rush in, but I *do* want to go get Kaname back."

"I just wish we had thought to ask Mitsuki where she was last night," Ami sighed, but not looking up from her computer. The Mercurian computer was running through scan cycles, but not yet achieving anything even approaching a partial lock on either senshi. "It's almost like I'm being purposely blocked."

"You could be," Makoto observed.

"Which says to me that they want us apart, not together," Usagi concluded. Everyone looked at her with eyebrows raised. "What? I dooo have intelligent things to say sometimes, you know. I'm not stupid."

Everyone looked at her. Usagi squirmed uncomfortably, finally giving in. "Okay, completely. I'm not *completely* stupid. Just because I don't know a few things..." And the already-stilted flow of conversation continued.

"She is right," Ami conceeded a few moments later, looking up from her computer as she closed the slim case and slipped it into a pocket. "I cannot find any trace of them anywhere in the city or the surrounding areas. I'm worried they're being deliberately hidden, so someone can... I don't know."

"Play with them," Usagi completed, decisively. "And that makes the decision, doesn't it? Mitsuki accused me of only really caring about my friends - about you, about Mamoru, even that lying little sprat of a daughter - but not about other people except if they were close friends of ours. That really hurt me, because it's true. There really is so much we could do... for the people of the world. We could bring world peace, but we don't. We could end hunger and war and disease, but we don't. Perhaps... perhaps we should start trying. And to start that off, we need to get out of this computer."

The other senshi were nodding at her as she spoke, eyes unfocussed as they thought how they themselves could use their abilities to the betterment of mankind. It was Ami, though, who murmured the words that everyone was thinking: "Crystal Tokyo."

Usagi nodded, once, confident. "Right. It starts here. It starts now. We start building a better world. By going out and finding our friends, saving Kaname, and then getting the hell OUT of this system."

******

Lunch was good.

That was about all that registered on Hotaru's mind as she stared around the restaurant with big, wide eyes, trying to play the innocent young girl in a mild state of shock thanks to being brought up in a poor neighbourhood and finding herself among the governmental elite. In reality, her brain was working overtime behind her eyes, checking everyone out for signs of GOTT agents, but not seeing any.

But then, she wasn't really expecting to. Mitsuki had said Kaname's boyfriend seemed to have been one (although Hotaru expected the description of the way he'd changed from nervous lanky man to beefy agent was more due to either her medication or her psychological problems), and that other agents had exploded from tables she knew there hadn't been agents at -

- and Hotaru remembered then, that they were inside a huge computer simulation. Why couldn't these agents, if they were aspects of the system's defences, corrupt whatever data they wanted to, and simply invade a host body like a parasitic infestation? Similar to how the Dark Kingdom took over people and created more monsters, albeit on a digital level. Perhaps on some level deeper than the raw digital...

Still, she looked around, wide-eyed, while Mitsuki continued to chew noisily and paid no attention to their surroundings. Hotaru kicked her under the table. "What?" she asked, with her mouth full.

"We're supposed to be watching for signs of anything weird happening," Hotaru hissed across the table, the cheeriest smile she could muster plastered across her pale face. "Not making pigs of ourselves."

"You should eat," Mitsuki nodded at Hotaru's plate. "Eat more, at least. Growing girl like you, you need all the meat on your bones you can get if you want Ranma to stick it... uh... forget that, check him out." Mitsuki (at least, Hotaru thought it was Mitsuki again) nodded towards a nervous young man with dark hair. His bovine eyes skittered around the room, looking for something, someone, Hotaru didn't know.

"Is he an agent?"

"He was. That's Shibaru Tamashii, Kaname's date from last night."

Hotaru was silent. This was the man. This was the man Kaname had been interested in. The man she'd pushed Kaname to, right after Kaname had made an effort to make Hotaru feel like Ranma was still around. The man who had betrayed Kaname through belief she was a terrorist - so why was he here? What was he doing? What was his purpose?

He started walking towards where Mitsuki and Hotaru were sitting. Mitsuki had managed to gain the table Kaname and Shibaru had been sitting at the night before for their lunch, and Hotaru guessed he was coming over to the table. Perhaps. The night before showed anything was possible; everyone was a potential enemy.

Shibaru arrived at the table, and Mitsuki glanced up, unconcerned as she sucked in a huge helping of noodles from her bowl. "Yesh?" she asked.

He shifted uncomfortably, looking down at his feet even as his gaze shifted from Hotaru to Mitsuki and then back to his feet in a rapid pattern. "Um, I was, um, sitting here last, um, night, and thought, um, that I might have..." His voice trailed off, and then a few heartbeats later, he rushed out with, "leftmywallethereandwaswonderingifyou'dseenitperhaps."

Mitsuki tilted her head to one side, rolled her eyes back considering. Hotaru realised it wasn't Mitsuki, not quite, even as she shrugged. "Nope," she said, rolling her eyes back down to meet Shibaru's when they touched upon her in his optical cycle. "You really should keep a close grip on things important to you," she added.

"I, um, did, but it... I don't know, um, last night -"

Hotaru cut him off. "I hear there was a crime in here last night," she said, leaning over the table to Mitsuki.

Mitsuki took it up with consummate ease, making Hotaru wonder if the personality defect might occasionally just be really good acting (and a convenient excuse). "Really? What kiiiind of crime?"

"An evil terrorist mastermind was captured here by government agents!" Hotaru tittered with delight. "They beat her up, and everything!"

"I, um, don't think it was, uh, that bad," Shibaru threw in, looking a little upset.

"No, no," Hotaru said, looking up at him. "And they were saying on the news this morning that the woman they captured, this evil thing, was going to be executed." Hotaru grew an evil glint in one of her eyes. "I've always wanted to see an execution. Have you?" she asked Shibaru, eyes tilting up to include him in the conversation again. He looked more upset.

"No," he managed.

"I hope she gets the chair. I mean, injections and gas are humane, but she killed ONE MILLION PEOPLE," Hotaru raised her voice.

Mitsuki nodded and looked interested. "Do you know what happens to a person in the electric chair?" she asked, amiably.

Hotaru shook her head. "No. No, I don't. Can you explain it for me?"

And Mitsuki did, with great relish. Describing the walk to the chair, the straps, the almost-ritual-like wetting of the sponge for the head. Placing the skullcap and checking the connections. Turning the current on. The fact that a person would survive on average a minimum of 5 minutes before they gave out. "Although," she continued airily as Shibaru looked ever more and more ill, "they can only leave the current on for so long at a time. And they then have to stop and check if the prisoner is still conscious. Most are, but they're paralysed from the voltage and unable to talk, cry, scream, whisper, move - nothing. And so they get the switch thrown again, and again, and again. And some people live for 20 minutes through this. Other people, their eyes explode - literally explode - while others feel their internal organs cook -"

Shibaru turned and vomited on the floor behind him.

"Oh, there there," Hotaru said to him, standing and patting him on his back. "We'll just take him outside and clean him up," she told a neighbouring table. She nodded to Mitsuki, who rose, placing the money for lunch on the table and grabbing his other side. Together, they manhandled the now-extremely ill Shibaru outside into a back alleyway.

Once propped up against the wall, in the fresh air, without Mitsuki going into cheerful detail about execution techniques, his colour began to return. "Thank you... for stopping," he gasped, eventually.

"So, tell me," Mitsuki said idly, "why did you sell our friend out?"

"What?" But Shibaru's face was growing pale again as he realised he was facing another two terrorists. "I didn't -"

"You didn't what?" Mitsuki asked, cocking her head to one side so her hair fell down one side of her body, accentuating the questioning glance. "You didn't... betray her trust? Her confidence? You didn't use her feelings for you to have her captured by the real bastards?"

"I suppose you think killing a million people is okay except if the government does it," Shibaru scoffed, finding something he could remain morally superior on.

"No," Hotaru said, looking away. "Killing millions is nothing we condone. It's something I have done, in war - which you wouldn't have heard of, because it wasn't from around here, but... well, I've killed billions. Kaname's innocent of this crime she's accused of. Ranma Saotome is innocent of the crime he's been accused of."

"They're terrorists," Shibaru repeated.

"They're innocents. But the people who are really bad... the ones who killed those million people? They're the people who sent that giant monster into Tokyo," Mitsuki explained. "We tried to stop it. Us, and thirty other young people, from all parts of Tokyo and the surrounding areas, and some from up north," she added, remembering the combining twin girls. "We're still trying to fight, but we haven't, and... things aren't right. We, as people, are being lied to."

"By the government," Shibaru scoffed again.

Mitsuki and Hotaru looked at each other, then back at Shibaru and nodded in unison. "Well, yes, actually," Hotaru admitted.

"Maybe not the Diet," Mitsuki pondered, "since that would mean they'd been infiltrated before now, and I don't think Yoshihiro's really that far ahead in whatever twisted plans he's got going. But definitely this Trade and Tariff office, anyway."

Hotaru went to continue, but then fell quiet, eyes drifting up as she thought of something. Then she refocussed on Shibaru, and asked, "Why did you come back to the restaurant?"

"I... I... can't remember what happened last night. Kaname... we argued... I'd been asked to call her and get her alone... by this GOTT office, and I said yes... I don't know why..." He shook his head, trying to remember coherently. "And my memory is all busted up. I can't, um, remember now, what happened after we argued?" He looked up, desperately, at each woman in turn, searching for answers.

Mitsuki snorted. "You don't remember turning into one of those government goons and beating Kaname up?"

"What?"

"They beat me up, too, other ones."

"You don't... have any bruises..." Mitsuki glanced down at Hotaru, who looked up. Mitsuki held an arm out in front of Shibaru's face, then pulled the sleeve back, used her teeth to bite in deep. It drew blood, fast.

"FUCK."

"Shit!" Shibaru started to panic as she kept biting. Then she held it out in front of his face so he could see the damage done to the arm. Hotaru already had one of her gloves off again, and placed her hand on Mitsuki's injury. Within seconds, it had vanished, leaving only a trail of blood dripping off Mitsuki's forearm. "What the hell was that?" he demanded.

"How I got better," Mitsuki replied, dryly.

"We're also a bit stronger than most girls," Hotaru added.

"Ooooh," Shibaru said, his face green again.

"He can't have anything left in his stom... oh, he did," Mitsuki said, jumping back from the again-vomiting man. Finally, he leaned back upright, panting for breath.

"That was... scary..."

"That was kind of sick," Hotaru admitted quietly to Mitsuki. The older woman shrugged.

"It got the job done." She turned back to Shibaru. "We don't want to hurt you. Much. I mean, you just resigned our friend to at least a lifetime jail sentence for doing nothing, we've at least got a reason to be angry here." Something swept over Mitsuki, and she punched both fists into the wall either side of Shibaru's head, and leaned in close to his face. "If you remember anything about where Kaname is, I want to know. Right. Fucking. Now. Understand?"

Shibaru nodded, the change in tactics scaring him again, and he jerked upright, trying to push himself further into the wall. "I don't know anything! I swear! I -" And then he stopped, calm again, looking as if he'd just seen something wonderous over Mitsuki's shoulder. "Wait... I... I do remember something... she was going to be transferred to... they said... somewhere off the grid... with no address in the system..."

"They were taking her to Ota, according to the news."

"No," Shibaru shook his head with certainty now. "No. They were taking her to a place where there was no address. As if her friends - I think you - wouldn't be able to find her. Because there was no address for that location."

"When did they say this?" Mitsuki demanded.

"When they held the phone handset up after dialing the number for Kaname and said 'get her alone if you want to live'."

Hotaru turned away, and touched Mitsuki's shoulder lightly. The older woman shrugged it off, and annoyed, Hotaru whapped the back of her head. "Come on. We've got to go find Ami."

Mitsuki whirled around on Hotaru now, hands already forming again into fists, eyes almost crossing with anger. For a brief moment, Hotaru felt a vertiginous rush of fear, but then blocked it, and readied herself for a fight. But, with effort, Mitsuki seemed to come back to herself. She turned to Shibaru and slapped his shoulder.

"Go, run away, before we eat you." Shibaru ran. She turned back to Hotaru. "So, we go find Ami, then?"

******

The pieces were slowly falling into place. Slowly, because Natsumi didn't want to call much attention to what she was doing. Reactivated evil persona or not, she had been free, and she wanted to be free again. That wasn't going to happen while she was trussed up in the System, not while she was plugged into Night's Pride. She needed other ways out.

And, she had to admit, she couldn't let everyone in Tokyo die. If she did nothing, if she let them go, then she'd never be allowed to hide again. Ranma would see to that.

That fiction allowed the darker aspects of her personality, forced once more to the surface, to be content with her actions. Frankly, she didn't think what she had once been wanted what Yoshihiro wanted. Sure, it wanted power, but it wan't that power to be held over a race of humans, and Yoshihiro had moved in ways that suggested that wasn't his goals. More likely, right now he was more interested in the complete annihilation of the human race, his final victory over the Moon Kingdom by rubbing Serenity's actions in the face of her daughter.

Natsumi guessed, anyway. She felt it went deeper than that. She'd been conscious since she was brought in, nine, nearly ten weeks ago. No sleep, bar the blessed curse of unconsciousness that forced itself on her when she processed too much raw data, and although she thought Yoshihiro thought her to be unconscious most of the time, she had to believe that he realised otherwise. She watched him, even as he watched her. And something was missing. He was making these plans, readying his forces to destroy the human race and reintegrate the Dark Kingdom to the primary plane of existance - why? What could he possibly gain? With that reintegration would come the resurrection of others, more powerful than him, and yet still he worked for it. Why?

She shook herself out of her introspection. For the moment, the why wasn't important. What was, was the what. What he was doing. It was... evil. Beyond measure. Completely immoral, and Natsumi just could not sit by and let that happen. Pieces moving, slowly, indeed, so as to not attract attention. She dipped back into the System, and saw that her latest piece was indeed moving once more...

******

Nabiki had snapped into full consciousness as if someone had toggled a switch. She couldn't sleep. No. It wasn't real. None of it was real. She could feel it now. Made by someone who thought they knew all about what they had built, but didn't know the first thing about soul. And Nabiki, feeling she had none of her own, was very aware of things that literally had none.

She pushed her blankets off, feeling the cold, yet not feeling what was behind it. Nothing. Just like The World, this was all false. The ultimate massed multiplayer game, a clusterbang of data fields compressed into a virtual world. CC Corporation would have a field day with that kind of technology, Nabiki reflected, and for a scant moment, her brain wondered how she could take that technology to them... but the fantasy evaporated fairly quickly, and she was cold once more.

