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. Men in Black and all related characters are the property of Lowell Cunningham and Marvel Comics. So, please, don't sue me because I haven't any money. I do this strictly for entertainment purposes, not copyright infringement.
Scouts In Black
by Jeffrey C. Branch
Chapter Two: Partners In Crime
Rating: PG
Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Tuxedo Mask hurtled through the air of downtown Tokyo, nearly one hundred feet above the street like human cannonballs. After traveling nearly half a mile, the trio began falling to earth.
"Uh, I don't suppose you guys have any ideas on how to stop us before we turn into street pizza?" a worried Moon asked her friends.
Mercury, at a loss for words, shook her head. "I'm afraid not."
"Get close to me. I'll blunt the impact with my body," said Mask.
"That won't help, Darien," Mercury said. "Hitting the pavement at this speed, and from the height we were at will splatter us all over the street."
Mask turned to Moon, regret mirrored in his eyes. "I'm sorry it has to end like this, Serena."
Moon let out a wistful sigh. She hoped the end would come quickly and not be too painful. "So am I, darling. Goodbye."
"Venus Love Chain....ENCIRCLE!"
Suddenly, the three heroes were wrapped tight in the golden, glowing, heart shaped links of a chain that snared them from above. A second later, came a brutal, bone jarring stop to their deadly descent as the trio, stunned and in pain from the sudden jolt, dangled a mere five feet off the ground. They all breathed a sigh of relief, then looked upward and smiled from relief at seeing from the roof of a skyscraper, their salvation.
Sailors Venus and Mars were hanging on for dear life to the waist of a grimacing Sailor Jupiter to keep her from falling off the roof. The brawny Thunder Scout held Venus' Love Chain and used her titanic strength to stop the fall of her friends. Venus' face was also drawn and tight from the concentration she employed to maintain the solidity of the energy chain. Only after the trio were safe did they relax their grip on the chain, and each other.
"You did it, love! You saved them!" cried an elated Venus as she threw her arms around Jupiter's neck and hugged her partner tight.
A grinning Jupiter, her hands mildly burned through her gloves from the death grip on the chain ignored the pain to return her best friend's hug. "Wrong, babe. WE did it!"
"Break it up, you two!" growled Mars, trying hard not to smile herself. After all, she had her gruff image to maintain. "Pat yourselves on the back later! Let's get down there and see if they're okay!"
"Here's some advice, guys, in the house. The next time you decide to go flying, use a plane," joked Venus to Moon, Mercury and Mask, sore all over from the sudden stop. The group retreated to another rooftop to get away from the crowd that had gathered on the street.
"That's 'on the house', you fruit loop!" Moon retorted, clearly shaken, and shaking from the near fatal fall. "And that little trip wasn't our idea. Not that I'm complaining, but how'd you find us?"
"You left your communicator on, Meatball Head! We just followed the signal!" Mars grumbled. Even though she was elated that her friends, especially Moon were alive and well, the irascible Fire Scout wasn't about to let everyone see just how worried she had been. "We heard everything that went on in the Embassy, but couldn't get there in time to help."
"Yeah, we barely managed to save your butts," said Jupiter. She flexed the fingers on her hands, already healed from their minor burns. "And now for the sixty-four thousand dollar question: what the hell caused that fiasco?"
"We encountered an enemy----two women, twins from their appearance----who possessed vast mental powers," said Mercury, voicing a theory she formulated in the last several minutes. "One used an extremely powerful form of telepathy to enthrall those protestors into laying siege on the American Embassy. The other employed an equally potent brand of telekinesis to send us flying. I'm sorry to say, it took me woefully by surprise."
"Nobody's perfect, Amy. Not even you," said Venus, giving Mercury's shoulder a squeeze.
"Do you think they were from the Negaverse?" Mars asked.
"Hard to tell. We didn't exactly have time to ask," Moon said crossly.
"It doesn't matter, Serena. I think they were human," said Mask.
"What makes you say that?" a curious Jupiter asked.
"The protestors only attacked the Americans while leaving the Japanese alone. If those women were youmas, they would've had everyone in that building killed," the masked man speculated. "Instead, they targeted people who weren't part of the native population. Call this a wild guess, ladies, but something tells me there's more to this business than meets the eye."
