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Mars Fire Ignite
Chapter 5: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
by Soumitra Choudhury
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The Grell once again entered the room behind the blood crystal doors, and once 
again he opened the portal to the planes with the power of the mask. The melting 
wall revealed a smoking, charred landscape of a barren waste, cracked with 
gaping chasms, oozing noxious fumes periodically into the dusky orange sky. Off 
in the distance, a mountain range angrily tore itself apart, belching forth 
molten rock in a brilliant display of fireworks. 
Flitting about in the atmosphere of the wicked land was a small, batlike 
creature. As it closed upon the opening of the portal, the batlike shape gave 
way to the image of a misshapen monkey with wings. Scaly fur coated a filthy 
body as big as a dog, bloated in the belly. Both arms and legs were jointed 
backwards, lending it an avian look, but the wings upon it were definitely 
leathery and batlike. The simian head had horns instead of ears, fangs instead 
of teeth, and dripped blood from empty eye sockets. 
"Master has called, yes he has!" whined the creature as it landed nimbly upon 
the wastes before the portal. The voice modulated in the back of its throat, 
sounding considerably like Yoda. "What does kindly master wish of poor old 
Bruul, poor old Bruul?" 
The Grell hated having to deal with such an apathetic, miserable minion of the 
Abyss, but he needed a creature which could spy on the fire-child without being 
seen, and an imp was just such a being. They had an innate ability to turn 
invisible whenever they wished, and they were small enough to get almost 
anywhere. If only they didn't whine so much! 
"I need you to watch a girl for me," he replied coldly. 
The imp hopped up and down on its disjointed legs in apparent glee. "Yes master! 
Yes master! I can watch the girl, and Master will let me nibble on her little 
ears and her little eyes, won't you Master?" 
"No, you will only watch the girl. There will be no eating her." 
Bruul whined and squirmed, begging and pleading in that wheedling tone that 
grated upon the assassin's nerves, until finally, the Grell wrapped a few coils 
of eldritch energy about its body and squeezed firmly. 
Bruul promptly stopped complaining. 
"Here is the girl you must watch," he continued, raising the illusionary image 
of Rei. "Watch her, and I will watch through you. Listen and I will listen 
through you." 
The imp flapped its wings in agitation as it saw the image and licked its lips. 
Though lacking eyes, Bruul could see just fine, and he liked the way his quarry 
looked. "So pretty, yes it is," Bruul whispered. 
The Grell fixed the imp with a hard glare, and Bruul backed away plaintively. 
"If you fail me, little Bruul, I won't even bother with destroying you myself. I 
will turn you over to Droc' uh." 
If the imp could turn white with fear, it would have. 
After that, it was a simple matter of warning the imp to be careful of the other 
scouts, and to take care not to alert them of its presence. The assassin then 
let Bruul away with his task. 
This time he would prepare for the fire-child properly. He had no doubt that he 
could handle Sailor Mars by herself, but he had to make sure that the other 
scouts would not show. It would only be a matter of getting Mars alone. 
He already had a pet ready and waiting to play with the scouts, one that would 
make the ninja-witches and Kha'less seem like insects. 
* * * * *
Things returned to normal after the incident in the parking garage. Rei's health 
improved to near normality, especially since the attacks from the Grell had 
stopped. While this made the scouts nervous, no one complained. Besides, Rei 
desperately needed the rest, as did Serena to a lesser extent. 
Cole could not do anything against the board of directors because he didn't have 
any concrete evidence to back it up with, but he did manage to take a great deal 
of the workload upon himself to make up for it. Bright as he was, he managed to 
steal away most of their power without them knowing, and as a result, they were 
the directors only in name. They still considered themselves powerful and in 
control, but Cole bypassed all that by superseding all of their paperwork and 
commands, with a tremendous amount of help from William and a few other 
trustworthy individuals. Cole may have been young, but he was shrewd and cunning 
enough to pull off this masquerade. He would persecute them later. 
Because of the seeming disappearance of the Grell, the girls decided that the 
best thing to do would be to wait for his move. Ami tried to pinpoint the 
location of the Grell's energy pattern, but came up empty. He seemingly 
vanished, and this made them nervous, especially Rei. 
After the initial relief that Rei would recover just fine, Cole paid her much 
less attention than before the hospital incidents. Rei didn't know what to make 
of the sudden space between them. She had come to trust that he would be there 
to take her to school like he used to, or meet the girls at the arcade after 
school, or at the very least, call her. None of these happened. 
After a week, Rei got worried, but chalked it up to working hard. 
After a week and one day, she was irritated at his lack of attention. 
After a week and two days, she was fuming, but wouldn't give him the 
satisfaction of having her call. 
After a week and four days, she called Cole, but William said he was not 
available, and that he would leave Cole a message. Rei bit Serena's head off for 
borrowing a manga and locked herself in the temple. 
Finally, after a week and five days, the temple phone rang, and Rei answered the 
phone. 
"Cherry Hill Temple. This is Rei Hino speaking." 
"Hi Rei! This is Cole. I know I haven't- " 'click'. 
Cole stared at the receiver, dumbfounded that Rei had just hung up. In fact it 
slightly raised his ire, for he didn't realize how much time had passed since he 
had talked to her, so busy he had been. He was about to redial, when William 
walked into the study. "Who are you calling, Cole?" he asked. 
The young man turned to his butler and friend. William was worried at the way 
Cole looked. He hadn't kept himself up well since Rei had left. He looked drawn 
and haggard, and considering he hadn't been sleeping very much, didn't seem too 
out of place. Also, there were nights that Cole would not come back from work 
over at the Research and Development building on the other side of Tokyo, and 
William didn't think he was eating well. 
"Can you believe it? Rei hung up on me!" Cole shouted, a flicker of anger 
passing through his look of outrage. 
"Well, why would she do that?" William questioned calmly. 
"How should I know! You figure she would be happy to hear from me after me being 
so busy and all." 
William remained quiet, a look of disapproval on his face. 
Cole glanced at his friend. "What?! What did I do?!" 
"When's the last time you talked to her?" 
Cole fell into his chair, exasperated. "I don't know! Sometime last week..." 
Suddenly he trailed off, and his outrage slipped into shock. He slapped his 
forehead. "Oh man! It's been over a week and a half! What was I thinking?!" 
William smiled, amused at the boy's predicament. "So what are you going to do?" 
"I don't know. I'm not quite finished with what I've been working on." He 
glanced again at his butler, and saw the look of disapproval return. "Okay, 
okay, you're right. I need to go talk to her, but only long enough to explain 
how busy I've been. When this is all over, though..." 
"And when will it be all over, Cole?" William sounded worried again. 
Cole couldn't look him straight in the eye, so he turned the swivel chair around 
and faced out into the city. "I can't tell you right now, William. It's 
something I need to do, though." 
He heard his friend sigh behind him. "If you say so. Shall I have the limo 
waiting for you?" 
"No, I'll drive myself. I need to go to the plant tonight anyway. Hopefully it 
will be done tonight." 
A pause, and then, "Alright Cole, but be careful. You've been working too hard. 
You need a break soon." 
Another pause. "And so does Rei." 
Cole heard William leave, and pondered the meaning of the last statement. Rei 
definitely deserved better than she had gotten from him, and he would give it to 
her, but he needed to finish his work first. 
Besides, it was all for Rei anyway. 
* * * * *
Rei swept furiously at the leaves that piled up about the temple grounds. How 
dare he! she cried to herself, mashing the rake into the grass, tearing away 
chunks of plant and dirt. The crisp wind of autumn wailed through her hair, 
sending it willie-nillie about her face. She grabbed at it and tried to swipe it 
out of her way, but that didn't help. This added to her considerable anger. 
She had stormed around the temple after slamming the phone back into place, and 
had tried to calm down by meditating on the Great Fire, but her ire had been so 
large that Fire had taken her anger and fed itself, making it hotter, until she 
was forced to forego that plan. The Fire had become white hot before she had 
stopped. 
Here she was, half an hour later, and still her fury raged. Damn him! She 
screamed in her head. What right did he have treating her like that?! 
