chouso@aur.alcatel.com
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Mars Fire Ignite
Chapter 5: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
by Soumitra Choudhury
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The Grell once again entered the room behind the blood crystal
doors, and once again he opened the portal to the planes with the
power of the mask. The melting wall revealed a smoking, charred
landscape of a barren waste, cracked with gaping chasms, oozing
noxious fumes periodically into the dusky orange sky. Off in the
distance, a mountain range angrily tore itself apart, belching forth
molten rock in a brilliant display of fireworks.
Flitting about in the atmosphere of the wicked land was a
small, batlike creature. As it closed upon the opening of the portal,
the batlike shape gave way to the image of a mishapen monkey with
wings. Scaly fur coated a filthy body as big as a dog, bloated in the
belly. Both arms and legs were jointed backwards, lending it an avian
look, but the wings upon it were definitely leathery and batlike. The
simian head had horns instead of ears, fangs instead of teeth, and
dripped blood from empty eye sockets.
"Master has called, yes he has!" whined the creature as it
landed nimbly upon the wastes before the portal. The voice modulated
in the back of its throat, sounding considerably like Yoda. "What does
kindly master wish of poor old Bruul, poor old Bruul?"
The Grell hated having to deal with such an apathetic,
miserable minion of the Abyss, but he needed a creature which could
spy on the fire-child without being seen, and an imp was just such a
being. They had an innate ability to turn invisible whenever they
wished, and they were small enough to get almost anywhere. If only
they didn't whine so much!
"I need you to watch a girl for me," he replied coldly.
The imp hoped up and down on its disjointed legs in apparent
glee. "Yes master! Yes master! I can watch the girl, and Master will
let me nibble on her little ears and her little eyes, won't you
Master?"
"No, you will only watch the girl. There will be no eating
her."
Bruul whined and squirmed, begging and pleading in that
wheedling tone that grated upon the assassin's nerves, until finally,
the Grell wrapped a few coils of eldritch energy about its body and
squeezed firmly.
Bruul promptly stopped complaining.
"Here is the girl you must watch," he continued, raising the
illusionary image of Rei. "Watch her, and I will watch through
you. Listen and I will listen through you."
The imp flapped its wings in agitation as it saw the image and
licked its lips. Though lacking eyes, Bruul could see just fine, and
he liked the way his quarry looked. "So pretty, yes it is," Bruul
whispered.
The Grell fixed the imp with a hard glare, and Bruul backed
away plaintively.
"If you fail me, little Bruul, I won't even bother with
destroying you myself. I will turn you over to Droc' uh."
If the imp could turn white with fear, it would have.
After that, it was a simple matter of warning the imp to be
careful of the other scouts, and to take care not to alert them of its
presence. The assassin then let Bruul away with his task.
This time he would prepare for the fire-child properly. He had
no doubt that he could handle Sailor Mars by herself, but he had to
make sure that the other scouts would not show. It would only be a
matter of getting Mars alone.
He already had a pet ready and waiting to play with the
scouts, one that would make the ninja-witches and Kha'less seem like
insects.
* * * * *
Things returned to normal after the incident in the parking
garage. Rei's health improved to near normality, especially since the
attacks from the Grell had stopped. While this made the scouts
nervous, no one complained. Besides, Rei desperately needed the rest,
as did Serena to a lesser extent.
Cole could not do anything against the board of directors
because he didn't have any concrete evidence to back it up with, but
he did manage to take a great deal of the workload upon himself to
make up for it. Bright as he was, he managed to steal away most of
their power without them knowing, and as a result, they were the
directors only in name. They still considered themselves powerful and
in control, but Cole bypassed all that by superseding all of their
paperwork and commands, with a tremendous amount of help from William
and a few other trustworthy individuals. Cole may have been young, but
he was shrewd and cunning enough to pull off this masquerade. He would
persecute them later.
Because of the seeming disappearance of the Grell, the girls
decided that the best thing to do would be to wait for his move. Ami
tried to pinpoint the location of the Grell's energy pattern, but came
up empty. He seemingly vanished, and this made them nervous,
especially Rei.
After the initial relief that Rei would recover just fine,
Cole paid her much less attention than before the hospital
incidents. Rei didn't know what to make of the sudden space between
them. She had come to trust that he would be there to take her to
school like he used to, or meet the girls at the arcade after school,
or at the very least, call her. None of these happened.
After a week, Rei got worried, but chalked it up to working
hard.
After a week and one day, she was irritated at his lack of
attention.
After a week and two days, she was fuming, but wouldn't give
him the satisfaction of having her call.
After a week and four days, she called Cole, but William said
he was not available, and that he would leave Cole a message. Rei bit
Serena's head off for borrowing a manga and locked herself in the
temple.
Finally, after a week and five days, the temple phone rang,
and Rei answered the phone.
"Cherry Hill Temple. This is Rei Hino speaking."
"Hi Rei! This is Cole. I know I haven't- " 'click'.
Cole stared at the receiver, dumbfounded that Rei had just
hung up. In fact it slightly raised his ire, for he didn't realize how
much time had passed since he had talked to her, so busy he had
been. He was about to redial, when William walked into the study. "Who
are you calling, Cole?" he asked.
The young man turned to his butler and friend. William was
worried at the way Cole looked. He hadn't kept himself up well since
Rei had left. He looked drawn and haggard, and considering he hadn't
been sleeping very much, didn't seem too out of place. Also, there
were nights that Cole would not come back from work over at the
Research and Development building on the other side of Tokyo, and
William didn't think he was eating well.
"Can you believe it? Rei hung up on me!" Cole shouted, a
flicker of anger passing through his look of outrage.
"Well, why would she do that?" William questioned calmly.
"How should I know! You figure she would be happy to here from
me after me being so busy and all."
William remained quiet, a look of disapproval on his face.
Cole glanced at his friend. "What?! What did I do?!"
"When's the last time you talked to her?"
Cole fell into his chair, exasperated. "I don't know! Sometime
last week..." Suddenly he trailed off, and his outrage slipped into
shock. He slapped his forehead. "Oh man! It's been over a week and a
half! What was I thinking?!"
William smiled, amused at the boy's predicament. "So what are
you going to do?"
"I don't know. I'm not quite finished with what I've been
working on." He glanced again at his butler, and saw the look of
disapproval return. "Okay, okay, you're right. I need to go talk to
her, but only long enough to explain how busy I've been. When this is
all over, though..."
"And when will it be all over, Cole?" William sounded worried
again.
Cole couldn't look him straight in the eye, so he turned the
swivel chair around and faced out into the city. "I can't tell you
right now, William. It's something I need to do, though."
He heard his friend sigh behind him. "If you say so. Shall I
have the limo waiting for you?"
"No, I'll drive myself. I need to go to the plant tonight
anyway. Hopefully it will be done tonight."
A pause, and then, "Alright Cole, but be careful. You've been
working too hard. You need a break soon."
Another pause. " And so does Rei."
Cole heard William leave, and pondered the meaning of the last
statement. Rei definitely deserved better than she had gotten from
him, and he would give it to her, but he needed to finish his work
first.
Besides, it was all for Rei anyway.
* * * * *
Rei swept furiously at the leaves that piled up about the
temple grounds. How dare he! she cried to herself, mashing the rake
into the grass, tearing away chunks of plant and dirt. The crisp wind
of autumn wailed through her hair, sending it willie-nillie about her
face. She grabbed at it and tried to swipe it out of her way, but that
didn't help. This added to her considerable anger.
She had stormed around the temple after slamming the phone
back into place, and had tried to calm down by meditating on the Great
Fire, but her ire had been so large that Fire had taken her anger and
fed itself, making it hotter, until she was forced to forego that
plan. The Fire had become white hot before she had stopped.
Here she was, half an hour later, and still her fury
raged. Damn him! She screamed in her head. What right did he have
treating her like that?!
