Lady Takeuchi

A week later
    “What do you think happened to her? Ami hasn’t sent us a message in two weeks, not even to tell us that she is alright.”
    “I know, and she not even you, Usagi-chan, she is responsible.”
    “Rei-chan that is SO MEAN!”
    “You two stop it!” Minako took charge, since Luna and Artemis were yet to appear to their meeting. “We’ve got to do something about it.”
    “Instead of waiting for her to tell us, why don’t we just go in and take her?”
    “Makoto-chan, you are catching Usagi-chan’s disease, we don’t have the co-ordinates to get there, not to mention that with the four of us, we can’t teleport their either.” Rei said, sticking her tongue out at Usagi.
    The door opened to reveal two cats in the doorway, “actually Rei, we got a message today, we’ve got the co-ordinates, and transportation to get there as well.”
    “What transportation?” Rei asked, immediately suspicious.
    “A porthole opening, time and place.”
    “How did Ami manage that?”
    “We don’t know, but it didn’t come from Ami’s computer and it wasn’t encoded at all… so… we can’t even clarify anything.”
    “Are you sure its not a trap of some kind?”
    “We don’t know... we can’t be sure if it is a trap or a genuine thing”…

    “Takeuchi, I was using the computer earlier, and I had some problems, I hope you don’t mind but I checked the records to see what caused the problems…”
    “Ami dear, what is wrong?”
    “There is a security breach, I found that there was an unauthorized sending of information to Earth, to be exact to a computer that I personally know to be the central control center of the Bishoujo Senshi.”
    “What? What information?”
    “I printed it out, and the security breach code as well.”
    Handing the slip of paper to him, she looked at him to see his angry expression. “This is information for them to come in here! Who did this?”
    “I… I don’t know, it’s all in numbers, the headings of some things are in numbers, the rest of it is in numbers, the only thing that I got out of it was a security breach code which I got the explanation from another member of your staff, and the message that was sent out.”
    “Show me the coding, I’ll teach you how to interpret it.”

Flashback
 A dark figure hunched over the computer, a cloak covered the figure, only a pair of hands protruded from the wisps of cloth.  Keys clicked softly to prevent the arousal of others’ attention, the figure’s left hand held a slip of paper that the figure was intent on copying…

To: 631:249 Land Allotment 80:21, Machine No. 23176
From: Command Center KN5 -
 23487124 - 134891
 pri1398721a1seccom
Contents:  Tonight at 2000, porthole will open at 621:249 Land Allotment 66:63 to Kuriverse Branch 5 Quarters - code name: Negaverse, 10453:2458. Will expect your presence.

    Pages flipped quickly, as a heavy hand fell on the computer desk. Ami turned to him, “what is it?”
    “Are you sure that 631:249 Land Allotment 80:21, Machine No. 23176 are the co-ordinates of the Bishoujo Senshi Control Center?”
    “Of course Takeuchi, I used to be a frequent visitor there too.” Ami dipped her head slightly, in embarrassment at the mention of her previous identity.
    “You are revealing to us their secret location, Ami.”
    “I know,” her fists clenched closed, “but since coming here, I have found out a few things that have been misrepresented to us by Luna and Artemis, I’ve questioned Princess Serenity’s agenda and find myself unable to accept them.  I have always questioned why we as princesses also must risk our lives to protect her, a princess not of a planet, but of a measly moon.  We risk giving up our lives for her, we are giving up our teenage years for her, we’re… The other princesses deserve to know this as well, and so, I am going to ask you to let me speak to them once you have captured them, I want to make sure that they realize the selfishness of Princess Serenity, and revolt against the fake compassion that she uses on us.”
    “We will have to kill them when we capture them, Ami, it is the rule of the Kuriverse, and I, as the commander of Sector 5 - Negaverse, must also abide by those rules.”
    “Then I will at least let them know in death, the ridiculousness of the pledge that we were forced to give.” Ami spoke clearly, hate and anger oozing from every pore of her body.
    But Takeuchi was also too distracted to notice the change in Ami, he too was angry that Avarice would betray him.  True, he had always been suspicious, but he had never thought that Avarice would have the guts to carry out something like that.  The message had been sent from his personal port shown by the code 23487124 - 134891, and authenticated by his privileged A1 classed Security Commander code, no one else could have sent the message.  He would have to stop the senshi and capture Avarice, he could not have such traitors working for him, he was lucky that Ami had chanced upon this discovery. “I will send people to capture him this minute.”
    “No!” Ami restrained him, “the senshi may still be waiting for confirmation, we can’t touch him until we have captured them using these darts that I’ve developed and placed them in the maximum security dungeon, and then we’ll move. We might be able to learn something of their relations as well with this.”
    “The security system is under his operation as well.”
    “I don’t think that he will dare to tamper with it. But meanwhile, why don’t we take dinner closer to their point of arrival so that we may discreetly dispatch more security at that area… without raising alarm of course.”
    Smiling for the first time since the news reached him, he turned to Ami, “Ami my dear, you are an absolute angel! Yes, I am famished, shall we?”