Unmindful of her actions, she karate-chopped the rake in half and threw the 
shards away. 
"Umm, hello Rei." 
The dark-haired priestess twirled around in angry surprise, and threw a 
lightning quick punch to the intruder's chest before she could think twice. 
Luckily for her (and him) Cole managed to catch her fist in his hand inches 
before it hit. Thank God for martial training, he thought wryly. 
"Can I talk to-" 
Rei swept her leg around behind his knee, knocking it out from under him. He 
fell to the other knee, but before he could counterattack, she leaped onto his 
back and sprung off, using him as a springboard to jump away. The force of her 
jump slammed him into the ground, and he groaned in slight pain. 
"What do you want?" she asked coolly, standing a few feet away. 
"Ooo, this is going to be tougher than I thought," Cole muttered to himself, 
rising to his feet again. Trying to pretend nonchalance to her attacks, Cole 
gave her his most winning smile. "It's nice to see you again, Rei." 
She crossed her arms. "What do you want?" she repeated, a bit more menacingly. 
"I have come to apologize for being such a prick for the last week and a half." 
He got down on one knee and bowed his head. "I don't deserve to be forgiven for 
my transgressions, and any punishment my Goddess feels she should wrack upon 
this poor soul, I will fully understand." 
Despite his attempt at humor, Rei could tell that he was being serious, and her 
anger began to seep away, leaving only tired irritation. Sensing that his words 
were having a positive affect, Cole pressed forward. 
Raising his arms and face to the sky, he cried out into the air, "Please take 
mercy upon this poor soul! I have been a foolish man!" 
People walking down the street in front of the temple grounds began to pay too 
much attention to the display, and Rei, though amused, slipped into 
embarrassment. "Shut up, you idiot! There are people watching you!" she hissed 
at him, coming forward and attempting to raise him to his feet. 
He turned towards the gathering crowd. "Oh, I must let the whole world know that 
I have been a stupid, stupid man!" Leaping to his feet, he ran over to them. 
Clutching onto a couple that was quietly chuckling at this display, Cole 
groveled at their feet. "Look upon my Goddess! She is full of wrath against me! 
What ever shall I do?!" 
Rei sprinted after Cole and tried to drag him away. "Don't mind him," she smiled 
nervously to the crowd, "he's had a lot to drink. Come on, Cole!" 
Cole allowed himself to be dragged away, as the crowd began to burst into 
laughter. "Oh Blessed Heavens! My Goddess has decided to forgive me! I will be 
whole again! I am blessed! Blessed I tell you!" 
The young priestess waved the people away as she pulled Cole, grumbling to 
herself the whole time. Once they were out of earshot of the passersby, she 
whirled at him with as much fury as she could muster, which was merely token 
compared to before. "What the hell do you think you were doing?!" 
He leaped to his feet and wrapped her in his arms. "Am I forgiven, my sweet?" 
Rei stiffened for a moment, then sank gratefully into his chest. "Oh, I suppose 
so." She wrapped her own arms around his waist, vastly enjoying the feel of his 
body so close to her own. She closed her eyes and sighed softly, content beyond 
imagining, and ignored the applause that emanated from the street. 
This continued for a few moments, then Cole gently pushed Rei back, careful to 
keep an arm around her waist. They strolled around the grounds, and headed for 
the temple. 
"Rei, I have a question I need to ask you." He sounded slightly embarrassed. 
"What?" 
"Well, I was wondering, do you have any idea how to contact Sailor Mars?" 
The priestess stopped in mid stride, and glanced up at Cole. She couldn't think 
of another question that would have taken her by surprise as much as this one. 
"Umm, sort of. Why?" 
Cole fidgeted. "Well, I need to talk to her." 
Rei waited for him to continue. 
"Well, we have this thing we're working on at the plant, a weapon of sorts, and 
we need one of the scouts to take a look." Very lame, he thought to himself. 
Rei pierced him with a confused look. She knew he was lying, but she couldn't 
very well tell him that. He was apparently hoping that she was naive enough to 
fall for such a ridiculous excuse as that. Still, instead of being insulted, Rei 
was more concerned. Cole wouldn't request for Sailor Mars' presence unless he 
wanted something of her, and it peaked her curiosity as to his motive. Besides, 
a talk between Sailor Mars and Cole might patch up a couple of things. Maybe she 
could get Cole to stop hating the superheroine so much. 
"When do you want to see her?" she asked offhandishly. 
"Uh, could you tell her to come to the plant around 10 tonight?" 
Rei shrugged. "Sure." Then she grinned maliciously. "You're not going to cheat 
on me, are you?" 
Cole feigned disgust. "What are you talking about? You know I don't go for 
pyromaniacs. Besides, I have all I need right here," and he clutched her 
tightly. Internally, Cole breathed a sigh of relief. 
Rei was so preoccupied with the veritable roller coaster of emotions she had 
just gone through, that she failed to pay attention to the sense of evil that 
emanated weakly from above her, and so she didn't notice when the trees rustled 
slightly, as if something had flown away. 
* * * * *
"So, Mr. Gishumi needs Sailor Mars to 'check out' a new weapon, does he?" the 
Grell whispered to himself. He had witnessed the whole conversation through 
Bruul, and he couldn't have been happier. This would be a perfect chance to 
split up the scouts and destroy- 
The assassin paused. Why did he need to destroy her at all? Why not use her in 
his little network? He could always use another powerful member to his little 
band of crimes, especially now that the Ninja-Witches had been killed. All he 
had to do was rid her of that infernal sense of morality and loyalty that she 
had. That would be the hard part. 
He steepled his fingers before him on the desk. Yes, this plan had merit. He 
could even use the fire-child to help him eliminate the other Sailor Scouts. 
Then there would be no one to ever stop him again, and he will have gained a 
superb ally. 
The Grell concentrated on his vault of items, and mentally reached inside to 
teleport one of these items out onto his desk. A flash of light, and upon his 
desk appeared a scarlet silk mask, simple and plain. It was made such that it 
would fit over the mouth, lending a ninja sort of look. The mask, however, was 
insidiously evil. It had the power to close away the dominant part of one's 
moral psyche, and release the darker part to being. 
A whispering chuckle escaped the assassin. He wondered what Sailor Mars' dark 
side was like. 
* * * * *
Later on that night, Rei contemplated telling the other girls about her little 
rendezvous with Cole at the plant, just to let them know where she would be, but 
decided against it. She didn't want any of Serena's brilliant plans to follow 
her and watch from afar. 
Drawing her transformation pen, she invoked her powers. In a dazzling display of 
fire and light, Rei transformed into the alluring Sailor Mars. She felt it would 
be faster trying to make it across town as the scout rather than walking there 
in the middle of the night. Leaping onto the first rooftop, she began her trek. 
About an hour later, she landed nimbly in front of the guard building. Though 
shocked to see the superheroine, the guard managed to whisk her through without 
too much gawking, then he called in to let Cole know that she had arrived. 
Mars was slightly perturbed that no one was out to greet or guide her through 
the plant. In fact, most of the plant was dark, and almost completely deserted. 
She winded her way through the corridors, lighting the way with only a candle 
light of flame from the tip of her finger. her trepidation increasing as she 
came out into a vast warehouse type room that she couldn't completely light up. 
"Mr. Cole Gishumi?" she called out tentatively. The darkness was somewhat 
daunting. 
She heard a slight scuffle far ahead of her, and pressed forward. This was 
getting downright strange. She didn't get alarmed, however. She was Sailor Mars, 
and she could handle whatever trick this was. Besides, her senses would tell her 
if something was wrong. 
Because of this last consideration, she was supremely surprised when a number of 
glowing steel bars raised out of the floor around her, imprisoning her in a 
barred cage. Angered tremendously at the trap, she exclaimed a string of 
expletives that would have withered a sailor. 
"Now, now. That's no way for a lady to talk." The lights flared to life, 
illuminating a great big room filled with gadgetry and machinery out of the best 
imaginations of the modern day research scientists. Standing near a console of 
buttons and switches, Cole Gishumi leaned casually, a cocky smile plastered on 
his face. 
