Author's Note: If you wish to comment on my story, either positively or negatively, don't hesitate to contact me at treetop@voicenet.com. Sailor Moon and all related characters are the property of Takeuchi Naoko, Toei Animation and DIC. So, please, don't sue me because I haven't any money. I do this strictly for entertainment purposes, not copyright infringement.
The Frankenstein Syndrome
by Jeffrey C. Branch
Part Four: Separation Anxiety
Rating: PG-13
The wreckage stretched for a good two square blocks in midtown Tokyo. Mangled and burning vehicles, damaged buildings, ruptured streets and pavements, the smoke from raging fires darkening the sky, and, worst of all, dead and dying people amidst the horribly surreal landscape. Scores of firemen and volunteers struggled mightily to put out the fires while paramedics risked their lives to help the wounded.
Lieutenant Fukoda and Patrolman Hiyata, surveying the grim scene were awestruck at the carnage.
"Lieutenant, my grandfather lived here and survived the Doolittle raid in 1942," said Hiyata in hushed tones. "He used to tell me stories when I was a kid about the bombings, the firestorms that lasted for days, the hundreds of people who either burned to death or were buried alive in the ruins. It all sounded so unbelievable to me back then. Seeing all this, now I know how he must've felt."
Fukoda, numb could only nod. He didn't know what to say.
"Lieutenant! Over here! We found something!" yelled a fireman, rushing up to them.
"What is it?" the detective asked, shaking out of his stupor.
"You'd better see for yourself."
Fukoda and Hiyata followed the fireman around a corner where they saw two paramedics working on two badly bruised and unconscious young girls. One was a blonde with unusually long, twin pigtails while the other had short, bright bluish hair. Both were dressed in familiar looking, though battle scarred sailor suits and knee high boots.
"The Scouts!" Fukoda hissed from surprise. "But there's five of them! Where's the other three?"
"These two were the only ones we found, sir. And they look like they just went ten rounds with Godzilla," said the fireman. "Eyewitnesses said the Scouts were fighting some sort of huge ape, but no one saw who won."
"Looks to me like they came up short," said Hiyata. "But what could do that to them?"
"Beats the hell out of me," said Fukoda. He knelt near the medic working on Sailor Moon and flashed his badge. For some odd reason, she looked familiar to him. Fukoda frowned, certain he had seen her before but couldn't figure out where or when. "Doc, are they alive?"
The medic, listening to Moon's heartbeat with a stethoscope nodded. "Yes they are, Detective. Despite how bad they look, I didn't find any broken bones, nor do they appear to be suffering from any internal injuries. They've been banged up pretty good."
"How long before they wake up?"
"I can't be sure. An hour, maybe two. We need to get them to Tokyo General for further examination."
Fukoda nodded. He then turned to Hiyata. "I'm going in with these two, Hiyata. Coordinate a search for the others, they have to be around here somewhere. Then meet me at the hospital."
"Yes, sir. But, what do we do if we run into....whatever laid them low?"
Fukoda, short on answers, shrugged. "Aim for the head. That always works in the movies."
From fifty feet away, two sets of eyes, hidden behind an overturned truck watched in anguish as Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury were carefully loaded onto stretchers, and then into waiting ambulances. For the first time since Queen Beryl and her armies invaded the Moon Kingdom, Luna and Artemis were openly frightened.
"This is awful!" said Luna. "And it just keeps getting worse! Artemis! What are we going to do?"
The white cat shook his head. "I don't know, Luna. I just don't know. But from here on out, I'm afraid the Scouts are on their own."
Somewhere else....
Sailor Jupiter, possessing the strongest constitution of the Scouts was the first to wake up. And almost instantly, she was assailed by pain from her battered body, a deep, throbbing pain unlike anything she felt before. She remembered unwillingly being used as a weapon by the ape beast against her teammates. She felt like crying as she recalled the sickening whack of her body slamming into those of her beloved friends.
As Jupiter's vision cleared, she got a good look at her surroundings. She was in a large, spacious, rectangular shaped space, made entirely of metal, but with no windows, save for one on a door at the far end to her left. It was then she noticed a video monitor attached to the wall directly ahead. Jupiter also noticed that she wasn't alone. She was seated in a large, metal chair, her hands and ankles encased in iron shackles. She looked to her right where she saw Mars, just stirring from unconsciousness, then to Mars' right was Venus, still out, her hair ribbon and tiara missing as a white bandage was wrapped around her head, her tunic and skirt spattered with blood. Jupiter's throat tightened and tears spilled from her eyes, feelings of guilt tormenting her over the damage she had done. Just then, Mars' moaning caught her attention.
