Author's Note: If you wish to comment on my story, either positively or negatively, don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. Sailor Moon and all related characters are the property of Takeuchi Naoko, Toei Animation and DIC. Sailor Sirius is the property of Sharon Williams. Any references to Vulcan are the province of Gene Roddenberry and Paramount Studios. So, please, don't sue me because I haven't any money. I do this strictly for entertainment purposes, not copyright infringement.
Girls Just Want To Have Fun
by Jeffrey C. Branch
Part Nine: Defending Girls
Rating: PG-13
"Incoming!" shouted Sailor Moon as she, Sailor Vulcan and Sailor Sirius dodged a deadly barrage of laser beams from a squad of four androids. The impact of the blasts pounded them sent them sprawling to the ground.
"Ouch! That hurt!" said Sirius as she and the others dove for cover. "Hey, guys! Is it me, or do those tin cans seem more powerful than before?"
"You are not mistaken, Sailor Sirius," said Vulcan, crouching next to her friend. "I suspect there may be more than one seed in these machines. Sailor Moon, from your past experience with the heartsnatchers, is that possible?"
"Maybe. That's gonna make stopping them harder," said a worried Moon.
"Let us find out. I shall distract the machines, Sailor Moon. Then you use your tiara to decapitate them as per our plan."
Moon nodded and removed her tiara which then morphed into her powerful energy disc. "I'm ready! Let's do it!"
The Scout of Order crossed her arms over her chest and a golden sphere of energy enveloped her torso. "Vulcan Shockwave....STRIKE!"
Vulcan leaped out into harm's way and thrust her arms downward, sending the sonic force blast at the ground. The energy sphere impacted several feet in front of the androids, toppling them over. As the machines struggled to stand, Moon launched her attack.
"Moon Tiara....MAGIC!" yelled Moon, hurling her disc with unerring accuracy. The disc lopped off the heads of three robots, the fourth avoided losing its head only because it had been slower regaining it's footing.
The beheaded robots lumbered forward, sparks and smoke billowing from the neck cavities before collapsing. From the open cavity of each of the felled androids, two large, inky black, ghost-like entities with bat wings, cruel eyes and jagged mouths rose silently into the evening sky.
Sirius leapt quickly to her feet. "I've got the straggler! Sirius Infrared Laser....DISINTERGRATION!"
A massive beam of crimson energy shot out from her open left palm and struck the robot on the side of it's head which exploded. When the smoke cleared, the headless machine teetered from side to side, then fell. As the Scouts looked on, a pair of similar entities rose into the sky.
"Great job, guys!" said Moon, limping over to the fallen robots. "Crack those suckers open! Find out if they've got heart crystals in 'em!"
Vulcan drove a fist into the chest cavity of the robot Sirius finished off and, with a mighty pull, opened the twin doors on it's chest. Inside the android's huge torso were forty brightly glowing heart crystals. Suddenly, the crystals burst out of the robot's chest like tiny missles and streaked away.
"Fascinating," said Vulcan. "Sailor Moon, what just happened?"
"Those crystals returned to the men they were taken from," said Moon.
Sirius grinned. "Righteous! Let's open up these other tin cans!"
Inside the motor home that served as the command center for 'Operation Liberate', Professor Okada slammed his fists on the console from frustration as four more screens on the wall before him went dark.
"Units 9 through 12 are gone! One hundred crystals lost!" said Bagwell. "Blast! That's six now! A quarter of our collection force has been destroyed!"
"Curious. Why did the Scouts go out of their way to decapitate the androids?" Hawthorne wondered, drumming his fingers on the console.
Okada mulled over Hawthorne's question. "The Scouts are trying to keep the stolen crystals from being destroyed. Unfortunately, Hunsacker's operatives aren't as considerate. Increase power to the defensive systems. We must keep the androids from being damaged while they contunue collecting."
"That'll exhaust the seed's lifespan quicker!" Hawthorne pointed out.
"I'm aware of that. Hopefully, our using two seeds in each machine will make up for the power drain," said Okada. "We must keep going!"