7:58pm
    They stood around a point at the edge of a construction site, waiting.  No, they weren’t waiting for Usagi, but for the moment to arrive when the porthole which opened naturally, would appear at the specified point.  The four girls stood there, chattering, sounding excited as they thought about the possibility that Ami would be back by tonight, but trying hard to suppress the worry which was also there.  The fact that the information was passed to them so freely worried their sensibilities, and as yet, they could not find on link of it back to Ami herself, but they had to hope...  “Usagi-chan, why isn’t Mamoru-san here?”
    “He has some biology prac until 9:00pm at the university, and he said that he couldn’t get out of it.”
    “Girls!” Luna and Artemis clapped their paws, “it nearly time, be careful, we don’t know who really sent this message, you might be ambushed when you get there, just take notice of everything, even if you don’t have the chance to see Ami.  Ganbatte! (Good luck!)” They finished exactly on the dot, and the light silver of the porthole was already beginning to appear from behind a pole, exactly where the co-ordinates had said.  At least that bit of the information was accurate.formed a circle as they watched the porthole increase in size.  They stood firmly, feeling the gust of wind swiping at them, until the porthole swallowed them into its path, they did not open their eyes but felt the ground beneath them fall away, they dropped freely through an immense gravitational field that seemed to pull them faster than they could travel.  Through their closed eyelids, they saw the sparks of light, of all different colors, their hair lashed across their faces in a frenzy.  Suddenly their feet felt ground, but the sensation was so sudden that their knees buckled from beneath them, and they fell to the ground. They felt a clutter of metal around them as they opened their eyes, and found themselves at the butt of several guns; it was not but a moment before they were shot.

    “Someieichi-kou! The girls are all missing!”
    “I know.” She replied coolly, looking at the cats as if all was normal. Turning her head around though, she saw people looking in her direction, “next time you come to the hospital, I’d appreciate it if you were in your human forms, Luna, Artemis.”
    “Hai, Mizuno-sama, excuse us please.”

    Minako awoke from groggy sleep, having found her head to have rested on cold dirty rocks and damp floors.  She looked around and saw Usagi, Rei and Makoto still in a blissful rest when she suddenly remembered why she was here.  Standing up shakily, she walked over to Makoto first and shook her.
    “Huh?” Makoto sat up in an instance, a headache hitting her immediately. “Our senshi clothing! We’ve been de-transformed!”
    “I… I don’t know, I just woke up myself, I didn’t notice…” Helping Makoto to her feet, the two went to wake the others.
    Once all of them were sitting up, they stood from their places due to the dampness and the dirtiness of the cell that they had been locked into.  Their pockets were turned out; searching for their henshin sticks which had been taken off them, all of them despaired that they would not be able to transform back to their ‘super-hero’ forms to save Ami from the Negaverse, otherwise known as the 5th sector of the Kuriverse.  By now, it was obvious, Ami had not sent the message, it had been a set up from the start, to capture them… and they had succeeded.
    The sound of a lock opening echoed in the dingy cell, they almost jumped out of their skins at the nerve rattling noise.  A creature stepped into the room, a creature they remembered as having took Ami, rubbing his hands, he snarled at them, “I have something for you, once Lord Takeuchi finishes with you.”
    “What have you done to Ami-chan?” Makoto yelled at him, ready to claw out his eyes with her bare hands, and fight him out, out of sheer anger and determination.
    “Oh… she is doing just fine here, but with your help, she will be doing even better... in jail and in death.” He laughed, the symbolic maniac laugh that they had come to expect from a youma. Shackling them, he led them down several halls until another large metal door, led them to a luxurious carpetted hallway, filled with ornaments and other victorious trophies of their battles. They could not help but notice a large portrait of a woman hung on the wall, she stared down at them with bitter blue eyes, her face framed by blond stringy short hair. They felt their jaws drop, and their hearts pulpatate in an abnormal pace... Despite it all, the posture of her stance told them that it was her who had betrayed their arrival to the Negaverse:
Ami.
 

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