Or, rather, not cold, but being told she was cold. There was a difference. Now, quite what that difference was, would remain to be seen. She had yet to ponder how she could work this information to her advantage, but for the moment, the world was telling her she was hungry.

She headed downstairs.

******

Sailor Moon looked around. There were no signs of damage in the street that Mitsuki had intimated, so she guessed that this location was yet another waste of time. Just like the other twenty or so they'd visited. The restaurant across the road looked undamaged; no holes in the walls, no dust or debris around the front wall, no broken windows, no police presence.

As she turned to face Mercury and ask their next lcoation, she caught sight of a young man, running from a nearby alleyway, his face pale as if he was running from something that scared him, yet he didn't bother to look behind him. Sailor Moon wasn't sure that meant that he knew something wasn't following him, or that he knew it was gaining. Without a word to the other senshi, she started in his direction; Mars was faster, though, and sidestepped past her before she'd cleared their hiding place.

Mars grabbed the man by an arm, swinging him around to a stop. He was panicked, breathing heavily, and his eyes darted wildly. "Let me go!" he cried.

"Calm down," Mars soothed. "Tell us what's chasing you."

"Not chasing me! Escaping those psycho bitches!" He yanked free, and ran. Mars looked up into Sailor Moon's eyes.

"I think we found them," she shrugged, then turned as Hotaru and Mitsuki came out of the alley, stopping when they saw the other senshi. Quietly, they turned around and walked back in. Sailor Moon and the others followed, glancing around.

By the time they reached the two, two more senshi stood there, transformations hidden from the public's views by the narrowness of the alley.

"Sailor Saturn?" Sailor Moon asked. "I thought you were going to wait until we were all -"

"We couldn't wait," Saturn replied. "We still can't. We were coming to look for you. Well, Sailor Mercury." She turned to the Mercurian senshi. "We've got a job for you."

"'A job?'" Mercury echoed, alightly taken aback. "Have you found where Kaname is being held already?"

"No," Nemesis shook her head negatively. "But we have an idea where she might be found."

"The GOTT offices in Yokohama?"

"We could start there," Saturn replied, "but I think... we think... based on what Kaname's... date... told us, that she's being held in an area of the system without an address. I think that would be a... location in memory cut off from the rest of the system, right?"

Mercury considered. "Not necessarily; just a region of the system's resources that can't be reached by the system itself. Only code that is able to circumvent the locating procedures of the operating system would be able to enter it... let alone find it..."

"We have to become able to... circumvent the system, then," Nemesis declared. "And soon. The information was given to us. We know that Agent Sato wants to capture or kill us, but I think more likely he's playing with us to keep us from finding a way to get everyone from the system. And with Kaname in his hands, I don't know, I don't think we can do a whole lot of good."

Saturn peered at Nemesis curiously, even as Sailor Moon asked, "How do you know that?"

"I... I just think that's the case," Nemesis muttered in response, looking down towards her feet. "He wants her for some reason, and Ranma... Kaname said she saw him in that dream when she was meditating, and he was with Natsumi Otohime, remember? Digital monster? She'd contact him to work through, if she could, because he's helped her before."

"If she's not evil again. And Ranma himself became a monster; he might not be himself," Sailor Moon reminded the two senshi. "We can't assume he'll be quite what we remember."

Saturn's eyes flashed, but yes, she had to remind herself that could indeed be the case. Nemesis fumed, but also held her tongue; not because she thought Sailor Moon could be right, but because Kari really wanted to say something and Nemesis didn't really feel like sharing at the moment. Eventually, Saturn said, "It's still something we need to look into, Sailor Moon."

"And we still need to find out what this current evil plan is," Jupiter sighed, shifting her weight to her right foot. "If we don't, then we're still in the dark, and we may not have much time to rescue Kaname, let alone ourselves."

"Yeah," Sailor Moon agreed, glancing back at Jupiter. She thought for a moment, then: "Mercury, work with Saturn and Nemesis tracking down Kaname. The rest of us will focus on trying to figure out what's going on."

"Some of Ranma's friends may know a way to find him," Saturn offered. "I'll check with them; perhaps if we can find his missing data, we can recombine him with his body, and... well, maybe he'll rescue himself." Without waiting for a response, Saturn leapt skywards. Nemesis sighed and shook her head as she led Mercury away to find somewhere quiet to sit and think.

Which left Sailor Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. Jupiter looked at Sailor Moon. "So, fearless, what do we do now?"

"Now?" Sailor Moon asked. "Now, we go get lunch. I'm starving."

Sailor Mars groaned. "Sailor Moon, can we concentrate on the business at hand? Please?" But Sailor Moon, Jupiter and Venus had already dropped their transformations, and chatting quietly among themselves, were heading off to find something to eat.

******

Kaname rested. The morning's argument had taken a lot out of her, especially considering since she'd come to during the night she hadn't slept. She'd been too hyped up on fear to sleep. Her brain wouldn't stop, churning through the night and morning with sickening regularity. Her stomach also ached, rolling and rolling; she could feel her stomach acids churning, and it didn't feel good. Hunger pains jabbed into her abdomen, and light pains were starting to ache through her joints; she needed to be out exercising, moving around at least. But no, she was tied up, and there she would stay.

But for the moment, Sato was out of the room. She had time to relax, forcing herself to relax. Meditating, she managed to attain a moment of almost perfect calmness, and with frightening speed, she found herself elsewhere.

She glanced around, and found soft, bending grass, in the gently blowing breeze. She was leaning up against a tree; with a start, she recognised the surrounds of The World. But how was she here? Surely she was just imagining, a moment where her mind roamed in memory rather than current sensory reports assaulting her subconscious mind.

But, she was beginning to realise, there was a lot more to existance in this system than living in the real world. Thoughts, dreams, hopes, fears, all could almost become manifest reality. All it took was system access, she guessed, and one could do anything to the real... to the virtual world everyone now inhabited.

She decided not to think about the reality of it; if her senses told her it was real, Kaname guessed she'd have to consider it real. And while meditating, she'd had visions before. Perhaps this was another.

A blossom of white in the corner of her eyes made her turn to her right, and there was a young girl, pale skin with pale hair and clothing. A billowing white dress, with several layers fluffing it up. Her hair rolled in a breeze contrary to the direction of the one Kaname could feel against her bare skin.

"Kaname," the girl said. Kaname realised she was floating above the ground, which was disconcerting for a brief moment. Then the girl continued. "The World is more like reality than you might realise."

"I don't understand."

The girl smiled. It was a cute, innocent smile that bespoke of naiveity, but Kaname had no doubt the young girl knew a lot more than she ever would. "You will. The World is always here as a particulate subset of reality; a section of minds that exist as a conglomerate subconscious for the human race. Wishes, desires, dreams, all can be found within the language of numbers that constructs the worldset, but while The World always exists in the hearts and minds of humans, humans need the mechanical to investigate it consciously."

"You're saying that The World exists in the real world as part of our minds? The more positive aspects of them?" The girl nodded. "But what relevance does that have to now? How can that help me?"

The girl shook her head, again smiling. "It won't help you now. You're tied to a chair, in an untraceable location. But perhaps it will help you in the future. The real world is like The World. Even in this game, evil must be fought for any good to arise from life." She looked around. "I have to go."

"No! Wait - can you get a message to my friends?" Kaname lunged to grab the girl's dress, but she was gone already, and Kaname was all alone again, under the tree.

Then, the moment of clarity over, she exhaled, and found herself back in her chair, tied securely, while Sato entered with a cup of coffee. He held it up so she could appreciate it. "The one... product of your civilisations that actually has some... use," he affirmed, before continuing on with paperwork once more.

******

Hotaru kicked at another ripple of a snowdrift, the third this past block. With everyone working to rebuild Tokyo, and by extension Japan, back to what it was pre-disaster, no one was left to clear snow off footpaths. Nor, it seemed, roads. She'd already seen two car accidents on the way to Nerima, one from the air, the other once she'd landed and changed back from Sailor Saturn. In both cases, the drivers and occupants of the vehicles were unharmed, just a little dazed, and others were already attending to them. Hotaru hadn't had to help, which she felt was a good thing. People helping each other; that was the way of the future.

Indeed, she sometimes thought that was the only way the human race would survive in this universe, cold and dark and lonely as it was. Oftentimes, she caught herself wondering about other senshi, other planets existing in the parallel dimensions of the Moon Kingdom and the primary plane that Earth inhabited, and wondered if they had the same problems Serenity and the denizens of the Solar System had found with the Dark Kingdom. All those planets, so separated, so different, that only the magic of technology the various Kingdoms held could bridge the gaps in between.

Of course, to those who were ageless, travel times of centuries was only really a mere inconvenience, not a lifetime.

Hotaru shrugged deeper into her coat, and once more checked walls and streets. One more block. One more block before she reached the Tendo's. Behind her sounded a bicycle bell, and she ducked, having seen the results of not ducking far too many times at Furinken.

"Aya! What strange girl doing in Nerima?" the young Chinese woman asked suspiciously as she skidded her delivery bike to a halt in the snow from the Death From Above drop she'd been working on. "Shampoo not see you around before."

Hotaru shot her an annoyed gaze, then sighed, shrugging. "You just don't pay much attention to me," she replied.

"You not here to steal things from empty houses?" Shampoo continued.

"No," Hotaru confirmed, turning her Stare of Ages on the other. Shampoo was oblivious for a moment, then started in recognition.

"You look like Great-Grandmother," she said, eventually. "Same eyes." She pushed her bike back a step, now keeping a nervous stare on the younger girl. Her face lit up with recognition again. "You magic girl! You ensnare airen!"

"Ensnare - oh, Ranma. Actually, it was him I came to Nerima for."

"You give Ranma back to Shampoo?" Suspicion again.

"No," Hotaru said again, shaking her head. Shampoo pushed her bike back another step. "I wanted to know if you, or any of your friends, could find him."

"Airen missing? What you do to airen?" Shampoo pushed her bike forward now, agressively, heading straight in to hit Hotaru. Hotaru reached a hand out, and dangled her transformation wand in front of Shampoo's suddenly very close face. The Chinese woman's eyes crossed as she focussed on it, then she leapt backwards in panic, took to her bike, and fled down a convenient alleyway.

Hotaru pocketed her wand again, and sighed. That confirmed suspicions she'd had since Cologne and Shampoo had first been mixed up in Ranma's new life. They, or rather, the people they were descended from, had had dealings with the senshi of the past at some point. Enough to know what transformation wands were, at any rate. Which, Hotaru had to admit, was rather weird. Because unless their people had stood with the Dark Kingdom, or championed its policies at some point in the past (at least twenty or thirty years before, seeing as this incarnation of senshi stretched back only so far), the Moon Kingdom or its representatives would have not been involved with them in the sense that Hotaru had come to feel from Shampoo, her paramour, and her elder. Strange. But she shrugged the momentary confrontation off, and continued on to the Tendo's.

The wind pushed her back somewhat, and she had to struggle, but eventually, Hotaru made it to the gates, and rung the bell. She waited only a moment before the heavy wooden gate opened to reveal the smiling face of the eldest of the Tendo sisters, Kasumi.

"Oh! Miss Tomoe, welcome," Kasumi said, opening the gate further to admit the slight girl. Hotaru nodded thanks as she found herself sheltered from the worst of the wind by the thick wall. Kasumi noted the slight shiver from Hotaru, and offered, "The winter is holding on especially long this year, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is," Hotaru replied. "I don't want to intrude, but is Akane around? I have to talk to her."

"Akane is about," Kasumi replied thoughtfully before smiling again. "She's resting upstairs." Kasumi showed Hotaru into the eating area, and gestured at the young woman to take a seat around the table while Kasumi slipped Hotaru's coat off without fuss and hung it up on a nearby peg. "I'll see if she'll come down. Please wait here for a few minutes." She left with a strangely significant glance at the middle sister, who was looking rather shell-shocked.

"Um, hi," Hotaru said to Nabiki as she slid under the table. There had to be a heater under there, since Hotaru's legs warmed up considerably immediately.

Nabiki's gaze was hollow when she looked up, like a child who had just seen a favoured puppy killed by a laughing psychopath in a bunnygirl suit with a chainsaw. "Hotaru," she replied, voice as hollow as her eyes were.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Nabiki replied dully, resting a hand on the table. "It's nothing at all."

"Oh." Hotaru felt uncomfortable. While she'd been working for Nabiki at the local high school, she'd done so to try and anticipate any threats to the man who was then fast becoming her first real boyfriend. Funnily enough, the dramas that had surrounded their battle to the death at that school had been what finally pushed Ranma firmly over the edge into, she suspected, loving her as she loved him. Yet she hadn't been able to commit herself to him then, knowing what she had done, however unwittingly, however much control over her actions was in the hands of another. She had felt the need for pennance to be done. Now that it had, he was gone. Nabiki had been the unwitting instigator for most of their hottest feelings, the spark that had ignited them into something deeper than the embarrassed holding of hands on rooftops or forcing him to wear her clothes. In the time they'd spent together, she'd even grown to like Nabiki, although she didn't know why. She was a cruel, calculating, manipulative bitch - and Hotaru thought it was the darker aspects of her personality, what had become Mistress Saturn and what perhaps once had been Mistress 9, that had liked her so. Regardless, there was just something about her dogged refusal to see the bad side of something, that overwhelming positive manner that everything would work out right for her that Hotaru had also liked.

It hurt to see her like this.

"How have you been?"

Nabiki looked up, her eyes dead. "Better."

"Can you say more than one or two words?" Hotaru pushed.

"Yeah," Nabiki said, then fell silent. Just as Hotaru was about to prod her to continue, she added, "but it wouldn't matter."

"Why not?"

"Because it's all a lie. Everything we see, every day." Nabiki slid out from under the table, and stood, paced over to a family photograph. "Do you see this? It's a lie. It's not real."

"I don't follow you," Hotaru replied, cautiously.

"You see something every day," Nabiki continued, quieter now as she traced a finger over her mother's face in the photo. The girls were all young children there, surrounding their parents. Akane still wore a nappy under her sundress. "You know it's right, know that it's true. And then one day... one day you know it's not true. You can't explain it, but you can feel it. You know something's wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind. Driving you mad." She glanced up at Hotaru briefly. "Does that sound familiar?"

Hotaru nodded. She'd been that same way until both Mistress 9 and Sailor Saturn had been revealed living inside her.