"But for how long? Between the Scouts and Hunsacker's soldiers with their rail guns, it's possible they can wipe us out," said Bagwell. "We're being sandwiched! One force we can deal with, but not two!"
Okada scowled. "I know! But I won't allow anything to stop us!" Bagwell frowned. He didn't like the sound of fanaticism in his friend's voice.
"Terrific! Just your typical, run of the mill riot!" growled Midnight as she and Agent Gold prowled the west end of the prison which now resembled a war zone. "This makes Attica look like a back alley brawl!"
"Do you really think Okada's in here, Lisa?" Gold asked her partner. "Okada may be crazy, but would he be in the middle of this disaster?"
Midnight shrugged. "I don't know, Courtney. Perhaps Okada can't control his robots from a distance. But we need to make sure he's not here."
"Whoo hoo! Babes!" shouted a gruff male voice from behind the women.
"Yeah! Man, oh, man! First a jailbreak, then this! We could just eat you up!" came another voice.
Midnight and Gold turned around and found themselves facing a dozen leering inmates. However, their leers vanished when they saw the assault rifles the two scowling women carried. The inmates, horrified, held up their hands.
"You were saying?" Midnight asked sharply, training her rifle on them.
"Eat this!" snarled an angry Gold, firing on the inmates as did Midnight.
After a short but devastating burst of gunfire, the inmates were cut down like wheat by a scythe. The women glared hatefully at the bullet ridden corpses.
"Men!" growled Midnight, her voice thick with contempt. She reached for Gold's shoulder and squeezed it. "Let's keep looking."
The black Ford Aerostar slowly cruised down the street, several blocks away from the sounds of chaos reverberating from inside the prison.
At the wheel, the new Agent Bronze scanned the street for any sign of Okada. In the passenger seat, Evelyn Hunsacker sipped bourbon from a gold plated flask. Despite blurring vision from all the alcohol she had consumed, Hunsacker spotted something up the street.
"Hold up a minute, girlie. I think I see somethin'," she said. Bronze pulled over to the curb. "Up ahead. What does that look like to you?"
Bronze looked up the street and saw the large black, boxy shape parked near the comer. "It's a motor home. I'd better call Midnight."
As Bronze reached for her cell phone, Hunsacker grabbed her arm. "Forget it. We don't need that fruitcake to waste three lousy eggheads." Hunsacker reached for her purse and pulled out the Glock 17 she had been given. She chambered a round and flicked off the safety. "You packin'?"
Bronze nodded and displayed a weapon similar to her employer's. Hunsacker grinned. The rich woman then opened the door and climbed out. "C'mon, sweetheart. It's huntin' season. And tonight, there's no bag limit."
Explosions rocked the grounds while fires raged and inmates scrambled freedom, only to be caught by androids who stole their heart crystals or Hunsacker's brigade who cut them down. The guards, outnumbered tried to defend the prison, but were helpless against the robots and the black clad marauders who waged their own war, effectively eliminating each other.
Outside the main gate, a black van screeched to a stop and ten heavily armed cops, led by Inspector Haneda poured out. When they got a good look at the mayhem inside, they were horrified.
"Good Lord! It's worse than we thought, sir!" said Officer Shidou, her heart in her throat. "What can we do against that?"
"What the citizens of this city pay us to do, Hikaru. Protect the peace," said Haneda without a second's hesitation. "Additional SWAT units are not far behind. All we have to do is hold the line until they arrive. Let's go, people!"
With Haneda in the lead, the cops rushed through the wrecked gate and into the prison's courtyard. They were met by one of Okada's androids who had just finished sucking out the heart crystals of ten inmates. The cops opened fire, but their bullets bounced off the robot's exterior.
"Fire in the hole!" yelled Shidou, pulling the pin from a grenade and heaving it at the android. The robot held it's right arm up in front of itself before the grenade exploded. When the smoke cleared, the robot was still standing, it's left arm glowed from an energy shield that deflected the blast.
