Chapter 86

The eyes of the city were focused on the courtroom. Those who could not be there in person were watching on television. The judge sitting on the bench picked up the verdict that had been handed to her by the bailiff. She looked at it and then passed it back to the bailiff who carried it to the jury foreman.

"Mr. Foreman, what say you?" she asked.

"On the charge of criminal manslaughter, we find the defendants Dr. Andrea and Dr. John Anderson..guilty as charged," the foreman said.

The courtroom became filled with murmurs and sitting amongst the gallery was Amy, quiet, still in complete shock. She said nothing..her eyes were wide starring at the backs of her parent's heads.

The foreman read off a few of the minor charges and also made pronouncements of guilt.

"For these crimes I sentence both of you to ten years in prison, bailiff, take them into custody," the judge said. The two Andersons turned back towards Amy.

"It'll be all right Amy," her father said.

"We're sorry," her mother said.

Amy said nothing.

"Oh no, Amy's lost her family," Lita said as her four friends sat closely around Serena's television set.

"I wouldn't wish that on anyone," Raye said solemnly.

"I guess we're all she's got now," Mina said.

"Then we have to be there for her," Serena said.

"What are we waiting for then," Lita said.

And the four hurried to the door.

Flanked by her uncle and her parent's lawyer, Amy tried to make her way out of the courtroom, the press were hounding her, trying to get in a picture of video tape they could use for file footage. Others were shouting questions.

"What do you think of the verdict Amy?"

"What do you do now?"

"Where will you get an income?"

Amy tried to ignore it as the shock was not protecting her from the frenzy. Her uncle and lawyer tried desperately to push her away. The crowd continued to surge.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Amy shouted at the top of the courtroom steps. The crowd stepped back a moment, and then started to surge again. Suddenly something else began to push them back. A group of soldiers had arrived from somewhere.

"Get out of the way or we'll make you do it the hard way!" came a familiar voice. Amy had no time for familiar voices. Her uncle quickly got her to their car and they drove off. The mob of media frenzy turned to the officer in charge of the soldiers.

"Colonel Patterson, why are you here?" someone asked.

"To keep you bunch of media jerks from hurting Amy Anderson anymore than she's already been hurt, now get out of my way, or I will punch you," Colonel William Patterson said and his men pushed their way through the group and to their waiting trucks.

In a room at Tokyo General Hospital, Greg lay unconscious. Steve, Mike, and Rick sat around the bed. The news from the trial had been given to them minutes before.

"These are not good times guys. Greg's here in this coma, Amy's lost her parents..." Steve said.

"Yeah...no one told Amy that Greg's in a coma. We couldn't bear to have her feel any more guilt," Mike said.

"I don't know guys she seemed so uninterested in Greg," Rick said.

"She was still in shock Rick," Mike said. "After all, you tried to talk to Raye when her grandfather died..it was the same thing."

"But..." Rick began.

At Raye's temple.

"This is Amy. How could she react this way," Mina said.

"What do you mean?" Raye asked.

"I mean...I just never envisioned her being so angry," Mina said.

"Well..she's just been hit very hard with a tragedy," Lita said.

"Yeah Mina, Amy may be one of the nicest people I know, but things are much different. She's having as much trouble handling it as I did when my grandfather died," Raye said.

"I guess..you're right..it's just I figured Amy's personality would carry her through this just as easily as anything else," Mina said.

"We all wish it would," Lita said.

"But it won't happen," Raye said.

"Serena..you haven't said anything," Lita said.

"Well I've been trying to think of what to say to Amy, I mean...maybe we're rushing her," Serena said.

"We maybe doing it, and as much as I underappreciated it when you did it for me, Amy may need us whether she realizes it or not," Raye said.

Lita pulled out her communicator.

"Come in guys," she said.

"Yeah Lita," Steve said.

"How's Greg?"

"He's still unconscious. Don't know what will happen next," Steve said. "We can only hope he recovers."

"Okay," Lita said dejectedly and turned the communicator off. "I had hoped for some good news to tell Amy, but we'll have to avoid the question at all."

