THE EXTERMINATORS
Chapter 2: "Whom Thou Once Named Friend"
By Bill K.
"Puu?" the Princess Usagi frantically called out to the faded image of Sailor Pluto. "PUU!"
"She's gone, Princess," Diana observed softly. "Whatever dire fate she was warning us of has apparently overtaken her as well."
"But it can't be!" Usa wailed. "She said Mom was - - was dead!"
"It would explain this strange environment we've ended up in," Diana replied. "Perhaps it would be best to return to the Door of Time and act upon Sailor Pluto's warning."
"But Diana, why weren't we affected? If Mom's dead, I shouldn't even be alive!"
Diana released a sigh of frustration. "I'm hardly as expert as Mizuno-San or Sailor Pluto, Princess, but I do possess a little understanding of chronol workings. The spacial limbo that houses the Door of Time is an area of space set apart from the passage of time. Events in the temporal world do not affect the spacial limbo. Since we were in the spacial limbo when all of this occurred, we were spared being, well, 'revised' by whatever changed history. Unfortunately its made you a temporal anomaly - - possibly myself as well."
"Then we need to fix it," Usa resolutely proclaimed. She stood up on the great mound of earth that reached up to the phase point into the spacial limbo.
"Halt, human!" came a loud demand. They looked down and saw a man approaching the mound. He seemed about thirty and wore a protective white radiation suit. "You are in violation of Primary Directive 3. You will surrender yourself immediately."
"Who's that?" hissed Usa.
"I don't know," Diana replied, "but I dare say we shouldn't let him interfere with our mission. Get to the phase point, quickly!"
Usa and Diana turned and broke for the phase point. It was only two meters away, but in the space of Usa taking a single step, the strange man was upon her. He snatched at her arm and locked on with a grip of steel.
"Hey! Let go!" Usa howled. Instinctively her free hand extended, ready to change into Sailor Moon.
From out of nowhere, a whip snapped around the strange man's throat. The whip pulled taut, then jerked once and snapped the man's head from his shoulders. Initially horrified, Usa and Diana's reaction swiftly changed to amazement. Rather than blood, electrical connections snapped and spat from the trunk. They looked down at the severed head, bouncing away. Wires and circuits trailed from its neck and the man's expression was frozen in place. Quickly Usa followed along the trail of the whip and her eyes locked onto its owner.
"Ves-Ves!" Usa exclaimed happily. "God, I've never been happier to see someone in my life! How did you survive? Are the others with you?"
"Do I know you?" Ves-Ves growled, her eyebrow arched.
Usa became confused. Then she noticed Ves-Ves was dressed in her Dead Moon Circus costume. With that, it hit her: No Queen Serenity, so no one to make the Amazoness Quartet into senshi. Her being filled with wariness, but it was disarmed by one of those cocky smirks that was so Ves-Ves.
"Oh, by the way - - surprise."
A single instinctive warning told Usa someone was behind her. She turned just in time to see Cere-Cere hovering behind her. Then Cere-Cere blew some flower pollen from her palm. The dust engulfed Usa's head. Recoiling, the girl choked and coughed for several moments. Then the world began to spin. The last thing she recalled was falling to her knees and wondering why.
She woke up in the bowels of an ancient building. Usa took a few moments to try to orient her thoughts, for the gap in consciousness was confusing. Her surroundings were strange and her body didn't seem to want to respond.
"Diana?" Usa murmured. There was no answer, at least from the gray cat.
"Sleeping Beauty's awake," muttered a voice that sounded like Jun-Jun.
As her eyes took in the scene before her, memories came rushing back and dispelled the confusion. Sitting around her on chairs or exposed cross-studs or on the floor itself were her friends, but her friends wearing the ominous skins of the Amazoness Quartet. Usa's eyes went from one to the other and instantly recognized traits that had long been dead in the girls she knew: The aloof disdain of Cere-Cere, the brash callousness of Jun-Jun, the aggressive belligerence that characterized Ves-Ves, and the immature selfishness of Palla-Palla. By now the Princess could feel the old metal pipe pressing into her back and the rope that held her wrists behind it and cut into the delicate skin. Diana was nowhere to be found.
"Where is this place?" Usa asked, trying to keep her fear and anger under control. "Where's Diana?"
"We'll ask the questions," Jun-Jun scowled. "You're pretty well dressed. That's rare for a human. You part 'droid?"