Unmindful of her actions, she karate-chopped the rake in half
and threw the shards away.
"Umm, hello Rei."
The dark-haired priestess twirled around in angry surprise,
and threw a lightning quick punch to the intruder's chest before she
could think twice. Luckily for her (and him) Cole managed to catch
her fist in his hand inches before it hit. Thank God for martial
training, he thought wryly.
"Can I talk to-"
Rei swept her leg around behind his knee, knocking it out from
under him. He fell to the other knee, but before he could
counterattack, she leaped onto his back and sprung off, using him as a
springboard to jump away. The force of her jump slammed him into the
ground, and he groaned in slight pain.
"What do you want?" she asked coolly, standing a few feet
away.
"Ooo, this is going to be tougher than I thought," Cole
muttered to himself, rising to his feet again. Trying to pretend
nonchalance to her attacks, Cole gave her his most winning
smile. "It's nice to see you again, Rei."
She crossed her arms. "What do you want?" she repeated, a bit
more menacingly.
"I have come to apologize for being such a prick for the last
week and a half." He got down on one knee and bowed his head. "I don't
deserve to be forgiven for my transgressions, and any punishment my
Goddess feels she should wrack upon this poor soul, I will fully
understand."
Despite his attempt at humor, Rei could tell that he was being
serious, and her anger began to seep away, leaving only tired
irritation. Sensing that his words were having a positive affect, Cole
pressed forward.
Raising his arms and face to the sky, he cried out into the
air, "Please take mercy upon this poor soul! I have been a foolish
man!"
People walking down the street in front of the temple grounds
began to pay too much attention to the display, and Rei, though
amused, slipped into embarrassment. "Shut up, you idiot! There are
people watching you!" she hissed at him, coming forward and attempting
to raise him to his feet.
He turned towards the gathering crowd. "Oh, I must let the
whole world know that I have been a stupid, stupid man!" Leaping to
his feet, he ran over to them. Clutching onto a couple that was
quietly chuckling at this display, Cole groveled at their feet. "Look
upon my Goddess! She is full of wrath against me! What ever shall I
do?!"
Rei sprinted after Cole and tried to drag him away. "Don't
mind him," she smiled nervously to the crowd, "he's had a lot to
drink. Come on, Cole!"
Cole allowed himself to be dragged away, as the crowd began to
burst into laughter. "Oh Blessed Heavens! My Goddess has decided to
forgive me! I will be whole again! I am blessed! Blessed I tell you!"
The young priestess waved the people away as she pulled Cole,
grumbling to herself the whole time. Once they were out of earshot of
the passersby, she whirled at him with as much fury as she could
muster, which was merely token compared to before. "What the hell do
you think you were doing?!"
He leaped to his feet and wrapped her in his arms. "Am I
forgiven, my sweet?"
Rei stiffened for a moment, then sank gratefully into his
chest. "Oh, I suppose so." She wrapped her own arms around his waist,
vastly enjoying the feel of his body so close to her own. She closed
her eyes and sighed softly, content beyond imagining, and ignored the
applause that emanated from the street.
This continued for a few moments, then Cole gently pushed Rei
back, careful to keep an arm around her waist. They strolled around
the grounds, and headed for the temple.
"Rei, I have a question I need to ask you." He sounded
slightly embarrassed.
"What?"
"Well, I was wondering, do you have any idea how to contact
Sailor Mars?"
The priestess stopped in mid stride, and glanced up at
Cole. She couldn't think of another question that would have taken her
by surprise as much as this one. "Umm, sort of. Why?"
Cole fidgeted. "Well, I need to talk to her."
Rei waited for him to continue.
"Well, we have this thing we're working on at the plant, a
weapon of sorts, and we need one of the scouts to take a look." Very
lame, he thought to himself.
Rei pierced him with a confused look. She knew he was lying,
but she couldn't very well tell him that. He was apparently hoping
that she was naive enough to fall for such a ridiculous excuse as
that. Still, instead of being insulted, Rei was more concerned. Cole
wouldn't request for Sailor Mars' presence unless he wanted something
of her, and it peaked her curiosity as to his motive. Besides, a talk
between Sailor Mars and Cole might patch up a couple of things. Maybe
she could get Cole to stop hating the superheroine so much.
"When do you want to see her?" she asked offhandishly.
"Uh, could you tell her to come to the plant around 10
tonight?"
Rei shrugged. "Sure." Then she grinned maliciously. "You're
not going to cheat on me, are you?"
Cole feigned disgust. "What are you talking about? You know I
don't go for pyromaniacs. Besides, I have all I need right here," and
he clutched her tightly. Internally, Cole breathed a sigh of relief.
Rei was so preoccupied with the veritable roller coaster of
emotions she had just gone through, that she failed to pay attention
to the sense of evil that emanated weakly from above her, and so she
didn't notice when the trees rustled slightly, as if something had
flown away.
* * * * *
"So, Mr. Gishumi needs Sailor Mars to 'check out' a new
weapon, does he?" the Grell whispered to himself. He had witnessed the
whole conversation through Bruul, and he couldn't have been
happier. This would be a perfect chance to split up the scouts and
destroy-
The assassin paused. Why did he need to destroy her at all?
Why not use her in his little network? He could always use another
powerful member to his little band of crimes, especially now that the
Ninja-Witches had been killed. All he had to do was rid her of that
infernal sense of morality and loyalty that she had. That would be the
hard part.
He steepled his fingers before him on the desk. Yes, this plan
had merit. He could even use the fire-child to help him eliminate the
other Sailor Scouts. Then there would be no one to ever stop him
again, and he will have gained a superb ally.
The Grell concentrated on his vault of items, and mentally
reached inside to teleport one of these items out onto his desk. A
flash of light, and upon his desk appeared a scarlet silk mask, simple
and plain. It was made such that it would fit over the mouth, lending
a ninja sort of look. The mask, however, was insidiously evil. It had
the power to close away the dominant part of one's moral psyche, and
release the darker part to being.
A whispering chuckle escaped the assassin. He wondered what
Sailor Mars' dark side was like.
* * * * *
Later on that night, Rei contemplated telling the other girls
about her little rendezvous with Cole at the plant, just to let them
know where she would be, but decided against it. She didn't want any
of Serena's brilliant plans to follow her and watch from afar.
Drawing her transformation pen, she invoked her powers. In a
dazzling display of fire and light, Rei transformed into the alluring
Sailor Mars. She felt it would be faster trying to make it across town
as the scout rather than walking there in the middle of the
night. Leaping onto the first rooftop, she began her trek.
About an hour later, she landed nimbly in front of the guard
building. Though shocked to see the superheroine, the guard managed
to whisk her through without too much gawking, then he called in to
let Cole know that she had arrived.
Mars was slightly perturbed that no one was out to greet or
guide her through the plant. In fact, most of the plant was dark, and
almost completely deserted. She winded her way through the corridors,
lighting the way with only a candle light of flame from the tip of her
finger. her trepidation increasing as she came out into a vast
warehouse type room that she couldn't completely light up.
"Mr. Cole Gishumi?" she called out tentatively. The darkness
was somewhat daunting.
She heard a slight scuffle far ahead of her, and pressed
forward. This was getting downright strange. She didn't get alarmed,
however. She was Sailor Mars, and she could handle whatever trick this
was. Besides, her senses would tell her if something was wrong.
Because of this last consideration, she was supremely
surprised when a number of glowing steel bars raised out of the floor
around her, imprisoning her in a barred cage. Angered tremendously at
the trap, she exclaimed a string of expletives that would have
withered a sailor.
"Now, now. That's no way for a lady to talk." The lights
flared to life, illuminating a great big room filled with gadgetry and
machinery out of the best imaginations of the modern day research
scientists. Standing near a console of buttons and switches, Cole
Gishumi leaned casually, a cocky smile plastered on his face.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Mars growled, running
forward towards the bars.