"If she talks to us," Raye said.

"She'll probably be glad to see us," Serena said.

It was Amy's uncle that brought her back home.

"I know this is a tough time for you Amy, but I'll make sure you get all the money you need. Your parents had a lot of money in the bank. You'll have plenty to live on for a while," he said. "Unfortunately I won't be able to stay here for more than a week..then I guess you'll be on your own."

"You can leave today for all I care," Amy said.

"What?"

"Why should you waste your time babysitting me, when it will do no good...go ahead and leave...I assure you that you're presence here won't help me one bit," Amy said.

"Uh..Amy..I know this is a shock to you and it'll take some time to work out."

"I've already worked it out. My parents decided to selfishly put their careers above their family, went and performed an operation and got themselves thrown into prison for ten years...leaving me alone without parents. I think I understand the situation quite well."

"But..I'm sure that you're very upset right now and I..."

"Upset is hardly the word for it," Amy said as they pulled up to her house. "I suggest you leave right now. There's nothing more for you to do here."

"Uh..are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Uh..well I'll give you a call later."

"Be my guest," Amy said and got out. I won't answer it. She thought and headed for the her door. The windows were still smashed to pieces. She didn't particularly care. With all the chaos no one had thought to call someone to make repairs.

"Hey, Amy, wait up," came Lita's voice.

Amy paid no heed of it, and opened her door and walked inside.

"Maybe she didn't hear me," Lita said.

"She did," Raye said solemnly.

The four stood outside the house.

"We could get in," Mina said pointing at the still broken window. "But..it may not be the right thing to do."

"I don't think it is," Raye said.

"So what do we do now?" Serena asked.

"Wait and see if she changes her mind," Lita said.

And the four girls sat down on the lawn.

"Eudial, do you know how much energy you used up teleporting?" Dr. Tomoe asked sternly.

"Yes Professor," Eudial said. And my energy shield probably wasn't any small usage either.

"I could have created ten daimons with that amount of energy, but no..you had to get my car wrecked too. I was married in that car."

"Professor?" Eudial said in surprise.

"Anyway we have other business...I want you to go after the next pure heart, but since you don't have a car, we'll have to rely on the daimon to bring the heart back."

"I guess so," Eudial said.

"But on to other matters. Do you think we should put a rug on the floor?"

"Professor, I really don't think that should be an issue right now."

"I'll take that as a no. I like rugs though," Tomoe said.

"Doctor. This mission has nothing to do with a rug," Eudial said.

"When has that ever mattered?"

"What?"

"The mission said nothing about eating Indian food each night either, but we do it," Tomoe said.

"Yes, and the mission says nothing about going to the bathroom either, but we do it..those are necessities," Eudial said.

"So are rugs Eudial! We can get a good one cheap," Tomoe said.

"From where?" Eudial asked.

"There's a store up on Tenth," Tomoe said.

"Doctor, you haven't been above ground in years...except for that short time," Eudial said.

"Well it was there the last time I was up there. Why don't you check it out."

"We don't have the time professor."

"Ehh...it's always the mission isn't it. Find the holy grail. What do you need the grail for anyway..and if it's got holes in it, how are you supposed to pour liquid in."

"Professor, I believe it refers to some religious meaning," Eudial said.

"Oh..religious cups. Yep...and they say I'm the insane one."

"But you are Professor," Eudial said.

"Yes, and I will drink some dairy creamer alone just to prove it."

"You don't need to..." Eudial said.

"Sure I do, want some, it's only a month old," Tomoe said pulling open a carton.

In the backyard of one of Tokyo's many homes. A young boy was outside playing with one of his action figures in the grass. What happened next completely shocked him as another of his action figures began to transform in front of him and grow. And within seconds a daimon was standing in front of him.

"Hey..who are you?" the boy asked.

"I'm the evil boogie man!" the creature said.

"Then take this," the boy said and kicked the creature in the groin. The creature fell to the ground.