"Mars! Are you okay?" she asked.
"I....I'm not sure," Mars groaned, feeling her own aches and bruises. The Scout of Fire blinked a few times, then gasped at the surroundings. "Jupiter? Where are we? Where's Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury?"
"Don't ask me. I just got here," said Jupiter. She then focused her attention on Venus. "Venus! Wake up, girl! Please! Wake up!"
The Scout of Love slowly came out of her stupor. "Ohhhh, my aching head. Did anyone get the number of the 18-wheeler that hit me?"
"How are you feeling?" a concerned Mars asked, chilled at the blood she saw on her friend's uniform.
"Like death warmed over. Twice." Venus noticed her shackles and gasped. "What's happened to us?"
Before Mars or Jupiter could venture an answer, the monitor snapped on and two faces, one male, the other female, both in starched white labcoats and wearing glasses filled the screen.
"Ahh. You're awake. Excellent. Welcome back, ladies. We hope your rest was an enjoyable one," said the man, a smile on his lips.
"Who the hell are you?" Jupiter demanded.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Dr. Kenji Mitsumo, and this is my partner, and sister, Keiko. We are pleased to have you as our guests."
"Guests? Prisoners is more like it!" snarled Mars. "What's going on here? Where are we? What's this all about?"
Keiko Mitsumo clucked her tongue. "Such impatience. Oh, well, what can you expect from today's youth? To answer your questions, you are secured in our stronghold and laboratory. It's location is unimportant to you, so I won't reveal it. The purpose of this installation is to perfect our lifelong dreams."
"And would your dreams have anything to do with those monsters we fought yesterday and today?" Venus asked.
"Monsters? What a crude, unflattering term," said a pouting Kenji Mitsumo. "We are scientists, my dear, and the beings you fought were our subjects. Subjects of a grand and glorious experiment."
"An experiment to create freaks! Well, I've heard enough!" growled Mars. "These shackles won't hold me! Once I burn through these things, you clowns are toast!"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Kenji. "Your shackles are connected to a heat sensitive monitor. If you attempt to use your flame powers, you will receive a most unpleasant surprise. Allow me to demonstrate."
Suddenly, Mars screamed from agony and arched in her chair for several moments before slumping into near unconsciousness.
"Mars!" Jupiter and Venus cried.
"That was just a mere taste of the fifty thousand volts that can literally fry you to a crisp. Call it our version of the electric chair. Crude, yes, but quite effective."
"Okay. So we'll free ourselves the old fashioned way," said Jupiter, straining against her bonds.
"That would not be wise," said Keiko. "We factored in you prodigious physical strength and took steps to neutralize it. Your shackles are connected to motion sensors mounted onto the bolts of your bonds. Once you break free of them, you'll close a circuit and receive the same sort of electrical charge your friend just got. At the risk of sounding comically melodramatic, you ladies are completely at our mercy."
"How do you know so much about us?" Venus asked.
"The subject you fought this morning had its right eye replaced with a micronized video camera. We observed every facet of the battle," said Kenji. "And, might I say, we were highly impressed with what we saw from you three."
"I'm touched. What do you plan to do with us?" Jupiter asked.
"Study you. Examine you. Dissect you if necessary. Learn what makes you function. Then, incorporate your fantastic powers into our experiments," Keiko replied. "That should prove most illuminating."
Kenji nodded. "Most illuminating indeed. But for now, we have other tasks that demand our immediate attention. Rest assured, we will deal with you. All in good time." And with that, the monitor went black.
"I don't believe this! I absolutely do not believe this!" raged Mars after she regained her senses. "We fought Queen Beryl, her generals, their monsters and everything the Negaverse could throw at us and came out on top! And yet we get taken down by two psychos and their traveling freak show! This stinks!"
"Stop complaining! Just be thankful you're still alive!" Venus grumbled. "But I'm afraid that's gonna change, and soon. From the sound of it, I think those lunatics are gonna turn us into monsters too!"
"I'd rather fry than let that happen!" Jupiter growled.
"Let's not get carried away. There's still Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury. If they're not here, that means they weren't captured. They might be able to rescue us."
Mars let out a short, sarcastic laugh. "Meatball head? Rescue us? Yeah, right! Now I know we don't stand a chance!"
Venus glared lasers at Mars, white hot anger making her blood boil. There were times when she hated the callous, hostile, almost coldhearted way Mars treated Sailor Moon. And with her head relentlessly pounding from a brutal headache, Venus' brittle patience with her teammate snapped, and she exploded.
"Damn you, Mars! I've had it with your shitty attitude towards Sailor Moon! If you've got a better idea for getting us out of this mess, let's hear it! Otherwise, shut your bloody mouth!"
