TROJAN
Chapter 10: "Coordination"
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
Queen Serenity and her senshi, minus Sailor Mercury, were watching the palace staff veterinarian, Dr. Yuroshika, with her current patient, the white cat Artemis. As Luna hovered on a table next to the bed, Artemis lay unconscious, resting as an intravenous drip fed antibiotics into him.
"He's gonna be all right," Minako murmured, "isn't he?" She looked for Ami, as they all so often did when logical facts were needed. But Ami was in a hospital room, herself being examined for physical or psychological damage. She looked back at Artemis, laying still on a folded blanket, and struggled not to be afraid.
Rei glanced at Serenity, but the Queen had a faraway look on her face. With her sight nearly restored, Rei could see that she was in communication with Endymion. The priest couldn't help but speculate on whether it was new information that could lead to the capture of Goro Awanishi, or new trouble for them to deal with.
Suddenly Minako and Rei were jostled from behind. Pushing ahead, Makoto lunged to intercept the veterinarian. For just as suddenly, Dr. Yuroshika had a scalpel in her hand and was headed toward Serenity. Rei saw the blank look on Yuroshika's face. Makoto saw the scalpel.
Seizing the doctor by the wrist, Makoto brought the woman's arm up and down as she pirouetted. Yuroshika's wrist twisted awkwardly and the scalpel clattered to the floor. A leg sweep put Yuroshika on her back. Keeping control of the wrist, Makoto knelt down and planted her knee gently but firmly on her foe's chest.
"Somebody has to be controlling her!" Makoto exclaimed. "Did you see the glassy look in her eyes?"
A loud noise came from the infirmary area. Rei ran out to check it. A nurse was trying to hold an orderly back. The orderly had a syringe and was wielding it like a weapon, trying to head for the veterinary clinic.
"That's two being controlled and both of them are after Serenity!" Rei thought. The priest whipped out a sutra and pressed it to her forehead, murmuring the sacred chant that charged it with spirit energy. "AKURYO TAISAN!"
The sutra shot through the air and struck the orderly on the forehead. Instantly the man tensed, then sank limply to the floor. The nurse trying to restrain him immediately seized the syringe and placed it safely on a tray.
"There's trouble at the gates!" Serenity announced. "Endymion says that there are thousands of people at the gates, all trying to push their way inside! He says they all look like they're being controlled.!"
"How many people is Awanishi controlling?" gasped Makoto, still holding Dr. Yuroshika down.
"More importantly, I think they're after Serenity," Rei declared. "Or at least all of us! I think Awanishi is tired of us chasing him and he's fighting back!"
"Do the gates need help?" Minako asked anxiously. She didn't want to leave either Serenity's or Artemis's side.
"Maybe you should help them," Serenity suggested.
"I've kind of got my hands full," Makoto argued.
Serenity nodded and glided over. She knelt down next to the squirming vet. When her silver glowing hair touched the woman's forehead, Yuroshika calmed.
"You can let her up now, Mako-Chan," Serenity told her.
"Maybe you should go out there," Minako suggested. "Give everybody a 'Silver Crystal Whammy'."
"Is that safe?" Rei countered. "You saw what helping Artemis did to her."
"Let's ask Ami-Chan," Serenity offered. "She'll know best."
"What happened?" Dr. Yuroshika asked as Minako helped her to her feet.
"Luna will explain. We've got to go," Minako told her. "Take good care of him, Doc." She hurried after the others. "You know what she's going to say."
On the way, Serenity stopped and cured the orderly. The four women approached room two. Waiting for them inside, though, was just Hayami. He'd been knocked to the floor and was struggling to get up.
"Hayami? What happened?" Makoto asked, trying to help him up.
"Something," he began, struggling to think coherently, "hit me."
"ENDYMION, NO!" Serenity exclaimed. Everybody turned to her in shock. The Queen's eyes began to water with tears.
"Serenity?" Rei asked, the waves of emotion battering her senses.
"Endymion told me," Serenity squeaked, "Ami-Chan. Awanishi-San - - he's controlling Ami-Chan!"
"I was afraid of that," Rei said softly. Minako stared at her.
"Something you saw?" the blonde asked.
"Yes, but not with my sight. In the cats' office, I noticed some condensation on a computer screen - - like what happens when Mercury uses Shabon Spray. She probably snuck up on Artemis under cover of . . ."
"REI-CHAN, NO!" shrieked Serenity. "AMI-CHAN COULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"
"She didn't," growled Minako. "Awanishi did it. He just used Mercury's body to do it." Her teeth ground in anger. "OK, we have to consider Mercury a hostile until either Serenity can cure her or we get Awanishi."
"Well if he got to Ami, there's no telling how many others are affected!" Makoto said. "All those people at the gates!"
"And probably a portion of the staff or their families, if what we saw here is any indication," Rei added. "I can go through the halls and hit anyone affected with a sutra."