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Mars growled, running forward towards the 
bars. 
He waved a finger at her. "I wouldn't go near those bars, Ms. Mars. They've been 
specially made to withstand flames of any kind. In fact, liquid helium is being 
pumped through them to counter anything you throw at them, so they are quite 
cold. I would not advise touching them." 
Ignoring him, Mars clasped her hands together. "Mars Fire Ignite!" 
A bolt of flame sliced through the air to strike the bars, and exploded in a 
gout of steam and superheated/supercooled air. The blast actually knocked her 
off of her feet, dazing her slightly. When the smoke cleared, the bars continued 
to glow, not a scratch visible. 
"See, I told you," Cole said. 
Mars rose to her feet and was about to yell madly at him, when her communicator 
went off. Flipping it out, she saw Venus on the screen. 
"Mars! Quick, get to the mall! There's a demon out terrorizing the shoppers!" 
The dark-haired heroine turned to Cole. "Let me out, damn you! I'm needed out 
there!" 
Cole shrugged faintly. "I'm sure the scouts can handle whatever it is." 
"I'M a scout, damn it!" 
"No," he replied coldly, "you are my prisoner until you've heard me out." 
Suddenly, the psychic emanations of evil slashed through her senses. "Cole, 
there's-" 
Too late. A sickly beam of green light shot out from a corner in the ceiling, 
striking Cole in the side. Instantly, he froze in place, unable to move a 
muscle. 
Materializing out of the same shadowy corner, leaping down and landing near the 
young man, was the Grell. 
"No! Cole!" she screamed. Fear coursed through her being like lava. 
The Grell fixed her with an amused look. "This is so easy," the assassin 
chuckled, walking around Cole as a tiger would its prey. "I could kill him now 
and have done with it. You wouldn't be able to do a thing." 
Sailor Mars tried to fire another fire bolt through the bars, to the same effect 
as last. 
The Grell strolled calmly over the cage. "An impressive gadget, this cage. Don't 
you agree?" 
Sailor Mars spit at him, though it froze before it could get to him. 
Shaking his head sorrowfully, the assassin waved a hand, and Bruul appeared out 
of thin air and landed awkwardly on Cole's shoulder, flapping its ugly wings to 
maintain its balance. 
"Now, Fire-child. You will do as I say, or my little imp there will have quite a 
feast coming to him. Understand?" 
She clamped her lips together tightly, glanced at the hideous creature perched 
on Cole's shoulder, and grudgingly nodded her consent. 
"Splendid! Now, I'm going to release you from your cage, but you're not going to 
do anything, are you?" 
She said nothing. 
"Good." He strolled back, and pulled a small lever down that he had seen Cole 
push when the cage had been activated. The bars stopped glowing and receded into 
the floor. Sailor Mars calmly stood up and stayed where she was. She 
contemplated blowing away the creature, but she was afraid she might hit Cole, 
and even if she didn't, the Grell would get to him first. 
The assassin placed a gloved hand on the paralyzed Cole's shoulder. "You know, 
Cole, that you have saved me a great deal of trouble," he said aloud casually. 
"Sailor Mars will do anything I say because you're here in my grasp." A 
slithering snake of violet energy emerged from the Grell's hand, wrapping its 
way around Cole until he looked coccooned in a purple blanket of coils. Flicking 
his wrist, the assassin also released the paralyzation spell, and Cole promptly 
fell to the ground. 
"Get away Mars!" he cried, trying vainly to break free of the magic. 
The Grell laughed. "Now, why would she do that? She loves you." 
Cole stopped struggling and threw a baffled look first at his tormenter, then at 
the heroine. 
Sailor Mars gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, but said nothing. 
"Oh ho! You haven't told him yet?" he continued, greatly enjoying himself, 
testing to see what she would do. "Why don't you show him who you really are, 
Fire-child?" 
Mars didn't move. 
The Grell pointed at Bruul. "Show him, or I let the imp play with your boyfriend 
here." 
For one tremulous second, Mars looked hesitant to Cole's gaping eyes, then she 
raised her arms, a red glow suffusing over her. When it was gone, Rei Hino stood 
before them, looking distraught and downcast. 
"Noo..." whispered Cole, now oblivious to everything except for his love. 
"Yes! Unknowingly you have trapped the person who means the most to you! Truly 
ironic, don't you think?" the Grell chuckled again. 
"And now," he continued, the cold glint of evil returning to his voice, "you 
will watch as I take her away." He pulled out the slip of red silk. 
"You have me now. Let Cole go," Rei said, her fury returning at the predicament 
she had gotten herself into. 
"Oh, I will. Don't you worry. He will be freed... as soon as you put this on," 
and he flung the silk mask to her feet. 
She arched an eyebrow. "What's this?" 
More evil chuckling. "That, my dear, is a mask that will lock away your 
personality. It will lock away most of what makes you Rei Hino." 
Rei looked appalled, and took a step away from the mask. "No," she whispered, 
truly frightened. 
"Oh yes. It will lock away all except your darker side. Think of it, my child. 
You will be free to do all that you wish to do, without the constraints of 
morality, of conscience." 
"No Rei! Run! Get away!" Cole twisted and turned, trying again to get through 
the impregnable magic. 
Rei considered the struggling Cole, and the slip of silk. If she put on the 
mask, she would lose all of her will, her persona, her life, all that made her 
Rei Hino... and Sailor Mars. 
If she did not, she would lose her love. 
Rei reached down, and hesitantly picked up the silk mask. 
"Rei! Don't do it! Forget about me! I can't lose you!" Cole cried, pleading with 
her. 
She flinched at all that he said, and gazed long and sad at him. "I can't lose 
you either," she whispered. "I love you." And with that final farewell, she 
closed her eyes and slipped on the mask. 
"Noooo!" Cole screamed. 
* * * * *
Sailor Mercury didn't like their chances in this fight. 
When they had arrived on the scene, several mall stores had already been 
demolished, three mangled bodies were littered across the floor, and a fourth 
had been screaming hideously as a large, blurry beast ripped him to shreds. The 
rest of the people were stampeding out every exit they could get through, which 
made it extremely difficult to get to a battleground. 
Sailor Moon paled significantly when she saw the ragged body of the man being 
torn to pieces, blood splashing everywhere, but she managed to swallow her bile 
and get its attention. 
The watery blur of the creature paused at her voice, then threw the dead corpse 
aside, smashing it through the window front of another shop. It then turned to 
face the Scouts (minus an absent Sailor Mars). 
"Wow! That thing is big!" cried a shaken Venus, hesitant in her fighter's pose. 
"You're not kidding! And what's with the funky camouflage! I'm having a hard 
time focusing on it!" Jupiter shouted to no one in particular. 
Mercury, always the prudent one, backed up behind the others and pulled up her 
visor. What she saw frightened her. 
It almost resembled a puma-like dinosaur, standing on all fours as it did. Its 
black skin was ridged and tough, similar to an alligator, and it rose to nearly 
ten feet tall at the shoulders. Four three-inch claws jut out of each of the 
four legs. It was the head, though, that truly bothered her. Large and flat, it 
resembled nothing so much as an insect's head, complete with a pair of two-foot 
long pincers. The only difference was the two pale, cold eyes that were situated 
on each side of its head. With the visors power, she could see the wavering aura 
that surrounded the demon, and recognized it as the camouflaging power it had. 
It gazed at them for a moment, then launched itself, roaring tremendously. The 
scouts scattered as it landed, Moon, Jupiter, and Venus having lost sight of it 
as it sailed through the air due to its blending into the surroundings. 
"How are we going to fight that thing?!" screamed Moon from the far side of a 
fountain, "We can't even see it!" 
"We guess!" yelled back Venus, powering up her ability. 
"Venus Lovely Chain!" 
The glowing links of magic pierced through the vegetation she had been hiding 
behind, reaching for the monster, but it nimbly jumped out of the way. 
Just as Venus began to dive out of the way, though, a slashing claw caught her 
in the side, sending her flailing into a wall. She collapsed to the ground, 
fighting to keep consciousness. 
"Mercury Ice Storm!" 
"Moon Tiara Magic!" 
