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 Resurrection Dilemma
by Jeffrey C. Branch
Chapter Four: Mind Over Matter
Rating: R
At first, Raye was puzzled by Amy's statement. Then, predictably, she grew angry.
"What the hell are you talking about?" she demanded. "Are you saying you and the others freaked out on purpose?"
Amy shook her head. "No, not intentionally."
Serena scratched her head, her face a study in confusion. "You've lost me, Ames. What do you mean?"
"After we returned from the North Pole, I did some research into the....episode Lita, Mina and myself had during our battle with Dharsite's robots. I arrived at the conclusion that we collectively suffered what amounted to a severe flashback stemming from a condition known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."
"Sounds ghastly. What on Earth is that?" Luna asked.
"It's a psychological ailment that affected soldiers involved in life or death actions in combat theaters," replied Amy. "The affliction first came into prominence in America when veterans who fought in the Vietnam War began experiencing severe, even crippling mental and emotional problems which were eventually traced to the time they spent fighting in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Chief among the problems veterans faced were violent flashbacks and nightmares."
Serena and Raye's eyes widened. It was all too familiar to them.
Amy nodded. "I believe the flashbacks Lita, Mina and I had were triggered by Raye's scream after she had been struck down. We didn't see the Demons, instead, we saw the Doom and Gloom Girls, the creatures who murdered us, and we couldn't handle it. And I'm certain we've all had nightmares of late about the....incident six months ago. I know I have."
"But that's crazy!" Serena protested, refusing to think about her bad dreams. "We aren't soldiers and we weren't in any war!"
"Technically, Serena, we were at war. And, we all suffered the ultimate trauma in that conflict....death." Amy paused, her face clouded from dread. "Whatever force that brought us back may have healed our bodies, but not our minds. We're haunted by memories of the terrible end to our previous lives. In short, our heads are really messed up."
Luna and Artemis shrank, looking pensive.
"No way, Amy! We're the Sailor Scouts! There's no way something like that can happen to us!" an angry Raye protested. Restless, she tried to sit up, but the pain in her left side caused her to fall back on the bed.
"You were saying, Raye?" Amy asked. "We may be the most powerful beings on this planet, but we're still only human. That means we're subject to all the weaknesses, physical, emotional and psychological that plagues everyone else. Like it or not, we're in serious trouble."
Frustrated, Raye shot Luna a hard, accusatory stare. "You knew about this, didn't you? You knew we'd turn into basket cases when you restored our memories and made us recall our deaths, DIDN'T YOU?"
Luna dropped her head, guilt was written all over her face. "I....suspected that might happen. But I wasn't entirely sure."
"And you didn't have the bloody decency to warn us? You....BITCH!" roared a furious Raye. "You could've gotten us killed!"
"Enough, Raye! You're out of line!" Artemis snapped. "I support Luna's decision! If she had told you that your restored memories might lead to....problems before going to the North Pole, you would've been tentative, off your edge and not operating at peak efficiency during the battle! That would have gotten you killed!"
"That's bullshit, Artemis, and you know it!" Raye yelled back. "If we had known about this, we would've been on our guard against the flashbacks we suffered from! Did you stop to consider that?"
Artemis' silence answered Raye's question.
"I'm afraid I have to agree with Raye," Amy said sternly, her own anger rising. "Luna, you purposely left us in the dark about our damaged psychological state. Even if you only had a suspicion that we weren't completely sound of mind, it was your duty to inform us about that. Yet, you didn't."
"But, I didn't mean to...." Luna stammered.
"I'm not finished!" Amy shouted, startling everyone. "Our lives depend upon being fully prepared for any situation we go into! Withholding critical information on something that wound up endangering us was a serious breach of our trust in you as our mentor!"
"That's not fair, Amy!" Luna countered, her voice thick from anguish. "Do you think I wanted to put you at risk? I'd sooner die than let that happen! I care for you like you were my children!"
"You sure have a funny way of showing it....mom!" Raye growled.
"STOP IT! ALL OF YOU! JUST STOP IT! PLEASE!" Serena screamed, tears pouring down her face, her heart breaking from the strife and tension. "We're supposed to be friends! A team! A family! I love you all and it's killing me to see you fighting! Don't you understand? We need each other or we'll fall apart!"