He waved a finger at her. "I wouldn't go near those bars,
Ms. Mars. They've been specially made to withstand flames of any
kind. In fact, liquid helium is being pumped through them to counter
anything you throw at them, so they are quite cold. I would not advise
touching them."
Ignoring him, Mars clasped her hands together. "Mars Fire
Ignite!"
A bolt of flame sliced through the air to strike the bars, and
exploded in a gout of steam and superheated/supercooled air. The blast
actually knocked her off of her feet, dazing her slightly. When the
smoke cleared, the bars continued to glow, not a scratch visible.
"See, I told you," Cole said.
Mars rose to her feet and was about to yell madly at him, when
her communicator went off. Flipping it out, she saw Venus on the
screen.
"Mars! Quick, get to the mall! There's a demon out terrorizing
the shoppers!"
The dark-haired heroine turned to Cole. "Let me out, damn you!
I'm needed out there!"
Cole shrugged faintly. "I'm sure the scouts can handle
whatever it is."
"I'M a scout, damn it!"
"No," he replied coldly, "you are my prisoner until you've
heard me out."
Suddenly, the psychic emanations of evil slashed through her
senses. "Cole, there's-"
Too late. A sickly beam of green light shot out from a corner
in the ceiling, striking Cole in the side. Instantly, he froze in
place, unable to move a muscle.
Materializing out of the same shadowy corner, leaping down and
landing near the young man, was the Grell.
"No! Cole!" she screamed. Fear coursed through her being like
lava.
The Grell fixed her with an amused look. "This is so easy,"
the assassin chuckled, walking around Cole as a tiger would its
prey. "I could kill him now and have done with it. You wouldn't be
able to do a thing."
Sailor Mars tried to fire another fire bolt through the bars,
to the same effect as last.
The Grell strolled calmly over the cage. "An impressive
gadget, this cage. Don't you agree?"
Sailor Mars spit at him, though it froze before it could get
to him.
Shaking his head sorrowfully, the assassin waved a hand, and
Bruul appeared out of thin air and landed awkwardly on Cole's
shoulder, flapping its ugly wings to maintain its balance.
"Now, Fire-child. You will do as I say, or my little imp there
will have quite a feast coming to him. Understand?"
She clamped her lips together tightly, glanced at the hideous
creature perched on Cole's shoulder, and grudgingly nodded her
consent.
"Splendid! Now, I'm going to release you from your cage, but
you're not going to do anything, are you?"
She said nothing.
"Good." He strolled back, and pulled a small lever down that
he had seen Cole push when the cage had been activated. The bars
stopped glowing and receded into the floor. Sailor Mars calmly stood
up and stayed where she was. She contemplated blowing away the
creature, but she was afraid she might hit Cole, and even if she
didn't, the Grell would get to him first.
The assassin placed a gloved hand on the paralyzed Cole's
shoulder. "You know, Cole, that you have saved me a great deal of
trouble," he said aloud casually. "Sailor Mars will do anything I say
because you're here in my grasp." A slithering snake of violet energy
emerged from the Grell's hand, wrapping its way around Cole until he
looked coccooned in a purple blanket of coils. Flicking his wrist, the
assassin also released the paralyzation spell, and Cole promptly fell
to the ground.
"Get away Mars!" he cried, trying vainly to break free of the
magic.
The Grell laughed. "Now, why would she do that? She loves
you."
Cole stopped struggling and threw a baffled look first at his
tormenter, then at the heroine.
Sailor Mars gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, but said
nothing.
"Oh ho! You haven't told him yet?" he continued, greatly
enjoying himself, testing to see what she would do. "Why don't you
show him who you really are, Fire-child?"
Mars didn't move.
The Grell pointed at Bruul. "Show him, or I let the imp play
with your boyfriend here."
For one tremulous second, Mars looked hesitant to Cole's
gaping eyes, then she raised her arms, a red glow suffusing over
her. When it was gone, Rei Hino stood before them, looking distraught
and downcast.
"Noo..." whispered Cole, now oblivious to everything except
for his love.
"Yes! Unknowingly you have trapped the person who means the
most to you! Truly ironic, don't you think?" the Grell chuckled again.
"And now," he continued, the cold glint of evil returning to
his voice, "you will watch as I take her away." He pulled out the slip
of red silk.
"You have me now. Let Cole go," Rei said, her fury returning
at the predicament she had gotten herself into.
"Oh, I will. Don't you worry. He will be freed... as soon as
you put this on," and he flung the silk mask to her feet.
She arched an eyebrow. "What's this?"
More evil chuckling. "That, my dear, is a mask that will lock
away your personality. It will lock away most of what makes you Rei
Hino."
Rei looked appalled, and took a step away from the mask. "No,"
she whispered, truly frightened.
"Oh yes. It will lock away all except your darker side. Think
of it, my child. You will be free to do all that you wish to do,
without the constraints of morality, of conscience."
"No Rei! Run! Get away!" Cole twisted and turned, trying again
to get through the impregnable magic.
Rei considered the struggling Cole, and the slip of silk. If
she put on the mask, she would lose all of her will, her persona, her
life, all that made her Rei Hino... and Sailor Mars.
If she did not, she would lose her love.
Rei reached down, and hesitantly picked up the silk mask.
"Rei! Don't do it! Forget about me! I can't lose you!" Cole
cried, pleading with her.
She flinched at all that he said, and gazed long and sad at
him. "I can't lose you either," she whispered. "I love you." And with
that final farewell, she closed her eyes and slipped on the mask.
"Noooo!" Cole screamed.
* * * * *
Sailor Mercury didn't like their chances in this fight.
When they had arrived on the scene, several mall stores had
already been demolished, three mangled bodies were littered across the
floor, and a fourth had been screaming hideously as a large, blurry
beast ripped him to shreds. The rest of the people were stampeding out
every exit they could get through, which made it extremely difficult
to get to a battleground.
Sailor Moon paled significantly when she saw the ragged body
of the man being torn to pieces, blood splashing everywhere, but she
managed to swallow her bile and get its attention.
The watery blur of the creature paused at her voice, then
threw the dead corpse aside, smashing it through the window front of
another shop. It then turned to face the Scouts (minus an absent
Sailor Mars).
"Wow! That thing is big!" cried a shaken Venus, hesitant
in her fighter's pose.
"You're not kidding! And what's with the funky camouflage! I'm
having a hard time focusing on it!" Jupiter shouted to no one in
particular.
Mercury, always the prudent one, backed up behind the others
and pulled up her visor. What she saw frightened her.
It almost resembled a puma-like dinosaur, standing on all
fours as it did. Its black skin was ridged and tough, similar to an
alligator, and it rose to nearly ten feet tall at the shoulders. Four
three-inch claws jut out of each of the four legs. It was the head,
though, that truly bothered her. Large and flat, it resembled nothing
so much as an insect's head, complete with a pair of two-foot long
pincers. The only difference was the two pale, cold eyes that were
situated on each side of its head. With the visors power, she could
see the wavering aura that surrounded the demon, and recognized it as
the camouflaging power it had.
It gazed at them for a moment, then launched itself, roaring
tremendously. The scouts scattered as it landed, Moon, Jupiter, and
Venus having lost sight of it as it sailed through the air due to its
blending into the surroundings.
"How are we going to fight that thing?!" screamed Moon from
the far side of a fountain, "We can't even see it!"
"We guess!" yelled back Venus, powering up her ability.
"Venus Lovely Chain!"
The glowing links of magic pierced through the vegetation she
had been hiding behind, reaching for the monster, but it nimbly jumped
out of the way.
Just as Venus began to dive out of the way, though, a slashing
claw caught her in the side, sending her flailing into a wall. She
collapsed to the ground, fighting to keep consciousness.
"Mercury Ice Storm!"
"Moon Tiara Magic!"
