Still angry over the actions of the white haired man, Jill stormed out after him, but he'd disappeared into the night with no indication as to where he'd gone. She cursed under her breath and looked around. She'd stumbled into a back alley of sorts. The rear of the garage was to her right, and down the alley to her left was a junction, turning right and left. She could hear dogs barking nearby, down the alley. Perhaps it wound around to the substation.

"I swear… I got a bad feeling about that guy…" Jill muttered to Michiru as she kept her eyes scanning about, her senses flared in case that big bastard was around.

Thankfully, she did not sense his presence near her, so perhaps she'd lost him for now. Good, now she could focus on her other duties. Following the alleyway, she stopped at the junction to see that the right hand alley was blocked. Around the left bend was a fenced area that was probably a car park of sorts. Some zombified dogs were scratching at the metal fencing, but it held up. Ahead, she could see the substation, sparking in the darkness. The power lines attached to it did not appear to be active. Someone must have shut down the power during the attack.

"Terrific… guess Carlos was right. I'll need to restore the power somehow. I doubt it'll be as easy as flipping a switch…" She muttered to herself as she carried on up the alley towards the substation's entrance.

She passed through the open gate and walked to the door, pushing it open. The entrance area was dark, and she could hear shuffling feet around the lockers that surrounded her.

'More zombies…' Michiru warned her. Jill nodded to herself and kept her hand on her gun, ready for another undead encounter.

Moments later, a few of them shuffled out of the darkness towards her. One on each side, and two more coming down the metal staircase. Jill slid out her handgun and popped a few rounds into their heads with precision, splattering their brains as they collapsed to the ground in sickening squelches.

"Goddamn things…" Jill hissed, narrowing her eyes at the now (permanently) dead corpses. And they better stay dead.

She decided to investigate around, checking the lockers and equipment. One locker was locked, so she picked it with her lockpick. The results of her quick search were a few extra bullets and some gunpowder. Pocketing her findings, she proceeded up the steps towards the control room, collecting another side pack as she did so, strapping it to her thigh. Taking out her radio, she buzzed Carlos.

"Carlos, I'm at the substation."

"Great. Now you just gotta switch everything on. The breaker switches are probably tripped, so you'll have to manually restore the power. Good luck, super cop."

"Whatever."

Rolling her eyes, Jill would proceed further in, keeping her senses extended like a radar, making sure she wouldn't get ambushed like last time. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, her heartbeat began to quicken slightly, but she kept her nerve as she placed her hand on the gate to the inner switch station. There was some kind of gunk covering the substation; whatever it was, it was like a goddamn nest. And she remembered the last time she faced something almost similar. She felt a shiver go up her spine. She remembered those fucking Chimaeras…

The gate was locked, but she could probably pick it. Before she did so, flapping paper caught her attention, as a note attached to the gate seemed worthy of a read. It noted that something seems to be nesting in the equipment, and if it got you, it'd do some nasty shit to your insides. Apparently only the green herb that grew in the area was effective against it.

"That's wonderful…" Jill moaned. She swore if they were Chimaeras again…

Fortunately for her, there were some green herbs growing in a pot nearby. She plucked them and stored them in her side packs. She was probably going to need these… Returning her attention to the gate, she picked the padlock on it and removed it, opening the gate. No sooner had she walked through it, something large and insect-like immediately attacked. It was something HIGHLY resembling the Chimaeras from the mansion.

It grabbed her with two of its appendages, with Jill struggling furiously to get it off, then shoved a tentacle down her throat, pumping parasites into her body. Jill, at this point, had begun to panic, trying not to swallow. But the parasite-like monster did not give her a choice as it fed her its devouring young. Then it retracted its tentacle and scurried off, while Jill hacked and coughed, trying to bring up the bugs.

"Ugh… fucking gross..!" She swore loudly, realizing the parasites were still inside her and beginning to feast on her insides.

Recalling the note, she stuffed a green herb into her mouth and chewed it. The enzymes in the herb reacted with the parasites, forcing them up and causing her to violently be sick, ejecting them. A huge glob of blood and mucus was thrown up in front of her and Jill almost heaved again at the sickly sight of the tiny cockroach-like bugs.. But she managed to quash her nausea and stomped on the ones that were still alive, crushing them into puddles of viscera, and wiped her boot off.

