Nurse Venus

"MISSING: ISABELLE MARIE HARTMAN . . ."

Isabelle Hartman was, or perhaps had been, a warm, loving child. She was of mixed race, from a mother who was Vietnamese and Thai, and a father who was African-American. Her family lived in Danville, but nine days before, she'd come with some other students to the Oakland Museum. There were a lot of middle-school students there that day. It was hours before it was noticed that one of them was missing.

Marvell's face filled the TV screen. It always hurt to use the ear pickups, and he had permission to go without them, but Kevin had lived with Minako long enough to know the house rules. Shoes off inside. No loud music or TV--that always got the dirtiest look from the green-haired lady who played the violin.

Minako was getting ready to go out again. They'd just made love, as they almost always did when she wouldn't be back until late. "What is he saying now?" she asked.

Kevin said, "He's saying his friends are all looking for the Hartman girl, and he's talking about the reward again."

"That might help."

He took out the earpieces. "You think Marvell is just using this to make himself look better."

Minako said, "I am sure he has thought of that. That does not mean he is not trying to help. Kurume-san told me that a big gangster did something like this once when a baby was kidnapped a long time ago."

Kevin said, "Al Capone. I know about that."

"You do?"

"Gots time to read . . . and I really can now. Better than I could."

She was finished dressing, and he heard the familiar squeak of Usagi's wheelchair outside their room. Minako bent down to kiss him, automatically bringing the covers up as if he were a child. He grabbed her shoulders suddenly, an immensely painful effort. "Do you have to go?"

"Yes . . . please. Kevin-chan."

Kevin said, "I worry . . . what about the babies?"

She held her stomach for a moment. "They are not even kicking yet. I had no trouble with Ishtar. Do not worry."

Kevin said, "Please . . . can't you stay? Why do you go out so much?"

She was quiet for awhile. "Are you afraid I am seeing another man?"

He was quiet for awhile. "You are so beautiful . . . I am always afraid I will lose you."

She caressed his face, ever so gently, the only way pain didn't come. "You will never lose me that way. Now, go to sleep, please. You will get weak and get sick again if you do not sleep."

Kevin didn't want to, but before he knew it, he had slept. Now he needed to pee. Minako was gone, and it was very late. He got his sleeve-canes and stumbled off to the toilet. Minako always left a urinal for him, but the pain was better than the humiliation of using it. Kevin had his own house rules.

After they were sure Kevin was asleep, Minako and Usagi went to rouse the children. Rei and Minako were waiting downstairs in the second basement--down the elevator for Usagi, of course.

"One of us should come," said Rei.

"You can't keep up with the children, especially you, Mako-chan," said Minako.

"Then you should wait for Mamoru," said Makoto.

"He is on duty tonight," said Usagi.

"Then you should not go tonight," said Rei. "Or let us go with you."

"I'm not afraid," said Chibi Moon.

"That is not true," said Usagi quietly.

Chibi Moon's lip quivered, but she said, "I won't let that stop me. You were more afraid than anyone, but you didn't let that stop you, when you were Sailor Moon."

"That is true, little moon," said Usagi.

Chibi Moon flew over her mother to put her arms and wings around her. "You'll get better, okasan. Someday you will be Sailor Moon again."

Kimi Moon went to her mother; Chibi Venus went to Usagi, and then back to her mother.

Ryo had come down. He looked at the tiny Sailor fighters and shook his head. "The girl is dead."

"You are certain of this?" asked Usagi.

Ryo said, "You can read even my thoughts . . . yes, as certain as I can be with my power."

"Is there more?" asked Usagi.

"Yes . . . I saw how she was killed. It was in a van, I think . . . but I did not see after. I do not know what the killer did with the body."

"You saw his face?" asked Makoto.

"No . . . I saw through his eyes," said Ryo.

"Was it like the thing we fought in otousan's world?" asked Chibi Moon.

"The killer acted as a man . . . a monster, but with no more strength than a man. I cannot read thoughts as you . . . I only saw . . . and heard . . . and . . . "

"Do not say any more!" said Usagi. "Ryo, you must not use your power for this again until I say! Mako, take him away. See that he does not use his power! Rei, go too."

"But I can--" Suddenly Ryo slumped; Makoto caught him.

Usagi commanded, "He must not use his power, Mako-chan. Get Naru; make sure he stays asleep. And use the powder the little man gave us."

"I do not think it will really work on him," said Rei, coming to assist Makoto. "He is almost like a senshi."

Usagi said, "It should make him forget for a few days, at least. When he remembers again, we will be ready to help him . . . better than we can now. Go."

Once Mako and Rei had taken Ryo away, Usagi spoke to the children. "Don't fly ahead of Venus-san. You are looking for the girl Isabelle. If we can find her before anyone, there is a good chance the Grey Lady can bring her back. If you see any crooks, tell Mina-chan, do not go after them yourselves."