"Dang it...you're supposed to be scared," The creature said and recovered quickly. He picked the kid up and prepared to draw out the heart. The kid struggled, but couldn't manage to free himself. The heart beam flew out of the creature's elbow and drew the heart out. The daimon dropped the unconscious child and held the heart.

"That was abnormally easily. And now's the time the Sailor Scouts show up and ruin the party," the creature muttered and stood there ready for an attack.

A minute passed.

"Hmm..this is strange," the daimon said. "I shall wait another minute. Can't have them ambushing me while I'm on the way back to Tomoe."

Still nothing happened.

Meanwhile crouching on a rooftop Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus were watching the daimon.

"That's odd, usually one of those other scouts shows up by now," Uranus said.

"Yes this is strange. Not that we need their help," Neptune said. "I guess we'll handle this one ourselves."

"Yes, we'll wait till the daimon's guard is down," Uranus said.

"Right," Neptune said.

"I wonder what's keeping those scouts," Uranus said.

"Okay! Jokes over! Come out and fight!" the daimon shouted looking around.

"Hmm..well this is very strange...but I can't keep the doc waiting."

With that the daimon grew a pair of tank treads out of his feet and began to roll down the sidewalk scattering pedestrians as it did so.

"We can't attack it with so many people around," Neptune said.

"We my have to," Uranus said.

"Let's at least try to get out of the way of people."

"Very well," Uranus said. The two Sailor Scouts leapt from rooftop to rooftop to try to get in front of the daimon. At the end of the street they did just that. Uranus leapt in front of it. Neptune leapt behind it. The crowd immediately began to scatter and thin out.

"Ahh...there you are...well some of you anyway," the daimon said. "Two on one is hardly fair odds.

"What are you going to do, divide yourself or something?" Uranus said snidely.

"No...though you would expect me to do that," The creature said and rolled at her as his head became a large drill head and aimed at her chest. Uranus jumped out of the way.

"Neptune Deep Submerge!" Neptune shouted and launched her attack. The creature skidded out of the way of it and quickly formed itself into a small tank, with a drill in front of it. The heart embedded inside.

"Hah hah! Now you're going to pay," the daimon said.

"I don't think you're in any position to say that," Uranus said.

"Uranus...the heart..." Neptune said.

"We have to attack...or else we'll never get it," Uranus said back.

"Uranus! World Shaking!" she shouted and launched her attack along the ground. The creature spun it's drill and the attack dissipated around it.

Uranus was visibly surprised.

"Yep! Now you're not so confident!" The creature shouted and sped at her. Uranus flipped over him doing a cartwheel.

"Neptune Deep Submerge!" Neptune shouted and let loose her attack. The creature raced out of the way of it again and spun at it's opponent sweeping in around her. She barely had time to jump up.

"Uranus World!..."

The tank raced at her causing her to jump into the air too. Then the tank sped down the street away from the two as they landed.

"Dang it!" Uranus shouted and the two leapt after the tank.

"This isn't easy," Neptune said. "He wouldn't stand a chance if there were thirteen scouts after him.

"That's true, but think of what you're saying Neptune," Uranus said. "We can't rely on others."

"I was just thinking out loud Uranus," Neptune said.

"If we hit the daimon from above he may not be able to take the attack," Uranus said. "We'll have to risk damaging the heart."

"I know. I'll get in front of it. While it's distracted you hit it. Then we'll see," Neptune said.

"Right," Uranus said.

Neptune bounced off the next rooftop and landed thirty feet in front of the tank daimon. It kept on rolling towards her. She readied her attack.

"Neptune....deep.." she said before the yellow attack slammed into the top of the tank. The daimon skidded off and smashed into the side of a building.

"Submerge!" Neptune shouted and launched her attack. It flew into the daimon and blew a large hole in the wall. The daimon tank slowly began to turn away and try to escape.

"Uranus World Shaking!" Uranus shouted and hit the daimon. It flew back several feet and slammed into the wall across the street. It's tank form began to change it reverted back into human form, the heart clutched in it's right hand. Neptune raced forward and stepped on it's wrist. The wrist let go and she grabbed for the heart. The second she had the creature grabbed both her ankles and pulled her to the ground. Then it stood up and flung her through the air at Uranus who desperately tried to catch Neptune, but only braced her fall enough to knock them both down. Neptune held onto the heart. The daimon advanced.