"Oh, boy," muttered Haneda. "Scatter!"
The cops did just that as the robot fired it's laser, but one man wasn't fast enough and was incinerated on the spot. The others opened fire again while Haneda lobbed a grenade which the destroyed it in midair with a laser blast. The cops were forced back as the robot pursued, killing a second man.
"Vulcan Shockwave...STRIKE!"
The robot was unprepared for Vulcan's sonic blast which slammed into the ground on it's right side, blowing the machine off its feet.
"Moon Tiara... MAGIC!"
Moon's energy disc sizzled through the air, slicing off the robot's head and it collapsed. Twin inky black apparitions emerged from of the neck cavity and floated up into the sky over the prison which grew mysteriously darker.
Haneda and his squad looked to their left and saw the Scouts approach. His brows furrowed at seeing they were bloody and haggard, their uniforms in tatters. Vulcan shocked him most as her uniform was stained green.
"Vulcan! Sirius! Pry that thing open!" ordered Moon. While her teammates carried out her orders, Moon limped up to Haneda. "You guys okay?"
The veteran cop nodded, his face grim. "Yep. But, we lost two men."
Moon was saddned. "I'm sorry. If only we had gotten here sooner."
"You got here soon enough," said Haneda, placing a hand on Moon's shoulder. "By the way, why'd you chop off that robot's head?"
"We'll show you!" said Sirius, helping Vulcan pry open the chestplate of the fallen robot. The cops gasped at seeing the stolen heart crystals emerge from the robot's chest cavity and fly streak away.
"Whoa!" a wide eyed Shidou whispered. "So those were heart crystals?"
Vulcan nodded. "Yes. It is crucial to incapacitate the robots without damaging them so any heart crystals they may have stolen can be freed. If the crystals are destroyed, then the people they were taken from will die."
"The only problem is, the bimbo brigade's here. And they're using souped up guns to destroy the robots," said Moon. "We've gotta stop them, fast!"
One of the cops shrugged. "Why bother? We're only talking about crooks, gangsters and psychos. They're not worth the two men we've already lost."
Haneda glared at the cop. "Son, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Our job is to protect life----ALL life!" Haneda got into the face of the younger cop who shrank from his hard stare. "The day we begin deciding who lives and who dies, then it's time to turn in our badges! You want to turn in yours?"
The cop gulped and shook his head. "N-no, sir!"
"Good." Haneda turned to the Scouts. "Coming? We have work to do."
Moon, impressed, smiled and gave him a snappy salute. "Yes sir!"
Before the party covered twenty feet, something exploded behind them.
Okada, Bagwell and Hawthorne looked on as their robots fought both Hunsacker's forces and the Scouts. Slowly but surely from the monitor screens winking out before them, the androids were losing the battle.
"13 and 14 are out! 22 damaged! 3 just went down!" Bagwell cried. "The Scouts are trouble enough, but those rail guns Hunsacker's people are using are just too powerful! We've lost half the androids! At this rate, we'll lose them all!"
"Bagwell's right. Our grand plan has turned into a catastrophe," Hawthorne grumbled. "I suggest we escape with what crystals we do have."
Okada gave Hawthorne a harsh look. "Run? Never! Switch programming from defense to offense. Have the remaining robots destroy the Scouts and Hunsacker's people. Once they're dead, we can resume extracting crystals."
Bagwell gasped. "That's horribly risky. We could lose everything."
"I have to agree with Bagwell. Staying here is pointless," said Hawthorne. "We've proven that the heartsnatching process works. Once we've set ourselves up someplace else, we can rebuild and resume the project."
Okada scowled. He hated the idea of running. Just then, a red light started flashing on his console, accompanied by a shrill beeping.
"What's that?" Hawthorne asked.
"The perimeter alarm. We have company." Okada flicked a nearby switch on his panel and the monitor screen in front of him flashed on to reveal Hunsacker and Bronze slowly approaching, sidearms in hand.
"Wonderful. The perfect end to a perfect day," Okada growled.