Mars, caught off guard and stunned by the blistering fury in Venus' words wilted in her seat. "Venus, I....I didn't mean to...."
"I don't care what you meant! We need answers, not smart ass remarks!" Venus shouted. "You'd better pray 'meatball head' and Mercury weren't captured, or killed! Because if they were, then we ARE doomed!"
Sailor Moon was almost afraid to open her eyes, not knowing what she'd find when she woke up. The fact that she had blacked out at all frightened her no end. Her first sensation upon regaining consciousness was a dull, throbbing ache that pulsed through every inch of her body, yet, she found that somewhat comforting.
I must be alive. I hurt too much to be dead, she thought.
Blinking her eyes, Moon slowly sat up in a bed and looked around her. She was in a room with pale green, spotlessly clean walls bereft of any sort of decoration. The sharp, stringent aroma of disinfectant wafted past her nose, instantly reminding her of a place she wasn't particularly fond of or comfortable being in.
"Yikes! I'm in a hospital!" Suddenly in a panic, Moon threw back the bedsheet and gasped what she saw. Instead of being in her Scout uniform, Moon was dressed in a knee length hospital gown that matched the color of the walls. Her panic growing, Moon reached up to feel for her tiara and barely suppressed a hysterical scream when she discovered it missing. Only then did Moon notice Sailor Mercury lying in a bed next to hers. She stumbled out of bed and fell to her knees from dizziness, a clear sign her strength hadn't fully returned. Nevertheless, she got up and staggered to Mercury's bedside.
"Mercury! Amy! Wake up! Please! Wake up!" she pleaded.
With a long groan, Mercury slowly opened her eyes and gazed in bewilderment at Moon. "Serena? Where....where are we?" she asked, her voice a hoarse croak.
"We're in a hospital! And our uniforms are gone!" Moon whined.
"What do you mean gone? How could that....?" Mercury sat up and gasped in mid-sentence at seeing she was dressed identically as Moon. "Oh, no! What's happened to us?"
Moon, still feeling dizzy staggered back to her bed and sat down. "The last thing I remember was being clobbered by Jupiter, that monster using her for a Louisville Slugger. We must've been brought here by paramedics while we were out cold."
"I'm surprised we're still alive. That ape creature could've killed us," said Mercury. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, held it in for a few seconds, then exhaled. After repeating that five times, Mercury threw back the covers and, eyes still closed, she slowly got out of bed and stood perfectly still. Feeling stronger from the deep breaths she took, Mercury opened her eyes and padded carefully towards the closet. Upon opening it, she sighed from relief at seeing two sets of smoke soiled, slightly tattered Scout uniforms on hangers while the boots sat on the floor. Mercury looked up and saw two pairs of gloves and the tiaras on the shelf. Mercury snatched hers and put it on.
"Good news! Our stuff's here!" she proclaimed. Touching the stud in her right earlobe, the VR visor materialized on her face. Mercury set it for x-ray mode and stared at, then through the door that led into the hall. She frowned at the image revealed, two tall, man-sized shapes standing at attention on each side of the door. "Now for the bad news. I think our room is being guarded."
"Guarded? Why?"
"Remember, there's an APB out on us after what happened at the zoo yesterday. For all intents and purposes, the Police think we killed someone. If we hadn't been injured, we'd probably be in jail right now."
"But, don't you think they've found out about the radiation and the drugs in that poor guy by now!"
"Don't bet on it. They may have found the latter in an autopsy, but wouldn't look for the former, what with the cause of death being decapitation. We're still in very hot water."
Suddenly, Moon gasped, her panic flooding back in waves. "Omigod! Mars! Venus! Jupiter! Luna and Artemis! Where are they? What's happened to them?"
"One problem at a time. First things first, we have to get out of here." Mercury went back to the closet, gathered up the uniforms, boots, gloves and Moon's tiara and trotted back where Moon sat. "Quick! Get dressed! The Police could return any moment to question us!"
"What then?"
Mercury's lips straightened into a grim line. "I think I might just have an idea."
Patrolman Akira Yoshi was bored out of his mind, thinking this wasn't what he hoped for out of police work when he joined the force three years ago. He longed for action, excitement, even some danger, but all he had seen during his short career was traffic duty, crowd control during sporting events and pushing paper at headquarters. Now he was stuck playing nursemaid to a couple of injured girls rumored to be the infamous Sailor Scouts. To say he hated this duty was an understatement.
"Hey, Tenda. How long is this crappy detail supposed to last?" he asked Masahiro Tenda, the patrolman assigned with him on this duty.
