Since I could not simply rush down the stairs and blow everything up by showing myself right in the middle of whatever was awaiting there, I probed the walls with the hope I could find some piece of metal to 'grip' magnetically – but to no avail, whether there was no metal or my magnetic powers not responding.

Gravity, friend, we go way back together, don't we? Help me, please.

I had managed to invert gravity earlier – even though I wasn't even conscious of what I was doing. I just needed to find how to trigger it. I reminded what Erlan had told us. A formula, I needed a formula. But I also knew formulas sometimes weren't enough. So I closed my eyes and tried to picture the scenery upside down. I tried to imagine I was walking on the ceiling, with the stairway above my head. Then I felt it – this strange sensation of remembering something very important. So I tried even harder, and soon it hit me.

Mercury Gravitic Turnaround!

I got pulled up and fell onto the ceiling, like the first time. I landed on all four and made sure I was stabilized before trying to move around a bit. I was surprisingly comfortable with the inverted gravity, it actually made no difference – the focus which pulled me up seemed to follow my every step. I leapt forward and slowly crept up to the room downstairs.

Okay, guys. I'm fine, I knocked out a guard, transformed, and now I've found a way to stick to the ceiling so I can go unnoticed. There's a stairway which leads to a room, I'm close to the entrance, I'm almost there, and-

I took a glance inside, and my mental speech cut out all of a sudden. This was a huge place, like some sort of hangar or something – which I had no idea could possibly hide under our school. There was a giant crystal standing in the middle of it, which was pulsating with lights and arcs of electricity. On one side of it, people were standing in line, waiting their turn to enter the crystal. On the other side, cages with people screaming and crying trapped inside. And in-between, a bunch of Saurians and Myriapods were escorting them back and forth to the crystal.

M-m-my God! What the hell is this?!

After discreetly jumping into the room to get a better view, I stared in horror as a boy calmly walked through the surface of the crystal. Then, I could make out a shadowy form flying out of him, and the boy instantly stepped back and fell to his knees, yelling in despair 'No! Please! Let me go!'. A couple of Saurians forced him up and pushed him inside a cage before locking it down.

They're – regenerating! This is what it's all about! The Shadows need to regenerate! They need to leave their host once in a while to regenerate in that giant crystal over there!

A-A-Annabel?

What? Who is it?

I-I-It's Sophie – c-c-can you hear me?

Yes, I can! Are you using mental speech? How did you do that?

I don't really know, but – w-w-we may have a problem right now.

What's going on?

As I was scanning the room for anything unusual – if there was anything usual about all the alien stuff – I suddenly spotted her stepping in line, close to the entrance.

Sophie! What the hell are you doing here?!

It's not my fault, I-I-I was trying to sneak peek through the back door and I was kinda caught in a couple of guys – they pushed me inside and I was forced to play along as an Infested.

You may have fooled them so far, but they'll find out as soon as you get to that crystal!

I know, but… What can I do?

Girls? Now would be a good time for that fire alarm we talked about…

We waited for almost a full minute, which felt like an eternity, but as Sophie was getting dangerously close to the crystal, nothing had happened yet.

Hello?

What's taking them so long?

I don't know but it looks like we're going to have to handle this ourselves.

You can't fight them, there are too many!

You can't be captured, either.

My body craved for action so much anyways, that it was almost a relief for me to leap straight in the middle of the alien creatures.

Hey, monsters! Missed me? Let's fight on equal terms this time!

The quickest to react was a Saurian that stood a few feet away. It dashed into my direction while swinging his armblades like crazy. But it was not fast enough for my enhanced senses, and I watched carefully, like it was in slow motion, and as soon as I saw an opening, I took advantage of it to scratch the creature's face. It stepped back, screaming in pain. Immediately after, a pack of Myriapods rushed forward, hurling their numerous limbs at me, but I dodged the attack by leaping to the ceiling. The creatures gave me a startled look, and stood dumbstruck as I fell down swirling my arms. I hit them hard and knocked them down.

I engaged in a furious ballet with the aliens, jumping, flipping, scratching, kicking in all directions. No matter how many of them came at me, I would drive them all back with incredible ease. My body was strong, my mind was sharp. I could practically jump from one wall to the other. I was like a graceful angel of death dancing among the monstrous aliens, bringing them down one by one.

Then I noticed the lament had changed to a cheer. The prisoners were staring at me with eyes wide open and shouting encouragements at me. I fought my way to the nearest cage, and leaped over a couple of Saurians that were guarding it hesitantly. I reached for the door. A magnetic lock. Bad day for the Shadows.

The door swung open and people started to flow out of the cage. The aliens suddenly lost their interest in me and they started to chase their prisoners while I was busy releasing them. I tried my best to ward the creatures off, but it soon turned out that I couldn't possibly be everywhere. They were unable to beat me and they knew it – but there were dozens of them and I was all alone. And I was growing tired of fighting on all sides. People were getting caught, and they would scream in pain when Saurians would scratch them with their razor claws, or when Myriapods would beat them up relentlessly. I was surrounded with so much suffering and despair, that it was too much for me to handle. I was but a mere teenage girl, and at that time I wasnt used to all the fighting and stuff. I wanted to run away, far from the school, far from the evil crystal and the horrendous Shadows that dwelt in it. I was losing it.

Then, a familiar voice yelled 'Come on, everybody! Lets get together!' I stopped and turned around. Ellen, my beloved sister, stood there, her hair messy and her face red in anger. She was waving forward, rallying students with that resolute expression of hers I'd always admired, the one that makes you feel like anything's possible. At that very moment, I knew this was the real her, and not some alien creature trying to make it seem that way. No ill-minded monster could possibly fake this radiance, this fierce, yet positive aura there was about her. People gathered behind Ellen and formed a human wall. The aliens teamed up as well, blocking the way to the staircase that led back up. The people took a step forward. The monsters growled.

'Don't falter!' Ellen called, 'They may be strong, but we're a lot more than they are!'

Somehow, the fire alarm picked that very moment to start ringing. People dashed forward with mad screams and soon overwhelmed Saurians and Myriapods alike, who were trying their best to push the crowd back.

Let's go back, quickly! Sophie urged.

I was torn apart. There were so many people still held by the creatures, desperately crying for help, and that giant crystal was still standing – but at the same time, a bunch of people was actually breaking free, along with my sister.

We'll come again. We cannot save everybody in a single shot. Run while you still can!

Alright. I'm coming.

I leaped in the air and flew from one Saurian to the other, kicking them in the along the way to help the humans who were struggling with them. Then suddenly, a Myriapod swiftly grasped my leg and threw me off balance. I fell to the floor and rolled. 'Oh no, don't you dare!' Ellen shouted as she jumped onto the creature's back, her arms tightly clutching its throat. The monster screeched and shook her off violently. That was no more time than I needed to gather my strength and strike. My hand went right through the creature's body, dismantling it as a disgusting yellowish fluid squirted out.

I stood there for a moment, shivering, staring in horror at what I'd done. Ellen got up.

'Thank you, whoever you might be!' she shouted at me, though I could barely hear her in the havoc.

I knew I was not to give away any information, but my resolve was wavering. I was so thrilled to see my sister back to normal, I wanted to hug her and tell her how much I loved her and everything. I wanted her to know that I would go to the end of the world to save her. And then I remembered Abiona's words. And I remembered how Lynn had made me swear to stick to the plan. I couldn't let them down. Not now, not so soon. I would tell Ellen everything – just not today. So I turned away and reversed gravity to leave the underground area, sending just a single thought at her.

I'm Sailor Mercury.