Dance in Sin City
Disclaimer: I own nothing here, tis a shame, the only thing I own is the plot.
And back to normal stuff.
Chapter 6
After cleaning up from her time with Ranma, who, after cleaning up himself, spent time with Saito before heading back to Makai, Nabiki looked at Setsuna with an exasperated look on her face. "Okay, okay, you got your fun, so, tell me, I assume the others are ready to sign the contracts?"
Setsuna nodded and sighed softly as she sat down across from Nabiki. "Yes. I tried talking them out of it, but all of them were determined to come with."
Nabiki just groaned and buried her hands in her face. "Great, just fucking great."
"I'm... Confused." Ai spoke up from where she was sitting on the couch. "Why is having all of the Senshi here a bad thing?"
Nabiki looked at Setsuna, who nodded. "Because the last time they had a big adventure, they defeated a Sailor Senshi who had the power of the whole freaking Galaxy at her disposal, who was being empowered by one of the Primordial Greek Gods known as Chaos himself."
"Wait, Chaos was a God?" Setsuna stared at Nabiki in shock. "Huh?"
"Yeah," Nabiki gave her a flat stare. "Oldest and most powerful of the Greek Gods. Typically he only sends a bit of his power out to keep things interesting. Somehow, a long, LONG time ago Chaos came into contact with the Galaxy Cauldron and fused with it."
"...You mean like in that one American show where God fused with a Super Computer in space?" Ai asked and both Setsuna and Nabiki gave her a shocked expression. "...What? I've spent time in America before and got hurt fighting against Demons in Oklahoma, I had nothing to do but watch tv while my bones healed."
"...How old were you?" Setsuna asked and Ai tapped her chin.
"I think I was twelve when I spent three months in a full body cast." Ai grimaced. "That wasn't fun." At least the show had been funnier than most and made the days pass by quickly.
"Lovely," Nabiki shook her head. "Anyway, point is he got himself trapped in the Galaxy Cauldron and along the way lost himself as he saw all the death and rebirth and decided to unite the universe together with himself."
"...That doesn't sound healthy." Ai muttered and Setsuna shook her head.
"It's not. Every enemy we fought were basically incarnations of Chaos." Setsuna sighed. "The Galaxy Cauldron isn't just some place you would want to go to." Her eyes became somewhat unfocused as she thought about it. "It's the place where all life originated from."
"But I thought..." Ai trailed off, not sure what to think.
"It's a remnant from the previous universe." Nabiki told her. "That universe was dying and the beings that existed there created something that could survive the death of their universe until the next universe in an attempt to come back to life in a healthy and living universe. That became the Galaxy Cauldron." She was amused at Ai's utterly shocked expression. "Yeah, this isn't the first universe, it won't be the last. Eventually this whole thing will die and then a new one will be born out of the remains. That's so far into the future that all the planets in this universe will be basically dead, the stars burning out and all sort of other fun stuff."
"You just blew my mind." Ai muttered as she looked like she was about to pass out.
"Blew my mind when I discovered it." Nabiki told her. "I used my Sacred Gear to know what the Senshi were truly like and found that cauldron. It was so weird and I looked up information on it. That's all I got."
"...That does answer some questions about where it came from at least." Setsuna muttered. "Anyway, back to the original point about Chaos being a God, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Gods don't like it when one of theirs gets killed by mortals." Nabiki explained. "The fact that Yahweh created weapons that could slay Gods and Buddahs and made it so that humans got them was a real sore point with a lot of pantheons."
"And now Usagi defeated Chaos..." Setsuna paused as she thought about the implications of that. "But you are right, the Gods do not like it when one of their own is killed by mortals."
"So..." Ai spoke up. "Should we worry about a bunch of Gods coming down on us?"
Nabiki shrugged helplessly. "Sadly, Gods tend to be a bit beyond my ability right now with my omniscience. All I know is that Tsukiyomi is a big fan of magical girls." She smirked at Ai's confused look. "He contacted me a few months ago to get him some replacement DVDs for Mahou Shoujo Levia-Tan's earlier seasons."
