The Marine of Pluto
By Coenraad
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I make any money from this.
the next day, Usagi was dreading her luck. She had failed to make the deadline for her punishment handed out by the American teacher. and now her arms where paying the price during recess. "Ten…." Hawk called out as he counted the amount of pushups Usagi had done to his satisfaction. "Keep your back rigid, slouch it and it doesn't count." he affirmed. "And you have only 10 more to go."
"But my arms are killing me!" she exclaimed.
"Well good, that will make you remember to be careful to not fall asleep in class again."
"This is torture! I want to speak to your commanding officer!"
Hawked laughed at this. "You're looking at him."
"Your superior then?"
"Pretty sure the President of the United States doesn't have time for you. And he doesn't speak Japanese… Speaking of which your English classed are lagging behind. Be glad I don't assign you push ups for that as well… Now keep going."
"Stupid Punishment…" Usagi Grumbled.
As she tried another push up she felt someone grab her legs. Looking over her shoulder she saw that hawk had kneeled down and had lifted her legs and laid her ankles to rest on the knee that he had propped up. "Maybe this will help until you get more strength in your back muscles."
Nodding she tried it again and true enough the pushups where a little easier. Not that her arms appreciated it but it was easier to keep her back stretched so that every push up counted. but that fact didn't stop her from grumbling.
"Well it's good that you hate it. Because as long as I'm here, you'll be doing this every time you fall asleep in classed or are late again." Hawk said to her as he allowed her to stand up.
While unconventional, the school had agreed that the girls laziness was a serious problem, Hawk had offhandedly noted that it might be a lack of discipline. the remedy he offered was one born from his life of discipline in the marines. Every time she was late or fell asleep, she would be assigned pushups.. The school stated that Usagi, being lazy as she was, would probably hate the idea. Hawk argued that that was the point, after all if Usagi hated it enough, she would make sure to not get punished. Either that or the Pushups would get her into shape a little which all around was a Win-win situation in their favor.
"Stupid outlander, coming in here and treating me like some Army grunt." she grumbled.
Hawk chuckled at the girls statement. "Alright grunt, now we will go and run a full 1.6 kilometers, followed by some sit-ups, then another 1.6 kilometers run and to finish off we will do some jumping jacks."
"WHAT!?" came the earth shattering exclamation that even scared some birds out of a nearby tree.
"Do you really want me to treat you like a grunt?" Hawk asked casually as he rubbed his ears.
"Waaaaa! Teacher is being mean to me!" she started balling her eyes out.
Scratching the back of his head Hawk resisted the urge to step forward and clasp his hand over her mouth. "Look Usagi. if you don't get in shape, and don't start to pay attention in class. you will have a real problem down the line. If you don't have an education or any fitness. You won't even qualify for menial labor. You might as well join the homeless on the street and in the alleys if that is the case."
Her mood shifted instantly to being flamboyant. "Oh don't worry don't worry, I have it all figured out hehehe."
"Oh don't worry don't worry, I have it all figured out hehehe." Usagi answered as the dream sequence started to play itself out in her mind.
The following thought is brought to you by Usagi's inner mind theater.
A church beautifully decorated quite royally, no expense had been spared in its decoration. In the benches out front where her very best friends: Ami, Makoto, Minako and Rei dressed in their best party going attire, along with the moon cat sitting beside them. Down at the altar a uninteresting looking priest and the love of her dreams Mamoru; his dark hair neatly groomed, a white tux replacing his normal guise of tuxedo mask.
Back near the doors she stood dressed regally like Queen Serenity: a flowing white gown of silk adorning her body showing off her every curve of still preserving her modesty, her hair done up in a single tight braid a small crown on top of it keep me in place her veil, in her hands a giant bouquet of mixed white and red roses.
She was gently strolling down towards the altar approaching ever closer to her date with destiny. From the sidelines her family and friends from school along with the outers and the starlight's proof rolling out rose petals at her. While Mamoru was just flabbergasted at her divine beauty, her own cute smile breaking him out of his reverie as she gently took hold of his hand.