Reacting on some animal instinct, the monster once again slid
out of Harm's way, and turned a baleful gaze upon Sailor Moon. It
began stalking towards her.
"Sailor Moon! Get out of there!" Mercury cried, then stood up
to release another attack. At that moment, the demon barreled
sideways, shoving a concrete pillar out of place, and causing it to
splinter and fall towards the water scout. Mercury dove for cover, but
when the smoke cleared, the demon was hissing over her.
Sailor Moon, in those rare moments of lucidity, ran full
speed, and landed a leaping karate kick on the creature's
face. Rearing back in rage, it hopped back to settle itself, shaking
its head to clear it. This gave Mercury and Moon time to get away.
"Venus Crescent Beam Shower!"
A hail of light beams sliced through towards the demon, who
took all of them in the side. The force of the attack flipped it over
and tumbled it into a store, where it thrashed around in irritation,
spraying the sales rack all over the place. When it got back to its
feet, however, it didn't look harmed in the least.
Sprinting after Sailor Venus, it charged through the debris
that lay scattered about, and Venus thought it might be prudent to
find some cover, especially with the flaring slashes across her left
side from the claws. Turning tail, she ran underneath an escalator,
behind the elevator column, and across the food court, all the while
screaming for assistance.
Little did she know, Mercury and Jupiter were trying to
land hits on the awesomely agile creature, but with little success. It
seemed to sense the attacks even before they were released, and the
camouflage helped a great deal. Even with Mercury's visor, the
invisibility aura of the demon occasionally thwarted the visor's
scanning. Where is Sailor Mars? she thought worriedly, launching
another ice attack.
Venus, finally realizing that the creature was too fast for
her, twirled around and took a stance of readiness, hoping to distract
the monster long enough for someone to get in a hit. "Alright, you
disgusting piece of dog-meat! Let's see how you do against a real
fighter!"
Unfortunately, the demon was much more than any lone Sailor
Scout could handle. As it neared her, she stepped forward to land a
vicious punch just under the chin, but it stepped forward also. She
couldn't dodge out of the way, and suddenly found herself locked in a
pincer squeeze, literally. The razor sharp mandibles began to cut into
her toughened scout suit.
Venus didn't much like her current position, especially with
the pain getting brutally devastating. She could also see the other
scouts behind the creature, but hesitant to attack for fear of hitting
their fellow member. Gritting her teeth to keep from crying out, she
brought her arms up.
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"
A flaring rune of the heart materialized in the air before the
creature's head, twirled about in place, then shot forward at point
blank range. The rune exploded with tremendous force, striking on its
forehead, gashing through to the monster's brain. The shockwave tore
its head apart, sending Venus through the air, slamming her jarringly
into a stone column.
As a groaning Venus struggled to stand up, Mercury, Moon and
Jupiter crowding around to assist her, the creature lazily collapsed
to the ground, headless. A torrent of black ichor flushed out of the
aperture that was its neck, and chunks of ragged flesh hung around
the hole. Without a brain to control its movement, it fell to the
floor, leaking its life's juices all over.
"Eeeewww! That's really disgusting!" Moon cried, attempting to
dodge all the puddles of ooze. "Couldn't you have made less of a
mess?"
Venus let out a weak chuckle as Jupiter pulled the pincers off
from around her waist. "I'll keep that in mind next time I'm getting
cut in half." Mercury gestured for her to sit down, and the injured
blonde complied, not really feeling up to par yet. The gashes in both
her sides stung horribly.
As they drew their attention on making sure the scout of
beauty was alright, no one noticed that the flow of blood from the
monster's neck had slowed to a trickle, and eventually stopped
altogether. No one noticed that the tissue and flesh of the wound
slowly twisted and closed, reforming into normal flesh. No one noticed
the gradual recreation of the thing's brain and skull.
Jupiter did notice when it stood up again.
"Look out everyone!" she screamed, shoving Venus away. Mercury
and Moon leaped a split second before a clawed arm thundered into the
stone pillar Venus had just been leaning on. Dazed and confused, the
girls watched helplessly as the creature pried out its razor-sharp
claws from the stone, all the while regenerating the flesh of its
head. Liquidy tissue and muscle would flow over each other to place
themselves in their proper position. Sinew wound itself together in a
horrifying display, snaking about before it found a nook in the
massive head that it liked.
"How do we stop it?!" cried a distraught Sailor Moon,
stumbling to her feet.
Mercury, ignoring her, pulled out her communicator. "Mars!
Where are you?! Mars! Come in!" Static was the only thing she
received. Meanwhile, Jupiter used the time to crawl to a more
offensive position. The moment the demon managed to dislodge its
claws, she was ready.
"Jupiter Thunder Crash!"
The air electrified, licks of lightning gathering at her
tiara. When it was large enough to be blinding, Jupiter swept out her
arms, releasing the pent-up energy in a blast of lightning that took
the creature in the side. Squealing in excruciating pain, it attempted
to back away, but it had no where to run. The energy coruscated over
its body, tearing at its tough hide, burning a hole into its side
where the initial contact took place. When it was over, the monster
wobbled on four legs, the smell of burnt flesh permeating the
air. Mewling pathetically, it tried to run away, knowing that it had
encountered an attack that it could not face, but three of its legs
gave out beneath it and the great mass of the body drove it to the
ground. A roar of agony shook the mall.
Jupiter stepped forward, crossing her arms again. She paused,
though, for the demon turned sad and forlorn eyes upon her, locking
her in a gaze of pity. For a moment, the green-eyed scout felt sorry
for her enemy's predicament.
Venus whimpered somewhere on the other side of a trash can.
Gritting her teeth, remembering the mangled corpses of
shoppers and a brutalized Venus, Jupiter powered up and released her
fury upon the demon, sending it back to the hell it had come from.
As the dark smoke of the creature's essence dissipated, the
girls breathed a sigh of relief. That had been a tough battle. They
had never gone up against a demon that had the ability to regenerate
so quickly, and they had paid a price in the way of Venus's
health. They could have used Sailor Mars's help.
And just where was Sailor Mars?
"Ooo! Rei's gonna get it when I find her!" fumed an irritated
Sailor Moon, pounding a fist in one hand. "Where could she be? She
better not have been strolling about with Cole!"
Mercury turned a worried look towards her. "I don't know,
Serena. I just got static when I tried to call her. That means she
couldn't answer it."
All eyes turned to Mercury, concern marking all their faces.
"We better check this out," whispered Venus, trying to get to
her feet. A slight whimper escaped her, and she grabbed her torn
side. Blood dribbled out between her fingers.
"You're not going anywhere, Mina. I want you to get out of
your suit and wait here for the ambulance."
"But-"
Sailor Moon stepped in. "No buts, Mina. You're too hurt to run
around town looking for Rei. If she's in trouble, you won't be able to
handle a kitten, let alone a demon."
"I'll go with you, Mina," put in Ami, transforming out of her
suit. Police sirens could be heard in the distance.
The injured scout looked as if to protest, but it converted to
a pain-filled sigh instead. "Alright. Just make sure to pop Rei on the
head for me when you find her." She let her transformation revert to
normal.
Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter leaped up and out of the hole
in the ceiling.
They followed the beeping tone of their communicators as it
tracked Mars's communicator. Thankfully, Luna had made Ami install a
tracking program into all of their comm links. It made their task a
great deal easier.
They eased their way past the security of the Gishumi plant,
quickly navigated their way through to the large room, and found
Mars' communicator.
It was lying on the ground, next to an unconscious Cole. No
one else was around. Jupiter and Moon glanced at each other, not
liking what they saw.
"Cole! Wake up! Cole!" Jupiter cried, slapping his face
repeatedly. It took a few minutes, but finally he groaned and twitched
back to life. Meanwhile, Sailor Moon wandered about the room, looking
for some clue as to what had happened. The icy feel of dread slithered
up her spine, though. Rei wouldn't have left her communicator just
lying here. She was much more responsible than that. And what had she
been doing at Cole's plant? In the middle of the night? Without
telling anyone? Finding nothing else of interest, she headed back for
the only person who might have all, or even some, of the answers.