"Shouldn't those ninja girls be arriving soon?" Ai asked and Nabiki nodded.
"Yeah, it takes eleven hours to get from Toyko to Las Vegas by plane. And no, I'm not transporting a large group via magical teleportation. That's too exhausting for me." Nabiki told her. "They'll get here around two this afternoon. As for the Senshi..?"
"I'll let you know when they're ready to sign the contract." Setsuna had a pensive look on her face. "I feel like I'm going behind their back."
"You kind of are." Ai said, "but they have the option of not joining up if they don't want to."
"I'll negotiate terms that are agreeable to them if they agree to the whole being on retainer deal we made." Nabiki reassured Setsuna. "You mostly used that as a way to get me to agree anyway."
"I have to go." Setsuna said as she bowed and disappeared in a flash.
"They can teleport?" Ai asked and looked at Nabiki, who shrugged.
"I think she has enough experience to do it by herself, not sure about the others."
(-)
Meanwhile...
"Welcome." A male voice spoke up as Edwin Black, Ingrid and Oboro entered the large, luxurious hotel suite. "My name is Satanael." The dark haired man smiled at them. "I know that Reno isn't where you were originally supposed to go, but do tolerate it for now."
"Interesting." Edwin said as he took off his jacket and gave it to one of the maids, who bowed and walked off to hang it up. "I didn't expect a Fallen Angel to be one of our associates."
"Working with anyone who is willing to help me advance Sacred Gears is, sadly, a necessity." Satanael shook his head. "The maids you see before you are a result of my research."
"Artificial creations?" Ingrid asked as she looked them over. "Or simply mindless puppets?"
"Well, you know what they say," Satanael smirked at the dark-skinned woman. "You can't kidnap orphans off the streets for dangerous experiments, they weren't wanted in the first place. But they aren't mindless, if that's what you want to know."
Edwin gave the maids an appreciative look before turning his attention fully to Satanael. "So, why did you have us meet in Reno if we were heading to Las Vegas?"
"A word of warning." The Fallen Angel told him as he sat on a recliner chair and lifted up a goblet to take a sip of wine. "While you are correct about your targets are heading to Las Vegas at this moment, the leader of their group is in Las Vegas as well, and she has more than just the ninja girls." Edwin raised an eyebrow and Satanael continued. "The Sailor Senshi agreed to work with them. My spies have informed me that details are being hammered out, but the fact that the strongest group of magical girls ever will be in Las Vegas is concerning..." A grin came to his face, "and helpful."
"I take it that you have a plan for them?" Oboro asked and Satanael nodded. "Whatever, I just want to know if I'm allowed to kill them or not. Regular humans and hunters are so..." A disgusted look came to her face, "boring." Even if she had to kill to stay alive, she didn't like killing those who weren't worth her time. It was like asking someone who hunted lions, bears or other large animals to exterminate giant wasps.
"Don't underestimate the Senshi." Satanael told her. "They may seem silly and weak, but they have lasted for nearly half a decade in a field where most people who become magical girls end up dead, brainwashed or lose their powers in a matter of months." He then shook his head. "I suppose it doesn't matter in the end. You can try to kill any but Sailor Moon. One of my benefactors told me that she was to be spared for now. As for the others..." He shrugged. "One of our associates, whom we will meet in Las Vegas, may want to have some living specimens, but feel free to do what you want to all but Sailor Moon."
"And what of the one who hired them?" Ingrid asked him.
"Nabiki Saotome needs to live." Satanael told her. "I need the information in her brain. But I will deal with her myself." He snapped his fingers and a woman with red hair and green eyes, wearing nothing more than a skimpy bikini, walked into the room with a briefcase. She opened it and inside were four bracelets.
"What are these for?" Edwin asked as he took one.
"When we go to Las Vegas, these will give us protection against Nabiki's Sacred Gear." Satanael told them as he took one and attached it to his left wrist. "It's not perfect, but it will work."