Bagwell was panicked. "Oh, no! What are we going to do?"
"There's only one thing to do." Okada then turned to Hawthorne. "Reginald, you've said that you have no compassion. Well, here's your chance to prove it. There's a gun in the glove box. Get it and deal with them."
The Briton's eyes widened from horror. "Do you mean... kill them?"
"I most certainly do. Hunsacker will surely kill us if we do not act first."
"Okada, I....I can't! Evelyn and I....we were lovers for five years," said a dour faced Hawthorne. "Her contact in Parliament kept me out of prison after a student of mine died at Oxford two years ago. Isn't there another way?"
"No. And we don't have time to come up with options. Reginald, that woman is not going to let us live. You know that. It's either her, or us."
Hawthorne, looking defeated, nodded. Grim faced, he rose from his seat. "Very well. I'll do what must be done."
Walking to the forward section of the motor home, Hawthorne opened the glove box and removed a Beretta handgun from it. After checking to see it was loaded, he flicked off the safety, then headed for the door and stepped outside. As Okada and Bagwell looked on, Hawthorne confronted Hunsacker and Bronze. A moment later, gunfire rang out.
Sirius, prone on the ground, her ears ringing felt a warm stickiness on the left side of her head as she tried to orient herself.
C'mon, girl! This is no time to be laying down on the job, she thought angrily. She was tired and her entire body throbbed from seemingly unending pain. Sirius the heavy footfalls of a robot as it lumbered closer.
She craned her head and saw the machine, wobbling unsteadily from severe damage, sparks and smoke pouring from a cavity where it's upper left arm used to be, it's other limbs mangled. It's head was dented in and the LED on it's visor slowly moving from side to side. It stopped directly in front of Sirius and trained it's laser on her. Sirius struggled but could barely get to her knees.
I can't move fast enough. I'm going to die, she thought sadly.
Before the robot fired, Moon pulled Sirius out of the way while Vulcan slammed into the robot, toppling it to the ground. Vulcan, her face contorted from rage ripped the robot's right arm out of it's socket and, using it for a club, smashed in its head while screaming from fury. Moon and Sirius were horrified.
By the time the maddened Scout brought herself to stop, there was nothing left of the robot's head but a shattered, smoking skull and a mass of wires. As with the other destroyed machines, two inky black apparitions emerged from the wrecked android and floated into the sky.
Vulcan staggered over to where Sirius and Moon lay and knelt them. Her face was lined from pain and exhaustion. "Good work, Sailor Moon."
"That's what teamwork's for!" said Moon. "You okay, Ti?"
Sirius nodded. Moon helped Sirius to her feet, but her knees buckled and the Star Scout crumpled to the ground.
"TANYA!" cried a wide eyed and openly worried Vulcan.
"Relax, Tal. I'm not dead. Not yet," said Sirius with a weary smile. "But I'm worn out, and I'm not healing as fast as I normally do."
"I have experienced similar discomfort. I suspect we are overtaxing our recuperative powers," said Vulcan, her calm demeanor restored. "We have sustained numerous injuries over the last hour that would have killed normal humans. Even our stamina has it's limits. I fear we may have reached them."
Moon gulped. "Not what I wanted to hear." She turned to see Haneda and his battered troops struggling to their feet. "Inspector? Are you all right?"
"We're alive. Though I'm surprised about that. What happened?"
"The robot's targeting system must have been damaged, affecting it's aim," Vulcan replied. "Inspector, where are your reinforcements? We will need assistance to defeat the remaining androids."
Haneda noticed how ragged the Scouts looked and got the hint. "Shidou! Where's that backup?"
Shidou hastily pulled out the cell phone Haneda gave her and punched in a number. She listened intently while her face deepened into a frown. "The additional SWAT units have been delayed, sir. They're stuck in traffic near a four alarm skyscraper fire. They say at least another ten minutes."
The sound of heavy footfalls made the Scouts and the cops turn around and they saw eight androids, all in formation headed towards them, scattering frightened convicts who ran to escape them.