"And I'll try to help the crowd at the gate," Serenity said.
"OK, sounds like a plan. Makoto, you and I can guard her back," Minako nodded. "Will you be OK by yourself, Rei?"
"I'm just about recovered. I can handle it." She turned to Serenity. "YOU be careful. Don't push yourself to cure everybody. The ones you miss can be restrained."
"Rei-Chan, you worry too much," Serenity fussed.
"OK, go," Minako said. "And everybody watch out for Mercury. She's the wild card in this right now."
Rei headed out of the infirmary. But without thinking, Serenity levitated up and passed through the wall.
"HON'!" Makoto called after her.
"Come on! Let's go!" Minako barked.
Rei didn't have long to wait to encounter a controlled palace resident. Entering the corridor outside of the infirmary, the priest found a dozen men and women of all walks, standing mesmerized in the corridor.
"What are they standing here for?" Rei wondered as she transformed into Sailor Mars. "It's like they're waiting for orders."
As one, the crowd turned and headed for the stairs to the lower level. At the foot of the stairs, Mars heard a security officer order them to halt. He was ignored.
"I have to assume that Awanishi has some means of monitoring what's happening," Mars thought as she bolted forward. "He must have just spotted Serenity by the gates and sent them after her."
Summoning twelve sutras from her glove, Mars pressed them to her forehead and recited the chant to activate them.
"Akuryo Taisan!" she yelled and flung the sutras. Like guided missiles, the sutras shot forward and flew true. Each one struck someone on the forehead. As one, the crowd stiffened and then sank limply to the floor. Mars ran up to them and looked down at the security officer. "Are there any more?"
"About five or ten on every level!" he called back up. Mars descended to meet him. "What is it?"
"Shabon Spray!"
Instantly the hall filled with a thick fog. Realizing that it was Mercury, Mars grabbed the security officer and shoved him to the floor. He was about to speak, but she put her hand over his mouth.
"If Awanishi knows anything about Mercury's tactics, he's probably got her tracking my heat signature with her computer," Mars thought, trying to pierce the fog visually. "Maybe I can home in on her with my sight."
The Senshi concentrated.
"I'm not getting any impressions!" she thought. "If Mercury is being controlled, she must be an emotional blank slate! I've got nothing to home in on!"
"Mercury! Aqua Rhapsody!" sounded through the fog.
"Fire Soul!" Mars shouted, desperately hurling a fireball at the sound of Mercury's voice.
A tense moment later, she heard the loud hiss of her fireball striking the oncoming wave of water. The resulting steam, though, only made the fog in the hall more dense.
"What is it?" asked the security officer anxiously.
"I have to do it!" Mars thought. "I have to risk it!"
She brought out another sutra and pressed it to her forehead. In the seconds she was busy reciting the chant, Mars was leaving herself vulnerable to attack. But she got through the chant and felt the power burning in the sutra.
"Akuryo Taisan!" Mars shouted and flung the sutra into the mist, hoping that the mystic aura of the talisman would lead it to its target.
The click of boots in the corridor sounded, running away from them. Mars waited a few seconds until she felt the infusion expire in the sutra.
"Burning Mandala!" Mars shouted. Sacred flaming symbols erupted from the floor and burned off the fog. The sutra lay on the floor in the distance. Mercury was gone.
"These people are being mind-controlled!" she told the security officer. "Round up as many people as you can trust and restrain anyone who looks like they're in a trance! They're after Queen Serenity! Only they're not responsible for what they're doing, so please don't injure them if you can avoid it!"
The officer nodded and headed off, calling his central command on his radio as he did so. Mars got up and ventured down the corridor cautiously, looking for Sailor Mercury.
"Where are you, Ami?" Mars thought as she made her way to the end of the hall. "Are you going after Serenity now," and she exhaled nervously, "or are you laying in wait for me?"
Emerging like a phantom through the palace wall, Serenity looked around at the scene. Security guards were desperately trying to hold back what looked like half the population of Tokyo trying to surge through the gates. Others were trying to climb the walls. Serenity's mind reeled at the thought of all of these people being controlled against their wills and implanted with a single thought, that being to kill her. How was is possible that someone could hate her that much or else be so selfish as to disrupt the lives of so many people.
"Is this going on all over the world?" Serenity wondered.
Spotting Endymion near one of the gates, she levitated down to him. The Queen sought out his strength and he took her into his arms. Endymion was in his black armor, so things must really be serious.
"You shouldn't be here," Endymion said to her, glancing at the gates straining to hold back the crush of people. "You're giving them too easy a target."
"But I may be the only one who can stop them," Serenity countered. "As it is now, they'll end up hurting each other." She glanced at the gate and saw the ones pressed up against the gate being crushed by the surging crowd. "Stop! Get back! You're hurting the people in front!"