Moon rolled her eyes and let out a weary sigh. "Wonderful. Most definitely not what I wanted to hear. Fridays just shouldn't have to suck like this!"
The pilot, having transformed back into his true self loomed menacingly over Sika and Seika. He was confident that the mere sight of his terrifying visage would send the puny humans running off in fear, screaming every step of the way. At least until he caught them and killed them. For dramatic impact, the pilot let out a fearsome roar.
However, the sisters, after their initial surprise, were hardly terrified. If anything, they looked bored.
"If that little show was supposed to frighten us, you've wasted your time," growled Sika.
Seika, her strength back and now standing unassisted nodded. "I agree. If anything, that was a rather pathetic performance."
Hearing that, the pilot, wide eyed and stunned did as close to a double take as beings such as him were capable of doing. Judging from his pre-mission study on humans, they were supposed to be instinctively terrified of creatures like him. Especially the females of the species. For the absolute opposite to have happened was a huge blow to his pride.
"Huh? You mean you're not scared of me?" he asked the women.
Sika snorted. "Scared? Of you? Please. After all the shit we've been through in our lives, a loser like you just doesn't rate."
That was the last straw for the pilot. It was bad enough these human females weren't afraid of him, but to be insulted and belittled on top of that sent his short temper skyrocketing.
"Aww, screw it! If I can't scare you, then I'll eat you!" the pilot snarled as he lumbered forward. He would enjoy devouring them since he hadn't eaten anything since he arrived.
"Like hell you will!" snapped Seika, her brows furrowing. The pilot stopped short, dropped to one knee, clenched his head and cried out as his mind was assailed by terrible pain like he had never felt before. Before he could retaliate, Sika made an upward motion with her left hand at the SUV and it lifted off the ground. With another motion, the vehicle flew into the pilot like a battering ram and smashed him against the wall of a building with bonebreaking force.
"Think that did him in, Sika?" Seika asked. Using her telepathic powers felt extremely good to her.
Sika shrugged. She also got a thrill from her abilities. "Beats me, sis. I've never fought an E.T. before. I wonder what planet that joker came from?"
"Judging from his appearance, one with a very ugly population."
"Who are you fleshbags callin' ugly?" came an angry growl from the wreckage. The smashed vehicle was suddenly, and easily pushed aside and the pilot, stunned, but no worse for wear climbed to his feet.
His anger unexpectedly ebbing, he was greatly surprised at what had just happened as he hadn't anticipated having been attacked. He eyed the twins as warily as they regarded him. "Can't say I expected that. I was told humans don't have metahuman powers. What kind of freaks are you?"
"Watch your mouth, asshole! We aren't freaks!" a suddenly furious Sika yelled back. More than anything in the world, she hated being called a freak, an insult she and her sister lived with all their lives. She was about to send the pilot into orbit but was stopped by Seika who placed a hand on her forearm.
"Enough. This won't get us anywhere," said Seika. She then turned to look up at the pilot. Having always doubted the existence of beings from other worlds, coming face to face with an extraterrestrial was quite a revelation. She instinctively found the alien fascinating, despite its monstrous appearance. "My name is Seika Yoshida, and this is my sister, Sika. And we're not freaks, we're mutants. The scientific term for what we are is Homo Superior. I'm guessing your people have no knowledge about that, do you?"
The pilot, frowning, shook her head. In spite of himself, he was extremely curious about the two women. Curious enough not to kill them. "'Fraid not. I gotta admit, you two are damn sure interesting."
"Not nearly as much as you," Sika said. Just then, the sound of sirens could be heard. "Look, friend, my sister and I were in the middle of a fast getaway when you showed up. We have to get out of here, and quick."
The pilot mulled over what he heard. His mission was to gain all the intelligence he could on humans as part of a pre-invasion strategy by his race. Encountering a totally different offshoot of the indigenous population fascinated him greatly. And the pilot had never experienced fascination before. It was definitely something that required continued study. After some thought (which made his head hurt almost as much as Seika's mind blast), the pilot arrived at a decision. "Mind if I tag along?"