Haneda's shoulders slumped, a look of resignation on his face. "As things stand, Hikaru, none of us may be alive ten minutes from now."
Okada was pleased on two fronts. One, the remaining robots were about to engage the Scouts and the police in what he hoped would be a final battle. And two, he had an unconscious Evelyn Hunsacker right where he wanted her.
"Reginald, I'm impressed," he said, staring at the rich woman who lay on the floor, bleeding from a crease wound on the right side of her head. "You put a round between the eyes of Hunsacker's minion, yet only wounded her. I didn't know you were such a crack shot."
Hawthorne shrugged slightly. He never killed before and wasn't proud of his actions. "Before becoming a scientist, I spent ten years in the British Army, the last half in the SAS as a marksman. I stay in practice whenever I can."
"What do we do with her?" Bagwell wondered.
"Hmm. Maybe we'll take her heart crystal before we leave. Use it to power our next facility." Okada then smirked at Hawthorne. "That way your precious Evelyn can be with you all the time."
Hawthorne scowled at the Japanese scientist. "That wasn't funny."
"I wasn't trying to be." Okada then returned to the viewscreens. "For now, we'll have to entertain ourselves with the pending demise of these bothersome fools."
"Well, at least there's only eight of those tin cans left," a nervous Sirius commented, leaning on Vulcan. "We've got them right where they want us."
"An astute observation," Vulcan replied, an arm around the Star Scout's waist. She paused for a moment, then cocked an eyebrow from curiosity. "Excuse me, but would your statement be construed as....gallows humor?"
Sirius nodded. "You betcha!"
Moon, ignoring the banter turned to Haneda. "Inspector, you and your people get out here. We'll keep the robots occupied until help arrives."
Haneda shook his head. "Sorry, Sailor Moon. We're staying. You need all the help you can get."
"Yeah! After all, it's our job," said a grinning Shidou.
Moon returned the officer's smile, her heart warmed to be alongside devoted people willing to risk everything to fighting the good fight.
"I recommend we split up. If we divide their forces, our chances for survival will be considerably greater," Vulcan suggested. She felt her anger rising as she crossed her arms over her chest. But, unlike before, this time, she welcomed the rage. "Vulcan Shockwave....STRIKE!"
Vulcan aimed low and her sonic energy blast struck the ground in front of the lead android, bowling them over from the seismic tremors.
"Scatter! Now! Then attack!" ordered Vulcan.
Moon, having whipped off her tiara willed it into her energy disc and hurled it at the head of one robot, but the machine held up a forearm and erected its force field and deflected the disc. But the robot was left defenseless as Sirius attacked it from it's blind side with her laser blast, blowing off it's head. Before the wrecked android toppled to the ground, two inky black specters zoomed off into the sky, growing darker and now slowly roiling.
Shidou laid down gunfire to distract one robot while Haneda and another cop him pulled the pins on their grenades and hurled them at the android. One of the grenades was deflected by the robot's protective shield, the other found it's target, blowing open it's chest and the machine crashed onto it's back. As smoke poured from it's shattered chest, empty of any stolen crystals, two more specters streaked into the sky.
Two other cops fired at the robot's head, attempting to disable it's laser emitter. But the robot held out it's arms and they telescoped at them before they could dodge, catching them fast, then a lethal charge of electricty surged through the limbs, frying them on the spot. Sirius, having seen the two officers perish was beside herself from a fury that equaled Vulcan's.
"NOOOOOOOOO! Sirius Gravity....DEVASTATION!" she screamed, her body glowing a bright blue as she held up her right hand. The Star Scout spun in place once, then unleashed her lightning-bolt like blast of energy that enveloped the machine, increasing it's mass a thousandfold before it exploded. From the robot's shattered, smoking remains, two more entities soared skyward, but that didn't quell Sirius' fury. "C'mon, you metal monsters! Who's next?"
The sound of heavy footfalls made Sirius turn and she grinned evilly at the robot who approached her. "Good! Come to mama!"