'You had better move fast and find those breaker boxes. You can't afford to let that happen again.' Michiru warned her.

"Yeah…" Jill managed to say after she coughed up the last of them and part of what she had for food earlier. She then opened the gate and headed inside, going at a jogging pace to stay ahead of the creatures that may be lurking in the dark.

Around her, she could see large burrows in the walls, showing where those things had made their nests. She could almost hear them creeping ahead and it was giving her goosebumps. She kept glancing around any time she thought she saw flashes of movement. The only source of light that illuminated the darkness were the red lights from the EXIT signs and the light that shined off her Deep Aqua Mirror.

Several times she was attacked as she explored, raising a couple of the breakers. She managed to avoid being grabbed again, shooting, punching, kicking and whatever else she could do to keep them away from her. As she climbed a ladder up some scaffolding, she found a corpse with a note written to a coworker, wishing he'd taken some herbs with him, and hoping his friend made it out. Considering there was a big hole in his stomach where the parasites had chewed their way out, it was clear what had happened to him.

She sighed at the sight of another poor bastard caught up in this nightmare, but knew nothing could be done now. She had to keep moving and get to the remaining two breakers. One was nearby, just down another ladder. The last one had to be near the center… right in the middle of the hive…

"Ugh… that's just typical. Literally I am about to kick the hornet's nest once I activate the final breaker. No doubt that's probably going to bring that big bastard running…" Jill muttered.

She steeled herself and walked back into the nastiest cave-like structure she'd ever seen. Flipping the nearby breaker, she proceeded deeper into the hive to find the last one. A blocked corridor suddenly burst open with a horrid squelch as more of the bugs hunted her. Having had enough, Jill put away her handgun and took the assault rifle off her shoulder.

"Fuck this… eat lead!" She barked, unleashing a stream of high powered rounds at the horde of bugs, causing them to burst into bits of carapace and green slush.

"Fucking gross!" She said again, quickly moving on before more showed up. She found the final breaker at a dead end, groaning in annoyance as she knew that was an easy meal for the bugs, if they surrounded her. Cautiously, she snuck down the area towards the equipment, her boots barely making noise on the soft… whatever that stuff beneath her was. She waited a moment, but heard nothing. With some effort, she moved the rusty switch, activating the final breaker. Now she just needed to get back to the control room and push the power switch. That was going to be easier said than done however…

And sure enough, with the last switch on, she heard shrieking and skittering from all around her and Jill took out her mirror this time. Either way, from the noise that the power station was going to make when turned back on, or from the ruckus the bugs were making, that thing hunting her was going to find her. So, she decided 'Fuck it!' and just as the bugs swarmed…

"SUBMARINE… REFLECTION!" A powerful burst of watery energy slammed into the swarm, eviscerating them and turning them into watered down goo. "This is why I HATE bugs!" With that, she ran for her life out of the switch station.

She barely made it back through the gate, slamming it shut on a few bugs, which exploded when hit by the force of the gate. Breathing a sigh of relief, she headed back up the stairs into the control room, where she fiddled with a few settings before hitting the power switch. "Enjoy that~" She said with a degree of satisfaction, as the substation powered up and electrified the bug nest, destroying it completely.

She smirked and reached for her radio.

"Carlos, I've restored power to the substation."

"Jill, you are amazing~ Now you just need to go to the subway company's offices and map out a route for the subway."

"The offices? I think I know where to go." Jill replied.

"Really? Way to go, partner~ You're way ahead of me!" Carlos answered, impressed.

"Not your partner..." She mildly insulted, clipping the radio back onto her utility belt.

With nothing left to do here, Jill left the substation, her goal now being to get back to the subway office on the other side of town. However, when she traversed back towards the alley leading to the garage, a wall of the nearby building was smashed down as the trenchcoated hunter burst through.

"STAAAAAARS!"

"Figured as much!" Jill growled. She knew that ruckus was going to bring it to her. But she was not backing down. It rushed towards her with surprising speed, looking to smash her into the ground. She dived out of the way and fired upon it with her assault rifle, but the bullets barely seemed to cause any damage, only minorly impacting on its coat. It turned, rushed her, punching her clean in the chest and sending her flying back into a car door, slamming against it with enough force to dent it inwards.