Silence dominated the room as everyone mulled over Serena's words. Finally it was Raye who spoke up.
"Luna, Artemis, I apologize for what I said. As usual, I let my temper get the best of me. I know you both meant well. If it weren't for your guidance, we wouldn't be around today."
"I'm sorry too," said Amy. "The things I said were inappropriate. You're both so very important to us."
"Well, I'm sorry for not being up front with you," said Luna. "That was a grievous, almost catastrophic error. One I won't make again."
Serena smiled and wiped her eyes. It was good to see everyone back to being friends. "So, what happens next?"
"Darn good question," said Raye. Her face hardening, she turned to face Amy. "Give it to us straight, Amy. Was what happened to us during that fight a one-time thing? Are the flashbacks and nightmares over? Or are we, to quote Serena from two days ago, permanently spooked?"
Amy shrugged. "I don't know. Being up at the Pole, the very place where we died probably had a lot to do with what happened. Whether or not that could occur again is anyone's guess. This condition might be temporary, or we could be afflicted with it for the rest of our lives."
Raye scowled. Serena was frightened. The familiars were worried.
"Great. As if things aren't bad enough already, what with that psycho-queen gunning for us," Raye growled. "What more can go wrong?"
Amy heard her Scout communicator beep. She smiled as she removed it from her shirt pocket and activated the viewer. "That must be Mina calling from the hospital with news on Lita. Go ahead, Mina."
However, the face that appeared on the tiny video screen of the communicator was that of a smiling Dharsite. "I'm sorry, Amy, but Mina is a tad....indisposed at the moment." Everyone in the room caught their breath and felt chills at hearing the madwoman's voice. A chill made even worse by Dharsite calling everyone by name. "Oh, and I've checked Lita out of the hospital early. I hope you don't mind."
"Does that answer your question, Raye?" Serena groused.
For the life of him, Jed couldn't remember the last time, if ever that honest, hard work made him feel so alive and invigorated.
Assisting Shigeiru out in the field with the harvesting of the farm's soy bean crops, Jed, his face glistening from sweat, his muscles burning from the pleasure of honest exertion felt like a new man doing work he enjoyed. The fact that he was helping Miko was part of why he loved his labors. That and her warm embrace and soft lips.
"You've adjusted to farm life quite easily. I must admit I'm impressed," said Shigeiru, driving the tractor. "With your help, we should have this field harvested sooner than it usually takes."
Jed grinned slightly. This had been the first time Miko's taciturn father complemented him, or spoke civilly to him. "I'm a fast learner."
"You'll need to be. The situation here is grim."
"Grim? In what way?"
With a sigh, Shigeiru stopped the tractor. "This land has been in our family for over forty years. While it hasn't made us rich, we've at least been able to enjoy a fairly prosperous living. At least until Toshiro was killed. That was damaging enough, but several months ago, a huge food processing plant has taken away most of our customers, leaving us and the other families who till the land to suffer. We've had to work twice as hard just to survive, but it hasn't been easy. It's been a struggle just to stay afloat, but I fear we might not be able to do so for very much longer."
"You're saying Miko might lose the farm?"
Shigeiru nodded. "Possibly. We've barely managed to stay ahead of the creditors who are like wolves nipping at our heels. Eventually, we'll wind up in their jaws."
Jed frowned. He didn't like that at all. Nor the fact that Miko kept that a secret from him. He made a mental note to discuss that with her tonight. "I see. I have another question for you."
"Go ahead."
"Why your sudden change in attitude? A week ago, you wouldn't give me the time of day, now you're almost cordial. What happened?"
"No what, who. Miko. Two days ago she and I talked while you were in the fields with Toshi. To put it bluntly, she laid down the law, told me you were now part of this family and ordered me to be civil to you," Shigeiru replied. "Never in my life had I seen her so....adamant about anything, or anybody. Especially since I have little love for people in general."
Inspite of himself, Jed was curious. "Why is that?"
