Author's Note: Apologies for the delay in getting this chapter up. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.
I'd also like to thank masterray5 again for his help with editing this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft or Robert W. Chambers.
Chapter 11: Rita
It was night as Mamoru walked into the bar, wearing sunglasses, a pink t-shirt with a white jacket that had the sleeves rolled up, and a pair of white slacks with white shoes. It was the type of outfit that had gone out of style at the end of the 1980s. As he stood in the doorway and removed his sunglasses, Mamoru looked around the bar. The place was definitely a dive. It smelled of booze and cigarette smoke, and the floors looked as though they hadn't been cleaned in a century.
Mamoru finally entered and took the place in. The bartender was a bald middle-aged man with a pot-belly and noticeable five o'clock shadow. He was wearing a tacky Hawaiian shirt that was open to reveal a stained off-white undershirt beneath. The bartender had a cigarette in his mouth and was currently cleaning a glass with a rag that looked dirtier than the glass itself. Sitting at the bar was a thin white-haired old man wearing a ratty brown suit that looked as though it was from the 1970s.
Turning his head away from the bar, Mamoru surveyed the rest of the establishment. Taking up the center of the whole room was a large stage, more of a catwalk really. On the wall behind the stage were large curtains made of a shimmering silver material that could possibly be used to protect the space shuttle during atmospheric reentry. There were several folding chairs placed around the catwalk, and almost all of them were filled with men ranging from the early twenties to the late fifties. Every one of these men were dressed in the same 1980s style as Mamoru's outfit.
Mamoru walked over and leaned against the bar to speak to the bartender. "Seems like a popular place you got here. What's your specialty?"
The bartender put out his cigarette in a nearby ashtray already filled with a pile of butts, spit into the glass he had been cleaning, and began to wipe it down again. "Hey man, ain't nobody around here who comes for the drinks or the atmosphere. Except maybe Lou over there." He tilted his head towards the old man sitting at the bar. "When he ain't here, he's at the crumbling old rest home down the street waiting to die. Nah man, the only reason why people come to this place is for Frieda."
"Frieda?" Mamoru repeated with a raised eyebrow.
The bartender smirked. "Just take a seat by the stage with all the other gents. Looks like there's a primo spot right in front with your name on it."
Mamoru looked and saw there was a seat right in front of the end of the catwalk that seemed to be calling to him. He thanked the bartender and waded his way through the other audience members to reach the chair. Once he sat down, the lights went out. The song, "Mama" by the band Genesis began to play.
A voice made an announcement over the speaker system. "Ladies and gentlemen! Please welcome the one, and only, Frieda!"
A spotlight came on and the stage was covered by an etherial mist. Mamoru's jaw dropped when he saw Frieda up on the stage. The blonde goddess was dressed only in a bra and panties covered in white feathers, with a pair of elbow-high gloves and knee-high boots. Frieda began to dance and move her hips sensually to the music. The entire time the other audience members were silent, perhaps because they were just as awe-struck as Mamoru was.
A quarter of the way into the song, Frieda removed one of their gloves and tossed it into the audience. An older man caught the glove and ran it under his nose, taking the scent in deeply. Frieda tossed another glove into the audience and began to shake her head, swinging her long golden hair around like a flail. When she was done, her sapphire eyes locked onto Mamoru's. As they gazed at one another, Frieda smirked. She took off her feathered top and held it high for the audience to see.
By this point Mamoru's rod was at full mast inside his pants. Keeping her eyes on Mamoru, Frieda threw her bra into the audience. Several men tackled one another to try and grab it like wolves in a cage going after the same piece of meat. Meanwhile Frieda walked down the catwalk towards Mamoru. She jumped off the stage and stood before Mamoru.
Everything else around them suddenly vanished, but the music continued to play. As she looked at Mamoru like a cat that had cornered a mouse, Frieda got onto Mamoru's lap and continued to dance. Mamoru felt the touch of Frieda's soft bountiful breasts and deeply took in her flowery scent. He felt as though he might come at any second as the blonde continued to grind her hips on his lap. Frieda suddenly stopped, and as they gazed into one another's eyes Frieda began to lean in for a kiss.
Mamoru's eyes snapped open. He discovered he was in the sitting room of the mansion with his tablet on his lap. He realized he must've dozed off while trying to read the same medical journal from before. Mamoru groaned as he leaned forward and rubbed his hands against his face.
'Dammit,' the young doctor mentally cursed. 'What the hell's the matter with you? Ever since Frieda made that suggestion about sharing the hot tub with her, your mind's been in the gutter.'
