Shutting the doors behind him with a light click, Darien started towards the room where he'd first met Meg. After a few minutes he was at the end of the hallway, but he slowed down when he sensed someone behind him, their footsteps were slightly clumsy, if he hadn't been paying attention he would have never noticed the soft footsteps that were slightly out of step with his.
Slowly, Darien reached into his pocket and quickly pulled out a knife that he had taken from a guard. If the person following me was good, then they wouldn't be sneaking around behind me.
Grasping the knife tightly in his palm and careful not to cut himself, Darien concentrated on the footsteps behind him and prepared to throw the knife.
And without warning he swiftly brought the sharp blade down with all of the force he could gather, throwing it at the figure behind him.
A second later Darien heard the person let out a surprised and pain filled gasp as the knife made contact with skin, but Darien didn't turn around until he heard the figure drop to the floor.
Looking behind him, Darien watched in a daze as the man held his bleeding neck and withered around on the dirty floor, as moments passed, the man was motionless, dead. Stepping towards the man, Darien was relieved to find out that it had been a guard following him.
Cautiously, Darien knelt down on the dirt floor and carefully placed his hand in the guard's pants pocket, he was looking for anything that would be useful. As his hand touched cold metal, he pocketed the guard's keys and other identification so he can continue to where the prisoners were being held.
Walking a little further, Darien found that the next door was locked. That's probably why so many guards are out walking the hallways. They have noticed that something is not right; they wouldn't want their prisoners escaping.
Pulling the guards heavy keys out of his pocket, he gave them one look and sighed, it was going to take him awhile to get inside of the room.
After painstakingly going through about twenty keys, he finally found the right one. Pushing open the heavy door, it made a high pitched groaning noise and opened slowly.
Inside of the room, nothing had changed. The older man was still on the floor and he was alive, but unconscious.
Walking past the cells, he came to the other door that Meg had pointed out previously. This time the door wasn't locked and Darien just walked inside of the room. It was dark, except for the light coming through the door that he had opened.
Hearing nothing inside of the room unnerved him a little, and he wondered if he should continue. Scanning the dark room he looked for any movement and he was pleased to find what looked like human bodies shifting and moving around slightly.
Deciding the room was safe, he turned on the light. As soon as the room was bathed in artificial light, a groaning was heard, but it wasn't from the door, it was from the people inside.
The occupants of the room were all covering their eyes and moaning in pain, meaning that everyone in the room hadn't seen light in quite a long time.
The room wasn't much better than the previous room, though this one seemed to contain people who had been in the building longer, and the smell was rancid.
Resisting the urge to cover his nose, he looked around the room. There were rows and rows of cells with a multitude of people inside, most of them looking haggard and sick.
All of the space was taken up by overcrowded cells, leaving a narrow path for a guard or someone to walk past the multitude of cells.
Darien also noticed that almost everyone's eyes followed him as he moved around the room. Everything was silent and he could only hear his footsteps as he debated which side of the room he would open the first cell. He hoped he wouldn't cause some sort of a riot or argument.
"I'm going to get all of you out of here." Darien tried to sound and look encouraging as he waited for a response, but got none.
He thought his words would be comforting, but thought differently when he heard some snickers and laughter. When he still got no verbal answer he decided to try and talk to them again. "Does anyone want to get out of here?" Only a few heads turned in his direction. He could tell that almost everyone had lost hope a long time ago.
The occupants either thought that this is a trick or that it is impossible to get them out, but Darien knew it wasn't. "I'm going to start at this row of cells first, and then when I'm finished I want all of you to wait and follow me. Okay?" A few mumbles were heard and then nothing.
"Do you really think you can get all of us out of here and then put us out on our own again? Most of us in here are presumed dead and we probably lost our jobs a long time ago, there is no hope left anymore." Darien was surprised someone had spoke up. It was an older man and he sat in a cell with what looked like his family. Shouldn't he be optimistic, especially if his family is right next to him?
He really didn't know what to say to the older man, so he ignored him. Darien had no clue what these people had gone through in the past couple of months, so he tried to say as little as possible to everyone.
He was also starting to get suspicious about how much murder and kidnappings were actually on the news, there were far more than what Darien had first thought. Most of the prisoners will have mental scars and even physical scars. It will take a long time for everyone to heal, but he knew that they all would get help.
