Character Sketches #1, Sailor Mercury - Part II, "Mizuno the Senshi"
Chapter 8: In which Amy observes the national pastime.

"Today, the Baltimore Orioles begin their 2003 season with the home opener against the Minnesota Twins. It will be the beginning for new talent Serena Lapine, the first woman baseball player in the major leagues, and the end for superstar Cal Ripken, Jr., who has announced that he will retire after this season.

"Ripken will be honored before the game in a ceremony attended by various dignitaries, including the mayor, the governor, and president Albert Gore."

-Baltimore Sun, 1 April 2003, page C1.

"Mamoru is our trump card. No-one knows about him, no one knows he's Tuxedo Kamen. Therefore, we must hold him in reserve until absolutely necessary to preserve the advantage."

-personal notes of Luna

April 1, 2003 was not proving to be a very good day for Jen; later she had a half-suspicion that it was an elaborate April Fool's joke. After Amy found the ransom note for David's life, she had somehow pulled herself together. At least, that was what Jen told herself. The alternative was to admit that Amy had cracked, and was now proceeding in a state of shock.

"I'm going to get those bastards," Amy said calmly. "I'm going to get David back, and I'm going to tear those bastards limb from limb."

Mamoru had a quick conference with Urawa, then turned to Jen. "Jen, who is this David fellow?"

Too shocked by recent events, she didn't even notice that he had dropped his Japanese accent totally, and was speaking in flawless English. "David is our art professor. Lately...confidentially, I think she has a bit of a crush on him."

Urawa visibly paled. "Are you certain of this? It's not just a-"

"Dammit, she's gaga over him!" They turned to Amy, who was looking out the window and murmuring to herself. "She has to be."

"She can't be."

"And why not?"

"Because we're to marry."

There was a flash of light.

"What the hell?!?" They wheeled around to see Amy, now Sailor M, crash through the third story window.

"AMY!" cried Urawa, running to the window, where he had to be restrained by Mamoru. "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!? I SAW IT! SHE ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!"

"Calm down, calm--dear God."

"What is it?" asked Jen, who at this point was still going merely because events hadn't had a chance to sink in yet.

Mamoru had just looked down at the ransom note, and had picked it up. With a shaking hand, he offered it to Jen, who read it aloud.

"Dear Sailor M. By the time you receive this letter, your precious professor, David Henderson, will be on his way to take in a baseball game. Unfortunately, seats were a bit hard to come by, so we had to put him in the warehouse. Silly us, however, we happened to leave some explosives there, so clumsy--my God, what are they going to do?--of us. So, Sailor M (or should we say Amy Anderson?), get to the ballpark in one hour, or he and 45,000 others get the third strike. PS. Don't call the police, and don't think we wouldn't know. One phone call and he dies." She dropped the paper, and looking up, asked, "Mamoru, what do we do?"

Mamoru wasn't there. Instead, she saw a slightly taller man with mask, cape, tuxedo, etc. The reader can undoubtedly fill in the details. Tuxedo Kamen gazed upon her, and despite everything that had happened in the past week, she broke into a broad smile.

"We're going to see a baseball game."

Sailor M bounded over the rooftops of midtown Baltimore; it wouldn't be long before she'd have to so on surface streets. While being a senshi had its advantages, leaping skyscrapers in a single bound wasn't one of them.

For once, she was flying blind. The note had only said the warehouse, but it also happened to be the longest building on the East Coast, and there was quite a bit of space. As one part of her mind considered this, another pondered security. With President Gore in attendance, the Secret Service was sure to be around. If so, how had David's kidnappers managed to evade them? And how had they managed to smuggle a bomb into the park?

Another portion of her mind thought about why she was doing this. No one had ever called Amy Anderson or Ami Mizuno stupid, and she realized that her behavior in the past few weeks...hell, the past couple of years...had become increasingly erratic and unpredictable. But while aware of this, she been incapable of doing anything about it. Every time she tried to draw upon the inner reserve and coolness that had made her so effective in Japan, she hit a brick wall, almost as if she was a different person.

"But of course you're different," she whispered in the middle of a particularly impressive leap. "You killed your mother."

No. She would not, could not allow herself to fall into the trap of self-loathing again. She had too much to live for: the senshi, her goal of being a doctor, David.

David.

"I love David." She tried it again, just to get used to it.

And again.

"Tell me again why I'm doing this?" demanded Jen of an extremely busy Tuxedo Kamen. He was trying to negotiate game day Baltimore traffic while going around 140kph, and it wasn't working very well. "Is it because I like the Orioles? If so, I'd like to get off now and change allegiance to the Yankees!"

Kamen made another curve that resulted in a six car pileup. As this didn't affect his driving, Tuxedo Kamen continued.

"In case you haven't noticed," said Urawa, "Amy's about to get herself killed."

"Well that, err, shouldn't we call the police or something? I seem to recall that kidnappings are a federal crime, you know."

"No time. Anyway, you saw the note. We call the authorities, and David's had it!"

They sailed through a red light. Jen winced at the sounds of an accident behind them, then saw something else.

"Mamoru! You're going the wrong way! Dammit...okay, make a right...HERE!"

The tires squealed as they made their way onto the sidewalk, scattering pedestrians everywhere and taking out a couple of parking meters.

"Great driving. Really."

"I can really do without the comments," said Kamen tightly. It was bad enough that he was careening through a city he'd been in scarcely a day, racing through crowded streets on what to him was the wrong side of the road, just to save one of his best friends from killing herself pointlessly. To have a backseat driver like Jen was unbearable.

"There it is!" said Jen after another couple of minutes. Ahead, they could see the light standards, and beneath them, Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

"I hope we're not too late."

"I hope I'm not too late," said Sailor M upon arrival. It was 1:15pm, and the game was about to start, but this was hardly her concern. Somewhere in the long brick building that dominated right field was the man she had recently decided was her one true love, and she was going to find him.

Getting past stadium security had been rather easy; she simply went through a service entrance. Getting past the Secret Service had been a bit more interesting, and involved a tacit agreement to render certain services at a later date. But she was in, and racing through back hallways of the Orioles' offices, trying to avoid detection by both the goons who had David, and the people who normally worked there. On a hunch, she reached a ventilation grille and set to her work.

A microapplication of her Arctic Beam later, the grille was gone, and she was shimmying up the rather narrow shaft. On the eighth floor, she knew, was David. If not, then...David had to be there.

With an unholy shriek, the car which had been more or less commandeered by Tuxedo Kamen and company pulled up in front of the Eutaw Street entrance to Camden Yards. Tuxedo Kamen took a moment to stare up at the building. Then, he turned to his two companions.

"Stay here, okay? Lord only knows what I might be going into." He looked around, and saw a couple of police officers drawing near. "On second thought, just leave."

"Uh, Mr. Kamen?"

"Nani?"

"I can't drive."

"Neither can I," added Urawa, who had decided that it was time he began to assert himself..

Kamen slapped his forehead. Here were the only twenty-year-olds in the world who didn't drive! "Okay, Urawa, you're not used to things over here. Jen, you're in charge. Get back to your dorm; if all goes well Mer...M will come back there. Got it? Then go!"

He raced towards the building, ignoring the squeal of the car peeling out and the shouts of the police officers telling him to stop. He started gaining speed, subconsciously as a response to the roar of the crowd: the first strikeout of the season had been recorded.

"Lamppost, eight story building, what's the difference?"

He jumped.