"What if we find the killer with the van, mama?" asked Chibi Moon.

"He may not be anywhere around here . . . but if you do think you have found him, tell Mina-chan. It would be better if the police found him. There may be other missing girls he killed; their families should know, at least . . . be careful, little moon. You are so very brave, but you need to be careful." Usagi hugged her eldest daughter tight. "Kimi-chan, Ishi-chan, if there is trouble, Chibi-Usa will bring you back here. Do not stay to fight anyone. Chibi-Usa, you must look after your sisters first." She hugged each of the child Sailors. Then Usagi said to Sailor Venus, "Come back after three. They all need to sleep some more, and so do you."

It was the dream again . . .

Kevin was in the first backup car, cradling his .50 rifle. The kick was like a punch from a young Mike Tyson, even with the big-ass muzzle break and the shock absorber in the stock, but it could cut through kevlar like butter, or go clean through a car or a brick wall. His brother's men could empty a clip without doing a damned thing, but Kevin never needed more than one shot.

He'd asked Marvell to go in the first car, do the job, but Marvell had said he wasn't going to waste Kevin on some fool niggers Moms could take out. If he wanted to help, he could ride backup . . . if the wrong cops stumbled onto them, Kevin could put shots in their engine blocks, shut them down without making them inconveniently dead. Just keep an eye out, help it go down quick and clean.

Besides, some of the fools were women; there might be little kids with them. It could be messy . . .

So there he was waiting. The boys who were doing the hit, all under 16, got out of their car, took a few steps, and opened up. Stupid kids, he had thought, even though he was only 19.

And then the thing flew down. Through his sight, he saw one of the kids start to turn into a skeleton. He wrestled with the gun, and squeezed off a round. And it screamed, like a woman . . . and then he saw the other thing, black against the face of the moon. He brought up the gun, but it was so slow . . . and then he didn't have a gun.

He was in the boat on Lake Merritt. Minako was smiling at him. He reached out with his hands, whole, ready to feel every inch of her . . . and the moon had become the sun, and the thing was still black against it. And the light came, and his hands melted away, and in front of him, Minako was burned to a horrible charred black thing, like he saw the firemen taking out of the cars . . .

Kevin Jones woke up screaming. And Minako still wasn't home . . .

Kimi Moon had seen some bones, under a field. Chibi Moon brought Naru to read them. She had to use a special book of spells, and it took her much longer than with one of the spells she had really learned. Finally Naru said, "These are the bones of a girl, but they are old. She was one of the people who lived here many years ago, before any cities were built here. We should leave them. Her family put them here, long, long ago." She put the bone she had been holding down into the little pit, and started moving the dirt back over it. Everyone else helped. Then she prayed to the spirit of the long-dead girl, and set a little geas on the spot so that others would avoid it, at least for awhile.

"I will take you back," said Chibi Moon to Naru.

"We should all go back," said Sailor Venus. "It is nearly three o'clock."

"We should look a little more," said Chibi Moon.

"I feel very bad feelings from somewhere," said Chibi Venus. "Someone is very afraid. Maybe a girl. We should try to find her."

Sailor Venus said, "Many girls are afraid of many things, Ishtar. Are you sure it is not just someone with a nightmare?"

Ishtar said, "No, mama. I have felt this for a long time now. It has been getting stronger and stronger."

"Nightmares don't really last that long," said Chibi Moon, who knew nightmares so well.

Naru stepped back and worked another spell, one she wasn't sure of, but . . . "Mina-chan, I think your daughter is right. If you can find this girl quickly, there may be time . . . we will go back and get help."

Sailor Venus was very afraid for the children . . . but what of the child that might be in terrible danger now? "No, Naru-chan," said Venus. "If you go back, Usagi will argue and may keep Chibi Moon from returning . . . Naru-chan, if we go, we will have to leave you here."

"Go . . . I will be all right. But be careful!"

Louis Spotts and his friends hadn't been looking for anything more than a place to pee. About all that was open at half-past three was Denny's, and that wasn't the place for four black gang-bangers, even if they had on their tuxes and drove a Benz. Louis looked at the headlights in the distance and tried to finish up. Was it a cop? It would be very stupid to get busted for just pissing in a big empty lot.

The lights went out. Peering out, he could just make out a shape in the moonlight. "It's a van, Darnell . . . no lights on the top."

"A van? What's it doing out here?"

They were in a run-down industrial area between the Bayshore Freeway and the marshy flats that edged most of the southern arm of San Francisco Bay. Half the old buildings had been knocked down already. Spotts had turned off the freeway and driven into this place precisely because it was deserted. Or should be . . .

"Yeah . . . Maybe we should find out. Saddle up." He checked his gun, and the other's checked theirs.

"Down there," called Chibi Venus. "Kimi, can you see yet?"

Kimi Moon said, "Yes. A girl, in a van . . . A man with a big knife!"