"I'm going to get all of you out of here, just like I got the other group of prisoners out. I have someone waiting for all of you above ground. After that, the police will be involved and everyone will receive the help that they need." This time Darien got no answer, only more skeptical stares.
Reaching the first cell, Darien saw the occupants had a blank stare that seemed to bore holes into his skull, he wondered what they were thinking.
Once the door was open, a few people hesitantly stepped out and then they stopped. He watched as they looked at one another for support and courage.
Giving them time to adjust to the change, he went on to the next cell. The reaction was roughly the same as the last cell, so he continued on to the next. But as he was halfway through with opening the cell doors, the people started to get anxious.
Shouts were heard and then angry yelling, "Hey, what about us, don't leave us in here." A man in his early thirties shouted to Darien. "I will get to everyone, don't worry." He said absentmindedly.
Once the last cell was opened, Darien walked to the door that he entered through and made a hand motion indicating that they should stop talking and listen to him. "We are going to file through this door, I want everyone to follow me and I would also like everyone to remain silent. If a guard comes at us, I will take care of him, I want no panicking. All of you will get out of here safely." Without waiting for a reply, he walked through the doors and out into the hall.
Without looking behind him, he knew that everyone was following his directions, which made him feel more relaxed and confident about the situation he is in.
As he turned a corner, Darien felt a light tap on his right shoulder. Still walking he looked behind him and was surprised to see Laura looking at him expectantly. "You're alive?" He felt stupid after he said that out loud.
Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassed, he had already figured that she and Bryant were still alive, due to the fact that there are so many survivors. "Yeah, I'm alive. But Bryant is just barely." He detected a hint of sadness in her voice.
That's when Darien realized Bryant wasn't around, "Where is he if he isn't with you?" Laura sighed. "He is right behind me." She turned around and pointed to a man that could have been a walking corpse.
Darien stared at Bryant for a moment, clearly not believing that that could be him. "What happened? How long has he been here?" She seemed to think on what he said before she replied. "Hm, he has been here for maybe three or so months. He has just been withering away. I don't even think he recognizes me." She was looking desperately at Darien when she said that.
"Why don't you talk to him?" Laura was now twisting her hands nervously. "I already talked to him. He recognized me, but he is just talking nonsense, that's what scares me." Darien nodded his head in understanding.
"Why didn't I see you when I was opening up the cells?" He was still walking forward and they were getting closer to the building that was underwater. "I was in a very crowded cell and I was in the back by the wall, so you wouldn't have seen or heard me." Darien just nodded his head, most of his attention was on the hallway.
They walked in silence until they reached the double doors that would lead them one step closer toward freedom.
"Okay, I want everyone to know that this is going to be a very bright room, so watch your eyes. This next section of the building must make up for the lack of light in this one." His humor went unnoticed to the group of people behind him, they just stared blankly. "Just watch where you're walking." And with that, he opened the doors and stood in the middle of the bright room.
When everyone was inside the room, Darien heard their protests against the light and saw that they wouldn't be walking anytime soon.
Five minutes past and everyone had adjusted to the bright light. Most of the group was staring fixatedly at the room they were in, their mouths were hanging open. I must have looked like that too. Darien stifled a laugh as he motioned for everyone to follow him.
Rounding a corner, he immediately saw a figure dressed in dark clothes and standing a few feet away from the elevators. With a sigh of annoyance, Darien picked up his pace and took out another knife from his pants pocket.
Aiming it at the figure's back he flung the knife, hoping to his a vital spot on the person's neck. This time Darien wasn't so lucky with his aim. The figure had turned around to reveal a broad shouldered man and in his hand was the knife that Darien had thrown.
With a laugh the man threw the knife into the crowd of people behind Darien. Darien, who had already expected this, grabbed the weapon before it could hit someone. By this time, the small crowd of people behind him started to get anxious and jumpy. Darien could feel their nervous energy and panic at the new situation.
After Darien pocketed the knife, he stalked towards the still laughing man. Darien intended to get rid of the man quickly so he wouldn't cause more panic. "You might not want to try and kill everyone you meet…they might not be as experienced as I' am." Darien cocked his head to the side, confused. He wondered why the man would tell him anything, especially that.
Shrugging his shoulders he continued towards the man, but before Darien could reach him, he disappeared, leaving no trace of himself behind, except his laughter that was still lingering in the hallway. At any moment they could bring backup to take us out, they know that we are here, but why aren't they stopping us yet? And why did he say all of those weird things about not killing people in the hallway?