Before Sirius could attack, a loud, shrill sound pierced the air, then the robot was pierced through the chest from two white hot blasts of energy. Before the machine fell, two more blasts demolished the robot, reducing it to scrap. Sirius looked straight ahead and saw four forms, dressed in black and toting large, silver, futuristic looking guns saunter into view. Sirius recognized one of them, Agent Gold instantly.
"Great. Just what we don't need right now," the Star Scout growled. "The bimbo brigade."
Midnight, in the center of the group, chuckled. "Just like young people today. No sense of gratitude." Her face hardening into a menacing scowl, Midnight leveled her rail gun at Sirius. "And I positively hate being called a bimbo. It looks like I'm going to have to teach you some manners."
Despite being inebriated, Hunsacker was smart enough to feign unconsciousness when she woke up two minutes ago and heard Okada joke to Hawthorne about stealing her heart crystal.
The throbbing headache from the bullet grazing her skull sobered Hunsacker up, and she became furious at having been shot at by her former lover. Surprised to find she wasn't tied up, and noticing the scientists had their backs turned on her, Hunsacker reached under her skirt for the .22 magnum, two shot derringer she kept in a holder strapped to her right thigh.
Two shots for three geeks. Gotta make 'em count, she thought. Hunsacker took a deep breath, flicked off the safety and climbed to her feet. "Hey, Reggie. You shoulda killed me when you had the chance."
Hawthorne spun around as Hunsacker pulled the trigger and put a bullet through the Briton's right eye. With brain matter exploding from the back of Hawthorne's shattered skull, he slumped to the floor.
"Damn! Now I know I'm drunk! I meant to shoot him between the eyes!" Hunsacker grumbled. Bagwell, horrified, lurched out of his chair and vomited. Hunsacker aimed at Okada. "I got one round left for you. It's all over, geek."
Okada, glum faced, nodded. "I suppose so. It was a grave mistake to show my invention to someone who's industry I could put out of business. That's what I get for trusting an arrogant Briton. What now?"
"I kill you and fat boy, then watch my girls turn your tinker toys to scrap," Hunsacker replied casually. "I made my fortune in oil before I went into makin' weapons for the military, like the rail guns whackin' your robots."
"Is there any way I can change your mind, madam?" Okada asked. He felt desperation set in. His work which he devoted the last three years of his life to was about to go up in smoke. "Energy production is only one aspect of my technology. Given time and research, we could use heart crystals to power weapons of any type. Just think of what that could mean to you!"
Hunsacker thought on that for several moments. Then she shot Okada between the eyes. "No sale. I never trust anyone who tries to kill me."
The rich woman then faced an angry Bagwell, holding the gun she had been shot with in a visably shaky grip. "Don't move! I'll kill you if you move!"
Hunsacker, despite being unarmed laughed. "Don't make me laugh, fatso. You don't have the guts. Just hand me that gun so I can end this game."
Bagwell became enraged. "Game? That's it! I've had it up to here with all this death and violence! I'm going to end this madness! You hear me! I AM!"
Hunsacker laughed again and approached the scientist. "Sure you will."
Bagwell opened fire, emptying the clip into Hunsacker. Dropping the gun, Bagwell staggered over the rich woman's corpse and to a small safe on the floor. Opening it, he removed a case with the seven heart crystals in glass vials that had been stolen this afternoon. Smashing the vials on the floor, the crystals streaked through the roof.
Bagwell returned to the main console and opened a small panel, revealing a red button, a self-destruct mechanism Okada devised to prevent the heartsnatcher technology from falling into the wrong hands. At the time, Bagwell thought it to have been ludicrous, now, he was glad Okada came up with it. An eerie calmness came over Bagwell as he looked at the button.
"Goodbye, Masaharu. I enjoyed working with you." Bagwell punched the button, activating an electric charge affixed to a packet of C-4 plastique attached to the gas tank. An instant later, the motor home exploded.
Sirius, was furious as she stared down Midnight and her troops.