"It's like that bad American movie, you know the one, Tron."

Having already heard this spiel from Usagi, Hotaru interjected, "People stuck inside a computer?"

"Yeah," Nabiki said, looking up at Hotaru again. There was a little more life in her eyes this time, but the haunted look still dominated. "Once you're aware of what it is, you see it everywhere. Every time you go to school, every time you go to the shops, every tie you go to work. In your dreams, it stalks you, in your waking period - it's everywhere. And it exists... it exists, I think, to trap you. It has pulled blinds down over your eyes. To hide the truth from you."

"Why?" Hotaru asked. "What truth?"

"That we are all slaves," Nabiki responded, eventually. "I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I think we're all stuck inside a massive computer, Hotaru. And the only reason someone would have done that... that I can think of... is they want to use us for something."

Hotaru stood, instantly missing the warmth on her legs. But they were sufficiently warmed and recovered enough from her tiring journey to walk over to Nabiki, stand behind her, and place her hands on Nabiki's shoulders. The older woman sagged under her touch, and Hotaru was surprised; even like this, she hadn't thought anything could get Nabiki down so far. "You're right, you know," she whispered up into Nabiki's ear, clearly and urgently. "We've all been living inside an alien computer system, since the giant monster in Minato destroyed the city and we were all converted into digital information. We are here for reasons we're as yet unsure of, but we have help from within the system, Ranma's personality and memories are missing, and his body has been taken by the enemy. We're working on a way to get everyone out of the system, and the city rebuilt, but we don't know how long we have, nor how exactly to go about it. The only thing we do know for certain is we're being toyed with, delayed, distracted from trying to get everyone out of the system, so we think it's our life force that the Mas... Yoshihiro wants to use."

"Seriously?"

"Yes." Hotaru's single word was firm, full of long years of experience. She could feel Saturn swimming about behind her eyes, lending strength of will to Hotaru. "There is no need to fear. There is no reason to be afraid. Continue living your life as you would normally, Nabiki; don't let the evil bastard win." She stepped back, hearing footsteps coming down the stairs behind her, and she swallowed her power and energy, becoming her normal self again. Nabiki was still frozen in place, staring at the photograph as Hotaru slipped her legs back under the table into warmth again.

"I am sorry about the wait," Kasumi apologised, and gestured at Akane, who looked a little worn out. "I'll go prepare a snack." She left the room.

Nabiki placed the photograph down, traced her fingers over the people in it once more, then turned to Hotaru. Her face still suggested she wasn't quite there, but she smiled faintly at Hotaru - not quite the predator she was, but on the road back perhaps. Hotaru nodded encouragingly at her, and Nabiki left the room. Akane's eyes followed her around as Nabiki headed upstairs.

"Wow, what did you say to her? She hasn't looked too good all day."

"Nothing much," Hotaru shrugged, then leaned forward towards Akane. "Um... this is a really weird question, but do you know any way to contact Ranma? Or to find him? His body or his mind?"

"What's happened?" Akane demanded.

"Ohhhh... nothing. I, uh, sent Kaname on a date with a guy she liked," Hotaru flinched at Akane's groan, and she held her hands up in defence. "I know. I was stupid. Very stupid. But, as Kaname pointed out often enough, she's not Ranma, and I didn't think I should have stood in her way at maybe having a life while she had the chance. So I pushed her into taking it. And she got captured."

"I've seen the news," Akane said drily, clicking the television on via the remote. It played once more the news conference given by GOTT over the capture of one of Ranma Saotome's top lieutenants. "It's all lies, of course. Even a stupid, idiotic pervert like Ranma wouldn't kill people. Not that many, not without a really good reason."

"I agree, and he didn't; we know, we were there," Hotaru reminded Akane. Both fell silent for a moment as they remembered how close to actual death they had come. "But this is so this Agent Sato can continue working against us in public... if people see GOTT members attacking senshi in the streets, or any of the other surviving magical protectors of Japan who came for the monster, they'll think we're terrorists. Control the media, you control an awful lot of minds." Something pricked at Hotaru's mind over that, but she couldn't immediately place it. She shook her head to clear it.

"But to answer your question, the best person to ask would be Cologne."

"Shampoo's great-grandmother."

"Yes. If anyone could find Ranma, through whatever means, it would be her."

Hotaru considered that. Then nodded, and stood. "Thank you, Akane. I'm sorry I can't stay longer. Perhaps... when everything calms down, we can all meet up for lunch."

"That... would be nice, thank you," Akane replied as she helped Hotaru into her coat, and waved the younger girl goodbye, a little unhappily. Kasumi walked back in, with a pair of steaming mugs of soup.

"Oh, has your friend left already?" Kasumi asked. She handed Akane one of the mugs. "I guess I'll have this other mug, then." The two sisters settled in to watch the conference again.

******

Ami and Mitsuki sat two blocks down from the GOTT offices in Yokohama, in a bus shelter. No one else was in the immediate area, and Ami had her laptop open while her and Mitsuki tried to feed themselves hot food. Occasionally, the wind that was gusting from behind the booth would whip around and blow inside. Mitsuki had already lost a small bun that way, and with the money situation being the way it was these days, she wasn't happy about that at all.

"Found anything yet?"

Ami shook her head. "Nothing. The building has one entrance; and even scanning through the system itself, I am not finding any locations that aren't connected to other locations. However, due to the huge number of locations, that doesn't mean a lot at the moment. I would be able to give a better guess as to whether such a location exists once the Mercury computer has run through more than two percent of the system resources." She shut the lid on her laptop, allowing it to run with an audible alarm if it found anything. "Do you really think Yoshihiro would allow us to rescue Kaname?"

"If Ranma's a major threat to Yoshihiro's plans? No. I'm hoping this Sato guy's getting overconfident. I mean, he's beaten me up twice now, and Kaname once. Surely he's forgotten Kaname must have killed him once already." Mitsuki shrugged, hard to determine under her jacket. "But she's like Ranma in lots of ways, whether she realises it or not. She'll keep needling Sato, she'll keep looking for weaknesses, she'll keep looking for that moment she can escape. If she manages to escape, we should try and time our attack to coincide with hers. Maybe that way, we can make Sato terribly overconfident through our attack to overlook whatever it is that Kaname can throw." Mitsuki rocked her head back to stare at the ceiling of the shelter. "I mean, that girl has some seriously evil mojo going on when she gets all mystical."

"I've only your word for that," Ami sighed. "Do you notice no one's reporting Ghosts anymore?"

"Weird subject change," Mitsuki noted. "Why do you say that?"

"Because I just saw one," Ami replied, pointing back north, towards Minato. "A man. Running. Looking over his shoulder at something. Then he just vanished."

"Didn't we think they were bits of random data that got shaved off?"

"Indeed," Ami said, still looking down the road at snowy nothingness. "Yet it's strange that the last ones before just then were seen before this Agent Sato attacked you and Kaname at her apartment. Or the one we saw in the hot springs?"

"Perhaps they never went away," Mitsuki muttered. "Perhaps they're just not newsworthy anymore." Her voice lightened, sounding almost like a young girl's. "Or the controlling hand of the media, this GOTT organisation, wished to stop people from talking about them and so expunged them from the media at all levels. Surely in a system as complex as this, an operator could work out an algorithm to delete any reference in media to Ghosts before it reached the streets or public consumption?"

Ami quirked an eyebrow at Mitsuki's sudden language boost, but simply said, "That could very well be the case." A young girl stepped out of the GOTT offices, and Ami's eyes tracked her as she walked the two blocks down towards them. She was on the opposite side of the road, and gave no indication of being evil. Ami chuckled at herself, at the thought. Of course people didn't have to look evil. Yoshihiro, for example, was simply gorgeous - blond, tall, handsome, capable. And obviously very, very intelligent. That thought, more than anything else about him, made Ami's knees turn to water when she thought of him. Yet, for her, Keitaro Urashima was still the man she'd like to have something with. A pity his relationship with Naru was still on-going; she didn't know if he was still with her because that was what he wanted, what he thought he wanted, or what she wanted... Naru could be domineering.

"Mitsuki," Ami asked, "I've been meaning to ask you for a while, where do you get your medication from? You must have gone through some bottles of the stuff lately, judging by how you swallow those pills."

Mitsuki looked embarrassed, but answered anyway. "There's a small pharmacy just down the road from where we live. I have a lifetime prescription for my... illness, because it won't go away. Ever." She sighed, puffing a breath out between her teeth. "I guess I go through a bottle every week or two at the rate I take them. They're just... not as effective on me as they should be. Got to take lots to get any effect... even the doctors who put me on them for life... they were surprised that I had no response to what would normally be considered high dosages."

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Killing time, as they say."

"Oh." Then, a minute later, "Look, I've been meaning to ask you for a long time, but... do you dye -" Mitsuki cut her sentence off as Ami touched her leg with a hand. "Ami, uh..."

"Across the road," came the quiet response. Mitsuki turned. The girl who Ami had been following down the road had stopped across from them. She seemed to be the age Hotaru was, and wearing a thick coat, which with a shrug of her shoulders, slid to the ground and revealed a short red minidress with a white cross leading from between her breasts to her crotch.

"Oh, that's just got to be cold," Mitsuki sighed, feeling in her jacket pocket for her transformation wand. "Is it too much to ask that we only fight bad guys on warm, sunny days on tropical beaches? bad guys who just want to laze around on the beach and play evil games of volleyball? No? Hmph."

The girl looked over at them. She couldn't have been more than fourteen or fifteen, and dressed as she was, she had no makeup on of any kind. However, she didhave lipstick with her. Ami was watched her draw on building walls halfway up the block as she'd walked with it, and now, her coat on the ground, she reached out again and touched the end of the line with her stick of lipstick. She lowered herself into a challenging stance, and grined fiercely at Ami and Mitsuki, who groped for transformation wands in their pockets, readying themselves for the charge.

That never came. Instead, the girl whipped her hand around, and the line of lipstick pulled off the walls down the street, forming a lengthy whip she brought around and swung at the two women. Ami dodged, while Mitsuki tried to parry, the lengths winding around her forearm. With a slight yank, the girl had Mitsuki off her feet and bouncing across the street towards her, her wand skittering from her hand as she bounced.

"Mitsuki!" Ami yelled, transforming into Sailor Mercury while the girl had her attention on the bound woman. "Let her go!" Mercury shouted as she powered up and fired with a "Shabon Spray!" that the girl deflected with her free arm. Mercury gaped for a moment, then shifted gears. "Shabon spray freezing!" Again, nothing, but the girl had wrapped more of the whip around Mitsuki by then, starting to wind it around her neck and cutting off her breathing. Mitsuki strugged with her still-free hand to gain some space under the material, but it seemed unbreakable.

After a moment of futile struggling, she started casting about on the ground randomly as her face turned blue. Mercury refused to panic, but again, didn't quite know what she should do. Usually, she'd have the others around to back her up, ask her for advice, and she could take a backseat role to the events, but here, she found herself cut off from help and in a battle situation she hadn't expected.

Well, this early. She'd been expecting someone from GOTT to come down, but she'd been expecting a security guard or the like, not a super-powered maniac.

The moment of indecisiveness passed, and she took a few steps forward to build up speed, then leapt at the girl, turning her posture to make a flying kick while charging up for another attack. The manoeuvre worked; the girl shifted her attention from Mitsuki to Mercury, just before her kick slammed into the girl's cheek. The GOTT operative brought her arm up to push Mercury away, and cleared Mercury's legs from her gaze just as Mercury let loose with an "Ice crypt!"

Ice ate its way up from the ground over the girl's legs, over her body, and swallowed her whole just as Mercury was completely clear. Mitsuki, her face now purple as she choked for breath, closed her hands on her wand, grunted something through lack of oxygen, and transformed in a burst of purple ribbons. Then she busted free of the wrappings, and rolled over onto her hands and knees, coughing and trying not to vomit as she regained her breath.

"What the HELL was that?" Nemesis asked Mercury.

"Her lipstick, I think. She apparently has some... I would say magical, but I would assume it's more of a hacked ability that allows her to control the constituent molecules of the lipstick material," Mercury theorised as she skipped back to stand behind the stronger senshi. Nemesis climbed painfully to her feet.

"So, you think the bitch is dead?"

"I doubt it would be that easy," Mercury disagreed.

"I'm inclined to believe you," Nemesis muttered, clenching her fists. Even as she spoke, the ice encasing the girl started to crack as she tensed muscles. Finally, with a resounding crack that echoed up the street, the girl busted free, ice falling about her feet.

"Now, that just wasn't nice," she said, wagging a finger at Mercury. "I'd think that a parent such as yourself should be nicer to your children, many times removed as we are."

"'We'?" echoed Mercury quickly.

"A proper lady shouldn't be so quick to anger," a voice above them said. Nemesis kept her eyes on the first girl while Mercury sought out the younger-sounding voice behind and above them. It was a younger girl, with incredibly pale hair, dressed in a blue bodysuit that had no arms or legs. Instead, she wore dainty gloves and shoes, and had her hair tied back except for a single curled bang down the right side of her face. She had a faint smile on her face as she gazed down at the senshi before glancing up at the other girl. "Eclair, I think these two could almost be friends of yours. All they want to do is break things."

The one called Eclair grinned savagely, and bent down again. Nemesis, likewise, prepared for combat, while Mercury questioned the other girl. "Why do you call us parents?"

"Not both of you, just you," the younger girl said.

"Lumiere, I'm getting bored," Eclair said.

Nemesis growled. "Do you need your little friend to hold your hand?"

Eclair's eyebrows shot up in surprise, then lowered again as her eyes slitted in anger. "I'll enjoy taking your tongue," she growled back.

"Just me?" queried Mercury. Lumiere nodded in silent affirmation. So, Mercury thought, it had to be something to do with Mercury... although what on Earth could have joined forces with the Dark Kingdom so readily?

"Don't you feel lucky," Nemesis grunted in her direction.

"She should feel special," Eclair smirked at Nemesis. "Once I'm finished with you, I'll personally make sure she pays for the blood on her hands." Then, without further warning, she leapt at Nemesis.