Oblivious to her pleas, the crowd kept pushing forward.
"I'm sorry!" she wailed and waved her hands at the crowd. An invisible force pushed the crush of people backwards, away from the gate. But all they did was surge forward again mindlessly.
Suddenly Endymion pivoted, his left arm around Serenity's waist. His right arm came up and struck a security officer with the flat of his sword, knocking a kitchen knife out of his hand. Serenity gasped in alarm as her mindless attacker stood for a moment, as if waiting for instructions. Then he took a step forward.
As they headed for the palace outer grounds, Makoto and Minako transformed. They reached the grounds in under two minutes, far slower than they'd hoped. To their relief, Endymion was on the grounds, directing security forces and guarding his wife's back.
"Venus Love Me Chain!" rang out and golden heart-shaped links wrapped around the mindless guard. The impact knocked him to the ground and he struggled to escape and complete his mission. Venus and Jupiter ran up to them.
"Hon', don't go running off like that when you're under threat!" Jupiter admonished.
"I'm sorry, Jupiter. I didn't think," replied the Queen.
"Huh! Sounds like what Akiko always said," Jupiter scowled, "when she was five." Venus grinned with familiarity.
"So, you think you can do a mass healing?" Venus asked. "This crowd's getting uglier by the minute."
"Let me try," Serenity replied. She turned to the gate, but stopped when she felt Endymion's hand grip hers.
"Draw on me if you need to," he said. Serenity smiled gratefully.
The Queen's eyes closed. Her left hand slowly rose up and pointed lazily at the people outside the gate. Venus and Jupiter saw Serenity begin to glow silver. After a few moments, Endymion began to take on a golden hue. Venus glanced at Jupiter and showed her crossed fingers. Jupiter responded in kind.
"No," Serenity said suddenly, dropping her hands. "I can't."
"Is it too much for you?" Jupiter asked. "Because you can use my energy, too, if it will help out any."
"No, they're different," Serenity responded. "Their minds are all different. I can't just wash a blanket cure over them. I might hurt some of them - - change their thoughts or memories. It's too complex." She looked down. "I can't. I can't risk hurting them."
"It's all right," Endymion said, hugging her to him. "I wouldn't want you to hurt them. Not over something they're not responsible for." Serenity took comfort in his embrace.
"Well, we've got to do something!" Jupiter said urgently. The mob was pushing relentlessly at the gate and either the gate or the front of the mob was going to break.
"Maybe you can put them to sleep?" Venus suggested. "Maybe Awanishi can't control them if they're not awake?"
"I suppose it's worth a try," Serenity nodded.
Turning to the gate again, Serenity closed her eyes. Her head rolled back. Her arms spread from her body. Moments later, the Imperium Silver Crystal emerged from the spacial warp over her chest. It hovered before her, glistening in the light of late afternoon. Venus glanced from her to the crowd. It had stopped surging. The faces she could see seemed mesmerized by the sparkling glow of the crystal. She felt at ease where moments before she was tense and ready to act at a single hostile movement.
A wave of silver light pulsed from the crystal, traveling in every direction. The wave passed through everyone around, from Endymion to Senshi, from guard to mind-controlled citizen. After the wave was spent, the mob as one sank limply to the ground, unconscious.
"If they're going to be out all night, we're going to need a couple tons of blankets," quipped Venus.
The others watched Serenity kneel down and touch the forehead of the guard wrapped in Venus's chain.
"You can let him go now," Serenity told Venus.
"That's good, as far as it goes," Venus replied, retracting the chain. "Were you planning on spending the night curing all of those people one by one?"
"That's impractical," Endymion frowned. "If we only knew how it was being implanted, perhaps we could come up with an 'anti-virus' to mass cure them - - and anyone else on the planet that Awanishi has infected."
"I bet Artemis could have done it," Venus frowned.
"Or Ami," Jupiter added regretfully.
But Sailor Mercury had other plans. Under the direction of Goro Awanishi, the Senshi was even now crouched behind a bush near the palace, observing the Queen and the others through eyes that saw only for him. And in his remote hotel room, Goro Awanishi was trying to decide whether to attack from that spot or risk getting closer. He had already taken care of his hacking rival, Artemis. This was a golden opportunity to take down King Endymion and Queen Serenity, as well as two of her Senshi, and he didn't want to muff it. They were getting too close. And if she could deal so easily with a mob of hundreds of thousands, they were too dangerous to him. He had to deal with them and this was the perfect chance.
Springing up from cover, Mercury pointed her hands at them. "SHABON SPRAY!"
The entire courtyard of the palace was suddenly engulfed in a thick fog. Endymion grabbed Serenity around her waist and shielded her with his cloak.
"It's Mercury!" Jupiter shouted, the lightning rod in her tiara extending. Venus crouched and looked around, ready to move.
"MERCURY! AQUA RHAPSODY!"
CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 11