"And how do you know that it will?" Ingrid asked curiously as she put one on her right wrist.
"How do you think we Fallen Angels managed to elude both Devils and Father's forces for so long?" He chuckled at their look of understanding. "Now, we have two benefactors. One will meet with us in Vegas, but the other one... Is pretty aloof and may not show up at all."
"Well, that's disappointing."
(-)
Meanwhile, in Japan...
Usagi wondered why Setsuna had called her and the others to the shrine. Seeing Setsuna looking conflicted wasn't something that she was used to seeing. "Setsuna?"
"I have to come clean with you, Princess." Setsuna said to her. "And I want the others to hear as well. About the reason that I'm willing to work with Miss Nabiki like I am, despite the fact that she's a Devil."
"I have been wondering that myself." Ami muttered as the Senshi sat around the room.
"The truth is, Princess, I wasn't going to work with her, but when she mentioned that she had a variation of omniscience," Setsuna paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, "the idea of Crystal Tokyo being mandatory for humanity to survive due to the Great Freeze was no longer a necessity."
"Didn't you try to keep trying to have Crystal Tokyo come into reality though?" Makoto asked and Setsuna nodded.
"At the time, I could never figure out what caused the Great Freeze. For now, it will still happen, but," Setsuna gripped her knees, "there's a possibility that we can avoid it now."
"And so all our work to keep Crystal Tokyo is for nothing?" Rei asked with a frown and Setsuna shook her head.
"No. It's not. Crystal Tokyo can and will likely still happen, just not the same way that it did originally if the Great Freeze doesn't happen." Setsuna explained. "I still want Crystal Tokyo, Rei, I will gladly break rules to ensure that happens. But would you rather have a Crystal Tokyo that came about because billions of innocent people died or not?"
Rei said nothing and the other Senshi nodded.
"Setsuna, if that's all," Usagi smiled at her, "then why are..."
"Because, Princess," Setsuna bowed her head, "I promised Nabiki Saotome that if she helped stop the Great Freeze that we would be retainers. I should have consulted you first before I made such a deal."
"Yeah, you should have." Haruka grumbled. "What were you thinking?"
"I was desperate, Haruka." Setsuna raised her head to look at her friend. "I have seen countless deaths, destruction and devastation from the fall of the Moon Kingdom, to the wars humanity has done, to the Great Freeze. And not just once. Many times. If you finally found a possible answer to stopping one of them, would you not get desperate?"
After all, Setsuna's view of time was different from most people's view of time. Centuries in the past may as well have been last week and yesterday could be five weeks from where she was in the present.
Usagi said nothing as she looked at Setsuna before she stood up and walked over to the oldest Senshi and put her hands on Setsuna's shoulders and smiled. "Setsuna, I trust your judgement. If you think that Nabiki isn't a bad person, then I don't think she is."
"You're too trusting." Rei said to Usagi. "Did you hear? If she figures out how to stop the Great Freeze, we'll be under employment from a Devil."
Usagi nodded. "I know, but none of our enemies were willing to simply talk or even ask for our opinions. I don't think Nabiki's a bad person, even if she's a Devil."
"That kind of thinking gets you into so much trouble." Minako, of all people, spoke up. "But, if that's what you want, I can't go against it."
"So..." Setsuna looked at Usagi. "Are you going to go with to Las Vegas?"
"Of course," Usagi nodded, "I can't let you or any of my friends get hurt if I have the power to stop it. Besides, you warned us and Luna and I read over the details of the contract." Seeing the dismayed look on Setsuna's face, Usagi smiled at her. "You and Nabiki both gave us plenty of warning, Setsuna, if things go bad, I won't blame either of you."
"...That doesn't make me feel better." Setsuna said and mentally sighed before nodding. "Very well, if that's what you really want."
Usagi nodded and Setsuna really hoped that nothing too terrible would happen.
'Why do I feel like someone is laughing at me?' Setsuna asked herself.
End Chapter 6
Um, I got nothing to say here.