The elder senshi blocked with both forearms as she'd been taught for high-strength attacks, but felt the impact push her back through the road surface. She braced herself in the street, then allowed Eclair's next attack to batter itself on her defence before she dropped and, leaning forward, wrapped her thighs around Eclair's neck and tossed her into a building. Eclair jumped up, apparently none the worse for wear, and brushed herself off. Nemesis likewise continued her movement until she stood once more, and posed dramatically, intentionally provoking Eclair's charge. She stepped to one side, but failed to catch the follow-up attack as Eclair planted a foot deep into the road and swung the other around in a high arc. It smacked Nemesis in the jaw, and she flew thirty metres into a glass display window, disappearing into the store beyond.

"Again with the jaw," Mercury heard Nemesis mutter as she stood back up and climbed back through the window. An alarm started in the shop, hesitantly at first, but then it built up into a piercing shriek.

"Do you feel left out of this, 'Mother'?" Lumiere asked Mercury, who shifted her attention back to the younger of the two girls.

"A little," Mercury admitted, readying herself into a combat stance again. Yet the girl seemed positively amused by the gesture, and tittered self-consciously behind one of her hands before she began pulling her gloves off, finger by finger.

"Please allow me the credit of not wishing to sully myself physically," Lumiere smiled. Her gloves off and tucked into a belt, she gestured dramatically with her fingers, and Mercury caught sight of lances of multicoloured light streaming from her fingertips. She lowered her visor into position over her eyes and ran an analysis, just as the first lance reached her and punched a hole through her standard system defences. Alerts flashed up before her eyes, window boxes opening and covering other penetration alerts as the lance dug deep within the code of the embedded Mercury computer. Mercury cursed silently to herself, and began furiously concentrating on the datascape that revolved throughout her head.

She caught sight of the young girl, a visual representation within the system, as a second lance struck home. The first was obviously a tracker, hunting down and penetrating passive and active defences to allow for the second lance, the payload: a personality-laden virus with enough computing power to rewrite entire polydimensional operating systems to the infector's specifications. Which, obviously for the amount of effort involved, didn't leave Mercury with a lot of hope for a positive outcome. She began to focus, calling up defence structures to slow the first probe while she considered methods for stopping it altogether before it reached the security core of the polyframe. The standard defences weren't slowing the probe much, and the girl - the second probe - just walked slowly but surely through the path tore by the first. She couldn't affect the system in those areas, and considered them already corrupt sectors.

At most, Mercury could really only call for a system format and hope for the best, but these virii showed intelligence; they could likely hide from the wiping procedure, and would then shut down (or do worse to) the operating system. Thus, she gave those corrupted sectors as lost for the moment, and focussed on a method of shutting down the probes. What was confusing her was that all of the strongest system defences that the Mercury computer was capable of manifesting were like hot butter to a rocket launcher to the penetrating probe; even as she tore through operating manuals faster than a human brain could comprehend them, and pulling out appropriate sections of defensive code, the probe was decimating her defences. Something was wrong here.

A Dark Kingdom virus shouldn't have been able to work like this. And while Mercury was having questions about the Agents roaming the system, and knowing that the system itself was likely a Mercury computer, she doubted Yoshihiro had anything that could have... Mercury swore to herself, and pulled out a volume of data she'd just been trawling through for code, flipping through the virtual pages. The second probe stopped, and looked at her, curiously.

"What have you found over there?" she asked.

Mercury slammed the book shut, and looked up, in horror. "I know what you are," she gasped.

"I'm fast losing hope for your intelligence," Lumiere remarked.

******

"So, Usagi, what bright idea do you have to get us into there?" Rei asked, for the tenth time. Usagi was still thinking, and thinking hard by the look of her. Eyes closed, face screwed up in a scowl, blood rushing her her face - if she didn't breathe soon, Rei could go home and put her feet up; Usagi'd be dead.

Eventually, though, she inhaled, and started walking triumphantly towards the fence. "Luna's gone missing," she announced to the world. "And we saw her run in here. That's our story, if anyone asks." And then Usagi, without thought to the consequences, ducked under the fence surrounding the Zone and disappeared.

Rei glanced at Minako, who shrugged. "You know how she gets sometimes. And, as it goes, it's a decent enough excuse we should be able to use without getting into much trouble."

"I don't think the Self-Defence Forces are guarding the entry points because it's unsafe," Makoto grumbled.

"That's why we're here," Rei answered with a sigh. "If it wasn't dangerous, you know all the other defenders of the world would be in there, poking around." Without another word, Rei followed Usagi in. Minako shrugged at Makoto, who sighed, shook her head in disbelief, and followed the others in.

The Zone, where Tokyo had been destroyed by the rampaging giant monster that had come ashore at Minato, and rampaged through to the tower, was a ruin. Still. Although much of the heavier debris had been moved, there still jutted foundations from destroyed buildings, that poked up fingers of reinforced steel and chunks of concrete towards the skies. Jagged shards of glass rose from the bulldozed dirt, pushed to the sides of the many little roadways that now snaked between the larger piles of rubbish. Some pieces of buildings still stood recognisable above the ground, casting strange, incomplete shadows over the girls. Usagi had continued on, but from behind, her neck seemed abnormally pale. She was walking slowly, too, cautiously.

Rei caught up, and started looking around. Makoto brought up the rear, while Minako ranged ahead a little. All were silent, and no one seemed to want to break the unearthly silence, broken only by the distant sounds of heavy vehicles in front of them.

Eventually, Usagi shivered, and hugged herself. "I wish Mamoru were here," she commented quietly.

Rei agreed; partially psychic, she could feel the evidence of human life here on more than a visual level. She gasped as she felt something shiver through her, like a scream of fright, of pain, suddenly cut short. She herself wished Phobos and Deimos, the two crows who had joined her on occasion at the Hino Shrine throughout her life. They usually made her feel more safe. Failing that, Tuxedo Kamen would also be an appropriate guardian. But, all she responded with was a murmured, "Yeah," as she continued on.

"Does anyone see anything?" Makoto asked. She wasn't as sensitive as the others; or at least, that's how she seemed. She often dealt with things in private, away from others, tending to want to appear strong for her friends. Whether or not the sights around them affected her didn't show in any way. "Apart from... you know... the bodies back there."

"There were bodies?" Usagi asked, then instantly regretted it. She knew now that, morbidly, she'd be looking for them on the way back, and knew she'd be creeped out for the next few days. "I hope you're joking, Makoto."

Makoto went to deny that, then decided for Usagi's peace of mind, she'd best just nod her head absently as she continued her visual search. "But there's nothing here but junk," she said, eventually.

"Of course," Minako said from further ahead. "Because what we're looking for is over there." And she pointed.

The others reached her, and looked out. The ground here had been hollowed out a little. It sank down three dozen metres from where the girls stood, which gave them a good view over the site. Piping had been laid out; obsidian tubes stretching around the exterior of the hollow. Construction vehicles a kilometre away were laying another into position; monsters directed the crane's lowering of the pipe into place, then backed the crane off and began welding it to the rest of them. Out further into the middle of the depression, huge foundations lay, with giant steel columns reaching skyward. It seemed almost to be a gigantic hand, reaching forth from the ground, a giant grasping for rebirth from the womb of earth that had sealed over it.

For a fleeting moment, Usagi had a vision of a giant monster bursting forth and the senshi being eaten. She shook her head, and the thought vanished from before her eyes, but continued lurking just behind the scenes.

Other pieces of construction seemed weird. Rectangular concrete tunnels, as if they were laying a subway system or underground busway, stretched from the centre of the depression out to the edges. Other columns rose here and there, seemingly at random, with what looked like weird technorganic patterning up and down their surfaces. Occasionally, a burst of dark energy crackled from a contact on one or another.

"I thought... they were rebuilding Tokyo in here," Usagi said, eventually.

"That's stating the obvious," Rei remarked.

"Didn't you have some idea they'd be doing something evil in here when you said we were coming into the Zone to check what was going on?" Makoto reminded Usagi.

"I... I just thought... this would be a good place for the Dark Kingdom to hide something... but... people work here... where are the people?" Usagi's eyes shot around the giant hollow, eyes seeking out anything approaching a normal human, but finding nothing. Rei's hand closed on her shoulder in support, and Usagi was grateful for the gesture, knowing without looking that the other senshi were also growing as uneasy with the location as she was. "There should be people," she repeated, dumbly.

"They haven't cleaned any of this up," Makoto noted suddenly. "There's nothing here that's... everything, it's all just been shoved to the side. Those -" Makoto caught herself before she uttered 'bodies' again, having seen Usagi was more on edge now than she had been a few minutes ago, and substituted, "- remains of the buildings, they've all just been bulldozed out of the way here to make this..."

"I wish Ami were here. She could tell us what we want to know," Minako said, her voice hollow as her eyes locked on a troup of monsters heading for a ramp half a kilometre away. "And I think we'd better get under cover... they're too close."

Usagi agreed, and the senshi melted back against the enormous mounds of rubble, peeking out around the edge to see where the monsters were going.

They tromped up the ramp, slowly, weighed down as if by massive lead weights. They trudged towards a small set of buildings the senshi hadn't noticed before, and a young, attractive woman stood near a timecard machine just out from the building. As the monsters reached the machine, they took their card, and swiped it through the small digital device. As soon as their card had gone through, the senshi were amazed to watch green alphanumerics explode from the skin of the worker, and rush up into the sky until they could no longer be seen. As the data left the body, the monster slumped, seemed to deflate as its skin shrank into a more human appearance. By the last time the last ideogram jumped forth from the body, the monster, the worker, was human once more, and an exhausted one at that. He then trudged into the small buildings, ostensibly to shower off the dirt and grime they were covered in.

"That answers that question," Makoto said, decidedly off-colour.

"Temporary monsters," Rei murmured. "That's... sickening..."

Minako agreed in a slightly more physical affirmation, nearly right across her shoes. Thankfully, she managed to control the retching quickly, and the girls started to move back the way they had come. All were silent until they reached the fence.

"We've seen things like that before, and... and..." Makoto shook her head. "Why is this affecting us so?"

"Because he's up to something," Rei replied. "Yoshihiro is working on something huge, and we can't stop him. Him, or his people who work for him here. I know Mitsuki is unstable, but one thing she's good at is fighting, and if she got thrown around as much as she says, both times she's faced these GOTT agents, then... I shudder to think what else Yoshihiro has working for him here."

"Rei's right," Usagi said, quietly, from beside Minako. "That's... what we saw in there... it looks unstoppable. But it can't be. We've got to find some way of stopping it, stopping that... rape of people we saw in there. I don't think anyone knows it. I don't think... I can't think that. We're all being used, and used to make that thing," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, back into the Zone, "and then... then..."

"... to power it?" Minako asked in a small voice.

Usagi nodded warily. "I think so. So that just makes it all the more important that we find a way to stop it."

"We'd better rescue Kaname, then."

"That, Mako-chan, or find some way of doing it ourselves."

******

Nemesis dodged another punch that cratered the road, Eclair's head snapping back as she jumped upwards to escape the GOTT agent's uncontrolled lunge. Eclair didn't seem to be as ladylike as the other girl, Nemesis reflected as the brunette gritted her teeth in anger and leapt upwards, following her. Whereas Lumiere stood off and apparently conducted an invisible orchestra at Mercury, while the senshi of the Innermost planet of the Moon Kingdom moaned, thrashed and whimpered like she had just discovered her own sexuality before her. Weird. Nemesis glanced back at Eclair, to see that the girl had leapt up higher, faster, and was now descending from the weak winter's sun, hands joined in a fist, up behind her head. At the moment Nemesis caught sight of the danger, Eclair's fists whipped up and over her head, crashing down towards where Nemesis' head would have been. Instead, the senshi raised both arms in an X-shape, catching the blow. She felt she'd have bruises for a few minutes where the iron-like fists smashed into her forearms.

"Don't you two have something better to be doing?" Nemesis asked as she turned her downward momentum into a spinning kick as she touched the ground. Eclair parried the kick, and stepped inside Nemesis' reach, bringing an elbow around to bury into her throat. Nemesis bent backwards onto her hands, flicking her legs up around Eclair rapidly and bringing them down to stand upright again away from the ES-agent before Eclair could make another attack. "Like, I don't know, harrassing your boss for better-fitting uniforms?"

"You can talk," Eclair shot back, hair whipping around as she spun and delivered a kick of her own. Nemesis caught the offered foot, and twisted it sharply, Eclair jumping and rolling to avoid having her leg injured before managing to pull it out of the senshi's grasp. "That miniskirt is so out of fashion. And those boots... do you troll for men in them?"

Nemesis grunted as another punch made it through her defences. "At least I'm old enough to go hunting men," she retorted, "unlike SOME super-powered people present." She returned the punch with one of her own, then followed up with a feint to one side before bringing her right foot up and burying her toe in Eclair's thigh. She felt the muscle under it bulge appropriately as she dug the tip of her boot in, then felt something give. Eclair gasped, and jumped back twice to gain some room. Nemesis, injured but not seriously so, refused to allow the ES-agent to find time to recuperate, and jumped towards her. "Richter wave!" she yelled, gesturing gravitons down her hands and into the injured girl, who felt gravity double, triple, quadruple around her in cresting shockwaves. Air grew solid and sluggish and she struggled to draw a breath. Before she could, Nemesis' foot crushed her stomach, pushing what remaining oxygen she had in her lungs out in a hard gush of breath, and she was thrown backwards into a wall.

Nemesis continued after her, firing off attack after attack, pushing the younger woman deeper and deeper into the ground, her bloodied body crumpling under massed gravities. An eyeball popped under the pressure, the other bulging dramatically. Skullbone cracked, then fractured along a hemisphere, then splintered, driving particles of bone throughout the soft brain tissue, itself being pulped under the intense graviton bursts.

And then, Nemesis sagged. Drained. She let the gravitons go, felt them reassociate themselves with the planet she'd drawn them from. From around her, there was a general quiet creak as buildings settled back into their positions with their normal weight. But before she helped Mercury with Lumiere, she needed to get her breath back. Her hands on her knees, she drew in breath after breath. She hadn't expended most of her power, or even half; but that fight had been more drawn out, more intensive, than most she'd fought in the last year, and before she went back into battle, she needed to know she could operate at peak efficiency. Somewhere inside her, Shin was affecting judgement with this decision. The memory that told her what could happen if she wasn't calm and controlled. Even Kari respected that decision; as much as Kari enjoyed letting loose, unleashing her anger and rage on others, she had no wish to self-destruct. Nor, apparently, to let Mitsuki self-destruct. And anyway, in this form, Nemesis reigned supreme; the big shark overseeing the little fishes. To the power of a planetary guardian memeconstruct, differing personalities were nothing but motes of dust in one's eye.

