PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR MOON: FUTURE
Chapter 44: Closer to the Truth
Varan's eyes slowly opened once her consciousness returned to her. She realized that her head was resting against a pillow, her body was wrapped beneath several blankets, and that someone was placing a damp cloth on her forehead. She didn't want to wake up since she had a piercing migraine, but she heard Naja exclaim, "Varan! You're awake!"
"Na… ja…" the injured warrior moaned.
"You better be grateful to Apis for saving your butt back there," she heard Gyps mutter out of her field of vision.
"You idiots… I was prepared… to die…"
"Yeah, we know about your little conversation with Upala. Or rather, Apis installed a bunch of listening devices throughout the palace, so she heard in on you two in secret. I don't want your insult, so I'm giving it back to you with interest, you pinheaded idiot of all idiots."
"Please don't be so rash again," Naja rested her hand on Varan's head. "I don't know what I would do if I found out you had died."
"But I told Upala… I would get the Silver Crystal… or die trying… and that if I didn't return with it… she'd execute me. That was… our agreement…"
"I know. That's why Apis constructed this hideout."
"… Hideout?" Varan moaned, then recalled, I remember now. She had mentioned something about a secret base before I passed out.
"Upala doesn't know about this place. You can stay here and recover without worrying about her."
"I'm guessing… she didn't take my failure well… did she?"
Naja stared down at the floor and frowned. "We told her that you were killed during that battle, and she actually sounded relieved that she didn't have to deal with you anymore."
"That bitch…"
"That means you can't show your face to her anymore. But don't worry; Apis made this hideout so that it can detach from the palace, just in case we need to escape from the Syndicate."
"I see… So where is she?"
Naja chuckled and looked back at the computer station where the yellow-robed Camarilla was busy typing away. "At her favorite spot, of course."
Gyps added, "She's using her robot bees to observe Earth's guardians. She's been collecting data on their strengths and weaknesses this entire time and feeding it to an Apple of Discord's blossoms."
Now that she was awake, Varan noticed a small apple tree with several leaves and white apple blossoms growing on its branches growing next to Apis' computers. Some bees swarmed around the flowers gathering nectar, then flew into a small area designed as an apiary where they could deposit their goods into makeshift beehives. Apis munched on a fresh honeycomb and licked her fingers before resuming her typing.
"How is your observational work coming along?" Naja asked her.
"Excellent, as always! I almost have data on every Sailor Soldier that you guys fought so far, and the Apple of Discord's blossom is absorbing the information at an incredible rate. Before you know it, we'll have the universe's most intelligent Erisian at our disposal!"
"That sounds fantastic! But why do you say you 'almost' have all of the data?"
"There's a couple of Sailor Soldiers we haven't dealt with yet," Apis admitted, showing on screen the profiles for Sailors Mars, Vesta, and Saturn. "I have some information on them, but I'm lacking actual combat data for the Erisian to rely on. Well, I wouldn't say it's a terrible setback since the creature should be able to mimic attacks from the Sailor Soldiers we have data on."
"Are you going to target all of them at once or just one at a time?"
"According to the data, Sailor Saturn is one of the most dangerous Soldiers on this planet due to her ability to destroy the world, plus she's supposedly very good friends with Crystal Tokyo's princess. It wouldn't be smart to provoke someone like that, so I'm gonna focus my search on the other two first."
Gyps clenched her clawed fist and began to declare, "Then I should go and-"
"Nuh uh uh! I knew you were gonna say that, but some of your internal injuries haven't healed yet!" Apis stopped her. "All three of you should just stay here and let me handle this one."
"Then I should at least go with you! Earth's warriors are no joke! If you slip up, they'll kill you!"
"Please, who do you take me for? I know that just as much as you do."
"Yeah, through monitors and numbers! You haven't actually fought them directly!"
"Don't be silly. I may not have had the experiences you have, but I'm not someone who prefers open combat anyway. I let my robots do the fighting for me," Apis adjusted her bee-themed mask as she glanced at a small army of blank-faced marionettes standing in the darkness. "And with my ever-evolving Apple of Discord at my side, I'll have nothing to worry about!"
"Quantity over quality, I see," Varan remarked.
"Oh, make no mistake! I haven't neglected the quality of my private army either! Each marionette is as good as fighting a Sailor Soldier! If I can isolate one or two of Earth's warriors with this, then I can pick them off one by one until only the Royal Family is left!"
"Indeed, fighting them directly would be a mistake. But don't forget about that traitor Hyena. She knows a lot about your inventions, so there's nothing stopping her from telling them how to fight your robots."
"I already have my bees constantly observing her movements. If she tries anything funny, they'll alert me and I can intercept her. But if I do confront her, what do you want me to do?"
"What else? Kill her."