"That… all you got, ya big lug?!" Jill barked back at it, slowly peeling herself off the car door, stick in hand. "Round two, ya bastard! NEPTUNE PLANET POWER!" Once more in a flash of cyan blue light, she transformed and faced the monster, hands glowing with magic.

But the BOW had a few tricks of its own. Raising its left hand, a tentacle burst forth from its palm. Now it had both a whip-like weapon, and a stabbing weapon at the same time. Not really a good thing.

"Looks like you learned a trick or two! Don't think that's going to scare me away!" She barked once more and jumped away, just as the beast snapped its appendage at her. When she went to attack it, she paused to concentrate. The BOW saw this and took advantage, whipping her with the tentacle and wrapping it around her foot, pulling her off her feet and dragging her closer towards it.

However, reflexes kicked in and as it began to swing its meaty fist towards her chest, she rolled to the right and kicked up hard, she landed a heeled foot into its non-stitched eye, driving it far into its face. She then kicked off, dragging it out and spurting blood from its now empty socket, making it holler and scream while it gripped its gushing hole. Unfortunately for her, as she moved in for another attack, she saw the beast was bluffing; its eye had regenerated and it grabbed her with its right hand, wrapping its large, thick fingers around her throat. Its left hand began to foam dangerously, and she knew that she was now in mortal danger.

Out of desperation, she grabbed her mirror, mustered everything she had and let out another Submarine Reflection into its face, making it let her go and she backflipped away, holding her now aching throat with one gloved hand. But no sooner had she regained her senses, the beast was upon her again, rushing forward and hammering her with a solid right punch. Neptune cried out in pain as she was sent skidding into the ground. Slowly, she rose back to her feet and glared heatedly at it.

"STAAAAAAARS!"

"Not done… yet!" Neptune raised her hands above her and called upon her powers, just as the beast rushed again.

"NEPTUNE DEEP… SUBMERGE!" She screamed out and blasted the beach ball sized energy attack towards the monster, dealing some massive damage, earning agonizing cries and roars from it.

At least, that's what it would have done, but the BOW had learned from their last encounter. Spotting the ball coming towards it, it hit the brakes and lifted its huge boot, kicking it right back at her!

"Gotcha… SUBMARINE… REFLECTION!" Neptune fired off her second spell, sending it right back at it and then some. With the two spells combined, the monster was the one sent flying backwards this time, not having the strength to counteract against two spells at once. The large blast would see him go flying into the wall of a nearby building, sending debris falling onto it with loud crashes.

If she thought she was safe now, she was wrong. As she turned away to leave, the rubble moved. A large hand dug its way out of the rubble, followed by the rest of its body.

"Gimme a break!" She exclaimed as the creature dug itself out of the wall. However, it appeared she had dealt it a considerable blow as it stumbled out, holding its arm and groaning.

"...urgh… STARS… ugh… STARS…"

The beast then collapsed onto the ground, seemingly unconscious. As it fell, something dropped out of its pocket… from a distance, it wasn't recognizable, but it glimmered under the light from the streetlamps. Not wanting to get close to the monster in case it was playing possum, using the water that was on the streets from the battle, she summoned the item in a small current, bringing it over into her hand.

It was some kind of gem, cut to resemble a heart. It was clear, possessing no color. "I wonder what this is…?" She asked herself as she de-morphed back to normal. She had no clue what it was for, either. It looked pretty though. Maybe it was valuable? "Hey Michiru, what do you make of it?" She then asked her partner.

[You got the Heart Gem]

'I have no idea… I have not seen this before. It must be important for something, but what that might be, I do not know…'

"Let's hang onto it for now. Maybe we can use this for something, somewhere. Let's get out of here for now before that asshole wakes up." Jill said, shooting one more look at the downed BOW before taking off back to the subway. She pulled up her radio again. "Carlos, that monster found me! It's still here, hunting for STARS members! I managed to take care of it for now, but it'll be roaming around again soon."

"What?! Jill, get back now! You can't kill that thing by yourself!" Carlos replied.

"Not until I get the subway back online!" She refused, clipping her radio back to her belt.