Reacting on some animal instinct, the monster once again slid out of Harm's way, 
and turned a baleful gaze upon Sailor Moon. It began stalking towards her. 
"Sailor Moon! Get out of there!" Mercury cried, then stood up to release another 
attack. At that moment, the demon barreled sideways, shoving a concrete pillar 
out of place, and causing it to splinter and fall towards the water scout. 
Mercury dove for cover, but when the smoke cleared, the demon was hissing over 
her. 
Sailor Moon, in those rare moments of lucidity, ran full speed, and landed a 
leaping karate kick on the creature's face. Rearing back in rage, it hopped back 
to settle itself, shaking its head to clear it. This gave Mercury and Moon time 
to get away. 
"Venus Crescent Beam Shower!" 
A hail of light beams sliced through towards the demon, who took all of them in 
the side. The force of the attack flipped it over and tumbled it into a store, 
where it thrashed around in irritation, spraying the sales rack all over the 
place. When it got back to its feet, however, it didn't look harmed in the 
least. 
Sprinting after Sailor Venus, it charged through the debris that lay scattered 
about, and Venus thought it might be prudent to find some cover, especially with 
the flaring slashes across her left side from the claws. Turning tail, she ran 
underneath an escalator, behind the elevator column, and across the food court, 
all the while screaming for assistance. 
Little did she know, Mercury and Jupiter were trying to land hits on the 
awesomely agile creature, but with little success. It seemed to sense the 
attacks even before they were released, and the camouflage helped a great deal. 
Even with Mercury's visor, the invisibility aura of the demon occasionally 
thwarted the visor's scanning. Where is Sailor Mars? she thought worriedly, 
launching another ice attack. 
Venus, finally realizing that the creature was too fast for her, twirled around 
and took a stance of readiness, hoping to distract the monster long enough for 
someone to get in a hit. "Alright, you disgusting piece of dog-meat! Let's see 
how you do against a real fighter!" 
Unfortunately, the demon was much more than any lone Sailor Scout could handle. 
As it neared her, she stepped forward to land a vicious punch just under the 
chin, but it stepped forward also. She couldn't dodge out of the way, and 
suddenly found herself locked in a pincer squeeze, literally. The razor sharp 
mandibles began to cut into her toughened scout suit. 
Venus didn't much like her current position, especially with the pain getting 
brutally devastating. She could also see the other scouts behind the creature, 
but hesitant to attack for fear of hitting their fellow member. Gritting her 
teeth to keep from crying out, she brought her arms up. 
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" 
A flaring rune of the heart materialized in the air before the creature's head, 
twirled about in place, then shot forward at point blank range. The rune 
exploded with tremendous force, striking on its forehead, gashing through to the 
monster's brain. The shockwave tore its head apart, sending Venus through the 
air, slamming her jarringly into a stone column. 
As a groaning Venus struggled to stand up, Mercury, Moon and Jupiter crowding 
around to assist her, the creature lazily collapsed to the ground, headless. A 
torrent of black ichor flushed out of the aperture that was its neck, and chunks 
of ragged flesh hung around the hole. Without a brain to control its movement, 
it fell to the floor, leaking its life's juices all over. 
"Eeeewww! That's really disgusting!" Moon cried, attempting to dodge all the 
puddles of ooze. "Couldn't you have made less of a mess?" 
Venus let out a weak chuckle as Jupiter pulled the pincers off from around her 
waist. "I'll keep that in mind next time I'm getting cut in half." Mercury 
gestured for her to sit down, and the injured blonde complied, not really 
feeling up to par yet. The gashes in both her sides stung horribly. 
As they drew their attention on making sure the scout of beauty was alright, no 
one noticed that the flow of blood from the monster's neck had slowed to a 
trickle, and eventually stopped altogether. No one noticed that the tissue and 
flesh of the wound slowly twisted and closed, reforming into normal flesh. No 
one noticed the gradual recreation of the thing's brain and skull. 
Jupiter did notice when it stood up again. 
"Look out everyone!" she screamed, shoving Venus away. Mercury and Moon leaped a 
split second before a clawed arm thundered into the stone pillar Venus had just 
been leaning on. Dazed and confused, the girls watched helplessly as the 
creature pried out its razor-sharp claws from the stone, all the while 
regenerating the flesh of its head. Liquidy tissue and muscle would flow over 
each other to place themselves in their proper position. Sinew wound itself 
together in a horrifying display, snaking about before it found a nook in the 
massive head that it liked. 
"How do we stop it?!" cried a distraught Sailor Moon, stumbling to her feet. 
Mercury, ignoring her, pulled out her communicator. "Mars! Where are you?! Mars! 
Come in!" Static was the only thing she received. Meanwhile, Jupiter used the 
time to crawl to a more offensive position. The moment the demon managed to 
dislodge its claws, she was ready. 
"Jupiter Thunder Crash!" 
The air electrified, licks of lightning gathering at her tiara. When it was 
large enough to be blinding, Jupiter swept out her arms, releasing the pent-up 
energy in a blast of lightning that took the creature in the side. Squealing in 
excruciating pain, it attempted to back away, but it had no where to run. The 
energy coruscated over its body, tearing at its tough hide, burning a hole into 
its side where the initial contact took place. When it was over, the monster 
wobbled on four legs, the smell of burnt flesh permeating the air. Mewling 
pathetically, it tried to run away, knowing that it had encountered an attack 
that it could not face, but three of its legs gave out beneath it and the great 
mass of the body drove it to the ground. A roar of agony shook the mall. 
Jupiter stepped forward, crossing her arms again. She paused, though, for the 
demon turned sad and forlorn eyes upon her, locking her in a gaze of pity. For a 
moment, the green-eyed scout felt sorry for her enemy's predicament. 
Venus whimpered somewhere on the other side of a trash can. 
Gritting her teeth, remembering the mangled corpses of shoppers and a brutalized 
Venus, Jupiter powered up and released her fury upon the demon, sending it back 
to the hell it had come from. 
As the dark smoke of the creature's essence dissipated, the girls breathed a 
sigh of relief. That had been a tough battle. They had never gone up against a 
demon that had the ability to regenerate so quickly, and they had paid a price 
in the way of Venus's health. They could have used Sailor Mars's help. 
And just where was Sailor Mars? 
"Ooo! Rei's gonna get it when I find her!" fumed an irritated Sailor Moon, 
pounding a fist in one hand. "Where could she be? She better not have been 
strolling about with Cole!" 
Mercury turned a worried look towards her. "I don't know, Serena. I just got 
static when I tried to call her. That means she couldn't answer it." 
All eyes turned to Mercury, concern marking all their faces. 
"We better check this out," whispered Venus, trying to get to her feet. A slight 
whimper escaped her, and she grabbed her torn side. Blood dribbled out between 
her fingers. 
"You're not going anywhere, Mina. I want you to get out of your suit and wait 
here for the ambulance." 
"But-" 
Sailor Moon stepped in. "No buts, Mina. You're too hurt to run around town 
looking for Rei. If she's in trouble, you won't be able to handle a kitten, let 
alone a demon." 
"I'll go with you, Mina," put in Ami, transforming out of her suit. Police 
sirens could be heard in the distance. 
The injured scout looked as if to protest, but it converted to a pain-filled 
sigh instead. "Alright. Just make sure to pop Rei on the head for me when you 
find her." She let her transformation revert to normal. 
Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter leaped up and out of the hole in the ceiling. 
They followed the beeping tone of their communicators as it tracked Mars's 
communicator. Thankfully, Luna had made Ami install a tracking program into all 
of their comm links. It made their task a great deal easier. 
They eased their way past the security of the Gishumi plant, quickly navigated 
their way through to the large room, and found Mars' communicator. 
It was lying on the ground, next to an unconscious Cole. No one else was around. 
Jupiter and Moon glanced at each other, not liking what they saw. 