Trying to act normal and calm, he didn't want everyone asking questions, especially because he wasn't sure if he had the answers.
Darien went down the last hallway where they would turn and go into the room with the six elevators. About to open the door, Darien spotted another figure down the hall. As he looked closer he saw that it was a small and short person, maybe a child, but the facial features were undistinguishable from his distance.
Turning his back on the figure, he faced everyone behind him. "I need everyone to file inside of this room, quickly." As everyone filed inside, there was pushing and shoving and more and more talking.
"I really need everyone to calmly walk inside of an elevator. I want about ten or so people in each one. Everyone will get to leave, so don't rush." As he finished speaking, he waited to see what the people would do, would they listen to him or not?
When every elevator door opened, Darien watched as everyone disregarded his directions. There was more pushing and shoving, shouting and yelling. The light chatter that had surrounded everyone before was now filled with hate, anger and yelling.
The six elevators were so crowded that the doors would barely shut; some people were even pushed out. But when the elevators finally shut and the talking and rushing was gone, Darien looked around the room and noticed a few people were left behind. He also noticed that Laura was left and made a motion with his hand to show that he wanted her to stay where she is.
Leaving the room, he was met with a body crashing into his. Darien lost his balance, but was able to stay standing, the other person wasn't that lucky.
The figure went crashing to the ground with a surprised yell, glancing down he noticed that the small figure sprawled on the ground looked and sounded familiar. As the figure stood up he noticed that something was familiar with this person. "Robert? Are you Robert?"
Darien knew it was Robert, but something was different with him. The boy had a few bruises and it looked like he hadn't slept in days.
"Darien." He watched as the boy looked up at him in wonder or amazement. Robert just stared at him with his mouth slightly open, it looked like he was trying to form words, but couldn't.
"Why are you here?" Darien waited for Robert to answer, he never expected him to be here, he thought that he had gotten away and was at a relative's house.
"There is really no time to explain anything, your friends need help. They are looking for you, but they could use some help. You need to go to them quickly. I was wandering around this place for a long time before I found you. If they didn't move to another room, they should be in a dirt looking building, the room that they are in is huge." He regarded Robert skeptically before deciding to speak.
"Okay, I'm going to go to them. Your mother and father are in the room over there. You need to leave this place with them, everything will be taken care of."
Darien knew that Laura would be waiting for him, and for her to see Robert would probably lift her spirits. As Robert walked into the room before him, he heard a feminine gasp of surprise and footsteps. Then he heard Laura start crying and he watched her place a motherly kiss on Robert's cheek.
Turning his back on the happy pair, he pressed the elevator's open button. After a few minutes he watched as the elevator came back down with not one person on it.
Once he stepped inside, he held the door for Laura and Robert. As they walked in and the door shut, he saw that they were still happy to see each other.
As the elevator stopped it's ascend to the above ground level, it opened smoothly, revealing a small room with glass doors that lead to a dense forest with no visible civilization surrounding it.
"Laura can I talk to you for a few minutes before you leave?" Her response was almost immediate. "Sure and Robert why don't you walk to the group of people sitting outside, they will be there waiting for help to come." Laura watched as Robert nodded his head and headed towards the doors that would lead him outside.
Just as he was out of sight, Darien realized that he couldn't see Bryant anywhere. "Where is Bryant" Laura turned to him with a scowl on her face. "He went up on another elevator without me." Darien didn't know what to say.
"He probably didn't think that he did anything wrong, remember he needs some mental help. But when you get out of here, find some help for him and I think he will be back to normal in a few months."
Laura smiled at him. "Yeah, he should be back to normal soon, I hope. I will also keep you updated on his condition when we get out of this mess. During these past few months my opinions have changed and I have a different outlook on life. So, why don't we get going now, I can't wait to get home."
Darien looked at her and sighed. "Well that is good for you." He said genuinely. "But I have to go back into the building and help some more people. And you should get out of here with Robert and Bryant, Robert probably wants to tell you the entire reason he is here. And your cell phone should work outside."
Laura looked at him critically before saying, "Okay, but I want to know when you get out of this place. Thank you for your help." And with that she turned and left, not waiting for a response.
Back inside the building, Darien suddenly remembered that Serena needed his help. Quickening his pace, he jogged past countless doors and long stretches of hallway until he got back to the underground part of the building.
Every once and a while he stopped to catch his breath, and he strained his ears to hear anything that might give the location of Serena and the others away, but he heard nothing.
