Lady Takeuchi

    “Avarice, have you checked all the measures in the high security cells?”
    “Yes milord.” Avarice bowed at Lord Takeuchi, who stood at the doorway of another room facing the hall which his lady was speaking to the senshi.
    “Good, I want to speak to you, about the… inexcusable behavior that you displayed, in front of those prisoners. You were set on trying to undermine her power, and that was quite uncalled-for, the price for your disrespect is high and let me remind you that you do not have many more points to be deducted before you lose your head.  Do you understand me quite clearly?”
    “Yes, milord, I apologize for the gross error that was made. May I asked to be excused, so that I may finish the preparations for the cell?”
    “No, you are not yet dismissed, you will wait here to escort the four of them to their cell. I will not have you out of my sight.”
    Avarice frowned slightly, but remained standing rigidly in front of Lord Takeuchi.  He could not help but mutter quietly to himself, “why don’t you keep an eye on your lady instead?”
    But Lord Takeuchi, unfortunately for Avarice, had extremely sensitive hearing, raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me, what was it that you said?”
    “Nothing milord.”
    He was not a man to be tampered with, and immediately roared at Avarice, “you are lying to me! How dare you! And combined with insulting and accusing my lady, THERE IS A PRICE FOR THAT, AND I WILL MAKE SURE THAT YOU PAY IT DEARLY!

    Ami looked at them, the four girls standing in front of her, each semi-defenseless in their civilian forms, “I have nothing more to say to any of you and so I must go. Ganbatte (Good luck), you need it with Avarice on watch.”  She smiled in spite of herself, her eyes never leaving the four.  Standing from her place, she walked past them to open the doors then raised her voice slightly, “Avarice!”  Two figures appeared from another closed door, Avarice and Lord Takeuchi, “take them into the maximum security cell, and keep an eye on them, I expect that you will be monitoring the security system closely.”
    Avarice bowed to her, his movements seemed to show that he was still angry from their previous encounter.  Striding towards the senshi, he jerked the chains and yanked them to their feet.  He whispered into their ears, “I’m going to get you all.”
    The girls shuddered at his vengeful face, and seemingly cold blooded movements, they turned to the direction of the door and saw the back of Ami, leaving the room.  They frowned when they saw Ami slip her hand into the proffered arm of Lord Takeuchi, linked arm in arm; they walked off chattering pleasantly, holding each other’s gaze, but were brought back to cruel reality when they felt their windpipes suddenly closing as their neck shackles were pulled harshly to the direction they came by.

    Having been thrown into a yet even dingier cell than the previous, the girls huddled in the center, not wanting to sit on the wet floors nor lean against the damp walls, considering the smell, they were not exactly curious to find out what the liquid was.  The smell was intoxicating, and after quite a while, they had not yet been able to adjust to the sour and stinging fumes.  Staring at the walls uncomfortably, they wanted to speak, but did not know if they were being listened to, they wanted to speak to Luna, but did not know if they were being monitored.  They sighed, expelling the sickening smell, and in turn breathing in another lungful of the same oxygen.  They wondered if it was poisonous, and considering the architecture of the cell, which had no windows, and the door which seemed to be taken down from the Tokyo Bank safe… they couldn’t help but think and even worry about the oxygen levels in this place.

    Motoki turned around at the sound of bells jingling when a customer walked into the Crown Café.  He was surprised when at eyelevel, he didn’t see anyone, then, sweeping his eyes lower, he spotted the two cats walking up to him.  Taking up a measured run up, the two leapt onto the counter to face him. Putting down the checkered tablecloth, he sighed at the two cats, “as much as I love you guys, it’s against health regulations to have animals here, especially on a table, unless…” he grinned, “I serve you as a delicacy.”
    At the slightest sound of a threat to their lives, they got the hint, the two cats paled beneath their thick coats.  Jumping down to the floor, they walked behind the counter and pawed at Motoki’s pants, meowing softly, as if to say, “don’t eat me.”
    Motoki laughed at them, but was slightly puzzled by their choice to remain mute,  “good, ’cos I’m not sure that my customers would appreciate cats several millenniums old.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but this kitty only looks a few years old.”  His cook reached out to pick Luna up by the tail and was about to toss her out the door.  “No cats allowed in here under health regulations; you’ll lose your license Motoki-san, I thought you knew better than that.”
    Motoki blushed slightly and restrained the tough looking man, its okay, and took Luna from him, Luna immediately scowled him for his maltreatment, “I’m going in my office to call up their owners and get some paperwork done as well, if it gets too busy, give me a yell would you?”
    The cook nodded, and gruffly made a few noises of acceptance. “Hey take this one with you as well!”
    Motoki smiled, “thanks, hey and will you send Chiba-san in my office if you see him coming by?”
   “Sure thing.”
    Stepping from behind the counter, the blond hair man walked to the office, with the two cats hot on his heels, but the jingling of bells once again caught his attention. Waving, he smiled, “Mamoru-kun! Step in here for a second won’t you, we need to talk.” Turning his attention to the cook, he pulled a face, “could you bring in a cappuccino for him? Owe you one man!”

    Mamoru looked at his friend with keen interest, also eyeing Artemis and Luna at the same time.  He already knew that it was senshi business, but he didn’t know what, but to all probability, it had to do with the communication that they had received yesterday.  He didn’t know the contents of it, since Usako had only left him a message on his answering machine telling him of the good news.  Seeing the two grim faces, he knew that he probably shouldn’t have been unavailable.  And then there was Motoki, he was getting WAY too interested in this business for his own good, just because the control center was underneath one of his machines, he was putting himself in danger by getting too involved, and being too defenseless.

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