Mamoru was so distracted that he failed to notice Satoru had come into the room. "Mamoru? Might I have a moment?"
Startled, Mamoru jumped to his feet and cleared his throat. "Satoru! What's on your mind?"
"If I'm disturbing you, I can come back."
"You're not disturbing me at all. In fact I welcome the distraction. So what's up?"
"It's about Setsuna. A little while ago she asked Ami to hack into the Sailor Valkyries' computer system to get a look at some of their top secret files. Later on I confronted Setsuna about the matter and, well…there's just something about her behavior I found troubling. Now I'm aware I don't know Setsuna nearly as well as you, Usagi and the rest of the Sailor Guardians do, but I felt I should say something. A part of me worries Setsuna might become a liability to us."
Mamoru became serious and nodded. "Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'll admit some of the girls have been a little worried about Setsuna too."
"Ami mentioned that she seemed to change after some trip she took to Egypt several months ago. Do you know anything about what happened to her there?"
"No, and she's been pretty tight-lipped about it. When Haruka and Michiru return from their mission, I'll say something about this to them."
Satoru nodded. "Thank you, Sire. I certainly hope they return soon."
"Don't worry. I'm sure Haruka's team almost has things wrapped up."
The staircase leading up from the wheat field had seemed to Uranus and the others as though it had been endless. It felt to the four as though they had been climbing for at least an hour and had gone up perhaps fifty flights. The staircase at last came to an end though, and the four emerged onto a floor that appeared to be an endless expanse of stars, where they found a set of large oak doors.
"Finally!" Brunhilde exclaimed. "This labyrinth is really starting to piss me off."
"Mars, are you doing okay?" Jadeite asked.
"Okay for someone who just walked up about a few hundred flights of stairs in heels," Mars answered as she looked around the space and sighed. "And of course there's no place to sit down."
"Rita's trying to wear us out," Uranus deduced.
Brunhilde nodded. "I'm guessing something might show up to try and kill us if we stay in this place for too long."
Suddenly Rita's mad laughter rang throughout the space. "Glad you could all finally make it. Don't worry. Our little game is nearly at its end. Just head right on through those doors. You better hurry though. If you linger here too long, I might start to grow impatient."
As Rita continued to laugh, Brunhilde balled her hands into fists at her sides and stormed towards the doors. "Dammit! I'm tired of this bitch messing with us!"
Brunhilde kicked open the doors and went though, with the other three following close behind. They found themselves at the end of a long hallway with royal blue walls that were lined with paintings. It was as though they had walked into the wing of an art museum. The large painting hanging on the wall right in front of them was of a vibrant young woman with long wavy red hair and eyes like opals. She was smiling brightly, with her hands folded behind her back and the skirt of her white summer dress wafting in the breeze.
"Who's this?" Mars wondered as she looked at the paining.
"Better question, should we care?" Brunhilde responded.
"The painting you see before you is of my beloved, Carrie Reeves," Rita's voice answered. "She's the reason why I still get up in the morning. The reason why we're all here. I do what I do so I can return to her side."
"Why're you telling us all this?" Uranus asked.
"I thought this would be a good chance for you all to get to know me better. Go on. Take your time and enjoy my paintings as I tell you my story."
Jadeite looked back and saw that the door they had come through had vanished. "Doesn't look like we have much choice but to play along."
The four began to travel down the hallway and stopped at the next painting they saw. It showed Rita sitting beneath a tree and chatting happily with the young woman from the first painting, Carrie. In this painting, Rita's hair was brown, and she was wearing a burgundy t-shirt and a pair of tight jeans.
"Carrie and I first met in collage," Rita's voice explained. "I was an art major and she was an aspiring actress. Carrie first found me as I was reading a book under this very tree. We became fast friends, and before we even both realized it we had fallen in love with each other."
Rita stopped speaking as if signaling the others to move on to the next painting. It seemed Rita had chosen to tell them the story of her life in the form of a guided museum tour. The next painting showed Rita standing with three other people against a grey backdrop. In the middle of the painting was a balding older man with a stern expression, wearing a white suit with a red tie. To the man's right was an older woman wearing a white business-like dress, with with brown hair done up in an extremely tight bun and an expression that made her seem like she had been sucking on a lemon for at least fifty years. Standing on the stern-faced man's left was a young man dressed as a priest, and wearing severe expression that almost made him seem fifty years older than he actually was. Rita was also in the painting next to the older woman, still with brown hair, and also wearing a black dress that had gone out of style at the beginning of the 1900s and expression that indicated that she clearly didn't want to be there.