As he rounded a corner he heard a light murmuring, it was coming from a door that was three feet in front of him. Pressing his ear to the door, he heard the murmuring more clearly and it turned out that it was deep male voices.
Darien could only catch a few words that held no significance, but as the talking stopped, he heard footsteps walking towards the door he was behind.
Pushing himself away from the door, he darted back to the other hallway that was only a few feet away and pressed his back to the wall.
He heard the door open where he had been and the voices dropped to a whisper. This time he caught more of their conversation. "I want you to go get them, and bring them back here, okay?" The other man sounded annoyed at his job. "Fine, Fine."
Darien didn't have time to think about what they said because someone started to walk towards him. He knew that when the man turned the corner he would immediately see him and alert the others.
Looking back and forth he realized that he couldn't run and hide anywhere, so he stayed in his spot, waiting for the guy and hoping that he could take him down.
But before the man turned the corner he disappeared, just like the other guy had. Breathing a sigh of relief he heard more footsteps, but they were headed in the opposite direction of where he was standing.
Cautiously he peaked around the corner and watched as the two guys walked down the hall, talking quietly. Once the two men were almost out of sight, he started to follow them, wishing that they would lead him to Serena and the others since he didn't have any more ideas.
With Serena
Looking back and forth at the huge room they were in, Serena was itching to move around.
The man that had brought them here was standing at the opposite side of the room, he seemed to be guarding the door that is directly behind him.
He had said something about more people coming and helping him, but it had been ten minutes since he had said that.
Serena could tell that her friends were getting agitated at just standing around. Looking to her right, Serena watched as Lita or Sailor Jupiter, crossed her arms and tapped her foot in annoyance.
Before turning around again, Serena realized just how different everyone looked. It was weird to look at her friends, who she still envisioned to look like teenagers. Everyone almost looked like they were at some sort of adult Halloween party, since they were transformed.
As her mind wandered, she realized that someone was calling her name, the voice sounded panicked and frantic. But before she could react to it, she saw a figure rush at her and then knock her to the floor, her breath left her as the person landed on her.
Blinking, she looked around as everything happened in a fast blur. Right where she had been standing a powerful blast had landed, making a large indent in the dirt floor. Dirt and debris scattered the large room and when everything cleared, Serena tried to sit up, but she couldn't.
Looking down at her lap she saw Sailor Mars, who was also trying to get up. She had dirt across her clothes and she didn't look too happy.
She watched as Mars glared at her, knowing what was going to happen next. "You need to pay attention more often!" Mars yelled at her as she was still trying to get up. Mars was about to yell at her more, but she was cut off when another powerful blast of energy was sent sailing towards them at an alarming speed.
Picking themselves off of the floor, they ran across the room as the second blast of energy landed where they had been only moments before. Breathing heavily, Serena looked around the room, she was searching for her friends. Her breathing returned to normal when she saw that everyone was alright.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a figure darting across her peripheral vision. The figure was small and running through shadows, she realized that it had to be Robert. As he approached her she noticed that he was getting ready to speak. "I'm going to look for prisoners and maybe find Darien and my parents." She nodded her head at his rushed statement and watched as he quickly darted unnoticed past the man that was currently attacking her friends on the opposite side of the room.
Running towards them, she watched as the man was getting increasingly tired and beat-up, he looked like he would fall over any second.
Barely able to remain standing, a scream emitted from him as Sailor Mercury sent a blast of ice at him. The man landed on his knees from the impact and fell to the dirt floor, she couldn't tell if he was dead or if he had fainted.
"So what do we do now?" Serena looked at her friends, waiting to hear a response. "Maybe we should walk around and just look at everything?" Sailor Venus said with a shrug of her shoulders.
Agreeing, they started across the room to the only door, which was wide open. Once they were mere feet away from the door, it slammed shut with a resounding bang.
Two shadowy figures soon appeared in front of them, but before they could fully form, Sailor Mars sent a blaze of fire at them.
As the fire hit the targets, smoke and debris rose in the air. And as soon as it cleared there were two solid male figures standing side by side, the attack didn't seem to harm them.
But in response to the attack sent at them, one of the two men sent an attack hurdling at Sailor Mars. She moved out of the way in time, but her arm was grazed by the attack, it didn't cause too much damage, but the wound still looked painful.
As the two men stepped closer, they were already powering up for another attack and as one of the men released a powerful blast of energy, the second man walked towards the limp figure on the ground, the one that that the Sailor Senshi had taken down.