Cole shook his head slowly, trying to clear away the cobwebs
in his head. Groggily, he looked up to see who had revived him, then
immediately flinched, wishing he hadn't.
"What happened, Cole?" Sailor Moon asked softly, placing a
comforting hand on his shoulder. She felt him flinch under her hand
also. That's odd, she thought, he seems ashamed, afraid.
"I... I'm sorry," he whispered back, barely audible.
"Sorry for what?"
Cole didn't answer for a long while. He scrunched his eyes
shut, shaking it back and forth, trying to refuse the images in his
head, but it was futile. They remained.
"I'm sorry for Rei."
Sailor Moon looked stricken. It was not what Cole said that
shocked her, so much as the way he said it, the way he felt. He said
it with such abject shame, such horrifying despair, such
heart-wrenching anguish, that she felt nothing but his fear for Rei, a
fear that crawled on millions of insectile legs, smothering her in its
intensity. She trembled slightly.
Jupiter wrapped an arm around her to steady her, then
fixed Cole with a stern glare. "Tell us what happened," she hissed,
causing both Cole and Moon to flinch at her tone.
Hesitantly, he began, variating between whispering and
mumbling. He never once laid eyes upon either of the scouts, and Moon
felt some pity for him, though it angered her minutely to find out
that he had tricked her into coming here. She was forced to lay a
restraining hand upon Jupiter when he mentioned this; the ill-tempered
brunette was flushed with fury.
Ignoring their ire, overwhelmed with his own sense of guilt
and loss, Cole trudged forward with his story, relating how the Grell
managed to capture him, blackmailing Sailor Mars into showing him her
real identity, and forcing her to... to...
He choked up at this point, and even Jupiter respected his
need to compose himself.
"He forced her to put on the mask!" he cried in a one big
spew.
Moon looked alarmed. "What mask? The mask the Grell wore?"
Cole had the wide-eyed look of someone walking the line
between reality and nightmare. "No! It... it was a red mask. He pulled
it out of his pocket... it was silk... like her dress... her... " he
trailed off, sobbing quietly.
"Cole," Moon pleaded gently, "we need to know what happened
next."
The sobbing continued, but he trode on. "He told her that the
mask would lock away her personality, all of her goodness, and release
her darker side." Both scouts gasped loudly at this.
"She didn't put it on, did she?" Jupiter commanded, though she
knew the answer already.
Cole seemed not to hear the question. "She told me she loved
me before closing her eyes and slipping it on." His eyes glazed over,
peering far into the distance, though at what, they didn't know. "It
was so long before she opened them again, but you could see the
change. Her... The blood seemed to rush out of her face and arms. She
looked so pale, so... white. And she... changed. You couldn't see the
change, but you could feel it. Oh yes, you could definitely feel it."
Not only did he have a distant look to his eyes, but his voice had
slowly slipped into a monotone, numb. The experience was taking its
toll on him.
"And then she opened her eyes, and it was all I could do to
choke down my horror. Before my very eyes, I watched those pools of
onyx that I loved so much, I watched as they grew, getting larger and
larger, eating away at the whites of her eyes, until all that was left
were pure black orbs with no whites at all."
"Stop," Moon moaned, pulling back her hand from his
shoulder, but he wouldn't.
"And she turned those hateful eyes on me, and I felt so
cold. She was heartless now, evil beyond anything she was capable of-"
"Stop-"
"And she walked over to me, and kneeled down, piercing me with
those eyes-"
"-Stop it!-"
"-and she said, 'Remember, Cole, remember that this is your
fault'!"
"Stop it, Cole!" Sailor Moon screamed, grabbing him by his
shirt.
Cole stopped speaking, tears streaming down his face.
Serena let go of him, and heard Jupiter exhale fiercely. The
green scout stood up and paced around, trying to release some pent-up
energy, mumbling about ripping heads off and smacking sense into
stupid girls. Beneath it all, though, Serena could tell that Lita was
truly disturbed.
"Now listen to me, Cole," Sailor Moon said, turning back to
the disgruntled young man, "what ever has happened, this is not your
fault. You didn't know that the Grell would be here or that Sailor
Mars was Rei." She didn't mention that he WAS partially at fault,
though, for none of this would have happened had he not been so
consumed in his own plan. She didn't think anything constructive would
come out of blaming him for his foolhardiness, and besides, she just
didn't have it in her to add to his pain.
Jupiter remained silent, though her face was a mask of sheer
outrage.
Just then, they could hear the faint, but noticeable patter of
footsteps clattering down the halls. Apparently, the guards had just
gotten wind that something had gone wrong in the lpplant.
Moon and Jupiter got up to leave. Cole remained on the ground,
head in his hands in shame. Serena wanted to offer more comfort, but
she knew they didn't have that much time. Plans needed to be made, a
search needed to begin. There was no way she would let one of her
dear friends remain in the hands of darkness against her will. The
Grell would pay for his transgressions.
* * * * *
Mina had been released from the hospital several hours after
being admitted. Ami stayed with her until the doctors convinced her
she would be alright. Her parents had come, tears misting in their
eyes and concern marring their faces, soon after. A half-hearted
scolding on the merits of shopping at 10 o'clock at night and a great
number of hugs later, Mina found herself tucked into her own bed at
home, exhaustion overcoming her mild pain. Sedatives were a godsend,
she pondered woozily.
Her eyelids drooped closer and closer to oblivion, and her
mind floated somewhere between her bedroom and the plane of dreams,
and so it was with little surprise that she noticed the shadowed
silhouette of Rei perched on her windowsill.
"Rei," Mina whispered dreamily, thoughts bounding in various
directions at once, "what are you doing in my dream? Did you bring a
hunk with you? I like to dream about them..."
Rei remained silent, remained perched on the windowsill,
unmoving, like a gargoyle. The curtains wavered lazily as a chill
breeze wafted through the open window. Unconsciously, Mina pulled her
blankets tighter about her neck. Something began to nag at her
thoughts, trying desperately to realign their path, fighting at the
sedative's strength.
"Rei? I wish you would get off of the window. You might fall,"
Mina continued, still believing that this was part of an odd dream.
Rei still said nothing, but the flash of headlights from a
passing car lit half of her face, illuminating the patch of red silk
that functioned as a mask over her mouth, and Mina began to worry that
maybe she was having a nightmare.
Rei's eyes looked pitch black.
Suddenly, the nag in her mind snapped all her thoughts into
place, pushing away the drowsiness of the sedatives, and it occurred
to Mina that the window really WAS open, and that Rei WAS perched on
her windowsill!
Concerned, Mina raised herself to her elbows. "Rei, is that
you?"
The intruding young woman hopped off the sill and padded
quietly over to Mina's bed. Unnerved at the motion, the blonde slid
away a bit, then slowly reached for her bed lamp. When she clicked it
on, she wished desperately that she had not.
Rei's were indeed pitch black.
The intruder grabbed the front of Mina's nightgown and
wrenched her forward, bringing their faces within inches of each
other. Mina didn't notice the lances of pain that sluiced through her
sides from the claw gouges. She didn't notice that she had left her
transformation pen on the dresser. She didn't notice that her voice
had temporarily left her.
All she could notice were those flat, evil black eyes.
"Remember this, Mina," Rei hissed in a voice dripping with
malevolence, "when I destroy all that you and the scouts hold dear,
remember that I hated all of you!"
Stunned, Mina could only gape.
"My power is much greater than you can imagine!" She dropped
Mina back onto her bed. She threw out her arms and cried, "My power
has been released!"