The sisters looked at each other, then nodded. "Sure. Why not. But I'm afraid you won't fit in our Subaru," said Seika, staring up at the towering alien.
"No problem." The pilot pressed a button on his belt which hadn't been damaged when he was hit by the SUV and transformed back into his human disguise. That greatly impressed the twins.
"Cool trick. Do all your people do that?" Sika asked.
"Nah. Only the advance scout class can. Believe me, it ain't at all a pleasant thing to do."
"Most interesting indeed. But let's continue this discussion someplace else," said Seika.
The highly unusual pairing of the mutant sisters and the disguised alien trotted down the street to the waiting compact sedan. Moments later, the car drove off just before the police arrived on the side street.
Once upon a time, there was a brilliant and beautiful young woman named Mariko Ishibara. But to the world at large, that woman hasn't officially existed for the last eight years.
Born a child prodigy in Osaka to parents who both worked as programmers in the computer industry, the Ishibaras saw early on, practically from infancy that their daughter was going to be a genius as she excelled in school, taking high school courses before her eighth birthday. At the age of ten, the Ishibaras immigrated to the United States as they felt sure Mariko had what it took to enroll in the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Driven by an overly ambitious nature, Mariko sacrificed everything, including her childhood in favor of her studies. By the time she was eighteen, Mariko had graduated college in the top five percent of her class and was granted a special exception to attend MIT. By twenty-two, Mariko graduated with honors as an astrophysicist and was working for NASA as an engineer in the Shuttle program when fate came calling, dressed in a black suit.
Mariko was told by the man in the black suit that she had been under observation for years by the super-secret organization he worked for because of her vast intelligence. She had been recommended for admission to the organization to help perform its important mission which the man wouldn't tell her about at first. Once Mariko learned about the actual existence of aliens living on Earth, she was eager to join for the chance to study extraterrestrials.
However, Mariko's admission into the organization called MIB came with an incredibly steep price: her identity. Each and every piece of information about her life had been effectively expunged: birth certificate, driver's license, school records from kindergarten through college, credit history, library cards, social security number, voting records, everything. For all intent and purposes, Mariko Ishibara ceased to exist, replaced by the agent called 'M' (Emme).
Emme had distinguished herself, quickly climbing the organizational rungs, from paper pusher to scientist, all the way to head agent in charge of MIB's Tokyo branch. Yet, that wasn't enough as Emme longed, ached to be a Special Agent like the two men she was ordered to accommodate, but was denied permission because she was needed more as a scientist in Tokyo where strange occurrences were disturbingly commonplace. That rankled her.
In the grassy field in the countryside, Emme looked on as Kay and Jay, surrounded by support agents studiously examined the site where the Zargonian ship had crashed. The Japanese woman was in near awe of Kay, a legend among MIB's elite alien hunters, and the agent who recruited her eight years ago. But she was openly disdainful of his cocky young partner, unable to understand what Kay saw in him. Envy of Jay was written all oer her lovely face.
Hmph! How does a snotty punk like Jay get to be a Special Agent while I'm stuck behind a desk, thought Emme, trying her best not to seethe from frustration and barely succeeded. Blast! It's not fair!
Meanwhile, the object of Emme's aggravation stared at the trench and whistled. "That trench has to be half a mile long if it's a yard. How the hell did this crash go unnoticed?" Jay asked.
"Zargonian cloaking devices are state of the art camoflauge, Slick. Nothing on this planet can track 'em," Kay replied as he stood near the hole and stared down where support agents poured through the remnants of the wrecked ship. "That tub could've hovered over Cheyenne Mountain for days and the NORAD boys would never have known it was there. If its cloak hadn't malfunctioned, even we wouldn't have detected it."
"But what happened to the pilot?" Emme wondered. "Judging from the condition of that wreck, there's no way the occupant could have survived."
"Girl, you'd be surprised," said Jay with a snort as he walked around the area, studiously looking for clues. From the moment he and Kay arrived in Japan and met the beautiful head of MIB's Tokyo bureau, Jay sensed right away that she didn't like him. His instincts, still sharp from his days as New York City Police detective told Jay that jealousy was the reason why.