After the blast of power passed the group, and literally shook the whole building, they all watched as one of the men started to revive the one on the floor.
Serena watched in amazement as the man who seemed dead was revived right before everyone's eyes. Wow, that man must be powerful to revive someone so quickly. Maybe we should target him first since he seems to be the leader and the most powerful.
Serena looked to her friends, about to convey the message, but was surprised to see everyone looking at her with faces of horror and surprise.
Blinking she looked forward and before she could react she was knocked into the wall behind her with enough force to bring a building down.
Pain raced through her back and neck as she slowly removed herself from the wall that now had a human sized dent in it, courtesy of the man in front of her.
Serena's eyes widened in shock as she realized the man was in front of her again, bracing herself for more pain she was frightened to realize that nothing happened.
Opening her closed eyes, she was even more shocked to find that the man was now only inches from her face.
Feeling white hot anger flow through her body as he smirked at her, she pushed him away from her with all the energy she had. It effectively got him far enough away from her as she shakily stood up from the wall she was knocked into.
Serena stood her ground as the man approached her, he only looked slightly angry at being pushed, but he still had an annoying smirk on his face.
"So, you're the leader of this group of…girls, right." Serena knew he was just playing with her, she just nodded her head at his question to avoid saying anything.
"Mhm, you're not that great of a leader then, you're doing nothing while your friends are fighting my little group. You even let your guard down enough to let me attack you, and it seems it will happen again."
Without another warning he rushed towards her, he was a blur in Serena's eyes. With difficulty she jumped out of the way and sent a swift kick to his shin, which caused him to pause. Serena barely saw the look of pain cross his features, but it was gone in an instant.
He looked angrily at Serena, but he also looked a little impressed.
"For a human female, you are strong; I'm surprised I let my guard down enough to let you attack me."
And he was gone, he reappeared with his fist raised and it was headed towards her head, she turned, but instead of getting the full blow she was clipped in the chin. It sent her teeth slamming together and her head slamming to the left. He was strong, for whatever he is.
Serena remembered one of the other men saying they weren't human, but they didn't seem related to past enemies. They really didn't give much, if anything away about themselves, only the basics. We're here to take over, blah blah, we will defeat you, blah blah blah, and we are so strong we can't be beat, blah.
Serena had to give the man, or thing, in front of her credit though, he was strong.
This time Serena rushed at the man, her fist ready and her face set in determination. She let her fist fly at the man's face, but he sidestepped and he sent another fist of his own, but she dodged it too.
The dodging continued and neither one got hit for a good five minutes, until Serena sent another kick to his shin. It made contact and he faltered, but instead of falling over, he only looked more determined as he gathered what looked like raw energy or power into his hand. Favoring his right leg, he continued towards Serena while still gathering more power.
With a heave of his arm, he sent the ball of power at Serena, she moved out of the way, but it followed her. She didn't realize she was hit until she felt her shoulder burning with pain. She wanted to drop to the floor, but she knew that if she did, she would definitely die.
This time she took her remaining energy and cast it at the enemy with her scepter. If it didn't get rid of him, she didn't know what would, and that worried her.
As she released her attack, he did get hit and it did slow him down, but he was still up and moving. By that time, Serena was on the dirt floor, clutching her wounded shoulder.
She spared a glance at her friends, who looked tired, but were doing pretty well and Serena felt relief because of that. But a quick kick to her ribs woke her up from her relief, she had forgotten about the enemy she was still fighting.
Looking up, Serena was greeted with a scowl from the man she had attacked. She was happy that her attack had done some kind of damage.
But without warning, he brought his foot down onto her leg this time, it made a sickening crack when it made contact and Serena was sure it was either broken or fractured.
He was about to kick her again, but she propelled herself forward and slashed at his already wounded right leg.
He grunted in pain and before he could recover, she kicked his shin again, but this time it was with her unhurt leg.
As he fell to the ground, only feet away from her, he managed to kick her in the collar bone with his fairly unscathed left leg.
Serena felt more pain race up her shoulder as her collar bone radiated heat and pain. Managing to lean on her elbows painfully, she looked towards the man she had knocked down, she must have broken his leg because he couldn't get up.
As Serena caught the man's eye, it seemed to gleam with dark intent. But before she could stop him, he yelled something at his men and they all stopped fighting.