"Droid?" Usa asked.
"Android, Sweetie," Cere-Cere replied imperiously. "Don't play dumb. Although from the looks of you, you're probably not playing."
"If you're not a cyborg, what are you doing here?" Jun-Jun demanded.
"I'm," Usa began, wondering how much she should reveal. "I'm a time-traveler."
"Yeah, and I'm Queen Neherenia," scowled Ves-Ves.
"No, let her finish," Jun-Jun interjected. She seemed piqued by the story. "Time-traveler from where? What era?"
"Is this 2997?" Usa asked. Jun-Jun nodded. "Then I'm from this time - - technically. But something happened when I was out of the time stream! It changed something in the past and now everything is different!"
"Palla-Palla wants to play with her!" Palla-Palla shouted. She sounded like a petulant five-year-old, though Usa knew she was still as deadly as if she held a loaded blaster.
"Shut up!" snapped Jun-Jun. "You're telling me that you come from a-a time that's different from this? That doesn't have to contend with Viluy's androids?"
"Viluy? Is that what happened? How did she gain control?"
"Sometimes I wonder myself," spat Ves-Ves. "This whole place has been one rude awakening."
"How did you four get here? Shouldn't you be in Brasilia?"
Instantly Cere-Cere moved in. She bent down to Usa, eyes narrow and deadly serious, her soft mouth thin and scowling.
"How did you know we were from Brasilia?" the scarlet-tressed girl hissed.
"In my time," Usa responded cautiously, "we're all friends. You four live in the palace with me and-and Hotaru."
Jun-Jun rocked back, stunned. "We live in a palace?"
"Ooh, Palla-Palla wants to see the palace!" Palla-Palla exclaimed. "Does it have kings and queens and a dragon?"
"Tell me - - you mentioned Queen Neherenia earlier," Usa asked. "Did she recruit you for the circus?"
"Yes," Cere-Cere replied, clearly loathing to remember the times. "She said we could stay young forever. All we needed to do was help her overthrow Queen Beryl."
"It was tough work, but in the end her generals were no match for Neherenia and the Gold Crystal," Ves-Ves recalled. Then she grew angry and hateful. "And what did we get for it? She turned on us! Cast us into her mirrors! We were stuck there for centuries, it turned out! But she got hers."
"Golden. . .?" Usa whispered. "This golden crystal? Where did she get it?"
"From the horsie with wings!" Palla-Palla squealed with juvenile exuberance. "He was ever so pretty! Palla-Palla wanted him for her very own!"
"And," Usa continued, struggling to find her voice, "and what happened to the horse with wings?"
"Queen Neherenia played with him," Palla-Palla responded gaily. Then her lower lip extended in a pout. "At least until she broke him. Then she didn't want him anymore."
The words struck the Princess like blows from a hammer. For a moment she lost all conscious feeling in her body. It was like she disconnected right then and there. All she could focus on was the horrifying mental image of Neherenia standing over Pegasus - - her Pegasus - - as the equine's lifeless eyes stared up at her.
"Were you friends?" Cere-Cere asked with false sweetness. Usa looked up at the girl and saw she was enjoying every moment of Usa's pain. "Don't worry, Neherenia paid for everything she did."
"From what we've been able to gather," Jun-Jun continued, "Neherenia got too cocky and didn't realize there was a rebel growing right under her nose. Some lady named Viluy was building an android army. Or she was too busy being attacked by some lady called Sailor Galaxia. Those two fought for decades - - tore the planet up. Neherenia finally beat Galaxia, then Viluy and her androids stepped in and took over." Jun-Jun allowed herself a satisfied smile. "We watched those androids tear Neherenia to pieces from our mirrors."
"And," Usa stammered, still preoccupied with visions of the death of Helios, "and the world has been run by androids ever since?"
"Ever since the ice melted," shrugged Ves-Ves. Usa looked at her curiously. "Planet's been covered in ice for about nine hundred and fifty years or so. I don't know how, but it was frozen for a long time. Took a meteor impact in central Asia to kick-start the world again and shatter enough ice that humanity could melt the rest." Usa stared at her, astounded. "You see a lot when you're stuck in a mirror for nine hundred plus years," Ves-Ves dead-panned.
"Well it doesn't have to be this way!" Usa pleaded. "Let me go! I can go back in time and fix what happened! None of this has to be this way!"