Ray Charles could see that Emme's got a serious green-eyed look on her face, thought Jay with a frown as he approached the road. She's probably been jonesing to get in the field for years and resents this fresh off the street smart ass for landing the job she wants. Something tells me this could be trouble.
"Agent Kay! We found the ship's lifepod!" called one of the agents from the crater. "
"Intact?" Kay asked.
"Yes, sir! No sign of a body! It looks like the pilot survived!"
"Not good. Not good at all," Kay grumbled. "That means the bully's breathing and on the loose."
"But where could he have gone?" Emme wondered. "We found next to no footprints. Zargonians can't fly, can they?"
"Don't need to, Mama-san. He's got wheels instead," said Jay, pointing at something he saw on the ground. "Kay! Over here! Check this out, man!"
Kay, followed by Emme and two of the support agents walked over to where Jay was kneeling by the side of the road. What the group saw were muddy tire prints on the tarmac. And off to the side was a small, ground up area of loose earth. That in particular caught Jay's attention. "Somebody stumbled on our boy, and he took their ride. Judging from the tread, he's tooling around in a 4 X 4."
"What about whoever discovered him?" Kay asked. Staring at the patch of earth, he already had his answer, but wanted to see physical proof.
In reply, Jay moved over to the patch and dug in it. Seconds later, he clasped something and pulled it out. Emme barely stifled a scream while Kay's eyes narrowed at what the object was: a human arm, female from its slender dimensions and long, painted nails, it's flesh ripped and dangling at the shoulder joint. Jay cursed and dropped the appendage like it were diseased.
"Oh, my God!" cried Emme, her face pale. She head spun and she struggled mightily to keep her lunch down. It wouldn't do, she figured, to throw up in a crowd of men. "Agent Jay! How....how did you know?"
"I used to be a cop, lady. I know what a doctored crime scene looks like when I see one," Jay retorted. Handling the severed arm left him queasy as well. He didn't want to think about what else was buried there. "Kay, remember what that Bug did to down-on-the-farm Edgar? Peeled the poor sucker like a grape, then used his skin for a body stocking? You think this cat did the same thing?"
"Nope. Zargonians are more sophisticated than that," Kay replied. "Their advance scouts are supposed to have some sort of organic technology that lets them physically morph into whatever lifeform they see. Makes doing recon easier by blending in with the crowd because they stand out like Yao Ming at a midget convention. As for this, I'm guessing our bully did it for kicks."
"Dammit! We could've passed right by him on the way out here and wouldn't have known!" a frustrated Emme growled, smacking a fist into her palm. "That monster could be anywhere by now!"
"Agent Kay!" said one of the other agents, listening to something over his earbud headset. "We've picked up something on the police band! There's been an incident at the U.S. Embassy downtown! And a wrecked SUV was found on a side street a block away!"
"Could be our boy." Kay turned to the agent. "Make sure this scene is cleaned up. I'm talking pristine. Any busybodies show up, wipe their memories."
Jay loudly cleared his throat, causing Kay to roll his eyes. "When you do, give 'em a happy ending. Be creative. And keep us informed on any police activity! Jay, Emme, let's get to town!"
Emme couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as she led Jay and Kay to a waiting, black Lexus LS 430 sedan. Finally, she would take part in her very first hunt. She meant to make the most of her opportunity and prove that she belonged in the field.
And heaven help anyone who gets in my way, Emme thought grimly as she glanced briefly at Jay.
Fate, as it is often wont to do, works in mysterious ways. Case in point: If a particular set of circumstances were to happen differently than planned, then the overall outcome of a given situation will change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. And fate conspired to screw up the escape of the Yoshidas and the pilot.
After Sika and Seika initiated their riot at the embassy, the police, arriving on the scene after the sisters dealt with the Scouts, blocked off the streets leading to the building on all sides. The sudden blockade forced traffic off onto secondary streets for a square mile all around to get avoid the cordon, hardly an easy or painless task, considering the mass volume of vehicles that traverse through downtown Tokyo at midday, predictably raising the tempers of countless hundreds of motorists.