"I was born in the United States, California to be precise. In 1941, I was Toshi's age when Pearl Harbor was bombed. In the aftermath, with rumors of an attack on the west coast running rampant, anti-Asian sentiment, a simmering brew in even the best of times exploded into an inferno." Shigeiru paused as his face grew taut. "Asians were taken from their homes and thrown into interment camps, penned up like cattle and denied due process. We were degraded, humiliated, treated like animals. My father died in a camp and I returned here with my mother following the war. The experience left me bitter towards people ever since."
Jed frowned. He had no frame of reference for the history Shigeiru referred to, but could understand why the old man felt the way he did. "Yet, you do so, for Miko's sake."
Shigeiru nodded. "Of the three children I've raised, Miko is my pride and joy, the light of my life. That's why I find this situation with you and her so....difficult. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out she's fallen in love with you. And I'm sure she's slept with you as well."
"If she has, that's our business, not yours."
"Damn you! She's my daughter! That makes it my business! I swear, if you hurt her...."
"Don't threaten me, old man!" Jed roared, stunning Shigeiru. Suddenly, he felt a tremendous rush of memories flood into his mind. Memories of the man he used to be, and of the great power he wielded. But this time, Jed also felt something else, a very strong tingle, as if enormous amounts of energy were coursing unchecked throughout his body. Jed smiled ever so briefly. At long last, he knew who he really was. He felt like laughing, the feeling of regained knowledge, regained power was intoxicating. Just like when he was freed from Beryl's crystal prison.
The smile turned into a fearsome scowl which Shigeiru shrank under. Old fool. If you only knew who and what I really am. I could crush you like an insect, thought Jed. But Miko probably wouldn't like that.
"Let's get something straight. I wouldn't dream of hurting Miko," Jed growled. "I love that woman with all my heart and I'd sacrifice my life in a heartbeat to protect hers. As long as I live, no harm will come to her or Toshi. Never doubt my intentions again. Is that clear?"
"Yes. Perfectly," whispered an openly frightened Shigeiru. Jed saw the older man's fear and liked it. A lot.
"Good. I knew you'd see things my way." His mood shifting, Jed, now feeling amiable put an arm around Shigeiru's shoulders. "By the way, where is that processing plant you told me about?"
"Uh, fifteen miles east of here. It's called Takeshi Farming Incorporated. Why?"
Jed smiled as he dreamed up an idea. Shigeiru shivered as the man's grin beneath his beard was cold, calculating. And thoroughly evil. "Oh, nothing. Just curious."
Lita was living her worst nightmare imaginable. She was flying.
Chained to a seat in the rear of a huge, empty airliner, Lita, still dressed in her hospital gown gasped from horror and had to fight back the scream eager to erupt from her throat. She could feel the powerful thrust of the engines as the plane climbed while her ears popped from the altitude she was at.
"Oh, no! Not this!" Lita strained with all her might to break the chains but couldn't. Nor could she summon her transformation pen to morph into Sailor Jupiter. "This can't be real! I must be dreaming!"
"Maybe. Maybe not," said Dharsite, materializing in the seat next to Lita, dressed in a flight attendant's uniform. "Aviophobic, aren't you? Can't say I blame you, Lita. Your parents were killed in a plane crash when you were very young, and you've been deathly afraid to set foot on one ever since. Just going near an airport fills you with unspeakable dread. So, how does it feel to be flying the friendly skies?"
"Don't do this to me! Please!" begged Lita, tears pouring down her face. Gripped by mindless panic, her heart was beating so fast and so hard, she feared it would explode out of her chest.
"Shhhh. Don't cry, my darling. Don't cry," Dharsite said softly, lovingly drying Lita's tears with all the tenderness a mother would her child. "Since discovering your weakness, I've done some research on airline disasters so I could properly torment you. TWA Flight 800 for example. I'm sure you've heard about it?"
Lita, too frightened to speak merely nodded.
"I thought you would. Phobics tend to obsess over the things that frighten them. 747 leaving from New York City, bound for Paris in July 1996, exploded off the coast of Long Island, killing all aboard. Conspiracy theorists believed the plane was accidentally shot down by a missile from a United States Naval vessel until it was learned in an official investigation that electrical sparks from faulty wiring ignited vapors in the plane's center wing fuel tank, leading to an explosion.