"It's not a talisman," Neptune realized looking at the heart.

"Let's get it back to the owner then," Uranus said.

"What?"

"Our duty is to find the talismans...there is no point to fighting this daimon now..and we might as well return the heart," Uranus said.

"All right," Neptune said as the two stood up.

"It's not a talisman...you're wasting your time," Uranus said as Neptune leapt off.

"Well..how would I know you're telling the truth?" the daimon said.

"Doesn't matter, you can only draw one heart out of a person before you lose your power to do it right?" Uranus said.

"Well..yes..how'd you know?" the daimon asked.

"I have my sources...so..as soon as Neptune returns the heart to it's owner, it's going to be a moot point, and you won't get by me to stop her," Uranus said.

"Oh..well..that's a downer...Eudial won't like this..guess I'll just go live in the sewer then," the daimon said and opened a man hole which it dropped down. Uranus hurried back to the heart owner just in case the daimon was lying. When she arrived Neptune was putting the heart back into the boy.

"Well that's done," Neptune said. "Where's the daimon?"

"Living in the sewer I guess," Uranus said. "After all it can't come back to get the heart."

"That's true..unless Dr. Tomoe has gotten more advanced."

"It's not a matter of that...when we saw him create the daimon eggs, he needed to implant a crystal inside the daimon so it could draw out the hearts, but he could only put one in a daimon or else the entire being would be unstable," Uranus said.

"Well, maybe he's gotten around it," Neptune said.

"In a way it doesn't matter, it's not a talisman, so even if he could get heart, it wouldn't help."

"That's true enough," Neptune said.

"And the Sailor Scouts still haven't shown up. That's very strange," Uranus said.

"It's not that I miss them, but what could have possibly kept them from showing up to fight," Neptune said.

"Must have been something catastrophic."

"Probably."

Darrien's red sports car pulled up to the curb in front of Amy's house.

"How's Amy?" Darrien asked.

"She won't talk to us," Serena said.

"And we're not about to break in," Lita said.

"It wouldn't help, trust me," Raye said.

"So we're very frustrated right now," Mina said.

"Where are the guys?" Darrien said.

"Watching over Greg. He hasn't come out of his coma yet," Lita said.

"Darrien, are we in trouble?" Serena asked.

"Serena....everyone has to face their big problems," Darrien said.

"But Darrien...take a look that all that's been happening. This is more than just a big problem," Serena said.

"Well...we've had to fight a lot of battles, and we've won all of them," Darrien said.

"I don't think this is a matter of winning and losing, just survival," Raye said.

"Amy!" Greg shouted as his eyes opened.

"They always shout something don't they," Mike muttered.

"Greg! You're awake," Rick said.

"Uh...yeah..." Greg said. "What happened?"

The other three guys looked at each other..unsure as to how to proceed.

"They want me to come out there and cry on their shoulders! How would that help!" Amy shouted in her room. "The last thing I need is people telling me everything's all right. Because it isn't. They probably figure Amy will get through this with a smile and curt nod like I always do. Well I can't do that anymore! Things have changed....." she said and then began to sob...."I don't want this..any of this..."

CHAPTER 66 CHAPTER 67 CHAPTER 68 CHAPTER 69 CHAPTER 70  CHAPTER 71 

CHAPTER 72 CHAPTER 73 CHAPTER 74 CHAPTER 75  CHAPTER 76 CHAPTER 77

 CHAPTER 78 CHAPTER 79 CHAPTER 80  CHAPTER 81  CHAPTER 82 CHAPTER 83

CHAPTER 84 CHAPTER 85  CHAPTER 86 CHAPTER 87 CHAPTER 88 CHAPTER 89

 CHAPTER 90 CHAPTER 91 CHAPTER 92 CHAPTER 93 CHAPTER 94 CHAPTER 95

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