Returning to the garage, she made a quick check of her items, making sure she had ammo so she could avoid alerting the hunter. Using some of the gunpowder, she mixed together a few extra bullets, using scrap metal. Her assault rifle was low, so she switched it for her shotgun. A few blasts up close from this oughta drop that bastard if he appeared again. Satisfied, she once more set out. The subway offices were not too far away, just behind the donut shop. She hoped there weren't more zombies infesting the streets on her way there.

She was in luck. As she exited the alley and back onto the main street, she saw it was apparently empty. But that was where her luck ended. As she made her way to the steps down to the donut shop, the fencing behind her that was blocking a horde of zombies, collapsed. The horde fell down upon each other and scrambled to get towards her to feed.

"Oh… COME ON…" Jill sighed in exasperation. Even someone as tough as her couldn't keep this up forever. She was just one woman… but then, gunshots rang out and a few of the zombies dropped, tripping up the ones behind them and causing a chain reaction of falling undead. Approaching her from behind, she saw a familiar man in a yellow vest and forest camo pants.

"Need a hand, Jill? Kept you waiting, huh?"

"Brad?! What are you doing here? I thought you were still at the RPD!" Jill said as they retreated to the safety of the donut shop.

"I was… but that monster attacked it… a lot of the officers are dead. We managed to beat it back, but we lost a lot of good men and women. It could have finished us off, but it seems like something else caught its attention and it just left… guess that was you." He explained.

Jill sighed in relief before jogging over and the two embraced. "Glad to see you're still kicking," she smiled. She even held up the mirror so Brad could see Michiru, who waved and sported an equally relieved smile. "Someone else's happy to see you~"

"Yeah, well… don't get too hopeful…" That was when Jill saw that Brad had a bandage around his left arm. "I got bit while trying to escape… I'm probably infected… I guess we aren't getting out of this together after all…"

"Don't say that!" Jill shook her head, her relief quickly fading into horror. "I won't accept that..! I promised we'd get out of here together!"

"Are we still a team?" Brad asked her seriously.

"Always!" She defiantly answered.

"Then don't fuck up like I did. I'll follow you as long as I can, but if I show the signs… you know what you have to do." He said grimly, having already understood the severity of the situation. It appeared he'd already made peace with the belief that he was going to die, either from the virus, a zombie or that hunter. There was a small chance he might be immune, but it was very unlikely.

"We'd better not waste time. The subway needs power, right? The offices have the subway switchboard."

"Right." Jill nodded to him and headed to the offices to get the routes done. They were just across the street from the donut shop, out the backdoors. So they left, crossed over and entered the building. Jill had been here before, so it was familiar. She went straight down the corridor and into the switchboard. With the power supplied by the substation, she could see the map of the subway routes, including those that were blocked.

"Carlos, I've made it to the switchboard. Gimme a minute to figure this out…" She spoke into her radio receiver.

She didn't wait for him to respond before beginning to fiddle with the controls. It took several moments to figure out what the abbreviations meant, but she was eventually able to discern the only available route from downtown to Fox Park Station, where Carlos wanted them to go.

"Carlos, I've plotted out a route for the subway. Power is restored."

"Way to go, super cop! You continue to impress me~ Head back here, I've got something I need to tell you."

"Be right there." She replied. Nodding to Brad, who nodded back, they left the office and began to make their way back. But, as they reached the end of the corridor, a figure approached. It was a zombie, but something was different about it. Its head burst open to reveal something almost indescribable… it had a huge mouth, tentacles protruding from all over it and it was glowing a deep reddish orange.

"...what the fuck is that..?" Brad exclaimed upon seeing it.

"Some kind of parasite? Could it be from that monster?" Jill wondered. She held up the mirror so Michiru could see it. "What do you think?"

"It appears to be a parasite, certainly. It seems the monster hunting you is capable of infecting others with its own parasite, transforming them into something else…"

"Oh that's just great…" Jill groaned. Just when she thought that thing couldn't do anything worse, this comes up. "This just keeps getting better and better…"

Her absentminded thinking almost got her into trouble, as she didn't see the long ass tentacle protruding from the parasitic zombie, lancing towards her at speed. Brad did see it however, and pushed her down, narrowly avoiding her being pierced by the spear-like tentacle. "Kill this thing! Quickly!" He said, shooting at it with his handgun.