"But the really disturbing part was the computer simulation that showed the world what happened to the doomed airliner. When the tank ruptured, the force of the blast sheared off the nose. The rest of the plane continued to climb for some twenty seconds before it blew. Imagine being in the very rear of the plane when that happened, as you are now, the total horror of the moment unfolding before your eyes prior to death closing them forever. Shall we recreate that special moment?"
"NO! PLEASE! DON'T!" Lita shrieked.
Wearing a sadistic grin, Dharsite snapped her fingers and the plane shuddered mightily. Before Lita's horrified eyes, the entire forward section of the plane vanished in an oily ball of flame and she could see the night sky and feel the mercilessly freezing winds whipping at her. Lita, her heart racing shut her eyes and tried as hard as she could to convince herself that this was an elaborate illusion. Yet it felt so terrifyingly real.
"Ahhhh! Invigorating, isn't it?" Dharsite shouted over the roar of the winds, the engines and the ear piercing shriek of metal being rended as the damaged airframe began to disintergrate and flames consumed the cabin. "Here comes the best part, Lita. The big bang. Cover your ears."
An instant later, the airliner exploded. Lita, feeling the hellish heat of the blast as it incinerated her released all her pain, fear and horror in a long, tortured scream from the very depths of her soul.
A naked Dharsite, sprawled on the floor, enjoying the orgasm she experienced from Lita's torment almost failed to hear the shrill sound of the alarm.
Dharsite removed the large, black globe from her head that was connected by a thick cable to a nearby machine, got up and rushed over to the black steel chair Lita was strapped into, her head, lolled forward was encased in a similar globe. The madwoman looked up at a monitor above the chair and scowled when she saw a single red line stretch across a monitor screen.
"Damn! I overdid it! She's gone into cardiac arrest!" Working quickly, Dharsite pressed a series of buttons on the oversized arm of the chair and stepped back from it. An instant later, Lita's body arched violently in the chair then sagged. Dharsite checked the monitor and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the straight line become jagged, indicating a steady heartbeat. "There. That's better. Wouldn't want you dying prematurely."
"You monster! What did you do to Lita?" yelled Mina, strapped to similar, though smaller chair on the other side of the room. Her eyes red, her face drenched from tears, Mina was anguished beyond belief at Lita's suffering, and furious at Dharsite who revelled at her best friend's pain.
"Lita's trapped in a virtual reality environment, thanks to the helmet she's wearing," Dharsite explained casually. "She just finished reliving the final moments of a particularly grisly airline disaster. The experience was so vivid, so real to Lita, she actually had a heart attack. I must admit that was completely unexpected, but enjoyable."
Mina, hearing that, felt her own heart skip a beat and her anguish deepened. How could Dharsite have learned about Lita's phobia about flying? Unless...."For the love of God, why are you doing this to us?"
"Why? If you're looking for a pat answer, try this one on for size: because I can. Now, it's your turn." Dharsite's eyes glowed brightly and, a second later, she was dressed in a replica of Sailor Venus' uniform, tiara, hair ribbon and all. The madwoman giggled like a schoolgirl and did a pirouette in her stiletto heels. "What do you think, Mina? Is it me?"
Mina scowled. "You messed up on the shoes. I don't wear my heels that high."
Dharsite gave a casual shrug as she sauntered up to Mina. "Call it a concession to fetishism. I for one think it's a nice look. Now, I'm sure you're wondering how I've learned so much about you and your friends in such a short time. Would you like for me to let the cat out of the bag?"
"Don't bother. I've already figured that out. You're telepathic. Not to mention psychopathic."
"Correct on the former. As for the latter, well, that's open to debate. Regarding my....gift, while the telepathy I possess comes in handy against a foe, it does have its limits. You see, I have to be within five feet of a subject in order to scan its mind. Beyond that range, my powers are pretty much useless."
"If that's the case, then how did you know where to find us?"