"This is the end, I only have two of my men left, the rest were killed by your little group. It ends now, you and your friends are going to die."
And with that, the men shot a blast of power to the ceiling, causing the building to shake and groan while the ceiling started to fall and collapse.
"You're dead now."
By the time he said that, his two men were carrying him away, and he was gone.
As the building started to collapse, Serena was blocked off from her friends; she was mainly worried about them and not herself.
Holding onto the hope that everyone could survive this, Serena tried to stand up, but her shoulders, stomach and legs cried out with exertion and pain, only causing her to painfully collapse and curl into a ball as the building fell around her.
Her last thoughts were of her friends and Darien, hoping that she would see them again and that her friends would survive.
Serena knew she was still alive when she woke up with immense pain all over her body and a heavy weight pinning down her legs and arms.
Heaving a heavy sigh, she struggled to sit up, too scared to look around her, so she looked at the damage done to her. She couldn't see much though, everything was dark and she felt dirt and rock all around her.
She had never really felt claustrophobic before, but she was sure that it felt like what she was feeling now. She couldn't move or lift herself, either due to her injures or the rubble and debris, probably both.
She felt like screaming, and that's what she ended up doing. After a few seconds she gave up, her throat was too sore to say or scream anything else. Giving up after trying to claw her way out, she let herself slip into unconsciousness.
Hours, days, minutes later, Serena didn't know, all she could feel was someone grabbing her arms and lifting her up and out of the prison she had been in.
As she become more and more aware of her surroundings, she noticed that she recognized the voices around her. They were worried, but happy she was alive, and she also heard a voice that made her want to scream all over again, but with relief and happiness.
Opening her eyes she was greeted with the site of Darien, who she hadn't seen in what felt like forever. Grinning she wrapped her arms around him, only letting go when she realized her shoulder was blazing with pain and her body was still aching.
She didn't know what to say, so she let someone else talk.
"Serena, they got away, there is three of them left. We got rid of two, but the other two got away and the one you were fighting got away also."
Once Serena heard the grim statement, she wanted to cry with frustration, but she didn't, she knew she had to be strong, especially with Darien watching. Why hadn't Darien said anything though, Serena was getting worried.
"Um, is everyone okay? Was I the only one that you guys needed to find?"
"Yeah, everyone is okay. When the building started to collapse, you were on the other side of the room, so we had to look for you because you were buried in all of the dirt and rubble that fell."
Nodding her head, Serena looked around, everything was in more of a mess than before, and she couldn't even find the door that they had been trying to get out of in the first place.
"Are we going to go after them? Do you have any clue to where they might have gone?"
Everyone shook their head. "They sort of disappeared when they destroyed the building."
"Are we going to go home now, I mean there is nothing else to do, we don't know where the enemy went, so what do we do?"
A silence filled the room as everyone thought about what they needed to do.
"I think we should look around before we leave, and make sure there is nothing we missed."
That was Darien's idea and everyone seemed to agree with it. Gently standing up, Serena was pleased to find out that her leg was just sore and not broken, even though she had to limp, it was better than having a broken bone.
As they all cleared a path towards the door, they were slowed down by all of the injuries they had, but they still continued.
When they reached the hall there was various pieces of ceiling missing, but it looked better than the other room had looked.
While they searched all of the rooms they could, they found nothing, their enemies had left. Sighing with frustration they headed towards the elevators, and were surprised to find that they still worked.
The ride to ground level couldn't have taken longer, but once the doors were open, everyone was looking forward to be outside again, they were also happy to find that it was daylight too.
But as everyone stepped outside and into the fresh air, a powerful blast of energy was sent hurdling right at them and woke them up to the fact that their enemies are back and angry.
"Okay, I can't say that I'm not impressed. Though I thought something like this might happen, that's why I'm prepared."
Serena felt even sicker to her already hurt stomach when the man in front of them revealed about ten to fifteen people.
Serena didn't know who they are, but they looked sick and tired, not to mention scared. There was even a little girl that they had taken also.
"What do you want with them? They have nothing to do with this."
The man laughed at what Darien had said and Serena got the feeling that Darien at least recognized the people held hostage in front of them.
"Oh, these people, well they are here to make sure you don't kill my two men and me. I need you and everyone else with you to be dead. But it seems like the odds aren't in my favor today, so we have innocent lives that will die if you don't come with us. You don't want to cause them more pain and suffering than they have already went through, right?"