"Cole! Wake up! Cole!" Jupiter cried, slapping his face repeatedly. It took a 
few minutes, but finally he groaned and twitched back to life. Meanwhile, Sailor 
Moon wandered about the room, looking for some clue as to what had happened. The 
icy feel of dread slithered up her spine, though. Rei wouldn't have left her 
communicator just lying here. She was much more responsible than that. And what 
had she been doing at Cole's plant? In the middle of the night? Without telling 
anyone? Finding nothing else of interest, she headed back for the only person 
who might have all, or even some, of the answers. 
Cole shook his head slowly, trying to clear away the cobwebs in his head. 
Groggily, he looked up to see who had revived him, then immediately flinched, 
wishing he hadn't. 
"What happened, Cole?" Sailor Moon asked softly, placing a comforting hand on 
his shoulder. She felt him flinch under her hand also. That's odd, she thought, 
he seems ashamed, afraid. 
"I... I'm sorry," he whispered back, barely audible. 
"Sorry for what?" 
Cole didn't answer for a long while. He scrunched his eyes shut, shaking it back 
and forth, trying to refuse the images in his head, but it was futile. They 
remained. 
"I'm sorry for Rei." 
Sailor Moon looked stricken. It was not what Cole said that shocked her, so much 
as the way he said it, the way he felt. He said it with such abject shame, such 
horrifying despair, such heart-wrenching anguish, that she felt nothing but his 
fear for Rei, a fear that crawled on millions of insectile legs, smothering her 
in its intensity. She trembled slightly. 
Jupiter wrapped an arm around her to steady her, then fixed Cole with a stern 
glare. "Tell us what happened," she hissed, causing both Cole and Moon to flinch 
at her tone. 
Hesitantly, he began, variating between whispering and mumbling. He never once 
laid eyes upon either of the scouts, and Moon felt some pity for him, though it 
angered her minutely to find out that he had tricked her into coming here. She 
was forced to lay a restraining hand upon Jupiter when he mentioned this; the 
ill-tempered brunette was flushed with fury. 
Ignoring their ire, overwhelmed with his own sense of guilt and loss, Cole 
trudged forward with his story, relating how the Grell managed to capture him, 
blackmailing Sailor Mars into showing him her real identity, and forcing her 
to... to... 
He choked up at this point, and even Jupiter respected his need to compose 
himself. 
"He forced her to put on the mask!" he cried in a one big spew. 
Moon looked alarmed. "What mask? The mask the Grell wore?" 
Cole had the wide-eyed look of someone walking the line between reality and 
nightmare. "No! It... it was a red mask. He pulled it out of his pocket... it 
was silk... like her dress... her... " he trailed off, sobbing quietly. 
"Cole," Moon pleaded gently, "we need to know what happened next." 
The sobbing continued, but he trode on. "He told her that the mask would lock 
away her personality, all of her goodness, and release her darker side." Both 
scouts gasped loudly at this. 
"She didn't put it on, did she?" Jupiter commanded, though she knew the answer 
already. 
Cole seemed not to hear the question. "She told me she loved me before closing 
her eyes and slipping it on." His eyes glazed over, peering far into the 
distance, though at what, they didn't know. "It was so long before she opened 
them again, but you could see the change. Her... The blood seemed to rush out of 
her face and arms. She looked so pale, so... white. And she... changed. You 
couldn't see the change, but you could feel it. Oh yes, you could definitely 
feel it." Not only did he have a distant look to his eyes, but his voice had 
slowly slipped into a monotone, numb. The experience was taking its toll on him. 

"And then she opened her eyes, and it was all I could do to choke down my 
horror. Before my very eyes, I watched those pools of onyx that I loved so much, 
I watched as they grew, getting larger and larger, eating away at the whites of 
her eyes, until all that was left were pure black orbs with no whites at all." 
"Stop," Moon moaned, pulling back her hand from his shoulder, but he wouldn't. 
"And she turned those hateful eyes on me, and I felt so cold. She was heartless 
now, evil beyond anything she was capable of-" 
"Stop-" 
"And she walked over to me, and kneeled down, piercing me with those eyes-" 
"-Stop it!-" 
"-and she said, 'Remember, Cole, remember that this is your fault'!" 
"Stop it, Cole!" Sailor Moon screamed, grabbing him by his shirt. 
Cole stopped speaking, tears streaming down his face. 
Serena let go of him, and heard Jupiter exhale fiercely. The green scout stood 
up and paced around, trying to release some pent-up energy, mumbling about 
ripping heads off and smacking sense into stupid girls. Beneath it all, though, 
Serena could tell that Lita was truly disturbed. 
"Now listen to me, Cole," Sailor Moon said, turning back to the disgruntled 
young man, "what ever has happened, this is not your fault. You didn't know that 
the Grell would be here or that Sailor Mars was Rei." She didn't mention that he 
WAS partially at fault, though, for none of this would have happened had he not 
been so consumed in his own plan. She didn't think anything constructive would 
come out of blaming him for his foolhardiness, and besides, she just didn't have 
it in her to add to his pain. 
Jupiter remained silent, though her face was a mask of sheer outrage. 
Just then, they could hear the faint, but noticeable patter of footsteps 
clattering down the halls. Apparently, the guards had just gotten wind that 
something had gone wrong in the plant. 
Moon and Jupiter got up to leave. Cole remained on the ground, head in his hands 
in shame. Serena wanted to offer more comfort, but she knew they didn't have 
that much time. Plans needed to be made, a search needed to begin. There was no 
way she would let one of her dear friends remain in the hands of darkness 
against her will. The Grell would pay for his transgressions. 
* * * * *
Mina had been released from the hospital several hours after being admitted. Ami 
stayed with her until the doctors convinced her she would be alright. Her 
parents had come, tears misting in their eyes and concern marring their faces, 
soon after. A half-hearted scolding on the merits of shopping at 10 o'clock at 
night and a great number of hugs later, Mina found herself tucked into her own 
bed at home, exhaustion overcoming her mild pain. Sedatives were a godsend, she 
pondered woozily. 
Her eyelids drooped closer and closer to oblivion, and her mind floated 
somewhere between her bedroom and the plane of dreams, and so it was with little 
surprise that she noticed the shadowed silhouette of Rei perched on her 
windowsill. 
"Rei," Mina whispered dreamily, thoughts bounding in various directions at once, 
"what are you doing in my dream? Did you bring a hunk with you? I like to dream 
about them..." 
Rei remained silent, remained perched on the windowsill, unmoving, like a 
gargoyle. The curtains wavered lazily as a chill breeze wafted through the open 
window. Unconsciously, Mina pulled her blankets tighter about her neck. 
Something began to nag at her thoughts, trying desperately to realign their 
path, fighting at the sedative's strength. 
"Rei? I wish you would get off of the window. You might fall," Mina continued, 
still believing that this was part of an odd dream. 
Rei still said nothing, but the flash of headlights from a passing car lit half 
of her face, illuminating the patch of red silk that functioned as a mask over 
her mouth, and Mina began to worry that maybe she was having a nightmare. 
Rei's eyes looked pitch black. 
Suddenly, the nag in her mind snapped all her thoughts into place, pushing away 
the drowsiness of the sedatives, and it occurred to Mina that the window really 
WAS open, and that Rei WAS perched on her windowsill! 
Concerned, Mina raised herself to her elbows. "Rei, is that you?" 
The intruding young woman hopped off the sill and padded quietly over to Mina's 
bed. Unnerved at the motion, the blonde slid away a bit, then slowly reached for 
her bed lamp. When she clicked it on, she wished desperately that she had not. 
Rei's were indeed pitch black. 
The intruder grabbed the front of Mina's nightgown and wrenched her forward, 
bringing their faces within inches of each other. Mina didn't notice the lances 
of pain that sluiced through her sides from the claw gouges. She didn't notice 
that she had left her transformation pen on the dresser. She didn't notice that 
her voice had temporarily left her. 
All she could notice were those flat, evil black eyes. 
"Remember this, Mina," Rei hissed in a voice dripping with malevolence, "when I 
destroy all that you and the scouts hold dear, remember that I hated all of 
you!" 
Stunned, Mina could only gape. 
"My power is much greater than you can imagine!" She dropped Mina back onto her 
bed. She threw out her arms and cried, "My power has been released!" 