"Another useful talent I have. By ingesting Lita's blood up at the North Pole, I was able to get a psionic fix on her, leading me to her location at the hospital. Finding you in her room was a bonus," Dharsite explained. "You see, I'm what you might call a psychic vampire. I derive physical and sexual nourishment from the pain, fear and suffering of others. In order to sustain my life, I need lifeforms which to torment. In your limited mindset, you might consider that sadistic, but to me, it is merely a survival instinct. Like you, I do whatever's necessary to live."
"Well, unlike you, I have kindness, mercy and compassion for others. You're just a sick and twisted animal!"
"Sticks and stones, dear Mina. We could argue about my proclivities for hours, but that would take away from the real reason you're here."
Mina's face hardened. "To be tortured."
Dharsite smiled and nodded. "Precisely. And I happen to have a really devilish game to play with you. You've named your heroic alter ego after Venus, the Greek goddess of love. I find that rather fitting because of a particular....quirk in my personality."
"What quirk?"
Dharsite's smile became lustful as she sat on Mina's lap and wrapped her arms around the captive girl's neck. Mina's eyes bulged from fright as, all at once, she knew what was going to happen next and was helpless to prevent it. When Dharsite's face was only inches away from Mina's, the madwoman seductively licked her lips and whispered, "I like girls."
Before a horrified Mina could scream, Dharsite pressed her lips against Mina's and kissed her hard, stealing away her breath. Mina, caught in a frenzy of panic writhed and squirmed in her chair like a maniac, but it only made Dharsite's kissing more intense and passionate. The horror then increased a thousandfold for Mina when her lips suddenly parted against her will, allowing the madwoman's tongue to enter her mouth. Mina, unable to physically scream did so mentally, her mind assailed and battered by vile and nightmarish images of homoeroticism while one word hammered relentlessly in her head: 'surrender'. Finally, Mina did just that as she succumbed to the terror and passed out.
"That certainly was fun," said a happy Dharsite after she broke off the kiss. She deeply savored Mina's terror, and the warm softness of her lips. Just then, a red light flashed on a nearby control panel. Dharsite smiled and stood. The madwoman tenderly stroked Mina's hair and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Well, my sweet, Time to get ready. Company's coming."
Working the night shift at Takeshi Farming may be boring as hell, but it sure pays, thought Yota Minmay, stifling a yawn. He checked his watch. It read twenty after midnight. Yota and the two other men who sat with him in the guard house just outside the main gate of the complex settled in for another dull evening.
Yota didn't mind being a security guard. In his mind, it made for a far better occupation than being a farmer like his father and his father before him. At 29, Yota had no desire to follow in the family's footsteps, he simply wanted to earn enough money so he could move to Tokyo and enjoy life before he go too old. He figured another year on the job and he'll have all the cash he'll need for the move. He looked forward to that.
"That's odd," said Fujita, staring out the window and up the main street. "I think someone's coming this way."
Iwasaki, the oldest of the trio put down the paper he was reading over in a far corner of the shack and walked over to where Fujita was, as did Yota. "At this hour? Who could it be?"
"I don't know, but he's on foot."
As the person came closer, the three guards saw that it was a tall, lean muscled man with longish blond hair and a thick beard. Dressed in a flannel shirt, overalls and work boots, the man, hands in pockets casually walked up to the shack. Seeing the guards eye him warily, the man waved and gave them a pleasant smile.
"Good evening, gentlemen. Nice night for a stroll, eh?"
Iwasaki exited the shack and walked up to the man, stopping some ten feet away. The others stood by the door. "It'll do. Can I help you? The plant's closed for the day."
The man shrugged. "I figured as much, given the hour. Doesn't matter really. As for as how you can help, could you be so kind as to tell me if anyone's in there at present?"
Iwasaki's eyes narrowed and his hand automatically rested on the butt of his gun. "Why do you want to know?"
"So I can kill everyone all at once instead of hunting you down like dogs," the man said casually. "That would be a dreadful waste of time."
Iwasaki had heard enough. "Yota! Call for backup! Fujita! Cover me!" the elder guard pulled his gun and leveled it at the man, as did Fujita who rushed out to join him. "I don't know what sort of nutcase you are, mister, but you've just earned yourself a free trip to jail! Now raise your hands! The cops will be on their way here soon!"