Jill whipped out her handgun and with a few rounds popped into it, it was dead and the corpse collapsed to the ground. "There we go…" She sighed with relief and nodded to Brad. "Thanks for the save. Still, we better be careful from here on. If that thing is infecting other zombies, I'd hate to think what something like that would do to us." She shivered at that; being a snack for another zombie was not something she wanted right now. "Let's keep moving. We need to get back to the subway. And sooner the better."

The two then continued on their way, keeping an eye out for any more of those parasitic zombies that now may be lurking about. Jill looked back from time to time, checking on Brad to make sure he was alright and not showing signs he was slowly turning into a zombie. But she shook her head.

No. She refused to believe that this was how Brad was going out. He deserved a better end. She promised she'd get him out of the city, along with any other survivors, no matter what. Not only was that her duty as a member of the RPD, it was also her duty as a Sailor Soldier. She didn't want to let Brad die. Maybe there was a chance he could survive the virus inside him. Maye he was immune, like she was. She lost too many of her friends and comrades, she refused to let another one be taken away from her!

Sadly, that was not to be… not that she knew it yet.

Passing back through the donut shop again, as they opened the front doors, they were treated to the image of the hunter itself, infecting a zombie with its parasite. Now they knew exactly what created that weird zombie back there. Upon seeing both of them in the doorway, its eye widened.

"STAAAAARS!" It roared in either anger or excitement, they did not know and they did not care.

"FUCK!" Brad screamed, as the trenchcoated monster lumbered towards them, surrounded by parasitic zombies. "We are so screwed!" Brad panicked, fumbling his gun and dropping it. It bounced away from him, out of reach. "RUN!" He shouted, turning back and sprinting out the backdoors.

"BRAD WAIT!" Jill hollered and ran after him, not wanting to lose him. She couldn't let that thing get to him! "Goddammit, Brad! Sometimes that chickenheart, I swear..!" So help her if that monster killed him..!

But as she chased after him, the monster shoved its way past her in a burst of speed, knocking her into several tables and sending her tumbling over a booth. Brad screamed in terror as the creature caught up to him and grabbed him with its right hand, holding him up in a one-handed chokehold. Jill scrambled out just in time to see the beast foaming its left hand again.

"JILL! HELP!" Brad cried out, hoping she'd react in time. Alas, Jill was only human, and her reaction speed, while enhanced due in part to Michiru, was too slow to save Brad. As she raised her weapon to fire, in that split second, the monster spawned its tentacle from its left hand and slammed it into Brad's face, piercing all the way through his skull, killing him instantly. Then the BOW tossed the body right at Jill's feet.

"No…! Brad…!" Horror and despair raced through Jill's heart. Not again… she lost another one…

"BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDD!"

Something snapped in her and her magic surged out of control. The pipes in the street beneath her burst and ruptured, water gushing out and swirling around her in a protective ring and yet at the same time, became lashing tentacles. Jill's eyes glowed brightly as rage and pure, unadulterated hatred burned through her and covered her in a veil of sea green aura.

"You fucking sonuvabitch…! I'll make you pay for THAT! NOW YOU DIE! YOU WANT STARS, I'LL FUCKING GIVE YOU STARS!" Jill screamed as she morphed into her Neptune form, but instead, her entire body had turned into pure energy, with only the glow of her eyes visible to the monster, who now stood before her immense power and rage.

"NEPTUNE RIPTIDE…. DEVASTATION!"

The water surged around her in a mighty tornado and formed into the head of a large serpent, which let out a loud hiss. "DIIIIIIEEEEEE!"

However, the serpent refused to attack. This confused Jill. Why wasn't it striking the monster? IT should have snapped it up in its jaws and chomped it to bits. Yet, it was doing nothing! Why?! She screamed in frustration as the BOW seemed to crack a smile from its lipless mouth.

"I cannot let you do that, Jillian… you are consumed by hatred and anger… my powers will not respond to an individual tainted by darkness. Your human nature for violence has tainted your spirit, and you are no longer worthy of my powers… You cannot control them."