Tenda rolled his eyes from exasperation. That was the fifth time he had been asked that question by Yoshi in the last hour. "You got me. Why do you keep asking? Got a hot date tonight or something?"
Yoshi smiled. "You could say that. The World Wrestling Federation's in town on their world tour tonight. I snagged two tickets last week and Momoe from the file room said she might come with me."
"Momoe Yashiro? Whoa! She's one hot number. How'd you manage that?" a puzzled Tenda asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I owe it all to the irresistible charm I have with the ladies."
Tenda was about to tell Yoshi he was full of it when he saw what looked like smoke creeping out from under the door. "Hey! Smoke! Something's on fire in there!"
Grinning, eager for action, Yoshi reached for the doorknob and threw it open. All at once, and incredibly thick and chilling mist rushed out of the room and, in a matter of seconds, it was filling the entire hallway.
"What the hell....?" Yoshi shouted, trying to get his bearings in the blinding mist. Suddenly, he felt a fist ram into his gut like a sledgehammer, blowing all the air out of his body. Doubling over, Yoshi next felt a sharp blow to the back of his neck, and everything went black before he found the action he desperately sought.
"Yoshi? Where are you? What's going on?" Tenda cried. Before he could advance into the room, something slammed hard into his chest like a runaway truck. The force of the blow sent the cop flying across the hall where he crashed into the wall and crumpled unconscious to the floor.
With nearly the entire floor enveloped in mist, panic ensued as doctors, nurses, orderlies and patients shouted, yelled, screamed and stumbled about, fleeing for safety as they feared a fire was raging. In the chaos, no one stopped to notice that the heat sensitive fire alarms on the ceiling hadn't been set off, that no one could actually smell anything burning....or see the two female figures stealthily maneuvering their way down the crowded hall.
On the first floor, Fukoda was on the phone with Captain Mura, Hiyata by his side when worried looking hospital orderlies and security guards ran past them. Frowning, Fukoda hung up on his superior and grabbed the first orderly he could get his hands on.
"What's going on?" the detective demanded.
"Someone set off a smoke grenade on the third floor!" shouted the orderly. "The whole floor's in a near white out!" Pulling free of the cop's grasp, the orderly ran for the nearest elevator.
"Smoke grenade? What could that mean?" Hiyata asked.
Fukoda's eyes widened as he put two and two together. "No! Not smoke, Hiyata....fog! The Scouts are on the third floor! They're loose! C'mon!"
"I wished I didn't have to hurt that patrolman," whispered a somber Mercury, guiding Moon through the haze filled hallway with her visor. "I so dislike having to use violence."
"Well, this was your idea! I don't think saying 'pretty please' would've gotten us past those cops!" said Moon, hot on Mercury's heels. "Besides, it's not like you killed the guy with that karate chop! I just hope we didn't give someone a heart attack with this stunt! Where to now? The elevator?"
"No way! My fog's already dissipating! And with our luck, the first car that gets here will be filled with cops! The fire stairs will be faster!"
Reaching the door with a sign saying 'Fire Stairs' on it, Mercury threw it open and the Scouts jumped from floor to floor, leaping entire flights of stairs in a single bound. When they reached the first floor, they saw a lighted sign saying 'Exit' above the door, Mercury opened it a crack, seeing open air. Mercury then opened it all the way and the Scouts dashed out onto the hospital's loading dock.
"We did it! We're home free!" Mercury cried.
"No, you're not," said a calm voice from behind them. The Scouts whirled around and found themselves facing Fukoda and Hiyata, their guns drawn. "Don't move!"
"Oh, great," Moon whispered.
"After learning you two bolted, I figured you'd sneak out this way. Deductive reasoning at work," said Fukoda. "Ladies, you've got serious questions to answer about what happened at the zoo yesterday. And since you're looking pretty healthy, we'll take care of that chore down at headquarters."
While Mercury, looking defeated dropped her head, Moon, on the other hand felt an entirely different emotion----anger. The madness and frustration of the last twenty four hours caught up with her in a sudden rush of fury she had never experienced before, a rage that rivaled Mars at her worst and demanded to be released. Moon could actually feel her self-control evaporate, and she didn't try to stop it. In fact, she welcomed it.
"I have had enough," she hissed.
Fukoda cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
Instead of replying, Moon moved towards the detective in a mind numbing blur. Before he knew what was happening, the Sailor Scout leader had the detective by the throat and, with one hand, lifted him off the ground while she slapped Fukoda's gun out of his hand, sending it clattering off the dock.
"Good Lord!" he croaked.