Suddenly, a gale-force, howling wind erupted through Mina's bedroom, scattering 
papers, knick-knacks, and clothes with reckless abandon. The fury of the 
localized winds tore Mina's blankets away and buffeted her like fists. The lamp 
flew off the nightstand and shattered against the mirror on the dresser, shards 
of glass flying about the air in a deadly, chaotic dance. 
Mina ducked her head down, shielding herself with her arms and a pillow, 
screaming at everything and nothing. She feared for her life, feared that 
something hideous had happened to Rei, feared that Rei was going to kill her 
right in her own home, feared that she would not be able to help Serena become 
the queen of Crystal Tokyo. 
Just when Mina thought she would go mad from the terrible beating and howling, 
everything dropped to silence. The slight flutter of papers falling rustled 
through the air. Raising her head, Mina glanced about her devastated room. 
Rei was gone. 
* * * * *
After leaving the plant, Sailor Moon and Jupiter headed back for the mall to 
make sure everything went okay. The police seemed to have the situation under 
control, and the paramedics carried away the corpses. Feeling that the 
authorities would do just fine, they headed over to the hospital to see how Mina 
was doing. 
As they came to the doors, Ami strolled out and waved them over. "How's Mina 
doing?" Lita asked, concern lacing her voice. 
"She's going to be alright. The doctor said that she just had several shallow 
gouges on each of her sides, but they gave her a tetanus shot, and cleaned up 
the cuts. They also gave her a few sedatives for the pain. Her parents showed up 
and are pampering over her right now." Ami smiled wanely. She looked fatigued. 
Serena sighed in relief, though Ami noticed a trace of something... despair?... 
filtering through, and instantly, an alarm bounced about her mind. "Did you find 
Rei? Where is she?" 
Lita hissed at the question, and was about to explode into an irate tirade, but 
Serena stopped her with a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We should go 
somewhere more private to discuss this. We also need to bring Darien in on this. 
We're going to need all the information he can give us on the Grell." She sighed 
again, and Ami got the notion that she carried a terrible burden upon herself. 
Though worried, the blue-haired girl admired the way she took all hardships as 
personal affronts. Most of the time she didn't deserve the excessive stress, but 
Ami knew her well enough to know that that didn't matter. It was this quality, 
more than most of the others, that made Serena the wonderfully innocent and 
pure-of-heart individual that graced all of their presences. It was also a 
quality that would make her the fabulous queen she would one day become. 
Calling a cab, they hurried over to Darien's apartment, and ran up to his place. 
Needless to say, he was very surprised when three of the five scouts rushed into 
his living room, with Serena looking about as serious as a tiger considering its 
prey. "Uh, what's up guys? Is everything okay?" "No. That's why we're here," 
Lita replied, plopping wearily into the recliner. 
Darien's instincts told him that this wouldn't be good. Avoiding all the 
panderings and idle chit-chat that would have normally accompanied such a visit, 
he sat down on the love seat, and was further shocked when Serena didn't sit 
down with him. Ami calmly reclined herself into the sofa. 
Facing the balcony window, with her back to the group, the leader of the Sailor 
Scouts inhaled deeply, then began with an account of the battle with the demon 
at the mall. She related the injuries to Sailor Venus during the battle, and the 
no-show of Sailor Mars. She went on to tell about searching for Mars until they 
ended up at the Gishumi plant out in the western end of Tokyo. 
For the benefit of Ami and Darien, she rehashed the encounter with Cole, and his 
explanation of what had happened to Mars. Lita threw her small comments in where 
appropriate, but Serena seemed to remember everything with amazing accuracy. 
When she finally finished her story, Serena moved over to the seat next to 
Darien, and pierced him with a look that was full of calculation and 
determination. "Now we need to figure out what to do about the Grell AND Rei. We 
need you to-" 
Suddenly, the lights went out in throughout the apartment. 
Before the exclamations could burst forth from any of the occupants, the sliding 
window doors of the balcony burst inward in a storm of shards, showering 
everyone with glass. Following behind the rain of silicon flew a searing blast 
of air that sucked the breath out of their bodies with its ferocity. Coughing 
and choking at the sudden intake of superheated breath, they barely noticed the 
floating form that levitated into the room from the shattered entrance. It 
raised an arm and clenched its fist. 
The desert wind subsided and the lights returned to illumination. 
Lita was the first to recover from the bout of coughing, and her eyes flew wide 
open at the sight before her. 
It was a barely recognizable Rei. 
Levitating slightly above ground, her toes skimming the carpet, she appeared 
taller, more imposing. It wasn't just the height, however. Rei exuded an aura, a 
clearly defined sense of being, one that made her pale skin glow as the moon, a 
stark contrast to her midnight hair that floated about her in a nimbus of 
darkness. Her clothes had a distinctly archaic look also: a long red silk kimono 
that reminded Lita of traditional Japan. The crimson of the kimono matched that 
of the mask that covered her mouth and neck, akin to a ninja. 
Most disturbing of all, Rei's eyes were absolute pools of onyx, with no hint of 
whites whatsoever. 
"So, this is where you have all gathered," she growled at them, lancing each one 
with a look of pure hatred. "Sitting around, trying to think up a way to save me 
from myself. Pathetic." 
"It's too late, though. I don't need saving. I am who I am now. This is the real 
me. THIS-" and she punctuated her statement by pointing to herself "- is the 
real Rei Hino!" 
"No!" Serena cried, half-choking, half-yelling. "It's the Grell's evil that is 
making you do this! Fight it Rei! Take off the mask!" 
Rei chuckled maliciously, shaking her head. "Oh, Serena. You never understood. I 
have been in your shadow for too long. You have everything: the power, Darien, 
eventually even the crown." Rei's evil grin slipped into a hateful sneer. "You 
don't deserve these. I always knew I was the better leader. I should have been 
the princess. I should have the power. I should have Darien. And I should have 
the crown!" 
Everyone remained silent, shocked at the sheer passion with which this Rei had 
spouted out her grievances. They all knew Rei felt this way deep down, but she 
always hid it well out of the way. Now, it seemed, with Rei's dark side in 
control, she was going to address them openly, even though she knew Fate had 
properly deposited them to Serena. 
Breathing hard, Rei appeared on the verge of exploding into fury, but suddenly, 
her calm facade reemerged. "None of this matters anymore, though, because I am 
more powerful than before." 
"What do you mean?" Lita asked. 
Rei turned to the taller girl and smirked. "With my weaker side shoved away into 
the recesses of my mind, her control over the spiritual powers granted to her 
has been all but destroyed. The powers of her mind have been freed again!" 
"Again?" Ami whispered, not quite following the ramblings. 
"Yes! Did she not tell you?" 
Blank or confused expressions returned her glare. 
Rei let out a hideous shrieking laugh that caused the group to cringe. "But of 
course! She was too ashamed to tell you!" 
"When I was younger, my powers were allowed to roam free, though usually my 
weaker side held them in check so that no one would notice and label her as the 
freak that she thought herself as." 
It's eerie the way she considers herself as two different individuals, Ami 
thought, reaching over for her computer to record and scan. Rei didn't seem to 
notice. 
"One day, I was playing with the next door neighbor's cat, and felt that I 
should have one too. So I went home, and asked Mother and Father if I could have 
a cat." Here, Rei's visage softened somewhat. "I begged and pleaded, but Father 
wouldn't allow it. He said he was allergic to cats, but that it would be okay to 
have a dog. Well, I didn't want a dog, and eventually I grew angry." Rei's face 
took on the look of grim anticipation. "He didn't know about my powers then, but 
it was the last thing he DID find out." 
Rei stared off into the night. "I wished him dead." 
Someone gasped, but Rei didn't pay attention to who it was. She could still see 
it in her mind's eye, and because her true persona was trapped within the 
confines of her mind, the real Rei watched it all over again, unable to turn 
away... 
"I wish you were dead!" eight-year old Rei spat out in her childish anger. 
