Character Sketches #1, Sailor Mercury - Part I, "Mizuno the Senshi"
Chapter 6: In which things grow bleaker, and hope diminishes.

TOKYO (AP)--Prime Minister Michosaki asked to meet with the Sailor Scouts today regarding the escalating events in Tokyo over the past few weeks. Aides say that the meeting, scheduled "as soon as possible," will be nothing more than a friendly chat. However, his opponents say differently.

"It is clear that the Prime Minister is trying to give the superficial appearance of competence. Obviously, he doesn't have a clue as to what to do, and is grasping at straws, jeopardizing the safety of the Japanese people," said a top opposition party official who declined to be named. "One can only hope that [the scouts] can talk some sense into the man."

Meanwhile, Mr. Michosaki has ordered the mandatory evacuation of the city of Tokyo. He cited the dramatic increase in monster attacks to the north and east of the city, as well as the threat to the civilian population.

American officials have had little to say, and declined comment when asked if the United States would uphold its treaty commitments with Japan in the event that its national security was threatened.

"Ah, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please, sit down." The Prime Minister of Nippon motioned for the senshi to take a seat, and they did so, looking around at the rather opulent accommodations.

"I suppose that you're trying to figure out why you're here," he said.

"Not really," said Mars in a bored voice.

"It's pretty clear," said Venus.

"Simply put," said Moon, with the hint of a smile, "you've got youmas bearing down on the city, the people are panicking, the Yankees aren't helping a bit, your political enemies smell blood, and we're the only ones who have a chance at patching things up."

The Prime Minister merely looked over at his best friend and personal aide, who was leaning against a file cabinet. Haruna nodded.

"An astute observation, Sailor Moon. Well, no point in going off on my prepared spiel, is there? Let's get to the point." He took a deep breath. "I'll give you any resources you need to get the job done. Money, helicopters, cars; Japan is at your disposal. In return, you must end the current threat to Japan. After it's all over, you'll have nicely padded bank accounts and new identities elsewhere. No media crush, no publicity. How does that sound?"

"It sounds," said Moon, "like an extremely cheap bribe, compared to the lives at stake. To be honest, we were gong to do this by ourselves, with no help. We would've gladly done it for free. For you to put a price tag on the people and the city of Tokyo is quite frankly appalling."

"If it were to save your life alone," said Mars, "we'd let you die."

The Prime Minister mulled this. Although he hadn't been looking forward to it, this was what he'd been expecting.

"Very well. Please, do what you do best. My offer still stands, however. Whatever you need."

"What we need," said Jupiter, "is for all noncombatants to get out of the city. Now."

The Prime Minister smiled. "Already taken care of."

"And the press?"

"Well..."

"Do you *care* if they get killed?" asked Venus.

"Um, well I have been getting hammered in the op-ed pages..."

"Michosaki no baka!"

"Now wait just-"

"No, *you* just wait! I will tell you exactly what we're going to do," said Moon. "We are going to walk out of this office, go downtown and start beating some youma. After that, we are going to go to every news organization in Japan and tell them exactly what a self-centered political swine you are. Is that clear?"

Michosaki was the most powerful man in Japan. Very few things made him flinch.

He flinched, and merely sat as the senshi strode out the door, closely followed by a Haruna who had more pressing concerns. He sat as the air-raid sirens began to wail, and sat as the fireworks began lighting up the skies in the direction of Tokyo. He sat as his political career fell apart.

He ceased sitting when his building was demolished by an errant air-to-ground missile.

"Venus Love Me Chain!" For the mth time, Venus unleashed her attack upon the nth youma. They had been at it for four hours, and had long ago reached the point of exhaustion. A good quarter of the city had been leveled, and the youma were still coming. The only thing that kept them from giving up was the prospect of Tokyo's total destruction. However, it seemed that the youma were already taking great strides in that direction.

Mercury looked haggardly at the situation. The youma had burst through the police and JSDF lines north of the city with minimal effort, and had swept through the northern districts with scant tangible opposition from the senshi, who continued their efforts, lit only by the flames of burning buildings.

The senshi wouldn't be happy to hear four hours of hard work swept aside as such, but it was correct. For all their efforts, they had only slowed down the attack, and now they had unknowingly been completely surrounded.

At the realization of this, her blood ran cold.