"Me and my family, the Carsons," Rita's voice continued. "As you can guess, they were a pious lot. My parents were pleased when my older brother became a priest. Meanwhile they never approved of anything I ever did with my life. I'm sure you can imagine how they all reacted when they found out I was dating a woman. Believe it or not, my late grandparents were even worse. The Carson family had been that way for generations, all because of a certain ancestor of mine."
Once again Rita stopped talking, prompting the others to move on to the next painting. This painting showed a mustached gentleman in his late thirties, wearing yellow clothing that looked as though it dated back to the 1800s. He had the eyes of a madman and a grin full of yellowing teeth. The backdrop of the painting showed a mountainous castle that towered up behind a yellow moon.
"This is my ancestor, Hildred Castaigne," Rita's voice announced. "He was once a fine upstanding gentleman and playboy, until he struck his head after falling from a horse. While recovering in a sanitarium, Hildred somehow got his hands on a copy of The King in Yellow and read it all the way through. Afterwards he had become an eccentric recluse, shunned by everyone in the community. He claimed to be the rightful king of America and had gone on a series of gruesome murders in order to get rid of anyone who he thought stood in the way of his rightful succession.
"Old Hildred had nearly killed his cousin, Louis before the police finally caught him. They were able to connect him to at least twenty-six murders. The day they hanged him back in 1895 was quite the event. When Hildred's crimes came to light, the rest of the family disavowed him completely. They all moved to America as soon as they could, and the family name was changed to Carson."
"How do you know about all of this?" Uranus asked.
"Well, even though the family at large had disavowed old Hildred, some of them held onto some of his things," Rita answered. "The most notable of these possessions was a journal of his deeds and the very copy of The King in Yellow that had made him go completely off the deep end. I guess they held onto them to remind themselves not 'to stray from the Lord's path' or some shit like that. I found the journal and the play back in high school as I was rummaging through the attic for something. I read through the journal a couple of times but never once looked at a single word of the play…at least not until I told Carrie about it. That was the day our lives changed forever."
Rita's voice once again silent, and Brunhilde and the others moved on to the next painting. This painting showed Rita and Carrie cowering before a figure clad in armor and wearing a tattered yellow mantle with a hood, along with a crown of silver thorns. His face was hidden behind a handsome but pallid mask.
"Sailor Brunhilde, is that…?" Jadeite began to ask.
Brunhilde nodded. "The King in Yellow, Hastur!"
"Being an aspiring actress, Carrie was curious about the play," Rita continued. "So one evening, we both read it together. We had just started reading through the second act when we were suddenly whisked away to Carcosa, and immediately summoned to his presence. His Majesty removed his mask and revealed his true face to us. That was when Carrie and I both went mad."
Rita stopped talking, signaling the four to move on to the last painting displayed in the hallway. This showed Rita sitting at the end of a dinner table. In this painting her hair was completely white, and there was a mad grin on her face as she held a wine glass as if raising a toast. Sitting around her at the table were three skeletons, all with traces of melted flesh clinging to their bones and wearing the outfits of her family members.
"His Majesty made me a bargain Carrie and I couldn't refuse," Rita's voice continued. "I was to spread his word in the form of The King in Yellow. He told me I was chosen for this task because I carried the Castaigne blood. Once I completed my task, Carrie and I could retire to His Majesty's land of Carcosa, where we could spend all of eternity together in bliss. As a condition to make sure I remained on task, Carrie was to remain in Carcossa with His Majesty."
"His Majesty also directed me to take over my father's media company. So I pretended to make things up with my family and claimed I had broken things off with Carrie. We toasted our reconciliation with a bottle of wine from his Majesty's private vineyard. Of course I did not partake, as the wine was a poison deadlier than anything on Earth." Rita began to laugh. "You should've been there when blood began to pour from the eyes, ears, noses and mouths of my sanctimonious parents and brother, when their torsos bloated from every one of their organs bursting all at once like water balloons. I was rolling on the floor laughing by the time their flesh began to melt from their bones. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen."
"You probably know the rest of the story. I took over my father's company and converted it from a giant bible store to a company that spread the word of a true god. Very soon my company will put out copies of The King in Yellow worldwide. Once my job is done, I can finally retire to Carcosa and spend the rest of eternity in my sweet Carrie's arms."
"Why are you telling us all this?" Uranus demanded to know.
Rita laughed. "Why? Because I wanted you all to understand my pain. You have no idea how lonely it's been for me, toiling away in this world while Carrie is waiting for me in Carcosa. Each day for me has felt like a cold empty hell! You, Sailor Uranus, I think appreciate what I've gone through at least a little bit now, since it was your girlfriend that I kidnaped to lure you up here all this way."