Suddenly, her father, her sweet gentle father, who had never done anything wrong 
in his life, who had always been there for his precious angelic daughter, who 
meant the world to her, grabbed his chest, gasping hard and attempting to 
breath. His eyes began to bulge out of his head, and his face was marred with 
signs of excruciating pain. He reached out a trembling hand towards his little 
girl, but, in amazed fright, she stepped back, not understanding what was going 
on. "Rei... Rei..." he croaked, still unable to catch a breath. 
Then his eyes simply rolled back into his head, and he died. 
Frozen in her stance, it slowly dawned on Rei that she had just killed her 
father, and as that notion chipped away at her childish innocence, she began to 
scream, a scream that started low and trembly, then grew in strength, until it 
was so loud, her mother ran into the room, clapping her hands over her ears. 
Tremors erupted in the house, slashing through the walls and the ground, 
shattering and breaking everything in their path. Her mother was knocked 
unconscious by the force of her primal wail, and a part of the ceiling fell upon 
her head, cracking it open like an egg, killing her instantly. 
Rei didn't notice the destruction she was wrecking. All she could know was that 
her father was sitting on the sofa, his mouth hanging open, his hands grabbing 
at his chest, his eyes rolled back, and all because she had wished him dead. 
WISHED HIM DEAD!! DEAD!!! 
"Stop!" Serena cried, sobbing uncontrollably. Rei's lips curled in scorn, but 
nevertheless, she stopped her tirade. 
By now, all of them had recovered from the intruder's extravagant entrance, and 
were standing about in various poses of shock. Ami and Lita looked a little 
green, horror lining their pretty faces. Darien stepped forward, pity etched in 
his gaze. "I'm sorry, Rei." 
The declaration almost gave the evil Rei second thoughts about her current 
plans. It almost made her want to give up and return to normal, to rip off the 
mask and return to the group of friends that surrounded her for the last two 
years, sheltering her in a love that had been long in the needing. 
Almost. 
A blast of slashing pain burned through Darien's mind, cutting through his 
thoughts with the efficiency of a hot knife. Reeling in agony, Darien collapsed 
to his knees, gritting his teeth. Serena cried out his name and ran to his side. 

"I don't want your pity, fools!" Rei shouted, and an uncomfortably forceful wind 
swirled about the apartment, whipping at her hair and kimono, as if she were a 
malignant spirit basking in a hurricane. 
"Then what do you want?! Why did you come here?!" screamed Lita through the 
howls of nature. 
"I have come to warn you all. Do not interfere with my plans. If you do, I will 
destroy you." And with that, she disappeared. 
*****
The Grell leaned back in his plush chair, feeling quite pleased with himself. In 
one night, he had managed to finish his vendetta with Sailor Mars AND add to his 
already extensive army of henchmen. Already, he knew how to destroy his original 
target, Cole Gishumi, and he had a tremendous ally to help him defeat the Sailor 
Scouts. 
It felt good to finally have things returning to normal. Events were coming back 
to controllable limits, and HIS order was the order that was beginning to 
prevail again. 
Still, the scouts had managed to defeat Droc'uh, and that disturbed him more 
than a little. Droc'uh was perhaps his finest pet, sheer power and cunning 
wrapped into one. He was very nearly indestructible; only electrical attacks 
were able to harm him. Apparently, that tall bitch had figured that out. Well, 
he would take a personal pleasure in defeating her himself. The rest... Sailor 
Mars would handle. 
He found his thoughts wandering over to his newest henchman. Once she had donned 
the mask, a tremendous change had come over her, one much more dramatic than he 
had expected. Sure she had become the dark woman that tormented the scouts now, 
but it was the release of her control over her powers that worried him the most. 
He had no doubt that she would fall in a battle of might against him, but it 
would be a close fight, and he wasn't sure he would make it out uninjured. He 
would have to keep a tight reign upon her. If she returned to her moral side... 
The Grell growled softly, flexing his fingers. he could not allow such thoughts 
to intrude upon him. They would only plant seeds of doubt within him, and he 
would not function well at the correct time. Better to allow her a small measure 
of freedom. Allow her to think she was in control. Once she finished with the 
meddlesome scouts, he would reign her in. If she proved to stubborn, well, she 
wouldn't be able to heal from a sword in the back. 
*****
In the aftermath of the encounter with the new Rei, a faint beep pinged through 
the absolutely demolished apartment. Lita reached a hesitant hand for her 
communicator, then pressed the button. Someone was calling them. 
Mina's haggard face appeared on the screen, her nightgown ripped down one 
shoulder and a band-aid stretched across her forehead. "Lita! Thank the Moon! I 
have news for you guys!" 
Lita sighed exhaustively. "Let me guess. Rei came by and smacked you around a 
bit." 
"How did you know?" Mina asked, looking fairly astonished. 
"Well, she dropped by here as well. How are you holding up?" 
Mina's eyelids slid a bit lower, nearly overcome with fatigue. "She ruined my 
room, and I got a bit of wind burn, along with a piece of glass in the head, but 
other-" she winced as her sides gave her a bit of trouble, "-er, other than 
that, I'll be fine. When do we get together?" 
Lita shook her head. "I don't know. We're still trying to gather ourselves over 
here. We'll give you a call in the morning. I don't think Rei will bother us 
until tomorrow earliest anywhere." 
Mina yawned loudly, exposing most of the back of her throat in the process. "Oh, 
okay. If you think it's alright." She clicked off. 
Lita put away her communicator, then glanced around. Darien was comforting a 
distraught Serena, and Ami seemed busy with her computer. The brunette exhaled. 
I guess I could start cleaning up this mess. Just wait until I get my hands on 
Rei. After she returns to normal of course. She picked up a broom as she 
listened to Darien and Serena talk about the future. 
"What are we going to do, Darien?" Serena asked, crying a tub full of tears. 
"I don't know, Serena, but I know that we'll get Rei back.You never lose 
anything that you set your mind to. I believe in you, Princess Serenity." 
She looked up at his loving eyes. "Thank you, Prince Endymion. I truly need such 
support." Darien shook his head. "No you don't. You will believe that you can 
change the world whether we are here or not. That is what makes you the fabulous 
leader that you are. In the end, you truly don't need anyone that you think you 
do." 
Serena looked at him with tremendously loving eyes. She smiled a quiet smile. 
"How did I ever fall in love with you?" 
"Because of my overwhelming wit and charm of course. What else did you think?" 
Darien replied playfully. 
Serena allowed herself a slight chuckle, then fell into the almost bottomless 
despair that she felt. "What about Rei? We've got to save her from herself." 
"Do we? How?" 
Serena paused for a moment, then she nodded fiercely. "Yes we do. Rei would 
never forgive herself, or me, if she fell to the darker side of her nature. 
She's in herself somewhere, imprisoned and watching helplessly as she does these 
hideous things. It must be horrible not to be able to control yourself." She 
shuddered and snuggled closer to her love. 
Darien hugged her, and scanned the mess around his apartment. Lita already had a 
broom in hand, and signaled for him not to worry about it at the moment. He 
threw her a grateful smile, then turned to Ami. "What do you think, Ami? Have 
any ideas how to handle this newest enigma?" 
She looked up from the display and ran a hand through her hair. "No, not yet. 
I'm going to need time to analyze the data. It might be a while." 
"Well, don't worry about it now. We all need our rest. Let's call it quits for 
now. We'll meet tomorrow," Serena announced to them, standing up and stretching. 
"I'll call Mina in the morning and tell her. We probably should meet there 
anyway. I don't think she's in any condition to move around, and we're going to 
need her much too soon. How does one o'clock sound to everyone?" 
They all agreed and headed home, thoughts of their dark-haired fiery friend 
entrenched in their minds. 
*****
The Grell continued with his preparations in his study. Several dusty tomes lay 
strewn about his desk, one of them open in front of him. He studied with such 
intensity that he failed to notice the fluctuation in the ether. The first 
indication he received was the fluttering of the yellowed pages in the grimoire 
as a harsh breeze swirled across the room. A twisting mass of mist coalesced in 
the center of the study, oval in shape. Rei stepped out of the portal. 
She sauntered seductively over to the desk and leaned on it. "Now then, my 
sweet," she crooned, glancing askance at the tome, "what happens now?" Absently, 
a delicate hand twirled a midnight lock. 