Serena looked over at Darien, he was seething with anger, Serena was sure Darien would launch himself at the man taunting the hostages and him.
Darien started towards the man, but as soon as the man grabbed a little girl from her mother and father, Darien stopped his pursuit.
"Now I want all of you to come with me, or I will hurt and kill this little girl." He roughly shook her to make her gasp with fear and shake in his arms.
After a pause everyone looked around for someone to do something.
"Fine, but let the girl go back to her parents, right now." Sailor Jupiter spoke up, her voice strong, trying to get the man to listen to her.
"Okay, okay, just come with me then."
And he let the little girl go, but not without patting her head lightly and pushing her to her parents.
Serena was already angry with the man for even talking to the girl in the first place, but when he shook her and patted her head, it was like Serena was seeing red.
Just as the girl went back to her parents, Serena was on the enemy before he could even turn his head.
She kicked and punched every part of his body that she could find and she didn't stop until she was thrown onto the ground and was kicked in the ribs for the second time.
Looking up, the man was furious, he went to grab the little girl again, but the group of hostages was being led away by two of her friends. Darien was also after the two men, along with Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus.
Serena was up and on her feet again, ready for another attack, and when the man started throwing punches, she was ready and dodging them.
But what she didn't notice was that the enemy was slowly leading her away from everyone and when she felt her foot hit a large rock she couldn't move or dodge his punch.
Serena was hit full on in the face with the enemy's fist, she was literally seeing spots in her vision as she felt her face already swelling and growing warm.
But even before she could move again, she was pushed down until her head hit the rock that she had tripped over, her head came down with a sickening crack and she felt blood start pouring from the wound that was just made.
Coming to her senses, she fought some more against the man, catching him in the face with her fist and kicking him in his miraculously healed leg.
The pain flaring through her body was almost unbearable and she never wanted to feel it again, she just wanted everything to be over.
He managed to catch her again in the face, with his fist. This time she fell and brought him down with her. She tried to hit him some more, but couldn't. She started to feel helpless as he wrapped his hands around her throat and started choking her.
She did the only thing she could think of, she headbutted him with every bit of strength she had left, hoping it would at least stun him.
It worked, but she had no strength left to lift him off of her, but she would be eternally grateful to Darien because he ripped the barely conscious body off of her and threw it to the ground and kicked it a few times to make sure he wouldn't get up.
Serena could feel a bruise blossoming on her forehead and a headache starting to come on, she wanted to get rid of the enemy and be done with it.
Staggering to her feet, she leaned on Darien as she faced the body on the ground that was trying to get up. She slowly gathered any strength she had left after the fight and purified the body in front of her.
Almost instantly the man let out a scream and disintegrated, only to blow away in the breeze.
A little bit later
As Serena or Sailor Moon finished purifying and getting rid of the enemies bodies, she felt a weight lift off of her shoulders.
Now there shouldn't be many more unknown mass murders, but only one thing bothered her. The mass murdering enemies hadn't died as gruesomely as what their victims must have felt and faced. They just got to disappear in a cloud of dust, while their victims most likely died slowly.
The only thing that comforted her was Darien and her friends, and the knowledge that the enemies would never be back.
The last few weeks had been very frustrating, hectic and stressful, but Serena felt that she learned a lot about herself and her close friends.
Serena was really glad that her wishes came true, that all of her friends and Darien would come out alive and well, if not a bit bruised.
The only thing left to do was send the hostages and prisoners safely back to where they came from and to make sure that they get the help they deserve.
Grabbing Darien, Serena wrapped her arms around him, careful not to aggravate any of her injuries, she just needed to be close to him after a few weeks of not seeing and barely hearing from him. And after a few moments of holding each other, they started down the slight hill to where everyone was waiting, including the hostages.
But the one thing Serena is looking forward to, is going home and getting some rest. Then she is excited for everything to fall back into the normal routine, the routine where enemies aren't in the picture.
A/N- Hi! Wow, it's been a long time since I updated. This last chapter was hard to write and I had some conflicts with my writing style, so I kept on editing it. I just knew I had to finish this before the New Year. I hope it was a good chapter and I hope it's a good ending to this fanfic. I will post another fanfic soon, so if you want to check it out in the next few weeks please do so, if you guys haven't given up on me…haha. Well I want to give a big thank you to my reviewers, who are awesome, and especially a big thank you to Unknown reader, who has given me great reviews since the first chapter. Thanks again everyone, reviews are always appreciated!