The man sighed, took his hands out of his pockets and raised high. To the guards, it almost looked as if the man was disappointed.
"I was hoping to make this easy on you. But I see we'll just have to do this the hard way." His eyes then began to glow.
Yota had just finished calling the police, followed by the guards who patrolled the factory's grounds when he heard two horrific screams. Feeling his insides turn to ice, Yota dropped the phone, pulled his gun and started for the door when the blond stranger walked inside. Yota's fear increased at seeing the man who wore a malevolent look on his face.
"I heard screams! What did you do to Iwasaki and Fujita?" Yota demanded, the gun shaking in his hands.
The stranger, smirked, unfazed by the gun leveled at him. "What do you think? I killed them of course."
"But how? I heard no gunshots! Only screams!"
The stranger chuckled. Yota's skin crawled at the sound. "Where I come from, youngster, there are almost limitless ways to kill. All it takes is a little imagination. For instance, ever hear of an embolic seizure?"
Yota shook his head.
"Didn't think so. Nasty way to die. When blood vessels become obstructed, either by clots, fat globules, or other matter such as man made fragments or portions of a parasite, the flow of blood is halted. This inevitably leads to damage to the brain or heart. I introduced air bubbles in every major blood vessel in the bodies of your friends. They died quite horribly. Would you like to experience it for yourself?"
Before Yota could cry out, the stranger's eyes glowed and Yota's body suddenly exploded in monstrous pain. Yota only had time for one prolonged scream of agony and was dead before his body hit the floor.
Jed regarded the corpse at his feet with disinterest, his face impassive. Killing was nothing new to him, it was required of him when he was a general in the Negaverse, but he had enjoyed this method he employed. He filed it away for future reference. Opening his mind, Jed could hear cars and the footsteps of men closing on his location.
"Better go to work," he muttered. With a burst of concentration, Jed disappeared in a wink of light.
An instant later, Jed materialized one hundred feet over the center of the plant, now bustling with activity. Attuning his mind to the sprawl of buildings below, Jed discovered that natural gas lines ran beneath and above ground to fuel the entire facility. Jed smiled.
"Natural gas. Quite a volatile fuel. Easily prone to detonation. "Jed turned his attention to a large bank of electrical transformers situated above one pipeline. Focusing his powers on them, the transformers sparked violently then blew. The wrecked equipment crashed down onto the pipeline which ruptured, then erupted in a huge, fiery blast. That started an unstoppable chain reaction as every building fed by the pipelines exploded. Jed enjoyed the impromptu fireworks.
In only a scant few minutes, the facility had been transformed into a hellish, raging inferno as explosions from gas lines continued unabated. Jed, hearing the death screams of workers and security guards caught in the middle of the conflagration was unmoved. He knew the plant was doomed. By the time fire trucks could arrive from the city, nothing would remain but smouldering rubble. That pleased Jed as to him, the end more than justified the means. Miko's farm was in danger of going under because of the plant, therefore, it had to be destroyed.
"For you, Miko," Jed whispered. He then decided it was time to return home. Even though Miko was a sound sleeper, Jed knew the explosions were loud enough to wake the dead, and he didn't want her to worry when she awoke alone in bed. Thoughts of returning to Miko made Jed smile as he vanished in a flash of light.
"Guys, this is gonna get us killed!" grumbled Sailor Moon as she, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars walked cautiously down a pier in Tokyo's huge shipyard complex at dusk.
The irony of their being here was inescapable. This was the very place where the Scouts first met Sailor Venus almost a year ago.
Luna and Artemis, padding beside the Scouts were worried. To themselves, even they conceded that Moon might be right. Everyone knew the rendezvous Dharsite arranged was a trap, yet they came.
The odds were not in their favor, and they knew it. The Scouts barely survived their first battle with the Steel Demons----revealed by Mercury to be the missing scientists from the North Pole expedition, hideously transformed into cyborgs----now shorthanded, and with Mars not at one hundred percent, their chances of making it through a second fight were non-existent. Despite that, they still came. In the end, the Scouts were not about to abandon their friends.