"Step on up, bitch. I'm in the mood to hurt someone. Might as well be you," she snarled.
Midnight's glossy red lips curled into an evil smirk. She removed the backpack of her rail gun and handed it to Gold. "My, but you're a feisty little beauty. I'm going to enjoy punishing you."
Sirius leapt at Midnight who confidently stood her ground. At the last minute, the black haired woman snap kicked Sirius in the solar plexus with a speed the Star Scout hadn't expected. As Sirius crumpled to the ground with cracked ribs, Midnight moved in and hit Sirius with a spinning wheel kick to the side of her head, followed by a right cross to the Scout's jaw. Grabbing a fistful of Sirius' hair, Midnight hoisted the semi-conscious Sailor and grinned.
"The benefits of Army Ranger training, my sweet," she said. Midnight then pulled out her Colt .45 and pressed the barrel to Sirius' left temple. "Now, for the finishing touch."
Before Midnight fired, the remaining androids suddenly exploded, spraying the grounds with debris while surprising the Scouts, the police and Hunsacker's forces. Dropping Sirius, Midnight retrieved her weapon from Gold and slung the backpack on. As everyone watched, inky black wraiths rose from the shattered hulks and streaked into the sky, now darker than ever. An eerie quiet fell over the prison as Moon and Vulcan rushed to the fallen Sirius.
Vulcan, cradling the badly beaten Scout felt her heart break while tears poured from her eyes at seeing Sirius hurt. She seethed from a terrible rage as she glared hatefully at Midnight. "Madam, if you were responsible for what happened to my best friend, I will kill you where you stand."
Midnight smirked and leveled her gun on Vulcan. "You're welcome to try."
"Ladies, I hate to break up your mutual admiration society, but I think we have a problem," said Haneda, staring up at the sky. "The stars have vanished, and the sky is....moving."
The ragtag assemblage stared up and saw that Haneda was right. There were no sign of any stars and the sky was roiling like waves on the ocean. As a groggy Sirius came to, the true horror manifested itself. From the chuming mass of darkness above, a huge pair of glowing, yellowish eyes opened, and a monstrous, jagged mouth spread open.
Gold, horrified, crossed herself. "Sweet baby Jesus," she whispered.
A frightened Sirius gulped. "Guys, if this is a nightmare, could someone please wake me up before I lose my mind?"
"Make that two," said a wide eyed Shidou.
"I am afraid this is no figment of your subconscious," said Vulcan. "I see the apparition as well. Sailor Moon, do you have any idea what it might be?"
Moon, her mind numb from fear shook her head. "I don't have a clue."
Midnight, rattled at first, scowled at the horror and aimed her gun up at it. "Well, I have an idea! Blast the goddamn thing! Girls! Open fire!"
"You heard the lady! Shoot it!" yelled Haneda.
The black clad women fired their rail guns directly into the face of the apparition while the police opened up with their assault rifles. The barrage of rounds punched large holes through the horror but did no damage as they quickly sealed themselves and the thing glared malevolently at them.
"Not good," muttered Haneda.
"Our tum!" said Moon, the Cosmic Moon Scepter appearing in her hands while Vulcan helped Sirius to her feet. Vulcan held her arms high and a seven foot silver staff materialized in her waiting hands. From one end of the staff, a golden energy construct, shaped like a scythe blade flared to life.
"Let 'im have it!" shouted Moon. "Moon Scepter....ELIMINATION!"
"Sirius Kiss Of Death....CAPTIVATION!" yelled Sirius.
"Vulcan Deathscythe....DESTROY!" roared Vulcan.
Moon elegantly spun in place like a ballerina, then pointed her scepter up at the horror and unleashed a massive energy beam at it with devastating results. Sirius, her body glowing a bright red kissed her right palm then hurled the lip print energy construct upwards, quickly growing larger and larger until it changed into a huge black ball of crackling power that slammed into the thing. Vulcan twirled her staff over her head like a helicopter's main rotor, building up an unbelievably huge surge of power, then she swung her staff upwards, releasing monstrous waves of sonic energy that pulverized the thing.