"Sorry! But He's not coming! Your miserable life is in my hands! Screw around with me and I swear, I'll kill you!" Moon snarled, her voice cold, vicious and menacing. Hiyata crept closer but was stopped short by a glare from Moon. "Back off! Don't even think about it!"
Hiyata stood still, the gun in his hand shaking. Mercury, watching the scene was horrified. In the months she had known Moon, she thought she had seen Serena in almost every emotional state imaginable: blissfully happy, heartbreakingly sad, grimly determined, boldly courageous, deathly afraid, childishly immature. But, before today, Mercury had never seen Moon so totally consumed from anger that she openly threatened to murder someone. It made her think back to what Luna told her this morning, that perhaps the strain of yesterday's events had taken a terrible toll on her friend.
"Sailor Moon! Don't you think you should...."
"SHUT UP! I'm in charge here!" Moon roared. She then turned her attention back to Fukoda. "Now listen, Mister. I've had a very bad day. I was beaten like a rented mule by a pint sized King Kong, woke up half naked in a hospital bed and had to endanger helpless people to escape. Add the fact my friends are missing and the end result is that I....AM....PISSED! Do you understand?"
Fukoda, barely able to breathe nodded.
"Good. Tell your partner to drop his gun, or, so help me, I'll break your stinking neck!"
Fukoda, who loved to play Poker could tell with ease when someone was bluffing. But one look into Moon's eyes, filled with murderous fury told him she wasn't kidding. If anything, the look he saw wasn't human. Then, for emphasis, Moon slowly squeezed and the detective gasped for air.
Mercury, scared sick that the out of control Moon would carry out her threat was about to pounce on her when the cop whispered, "Hiyata! Stand down! Now!"
Hiyata, glum faced, relaxed and holstered his weapon. Satisfied, Moon, her anger ebbing, opened her fingers and Fukoda dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, greedily gulping in lungfulls of air.
"That's....quite....a grip....you have....young lady," said Fukoda between gasps. "What now?"
"My friends, the other Sailor Scouts are missing....or dead. I mean to find out which," said Moon, feeling weak from the absence of the rage driven adrenaline rush that temporarily boosted her strength. But she didn't let it show, much as she wanted to. Moon wanted to cry, wanted to scream, wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. But, most of all, she wanted to be just an ordinary 14 year old girl instead of a warrior. Yet she had no choice but to be brave, or, at the very least, act brave. "The problem is, I don't know how."
"But I do," said Mercury, opening her mini-computer, secretly relieved her friend regained her senses. "My mini-computer still has the readings of plutonium from the ape beast which were three times stronger than that of the wolf creature. Those readings are so incredibly strong, I can track the beast down to wherever it went. Maybe, just maybe we'll find the others too."
"Sounds good to me," said Moon. She then glared at Fukoda, being helped to his feet by Hiyata. "And once we do, you might just find the answers you're looking for about the creature we fought yesterday. You can be stupid and try to stop us, or you can come along for the ride."
While Hiyata fetched his gun, Fukoda mulled over his options, neither of which he particularly liked. A cop who went strictly by the book would try to bring the two Scouts in for questioning on yesterday's incident, and damn the consequences. But Fukoda, a man who, for nearly two decades, trusted his instincts far more than any book decided to take a chance that the Scouts were on the level. His gut told him, loud and clear that they would take him to the final truth. To find the answers he needed to close this maddening case and the incredible chaos that's surrounded it from the start. With a nod, the detective made his choice.
"Hiyata, I'm going with the Scouts. You return to headquarters and tell Mura where I've gone."
"Lieutenant, if it's all the same with you, I'd like to come along," said the patrolman.
Fukoda stared hard at the patrolman. "Shiro, that could get you killed. At the very least you'll wind up behind me on the unemployment line after we've been fired for running off on a wild goose chase."
"I'll take that chance, sir. I'd never be able to live with myself if I stayed behind and something happened to you. Please."
For a moment, Fukoda considered refusing Hiyata's request, not wanting to put the youngster's life in danger, danger perhaps beyond human comprehension. But the veteran's instincts told him he'd need all the help he could get. He silently prayed he wouldn't live to regret his decision.
"All right, you're in." Then, to Mercury, Fukoda asked, "Where do we go from here?"
"Down to the waterfront," said Mercury, staring at a directional finder on the screen of her computer which displayed a map of the city.
Fukoda nodded. "Good. We'll take my car. It's right around the corner. Let's go."
Moon's chest heaved from a weary sigh as she, Mercury and the cops left the dock, heading straight towards the unknown. Perhaps towards certain death itself.
"May God help us all," she whispered.
Next: The Search Is On