"So you want us to feel sorry for you? Is that it?" Brunhilde asked. "I admit I do feel pity for you, but we are at war with your king! And you are just another one of his twisted subjects! You won't get an ounce of mercy from me!"
"Fair enough," Rita responded. "Just go through those doors up ahead and we can continue our little game."
The four saw a pair of ornately carved silver doors at the end of the hallway. Cautiously, Brunhilde and the others passed through the doors and entered a cavernous room with a domed ceiling and a floor tiled with marble. In the very center of the ceiling was a wicked-looking chandelier that cast everything in a sickly yellow light. All around the four was a vast sea of grey featureless female mannequins, each one staged in a different pose.
"Weird decor," Jadeite commented as they walked. "But at least we're not in another forest or swamp."
"There's a really strange chi flowing all over this room," Mars told the others. "I don't like it."
Suddenly in the distance, Uranus spotted a speck of aqua-colored hair and began running towards it. Brunhilde and the others ran after her closely. They found Neptune standing in the middle of the chamber, facing away from them.
Uranus approached Neptune. "Michi, are you okay?"
Right as Uranus was about to put a hand on Neptune's shoulder, Neptune turned and slapped her hand away before punching her right in the gut. As Uranus fell to her knees, the others noticed the cold emotionless expression on Neptune's face. Neptune ignored the others and put her hands tightly around Uranus's neck. Uranus struggled to free herself from Neptune's grasp as her lover choked the air out of her. Brunhilde charged in and cut off Neptune's head with a single swing of her sword.
The pieces of the person they thought had been Sailor Neptune turned into another mannequin and shattered to dust as they hit the floor. Uranus remained on her knees gasping for breath.
When she finally regained the power to speak, Uranus glared up at Brunhilde. "How…the hell…were you so sure…that wasn't Neptune?"
"Because as scary as it is, I'm starting to figure out how the mind of this crazy bitch works," Brunhilde answered. "Making a fake Neptune to try and kill us seems like just the sort of thing she'd do."
Rita's insane laughter rang throughout the chamber. "Bravo! How very perceptive of you. But this next trick won't be so easy to solve."
Suddenly all of the mannequins in the chamber began to move and morphed into copies of Sailor Neptune. In a matter of seconds the four were completely surrounded by Neptune clones that looked at them with cold, emotionless faces.
"Now here's the real challenge," Rita's voice continued. "One of the lovely young ladies about to try and kill you is the real Sailor Neptune. If you start hacking away at them recklessly, you could very well end up killing your friend."
Uranus at last rose to her feet and balled her hands into fists. "Dammit! How the hell can we even attack knowing one of these enemies might really be Michiru?"
"The bitch could be lying, you know," Brunhilde pointed out. "These could all be fakes, and she just said all that stuff to make us hesitate."
"There's no way I'm taking that chance!"
Mars summoned her flaming bow and arrow and aimed it up at the chandelier. "Mars Flame Sniper!"
The fire arrow sailed through the air up towards the chandelier, but fizzed out before reaching its target. It looked as though the arrow had collided with some sort of spherical barrier.
"Damn!" Mars cursed.
"What was that for?" Brunhilde asked.
"The strange chi I mentioned? I can feel it coming from the chandelier. It might be the source of the illusion we're seeing. Unfortunately it has a pretty strong barrier around it."
Brunhilde smirked. "Let me take a shot at it." She thrust her sword up towards the chandelier. "Victory Arrow!"
The arrow of white light from Brunhilde's sword flew towards the chandelier and shattered its barrier like glass. The chandelier was immediately obliterated, and the army of Sailor Neptunes vanished, all except for one.
"There! That's the real one!" Uranus declared, pointing at Neptune.
Neptune looked at the others with an emotionless expression as she raised her arms above her head. An aqua-colored sphere of light formed above Neptune's hands, and when it became large enough she swung her arms down and fired the sphere at Brunhilde and the others. The four had to roll out of the way of Neptune's Deep Submerge attack in order to avoid getting hit by it.
Jadeite looked back as the attack exploded against the back wall of the chamber. "Yep. This must be the real Sailor Neptune."
"Looks like busting the chandelier didn't break whatever spell was put on her," Brunhilde realized.
"Leave this to me," Mars declared as a sutra appeared in her hand. "Evil Spirit Be Exorcized!"