Suddenly, a gale-force, howling wind erupted through Mina's
bedroom, scattering papers, knick-knacks, and clothes with reckless
abandon. The fury of the localized winds tore Mina's blankets away and
buffeted her like fists. The lamp flew off the nightstand and
shattered against the mirror on the dresser, shards of glass flying
about the air in a deadly, chaotic dance.
Mina ducked her head down, shielding herself with her arms and
a pillow, screaming at everything and nothing. She feared for her
life, feared that something hideous had happened to Rei, feared that
Rei was going to kill her right in her own home, feared that she would
not be able to help Serena become the queen of Crystal Tokyo.
Just when Mina thought she would go mad from the terrible
beating and howling, everything dropped to silence. The slight flutter
of papers falling rustled through the air. Raising her head, Mina
glanced about her devastated room.
Rei was gone.
* * * * *
After leaving the plant, Sailor Moon and Jupiter headed back
for the mall to make sure everything went okay. The police seemed to
have the situation under control, and the paramedics carried away the
corpses. Feeling that the authorities would do just fine, they headed
over to the hospital to see how Mina was doing.
As they came to the doors, Ami strolled out and waved them
over. "How's Mina doing?" Lita asked, concern lacing her voice.
"She's going to be alright. The doctor said that she just had
several shallow gouges on each of her sides, but they gave her a
tetanus shot, and cleaned up the cuts. They also gave her a few
sedatives for the pain. Her parents showed up and are pampering over
her right now." Ami smiled wanely. She looked fatigued.
Serena sighed in relief, though Ami noticed a trace of
something... despair?... filtering through, and instantly, an alarm
bounced about her mind. "Did you find Rei? Where is she?"
Lita hissed at the question, and was about to explode into an
irate tirade, but Serena stopped her with a comforting hand on her
shoulder. "We should go somewhere more private to discuss this. We
also need to bring Darien in on this. We're going to need all the
information he can give us on the Grell." She sighed again, and Ami
got the notion that she carried a terrible burden upon herself. Though
worried, the blue-haired girl admired the way she took all hardships
as personal affronts. Most of the time she didn't deserve the
excessive stress, but Ami knew her well enough to know that that
didn't matter. It was this quality, more than most of the others,
that made Serena the wonderfully innocent and pure-of-heart individual
that graced all of their presences. It was also a quality that would
make her the fabulous queen she would one day become.
Calling a cab, they hurried over to Darien's apartment, and
ran up to his place. Needless to say, he was very surprised when three
of the five scouts rushed into his living room, with Serena looking
about as serious as a tiger considering its prey. "Uh, what's up
guys? Is everything okay?" "No. That's why we're here," Lita
replied, plopping wearily into the recliner.
Darien's instincts told him that this wouldn't be
good. Avoiding all the panderings and idle chit-chat that would have
normally accompanied such a visit, he sat down on the love seat, and
was further shocked when Serena didn't sit down with him. Ami calmly
reclined herself into the sofa.
Facing the balcony window, with her back to the group, the
leader of the Sailor Scouts inhaled deeply, then began with an account
of the battle with the demon at the mall. She related the injuries to
Sailor Venus during the battle, and the no-show of Sailor Mars. She
went on to tell about searching for Mars until they ended up at the
Gishumi plant out in the western end of Tokyo.
For the benefit of Ami and Darien, she rehashed the encounter
with Cole, and his explanation of what had happened to Mars. Lita
threw her small comments in where appropriate, but Serena seemed to
remember everything with amazing accuracy.
When she finally finished her story, Serena moved over to the
seat next to Darien, and pierced him with a look that was full of
calculation and determination. "Now we need to figure out what to do
about the Grell AND Rei. We need you to-"
Suddenly, the lights went out in throughout the apartment.
Before the exclamations could burst forth from any of the
occupants, the sliding window doors of the balcony burst inward in a
storm of shards, showering everyone with glass. Following behind the
rain of silicon flew a searing blast of air that sucked the breath out
of their bodies with its ferocity. Coughing and choking at the sudden
intake of superheated breath, they barely noticed the floating form
that levitated into the room from the shattered entrance. It raised an
arm and clenched its fist.
The desert wind subsided and the lights returned to illumination.
Lita was the first to recover from the bout of coughing, and
her eyes flew wide open at the sight before her.
It was a barely recognizable Rei.
Levitating slightly above ground, her toes skimming the
carpet, she appeared taller, more imposing. It wasn't just the
height, however. Rei exuded an aura, a clearly defined sense of
being, one that made her pale skin glow as the moon, a stark contrast
to her midnight hair that floated about her in a nimbus of
darkness. Her clothes had a distinctly archaic look also: a long red
silk kimono that reminded Lita of traditional Japan. The crimson of
the kimono matched that of the mask that covered her mouth and neck,
akin to a ninja.
Most disturbing of all, Rei's eyes were absolute pools of
onyx, with no hint of whites whatsoever.
"So, this is where you have all gathered," she growled at
them, lancing each one with a look of pure hatred. "Sitting around,
trying to think up a way to save me from myself. Pathetic."
"It's too late, though. I don't need saving. I am who I am
now. This is the real me. THIS-" and she punctuated her statement by
pointing to herself "- is the real Rei Hino!"
"No!" Serena cried, half-choking, half-yelling. "It's the
Grell's evil that is making you do this! Fight it Rei! Take off the
mask!"
Rei chuckled maliciously, shaking her head. "Oh, Serena. You
never understood. I have been in your shadow for too long. You have
everything: the power, Darien, eventually even the crown." Rei's evil
grin slipped into a hateful sneer. "You don't deserve these. I always
knew I was the better leader. I should have been the princess. I
should have the power. I should have Darien. And I should have the
crown!"
Everyone remained silent, shocked at the sheer passion with
which this Rei had spouted out her grievances. They all knew Rei felt
this way deep down, but she always hid it well out of the way. Now, it
seemed, with Rei's dark side in control, she was going to address them
openly, even though she knew Fate had properly deposited them to
Serena.
Breathing hard, Rei appeared on the verge of exploding into
fury, but suddenly, her calm facade reemerged. "None of this matters
anymore, though, because I am more powerful than before."
"What do you mean?" Lita asked.
Rei turned to the taller girl and smirked. "With my weaker
side shoved away into the recesses of my mind, her control over the
spiritual powers granted to her has been all but destroyed. The powers
of her mind have been freed again!"
"Again?" Ami whispered, not quite following the ramblings.
"Yes! Did she not tell you?"
Blank or confused expressions returned her glare.
Rei let out a hideous shrieking laugh that caused the group to
cringe. "But of course! She was too ashamed to tell you!"
"When I was younger, my powers were allowed to roam free,
though usually my weaker side held them in check so that no one would
notice and label her as the freak that she thought herself as."
It's eerie the way she considers herself as two different
individuals, Ami thought, reaching over for her computer to record and
scan. Rei didn't seem to notice.
"One day, I was playing with the next door neighbor's cat, and
felt that I should have one too. So I went home, and asked Mother and
Father if I could have a cat." Here, Rei's visage softened
somewhat. "I begged and pleaded, but Father wouldn't allow it. He said
he was allergic to cats, but that it would be okay to have a
dog. Well, I didn't want a dog, and eventually I grew angry." Rei's
face took on the look of grim anticipation. "He didn't know about my
powers then, but it was the last thing he DID find out."
Rei stared off into the night. "I wished him dead."
Someone gasped, but Rei didn't pay attention to who it
was. She could still see it in her mind's eye, and because her true
persona was trapped within the confines of her mind, the real Rei
watched it all over again, unable to turn away...
"I wish you were dead!" eight-year old Rei spat out in her
childish anger.
Suddenly, her father, her sweet gentle father, who had never
done anything wrong in his life, who had always been there for his
precious angelic daughter, who meant the world to her, grabbed his
chest, gasping hard and attempting to breath. His eyes began to bulge
out of his head, and his face was marred with signs of excruciating
pain. He reached out a trembling hand towards his little girl, but, in
amazed fright, she stepped back, not understanding what was going
on. "Rei... Rei..." he croaked, still unable to catch a breath.
