Character Sketches #1, Sailor Mercury - Part III, "Mercury"
Chapter 3: Delving into the living past

Jocasta:	Good-bye, my poor deluded, lost and damned!
	There's nothing else that I can call you now.

David jogged up the steps of Neo-Tokyo City Hall. Like so much in the rebuilt city, it was all modern lines, a steel and glass masterpiece of post-crash architecture that had won more awards then you could shake a stick at. It also had every record you could want on the city's citizens a click away, which was why he was there.

After a lengthy discussion with the head records-keeper, he made his way down into the catacombs that lay beneath the Hall, down to the mainframe computers. They *had* to hold the secret of his daughter. No matter what happened, the Japanese liked to keep track of things, especially people. There would be a birth certificate, and a death certificate, or a marriage license, or a driver's permit, or *something* to pin down her location. And then he would find her, and talk to her, along with Sailor Mercury.

He had a lot of explaining to do.

Amy and Usagi strolled down one of Neo-Tokyo's prime shopping districts, reminiscing about old times and commenting on the new role the senshi had to play.

"So they had you board the tanker?"

"Hai," answered Usagi. "And they were right. Two *tons* of street grade heroin, crack, cocaine, you name it. Biggest drug bust in history, and the Sailor Senshi were there! Oh, did you get it, Rei-chan?"

"Hai. And you shouldn't have gone off like that!" She offered the two their ice-cream cones. Usagi's love affair with the confections had never ended, and it would have seemed impolite not to take one when it was offered.

"Oh, come on Rei! If anything happened, Amy could have taken care of business, right?"

"I suppose so," began Amy tentatively. She took a lick of vanilla.

"Of course you could," said Usagi. "And anyway, don't you think I can handle myself?" She punctuated this by taking a huge lick at her fudge-swirl cone.

"The future queen shouldn't *have* to handle herself," Rei growled.

"Whatever."

With that, the original three senshi continued on their way, ignoring the omnipresent media entourage. After some time and a bit of concentration, the horde just blended into the background. They came to their destination.

"Urawa Gurio's Shopping Emporium?"

Usagi beamed at Amy. "Yeah. Who would have thought that he'd turn out to be so rich?"

They walked into Neo-Tokyo's biggest department store and drooled at the store directory like children in a pizza parlor.

"Okay, guys, here's the plan. Here are your gold cards; the Republic of Japan is footing the bill, so don't worry about expenses. We grab the best stuff we can and come back in three hours, ne?"

"Only if I go with you," insisted Rei.

"Fine, fine, you can shadow me. No need to be so paranoid."

They split up. Ami headed over to the women's footwear area and began inspecting the selection of pumps. Picking up a light blue number with sparkles in it reminiscent of Judy Garland's red shoes in the Wizard of Oz, she was about to try it on when she saw a flash of yellow-red light on the store's horizon. (Yes, this is one of those stores big enough to *have* a horizon).

The last time Amy had seen that light was when Sailor Mars had powered up before a battle. And Rei had definitely gone in that direction....

Thinking no longer, she dropped the shoes and ran over to women's lingerie, where Sailors Mars and Moon were engaging a mannequin which had several horns, was three meters tall, and attacked using underwire bras. One thing Amy could always say about the life of a senshi: it never got boring.

"That's quite enough of that," cried Sailor Moon, dodging a 44D Maidenform that the beast lobbed at her. "You're going down!"

Amy tried to press in, not really considering what she would be able to do, and ran into the arms of a security officer. "Sumimasen. You know the rules about senshi business."

"No, I don't. I just got here a few days ago!"

"Oh." He looked back at the battle to make sure things hadn't gotten closer to him, then explained. "When the Senshi do their stuff, you get the heck out of the way. That's what we're here for: to make sure nobody does anything stupid and tries to help out. What do you think you'd do in there, ma'am?"

"I don't know," she said honestly. She peered past the man to see Sailor Mars deliver a final...something. Apparently they had worked on new attacks during her absence. Sailor Moon produced the rod and leveled it at the incapacitated youma.

"You are toast! Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"

The youma collapsed to the ground and disappeared into the customary pile of ashes.

Simultaneously, the crowd surrounding the scene applauded wildly. Taking it in stride, Mars and Moon bowed to the onlookers, apparently used to the flashbulbs. Casually, they went over to a pack of schoolchildren who really should have been in class and began signing autographs. Amy somehow managed to elbow her way through a lot of other people and got next to the senshi.

"That was impressive!"

"Child's play," said Mars, shrugging it off. "Here you go, kid." She took a Sailor Mars trading card from another child's hand and signed it. "Nothing to it."

"And now you guys sign autographs?"

"Sure? It keeps us in touch with the people, and it gives us an excuse to avoid press conferences."

"Yeah," added Moon, "that and the Hepburn Act."

"Which...."

"Which says that if we feel that things are urgent enough, we don't have to give post-battle press conferences. And we can *always* think up something important enough," she added with a sly grin.

"Especially since youma rampages are on the rise lately," said Mars. "We're beginning to get suspicious of that, by the way."

"I see."

"Good. Now do me a favor and get a pen, would you? This one's run out of ink."