As Neptune charged at the four, the sutra flew from Mars's hand and stuck to the aqua-haired Sailor Guardian's forehead. A strange yellow cloud flew from the back of Neptune's head and faded to nothing as the sutra instantly burned to nothing. Neptune was rendered unconscious and fell forward to the floor, only for Uranus to rush in and catch her.
Neptune soon regained consciousness and hugged Uranus tightly. "Haruka!"
"It's okay. I've got you," Uranus assured her as she stroked Neptune's hair.
"Damn you!" Rita's voice shouted. "You cheated!"
"We've had enough of your trickery!" Mars declared.
"That's right!" Brunhilde agreed. "You want to get rid of us so you can finish the job Hastur gave you and be with your beloved Carrie, right? So let's end the games and settle this like true warriors!"
Rita sighed. "Fine! I've grown weary of this game anyway. Let's end this once and for all."
On cue, a pair of heavy doors opened at the far end of the room, revealing a set of stone steps going upward.
"Michiru, are you okay to go on?" Uranus asked.
Neptune nodded. "I'm fine now."
"We shouldn't let down our guard," Jadeite declared. "I'm sure Rita still has plenty of other tricks up her sleeve."
"They won't do a damn bit of good," Brunhilde declared. "Now let's take her down so we can get the hell out of here!"
Usagi was up in the room she shared with Mamoru, working on a manuscript for a new manga on her tablet. Her manga was proving to be a good distraction from worrying about the others while they were on their various missions. Usagi glanced at the clock and realized she had been working for two hours straight. Deciding to take a break, she set down her tablet and flopped onto the bed. As Usagi closed her eyes, her mind started thinking about the very sensual shoulder massage Frieda had given her the other day.
The blond recalled the feeling of Frieda's fingers kneading into her, Usagi suddenly started picturing the both of them naked. Her nether regions started to feel like Niagara Falls. Before she fully realized it, Usagi had moved her hand into her panties to massage her own opening. Right as she started to pleasure herself though, a knock on the door snapped Usagi back to reality.
Letting out a startled cry, Usagi got back up on her knees, facing the door. "C-c-come in!"
The door opened and Ami walked in with Luna. "Usagi, can we talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure! Sure! I wasn't doing anything I shouldn't." Usagi let out a nervous laugh.
"No one was saying you were," Luna responded as she hopped onto the foot of the bed. "Anyway, Ami was telling me about something that happened with Setsuna, and I thought we should probably let you know about it too."
"What happened?" Usagi asked.
"Setsuna wanted me to hack into the Sailor Valkyries' computer so she could look at some files they were keeping secret," Ami explained. "She said that it was to prepare us for certain threats we might end up dealing with in the future."
"If it's stuff related to more of the Great Old Ones, I'm sure the Sailor Valkyries will let us know."
"That's what I said," Luna interjected. "I think we can trust the Sailor Valkyries to not keep any important secrets from us. The thing is, this all seems to have to do with whatever happened to Setsuna in Egypt a few months ago."
"We should probably say something to Haruka and Michiru about this when they get back from their mission," Ami suggested.
"Egypt…say, you think Yoko might know something about what happened?" Usagi asked.
"Why would Yoko know anything about what happened in Egypt?" Luna responded.
"Well Yoko was alive back in Ancient Egypt, right? She was one of their gods. Yoko might know something about the enemy Setsuna fought a few months ago."
Luna blinked in surprise. "Wow, Usagi. That's actually a pretty brilliant idea."
Usagi smirked and crossed her arms. "I do have them every now and then ya know. Anyway, we'll say something to Yoko about this when she gets back. I'm sure her mission will be wrapping up soon."
Night had fallen and Constance was back out on patrol. Though it seemed like she was working her beat alone, Makoto and Nao had been tailing her discreetly but constantly. At the moment the couple was keeping an eye on her from the red bench of a bus stop across the street. So far though, it was not looking as though Patchwork Wiley was about to make a move.
Nao yawned. "I wonder when this freak is finally going to show?"
"My guess is he'll wait until he thinks Constance is completely alone," Makoto assumed.
"Then maybe we should make ourselves a little more scarce? I mean we are kind of sticking out like this."
"Yeah. You're probably right. Of course I don't want to get too far away from Constance and put her in danger."
Nao nodded. "Well, when Patchwork does show up, I think we should try to finish him off right away. There's no need to get Hotaru and Yoko involved if they absolutely don't have to be."
Makoto raised an eyebrow. "Where's this coming from?"
"Given what those two have been through during all of their past lifetimes, don't you think they deserve a little break? I mean you did say we should be more supportive of their relationship. The way I see it, the best way we can do that right now is make it so they have one less enemy to deal with."