"So you've said for about the hundredth time!" growled Mars, concentrating on the task at hand to keep her mind off the pounding headache she had and the dull, persistent throbbing from her wounded side. "And I was tired of hearing it after the first. Shut up and be on the lookout for Dharsite or the Demons."
"But, Raye! That fall on your head you took, and your burns!" Moon whined. "I'm worried about you! You should be home resting!"
"Blast it, Serena! Don't baby me!" Mars roared. "You're not my mother! Stop being a pain and get off my back!"
Moon, looking terribly hurt dropped her head while her lower lip trembled and tears filled her eyes. Mars, feeling the angry stares of Mercury and the familiars boring into her back let out a weary sigh. Knowing she was in the wrong, Mars put an arm around Moon's shoulders and gave her a kindly squeeze.
"Open mouth, insert foot. Pump and all. I'm sorry, Serena. I shouldn't have yelled at you," said a remorseful Mars. "You're right, though. I shouldn't be here. If anything, I'm a liability because of my injuries. But I just can't sit home while Lita and Mina are Dharsite's prisoners. And I won't let you and Amy fight alone. You can understand that, can't you?"
Moon nodded. "Yeah, I can. Just be careful, okay?"
Mars smiled. "That's a promise. Mercury, any sign of the bad guys?"
Mercury, her VR visor in place looked all around her, including straight up at the slowly darkening sky but saw nothing. "I'm afraid not, Mars. The coast is clear. Of course, the possibility exists that whatever technology Dharsite's using to cloak her ship may well render her invisible even to my visor."
Mars frowned. "Terrific. Not what I wanted to hear."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Raye," came a smarmy but familiar voice from out of nowhere. Frantic, the heroes looked all around them. "Follow my voice, girls, I'm not too far away."
Meanwhile, Luna regarded Artemis with open concern. She knew how anguished he was over Mina's abduction. "Artemis? How are you doing?"
"Miserable! How else? I'm just barely keeping it together!" snapped Artemis, his face taut. "When I think of what that....she-monster could be doing to Mina, it drives me crazy! If anything happens to her...."
"Don't say it! Nothing will happen to her!" Luna countered. "We'll get her back! And Lita too! You have my word on that!"
Artemis sighed. "I hope you're right, Luna."
Rounding a corner, the Sailors and the familiars stopped short at the sight before their eyes. Standing near the edge of the pier, flanked on both sides by tall stacks of crates was Dharsite, wearing her Negaverse uniform. Just like at the North Pole, she clicked her heels and bowed. What startled the Sailors and the familiars most was that the madwoman was alone, none of her robots were in sight.
"Welcome. I'm so glad you could join me this evening," said Dharsite.
"Like we had a choice, you sleazebag. Where's Lita and Mina?" an angry Moon wanted to know.
"Lita's doing just fine, relatively speaking. As for Mina, like the old saying goes, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'." Dharsite snapped her fingers and Sailor Venus slowly walked out from behind a stack of crates to Dharsite's right and sidled up to the madwoman. The Scouts and familiars gasped at the cold, cruel expression on the face of their friend and the hateful look in her eyes. Grinning, Dharsite slipped an arm around Venus' waist and pulled her close.
"Oh, my God," Moon whispered.
Dharsite grinned. "Not quite. Try a little further south."
"Monster! What did you do to her?" Mercury demanded.
"I used love, of a sort to entrance the Scout of Love. Rather ironic, don't you think?" Dharsite paused to lovingly caress Venus' cheek. Venus smiled from the attention. "Such a pretty little puppet. Mina belongs to me now, body, mind and soul. My slightest whim is her command."
"That can't be! You're lying!" yelled Artemis, grief vying with rage for control of his mind.
Dharsite chuckled. "A doubting tomcat, eh? Very well then. Venus, be a dear and show your friends that I mean business."
"With pleasure, mistress," said Venus, her face hardening into a murderous scowl as she stalked towards the Scouts.
"Sailor Venus! Mina! We're your friends! Don't do this!" Moon pleaded.
Moon's pleas fell on deaf ears as Venus pointed at the Sailors and twin crescents of golden light enveloped her hands.
"Venus Crescent Beam....SMASH!"
Next: Love And Anguish