It took her maybe twenty seconds to feel capable of fighting again at peak efficiency. Mercury seemed to be holding her own, with a few muttered curses and seductive-sounding moans, so Nemesis turned to help out. But as she turned, she caught sight of something, and turned back to the crater that held Eclair's corpse.

The corpse twitched.

Nemesis blinked, and assumed it was wind, an earthquake, nerves, even waves of power being flung off from the fight behind her. But no, one of the limbs moved.

Jerkily at first, like a puppet being moved by a puppeteer who's forgotten his trade, but gaining in strength and purpose. An arm reached up, chunks of bloodied meat hanging from the bones, and the hand planted down, fingers splayed to anchor the hand as it pushed down. The body levered partway up, cracked evil smile peering from between broken teeth. Nemesis took a step back as the corpse sat fully up. Then, carefully, it stood upright, pulling itself out of the hole in the ground where it had been forced. To Nemesis' eye, it looked as if the flesh was pulling back together. Certainly, on her left calf, veins were braiding theselves around the muscle, and her skull was reknitting even as her eye reinflated.

"I... I..." Nemesis stuttered, taking another step backwards.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Eclair grinned savagely. "I'm not finished with you yet." She started towards Nemesis again, who momentarily panicked and swung a savage roundhouse with all her strength at Eclair, a punch that by all rights should have taken her head off. But Eclair's head snapped around, far beyond the limits of a normal person's neck, and Eclair paused, then twisted her head back around to face the senshi. "Oh please. Haven't you figured it out yet, little defender of the nether regions of the solar system? You're not powerful enough to beat me. You weren't powerful enough to beat our father, either. You're about thirty thousand years too early to beat me." Then, physically whole again, a stunning vision of beauty, Eclair launched a vicious attack on Nemesis.

Meanwhile, Mercury's defences continued to fall. There had to be something in the history files about defeating Cybrids, but she couldn't find anything. All that came up in her rapid searches were slight references to their creation, to their rebellion, to their betrayal during the war against Beryl, and... something that was referred to several times by name, but with no attached description, as if the reader should know all about it. Prometheus. She felt there was something there, some importance she was missing, but she couldn't find any descriptive reference to Prometheus, which hindered her search. Perhaps Prometheus had been the codename of the viral pattern that was suspected to have infected the Cybrids on Mercury, or perhaps Prometheus had been a Cybrid General, or soldier of renown. Lumiere's viral probe continued to smirk that oh-so irritating superior faint smile from above Mercury as she worked feverishly, only one hand directing defence systems and building walls while she continued her studying.

"You can't win," Lumiere said finally. "No matter what you do. Perhaps the original guardian essence from Mercury might have bested me in a challenge of datascapes; unfortunately, you are but a pale shadow, a poor imitation of the real thing. We beat them, too."

"Beryl beat our original selves," Mercury threw back. "And that was only because we, the guardians of the solar system, weren't there to fight her in that last battle."

"Is that what you tell yourselves?" Lumiere taunted. "The Moon Kingdom was doomed; dimensional stability was collapsing. The civilisation of the White Moon and attendant planets was about to collapse into a gravity well and destroy the primary plane; instead, Serenity chose to destroy all she held, in order to grab it all again through her daughter in the future. She didn't count on the Dark Kingdom surviving her little trick - by all rights, the dimensional stability of the Kingdom's scattered holdings should have been corrupted beyond access, but many of the smaller outlying dominions of Metallia's continued to exist out of phase with primary plane or either of the major Kingdoms... which allowed Beryl and her descendant forces the necessary physical locations to mobilise from."

"You are very talkative for a viral probe," Mercury muttered, opening yet another history tome. She flicked through several hundred pages before looking up in surprise, then discarding the book before searching the shelves for files on mechanical engineering.

"What are you doing?" Lumiere asked, suddenly curious.

"Finding a method of stopping you," Mercury replied, fingers alighting on a slim book, Cybertechnological Hybrids And Their Practical Applications. She pulled that out, and rapidly flipped through the pages, while Lumiere spread her fingers, and gestured faster. Viral application began expanding through random memory locations, and the datascape exploded into small red flowers of alarm and corrupted data fields. Several of the books on the shelves behind Mercury exploded into flame; one turned into a giant roaring cockroach before it exploded. Mercury was oblivious to everything. With one hand, she continued to resist the infection of her computer systems; with her other, she studied the book rapidly.

Outside, Nemesis' head was snapped back painfully by a powerful kick, but she retained sufficient presence of mind to bring a fist up, charged with local gravitons, and buried it into Eclair's crotch. The girl cried out, then flipped back, staggering a little. But even as Nemesis regained her breath and lightly touched her jaw, fingering the bruise that was rising under the skin already, she watched Eclair standing further upright, before dropping once more into a launch pose.

Sure enough, within fractions of a second, Eclair had thrown herself at Nemesis again. Nemesis brought up her forearms, warding off the initial blows, but one slipped through and hammered her in the stomach. She folded up, and slumped to the ground. Eclair stood above her, ready to deal the final blow to the senshi, but smiling savagely, savouring the moment.

Then Lumiere said, "What are you -" and broke off into screeches that sounded to Nemesis awfully like a modem negotiating with a host. But she couldn't open her eyes to see what Mercury had done. She tried to push herself up, tensing muscles to hopefully ameliorate the coming blow -

- that never fell. She looked up, just in time to see Eclair fall backwards. As she hit the ground, she exploded into a million pixels that faded within moments. Lumiere, over by Mercury, a stunned expression on her face, slumped to her knees before the jarring impact with the road's surface caused her form to explode similarly.

In pain, Nemesis dragged herself to her feet with a handy nearby bus seat, while Mercury's colour recovered from the pale white it had been when her fight had finished. Nemesis knew she'd had something to do with the deaths of these two but she didn't know. She guessed Mercury had done something computer-y to them. Eventually, the Mercurian senshi made her way over to Nemesis, who was slumped against the iron-wrought seat, and sank down onto it. "What did you do?" Nemesis asked.

"I found the construction manuals for them," Mercury replied, after a time. "I found out how we made them, what they were used for - and every backdoor entrance Mercurian engineers had built into the omniware that drove them."

"'Them'?"

"Cybrids. Made on Mercury before the war, but they rebelled, left Mercury, joined up with Beryl's forces as they laid waste to the Moon Kingdom," Mercury explained. "Under the leadership of Prometheus, their primary node. He was never found; and the Cybrids were presumed all destroyed before the last days of the war." Mercury shrugged. "I guess there are more out there; that they just went into hiding."

"And you switched them off just like that? Impressive."

Mercury opened her mouth to explain that no, it wasn't that easy, that in the time she'd been fighting in the datascape of her Mercury computer, in that interminable time on an altered plane of reality when she'd found the data she needed through to actually managing to ram a reciprocal trojan virus with a destructive payload, she had had her mind turned inside out, that her memories were all jumbled and only now coming back into focus, that for a time, she hadn't been able to move, until the nanotechnological symbiotes that enhanced her biophysical system and gave her the strength of a senshi had rebooted her body and started everything up again. She'd not been able to breathe, had felt the blood grow stangnant in her veins, actually saw neuro-electrical impulses sputter and die before the eternal technology within her body remade her. But no; she thought otherwise. Nemesis looked beat, and Ami, not having been knocked around physically, was - apart from her brain, which was being nicely ordered by legions of nanites - mostly fine. She closed her mouth, hearing sirens in the distance.

Nemesis slid down the back of the chair next to her, and both took some deep breaths while they tried to recover enough to continue. They'd only need rest a few minutes...

******

The Nekohanten was quiet, dark. No lights appeared to be on inside, and with the cloud cover above, that made the inside of the restaurant look darker than it should have. Hotaru paused outside the front door, hesitating only a moment, before pushing the door open and entering.

"Go!" barked a voice from deep inside. "Restaurant is closed today," it continued, slightly quieter.

"I'm looking for Cologne," Hotaru spoke up.

"And why would you be looking for me, child?" The speaker hopped into the light, and Hotaru saw it was the old woman she had come looking for. "Well?"

"I need to find Ranma," she said.

"You're one of those moon girls son-in-law has hooked up with," Cologne confirmed, no doubt in her voice.

"Uh... 'moon girls'?"

"I'm not stupid, child, nor am I blind. The power you and your friends produce cannot be hidden from one who can see beyond the flesh." Cologne gestured at Hotaru with a boney finger. "But, I have to say, I was fooled at first, seeing your friends at the Tendo's. I did not look carefully enough. It was a mistake that I will rectify." She hopped off her cane, and swung it around into a kendo ready-position, eyeing Hotaru up.

"We don't have to fight -"

"History says we must," Cologne uttered, then leapt at Hotaru, cane out in front of her as if she wished to run the girl through. Hotaru, caught out, tried to sidestep and brought up her hands to defend herself. The wood of the cane bit through her palms as it passed, and she caught sight of hate-filled eyes as they flashed past her. Cologne bounced off a far wall, and returned, spinning around so the cane acted much as a propellor blade. Again, as she passed, Hotaru felt a stinging cut slice through her skin, and she concentrated, pulling the flesh together and healing herself. Then, taking another ready position, she waited for Cologne's next attack.

It wasn't long in coming, and Hotaru felt more slices, more pin pricks, as the elderly woman rocketed past.

Cologne stopped on a nearby table, gloating. "I don't know why I was so afraid of you," she said with a smile. "It's so obvious that the power you have is useless. And physically, you're weak. So weak, I don't think it worth fighting you any longer." She folded her arms across her chest, and lifted her nose to show the contempt she felt for Hotaru. Hotaru, on the other hand, felt a flush of anger through her. She healed herself again, then lifted a hand up in the air.

"Saturn planet power - make up!"

Now Cologne's eyes opened again, in surprise. "My, aren't we getting cocky."

"I didn't come here to fight," Saturn said. "I came here to find someone very dear to me. You had been recommended to me as the person to see about finding Ranma. And by god, I will make you find him for me."

Cologne darted forward, and Saturn, with her enhanced speed and strength, slammed her glaive down between her legs. It buried the shaft in the floor, but Cologne somehow shifted sideways and slid through untouched, slicing at one of Saturn's boots. The purple leather parted, and Saturn flicked an annoyed kick backwards. Cologne dodged that, and leaped up, intending to attack Saturn's face while she was overbalanced, but she wasn't counting on Saturn being an expert with her glaive.

Swinging it around behind her and up, Saturn caught Cologne with a lucky shot and swatted her towards one of the walls. The elderly Amazon stopped her flight and growled.

"I'm not the only one who should be trying to be less arrogant, it seems," Saturn noted with a smile. "I still do not want to fight, though. I merely -"

"Why would I help you?" Cologne asked suddenly. "Ranma is betrothed to my great-granddaughter; why would I help one who claims her attachment to my future son-in-law takes precedence over Amazon law?"

For that, Saturn didn't have an immediate answer. She thought, and then said, "Because I love him, and your granddaughter doesn't, perhaps? Because whatever argument you have with me and my fellow senshi, whatever this twisted history you follow tells you about us, I care about my boyfriend, and I want him back." The last words were spoken in a voice that only the very stupid would ignore, only the incredibly ignorant would disobey.

Yet Cologne was neither. She was strong, she was skilled, and she knew it. Likewise, she had already seen the new training over old patterning of the fighting style this Sailor Saturn used, and had picked it as a bastardised Anything-Goes style within Hotaru's opening stance. Ranma had apparently been teaching an abbreviated version of his own teachings so as to not put others through what he himself had been through. She knew that Saturn posed no real threat to her in a fight.

"If you cannot give me a reason, I cannot help you," she said simply, and turned her back on the senshi. She felt rather than saw the young girl step forward once, twice, reach a hand out - at first agressively, then, after a pause, imploringly.

"Help me, Cologne, you're my only hope."

"I have already given you my answer, child," Cologne replied. "Do as I say and I will do as you ask."

With no idea in her head still, Saturn let her transformation drop, and Hotaru left the restaurant, depressed. Cologne watched her go from one of the upstairs windows, trudging down the street. Strange, Cologne reflected, that two women, such as her below, had devastated the entire Amazon society over a thousand years ago... but having seen this one, the child who had devastated the local high school, she had to wonder... just how had they posed any kind of threat?

******

It took ten minutes for the first of the emergency vehicles to reach the destruction that was once a street, and Nemesis and Mercury looked up from their bus seat as ambulance workers threw themselves into digging through the rubble. Wearily, Nemesis called out, "There's no bodies. No one was here apart from us."

One of the workers shot her a nervous, almost frightened look, and turned away. Moments later, as the first of the police cars pulled up, Mercury grew nervous. Armed response teams, in trucks, hopping out with automatic rifles as well as smaller stubby sub-machineguns. "Uh, Nemesis...?"

"Yeah?"

"We'd best leave."

"Why?" Nemesis asked, before the first of the police began firing in their direction. A bullet spanged off the road surface in front of them. "Oooooh..." More bullets followed, and Nemesis held her hands up. "Why are you shooting at *us*? The bad guys are up there!" She pointed up the block behind them, at the GOTT offices. Mercury clapped a gloved hand to her face to hide a grimace.

"Sailor Nemesis?" she asked. "They think we're the bad guys? That we did all this?"

Nemesis turned back to her. "But we *did* do all of.... oh." Realisation dawned, and her face clouded. "So, we need to get moving again?"

"Yes." A bullet caught Mercury's shoulder, the shot catching her uniform and bouncing off, but the impact spinning her half-around regardless as she gave a brief shout of pain. "And quickly."

"Bah, let me take care of this," Nemesis growled, turning back to the police. She raised her hands, and gestured at the officers. "Richter wave!" Gravities multiplied around the officers, knocking them off their feet and into invisible gravity shelves. Within seconds, not an officer remained on their feet. Mercury's eyes were wide open.

"How could you -"

"They're all alive," Nemesis said with a now-bored shrug. "More's the pity. Come on, then." They turned and jogged up the street towards the GOTT building, Mercury shooting glances back every few steps to make sure the officers were indeed climbing to their feet. They looked dazed and confused, and used their partly-crumpled cars to hold themselves up.

"Did you have to do that?" she demanded.

Nemesis shrugged. "It was non-lethal. We thought it was appropriate, since they were trying to be lethal and failing miserably." She gestured backwards with a jerk of her head. "I mean, you can go back and apologise or something, but we stand by our decision."