Among the legions of highly perturbed drivers was Akio Himemiya, a 21 year college student cruising through town in his brand new Nissan convertible with three of his friends. Hotheaded even atthe best of times, Akio was furious at being caught in a bottleneck, inching along at snail-like speeds. Fueled by anger, Akio vented his mounting frustration at fellow drivers, cursing at anyone he saw while aching to escape the gridlock he was stuck in. His buddies, equally irate, joined in the verbal beatdown, causing other drivers to return the venom spewed at them.
This lively madness went on for a full half mile, straining tempers to the boiling point as by this time, Akio was nearly apoplectic ready to pull out the crowbar he kept under his seat and use it to rearrange someone's features. As Akio approached a corner, the traffic began to lighten, when he saw the light about to change from green to red, he gunned the accelerator, determined to beat it. Unfortunately, Akio couldn't beat the light, but he didn't stop and continued through.
And that was where fate stepped in to make a royal mess of things.
As Akio's car roared across the intersection, a dark blue Subaru shot through from the right and the two vehicles met in the middle with disastrous results. The Subaru hit the front corner of Akio's car as the driver couldn't even begin to stop in time as there was a horrific squealing of rubber, followed by the inevitable crunch of sheet metal and shattering of glass as the vehicles spun around in a brutal ballet. After the two mangled cars came to rest in the middle of the street, all was quiet, but not for long.
"Son of a bitch!" yelled a furious Akio who, like his friends, had the good sense to be buckled up. Stunned and dazed from the crash, Akio climbed out of the wrecked car and staggered over to the other side where he saw the extensive damage. That did little to calm him down. "Aww, NO!"
Akio glared at the Subaru and saw that its passengers hadn't moved. All the good for me to kick their asses for wrecking my car, he thought. Ignoring the moans of his friends, Akio stumbled back to the driver's side for the crowbar which he pulled from under the seat. Clutching the bar in a two handed grip, Akio tromped towards the other car. "Those clowns are gonna pay for messing up my ride!" he snarled.
Inside the Subaru, Sika, in the passenger seat was first to first to recover from the crash. She looked over and saw that Seika was semi-conscious, as was the pilot in back. Even though Sika and her sister were buckled in, she was still sore all over from the impact. "Seika's not gonna like this. She only had five payments left to make on this heap," she muttered.
"Hey, you in there!" shouted Akio as he approached the car. "Get out so I can whip your ass for busting up my car!"
"I don't believe this," muttered Sika, staring at Akio. She saw that his friends were climbing out of the smashed car, looking just as angry as he was. "That fool caused this, now he wants payback!"
"This sort of thing happen often?" asked the pilot as he stirred. Feeling the aches and pains from the crash, it made him realize the one disadvantage to the morphing generator: assuming the form of a native lifeform meant becoming as fragile as they were. It was something he didn't at all like. But then, there were a lot of things the pilot generally hated if it didn't involve murder and mayhem.
"Only to people who can't drive worth a damn," grumbled Sika as she shook her sister. "Wakey, wakey, sis. We've got a situation here."
"Ouch! Talk about a wild ride. What happened?" Seika asked.
"We played bumper cars with the idiot approaching at nine o'clock," said Sika, pointing out the driver's side window at Akio.
"And I thought Japanese weren't as stupid as Americans," Seika replied. "Guess I was wrong. Would you mind handling the honors, Sika? I need to get rid of the cobwebs."
Sika sighed. "Okay. I hate hurting my own kind, but we can't afford to screw around here."
"Need any help?" the pilot asked.
"Nah. It'd be better if you didn't reveal yourself," said Sika. "You'd cause quite a commotion if you shed your disguise. And we'd like to avoid that if at all possible. Oh, brother! I'm starting to sound like Seika!"
"Watch your mouth!" the elder twin snapped.
Sika climbed out of the car, smoothed her skirt and casually walked around to the driver's side, giving her sister as much time as possible to recover. "Okay, since you asked so nicely, here I am. Something you want to discuss, other than exchanging insurance policy numbers?"