Smiling kindly back at her he said, "You are so beautiful." This had the distinct effect of making Usagi chuckle shyly, while discreetly trying to hide her blush behind her bouquet.
"Well I guess we should get started." The priest said as a kind smile adorned his face. "Do you Mamoru take this stunningly beautiful Queen Serenity as your wife and Queen?"
"Yes!" Mamoru answered firmly and without hesitation.
With a slight chuckle the priest turned his head towards Usagi this time and asked, "and do you Queen Serenity take this hunk of a man to be your husband and King?"
"I do." Usagi gave her heartfelt answer.
Slamming his book shut the priest said with a happy note to his voice, "I now pronounce you husband and wife, King and Queen, rulers of the former Moon Kingdom and current Earth Kingdom. You may now kiss the bride."
This has been a production of Usagi's inner mind theater.
Usagi chuckled with a slight bit of drool running down the side of her mouth as she had her whole future planned out. "Yes just like that." She whispered to herself. Her dream came to a shattering halt as she heard a smack of two palms hitting the ground and snapped out of her daydream state only to see that Hawk was now doing pushups. 'wait wasn't he wearing that green uniform jacket?' she shook her head as she looked at him clad in a muscle shirt doing his pushups with only one hand, his other hand folded behind the small of his back.
"Do pushups enough and you might just manage this yourself one day." he said with a cheeky smile.
Thinking about his words for a moment her mind conjured up an image of an overly buff and fit self wearing a dress that made her look more like a man trying pass himself off as a woman. why on earth would you need to be fit she was destined to be queen right? Besides her Senshi outfit gave her all the strength and magical protection she would ever need. She was trying desperately to think of an answer to give him, luckily for her she was saved by the Bell which signaled the end of the lunch break.
Standing up straight Hawk went to collect his blouse, tie, jacket and hat while putting them both on he turned to Usagi and said "You'd best head off to your next class, and please think about what I said."
Later that day, as Usagi scampered out of school. Rubbing her tired arms, she spotted Michiru and Haruka sitting in Haruka's sport car. Both dressed rather casually while wearing sunglasses. Those that wouldn't know them would simply dismiss them as a handsome man and gorgeous woman having a small outing. Not catching onto the fact that the blond was actually a girl. Usagi waved to them as she approached the car causing Michiru to wind down the window. "Hello Michiru, Haruka, what are you doing here?"
"Waiting, to follow that teacher of yours." the blonde answered.
"Any idea when he usually leaves?" Michiru asked as she looked back to the school building.
Usagi shook her head at this. "No, but his car isn't hard to miss." she said pointing to the offending military jeep.
"Impressive." Haruka whispered in appreciation of the bulky machine, earning her a reproaching glare from Michiru.
Michiru knew that her blonde lover loved anything that went fast. and even to her, the bulky military machine looked too cumbersome to be as fast as even Haruka's slowest bike.
"Usagi, why don't you go while we wait, we'd rather not draw his attention, and you talking to us would attract the attention of your teachers." Michiru gently suggested to which Usagi nodded.
"Let me know what you find." Usagi said with a wave before walking off.
Her gentle walk back to her home was sadly interrupted when her communicator went off. Glancing around her she noticed that nobody was in the street with her. Taking the call the face of mercury was being displayed. "Usagi, there is a youma attacking in the streets not far from the shrine's steps."
"Ok I'll be right there." Usagi answered before ducking into a side alley and transforming.
Near the shrine where Rei lived, Pluto felt a little worried. This was the second youma in less than a week time. And even stranger still, she couldn't find any information as to the first one. And to make matters worse, right now the Senshi weren't facing off against a single youma but a combined and well coordinated group of youma. This dilemma was only confounded by the fact that they had taken civilian hostages while posing as humans and were now demanding for the Sailor Senshi to make an appearance.