Makoto smirked. "I guess I was sort of thinking the same thing when I volunteered us for stakeout duty."
Nao frowned a little. "The only problem is I'm not sure if we can defeat Patchwork on our own. I mean we can probably take him in a two-on-one fight, but if he has an army of those skeletons or worse, one of those zombie chimeras of his, we might have a problem."
Makoto nodded. "Well, in a pinch I could always use my secret weapon."
"You're not talking about your little souvenir from our stay in Glenwood, are you? Because the last time I checked, you don't have good control over that thing."
"Maybe not, but it's our best option if Patchwork does pull out the big guns."
Suddenly a fog rolled in as Constance continued making her rounds. The police officer stopped and slowly reached for the handle of her gun. She could feel someone was standing behind her, but just how the assailant had managed to sneak up on her, she could not say.
"A lovely night, isn't it dear Patricia?" Patchwork Wiley asked from behind. Constance turned around and saw the masked maniac standing before her with both his black swords in hand. "Given how rudely our reunion was interrupted last night, I thought it best I come get you myself."
Constance aimed her gun at Patchwork and began to back away. "Stay back! Drop your weapons and put your hands behind your head, now!"
"There's no need to be afraid, my dear," Patchwork responded as he advanced on her. "By the time I'm finished with you, you'll be the most beautiful creature in all existence."
"You have a pretty warped sense of beauty, if you ask me!" Nao called, his voice cutting through the foggy night air.
Nao charged from the bench where he and Makoto had been keeping watch and transformed into Nephrite as he crossed the street. Nephrite drew his sword and swung it down at Patchwork's masked head as he came in range, only for the mad artist to block the attack with both of his own blades. Constance fell back as the two began to clash. Meanwhile Makoto transformed into Sailor Jupiter and dashed across the street to join the battle.
As Jupiter ran across the street, her body began to spark with electricity as she brought her hands together. When she pulled them apart, a ball of green electricity had formed in her right hand.
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!" Jupiter called out as she threw the ball at Patchwork.
The ball of lightning struck Patchwork in the back right as he had jumped backward to avoid one of Nephrite's slashes. With Patchwork paralyzed, Nephrite ran the mad artist through with his blade. The warrior withdrew his sword and shook it once to remove the black blood left on the blade, watching as Patchwork's body fell to the ground face-first.
"Well that was easy," Nephrite remarked as he sheathed his sword.
"Yeah, too easy," Jupiter responded as she eyed the body suspiciously.
Suddenly all of Patchwork's limbs thrashed and his entire body flew up into the air, flipping over Jupiter's head as it sailed through the air. Patchwork landed foot-first several feet away, with both his black swords still in his hands.
"Bravo," Patchwork praised. "You're not as quick to drop your guard as Sir Khepri was."
"We know all about what happened between you and Khepri the first time you fought," Jupiter told him. "Which is why we're going to stop you right here and now!"
Patchwork chuckled. "You're welcome to try, my dear. But I am afraid you will fare no better than your knightly friend did. You know, looking at you I think I may use you as material for one of my next masterpieces."
Suddenly the sound of an engine could be heard. Patchwork looked to the right just in time to see the front wheel of Khepri's Solar Chariot sailing towards his head. The mad artist jumped back just in time to avoid the flying motorcycle. The Solar Chariot landed just a few feet away, with Khepri and Sailor Saturn riding. Saturn dismounted and charged straight at Patchwork.
As the Sailor Guardian of Ruin swung her Silence Glaive wildly at Patchwork, the mad artist managed to block each and every one of her strikes. Khepri meanwhile drew and assembled her blaster. The armored warrior fired two shots of gold light at Patchwork's feet, causing him to fall back.
Khepri rushed over to Saturn's side. "Try and keep your head, dearest. Wyld may not be a powerful foe, but he's a slippery and cunning one."
Saturn sighed. "You're right. I just got so mad when I saw that freak again."
"I've never seen Saturn fight so aggressively before," Jupiter remarked.
"Most likely she wishes to avenge Lord Khepri's previous incarnation," Sailor Eir remarked as she flew down from above, landing next to Constance. "In any event, we should heed his lordship's advice. I doubt Patchwork Wiley actually came here alone."
"Well Sir Khepri, now that your merry band has assembled, I think it's time for you all to witness one of my more recent creations," Patchwork declared before snapping his fingers.
Suddenly flying down from above onto the middle of the street was a hideous monster twice the size of a minivan. The creature was a sort of three-headed sphinx, with each head in the form of a baby with greenish skin the color of spoiled cheese. All six of its eyes were pitch-black except for green phosphorescent irises. Much of the abomination's body was covered in matted brown fur, which had fallen away in spots to reveal corpse-white skin underneath. On its paws were sharp black claws and on its back were two large tattered membranous wings.