Then his eyes simply rolled back into his head, and he died.
Frozen in her stance, it slowly dawned on Rei that she had
just killed her father, and as that notion chipped away at her
childish innocence, she began to scream, a scream that started low and
trembly, then grew in strength, until it was so loud, her mother ran
into the room, clapping her hands over her ears. Tremors erupted in
the house, slashing through the walls and the ground, shattering and
breaking everything in their path. Her mother was knocked unconscious
by the force of her primal wail, and a part of the ceiling fell upon
her head, cracking it open like an egg, killing her instantly.
Rei didn't notice the destruction she was wrecking. All she
could know was that her father was sitting on the sofa, his mouth
hanging open, his hands grabbing at his chest, his eyes rolled back,
and all because she had wished him dead. WISHED HIM DEAD!! DEAD!!!
"Stop!" Serena cried, sobbing uncontrollably. Rei's lips
curled in scorn, but nevertheless, she stopped her tirade.
By now, all of them had recovered from the intruder's
extravagant entrance, and were standing about in various poses of
shock. Ami and Lita looked a little green, horror lining their pretty
faces. Darien stepped forward, pity etched in his gaze. "I'm sorry,
Rei."
The declaration almost gave the evil Rei second thoughts about
her current plans. It almost made her want to give up and return to
normal, to rip off the mask and return to the group of friends that
surrounded her for the last two years, sheltering her in a love that
had been long in the needing.
Almost.
A blast of slashing pain burned through Darien's mind, cutting
through his thoughts with the efficiency of a hot knife. Reeling in
agony, Darien collapsed to his knees, gritting his teeth. Serena cried
out his name and ran to his side.
"I don't want your pity, fools!" Rei shouted, and an
uncomfortably forceful wind swirled about the apartment, whipping at
her hair and kimono, as if she were a malign spirit basking in a
hurricane.
"Then what do you want?! Why did you come here?!" screamed
Lita through the howls of nature.
"I have come to warn you all. Do not interfere with my
plans. If you do, I will destroy you." And with that, she disappeared.
*****
The Grell leaned back in his plush chair, feeling quite
pleased with himself. In one night, he had managed to finish his
vendetta with Sailor Mars AND add to his already extensive army of
henchmen. Already, he knew how to destroy his original target, Cole
Gishumi, and he had a tremendously ally to help him defeat the Sailor
Scouts.
It felt good to finally have things returning to normal.
Events were coming back to controllable limits, and HIS order was the
order that was beginning to prevail again.
Still, the scouts had managed to defeat Droc'uh, and that
disturbed him more than a little. Droc'uh was perhaps his finest pet,
sheer power and cunning wrapped into one. He was very nearly
indestructible; only electrical attacks were able to harm
him. Apparently, that tall bitch had figured that out. Well, he would
take a personal pleasure in defeating her himself. The rest... Sailor
Mars would handle.
He found his thoughts wandering over to his newest
henchman. Once she had donned the mask, a tremendous change had come
over her, one much more dramatic than he had expected. Sure she had
become the dark woman that tormented the scouts now, but it was the
release of her control over her powers that worried him the most. He
had no doubt that she would fall in a battle of might against him, but
it would be a close fight, and he wasn't sure he would make it out
uninjured. He would have to keep a tight reign upon her. If she
returned to her moral side...
The Grell growled softly, flexing his fingers. he could not
allow such thoughts to intrude upon him. They would only plant seeds
of doubt within him, and he would not function well at the correct
time. Better to allow her a small measure of freedom. Allow her to
think she was in control. Once she finished with the meddlesome
scouts, he would reign her in. If she proved to stubborn, well, she
wouldn't be able to heal from a sword in the back.
*****
In the aftermath of the encounter with the new Rei, a faint
beep pinged through the absolutely demolished apartment. Lita reached
a hesitant hand for her communicator, then pressed the button. Someone
was calling them.
Mina's haggard face appeared on the screen, her nightgown
ripped down one shoulder and a band-aid stretched across her
forehead. "Lita! Thank the Moon! I have news for you guys!"
Lita sighed exhaustively. "Let me guess. Rei came by and
smacked you around a bit."
"How did you know?" Mina asked, looking fairly astonished.
"Well, she dropped by here as well. How are you holding up?"
Mina's eyelids slid a bit lower, nearly overcome with
fatigue. "She ruined my room, and I got a bit of wind burn, along with
a piece of glass in the head, but other-" she winced as her sides gave
her a bit of trouble, "-er, other than that, I'll be fine. When do we
get together?"
Lita shook her head. "I don't know. We're still trying to
gather ourselves over here. We'll give you a call in the morning. I
don't think Rei will bother us until tomorrow earliest anywhere."
Mina yawned loudly, exposing most of the back of her throat in
the process. "Oh, okay. If you think it's alright." She clicked off.
Lita put away her communicator, then glanced around. Darien
was comforting a distraught Serena, and Ami seemed busy with her
computer. The brunette exhaled. I guess I could start cleaning up
this mess. Just wait until I get my hands on Rei. After she returns to
normal of course. She picked up a broom as she listened to Darien and
Serena talk about the future.
"What are we going to do, Darien?" Serena asked, crying a tub
full of tears.
"I don't know, Serena, but I know that we'll get Rei back.You
never lose anything that you set your mind to. I believe in you,
Princess Serenity."
She looked up at his loving eyes. "Thank you, Prince
Endymion. I truly need such support." Darien shook his head. "No you
don't. You will believe that you can change the world whether we are
here or not. That is what makes you the fabulous leader that you
are. In the end, You truly don't need anyone that you think you do."
Serena looked at him with tremendously loving eyes. She smiled
a quiet smile. "How did I ever fall in love with you?"
"Because of my overwhelming wit and charm of course. What else
did you think?" Darien replied playfully.
Serena allowed herself a slight chuckle, then fell into the
almost bottomless despair that she felt. "What about Rei? We've got
to save her from herself."
"Do we? How?"
Serena paused for a moment, then she nodded fiercely. "Yes we
do. Rei would never forgive herself, or me, if she fell to the darker
side of her nature. She's in herself somewhere, imprisoned and
watching helplessly as she does these hideous things. It must be
horrible not to be able to control yourself." She shuddered and
snuggled closer to her love.
Darien hugged her, and scanned the mess around his
apartment. Lita already had a broom in hand, and signaled for him not
to worry about it at the moment. He threw her a grateful smile, then
turned to Ami. "What do you think, Ami? Have any ideas how to handle
this newest enigma?"
She looked up from the display and ran a hand through her
hair. "No, not yet. I'm going to need time to analyze the data. It
might be a while."
"Well, don't worry about it now. We all need our rest. Let's
call it quits for now. We'll meet tomorrow," Serena announced to
them, standing up and stretching. "I'll call Mina in the morning and
tell her. We probably should meet there anyway. I don't think she's in
any condition to move around, and we're going to need her much too
soon. How does one o'clock sound to everyone?"
They all agreed and headed home, thoughts of their dark-haired
fiery friend entrenched in their minds.
*****
The Grell continued with his preparations in his
study. Several dusty tomes lay strewn about his desk, one of them open
in front of him. He studied with such intensity that he failed to
notice the fluctuation in the ether. The first indication he received
was the fluttering of the yellowed pages in the grimoire as a harsh
breeze swirled across the room. A twisting mass of mist coalesced in
the center of the study, oval in shape. Rei stepped out of the portal.
She sauntered seductively over to the desk and leaned on
it. "Now then, my sweet," she crooned, glancing askance at the tome,
"what happens now?" Absently, a delicate hand twirled a midnight
lock,
Irritated with the audacity of the young woman, he swiped away
the tome and closed it. "Now, you do as I say. Tomorrow, we will-"
She waved him to silence. "You don't seem to understand, do
you? You no longer control the situation. I am NOT your lackey. My
powers are much more than you can handle." Rei said this with an
innocent smile.