"Don't come any closer or this human will lose her head!" the leader yelled as sailor Neptune and Uranus also arrived.
The stern look Pluto directed to the pair only cemented the fact they there were to play along for now. The female hostage yelped in fear as the regular knife was pressed ever so dangerously against her threat.
"What do we do?" Uranus asked as she approached her fellow Senshi.
"Wait for an opining." Pluto answered as she looked to sailor moon.
"There won't be any." One of the youma mocked.
"Who do you work for?" Sailor moon asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" the youma chuckled.
"So what do you want?" Sailor Mars demanded as she grumbled. Seeming to get more and more agitated by an annoying glint that came from one of the roof tops in the distance. A news crew's camera no doubt. Which meant that the pressure was on or they would all appear on the late night news with a spectacular failing.
"To see you suffer!" the rear most Youma scowled as he flung a dagger towards his foe.
The dagger, a regular human made one, flew through the air as if it was an arrow heading straight for Sailor Moon. Only to be intercepted by Saturn's silence wall as it bounced off and onto the ground.
"Better lower that barrier or we start killing hostages." The youma said as he took up another knife and got ready to throw it again.
"Morse code.." Sailor Mercury whispered causing Pluto to look at her pointedly. "One of them is sending out a message in Morse code."
Pluto looked to where the blue haired Senshi was looking and started to pay attention. She nodded at the message that was being sent. "Get ready to attack" She murmured as she gave a slow nod.
Earlier outside the street on which the shrine was located. Police started to cordon off the area to minimize civilian casualties. Priority calls had gone out including to Hawk. Right now he was running up several flights of stairs in a building beside the one the media was utilizing to record the whole Spectacle. But while their building only offered a view of all the Senshi and one of the hostage holder and his hostage. Hawks building give him a full field of view. In his left hand he had a large suitcase which he desperately lugged around up the stairs. A type of suitcase that was more at home in an armory rather than a office or home. Olive green and a sturdy construction of composites were the case's main features.
At the top of the stairs, was a door. One that was locked by a thick padlock. Which caused Hawk to grumble. The Japanese police officers had said that it would be open but sadly they must have been mistaken. Not having the time to argue or talk with the Japanese officers, who for all intents and purposes thought that he was interfering in their business, he took his pistol from the small of his back and simply blasted the lock off with a single shot. taking care to make sure that the bullet would imbed itself in the concrete flooring.
After opening the door he was faced with another minor problem. The roof, while nice and spacious, wasn't exactly flat. A concrete border was around the roof. Too low to provide a platform for him to crouch behind and too thin for him to lay prone on. Glancing around an old air-conditioning unit drew his attention. The old machine was boxed in at the top with a flat surface and its rectangular shape faced just the right way making it the ideal platform to set up on.
Laying down his case he undid the snap locks and opened it. Inside a rifle lay waiting for him faithfully. It was the rifle he was most familiar with, the Remington m24, taking it out of the case along with two stripper clips, he mantled onto the air-conditioning, deployed the bi-pod and loaded the rifle. Once loaded he used the laser range finder at the side of his scope to collect the information he needed to adjust his scope with. All in all a very routine thing which needed to be done properly like he had done several times in the past now.
After he was ready he observed the situation more closely through the scope. 4 men, holding 4 civilians hostage with what appeared to be knives. This caused him to blink. 'Fighting the Senshi with knives? he found the notion ridicules but who was he to judge the enemy. Sailor's Uranus and Neptune just joined the scene when he peered around. And at this stage he could see that the Senshi couldn't really do anything as he looked on at an angle. His angle was good enough that if he fired a bullet would pass through the enemy and not be able to harm the hostage, but at the same time if he were to just fire, the Senshi would need to spring into action.
Not having a clear line of communication with the Senshi was annoying but seeing the sun off to the side he quickly got the idea to use his issued dog tags to reflect the light to them to send a message in Morse code. he just hoped that one of the Senshi was A; paying enough attention to their surroundings and B; able to understand Morse code.