With a sound like a thousand claps of thunder, the thing was literally ripped apart, it's mouth open in a silent scream as the three Scouts poured every last bit of energy they had into their attack until their ravaged bodies shrieked from agony. An instant later, the night sky was clear. The Scouts, thoroughly exhausted slumped as one to their knees.
"We did it, Sailor Moon! We did it! The thing's gone!" cried Sirius.
"Yeah! We kick ass and take names!" said a grinning Moon.
"Ladies, I recommend you desist in your celebratory mood," said Vulcan, pointing skyward. "We still have a problem."
As the Scouts, the police, Hunsacker's agents and the prison populace watched, the thing reformed itself and was whole once more.
"Oh, man. This is bad with a capital 'B'," said a weary Sirius. She sighed from resignation. "I'm sorry, Sailor Moon. I've got nothing left."
The thing opened it's maw impossibly wide and hundreds of pencil thin beams of black light shot out from it at lightning quick speed, piercing the chests of everyone inside the prison. Not even walls were safe as the beams penetrated solid stone to find victims. Bloodcurdling creams from hundreds of people, including the Scouts rent the air as heart crystals were brutally wrenched from bodies all at once and were pulled into the mouth of the thing which grew larger than before, it's mass stretching to nearly a quarter mile in diameter. Sprawled on the ground, the Scouts, their bodies numb and paralyzed could only watch as the thing's size increased.
"We....have failed," said Vulcan in a hoarse, pain filled voice.
"Like....hell....we...have!" snarled Moon. Her face locked in a deep grimace, Moon slowly climbed to her knees. Breathing hard from the titanic exertion, Moon ignored the monstrous, mindnumbing pain in her chest from her stolen heart crystal. A pain beyond pain she had experienced before.
Moon held her arms high and concentrated with all her might. She thought back to the words her mother said to her a short time and an eternity ago....
"Yours is a power without limit. The source of that power doesn't come from the crystal, but from your heart. Trust in yourself! Believe in your power and you can do anything!"
Suddenly, a colorfully jewel encrusted goblet with a matching top appeared in Moon's waiting hands.
"You're....right....Mother! I....can....do....anything!" Moon rasped. Then, at the top of her lungs, she shouted: "Moon....Crisis....POWER!"
Pure and blinding light erupted from the Holy Grail, bathing Moon in it's luminescence. In a burst of tiny, multi-colored energy constructs shaped like butterflies, Moon changed. Her tattered uniform was instantly mended then morphed: her skirt turned white with yellow and blue trim at the hem, her rear bow lengthened, three tiered, see through epulates materialized on the shoulders of her bodysuit and twin, three pronged hairclips appeared on her forehead while near limitless power filled her ravaged, battered body. Shining brightly like the sun, Super Sailor Moon, her heart crystal returned, climbed to her feet and glared up at the thing with eyes blazing from anger.
The thing shot a black light beam at Moon who calmly deflected it with her scepter. She glared hatefully at the apparition.
"You don't frighten me! Not anymore!" Moon snarled, her voice loud as thunder. "I am the defender of Earth! The Champion of Love and Justice! I am Sailor Moon, and I'm ending your horror! Moon Rainbow Heart....ATTACK!"
Moon, arms outstretched, gracefully spun in place before stopping short and pointing her scepter up at the thing. An enormous, multi-colored blast of energy shot out from the scepter, morphing into a bright red, heart shaped energy construct that filled the sky for two miles around, easily dwarfing the thing that glared defiantly at Moon and tried futilely to prevent it's own death before it was shattered into a billion pieces, all of which silently evaporated into the night. All that was left were the hundreds upon hundreds of heart crystals stolen by the thing which returned to their rightful owners.
With the crisis over, Moon's uniform returned to normal. Looking around her, Moon was pleased to see everyone stirring, confident that they would be all right. With a small smile of relief on her lips, Moon's eyes rolled back in her head and, completely spent, she passed out.
NEXT: Relaxing Girls