"No!" Naja exclaimed. "I still want to talk to her!"
"Don't be absurd!" Varan argued. "Hyena wants nothing further to do with us! She's even willing to kill herself if we tried to drag her back here!"
"She's making all of these rash decisions based on bad information! All I want is for her to know the truth! She can figure out who to side with afterwards!"
Apis stopped typing when she heard Naja yell the word 'truth'. Her exuberant attitude suddenly changed to an unsettling silence, and her fingers shook slightly. Gyps noticed her friend's uneasiness, so she stepped in on Varan and Naja's argument and declared, "Apis should bring Hyena to this secret base, at least. We have all of the information we need gathered here to show her Alkima's state of affairs."
"Hmph. Outvoted, am I?" Varan scoffed. "Very well, have it your way. I still don't think it will change anything."
Naja smiled and said to Gyps, "Thanks."
The red-robed woman stoically looked back at Apis as she pocketed her hand computer and several dagger-sized bee stingers, then vanished from the room along with several of her bees and the mannequins. If any of them knew what she was feeling right now, it was Gyps.
You're putting on quite the brave face, aren't you, Apis? But I know. That sunny disposition is nothing but a façade. The truth has been eating away at all of us, but you're taking it the worst of us. After all, we both there when it happened…
In Crystal Tokyo, Neo Queen Serenity met with her four Sailor guardians, and together they went for a leisurely walk through the crystalline palace. After the latest battle, the queen wanted to hear from them how things were going. Sailors Mercury, Venus and Jupiter talked about each of their individual battles, but Mars remained silent in the background while listening intently to them. One topic of interest to her kept coming up;
"I'm really worried about Inuken Midori, though," Mercury murmured. "She's the only person who's been involved in all of the Erisian's attacks, even though she has nothing to do with both us and the enemy. We had originally thought they would solely go after Chibi-Usa for the Silver Crystal, but she's wasn't present for every battle. I just don't understand what Midori has to do with any of this."
"Now that you mention it, remember what Chibi-Usa told us about Naja threatening Midori during that party?" Jupiter asked.
"Even before that, Gyps tried to kidnap her," Venus recalled.
"Yeah. Now we have Varan attempting to kill her before Masato and I intervened. That woman even ordered Jouji to put a gun to her head! Who knows what the last Camarilla, Apis, will do to endanger that girl's life."
"Uranus and Neptune also said that Sailor Arsenic Hyena was once an ally of those four before they became members of the Animus Syndicate, meaning that they were all once Sailor Senshi from Alkima," Mercury added. "Do you think there is a connection between Midori and Hyena that we don't know about?"
"Maybe Midori knows where Hyena is hiding, and they're trying to force her to tell them," Venus suggested.
"But then why would Midori know that in the first place?"
"Um… Well… Maybe Hyena landed here from outer space and Midori witnessed her, so they made some kind of deal to protect each other. A civilian meeting an alien Sailor Soldier would be a crazy thing, wouldn't you think?"
"I wonder…" Jupiter murmured.
Sailor Mars didn't say anything during the conversation. Serenity noticed her friend's withdrawn behavior and asked, "Is something the matter, Mars?"
"I haven't had a chance to meet either of them formally, so I was wondering something."
"What would that be?"
"… Has anyone ever seen Midori and Hyena together?"
The other three Soldiers glanced at each other while thinking back. To their collective astonishment, they all said, "No."
"Not even once?" Mars widened her eyes.
"Now that I think about it, we always tell Midori to go hide somewhere safe. Then a few minutes later, Hyena appears to help us out," Mercury explained.
"Ah! Maybe Hyena can sense that Midori is in trouble and rushes in to protect her!" Venus interjected. "Just like when Tuxedo Mask could tell when Sailor Moon needed his help, right!?"
"Hmm…" Serenity scratched her chin, "That has more to do with his latent abilities for psychometry. As his soul is connected to Earth itself, he could sense when I was in danger and where to find me."
"I don't think Hyena nor Midori exhibit such an ability," Mercury said. "For that to work, Hyena would have to monitor Midori on a constant basis."
"Oh. Guess that wouldn't be practical, huh?" Venus twiddled her fingers.
Mars remained stoic as she began thinking of an alternate explanation. She remarked, "I ask that because you know what we have to do to keep our identities secret from the public. We hide out of sight and transform, then reveal ourselves and fight the enemy."
Serenity's eyes felt heavy as she recalled her time as Sailor Moon back in the 20th century. The queen asked with a somber tone, "Then, Mars… Do you think Midori and Hyena are…?"
"I don't know. It's only a suspicion I have. Of course, I have a way of finding out."
The two friends smiled warmly, recognizing the words not being spoken to each other. Serenity said, "Then I will leave it to you. Please find the truth for us."