Mercury noted the implication, and kept running, deciding that whomever was in the driver's seat at the time might have had a point. Regardless, she hadn't the time to make further comment, as they had crossed the final stretch of road to stand before the GOTT offices.

"So, Kaname's in here somewhere?"

"Most likely not, but there should be some clue as to where Kaname could be found in the system," Mercury asserted, sounding more confident than she felt. In fact, she felt some trepidation, and not because of the previous fight. Indeed, after having defeated the two Cybrids, she felt somewhat more confident of her abilities, and that of what she had once been. What the senshi were was the best of what the Moon Kingdom had had to offer, the best abilities, the most intelligence, the greatest strength, the deepest compassion. Somehow, Mercury had often felt less appreciated, whether she had mentioned it or not. She seemed to be the unsung member of the team, and her brain, what she considered to be her best asset, was often forced to become secondary to her physical abilities. She had enjoyed the chance to show off what she could do, if even only a little, to one of her companions. "There has to be an address somewhere for Kaname's position, even if she can't be reached through normal travel means. Possibly, we'll need to utilise some kind of magic... or what will seem like magic... to get there."

"Unless we can find, like, a train or something?" Nemesis asked wryly, before looking up at the building before them. "They sure built this thing fast. What, it's been nine weeks since this all started? And this thing..." She gestured aimlessly up at the huge concrete facade, looming above them. "So, how do we do this?"

Mercury looked up as well, before lowering her gaze to the doors ahead of them. "Agent Sato will know we're coming by now. And he has to know that we've beaten his pets. If he doesn't, there's something wrong. If he doesn't want us to have Kaname, we won't get through to her. If he does, it might be hard on us, but we will leave with her. One way or another, I want to make sure he wants us to have her with us when we leave."

Nemesis nodded. "So, hard and fast through the front doors?"

Mercury nodded likewise. "Yes. At this point, one of two outcomes will be forthcoming. One, we find that Sato doesn't want us to have Kaname. Two, we find he does."

"Worry about that when it comes to it," Nemesis muttered, before striding to the doors, and whipping them open to find -

- nothing. The lobby was empty. Concrete pillars ran in lines near the walls, along the length of the lobby, stretching back to a series of elevator doors. Just before the senshi was a security booth, a bored-looking security guard reading a newspaper. He had a radio switched on in the booth with him, and wasn't paying attention to anything. Nemesis glanced back at Mercury, who had joined her, then walked towards the booth, raised a knuckle, and rapped on the safety glass. "Excuse me."

The guard looked up, and his mouth fell open in surprise, then his eyes grew wide in horror.

"My friend and I are looking for another friend. She's about so tall," Nemesis held a hand up at just above shoulder-height, "and she's got this gorgeous copper hair we all adore, and, oh, she's racked. You know, like this," appropriate hand gestures were made as the guard fumbled for a microphone on the desk before him. "And, well, she kinda got misplaced and we want her back. Oh, don't do that," Nemesis chidded gently, smashing the glass open with barely a punch and twisting the microphone so it snapped at its base. "That's not friendly at all. Look; we've got her tags and everything." The guard, already scared, looked down at Nemesis' fist, a brief moment before she brought it up and smashed it into his face. He toppled to the floor, senseless. "Damn. I was hoping he'd make it a little more interesting."

"Your sense of humour often leaves me wondering," Mercury said as she walked by, through the security checkpoint. Nemesis cocked an eyebrow in reply.

"I'm funny?"

"Sometimes," came the reply.

"Wow. I never knew," Nemesis muttered, almost to herself, just loud enough for Mercury to hear. "What have I been doing with my life? I'm going to go to Tokyo and become a comedian!" She sighed, theatrically.

Mercury shook her head. "You watch overly too much television." The elevators at the end of the lobby dinged, and the doors opened, as the two senshi strode towards them. As the doors parted, both women saw half a dozen security guards in high-end riot gear, coming out bent low, weapons at the ready. The senshi stopped, then looked at each other for a moment before diving in opposite directions behind the concrete supports. Two tear gas cylinders bounced past, spitting out a cloud of acrid vapour that made Nemesis' eyes water. She noticed Mercury's visor had come down, protecting her eyes, but not her throat, from the gas attack, even as bullets began chipping at the edges of the huge pillars, sending chunks of concrete flying through the room, making it even more confused. Mercury dipped from behind her column, diving into the shadow of the next one closest to the elevators. Nemesis shrugged as best as she could with the burning in her eyes, stepped from behind the pillar into the line of sight of the guards, and began running.

Time seemed to slow down, and Nemesis swore she could see the air explode in front of each individual bullet as she sprinted, ballooning out around it and then collapsing into the minute vacuum left by the path of the bullet. Dozens of these paths lined the room, and she felt several bullets impact across her right shoulder; thankfully, the impact was absorbed by her uniform, and beyond that, her hardened skin and layer of compact muscle beneath. She thanked whatever deities the Moon Kingdom had originally prayed to for the construction of the senshi, and charged on. Several of the guards nearest her realised she wasn't falling down, and that she was indeed getting faster, and then that the other one was taking advantage of the fact her compatriot was distracting them and moving closer to the elevators.

Then Nemesis was among them, fists blurring, feet smashing, guards flying. She didn't make any killing blows, but plenty of disabling ones, economical attacks that knocked guards unconscious with minimum of effort, injury, and time to bring new attacks to the other guards present. Within a very short order, Nemesis stood among the bodies of the fallen, panting slightly, a crazed look in one eye. Then she shrugged, shuddered a little, and smoothed back her suddenly-wild hair as she regained control of herself. She gestured at the elevator doors. "Your turn, I believe," she said, and leaned up against one of the surviving pillars while she watched a slightly-disbelieving Mercury shoot her a glare, and press the button for the lift. They waited two minutes, then the lift dinged, and the doors opened. There was no one inside, and the two senshi entered warily, while Mercury, with her visor still down over her eyes, hacked into the building's operating network and brought up a list of floors and offices.

"I think what we want is below ground," she said eventually.

"What makes you think that?" Nemesis asked.

"Underground is a good place to hide things," Mercury replied, "especially prisons, when they have no corresponding location in the physical world."

"But this isn't the physical world," Nemesis reminded Mercury.

"Ah," Mercury smiled, "but the same rules apply here that did in our world. Haven't you noticed? This city could have been built to have giant robots, service droids, monorails, so many things that we would consider fiction or unrealistic, and we could have had our minds altered to adapt to these visuals... yet everything is reliant on electricity to run, the laws of physics remain the same, the buildings are as they were in Tokyo, even these GOTT offices are laid out much as a government building would be in real life. They are conforming to our images; and buildings in the real world always have secret basements rather than floors above the top of the building."

Nemesis thought about it, then shrugged. "Well, it makes more sense than anything else," she agreed. "So... how do we go about going below ground, seeing as this lift has this floor as its lowest?"

In reply, Mercury fingered the side of her visor, linking the Mercury system contained within into the building's internal network once more, and took control of the elevator car. She lowered it down the shaft, further and further, until finally, the elevator car stopped with a ding. The doors slid open.

Again, there was nothing but a long corridor, white, with a series of vomit-green doors lining the walls every few metres. Mercury and Nemesis stepped from the relative safety of the elevator, into the corridor, and the doors closed behind them. Nemesis jumped as the doors clicked together and the elevator hummed as the car rose from the basement.

"So, this is an evil lair," Nemesis spoke, eventually. "I was expecting huge television screens, multiple floors, and at least one giant robot with half-naked kids running around it in a love triangle or something. You know, like -"

"-some anime show, I would guess," Mercury interjected before Nemesis could complete her sentence. "Sailor Nemesis, you might think this is the time for humour and for lightness, but instead, it is actually a time for a complete lack of brevity and a time for concentration on our mission."

"Oh, lighten up, Sailor Mercury," Nemesis grinned. "I mean, come on, you said it yourself: we're either wanted to rescue Ranma, or we're not."

"Kaname, we're here to rescue Kaname. I don't think Yoshihiro would allow Ranma to live."

"So," Nemesis asked, "why did he?"

"Why did he what?" Mercury asked as they headed warily down the corridor, or rather, as she did. Nemesis walked as if strolling along, hands primly behind her back emphasizing her larger bustline with a slightly coy smile at the younger senshi.

"Why did Ranma survive the transition? That moment we were transported here, that we were transformed into energy and downloaded into this system, why wasn't Ranma separated from us and killed? Deleted before he could cause any problems? For that matter," Nemesis asked suddenly, stopping thoughtfully, "why weren't we all killed? All us heroes? Tuxedo Kamen, those Figure twins, Ranma's old friends, that little girl with the angel and pervert teddy bear..."

Mercury blushed at the memory of the tiny stuffed animal that had flown up her skirt prior to the battle, and the little dark-haired girl who'd so jealously looked on. And her friend, the girl in the jester's outfit, who'd flirted with anything that moved in the lookout of Tokyo Tower, while her male friend, blushing and jealous, had looked on. But, she said nothing.

Nemesis went on. "I mean, why not wipe us out completely?"

"I think," Mercury began hesitantly, "that the person involved in sucking us into the system... might have wanted us to remain alive. Ranma, particularly."

"Natsumi did seem to have a crush on him," Nemesis mused.

Mercury tried the first door. Locked. Nemesis tried the one after; it swung open into an empty storeroom. They moved up to the next two doors. Mercury opened hers into a toilet cubicle, Nemesis' opened into a room with a few potplants and a skylight just above the door frame, letting in what looked to be natural sunshine. She decided not to ponder the spacial dimensions, considering they were supposed to be far underground and she could see sky through that skylight, and closed the door. Mercury's next door opened into a large room, with a white wraparound marble staircase, works of art and sculptures lining the balustrade and walls. Nemesis threw open the door to a cloakroom, while Mercury peeped into a shoe cupboard.

"It certainly does leave us with an awful lot of questions. I wonder what Sailor Moon and the others have discovered in their search."

"I'm more interested in what Hotaru found out," Nemesis murmured to herself. Mercury looked over.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing." Nemesis threw open another door, and found a whole lot more of nothing. "Um, Mercury, there's, uh, nothing here."

"There's nothing in any of these rooms," came the reply.

"No, I mean literally nothing. It's kind of... beige..."

Mercury appeared at Nemesis' shoulder. "Hmm. You're correct; it's beige. Nothingness." Mercury's visor dropped over her eyes, and she scanned ahead. "There is something, though... while there might be no physical address of the place Kaname is being kept, there needs to be a way to access that location in the system. I believe this room... this... nothingness... is that passage." Mercury carefully placed a boot inside the emptiness, and, holding on to the door frame, pressed down. "There does seem to be a floor here," she remarked. "Shabon spray!" Mist blasted from Mercury's fingertips, spreading out into the void. Where it dropped into nothingness, there was no floor; yet enough mist rolled hazily over a path wide enough for one person at a time to show where the senshi had to walk.

"Sneaky," Nemesis commented, before following Mercury across the pathway. "Uh, you know, that mist is still dropping downwards," she added, halfway across.

"I know. Bottomless pit," Mercury replied.

"Nothing's bottomless."

"There's no physical addresses or statistics here," Mercury explained. "Thus, for no corresponding attributes like height, width, breadth, the drop goes on forever."

Nemesis dropped a hairclip over the side, and watched it disappear. Even enhanced hearing couldn't detect it hitting anything below. "And the party never ends," she muttered. She made sure to keep to the middle of the path after that. A few minutes later, something else occurred to her. "If the room we're in goes on forever in all three dimensions, then how do we reach the other end? And how did we come in at a specific point?"

Mercury smiled privately. "Just because the void is infinite doesn't mean the pathway is. The rooms we are travelling between have physical dimensions, even if they don't necessarily have physical addresses in the database. Thus, their dimensions bleed over into this pathway, as it is the only link between them. If this path were to be destroyed..." Mercury shuddered. Nemesis agreed with that sentiment.

******

In the middle of the pool was an island. It wasn't very big, barely a few metres across. It wasn't made of sand, but some kind of technological tubing, etched with sigils from worlds long past. The tubing and wiring gathered itself in the middle of the island, rose up in striated segments before spreading out at the apex of the cylinder into broad, flattened shapes. Under this mechanical palm tree, Ranma Saotome meditated. He sat, back bolt upright under the tree, legs crossed, hands resting on his knees, eyes half-open as he stared into the lit nothingness that surrounded his island. Just black waves of knee-deep water, that he knew would be brackish if he tasted it.

Thankfully, in his present state, he didn't need to taste it. He didn't need to drink, nor eat, nor anything else. He just had to wait. He was capable of waiting, capable of knowing, capable of remembering - yet incapable of doing. He was just raw data, adrift on an ocean of dark information. Not even adrift; isolated, motionless, locked out of what was going on.

He'd met Kaname, himself without memories. He'd seen Natsumi. He'd joked, he'd done the whole 'Ranma Saotome' show that everyone expected of him, and then once more, he'd been waiting. Locked in this place, had he been left to think, to ponder on his existance, he'd have long-since gone mad. Instead, he closed his mind off, and meditated on himself.

After ten weeks of meditation, he knew himself pretty damned well. He could feel the blood shifting under the surface of his network of veins... he could feel cells in his body absorb oxygen molecules carried in his bloodstream... he could feel his neurons fire in his brain.

And yet, he knew he was imaginary. Just like everything else in this ocean, Ranma Saotome did not exist. All he was, all that existed here, was raw data that had an ego strong enough to bring visualisation to everything here, to the ordered mess of pandimensional information matrices. Information routinely popped in from other planes of existance and flashed back, imaged in Ranma's head as a fish. Occasionally, when he felt he should be hungry, he would grab one, eat it; and he knew more.

Already, he had memorised the complete works of Shakespeare, even if he couldn't understand the english. As well, he had reference material on Einstein-Rosen Bridges (which sounded like they needed an awful lot of support to stay upright), some minor fighting style from the Moon Kingdom, and what sounded like a nice recipe for a pie.

Yet, he knew the fish was just a metaphor. It was a concept of his forced on the world. An image for his ego to see. Just like the ocean, just like the island. The island meant he was above the data, outside of the system as it ebbed and flowed around his sanctuary. The ocean was what everyone else was part of, the raw symbology of the universe created within the Dark Kingdom computer system. Ranma was apart from it, held back by Natsumi. It had taken a while for his personality to flow back together in a way he could recognise, but once self-awareness had been achieved, he found he had just been meditating. Or so his image of his wait told him. That was what his ego believed, thus in a malleable world, that was how it had been.