"Minna! We're cut off!"

Almost as if at a signal, a woman appeared from nowhere, about five meters from them. She was rather unremarkable, except for the fact that she was there. She wore a blouse and skirt, and said only a few words.

"Take them alive."

The senshi battled furiously, but soon they had been bound, and were at the mercy of the strange woman. Then the humans vanished, and the youma continued their conquest.

From 1.5 kilometers away, a telephoto lens captured the events of the last few paragraphs. The wielder of the lens watched with a mixture of horror and fascination: horror at the loss of Japan's only hope, and fascination at the biggest news event since the alleged resurrection of a Jew named Yeshua a couple thousand years ago.

"AL! DID YOU SEE THAT!"

"Cripes! Yes I did, and I'm right next to you. You don't need to shout." Al Jones, Tokyo correspondent for CBS, also looked upon the scene. More and more of Tokyo was being level, the loss of property and life had to be horrendous, and yet all he could think about was how he would open his piece. The cameraman, Dennis Kelly, was trying to figure out how to be as far away as possible.

"Al, you're live in twenty," said a voice in his ear. He nodded, a gesture the speaker couldn't see, and tapped the microphone he held in his hand. In twenty seconds, he would be live, telling the world about the havoc in Tokyo. The director in the satellite van a few meters away spoke again.

"Fifteen."

They set up, with both on a rise overlooking the downtown area. As Al put his back to the destruction, he wondered how much extra pay he would get for this.

"Ten."

"Mike check, mike check, one two three four." The sound engineer gave a thumbs up.

"Five, four, three, two and-"

"We now take you live to the battle area in Tokyo, where our Albert Jones is covering the story. Albert, can you give us a sense of what's going on there?"

"Well, Dan, as you can see behind me, it's literally like the end of the world. About four to five hours ago, the real assault on the city began, and all attempts to push back the invaders have failed. The Japanese equivalent of the army has been, according to our most recent reports, almost completely wiped out north of town, and the Sailor Scouts disappeared some moments ago."

"Al, just to confirm, these scouts are the same ones who recently came out of hiding, and also are the ones who have demonstrated success in the past against these types of beings?" queried Rather.

Al nodded. "The same. About two minutes ago, the scouts were surrounded by the creatures, and when the creatures dispersed, the scouts could not be seen. No signs have been seen of them since. They've simply vanished." He turned to the ruined cityscape below. "With no opposition whatsoever, the invaders have been roaming at will, and it doesn't seem as if anything is stopping them."

"Al, have you heard anything about casualties?"

"Uh, no Dan. The city was ordered evacuated some time ago, and the only ones left are media crews like us. I'd expect fatalities to be light." He paused, and struggled to turn himself from the scene of devastation. Dennis, under orders from the director, had no such troubles, and zoomed in on a youma smashing the foundation of a fifty story office building, zooming out just in time to capture its collapse.

"Property damage, on the other hand, is unbelievable. We don't even have initial figures on those yet, but expect them to be extremely high, in the billions of dollars."

"Yes. Al, we've received word from the White House that the United States will send 'appropriate aid' to the Japanese. Have you seen any military assistance?"

"No. All we've heard of is a token fleet from South Korea, and we can still see the burning hulls from here. We've heard rumors that UN peacekeepers are coming in--from China of all places, but nothing definite.

"As for refugees, we do know that the Red Cross is setting up camps in the mountains near Tokyo, but they certainly will not be able to house the millions displaced."

"Al Jones, reporting live from Tokyo. Thank you."

Al nodded.

"And we're clear! Right, Rodriguez, pack the stuff, we're getting out of here."

Dennis walked forward. "Al, you okay?"

Al gestured towards the devastation. "It's the end of the world," he said haggardly. "That was the hardest piece I've ever done. The world is ending, and I'm there live." He chuckled.

Dennis had spent six years filming news in Vietnam, and he was well acquainted with the symptoms of hysteria. The man was about to fall apart. "Look, Al, you wanna come with me to the truck? I've got some hot chocolate there, and it's a bit cold here." "And some gin, but don't wanna tell 'im 'bout that until he's in real trouble," he silently added.

"Hm? Oh, okay." They walked back to the satellite truck, as Al sang quietly, under his breath.

"Swim out past the breakers, watch the world die."

The Tokyo Tower collapsed.