'In position to snipe, point toward enemy with index finger when you want me to fire and who to fire at. Give slow nod if acknowledged.' he signaled. Looking back through his scope he didn't get a response, only seeing Pluto look at mercury so he repeated again. This time as he saw Pluto say something and he saw her nod slowly. Letting go of his tags he steadied himself behind the weapon and switched to a zoom level that gave him a more complete view of the scene. His finger was on the trigger ready to swivel around and fire at a moment's notice should the agreed upon signal be given.
"Uranus, When the leader is hit you attack the one at the rear. Jupiter attack the one at the far left. Saturn, the one on the right. The leader is mine." Pluto explained.
"What do you mean hit?" Uranus wondered.
"You will know when it happens."
"Hey! what are you bitches babbling about!?" the youma at the front, and obviously the leader, demanded.
"That is none of your business." Pluto answered as she took a step forward and pointed at the offending Youma.
Without warning a tiny object slammed into the lead youma, hard enough to stagger him and leave a nasty bruise but not enough to actually kill or wound, along with the snap crackle of a bullet breaking the sound barrier and a gunshot.
All four youma were shocked when this happened as the leader released his captive. Whom dropped to the ground instantly in fear. The sight of the Senshi now rushing forward unrestrained caused their grips to loosing and their hostages to drop to the ground as well. Four Senshi attacked the four youma, the other remaining Senshi quickly pulled the hostages out there and led them to safety.
Pluto was engaging her youma with the garnet rod, as the hostage was pulled away, her target having morphed his hands into two giant daggers Having parried several attacks she managed to knock the youma back and started her death scream attack. To her shock the youma quickly recovered to come at her when she was halfway to releasing her attack. A small sonic boom crackled through the air as amazingly the youma was hit in the side of his body causing him to lose balance in his attack allowing Pluto half a second to complete her attack and give the youma a face full of death scream. Finishing her fight instantly.
Uranis wasn't doing so good, she had a sword true but her target youma had two swords for hands. She used all the tricks in the book to keep unharmed while trying to kill the youma. The sonic boom startled her youma, and as the youma observed its leader being destroyed, it allowed Uranus to get off a world shaking and in doing so, destroy her target.
By the same token Saturn was having an easy time defending herself with the silence glaive. but she wasn't able to get an attack off. When her target youma was stunned by the loss of its leader and the gunshot before that. Saturn maneuvered her silence glaive around and jabbed the tip of it through the youma's chest ending that fight as the youma turned to dust.
Sailor Jupiter wasn't as lucky, she already had several cuts adorning her arms and chest. And the death of the youma leader let alone its kin didn't stun it at all. It actually took a Venus love me chain to retrain the youma to allow Jupiter to attack and dispose of the youma.
"Not that I don't appreciate the help but who was that?" Uranus huffed as she ran a hand through her short hair.
"Mercury?" Sailor moon asked as she wondered as well.
Sliding her visor down and looking at the building. Mercury smiled as she saw the figure of a man crouched on top of a large metal box and wave. She noted the military uniform he was wearing. "Jonathan Johnston." she answered.
"Oh look.. It was your teacher." Pluto said in a teasing tone though her slight surprise didn't go totally unnoticed.
"The great Pluto, Senshi of time, wasn't able to know this ahead of time?" Uranus asked with a wry smirk.
"Normally I could know this ahead of time with the time gates, but he defies normal, the gates won't show me anything."
"Tomorrow I want you to follow him, even if there is a youma attack." Moon ordered. "Now let's get out of here before the authorities show up."
A/N: Well here is Chapter 3, Sorry for the wait.
I hope you like the fight scene, I have rarely seen an instance where the Senshi have been in a one on one battle, always having one youma or other enemy against all the senshi, which is a stupid tactic to begin with.
While the whole hostage taking might seem out of place for Youma, there is a reason for that behavior but you will just have to wait and see why this is.