Eternal City Crystal Tokyo

Chapter 86

Arisugawa's Locket was busy as ever, but the back table had been kept open for the usual diplomat's meeting. Everyone agreed the Locket was neutral territory, and nothing they discussed was meant to pass beyond the bar's walls.

"So, is the League ambassador coming?" First Fang Za'tair asked, the gorgeous felinoid relazing in her chair.

Ayeka, Princess of Jurai, smiled wryly, "She said she was coming, yes."

Loriyal, her subordinate, was there rather nervously drinking too. OFFICIALLY Lori was still in charge of the embassy, but Ayeka out ranked her and as long as she was on Earth she'd be in charge.

Za'tair gave Lori a sympathetic look.

Veronica Aston-Martin was sitting nearby as she addressed Ayeka, "Nice to see you again... and not shooting at each other."

"You were caught up in that situation?" Ayeka asked.

"Yeah, I was an officer on the ship," Veronica agreed.

"Huh?" Za'tair asked, wondering what exactly they were talking about.

"Jurai was looking into extra dimensional travel to try to find certain rare resources," Ayeka explained to them wryly, "but we encountered the TSAB guarding one such world, and things got a bit out of hand."

"You shot at us first," Veronica noted.

Ayeka shrugged, "We weren't aware that TSAB had any authority..."

"That and the locals weren't interested," Veronica added.

Before anything else could be said, an attractive brown haired woman strode in, smiling wryly.

"Ririka!" Za'tair nodded to her in welcome, the two having met before.

"Hello all," Ririka Kato nodded, "Princess, Ambassadors."

"Welcome aboard," Veronica smiled wryly.

"I have some good news and rather bad news," Ririka noted as she sat down.

"Oh?" Ayeka asked amused.

"Bad news first," Lori suggested.

"As you know, Gail Huff was fired and fled," Ririka said. "Before she left, she purged the embassy computers and backups."

"WHAT," Veronica yelped.

"You're kidding," Ayeka added.

"Nope, sorry. I have an expert who's trying to reconstruct the files, but she's not optimistic," Ririka admitted.

"So any deals that were in progress with the League?" Za'tair asked.

"Are at this point fucked," Ririka admitted.

"And the good news?" Veronica asked.

"Well, the skimming on contracts Gail was doing and the kickbacks are all stopping now," Ririka said sourly.

"I thought skimming and kickbacks were normal for the League?" Ayeka drawled.

"Not as much as she was doing," Ririka said dryly. She addressed Ayeka, "I meant to ask... did Gail flee to Jurai?"

"Not that I'm aware of, and she would almost certainly have to request asylum," Ayeka noted.

"Huh," Ririka nodded. "And the Khanite?"

Za'tair shook her head, "Also no. Like Jurai, she would have had to formally request asylum."

"So where the heck IS she?" Veronica wondered aloud. "Because I know she's not on Mid either..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Yuuki Konno smelled a rat, and it involved the Princess and Sailor Saturn.

Things were quiet the first week they were gone, and Yuuki didn't really notice it THAT much. She had follow up stories to file on the Wedding and such, plus her interviews with several guests and other items.

But as the second week with nothing on the newlyweds dawn, Yuuki began to wonder.

YES, Crystal Tokyo was a constitutional monarchy, but the Queen would be a fool not to use the girls to boost the good will of the public to the government. Just leaking photos of their honeymoon, maybe a few articles, all would make the public happy. Yet the palace was weirdly quiet about it all.

THEN Alicia Testarossa and Subaru Yagami vanished. Not that the teens couldn't go out on adventures, but just after the newlyweds left? SOMETHING was going on.

"So, you think the Palace is hiding something?" Kazumi Asakura asked, her fellow reporter meeting her for lunch.

"Yes, but I'm not clear what," Yuuki admitted. "Has something bad happened? Are they on a covert mission for the Queen? Has Usagi decided she's tired of waiting on a throne and taken over somewhere else?"

"Usagi going full DARK LADY?" Kazumi asked.

"She wouldn't," Sayo Aisaka protested, the ghost girl safely inside a android body.

Yuuki shrugged, "I heard the Asteroid Senshi keep encouraging her to take over, too."

"Still," Sayo shook her head.

"So what's the plan?" Kazumi asked Yuuki, well aware the other reporter probably had one.

"Shaking down my contacts at the palace," Yuuki admitted, "I have some favours owed, hopefully someone tells me something."

"Should I..." Kazumi offered.

"No, please," Yuuki said, "I just wanted to make sure someone knew, just in case."

Sayo looked alarmed, "You think the palace might do something?"

"Just in case," Yuuki shrugged.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

In the aftermath of the wedding, the multiversal visitors went home and things settled down a bit... or as much as it did in Crystal Tokyo.

"Okay, what HAPPENED?" Leona Ozaka, chief of police, asked two rather battered police officers.

Cyber Six' hair was singed, and her outfit torn.

Honey Kisaragi was similarly battered, but not as much.

"We were jumped by Panther Claw agents from another timeline," Cyber Six admitted.

"What?" Leona blinked. "Wait, ids that why Anna and Uni got in a scrap yesterday too?" she asked, referring to her android girlfriends.

"Probably," Honey admitted, "Sorry, boss."

"Not your fault," Leona waved it off.

"Apparently Panther Claw went from 'evil crime group' to heavily anti-android militia in that other universe," Cyber Six sighed, "and they got interdimensional tech."

"We should probably contact the Palace and Lady Venus," Honey added, "there are a LOT of cyborgs and bioroids in Crystal Tokyo."

"We haven't gotten wide spread reports, but yeah," Leona agreed, and dismissed the two.

"Yes, they attempted to jump Motoko," Lady Venus noted once Leona called. "They seem to have only launched attacks on a few targets."

"Testing the waters?" Leona guessed.

"That's my guess," Venus agreed. "We've contacted the TSAB as well, they're investigating the attacks too."

"I hate bringing them in," Leona grumbled, but didn't argue. "We'll up patrols, just in case." she added briskly.

"Thank you," Venus nodded.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

In addition to the Princess story, Yuuki finished up submitting two minor pieces to her bosses, then headed home. The purple haired woman nodded to her neighbor, Justy Taylor, then unlocked her door and headed in.

"Afternoon," a pleasant voice said.

"Eep," Yuuki jumpted, seeing two figures waiting inside, a attractive blonde woman and a redheaded guard.

"We mean you no harm," the blond woman said quickly. She added, "I'm Nanami."

"From the palace," Yuuki said flatly, recognizing her as one of Utena's immortal allies. She also realized she knew the guard, Siobhan Quinn. "What are you doing breaking into my apartment?" Yuuki asked, drawing a weapon from her bag.

"We come in peace," Siobhan held up her hands to indicate she was unarmed.

"Considering your super strong AND fast," Yuuki noted warily.

"I've been sent to ask that you drop the investigation into the Princess' location, for her safety and Hotaru's," Nanami said quickly.

"Huh?" Yuuki blinked.

"They're missing and we think in jeopardy," Siobhan added.

"HUH?!"

To be continued...