"I call it Experiment Number Five," Patchwork announced. "Granted, the title isn't much. But it is after all merely an experiment I did to perfect a certain technique I'm using for the master work His Majesty commissioned me to produce. Personally I think this one turned out rather well."
The three-headed blasphemy known as Experiment Number Five let out a horrid shriek at Khepri and the others.
"Khepri! Saturn!" Jupiter called. "Just stand back! Let me handle this one."
Jupiter reached for her waist as if drawing a sword. Green electricity gathered around her right hand, and forming out of thin air was an ornate gold hammer with a short handle and a large head decorated in some runic pattern.
"By Odin's eye!" Eir exclaimed. "She was actually able to wield Mjolnir?"
"Uh, honey? Are you actually going to use the move I think you are?" Nephrite asked.
Jupiter said nothing and simply charged straight towards Experiment Number Five. The three headed monstrosity saw her coming and spit a stream of green acid from its central head down at her. Jupiter narrowly avoided the attack by jumping into the air towards the monster. As she sailed through the air towards the creature, Jupiter lifted her hammer above her head with both hands.
"Oh crap! Hit the deck!" Nephrite called as he tackled Constance to the ground.
Sailor Eir realized what was happening and created a sphere of transparent pink light around herself, Nephrite and Constance. "Lord Khepri! You must raise a barrier at once!"
Khepri quickly wrapped her arms around Saturn. "Eternal Ba Shield!"
A large transparent scarab made of gold light appeared in front of Saturn and Khepri.
Meanwhile Jupiter's hammer began to crackle with green electricity.
The moment she came in striking range, Jupiter swung her hammer down at Experiment Number Five's central head. "Jupiter Nordic Thunder Crash!"
The moment the hammer collided with the monster's central head and cracked its skull like a ripe melon, an immense bolt of green lightning came down from above and struck Experiment Number Five. The resulting blast obliterated Experiment Number Five, and the shockwave that followed hurled Jupiter back several feet, knocking the wind out of her. The same shockwave also shattered the shields Eir and Khepri had erected and knocked them and Saturn to the ground. Every window in the surrounding area shattered to bits and the alarms of every nearby parked car began to go off.
The shockwave had also knocked Patchwork Wiley off his feet. Even Khepri's Solar Chariot had been knocked onto its side. Meanwhile Jupiter managed to stand up. Her ears were ringing but she had managed to catch her breath. She looked at where Experiment Number Five had been standing and saw only a massive scorch mark on the pavement.
Moments later Khepri finally got up and helped Saturn to her feet.
"Are you okay?" Khepri asked. Saturn nodded. Khepri turned her attention to Jupiter. "What the hell was that?"
"Sorry!" Jupiter responded with an apologetic smile. "Still working out the kinks!"
"Were you trying to blow up half the city just now?" Eir angrily asked as she got back up. "That is the Hammer of Thor you possess! It contains an incredible amount of power! You mustn't use it so recklessly!"
"On the bright side, she killed that monster," Nephrite pointed out.
"I don't know how the hell I'm going to call this in," Constance remarked.
Suddenly Patchwork Wiley jumped to his feet. "Well this was a disappointing outcome. I'll let you have this round, Sir Khepri. But bare in mind the creature your lovely comrade destroyed was merely an experiment! My grand project will be a masterpiece that would make even the great Nathaire blush! Until next time, I bid you goodnight!"
Before anyone could make a move, Patchwork vanished with an explosion of yellow smoke. Soon after, the sound of police sirens could be heard over the blaring car alarms. People were starting to venture out of the surrounding buildings to find out what was going on.
"You lot better get going," Constance told Khepri and the others. "I'll try and keep a handle on things here."
"Retreat would be an advisable course of action," Eir agreed.
Khepri nodded. "Fine with me. Besides, I need to get back to the base to make a phone call. I think I have an idea of what Wyld might be up to."
Brunhilde and the others at last arrived in Rita's throne room. Rita was lounging on her throne with her head propped on her left fist. The sky above had turned a very dark morose crimson and rumbled with thunder, with occasional flashes of red lighting.
Rita rose from her throne and calmly walked towards the five heroes. "You know, when I decided to send all of you here to my lovely little labyrinth, I had hoped at least a couple of you would've died on the way up here."
Brunhilde smirked. "This is what you get for underestimating us."