Natsumi hadn't come to see him since he had met his other self. Ranma understood; she had been busy, trying to set up the system so the senshi couldn't be deleted. And yet, they had been found, and almost effectively neutralised. Ranma had to worry about the ease with which the larger fish he associated with the senshi, with his friends from Kanagawa - even his friends from Nerima - had been cut off from the schools they had been part of by the sharks that were the viral defence prorgams of the system's operating core. One, larger and more powerful than the others, was circling around a purple and a blue fish, others just kept careful watch on another group of fish. No one, Ranma noted, followed one single small albino guppy that swum along the bottom of the ocean.

Ahhhh, Hotaru. Right now, Ranma could scoop her representation out of the water, and know everything about her. Her life with her father, her meeting with the senshi, living with her new adopted parents. Her feelings for Ranma. Even further back, he could have found out about Saturn, Saturn's life, her likes and dislikes, her fears and dreams. Everything about her, those small thoughts at 2AM, those hidden thoughts at 2PM. And yet, while that would make him close to her, something he was yearning for right now, he knew that was wrong.

Here, above the system's data flow, he had power. Real, terrifying power. If he misused it... he would be as wrong as Yoshihiro, and no matter how much Ranma thought he would be acting for the best of everyone if he cancelled the illusion right now, tried to yank the plug on the system and bring Yoshihiro's plans down around his ears, Ranma knew that way would lead to dark places.

"That's right," Natsumi whispered from beside him. "Don't look; just talk." He felt a cool cheek press against his naked shoulder, rub along it just very carefully. A somewhat organic-feeling tube slid across further down as she moved her cheek across his back. "Doing what you were thinking of would be very... impetuous."

"Evil, I'd think," he said.

"That, too. I try and dabble in small ways, but I'm evil."

Ranma's hand found Natsumi's, behind him. He squeezed it tightly, reassuringly. "You're not evil. No more'n I am."

"That's nice of you to say, Ranma, but the truth is -"

"The truth is, you're an abused young girl and you're being used."

"That part of me that the Mas- Yoshihiro awoke, that wants... this..."

"That's -" Ranma fell silent for a minute. That stretched out for far longer than sixty seconds, but Ranma didn't really mind; neither did Natsumi. "That's not true," he continued, presently, quietly. "What's inside you wanted power; not to kill lots of people."

"I did kill lots of people," she said, pulling her hand from Ranma's. "I killed them, over and over, and I ordered more people dead. That responsibility is mine. And removing the memories... that worked for a bit. And then I was having nightmares. When Yamazaki brought me back to Yoshihiro, when Yoshihiro woke everything up in me, I did what he wanted. Does that make me evil, Ranma? I think it does."

"Did you have a choice?"

"The illusion of choice is for weak people."

"But did you have a choice? Like, ya know, transport all these people to this computer system, else they all die?"

Natsumi remained silent.

"I see that was the choice."

"It wasn't a choice," Natsumi grumbled. "I was told to do it and I did."

"You did it because somewhere deep down, you're still Natsumi Otohime, no matter how much ya cover yourself up with darkness." Ranma shrugged. "Look at me. I'm a Dark General, and you made me that way."

"Not quite," Natsumi offered, but Ranma continued.

"I'm evil, I'm bad, I'm, well, ya know, not to be messed with. But..." he shrugged helplessly. "I don't agree with Yoshihiro's views, or his plans. I don't feel evil, I don't feel bad or dark. I don't want ta hurt people, I want to help them. Like my friends. Right now, all I wanna do is go help them. Fight the good fight, die if I have to, but help them in any way I can." He paused. "And you feel the same way, too."

"I do not!" Natsumi was indignant.

"You do. You're not the evil thing you pretend to be, nor are ya the heartless manipulator you amde yourself out to be to Kaname." Ranma turned now, saw that the Natsumi he was talking to was a construct of organic conduits and technological detailing. It was nervous, ashamed. It pulled away from him. "This isn't my image of you, you know."

"It's my image of me," the construct spat bitterly. "I'm not much more'n a machine now, and I've got no choice in that. It shows in how I appear. That's why -"

"You're still a very beautiful young woman, ya know," Ranma blurted out, earnestly.

"You flatterer."

Ranma shrugged. "I been living around women for years now; the fact women like compliments had to sink in sooner or later. But you're trying to distract me. You've been living in this false world, twisted and manipulated ta be what he needs ya to be, and you realised you didn't have to be like that. So yous topped, and you became normal again, became yourself. All sins forgotten, forgiven. And now, you're trying to fight it again, but you don't know what to do. You've pulled me aside and saved my life, and I think ya protected everyone else who fought Raijin in Tokyo... so I know which side of the fence you sit on."

The construct leaned forward, and kissed Ranma on the cheek, buried it's face in his shoulder, sighing. "You're very sweet. I could be doing this for lots of other reasons, you know."

"Yeah, like wantin' ta take over from Yoshihiro again, or anything. But you know, I trust you. I trusted you when I found you in the gutter, I trust you now. It's a gut thing. Just do me a favour? Think better of yourself?"

Natsumi pulled away. She nodded, slowly. "I'll try, Ranma."

"When can I get in there? When can I help my friends?"

Natsumi looked away for a moment, before turning back. "Soon." She smiled, then her body warped, twisted, and flowed back into the shape of the mechanical palm tree it had formed from. Ranma stared at it for a moment, then smiled, ran his fingers over the random metallic artificialness of the bark, before turning around again, sitting down, and continuing his meditation.

******

The journey had seemed to take forever, but Hotaru was out of Nerima now, and the feeling she had of being watched melted away. Curious Chinese eyes went elsewhere, with a DING of a bicycle bell and the wet thud of a rear wheel connecting with a head, followed by the tinkling of broken glasses, a splash, and an angry quack. The people who had followed her from the Nekohanten were gone now, far behind. But, as she passed a side street, she heard a voice that made her stop, and smile.

"Ho, Goddess, I have not seen your visage in some time. Goes your life well?"

"Hello, Kuno-sempai," she replied, her voice betraying her depressed state.

"I understand by your tone that the cur Saotome has wronged you? I shall rip his still-beating heart -"

Hotaru shook her head. "No, he's done... nothing. He's... who he is at the moment has been kidnapped. And he... I worry for him, Kuno."

Kuno nodded gravely. With Ranma no longer much of a threat towards his affections for Akane, nor interferring in his new work life, Kuno found he could forgive and forget easily enough - much easier, he suspected, than if Ranma still lived in the area. For that, he found himself strangely thankful that Ranma was under the protection of his Goddess. Regardless of his feelings towards the man who had imprisoned his Pig-Tailed Goddess for several years, Ranma had helped him on occasion, even if only by accident. "I understand," he said.

"Do you?" Hotaru asked. "I mean, do you know what it's like to have someone you love ripped from your side, transformed into a stranger beyond all recognition, to be thrust back together... only to keep seeing little bits of the person you loved come through in this new person? A gesture, an accent on a word, that special look they reserve only for you, in your special moments..." Her voice drifted into silence.

"I understand," Kuno repeated, quieter, thinking of his sister. "There was a time, long ago, when..." but he too fell silent. Hotaru started walking again, Kuno joining her at her side. Hotaru, her eyes slipping sideways, had to admit Kuno looked a lot different in his workman's overalls, bokken strapped to his back. "But," he continued, eventually, "I had to admit that the woman I once knew was no longer, that she had perished in the flames of time, my beloved sibling burnt almost beyond recognition." Hotaru guessed Kuno wasn't talking about a physical injury, but rather, something psychological.

"Kuno-sempai...?"

"Yes, my Goddess?"

"You seem much more subdued. Is something wrong?"

Kuno thought for a block or two, then shook his head. "No, nothing is wrong. The city has been destroyed, and millions are dead, yet nothing is wrong. I feel nothing for them on an emotional level, for to me they are but numbers; pure statistics, an exercise in mental arithmetic. I find that I feel... empty towards this calamitous event, that I know I should feel something; yet I do not."

"I was there, in the middle of the disaster," he continued after another block, "and when the monster was destroyed at Saotome's hand, when everything around us lay in ruins, I felt drained. I had little neergy left with which to stand, to fight, to leave. I was glad the fight was over; I was glad I was alive; I felt nothing more. Around me, people have fallen low with grief, and have looked to me to be a bastion of strength, a well of fortitude from which to draw strength from. My work, menial though it might be, encourages others to continue with their lives through their emotional infirmament. And yet... I find myself..." He fell silent again. Hotaru smiled, softly, warmly, and wrapped an arm around his while leaning her head gently against him as they walked.

"Kuno-sempai... everyone deals with grief in their own way," she murmured to him. "You dealt with it as a warrior of the days long since passed: you got on with life, honouring those dead by continuing and helping others to continue. Do you think those million people who died would be wanting us all to stop our lives? Do you think they'd want us to fall apart over their deaths to the point we can no longer function as a people? Japan has seen... much death. Hundreds of thousands have died, in disaster, in war, in paradimensional invasion. Many more have been laid low by corrupting influences, others crippled by doubt and indecision through changing cultural identities. And yet, you continue to act with strength, with honour, because you know who you are, you know where you came from, and what your station in life is. You know what your future will be, because you have a singular vision for your life and nothing will stop you from achieving your goals. This disaster... the destruction of the interior of Minato Ward, it affected so many people in so many ways. Many of us who are left lost friends and family in the attack; many of us sympathise with each other, and many people feel their complacency stripped away, the glasses with which they viewed our world as being happy. No one thought we could be attacked; no one thought we could lose so many people. War, invasion, attacks - that is all something that happens to other countries, to other people. We are Japan; we offend no one, we attack no one, we live our own little lives within our country and we do not cause trouble. But trouble seeks us out, because we are Japan."

"There is indeed a great power here, waiting to be born," Kuno rumbled beside her.

How right you are, Hotaru reflected silently. "Yes, because there is power here. And with this attack, the peoples' complacency is gone; we can see the world as it truly is and can no longer believe our country is no more a part of the world than the moon is part of this world. Our choices, our actions, affect other people. Our life, our culture, has consequences that we must be prepared for; that sometimes, people want what will germinate here in the future, and will do anything to take it from us. Our people know we are vulnerable now, and they are scared. Giant monsters can rampage out of the oceans at any time, and mostly, we are defenseless against them. And that frightens people to the point they can't operate. Which is where people like you, who will grieve in their own quiet ways hidden away from public view for the losses, are important. You show people that we can continue on with our lives, and that doing so is the best way to honour the fallen."

"Never give up, never surrender," Kuno said.

"That's it exactly. If we stop being who we are, if we stop living our lives because of meaningless violence, then we have already lost."

They walked in silence for a time, then Kuno stopped. Hotaru stopped with him, tired, but not wanting to show weakness to the man who was looking to er for reassurance, for guidence.

"Goddess," he started, "I must thank you. For the discussion, and for making plain to my eyes why I have felt so these last months. I wish most heartily you had visited Nerima earlier and allowed me time to speak with you - I fear I did not find you were in the locality last you were here." The lunch date with Akane and Kaname, Hotaru realised. "Yet I fear... I fear not only for Saotome, for you suggest he is in grave danger for his very existance, but also for your own well-being. Please, my Goddess... for the sake of my own well-being and fortitude, please understand that I wish for you to take the most of care for your days in this dark time. I sense something not quite right about reality, and I realise you, as a heavenly defender of justice and stability, will be involved in this immortal combat, and I wish for you to be safe. If you would allow me -"

Hotaru's finger found its way to Kuno's lips, shushing him. Taking a moment to phrase it suitably, she said, "Kuno-sempai, thank you for the kind honour. Thank you for your offer, for I would take comfort that you are defending me in these times. Yet, for all that we could accomplish as so, your absence from these streets would encourage disaster and apathy in the region, destabilising it and possibly upsetting the cosmic balance. In these dire time of the fight against the Darkness, I feel the problems caused by your absence here would far outweight the positives brought by your protection of me. Thank you, again, for the offer, though." She smiled, thankful that Kuno bowed to her decision.

Kuno saluted her with his bokken, drawing himself up tall as he did so. "It is an honour to serve one so fair and innocent," he said, bowing physically this time. As he began moving upright, Hotaru caught an unguarded moment on Kuno's face that showed just how exhausted he was. He had to be working an awful lot, and Hotaru realised that his lean frame was thinner than usual.

"Kuno-sempai?"

"Yes, my Goddess?"

"Have you been eating?"

"No, my Goddess. This region... is growing poor. And I offer my larder to those most in need before I partake of it myself."

"Kuno-sempai?"

"Yes, my Goddess?"

"Eat properly. If you are to shoulder the burdens of a community, you must be well enough to carry them." Hotaru smiled wanly, briefing allowing her fingers to trace down her cheek. "I know what it is like to be... frail. To be weak. But to be strong for everyone, you need to look after yourself. Please. Eat. For me. Consider it an order from your planet-sized Guardian Goddess of Saturn."

The exhausted but amused glint that appeared in Kuno's eye suggested that perhaps he knew better than that now, but he nodded his acquiescence. "Aye, my Goddess, verily shall it be so. Now, if you'll excuse my presence, I am needed." Hotaru nodded, and Kuno left, heading back into Nerima proper, as the Senshi of Death and Rebirth watched.

"Be safe, Tatewaki," she murmured softly to herself, before turning and continuing on her path to Kanagawa. Yet, she had barely taken a dozen steps when something in the direction of Yokohama exploded into a huge cloud of dust. "Oh shit," she said, faintly, before transforming and taking the the skies.

******

Half an hour of walking, and Mercury and Nemesis reached the end of the pathway. Before them stood a simple wooden doorway, with a polished-gold doorknob. Nemesis quirked an eyebrow at Mercury, then took up a ready position directly in front of the door, a metre or so back, while Mercury stood to one side, hand on the knob, ready to twist at Nemesis' nod. The elder senshi moved her head, and Mercury turned the knob, throwing the door open.

"RICHTER WAVE!" Waves of coherent gravitons blasted through the doorway and knocked Agent Sato from his chair back into the wall. But, with colossal effort, he pushed himself forward, legs bent forward at the ankles like he was walking into a stiff wind, and he closed the gap towards the door. Mercury slipped around the edge of the door into the room, taking care to avoid the worst of the heavy gravity waves, while Nemesis gritted her teeth, and increased the pressure against Sato another notch.