"That's assuming we believe you," Jun-Jun smiled a predator's grin. Usa felt a sick dread in her stomach. "Who says this whole story of yours isn't just a lie to get us to turn you loose?"
"It's not!" Usa wailed.
"I say we torture the truth out of her," Jun-Jun continued, glancing to her sisters.
"Sounds like fun," Cere-Cere commented casually.
"I've got nothing better to do," Ves-Ves replied.
"Ooh, Palla-Palla likes torture!" Palla-Palla squealed.
Mentally the Princess began taking stock of her options. She could still transform into Sailor Moon, but with her hands tied there was little chance she could free herself before one or more of the Amazons used their ball attacks on her. Reasoning with them hadn't worked. And the teen couldn't brainstorm any other options in the waning moments she had left.
And then a shape suddenly loomed behind Palla-Palla's head. It was Luna-P.
Out of the darkened staircase behind the Amazons, Diana leaped onto the nearest one. Cere-Cere recoiled, screaming hysterically as claws sunk into her flesh. Her hand moved up to swat the attacking feline away, but was met with sharp teeth that plunged into the soft skin. Finally she managed to shake Diana and the cat landed on all fours in the center of the group.
"YOU BIT ME, YOU FILTHY LITTLE BEAST!" Cere-Cere hissed. "I'll KILL you for that!"
"Back off," sneered Ves-Ves. "I'm the beast tamer in this bunch."
With lightning speed, Ves-Ves brought her whip into play. It cracked on the floor, kicking up particles of concrete as Diana just managed to leap over it. However, she couldn't look in every direction and a hard blue ball launched by Palla-Palla struck her in mid-leap. Sent off course, she was the perfect target for a savage kick from Jun-Jun. The cat bounced once on the concrete floor and struggled to get up as the four Amazons moved in.
During the melee, Luna-P had sought out its programmed mistress. Tearing herself away from watching Diana, Usa glanced up at the ball.
"Luna-P transform!" she whispered desperately. "Become a-a laser scalpel!"
In a puff of smoke, the ball transformed into a thin metallic cylinder ten inches long and fell into Usa's hand. The girl manipulated it until the control stud was against her thumb and the red crystal point was pressed against the rope binding her wrists.
Several blows later, Diana lay on the cold cement and couldn't get up. She glanced up through a red haze at her tormentors.
"Who wants to kill it?" Ves-Ves asked.
"PALLA-PALLA DOES!" the girl squealed with excitement.
"Go ahead," sneered Cere-Cere. "It's just an animal."
A blue ball appeared between Palla-Palla's extended hands. The joy and anticipation was vibrant in her child-like demeanor. Diana steeled herself for the end, praying only that the Princess had enough time to escape.
"Moon Crystal Power Make Up!"
The four Amazons turned to the sound of Usa's voice and Jun-Jun was met with a foot in her face. Palla-Palla stared dumbstruck, while Cere-Cere squealed and retreated and Ves-Ves growled angrily.
"A Sailor Senshi?" Jun-Jun sputtered. "But how?"
"Who cares!" snapped Ves-Ves. "Get her!"
"Moon Tiara Action!" Sailor Moon trumpeted, invoking her tiara into its energy disk form. Without hesitation she launched it at the quartet. The energy sphere arced and buzzed in, around and through them with lightning speed. Quickly the Amazoness Quartet were ducking and dodging the golden disk in confusion. That allowed Sailor Moon to produce the Moon Scepter.
"Moon Princess Halation!" Sailor Moon called out, firmly and without hesitation, for Diana was her friend and these four had proven that they weren't - - not in this incarnation anyway.
Pink tendrils fanned out from the scepter, seizing the delinquent shades of her friends. The four struggled mightily in the grip of the scepter's healing power, struggled for the longest time against what Sailor Moon was trying to do. But ultimately they were overcome by the superior power she possessed. The four stiffened in the grip of the tendrils, each one exclaiming "refresh" as a breathy sigh, almost as a temporary release from the wickedness that had possessed their souls. Then they collapsed limply to the ground. Instantly Sailor Moon ran up to the fallen Diana.
"Diana, how badly did they hurt you?" Sailor Moon pleaded.
"Badly enough, I fear," Diana gasped. "Perhaps you should go on without me."
"No way!" Sailor Moon howled. "Diana, you're my friend! No way am I leaving you!"
"The world needs your attention more than I," the gray cat choked out. "Follow Sailor Pluto's advice. Fix the world."