"How true." A long serrated sword appeared in Rita's right hand with a short puff of black mist. "I have only myself to blame. In retrospect, I should've just finished you all off from the start."
Jadeite drew his sword and used it to stab the floor, causing a massive cloud of icy mist to enshroud him and his comrades. Brunhilde emerged from the mist with Uranus and Neptune, and the three charged right for Rita. Uranus and Neptune launched their respective World Shaking and Deep Submerge attacks simultaneously, while Brunhilde fired off her Victory Arrow attack. All three attacks merged into a single ray of light that sailed towards Rita. Before the super attack could hit though, Rita stabbed the ray with her sword and caused it to fade to nothing.
"Really. I'd have thought you would've realized that such simple brute force attacks won't work on me," Rita remarked as she slashed the air with her sword for show.
"Mars Flame Sniper!" Mars suddenly called out.
Rita looked to her left just in time to see the flaming arrow coming at her from the left. She had no time to dodge the attack and the arrow struck her left shoulder, causing her body to be set ablaze. The flames died away, only for Jadeite to come at her from the right with the blade of his sword covered in a misty frost. Jadeite's blade sliced off Rita's left arm, causing it to drop to the floor with her sword still clutched in her severed hand. It was not blood that flowed down from the stump of Rita's arm though, but a black tar-like substance.
Brunhilde rushed forward and stabbed Rita through the chest with her sword. The redheaded valkyrie withdrew her blade and Rita staggered backward a few steps, but did not fall.
"Oh, I see," Rita spoke as the wound in the middle of her torso closed. Her severed arm suddenly flew up and reattached itself as well. "That big attack at the beginning was just a diversion. Well played."
"When this whole thing started, I underestimated you too," Brunhilde admitted. "But after trudging through this damn labyrinth of yours, which I assume is a reflection of your twisted mind, I managed to get a pretty good idea about what sort of tactics might work against you."
"How can she still be standing after all we hit her with?" Jadeite wondered.
"Isn't it obvious? She's an undead, just like most of Hastur's other minions," Brunhilde explained. "It's probably going to take all we've got to finish her off."
"My word, Ms. Castaigne. You certainly are a handful," a familiar voice remarked. Everyone looked and saw One-Eyed Pete standing beside the throne. "I know these pesky Sailor Guardians are quite formidable, but I never imagined you'd have this much trouble with them."
"Maestro!" Rita responded. "Please! Give me more time!"
"Calm yourself, my dear. I have not come to reprimand you, but to grant you a boon courtesy of His Majesty. He felt that granting you your reward a tad early might benefit you greatly."
Suddenly a swirling black vortex opened up in front of the throne, and a figure began to emerge. The figure was a young-looking woman wearing a tattered black dress. She had long wavy red hair and bleached skin like a corpse. Her eyes were pitch-black except for a pair of pale blue irises. Brunhilde and the others recognized the woman as Carrie, Rita's lost love waiting for her in Carcosa, but she looked very different from the vibrant young woman they had seen in the painting from the earlier area of the labyrinth. Carrie was still beautiful, but her beauty had been twisted into something wretched by the state of her living death.
Carrie staggered towards Rita as the portal to Carcosa closed behind her. "Rita. My darling."
Rita walked towards Carrie with tears flowing down her cheeks. "Carrie. You have no idea how much I missed you."
"I've been waiting for you to join me in Carcosa. It's beautiful there, but so cold and lonely without you.
Rita smiled and wrapped her arms around Carrie. "Don't worry. We can go there together soon, once I finish this last job. And with you at my side again, I know I can finish it."
The two of them kissed, and suddenly Carrie's dress changed into a black slimy substance that enshrouded them both. The black mass rose into the air and changed into a sphere that gave off the sound of a beating heart. Two pairs of long black arms grew from the left and right sides of the sphere, with each arm ending with a large clawed hand. From the bottom of the sphere grew a base shaped like a top that bore a white stripe spiraling up around its surface from its bottom point. A single head grew from the sphere's top, and from the front of the head burst forth a white plague mask with a long beak and two large pitch-black eyes. A silver crown emerged from the top of the creature's head and rested at a tilted angle. The creature's round chest became transparent, showing a large pink beating heart with the Roman numeral six glowing on the front in a crimson light.
One-Eyed Pete began to cackle madly. "In the past, you Sailor Guardians have used 'the power of love' to defeat your foes! But now the very same power shall be used as the instrument to deliver your deaths! Tremble now before a creature I shall call Amour Six!"
The creature now called Amour Six let out a horrible shriek.
Brunhilde smiled. "This is starting to get a little fun."
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