Seeing Sika, all curves, big breasts and long legs, Akio's temperament changed. Always priding himself as a man who truly appreciated women, he instantly found himself attracted to the tall, gorgeous, white haired woman in the tantalizingly short skirt. "Whoa! Suddenly, I'm not so angry! I gotta say you are one fine looking babe!"
"I suppose I should be flattered, but I'm not," growled Sika. She remembered how a similar 'compliment' fifteen years ago ended up turning into a horrific nightmare for her and Seika. One that brutally stole away their innocence and permanently twisted their souls.
But Akio was undeterred as he came closer. "You're not? Well, baby, perhaps I can change your mind."
Sika snorted as she raised her right hand. "Yeah. Right." With a pushing motion, Akio was lifted off the ground and sent hurtling into his friends like a human cannonbal, bowling them all over. Sika walked up to the foursome and glared menacingly at them. "Disgusting pig! You're just as bad those American apes! I'm ashamed that you're Japanese!"
"Hey! What did you do to those kids?" a curious bystander demanded.
"Nothing that need concern you," said Seika. Her mind clear, she used her telepathic powers to freeze everyone who had gathered around the crash site. Getting out, she stared at the wreckage and seethed. "Goddammit!" she roared, kicking the left front tire. "And it was almost paid off too!"
Sika giggled. It wasn't often that her normally straitlaced older sister lost her temper like she had. "Well, sis, look on the bright side. Now you've got an excuse to buy a new car."
Seika, glaring at Sika was hardly amused. "Bite me, you bitch!"
"I hate to break up this stimulating conversation, ladies, but let's steal a car and get out of here," growled the pilot as he got out. While he found the Yoshidas interesting, their erratic behavior was also annoying. In fact, this entire situation was pissing him off considerably. That made him want to kill, and the urge was growing harder to resist by the minute.
"Hold it! You losers aren't going anywhere!"
The Yoshidas and the pilot turned in the direction of the voice, only to find themselves surrounded by the Scouts and Mask.
Several blocks away....
A normally routine morning for Detective Junko Sakurada of the Tokyo Police Department suddenly turned into a maddeningly chaotic situation.
When the emergency call came into headquarters about a riot at the American Embassy, Junko and three dozen officers sped there to restore order. At the embassy, the police were greeted by mobs of dazed and disoriented people staggering out of the building. Once the protestors had been gathered into groups, they were questioned about why they stormed the building and who the leaders were. Uniformally, the protestors said they didn't know why, nor did they even remember how they got into the building.
Hearing that, Junko scowled, unwilling to accept that over a hundred people came down with a case of mass amnesia when witnesses on the street outside the embassy reported seeing the Sailor Scouts rush out of the building in pursuit of an unknown enemy. That made Junko's gut churn, given her intense dislike of the costumed heroines whom she saw as lawless vigilantes. Before she could question more of the protestors, determined to uncover the truth, Junko was told about the auto crash.
Thinking it might tied in with the bizarre incident, Junko and several officers rushed over to the street where they found an SUV on its side, the front end badly caved in. However, there wasn't a second vehicle, or skid marks from tires on the street. Junko was puzzled.
"What the devil is going on here," she wondered aloud.
Just then, a gleaming black Lexus sedan screeched to a stop at the corner and three people, two men and a woman, all dressed in black suits and wearing sunglasses climbed out and strode up to Junko.
"Department of Motor Vehicles, Division Six," said one of the men, a stone faced, middle aged Caucasian who flashed an identification card at the policewoman.
Junko stared at him, then at the other man, an African-American. Behind them was a Japanese woman in a short skirt and pumps. "DMV? But you're Americans," she pointed out.
"Diversity, ma'am. It's all the rage," said the black man. "Could you tell us what happened?"
"A car crash, of course. How it happened, I don't know," Junko replied. Her eyes narrowed as the men walked up to the vehicle. "Say, how'd you get here so fast? We hadn't called this in yet."
"We monitor the police bands, Detective," said Kay as he knelt by the smashed front end of the SUV to examine it. "This vehicle had been reported stolen. We've been searching for it all morning."