"No! No way do I leave you to die! I need you! Besides, you know the limbo a lot better than I do! We need to do this together!"
"I . . ." the cat began, but Sailor Moon cut her off.
"No more arguments," she said, brandishing the Moon Scepter. "Moon Princess Halation."
Diana felt the waves of energy from the Moon Scepter wash over her, filling her with their soft, warming caress. She felt pain subside, bones mend and bruises dissipate. She felt the spark of her soul kindle into a flame that seemed to energize her entire body. Where only moments before she couldn't muster the strength to move her head, now she sprang up to her feet hale and hearty.
And Sailor Moon sank to one knee next to her.
"Sailor Moon?" Diana gasped.
"Wow," Sailor Moon wheezed, holding her forehead. "I haven't been this dizzy since Aunt Minako took me on the roller coaster."
"You haven't hurt yourself, have you?" Diana asked desperately.
"No," Sailor Moon panted. "But doing that takes a lot out of a person."
"Stubborn, stubborn child," Diana admonished. "Will you never listen to reason?"
"Watch it, Diana," Sailor Moon smirked. "I know where your ticklish spots are."
"Hmph, well, when you're sufficiently recovered, perhaps it would be best to return to the limbo and into the past. I've had quite enough of this present."
Sailor Moon rose to her feet. To Diana, she seemed a little tired, but none the worse for wear.
"Then let's do it," she proclaimed.
Outside, the pair sprinted toward the mound in the lake, the mound that they knew would lead to the limbo housing the Door of Time. As they ran, they each tried their best to ignore the destruction and decay surrounding them. Husks of buildings and streets broken and abandoned from years of war and struggle and then centuries buried in ice were all they could see for miles around. Civilization, as it could broadly be called, was in dire straits.
From their right, Sailor Moon suddenly spotted another person sprinting toward them. At first she thought he was human, but there was too much of a resemblance to the android that attacked them earlier.
"Luna-P, scan!" Sailor Moon shouted at the ball trailing them. "Is that a human?"
Luna-P scanned the approaching humanoid. Her eyes blinked twice for 'no'. Instantly Sailor Moon ripped off her tiara.
"Moon Tiara Action!" she cried. While her scepter power would be useless against a machine, the energy of her tiara would be a formidable weapon. The energy disk sailed straight and true, arcing to trace the android as it shifted to dodge. The disk sliced through the android's upper torso, cleaving it from the rest of its body. Both halves went crashing into the broken pavement.
Turning a corner, though, the Princess found herself in for a surprise. Dozens of men surrounded the dirt mound and were taking readings in and around it. There was no reason not to assume, given what she'd learned from the Amazoness Quartet, that these weren't actually androids under the control of Viluy.
"Gracious," fretted Diana. "There's far too many. We must retreat until they've gone."
"And what makes you think they're going to go away?" Sailor Moon replied through clenched teeth. "Besides, we don't have time to wait for them to abandon the place. We need to get back into the past and set things right!"
"My lady, that's a common misconception about time travel," Diana advised her. "Whether we leave now or ten years from now, the Door of Time can place us in any moment of history we choose. It's merely a question of calculating the relative time/space differential."
"And suppose while we're waiting, Viluy gains access to the temporal limbo?" Sailor Moon countered. "I've talked to Aunt Ami about her. This woman is as sharp as anyone who's ever lived!" Sailor Moon glanced back. "We're going to have to fight our way through, and now, before they can gain access to the Door of Time!"
"Can you do that? Your Princess Halation won't have any effect on mechanical men!"
"There isn't much choice, is there?" Sailor Moon mumbled and the gray feline could see her courage waver for just an instant. Then she pushed doubts aside. "They'll probably all come after me. You get to the Door of Time and make whatever preparations you need for the jump. Luna-P, follow Diana!"
Before Diana could protest, Sailor Moon burst from concealment and charged the mound. Without recourse, the cat followed. As Sailor Moon cut through the converging androids, her tiara energy disk slashing and weaving like a glittering golden scythe, the cat darted in, around and through the synthetic humanoids' legs. She didn't look back, for fear of seeing something terrible, though the continued impact of the tiara with severed electronic circuits told her Sailor Moon was still coming. Gaining the top of the mound, she turned and looked back - - and her heart sank.
The tiara lay motionless on the ground. The three remaining androids were carrying off an unconscious Sailor Moon.
Continued in Chapter 3