"Don't fly ahead!" shouted Sailor Venus.

"We have to hurry!" screamed Kimi Moon. "He is starting to hurt her!"

"No, don't go ahead!" cried Venus. "Chibi Moon, remember your mother!"

"She is hurting!," screamed Chibi Venus. "He is hurting her terribly!"

"He is cutting her!" said Kimi Moon, pulling up in the air. "Sarah, you cannot hit him without hurting her! Mama Venus, can you hit the man?" Kimi flew above Venus, and put her hands down on Venus' head. "Use my eye! You must stop him now!"

Suddenly Venus could see the van magnified a thousand times, see through the windowless back at the man over the naked little girl, see his hips moving, her lips moving, begging, him making little cuts on her with his big knife . . . He arched his back, and his head rose up.

And Sailor Venus had a clear shot, for an instant . . .

Spotts and his three friends saw the van begin to rock, and stifled laughs. They continued to approach, hoping to surprise the people inside.

But then there was a bang. Louder than a gunshot; they all knew gunshots.

They all pulled out their guns. If they'd been real trained fighters, they would have dropped to the ground first. But they were really just four teenagers coming back from a long wedding and a long party afterward, who happened to be into a gang that made money on drugs so they could afford toys like Benzes and guns . . . They ran toward the van, shouting to each other. In a firefight with the greenest recruits, they would have already been dead.

A little smoke was rising from the back of the van. Spotts and Darnell ran to the back and tried the door, shouting, "Throw out the gun, motherfucker, or we blow you to hell!" The doors were locked. Darnell used his lighter, and they saw there was a hole through one of the doors, about four inches across.

Suddenly a woman's voice called out from behind. "Put down your guns!"

Spotts whirled around and fired--at nothing. The road behind him was empty.

Suddenly there was a violet fire blooming in front of him. A blast knocked him back against the van; he felt a wave of heat. He smelt hot asphalt, and acrid smoke.

"Put down all your guns!," called a girl's voice. "Or I will punish you!"

The woman's voice again: "Put down your guns! We will not hurt you if you put down your guns!"

A child's voice called out. "Please, put down your guns! You are all frightened, and you will fight us if you keep the guns. We will not hurt you. We don't want to fight you."

Another child's voice called: "Please, don't fight us. Mama Venus and my sisters will kill you all if you fight. Help us help the little girl in the van."

Spotts heard Darnell speak as he bent down slowly to set his gun on the ground. "Spotts, look up."

Louis Spotts looked up, and in the moonlight he saw four angels. He tossed his gun away.

The biggest one flew down close. Her head glowed, and the lock on the doors burned away. Spotts could see in the light from the burning that the angel was very beautiful.

One of the smaller angels glowed much more brightly from her head, like a floodlight.

"Help me get the doors open," said the woman angel.

All four of the teenage gangsters pulled at the doors, which finally sprung open. From inside the van came a rush of odor: burnt metal, burnt plastic, burnt hair, burnt flesh.

"Get him off of her!"

The gangsters grabbed the man on top of the little girl inside, and threw him out. He had a face, below the eyes, but the rest of his head was missing. Spotts found something sticking to his pants, and found it had hair on it.

The three little angels crowded into the van, hiding the little girl under their wings. Spotts saw Darnell puke, and then walk over and start kicking the body they had thrown out.

The big angel said something in a language Darnell didn't understand. Suddenly the little angels and the bleeding little girl they'd found under the corpse were gone.

The big angel flew up a bit. "They have taken her to a hospital. Please, leave him for the police. It may help them to find the other girls he has killed . . .You should get away, while you can."

"Who are you?" asked Spotts.

"I am the Sailor Fighter for Justice and Love, Sailor Venus."

"So you sailor girls are our friends now?" said Spotts.

The angel said, "We never wanted to be your enemies. But if you kill people, we must fight you. That is how it is . . . go, the police will be here soon. It is not right for you to be caught when you helped."

Spotts said, "Wait . . . Aren't you going to tell us to be good?"

The angel said, "I am not a policeman. I am not one of your preachers. I fight for what I think is right. You fight for your friends and yourselves. But I will tell you something. You are all brave, but you not very good fighters. You will not last long. You were good helpers now. What feels better, getting a lot of money for doing what you do, or helping people like that little girl?"

Spotts felt like his grandmother was talking to him. That wasn't how he wanted a beautiful woman to talk to him, even an angel. "Maybe I'll think about it . . . you want to go on a date sometime and try to talk me into it?"

The angel said, "I have a husband. He was a gangster boy like you."

Darnell spoke up. "Ain't you a little fat for an angel?"

"I am not fat!" called the angel as she rose further up. "I am pregnant!"

When no one could see her any more, Darnell gave the body another kick, and they ran back to their car.

Just when they were finishing up for the night, highway workers found what was left of Isabelle Marie Hartman.