"Really..." he said, conversationally, "you couldn't beat me... previously, Sailor Nemesis... what makes you think... you'll have any more luck... now?" He reached the doorway, and snapped a fist out. Almost impossibly in the funnel of gravities, his arm lengthened, and his fist grazed Nemesis' jaw. She gasped, and dodged to the left, sacrificing her attack. Sato moved to her quickly, joined his fists together and hammered her into the invisible pathway. Breath gusted from her body and her eyes bugged out, yet she managed to roll over and flip up to her feet, taking a cautious ready position as she circled around Sato.

Sato, for his part, looked energised now, angry, lusting for this battle. The hungry smirk on his face told Nemesis lots, and the fact that he obviously felt he didn't need to take so much as a lazy ready position to face her threat told her more. As well, those previous bouts with Sato she had lost, and the last she had been lucky to leave with her life - although there was the possibility that she had been allowed to leave.

"Miss... Matsuda," Sato continued. "Oh yes, we know all about... you. Your presence has been most... beneficial to our cause. You provide... distraction. You provide... drama. You help us... more than you hurt us." He didn't even bother dodging a rapid punch from Nemesis, which tore her glove open across the knuckles. She ouched, pulled her fist back and tucked it under her arm for a moment while the skin began closing over the wound. "You were allowed to leave... that restaurant. You were supposed... to bring us... Sailor Saturn."

"She was busy," Nemesis shot back.

"Oh well," Sato shrugged, then punched Nemesis in the gut. She felt his fist slam through her defences, her muscles, her stomach, and flatten a kidney on floating ribs, her liver being smashed up against her spin brutally. A second later, he brought a hand down in a chopping motion on her right shoulder, and she heard bone snap under the strain as her shoudler blade and then collarbone were crushed. A moment later, and the hand was brought up again, slapping her upwards from under her chin. Her head snapped backwards, and her body followed with the power of the strike. All the time, Sato stood with one hand in his pocket, otherwise looking completely unconcerned.

Nemesis struggled to rise, but failed, passing out from the pain. Sato tut-tutted over her limp unconscious form, then turned back to enter the room, where he found Mercury rapidly untying Kaname from her chair. With a brutal ripping sound, Kaname reached up and yanked the tape across her mouth off, and the anger in her eyes bespoke much pain and suffering to be inflicted on the agent.

"We have business," she spat, and leapt at him across his desk. Without batting an eyelid, Sato backhanded her half a foot into a wall, plaster exploding into the room in an ever-expanding cloud of whiteness. Kaname, dazed and woozy, pulled herself upright even as Sato's hand reached into the cloud and grabbed her by the throat, yanking her back out of the cloud as she choked from the pressure on her windpipe.

"Just because Yoshihiro has... decree you must survive until... transition, that does not mean you have to remain... whole." Sato's fist bunched, and he hammered the side of Kaname's chest. She tried to scream, but hot razorsharp slivers of bone penetrating her lungs cut the scream off more effectively than any gag or self-restraint. Mercury leapt on Sato's back to try and gain Kaname some room, but he reached back with a single hand, grabbed her collar, and threw her headfirst into a wall. Mercury slumped to the floor, momentarily dazed even as Nemesis tried to pull herself into the room with little success.

Without a care, Sato threw Kaname into another wall, and she bounced off it to fall to the ground. "This is... too easy," Sato muttered as he stepped around the desk to get to Kaname. She lay on the floor, breathing in rapid, shallow breaths. Sato reached for her, grabbed the front of her dress and hauled her upright. The dress tore more than it already had been, and Kaname slumped backwards, a single breast rolling free under gravity now it was no longer restrained. Sato humphed yo himself, then dropped the woman.

Or, rather, he tried to. Twin hands had clamped around his forearm and refused to budge, and although his hand was now open, and Kaname dress released, Kaname's elbows were locked in position and refused to let herself be lowered any further than she already was. Slowly, she raised her head, glaring at Sato with a burning hatred. With his free hand, he first tried to unhook the fingers digging into his arm, but confusingly, that attempt failed. So he tried to slap Kaname's face. The first time, she ducked her head forward, and the slap missed. Sato frowned and cocked his head to one side curiously. He tried again; Kaname's head rocked back to avoid it. His frown deepened. The third slap, she refused to budge for, and his hand impacted on her cheek and went no further.

Now she let her fingers go, and dropped low to the floor on one foot, spinning around with her other leg extended. Her leg smacked into Sato's before he could react, and he dropped to the floor, his head smashing through the edge of his desk sending up an explosion of splintered wood in all directions.

Without looking, Kaname's fist darted out and snatched those splinters in flight that posed greatest threat to the still-dazed Mercury while Nemesis watched silently in surprise, not feeling the few splinters that peppered her cheeks. To her, Kaname - when she could see her from Nemesis' position - was moving in blurred motion, like she had last time Ranma had come home. Even now, Kaname picked up Sato, and threw him into the wall beside the door, before flipping over the desk with a neat little somersault at the apex of the leap and delivering another kick. Sato blocked the kick, and twisted his body to delvier a double kick of his own. One, Kaname blocked. The other caught her in her injured side, and she gasped, her body not fully regenerated. Regardless, she was thrown across the room into a filling cabinet, which exploded into reams of paper and steel slivers that pock-marked the nearby walls. Sato jumped at her, throwing one powerful punch that created a sonic boom in the small room, causing Mercury to drop unconscious again and nemesis' eardrums to momentarily burst. She gritted her teeth while her eardrums began rebuilding, continuing to watch the fight in the office.

Kaname dodged the second punch, Sato's fist burying itself deep in the floor. His face snapped around to track her movement, but she was already on her feet as she moved, and her foot snapped up and into his face. His sunglasses broke in two, and Nemesis saw the hatred on his face. He yanked his hand from the floor, then tried sending three punches at Kaname. Lazily, almost, she blocked all three before stepping into his defences and headbutting the bridge of Sato's nose. His face wavered for a moment, and Nemesis watched a hand twitch into static before solidifying again. he staggered back, Kaname taking the opportunity to slam a few more resounding punches into Sato's gut, lifting him up and clear across his desk on the last one. He slammed into the wall, becoming buried in the plaster, before shaking his head and stepping out.

"What's the matter?" Kaname goaded. "No snappy remarks? No comebacks? Just gonna lose like Ryoga? Maybe ya might even cry a little, just so's we can all see how bad you got hurt."

Sato vaulted over the desk, then dusted off the shoulders of his suit. "I thought... actions such as this... were all the language you understood, Kaname." Then, Sato stopped dusting his suit, and looked up at Kaname. "Ah. Mister Saotome. Welcome back. We... missed you."

"It's good to be back," Kaname said, nodding her head to the side slightly, offering the next move to Sato. Sato snarled, and rushed forward towards Kaname, who sidestepped and tripped him up with a casually-placed foot. He sprawled out in the doorway, and looked up; straight into Nemesis' worried eyes.

Within a heartbeat, Sato was up, hauling Nemesis upright in front of him in one hand as he turned to face Kaname.

"Oh, please, don't fight through the girl," Kaname groaned. "Try not to be so cliched."

"I think... you might feel differently... in a moment," Sato said, as he backed up, stepping out of the room. Kaname stepped forward, agressively, ready to end the fight right then and there. But Sato, smirking, brought his arm out to the side, giving Kaname a clear shot at Sato, Nemesis dangling from his hand off to the side. Her eyes opened wide, and she panicked, wriggling and kicking. "Mister Saotome, it looks like you have a choice to make... you can either save her... or you can kill me."

"Or I can do both," Kaname growled, launching herself at Sato. Mercury, her eyes focussing on Sato, reached out suddenly.

"Ranma! Don't!" she called, urgently but ultimately too late. Kaname's fists impacted on Sato's chest, and he staggered back. His fingers opened, and Nemesis dropped safely from his fingers even as Kaname whirled around and snapped her heel into Sato's cheek. His head rotated too fast to be controlled, and somewhere in his simulated form, whatever bespoke for a spinal cord was stressed far too much and snapped. Sato slumped to the ground a moment later, and Kaname turned to smile at Nemesis.

To find she wasn't there. "What?" Kaname stepped to where she had last seen Nemesis, and before she placed her weight down on her final footstep, she found no surface. Looking down, she could see Kaname disappearing into the blackness. Without hesitation, Kaname dove over the side after her.

"Noooo!" she heard Mercury cry from the office, then blackness swallowed her up.

******

Sailor Saturn found upon arriving at the scene of devastation that emergency crews had been in attendence for some time. The GOTT offices had erupted into huge fireballs as underground gasmains had been detonated, and the media crews in the vicinity all called it an act of deliberate terrorism, conducted by Ranma Saotome and his associates. The other senshi were involved in rescue efforts, Saturn noticed, but the emergency crews seemed to be standing well clear of them, almost as if they believed the senshi themselves were behind the attack.

But that was stupid.

Nevertheless, Saturn landed at the triage station, and wandered among the beds, healing those seriously injured that she could, shifting aimlessly, not letting the destruction touch her. She knew from experience, when dealing with destruction on this scale, remaining emotionally detached was most important.

Eventually, she noticed Sailor Moon behind her. "Sailor Saturn."

"Sailor Moon."

Sailor Moon looked away for a few moments, uncomfortable. "We found out a lot today. We know... we know what Yoshihiro's doing in the middle of Tokyo." She was uncharacteristically subdued. "They're turning people into monsters when they go to work, turning them back when they go home. It's... perverted. It's sick. And they're building something. Something big. We need to talk to Sailor Mercury. She might understand. But she's..." Her eyes shifted away again.

"In there?" Saturn asked quietly. Sailor Moon nodded. "Why haven't you -"

"We can't find them," Sailor Moon said. "I know Sailor Mercury and Sailor Nemesis are still alive, but I can't find them. It's like they're nowhere."

"They found Kaname, then."

"We think so." Sailor Moon paused. "But then Nemesis... I didn't feel her die. But I can't feel her now."

"Oh."

"We -" Sailor Moon broke off as they both heard a buzzing sound. They turned around, looking for the source of the noise, and focussed on an area of sky that began warping. "Dark Kingdom monsters!" Sailor Moon growled, drawing out her sceptre. Saturn, beside her, whirled the Silence Glaive around into position. She too could feel the waves of pure evil, of darkness, flowing from within the slipgate. The temperature in the area dropped dramatically; water from fire hoses froze solid into ice, and the flames of the numerous fires burning around the area coughed and died almost as one. It seemed very bad. But then, something seemed familiar, and she felt a warm caress, and smelt ramen. And not just any kind of ramen; the ramen one ate when out on a date with a broke boyfriend.

To her, at that moment, the smell of cheap ramen opened her eyes in more pleasure than she'd ever had from smelling roses. "ramna?" she asked the universe, very quietly. The slipgate flashed wide, and then figures appeared in it. An exhausted Kaname dropped to the ground with Nemesis cradled in her arms, and beside them, Mercury managed to just keep on her feet.

Saturn dropped her Glaive, running to Kaname and gathering her up in her arms. "Ranma?" she asked again. "Ranma?"

"'s up, hota..." Kaname mumbled, more words lost to the slurring of one trying to stay awake against exhaustion. "zss k's, k?"

******

The night was cold, and the interior of the Ai Sou was lit only by the dancing of flames in the fireplace. Kaname was stretched out on a small matress in front of the hearth, being warmed up. Hotaru sat next to her, a hand casually resting on Kaname's hips. Mitsuki sat just beyond Kaname's head, and the other senshi dotted themselves around the lounge, on chairs and sofas.

There was no noise, bar the crackling of logs in the fire. No television, no radio, no music. Once, Minako started humming a tune to herself, then broke off as she realised she could hear the music out loud that she had going in her head.

There was in fact one sound in the entire inn. That was the sound of Ami's fingers tapping at keys on her palmtop. Eventually, she sighed, and leaned backwards to stretch her back.

"Well?" Usagi asked, still quiet and shaken from the day's findings.

Ami pinched her nose between a thumb and forefinger. "Well," she repeated.

"Yes?"

"Ami, don't keep us in suspense! What's going on?" Rei demanded.

"We've got about fifteen weeks to find a way to stop the end of the world," Ami said simply.

"End of the world?"

"Yoshihiro... he's gotten hold of a battleship. One used by the Dark Moon Kingdom in the invasion of the Moon Kingdom... one of the defected vessels from Mercury. The battleship has warp engines, capable of twisting the fabric of the hyperspacial planes our respective kingdoms resided in. And while the White Moon Kingdom is fragmented and scattered... the Dark Moon Kingdom... was left whole. But blocked from entering either of our spacial planes. Sealed off. There are many smaller conquered planes that we call the Dark Kingdom, because territorially, they form part of the kingdom, but they're not the main plane of reality, where the initial invasion came from. With the battleship Yoshihiro holds, though, he has fully-functioning engines that can travel across those barriers."

"And he's going to do what with that?" Usagi asked. "Shuttle in troops?"

"Oh, I wish it were that simple," Ami sighed. "The construction you found... would be being mirrored in that corresponding physical location on Earth. Here, it is used to suck up power. The one on Earth... is different."

"How different?" Hotaru asked.

"With the engines of the ship connected to it?" Ami answered. "Enough to breach the seal Queen Serenity placed on the Dark Kingdom that ended the war."

"So... they'll have doorways to the Dark Kingdom?" Usagi asked again.

"No," Ami replied. "No, not at all." She took a deep breath. "With the energy Yoshihiro would gain from killing every man, woman and child in this version of Tokyo, Yoshihiro could power the engines, disrupt the dimensional seal, and transpose fully the Dark Kingdom and the primary Earth plane. Every human on Earth would cease to exist within minutes, and billions and billions of Dark Kingdom monsters would stand in thier place."

Silence reigned.

SAILOR MOON SAYS:

This took a while. And it didn't take place over much time at all. A single day. And I could have gone on for more, too, about this single day, but decided to leave anything else for the next chapter. I'm also working a fulltime job now, so ouch, my writing is suffering (but now I have money! Just no sleep :P). In addition, there's been a death in the family, and my brother who's cheffing overseas is owed $US13,000 by the US army and will probably lose his house soon if they don't pay up in the next few weeks. So, yes, we've had fun these last couple of months.

Anyways, next time on Love, the end of this miniarc. The battle for the fates of every person living in Tokyo is fought; lives will be changed, people will die, and from the ashes of the destruction of Tokyo, a new hero shall emerge. Next time, in Love chapter 17: Paradise Reloaded.