A moment of silence ensued as the Grell let the gall of the
statement sink in. Slowly, he stood up, towering over the young
woman. "I GAVE you your power!" he thundered, but it didn't have the
same effect as he had wished.
Rei turned her head up and laughed uproariously, a mocking
chortle that would have grated on the Grell's nerves and teeth had he
possessed any.
"Careful, fire-child. I grow weary of your transgressions. You
are here at my whim, and I will destroy you if you cannot accept
that."
Rei stopped in mid-laugh so suddenly the Grell feared perhaps
her sanity had suffered in the transformation to her current
status. Her glare could have frozen several pits of Hell. "Let me show
you just what kind of 'fire-child' I am," and with that, five
whip-like tendrils of blood red flames slashed from her torso, two
wrapping around one of the Grell's arms respectively and three around
his chest.
The Grell stepped back, surprised by the attack, especially in
his own inner sanctum. Though shocked, however, he confidently began
to flex his own arcane strength, arrogantly assuming he could handle
this insignificant threat.
And then Rei began to squeeze.
Golden explosions of agony gorged over his being, blasting him
with an inferno of pain. A demonic scream of anguish ripped from the
creature as he fell to his knees behind the desk. Still, the tentacles
of fire clung to him tightly, and the assassin experienced more
suffering than any normal human being could tolerate. More screams
erupted from him, soul rending cries. Finally, the Grell, the most
powerful villain the world had ever seen, the assassin who knew no
emotion, did something he had never done before.
He begged for his life.
Rei's visage remained impassive as the killer pleaded for
mercy between raw howls of pain, her onyx orbs cold and uncaring, even
when the porcelain mask cracked under the tremendous strength of her
power. A hideous shriek pierced the study as the fracture crossed from
his left temple, through the left eye hole, and ended to the right of
his chin. Luckily, the magic of the mask kept it together, but it was
obvious that the Grell had been weakened and in terrible agony by the
way he collapsed and tried to clutch his face, even though the fiery
restraints prevented him.
The horror lasted for a few more fearful moments, and then
declined to a mere nightmare as Rei allowed the torture to taper
off. As he floated in a miasmic haze of suffering, the Grell felt
himself lifted off the ground, and vaguely noticed that the flaming
appendages had wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. The
fire no longer sprouted from Rei.
"Who is the master now?" she asked calmly.
The assassin squirmed, trying to salvage some pride by
appearing insolent, but it was no use. His magical energies had leaked
away, like so much water. It would take time to replenish enough
strength to accomplish anything noteworthy. "You are," he choked out
after a moment's hesitation.
She smiled, leaped nimbly upon the desk so that their faces
were even, and grabbed his chin in one fey hand. "You realize your
mistake now, don't you?" She nodded his head for him. "Of course you
do. I can destroy you for what you have done to me, and part of me
wants to. Part of me wants to tear what passes for your soul to
shreds. Part of me loathes you for giving me this mask, this curse!"
She punctuated the exclamation by pointing at the slip of silk
covering her mouth. "Do you know that I can't remove this?!"
The Grell looked puzzled. "That's ridiculous! Of course you
can-"
Rei swung a fist and slammed it into his gut, doubling him
over. "No, I cannot!" she screamed back. "This mask has allowed me to
destroy the control block on my powers! A block I constructed when I
was younger!" She jumped off the desk and began to pace away the
frustration she felt eating at her. "Now, the channel has been opened
once again to the magical plane, and all of its essence is at my beck
and call. I can't possibly get rid of the mask any more. I have
tasted the delicious ambrosia that is ultimate power!"
"And so, while part of me would like to see you reduced to so
many cinders, another part of me wishes to throw my arms around you
and hug you for what you've given me."
The assassin let out a weak scoff. "I would settle for you to
release me, if it's all the same to you."
A childish giggle escaped her, and Rei twirled on one foot to
face him. "Alas, my poor savior, I've decided to allow myself a happy
medium. I won't destroy you, but on one's other hand, I can't have you
traipsing about, waiting for an opportunity to disrupt my plans. I'm
afraid I'll just have to imprison you-"
The Grell's hope soared at the pronouncement. He could escape
any prison on the planet.
"-in the Spirit Wrack," she finished, beaming like an angel.
His head shot up, his hopes slamming back down to the
ground. "You're not serious! It'll kill me!" he cried, desperation
lending him the strength to renew his struggles.
Rei waved aside his anguished plea. "Don't be so
melodramatic. I already told you I'm not going to kill you, but I'm
not stupid. Given enough time, you'll regain your magic, and I'll have
to worry about you all over again. Chances are, next time I may not be
so lucky and the battle will be drawn out. No, I have to make sure you
never again regain your magic, and thus the Spirit Wrack. You really
should be quite flattered. You're the only one I have a true concern
about. Once you're gone, no one will be able to stand against me."
The Grell wasn't paying attention to her ramblings,
though. Millenia ago, during the Silver Millenium's early beginnings,
the creators of the Moon Kingdom had been forced to fight off many
criminal powers, some of whom were impossibly deadly. When they
finally apprehended the enemies, no prison seemed strong enough to
hold them. In the end, the mages of the time created an
extra-dimensional pocket known as the Spirit Wrack.
An ingenious construction, the infamous prison cell is a
multifaceted crystal chamber fashioned from the weave of magic
itself. In fact, the cell rests upon a node in the weave. Thus, it is
constantly bombarded by crosswinds of eldritch energy. Because the
pocket is of the magic weave, though, it doesn't tear apart in the
face of these arcane forces. These forces simply pass though it, and
anything unlucky enough to be inside. Anyone residing within would
have his or her powers swept away to return to the weave, suffering
excruciating agony, and mostly likely not survive. It was not designed
for execution, however, only as a form of temporary detention until
the prisoner was weak enough to be handled normally. In pursuit of
that purpose, the sorcerous creators of the prison inserted a spell
for manipulating just how much of the forces could pass throughby
changing the facets of the chamber. The only problem was that changing
the facets required a vast amount of energy.
The Grell knew all of this, but it was the last bit that
caused him to truly despair at what he had done to this female, for if
she had the power to manipulate the Spirit Wrack, then he was way out
of his league. Even the Grell had avoided the wrath of the Archmages
of the Silver Millenium, the first creators of the prison. And if she
was an Archmagi...
"You can't control the Spirit Wrack here! You'll destroy
everything in a mile radius!" he cried, trying to appeal to her
morals.
Rei shrugged. "So?" The mask had done its job wonderfully. Rei
had no morals.
Thinking quickly, the assassin tried a different
approach. "There are treasures here that will be destroyed as well!
Ancient tomes, magical artifacts from other eras and planes, riches
beyond your imagination!"
She paused, considering the amusing tickle of greed. While she
was now an amoral entity, Rei wasn't stupid. The acquisition of ages
of knowledge and treasures appealed to her sense of conquest.
"Okay, Grell, you're going to show me all of your toys. If I'm
pleased, I'll save them... and maybe you."
The assassin sniffed disdainfully. "That is no guarantee."
Immediately he regretted his tone as she released a surge of force
through him. Another crack appeared on his right cheek, and he wailed
in agony. He didn't even realize that he was screaming, "Yes! I'll
show you! Please stop!"
Rei smiled her quiet, wicked grin, her liquid black eyes
flashing with mad glee.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, here's where I claim all those disclaimers and stuff. I'm sure
you know the drill. If you would like to send me comments, compliments
or criticisms, please email me at:
chouso@aur.alcatel.com
or
schoudh@eos.ncsu.edu
(
geocities.com/tokyo/gulf/4463) (
geocities.com/tokyo/gulf) (
geocities.com/tokyo)