Kay's explanation left Junko scratching her head. "All that concern over a stolen car? Who was the thief? Charles Manson?"
"Worse. This dude had over a million yen worth of unpaid parking tickets!" said Jay, his tone one of mock horror. "Trust me on this. Someone that bad you do not wanna mess around with!"
Emme rolled her eyes.
"Jay, look at this," said Kay in a low voice. He pointed at the driver's side door where three large, deep furrows had ripped the sheet metal like paper. Jay's eyes widened at what he saw.
"Claw marks," Jay whispered. "You think our boy did that?"
"Had to." Kay paused to place the palm of his left hand on the SUV's hood. "The engine's not fully cooled. This couldn't have happened more than five to ten minutes ago. He might be nearby."
Jay snorted. "Big whoop. With no way of knowing what he looks like, we're screwed."
"Have faith. Something's bound to happen that'll give us a clue."
It was then that they heard an explosion to the north and saw an oily ball of flame rise into the sky.
"I guess that qualifies as a clue," said Jay.
One minute earlier....
Acting on a hunch, Mercury used her visor to scan a full mile all around for any sort of energy anomalies that might be generated by the twins. Her hunch paid off when she picked up such a reading.
"That way!" said the Scout of Ice, pointing to the east. "I'm picking up a huge energy spike on a wavelength similar to a reading on an electroencephalograph! It could be them!"
"Let's check it out!" Jupiter suggested, smacking a fist into her palm. "Since I'm gonna get in trouble for cutting classes, I mean to take out my frustration on those sluts!"
Mars nodded. "For once, Jupiter, I totally agree with you! C'mon!"
It took almost no time at all for the sailor suited heroines and their tuxedo clad companion, bounding from rooftop to rooftop to cover the half mile to where the energy reading originated from. As they approached an intersection where two mangled cars lay in the middle of the street, the Scouts split up and surrounded the area. When they saw the Yoshida sisters and the man who was with them, they announced their presence.
"Hold it! You losers aren't going anywhere!" Moon shouted.
The Yoshidas and the pilot turned in the direction of the voice, startled to have been caught off-guard and surrounded by the Scouts and Mask, all standing on the roofs of cars.
"Oh, great! Them again!" grumbled Seika. "And they've brought friends!"
The pilot, seeing the Scouts was understandably puzzled. He then chuckled at their colorful costumes. he had never seen anything like that before. "Who in blazes are those stupid looking females?"
"Trouble! They're the Sailor Scouts! Tokyo's resident moronic do-gooders!" snarled Sika.
"Hey! I heard that! We're not morons!" Moon snapped back.
"Speak for yourself!" Mars grumbled.
"So, what you're saying is, these dippy kooks are superhumans, like you two?" the pilot asked.
"You got it, friend," said Seika.
Hearing that, the pilot grinned. "Excellent! Do you mind if I play with them? I need some exercise after my long trip here."
The sisters looked at each other, then shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat, handsome. Go for it," said Sika.
"All right! This should be lots of fun!" said the pilot as he walked up to the Scouts. Finally, he would get a chance to do what he did best: maim and destroy. "Ladies, I hope you've enjoyed your lives, 'cause I'm about to kill the lot of you!"
Venus chuckled at the man, convinced he was out of his mind. "Oh, really? And just how are you gonna do that?"
"Like this." The pilot pressed a button at his waist and his featured began to change. As the Scouts and Mask looked on, their expressions quickly changed to ones of sheer horror as the pilor resumed his true form.
"Holy....shit!" cried a wide eyed Jupiter, staring up at what was before her eyes, but unwilling to believe what she was seeing.
The pilot's true form was that of a fifteen foot tall nightmare with a thick, mottled green exo-skeleton that looked like armor plating, a chest as wide as a sequoia with a gray metal belt around its waist, two pair of brutishly muscular arms that extended below its knees and ended in wicked claws, barrel thick legs with claws on the toes, a long tail like that of a scorpion and a large, wide head with four yellow eyes, and a mouth filled with rows of pointed teeth like a shark. That mouth curled into a slavering, purely demonic smile.
"Any questions?" growled the pilot.
NEXT: Claws And Effect