"Michiru, you don't understand! Umbrella has cost us too many lives! And this thing just took a dear friend from us! I cannot allow any more to be lost because of them! Please, let me do this! This thing has to die!" Jill tried to reason as she fought to use her spell, watching as the BOW started to slowly stalk towards her. "If I can't, BOTH of us will be lost! Don't do this!"

"It's not about what I want, Jillian. This isn't my choice. It is part of our oath as protectors. If you allow yourself to be consumed by that which is basest in us, you become no better than those who created these monsters… think about what you're doing. Do not allow yourself to fall to their level."

Jill stopped for a moment, clarity returning to her. She was right… she couldn't let her anger get to her. Just as the monster was about to strike, the watery energy-laced serpent shrieked and smacked him away with a resounding blow, sending it flying into a van, almost breaking it in half. Slowly, her body began to return to normal, but was still in her Sailor form as she fought to regain control of her anger. Yet, she used it as a focal point to empower her attack, which now coiled around her protectively.

"There must always be another to take up arms against the darkness. We must not allow ourselves to be controlled by our own emotions. Anger, sorrow, fear… they haunt us all. Fear is the strongest emotion that can break us. Fear leads to the dark side. When we give in to fear, the darkness comes…"

Sprinting from around a corner, attracted by the sight of a huge watery serpent rising, Carlos had come running, but skidded to a halt, his eyes going wide at what he was seeing.

"... You're right, Michiru. I have to be better than this! You chose me for a reason and I don't want to disappoint you. Watch me now… as I show you that your faith has not been misplaced!" Jill proclaimed as she raised an arm to the air and the serpent shrieked once more. "GO!"

She threw her arm out and the serpent flew at the monster, crashing into it and snapping it up in its massive jaws. It then began to fling him around like a rag doll before tossing him into another building. As it slowly climbed out from the rubble, the serpent reared once more, a hood extending from its body.

"This time, take the fucking hint and STAY DOWN!" Jill hollered and the serpent dive bombed onto it, engulfing it in a huge burst of energy, resulting in a large explosion of water and pure power.

But, just before the serpent struck, the BOW extended its tentacle, piercing through the watery veil and stabbing Jill in the arm, much to her shock. Then the serpent crashed down upon it, the force of which knocked it out. Jill panted, gripping her arm, as she de-transformed back into her normal form, sweat covering her forehead as fatigue overtook her from using such a big attack. A needle-like appendage was sticking out of her left arm, and the area around its point had turned purple, streaking outwards like little mauve veins. The bastard had managed to infect her…

Carlos was by her side immediately. Pulling his radio, he contacted his partner. "T! We've got a serious situation on our hands! Jill's been infected! That monster managed to get to her!"

"What?! Shit! What do we do now?!" Tyrell replied through the speaker.

"I'm taking her to the hospital! There's gotta be a cure there somewhere! Dr Bard worked there and we were supposed to find him, right? He'll be able to help, if he's still alive." Carlos said, pausing to carefully pick Jill up into his arms.

"T, the power's back to the tracks. You and the Captain get those civvies out of the city. I'll meet up with you later." He added as he sprinted off with Jill, hoping to find a way through the streets to the hospital without too much trouble.

"C-Carlos… I…" Jill tried to speak, feeling cold shivers wracking her body. She could already feel it spreading. Shit… she got careless. Again. All because she couldn't control her anger… dammit…

"Hold that thought, Jill! Save what strength you've got. I'm gonna get you help. You're not dying on me! You can't leave me in this cold, cruel world. Not without first saving the Jillybean!" He tried to joke, to lighten the situation.

Jill managed a breathy laugh and then looked to her mirror. "Michiru… I'm… I'm so sorry…"

There was no response from the mirror, and the light it gave off faded away.

"No… Mi… Michi–..." Jill then blacked out. Before succumbing to darkness, she mentally cried out…

'Sailor Pluto…. Help me!'

However, in the time that would pass from this moment to the next, there would be a Sailor who would respond to the call.

But it would not be who Jill or Michiru expected.

In fact, it would be three.

In her semi-conscious state, she looked up at the night sky.

Three objects glowed brightly.

The moon, Mars and Saturn.

Three would make their return to Earth.

And may the Empress herself help any who got in their way…