Irritated with the audacity of the young woman, he swiped away the tome and 
closed it. "Now, you do as I say. Tomorrow, we will-" 
She waved him to silence. "You don't seem to understand, do you? You no longer 
control the situation. I am NOT your lackey. My powers are much more than you 
can handle." Rei said this with an innocent smile. 
A moment of silence ensued as the Grell let the gall of the statement sink in. 
Slowly, he stood up, towering over the young woman. "I GAVE you your power!" he 
thundered, but it didn't have the same effect as he had wished. 
Rei turned her head up and laughed uproariously, a mocking chortle that would 
have grated on the Grell's nerves and teeth had he possessed any. 
"Careful, fire-child. I grow weary of your transgressions. You are here at my 
whim, and I will destroy you if you cannot accept that." 
Rei stopped in mid-laugh so suddenly the Grell feared perhaps her sanity had 
suffered in the transformation to her current status. Her glare could have 
frozen several pits of Hell. "Let me show you just what kind of 'fire-child' I 
am," and with that, five whip-like tendrils of blood red flames slashed from her 
torso, two wrapping around one of the Grell's arms respectively and three around 
his chest. 
The Grell stepped back, surprised by the attack, especially in his own inner 
sanctum. Though shocked, however, he confidently began to flex his own arcane 
strength, arrogantly assuming he could handle this insignificant threat. 
And then Rei began to squeeze. 
Golden explosions of agony gorged over his being, blasting him with an inferno 
of pain. A demonic scream of anguish ripped from the creature as he fell to his 
knees behind the desk. Still, the tentacles of fire clung to him tightly, and 
the assassin experienced more suffering than any normal human being could 
tolerate. More screams erupted from him, soul rending cries. Finally, the Grell, 
the most powerful villain the world had ever seen, the assassin who knew no 
emotion, did something he had never done before. 
He begged for his life. 
Rei's visage remained impassive as the killer pleaded for mercy between raw 
howls of pain, her onyx orbs cold and uncaring, even when the porcelain mask 
cracked under the tremendous strength of her power. A hideous shriek pierced the 
study as the fracture crossed from his left temple, through the left eye hole, 
and ended to the right of his chin. Luckily, the magic of the mask kept it 
together, but it was obvious that the Grell had been weakened and in terrible 
agony by the way he collapsed and tried to clutch his face, even though the 
fiery restraints prevented him. 
The horror lasted for a few more fearful moments, and then declined to a mere 
nightmare as Rei allowed the torture to taper off. As he floated in a miasmic 
haze of suffering, the Grell felt himself lifted off the ground, and vaguely 
noticed that the flaming appendages had wrapped around him, pinning his arms to 
his sides. The fire no longer sprouted from Rei. 
"Who is the master now?" she asked calmly. 
The assassin squirmed, trying to salvage some pride by appearing insolent, but 
it was no use. His magical energies had leaked away, like so much water. It 
would take time to replenish enough strength to accomplish anything noteworthy. 
"You are," he choked out after a moment's hesitation. 
She smiled, leaped nimbly upon the desk so that their faces were even, and 
grabbed his chin in one fey hand. "You realize your mistake now, don't you?" She 
nodded his head for him. "Of course you do. I can destroy you for what you have 
done to me, and part of me wants to. Part of me wants to tear what passes for 
your soul to shreds. Part of me loathes you for giving me this mask, this 
curse!" She punctuated the exclamation by pointing at the slip of silk covering 
her mouth. "Do you know that I can't remove this?!" 
The Grell looked puzzled. "That's ridiculous! Of course you can-" 
Rei swung a fist and slammed it into his gut, doubling him over. "No, I cannot!" 
she screamed back. "This mask has allowed me to destroy the control block on my 
powers! A block I constructed when I was younger!" She jumped off the desk and 
began to pace away the frustration she felt eating at her. "Now, the channel has 
been opened once again to the magical plane, and all of its essence is at my 
beck and call. I can't possibly get rid of the mask any more. I have tasted the 
delicious ambrosia that is ultimate power!" 
"And so, while part of me would like to see you reduced to so many cinders, 
another part of me wishes to throw my arms around you and hug you for what 
you've given me." 
The assassin let out a weak scoff. "I would settle for you to release me, if 
it's all the same to you." 
A childish giggle escaped her, and Rei twirled on one foot to face him. "Alas, 
my poor savior, I've decided to allow myself a happy medium. I won't destroy 
you, but on one's other hand, I can't have you traipsing about, waiting for an 
opportunity to disrupt my plans. I'm afraid I'll just have to imprison you-" 
The Grell's hope soared at the pronouncement. He could escape any prison on the 
planet. 
"-in the Spirit Wrack," she finished, beaming like an angel. 
His head shot up, his hopes slamming back down to the ground. "You're not 
serious! It'll kill me!" he cried, desperation lending him the strength to renew 
his struggles. 
Rei waved aside his anguished plea. "Don't be so melodramatic. I already told 
you I'm not going to kill you, but I'm not stupid. Given enough time, you'll 
regain your magic, and I'll have to worry about you all over again. Chances are, 
next time I may not be so lucky and the battle will be drawn out. No, I have to 
make sure you never again regain your magic, and thus the Spirit Wrack. You 
really should be quite flattered. You're the only one I have a true concern 
about. Once you're gone, no one will be able to stand against me." 
The Grell wasn't paying attention to her ramblings, though. Millenia ago, during 
the Silver Millenium's early beginnings, the creators of the Moon Kingdom had 
been forced to fight off many criminal powers, some of whom were impossibly 
deadly. When they finally apprehended the enemies, no prison seemed strong 
enough to hold them. In the end, the mages of the time created an 
extra-dimensional pocket known as the Spirit Wrack. 
An ingenious construction, the infamous prison cell is a multifaceted crystal 
chamber fashioned from the weave of magic itself. In fact, the cell rests upon a 
node in the weave. Thus, it is constantly bombarded by crosswinds of eldritch 
energy. Because the pocket is of the magic weave, though, it doesn't tear apart 
in the face of these arcane forces. These forces simply pass though it, and 
anything unlucky enough to be inside. Anyone residing within would have his or 
her powers swept away to return to the weave, suffering excruciating agony, and 
mostly likely not survive. It was not designed for execution, however, only as a 
form of temporary detention until the prisoner was weak enough to be handled 
normally. In pursuit of that purpose, the sorcerous creators of the prison 
inserted a spell for manipulating just how much of the forces could pass 
throughby changing the facets of the chamber. The only problem was that changing 
the facets required a vast amount of energy. 
The Grell knew all of this, but it was the last bit that caused him to truly 
despair at what he had done to this female, for if she had the power to 
manipulate the Spirit Wrack, then he was way out of his league. Even the Grell 
had avoided the wrath of the Archmages of the Silver Millenium, the first 
creators of the prison. And if she was an Archmagi... 
"You can't control the Spirit Wrack here! You'll destroy everything in a mile 
radius!" he cried, trying to appeal to her morals. 
Rei shrugged. "So?" The mask had done its job wonderfully. Rei had no morals. 
Thinking quickly, the assassin tried a different approach. "There are treasures 
here that will be destroyed as well! Ancient tomes, magical artifacts from other 
eras and planes, riches beyond your imagination!" 
She paused, considering the amusing tickle of greed. While she was now an amoral 
entity, Rei wasn't stupid. The acquisition of ages of knowledge and treasures 
appealed to her sense of conquest. 
"Okay, Grell, you're going to show me all of your toys. If I'm pleased, I'll 
save them... and maybe you." 
The assassin sniffed disdainfully. "That is no guarantee." Immediately he 
regretted his tone as she released a surge of force through him. Another crack 
appeared on his right cheek, and he wailed in agony. He didn't even realize that 
he was screaming, "Yes! I'll show you! Please stop!" 
Rei smiled her quiet, wicked grin, her liquid black eyes flashing with mad glee. 

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Well, here's where I claim all those disclaimers and stuff. I'm sure you know 
the drill. If you would like to send me comments, compliments or criticisms, 
please email me at: 
meech@mindspring.com